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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #60202 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60202)
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-Project Gutenberg's Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6, June 1852, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6, June 1852
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: George R. Graham
-
-Release Date: August 30, 2019 [EBook #60202]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1852 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-from page images generously made available by Google Books
-
-
-
-
-
- GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
- Vol. XL. June, 1852. No. 6.
-
-
- Contents
-
- Fiction, Literature and Articles
-
- New York Printing Machine, Press, and Saw Works
- Edith Morton
- Ferdinand De Candolles
- The Ghost-Raiser
- Tom Moore—The Poet of Erin
- A Life of Vicissitudes (continued)
- Two Ways to Manage
- The Master’s Mate’s Yarn (concluded)
- The First Age (concluded)
- Titus Quinctius Flamininus
- Nelly Nowlan’s Experience
- Review of New Books
- Literary Gossip
- Graham’s Small-Talk
-
- Poetry and Music
-
- A Farewell
- Lines, Suggested by Rogers’ Statue of Ruth
- What Dost Thou Work For?
- April
- I Woo Thee, Spring
- Song
- The Phantom Field
- Shakspeare
- The Actual
- The Pledge
- To A Beautiful Girl
- The Orphan’s Hymn
- Religion
- Our Minnie’s Dream
- Sonnet—Pleasure
- To Adhemar
- Hour of Fond Delight
-
- Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook.
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: J. Hayter, W. H. Mote
-ISADORE.
-Graham’s Magazine, 1852.]
-
- * * * * *
-
-[Illustration: THE BROOME STREET MANUFACTORIES.]
-
-
-
-
- GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
-
- Vol. XL. PHILADELPHIA, JUNE, 1852. No. 6.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- NEW YORK PRINTING MACHINE, PRESS, AND SAW WORKS.
-
-
- R. HOE & CO.
-
-
-[Illustration: GOLD STREET WAREHOUSES.]
-
-Had it been possible for any human intellect, at the close of the
-eighteenth century, or the commencement of this its nineteenth
-successor, so to grasp and comprehend the development of science, its
-expansion and diffusion, and, above all, its application to the
-every-day wants and conveniences of ordinary human life, as to predict,
-only fifty years beforehand, any one of the almost incredible marvels
-which have long ceased to move especial wonder, as being now established
-facts, witnessed by all eyes, and of occurrence at all hours, the owner
-of that intellect would not have been merely laughed at as a crazy,
-crack-brained enthusiast, but would have run a very reasonable chance of
-being consigned to the cell of a madhouse, as an incorrigible and
-incurable monomaniac.
-
-The writer of these lines, lacking several years yet of the completion
-of his tenth lustre, clearly remembers how, within thirty years at
-furthest, to assert an opinion of the feasibility of lighting streets by
-gas was to be sneered at for a visionary, or regarded with suspicion as
-a probable speculator in the _fancy_, even by the best informed, and
-most enlightened classes.
-
-To the youngest of his readers the _dictum_ of the then infallible
-Doctor Dionysius Lardner against the possibility of Ocean Steam
-Navigation—for, deny it now as he may, he can be clearly convicted of
-its utterance—is familiar as a household word.
-
-And now, what insignificant town, to say nothing of innumerable private
-dwellings, innumerable factories and workshops, prison houses, as it
-were, and _ergasteria_, would it were otherwise! of plebeian labor,
-innumerable theatres, assembly-halls, and banquet-rooms, abodes of
-patrician pleasure, are not ablaze through the murkiest midnight, and
-light as the broadest day, with the released and radiant spirit, that
-lay so long enthralled and unsuspected in the hard heart of the swart
-coal mine?
-
-And now, with what quarter of the world are we not in daily, if not
-hourly, communication by the united agencies of those two most
-irreconcilable powers, fire and water?
-
-Hardly one century has elapsed since the American Franklin revealed to
-the admiring world the scarcely suspected fact, that the subtle spark
-elicited from the electrifying magazine, or from the hairs of a cat,
-rubbed contrariwise to their direction, is identical with the sovereign,
-all-pervading flash,
-
- “Which issues from the loaded cloud,
- And rives the oak asunder.”
-
-And now, at this day, we sit quietly engaged in our study, or stand,
-even, as it may be, laboriously plying our trade of manual labor, and
-send that very lightning-flash, a tamed domestic influence, nay, but a
-very slave and pack-horse to our will, to speed our tidings to New
-Orleans, or to Newfoundland, and to bring us back the answer, before a
-second hour has lagged round the dial.
-
-Time was, nor very long ago, when to receive news from Europe within
-thirty days, was esteemed a feat, if not a miracle, on the part of the
-carriers. Now, or ere a second summer shall have passed, the electric
-telegraph will be in operation to Cape Race, the south-easternmost point
-of Newfoundland, and mail steamers will be cleaving the Atlantic far to
-the northward, to and fro, from the green shores of Galway. Then, within
-seven days at the utmost, the news of farthest Europe, news from the
-Vistula, the Danube, and the Don; news from the Tartar and the Turk,
-shall be sped, more swiftly than though they “had taken the wings of the
-morning,” to the uttermost parts of America, shall be read almost
-simultaneously on the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific, and sent far
-aloof among the oceanic isles of the southern hemisphere, even to drowsy
-China and remote Taprobane, by the almost unearthly powers of steam and
-electricity, and last, not least, the press.
-
-The word is out—we have said it—the press—a kindred, not
-antagonistic, scarcely even rival, power to the two mighty elements we
-have named—since it has pressed both into its service; and itself,
-purely human in its origin, its influence, and its importance, purely
-material in “its age and body, form and pressure,” derives most of its
-incalculable puissance from the coöperation and subservience of the two
-mightiest, most unearthly, most immaterial, and most spiritual of
-essences, existing, or which have existed, in the universe.
-
-But we are not about to write an essay on the power, the influence, the
-utility of the press. These are too generally appreciated and
-acknowledged, to render a single paragraph necessary. In the two first
-particulars of power and influence, the press is incomparable—not to be
-equaled by any instrument or agency of humanity that ever has existed.
-The extent of its utility—although still unquestionable—is limited and
-diminished, “cribbed, coffined,” and curtailed by the weakness, the
-willfulness, and the wickedness of the very many men, unfit and
-evil-minded, who have thrust themselves forward, assuming to conduct it,
-and through it the public mind, with no ulterior object nobler or higher
-than the misapplication of the weight and moral power with which it
-invests them, to all sorts of immorality and wrong, to which avarice,
-rapacity, ambition, and the insane desire of demagogueism may impel
-them.
-
-This is, however, only to admit that the press is an agency of time and
-mortality; and as such liable, of a necessity, to be perverted. Perhaps
-it is rather to be wondered, that there are _few_ base, dishonest,
-licentious, and self-seeking journals in circulation, than that there
-are any; and it is clear, that the general tone of the reading world is
-so gradually and greatly improving, that few of those which now exist
-receive any considerable support, unless where they have the skill to
-introduce their false doctrines under cover of some specious sophistry,
-making them to wear the semblance of reforms. Even these, it may be
-observed, are daily becoming more and more transparent to the broad and
-keen eye of the public; and, in proportion as they are comprehended,
-lose their ill-acquired and abused popularity and power.
-
-In one word, the utility of the press, its beneficial influences, its
-charities, its diffusion of knowledge and true light, and its general
-maintenance of the right, out-balance, as by ten thousand fold, the
-occasional obliquities, injustice, falsehood, and advocacy of devil’s
-doings here on earth, which periodically disgrace its columns.
-
-For these the press is no more to be censured or condemned, than is the
-Book of Common Prayer, or the Holy Bible; because—in the middle
-ages—men, mad with too much, or too little learning—it matters not
-whether—applied their most hallowed texts, read backward, to the
-evocation of departed souls from Hades, or of evil spirits from the
-abyss of very Hell.
-
-It is not, however, of the moral influences, but of the mere material
-powers of the press, as now existing in its wonderfully improved
-condition, with all appliances of marvelous time-saving machinery, that
-we would now speak—machinery born itself of machinery, self-developed
-from the swart, unplastic ore, with, comparatively speaking, small
-expense of human labor, though under the control of the all-contriving
-human brain, into engines of strange and mysterious potency.
-
-It is little to say that the efficiency, and of course the utility, of
-the printing-press has been increased a thousand fold, that the facility
-and consequent cheapness, of the reproduction of books has been improved
-to such an extent that thousands and tens of thousands of volumes are
-now printed, published, and put into circulation, where there was one
-thirty years ago; and that too at prices, which bring it easily within
-the means of all—but the very idlest and poorest—to become familiar
-with the best thoughts of the brightest geniuses of all ages—That the
-whole system of journalism, and journal publishing, has passed through a
-complete revolution, reducing individual prices to a mere nominal
-fraction, and referring the question of profits, and remuneration of
-labor, to gross sales of tens of thousands of daily copies—the
-consequence of which revolution is to place the whole news of the world,
-including all discoveries of art or science, all arguments and
-disputations of the first statesmen and orators, all lectures of the
-most prominent literateurs and philosophers of the day, within the
-hand’s reach of every farmer and farm-laborer, every artisan, mechanic,
-clerk and shop-boy of the land, from the Aroostook to the Sacramento and
-Columbia.
-
-It is little to say this—yet this is something; for it is the first
-step toward making those who do govern the land, fit to govern
-it—namely, the people—toward enabling them to judge, unlike the
-constituents of best European representative governments, not of men
-only, but, mediately, of measures; toward giving them to judge and learn
-for themselves, from the actual progress of recorded events, daily
-occuring, something of the policy of foreign nations, something of the
-interest of their own country; lastly, toward rendering the permanent
-establishment of a falsehood, or the long suppression of the truth, an
-impossibility.
-
-And yet all this is to say little, as compared with what may be
-said—namely, that the difference between the efficiency of the modern
-printing-press and that of Guttenberg, Faustus and Schoffer, is almost
-greater than the difference between that and the manuscript system,
-which it superseded.
-
-And all this is to be ascribed to the perfection of mechanics and
-machinery, brought by the aid of every branch of science to what we
-might well deem perfection, did not every coming day awake to
-perfectionate what was last night deemed perfect.
-
-In all branches of human labor, in all phases of human ingenuity, for
-above half a century, this vast increase—both of the application and
-the power of machinery—has been in progress; constantly awakening the
-fears and jealousies, sometimes inducing the overt opposition and
-illegal violence of the working classes, as cheapening their labor, and
-about ultimately to subvert their trade and destroy their means of
-subsistence.
-
-Than these fears and jealousies, nothing can be more erroneous, not to
-say absurd. For it is no longer a theory, but an established fact, that
-consumption of, and demand for, any article grows almost in arithmetical
-progression from the reduction of its price, to such a degree, as to
-render it available to all classes.
-
-Two examples, alone, will be sufficient to make this clear:—
-
-Some twenty years ago, the renewal of the English East India Company’s
-charter was refused by Parliament, and the tea-trade of Great Britain
-opened to all British bottoms[1]. The price of tea was reduced by above
-one-half, and the company exclaimed loudly, as companies ever do,
-against the unjust legislation, which must needs ruin them.
-
-Mark the result, however. The price of tea fell one-half; the
-consumption of tea increased—we speak generally—almost ten-fold. The
-company never were more prosperous than now.
-
-Again—within the same period, inland postage in Great Britain was
-reduced to a uniform rate of one penny sterling, not without much
-opposition and strenuous contest, the opponents insisting that the
-department must become a burden on the state, from sheer inability to do
-the work of transportation at prices merely nominal. The results are
-before the public, and not a boy but knows that they precisely reverse
-the prediction.
-
-The same thing is true of the growth of the cotton trade; of the growth
-of agricultural productions: and last, not least, and most of all to the
-purpose, of the growth of the so-called _penny_-press of New York, and
-the United States in general. We use the term so-called, because though
-nominally penny, most, if not all, of the very paying papers of this
-class are really two-penny papers.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GOLD STREET WORKS. CITY, NEW YORK.
-GROUND PLAN.]
-
-
-
-
-While we were considering these matters, to which consideration we were
-led by a visit to the extraordinary machine works of Messrs. Hoe & Co.,
-the inventors and manufacturers of the great fast power-presses, which
-have effected the revolution of which we have spoken, we accidentally
-stumbled upon the following article from the columns of the New York
-Tribune; and it is so entirely germane to the matter, that we have no
-hesitation in quoting the former portion of it, without alteration or
-comment.
-
-The latter portion we omit, because we entirely disagree with Mr. Greely
-in the deduction which he draws from the admitted facts, as we do with
-most of his socialistic and communistic notions.
-
-It is to the increase of demand, growing out of the increase and
-cheapness of production, that he must look for employment and profit,
-not to the catching at the empty bubble of ownership, or to the ambition
-of governing, with none to serve under him.
-
-
- “LABOR AND MACHINERY.
-
-A thoughtful laborer—for wages—sends us an account he finds current in
-the journals of the rapid progress of Printing by Machinery, as
-illustrated by a single cheap daily newspaper. That paper now prints
-48,475 sheets—or 101 reams—per day, which it is enabled by rapid
-machinery to do from one set of types, whereas, if obliged to use the
-Hand-Press of former days, it would be obliged to set up its type
-_twenty-nine times_ over for each daily edition, employing 812
-compositors instead of barely 28, and 116 pressmen instead of some ten
-or twelve only. Hereupon our correspondent comments as follows:—
-
- Mr. Greely:—It will be seen by the above, which I quote merely
- as a convenient text to illustrate the matter in hand, that in
- _one_ establishment a _difference_ is made of nearly or quite
- _nine hundred_ men, in consequence of the invention or
- improvement of machinery, which has taken place within a less
- time than the last 25 years, from the number it would have been
- necessary to have employed to prosecute the same amount of
- business had no such progress been made. The same is true, I
- suppose, to an equal extent, of _The Tribune_ and other journals
- of large circulation. The same—i. e., _the alarming
- encroachment which machinery is every day making on what has
- heretofore been performed by human muscles alone_—is not
- peculiar to any one branch of employment. The restless inquiry
- and invention of the present is rapidly and surely intruding
- _iron_ muscles, which do not become hungry, or experience the
- depression of low wages and consequent low fare, into every
- department of human industry, crowding out and setting adrift
- thousands of the industrious, to seek new and untried means of
- subsistence, from which soon again to be driven, by—what many
- of them have come to look upon as their greatest, most
- persevering and relentless enemy—machinery.
-
- Whither, I would thoughtfully and anxiously ask, do these facts,
- which stare us in the face from every quarter, tend? What is
- their mighty significancy? The unprecedented increase of the
- most cunningly adapted, durable, and economical machinery—on
- the one hand—to perform, in great part, the work heretofore
- done by us—the laborers; and—on the other hand—the sure and
- certain increase of that most reliable portion of humanity which
- we represent, and whose only capital is their muscles, and whose
- hope of bread for themselves and children is in the performance,
- to a large extent, of that same labor thus snatched from us by
- the offspring of invention. What wonder that the honest laborer,
- who knows no cunning but the use of the physical force which God
- has given him, or the mechanic who plies his trade, should stand
- aghast, and feel his heart sink within him, as he is forced from
- his legitimate occupation, to another and still another, and at
- last finds his employment altogether fitful and uncertain, from
- the number of his fellows driven to the same condition as
- himself. His labor is truly “a drug in the market,” and stern
- necessity is fast putting him, if it has not already, wholly at
- the mercy of capital. I could not but sadly ponder, as
- one—while watching the nicely adjusted movements of a cheap
- engine, which had ejected him and his fellow, in like condition,
- from the place whence, for years, they had obtained a livelihood
- for themselves and families—significantly observed to me that,
- “the best thing that could be done with _that thing_ would be to
- break it to pieces, and pitch it out of the window.” They saw
- wood about town now, when they can get it to do, as the
- _machinery_, which they have in such successful operation in
- Chicago and some other cities for that purpose, has not yet been
- introduced here. Their daughters, too, who have, till within a
- six month back, had work at $2 50 per week, in the factories,
- are now out of employ. This, you know, is but one of countless
- similar illustrations which take place every day in poor
- families.
-
- H.
-
-We have thus allowed our friend to state his whole case—though he only
-submitted it that we might comment on its substance—and we now solicit
-his attention to some thoughts by it suggested.
-
-Why does our friend go back only to the Hand-Press to exhibit the
-disastrous effects of Machinery on the interests of Labor? The
-hand-press itself is a labor-saving machine of immense capacity—far
-more so in its day than the power-press which is now extensively
-superseding it. It threw wholly out of employment and reduced to
-absolute destitution thousands upon thousands of skillful, accurate,
-admirable penmen, who had given the best years of their lives to acquire
-skill in a profession, or pursuit, which the press almost extirpated. To
-be at all consistent, “H.” must demand, not the destruction of the
-power-press only, but of all printing or copying presses whatever.
-
-“Ah! but then there could be no newspapers?”—Nay; that does not follow.
-Kossuth’s first gazette was not printed, but a carefully prepared
-abstract of the sayings and doings of the Hungarian Diet, whereof copies
-were made by scribes for general diffusion. There have been many such
-instances of unprinted journals.
-
-“Well; there could be no _such_ journals as we now have.” No, nor could
-there be without the power-press. We could not afford such a paper as
-_The Tribune_ now is for four times its present price, if we were
-obliged to print it on hand-presses; in fact, no such paper could be
-supported at all.
-
-The subsisting truth, then, must be accepted and looked fairly in the
-face. The mountain will not come to Mahomet; he must go to the mountain.
-The existence and rapid progress of Machinery is a fact which cannot be
-set aside; the world will not, cannot go backward: Machinery cannot be
-destroyed; it cannot even be held where it is, but must move onward to
-further and vaster triumphs. We may deplore this, but cannot prevent
-it.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-The perusal of this article would have determined us, had we not been
-resolved beforehand, to lay before our readers an account of the very
-remarkable works to which we have before alluded, by the proprietors of
-which the machinery mentioned in the letter of “the thoughtful laborer”
-was of course manufactured, as by them it was invented; being no other
-than the great eight-cylinder, type-revolving, fast-printing press.
-Similar machines, though varying in the number of cylinders, are
-employed by the New York Herald and Tribune, the eight-cylinder being
-used by the Sun, the Philadelphia Ledger, and other journals in the
-United States, as also by the Parisian La Patrie, the quasi organ of the
-present Prince President, and, according to present appearances, future
-Emperor of the French.
-
-These works are in truth one of the most remarkable sights, if not the
-most worthy of remark, of all that are shown to strangers in New
-York—and yet to how few are they shown. The changes to which they have
-already given birth are great enough, even now,
-
- “To overcome us like a summer cloud,”
-
-but the end of those changes is not yet, nor shall be, while we are.
-What they shall be, we may not even conjecture—perhaps the
-civilization, the christianizing of the world entire, and the reduction
-of all tongues and dialects to one universal English language.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: BROOME STREET MANUFACTORIES. (_Ground Plan._)]
-
-
-
-
-To waste no more words, however, in mere speculation, but to come to
-facts, the history of the origin and progression of these truly
-wonderful works, of which more anon, is in itself by no means void of
-interest—even of something of romance.
-
-In the well-known and ill-remembered yellow-fever summer of New York, an
-Englishman by birth, a carpenter by trade, landed in the city of the
-plague, a stranger, friendless, sick, and but scantily provided with
-what has been termed the root of all evil, which one-third of our
-people, however, regard as the sole object and aim of exertion and
-existence here and hereafter.
-
-His good fortune, or rather—for we believe not in fortune—his good
-providence brought him in contact with that most singular of geniuses,
-Grant Thorburn. With him he boarded, with him struggled through the
-terrors of the prevailing pest, by him was tenderly nursed, and from his
-roof entered into business with Smith, the well-known machinist and
-inventor of the hand-press which still bears his name; nor is it yet
-superseded by more recent improvements. Their partnership terminated
-only with the decease of Mr. Smith; from which time, under the sole
-conduct of Mr. Hoe—for the stranger guest of Mr. Thorburn was no other
-than the father of the energetic, inventive and enterprising gentlemen,
-whose works we are about to describe—the business became permanently
-established, and yearly advanced in popularity and reputation, which
-constitute profits.
-
-Still, greatly as he improved upon what had been before, at his death in
-1834, the average annual sales of the concern did not exceed 50,000
-dollars; they never now fall short of 400,000; and often amount to half
-a million. Such are, and will ever be, the consequences of energy,
-industry, probity and sobriety, joined to an earnest and sincere
-application of that talent, which each one of us in some sort possesses,
-to its true and legitimate increase and improvement—in other words, to
-quote a book so much out of fashion—find the more the pity!—in these
-piping times of progress, as the old church catechism, a quiet resolve
-to “do our duty in that state of life to which it hath pleased God to
-call us.”
-
-Shortly after the death of Mr. Hoe, sen., his sons and successors,
-finding the then premises insufficient, moved to the ground now occupied
-by their great manufactories, occupying a hollow block four stories in
-height, of two hundred feet front on Broome street, by one hundred in
-depth on Sheriff and Columbia streets, as also a second lot on the other
-side of Broome street, containing their saw works, hardening furnaces,
-stables, and other necessary buildings. In these works, a bird’s eye
-view of which is pre-fixed to this paper, and the ground plan of which
-we here present, the Messrs. Hoe continually employ three hundred men,
-some of them persons of great ability as draughtsmen, pattern-makers,
-mechanicians, and the like—men literally of every nation, as nearly as
-may be, under the sun; among whom are comprised several Armenians, said
-to be persons of great intelligence and excellent deportment.
-
-Besides this, their principal factory, they have another large and well
-built establishment, containing ware-rooms, counting-house, blacksmith’s
-shop, machine shop, and steam-engine room, in Gold street, nearly
-adjoining Fulton. This, though in fact headquarters, we shall pass over
-for the time being, premising only—in order to show the perfect method
-and system of time and labor-saving with which every thing belonging to
-this firm is conducted—that they have at their own expense, and for
-their own private use, erected an electric telegraph, carried by the
-permission of the proprietors over the roofs of houses, from the
-counting-room to the up-town factories, by which the smallest message or
-order is conveyed, and answered almost instantaneously. Nor are the
-proprietors dissatisfied with the result, having found by experience
-that the great original expense was very speedily compensated by the
-gain of time, and yet more of precision which it introduced.
-
-Returning up-town, therefore, we will descend into the vault under the
-first yard, in which we shall find the moving puissance of all the vast
-machinery of hammers, planes, lathes, drills, grindstones, tools and
-devices, almost without name or number, which are constantly laboring
-with their iron nerves, noiseless, tireless, indefatigable, through
-every story of the great building—in the shape of the boilers and
-steam-engine, which, beside furnishing all the motive power, supply
-every part of the building, by a very ingenious application, with a
-constant stream of evenly tempered, pure, heated air, at the same time
-maintaining a thorough ventilation, and all without the slightest danger
-of fire.
-
-The spent steam is brought into a series of coiled pipes within a trunk,
-through which a continual stream of pure external air flows without
-intermission, and is carried by wooden tubes through every story and
-room of the building; as is likewise an ample provision of Croton water,
-as well a provision against fire, as for the cleanliness and comfort of
-the men.
-
-Of the engine there is nothing very special to be observed, as it is of
-the old construction, and, though perfectly efficient, not now to be
-imitated or adopted. It is a horizontal high pressure engine of about
-forty horse power, under the head of steam usually employed, though
-capable of exerting considerably more force, if called upon. There has
-been recently attached to it a singularly ingenious little machine, in
-the shape of a hydraulic regulator, of which great expectations are
-entertained, and which, in the very short time it has been tested, works
-to admiration, one week only having elapsed since its application. To
-attempt to describe this, or in fact any other complicated machine, in
-an illustrative article such as this pretends only to be, were an
-absurdity; for the operations of the simplest engines can be rendered
-thoroughly comprehensible, only—if at all—by thorough diagrams with
-numerical references, and then comprehensible only to scientific
-readers, conversant at least with the principles and working of the
-motive power, and the forces to be exerted by it.
-
-Ascending from the subterranean regions, which are, by the way, so
-constructed under an open and little occupied court-yard that even in
-case of any untoward accident the least possible damage would ensue, and
-certainly no upheaval of whole edifices, as by the explosion of a powder
-magazine, would be the consequence, we arrive next in the order of
-production at the great foundery, occupying nearly one half of the
-ground floor on the Broome street front.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: OLD STEAM-ENGINE, BROOME STREET.]
-
-Of this, although it furnishes the rude material, the first degree we
-mean from the actual raw metal for the whole establishment, the saw
-manufactory alone excepted, there is little to be noted worthy of
-particular attention by those who are familiar with the operation of
-furnaces, founderies and casting on a large scale, as in fact there is
-nothing in it unusual or novel, unless it be what struck us as both
-novel and unusual, the general absence of noise, confusion, din and
-turmoil, not to mention ill sounds, ill savors, and oppressive heat,
-which seems to pervade the whole establishment. This, ministering as it
-does largely to the comfort and well-being of all concerned, detracts
-somewhat, it must be admitted from the picturesque effect of the
-scenery, and its adjuncts. Even the neatness and cleanliness of the
-orderly and well conducted moving about each his own business
-noiselessly, and obeying a sign or the wafture of a hand, diminished the
-effect which we almost expect to feel in an iron foundery, a furnace, or
-a machine shop.
-
-We well remember the impression left on our mind years ago by a visit to
-some gigantic iron works in Sheffield, an impression which made itself
-felt for many a month in strange fantastic dreams and painful
-nightmares—such influence, not on the imagination only but on the
-nerves, had the dense murky gloom of the dim vaults, suddenly kindled,
-as by magic, into a fierce incandescent glare by the lava-like torrents
-of molten iron, the volumes of black smoke, the stifling heat of the
-oppressed and exhausted atmosphere, and then the roar of unseen waters,
-suggestive of those subterranean streams of Hades, Acheron and Cocytus,
-the whirr and hurtling of unnumbered wheels, the terrible and deafening
-clang of the huge trip-hammers, literally making the solid earth jar and
-tremble; and last and most appropriate to the scene, the swarthy,
-grim-visaged workmen, fit representatives of Vulcan and his Cyclops, now
-glancing into lurid light, now vanishing into darkness, as the fitful
-flashes rose and fell. Of a verity there can be no much more appropriate
-representation of Pandemonium than an old-fashioned English iron works
-on a large scale.
-
-But there is no room for marveling or romancing after this fashion in
-the machine works of Messrs. Hoe & Co., for all the rooms are well
-aired, well lighted, and none the less adapted to their purpose for
-being suitable to the accommodation of men who neither are slaves, nor
-in anywise resemble devils.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GREAT FOUNDERY.]
-
-From the foundery we proceed, across the open yard, to the smithy, a
-large, lofty, well proportioned apartment, containing two enormous
-steam-hammers, the speed and consequent impetus of which can be
-modulated by a very easy application of manual force, at the pleasure of
-the operator, so that they can be made either to rise and fall as slowly
-as the maces of Gog and Magog on the great bell of Saint Dunstan’s, or
-to impinge upon whatever is objected to their descent with a velocity
-which almost mocks the eye. In this apartment and its adjunct forge
-there are no less than eighteen stithies, the bellows of all which are
-worked by the ubiquitous power of the engine, with anvils of all manners
-and sizes in due proportion, and sturdy operatives plying them with
-tranquil and regulated industry, worth five times the amount of human
-force exerted unequally and impulsively, by fits and starts. These men,
-for the most part, and, in fact, always when not called off by some
-casual and unexpected pressure of business in some one department, are
-kept constantly employed at that peculiar species of work with which
-each is the most familiar, such method and system in the subdivision of
-labor being found to insure not only the greatest excellence, but the
-greatest celerity of workmanship.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: SMITHY.]
-
-In this shop all such portions of the engines, presses, large and small,
-printing and inking machines, and of the machinery by the agency of
-which the above machines themselves are created, as are composed of
-wrought metal, are forged, welded, made new from the commencement, or
-repaired in case of damage. For it is worthy of remark that, although
-many of the labor-saving machines and tools are of English make—not a
-few by the celebrated Whitworth, said to be the first tool-maker in the
-world—there is not one that cannot, on emergency, be made, mended, or
-altered, within the precincts of the establishment; while many of the
-most admirable contrivances are patents and inventions peculiar to this
-country and this firm.
-
-Immediately adjoining the smithy, is the engine and machine shop, and on
-the same floor the large lathe-room containing four enormous surface
-lathes and two turning lathes, for drilling, boring, turning, and
-finishing both circular and horizontal surfaces.
-
-From this point, we shall proceed to the saw works, preferring to take
-each separate department of work by itself, from the commencement to the
-end, rather than to adhere to the precise order and position of the
-several rooms, as situated in the building.
-
-The first room devoted to this branch of manufacture, which is a very
-considerable and important item in the business of Messrs. Hoe & Co.,
-the annual sales amounting to not less than 140,000 dollars, in circular
-saws, mill-saws, pit-saws, and crosscut-saws, for all parts of the
-country, is known as the saw shop.
-
-Herein is performed the business of smithing, teething, and blocking the
-great saws; hundreds of thousands of which are at work, driven by water
-or by steam-power in every portion of the boundless territories of the
-United States, to which the enterprising foot and adventurous axe of the
-white settler has found access—clearing with their restless and
-indomitable teeth the solid and tenacious fibres of the gnarled
-live-oaks in the pestilent swamps of Florida, and the dank “regions far
-away, by Pascagoula’s sunny bay,” into the crooked knees of mighty
-vessels, that shall set at naught the howling billows of the wild
-Atlantic, and the blasts of the mad storm-wind, Euroclydon, riving into
-planks and beams and timbers, that shall build up the palaces of
-commerce, and the happy homes of our lordly cities, the white and
-penetrable flesh of “those captive kings so straight and tall, those
-lordly pines, which fell long ago in the deer-haunted forests of Maine,
-when deep upon mountain and plain lay the snow.”
-
-The machinery by which these various processes are accomplished is
-exceedingly fine and worthy of notice, and vastly superior to that used
-in England; in the dock-yards of which country the circular saws were
-first brought into service, if we do not err; especially that for
-cutting the teeth, which, worked by steam-power, does its duty with
-great rapidity and incomparable precision.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: SAW SHOP.]
-
-This operation is performed by the vertical descent of a ponderous arm
-of iron, terminating in a cutter of the form of the notch to be made in
-the yet soft and smooth edge of the circular plate, which is made by the
-same power to revolve horizontally upon an axis placed at such distance
-from the impinging weight as the depth of the notch to be cut requires,
-and traversing at a rate so timed in unison with the descent of the
-cutters as to render the series of teeth perfectly continuous and equal;
-each blow of the cutter forming the interval between two teeth, and each
-full revolution of the plate completing a circular-saw. In the same way
-is effected the teething of the straight saws, the motion being a direct
-sliding action in a forward line, instead of a rotatory movement.
-
-In the English saw works, owing to the influence of trade-unions,
-operative-unions, and the like, the application of steam-power to this
-machinery is prohibited, and the employer is restricted to the use of
-hand labor—the cutter being jerked down by man power, and the edge of
-the plate to be cut being subjected to the striker by hand, the
-formation of the teeth not being regulated by any absolute scale, but
-being executed by the calculation or guess-work of the artisan, and, of
-course, varying in accuracy, depth and precision of cutting according to
-the skillfulness or unskillfulness of the individual operator.
-
-To the absence of these ingenious combinations, injurious alike to the
-true interest of operators and employers, the superiority in many
-respects of American to English machinery is in some degree due, and not
-less to the over stringency of the patent laws of Great Britain, which
-often prevent the application of really leading and most material
-improvements, of a radical nature, to principles secured for the benefit
-of the inventor.
-
-We may here observe that the use of circular saws is very greatly on the
-increase in this country, more especially in the western portion of it.
-In the east, for some inexplicable reason, this admirable instrument is
-far less generally used; and the writer of this article, several years
-ago, when on a visit to the timber districts of Maine, on expressing his
-surprise at the non-adoption of this most excellent and labor-saving
-tool, could learn no adequate cause for the prejudice existing against
-it, unless it were some crude and absurd ideas concerning its vibration
-and consequent irregularity of cutting—objections not founded on facts,
-nor confirmed by experience.
-
-From the saw shop the circular plates, now teethed and in the incipient
-stage of what Willis would call _sawdom_, are removed across Broome
-Street into the other building, and introduced to the saw hardening
-room, where they are converted into highly tempered steel.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: SAW HARDENING ROOM.]
-
-This process is effected by heating the metal in charcoal furnaces to a
-white incandescent glow, and then cooling it by immersion in baths of
-oil and other drugs, the combination of which is, we believe, a secret.
-This done, the saws are ready for grinding which is effected in a
-special apartment of the main building—the flat, straight saws by hand
-application to a series of powerful grindstones, driven at a regular
-speed by gearings worked from the engine, and the circular saws by a
-very curious and effective patent machine, peculiar to this
-establishment, and invented by Mr. Hoe himself.
-
-The old method of grinding circular saws, and that still practiced in
-all other works of this nature, is the application of them horizontally
-to the great vertically-moving grindstones by the hand; and, when it is
-considered that these great steel plates run up to six feet diameter and
-eighteen of circumference, and that they consequently entirely conceal
-the grindstone from the eyes of the operator who applies them, it will
-be evident that the process is mere guess-work, and that no certainty
-can be attained in regulating the thickness of the blades—in a word,
-that nothing was effected beyond the superficial brightening and
-abstersion of the surface.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: GRINDING ROOM.]
-
-The new machine causes the great circular plate to revolve vertically on
-its access, while a “pad” to which is applied some sharp, detergent
-mineral-powder, is moved forcibly over its surface with a triple action.
-
-In the first place, the pad itself is made to revolve with great
-velocity against the circular plane, in a direction perpendicular to its
-line of motion. In the second place, it is driven forward against it
-horizontally with a force increasing or diminishing, in proportion as it
-may be desirable to render the saw-blades thicker or thinner in any
-particular part of the circumference. It is usual to leave them thicker
-at the centre, and to grind them away gradually toward the
-circumference. Thirdly and lastly, the pad, while it revolves vertically
-in a direction perpendicular to the revolving plane, and is forced
-horizontally against it, is also driven laterally to and fro across its
-surface; and the result is a degree of equability, or graduation of
-thickness, as well as of superficial polish, scarcely otherwise
-attainable. This machine is one of the special wonders and ornaments of
-the establishment.
-
-It will not be amiss here to add, that with the improvements of their
-manufacture the demand for circular saws is continually on the increase;
-and that a single house is in the habit of taking regularly six of these
-powerful tools weekly from the Messrs. Hoes’ establishment.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: IRON PLANING, AND CUTTING ENGINE ROOMS.]
-
-Returning hence to the leading and principal feature of these works, the
-manufacture, namely, of all the various instruments and appliances for
-the art imprimatorial, we are next ushered into the iron planing and
-cutting engine rooms, for the cutting the cogs of engine wheels, and
-finishing the surfaces of whatever portions of the machinery must be
-brought to a smooth and polished face. This is done by the propulsion of
-the pieces of metal so to be planed, in a horizontal and longitudinal
-direction against cutting edges, which again move horizontally across
-the moving planes, and are pressed downward on them vertically, so as to
-bring the planing to the requisite depth. The abraded portions are
-thrown off from the surface, of cast iron in a sort of scaly dust, from
-wrought iron in long, curled shavings, and the planes can be wrought up
-to almost any desirable degree of finish and smoothness.
-
-The cutting engine for the formation of cogged wheels, bears some
-relation to that for the teething of saws, the cutter impinging
-downward, with an action in some degree intermediate between that of
-sawing and filing, upon the exterior circumference of the circular
-wheels, which revolve on their axis under them in a rotation so
-regulated to the fall of the striker as to insure absolute equality in
-the width of the cogs or projections.
-
- [_Conclusion in our next_
-
------
-
-[1] Ships.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- A FAREWELL.
-
-
- W. H. HOSMER.
-
-
- Drifting on the darkened waters
- Are Earth’s dying sons and daughters,
- And, like ships that meet each other,
- Brother gives a hail to brother:
- Brief the pleasure of that meeting,
- And forgotten oft the greeting.
-
- Could I think that other faces
- Would of me blot out all traces.
- Though I cannot be thy lover,
- Clouds my path would gather over;
- From remembrance, then, endeavor
- Not to blot me out forever.
-
- Fare thee well! must now be spoken,
- And another tie be broken;
- Though the hour hath come to sever,
- Lady! I’ll forget thee never,
- But thy warmth of soul remember
- Till extinct life’s wasting ember.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- EDITH MORTON.
-
-
- BY MISS S. A. STUART.
-
-
- CHAPTER I.
-
-Have you ever been, dear reader, in that sweet little village of A——,
-in Virginia? Well, if you have not, you certainly have yet to see, the
-most pleasant little Eden of this earth; where they have the purest air,
-the most beautiful sunsets, and the bluest skies imaginable—Italy not
-excepted—so I think. There lived my heroine; and _such_ a heroine, at
-the time I have chosen to introduce her to you.
-
-It was close upon sundown, on a lovely spring day, when a strikingly
-handsome, _distingué_ looking young man, alighted from his buggy, at the
-residence of Mrs. Morton, in the above mentioned village. Charles
-Lennard—the young man spoken of—had been received as a boarder, for a
-few months, into Mrs. Morton’s quiet family, as his health was too
-delicate to allow him to trust to the precarious and uncertain kindness
-shown by the landladies, in general, of thriving village inns. Some
-moneyed affair had called him to A., and here he had arrived on this
-lovely spring evening; and the skies wore their rosiest blush to greet
-his coming.
-
-“By all that’s pretty! ’tis a little Paradise,” was his muttered notice,
-as he passed through the flower-garden, whose clinging vines, creeping
-o’er the lattice supports, veiled the little bird-nest of white that
-peeped out amid the rich green foliage, varied in color by a thousand
-tinted flowers. “I hope Mrs. Morton has given me a room overlooking the
-garden; ’twill be delightful to read here whilst these perfumes are
-floating around one.”
-
-The door was wide open, and a quiet, blue-eyed lady sat sewing in the
-back part of the wide hall, who raised her soft, kind eyes inquiringly
-to his face, as his shadow darkened the doorway.
-
-“Mrs. Morton, I presume?” said he, as she approached him. “I am Mr.
-Lennard, whom you were so kind as to admit—”
-
-“I am happy to see you, Mr. Lennard,” interrupted she, hospitably
-extending her hand to bid him welcome. “Walk into this room, sir. We are
-very plain folks here, Mr. Lennard—but you must endeavor to make
-yourself at home. Alec”—to a boy who entered—“take this gentleman’s
-buggy and horse and put them up.”
-
-Turning to her guest, she conducted him into her cosy parlor, now filled
-with the golden moats of the glimmering sunbeams, that quivered through
-the foliage that draped the windows; whilst the atmosphere of the room
-itself breathed sweets unnumbered. They chatted of the weather, of his
-journey, of the village, etc., till Mrs. Morton, remembering her duty as
-hostess, begged her guest to excuse her, whilst she hurried off, “on
-hospitable thoughts intent.” Charles threw himself dreamily and
-indolently into the old-fashioned arm-chair, which stood invitingly in
-the shadow of the window.
-
-A young, glad voice, a light, bounding step, broke on his reverie; and,
-as he glanced toward the door, whence the sound came—_bang!_ almost in
-his face, fell a carpet-bag, half filled with books, and then an
-exclamation of surprise from a young fairy, who just stopped long enough
-to make him doubt whether she was mortal or angel—and then again
-bounded off like a young, startled fawn. ’Tis our heroine—Edith
-Morton—released from her duties at the village academy, wild with
-repressed play and mischief, who has done him this favor! She returned
-ere long with her mother, reluctant and blushing, to sanction by her
-presence the apology uttered for her.
-
-“You will excuse Edith, Mr. Lennard, I hope, for her carelessness. She
-tells me that the light dazzled her eyes so much, that she was not aware
-of your presence; she has been in the habit of throwing her books into
-this room—the arm-chair which you now occupy being her morning study.
-Edith, speak to Mr. Lennard, and tell him how sorry you are for your
-rude greeting.”
-
-“Do not trouble yourself, Miss Edith. Your apology is all-sufficient, my
-dear madam; I, too, must apologize, for having unknowingly taken
-possession of her study, which is indeed inviting. You must look upon me
-as belonging to the family, and act without restraint; for I assure you,
-the thought would be far from pleasant did I think I interfered in the
-slightest degree with your settled habits. Miss Edith, you did right to
-send me such a reminder at the outset, and I assure you I will be more
-careful in future.”
-
-A gleam of light, like a lurking smile, might be detected in the arch
-eyes of Edith, as she received this apology from Lennard. And he
-thought, without, however, giving utterance to it, “What a bewitching
-little fairy.” Edith Morton, though she had not reached the age of
-sixteen, was an exquisite specimen of girlish beauty, as impossible to
-resist as to describe. Her charm did not lie in her regular features,
-golden ringlets, or beautifully moulded and sylph-like form; though each
-and every one of these adjuncts to female loveliness she possessed in a
-preëminent degree, but her expression—arch, _spirituelle_! ’Tis useless
-to endeavor to convey an idea of the impression she _must_ have made on
-you with those divine eyes, lit up in their blue depths, with the
-sunlight of her merry heart, or the piquant expression of her rosy
-mouth, whose deeply-tinted portals, when wreathed with one of her
-infectious, heart-beaming smiles, disclosing white, even, little pearls,
-as Jonathan Slick says, shining like a mouthful of “_chewed_ cocoa-nut.”
-Shy before strangers, from her secluded life, she was the life of the
-circle in which she was known, and loved. Full of mischief, and the
-ringleader in every school-girl frolick, her ringing, mellow laugh,
-often echoed through the play-ground of the village school, or singing
-merrily, as she was borne aloft in the swing, or dancing like a fairy on
-the green. Many were the boy-lovers who bowed at her shrine, with their
-simple, heartfull offerings; but none felt themselves signally
-favored—for, young as she was, she seemed to have erected a standard of
-excellence in her own mind, and her ideal hero was alone the loved.
-
-Charles Lennard soon made himself perfectly at home with Mrs. Morton and
-Edith; and his first evening with them passed pleasantly enough to him.
-He felt himself much attracted by her exquisite beauty; and, as their
-acquaintanceship progressed, when her mother left the room on household
-duties, he was much amused by her piquant and original replies to his
-questions. He found her, too, not uneducated, and, young as she was, a
-reader and lover of many of his own favorite poets. At the close of the
-evening, Mrs. Morton requested Edith to sing, and, with a startled look
-toward Lennard, she left her seat to get the guitar from its case.
-
-“Mother, ’tis dreadfully out of tune,” in a tone of entreaty.
-
-“Well, Edith, that is soon remedied by your _will_. So, my daughter, do
-not make any further excuse, but sing to me as usual. Mr. Lennard will
-excuse the faults when he sees how willing you are to oblige.”
-
-Edith bent low over the instrument as she tuned it, and looking up into
-her mother’s face, as if her shyness was not yet overcome, waited for
-that mother to tell her to commence.
-
-“Are you ready? well, play then my favorite.”
-
-And though the young voice was trembling, and not well drilled, yet she
-warbled her “wood notes wild” with marvelous sweetness; and she blushed
-with pleasure at Lennard’s seeming enjoyment of her simple music; and
-her “good-night” to him was as charming as to an acquaintance of longer
-date, accompanied as it was by such a sweet smile.
-
-“What a nice little wife she will make for some one, in days to come,”
-thought he, as standing by the window overlooking the garden, he found
-himself musing on the singularly graceful and beautiful child whom he
-had left.
-
-Charles Lennard had no idea at that moment of ever loving Edith Morton.
-She was too young, too unformed in mind to comprehend him, and to
-follow, as a kindred spirit, through the abstruse and almost
-transcendental range of thought, in which he often loved to engage.
-Delicate in health as in organization, he contented himself for the
-present to be a spectator in the world rather than actor, and in his
-day-dreams now weaving bright pictures for the future—pictures in which
-he was to play a most conspicuous part. We will not say but that a
-vision also of dazzling eyes, dancing ringlets, and woman’s light form,
-constituted a part of the reveries of the listless and dreamy student.
-
-The neat breakfast-parlor of Mrs. Morton looked as fresh as herself as
-Charles descended, the next morning, to that meal. And there sat Edith
-in the old, deeply cushioned chair, book in hand, conning her morning
-task most zealously, but ever and anon pushing her little foot out to a
-kitten on the floor, as playful as herself, who, with its eyes distended
-to a perfect circle, sat watching it most sagely, and then jumping
-quickly to catch it, in retreat—so that the young girl would laugh most
-merrily, and then again resume her book. Charles watched her from the
-hall ere he entered, for on his entrance she drew herself up most
-demurely, and cut the kitten’s acquaintance _instanter_.
-
-“May I assist you with your map-questions, Miss Edith?”
-
-“No, I thank you. I have finished studying them. Mother always insists
-that if I rise early I will learn twice as fast, and also be prepared to
-say them when the bell rings.”
-
-“I know,” said Mrs. Morton, “she will be obliged to stop for play every
-now and then. Yes, truly, Edith, you are a sad idler.”
-
-“Ah, mother! but you should only see me in school. Here there is so much
-to take up my attention. I mean I am obliged to kiss you, to tend the
-flowers, and—and play with pussy;” and here, forgetting Mr. Lennard,
-she caught up her little pet, and began smoothing its soft fur with her
-white hand.
-
-“For shame, Edith; will you always be a child? Come, Mr. Lennard,
-breakfast is ready.”
-
-
- CHAPTER II.
-
-The holydays had come, and Edith was at home for the summer. How
-pleasant were her anticipations of her joyous freedom from dull books
-and the restraint of school routine for months to come. The next year
-she was to become a boarder in a fashionable school in Philadelphia, and
-her mother decided that the intervening time should be spent with her
-needle, in preparation for that event. Yes; how delightful! so Edith
-thought, to sit in that sociable room sewing, where the air was redolent
-with perfume, and the sunshine stole so coyly in through the vine-draped
-windows, making shimmering and fantastic figures on the highly polished
-and waxed floor of that peculiarly summer-room, as the sweet south wind
-waved them to and fro. Oh! for her, with her young heart of hope, the
-summer air was so delightful when it came through that window, where she
-loved to sit gazing dreamily of a lucid, still morning, coming, too,
-laden with sweets stolen from the dewy flowers; and then a glance at
-those fleecy, shifting clouds in the blue sky—why ’twas better to her
-than the fairy scenes of a magic lantern or gorgeous theatric spectacle.
-
-And there, too, sat Lennard, quite domesticated by this time.
-Notwithstanding he thought it would be so very pleasant to study in
-_his_ room overlooking the garden, he as regularly walked into the
-parlor every morning with his book, until quite a _small library_ began
-to collect. Occasionally he would read favorite passages from them to
-Edith, as she sat sewing, and, child as she was, looking into her eyes
-for sympathy in his enthusiasm. But far oftener would he be wandering
-into the garden with her, selecting flowers; sometimes holding the
-tangled skein, and that, too, so intently, that often his dark brown
-locks were mingled with her golden ones. The peals of merry laughter!
-“How much amused they are,” repeated to herself Mrs. Morton; but on
-entering and inquiring what caused their merriment, ’twas too little to
-frame into an answer. Any thing—nothing—created a laugh or smile with
-them, they were so happy—so very happy. Nor was music’s soft strains
-neglected to gild the passing hours. There, in the witching, summer
-twilight, still, soundless, save the low melody gushing from Edith’s
-lips, as she sung to her simple accompaniment on the guitar, and with
-the fuller, deeper music of Charles’ voice, they sat wrapt in their
-happiness, unconscious—(at least one of them)—of the feelings rife
-within their hearts of what heightened their enjoyment.
-
-Edith _was unconscious_. She was fully aware, it is true, that life was
-gaining every day fresh charms. To her eye the blue vault had never
-looked “so deeply, darkly, so intensely blue.” The birds had surely
-never sung so sweetly, nor the very flowers borne so bright a hue; and
-yet, to all appearance, as time wore on, she was not so gleeful nor so
-wildly frolicksome as usual. No longer would her voice be detected in
-the ringing laugh, but smiles were rippling and dimpling o’er her face,
-in her quiet heart happiness. Yes, in her heart of hearts, what a spring
-of deep joy was bubbling up almost to overflowing, quietly unknown to
-others, but thrillingly alive to herself; so intense at times, that
-those sweet eyes would glisten with unshed tears at the very thought
-that death might come and bear her off from so bright, so joyous a
-world, where life _itself_ was bliss. Her unusual quietness—her fitful
-and radiant blushes—the soul-full glances—the _manner_ that was
-stealing so softly, yet so perceptibly o’er the young girl, _toning_
-down, as it were, her high spirits, was noticed by her mother; but her
-conclusion was simply “that Edith is growing into a woman, and will not
-be such a hoyden as I dreaded.”
-
-_Edith was unconscious!_ But not so the dreamy student. He, though
-albeit as much a child in the actual business of life as Edith, was much
-better skilled in the heart’s lore. He had seen the flash of joy which
-brightened her eye—had watched the cheek kindling at his approach, and
-the smile of womanly sweetness, wreathing her exquisite lip at his words
-or glance of approval.
-
-He had become, with Mrs. Morton’s acquiescence—having nothing to occupy
-him, he had informed her—Edith’s instructor in French; and he saw how
-any thing but wearisome was the daily task; and, in the solitude of his
-chamber, stole welcomely into his mind the thought that _he_ had taught
-her _practically_ to conjugate through all its inflections the verb
-_aimer_. Mrs. Morton very often complained to Edith that she neglected
-her sewing for her book, her guitar, her evening rambles—but she was
-the widow’s only child, her bright gleam of sunshine; her idleness was
-overlooked, and she was allowed to have her own will, and continued to
-be the constant companion of Charles Lennard.
-
-It was a moonlight evening in the latter end of October. Edith, Mrs.
-Morton, an elderly lady-visitor, and Charles, rambled about a quarter of
-a mile from the village, to a place called the Coolspring, to enjoy one
-of the nights which October had stolen from summer, and, delighted with
-the beauty of the lonely, sequestered spot, where the moonbeams rested
-so brightly and reflectingly on the rustic spring—now bubbling up from
-the rich green, velvetty sward—now hiding in the thick grass, and anon
-revealing itself by its glitter—that the old ladies seated themselves
-on the rude bench for a cozy chat of “auld lang syne,” and “when we were
-girls, you remember.” Charles and Edith were standing some distance from
-them, watching “the silver tops of moon-touched trees.” Very quietly had
-they thus stood drinking in the quiet loveliness of this enchanting
-scene, and no sound was heard but the mellowed hum of the village, borne
-but echoingly to their ear, and the rustling of the foliage, as it was
-kissed by the night-breeze.
-
-“Edith!” and his voice was low, “is this not beautiful. I swear that I
-could be here content forever, were you but with me. But would you, dear
-Edith?”
-
-A quick, eager, flashing gaze, as her eye was for the instant raised to
-his own, was her answer. ’Twas the look of some wondering and awakened
-child, as the consciousness of her feelings toward Charles stole upon
-her beautifully, though strangely; and something of gladness was in the
-melody of the child-like, trusting, and low-toned voice with which she
-breathed, rather than uttered, “Oh, yes!”
-
-“Dearest Edith!” was all that Charles said for some moments, as he held
-the little trembling hand in his own, then placing it within his arm, he
-drew her to the shade of a large tree, under whose foliage lay the
-fallen trunk of an oak, upon which they sat.
-
-“Dearest Edith,” he again said, as she, with downcast eyes, blushing
-even in that dim light at his impassioned tones and loving words,
-“promise me that you will love me and think fondly of me for the next
-two years I am doomed to wander, and then, when I have fulfilled my
-guardian’s wishes, that you will be my wife? My own Edith, say?”
-
-You could almost hear the beating of that young heart, as she thus sat
-listening at his side, shrinking and trembling from the arm thrown
-around her waist, and turning in timid modesty from the eyes looking so
-ardently loving into the glistening depths of her own, striving to hide
-her feelings from those fondly searching eyes. And Charles—with the
-lightning’s rapidity came into his mind the words of the poet:
-
- “She loves me much, _because_ she hides it.
- Love teaches cunning even to innocence;
- And when he gets possession, his _first_ work
- Is to dig deep within the heart, and there
- Lie hid, and like a miser, in the dark
- To feast alone.”
-
-“_You_ will forget _me_ long ere you come back,” was her answer to his
-reiterated appeal. “Why need I, then, to answer?” And there was a tear
-almost in the liquid voice, as a vision of what her life would be,
-should such prove the truth, arose before her mind’s eye.
-
-“Forget _you_! Do you judge me from yourself, Edith, when you say that?”
-
-“Oh, no!” was the impulsive reply of the young maiden, as she hastily
-and unthoughtedly now answered him. “Oh, no indeed! But you, Mr.
-Lennard, are going to Europe; and you will see there so many, very many
-things and persons to make you forget _me_—a _school-girl_—an ignorant
-_child_. I was ashamed of myself before you, to think _I_ knew so
-little—so very little, and _you_—why you will blush for my ignorance,
-and _then_—how could you love me?”
-
-How sweet were those tones, so full of heart-music that he, luxuriating
-in them, hesitated to answer, that he might catch even their echo; but
-at length came his reply.
-
-“How could I love you! Rather ask, how can—how _could_ I help it. You
-are to me, Edith, more perfect than any human being I ever dreamed of or
-imagined; so lovely, darling, that when you burst on me first, in your
-young, pure loveliness, I was almost in doubt if you, indeed, belonged
-to our dull earth. _How could I love you!_”
-
-“What a simple question; yet, how deep in its very simplicity and
-artlessness. Yes, Edith, I almost ask myself the same question—how I
-could _dare_ to love one so like an angel. I will not suffer myself to
-search into my right—lest I say with truth,
-
- ‘’Twere as well to love some bright particular star
- And think to wed it.’
-
-But, promise that you will love me—that you will think ever of me; and
-that when I return you will be my wife?”
-
-“You must ask mother, Ch—Mr. Lennard I mean—Indeed, indeed I cannot
-answer you for—do not laugh when I tell you—I am almost frightened
-when you ask me such a question; though”—and here the young head, with
-its clustering, silken ringlets, bent low as she whispered—“though I do
-love you now better than any one in the world. But, let us go to mother,
-now, Mr. Lennard,” she quickly added, startled as it were, by her own
-confession; and, springing lightly from him, as he attempted still to
-detain her with his loving words, and almost nestling down by her
-mother’s side, like a truant dove returned, and yet, her heart beating
-with the fullness of joy at the sweet knowledge she had thus gained—her
-eye lit up with the lore conned from the new page of the book in her
-life which she had then learnt. And Charles stood by her, even more
-eloquent in his silence than when he wooed her beneath the shadowy, old
-tree.
-
- “But they were young; oh! what without our youth
- Would love be? What would youth be, without love?
- Youth lends it joy and sweetness—vigor—truth,
- Heart, soul, and all that seems as from above.”
-
-
- CHAPTER III.
-
-Events mark time more than years, and this truth, so much known, serves
-me to tell the change wrought in Edith. A child in years, the beautiful
-fable of Psyche was realized; and the next morning found her soul
-awakened, and from her quiet, subdued manner, no longer the child but
-the woman—ay, and with a woman’s loving and devoted heart. Mrs. Morton
-had been informed—much to her surprise, of his proposal to her
-daughter—by Charles, and though prepossessed in his favor, yet she
-demurred giving her consent to their engagement on account of Edith’s
-extreme youth. Charles told her of his isolated condition—his fortune;
-and she at last, won by his earnest entreaties, and the bashful, asking
-look from Edith—whom she chanced to see whilst hesitating—consented to
-their correspondence and conditional engagement. And, now we must hurry
-over the subsequent time which intervened before Lennard’s departure,
-nor do I design to inflict the pangs of parting on any save the lovers
-themselves.
-
-January found Edith at her new school, and her days glided on tranquilly
-and hopefully. She was assiduous at her studies, music, etc.;
-determined, in the depths of her loving yet ambitious little heart, to
-render herself worthy of her future husband.
-
-Charles, carrying letters of introduction to persons of some
-consideration, and having good credit at his bankers, soon found himself
-admitted into circles of the _élite_ in England, France and Italy. But
-every where did he carry about with him his vivid remembrance of Edith
-the young and the loving. Unlike most heroes, he met with no stirring
-adventures—no “accidents by flood or field”—no titled dames sued for
-his love. He traversed England—knew London and its lions—admired its
-gems; dwelt long enough in Paris to speak intelligently; sailed down the
-Rhine; crossed the Simplon, and spent some time at Florence, Naples,
-Venice, and at last settled down in Rome, to drag through the second
-winter of his probation in Europe. And most constant had he been all
-this time, thinking on Edith by day—dreaming of her by night, and
-repeatedly sending his missives of love o’er the broad Atlantic, laden
-with sighs sufficient to waft the bark of itself had not _steam_ deigned
-to assist him.
-
-It was in the month of March, when Lennard fell ill at Rome.
-Alone—recluse and dreamy still in his habits—he had made but few
-acquaintances, and would, I think, have fared but badly had it not been
-for the attention of an American family, like himself, sojourning in the
-“imperial city.”
-
-Mr. Ashton, wife and daughter, were unremitting in their kindness to the
-invalid, the former watching him with a parent’s care, and the daughter
-cheering and amusing him during the listless and languid weeks of his
-slow convalescence. Isabel, or rather Bel Ashton, was not beautiful; but
-there was that nameless charm around her which often attaches more
-powerfully than mere beauty. Partly educated in Europe, she had passed
-much of her time in Paris and other cities of the continent, and
-possessed by _des habitudes_, and by nature, that
-
- “Grace of motion and of look—the smooth
- And swimming majesty of step and tread;
- The symmetry of form, which set
- The soul afloat, even like delicious airs
- Of flute and harp.”
-
-Above all, her wit, sparkling and effervescing like champagne, and
-almost as intoxicating. How swiftly and agreeably speeded on his days.
-Every morning found Charles in the parlor of the _suite_ of rooms
-occupied by the Ashtons, and as he gained strength, their escort in
-rides and sight-seeing promenades. Yet, though he admired Bel Ashton
-much, his betrothed Edith was not forgotten. He now, however, often
-caught himself contrasting them together—wondering had she changed from
-her _spirituelle_, radiant, girlish beauty, into any thing of more
-earthy, coarser mould. With something unpleasant pulling at his
-heart-strings, came the recollection that Edith’s mother had a great
-resemblance to her daughter, but was too much _embonpoint_ to suit his
-ideas of matron comeliness, and then a haunting vision would cross his
-fastidious mind of his worshiped Edith becoming like her mother, a
-Turkish _beauty_ as to her size. Bel, with her tact, her undulating,
-graceful motion, her mannerism, _would_ come in comparison to this
-_bug-bear_—we may almost call it—of his imagination; and, though when
-he remembered her sweet, joyous temper; her appearance, as when standing
-by the moonlit spring, with her graceful, girlish embarrassment—her
-rare and dazzling beauty, her pure young love—Bel would yield instant
-precedence to Edith; yet was he constantly haunted by these ever
-recurring comparisons, until he began—the ingrate!—to feel his
-engagement as a binding chain.
-
-“I am now strong enough,” sighed Charles Lennard, one morning, “to think
-of my preparations to return to America. ’Tis now May, and I must reach
-Virginia sometime in July, on account of my then having reached my
-twenty-first birthday, and am recalled by letters looking business-like,
-in every way. When do you think of returning, Mr. Ashton?”
-
-“I have been debating that question very often of late with my wife, and
-we both have arrived at the conclusion that we have already been
-absentees too long, and must wend our way ‘westward-ho’ also. What say
-you, Mrs. Ashton, and you, _ma Belle_, to being traveling companions
-with our friend Lennard?”
-
-“With all my heart,” said Mrs. Ashton; whilst Bel, who had been seated
-at the piano, ran over with taper and jeweled fingers a brilliant
-symphony, adding to its melody that of her own rich, mellow voice, in
-the words, “There is no home like my own.”
-
-And thus ’twas decided; and Charles carried his unconscious tempter from
-his allegiance along with him. Their intimacy, the effect—where any
-agreeability exists at all—of being “alone on the wide, wide sea,” did
-much to render him still more dissatisfied with his engagement, and
-though he erred not in the _letter_, I fear the _spirit_ suffered in his
-vows of fealty to his affianced Edith. Alas! for man’s love. It is
-indeed
-
- “_Of man’s life a thing apart_.”
-
-Yet, one who thinks should not wish it otherwise, for it would then be
-most unnatural. Man has a thousand and one things to call off his
-thoughts from his love to passing events, glowing and changing as
-rapidly as the evening clouds, tinging his thoughts and feelings,
-chameleon-like, with all the tints and varieties of change, and calling
-upon him to battle with the rough necessities of life. And all this
-prevents him from thinking constantly o’er his dream of love, and
-weakens, as a matter of course, the first passionate ardor which he felt
-when under the influence of the smiles, bright glances, and loving
-words. As Miss Landon most beautifully observes—“_He_ may turn
-sometimes to the flowers on the way-side, but the great business of life
-is still before him. The heart which a woman could utterly fill were
-unworthy to be her shrine. _His_ rule over her is despotic and
-unmodified, but _her_ power over him must be shared with a thousand
-other influences.”
-
-Whilst, on the other hand, woman goes steadily on with her domestic,
-monotonous duties, till they call for no exertion of thought, becoming
-purely mechanical, and the imagination having no healthy exercise, runs
-riot in its indulgence of day-dreams. Many and many is the maiden who
-sits sewing most industriously with bright smiles wreathing
-unconsciously her lips—ask her the subject of her thoughts—her blush
-will tell you better than my words. She is now feasting on her
-imagination till her love, by constant thought, constant association
-with her daily routine of duties and pleasures, becomes part and parcel
-of her very existence.
-
-They have all landed in New York—the home of the Ashtons—and still
-Charles Lennard loiters. Day after day finds him among the groups who
-crowd Mrs. Ashton’s parlors to welcome their return. At length Bel and
-her parents decide to spend the summer at Old Point Comfort, and Charles
-immediately finds it necessary for his health to enjoy the sea air and
-bathing. And so he must answer Edith’s last letter, received whilst in
-Europe, and announce his arrival—excuse himself, also, for not flying
-at once to her presence!
-
-
- CHAPTER IV.
-
-And Edith? All this while of chances and changes how is the time passing
-with her? See for yourself reader! Follow me gently into that well-known
-parlor of her mother’s dwelling. There she sits, the beautiful one! as
-light, as graceful, and still more lovely than when we saw her last; for
-we now behold her a thinking, refined, intellectual woman, with all her
-youthful, beaming charms, heightened into exquisite and womanly
-perfection. She is leaning, rather pensively, on the arm of the chair,
-drawn to the opened and perfume draped window, with her soft, dimpled
-hand holding in its rose-colored palm the rounded chin; the neat, little
-foot patting unconsciously the floor—her eyes bent on the flowers of
-her garden, seeing them in all their floating hues, like the mingled
-colors of a kaleidoscope, before her musing gaze. Her guitar leans
-against her knee, and the other hand is straying across the strings,
-awaking its echoes like the notes of an Eolian harp.
-
-“Mother, I will go with cousin Frank and Sallie to Old Point. They are
-so anxious I should do so.”
-
-“And suppose, Edith, Mr. Lennard arrives in your absence, what shall I
-tell him?” said Mrs. Morton, with a smile.
-
-“Mother, you must forgive my first breach of confidence, for I was too
-unhappy, too wounded in my pride and love to speak of what I am going to
-tell you,” said Edith, her listless attitude now abandoned for one of
-energy, and the usual musical tones were rapid and more harsh—“yes,
-mother, my very first. Mr. Lennard will be at Old Point soon after I
-reach there. Yesterday I received a letter from him, and such a letter!”
-Edith’s voice faltered, but indignantly driving back the tears which
-were filling her eyes, she drew from her pocket a letter, and handing it
-to her mother, told her to read it. Whilst Mrs. Morton arranged her
-glasses, Edith sunk back into the chair with a slight frown and
-heightened color, and one could see from the clenched hand how
-determined she was to overcome the agitation which was increasing by her
-disclosures.
-
- “_New York, June, 1847._
-
- “Dear Edith,—You must pardon my seeming neglect in having left
- unanswered so long your last. I have been very ill, and had it
- not been for the unexampled kindness of an American family
- resident in Rome, should long ere this have slept my last sleep.
- And though barely recovered, I feel that my strength needs
- recruiting ere I can be considered aught but an invalid, and
- will therefore set out for Old Point Comfort the last of this
- month. I hope I need not assure you that I feel my exile from
- your presence most sensibly, and I anticipate the pleasure of
- visiting you in A—— as soon as I am better. I know, my dear
- Edith, that this is but a sorry return for your long and
- affectionate letter to me; but I never did excel in putting my
- thoughts and feelings upon paper, my weakness now, must excuse
- even this poor attempt. I know your kind heart will make every
- apology for me, and you will look upon this as only the
- announcement, from myself, of my return to my native land, and
- of course, to you. Believe me, dear Edith, as ever,
-
- Truly yours,
- Charles.”
-
-Mrs. Morton folded the letter slowly, and gave it back to Edith.
-
-“He may be as he says, Edith, too unwell and too weak to write as he
-wishes.”
-
-“Unwell!” said Edith indignantly; “were _I dying_ I would not have
-written such a letter to _him_. Yes, I will go to Old Point, and show
-Mr. Lennard that I can resign him, and still live: I am determined he
-shall never triumph in the thought, that I, a foolish girl, would weep,
-and pine away, because he has forgotten me,”—here the tears ran freely
-from her beautiful eyes; and, with her voice broken by sobs, she
-continued—as she knelt before her mother, burying her tear-stained face
-in her lap—“and then, dear mother, I will be all your own Edith again:
-no parting from you, for I will never, never love any one, or believe in
-their love as I have done.”
-
-Mrs. Morton suffered her to weep, knowing it was the best for that poor,
-grieved heart thus to find vent from its bitterness; but she showed her
-sympathy in her child’s first grief by her loving words, and by softly
-smoothing the ringlets on her hot, throbbing brow, and by many a tender
-kiss. And Edith, with her head resting on her mother’s lap, sat on the
-floor as of old, when a little child she would listen to stories from
-her parent; and Mrs. Morton, very judiciously, sought to impress upon
-poor Edith, the instability of all things earthly, and begged her to lay
-her griefs, in prayer, at the feet of that kind Father, who is never
-tired of inviting the sorrowing and weary to lay their burthens upon
-him, exhorting her to pray for strength, and firm faith, so as to say
-from her heart—“Though thou slayest me, yet will I trust in _Thee_!”
-
-Some days were passed in preparation for her trip; and, at the appointed
-time, she accompanied her cousin Frank and his wife. The Hygeia Hotel
-was crowded with fashionables and invalids from every section of the
-Union, and our party found they had arrived in excellent time for the
-fancy ball, to take place the ensuing week. Edith was only eighteen; and
-though really grieved at Charles’ cold letter, and supposed
-faithlessness, yet her indignation and wounded pride made her still bear
-up against her sorrow, at the thought of rupturing her engagement with
-Lennard—whom she really loved, with all the warmth of first and
-trusting love, notwithstanding this rude shock it had received. But she
-was hopeful and buoyant in disposition, and consoled herself with the
-thought—as she looked into the mirror, and saw there her
-loveliness—that she yet would win him back to love her still more
-deeply: and pleased was she, very naturally, at the universal admiration
-she excited among the gentlemen; looking forward, too, to her _first_
-ball—thinking Charles Lennard would then see her in a dress, on which
-she bent all her taste to render it bewitching—that he would feel proud
-to be the husband-elect of one to whom so many eyes turned in ecstasy at
-her exquisite beauty. All these, and many more thoughts of a like
-nature, kept her from becoming a prey to her heart sickness, and she was
-really as lively and gay as she intended appearing in his eyes. I hope
-no one will deem my heroine heartless, because she was not as unhappy is
-she first _expected_ to have been. No, very far was Edith Morton from
-that: on the contrary, she possessed warm and ardent feelings, but—as I
-said before—she was hopeful and confident—as what really beautiful
-woman is not?—in the power of her attractions.
-
-
- CHAPTER V.
-
-It was four o’clock, and the day of the expected fancy ball. The house,
-and its crowd of inmates, were in all the anxieties of preparation, and
-pleasing anticipation of the coming _fête_. The Baltimore boats have
-just arrived, bringing fresh accessions to the already thronged hotel;
-and the numerous waiters, and smartly-dressed chambermaids, might be
-seen hurrying here and there, busily preparing for the new comers. The
-long piazzas—that were in front and behind the central saloon—were
-full of gay groups: some sauntering to and fro, others in all the
-careless _abandonnement_ of loose summer garb, were sitting with their
-cigars, and arguing about politics—lazily and prosily, as if even that
-was too much of an exertion for the warm weather. Groups of lovely women
-were promenading through the saloon, in tasteful dinner-dress—some
-laughing, flirting, some chess-playing with the officers of the
-garrison, in their uniforms. Nor was there wanting quite a number of
-sprightly “middies,” with their banded caps set jauntily on their heads,
-for Hampton Roads had two or three frigates, awaiting final orders, ere
-they put to sea.
-
-Edith was neither in the saloon nor piazzas; but if you had searched
-closely, you might probably catch a glimpse of the rosy tips of her
-taper fingers, holding up a _wee_ bit of the curtain, to allow her
-bright eyes to scan the arrivals, as they came up immediately in front
-of her window, amid the bustling porters, hand-barrows, and saunterers,
-from the wharf. Her little heart was beating wildly: and—although
-garbed only in her loose, white _peignoir_—never had she looked more
-lovely; for the rich flush of expectation was on her cheek, and her
-countenance was brightening and changing with every emotion.
-
-Charles Lennard was expected that very evening! She left the saloon
-immediately after dinner, that she might be alone to watch: and here she
-has been stationed at the window, for the last half-hour,
-listening—with her _heart_—to every step, sounding on the gravel. At
-length, _he_ comes—but not alone, as Edith had thought. No; he is one
-of a party, who are now approaching slowly up the walk, directly in
-front of Edith’s window—her room being one of those delightful ones,
-joining the centre saloon.
-
-Well, as I said, here he comes, bearing several shawls, and walking
-slowly along with a graceful girl, in a fashionable traveling-dress,
-whose neatly gloved hand is resting on his arm, and whose thick veil
-hides features that Edith is scanning most uneasily. We will not say
-that a pang, very like the premonitory symptoms of the “green-eyed
-monster,” did not dart through her heart, playing sad havoc with her
-whilome hopeful feelings. Pale, and rather thinner than when she last
-saw him—but oh! how immeasurably superior, to her loving eyes, than all
-the men she had hitherto seen bowing homage to her charms. And now we
-must leave Edith, with feelings too excited for her evening _siesta_,
-and follow Charles and his party, who, of course, are no other than Bel
-Ashton, and her parents.
-
-“A fancy ball! How provoking!” said she, as Charles announced to her
-what was in contemplation, as he rejoined her in one of the parlors,
-where they were waiting for their rooms to be prepared. “Yes, ’tis too
-annoying to have arrived so late, for I cannot possibly now dress in
-character, and I have no wish to enter the ball-room, save in costume.”
-
-“But, my dear Bel,” expostulated Mrs. Ashton; “you have so many
-beautiful evening dresses: you must go indeed. After resting, I shall
-certainly peep in myself during the evening. And you, of course, will
-go, Mr. Lennard?”
-
-“Yes, madam: I would not, if possible, miss seeing such an assemblage of
-my fair country-women, so soon after my return. I hope that my
-comparisons may not be deemed at all critical by you ladies, when I
-shall make them. But, Miss Bel, let me add my entreaties to those of
-your mother, and beg for the honor of becoming your escort for the
-evening.”
-
-“I will not promise you yet,” said she, smiling; “but will let you know
-ere ’tis time to go. And, now, Mr. Lennard, hurry them with our rooms,
-if you have any compassion for me.”
-
-Mr. Lennard again left them to execute her commands, and soon returning
-gave them the welcome intelligence that they were ready; and having
-escorted them to the door, left to betake himself to his, in order to
-recruit from the fatigue of three days’ travel.
-
-He had not the smallest idea of Edith’s being an inmate of the hotel;
-or, indeed, of her being any where except in the quiet little village of
-A——. I really question if a thought had turned toward her, so absorbed
-had he been in his attentions to Miss Ashton, who, by the bye, though
-ever graceful and lady-like, was sometimes exacting in her demands.
-
-Well, he went to sleep, and when he awoke from his refreshing nap, the
-room was shrouded in the dimness of twilight, and a tap at his door made
-him spring from the bed, and throwing on his coat, gave entrance to a
-servant, who brought lights, water, etc., as he had given orders, at
-that hour, and also a little perfumed billet, with “Miss Ashton’s
-compliments, and would be happy to accept of Mr. Lennard’s escort to the
-ball.”
-
-At nine, he was at Mrs. Ashton’s door, where he was joined by the party,
-ready to enter the saloon.
-
-Have you ever been at Old Point Comfort? If you have, ’tis needless for
-me to attempt to describe that spacious saloon, with its corridors on
-each side—large enough to contain with ease at least five hundred,
-without incommoding each other, by jutting elbows, or pinched feet, or
-by making the belle concerned about the appearance of her costume, as
-she mingles in the _mêlée_, or what would appear a crowd in any common
-sized room. What a _coup d’œil_ struck our party as they entered the
-west door from the piazza. No garden ever gleamed more brightly with
-clustering flowers than did that gas-lit, lofty saloon, with its
-pillars, flowers and mirrors reflecting its extensive range and gay
-groups, making it look still larger and better filled. The splendid band
-from the garrison was in full play, wafting strains of delicious music
-over the illumined and perfumed scene. There were groups of fair forms
-and lovely faces, that would task the most skillful artist to depict,
-and match in their rich complexions and brilliant robes even Titian’s
-exquisite coloring. Fragments of conversations, and jets of
-sparkling—now murmuring—laughter would fall from their ruby lips, like
-snatches of delicious music. And there, in other groups, could be seen
-distinguished statesmen and orators—here the merchant, forgetful for
-the nonce of his schemes of profit, as he looked on his superbly
-bedecked wife or fascinating daughter; there the author, whose honeyed
-eloquence linked his readers’ hearts to his name with chains of gold,
-and caused many a pulse to throb as wildly as now beat the hearts of
-those young houries who grace this glad scene. Dancing had not as yet
-commenced.
-
-A buzz of general admiration now follows a group who have just entered.
-It consisted of four persons, two ladies and their escorts, _en
-character à la Cracoviene_. Upon one, in particular, of that well
-dressed quartette did the eye rest in amaze at her radiant beauty of
-form and feature, and the exquisite grace of her undulating step
-reminding one of the dip of a sea-gull—so easy, so light, so gliding in
-its motion. Her cavalier was tall, thereby making the form which leaned
-on his arm almost _petit_ by comparison. Her short, full skirt of white
-silk, with scarlet ribbons—tight-fitting jacket of velvet, of the same
-brilliant dye, with its buttons and embroidery of silver—scarlet boots,
-_à la polka_, and small velvet cap, with white _marabouts_, completed
-the costume, which exactly suited the arch look of the beautiful Edith.
-Her luxuriant tresses of light brown were braided in wide plaits, and
-tied _en nœuds_, with ribbons to match in color her jacket.
-
-Charles fairly started, for—unchanged, except that added years but
-increased her loveliness, and that her coquettish dress and the dazzling
-light made her look still more ethereal and fairy-like—’twas his own
-Edith! Yes, the truant heart, which had been straying, like a thought of
-the mind, was instantly brought back to its allegiance; and the deep
-tone with which he uttered “Edith!” had all the fervor and tenderness of
-the moonlight trysting scene.
-
-A pang, too, very much like jealousy, came to annoy him, at this crisis,
-when he saw her dispensing her smiles to the knot of gentlemen who
-almost surrounded her party, and seemed soliciting her hand for the
-polka quadrilles they were about forming. How inconsistent are those
-very same “lords of creation.”
-
-There was Charles fuming and chafing, internally, because Edith by some
-magnetic attraction had not been able to single him out amid that crowd
-of five hundred!—and he had for a few brief hours past almost forgotten
-her existence. He determined to get clear of Bel as soon as politeness
-would allow, and claim from Edith her recognizance. At the same time,
-however, thoughts of writing a tiny note, and conveying it to her
-privately, crossed the “almost twilight of his brain;” for he was
-fearful that the young, untrained girl, who had never mingled in
-European courts, and been the admiration of mustached barons and
-stripling lords, might be apt to get up a scene.
-
-He might have spared himself this harrowing thought, did he but know
-that Edith had actually seen him on her first entrance, and was
-determined on showing him that her happiness was not _entirely_
-dependent on her whilome, careless lover. The chains he had been so
-anxious to loose he now hugged, with anxiety and joy, the closer to him,
-as he, notwithstanding the brilliant remarks of Bel, (to which I am
-fearful he answered at random,) continued absorbed and wrapped in the
-contemplation of Edith’s peerless beauty, and her sprightly and
-lady-like manner. He now entered, _con amore_, into the truth of
-Shakspeare’s lines—
-
- It so falls out,
- That what _we have_ we prize not to the worth,
- While we enjoy it; but, being lacked and lost,
- Why then we know its value: _then_, we find
- The virtue that possession would not show us
- While it was ours.
-
-He watches her—and she, at last, suffers her eye to fall upon him. “Is
-it possible! Am _I_ so changed! Or, perhaps, she has so far forgotten me
-that, after a lapse of three years, I am not recognized.” These were
-some of his _now_ agonized thoughts; and, with murmured apology, he
-resigned Bel to her father, and moved toward Edith. Too late! She has
-taken her place in the quadrille, and he only reaches her former resting
-place in time to hear the murmurs of admiration from the group of
-gentlemen left. The graceful, willowy figure of Edith is now moving
-through the quadrille with a young officer, whom Lennard at once dubs in
-his heart as “_a puppy_,” from the very fact of seeing him look on _his
-own_ Edith! with too impassioned an eye to suit his fancy.
-
-As she takes her place, she allows her eyes to meet those of Charles—an
-electric stream seems to shoot through each heart, for the bright blush
-of Edith suffuses even her snowy throat.
-
-When the quadrilles were finished, he, of course, had an opportunity of
-advancing and addressing Edith; and that same inconsistency! which I
-have before apostrophized—he would rather have the embarrassment of a
-_scene_ now, than the smile, and—to his excited imagination—very cool,
-collected reception which Edith at this time tenders him. She welcomed
-him, ’tis true, but shared with him—_him_ the loved—the betrothed—the
-absent—the smiles which _his_ heart so covets with the acquaintance of
-a day! Could mortal man bear this? Charles felt that the iron had
-entered into his soul and Edith saw it!
-
-He could not find the opportunity he sought of questioning Edith. He
-asked her to dance—to promenade with him. She held up to him her
-tablets, with its lengthy list of names, and with her musical laugh
-cries, “Mercy, I pray you.” Charles turned off, with a bow he vainly
-strives to make as careless as her manner to him, and rejoins the
-Ashtons. Bel will not dance. She is somewhat provoked with Charles, whom
-she saw addressing Edith with more _empressement_ and _diffidence_ of
-manner than he exhibited toward herself, and hence the cloud.
-
-Their party leave early, and Lennard, restless and disquieted, wanders
-forth to the beach seeking company from the moaning and restless waves
-for his own troubled thoughts. Strains of melody are borne to him on
-that lonely shore from the scene of gay festivity, and he feels angry
-with Edith, whom his jealous imagination pictures reveling in the dance,
-for thus enjoying herself to his own misery. He sat down on the
-breakwater, watching the waves, and in his despairing mood wished for
-death, bethinking himself of the heartlessness of all womankind, and of
-Edith in particular. The stars were paling in the quiet sky when he
-betook himself homeward, worn out and exhausted. He passed the now
-deserted ball-room, “whose guests had fled,” and threw himself on his
-bed, to toss in dark dreams the few remaining hours that intervened
-between then and the time he could reasonably expect to see Edith.
-
-
- CHAPTER VI.
-
-What a glorious night! How dazzling look the shining sand, the
-glistening water, in the moon’s mellow rays which fall now so brightly
-upon them, and bathing in its effulgence those two youthful figures who
-are pacing to and fro on the ramparts of Fortress Monroe, nearest the
-bay. The lady was gazing on the ground, and he—into her lovely face.
-’Twas Edith and Lennard!
-
-Vainly had he sought the interview during the day, but he could only see
-her the centre of an admiring circle, for Edith was decidedly the “star
-of beauty” and the “belle” amid the many who thronged the crowded
-saloons of the Hygeia Hotel. At last she promised to walk with him; and
-directly after tea had she gone with Charles to the garrison, and there,
-’neath that brightly shining moon, had he told her of his fault—of his
-love.
-
-And Edith?
-
-She like a _true_ woman forgave him, for she loved _much_. At first,
-however, she made him writhe under her assumed inconstancy, until she
-saw his agony, and then, when almost in despair of regaining his lost
-treasure—her love—came her forgiveness, like the manna to the starving
-Israelites. Adding, by way of _coda_ to her musical words, the laughing
-exhortation, “To be a good boy, and she would—_try to love him_.”
-
-A week later finds them _en route_ for A——, Charles Lennard
-accompanying them; for he is as eager to ratify his engagement _now_ as
-he was before to free himself. He had told Bel Ashton, the day after the
-ball, of his engagement, and _she did not break her heart_, but was soon
-as gay and as graceful as ever, “winning golden opinions” from all sorts
-of people, for Mr. Ashton was very wealthy, and Bel was his only child!
-
-Mrs. Morton was very much astonished to see Edith return so full of
-happiness, and bringing back, as “quiet as a lamb,” the recreant knight.
-Nor did she advert to the letter or Edith’s protestation, but once, and
-that was when preparing for their marriage, she exclaimed with a smile:
-“So, Edith, instead of coming back to love no one but your mother, you
-only return to fill my hands full of labor and perplexity, and _my_
-heart full of grief at the thoughts of parting with you, even for a
-while.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- LINES,
-
-
- SUGGESTED BY ROGERS’ STATUE OF RUTH.
-
-
- BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ.
-
-
- From age to age, from clime to clime,
- A spirit, bright as her own morn,
- She walks the golden fields of Time,
- As erst amid the yellow corn.
-
- A form o’er which the hallowed veil
- Of years bequeaths a lovelier light,
- As when the mists of morning sail
- Round some far isle to make it bright.
-
- And as some reaper ’mid the grain,
- Or binder resting o’er his sheaf,
- Beheld her on the orient plain,
- A passing vision, bright and brief;
-
- And while he gazed let fall perchance
- The sheaf or sickle from his hand—
- Thus even here, as in a trance,
- Before her kneeling form I stand.
-
- But not as then she comes and goes
- To live in memory alone;
- The perfect soul before me glows
- Immortal in the living stone.
-
- And while upon her face I gaze
- And scan her rarely rounded form,
- The glory of her native days
- Comes floating o’er me soft and warm;—
-
- Comes floating, till this shadowy place
- Brightens to noontide, and receives
- The breath of that old harvest space
- With all its sunshine and its sheaves!
-
- It is a form beloved of yore,
- And when that passed the name breathed on;
- But now the form lives as before
- To charm even though the name were gone.
-
- And though the future years may dim
- And mar this lovely type of Truth,
- Through every action, feature, limb,
- The breathing stone shall whisper Ruth!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- FERDINAND DE CANDOLLES.
-
-
-Of all the social miseries of France, none are more fruitful in
-catastrophes of every kind than the idle uselessness of the well-born,
-and the over-education of those who are not so. France being, as one of
-her writers observes, the China of Europe, her habits, customs, and
-traditions, endure, in fact, through the organized destruction of
-succeeding revolutions, and whilst throne after throne lies in the dust,
-the prejudices of that fictitious universe called the world, are
-standing still, fixed, firm, and uprising in inflexible strength from
-roots that plunge deep into the soil. For instance, the old idea that a
-_gentilhomme_ or a _Grand Seigneur_ should not know how to spell,
-although obsolete as far as grammar and orthography are concerned, lives
-on yet in the notion that a gentleman _must not work_. This has hitherto
-proved an uneradicable opinion, and the general incapability and
-instinctive laziness of the upper classes in France, can, alas! amply
-testify to its prevalence throughout the country. It is not that the
-aristocracy of France are wanting in talent or intelligence; on the
-contrary, they have far more of what may be called native capacity than
-the classes beneath them—but they are unpractical, unbusiness-like,
-unused to any things in the shape of affairs. They are admirable if
-always in the first place, but rebel at the bare thought of helping on
-the governing machine in its hidden wheels; and whilst with us every
-public office counts gentlemen by the dozen, and noble names are to be
-found even in the most unconspicuous, though useful places; in France an
-ancient family would think itself degraded if one of its sons were to be
-discovered amongst the workers of a bureau.
-
-The following tale, the circumstances of which are yet uneffaced from
-many a memory in Paris, will perhaps serve to exemplify the sad truth of
-what I advance, and give a slight notion of the immediate action of
-certain false principles upon our neighbors’ mind. The hero of the
-ensuing pages, Ferdinand de Candolles, was the last scion of one of the
-most ancient houses in France. Ferdinand’s father died whilst the boy
-was in early infancy, and the entire charge of her son, whom she
-idolized, fell upon Madame de Candolles. At eighteen, Ferdinand was a
-tall, handsome youth, prodigiously proud of his name, highly romantic in
-his notions, ready to do battle with any given number of individuals in
-honor of _Dieu, le Roi, ou sa fame_, making a terrible quantity of bad
-verses, but as incapable of explaining to you M. de Villèle’s last
-financial measure, or the probable influence of the increasing growth of
-beet-root sugar upon the colonial markets, as he would have been of
-expounding the doctrines of Confucius in Chinese.
-
-The Revolution of 1830, fell like a thunder-bolt upon France, and the
-Bourbons of the elder branch allowed themselves to be driven from their
-post. The elements of revolution had been for the last seven or eight
-years fermenting far more in society, in the arts and in literature,
-than in the political sphere; and Ferdinand, with all his heart and soul
-a devoted royalist, as far as the government was concerned, was naïvely
-and unsuspectingly in every thing else, a determined revolutionist,
-overthrowing intellectual dynasties, spurning authority, mocking at
-control, gloating over Victor Hugo, George Sand, _e tutti quanti_, and
-fancying the whole was quite compatible with the political faith he
-would sooner have died than resign. Sometimes Madame de Candolles would
-think very seriously of what could be the future career of her son, and
-the word _Nothing!_ emblazoned in gigantic ideal letters, was the only
-answer her imagination ever framed. In 1832, it so happened that the now
-prefect named in the department, was an old friend of the widow’s
-family—a _bourgeois_, it is true, still a respectable man, whose father
-and uncle had, in very difficult times, rendered more than one signal
-service to Madame de Candolles’ own parents. M. Durand and his wife drew
-Ferdinand and his mother as much about them as they possibly could, and
-whenever he found an occasion of insinuating any thing of the kind into
-the widow’s ear, the well-intentioned préfet would talk seriously, nay,
-almost paternally, of her son’s future, and the little it seemed likely
-to offer him. One day, after a conversation in which Madame de Candolles
-had more freely than usual admitted the barrenness of the lad’s
-prospects, M. Durand contrived to lead her insensibly toward the notion
-of some employment whereby a becoming existence might be insured, hinted
-that there were positions where political opinions need be no obstacle,
-to which the nomination even did not emanate directly from the
-government, and ended by proposing to invest Ferdinand with the dignity
-of head librarian to the _Bibliothèque de la Ville_, a place yielding
-some hundred and fifty pounds a year, and just left vacant by the death
-of Madame Durand’s nephew. Madame de Candolles’ surprise was scarcely
-surpassed by her indignation, and, though she managed to cover both by a
-slight veil of politeness, there was in her refusal a degree of
-haughtiness that went well-nigh to disturb the honest préfet’s
-equanimity. As to Ferdinand, he did not exactly know, when the offer was
-first made clear to him, whether he ought not to take down a certain
-sword worn at Marigny by his ancestor, Palamède de Candolles, and punish
-M. Durand with positive loss of life for his audacity; but, when what he
-called _reason_ returned, he determined simply by the frigid dignity of
-his manners in future to make the _bourgeois_ functionary of Louis
-Philippe feel the full extent of his mistake, and bring him to a proper
-consciousness of the wide difference between their relative positions.
-Nor was this all; one day, some six months after, Madame de Candolles
-took occasion to pay a visit to the préfecture, and leading M. Durand
-aside, to solicit him for the still unfilled post of librarian, in favor
-of Ferdinand’s foster-brother, a market-gardener’s son! He was, she
-said, an exceedingly clever young man, knew Latin, Greek, and all sorts
-of things, had just served his time in a notary’s office, and would be
-the very thing for the situation proposed!—(successor to Madame
-Durand’s own nephew!) The préfet was sufficiently master of himself to
-refuse politely, alleging that he had already made choice of a
-librarian; but when Madame Durand heard the story, she vowed undying
-hatred to all aristocrats, and whenever she afterward met Madame de
-Candolles, tossed her plumed head as though she had been a war-horse. So
-ended our hero’s first and only chance of official employment, rejected,
-we have seen with what disdain. He had then attained the age of
-twenty-three.
-
-In the course of the following year General de Candolles died, leaving
-all he possessed to his nephew. This “all” was not much, still it was
-something—some twenty-odd thousand francs, or so—and if the widow had
-lived long enough, it might have increased; but, unfortunately, before
-Ferdinand had reached the age of twenty-five, his mother also died,
-leaving him completely—positively “alone in the world.” With what
-Madame de Candolles left (her chief resources had come from a small
-annuity) Ferdinand found himself at the head of about two thousand
-pounds sterling. With two thousand francs a year, which this would
-yield, he might have lived comfortably enough in any part of the
-provinces, and indulged in a quiet laugh at the préfet, who wanted to
-make a _bibliothécaire_ of him. But, of course, such sensible
-arrangements did not enter into his head. He was (the _naïf_ royalist
-and aristocrat!) wild with admiration of “Hernani” and _le Roi s’amuse_,
-and for the moment thought of little beyond the soul-stirring delights
-of seeing Bocage in _Antony_, or Madame Dorval in _Marion Delorme_. To
-Paris, of course, tended all his desires, and to Paris he accordingly
-went, as soon as the first months of mourning were expired, and he had
-put what he termed order into his affairs.
-
-We will not dive into the details of his existence in the great capital
-during the first period of his residence there. Suffice it to say, that
-the literary mania soon possessed him entirely, and he dreamt of little
-short of European fame. Here, indeed, thought he, was a career into
-which he might throw himself with all his energy. Lamartine and De Vigny
-were gentlemen like himself, and there was in poetry nothing to sully
-his escutcheon. Unfortunately, Ferdinand mistook for talent the means
-afforded him by his purse for drawing flatterers about him, and for some
-time he bought his most fatal illusions with his positive substance.
-Dinners to journalists, and parties of pleasure with all the world, soon
-reduced his capital considerably, but what did that matter? when he
-should be famous, publishers would besiege him, laying thousands at his
-feet for a fortnight’s labor. He was already the acknowledged idol of
-certain _salons_, and when the tragedy he had written should be
-performed, his name would be glorious throughout the world. By dint of
-pecuniary sacrifices, the performance of this play at the Théâtre
-Français had been obtained, and what with newspaper scribblers,
-_claqueurs_, actresses, and human leeches of every sort who fastened
-upon his pocket, the author found himself, half an hour before the
-curtain drew up, on the fancied dawn of his glory, literally deprived of
-every farthing he possessed, except one solitary five-franc piece in his
-waistcoat pouch. Ferdinand smiled gayly on perceiving this, and thought
-what a strange thing fortune was, and fame, too, and how, on the morrow,
-he should be on the high road to riches!
-
-Well, to cut the matter short, the tragedy was a dead failure, as it
-merited to be, and before the last act was ended, Ferdinand’s golden
-dreams were rudely dispelled, and he clutched the _pièce de cent sous_
-in his waistcoat-pocket as though it were to save him from going crazy.
-When the curtain dropped he escaped from the theatre unseen, muffled up
-in his cloak like some criminal flying from detection. But his fate was
-lying in wait for him. As he turned round the corner of the house which
-led into the least frequented of the surrounding streets, he perceived
-three or four carriages waiting for their occupants, and he stood for an
-instant, hesitating whether to go backward or forward. At that moment, a
-ray from the _réverbère_ fell upon the face of a lady who, enveloped in
-mantle and hood, was waiting for the arrival of her equipage. Ferdinand
-had never seen that face before, but he stood riveted to the spot, for
-something in his heart whispered, _it is she—the one_! The preceding
-carriages received their respective charges, and whirled them off; the
-last one drew up, and the door was opened by the footman—the lady
-dropped her glove, whilst turning to bid adieu to her companion.
-Ferdinand, unconscious that he had sprung to her side, raised it up, and
-offered it to its owner. “Thank you, Armand,” said she, “what a wretched
-stupid play—was it not?” and then turning round—“A thousand pardons,
-monsieur!” she exclaimed, “I mistook you for another person;” and so,
-with a bow, she entered her carriage, and the door closed with a bang.
-
-Ferdinand stood upon the spot where he had seen her stand, until a
-_sergent de ville_ touched him on the arm, and told him to move on.
-“_What a wretched stupid play!—was it not?_” the sentence rang in his
-ear, but brought with it the echo of the tone—that magic sound that had
-struck upon the chords of his secret soul, and under whose vibration
-they were still striking their response—the honeyed voice, not the hard
-words, had wounded him, and he confessed that, though deadly, the poison
-was nectar to the taste.
-
-Day after day, hour after hour, did Ferdinand spend in the vain attempt
-to discover his unknown idol, and the less he succeeded in the
-enterprise, the more the object of his pursuit became lovely in his
-eyes, and was surrounded with ideal charms. It would be useless to enter
-into the painful details of Ferdinand’s life during this period.
-
-The day after the failure of his tragedy, the Marquise de Guesvillers,
-an ancient dowager of the Faubourg St. Germain, and his chief
-_prôneuse_, sent to beg the discomfited author would come dine with her
-_tête-à-tête_. Ferdinand had a reason now for desiring to explore to the
-utmost extent the upper regions of society, and he accepted the
-invitation. The old lady greeted him with a half-benevolent,
-half-mischievous smile—“My dear child,” said she, when the servant had
-closed the door, “now that Providence has saved you from becoming an
-_homme de lettres_, we must try to make something of you. Heaven be
-praised! pen and ink must have lost its charm for you at last;” (a pinch
-of snuff,) “it seems your play was as bad as your enemy could wish;
-Madame de Rouvion was there, and has just told me so—poor dear Hector
-de Candolles,” (another pinch of snuff,) “if he could have guessed that
-a great-grandson of his would write a play! But, however, that is over
-now, and we have only to rejoice that things were no worse: when the
-recollection of your _aventure_ shall have quite subsided, we will find
-a wife for you, and settle you in life! Thank Heaven! you are cured of
-your taste for pen and ink!” and these last words the good lady repeated
-over and over again in the course of the evening, and each time with
-remarkable satisfaction. Once or twice Ferdinand was tempted to shake
-the monotonous little dowager to pieces, and shout in her ear—“Woman! I
-must _live_ by pen and ink, or starve!” but the remembrance of _the
-face_ he had seen the night before, froze the words on his tongue, and
-he submitted to the torture in silence.
-
-For months in the _salons_, whither Madame de Guesvillers carried him,
-he sought out the object of his dreams, but she never appeared, and
-Ferdinand went on leading _la vie de Bohème_, until hope began almost
-entirely to fade away. One evening, he had, for the fiftieth time,
-accepted an invitation to some _soirée_, where his indefatigable
-patroness insisted upon his going; and he was, as usual, looking on
-whilst others amused (or fancied they amused) themselves, when the
-conversation of two ladies near him attracted his attention—he knew not
-why.
-
-“So Blanche Vouvray is come back at last?” said one.
-
-“She is coming here to-night,” replied the other.
-
-As the two talkers moved away, a certain movement might have been
-observed toward the middle of the room, and many and loud greetings
-welcomed a new comer, who seemed to have been long absent. Mysterious
-magnetism of the heart! Ferdinand knew what had happened, and was
-prepared, when he turned round, to recognize at last—standing in the
-midst of a group, who were pressing eagerly around her—the _one_, so
-long, so vainly sought; the vision that had risen over his ruin like a
-star over the tempest-torn sea, that had come and vanished in the
-momentous night, when it was proved to him that his sole resources, for
-a bare existence, must depend, in future, upon hard, ignoble, unavowed
-and insufficient toil!
-
-There she stood—bright, beautiful and glad, beaming on all about her;
-dispensing favors in look, gesture and smile, and inflicting wound after
-wound on Ferdinand’s heart by the incomparably sweet voice that, do what
-he would, seemed to his ear always to repeat—“_What a wretched, stupid
-play!—is it not?_” It was the only link between them—the one sole sign
-whereby she had acknowledged his existence.
-
-How long the _soirée_ lasted, was what M. de Candolles never knew; he
-simply thought it a time—it might be one protracted moment—during
-which there was light; then, the light went out, and darkness spread
-over every thing around. He would not ask to be presented to
-Mademoiselle de Vouvray; he was content to watch her; and, when she was
-gone, he mechanically closed his eyes, locked up his vision within his
-inmost self, and then, re-awakening, went forth, to be once more alone
-with his idea!
-
-Time passed on, and Ferdinand’s passion increased with every hour. Three
-or four times in the week he found means to feast his eyes upon the
-object of his adoration, and the remaining days and nights were spent in
-trying to draw poetic inspiration from what threatened to be the source
-of something very nearly akin to madness. Ferdinand’s actual talent,
-however, was of such a perfectly ordinary stamp, that it profited in no
-degree by the strong element love afforded it, and one fine
-morning—when he least expected it—a blow so stunning was dealt him
-that his whole fabric of existence was well-nigh shivered to the earth.
-The proprietor of the paper wherein, for the last year or two, M. de
-Candolles had published anonymously the chief productions of his pen,
-suddenly told him that he should in future be obliged to refuse his
-contributions unless _signed by his own name_! M. de Candolles, he
-urged, was known in many _salons_ of the _beau monde_, and probably what
-he might write would be read by a good number of people, whereas the
-lucubrations of _Jaques Bargel_—Ferdinand’s _pseudonyms_—only occupied
-space, and brought neither fame nor money to the journal. M. de
-Candolles received the announcement, which went near to show destitution
-staring him in the face, with becoming fortitude. He would sooner have
-died than allow his name to be dragged forward into publicity; and at
-the thought of the elegant, aristocratical, disdainful lady of his
-worship discovering that he lived by writing _feuilletons_, he felt the
-very ground fail beneath his feet.
-
-Ferdinand was, after the circumstance we have just related, reduced to a
-species of misery even he had as yet not suspected. Unable to pay for
-the lodging, small and dirty as it was, that he had hitherto inhabited,
-he was now reduced to rent a small attic belonging to the collection of
-servants’ rooms in a tolerably good-looking house. The one thought that
-absorbed him was fear lest Blanche de Vouvray should discover the
-necessities of his life. This, and this alone, combated the wild passion
-wherewith she had inspired him. But he reckoned without feminine
-instinct and feminine curiosity. Blanche de Vouvray had not been
-half-a-dozen times in the same _salon_ with M. de Candolles, before she
-felt she was adored, and her next feeling was one of considerable
-anxiety to know how she should bring her slave to confess the charm.
-Blanche was a person of irreproachable conduct; but still, it was
-tiresome to be so evidently worshiped, and yet know nothing at all about
-it!
-
-Poor Ferdinand! The struggle for existence was rapidly wearing him out.
-The want of almost every necessary of life, the constant recourse to a
-morsel of bread, or a little rice, and a few potatoes, for daily food,
-coupled with the perpetual tension of the brain, required to secure even
-these, miserable as they were—all this was doing its deadly work, and
-M. de Candolles’ health was visibly failing every day. One evening, this
-was so plain to all eyes that, at Madame de Guesvillers’ house, many
-good-natured persons told Ferdinand he really must take care, or they
-should hear of his going off in a galloping consumption. An hour or two
-later, some one opened a window behind where he was standing—
-
-“Do not remain where you are—_pray_!” said a voice beside him. It was
-timidly yet earnestly said—the sweet voice was unsteady, and there was
-such an expression in the last word, “_Pray!_” Ferdinand turned without
-answering: his eyes met Blanche de Vouvray’s—she looked down, but not
-before she had involuntarily replied to his passionate and melancholy
-glance.
-
-M. de Candolles soon left the room. His brain was on fire, and he rushed
-homeward like one possessed. Part of his prudence was gone. He snatched
-up pen and ink, and _wrote_—wrote to _her_! All that Ferdinand had
-never yet found, was found now—the hidden spring was reached, and the
-tide of eloquence gushed forth, strong, rapid, irresistible.
-
-Such a letter as few women have ever received was put, the next morning,
-into Mademoiselle de Vouvray’s hands. The first effect of it was
-electrical—she became confused, and like one in a dream; but, almost as
-soon, the feminine instinct awoke, and involuntarily she admitted that
-_her end was gained—he had spoken at last_! What lay beyond was
-uncertain—might be dangerous, and had best be altogether set aside. She
-would avoid M. de Candolles in future. This was not so easy: that very
-night she met him in the vestibule of the _Grand Opera_, with little,
-old Madame de Guesvillers on his arm. He bowed to, but did not look at
-her; was cold, silent and reserved, and really did seem as though he had
-one foot in the tomb. He would, perhaps, not live another year—that was
-a shocking thought—and Blanche shivered as she rolled over the _Pont
-Royal_ in her comfortable carriage. There could be no harm in answering
-his letter from a certain point of view she now adopted, and accordingly
-she did answer it, and a very virtuous, and consoling, and amiable
-composition her answer was. From this moment the possibility of writing
-tempted both; and, from time to time, they availed themselves of it,
-though it never degenerated into a habit. Ferdinand’s pecuniary
-resources growing less and less with every day, he literally _starved_
-himself, in order to cover the extravagance of his _heart-expenses_. For
-a bouquet dropped in at her carriage-window, as she drove from the
-_Italiens_—for a perfume to put upon his own handkerchief, that she
-should inhale, he constantly observed a four-and-twenty hours’ fast,
-broken only by a crust of bread and a glass of water.
-
-There were days, it cannot be denied, when the fair Blanche de Vouvray
-admitted to herself that it might have been better for her never to have
-seen M. de Candolles. His strange adoration captivated and preoccupied
-her by its very strangeness, probably far more than if it had followed
-the ordinary method in such cases.
-
-One day, after saving during three weeks, and Heaven only knows with
-what pains, the sum of fifteen francs, Ferdinand therewith secured the
-loan of a really handsome horse, from one of the dealers in the Champs
-Elysées. When the carriage came in view—than which there was no other
-in the world for him—he made his steed execute certain evolutions
-gracefully enough, for he was a remarkably good horseman, darted off
-upon the road to the _Bois de Boulogne_, crossed once or twice the path
-of the _calèche_ he was pursuing, received _one_ look of recognition,
-_one_ sign from a small gloved hand, and was over-paid! That evening,
-they met in the same _salon_: a lady—who was standing by the piano
-whereon Blanche had just been playing a new waltz—asked Ferdinand
-whether she had not seen him on horseback in the Champs Elysées.
-
-“I thought I would try how it might suit me now,” was his reply: “but I
-find it will not do; the exercise is too strong, and I am unequal to
-it.” Blanche de Vouvray grew pale, and bent down to look over some
-music.
-
-“If riding is too much for his nerves,” observed—later in the evening,
-to his neighbor—one of the beardless _lions_ who happened to be
-present, “I should imagine such a monstrous quantity of cake must be
-equally so!” and jumping forward to Ferdinand’s side—
-
-“_Halte là, mon vieux!_” he exclaimed, with all the elegance and
-atticism of _Mabille_ in his intonation. “Leave a little of that
-_Savarin_ for me, will you? _Que diable!_ why, one would swear you
-hadn’t eaten since yesterday!”
-
-Ferdinand turned round suddenly upon the ill-bred youth, and in his
-haggard glance there was a flash of positive ferocity: it was but a
-flash, but to an observer it would have sufficed to testify the truth of
-the horrid words uttered in jest. An instant after, the impression was
-chased away, and a laugh was the only visible result of the incident;
-but any one who could have decyphered what was engraven on M. de
-Candolles’ countenance that night, would have seen that a convulsion so
-violent had passed over his whole being; that reason was almost shaken
-from its throne.
-
-The constant recurrence of these violent emotions acted more and more
-visibly each day upon Ferdinand’s wasted frame; and, at last, a moment
-came when he disappeared altogether from his habitual haunts. Few marked
-his absence, except a few women, in whose albums he wrote bad verses,
-and for whom he procured autographs from great theatrical celebrities.
-Upward of ten days passed, and M. de Candolles had not yet been heard
-of. His old friend, Madame de Guesvillers, drove herself to his door,
-and the answer at first was—as usual—that he was “_out_.” Two days
-later, however, the porter admitted that he was in reality very ill, but
-that the doctor had forbidden any one from visiting him, as the
-slightest agitation or exertion might produce the worst effects. That
-very evening, whilst her circle of _habitués_ was around her, Madame de
-Guesvillers received a note from Ferdinand, expressing his gratitude for
-her inquiries, but saying that his illness was little or nothing—a
-cold—and that he hoped in a few days to be able to resume his place at
-her tea-table. Blanche was present, heard the contents of the note, and
-if it had been any one’s interest—which it luckily was not—to watch
-her, would have betrayed by many little signs, her involuntary joy. But,
-on returning home, that joy was turned to dismay. There was a letter,
-too, for her—such a letter—it was written from a death-bed, and
-contained a last farewell! She dismissed her maid, and sat through the
-first hours of the night, with the letter lying before her. Every
-feeling of commiseration, of womanly sympathy was touched, and the true
-womanly wish to comfort and console aroused.
-
-When she arose the next morning, it was with the determination to afford
-the last sad alleviation in her power to the sufferings she had caused.
-She accordingly, after attiring herself as modestly as possible, sallied
-forth, and, on foot, reached M. de Candolles’ abode. Here, for a moment,
-she paused, and her courage began to fail.
-
-It was a bright, sunny morning, and it would have seemed that all the
-shopkeepers in the street were determined to take their part of air and
-light, for Blanche thought they were all congregated upon their
-respective thresholds to see her pass. She blushed at every step, and
-felt so confused, that more than once she had nearly stumbled. Before
-entering the _porte cochere_ she stood an instant still, all the blood
-rushed to her heart, and she was ready to faint, _lest she should be too
-late_! When she had mastered this first strong emotion she began to
-reflect upon the means of gaining the sufferer’s presence.
-
-Blanche commenced her ascent, but when she reached the topmost stair of
-the fifth flight, and saw before her the narrow, winding, dirty steps
-that led to the last story, she paused, and began to wonder whither she
-was going. How strange that M. de Candolles should live in such a place!
-M. de Candolles, who was “one of her set,” and whom she had pictured to
-herself surrounded by the same elegancies of life which, to the small
-number of individuals she called _every body_ were indispensable!—what
-could it mean, and where was she going?
-
-She mounted the flight of stairs, and found herself in a long, winding
-corridor, lighted by skylights placed at stated distances. Doors were on
-either hand, and they were numbered. Blanche de Vouvray drew her silk
-dress and her cachemire shawl closely around her, to avoid the contact
-of the greasy looking wall. She was hesitating whether she would not
-return at once, when a low moan, followed by a short, hollow cough,
-struck her ear—all the woman’s pitying sympathy was instantaneously
-re-awakened, and she advanced, her hand raised in order to knock.
-
-But, reader, let us in a few words depict to you the scene that is yet
-hidden by that closed door. On a miserable bed stretched upon a
-_paillasse_ of straw, lies the invalid, upon whose pallid features a ray
-of light falls mournfully after having filtered through a ragged piece
-of green calico hung up before the dim pane of the roof-window. The
-walls are dingy and bare; in one corner only hangs something in the form
-of clothing, covered by an old square of ticking. On a broken-backed
-straw chair at the bed-head, rests a broken tea-pot, apparently filled
-with _tisane_; whilst upon a small table near the door are crowded
-together papers and perfume-bottles, inkstands and soiled gloves, a
-wash-hand basin and a candlestick, a hair-brush and two or three
-books—the heterogeneous symbols of all the wretched inmate’s wants,
-vanities and toil!
-
-The night had been a bad one, and the morning sun brought but small
-alleviation to Ferdinand’s sufferings, whilst the malady itself held him
-prisoner in its clutches; the want of proper sustenance so weakened his
-frame that it could oppose no resistance to disease. The brain, without
-as yet precisely wandering, still from time to time created for itself
-fair illusions, gentle dreams. _One_ form ever floated before
-Ferdinand’s mental vision—far, far off, as in another sphere—and he
-would stretch forth his arms toward the image, and longing, cry to it
-for a look, a sign of recognition.
-
-A knock came at his door, uncertain, timid, loud; why did they disturb
-him?—Another knock!—He groaned forth the word to enter, and a hand was
-laid upon the key.
-
-“Come in,” he again peevishly repeated. The door opened!
-
-To describe what passed in the minds of the two thus suddenly face to
-face to one another, is impossible. All the squalid, ugly, poverty and
-apparent degradation we have tried to depict, flashed like lightning
-over Blanche de Vouvray’s comprehension—she stood aghast, but the
-involuntary scream that escaped her was drowned in the violence of the
-exclamation that burst from M. de Candolles’ lips. With one hand drawing
-over him convulsively the blanket which was his only covering, and
-waving the other imperiously—“Depart hence, depart,” he shrieked in
-bitter agony, and with eyes that started with horror from their sockets.
-
-The terror was mutual; and she who had come to console fled in dismay,
-and he, who would have paid with his heart’s blood a touch of her hand,
-drove her from him as ruthlessly as though she had been his deadliest
-foe!
-
-Ferdinand de Candolles did not die then; he went raving mad, was
-confined at Charenton for many years, grew to be a harmless maniac, and
-died in the year 1848. Blanche de Vouvray is still a reigning beauty in
-the _salons_ of Paris, universally respected, and only known by a very
-few as the heroine of this sad tale.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE GHOST-RAISER.
-
-
-My Uncle Beagley, who commenced his commercial career very early in the
-present century as a bagman, _will_ tell stories. Among them, he tells
-his Single Ghost story so often, that I am heartily tired of it. In
-self-defense, therefore, I publish the tale in order that when next the
-good, kind old gentleman offers to bore us with it, every body may say
-they know it. I remember every word of it.
-
-One fine autumn evening, about forty years ago, I was traveling on
-horseback from Shrewsbury to Chester. I felt tolerably tired, and was
-beginning to look out for some snug way-side inn, where I might pass the
-night, when a sudden and violent thunder-storm came on. My horse,
-terrified by the lightning, fairly took the bridle between his teeth,
-and started off with me at full gallop through lanes and cross-roads,
-until at length I managed to pull him up just near the door of a
-neat-looking country inn.
-
-“Well,” thought I, “there was wit in your madness, old boy, since it
-brought us to this comfortable refuge.” And alighting, I gave him in
-charge to the stout farmer’s boy who acted as ostler. The inn-kitchen,
-which was also the guest-room, was large, clean, neat and comfortable,
-very like the pleasant hostelry described by Izaak Walton. There were
-several travelers already in the room—probably, like myself, driven
-there for shelter—and they were all warming themselves by the blazing
-fire while waiting for supper. I joined the party. Presently, being
-summoned by the hostess, we all sat down, twelve in number, to a smoking
-repast of bacon and eggs, corned beef and carrots, and stewed hare.
-
-The conversation turned naturally on the mishaps occasioned by the
-storm, of which every one seemed to have had his full share. One had
-been thrown off his horse; another, driving in a gig, had been upset
-into a muddy dyke; all had got a thorough wetting, and agreed
-unanimously that it was dreadful weather—a regular witches’ sabbath!
-
-“Witches and ghosts prefer for their sabbath a fine moonlight night to
-such weather as this!”
-
-These words were uttered in a solemn tone, and with strange emphasis, by
-one of the company. He was a tall, dark-looking man, and I had set him
-down in my own mind as a traveling merchant or pedler. My next neighbor
-was a gay, well-looking, fashionably-dressed young man, who, bursting
-into a peal of laughter, said:
-
-“You must know the manners and customs of ghosts very well, to be able
-to tell that they dislike getting wet or muddy.”
-
-The first speaker giving him a dark, fierce look, said:
-
-“Young man, speak not so lightly of things above your comprehension.”
-
-“Do you mean to imply that there are such things as ghosts?”
-
-“Perhaps there are, if you had courage to look at them.”
-
-The young man stood up, flushed with anger. But presently resuming his
-seat, he said calmly:
-
-“That taunt should cost you dear if it were not such a foolish one.”
-
-“A foolish one!” exclaimed the merchant, throwing on the table a heavy
-leathern purse. “There are fifty guineas. I am content to lose them, if,
-before the hour is ended, I do not succeed in showing you, who are so
-obstinately prejudiced, the form of any one of your deceased friends;
-and if, after you have recognized him, you allow him to kiss your lips.”
-
-We all looked at each other, but my young neighbor, still in the same
-mocking manner, replied:
-
-“You will do that, will you?”
-
-“Yes,” said the other—“I will stake these fifty guineas, on condition
-that you will pay a similar sum if you lose.”
-
-After a short silence, the young man said, gayly:
-
-“Fifty guineas, my worthy sorcerer, are more than a poor college sizar
-ever possessed; but here are five, which, if you are satisfied, I shall
-be most willing to wager.”
-
-The other took up his purse, saying, in a contemptuous tone:
-
-“Young gentleman, you wish to draw back?”
-
-“_I_ draw back!” exclaimed the student. “Well! if I had the fifty
-guineas, you should see whether I wish to draw back!”
-
-“Here,” said I, “are four guineas, which I will stake on your wager.”
-
-No sooner had I made this proposition than the rest of the company,
-attracted by the singularity of the affair, came forward to lay down
-their money; and in a minute or two the fifty guineas were subscribed.
-The merchant appeared so sure of winning, that he placed all the stakes
-in the student’s hands, and prepared for his experiment. We selected for
-the purpose a small summer-house in the garden, perfectly isolated, and
-having no means of exit but a window and a door, which we carefully
-fastened, after placing the young man within. We put writing materials
-on a small table in the summer-house, and took away the candles. We
-remained outside, with the pedler amongst us. In a low, solemn voice he
-began to chant the following lines:
-
- “What riseth slow from the ocean caves
- And the stormy surf?
- The phantom pale sets his blackened foot
- On the fresh green turf.”
-
-Then raising his voice solemnly, he said:
-
-“You asked to see your friend, Francis Villiers, who was drowned, three
-years ago, off the coast of South America—what do you see?”
-
-“I see,” replied the student, “a white light arising near the window;
-but it has no form; it is like an uncertain cloud.”
-
-We—the spectators—remained profoundly silent.
-
-“Are you afraid?” asked the merchant, in a loud voice.
-
-“I am not,” replied the student, firmly.
-
-After a moment’s silence, the pedler stamped three times on the ground,
-and sang:
-
- “And the phantom white, whose clay-cold face
- Was once so fair,
- Dries with his shroud his clinging vest
- And his sea-tossed hair.”
-
-Once more the solemn question:
-
-“You, who would see revealed the mysteries of the tomb—what do you see
-now?”
-
-The student answered in a calm voice, but like that of a man describing
-things as they pass before him:
-
-“I see the cloud taking the form of a phantom; its head is covered with
-a long veil—it stands still!”
-
-“Are you afraid?”
-
-“I am not!”
-
-We looked at each other in horror-stricken silence, while the merchant,
-raising his arms above his head, chanted in a sepulchral voice:
-
- “And the phantom said, as he rose from the wave,
- He shall know me in sooth!
- I will go to my friend, gay, smiling and fond,
- As in our first youth!”
-
-“What do you see?” said he.
-
-“I see the phantom advance; he lifts his veil—’tis Francis Villiers! he
-approaches the table—he writes!—’tis his signature!”
-
-“Are you afraid?”
-
-A fearful moment of silence ensued; then the student replied, but in an
-altered voice:
-
-“I am not.”
-
-With strange and frantic gestures the merchant then sang:
-
- “And the phantom said to the mocking seer,
- I come from the South;
- Put thy hand on my hand—thy heart on my heart—
- Thy mouth on my mouth!”
-
-“What do you see?”
-
-“He comes—he approaches—he pursues me—he is stretching out his
-arms—he will have me! Help! help! Save me!”
-
-“Are you afraid, _now_?” asked the merchant in a mocking voice.
-
-A piercing cry, and then a stifled groan, were the only reply to this
-terrible question.
-
-“Help that rash youth!” said the merchant, bitterly. “I have, I think,
-won the wager; but it is sufficient for me to have given him a lesson.
-Let him keep his money and be wiser for the future.”
-
-He walked rapidly away. We opened the door of the summer-house and found
-the student in convulsions. A paper, signed with the name “Francis
-Villiers,” was on the table. As soon as the student’s senses were
-restored, he asked vehemently where was the vile sorcerer who had
-subjected him to such a horrible ordeal—he would kill him! He sought
-him throughout the inn in vain; then, with the speed of a madman, he
-dashed off across the fields in pursuit of him—and we never saw either
-of them again.
-
-That, children, is my Ghost Story!
-
-“And how is it, good uncle, that after _that_, you don’t believe in
-ghosts?” said I, the first time I heard it.
-
-“Because, my boy,” replied my uncle, “neither the student or the
-merchant ever returned; and the forty-five guineas, belonging to me and
-the other travelers, continued equally invisible. Those two swindlers
-carried them off, after having acted a farce, which we, like ninnies,
-believed to be real.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- WHAT DOST THOU WORK FOR?
-
-
- BY CAROLINE F. ORNE.
-
-
- What dost thou work for, oh, tree of the forest,
- Spreading thy branches so wide and so free?
- Why hast thou many years wrought in thy season?
- What is the end of thy work and of thee?
- “Earth, mother earth, I have wrought for and toiled for,
- Life still bestows her beneficent breast;
- When for her I shall garner up treasures no longer,
- Back shall I sink to her bosom to rest.”
-
- What dost thou work for, sweet flower of the wild-wood,
- Spreading thy garlands of beauty and bloom?
- Why dost thou toil to bring buds into blossom?
- Who shall come hither to seek thy perfume?
- “Earth, mother earth, ’tis for her that I labor.
- Cheerfully work I by night and by day,
- All she hath given, and more, shall I measure
- Into her bosom, where yet I shall lay.”
-
- Man, that art heaping up riches and treasure—
- Man, that art seeking for praise and for fame—
- Man, that art chasing the phantoms of pleasure—
- Whose is your toil? Who your labor can claim?
- “Earth, mother earth; ’tis for her we are toiling,
- These are her gifts, and to her they return;
- All we have gathered must go to her keeping,
- When she ourselves shall in darkness inurn.”
-
- Then who art filling each hour’s golden measure
- Full of good deeds, and of kindness and love,
- Who bindeth the wounded, and helpeth the weary,
- For what is thy toil—who thy work shall approve?
- “High heaven will approve, though my labors are humble,
- For the soul’s truest welfare I toil, not in vain;
- Earth from her bosom such treasures bestows not,
- With the soul back to heaven return they again.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- APRIL.
-
-
- By April, of the sunny tress,
- The mighty spell of death is broke,
- As marble, with a food caress,
- To life the son of Belus woke.
- W. H. C. H.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: TOM MOORE. (_See page 593._)]
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TOM MOORE.—THE POET OF ERIN.
-
-
- BY BON GAULTIER.
-
-
-The celebrated poet of the Irish Melodies—so long a member of that
-glorious company of British bards which, a perfect galaxy of genius,
-illuminated the first quarter of the present century—is no more. He saw
-them all run their high careers, and pass away—and now he, too, is
-gone. For the last couple of years, his brilliant and active mind had
-given way—the soul had sunk before its “dark cottage,” and his life was
-second childishness and mere oblivion. None of his old cotemporaries
-remain, at present, but the last among them—Samuel Rogers, the
-banker-poet, now between 80 and 90 years of age—who, seeing that his
-poems are not likely to descend to posterity, has, at least, resolved to
-go a good part of the way himself. We do not mention Montgomery—he was
-never ranked in the peerage of Parnassus, to which Moore belonged.
-
-It was time for Thomas Moore to depart; he had seen star after star
-decay:—many a glorious head stoop to the dust, many a soaring spirit
-extinguished—the passionate and wayward Byron, dying in a barrack,
-alone, at Missolonghi—an old, worn-out man at thirty-seven; and the
-delicate and sensuous Keats, in the morning of his days, exhaled into
-the clear blue sky of Rome; and “the pard-like spirit” of Shelley,
-passing, ere the noon, through the portals of his familiar haunt, the
-sea, to mingle with the elements which he so fearfully, so fearlessly
-worshiped in the world; and the Cervantic and fine-hearted Sir
-Walter—noblest of Scottish Chiefs; and the consummate lyric poet of
-Hope and Poland and, “by Susquehanna’s side, fair Wyoming;” and the
-three kings of bardish Cumberland—the weird and metaphysical Coleridge,
-as magnificent as Skiddaw—and as _misty_, for the most part—Thalaba,
-Southey, the library hermit—and Wordsworth, the consecrated hermit of
-the Mere and the Mountain; and, along with these “dead kings of melody,”
-the Shepherd of Ettrick, Allan Cunningham, Motherwell, the stormy,
-metallurgic soul of Ebenezer Elliott, and the swan-like music of Hemans.
-He saw them all pass away into the world of shadows—a more goodly and
-powerful troop of poets than any other age of British literature could
-boast—and he himself was not unworthy of that splendid and memorable
-brotherhood.
-
-Moore was born in May, 1779, at Aungier street in the city of Dublin, of
-Catholic parents. His father was a highly respectable grocer and
-spirit-dealer. Young Moore was sent to the school of Mr. Samuel Whyte, a
-man who enjoyed a high reputation as pedagogue in the metropolis. He had
-a very refined and dignified notion of his own vocation and literature,
-and was, withal, a good and kind-hearted man. He greatly encouraged the
-habits of public reading and elocution in his school; and the fashion of
-private theatricals being then very prevalent in the aristocratic
-families of Ireland, he was often called to superintend them at various
-houses. He encouraged his scholars to act scenes from plays, and was a
-great hand at furnishing prologues and epilogues for stage “_pieces de
-circonstance_.” Mr. Whyte was no common man; for it is, in all human
-probability, to his peculiar mode of training that English literature is
-indebted for two of its most brilliant ornaments. His encouragement of
-theatricals and songs, among the boys, gave Richard Brinsley Sheridan a
-tendency to the drama, and Moore a turn for lyrical composition and
-high-life; for we firmly and potently believe in the truth of the old
-hexameter embalmed in the Lindley Murray of our childhood—
-
- ’Tis Education forms the tender mind;
- Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.
-
-About a quarter of a century before Moore entered the school, Mr. Whyte
-had the teaching of young Sheridan, whom, curiously enough, he
-pronounced “an incorrigible dunce,” after a year’s instruction of the
-boy! A dunce he was, perhaps, at the methodical “branches,” taught in a
-methodic way by Mr. Whyte; but we venture to say quick enough, when the
-fit was on him, at the gay work of tinkering or acting plays, or pieces
-of plays—thus taking unconsciously the bias which had its results in
-the School for Scandal and the Duenna. As for Tommy Moore, he was always
-a spry, vivacious, black-eyed little chap, who took at once to the
-business of the boards, and recited and performed to the great
-satisfaction of his master. The latter, whenever he went to the houses
-of the nobility and gentry to get up plays, would usually take with him
-his smart show-actor—the precocious little Catholic boy, and give him
-parts to sustain in the representations. In this way the plebeian
-youngster was introduced—greatly to his pride and satisfaction—into
-the highest families of Dublin and its vicinity, where the circumstances
-of gayety and splendor, contrasting with the exclusions generally
-operating against those of his class and creed, heightened the zest with
-which he enjoyed his privileges, and thus early created those feelings
-and sentiments of pleasure and brilliancy which influenced his
-subsequent career in the world.
-
-From reciting and acting, the transition to writing verses was a very
-natural thing, and Moore showed himself as apt at rhyme as at every
-thing else. Indeed, like Pope and Ovid, “he lisped in numbers, for the
-numbers came.” He himself gives us from memory, part of a juvenile
-effusion on resuming school tasks after the business of the stage was
-over:
-
- Our Pantaloon, who did so aged look,
- Must now resume his youth, his tasks, his book,
- And Harlequin, who skipped, laughed, danced and died,
- Must now stand trembling at his master’s side.
-
-And he says: “I have thus been led back, step by step, from an early
-date to one still earlier, with the view of ascertaining, for those who
-may take any interest in literary biography, at what period I first
-showed an aptitude for the now common craft of verse-making, and the
-result is—so far back in childhood lies the epoch—that I am really
-unable to say at what age I first began to act, sing, and rhyme.” At the
-age of twelve he wrote a Masque, in which he adapted verses to Haydn’s
-“Spirit-Song,” and this was performed by himself, his sister, and some
-young friends in his father’s house in Aungier street. There have been
-few instances of a healthy precocity of mind beyond that of Thomas
-Moore.
-
-In 1793, at which time the French Revolution was suggesting to the kings
-of Europe a little leniency to their people, Moore was permitted by the
-repeal of a penal statute, to enter Trinity College Dublin—a Protestant
-University. Here, being always anxious to distinguish himself, he gave
-in a specimen of English verse at one of the examinations, and was
-gratified by the praise of the examiners and a copy of the Voyage of
-Anacharsis—a book which must have greatly helped to Orientalize the
-genius of Moore. His first step in regular authorship was the
-publication of the Translation of Anacreon the Greek poet. His sprightly
-facility of weaving verse had been exercised during his stay in College,
-on this congenial task; and in 1799, when nineteen years old, he went to
-London to keep his terms as a barrister at the Middle Temple, and to
-bring out his English Anacreontics. These last he was permitted, through
-the interest of some of his aristocratic Irish patrons, to dedicate to
-George, the Prince Regent—against whom, nevertheless, at a future
-period, Moore discharged some of his sharpest arrows of personal and
-political satire. After the publication of the lyrics, this young poet
-gradually gave up his idea of becoming a lawyer. Themis and her Courts
-were relinquished for _Musa lyræ solers et cantor Apollo_; law was
-completely driven out of his head by the gay society into which his
-poetical and musical qualities introduced him, and he seems to have
-looked more to the patronage of his titled friends and the trade of
-authorship than to any settled walk or profession. The Earl of Moira was
-his great patron, and the influence of this nobleman raised the young
-Irishman to a companionship with the highest and most refined societies
-of the land. And certainly, the son of a Dublin grocer—a Catholic,
-too—must have possessed, in a very wonderful degree, the
-accomplishments and amenities of the head and heart which could thus win
-the favor and friendship of a very exclusive and fastidious class.
-Moore’s temperament was, in fact, a happy one, and counseled as well by
-prudence as his love of pleasure, he exerted himself to the utmost to
-conciliate the partiality of the aristocracy and to live at ease among
-them.
-
-About this time, 1801-2, he spent a good deal of his time at Donington
-Park, the seat of the Earl of Moira, “under whose princely roof,” as he
-says himself—(and great was the charm which these princely roofs ever
-had for the poet!) “I used often and long in those days find a
-hospitable home.” Here the young Irishman became somewhat intimate with
-kings and princes—members of Bourbon and Orleans families of France;
-for whom he was in the habit of playing and singing, and with whom he
-could bandy courtesies and converse. These were the Count of Provence,
-afterward Charles X.; Louis Philippe and his brothers Montpensier and
-Beaujolais—“all dismounted cavalry,” as Curran called them, in a
-whisper, when he first found himself sitting among them; and with these
-the Duke de Lorge, the Baron de Rolle, and many others of the emigrant
-_noblesse_. No wonder Moore’s ideas should be so redolent of sparkling
-wines, exquisite shapes of beauty, and all the perfume and rose-color of
-life. He lived at Donington in the happiest and most luxurious manner;
-and the range of a magnificent library was not wanting to complete the
-aristocratic charm of his existence at that period. Shut up in it for
-whole days he has felt, in the midst of his schemes of authorship, like
-Prospero in his enchanted island. How different was the fate of his old
-friend, Robert Emmett! At that very time the latter was plotting
-desperately against the English government, and preparing that
-rebellious uprising in which he perished.
-
-In 1803, at the early age of 23, Moore began to reap some of the solid
-fruits of his connection with the English aristocracy. He got the place
-of Registrar of the Court of Admiralty at Bermuda, through the interest
-of the Earl of Moira, and went to the island to take possession of his
-office. But instead of doing the duties of it, he procured a deputy, and
-went rambling and rhyming over the islands and on the continent of
-America. He highly enjoyed the natural softness and beauty of the Summer
-Islands; but many a song and poetical epistle proved that “his heart was
-in Albion—his heart was not there”—that he was sighing for what he
-called
-
- The flourishing Isle of the brave and the free,
-
-the splendid hospitalities of Donington and the _pays de cocagne_ of the
-British aristocracy in general.
-
-Passing from Bermuda, he came to Norfolk in Virginia, and thence made a
-pretty lengthened tour through the States, by Washington, Philadelphia,
-Buffalo and the lakes. The young votary of the Anacreontic muses—the
-musical pet of the higher English circles—did not like the American
-Democracy at all, and has left on record about as unfavorable an opinion
-and prophecy concerning the republic as has been written at any time
-since. Every thing seemed tough and unrefined; and when he made his bow
-to President Thomas Jefferson, he felt a mental shock from the sight of
-that simple man, wearing “Connemara stockings and slippers,” at the head
-of a nation. To be sure the society of British officers and Federal
-Whigs among whom he chose his friends and acquaintances was not
-calculated to impress him with any favorable idea of the democratic
-party. But, every allowance made, Moore said enough to show that,
-Catholic as he was, and come of plebeian forefathers (at least in an
-_immediate_ manner; for the name O’Moore is high on the old rolls of
-Irish peerage and rebellion) he never had any hearty sympathy with
-republicanism and the cause of the people. He was all for the glorious
-distinctions of rank and historic _prestige_—the pride, pomp and
-circumstance of lordly life; and, in fact, looked on America as a sort
-of moral wilderness. He had no hopes of it, indeed. He said society here
-was rotten to the core; and he wrote poetical prophecies of its speedy
-decay and disappearance from among the nations of the earth!
-
-And yet there were many things here to conciliate the fastidiousness of
-the young traveler. Among the other tokens of an exceptional
-civilization, was one which he himself recalls with an evident feeling
-of gratified pride. The American master of the packet in which he
-crossed Ontario—knowing that the young gentleman was a poet—the author
-of “Anacreon Translated,” and “Juvenile Poems and Songs”—refused to
-accept any money for his passage—would thus show his sense of what was
-due to literature! We believe very few ship-masters in any of the old
-countries would have done so courteously magnanimous a thing as that;
-and Moore himself probably thought so too. The poet was, in fact, much
-better pleased with the natural scenery than the people of the
-continent; and scattered through the verses occasioned by his visit will
-be found many tributes to the picturesque wildernesses he passed
-through. Speaking of Niagara and other grand scenes he says—
-
- Oh lady, there are miracles which man
- Caged in the bounds of Europe’s narrow span
- Can scarcely dream of—which his eye must see
- To know how wonderful this world can be.
-
-Moore, as well as hundreds of others, has left us his first impressions
-on the sight of Niagara Falls. He says, “When we arrived at length at
-the inn, in the neighborhood of the Falls, it was too late to think of
-visiting them that evening, and I lay awake almost the whole night with
-the sound of the cataract in my ears. The day following I consider a
-sort of era in my life: and the first glimpse I got of that wonderful
-cataract gave me a feeling which nothing in this world can ever awaken
-again. It was through an opening among the trees, as we approached the
-spot where a full view of the Falls was to burst upon us, that I caught
-this glimpse of the mighty mass of waters folding smoothly over the edge
-of the precipice, and so overwhelming was the notion it gave me of the
-awful spectacle I was approaching, that during the short interval that
-followed, imagination had far outrun the reality; and vast and wonderful
-as was the scene that then opened upon me my first feeling was that of
-disappointment. . . But in spite of the start thus got by imagination
-the triumph of the reality was, in the end, but the greater; for the
-gradual glory of the scene that opened upon me soon took possession of
-my whole mind, presenting from day to day, some new beauty or wonder,
-and like all that is most sublime in nature or art, awakening sad as
-well as elevating thoughts. . . I should find it difficult to say on
-which occasion I felt most deeply affected, when looking on the Falls of
-Niagara, or when standing by moonlight among the ruins of the Coliseum.”
-
-In 1806 Moore republished his Juvenile Poems, along with the
-translations and those poems written at Bermuda and in America. But the
-Edinburgh Review came down upon the book with the sharpest force of
-sarcasm and severity. The first publication of his licentious
-love-songs, it said, might have been excused by the great youth of the
-poet, but the republication was atrociously prepense and unpardonable.
-The poor lyric butterfly was broken terribly upon the wheel; but not so
-much as to disable him (—we mean the _poet_—changing the figure) from
-challenging the Auld Reekie editor; and the bard and critic—Francis
-Jeffrey—met at Chalk Farm, to settle their differences by the duello.
-But the police officers were too quick for them, and arrested both;
-whereupon it was reported, amidst much laughter of the press and public,
-that there were no balls in the pistols! Moore went to the trouble of
-denying that he knew the state of his adversary’s engine or his own. In
-this violent business the poet’s feelings were sorely tried. But his
-publisher managed to thrive upon the business. The book had, of course,
-received a very unexpected advertisement. Moore’s vexations did not
-terminate with the foregoing. Over two years afterward, when young Lord
-Byron, then in his twentieth year, charged gallantly down upon all the
-poets, poetasters and critics of the English Parnassus, he laughed at
-the duel, among the other matters, and “Little’s leadless pistol.” Here
-was another outrage; and out came our poet once more with a challenge to
-the peer. But his lordship had gone off to make material for his Giaours
-and Childe Harolds in the East, and the letter remained unread till his
-return, near two years after. By this time, his “sensitive and surly”
-feelings had gone off, and he wrote to Moore a frank and good-natured
-reply. The latter, who had, in the interim, married his wife—Miss
-Dyke—and thus given hostages to fortune, felt how much pleasanter it
-would be to have the young baron’s friendship than his bullet in the
-body, and therefore wrote a very warm _Irish_ letter in return, which
-paved the way to their mutual friendship. On this occasion Rogers got
-Byron, Moore and Campbell together round his mahogany, and there they
-became acquainted with one another, and shook hands all round, for the
-first time.
-
-In 1808 and 1809 Moore published his poems, “Intolerance” and
-“Corruption,” satires; one on the English Constitution, and the other on
-the English Church. They are fluent, but want vigor, and are read no
-longer. In the “Skeptic” he writes like a good Catholic who prefers
-ignorant obedience in all matters of Faith to the philosophy of Locke.
-But he now prepared to sing a loftier strain. His next publication was
-the First and Second Numbers of the Irish Melodies—a work which will
-secure to him whatever immortality awaits his name. The melodies became
-popular, at once, in England and Ireland alike. The sparkling grace and
-flexibility of his verse presented an agreeable contrast to the
-generality of songs sung at that period. The mixture of vivacity,
-pathos, and epigrammatic point in their composition placed their author
-at the head of modern song-writers; and, if the politics of poor Ireland
-were doomed to be disastrous, the poetry of her beautiful music now
-found itself vindicated and triumphant in the halls and palaces of the
-British aristocracy. There was a savor of rebellion in some of these
-songs which wonderfully took the fashionable fancy of the English; while
-in Ireland the repeated allusions to the ancient glories of the land,
-and the graceful sorrow which seemed to weep its many misfortunes,
-touched the popular heart, and led the people—(we mean the reading
-people)—to look on Moore as the genuine poet of Erin, and to applaud
-him accordingly.
-
-As for the poet himself, it would seem that his sympathy with his native
-land was more a matter of sentiment than of practical reality. He could
-excite the finest feelings of drawing-room rebellion. But he was not a
-Tyrtæus to rouse up that deeper and more daring sentiment which prompts
-people to rush into the field. He was the friend and college-mate of
-Emmett and other disaffected spirits; and attended the Debating and
-Historic Societies in which these ardent and enlightened young men,
-mostly Protestants, spoke of the rights of man and the liberty of
-Ireland. They were members of United Irish Societies; but Moore never
-belonged to the last. The influence of his parents and relations was
-exercised against the malcontent spirit of the time; and when the
-unhappy rebellion was crushed, the young bard went to seek his fortune
-in the very heart of the English aristocracy. There Moore’s patriotism
-was subdued and refined; and it ever afterward delighted to exhibit
-itself in the language of polemics and lyric poetry. The Irish sentiment
-of the Irish Melodies is not strong enough to nourish any sort of
-rebellion upon. It is remarkable that, in all Moore’s historic
-allusions, he seldom or never speaks of the prowess of the Irish against
-the English—the struggles of the Desmonds, O’Neills, O’Moores, and so
-forth, against the Henries, Elizabeth, or the Stuarts. He goes back into
-the indistinct times of Milesian sway, the palace of Tara, and the stand
-of Brian or Malachi against the Danes. He passes over the recent and
-authentic, such as would come more home to the present period, and weeps
-or flushes, with remarkable prudence, among the legends and the whole
-Irish apocrypha. But it would be too much, perhaps, to expect that the
-little Catholic boy, whose early impressions were formed in the midst of
-the aristocratic societies of Dublin, to which he was admitted on
-sufferance, a gratified guest, could ever grow up a democrat or a rebel.
-
-Indeed it is not difficult to discover from the tone of Moore’s writings
-that he had formed a low opinion of Irish nationality—entertained a
-poor notion of its past glories of all sorts, and little hope that
-Ireland would ever do any thing to right herself. Indeed, if Ireland had
-not her beautiful melodies, to suggest the weaving of lyric verse, and
-to give it some promise of immortality, we should not probably have had
-so much Irish reminiscence from Moore. It is, in fact, by a sort of
-poetic licence, that he allows himself, in some of his songs, to sing
-with an air of heroism or pathos, of those ancient men and things, in
-which he himself, as may be gathered from the pages of his History of
-Ireland, and from other places, had a very slender historical faith.
-But, after all, the Melodies are beautiful things, and deserve the fame
-they have won. They are full of felicities, and the hearts have been
-cold indeed that have been able to resist the fascination they exercise,
-in congenial moments, whether spoken or sung. The charm of an exquisite
-phraseology sparkles everywhere, and the feelings with which we hear
-them sung, seem incapable of more apt and musical expression.
-
-In the intervals of several numbers of the Melodies Moore employed
-himself on other things. In 1812, he began to think of his great
-romance—his Opus Magnum—Lalla Rookh. Moore gives us the history of
-this poem, manufacture, sale and all; but the sale of it (in MS.) went
-before the manufacture. It was sold to the Messrs. Longman for 3000
-guineas—not pounds: literary payments in England having been and being
-still made, by respectable publishers, in the more aristocratic coin.
-Mr. Perry, proprietor of the Morning Chronicle, made the bargain for his
-friend, the bard, and we suspect that without his influence and
-shrewdness, Moore would not have got that sum. For poets, and people of
-refined feelings, are the worst hands at a bargain in the world, as
-everybody knows. Perry said the poet of the Melodies should have the
-highest price ever given for any poetic work; and that being 3000
-guineas, he held out for it and got it. The Longmans bought their pig in
-a poke, as the saying is. They were to take whatever poem Moore was
-pleased to write, and also to wait till it was written. This was a very
-pleasant sort of trade for the poet, and he went to work with that
-inspiration and cheerfulness of spirit which publishers, for their own
-sake, should do every thing to encourage in their writers. Moore retired
-to Mayfield Cottage, in Derbyshire, a little way from Donington Park and
-its library, and began to seclude himself from mankind. Having resolved
-that his romance should be Oriental, he crammed himself with every thing
-written about the East that he could, in any way, lay hands on—its
-manners, customs, history, religion, languages, geography, and so forth.
-He then began to write a long story called the “Peri’s Daughter;” but,
-after going a little way in it, his Pegasus stuck fast, and the attempt
-was put aside. He tried other ideas; but to little purpose. At last, an
-_Irish_ idea struck him—that of poor Catholics persecuted and kept down
-for their religion. By a happy dexterity he metamorphosed them into
-Guebres, and so, setting up the frame-work of the “Fire-Worshipers,” and
-clothing his Hibernian sentiments—half romance half religion—in all
-the sparkling phraseology of the East, he got on swimmingly. The
-monster, “Prophet of the Khorassan,” “Paradise and the Peri,” and the
-“Light of the Harem,” followed favorably; and in 1816, after three
-years’ incubation, he gave Lalla Rookh to the purchasers of the
-manuscript. To Moore’s honor, it must be said, that seeing the monetary
-and other embarrassments of that year, he offered to release the
-Longmans from their engagement, if they desired it. But they stuck
-manfully to their bargain; and it is pleasant to add, made handsomely by
-it.
-
-Moore was now very famous. Lalla and the Melodies gave him a reputation
-only second to that of the noble young “Childe Buron” himself. His
-“Fire-Worshipers” was quoted with fervor in Ireland; the songs in his
-“Light of the Harem” had charmed all the world; a herd of imitators
-sprang up like mushrooms, and bulbuls, peris, roses, flashing swords,
-and sparkling goblets, were the general order of the day. In the
-meantime, Moore went with Mr. Rogers to Paris. There he gathered the
-materials of the Fudge Family, which he published on his return.
-
-In 1819 he traveled again to Paris, in company with Lord John Russell;
-and both went thence to Italy. Lord John passed on to Genoa, and Moore
-proceeded to visit Lord Byron at Venice, where the noble exile lived in
-a very savage condition, drinking gin and water o’nights, and writing
-his heart out. There the poets passed some agreeable days together,
-riding along the Lido together, and going over the lagoons in a gondola.
-It was on this occasion that Byron confided to Moore his “Memoirs,” to
-be used as the latter should think fit. Moore afterward sold them to
-Murray for 2000 guineas. But when Byron died, his widow and family
-interfered, and induced Moore to withdraw and burn the
-manuscript—forfeiting the money, of course. Moore has been blamed for
-consenting to this sacrifice. But it is very likely he has preserved in
-his Life of Byron every thing of interest contained in the papers, and
-that very little was lost, except certain scandalous particulars, which
-the world would very willingly let die—though the offal-eating
-scandal-mongers of the day groaned horribly under the privation at the
-time. After leaving Venice, Moore went to Rome. He confesses that, in
-the midst of the ruins and splendors of past Roman civilization and art,
-he was painfully conscious of his own want of artistic taste and
-enthusiasm. He says that a sunset on the Simplon touched him with more
-admiration than any thing he had seen in the Italian galleries of art.
-This would hardly have been expected from Moore, who has been termed the
-poet of artificial things. After his return from this tour, he published
-his Rhymes on the Road and the Fables of the Holy Alliance.
-
-But his return did not extend to England. He knew that country was no
-place for him, just then. He had made a blunder in his business of the
-Bermuda registrarship, the consequences of which had now reached him. He
-had taken no security of the deputy he had appointed to do the duties of
-that office. The latter, in the course of time and trade, fell into
-temptation—the easy carelessness of Moore led him, perhaps, into
-it—and he made way with the proceeds of some American cargoes, and
-then, with himself—leaving the unprophetic little bard, in the heyday
-of his glory, to be responsible for near six thousand pounds. The
-terrible Court of Admiralty now issued a law process against “the
-smiling bard of pleasure,” which the latter did not think it wise to
-confront in person, and so stopped short at Paris, where—along with his
-family, which had joined him—he remained till the close of 1822. His
-friends, in the mean time, came forward to the rescue; and if, for a
-moment, he wronged his better genius by hard thoughts against the honor
-or honesty of his fellows, he was soon brought round to the nobler and
-better human creed, by generous offers of gifts, loans, etc. Thus,
-sustained in his exile, he passed his time pleasantly enough, at La
-Butte Coaslin, near Paris, singing Spanish songs to the guitar in the
-evening, in company with Madame V——, a neighbor, and spending the
-mornings of the two summers he remained in France, wandering through the
-noble park of St. Cloud, spinning and polishing verses and jotting down
-new ideas in his memorandum-book. His exile was, certainly, pleasanter
-than that of his erotic, erratic brother, Ovid, lamenting his
-frost-bitten muses, long ago, on the inhospitable shores of the Black
-Sea. Moore had a great many visitors at Coaslin, among them our
-Washington Irving, “who still, I trust,” he says, “recollects his
-reading to me some parts of his then forthcoming work, ‘Bracebridge
-Hall,’ as we sat together on the grass walk that leads to the Rocher, at
-La Butte.” To meet his awkward liabilities, Moore had agreed with
-Messrs. Murray and Wilkie to write a Life of Sheridan; but finding
-himself too distant from documents and authorities, he went on with his
-customary business of verse, and projected an epistolary romance, with
-Egyptian characters. But this romance was postponed: and it appeared
-afterward, done in prose, as the “Epicurean.” He also took up the
-allegory of “The Loves of the Angels,” and working away with his usual
-octosyllabic facility, he had soon woven it into shape. For this poem he
-was allowed one thousand guineas by his publisher.
-
-On Moore’s return to England, he found that his friends had negotiated
-the Americans down to a thousand pounds; and that the uncle of the
-faithless deputy had been induced, in a grumbling way, to contribute
-_£_300 of that sum. A friend had deposited the balance in the bank to
-Moore’s credit, for the canceling of the Bermuda claim; and the poet was
-happy to hand him an order on his publisher for that amount. In this
-connection, Moore records (without naming the giver, but with a
-quotation from Ovid, to the effect that “gifts are agreeable which are
-made precious by him who makes them,”) a present of £300, made him at
-that time of difficulty—the proceeds of a maiden-work—a
-biography—which had been just published. The donor was Lord John
-Russel; the firm friend of the poet to the end of his life.
-
-Mr. Moore now went to live at Sloperton, two miles from Devizes, and not
-far from the country seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne. His dwelling was
-at first a somewhat rude cottage, in a wooded lane. But, on taking it,
-the new occupants made it very comfortable and pleasant, by means of
-enlargements and other improvements. In 1824, Moore published his
-“Memoirs of Captain Rock,” in which he set forth the misgovernment of
-England since the conquest of the island by Strongbow. In this book he
-never forgets the manner for the matter: he is full of point and learned
-illustration, and festoons his deplorable facts with many felicities of
-metaphor and arguments of theology. But no Irishman, how hot-headed
-soever, could take the Memoirs as the text-book of rebellion, or feel
-his blood excited by them. Mr. Moore’s learning and imagery, in fact,
-weakened his theme, as the accompaniment of rich, heavy baggage used to
-obstruct the movements of the great historic armies, long ago. The
-“Memoirs” are obsolete, though the Irish sufferings seem to be much the
-same as usual.
-
-At Sloperton, Moore wrote, also, his History of Ireland and the
-Biographies of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and
-Lord Byron—the last the best of the three, a biography ranking with
-Boswell’s Life of Johnson, and Lockhart’s Life of Scott. After his
-“Captain Rock,” Moore published the “Irish Gentleman in search of a
-Religion,” in which he girds at all Protestant doctrine, with his usual
-power of theologic reading and pointed argument; and then gave to the
-world his “Epicurean;” in which he intertwines his favorite ethics of
-religion with the frame of a very dull story. Moore’s mind had a strong
-devotional tendency, and seems to revert—with a sense of its own
-insufficiency—to the problem of existence beyond the last scene of all
-that ends the strange eventful history of life. His doubtings, if he
-ever had any, seem to have taken ultimate refuge in Catholic orthodoxy.
-He was, in fact, a dutiful son of mother Church: and great was the
-uneasiness he exhibited, lest his friend, Lord Byron, should adopt, in
-all their force, the atheistical ideas of Percy Bysshe Shelley, with
-whom his lordship had become very intimate, in Italy. Moore earnestly
-expostulated with Byron on the project of the “Liberal” newspaper, got
-up by the restless Childe and supported by Hunt, Shelley, and Hazlitt.
-He told his lordship that such a conjunction, with such a radical
-purpose, was very far from respectable—not by any means respectable
-enough for an English nobleman to engage in.
-
-The last productions of Moore were those light and satirical verses
-which appeared in the Morning Chronicle and other papers, up to 1837.
-They are the happiest things of their kind, in the world, and to those
-who can admire the gay dexterities of wit, woven into the tapestry work
-of rhyme, they possess an interest surviving the subjects of them. In
-the interweaving of pointed and witty things with the flow of colloquial
-phraseology, Moore has shown himself more skillful than any of his
-contemporaries, and no writer of the present day can match him.
-
-A bright, sensuous, Celtic genius dies with Tom Moore. As a poet, he
-will be chiefly remembered for the undying melodies of his native land,
-with which his words are beautifully identified. His translations of
-Anacreon are clever school-boy exercises—very free versions and
-amplifications of the original, and contain many points and prettinesses
-which the old Cyclic bard never thought of. The juvenile and erotic
-songs which obtained for Moore the name of the modern Catullus, are very
-slight things—mere floating gossamers of literature—flashing a little
-in the light—“the purple light of love,” and then fading away from the
-general appreciation. But these songs were, nevertheless, greatly in
-vogue in their day, and the pathos or gayety of them found echoes in the
-hearts of ten thousand festive saloons. Never was the youth of any poet
-spent in the midst of greater incitements of love, friendship, and song,
-than those that solicited Moore on every side during the heyday of his
-years, in the high society of England. It was therefore morally
-impossible that his verse should be any thing but “brilliant and light,”
-full of all the levities and luxuries of sentiment. The real
-arduousness, effort, and pain of life find no expression at all in
-Moore. The poems respecting America and his West India voyage, exhibit
-his want of sympathy with republicanism, and his ceaseless longing after
-the grand associations and lordly homes of England. Nevertheless, it
-must not be forgotten that he found some congenial persons and things on
-this continent. He has recorded the enjoyment of his sojourn in our own
-city of “brotherly love,” where, in the society of Mr. Dennie’s family,
-he almost forgot he was in a republic. His recollections of Philadelphia
-were happy ones.
-
- LINES WRITTEN ON LEAVING PHILADELPHIA.
-
- Alone by the Schuylkill a wanderer roved,
- And bright were its flowery banks to his eye;
- But far, very far were the friends that he loved,
- And he gazed on the flowery banks with a sigh.
-
- Nor long did the soul of the stranger remain
- Unblest by the smile he had languished to meet;
- Though scarce did he hope it would soothe him again,
- Till the threshold of home had been pressed by his feet.
-
- But the lays of his boyhood had stolen to their ear,
- And they loved what they knew of so humble a name;
- And they told him with flattery welcome and dear
- That they found in his heart something better than fame.
-
- The stranger is gone, but he will not forget
- When, at home, he shall talk of the toils he has known,
- To tell with a sign, what endearments he met
- When he strayed by the wave of the Schuylkill alone.
-
-The “Canadian Boat Song,” composed on the St. Lawrence, is the most
-popular of the songs written at the earlier period of life—indeed, at
-any period of his life. It is more frequently heard in society than any
-thing else he has composed—the finest of the Melodies not excepted. As
-regards these last, it has been said they are not Irish. It is, indeed,
-true that Moore modified the native airs a good deal—retrenched most of
-the wild cadences and free modulations which indigenously belong to
-them. This, however, may not be such a very great loss after all, seeing
-that, if some of the melodies, with his arrangement, would not be
-intimately recognized at wakes and cow-milkings, etc., they were all the
-better liked, for the curtailment and polish, in the dining-rooms and
-drawing-rooms. Certainly no modern festive song-writer has produced the
-effects which usually accompanied the singing of Tom Moore’s lyrics. He
-was eminently the poet of the saloons. Burns was the lyrist of Love and
-the lowly hearts and homes of the people. But Moore’s songs were sung in
-the most splendid halls of English-speaking land, where he himself, of
-all guests or sojourners in lordly dwellings, was ever the most welcome
-and caressed. And when we consider the low birth, _Irishism_ and
-uncompromised Catholicity of the man, we cannot possibly over-estimate
-those talents of graceful conviviality, good-humor and brilliant wit
-which could secure for him such social honors and triumphs through life.
-Well might Byron have called him “the poet of all circles and the idol
-of his own.” Moore had an exquisite musical taste, and sung some of his
-own melodies in the most delightful manner. His voice was rather low,
-and without compass, but it had great softness, and the expression with
-which he half-chaunted, half-recited, while accompanying himself at the
-piano, in “Go Where Glory Waits Thee,” “Fly Not Yet,” and others, was a
-thing to be enjoyed and remembered. On some occasions when he has gone
-to the piano, the servants of the house—Devonshire House, we
-believe—have been permitted to come and stand at the doors to listen,
-along with the delighted crowd of noble listeners. Moore’s performance
-was considered one of the best treats of the evening at such gay
-reunions; and Mr. N. P. Willis speaks of the little bard’s appearance,
-at Lady Blessington’s piano—for a singing-while—as if his singing in
-this way were an expected gratification which he was too well-bred or
-too good-natured to refuse to his friends. A touching instance of the
-effect he could produce on these occasions is given in a fact to which
-he himself alludes. The beautiful young daughter of Colonel Bainbridge,
-who was married at Ashbourne Church, in Derbyshire, in 1815, died, a few
-weeks afterward, of fever. During the delirium that accompanied her
-illness she sung several hymns from Moore’s collection of “Sacred Songs”
-which she had heard the poet himself sing in the course of the preceding
-summer. Alluding to her, he says, in the song “Weep not for Those”—
-
- Mourn not for her, the young bride of the vale,
- Our gayest and loveliest, lost to us now,
- Ere life’s early lustre had time to grow pale,
- And the garland of love was yet fresh on her brow.
-
-Lalla Rookh is a splendid and elaborate romance. Hazlitt said Moore
-should not have written it for three thousand guineas. This was Moore’s
-own affair, not Hazlitt’s; and we question if the latter would have
-refused such a sum, under such circumstances. Nevertheless, Lalla Rookh
-seems below the pretensions of the poet of the Melodies. Its themes and
-characters are oriental and the interest they excite is feeble. There is
-a forced and exotic air over the whole performance which fails to win
-our sympathies; and, in spite of the beauty of the imagery and all the
-sparkling artifice of the versification, no one, we believe, was every
-cordially disposed to read this romance a second time. The rythmus of
-the “Veiled Prophet” is eloquently rhetorical, but loosely constructed,
-and it offends our sense of what the heroic couplet is, in the hands of
-Dryden, Shelley, Goldsmith and Byron. Moore’s metre, in this grave mode,
-is a continuous outrage against the cæsural canons, and reads with a
-certain prosaic effect—eloquent enough, to be sure; but prosaic,
-nevertheless: “The Fire-Worshipers” has been considered the best portion
-of Lalla Rookh. It contains a great deal of impassioned eloquence and
-shows great mastery and music of versification; but the impression it
-leaves is vague and uncongenial, and the catastrophe is painful,
-merely—like that of the “Veiled Prophet”—both with a melodramatic and
-impossible air about them. “Paradise and the Peri” has the merit of a
-more attractive human interest—though almost overlaid by ornament and
-orientalism. We think the “Light of the Harem” the most agreeable of
-all. It is perfectly in character—a picture of Eastern luxury from
-beginning to end—a feast of roses and a flow of fountains, in which we
-look for nothing but sighs and perfumes—and we find them in all
-customary Mooreish prodigality. The verse of this little poem is woven
-music. The portrait of Nourmahal is a piece of lyric gracefulness which
-aptly exemplifies the art of Moore’s sensuous and harmonic genius:
-
- There’s a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright,
- Like the long sunny lapse of a summer day’s light,
- Shining on, shining on, by no shadow made tender,
- Till Love falls asleep in its sameness of splendor.
- This was not the beauty—oh, nothing like this,
- That to young Nourmahal gave such magic of bliss!
- But that loveliness, ever in motion, which plays
- Like the light upon Autumn’s soft shadowy days,
- Now here and now there—giving warmth as it flies,
- From the lip to the cheek, from the cheek to the eyes.
- When pensive, it seemed as if that very grace,
- That charm, of all others, was born with her face!
- And when angry—for even in the tranquillest climes,
- Light breezes will ruffle the blossoms sometimes,
- The short, passing anger but seemed to awaken
- New beauty, like flowers that are sweetest when shaken.
- If tenderness touched her, the dark of her eye
- At once took a darker, a heavenlier dye,
- From the depth of whose shadow, like holy revealings
- From innermost shrines came the light of her feelings.
- Then her mirth—O, ’twas sportive as ever took wing
- From the heart with a burst like the wild-bird in spring,
- Illumed by a wit that would fascinate sages,
- Yet playful as Peris let loose from their cages;
- While her laugh, full of glee, without any control,
- But the sweet one of gracefulness, rung from her soul,
- And where it most sparkled no glance could discover,
- In lip, cheek or eyes, for she brightened all over;
- Like any fair lake which the breeze is upon
- When it breaks into dimples and laughs in the sun!
-
-No wonder “the magnificent son of Acbar” should be set excessively
-beside himself on account of such a miracle of womanhood.
-
-Moore shows himself very incapable of sustaining himself in any flights
-of imagination to compare at all with the soaring of Shelley or Byron.
-The sight of his mind is less keen and ardent than theirs, his thoughts
-feebler and his verse less vigorously constructed. But in his own genial
-sphere—on the lower sunny slopes of the mountain, he can snatch a
-thousand warbling graces beyond the art of these louder instruments.
-
- His is the lay that lightly floats,
- And his are the murmuring, dying notes
- That fall as soft as snow on the sea,
- And melt in the heart as instantly;
- And the passionate strain, that, lightly going
- Refines the bosom it trembles through
- As the musk-wind, over the waters blowing,
- Ruffles the wave but sweetens it too!
-
-Moore has happily expressed the pathetic morals, gayeties and
-tendernesses of sentiment. But we think he has been still more happy in
-those humorous, satirical, wit-elaborated performances in which it was
-his wont to assail the public men and things of English government and
-English society. His metrical onslaughts on the Tory party, the Prince
-Regent, the Church Establishment—individually or collectively—have
-been among the most genial and applauded things he has written. In the
-other walks of poetry he had overpowering rivals—in this he was
-unrivaled—“within this circle none durst walk but he.” He was well
-aware of the power of satire to influence the gravest argument in the
-world, and felt that
-
- A song may reach him who a sermon flies.
-
-Much of his sarcasm was launched against the English Church
-Establishment. Its existence in Ireland has long been a just cause of
-popular complaint, and thousands of pamphlets have been written _pro_
-and _con_ in the matter. The witty little poet took the hackneyed
-question, put it into his lyric mill, and having given it a few turns,
-brought it out in the following manner—intelligible to all
-comprehensions—answering as well the cause of his Catholic countrymen
-as the cause of simple truth and justice:
-
- A DREAM OF HINDOSTAN.
-
- “The longer one lives the more one learns,”
- Said I, as off to sleep I went,
- Bemused with thinking of tithe concerns,
- And reading a book, by the Bishop of Ferns,
- On the Irish Church Establishment.
- But lo! in sleep not long I lay
- When fancy her usual tricks began,
- And I found myself bewitched away
- To a goodly city in Hindostan:
- A city, where he who dares to dine
- On aught but rice, is deemed a sinner:
- Where sheep and kine are held divine,
- And, accordingly, never drest for dinner.
-
- But how is this? I wondering cried,
- As I walked that city, fair and wide,
- And saw, in every marble street,
- A row of beautiful butchers’ shops—
- “What means, for men who can’t eat meat,
- This grand display of loins and chops?”
- In vain I asked—’twas plain to see
- That nobody dared to answer me.
-
- So on from street to street I strode:
- And you can’t conceive how vastly odd
- The butchers looked: a roseate crew,
- Inshrined in _stalls_, with naught to do:
- While some on a _bench_, half dozing, sat,
- And the sacred cows were not more fat.
-
- Still posed to think what all this scene
- Of sinecure trade was _meant_ to mean,
- “And pray,” asked I, “by whom is paid
- The expense of this strange masquerade?”
- “The expense—oh, that’s of course defrayed”
- (Said one of these well-fed hecatombers)
- “By yonder rascally rice-consumers.”
- “What! _they_, who mustn’t eat meat?”—“No matter:”
- (And, while he spoke, his cheeks grew fatter,)
- “The rogues may munch their _Paddy_ crop,
- But the rogues must still support _our_ shop:
- And depend upon it, the way to treat
- Heretical stomachs that thus dissent,
- Is to burden all that wont eat meat
- With a costly Meat Establishment.”
-
- On hearing these words so gravely said,
- With a volley of laughter loud I shook:
- And my slumber fled, and my dream was sped,
- And I found myself lying snug in bed,
- With my nose in the Bishop of Ferns’s book.
-
-In spite of the _prestige_ of Moore’s earlier poetry, the world has
-regarded him, and very justly, as a moral man and a good Catholic. In
-the domestic relations of life, as well as the social, he seems to have
-gone through the world blamelessly. For the last ten years or so of his
-life, he was in receipt of _£_300 a year from the British Government,
-procured for him by his friends the Marquis of Lansdowne and Lord John
-Russell.
-
-Moore died on the 26th of last February, and was buried, according to
-his desire, in the church-yard of Bromham, between Devizes and
-Chippenham, where two of his children were buried before him—Anastasia
-Mary, who died in 1829 aged sixteen, and John Russell, who died in 1848
-at the age of nineteen. Another son of the poet died in the French
-service at Algiers. He had, we believe, four children, all of whom
-passed away before himself. Doubly dark, indeed, was the close of a life
-begun so hopefully and enjoyed so much in its middle course.
-
-If the poet had died in Ireland, he would have had a good funeral. As it
-was, but a single coach, containing four persons, went to the grave with
-the hearse which carried his remains. Byron reached Huckwell, in 1824,
-pretty much in the same way; but, we believe, with a somewhat larger
-attendance—not much, however. Moore attended his noble friend’s funeral
-to the bounds of London, as the slender _cortège_ passed through, but
-went no farther.
-
-Moore was of small stature. “He is a little, very little man,” says Sir
-Walter Scott, speaking of him in 1825. Hunt said of him in 1820: “His
-forehead is long and full of character, with bumps of wit large and
-radiant enough to transport a phrenologist: his eyes are as dark and
-fine as you would wish to see under a set of vine-leaves.” The poet’s
-face was, in fact, very plain, and only redeemed by the brightness of
-his eyes. Irish festivity and enjoyment formed the prevailing expression
-of his aspect, in his better days when he was the delight and pride of
-every society he appeared in—the gayest, happiest, most appreciated wit
-of his time. Poor Tom Moore! He was always called _Tom_ Moore; except in
-cotemporary criticisms of his poems or polemics, nobody thought of
-calling him _Mr._ Moore. We cannot fancy him a man of seventy-two! There
-is an incongruity in the idea which we cannot get over. Old and insane.
-Alas for the brightest vaunt of human intellect and glory! But Tom Moore
-will be ever freshly remembered with the undying melodies of his native
-land.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- A LIFE OF VICISSITUDES.
-
-
- BY G. P. R. JAMES.
-
-
- [Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
- George Payne Rainsford James, in the Clerk’s Office of the
- District Court of the United States for the District of
- Massachusetts.]
-
- (_Continued from page 494._)
-
-
- LONDON, FIFTY YEARS AGO.
-
-There was a night coach to London, and I was very anxious to arrive in
-the great city; but Father Bonneville was now feeling strongly the
-effects of age, and I would not expose him to the fatigue of a long
-night journey. We set off therefore on the following morning, and I can
-hardly express the effect produced upon my mind by the first sight of
-the vehicle which was to convey us. It was the stage-coach in its utmost
-perfection, light, small, and compact, beautifully painted, newly
-washed, with leather harness, and four bay horses, which seemed, to my
-eyes, fitted for the race-course. It was so unlike any thing I had ever
-seen in Germany, in France, or in America, so light, so neat, so jaunty,
-so rapid, so perfect in all its parts and appointments, that it stood
-out at once from every thing else in my mind, as a pure and
-unadulterated bit of England—an exponent, as it were, of the habits of
-the country and the mind of the people. When we came to get in, indeed,
-and take our seats, we found ourselves a little cramped for room. The
-back, too, was stiff and rigid, and our legs had but little space to
-stretch themselves out, intertwined with those of our fellow passengers.
-
-“This, too, is a bit of England,” I thought.
-
-When at length the coachman had mounted the box—when the reins were
-gathered up, and the first smack of the whip given, poor Father
-Bonneville looked more nervous and uneasy than he had done while I was
-driving him down the hill over the frontier of France. On we went,
-however, at a pace which seemed to take away his breath, rattling in and
-out amongst carts and wagons, and horses and dogs, touching nothing,
-though seeming every moment about to be dashed to pieces against some
-great lumbering dray, or to kill a score or two of old people and
-children. The coach was heavily laden on the top: men’s legs and feet
-were hanging down in all quarters, and we seemed to sway from side to
-side with a terrible inclination to precipitate ourselves into the
-window of some early-risen shopkeeper in Portsmouth.
-
-At length, much to my satisfaction, we were out of the town; and after
-passing over some wide and curious-looking downs, unlike any thing else
-I had ever seen in other lands, we entered upon a richer and better
-cultivated country, and the real face of England—old England—merry
-England, as it has been endearingly called, spread out before me like a
-garden. And it is a garden—the garden of the world. I know not why, but
-the very heaths and moors—and we passed several of them—seemed to have
-an air of comfort and sunny cheerfulness, superior to the cultivated
-fields of other lands. From time to time when we stopped to change
-horses, though it was done with a marvelous rapidity, which allowed but
-little time for questions, I asked an ostler or a waiter the names of
-various places we had passed; and I remarked that the English must be
-very fond of the devil, as they had made him god-father to every place
-for which they could not well find an epithet. I heard of Devil’s dykes,
-and Devil’s punch-bowl, and Devil’s jumps, at every step.
-
-We paused to dine, as it was called, at a small town, beautifully
-situated amongst some fine sweeping hills, and on asking the name, found
-that it was called Godalming.
-
-“_Gott Allgemein_,” I said, turning to Father Bonneville, who nodded his
-head. But it was an unfortunate speech; for one of our fellow-travelers,
-a great, fat, black-looking man, dressed in mourning, who had never
-opened his mouth during the day, but who had continued reading a book,
-let the coach rattle and roll as it would, now fixed upon me as an
-antiquary, and tormented me during the whole of the rest of the journey
-with a dissertation upon pottery, and sepulchral urns, and Roman coins,
-when I wished to observe the country, and gain information regarding the
-new land which I had just entered. He evidently took me for an
-Englishman; but my companion he soon found out to be an emigrant, and
-compensated in some degree for his tiresomeness, by giving us the names
-of several good inns—“Where,” as he added, with a gentle inclination of
-his head toward Father Bonneville, “there were waiters who could speak
-French.”
-
-My good old friend was a little mortified, I believe; for he flattered
-himself that his English was without accent.
-
-Night fell while we were yet some distance from London, and still we
-rattled on at the same velocity, till our heavy friend in the corner
-thought fit to inform us that we were entering London. It did not seem
-to be an agreeable entrance at all; for the dark streets, lighted by
-very dim globe lamps shining through a fog, into which we seemed to
-plunge, had a somewhat forbidding aspect to the eye of a stranger, and
-the multitude of figures hurrying along on both sides of the way, now
-seen, now lost, as they came under the lamps, or passed the blazing
-shop-fronts, looked like phantoms of the dead pursued by some evil
-spirit. The noise too was intolerable; for vehicles were running in
-every direction, making an awful clatter as we clattered by them, while
-through the whole was heard a dull, everlasting grumble, as if the city
-suffered under one continual thunder-storm.
-
-At length, we dashed up to the door of an inn, and every one began to
-jump out or down, and to scramble for trunks or portmanteaus, as best he
-might.
-
-I cannot say that our first night’s residence in London was peculiarly
-agreeable; for besides being both heated and tired, stiff and cramped,
-we had the delight of being half-devoured by bugs till dawn of day.
-
-Poor Father Bonneville rose late, nearly as much fatigued with his
-night’s rest as with his day’s journey. But immediately after breakfast,
-we set out to seek for better accommodation. I proposed that we should
-go to one of the inns which had been mentioned; but he advised,
-strongly, that we should take a small lodging, adding—“London, when I
-recollect it, was the greatest place for lodgings in the world.”
-
-So we still found it; for in many streets as we walked along, we saw
-“Furnished lodgings to let,” written on a piece of paper, and stuck up
-in the window of almost every other house. Some of these we passed by,
-as likely to be too fine and expensive for our purposes. We looked at
-others, and were not satisfied. In one, dirt and smoke were too evident
-to both eye and nose. At another, the young ladies of the mansion
-appeared not such as we wished to dwell amongst. In other places, again,
-we were not fortunate enough to give satisfaction ourselves. One stout
-lady, to whom Father Bonneville addressed some inquiries, stuck her
-large, bare, blue arms akimbo, and said she would not let her lodgings
-“to foriners,” adding—in not a very indistinct tone—“They’se all on um
-so dirty.”
-
-The good Father, the cleanest man upon the face of earth, was deeply
-mortified at this insinuation, and turned away indignant. I laughed and
-followed; and at length we found a little place, which seemed to suit us
-well, in a street running from the Haymarket, westward. For a guinea and
-a half a week, we were to have two bed-rooms and a sitting-room. The
-lady of the house, or her she helot, was to cook for us for five
-shillings per week more, and all promised very well, when I had nearly
-spoiled the whole bargain by inquiring if there were any bugs.
-
-“Bugs!” cried the indignant dame. “Bugs! If you think there are any
-bugs, you had better not come here, young man.”
-
-I found afterward that no house in London is ever admitted to have bugs
-during the day, however potently they may make their existence known
-during the night. She was quieted down at length, however, and seemed
-quite pacified, when I paid her down the first week’s rent before hand,
-so as to secure her revenue whether there were bugs or not; and when she
-saw four or five very respectable looking trunks of American manufacture
-brought to the house from the inn, she became exceedingly reverential,
-and, to do her all justice, remained so till the end of our stay.
-
-To finish with bugs, however, at once and for ever, I may as well add
-that, two days after our arrival, I found a very unpleasant looking
-gentleman, in a brown coat, walking over my dressing-table, and calling
-the landlady, I pointed it out to her.
-
-“Good lauk-a-daisy!” she exclaimed, in a tone of sweet simplicity: “What
-can it be? I never saw such a thing in my life. If it’s a bug, sir, you
-must have brought it from the inn with your pokemantles. That would be a
-sad case to have the house stocked with um.”
-
-I said, nothing more, lest I should provoke her to bring an action for
-damages against me; but I found that, in the course of the morning, she
-went over all the rooms with a curious sort of an instrument, like a tin
-kettle, from which she emitted jets of scalding steam into all the
-cracks and crevices, and I will acknowledge that boiled bugs are not
-half so offensive as raw.
-
-It took us a whole day to get shaken into our new abode, and to eat some
-exceedingly fat mutton-chops—about the fourth part of what the lady had
-provided for our dinner. What became of the remainder we never
-discovered, and I perceived, though Father Bonneville did not, that
-either from the sea air which we had lately enjoyed, or from some other
-cause, we had become inhumanly carnivorous, consuming at least, ten
-times the quantity of beef and mutton in a week than we had ever
-consumed in our lives before, together with an enormous quantity of
-bread and butter, and tea enough to have poisoned a Mandarin.
-
-On the following day, with the good Father on my arm, I set out in
-search of Madame de Salins, taking care to ask our landlady, in the
-first place, the way to Swallow street.
-
-“If you will just strike away by the market, sir—that is, St. James’
-market—I don’t mean Carnaby, that’s a great way off, and take away up
-toward Oxford street, you’ll come right upon the end of Swallow
-street—or you can turn in by Major Foubert’s passage.”
-
-I explained to her that I knew neither of the markets she mentioned, and
-had not the slightest acquaintance with her military friend who kept the
-passage; and then she laughed, and cried—
-
-“Good lauk-a-daisy! I forgot. What a head I have to be sure; but there
-are so many things always a runnin’ in it.”
-
-She then entered more into detail, told me the streets I was to take, by
-the designation of right hand and left hand, and counted up the turnings
-on her fat fingers, with which better information we set out, and
-steered pretty accurately. As we went, I could not refrain from talking
-to my good old friend about Madame de Salins and Mariette.
-
-“Dear little thing,” I said: “I wonder if she recollects me.”
-
-“She is probably no little thing now, Louis,” replied Father Bonneville,
-with a smile. “You always speak of her as if she was still a child; but
-she must be nearly a woman now.”
-
-I gave a sigh; for I would fain have had Mariette always a child—the
-same little Mariette I had loved so well. I did not think she had any
-right to grow older; and the idea of that sweet little creature
-metamorphosed into a great, raw school-girl, of between fourteen and
-fifteen, was almost as painful to me, as the sight of sweet Anne Page
-changed into a great lubberly boy to poor Slender.
-
-I was destined to a worse disappointment, however. Of all the streets in
-London, Swallow street was perhaps the most dim, dingy, and
-unprepossessing I had as yet seen, and when we found out number three,
-it presented to us a chemist’s shop, of a very poor class, with the
-windows so dirty, and spotted with dust and rain, that the blue and red
-bottles within were hardly visible. Over the door was the name of the
-proprietor “Giraud,” which was promising as a French name, and in we
-dived to make inquiries. Monsieur Giraud himself, proved, as we
-expected, a French emigrant, but he was the most sullen,
-uncommunicative, repulsive Frenchman I ever met with. I suppose exile,
-misfortune, and a poor trade had soured him. However, he showed us
-nothing but brutality as long as we spoke English, and was not very
-civil when we began to talk to him in French.
-
-He knew nothing of Madame de Salins, he said: there was no such person
-in his house. There had been a whole heap of them, he added, when he
-bought the place some six months before, and he believed there was a
-woman and her daughter amongst them, but he had turned them all out, and
-knew nothing more of them.
-
-The idea of Madame de Salins and my pretty little Mariette being forced
-to dwell at all in such a dim and dingy den, and then being turned into
-the street by such an old weazle-faced animal as that, roused my
-indignation, and I replied sharply, that he seemed to have very little
-compassion for his fellows in misfortune.
-
-“_Sacre bleu!_ Why should I have compassion upon any men?” he asked
-bitterly; “they have had no compassion upon me. But I can have
-compassion, too. There’s that old rogue of a marquis up stairs. I let
-him have the room, dirt cheap, at his prayers and entreaties, although
-he would have turned up his nose at me in Paris. You can go and ask him
-if he knows any thing of the people you want—There, up that stairs.”
-
-I mounted fast, and Father Bonneville followed me; the chemist shouting
-after me to go up to the third floor. There, in a wretched garret, we
-found one of the most miserable objects I ever beheld. Seated by a
-little fire, in a room hardly habitable, was an old man of upward of
-seventy, shrunk in body and limbs, but with his face bloated and heavy.
-He had got on an old, tattered dressing-gown, and a thick, black
-night-cap, and one of his legs was swathed in flannel. He held a little
-sauce-pan in his hand, over the fire, cooking a _ragout_ for himself,
-and an empty plate, with a knife and fork, stood upon the table, on
-which also lay a broad ribbon and a star. When we entered, he started
-up, and seeing two well-dressed strangers, set down the sauce-pan,
-wrapped his gown a little closer round him, and then drawing his two
-heels together, made us the bow of a dancing-master. He forgot not his
-_politesse_ for a moment, and besought us to be seated, with a
-simpering, half-fatuous smile, pointing to one whole and one half-chair,
-and then begged to know to what he might attribute the felicity of our
-visit—perhaps we were mistaken, he added, as he had not the pleasure of
-knowing us. We might be in search of some other person, but his poor
-name was Le Marquis d’ Carcassonne. I felt Father Bonneville, who was
-behind me, catch my arm suddenly, as if to check me for some reason; but
-I was anxious to obtain intelligence of Madame de Salins, and I asked
-the old gentleman if he could give us any news of her. He was profoundly
-grieved, he said in answer, that it was out or his power. He knew the
-family, by repute, well, and had heard of them even in London; but it
-was his inexpressible misfortune not to know where they were or what
-they were doing. He bowed as he spoke, as if he sought to signify that
-our audience was at its close, but before we retired, he added—
-
-“May I inquire, monsieurs, if it be not indiscreet, whom I have the
-honor of seeing? I only ask, that I may tell Madame de Salins that you
-have done her the honor of calling upon her, in case I should meet with
-her in society.”
-
-I replied briefly that my name was “Monsieur De Lacy,” but those words
-produced in an instant the most extraordinary effect. The bloated face
-of the old man, red and carbuncled as it was, turned deadly pale. He
-stood for a moment, and I could see him shake. I thought he was going to
-faint, but the next instant he walked to the chair, seated himself
-slowly, and waved his hand, saying—“Go, go.” At the same moment, Father
-Bonneville pulled me by the arm, exclaiming more vehemently than was
-usual with him:
-
-“Come away, Louis, come away!”
-
-I followed him down the stairs, and out into the street, and then
-asked—with a heart beating strangely—what was the meaning of all that
-had occurred, and who that old man was.
-
-“The bitterest enemy of your family,” replied Father Bonneville; “the
-murderer of your father. And is this the end of all his pride, ruthless
-ambition and blood-thirsty persecution of the innocent! Ask me no
-questions, Louis, but avoid that man. The venom may be extinct, but he
-is a serpent still.”
-
-
- BANKING MATTERS.
-
-I walked home from the house in Swallow street exceedingly melancholy.
-That there was some dark mystery about my fate, was clear, and it
-presented itself in a more painful and tangible shape to my mind now,
-than it had ever done before; but, in truth, I must own that this was
-neither the sole nor the principal cause of the gloom that now fell upon
-me. I had looked forward to the meeting with Madame de Salins and
-Mariette, with a sort of childish, delighted expectation, which had
-given a relief to darker and more sorrowful thoughts. A thousand sweet
-memories of childhood had risen up like flowers to cover the grave of
-more mature affection; and now they had withered also. A sensation of
-despondency came upon me; an impression: a feeling that I was never to
-be happy in affection; and this sort of sombre prepossession seemed to
-connect itself somehow with the fate of my family and my race.
-
-It must not be thought, indeed, that I gave myself up to such dreary
-feelings without struggling against them, and even on the way back, I
-strove to speak cheerfully, and to answer Father Bonneville’s hopeful
-assertion, that we should find Madame de Salins yet, not quite as
-confidently, but without any display of the doubts which had possession
-of my own mind. At heart, however, I had given up all hope. I had never
-been one of those sanguine people, who believed their fortunes to be
-written in the chapter of accidents; and what but accident could produce
-a meeting between us and those we sought for, now that all clue was
-lost. Where, in that vast world of London—where in that thickly-peopled
-country, were we ever to hear of two unknown, and probably poor, exiles,
-such as Madame de Salins and her daughter. The very crowds that passed
-us in the street, hurrying eagerly and rapidly along, each one thinking
-of himself with eager face, and hardly noticing the others who passed,
-seemed to forbid such expectations.
-
-“No, no,” I said to myself. “They are lost to us now, probably forever.”
-
-I would not transact any business that day, although several hours of
-daylight still remained, and it would have been much better probably to
-have plunged into dry details at once; but there is generally an apathy
-about disappointment, at least there was with myself, and obtaining some
-books from a library, I sat reading somewhat listlessly during the whole
-evening, for many hours after Father Bonneville had retired to rest.
-From time to time I laid down the book, indeed, and thought of myself
-and of my future, and cross-examined myself in regard to the past. The
-book I had been reading was a sentimental one of the day, but not
-without considerable power. It treated of Love, amongst other things,
-and painted that passion with a fire and vehemence rarely seen in the
-works of English writers. I tried to test my love for my poor Louise, by
-the sentiments there expressed, and I felt sorry and angry with myself
-to find that my own feelings had never come up to the standard before
-me. That I had loved her with a deep, sincere, and strong attachment, I
-knew.—I was sure; and her gentle sweetness during her last hours, and
-her early fate, had only endeared her to me more, and made her memory
-precious to me. But yet I felt disappointed, grieved that I had not
-experienced that strong, vehement passion which the book before me
-depicted. It seemed almost to me as if I wronged her—as if she had been
-worthy of better, more earnest love than mine.
-
-Upon the whole, the reading of that night, and the reflections which
-came with it, served not at all to cheer me; and I determined the next
-day to do what I had better have done at once—plunge into business,
-arrange my affairs, and ascertain precisely what my future means were to
-be. My first visit, of course, was to be made to the banker who had
-received the remittances from Germany, and I asked Father Bonneville to
-go with me. He declined, however, saying that he had some little affairs
-to transact himself, and would meet me at dinner in the evening. At this
-time, by an easy transition, he and I seemed to have in some degree
-changed places. I was anxious about him, careful of him, and hardly
-fancied that in that vast strange place he was capable of taking care of
-himself. I made him promise, therefore, that he would take a
-hackney-coach, and went away, not wishing to seem inquisitive as to his
-errand, although I could not help believing that I had personally
-something to do with the business he was about to transact.
-
-At the bankers it was soon perceived by the clerks that I was utterly
-ignorant of business; but on giving my name, and stating what I wanted,
-I was introduced into a small, dingy room at the back of the building,
-where candles were lighted, and were necessary. By their light I
-perceived a fine-looking old gentleman, with a square face, and a large
-bald head, glossy as a mirror. My name had been announced to him before
-I entered, and he rose and shook me warmly by the hand, congratulating
-me on my safe arrival in England.
-
-“We have had a little trouble,” he said, “about this business, for our
-friends at Hamburgh have a strange way of remitting money, by mercantile
-bills, for all sorts of sums, and at very various dates—none of them
-very long, it is true, but it gives our clerks a great deal of pains in
-collecting; and if you had arrived a month ago, you would have found
-that part of the business not concluded, Count.”
-
-“I beg your pardon,” I said, with a smile, “I believe I have no right to
-the title you give me, although my recollections of France do not go
-further back than a period when all titles had been abolished. Citizen
-was the ordinary name in those days, and if strangers gave me any title
-at all at my age, it was ‘Gamin.’”
-
-The banker seemed surprised, and for a moment looked a little
-suspicious, as if he thought it might be a case of personation. “But you
-are the gentleman,” he said, “who married the daughter of
-Professor—Professor—”
-
-“Of Professor Haas,” I said, in a grave tone.
-
-“Ay, exactly, exactly—Professor Haas,” rejoined the banker. “But you
-have, of course, the letter announcing this remittance to our hands?”
-
-“Oh, yes,” I answered, now seeing in which way his suspicions turned; “I
-have both the letter from Hamburgh, and the marriage contract, which I
-shall always keep. There is the letter;” and taking out my pocket-book,
-I handed it to him. The banker himself could make nothing of the
-contents, for it was written it German, of which he did not understand a
-word; but he sent for a clerk who did, and in the meanwhile pointed out
-something I had never remarked before in the address, which was written
-in a good, round, text hand. At the top was written as usual, “à
-monsieur,” and underneath appeared, somewhat run together, the words “Le
-comte,” which I had read Louis.
-
-“You see he gives you the ‘Count’ at all events,” said the banker,
-rubbing his hands.
-
-“I did not remark it before,” I answered; “and I shall certainly never
-take the title here.”
-
-“By the way, by the way,” said the banker, “if I recollect right, there
-is a letter for you here;” and handing the one I had given him to the
-Clerk who had now entered, he said to him, “Be so good as to read that,
-and let me know what it says.”
-
-The clerk read off fluently, and translated with ease the contents of
-the notary’s letter, and then said, pointing to me, “This must be the
-Count de Lacy, sir.”
-
-“He wont have the count—he wont have the count,” cried the banker,
-laughing.
-
-“Well, sir, I suppose that is as he pleases,” said the grave clerk; “but
-had I not better get the letter that is here for him?”
-
-It was soon brought, and I found it was from my good friend the notary,
-containing two documents of much but very different interest. The one
-was an inscription for the tomb of my poor Louise, drawn up by his
-fellow executor, in which she was styled Countess de Lacy; and the other
-was a letter from London, which had been received by one of the
-principal authorities of Hamburgh, informing him that a rumor had
-reached persons in England, interested in the welfare of a young
-gentleman named Louis Count de Lacy, to the effect that he and his tutor
-Father Bonneville, having emigrated from France, and been driven out of
-Switzerland, were directing their steps toward the North of Germany, or
-to Russia; and requesting the authorities of Hamburgh, if they should
-appear in that city, to notify to Father Bonneville that the allowance
-previously made would be continued; but that the banking-house at which
-it was paid was changed to one which had been mentioned in a previous
-letter.
-
-“This will be good news for Father Bonneville,” I said, handing the
-letter to the banker, who could make that out very well. He seemed now
-perfectly satisfied, but still inquired where Father Bonneville was to
-be found. I replied that he was with me in London, which seemed to
-satisfy him still more; and the clerk nodded his head, and said in a
-significant tone, “It’s all right, sir.”
-
-Wonderful it is, how many men who transact a great deal of very
-important business, are mere machines, guided by their subordinates.
-They are but the hands of the clock, moved by wheels below them.
-Probably but for the clerk’s saying, “It’s all right, sir,” I should
-have got through very little business that day.
-
-Now, however, every thing went on smoothly. Accounts were produced;
-calculations rapidly made; various particulars, which might as well have
-been written in Sanscrit, were explained to me in terms which might as
-well have been Arabic; and in the end I found myself possessed of
-property which the banker informed me would produce, if rightly
-invested, an income of about eight hundred pounds a year. As I had never
-been accustomed to calculate in pounds sterling, I found it somewhat
-difficult to get the idea thereof disconnected from that of dollars, and
-the banker had to explain to me, that eight hundred pounds a year made
-so many _marks banco_, before I perceived that I was what might be
-considered a very wealthy man—at least in Germany. I knew that the good
-professor had possessed the reputation of being so; but I was not before
-aware to what extent his accumulations had gone. My good friend the
-banker advised me to have the amount invested for the time in public
-funds, offered his assistance and advice as to its future employment,
-and ended by inviting both myself and Father Bonneville to dine with him
-on that day week.
-
-I accepted for myself, but expressed a fear that my old companion would
-not be well enough to go into society, and then took my leave, for it
-was by this time late, and the banking-house was at the far end of that
-dingy, busy, industrious ant-hill called “the city.”
-
-When I got home to our little lodging, I found that Father Bonneville
-had returned, and was waiting dinner for me; and I could see by his face
-in a moment, that whatever had been the object of his expedition in the
-morning, he had been disappointed. I gave him a general account of what
-had occurred, told him the amount which we might annually count upon,
-and in the end gave him the letter which had been sent to the
-authorities at Hamburgh, which seemed to afford him some satisfaction,
-but not so much as I had anticipated. He made very few comments upon the
-letter itself, but pointed to the title of Count which had been given to
-me with a melancholy smile, saying, “You have a right to it, Louis, but
-if you take my advice, you will not assume it in this country.”
-
-“I do not intend, my dear friend,” I replied; “but really all these
-mysteries are painful to me. The time must come when all these things
-should be explained, and I would fain know when that will be.”
-
-“Yet a little, yet a little, Louis,” replied the good father, with a
-deprecating look. “It may be one or two years, but not more, I
-think—not more.”
-
-“But, good father,” I answered, “you ought, at all events, to give me
-the means of tracing out my own history, even though I use them not for
-the time you mention. Life is uncertain, and were you taken from me, I
-have not the slightest clue.”
-
-“You will find it amongst my papers, whenever death calls me hence,”
-replied Father Bonneville. “Every information and proof I collected long
-ago; and in all the passages which we have lately undergone—in
-exile—in poverty, and in peril, I have preserved them safely. But I
-really would not take this name of Count—I would call myself merely Mr.
-De Lacy. That is a common name in England; and you may very well pass
-for an Englishman—the other title might do harm.”
-
-I again assured him that I had no intention of assuming any title at
-all. But however strong might be my resolution, I found it difficult to
-keep. The banker’s clerks knew me by that title; and the banker himself,
-when I went to dine with him, used it in introducing me to several
-people. I declined it, however, wherever I could do so without
-affectation, and made it sufficiently apparent that it was no assumption
-of my own.
-
-The party was large; the house in the west end of the town, most
-magnificent; and a great number of persons were present, some of whom I
-found were of the _élite_ of London society. It was very much the same
-sort of party as all others in great capitals; and most of my readers
-must have seen a thousand such. There were several insignificant
-puppies, several equally insignificant, but very pretty young women, a
-majority, however, of highly respectable, well-informed, gentleman-like,
-but not very interesting people, and two or three of higher qualities,
-polished, but not worn down in the polishing, with hearts as well as
-minds, and not only with information, but with the will and the power to
-apply it. It fortunately happened for me that some of these sat near me
-at the table. One was a lady of the middle age, who was called Lady
-Maria, and whose husband, a Commoner, and an eminent lawyer, sat higher
-up the table; and another was a young man, dressed in the very height of
-the fashion, and having a somewhat foppish air, which at first
-prejudiced me a little against him. I soon found occasion to change my
-opinion however; for, though he did not talk much, whatever he did say
-was to the point; and allusion having been made to one of those very
-common cases in great cities, where a man of high rank had behaved very
-ill to a lady somewhat inferior in station, my friend with mustaches, on
-the right, burst suddenly forth in a strain of indignant reprobation,
-which made some of the other guests smile, and one of the ladies say,
-laughingly, “You have been so long away, Charley, following your
-uncivilized trade of fighting, that you have forgotten how delicately
-such civilized vices require to be treated.”
-
-“They shall never be treated delicately by me, my dear aunt,” replied
-the young gentleman; “and at all events, I haven’t forgotten one thing
-in my trade of fighting, that there is such a thing as honor, which must
-be remembered as much in our conduct toward a woman, as in our conduct
-toward a man.”
-
-When the ladies had retired, he remained next to me, and we had a good
-deal of conversation. I found he was a cavalry officer, who had seen
-some service, notwithstanding his youth; and was in London for a few
-months on leave of absence, in order to recover completely from a severe
-wound in the chest. He once or twice called me Count; but as we grew
-better acquainted over the wine, I begged him to drop the title, as it
-was not my intention to assume it at all, while in England at least.
-
-“It is my right, I believe,” I said; “but I quitted France at a very
-early period, and have never been so called.”
-
-“Well, I think you are right,” he replied. “Since England has become the
-exile’s home, as we are proud to call it, we have had such a crowd of
-Counts and Marquises of different kinds, that we have a difficulty in
-distinguishing the genuine from the false. You would, of course, pass
-muster, both from your appearance, and from the fact, which our good
-friend the banker here has taken care to communicate to tongues that
-will spread it, that you are that phœnix amongst Counts and Marquises—a
-rich _émigré_. But the title of Count would do you no good amongst our
-best people, who will like you quite as well as plain Mr. De Lacy; and
-as such, if you will permit me, I will ask for you to-morrow.”
-
-I expressed the great pleasure I should have to see him, giving him my
-address. But I will not dwell longer on this dinner-party, as the few
-incidents I have related were the only ones which occurred that had any
-effect upon my fate.
-
-
- GLIMPSES OF THE LOST.
-
-New circumstances justified many new arrangements, upon which I will
-only dwell for a moment. The morning after the dinner-party at the
-banker’s, Father Bonneville and I had a long conversation in regard to
-our future proceedings. The sum I now possessed seemed almost as large
-to the good Father’s notions as to my own; for, to say truth, he had not
-much more experience in money matters than myself. It was agreed that we
-should set up house-keeping together, I insisted that he should have a
-little vehicle—one of those neat one horse equipages, in producing
-which England excels the whole world—and he hinted that I had better
-have a saddle-horse, when one man would do for both. Between twelve and
-one o’clock my new friend, Captain Westover, came to see me, and was
-taken into our councils. He somewhat clouded our sanguine views of
-wealth, by explaining to us the expenses of English living: but still
-with all allowances made, we found that we had ample means for any thing
-within our ambition, and in the course of the explanations which took
-place, I learned that, in addition to what I had myself, Father
-Bonneville counted on receiving from some source or another, the sum of
-three hundred pounds per annum. After half an hour’s chat, Captain
-Westover proposed to drive me out in search of horses and houses, in a
-machine of his, then very fashionable in London, called a tilbury, which
-had brought him to the door. His servant was turned out, and I took the
-vacant place. He advised me strongly, for a time at least, to take a
-furnished cottage at some little distance from London. “You can come in
-when you like,” he said, “and there you will be more out of harm’s way.
-Excuse me, De Lacy,” he continued with a laugh, “but every man entering
-a great town like this, must be a little green at first, whatever may be
-his experience of other places. It would be better for you to come to a
-knowledge of London by degrees, and that can only be done by living a
-little way out of it. With all its vices, its knavery, and its
-abomination, there is no place like this great capital of ours in the
-world for the comfort of having every thing that one can want, or
-desire, or dream of, ready for one in an instant. Each man can choose
-according to his means or his ambition. From the St. Giles cellar of the
-thief or the professional beggar, to the princely palace of the nobleman
-or the great merchant, every thing is at hand, and two or three taps of
-an enchanter’s wand bring it into presence in a moment. So I will answer
-for it, that we shall find what you want in the way of a house, in two
-or three hours; but don’t have it too big: otherwise people will be
-coming to dine with you and stay all night, a most harmonious and
-agreeable way of being eaten out of house and home.”
-
-Though brisk, active, generous and dashing, Captain Westover was a good
-man of business, knew whatever he did know, well, was aware of the right
-price of every thing, and I believe in the course of the next two or
-three weeks, saved me several hundred pounds, besides putting me
-completely in the way of doing the same for myself at an after period. I
-will not dwell upon all our perquisitions. Let me come to the result.
-Behold me, in the spring of the year, possessed of an exceedingly neat,
-detached cottage, close upon Blackheath, with a beautiful garden filled
-with shrubs and flowers, furniture excellent and abundant, two horses in
-the stable, as pretty a little pony carriage as it was possible to
-imagine, and a middle-aged groom, who though an active, honest and
-excellent servant, had just been dismissed by a noble lord, because he
-had got the asthma, and puffed like a grampus. He did his duty well,
-however, and I did not mind his puffing. His name, moreover, was Lucas
-Jones, or Jones Lucas—which, I never could make out, and I do not think
-he knew well himself.
-
-All the world was at that time volunteering.
-
-Napoleon Bonaparte threatened an invasion of England, and fondly fancied
-he could swallow up that stubborn little island as easily as he had
-gulped down half the kingdoms of the continent; but little did he know
-the spirit that he roused in the people of the land by the very threat.
-All Great Britain was bristling in arms, and instead of men being
-dragged away from their homes by forced conscriptions, people of all
-ranks, classes and degrees, of all ages and characters, of all parties
-and sects, were rushing in to enroll their names among the defenders of
-their country, and submitting day after day, to toilsome drills, and
-unaccustomed modes of life, to the loss of time and money and
-convenience. But not a lip murmured, not a heart was depressed.
-
-Blackheath was the great training-ground in the neighborhood of London
-for this military race; and every day in my rides, I met with large
-bodies of men, in red, and green, and blue, marching and
-counter-marching, going through the manual, and expending great
-quantities of powder and perspiration. Magistrates, lawyers, clerks,
-shopkeepers, and draymen, were all jostling side by side in the charge;
-and the first battle in England, would have left upon the ground, the
-most motley assemblage of professions that ever was found in one place.
-
-By pausing often to watch the manœuvres of the volunteers, I accustomed
-my horse to stand fire very well, and it was with great delight I heard
-from Captain Westover, that in order to try the skill and precision of
-the volunteers, a great sham-fight was to be given on Blackheath itself,
-in which were to be enacted all the operations that might be supposed
-likely to take place, if a French force were to sail up the Thames, and
-effect a landing near the little town of Greenwich. I told my gallant
-informant, that although I had been in the middle of a great battle, and
-had crossed a considerable portion of the field between the two lines, I
-had not the most distant idea of what it all meant.
-
-“No, nor have half the men who were in the battle,” said Captain
-Westover. “We do what we are told; we fight; we succeed, or are beaten
-off; but all that we know about it is, that there’s a great deal of
-smoke, a great deal of dust, and a great number of men tumbling down
-round about us, with a very awkward expression of countenance; and two
-or three weeks after, when the newspapers come from England, we hear all
-about the glorious victory we have obtained from the dispatches of the
-general in command. This is generally what a subaltern knows of the
-matter; but somehow or another, more comprehensive views are beaten into
-our heads after awhile, and I will try, if possible, to give you some
-notion of what is going on on Wednesday. But there is some talk of
-making me an aid-de-camp for the nonce, which will be a great bore; for
-I have a whole troop of lady friends coming down to see, without peril,
-a battle without bullets.”
-
-The day came; and good Father Bonneville, who had a great objection to
-noise and bustle of any kind, and whose recollections of the battle of
-Zurich were not the most agreeable, retreated for a couple of days to an
-inn, at a place called Bromley, while I remained to enjoy the sight.
-
-I must dwell with some detail upon the events of that morning, as they
-were more important to me than those of any engagement I ever was in.
-
-At an early hour I was out, walking round the scene where the mimic
-fight was to take place. All was already in a state of bustle and
-preparation. Cannon were planted: troops were taking up their position:
-long lines of what were called fencibles, armed with pikes, were
-stationed on the river bank, and a number of persons were arriving every
-moment from London to witness the gay scene.
-
-Expecting that the hospitalities of my cottage might be called upon, I
-had laid in ample provisions, and soon after my return about nine
-o’clock, Westover was there, mounted on a splendid horse, and dressed in
-brilliant uniform. He came hurrying in, would not sit down to eat any
-breakfast, but stood by the table, and dispatched a roll and a cup of
-coffee while my horse was being saddled.
-
-“We must be quick,” he said. “We must be quick; for I expect the whole
-staff on the ground by ten, and I wish to introduce you to some good
-people first.”
-
-We were soon upon horseback, and cantering over the field. My companion
-led me to the head of several regiments, and introduced me to their
-colonels, who were generally old soldiers retired from the service, who
-had sprung into arms again at the first news of danger. One I
-particularly remember, a Colonel C——, as the finest looking man I
-almost ever beheld. He could not have been much less than seventy, but
-he was as upright as a pike-staff, his face blooming like a boy’s, and
-his hair loaded with a red sort of powder, called I believe, marechal
-powder, common in his youth. He swore a good deal; but in every other
-respect, he demeaned himself with an easy, dignified courtesy which I
-have never seen surpassed.
-
-He was surrounded by a great number of very pretty women, who seemed to
-adore him, and rather inconvenienced him by their presence; for after
-giving one or two gentle hints that they had better betake themselves to
-spots appointed for spectators, he exclaimed, with a wave of his sword,
-which somewhat frightened them, “Damn it, my dear girls, you had better
-get out of the way, or by —— we shall have some of the soldiers’
-bayonets in your eyes, which would be to my loss, your loss, and all the
-world’s loss. I’m going to order the charge in five minutes, and though
-no gallant gentleman will doubt your powers of resistance, we shall
-carry you at the point of the bayonet, I’ll answer for it. Captain
-Westover, will you and your friend take my niece Kitty, and these
-darlings, up to the mill there, where the carriages have been stationed?
-You had better get on your horses, and drive them before you like a
-flock of geese.”
-
-We accomplished the service, however, more easily; and I learned from
-Westover that the gallant old colonel had been one of Wolfe’s officers
-at the taking of Quebec.
-
-Not long after, the fight began; and by my companion’s management, I
-remained with the staff during the greater part of the day. I need not
-pause to describe the roaring of cannon, the firing of musketry, the
-charging of lines of troops, the taking and retaking of different
-positions; but I must notice one little event, which occurred about the
-middle of the day. There had been a sort of lull in the noise and
-confusion, when suddenly a carriage and four came dashing over the
-ground toward the mill, just as a battery horse-artillery was galloping
-like lightning across in a different direction to take up a new
-position, while at the same moment a cavalry regiment was dashing up to
-support a party on the right. The gayly dressed post-boys tried to pull
-in their horses, but men, horses, and ladies in the carriage, were all
-equally scared, and before they knew what they were doing, were
-enveloped on every side by the troops. The commander-in-chief spoke a
-word to Captain Westover; for it was a great object to all that the day
-should pass over without serious accident, and one seemed now very
-likely to take place. Away went Westover. Away went I after him, and
-just arrived in time to turn the horses off the road before the guns
-were upon them.
-
-“Oh, good Heaven, what shall we do?” exclaimed a lady in the carriage,
-with her head covered with ostrich feathers.
-
-“Drive across to that little road, and off the ground as fast as you can
-go,” shouted Westover to the post-boys. “You will get these ladies
-killed if you do not mind.”
-
-“But where can we see?” screamed the lady from the window.
-
-“You cannot see at all, madam,” answered Westover, impatiently. “If you
-wanted to see, you should have come earlier—Drive on and clear the
-ground, boys.”
-
-Away the postillions went. The lady drew back her head from the window
-with an indignant air, and I saw just opposite to her, in the carriage,
-the loveliest face I ever beheld. Delicately and beautifully chiseled,
-every feature seemed to me perfect, in the brief glance I had. But that
-was not the great charm; for there before me, for that single instant,
-were those beautiful, liquid, hazel eyes, with the long fringe of dark
-lashes, which I had never seen any thing like since I had last beheld
-Mariette.
-
-My first impulse was to gallop after the carriage as fast as possible;
-but the troops swept round, the carriage dashed away, and all I could do
-was to ask my companion if he knew who were its denizens.
-
-“Not I,” he answered, hurriedly—“Some vulgar people they must be—none
-but vulgar people get themselves into such situations as that—a
-devilish pretty girl in the back of the carriage though, De Lacy—Why,
-what’s the matter with you, man?”
-
-“Why, I think I know her,” I replied, “and have been looking for her and
-her mother for a long time.”
-
-“Well, then, ride away after her,” answered Westover; “the post-boys
-will insist upon feeding their horses, depend upon it; and you will find
-them either at the Green-Man, or at some of the inns down below. Join me
-again at the mill after it’s all over; for I intend you to give me some
-dinner; and I must see all my aunts, and cousins, and mothers, who are
-congregated there, if it be but for a moment, before they go back to
-London. They have thought me rude enough already, I dare say.”
-
-I followed his advice, and I believe that I would very willingly, at
-that moment, have given at least half of all I had in the world to catch
-that carriage; but I sought in vain. Not a trace of it was to be found,
-and though there were post-boys enough at all the inns, I could not see
-one in the same colored jacket as those I was in search of.
-
-“Could it be Mariette?” I asked myself. The features were very
-different; much more beautiful than those of my little companion. The
-face was no longer round, but beautifully oval. The hair seemed somewhat
-darker, too, but the eyes were Mariette’s; and I asked myself again,
-“Could it be Mariette, or had some other person stolen her eyes?”
-
-Sad, thoughtful, disappointed, I rode slowly back up Blackheath hill,
-little caring what I should find going on above. But I had been absent
-nearly two hours; the sham-fight was now over; drums and fifes,
-trumpets, and all manner of instruments, were playing gay and triumphant
-airs, friends and enemies were sitting down on the dry grass, eating the
-plentiful viands prepared for them, and post-boys were leading up
-strings of horses to draw back the gay parties who had come to witness
-the scene, to dinners and festivities afar.
-
-I directed my course at once toward the mill, from which several
-carriages were already driving away; but as I approached, I saw Westover
-still there, on horseback, at the side of an open vehicle to which the
-horses had just been attached. He was talking to some ladies inside, one
-of whom I had seen on the night when he and I first met, and who noticed
-me by a gentle inclination of the head. Another was a much handsomer and
-somewhat younger woman, but still past her youth. She seemed to be
-taking little notice of any thing, and there was a deep, grave
-melancholy upon her face, not harmonizing well with the gay and exciting
-scene around. I did not go very near; for the drivers had their feet in
-the stirrups, ready to mount, two servants in livery were already on the
-box, and there was no time for conversation. Westover’s aunt, however,
-beckoned me up, saying, “How have you been pleased, count?” and at the
-same moment, the other lady fixed her eyes full upon me, and I could see
-her turn deadly pale. She said a few words to her companion, however, in
-a hurried and eager manner, although I was replying with some
-commonplace answer at the moment.
-
-My acquaintance turned her head, saying, loud enough for me to hear,
-“The young Count de Lacy. Shall I introduce you to him, Catherine?”
-
-There was no reply. The other lady whom she called Catherine, had sunk
-back in the carriage, and her eyes were closed. She looked to me very
-much as if she had fainted. I saw her face, but Westover did not; for I
-was upon his left hand, and his aunt was between him and her companion.
-
-“Shall I tell them to drive on?” he asked.
-
-The other nodded her head, and the word was given; but as they dashed
-away, I said in a tone of some anxiety, “Do you know, I think that lady
-has fainted.”
-
-“Which, which?” he cried. “Lady Catherine?”
-
-“Not your aunt,” I said.
-
-“They are both my aunts,” he answered, turning his horse sharply. “You
-ride on to your hut, De Lacy; I’ll join you in a minute, when I see what
-has befallen dear Aunt Catherine. She is never well, and rarely goes
-out. This has been too much for her.”
-
-Away he darted, and I, less pleased with the events of the day, I
-suppose, than most others there present, took my way slowly over the
-least incumbered parts of the heath, toward my cottage on the other
-side, threading my way amongst groups of soldiers, and large masses of
-gorse. At the pace I went, and by the course I pursued, it took me
-nearly half an hour to reach my own gate; but I had already dismounted,
-before Westover overtook me, although he came at a quick trot, with an
-orderly following him.
-
-I remarked that he was very grave, but his only comment on what had just
-passed, was, “You were right, De Lacy. My aunt had fainted. Poor thing,
-she has not strength for such scenes. And now, my friend, I have taken a
-great liberty with you by inviting in your name, two foreign gentlemen,
-who could get no dinner anywhere else—for Greenwich is as completely
-eaten out as an overkept cheese—to come and dine with you. In revenge,
-you shall come and dine with me next week, and eat and drink enough for
-three if you can.” I told him I was very glad to see his friends, and
-the rest of the day passed pleasantly enough, although I must say, I
-never saw Westover so dull and thoughtful, notwithstanding all his
-efforts to be gay. The two gentlemen, who followed him soon to my house,
-I need not notice particularly, as I never saw them afterward, and never
-cared about them at all. They were the sort of things that do very well
-to fill a seat at a dinner table, or to be shot at in a line of battle,
-behaving creditably in both situations, but doing very little else.
-
-
- OLD FEELINGS AND NEW ACQUAINTANCES.
-
-I did not go to bed till nearly two o’clock in the morning, not that my
-guests stayed late—far from it. They all took their departure about ten
-o’clock; but the events of the day, trifling as they may seem, had
-produced upon my mind an effect difficult to be conceived, or even
-accounted for. I felt convinced that it was Mariette I beheld, and I
-reasoned upon her state and condition at the time, without guide it is
-true, but with more accuracy than might have been expected. I by this
-time knew the situation of emigrants in general in Great Britain. They
-had been treated with great kindness by the people of the country;
-subscriptions had been opened for them, aid had been afforded them; but
-most of them had fled from France in a state of destitution, and were
-actually in extreme poverty at that moment. Some were eking out the
-means of subsistence by teaching, others by mere handicraft employments.
-I had no reason to believe that Madame de Salins had carried much away
-with her, and on the contrary, I had much reason to believe, from the
-wretchedness of the lodging in which she must have dwelt in Swallow
-street, that she was at one time, at least, in actual distress. The
-beautiful girl I had seen in the carriage was exceedingly simply
-dressed, and I asked myself whether my pretty Mariette, as so many had
-done, might not have engaged herself as a governess in some family, and
-might not, even now, be undergoing all the miseries and scorns of that
-most painful situation.
-
-But this was not all. In regard to Mariette I had been guided in my
-conclusions—to some extent at all events—by plain, simple reason.
-There were other impressions, however, upon my mind—other matters for
-cogitation, with which reason had far less to do, and which gained their
-importance, perhaps from the active embellishment of imagination,
-perhaps from some of those deeper and more mysterious operations of the
-mind, or of the heart, which leave reason far behind in their rapidity,
-and surpass imagination by their truth. The face of that lady, whom they
-called Lady Catherine, haunted me. The manner in which she had gazed at
-me—the eager, keen, almost wild glance which she had given me, the
-paleness which had overspread her face so suddenly, and the fainting fit
-into which she had fallen immediately my name was mentioned, were not
-matters of marvel to me, but of deep thought and consideration. It was
-very natural, where such a mystery hung over my birth and early fate,
-that I should feel inclined to connect it with every thing strange and
-unexplained which I saw. But there was something more than all
-this—something that I cannot explain or describe; which seemed to bear
-down all thought and argument against it, and which made me feel a
-conviction, stronger than any reason could have supplied, that there was
-some tie between that lady’s fate and my own. I did not recollect her in
-the least—not one feature in her face was familiar to me; but yet the
-very moment I beheld her—before she even turned her eyes upon me, the
-sight seemed to waken in an instant, dreams of happy early days—sweet
-thoughts and feelings, which had slumbered for years unawakened by the
-careless storekeeper, Memory.
-
-It was therefore over these thoughts and feelings that I paused and
-reflected, for so many hours.
-
-I have often remarked in the course of life—in others as well as
-myself—a somewhat curious phenomenon: namely, that when some great and
-important—shall I call it change? No, not change. There are no changes
-in human fate. They are all steps—steps toward a certain goal—That
-when some great and important step, then, in human fate, is to be taken,
-we feel an impression of the coming fact—we see, as it were, with the
-eyes of the spirit, without the interference of the cold, hard,
-short-sighted intellect, the awful magnitude of that which is before us;
-and we are impelled to mark what at other times would seem the merest
-trifles with anxious acuteness—to scan, as it were, the very pebbles in
-our path, lest a rolling stone should make us lose our footing, and hurl
-us over the precipice which we feel to be near at hand, though the mists
-and darkness of our earthly being may hide the actual presence of the
-yawning gulf.
-
-What was to me a lady fainting in a carriage? What was there
-extraordinary in a delicate woman giving way after an exciting scene,
-and long and unusual fatigue? What was there in all that I had seen,
-which could not be explained by a multitude of ordinary
-circumstances—which I should not have left, at any other time, to rest
-unthought of amongst the common, insignificant events of a day? And yet
-I sat and pondered for four long hours, and even after I retired to bed
-I could not sleep, but was kept awake with the same anxious thoughts.
-
-Father Bonneville returned about two o’clock on the following day; but
-with a lack of confidence which I rarely showed toward him—for he was
-so gentle and so good, who could want confidence in him—I did not
-mention at all, the little incident which had occurred at the mill. I
-told him, however, all about the supposed sight I had caught of
-Mariette, but the good Father only smiled at me.
-
-“You are always thinking of Mariette, Louis,” he said, “and if you go on
-so, I shall really fancy you are in love with her memory.”
-
-“And so I am,” I answered frankly, “I can imagine a father would so love
-a child, as I love Mariette; and I shall always love her so.”
-
-“My dear boy,” replied Father Bonneville, laying his hand impressively
-upon my arm, “that is impossible. You and Mariette are no longer
-children; you might love her as a brother when you last saw her; but if
-you love her at all, you must love her otherwise now.”
-
-I fell into thought, and I felt that he was right. He gave me but little
-time to ponder, however, asking me who else I had seen, and I mentioned
-several names, Colonel C——, the commander-in-chief, a number of young
-officers, the two strangers who had dined with me, and lastly, in as
-easy a tone as I could assume, Westover’s two aunts.
-
-Father Bonneville asked their names, and I replied, “Lady Winslow, and a
-lady they called Lady Catherine—I suppose Lady Catherine Westover; for
-he said, in the course of the evening, that she was his father’s
-sister.”
-
-I looked somewhat keenly at Father Bonneville as I spoke; but my words
-did not seem to produce the slightest effect worth noticing.
-
-“It is droll,” he said. “I do not remember the name of Westover in the
-English peerage. It must be some new creation, I suppose.”
-
-“I should think not,” I replied, “for there is a calm quietness about
-them—a want of all arrogance and presumption—an easy, self-possessed
-tranquillity, which I have always remarked, in this country, accompanies
-ancient rights, and well assured position.”
-
-“Do you know,” said Father Bonneville, suddenly darting away from the
-subject, “that it has once or twice struck me, Louis, that there is a
-great deal of likeness between your friend Captain Westover and
-yourself?”
-
-I smiled; for I could not conceive two men more different in
-appearance—in complexion—in eyes, in height; for I was much taller,
-and dark, while he was fair; but still the good Father’s words lingered
-in my mind, and I determined the next time I saw my friend to learn, if
-possible, something more of his history.
-
-It was with great satisfaction then that, on the Friday morning, I
-received a note from Westover, asking me to dine with him, either on the
-Tuesday or the Wednesday following, and to name which day.
-
-“Do come, De Lacy, on the one day or the other; for there are some
-people, who will come on either day, to whom I much wish to introduce
-you. My leave will soon expire, and I may not have another opportunity.”
-
-I immediately answered his note, fixing the first named day, and then,
-as it was a beautiful morning in the spring, I went out to fish in a
-river which ran at some miles distant from my cottage, and where I had
-hired a right—for the English are as tenacious of the right of stream
-and wood as any old feudal lord that ever lived.
-
-I had been engaged in the sport for about an hour, wandering along
-through the beautiful meadows, and had done tolerably well, when I saw a
-gentleman, of the middle age, walk slowly across from the other side,
-and pause upon a little wooden bridge, observing my proceedings. He was
-a tall, handsome man, about fifty, but thin and pale, dressed in a sort
-of military blue coat, richly braided, but not very new; and his air was
-exceedingly gentlemanly and prepossessing, though his riches were
-evidently of Nature’s giving, not the world’s. After watching me a few
-minutes, he came up with easy grace, and asked, with a strong foreign
-accent, “If I had had good sport.”
-
-I replied that it had been pretty well, adding a French proverb of no
-particular significance.
-
-“Ha!” he said, “have I the pleasure of speaking to a countryman?”
-
-I replied in the affirmative; and he soon began to ask all sorts of
-questions, in that courteous manner which renders inquisitiveness not
-impertinent in a Frenchman. I told him I had quitted France very early,
-and recollected but little of my native land; to which he replied, that
-was a “_malheur_,” asking the year of my emigration.
-
-I told him, and he replied, with a smile, that it was the same in which
-he had left France; but added, that he had returned there since, and
-fought in La Vendee. He then asked me if I knew many of my countrymen. I
-replied in the negative, saying with a smile—for the opportunity seemed
-too good to be missed—that there were only two, whom I had known so
-well in my boyhood as to make me very anxious to hear of them again.
-
-“May I be permitted to ask their names?” he said, quietly. “I am
-acquainted with several, though, indeed, not very many; for my means are
-too limited to allow of my mingling much in society.”
-
-I at once named Madame de Salins and her daughter.
-
-My new acquaintance paused and mused, as if he were trying to recollect
-some circumstance, such as where he had heard of them, and I began to
-entertain some hopes of information.
-
-“Perhaps,” he said, at length, “I may be able to assist in your search
-in some degree, although I am not sure. May I ask how old you were when
-you quitted France?” and his eye ran over my person, which perhaps
-showed signs of age beyond what my years warranted.
-
-“Between twelve and thirteen,” I replied.
-
-“Ay! and you have remembered them so long,” he said, in a tone of
-interest. “Well, I will do my best to give you news of them. But I know
-not where to send it to you, if I should prove fortunate enough to be
-able to do so.”
-
-I immediately gave him my card, which he examined, repeating the name,
-and then turned the conversation in another course. I found him
-exceedingly agreeable, mild and dignified in his manners, and full of
-general information, though probably not a very learned man. He asked me
-if I had been to pay my respects, while on the continent, to his majesty
-the king—afterward known as Louis the Eighteenth—and expressed himself
-sorry when he heard I had not.
-
-“I think it would have been advisable in many respects,” he added. “This
-madness will not last forever in France. Nor can the other powers of
-Europe ever consent as a body to the existence of a state of things in
-that country antagonistic to all their interests and all their
-principles. Napoleon Bonaparte, in making himself emperor, has performed
-an act which places France in a false position that she cannot maintain.
-As long as he was merely the head of the republican party—the
-incarnation of the spirit of revolution—he was certain of support at
-home, and under no absolute necessity to protract the war with foreign
-powers, one moment after they chose to make peace with the republic. As
-emperor, however, he has taken upon himself an obligation to wage
-eternal warfare; for by war alone can he maintain himself as emperor. He
-may have gained a little with other monarchs by recognizing the
-monarchical principle, but he has lost more with the French people.
-France was divided into two. He has now divided it into three, and put
-two parts against him. The one that he wields, the military part, may be
-the most powerful for the present, but its adherence to himself depends
-upon two conditions—war and success. Thus his dynasty can never stand;
-for no civilized nation can ever be entirely military; and he who
-attempts to make it so, will always fall as soon as the military part
-cannot command success; and unless the whole nation be military, success
-can never be ensured. My belief is that in a few years our old race of
-kings will be upon the throne again.”
-
-He talked with me for more than an hour, while I continued my sport; and
-I then returned to my little cottage, very well satisfied with my
-interview.
-
-Father Bonneville seemed very well satisfied too, when I told him my
-hopes of discovering the abode of Madame de Salins. He asked me many
-questions about the gentleman I had met with, and made me describe him
-accurately. When I had done, he said, nodding his head slowly with a
-smile, “I think we shall find them now, Louis. I think we shall find
-them now, and I am almost as glad of it as you are; although I trust
-they have not been suffering so much from poverty as you imagine.”
-
-A day or two passed on, however, without any intelligence, and the
-Tuesday came on which I was to dine with Westover, in London. I dressed
-myself with some care; for I knew that my friend was moving in the most
-fashionable circles of the capital, and I drove in with the groom in the
-little phæton, so as to be at his door at the very moment named. He was
-lodging in a very handsome house in Brook street, and I found him
-dressed for dinner, but alone.
-
-“My other friends will not be as punctual as you are, De Lacy,” he said,
-shaking me warmly by the hand; “and I dare say you will have to wait
-half an hour for your dinner; but in the meantime I can introduce you to
-them as they come in.”
-
-In about ten minutes, two young and dashing men made their appearance,
-and I was made acquainted with them in form. Then, five minutes after,
-came an old peer, stout, beetle-browed, heavy in look but not in
-intellect, and exceedingly loose in his apparel, which seemed to have
-been thrown on with a pitchfork, but which did not at all detract from
-the indefineable something which marks the gentleman. He had not been
-there two minutes when the door again opened, and the Earl of N—— was
-announced.
-
-“Ah! your grandfather,” said the last comer. “That is an honor for a
-grandson, Captain Westover.”
-
-“I consider it as such, I assure you,” said my friend, as he advanced to
-meet his relation, and I need not say that my eyes fixed eagerly upon
-the father of Lady Catharine.
-
-He was a tall, thin old man, of very distinguished appearance. I learned
-afterward that he must have been a good deal over seventy; but he
-certainly did not look more than sixty. He was perfectly straight and
-upright, though not stiff in appearance, and was dressed entirely in
-black, which was not usual in England at that period. Every article of
-his apparel fitted exactly. His shoes, in which he still wore buckles,
-were as polished as a looking-glass, and his gloves fitted him as if
-they had been made upon his hands. His linen was marvelously fine, and
-as white as snow; and his hair probably would have been as white as his
-linen, even had it not been filled with powder. His face was very fine,
-and his complexion peculiarly delicate; but there was no effeminacy
-about him. There sat a world of resolution on his broad, towering brow,
-and his teeth, of which he did not seem to have lost one, were always
-pressed firm together when he was not speaking. His step was slow and
-deliberate, but still there was none of the feebleness of age in it, and
-there was a strong composure, if I may so express myself, which never
-varied but for one moment.
-
-Between the two peers there was no need of an introduction; and they
-shook hands with each other cordially. One of the other gentlemen, Lord
-N—— knew also; and the third was introduced to him. Westover then
-turned, and presented me as Monsieur De Lacy. For a single instant, as
-he spoke, the earl seemed moved. A slight change came over his face, a
-twitch of the muscles about the mouth, evidently involuntary, and
-passing away in one moment. He forgot not his courtesy, however, in the
-least, did not shake hands with me, but bowed gracefully, and said a few
-words about France and England, not at all depreciatory of my own
-country, although he expressed a hope that I would not find my enforced
-residence in Great Britain altogether without compensation.
-
-He then turned to speak with his grandson and the other gentlemen. Two
-others were added to the party, and shortly after we moved in to dinner.
-
-By Westover’s arrangement I was seated next to his grandfather; but at
-first he did not seem inclined to take much notice of me, and, to say
-the truth, I was very busy with my own thoughts, and inclined to be
-somewhat silent. After a time, however, a gentleman opposite engaged me
-in conversation, and something I said seemed to please or strike the old
-earl, for he joined in with a good deal of tact and wit. That
-conversation dropped, but the earl continued to talk with me, with his
-heart a little opened, perhaps, by good wine and good food, which I have
-remarked have a great effect in producing urbanity—especially with
-Englishmen. His lordship asked me how I liked the country, whether I had
-seen much of it, and where I intended to pass the summer. I answered
-briefly that I had seen very little of the land, and that my plans were
-all unsettled.
-
-“It is a pity that Charles must so soon rejoin his regiment,” said the
-earl, “otherwise he might have shown you a good deal that is worth
-seeing in England, and what is more, you could not be in safer hands. I
-need not tell you, Monsieur De Lacy, that, for a young man, and a
-stranger in this country, it is highly necessary that he should choose
-his acquaintances well.”
-
-“I am quite aware of the fact, my lord,” I replied, “and I consider
-myself highly fortunate in having been early introduced to Captain
-Westover. I have few if any acquaintances but those to whom he has
-introduced me, and the banker to whom I had letters.”
-
-“Ha!” replied the earl, thoughtfully, and after meditating for a moment,
-as if something puzzled him, he said, “I think I heard you called the
-Count De Lacy, in society—have you dropped the title?”
-
-“I never took it willingly, my lord,” I replied, “although it is mine, I
-believe, by right. I was driven out of France very early, and probably
-never should have known of my countship; but it so happened that I
-formed some connections in the city of Hamburgh, which led to a
-considerable bequest from an old friend there, and that caused a
-communication, in regard to myself, to take place between Hamburgh and
-England.”
-
-“But how did they know that you were a count, in Hamburgh, if you did
-not know it yourself?” asked the earl.
-
-“By a letter from England,” I answered, perhaps a little dryly. “It
-referred to some money matters, of which, to say the truth, I understand
-nothing; but it was addressed to some of the authorities at Hamburgh,
-and in it I was designated by the title of count. The same title was
-repeated in after correspondence, and thus it happened to be given to me
-here, much to my annoyance; for I would fain drop the countship
-altogether, not having the means to maintain any distinguished
-position.”
-
-“Ha! I see, I see,” said the earl, “you speak English remarkably well,
-Mr. De Lacy. You must have learned it very young.”
-
-“I do not remember the time when I did not speak it,” I replied.
-
-“That is singular in France,” rejoined the old nobleman. “Did your
-father speak English?”
-
-I could feel a cloud come over my face, and I replied with very painful
-feelings, “I never knew my father, my lord, and am not aware of who or
-what he was. I have heard that he was murdered—but that is all I know.”
-
-“I beg pardon—I beg pardon,” said the old earl; “I did not intend to
-wound you. There are painful subjects in all families—may I drink wine
-with you?”
-
-During the rest of the evening his tone toward me became a little less
-stiff and more kindly. He asked no more questions, however, but
-conversed entirely upon indifferent subjects, and seemed well pleased
-with my remarks. He retired early, indeed, and I remained for some time
-longer, in the hope of being able to draw something more from Westover,
-regarding his aunt, Lady Catharine. I had lost the opportunity of the
-favorable ten minutes during which I was alone with him before dinner,
-and no other presented itself for any private conversation. I could only
-venture to express a hope before others, that his aunt, Lady Catharine,
-had not suffered seriously from the fatigues of the review. He said she
-had not been at all well since; and I remarked that I thought her very
-beautiful.
-
-“She was once the loveliest creature in all England, I am told,” was my
-friend’s reply; “but that is past, and she can hardly, I think, be
-called beautiful now—except, indeed, as a beautiful ruin.”
-
-He spoke very gravely—nay, very sadly, and I did not like to press the
-subject further. I remained some time longer to see if the other guests
-would go, but they showed no intention of doing any thing of the kind,
-and as I had a long drive before me, I took my departure, Westover
-promising to ride down in a day or two, and take me upon some
-expedition.
-
-
- THE LONGED FOR MEETING.
-
-Habitual reverence is a curious thing—more strong than most other
-habits. I was certainly of a somewhat impetuous disposition, eager and
-impatient of delay, notwithstanding all the drilling I had had in long
-wanderings and many difficulties and distresses; but yet the habitual
-reverence which I entertained for good Father Bonneville was not to be
-mastered. It was one of those impressions received in youth, which, like
-the foot-prints of certain animals that we discover in the rock, had
-been pressed down there when the substance was soft, but had been
-rendered indelible as it hardened. I returned from London disappointed
-in one of my expectations, and I would fain have had a long conversation
-with good Father Bonneville, in regard to all the doubts and mysteries
-surrounding my own peculiar fate. The promise he had given of knowledge
-at a future time did not satisfy me, and I thought that if he would but
-touch upon the subject again, I would press him hard for further
-explanation. Nay, more, I judged that the very party at Westover’s would
-open the way, and resolved that I would not fail to take advantage of
-the very first opportunity.
-
-When the good Father came down to breakfast, however, with his calm,
-placid countenance, and his usual quiet taciturnity, although there was
-nothing in the least repulsive, none of that impenetrability which
-sometimes characterizes the Roman Catholic priest, yet I felt a
-repugnance to the idea of urging upon him a subject which he had shown
-so much anxiety to avoid, and he certainly gave me no direct
-encouragement. He merely asked if I had met a pleasant party at Captain
-Westover’s; and when I in return told him of whom that party consisted,
-and dwelt somewhat particularly upon the appearance and demeanor of the
-Earl of N——, he seemed, I thought, a little surprised, and I could not
-help fancying that a shade from some strong, and not pleasant emotion,
-passed over his countenance: yet he asked not a question, and made no
-observation of any kind. I then suffered the subject to drop,
-notwithstanding all my resolutions.
-
-Some days passed quietly and dully enough. English people are not fond
-of making new acquaintances. None of our neighbors had yet called upon
-us, and the gentleman whom I had met by the side of the brook, did not
-make his appearance. Quiet tranquillity is the most burdensome of all
-things to an impatient spirit; and I confess I fretted myself a good
-deal during those dull three or four days. It seemed to me as if all the
-world had forgotten us; and I felt much more solitary there, with every
-comfort around me, than I had done in my long wandering from Switzerland
-to Hamburgh, when I might very well have believed myself almost alone
-upon the earth.
-
-It rained, too, incessantly; and I began to feel very English, and to
-abuse the climate heartily—though, by the way, it is the best I ever
-saw, except, perhaps, in the central parts of France. I could not ride
-out. I got tired of reading. I had nobody to write to. I was weary of
-myself and the whole world—even Father Bonneville’s calm, sweet
-placidity, his tranquil employments, and patience under the load of
-dullness, half vexed me.
-
-It was on the Saturday morning early, however, that a change took place;
-the sky became clearer; light clouds, like enormous flakes of snow,
-succeeded the dull, gray, pouring banks of rain; blue sky appeared here
-and there; and, to complete all, as I looked out of the window, after
-breakfast, I saw Westover riding up toward the house, with a servant
-behind him, and a little valise behind the servant.
-
-There was no horse or carriage-way up to the house, which was approached
-by a path through a pretty little garden; and as he dismounted at the
-gate, I heard my friend desire his groom to bring in the valise, to take
-the horses to the inn, and to give Miss Kitty a feed and a half. He then
-walked slowly up to the house, nodding to me as he came; and I could not
-help remarking that he seemed pale and ill.
-
-He was in his usual good spirits, however, and shook hands with me and
-Father Bonneville heartily, saying, “Did you hear my order, De Lacy; to
-bring in my valise? An unlucky thing for you, my friend, that I was at
-the taking of your house, and know that you have a spare room; for I
-come to beg quarters of you till Monday.”
-
-I welcomed him gladly, and seating himself somewhat languidly, he said—
-
-“I have been unwell for the last few days, and they tell me I should
-leave that bustling, tiresome town of London; so I have come to see if
-you will give me quiet lodging here, just as a trial—not that I think
-it will do me any good.”
-
-“Why—what is the matter, Westover?” I asked.
-
-“Oh, nothing but that tiresome ball,” he replied, laying his hand upon
-his chest. “It has taken another move I suppose, and set me spitting
-blood again.”
-
-“What, has it not been extracted?” I asked.
-
-He shook his head mournfully, answering—
-
-“No, no, it is there for life, they say, be life long or short; and it
-is the strangest thing in the world, how a trifle like this—having an
-ounce of lead in one, without knowing where to find it—will weigh upon
-a man’s spirits, how it is ever present to his thoughts—a something he
-cannot get rid of—the sword hung by a single hair over his head, during
-the whole of the great festival of life.”
-
-“Well, we will keep you here quietly,” I answered; “which we can do with
-the most marvelous perfection.”
-
-“If you had been here during these last three days,” said Father
-Bonneville, with a quiet smile at me; “you would have had quiet enough,
-Captain Westover—more quiet than our friend Louis likes, I believe;
-for, as you may remark, he has literally worn the carpet by walking from
-that table to the window. I always think we may gain good lessons from
-the brute creation. God teaches them what is best under all
-circumstances; and I copy the cocks and hens, and the great dog, all of
-which, I remark, invariably sit quite still, and take every thing
-quietly during rainy weather, knowing, that walk as fast as they would,
-or as much, they cannot change the wind, or make the clouds withhold a
-drop.”
-
-Westover smiled, but replied—
-
-“It is not exactly quiet I am seeking, my reverend friend, but to be out
-of the air, and the parties, and the smoke of cities, and the
-impertinent chattering, which is the smoke of society. No, no—no quiet
-for me. If I am soon to ride with my troop, I may as well ride here, and
-so I intend to make De Lacy mount his horse, and gallop away with me to
-Eltham or Esher, or some of those places memorable in the past, where we
-can sit down, and play the part of Volney for an hour, amongst the ruins
-of empires. Then to-morrow, I intend to go with you to Mass; for all
-Protestant as I am, I cannot help admitting that you sing a great deal
-better in your worst chapels than we do in our best.”
-
-Father Bonneville looked at me with a faint smile, and I informed
-Westover that we had both of us, in the course of the last two years,
-abandoned the church of Rome.
-
-“It was not from any motives of interest, Captain Westover,” said Father
-Bonneville, “neither from fear nor for favor, but from pure conviction.
-The fact is, that in a time of great distress and anxiety, I found so
-much consolation in the Bible, that I could not remain attached to a
-church which denied it to my fellow men, and, moreover—without being
-uncharitable—I thought I could see the reason of its being withheld
-from men in general, in its manifest condemnation of the practices of
-those who withhold it. Louis came to the same conclusion while we were
-far apart; and parting as Roman Catholics we met as Protestants.”
-
-Westover seemed much more surprised, and even moved by this intelligence
-than I could have expected. He shook me warmly by the hand,
-congratulating me, and saying—
-
-“I am glad of it, De Lacy, I am glad of it. That makes a very great
-difference—I am sincerely glad of it. We will talk no more of going to
-Mass; though I do like to hear a good Mass well sung—so much so,
-indeed, that my noble grandfather is every now and then in terror of his
-life, for fear I should turn Papist, in which case, as he is the most
-ultra Protestant that ever lived, he would, doubtless, cut me off with a
-shilling, and be very sorry that he could not deprive me of the fortune
-my Uncle Westover left me, lest I should spend it in favor of the
-Propaganda—but come, De Lacy, let us take a walk to the inn, mount our
-horses, and ride.”
-
-We were soon upon our way, and as we passed slowly along through the
-little village of Lewisham, Westover, who was looking round him,
-exclaimed, “Good heaven, what a beautiful face!”
-
-I turned my head sharply, but could see no one. The road was vacant,
-except where a laboring man was wheeling a barrow, and a carrier was
-taking a trunk out of a cart. At the side of the road, indeed, was one
-of those little picturesque cottages, only to be seen in England, where
-fine taste and love for the beautiful, has decorated with a thousand
-charms the very lowliest of dwellings. It was only one story in height.
-The windows were mere lattices, with diamond-shaped panes of glass,
-rattling in leaden frames. The roof was thatched, and the door seemed
-hardly tall enough for the entrance of a man, but the thatch was covered
-with the rich green house-leek, and the whole front of the house was in
-a glow with roses, trained beautifully between the little windows, and
-every here and there holding out a long blossom-bearing arm, as if to
-invite the passing stranger.
-
-“She’s gone,” said Westover, “run away at the sight of two men on
-horseback, as if it were the first time in life she had seen that sort
-of Centaur. But I certainly never did see a more lovely creature.”
-
-I made him describe her to me; but what description can ever give an
-idea of a face? His was incomplete enough, but he said she had the most
-lovely eyes in the world, and that was quite sufficient to set my
-foolish fancy filling up the outline with the features of Mariette. I
-caught myself in the midst of this portrait-painting, a new sort of
-castle-building, and could not help smiling at my vain imaginations.
-
-“What are you laughing at, De Lacy?” asked my companion.
-
-“At myself, Westover,” I replied. “The truth is, your description is so
-like some one I have been long seeking, and would give both my hands to
-find, that, for a moment, you set my fancy wild with the idea that she
-and your cottage-girl might have been the same.”
-
-“O, ho,” said Westover, with a laugh; “but if your love affair has been
-of long duration, this cannot be the same, for she seemed quite
-young—not more than seventeen or eighteen.”
-
-“That might well be,” I answered; “and yet my love affair, as you call
-it, might date from twelve years ago. The person I seek is the companion
-of my youth, one who is now an emigrant like myself, and I much fear
-that she and her mother both, may be in some distress, while I have the
-power of relieving it, and know not where to find them.”
-
-“Yours must be a strange, curious history,” said Captain Westover. “I
-wish, some dull evening, when you have nothing better to do, you would
-tell it me, point by point. I am fond of a dreamy talk with a man over
-his past times.”
-
-“I should have thought there were attractions enough in the metropolis,”
-I answered, “to occupy all the time of you men of fashion, in other ways
-than that.”
-
-“Attractions,” replied Captain Westover, “which either leave no
-remembrance, or a sting. Take my word for it, De Lacy, there are
-multitudes of us who would gladly leave wax candles to blaze, and
-champagne to sparkle, and bright eyes—with no heart behind them—to
-shine, in order to sit beneath a shaded lamp with a man of real action,
-who has seen something of different countries, and a different world,
-and a different life from ourselves, and listen to tales of the heart’s
-realities, while all else around us is but the tinseled pageantry of a
-dream. Come, when shall it be, De Lacy?”
-
-“To-night, if you will,” I answered; “we are certain of being
-uninterrupted.”
-
-“But the old man,” he said. “Young men can never talk with open hearts
-before old ones. There is a power in age which controls us even when
-there is no real authority.”
-
-“O, he goes to bed always at nine,” I said; and so we arranged it should
-be, and so it was.
-
-When we returned after our ride, Father Bonneville informed me that
-there were some persons in the neighborhood, upon whom he wished me to
-call with him on the Monday following; and Westover and I went up to
-dress for dinner—a much more important operation than it has since
-become, even within my own knowledge. We had the usual English dinner, a
-small turbot, some boiled chickens and ham, preceded by soup after the
-French fashion, (which I knew Father Bonneville could not do without,)
-and followed by the inevitable apple-tart. After his coffee, the good
-Father remained for an hour or so, then lighted his candle, and having
-apologized, with the grace of an old courtier, for his early habits,
-retired to rest. My story was then told much as I am now telling it,
-only with more brevity, and I must say that Westover not only listened
-with the fortitude of a martyr, but showed a deep interest, if I may
-judge by his questions, in many parts of my narrative. Once or twice he
-rose, and walked up and down the little room, sitting down when I
-paused, and saying, “Go on, De Lacy, I am listening.”
-
-I could not finish the whole in one night; but on the Sunday evening the
-tale was concluded, and on the Monday, in spite of remonstrance, he set
-out, saying he was going back to London. Why, I know not, but I watched
-him from the window, across the heath, meditating on the state of his
-health, and the risk he ran in joining his regiment again, with an
-unextracted ball still in his chest.
-
-Suddenly, to my surprise, I saw him pull in his horse, at the distance
-of some five hundred yards from the house, beckon up his servant, and
-speak to him for a moment. The master then took the left-hand road,
-which led toward Lewisham, and the groom rode upon the way to London.
-
-It is utterly impossible to describe the sensations which I experienced
-at that moment. There was a mixture of anger, and suspicion, and
-jealousy, which I can hardly characterize even to my mind at present.
-Fancy was as busy as a fiend; and I felt quite sure that he was going
-back toward the cottage, in order, if possible, to form some
-acquaintance with the beautiful girl he had seen. I persuaded myself in
-a moment—although I had unpersuaded myself before—that she must be
-Mariette; and I pictured to myself, Westover, with his handsome person
-and winning address, making instant love to her, and banishing poor
-Louis de Lacy for ever from her heart.
-
-It took me an hour’s struggle to overcome such feelings, and when I had
-done my best I was still dissatisfied.
-
-Toward twelve o’clock, Father Bonneville proposed that we should go out
-for our visit, and for the first time, I asked where that visit was to
-be.
-
-“Why, Louis,” he replied, “you seemed so indifferent when I spoke of it
-on Saturday, that I did not tell you the acquaintance you made while
-fishing, came to call upon us during your ride with Captain Westover. He
-is a gentleman of good family, and we must of course return his visit,
-even were it not that I believe he can now inform us where to find
-Madame de Salins.”
-
-“Is Mariette not with her?” I asked eagerly.
-
-“I believe so,” replied Father Bonneville, with a smile; “but let us go,
-I said we should be there before one.”
-
-I did not delay him, but I must confess, I thought he walked marvelously
-slow, and wished from the bottom of my heart, that I had ordered the
-pony carriage for our excursion. He took his way straight toward
-Lewisham, turned to the left in the village, keeping on the left-hand
-side, directly to the cottage with its roses. I do not know what had got
-into my heart; but it brought to my remembrance a trick which I had seen
-a charlatan play with an egg, which, by some contrivance, he made to
-jump out of a pot the moment it was put in. He stopped at the door—at
-the very door, and then suddenly said:
-
-“Why, what is the matter with you, Louis? You are as pale as death.”
-
-“O, nothing, nothing,” I replied, and knocked hard for admittance. I was
-red enough then. A small servant-girl opened the door, and Father
-Bonneville asked—“Whether Monsieur Le Comte was at home?”
-
-My hopes about Mariette began to fail, and diminished to a very small
-point when, on entering a little room, containing a good number of
-books, I found my acquaintance of the brook-side alone, and without a
-vestige of woman’s occupation any where visible.
-
-He shook hands with us both, welcomed us heartily, and in common
-civility I was obliged to repress my curiosity for a time.
-
-“This is my little study,” he said, after some preliminary conversation,
-“where I teach a few young pupils French, in order to eke out the small
-means of subsistence I have left. But I thank God for all things, and
-only regret that I have not enough to aid those of my countrymen who
-have even less than myself.”
-
-“That is what I fear,” I answered, “that there are many, and amongst
-them some I deeply love, who may be suffering great distress, while I
-have a superabundance.”
-
-“There are, indeed, many, Monsieur De Lacy,” he said; but as the words
-were upon his lips the door opened, and a voice of music said, “May I
-come in?”
-
-“Certainly, my child,” he replied; but she had taken it for granted, and
-was in the room. There were the same eyes, the same look, the same
-beautiful face which I had seen in the carriage, but with a figure, how
-full of exquisite grace, how perfect in all its symmetry!
-
-If my heart had not told me, at once, that it was Mariette, the glad
-spring forward with which she flew to the arms of Father Bonneville
-would have shown me the fact at once.
-
-What possessed me I cannot tell, but I could not speak a word, and stood
-like a fool, the more confounded from feeling that the eyes of a
-stranger were upon me—yes, he gazed at me, earnestly, inquiringly. I
-must, somehow, have betrayed myself.
-
-“Do you not know me, Louis?” asked Mariette, holding out her hands to
-me.
-
-“Know you!” I cried, and if the whole world had been present, I could
-not have refrained from taking her in my arms and kissing her cheek.
-
-“Know you!” I repeated, “O, yes, I knew you the very first moment I saw
-you in the carriage on Blackheath.”
-
-“And I did not know you,” said Mariette, artlessly; “but how should I,
-Louis? Here, you are a great tall man, six feet high; and yet you’re
-still the same—the same eyes, and the same mouth, only your hair is
-darker and not so curly.”
-
-“I rode after you all through Greenwich,” I replied, apropos to nothing;
-for my whole head was in a whirl, and she had left her hand in mine,
-which did not tend to stay the beating of my heart, “but I could find no
-trace of you.”
-
-“Sit down, sit down, my children,” said the master of the house, “you
-are both agitated with your young memories. I will go and call your
-mother.”
-
-“Let me—let me,” said Mariette, and running to the foot of the little
-stairs, she exclaimed, “Mamma, mamma, here are Louis and Monsieur De
-Bonneville.”
-
-Madame de Salins ran down lightly and eagerly, and indeed she was very
-little altered—looking, perhaps, better than when I had last seen her.
-It was clear she was sincerely glad to meet us again; and seated round
-the table, a thousand questions were asked, and about half the number
-answered. All old feelings and memories revived. We talked of our little
-cottage on the Rhine, of our meeting in Paris, and our adventures by the
-way. The stranger joined in frankly and familiarly, evidently knowing
-all that had befallen us. We formed again, as it were, one family, and
-at length, emboldened by this renewal of old associations, I turned
-smiling from the gentleman of the house to Madame de Salins, saying,
-perhaps abruptly—
-
-“Who is this? May I not be formally introduced to him?”
-
-“Do you not know him, Louis?” she exclaimed, with a look of surprise.
-“It is my husband—The Count de Salins. How else should I be here?”
-
-“You forget, mamma, you forget,” said Mariette. “Louis always thought
-that he was dead,” and casting herself upon her father’s neck, she shed
-a few tears over the memory of the terrible days when first we met.
-
-I looked surprised and bewildered, as well I might; and looking round at
-Madame de Salins, I murmured—
-
-“You told me he was dead.”
-
-“I thought so when I told you so, Louis,” she replied, “I saw him fall
-before my eyes, wounded in several places, and to all appearance dead.
-But a glimmering of hope, springing from what source, I know not, led me
-to trust my child to you and hurry back to the court of the château
-where he had fallen. The assassins were gone; my husband’s blood was
-still reeking from the ground; but his body was not there, and after a
-long period of terrible suspense—it was but two hours, but it seemed an
-eternity to me—I found that one of our good farmers had carried him
-away, and was nursing in his own house a feeble spark of life which he
-had found yet remaining. I flew to him; I tended him many weeks in
-secret; I saw him recover consciousness and hope. None who beheld him
-then, however, would have recognized the gay and handsome De Salins; and
-it was agreed that he should be carried some ten or twelve leagues by
-night, and thence removed to Paris in a litter as a dropsical patient
-going to seek the aid of our good friend Doctor L——. All the peasantry
-were in our favor. It was but the people of the cities who were infected
-with the epidemic madness of the times. Every one aided—every one was
-as secret as death. The very dogs of the farm-houses seemed to
-comprehend and enter into our purposes. They barked not when the litter
-entered the yard, but moved round us watchfully, as if to defend, rather
-than betray us. It was necessary that I should part with him, however;
-for my presence would have discovered all; and I hurried back to seek my
-child, and meet him in Paris. Monsieur L—— was already prepared for
-his coming; but he did more than could have been expected or even hoped.
-He took him into his own house, and kept him there in profound secrecy
-for some months. During that time I lay concealed under the appearance
-of abject poverty. Mariette visited him every day, upon the pretence of
-carrying little articles of food to the good Doctor’s house; and neither
-by word or look, did she betray the secret—even to you, Louis. Do you
-forgive us?”
-
-I put my hand in my bosom, and drew out the ring which Madame de Salins
-had given me, and which still remained suspended round my neck by the
-little gold chain. I pressed it to my lips for my only reply; and gently
-bending her head with a sweet smile, she proceeded, saying, “I could see
-him but seldom—I dared rarely venture; but at length Dr. L—— formed
-the scheme for us of making our escape from Paris, crossing the Rhine,
-and waiting there for my husband’s coming. He was to follow as speedily
-as possible, in the character of an officer of the Republican army, who
-had been wounded at the battle of Jemappes. A thousand obstacles
-intervened, however, and I remained in terrible anxiety, till at length
-a letter informed me that he whom I had well-nigh given up for lost, had
-crossed the Rhine in safety, and was then at Dusseldorf waiting my
-coming. It was still necessary to maintain the most profound secrecy;
-for emigrants were surrounded by spies and traitors, and one indiscreet
-word might have brought the head of good Doctor L. to the block. I
-joined my husband in safety with Mariette, however, and our good farmers
-had gathered together a sum of money sufficient to enable us to cross
-the sea to this island, and to live for some time obscurely here. That
-sum would have been exhausted long ago, had we not by a fortunate chance
-been driven from our small lodging in Swallow street by a brutal man,
-whom I believe to be a spy, but who had once received great favors from
-our family when a poor apothecary in Paris. He, a sensual, horrible
-patron, the Marquis de Carcassonne, had no mercy upon us; but having
-purchased the house, turned us out in the street four years ago. We
-heard of this little cottage and took it; and a blessing it was; for
-Monsieur de Salins has obtained a little class of pupils, by which our
-small means have been somewhat saved.”
-
-“We sought you in that house in Swallow street,” said Father Bonneville,
-“Louis was impressed with the idea that you must be in want, and he has
-been hunting for you far and wide ever since we came to England.”
-
-“Real want, we have never known,” said Monsieur de Salins, “though we
-have been poor enough—ay, so poor, as to induce me to let my child go
-on a long visit to some rich and vulgar people, in order to economize
-our little pittance. They thought that Mariette de Salins was reduced so
-low as to accept the hand of their coarse son, and think it an honor and
-a favor; but they have learned better now.”
-
-“And did you visit that house in Swallow street?” asked Madame de
-Salins, looking at me with an anxious and inquiring glance. “Who did you
-see there?”
-
-I told her all the particulars, Father Bonneville adding a word here and
-there, and the account seemed to strike both Monsieur de Salins and his
-wife with much surprise.
-
-“He does not know,” said Madame de Salins, in a low and thoughtful tone,
-turning her eyes upon her husband, “he does not know.”
-
-“And so you found Monsieur de Carcassonne in poverty and distress?” said
-Monsieur de Salins, “the one viper, I suppose, has stung the other. God
-of heaven, my dear wife, how thankful we should be to Him on high, that
-we sit here, and eat the daily bread of his mercy, with consciences
-clear of offense, and hearts unloaded by a weight of guilt. Let them
-take all from us, but our innocence and our honor, and we shall be rich
-compared with these men, even were they wealthy and powerful as in days
-of old.”
-
-“And is it possible, Monsieur de Salins,” I asked, following the line of
-thought in which my mind had been principally running, though there were
-many other subjects eagerly appealing for attention, “Is it possible
-that you, and dear Mariette, and Madame de Salins, have been living here
-in comparative poverty, while I have been enjoying wealth and all that
-wealth can give? This must be no longer——”
-
-I saw a slight shade come over his countenance, and I added, “Madame de
-Salins has been a mother to me; Mariette has been a sister. I have
-sought them eagerly, daily since I have been in England, in order to
-perform toward them the duties of a son and a brother. Surely Monsieur
-de Salins,” I continued, taking his hand in mine, “you will not suffer
-my having the good fortune to find you with them, to deprive me of my
-right of adoption?”
-
-“Dear, noble, generous Louis,” said Mariette, throwing her beautiful arm
-round my neck, as if I had been indeed her brother.
-
-“Why, I taught her to read and write,” I said, drawing her gently toward
-her father. “She was my first and dearest pupil—I have all her little
-books now, in which she spelt her early lessons.”
-
-“And the pictures, and the pictures you drew, Louis,” cried Mariette.
-
-“All, all safe through all my wanderings,” I replied. “Come, Monsieur de
-Salins, I have a beautiful little place hard-by—ample means for all of
-us. Every thing shall be soon prepared for you, and Madame de Salins,
-and dear Mariette. We will share house and fortune and all, and be one
-family again, as we were in our sweet cottage by the Rhine.”
-
-I knew not what it was I urged—all the objections that a father’s eye
-might see—all the difficulties in regard to the world, and the world’s
-opinion; and I was not aware, till I found that even Father Bonneville
-remained silent, and did not second me, that I was asking too much.
-
-Monsieur de Salins, for his part, smiled at my enthusiasm, while Madame
-de Salins wept at it; but he answered kindly and affectionately, putting
-quietly aside all points difficult to deal with, and saying jestingly,
-“Why, you would not have us quit this little, rosy dwelling where we
-have been so happy; but be assured, my dear young friend, that no guest
-will be more loved and honored within its walls than the Count De Lacy.”
-
-I felt from his tone, that it would be in vain to press my request
-further that day; but I knew the effect of perseverance, and I had hope
-for the future. At all events Mariette and I had met again. I was
-resolved that nothing should make me lose sight of her thenceforth, and
-like all young hearts, I gave myself up to the present joy with trustful
-confidence in the happiness of to-morrow.
-
-Several hours glided sweetly by, and it was late in the day when Father
-Bonneville and I retrod our steps to our own dwelling, each full of
-thought.
-
- [_Conclusion in our next._
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- I WOO THEE, SPRING.
-
-
- BY WILLIAM ALBERT SUTLIFFE.
-
-
- I woo thee, Spring, and I wed thee, Spring,
- To a kindly-thoughted lay,
- And I sing thee, Spring, in thy blossoming,
- Through the lee-lang sunny day!
- When young loves bud and old loves bloom—
- When the warm earth bans all shade of gloom,
- And bees hum summerly.
-
- I woo thine ears to a kindly tale,
- And what shall the story be?
- I will tell thee dearest bonds are frail,
- And that stars and flowers flee.
- I will tell thee a tale of woful wings
- That rive from the soul its precious things,
- And shadow sweet fantasy.
-
- I will tell thee of some that have fled away
- Since last we saw thy face;
- And some that are gone from the sheeny day
- To the lonesome burial-place.
- And of joys, like a string of pearls unstrung—
- Like treasured flowers to the fierce wind flung,
- That sleep with the buried grace.
-
- O, I woo thee, Spring, and I wed thee, Spring,
- To a sadly-thoughted lay,
- And I sing thee, Spring, in thy blossoming,
- Through the lee-lang cloudy day!
- For the lone day dies through purple bars—
- And a misty grief enwraps the stars,
- And our hopes are ashen-gray.
-
- But the flowers bud and the flowers blow
- And the mossy streams are sheen,
- And the downy clouds to the Norland go,
- While the blue sky laughs between;
- And the light without, to the dark within,
- Would seem to say—“Will ye up and win
- While the paths of life are green?”
-
- But the outer joy on the soul’s annoy
- Looks in and laughs in vain—
- For the inner chains of the spirit’s pains
- May ne’er be reft in twain;
- And the song that erst in joy begun
- Sinks into wail ere the setting sun,
- A sad and deathful strain.
-
- So I woo thee, Spring, and I wed thee, Spring,
- To a dreary-thoughted lay,
- And I sing thee, Spring, in thy blossoming,
- Through the lee-lang weary day!
- Through the lee-lang day and the plodding night—
- When no golden star’s in the lift alight,
- To brighten a weary way.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- SONG.
-
-
- BY L. L. M.
-
-
- When morn’s soft light is o’er us shed,
- When pearl drops bow each taper leaf,
- And e’en the lily’s queenly head
- Pays homage to the glory brief—
- Who ever recks of coming night,
- Or grieves that such an hour must be—
- Who ever weeps o’er winter’s blight
- While summer decks the dewy lea.
-
- The forest leaf now pale and sere
- Once bent to roving breezes’ kiss;
- The faded flower on Autumn’s bier
- Once seemed too gayly bright for this,
- Nor did they droop and whisper all
- Of mildew dank, of frost and blight;
- But ever rang the wild-wood hall
- With joyous song and murmur light.
-
- And grievest _thou_, dear one, that life
- Is but a dream that soon is past?
- Fear’st thou the briefly bitter strife,
- The shadows on thy pathway cast?
- Nay, ’tis not well—though day’s soon gone;
- The flowers soon pale that bind thy brow;
- Though night and death are stealing on,
- Forget not, love, ’tis morning _now_!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TWO WAYS TO MANAGE.
-
-
- BY THE AUTHOR OF “CLOVERNOOK.”
-
-
-It was night, black night all over the world, and denser night within
-the dwelling of Margery Starveling. Now and then, the half-moon broke
-through the clouds that obscured the face of heaven, and some straggling
-and uncertain beams slanting through the narrow south window, gave to
-the low, homely apartment a ghostly sort of glow that was gloomier to
-see than the dark. Yet the night was one to make timid hearts beat
-quick, especially in a dismal old house, where there was no light save
-occasional glimpses of the half-moon. But Margery was not afraid—she
-was used to darkness and solitude, and needed not the interchange of
-humanities for her comfort, else she would have aroused from the sleep
-which had fallen upon her, the child, who—with cheek leaned against the
-rough stone jam—was alike unconscious of the dark, and the rats gnawing
-hungrily at the floor, or loosening the hearth beneath her feet. It may
-be that bright dreams came to her, even there, for what shall stay them
-from innocence? and the rough jam may have seemed a pillow of down, and
-the chill moonlight, as it fell against her, the golden curtaining of a
-pleasant couch.
-
-All was quiet within doors, save the digging and the gnawing I have
-mentioned, but in the woods that partly encircled the place, and
-darkened close against the western gables, the winds went blindly
-moaning up and down, and the dead boughs creaked against each other,
-filling the time with music when the ill-boding owls muffled themselves
-away.
-
-It was very still in the house, I said, for though Margery was busy, her
-work made no noise, till laying aside the great fleece of wool from her
-knees, which her skinny fingers had been picking apart, she spoke aloud,
-and on this wise—
-
-“I will stir with my staff the embers from which the glow is well-nigh
-perished, that my child may feel in her sleep its comfortable influence,
-for evil dreams may come of unrest, and evil dreams make evil thoughts,
-and when they have once taken possession of the heart, how hardly are
-they charmed away.” So, having taken the fleece from her knees and laid
-it over a wooden stool at her feet, she arose, and fumbling in the
-chimney-corner opposite to that where the child slept, produced a great
-knotty staff, the lower end of which was blackened and charred. With
-this she stirred the gray ashes from the fiery log that lay beneath, and
-beating and breaking it into coals, gathered the dry cinders together
-that were scattered about, and having spread them over the
-freshly-broken coals, a blaze sprung up, slight and blue at first, but
-reddening and deepening till the rafters over-head, and the oak slabs
-below, the walnut bedstead in the corner, with its antique carving, and
-elaborately wrought tester, and the huge chest with its iron padlock,
-the wrinkled visage of the old woman, and the pale hair and plump, naked
-feet of the child, were all distinctly visible.
-
-“Charity, my pretty darling,” called the old woman, as she resumed her
-seat and the fleece of wool, “Wake, and betake thee to thy wheel for an
-hour, and I will tell thee of the plan I have made to keep our house
-full of cheer and music all the while, even when thou weariest of the
-wheel, and thy tongue prattlest not.”
-
-The child rubbed her eyes, lifted her head from the stone jam, saying in
-a voice sweet and plaintive, as we sometimes hear a bird’s—
-
-“I have spun my task, grandam—six wisps of flax into as many hanks of
-thread, and thou seest my distaff is naked—but I will wind it with
-another wisp and spin, at least till thy task is done.”
-
-Her naked feet pattered across the slab floor, and climbing on a ladder,
-she took from a peg in the rafter a fresh wisp, and as she wound the
-distaff peered through the south window at the half-moon, or rather at
-the yellowish color in the clouds behind which the half-moon was
-concealed.
-
-“It wears near the midnight, good grandam,” she said, shoving her wheel
-aside: “I will pick on the fleece, and so thy voice will not be drowned
-as thou tellest the plan thou hast mused of.”
-
-“As thou sayest,” answered Margery, “it wears near the midnight, as is
-told by the shrill cry of the cricket, to say nothing of the aching in
-my bones, and the dizzy feeling that creeps along my forehead now and
-then;” and laying her skinny fingers over the wrinkles on her brow, she
-bowed her head forward for a minute, looking more like a witch making
-some unholy incantation, than a live human being, and a woman as she
-was. Her dress, summer and winter, was composed of cow-hide shoes,
-clasped over the ankles with buckles of brass, a gown of dark woolen
-stuff, made in a straight, stiff fashion peculiar to herself, and she
-wore over her shoulders a small circular cape, that had once been part
-of a tiger’s hide. On her head she wore no cap or other covering, and
-her gray hair was parted on the crown and combed either way, one half
-being cut in a straight line above her forehead, and the other on her
-neck.
-
-She seemed seventy, or thereabout—nevertheless, her hair was neither
-thin nor very white.
-
-“Thou hast wrought too hardly, grandam, mayhap,” said the child. “Fold
-up thy hands now, and the portion of the fleece that remaineth be mine
-to do;” as she spoke, she wound her arm about the neck of Margery, for
-she loved her, albeit she looked so repelling.
-
-“Nay, child,” answered the dame, “it is not often we have so pleasant a
-light, and pity ’twere to lose it. We must improve the advantages we
-have, little one, else want will be staring us in the face, and
-reproaching us with negligence when it is too late. I cannot work as I
-could with forty years less weighing me down, so I must do what I may.”
-
-“I saw,” said the child, “when I went to Farmer Jocelin’s, for the
-measure of meal thou wottest of, three good tallow-candles alight in one
-room. The noonday sun were scarce brighter,” she continued in amazement,
-both at the wondrous light and the prodigality. “He must have great
-estates, grandam, to maintain such indolent and luxurious life. True,
-Mistress Jocelin was at work with some knitting, but not heedfully nor
-diligently, but more attentive to the reading of a book, which, indeed,
-to look upon was very beautiful, for as Farmer Jocelin held it near the
-light, the edges of the leaves glittered like gold, and the leathern
-cover was bright as the bosom of the bird that sings in the peach-tree,
-here, in summer. But Master Lawrence—what, think you, he did by all
-that flood of light? Why, nothing for thrift; for he sat on the matting
-of the floor, cutting pieces of smooth brown paper into a kite. Yet he
-had a sweet smile, and seemed to have a good heart withal,” added
-Charity, and her fingers flew more nimbly through the wool, “for as he
-served round a salver of apples, at his mother’s bidding, he urged me to
-take one so earnestly, yet kindly, that I might scarce refuse, and when
-I did—for that I might not rob Farmer Jocelin of his substance, giving
-him nothing in turn—he forced one into my lap and ran laughingly aside,
-so that I might not return it.”
-
-“Alas! alas!” said Margery, “have I reared thee thus carefully in vain,
-that when thou escapest from my sight, but for a moment, thou yieldest
-to sinful temptation, eating the fruit thou hast not earned.”
-
-“Nay, grandam, thy conclusion is over-hasty. I kept the fruit unbruised
-and untasted, though its sweet fragrance made it hard to resist, and
-when the maid brought in the measure of meal, I gave it to her hand, and
-she restored it to the salver; but when Master Lawrence saw it, he
-looked as though he would have cried, even in such beautiful light, and
-with so much fair brown paper, to fashion as he would.”
-
-“I am glad thou hast wit to serve thee upon occasion,” spoke Margery,
-her fingers flying nimbly as the child’s; “and if Farmer Jocelin burns
-three good tallow-candles at one time, and that at no merry-making or
-gala-night, his children will be the likelier to sit in the light of
-fagots—and Master Lawrence was wastefully cutting smooth brown paper. I
-am glad thou hadst wit to refuse the apple, but thou shouldst have
-frowned smartly the while. If I see the young scapegrace this way, as
-belike he may come, with further temptations, I will make my tongue as a
-chisel, cutting such a lesson of wisdom and reproof upon his heart, as
-he hath never heard, mayhap.”
-
-“But Master Lawrence meant kindly,” said Charity, and casting down her
-eyes, she continued, “if we cannot burn tallow-candles, we, at least,
-may have the light of dry sticks—shall I not gather more to keep light
-as thou tellest the plan thou hast? I would it could make our home
-cheery as good candle-light, and a salver of apples, with rinds all
-russet and red and yellow.”
-
-“It were good thou hadst not seen the apples,” spoke the dame,
-querulously; “better still thou hadst not seen the boy.”
-
-“But the plan, grandam—thou forgettest the plan. Is it that the famous
-chopper, Patrick Malony, is to come and fell one of the great hickory or
-maple trees of which the wood is full; and are we to have a huge log,
-and big, smoothly split sticks to fill the great empty fire-place every
-night with light and warmth; or meanest thou once more to saddle
-Lily-lace, the mare, and ride to the mill with a full bag of wheat; and
-am I to go to the market-town once more, in my black kirtle and straw
-hat, and bring home in exchange, for my basket of eggs, butcher’s meat
-to broil on the coals, and fragrant tea to fill the little china cups,
-with tobacco for thy long empty pipe—in faith, grandam, have I not
-guessed shrewdly?”
-
-“My pretty darling, I see thou hast thy head filled with the wildest
-extravagance; thou wilt be teasing next for a farthingale of dimity,
-ruffles of lace, and blue ribbons for thy hat, or other such like gear.
-Thy guesses tally not with prudence, Charity; thou mayest guess again.”
-
-“Ay, then,” said the girl, sorrowfully, “I was wrong from the saddling
-of Lily-face to the full pipe of tobacco;” and casting her eyes about
-the cold, empty room, she continued, with greater energy—“I have the
-very pith of thy thought. Thou wilt unlock the great chest, and take
-thence the dainty linen sheets and the thick wool blankets thy hands
-have wrought from fleece and flax, and make the bed—wherein we now
-shiver the night through, ridden with nightmares and plagued with ugly
-dreams—into beauty and comfort. Surely I have guessed thy plan, for the
-moth is more wasting than the wear.”
-
-“Foolish child, thy extravagance would be the ruin of me, though I gave
-thee management of my affairs but for a day. Were the sheets of linen
-and blankets of wool to be used as thou sayest, the chest would soon be
-empty, and then how should we fare?”
-
-“As well as now,” thought Charity, but she spoke not, save to say—“that
-she should guess no more.”
-
-“Once more, little one,” and Margery patted the child on the head with
-one hand, and taking the great staff in the other, she stirred open the
-coals vigorously, and as the light flashed upon the girl’s cheek, tears,
-large and bright, were seen to stand there, like drops of dew on a lily.
-
-But the old woman urged her to renew her guess with such earnestness and
-tenderness that, brushing away the tears, she essayed once again; but
-the fervor was gone from her tone, and the light from her glance, as she
-said—
-
-“Thou hast planned the mending of the door and window, that the snow may
-not drive to great ridges across the floor, and the wind and the rain
-beat against us as we sleep.”
-
-“Not so,” answered Margery. “While the winter blows the larger crevices
-may be stopped with straw, and the smaller ones with clay, both of which
-may be easily removed when the May Queen is dancing on the hills, and
-our house be the pleasanter for free air and streaks of sunshine.”
-
-“It may all do very well,” said Charity, “but to-night I can see nothing
-so pleasant as great log-fires, tallow-candles, and a salver of red
-apples; and, mayhap, it would take Master Lawrence to complete the
-picture.”
-
-“Burned not thy cheek to speak it?” continued Margery, peevishly: and
-the two wrought at the fleece for a time in silence.
-
-“Thou knowest Lily-face?” said the ancient dame, at length, “that she
-groweth old and stiff of limb; thou canst not remember the time when she
-nibbled not in my pastures; I think belike, also, she fadeth in the
-sight of her right eye, for when, at the last Christmas time, I rode her
-to the mill, my old bones were jeopardized by her stumbling, and often
-turning of her head to one side, betrayed her defect of vision. But
-though she were sound as the silver coin that lieth in the bottom of the
-chest, yonder, I must needs barter her away, for that she eateth more
-than she earneth, since I may no more buckle round her the girth.
-
-“Thou requirest much exercise in thy growing, Charity, to keep supple
-thy joints—thou canst sometimes walk to the market-town for our
-absolute wants, which are not many, and as for the wheat-grist, thou
-shalt have a mortar and beat it into flour; so Lily-face would but
-burden us now, and the corn and the oat-sheaves, and the hay that have
-been heaped in her manger, may be sold.
-
-“One beast is enough for a poor body like me, and thou knowest I will
-neither barter nor sell Wolf-slayer till the time cometh for the nailing
-of the boards to my coffin. And forget not, Charity, that they lie in
-the loft, well-seasoned for the using, and for thy life, let them not
-buy others in their stead.”
-
-“Far away be the time, good grandam,” sighed the girl. “But the young
-die, too; and should I need them first, wilt thou not keep a light, at
-least of fagots, the whiles I am dead in the house?”
-
-Foolish child! though it were darker than tempest may make it, and I the
-while slept never so sound, no harm could come to thy white corse, if
-Wolf-slayer lay by thy coffin.
-
-At the sound of her name, a great black beast, with eyes burning like
-coals, and lean and shaggy, crept from the darkest corner of the room,
-and laying her head in the lap of Margery, licked her jaws and whined
-piteously. “Away with thee, saucy image,” growled the mistress, “thou
-hadst the third part of a corn-ear at the sunset, and thinkest thou,
-black wench, I will give thee more?” and crouching and whining the
-hungry beast slunk back to the corner, and curling herself together,
-filled the room presently with her snore.
-
-“Poor Lily-face!” said the child, speaking as it were to herself, “how
-can I let thee go! Morning and evening, since I could toddle, I have put
-my arms around thy glossy neck, broken the ears of corn into small bits,
-and pressed the golden oat-sheaves through thy manger—and thou hast
-neighed and put thy face against mine, for thou lovest me, as I thee.
-Poor Lily-face! I cannot let thee go!”
-
-“What if thou mightst look in the corner here and see the bright,
-shining face of a pretty clock instead of the cobwebs and the hanks of
-yarn—if thou couldst hear the pleasant tick, and ever and anon the
-musical ring of the hours—a clock, bethink thee, bright of color as the
-autumn oak-leaves, and tall as thy grandam.”
-
-“It would be pretty and comforting, surely,” said the child, “for the
-ticking and the stroke of the hours would be company in the lonesome
-nights, but I would not give Lily-face, that knows me when I speak, and
-looks at me and loves me, to have a clock bright as the oaken autumn
-leaves, and tall as thou, grandam, in place of the hanks of yarn and the
-cobwebs.”
-
-“Thou knowest not thy own mind,” said Dame Margery; “the clock will
-neither eat nor drink, but will tell us the time of day and night; which
-Lily-face hath not wit to do. By the light of the last sunset, I have no
-mind that she shall longer stamp in that stall of hers.
-
-“The miller hath a clock,” she continued, “which ticked at his
-grandfather’s funeral, and hath kept the time of many funerals, and
-marriages, too, since; a pretty piece of mechanism, as I saw with my own
-eyes, and taller than I; and the miller wanteth the mare for the
-tread-wheel, and to have her his own, will barter the pretty clock.”
-
-“It must be as thou sayest, but I have little pleasure in the plan,”
-said Charity. “Hath not the miller a milch cow that he would barter in
-place of the clock?”
-
-“Thou growest officious,” answered the dame. “Would not the cow eat oats
-and corn as well as Lily-face? And have we not hitherto drunken water
-and flourished, and must we needs have milk?”
-
-Charity spoke no more, but sat turning the wheel for pastime—for the
-fleece was finished, and the mind of the dame was not to be altered by
-childish fancies, as was manifest from her rising and removing the hanks
-of yarn to another peg, and brushing with her hand the cobwebs.
-
-The wind kept moaning along the woods and rattled the broken door and
-window—the coals grew fainter and fainter and died, and the gray ashes
-blew over the feet of Margery and the child as they sat silently
-musing—the one of the pretty clock that it would cost nothing to keep,
-the other of poor Lily-face; haply at times there came a thought of the
-log-fire and the tallow-candles, and the salver of red apples which
-Master Lawrence had served with such a sweet grace.
-
-The next day came the miller, and wrapt in a great bed-quilt and laid in
-the bottom of his cart was the clock. Margery clapt her hands in glee
-when she saw it, but Charity sighed as she sat close on the hearth-stone
-for the sake of its little warmth, though she felt not the cold now.
-Faster and faster spun round the wheel, and lower and lower she bowed
-down her head to conceal the tears—but it would not do. When she heard
-the neigh of poor Lily-face, and knew that her hands would never feed
-her any more, she hurried to the window, and pressing her face against
-the pane, she could see her dear pet shrinking consciously from the hand
-that tied the strong rope about her neck and led her away. Margery was
-busy with dusting the bright face of her pretty clock, and looked not
-forth even when the long-drawn howl of Wolf-slayer (who, lifting her
-fore paws on the clapboard gate, manifested her sorrow as a dumb brute
-may) smote dismally upon her ears.
-
-The days came and went and Charity spun on the same, but Margery brought
-forth no new fleece. Scarcely had she stirred or spoken since the
-treasure came—even when the girl heaped on dry sticks and broken
-branches till the warmth filled all the house, she did not reprove.
-
-Then Charity bethought her that the old dame had scarcely tasted food
-for days, and looking upon her, she saw that her eyes waxed dim and her
-countenance pale, and a great fear came over the child’s heart; and
-setting aside her wheel, she ran fast to farmer Jocelin’s, and begged a
-cup of honey and a pitcher of sweet milk, telling of the strange
-disorder that possessed Dame Margery.
-
-As she went homeward, Master Lawrence ran from his work in the field and
-bore the pitcher of milk, and comforted her with hopes that her grandam
-was less ill than she feared.
-
-Without question Margery partook of the milk and honey; and when
-Lawrence brought sticks and logs and heaped the fire, she laid her
-withered hand on his head and said, “Thou art a kind boy and good.” She
-then took a key from her bosom and told Charity to unlock the chest and
-bring forth blankets—as many as would keep her warm.
-
-“Surely, grandam, thou art distraught,” said Charity, as she hastened to
-obey. But the sweet smile of intelligence that met her inquiring glance
-belied her fears; and as she wrapt the warm covering about the withered
-form, she said, “Nay, child, I am sane at last—but too late.”
-
-At midnight she ceased to speak or to be conscious. Kind hands presently
-removed the thick covering, and spread over her a dainty white sheet;
-but she was warm enough; others brought from the loft the boards of
-seasoned walnut wood, and the next midnight Charity and Wolf-slayer—the
-one at the head and the other at the feet, watched by the old dame’s
-coffin.
-
-The following day came the miller with Lily-face harnessed in his little
-cart; he went forward, and a train of neighbors followed—amongst them
-Charity, sorrowfulest of all.
-
-When the summer came, she planted bright blossoming shrubs about the
-grave, and never in her life had Margery half so pretty a house as this
-narrow one.
-
-The old house was given up to the rats and the winds, after the removal
-of the cheat, and the clock, and the hanks of yarn that hung all along
-the rafters. In course of time it fell into a heap; and one day, as
-Charity, who dwelt not far away, sat on the heap of stones where the
-hearth-stone had been, she saw a fair-faced youth searching up and down
-the lanes, over the meadows, and through the hedges hard-by, as though
-he missed something; but when he saw the girl, he left searching and
-bent his steps toward her, and as he came near she knew him for Master
-Lawrence—well grown, but with something of the boyish look and manners
-yet. The prettiest of all the lambs of the flock was gone, and though he
-had gone over all the pastures, he could not find it. The heart of
-Charity was touched, and leaving her sorrowful musing, she joined in the
-search.
-
-Whether the stray lamb was found I know not, but as Charity crossed the
-fields to go homeward under the twilight’s reddening wing, her hair was
-full of daffodils and daisies, and a flush of wildering happiness was on
-her cheek, that had never been there before.
-
-When the harvest was gathered and the orchard fruits weighing down the
-boughs, Charity rode to the market-town on a pretty brown jennet of her
-own; and as she went homeward the horns of her saddle were hung with
-great bundles; she had bought a white ribbon instead of a blue for the
-new straw hat her fingers had been braiding so busily—a muslin gown,
-that was white, too; a pair of pretty slippers, and a dozen other things
-that I have not time to enumerate—enough, that the next full moon shone
-upon Mistress Lawrence Jocelin.
-
-Not a village maiden that would not have envied her but for her own
-happiness, for all joined in the merry-making; a dozen tallow-candles
-were burned at once, and more than one salver of red apples was served
-round, with loaf-cakes and sweetmeats, and ripe broken nuts. Workmen
-were employed to clear away the rubbish that had once been Dame
-Margery’s house, and a pretty new cottage soon rose in its place; and
-the next summer sweet shrubbery hedged it in, and myrtles and
-honeysuckles curtained the windows; bees made honey from the flowers,
-sleek cattle fed in the pastures, and in all the neighborhood there was
-no home so full of comfort and plenty.
-
-The hanks of yarn which Charity had spun long ago were taken to the
-weaver’s and came back in rolls of damask and bright-flowered carpets;
-the linen was taken from the chest, and the wool blankets; and after
-being washed white as snow, and dried in the sun, were spread upon beds
-soft as down could make.
-
-When the second winter came round, the cottage was a-glow with
-wood-fires and tallow-candles; and in place of the starved Wolf-slayer,
-there lay before the hearth, in a cradle of white willows, the plumpest
-and fairest baby that ever Lawrence and Charity Jocelin had seen.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE PHANTOM FIELD.
-
-
- BY O. I. VICTOR.
-
-
- The snow lies deep upon the ground,
- All icy is the air;
- The trees a winding-sheet have found
- By the wild wind’s care.
-
- The beast stands trembling in his shed—
- The sheep within his fold:
- Without, all life is stiff and dead—
- Within, all chill and cold.
-
- Why is the air so cold to-night?
- The owl shrinks in his nest!
- Why does the moon gleam out so bright?
- The traveler is at rest!
-
- O, keen the wind and cold the air
- Above the Phantom Field!
- Yet ghostly forms are stalking there,
- Armed with a sword and shield.
-
- And gathering slow in serried rank,
- They turn toward the west:
- Five thousand coffins guard each flank—
- Five hundred stand abreast.
-
- In battle rank, with noiseless tread,
- They hurry to the height,
- Where stand ten thousand other dead,
- Uncoffined for the fight.
-
- O, cold the wind and keen the air
- Around the Phantom Height!
- Yet spectre men are battling there
- In fierce, exultant fight.
-
- And shields are rent, and swords are bent,
- And limbs bestrew the ground,
- Yet skeletons, with strength unspent,
- Strike where a breast is found.
-
- And skulls are cleft on right and left
- Till shines the morn o’erhead—
- Till twice five thousand coffins stand
- Alone, flanking the dead.
-
- O, keen the wind and cold the air
- That sweeps above the plain!
- Yet must the hollow coffins bear
- The skeletons again.
-
- O’er the silent field they haste,
- To gather limb and bone:
- Though skulls and limbs are wide displaced,
- Each coffin knows its own.
-
- Soon every limb is gathered in—
- Soon every lid is fast—
- And falling into rank again
- They turn toward the East.
-
- And marching o’er the frozen plain,
- With swift and gliding tread,
- They stand beside the graves again
- Where sleep the evil dead.
-
- Two death’s-heads stand above each mound;
- A fearful watch they keep!
- The coffins sink into the ground,
- Another year to sleep.
-
- But when another year is fled—
- When comes St. Stephen’s night,
- The death’s-heads shall unloose their dead
- To battle on the height.
-
- And when five hundred years have passed,
- The penance shall be done;
- The skeletons shall sleep at last,
- And moulder, limb and bone.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- SHAKSPEARE.
-
-
- BY ERASTUS W. ELLSWORTH.
-
-
- What more extolling from the tongue of Fame
- Can Shakspeare need than his suggested name;
- Who, in a volume so compactly writ,
- Has hived the honey of all human wit.
- Praise suits where merit in a corner lies,
- But seems uncomely to th’acknowledged wise—
- Praise suits where laboring art at times succeeds,
- And the shrewd reader pardons as he reads;
- But fails—in wonder—where the leaves dispense
- Infinite resource of intelligence—
- Where the great player, at his game of chess,
- Frolicks through all to glorious success;
- Thrids, with exulting ken, a boundless maze,
- Plays with his kings, and kings it in his plays.
- Swan of the Avon—genius of the Thames,
- “That so didst take Eliza and [king] James;”
- Muse of so vast a flight, so ample pinion,
- Whose name is as the name of a dominion!
- Though kings be great, give glory to the pen,
- A whole-souled poet is the king of men.
- King and high-priest one bard, at least, has been
- Lo! where we lesser Levites pause and quail.
- How grandly goes before, within the vail,
- Our great Melchisedek, without compeers,
- Without progenitor nor end of years.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE MASTER’S MATE’S YARN.
-
-
- BY H. MILNOR KLAPP.
-
-
- (_Concluded from page 539._)
-
-“They—the rats, of course—were a strange, heathenish set, and no
-respecters of persons, but first chased the cat on shore, and then made
-a hurra’s nest of the cabin—polishing their long whiskers with
-spermaceti—planning surprise-parties in the pantry—running to’gallant
-races over your nose in the sleeping-berths, and gauging every hollow
-vessel in the ship, with tails a fathom long, from the oil-casks and the
-scuttle-butt down to the pickle-jars and the captain’s barrel of New
-England. They were a sleek, long-bodied race, as black as imps of
-darkness, and as fearless as if they possessed as many reputed lives as
-grimalkin herself. I was weary of watching their capers, and of the
-sound of Catherton’s tread, expecting him every moment to call me up;
-when turning in my berth, I noticed that the after-cabin door was
-standing open. While I was wondering at this, a feeling of awe stole
-over me, thinking of the conversation I had overheard among the men the
-night before, and that very moment, as I was looking intently at the
-spot, a figure in white passed swiftly and silently out of the
-store-room into the cabin, closing the door behind it. I would afterward
-have given worlds to have been able to pursue it, but could not, for the
-power to move a limb was dead for the time being, and I lay still
-staring after it, with mouth agape and the cold drops on my forehead,
-palsied, as it would seem, by that sort of instinctive abhorrence with
-which humanity revolts against a disembodied spirit that has assumed,
-for some mysterious end, the form and garniture of its house of clay. It
-was a woman’s shape—the head bare, and the long dark hair hanging down
-to the waist, and, before the door closed, the light for an instant
-flickered on the face, ghastly and white—as the man-of-war’s man had
-said—with the mouth closed and the lips drawn tightly in. Its back was
-toward my berth, until it turned into the after-cabin, and it seemed to
-me that it had something clutched in its hand; but the hollow look of
-the sunken eyes froze my very heart’s blood, as they glared back at the
-lamp, from behind the bloodless and bony cheek. I was first roused from
-my trance by the sound of some one coming down the companion-way, and it
-was not until Catherton had thrice called me, laying his hand upon my
-shoulder, the third time, that I started at last to my feet, when he
-must have noticed my looks, as I still stared past him at the
-cabin-door.
-
-“‘It wants but a few moments of the time, Mr. Miller,’ was all he said,
-and if I had died for it, I could not have answered, but huddling on my
-clothes in silence, mechanically followed him on deck. All was there as
-still as death. The moon had not yet risen, and you heard the sound of
-the ebb plashing against the Tartar’s bows, and rippling and gurgling in
-the eddies astern, as it swept through the strait.
-
-“‘The watch are asleep in the galley,’ the captain whispered, as I
-prepared to go over the side; ‘you remember the place and the signal—a
-plover’s whistle twice repeated?’
-
-“Nodding my head, I descended into the canoe; he cast off the warp, and
-keeping in the shade of the ship, with my brain in a whirl, I paddled
-close to the starboard shore. I had little time to think, for the
-current ran strongly round the points, and I seemed blindly impelled by
-the hand of fate to stem its force, even while my frame still shook like
-a frightened child’s.
-
-“I had hardly a thought of my purpose; nevertheless, instinctively
-plying my paddle, I passed through the passage, and reached the rift of
-sand under the castle without being challenged.
-
-“High above me, concealed from my eyes by the rocky steep, was the
-stronghold where, according to report, the sultan kept both his harem
-and his treasures. The danger, in some measure, restored my presence of
-mind, and the canoe had hardly hung for a moment on the hot, glassy
-tide, when I heard the signal, and immediately upon my answering it, an
-Arab arose from the sand, and two others appeared coming hastily down a
-narrow gully, along which a sort of causeway ran from the stables of the
-sultan’s stud to the beach. Seeing more figures than I had been taught
-to expect, as another appeared from behind a rock, leading two saddled
-horses, I was about to back farther off, when the chief’s voice called
-out to me in a low tone to be quick, and forcing the bow of the canoe
-upon the sand, not another word was exchanged, until Halil had placed
-the slender form of the Circassian, vailed as she was from head to foot,
-under the awning.
-
-“The chief then seized my hand and carried it to his head, pointing with
-his right in the direction of the ship.
-
-“Wishing him ‘God speed,’ I wrung his hand; he pushed off the canoe, and
-I paddled round for the ship. Glancing back, I saw him spring into the
-saddle, with one attendant, both sitting as motionless as statues while
-the canoe kept them in sight.
-
-“Heavily armed, and mounted on a splendid charger, from what I knew of
-his strength and spirit, it struck me forcibly that in his present
-enterprise he was more than a match for most men. There was little
-chance, however, of the conspiracy succeeding, unless the assassination
-of the sultan were the first overt act, as he was greatly beloved by his
-people. However, I had previously understood that the Oualé of Muscat,
-and all the principal chiefs at Moutrah—the last a considerable town in
-the vicinity—were implicated, which showed that the party of the old
-Imaum, the sultan’s deceased uncle, was much more extensive than I had
-ever deemed.
-
-“It was not with thoughts like these that I approached the ship, for the
-recent horror oppressed me so strongly, that I hardly knew what I was
-doing when the captain received Zuma from my arms at the stern-post.
-After this I fastened the canoe in its place, and looking, as it were by
-the mere force of habit, into the binnacle, found that I had been absent
-but twelve minutes. I then went for’ard where the two fellows who held
-the anchor-watch were sleeping soundly. As I kicked them up, the old
-carpenter came out of the steerage, rubbing his eyes, and muttering
-imprecations on the rats.
-
-“‘They’re a considerable spry set, Mister Miller,’ said he, as I made
-some remark to divert his attention, ‘and, cuss me, if I half like the
-ways on ’em—rattlin’ past my berth atween decks, as if every beggar on
-’em had shoes on his feet, and turnin’ the’r varmentish heads to listen,
-with more life in the slack of their tails than there is wit in the
-for’ard part of the ship. They comed aboard, sir, in my opinion, at an
-island where the ship touched on the Japan coast, and jist tuk full
-command of the ship at once, trampoosin’ her from the ground-tier to the
-tops, and crawlin’ out of the bunts of the old courses, when sail was
-made at daylight, or jumpin’ from the boats, when a rush was made to
-lower away. Hows’iver,’ he added, knocking the ashes out of his pipe,
-without which he was never seen on deck in these latitudes, ‘I hope,
-sir, they’ll stick to the ship, if it’s only for luck’s sake.’ As he
-said this he gave me an oblique glance of his cold, fishy eye, and then
-looked earnestly at the bowl of his pipe, fussing with a paper of cut
-tobacco.
-
-“In the humor which I was in at the time, the most trifling incident
-that occurred in the ship seemed to leave an impression upon my mind
-never to be forgotten; however, I was not to be sounded by old Charley
-Toppin, cunning as he thought himself; so I answered him at random: ‘I
-hope not, carpenter; and as for luck—why—’
-
-“‘Hist! sir,’ interrupted he, in a startled voice, pointing aft—‘what
-tale does that tell?’
-
-“Turning quickly round, I saw them dropping from the poop by the
-dozens—one steady plump! plump! plump! till the deck was black with
-them, creeping in a living mass on the forecastle, down the cable, as it
-seemed, into the water, where we could see them swimming for the island
-across a broad patch of starlight, until the last of them disappeared.
-Captain Catherton was standing aft, looking at the frigate through his
-night-glass. He never stirred, and, as I thought, did not notice them.
-The sight seemed to shake old Kennebunk wonderfully.
-
-“‘Mister Miller,’ said he fearfully, ‘this be a doomed craft.’
-
-“‘You’re wrong,’ said I, ‘they’re swimming off to the shore to fill
-their stomachs with something green, if they can find it. They’ll be
-back presently, and then, if you cover the hatchways, you can call all
-hands to a rat-hunt.’
-
-“The carpenter looked at me, and then at the poop, significantly enough;
-a look of intelligence suddenly crossed his blank, weather-beaten face,
-as he moved close to my side, with his hand to his mouth and his eye
-still fixed aft: ‘Do you know, sir,’ he whispered, bending his brows and
-looking me hard in the face, ‘do you know who are your shipmates in this
-here craft?’
-
-“At that moment the captain called out in his deep, calm voice, and I
-went up on the poop, where, pointing to the frigate, which lay now
-within half a pistol shot of us, outside of the passage, he put the
-glass in my hands, without saying a word. The first look I took through
-the instrument explained his meaning. The frigate’s starboard broadside
-was sprung to bear on us, and the long tiers of guns frowning full upon
-the ship. They were even lighting their battle-lanterns, and groups of
-turbans and pointed caps were visible in every part of the upper deck.
-
-“I dropped the glass from my eye and looked at my companion.
-
-“‘I understand it,’ said he composedly, in reply to my look—‘wait a
-couple of hours longer, and the scene will change. In the meantime come
-below, and let us have a glass of grog.’
-
-“He swept the harbor carefully with his glass, dwelling some time on the
-landing-place, which is at the mouth of a drain, or sort of canal; the
-town itself being hidden from our sight by the lofty castle-crowned
-crags to the north and east. The Soliman Shah, after changing her old
-berth, had anchored off Fisher’s rock, a small islet lying off the north
-point of Muscat Island.
-
-While Catherton was thus engaged, the thought of what Halil and the rest
-of the conspirators could be doing at that moment, together with my
-adventures that night, whirled a confused crowd of images before my
-mind, in the midst of which black Hadji’s face was preëminent. The
-stories which I had heard of his craft and cruelty occurred to me so
-strongly that it was a relief when the captain closed his glass with a
-snap, and led the way to the cabin.
-
-“‘Steward,’ said he to the mulatto, who seemed to make it a rule never
-to be caught in his hammock when his master was up, ‘set out the
-liquor-case, and a bottle of that old Bourbon whisky we got out of the
-Frenchman—and then be off to your roost.’
-
-The fellow obeyed in his usual deferential way, and placing a lighted
-joshstick and a bundle of sheroots on the table withdrew.
-
-“‘To-morrow,’ said Catherton, ‘we’ll tow out into the bight of the
-current, go how things may; and here,’ he added, pouring out a tumbler
-of grog, and pushing me the bottle, ‘here’s good-bye, forever and a day,
-to the key of the Persian Gulf.’
-
-“I pledged him accordingly, and he went on in a very frank, easy way, I
-thought, considering the case in which we stood.
-
-“‘A troublesome coast this to clear, Mr. Miller; the currents hereabouts
-are as treacherous as the heart of woman. Why,’ said he, seeming a good
-deal at his ease, as he poured out another glass, though I was in the
-other case, my eye stealing to the cabin doors in spite of me, ‘I’ve
-been drifted in this old ship forty miles in-shore, in a thick fog and a
-calm, between sunset and dawn, and no signs of a set on the surface any
-more than there is on this deck.’
-
-“‘Yes, sir,’ said I, compelling my attention to answer him, ‘in clear
-weather they keep you continually taking observations—and in a fog, as
-you say, why—’
-
-“‘Try that case-bottle of Bourbon whisky,’ interrupted he, ‘you don’t
-seem to relish the brandy. Here’s to the sultan! And may he wake up
-to-night in Paradise.’
-
-“Here he went on in a discursive way to talk of the cholera, saying that
-he had had a touch of it himself on the Malabar coast.
-
-“‘However,’ said he, filling up his glass a third time, ‘hang
-care—here’s luck!’
-
-“‘The fact is, Mr. Miller,’ he continued, setting down his glass, ‘I’ve
-taken a great fancy to you, during the little time we’ve been together.
-If it lasts out to the end, depend upon me, I’ll put something handsome
-in your way.’
-
-“I bowed over my glass without speaking, and he kept on in the same
-confidential manner, as if he made up his mind to see how we stood at
-once.
-
-“‘I’ve made one prime voyage for my present owners in these seas, and
-this one—mark you—I intend for myself. Now I want a friend whom I can
-trust, body and soul, and, if I am not far out of my reckoning, you are
-the very man.’
-
-“I met his sharp, scrutinizing glance as he said this, and remembering
-the carpenter’s words in the galley, I now felt sure that the captain
-had some scheme of villainy in his head in which he wished me to become
-a partner. There was the more reason to be careful of the grog, since I
-could not mistake his manner, and the sharp, sinister look full as deep
-as the occasion called for, whatever that might be. However, I thought
-it best to affect to do so, and answered accordingly, that I had no
-fears of further trouble with the crew when we were once clear of the
-coast.
-
-“His fierce eyes watched mine as a tiger might a stag’s, and with a dark
-smile which seemed to say, ‘You’re a deep one, I see.’ He nodded his
-head and touched his glass again. Still he seemed to hesitate, and to be
-fast losing his self-possession, as if either the liquor he had drank,
-or something in the way I received his first hint, had flustered him. I
-did not think at the time that he doubted me, either; so I sat still,
-smoking my sheroot, and watching the traces of irresolution gleaming
-across his sun-seared face, until, making a strong effort to control
-himself, he suddenly asked if I was a married man. On my replying in the
-negative, he tacked ship again, asking me if I ever read poetry,
-alluding particularly to Moore’s Lallah Rookh.
-
-“‘I don’t care a rope’s end for the Veiled Prophet or Nourmahal,’ he
-said, while I wondered again what he was driving at, ‘but I always
-admired certain descriptive parts of the Fire-Worshipers, which I always
-thought Byron must have touched up for Moore—for instance
-
- ‘—’Mid damp and gloom and crash of boughs,
- And fall of loosened crops that rouse
- The leopard from his hungry sleep,
- Who, starting, thinks each crag a prey,
- And long is heard, from steep to steep,
- Chasing them down their thundering way.’
-
-“‘Muscat, you know,’ continued he, ‘is the poet’s Oman.’
-
-“‘Yes,’ I answered, hardly knowing what to say, ‘and a wretched place
-enough it is, in spite of Moore’s fancy.’
-
-“‘Why,’ he said, still beating the bush about me, ‘there is some
-difference between the sultan’s palace, plain as its outside is, and the
-emir’s porphyry walls which the little Irish nightingale sang about—not
-so much though, to my mind, as between a merchant dreaming of a full
-cargo to-night, and waking to hear of a wrecked ship and no insurance in
-the morning—ay, or a captain making two good voyages and finding
-himself still in debt—ay, deep as the fathomless sea in debt—to his
-owners.’
-
-“‘That, I suppose, you would call a species of blank-verse, Captain
-Catherton,’ said I.
-
-“‘Ay,’ he answered, with a fierce, tiger-like gleam of his dark eyes,
-‘but the beauty of the thing is, this cargo will balance accounts, and
-it’s a long back stretch from ‘Oman’s green water’ to the sandy shores
-of Bedford Bay.’
-
-“This was starting the devil with a vengeance, so I determined that he
-should show his purpose clearly before I gave any reply to the hints he
-had thrown out.
-
-“‘Captain Catherton,’ said I, fixing my eyes firmly upon him, ‘I am no
-greenhorn to rush into any man’s schemes blindfolded. If you wish my
-services in any thing that is to my taste, you must speak out.’
-
-“He emptied his glass again, in a way which showed that he was hardly
-sensible of the action, and, ‘Mr. Miller,’ said he, ‘there is that about
-you which reminds me of old days, and that, perhaps, is one reason I’ve
-taken a fancy to you. It doesn’t matter a rope-yarn whether you join me
-or not; my mind is fixed to its course. You shall hear the whole,
-however, and judge for yourself before you decide—which is more than I
-would care to reveal to any other man that breathes.’ He flung his
-sheroot on the deck as he spoke, and mechanically setting his foot upon
-it, bared his sinewy arm to the elbow, in the lamp-light. ‘Do you see
-those initials?’ he said, in a tone of unnatural calmness. Sure enough
-there they were—his wife’s, I had no doubt—E. S. B., dotted in India
-ink, and two hearts, worked one within the other, under them. As I
-looked in his face for the explanation which was to follow, I saw that
-it was fearfully changed; and although his eyes met mine, at first
-steadily enough, a strange sort of a spasm contorted the muscles of his
-jaw, as if he looked, as it were, through me at some horrible sight,
-with his teeth set, and his thin nether lip drawn tightly in. The truth,
-or at least an inkling of it, I had had already from the second mate,
-and in spite of the terrible doubts in my mind, and the rascally scheme
-he had hinted at, I confess I could not help feeling somewhat softened
-toward the man. Perhaps he noticed this in my looks, for, with a
-shivering sigh, he placed his elbows on the table, and covering his eyes
-with his hands, although not a groan or a moan escaped from his lips, I
-knew by the tears which forced their way through his fingers, and the
-quiver of his strong frame, that some hard struggle was going on. I sat
-still in pure wonder at this sudden outbreak of feeling—the initials,
-as it were, staring me full in the face, and the man’s damp forehead,
-with its mass of dark curls within reach of my hand—until a strange
-thought that I had seen him before in some old, familiar place, came
-slowly thrilling into mind. Where this might have been I could not, at
-the moment, conjecture; but as he removed his hands and I looked
-anxiously at his features, I felt almost sure that it had been years
-before, in some scene of summer-revelry, with trees and horses in front,
-and woman’s soft eyes on the background. Perhaps it was the altered look
-of Catherton himself, which brought the last into my mind in the cabin
-of the old Tartar, to be associated in some unaccountable way with that
-tall, muscular frame, and that dark, gloomy face, frowning as if ashamed
-of his emotion, though it might be, the tears had done him good. At any
-rate, the idea oppressed me so forcibly that, before he composed himself
-to speak again, I glanced nervously round the cabin, taking in every
-object as well as I could by the smoky light—from the state-rooms, on
-the larboard side, with their musty, sickening smell, to the rack in the
-recess between the cabin doors, and thence from the starboard ones up to
-the chart-rack and the broad transom, where the two models, one of a
-whale-ship, the other of a first-rate, both made of a sperm whale’s
-jaw—guns, boats, spars, and even the miniature brail-blocks, all
-fashioned out of glistening white bone, were resting on their mimic
-ways. Of course I saw nothing there to account for the impression, faint
-as it grew again while I gazed, and half deeming it the delusive trace
-of some forgotten likeness, or of something which I had read of or
-dreamed, I turned my eyes again upon Captain Catherton.
-
-“‘Mr. Miller,’ said the man, as calmly as if he were sitting at home, it
-might be, in his nursery, his wife within reach of a whisper, and
-something in the subdued, moist look of his eyes in devilish accordance
-with the drowsy quiet of a domestic scene, ‘we are not all as
-philosophic as Cato—nor as vile as the man made immortal in infamy by
-Horace—_non omnibus dormis_—you remember the satires.’
-
-“As I stared again at this, a forlorn ghost of a smile flitted over his
-face, and with his next breath the mystery of the thing vanished. I have
-often wondered since what it was that kept me fixed to my seat like
-stone; perhaps it was the reflection that my own accursed folly had been
-the wreck of us three—him, the wretch—myself, and _her_—perhaps it
-was the awful suddenness of the shock which stunned me like a heavy
-blow; I cannot say; but stifling the groan which rose to my lips as the
-horrible truth flashed upon me, while the very air seemed to thicken
-before my gaze, and his words to come with terrible distinctness through
-the gloom, I sat still on my seat and heard him out.
-
-“‘I was born,’ he said, ‘at the village of ——, a few miles from
-Philadelphia, and abandoned my home, like a fledged petrel, as soon as I
-could comprehend the map of the world with its thousand ports and its
-endless stretch of sea. It is a strange thing, Mr. Miller, this young
-fancy of ours for being blown about by the wild winds, and rocked out of
-a life of ease by the cunning waves of the deep. To my mind there was
-once nothing so joyous in life as the roar of the gale at its height,
-when you slid from the top of a sea to the trough—the dripping dash of
-a head sea on the prow—or the rush of cleft waters astern, as you sat
-conning the chart.’ Little did that careful old pedagogue dream, as, day
-after day he chuckled over my progress in this department of knowledge,
-what restless longings disturbed the breast of his pupil, like the
-instinct of the unfledged albatross when it hears the sound of the sea
-from its nest on some sheltering cliff.
-
-“‘It was but last night,’ he continued, in a tone of melancholy widely
-at variance with the usual sound of his voice, ‘that I dreamed of the
-old man—his thin, white hairs brushed back from his brow—his
-spectacles set straight on his nose, as he traced out on the revolving
-globe the voyages of Columbus and Vasco de Gama, pausing, with his rod
-stayed at some particular point, to enlarge on the daring spirit of
-each. It was little wonder that I early yearned for the sea; and yet, as
-I afterward learned, great was his astonishment, not unmixed with
-chagrin akin to remorse, when he found that I had cut and run. However,’
-he said, putting his hand to his forehead, ‘we met again, and the matter
-was thoroughly cleared up between us.’
-
-“Here he paused in thought, his eyes fixed in a troubled way on my face,
-while the changes wrought by time and the sea seemed to disappear from
-his own, and I wondered that I ever could have been so blind as not to
-have known him at once: a triple sense of condemnation oppressed me; and
-the soft eyes and the sweet face came vividly up, until I actually
-shuddered to think, as the whole name, Ellen Symington Blount, was as
-plain as day; what terrible tale which linked her fate with his might be
-still lurking behind. I could well understand, too, his allusion to
-Lallah Rookh, which was her favorite poem, and how it was that he had no
-recollection of me, having never seen me but once, and that for a moment
-by starlight. Old Charley’s riddle was read, though it was hard to tell
-how he became master of it, and stifling my feelings as I best could, I
-awaited in silence for the captain to resume.
-
-“His eyes dropped to the floor, where the rats were again creeping about
-unheeded: presently they scampered off, and I heard the hasty _pit-pat_
-of naked feet as one of the anchor-watch came aft to the binnacle, when
-the ship’s bell struck one. The stroke was instantly followed by a clang
-from the Arab frigate, and then by a sort of stir, which loomed up as it
-were on the sultry gloom of night, in the midst of which you seemed to
-hear the cries of the sentries on shore, calling from tower to tower,
-through the pestilential air; and when these died away, with the nearer
-echoes of the bells in the harbor, you heard again the sound of the
-man’s feet pattering along the deck, as if he, too, had paused to listen
-before rejoining his watch-mate, who perhaps, like myself, was spinning
-some old yarn.
-
-“When all was still again, the silence seemed to press on my ears like
-the distant splurge of a tide, while the lamp drowsed and the rats crept
-to Catherton’s very feet, scuttling off, however, as soon as he stirred,
-breaking abruptly out of his reverie.
-
-“‘I made a trading voyage round the globe, and returning to the village
-twenty-six months after I left it, was received like one from the dead.
-I was bent upon giving old Blount, the schoolmaster, a surprise—as much
-so, it seems to me now, as if I had run away from school for that sole
-end.
-
-“‘Accordingly, I was out of the stage and bang into his garden, where he
-sat smoking his pipe, with his back toward the walk, before he had the
-least notion of what had turned up.
-
-“‘Hillo! old ship! What cheer?’ said I, and round he swung to my hail,
-dropping his merschaum and staring at me in the summer-twilight, as I
-stood rigged out in a full suit of blue, swinging my cynet-hat, until I
-could stand it no longer, but just broke out into my old laugh, which
-brought his daughter tripping out from the back-porch, when, of course,
-the recognition took place. After the old man was over the heat of his
-surprise, and I took time to notice that Ellen had grown, in proportion,
-quite as much as myself, and how beautiful she was—and that she had
-been the first to divine that I had gone to sea—my heart beat quickly
-again with a feeling strange as sweet, and somehow I was not so much
-shocked as I might have been, when her father, taking off his spectacles
-and sobering his face, informed me that my uncle had died a year before.
-To be sure, I had never known a parent’s care, and Colonel Catherton,
-living as he did, almost alone with his books, was a man rather to be
-feared than loved by a child. Besides, I cannot remember ever to have
-had strong feelings for a human being before I became aware of my
-attachment to Ellen. I rather loved to lie behind some hill which shut
-out all but the sky from view, and dream of the sea—or to sit under the
-lee of the woods in a gale, with a book of voyages in my hand, intent
-upon scenes of battle and wreck, with the last year’s leaves under my
-feet, and the wild roar in my ears.
-
-“‘It was in the whole stock, and, in fact, I have heard that my father
-and two of my uncles, at different times, had all been lost at sea.
-However, the colonel, who had been a great merchant in his time, had
-left some property—not so much though as was supposed from his style of
-living—and as I was his only heir, they persuaded me from taking
-another cruise until the estate was settled. This, of course, only left
-me leisure to fall all the deeper in love—the rock, Mr. Miller, on
-which, it seems, the gentlest as well as the roughest of us must split.
-Many were the consultations I had with old Blount, and strongly he urged
-me to settle at home as a professional man, never dreaming—old proser
-as he was—that the thing was too deeply grained in, ever to be coaxed
-out, even by Ellen’s eyes. The upshot of it was that I remained at home
-for two years longer, until the property was sold, doing nothing but
-reading nautical works and growing more and more enamored of Ellen.
-There was a soul in that girl’s voice like the sound of the surf as it
-breaks upon some enchanted shore, off which it might be, you lay waiting
-for day to dawn—a spell in her dark eyes more like the ideal dreams of
-old, than the influence of woman over man in these degenerate days. If
-ever mortal had fair excuse for anchoring his faith on the sandheads
-of—but, excuse me, Mr. Miller, they are all of a piece, as you may have
-discovered before this—some one says to be rated only by their
-different capacities for mischief.
-
- ‘Helen laid thousands on the shelf,
- Dido only burned herself:
- As Helen’s beauty was the rarer,
- Her claim to mischief was the fairer—
- A rule in courts that firm hath stood
- Before and ever since the flood.’’
-
-“As he ran on in this wild way, eating his heart, as it were, in sheer
-desperation of feeling, something in my look, as I felt my soul
-struggling to rise against the mendacious wretch, sent him from his vile
-sneers and accursed Hudibrastic lines, back to his narrative. Garbled
-and imperfect as that was, I was mad to hear it to the end; for while
-bitterly rueing the ruin which my own folly had wrought, I could not
-help burning to know by what damnable arts or eloquence she had ever
-been persuaded to yield her hand to _him_.
-
-“His eyes sunk before mine and he moved restlessly on his seat as a
-sound, so like to a sigh that it made me start, came apparently from the
-door of the closed state-room; it might have been the Circassian—or the
-rats in their ramblings—and drinking off a brimmer of grog, he resumed
-in a different tone.
-
-“‘At the end of the time I spoke of, the old man fell sick, and somehow
-his friends had dropped off, so that I spent most of my time almost
-alone with him. At last he consented that we should be married at his
-bedside. He had been growing weaker day by day, and I was the more
-anxious for the match, as his house was close to a place of fashionable
-resort, and Ellen had, somehow or other, become acquainted with some of
-the young blades from the city. There was some talk about her and one of
-them, while I was absent on a tour to the great lakes, that had like to
-have set me mad on my return. However, the youngster—who was, by all
-accounts, to the full as deeply in love and as fiery as myself, besides
-being, at least, my equal in fortune and connexions—had got himself
-involved in a quarrel with an acquaintance about this same report,
-which, in the end, sent one man to his grave and the other out of the
-country. As the duel made a great noise in the city, I determined to
-marry Ellen privately, and to remove from the village altogether as soon
-as her father died.
-
-“‘Well,’ continued he, in a husky tone, ‘the thing was done, and when we
-rose from our knees, after the prayer, the old man was dead. We had no
-idea that he was so near his end, and I leave you to imagine, Mr.
-Miller, the horror of my bridal-night.
-
-“‘However, when this was over, and we were alone together in the world,
-Ellen seemed to cling the closer to me, and it was not long, as you may
-suppose, before we left —— behind. I directed my course to Boston
-where I had made arrangements to enter into business with an old
-shipmate, a son of one of the firm in whose employ I had sailed on my
-first voyage. In the course of a few weeks I found myself comfortably
-settled at last, with most of my funds invested in the purchase of a
-ship and a brig, engaged in a trade to the Spanish Main. I commanded the
-ship myself, and for several years things went well—when by the
-villainy of my partner, suddenly as a whirlwind strips a ship, the house
-went by the board. After this I commanded vessels on the African and
-Brazil coasts, until the last ship was sold to a whaling house at New
-Bedford. I had agreed to deliver her into her new owners’ hands, and, as
-my wife’s health was rather unsettled at the time, I took her with me
-for the sake of the jaunt. It was then that I received offers from the
-man who had purchased the ship, which first directed my attention to
-this particular service. It was true that I knew nothing of the
-business, and had a sailor’s prejudice against it; but the man treated
-us with such considerate kindness, and made me offers so tempting to a
-broken man, pointing out how easily the difficulties might be obviated
-in time, and enlarging on the importance of having good navigators in
-the Indian seas, that, in an evil hour, I consented to take charge of my
-old ship.
-
-“‘I removed from the hotel to a house in the upper part of the town, and
-after making the necessary arrangements for a protracted absence, and
-three weeks from the time I went into the Wisemans’ employ, I found
-myself at sea. The first voyage—and it was a short one, not exceeding a
-twelvemonth—put me up to the business, and investing all I had cleared
-in the ship, after a stay of six weeks on shore, leaving my wife to
-mingle in the best society which the place could afford, I put again to
-sea. It was on the homeward bound passage, in a full ship, after an
-absence of little more than fifteen months, that within a degree or two
-of the line I spoke a clean ship, with letters on board from my wife and
-the owners. Before I could board her, however, we were separated by a
-sudden squall, and night coming on lost sight of her altogether. We did
-not see her again, and it was when giving way to some natural vexation
-at the accident that I received the first intimation from Mr. Jinney, my
-mate, of the secret intimacy which had long existed between Ellen and
-the younger Wiseman. The man’s tale was a straight one, corroborated by
-several circumstances too trivial for notice at the moment of their
-occurrence, yet of sufficient importance, when taken together in
-connection with his story, to darken the past and cast an ominous shadow
-over the time to come.
-
-“‘Though I had thought to strike her dead at first sight, with the
-stretch of sea between us, yet old ocean, wiser than a thousand
-graybeards, played the soother again, even in this great sorrow—the
-faster it bore me toward her, as the ship heeled to the trades—the
-wilder the gale I encountered off the very shores where she breathed,
-the more it seemed to uplift its voice against the tempest of fury which
-must have inevitably involved me in the ruin it brought down. It was
-well done,’ he exclaimed fiercely, ‘here’s to thee, old theme of the
-poets—broad pathway for spirits like mine to sweep! Neither the frailty
-of woman nor the malice of man’—here his voice grew too hoarse for
-utterance, and drinking off the liquor like water, he dashed the glass
-to the deck, walking the cabin with hasty strides, like a tiger chafing
-in his cage—while I, with a curse on my lips for what, as God is my
-judge, in spite of the man’s emotion, I believed to be a lie, sat
-chained to my seat, as by some predestined spell.
-
-“Although my faith in the innocence of Ellen was as strong as in the
-angels of heaven, still he plainly believed all he avouched of her
-guilt; and still, as I clung to the one redeeming thought that nothing
-on earth could have tempted a spirit like hers astray, still something
-would whisper that she might have changed toward _him_, or have been
-made the victim of some infernal conspiracy, with woman’s malice,
-perhaps, at the bottom of the scheme. Strange stories in the history of
-the Cathertons, before they came over from England—which I had heard
-years before—flashed across my mind, and I felt sure—I knew, it must
-have been the circumstances growing out of my unfortunate duel—which,
-no doubt, he had twisted to the furtherance of his own purposes, which
-had induced her to marry him when her heart was elsewhere.
-
-“I had little time to think of this at the moment, as you may suppose;
-for the sight I had seen that night, and the story of the second mate’s,
-with the frightful thought of what she must have endured to the end, was
-enough to craze my brain, until Catherton, breaking out into a laugh
-more like a fiend’s than a man’s, and halting directly in front of me,
-said—‘You look wild, Mr. Miller—perhaps you, too, have trusted woman.
-I tell you,’ he hissed through his teeth, as I arose and leaned against
-the mast, as it were, from pure weariness—staring at him in a blank
-way, while the blood seemed congealing to ice in my veins, ‘I tell you
-she was false—false as the whole sex—false as the hollowest heart of
-them all—though the oaths I had sworn, and the plans of revenge we had
-laid, kept me still.’
-
-“‘No! no!’ reiterated he, laughing again in his horrid way, ‘by that
-time I had learned something of endurance; and, as I had no
-children—for I was spared that misery—it was not worth my while to
-thrust my neck in a halter for the sake of a profligate woman. Ha! ha! I
-thought better of it—it was a sweeter and safer revenge to have her
-here in the ship, while she knew that I was cruising the seas to beggar
-her paramour—for, fool-like, his money went at the gaming-table faster
-than it came, and I had persuaded him, in conjunction with the mate, to
-invest his all in the purchase of this ship—to see her, amid the
-healthful breezes of ocean, dying a death to which the direst of Eastern
-tortures are mercy—’
-
-“‘Devil!’ I broke out at last, striking him full in the face with one
-hand, as I snatched a cutlass from the rack with the other, sending the
-iron scabbard, in my fury, straight across the cabin against the door of
-a state-room; he reeled a pace or two, laying his hands upon a half-pike
-at the mast. ‘Fool!’ I exclaimed, seeing that he still hesitated, ‘come
-on—I am S——!’
-
-“He shortened the pike and darted at my face on the instant, but
-catching the thrust on the edge of my blade, I threw the point up into
-the deck-beam; that instant had been his last, for his defenseless head
-was within fair sweep of my sword, when from that very state-room, the
-door of which had been forced open by the flying scabbard, the same
-figure which I had seen before that night, again appeared, gliding now
-swiftly and noiselessly between.
-
-“The cutlass fell with a clank on the deck, and I stood with
-outstretched arm, my soul riveted to my gaze, striving in vain to speak,
-while Catherton staggered back against the mast, covering his eyes with
-his hands. In the rigid and ghastly lineaments of death I saw, as my
-heart stood still, the likeness of Ellen; the frozen eyes seemed to hush
-my very breath; the thin, clay-like lips moved, and, like sigh from a
-coffin-lid, the whispered words met my ears, ‘Not thus—not thus!’
-
-“‘What—what art thou?’ I gasped out—when old Charley’s voice sounded
-on deck; a sort of scuffle appeared to get up in the companion-way, and
-Halil Ben Hamet and his attendant, both sprinkled with blood and covered
-with soil-stains from sandal to turban, suddenly appeared on the scene.
-
-“I stared from the apparition to the chief, and when I looked again, the
-place where it had stood was vacant.
-
-“‘All is lost, my friend,’ said Halil; ‘they are hard on my track, and I
-have come hither to die with Zuma.’
-
-“At these words the captain recovered himself, and stepping from behind
-the mast, waved me on deck.
-
-“By a sort of instinct I felt compelled to obey him, as it seemed, for a
-space longer; and making mechanically for’ard, I roused out the
-anchor-watch, who, as usual, were caulking it in the galley, and not a
-soul else on deck, though the heat was so great, that I wondered how it
-was possible for a living thing to sleep. After this I again went aft to
-the binnacle, glancing at the watch to see if the last bell had been
-struck, and looking over the side, wondering if the boat in which the
-chief had come off, had gone adrift. I then walked to the waist again,
-where, hardly knowing what I was doing, I stood looking up into the dark
-blue where the stars were burning, until, as I gazed, a feeling of the
-utter vanity of earthly hopes came over me, as I thought that these same
-stars which had shone so calmly on men’s deeds for thousands of years,
-would shine the same on my grave. It seemed to me, then, that not only
-the feelings involved in the fate of Ellen, but all the experience of
-the past, all the changes of time and clime, faded away into nothingness
-before those twinkling, far-away lights; and a something of peace which
-I had never known before, swiftly as the thought seemed to travel
-through space to the winking planets, slid into my soul on the slant of
-the star-beams. Then my ear caught the splurge of the tide—a faint air
-from the sea fanned my cheeks—and a low growl of thunder came rumbling
-up into the cove. I remember, too, to have noticed lights moving on
-shore, while a stir arose on the beach close to the landing, but in the
-mood I was in at the time, I paid little attention to this.
-
-“The Tartar lay moored stem and stern just within the entrance of the
-strait, midway between the island and the main, shut out by the rocks on
-the larboard hand from the walled town and the castles which kept the
-restless Arabs in awe. One or two of the little round towers, said to
-have been built at their gloomy and apparently inaccessible altitudes,
-by the old Portugese, might be seen looming thrice its real size above
-the hot outline of the topmost crags, over which the moon was rising,
-casting a strong yet dubious light on Muscat Island, which, with the
-bats wheeling continually about it—the patches of sand in its narrow
-gulleys, and the rough stones standing out of them, with here and there
-a stunted cypress, reminded me strangely enough of a Turkish grave-yard,
-and did not greatly tend to remove the impression, now uppermost in my
-mind, that something you’d give the world to avoid was soon going to
-take place. I looked intently at the Arab frigate, while the moonlight
-stole upon her rigging, creeping slowly down the _taut_ sticks and
-back-stays to the spar-deck, where twenty red-caps and turbans were
-visible over the side, showing that her quarter-watch at least were wide
-awake, when, my thoughts wandering again, I fancied some desperate,
-wild-eyed wretch—such as I had often seen creeping about the
-slave-market and the narrow lanes of the bazaar—stealing, step by step,
-to her magazine, blowing the slow match in his fingers, and staring by
-its lurid glow at the hammocks which he passed, until I actually caught
-myself grasping a shroud, and watching for the upward shoot of her
-masts, in the broad red glare and the shock that was to follow. Then I
-recalled the image of Ellen as she once was, and the unsated fury burned
-again in my breast, fed by my belief in her innocence; then came her
-spirit gliding across my bewildered mind, ghastly as I had seen in the
-cabin; then the thought of what Catherton could be doing, until I was no
-longer capable of thinking at all, but just walked on the forecastle
-again, for the mere purpose of diverting my mind from the horrid tangle
-it was in. It was some relief to enter into a conversation with one of
-the watch—a strong, heavy-headed fellow, as green as a
-parade-ground—about his home among the hills of the Hudson, and the old
-story of the trouble which sent him to sea, which, no doubt, I listened
-to intently at the time, although I never afterward could remember a
-syllable, except something about a certain Sukey Fairlamb, who turned
-out to be a jilt, and one Jonas Weatherby, who took the wind out of his
-(the Tartar-man’s) sails. I also recollect his remarking how much hotter
-it had got within the past ten minutes, and looking aloft, I saw the
-light scud flying across the stars, though the flutter of air on deck
-had already died away. A noisome steam was rising out of the
-forecastle-scuttle enough to choke one, while a dog which we had on
-board lay on the fore-hatches, panting for breath, without so much as
-looking at the bucket of water, which some one had placed within a foot
-of his nose. All at once I heard the sound of oars, followed by a hubbub
-of voices—and a large boat, filled with men, appeared in sight, pulling
-from the landing toward the ship. As I started aft I saw the captain
-disappearing down one hatchway, as the carpenter and the cooper came up
-another, and as soon as the boat came alongside, I hailed. Receiving no
-answer, I hailed again in Arabic, when a voice answered in the same
-tongue, ‘Be silent, we are coming on board in the sultan’s name.’ I
-ordered the carpenter to make fast the warp which they threw, when the
-first person that appeared over the side, I knew at once to be a little
-French renegade, the captain of Syed’s guards; the next was the accursed
-eunuch himself; and if the one glance which I had of his face by
-moonlight had not been enough, the sight of the two Zanzibar mutes who
-followed him—the stealthy, cat-like looks of their eyes fore and aft
-the deck, and the rush of the soldiers behind, would have convinced me
-at once that Halil Ben Hamet’s time was come.
-
-“‘Have de goodness, Monsieur Capitaine Miller,’ said the renegade, who
-knew me well, ‘to make de muster of de sailors on de forecastle, by de
-sultan’s orders, sare.’
-
-“As it was useless to refuse, I ordered the two men of the anchor-watch
-to call the people for’ard, while the cooper and his crony roused out
-the boat-steerers in the steerage, the noise having already awakened the
-mates, who were sleeping in the house under the poop. The whalemen
-seemed bewildered enough, as they tumbled up the scuttle, and gathered
-for’ard of the windlass, although I noticed that they collected the
-handspikes in a heap—some of old Charley’s party, headed by the wild
-man-of-war’s man, showing signs of a determination to clear the decks.
-This, within half a pistol shot of the frigate’s batteries would have
-been sheer madness; accordingly I spoke to one or two of the men by
-name, ordering them to keep quiet, when two sepoys came for’ard, with
-drawn sabres in their hands, and ordered me into the cabin. Armed
-sentries were posted at all the hatchways, and naked cimiters glanced
-round the eunuch and the captain of the guard, seated at the table in
-the long cabin, where Catherton stood leaning leisurely against the
-bulkhead, cool and collected, with his arms folded across his breast,
-the imminence of the danger having apparently restored his presence of
-mind.
-
-“‘This is my mate,’ said he, to the Frenchman, as I entered; ‘you may
-examine him, if you see fit.’
-
-“Hadji Hamet turned his turbaned head, recognizing me by a doubtful
-smile, while the French renegade, bowing to the deck, asked me, in his
-broken English, if I had commanded the watch that night.
-
-“‘No, monsieur,’ I answered, rather sullenly, ‘it is not customary—in
-_Christian_ ships, at least—for the chief officer of a ship to head an
-anchor-watch.’
-
-“‘_Certainement non_, sare,’ he replied, with something of the ineffable
-polish of his nation, ‘we know dat—have de goodness, monsieur, to show
-me de visitors in de ship—de runavays, if you please, Monsieur Miller.’
-
-“I felt the eunuch’s devouring eyes creeping, in their slow, malevolent
-way, from the deck up to my face, as I answered.
-
-“‘That is easy enough, monsieur—provided any such be in the ship. You
-cannot suppose us such fools as to receive deserters in a full ship,
-with plenty of idlers already on board. If the men are in the Tartar,
-they must have been concealed by the people for’ard, and I advise you to
-look in the fore-peak.’
-
-“He interpreted what I said to the eunuch; Hadji then made some remark
-in an under tone, and the renegade, shrugging his shoulders, addressed
-me again.
-
-“‘Monsieur Capitaine Miller,’ said he, decidedly, yet still with as much
-suavity as before, ‘you will confer de grand obligation to make de plain
-answer, sare, vidout de bagatelle. _C’est bien malapropos à present_,’
-muttered he, taking snuff out of a gold box, and glancing aside at the
-two mutes, as they stood near Hadji’s seat, their small, serpent eyes
-never off of his face for a moment, and their jetty, tattooed arms
-folded across their naked breasts. Before I could devise an answer,
-groping in the dark as I was, upon gaping ground, two Arabs pushed into
-the throng, leading the mulatto by the collar. The fellow was terribly
-frightened, and looked round as if for some one to address, when his
-eyes lighting on the captain of the Tartar, he seemed to turn dumb as a
-mute at once. However, the fatal moment was not to be staved off longer,
-for Hadji, with a look of devilish cunning, drew a small golden whistle
-from the folds of his _juma_, and blew it till the cabin rang again; I
-started to hear a sort of scratching, struggling noise in the
-after-cabin, and the next moment some sort of an animal, between a rat
-and squirrel, ran through the crowd, cowering at the eunuch’s sandaled
-feet. A smile of triumphant malice played upon Hadji’s face, and the
-Frenchman, snatching up his sword, rushed through the group to the
-cabin-door. At that instant the thick gloom, which had been setting
-bodily down on deck for the last ten minutes, was rent by an awful glare
-of lightning, and, as the parted air collapsed, with a crash which made
-the ship tremble to her keel, I saw the Arab chief, standing, pistol in
-hand, at the door; the renegade reeled back against one of his men,
-while the redder flash of the pistol again illumined the cabin, and
-bounding like a tiger in its leap, cimiter in hand, Halel sprang over
-the table at the eunuch. The lamp was extinguished in the fray, and had
-it been the chief’s intention to escape on deck, perhaps he might have
-done so in the confusion which followed; for the lightning glared
-incessantly through the stern-ports, while the thunder, reverberated by
-the rocks, crashed over our heads in one continuous peal, till you’d’ve
-thought the hoary granite was piling over you. The first rush of the
-swell in the cove broke over the ship, deluging her fore-and-aft, as it
-heaped up in the strait in one tremendous surge, which tore the frigate
-from her anchor, and dashed her high against the rocks. The lighter
-craft fared no better, being swept from their moorings like drift wood;
-however, while the horrible work was going on below, the second mate had
-let go a second anchor, while the stern-hawser parted like pack-thread,
-and showing the head of the foretopmast-staysail, while some of them aft
-managed to get the spanker-gaff partly hoisted, and others jammed the
-helm hard down, the ship brought up with a surge which shook her in
-every timber; and, as you drew another breath in the melee below, where
-one man was contending with fifty, you heard the hurricane roaring over
-her mast-heads, like the rush of Milton’s legions to the field.
-
-“I was thrust hither and thither, splashing in the water, nearly
-knee-deep on the deck, amid the clash of steel and the shrinking back of
-the Arabs, until a blade whizzed past my ear, falling with a dull ring
-on the head of some unhappy wretch, whose hot blood spouted in my face.
-Half blinded, I stumbled over a prostrate body, clearing my eyes as I
-brought up against my own berth, when another flash showed every object
-distinctly, and I saw the two mutes throw themselves before the eunuch
-upon Halil; then followed a deadly struggle from the mast through the
-cabins to the transom, during which Hadji’s shrill voice screamed to the
-executioners to use dagger or bowstring—then a heavy fall and a
-gasp—woman’s fearful shriek—and again you heard over all, the defying
-roar of the tempest.
-
-“Torches, which had been extinguished by the wind on deck, were now
-relighted in the cabin, revealing a sight which was terrible to look
-upon. Three dead bodies lay on the deck, or across the table, besides
-that of the Arab chief, who had been thrice stabbed, and afterward
-strangled. Scarlet caps, cleft turbans, and pieces of rent apparel were
-washing about, with the fragments of the swinging lamp; while the table
-and the cabin partitions were reeking with gore.
-
-“The Frenchman was dead as a door-nail when they raised him up, which
-was some comfort, though the three blacks had escaped without a scratch,
-except one of the mutes, whose hands were gashed with a dagger. The
-soldiers now closed the doors between the cabins, having first dropped
-the dead-lights, and after the eunuch came out, the bodies were removed
-out of sight in the sail-room, all except that of the chief, which was
-laid on the table, a dreadful sight, after the fever of the thing was
-past, since you could not keep from looking at the blackened face, with
-the eyes staring out of it, as if he were ready to start up again—the
-frown being still on the brow, though the orbs were glazed, and the arm
-hung nervelessly down.
-
-“I shall never forget the feeling of satisfaction which arose within
-me—when some one threw the folds of a turban over the face—as I
-thought that every blow he struck had been home; only if he had cloven
-the eunuch’s hard head to the jaw, I had been almost happy, in a sort of
-religious submission to fate, as if all who loved too well on earth,
-must pay the penalty in some shape or other, at last.
-
-“It appeared that the cabins had been twice searched before I was
-brought down, but Catherton had hidden the fugitives under a false
-bulkhead, so artfully contrived, that had not Hadji and the guard been
-so hard on Ben Hamet’s track after the attempt to assassinate the sultan
-had failed, they might have escaped detection. The little animal, which
-had revealed their presence, after all, was a pet of Zuma’s, a flying
-lemur from one of the Indian archipelago: woman-like, she had brought it
-away in her dress, and by the knowledge which black Hadji had of its
-habits, it was thus made instrumental in betraying the pair.
-
-“Neither Catherton nor the steward were to be found below, after the
-murderous fracas was over. I had no particular desire to remain myself,
-as you may suppose, and no opposition being offered to the movement,
-accordingly I went on deck.
-
-“The wind was now at its height, having blown every thing moveable off
-the poop into the seat which was breaking in awful rollers at the bottom
-of the cove, the squall having come from the north-west. The ship, with
-two anchors down under the lee of Muscat Island, rode safely enough
-after the first danger was over; but the Arab frigate was lying
-broadside on to the rocks, grinding to pieces, with nothing standing but
-her lower masts. She could plainly be seen, not only by the flashes, but
-by a strong phosphorescent gleam which pervaded the atmosphere,
-reflected, perhaps, from the sea, each gigantic surge sparkling with
-living fire, heaped up in the smothering foam of its crests, as it
-rolled down on the wreck. I could even see the brine pouring from her
-lower deck-ports, as she lifted bodily against the rocks, and fancied I
-could hear the despairing cries of her crew, as one by one, her heavy
-guns, torn from their tackles, were hurled across the decks.
-
-“I had little time, however, to dwell on the sight, terrible as it was,
-for the carpenter and man-of-war’s man came driving the length of the
-deck before the blast, when old Charley shouted in my ear that the
-steward was taken with the cramp in the forecastle, and thinking he was
-going to die, wished to see me. Accordingly, I struggled for’ard, with a
-foreboding that the horrors of the night were not yet over. A knot of
-our men were standing in the waist, and I passed the Arabs crouching
-under the booby-hatches and the fife-rails, from the fury of the wind,
-which howled fore-and-aft the deck. I was about to descend into the
-forecastle, when Captain Catherton, with his Indian boat-steerer and
-three of the mates, came up on the other side. He waved me aft,
-shouting, at the full pitch of his strong voice, to the mates behind
-him, who held on to the windlass, and looked from him to me without
-moving a finger. However, the boat-steerer lifted a handspike, and his
-superior—who was now grown desperate, having received an inkling of my
-errand from the Indian—presented a pistol at my head, and pulled the
-trigger. It flashed in the pan; and before he could level another I
-closed with him, pitching him back into the scuppers, where old Charley
-and Frank lashed him to a spar, hands and feet. One word to the mates
-about his plan of running away with the ship, and I sprung down in the
-forecastle, where the mulatto lay on his back, raving for them to keep
-the captain back, while two of the men were rubbing his writhing body
-with whale-oil and hartshorn.
-
-“The second mate and most of the starboard watch were standing around,
-looking on helplessly enough, though the moment the steward’s eye caught
-mine he ceased to struggle, moaning and mumbling, like a dog, till I got
-my ear close to his mouth, when he muttered something about searching
-the run under the after-cabin, where the powder was kept. The violence
-of the spasms interrupted him, and although there was an urgent meaning
-in his wild eye, and he pointed repeatedly aft, in his agony, I was
-awfully at a loss what to make of it, until, looking up, I encountered
-old Charley’s curious glance, and the ghost flitted, as it were, across
-the maze in a moment. The second mate must have seen the same thing
-himself, for without a word on either side, our eyes met in one
-startling flash of intelligence, and he followed me close, as snatching
-up a heaver, I drove along the deck, knocking the Arabs to the right and
-left, tumbling down the narrow stairs from the poop in my haste, with
-two-thirds of the ship’s company at my back—mates, boat-steerers,
-forecastle-men, and all—though the most of them tramped down the
-companion-way into the for’ard cabin, where we heard them battering at
-the doors and cursing the Arabs; the carpenter and myself ripped up the
-table and the scuttle under it. Parker stood by with a torch; I jumped
-down, lowering the light, and you may guess gentlemen, what I saw; for
-it seems,” said the master’s mate, passing his rough hand to his brow,
-“that long years, spent in trying to drown the sight, has hardly given
-me nerve to tell.
-
-“It was Ellen, herself,” continued he, after a pause, “lying,
-motionless, on a heap of old bunting; but whether life had gone, or no,
-it was impossible for me to answer, as I took her up—staggering under
-my burthen, light enough, God knows, as it was. The second mate caught
-her from me, and I stumbled, helpless as a child, about the mouth of
-that horrid hole, hardly noting its secrets, until the men burst into
-the cabin, and I heard old Charley say she was dead.
-
-“‘Where is Mr. Miller?’ said Frank, with an oath.
-
-“‘Here,’ I answered, leaping out among them, every vein in my body
-running with liquid fire—the one thought of revenge on her murderers
-raging in my heart, and upon my tongue. However, the mates—aroused from
-their stupor at last—threw themselves upon me, as I glared round for a
-weapon. A wild uproar began to rise among the men, crowding upon each
-other to catch a look at her face, hanging over the second mate’s
-shoulder, with a look of mute appeal, as he told me afterward, on the
-wasted features set in death, by the red torch-light.
-
-“In the midst of this, Hadji summoned his soldiers from deck: I saw his
-malignant purpose, and my calmness came back, as I made up my mind that,
-at all hazards, he should not approach the corpse. Breaking from those
-who held me, I burst through the throng, and pointing to the half-pikes
-leveled against his party, ordered him, in Arabic, to clear the cabin of
-his scum. He laid his hand on the hilt of his _krungar_, scowling like a
-fiend of darkness upon me from a crowd of his men; but the menacing look
-of the mass in front of him—all of whom had armed themselves—not to
-speak of the tone of my own voice, admonished him, devil as he was, to
-think better of it.
-
-“‘That’s the sort, mates,’ said the carpenter; ‘if they don’t top their
-booms at a minute’s warning, we’ll spit the heathens to the beams, and
-then hang Jonas to the yard-arm.’
-
-“‘Silence, there!’ said I. ‘One minute more,’ looking at the eunuch, and
-grasping the weapon which some one had thrust into my hand, ‘and it will
-be too late.’
-
-“He felt that he was overmatched, and turning slowly round, still
-keeping his baleful glance fixed on my face, ordered his followers on
-deck, retiring last himself, just as I caught Frank’s pike traveling in
-his rear to freshen his way.
-
-“As soon as the cabins were cleared of the Arabs, I took the second mate
-a little aside from the rest.
-
-“‘Now, Mr. Parker,’ said I, ‘you will take charge of the Tartar. All I
-ask is, that you will not give up the female that Hadji Hamet has
-confined in that state-room, to the tender mercies of the sultan, if you
-can possibly avoid it—and a cast home for myself, if you can get an
-offing for this ship, and I am allowed to leave Muscat in her. I will
-pay my passage in Persian rupees, or if you prefer it, in Spanish
-dollars. One thing more,’ said I, seeing that he was about to interrupt
-me, ‘I know something of the country: if you would save yourself a mint
-of trouble with the sultan’s divan, you will put Catherton at once in
-double-irons, and keep him secure, at least, until you are clear of the
-land.’
-
-“‘Sir,’ said he, ‘I, for one, am content to obey your orders till the
-v’yage is up. What say you, my lads, is Captain Catherton fit to be
-trusted with the ship, after what has happened?’
-
-“‘No, no!’ was the universal answer, mingled with execrations and oaths
-of vengeance.
-
-“‘Who, then, shall take charge?’ asked the second mate.
-
-“‘Mister Miller,’ they answered, with one voice, ‘for he only can take
-the Tartar off this coast.’
-
-“‘Well, my lads,’ said I, wonderfully moved, I confess, seeing that I
-had something to live for yet, although, a moment before, I had thought
-that my hold on life was slackened for ever, ‘if you will have it so,
-I’ll do my best. I tell you fairly that the captain confessed to me last
-night, in this cabin, that he intended to sell ship and cargo, on the
-passage home, in return for some private wrong which, he said, one of
-the owners had done him—though,’ said I, solemnly, ‘as surely as God’s
-eye beheld this accursed deed, yon pale clay was as innocent as the
-angels of heaven of aught like crime toward him.’
-
-“‘We know it, captain—we knew it all along!’ they answered, even those
-whom I had considered the most hardened, shedding tears, while curses
-and vows of vengeance were freely vented around.
-
-“‘She was too good for the bloody-minded villain,’ said the carpenter;
-‘and, so help me, if there is nobody else—’
-
-“It was time to stop this, as we had quite enough of blood for that
-night, so I checked old Charley in his oath, and called back the Indian
-boat-steerer, who, at first, had seemed disposed to side with the
-captain, but who was now stealing up the companion-way, in an
-empty-handed, errandless way, though I saw the thing in his eye, and the
-gleam of a knife in the sleeve of his shirt.
-
-“‘My lads,’ said I, ‘we will leave him to the law. He shall not escape,
-I promise you. Mr. Parker, you will have Captain Catherton put in
-double-irons, and placed in the steerage for the present.’
-
-“‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered, and accordingly the villain was well
-secured, with one of the trustiest men in the ship standing sentry over
-him.
-
-“After this, the cabin was cleared of all but a strong guard, armed to
-the teeth, and I went on deck, leaving Zuma, who had recovered from her
-swoon of terror, kneeling in silence by the body of the chief. I had
-resolved to save her as soon as I could see any possible way, though I
-knew that her life and my own, perhaps, depended upon our getting under
-weigh, as soon as the weather would permit.
-
-“The fury of the squall was over. One of the mates told me that it had
-been raining a perfect deluge a few moments before I came up, and, in
-fact, though it was slackening off, the decks were all afloat, and I
-could even see by the great flashes of waste lightning which still
-illumined the passage, the spherical shape of the rain-drops, as they
-fell. I mention this, gentlemen, to show how deeply the most trivial
-incident in that terrible night was impressed upon my mind, never to be
-forgotten while memory lives with me.
-
-“The wind soon freshened again, blowing fiercely in gusts over the
-rugged top of Muscat Island, but gradually sunk as the atmosphere
-cleared; the stars showing themselves, here and there, in patches of
-clear sky, before the day dawned. Then, as the sun rose behind the lofty
-rocks to the east, the wind failed altogether, and it seemed fast
-growing as hot as before, while a vague notion got into my head, looking
-at the Arab soldiers on the poop, that the events of the past night,
-terrible as they seemed, were now but the ghosts of things that had
-been.
-
-“A sort of calm, too, prevailed in the ship, as the heavy swells began
-to subside in the cove. The cook was in his galley, attending to his
-usual duties, the blue smoke rising from the funnel, straight as a pine
-tree, half-way to the top. The people hung in knots about the
-forecastle, apparently waiting for eight bells to summon them to
-breakfast, while the mates stood together on the larboard gangway, with
-a glass among them, examining the shore and the wreck of the Arab
-frigate, now firmly wedged in between two precipitous rocks.
-
-“The black dog of a eunuch, secure, as it seemed, in the shadow of his
-master, walked the poop with as proud a stride as if his foot was
-already on our necks—not a muscle of his grim, relentless face moving
-beneath his showy turban, flecked, as it was, with blood, while, as I
-met his deadly, sinister glance every time he turned, I fancied to
-myself—as, indeed, I had done on former occasions—what a hell of
-secrets must lie hidden, from all but God’s eye, in the black pit of his
-soul. The pagan wretch was said to delight in shedding human blood, and
-in every variety of torture, having been cognizant of many acts of
-atrocious cruelty in the time of the old Imaum. His only qualities were
-a brutish devotion to the sultan, and a species of slow, long-breathed
-cunning, of which report said Syed Ben Seeyd had often availed himself
-in penetrating the secret designs of his enemies.
-
-“However, when I thought of Catherton’s villainy, it could not be
-denied, that black or white, Christian or heathen, human nature devoid
-of a regulating principle, was essentially the same, differing only in
-the modifications of climes; and, singular as it may seem to you,
-several passages of the New Testament illustrative of the same idea
-occurred to me at the time, and I could not help feeling that it was
-utterly impossible for me, even if I had been differently brought up, to
-deny for a moment—thinking of the wisdom of the parables—that it was
-truly God who had spoken on earth with the lips of man: reflecting that
-the thirst for vengeance for a supposed wrong had made Catherton even
-more wicked than Hadji himself, who would probably, under any
-circumstances, have disdained such a dastardly scheme of revenge as the
-former had partially broached, thinking to have bribed me to join him,
-in the situation I was in at the time, partly by offers of pecuniary
-advantage, and partly by his tale, which had so puzzled me at first,
-little dreaming that he was the man who had married Ellen. I was almost
-confident now that the whole diabolical story of her guilt had been one
-of the mate’s own planning—he, I mean, who had gone to his account—and
-horrible as the thing seemed, I had no doubt _now_ Parker’s notion was
-correct, and that the captain either in fear, remorse, or hate, or from
-some curious commingling of the three, had sacrificed the entire boat’s
-crew to get rid of his accomplice. How the body of Ellen, dreadfully
-emaciated as it was, came to be found in the run after the second mate’s
-account of her loss, was yet a mystery to me, unless Catherton, with the
-assistance of the steward, had palmed that story on the crew, while he
-secretly held her confined in the hold to starve by slow degrees.
-However, as I had no wish that the matter should be cleared up in the
-sultan’s divan, after my recent promise to the crew, I aroused myself to
-make the attempt to get the ship to sea.
-
-“The cove of Muscat is less than a mile in depth from its entrance at
-Fisher’s Rock, but how to get out of it into the current, with no wind,
-against the heavy swell, was the puzzle. The two forts were to be
-counted as nothing when the ship was once under weigh, as they merely
-commanded the passage, and the risk we ran from the one on the western
-shore was not to be thought of, if we had a chance, when it fell calm
-enough, to tow the ship out into the currant setting from the Persian
-Gulf. The land-wind was almost certain not to blow before sunset, and
-the Arabs were sure to board the ship from the shore before that time,
-although not a single craft or boat of any kind was to be seen afloat,
-as I swept the harbor with my glass, and I had not the least doubt but
-the Soliman Shah, the corvette which had anchored off Fisher’s Rock the
-day before, had been driven from her anchors with the frigate.
-
-“Another hour passed, as I anxiously watched for the swell to go down,
-when we saw them making preparations to get off two _balitas_, lying
-aground on a spit of sand nearly in front of the palace. As I turned to
-look at some persons who had appeared on the divan, a large and airy
-veranda, overlooking the sea, the second mate exclaimed that one of the
-Arabs was making signals to the shore with his turban. In the desperate
-case we were in, it was neck or nothing; so, as I really began to have
-some hopes of getting to sea in the want of crafts to board us, I
-instantly ordered two guns to be run in and pointed aft; the carpenter
-clapped a bag of musket-balls in the muzzle of each, and while Parker
-and the man-of-war’s man stood by with matches lit, I hailed the Arabs
-in their language, giving Hadji notice, that at the smallest sign of a
-repetition of the act I would sweep the poop. This seemed to appal them.
-A few moments after, while part of the people were taking their
-breakfast on deck, word was brought me that the steward was easier and
-wished to see me again.
-
-“Directing Parker to keep a bright look-out, I dove down into the
-forecastle where the poor wretch was now lying in the cook’s bunk. I
-almost started as I looked upon him by the lamp burning at the beam over
-his head. His face seemed shrunken to half its usual size; the
-cheek-bones stood out, the eyes were pulled in, and the lips blue and
-puckered. His hand was clammy, cold as ice, and shriveled like a
-bomboat-woman’s who washed for the fleet. Though he felt no pain, there
-was a look of anxiety in his dim, sunken eyes, as he turned restlessly
-round, which, with his fluttering pulse and exhausted look, told that
-his hour was come. In fact, he was sinking fast into the long sleep of
-death, worn out, like the elements, by the fierce convulsions which had
-racked him. His mind was clear, and he spoke more calmly than might have
-been expected, though his head tossed from side to side like a dying
-billow. His voice was small and choked, hoarse as it seemed, from the
-agony which had wrung the sweat like rain from his pores. Anxious as I
-was to hear what the wretch had to communicate, it was with a strong
-feeling of repugnance that I approached my ear to his lips, for a film
-was vailing his eyes and the death-stupor already clouding his brain. He
-roused himself when spoken to, and recognizing me, confessed in a few
-broken words which one of the crew took down, that the mate and he after
-agreeing with the captain to drown Ellen, had made up their minds to
-secrete her in the run, and suffer her to escape from the ship at the
-first port they visited. In order to deceive Catherton the steward had
-prepared a figure when the boats were off and thrown it into the sea on
-the night on which Ellen was supposed to be lost. He said nothing could
-have tempted him to murder her, although the captain and the mate had
-both sworn to him that she was false. He was certain that Catherton had
-lost the mate’s boat intentionally, and added, that fearful of a similar
-fate he had not slept in his hammock more than an hour at a time since
-the day of the mate’s death. Immediately afterward he sunk into a
-lethargy from which it was useless to attempt to rouse him. From what I
-had heard, coupled with the sights I had seen, I had no doubt that,
-either from the difficulty of conveying her food, or the intention of
-the mulatto to starve her, she had sometimes been reduced to the
-necessity of seeking food for herself at night in the cabins. As the
-after one was generally kept locked, with the keys in the steward’s
-charge, she must have lived there part of the time, more than a
-fortnight having elapsed since the night she was thought to have gone
-overboard from the stern. This,” said the master’s mate, solemnly, “may
-account, gentlemen, for the man-of-war’s man’s story of the shriek; but
-nothing will ever dissuade me from the belief that it was a moving
-corpse which I saw that night in the cabins. That she was locked in the
-starboard state-room when I tried the door on the day when the sultan
-and his party went through the ship, I have not the least doubt now—so
-inscrutably mysterious is the course of fate! However, to resume my
-tale—for the watch is nearly out. I went on deck just as a boat from
-the shore was reported to be making for the ship on the long, angry
-swells which still dashed heavily on the western shore, impressing your
-mind with a vague yet overawing intimation of their might, as you heard
-them break half-mast high, without a breath of wind, whitening the dark
-range of bare rock, and leaving great gouts of foam hanging in the
-clefts and ledges far above the sweep of the back-wash. However, it was
-easy to see, watching them steadily for a few moments as you listened to
-their heavy, monotonous roar, and watched the birds hovering over the
-rocks, that in less than an hour more it would be calm enough to tow out
-with the tide; so I hailed the boat as soon as it came near enough,
-directing the man in her to go to the palace with the message that we
-intended to send Hadji and his party on shore as soon as the sea fell.
-(As I mentioned before, we had secured all the boats on the cross-beams
-over the quarter-deck, so that we lost none of them when the swell
-boarded us.) Hadji attempted to speak, advancing to the break of the
-deck as the messenger was cautiously turning his boat’s head in-shore,
-but the second mate blew his match, while a party of musket-men, whom he
-had placed under the high bulwarks, lest one of the soldiers might slip
-over the stern and swim on shore, leveled their pieces at his turban. He
-walked back to the taffrail sullenly enough, and I now gave orders to
-prepare the boats for the attempt to tow the ship out into the current,
-which at this season runs at the rate of about four knots an hour,
-thinking on the low, sandy point which we had to double. We soon found
-that they had collected a fleet of small boats and catamarans in the
-drain, evidently for the purpose of coming off to the ship, and strings
-of horses had been attached to the bailitas, while we could see the
-Bedouin Arabs galloping about near the spot, and the divan crowded with
-the sultan’s attendants, no doubt watching every movement in the ship.
-
-“At ten, we dropped six boats containing thirty-six men, and as soon as
-they were in range of the hawsers—the ship being stern off to her
-anchors on the first of the ebb—as I expected, a shot from the fort on
-the main whistled past her bow just as the axes were lifting to cut the
-cables. Down they came in quick, effective strokes, and the men gave a
-long pull together as the heavy chains rattled out of the hawse-holes,
-and once more the old Tartar was in motion seaward.
-
-“‘Frank, my man,’ said I to the man-of-war’s man, whom I retained on
-board with some of the steadiest of the men, ‘jump aft and hoist a red
-rag of some sort at the gaff—their own colors, you know—if it’s only
-to puzzle them. Stand by, carpenter, to sweep the poop when I give you
-the word.’ When a shot better aimed than the last struck the
-mizzen-rail, narrowly missing a shroud, and scattering the splinters
-right and left among the Arabs. Down they went on their faces, out of
-the way of their friends’ balls, all except Hadji, who stood it without
-flinching, while my hands itched, I confess, for a chance to send an
-ounce bullet from the barrel in my hand through his heart.
-
-“‘Hurrah!’ shouted Frank from the midst of them, as up went the cook’s
-shirt, tacked to pieces of bamboo to give it spread. I saw them pointing
-their glasses at it from the veranda of the palace, and shouted to the
-mates to give way strong, for they were launching their rafts and a
-whole fleet of boats, filled with soldiers, whose spears and long
-match-locks glistened in the sun now rising over the rocks to the
-north-east. The castles and the forts began now to fire in earnest,
-sending their iron about the cove in every direction, though the ship in
-some measure shielded the boats from the few guns which bore upon them.
-Many balls hurtled through the air past us, but only four struck her
-hull, doing no particular damage. I looked at every flash to see some of
-the sticks go, and ten minutes more would have brought the Arabs down on
-us with a force which it would have been worse than useless to resist.
-In fact, when I saw them training their match-locks on the boats, though
-we were then clear of the passage in the eddy of the current, I gave up
-the game as lost, thinking of calling the men on board, with the
-desperate notion of fighting it out to the last on board, when looking
-over the side at the ship’s way, I saw Muscat Tom’s broad flukes and
-glistening back, within fifty feet of the sternmost boat. The soldiers
-now opened their fire to drive the men from their work—I caught the
-second mate’s flushed, hopeless look, as he turned his head from tugging
-at his steering-oar, and then the black fiend’s triumphant grin, with a
-malicious glance from the whites of his eyes, as much as to say: ‘you’re
-in for it for a good long spell, my lads’—when the sight of the whale
-in the desperate emergency of the case, seemed to put it into my brain
-what to do.
-
-“‘Mr. Parker,’ I hailed, ‘have you lines and harpoons in the boats?’
-
-“‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered, while the men looked up at the ship as if
-they wondered what next.
-
-“‘Cast off the larboard hawser, then,’ I shouted, ‘bend irons on to the
-starboard one, and strike that whale. Let the other boats come
-alongside.’
-
-“‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered again, just, it seemed, as he would have
-done had I ordered him to fasten to the moon, supposing that it had been
-shining to seaward. However, the five boats were alongside and hoisted
-up in no time, and Parker, as soon as he was up to the dodge, wild as it
-seemed, did the thing in true whaleman’s style, bending triple plies of
-the line to the hawser, driving both irons socket up in the whale’s
-back, as he lay like a log on the sea. For one single instant the
-enormous animal remained motionless, while the boat backed off from his
-flukes; then I saw his mighty, flexible tail, with its million stripes
-of freckled gray, heave up until his whole back was plainly to be seen
-to the dorsal fin, when down it came like a dark mass of iron, driving a
-cloud of spray in the air, and off he headed to sea, the water being too
-shallow for him to sound. The hawser stood the surge, and away the old
-ship went to her tug, the second mate giving a chase, while the men
-echoed back the yells of the disappointed Arabs amid the crack of
-match-locks and the bellowing thunder of the cannon. We soon had
-Parker’s boat towing astern, and Tom, if any thing, increased his speed,
-stretching the hawser—which, like the rest of her gear, was bran new
-that voyage, as _taut_ as a harp-string. Every time he raised the edge
-of his flukes for a downward stroke of his tail, the men cheered; in
-fact, the fellows danced about the deck like wild men round a war-post,
-or negroes under a tamarind-tree; it was no manner of use to try to
-restrain them; while the poor devils of Arabs, with the black at their
-head, stood looking their last—with Allah’s name on their lips—at
-castle, rock and tower. However, the thought of what was lying in the
-cabins seemed to strike the crew all at once; and then, as they ceased
-capering and pitching their hats at each other, fixing their eyes upon
-me as one man’s, the old, desolate feelings came back to my heart all
-the heavier for the contrast.
-
-“Still the whale held right on off the coast, and we had nothing but to
-fold our arms and look on, wondering when the tough, pliable irons would
-break or draw out—or looking for him to sound, which, you know, would
-cause us to cut the tow-line. The axe was ready in the second mate’s
-hands, and we were already in the strength of the current, which he took
-tail on, increasing his speed, of course, toward some old sleeping haunt
-of his, as I thought, possibly in the Gulf of Mageira, under the lee of
-some low island or coral reef. The oldest whaleman in the ship could not
-wonder enough at the strength of the monster—a hundred feet long, as he
-was, and more. He neither yawed nor slackened his pace, but kept
-straight on to double the sandy point broad on our larboard bow by this
-time. It was a strange thing, to be sure, to feel the ship slipping
-along, stern on to the current, with a man standing soberly at the wheel
-to steady it, all her sails furled, and the whale’s flukes kicking up a
-white dust ahead, like one of Loper’s screw-propellers. Parker told me a
-story of a vessel in the Greenland seas being towed by a ‘right whale’
-for an hour and a half, in the teeth of a strong breeze, with the yards
-brailed aback; so that, at that rate, there was no estimating the powers
-of a full-grown ‘finner,’ a much larger and more powerful fish of the
-two; he might tow us entirely clear of the coast, provided the harpoons
-did not break off at the ‘withers,’ or ‘draw,’ which last, the mate
-said, was the way in which the matter was likely to end. Indeed, the
-event proved his knowledge of the habits and resources of this species,
-as we doubled the point safely enough, at the distance of two miles, in
-sight of a body of horsemen, who pulled up from their useless chase, on
-the very edge of the strand.
-
-“A hundred wild thoughts of things which I had read of or seen, flashed
-across my mind, as I caught a view of the interminable blue expanse
-before me; now it was Mazeppa on his wild horse swimming the ‘bright,
-broad river’—now a Gaucho scouring the pampas—now the naked trapper
-running for life from the Blackfeet, over the plains of prickly
-pear—or, last of all, the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, which coming
-up, as they did, from the days of my boyhood, when the wreck of the only
-woman I ever loved was lying thus strangely in the cabin, with the
-eunuch’s black face glooming over it, oppressed me like some monstrous
-dream. I was aroused from this by a voice calling out that there was a
-large ship right in the whale’s track. Accordingly, after a little we
-made her out with our glasses, rolling on the long ground-swell, a
-frigate-built ship, which I took, from the whiteness of her canvas, to
-be either French or American, though the leanness of her dark hull, with
-its single tier of guns, as she rose on the swell when we drove nearer
-to her, and the improbability of one of our own cruisers being upon this
-coast, made me almost certain she was the first. Accordingly, when we
-were within gunshot, up went the old Bourbon colors at the mast, as the
-smoke of a gun puffed out of one of her midship ports, and you had a
-notion what sort of a stir was on her decks at the moment, at the sight
-of a large ship bearing down on her in a stark calm, with more than
-twice her drift; then you heard the roll of her drum beating to
-quarters, as if they thought ’twas Sathanas himself afloat. To ease
-their minds, I ordered the red rag to be hauled down, and the stars and
-stripes to be run up at half-mast in their stead.
-
-“All was still as death, except the surge of the Tartar’s bows to the
-strain of the hawser and the creak of her hamper aloft, as the whale
-sheered to port, and we passed within half a pistol shot of the
-corvette’s broadside—her crew at quarters staring at us in a queer
-enough sort of a way, as if catching a sight of the American flag, and
-the whale-boats at the cranes, they made sure all was right, strange as
-the sight was—until, as if to break the spell, their little mad-eyed
-captain jumped on the hammock-netting and hailed.
-
-“‘_Bon voyage au diable, mes amis!_’ he shouted, waving his cap round
-and round, as if he meant to jerk it into the sea, to the glorification
-of some Yankee invention or other, the moment we slipped past him—when
-Hadji’s turban and the scarlet cape on the poop caught his eye, and he
-sung out something which I did not hear, for the whale went down like a
-flash, burying the Tartar’s bows to the forecastle, deep as she was,
-before Parker, taken by surprise, could cut the hawser, which, after
-all, he had no occasion to do, as you knew by the feel of the deck, as
-the ship rose, that the whale was free. We hauled the slack of the
-hawser, looking for Tom to rise, when one of the harpoons was found
-broken off at the head, and the other drawn out. I never saw Muscat Tom
-again; and it is likely, as the old hands said, that he never rose from
-his dive. My yarn, gentlemen,” continued the master’s mate, “is nearly
-spun. The frigate’s boats boarded us, of course, when part of the tale
-was rehearsed to her captain. He was bound to Mocha to look after some
-atrocities which had been committed upon subjects of France, during a
-recent revolt, and at once offered to land the eunuch and his men there,
-and to protect the Circassian, and carry her back with him to France.
-However, when we entered the cabin, it was found that she was beyond the
-reach of mortal arm, whether to shield or destroy. She lay by the side
-of her lover, dead by poison, as it seemed, yet still so beautiful in
-death as to surprise the Frenchman. In the end he took charge of all the
-prisoners, as the crew of the Tartar in a body stoutly refused to do
-duty while Catherton remained in the ship. The French captain promised
-to hand him over to the American authorities on the first occasion that
-offered, and the remainder of the day was spent in clearing up the
-cabins and taking depositions in French and English.
-
-“Just before sunset the bodies were removed to the frigate, that of
-Ellen in my boat, while Parker took charge of Zuma’s and the chief’s. At
-my request Ellen was buried immediately. Both crews were mustered in the
-gangways, and the ensigns hanging at half-mast as the French chaplain
-read the service. The last glimmer of day was fading from the west as we
-listened to the prayer, and a star shot its beams on the spot where the
-corpse went down.”
-
-Here the master’s mate made a brief pause, during which seven strokes on
-the frigate’s ponderous bell proclaimed that the watch was nearly out.
-Before the vibrations had ceased on the ear we heard the schooner’s,
-like the reverberations of an echo, faintly sounding, far to leeward.
-The moon had sunk; the sails flapped heavily in the dying breeze, and
-entranced as we were, that distant clang seemed to strike a chord in
-each listener’s soul. In a low voice the mate resumed. “A breeze ruffled
-the water up as they piped down, and bidding farewell to the Frenchman,
-we hastened on board, and made sail on the ship.
-
-“It was a terrible passage—such as every man in that ship will remember
-to his dying day—from the cape latitudes to Pernambuco, where I put in
-to recruit.
-
-“The very next morning after we anchored, an agent of Don Jose Maria
-came on board to inquire after Captain Catherton. You may swear that he
-departed, with his sallow visage considerably lengthened, when he heard
-the news. I learned privately from the American consul, in the course of
-his investigations, that Don Jose was a man of great wealth and
-influence in the province—your very worthy and hospitable _Senhor de
-Engenho_ in the country, and merchant, slave-dealer and broker in any
-kind of business, in which a _mil reis_ was to be turned up in the city.
-I never saw the old gentleman myself, as he did not do me the honor to
-show his powdered head, and the long cue, which the carpenter
-particularly instanced, in the ship while I commanded her, although the
-second mate was careful that the counter-skipper whom he sent to ask
-after his worthy associate, should take on shore with him the exact
-value of the cargo on board, so far as we had advices respecting the
-market at home. In fact, from some estimates which I found among
-Catherton’s papers, I had no doubt that old Charley’s suspicions were
-correct, and it had been settled, when the ship touched here on her
-outward passage, that Don Jose should become the purchaser of the ship
-and cargo. Upon questioning the carpenter in private, I found that years
-before he had got hold of a portion of my history, from a shipmate of
-his, who had known me in ——, and whom I recollected to have met in the
-West Indies, on the very voyage, when he pointed me out at the door of a
-cafe to Toppin. Singular as it may appear, too, it was not until we had
-run up the S. E. Trades, that Parker showed me the letter which he had
-found in his jacket in the Persian Gulf, and which I now discovered was
-addressed to myself. The perusal of it had nearly driven me to share her
-grave in the waters, victim as it clearly showed her to have been to
-Catherton’s arts from the first, and, as I had supposed, murdered at
-last by an infernal conspiracy of his mate’s, or rather of his wife’s,
-as was discovered when we reached the States. It was shown that some
-resemblance existed between Ellen and the woman-fiend; and, from her own
-confession in the prison, to which she was consigned for the rest of her
-life, that she had been played off on Catherton for his wife, by the
-connivance of Jinney. The motive for the victim’s ruin did not appear so
-clearly, the woman herself declaring that she knew not why she hated and
-had sworn to destroy her. There was not a single creature in the
-smallest degree acquainted with the facts, who doubted Ellen’s
-innocence; and the tears which was shed over her unhappy fate, and the
-execrations poured upon her destroyers, were the best evidences of this.
-An undue intimacy between the ship’s owner and the mate’s wife was
-proved on the woman’s trial; and out of this, it was supposed, in some
-way the accursed plot had its origin.
-
-“However, for myself; as soon as the news of Catherton’s escape from the
-French frigate reached the States by another ship, I started again, with
-a vow on my soul to roam the world, until I should hunt him down. Year
-in and year out, wherever there was a prospect of meeting him—on the
-African and Brazilian coasts—on the Spanish Main—and in the sea-ports
-of the East, I sought him with a hatred which gathered intensity from
-time. Twice I heard of him in command of a free-cruising craft, and once
-in Port Royal he narrowly escaped me. The third time, as sailors say, is
-lucky—the saw lied though, in this instance,” said the mate, hoarsely,
-“for I found him three days ago, cut in two by a round-shot, on the
-quarter-deck of yonder schooner.”
-
-We started to our feet as he said this, partly from surprise, and partly
-because we heard the boat-swain’s mates at the hatchways.
-
-The second day after that the Constitution was lying at anchor with her
-prize in the bay of Naples; and to have seen Harry Miller gazing out of
-a port at the world renowned shores which environ it—or turning his
-back on a crowd of chattering officials, whom curiosity brought off to
-the schooner—or in a shore-boat, with a party on leave of absence, you
-never would have supposed, from the look and bearing of the man, that he
-had been the relator of that wild yarn.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE ACTUAL.
-
-
- Away! no more shall shadows entertain;
- No more shall fancy paint and dreams delude;
- No more shall these delusions of the brain
- Divert me with their pleasing interlude:
- Forever ere ye banished, idle joys;
- Welcome stern labor-life—this is no world for toys!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE PLEDGE.
-
-
- BY JOHN NEAL.
-
-
-Sampson was a Nazarite. He drank no wine nor strong drink; and so long
-as he kept the pledge and the secret of his strength, was indeed a
-giant. Read the scripture narrative.
-
- “Then went Sampson down. . . . And behold a young lion roared
- against him.
-
- “And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent
- him as he would have rent a kid; and he had nothing in his
- hand.” Judges xiv. 5, 6, etc.
-
- Brothers! we have pledged ourselves,
- Like the mighty man of old,
- By a vow that bindeth fast,
- By the Future! by the Past!
- By their banners now unrolled!
-
- That the secret of our strength,
- Unacknowledged—unrevealed—
- Setting us apart from others,
- Undefiled, O, Giant Brothers!
- Shall forever be concealed:
-
- Never to be told on earth,
- Never breathed aloud in prayer—
- Never written—never spoken—
- Lest our awful vow, if broken,
- Bring us bondage and despair.
-
- Brothers! let us all remember,
- How that Strong Man self betrayed;
- He that with a heart of iron;
- Where he journeyed, heard the lion
- Roar against him—undismayed:
-
- He, the mightiest of the land,
- By the harlotry of Sense,
- Blind and fettered, came to be
- A jester at a jubilee,
- A proverb for his impotence!
-
- And though his strength came back anew
- When he bowed himself in prayer,
- Until he had avenged the wrong
- That called him up with shout and song
- And jeer and scoff—he perished there.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TO A BEAUTIFUL GIRL.
-
-
- BY J. R. BARRICK.
-
-
- I do not love thee—yet my heart is filled
- With a sweet spirit of the beautiful,
- Whene’er I sit alone to muse upon
- Thy dark eye beaming in a sea of light,
- Thy cheek all flush with summer’s rosy glow,
- Thy pure, high brow, so beautiful and calm,
- O’er which the light and glory of thy thoughts
- Beam like the tints of summer’s genial sky
- Above a waveless lake—the low, sweet tones
- Thy gentle voice breathes on the evening breeze—
- Thy pure, high heart, the paradise of peace,
- Where lovely flowers spring up in beauty wild,
- And blossom into hope—where angels come
- On missioned wings from their far homes in heaven,
- To chant their Eden songs.
- I love thee not
- With the wild, wayward love of earth, and yet
- If worship be that deep idolatry
- The heathen pays in homage to the sun,
- Then I have worshiped thee, for I have bowed
- In passions deep and holy hour to thee,
- And at thy shrine of beauty offered up
- The tribute of affection.
- I have mused
- On Nature in her morning light, when first
- The sun looks out upon a world of peace,
- When the glad air was vocal with the songs
- Of many warblers in their morning joy,
- And thou wast there in all of sight and sound,
- Thyself the spirit of the beautiful
- In all to eye and ear. And I have gone
- At evening ’mid the shadows of the wood
- To view the glories of the bursting spring,
- And hear the thousand sweet and joyous strains
- That thrilled each warbler in his evening praise,
- And thou wast there, thy beauty dearer far
- Than aught in nature seen, and thy sweet voice,
- Than all earth’s melodies. I’ve gazed upon
- The sunset sky in its last glowing tint,
- And felt the spirit of the twilight hour
- Stealing upon the scene with potent spell,
- Yet thou wast there, and in those happy hours
- Thy spirit, like the rainbow o’er a cloud,
- Was spanning o’er my bosom.
- Thou hast been
- A rainbow set above my wildest storm,
- A star within my else all darkened sky,
- A lovely flower beside my desert path,
- A gentle spirit in my heart of hearts,
- To bless me with its presence.
- From the waves,
- And from the winds, and from the gentle streams,
- Thy voice hath caught a spell, whose lightest tone
- Is very love and sweetness. From the stars,
- And from the sky, and from the sunset hues,
- That glow like spirits of the beautiful
- Along the western world, thine eyes have caught
- A brightness and a glory that outvie
- The glowing dreams of fancy. From the heaven
- From whence thou sprang all perfect at thy birth,
- And from all love, and from all passion sweet,
- From thought and sense, and from the wide green earth
- And from the sky, and from the glorious stars,
- Thy mind and heart have stolen their brightest tints,
- Till they are but a mirror of the whole,
- The sum end substance of all lovely things,
- Thyself the Spirit of the Beautiful!
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE FIRST AGE.
-
-
- BY H. DIDIMUS.
-
-
- (Concluded from page 546.)
-
- BOOK FOURTH.
-
-
- SECTION I.
-
-O, help me to escape that oblivion which is more fearful than death! Who
-would fall with the common herd, like rain into the ocean—lost in
-eternity! Even as the lightning is born of conflicting vapor; is born to
-penetrate, change, and subdue. So, of every age, and of the breath and
-roar of the people, is born one to rule, and mould, and make his time.
-Go then, and get power. Get it by the sword; since, even in our day,
-blood buoys the strong swimmer onward to greatness. Get it by arts of
-policy; since men will be ruled, and most honor those who rule them most
-sternly. Get it by the pen; a voice which fills all time, reaches every
-ear, fashions the intellect of millions, and makes it your own. Who
-would not float down through endless ages upon a strain of such music,
-the multitudinous echo of a spirit chosen of God? The shade of Tubal
-rests upon my hand, and guides it.
-
-The gentle dew falls in silence, unmarked; the print of its footsteps
-disappear before the growing light; yet the earth acknowledges its
-presence in the livelier green it puts on to make glad its children. In
-the narrow valley lives an honest worker; one who, with years of labor,
-has subdued the hardy soil. Even now, the yellow grain bends beneath the
-weight of its own wealth, and wakes a joy which ambition never knew.
-Think you that his days are unrecorded in the Book of Life? Upon his
-broad shoulders rests the State. Ariel’s soul is content.
-
-Thus, early in time, to these two were given, in divided empire, the
-passions which now govern the sons of Adam; and have built up, giving
-and receiving mutual aid, all our glory.
-
-
- SECTION II.
-
-As the adventurer, he who first traversed the Amazon, lost in the wood
-which covers, thick, the base of Chimborazo, shutting out day and night,
-listened with large wonder, mixed fear and joy, to the war of elements
-unchained within its bowels; so Erix and Zella, with all their tribe,
-listened to the first voice of that strange instrument which Ariel,
-gifted of God, after many days, raised high, midway the mountains and
-the sea. He had caught and tamed, to answer to the touch of a skill
-creative, the sure interpreter of matter and of mind; and the vast soul
-which, in these latter days, is well shadowed forth in that book of
-love, called The People. He, in a page resplendent with holy fire, and
-with a name here unrecognized, is given to every true believer as the
-builder of the Organ, and inventor of that art which raises man close to
-the footstool of his Maker; and as the notes—new to mortal ears—rose
-deep, heavy, filling the forest wide, overcoming the distant murmur of
-the sea, overcoming all voices of all life, rumbling, changed to the
-clangor of great strifes run for in the future upon many an unbattled
-plain, to close in a hymn so soft, so melting, so full of sweet
-acknowledgment of the power by God intrusted to a noble end: even Zella,
-who had watched his toils and marked their purpose, fell prostrate;
-while Erix and his brethren, trembling, fled; nor turned till the music,
-wild with joy and that laughter which leaps from youth, and health, and
-a breast vacant of all care, soothed their unknown fears, and drew them
-with a golden cord, slow tracing back their steps, again to listen,
-again to wonder, and again to admire; till, grown familiar, they
-expressed with cries, sad shouts, and gestures violent, their new bliss,
-and circling, danced. Then, catching the measure, as Ariel’s marvelous
-hand poured forth a song of high gratitude for the gift of chiefest
-excellence in all that store of heaven’s bounty by himself enjoyed, they
-gave rhythm for rhythm.
-
-
- SECTION III.
-
-“Now, do we know, O God, that thy love endureth for ever.”
-
-“Sweet, even unto thee, was the voice of Adam.”
-
-“Sweet, even unto thee, was the voice of Eve.”
-
-“Our great mother;”
-
-“Our good mother;”
-
-“Fairer than the star of the morning, Eve.”
-
-“Speak for us, Adam;”
-
-“Speak for us, Eve;”
-
-“These are thy voices,”
-
-“In Paradise rejoicing.”
-
-“We hear thee, mother,”
-
-“Glorious,”
-
-“Amid the flowery paths walking.”
-
-“O, lift from my soul this evil,”
-
-“Greater than they may bear!”
-
-“And it is lifted, mother;”
-
-“And the breath of flowers thou didst train,”
-
-“Sweet-scented,”
-
-“And the warble of birds thou didst instruct,”
-
-“To praise the growing light,”
-
-“And the heaving of thy bosom,”
-
-“Pleading,”
-
-“Face to face,”
-
-“Come to us,”
-
-“Swell over us,”
-
-“Cover us,”
-
-“As with a sea of infinite delight,”
-
-“O, matchless beauty of a matchless skill;”
-
-“Unborn;”
-
-“Fallen through love!”
-
-“We hear thee,”
-
-“We feel thee,”
-
-“Breathing,”
-
-“Breathing upon our ears;”
-
-“And it is lifted,”
-
-“Mother;”
-
-“And we rise,”
-
-“Upon the wings of this music,”
-
-“Even unto the throne which endureth for ever.”
-
-
- SECTION IV.
-
-Thus Ariel played; and from day to day, even as his brother at the forge
-found new devices, added knowledge to knowledge in his high art, to be
-lost in that flood which washed, whiter than wool, the sins, of the
-world. And from day to day there came, from tribes far distant, many to
-whom rumor had spoken of this joy late found; and of them, one so
-fashioned in love’s mould, that she drew after her, ever as she moved,
-the eyes of men. Not Aglaia and her sisters, of the heroic age of poesy
-universal, could match her qualities, of an excellence so rare, that the
-oldest, who remembered Eve, called her Eve’s daughter. Now, alone, her
-sole attendant a young gazelle, hung with garlands woven by her hand,
-and tamed to reflect, in the soft lustre of its eyes, eyes more soft and
-more lustrous far, she stood aloof, then nearer drew, and halting, drank
-in with greedy ear, as one long famished, the liquid melody which
-floated, beating, upon the air. She listened till her very breathing
-hung upon each note, and grew, or was fined away, in consonance with the
-measure; and as the master closed, she bowed before him, low, in
-reverence, even to the ground; and rising, asked—
-
-“Art thou of the sons of God?”
-
-Then first did Ariel’s eyes rest upon the maid there standing, bright,
-as a vision from that land which he in childhood sought, to lose
-forever; and fire ran through every vein, and that passion which
-enforces unity of person and of will.
-
-“Fairest of Eve’s daughters, such worship is not mine. To Him who
-clothed thee with His beauty, alone belongs reverence, with prayer.”
-
-“In my father’s house I have seen many like unto thyself, winged.”
-
-“Whence art thou?”
-
-“From east of Eden.”
-
-“And thy father?”
-
-“Cain.”
-
-“Who yet lives?”
-
-“Mighty in that glory which is his as the first-born of all the earth.”
-
-“How looks he?”
-
-“Noble, even as thyself, with twice thy stature, majestic; and upon his
-front supreme burns a star, inextinguishable, the covenant of mercy for
-that act of which I may no further speak.”
-
-“The blood of Abel!”
-
-Deep night overcame them suddenly, and swept past, as the rushing of a
-strong wind.
-
-“My father!”
-
-Then turned the maid and fled; in fleetness outstripping the garlanded
-beast which hastened to catch her steps, retreating, lighter than its
-own. And as, upon the plains of Arcady, Melanion did strive with
-Atalanta in the race, in king Jason’s time, so Ariel, pushed by a power
-that knows no let, followed quick upon love’s course, nor stayed, till
-he caught the frighted deer, full many a league removed, panting, upon a
-bed of violets which lay smiling in the sunlight where the forest opened
-charily to the sky.
-
-“Oh, primest work of earth!”
-
-Then, in turn, he worshiped, and bowed, even to her feet, which,
-trembling, he embraced.
-
-“Thou didst follow me to my hurt.”
-
-“I did follow thee for thy love.”
-
-“On this side of Eden I may no longer stay.”
-
-“Eden, where is it, if not with thee!”
-
-“Thus do the angels speak, and then—betray.”
-
-“Powers of the air; false to heaven, they must be false to thee.”
-
-“Thy comeliness had said thou wast of them.”
-
-“Thy comeliness should better have answered thy doubt.”
-
-“A sweet persuader art thou with thy tongue.”
-
-“A sweeter persuasion rests upon thy lips.”
-
-“Hist! I hear the flowers moving.”
-
-“It is the murmur of the sea, far distant, calling.”
-
-“What sayest it?”
-
-“Love.”
-
-The maid, half-yielding, half-refusing, by doubt and trust in turn
-possessed, bent over the fair-eyed beast recumbent at her side, and
-stroked its smoking flanks, and played with the garlands now displaced
-and torn, and sought with pliant fingers to renew a labor which might
-conceal the passion new-born, struggling in her breast.
-
-“Thou shall forsake thy land and dwell with me; and here, along these
-paths, and by the waters whose words thou hearest, and with the light,
-and with darkness, we will all the pleasures prove which God to our
-first parents gave when, in Paradise, resting, he declared all things
-good.”
-
-“And Cain?”
-
-“Sweet cousin?”
-
-“It was my father’s shadow that overcame us, and I fled, fearing his
-anger, from the music of thy tongue.”
-
-“Great is Cain.”
-
-“Loved is Cain.”
-
-And thus, alternating, deprecating, amid the violets standing, they sang
-in praise of the first-born of the earth.
-
-
- SECTION V.
-
-“Mighty;”
-
-“Majestic;”
-
-“Lord;”
-
-“Heritor of Adam;”
-
-“Thou who didst first receive a mother’s kiss, of Eve, a mother;”
-
-“Hear us.”
-
-“Greatest, among men, is thy strength;”
-
-“Greatest, among men, is thy glory,”
-
-“For thou alone,”
-
-“Of all the living,”
-
-“Hast seen God!”
-
-“Oh, son of earth’s love,”
-
-“Love’s first fruit,”
-
-“Hear us,”
-
-“Bless us,”
-
-“As thou didst pursue my mother, swift-footed,”
-
-“As thou didst worship the fair-eyed, beyond Eden,”
-
-“So am I pursued, my father;”
-
-“So do I worship, Cain.”
-
-“Heart to heart;”
-
-“Soul to soul;”
-
-“Of one will;”
-
-“Melting into one being;”
-
-“Bless us;”
-
-“Even as God hath blessed thee,”
-
-“All merciful.”
-
-“And thou, oh Sun, effulgent;”
-
-“And ye woods, whose song is ceaseless;”
-
-“And broad sea, far distant, speaking;”
-
-“And flowers, incense breathing,”
-
-“Bear witness.”
-
-“Now do I receive thee,”
-
-“Now do I pledge thee,”
-
-“Life of my life,”
-
-“To an unending joy.”
-
-
- SECTION VI.
-
-And Ariel led the maid, quick retracing their late course, blushing,
-with eyelids drooping, listening with face averted to the music of his
-passion, homeward to his mother; while the garlanded beast, now flying
-before their steps, now halting, showed mimic war, and caressed its
-mistress, from whose eyes it caught security and love.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- THE ORPHAN’S HYMN.
-
-
- BY E. ANNA LEWIS.
-
-
- Here’s the tomb of my father—how mournful the thought!
- That he went to the grave ere my infantile mind
- One smile of parental affection had caught,
- Or his lineaments dear in my heart were enshrined!
- Yes, my sire! by thy dust I am kneeling in prayer,
- Where in days of my childhood so oft I have wept,
- Imploring thy spirit to soothe my despair,
- And at evening and morning sweet vigils have kept.
-
- Ere my young mind could grasp them, they told me thy woes;
- Of the virtues that bind thee forever to me;
- Of the love of thy friends, of the hate of thy foes;
- That in features and mind I was like unto thee;
- And with dawning of thought is thy memory wove,
- The grief and the pining that prey on my breast;
- The longing to soar to thy dwelling above,
- And repose in thine arms in the Land of the Blest.
-
- I have never seen parents their children caress,
- Or soothe into quiet their heart-breathing
- When the storm of misfortune around them did press,
- But the tears of affection arose to mine eyes:
- I have ne’er met a maid by the side of her sire,
- Or beheld in the festal a father who kept
- Watch over his daughter, and seemed to admire
- His lovely and beautiful charge, but I’ve wept.
-
- My mother lies by him—blessed saint of the skies!
- Remembrance returns thee; how gentle and meek;
- I behold thee when youth filled with radiance thine eyes,
- And beauty and health were illuming thy cheek;
- When thy delicate form was elastic as air,
- When thy bosom was white as the Parian’s glow,
- When thy beautiful ringlets of long, flowing hair,
- In sable threads sprinkled thy forehead of snow.
-
- How solemn, dear mother! it seems, that the clay,
- Relentless and cold, now encumbers the breast,
- Where, all helpless, so oft I in infancy lay,
- And, soothed by thy lullaby, sobbed me to rest;
- That on earth I shall never behold thee again,
- Never more feel thy rosy lips pressing my brow,
- Or thy fairy hand smoothing my pillow of pain—
- Thy affection and love must forever forgo!
-
- My sister sleeps next—lovely blossom of heaven!
- Ah, why wast thou summoned so early away?
- Why so soon was the bond of our sisterhood riven,
- And I left alone on the cold earth to stay?
- Why wast thou not spared to delight and to cheer
- My desolate heart ’mid depression and gloom;
- With thy love-breathing counsels to gladden my ear—
- With thy songs and thy smiles to enliven my home?
-
- Sleep on, ye beloved! it is better to rest
- In the halls of the dead, than to linger in life,
- Where the brain and the bosom with pains are oppressed
- And the soul is beleaguered by sorrow and strife;
- Sleep on! though no blossoms your homes are perfuming,
- There are calmness and freedom from discord and care,
- The lovely and beautiful daily are coming—
- And in my pale vesture I soon shall be there.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- RELIGION.
-
-
- J. HUNT, JR.
-
-
- Religion, pure and undefiled,
- Before the Father’s sight in bliss—
- Who will the same in Heaven reward,
- Consists in holy deeds, like this:
- To heed, when cold Affliction’s shaft
- Is at the helpless Orphan hurled—
- The Widow visit, _and_ to keep
- Himself unspotted from the world.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TITUS QUINCTIUS FLAMININUS.[2]
-
-
-Of all the truths at which we arrive through a calm and dispassionate
-study of history, none appears to me more certain than this, that, as
-regards the career and course of empires, the rise and fall of states,
-there neither is, nor has been, any such thing as Fortune; that from the
-beginning of time, to the events born of the present day, every minute
-particular, every seemingly unimportant incident—or, as men are fond to
-call it, accident—in the affairs of nations, is part and parcel of one
-grand, universal, all-pervading scheme of divine world-government,
-projected before the patriarch kings led forth their flocks to feed on
-pastures yet moist with the waters of the deluge, but not to be
-fulfilled until time itself shall have an end.
-
-It can hardly, I think, fail to strike the least observant of readers,
-that unless the civilized world had been for a long period chained
-together under the stagnant, and in the main, peaceful despotism of the
-successors of the twelve Cæsars, it never would have been prepared to
-receive that tincture of letters, of humanity, and above all, of
-Christian faith, with which it became in the end so thoroughly imbued;
-that in every case, without one exception, it brought over to its own
-milder cultivation, milder religion, the fiercest and most barbarous of
-its heathen conquerors.
-
-Not a province of the Western Roman empire but was overrun, devastated,
-conquered, permanently occupied by hordes of the wildest, crudest, most
-violent, most ignorant of mankind—Goths, Vandals, Huns, Vikings, and
-Norsemen, Jutes and Danes, tribes whose very names to this day stand as
-the types of unlettered force and unsparing outrage. Not a province of
-that empire, though of its present population not one hundredth part can
-trace an approximate descent from the original Roman colonists, so vast
-the influx of the Pagan invaders, but in the lapse of time conquered its
-conquerors by the arts of peace, and so became the germ of that
-Christian civilization, that Christian Liberty, which—though either, or
-both, may be temporarily obscured for the moment—we see, in the main,
-steadily and consistently pervading the Europe end America of the
-nineteenth century.
-
-That this state of things could have existed, by any reasonable
-probability at this day, in the event of Darius or Xerxes having overrun
-and occupied Western Europe, with their oriental hordes—in the event of
-Carthage having subdued Rome, and filled Italy, Greece, Gaul, Spain,
-Britain, with her bloody fiend-worship, and her base Semitic
-trade-spirit—in the event of Mark Antony having won the day at Actium,
-and broken up the heritage of Rome, like that of Alexander, among a
-dozen jarring dynasties, instead of leaving it to be centralized into an
-almost universal empire—in the event of the Saracen having destroyed
-the paladins of Charles Martel at Tours—of the Turks having conquered
-the Mediterranean at Lepanto, or Continental Europe under the walls of
-Vienna—few will be found, I think, so hardy as to assert.
-
-Strange, therefore, as it may appear at first sight, the first germs of
-existing institutions may be said to have been sown on the banks of the
-Ilissus, the Eurotas, and the Tiber; and the deity, whom the blind
-superstition of the early Romans venerated as the war-god Quirinus
-guarding the wave-rocked cradle of Rome’s twin founders, was, in truth,
-the Lord of Hosts, watching over the infancy of that peculiar and
-appointed people which should make smooth his way before him, and
-prepare the nations to receive the faith of civil and religious freedom.
-
-For all this wonderful accomplishment of wonderful designs, however, we
-shall find that the instruments are purely human, although the ends may
-be divine—that, although the men are never wanting to do His work, when
-done it must be, it is for the most part, if not always, in blindness,
-in sin, in wrath, and in the madness of ambition, that they do that
-work, imagining themselves, vainly, busied about their own miserable
-ends; and for the doing it they are alone accountable. But not so of the
-nations, which, having no life hereafter, no individual identity in the
-world to come, meet their rewards or punishments here, where their
-virtues or their vices have required them, and thrive or perish as they
-work toward the completion of His infinite designs.
-
-Nowhere, perhaps, in the whole course of history, is this supervision of
-the Most High, which even religious men are wont unthinkingly to call
-Fortune, more clearly visible, than in the events of the Second Punic
-War.
-
-At home the republic, though undaunted and unequaled of all times in
-heroism, was weeping tears of blood at every pore, and resisting only
-with a persistency savoring almost of despair, abroad it was only by the
-exercise of sacrifices and self-denial almost superhuman, that she was
-enabled to maintain her foothold in her provinces of Sicily and Spain.
-
-It seems to us, when we read how Capua, the noblest of her allied
-cities, opened her gates and made common cause with the enemy, how
-twelve of the thirty colonies of the Latin name refused their
-contingents of men and money; how all the north of Italy, then Cisalpine
-Gaul, from the Var to the Rubicon, was in tumultuous arms against her;
-how all the proud and magnificent cities of La Puglia and Calabria were
-leagued with the terrible invader; it seems, I say, as if one superadded
-call on her resources must have remained unanswered; one more
-war-trumpet blown by a new enemy must have sounded her death-note.
-
-And there was one moment when it appeared that this contingency was
-close at hand. In the year of the city 540, while all the south of Italy
-was in arms with Hannibal from Capua down to the Gulf of Taranto, and
-all the north was in that tumultuous state of disorganization which with
-Celtic populations is ever the herald of coming insurrection, Sardinia
-suddenly broke out into armed and open rebellion. Sicily, also, in which
-Hiero, the fast and faithful friend of Rome, had lately died at a very
-advanced age, rejected the Roman alliance, and a war of extermination
-was raging in that beautiful island between the partisans of the two
-rival powers, and the forces which each could spare from the home
-conflict to aid its faction.
-
-At this crisis, Philip of Macedon, the descendant of Alexander, and at
-that time the most powerful of European princes, entered into an
-alliance, offensive and defensive, with Hannibal, and would in the
-course of that very summer have crossed the Adriatic and invaded Italy
-with some five-and-twenty thousand men, sixteen thousand of whom were
-the hitherto unconquered phalanx, provided with that arm, in the
-greatest possible perfection, the want of which had robbed Hannibal of
-the fruits of all his great pitched battles—I mean an efficient
-artillery.
-
-In this respect the Greeks were unsurpassed; the Greek engineers were
-the wonder of the world, as was subsequently shown at the siege of
-Syracuse; and how great soever the superiority of the Romans to the
-Carthagenians in this arm of service, it was as nothing to the skill of
-the Greek artillerists, and the excellence of the Greek machinery.
-
-What this combination might—I should rather say might not—have
-effected, it were difficult to show; more difficult to show how Rome
-could have resisted it. For my part, having examined the question in all
-its lights, I am of opinion that, had this alliance gone into effect,
-and Philip acted with energy and steadiness of purpose equal to his
-bravery and ambition, Marcellus never would have taken Syracuse, nor
-Scipio conquered Spain; but that from both those countries triumphant
-reinforcements would have poured in to Hannibal, over the Alps, across
-the Straits of Messina, that an Italian Tama would have sealed the doom
-of Rome, and a Punic ploughshare razed the foundations of the capitol.
-
-But such—it is well for humanity—was not to be the issue of the war.
-Philip’s ambassadors, returning with the treaty signed and ratified by
-Hannibal, were taken by the Roman squadron off the Calabrian coast, and
-sent to the city with their papers.
-
-A year elapsed before the treaty could be renewed; and, meantime, the
-Romans, awakened to a perception of their danger, found means to
-enkindle the Ætolians and Illyrian pirates against Philip, and in the
-end to organize a Greek confederation against Macedon, which gave its
-active and ambitious sovereign plenty of work to do on his own side of
-the Adriatic. At a later period he found cause to repent that he had
-ever meditated intervention.
-
-Such strokes of fortune, so historians call them, as that capture of the
-ambassadors of Philip, which, perhaps, saved Rome—as that strong gale
-which blew on Christmas Eve on Bantry Bay, dispersing Hoche’s armament
-to the four winds of heaven—such strokes, I say, of fortune, I hold to
-be the visible agencies and instruments of God’s providence, in the
-government of nations, to the welfare of the world.
-
-From Rome that peril was averted. The arms of Macedon abstained,
-perforce, from the shores of devastated Italy. The arms of Syracuse, of
-Spain, were wrested from the hands which would have wielded them in the
-behalf of Carthage. The arms even of the unbridled Numidians were turned
-against the masters whom they had served so fatally for Rome. And out of
-the furnace of that scathing war, the giant form of the chosen republic
-emerged, without one hair singed, one thread of its vestments injured;
-and that, like the faithful sons of Israel, by the especial providence
-of the Almighty.
-
-Years passed, and events hurried toward their consummation. Yet still,
-though from this date the tide of Hannibal’s affairs began to ebb, and
-that of Rome’s to flow with a healthier, prouder current, it was not
-until twelve more terrible campaigns had been fought out in vain, that
-the star of the great Carthaginian set in blood at Zama, and the name of
-Carthage herself, all but one brief spasmodic sound of fury and despair,
-went out and was forgotten from among the nations.
-
-Then rousing herself, like a galled lioness, Rome went forth to avenge
-and conquer.
-
-Hitherto she had fought at home for existence, henceforth she fought
-abroad for dominion; and abroad as at home, until her mission was
-accomplished and His work done fully to the end, she was invincible, as
-the fruit of her labors is eternal.
-
-The war, which had been undertaken against Philip by the Romans shortly
-after his giving them the first offense, had languished from the
-beginning on both sides, and peace had been concluded between the
-contending parties some three years before the decisive victory of Zama.
-
-So soon, however, as peace was concluded with Carthage, in the year of
-the city 552, B. C. 200, true to the latter part at least of her famous
-motto,
-
- _Parcere devictis et debellare superbos_,[3]
-
-Rome sought at once a cause of war, whereby to chastise Philip for the
-comfort given to her enemies in her worst time of need. Nor sought long
-in vain.
-
-A deputation from the Athenians came seeking succor; the arms of Philip
-were too near their borders.
-
-War was declared, the Consul Sulpicius landed at Dyrrachium with a
-regular army, and the campaign commenced by a series of operations in
-the valley of the river Erigon, in Dassaretia, the object of Philip
-being to prevent that of the consul to secure his junction with his
-Dardanian and Ætolian allies. Several sharp skirmishes occurred, in all
-of which the Macedonians were worsted with loss, and in one instance
-Philip narrowly escaped being taken prisoner; whereupon he retreated
-through the mountain-passes, throwing up strong field-works in every
-available position, but avoiding a general action.
-
-His works all proved useless, being either forced or turned without
-difficulty by the active and movable legionary tactic of the Romans,
-against which it became at once evident that so ponderous and unwieldy a
-body as the phalanx could not manœuvre or fight, in broken ground, with
-a hope of success.
-
-In the end Philip retired at his leisure into his hereditary kingdom,
-and the consul having stormed and garrisoned the small town of Pelium,
-on the Macedonian frontier, fell back to Apollonia on the Illyrian
-sea-coast, without accomplishing his object.
-
-Still his campaign had not been useless, for he had snatched the
-prestige of invariable success from the phalanx, had established the
-incontestible superiority of the Roman soldiery of all arms to the
-Greek, and had defeated the Macedonians on every occasion, when they had
-ventured to await battle.
-
-It is not a little remarkable, and proves clearly the singular
-adaptability of the Romans to all martial practices, that whereas,
-scarce twenty years before, we find their cavalry the worst in all
-respects but personal valor in the known world, and their light troops
-unable to compete even with the barbarian allies of Hannibal, we now
-observe them superior in both these arms, owing, as it is distinctly
-stated by all the writers, to the superior excellence of their
-weapons[4] and equipment, even to the far-famed targeteers and
-life-guards of Macedonia.
-
-In the following year, Sulpicius was superseded by the new consul,
-Publius Villius Tappulus, who, taking command of Sulpicius’ legions at
-Apollonia, advanced up the open valley of the Aöus, now Vioza, with the
-intention of forcing the famous passes, variously known as the Aoi
-Stenæ, or Fauces Antigoncuses, and now as the defiles of the Viosa,
-rather than turning them by way of Dassaretia, as had been done
-previously by his predecessor. The judgment was sound, the execution
-naught. For, after marching to within five miles of the western
-extremity of the defiles, he fortified his camp in the plain, probably
-in the valley of the Dryno,[5] above its junction with the Vioza,
-reconnoitered the position of Philip, who was very strongly posted in an
-intrenched camp at the most difficult point of the pass, _à cheval_ on
-the river, and occupying both the mountain sides, and there lay
-perfectly inactive until he was himself relieved by Titus Quinctius
-Flamininus, his successor in the consular dignity.
-
-This man, of the early Roman leaders, was in many respects one of the
-most remarkable; in one particular, with the single exception of Caius
-Julius Cæsar, the great Dictator, he stands alone, in honorable contrast
-to his merciless and cruel countrymen—though quick and vehement of
-temper, he was a just man, and both merciful and courteous to conquered
-enemies. The one blot on his character, to which I shall come hereafter,
-must be ascribed to the policy of his country, under direct orders from
-which he was unquestionably acting, not to his own wishes or
-disposition, to which nothing could be more abhorrent than the duty
-imposed upon him.
-
-Plutarch informs[6] us that, in his time, “it was easy to judge of his
-personal appearance,” which, unfortunately, he has not described, “from
-his statue in brass at Rome, inscribed with Greek characters, which
-still stands opposite to the hippodrome, nigh to the great Apollo from
-Carthage.”
-
-As, however, the whole tenor of Plutarch’s life is laudatory, and for
-that gossiping anecdote-monger singularly correct and clear, we may take
-it as a fact that the nobility of his person was not unequal to that of
-his character; which I consider the finest recorded of any Roman general
-or statesman.
-
-“He is said,” continues the author,[7] I have already quoted, “to have
-been of a temperament impulsive and vehement both in his likings and
-dislikings, but with this distinction, that he was quick to wrath which
-quickly passed away, but prompt to kindness which endured to the end. He
-was very ambitious and very fond of glory, ever anxious to be the actor
-himself in the best and greatest deeds, and rejoicing in the
-acquaintance rather of those who needed benefits themselves, than of
-those who could confer them upon others, esteeming those as material for
-the promotion of his own virtue, these as rivals of his own glory.”
-
-I will add that I can find him guilty of no act—almost alone of his
-countrymen—of political dishonesty, or of social turpitude. To his
-country he was a zealous, ardent, and profitable servant; to his friends
-and associates faithful and true; to his enemies just and clement; and
-to the provincials, subjected to his dominion, a governor so affable,
-beneficent and equitable, that when he left their shores they mourned as
-for a countryman, almost a father of the country.
-
-As a general, he committed no military error; and although his command
-was limited to little more than two campaigns, they were campaigns of
-the most important—important not merely to his own country, but to the
-science of war, in general—since they established, beyond a
-peradventure, the superiority of the tactic and armature of the legion
-to those of the phalanx; in other words, of the line to the column
-tactic.
-
-I give to him this credit, unhesitatingly; for, although Pyrrhus was at
-last beaten by the phalanx in Italy, it was rather by dint of numbers
-and aid of circumstances than by military skill; and further, it is
-evident that the great bulk of his armies consisted of targeteers,
-little different from the legionaries, and of Samnites, Tarentines, and
-other Italian soldiery precisely similar to them, in arms and array.
-
-Again, although Sulpicius had demonstrated the superiority of the
-individual Roman, to the individual Greek, heavy footman; he had
-not—nor any one else hitherto—defeated a phalanx, unless with a
-phalanx.
-
- When Greeks met Greeks then was the tug of war.
-
-For the rest, the battles of Paullus Æmilius against Perseus, were but
-the battles of Flamininus against the father of Perseus, less ably
-fought, though on the same principles at last successful.
-
-The fact remains, that from the battle of Cynoscephalæ, of which anon,
-to the end of ancient history, it was an admitted fact that, unless on a
-very narrow and perfectly level field, where both its flanks were
-securely covered, the phalanx could not receive battle from the legions
-with a chance of success; and that as to delivering battle on wide, open
-plains, where rapid manœuvring and counter-marching could be resorted
-to, such an idea was preposterous.
-
-Flamininus was educated to arms from his very boyhood, and that in the
-terrible Italian campaigns of Hannibal; through which he served with
-such distinction that he had already attained the post of tribune of the
-soldiers, equal to the modern rank of lieutenant-colonel, under that
-daring and distinguished leader Marcus Marcellus, and was on the field
-when he was slain, rashly periling himself in an affair of outposts near
-Venusia, in the year of Rome 546, B. C. 208, and in the sixtieth year of
-his own age.
-
-After the death of his great commander, Flamininus was appointed
-governor of Tarentum,[8] in the capacity of quæstor, on its recapture by
-Fabius Maximus; and there displayed no less ability in the
-administration of justice than he had previously evinced skill and
-courage in warfare. Seven years afterward—at the early age of thirty
-years—he was elected consul; and, although opposed by the veto[9] of
-the tribunes Fulvius and Manlius Carius on the ground that he lacked
-twelve years of the legitimate age, and that he had never filled the
-intermediate grades of ædile and prætor, he was confirmed by the senate,
-and received Macedonia as his province, by lot.
-
-The fact is, that the wars of Hannibal had by this time taught the
-Romans that an overstrict adherence to prescriptive formulæ, in times of
-national peril, is disastrous; and that to meet the ablest adversaries
-the ablest men must be had, whether all the theoretic requisites to
-their election had been complied with or not.
-
-Therefore Scipio, the elder Africanus, was sent to Spain with
-proconsular rank and a consular army, before he was of the just age to
-fill a prætorship.
-
-Therefore Flamininus was elected consul at thirty, although the
-constitution expressly declared that no one should hold that dignity
-until he should have fully attained his forty-second year.
-
-Such laws may be, perhaps, generally wise; but the breach of them is
-always so. Nor does history show any instances, worth remark, of
-youthful genius elevated by the popular call to early station, and
-subsequently found unworthy, from the days of Alexander, Scipio, and
-Flamininus, to those of Pitt and Napoleon.
-
-Nor do I believe that the appointment of the consuls was really, though
-it was ostensibly, left to the chance of a lot, at least in times of
-actual war, and national emergency; since we invariably find the best
-man sent to the place where he was required, which could not always have
-occurred fortuitously. Doubtless those who superintended the balloting
-had some method of determining the result, as had the augurs and
-haruspices with regard to omens and sacrifices.
-
-So Flamininus was not only elected consul at thirty, but obtained the
-seat of the great war for his province, and was empowered to pick nine
-thousand men, horse and foot, out of the Spanish and African veterans,
-inured to all that was known of warfare in those days by the campaigns
-of Hannibal and Scipio.
-
-A grand occasion, indeed, and a superb command for an untried commander.
-
-It appears that on his entering upon his office, Flamininus was detained
-some time at Rome, in order to superintend a fast and expiatory
-sacrifice on account of certain alleged prodigies of evil import; but it
-is certain that he had understood the consequences of the dilatory
-operations of his predecessors, and was resolute not to fall into the
-like error. He sailed from Brundusium for the island of Corcyra, now
-Corfu, which he occupied with eight thousand foot, and eight hundred
-horse, much earlier in the season than the preceding consuls had been
-wont to take the field: and, instantly passing over to the main, in a
-single line-of-battle ship, hurried onward by forced journeys to the
-camp, and superseded Villius, in the face of the enemy.
-
-A few days afterward, his reinforcements coming up, he called a council
-of war to determine whether a direct attack, or a flank movement through
-Dassaretia, was to be preferred. The council, of course, determined any
-thing rather than direct action: but Flamininus, perceiving the
-facilities afforded by the geography of that broken, mountainous,
-forest-clad region, intersected by deep ravines and impracticable
-torrents, to the protracting of the war, resolved to take the bolder and
-more prudent course of trying conclusions, at once, with an enemy whose
-object it evidently was to act purely on the defensive, and to avoid
-delivering battle.
-
-Yet, determined as he was, the difficulties of the ground were so great,
-and so skillfully had Philip availed himself of every defensible point,
-or coigne of vantage, that many days elapsed before he could decide on
-the mode of assault.
-
-The river Aöus, now Vioza, an extremely large and powerful river,
-augmented at every half-mile by fierce mountain torrents, along the
-valley of which is the most direct pass into Macedonia proper, at this
-point breaks its way through a chain of exceedingly abrupt and
-precipitous, though not very lofty mountains, and forms a gorge of six
-miles in length, closely resembling that picturesque defile of the
-Delaware, with which many of my readers are doubtless familiar, known as
-the Water-Gap.
-
-Forced into a space, two-thirds less than its ordinary breadth, the Aöus
-has here cut its way through the solid rock, between the mounts Asnaus
-and Aëropus, now Nemertzika and Trebusin, respectively to the left and
-right of the defile, which here runs nearly south-eastward. The
-right-hand mountain, Aëropus or Trebusin, is the loftier of the two,
-descending in a sheer wall of perpendicular and treeless rock to the
-brink of the only road, scarped out of the living limestone like a
-cornice above the torrent, which bathes the base of the opposite hill,
-leaving no level space between.
-
-“The mountain on the opposite or left bank of the river,” says Colonel
-Leake, whose topography of the Grecian battles founded on minute
-personal inspection, is no less valuable than interesting, “is the
-northern extremity of the great ridge of Nemertzika, Asnaus, much lower
-than that summit, but nearly equal to Trebusin in height. At the top, it
-is a bare, perpendicular precipice, but the steep lower slope, unlike
-that of its opposite neighbor, is clothed with trees quite to the river.
-Through the opening between them is seen a magnificent variety of naked
-precipices and hanging woods, inclosing the broad and rapid stream of
-the insinuating river.”[10]
-
-The road,[11] difficult in any event to an army, if defended, is
-impracticable.
-
-In this prodigiously strong pass Philip had taken post, occupying the
-narrow road with the phalanx, and having his main body hutted
-comfortably among the loose crags of Aëropus, on a conspicuous summit of
-which was pitched his own royal pavilion, with the banner of Alexander
-waving over it. The slopes of the opposite hill, Asnaus, was held by
-Athenagoras his lieutenant, with the light troops, and all the flanking
-crags and salient angles of the precipitous hills were mounted with the
-tremendous military engines, which, though of common use in the defense
-and attack of fortresses, had never been brought into field service
-until now.
-
-Immediately in front of this stern mountain gateway extended a small
-plain, midway between the Roman camp and the Macedonian lines, and here,
-after a fruitless parley and attempt at accommodation, from which both
-parties retired so much exasperated at their mutual pertinacity, that
-the river, which divided them, alone prevented their personal conflict,
-the light troops met in action from both armies.
-
-It is scarce to be conceived how, with such obstacles against them, the
-Romans could have escaped destruction; but it is almost ever the case in
-mountain warfare that the attacking party is successful.
-
-The gray mists of the early summer morning were still nestling among the
-crags, and brooding in the deep glades of the hanging woods, when the
-long, shrill blasts of the Roman trumpets announced the impetuous rush
-of the light troops; and on they went, headlong and invincible, carrying
-all before them, and driving in the Macedonian skirmishers like the foam
-of the Adriatic before the fury of the south-east wind.
-
-There was no dust upsurging from the rocky road to shroud their advance,
-no smoke-clouds to veil them from the shot of the enemy’s artillery,
-with their bright armor flashing in the sunbeams, as they streamed down
-the gaps in the mountain summits, and their blood-red banners and tall
-plumes tossing in the light morning air, on they came, dazzling and
-unobscured, a fair mark for the deadly missiles, arrows shot off in
-volleys, vast javelins which no human arm could launch, and mighty
-stones hurled from the catapults, as if from modern ordnance, which tore
-their ranks asunder, and leveled whole files to the earth at a blow.
-
-But their extraordinary discipline and admirable armature enabled them
-to endure the storm; and they made their way through all opposition,
-until they met the phalanx, bristling with its impenetrable pikes, its
-flanks impregnably protected by the rocks here, by the river there, and
-its narrow front offering no point assailable. Then they were checked;
-but, even then, not beaten back, so stubborn was their Roman hardihood,
-so firm their resolution to be slain, not conquered.
-
-All day long did that deep glen quake and shudder to the dread sounds of
-the mortal conflict; the thundering crash of the huge stone-shot,
-shivering the trees and shivered on the crags; the hurtling of the
-terrible _falaricæ_; the clash and clang of steel blades and brazen
-bucklers; the whirlwind of the charging horse; the shouts and shrieks
-and death-groans; the thrilling trumpets of the legions; the solemn
-pæans of the phalanx.
-
-Only when the sun set, and the full, round moon came soaring coldly up
-above the tree-tops, flooding the bloody stream of the Aöus, and the
-corpse-incumbered gorge, with silver radiance, did the weary and
-shattered hosts draw off to their respective camps, from a strife so
-justly balanced, that none could say which had come off the better, none
-judge on which side the more or the better men had fallen.
-
-That night, Flamininus sat in his tent alone, anxious, uncertain how to
-proceed, so terrible had been the loss of life, and so small the
-advantage; when a shepherd was introduced, sent by Charops, the prince
-of the Ætolians, who should conduct a detachment, by a wild mountain
-foot-path, to a height in the enemy’s rear, domineering his whole
-position.
-
-Four thousand chosen veterans of infantry and three hundred horse, under
-a tribune of the soldiers, were detailed, instantly, for the service,
-which would occupy three days.
-
-They should march all night long, such were their orders, for the summer
-moon was at its full, and the nights light as day and far more pleasant,
-as being soft with fragrant dews and the cool mountain air. By day, they
-should halt in some deep, bosky dell or forest glade, to rest and
-refresh themselves securely. So far as the nature of the ground should
-admit, the cavalry would lead the way, then halt on the last level. The
-vantage ground once gained, they should kindle a fire on the summit, but
-abstain from all active demonstration, till they should perceive the
-action in the defile at its height. Such were their orders; and in high
-hope they parted, carrying with them as a guide the shepherd, in chains,
-as a precaution against treachery, but encouraged by great promises, if
-faithful.
-
-On the two following days, Flamininus skirmished continually with his
-light troops against Philip’s outposts, relieving his men by divisions,
-more to divert the attention of the enemy from the stratagem which was
-in progress, than with any design to harass him; though in both points
-of view he succeeded admirably; for the superiority of the Roman
-light-infantry soldier to the Greek skirmisher was great indeed, and the
-Macedonians lost many and good men.
-
-On the third[12] morning, secure that all had gone well so far, by the
-immovable attitude of the enemy, neither elevated by any unexpected
-success, nor shaken by any suspicion of his danger, the consul drew up
-his legionary cohorts, in solid column of maniples, along the rocky
-road, before the sun had yet risen, and while the mountain mists still
-covered the distant peaks with an impenetrable veil.
-
-His light troops, advanced on both flanks, pressed forward along the
-difficult hill-sides, dashing the heavy dew in showers from the dripping
-underwood, and threatening the camps of Philip and Athenagoras both at
-once, with loud shouts and a storm of missiles.
-
-Then were renewed the splendor, the obstinacy, and the carnage of the
-first encounter. Again the Roman voltigeurs drove in the enemy’s
-outposts; and beat back the targeteers, who sallied from their works
-eager for the fray, from post to post, till they came within the range
-of the artillery, when in their turn they began to suffer heavily.
-
-But at this instant the sun arose; the mists melted gradually away from
-the bare peaks, which now stood forth glittering in the hazy sunshine.
-With indescribable anxiety the eyes of Flamininus were riveted upon the
-distant crag, indicated as the decisive point. There was a vapor
-floating round it dull and indistinct, and browner than the blue mist
-wreaths—but was it, could it be, the smoke-signal?
-
-For a time all was an agony of doubt and suspense. His officers gathered
-about the consul; the legionaries, seeing their commanders’ eyes all
-turned in one direction, gazed that way also, anxious if ignorant.
-
-Browner the vapor grew and browner; now it soared upward, black as a
-thunder-cloud, darkening the azure skies, a manifest smoke-signal.
-
-Jove! what a shout arose from the now triumphant cohorts!—what a
-thrilling shriek of the shrill trumpets, answered faintly and remotely,
-as if from the skies, by another Roman blast, but liker to the scream of
-the mountain-vulture than to the clangor of the pealing brass!—what a
-clang as of ten thousand stithies, when the Spanish blades smote home
-upon the Macedonian targes!
-
-Yet still the men fell fast on both sides, although the Romans won their
-way, in spite of artillery and pike and sling-shot, at the sword’s
-point; for the Greeks still fought stubbornly, and plied their dreadful
-engines with deliberate aim at point blank range, unconscious that they
-were surrounded.
-
-Then came the Latin cheers, and the clang of arms, out of the clouds,
-rolling down the mountain side, on their flank, in their rear; the rush
-of charging horse!—In an instant they broke, disbanded, scattered,
-deserted their defenses—all was over.
-
-In the first instance the panic and route of the Macedonians were
-absolute; and so utterly disheartened and terror-stricken were the men,
-that, had it been possible to pursue them effectually, the whole army
-must have laid down its arms or have been cut to pieces.
-
-The ground,[13] however, was for the most part impracticable to cavalry,
-and their heavy armature rendered the legions as inefficient in pursuit
-as formidable in close combat. About two thousand only of the
-Macedonians fell, more in the battle than in the route; but the whole of
-the formidable defenses, on which they had expended so much time and
-toil, were carried at a blow, all their superb artillery, their camp,
-their baggage, rich with the barbaric pomp of the Macedonian royalty,
-all their camp followers and slaves, remained the prizes of the victors.
-
-Philip, after he had fled five miles from the field, that is to say, so
-far as to the eastern extremity of the defile he had fruitlessly
-endeavored to defend, at length perceiving that he was unpursued, and
-suspecting the reason, halted on a steep knoll covering the entrance of
-the pass, and sending out parties along the ridges and through the
-ravines with which they were familiar, soon collected all his men about
-his standard save those whom he had left on the field of battle, never
-to rouse to the trumpet or rally to the banner any more.
-
-Thence he retreated rapidly down the valley of the Aöus, or Vioza, in a
-south-easterly direction to a place called the camps of Pyrrhus,
-supposed to be Ostanitza, near the junction of the Voidhomati and
-Vioza,[14] where he passed the night; and thence by a prodigious forced
-march of nearly fifty miles reached Mount Lingon on the following day,
-where he remained some time in doubt whither to turn his steps, and how
-to frame his further operations.
-
-Mount Lingon is the eastern and loftiest extremity of a great chain of
-hills; dividing Macedonia proper from Thessaly on the east and Epirus on
-the west. It forms a huge, triangular bastion, its northern base
-overlooking Macedonia, and its apex facing due southward, which is in
-fact the water-shed between the three great rivers, Aöus or Vioza
-flowing north-westward into the Adriatic, Penëus or Salamosia flowing
-eastward into the gulf of Saloniki, and Arecthus or Arta, which has a
-southerly course into the gulf of the same name, famous in after days
-for the naval catastrophe of Actium.[15] The flanks of this ridge are
-steep, difficult and heavily timbered, but its summits are green with
-rich, open downs, and watered by perennial springs and fountains, an
-admirable post of observation, and commanding the descent into all the
-great plains of Northern Greece. After mature deliberation, Philip
-retreated still south-eastward to Tricca, now Trikkala, on the Penëus;
-and, though with a sore heart, devastated his own country, wasting the
-fields and burning the cities. Such of the population as were capable of
-following his marches, with their cattle and movables, he swept along
-with him; all else was given up as plunder to his soldiers, so that no
-region could suffer aught more cruel from an invader than did Thessaly
-at the hands of its legitimate defender. Pheræ shut her gates against
-him, and since he could not spare the time to besiege it, for the
-Ætolians were coming up with him rapidly, having laid waste all the
-country around the Sperchias and Macra and made themselves masters of
-many strong towns, he made the best of his way back to the frontiers of
-Macedonia.
-
-In the meantime, the consul, after his victory, followed so hard on the
-track of his defeated enemy, that on the fourth or fifth day, after
-reorganizing his forces and taking up the pursuit in earnest, he reached
-Mount Cercetium some fifty miles in advance of Philip’s deserted station
-on Lingon, where he had given rendezvous to Amynander and his
-Athamanians, whom he needed as guides for the interior of Thessaly.
-Thereafter, he stormed Phaloria, received Piera and Metropolis into
-surrender, and laid siege to Atrax, a strong place not far from Larissa,
-on the Penëus, about twenty miles above the celebrated pass of Tempe, in
-which Philip lay strongly intrenched watching his movements, and not
-more than forty from the shores of the Ægean. This small place, however,
-garrisoned by Macedonians, offered so stubborn a resistance that
-Flamininus was unable to take it, until the season was waxing so far
-advanced, that, finding the devastated plains of Thessaly utterly
-inadequate to the support of his army, and having no harbors on the
-coast of Acamania or Ætolia in his rear, capable of receiving transports
-sufficient to supply him, he judged it best to raise the siege, and fall
-back to winter-quarters in Phocis, on the shores of the gulf of Corinth,
-leaving the whole of Thessaly ruined, and its principal towns either
-destroyed by Philip, or occupied by his own garrisons.
-
-During these proceedings of the consul by land, his brother, Lucius
-Quinctius, who commanded the fleet destined to co-operate in the war,
-acting in conjunction with Attalus and the Rhodian squadron, had made
-himself master of Eretria, Calchis and Carystus, the strongholds and
-principal towns of Eubœa, winning enormous booty, and stationed himself
-at Cenchreæ, at the head of the gulf of Eghina, whence he was preparing
-to lay siege to Corinth, the most opulent and splendid of all the Greek
-cities, now held by a strong Macedonian garrison, backed by a powerful
-faction within the walls, for Philip.
-
-Marching down into Phocis without opposition, for except the garrisons
-of a few scattered towns there was no force, on this side Macedonia,
-adverse to the Romans, Flamininus took Phanotea by assault, admitted
-Ambrysus and Hyampolis to surrender, scaled the walls of Anticyra,
-entered the gates of Daulis pell-mell with the garrison which had
-sallied, and laid regular siege to Elatia, which was too strong to be
-taken by a _coup-de-main_. The capture and sacking of this town was the
-last military operation of the campaign.
-
-A political event occurred, however, at the close of it, which was even
-of greater influence in the end, than all the victories of the year, the
-ratification namely of a treaty of alliance between the powerful Achæan
-confederacy and the Roman republic, by the consequences of which, joined
-to the events of the past campaign, all northern Greece from the Isthmus
-of Corinth to the line formed by the Aöus and Penëus rivers, and the
-ridges of Lingon and Cercetium, was united under the eagles of the
-republic against Philip. Within that region, however, the two splendid
-cities—Corinth, the siege of which by Attalus and Lucius Quinctius had
-proved unsuccessful, and Argos—still held out for the king, and it was
-evident that another campaign would be needed for the termination of the
-war.
-
-Well satisfied with his success, as he had indeed cause to be, for few
-campaigns on record have more fully and masterly accomplished their end,
-Flamininus retired into winter-quarters in the island of Corfu, while
-Attalus and the proprætor Lucius laid up their fleets in the Piræus, and
-passed the season of inactivity within the walls of Athens.
-
-During the winter, after the election of the new consuls, Caius
-Cornelius Cethegus, and Marcus Minutius Rufus, but before it was known
-whether the conduct of the war would be continued to Flamininus, or one
-of the consuls appointed his successor, a sedition broke out in the town
-of Opus, and the inhabitants admitted the Romans. The Macedonian
-garrison, however, still held out, and while Flamininus was preparing to
-reduce it, a herald arrived from the king, demanding an interview in
-order to treat of peace. To this the consul, naturally desirous to
-conclude the war himself, acceded, and a singular interview followed.
-
-A place was appointed on the shore of the gulf of Tituni near Nicæa, and
-thither came the Roman general, Amynander king of the Athamanes,
-Dionysodorus envoy of Attalus, Agesimbrotus admiral of the Rhodian
-fleet, Phæneas prince of the Ætolians, and with them two Achæans,
-Aristænus and Xenophon. These overland. But Philip came across from
-Demetrias, now Volo, with one ship of war and five single-banked
-galleys, and casting anchor as close as might be to the shore, addressed
-the confederates from the prow of his ship.
-
-Flamininus proposed that he should land, in order that they might
-converse more at their ease; and, on the king’s refusing, inquired who
-it was of the company whom he feared.
-
-“I fear none but the immortal gods,” was the haughty reply; “but I
-distrust many whom I see around thee, and most of all the Ætolians.”
-
-“That,” replied the Roman, “is a peril common to all who parley with an
-enemy, that they can place confidence in no one.”
-
-“Nay, Titus Quinctius,” answered Philip, “but Philip and Phæneas are not
-equal inducements to treason; and it is one thing for the Ætolians to
-find another general, and for the Macedonians to find another king such
-as I am.”
-
-To this argument there was no reply but silence.[16] Nor, when they came
-to speak of conditions, could any terms be effected among so many
-jarring interests; but it was agreed at length that ambassadors should
-be sent by all the contracting parties to the Senate. A truce was
-proclaimed for two months, Philip withdrawing, as a security for his
-good faith, the garrisons from all the towns of Locris and Phocis; while
-Flamininus, in order to give color to the proceedings, sent with the
-ambassadors Amynander king of the Athamanes, Quinctius Fabius, his
-wife’s nephew, Quinctius Fulvius, and Appius Claudius, all members of
-his military family.
-
-After awhile the delegates returned. The Senate had given no decision.
-The province and war of Macedonia, when the consuls were about to cast
-lots, had been continued to Flamininus as imperator, the tribunes Oppius
-and Fulvius having strongly represented the impolicy of removing general
-after general, as fast as each got accustomed to the country and was
-ready to follow up a first success by a final victory. The argument
-prevailed, and the option of peace or war was left to the imperator. The
-Senate was not aweary of the strife, and Flamininus was athirst for
-glory, not for peace.
-
-No further parley was granted to Philip; and these terms only dictated
-to him, that he must withdraw his forces from the whole of Greece into
-his own proper dominions, north of the river Aöus and the Cambunian
-mountains.
-
-This was of course tantamount to a resumption of hostilities; and both
-parties, it appears, prepared with equal alacrity and confidence for the
-final conflict.
-
-The first operation of Philip, who, on finding the necessity of drawing
-all his resources to a common centre, began to despair of maintaining
-Corinth, Argos, and his Achæan cities, was to deliver them over for
-safekeeping to Nabis, tyrant of Lacedæmon, on condition that in case of
-his being successful against the Romans they should be restored to
-himself, otherwise they should belong to Nabis.
-
-No sooner was that done, however, than the treacherous tyrant, desirous
-only to retain his new power, made peace with the Ætolians, furnished
-the Romans with Cretan auxiliaries to act against Philip, and even
-entered into illusory negotiations for the delivery of Corinth and
-Argos, than which nothing was further from his mind, until at least he
-should have plundered them of all they contained most valuable, and
-this, with his wife’s aid, he lost no time in doing.
-
-These circumstances, however, were but as mere preludes to the great
-strife which was about to be determined in the broken and uneven country
-of north-eastern Thessaly, not far from the ground on which Flamininus
-had closed his last campaign, to the southward of the Penëus, whither
-both parties were already collecting their powers and drawing to a head.
-
-Almost before the opening of the spring both leaders were on the alert,
-and active in preparation; partly by stratagem and the insinuation of a
-menace, if not its reality, partly by persuasion, Flamininus had the
-address to bring over the Bœotians, as he had already brought over the
-Achæans, to the Roman alliance; and thenceforth, every thing in his rear
-being secure and friendly, he had nothing to do but to look forward and
-bend up all his energies and powers to the destruction of the enemy
-before him.
-
-To this end he was well provided; for when his command was continued to
-him, five thousand infantry, three hundred horse, and three thousand
-mariners of the Latin allies, were voted him as a reinforcement to his
-late victorious army.
-
-With these admirable troops, then, he broke up from Elatia, his last
-conquest, about the vernal equinox, and marching north-westerly by the
-great road through Thronium and Scarphea, on the gulf of Tituni, arrived
-at Thermopylæ, where by a preconcerted plan he met the Ætolians in
-council, and three days afterward, encamping at Xynias in Thessaly,
-received their contingent of six hundred foot and four hundred horse,
-under Phæneas their chief-magistrate. Moving forward at once with the
-celerity and decision which mark all his operations, his force was
-augmented by five hundred Cretans of Gortyna, under Cydas, and three
-hundred Illyrians of Apollonia, all light infantry skilled with the bow
-and sling; and a few days afterward he was joined by Amynander with
-twelve hundred Athamanians, completing the muster of the allies.
-
-Philip meanwhile was laboring under the sore disadvantage which is sure
-to afflict, and in the end overthrow, all nations which engage in long
-careers of conquest. Incessant wars, since the days of Alexander, had
-worn out the manhood of Macedonia. His own wars had consumed the flower
-of the adults, and those who remained were the sons of mere youths or of
-octogenarians, begotten while the men of Macedonia were fattening
-foreign fields with priceless gore.
-
-As in the last campaigns of Napoleon, Philip’s conscriptions of this
-year included all the youth of sixteen years, while they recalled to the
-standard all the discharged veterans who had yet power to trail a pike.
-
-So certainly in all ages will the like causes produce the like effects.
-
-Of this material, however, he had constructed a complete phalanx of
-sixteen thousand men, the flower of his kingdom, and the last bulwark of
-his throne. To these were added two thousand native targeteers, two
-thousand Thracians and Illyrians, about fifteen hundred mercenaries of
-all countries, and two thousand horse. With this power he lay at Dium,
-now Malathria, on the gulf of Saloniki awaiting the Romans, by no means
-despondent, but rather confident of success. For although the last
-campaign had gone against him, as a whole, still the repulse of the
-Romans from the walls of Atrax by hard fighting, seemed to
-counterbalance the forcing of the gorges of the Aöus, while it was
-undeniable that the phalanx had fully maintained its ancient renown, and
-was, for all that had yet been proved, invincible in a pitched battle.
-
-No less secure of victory, flushed with past triumphs, and athirst for
-future glory, Quinctius pressed on, resolved on the first occasion to
-deliver battle, his forces being, as nearly as possible, equal to those
-of the king, though he had a superiority of about four hundred horse.
-
-On hearing of the Roman advance, Philip broke up from Dium and marched
-upon Larissa, intending to deliver battle south of the Penëus, with a
-view probably to the subsequent defense of the defiles of Tempo, in case
-of disaster; while Flamininus having failed in an attempt to surprise
-the Phiotic city of Thebes, marched direct upon Pheræ, previously
-ordering his soldiers to cut and carry with them the palisades, of which
-at any moment to fortify the casual encampment of the night.
-
-Both leaders, thus aware of the enemy’s proximity, yet unaware of his
-exact position, encamped and fortified their camps, the Roman at about
-six, the Macedonian at four miles’ distance from the town of Pheræ.
-
-On the following day, light parties being sent out on both sides to take
-possession of the heights above the town, which would seem to be the
-western slopes of Karadagh, formerly Mount Calcodonium—described by
-Leake as gentle pasture hills, interspersed with groves of oak, but
-swelling, a little northward on the way to Larissa, into steep, broken
-hills, topped with bare limestone crags—they came in sight of one
-another so unexpectedly, that they were mutually amazed, and neither
-charged the other, but both sent back for orders to head-quarters, and
-were ultimately drawn off without fighting. On the second day, both
-leaders sent out reconnoitering parties of light-armed infantry with
-some horse, and these encountered on the hill above the suburbs of Pheræ
-to the northward. It so happened that Flamininus had ordered two
-squadrons of Ætolian horse on this duty, wishing to avail himself of
-their familiarity with the country; and these, overboiling with courage
-and emulous of the Roman renown, so soon as they discovered the enemy,
-dared the Italians to the test of superior valor, and charged the
-Macedonians with such metal and prowess that they cut them up very
-severely; after which, having skirmished for a considerable time with no
-decisive results, they drew off, as if by mutual consent, to their own
-encampments.
-
-The ground about Pheræ, being much incumbered with orchards, groves and
-gardens, and cut up by stone walls and thorn hedges, was very unsuitable
-for a general action, and both leaders, perceiving this, moved early the
-next morning by different routes, the great ridge of Karadagh
-intervening between their lines of march, and intercepting all sound or
-sight, upon Scotussa, a town some ten miles distant in a westerly
-direction, lying at the base of the hills, and on the verge of the
-plain.
-
-The Romans marched to the southward, Philip to the northward of the
-dividing ridge; and, unaware how nearly they were intrenched, both
-erected their palisades for the night almost within hearing of their
-countersigns and trumpets.
-
-The third morning, after they had decamped from Pheræ, was exceedingly
-thick and foggy; but in spite of this Philip, who had passed the night
-on the banks of the Onchestus, persevered in marching upon Scotussa,
-where he hoped to find ripe corn in the plain for his troops. The
-darkness, however, increased, and ere long one of those tremendous
-thunder-storms, for which all the limestone countries of upper Greece
-are so famous, or rather infamous, burst over his head, with hail, and
-wild whirling wind-gusts, and forked lightnings, and compelled him to
-halt at once and intrench himself, at the northern base of the bare,
-craggy hills, forming the summits of the Calcodonium, known as the
-Cynoscephalæ or dog’s heads, though the resemblance does not go far to
-justify the appellation.
-
-So soon[17] as it cleared a little, though the mist was still so dense
-that one could scarce see his own hand, he sent out a detachment to
-occupy the heights of Cynoscephalæ. At the same moment Flamininus sent
-out his troops of horse and a thousand voltigeurs from Thetidium, where
-he lay, to feel for the enemy.
-
-These latter fell suddenly into the ambushed outpost of the Macedonians,
-neither discovering the others till they were at half spear’s length in
-the gloom. After a momentary pause of amazement, they fell on fiercely,
-and among the slippery crags, in the dense mist and drizzling rain, the
-strife reeled blindly to and fro, all striking at once, none parrying,
-and friend as often injuring friend, as enemy enemy. On both sides,
-rumor reached the camps, and the Romans being hard pressed and giving
-way, Flamininus, who was nearest to the scene of action, reinforced his
-men with two thousand infantry under two tribunes, and five hundred
-Ætolian horse of Archedamus and Eupolemus.
-
-On the arrival of these, the skirmish was exchanged for close combat;
-and the encouragement given to the Romans, by the prompt succor,
-doubling their courage, nor that only, but their physical strength, they
-charged home so vehemently, that they broke the enemy, and drove them to
-the steep crags; the din of battle receding from the lines of
-Flamininus, until the cries of his own men, and the shouts of the
-victorious legionaries, aroused and alarmed Philip in his camp.
-
-He, expecting nothing on that day less than an engagement, had sent out
-his men to forage in the plain; but as he saw how things were going, and
-as the mist was beginning to melt away before the sunbeams, and the
-clear blue to show above, he ordered up Heracleides the Gyrtonian,
-commander of the Thessalian cavalry, find Leon, the Macedonian master of
-the horse, and Athenagoras with all the mercenaries save the Thracians,
-and launched them vigorously against the enemy.
-
-Rallying upon themselves the broken and disordered troops who had
-preceded them, these in turn laid on with so heavy a hand, and so
-furious an impetus that they bore the Romans back bodily, and drove them
-over the brink of the heights in consternation and disorder toward their
-own intrenchments; nor would they have failed to do fearful execution on
-them, if not utterly to destroy them, but for the devoted gallantry of
-the handful of Ætolian horse, who charged them time after time; and,
-when repulsed, rallied and charged again; and so gained that invaluable
-time, which, as it was in this case, is often victory.
-
-At this moment, seeing that the defeat of his cavalry and light troops
-was not only serious in itself, but was seriously dispiriting the rest
-of his army, Flamininus drew out his legions in order of battle,
-harangued them briefly in words of fire, which kindled every soldier’s
-heart to like passion, and led them straightway into action.
-
-Almost simultaneously Philip, to whom tidings had been brought that the
-enemy were utterly disordered and in flight, and who was compelled by
-the urgency of his officers and the eagerness of his men to give battle,
-contrary to his own better judgment, which knew the ground to be
-unfavorable to the phalanx, led the right wing of it up the northern
-ascent of the heights, directing Nicanor, surnamed the elephant, to
-bring up the centre and left wing close at his heels. On reaching the
-summit, which had been left vacant when the Macedonian light troops
-drove back the Romans, he formed line of battle by the left, and thus
-gained the ground of vantage.
-
-But while he was yet in the act of forming his right, the mercenaries
-were upon him, crushed in by the advance of the solid cohorts; for
-Flamininus had rallied his light troops in the intervals of his
-maniples, and was carrying all before him with great slaughter, himself
-leading his left wing, the right and centre being a little retired, with
-the elephants in front.
-
-Philip thus labored at once under a double disadvantage, when, believing
-himself the assailant of a disordered foe, he found himself assailed—a
-perilous thing in warfare—and, secondly, when he was compelled to
-encounter an enemy in full array of battle, while above one half of his
-own power was in column of march, and as yet unready to deploy.
-
-Up to this moment, the day had been one of accidents and vicissitudes;
-from this moment it was one of the finest generalship and the finest
-fighting, and in the end the best fighting carried it.
-
-Mindful of the rule never to receive a charge but on a charge, so soon
-as he saw Flamininus’ eagles face to face with him, Philip rallied the
-retreating horse and mercenaries upon his targeteers, with whom he
-covered his right flank, and ordered the phalanx to double the depth of
-its files and prepare to charge.
-
-We have all seen, and all know the effect, of two poor lines of modern
-infantry bringing their muskets from the shoulder to the charge; the
-thrill which the sudden clash and clatter, and the quick flashing
-movement sends to the boldest heart—what then must have been the effect
-on the spectator, when sixteen serried ranks brought down their huge
-sarissæ, twenty-four feet in length, from the port to the level—the
-rattle of the massive truncheons sloping simultaneously, like a whole
-field of bearded grain before a sudden blast, the clang of the steel
-spear heads against the brazen bucklers, and the glimmering flash of
-seven points protruded in advance of every shield in the front line.
-
-Such was the spectacle which met the eyes of the legionaries as they
-crowned the heights of Cynoscephalæ, but no thrill did it send to those
-stern hearts, but that of ardor and of emulation. Never was such a
-war-cry heard as burst that day over the rugged hills, for not only did
-the combatants on both sides, as they rushed to hand and hand encounter,
-shout with their hearts in their voices, but all who saw it from a
-distance swelled the tremendous diapason.
-
-The clang might have been heard at a mile’s distance, as the pike-points
-of the phalanx smote full upon the bosses of the long legionary shields,
-and bore back the loose lines by sheer force, orderly still and
-unbroken, while the Spanish broadswords of the Romans hewed desperately,
-but in vain, into the twilight forest of the impenetrable sarissæ.
-
-Stubbornly the Romans fought and long; and when at length broken, they
-were not beaten; when borne backward foot by foot they still disdained
-to fly; but fell where they stood, and died fighting.
-
-But Flamininus, who had the true eye, the true inspiration of a great
-general, ever the keenest and the clearest in the most direful turmoil
-of the headiest fight, had marked, like Wellington at Talavera, a gap in
-the enemy’s array.
-
-Leaving his broken right wing to its fate, he rushed, confident at one
-glance of victory, to the head of his centre, and charged, with his
-elephants in front, by a rapid oblique movement, full upon the left wing
-of the phalanx, as it mounted the heights in marching, rather than in
-fighting, order. Here, before it could form, almost before it could
-level its long pikes, it was pierced in a hundred places at once; and,
-in almost less time than is required to describe it, the fierce Spanish
-broadswords of the legionaries, fleshed in its vitals, had reduced it to
-a weltering mass of inextricable confusion and almost unheard of
-carnage.
-
-The Roman left, cheered by the triumph of their comrades, rallied upon
-themselves and returned to the charge; and simultaneously an unordered
-movement of a tribune of the soldiers, which should have rendered him
-immortal, although his name has not survived, decided the victory, as
-completely as did a like inspiration, on the part of the unrewarded
-Kellerman, decide that of Marengo.
-
-This nameless tribune—a shame that he should be nameless—when the
-enemy’s left and centre fled, wheeled with a mere handful of men round
-the rear of Philip’s right, and, gaining the very summit from which he
-had descended, at the moment when the Romans rallied in its face, fell
-like a thunderbolt on the unguarded rear of its yet unbroken masses.
-
-In any event, a rear or flank attack upon the phalanx, so ponderous a
-column that it could even when unassailed with difficulty form a new
-face, was perilous; here it was fatal.
-
-The battle was ended as by a thunder-clap. Of the Macedonians eight
-thousand fell in the field, five thousand laid down their arms; their
-camp was taken, but before the victors entered it, it had been sacked by
-the Ætolians; their king, not tarrying to burn his papers at Larissa,
-fled without drawing bridle through Tempe into Macedonia.
-
-Of the Romans seven hundred lay dead in their ranks on the field; so
-true is Sallust’s apophthegm, that audacity is as a rampart to the
-soldier, and flight more perilous than battle.
-
-It was not a battle only that was won, but a war that was ended.
-
-Yet never was a battle won which was so nearly lost, except Marengo;
-which it in several points resembles.
-
-In the first place, like Marengo, it was in fact not one, but two
-battles, in which the victors of the first were the vanquished of the
-second.
-
-In the second place, like Marengo, its last and crowning success was due
-to an unordered, self-originating, charge of a subordinate officer, with
-a mere handful of men on the flank or rear of a victorious column.
-
-But in this, unlike Marengo, it was the eagle eye, the prompt decision,
-and the lightning-like execution of the general in chief, not the shrewd
-observation of a second in command, that redeemed the half lost battle,
-and changed the pæans of an exulting conqueror into groans of anguish
-and despair.
-
-With Cynoscephalæ, terminates the splendor of Flamininus’ military
-career, but not the splendor of his life.
-
-Philip at once sued for peace, and the general, aware that a war had
-broken out between Antiochus, King of Syria, and Rome, and dreading
-Philip’s co-operation with him, if driven to despair, at once granted
-him terms.
-
-He withdrew all his garrisons from Greece; delivered all his fleet, with
-the exception of ten galleys; paid an indemnification of a thousand
-talents, for the expenses of the war; gave up his son Demetrius as a
-hostage, for his faithful observance of the conditions; and, to his
-credit be it spoken, ever continued true in his allegiance to the
-Romans.
-
-At first, apprehending trouble from Antiochus, the Senate determined to
-keep Roman garrisons in the three strongholds of Chalcis, Corinth, and
-Demetrius; but so loud were the complaints of the Greeks in general, of
-the Æolians in particular, and so consistent did they appear to
-Flamininus, that he used the great personal weight and influence he had
-gained with the people and the Senate, not to obtain personal honors,
-wealth or distinction, but to procure the complete liberation of Greece,
-and the withdrawal of every foreign soldier from her confines.
-
-The proudest hour of his life, save one, was when he sat in his curule
-chair at the Isthmian games, a spectator of the show, and heard the
-Roman trumpet-blast command attention, and the Roman herald make
-proclamation—“The Senate, and the Imperator, Titus Quinctius, having
-subdued King Philip and the Macedonians, give to the Corinthians,
-Locrians, Phocians, Eubæans, Achæans, Pthiotians, Magnetians,
-Thessalians, and Perrhæbians, liberty, immunity from garrisons, immunity
-from tribute, and the right of self-government, according to their own
-constitutions.”
-
-At first men heard not, or hearing, believed not, for very joy, that
-such happiness could be; and they called upon the herald to repeat his
-proclamation.
-
-Then such a shout arose as rang from sea to sea across the Isthmus. The
-like of it was never heard before or afterward in Greece. And what has
-often been said hyperbolically, to lend grandeur to descriptions of the
-human voice, was then actually seen to happen;[18] for crows winging
-their way over the amphitheatre fell into the arena, stunned by the
-concussion of the air.
-
-As one man, the whole theatre stood up. There was no more talk of the
-combatants. Every one spoke of Flamininus, every one would touch the
-hand of the champion, the liberator of Greece.
-
-I said the proudest day of his life, save one. For he had one prouder.
-
-Two years longer he tarried among the Greeks, as commissioner to see the
-treaties carried out; and for a short time he fell into odium with the
-people he had liberated, for that, when he was warring against Nabis,
-the cruel tyrant and usurper of Lacedæmon, and might have dethroned him,
-he made peace, and suffered him to retain his blood-bought dominion.
-Some were so base as to attribute this to jealousy of Philipœmen. His
-own statement, and our knowledge of his character bears out that
-statement, asserts that he could not destroy Nabis, without destroying
-Sparta, and that in preference to destroying Sparta, he suffered Nabis
-to go free.
-
-But when he left the shores of Hellas, after interceding twenty times,
-and mediating successfully between the Greeks and his successors, the
-Ætolians much desired to make him some great gift, that should prove
-their great love and veneration. But the known integrity of the man
-deterred them; for it was notorious that he would receive naught that
-savored of a bribe.
-
-At last they bethought them. There were in Greece twelve hundred Roman
-citizens, who had been captives to Hannibal, and by him sold as slaves.
-Their sad case had of late been sadly aggravated, as slaves themselves
-and bondmen, they all saw their countrymen, many their kinsmen, some
-their brethren or their sons, free, conquerors, and hailed as saviors of
-the land, to which they were enslaved.
-
-Titus had grieved for them deeply; but he was too poor to ransom them,
-too just to take them by the strong hand from their lawful owners. So
-the Ætolians ransomed them at five minæ[19] the head; and, as he was on
-the point of setting sail, brought them down to the wharf in a body, and
-presented them to him, the gift of liberated Greece. “A gift worthy,”
-says Plutarch, “of a great man, and a lover of his country.”
-
-A gift, say I, which none would have offered but to—what is far greater
-than a great—a good man. A gift which proves alike the character of the
-givers, and the receiver. An honor, as few gifts are, to both.
-
-I care not that in Flamininus’ triumph those twelve hundred ransomed
-Romans, of their own free will, walked with shaven heads and white caps,
-as manumitted slaves, and that the people of Rome had no eyes for the
-hostage prince, or the barbaric gold, or the strange Macedonian
-armor—had no eyes for Flamininus himself, but only for the twelve
-hundred manumitted Romans.
-
-But I do care that the Ætolians knew, from their knowledge of the man,
-that there was one invaluable gift which it would gladden the heart of
-the incorruptible of men to receive at their hands, richer than untold
-gold, inestimable jewels, the priceless liberty of freeborn Romans.
-
-It does not belong to the military career of Flamininus, but it does to
-the history of his life, that in after days he was sent by the Senate
-ambassador to Prusias, king of Bithynia, for the purpose of compelling
-the surrender into their hands of the aged, exiled, down fallen
-Hannibal; and that, rather than fall into those pitiless hands, which
-never refrained the scourge and axe from the noblest foeman, the old man
-had recourse to the
-
- “Cannarum vindex et tanti sanguinis ultor,
- Annulus.”[20]
-
-Nor do I choose to pass it over in silence. Since it is to be remembered
-that the highest pride of a Roman was to do his duty; and his duty was
-whatever his country ordered. So that, however odious the task imposed,
-and we know too much of this man’s character not to be sure that the
-embassy to Prusias was odious, a consular of Rome had no choice but to
-obey Rome’s bidding.
-
-There was, moreover, much in the pertinacity with which Hannibal
-journeyed from barbarous court to barbarous court, in the hope of
-kindling a fire-brand for Rome’s conflagration, even after his own
-country was prostrate beyond the chance of resurrection, to palliate if
-not justify the rancor of Romans. The inextinguishable hater has no
-right to complain if the hatred against himself be inextinguishable.
-
-The last office held by Flamininus, was the censorship—the highest,
-noblest, purest dignity in the gift of the state; and never—at least in
-those days—bestowed on any but the noble and the pure. It was the
-Corinthian capital to the career of the honored and honorable Roman
-magistrate, and such was Titus Quinctius Flamininus.
-
-After this he passes from our sight, and is heard of no more in history.
-
-He was a great general, a great statesman; perhaps of the greatest.
-
-But he was something more than a general, more than a statesman—he was
-every inch a man.
-
------
-
-[2] We have been favored by Mr. Charles Scribner of New York, with the
-advanced sheets of Mr. Herbert’s new work, “The Captains of the Roman
-Republic,” from which we select the following spirited sketch of Titus
-Quinctius Flamininus. We give it as our decided opinion that this work
-will prove superior to its predecessor, “The Captains of the Old World.”
-
-[3] “To spare the conquered and subdue the proud”—the former of which
-she never did.
-
-[4] Livy, xxxi. 34, 35.
-
-[5] Col. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, i. 385.
-
-[6] Plutarch, Vit. Flamini.
-
-[7] Ibid.
-
-[8] Livy, xxxiii. 8.
-
-[9] Ibid.
-
-[10] Leake. Travels in Northern Greece, vol, 1, p. 385.
-
-[11] Plutarch. Flamininus 3.
-
-[12] Plutarch, vit. Flaminini. IV. V. Livy, xxxii. 12.
-
-[13] Livy, xxxii. 12.
-
-[14] Leake. Travels in Northern Greece, i. 296.
-
-[15] Livy, xxxii. 13.
-
-[16] Livy, xxxii. 32.
-
-[17] All the details of this action are from Polybius. Reliquiæ Lib.
-xviii.; who is here singularly clear and vivid in his description.
-
-[18] Plutarch, vita Flaminini, x.
-
-[19] About twenty pounds sterling.
-
-[20] The Ring, avenger of Cannæ and of so much blood.—_Juvenal. Satire
-X._
-
-An allusion to the poison, by which he died, and which he was said to
-keep concealed in a ring.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- OUR MINNIE’S DREAM.
-
-
- BY A REVERIST.
-
-
- Her dream is like this book-mark red,
- Which has long lain buried
- Within a hallowéd tome;
- If to unfold the page, soul-bid,
- Mark the contrast, all unsaid,
- Of the fresh deep ruby—wed
- To the fastness dear of home—
- And the faded outside hue
- Of a token all too true
- From its claspéd cell to roam.
-
- All that the idle world hath kenned
- Is like the faded, visible end
- Of that lore-lettered mark;
- Dim, sadly paled its pristine hues,
- In streaming through earth’s chilling dews,
- Obedient to imperious muse.
- The folded end, still perfect, bright,
- In keeping here of household faith,
- Awaits Heaven’s kindly angel, Death,
- To open it to truer light.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- SONNET.—PLEASURE.
-
-
- BY WM. ALEXANDER.
-
-
- Hues how fantastic dost thou still assume,
- Deluding man, amid life’s sweetest scene,
- Spreading o’er all his way gay, gorgeous green,
- With fairest flowers, which but a moment bloom—
- Like evening cloud which golden Sol hath decked,
- All evanescent, fading soon away;
- So, Pleasure! grasped, thou hastest to decay,
- Bidding each rising hope in bud be checked—
- In Eden, erst, truth-like didst thou appear.
- Thy right hand holding sweets surpassing fair,
- Till, with her sombre train sin entered there,
- To drag man thence, an exile full of fear—
- Farewell, false Pleasure! and again, farewell—
- Thy guests, the Wise hath told us, “are in depths of hell.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- NELLY NOWLAN’S EXPERIENCE.
-
-
- BY MRS. S. C. HALL.
-
-
-“I broke off in my last without an ending, which I could not help; I am
-not a bit more mistress of my own time than if I was a born lady, and
-oh, aunt dear, but I _do_ pity them ladies—you’d never believe how hard
-they work—not with their heads or their hands, but in a way twice as
-bad. You think it hard enough to put on your things of a Sunday. Oh! if
-you knew the dressing and undressing, the shopping, the driving round
-and round and round in a place they call a park—where there’s no sign
-of a mountain or any thing to raise the spirits—the visiting! not
-having a bit of friendly talk with those they like, but wearing the life
-and liveries off their servants, posting from house to house, and just
-leaving little squares of _pasteboard_ at the doors.”
-
-“‘Has Lady Jane Vivian never inquired how I am?’ asked my poor mistress.
-
-“‘Never, Ma’am,’ I said.
-
-“Well, she had a puzzled look on her face, and there it ended for
-awhile.
-
-“‘Ellen,’ she said again, a few days after, ‘Mrs. Brett tells me, Lady
-Jane Vivian called every day, and left cards.’
-
-“Well, I was fairly bothered about the cards.
-
-“‘Sure, Ma’am,’ I said, ‘what would make her leave the cards here, we’re
-no gamblers;’ this was when first I was own maid to my mistress—so she
-smiled again, and said how it was I did not understand that ladies left
-their names printed on pasteboard squares; and that was the same thing
-as a visit. Well! I had my own thought of what a cold, unnatural thing
-it was to send a square of pasteboard up to a poor sick lady, instead of
-comforting her, with a bright smile and kind words, and all sorts of
-cheerful discourse. But I supposed it was manners, and every people have
-their own; and then she asked for the _cards_. Now, the mistress of the
-house we lodged in, scrambled up every bit of them pasteboards with a
-title, and stuck them round the looking-glass, in her little, dingy
-back-parlor, for a nobility show. So I had to go and ask her to pick out
-all the Lady Jane Vivians, which she did, and gave them with a toss of
-her head, saying, ‘She did not want such a scrap of an ould maid’s title
-for the matter of that, she had lords and dukes! calling on her, before
-now.’ It was on the tip of my tongue to say, ‘Calling on your lodgers,
-you mean, ma’am,’ but I held my peace. Well! would you believe it? My
-own mistress was as proud of them five bits of pasteboard, as I’d be of
-five shillings! And she bade me bring her a fine chaney dish with a
-small tea-party painted on it, up in the air and down on the earth,
-beside a little railway, and little tufty houses one atop of the other,
-and bells at the corners—a fine ancient dish it is, like nothing on the
-earth or in the sea, which she says shows its imagination; well, she
-takes every one of the cards up in her poor, thin, trembling fingers,
-and then she rubs them clean and puts them right; the Misters and
-Mistresses, and the young Misses all down below, and the Sirs and Lords
-and Ladies on the top; mighty neat entirely to look at; and all the
-time, the darling! she was railing at the vanity of the lodging-house
-woman who wanted to show off the fine names, and never seemed to think
-that she was doing the same thing; to be sure, she had a right to them,
-and right is right; but the vanity, to my thinking, was all one. I had a
-deal more to tell you about _that_ church—but _one who knows_ said, it
-was fitter for me to hold my tongue; the reason is this, that it’s
-better for us, you understand, to keep on never heeding them, and not to
-put them in mind of what they are doing, and they will all walk, as easy
-as any thing, back to the fine, true, ould, ancient church of Rome: they
-call it _High Church_ now, but if they’re let alone, _one who knows_
-says, they’ll soon be higher, on the highest pinnacle of St. Peter’s! so
-all we have to say, aunt dear, is just good luck to every poor traveler
-on the _right road_.
-
-“Do you mind Mary Considine, who you used to call the blue-bell of the
-Shannon? She was the beauty of the place, I have heard, when she married
-her own first cousin, Ned Considine? don’t you also mind telling me how
-cruel hard she was to be pleased; and how, after she had married him,
-she said she intended taking a house, but changed her mind, and took
-Ned, and was greatly disappointed in taking him, for he was very deaf?
-
-“Well, who should I chance to find out but this very Mr. and Mrs.
-Considine; and indeed it’s little remains of beauty she has now; the
-country, or rather the town life, does not agree any how with beauty,
-living as they do, at the back of ‘God speed,’ in a small court; though,
-as you will see by’n bye, they have lashings[21] of money: they’ve one
-son and a daughter. I met the young girl (she was born to them, I may
-say, in their old age, a last rose of their summer) at mass, and I think
-we knew each other by nature: my mistress gave me leave to run over and
-see her, and when she came to me took great delight in her smiling,
-innocent face, and the sweet voice I told her she had; and she sang some
-of the Irish melodies like an angel, if you can think of an angel
-singing any thing but holy psalms. And this young Mary is well brought
-up, quite above the common; reading and writing is nothing to her; and
-as to other accomplishments she’s wonderful; and can tell every fortune
-out of a book, except her own! Now, among the many prides her mother has
-gathered, the one that bothers Mary the most, is that she does not like
-any body to think she is Irish; she thinks she _turns her tongue_ so
-purty on the English, and as my poor mistress says (for she heard her at
-it) with a brogue, a rale Cork brogue; not the same as our pretty,
-delicate Leinster accent; but (as the mistress says) ‘a brogue strong
-enough to carry St. Paul’s to St. Peter’s,’ and so I thought,
-_particularly now, when it’s on the road_. My mistress says it’s quite
-absurd to look at her courtesey; and when you talk to her of her
-country, to hear her cry out—‘Why then, how did you know I was Irish?’
-The Irish divert my poor mistress a great deal. She encourages me to
-tell all about my country, and she has been more like a mother than a
-lady to Mary Considine.
-
-“But about poor Mary. She was overjoyed that her father and mother took
-so to me, and, indeed, so was I, for the music of home is in Mary’s
-sweet voice; and it is the next best thing to being in my own land, to
-hear her sing ‘The Exile of Erin;’ and then, while the tears are wet on
-my cheek, she tunes up ‘Shielan-a-guira,’ with a heart and a half; her
-eyes are so beaming with light, that you wonder where the dark place is
-in them, and yet it’s all the time a light in darkness. I can’t
-discourse you now her features one by one, but altogether: the poor
-Irish never pass her in the street without a blessing, or the English
-without a stare—still I saw that Mary was far from happy. I have not
-much time to watch or inquire, but I could not sleep for thinking of
-her—Mrs. Considine’s mouth was full of the titles of the great quality
-she’d see in the Park, and she traveled about with a book she called a
-peerage, in her pocket, while poor Mary would show me the bits of
-flowers she’d pick out of the grass, or bring my mistress a bunch of
-violets from Covent Garden Market. As to her father, he hardly ever
-stirs out, except to watch that his son, who has a situation at
-Blackwall, does not spend his pence on an omnibus—he makes a fair god
-of his money; how the priest gets over it I don’t know, for he’s the
-greatest miser I ever heard of—a fair neager[22]—not like his
-countrymen.
-
-“Well, aunt; at last poor little Mary let me into the very heart of her
-trouble. She was in love—in love with maybe you think some delicate
-dandy chap of an Englishman; for Mary is very little—a fairy of a
-thing, (God bless us!) that might pass for a real ‘fairy’ in her own
-country—as thin as a willow-wand, as straight as a bullrush, but small,
-you understand. I wanted her to tell me who it was, and she used to hide
-her face and cry, and then look up, blushing like a rose among the
-dew-drops. At last, she said she’d _show_ him to me next evening; she
-was going to confession, and he would do the same, and meet her at the
-door. So away they went. There were three or four young men at the door,
-one with a sky-blue tie and a fine waistcoat. I was so sure _that was
-him_, that I never looked at any one else; but she passed on, tossing
-her head disdainfully at the blue tie.
-
-“‘He’s not here,’ she whispered; and the little creature trembled on my
-arm. She soon made a clean breast, and I waited, as I had leave to do;
-the sky-blue tie waited also, but Mary was too quick for him, she darted
-round the corner, while he was admiring his own shadow, thrown by the
-full moon on the wall, and I after her.
-
-“‘Come on,’ she said, almost breathlessly; ‘come on; that’s the man my
-father wants me to marry, but _I’ll die first_!’ We walked fast, but she
-took, as I thought, the wrong turning—I told her so, but she looked up
-in my face, and smiled. It was a narrow court, and at the far end, a
-smith’s forge. I heard the bang of the hammer, and saw the light, all in
-a glow, and a thousand sparkles like falling stars! Mary got under the
-shadow of the houses—she crept on, the hammer going, the fire glowing,
-the sparkles falling all the time, and the shadow as of a giant, forging
-the red bar, as if the hammer was a wand. Well, she avoided the door,
-but drew me on to a slit in the window, still keeping in the
-shadow—‘that’s him,’ she whispered. Aunt, dear, the sweetheart that
-mite of a little beauty had set her love on, was—just there and then—a
-rale giant! He looked strong enough to fling a thunderbolt, and active
-enough to make a play-fellow of the lightning. When he stopped, and
-threw back his hair, I thought I had never seen so noble a head, but his
-face looked pale in the flashing light. Mary never spoke but the one
-word, she never sighed, nor signed to him in any way, yet he wiped his
-brow, pulled down his sleeves, and came to the window.
-
-“‘Mary, Mary,’ he whispered, and his voice was as soft as the coo of a
-wood-quest.[23] ‘Speak, Mary, I know you are there, it’s no use hiding
-from me, I know it as well as if my eyes were looking into yours, and as
-if you had told me so.’
-
-“‘I am here, Philip,’ she said. ‘My friend was with me, and as you were
-not at the Priest’s, I thought you had something to do particular.’
-
-“‘Yes, Mary,’ he answered; ‘but _that_ did not keep me. Your father came
-here to-night; he gave me clearly to understand, and without civility,
-he did not wish me to continue to keep your company; he said, your mind,
-as well as his own, turned another way.’
-
-“‘And you believed him?’
-
-“Her voice was like the murmur of a young bird in its nest.
-
-“‘I believed my own eyes,’ he answered, folding his great arms over his
-chest, his eyes glaring in his dusky face like coals of fire. ‘I went to
-the Priest’s door, and saw that clean, done-up youth, with his blue tie
-round his throat, and his boyish hands, only fit to finger a yard
-measure, scenting the place with his white pocket-handkerchief. O, Mary,
-fancy my hands dangling a scented handkerchief!’ and he dashed them
-passionately forward. ‘When you did change,’ he added, ‘you might have
-chosen a man—not a monkey.’
-
-“‘And you misdoubted me,’ she said, standing firm and straight in her
-pride. ‘Well, then, Philip, I’ll just say good-bye at once;’ and then
-she struggled and struggled to untwist something from her neck, and
-flung it right in through the window. The fire, which had been
-flickering and flickering, flamed up, and there, lying on the black
-floor, shone a little golden locket, and a broken velvet.
-
-“To my dying day, I shall never forget the look that strong man cast
-from the locket to Mary, but I know he could not see _her_ face, it was
-in the darkness _to him_, though I saw, plain enough, her quivering lips
-and glowing cheeks—he stamped on the locket, and I heard it scrunch
-beneath his foot. She flew like a rapid over a rock of the Shannon, and
-was away in a minute—I turned to follow her, but the strong grasp of
-the smith was on my shoulder.
-
-“‘Why did she come here at all?’ he said, and his voice was deep and
-husky. ‘What brought her? why should she come to torture me? it’s all
-along of the old man’s love of money, and her mother’s mad love of fine
-names. She told me my name, Philip Roche, was vulgar. O, to think of the
-love I bore her, slaving by day and night to make her a home, keeping to
-my pledge, and working—and well able to do it—on water.’
-
-“Mary, I told him, knew nothing of it, she had no hand in it: I wanted
-to tell him how she took me to the door to see _him_, and not finding
-him there, drew me to the forge—her innocent heart full of love for
-him, and for him alone; the thoughts came fast enough into my head, but
-I could not speak them—I was bewildered, the despair written in his
-face haunted me—the look he gave, and the iron hand on my shoulder,
-stupefied me altogether, and though we walked on fast—fast after her—I
-trembled in every limb, and lost all power of speech.
-
-“Words he certainly spoke betimes, and they hissed off his lips, as
-water hisses off a smoothing-iron. We tramped faster and faster, past
-the houses, and under the light of the lamps, and through the people,
-until we came to the court where they lived—_there_ he stopped in sight
-of the door, and such a sight it was to him!—for there, on the very
-step, waiting to have it opened, stood Mary Considine, and the blue
-neck-tie. I cannot tell you, aunt dear, how it was that I felt so
-interested for that strange, strong smith, Philip Roche, whom I had
-never, to say rightly, seen. No wonder the people stopped and stared
-after him, for he was without a hat, and his long hair _tossicated_
-about his head: I looked up to him, and maybe it was best that I could
-not see his features, I only heard him mutter—‘Do you see, do you see?
-Has she _no hand in it now_?’ He staggered forward, but I caught him.
-
-“‘Have patience,’ I said; ‘have patience, it will all come right, she
-has no hand in it.’ He threw me off as if I had been a child, and the
-last I saw of him was his head above the people that had gathered round
-the court. I walked quietly on, and when I entered the house there stood
-Mary, white as a sheet, while Mr. and Mrs. Considine were doing all
-manner of civilities to the young man, who was acting the gentleman,
-smiling and bowing and twisting a seal—set the likes of him up with a
-seal—at the end of his watch-chain—a seal which was big enough for the
-rapper of a hall-door—and dangling a ring he had on his starved,
-crooked, little finger, right in the foolish old man’s eyes. ‘And wont
-you sit down, Mr. Henry Highley,’ said one, ‘and wont you stop for
-_tay_,’ says the other. And seeing me staring at him, Mrs. Considine
-adds—
-
-“‘A young lady-friend of my daughter’s, who stops mostly with a friend
-of her own at the West-end.’
-
-“Now, aunt, I didn’t care about her calling me a lady, but I couldn’t
-bear being put on a level with my mistress, a rale lady born.
-
-“And I said, ‘my mistress lives at the West-end, sure enough.’ Mrs.
-Considine frowned at me, and Mary left the little room.
-
-“‘Come back, Mary,’ called her father; ‘bring her back,’ whispered her
-mother.
-
-“It was well I followed her—she had fainted: I laid her on the bed, and
-did all I could for her. When she was coming to herself, she put up her
-hand—I thought, maybe, to feel for the locket, but that might be my
-fancy. It was long before I could make her deaf father understand that
-she was too ill to return, but her mother saw it at once, and after we
-put her to bed, and she drank a cup of tea, and said she thought to go
-to sleep, we left her—I staid a few minutes below, though I saw the old
-man wished me gone. And now, aunt, don’t be angry, but I think I could
-have found it in my heart to give that _Cub-een_ of a fellow, a glass of
-poison: his face was not only vicious, sharp, and thin, and active, like
-a rat’s—but he had his eyes every where. I saw him weigh the tea-spoon
-on his fore-finger in a balancing sort of fashion, and then look at the
-mark to be sure it was silver: he drew the old people on in such a way,
-getting more out of Mr. Considine than ever was got out of him before,
-as to his property and means—getting him to talk of interest and
-bankers, and the like: and the old man cursed the savings banks, and
-said money was never so safe as in one’s own house, and that the best of
-all banks for him was his leather bag—the more I looked at Mr. Henry
-Highley, the more I hated him, and sorry enough was I to know that young
-Considine had gone a journey for his employer, and was not to the fore,
-when most wanted.
-
-“I stole up for another look at Mary. She was, or _pur_tended to be,
-asleep; but it was put into my heart to kneel down and pray for her. The
-words were not many, but the Lord knew their meaning. I dipped my finger
-in the holy-water cup, that hung at the head of her bed, and signed the
-blessed sign over her forehead, without touching her. She looked so
-helpless, and so lonely there—her young innocent face, still wet with
-tears, turned up to the heavens—the moonlight was hindered from shining
-on her by the fog that hangs about the London streets by day and night;
-and maybe so best, for moonlight lays heavy on a throbbing brow, and is
-not over lucky, particularly—as you know—when it’s full moon. So I did
-not go into the little room again, but hurried home, for I had overstaid
-my time by more than an hour. I was near my own street, when who came to
-my side but Mr. Henry Highley: and he said, it was dull walking my
-lone,[24] and he’d see me home, and I told him I had the sight of my
-eyes, and could see myself and him too. And he said I was very witty,
-and I said, I was sorry I could not return the compliment. Then he
-thought to fish out about my mistress—she must be a rich lady to keep
-the likes of me. And I answered riches had nothing to do with that: I
-did not want to sell myself, or buy any one, and that I should be
-happier to serve for love than for money; but he stuck to the
-question—Had she plate and jewels? So, turning sharp on him, I said
-that any one would think he was a house-breaker, and I laughed: this was
-at the door; and there was a policeman passing, who stopped. Well, aunt,
-Mr. Henry Highley, without another word—with your leave or by your
-leave—whisked off.
-
-“‘What do you know of that young man?’ inquired the blue-coat.
-
-“‘Nothing pleasant,’ I said.
-
-“‘Where did you meet him?’
-
-“‘You are neither judge or jury, to be questioning me,’ I answered; for
-it isn’t the nature of an Irish girl to put up with a policeman.
-
-“‘I mark you,’ he said very stiff—but they are all that—‘and when the
-time comes, young woman, I’ll find a way to make you tell,’ and he
-walked off.
-
-“Now, aunt dear, sure I had enough of walking on and off that night! My
-mistress was angry; but I did as you told me often enough—instead of
-making excuses, and inventions, which come mighty pleasant and natural,
-I just told the plain truth—quiet and easy—all except the last, for I
-did not wish to make her uneasy, as I was myself, having a cruel bad
-opinion of Mr. Henry Highley.
-
-“It’s mighty _quare_ how, in this wonderful city of business and bother,
-how your little, peaceful sayings, darling aunt! and the songs you sung
-to the wheel of a winter’s evening, with none but the pusheen-cat, and
-myself, and a cricket or two to the fore, come into my head, or one of
-Watts’ hymns, in the very bustle of the town: I often dust the room to
-‘Aileen Mavourneen,’ and brush my lady’s hair to ‘Eveleen’s bower,’
-played on the chords of my heart. Sometimes, when I draw back the
-curtain, and shade the light of the pale night-lamp, with my hand, for
-fear it might wake her—the mistress I mean—for I never lay down until
-she is asleep: often, when I watch her features, worn with pain, yet so
-still, and gentle-looking, and see her pale, pink lips, half open, and
-such a sweet smile on them, I think—the sleeping face differs so from
-the waking one—that angels must be whispering the joys that will come.
-When the last dull sleep is ended, aunt, I am sure I should go mad if I
-thought that dear innocent woman, so tortured in this world, yet so meek
-in herself, so thoughtful and generous to the poor, so kind in her
-judgments, so fond to take the sorrows of all who have sorrow into her
-bosom, and turn them to blessings—I should indeed break my heart, if I
-believed that, for reading the one book another way, we should never
-meet in the world that’s to come. I can’t believe it, so there’s enough
-about it. As I looked at her, the song of ‘The Angels’ Whisper,’ came
-for a second time into my head that night, and then I _crooned_ over
-that ‘Savourneen delish’ you are so fond of; and that brought poor Tom
-and his motherless children before me! Aunt, dear—maybe I didn’t use
-Tom well! I couldn’t help it: though you often told me I should not cast
-out dirty water until I could get clean—not a grate compliment to Tom
-either!—yet to be obliged, after a few words, to be a mother all out to
-three sharp children; and if _he_ was cold and weary, and didn’t smile
-and talk every day the same, to have the creeping chill steal over me
-like the shake,[25] that he was thinking of his first wife, and maybe
-comparing us in his own mind—that would drive me as wild as the other
-thing I tould you of a while ago; and yet, I own to you, I have thought
-more of poor Tom since I left home, than ever I did while I was there.
-
-“The next day, and the next day, and the next passed, and no word from
-Mary, and my mistress was ill. Once I ran as far as the turn to the
-lane, and looked down at the forge. The fire was burning low, and there
-was no sound of the hammer on the anvil. At last, Mrs. Considine herself
-called; she was very full of prate: she had the dirty red book, as
-usual, half sticking out of her black bag: she said, that indeed Mary
-had demeaned herself by taking up with nothing but a smith, a great
-friend of her brother’s, and one she would not deny who had done him
-more than one good turn, and would be right well to do in the world if
-he had a little capital to push him on, which neither her nor her
-husband would give to a man of the name of Roche. Roche, indeed! Roches
-were as plentiful as black-berries, and as common, where she came from.
-Set her Mary before the priest with a Roche? No, no; Mr. Henry Highley
-was the man for their money, so nice a gentleman; for every sovereign
-her husband laid down as Mary’s fortune, he would lay down another, or
-could two! And such _jewelery_ as he had; rings for every finger, and
-fine watches, one set with precious stones—which had belonged to his
-grandmother—a Talbot itself! There was all about the family printed in
-the peerage, and sure it wouldn’t be _there_ if it wasn’t true—but
-indeed she couldn’t tell what was come over Mary: she had no pride, no
-spirit in her; her husband would weigh the watches in his hand, and look
-at the rings all day, and ask what they were worth over and over again,
-and take them to bed with him, if he was let, he had such delight in
-them. But they might be so much _pinchback_, for any thing Mary cared;
-they would have the wedding at once, and when it was over, she’d know
-better. Mr. Highley was so fond of her, he wouldn’t hear of delay, not
-even until her brother came home! She let on that Mary, when married,
-would be too grand company for the likes of me, but that _she_ would not
-be proud. I might look in sometimes, she’d be glad to see my mistress
-when they got into a new lodging, which Mr. Highley said they must after
-the wedding—for _his_ sake, dear, sweet, well-born, well-bred young
-gentleman!
-
-“Like her impudence, it was: _My mistress itself!_ MY MISTRESS! visit
-with her: och hone! What would the cards on the fine china dish say to
-it, if they could but speak? But, aunt dear, what do you think I did,
-when she, and her bag, and her book were cleared out of the house? I
-told my mistress every word she had said. Now it was a mercy that she
-was quite herself that morning, and sure enough she has a head almost as
-clear for business as our dear QUEEN’S! God bless it for ever, for a
-right, royal, noble head!—the Queen’s, I mean—She did not ponder long,
-but laying her spectacles in her Bible, for a mark, she set it besides
-the china dish.
-
-“‘Ellen,’ she said, ‘have you ever seen the policeman, who spoke to you,
-since that night?’
-
-“And I said I had: that very morning he was on our beat.
-
-“‘Bring him to me, Ellen.’
-
-“My heart was _leping_—leping up into my mouth.
-
-“‘Bring him into the house?’ I repeated.
-
-“‘Yes,’ she said, ‘into the house.’
-
-“‘Have I done any thing wrong, ma’am?’
-
-“So she smiled.
-
-“‘Nothing, but very right: do as I tell you.’
-
-“That ‘Do as I tell you,’ is the same thing as ‘Hold your tongue.’ So,
-aunt dear, if you please, you must just fancy me looking for a real,
-living policeman; and for a wonder, I found him when he was wanted. He
-soon stood like a _statute_ before my mistress.
-
-“She told him word for word what I have told you: he noted it all down
-in a bit of a book, and was mighty particular over the number of rings
-and the Talbot watch; he then looked at me, and my mistress nodded for
-me to leave the room. Now, wasn’t that too bad?
-
-“I never felt more hard set to put up with any thing in my born days;
-but I went—and, only my mistress has nerves, wouldn’t I have banged the
-door? When the bell rung he was gone: she told me I was to go over in
-the evening, and see Mary. When I got there, Mrs. Considine was watching
-for the postman, who was coming down the court. She took a letter from
-him, which I saw was directed to Mary: she read it hastily, and tossed
-it into the fire. ‘My relations,’ she said, with a toss of a different
-kind, ‘hearing of the fine match Mary is going to make, write constantly
-to get them situations.’ A double story—I was so ashamed for her. Aunt
-dear, God bless you for teaching me that there is no such thing as an
-‘innocent lie.’ The old miser of a man was in a little inner room they
-have, divided by a passage from the one we were in, where they sleep
-themselves: the windows open into a lane, dark as dungeon by day or
-night. He was fumbling at his leather bag, and came out talking to
-himself, muttering such things as these—
-
-“‘At first he said it should be guinea for guinea; but now, it’s two
-guineas for one—two guineas for one! Ah! Nelly Nowlan, a fine match!
-The smith had nothing but his four bones, and would have wanted my
-hard-earned, little savings, and no guinea for guinea, or one to two:’
-and his eyes, so dim and glassy, rolled within their seamed lids, and he
-rubbed his skinny, bloodless hands together, as if joy and gold were all
-one. ‘Money makes the man,’ he continued, ‘all England owns that: they
-are a wise people, the English, they never ask _what you are_, but _what
-you have_. When my pretty daughter sits on her own car, wont every one
-bow to her and I? O, if I was back in my own place, instead of poor ould
-Ned Considine, wouldn’t I be Mr. Edward, sir, with a ’squire to it! Ah,
-ah, I know the world, but the world does not know me!’
-
-“‘Has there been no letter?’ I heard the low, trembling voice of Mary
-inquire, as she entered the house.
-
-“‘The girl’s foolish to be asking after letters. One from Ireland, from
-our people, wanting places,’ was her mother’s reply.
-
-“When Mary saw me, she burst into tears, and hung about my neck like a
-child. She whispered that she was not long for this world, that Philip
-had forgotten her, that she should never be happy more. She would obey
-her parents and die—my mistress had warned me to hear all and say
-nothing. I comforted poor Mary as well as I could, and was asked to the
-wedding the next day—I told my mistress, and again she saw the
-policeman. O, aunt, wasn’t it cruel of the mistress not to trust me? I
-didn’t care what she had to say, but I did want to be trusted. She said
-she did not fear my zeal, only my discretion. Wasn’t it hard?
-
-“I went to the wedding—there was the Priest, a fine, ould, ancient
-Clargy, of the right sort: there was the bridegroom, looking pale and
-wicked, with as much finery on him as would set up a jeweler’s shop.
-There was the father and mother, all excited; there were a couple of
-bridesmaids, new-fangled acquaintances, and two or three strangers,
-friends of the bridegroom’s, that Mr. and Mrs. Considine made a great
-fuss over, and called by the finest of names: there was a dinner,
-half-laid out in an upper room, that no one on the banks of the Shannon
-ever saw the like of: little puff things, all ornamented out by a real
-confectioner, in a white apron, such a sight of folly and nonsense. I
-was quite set on one side, and looked on any thing but kindly by the
-whole of them, except the old man, who kept on talking about his money.
-They seemed all unnatural to me, as if they only wanted the bride as a
-part of the ceremony, while all over the world, if a woman is ever as a
-queen, it’s from the morning till the evening of her wedding day, what
-she is after that depends upon another. The bridesmaids kept going in
-and out, and at last, one had the manners to tell me, the bride wanted
-me. I knew that long ago.
-
-“She was standing like a spirit, all in white, in the middle of her
-little room. She seemed turned into stone, stiff and stark as a corpse
-in its shroud: her mother was wringing her hands by her side, her face
-like scarlet, and if ever she spoke with a brogue she did then.
-
-“‘Och Mary a lanna machree!—Sure it isn’t disgracing us you’d be, going
-back of your word, Mary, my own darlin’ child. Sure, darlin’, I hated
-the very ground yer father walked on, even after I had married him a
-good while. I was disappointed in him, dear: but when I got over
-thinking of love, and all that sort of nonsense, when my heart dried up,
-and I was all head, I knew what a fine, savin’ man I had got, who
-understood the value, even of a brass farthing: he was _ould_ enough to
-be my father—let alone yours; but what does that signify, he helped me
-to grow ould before my time: and look at the money he’s able to give
-you, and win you, Mary _mavourneen_—what’s come to you, child? sure you
-consented all out, and what ails you now?’
-
-“I pressed her cold hands within mine: they felt turned into bone, cold
-and hard and dry.
-
-“‘You’re murderin’ your own child, Mrs. Considine,’ I said: ‘you are
-killing her as surely as if you put a pistol to her head, or poison to
-her lips.’
-
-“The wicked old man called to Mary from the bottom of the stairs to go
-down, and added a curse on her delay: the bridesmaids—one in
-particular, who was as hard as the rest at first, had kept on
-saying—God forgive her—that love one side was like a fire, and would
-soon catch the other—now looked terrified, and pity-struck.
-
-“Again the call and the curse were repeated: Mary started, as if from a
-dream: she drank off a glass of water from her mother’s hand, who kept
-repeating—‘That’s a jewel, there’s a darlin’, _corra machree_ was she,’
-and such like nonsense; to which the poor girl made no reply, but
-pressed her hands on her temples, and whispered to me—‘Pray to God for
-me!’ She walked straight into the room: the bridegroom met her with
-‘Sweet Love,’ and a flourish of his pocket-handkerchief, a smile on his
-lips—but such oak-sticks between his eyes. She put him on one side with
-her little hand, and advancing to the priest, knelt down reverently
-before him: there was a hush in the room, nothing heard but the clink of
-the gold in the leather bag the old man was shaking out of pride.
-
-“O, it would have melted a heart of stone to look at that young
-creature! Tears overflowing her face, so that she could not speak, and
-her hands wrung together.
-
-“The bridegroom whispered something to her mother about her being
-nervous, but it would soon go off: I could have killed him! He then
-handed round the ring for us to look at; aye, while SHE was weeping and
-trembling at the priest’s feet. When he held it to me, I struck it down.
-Aunt, I could not help it! What a look he gave! It rolled along the
-floor; but his attention was drawn to Mary’s words.
-
-“‘Father,’ she sobbed, to the priest, ‘save me—save me from my own
-people; save me, a young, helpless girl; save me from marrying him I
-hate. Oh, do not let them put the sin of a false oath upon my young
-head—I cannot love him. Father, you know I owned to you in holy
-confession, but ten days past, that I loved another—that I love him
-still. I will never, never speak to him, or write to him, or ask to set
-eyes on him again; I will quit the world, and go into a holy house if
-you think me fit for it—but oh, save me, save me from perjuring my
-soul—save me,’ she repeated wildly, ‘or I shall go mad!’ To see the
-holy priest raise her up; to see him place her in his own chair; to see
-him put his hands upon her head, and hear his words of comfort! ‘Trust
-in me, my dear child; I will never join a willing to an unwilling hand;
-be calm, my child; and you,’ he said, turning to the bridegroom, ‘and
-you, have _you_ the feelings of a man, to stand by and see this, and
-wish to keep her to her promise?’
-
-“‘I never promised him—I never promised him,’ sobbed Mary—‘the most I
-ever said, and that was in anger and agony—was—that I would do my
-parents’ bidding. Father! Mother!—you cannot be so cruel at the last.’
-
-“Mr. Considine edged up to his reverence—‘Talk to her, holy father,’ he
-muttered, ‘talk to her: he’s so rich—rings, and watches and _goolden_
-guineas two to one, holy father, think of that? two to one! her mother
-married me for my goold, and we’ve been happy—two to one, holy father!’
-
-“‘Begone!’ said the priest sternly, in such grand English, ‘and do not
-dare to stain this holy sacrament by the money-loving spirit that
-crushes your soul to destruction. If this dear child persists in her
-refusal, I myself forbid the marriage.’
-
-“Oh, aunt dear, the lep I gave, and found myself at his holy feet as if
-he was the Pope of Rome! and surely no pope could have looked more like
-a guardian angel than he did at that minute.
-
-“‘I must speak with you in private,’ said the bridegroom to his intended
-father-in-law as meek as a lamb, ‘just one word;’ and he laid his hand
-so gently on the old man’s arm: ‘this can be arranged.’ They went out of
-the room together, Mrs. Considine exclaiming, while clapping her hands
-so vulgarly! ‘_Och-e-yah!_ the poor, dear young man! Ah, then! Och Mary,
-my _gra_ girl, how could you have the heart to refuse such a match? and
-he, after promising you a car—a cab, I mean, of your own. Och Mary,
-darlin’, be friends with him, Mary _Machree_! _Och yah!_ poor
-broken-hearted crayther that I am!’
-
-“She kept on that way for some time, until a fall, which shook the
-house, and the dull, hoarse scream of murder startled us into silence.
-The priest and myself rushed to the door; but the two groomsmen came
-between us, exclaiming, ‘It was in the court.’ I saw the whole thing
-then, like a flash of lightning, bright and clear. Again the cry. We
-cleared the way somehow; the window of their bed-room was open, and the
-poor old man, blinded by the blood which gushed from a wound in his
-head, was groveling on the floor.
-
-“We lifted him up: his fingers kept on grappling the air, while his
-cries of ‘Murder!’ and ‘Help!’ were broken by such words as ‘My money!
-my bag! my hard-earned money! catch him! two to one indeed! Oh let me
-after him!’
-
-“It was an awful sight—the roars of the old man for his money, the
-shrieks of Mrs. Considine, the still more terrible calmness of Mary,
-who, while binding up her father’s head, said ‘This is my doing.’
-
-“There was a scuffling at the outward door. ‘Keep a brave heart, Mary
-Considine,’ said the priest, ‘he’s not hurt to signify.’
-
-“‘A hundred and fifty in the bag, not a farthing less, the murdering
-young villain; oh, I can’t live—I wont live.’
-
-“‘Shame upon you,’ said the silver voice of the fine old priest. ‘Give
-God thanks for your deliverance, first from the man, next from your
-money.’
-
-“‘They are both here,’ said my policeman, who came upon us unawares; ‘it
-would be strange if we were not up to Bill Soames. We caught him on the
-bound, but I managed badly this time; I ought to have saved you that tap
-on the head, old gentleman; though I must say it serves you right, to
-want to give that poor girl to a fellow once tried for bigamy, and a
-house-breaker to boot!’
-
-“Aunt, I tore a silk handkerchief to ribands, trying to keep my hands
-off the blue tie, who stood as if nothing had happened, between two
-other policemen.
-
-“‘It’s but a step to the court, and the magistrate is sitting,’
-continued the superintendent; ‘half an hour will send my old
-acquaintance to his quarters.’ Of course there was plenty of people
-outside; and in the midst of it all the two groomsmen had cleared the
-table of every spoon, and Mr. Considine’s own watch, during the time we
-were with the old man. Oh, what a deliverance for poor Mary!
-
-“My heart flew into my mouth—I was as light as a lark leaving the
-corn-field for the sky in the early morning, and from the same cause,
-both thankful for the new light!
-
-“Oh, I was _so_ happy!—‘He’s of a _high family_, ma’am,’ said the
-policeman, with a knowing look at Mrs. Considine; ‘all that I heard of,
-traveled at the expense of government, while some—you understand me?—’
-
-“He made a sign round his throat, not pleasant to look at, while Mrs.
-Considine’s grief took a new turn, and she bemoaned the disgrace to her
-family, and the loss of the family plate! It was delightful how brisk
-the old man grew when he knew that his money was found—he called the
-cut a scratch, and said ‘his head would be all the better for a taste of
-the ould times,’ and away they went, the whole party—barring[26] his
-reverence, and Mary, Mrs. Considine (who declared nothing should force
-her to enter a police-court) and myself—were cleared out of the house,
-and I had the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Henry Highley in the grasp of
-two policemen; Mary came wonderful to herself, considerin’, and went to
-her room. I peeped through a crack, and saw her on her knees before the
-image of the blessed Virgin. Mrs. Considine continued sobbing, and
-exclaiming all the time she wandered about the house—I was just going
-to see how they were getting on in the court, when the priest called me
-back.
-
-“‘Nelly,’ he says; I made my courtesy—‘Nelly,’ he says again—‘it is a
-beautiful dinner.’
-
-“‘Indeed, your reverence,’ I answered, ‘it would be _that_ certainly
-when the solid things come on the table; there was to be a roast turkey,
-and a ham, and such a lovely piece of boiled beef—poor Mrs. Considine
-was bemoaning it all to me not a minute ago.’
-
-“‘A ham, a roast turkey, and a fine piece of boiled beef,’ repeated his
-reverence slowly, ‘besides all the kickshaws—and wine?’
-
-“‘The finest of port, (thick round the bottles with age) and champagne,
-that the villain of a bridegroom brought,’ I answered.
-
-“‘Say nothing about who brought it, Nelly, if it’s _there_, and he’s
-not,’ said his reverence—he paused awhile, but I knew by the twinkle of
-his eyes, he was thinking of something past the common—
-
-“‘It’s a mighty fine dinner, Nelly!’
-
-“‘It is, your reverence.’
-
-“‘Nelly, it’s a sin and a shame to have such a dinner as that in the
-house, and no wedding.’
-
-“‘True, for your reverence.’
-
-“‘Nelly, we must have a wedding!’ and he looked me through and through.
-
-“‘Your reverence,’ I said—hardly knowing how to answer, ‘knows best;
-but I don’t see how at this present time; it’s my ignorance, your
-reverence.’ He shook his head and smiled.
-
-“‘I know the secrets of more hearts than one, and instead of going down
-to the court, just step away to Philip Roche, and tell him what happened
-and how Mary kept true to her old love, and let him dress himself at
-once—we’re not tied to canonical hours like our neighbors—and tell him
-from me, to come here, and before the evening’s out, Nelly, we’ll have a
-wedding, and a dinner, and a dance!’
-
-“Oh, how I flew! There was Philip in the thick of cold iron, reading a
-paper about emigration. I never saw a man so altered: he was but the
-ghost of himself, bent and bowed and broken-hearted, he seemed, and his
-voice as changed as himself, he knew me at once, and knew that it was
-_her_ wedding day.
-
-“‘It’s all over by this time, I know,’ he said, with a ghastly smile;
-‘and I suppose you have brought me the bride-cake tied with green
-riband.’
-
-“‘Here was the place,’ he continued, going across a little yard, ‘where
-I thought she might live quiet and content; a pretty, bright room for
-London, and two others inside it—she could sit in that window at her
-sewing, and sing; and, if she raised her head, see me at work at the
-forge—she never even answered my letters—for I was too hasty that
-evening; but it’s over now. She never can be any thing more to me; yet
-this day’s post brought me a letter, telling of an uncle’s death in New
-York, who has left a good thousand English pounds, to be divided between
-my brother and myself; so I’ll just sell off, and go after it. Old
-Considine might have kept his money; it was not _that_ I wanted; but
-it’s all over!’ Such a wail as there was in the voice of the strong,
-broken down man, like the _sough_ of the winter’s wind, I could keep
-silent no longer. I believe he thought me wild—mad; I could hardly
-begin my tale for joy—joy throbbing in my heart—joy beating in my
-throat, and keeping back my words. I got it out at last, all that passed
-in one little hour, on which depended so much happiness or misery; oh,
-aunt, he is such a great darlint! Not a bit of exultation over Mr. and
-Mrs. Considine; only bitter reproaches to himself for not having
-understood Mary better; wondering if she could ever forgive him!—and so
-glad her father was not badly hurt. Oh, how my heart warmed to him! And
-when, at last, I bid him trust all to his reverence, to see how quickly
-he dressed! and maybe _he_ didn’t look like an O’Brian, or an
-O’Sullivan, or some of the great, grand O’s—so plenty about Killarney
-in the ancient times. I didn’t know my own shadow on the wall,
-side-beside his; and yet he was so overcome, that at times he stopped
-from downright weakness.
-
-“The priest opened the door with his own blessed hands: they had
-returned from the police-court, and his reverence had both the old
-people crying. I don’t think Mr. Considine heard all he said; but,
-indeed, his heart was softened; he was ashamed of having been imposed on
-by a well-known London thief; and who can say that he was not grateful
-for his deliverance? for, next to his money, he loved his child.
-
-“‘Come in, Philip Roche,’ said the priest; ‘there has been a bit of a
-misunderstanding here, which we are sorry for; but it’s well to forget
-and forgive. Mrs. Considine says she never believed Mary thought so much
-about you, or she would not have put between you: if you can make
-friends with the little girl up-stairs, we’ll have the wedding!—and the
-dinner!—and now, Nelly Nowlan, I trust to you to bring Mary Considine
-down, without telling her why. Leave that to me.’
-
-“Oh, then, isn’t that priest a rale minister? The delight he took in his
-little innocent plot, and all to make those young people happy! He hid
-away Philip in the back-room, and Mary came with me, easy enough, when I
-told her her father and mother were crying.
-
-“‘Now, Mary, my child,’ says the priest, ‘you’ll obey me, wont
-you?—that’s right. I must give you a penance, Mary: I saved you from
-one husband, my darling—I have found you another!’
-
-“The life that had come slowly back to the poor girl seemed leaving her
-altogether, but Philip could not bear it—he rushed forward, and caught
-her in his arms.
-
-“I can’t tell you what he said, aunt, or what any one said; but in less
-than five minutes the priest had opened his book.
-
-“‘What will be done for a ring?’ sobbed Mrs. Considine.
-
-“I had picked up the one I struck from the hand of that wicked man, and
-said so.
-
-“‘Use _his_ ring!’ exclaimed Philip; and he flung it into the fire.
-
-“‘Oh, the sinful waste!’ screamed old Considine; ‘it was pure gold.’
-
-“He would have raked the fire out to find it, but the priest commanded
-him to be still. Oh, but he’s a fine man; only terrible in anger. Aunt,
-I’ll tell you the truth; if I had a very heavy sin, it’s not to him I’d
-go.
-
-“‘The key of the door will do as well,’ he said; ‘it’s the _sign_ of the
-Eternal Union we want, nothing more.’ No one gainsaid him, and in
-another five minutes they were bound together in the sight of God and
-man.
-
-“‘And now for her fortune, Mr. Considine,’ said the good priest, so
-considerate.
-
-“The young smith stood straighter than ever on the floor; straight and
-firm. With one arm he drew his little bride to his heart, the other he
-held out.
-
-“‘It would all feel to me like a dream,’ he said, ‘but for this.’ He
-pressed her more closely to him, bent down and kissed her.
-
-“‘Keep your money, Mr. Considine; cross or coin of yours, sir, I’ll
-never touch. Mary was all I ever cared for, and only this blessed
-morning did I learn that it has pleased God to give me what you think so
-much of. Mary, your husband has five hundred good pounds of his own:
-keep your money, Mr. Considine, I never cared for it; but I must say—’
-
-“‘_No more_,’ interrupted the priest. ‘Let us have in some of our good
-friends and neighbors; and, Nelly Nowlan, sure it’s a comfort that the
-beautiful dinner wont be wasted.’
-
-“And so, aunt darling, there’s an end of Mary Considine; for in all the
-books I read my mistress, there seems an end of a woman when she
-marries—a wife and a mother go for nothing! And maybe, I haven’t
-something to tell you about _that_, for sure enough, the women (some of
-them) want to change places; now who do you think with, aunt? I am sure
-your simple head would never find out. Shall I tell you next time?”
-
------
-
-[21] Plenty.
-
-[22] Neager, _i. e._ miser.
-
-[23] Wood-Pigeon.
-
-[24] “My lone,” alone.
-
-[25] “Shake,” ague.
-
-[26] Except, putting aside.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- TO ADHEMAR.
-
-
- E. A. L.
-
-
- Thy voice flows o’er my list’ning heart, like sound
- From fairy fount, or lute in land of dreams,
- And full thy loveliness upon me teems,
- With thy bright presence lighting all around,
- Until my pulses leap like rills unbound.
- I see again thine eyes’ effulgent beams—
- I walk with thee along the laughing streams—
- Thro’ whispering groves—o’er flower-bespangled ground,
- And feel thy glowing touch my heart-strings thrill,
- As I upon thy doating arm recline,
- Listing thee speak, from out thy spirit’s shrine.
- Love-freighted words, whose heavenly music still
- Steals softly o’er my weary, thirsting soul,
- Exerting o’er it aye a calm and sweet control.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.
-
-
- _Course of the History of Modern Philosophy. By M. Victor
- Cousin. Translated by O. W. Wight. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 2
- vols. 8vo._
-
-The thinking portion of the reading public are under great obligations
-to Mr. Wight for his vigorous and accurate version of Cousin’s master
-work, and to the Messrs. Appletons for the beautiful dress in which it
-fitly appears. It belongs, indeed, to that rare class of works which
-illustrate the intellectual history of the age in which they are
-produced; and it deserves the attention of all readers who desire to
-take the first step in acquiring a taste for metaphysics. It is composed
-of two courses of lectures, originally delivered in Paris to large and
-enthusiastic audiences, whose admiration of the splendid eloquence of
-the lecturer soon compelled them to love the subject likewise; and when
-published, their influence was felt in every country into which the
-French language and literature penetrates, and caused a revival in
-philosophy, which somewhat amazed its hard and dry cultivators from its
-peculiarity and its extent. These lectures, indeed, made metaphysical
-science popular everywhere. Men and women read Victor Cousin as they
-read Scott and Byron. His bold and dazzling generalizations, expressed
-in a style of singular clearness, energy and vehemence, stimulated the
-most jaded minds; and the dictatorial confidence with which he settled
-all the problems of history, philosophy and religion, and the ease with
-which his solutions were comprehended, made him the universal favorite.
-There was something captivating, too, in the theory by which he
-reconciled all the various systems in his eclectic and electric method.
-There are four systems, sensualism, idealism, skepticism, and mysticism,
-each having its root in consciousness, each containing an element of
-truth, and each wrong as an exclusive system. Select from these what is
-true, place the four partial truths in their relations, and the result
-is the eclectic philosophy. This is a loose, short-hand statement, in
-unphilosophic language, of Cousin’s scheme.
-
-It must be admitted that Cousin’s system did not long hold its ground.
-After the first surprise was over, the metaphysicians _par eminence_
-began to attack him with great fury, and gave him some blows from which
-he has never recovered; and the public, who had been carried away by his
-eloquence, forgot him as soon as another novelty appeared. The result
-has been, that of late he has not been estimated according to his real
-merits. He most certainly has not done what he pretended to do. He has
-not reconciled the philosophers or the philosophies; he has hardly
-formed a school; his disciples have expired, recanted, or left the
-inclusive for some more satisfactory exclusive system. But he is still a
-metaphysician of uncommon power, acuteness, insight, genius; his works
-are full of important truths and principles, which stimulate the mind to
-independent thought; his information is immense; and he is the most
-brilliant, comprehensible and readable of all the historians of
-philosophy. He is to metaphysical history what Macaulay is to civil
-history; and we do not see why the present work is not as capable of
-holding the pleased and breathless attention of the intelligent reader
-as the “History of the Revolution of 1688.” There is in both writers the
-same confident manner of settling controversies about which centuries of
-disputants have wrangled; and, on the first blush, it seems impossible
-to resist the statements of either of them, as both drive directly at
-the common sense of men; are clear and brilliant, while their opponents
-are obscure and dull; and never leave the impression of an undefined
-something outside of the limits of their respective systems, to puzzle
-and torture their readers with a latent doubt. “I wish,” said Lord
-Melbourne, “that I knew any thing as well as Tom Macaulay knows every
-thing.” This “I know,” and “I am sure,” this absence of self-distrust,
-is as characteristic of Cousin as Macaulay; and the mischief is that
-after reading either, we are apt to be as satisfied as they are
-themselves, and think we have thoroughly mastered the matter.
-
-It would be impossible in our limited space to convey an idea of the
-contents of these volumes. Beginning with the proposition that
-philosophy is a special want and necessary product of the human mind,
-and the last development of thought, Cousin proceeds to show that it has
-existed in every epoch of humanity, is a real element of universal
-history, and contains the explanation of its various parts. He thus
-explains Indian Civilization by the Bhagavad-Gita, the age of Pericles
-by the philosophy of Socrates, the sixteenth century by the philosophy
-of Descartes, the eighteenth century by the philosophy of Condillac and
-Helvetius. He then states the psychological method in history, a method
-which is neither empirical or speculative, but combines the two, seeking
-in history the development of the human reason. After stating the
-fundamental ideas of history, which are the fundamental ideas of the
-human reason, namely, the Infinite, the finite, and the relation between
-the two, he treats the great epochs of history as answering to the
-successive development of these ideas. The influence of geography, of
-nations, and of great men, in history, is then stated with great
-eloquence, force, and subtle complication of truth and paradox. Some
-vigorous sketches of the historians of humanity and philosophy, in which
-their merits are luminously exhibited and their defects acutely
-analyzed, are followed by a view of the philosophy of the 19th century.
-The eclectic tendency of European society and philosophy is noted, and
-the necessity is shown of a new general history of philosophy to explain
-the new movement of thought. Next follows a picture of the eighteenth
-century, with the character and method of its philosophy. Its different
-systems are not peculiar to that century; and the origin, natural
-development, relative utility, and intrinsic merit of Sensualism,
-Idealism, Skepticism, and Mysticism, the four classes into which all
-ideas fall, are vigorously and clearly stated. The history of these is
-then given, in a splendid review of the Hindoo, Greek, Scholastic, and
-modern philosophies; and the sensualism of the eighteenth century is
-traced to all its sources. A criticism of Locke, running through ten
-lectures, and generally considered to be the ablest of Cousin’s
-productions, concludes the work.
-
-It will be seen, even from this bold outline, that all the questions
-which have puzzled human reason, and to which it has at different
-periods given different answers, are stated and discussed in Cousin’s
-work. The splendor and the beauty, the unwearied energy and the rapid
-movement of his style, carry the reader on to the end with hardly a
-pause of distrust or fatigue; and we hope that a translation, executed
-with such a lavish expenditure of intelligence and industry as Mr.
-Wight’s, will meet with its due reward in an extensive circulation.
-Certainly nothing which can by courtesy be called a library can afford
-to be without it.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Works of Daniel Webster. Boston: Little & Brown, 6 vols.
- 8vo._
-
-This beautiful edition of the works of one of the greatest statesmen
-that the country has produced, contains all the speeches and legal
-arguments in the former editions of Mr. Webster’s writings, together
-with the numerous orations and addresses he has made since the year
-1841, and the masterly state papers which he produced while Secretary of
-State in the administration of General Harrison. To these are added the
-celebrated letter to Chevalier Hulseman, written while in his present
-station. The collection is edited with much care and ability by the Hon.
-Edward Everett. The biography of Mr. Webster by the editor, is a clear,
-candid, elaborate, and somewhat frigid view of his whole life as a
-statesman and lawyer, giving an accurate statement of the various
-circumstances under which the great efforts of his mind were produced,
-and placing the reader in a position to appreciate their importance. The
-tone of the biography is cautiously moderate, indulging in none of the
-fervors of eulogy or exaggerations of friendship, and, on the whole, not
-coming up to the enthusiastic praise with which Mr. Webster’s powers are
-commonly mentioned by those who have had most occasion to dread or decry
-their exercise. Mr. Everett seems to have felt too acutely the delicacy
-of his position, as the biographer of a living friend; and, shrinking
-from the responsibility of pouring out in glowing words his own
-admiration of his subject, is content to import all such perilous matter
-from the dashing and vivid pages of Mr. March.
-
-It seems to us, also, that Mr. Everett gives little evidence in his
-biography of a sustained and vigorous conception of Mr. Webster’s mind
-and character. We do not mean that his epithets are not appropriate,
-that his judgments are not accurate, that his generalities are not
-abstractly just; but he evinces no power of diffusing the results of
-analysis through the veins of narration, of making the reader feel
-constantly that he is following the life of a man as peculiar and
-individual as he is great. The Websterian quality of the subject never
-flashes once out from Mr. Everett’s elegant sentences. Take any page
-from the biography and compare it with any paragraph in the speeches,
-and the defect we have noticed will be apparent to the most
-unapprehensive reader. There is no mental and moral agreement between
-them. It would seem to be one duty of the biographer to translate into
-intelligible form the vague impression which the works of the subject of
-the biography leaves on the most superficial mind; to detect, to fix, to
-embody the subtle spirit which, emanating from character, gives unity
-and individuality equally to the events of a man’s life and the
-productions of a man’s mind. A man of the large dimensions and massive
-force of Mr. Webster, whose personality stamps itself so readily upon
-the imagination, and groups fit words round its own image by a kind of
-magnetism, offers few obstacles to a right psychological treatment; and
-we are somewhat astonished that a man of Mr. Everett’s various talents
-and accomplishments should have failed in this important part of the
-biographer’s duty.
-
-We trust that this collection of Mr. Webster’s writings will have an
-extensive circulation, were it only for the good influence it is
-calculated to exert on the literature of the country. To one party in
-the United States they are invaluable as containing the best exposition
-they possess of their political principles—to all parties they must be
-attractive for the many electric passages of purely patriotic eloquence
-with which they teem; but to the author they are especially valuable as
-models of style. We use the word models not in its usual sense, for we
-certainly would not give any one the ridiculous advice to imitate the
-diction even of Mr. Webster; but we would advise every one to follow Mr.
-Webster’s own method of composition, which is simply the method of
-common sense and common honesty. The great literary sin of the day is
-pretension; and it is refreshing to read a man who, comprehensive and
-powerful as he is, modestly accepts the limitations of his genius, never
-borrows a thought or an emotion, and rarely uses a word which he has not
-a right to use. If we compare him for a moment with men who gain
-popularity by debauching in language, we feel at once the force of that
-expression which austerely limits itself within the bounds of character,
-and stamps on every sentence the authority of personal experience.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _A Journey through Tartary, Thibet and China. By M. Huc. New
- York: D. Appleton & Co. 2 vols. 12mo._
-
-These quaint and interesting volumes are the record of the travels of a
-Catholic Missionary in countries of which the reading world knows little
-or nothing. The sketches of scenery, manners, customs, religion, and
-character, are very graphic, and the style of composition is so direct
-and simple that the words form pictures in the mind without any effort
-on the part of the reader. The views of the religion of Thibet are very
-clear, and add to our knowledge of its philosophic basis. The mind of M.
-Huc almost realizes the ideal of the observing faculty. He sees
-distinctly, and gives us exactly what he sees, without modifying it by
-his own opinions or sentiments. To read his book, is next to walking or
-riding by his side, and seeing the strange objects he describes with our
-own eyes. His illustrations of Tartar life are especially graphic and
-amusing. Here is a specimen. “When not on horseback, a Tartar is
-generally quite idle, and passes a great part of the day crouched in his
-tent, drinking tea, and sometimes he lounges about like a Parisian
-dandy, though not quite in the same way. When he has a mind to see what
-is passing in the world, he mounts his horse, and goes galloping away
-into the desert, without heeding in what direction, and whenever he sees
-the smoke of a tent rising, he makes a call, and has a gossip.” His
-description also of the Jonathan Wilds and Dick Turpins of Tartary is
-quite edifying. “The robbers,” he says, “are in general remarkable for
-the politeness with which they flavor their address. They do not put a
-pistol to your head, and cry roughly, ‘Your money or your life,’ but
-they say in the most courteous tone, ‘My eldest brother, I am weary of
-walking on foot. Be so good as to lend me your horse!’ or, ‘It is very
-cold to-day—be kind enough to lend me your coat!’ If the eldest brother
-be charitable enough to comply, he receives thanks; if not the request
-is enforced by two or three blows of the cudgel, or, if that is not
-sufficient, recourse is had to the sabre.” It is the custom of these
-polite gentlemen, however, to rob none the less thoroughly because they
-use the amenities of genteel life. The poor traveler who falls into
-their hands is not only deprived of horse, camel, money and goods, but
-he is stripped of every rag of clothes, and left, with an elegant bow
-and smooth farewell, to die of cold and hunger. This is the very method
-of genteel society everywhere.
-
-The shrewd and remorseless avarice of the Chinese is illustrated in
-these volumes to perfection. From the emperor to the trader, all prey on
-the poor Tartars. Thus M. Huc meets a member of a great commercial house
-in Pekin, at Blue Town, and enters into a conversation with him. The
-merchant claims the missionary at once as one of his own trade, which,
-with Spartan brevity, he describes to consist in eating Tartars. “Eaters
-of Tartars!” exclaims good M. Huc, “what is the meaning of that?” to
-which the other answers, “Our trade—yours and mine—is to eat the
-Mongols—we by traffic, you by prayers.” On the missionary’s assuring
-him that he paid for every thing as he went along, and that his mission
-was purely disinterested, the merchant almost choked himself with
-laughing at the folly of a man who should venture into such a country
-for any other purpose than to prey upon its inhabitants; and then
-proceeds to describe the mysteries and moralities of the Wall street of
-China. We commend his system to our glorious army of shavers and
-capitalists. You see, he says, these Tartars “are simple as children
-when they come into our towns. They want to have every thing they
-see—they seldom have any money, but we come to their help. We give them
-goods on credit, and then, of course, they must pay rather high. When
-people take away goods without leaving the money, of course, there must
-be a little interest of thirty or forty per cent. Then, by degrees, the
-interest mounts up, and you come to compound interest; but that’s only
-with the Tartars. In China the laws forbid it; but we, who are obliged
-to run about the Land of Grass—we may well ask for a little extra
-profit. Isn’t that fair? A Tartar debit is never paid—it goes on from
-generation to generation; every year goes to get the interest, and it’s
-paid in sheep, oxen, camels, horses—all that is a great deal better
-than money. We get the beasts at a very low price, and we sell them at a
-very good price in the market. Oh! it’s a capital thing—a Tartar debt!
-It’s a mine of gold.” This is but one specimen of a Chinese “eater of
-Tartars.”
-
-M. Huc’s volumes are full of equally piquant sketches, and we know of
-few tourists who seize with such inevitable tact on incidents and
-peculiarities which illustrate the morals and the habits of whole
-classes of people. The work is one of the most original and novel yet
-published in “Appleton’s Popular Library of the Best Authors”—a
-collection of which no lover of readable books should be without.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, afterward Mistress
- Milton. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 18mo._
-
-It appears to us that this volume is fully as felicitous as “Lady
-Willoughby’s Diary.” Like that it is in the form of a journal, written
-in the orthography and style of the seventeenth century. The simplicity
-with which the whole is conceived and wrought out is exquisite. The idea
-of the book is taken from the well-known incident of Milton’s first
-courtship and marriage; and its charm consists in accounting for the
-disagreement between the couple on grounds of nature which do not appear
-in the bold statement of the fact. It is a delicious volume, full of the
-essential spirit of poetry, and pure, tender, simple and refined
-throughout.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _The Yellowplush Papers. By William M. Thackeray. New York: D.
- Appleton & Co. 1 vol. 18mo._
-
-This is one of the earliest and best of Thackeray’s delightful works. It
-is a sort of autobiography of a London footman, Charles Yellowplush,
-comprising very vigorous sketches of his various masters, and written in
-a style which inimitably combines shrewdness with vulgarity. The
-spelling alone is a work of genius. The portion relating to Mr. Deuceace
-has passages of great power and pathos as well as humor, and exhibits
-the utter lack of sentiment and principle, the hard demoniacal
-selfishness of a true London blood, with extraordinary closeness to the
-fact. “Mr. Yellowplush’s Ajew” and “Epistles to the Literati,” are also
-riotous with mirth. Bulwer Lytton’s coxcombry is caricatured in these
-last very ludicrously.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Putnam’s Semi-Monthly Library for Travelers and the Fireside.
- New York: George P. Putnam. 6 vols. 12mo._
-
-This is one of the cheapest and best edited literary enterprises ever
-started in the United States. It is published in semi-monthly volumes,
-each of which is printed in large type on fine white paper, contains
-some two hundred and fifty pages, and is placed at the low price of
-twenty-five cents a volume. Two volumes are given to prose and poetical
-comicalities, carefully selected, humorous cuts and all, from “Hood’s
-Own;” three volumes consist of capital selections from Dickens’
-Household Words, entitled “Home and Social Philosophy,” “The World Here
-and There,” and “Home Narratives;” and the last is an original
-production, written by Mr. Olmstead, and called, very aptly, “Walks and
-Talks of an American Farmer in England”—an exceedingly interesting
-book, in which the author gives, in a homely but expressive style, his
-experiences among the farming population of England. We trust that Mr.
-Putnam’s admirable plan will be fully carried out, and that his success
-will be as complete as his enterprise is commendable. The price is
-hardly one-third of the usual cost of American reprints of equal
-elegance of execution.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Lyra and Other Poems. By Alice Carey. New York: Redfield. 1
- vol. 12mo._
-
-We wish that we had sufficient space this month to do justice to the
-qualities of mind and character impressed on this beautiful volume; but
-we shall be compelled to defer an elaborate view of its merits. The
-first glance at its pages will reveal to the reader the extreme
-sensitiveness of the writer’s mind to all that is beautiful, and tender,
-and sublime, and the swift felicity with which she embodies the most
-evanescent shades of emotion, and the most subtle meanings of natural
-objects. We regret that so large a portion of the poems should be so sad
-in their tone, as Alice Carey’s genius is by no means bounded by the
-serious side of things, but can sing cheerily as well as mournfully. The
-present volume, however, has more “hearse-like airs than carols.”
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Isa; A Pilgrimage. By Caroline Chesebro’. New York: Redfield. 1
- vol. 12mo._
-
-This powerful story has a peculiar interest from its bearing on the
-fashionable ethics of certain novelists, who inculcate libertinism under
-the guise of liberality of thought and nobility of sentiment. The
-authoress shows the depraving influence of this philosophy on the
-noblest natures. Her insight into the workings of passion is remarkably
-bright and clear; and the vigorous movement of her narrative fastens the
-reader’s interest to the end. The chief fault of the book is its
-unrelieved intensity.
-
- * * * * *
-
- _Tales and Traditions of Hungary. By Theresa Pulszky. New York:
- Redfield. 1 vol. 12mo._
-
-To those who are interested in the recent struggles of the brave and
-unfortunate Hungarian people for national independence, this volume will
-be heartily welcome. It gives us glimpses into the manners of the
-people, and exhibits the strong foundations on which the national
-character rests. The work has been popular in England, and its
-authoress, now a resident in the United States, has republished it with
-additions. We hope it will meet with a large share of popular favor.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- LITERARY GOSSIP.
-
-
- “_The Household of Sir Thomas More._”
-
- “_The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell._”[27]
-
-
-Two of the most exquisitely finished and delightful works that have come
-before our eyes in years, have lately been reproduced from the English
-press by two of our New York publishers, without any hint in regard to
-authorship, or indeed to the aim and nature of the books, whether fact
-or fiction. Their names stand above, and the personages to whom they
-have relation will be recognized as the great and good chancellor of
-Henry VIII., barbarously and illegally put to death for his refusal to
-take the oath of supremacy, and for his opposition to the unjust divorce
-of Katharine and marriage of the king with Anne Boleyn; and as the
-unhappy wife of that greatest of poets, but sternest and most
-impracticable of husbands, John Milton. No hint, as I have observed, is
-given as to authorship, but it is I think impossible that we shall be
-mistaken in ascribing both to the same pen; for, although the wielder of
-that pen has chosen to maintain an absolute incognito, his mark—though
-I am not altogether clear that for _his_ we might not better read
-_her_—is not to be confounded with that of any other; nor do we
-recognize any other in England or America at all comparable to this.
-
-In both works we find the same delicate and delicious freshness, like
-the perfume from a rich clover-field after a summer shower; the same
-truthfulness to nature; the same intimate acquaintance with the spirit
-of the times, the character and circumstances of the supposed writers;
-the same natural and artless pathos; the same simplicity, and, if I may
-so speak of writing evidently fictitious, the same authenticity and
-genuineness of style.
-
-So perfect indeed is the skill and tact of the handling, and so
-admirably is the whole character of either work kept up, that it cannot
-be doubted, had they been put forth as genuine ancient memoirs,
-recovered by any accident you will, their success as forgeries would
-have been as complete as that very remarkable—but to me very
-dull—book, “The Amber Witch” of the Pastor Meinhold, or the
-supposititious letters of Shelley and other notables of the nineteenth
-century, which have recently created so much wonder and excitement in
-the literary world.
-
-What is to me, however, even more remarkable than the excellence of
-these chaste and unpretending little fictions, is the total absence of
-bruit or loud encomium with which they have issued both from the English
-and American presses; for in good sooth we have hardly heard them named,
-while they are in every respect the cleverest and most highly wrought,
-and in their own line the very best fictitious works that we have seen
-in years.
-
-Fiction they undoubtedly are, in some sense; but fiction of some such
-nature—far be it from me to write profanely—as the parables of our
-ever-blessed Saviour, and in their humbler sphere and lesser degree
-improvable to the same good end. There is not one line in either from
-which any mental alchemy could extract one grain of evil counsel or
-unholy thought; on the contrary, there is not one which prompts not to
-good works, and faith, and reliance in the mercy and justice of the Most
-High.
-
-After the Holy Bible itself, we are cognizant of no reading which may be
-put more fitly into the innocent hands of a beloved daughter on a Sunday
-afternoon, than either of these beautiful and touching little volumes;
-and to render the effects more certain, as more salutary, so far is
-there from being any effort or straining after religionism, moralizing
-or lay-preaching, so apt to frustrate their own ends, that the whole
-tenor of each flows so naturally and with so much probability forward,
-the thinkings, doings and speakings of the actors springing so
-spontaneously from the causes, that we read on enthralled, engrossed,
-with a tear often stealing to the eye, hardly able to believe that we
-are not perusing the real memoirs of real authors; and think nothing of
-the moral until the book is closed and the paramount interest ended.
-
-It is an evil sign in relation to the influence and tone of the
-press-criticism of any countries, when we find the vulgar absurdities
-and exaggerations of Cockton, the trivial and overdone flippancies of
-Albert Smith, or even the brilliant eccentricities of Thackeray,
-over-lauded to the skies, while such gems of nature, verisimilitude and
-poesy, as these little volumes, creep forward, almost unushered, timid
-and unknown to fame, into the gradual favor of the public.
-
-In one word, I know not nor conjecture to what dead or living author,
-male or female, of either hemisphere they may be attributed; but I do
-know there is not one—no! not Sir Walter himself—who would not derive
-fresh reputation from their authorship; and in order to substantiate
-this my opinion, I proceed to extract somewhat largely from the former
-work, which—although I have hitherto spoken of them in general terms,
-and in common, as cognate compositions, and I doubt not by the same
-pen—is by many degrees the abler and more perfect, as far as the more
-agreeable and fascinating volume.
-
-There is not a syllable in it which might not have been penned in her
-_libellus_ by sweet Margaret More, bravest and best of English
-daughters—not one, which did not probably, in some shape or other, pass
-through her living brain—not one, to make an end of it, which, as we
-read, we do not implicitly believe, for the moment, to be of her actual
-penning.
-
-There is, moreover, a fine, free humor, singularly characteristic of the
-age and the characters of “The Household of Sir Thomas More,” which is
-lacking, and which would perhaps have been out of place, in the “Maiden
-and Married Life of Mary Powell;” but which nevertheless beautifully
-relieves the soft and tender melancholy of the memoir.
-
-It is, however, in truthfulness, if I may not absolutely say truth, that
-Margaret’s libellus is most clearly superior; for we are constrained, in
-justice, to say that the portraiture of John Milton in his domestic
-relations, however great his public glory, is most overweening flattery,
-and that the happiness ascribed to the latter portion of “the married
-life of Mary Powell,” is as pure a fiction as ever emanated from the
-fancy of the wildest romancer.
-
-But to return to our “A Margarettâ More, libellus, quindecim annos nata,
-Chelseiæ inceptus;” here we have, in her own words, the incident—not
-accident—of its inception.
-
- “On asking Mr. Gunnel to what use I s^{d} put this fair
- _libellus_, he did suggest my making it a kinde of family
- register, wherein to note y^{e} more important of our domestic
- passages, whether of joy or griefe—my father’s journies and
- absences—the visits of learned men, theire notable sayings,
- etc. ‘You art smart at the pen, Mistress Margaret,’ he was
- pleased to say; ‘and I would humblie advise your journalling in
- y^{e} same fearless manner in the which you framed that letter
- which soe well pleased the Bishop of Exeter, that he sent you a
- Portugal piece. ’Twill be well to write it in English, which
- ’tis expedient for you not altogether to negleckt, even for the
- more honorable Latin.’
-
- “Methinks I am close upon womanhood. . . . . ‘Humblie advise,’
- quotha! to me, that hath so oft humblie sued for his pardon, and
- sometimes in vain.
-
- “’Tis well to make trial of Gonellus his ‘humble’ advice:
- albeit, our daylie course is so methodicall, that ’twill afford
- scant subject for y^{e} pen—_Vitam continet una dies_.”
-
-Here, again, we are introduced to the younger members of the household
-in their moments of home-merriment and simple occupations, as usual at
-that unsophisticated day, before fear or grief fell upon their happy
-circle—and what was ever writ more naturally and unaffectedly?
-
- “This morn, hinting to Bess that she was lacing herselfe too
- straightlie, she brisklie replyed, ‘One w^{d} think ’twere as
- great meritt to have a thick waiste as to be one of y^{e} earlie
- Christians!’
-
- “These humourous retorts are ever at her tongue’s end; and,
- albeit, as Jacky one day angrilie remarked, when she had beene
- teazing him, ‘Bess, thy witt is stupidnesse;’ yet, for one who
- talks soe much at random, no one can be more keene when she
- chooseth. Father sayd of her, half fondly, half apologeticallie
- to Erasmus. ‘Her wit has a fine subtletie that eludes you
- almoste before you have time to recognize it for what it really
- is.’ To which, Erasmus readilie assented, adding, that it had
- y^{e} rare meritt of playing less on persons than things, and
- never on bodilie defects.
-
- “Hum!—I wonder if they ever sayd as much in favour of me. I
- knowe, indeede, Erasmus calls me a forward girl! Alas! that may
- be taken in two senses.”
-
- * * * * *
-
- “Grievous work, overnighte, with y^{e} churning. Nought w^{d}
- persuade Gillian but that y^{e} creame was bewitched by Gammer
- Gurney, who was dissatisfyde last Friday with her dole, and
- hobbled away mumping and cursing. At alle events y^{e} butter
- w^{d} not come; but mother was resolute not to have soe much
- good creame wasted; soe sent for Bess and me, Daisy and Mercy
- Giggs, and insisted on our churning in turn till y^{e} butter
- came, if we sate up all nighte for’t. ’Twas a hard saying; and
- mighte have hampered her like as Jephtha his rash vow: howbeit,
- soe soone as she had left us, we turned it into a frolick, and
- sang Chevy Chase from end to end, to beguile time;
- ne’erthelesse, the butter w^{d} not come; soe then we grew
- sober, and, at y^{e} instance of sweete Mercy, chaunted y^{e}
- 119th Psalme; and, by the time we had attayned to ‘Lucerna
- pedibus,’ I heard y^{e} buttermilk separating and splashing in
- righte earnest. ’Twas neare midnighte, however; and Daisy had
- fallen asleep on y^{e} dresser. Gillian will ne’er be convinced
- but that our Latin brake the spell.”
-
-A few pages farther, we are let into the secret of the who, and the
-wherefore, of the aforesaid merry damsels, “Daisy and Bess, and Mercy
-Giggs, and I,” who are to be our delectable companions through many a
-mirthful, many a melancholy page.
-
- “As we rose from table, I noted Argus pearcht on y^{e}
- window-sill, eagerlie watching for his dinner, which he looketh
- for as punctualie as if he c^{d} tell the diall; and to please
- the good, patient bird, till the scullion broughte him his mess
- of garden-stuff, I fetched him some pulse, which he took from
- mine hand, taking good heede not to hurt me with his sharpe
- beak. While I was feeding him, Erasmus came up, and asked me
- concerning Mercy Giggs; and I tolde him how that she was a
- friendlesse orphan, to whom deare father afforded protection and
- the run of y^{e} house; and tolde him of her gratitude, her
- meekness, her patience, her docilitie, her aptitude for alle
- goode works and alms-deeds; and how, in her little chamber, she
- improved eache spare moment in y^{e} way of studdy and prayer.
- He repeated ‘Friendlesse? she cannot be called friendlesse, who
- hath More for her protector, and his children for companions;’
- and then woulde heare more of her parent’s sad story. Alsoe,
- would heare somewhat of Rupert Allington, and how father gained
- his law-suit. Alsoe, of Daisy, whose name he tooke to be y^{e}
- true abbreviation for Margaret, but I tolde him how that my
- step-sister, and Mercy, and I, being all three of a name, and I
- being alwaies called Meg, we had in sport given one the
- significative of her characteristic virtue, and the other that
- of y^{e} French Marguerite, which may indeed be rendered either
- pearl or daisy. And Chaucer, speaking of our English daisy,
- saith
-
- ‘Si douce est la Marguerite.’”
-
-Next, a little further yet, we have dear Margaret’s thoughts upon
-herself and her own attractiveness—
-
- “A glance at the anteceding pages of this libellus me-sheweth
- poor Will Roper at y^{e} season his love-fitt for me was at its
- height. He troubleth me with it no longer, nor with his
- religious disquietations. Hard study of the law hath filled his
- head with other matters, and made him infinitely more rationall,
- and by consequents, more agreeable. ’Twas one of those
- preferences young people sometimes manifest, themselves know
- neither why nor wherefore, and are shamed, afterwards, to be
- reminded of. I’m sure I shall ne’er remind him. There was
- nothing in me to fix a rational or passionate regard. I have
- neither Bess’s witt nor white teeth, nor Daisy’s dark eyes, nor
- Mercy’s dimple. A plain-favoured girl, with changefule
- spiritts—that’s all.”
-
-And within but a brief space we find her much in error, as to its
-degree, and its effect on William Roper, which she records as thus in
-the libellus.
-
- “Soe my fate is settled. Who knoweth at sunrise what will chance
- before sunsett? No; the Greeks and Romans mighte speake of
- chance and of fate, but we must not. Ruth’s _hap_ was to light
- on y^{e} field of Boaz; but what she thought casual, y^{e} Lord
- had contrived.
-
- “Firste, he gives me y^{e} marmot. Then, the marmot dies. Then,
- I, having kept y^{e} creature soe long, and being naturalie
- tender, must cry a little over it. Then Will must come in and
- find me drying mine eyes. Then he must, most unreasonablie,
- suppose that I c^{d} not have loved the poor animal for its own
- sake soe much as for his; and thereupon, falle a love-making in
- such down righte earneste, that I, being alreadie somewhat
- upset, and knowing ’twoulde please father . . . . and hating to
- be perverse . . . . and thinking much better of Will since he
- hath studied soe hard, and given soe largelie to y^{e} poor, and
- left off broaching his heteroclite opinions. . . . I say, I
- supposed it must be soe, some time or another, soe ’twas noe use
- hanging back for ever and ever, soe now there’s an end, and I
- pray God give us a quiet life.
-
- “Noe one w^{d} suppose me reckoning on a quiet life if they knew
- how I’ve cried alle this forenoon, ever since I got quit of
- Will, by father’s carrying him off to Westminster. He’ll tell
- father, I know, as they goe along in the barge, or else coming
- back, which will be soon enow, though I’ve ta’en no heed of the
- hour. I wish ’twere cold weather, and that I had a sore throat
- or stiff neck, or somewhat that might reasonablie send me a-bed,
- and keep me there till to-morrow morning. But I’m quite well,
- and ’tis the dog-days, and cook is thumping the rolling-pin on
- the dresser, and dinner is being served, and here comes father.”
-
- * * * * *
-
-But with this extract the happy days of the household are ended; doubts,
-darkness, dangers and the shadows of the valley of death henceforth
-begin to close around and above them; and if, as the old Greeks and
-Romans deemed, a good man struggling nobly in the toils of necessity
-were a spectacle for the eyes of gods, then were the sufferings of Sir
-Thomas and his household of the grandest and most glorious.
-
-Now, he has thwarted the uxorious, cruel tyrant, offended unto death the
-ambitious Anne Boleyn, and brought his head into jeopardy by denying the
-supremacy of a layman in affairs ecclesiastical.
-
-And lo! how gently, and with how exquisite a harmony of circumstances,
-he breaks to his favorite child his own distinct anticipation of his
-coming doom.
-
- “Ever since father’s speech to us in y^{e} pavillion, we have
- been of one heart and one soul; neither have any of us said that
- aught of the things we possessed were our own, but we have had
- all things in common. And we have eaten our meat with gladness
- and singleness of heart.
-
- “This afternoon, expressing to father my gratefull sense of our
- present happiness. . . . . ‘Yes, Meg,’ returns he, ‘I too am
- deeply thankful for this breathing space.’
-
- “‘Do you look on it as no more, then?’ I sayd.
-
- “‘As no more, Meg: we shall have a thunder-clap by-and-by. Look
- out on the Thames. See how unwontedlie clear it is, and how low
- the swallows fly. . . . . . . How distinctlie we see the green
- sedges on Battersea bank, and their reflected images in the
- water. We can almost discern the features of those poor knaves
- digging in the cabbage gardens, and hear ’em talk, so still is
- y^{e} air. Have you ne’er before noted these signs?’
-
- “‘A storm is brewing,’ I sayd.
-
- “‘Aye, we shall have a lightening-flash anon. So still, Meg, is
- also our atmosphere just now. God is giving us a breathing
- space, as he did to the Egyptians before the plague of hail,
- that they might gather their live stock within doors. Let us
- take for example them that believed and obeyed him; and improve
- this holy pause.’
-
- “Just at this moment, a few heavy drops fell agaynst the window
- pane, and were seen by both. Our eyes met; and I felt a silent
- pang.
-
- “‘Five days before the Passover,’ resumed father, ‘all seemed as
- still and quiet as we are now; but Jesus knew his hour was at
- hand. E’en while he yet spake familiarly among the people, there
- came a sound from heaven, and they that stood by said it
- thundered; but _he_ knew it for the voice of his dear Father.
- Let us, in like manner, when the clap cometh, recognize in it
- the voice of God, and not be afraid with any amazement.’”
-
-Again she visits him in the tower, by especial favor, after the blow has
-descended, and his fate, all but the doom, is fixed, and so, “ye who
-have tears prepare to shed them now.”
-
- “. . . I minded to put y^{e} haircloth and cord under my
- farthingale, and one or two of y^{e} smaller books in my pouch,
- as alsoe some sweets and suckets such as he was used to love.
- Will and Bonvisi were awaiting for me, and deare Bess, putting
- forthe her head from her chamber door, cries pitiously, ‘Tell
- him, dear Meg, tell him . . . ’twas never soe sad to me to be
- sick . . . and that I hope . . . I pray . . . the time may come
- . . .’ then falls back swooning into Dancey’s arms, whom I leave
- crying heartilie over her, and hasten below to receive the
- confused medley of messages sent by every other member of y^{e}
- house. For mine owne part, I was in such a tremulous succussion
- as to be scarce fitt to stand or goe, but time and the tide will
- noe man bide, and, once having taken boat, the cool river air
- allayed my fevered spiritts; onlie I coulde not for awhile get
- rid of y^{e} impression of poor Dancey crying over Bess in her
- deliquium.
-
- “I think none o’ the three opened our lips before we reached
- Lambeth, save in y^{e} Reach, Will cried to y^{e} steersman,
- ‘Look you run us not a ground,’ in a sharper voyce than I e’er
- heard from him. After passing y^{e} Archbishop’s palace, whereon
- I gazed full ruefullie, good Bonvisi beganne to mention some
- rhymes he had founde writ with a diamond on one of his
- window-panes at Crosby House, and would know were they father’s!
- and was’t y^{e} chamber father had used to sleep in? I tolde him
- it was, but knew nought of y^{e} distich, though ’twas like enow
- to be his. And thence he went on to this and that, how that
- father’s cheerfulle, funny humour never forsook him, nor his
- brave heart quelled, instancing his fearless passage through the
- Traitor’s Gate, asking his neighbours whether _his_ gait was
- that of a traditor; and, on being sued by the porter for his
- upper garment, giving him his _cap_, which he sayd was
- uppermost. And other such quips and passages, which I scarce
- noted nor smiled at, soe sorry was I of cheer.
-
- “At length we stayed rowing: Will lifted me out, kissed me,
- heartened me up, and, indeede, I was in better heart then,
- having been quietlie in prayer a good while. After some few
- forms, we were led through sundrie turns and passages, and, or
- ever I was aware, I found myselfe quit of my companions, and in
- father’s arms.
-
- “We both cried a little at first; I wonder I wept noe more, but
- strength was given me in that hour. As soone as I coulde, I
- lookt him in the face, and he lookt at me, and I was beginning
- to note his hollow cheeks, when he sayd, ‘Why, Meg, you are
- getting freckled:’ soe that made us both laugh. He sayd, ‘You
- should get some freckle-water of the lady that sent me here;
- depend on it, she hath washes and tinctures in plenty; and after
- all, Meg, she’ll come to the same end at last, and be as the
- lady all bone and skin, whoso ghastlie legends used to scare
- thee soe when thou wert a child. Don’t tell that story to thy
- children; ’twill hamper ’em with unsavory images of death. Tell
- them of heavenlie hosts awaiting to carry off good men’s souls
- in fire-bright chariots, with horses of the sun, to a land where
- they shall never more be surbated and weary, but walk on cool,
- springy turf and among myrtle trees, and eat fruits that shall
- heal while they delight them, and drink the coldest of cold
- water, fresh from y^{e} river of life, and have space to stretch
- themselves, and bathe, and leap, and run, and whichever way they
- look, meet Christ’s eyes smiling on them. Lord, Meg, who would
- live that could die? One mighte as lief be an angel shut up in a
- nutshell as bide here. Fancy how gladsome the sweet spirit would
- be to have the shell cracked! no matter by whom; the king, or
- king’s mistress. . . Let her dainty foot but set him free, he’d
- say, ‘For this release, much thanks. . . . And how goes the
- court, Meg?’
-
- “‘In faith, father, never better. . . . There is nothing else
- there, I hear, but dancing and disporting.’
-
- “‘Never better, child, sayst thou? Alas, Meg, it pitieth me to
- consider what misery, poor soul, she will shortlie come to.
- These dances of hers will prove such dances that she will spurn
- our heads off like footballs; but ’twill not be long ere her
- head will dance the like dance. Mark you, Meg, a man that
- restraineth not his passions, hath always something cruel in his
- nature, and if there be a woman toward, she is sure to suffer
- heaviest for it, first or last. . . . Seek Scripture precedent
- for’t . . . you’ll find it as I say. Stony as death, cruel as
- the grave. Those Pharisees that there, to a man, convicted of
- sin, yet haled a sinning woman before the Lord, and woulde fain
- have seen the dogs lick up her blood. When they lick up mine,
- deare Meg, let not your heart be troubled, even though they
- shoulde hale thee to London Bridge to see my head stuck on a
- pole. Think, most dear’st, I shall then have more reason to weep
- for thee than thou for me. But there’s noe weeping in heaven,
- and bear in mind, Meg, distinctlie, that if they send me
- thither, ’twill be for obeying the law of God rather than of
- men. And after alle, we live not in the bloody, barbarous old
- times of crucifyings and flayings, and immerseings in cauldrons
- of boiling oil. One stroke, and the affair’s done. A clumsy
- chirurgeon would be longer extracting a tooth. We have oft
- agreed that the little birds struck down by the kite and hawk
- suffer less than if they were reserved to a naturall death.
- There is one sensible difference, indeed, between us. In our
- cases, preparation is a-wanting.’
-
- “Hereon, I minded me to slip off y^{e} haircloth and rope, and
- give the same to him, along with the books and suckets, all
- which he hid away privatelie, making merry at the last.
-
- “‘’Twoulde tell well before the council,’ quoth he, ‘that on
- searching the prison-cell of Sir Thomas More, there was founde,
- flagitiouslie and mysteriouslie laid up . . . a piece of
- barley-sugar!’
-
- “Then we talked over sundry home matters; and anon, having now
- both of us attayned unto an equable and chastened serenite of
- mind, which needed not any false shows of mirth to hide y^{e}
- naturall complexion of, he sayth, ‘I believe, Meg, they that
- have put me here ween they have done me a high displeasure; but
- I assure thee on my faith, mine own good daughter, that if it
- had not beene for my wife, and you, my dear good children, I
- would faine have been closed up, long ere this, in as straight a
- room, and straighter too.’”
-
-While he is yet in prison, and his sentence yet unpassed, although
-certain, Margaret—for she has now been for some time the wife of good
-William Roper—loses her baby; for when do sorrows ever fall singly—can
-any thing than this be more beautiful, more true?
-
- “Midnight.
-
- “The wild wind is abroad, and, methinketh, _nothing else_. Sure,
- how it rages through our empty courts! In such a season, men,
- beasts, and fowls cower beneath y^{e} shelter of their rocking
- walls, yet almost fear to trust them. Lord, I know that thou
- canst give the tempest double force, but do not, I beseech thee!
- Oh! have mercy on the frail dwelling and the ship at sea.
-
- “Dear little Bill hath ta’en a feverish attack. I watch beside
- him while his nurse sleeps. Earlie in the night his mind
- wandered, and he told me of a pretty ring-streaked poney noe
- bigger than a bee that had golden housings and barley-sugar
- eyes; then dozed, but ever and anon kept starting up, crying
- ‘Mammy, dear!’ and softlie murmured, ‘Oh,’ when he saw I was by.
- At length I gave him my fore-finger to hold, which kept him ware
- of my presence without speaking, but presentlie he stares hard
- toward y^{e} foot of the bed, and says fearfullie, ‘Mother, why
- hangs yon hatchet in the air, with its sharp edge turned towards
- us!’ I rise, move the lamp, and say, ‘Do you see it now?’ He
- sayth, ‘No? not now,’ and closes his eyes. After a good space,
- during the which I hoped he slept, he says in quite an altered
- tone, most like unto soft, sweet music, ‘There’s a pretty little
- cherub there now, alle head and noe body, with two little wings
- aneath his chin; but, for alle he’s soe pretty, he is just like
- dear Gaffer, and seems to know me . . . . . and he’ll have a
- body agayn, too, I believe, by-and-by . . . . . . . Mother,
- mother, tell Hobbinol there’s such a gentle lamb in heaven!’ And
- soe, slept.
-
- * * * * *
-
- “He’s gone, my pretty . . . . . ! slipt through my fingers like
- a bird! upfled to his own native skies, and yet whenas I think
- on him, I can not choose but weepe . . . . . Such a guileless
- little lamb! . . . My Billy-bird! his mother’s owne heart. They
- are alle wondrous kind to me . . . .
-
- “How strange that a little child shoulde be permitted to suffer
- soe much payn, when of such is the kingdom of heaven! But ’tis
- onlie transient, whereas a mother makes it permanent, by
- thinking it over and over agayn. One lesson it taughte us
- betimes, that a natural death is not, necessarilie the most
- easie. We must alle die. . . . . . As poor Patteson was used to
- say, ‘The greatest king that ever was made, must bed at last
- with shovel and spade.’ . . . . . and I’d sooner have my Billy’s
- baby deathbed than King Harry’s, or Nan Boleyn’s either, however
- manie years they may yet carry matters with a high hand. Oh, you
- ministers of evill, whoever you be, visible or invisible, you
- shall not build a wall between my God and me . . . . . . I’ve
- something within me, grows stronger and stronger, as times grow
- more and more evill; some woulde call it resolution, but
- methinketh ’tis faith.”
-
-And then comes the terrible catastrophe, the glorious devotion, the
-patient martyrdom, the heroic womanhood. Throughout the whole of this
-exquisite little volume, the interest, the tone, the vigor, the pathos,
-the poetry, the sublimity, is ever on the ascendant; and in this
-splendid passage it reaches its climax. Almost as we read, we see what
-passeth; altogether we feel it to our own heart’s core; scarcely can we
-refrain to accept it as fact not fiction. What writer of any day has
-effected much more than this?
-
- “And then came ye frightfulle sentence.
-
- “Yes, yes, my soul, I know; there were saints of old sawn
- asunder. Men of whom the world was not worthy.
-
- “. . . . . . Then he spake unto ’em his mind, how that after
- lifelong studdy, he could never find that a layman mighte be
- head of the church. And bade his judges and accusers farewell;
- hoping that like as St. Paul was present and consenting unto St.
- Stephen’s death and yet both were now holy saints in heaven, soe
- he and they might speedilie meet there, joint heirs of
- e’erlasting salvation.
-
- “Meantime poor Bess and Cecilie, spent with grief and long
- waiting, were for once carried home by Heron, or ever father
- returned to his prison. Was’t less feeling, or more strength of
- body, enabled me to bide at the Tower wharf with Dancey? God
- knoweth. They brought him back by water; my poor sisters must
- have passed him. . . . The first thing I saw was the ax, _turned
- with its edge toward him_—my first note of his sentence. I
- forct my way through the crowd . . . . . some one laid a cold
- hand on my arm; ’twas poor Patteson, soe changed I scarce knew
- him, with a rosary of gooseberries he kept running through his
- fingers. He sayth, ‘Bide your time, Mistress Meg; when he comes
- past, I’ll make a passage for ye’ . . . . . ‘Oh, brother,
- brother! what ailed thee to refuse the oath? _I’ve_ taken it!’
- In another moment. ‘Now, mistress, now!’ and flinging his arms
- right and left, made a breach through which I darted, fearlesse
- of bills and halberds, and did fling mine arms about father’s
- neck. He cries, ‘My Meg!’ and hugs me to him as though our very
- souls shoulde grow together. He sayth, ‘Bless thee, bless thee!
- Enough, enough, my child; what mean ye, to weep and break mine
- heart? Remember, though I die innocent, ’tis not without the
- will of God, who could send ’s angels to rescue me if ’twere
- best; therefore possess your soul in patience. Kiss them all for
- me, thus and thus’ . . . . . . soe gave me back into Dancey’s
- arms, the guards about him alle weeping; but I coulde not thus
- lose sight of him forever; soe, after a minute’s pause did make
- a second rush, brake away from Dancey, clave to father agayn,
- and agayn they had pitie on me, and made pause while I hung upon
- his neck. This time there were large drops standing on his dear
- brow; and the big tears were swelling into his eyes. He
- whispered, ‘Meg, for Christ’s sake don’t unman me; thou’lt not
- deny my last request?’ I sayd, ‘Oh! no;’ and at once loosened
- mine arms. ‘God’s blessing be with you,’ he sayth with a last
- kiss. I could not help crying, ‘My father! my father!’ ‘The
- chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!’ he vehementlie
- whispers, pointing upward with soe passionate a regard, that I
- look up, almost expecting a beatific vision; and when I turn
- about agayn, he’s gone, and I have no more sense, nor life till
- I find myself agayn in mine own chamber, my sisters chafing my
- hands.
-
- * * * * *
-
- “Alle’s over now . . . . . they’ve done theire worst, and yet I
- live. There were women coulde stand aneath y^{e} cross. The
- Maccabees’ mother—. . . . . yes, my soul, yes; I know—naught
- but unpardoned sin . . . . . The chariot of Israel.
-
- * * * * *
-
- “Dr. Clement hath beene with us. Sayth he went up as blythe as a
- bridegroom to be clothed upon with mortality.
-
- “Rupert stoode it alle out. Perfect love casteth out feare. Soe
- did his.
-
- * * * * *
-
- . . . . . . . “My most precious treasure is this deare billet,
- writ with a coal; the last thing he sett his hand to, wherein he
- sayth, ‘I never liked your manner toward me better than when you
- kissed me last.’
-
- “They have let us bury his poor mangled trunk; but, as sure as
- there’s a sun in heaven, I’ll have his head!—before another sun
- hath risen, too. If wise men wont speed me, I’ll e’en content me
- with a fool.
-
- “I doe think men, for ye most part, be cowards in theire hearts
- . . . . moral cowards. Here and there, we find one like father,
- and like Socrates, and like . . . . . . this and that one, I
- mind not theire names just now; but in y^{e} main, me thinketh
- they lack the moral courage of woman. Maybe, I’m unjust to ’em
- just now, being crost.
-
- * * * * *
-
- . . . . . . “I lay down, but my heart was waking. Soon after the
- first cock crew, I hearde a pebble cast agaynst my lattice, knew
- ye signall, rose, dressed, stole softlie down and let myself
- out. I knew the touch of y^{e} poor fool’s fingers; his teeth
- were chattering, ’twixt cold and fear, yet he laught aneath his
- breath as he caught my arm and dragged me after him, whispering,
- ‘Fool and fayr lady will cheat ’em yet.’ At the stairs lay a
- wherry with a couple of boatmen, and one of ’em stepping up to
- me, cries, ‘Alas for ruth, Mistress Meg, what is’t ye do? Art
- mad to go on this errand?’ I sayed, ‘I shall be mad if I go not,
- and succeed too—put me in, and push off.’
-
- “We went down the river quietlie enow—at length reach London
- Bridge stairs. Patteson, starting up, says, ‘Bide ye all as ye
- are,’ and springs aland and runneth up to the bridge. Anon
- returns, and sayth, ‘Now, mistress, alle’s readie . . . . .
- readier than ye wist . . . . . come up quickly, for the coast’s
- clear.’ Hobson (for ’twas he) helps me forth, saying, ‘God speed
- ye, mistress . . . . . Gin I dared, I woulde goe with ye.’
- . . . . Thought I, there be others in that case.
-
- Nor lookt I up, till aneath the bridge-gate, when casting upward
- a fearsome look, I beheld y^{e} dark outline of the ghastly yet
- precious relic; and, falling into a tremor, did wring my hands
- and exclaim, ‘Alas, alas, that head hath lain full manie a time
- in my lap, woulde God, woulde God it lay there now!’ When, o’
- suddain, I saw the pole tremble and sway toward me; and
- stretching forth my apron, I did in an extasy of gladness, pity,
- and horror, catch its burthen as it fell. Patteson, shuddering,
- yet grinning, cries under his breath, ‘Managed I not well,
- mistress? Let’s speed away with our theft, for fools and their
- treasures are soon parted; but I think not they’ll follow hard
- after us, neither, for there are well-wishers to us on the
- bridge. I’ll put ye into the boat, and then say, God speed ye,
- lady, with your burthen.’
-
-If I have quoted very largely, it is from the assurance that the best
-criticism of the author is to let him be heard for himself; and that his
-own words must needs be far more interesting, as more touching, than any
-criticism, how eloquent or analytical soever; much more, than a mere
-string of laudatory comments—for in this instance criticism is limited
-to pure laudation—intended to illustrate, and link together in
-something of connection, the choicest passages of this choice volume.
-
-With the last page of the book this article shall close, and the writer
-rests right confident that he has proved his position and won his case,
-by the evidence; that the Libellus, a Margarettâ More, is the book of
-the season, and one that must endure for all seasons, so long as the
-English tongue, and the fame of one of its brightest ornaments,
-endureth.
-
-At another time, Mary Powell may furnish us with a theme for more varied
-disquisition, if more limited quotation.
-
- “Flow on, bright shining Thames. A good brave man hath walked
- aforetime on your margent, himself as bright, and useful, and
- delightsome as be you, sweet river. And like you, he never
- murmured; like you, he upbore the weary, and gave drink to the
- thirsty, and reflected heaven in his face. I’ll not swell your
- full current with any more fruitless tears. There’s a river
- whose streams make glad the city of our God. He now rests beside
- it. Good Christian folks, as they hereafter pass this spot,
- upborne on thy gentle tide, will, maybe, point this way, and
- say—‘There dwelt Sir Thomas More;’ but whether they doe or not,
- _vox populi_ is a very inconsiderable matter, for the majority
- are evil, and ‘_the people_ sayd, Let him be crucified!’ Who
- would live on theire breath? They hailed St. Paul as Jupiter,
- and then stoned him and cast him out of the city, supposing him
- to be dead. Theire favourite of to-day may, for what they care,
- goe hang himself to-morrow in his surcingle. Thus it must be
- while the world lasts; and the very racks and scrues wherewith
- they aim to overcome the nobler spiritt, onlie test and reveal
- its power of exaltation above the heaviest gloom of
- circumstance.
-
- _“Interfecistis, interfecistis hominem omnium Anglorum
- optimum._”
-
------
-
-[27] Published respectively by Charles Scribner and Appleton Bros. New
-York: 1852.
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- GRAHAM’S SMALL-TALK.
-
-
-Held in his idle moments, with his Readers, Correspondents and Exchanges.
-
-
-Our New Suit.—It is not our purpose to show off—to take airs, to be
-proud, to refuse to speak to anybody, simply because our new suit has
-come home, and we are giving it its first holyday airing—but our new
-type, our new coat which covers it, and the very superior quality of our
-whole rig is rather stared at, we know—or we should not mention the
-fact. Excessive modesty has been our weakness—it is the besetting
-frailty of most Magazine publishers, as is fully evinced in their
-prospectuses. Humility is tenderly nursed and taken out riding, until it
-has a consumptive look, and is pronounced “too good for this world.” Yet
-it is the fashion. Nobody—least of all Godey—or Sartain or
-Harper—presumes to say a word in self-praise—then why should Graham
-set himself up and play Captain Grand, even if he is a little stouter
-and haler, and has a greater extent of territory over which he can gaze
-like Selkirk,
-
- “Monarch of all he surveys;”
-
-and like Alexander, sigh for “more worlds to conquer.” Why should _he_
-be proud? That question rather startles us; but the answer is at
-hand—because he has the greatest Magazine in the world—and the
-prettiest girls, and the _most of ’em—to read it_! It is estimated that
-60,000 beautiful women are in love with _Graham_—the Magazine, of
-course—and Graham is as proud as Lucifer about it; and Graham prides
-himself, too, that his subscribers _read_ his book, and are not
-satisfied with the picture books, which in younger days had so many
-charms for innocent eyes; when the whale in the spelling-book spouted
-hugely, even to the top of the page, and the camel had a hump that was a
-wonder—when stale love-stories and most sickly verse, with fragments
-disjointed of the veriest cold meats of literature were a marvel—when
-homilies upon graces, made up of whalebones—the last agony of fashion
-which it is agony to look at—were food for dreams.
-
-We hold you by the button, reader, merely to mention the various
-excellencies which crown the feast; that our _new type_ and finer paper,
-are worthy of special mention. Whether anybody ever had such type—or
-paper—or ever will have, is not the question; for in these days of
-special self-sacrifice, it will not do to be too modest, but—Our book
-is Grand for June.
-
- * * * * *
-
-The Fast Press.—No allusion is made in the title of this article to the
-extremely fast press which prints Graham—nor to the press which is fast
-upon the International Magazine—nor ironically to the slow teams which
-drive some of our cotemporaries with their small editions dismally
-along; nor yet to the American Press—which is rather progressive—but
-to _Hoe’s_ immortal invention—the which, in compliment to the Press of
-the Union, we illustrate in our present and next issues in our usual
-happy manner. The entire establishment of Col. Hoe is to be set forth in
-pictured beauty before the readers of Graham in the June and July
-numbers.
-
-We have paid the artists $400 for the drawings and engravings, and
-merely mention the fact that those who suppose _first rate wood
-engravings_ are cheap, may take breath and reform their calculations. No
-indifferent old block, is ever put off upon our readers as a choice and
-rare engraving—nor do we submit to any imposition from engravers. Our
-work _must_ be of the first order—or it is not ours. Some that we have
-rejected, we see elsewhere, and the publishers appear to be proud of
-their bargains—and cry, excelsior!
-
- * * * * *
-
-“Graham for May, with twelve engravings and 112 pages of reading, is
-already on our table—the gem of the season. Long live Graham. Why don’t
-such a clever fellow get married? That’s what we want to know—and so do
-the ladies. Then, friend Graham, you would not be troubled so much with
-your _batch_ of ‘love letters.’”—_Gazette, Hallowell, Me._
-
-The fact is, we have been thinking of it, for—the last thirteen
-years—but every month we have to get up a very beautiful woman for the
-Magazine, and we are always head over ears in love with a new feature.
-Some of these times we shall settle down quietly and be “a love of a
-husband”—see if we don’t!
-
- * * * * *
-
-“We think that Godey will have to acknowledge himself beaten this month
-by Graham; but we wish to ask Graham two questions, and hope he will
-answer truthfully. The first is, if he is a married man: the second, who
-engraved the ‘Jolly Good Fellows?’”—_Southern Argus, Houston, Miss._
-
-Godey says his “Book” is a “_peculiar_ Magazine in all
-respects—containing matter that does not appear in other magazines, and
-all other matters that do.” So you see, friend Argus, that he dodges the
-question, which is what we never did. Devereux engraved the “Jolly Good
-Fellows.” As to being married—that is another question!
-
- * * * * *
-
-Our friend Duval, of “The Phœnix,” Camden, Ala., throws up his cap and
-hurras for Graham, and says we are “ahead of all cotemporaries, and
-understand our business.” It is very evident from the following from the
-Phœnix, that the _merchants_ of that place do _not_. “Persons at a
-distance, looking over the columns of our Camden papers might very
-reasonably come to the conclusion that we have no merchants or business
-men in Camden. Well, that is pretty near the truth—we have none who
-_fully_ understand their _business_, or they would more frequently make
-use of the columns of their village papers, to inform the country people
-that they _want_ their patronage. Our merchants seem to think that all
-their customers are in town, and _see_ the arrival of their new goods,
-never thinking, perhaps, that their country customers wait to hear the
-news.”
-
-How any man, who has a desire to do business, can overlook the manifest
-advantage of letting people _know_ he has goods to sell, is a
-marvel—and that large wholesale dealers in our Atlantic cities should
-overlook the advantage of advertising in the distant papers of business
-towns, is to be set down as a piece of stupidity only equaled by the
-tortoise, which shuts its shell that it may not be seen. _Wherever your
-customers are likely to come from—there should be your advertising
-cards._
-
- * * * * *
-
-
-
-
- HOUR OF FOND DELIGHT.
-
-
-[Illustration: Hour of Fond Delight.]
-
- COMPOSED BY ALEXANDER LEE.
-
- Presented by LEE & WALKER, 188 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.
-
-[Illustration: musical score]
-
-[Illustration: musical score]
-
- What an hour is this,
- Joy and love o’erflowing,
- Ev’ry sense of bliss,
- O’er our feelings throwing;
- Thy sweet image, love,
- Round my heart is twining,
- Brightly from above,
- The silver moon is shining:
-
- Moonlight! Moonlight!
- Hour of ev’ry fond delight!
- Moonlight! Moonlight!—
- Hour of ev’ry fond delight!
-
- SECOND VERSE.
-
- All is silent now,
- Philomel thou hearest,
- From yon cypress bough,
- Sounds to lovers dearest;
- Daylight be for those
- Who for wealth aspiring,
- Give me sweet repose,
- While the moon is shining.
-
- Moonlight! &c.
-
- * * * * *
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic
-spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious typesetting and
-punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Other errors have
-been corrected as noted below. For illustrations, some caption text may
-be missing or incomplete due to condition of the originals available for
-preparation of the eBook.
-
-In the first article _NEW YORK PRINTING MACHINE, PRESS, AND SAW WORKS._,
-the footnote was added to clarify the meaning of a sentence which may be
-confusing to some modern day readers.
-
-page 592, believed to the real.” ==> believed to be real.”
-page 600, The butcher’s looked: a ==> The butchers looked: a
-page 609, in livery where already ==> in livery were already
-page 656, in them, and yet its all ==> in them, and yet it’s all
-page 659, queen, its from the ==> queen, it’s from the
-page 665, By Caroline Chesboro’. ==> By Caroline Chesebro’.
-
-[End of Graham’s Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6, June 1852]
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6,
-June 1852, by Various
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1852 ***
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-
-Project Gutenberg's Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6, June 1852, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6, June 1852
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: George R. Graham
-
-Release Date: August 30, 2019 [EBook #60202]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S MAGAZINE, JUNE 1852 ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-from page images generously made available by Google Books
-
-
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-
-</pre>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.9em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.</p>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'><span class='sc'>Vol. XL.</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;June, 1852. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;No. 6.</p>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>Contents</p>
-
-<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 25em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 1em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0' colspan='2'><span class='bold'><span style='font-size:larger'>Fiction, Literature and Articles</span></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#new'>New York Printing Machine, Press, and Saw Works</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#edi'>Edith Morton</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#ferd'>Ferdinand De Candolles</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#rai'>The Ghost-Raiser</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#tom'>Tom Moore—The Poet of Erin</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#life'>A Life of Vicissitudes</a> <span style='font-size:smaller'>(continued)</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#two'>Two Ways to Manage</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#yarn'>The Master’s Mate’s Yarn</a> <span style='font-size:smaller'>(concluded)</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#age'>The First Age</a> <span style='font-size:smaller'>(concluded)</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#tit'>Titus Quinctius Flamininus</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#nell'>Nelly Nowlan’s Experience</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#rev'>Review of New Books</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#lit'>Literary Gossip</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#talk'>Graham’s Small-Talk</a></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 25em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 1em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle0' colspan='2'><span class='bold'><span style='font-size:larger'>Poetry and Music</span></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#fare'>A Farewell</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#lin'>Lines, Suggested by Rogers’ Statue of Ruth</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#what'>What Dost Thou Work For?</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#apr'>April</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#woo'>I Woo Thee, Spring</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#song'>Song</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#phan'>The Phantom Field</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#shak'>Shakspeare</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#act'>The Actual</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#ple'>The Pledge</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#girl'>To A Beautiful Girl</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#orp'>The Orphan’s Hymn</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#rel'>Religion</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#our'>Our Minnie’s Dream</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#sonn'>Sonnet—Pleasure</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#toad'>To Adhemar</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'><a href='#hour'>Hour of Fond Delight</a></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.3em;'><a href='#notes'>Transcriber’s Notes</a> can be found at the end of this eBook.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk100'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i001.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:85%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>J. Hayter</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style='font-size:smaller'>W. H. Mote</span><br/></p> <br/><span class='bold'>ISADORE.</span><br/>Graham’s Magazine, 1852.
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk101'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>THE BROOME STREET MANUFACTORIES.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;font-size:1.9em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk102'/>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'><span class='sc'>Vol. XL.</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PHILADELPHIA, JUNE, 1852. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class='sc'>No. 6.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='tbk103'/>
-
-<div><h1 class='nobreak'><a id='new'></a>NEW YORK PRINTING MACHINE, PRESS, AND SAW WORKS.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-weight:bold;'>R. HOE &amp; CO.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i003.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>GOLD STREET WAREHOUSES.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Had it been possible for any human intellect, at the
-close of the eighteenth century, or the commencement
-of this its nineteenth successor, so to grasp and
-comprehend the development of science, its expansion
-and diffusion, and, above all, its application to the
-every-day wants and conveniences of ordinary human
-life, as to predict, only fifty years beforehand, any one
-of the almost incredible marvels which have long
-ceased to move especial wonder, as being now established
-facts, witnessed by all eyes, and of occurrence
-at all hours, the owner of that intellect would not
-have been merely laughed at as a crazy, crack-brained
-enthusiast, but would have run a very reasonable
-chance of being consigned to the cell of a
-madhouse, as an incorrigible and incurable monomaniac.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The writer of these lines, lacking several years yet
-of the completion of his tenth lustre, clearly remembers
-how, within thirty years at furthest, to assert an
-opinion of the feasibility of lighting streets by gas
-was to be sneered at for a visionary, or regarded with
-suspicion as a probable speculator in the <span class='it'>fancy</span>, even
-by the best informed, and most enlightened classes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To the youngest of his readers the <span class='it'>dictum</span> of the
-then infallible Doctor Dionysius Lardner against the
-possibility of Ocean Steam Navigation—for, deny it
-now as he may, he can be clearly convicted of its
-utterance—is familiar as a household word.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now, what insignificant town, to say nothing
-of innumerable private dwellings, innumerable factories
-and workshops, prison houses, as it were, and
-<span class='it'>ergasteria</span>, would it were otherwise! of plebeian
-labor, innumerable theatres, assembly-halls, and banquet-rooms,
-abodes of patrician pleasure, are not
-ablaze through the murkiest midnight, and light as
-the broadest day, with the released and radiant spirit,
-that lay so long enthralled and unsuspected in the
-hard heart of the swart coal mine?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now, with what quarter of the world are we
-not in daily, if not hourly, communication by the
-united agencies of those two most irreconcilable
-powers, fire and water?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hardly one century has elapsed since the American
-Franklin revealed to the admiring world the scarcely
-suspected fact, that the subtle spark elicited from the
-electrifying magazine, or from the hairs of a cat,
-rubbed contrariwise to their direction, is identical
-with the sovereign, all-pervading flash,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Which issues from the loaded cloud,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;And rives the oak asunder.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>And now, at this day, we sit quietly engaged in our
-study, or stand, even, as it may be, laboriously plying
-our trade of manual labor, and send that very lightning-flash,
-a tamed domestic influence, nay, but a
-very slave and pack-horse to our will, to speed our
-tidings to New Orleans, or to Newfoundland, and to
-bring us back the answer, before a second hour has
-lagged round the dial.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Time was, nor very long ago, when to receive
-news from Europe within thirty days, was esteemed
-a feat, if not a miracle, on the part of the carriers.
-Now, or ere a second summer shall have passed, the
-electric telegraph will be in operation to Cape Race, the
-south-easternmost point of Newfoundland, and mail
-steamers will be cleaving the Atlantic far to the
-northward, to and fro, from the green shores of Galway.
-Then, within seven days at the utmost, the
-news of farthest Europe, news from the Vistula, the
-Danube, and the Don; news from the Tartar and the
-Turk, shall be sped, more swiftly than though they
-“had taken the wings of the morning,” to the uttermost
-parts of America, shall be read almost simultaneously
-on the shores of the Atlantic and Pacific,
-and sent far aloof among the oceanic isles of the
-southern hemisphere, even to drowsy China and remote
-Taprobane, by the almost unearthly powers of
-steam and electricity, and last, not least, the press.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The word is out—we have said it—the press—a
-kindred, not antagonistic, scarcely even rival, power
-to the two mighty elements we have named—since
-it has pressed both into its service; and itself, purely
-human in its origin, its influence, and its importance,
-purely material in “its age and body, form and pressure,”
-derives most of its incalculable puissance from
-the coöperation and subservience of the two mightiest,
-most unearthly, most immaterial, and most spiritual of
-essences, existing, or which have existed, in the universe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But we are not about to write an essay on the
-power, the influence, the utility of the press. These
-are too generally appreciated and acknowledged, to
-render a single paragraph necessary. In the two
-first particulars of power and influence, the press is
-incomparable—not to be equaled by any instrument
-or agency of humanity that ever has existed. The
-extent of its utility—although still unquestionable—is
-limited and diminished, “cribbed, coffined,” and curtailed
-by the weakness, the willfulness, and the wickedness
-of the very many men, unfit and evil-minded,
-who have thrust themselves forward, assuming to
-conduct it, and through it the public mind, with no
-ulterior object nobler or higher than the misapplication
-of the weight and moral power with which it
-invests them, to all sorts of immorality and wrong,
-to which avarice, rapacity, ambition, and the insane
-desire of demagogueism may impel them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is, however, only to admit that the press is an
-agency of time and mortality; and as such liable, of a
-necessity, to be perverted. Perhaps it is rather to be
-wondered, that there are <span class='it'>few</span> base, dishonest, licentious,
-and self-seeking journals in circulation, than
-that there are any; and it is clear, that the general
-tone of the reading world is so gradually and greatly
-improving, that few of those which now exist receive
-any considerable support, unless where they have the
-skill to introduce their false doctrines under cover of
-some specious sophistry, making them to wear the
-semblance of reforms. Even these, it may be observed,
-are daily becoming more and more transparent to
-the broad and keen eye of the public; and, in proportion
-as they are comprehended, lose their ill-acquired
-and abused popularity and power.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In one word, the utility of the press, its beneficial
-influences, its charities, its diffusion of knowledge and
-true light, and its general maintenance of the right,
-out-balance, as by ten thousand fold, the occasional
-obliquities, injustice, falsehood, and advocacy of
-devil’s doings here on earth, which periodically disgrace
-its columns.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For these the press is no more to be censured or
-condemned, than is the Book of Common Prayer, or
-the Holy Bible; because—in the middle ages—men,
-mad with too much, or too little learning—it matters
-not whether—applied their most hallowed texts, read
-backward, to the evocation of departed souls from
-Hades, or of evil spirits from the abyss of very Hell.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is not, however, of the moral influences, but of
-the mere material powers of the press, as now existing in
-its wonderfully improved condition, with all appliances
-of marvelous time-saving machinery, that we would
-now speak—machinery born itself of machinery, self-developed
-from the swart, unplastic ore, with, comparatively
-speaking, small expense of human labor,
-though under the control of the all-contriving human
-brain, into engines of strange and mysterious potency.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is little to say that the efficiency, and of course
-the utility, of the printing-press has been increased a
-thousand fold, that the facility and consequent cheapness,
-of the reproduction of books has been improved to
-such an extent that thousands and tens of thousands of
-volumes are now printed, published, and put into circulation,
-where there was one thirty years ago; and
-that too at prices, which bring it easily within the
-means of all—but the very idlest and poorest—to become
-familiar with the best thoughts of the brightest
-geniuses of all ages—That the whole system of
-journalism, and journal publishing, has passed through
-a complete revolution, reducing individual prices to a
-mere nominal fraction, and referring the question of
-profits, and remuneration of labor, to gross sales of
-tens of thousands of daily copies—the consequence of
-which revolution is to place the whole news of the
-world, including all discoveries of art or science, all
-arguments and disputations of the first statesmen and
-orators, all lectures of the most prominent literateurs
-and philosophers of the day, within the hand’s reach
-of every farmer and farm-laborer, every artisan, mechanic,
-clerk and shop-boy of the land, from the
-Aroostook to the Sacramento and Columbia.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is little to say this—yet this is something; for it
-is the first step toward making those who do govern
-the land, fit to govern it—namely, the people—toward
-enabling them to judge, unlike the constituents of best
-European representative governments, not of men
-only, but, mediately, of measures; toward giving
-them to judge and learn for themselves, from the
-actual progress of recorded events, daily occuring,
-something of the policy of foreign nations, something
-of the interest of their own country; lastly, toward
-rendering the permanent establishment of a falsehood,
-or the long suppression of the truth, an impossibility.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And yet all this is to say little, as compared with
-what may be said—namely, that the difference between
-the efficiency of the modern printing-press and
-that of Guttenberg, Faustus and Schoffer, is almost
-greater than the difference between that and the
-manuscript system, which it superseded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And all this is to be ascribed to the perfection of
-mechanics and machinery, brought by the aid of
-every branch of science to what we might well deem
-perfection, did not every coming day awake to perfectionate
-what was last night deemed perfect.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In all branches of human labor, in all phases of human
-ingenuity, for above half a century, this vast increase—both
-of the application and the power of machinery—has
-been in progress; constantly awakening
-the fears and jealousies, sometimes inducing the overt
-opposition and illegal violence of the working
-classes, as cheapening their labor, and about ultimately
-to subvert their trade and destroy their means
-of subsistence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Than these fears and jealousies, nothing can be
-more erroneous, not to say absurd. For it is no
-longer a theory, but an established fact, that consumption
-of, and demand for, any article grows almost in
-arithmetical progression from the reduction of its
-price, to such a degree, as to render it available to all
-classes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Two examples, alone, will be sufficient to make
-this clear:—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Some twenty years ago, the renewal of the English
-East India Company’s charter was refused by Parliament,
-and the tea-trade of Great Britain opened to
-all British bottoms<a id='r1'/><a href='#f1' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[1]</span></sup></a>. The price of tea was reduced by
-above one-half, and the company exclaimed loudly,
-as companies ever do, against the unjust legislation,
-which must needs ruin them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mark the result, however. The price of tea fell
-one-half; the consumption of tea increased—we speak
-generally—almost ten-fold. The company never were
-more prosperous than now.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again—within the same period, inland postage in
-Great Britain was reduced to a uniform rate of one
-penny sterling, not without much opposition and strenuous
-contest, the opponents insisting that the department
-must become a burden on the state, from sheer
-inability to do the work of transportation at prices
-merely nominal. The results are before the public,
-and not a boy but knows that they precisely reverse
-the prediction.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The same thing is true of the growth of the cotton
-trade; of the growth of agricultural productions: and
-last, not least, and most of all to the purpose, of the
-growth of the so-called <span class='it'>penny</span>-press of New York,
-and the United States in general. We use the term
-so-called, because though nominally penny, most, if
-not all, of the very paying papers of this class are
-really two-penny papers.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i008.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>While we were considering these matters, to which
-consideration we were led by a visit to the extraordinary
-machine works of Messrs. Hoe &amp; Co., the inventors
-and manufacturers of the great fast power-presses,
-which have effected the revolution of which
-we have spoken, we accidentally stumbled upon the
-following article from the columns of the New York
-Tribune; and it is so entirely germane to the matter,
-that we have no hesitation in quoting the former
-portion of it, without alteration or comment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The latter portion we omit, because we entirely
-disagree with Mr. Greely in the deduction which he
-draws from the admitted facts, as we do with most of
-his socialistic and communistic notions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is to the increase of demand, growing out of the
-increase and cheapness of production, that he must
-look for employment and profit, not to the catching
-at the empty bubble of ownership, or to the ambition
-of governing, with none to serve under him.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>“LABOR AND MACHINERY.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A thoughtful laborer—for wages—sends us an account
-he finds current in the journals of the rapid
-progress of Printing by Machinery, as illustrated by
-a single cheap daily newspaper. That paper now
-prints 48,475 sheets—or 101 reams—per day, which it
-is enabled by rapid machinery to do from one set of
-types, whereas, if obliged to use the Hand-Press of
-former days, it would be obliged to set up its type
-<span class='it'>twenty-nine times</span> over for each daily edition, employing
-812 compositors instead of barely 28, and 116
-pressmen instead of some ten or twelve only. Hereupon
-our correspondent comments as follows:—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mr. Greely</span>:—It will be seen by the above,
-which I quote merely as a convenient text to illustrate
-the matter in hand, that in <span class='it'>one</span> establishment a
-<span class='it'>difference</span> is made of nearly or quite <span class='it'>nine hundred</span>
-men, in consequence of the invention or improvement
-of machinery, which has taken place within a less
-time than the last 25 years, from the number it would
-have been necessary to have employed to prosecute
-the same amount of business had no such progress
-been made. The same is true, I suppose, to an equal
-extent, of <span class='it'>The Tribune</span> and other journals of large
-circulation. The same—i. e., <span class='it'>the alarming encroachment
-which machinery is every day making on
-what has heretofore been performed by human muscles
-alone</span>—is not peculiar to any one branch of employment.
-The restless inquiry and invention of the
-present is rapidly and surely intruding <span class='it'>iron</span> muscles,
-which do not become hungry, or experience the depression
-of low wages and consequent low fare, into
-every department of human industry, crowding out
-and setting adrift thousands of the industrious, to seek
-new and untried means of subsistence, from which
-soon again to be driven, by—what many of them have
-come to look upon as their greatest, most persevering
-and relentless enemy—machinery.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whither, I would thoughtfully and anxiously ask,
-do these facts, which stare us in the face from every
-quarter, tend? What is their mighty significancy?
-The unprecedented increase of the most cunningly
-adapted, durable, and economical machinery—on the
-one hand—to perform, in great part, the work heretofore
-done by us—the laborers; and—on the other
-hand—the sure and certain increase of that most reliable
-portion of humanity which we represent, and
-whose only capital is their muscles, and whose hope
-of bread for themselves and children is in the performance,
-to a large extent, of that same labor thus
-snatched from us by the offspring of invention.
-What wonder that the honest laborer, who knows no
-cunning but the use of the physical force which God
-has given him, or the mechanic who plies his trade,
-should stand aghast, and feel his heart sink within
-him, as he is forced from his legitimate occupation,
-to another and still another, and at last finds his employment
-altogether fitful and uncertain, from the
-number of his fellows driven to the same condition
-as himself. His labor is truly “a drug in the market,”
-and stern necessity is fast putting him, if it has
-not already, wholly at the mercy of capital. I could
-not but sadly ponder, as one—while watching the
-nicely adjusted movements of a cheap engine, which
-had ejected him and his fellow, in like condition,
-from the place whence, for years, they had obtained
-a livelihood for themselves and families—significantly
-observed to me that, “the best thing that could be
-done with <span class='it'>that thing</span> would be to break it to pieces,
-and pitch it out of the window.” They saw wood
-about town now, when they can get it to do, as the
-<span class='it'>machinery</span>, which they have in such successful
-operation in Chicago and some other cities for that
-purpose, has not yet been introduced here. Their
-daughters, too, who have, till within a six month
-back, had work at $2 50 per week, in the factories,
-are now out of employ. This, you know, is but one
-of countless similar illustrations which take place
-every day in poor families.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;'><span style='font-size:smaller'>H.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We have thus allowed our friend to state his whole
-case—though he only submitted it that we might
-comment on its substance—and we now solicit his
-attention to some thoughts by it suggested.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Why does our friend go back only to the Hand-Press
-to exhibit the disastrous effects of Machinery
-on the interests of Labor? The hand-press itself is
-a labor-saving machine of immense capacity—far
-more so in its day than the power-press which is
-now extensively superseding it. It threw wholly
-out of employment and reduced to absolute destitution
-thousands upon thousands of skillful, accurate,
-admirable penmen, who had given the best years of
-their lives to acquire skill in a profession, or pursuit,
-which the press almost extirpated. To be at all consistent,
-“H.” must demand, not the destruction of
-the power-press only, but of all printing or copying
-presses whatever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! but then there could be no newspapers?”—Nay;
-that does not follow. Kossuth’s first gazette
-was not printed, but a carefully prepared abstract of
-the sayings and doings of the Hungarian Diet, whereof
-copies were made by scribes for general diffusion.
-There have been many such instances of unprinted
-journals.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well; there could be no <span class='it'>such</span> journals as we
-now have.” No, nor could there be without the
-power-press. We could not afford such a paper as
-<span class='it'>The Tribune</span> now is for four times its present price,
-if we were obliged to print it on hand-presses; in
-fact, no such paper could be supported at all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The subsisting truth, then, must be accepted and
-looked fairly in the face. The mountain will not
-come to Mahomet; he must go to the mountain.
-The existence and rapid progress of Machinery is a
-fact which cannot be set aside; the world will not,
-cannot go backward: Machinery cannot be destroyed;
-it cannot even be held where it is, but must
-move onward to further and vaster triumphs. We
-may deplore this, but cannot prevent it.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk104'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The perusal of this article would have determined
-us, had we not been resolved beforehand, to lay before
-our readers an account of the very remarkable
-works to which we have before alluded, by the proprietors
-of which the machinery mentioned in the
-letter of “the thoughtful laborer” was of course
-manufactured, as by them it was invented; being no
-other than the great eight-cylinder, type-revolving,
-fast-printing press. Similar machines, though varying
-in the number of cylinders, are employed by the
-New York Herald and Tribune, the eight-cylinder
-being used by the Sun, the Philadelphia Ledger, and
-other journals in the United States, as also by the
-Parisian La Patrie, the quasi organ of the present
-Prince President, and, according to present appearances,
-future Emperor of the French.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These works are in truth one of the most remarkable
-sights, if not the most worthy of remark, of all
-that are shown to strangers in New York—and yet
-to how few are they shown. The changes to which
-they have already given birth are great enough, even
-now,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“To overcome us like a summer cloud,”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>but the end of those changes is not yet, nor shall be,
-while we are. What they shall be, we may not even
-conjecture—perhaps the civilization, the christianizing
-of the world entire, and the reduction of all
-tongues and dialects to one universal English language.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i012.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0005' style='width:80%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To waste no more words, however, in mere speculation,
-but to come to facts, the history of the origin
-and progression of these truly wonderful works, of
-which more anon, is in itself by no means void of interest—even
-of something of romance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the well-known and ill-remembered yellow-fever
-summer of New York, an Englishman by birth,
-a carpenter by trade, landed in the city of the plague,
-a stranger, friendless, sick, and but scantily provided
-with what has been termed the root of all evil, which
-one-third of our people, however, regard as the sole
-object and aim of exertion and existence here and
-hereafter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His good fortune, or rather—for we believe not in
-fortune—his good providence brought him in contact
-with that most singular of geniuses, Grant Thorburn.
-With him he boarded, with him struggled through
-the terrors of the prevailing pest, by him was tenderly
-nursed, and from his roof entered into business
-with <span class='sc'>Smith</span>, the well-known machinist and inventor
-of the hand-press which still bears his name; nor is
-it yet superseded by more recent improvements.
-Their partnership terminated only with the decease
-of Mr. Smith; from which time, under the sole conduct
-of Mr. Hoe—for the stranger guest of Mr.
-Thorburn was no other than the father of the energetic,
-inventive and enterprising gentlemen, whose
-works we are about to describe—the business became
-permanently established, and yearly advanced
-in popularity and reputation, which constitute profits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Still, greatly as he improved upon what had been
-before, at his death in 1834, the average annual sales
-of the concern did not exceed 50,000 dollars; they
-never now fall short of 400,000; and often amount
-to half a million. Such are, and will ever be, the
-consequences of energy, industry, probity and sobriety,
-joined to an earnest and sincere application of
-that talent, which each one of us in some sort possesses,
-to its true and legitimate increase and improvement—in
-other words, to quote a book so much
-out of fashion—find the more the pity!—in these
-piping times of progress, as the old church catechism,
-a quiet resolve to “do our duty in that state of life
-to which it hath pleased God to call us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Shortly after the death of Mr. Hoe, sen., his sons
-and successors, finding the then premises insufficient,
-moved to the ground now occupied by their great
-manufactories, occupying a hollow block four stories
-in height, of two hundred feet front on Broome street,
-by one hundred in depth on Sheriff and Columbia
-streets, as also a second lot on the other side of
-Broome street, containing their saw works, hardening
-furnaces, stables, and other necessary buildings.
-In these works, a bird’s eye view of which is pre-fixed
-to this paper, and the ground plan of which we
-here present, the Messrs. Hoe continually employ
-three hundred men, some of them persons of great
-ability as draughtsmen, pattern-makers, mechanicians,
-and the like—men literally of every nation,
-as nearly as may be, under the sun; among whom
-are comprised several Armenians, said to be persons
-of great intelligence and excellent deportment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Besides this, their principal factory, they have another
-large and well built establishment, containing
-ware-rooms, counting-house, blacksmith’s shop, machine
-shop, and steam-engine room, in Gold street,
-nearly adjoining Fulton. This, though in fact headquarters,
-we shall pass over for the time being, premising
-only—in order to show the perfect method
-and system of time and labor-saving with which
-every thing belonging to this firm is conducted—that
-they have at their own expense, and for their
-own private use, erected an electric telegraph, carried
-by the permission of the proprietors over the
-roofs of houses, from the counting-room to the up-town
-factories, by which the smallest message or
-order is conveyed, and answered almost instantaneously.
-Nor are the proprietors dissatisfied with
-the result, having found by experience that the great
-original expense was very speedily compensated by
-the gain of time, and yet more of precision which it
-introduced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Returning up-town, therefore, we will descend
-into the vault under the first yard, in which we shall
-find the moving puissance of all the vast machinery
-of hammers, planes, lathes, drills, grindstones, tools
-and devices, almost without name or number, which
-are constantly laboring with their iron nerves, noiseless,
-tireless, indefatigable, through every story of
-the great building—in the shape of the boilers and
-steam-engine, which, beside furnishing all the motive
-power, supply every part of the building, by
-a very ingenious application, with a constant stream
-of evenly tempered, pure, heated air, at the same
-time maintaining a thorough ventilation, and all
-without the slightest danger of fire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The spent steam is brought into a series of coiled
-pipes within a trunk, through which a continual
-stream of pure external air flows without intermission,
-and is carried by wooden tubes through every
-story and room of the building; as is likewise an
-ample provision of Croton water, as well a provision
-against fire, as for the cleanliness and comfort of the
-men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of the engine there is nothing very special to be
-observed, as it is of the old construction, and, though
-perfectly efficient, not now to be imitated or adopted.
-It is a horizontal high pressure engine of about forty
-horse power, under the head of steam usually employed,
-though capable of exerting considerably more
-force, if called upon. There has been recently attached
-to it a singularly ingenious little machine, in
-the shape of a hydraulic regulator, of which great
-expectations are entertained, and which, in the very
-short time it has been tested, works to admiration,
-one week only having elapsed since its application.
-To attempt to describe this, or in fact any other
-complicated machine, in an illustrative article such
-as this pretends only to be, were an absurdity; for
-the operations of the simplest engines can be rendered
-thoroughly comprehensible, only—if at all—by
-thorough diagrams with numerical references, and
-then comprehensible only to scientific readers, conversant
-at least with the principles and working of
-the motive power, and the forces to be exerted
-by it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ascending from the subterranean regions, which
-are, by the way, so constructed under an open and
-little occupied court-yard that even in case of any
-untoward accident the least possible damage would
-ensue, and certainly no upheaval of whole edifices,
-as by the explosion of a powder magazine, would be
-the consequence, we arrive next in the order of production
-at the great foundery, occupying nearly one
-half of the ground floor on the Broome street front.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i015.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0006' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>OLD STEAM-ENGINE, BROOME STREET.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of this, although it furnishes the rude material,
-the first degree we mean from the actual raw metal
-for the whole establishment, the saw manufactory
-alone excepted, there is little to be noted worthy of
-particular attention by those who are familiar with the
-operation of furnaces, founderies and casting on a large
-scale, as in fact there is nothing in it unusual or novel,
-unless it be what struck us as both novel and unusual,
-the general absence of noise, confusion, din and turmoil,
-not to mention ill sounds, ill savors, and oppressive
-heat, which seems to pervade the whole establishment.
-This, ministering as it does largely to the
-comfort and well-being of all concerned, detracts
-somewhat, it must be admitted from the picturesque
-effect of the scenery, and its adjuncts. Even the
-neatness and cleanliness of the orderly and well conducted
-moving about each his own business noiselessly,
-and obeying a sign or the wafture of a hand,
-diminished the effect which we almost expect to feel
-in an iron foundery, a furnace, or a machine shop.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We well remember the impression left on our mind
-years ago by a visit to some gigantic iron works in
-Sheffield, an impression which made itself felt for
-many a month in strange fantastic dreams and painful
-nightmares—such influence, not on the imagination
-only but on the nerves, had the dense murky gloom
-of the dim vaults, suddenly kindled, as by magic,
-into a fierce incandescent glare by the lava-like torrents
-of molten iron, the volumes of black smoke,
-the stifling heat of the oppressed and exhausted atmosphere,
-and then the roar of unseen waters, suggestive
-of those subterranean streams of Hades,
-Acheron and Cocytus, the whirr and hurtling of unnumbered
-wheels, the terrible and deafening clang of
-the huge trip-hammers, literally making the solid
-earth jar and tremble; and last and most appropriate
-to the scene, the swarthy, grim-visaged workmen,
-fit representatives of Vulcan and his Cyclops, now
-glancing into lurid light, now vanishing into darkness,
-as the fitful flashes rose and fell. Of a verity
-there can be no much more appropriate representation
-of Pandemonium than an old-fashioned English
-iron works on a large scale.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But there is no room for marveling or romancing
-after this fashion in the machine works of Messrs. Hoe
-&amp; Co., for all the rooms are well aired, well lighted,
-and none the less adapted to their purpose for being
-suitable to the accommodation of men who neither are
-slaves, nor in anywise resemble devils.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i017.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0007' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>GREAT FOUNDERY.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the foundery we proceed, across the open
-yard, to the smithy, a large, lofty, well proportioned
-apartment, containing two enormous steam-hammers,
-the speed and consequent impetus of which can be
-modulated by a very easy application of manual
-force, at the pleasure of the operator, so that they
-can be made either to rise and fall as slowly as the
-maces of Gog and Magog on the great bell of Saint
-Dunstan’s, or to impinge upon whatever is objected
-to their descent with a velocity which almost mocks
-the eye. In this apartment and its adjunct forge
-there are no less than eighteen stithies, the bellows
-of all which are worked by the ubiquitous power of
-the engine, with anvils of all manners and sizes in
-due proportion, and sturdy operatives plying them
-with tranquil and regulated industry, worth five times
-the amount of human force exerted unequally and
-impulsively, by fits and starts. These men, for the
-most part, and, in fact, always when not called
-off by some casual and unexpected pressure of business
-in some one department, are kept constantly
-employed at that peculiar species of work with
-which each is the most familiar, such method and
-system in the subdivision of labor being found to
-insure not only the greatest excellence, but the
-greatest celerity of workmanship.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i018.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0008' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>SMITHY.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In this shop all such portions of the engines, presses,
-large and small, printing and inking machines, and of
-the machinery by the agency of which the above
-machines themselves are created, as are composed
-of wrought metal, are forged, welded, made new
-from the commencement, or repaired in case of
-damage. For it is worthy of remark that, although
-many of the labor-saving machines and tools are of
-English make—not a few by the celebrated Whitworth,
-said to be the first tool-maker in the world—there
-is not one that cannot, on emergency, be made,
-mended, or altered, within the precincts of the
-establishment; while many of the most admirable
-contrivances are patents and inventions peculiar to
-this country and this firm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately adjoining the smithy, is the engine
-and machine shop, and on the same floor the large
-lathe-room containing four enormous surface lathes
-and two turning lathes, for drilling, boring, turning,
-and finishing both circular and horizontal surfaces.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From this point, we shall proceed to the saw works,
-preferring to take each separate department of
-work by itself, from the commencement to the end,
-rather than to adhere to the precise order and position
-of the several rooms, as situated in the building.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The first room devoted to this branch of manufacture,
-which is a very considerable and important
-item in the business of Messrs. Hoe &amp; Co., the
-annual sales amounting to not less than 140,000 dollars,
-in circular saws, mill-saws, pit-saws, and crosscut-saws,
-for all parts of the country, is known as
-the saw shop.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Herein is performed the business of smithing, teething,
-and blocking the great saws; hundreds of thousands
-of which are at work, driven by water or by
-steam-power in every portion of the boundless territories
-of the United States, to which the enterprising
-foot and adventurous axe of the white settler has
-found access—clearing with their restless and indomitable
-teeth the solid and tenacious fibres of the
-gnarled live-oaks in the pestilent swamps of Florida,
-and the dank “regions far away, by Pascagoula’s
-sunny bay,” into the crooked knees of mighty vessels,
-that shall set at naught the howling billows of
-the wild Atlantic, and the blasts of the mad storm-wind,
-Euroclydon, riving into planks and beams and
-timbers, that shall build up the palaces of commerce,
-and the happy homes of our lordly cities, the white
-and penetrable flesh of “those captive kings so
-straight and tall, those lordly pines, which fell long
-ago in the deer-haunted forests of Maine, when deep
-upon mountain and plain lay the snow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The machinery by which these various processes
-are accomplished is exceedingly fine and worthy of
-notice, and vastly superior to that used in England;
-in the dock-yards of which country the circular saws
-were first brought into service, if we do not
-err; especially that for cutting the teeth, which,
-worked by steam-power, does its duty with great
-rapidity and incomparable precision.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i020.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0009' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>SAW SHOP.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This operation is performed by the vertical descent
-of a ponderous arm of iron, terminating in a
-cutter of the form of the notch to be made in the yet
-soft and smooth edge of the circular plate, which is
-made by the same power to revolve horizontally
-upon an axis placed at such distance from the impinging
-weight as the depth of the notch to be cut
-requires, and traversing at a rate so timed in unison
-with the descent of the cutters as to render the series
-of teeth perfectly continuous and equal; each blow
-of the cutter forming the interval between two teeth,
-and each full revolution of the plate completing a
-circular-saw. In the same way is effected the teething
-of the straight saws, the motion being a direct
-sliding action in a forward line, instead of a rotatory
-movement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the English saw works, owing to the influence
-of trade-unions, operative-unions, and the like, the
-application of steam-power to this machinery is
-prohibited, and the employer is restricted to the
-use of hand labor—the cutter being jerked down
-by man power, and the edge of the plate to be cut
-being subjected to the striker by hand, the formation
-of the teeth not being regulated by any absolute
-scale, but being executed by the calculation
-or guess-work of the artisan, and, of course, varying
-in accuracy, depth and precision of cutting according
-to the skillfulness or unskillfulness of the
-individual operator.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To the absence of these ingenious combinations,
-injurious alike to the true interest of operators and
-employers, the superiority in many respects of American
-to English machinery is in some degree due,
-and not less to the over stringency of the patent laws
-of Great Britain, which often prevent the application
-of really leading and most material improvements, of
-a radical nature, to principles secured for the benefit
-of the inventor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We may here observe that the use of circular saws
-is very greatly on the increase in this country, more
-especially in the western portion of it. In the east,
-for some inexplicable reason, this admirable instrument
-is far less generally used; and the writer of this
-article, several years ago, when on a visit to the
-timber districts of Maine, on expressing his surprise
-at the non-adoption of this most excellent and labor-saving
-tool, could learn no adequate cause for the
-prejudice existing against it, unless it were some
-crude and absurd ideas concerning its vibration and
-consequent irregularity of cutting—objections not
-founded on facts, nor confirmed by experience.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the saw shop the circular plates, now teethed
-and in the incipient stage of what Willis would call
-<span class='it'>sawdom</span>, are removed across Broome Street into the
-other building, and introduced to the saw hardening
-room, where they are converted into highly tempered
-steel.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i023.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0010' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>SAW HARDENING ROOM.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This process is effected by heating the metal in
-charcoal furnaces to a white incandescent glow, and
-then cooling it by immersion in baths of oil and other
-drugs, the combination of which is, we believe, a
-secret. This done, the saws are ready for grinding
-which is effected in a special apartment of the main
-building—the flat, straight saws by hand application
-to a series of powerful grindstones, driven at a regular
-speed by gearings worked from the engine, and
-the circular saws by a very curious and effective
-patent machine, peculiar to this establishment, and
-invented by Mr. Hoe himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old method of grinding circular saws, and that
-still practiced in all other works of this nature, is the
-application of them horizontally to the great vertically-moving
-grindstones by the hand; and, when it
-is considered that these great steel plates run up to
-six feet diameter and eighteen of circumference, and
-that they consequently entirely conceal the grindstone
-from the eyes of the operator who applies
-them, it will be evident that the process is mere
-guess-work, and that no certainty can be attained in
-regulating the thickness of the blades—in a word, that
-nothing was effected beyond the superficial brightening
-and abstersion of the surface.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i024.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0011' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>GRINDING ROOM.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The new machine causes the great circular plate
-to revolve vertically on its access, while a “pad” to
-which is applied some sharp, detergent mineral-powder,
-is moved forcibly over its surface with a
-triple action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the first place, the pad itself is made to revolve
-with great velocity against the circular plane, in a
-direction perpendicular to its line of motion. In the
-second place, it is driven forward against it horizontally
-with a force increasing or diminishing, in proportion
-as it may be desirable to render the saw-blades
-thicker or thinner in any particular part of the
-circumference. It is usual to leave them thicker at
-the centre, and to grind them away gradually toward
-the circumference. Thirdly and lastly, the pad,
-while it revolves vertically in a direction perpendicular
-to the revolving plane, and is forced horizontally
-against it, is also driven laterally to and fro
-across its surface; and the result is a degree of
-equability, or graduation of thickness, as well as of
-superficial polish, scarcely otherwise attainable.
-This machine is one of the special wonders and ornaments
-of the establishment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It will not be amiss here to add, that with the improvements
-of their manufacture the demand for circular
-saws is continually on the increase; and that a
-single house is in the habit of taking regularly six of
-these powerful tools weekly from the Messrs. Hoes’
-establishment.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i026.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0012' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>IRON PLANING, AND CUTTING ENGINE ROOMS.</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Returning hence to the leading and principal feature
-of these works, the manufacture, namely, of all
-the various instruments and appliances for the art
-imprimatorial, we are next ushered into the iron
-planing and cutting engine rooms, for the cutting the
-cogs of engine wheels, and finishing the surfaces of
-whatever portions of the machinery must be brought
-to a smooth and polished face. This is done by the
-propulsion of the pieces of metal so to be planed, in a
-horizontal and longitudinal direction against cutting
-edges, which again move horizontally across the
-moving planes, and are pressed downward on them
-vertically, so as to bring the planing to the requisite
-depth. The abraded portions are thrown off from
-the surface, of cast iron in a sort of scaly dust, from
-wrought iron in long, curled shavings, and the planes
-can be wrought up to almost any desirable degree of
-finish and smoothness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The cutting engine for the formation of cogged
-wheels, bears some relation to that for the teething
-of saws, the cutter impinging downward, with an action
-in some degree intermediate between that of sawing
-and filing, upon the exterior circumference of the
-circular wheels, which revolve on their axis under
-them in a rotation so regulated to the fall of the
-striker as to insure absolute equality in the width of
-the cogs or projections.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;'>[<span class='it'>Conclusion in our next</span></p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_1'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f1'><a href='#r1'>[1]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='bot2'></a>Ships.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk105'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='fare'></a>A FAREWELL.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>W. H. HOSMER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Drifting on the darkened waters</p>
-<p class='line0'>Are Earth’s dying sons and daughters,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And, like ships that meet each other,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Brother gives a hail to brother:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Brief the pleasure of that meeting,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And forgotten oft the greeting.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Could I think that other faces</p>
-<p class='line0'>Would of me blot out all traces.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though I cannot be thy lover,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Clouds my path would gather over;</p>
-<p class='line0'>From remembrance, then, endeavor</p>
-<p class='line0'>Not to blot me out forever.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Fare thee well! must now be spoken,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And another tie be broken;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though the hour hath come to sever,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Lady! I’ll forget thee never,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But thy warmth of soul remember</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till extinct life’s wasting ember.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk106'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='edi'></a>EDITH MORTON.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MISS S. A. STUART.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Have you ever been, dear reader, in that sweet
-little village of A——, in Virginia? Well, if you
-have not, you certainly have yet to see, the most
-pleasant little Eden of this earth; where they have
-the purest air, the most beautiful sunsets, and the
-bluest skies imaginable—Italy not excepted—so I
-think. There lived my heroine; and <span class='it'>such</span> a heroine,
-at the time I have chosen to introduce her to you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was close upon sundown, on a lovely spring day,
-when a strikingly handsome, <span class='it'>distingué</span> looking
-young man, alighted from his buggy, at the residence
-of Mrs. Morton, in the above mentioned village.
-Charles Lennard—the young man spoken of—had
-been received as a boarder, for a few months, into
-Mrs. Morton’s quiet family, as his health was too
-delicate to allow him to trust to the precarious
-and uncertain kindness shown by the landladies, in
-general, of thriving village inns. Some moneyed
-affair had called him to A., and here he had arrived
-on this lovely spring evening; and the skies wore
-their rosiest blush to greet his coming.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By all that’s pretty! ’tis a little Paradise,” was
-his muttered notice, as he passed through the flower-garden,
-whose clinging vines, creeping o’er the lattice
-supports, veiled the little bird-nest of white that
-peeped out amid the rich green foliage, varied in
-color by a thousand tinted flowers. “I hope Mrs.
-Morton has given me a room overlooking the garden;
-’twill be delightful to read here whilst these perfumes
-are floating around one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The door was wide open, and a quiet, blue-eyed
-lady sat sewing in the back part of the wide hall,
-who raised her soft, kind eyes inquiringly to his face,
-as his shadow darkened the doorway.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Morton, I presume?” said he, as she approached
-him. “I am Mr. Lennard, whom you
-were so kind as to admit—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am happy to see you, Mr. Lennard,” interrupted
-she, hospitably extending her hand to bid him welcome.
-“Walk into this room, sir. We are very
-plain folks here, Mr. Lennard—but you must endeavor
-to make yourself at home. Alec”—to a boy
-who entered—“take this gentleman’s buggy and
-horse and put them up.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Turning to her guest, she conducted him into her
-cosy parlor, now filled with the golden moats of the
-glimmering sunbeams, that quivered through the
-foliage that draped the windows; whilst the atmosphere
-of the room itself breathed sweets unnumbered.
-They chatted of the weather, of his journey,
-of the village, etc., till Mrs. Morton, remembering
-her duty as hostess, begged her guest to excuse her,
-whilst she hurried off, “on hospitable thoughts intent.”
-Charles threw himself dreamily and indolently
-into the old-fashioned arm-chair, which stood
-invitingly in the shadow of the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A young, glad voice, a light, bounding step, broke
-on his reverie; and, as he glanced toward the door,
-whence the sound came—<span class='it'>bang!</span> almost in his face,
-fell a carpet-bag, half filled with books, and then an
-exclamation of surprise from a young fairy, who just
-stopped long enough to make him doubt whether
-she was mortal or angel—and then again bounded off
-like a young, startled fawn. ’Tis our heroine—Edith
-Morton—released from her duties at the village
-academy, wild with repressed play and mischief,
-who has done him this favor! She returned
-ere long with her mother, reluctant and blushing, to
-sanction by her presence the apology uttered for her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will excuse Edith, Mr. Lennard, I hope, for
-her carelessness. She tells me that the light dazzled
-her eyes so much, that she was not aware of your
-presence; she has been in the habit of throwing her
-books into this room—the arm-chair which you now
-occupy being her morning study. Edith, speak to
-Mr. Lennard, and tell him how sorry you are for
-your rude greeting.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not trouble yourself, Miss Edith. Your
-apology is all-sufficient, my dear madam; I, too,
-must apologize, for having unknowingly taken possession
-of her study, which is indeed inviting. You
-must look upon me as belonging to the family, and
-act without restraint; for I assure you, the thought
-would be far from pleasant did I think I interfered in
-the slightest degree with your settled habits. Miss
-Edith, you did right to send me such a reminder at
-the outset, and I assure you I will be more careful
-in future.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gleam of light, like a lurking smile, might be detected
-in the arch eyes of Edith, as she received this
-apology from Lennard. And he thought, without,
-however, giving utterance to it, “What a bewitching
-little fairy.” Edith Morton, though she had not
-reached the age of sixteen, was an exquisite specimen
-of girlish beauty, as impossible to resist as to describe.
-Her charm did not lie in her regular features, golden
-ringlets, or beautifully moulded and sylph-like form;
-though each and every one of these adjuncts to female
-loveliness she possessed in a preëminent degree,
-but her expression—arch, <span class='it'>spirituelle</span>! ’Tis useless
-to endeavor to convey an idea of the impression she
-<span class='it'>must</span> have made on you with those divine eyes, lit
-up in their blue depths, with the sunlight of her
-merry heart, or the piquant expression of her rosy
-mouth, whose deeply-tinted portals, when wreathed
-with one of her infectious, heart-beaming smiles, disclosing
-white, even, little pearls, as Jonathan Slick
-says, shining like a mouthful of “<span class='it'>chewed</span> cocoa-nut.”
-Shy before strangers, from her secluded life, she was
-the life of the circle in which she was known, and
-loved. Full of mischief, and the ringleader in every
-school-girl frolick, her ringing, mellow laugh, often
-echoed through the play-ground of the village school,
-or singing merrily, as she was borne aloft in the
-swing, or dancing like a fairy on the green. Many
-were the boy-lovers who bowed at her shrine, with
-their simple, heartfull offerings; but none felt themselves
-signally favored—for, young as she was, she
-seemed to have erected a standard of excellence in
-her own mind, and her ideal hero was alone the
-loved.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Charles Lennard soon made himself perfectly at
-home with Mrs. Morton and Edith; and his first
-evening with them passed pleasantly enough to him.
-He felt himself much attracted by her exquisite
-beauty; and, as their acquaintanceship progressed,
-when her mother left the room on household duties,
-he was much amused by her piquant and original
-replies to his questions. He found her, too, not uneducated,
-and, young as she was, a reader and lover
-of many of his own favorite poets. At the close of
-the evening, Mrs. Morton requested Edith to sing,
-and, with a startled look toward Lennard, she left
-her seat to get the guitar from its case.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mother, ’tis dreadfully out of tune,” in a tone
-of entreaty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, Edith, that is soon remedied by your <span class='it'>will</span>.
-So, my daughter, do not make any further excuse,
-but sing to me as usual. Mr. Lennard will excuse
-the faults when he sees how willing you are to
-oblige.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Edith bent low over the instrument as she tuned
-it, and looking up into her mother’s face, as if her
-shyness was not yet overcome, waited for that
-mother to tell her to commence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are you ready? well, play then my favorite.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And though the young voice was trembling, and
-not well drilled, yet she warbled her “wood notes
-wild” with marvelous sweetness; and she blushed
-with pleasure at Lennard’s seeming enjoyment of
-her simple music; and her “good-night” to him was
-as charming as to an acquaintance of longer date,
-accompanied as it was by such a sweet smile.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What a nice little wife she will make for some
-one, in days to come,” thought he, as standing by
-the window overlooking the garden, he found himself
-musing on the singularly graceful and beautiful
-child whom he had left.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Charles Lennard had no idea at that moment of
-ever loving Edith Morton. She was too young, too
-unformed in mind to comprehend him, and to follow,
-as a kindred spirit, through the abstruse and almost
-transcendental range of thought, in which he often
-loved to engage. Delicate in health as in organization,
-he contented himself for the present to be a
-spectator in the world rather than actor, and in his
-day-dreams now weaving bright pictures for the
-future—pictures in which he was to play a most conspicuous
-part. We will not say but that a vision
-also of dazzling eyes, dancing ringlets, and woman’s
-light form, constituted a part of the reveries of the
-listless and dreamy student.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The neat breakfast-parlor of Mrs. Morton looked
-as fresh as herself as Charles descended, the next
-morning, to that meal. And there sat Edith in the
-old, deeply cushioned chair, book in hand, conning
-her morning task most zealously, but ever and anon
-pushing her little foot out to a kitten on the floor, as
-playful as herself, who, with its eyes distended to a
-perfect circle, sat watching it most sagely, and then
-jumping quickly to catch it, in retreat—so that the
-young girl would laugh most merrily, and then again
-resume her book. Charles watched her from the
-hall ere he entered, for on his entrance she drew
-herself up most demurely, and cut the kitten’s acquaintance
-<span class='it'>instanter</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May I assist you with your map-questions, Miss
-Edith?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I thank you. I have finished studying them.
-Mother always insists that if I rise early I will learn
-twice as fast, and also be prepared to say them when
-the bell rings.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know,” said Mrs. Morton, “she will be obliged
-to stop for play every now and then. Yes, truly,
-Edith, you are a sad idler.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, mother! but you should only see me in
-school. Here there is so much to take up my attention.
-I mean I am obliged to kiss you, to tend the
-flowers, and—and play with pussy;” and here, forgetting
-Mr. Lennard, she caught up her little pet, and
-began smoothing its soft fur with her white hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For shame, Edith; will you always be a child?
-Come, Mr. Lennard, breakfast is ready.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The holydays had come, and Edith was at home
-for the summer. How pleasant were her anticipations
-of her joyous freedom from dull books and the
-restraint of school routine for months to come. The
-next year she was to become a boarder in a fashionable
-school in Philadelphia, and her mother decided
-that the intervening time should be spent with her
-needle, in preparation for that event. Yes; how
-delightful! so Edith thought, to sit in that sociable
-room sewing, where the air was redolent with perfume,
-and the sunshine stole so coyly in through the
-vine-draped windows, making shimmering and fantastic
-figures on the highly polished and waxed floor
-of that peculiarly summer-room, as the sweet south
-wind waved them to and fro. Oh! for her, with her
-young heart of hope, the summer air was so delightful
-when it came through that window, where she
-loved to sit gazing dreamily of a lucid, still morning,
-coming, too, laden with sweets stolen from the dewy
-flowers; and then a glance at those fleecy, shifting
-clouds in the blue sky—why ’twas better to her
-than the fairy scenes of a magic lantern or gorgeous
-theatric spectacle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And there, too, sat Lennard, quite domesticated by
-this time. Notwithstanding he thought it would be
-so very pleasant to study in <span class='it'>his</span> room overlooking
-the garden, he as regularly walked into the parlor
-every morning with his book, until quite a <span class='it'>small
-library</span> began to collect. Occasionally he would
-read favorite passages from them to Edith, as she
-sat sewing, and, child as she was, looking into her
-eyes for sympathy in his enthusiasm. But far
-oftener would he be wandering into the garden with
-her, selecting flowers; sometimes holding the tangled
-skein, and that, too, so intently, that often his dark
-brown locks were mingled with her golden ones.
-The peals of merry laughter! “How much amused
-they are,” repeated to herself Mrs. Morton; but on
-entering and inquiring what caused their merriment,
-’twas too little to frame into an answer. Any
-thing—nothing—created a laugh or smile with them,
-they were so happy—so very happy. Nor was
-music’s soft strains neglected to gild the passing
-hours. There, in the witching, summer twilight,
-still, soundless, save the low melody gushing from
-Edith’s lips, as she sung to her simple accompaniment
-on the guitar, and with the fuller, deeper music
-of Charles’ voice, they sat wrapt in their happiness,
-unconscious—(at least one of them)—of the feelings
-rife within their hearts of what heightened their
-enjoyment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Edith <span class='it'>was unconscious</span>. She was fully aware, it
-is true, that life was gaining every day fresh
-charms. To her eye the blue vault had never looked
-“so deeply, darkly, so intensely blue.” The birds
-had surely never sung so sweetly, nor the very
-flowers borne so bright a hue; and yet, to all appearance,
-as time wore on, she was not so gleeful
-nor so wildly frolicksome as usual. No longer would
-her voice be detected in the ringing laugh, but
-smiles were rippling and dimpling o’er her face,
-in her quiet heart happiness. Yes, in her heart
-of hearts, what a spring of deep joy was bubbling
-up almost to overflowing, quietly unknown to
-others, but thrillingly alive to herself; so intense at
-times, that those sweet eyes would glisten with unshed
-tears at the very thought that death might come and
-bear her off from so bright, so joyous a world, where
-life <span class='it'>itself</span> was bliss. Her unusual quietness—her
-fitful and radiant blushes—the soul-full glances—the
-<span class='it'>manner</span> that was stealing so softly, yet so perceptibly
-o’er the young girl, <span class='it'>toning</span> down, as it were, her
-high spirits, was noticed by her mother; but her
-conclusion was simply “that Edith is growing into
-a woman, and will not be such a hoyden as I
-dreaded.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Edith was unconscious!</span> But not so the dreamy
-student. He, though albeit as much a child in the
-actual business of life as Edith, was much better
-skilled in the heart’s lore. He had seen the flash
-of joy which brightened her eye—had watched the
-cheek kindling at his approach, and the smile of womanly
-sweetness, wreathing her exquisite lip at his
-words or glance of approval.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He had become, with Mrs. Morton’s acquiescence—having
-nothing to occupy him, he had informed her—Edith’s
-instructor in French; and he saw how any
-thing but wearisome was the daily task; and, in the
-solitude of his chamber, stole welcomely into his
-mind the thought that <span class='it'>he</span> had taught her <span class='it'>practically</span>
-to conjugate through all its inflections the verb
-<span class='it'>aimer</span>. Mrs. Morton very often complained to Edith
-that she neglected her sewing for her book, her
-guitar, her evening rambles—but she was the widow’s
-only child, her bright gleam of sunshine; her
-idleness was overlooked, and she was allowed to
-have her own will, and continued to be the constant
-companion of Charles Lennard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a moonlight evening in the latter end of
-October. Edith, Mrs. Morton, an elderly lady-visitor,
-and Charles, rambled about a quarter of a
-mile from the village, to a place called the Coolspring,
-to enjoy one of the nights which October had
-stolen from summer, and, delighted with the beauty
-of the lonely, sequestered spot, where the moonbeams
-rested so brightly and reflectingly on the rustic
-spring—now bubbling up from the rich green, velvetty
-sward—now hiding in the thick grass, and anon
-revealing itself by its glitter—that the old ladies
-seated themselves on the rude bench for a cozy chat
-of “auld lang syne,” and “when we were girls, you
-remember.” Charles and Edith were standing some
-distance from them, watching “the silver tops of
-moon-touched trees.” Very quietly had they thus
-stood drinking in the quiet loveliness of this enchanting
-scene, and no sound was heard but the mellowed
-hum of the village, borne but echoingly to their ear,
-and the rustling of the foliage, as it was kissed by
-the night-breeze.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Edith!” and his voice was low, “is this not
-beautiful. I swear that I could be here content
-forever, were you but with me. But would you,
-dear Edith?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A quick, eager, flashing gaze, as her eye was for
-the instant raised to his own, was her answer.
-’Twas the look of some wondering and awakened
-child, as the consciousness of her feelings toward
-Charles stole upon her beautifully, though strangely;
-and something of gladness was in the melody of the
-child-like, trusting, and low-toned voice with which
-she breathed, rather than uttered, “Oh, yes!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dearest Edith!” was all that Charles said for
-some moments, as he held the little trembling hand
-in his own, then placing it within his arm, he drew
-her to the shade of a large tree, under whose foliage
-lay the fallen trunk of an oak, upon which they sat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dearest Edith,” he again said, as she, with
-downcast eyes, blushing even in that dim light at his
-impassioned tones and loving words, “promise me
-that you will love me and think fondly of me for the
-next two years I am doomed to wander, and then,
-when I have fulfilled my guardian’s wishes, that
-you will be my wife? My own Edith, say?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>You could almost hear the beating of that young
-heart, as she thus sat listening at his side, shrinking
-and trembling from the arm thrown around her
-waist, and turning in timid modesty from the eyes
-looking so ardently loving into the glistening depths
-of her own, striving to hide her feelings from those
-fondly searching eyes. And Charles—with the lightning’s
-rapidity came into his mind the words of the
-poet:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“She loves me much, <span class='it'>because</span> she hides it.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;Love teaches cunning even to innocence;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;And when he gets possession, his <span class='it'>first</span> work</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;Is to dig deep within the heart, and there</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;Lie hid, and like a miser, in the dark</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;To feast alone.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>You</span> will forget <span class='it'>me</span> long ere you come back,”
-was her answer to his reiterated appeal. “Why
-need I, then, to answer?” And there was a tear
-almost in the liquid voice, as a vision of what her life
-would be, should such prove the truth, arose before
-her mind’s eye.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Forget <span class='it'>you</span>! Do you judge me from yourself,
-Edith, when you say that?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no!” was the impulsive reply of the young
-maiden, as she hastily and unthoughtedly now answered
-him. “Oh, no indeed! But you, Mr. Lennard,
-are going to Europe; and you will see there
-so many, very many things and persons to make you
-forget <span class='it'>me</span>—a <span class='it'>school-girl</span>—an ignorant <span class='it'>child</span>. I was
-ashamed of myself before you, to think <span class='it'>I</span> knew so
-little—so very little, and <span class='it'>you</span>—why you will blush
-for my ignorance, and <span class='it'>then</span>—how could you love
-me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How sweet were those tones, so full of heart-music
-that he, luxuriating in them, hesitated to answer,
-that he might catch even their echo; but at
-length came his reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How could I love you! Rather ask, how can—how
-<span class='it'>could</span> I help it. You are to me, Edith, more
-perfect than any human being I ever dreamed of or
-imagined; so lovely, darling, that when you burst on
-me first, in your young, pure loveliness, I was almost
-in doubt if you, indeed, belonged to our dull earth.
-<span class='it'>How could I love you!</span>”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What a simple question; yet, how deep in its
-very simplicity and artlessness. Yes, Edith, I almost
-ask myself the same question—how I could
-<span class='it'>dare</span> to love one so like an angel. I will not suffer
-myself to search into my right—lest I say with truth,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>‘ ’Twere as well to love some bright particular star</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;And think to wed it.’</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>But, promise that you will love me—that you will
-think ever of me; and that when I return you will be
-my wife?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You must ask mother, Ch—Mr. Lennard I mean—Indeed,
-indeed I cannot answer you for—do not
-laugh when I tell you—I am almost frightened when
-you ask me such a question; though”—and here the
-young head, with its clustering, silken ringlets, bent
-low as she whispered—“though I do love you now
-better than any one in the world. But, let us go to
-mother, now, Mr. Lennard,” she quickly added,
-startled as it were, by her own confession; and,
-springing lightly from him, as he attempted still to
-detain her with his loving words, and almost nestling
-down by her mother’s side, like a truant dove returned,
-and yet, her heart beating with the fullness
-of joy at the sweet knowledge she had thus gained—her
-eye lit up with the lore conned from the new
-page of the book in her life which she had then learnt.
-And Charles stood by her, even more eloquent in his
-silence than when he wooed her beneath the shadowy,
-old tree.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“But they were young; oh! what without our youth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Would love be? What would youth be, without love?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Youth lends it joy and sweetness—vigor—truth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Heart, soul, and all that seems as from above.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Events mark time more than years, and this truth,
-so much known, serves me to tell the change wrought
-in Edith. A child in years, the beautiful fable of
-Psyche was realized; and the next morning found
-her soul awakened, and from her quiet, subdued
-manner, no longer the child but the woman—ay, and
-with a woman’s loving and devoted heart. Mrs.
-Morton had been informed—much to her surprise, of
-his proposal to her daughter—by Charles, and though
-prepossessed in his favor, yet she demurred giving
-her consent to their engagement on account of Edith’s
-extreme youth. Charles told her of his isolated condition—his
-fortune; and she at last, won by his earnest
-entreaties, and the bashful, asking look from
-Edith—whom she chanced to see whilst hesitating—consented
-to their correspondence and conditional
-engagement. And, now we must hurry over the
-subsequent time which intervened before Lennard’s
-departure, nor do I design to inflict the pangs of parting
-on any save the lovers themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>January found Edith at her new school, and her
-days glided on tranquilly and hopefully. She was
-assiduous at her studies, music, etc.; determined, in
-the depths of her loving yet ambitious little heart, to
-render herself worthy of her future husband.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Charles, carrying letters of introduction to persons
-of some consideration, and having good credit at his
-bankers, soon found himself admitted into circles of
-the <span class='it'>élite</span> in England, France and Italy. But every
-where did he carry about with him his vivid remembrance
-of Edith the young and the loving. Unlike
-most heroes, he met with no stirring adventures—no
-“accidents by flood or field”—no titled dames sued
-for his love. He traversed England—knew London
-and its lions—admired its gems; dwelt long enough
-in Paris to speak intelligently; sailed down the
-Rhine; crossed the Simplon, and spent some time at
-Florence, Naples, Venice, and at last settled down in
-Rome, to drag through the second winter of his probation
-in Europe. And most constant had he been
-all this time, thinking on Edith by day—dreaming of
-her by night, and repeatedly sending his missives of
-love o’er the broad Atlantic, laden with sighs sufficient
-to waft the bark of itself had not <span class='it'>steam</span> deigned
-to assist him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was in the month of March, when Lennard fell
-ill at Rome. Alone—recluse and dreamy still in his
-habits—he had made but few acquaintances, and
-would, I think, have fared but badly had it not been
-for the attention of an American family, like himself,
-sojourning in the “imperial city.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Ashton, wife and daughter, were unremitting
-in their kindness to the invalid, the former watching
-him with a parent’s care, and the daughter cheering
-and amusing him during the listless and languid
-weeks of his slow convalescence. Isabel, or rather
-Bel Ashton, was not beautiful; but there was that
-nameless charm around her which often attaches
-more powerfully than mere beauty. Partly educated
-in Europe, she had passed much of her time in Paris
-and other cities of the continent, and possessed by
-<span class='it'>des habitudes</span>, and by nature, that</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Grace of motion and of look—the smooth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;And swimming majesty of step and tread;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;The symmetry of form, which set</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;The soul afloat, even like delicious airs</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;Of flute and harp.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Above all, her wit, sparkling and effervescing like
-champagne, and almost as intoxicating. How swiftly
-and agreeably speeded on his days. Every morning
-found Charles in the parlor of the <span class='it'>suite</span> of rooms occupied
-by the Ashtons, and as he gained strength,
-their escort in rides and sight-seeing promenades.
-Yet, though he admired Bel Ashton much, his betrothed
-Edith was not forgotten. He now, however,
-often caught himself contrasting them together—wondering
-had she changed from her <span class='it'>spirituelle</span>,
-radiant, girlish beauty, into any thing of more earthy,
-coarser mould. With something unpleasant pulling
-at his heart-strings, came the recollection that Edith’s
-mother had a great resemblance to her daughter, but
-was too much <span class='it'>embonpoint</span> to suit his ideas of matron
-comeliness, and then a haunting vision would cross
-his fastidious mind of his worshiped Edith becoming
-like her mother, a Turkish <span class='it'>beauty</span> as to her size.
-Bel, with her tact, her undulating, graceful motion,
-her mannerism, <span class='it'>would</span> come in comparison to this
-<span class='it'>bug-bear</span>—we may almost call it—of his imagination;
-and, though when he remembered her sweet,
-joyous temper; her appearance, as when standing by
-the moonlit spring, with her graceful, girlish embarrassment—her
-rare and dazzling beauty, her pure
-young love—Bel would yield instant precedence to
-Edith; yet was he constantly haunted by these ever
-recurring comparisons, until he began—the ingrate!—to
-feel his engagement as a binding chain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am now strong enough,” sighed Charles Lennard,
-one morning, “to think of my preparations to
-return to America. ’Tis now May, and I must
-reach Virginia sometime in July, on account of my
-then having reached my twenty-first birthday, and
-am recalled by letters looking business-like, in every
-way. When do you think of returning, Mr. Ashton?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been debating that question very often of
-late with my wife, and we both have arrived at the
-conclusion that we have already been absentees too
-long, and must wend our way ‘westward-ho’ also.
-What say you, Mrs. Ashton, and you, <span class='it'>ma Belle</span>, to
-being traveling companions with our friend Lennard?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“With all my heart,” said Mrs. Ashton; whilst
-Bel, who had been seated at the piano, ran over with
-taper and jeweled fingers a brilliant symphony, adding
-to its melody that of her own rich, mellow voice,
-in the words, “There is no home like my own.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And thus ’twas decided; and Charles carried his
-unconscious tempter from his allegiance along with
-him. Their intimacy, the effect—where any agreeability
-exists at all—of being “alone on the wide,
-wide sea,” did much to render him still more dissatisfied
-with his engagement, and though he erred
-not in the <span class='it'>letter</span>, I fear the <span class='it'>spirit</span> suffered in his vows
-of fealty to his affianced Edith. Alas! for man’s love.
-It is indeed</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“<span class='it'>Of man’s life a thing apart</span>.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet, one who thinks should not wish it otherwise,
-for it would then be most unnatural. Man has a
-thousand and one things to call off his thoughts from
-his love to passing events, glowing and changing as
-rapidly as the evening clouds, tinging his thoughts
-and feelings, chameleon-like, with all the tints and
-varieties of change, and calling upon him to battle
-with the rough necessities of life. And all this prevents
-him from thinking constantly o’er his dream of
-love, and weakens, as a matter of course, the first
-passionate ardor which he felt when under the influence
-of the smiles, bright glances, and loving
-words. As Miss Landon most beautifully observes—“<span class='it'>He</span>
-may turn sometimes to the flowers on the way-side,
-but the great business of life is still before him.
-The heart which a woman could utterly fill were unworthy
-to be her shrine. <span class='it'>His</span> rule over her is despotic
-and unmodified, but <span class='it'>her</span> power over him must
-be shared with a thousand other influences.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whilst, on the other hand, woman goes steadily on
-with her domestic, monotonous duties, till they call
-for no exertion of thought, becoming purely mechanical,
-and the imagination having no healthy exercise,
-runs riot in its indulgence of day-dreams. Many and
-many is the maiden who sits sewing most industriously
-with bright smiles wreathing unconsciously her lips—ask
-her the subject of her thoughts—her blush will
-tell you better than my words. She is now feasting
-on her imagination till her love, by constant thought,
-constant association with her daily routine of duties
-and pleasures, becomes part and parcel of her very
-existence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They have all landed in New York—the home of
-the Ashtons—and still Charles Lennard loiters. Day
-after day finds him among the groups who crowd
-Mrs. Ashton’s parlors to welcome their return. At
-length Bel and her parents decide to spend the summer
-at Old Point Comfort, and Charles immediately
-finds it necessary for his health to enjoy the sea air
-and bathing. And so he must answer Edith’s last
-letter, received whilst in Europe, and announce his
-arrival—excuse himself, also, for not flying at once
-to her presence!</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And Edith? All this while of chances and changes
-how is the time passing with her? See for yourself
-reader! Follow me gently into that well-known
-parlor of her mother’s dwelling. There she sits, the
-beautiful one! as light, as graceful, and still more
-lovely than when we saw her last; for we now behold
-her a thinking, refined, intellectual woman, with
-all her youthful, beaming charms, heightened into
-exquisite and womanly perfection. She is leaning,
-rather pensively, on the arm of the chair, drawn to
-the opened and perfume draped window, with her
-soft, dimpled hand holding in its rose-colored palm
-the rounded chin; the neat, little foot patting unconsciously
-the floor—her eyes bent on the flowers of
-her garden, seeing them in all their floating hues,
-like the mingled colors of a kaleidoscope, before her
-musing gaze. Her guitar leans against her knee, and
-the other hand is straying across the strings, awaking
-its echoes like the notes of an Eolian harp.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mother, I will go with cousin Frank and Sallie
-to Old Point. They are so anxious I should do so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And suppose, Edith, Mr. Lennard arrives in your
-absence, what shall I tell him?” said Mrs. Morton,
-with a smile.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mother, you must forgive my first breach of confidence,
-for I was too unhappy, too wounded in my
-pride and love to speak of what I am going to tell
-you,” said Edith, her listless attitude now abandoned
-for one of energy, and the usual musical tones were
-rapid and more harsh—“yes, mother, my very first.
-Mr. Lennard will be at Old Point soon after I reach
-there. Yesterday I received a letter from him, and
-such a letter!” Edith’s voice faltered, but indignantly
-driving back the tears which were filling her
-eyes, she drew from her pocket a letter, and handing
-it to her mother, told her to read it. Whilst Mrs.
-Morton arranged her glasses, Edith sunk back into
-the chair with a slight frown and heightened color,
-and one could see from the clenched hand how determined
-she was to overcome the agitation which
-was increasing by her disclosures.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>New York, June, 1847.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Dear Edith</span>,—You must pardon my seeming
-neglect in having left unanswered so long your last.
-I have been very ill, and had it not been for the unexampled
-kindness of an American family resident
-in Rome, should long ere this have slept my last
-sleep. And though barely recovered, I feel that my
-strength needs recruiting ere I can be considered
-aught but an invalid, and will therefore set out for
-Old Point Comfort the last of this month. I hope I
-need not assure you that I feel my exile from your
-presence most sensibly, and I anticipate the pleasure
-of visiting you in A—— as soon as I am better. I
-know, my dear Edith, that this is but a sorry return
-for your long and affectionate letter to me; but I
-never did excel in putting my thoughts and feelings
-upon paper, my weakness now, must excuse even
-this poor attempt. I know your kind heart will
-make every apology for me, and you will look upon
-this as only the announcement, from myself, of my
-return to my native land, and of course, to you. Believe
-me, dear Edith, as ever,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;'>Truly yours,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-bottom:0.5em;'><span class='sc'>Charles</span>.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Morton folded the letter slowly, and gave it
-back to Edith.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He may be as he says, Edith, too unwell and too
-weak to write as he wishes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Unwell!” said Edith indignantly; “were <span class='it'>I dying</span>
-I would not have written such a letter to <span class='it'>him</span>.
-Yes, I will go to Old Point, and show Mr. Lennard
-that I can resign him, and still live: I am determined
-he shall never triumph in the thought, that I, a foolish
-girl, would weep, and pine away, because he has
-forgotten me,”—here the tears ran freely from her
-beautiful eyes; and, with her voice broken by sobs,
-she continued—as she knelt before her mother, burying
-her tear-stained face in her lap—“and then, dear
-mother, I will be all your own Edith again: no parting
-from you, for I will never, never love any one,
-or believe in their love as I have done.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Morton suffered her to weep, knowing it was
-the best for that poor, grieved heart thus to find vent
-from its bitterness; but she showed her sympathy
-in her child’s first grief by her loving words, and
-by softly smoothing the ringlets on her hot, throbbing
-brow, and by many a tender kiss. And Edith, with
-her head resting on her mother’s lap, sat on the floor
-as of old, when a little child she would listen to stories
-from her parent; and Mrs. Morton, very judiciously,
-sought to impress upon poor Edith, the
-instability of all things earthly, and begged her to lay
-her griefs, in prayer, at the feet of that kind Father,
-who is never tired of inviting the sorrowing and
-weary to lay their burthens upon him, exhorting her
-to pray for strength, and firm faith, so as to say from
-her heart—“Though thou slayest me, yet will I
-trust in <span class='it'>Thee</span>!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Some days were passed in preparation for her
-trip; and, at the appointed time, she accompanied
-her cousin Frank and his wife. The Hygeia Hotel
-was crowded with fashionables and invalids from
-every section of the Union, and our party found they
-had arrived in excellent time for the fancy ball, to
-take place the ensuing week. Edith was only eighteen;
-and though really grieved at Charles’ cold
-letter, and supposed faithlessness, yet her indignation
-and wounded pride made her still bear up against her
-sorrow, at the thought of rupturing her engagement
-with Lennard—whom she really loved, with all the
-warmth of first and trusting love, notwithstanding
-this rude shock it had received. But she was hopeful
-and buoyant in disposition, and consoled herself
-with the thought—as she looked into the mirror, and
-saw there her loveliness—that she yet would win
-him back to love her still more deeply: and pleased
-was she, very naturally, at the universal admiration
-she excited among the gentlemen; looking forward,
-too, to her <span class='it'>first</span> ball—thinking Charles Lennard
-would then see her in a dress, on which she bent all
-her taste to render it bewitching—that he would feel
-proud to be the husband-elect of one to whom so
-many eyes turned in ecstasy at her exquisite beauty.
-All these, and many more thoughts of a like nature,
-kept her from becoming a prey to her heart sickness,
-and she was really as lively and gay as she intended
-appearing in his eyes. I hope no one will deem my
-heroine heartless, because she was not as unhappy is
-she first <span class='it'>expected</span> to have been. No, very far was
-Edith Morton from that: on the contrary, she possessed
-warm and ardent feelings, but—as I said before—she
-was hopeful and confident—as what really
-beautiful woman is not?—in the power of her attractions.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was four o’clock, and the day of the expected
-fancy ball. The house, and its crowd of inmates,
-were in all the anxieties of preparation, and pleasing
-anticipation of the coming <span class='it'>fête</span>. The Baltimore
-boats have just arrived, bringing fresh accessions to
-the already thronged hotel; and the numerous waiters,
-and smartly-dressed chambermaids, might be
-seen hurrying here and there, busily preparing for
-the new comers. The long piazzas—that were in
-front and behind the central saloon—were full of
-gay groups: some sauntering to and fro, others in
-all the careless <span class='it'>abandonnement</span> of loose summer garb,
-were sitting with their cigars, and arguing about politics—lazily
-and prosily, as if even that was too much
-of an exertion for the warm weather. Groups of
-lovely women were promenading through the saloon,
-in tasteful dinner-dress—some laughing, flirting,
-some chess-playing with the officers of the garrison,
-in their uniforms. Nor was there wanting
-quite a number of sprightly “middies,” with their
-banded caps set jauntily on their heads, for Hampton
-Roads had two or three frigates, awaiting final orders,
-ere they put to sea.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Edith was neither in the saloon nor piazzas; but
-if you had searched closely, you might probably
-catch a glimpse of the rosy tips of her taper fingers,
-holding up a <span class='it'>wee</span> bit of the curtain, to allow her
-bright eyes to scan the arrivals, as they came up immediately
-in front of her window, amid the bustling
-porters, hand-barrows, and saunterers, from the
-wharf. Her little heart was beating wildly: and—although
-garbed only in her loose, white <span class='it'>peignoir</span>—never
-had she looked more lovely; for the rich flush
-of expectation was on her cheek, and her countenance
-was brightening and changing with every
-emotion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Charles Lennard was expected that very evening!
-She left the saloon immediately after dinner, that she
-might be alone to watch: and here she has been stationed
-at the window, for the last half-hour, listening—with
-her <span class='it'>heart</span>—to every step, sounding on the
-gravel. At length, <span class='it'>he</span> comes—but not alone, as
-Edith had thought. No; he is one of a party, who
-are now approaching slowly up the walk, directly in
-front of Edith’s window—her room being one of
-those delightful ones, joining the centre saloon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, as I said, here he comes, bearing several
-shawls, and walking slowly along with a graceful
-girl, in a fashionable traveling-dress, whose neatly
-gloved hand is resting on his arm, and whose thick
-veil hides features that Edith is scanning most uneasily.
-We will not say that a pang, very like the
-premonitory symptoms of the “green-eyed monster,”
-did not dart through her heart, playing sad
-havoc with her whilome hopeful feelings. Pale,
-and rather thinner than when she last saw him—but
-oh! how immeasurably superior, to her loving eyes,
-than all the men she had hitherto seen bowing homage
-to her charms. And now we must leave Edith,
-with feelings too excited for her evening <span class='it'>siesta</span>, and
-follow Charles and his party, who, of course, are no
-other than Bel Ashton, and her parents.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A fancy ball! How provoking!” said she, as
-Charles announced to her what was in contemplation,
-as he rejoined her in one of the parlors, where
-they were waiting for their rooms to be prepared.
-“Yes, ’tis too annoying to have arrived so late, for
-I cannot possibly now dress in character, and I have
-no wish to enter the ball-room, save in costume.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, my dear Bel,” expostulated Mrs. Ashton;
-“you have so many beautiful evening dresses: you
-must go indeed. After resting, I shall certainly peep
-in myself during the evening. And you, of course,
-will go, Mr. Lennard?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, madam: I would not, if possible, miss seeing
-such an assemblage of my fair country-women,
-so soon after my return. I hope that my comparisons
-may not be deemed at all critical by you ladies,
-when I shall make them. But, Miss Bel, let me
-add my entreaties to those of your mother, and beg
-for the honor of becoming your escort for the evening.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will not promise you yet,” said she, smiling;
-“but will let you know ere ’tis time to go. And,
-now, Mr. Lennard, hurry them with our rooms, if
-you have any compassion for me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Lennard again left them to execute her commands,
-and soon returning gave them the welcome
-intelligence that they were ready; and having escorted
-them to the door, left to betake himself to
-his, in order to recruit from the fatigue of three days’
-travel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He had not the smallest idea of Edith’s being an
-inmate of the hotel; or, indeed, of her being any
-where except in the quiet little village of A——. I
-really question if a thought had turned toward her,
-so absorbed had he been in his attentions to Miss
-Ashton, who, by the bye, though ever graceful and
-lady-like, was sometimes exacting in her demands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, he went to sleep, and when he awoke from
-his refreshing nap, the room was shrouded in the
-dimness of twilight, and a tap at his door made him
-spring from the bed, and throwing on his coat, gave
-entrance to a servant, who brought lights, water,
-etc., as he had given orders, at that hour, and also a
-little perfumed billet, with “Miss Ashton’s compliments,
-and would be happy to accept of Mr. Lennard’s
-escort to the ball.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At nine, he was at Mrs. Ashton’s door, where he
-was joined by the party, ready to enter the saloon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Have you ever been at Old Point Comfort? If you
-have, ’tis needless for me to attempt to describe that
-spacious saloon, with its corridors on each side—large
-enough to contain with ease at least five hundred,
-without incommoding each other, by jutting
-elbows, or pinched feet, or by making the belle concerned
-about the appearance of her costume, as she
-mingles in the <span class='it'>mêlée</span>, or what would appear a crowd
-in any common sized room. What a <span class='it'>coup d’œil</span>
-struck our party as they entered the west door from
-the piazza. No garden ever gleamed more brightly
-with clustering flowers than did that gas-lit, lofty
-saloon, with its pillars, flowers and mirrors reflecting
-its extensive range and gay groups, making it
-look still larger and better filled. The splendid band
-from the garrison was in full play, wafting strains of
-delicious music over the illumined and perfumed
-scene. There were groups of fair forms and lovely
-faces, that would task the most skillful artist to depict,
-and match in their rich complexions and brilliant
-robes even Titian’s exquisite coloring. Fragments
-of conversations, and jets of sparkling—now
-murmuring—laughter would fall from their ruby lips,
-like snatches of delicious music. And there, in other
-groups, could be seen distinguished statesmen and
-orators—here the merchant, forgetful for the nonce
-of his schemes of profit, as he looked on his superbly
-bedecked wife or fascinating daughter; there the author,
-whose honeyed eloquence linked his readers’
-hearts to his name with chains of gold, and caused
-many a pulse to throb as wildly as now beat the
-hearts of those young houries who grace this glad
-scene. Dancing had not as yet commenced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A buzz of general admiration now follows a group
-who have just entered. It consisted of four persons,
-two ladies and their escorts, <span class='it'>en character à la Cracoviene</span>.
-Upon one, in particular, of that well dressed
-quartette did the eye rest in amaze at her radiant
-beauty of form and feature, and the exquisite grace
-of her undulating step reminding one of the dip of a
-sea-gull—so easy, so light, so gliding in its motion.
-Her cavalier was tall, thereby making the form
-which leaned on his arm almost <span class='it'>petit</span> by comparison.
-Her short, full skirt of white silk, with scarlet ribbons—tight-fitting
-jacket of velvet, of the same brilliant
-dye, with its buttons and embroidery of silver—scarlet
-boots, <span class='it'>à la polka</span>, and small velvet cap,
-with white <span class='it'>marabouts</span>, completed the costume,
-which exactly suited the arch look of the beautiful
-Edith. Her luxuriant tresses of light brown were
-braided in wide plaits, and tied <span class='it'>en nœuds</span>, with ribbons
-to match in color her jacket.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Charles fairly started, for—unchanged, except that
-added years but increased her loveliness, and that
-her coquettish dress and the dazzling light made her
-look still more ethereal and fairy-like—’twas his
-own Edith! Yes, the truant heart, which had been
-straying, like a thought of the mind, was instantly
-brought back to its allegiance; and the deep tone
-with which he uttered “Edith!” had all the fervor
-and tenderness of the moonlight trysting scene.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A pang, too, very much like jealousy, came to
-annoy him, at this crisis, when he saw her dispensing
-her smiles to the knot of gentlemen who
-almost surrounded her party, and seemed soliciting
-her hand for the polka quadrilles they were about
-forming. How inconsistent are those very same
-“lords of creation.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was Charles fuming and chafing, internally,
-because Edith by some magnetic attraction had not
-been able to single him out amid that crowd of five
-hundred!—and he had for a few brief hours past
-almost forgotten her existence. He determined to
-get clear of Bel as soon as politeness would allow,
-and claim from Edith her recognizance. At the same
-time, however, thoughts of writing a tiny note, and
-conveying it to her privately, crossed the “almost
-twilight of his brain;” for he was fearful that the
-young, untrained girl, who had never mingled in
-European courts, and been the admiration of mustached
-barons and stripling lords, might be apt to get
-up a scene.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He might have spared himself this harrowing
-thought, did he but know that Edith had actually
-seen him on her first entrance, and was determined
-on showing him that her happiness was not <span class='it'>entirely</span>
-dependent on her whilome, careless lover. The
-chains he had been so anxious to loose he now hugged,
-with anxiety and joy, the closer to him, as he,
-notwithstanding the brilliant remarks of Bel, (to
-which I am fearful he answered at random,) continued
-absorbed and wrapped in the contemplation of
-Edith’s peerless beauty, and her sprightly and lady-like
-manner. He now entered, <span class='it'>con amore</span>, into the
-truth of Shakspeare’s lines—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;It so falls out,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That what <span class='it'>we have</span> we prize not to the worth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>While we enjoy it; but, being lacked and lost,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why then we know its value: <span class='it'>then</span>, we find</p>
-<p class='line0'>The virtue that possession would not show us</p>
-<p class='line0'>While it was ours.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>He watches her—and she, at last, suffers her eye to
-fall upon him. “Is it possible! Am <span class='it'>I</span> so changed!
-Or, perhaps, she has so far forgotten me that, after a
-lapse of three years, I am not recognized.” These
-were some of his <span class='it'>now</span> agonized thoughts; and, with
-murmured apology, he resigned Bel to her father,
-and moved toward Edith. Too late! She has taken
-her place in the quadrille, and he only reaches her
-former resting place in time to hear the murmurs of
-admiration from the group of gentlemen left. The
-graceful, willowy figure of Edith is now moving
-through the quadrille with a young officer, whom
-Lennard at once dubs in his heart as “<span class='it'>a puppy</span>,”
-from the very fact of seeing him look on <span class='it'>his own</span>
-Edith! with too impassioned an eye to suit his fancy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she takes her place, she allows her eyes to
-meet those of Charles—an electric stream seems to
-shoot through each heart, for the bright blush of
-Edith suffuses even her snowy throat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the quadrilles were finished, he, of course,
-had an opportunity of advancing and addressing
-Edith; and that same inconsistency! which I have
-before apostrophized—he would rather have the embarrassment
-of a <span class='it'>scene</span> now, than the smile, and—to
-his excited imagination—very cool, collected reception
-which Edith at this time tenders him. She
-welcomed him, ’tis true, but shared with him—<span class='it'>him</span>
-the loved—the betrothed—the absent—the smiles
-which <span class='it'>his</span> heart so covets with the acquaintance of
-a day! Could mortal man bear this? Charles felt
-that the iron had entered into his soul and Edith
-saw it!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He could not find the opportunity he sought of questioning
-Edith. He asked her to dance—to promenade
-with him. She held up to him her tablets, with
-its lengthy list of names, and with her musical laugh
-cries, “Mercy, I pray you.” Charles turned off,
-with a bow he vainly strives to make as careless as
-her manner to him, and rejoins the Ashtons. Bel
-will not dance. She is somewhat provoked with
-Charles, whom she saw addressing Edith with more
-<span class='it'>empressement</span> and <span class='it'>diffidence</span> of manner than he exhibited
-toward herself, and hence the cloud.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Their party leave early, and Lennard, restless and
-disquieted, wanders forth to the beach seeking company
-from the moaning and restless waves for his
-own troubled thoughts. Strains of melody are borne
-to him on that lonely shore from the scene of gay
-festivity, and he feels angry with Edith, whom his
-jealous imagination pictures reveling in the dance,
-for thus enjoying herself to his own misery. He sat
-down on the breakwater, watching the waves, and
-in his despairing mood wished for death, bethinking
-himself of the heartlessness of all womankind, and of
-Edith in particular. The stars were paling in the
-quiet sky when he betook himself homeward, worn
-out and exhausted. He passed the now deserted
-ball-room, “whose guests had fled,” and threw himself
-on his bed, to toss in dark dreams the few remaining
-hours that intervened between then and the
-time he could reasonably expect to see Edith.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What a glorious night! How dazzling look the
-shining sand, the glistening water, in the moon’s
-mellow rays which fall now so brightly upon them,
-and bathing in its effulgence those two youthful
-figures who are pacing to and fro on the ramparts of
-Fortress Monroe, nearest the bay. The lady was
-gazing on the ground, and he—into her lovely face.
-’Twas Edith and Lennard!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Vainly had he sought the interview during the day,
-but he could only see her the centre of an admiring
-circle, for Edith was decidedly the “star of beauty”
-and the “belle” amid the many who thronged the
-crowded saloons of the Hygeia Hotel. At last she
-promised to walk with him; and directly after tea
-had she gone with Charles to the garrison, and there,
-’neath that brightly shining moon, had he told her of
-his fault—of his love.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And Edith?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She like a <span class='it'>true</span> woman forgave him, for she loved
-<span class='it'>much</span>. At first, however, she made him writhe
-under her assumed inconstancy, until she saw his
-agony, and then, when almost in despair of regaining
-his lost treasure—her love—came her forgiveness,
-like the manna to the starving Israelites. Adding, by
-way of <span class='it'>coda</span> to her musical words, the laughing exhortation,
-“To be a good boy, and she would—<span class='it'>try
-to love him</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A week later finds them <span class='it'>en route</span> for A——,
-Charles Lennard accompanying them; for he is as
-eager to ratify his engagement <span class='it'>now</span> as he was before
-to free himself. He had told Bel Ashton, the day
-after the ball, of his engagement, and <span class='it'>she did not
-break her heart</span>, but was soon as gay and as graceful
-as ever, “winning golden opinions” from all sorts of
-people, for Mr. Ashton was very wealthy, and Bel
-was his only child!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Morton was very much astonished to see
-Edith return so full of happiness, and bringing back,
-as “quiet as a lamb,” the recreant knight. Nor did
-she advert to the letter or Edith’s protestation, but
-once, and that was when preparing for their marriage,
-she exclaimed with a smile: “So, Edith, instead
-of coming back to love no one but your
-mother, you only return to fill my hands full of labor
-and perplexity, and <span class='it'>my</span> heart full of grief at the
-thoughts of parting with you, even for a while.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk107'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='lin'></a>LINES,</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;font-weight:bold;'>SUGGESTED BY ROGERS’ STATUE OF RUTH.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>From age to age, from clime to clime,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A spirit, bright as her own morn,</p>
-<p class='line0'>She walks the golden fields of Time,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As erst amid the yellow corn.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A form o’er which the hallowed veil</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of years bequeaths a lovelier light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As when the mists of morning sail</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Round some far isle to make it bright.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And as some reaper ’mid the grain,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or binder resting o’er his sheaf,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Beheld her on the orient plain,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A passing vision, bright and brief;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And while he gazed let fall perchance</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The sheaf or sickle from his hand—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thus even here, as in a trance,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Before her kneeling form I stand.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But not as then she comes and goes</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To live in memory alone;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The perfect soul before me glows</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Immortal in the living stone.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And while upon her face I gaze</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And scan her rarely rounded form,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The glory of her native days</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Comes floating o’er me soft and warm;—</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Comes floating, till this shadowy place</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Brightens to noontide, and receives</p>
-<p class='line0'>The breath of that old harvest space</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With all its sunshine and its sheaves!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>It is a form beloved of yore,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And when that passed the name breathed on;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But now the form lives as before</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To charm even though the name were gone.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And though the future years may dim</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And mar this lovely type of Truth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Through every action, feature, limb,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The breathing stone shall whisper Ruth!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk108'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='ferd'></a>FERDINAND DE CANDOLLES.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of all the social miseries of France, none are more
-fruitful in catastrophes of every kind than the idle
-uselessness of the well-born, and the over-education
-of those who are not so. France being, as one of her
-writers observes, the China of Europe, her habits,
-customs, and traditions, endure, in fact, through the
-organized destruction of succeeding revolutions, and
-whilst throne after throne lies in the dust, the prejudices
-of that fictitious universe called the world,
-are standing still, fixed, firm, and uprising in inflexible
-strength from roots that plunge deep into the soil.
-For instance, the old idea that a <span class='it'>gentilhomme</span> or a
-<span class='it'>Grand Seigneur</span> should not know how to spell,
-although obsolete as far as grammar and orthography
-are concerned, lives on yet in the notion that a gentleman
-<span class='it'>must not work</span>. This has hitherto proved an
-uneradicable opinion, and the general incapability
-and instinctive laziness of the upper classes in France,
-can, alas! amply testify to its prevalence throughout
-the country. It is not that the aristocracy of France
-are wanting in talent or intelligence; on the contrary,
-they have far more of what may be called native
-capacity than the classes beneath them—but they are
-unpractical, unbusiness-like, unused to any things in
-the shape of affairs. They are admirable if always
-in the first place, but rebel at the bare thought of
-helping on the governing machine in its hidden
-wheels; and whilst with us every public office counts
-gentlemen by the dozen, and noble names are to be
-found even in the most unconspicuous, though useful
-places; in France an ancient family would think itself
-degraded if one of its sons were to be discovered
-amongst the workers of a bureau.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following tale, the circumstances of which are
-yet uneffaced from many a memory in Paris, will
-perhaps serve to exemplify the sad truth of what I
-advance, and give a slight notion of the immediate
-action of certain false principles upon our neighbors’
-mind. The hero of the ensuing pages, Ferdinand de
-Candolles, was the last scion of one of the most
-ancient houses in France. Ferdinand’s father died
-whilst the boy was in early infancy, and the entire
-charge of her son, whom she idolized, fell upon
-Madame de Candolles. At eighteen, Ferdinand was
-a tall, handsome youth, prodigiously proud of his
-name, highly romantic in his notions, ready to do
-battle with any given number of individuals in
-honor of <span class='it'>Dieu, le Roi, ou sa fame</span>, making a terrible
-quantity of bad verses, but as incapable of explaining
-to you M. de Villèle’s last financial measure,
-or the probable influence of the increasing growth of
-beet-root sugar upon the colonial markets, as he
-would have been of expounding the doctrines of
-Confucius in Chinese.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Revolution of 1830, fell like a thunder-bolt
-upon France, and the Bourbons of the elder branch
-allowed themselves to be driven from their post.
-The elements of revolution had been for the last
-seven or eight years fermenting far more in society,
-in the arts and in literature, than in the political
-sphere; and Ferdinand, with all his heart and soul a
-devoted royalist, as far as the government was concerned,
-was naïvely and unsuspectingly in every
-thing else, a determined revolutionist, overthrowing
-intellectual dynasties, spurning authority, mocking
-at control, gloating over Victor Hugo, George Sand,
-<span class='it'>e tutti quanti</span>, and fancying the whole was quite
-compatible with the political faith he would sooner
-have died than resign. Sometimes Madame de Candolles
-would think very seriously of what could be
-the future career of her son, and the word <span class='it'>Nothing!</span>
-emblazoned in gigantic ideal letters, was the only
-answer her imagination ever framed. In 1832, it so
-happened that the now prefect named in the department,
-was an old friend of the widow’s family—a
-<span class='it'>bourgeois</span>, it is true, still a respectable man, whose
-father and uncle had, in very difficult times, rendered
-more than one signal service to Madame de Candolles’
-own parents. M. Durand and his wife drew
-Ferdinand and his mother as much about them as
-they possibly could, and whenever he found an occasion
-of insinuating any thing of the kind into the
-widow’s ear, the well-intentioned préfet would talk
-seriously, nay, almost paternally, of her son’s future,
-and the little it seemed likely to offer him. One
-day, after a conversation in which Madame de Candolles
-had more freely than usual admitted the barrenness
-of the lad’s prospects, M. Durand contrived to
-lead her insensibly toward the notion of some employment
-whereby a becoming existence might be
-insured, hinted that there were positions where
-political opinions need be no obstacle, to which the
-nomination even did not emanate directly from the
-government, and ended by proposing to invest Ferdinand
-with the dignity of head librarian to the
-<span class='it'>Bibliothèque de la Ville</span>, a place yielding some hundred
-and fifty pounds a year, and just left vacant by
-the death of Madame Durand’s nephew. Madame de
-Candolles’ surprise was scarcely surpassed by her
-indignation, and, though she managed to cover both
-by a slight veil of politeness, there was in her refusal
-a degree of haughtiness that went well-nigh to disturb
-the honest préfet’s equanimity. As to Ferdinand,
-he did not exactly know, when the offer was
-first made clear to him, whether he ought not to
-take down a certain sword worn at Marigny by his
-ancestor, Palamède de Candolles, and punish M.
-Durand with positive loss of life for his audacity;
-but, when what he called <span class='it'>reason</span> returned, he determined
-simply by the frigid dignity of his manners in
-future to make the <span class='it'>bourgeois</span> functionary of Louis
-Philippe feel the full extent of his mistake, and bring
-him to a proper consciousness of the wide difference
-between their relative positions. Nor was this all;
-one day, some six months after, Madame de Candolles
-took occasion to pay a visit to the préfecture,
-and leading M. Durand aside, to solicit him for the
-still unfilled post of librarian, in favor of Ferdinand’s
-foster-brother, a market-gardener’s son! He was,
-she said, an exceedingly clever young man, knew
-Latin, Greek, and all sorts of things, had just served
-his time in a notary’s office, and would be the very
-thing for the situation proposed!—(successor to
-Madame Durand’s own nephew!) The préfet was
-sufficiently master of himself to refuse politely, alleging
-that he had already made choice of a librarian;
-but when Madame Durand heard the story, she vowed
-undying hatred to all aristocrats, and whenever she
-afterward met Madame de Candolles, tossed her
-plumed head as though she had been a war-horse.
-So ended our hero’s first and only chance of official
-employment, rejected, we have seen with what disdain.
-He had then attained the age of twenty-three.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the course of the following year General de
-Candolles died, leaving all he possessed to his nephew.
-This “all” was not much, still it was something—some
-twenty-odd thousand francs, or so—and if the
-widow had lived long enough, it might have increased;
-but, unfortunately, before Ferdinand had
-reached the age of twenty-five, his mother also died,
-leaving him completely—positively “alone in the
-world.” With what Madame de Candolles left (her
-chief resources had come from a small annuity) Ferdinand
-found himself at the head of about two thousand
-pounds sterling. With two thousand francs a
-year, which this would yield, he might have lived
-comfortably enough in any part of the provinces,
-and indulged in a quiet laugh at the préfet, who
-wanted to make a <span class='it'>bibliothécaire</span> of him. But, of
-course, such sensible arrangements did not enter into
-his head. He was (the <span class='it'>naïf</span> royalist and aristocrat!)
-wild with admiration of “Hernani” and <span class='it'>le Roi
-s’amuse</span>, and for the moment thought of little beyond
-the soul-stirring delights of seeing Bocage in <span class='it'>Antony</span>,
-or Madame Dorval in <span class='it'>Marion Delorme</span>. To Paris,
-of course, tended all his desires, and to Paris he accordingly
-went, as soon as the first months of mourning
-were expired, and he had put what he termed
-order into his affairs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We will not dive into the details of his existence
-in the great capital during the first period of his residence
-there. Suffice it to say, that the literary mania
-soon possessed him entirely, and he dreamt of little
-short of European fame. Here, indeed, thought he,
-was a career into which he might throw himself
-with all his energy. Lamartine and De Vigny were
-gentlemen like himself, and there was in poetry nothing
-to sully his escutcheon. Unfortunately, Ferdinand
-mistook for talent the means afforded him by his
-purse for drawing flatterers about him, and for some
-time he bought his most fatal illusions with his positive
-substance. Dinners to journalists, and parties
-of pleasure with all the world, soon reduced his
-capital considerably, but what did that matter? when
-he should be famous, publishers would besiege him,
-laying thousands at his feet for a fortnight’s labor.
-He was already the acknowledged idol of certain
-<span class='it'>salons</span>, and when the tragedy he had written should
-be performed, his name would be glorious throughout
-the world. By dint of pecuniary sacrifices, the performance
-of this play at the Théâtre Français had
-been obtained, and what with newspaper scribblers,
-<span class='it'>claqueurs</span>, actresses, and human leeches of every
-sort who fastened upon his pocket, the author found
-himself, half an hour before the curtain drew up, on
-the fancied dawn of his glory, literally deprived of
-every farthing he possessed, except one solitary five-franc
-piece in his waistcoat pouch. Ferdinand
-smiled gayly on perceiving this, and thought what a
-strange thing fortune was, and fame, too, and how,
-on the morrow, he should be on the high road to
-riches!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, to cut the matter short, the tragedy was a
-dead failure, as it merited to be, and before the last
-act was ended, Ferdinand’s golden dreams were
-rudely dispelled, and he clutched the <span class='it'>pièce de cent
-sous</span> in his waistcoat-pocket as though it were to
-save him from going crazy. When the curtain dropped
-he escaped from the theatre unseen, muffled up
-in his cloak like some criminal flying from detection.
-But his fate was lying in wait for him. As he turned
-round the corner of the house which led into the least
-frequented of the surrounding streets, he perceived
-three or four carriages waiting for their occupants,
-and he stood for an instant, hesitating whether to go
-backward or forward. At that moment, a ray from
-the <span class='it'>réverbère</span> fell upon the face of a lady who, enveloped
-in mantle and hood, was waiting for the
-arrival of her equipage. Ferdinand had never seen
-that face before, but he stood riveted to the spot, for
-something in his heart whispered, <span class='it'>it is she—the one</span>!
-The preceding carriages received their respective
-charges, and whirled them off; the last one drew up,
-and the door was opened by the footman—the lady
-dropped her glove, whilst turning to bid adieu to her
-companion. Ferdinand, unconscious that he had
-sprung to her side, raised it up, and offered it to its
-owner. “Thank you, Armand,” said she, “what a
-wretched stupid play—was it not?” and then turning
-round—“A thousand pardons, monsieur!” she exclaimed,
-“I mistook you for another person;” and
-so, with a bow, she entered her carriage, and the
-door closed with a bang.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ferdinand stood upon the spot where he had seen
-her stand, until a <span class='it'>sergent de ville</span> touched him on the
-arm, and told him to move on. “<span class='it'>What a wretched
-stupid play!—was it not?</span>” the sentence rang in his
-ear, but brought with it the echo of the tone—that
-magic sound that had struck upon the chords of his
-secret soul, and under whose vibration they were
-still striking their response—the honeyed voice, not
-the hard words, had wounded him, and he confessed
-that, though deadly, the poison was nectar to the
-taste.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Day after day, hour after hour, did Ferdinand spend
-in the vain attempt to discover his unknown idol,
-and the less he succeeded in the enterprise, the more
-the object of his pursuit became lovely in his eyes,
-and was surrounded with ideal charms. It would be
-useless to enter into the painful details of Ferdinand’s
-life during this period.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The day after the failure of his tragedy, the Marquise
-de Guesvillers, an ancient dowager of the Faubourg
-St. Germain, and his chief <span class='it'>prôneuse</span>, sent to beg
-the discomfited author would come dine with her
-<span class='it'>tête-à-tête</span>. Ferdinand had a reason now for desiring
-to explore to the utmost extent the upper regions of
-society, and he accepted the invitation. The old
-lady greeted him with a half-benevolent, half-mischievous
-smile—“My dear child,” said she, when
-the servant had closed the door, “now that Providence
-has saved you from becoming an <span class='it'>homme de lettres</span>,
-we must try to make something of you.
-Heaven be praised! pen and ink must have lost its
-charm for you at last;” (a pinch of snuff,) “it seems
-your play was as bad as your enemy could wish;
-Madame de Rouvion was there, and has just told me
-so—poor dear Hector de Candolles,” (another pinch
-of snuff,) “if he could have guessed that a great-grandson
-of his would write a play! But, however,
-that is over now, and we have only to rejoice that
-things were no worse: when the recollection of
-your <span class='it'>aventure</span> shall have quite subsided, we will
-find a wife for you, and settle you in life! Thank
-Heaven! you are cured of your taste for pen and
-ink!” and these last words the good lady repeated
-over and over again in the course of the evening, and
-each time with remarkable satisfaction. Once or
-twice Ferdinand was tempted to shake the monotonous
-little dowager to pieces, and shout in her ear—“Woman!
-I must <span class='it'>live</span> by pen and ink, or starve!”
-but the remembrance of <span class='it'>the face</span> he had seen the
-night before, froze the words on his tongue, and he
-submitted to the torture in silence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For months in the <span class='it'>salons</span>, whither Madame de
-Guesvillers carried him, he sought out the object of
-his dreams, but she never appeared, and Ferdinand
-went on leading <span class='it'>la vie de Bohème</span>, until hope began
-almost entirely to fade away. One evening, he had,
-for the fiftieth time, accepted an invitation to some
-<span class='it'>soirée</span>, where his indefatigable patroness insisted
-upon his going; and he was, as usual, looking on
-whilst others amused (or fancied they amused) themselves,
-when the conversation of two ladies near him
-attracted his attention—he knew not why.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So Blanche Vouvray is come back at last?” said
-one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She is coming here to-night,” replied the other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the two talkers moved away, a certain movement
-might have been observed toward the middle
-of the room, and many and loud greetings welcomed
-a new comer, who seemed to have been long absent.
-Mysterious magnetism of the heart! Ferdinand
-knew what had happened, and was prepared, when
-he turned round, to recognize at last—standing in the
-midst of a group, who were pressing eagerly around
-her—the <span class='it'>one</span>, so long, so vainly sought; the vision
-that had risen over his ruin like a star over the tempest-torn
-sea, that had come and vanished in the momentous
-night, when it was proved to him that his
-sole resources, for a bare existence, must depend, in
-future, upon hard, ignoble, unavowed and insufficient
-toil!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There she stood—bright, beautiful and glad, beaming
-on all about her; dispensing favors in look, gesture
-and smile, and inflicting wound after wound on
-Ferdinand’s heart by the incomparably sweet voice
-that, do what he would, seemed to his ear always to
-repeat—“<span class='it'>What a wretched, stupid play!—is it
-not?</span>” It was the only link between them—the one
-sole sign whereby she had acknowledged his existence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How long the <span class='it'>soirée</span> lasted, was what M. de Candolles
-never knew; he simply thought it a time—it
-might be one protracted moment—during which there
-was light; then, the light went out, and darkness
-spread over every thing around. He would not ask
-to be presented to Mademoiselle de Vouvray; he
-was content to watch her; and, when she was gone,
-he mechanically closed his eyes, locked up his vision
-within his inmost self, and then, re-awakening, went
-forth, to be once more alone with his idea!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Time passed on, and Ferdinand’s passion increased
-with every hour. Three or four times in the week
-he found means to feast his eyes upon the object of
-his adoration, and the remaining days and nights were
-spent in trying to draw poetic inspiration from what
-threatened to be the source of something very nearly
-akin to madness. Ferdinand’s actual talent, however,
-was of such a perfectly ordinary stamp, that it
-profited in no degree by the strong element love afforded
-it, and one fine morning—when he least expected
-it—a blow so stunning was dealt him that his
-whole fabric of existence was well-nigh shivered to
-the earth. The proprietor of the paper wherein, for
-the last year or two, M. de Candolles had published
-anonymously the chief productions of his pen, suddenly
-told him that he should in future be obliged to
-refuse his contributions unless <span class='it'>signed by his own
-name</span>! M. de Candolles, he urged, was known in
-many <span class='it'>salons</span> of the <span class='it'>beau monde</span>, and probably what
-he might write would be read by a good number of
-people, whereas the lucubrations of <span class='it'>Jaques Bargel</span>—Ferdinand’s
-<span class='it'>pseudonyms</span>—only occupied space,
-and brought neither fame nor money to the journal.
-M. de Candolles received the announcement, which
-went near to show destitution staring him in the face,
-with becoming fortitude. He would sooner have died
-than allow his name to be dragged forward into publicity;
-and at the thought of the elegant, aristocratical,
-disdainful lady of his worship discovering that he
-lived by writing <span class='it'>feuilletons</span>, he felt the very ground
-fail beneath his feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ferdinand was, after the circumstance we have
-just related, reduced to a species of misery even he
-had as yet not suspected. Unable to pay for the
-lodging, small and dirty as it was, that he had hitherto
-inhabited, he was now reduced to rent a small
-attic belonging to the collection of servants’ rooms
-in a tolerably good-looking house. The one thought
-that absorbed him was fear lest Blanche de Vouvray
-should discover the necessities of his life. This, and
-this alone, combated the wild passion wherewith she
-had inspired him. But he reckoned without feminine
-instinct and feminine curiosity. Blanche de Vouvray
-had not been half-a-dozen times in the same <span class='it'>salon</span>
-with M. de Candolles, before she felt she was adored,
-and her next feeling was one of considerable
-anxiety to know how she should bring her slave to
-confess the charm. Blanche was a person of irreproachable
-conduct; but still, it was tiresome to be
-so evidently worshiped, and yet know nothing at all
-about it!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Poor Ferdinand! The struggle for existence was
-rapidly wearing him out. The want of almost every
-necessary of life, the constant recourse to a morsel
-of bread, or a little rice, and a few potatoes, for daily
-food, coupled with the perpetual tension of the brain,
-required to secure even these, miserable as they
-were—all this was doing its deadly work, and M. de
-Candolles’ health was visibly failing every day.
-One evening, this was so plain to all eyes that, at
-Madame de Guesvillers’ house, many good-natured
-persons told Ferdinand he really must take care, or
-they should hear of his going off in a galloping consumption.
-An hour or two later, some one opened
-a window behind where he was standing—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not remain where you are—<span class='it'>pray</span>!” said a
-voice beside him. It was timidly yet earnestly said—the
-sweet voice was unsteady, and there was such
-an expression in the last word, “<span class='it'>Pray!</span>” Ferdinand
-turned without answering: his eyes met Blanche de
-Vouvray’s—she looked down, but not before she had
-involuntarily replied to his passionate and melancholy
-glance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>M. de Candolles soon left the room. His brain
-was on fire, and he rushed homeward like one possessed.
-Part of his prudence was gone. He
-snatched up pen and ink, and <span class='it'>wrote</span>—wrote to <span class='it'>her</span>!
-All that Ferdinand had never yet found, was found
-now—the hidden spring was reached, and the tide of
-eloquence gushed forth, strong, rapid, irresistible.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Such a letter as few women have ever received
-was put, the next morning, into Mademoiselle de
-Vouvray’s hands. The first effect of it was electrical—she
-became confused, and like one in a dream;
-but, almost as soon, the feminine instinct awoke, and
-involuntarily she admitted that <span class='it'>her end was gained—he
-had spoken at last</span>! What lay beyond was
-uncertain—might be dangerous, and had best be altogether
-set aside. She would avoid M. de Candolles
-in future. This was not so easy: that very night
-she met him in the vestibule of the <span class='it'>Grand Opera</span>,
-with little, old Madame de Guesvillers on his arm.
-He bowed to, but did not look at her; was cold, silent
-and reserved, and really did seem as though he
-had one foot in the tomb. He would, perhaps, not
-live another year—that was a shocking thought—and
-Blanche shivered as she rolled over the <span class='it'>Pont
-Royal</span> in her comfortable carriage. There could be
-no harm in answering his letter from a certain point
-of view she now adopted, and accordingly she did
-answer it, and a very virtuous, and consoling, and
-amiable composition her answer was. From this
-moment the possibility of writing tempted both;
-and, from time to time, they availed themselves of
-it, though it never degenerated into a habit. Ferdinand’s
-pecuniary resources growing less and less
-with every day, he literally <span class='it'>starved</span> himself, in order
-to cover the extravagance of his <span class='it'>heart-expenses</span>.
-For a bouquet dropped in at her carriage-window,
-as she drove from the <span class='it'>Italiens</span>—for a perfume to put
-upon his own handkerchief, that she should inhale,
-he constantly observed a four-and-twenty hours’ fast,
-broken only by a crust of bread and a glass of water.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were days, it cannot be denied, when the
-fair Blanche de Vouvray admitted to herself that it
-might have been better for her never to have seen
-M. de Candolles. His strange adoration captivated
-and preoccupied her by its very strangeness, probably
-far more than if it had followed the ordinary method
-in such cases.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One day, after saving during three weeks, and
-Heaven only knows with what pains, the sum of fifteen
-francs, Ferdinand therewith secured the loan of
-a really handsome horse, from one of the dealers in
-the Champs Elysées. When the carriage came in
-view—than which there was no other in the world for
-him—he made his steed execute certain evolutions
-gracefully enough, for he was a remarkably good
-horseman, darted off upon the road to the <span class='it'>Bois de
-Boulogne</span>, crossed once or twice the path of the <span class='it'>calèche</span>
-he was pursuing, received <span class='it'>one</span> look of recognition,
-<span class='it'>one</span> sign from a small gloved hand, and was
-over-paid! That evening, they met in the same <span class='it'>salon</span>:
-a lady—who was standing by the piano whereon
-Blanche had just been playing a new waltz—asked
-Ferdinand whether she had not seen him on
-horseback in the Champs Elysées.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I thought I would try how it might suit me
-now,” was his reply: “but I find it will not do; the
-exercise is too strong, and I am unequal to it.”
-Blanche de Vouvray grew pale, and bent down to
-look over some music.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If riding is too much for his nerves,” observed—later
-in the evening, to his neighbor—one of the
-beardless <span class='it'>lions</span> who happened to be present, “I
-should imagine such a monstrous quantity of cake
-must be equally so!” and jumping forward to Ferdinand’s
-side—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Halte là, mon vieux!</span>” he exclaimed, with all
-the elegance and atticism of <span class='it'>Mabille</span> in his intonation.
-“Leave a little of that <span class='it'>Savarin</span> for me, will
-you? <span class='it'>Que diable!</span> why, one would swear you
-hadn’t eaten since yesterday!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ferdinand turned round suddenly upon the ill-bred
-youth, and in his haggard glance there was a flash of
-positive ferocity: it was but a flash, but to an observer
-it would have sufficed to testify the truth of
-the horrid words uttered in jest. An instant after,
-the impression was chased away, and a laugh was
-the only visible result of the incident; but any one
-who could have decyphered what was engraven on
-M. de Candolles’ countenance that night, would
-have seen that a convulsion so violent had passed
-over his whole being; that reason was almost shaken
-from its throne.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The constant recurrence of these violent emotions
-acted more and more visibly each day upon Ferdinand’s
-wasted frame; and, at last, a moment came
-when he disappeared altogether from his habitual
-haunts. Few marked his absence, except a few
-women, in whose albums he wrote bad verses, and
-for whom he procured autographs from great theatrical
-celebrities. Upward of ten days passed, and M.
-de Candolles had not yet been heard of. His old
-friend, Madame de Guesvillers, drove herself to his
-door, and the answer at first was—as usual—that he
-was “<span class='it'>out</span>.” Two days later, however, the porter
-admitted that he was in reality very ill, but that the
-doctor had forbidden any one from visiting him, as
-the slightest agitation or exertion might produce the
-worst effects. That very evening, whilst her circle
-of <span class='it'>habitués</span> was around her, Madame de Guesvillers
-received a note from Ferdinand, expressing his gratitude
-for her inquiries, but saying that his illness was
-little or nothing—a cold—and that he hoped in a few
-days to be able to resume his place at her tea-table.
-Blanche was present, heard the contents of the note,
-and if it had been any one’s interest—which it luckily
-was not—to watch her, would have betrayed by
-many little signs, her involuntary joy. But, on returning
-home, that joy was turned to dismay. There
-was a letter, too, for her—such a letter—it was
-written from a death-bed, and contained a last farewell!
-She dismissed her maid, and sat through the
-first hours of the night, with the letter lying before
-her. Every feeling of commiseration, of womanly
-sympathy was touched, and the true womanly wish
-to comfort and console aroused.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When she arose the next morning, it was with the
-determination to afford the last sad alleviation in her
-power to the sufferings she had caused. She accordingly,
-after attiring herself as modestly as possible,
-sallied forth, and, on foot, reached M. de Candolles’
-abode. Here, for a moment, she paused, and her
-courage began to fail.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a bright, sunny morning, and it would
-have seemed that all the shopkeepers in the street
-were determined to take their part of air and light,
-for Blanche thought they were all congregated upon
-their respective thresholds to see her pass. She
-blushed at every step, and felt so confused, that more
-than once she had nearly stumbled. Before entering
-the <span class='it'>porte cochere</span> she stood an instant still, all the
-blood rushed to her heart, and she was ready to
-faint, <span class='it'>lest she should be too late</span>! When she had
-mastered this first strong emotion she began to reflect
-upon the means of gaining the sufferer’s presence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Blanche commenced her ascent, but when she
-reached the topmost stair of the fifth flight, and saw
-before her the narrow, winding, dirty steps that led
-to the last story, she paused, and began to wonder
-whither she was going. How strange that M. de
-Candolles should live in such a place! M. de Candolles,
-who was “one of her set,” and whom she
-had pictured to herself surrounded by the same elegancies
-of life which, to the small number of individuals
-she called <span class='it'>every body</span> were indispensable!—what
-could it mean, and where was she going?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She mounted the flight of stairs, and found herself
-in a long, winding corridor, lighted by skylights
-placed at stated distances. Doors were on either
-hand, and they were numbered. Blanche de Vouvray
-drew her silk dress and her cachemire shawl
-closely around her, to avoid the contact of the greasy
-looking wall. She was hesitating whether she
-would not return at once, when a low moan, followed
-by a short, hollow cough, struck her ear—all
-the woman’s pitying sympathy was instantaneously
-re-awakened, and she advanced, her hand raised in
-order to knock.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But, reader, let us in a few words depict to you
-the scene that is yet hidden by that closed door. On
-a miserable bed stretched upon a <span class='it'>paillasse</span> of straw,
-lies the invalid, upon whose pallid features a ray of
-light falls mournfully after having filtered through a
-ragged piece of green calico hung up before the dim
-pane of the roof-window. The walls are dingy and
-bare; in one corner only hangs something in the form
-of clothing, covered by an old square of ticking. On
-a broken-backed straw chair at the bed-head, rests a
-broken tea-pot, apparently filled with <span class='it'>tisane</span>; whilst
-upon a small table near the door are crowded together
-papers and perfume-bottles, inkstands and
-soiled gloves, a wash-hand basin and a candlestick, a
-hair-brush and two or three books—the heterogeneous
-symbols of all the wretched inmate’s wants,
-vanities and toil!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The night had been a bad one, and the morning
-sun brought but small alleviation to Ferdinand’s sufferings,
-whilst the malady itself held him prisoner
-in its clutches; the want of proper sustenance so
-weakened his frame that it could oppose no resistance
-to disease. The brain, without as yet precisely
-wandering, still from time to time created for itself
-fair illusions, gentle dreams. <span class='it'>One</span> form ever floated
-before Ferdinand’s mental vision—far, far off, as in
-another sphere—and he would stretch forth his arms
-toward the image, and longing, cry to it for a look,
-a sign of recognition.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A knock came at his door, uncertain, timid, loud;
-why did they disturb him?—Another knock!—He
-groaned forth the word to enter, and a hand was laid
-upon the key.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come in,” he again peevishly repeated. The
-door opened!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To describe what passed in the minds of the two
-thus suddenly face to face to one another, is impossible.
-All the squalid, ugly, poverty and apparent
-degradation we have tried to depict, flashed like
-lightning over Blanche de Vouvray’s comprehension—she
-stood aghast, but the involuntary scream that
-escaped her was drowned in the violence of the exclamation
-that burst from M. de Candolles’ lips.
-With one hand drawing over him convulsively the
-blanket which was his only covering, and waving
-the other imperiously—“Depart hence, depart,” he
-shrieked in bitter agony, and with eyes that started
-with horror from their sockets.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The terror was mutual; and she who had come
-to console fled in dismay, and he, who would have
-paid with his heart’s blood a touch of her hand,
-drove her from him as ruthlessly as though she had
-been his deadliest foe!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ferdinand de Candolles did not die then; he went
-raving mad, was confined at Charenton for many
-years, grew to be a harmless maniac, and died in the
-year 1848. Blanche de Vouvray is still a reigning
-beauty in the <span class='it'>salons</span> of Paris, universally respected,
-and only known by a very few as the heroine of this
-sad tale.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk109'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='rai'></a>THE GHOST-RAISER.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My Uncle Beagley, who commenced his commercial
-career very early in the present century as a bagman,
-<span class='it'>will</span> tell stories. Among them, he tells his
-Single Ghost story so often, that I am heartily tired
-of it. In self-defense, therefore, I publish the tale in
-order that when next the good, kind old gentleman
-offers to bore us with it, every body may say they
-know it. I remember every word of it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One fine autumn evening, about forty years ago, I
-was traveling on horseback from Shrewsbury to
-Chester. I felt tolerably tired, and was beginning to
-look out for some snug way-side inn, where I might
-pass the night, when a sudden and violent thunder-storm
-came on. My horse, terrified by the lightning,
-fairly took the bridle between his teeth, and started
-off with me at full gallop through lanes and cross-roads,
-until at length I managed to pull him up just near
-the door of a neat-looking country inn.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well,” thought I, “there was wit in your madness,
-old boy, since it brought us to this comfortable
-refuge.” And alighting, I gave him in charge to the
-stout farmer’s boy who acted as ostler. The inn-kitchen,
-which was also the guest-room, was large,
-clean, neat and comfortable, very like the pleasant
-hostelry described by Izaak Walton. There were
-several travelers already in the room—probably, like
-myself, driven there for shelter—and they were all
-warming themselves by the blazing fire while waiting
-for supper. I joined the party. Presently, being
-summoned by the hostess, we all sat down, twelve
-in number, to a smoking repast of bacon and eggs,
-corned beef and carrots, and stewed hare.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The conversation turned naturally on the mishaps
-occasioned by the storm, of which every one seemed
-to have had his full share. One had been thrown off
-his horse; another, driving in a gig, had been upset
-into a muddy dyke; all had got a thorough wetting,
-and agreed unanimously that it was dreadful weather—a
-regular witches’ sabbath!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Witches and ghosts prefer for their sabbath a
-fine moonlight night to such weather as this!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These words were uttered in a solemn tone, and
-with strange emphasis, by one of the company. He
-was a tall, dark-looking man, and I had set him
-down in my own mind as a traveling merchant or
-pedler. My next neighbor was a gay, well-looking,
-fashionably-dressed young man, who, bursting into a
-peal of laughter, said:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You must know the manners and customs of
-ghosts very well, to be able to tell that they dislike
-getting wet or muddy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The first speaker giving him a dark, fierce look,
-said:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Young man, speak not so lightly of things above
-your comprehension.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean to imply that there are such things
-as ghosts?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps there are, if you had courage to look at
-them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The young man stood up, flushed with anger. But
-presently resuming his seat, he said calmly:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That taunt should cost you dear if it were not
-such a foolish one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A foolish one!” exclaimed the merchant, throwing
-on the table a heavy leathern purse. “There are
-fifty guineas. I am content to lose them, if, before
-the hour is ended, I do not succeed in showing you,
-who are so obstinately prejudiced, the form of any
-one of your deceased friends; and if, after you have
-recognized him, you allow him to kiss your lips.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We all looked at each other, but my young neighbor,
-still in the same mocking manner, replied:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will do that, will you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said the other—“I will stake these fifty
-guineas, on condition that you will pay a similar
-sum if you lose.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After a short silence, the young man said, gayly:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fifty guineas, my worthy sorcerer, are more
-than a poor college sizar ever possessed; but here are
-five, which, if you are satisfied, I shall be most willing
-to wager.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The other took up his purse, saying, in a contemptuous
-tone:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Young gentleman, you wish to draw back?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>I</span> draw back!” exclaimed the student. “Well!
-if I had the fifty guineas, you should see whether I
-wish to draw back!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here,” said I, “are four guineas, which I will
-stake on your wager.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No sooner had I made this proposition than the rest
-of the company, attracted by the singularity of the
-affair, came forward to lay down their money; and
-in a minute or two the fifty guineas were subscribed.
-The merchant appeared so sure of winning, that he
-placed all the stakes in the student’s hands, and prepared
-for his experiment. We selected for the purpose
-a small summer-house in the garden, perfectly
-isolated, and having no means of exit but a window
-and a door, which we carefully fastened, after placing
-the young man within. We put writing materials
-on a small table in the summer-house, and took away
-the candles. We remained outside, with the pedler
-amongst us. In a low, solemn voice he began to
-chant the following lines:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“What riseth slow from the ocean caves</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And the stormy surf?</p>
-<p class='line0'>The phantom pale sets his blackened foot</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;On the fresh green turf.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then raising his voice solemnly, he said:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You asked to see your friend, Francis Villiers,
-who was drowned, three years ago, off the coast of
-South America—what do you see?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I see,” replied the student, “a white light arising
-near the window; but it has no form; it is like an
-uncertain cloud.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We—the spectators—remained profoundly silent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are you afraid?” asked the merchant, in a loud
-voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not,” replied the student, firmly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After a moment’s silence, the pedler stamped three
-times on the ground, and sang:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“And the phantom white, whose clay-cold face</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Was once so fair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dries with his shroud his clinging vest</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And his sea-tossed hair.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once more the solemn question:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You, who would see revealed the mysteries of
-the tomb—what do you see now?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The student answered in a calm voice, but like
-that of a man describing things as they pass before
-him:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I see the cloud taking the form of a phantom; its
-head is covered with a long veil—it stands still!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are you afraid?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We looked at each other in horror-stricken silence,
-while the merchant, raising his arms above his head,
-chanted in a sepulchral voice:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“And the phantom said, as he rose from the wave,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He shall know me in sooth!</p>
-<p class='line0'>I will go to my friend, gay, smiling and fond,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;As in our first youth!”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What do you see?” said he.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I see the phantom advance; he lifts his veil—’tis
-Francis Villiers! he approaches the table—he writes!—’tis
-his signature!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are you afraid?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A fearful moment of silence ensued; then the student
-replied, but in an altered voice:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With strange and frantic gestures the merchant
-then sang:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“And the phantom said to the mocking seer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I come from the South;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Put thy hand on my hand—thy heart on my heart—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thy mouth on my mouth!”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What do you see?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He comes—he approaches—he pursues me—he
-is stretching out his arms—he will have me! Help!
-help! Save me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are you afraid, <span class='it'>now</span>?” asked the merchant in a
-mocking voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A piercing cry, and then a stifled groan, were the
-only reply to this terrible question.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Help that rash youth!” said the merchant, bitterly.
-“I have, I think, won the wager; but it is
-sufficient for me to have given him a lesson. Let
-him keep his money and be wiser for the future.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He walked rapidly away. We opened the door of
-the summer-house and found the student in convulsions.
-A paper, signed with the name “Francis
-Villiers,” was on the table. As soon as the student’s
-senses were restored, he asked vehemently where
-was the vile sorcerer who had subjected him to such
-a horrible ordeal—he would kill him! He sought
-him throughout the inn in vain; then, with the speed
-of a madman, he dashed off across the fields in pursuit
-of him—and we never saw either of them again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That, children, is my Ghost Story!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And how is it, good uncle, that after <span class='it'>that</span>, you
-don’t believe in ghosts?” said I, the first time I
-heard it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Because, my boy,” replied my uncle, “neither
-the student or the merchant ever returned; and the
-forty-five guineas, belonging to me and the other
-travelers, continued equally invisible. Those two
-swindlers carried them off, after having acted a farce,
-which we, like ninnies, believed to <a id='tobe'></a>be real.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk110'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='what'></a>WHAT DOST THOU WORK FOR?</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY CAROLINE F. ORNE.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>What dost thou work for, oh, tree of the forest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Spreading thy branches so wide and so free?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why hast thou many years wrought in thy season?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;What is the end of thy work and of thee?</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Earth, mother earth, I have wrought for and toiled for,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Life still bestows her beneficent breast;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When for her I shall garner up treasures no longer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Back shall I sink to her bosom to rest.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>What dost thou work for, sweet flower of the wild-wood,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Spreading thy garlands of beauty and bloom?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why dost thou toil to bring buds into blossom?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Who shall come hither to seek thy perfume?</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Earth, mother earth, ’tis for her that I labor.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Cheerfully work I by night and by day,</p>
-<p class='line0'>All she hath given, and more, shall I measure</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Into her bosom, where yet I shall lay.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Man, that art heaping up riches and treasure—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Man, that art seeking for praise and for fame—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Man, that art chasing the phantoms of pleasure—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Whose is your toil? Who your labor can claim?</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Earth, mother earth; ’tis for her we are toiling,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;These are her gifts, and to her they return;</p>
-<p class='line0'>All we have gathered must go to her keeping,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When she ourselves shall in darkness inurn.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then who art filling each hour’s golden measure</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Full of good deeds, and of kindness and love,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who bindeth the wounded, and helpeth the weary,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;For what is thy toil—who thy work shall approve?</p>
-<p class='line0'>“High heaven will approve, though my labors are humble,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;For the soul’s truest welfare I toil, not in vain;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Earth from her bosom such treasures bestows not,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With the soul back to heaven return they again.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk111'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='apr'></a>APRIL.</h1></div>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>By April, of the sunny tress,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The mighty spell of death is broke,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As marble, with a food caress,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To life the son of Belus woke.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span style='font-size:smaller'>W. H. C. H.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i066.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0013' style='width:45%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span class='bold'>TOM MOORE.</span> (<span class='it'>See page <a href='#tom2'>593</a>.</span>)</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk112'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='tom'></a><a id='tom2'></a>TOM MOORE.—THE POET OF ERIN.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY BON GAULTIER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The celebrated poet of the Irish Melodies—so
-long a member of that glorious company of British
-bards which, a perfect galaxy of genius, illuminated
-the first quarter of the present century—is no more.
-He saw them all run their high careers, and pass
-away—and now he, too, is gone. For the last couple
-of years, his brilliant and active mind had given way—the
-soul had sunk before its “dark cottage,” and
-his life was second childishness and mere oblivion.
-None of his old cotemporaries remain, at present,
-but the last among them—Samuel Rogers, the
-banker-poet, now between 80 and 90 years of age—who,
-seeing that his poems are not likely to descend
-to posterity, has, at least, resolved to go a good part
-of the way himself. We do not mention Montgomery—he
-was never ranked in the peerage of Parnassus,
-to which Moore belonged.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was time for Thomas Moore to depart; he had
-seen star after star decay:—many a glorious head
-stoop to the dust, many a soaring spirit extinguished—the
-passionate and wayward Byron, dying in a
-barrack, alone, at Missolonghi—an old, worn-out
-man at thirty-seven; and the delicate and sensuous
-Keats, in the morning of his days, exhaled into the
-clear blue sky of Rome; and “the pard-like spirit”
-of Shelley, passing, ere the noon, through the portals
-of his familiar haunt, the sea, to mingle with the
-elements which he so fearfully, so fearlessly worshiped
-in the world; and the Cervantic and fine-hearted
-Sir Walter—noblest of Scottish Chiefs; and
-the consummate lyric poet of Hope and Poland and,
-“by Susquehanna’s side, fair Wyoming;” and the
-three kings of bardish Cumberland—the weird and
-metaphysical Coleridge, as magnificent as Skiddaw—and
-as <span class='it'>misty</span>, for the most part—Thalaba, Southey,
-the library hermit—and Wordsworth, the consecrated
-hermit of the Mere and the Mountain; and,
-along with these “dead kings of melody,” the Shepherd
-of Ettrick, Allan Cunningham, Motherwell,
-the stormy, metallurgic soul of Ebenezer Elliott,
-and the swan-like music of Hemans. He saw them
-all pass away into the world of shadows—a more
-goodly and powerful troop of poets than any other
-age of British literature could boast—and he himself
-was not unworthy of that splendid and memorable
-brotherhood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Moore was born in May, 1779, at Aungier street
-in the city of Dublin, of Catholic parents. His father
-was a highly respectable grocer and spirit-dealer.
-Young Moore was sent to the school of Mr. Samuel
-Whyte, a man who enjoyed a high reputation as
-pedagogue in the metropolis. He had a very refined
-and dignified notion of his own vocation and literature,
-and was, withal, a good and kind-hearted man.
-He greatly encouraged the habits of public reading
-and elocution in his school; and the fashion of private
-theatricals being then very prevalent in the aristocratic
-families of Ireland, he was often called to
-superintend them at various houses. He encouraged
-his scholars to act scenes from plays, and was a
-great hand at furnishing prologues and epilogues for
-stage “<span class='it'>pieces de circonstance</span>.” Mr. Whyte was
-no common man; for it is, in all human probability,
-to his peculiar mode of training that English literature
-is indebted for two of its most brilliant ornaments.
-His encouragement of theatricals and
-songs, among the boys, gave Richard Brinsley
-Sheridan a tendency to the drama, and Moore a turn
-for lyrical composition and high-life; for we firmly
-and potently believe in the truth of the old hexameter
-embalmed in the Lindley Murray of our childhood—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>’Tis Education forms the tender mind;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Just as the twig is bent, the tree’s inclined.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>About a quarter of a century before Moore entered
-the school, Mr. Whyte had the teaching of young
-Sheridan, whom, curiously enough, he pronounced
-“an incorrigible dunce,” after a year’s instruction
-of the boy! A dunce he was, perhaps, at the methodical
-“branches,” taught in a methodic way by
-Mr. Whyte; but we venture to say quick enough,
-when the fit was on him, at the gay work of tinkering
-or acting plays, or pieces of plays—thus taking
-unconsciously the bias which had its results in the
-School for Scandal and the Duenna. As for Tommy
-Moore, he was always a spry, vivacious, black-eyed
-little chap, who took at once to the business of the
-boards, and recited and performed to the great satisfaction
-of his master. The latter, whenever he
-went to the houses of the nobility and gentry to get
-up plays, would usually take with him his smart
-show-actor—the precocious little Catholic boy, and
-give him parts to sustain in the representations. In
-this way the plebeian youngster was introduced—greatly
-to his pride and satisfaction—into the highest
-families of Dublin and its vicinity, where the circumstances
-of gayety and splendor, contrasting with
-the exclusions generally operating against those of
-his class and creed, heightened the zest with which
-he enjoyed his privileges, and thus early created
-those feelings and sentiments of pleasure and brilliancy
-which influenced his subsequent career in the
-world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From reciting and acting, the transition to writing
-verses was a very natural thing, and Moore showed
-himself as apt at rhyme as at every thing else. Indeed,
-like Pope and Ovid, “he lisped in numbers,
-for the numbers came.” He himself gives us from
-memory, part of a juvenile effusion on resuming
-school tasks after the business of the stage was over:</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Our Pantaloon, who did so aged look,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Must now resume his youth, his tasks, his book,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And Harlequin, who skipped, laughed, danced and died,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Must now stand trembling at his master’s side.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And he says: “I have thus been led back, step by
-step, from an early date to one still earlier, with the
-view of ascertaining, for those who may take any
-interest in literary biography, at what period I first
-showed an aptitude for the now common craft of
-verse-making, and the result is—so far back in childhood
-lies the epoch—that I am really unable to say
-at what age I first began to act, sing, and rhyme.”
-At the age of twelve he wrote a Masque, in which
-he adapted verses to Haydn’s “Spirit-Song,” and
-this was performed by himself, his sister, and some
-young friends in his father’s house in Aungier street.
-There have been few instances of a healthy precocity
-of mind beyond that of Thomas Moore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1793, at which time the French Revolution was
-suggesting to the kings of Europe a little leniency to
-their people, Moore was permitted by the repeal of
-a penal statute, to enter Trinity College Dublin—a
-Protestant University. Here, being always anxious
-to distinguish himself, he gave in a specimen of English
-verse at one of the examinations, and was gratified
-by the praise of the examiners and a copy of the
-Voyage of Anacharsis—a book which must have
-greatly helped to Orientalize the genius of Moore.
-His first step in regular authorship was the publication
-of the Translation of Anacreon the Greek poet.
-His sprightly facility of weaving verse had been
-exercised during his stay in College, on this congenial
-task; and in 1799, when nineteen years old, he
-went to London to keep his terms as a barrister at
-the Middle Temple, and to bring out his English
-Anacreontics. These last he was permitted, through
-the interest of some of his aristocratic Irish patrons,
-to dedicate to George, the Prince Regent—against
-whom, nevertheless, at a future period, Moore discharged
-some of his sharpest arrows of personal and
-political satire. After the publication of the lyrics,
-this young poet gradually gave up his idea of becoming
-a lawyer. Themis and her Courts were
-relinquished for <span class='it'>Musa lyræ solers et cantor Apollo</span>;
-law was completely driven out of his head by the
-gay society into which his poetical and musical
-qualities introduced him, and he seems to have
-looked more to the patronage of his titled friends and
-the trade of authorship than to any settled walk or
-profession. The Earl of Moira was his great patron,
-and the influence of this nobleman raised the young
-Irishman to a companionship with the highest and
-most refined societies of the land. And certainly,
-the son of a Dublin grocer—a Catholic, too—must
-have possessed, in a very wonderful degree, the accomplishments
-and amenities of the head and heart
-which could thus win the favor and friendship of a
-very exclusive and fastidious class. Moore’s temperament
-was, in fact, a happy one, and counseled
-as well by prudence as his love of pleasure, he exerted
-himself to the utmost to conciliate the partiality
-of the aristocracy and to live at ease among
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>About this time, 1801-2, he spent a good deal of
-his time at Donington Park, the seat of the Earl of
-Moira, “under whose princely roof,” as he says
-himself—(and great was the charm which these
-princely roofs ever had for the poet!) “I used often
-and long in those days find a hospitable home.”
-Here the young Irishman became somewhat intimate
-with kings and princes—members of Bourbon and
-Orleans families of France; for whom he was in the
-habit of playing and singing, and with whom he
-could bandy courtesies and converse. These were
-the Count of Provence, afterward Charles X.; Louis
-Philippe and his brothers Montpensier and Beaujolais—“all
-dismounted cavalry,” as Curran called
-them, in a whisper, when he first found himself
-sitting among them; and with these the Duke de
-Lorge, the Baron de Rolle, and many others of the
-emigrant <span class='it'>noblesse</span>. No wonder Moore’s ideas should
-be so redolent of sparkling wines, exquisite shapes
-of beauty, and all the perfume and rose-color of life.
-He lived at Donington in the happiest and most
-luxurious manner; and the range of a magnificent
-library was not wanting to complete the aristocratic
-charm of his existence at that period. Shut up in it for
-whole days he has felt, in the midst of his schemes
-of authorship, like Prospero in his enchanted island.
-How different was the fate of his old friend, Robert
-Emmett! At that very time the latter was plotting
-desperately against the English government, and preparing
-that rebellious uprising in which he perished.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1803, at the early age of 23, Moore began to reap
-some of the solid fruits of his connection with the
-English aristocracy. He got the place of Registrar
-of the Court of Admiralty at Bermuda, through the
-interest of the Earl of Moira, and went to the island
-to take possession of his office. But instead of doing
-the duties of it, he procured a deputy, and went
-rambling and rhyming over the islands and on the
-continent of America. He highly enjoyed the natural
-softness and beauty of the Summer Islands; but
-many a song and poetical epistle proved that “his
-heart was in Albion—his heart was not there”—that
-he was sighing for what he called</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The flourishing Isle of the brave and the free,</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>the splendid hospitalities of Donington and the <span class='it'>pays
-de cocagne</span> of the British aristocracy in general.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Passing from Bermuda, he came to Norfolk in
-Virginia, and thence made a pretty lengthened tour
-through the States, by Washington, Philadelphia,
-Buffalo and the lakes. The young votary of the
-Anacreontic muses—the musical pet of the higher
-English circles—did not like the American Democracy
-at all, and has left on record about as unfavorable
-an opinion and prophecy concerning the republic
-as has been written at any time since. Every thing
-seemed tough and unrefined; and when he made his
-bow to President Thomas Jefferson, he felt a mental
-shock from the sight of that simple man, wearing
-“Connemara stockings and slippers,” at the head of
-a nation. To be sure the society of British officers
-and Federal Whigs among whom he chose his friends
-and acquaintances was not calculated to impress him
-with any favorable idea of the democratic party.
-But, every allowance made, Moore said enough to
-show that, Catholic as he was, and come of plebeian
-forefathers (at least in an <span class='it'>immediate</span> manner;
-for the name O’Moore is high on the old rolls of
-Irish peerage and rebellion) he never had any hearty
-sympathy with republicanism and the cause of the
-people. He was all for the glorious distinctions of
-rank and historic <span class='it'>prestige</span>—the pride, pomp and circumstance
-of lordly life; and, in fact, looked on
-America as a sort of moral wilderness. He had no
-hopes of it, indeed. He said society here was rotten
-to the core; and he wrote poetical prophecies of its
-speedy decay and disappearance from among the nations
-of the earth!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And yet there were many things here to conciliate
-the fastidiousness of the young traveler. Among the
-other tokens of an exceptional civilization, was one
-which he himself recalls with an evident feeling of
-gratified pride. The American master of the packet
-in which he crossed Ontario—knowing that the
-young gentleman was a poet—the author of “Anacreon
-Translated,” and “Juvenile Poems and Songs”—refused
-to accept any money for his passage—would
-thus show his sense of what was due to literature!
-We believe very few ship-masters in any
-of the old countries would have done so courteously
-magnanimous a thing as that; and Moore himself
-probably thought so too. The poet was, in fact,
-much better pleased with the natural scenery than
-the people of the continent; and scattered through
-the verses occasioned by his visit will be found many
-tributes to the picturesque wildernesses he passed
-through. Speaking of Niagara and other grand scenes
-he says—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Oh lady, there are miracles which man</p>
-<p class='line0'>Caged in the bounds of Europe’s narrow span</p>
-<p class='line0'>Can scarcely dream of—which his eye must see</p>
-<p class='line0'>To know how wonderful this world can be.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>Moore, as well as hundreds of others, has left us his
-first impressions on the sight of Niagara Falls. He
-says, “When we arrived at length at the inn, in the
-neighborhood of the Falls, it was too late to think of
-visiting them that evening, and I lay awake almost
-the whole night with the sound of the cataract in my
-ears. The day following I consider a sort of era in
-my life: and the first glimpse I got of that wonderful
-cataract gave me a feeling which nothing in this
-world can ever awaken again. It was through an
-opening among the trees, as we approached the spot
-where a full view of the Falls was to burst upon us,
-that I caught this glimpse of the mighty mass of
-waters folding smoothly over the edge of the precipice,
-and so overwhelming was the notion it gave
-me of the awful spectacle I was approaching, that
-during the short interval that followed, imagination
-had far outrun the reality; and vast and wonderful
-as was the scene that then opened upon me my first
-feeling was that of disappointment.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. But in
-spite of the start thus got by imagination the triumph
-of the reality was, in the end, but the greater; for
-the gradual glory of the scene that opened upon me
-soon took possession of my whole mind, presenting
-from day to day, some new beauty or wonder, and
-like all that is most sublime in nature or art, awakening
-sad as well as elevating thoughts.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I should
-find it difficult to say on which occasion I felt most
-deeply affected, when looking on the Falls of Niagara,
-or when standing by moonlight among the
-ruins of the Coliseum.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1806 Moore republished his Juvenile Poems,
-along with the translations and those poems written
-at Bermuda and in America. But the Edinburgh
-Review came down upon the book with the sharpest
-force of sarcasm and severity. The first publication
-of his licentious love-songs, it said, might have been
-excused by the great youth of the poet, but the republication
-was atrociously prepense and unpardonable.
-The poor lyric butterfly was broken terribly
-upon the wheel; but not so much as to disable him
-(—we mean the <span class='it'>poet</span>—changing the figure) from
-challenging the Auld Reekie editor; and the bard and
-critic—Francis Jeffrey—met at Chalk Farm, to settle
-their differences by the duello. But the police
-officers were too quick for them, and arrested both;
-whereupon it was reported, amidst much laughter of
-the press and public, that there were no balls in the
-pistols! Moore went to the trouble of denying that
-he knew the state of his adversary’s engine or his
-own. In this violent business the poet’s feelings
-were sorely tried. But his publisher managed to
-thrive upon the business. The book had, of course,
-received a very unexpected advertisement. Moore’s
-vexations did not terminate with the foregoing. Over
-two years afterward, when young Lord Byron, then
-in his twentieth year, charged gallantly down upon
-all the poets, poetasters and critics of the English
-Parnassus, he laughed at the duel, among the other
-matters, and “Little’s leadless pistol.” Here was
-another outrage; and out came our poet once more
-with a challenge to the peer. But his lordship had
-gone off to make material for his Giaours and Childe
-Harolds in the East, and the letter remained unread
-till his return, near two years after. By this time,
-his “sensitive and surly” feelings had gone off, and he
-wrote to Moore a frank and good-natured reply.
-The latter, who had, in the interim, married his wife—Miss
-Dyke—and thus given hostages to fortune,
-felt how much pleasanter it would be to have the
-young baron’s friendship than his bullet in the body,
-and therefore wrote a very warm <span class='it'>Irish</span> letter in return,
-which paved the way to their mutual friendship.
-On this occasion Rogers got Byron, Moore
-and Campbell together round his mahogany, and
-there they became acquainted with one another, and
-shook hands all round, for the first time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1808 and 1809 Moore published his poems,
-“Intolerance” and “Corruption,” satires; one on
-the English Constitution, and the other on the English
-Church. They are fluent, but want vigor, and
-are read no longer. In the “Skeptic” he writes like
-a good Catholic who prefers ignorant obedience in
-all matters of Faith to the philosophy of Locke.
-But he now prepared to sing a loftier strain. His
-next publication was the First and Second Numbers
-of the Irish Melodies—a work which will secure to
-him whatever immortality awaits his name. The
-melodies became popular, at once, in England
-and Ireland alike. The sparkling grace and flexibility
-of his verse presented an agreeable contrast to
-the generality of songs sung at that period. The
-mixture of vivacity, pathos, and epigrammatic point
-in their composition placed their author at the head
-of modern song-writers; and, if the politics of poor
-Ireland were doomed to be disastrous, the poetry of
-her beautiful music now found itself vindicated and
-triumphant in the halls and palaces of the British
-aristocracy. There was a savor of rebellion in some
-of these songs which wonderfully took the fashionable
-fancy of the English; while in Ireland the repeated
-allusions to the ancient glories of the land, and
-the graceful sorrow which seemed to weep its many
-misfortunes, touched the popular heart, and led the
-people—(we mean the reading people)—to look on
-Moore as the genuine poet of Erin, and to applaud
-him accordingly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As for the poet himself, it would seem that his
-sympathy with his native land was more a matter
-of sentiment than of practical reality. He could
-excite the finest feelings of drawing-room rebellion.
-But he was not a Tyrtæus to rouse up that deeper
-and more daring sentiment which prompts people to
-rush into the field. He was the friend and college-mate
-of Emmett and other disaffected spirits; and
-attended the Debating and Historic Societies in
-which these ardent and enlightened young men,
-mostly Protestants, spoke of the rights of man and
-the liberty of Ireland. They were members of
-United Irish Societies; but Moore never belonged
-to the last. The influence of his parents and relations
-was exercised against the malcontent spirit of
-the time; and when the unhappy rebellion was
-crushed, the young bard went to seek his fortune in
-the very heart of the English aristocracy. There
-Moore’s patriotism was subdued and refined; and it
-ever afterward delighted to exhibit itself in the language
-of polemics and lyric poetry. The Irish
-sentiment of the Irish Melodies is not strong enough
-to nourish any sort of rebellion upon. It is remarkable
-that, in all Moore’s historic allusions, he seldom
-or never speaks of the prowess of the Irish against
-the English—the struggles of the Desmonds, O’Neills,
-O’Moores, and so forth, against the Henries, Elizabeth,
-or the Stuarts. He goes back into the indistinct
-times of Milesian sway, the palace of Tara, and
-the stand of Brian or Malachi against the Danes.
-He passes over the recent and authentic, such as
-would come more home to the present period, and
-weeps or flushes, with remarkable prudence, among
-the legends and the whole Irish apocrypha. But it
-would be too much, perhaps, to expect that the little
-Catholic boy, whose early impressions were formed
-in the midst of the aristocratic societies of Dublin,
-to which he was admitted on sufferance, a gratified
-guest, could ever grow up a democrat or a rebel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Indeed it is not difficult to discover from the tone
-of Moore’s writings that he had formed a low opinion
-of Irish nationality—entertained a poor notion of its
-past glories of all sorts, and little hope that Ireland
-would ever do any thing to right herself. Indeed,
-if Ireland had not her beautiful melodies, to suggest
-the weaving of lyric verse, and to give it some promise
-of immortality, we should not probably have
-had so much Irish reminiscence from Moore. It is,
-in fact, by a sort of poetic licence, that he allows
-himself, in some of his songs, to sing with an air of
-heroism or pathos, of those ancient men and things,
-in which he himself, as may be gathered from the
-pages of his History of Ireland, and from other places,
-had a very slender historical faith. But, after all,
-the Melodies are beautiful things, and deserve the
-fame they have won. They are full of felicities, and
-the hearts have been cold indeed that have been able
-to resist the fascination they exercise, in congenial
-moments, whether spoken or sung. The charm of
-an exquisite phraseology sparkles everywhere, and
-the feelings with which we hear them sung, seem
-incapable of more apt and musical expression.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the intervals of several numbers of the Melodies
-Moore employed himself on other things. In 1812,
-he began to think of his great romance—his Opus
-Magnum—Lalla Rookh. Moore gives us the history
-of this poem, manufacture, sale and all; but the sale
-of it (in MS.) went before the manufacture. It was
-sold to the Messrs. Longman for 3000 guineas—not
-pounds: literary payments in England having been
-and being still made, by respectable publishers, in
-the more aristocratic coin. Mr. Perry, proprietor
-of the Morning Chronicle, made the bargain for his
-friend, the bard, and we suspect that without his
-influence and shrewdness, Moore would not have
-got that sum. For poets, and people of refined feelings,
-are the worst hands at a bargain in the world,
-as everybody knows. Perry said the poet of the
-Melodies should have the highest price ever given
-for any poetic work; and that being 3000 guineas,
-he held out for it and got it. The Longmans bought
-their pig in a poke, as the saying is. They were
-to take whatever poem Moore was pleased to write,
-and also to wait till it was written. This was a
-very pleasant sort of trade for the poet, and he went
-to work with that inspiration and cheerfulness of
-spirit which publishers, for their own sake, should
-do every thing to encourage in their writers. Moore
-retired to Mayfield Cottage, in Derbyshire, a little
-way from Donington Park and its library, and began
-to seclude himself from mankind. Having resolved
-that his romance should be Oriental, he crammed
-himself with every thing written about the East
-that he could, in any way, lay hands on—its manners,
-customs, history, religion, languages, geography, and
-so forth. He then began to write a long story called
-the “Peri’s Daughter;” but, after going a little way
-in it, his Pegasus stuck fast, and the attempt was
-put aside. He tried other ideas; but to little purpose.
-At last, an <span class='it'>Irish</span> idea struck him—that of poor
-Catholics persecuted and kept down for their religion.
-By a happy dexterity he metamorphosed them into
-Guebres, and so, setting up the frame-work of the
-“Fire-Worshipers,” and clothing his Hibernian sentiments—half
-romance half religion—in all the sparkling
-phraseology of the East, he got on swimmingly.
-The monster, “Prophet of the Khorassan,” “Paradise
-and the Peri,” and the “Light of the Harem,”
-followed favorably; and in 1816, after three years’
-incubation, he gave Lalla Rookh to the purchasers
-of the manuscript. To Moore’s honor, it must be
-said, that seeing the monetary and other embarrassments
-of that year, he offered to release the Longmans
-from their engagement, if they desired it.
-But they stuck manfully to their bargain; and it is
-pleasant to add, made handsomely by it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Moore was now very famous. Lalla and the
-Melodies gave him a reputation only second to that
-of the noble young “Childe Buron” himself. His
-“Fire-Worshipers” was quoted with fervor in Ireland;
-the songs in his “Light of the Harem” had
-charmed all the world; a herd of imitators sprang up
-like mushrooms, and bulbuls, peris, roses, flashing
-swords, and sparkling goblets, were the general
-order of the day. In the meantime, Moore went
-with Mr. Rogers to Paris. There he gathered the
-materials of the Fudge Family, which he published
-on his return.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In 1819 he traveled again to Paris, in company
-with Lord John Russell; and both went thence to
-Italy. Lord John passed on to Genoa, and Moore
-proceeded to visit Lord Byron at Venice, where the
-noble exile lived in a very savage condition, drinking
-gin and water o’nights, and writing his heart
-out. There the poets passed some agreeable days
-together, riding along the Lido together, and going
-over the lagoons in a gondola. It was on this occasion
-that Byron confided to Moore his “Memoirs,”
-to be used as the latter should think fit. Moore
-afterward sold them to Murray for 2000 guineas.
-But when Byron died, his widow and family interfered,
-and induced Moore to withdraw and burn the
-manuscript—forfeiting the money, of course. Moore
-has been blamed for consenting to this sacrifice.
-But it is very likely he has preserved in his Life of
-Byron every thing of interest contained in the papers,
-and that very little was lost, except certain scandalous
-particulars, which the world would very
-willingly let die—though the offal-eating scandal-mongers
-of the day groaned horribly under the
-privation at the time. After leaving Venice, Moore
-went to Rome. He confesses that, in the midst of
-the ruins and splendors of past Roman civilization
-and art, he was painfully conscious of his own want
-of artistic taste and enthusiasm. He says that a
-sunset on the Simplon touched him with more admiration
-than any thing he had seen in the Italian
-galleries of art. This would hardly have been expected
-from Moore, who has been termed the poet
-of artificial things. After his return from this tour,
-he published his Rhymes on the Road and the Fables
-of the Holy Alliance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But his return did not extend to England. He
-knew that country was no place for him, just then.
-He had made a blunder in his business of the Bermuda
-registrarship, the consequences of which had
-now reached him. He had taken no security of the
-deputy he had appointed to do the duties of that
-office. The latter, in the course of time and trade,
-fell into temptation—the easy carelessness of Moore
-led him, perhaps, into it—and he made way with
-the proceeds of some American cargoes, and then,
-with himself—leaving the unprophetic little bard, in
-the heyday of his glory, to be responsible for near
-six thousand pounds. The terrible Court of Admiralty
-now issued a law process against “the smiling
-bard of pleasure,” which the latter did not think it
-wise to confront in person, and so stopped short at
-Paris, where—along with his family, which had
-joined him—he remained till the close of 1822. His
-friends, in the mean time, came forward to the rescue;
-and if, for a moment, he wronged his better
-genius by hard thoughts against the honor or honesty
-of his fellows, he was soon brought round to the nobler
-and better human creed, by generous offers of
-gifts, loans, etc. Thus, sustained in his exile, he
-passed his time pleasantly enough, at La Butte Coaslin,
-near Paris, singing Spanish songs to the guitar in
-the evening, in company with Madame V——, a neighbor,
-and spending the mornings of the two summers
-he remained in France, wandering through the noble
-park of St. Cloud, spinning and polishing verses and
-jotting down new ideas in his memorandum-book.
-His exile was, certainly, pleasanter than that of his
-erotic, erratic brother, Ovid, lamenting his frost-bitten
-muses, long ago, on the inhospitable shores of the
-Black Sea. Moore had a great many visitors at
-Coaslin, among them our Washington Irving, “who
-still, I trust,” he says, “recollects his reading to me
-some parts of his then forthcoming work, ‘Bracebridge
-Hall,’ as we sat together on the grass walk
-that leads to the Rocher, at La Butte.” To meet
-his awkward liabilities, Moore had agreed with
-Messrs. Murray and Wilkie to write a Life of Sheridan;
-but finding himself too distant from documents
-and authorities, he went on with his customary business
-of verse, and projected an epistolary romance,
-with Egyptian characters. But this romance was
-postponed: and it appeared afterward, done in prose,
-as the “Epicurean.” He also took up the allegory of
-“The Loves of the Angels,” and working away
-with his usual octosyllabic facility, he had soon
-woven it into shape. For this poem he was allowed
-one thousand guineas by his publisher.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On Moore’s return to England, he found that his
-friends had negotiated the Americans down to a
-thousand pounds; and that the uncle of the faithless
-deputy had been induced, in a grumbling way, to
-contribute <span class='it'>£</span>300 of that sum. A friend had deposited
-the balance in the bank to Moore’s credit, for the
-canceling of the Bermuda claim; and the poet was
-happy to hand him an order on his publisher for that
-amount. In this connection, Moore records (without
-naming the giver, but with a quotation from Ovid,
-to the effect that “gifts are agreeable which are
-made precious by him who makes them,”) a present
-of £300, made him at that time of difficulty—the proceeds
-of a maiden-work—a biography—which had
-been just published. The donor was Lord John
-Russel; the firm friend of the poet to the end of his
-life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Moore now went to live at Sloperton, two
-miles from Devizes, and not far from the country
-seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne. His dwelling
-was at first a somewhat rude cottage, in a wooded
-lane. But, on taking it, the new occupants made it
-very comfortable and pleasant, by means of enlargements
-and other improvements. In 1824, Moore
-published his “Memoirs of Captain Rock,” in which
-he set forth the misgovernment of England since the
-conquest of the island by Strongbow. In this book
-he never forgets the manner for the matter: he is full
-of point and learned illustration, and festoons his deplorable
-facts with many felicities of metaphor and
-arguments of theology. But no Irishman, how hot-headed
-soever, could take the Memoirs as the text-book
-of rebellion, or feel his blood excited by them.
-Mr. Moore’s learning and imagery, in fact, weakened
-his theme, as the accompaniment of rich, heavy baggage
-used to obstruct the movements of the great
-historic armies, long ago. The “Memoirs” are obsolete,
-though the Irish sufferings seem to be much
-the same as usual.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At Sloperton, Moore wrote, also, his History of
-Ireland and the Biographies of Richard Brinsley
-Sheridan, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and Lord Byron—the
-last the best of the three, a biography ranking
-with Boswell’s Life of Johnson, and Lockhart’s Life
-of Scott. After his “Captain Rock,” Moore published
-the “Irish Gentleman in search of a Religion,”
-in which he girds at all Protestant doctrine, with
-his usual power of theologic reading and pointed argument;
-and then gave to the world his “Epicurean;”
-in which he intertwines his favorite ethics of
-religion with the frame of a very dull story. Moore’s
-mind had a strong devotional tendency, and seems to
-revert—with a sense of its own insufficiency—to the
-problem of existence beyond the last scene of all that
-ends the strange eventful history of life. His doubtings,
-if he ever had any, seem to have taken ultimate
-refuge in Catholic orthodoxy. He was, in fact, a
-dutiful son of mother Church: and great was the uneasiness
-he exhibited, lest his friend, Lord Byron,
-should adopt, in all their force, the atheistical ideas
-of Percy Bysshe Shelley, with whom his lordship had
-become very intimate, in Italy. Moore earnestly expostulated
-with Byron on the project of the “Liberal”
-newspaper, got up by the restless Childe and
-supported by Hunt, Shelley, and Hazlitt. He told
-his lordship that such a conjunction, with such a radical
-purpose, was very far from respectable—not
-by any means respectable enough for an English nobleman
-to engage in.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The last productions of Moore were those light
-and satirical verses which appeared in the Morning
-Chronicle and other papers, up to 1837. They are
-the happiest things of their kind, in the world, and to
-those who can admire the gay dexterities of wit,
-woven into the tapestry work of rhyme, they possess
-an interest surviving the subjects of them. In the
-interweaving of pointed and witty things with the
-flow of colloquial phraseology, Moore has shown
-himself more skillful than any of his contemporaries,
-and no writer of the present day can match him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A bright, sensuous, Celtic genius dies with Tom
-Moore. As a poet, he will be chiefly remembered
-for the undying melodies of his native land, with
-which his words are beautifully identified. His
-translations of Anacreon are clever school-boy exercises—very
-free versions and amplifications of the
-original, and contain many points and prettinesses
-which the old Cyclic bard never thought of. The juvenile
-and erotic songs which obtained for Moore the
-name of the modern Catullus, are very slight things—mere
-floating gossamers of literature—flashing a little
-in the light—“the purple light of love,” and then
-fading away from the general appreciation. But these
-songs were, nevertheless, greatly in vogue in their
-day, and the pathos or gayety of them found echoes
-in the hearts of ten thousand festive saloons. Never
-was the youth of any poet spent in the midst of
-greater incitements of love, friendship, and song,
-than those that solicited Moore on every side during
-the heyday of his years, in the high society of England.
-It was therefore morally impossible that his
-verse should be any thing but “brilliant and light,”
-full of all the levities and luxuries of sentiment. The
-real arduousness, effort, and pain of life find no expression
-at all in Moore. The poems respecting
-America and his West India voyage, exhibit his
-want of sympathy with republicanism, and his ceaseless
-longing after the grand associations and lordly
-homes of England. Nevertheless, it must not be forgotten
-that he found some congenial persons and
-things on this continent. He has recorded the enjoyment
-of his sojourn in our own city of “brotherly
-love,” where, in the society of Mr. Dennie’s family,
-he almost forgot he was in a republic. His recollections
-of Philadelphia were happy ones.</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;LINES WRITTEN ON LEAVING PHILADELPHIA.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Alone by the Schuylkill a wanderer roved,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And bright were its flowery banks to his eye;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But far, very far were the friends that he loved,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And he gazed on the flowery banks with a sigh.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Nor long did the soul of the stranger remain</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Unblest by the smile he had languished to meet;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though scarce did he hope it would soothe him again,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Till the threshold of home had been pressed by his feet.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But the lays of his boyhood had stolen to their ear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And they loved what they knew of so humble a name;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And they told him with flattery welcome and dear</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That they found in his heart something better than fame.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The stranger is gone, but he will not forget</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When, at home, he shall talk of the toils he has known,</p>
-<p class='line0'>To tell with a sign, what endearments he met</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When he strayed by the wave of the Schuylkill alone.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>The “Canadian Boat Song,” composed on the St.
-Lawrence, is the most popular of the songs written
-at the earlier period of life—indeed, at any period of
-his life. It is more frequently heard in society than
-any thing else he has composed—the finest of the
-Melodies not excepted. As regards these last, it has
-been said they are not Irish. It is, indeed, true that
-Moore modified the native airs a good deal—retrenched
-most of the wild cadences and free modulations
-which indigenously belong to them. This,
-however, may not be such a very great loss after all,
-seeing that, if some of the melodies, with his arrangement,
-would not be intimately recognized at
-wakes and cow-milkings, etc., they were all the better
-liked, for the curtailment and polish, in the
-dining-rooms and drawing-rooms. Certainly no modern
-festive song-writer has produced the effects
-which usually accompanied the singing of Tom
-Moore’s lyrics. He was eminently the poet of the
-saloons. Burns was the lyrist of Love and the lowly
-hearts and homes of the people. But Moore’s songs
-were sung in the most splendid halls of English-speaking
-land, where he himself, of all guests or sojourners
-in lordly dwellings, was ever the most welcome
-and caressed. And when we consider the low
-birth, <span class='it'>Irishism</span> and uncompromised Catholicity of
-the man, we cannot possibly over-estimate those talents
-of graceful conviviality, good-humor and brilliant
-wit which could secure for him such social
-honors and triumphs through life. Well might Byron
-have called him “the poet of all circles and the idol
-of his own.” Moore had an exquisite musical taste,
-and sung some of his own melodies in the most delightful
-manner. His voice was rather low, and
-without compass, but it had great softness, and the
-expression with which he half-chaunted, half-recited,
-while accompanying himself at the piano, in “Go
-Where Glory Waits Thee,” “Fly Not Yet,” and
-others, was a thing to be enjoyed and remembered.
-On some occasions when he has gone to the piano,
-the servants of the house—Devonshire House, we
-believe—have been permitted to come and stand at
-the doors to listen, along with the delighted crowd
-of noble listeners. Moore’s performance was considered
-one of the best treats of the evening at such
-gay reunions; and Mr. N. P. Willis speaks of the
-little bard’s appearance, at Lady Blessington’s piano—for
-a singing-while—as if his singing in this way
-were an expected gratification which he was too
-well-bred or too good-natured to refuse to his friends.
-A touching instance of the effect he could produce
-on these occasions is given in a fact to which he himself
-alludes. The beautiful young daughter of Colonel
-Bainbridge, who was married at Ashbourne Church,
-in Derbyshire, in 1815, died, a few weeks afterward,
-of fever. During the delirium that accompanied
-her illness she sung several hymns from Moore’s
-collection of “Sacred Songs” which she had heard
-the poet himself sing in the course of the preceding
-summer. Alluding to her, he says, in the song
-“Weep not for Those”—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Mourn not for her, the young bride of the vale,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Our gayest and loveliest, lost to us now,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Ere life’s early lustre had time to grow pale,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And the garland of love was yet fresh on her brow.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Lalla Rookh is a splendid and elaborate romance.
-Hazlitt said Moore should not have written it for
-three thousand guineas. This was Moore’s own affair,
-not Hazlitt’s; and we question if the latter
-would have refused such a sum, under such circumstances.
-Nevertheless, Lalla Rookh seems below
-the pretensions of the poet of the Melodies. Its
-themes and characters are oriental and the interest
-they excite is feeble. There is a forced and exotic
-air over the whole performance which fails to win
-our sympathies; and, in spite of the beauty of the
-imagery and all the sparkling artifice of the versification,
-no one, we believe, was every cordially disposed
-to read this romance a second time. The
-rythmus of the “Veiled Prophet” is eloquently rhetorical,
-but loosely constructed, and it offends our
-sense of what the heroic couplet is, in the hands of
-Dryden, Shelley, Goldsmith and Byron. Moore’s
-metre, in this grave mode, is a continuous outrage
-against the cæsural canons, and reads with a certain
-prosaic effect—eloquent enough, to be sure; but prosaic,
-nevertheless: “The Fire-Worshipers” has
-been considered the best portion of Lalla Rookh. It
-contains a great deal of impassioned eloquence and
-shows great mastery and music of versification; but
-the impression it leaves is vague and uncongenial,
-and the catastrophe is painful, merely—like that of
-the “Veiled Prophet”—both with a melodramatic
-and impossible air about them. “Paradise and the
-Peri” has the merit of a more attractive human interest—though
-almost overlaid by ornament and
-orientalism. We think the “Light of the Harem”
-the most agreeable of all. It is perfectly in character—a
-picture of Eastern luxury from beginning to
-end—a feast of roses and a flow of fountains, in which
-we look for nothing but sighs and perfumes—and we
-find them in all customary Mooreish prodigality.
-The verse of this little poem is woven music. The
-portrait of Nourmahal is a piece of lyric gracefulness
-which aptly exemplifies the art of Moore’s sensuous
-and harmonic genius:</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>There’s a beauty, for ever unchangingly bright,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like the long sunny lapse of a summer day’s light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Shining on, shining on, by no shadow made tender,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till Love falls asleep in its sameness of splendor.</p>
-<p class='line0'>This was not the beauty—oh, nothing like this,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That to young Nourmahal gave such magic of bliss!</p>
-<p class='line0'>But that loveliness, ever in motion, which plays</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like the light upon Autumn’s soft shadowy days,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now here and now there—giving warmth as it flies,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the lip to the cheek, from the cheek to the eyes.</p>
-<p class='line0'>When pensive, it seemed as if that very grace,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That charm, of all others, was born with her face!</p>
-<p class='line0'>And when angry—for even in the tranquillest climes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Light breezes will ruffle the blossoms sometimes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The short, passing anger but seemed to awaken</p>
-<p class='line0'>New beauty, like flowers that are sweetest when shaken.</p>
-<p class='line0'>If tenderness touched her, the dark of her eye</p>
-<p class='line0'>At once took a darker, a heavenlier dye,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the depth of whose shadow, like holy revealings</p>
-<p class='line0'>From innermost shrines came the light of her feelings.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Then her mirth—O, ’twas sportive as ever took wing</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the heart with a burst like the wild-bird in spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Illumed by a wit that would fascinate sages,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet playful as Peris let loose from their cages;</p>
-<p class='line0'>While her laugh, full of glee, without any control,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But the sweet one of gracefulness, rung from her soul,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And where it most sparkled no glance could discover,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In lip, cheek or eyes, for she brightened all over;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like any fair lake which the breeze is upon</p>
-<p class='line0'>When it breaks into dimples and laughs in the sun!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>No wonder “the magnificent son of Acbar” should
-be set excessively beside himself on account of such
-a miracle of womanhood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Moore shows himself very incapable of sustaining
-himself in any flights of imagination to compare at all
-with the soaring of Shelley or Byron. The sight of
-his mind is less keen and ardent than theirs, his
-thoughts feebler and his verse less vigorously constructed.
-But in his own genial sphere—on the
-lower sunny slopes of the mountain, he can snatch a
-thousand warbling graces beyond the art of these
-louder instruments.</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>His is the lay that lightly floats,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And his are the murmuring, dying notes</p>
-<p class='line0'>That fall as soft as snow on the sea,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And melt in the heart as instantly;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the passionate strain, that, lightly going</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Refines the bosom it trembles through</p>
-<p class='line0'>As the musk-wind, over the waters blowing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Ruffles the wave but sweetens it too!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>Moore has happily expressed the pathetic morals,
-gayeties and tendernesses of sentiment. But we
-think he has been still more happy in those humorous,
-satirical, wit-elaborated performances in which
-it was his wont to assail the public men and things
-of English government and English society. His
-metrical onslaughts on the Tory party, the Prince
-Regent, the Church Establishment—individually or
-collectively—have been among the most genial and
-applauded things he has written. In the other walks
-of poetry he had overpowering rivals—in this he was
-unrivaled—“within this circle none durst walk but
-he.” He was well aware of the power of satire to
-influence the gravest argument in the world, and felt
-that</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A song may reach him who a sermon flies.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>Much of his sarcasm was launched against the
-English Church Establishment. Its existence in Ireland
-has long been a just cause of popular complaint,
-and thousands of pamphlets have been written <span class='it'>pro</span>
-and <span class='it'>con</span> in the matter. The witty little poet took
-the hackneyed question, put it into his lyric mill, and
-having given it a few turns, brought it out in the
-following manner—intelligible to all comprehensions—answering
-as well the cause of his Catholic countrymen
-as the cause of simple truth and justice:</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A DREAM OF HINDOSTAN.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“The longer one lives the more one learns,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Said I, as off to sleep I went,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bemused with thinking of tithe concerns,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And reading a book, by the Bishop of <span class='sc'>Ferns</span>,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;On the Irish Church Establishment.</p>
-<p class='line0'>But lo! in sleep not long I lay</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When fancy her usual tricks began,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I found myself bewitched away</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To a goodly city in Hindostan:</p>
-<p class='line0'>A city, where he who dares to dine</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;On aught but rice, is deemed a sinner:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where sheep and kine are held divine,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And, accordingly, never drest for dinner.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;But how is this? I wondering cried,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As I walked that city, fair and wide,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And saw, in every marble street,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A row of beautiful butchers’ shops—</p>
-<p class='line0'>“What means, for men who can’t eat meat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;This grand display of loins and chops?”</p>
-<p class='line0'>In vain I asked—’twas plain to see</p>
-<p class='line0'>That nobody dared to answer me.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>So on from street to street I strode:</p>
-<p class='line0'>And you can’t conceive how vastly odd</p>
-<p class='line0'>The <a id='butch'></a>butchers looked: a roseate crew,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Inshrined in <span class='it'>stalls</span>, with naught to do:</p>
-<p class='line0'>While some on a <span class='it'>bench</span>, half dozing, sat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the sacred cows were not more fat.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Still posed to think what all this scene</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of sinecure trade was <span class='it'>meant</span> to mean,</p>
-<p class='line0'>“And pray,” asked I, “by whom is paid</p>
-<p class='line0'>The expense of this strange masquerade?”</p>
-<p class='line0'>“The expense—oh, that’s of course defrayed”</p>
-<p class='line0'>(Said one of these well-fed hecatombers)</p>
-<p class='line0'>“By yonder rascally rice-consumers.”</p>
-<p class='line0'>“What! <span class='it'>they</span>, who mustn’t eat meat?”—“No matter:”</p>
-<p class='line0'>(And, while he spoke, his cheeks grew fatter,)</p>
-<p class='line0'>“The rogues may munch their <span class='it'>Paddy</span> crop,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But the rogues must still support <span class='it'>our</span> shop:</p>
-<p class='line0'>And depend upon it, the way to treat</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Heretical stomachs that thus dissent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Is to burden all that wont eat meat</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With a costly <span class='sc'>Meat Establishment</span>.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>On hearing these words so gravely said,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With a volley of laughter loud I shook:</p>
-<p class='line0'>And my slumber fled, and my dream was sped,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I found myself lying snug in bed,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With my nose in the Bishop of <span class='sc'>Ferns’s</span> book.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>In spite of the <span class='it'>prestige</span> of Moore’s earlier poetry,
-the world has regarded him, and very justly, as a
-moral man and a good Catholic. In the domestic
-relations of life, as well as the social, he seems to
-have gone through the world blamelessly. For the
-last ten years or so of his life, he was in receipt of
-<span class='it'>£</span>300 a year from the British Government, procured
-for him by his friends the Marquis of Lansdowne and
-Lord John Russell.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Moore died on the 26th of last February, and was
-buried, according to his desire, in the church-yard of
-Bromham, between Devizes and Chippenham, where
-two of his children were buried before him—Anastasia
-Mary, who died in 1829 aged sixteen, and John
-Russell, who died in 1848 at the age of nineteen.
-Another son of the poet died in the French service
-at Algiers. He had, we believe, four children, all
-of whom passed away before himself. Doubly dark,
-indeed, was the close of a life begun so hopefully and
-enjoyed so much in its middle course.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If the poet had died in Ireland, he would have had
-a good funeral. As it was, but a single coach, containing
-four persons, went to the grave with the
-hearse which carried his remains. Byron reached
-Huckwell, in 1824, pretty much in the same way;
-but, we believe, with a somewhat larger attendance—not
-much, however. Moore attended his noble
-friend’s funeral to the bounds of London, as the slender
-<span class='it'>cortège</span> passed through, but went no farther.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Moore was of small stature. “He is a little, very
-little man,” says Sir Walter Scott, speaking of him
-in 1825. Hunt said of him in 1820: “His forehead
-is long and full of character, with bumps of wit
-large and radiant enough to transport a phrenologist:
-his eyes are as dark and fine as you would wish to
-see under a set of vine-leaves.” The poet’s face
-was, in fact, very plain, and only redeemed by the
-brightness of his eyes. Irish festivity and enjoyment
-formed the prevailing expression of his aspect,
-in his better days when he was the delight and pride
-of every society he appeared in—the gayest, happiest,
-most appreciated wit of his time. Poor Tom
-Moore! He was always called <span class='it'>Tom</span> Moore; except
-in cotemporary criticisms of his poems or polemics,
-nobody thought of calling him <span class='it'>Mr.</span> Moore. We
-cannot fancy him a man of seventy-two! There is
-an incongruity in the idea which we cannot get
-over. Old and insane. Alas for the brightest vaunt
-of human intellect and glory! But Tom Moore will
-be ever freshly remembered with the undying melodies
-of his native land.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk113'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='life'></a>A LIFE OF VICISSITUDES.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY G. P. R. JAMES.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>[Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by <span class='sc'>George Payne Rainsford James</span>, in the Clerk’s
-Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts.]</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>(<span class='it'>Continued from page 494.</span>)</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>LONDON, FIFTY YEARS AGO.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was a night coach to London, and I was
-very anxious to arrive in the great city; but Father
-Bonneville was now feeling strongly the effects of
-age, and I would not expose him to the fatigue of a
-long night journey. We set off therefore on the following
-morning, and I can hardly express the effect
-produced upon my mind by the first sight of the vehicle
-which was to convey us. It was the stage-coach
-in its utmost perfection, light, small, and compact,
-beautifully painted, newly washed, with leather
-harness, and four bay horses, which seemed, to my
-eyes, fitted for the race-course. It was so unlike
-any thing I had ever seen in Germany, in France, or
-in America, so light, so neat, so jaunty, so rapid, so
-perfect in all its parts and appointments, that it stood
-out at once from every thing else in my mind, as a
-pure and unadulterated bit of England—an exponent,
-as it were, of the habits of the country and the mind
-of the people. When we came to get in, indeed,
-and take our seats, we found ourselves a little
-cramped for room. The back, too, was stiff and
-rigid, and our legs had but little space to stretch
-themselves out, intertwined with those of our fellow
-passengers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This, too, is a bit of England,” I thought.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When at length the coachman had mounted the box—when
-the reins were gathered up, and the first smack
-of the whip given, poor Father Bonneville looked
-more nervous and uneasy than he had done while I
-was driving him down the hill over the frontier of
-France. On we went, however, at a pace which
-seemed to take away his breath, rattling in and out
-amongst carts and wagons, and horses and dogs,
-touching nothing, though seeming every moment
-about to be dashed to pieces against some great lumbering
-dray, or to kill a score or two of old people
-and children. The coach was heavily laden on the
-top: men’s legs and feet were hanging down in all
-quarters, and we seemed to sway from side to side
-with a terrible inclination to precipitate ourselves
-into the window of some early-risen shopkeeper in
-Portsmouth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length, much to my satisfaction, we were out
-of the town; and after passing over some wide and
-curious-looking downs, unlike any thing else I had
-ever seen in other lands, we entered upon a richer
-and better cultivated country, and the real face of
-England—old England—merry England, as it has
-been endearingly called, spread out before me like a
-garden. And it is a garden—the garden of the world.
-I know not why, but the very heaths and moors—and
-we passed several of them—seemed to have an air of
-comfort and sunny cheerfulness, superior to the cultivated
-fields of other lands. From time to time
-when we stopped to change horses, though it was
-done with a marvelous rapidity, which allowed but
-little time for questions, I asked an ostler or a waiter
-the names of various places we had passed; and I
-remarked that the English must be very fond of the
-devil, as they had made him god-father to every
-place for which they could not well find an epithet.
-I heard of Devil’s dykes, and Devil’s punch-bowl, and
-Devil’s jumps, at every step.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We paused to dine, as it was called, at a small
-town, beautifully situated amongst some fine sweeping
-hills, and on asking the name, found that it was called
-Godalming.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Gott Allgemein</span>,” I said, turning to Father Bonneville,
-who nodded his head. But it was an unfortunate
-speech; for one of our fellow-travelers, a
-great, fat, black-looking man, dressed in mourning,
-who had never opened his mouth during the day, but
-who had continued reading a book, let the coach rattle
-and roll as it would, now fixed upon me as an antiquary,
-and tormented me during the whole of the rest
-of the journey with a dissertation upon pottery, and
-sepulchral urns, and Roman coins, when I wished to
-observe the country, and gain information regarding
-the new land which I had just entered. He evidently
-took me for an Englishman; but my companion he
-soon found out to be an emigrant, and compensated
-in some degree for his tiresomeness, by giving us the
-names of several good inns—“Where,” as he added,
-with a gentle inclination of his head toward Father
-Bonneville, “there were waiters who could speak
-French.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My good old friend was a little mortified, I believe;
-for he flattered himself that his English was
-without accent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Night fell while we were yet some distance from
-London, and still we rattled on at the same velocity,
-till our heavy friend in the corner thought fit to inform
-us that we were entering London. It did not
-seem to be an agreeable entrance at all; for the dark
-streets, lighted by very dim globe lamps shining
-through a fog, into which we seemed to plunge, had
-a somewhat forbidding aspect to the eye of a stranger,
-and the multitude of figures hurrying along on
-both sides of the way, now seen, now lost, as they
-came under the lamps, or passed the blazing shop-fronts,
-looked like phantoms of the dead pursued by
-some evil spirit. The noise too was intolerable; for
-vehicles were running in every direction, making an
-awful clatter as we clattered by them, while through
-the whole was heard a dull, everlasting grumble, as
-if the city suffered under one continual thunder-storm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At length, we dashed up to the door of an inn,
-and every one began to jump out or down, and to
-scramble for trunks or portmanteaus, as best he
-might.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I cannot say that our first night’s residence in
-London was peculiarly agreeable; for besides being
-both heated and tired, stiff and cramped, we had the
-delight of being half-devoured by bugs till dawn of
-day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Poor Father Bonneville rose late, nearly as much
-fatigued with his night’s rest as with his day’s journey.
-But immediately after breakfast, we set out to
-seek for better accommodation. I proposed that we
-should go to one of the inns which had been mentioned;
-but he advised, strongly, that we should
-take a small lodging, adding—“London, when I recollect
-it, was the greatest place for lodgings in the
-world.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So we still found it; for in many streets as we
-walked along, we saw “Furnished lodgings to let,”
-written on a piece of paper, and stuck up in the window
-of almost every other house. Some of these
-we passed by, as likely to be too fine and expensive
-for our purposes. We looked at others, and were
-not satisfied. In one, dirt and smoke were too evident
-to both eye and nose. At another, the young
-ladies of the mansion appeared not such as we wished
-to dwell amongst. In other places, again, we were
-not fortunate enough to give satisfaction ourselves.
-One stout lady, to whom Father Bonneville addressed
-some inquiries, stuck her large, bare, blue arms
-akimbo, and said she would not let her lodgings “to
-foriners,” adding—in not a very indistinct tone—“They’se
-all on um so dirty.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The good Father, the cleanest man upon the face
-of earth, was deeply mortified at this insinuation,
-and turned away indignant. I laughed and followed;
-and at length we found a little place, which
-seemed to suit us well, in a street running from the
-Haymarket, westward. For a guinea and a half a
-week, we were to have two bed-rooms and a sitting-room.
-The lady of the house, or her she helot,
-was to cook for us for five shillings per week more,
-and all promised very well, when I had nearly spoiled
-the whole bargain by inquiring if there were any
-bugs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bugs!” cried the indignant dame. “Bugs! If
-you think there are any bugs, you had better not
-come here, young man.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I found afterward that no house in London is ever
-admitted to have bugs during the day, however potently
-they may make their existence known during
-the night. She was quieted down at length, however,
-and seemed quite pacified, when I paid her
-down the first week’s rent before hand, so as to secure
-her revenue whether there were bugs or not;
-and when she saw four or five very respectable
-looking trunks of American manufacture brought to
-the house from the inn, she became exceedingly reverential,
-and, to do her all justice, remained so till
-the end of our stay.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To finish with bugs, however, at once and for
-ever, I may as well add that, two days after our arrival,
-I found a very unpleasant looking gentleman,
-in a brown coat, walking over my dressing-table,
-and calling the landlady, I pointed it out to her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good lauk-a-daisy!” she exclaimed, in a tone of
-sweet simplicity: “What can it be? I never saw
-such a thing in my life. If it’s a bug, sir, you must
-have brought it from the inn with your pokemantles.
-That would be a sad case to have the house stocked
-with um.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I said, nothing more, lest I should provoke her to
-bring an action for damages against me; but I found
-that, in the course of the morning, she went over all
-the rooms with a curious sort of an instrument, like
-a tin kettle, from which she emitted jets of scalding
-steam into all the cracks and crevices, and I will acknowledge
-that boiled bugs are not half so offensive
-as raw.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It took us a whole day to get shaken into our new
-abode, and to eat some exceedingly fat mutton-chops—about
-the fourth part of what the lady had provided
-for our dinner. What became of the remainder we
-never discovered, and I perceived, though Father
-Bonneville did not, that either from the sea air which
-we had lately enjoyed, or from some other cause,
-we had become inhumanly carnivorous, consuming
-at least, ten times the quantity of beef and mutton in
-a week than we had ever consumed in our lives before,
-together with an enormous quantity of bread
-and butter, and tea enough to have poisoned a Mandarin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the following day, with the good Father on my
-arm, I set out in search of Madame de Salins, taking
-care to ask our landlady, in the first place, the way
-to Swallow street.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you will just strike away by the market, sir—that
-is, St. James’ market—I don’t mean Carnaby,
-that’s a great way off, and take away up toward
-Oxford street, you’ll come right upon the end of
-Swallow street—or you can turn in by Major Foubert’s
-passage.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I explained to her that I knew neither of the markets
-she mentioned, and had not the slightest acquaintance
-with her military friend who kept the
-passage; and then she laughed, and cried—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good lauk-a-daisy! I forgot. What a head I
-have to be sure; but there are so many things always
-a runnin’ in it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She then entered more into detail, told me the
-streets I was to take, by the designation of right
-hand and left hand, and counted up the turnings on
-her fat fingers, with which better information we
-set out, and steered pretty accurately. As we went,
-I could not refrain from talking to my good old friend
-about Madame de Salins and Mariette.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear little thing,” I said: “I wonder if she recollects
-me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She is probably no little thing now, Louis,” replied
-Father Bonneville, with a smile. “You always
-speak of her as if she was still a child; but
-she must be nearly a woman now.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I gave a sigh; for I would fain have had Mariette
-always a child—the same little Mariette I had loved
-so well. I did not think she had any right to grow
-older; and the idea of that sweet little creature metamorphosed
-into a great, raw school-girl, of between
-fourteen and fifteen, was almost as painful to me, as
-the sight of sweet Anne Page changed into a great
-lubberly boy to poor Slender.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was destined to a worse disappointment, however.
-Of all the streets in London, Swallow street
-was perhaps the most dim, dingy, and unprepossessing
-I had as yet seen, and when we found out number
-three, it presented to us a chemist’s shop, of a
-very poor class, with the windows so dirty, and
-spotted with dust and rain, that the blue and red bottles
-within were hardly visible. Over the door was
-the name of the proprietor “Giraud,” which was
-promising as a French name, and in we dived to
-make inquiries. Monsieur Giraud himself, proved,
-as we expected, a French emigrant, but he was the
-most sullen, uncommunicative, repulsive Frenchman
-I ever met with. I suppose exile, misfortune, and a
-poor trade had soured him. However, he showed
-us nothing but brutality as long as we spoke English,
-and was not very civil when we began to talk to him
-in French.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He knew nothing of Madame de Salins, he said:
-there was no such person in his house. There had been
-a whole heap of them, he added, when he bought the
-place some six months before, and he believed there
-was a woman and her daughter amongst them, but
-he had turned them all out, and knew nothing more
-of them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The idea of Madame de Salins and my pretty little
-Mariette being forced to dwell at all in such a dim
-and dingy den, and then being turned into the street
-by such an old weazle-faced animal as that, roused
-my indignation, and I replied sharply, that he seemed
-to have very little compassion for his fellows in misfortune.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Sacre bleu!</span> Why should I have compassion
-upon any men?” he asked bitterly; “they have had
-no compassion upon me. But I can have compassion,
-too. There’s that old rogue of a marquis up stairs.
-I let him have the room, dirt cheap, at his prayers
-and entreaties, although he would have turned up his
-nose at me in Paris. You can go and ask him if he
-knows any thing of the people you want—There, up
-that stairs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I mounted fast, and Father Bonneville followed
-me; the chemist shouting after me to go up to the
-third floor. There, in a wretched garret, we found
-one of the most miserable objects I ever beheld.
-Seated by a little fire, in a room hardly habitable,
-was an old man of upward of seventy, shrunk in body
-and limbs, but with his face bloated and heavy. He
-had got on an old, tattered dressing-gown, and a
-thick, black night-cap, and one of his legs was
-swathed in flannel. He held a little sauce-pan in his
-hand, over the fire, cooking a <span class='it'>ragout</span> for himself,
-and an empty plate, with a knife and fork, stood upon
-the table, on which also lay a broad ribbon and a
-star. When we entered, he started up, and seeing
-two well-dressed strangers, set down the sauce-pan,
-wrapped his gown a little closer round him, and
-then drawing his two heels together, made us the
-bow of a dancing-master. He forgot not his <span class='it'>politesse</span>
-for a moment, and besought us to be seated, with a
-simpering, half-fatuous smile, pointing to one whole
-and one half-chair, and then begged to know to what
-he might attribute the felicity of our visit—perhaps
-we were mistaken, he added, as he had not the
-pleasure of knowing us. We might be in search of
-some other person, but his poor name was Le Marquis
-d’ Carcassonne. I felt Father Bonneville, who
-was behind me, catch my arm suddenly, as if to
-check me for some reason; but I was anxious to obtain
-intelligence of Madame de Salins, and I asked
-the old gentleman if he could give us any news of
-her. He was profoundly grieved, he said in answer,
-that it was out or his power. He knew the family,
-by repute, well, and had heard of them even in London;
-but it was his inexpressible misfortune not to
-know where they were or what they were doing.
-He bowed as he spoke, as if he sought to signify that
-our audience was at its close, but before we retired,
-he added—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May I inquire, monsieurs, if it be not indiscreet,
-whom I have the honor of seeing? I only ask, that
-I may tell Madame de Salins that you have done her
-the honor of calling upon her, in case I should meet
-with her in society.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I replied briefly that my name was “Monsieur De
-Lacy,” but those words produced in an instant the
-most extraordinary effect. The bloated face of the
-old man, red and carbuncled as it was, turned deadly
-pale. He stood for a moment, and I could see him
-shake. I thought he was going to faint, but the next
-instant he walked to the chair, seated himself slowly,
-and waved his hand, saying—“Go, go.” At the
-same moment, Father Bonneville pulled me by the
-arm, exclaiming more vehemently than was usual
-with him:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come away, Louis, come away!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I followed him down the stairs, and out into the
-street, and then asked—with a heart beating strangely—what
-was the meaning of all that had occurred,
-and who that old man was.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The bitterest enemy of your family,” replied
-Father Bonneville; “the murderer of your father.
-And is this the end of all his pride, ruthless ambition
-and blood-thirsty persecution of the innocent! Ask
-me no questions, Louis, but avoid that man. The
-venom may be extinct, but he is a serpent still.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>BANKING MATTERS.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I walked home from the house in Swallow street
-exceedingly melancholy. That there was some dark
-mystery about my fate, was clear, and it presented
-itself in a more painful and tangible shape to my mind
-now, than it had ever done before; but, in truth, I
-must own that this was neither the sole nor the principal
-cause of the gloom that now fell upon me. I
-had looked forward to the meeting with Madame
-de Salins and Mariette, with a sort of childish, delighted
-expectation, which had given a relief to darker
-and more sorrowful thoughts. A thousand sweet
-memories of childhood had risen up like flowers to
-cover the grave of more mature affection; and now
-they had withered also. A sensation of despondency
-came upon me; an impression: a feeling that I
-was never to be happy in affection; and this sort of
-sombre prepossession seemed to connect itself somehow
-with the fate of my family and my race.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It must not be thought, indeed, that I gave myself
-up to such dreary feelings without struggling against
-them, and even on the way back, I strove to speak
-cheerfully, and to answer Father Bonneville’s hopeful
-assertion, that we should find Madame de Salins
-yet, not quite as confidently, but without any display
-of the doubts which had possession of my own mind.
-At heart, however, I had given up all hope. I had
-never been one of those sanguine people, who believed
-their fortunes to be written in the chapter of
-accidents; and what but accident could produce
-a meeting between us and those we sought for, now
-that all clue was lost. Where, in that vast world
-of London—where in that thickly-peopled country,
-were we ever to hear of two unknown, and probably
-poor, exiles, such as Madame de Salins and her
-daughter. The very crowds that passed us in the
-street, hurrying eagerly and rapidly along, each one
-thinking of himself with eager face, and hardly
-noticing the others who passed, seemed to forbid
-such expectations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, no,” I said to myself. “They are lost to us
-now, probably forever.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I would not transact any business that day, although
-several hours of daylight still remained, and it would
-have been much better probably to have plunged into
-dry details at once; but there is generally an apathy
-about disappointment, at least there was with myself,
-and obtaining some books from a library, I sat
-reading somewhat listlessly during the whole evening,
-for many hours after Father Bonneville had retired
-to rest. From time to time I laid down the
-book, indeed, and thought of myself and of my future,
-and cross-examined myself in regard to the past.
-The book I had been reading was a sentimental one
-of the day, but not without considerable power. It
-treated of Love, amongst other things, and painted
-that passion with a fire and vehemence rarely seen
-in the works of English writers. I tried to test my
-love for my poor Louise, by the sentiments there
-expressed, and I felt sorry and angry with myself to
-find that my own feelings had never come up to the
-standard before me. That I had loved her with a
-deep, sincere, and strong attachment, I knew.—I was
-sure; and her gentle sweetness during her last hours,
-and her early fate, had only endeared her to me more,
-and made her memory precious to me. But yet I
-felt disappointed, grieved that I had not experienced
-that strong, vehement passion which the book before
-me depicted. It seemed almost to me as if I wronged
-her—as if she had been worthy of better, more earnest
-love than mine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Upon the whole, the reading of that night, and the
-reflections which came with it, served not at all to
-cheer me; and I determined the next day to do what
-I had better have done at once—plunge into business,
-arrange my affairs, and ascertain precisely what my
-future means were to be. My first visit, of course,
-was to be made to the banker who had received the
-remittances from Germany, and I asked Father Bonneville
-to go with me. He declined, however, saying
-that he had some little affairs to transact himself,
-and would meet me at dinner in the evening. At this
-time, by an easy transition, he and I seemed to have
-in some degree changed places. I was anxious about
-him, careful of him, and hardly fancied that in that
-vast strange place he was capable of taking care of
-himself. I made him promise, therefore, that he
-would take a hackney-coach, and went away, not
-wishing to seem inquisitive as to his errand, although
-I could not help believing that I had personally something
-to do with the business he was about to transact.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the bankers it was soon perceived by the clerks
-that I was utterly ignorant of business; but on giving
-my name, and stating what I wanted, I was introduced
-into a small, dingy room at the back of the
-building, where candles were lighted, and were necessary.
-By their light I perceived a fine-looking old
-gentleman, with a square face, and a large bald head,
-glossy as a mirror. My name had been announced
-to him before I entered, and he rose and shook me
-warmly by the hand, congratulating me on my safe
-arrival in England.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We have had a little trouble,” he said, “about
-this business, for our friends at Hamburgh have a
-strange way of remitting money, by mercantile bills,
-for all sorts of sums, and at very various dates—none
-of them very long, it is true, but it gives our clerks
-a great deal of pains in collecting; and if you had
-arrived a month ago, you would have found that part
-of the business not concluded, Count.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I beg your pardon,” I said, with a smile, “I believe
-I have no right to the title you give me, although
-my recollections of France do not go further back
-than a period when all titles had been abolished.
-Citizen was the ordinary name in those days, and if
-strangers gave me any title at all at my age, it was
-‘Gamin.’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The banker seemed surprised, and for a moment
-looked a little suspicious, as if he thought it might be
-a case of personation. “But you are the gentleman,”
-he said, “who married the daughter of Professor—Professor—”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of Professor Haas,” I said, in a grave tone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ay, exactly, exactly—Professor Haas,” rejoined
-the banker. “But you have, of course, the letter
-announcing this remittance to our hands?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes,” I answered, now seeing in which way
-his suspicions turned; “I have both the letter from
-Hamburgh, and the marriage contract, which I shall
-always keep. There is the letter;” and taking out
-my pocket-book, I handed it to him. The banker
-himself could make nothing of the contents, for it
-was written it German, of which he did not understand
-a word; but he sent for a clerk who did, and in
-the meanwhile pointed out something I had never remarked
-before in the address, which was written in
-a good, round, text hand. At the top was written as
-usual, “à monsieur,” and underneath appeared, somewhat
-run together, the words “Le comte,” which I
-had read Louis.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You see he gives you the ‘Count’ at all events,”
-said the banker, rubbing his hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I did not remark it before,” I answered; “and I
-shall certainly never take the title here.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By the way, by the way,” said the banker, “if
-I recollect right, there is a letter for you here;” and
-handing the one I had given him to the Clerk who had
-now entered, he said to him, “Be so good as to read
-that, and let me know what it says.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The clerk read off fluently, and translated with
-ease the contents of the notary’s letter, and then said,
-pointing to me, “This must be the Count de Lacy,
-sir.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He wont have the count—he wont have the
-count,” cried the banker, laughing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, sir, I suppose that is as he pleases,” said
-the grave clerk; “but had I not better get the letter
-that is here for him?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was soon brought, and I found it was from my
-good friend the notary, containing two documents of
-much but very different interest. The one was an
-inscription for the tomb of my poor Louise, drawn
-up by his fellow executor, in which she was styled
-Countess de Lacy; and the other was a letter from
-London, which had been received by one of the principal
-authorities of Hamburgh, informing him that a
-rumor had reached persons in England, interested
-in the welfare of a young gentleman named Louis
-Count de Lacy, to the effect that he and his tutor
-Father Bonneville, having emigrated from France,
-and been driven out of Switzerland, were directing
-their steps toward the North of Germany, or to
-Russia; and requesting the authorities of Hamburgh,
-if they should appear in that city, to notify
-to Father Bonneville that the allowance previously
-made would be continued; but that the banking-house
-at which it was paid was changed to one
-which had been mentioned in a previous letter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This will be good news for Father Bonneville,”
-I said, handing the letter to the banker, who could
-make that out very well. He seemed now perfectly
-satisfied, but still inquired where Father Bonneville
-was to be found. I replied that he was with me in
-London, which seemed to satisfy him still more; and
-the clerk nodded his head, and said in a significant
-tone, “It’s all right, sir.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Wonderful it is, how many men who transact a
-great deal of very important business, are mere machines,
-guided by their subordinates. They are
-but the hands of the clock, moved by wheels below
-them. Probably but for the clerk’s saying, “It’s all
-right, sir,” I should have got through very little business
-that day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now, however, every thing went on smoothly.
-Accounts were produced; calculations rapidly made;
-various particulars, which might as well have been
-written in Sanscrit, were explained to me in terms
-which might as well have been Arabic; and in the
-end I found myself possessed of property which the
-banker informed me would produce, if rightly invested,
-an income of about eight hundred pounds a
-year. As I had never been accustomed to calculate
-in pounds sterling, I found it somewhat difficult to
-get the idea thereof disconnected from that of dollars,
-and the banker had to explain to me, that eight hundred
-pounds a year made so many <span class='it'>marks banco</span>, before
-I perceived that I was what might be considered
-a very wealthy man—at least in Germany. I knew
-that the good professor had possessed the reputation
-of being so; but I was not before aware to what extent
-his accumulations had gone. My good friend
-the banker advised me to have the amount invested
-for the time in public funds, offered his assistance
-and advice as to its future employment, and ended
-by inviting both myself and Father Bonneville to dine
-with him on that day week.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I accepted for myself, but expressed a fear that my
-old companion would not be well enough to go into
-society, and then took my leave, for it was by this
-time late, and the banking-house was at the far end
-of that dingy, busy, industrious ant-hill called “the
-city.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When I got home to our little lodging, I found that
-Father Bonneville had returned, and was waiting dinner
-for me; and I could see by his face in a moment,
-that whatever had been the object of his expedition in
-the morning, he had been disappointed. I gave him
-a general account of what had occurred, told him the
-amount which we might annually count upon, and in
-the end gave him the letter which had been sent to
-the authorities at Hamburgh, which seemed to afford
-him some satisfaction, but not so much as I had anticipated.
-He made very few comments upon the
-letter itself, but pointed to the title of Count which
-had been given to me with a melancholy smile, saying,
-“You have a right to it, Louis, but if you take
-my advice, you will not assume it in this country.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not intend, my dear friend,” I replied;
-“but really all these mysteries are painful to me.
-The time must come when all these things should
-be explained, and I would fain know when that
-will be.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yet a little, yet a little, Louis,” replied the good
-father, with a deprecating look. “It may be one or
-two years, but not more, I think—not more.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But, good father,” I answered, “you ought, at
-all events, to give me the means of tracing out my
-own history, even though I use them not for the time
-you mention. Life is uncertain, and were you taken
-from me, I have not the slightest clue.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will find it amongst my papers, whenever
-death calls me hence,” replied Father Bonneville.
-“Every information and proof I collected long ago;
-and in all the passages which we have lately undergone—in
-exile—in poverty, and in peril, I have preserved
-them safely. But I really would not take this
-name of Count—I would call myself merely Mr. De
-Lacy. That is a common name in England; and you
-may very well pass for an Englishman—the other
-title might do harm.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I again assured him that I had no intention of assuming
-any title at all. But however strong might
-be my resolution, I found it difficult to keep. The
-banker’s clerks knew me by that title; and the banker
-himself, when I went to dine with him, used it in
-introducing me to several people. I declined it, however,
-wherever I could do so without affectation, and
-made it sufficiently apparent that it was no assumption
-of my own.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The party was large; the house in the west end
-of the town, most magnificent; and a great number
-of persons were present, some of whom I found were
-of the <span class='it'>élite</span> of London society. It was very much
-the same sort of party as all others in great capitals;
-and most of my readers must have seen a thousand
-such. There were several insignificant puppies,
-several equally insignificant, but very pretty young
-women, a majority, however, of highly respectable,
-well-informed, gentleman-like, but not very interesting
-people, and two or three of higher qualities,
-polished, but not worn down in the polishing, with
-hearts as well as minds, and not only with information,
-but with the will and the power to apply it. It
-fortunately happened for me that some of these sat
-near me at the table. One was a lady of the middle
-age, who was called Lady Maria, and whose husband,
-a Commoner, and an eminent lawyer, sat higher
-up the table; and another was a young man, dressed
-in the very height of the fashion, and having a somewhat
-foppish air, which at first prejudiced me a
-little against him. I soon found occasion to change
-my opinion however; for, though he did not talk
-much, whatever he did say was to the point; and
-allusion having been made to one of those very common
-cases in great cities, where a man of high rank
-had behaved very ill to a lady somewhat inferior in
-station, my friend with mustaches, on the right, burst
-suddenly forth in a strain of indignant reprobation,
-which made some of the other guests smile, and one
-of the ladies say, laughingly, “You have been so
-long away, Charley, following your uncivilized trade
-of fighting, that you have forgotten how delicately
-such civilized vices require to be treated.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They shall never be treated delicately by me,
-my dear aunt,” replied the young gentleman; “and at
-all events, I haven’t forgotten one thing in my trade
-of fighting, that there is such a thing as honor, which
-must be remembered as much in our conduct toward
-a woman, as in our conduct toward a man.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the ladies had retired, he remained next to
-me, and we had a good deal of conversation. I found
-he was a cavalry officer, who had seen some service,
-notwithstanding his youth; and was in London for a
-few months on leave of absence, in order to recover
-completely from a severe wound in the chest. He
-once or twice called me Count; but as we grew
-better acquainted over the wine, I begged him to drop
-the title, as it was not my intention to assume it at
-all, while in England at least.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is my right, I believe,” I said; “but I quitted
-France at a very early period, and have never been
-so called.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I think you are right,” he replied. “Since
-England has become the exile’s home, as we are
-proud to call it, we have had such a crowd of Counts
-and Marquises of different kinds, that we have a
-difficulty in distinguishing the genuine from the false.
-You would, of course, pass muster, both from your
-appearance, and from the fact, which our good friend
-the banker here has taken care to communicate to
-tongues that will spread it, that you are that phœnix
-amongst Counts and Marquises—a rich <span class='it'>émigré</span>. But
-the title of Count would do you no good amongst our
-best people, who will like you quite as well as plain
-Mr. De Lacy; and as such, if you will permit me,
-I will ask for you to-morrow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I expressed the great pleasure I should have to see
-him, giving him my address. But I will not dwell
-longer on this dinner-party, as the few incidents I
-have related were the only ones which occurred that
-had any effect upon my fate.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>GLIMPSES OF THE LOST.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>New circumstances justified many new arrangements,
-upon which I will only dwell for a moment.
-The morning after the dinner-party at the banker’s,
-Father Bonneville and I had a long conversation in
-regard to our future proceedings. The sum I now
-possessed seemed almost as large to the good Father’s
-notions as to my own; for, to say truth, he had not
-much more experience in money matters than myself.
-It was agreed that we should set up house-keeping
-together, I insisted that he should have a
-little vehicle—one of those neat one horse equipages,
-in producing which England excels the whole world—and
-he hinted that I had better have a saddle-horse,
-when one man would do for both. Between twelve
-and one o’clock my new friend, Captain Westover,
-came to see me, and was taken into our councils.
-He somewhat clouded our sanguine views of wealth,
-by explaining to us the expenses of English living:
-but still with all allowances made, we found that we
-had ample means for any thing within our ambition,
-and in the course of the explanations which took
-place, I learned that, in addition to what I had myself,
-Father Bonneville counted on receiving from
-some source or another, the sum of three hundred
-pounds per annum. After half an hour’s chat, Captain
-Westover proposed to drive me out in search of
-horses and houses, in a machine of his, then very
-fashionable in London, called a tilbury, which had
-brought him to the door. His servant was turned out,
-and I took the vacant place. He advised me strongly,
-for a time at least, to take a furnished cottage at some
-little distance from London. “You can come in
-when you like,” he said, “and there you will be
-more out of harm’s way. Excuse me, De Lacy,”
-he continued with a laugh, “but every man entering
-a great town like this, must be a little green at first,
-whatever may be his experience of other places. It
-would be better for you to come to a knowledge of
-London by degrees, and that can only be done by
-living a little way out of it. With all its vices, its
-knavery, and its abomination, there is no place like
-this great capital of ours in the world for the comfort
-of having every thing that one can want, or desire,
-or dream of, ready for one in an instant. Each
-man can choose according to his means or his ambition.
-From the St. Giles cellar of the thief or the
-professional beggar, to the princely palace of the
-nobleman or the great merchant, every thing is at
-hand, and two or three taps of an enchanter’s wand
-bring it into presence in a moment. So I will answer
-for it, that we shall find what you want in the
-way of a house, in two or three hours; but don’t
-have it too big: otherwise people will be coming to
-dine with you and stay all night, a most harmonious
-and agreeable way of being eaten out of house and
-home.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Though brisk, active, generous and dashing,
-Captain Westover was a good man of business, knew
-whatever he did know, well, was aware of the right
-price of every thing, and I believe in the course of
-the next two or three weeks, saved me several hundred
-pounds, besides putting me completely in the
-way of doing the same for myself at an after period.
-I will not dwell upon all our perquisitions. Let me
-come to the result. Behold me, in the spring of the
-year, possessed of an exceedingly neat, detached cottage,
-close upon Blackheath, with a beautiful garden
-filled with shrubs and flowers, furniture excellent
-and abundant, two horses in the stable, as pretty a
-little pony carriage as it was possible to imagine, and
-a middle-aged groom, who though an active, honest
-and excellent servant, had just been dismissed by a
-noble lord, because he had got the asthma, and puffed
-like a grampus. He did his duty well, however, and
-I did not mind his puffing. His name, moreover,
-was Lucas Jones, or Jones Lucas—which, I never
-could make out, and I do not think he knew well
-himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All the world was at that time volunteering.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Napoleon Bonaparte threatened an invasion of
-England, and fondly fancied he could swallow up
-that stubborn little island as easily as he had gulped
-down half the kingdoms of the continent; but little
-did he know the spirit that he roused in the people
-of the land by the very threat. All Great Britain
-was bristling in arms, and instead of men being dragged
-away from their homes by forced conscriptions,
-people of all ranks, classes and degrees, of all ages
-and characters, of all parties and sects, were rushing
-in to enroll their names among the defenders of their
-country, and submitting day after day, to toilsome
-drills, and unaccustomed modes of life, to the loss of
-time and money and convenience. But not a lip murmured,
-not a heart was depressed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Blackheath was the great training-ground in the
-neighborhood of London for this military race; and
-every day in my rides, I met with large bodies of
-men, in red, and green, and blue, marching and counter-marching,
-going through the manual, and expending
-great quantities of powder and perspiration.
-Magistrates, lawyers, clerks, shopkeepers, and draymen,
-were all jostling side by side in the charge; and
-the first battle in England, would have left upon the
-ground, the most motley assemblage of professions
-that ever was found in one place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By pausing often to watch the manœuvres of the
-volunteers, I accustomed my horse to stand fire very
-well, and it was with great delight I heard from
-Captain Westover, that in order to try the skill and
-precision of the volunteers, a great sham-fight was
-to be given on Blackheath itself, in which were to
-be enacted all the operations that might be supposed
-likely to take place, if a French force were to sail up
-the Thames, and effect a landing near the little town
-of Greenwich. I told my gallant informant, that although
-I had been in the middle of a great battle, and
-had crossed a considerable portion of the field between
-the two lines, I had not the most distant idea
-of what it all meant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, nor have half the men who were in the battle,”
-said Captain Westover. “We do what we are
-told; we fight; we succeed, or are beaten off; but all
-that we know about it is, that there’s a great deal of
-smoke, a great deal of dust, and a great number of
-men tumbling down round about us, with a very awkward
-expression of countenance; and two or three
-weeks after, when the newspapers come from England,
-we hear all about the glorious victory we have
-obtained from the dispatches of the general in command.
-This is generally what a subaltern knows of
-the matter; but somehow or another, more comprehensive
-views are beaten into our heads after awhile,
-and I will try, if possible, to give you some notion
-of what is going on on Wednesday. But there is
-some talk of making me an aid-de-camp for the
-nonce, which will be a great bore; for I have a
-whole troop of lady friends coming down to see,
-without peril, a battle without bullets.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The day came; and good Father Bonneville, who
-had a great objection to noise and bustle of any kind,
-and whose recollections of the battle of Zurich were
-not the most agreeable, retreated for a couple of days
-to an inn, at a place called Bromley, while I remained
-to enjoy the sight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I must dwell with some detail upon the events of
-that morning, as they were more important to me
-than those of any engagement I ever was in.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At an early hour I was out, walking round the
-scene where the mimic fight was to take place. All
-was already in a state of bustle and preparation.
-Cannon were planted: troops were taking up their
-position: long lines of what were called fencibles,
-armed with pikes, were stationed on the river bank,
-and a number of persons were arriving every moment
-from London to witness the gay scene.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Expecting that the hospitalities of my cottage
-might be called upon, I had laid in ample provisions,
-and soon after my return about nine o’clock, Westover
-was there, mounted on a splendid horse, and
-dressed in brilliant uniform. He came hurrying in,
-would not sit down to eat any breakfast, but stood by
-the table, and dispatched a roll and a cup of coffee
-while my horse was being saddled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must be quick,” he said. “We must be
-quick; for I expect the whole staff on the ground by
-ten, and I wish to introduce you to some good people
-first.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were soon upon horseback, and cantering over
-the field. My companion led me to the head of several
-regiments, and introduced me to their colonels,
-who were generally old soldiers retired from the
-service, who had sprung into arms again at the first
-news of danger. One I particularly remember, a
-Colonel C——, as the finest looking man I almost
-ever beheld. He could not have been much less than
-seventy, but he was as upright as a pike-staff, his
-face blooming like a boy’s, and his hair loaded with
-a red sort of powder, called I believe, marechal
-powder, common in his youth. He swore a good
-deal; but in every other respect, he demeaned himself
-with an easy, dignified courtesy which I have
-never seen surpassed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was surrounded by a great number of very
-pretty women, who seemed to adore him, and rather
-inconvenienced him by their presence; for after
-giving one or two gentle hints that they had better
-betake themselves to spots appointed for spectators,
-he exclaimed, with a wave of his sword, which
-somewhat frightened them, “Damn it, my dear girls,
-you had better get out of the way, or by —— we shall
-have some of the soldiers’ bayonets in your eyes,
-which would be to my loss, your loss, and all the
-world’s loss. I’m going to order the charge in five
-minutes, and though no gallant gentleman will doubt
-your powers of resistance, we shall carry you at the
-point of the bayonet, I’ll answer for it. Captain
-Westover, will you and your friend take my niece
-Kitty, and these darlings, up to the mill there, where
-the carriages have been stationed? You had better
-get on your horses, and drive them before you like
-a flock of geese.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We accomplished the service, however, more
-easily; and I learned from Westover that the gallant
-old colonel had been one of Wolfe’s officers at the
-taking of Quebec.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not long after, the fight began; and by my companion’s
-management, I remained with the staff during
-the greater part of the day. I need not pause to
-describe the roaring of cannon, the firing of musketry,
-the charging of lines of troops, the taking and retaking
-of different positions; but I must notice one little
-event, which occurred about the middle of the day.
-There had been a sort of lull in the noise and confusion,
-when suddenly a carriage and four came dashing
-over the ground toward the mill, just as a battery
-horse-artillery was galloping like lightning across
-in a different direction to take up a new position,
-while at the same moment a cavalry regiment was
-dashing up to support a party on the right. The gayly
-dressed post-boys tried to pull in their horses, but
-men, horses, and ladies in the carriage, were all
-equally scared, and before they knew what they
-were doing, were enveloped on every side by the
-troops. The commander-in-chief spoke a word to
-Captain Westover; for it was a great object to all
-that the day should pass over without serious accident,
-and one seemed now very likely to take place.
-Away went Westover. Away went I after him, and
-just arrived in time to turn the horses off the road
-before the guns were upon them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, good Heaven, what shall we do?” exclaimed
-a lady in the carriage, with her head covered with
-ostrich feathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Drive across to that little road, and off the ground
-as fast as you can go,” shouted Westover to the
-post-boys. “You will get these ladies killed if you
-do not mind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But where can we see?” screamed the lady from
-the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You cannot see at all, madam,” answered Westover,
-impatiently. “If you wanted to see, you
-should have come earlier—Drive on and clear the
-ground, boys.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Away the postillions went. The lady drew back
-her head from the window with an indignant air, and
-I saw just opposite to her, in the carriage, the loveliest
-face I ever beheld. Delicately and beautifully
-chiseled, every feature seemed to me perfect, in the
-brief glance I had. But that was not the great charm;
-for there before me, for that single instant, were
-those beautiful, liquid, hazel eyes, with the long
-fringe of dark lashes, which I had never seen any
-thing like since I had last beheld Mariette.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My first impulse was to gallop after the carriage
-as fast as possible; but the troops swept round, the
-carriage dashed away, and all I could do was to ask
-my companion if he knew who were its denizens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not I,” he answered, hurriedly—“Some vulgar
-people they must be—none but vulgar people get
-themselves into such situations as that—a devilish
-pretty girl in the back of the carriage though, De
-Lacy—Why, what’s the matter with you, man?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, I think I know her,” I replied, “and
-have been looking for her and her mother for a long
-time.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, then, ride away after her,” answered
-Westover; “the post-boys will insist upon feeding
-their horses, depend upon it; and you will find them
-either at the Green-Man, or at some of the inns
-down below. Join me again at the mill after it’s all
-over; for I intend you to give me some dinner; and I
-must see all my aunts, and cousins, and mothers, who
-are congregated there, if it be but for a moment, before
-they go back to London. They have thought
-me rude enough already, I dare say.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I followed his advice, and I believe that I would
-very willingly, at that moment, have given at least
-half of all I had in the world to catch that carriage;
-but I sought in vain. Not a trace of it was to be
-found, and though there were post-boys enough at
-all the inns, I could not see one in the same colored
-jacket as those I was in search of.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Could it be Mariette?” I asked myself. The
-features were very different; much more beautiful
-than those of my little companion. The face was no
-longer round, but beautifully oval. The hair seemed
-somewhat darker, too, but the eyes were Mariette’s;
-and I asked myself again, “Could it be Mariette, or
-had some other person stolen her eyes?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sad, thoughtful, disappointed, I rode slowly back
-up Blackheath hill, little caring what I should find
-going on above. But I had been absent nearly two
-hours; the sham-fight was now over; drums and
-fifes, trumpets, and all manner of instruments, were
-playing gay and triumphant airs, friends and enemies
-were sitting down on the dry grass, eating the plentiful
-viands prepared for them, and post-boys were
-leading up strings of horses to draw back the gay
-parties who had come to witness the scene, to dinners
-and festivities afar.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I directed my course at once toward the mill, from
-which several carriages were already driving away;
-but as I approached, I saw Westover still there, on
-horseback, at the side of an open vehicle to which
-the horses had just been attached. He was talking
-to some ladies inside, one of whom I had seen on
-the night when he and I first met, and who noticed
-me by a gentle inclination of the head. Another was
-a much handsomer and somewhat younger woman,
-but still past her youth. She seemed to be taking
-little notice of any thing, and there was a deep, grave
-melancholy upon her face, not harmonizing well with
-the gay and exciting scene around. I did not go very
-near; for the drivers had their feet in the stirrups,
-ready to mount, two servants in livery <a id='were'></a>were already
-on the box, and there was no time for conversation.
-Westover’s aunt, however, beckoned me up, saying,
-“How have you been pleased, count?” and at the
-same moment, the other lady fixed her eyes full upon
-me, and I could see her turn deadly pale. She said
-a few words to her companion, however, in a hurried
-and eager manner, although I was replying with
-some commonplace answer at the moment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My acquaintance turned her head, saying, loud
-enough for me to hear, “The young Count de Lacy.
-Shall I introduce you to him, Catherine?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was no reply. The other lady whom she
-called Catherine, had sunk back in the carriage, and
-her eyes were closed. She looked to me very much
-as if she had fainted. I saw her face, but Westover
-did not; for I was upon his left hand, and his aunt
-was between him and her companion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Shall I tell them to drive on?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The other nodded her head, and the word was
-given; but as they dashed away, I said in a tone of
-some anxiety, “Do you know, I think that lady has
-fainted.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Which, which?” he cried. “Lady Catherine?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not your aunt,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are both my aunts,” he answered, turning
-his horse sharply. “You ride on to your hut, De
-Lacy; I’ll join you in a minute, when I see what
-has befallen dear Aunt Catherine. She is never
-well, and rarely goes out. This has been too much
-for her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Away he darted, and I, less pleased with the
-events of the day, I suppose, than most others there
-present, took my way slowly over the least incumbered
-parts of the heath, toward my cottage on the
-other side, threading my way amongst groups of
-soldiers, and large masses of gorse. At the pace I
-went, and by the course I pursued, it took me nearly
-half an hour to reach my own gate; but I had already
-dismounted, before Westover overtook me, although
-he came at a quick trot, with an orderly following
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I remarked that he was very grave, but his only
-comment on what had just passed, was, “You were
-right, De Lacy. My aunt had fainted. Poor thing,
-she has not strength for such scenes. And now, my
-friend, I have taken a great liberty with you by inviting
-in your name, two foreign gentlemen, who
-could get no dinner anywhere else—for Greenwich
-is as completely eaten out as an overkept cheese—to
-come and dine with you. In revenge, you shall
-come and dine with me next week, and eat and
-drink enough for three if you can.” I told him I
-was very glad to see his friends, and the rest of the
-day passed pleasantly enough, although I must say,
-I never saw Westover so dull and thoughtful, notwithstanding
-all his efforts to be gay. The two gentlemen,
-who followed him soon to my house, I need
-not notice particularly, as I never saw them afterward,
-and never cared about them at all. They
-were the sort of things that do very well to fill a
-seat at a dinner table, or to be shot at in a line of
-battle, behaving creditably in both situations, but
-doing very little else.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>OLD FEELINGS AND NEW ACQUAINTANCES.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not go to bed till nearly two o’clock in the
-morning, not that my guests stayed late—far from it.
-They all took their departure about ten o’clock; but
-the events of the day, trifling as they may seem, had
-produced upon my mind an effect difficult to be conceived,
-or even accounted for. I felt convinced that
-it was Mariette I beheld, and I reasoned upon her
-state and condition at the time, without guide it is
-true, but with more accuracy than might have been
-expected. I by this time knew the situation of emigrants
-in general in Great Britain. They had been
-treated with great kindness by the people of the
-country; subscriptions had been opened for them,
-aid had been afforded them; but most of them had
-fled from France in a state of destitution, and were
-actually in extreme poverty at that moment. Some
-were eking out the means of subsistence by teaching,
-others by mere handicraft employments. I had
-no reason to believe that Madame de Salins had carried
-much away with her, and on the contrary, I had
-much reason to believe, from the wretchedness of
-the lodging in which she must have dwelt in Swallow
-street, that she was at one time, at least, in
-actual distress. The beautiful girl I had seen in the
-carriage was exceedingly simply dressed, and I
-asked myself whether my pretty Mariette, as so
-many had done, might not have engaged herself as a
-governess in some family, and might not, even now,
-be undergoing all the miseries and scorns of that
-most painful situation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But this was not all. In regard to Mariette I had
-been guided in my conclusions—to some extent at
-all events—by plain, simple reason. There were
-other impressions, however, upon my mind—other
-matters for cogitation, with which reason had far
-less to do, and which gained their importance, perhaps
-from the active embellishment of imagination,
-perhaps from some of those deeper and more mysterious
-operations of the mind, or of the heart, which
-leave reason far behind in their rapidity, and surpass
-imagination by their truth. The face of that
-lady, whom they called Lady Catherine, haunted
-me. The manner in which she had gazed at me—the
-eager, keen, almost wild glance which she had
-given me, the paleness which had overspread her
-face so suddenly, and the fainting fit into which she
-had fallen immediately my name was mentioned,
-were not matters of marvel to me, but of deep
-thought and consideration. It was very natural,
-where such a mystery hung over my birth and early
-fate, that I should feel inclined to connect it with
-every thing strange and unexplained which I saw.
-But there was something more than all this—something
-that I cannot explain or describe; which
-seemed to bear down all thought and argument
-against it, and which made me feel a conviction,
-stronger than any reason could have supplied, that
-there was some tie between that lady’s fate and my
-own. I did not recollect her in the least—not one
-feature in her face was familiar to me; but yet the
-very moment I beheld her—before she even turned
-her eyes upon me, the sight seemed to waken in an
-instant, dreams of happy early days—sweet thoughts
-and feelings, which had slumbered for years unawakened
-by the careless storekeeper, Memory.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was therefore over these thoughts and feelings
-that I paused and reflected, for so many hours.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I have often remarked in the course of life—in
-others as well as myself—a somewhat curious phenomenon:
-namely, that when some great and important—shall
-I call it change? No, not change. There
-are no changes in human fate. They are all steps—steps
-toward a certain goal—That when some great
-and important step, then, in human fate, is to be
-taken, we feel an impression of the coming fact—we
-see, as it were, with the eyes of the spirit, without
-the interference of the cold, hard, short-sighted
-intellect, the awful magnitude of that which is before
-us; and we are impelled to mark what at other
-times would seem the merest trifles with anxious
-acuteness—to scan, as it were, the very pebbles in
-our path, lest a rolling stone should make us lose
-our footing, and hurl us over the precipice which
-we feel to be near at hand, though the mists and
-darkness of our earthly being may hide the actual
-presence of the yawning gulf.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was to me a lady fainting in a carriage?
-What was there extraordinary in a delicate woman
-giving way after an exciting scene, and long and unusual
-fatigue? What was there in all that I had
-seen, which could not be explained by a multitude
-of ordinary circumstances—which I should not have
-left, at any other time, to rest unthought of amongst
-the common, insignificant events of a day? And
-yet I sat and pondered for four long hours, and even
-after I retired to bed I could not sleep, but was kept
-awake with the same anxious thoughts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Father Bonneville returned about two o’clock on
-the following day; but with a lack of confidence
-which I rarely showed toward him—for he was so
-gentle and so good, who could want confidence in
-him—I did not mention at all, the little incident
-which had occurred at the mill. I told him, however,
-all about the supposed sight I had caught of
-Mariette, but the good Father only smiled at me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are always thinking of Mariette, Louis,” he
-said, “and if you go on so, I shall really fancy you
-are in love with her memory.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And so I am,” I answered frankly, “I can imagine
-a father would so love a child, as I love Mariette;
-and I shall always love her so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My dear boy,” replied Father Bonneville, laying
-his hand impressively upon my arm, “that is impossible.
-You and Mariette are no longer children;
-you might love her as a brother when you last saw
-her; but if you love her at all, you must love her
-otherwise now.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I fell into thought, and I felt that he was right. He
-gave me but little time to ponder, however, asking
-me who else I had seen, and I mentioned several
-names, Colonel C——, the commander-in-chief, a
-number of young officers, the two strangers who had
-dined with me, and lastly, in as easy a tone as I
-could assume, Westover’s two aunts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Father Bonneville asked their names, and I replied,
-“Lady Winslow, and a lady they called Lady Catherine—I
-suppose Lady Catherine Westover; for
-he said, in the course of the evening, that she was his
-father’s sister.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I looked somewhat keenly at Father Bonneville
-as I spoke; but my words did not seem to produce
-the slightest effect worth noticing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is droll,” he said. “I do not remember the
-name of Westover in the English peerage. It must
-be some new creation, I suppose.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should think not,” I replied, “for there is a
-calm quietness about them—a want of all arrogance
-and presumption—an easy, self-possessed tranquillity,
-which I have always remarked, in this country, accompanies
-ancient rights, and well assured position.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you know,” said Father Bonneville, suddenly
-darting away from the subject, “that it has
-once or twice struck me, Louis, that there is a great
-deal of likeness between your friend Captain Westover
-and yourself?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I smiled; for I could not conceive two men more
-different in appearance—in complexion—in eyes, in
-height; for I was much taller, and dark, while he
-was fair; but still the good Father’s words lingered
-in my mind, and I determined the next time I saw
-my friend to learn, if possible, something more of his
-history.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was with great satisfaction then that, on the
-Friday morning, I received a note from Westover,
-asking me to dine with him, either on the Tuesday
-or the Wednesday following, and to name which
-day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do come, De Lacy, on the one day or the other;
-for there are some people, who will come on either
-day, to whom I much wish to introduce you. My
-leave will soon expire, and I may not have another
-opportunity.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I immediately answered his note, fixing the first
-named day, and then, as it was a beautiful morning
-in the spring, I went out to fish in a river which ran
-at some miles distant from my cottage, and where I
-had hired a right—for the English are as tenacious
-of the right of stream and wood as any old feudal
-lord that ever lived.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had been engaged in the sport for about an hour,
-wandering along through the beautiful meadows, and
-had done tolerably well, when I saw a gentleman,
-of the middle age, walk slowly across from the other
-side, and pause upon a little wooden bridge, observing
-my proceedings. He was a tall, handsome man,
-about fifty, but thin and pale, dressed in a sort of
-military blue coat, richly braided, but not very new;
-and his air was exceedingly gentlemanly and prepossessing,
-though his riches were evidently of Nature’s
-giving, not the world’s. After watching me a
-few minutes, he came up with easy grace, and asked,
-with a strong foreign accent, “If I had had good
-sport.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I replied that it had been pretty well, adding a
-French proverb of no particular significance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ha!” he said, “have I the pleasure of speaking
-to a countryman?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I replied in the affirmative; and he soon began to
-ask all sorts of questions, in that courteous manner
-which renders inquisitiveness not impertinent in a
-Frenchman. I told him I had quitted France very
-early, and recollected but little of my native land;
-to which he replied, that was a “<span class='it'>malheur</span>,” asking
-the year of my emigration.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I told him, and he replied, with a smile, that it was
-the same in which he had left France; but added, that
-he had returned there since, and fought in La Vendee.
-He then asked me if I knew many of my countrymen.
-I replied in the negative, saying with a smile—for
-the opportunity seemed too good to be missed—that
-there were only two, whom I had known so well in
-my boyhood as to make me very anxious to hear of
-them again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May I be permitted to ask their names?” he said,
-quietly. “I am acquainted with several, though,
-indeed, not very many; for my means are too limited
-to allow of my mingling much in society.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I at once named Madame de Salins and her
-daughter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My new acquaintance paused and mused, as if he
-were trying to recollect some circumstance, such as
-where he had heard of them, and I began to entertain
-some hopes of information.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps,” he said, at length, “I may be able to
-assist in your search in some degree, although I
-am not sure. May I ask how old you were when
-you quitted France?” and his eye ran over my person,
-which perhaps showed signs of age beyond
-what my years warranted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Between twelve and thirteen,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ay! and you have remembered them so long,”
-he said, in a tone of interest. “Well, I will do my
-best to give you news of them. But I know not
-where to send it to you, if I should prove fortunate
-enough to be able to do so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I immediately gave him my card, which he examined,
-repeating the name, and then turned the
-conversation in another course. I found him exceedingly
-agreeable, mild and dignified in his manners,
-and full of general information, though probably not
-a very learned man. He asked me if I had been to
-pay my respects, while on the continent, to his majesty
-the king—afterward known as Louis the
-Eighteenth—and expressed himself sorry when he
-heard I had not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I think it would have been advisable in many respects,”
-he added. “This madness will not last forever
-in France. Nor can the other powers of
-Europe ever consent as a body to the existence of a
-state of things in that country antagonistic to all their
-interests and all their principles. Napoleon Bonaparte,
-in making himself emperor, has performed an
-act which places France in a false position that she
-cannot maintain. As long as he was merely the head
-of the republican party—the incarnation of the spirit
-of revolution—he was certain of support at home, and
-under no absolute necessity to protract the war with
-foreign powers, one moment after they chose to make
-peace with the republic. As emperor, however, he
-has taken upon himself an obligation to wage eternal
-warfare; for by war alone can he maintain himself
-as emperor. He may have gained a little with other
-monarchs by recognizing the monarchical principle,
-but he has lost more with the French people. France
-was divided into two. He has now divided it into
-three, and put two parts against him. The one that
-he wields, the military part, may be the most powerful
-for the present, but its adherence to himself depends
-upon two conditions—war and success. Thus
-his dynasty can never stand; for no civilized nation
-can ever be entirely military; and he who attempts
-to make it so, will always fall as soon as the military
-part cannot command success; and unless the whole
-nation be military, success can never be ensured.
-My belief is that in a few years our old race of kings
-will be upon the throne again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He talked with me for more than an hour, while
-I continued my sport; and I then returned to my little
-cottage, very well satisfied with my interview.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Father Bonneville seemed very well satisfied too,
-when I told him my hopes of discovering the abode
-of Madame de Salins. He asked me many questions
-about the gentleman I had met with, and made me
-describe him accurately. When I had done, he said,
-nodding his head slowly with a smile, “I think we
-shall find them now, Louis. I think we shall find
-them now, and I am almost as glad of it as you are;
-although I trust they have not been suffering so much
-from poverty as you imagine.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A day or two passed on, however, without any
-intelligence, and the Tuesday came on which I was
-to dine with Westover, in London. I dressed myself
-with some care; for I knew that my friend was
-moving in the most fashionable circles of the capital,
-and I drove in with the groom in the little phæton,
-so as to be at his door at the very moment named.
-He was lodging in a very handsome house in Brook
-street, and I found him dressed for dinner, but alone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My other friends will not be as punctual as you
-are, De Lacy,” he said, shaking me warmly by the
-hand; “and I dare say you will have to wait half an
-hour for your dinner; but in the meantime I can introduce
-you to them as they come in.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In about ten minutes, two young and dashing men
-made their appearance, and I was made acquainted
-with them in form. Then, five minutes after, came an
-old peer, stout, beetle-browed, heavy in look but not in
-intellect, and exceedingly loose in his apparel, which
-seemed to have been thrown on with a pitchfork, but
-which did not at all detract from the indefineable
-something which marks the gentleman. He had not
-been there two minutes when the door again opened,
-and the Earl of N—— was announced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! your grandfather,” said the last comer.
-“That is an honor for a grandson, Captain Westover.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I consider it as such, I assure you,” said my
-friend, as he advanced to meet his relation, and I
-need not say that my eyes fixed eagerly upon the
-father of Lady Catharine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was a tall, thin old man, of very distinguished
-appearance. I learned afterward that he must have
-been a good deal over seventy; but he certainly did
-not look more than sixty. He was perfectly straight
-and upright, though not stiff in appearance, and was
-dressed entirely in black, which was not usual in
-England at that period. Every article of his apparel
-fitted exactly. His shoes, in which he still wore
-buckles, were as polished as a looking-glass, and his
-gloves fitted him as if they had been made upon his
-hands. His linen was marvelously fine, and as white
-as snow; and his hair probably would have been as
-white as his linen, even had it not been filled with
-powder. His face was very fine, and his complexion
-peculiarly delicate; but there was no effeminacy
-about him. There sat a world of resolution on his
-broad, towering brow, and his teeth, of which he did
-not seem to have lost one, were always pressed firm
-together when he was not speaking. His step was
-slow and deliberate, but still there was none of the
-feebleness of age in it, and there was a strong composure,
-if I may so express myself, which never
-varied but for one moment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Between the two peers there was no need of an
-introduction; and they shook hands with each other
-cordially. One of the other gentlemen, Lord N——
-knew also; and the third was introduced to him.
-Westover then turned, and presented me as Monsieur
-De Lacy. For a single instant, as he spoke, the earl
-seemed moved. A slight change came over his face,
-a twitch of the muscles about the mouth, evidently
-involuntary, and passing away in one moment. He
-forgot not his courtesy, however, in the least, did not
-shake hands with me, but bowed gracefully, and
-said a few words about France and England, not at
-all depreciatory of my own country, although he expressed
-a hope that I would not find my enforced
-residence in Great Britain altogether without compensation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He then turned to speak with his grandson and the
-other gentlemen. Two others were added to the
-party, and shortly after we moved in to dinner.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By Westover’s arrangement I was seated next to
-his grandfather; but at first he did not seem inclined
-to take much notice of me, and, to say the truth, I
-was very busy with my own thoughts, and inclined
-to be somewhat silent. After a time, however, a
-gentleman opposite engaged me in conversation, and
-something I said seemed to please or strike the old
-earl, for he joined in with a good deal of tact and wit.
-That conversation dropped, but the earl continued to
-talk with me, with his heart a little opened, perhaps,
-by good wine and good food, which I have remarked
-have a great effect in producing urbanity—especially
-with Englishmen. His lordship asked me
-how I liked the country, whether I had seen much
-of it, and where I intended to pass the summer. I
-answered briefly that I had seen very little of the
-land, and that my plans were all unsettled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is a pity that Charles must so soon rejoin his
-regiment,” said the earl, “otherwise he might have
-shown you a good deal that is worth seeing in England,
-and what is more, you could not be in safer
-hands. I need not tell you, Monsieur De Lacy, that,
-for a young man, and a stranger in this country, it is
-highly necessary that he should choose his acquaintances
-well.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am quite aware of the fact, my lord,” I replied,
-“and I consider myself highly fortunate in having
-been early introduced to Captain Westover. I have
-few if any acquaintances but those to whom he has
-introduced me, and the banker to whom I had
-letters.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ha!” replied the earl, thoughtfully, and after
-meditating for a moment, as if something puzzled
-him, he said, “I think I heard you called the Count
-De Lacy, in society—have you dropped the title?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I never took it willingly, my lord,” I replied,
-“although it is mine, I believe, by right. I was
-driven out of France very early, and probably never
-should have known of my countship; but it so happened
-that I formed some connections in the city of
-Hamburgh, which led to a considerable bequest from
-an old friend there, and that caused a communication,
-in regard to myself, to take place between Hamburgh
-and England.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But how did they know that you were a count,
-in Hamburgh, if you did not know it yourself?”
-asked the earl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By a letter from England,” I answered, perhaps
-a little dryly. “It referred to some money matters,
-of which, to say the truth, I understand nothing; but
-it was addressed to some of the authorities at Hamburgh,
-and in it I was designated by the title of count.
-The same title was repeated in after correspondence,
-and thus it happened to be given to me here, much
-to my annoyance; for I would fain drop the countship
-altogether, not having the means to maintain any
-distinguished position.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ha! I see, I see,” said the earl, “you speak
-English remarkably well, Mr. De Lacy. You must
-have learned it very young.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not remember the time when I did not speak
-it,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is singular in France,” rejoined the old
-nobleman. “Did your father speak English?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could feel a cloud come over my face, and I replied
-with very painful feelings, “I never knew my
-father, my lord, and am not aware of who or what
-he was. I have heard that he was murdered—but
-that is all I know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I beg pardon—I beg pardon,” said the old earl;
-“I did not intend to wound you. There are painful
-subjects in all families—may I drink wine with
-you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the rest of the evening his tone toward me
-became a little less stiff and more kindly. He asked
-no more questions, however, but conversed entirely
-upon indifferent subjects, and seemed well pleased
-with my remarks. He retired early, indeed, and I
-remained for some time longer, in the hope of being
-able to draw something more from Westover, regarding
-his aunt, Lady Catharine. I had lost the opportunity
-of the favorable ten minutes during which
-I was alone with him before dinner, and no other
-presented itself for any private conversation. I could
-only venture to express a hope before others, that his
-aunt, Lady Catharine, had not suffered seriously from
-the fatigues of the review. He said she had not been
-at all well since; and I remarked that I thought her
-very beautiful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She was once the loveliest creature in all England,
-I am told,” was my friend’s reply; “but that is
-past, and she can hardly, I think, be called beautiful
-now—except, indeed, as a beautiful ruin.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He spoke very gravely—nay, very sadly, and I
-did not like to press the subject further. I remained
-some time longer to see if the other guests would
-go, but they showed no intention of doing any thing
-of the kind, and as I had a long drive before me, I
-took my departure, Westover promising to ride down
-in a day or two, and take me upon some expedition.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE LONGED FOR MEETING.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Habitual reverence is a curious thing—more strong
-than most other habits. I was certainly of a somewhat
-impetuous disposition, eager and impatient of
-delay, notwithstanding all the drilling I had had in
-long wanderings and many difficulties and distresses;
-but yet the habitual reverence which I entertained
-for good Father Bonneville was not to be mastered.
-It was one of those impressions received in youth,
-which, like the foot-prints of certain animals that we
-discover in the rock, had been pressed down there
-when the substance was soft, but had been rendered
-indelible as it hardened. I returned from London
-disappointed in one of my expectations, and I would
-fain have had a long conversation with good Father
-Bonneville, in regard to all the doubts and mysteries
-surrounding my own peculiar fate. The promise
-he had given of knowledge at a future time did not
-satisfy me, and I thought that if he would but touch
-upon the subject again, I would press him hard for
-further explanation. Nay, more, I judged that the
-very party at Westover’s would open the way, and
-resolved that I would not fail to take advantage of
-the very first opportunity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the good Father came down to breakfast,
-however, with his calm, placid countenance, and his
-usual quiet taciturnity, although there was nothing
-in the least repulsive, none of that impenetrability
-which sometimes characterizes the Roman Catholic
-priest, yet I felt a repugnance to the idea of urging
-upon him a subject which he had shown so much
-anxiety to avoid, and he certainly gave me no direct
-encouragement. He merely asked if I had met a
-pleasant party at Captain Westover’s; and when I
-in return told him of whom that party consisted, and
-dwelt somewhat particularly upon the appearance and
-demeanor of the Earl of N——, he seemed, I thought,
-a little surprised, and I could not help fancying that a
-shade from some strong, and not pleasant emotion,
-passed over his countenance: yet he asked not a
-question, and made no observation of any kind. I
-then suffered the subject to drop, notwithstanding all
-my resolutions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Some days passed quietly and dully enough. English
-people are not fond of making new acquaintances.
-None of our neighbors had yet called upon us, and
-the gentleman whom I had met by the side of the
-brook, did not make his appearance. Quiet tranquillity
-is the most burdensome of all things to an impatient
-spirit; and I confess I fretted myself a good
-deal during those dull three or four days. It seemed
-to me as if all the world had forgotten us; and I felt
-much more solitary there, with every comfort around
-me, than I had done in my long wandering from
-Switzerland to Hamburgh, when I might very well
-have believed myself almost alone upon the earth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It rained, too, incessantly; and I began to feel very
-English, and to abuse the climate heartily—though,
-by the way, it is the best I ever saw, except, perhaps,
-in the central parts of France. I could not ride
-out. I got tired of reading. I had nobody to write
-to. I was weary of myself and the whole world—even
-Father Bonneville’s calm, sweet placidity, his
-tranquil employments, and patience under the load
-of dullness, half vexed me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was on the Saturday morning early, however,
-that a change took place; the sky became clearer;
-light clouds, like enormous flakes of snow, succeeded
-the dull, gray, pouring banks of rain; blue sky
-appeared here and there; and, to complete all, as I
-looked out of the window, after breakfast, I saw
-Westover riding up toward the house, with a servant
-behind him, and a little valise behind the servant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was no horse or carriage-way up to the
-house, which was approached by a path through a
-pretty little garden; and as he dismounted at the gate,
-I heard my friend desire his groom to bring in the
-valise, to take the horses to the inn, and to give Miss
-Kitty a feed and a half. He then walked slowly up
-to the house, nodding to me as he came; and I could
-not help remarking that he seemed pale and ill.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was in his usual good spirits, however, and
-shook hands with me and Father Bonneville heartily,
-saying, “Did you hear my order, De Lacy; to bring
-in my valise? An unlucky thing for you, my friend,
-that I was at the taking of your house, and know that
-you have a spare room; for I come to beg quarters
-of you till Monday.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I welcomed him gladly, and seating himself somewhat
-languidly, he said—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been unwell for the last few days, and
-they tell me I should leave that bustling, tiresome
-town of London; so I have come to see if you will
-give me quiet lodging here, just as a trial—not that I
-think it will do me any good.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why—what is the matter, Westover?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nothing but that tiresome ball,” he replied,
-laying his hand upon his chest. “It has taken another
-move I suppose, and set me spitting blood
-again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What, has it not been extracted?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shook his head mournfully, answering—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, no, it is there for life, they say, be life long
-or short; and it is the strangest thing in the world,
-how a trifle like this—having an ounce of lead in
-one, without knowing where to find it—will weigh
-upon a man’s spirits, how it is ever present to his
-thoughts—a something he cannot get rid of—the
-sword hung by a single hair over his head, during
-the whole of the great festival of life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, we will keep you here quietly,” I answered;
-“which we can do with the most marvelous
-perfection.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you had been here during these last three
-days,” said Father Bonneville, with a quiet smile at
-me; “you would have had quiet enough, Captain
-Westover—more quiet than our friend Louis likes, I
-believe; for, as you may remark, he has literally
-worn the carpet by walking from that table to the
-window. I always think we may gain good lessons
-from the brute creation. God teaches them what is
-best under all circumstances; and I copy the cocks
-and hens, and the great dog, all of which, I remark,
-invariably sit quite still, and take every thing quietly
-during rainy weather, knowing, that walk as fast as
-they would, or as much, they cannot change the wind,
-or make the clouds withhold a drop.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Westover smiled, but replied—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not exactly quiet I am seeking, my reverend
-friend, but to be out of the air, and the parties, and the
-smoke of cities, and the impertinent chattering, which
-is the smoke of society. No, no—no quiet for me. If
-I am soon to ride with my troop, I may as well ride
-here, and so I intend to make De Lacy mount his
-horse, and gallop away with me to Eltham or Esher,
-or some of those places memorable in the past, where
-we can sit down, and play the part of Volney for an
-hour, amongst the ruins of empires. Then to-morrow,
-I intend to go with you to Mass; for all Protestant
-as I am, I cannot help admitting that you sing
-a great deal better in your worst chapels than we do
-in our best.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Father Bonneville looked at me with a faint smile,
-and I informed Westover that we had both of us, in
-the course of the last two years, abandoned the
-church of Rome.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was not from any motives of interest, Captain
-Westover,” said Father Bonneville, “neither from
-fear nor for favor, but from pure conviction. The
-fact is, that in a time of great distress and anxiety, I
-found so much consolation in the Bible, that I could
-not remain attached to a church which denied it to
-my fellow men, and, moreover—without being uncharitable—I
-thought I could see the reason of its
-being withheld from men in general, in its manifest
-condemnation of the practices of those who withhold
-it. Louis came to the same conclusion while we
-were far apart; and parting as Roman Catholics we
-met as Protestants.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Westover seemed much more surprised, and even
-moved by this intelligence than I could have expected.
-He shook me warmly by the hand, congratulating
-me, and saying—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am glad of it, De Lacy, I am glad of it. That
-makes a very great difference—I am sincerely glad
-of it. We will talk no more of going to Mass;
-though I do like to hear a good Mass well sung—so
-much so, indeed, that my noble grandfather is every
-now and then in terror of his life, for fear I should
-turn Papist, in which case, as he is the most ultra
-Protestant that ever lived, he would, doubtless, cut
-me off with a shilling, and be very sorry that he
-could not deprive me of the fortune my Uncle
-Westover left me, lest I should spend it in favor of
-the Propaganda—but come, De Lacy, let us take a
-walk to the inn, mount our horses, and ride.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were soon upon our way, and as we passed
-slowly along through the little village of Lewisham,
-Westover, who was looking round him, exclaimed,
-“Good heaven, what a beautiful face!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I turned my head sharply, but could see no one.
-The road was vacant, except where a laboring man
-was wheeling a barrow, and a carrier was taking a
-trunk out of a cart. At the side of the road, indeed,
-was one of those little picturesque cottages, only to
-be seen in England, where fine taste and love for the
-beautiful, has decorated with a thousand charms the
-very lowliest of dwellings. It was only one story
-in height. The windows were mere lattices, with
-diamond-shaped panes of glass, rattling in leaden
-frames. The roof was thatched, and the door
-seemed hardly tall enough for the entrance of a man,
-but the thatch was covered with the rich green
-house-leek, and the whole front of the house was in
-a glow with roses, trained beautifully between the
-little windows, and every here and there holding out
-a long blossom-bearing arm, as if to invite the passing
-stranger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She’s gone,” said Westover, “run away at the
-sight of two men on horseback, as if it were the first
-time in life she had seen that sort of Centaur. But I
-certainly never did see a more lovely creature.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I made him describe her to me; but what description
-can ever give an idea of a face? His was incomplete
-enough, but he said she had the most lovely
-eyes in the world, and that was quite sufficient to set
-my foolish fancy filling up the outline with the features
-of Mariette. I caught myself in the midst of this
-portrait-painting, a new sort of castle-building, and
-could not help smiling at my vain imaginations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What are you laughing at, De Lacy?” asked my
-companion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At myself, Westover,” I replied. “The truth
-is, your description is so like some one I have been
-long seeking, and would give both my hands to find,
-that, for a moment, you set my fancy wild with the
-idea that she and your cottage-girl might have been
-the same.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, ho,” said Westover, with a laugh; “but if
-your love affair has been of long duration, this cannot
-be the same, for she seemed quite young—not
-more than seventeen or eighteen.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That might well be,” I answered; “and yet my
-love affair, as you call it, might date from twelve
-years ago. The person I seek is the companion of
-my youth, one who is now an emigrant like myself,
-and I much fear that she and her mother both, may
-be in some distress, while I have the power of relieving
-it, and know not where to find them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yours must be a strange, curious history,” said
-Captain Westover. “I wish, some dull evening,
-when you have nothing better to do, you would tell
-it me, point by point. I am fond of a dreamy talk
-with a man over his past times.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should have thought there were attractions
-enough in the metropolis,” I answered, “to occupy
-all the time of you men of fashion, in other ways
-than that.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Attractions,” replied Captain Westover, “which
-either leave no remembrance, or a sting. Take my
-word for it, De Lacy, there are multitudes of us who
-would gladly leave wax candles to blaze, and champagne
-to sparkle, and bright eyes—with no heart behind
-them—to shine, in order to sit beneath a shaded
-lamp with a man of real action, who has seen something
-of different countries, and a different world,
-and a different life from ourselves, and listen to tales
-of the heart’s realities, while all else around us is
-but the tinseled pageantry of a dream. Come, when
-shall it be, De Lacy?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To-night, if you will,” I answered; “we are
-certain of being uninterrupted.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the old man,” he said. “Young men can
-never talk with open hearts before old ones. There
-is a power in age which controls us even when
-there is no real authority.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, he goes to bed always at nine,” I said; and
-so we arranged it should be, and so it was.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When we returned after our ride, Father Bonneville
-informed me that there were some persons in the neighborhood,
-upon whom he wished me to call with him
-on the Monday following; and Westover and I went up
-to dress for dinner—a much more important operation
-than it has since become, even within my own knowledge.
-We had the usual English dinner, a small turbot,
-some boiled chickens and ham, preceded by soup
-after the French fashion, (which I knew Father Bonneville
-could not do without,) and followed by the inevitable
-apple-tart. After his coffee, the good Father
-remained for an hour or so, then lighted his candle,
-and having apologized, with the grace of an old
-courtier, for his early habits, retired to rest. My
-story was then told much as I am now telling it,
-only with more brevity, and I must say that Westover
-not only listened with the fortitude of a martyr,
-but showed a deep interest, if I may judge by his
-questions, in many parts of my narrative. Once or
-twice he rose, and walked up and down the little
-room, sitting down when I paused, and saying, “Go
-on, De Lacy, I am listening.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could not finish the whole in one night; but on
-the Sunday evening the tale was concluded, and on
-the Monday, in spite of remonstrance, he set out,
-saying he was going back to London. Why, I know
-not, but I watched him from the window, across the
-heath, meditating on the state of his health, and the
-risk he ran in joining his regiment again, with an
-unextracted ball still in his chest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly, to my surprise, I saw him pull in his
-horse, at the distance of some five hundred yards
-from the house, beckon up his servant, and speak to
-him for a moment. The master then took the left-hand
-road, which led toward Lewisham, and the
-groom rode upon the way to London.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is utterly impossible to describe the sensations
-which I experienced at that moment. There was a
-mixture of anger, and suspicion, and jealousy, which
-I can hardly characterize even to my mind at present.
-Fancy was as busy as a fiend; and I felt quite sure
-that he was going back toward the cottage, in order,
-if possible, to form some acquaintance with the beautiful
-girl he had seen. I persuaded myself in a moment—although
-I had unpersuaded myself before—that
-she must be Mariette; and I pictured to myself,
-Westover, with his handsome person and winning
-address, making instant love to her, and banishing
-poor Louis de Lacy for ever from her heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It took me an hour’s struggle to overcome such
-feelings, and when I had done my best I was still
-dissatisfied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Toward twelve o’clock, Father Bonneville proposed
-that we should go out for our visit, and for the
-first time, I asked where that visit was to be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, Louis,” he replied, “you seemed so indifferent
-when I spoke of it on Saturday, that I did not
-tell you the acquaintance you made while fishing,
-came to call upon us during your ride with Captain
-Westover. He is a gentleman of good family, and
-we must of course return his visit, even were it not
-that I believe he can now inform us where to find
-Madame de Salins.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is Mariette not with her?” I asked eagerly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I believe so,” replied Father Bonneville, with a
-smile; “but let us go, I said we should be there before
-one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not delay him, but I must confess, I thought
-he walked marvelously slow, and wished from the
-bottom of my heart, that I had ordered the pony carriage
-for our excursion. He took his way straight
-toward Lewisham, turned to the left in the village,
-keeping on the left-hand side, directly to the cottage
-with its roses. I do not know what had got into my
-heart; but it brought to my remembrance a trick
-which I had seen a charlatan play with an egg,
-which, by some contrivance, he made to jump out of
-a pot the moment it was put in. He stopped at the
-door—at the very door, and then suddenly said:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, what is the matter with you, Louis? You
-are as pale as death.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, nothing, nothing,” I replied, and knocked
-hard for admittance. I was red enough then. A
-small servant-girl opened the door, and Father Bonneville
-asked—“Whether Monsieur Le Comte was
-at home?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My hopes about Mariette began to fail, and diminished
-to a very small point when, on entering a little
-room, containing a good number of books, I found
-my acquaintance of the brook-side alone, and without
-a vestige of woman’s occupation any where
-visible.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shook hands with us both, welcomed us heartily,
-and in common civility I was obliged to repress
-my curiosity for a time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is my little study,” he said, after some
-preliminary conversation, “where I teach a few
-young pupils French, in order to eke out the small
-means of subsistence I have left. But I thank God
-for all things, and only regret that I have not enough
-to aid those of my countrymen who have even less
-than myself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is what I fear,” I answered, “that there
-are many, and amongst them some I deeply love,
-who may be suffering great distress, while I have a
-superabundance.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are, indeed, many, Monsieur De Lacy,”
-he said; but as the words were upon his lips the
-door opened, and a voice of music said, “May I
-come in?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly, my child,” he replied; but she had
-taken it for granted, and was in the room. There were
-the same eyes, the same look, the same beautiful face
-which I had seen in the carriage, but with a figure,
-how full of exquisite grace, how perfect in all its
-symmetry!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If my heart had not told me, at once, that it was
-Mariette, the glad spring forward with which she
-flew to the arms of Father Bonneville would have
-shown me the fact at once.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What possessed me I cannot tell, but I could not
-speak a word, and stood like a fool, the more confounded
-from feeling that the eyes of a stranger
-were upon me—yes, he gazed at me, earnestly,
-inquiringly. I must, somehow, have betrayed myself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you not know me, Louis?” asked Mariette,
-holding out her hands to me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Know you!” I cried, and if the whole world had
-been present, I could not have refrained from taking
-her in my arms and kissing her cheek.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Know you!” I repeated, “O, yes, I knew you
-the very first moment I saw you in the carriage on
-Blackheath.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And I did not know you,” said Mariette, artlessly;
-“but how should I, Louis? Here, you are
-a great tall man, six feet high; and yet you’re still
-the same—the same eyes, and the same mouth, only
-your hair is darker and not so curly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I rode after you all through Greenwich,” I replied,
-apropos to nothing; for my whole head was
-in a whirl, and she had left her hand in mine, which
-did not tend to stay the beating of my heart, “but I
-could find no trace of you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sit down, sit down, my children,” said the master
-of the house, “you are both agitated with your
-young memories. I will go and call your mother.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let me—let me,” said Mariette, and running to
-the foot of the little stairs, she exclaimed, “Mamma,
-mamma, here are Louis and Monsieur De Bonneville.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Madame de Salins ran down lightly and eagerly,
-and indeed she was very little altered—looking, perhaps,
-better than when I had last seen her. It was
-clear she was sincerely glad to meet us again; and
-seated round the table, a thousand questions were
-asked, and about half the number answered. All old
-feelings and memories revived. We talked of our
-little cottage on the Rhine, of our meeting in Paris,
-and our adventures by the way. The stranger joined
-in frankly and familiarly, evidently knowing all that
-had befallen us. We formed again, as it were, one
-family, and at length, emboldened by this renewal of
-old associations, I turned smiling from the gentleman
-of the house to Madame de Salins, saying, perhaps
-abruptly—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who is this? May I not be formally introduced
-to him?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you not know him, Louis?” she exclaimed,
-with a look of surprise. “It is my husband—The
-Count de Salins. How else should I be here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You forget, mamma, you forget,” said Mariette.
-“Louis always thought that he was dead,” and casting
-herself upon her father’s neck, she shed a few
-tears over the memory of the terrible days when first
-we met.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I looked surprised and bewildered, as well I
-might; and looking round at Madame de Salins, I
-murmured—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You told me he was dead.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I thought so when I told you so, Louis,” she
-replied, “I saw him fall before my eyes, wounded
-in several places, and to all appearance dead. But a
-glimmering of hope, springing from what source, I
-know not, led me to trust my child to you and hurry
-back to the court of the château where he had fallen.
-The assassins were gone; my husband’s blood
-was still reeking from the ground; but his body was
-not there, and after a long period of terrible suspense—it
-was but two hours, but it seemed an eternity to
-me—I found that one of our good farmers had carried
-him away, and was nursing in his own house a feeble
-spark of life which he had found yet remaining.
-I flew to him; I tended him many weeks in secret;
-I saw him recover consciousness and hope. None
-who beheld him then, however, would have recognized
-the gay and handsome De Salins; and it was
-agreed that he should be carried some ten or twelve
-leagues by night, and thence removed to Paris in a
-litter as a dropsical patient going to seek the aid of
-our good friend Doctor L——. All the peasantry
-were in our favor. It was but the people of the
-cities who were infected with the epidemic madness
-of the times. Every one aided—every one was as
-secret as death. The very dogs of the farm-houses
-seemed to comprehend and enter into our purposes.
-They barked not when the litter entered the yard,
-but moved round us watchfully, as if to defend,
-rather than betray us. It was necessary that I should
-part with him, however; for my presence would
-have discovered all; and I hurried back to seek my
-child, and meet him in Paris. Monsieur L—— was
-already prepared for his coming; but he did more
-than could have been expected or even hoped. He
-took him into his own house, and kept him there in
-profound secrecy for some months. During that
-time I lay concealed under the appearance of abject
-poverty. Mariette visited him every day, upon the
-pretence of carrying little articles of food to the
-good Doctor’s house; and neither by word or look,
-did she betray the secret—even to you, Louis. Do
-you forgive us?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I put my hand in my bosom, and drew out the
-ring which Madame de Salins had given me, and
-which still remained suspended round my neck by
-the little gold chain. I pressed it to my lips for my
-only reply; and gently bending her head with a sweet
-smile, she proceeded, saying, “I could see him but
-seldom—I dared rarely venture; but at length Dr.
-L—— formed the scheme for us of making our escape
-from Paris, crossing the Rhine, and waiting
-there for my husband’s coming. He was to follow
-as speedily as possible, in the character of an officer
-of the Republican army, who had been wounded at
-the battle of Jemappes. A thousand obstacles intervened,
-however, and I remained in terrible anxiety,
-till at length a letter informed me that he whom I
-had well-nigh given up for lost, had crossed the
-Rhine in safety, and was then at Dusseldorf waiting
-my coming. It was still necessary to maintain the
-most profound secrecy; for emigrants were surrounded
-by spies and traitors, and one indiscreet
-word might have brought the head of good Doctor
-L. to the block. I joined my husband in safety with
-Mariette, however, and our good farmers had gathered
-together a sum of money sufficient to enable
-us to cross the sea to this island, and to live for some
-time obscurely here. That sum would have been
-exhausted long ago, had we not by a fortunate chance
-been driven from our small lodging in Swallow
-street by a brutal man, whom I believe to be a spy,
-but who had once received great favors from our
-family when a poor apothecary in Paris. He, a
-sensual, horrible patron, the Marquis de Carcassonne,
-had no mercy upon us; but having purchased
-the house, turned us out in the street four years ago.
-We heard of this little cottage and took it; and a
-blessing it was; for Monsieur de Salins has obtained
-a little class of pupils, by which our small means
-have been somewhat saved.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We sought you in that house in Swallow street,”
-said Father Bonneville, “Louis was impressed with
-the idea that you must be in want, and he has been
-hunting for you far and wide ever since we came to
-England.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Real want, we have never known,” said Monsieur
-de Salins, “though we have been poor enough—ay,
-so poor, as to induce me to let my child go on
-a long visit to some rich and vulgar people, in order
-to economize our little pittance. They thought that
-Mariette de Salins was reduced so low as to accept
-the hand of their coarse son, and think it an honor
-and a favor; but they have learned better now.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And did you visit that house in Swallow
-street?” asked Madame de Salins, looking at me
-with an anxious and inquiring glance. “Who did
-you see there?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I told her all the particulars, Father Bonneville
-adding a word here and there, and the account seemed
-to strike both Monsieur de Salins and his wife with
-much surprise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He does not know,” said Madame de Salins, in a
-low and thoughtful tone, turning her eyes upon her
-husband, “he does not know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And so you found Monsieur de Carcassonne in
-poverty and distress?” said Monsieur de Salins,
-“the one viper, I suppose, has stung the other.
-God of heaven, my dear wife, how thankful we
-should be to Him on high, that we sit here, and eat
-the daily bread of his mercy, with consciences clear
-of offense, and hearts unloaded by a weight of guilt.
-Let them take all from us, but our innocence and
-our honor, and we shall be rich compared with these
-men, even were they wealthy and powerful as in
-days of old.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And is it possible, Monsieur de Salins,” I asked,
-following the line of thought in which my mind had
-been principally running, though there were many
-other subjects eagerly appealing for attention, “Is it
-possible that you, and dear Mariette, and Madame
-de Salins, have been living here in comparative poverty,
-while I have been enjoying wealth and all
-that wealth can give? This must be no longer——”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I saw a slight shade come over his countenance,
-and I added, “Madame de Salins has been a mother
-to me; Mariette has been a sister. I have sought
-them eagerly, daily since I have been in England, in
-order to perform toward them the duties of a son and
-a brother. Surely Monsieur de Salins,” I continued,
-taking his hand in mine, “you will not suffer my
-having the good fortune to find you with them, to
-deprive me of my right of adoption?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear, noble, generous Louis,” said Mariette,
-throwing her beautiful arm round my neck, as if I
-had been indeed her brother.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, I taught her to read and write,” I said,
-drawing her gently toward her father. “She was
-my first and dearest pupil—I have all her little
-books now, in which she spelt her early lessons.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And the pictures, and the pictures you drew,
-Louis,” cried Mariette.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All, all safe through all my wanderings,” I replied.
-“Come, Monsieur de Salins, I have a beautiful
-little place hard-by—ample means for all of us.
-Every thing shall be soon prepared for you, and Madame
-de Salins, and dear Mariette. We will share
-house and fortune and all, and be one family again,
-as we were in our sweet cottage by the Rhine.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I knew not what it was I urged—all the objections
-that a father’s eye might see—all the difficulties in
-regard to the world, and the world’s opinion; and I
-was not aware, till I found that even Father Bonneville
-remained silent, and did not second me, that I
-was asking too much.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Monsieur de Salins, for his part, smiled at my enthusiasm,
-while Madame de Salins wept at it; but
-he answered kindly and affectionately, putting quietly
-aside all points difficult to deal with, and saying jestingly,
-“Why, you would not have us quit this
-little, rosy dwelling where we have been so happy;
-but be assured, my dear young friend, that no guest
-will be more loved and honored within its walls than
-the Count De Lacy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I felt from his tone, that it would be in vain to
-press my request further that day; but I knew the
-effect of perseverance, and I had hope for the future.
-At all events Mariette and I had met again. I was
-resolved that nothing should make me lose sight of
-her thenceforth, and like all young hearts, I gave myself
-up to the present joy with trustful confidence in
-the happiness of to-morrow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Several hours glided sweetly by, and it was late
-in the day when Father Bonneville and I retrod our
-steps to our own dwelling, each full of thought.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;margin-top:0.5em;'>[<span class='it'>Conclusion in our next.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='tbk114'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='woo'></a>I WOO THEE, SPRING.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY WILLIAM ALBERT SUTLIFFE.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I woo thee, Spring, and I wed thee, Spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To a kindly-thoughted lay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I sing thee, Spring, in thy blossoming,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Through the lee-lang sunny day!</p>
-<p class='line0'>When young loves bud and old loves bloom—</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the warm earth bans all shade of gloom,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And bees hum summerly.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I woo thine ears to a kindly tale,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And what shall the story be?</p>
-<p class='line0'>I will tell thee dearest bonds are frail,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And that stars and flowers flee.</p>
-<p class='line0'>I will tell thee a tale of woful wings</p>
-<p class='line0'>That rive from the soul its precious things,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And shadow sweet fantasy.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I will tell thee of some that have fled away</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Since last we saw thy face;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And some that are gone from the sheeny day</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To the lonesome burial-place.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And of joys, like a string of pearls unstrung—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like treasured flowers to the fierce wind flung,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;That sleep with the buried grace.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O, I woo thee, Spring, and I wed thee, Spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To a sadly-thoughted lay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I sing thee, Spring, in thy blossoming,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Through the lee-lang cloudy day!</p>
-<p class='line0'>For the lone day dies through purple bars—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And a misty grief enwraps the stars,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And our hopes are ashen-gray.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But the flowers bud and the flowers blow</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And the mossy streams are sheen,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the downy clouds to the Norland go,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While the blue sky laughs between;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the light without, to the dark within,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Would seem to say—“Will ye up and win</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;While the paths of life are green?”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But the outer joy on the soul’s annoy</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Looks in and laughs in vain—</p>
-<p class='line0'>For the inner chains of the spirit’s pains</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;May ne’er be reft in twain;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the song that erst in joy begun</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sinks into wail ere the setting sun,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A sad and deathful strain.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>So I woo thee, Spring, and I wed thee, Spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To a dreary-thoughted lay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I sing thee, Spring, in thy blossoming,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Through the lee-lang weary day!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Through the lee-lang day and the plodding night—</p>
-<p class='line0'>When no golden star’s in the lift alight,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To brighten a weary way.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk115'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='song'></a>SONG.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY L. L. M.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When morn’s soft light is o’er us shed,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When pearl drops bow each taper leaf,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And e’en the lily’s queenly head</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Pays homage to the glory brief—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who ever recks of coming night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or grieves that such an hour must be—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who ever weeps o’er winter’s blight</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While summer decks the dewy lea.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The forest leaf now pale and sere</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Once bent to roving breezes’ kiss;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The faded flower on Autumn’s bier</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Once seemed too gayly bright for this,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nor did they droop and whisper all</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of mildew dank, of frost and blight;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But ever rang the wild-wood hall</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With joyous song and murmur light.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And grievest <span class='it'>thou</span>, dear one, that life</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Is but a dream that soon is past?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Fear’st thou the briefly bitter strife,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The shadows on thy pathway cast?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nay, ’tis not well—though day’s soon gone;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The flowers soon pale that bind thy brow;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though night and death are stealing on,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Forget not, love, ’tis morning <span class='it'>now</span>!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk116'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='two'></a>TWO WAYS TO MANAGE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY THE AUTHOR OF “CLOVERNOOK.”</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was night, black night all over the world, and
-denser night within the dwelling of Margery Starveling.
-Now and then, the half-moon broke through
-the clouds that obscured the face of heaven, and
-some straggling and uncertain beams slanting through
-the narrow south window, gave to the low, homely
-apartment a ghostly sort of glow that was gloomier
-to see than the dark. Yet the night was one to make
-timid hearts beat quick, especially in a dismal old
-house, where there was no light save occasional
-glimpses of the half-moon. But Margery was not
-afraid—she was used to darkness and solitude, and
-needed not the interchange of humanities for her
-comfort, else she would have aroused from the sleep
-which had fallen upon her, the child, who—with
-cheek leaned against the rough stone jam—was alike
-unconscious of the dark, and the rats gnawing hungrily
-at the floor, or loosening the hearth beneath her
-feet. It may be that bright dreams came to her,
-even there, for what shall stay them from innocence?
-and the rough jam may have seemed a pillow of
-down, and the chill moonlight, as it fell against her,
-the golden curtaining of a pleasant couch.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All was quiet within doors, save the digging and the
-gnawing I have mentioned, but in the woods that
-partly encircled the place, and darkened close against
-the western gables, the winds went blindly moaning
-up and down, and the dead boughs creaked against
-each other, filling the time with music when the ill-boding
-owls muffled themselves away.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was very still in the house, I said, for though
-Margery was busy, her work made no noise, till
-laying aside the great fleece of wool from her knees,
-which her skinny fingers had been picking apart, she
-spoke aloud, and on this wise—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will stir with my staff the embers from which
-the glow is well-nigh perished, that my child may
-feel in her sleep its comfortable influence, for evil
-dreams may come of unrest, and evil dreams make
-evil thoughts, and when they have once taken possession
-of the heart, how hardly are they charmed
-away.” So, having taken the fleece from her knees
-and laid it over a wooden stool at her feet, she arose,
-and fumbling in the chimney-corner opposite to that
-where the child slept, produced a great knotty staff,
-the lower end of which was blackened and charred.
-With this she stirred the gray ashes from the fiery
-log that lay beneath, and beating and breaking it into
-coals, gathered the dry cinders together that were
-scattered about, and having spread them over the
-freshly-broken coals, a blaze sprung up, slight and
-blue at first, but reddening and deepening till the rafters
-over-head, and the oak slabs below, the walnut
-bedstead in the corner, with its antique carving, and
-elaborately wrought tester, and the huge chest with
-its iron padlock, the wrinkled visage of the old woman,
-and the pale hair and plump, naked feet of the
-child, were all distinctly visible.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Charity, my pretty darling,” called the old woman,
-as she resumed her seat and the fleece of wool,
-“Wake, and betake thee to thy wheel for an hour,
-and I will tell thee of the plan I have made to keep
-our house full of cheer and music all the while, even
-when thou weariest of the wheel, and thy tongue
-prattlest not.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The child rubbed her eyes, lifted her head from
-the stone jam, saying in a voice sweet and plaintive,
-as we sometimes hear a bird’s—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have spun my task, grandam—six wisps of flax
-into as many hanks of thread, and thou seest my distaff
-is naked—but I will wind it with another wisp
-and spin, at least till thy task is done.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her naked feet pattered across the slab floor, and
-climbing on a ladder, she took from a peg in the rafter
-a fresh wisp, and as she wound the distaff peered
-through the south window at the half-moon, or rather
-at the yellowish color in the clouds behind which
-the half-moon was concealed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It wears near the midnight, good grandam,” she
-said, shoving her wheel aside: “I will pick on the
-fleece, and so thy voice will not be drowned as thou
-tellest the plan thou hast mused of.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As thou sayest,” answered Margery, “it wears
-near the midnight, as is told by the shrill cry of the
-cricket, to say nothing of the aching in my bones,
-and the dizzy feeling that creeps along my forehead
-now and then;” and laying her skinny fingers over
-the wrinkles on her brow, she bowed her head forward
-for a minute, looking more like a witch making
-some unholy incantation, than a live human being,
-and a woman as she was. Her dress, summer and
-winter, was composed of cow-hide shoes, clasped
-over the ankles with buckles of brass, a gown of
-dark woolen stuff, made in a straight, stiff fashion
-peculiar to herself, and she wore over her shoulders
-a small circular cape, that had once been part of a
-tiger’s hide. On her head she wore no cap or other
-covering, and her gray hair was parted on the crown
-and combed either way, one half being cut in a
-straight line above her forehead, and the other on her
-neck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She seemed seventy, or thereabout—nevertheless,
-her hair was neither thin nor very white.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou hast wrought too hardly, grandam, mayhap,”
-said the child. “Fold up thy hands now, and
-the portion of the fleece that remaineth be mine to
-do;” as she spoke, she wound her arm about the
-neck of Margery, for she loved her, albeit she looked
-so repelling.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, child,” answered the dame, “it is not often
-we have so pleasant a light, and pity ’twere to lose
-it. We must improve the advantages we have, little
-one, else want will be staring us in the face, and reproaching
-us with negligence when it is too late. I
-cannot work as I could with forty years less weighing
-me down, so I must do what I may.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I saw,” said the child, “when I went to Farmer
-Jocelin’s, for the measure of meal thou wottest of,
-three good tallow-candles alight in one room. The
-noonday sun were scarce brighter,” she continued
-in amazement, both at the wondrous light and the
-prodigality. “He must have great estates, grandam,
-to maintain such indolent and luxurious life. True,
-Mistress Jocelin was at work with some knitting,
-but not heedfully nor diligently, but more attentive
-to the reading of a book, which, indeed, to look upon
-was very beautiful, for as Farmer Jocelin held it
-near the light, the edges of the leaves glittered like
-gold, and the leathern cover was bright as the bosom
-of the bird that sings in the peach-tree, here, in summer.
-But Master Lawrence—what, think you, he
-did by all that flood of light? Why, nothing for
-thrift; for he sat on the matting of the floor, cutting
-pieces of smooth brown paper into a kite. Yet he
-had a sweet smile, and seemed to have a good heart
-withal,” added Charity, and her fingers flew more
-nimbly through the wool, “for as he served round a
-salver of apples, at his mother’s bidding, he urged
-me to take one so earnestly, yet kindly, that I might
-scarce refuse, and when I did—for that I might not
-rob Farmer Jocelin of his substance, giving him nothing
-in turn—he forced one into my lap and ran
-laughingly aside, so that I might not return it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alas! alas!” said Margery, “have I reared thee
-thus carefully in vain, that when thou escapest from
-my sight, but for a moment, thou yieldest to sinful
-temptation, eating the fruit thou hast not earned.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, grandam, thy conclusion is over-hasty. I
-kept the fruit unbruised and untasted, though its
-sweet fragrance made it hard to resist, and when the
-maid brought in the measure of meal, I gave it to
-her hand, and she restored it to the salver; but when
-Master Lawrence saw it, he looked as though he
-would have cried, even in such beautiful light,
-and with so much fair brown paper, to fashion as he
-would.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am glad thou hast wit to serve thee upon occasion,”
-spoke Margery, her fingers flying nimbly as the
-child’s; “and if Farmer Jocelin burns three good tallow-candles
-at one time, and that at no merry-making
-or gala-night, his children will be the likelier to sit
-in the light of fagots—and Master Lawrence was
-wastefully cutting smooth brown paper. I am glad
-thou hadst wit to refuse the apple, but thou shouldst
-have frowned smartly the while. If I see the young
-scapegrace this way, as belike he may come, with
-further temptations, I will make my tongue as a
-chisel, cutting such a lesson of wisdom and reproof
-upon his heart, as he hath never heard, mayhap.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But Master Lawrence meant kindly,” said Charity,
-and casting down her eyes, she continued, “if
-we cannot burn tallow-candles, we, at least, may
-have the light of dry sticks—shall I not gather more
-to keep light as thou tellest the plan thou hast? I
-would it could make our home cheery as good candle-light,
-and a salver of apples, with rinds all russet
-and red and yellow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It were good thou hadst not seen the apples,”
-spoke the dame, querulously; “better still thou
-hadst not seen the boy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the plan, grandam—thou forgettest the plan.
-Is it that the famous chopper, Patrick Malony, is to
-come and fell one of the great hickory or maple
-trees of which the wood is full; and are we to have
-a huge log, and big, smoothly split sticks to fill the
-great empty fire-place every night with light and
-warmth; or meanest thou once more to saddle
-Lily-lace, the mare, and ride to the mill with a full
-bag of wheat; and am I to go to the market-town
-once more, in my black kirtle and straw hat, and
-bring home in exchange, for my basket of eggs,
-butcher’s meat to broil on the coals, and fragrant tea
-to fill the little china cups, with tobacco for thy long
-empty pipe—in faith, grandam, have I not guessed
-shrewdly?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My pretty darling, I see thou hast thy head filled
-with the wildest extravagance; thou wilt be teasing
-next for a farthingale of dimity, ruffles of lace, and
-blue ribbons for thy hat, or other such like gear.
-Thy guesses tally not with prudence, Charity; thou
-mayest guess again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ay, then,” said the girl, sorrowfully, “I was
-wrong from the saddling of Lily-face to the full pipe
-of tobacco;” and casting her eyes about the cold,
-empty room, she continued, with greater energy—“I
-have the very pith of thy thought. Thou wilt
-unlock the great chest, and take thence the dainty
-linen sheets and the thick wool blankets thy hands
-have wrought from fleece and flax, and make the bed—wherein
-we now shiver the night through, ridden
-with nightmares and plagued with ugly dreams—into
-beauty and comfort. Surely I have guessed
-thy plan, for the moth is more wasting than the
-wear.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Foolish child, thy extravagance would be the
-ruin of me, though I gave thee management of my
-affairs but for a day. Were the sheets of linen and
-blankets of wool to be used as thou sayest, the chest
-would soon be empty, and then how should we
-fare?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As well as now,” thought Charity, but she
-spoke not, save to say—“that she should guess no
-more.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Once more, little one,” and Margery patted the
-child on the head with one hand, and taking the
-great staff in the other, she stirred open the coals vigorously,
-and as the light flashed upon the girl’s
-cheek, tears, large and bright, were seen to stand
-there, like drops of dew on a lily.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the old woman urged her to renew her guess
-with such earnestness and tenderness that, brushing
-away the tears, she essayed once again; but the fervor
-was gone from her tone, and the light from her
-glance, as she said—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou hast planned the mending of the door and
-window, that the snow may not drive to great ridges
-across the floor, and the wind and the rain beat
-against us as we sleep.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not so,” answered Margery. “While the winter
-blows the larger crevices may be stopped with
-straw, and the smaller ones with clay, both of which
-may be easily removed when the May Queen is
-dancing on the hills, and our house be the pleasanter
-for free air and streaks of sunshine.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It may all do very well,” said Charity, “but to-night
-I can see nothing so pleasant as great log-fires,
-tallow-candles, and a salver of red apples; and,
-mayhap, it would take Master Lawrence to complete
-the picture.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Burned not thy cheek to speak it?” continued
-Margery, peevishly: and the two wrought at the
-fleece for a time in silence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou knowest Lily-face?” said the ancient
-dame, at length, “that she groweth old and stiff of
-limb; thou canst not remember the time when she
-nibbled not in my pastures; I think belike, also, she
-fadeth in the sight of her right eye, for when, at the
-last Christmas time, I rode her to the mill, my old
-bones were jeopardized by her stumbling, and often
-turning of her head to one side, betrayed her defect
-of vision. But though she were sound as the silver
-coin that lieth in the bottom of the chest, yonder, I
-must needs barter her away, for that she eateth more
-than she earneth, since I may no more buckle round
-her the girth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou requirest much exercise in thy growing,
-Charity, to keep supple thy joints—thou canst sometimes
-walk to the market-town for our absolute
-wants, which are not many, and as for the wheat-grist,
-thou shalt have a mortar and beat it into flour;
-so Lily-face would but burden us now, and the corn
-and the oat-sheaves, and the hay that have been
-heaped in her manger, may be sold.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One beast is enough for a poor body like me, and
-thou knowest I will neither barter nor sell Wolf-slayer
-till the time cometh for the nailing of the
-boards to my coffin. And forget not, Charity, that
-they lie in the loft, well-seasoned for the using, and
-for thy life, let them not buy others in their stead.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Far away be the time, good grandam,” sighed
-the girl. “But the young die, too; and should I
-need them first, wilt thou not keep a light, at least of
-fagots, the whiles I am dead in the house?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Foolish child! though it were darker than tempest
-may make it, and I the while slept never so sound,
-no harm could come to thy white corse, if Wolf-slayer
-lay by thy coffin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the sound of her name, a great black beast, with
-eyes burning like coals, and lean and shaggy, crept
-from the darkest corner of the room, and laying her
-head in the lap of Margery, licked her jaws and
-whined piteously. “Away with thee, saucy image,”
-growled the mistress, “thou hadst the third part of a
-corn-ear at the sunset, and thinkest thou, black
-wench, I will give thee more?” and crouching and
-whining the hungry beast slunk back to the corner,
-and curling herself together, filled the room presently
-with her snore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Poor Lily-face!” said the child, speaking as it
-were to herself, “how can I let thee go! Morning
-and evening, since I could toddle, I have put my
-arms around thy glossy neck, broken the ears of corn
-into small bits, and pressed the golden oat-sheaves
-through thy manger—and thou hast neighed and put
-thy face against mine, for thou lovest me, as I thee.
-Poor Lily-face! I cannot let thee go!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What if thou mightst look in the corner here and
-see the bright, shining face of a pretty clock instead
-of the cobwebs and the hanks of yarn—if thou
-couldst hear the pleasant tick, and ever and anon
-the musical ring of the hours—a clock, bethink thee,
-bright of color as the autumn oak-leaves, and tall as
-thy grandam.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It would be pretty and comforting, surely,” said
-the child, “for the ticking and the stroke of the
-hours would be company in the lonesome nights, but
-I would not give Lily-face, that knows me when I
-speak, and looks at me and loves me, to have a clock
-bright as the oaken autumn leaves, and tall as thou,
-grandam, in place of the hanks of yarn and the
-cobwebs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou knowest not thy own mind,” said Dame
-Margery; “the clock will neither eat nor drink, but
-will tell us the time of day and night; which Lily-face
-hath not wit to do. By the light of the last
-sunset, I have no mind that she shall longer stamp
-in that stall of hers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The miller hath a clock,” she continued, “which
-ticked at his grandfather’s funeral, and hath kept the
-time of many funerals, and marriages, too, since; a
-pretty piece of mechanism, as I saw with my own
-eyes, and taller than I; and the miller wanteth the
-mare for the tread-wheel, and to have her his own,
-will barter the pretty clock.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It must be as thou sayest, but I have little pleasure
-in the plan,” said Charity. “Hath not the
-miller a milch cow that he would barter in place of
-the clock?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou growest officious,” answered the dame.
-“Would not the cow eat oats and corn as well as
-Lily-face? And have we not hitherto drunken water
-and flourished, and must we needs have milk?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Charity spoke no more, but sat turning the wheel
-for pastime—for the fleece was finished, and the mind
-of the dame was not to be altered by childish fancies,
-as was manifest from her rising and removing the
-hanks of yarn to another peg, and brushing with her
-hand the cobwebs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The wind kept moaning along the woods and rattled
-the broken door and window—the coals grew
-fainter and fainter and died, and the gray ashes blew
-over the feet of Margery and the child as they sat
-silently musing—the one of the pretty clock that it
-would cost nothing to keep, the other of poor Lily-face;
-haply at times there came a thought of the log-fire
-and the tallow-candles, and the salver of red
-apples which Master Lawrence had served with such
-a sweet grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next day came the miller, and wrapt in a
-great bed-quilt and laid in the bottom of his cart was
-the clock. Margery clapt her hands in glee when
-she saw it, but Charity sighed as she sat close on the
-hearth-stone for the sake of its little warmth, though
-she felt not the cold now. Faster and faster spun
-round the wheel, and lower and lower she bowed
-down her head to conceal the tears—but it would not
-do. When she heard the neigh of poor Lily-face,
-and knew that her hands would never feed her any
-more, she hurried to the window, and pressing her
-face against the pane, she could see her dear pet
-shrinking consciously from the hand that tied the
-strong rope about her neck and led her away. Margery
-was busy with dusting the bright face of her
-pretty clock, and looked not forth even when the
-long-drawn howl of Wolf-slayer (who, lifting her
-fore paws on the clapboard gate, manifested her sorrow
-as a dumb brute may) smote dismally upon her
-ears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The days came and went and Charity spun on the
-same, but Margery brought forth no new fleece.
-Scarcely had she stirred or spoken since the treasure
-came—even when the girl heaped on dry sticks and
-broken branches till the warmth filled all the house,
-she did not reprove.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then Charity bethought her that the old dame had
-scarcely tasted food for days, and looking upon her,
-she saw that her eyes waxed dim and her countenance
-pale, and a great fear came over the child’s
-heart; and setting aside her wheel, she ran fast to
-farmer Jocelin’s, and begged a cup of honey and a
-pitcher of sweet milk, telling of the strange disorder
-that possessed Dame Margery.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she went homeward, Master Lawrence ran
-from his work in the field and bore the pitcher of
-milk, and comforted her with hopes that her grandam
-was less ill than she feared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Without question Margery partook of the milk and
-honey; and when Lawrence brought sticks and logs
-and heaped the fire, she laid her withered hand on
-his head and said, “Thou art a kind boy and good.”
-She then took a key from her bosom and told Charity
-to unlock the chest and bring forth blankets—as
-many as would keep her warm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Surely, grandam, thou art distraught,” said
-Charity, as she hastened to obey. But the sweet
-smile of intelligence that met her inquiring glance
-belied her fears; and as she wrapt the warm covering
-about the withered form, she said, “Nay, child,
-I am sane at last—but too late.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At midnight she ceased to speak or to be conscious.
-Kind hands presently removed the thick
-covering, and spread over her a dainty white sheet;
-but she was warm enough; others brought from the
-loft the boards of seasoned walnut wood, and the
-next midnight Charity and Wolf-slayer—the one at
-the head and the other at the feet, watched by the
-old dame’s coffin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following day came the miller with Lily-face
-harnessed in his little cart; he went forward, and a
-train of neighbors followed—amongst them Charity,
-sorrowfulest of all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the summer came, she planted bright blossoming
-shrubs about the grave, and never in her
-life had Margery half so pretty a house as this
-narrow one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old house was given up to the rats and the
-winds, after the removal of the cheat, and the clock,
-and the hanks of yarn that hung all along the rafters.
-In course of time it fell into a heap; and one day, as
-Charity, who dwelt not far away, sat on the heap of
-stones where the hearth-stone had been, she saw a
-fair-faced youth searching up and down the lanes,
-over the meadows, and through the hedges hard-by,
-as though he missed something; but when he saw
-the girl, he left searching and bent his steps toward
-her, and as he came near she knew him for Master
-Lawrence—well grown, but with something of the
-boyish look and manners yet. The prettiest of all
-the lambs of the flock was gone, and though he had
-gone over all the pastures, he could not find it. The
-heart of Charity was touched, and leaving her sorrowful
-musing, she joined in the search.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whether the stray lamb was found I know not,
-but as Charity crossed the fields to go homeward
-under the twilight’s reddening wing, her hair was
-full of daffodils and daisies, and a flush of wildering
-happiness was on her cheek, that had never been
-there before.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the harvest was gathered and the orchard
-fruits weighing down the boughs, Charity rode to
-the market-town on a pretty brown jennet of her own;
-and as she went homeward the horns of her saddle
-were hung with great bundles; she had bought a
-white ribbon instead of a blue for the new straw
-hat her fingers had been braiding so busily—a
-muslin gown, that was white, too; a pair of
-pretty slippers, and a dozen other things that I
-have not time to enumerate—enough, that the
-next full moon shone upon Mistress Lawrence
-Jocelin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not a village maiden that would not have envied
-her but for her own happiness, for all joined in the
-merry-making; a dozen tallow-candles were burned
-at once, and more than one salver of red apples was
-served round, with loaf-cakes and sweetmeats, and
-ripe broken nuts. Workmen were employed to
-clear away the rubbish that had once been Dame
-Margery’s house, and a pretty new cottage soon rose
-in its place; and the next summer sweet shrubbery
-hedged it in, and myrtles and honeysuckles curtained
-the windows; bees made honey from the flowers,
-sleek cattle fed in the pastures, and in all the neighborhood
-there was no home so full of comfort and
-plenty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The hanks of yarn which Charity had spun long
-ago were taken to the weaver’s and came back in
-rolls of damask and bright-flowered carpets; the
-linen was taken from the chest, and the wool blankets;
-and after being washed white as snow, and
-dried in the sun, were spread upon beds soft as down
-could make.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the second winter came round, the cottage
-was a-glow with wood-fires and tallow-candles;
-and in place of the starved Wolf-slayer, there lay
-before the hearth, in a cradle of white willows, the
-plumpest and fairest baby that ever Lawrence and
-Charity Jocelin had seen.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk117'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='phan'></a>THE PHANTOM FIELD.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY O. I. VICTOR.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The snow lies deep upon the ground,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;All icy is the air;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The trees a winding-sheet have found</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;By the wild wind’s care.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The beast stands trembling in his shed—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The sheep within his fold:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Without, all life is stiff and dead—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Within, all chill and cold.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Why is the air so cold to-night?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The owl shrinks in his nest!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why does the moon gleam out so bright?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The traveler is at rest!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O, keen the wind and cold the air</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Above the Phantom Field!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet ghostly forms are stalking there,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Armed with a sword and shield.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And gathering slow in serried rank,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;They turn toward the west:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Five thousand coffins guard each flank—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Five hundred stand abreast.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In battle rank, with noiseless tread,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;They hurry to the height,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where stand ten thousand other dead,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Uncoffined for the fight.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O, cold the wind and keen the air</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Around the Phantom Height!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet spectre men are battling there</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In fierce, exultant fight.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And shields are rent, and swords are bent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And limbs bestrew the ground,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet skeletons, with strength unspent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Strike where a breast is found.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And skulls are cleft on right and left</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Till shines the morn o’erhead—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till twice five thousand coffins stand</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Alone, flanking the dead.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O, keen the wind and cold the air</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That sweeps above the plain!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet must the hollow coffins bear</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The skeletons again.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O’er the silent field they haste,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To gather limb and bone:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though skulls and limbs are wide displaced,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Each coffin knows its own.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Soon every limb is gathered in—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Soon every lid is fast—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And falling into rank again</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;They turn toward the East.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And marching o’er the frozen plain,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With swift and gliding tread,</p>
-<p class='line0'>They stand beside the graves again</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Where sleep the evil dead.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Two death’s-heads stand above each mound;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A fearful watch they keep!</p>
-<p class='line0'>The coffins sink into the ground,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Another year to sleep.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But when another year is fled—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When comes St. Stephen’s night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The death’s-heads shall unloose their dead</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To battle on the height.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And when five hundred years have passed,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The penance shall be done;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The skeletons shall sleep at last,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And moulder, limb and bone.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk118'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='shak'></a>SHAKSPEARE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY ERASTUS W. ELLSWORTH.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='dramastart'><!----></div>
-
-<p class='dramaline-cont'>What more extolling from the tongue of Fame</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Can Shakspeare need than his suggested name;</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Who, in a volume so compactly writ,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Has hived the honey of all human wit.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Praise suits where merit in a corner lies,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>But seems uncomely to th’acknowledged wise—</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Praise suits where laboring art at times succeeds,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And the shrewd reader pardons as he reads;</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>But fails—in wonder—where the leaves dispense</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Infinite resource of intelligence—</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Where the great player, at his game of chess,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Frolicks through all to glorious success;</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thrids, with exulting ken, a boundless maze,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Plays with his kings, and kings it in his plays.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Swan of the Avon—genius of the Thames,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>“That so didst take Eliza and [king] James;”</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Muse of so vast a flight, so ample pinion,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Whose name is as the name of a dominion!</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Though kings be great, give glory to the pen,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>A whole-souled poet is the king of men.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>King and high-priest one bard, at least, has been</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Lo! where we lesser Levites pause and quail.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>How grandly goes before, within the vail,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Our great Melchisedek, without compeers,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Without progenitor nor end of years.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk119'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='yarn'></a>THE MASTER’S MATE’S YARN.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY H. MILNOR KLAPP.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>(<span class='it'>Concluded from page 539.</span>)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They—the rats, of course—were a strange,
-heathenish set, and no respecters of persons, but first
-chased the cat on shore, and then made a hurra’s
-nest of the cabin—polishing their long whiskers with
-spermaceti—planning surprise-parties in the pantry—running
-to’gallant races over your nose in the
-sleeping-berths, and gauging every hollow vessel in
-the ship, with tails a fathom long, from the oil-casks
-and the scuttle-butt down to the pickle-jars and the
-captain’s barrel of New England. They were a
-sleek, long-bodied race, as black as imps of darkness,
-and as fearless as if they possessed as many reputed
-lives as grimalkin herself. I was weary of watching
-their capers, and of the sound of Catherton’s
-tread, expecting him every moment to call me up;
-when turning in my berth, I noticed that the after-cabin
-door was standing open. While I was wondering
-at this, a feeling of awe stole over me, thinking
-of the conversation I had overheard among the
-men the night before, and that very moment, as I
-was looking intently at the spot, a figure in white
-passed swiftly and silently out of the store-room into
-the cabin, closing the door behind it. I would afterward
-have given worlds to have been able to pursue
-it, but could not, for the power to move a limb was
-dead for the time being, and I lay still staring after
-it, with mouth agape and the cold drops on my forehead,
-palsied, as it would seem, by that sort of instinctive
-abhorrence with which humanity revolts
-against a disembodied spirit that has assumed, for
-some mysterious end, the form and garniture of its
-house of clay. It was a woman’s shape—the head
-bare, and the long dark hair hanging down to the
-waist, and, before the door closed, the light for an
-instant flickered on the face, ghastly and white—as
-the man-of-war’s man had said—with the mouth
-closed and the lips drawn tightly in. Its back was
-toward my berth, until it turned into the after-cabin,
-and it seemed to me that it had something clutched
-in its hand; but the hollow look of the sunken eyes
-froze my very heart’s blood, as they glared back at
-the lamp, from behind the bloodless and bony cheek.
-I was first roused from my trance by the sound of
-some one coming down the companion-way, and it
-was not until Catherton had thrice called me, laying
-his hand upon my shoulder, the third time, that I
-started at last to my feet, when he must have noticed
-my looks, as I still stared past him at the cabin-door.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It wants but a few moments of the time, Mr.
-Miller,’ was all he said, and if I had died for it, I
-could not have answered, but huddling on my clothes
-in silence, mechanically followed him on deck. All
-was there as still as death. The moon had not yet
-risen, and you heard the sound of the ebb plashing
-against the Tartar’s bows, and rippling and gurgling
-in the eddies astern, as it swept through the strait.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The watch are asleep in the galley,’ the captain
-whispered, as I prepared to go over the side;
-‘you remember the place and the signal—a plover’s
-whistle twice repeated?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nodding my head, I descended into the canoe;
-he cast off the warp, and keeping in the shade of the
-ship, with my brain in a whirl, I paddled close to
-the starboard shore. I had little time to think, for
-the current ran strongly round the points, and I
-seemed blindly impelled by the hand of fate to stem
-its force, even while my frame still shook like a
-frightened child’s.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I had hardly a thought of my purpose; nevertheless,
-instinctively plying my paddle, I passed through
-the passage, and reached the rift of sand under the
-castle without being challenged.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“High above me, concealed from my eyes by the
-rocky steep, was the stronghold where, according
-to report, the sultan kept both his harem and his
-treasures. The danger, in some measure, restored
-my presence of mind, and the canoe had hardly hung
-for a moment on the hot, glassy tide, when I heard
-the signal, and immediately upon my answering it,
-an Arab arose from the sand, and two others appeared
-coming hastily down a narrow gully, along
-which a sort of causeway ran from the stables of the
-sultan’s stud to the beach. Seeing more figures than
-I had been taught to expect, as another appeared
-from behind a rock, leading two saddled horses, I
-was about to back farther off, when the chief’s voice
-called out to me in a low tone to be quick, and forcing
-the bow of the canoe upon the sand, not another
-word was exchanged, until Halil had placed the
-slender form of the Circassian, vailed as she was
-from head to foot, under the awning.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The chief then seized my hand and carried it to
-his head, pointing with his right in the direction of
-the ship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wishing him ‘God speed,’ I wrung his hand;
-he pushed off the canoe, and I paddled round for the
-ship. Glancing back, I saw him spring into the
-saddle, with one attendant, both sitting as motionless
-as statues while the canoe kept them in sight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Heavily armed, and mounted on a splendid
-charger, from what I knew of his strength and
-spirit, it struck me forcibly that in his present enterprise
-he was more than a match for most men.
-There was little chance, however, of the conspiracy
-succeeding, unless the assassination of the sultan
-were the first overt act, as he was greatly beloved
-by his people. However, I had previously understood
-that the Oualé of Muscat, and all the principal
-chiefs at Moutrah—the last a considerable town in
-the vicinity—were implicated, which showed that
-the party of the old Imaum, the sultan’s deceased
-uncle, was much more extensive than I had ever
-deemed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was not with thoughts like these that I approached
-the ship, for the recent horror oppressed
-me so strongly, that I hardly knew what I was doing
-when the captain received Zuma from my arms at
-the stern-post. After this I fastened the canoe in its
-place, and looking, as it were by the mere force of
-habit, into the binnacle, found that I had been absent
-but twelve minutes. I then went for’ard where the
-two fellows who held the anchor-watch were sleeping
-soundly. As I kicked them up, the old carpenter
-came out of the steerage, rubbing his eyes, and
-muttering imprecations on the rats.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘They’re a considerable spry set, Mister Miller,’
-said he, as I made some remark to divert his
-attention, ‘and, cuss me, if I half like the ways on
-’em—rattlin’ past my berth atween decks, as if every
-beggar on ’em had shoes on his feet, and turnin’
-the’r varmentish heads to listen, with more life in
-the slack of their tails than there is wit in the for’ard
-part of the ship. They comed aboard, sir, in my
-opinion, at an island where the ship touched on the
-Japan coast, and jist tuk full command of the ship at
-once, trampoosin’ her from the ground-tier to the
-tops, and crawlin’ out of the bunts of the old courses,
-when sail was made at daylight, or jumpin’ from the
-boats, when a rush was made to lower away.
-Hows’iver,’ he added, knocking the ashes out of his
-pipe, without which he was never seen on deck in
-these latitudes, ‘I hope, sir, they’ll stick to the ship,
-if it’s only for luck’s sake.’ As he said this he
-gave me an oblique glance of his cold, fishy eye,
-and then looked earnestly at the bowl of his pipe,
-fussing with a paper of cut tobacco.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the humor which I was in at the time, the
-most trifling incident that occurred in the ship
-seemed to leave an impression upon my mind never
-to be forgotten; however, I was not to be sounded
-by old Charley Toppin, cunning as he thought himself;
-so I answered him at random: ‘I hope not,
-carpenter; and as for luck—why—’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Hist! sir,’ interrupted he, in a startled voice,
-pointing aft—‘what tale does that tell?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Turning quickly round, I saw them dropping
-from the poop by the dozens—one steady plump!
-plump! plump! till the deck was black with them,
-creeping in a living mass on the forecastle, down the
-cable, as it seemed, into the water, where we could
-see them swimming for the island across a broad
-patch of starlight, until the last of them disappeared.
-Captain Catherton was standing aft, looking at the
-frigate through his night-glass. He never stirred,
-and, as I thought, did not notice them. The sight
-seemed to shake old Kennebunk wonderfully.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Mister Miller,’ said he fearfully, ‘this be a
-doomed craft.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘You’re wrong,’ said I, ‘they’re swimming off
-to the shore to fill their stomachs with something
-green, if they can find it. They’ll be back presently,
-and then, if you cover the hatchways, you can call
-all hands to a rat-hunt.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The carpenter looked at me, and then at the
-poop, significantly enough; a look of intelligence
-suddenly crossed his blank, weather-beaten face, as
-he moved close to my side, with his hand to his
-mouth and his eye still fixed aft: ‘Do you know,
-sir,’ he whispered, bending his brows and looking
-me hard in the face, ‘do you know who are your
-shipmates in this here craft?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At that moment the captain called out in his
-deep, calm voice, and I went up on the poop, where,
-pointing to the frigate, which lay now within half a
-pistol shot of us, outside of the passage, he put the
-glass in my hands, without saying a word. The
-first look I took through the instrument explained
-his meaning. The frigate’s starboard broadside was
-sprung to bear on us, and the long tiers of guns
-frowning full upon the ship. They were even lighting
-their battle-lanterns, and groups of turbans and
-pointed caps were visible in every part of the upper
-deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I dropped the glass from my eye and looked at
-my companion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I understand it,’ said he composedly, in reply
-to my look—‘wait a couple of hours longer, and the
-scene will change. In the meantime come below,
-and let us have a glass of grog.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He swept the harbor carefully with his glass,
-dwelling some time on the landing-place, which is
-at the mouth of a drain, or sort of canal; the town
-itself being hidden from our sight by the lofty castle-crowned
-crags to the north and east. The Soliman
-Shah, after changing her old berth, had anchored off
-Fisher’s rock, a small islet lying off the north point
-of Muscat Island.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>While Catherton was thus engaged, the thought of
-what Halil and the rest of the conspirators could be
-doing at that moment, together with my adventures
-that night, whirled a confused crowd of images before
-my mind, in the midst of which black Hadji’s
-face was preëminent. The stories which I had
-heard of his craft and cruelty occurred to me so
-strongly that it was a relief when the captain closed
-his glass with a snap, and led the way to the cabin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Steward,’ said he to the mulatto, who seemed
-to make it a rule never to be caught in his hammock
-when his master was up, ‘set out the liquor-case,
-and a bottle of that old Bourbon whisky we got out
-of the Frenchman—and then be off to your roost.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fellow obeyed in his usual deferential way,
-and placing a lighted joshstick and a bundle of sheroots
-on the table withdrew.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘To-morrow,’ said Catherton, ‘we’ll tow out
-into the bight of the current, go how things may;
-and here,’ he added, pouring out a tumbler of grog,
-and pushing me the bottle, ‘here’s good-bye, forever
-and a day, to the key of the Persian Gulf.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I pledged him accordingly, and he went on in a
-very frank, easy way, I thought, considering the
-case in which we stood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘A troublesome coast this to clear, Mr. Miller;
-the currents hereabouts are as treacherous as the
-heart of woman. Why,’ said he, seeming a good
-deal at his ease, as he poured out another glass,
-though I was in the other case, my eye stealing to
-the cabin doors in spite of me, ‘I’ve been drifted in
-this old ship forty miles in-shore, in a thick fog and
-a calm, between sunset and dawn, and no signs of a
-set on the surface any more than there is on this
-deck.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Yes, sir,’ said I, compelling my attention to
-answer him, ‘in clear weather they keep you continually
-taking observations—and in a fog, as you
-say, why—’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Try that case-bottle of Bourbon whisky,’ interrupted
-he, ‘you don’t seem to relish the brandy.
-Here’s to the sultan! And may he wake up to-night
-in Paradise.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here he went on in a discursive way to talk of
-the cholera, saying that he had had a touch of it
-himself on the Malabar coast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘However,’ said he, filling up his glass a third
-time, ‘hang care—here’s luck!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The fact is, Mr. Miller,’ he continued, setting
-down his glass, ‘I’ve taken a great fancy to you,
-during the little time we’ve been together. If it
-lasts out to the end, depend upon me, I’ll put something
-handsome in your way.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I bowed over my glass without speaking, and he
-kept on in the same confidential manner, as if he
-made up his mind to see how we stood at once.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I’ve made one prime voyage for my present
-owners in these seas, and this one—mark you—I intend
-for myself. Now I want a friend whom I can
-trust, body and soul, and, if I am not far out of my
-reckoning, you are the very man.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I met his sharp, scrutinizing glance as he said
-this, and remembering the carpenter’s words in the
-galley, I now felt sure that the captain had some
-scheme of villainy in his head in which he wished
-me to become a partner. There was the more reason
-to be careful of the grog, since I could not mistake
-his manner, and the sharp, sinister look full as
-deep as the occasion called for, whatever that might
-be. However, I thought it best to affect to do so,
-and answered accordingly, that I had no fears of further
-trouble with the crew when we were once clear
-of the coast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“His fierce eyes watched mine as a tiger might a
-stag’s, and with a dark smile which seemed to say,
-‘You’re a deep one, I see.’ He nodded his head
-and touched his glass again. Still he seemed to
-hesitate, and to be fast losing his self-possession, as
-if either the liquor he had drank, or something in the
-way I received his first hint, had flustered him. I
-did not think at the time that he doubted me, either;
-so I sat still, smoking my sheroot, and watching the
-traces of irresolution gleaming across his sun-seared
-face, until, making a strong effort to control himself,
-he suddenly asked if I was a married man. On my
-replying in the negative, he tacked ship again, asking
-me if I ever read poetry, alluding particularly to
-Moore’s Lallah Rookh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I don’t care a rope’s end for the Veiled Prophet
-or Nourmahal,’ he said, while I wondered again
-what he was driving at, ‘but I always admired certain
-descriptive parts of the Fire-Worshipers, which
-I always thought Byron must have touched up for
-Moore—for instance</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>‘—’Mid damp and gloom and crash of boughs,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And fall of loosened crops that rouse</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The leopard from his hungry sleep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who, starting, thinks each crag a prey,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And long is heard, from steep to steep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Chasing them down their thundering way.’</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Muscat, you know,’ continued he, ‘is the poet’s
-Oman.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Yes,’ I answered, hardly knowing what to say,
-‘and a wretched place enough it is, in spite of Moore’s
-fancy.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Why,’ he said, still beating the bush about me,
-‘there is some difference between the sultan’s palace,
-plain as its outside is, and the emir’s porphyry
-walls which the little Irish nightingale sang about—not
-so much though, to my mind, as between a merchant
-dreaming of a full cargo to-night, and waking
-to hear of a wrecked ship and no insurance in the
-morning—ay, or a captain making two good voyages
-and finding himself still in debt—ay, deep as
-the fathomless sea in debt—to his owners.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘That, I suppose, you would call a species of
-blank-verse, Captain Catherton,’ said I.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ay,’ he answered, with a fierce, tiger-like
-gleam of his dark eyes, ‘but the beauty of the thing
-is, this cargo will balance accounts, and it’s a long
-back stretch from ‘Oman’s green water’ to the sandy
-shores of Bedford Bay.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This was starting the devil with a vengeance, so
-I determined that he should show his purpose
-clearly before I gave any reply to the hints he had
-thrown out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Captain Catherton,’ said I, fixing my eyes firmly
-upon him, ‘I am no greenhorn to rush into any
-man’s schemes blindfolded. If you wish my services
-in any thing that is to my taste, you must speak
-out.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He emptied his glass again, in a way which
-showed that he was hardly sensible of the action,
-and, ‘Mr. Miller,’ said he, ‘there is that about you
-which reminds me of old days, and that, perhaps, is
-one reason I’ve taken a fancy to you. It doesn’t
-matter a rope-yarn whether you join me or not; my
-mind is fixed to its course. You shall hear the
-whole, however, and judge for yourself before you
-decide—which is more than I would care to reveal
-to any other man that breathes.’ He flung his sheroot
-on the deck as he spoke, and mechanically setting
-his foot upon it, bared his sinewy arm to the
-elbow, in the lamp-light. ‘Do you see those initials?’
-he said, in a tone of unnatural calmness.
-Sure enough there they were—his wife’s, I had no
-doubt—E. S. B., dotted in India ink, and two hearts,
-worked one within the other, under them. As I
-looked in his face for the explanation which was to
-follow, I saw that it was fearfully changed; and although
-his eyes met mine, at first steadily enough, a
-strange sort of a spasm contorted the muscles of his
-jaw, as if he looked, as it were, through me at some
-horrible sight, with his teeth set, and his thin nether
-lip drawn tightly in. The truth, or at least an inkling
-of it, I had had already from the second mate,
-and in spite of the terrible doubts in my mind, and
-the rascally scheme he had hinted at, I confess I
-could not help feeling somewhat softened toward the
-man. Perhaps he noticed this in my looks, for, with
-a shivering sigh, he placed his elbows on the table,
-and covering his eyes with his hands, although not a
-groan or a moan escaped from his lips, I knew by the
-tears which forced their way through his fingers, and
-the quiver of his strong frame, that some hard struggle
-was going on. I sat still in pure wonder at this
-sudden outbreak of feeling—the initials, as it were,
-staring me full in the face, and the man’s damp forehead,
-with its mass of dark curls within reach of my
-hand—until a strange thought that I had seen him
-before in some old, familiar place, came slowly thrilling
-into mind. Where this might have been I could
-not, at the moment, conjecture; but as he removed
-his hands and I looked anxiously at his features, I
-felt almost sure that it had been years before, in
-some scene of summer-revelry, with trees and horses
-in front, and woman’s soft eyes on the background.
-Perhaps it was the altered look of Catherton himself,
-which brought the last into my mind in the
-cabin of the old Tartar, to be associated in some
-unaccountable way with that tall, muscular frame,
-and that dark, gloomy face, frowning as if ashamed
-of his emotion, though it might be, the tears had
-done him good. At any rate, the idea oppressed me
-so forcibly that, before he composed himself to speak
-again, I glanced nervously round the cabin, taking in
-every object as well as I could by the smoky light—from
-the state-rooms, on the larboard side, with their
-musty, sickening smell, to the rack in the recess between
-the cabin doors, and thence from the starboard
-ones up to the chart-rack and the broad transom,
-where the two models, one of a whale-ship, the other
-of a first-rate, both made of a sperm whale’s jaw—guns,
-boats, spars, and even the miniature brail-blocks,
-all fashioned out of glistening white bone,
-were resting on their mimic ways. Of course I
-saw nothing there to account for the impression,
-faint as it grew again while I gazed, and half deeming
-it the delusive trace of some forgotten likeness,
-or of something which I had read of or dreamed, I
-turned my eyes again upon Captain Catherton.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Mr. Miller,’ said the man, as calmly as if he
-were sitting at home, it might be, in his nursery, his
-wife within reach of a whisper, and something in
-the subdued, moist look of his eyes in devilish accordance
-with the drowsy quiet of a domestic scene,
-‘we are not all as philosophic as Cato—nor as vile
-as the man made immortal in infamy by Horace—<span class='it'>non
-omnibus dormis</span>—you remember the satires.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As I stared again at this, a forlorn ghost of a
-smile flitted over his face, and with his next breath
-the mystery of the thing vanished. I have often
-wondered since what it was that kept me fixed to
-my seat like stone; perhaps it was the reflection that
-my own accursed folly had been the wreck of us
-three—him, the wretch—myself, and <span class='it'>her</span>—perhaps
-it was the awful suddenness of the shock which
-stunned me like a heavy blow; I cannot say; but
-stifling the groan which rose to my lips as the horrible
-truth flashed upon me, while the very air seemed
-to thicken before my gaze, and his words to come
-with terrible distinctness through the gloom, I sat
-still on my seat and heard him out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I was born,’ he said, ‘at the village of ——, a
-few miles from Philadelphia, and abandoned my
-home, like a fledged petrel, as soon as I could comprehend
-the map of the world with its thousand
-ports and its endless stretch of sea. It is a strange
-thing, Mr. Miller, this young fancy of ours for being
-blown about by the wild winds, and rocked out of a
-life of ease by the cunning waves of the deep. To
-my mind there was once nothing so joyous in life as
-the roar of the gale at its height, when you slid from
-the top of a sea to the trough—the dripping dash of
-a head sea on the prow—or the rush of cleft waters
-astern, as you sat conning the chart.’ Little did that
-careful old pedagogue dream, as, day after day he
-chuckled over my progress in this department of
-knowledge, what restless longings disturbed the
-breast of his pupil, like the instinct of the unfledged
-albatross when it hears the sound of the sea from its
-nest on some sheltering cliff.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It was but last night,’ he continued, in a tone
-of melancholy widely at variance with the usual
-sound of his voice, ‘that I dreamed of the old man—his
-thin, white hairs brushed back from his brow—his
-spectacles set straight on his nose, as he traced
-out on the revolving globe the voyages of Columbus
-and Vasco de Gama, pausing, with his rod stayed at
-some particular point, to enlarge on the daring spirit
-of each. It was little wonder that I early yearned
-for the sea; and yet, as I afterward learned, great
-was his astonishment, not unmixed with chagrin
-akin to remorse, when he found that I had cut and
-run. However,’ he said, putting his hand to his
-forehead, ‘we met again, and the matter was thoroughly
-cleared up between us.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here he paused in thought, his eyes fixed in a
-troubled way on my face, while the changes wrought
-by time and the sea seemed to disappear from his
-own, and I wondered that I ever could have been so
-blind as not to have known him at once: a triple
-sense of condemnation oppressed me; and the soft
-eyes and the sweet face came vividly up, until I
-actually shuddered to think, as the whole name,
-Ellen Symington Blount, was as plain as day; what
-terrible tale which linked her fate with his might be
-still lurking behind. I could well understand, too,
-his allusion to Lallah Rookh, which was her favorite
-poem, and how it was that he had no recollection
-of me, having never seen me but once, and that for a
-moment by starlight. Old Charley’s riddle was read,
-though it was hard to tell how he became master of
-it, and stifling my feelings as I best could, I awaited
-in silence for the captain to resume.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“His eyes dropped to the floor, where the rats
-were again creeping about unheeded: presently
-they scampered off, and I heard the hasty <span class='it'>pit-pat</span>
-of naked feet as one of the anchor-watch came
-aft to the binnacle, when the ship’s bell struck
-one. The stroke was instantly followed by a clang
-from the Arab frigate, and then by a sort of stir,
-which loomed up as it were on the sultry gloom of
-night, in the midst of which you seemed to hear the
-cries of the sentries on shore, calling from tower to
-tower, through the pestilential air; and when these
-died away, with the nearer echoes of the bells in the
-harbor, you heard again the sound of the man’s feet
-pattering along the deck, as if he, too, had paused to
-listen before rejoining his watch-mate, who perhaps,
-like myself, was spinning some old yarn.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When all was still again, the silence seemed to
-press on my ears like the distant splurge of a tide,
-while the lamp drowsed and the rats crept to Catherton’s
-very feet, scuttling off, however, as soon
-as he stirred, breaking abruptly out of his reverie.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I made a trading voyage round the globe, and
-returning to the village twenty-six months after I left
-it, was received like one from the dead. I was
-bent upon giving old Blount, the schoolmaster, a
-surprise—as much so, it seems to me now, as if I
-had run away from school for that sole end.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Accordingly, I was out of the stage and bang
-into his garden, where he sat smoking his pipe, with
-his back toward the walk, before he had the least
-notion of what had turned up.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Hillo! old ship! What cheer?’ said I, and
-round he swung to my hail, dropping his merschaum
-and staring at me in the summer-twilight, as I stood
-rigged out in a full suit of blue, swinging my cynet-hat,
-until I could stand it no longer, but just broke
-out into my old laugh, which brought his daughter
-tripping out from the back-porch, when, of course,
-the recognition took place. After the old man was
-over the heat of his surprise, and I took time to notice
-that Ellen had grown, in proportion, quite as
-much as myself, and how beautiful she was—and
-that she had been the first to divine that I had gone
-to sea—my heart beat quickly again with a feeling
-strange as sweet, and somehow I was not so much
-shocked as I might have been, when her father,
-taking off his spectacles and sobering his face, informed
-me that my uncle had died a year before.
-To be sure, I had never known a parent’s care, and
-Colonel Catherton, living as he did, almost alone
-with his books, was a man rather to be feared than
-loved by a child. Besides, I cannot remember ever
-to have had strong feelings for a human being before
-I became aware of my attachment to Ellen. I rather
-loved to lie behind some hill which shut out all but
-the sky from view, and dream of the sea—or to sit
-under the lee of the woods in a gale, with a book of
-voyages in my hand, intent upon scenes of battle and
-wreck, with the last year’s leaves under my feet,
-and the wild roar in my ears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It was in the whole stock, and, in fact, I have
-heard that my father and two of my uncles, at different
-times, had all been lost at sea. However, the
-colonel, who had been a great merchant in his time,
-had left some property—not so much though as was
-supposed from his style of living—and as I was his
-only heir, they persuaded me from taking another
-cruise until the estate was settled. This, of course,
-only left me leisure to fall all the deeper in love—the
-rock, Mr. Miller, on which, it seems, the gentlest as
-well as the roughest of us must split. Many were
-the consultations I had with old Blount, and strongly
-he urged me to settle at home as a professional man,
-never dreaming—old proser as he was—that the
-thing was too deeply grained in, ever to be coaxed
-out, even by Ellen’s eyes. The upshot of it was that
-I remained at home for two years longer, until the
-property was sold, doing nothing but reading nautical
-works and growing more and more enamored of
-Ellen. There was a soul in that girl’s voice like the
-sound of the surf as it breaks upon some enchanted
-shore, off which it might be, you lay waiting for day
-to dawn—a spell in her dark eyes more like the ideal
-dreams of old, than the influence of woman over
-man in these degenerate days. If ever mortal had
-fair excuse for anchoring his faith on the sandheads
-of—but, excuse me, Mr. Miller, they are all of a
-piece, as you may have discovered before this—some
-one says to be rated only by their different capacities
-for mischief.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>‘Helen laid thousands on the shelf,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dido only burned herself:</p>
-<p class='line0'>As Helen’s beauty was the rarer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Her claim to mischief was the fairer—</p>
-<p class='line0'>A rule in courts that firm hath stood</p>
-<p class='line0'>Before and ever since the flood.’ ’</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As he ran on in this wild way, eating his heart,
-as it were, in sheer desperation of feeling, something
-in my look, as I felt my soul struggling to rise against
-the mendacious wretch, sent him from his vile sneers
-and accursed Hudibrastic lines, back to his narrative.
-Garbled and imperfect as that was, I was mad
-to hear it to the end; for while bitterly rueing the
-ruin which my own folly had wrought, I could not
-help burning to know by what damnable arts or eloquence
-she had ever been persuaded to yield her
-hand to <span class='it'>him</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“His eyes sunk before mine and he moved restlessly
-on his seat as a sound, so like to a sigh that it
-made me start, came apparently from the door of the
-closed state-room; it might have been the Circassian—or
-the rats in their ramblings—and drinking off a
-brimmer of grog, he resumed in a different tone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘At the end of the time I spoke of, the old man
-fell sick, and somehow his friends had dropped off,
-so that I spent most of my time almost alone with him.
-At last he consented that we should be married at
-his bedside. He had been growing weaker day by
-day, and I was the more anxious for the match, as
-his house was close to a place of fashionable resort,
-and Ellen had, somehow or other, become acquainted
-with some of the young blades from the
-city. There was some talk about her and one of
-them, while I was absent on a tour to the great
-lakes, that had like to have set me mad on my return.
-However, the youngster—who was, by all accounts,
-to the full as deeply in love and as fiery as myself,
-besides being, at least, my equal in fortune and connexions—had
-got himself involved in a quarrel with
-an acquaintance about this same report, which, in the
-end, sent one man to his grave and the other out of
-the country. As the duel made a great noise in the
-city, I determined to marry Ellen privately, and to
-remove from the village altogether as soon as her
-father died.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Well,’ continued he, in a husky tone, ‘the
-thing was done, and when we rose from our knees,
-after the prayer, the old man was dead. We had no
-idea that he was so near his end, and I leave you to
-imagine, Mr. Miller, the horror of my bridal-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘However, when this was over, and we were
-alone together in the world, Ellen seemed to cling
-the closer to me, and it was not long, as you may
-suppose, before we left —— behind. I directed my
-course to Boston where I had made arrangements to
-enter into business with an old shipmate, a son of
-one of the firm in whose employ I had sailed on my
-first voyage. In the course of a few weeks I found
-myself comfortably settled at last, with most of my
-funds invested in the purchase of a ship and a brig,
-engaged in a trade to the Spanish Main. I commanded
-the ship myself, and for several years things
-went well—when by the villainy of my partner, suddenly
-as a whirlwind strips a ship, the house went
-by the board. After this I commanded vessels on
-the African and Brazil coasts, until the last ship was
-sold to a whaling house at New Bedford. I had
-agreed to deliver her into her new owners’ hands,
-and, as my wife’s health was rather unsettled at the
-time, I took her with me for the sake of the jaunt.
-It was then that I received offers from the man who
-had purchased the ship, which first directed my attention
-to this particular service. It was true that
-I knew nothing of the business, and had a sailor’s
-prejudice against it; but the man treated us with
-such considerate kindness, and made me offers so
-tempting to a broken man, pointing out how easily
-the difficulties might be obviated in time, and enlarging
-on the importance of having good navigators in
-the Indian seas, that, in an evil hour, I consented to
-take charge of my old ship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I removed from the hotel to a house in the upper
-part of the town, and after making the necessary
-arrangements for a protracted absence, and three
-weeks from the time I went into the Wisemans’
-employ, I found myself at sea. The first voyage—and
-it was a short one, not exceeding a twelvemonth—put
-me up to the business, and investing all I had
-cleared in the ship, after a stay of six weeks on
-shore, leaving my wife to mingle in the best society
-which the place could afford, I put again to sea. It
-was on the homeward bound passage, in a full ship,
-after an absence of little more than fifteen months,
-that within a degree or two of the line I spoke a
-clean ship, with letters on board from my wife and
-the owners. Before I could board her, however,
-we were separated by a sudden squall, and night
-coming on lost sight of her altogether. We did not
-see her again, and it was when giving way to some
-natural vexation at the accident that I received the
-first intimation from Mr. Jinney, my mate, of the
-secret intimacy which had long existed between
-Ellen and the younger Wiseman. The man’s tale
-was a straight one, corroborated by several circumstances
-too trivial for notice at the moment of their
-occurrence, yet of sufficient importance, when taken
-together in connection with his story, to darken the
-past and cast an ominous shadow over the time to
-come.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Though I had thought to strike her dead at
-first sight, with the stretch of sea between us, yet
-old ocean, wiser than a thousand graybeards, played
-the soother again, even in this great sorrow—the
-faster it bore me toward her, as the ship heeled to
-the trades—the wilder the gale I encountered off the
-very shores where she breathed, the more it seemed
-to uplift its voice against the tempest of fury which
-must have inevitably involved me in the ruin it
-brought down. It was well done,’ he exclaimed
-fiercely, ‘here’s to thee, old theme of the poets—broad
-pathway for spirits like mine to sweep! Neither
-the frailty of woman nor the malice of man’—here
-his voice grew too hoarse for utterance, and
-drinking off the liquor like water, he dashed the
-glass to the deck, walking the cabin with hasty
-strides, like a tiger chafing in his cage—while I, with
-a curse on my lips for what, as God is my judge, in
-spite of the man’s emotion, I believed to be a lie, sat
-chained to my seat, as by some predestined spell.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Although my faith in the innocence of Ellen was
-as strong as in the angels of heaven, still he plainly
-believed all he avouched of her guilt; and still, as I
-clung to the one redeeming thought that nothing on
-earth could have tempted a spirit like hers astray,
-still something would whisper that she might have
-changed toward <span class='it'>him</span>, or have been made the victim
-of some infernal conspiracy, with woman’s malice,
-perhaps, at the bottom of the scheme. Strange stories
-in the history of the Cathertons, before they
-came over from England—which I had heard years
-before—flashed across my mind, and I felt sure—I
-knew, it must have been the circumstances growing
-out of my unfortunate duel—which, no doubt, he
-had twisted to the furtherance of his own purposes,
-which had induced her to marry him when her
-heart was elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I had little time to think of this at the moment,
-as you may suppose; for the sight I had seen that
-night, and the story of the second mate’s, with the
-frightful thought of what she must have endured to
-the end, was enough to craze my brain, until Catherton,
-breaking out into a laugh more like a fiend’s
-than a man’s, and halting directly in front of me,
-said—‘You look wild, Mr. Miller—perhaps you, too,
-have trusted woman. I tell you,’ he hissed through
-his teeth, as I arose and leaned against the mast, as
-it were, from pure weariness—staring at him in a
-blank way, while the blood seemed congealing to
-ice in my veins, ‘I tell you she was false—false as
-the whole sex—false as the hollowest heart of them
-all—though the oaths I had sworn, and the plans of
-revenge we had laid, kept me still.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘No! no!’ reiterated he, laughing again in his
-horrid way, ‘by that time I had learned something
-of endurance; and, as I had no children—for I was
-spared that misery—it was not worth my while to
-thrust my neck in a halter for the sake of a profligate
-woman. Ha! ha! I thought better of it—it was a
-sweeter and safer revenge to have her here in the
-ship, while she knew that I was cruising the seas to
-beggar her paramour—for, fool-like, his money went
-at the gaming-table faster than it came, and I had
-persuaded him, in conjunction with the mate, to invest
-his all in the purchase of this ship—to see her,
-amid the healthful breezes of ocean, dying a death
-to which the direst of Eastern tortures are mercy—’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Devil!’ I broke out at last, striking him full in
-the face with one hand, as I snatched a cutlass from
-the rack with the other, sending the iron scabbard,
-in my fury, straight across the cabin against the door
-of a state-room; he reeled a pace or two, laying his
-hands upon a half-pike at the mast. ‘Fool!’ I exclaimed,
-seeing that he still hesitated, ‘come on—I
-am S——!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He shortened the pike and darted at my face on
-the instant, but catching the thrust on the edge of
-my blade, I threw the point up into the deck-beam;
-that instant had been his last, for his defenseless
-head was within fair sweep of my sword, when
-from that very state-room, the door of which had
-been forced open by the flying scabbard, the same
-figure which I had seen before that night, again appeared,
-gliding now swiftly and noiselessly between.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The cutlass fell with a clank on the deck, and I
-stood with outstretched arm, my soul riveted to my
-gaze, striving in vain to speak, while Catherton staggered
-back against the mast, covering his eyes with
-his hands. In the rigid and ghastly lineaments of
-death I saw, as my heart stood still, the likeness of
-Ellen; the frozen eyes seemed to hush my very
-breath; the thin, clay-like lips moved, and, like sigh
-from a coffin-lid, the whispered words met my ears,
-‘Not thus—not thus!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘What—what art thou?’ I gasped out—when
-old Charley’s voice sounded on deck; a sort of
-scuffle appeared to get up in the companion-way, and
-Halil Ben Hamet and his attendant, both sprinkled
-with blood and covered with soil-stains from sandal
-to turban, suddenly appeared on the scene.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I stared from the apparition to the chief, and
-when I looked again, the place where it had stood
-was vacant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘All is lost, my friend,’ said Halil; ‘they are
-hard on my track, and I have come hither to die
-with Zuma.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At these words the captain recovered himself,
-and stepping from behind the mast, waved me on
-deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By a sort of instinct I felt compelled to obey
-him, as it seemed, for a space longer; and making
-mechanically for’ard, I roused out the anchor-watch,
-who, as usual, were caulking it in the galley, and
-not a soul else on deck, though the heat was so
-great, that I wondered how it was possible for a
-living thing to sleep. After this I again went aft to
-the binnacle, glancing at the watch to see if the last
-bell had been struck, and looking over the side,
-wondering if the boat in which the chief had come
-off, had gone adrift. I then walked to the waist
-again, where, hardly knowing what I was doing, I
-stood looking up into the dark blue where the stars
-were burning, until, as I gazed, a feeling of the utter
-vanity of earthly hopes came over me, as I thought
-that these same stars which had shone so calmly on
-men’s deeds for thousands of years, would shine the
-same on my grave. It seemed to me, then, that not
-only the feelings involved in the fate of Ellen, but
-all the experience of the past, all the changes of time
-and clime, faded away into nothingness before those
-twinkling, far-away lights; and a something of peace
-which I had never known before, swiftly as the
-thought seemed to travel through space to the winking
-planets, slid into my soul on the slant of the star-beams.
-Then my ear caught the splurge of the tide—a
-faint air from the sea fanned my cheeks—and a
-low growl of thunder came rumbling up into the
-cove. I remember, too, to have noticed lights moving
-on shore, while a stir arose on the beach close
-to the landing, but in the mood I was in at the time,
-I paid little attention to this.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Tartar lay moored stem and stern just
-within the entrance of the strait, midway between
-the island and the main, shut out by the rocks on the
-larboard hand from the walled town and the castles
-which kept the restless Arabs in awe. One or two
-of the little round towers, said to have been built at
-their gloomy and apparently inaccessible altitudes,
-by the old Portugese, might be seen looming thrice
-its real size above the hot outline of the topmost
-crags, over which the moon was rising, casting a
-strong yet dubious light on Muscat Island, which,
-with the bats wheeling continually about it—the
-patches of sand in its narrow gulleys, and the rough
-stones standing out of them, with here and there a
-stunted cypress, reminded me strangely enough of a
-Turkish grave-yard, and did not greatly tend to remove
-the impression, now uppermost in my mind,
-that something you’d give the world to avoid was
-soon going to take place. I looked intently at the
-Arab frigate, while the moonlight stole upon her rigging,
-creeping slowly down the <span class='it'>taut</span> sticks and back-stays
-to the spar-deck, where twenty red-caps and
-turbans were visible over the side, showing that her
-quarter-watch at least were wide awake, when, my
-thoughts wandering again, I fancied some desperate,
-wild-eyed wretch—such as I had often seen creeping
-about the slave-market and the narrow lanes of
-the bazaar—stealing, step by step, to her magazine,
-blowing the slow match in his fingers, and staring
-by its lurid glow at the hammocks which he passed,
-until I actually caught myself grasping a shroud, and
-watching for the upward shoot of her masts, in the
-broad red glare and the shock that was to follow.
-Then I recalled the image of Ellen as she once was,
-and the unsated fury burned again in my breast, fed
-by my belief in her innocence; then came her spirit
-gliding across my bewildered mind, ghastly as I had
-seen in the cabin; then the thought of what Catherton
-could be doing, until I was no longer capable of
-thinking at all, but just walked on the forecastle
-again, for the mere purpose of diverting my mind
-from the horrid tangle it was in. It was some relief
-to enter into a conversation with one of the
-watch—a strong, heavy-headed fellow, as green as
-a parade-ground—about his home among the hills
-of the Hudson, and the old story of the trouble which
-sent him to sea, which, no doubt, I listened to intently
-at the time, although I never afterward could
-remember a syllable, except something about a certain
-Sukey Fairlamb, who turned out to be a jilt, and
-one Jonas Weatherby, who took the wind out of his
-(the Tartar-man’s) sails. I also recollect his remarking
-how much hotter it had got within the
-past ten minutes, and looking aloft, I saw the light
-scud flying across the stars, though the flutter of air
-on deck had already died away. A noisome steam
-was rising out of the forecastle-scuttle enough to
-choke one, while a dog which we had on board lay
-on the fore-hatches, panting for breath, without so
-much as looking at the bucket of water, which some
-one had placed within a foot of his nose. All at
-once I heard the sound of oars, followed by a hubbub
-of voices—and a large boat, filled with men,
-appeared in sight, pulling from the landing toward
-the ship. As I started aft I saw the captain disappearing
-down one hatchway, as the carpenter and
-the cooper came up another, and as soon as the boat
-came alongside, I hailed. Receiving no answer, I
-hailed again in Arabic, when a voice answered in
-the same tongue, ‘Be silent, we are coming on
-board in the sultan’s name.’ I ordered the carpenter
-to make fast the warp which they threw,
-when the first person that appeared over the side, I
-knew at once to be a little French renegade, the
-captain of Syed’s guards; the next was the accursed
-eunuch himself; and if the one glance which
-I had of his face by moonlight had not been enough,
-the sight of the two Zanzibar mutes who followed
-him—the stealthy, cat-like looks of their eyes fore and
-aft the deck, and the rush of the soldiers behind,
-would have convinced me at once that Halil Ben
-Hamet’s time was come.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Have de goodness, Monsieur Capitaine Miller,’
-said the renegade, who knew me well, ‘to make
-de muster of de sailors on de forecastle, by de sultan’s
-orders, sare.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As it was useless to refuse, I ordered the two men
-of the anchor-watch to call the people for’ard, while
-the cooper and his crony roused out the boat-steerers
-in the steerage, the noise having already awakened the
-mates, who were sleeping in the house under the poop.
-The whalemen seemed bewildered enough, as they
-tumbled up the scuttle, and gathered for’ard of the
-windlass, although I noticed that they collected the
-handspikes in a heap—some of old Charley’s party,
-headed by the wild man-of-war’s man, showing
-signs of a determination to clear the decks. This,
-within half a pistol shot of the frigate’s batteries
-would have been sheer madness; accordingly I
-spoke to one or two of the men by name, ordering
-them to keep quiet, when two sepoys came for’ard,
-with drawn sabres in their hands, and ordered me
-into the cabin. Armed sentries were posted at all
-the hatchways, and naked cimiters glanced round
-the eunuch and the captain of the guard, seated at
-the table in the long cabin, where Catherton stood
-leaning leisurely against the bulkhead, cool and
-collected, with his arms folded across his breast, the
-imminence of the danger having apparently restored
-his presence of mind.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘This is my mate,’ said he, to the Frenchman,
-as I entered; ‘you may examine him, if you see fit.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hadji Hamet turned his turbaned head, recognizing
-me by a doubtful smile, while the French
-renegade, bowing to the deck, asked me, in his
-broken English, if I had commanded the watch that
-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘No, monsieur,’ I answered, rather sullenly, ‘it
-is not customary—in <span class='it'>Christian</span> ships, at least—for
-the chief officer of a ship to head an anchor-watch.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘<span class='it'>Certainement non</span>, sare,’ he replied, with
-something of the ineffable polish of his nation, ‘we
-know dat—have de goodness, monsieur, to show me
-de visitors in de ship—de runavays, if you please,
-Monsieur Miller.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I felt the eunuch’s devouring eyes creeping, in
-their slow, malevolent way, from the deck up to my
-face, as I answered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘That is easy enough, monsieur—provided any
-such be in the ship. You cannot suppose us such
-fools as to receive deserters in a full ship, with plenty
-of idlers already on board. If the men are in the
-Tartar, they must have been concealed by the people
-for’ard, and I advise you to look in the fore-peak.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He interpreted what I said to the eunuch; Hadji
-then made some remark in an under tone, and the
-renegade, shrugging his shoulders, addressed me
-again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Monsieur Capitaine Miller,’ said he, decidedly,
-yet still with as much suavity as before, ‘you will
-confer de grand obligation to make de plain answer,
-sare, vidout de bagatelle. <span class='it'>C’est bien malapropos
-à present</span>,’ muttered he, taking snuff out of a gold
-box, and glancing aside at the two mutes, as they
-stood near Hadji’s seat, their small, serpent eyes
-never off of his face for a moment, and their jetty,
-tattooed arms folded across their naked breasts. Before
-I could devise an answer, groping in the dark as
-I was, upon gaping ground, two Arabs pushed into
-the throng, leading the mulatto by the collar. The
-fellow was terribly frightened, and looked round as
-if for some one to address, when his eyes lighting
-on the captain of the Tartar, he seemed to turn dumb
-as a mute at once. However, the fatal moment was
-not to be staved off longer, for Hadji, with a look of
-devilish cunning, drew a small golden whistle from
-the folds of his <span class='it'>juma</span>, and blew it till the cabin rang
-again; I started to hear a sort of scratching, struggling
-noise in the after-cabin, and the next moment
-some sort of an animal, between a rat and squirrel,
-ran through the crowd, cowering at the eunuch’s
-sandaled feet. A smile of triumphant malice played
-upon Hadji’s face, and the Frenchman, snatching up
-his sword, rushed through the group to the cabin-door.
-At that instant the thick gloom, which had been
-setting bodily down on deck for the last ten minutes,
-was rent by an awful glare of lightning, and, as the
-parted air collapsed, with a crash which made the
-ship tremble to her keel, I saw the Arab chief, standing,
-pistol in hand, at the door; the renegade reeled
-back against one of his men, while the redder flash
-of the pistol again illumined the cabin, and bounding
-like a tiger in its leap, cimiter in hand, Halel sprang
-over the table at the eunuch. The lamp was extinguished
-in the fray, and had it been the chief’s
-intention to escape on deck, perhaps he might have
-done so in the confusion which followed; for the
-lightning glared incessantly through the stern-ports,
-while the thunder, reverberated by the rocks, crashed
-over our heads in one continuous peal, till you’d’ve
-thought the hoary granite was piling over you. The
-first rush of the swell in the cove broke over the
-ship, deluging her fore-and-aft, as it heaped up in
-the strait in one tremendous surge, which tore the
-frigate from her anchor, and dashed her high against
-the rocks. The lighter craft fared no better, being
-swept from their moorings like drift wood; however,
-while the horrible work was going on below,
-the second mate had let go a second anchor, while
-the stern-hawser parted like pack-thread, and showing
-the head of the foretopmast-staysail, while some
-of them aft managed to get the spanker-gaff partly
-hoisted, and others jammed the helm hard down, the
-ship brought up with a surge which shook her in
-every timber; and, as you drew another breath in
-the melee below, where one man was contending
-with fifty, you heard the hurricane roaring over
-her mast-heads, like the rush of Milton’s legions to
-the field.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was thrust hither and thither, splashing in
-the water, nearly knee-deep on the deck, amid the
-clash of steel and the shrinking back of the Arabs,
-until a blade whizzed past my ear, falling with a
-dull ring on the head of some unhappy wretch,
-whose hot blood spouted in my face. Half blinded,
-I stumbled over a prostrate body, clearing my eyes
-as I brought up against my own berth, when another
-flash showed every object distinctly, and I saw the
-two mutes throw themselves before the eunuch upon
-Halil; then followed a deadly struggle from the
-mast through the cabins to the transom, during
-which Hadji’s shrill voice screamed to the executioners
-to use dagger or bowstring—then a heavy
-fall and a gasp—woman’s fearful shriek—and again
-you heard over all, the defying roar of the tempest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Torches, which had been extinguished by the
-wind on deck, were now relighted in the cabin, revealing
-a sight which was terrible to look upon.
-Three dead bodies lay on the deck, or across the table,
-besides that of the Arab chief, who had been
-thrice stabbed, and afterward strangled. Scarlet
-caps, cleft turbans, and pieces of rent apparel were
-washing about, with the fragments of the swinging
-lamp; while the table and the cabin partitions were
-reeking with gore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Frenchman was dead as a door-nail when
-they raised him up, which was some comfort, though
-the three blacks had escaped without a scratch, except
-one of the mutes, whose hands were gashed
-with a dagger. The soldiers now closed the doors
-between the cabins, having first dropped the dead-lights,
-and after the eunuch came out, the bodies
-were removed out of sight in the sail-room, all except
-that of the chief, which was laid on the table,
-a dreadful sight, after the fever of the thing was past,
-since you could not keep from looking at the blackened
-face, with the eyes staring out of it, as if he
-were ready to start up again—the frown being still
-on the brow, though the orbs were glazed, and the
-arm hung nervelessly down.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall never forget the feeling of satisfaction
-which arose within me—when some one threw the
-folds of a turban over the face—as I thought that
-every blow he struck had been home; only if he had
-cloven the eunuch’s hard head to the jaw, I had been
-almost happy, in a sort of religious submission to
-fate, as if all who loved too well on earth, must pay
-the penalty in some shape or other, at last.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It appeared that the cabins had been twice
-searched before I was brought down, but Catherton
-had hidden the fugitives under a false bulkhead, so
-artfully contrived, that had not Hadji and the guard
-been so hard on Ben Hamet’s track after the attempt
-to assassinate the sultan had failed, they might have
-escaped detection. The little animal, which had revealed
-their presence, after all, was a pet of Zuma’s,
-a flying lemur from one of the Indian archipelago:
-woman-like, she had brought it away in her dress,
-and by the knowledge which black Hadji had of its
-habits, it was thus made instrumental in betraying
-the pair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Neither Catherton nor the steward were to be
-found below, after the murderous fracas was over.
-I had no particular desire to remain myself, as you
-may suppose, and no opposition being offered to the
-movement, accordingly I went on deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wind was now at its height, having blown
-every thing moveable off the poop into the seat
-which was breaking in awful rollers at the bottom
-of the cove, the squall having come from the north-west.
-The ship, with two anchors down under the
-lee of Muscat Island, rode safely enough after the
-first danger was over; but the Arab frigate was lying
-broadside on to the rocks, grinding to pieces,
-with nothing standing but her lower masts. She
-could plainly be seen, not only by the flashes, but by
-a strong phosphorescent gleam which pervaded the
-atmosphere, reflected, perhaps, from the sea, each
-gigantic surge sparkling with living fire, heaped up
-in the smothering foam of its crests, as it rolled down
-on the wreck. I could even see the brine pouring
-from her lower deck-ports, as she lifted bodily against
-the rocks, and fancied I could hear the despairing
-cries of her crew, as one by one, her heavy guns,
-torn from their tackles, were hurled across the decks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I had little time, however, to dwell on the sight,
-terrible as it was, for the carpenter and man-of-war’s
-man came driving the length of the deck before the
-blast, when old Charley shouted in my ear that the
-steward was taken with the cramp in the forecastle,
-and thinking he was going to die, wished to see me.
-Accordingly, I struggled for’ard, with a foreboding
-that the horrors of the night were not yet over. A
-knot of our men were standing in the waist, and I
-passed the Arabs crouching under the booby-hatches
-and the fife-rails, from the fury of the wind, which
-howled fore-and-aft the deck. I was about to
-descend into the forecastle, when Captain Catherton,
-with his Indian boat-steerer and three of the
-mates, came up on the other side. He waved me aft,
-shouting, at the full pitch of his strong voice, to the
-mates behind him, who held on to the windlass, and
-looked from him to me without moving a finger.
-However, the boat-steerer lifted a handspike, and
-his superior—who was now grown desperate, having
-received an inkling of my errand from the Indian—presented
-a pistol at my head, and pulled the trigger.
-It flashed in the pan; and before he could level another
-I closed with him, pitching him back into the
-scuppers, where old Charley and Frank lashed him
-to a spar, hands and feet. One word to the mates about
-his plan of running away with the ship, and I sprung
-down in the forecastle, where the mulatto lay on his
-back, raving for them to keep the captain back,
-while two of the men were rubbing his writhing
-body with whale-oil and hartshorn.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The second mate and most of the starboard watch
-were standing around, looking on helplessly enough,
-though the moment the steward’s eye caught mine
-he ceased to struggle, moaning and mumbling, like a
-dog, till I got my ear close to his mouth, when he
-muttered something about searching the run under
-the after-cabin, where the powder was kept. The
-violence of the spasms interrupted him, and although
-there was an urgent meaning in his wild eye, and he
-pointed repeatedly aft, in his agony, I was awfully at
-a loss what to make of it, until, looking up, I encountered
-old Charley’s curious glance, and the ghost
-flitted, as it were, across the maze in a moment. The
-second mate must have seen the same thing himself,
-for without a word on either side, our eyes met in
-one startling flash of intelligence, and he followed me
-close, as snatching up a heaver, I drove along the
-deck, knocking the Arabs to the right and left, tumbling
-down the narrow stairs from the poop in my
-haste, with two-thirds of the ship’s company at my
-back—mates, boat-steerers, forecastle-men, and all—though
-the most of them tramped down the companion-way
-into the for’ard cabin, where we heard
-them battering at the doors and cursing the Arabs;
-the carpenter and myself ripped up the table and the
-scuttle under it. Parker stood by with a torch; I
-jumped down, lowering the light, and you may guess
-gentlemen, what I saw; for it seems,” said the master’s
-mate, passing his rough hand to his brow,
-“that long years, spent in trying to drown the sight,
-has hardly given me nerve to tell.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was Ellen, herself,” continued he, after a
-pause, “lying, motionless, on a heap of old bunting;
-but whether life had gone, or no, it was impossible
-for me to answer, as I took her up—staggering under
-my burthen, light enough, God knows, as it was.
-The second mate caught her from me, and I stumbled,
-helpless as a child, about the mouth of that
-horrid hole, hardly noting its secrets, until the men
-burst into the cabin, and I heard old Charley say she
-was dead.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Where is Mr. Miller?’ said Frank, with an
-oath.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Here,’ I answered, leaping out among them,
-every vein in my body running with liquid fire—the
-one thought of revenge on her murderers raging in
-my heart, and upon my tongue. However, the
-mates—aroused from their stupor at last—threw
-themselves upon me, as I glared round for a weapon.
-A wild uproar began to rise among the men, crowding
-upon each other to catch a look at her face,
-hanging over the second mate’s shoulder, with a
-look of mute appeal, as he told me afterward, on
-the wasted features set in death, by the red torch-light.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the midst of this, Hadji summoned his soldiers
-from deck: I saw his malignant purpose, and my
-calmness came back, as I made up my mind that, at all
-hazards, he should not approach the corpse. Breaking
-from those who held me, I burst through the
-throng, and pointing to the half-pikes leveled against
-his party, ordered him, in Arabic, to clear the cabin
-of his scum. He laid his hand on the hilt of his <span class='it'>krungar</span>,
-scowling like a fiend of darkness upon me from
-a crowd of his men; but the menacing look of the
-mass in front of him—all of whom had armed themselves—not
-to speak of the tone of my own voice,
-admonished him, devil as he was, to think better
-of it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘That’s the sort, mates,’ said the carpenter; ‘if
-they don’t top their booms at a minute’s warning,
-we’ll spit the heathens to the beams, and then hang
-Jonas to the yard-arm.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Silence, there!’ said I. ‘One minute more,’
-looking at the eunuch, and grasping the weapon which
-some one had thrust into my hand, ‘and it will be too
-late.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He felt that he was overmatched, and turning
-slowly round, still keeping his baleful glance fixed on
-my face, ordered his followers on deck, retiring last
-himself, just as I caught Frank’s pike traveling in his
-rear to freshen his way.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As soon as the cabins were cleared of the Arabs,
-I took the second mate a little aside from the rest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Now, Mr. Parker,’ said I, ‘you will take
-charge of the Tartar. All I ask is, that you will not
-give up the female that Hadji Hamet has confined in
-that state-room, to the tender mercies of the sultan, if
-you can possibly avoid it—and a cast home for myself,
-if you can get an offing for this ship, and I am
-allowed to leave Muscat in her. I will pay my passage
-in Persian rupees, or if you prefer it, in Spanish
-dollars. One thing more,’ said I, seeing that he was
-about to interrupt me, ‘I know something of the
-country: if you would save yourself a mint of trouble
-with the sultan’s divan, you will put Catherton at
-once in double-irons, and keep him secure, at least,
-until you are clear of the land.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Sir,’ said he, ‘I, for one, am content to obey
-your orders till the v’yage is up. What say you,
-my lads, is Captain Catherton fit to be trusted with
-the ship, after what has happened?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘No, no!’ was the universal answer, mingled
-with execrations and oaths of vengeance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Who, then, shall take charge?’ asked the
-second mate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Mister Miller,’ they answered, with one voice,
-‘for he only can take the Tartar off this coast.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Well, my lads,’ said I, wonderfully moved, I
-confess, seeing that I had something to live for yet,
-although, a moment before, I had thought that my
-hold on life was slackened for ever, ‘if you will have
-it so, I’ll do my best. I tell you fairly that the captain
-confessed to me last night, in this cabin, that he
-intended to sell ship and cargo, on the passage home,
-in return for some private wrong which, he said, one
-of the owners had done him—though,’ said I, solemnly,
-‘as surely as God’s eye beheld this accursed
-deed, yon pale clay was as innocent as the angels of
-heaven of aught like crime toward him.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘We know it, captain—we knew it all along!’
-they answered, even those whom I had considered
-the most hardened, shedding tears, while curses and
-vows of vengeance were freely vented around.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘She was too good for the bloody-minded villain,’
-said the carpenter; ‘and, so help me, if there
-is nobody else—’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was time to stop this, as we had quite enough
-of blood for that night, so I checked old Charley in
-his oath, and called back the Indian boat-steerer,
-who, at first, had seemed disposed to side with the
-captain, but who was now stealing up the companion-way,
-in an empty-handed, errandless way, though I
-saw the thing in his eye, and the gleam of a knife in
-the sleeve of his shirt.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘My lads,’ said I, ‘we will leave him to the
-law. He shall not escape, I promise you. Mr.
-Parker, you will have Captain Catherton put in
-double-irons, and placed in the steerage for the present.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered, and accordingly the
-villain was well secured, with one of the trustiest
-men in the ship standing sentry over him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After this, the cabin was cleared of all but a
-strong guard, armed to the teeth, and I went on
-deck, leaving Zuma, who had recovered from her
-swoon of terror, kneeling in silence by the body of
-the chief. I had resolved to save her as soon as I
-could see any possible way, though I knew that
-her life and my own, perhaps, depended upon our
-getting under weigh, as soon as the weather would
-permit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The fury of the squall was over. One of the
-mates told me that it had been raining a perfect deluge
-a few moments before I came up, and, in fact,
-though it was slackening off, the decks were all
-afloat, and I could even see by the great flashes of
-waste lightning which still illumined the passage, the
-spherical shape of the rain-drops, as they fell. I
-mention this, gentlemen, to show how deeply the
-most trivial incident in that terrible night was impressed
-upon my mind, never to be forgotten while
-memory lives with me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wind soon freshened again, blowing fiercely
-in gusts over the rugged top of Muscat Island, but
-gradually sunk as the atmosphere cleared; the stars
-showing themselves, here and there, in patches of
-clear sky, before the day dawned. Then, as the sun
-rose behind the lofty rocks to the east, the wind
-failed altogether, and it seemed fast growing as hot
-as before, while a vague notion got into my head,
-looking at the Arab soldiers on the poop, that the
-events of the past night, terrible as they seemed,
-were now but the ghosts of things that had been.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A sort of calm, too, prevailed in the ship, as the
-heavy swells began to subside in the cove. The
-cook was in his galley, attending to his usual duties,
-the blue smoke rising from the funnel, straight as a pine
-tree, half-way to the top. The people hung in knots
-about the forecastle, apparently waiting for eight
-bells to summon them to breakfast, while the mates
-stood together on the larboard gangway, with a glass
-among them, examining the shore and the wreck of
-the Arab frigate, now firmly wedged in between two
-precipitous rocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The black dog of a eunuch, secure, as it seemed,
-in the shadow of his master, walked the poop with
-as proud a stride as if his foot was already on our
-necks—not a muscle of his grim, relentless face
-moving beneath his showy turban, flecked, as it was,
-with blood, while, as I met his deadly, sinister
-glance every time he turned, I fancied to myself—as,
-indeed, I had done on former occasions—what a hell
-of secrets must lie hidden, from all but God’s eye, in
-the black pit of his soul. The pagan wretch was
-said to delight in shedding human blood, and in every
-variety of torture, having been cognizant of many
-acts of atrocious cruelty in the time of the old Imaum.
-His only qualities were a brutish devotion to the sultan,
-and a species of slow, long-breathed cunning, of
-which report said Syed Ben Seeyd had often availed
-himself in penetrating the secret designs of his enemies.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“However, when I thought of Catherton’s villainy,
-it could not be denied, that black or white,
-Christian or heathen, human nature devoid of a regulating
-principle, was essentially the same, differing
-only in the modifications of climes; and, singular as
-it may seem to you, several passages of the New
-Testament illustrative of the same idea occurred to
-me at the time, and I could not help feeling that it
-was utterly impossible for me, even if I had been
-differently brought up, to deny for a moment—thinking
-of the wisdom of the parables—that it was truly
-God who had spoken on earth with the lips of man:
-reflecting that the thirst for vengeance for a supposed
-wrong had made Catherton even more wicked than
-Hadji himself, who would probably, under any circumstances,
-have disdained such a dastardly scheme of
-revenge as the former had partially broached, thinking
-to have bribed me to join him, in the situation I
-was in at the time, partly by offers of pecuniary advantage,
-and partly by his tale, which had so puzzled
-me at first, little dreaming that he was the man
-who had married Ellen. I was almost confident now
-that the whole diabolical story of her guilt had been
-one of the mate’s own planning—he, I mean, who
-had gone to his account—and horrible as the thing
-seemed, I had no doubt <span class='it'>now</span> Parker’s notion was
-correct, and that the captain either in fear, remorse, or
-hate, or from some curious commingling of the three,
-had sacrificed the entire boat’s crew to get rid of his
-accomplice. How the body of Ellen, dreadfully emaciated
-as it was, came to be found in the run after the
-second mate’s account of her loss, was yet a mystery
-to me, unless Catherton, with the assistance of the
-steward, had palmed that story on the crew, while
-he secretly held her confined in the hold to starve by
-slow degrees. However, as I had no wish that the
-matter should be cleared up in the sultan’s divan,
-after my recent promise to the crew, I aroused myself
-to make the attempt to get the ship to sea.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The cove of Muscat is less than a mile in depth
-from its entrance at Fisher’s Rock, but how to get
-out of it into the current, with no wind, against the
-heavy swell, was the puzzle. The two forts were to
-be counted as nothing when the ship was once under
-weigh, as they merely commanded the passage,
-and the risk we ran from the one on the western
-shore was not to be thought of, if we had a chance,
-when it fell calm enough, to tow the ship out into
-the currant setting from the Persian Gulf. The land-wind
-was almost certain not to blow before sunset,
-and the Arabs were sure to board the ship from the
-shore before that time, although not a single craft or
-boat of any kind was to be seen afloat, as I swept
-the harbor with my glass, and I had not the least
-doubt but the Soliman Shah, the corvette which had
-anchored off Fisher’s Rock the day before, had been
-driven from her anchors with the frigate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Another hour passed, as I anxiously watched for
-the swell to go down, when we saw them making
-preparations to get off two <span class='it'>balitas</span>, lying aground on
-a spit of sand nearly in front of the palace. As I turned
-to look at some persons who had appeared on the
-divan, a large and airy veranda, overlooking the
-sea, the second mate exclaimed that one of the
-Arabs was making signals to the shore with his turban.
-In the desperate case we were in, it was neck
-or nothing; so, as I really began to have some hopes
-of getting to sea in the want of crafts to board us, I
-instantly ordered two guns to be run in and pointed
-aft; the carpenter clapped a bag of musket-balls in
-the muzzle of each, and while Parker and the man-of-war’s man
-stood by with matches lit, I hailed the
-Arabs in their language, giving Hadji notice, that at the
-smallest sign of a repetition of the act I would sweep
-the poop. This seemed to appal them. A few moments
-after, while part of the people were taking their
-breakfast on deck, word was brought me that the
-steward was easier and wished to see me again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Directing Parker to keep a bright look-out, I
-dove down into the forecastle where the poor wretch
-was now lying in the cook’s bunk. I almost started
-as I looked upon him by the lamp burning at the
-beam over his head. His face seemed shrunken to
-half its usual size; the cheek-bones stood out, the
-eyes were pulled in, and the lips blue and puckered.
-His hand was clammy, cold as ice, and shriveled
-like a bomboat-woman’s who washed for the fleet.
-Though he felt no pain, there was a look of anxiety
-in his dim, sunken eyes, as he turned restlessly
-round, which, with his fluttering pulse and exhausted
-look, told that his hour was come. In fact, he
-was sinking fast into the long sleep of death, worn
-out, like the elements, by the fierce convulsions
-which had racked him. His mind was clear, and he
-spoke more calmly than might have been expected,
-though his head tossed from side to side like a dying
-billow. His voice was small and choked, hoarse as
-it seemed, from the agony which had wrung the
-sweat like rain from his pores. Anxious as I was to
-hear what the wretch had to communicate, it was
-with a strong feeling of repugnance that I approached
-my ear to his lips, for a film was vailing his eyes and
-the death-stupor already clouding his brain. He
-roused himself when spoken to, and recognizing me,
-confessed in a few broken words which one of the
-crew took down, that the mate and he after agreeing
-with the captain to drown Ellen, had made up their
-minds to secrete her in the run, and suffer her to escape
-from the ship at the first port they visited. In
-order to deceive Catherton the steward had prepared
-a figure when the boats were off and thrown it into
-the sea on the night on which Ellen was supposed to
-be lost. He said nothing could have tempted him to
-murder her, although the captain and the mate had
-both sworn to him that she was false. He was certain
-that Catherton had lost the mate’s boat intentionally,
-and added, that fearful of a similar fate he
-had not slept in his hammock more than an hour at
-a time since the day of the mate’s death. Immediately
-afterward he sunk into a lethargy from which
-it was useless to attempt to rouse him. From what
-I had heard, coupled with the sights I had seen, I
-had no doubt that, either from the difficulty of conveying
-her food, or the intention of the mulatto to
-starve her, she had sometimes been reduced to the
-necessity of seeking food for herself at night in the
-cabins. As the after one was generally kept locked,
-with the keys in the steward’s charge, she must have
-lived there part of the time, more than a fortnight
-having elapsed since the night she was thought to
-have gone overboard from the stern. This,” said
-the master’s mate, solemnly, “may account, gentlemen,
-for the man-of-war’s man’s story of the shriek;
-but nothing will ever dissuade me from the belief
-that it was a moving corpse which I saw that night
-in the cabins. That she was locked in the starboard
-state-room when I tried the door on the day when
-the sultan and his party went through the ship, I have
-not the least doubt now—so inscrutably mysterious
-is the course of fate! However, to resume my tale—for
-the watch is nearly out. I went on deck just
-as a boat from the shore was reported to be making
-for the ship on the long, angry swells which still
-dashed heavily on the western shore, impressing
-your mind with a vague yet overawing intimation
-of their might, as you heard them break half-mast
-high, without a breath of wind, whitening the dark
-range of bare rock, and leaving great gouts of foam
-hanging in the clefts and ledges far above the sweep
-of the back-wash. However, it was easy to see,
-watching them steadily for a few moments as you
-listened to their heavy, monotonous roar, and watched
-the birds hovering over the rocks, that in less than
-an hour more it would be calm enough to tow out
-with the tide; so I hailed the boat as soon as it came
-near enough, directing the man in her to go to the
-palace with the message that we intended to send
-Hadji and his party on shore as soon as the sea fell.
-(As I mentioned before, we had secured all the boats
-on the cross-beams over the quarter-deck, so that we
-lost none of them when the swell boarded us.) Hadji
-attempted to speak, advancing to the break of the
-deck as the messenger was cautiously turning his
-boat’s head in-shore, but the second mate blew his
-match, while a party of musket-men, whom he had
-placed under the high bulwarks, lest one of the soldiers
-might slip over the stern and swim on shore,
-leveled their pieces at his turban. He walked back
-to the taffrail sullenly enough, and I now gave orders
-to prepare the boats for the attempt to tow the ship out
-into the current, which at this season runs at the rate of
-about four knots an hour, thinking on the low, sandy
-point which we had to double. We soon found that
-they had collected a fleet of small boats and catamarans
-in the drain, evidently for the purpose of coming
-off to the ship, and strings of horses had been attached
-to the bailitas, while we could see the Bedouin
-Arabs galloping about near the spot, and the divan
-crowded with the sultan’s attendants, no doubt
-watching every movement in the ship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At ten, we dropped six boats containing thirty-six
-men, and as soon as they were in range of the
-hawsers—the ship being stern off to her anchors on
-the first of the ebb—as I expected, a shot from the
-fort on the main whistled past her bow just as the
-axes were lifting to cut the cables. Down they came
-in quick, effective strokes, and the men gave a long
-pull together as the heavy chains rattled out of the
-hawse-holes, and once more the old Tartar was in
-motion seaward.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Frank, my man,’ said I to the man-of-war’s
-man, whom I retained on board with some of the
-steadiest of the men, ‘jump aft and hoist a red rag of
-some sort at the gaff—their own colors, you know—if
-it’s only to puzzle them. Stand by, carpenter, to
-sweep the poop when I give you the word.’ When
-a shot better aimed than the last struck the mizzen-rail,
-narrowly missing a shroud, and scattering the
-splinters right and left among the Arabs. Down
-they went on their faces, out of the way of their
-friends’ balls, all except Hadji, who stood it without
-flinching, while my hands itched, I confess, for a
-chance to send an ounce bullet from the barrel in my
-hand through his heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Hurrah!’ shouted Frank from the midst of
-them, as up went the cook’s shirt, tacked to pieces
-of bamboo to give it spread. I saw them pointing
-their glasses at it from the veranda of the palace,
-and shouted to the mates to give way strong, for they
-were launching their rafts and a whole fleet of boats,
-filled with soldiers, whose spears and long match-locks
-glistened in the sun now rising over the rocks
-to the north-east. The castles and the forts began
-now to fire in earnest, sending their iron about the
-cove in every direction, though the ship in some
-measure shielded the boats from the few guns which
-bore upon them. Many balls hurtled through the
-air past us, but only four struck her hull, doing no
-particular damage. I looked at every flash to see
-some of the sticks go, and ten minutes more would
-have brought the Arabs down on us with a force
-which it would have been worse than useless to resist.
-In fact, when I saw them training their match-locks
-on the boats, though we were then clear of the
-passage in the eddy of the current, I gave up the
-game as lost, thinking of calling the men on board,
-with the desperate notion of fighting it out to the last
-on board, when looking over the side at the ship’s
-way, I saw Muscat Tom’s broad flukes and glistening
-back, within fifty feet of the sternmost boat.
-The soldiers now opened their fire to drive the men
-from their work—I caught the second mate’s flushed,
-hopeless look, as he turned his head from tugging at
-his steering-oar, and then the black fiend’s triumphant
-grin, with a malicious glance from the whites of
-his eyes, as much as to say: ‘you’re in for it for a
-good long spell, my lads’—when the sight of the
-whale in the desperate emergency of the case,
-seemed to put it into my brain what to do.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Mr. Parker,’ I hailed, ‘have you lines and harpoons
-in the boats?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered, while the men
-looked up at the ship as if they wondered what next.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Cast off the larboard hawser, then,’ I shouted,
-‘bend irons on to the starboard one, and strike that
-whale. Let the other boats come alongside.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ay, ay, sir,’ he answered again, just, it seemed,
-as he would have done had I ordered him to fasten
-to the moon, supposing that it had been shining to
-seaward. However, the five boats were alongside
-and hoisted up in no time, and Parker, as soon as he
-was up to the dodge, wild as it seemed, did the
-thing in true whaleman’s style, bending triple plies
-of the line to the hawser, driving both irons socket
-up in the whale’s back, as he lay like a log on the
-sea. For one single instant the enormous animal
-remained motionless, while the boat backed off from
-his flukes; then I saw his mighty, flexible tail, with
-its million stripes of freckled gray, heave up until
-his whole back was plainly to be seen to the dorsal
-fin, when down it came like a dark mass of iron,
-driving a cloud of spray in the air, and off he headed
-to sea, the water being too shallow for him to
-sound. The hawser stood the surge, and away the
-old ship went to her tug, the second mate giving a
-chase, while the men echoed back the yells of the
-disappointed Arabs amid the crack of match-locks
-and the bellowing thunder of the cannon. We soon
-had Parker’s boat towing astern, and Tom, if any
-thing, increased his speed, stretching the hawser—which,
-like the rest of her gear, was bran new that
-voyage, as <span class='it'>taut</span> as a harp-string. Every time he
-raised the edge of his flukes for a downward stroke
-of his tail, the men cheered; in fact, the fellows
-danced about the deck like wild men round a war-post,
-or negroes under a tamarind-tree; it was no
-manner of use to try to restrain them; while the poor
-devils of Arabs, with the black at their head, stood
-looking their last—with Allah’s name on their lips—at
-castle, rock and tower. However, the thought of
-what was lying in the cabins seemed to strike the
-crew all at once; and then, as they ceased capering
-and pitching their hats at each other, fixing their
-eyes upon me as one man’s, the old, desolate feelings
-came back to my heart all the heavier for the
-contrast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Still the whale held right on off the coast, and
-we had nothing but to fold our arms and look on,
-wondering when the tough, pliable irons would break
-or draw out—or looking for him to sound, which,
-you know, would cause us to cut the tow-line. The
-axe was ready in the second mate’s hands, and we
-were already in the strength of the current, which he
-took tail on, increasing his speed, of course, toward
-some old sleeping haunt of his, as I thought, possibly
-in the Gulf of Mageira, under the lee of some low
-island or coral reef. The oldest whaleman in the
-ship could not wonder enough at the strength of the
-monster—a hundred feet long, as he was, and more.
-He neither yawed nor slackened his pace, but kept
-straight on to double the sandy point broad on our
-larboard bow by this time. It was a strange thing, to
-be sure, to feel the ship slipping along, stern on to the
-current, with a man standing soberly at the wheel
-to steady it, all her sails furled, and the whale’s
-flukes kicking up a white dust ahead, like one of
-Loper’s screw-propellers. Parker told me a story
-of a vessel in the Greenland seas being towed by a
-‘right whale’ for an hour and a half, in the teeth
-of a strong breeze, with the yards brailed aback; so
-that, at that rate, there was no estimating the powers
-of a full-grown ‘finner,’ a much larger and more
-powerful fish of the two; he might tow us entirely
-clear of the coast, provided the harpoons did not
-break off at the ‘withers,’ or ‘draw,’ which last, the
-mate said, was the way in which the matter was
-likely to end. Indeed, the event proved his knowledge
-of the habits and resources of this species, as
-we doubled the point safely enough, at the distance
-of two miles, in sight of a body of horsemen, who
-pulled up from their useless chase, on the very edge
-of the strand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A hundred wild thoughts of things which I had
-read of or seen, flashed across my mind, as I caught a
-view of the interminable blue expanse before me;
-now it was Mazeppa on his wild horse swimming
-the ‘bright, broad river’—now a Gaucho scouring
-the pampas—now the naked trapper running for life
-from the Blackfeet, over the plains of prickly pear—or,
-last of all, the voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, which
-coming up, as they did, from the days of my boyhood,
-when the wreck of the only woman I ever
-loved was lying thus strangely in the cabin, with the
-eunuch’s black face glooming over it, oppressed me
-like some monstrous dream. I was aroused from
-this by a voice calling out that there was a large ship
-right in the whale’s track. Accordingly, after a
-little we made her out with our glasses, rolling on
-the long ground-swell, a frigate-built ship, which I
-took, from the whiteness of her canvas, to be either
-French or American, though the leanness of her
-dark hull, with its single tier of guns, as she rose on
-the swell when we drove nearer to her, and the improbability
-of one of our own cruisers being upon
-this coast, made me almost certain she was the first.
-Accordingly, when we were within gunshot, up
-went the old Bourbon colors at the mast, as the
-smoke of a gun puffed out of one of her midship
-ports, and you had a notion what sort of a stir was
-on her decks at the moment, at the sight of a large
-ship bearing down on her in a stark calm, with more
-than twice her drift; then you heard the roll of her
-drum beating to quarters, as if they thought ’twas
-Sathanas himself afloat. To ease their minds, I
-ordered the red rag to be hauled down, and the stars
-and stripes to be run up at half-mast in their stead.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All was still as death, except the surge of the
-Tartar’s bows to the strain of the hawser and the
-creak of her hamper aloft, as the whale sheered to
-port, and we passed within half a pistol shot of the
-corvette’s broadside—her crew at quarters staring at
-us in a queer enough sort of a way, as if catching a
-sight of the American flag, and the whale-boats at
-the cranes, they made sure all was right, strange as
-the sight was—until, as if to break the spell, their
-little mad-eyed captain jumped on the hammock-netting
-and hailed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘<span class='it'>Bon voyage au diable, mes amis!</span>’ he shouted,
-waving his cap round and round, as if he meant to
-jerk it into the sea, to the glorification of some
-Yankee invention or other, the moment we slipped
-past him—when Hadji’s turban and the scarlet cape
-on the poop caught his eye, and he sung out something
-which I did not hear, for the whale went down
-like a flash, burying the Tartar’s bows to the forecastle,
-deep as she was, before Parker, taken by
-surprise, could cut the hawser, which, after all, he
-had no occasion to do, as you knew by the feel of the
-deck, as the ship rose, that the whale was free.
-We hauled the slack of the hawser, looking for Tom
-to rise, when one of the harpoons was found broken
-off at the head, and the other drawn out. I never
-saw Muscat Tom again; and it is likely, as the old
-hands said, that he never rose from his dive. My
-yarn, gentlemen,” continued the master’s mate, “is
-nearly spun. The frigate’s boats boarded us, of
-course, when part of the tale was rehearsed to her
-captain. He was bound to Mocha to look after some
-atrocities which had been committed upon subjects
-of France, during a recent revolt, and at once offered
-to land the eunuch and his men there, and to protect
-the Circassian, and carry her back with him to
-France. However, when we entered the cabin, it
-was found that she was beyond the reach of mortal
-arm, whether to shield or destroy. She lay by the
-side of her lover, dead by poison, as it seemed, yet
-still so beautiful in death as to surprise the Frenchman.
-In the end he took charge of all the prisoners, as the
-crew of the Tartar in a body stoutly refused to do duty
-while Catherton remained in the ship. The French
-captain promised to hand him over to the American
-authorities on the first occasion that offered, and the
-remainder of the day was spent in clearing up the
-cabins and taking depositions in French and English.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Just before sunset the bodies were removed to
-the frigate, that of Ellen in my boat, while Parker
-took charge of Zuma’s and the chief’s. At my request
-Ellen was buried immediately. Both crews
-were mustered in the gangways, and the ensigns
-hanging at half-mast as the French chaplain read the
-service. The last glimmer of day was fading from
-the west as we listened to the prayer, and a star shot
-its beams on the spot where the corpse went down.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here the master’s mate made a brief pause, during
-which seven strokes on the frigate’s ponderous bell
-proclaimed that the watch was nearly out. Before
-the vibrations had ceased on the ear we heard the
-schooner’s, like the reverberations of an echo, faintly
-sounding, far to leeward. The moon had sunk; the
-sails flapped heavily in the dying breeze, and entranced
-as we were, that distant clang seemed to strike
-a chord in each listener’s soul. In a low voice the
-mate resumed. “A breeze ruffled the water up as
-they piped down, and bidding farewell to the Frenchman,
-we hastened on board, and made sail on the
-ship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was a terrible passage—such as every man in
-that ship will remember to his dying day—from the
-cape latitudes to Pernambuco, where I put in to recruit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The very next morning after we anchored, an
-agent of Don Jose Maria came on board to inquire
-after Captain Catherton. You may swear that he
-departed, with his sallow visage considerably lengthened,
-when he heard the news. I learned privately
-from the American consul, in the course of his investigations,
-that Don Jose was a man of great
-wealth and influence in the province—your very
-worthy and hospitable <span class='it'>Senhor de Engenho</span> in the
-country, and merchant, slave-dealer and broker in
-any kind of business, in which a <span class='it'>mil reis</span> was to be
-turned up in the city. I never saw the old gentleman
-myself, as he did not do me the honor to show
-his powdered head, and the long cue, which the
-carpenter particularly instanced, in the ship while
-I commanded her, although the second mate was
-careful that the counter-skipper whom he sent to ask
-after his worthy associate, should take on shore with
-him the exact value of the cargo on board, so far as we
-had advices respecting the market at home. In fact,
-from some estimates which I found among Catherton’s
-papers, I had no doubt that old Charley’s
-suspicions were correct, and it had been settled,
-when the ship touched here on her outward passage,
-that Don Jose should become the purchaser of the
-ship and cargo. Upon questioning the carpenter in
-private, I found that years before he had got hold of
-a portion of my history, from a shipmate of his, who
-had known me in ——, and whom I recollected to
-have met in the West Indies, on the very voyage,
-when he pointed me out at the door of a cafe to
-Toppin. Singular as it may appear, too, it was not
-until we had run up the S. E. Trades, that Parker
-showed me the letter which he had found in his jacket
-in the Persian Gulf, and which I now discovered was
-addressed to myself. The perusal of it had nearly
-driven me to share her grave in the waters, victim
-as it clearly showed her to have been to Catherton’s
-arts from the first, and, as I had supposed, murdered
-at last by an infernal conspiracy of his mate’s, or
-rather of his wife’s, as was discovered when we
-reached the States. It was shown that some resemblance
-existed between Ellen and the woman-fiend;
-and, from her own confession in the prison, to
-which she was consigned for the rest of her life, that
-she had been played off on Catherton for his wife, by
-the connivance of Jinney. The motive for the victim’s
-ruin did not appear so clearly, the woman herself
-declaring that she knew not why she hated and
-had sworn to destroy her. There was not a single
-creature in the smallest degree acquainted with the
-facts, who doubted Ellen’s innocence; and the tears
-which was shed over her unhappy fate, and the execrations
-poured upon her destroyers, were the best
-evidences of this. An undue intimacy between the
-ship’s owner and the mate’s wife was proved on the
-woman’s trial; and out of this, it was supposed, in
-some way the accursed plot had its origin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“However, for myself; as soon as the news of
-Catherton’s escape from the French frigate reached
-the States by another ship, I started again, with a
-vow on my soul to roam the world, until I should
-hunt him down. Year in and year out, wherever
-there was a prospect of meeting him—on the African
-and Brazilian coasts—on the Spanish Main—and in
-the sea-ports of the East, I sought him with a hatred
-which gathered intensity from time. Twice I heard
-of him in command of a free-cruising craft, and once
-in Port Royal he narrowly escaped me. The third
-time, as sailors say, is lucky—the saw lied though,
-in this instance,” said the mate, hoarsely, “for I
-found him three days ago, cut in two by a round-shot,
-on the quarter-deck of yonder schooner.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We started to our feet as he said this, partly from
-surprise, and partly because we heard the boat-swain’s
-mates at the hatchways.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The second day after that the Constitution was
-lying at anchor with her prize in the bay of Naples;
-and to have seen Harry Miller gazing out of a port at
-the world renowned shores which environ it—or
-turning his back on a crowd of chattering officials,
-whom curiosity brought off to the schooner—or in a
-shore-boat, with a party on leave of absence, you
-never would have supposed, from the look and bearing
-of the man, that he had been the relator of that
-wild yarn.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk120'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='act'></a>THE ACTUAL.</h1></div>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Away! no more shall shadows entertain;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;No more shall fancy paint and dreams delude;</p>
-<p class='line0'>No more shall these delusions of the brain</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Divert me with their pleasing interlude:</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Forever ere ye banished, idle joys;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Welcome stern labor-life—this is no world for toys!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk121'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='ple'></a>THE PLEDGE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY JOHN NEAL.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sampson was a Nazarite. He drank no wine nor strong drink; and so long as he kept the pledge and the secret of
-his strength, was indeed a giant. Read the scripture narrative.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then went Sampson down.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. And behold a young lion roared against him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid; and he had nothing
-in his hand.” <span class='sc'>Judges</span> xiv. 5, 6, etc.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Brothers! we have pledged ourselves,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Like the mighty man of old,</p>
-<p class='line0'>By a vow that bindeth fast,</p>
-<p class='line0'>By the Future! by the Past!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;By their banners now unrolled!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>That the secret of our strength,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Unacknowledged—unrevealed—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Setting us apart from others,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Undefiled, O, Giant Brothers!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Shall forever be concealed:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Never to be told on earth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Never breathed aloud in prayer—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Never written—never spoken—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Lest our awful vow, if broken,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bring us bondage and despair.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Brothers! let us all remember,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;How that Strong Man self betrayed;</p>
-<p class='line0'>He that with a heart of iron;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where he journeyed, heard the lion</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Roar against him—undismayed:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He, the mightiest of the land,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;By the harlotry of Sense,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Blind and fettered, came to be</p>
-<p class='line0'>A jester at a jubilee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A proverb for his impotence!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And though his strength came back anew</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When he bowed himself in prayer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Until he had avenged the wrong</p>
-<p class='line0'>That called him up with shout and song</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And jeer and scoff—he perished there.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk122'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='girl'></a>TO A BEAUTIFUL GIRL.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY J. R. BARRICK.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<div class='dramastart'><!----></div>
-
-<p class='dramaline-cont'>I do not love thee—yet my heart is filled</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>With a sweet spirit of the beautiful,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Whene’er I sit alone to muse upon</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy dark eye beaming in a sea of light,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy cheek all flush with summer’s rosy glow,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy pure, high brow, so beautiful and calm,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>O’er which the light and glory of thy thoughts</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Beam like the tints of summer’s genial sky</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Above a waveless lake—the low, sweet tones</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy gentle voice breathes on the evening breeze—</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy pure, high heart, the paradise of peace,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Where lovely flowers spring up in beauty wild,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And blossom into hope—where angels come</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>On missioned wings from their far homes in heaven,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>To chant their Eden songs.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I love thee not</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>With the wild, wayward love of earth, and yet</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>If worship be that deep idolatry</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>The heathen pays in homage to the sun,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Then I have worshiped thee, for I have bowed</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>In passions deep and holy hour to thee,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And at thy shrine of beauty offered up</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>The tribute of affection.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I have mused</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>On Nature in her morning light, when first</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>The sun looks out upon a world of peace,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>When the glad air was vocal with the songs</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Of many warblers in their morning joy,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And thou wast there in all of sight and sound,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thyself the spirit of the beautiful</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>In all to eye and ear. And I have gone</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>At evening ’mid the shadows of the wood</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>To view the glories of the bursting spring,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And hear the thousand sweet and joyous strains</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>That thrilled each warbler in his evening praise,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And thou wast there, thy beauty dearer far</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Than aught in nature seen, and thy sweet voice,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Than all earth’s melodies. I’ve gazed upon</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>The sunset sky in its last glowing tint,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And felt the spirit of the twilight hour</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Stealing upon the scene with potent spell,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Yet thou wast there, and in those happy hours</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy spirit, like the rainbow o’er a cloud,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Was spanning o’er my bosom.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou hast been</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>A rainbow set above my wildest storm,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>A star within my else all darkened sky,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>A lovely flower beside my desert path,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>A gentle spirit in my heart of hearts,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>To bless me with its presence.</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;From the waves,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And from the winds, and from the gentle streams,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy voice hath caught a spell, whose lightest tone</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Is very love and sweetness. From the stars,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And from the sky, and from the sunset hues,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>That glow like spirits of the beautiful</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Along the western world, thine eyes have caught</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>A brightness and a glory that outvie</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>The glowing dreams of fancy. From the heaven</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>From whence thou sprang all perfect at thy birth,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And from all love, and from all passion sweet,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>From thought and sense, and from the wide green earth</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>And from the sky, and from the glorious stars,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thy mind and heart have stolen their brightest tints,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Till they are but a mirror of the whole,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>The sum end substance of all lovely things,</p>
-<p class='dramaline'>Thyself the Spirit of the Beautiful!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk123'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='age'></a>THE FIRST AGE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY H. DIDIMUS.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.2em;'>(Concluded from page 546.)</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.3em;'>BOOK FOURTH.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>SECTION I.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>O, help me to escape that oblivion which is more
-fearful than death! Who would fall with the common
-herd, like rain into the ocean—lost in eternity!
-Even as the lightning is born of conflicting vapor; is
-born to penetrate, change, and subdue. So, of every
-age, and of the breath and roar of the people, is born
-one to rule, and mould, and make his time. Go then,
-and get power. Get it by the sword; since, even
-in our day, blood buoys the strong swimmer onward
-to greatness. Get it by arts of policy; since men
-will be ruled, and most honor those who rule them
-most sternly. Get it by the pen; a voice which
-fills all time, reaches every ear, fashions the intellect
-of millions, and makes it your own. Who
-would not float down through endless ages upon a
-strain of such music, the multitudinous echo of a
-spirit chosen of God? The shade of Tubal rests
-upon my hand, and guides it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The gentle dew falls in silence, unmarked; the
-print of its footsteps disappear before the growing
-light; yet the earth acknowledges its presence in
-the livelier green it puts on to make glad its children.
-In the narrow valley lives an honest worker; one
-who, with years of labor, has subdued the hardy
-soil. Even now, the yellow grain bends beneath the
-weight of its own wealth, and wakes a joy which
-ambition never knew. Think you that his days are
-unrecorded in the Book of Life? Upon his broad
-shoulders rests the State. Ariel’s soul is content.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus, early in time, to these two were given, in
-divided empire, the passions which now govern the
-sons of Adam; and have built up, giving and receiving
-mutual aid, all our glory.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>SECTION II.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the adventurer, he who first traversed the Amazon,
-lost in the wood which covers, thick, the base of
-Chimborazo, shutting out day and night, listened
-with large wonder, mixed fear and joy, to the war
-of elements unchained within its bowels; so Erix
-and Zella, with all their tribe, listened to the first
-voice of that strange instrument which Ariel, gifted
-of God, after many days, raised high, midway the
-mountains and the sea. He had caught and tamed,
-to answer to the touch of a skill creative, the sure
-interpreter of matter and of mind; and the vast soul
-which, in these latter days, is well shadowed forth
-in that book of love, called The People. He, in a
-page resplendent with holy fire, and with a name
-here unrecognized, is given to every true believer as
-the builder of the Organ, and inventor of that art
-which raises man close to the footstool of his Maker;
-and as the notes—new to mortal ears—rose deep,
-heavy, filling the forest wide, overcoming the distant
-murmur of the sea, overcoming all voices of all life,
-rumbling, changed to the clangor of great strifes run
-for in the future upon many an unbattled plain, to
-close in a hymn so soft, so melting, so full of sweet
-acknowledgment of the power by God intrusted to
-a noble end: even Zella, who had watched his toils
-and marked their purpose, fell prostrate; while Erix
-and his brethren, trembling, fled; nor turned till the
-music, wild with joy and that laughter which leaps
-from youth, and health, and a breast vacant of all
-care, soothed their unknown fears, and drew them
-with a golden cord, slow tracing back their steps,
-again to listen, again to wonder, and again to admire;
-till, grown familiar, they expressed with cries, sad
-shouts, and gestures violent, their new bliss, and circling,
-danced. Then, catching the measure, as
-Ariel’s marvelous hand poured forth a song of high
-gratitude for the gift of chiefest excellence in all that
-store of heaven’s bounty by himself enjoyed, they
-gave rhythm for rhythm.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>SECTION III.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, do we know, O God, that thy love endureth
-for ever.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sweet, even unto thee, was the voice of Adam.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sweet, even unto thee, was the voice of Eve.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our great mother;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our good mother;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fairer than the star of the morning, Eve.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Speak for us, Adam;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Speak for us, Eve;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These are thy voices,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In Paradise rejoicing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We hear thee, mother,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Glorious,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Amid the flowery paths walking.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, lift from my soul this evil,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Greater than they may bear!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And it is lifted, mother;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And the breath of flowers thou didst train,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sweet-scented,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And the warble of birds thou didst instruct,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To praise the growing light,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And the heaving of thy bosom,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Pleading,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Face to face,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come to us,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Swell over us,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Cover us,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As with a sea of infinite delight,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, matchless beauty of a matchless skill;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Unborn;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fallen through love!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We hear thee,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We feel thee,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Breathing,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Breathing upon our ears;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And it is lifted,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mother;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And we rise,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Upon the wings of this music,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Even unto the throne which endureth for ever.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>SECTION IV.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus Ariel played; and from day to day, even as
-his brother at the forge found new devices, added
-knowledge to knowledge in his high art, to be lost
-in that flood which washed, whiter than wool, the
-sins, of the world. And from day to day there came,
-from tribes far distant, many to whom rumor had
-spoken of this joy late found; and of them, one so
-fashioned in love’s mould, that she drew after her,
-ever as she moved, the eyes of men. Not Aglaia
-and her sisters, of the heroic age of poesy universal,
-could match her qualities, of an excellence so rare,
-that the oldest, who remembered Eve, called her
-Eve’s daughter. Now, alone, her sole attendant a
-young gazelle, hung with garlands woven by her
-hand, and tamed to reflect, in the soft lustre of its
-eyes, eyes more soft and more lustrous far, she stood
-aloof, then nearer drew, and halting, drank in with
-greedy ear, as one long famished, the liquid melody
-which floated, beating, upon the air. She listened
-till her very breathing hung upon each note, and
-grew, or was fined away, in consonance with the
-measure; and as the master closed, she bowed before
-him, low, in reverence, even to the ground; and
-rising, asked—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Art thou of the sons of God?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then first did Ariel’s eyes rest upon the maid there
-standing, bright, as a vision from that land which he
-in childhood sought, to lose forever; and fire ran
-through every vein, and that passion which enforces
-unity of person and of will.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fairest of Eve’s daughters, such worship is not
-mine. To Him who clothed thee with His beauty,
-alone belongs reverence, with prayer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In my father’s house I have seen many like unto
-thyself, winged.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Whence art thou?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“From east of Eden.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And thy father?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Cain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who yet lives?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mighty in that glory which is his as the first-born
-of all the earth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How looks he?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Noble, even as thyself, with twice thy stature,
-majestic; and upon his front supreme burns a star,
-inextinguishable, the covenant of mercy for that act
-of which I may no further speak.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The blood of Abel!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Deep night overcame them suddenly, and swept
-past, as the rushing of a strong wind.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My father!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then turned the maid and fled; in fleetness outstripping
-the garlanded beast which hastened to catch
-her steps, retreating, lighter than its own. And as,
-upon the plains of Arcady, Melanion did strive with
-Atalanta in the race, in king Jason’s time, so Ariel,
-pushed by a power that knows no let, followed quick
-upon love’s course, nor stayed, till he caught the
-frighted deer, full many a league removed, panting,
-upon a bed of violets which lay smiling in the sunlight
-where the forest opened charily to the sky.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, primest work of earth!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then, in turn, he worshiped, and bowed, even to
-her feet, which, trembling, he embraced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou didst follow me to my hurt.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I did follow thee for thy love.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“On this side of Eden I may no longer stay.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Eden, where is it, if not with thee!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thus do the angels speak, and then—betray.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Powers of the air; false to heaven, they must be
-false to thee.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thy comeliness had said thou wast of them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thy comeliness should better have answered thy
-doubt.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A sweet persuader art thou with thy tongue.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A sweeter persuasion rests upon thy lips.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hist! I hear the flowers moving.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is the murmur of the sea, far distant, calling.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What sayest it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Love.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The maid, half-yielding, half-refusing, by doubt
-and trust in turn possessed, bent over the fair-eyed
-beast recumbent at her side, and stroked its smoking
-flanks, and played with the garlands now displaced
-and torn, and sought with pliant fingers to renew a
-labor which might conceal the passion new-born,
-struggling in her breast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou shall forsake thy land and dwell with me;
-and here, along these paths, and by the waters whose
-words thou hearest, and with the light, and with
-darkness, we will all the pleasures prove which God
-to our first parents gave when, in Paradise, resting,
-he declared all things good.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And Cain?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sweet cousin?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was my father’s shadow that overcame us, and
-I fled, fearing his anger, from the music of thy
-tongue.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Great is Cain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Loved is Cain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And thus, alternating, deprecating, amid the violets
-standing, they sang in praise of the first-born of
-the earth.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>SECTION V.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mighty;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Majestic;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Lord;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Heritor of Adam;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thou who didst first receive a mother’s kiss, of
-Eve, a mother;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hear us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Greatest, among men, is thy strength;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Greatest, among men, is thy glory,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For thou alone,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of all the living,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hast seen God!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, son of earth’s love,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Love’s first fruit,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hear us,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bless us,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As thou didst pursue my mother, swift-footed,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As thou didst worship the fair-eyed, beyond
-Eden,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So am I pursued, my father;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So do I worship, Cain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Heart to heart;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Soul to soul;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of one will;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Melting into one being;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bless us;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Even as God hath blessed thee,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All merciful.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And thou, oh Sun, effulgent;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And ye woods, whose song is ceaseless;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And broad sea, far distant, speaking;”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And flowers, incense breathing,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bear witness.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now do I receive thee,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now do I pledge thee,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Life of my life,”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To an unending joy.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'>——</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>SECTION VI.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And Ariel led the maid, quick retracing their late
-course, blushing, with eyelids drooping, listening
-with face averted to the music of his passion, homeward
-to his mother; while the garlanded beast, now
-flying before their steps, now halting, showed mimic
-war, and caressed its mistress, from whose eyes it
-caught security and love.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk124'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='orp'></a>THE ORPHAN’S HYMN.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY E. ANNA LEWIS.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Here’s the tomb of my father—how mournful the thought!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That he went to the grave ere my infantile mind</p>
-<p class='line0'>One smile of parental affection had caught,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or his lineaments dear in my heart were enshrined!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yes, my sire! by thy dust I am kneeling in prayer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Where in days of my childhood so oft I have wept,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Imploring thy spirit to soothe my despair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And at evening and morning sweet vigils have kept.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Ere my young mind could grasp them, they told me thy woes;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of the virtues that bind thee forever to me;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of the love of thy friends, of the hate of thy foes;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That in features and mind I was like unto thee;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And with dawning of thought is thy memory wove,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The grief and the pining that prey on my breast;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The longing to soar to thy dwelling above,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And repose in thine arms in the Land of the Blest.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I have never seen parents their children caress,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or soothe into quiet their heart-breathing</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the storm of misfortune around them did press,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;But the tears of affection arose to mine eyes:</p>
-<p class='line0'>I have ne’er met a maid by the side of her sire,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or beheld in the festal a father who kept</p>
-<p class='line0'>Watch over his daughter, and seemed to admire</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;His lovely and beautiful charge, but I’ve wept.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>My mother lies by him—blessed saint of the skies!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Remembrance returns thee; how gentle and meek;</p>
-<p class='line0'>I behold thee when youth filled with radiance thine eyes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And beauty and health were illuming thy cheek;</p>
-<p class='line0'>When thy delicate form was elastic as air,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;When thy bosom was white as the Parian’s glow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When thy beautiful ringlets of long, flowing hair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In sable threads sprinkled thy forehead of snow.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>How solemn, dear mother! it seems, that the clay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Relentless and cold, now encumbers the breast,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where, all helpless, so oft I in infancy lay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And, soothed by thy lullaby, sobbed me to rest;</p>
-<p class='line0'>That on earth I shall never behold thee again,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Never more feel thy rosy lips pressing my brow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or thy fairy hand smoothing my pillow of pain—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Thy affection and love must forever forgo!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>My sister sleeps next—lovely blossom of heaven!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Ah, why wast thou summoned so early away?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why so soon was the bond of our sisterhood riven,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And I left alone on the cold earth to stay?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Why wast thou not spared to delight and to cheer</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;My desolate heart ’mid depression and gloom;</p>
-<p class='line0'>With thy love-breathing counsels to gladden my ear—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With thy songs and thy smiles to enliven my home?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Sleep on, ye beloved! it is better to rest</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In the halls of the dead, than to linger in life,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where the brain and the bosom with pains are oppressed</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And the soul is beleaguered by sorrow and strife;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sleep on! though no blossoms your homes are perfuming,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;There are calmness and freedom from discord and care,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The lovely and beautiful daily are coming—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And in my pale vesture I soon shall be there.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk125'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='rel'></a>RELIGION.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>J. HUNT, JR.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Religion, pure and undefiled,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Before the Father’s sight in bliss—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who will the same in Heaven reward,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Consists in holy deeds, like this:</p>
-<p class='line0'>To heed, when cold Affliction’s shaft</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Is at the helpless Orphan hurled—</p>
-<p class='line0'>The Widow visit, <span class='it'>and</span> to keep</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Himself unspotted from the world.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk126'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='tit'></a>TITUS QUINCTIUS FLAMININUS.<a id='r2'/><a href='#f2' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[2]</span></sup></a></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of all the truths at which we arrive through a
-calm and dispassionate study of history, none appears
-to me more certain than this, that, as regards the
-career and course of empires, the rise and fall of
-states, there neither is, nor has been, any such thing
-as Fortune; that from the beginning of time, to the
-events born of the present day, every minute particular,
-every seemingly unimportant incident—or,
-as men are fond to call it, accident—in the affairs of
-nations, is part and parcel of one grand, universal,
-all-pervading scheme of divine world-government,
-projected before the patriarch kings led forth their
-flocks to feed on pastures yet moist with the waters
-of the deluge, but not to be fulfilled until time itself
-shall have an end.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It can hardly, I think, fail to strike the least observant
-of readers, that unless the civilized world
-had been for a long period chained together under
-the stagnant, and in the main, peaceful despotism of
-the successors of the twelve Cæsars, it never would
-have been prepared to receive that tincture of letters,
-of humanity, and above all, of Christian faith, with
-which it became in the end so thoroughly imbued;
-that in every case, without one exception, it brought
-over to its own milder cultivation, milder religion,
-the fiercest and most barbarous of its heathen conquerors.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not a province of the Western Roman empire but
-was overrun, devastated, conquered, permanently
-occupied by hordes of the wildest, crudest, most
-violent, most ignorant of mankind—Goths, Vandals,
-Huns, Vikings, and Norsemen, Jutes and Danes,
-tribes whose very names to this day stand as the
-types of unlettered force and unsparing outrage.
-Not a province of that empire, though of its present
-population not one hundredth part can trace an approximate
-descent from the original Roman colonists,
-so vast the influx of the Pagan invaders, but in the
-lapse of time conquered its conquerors by the arts
-of peace, and so became the germ of that Christian
-civilization, that Christian Liberty, which—though
-either, or both, may be temporarily obscured for the
-moment—we see, in the main, steadily and consistently
-pervading the Europe end America of the
-nineteenth century.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That this state of things could have existed, by any
-reasonable probability at this day, in the event of
-Darius or Xerxes having overrun and occupied
-Western Europe, with their oriental hordes—in the
-event of Carthage having subdued Rome, and filled
-Italy, Greece, Gaul, Spain, Britain, with her bloody
-fiend-worship, and her base Semitic trade-spirit—in
-the event of Mark Antony having won the day at
-Actium, and broken up the heritage of Rome, like
-that of Alexander, among a dozen jarring dynasties,
-instead of leaving it to be centralized into an almost
-universal empire—in the event of the Saracen having
-destroyed the paladins of Charles Martel at Tours—of
-the Turks having conquered the Mediterranean
-at Lepanto, or Continental Europe under the walls
-of Vienna—few will be found, I think, so hardy as
-to assert.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Strange, therefore, as it may appear at first sight,
-the first germs of existing institutions may be said to
-have been sown on the banks of the Ilissus, the Eurotas,
-and the Tiber; and the deity, whom the blind
-superstition of the early Romans venerated as the
-war-god Quirinus guarding the wave-rocked cradle
-of Rome’s twin founders, was, in truth, the Lord of
-Hosts, watching over the infancy of that peculiar
-and appointed people which should make smooth his
-way before him, and prepare the nations to receive
-the faith of civil and religious freedom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For all this wonderful accomplishment of wonderful
-designs, however, we shall find that the instruments
-are purely human, although the ends may
-be divine—that, although the men are never wanting
-to do His work, when done it must be, it is for the
-most part, if not always, in blindness, in sin, in
-wrath, and in the madness of ambition, that they do
-that work, imagining themselves, vainly, busied
-about their own miserable ends; and for the doing
-it they are alone accountable. But not so of the
-nations, which, having no life hereafter, no individual
-identity in the world to come, meet their rewards
-or punishments here, where their virtues or
-their vices have required them, and thrive or perish
-as they work toward the completion of His infinite
-designs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nowhere, perhaps, in the whole course of history,
-is this supervision of the Most High, which even religious
-men are wont unthinkingly to call Fortune,
-more clearly visible, than in the events of the Second
-Punic War.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At home the republic, though undaunted and unequaled
-of all times in heroism, was weeping tears
-of blood at every pore, and resisting only with a
-persistency savoring almost of despair, abroad it was
-only by the exercise of sacrifices and self-denial
-almost superhuman, that she was enabled to maintain
-her foothold in her provinces of Sicily and Spain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It seems to us, when we read how Capua, the
-noblest of her allied cities, opened her gates and made
-common cause with the enemy, how twelve of the
-thirty colonies of the Latin name refused their contingents
-of men and money; how all the north of Italy,
-then Cisalpine Gaul, from the Var to the Rubicon, was
-in tumultuous arms against her; how all the proud
-and magnificent cities of La Puglia and Calabria were
-leagued with the terrible invader; it seems, I say, as
-if one superadded call on her resources must have
-remained unanswered; one more war-trumpet blown
-by a new enemy must have sounded her death-note.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And there was one moment when it appeared that
-this contingency was close at hand. In the year of
-the city 540, while all the south of Italy was in arms
-with Hannibal from Capua down to the Gulf of
-Taranto, and all the north was in that tumultuous
-state of disorganization which with Celtic populations
-is ever the herald of coming insurrection, Sardinia
-suddenly broke out into armed and open rebellion.
-Sicily, also, in which Hiero, the fast and faithful
-friend of Rome, had lately died at a very advanced
-age, rejected the Roman alliance, and a war of extermination
-was raging in that beautiful island between
-the partisans of the two rival powers, and the
-forces which each could spare from the home conflict
-to aid its faction.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At this crisis, Philip of Macedon, the descendant
-of Alexander, and at that time the most powerful of
-European princes, entered into an alliance, offensive
-and defensive, with Hannibal, and would in the
-course of that very summer have crossed the Adriatic
-and invaded Italy with some five-and-twenty thousand
-men, sixteen thousand of whom were the
-hitherto unconquered phalanx, provided with that
-arm, in the greatest possible perfection, the want of
-which had robbed Hannibal of the fruits of all his
-great pitched battles—I mean an efficient artillery.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In this respect the Greeks were unsurpassed; the
-Greek engineers were the wonder of the world, as
-was subsequently shown at the siege of Syracuse;
-and how great soever the superiority of the Romans
-to the Carthagenians in this arm of service, it was as
-nothing to the skill of the Greek artillerists, and the
-excellence of the Greek machinery.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What this combination might—I should rather say
-might not—have effected, it were difficult to show;
-more difficult to show how Rome could have resisted
-it. For my part, having examined the question
-in all its lights, I am of opinion that, had this alliance
-gone into effect, and Philip acted with energy and
-steadiness of purpose equal to his bravery and ambition,
-Marcellus never would have taken Syracuse,
-nor Scipio conquered Spain; but that from both those
-countries triumphant reinforcements would have
-poured in to Hannibal, over the Alps, across the
-Straits of Messina, that an Italian Tama would have
-sealed the doom of Rome, and a Punic ploughshare
-razed the foundations of the capitol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But such—it is well for humanity—was not to be
-the issue of the war. Philip’s ambassadors, returning
-with the treaty signed and ratified by Hannibal,
-were taken by the Roman squadron off the Calabrian
-coast, and sent to the city with their papers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A year elapsed before the treaty could be renewed;
-and, meantime, the Romans, awakened to a perception
-of their danger, found means to enkindle the
-Ætolians and Illyrian pirates against Philip, and in
-the end to organize a Greek confederation against
-Macedon, which gave its active and ambitious sovereign
-plenty of work to do on his own side of the
-Adriatic. At a later period he found cause to repent
-that he had ever meditated intervention.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Such strokes of fortune, so historians call them, as
-that capture of the ambassadors of Philip, which,
-perhaps, saved Rome—as that strong gale which
-blew on Christmas Eve on Bantry Bay, dispersing
-Hoche’s armament to the four winds of heaven—such
-strokes, I say, of fortune, I hold to be the visible
-agencies and instruments of God’s providence, in the
-government of nations, to the welfare of the world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From Rome that peril was averted. The arms of
-Macedon abstained, perforce, from the shores of devastated
-Italy. The arms of Syracuse, of Spain, were
-wrested from the hands which would have wielded
-them in the behalf of Carthage. The arms even of
-the unbridled Numidians were turned against the
-masters whom they had served so fatally for Rome.
-And out of the furnace of that scathing war, the
-giant form of the chosen republic emerged, without
-one hair singed, one thread of its vestments injured;
-and that, like the faithful sons of Israel, by the
-especial providence of the Almighty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Years passed, and events hurried toward their
-consummation. Yet still, though from this date the
-tide of Hannibal’s affairs began to ebb, and that of
-Rome’s to flow with a healthier, prouder current, it
-was not until twelve more terrible campaigns had
-been fought out in vain, that the star of the great
-Carthaginian set in blood at Zama, and the name of
-Carthage herself, all but one brief spasmodic sound
-of fury and despair, went out and was forgotten from
-among the nations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then rousing herself, like a galled lioness, Rome
-went forth to avenge and conquer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hitherto she had fought at home for existence,
-henceforth she fought abroad for dominion; and
-abroad as at home, until her mission was accomplished
-and His work done fully to the end, she was
-invincible, as the fruit of her labors is eternal.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The war, which had been undertaken against
-Philip by the Romans shortly after his giving them
-the first offense, had languished from the beginning
-on both sides, and peace had been concluded between
-the contending parties some three years before the
-decisive victory of Zama.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So soon, however, as peace was concluded with
-Carthage, in the year of the city 552, B. C. 200, true to
-the latter part at least of her famous motto,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Parcere devictis et debellare superbos</span>,<a id='r3'/><a href='#f3' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[3]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>Rome sought at once a cause of war, whereby to
-chastise Philip for the comfort given to her enemies
-in her worst time of need. Nor sought long in vain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A deputation from the Athenians came seeking
-succor; the arms of Philip were too near their
-borders.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>War was declared, the Consul Sulpicius landed at
-Dyrrachium with a regular army, and the campaign
-commenced by a series of operations in the valley of
-the river Erigon, in Dassaretia, the object of Philip
-being to prevent that of the consul to secure his
-junction with his Dardanian and Ætolian allies.
-Several sharp skirmishes occurred, in all of which
-the Macedonians were worsted with loss, and in
-one instance Philip narrowly escaped being taken
-prisoner; whereupon he retreated through the mountain-passes,
-throwing up strong field-works in every
-available position, but avoiding a general action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His works all proved useless, being either forced
-or turned without difficulty by the active and movable
-legionary tactic of the Romans, against which
-it became at once evident that so ponderous and unwieldy
-a body as the phalanx could not manœuvre
-or fight, in broken ground, with a hope of success.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the end Philip retired at his leisure into his hereditary
-kingdom, and the consul having stormed and
-garrisoned the small town of Pelium, on the Macedonian
-frontier, fell back to Apollonia on the Illyrian
-sea-coast, without accomplishing his object.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Still his campaign had not been useless, for he had
-snatched the prestige of invariable success from the
-phalanx, had established the incontestible superiority
-of the Roman soldiery of all arms to the Greek, and
-had defeated the Macedonians on every occasion,
-when they had ventured to await battle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is not a little remarkable, and proves clearly the
-singular adaptability of the Romans to all martial
-practices, that whereas, scarce twenty years before,
-we find their cavalry the worst in all respects but
-personal valor in the known world, and their light
-troops unable to compete even with the barbarian
-allies of Hannibal, we now observe them superior in
-both these arms, owing, as it is distinctly stated by
-all the writers, to the superior excellence of their
-weapons<a id='r4'/><a href='#f4' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[4]</span></sup></a> and equipment, even to the far-famed
-targeteers and life-guards of Macedonia.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the following year, Sulpicius was superseded
-by the new consul, Publius Villius Tappulus, who,
-taking command of Sulpicius’ legions at Apollonia,
-advanced up the open valley of the Aöus, now Vioza,
-with the intention of forcing the famous passes,
-variously known as the Aoi Stenæ, or Fauces Antigoncuses,
-and now as the defiles of the Viosa, rather
-than turning them by way of Dassaretia, as had been
-done previously by his predecessor. The judgment
-was sound, the execution naught. For, after marching
-to within five miles of the western extremity of
-the defiles, he fortified his camp in the plain, probably
-in the valley of the Dryno,<a id='r5'/><a href='#f5' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[5]</span></sup></a> above its junction
-with the Vioza, reconnoitered the position of Philip,
-who was very strongly posted in an intrenched camp
-at the most difficult point of the pass, <span class='it'>à cheval</span> on the
-river, and occupying both the mountain sides, and
-there lay perfectly inactive until he was himself relieved
-by Titus Quinctius Flamininus, his successor
-in the consular dignity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This man, of the early Roman leaders, was in many
-respects one of the most remarkable; in one particular,
-with the single exception of Caius Julius
-Cæsar, the great Dictator, he stands alone, in honorable
-contrast to his merciless and cruel countrymen—though
-quick and vehement of temper, he was a just
-man, and both merciful and courteous to conquered
-enemies. The one blot on his character, to which I
-shall come hereafter, must be ascribed to the policy
-of his country, under direct orders from which he
-was unquestionably acting, not to his own wishes or
-disposition, to which nothing could be more abhorrent
-than the duty imposed upon him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Plutarch informs<a id='r6'/><a href='#f6' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[6]</span></sup></a> us that, in his time, “it was
-easy to judge of his personal appearance,” which,
-unfortunately, he has not described, “from his statue
-in brass at Rome, inscribed with Greek characters,
-which still stands opposite to the hippodrome, nigh
-to the great Apollo from Carthage.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As, however, the whole tenor of Plutarch’s life is
-laudatory, and for that gossiping anecdote-monger singularly
-correct and clear, we may take it as a fact that
-the nobility of his person was not unequal to that of
-his character; which I consider the finest recorded
-of any Roman general or statesman.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He is said,” continues the author,<a id='r7'/><a href='#f7' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[7]</span></sup></a> I have already
-quoted, “to have been of a temperament impulsive
-and vehement both in his likings and dislikings, but
-with this distinction, that he was quick to wrath which
-quickly passed away, but prompt to kindness which
-endured to the end. He was very ambitious and
-very fond of glory, ever anxious to be the actor himself
-in the best and greatest deeds, and rejoicing in
-the acquaintance rather of those who needed benefits
-themselves, than of those who could confer them
-upon others, esteeming those as material for the promotion
-of his own virtue, these as rivals of his own
-glory.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I will add that I can find him guilty of no act—almost
-alone of his countrymen—of political dishonesty,
-or of social turpitude. To his country he was
-a zealous, ardent, and profitable servant; to his
-friends and associates faithful and true; to his enemies
-just and clement; and to the provincials, subjected
-to his dominion, a governor so affable, beneficent
-and equitable, that when he left their shores
-they mourned as for a countryman, almost a father of
-the country.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As a general, he committed no military error; and
-although his command was limited to little more than
-two campaigns, they were campaigns of the most
-important—important not merely to his own country,
-but to the science of war, in general—since they established,
-beyond a peradventure, the superiority of
-the tactic and armature of the legion to those of the
-phalanx; in other words, of the line to the column
-tactic.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I give to him this credit, unhesitatingly; for, although
-Pyrrhus was at last beaten by the phalanx in
-Italy, it was rather by dint of numbers and aid of circumstances
-than by military skill; and further, it is
-evident that the great bulk of his armies consisted of
-targeteers, little different from the legionaries, and
-of Samnites, Tarentines, and other Italian soldiery
-precisely similar to them, in arms and array.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again, although Sulpicius had demonstrated the
-superiority of the individual Roman, to the individual
-Greek, heavy footman; he had not—nor any one
-else hitherto—defeated a phalanx, unless with a
-phalanx.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Greeks met Greeks then was the tug of war.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For the rest, the battles of Paullus Æmilius against
-Perseus, were but the battles of Flamininus against
-the father of Perseus, less ably fought, though on the
-same principles at last successful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fact remains, that from the battle of Cynoscephalæ,
-of which anon, to the end of ancient history,
-it was an admitted fact that, unless on a very narrow
-and perfectly level field, where both its flanks were
-securely covered, the phalanx could not receive battle
-from the legions with a chance of success; and
-that as to delivering battle on wide, open plains,
-where rapid manœuvring and counter-marching
-could be resorted to, such an idea was preposterous.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Flamininus was educated to arms from his very
-boyhood, and that in the terrible Italian campaigns
-of Hannibal; through which he served with such
-distinction that he had already attained the post of
-tribune of the soldiers, equal to the modern rank of
-lieutenant-colonel, under that daring and distinguished
-leader Marcus Marcellus, and was on the field when
-he was slain, rashly periling himself in an affair of
-outposts near Venusia, in the year of Rome 546,
-B. C. 208, and in the sixtieth year of his own age.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the death of his great commander, Flamininus
-was appointed governor of Tarentum,<a id='r8'/><a href='#f8' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[8]</span></sup></a> in the
-capacity of quæstor, on its recapture by Fabius
-Maximus; and there displayed no less ability in the
-administration of justice than he had previously
-evinced skill and courage in warfare. Seven years
-afterward—at the early age of thirty years—he was
-elected consul; and, although opposed by the veto<a id='r9'/><a href='#f9' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[9]</span></sup></a>
-of the tribunes Fulvius and Manlius Carius on the
-ground that he lacked twelve years of the legitimate
-age, and that he had never filled the intermediate
-grades of ædile and prætor, he was confirmed by
-the senate, and received Macedonia as his province,
-by lot.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fact is, that the wars of Hannibal had by this
-time taught the Romans that an overstrict adherence
-to prescriptive formulæ, in times of national peril, is
-disastrous; and that to meet the ablest adversaries
-the ablest men must be had, whether all the theoretic
-requisites to their election had been complied with
-or not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Therefore Scipio, the elder Africanus, was sent to
-Spain with proconsular rank and a consular army, before
-he was of the just age to fill a prætorship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Therefore Flamininus was elected consul at thirty,
-although the constitution expressly declared that no
-one should hold that dignity until he should have fully
-attained his forty-second year.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Such laws may be, perhaps, generally wise; but
-the breach of them is always so. Nor does history
-show any instances, worth remark, of youthful genius
-elevated by the popular call to early station, and
-subsequently found unworthy, from the days of Alexander,
-Scipio, and Flamininus, to those of Pitt and
-Napoleon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nor do I believe that the appointment of the consuls
-was really, though it was ostensibly, left to the
-chance of a lot, at least in times of actual war, and
-national emergency; since we invariably find the
-best man sent to the place where he was required,
-which could not always have occurred fortuitously.
-Doubtless those who superintended the balloting had
-some method of determining the result, as had the
-augurs and haruspices with regard to omens and sacrifices.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So Flamininus was not only elected consul at thirty,
-but obtained the seat of the great war for his province,
-and was empowered to pick nine thousand
-men, horse and foot, out of the Spanish and African
-veterans, inured to all that was known of warfare in
-those days by the campaigns of Hannibal and Scipio.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A grand occasion, indeed, and a superb command
-for an untried commander.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It appears that on his entering upon his office,
-Flamininus was detained some time at Rome, in order
-to superintend a fast and expiatory sacrifice on
-account of certain alleged prodigies of evil import;
-but it is certain that he had understood the consequences
-of the dilatory operations of his predecessors,
-and was resolute not to fall into the like error. He
-sailed from Brundusium for the island of Corcyra,
-now Corfu, which he occupied with eight thousand
-foot, and eight hundred horse, much earlier in the
-season than the preceding consuls had been wont to
-take the field: and, instantly passing over to the
-main, in a single line-of-battle ship, hurried onward
-by forced journeys to the camp, and superseded Villius,
-in the face of the enemy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few days afterward, his reinforcements coming
-up, he called a council of war to determine whether
-a direct attack, or a flank movement through Dassaretia,
-was to be preferred. The council, of course, determined
-any thing rather than direct action: but
-Flamininus, perceiving the facilities afforded by the
-geography of that broken, mountainous, forest-clad
-region, intersected by deep ravines and impracticable
-torrents, to the protracting of the war, resolved to
-take the bolder and more prudent course of trying
-conclusions, at once, with an enemy whose object it
-evidently was to act purely on the defensive, and to
-avoid delivering battle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet, determined as he was, the difficulties of the
-ground were so great, and so skillfully had Philip
-availed himself of every defensible point, or coigne
-of vantage, that many days elapsed before he could
-decide on the mode of assault.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The river Aöus, now Vioza, an extremely large
-and powerful river, augmented at every half-mile by
-fierce mountain torrents, along the valley of which is
-the most direct pass into Macedonia proper, at this
-point breaks its way through a chain of exceedingly
-abrupt and precipitous, though not very lofty mountains,
-and forms a gorge of six miles in length, closely
-resembling that picturesque defile of the Delaware,
-with which many of my readers are doubtless familiar,
-known as the Water-Gap.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Forced into a space, two-thirds less than its ordinary
-breadth, the Aöus has here cut its way through
-the solid rock, between the mounts Asnaus and Aëropus,
-now Nemertzika and Trebusin, respectively
-to the left and right of the defile, which here runs
-nearly south-eastward. The right-hand mountain,
-Aëropus or Trebusin, is the loftier of the two, descending
-in a sheer wall of perpendicular and treeless
-rock to the brink of the only road, scarped out of the
-living limestone like a cornice above the torrent,
-which bathes the base of the opposite hill, leaving no
-level space between.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The mountain on the opposite or left bank of the
-river,” says Colonel Leake, whose topography of the
-Grecian battles founded on minute personal inspection,
-is no less valuable than interesting, “is the northern extremity
-of the great ridge of Nemertzika, Asnaus, much
-lower than that summit, but nearly equal to Trebusin
-in height. At the top, it is a bare, perpendicular precipice,
-but the steep lower slope, unlike that of its
-opposite neighbor, is clothed with trees quite to the
-river. Through the opening between them is seen a
-magnificent variety of naked precipices and hanging
-woods, inclosing the broad and rapid stream of the
-insinuating river.”<a id='r10'/><a href='#f10' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[10]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The road,<a id='r11'/><a href='#f11' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[11]</span></sup></a> difficult in any event to an army, if defended,
-is impracticable.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In this prodigiously strong pass Philip had taken
-post, occupying the narrow road with the phalanx,
-and having his main body hutted comfortably among
-the loose crags of Aëropus, on a conspicuous summit
-of which was pitched his own royal pavilion, with
-the banner of Alexander waving over it. The slopes
-of the opposite hill, Asnaus, was held by Athenagoras
-his lieutenant, with the light troops, and all the flanking
-crags and salient angles of the precipitous hills
-were mounted with the tremendous military engines,
-which, though of common use in the defense and attack
-of fortresses, had never been brought into field
-service until now.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately in front of this stern mountain gateway
-extended a small plain, midway between the
-Roman camp and the Macedonian lines, and here, after
-a fruitless parley and attempt at accommodation,
-from which both parties retired so much exasperated
-at their mutual pertinacity, that the river, which divided
-them, alone prevented their personal conflict,
-the light troops met in action from both armies.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is scarce to be conceived how, with such obstacles
-against them, the Romans could have escaped
-destruction; but it is almost ever the case in mountain
-warfare that the attacking party is successful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The gray mists of the early summer morning were
-still nestling among the crags, and brooding in the
-deep glades of the hanging woods, when the long,
-shrill blasts of the Roman trumpets announced the
-impetuous rush of the light troops; and on they went,
-headlong and invincible, carrying all before them,
-and driving in the Macedonian skirmishers like the
-foam of the Adriatic before the fury of the south-east
-wind.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was no dust upsurging from the rocky road
-to shroud their advance, no smoke-clouds to veil
-them from the shot of the enemy’s artillery, with their
-bright armor flashing in the sunbeams, as they streamed
-down the gaps in the mountain summits, and their
-blood-red banners and tall plumes tossing in the light
-morning air, on they came, dazzling and unobscured,
-a fair mark for the deadly missiles, arrows shot off in
-volleys, vast javelins which no human arm could launch,
-and mighty stones hurled from the catapults, as if from
-modern ordnance, which tore their ranks asunder,
-and leveled whole files to the earth at a blow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But their extraordinary discipline and admirable armature
-enabled them to endure the storm; and they
-made their way through all opposition, until they met
-the phalanx, bristling with its impenetrable pikes, its
-flanks impregnably protected by the rocks here, by
-the river there, and its narrow front offering no point
-assailable. Then they were checked; but, even then,
-not beaten back, so stubborn was their Roman hardihood,
-so firm their resolution to be slain, not conquered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All day long did that deep glen quake and shudder
-to the dread sounds of the mortal conflict; the thundering
-crash of the huge stone-shot, shivering the
-trees and shivered on the crags; the hurtling of the
-terrible <span class='it'>falaricæ</span>; the clash and clang of steel blades
-and brazen bucklers; the whirlwind of the charging
-horse; the shouts and shrieks and death-groans; the
-thrilling trumpets of the legions; the solemn pæans
-of the phalanx.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Only when the sun set, and the full, round moon
-came soaring coldly up above the tree-tops, flooding
-the bloody stream of the Aöus, and the corpse-incumbered
-gorge, with silver radiance, did the weary and
-shattered hosts draw off to their respective camps,
-from a strife so justly balanced, that none could say
-which had come off the better, none judge on which
-side the more or the better men had fallen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That night, Flamininus sat in his tent alone,
-anxious, uncertain how to proceed, so terrible had
-been the loss of life, and so small the advantage;
-when a shepherd was introduced, sent by Charops,
-the prince of the Ætolians, who should conduct a detachment,
-by a wild mountain foot-path, to a height
-in the enemy’s rear, domineering his whole position.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Four thousand chosen veterans of infantry and
-three hundred horse, under a tribune of the soldiers,
-were detailed, instantly, for the service, which would
-occupy three days.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They should march all night long, such were their
-orders, for the summer moon was at its full, and the
-nights light as day and far more pleasant, as being
-soft with fragrant dews and the cool mountain air.
-By day, they should halt in some deep, bosky dell
-or forest glade, to rest and refresh themselves securely.
-So far as the nature of the ground should
-admit, the cavalry would lead the way, then halt on
-the last level. The vantage ground once gained,
-they should kindle a fire on the summit, but abstain
-from all active demonstration, till they should perceive
-the action in the defile at its height. Such were
-their orders; and in high hope they parted, carrying
-with them as a guide the shepherd, in chains, as a
-precaution against treachery, but encouraged by great
-promises, if faithful.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the two following days, Flamininus skirmished
-continually with his light troops against Philip’s outposts,
-relieving his men by divisions, more to divert
-the attention of the enemy from the stratagem which
-was in progress, than with any design to harass him;
-though in both points of view he succeeded admirably;
-for the superiority of the Roman light-infantry
-soldier to the Greek skirmisher was great indeed,
-and the Macedonians lost many and good men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the third<a id='r12'/><a href='#f12' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[12]</span></sup></a> morning, secure that all had gone
-well so far, by the immovable attitude of the enemy,
-neither elevated by any unexpected success, nor
-shaken by any suspicion of his danger, the consul
-drew up his legionary cohorts, in solid column of
-maniples, along the rocky road, before the sun had
-yet risen, and while the mountain mists still covered
-the distant peaks with an impenetrable veil.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His light troops, advanced on both flanks, pressed
-forward along the difficult hill-sides, dashing the
-heavy dew in showers from the dripping underwood,
-and threatening the camps of Philip and Athenagoras
-both at once, with loud shouts and a storm of missiles.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then were renewed the splendor, the obstinacy,
-and the carnage of the first encounter. Again the
-Roman voltigeurs drove in the enemy’s outposts;
-and beat back the targeteers, who sallied from their
-works eager for the fray, from post to post, till they
-came within the range of the artillery, when in their
-turn they began to suffer heavily.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But at this instant the sun arose; the mists melted
-gradually away from the bare peaks, which now
-stood forth glittering in the hazy sunshine. With indescribable
-anxiety the eyes of Flamininus were
-riveted upon the distant crag, indicated as the decisive
-point. There was a vapor floating round it dull
-and indistinct, and browner than the blue mist
-wreaths—but was it, could it be, the smoke-signal?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For a time all was an agony of doubt and suspense.
-His officers gathered about the consul; the legionaries,
-seeing their commanders’ eyes all turned in
-one direction, gazed that way also, anxious if ignorant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Browner the vapor grew and browner; now it
-soared upward, black as a thunder-cloud, darkening
-the azure skies, a manifest smoke-signal.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jove! what a shout arose from the now triumphant
-cohorts!—what a thrilling shriek of the shrill trumpets,
-answered faintly and remotely, as if from the
-skies, by another Roman blast, but liker to the scream
-of the mountain-vulture than to the clangor of the
-pealing brass!—what a clang as of ten thousand stithies,
-when the Spanish blades smote home upon the
-Macedonian targes!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet still the men fell fast on both sides, although
-the Romans won their way, in spite of artillery and
-pike and sling-shot, at the sword’s point; for the
-Greeks still fought stubbornly, and plied their dreadful
-engines with deliberate aim at point blank range,
-unconscious that they were surrounded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then came the Latin cheers, and the clang of
-arms, out of the clouds, rolling down the mountain
-side, on their flank, in their rear; the rush of charging horse!—In
-an instant they broke, disbanded,
-scattered, deserted their defenses—all was over.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the first instance the panic and route of the Macedonians
-were absolute; and so utterly disheartened
-and terror-stricken were the men, that, had it been
-possible to pursue them effectually, the whole army
-must have laid down its arms or have been cut to
-pieces.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ground,<a id='r13'/><a href='#f13' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[13]</span></sup></a> however, was for the most part impracticable
-to cavalry, and their heavy armature
-rendered the legions as inefficient in pursuit as formidable
-in close combat. About two thousand only
-of the Macedonians fell, more in the battle than in
-the route; but the whole of the formidable defenses,
-on which they had expended so much time and toil,
-were carried at a blow, all their superb artillery,
-their camp, their baggage, rich with the barbaric
-pomp of the Macedonian royalty, all their camp followers
-and slaves, remained the prizes of the victors.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Philip, after he had fled five miles from the field,
-that is to say, so far as to the eastern extremity of the
-defile he had fruitlessly endeavored to defend, at
-length perceiving that he was unpursued, and suspecting
-the reason, halted on a steep knoll covering
-the entrance of the pass, and sending out parties along
-the ridges and through the ravines with which they
-were familiar, soon collected all his men about his
-standard save those whom he had left on the field of
-battle, never to rouse to the trumpet or rally to the
-banner any more.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thence he retreated rapidly down the valley of the
-Aöus, or Vioza, in a south-easterly direction to a
-place called the camps of Pyrrhus, supposed to be
-Ostanitza, near the junction of the Voidhomati and
-Vioza,<a id='r14'/><a href='#f14' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[14]</span></sup></a> where he passed the night; and thence by a
-prodigious forced march of nearly fifty miles reached
-Mount Lingon on the following day, where he remained
-some time in doubt whither to turn his steps,
-and how to frame his further operations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mount Lingon is the eastern and loftiest extremity
-of a great chain of hills; dividing Macedonia proper
-from Thessaly on the east and Epirus on the west.
-It forms a huge, triangular bastion, its northern base
-overlooking Macedonia, and its apex facing due
-southward, which is in fact the water-shed between
-the three great rivers, Aöus or Vioza flowing north-westward
-into the Adriatic, Penëus or Salamosia
-flowing eastward into the gulf of Saloniki, and Arecthus
-or Arta, which has a southerly course into the
-gulf of the same name, famous in after days for the
-naval catastrophe of Actium.<a id='r15'/><a href='#f15' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[15]</span></sup></a> The flanks of this
-ridge are steep, difficult and heavily timbered, but its
-summits are green with rich, open downs, and watered
-by perennial springs and fountains, an admirable
-post of observation, and commanding the descent
-into all the great plains of Northern Greece. After
-mature deliberation, Philip retreated still south-eastward
-to Tricca, now Trikkala, on the Penëus; and,
-though with a sore heart, devastated his own country,
-wasting the fields and burning the cities. Such
-of the population as were capable of following his
-marches, with their cattle and movables, he swept
-along with him; all else was given up as plunder to
-his soldiers, so that no region could suffer aught more
-cruel from an invader than did Thessaly at the hands
-of its legitimate defender. Pheræ shut her gates
-against him, and since he could not spare the time to
-besiege it, for the Ætolians were coming up with
-him rapidly, having laid waste all the country around
-the Sperchias and Macra and made themselves masters
-of many strong towns, he made the best of his
-way back to the frontiers of Macedonia.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the meantime, the consul, after his victory, followed
-so hard on the track of his defeated enemy, that
-on the fourth or fifth day, after reorganizing his forces
-and taking up the pursuit in earnest, he reached
-Mount Cercetium some fifty miles in advance of
-Philip’s deserted station on Lingon, where he had
-given rendezvous to Amynander and his Athamanians,
-whom he needed as guides for the interior of
-Thessaly. Thereafter, he stormed Phaloria, received
-Piera and Metropolis into surrender, and laid siege
-to Atrax, a strong place not far from Larissa, on the
-Penëus, about twenty miles above the celebrated
-pass of Tempe, in which Philip lay strongly intrenched
-watching his movements, and not more than
-forty from the shores of the Ægean. This small
-place, however, garrisoned by Macedonians, offered
-so stubborn a resistance that Flamininus was unable
-to take it, until the season was waxing so far advanced,
-that, finding the devastated plains of Thessaly
-utterly inadequate to the support of his army, and
-having no harbors on the coast of Acamania or Ætolia
-in his rear, capable of receiving transports sufficient
-to supply him, he judged it best to raise the siege,
-and fall back to winter-quarters in Phocis, on the
-shores of the gulf of Corinth, leaving the whole of
-Thessaly ruined, and its principal towns either
-destroyed by Philip, or occupied by his own garrisons.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During these proceedings of the consul by land, his
-brother, Lucius Quinctius, who commanded the fleet
-destined to co-operate in the war, acting in conjunction
-with Attalus and the Rhodian squadron, had
-made himself master of Eretria, Calchis and Carystus,
-the strongholds and principal towns of Eubœa,
-winning enormous booty, and stationed himself at
-Cenchreæ, at the head of the gulf of Eghina, whence
-he was preparing to lay siege to Corinth, the most
-opulent and splendid of all the Greek cities, now held
-by a strong Macedonian garrison, backed by a powerful
-faction within the walls, for Philip.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Marching down into Phocis without opposition,
-for except the garrisons of a few scattered towns
-there was no force, on this side Macedonia, adverse
-to the Romans, Flamininus took Phanotea by assault,
-admitted Ambrysus and Hyampolis to surrender,
-scaled the walls of Anticyra, entered the gates
-of Daulis pell-mell with the garrison which had sallied,
-and laid regular siege to Elatia, which was too
-strong to be taken by a <span class='it'>coup-de-main</span>. The capture
-and sacking of this town was the last military operation
-of the campaign.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A political event occurred, however, at the close
-of it, which was even of greater influence in the end,
-than all the victories of the year, the ratification
-namely of a treaty of alliance between the powerful
-Achæan confederacy and the Roman republic, by the
-consequences of which, joined to the events of the
-past campaign, all northern Greece from the Isthmus
-of Corinth to the line formed by the Aöus and Penëus
-rivers, and the ridges of Lingon and Cercetium, was
-united under the eagles of the republic against
-Philip. Within that region, however, the two splendid
-cities—Corinth, the siege of which by Attalus
-and Lucius Quinctius had proved unsuccessful, and
-Argos—still held out for the king, and it was evident
-that another campaign would be needed for the termination
-of the war.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well satisfied with his success, as he had indeed
-cause to be, for few campaigns on record have more
-fully and masterly accomplished their end, Flamininus
-retired into winter-quarters in the island of Corfu,
-while Attalus and the proprætor Lucius laid up their
-fleets in the Piræus, and passed the season of inactivity
-within the walls of Athens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the winter, after the election of the new
-consuls, Caius Cornelius Cethegus, and Marcus Minutius
-Rufus, but before it was known whether the
-conduct of the war would be continued to Flamininus,
-or one of the consuls appointed his successor, a sedition
-broke out in the town of Opus, and the inhabitants
-admitted the Romans. The Macedonian garrison,
-however, still held out, and while Flamininus
-was preparing to reduce it, a herald arrived from the
-king, demanding an interview in order to treat of
-peace. To this the consul, naturally desirous to conclude
-the war himself, acceded, and a singular interview
-followed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A place was appointed on the shore of the gulf of
-Tituni near Nicæa, and thither came the Roman
-general, Amynander king of the Athamanes, Dionysodorus
-envoy of Attalus, Agesimbrotus admiral of the
-Rhodian fleet, Phæneas prince of the Ætolians, and
-with them two Achæans, Aristænus and Xenophon.
-These overland. But Philip came across from Demetrias,
-now Volo, with one ship of war and five
-single-banked galleys, and casting anchor as close as
-might be to the shore, addressed the confederates from
-the prow of his ship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Flamininus proposed that he should land, in order
-that they might converse more at their ease; and, on
-the king’s refusing, inquired who it was of the company
-whom he feared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I fear none but the immortal gods,” was the
-haughty reply; “but I distrust many whom I see
-around thee, and most of all the Ætolians.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That,” replied the Roman, “is a peril common
-to all who parley with an enemy, that they can place
-confidence in no one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nay, Titus Quinctius,” answered Philip, “but
-Philip and Phæneas are not equal inducements to
-treason; and it is one thing for the Ætolians to find
-another general, and for the Macedonians to find another
-king such as I am.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To this argument there was no reply but silence.<a id='r16'/><a href='#f16' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[16]</span></sup></a>
-Nor, when they came to speak of conditions, could
-any terms be effected among so many jarring interests;
-but it was agreed at length that ambassadors
-should be sent by all the contracting parties to the
-Senate. A truce was proclaimed for two months,
-Philip withdrawing, as a security for his good faith,
-the garrisons from all the towns of Locris and Phocis;
-while Flamininus, in order to give color to the
-proceedings, sent with the ambassadors Amynander
-king of the Athamanes, Quinctius Fabius, his wife’s
-nephew, Quinctius Fulvius, and Appius Claudius,
-all members of his military family.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After awhile the delegates returned. The Senate
-had given no decision. The province and war of
-Macedonia, when the consuls were about to cast lots,
-had been continued to Flamininus as imperator, the
-tribunes Oppius and Fulvius having strongly represented
-the impolicy of removing general after general,
-as fast as each got accustomed to the country and was
-ready to follow up a first success by a final victory.
-The argument prevailed, and the option of peace or
-war was left to the imperator. The Senate was not
-aweary of the strife, and Flamininus was athirst for
-glory, not for peace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No further parley was granted to Philip; and these
-terms only dictated to him, that he must withdraw
-his forces from the whole of Greece into his own proper
-dominions, north of the river Aöus and the Cambunian
-mountains.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This was of course tantamount to a resumption of
-hostilities; and both parties, it appears, prepared
-with equal alacrity and confidence for the final
-conflict.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The first operation of Philip, who, on finding the
-necessity of drawing all his resources to a common
-centre, began to despair of maintaining Corinth,
-Argos, and his Achæan cities, was to deliver them
-over for safekeeping to Nabis, tyrant of Lacedæmon,
-on condition that in case of his being successful
-against the Romans they should be restored to himself,
-otherwise they should belong to Nabis.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No sooner was that done, however, than the treacherous
-tyrant, desirous only to retain his new
-power, made peace with the Ætolians, furnished the
-Romans with Cretan auxiliaries to act against Philip,
-and even entered into illusory negotiations for the delivery
-of Corinth and Argos, than which nothing was
-further from his mind, until at least he should have
-plundered them of all they contained most valuable,
-and this, with his wife’s aid, he lost no time in doing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These circumstances, however, were but as mere
-preludes to the great strife which was about to be determined
-in the broken and uneven country of north-eastern
-Thessaly, not far from the ground on which
-Flamininus had closed his last campaign, to the southward
-of the Penëus, whither both parties were
-already collecting their powers and drawing to a head.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Almost before the opening of the spring both leaders
-were on the alert, and active in preparation; partly
-by stratagem and the insinuation of a menace, if not
-its reality, partly by persuasion, Flamininus had the
-address to bring over the Bœotians, as he had already
-brought over the Achæans, to the Roman alliance;
-and thenceforth, every thing in his rear being secure
-and friendly, he had nothing to do but to look forward
-and bend up all his energies and powers to the destruction
-of the enemy before him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To this end he was well provided; for when his
-command was continued to him, five thousand infantry,
-three hundred horse, and three thousand mariners
-of the Latin allies, were voted him as a reinforcement
-to his late victorious army.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With these admirable troops, then, he broke up
-from Elatia, his last conquest, about the vernal equinox,
-and marching north-westerly by the great road
-through Thronium and Scarphea, on the gulf of Tituni,
-arrived at Thermopylæ, where by a preconcerted
-plan he met the Ætolians in council, and three days
-afterward, encamping at Xynias in Thessaly, received
-their contingent of six hundred foot and four hundred
-horse, under Phæneas their chief-magistrate. Moving
-forward at once with the celerity and decision which
-mark all his operations, his force was augmented by
-five hundred Cretans of Gortyna, under Cydas, and
-three hundred Illyrians of Apollonia, all light infantry
-skilled with the bow and sling; and a few days afterward
-he was joined by Amynander with twelve hundred
-Athamanians, completing the muster of the
-allies.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Philip meanwhile was laboring under the sore disadvantage
-which is sure to afflict, and in the end
-overthrow, all nations which engage in long careers
-of conquest. Incessant wars, since the days of Alexander,
-had worn out the manhood of Macedonia. His
-own wars had consumed the flower of the adults, and
-those who remained were the sons of mere youths or
-of octogenarians, begotten while the men of Macedonia
-were fattening foreign fields with priceless gore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As in the last campaigns of Napoleon, Philip’s conscriptions
-of this year included all the youth of sixteen
-years, while they recalled to the standard all
-the discharged veterans who had yet power to trail a
-pike.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So certainly in all ages will the like causes produce
-the like effects.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of this material, however, he had constructed a
-complete phalanx of sixteen thousand men, the flower
-of his kingdom, and the last bulwark of his throne.
-To these were added two thousand native targeteers,
-two thousand Thracians and Illyrians, about fifteen
-hundred mercenaries of all countries, and two thousand
-horse. With this power he lay at Dium, now
-Malathria, on the gulf of Saloniki awaiting the Romans,
-by no means despondent, but rather confident
-of success. For although the last campaign had gone
-against him, as a whole, still the repulse of the Romans
-from the walls of Atrax by hard fighting, seemed
-to counterbalance the forcing of the gorges of the
-Aöus, while it was undeniable that the phalanx had
-fully maintained its ancient renown, and was, for all
-that had yet been proved, invincible in a pitched
-battle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No less secure of victory, flushed with past
-triumphs, and athirst for future glory, Quinctius pressed
-on, resolved on the first occasion to deliver battle, his
-forces being, as nearly as possible, equal to those of
-the king, though he had a superiority of about four
-hundred horse.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On hearing of the Roman advance, Philip broke up
-from Dium and marched upon Larissa, intending to
-deliver battle south of the Penëus, with a view probably
-to the subsequent defense of the defiles of
-Tempo, in case of disaster; while Flamininus having
-failed in an attempt to surprise the Phiotic city of
-Thebes, marched direct upon Pheræ, previously ordering
-his soldiers to cut and carry with them the
-palisades, of which at any moment to fortify the casual
-encampment of the night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Both leaders, thus aware of the enemy’s proximity,
-yet unaware of his exact position, encamped and fortified
-their camps, the Roman at about six, the Macedonian
-at four miles’ distance from the town of
-Pheræ.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the following day, light parties being sent out
-on both sides to take possession of the heights above
-the town, which would seem to be the western slopes
-of Karadagh, formerly Mount Calcodonium—described
-by Leake as gentle pasture hills, interspersed with
-groves of oak, but swelling, a little northward on the
-way to Larissa, into steep, broken hills, topped with
-bare limestone crags—they came in sight of one another
-so unexpectedly, that they were mutually amazed, and
-neither charged the other, but both sent back for
-orders to head-quarters, and were ultimately drawn
-off without fighting. On the second day, both leaders
-sent out reconnoitering parties of light-armed infantry
-with some horse, and these encountered on the hill
-above the suburbs of Pheræ to the northward. It so
-happened that Flamininus had ordered two squadrons
-of Ætolian horse on this duty, wishing to avail himself
-of their familiarity with the country; and these,
-overboiling with courage and emulous of the Roman
-renown, so soon as they discovered the enemy, dared
-the Italians to the test of superior valor, and charged
-the Macedonians with such metal and prowess that
-they cut them up very severely; after which, having
-skirmished for a considerable time with no decisive
-results, they drew off, as if by mutual consent, to their
-own encampments.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ground about Pheræ, being much incumbered
-with orchards, groves and gardens, and cut up by
-stone walls and thorn hedges, was very unsuitable for
-a general action, and both leaders, perceiving this,
-moved early the next morning by different routes, the
-great ridge of Karadagh intervening between their
-lines of march, and intercepting all sound or sight,
-upon Scotussa, a town some ten miles distant in a
-westerly direction, lying at the base of the hills, and
-on the verge of the plain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Romans marched to the southward, Philip to
-the northward of the dividing ridge; and, unaware
-how nearly they were intrenched, both erected their
-palisades for the night almost within hearing of their
-countersigns and trumpets.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The third morning, after they had decamped from
-Pheræ, was exceedingly thick and foggy; but in spite
-of this Philip, who had passed the night on the banks
-of the Onchestus, persevered in marching upon Scotussa,
-where he hoped to find ripe corn in the plain
-for his troops. The darkness, however, increased,
-and ere long one of those tremendous thunder-storms,
-for which all the limestone countries of upper Greece
-are so famous, or rather infamous, burst over his head,
-with hail, and wild whirling wind-gusts, and forked
-lightnings, and compelled him to halt at once and intrench
-himself, at the northern base of the bare, craggy
-hills, forming the summits of the Calcodonium, known
-as the Cynoscephalæ or dog’s heads, though the resemblance
-does not go far to justify the appellation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So soon<a id='r17'/><a href='#f17' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[17]</span></sup></a> as it cleared a little, though the mist was
-still so dense that one could scarce see his own hand,
-he sent out a detachment to occupy the heights of
-Cynoscephalæ. At the same moment Flamininus sent
-out his troops of horse and a thousand voltigeurs from
-Thetidium, where he lay, to feel for the enemy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These latter fell suddenly into the ambushed outpost
-of the Macedonians, neither discovering the
-others till they were at half spear’s length in the
-gloom. After a momentary pause of amazement, they
-fell on fiercely, and among the slippery crags, in the
-dense mist and drizzling rain, the strife reeled blindly
-to and fro, all striking at once, none parrying, and
-friend as often injuring friend, as enemy enemy. On
-both sides, rumor reached the camps, and the Romans
-being hard pressed and giving way, Flamininus, who
-was nearest to the scene of action, reinforced his men
-with two thousand infantry under two tribunes, and
-five hundred Ætolian horse of Archedamus and Eupolemus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the arrival of these, the skirmish was exchanged
-for close combat; and the encouragement given to
-the Romans, by the prompt succor, doubling their
-courage, nor that only, but their physical strength,
-they charged home so vehemently, that they broke
-the enemy, and drove them to the steep crags; the
-din of battle receding from the lines of Flamininus,
-until the cries of his own men, and the shouts of the
-victorious legionaries, aroused and alarmed Philip in
-his camp.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He, expecting nothing on that day less than an engagement,
-had sent out his men to forage in the plain;
-but as he saw how things were going, and as the
-mist was beginning to melt away before the sunbeams,
-and the clear blue to show above, he ordered
-up Heracleides the Gyrtonian, commander of the
-Thessalian cavalry, find Leon, the Macedonian master
-of the horse, and Athenagoras with all the mercenaries
-save the Thracians, and launched them
-vigorously against the enemy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Rallying upon themselves the broken and disordered
-troops who had preceded them, these in turn
-laid on with so heavy a hand, and so furious an impetus
-that they bore the Romans back bodily, and
-drove them over the brink of the heights in consternation
-and disorder toward their own intrenchments;
-nor would they have failed to do fearful execution
-on them, if not utterly to destroy them, but for the
-devoted gallantry of the handful of Ætolian horse,
-who charged them time after time; and, when repulsed,
-rallied and charged again; and so gained that
-invaluable time, which, as it was in this case, is often
-victory.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At this moment, seeing that the defeat of his cavalry
-and light troops was not only serious in itself,
-but was seriously dispiriting the rest of his army,
-Flamininus drew out his legions in order of battle,
-harangued them briefly in words of fire, which kindled
-every soldier’s heart to like passion, and led
-them straightway into action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Almost simultaneously Philip, to whom tidings
-had been brought that the enemy were utterly disordered
-and in flight, and who was compelled by the
-urgency of his officers and the eagerness of his men
-to give battle, contrary to his own better judgment,
-which knew the ground to be unfavorable to the phalanx,
-led the right wing of it up the northern ascent
-of the heights, directing Nicanor, surnamed the elephant,
-to bring up the centre and left wing close at
-his heels. On reaching the summit, which had been
-left vacant when the Macedonian light troops drove
-back the Romans, he formed line of battle by the left,
-and thus gained the ground of vantage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But while he was yet in the act of forming his
-right, the mercenaries were upon him, crushed in by
-the advance of the solid cohorts; for Flamininus had
-rallied his light troops in the intervals of his maniples,
-and was carrying all before him with great
-slaughter, himself leading his left wing, the right
-and centre being a little retired, with the elephants
-in front.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Philip thus labored at once under a double disadvantage,
-when, believing himself the assailant of a
-disordered foe, he found himself assailed—a perilous
-thing in warfare—and, secondly, when he was compelled
-to encounter an enemy in full array of battle,
-while above one half of his own power was in
-column of march, and as yet unready to deploy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Up to this moment, the day had been one of accidents
-and vicissitudes; from this moment it was one
-of the finest generalship and the finest fighting, and
-in the end the best fighting carried it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mindful of the rule never to receive a charge but
-on a charge, so soon as he saw Flamininus’ eagles
-face to face with him, Philip rallied the retreating
-horse and mercenaries upon his targeteers, with
-whom he covered his right flank, and ordered the
-phalanx to double the depth of its files and prepare to
-charge.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We have all seen, and all know the effect, of two
-poor lines of modern infantry bringing their muskets
-from the shoulder to the charge; the thrill which
-the sudden clash and clatter, and the quick flashing
-movement sends to the boldest heart—what then
-must have been the effect on the spectator, when
-sixteen serried ranks brought down their huge sarissæ,
-twenty-four feet in length, from the port to the
-level—the rattle of the massive truncheons sloping
-simultaneously, like a whole field of bearded grain
-before a sudden blast, the clang of the steel spear
-heads against the brazen bucklers, and the glimmering
-flash of seven points protruded in advance of
-every shield in the front line.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Such was the spectacle which met the eyes of the
-legionaries as they crowned the heights of Cynoscephalæ,
-but no thrill did it send to those stern
-hearts, but that of ardor and of emulation. Never
-was such a war-cry heard as burst that day over the
-rugged hills, for not only did the combatants on both
-sides, as they rushed to hand and hand encounter,
-shout with their hearts in their voices, but all who
-saw it from a distance swelled the tremendous diapason.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The clang might have been heard at a mile’s distance,
-as the pike-points of the phalanx smote full
-upon the bosses of the long legionary shields, and
-bore back the loose lines by sheer force, orderly still
-and unbroken, while the Spanish broadswords of
-the Romans hewed desperately, but in vain, into the
-twilight forest of the impenetrable sarissæ.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Stubbornly the Romans fought and long; and when
-at length broken, they were not beaten; when borne
-backward foot by foot they still disdained to fly; but
-fell where they stood, and died fighting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But Flamininus, who had the true eye, the true
-inspiration of a great general, ever the keenest and
-the clearest in the most direful turmoil of the headiest
-fight, had marked, like Wellington at Talavera,
-a gap in the enemy’s array.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Leaving his broken right wing to its fate, he rushed,
-confident at one glance of victory, to the head of his
-centre, and charged, with his elephants in front, by a
-rapid oblique movement, full upon the left wing of
-the phalanx, as it mounted the heights in marching,
-rather than in fighting, order. Here, before it could
-form, almost before it could level its long pikes, it
-was pierced in a hundred places at once; and, in
-almost less time than is required to describe it, the
-fierce Spanish broadswords of the legionaries, fleshed
-in its vitals, had reduced it to a weltering mass of
-inextricable confusion and almost unheard of carnage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Roman left, cheered by the triumph of their
-comrades, rallied upon themselves and returned to
-the charge; and simultaneously an unordered movement
-of a tribune of the soldiers, which should have
-rendered him immortal, although his name has not
-survived, decided the victory, as completely as did
-a like inspiration, on the part of the unrewarded Kellerman,
-decide that of Marengo.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This nameless tribune—a shame that he should be
-nameless—when the enemy’s left and centre fled,
-wheeled with a mere handful of men round the rear
-of Philip’s right, and, gaining the very summit from
-which he had descended, at the moment when the
-Romans rallied in its face, fell like a thunderbolt on
-the unguarded rear of its yet unbroken masses.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In any event, a rear or flank attack upon the phalanx,
-so ponderous a column that it could even when
-unassailed with difficulty form a new face, was perilous;
-here it was fatal.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The battle was ended as by a thunder-clap. Of the
-Macedonians eight thousand fell in the field, five
-thousand laid down their arms; their camp was
-taken, but before the victors entered it, it had been
-sacked by the Ætolians; their king, not tarrying to
-burn his papers at Larissa, fled without drawing
-bridle through Tempe into Macedonia.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of the Romans seven hundred lay dead in their
-ranks on the field; so true is Sallust’s apophthegm,
-that audacity is as a rampart to the soldier, and flight
-more perilous than battle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was not a battle only that was won, but a war
-that was ended.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Yet never was a battle won which was so nearly
-lost, except Marengo; which it in several points
-resembles.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the first place, like Marengo, it was in fact not
-one, but two battles, in which the victors of the first
-were the vanquished of the second.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the second place, like Marengo, its last and
-crowning success was due to an unordered, self-originating,
-charge of a subordinate officer, with a
-mere handful of men on the flank or rear of a victorious
-column.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But in this, unlike Marengo, it was the eagle eye,
-the prompt decision, and the lightning-like execution
-of the general in chief, not the shrewd observation of
-a second in command, that redeemed the half lost
-battle, and changed the pæans of an exulting conqueror
-into groans of anguish and despair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With Cynoscephalæ, terminates the splendor of
-Flamininus’ military career, but not the splendor of
-his life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Philip at once sued for peace, and the general,
-aware that a war had broken out between Antiochus,
-King of Syria, and Rome, and dreading Philip’s co-operation
-with him, if driven to despair, at once
-granted him terms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He withdrew all his garrisons from Greece; delivered
-all his fleet, with the exception of ten galleys;
-paid an indemnification of a thousand talents, for the
-expenses of the war; gave up his son Demetrius as
-a hostage, for his faithful observance of the conditions;
-and, to his credit be it spoken, ever continued
-true in his allegiance to the Romans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At first, apprehending trouble from Antiochus, the
-Senate determined to keep Roman garrisons in the
-three strongholds of Chalcis, Corinth, and Demetrius;
-but so loud were the complaints of the Greeks in
-general, of the Æolians in particular, and so consistent
-did they appear to Flamininus, that he used
-the great personal weight and influence he had gained
-with the people and the Senate, not to obtain personal
-honors, wealth or distinction, but to procure
-the complete liberation of Greece, and the withdrawal
-of every foreign soldier from her confines.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The proudest hour of his life, save one, was when
-he sat in his curule chair at the Isthmian games, a
-spectator of the show, and heard the Roman trumpet-blast
-command attention, and the Roman herald
-make proclamation—“The Senate, and the Imperator,
-Titus Quinctius, having subdued King Philip
-and the Macedonians, give to the Corinthians, Locrians,
-Phocians, Eubæans, Achæans, Pthiotians,
-Magnetians, Thessalians, and Perrhæbians, liberty,
-immunity from garrisons, immunity from tribute,
-and the right of self-government, according to their
-own constitutions.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At first men heard not, or hearing, believed not,
-for very joy, that such happiness could be; and they
-called upon the herald to repeat his proclamation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then such a shout arose as rang from sea to sea
-across the Isthmus. The like of it was never heard
-before or afterward in Greece. And what has often
-been said hyperbolically, to lend grandeur to descriptions
-of the human voice, was then actually seen to
-happen;<a id='r18'/><a href='#f18' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[18]</span></sup></a> for crows winging their way over the
-amphitheatre fell into the arena, stunned by the concussion
-of the air.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As one man, the whole theatre stood up. There
-was no more talk of the combatants. Every one
-spoke of Flamininus, every one would touch the
-hand of the champion, the liberator of Greece.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I said the proudest day of his life, save one. For
-he had one prouder.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Two years longer he tarried among the Greeks, as
-commissioner to see the treaties carried out; and for
-a short time he fell into odium with the people he
-had liberated, for that, when he was warring against
-Nabis, the cruel tyrant and usurper of Lacedæmon,
-and might have dethroned him, he made peace, and
-suffered him to retain his blood-bought dominion.
-Some were so base as to attribute this to jealousy
-of Philipœmen. His own statement, and our knowledge
-of his character bears out that statement, asserts
-that he could not destroy Nabis, without destroying
-Sparta, and that in preference to destroying
-Sparta, he suffered Nabis to go free.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But when he left the shores of Hellas, after interceding
-twenty times, and mediating successfully
-between the Greeks and his successors, the
-Ætolians much desired to make him some great gift,
-that should prove their great love and veneration.
-But the known integrity of the man deterred them;
-for it was notorious that he would receive naught
-that savored of a bribe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last they bethought them. There were in
-Greece twelve hundred Roman citizens, who had
-been captives to Hannibal, and by him sold as slaves.
-Their sad case had of late been sadly aggravated, as
-slaves themselves and bondmen, they all saw their
-countrymen, many their kinsmen, some their brethren
-or their sons, free, conquerors, and hailed as
-saviors of the land, to which they were enslaved.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Titus had grieved for them deeply; but he was too
-poor to ransom them, too just to take them by the
-strong hand from their lawful owners. So the
-Ætolians ransomed them at five minæ<a id='r19'/><a href='#f19' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[19]</span></sup></a> the head;
-and, as he was on the point of setting sail, brought
-them down to the wharf in a body, and presented
-them to him, the gift of liberated Greece. “A gift
-worthy,” says Plutarch, “of a great man, and a
-lover of his country.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gift, say I, which none would have offered but to—what
-is far greater than a great—a good man. A
-gift which proves alike the character of the givers,
-and the receiver. An honor, as few gifts are, to
-both.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I care not that in Flamininus’ triumph those twelve
-hundred ransomed Romans, of their own free will,
-walked with shaven heads and white caps, as manumitted
-slaves, and that the people of Rome had no
-eyes for the hostage prince, or the barbaric gold, or
-the strange Macedonian armor—had no eyes for
-Flamininus himself, but only for the twelve hundred
-manumitted Romans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But I do care that the Ætolians knew, from their
-knowledge of the man, that there was one invaluable
-gift which it would gladden the heart of the incorruptible
-of men to receive at their hands, richer than
-untold gold, inestimable jewels, the priceless liberty
-of freeborn Romans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It does not belong to the military career of Flamininus,
-but it does to the history of his life, that in
-after days he was sent by the Senate ambassador to
-Prusias, king of Bithynia, for the purpose of compelling
-the surrender into their hands of the aged,
-exiled, down fallen Hannibal; and that, rather than
-fall into those pitiless hands, which never refrained
-the scourge and axe from the noblest foeman, the old
-man had recourse to the</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Cannarum vindex et tanti sanguinis ultor,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;Annulus.”<a id='r20'/><a href='#f20' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[20]</span></sup></a></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nor do I choose to pass it over in silence. Since
-it is to be remembered that the highest pride of a
-Roman was to do his duty; and his duty was whatever
-his country ordered. So that, however odious
-the task imposed, and we know too much of this
-man’s character not to be sure that the embassy to
-Prusias was odious, a consular of Rome had no choice
-but to obey Rome’s bidding.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was, moreover, much in the pertinacity
-with which Hannibal journeyed from barbarous court
-to barbarous court, in the hope of kindling a fire-brand
-for Rome’s conflagration, even after his own
-country was prostrate beyond the chance of resurrection,
-to palliate if not justify the rancor of Romans.
-The inextinguishable hater has no right
-to complain if the hatred against himself be inextinguishable.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The last office held by Flamininus, was the censorship—the
-highest, noblest, purest dignity in the
-gift of the state; and never—at least in those days—bestowed
-on any but the noble and the pure. It was
-the Corinthian capital to the career of the honored
-and honorable Roman magistrate, and such was Titus
-Quinctius Flamininus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After this he passes from our sight, and is heard of
-no more in history.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was a great general, a great statesman; perhaps
-of the greatest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But he was something more than a general, more
-than a statesman—he was every inch a man.</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_2'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f2'><a href='#r2'>[2]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We have been favored by Mr. Charles Scribner of
-New York, with the advanced sheets of Mr. Herbert’s
-new work, “The Captains of the Roman Republic,” from
-which we select the following spirited sketch of Titus
-Quinctius Flamininus. We give it as our decided opinion
-that this work will prove superior to its predecessor,
-“The Captains of the Old World.”</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_3'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f3'><a href='#r3'>[3]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To spare the conquered and subdue the proud”—the
-former of which she never did.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_4'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f4'><a href='#r4'>[4]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Livy, xxxi. 34, 35.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_5'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f5'><a href='#r5'>[5]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Col. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, i. 385.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_6'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f6'><a href='#r6'>[6]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Plutarch, Vit. Flamini.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_7'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f7'><a href='#r7'>[7]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ibid.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_8'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f8'><a href='#r8'>[8]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Livy, xxxiii. 8.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_9'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f9'><a href='#r9'>[9]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ibid.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_10'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f10'><a href='#r10'>[10]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Leake. Travels in Northern Greece, vol, 1, p. 385.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_11'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f11'><a href='#r11'>[11]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Plutarch. Flamininus 3.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_12'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f12'><a href='#r12'>[12]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Plutarch, vit. Flaminini. IV. V. Livy, xxxii. 12.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_13'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f13'><a href='#r13'>[13]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Livy, xxxii. 12.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_14'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f14'><a href='#r14'>[14]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Leake. Travels in Northern Greece, i. 296.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_15'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f15'><a href='#r15'>[15]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Livy, xxxii. 13.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_16'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f16'><a href='#r16'>[16]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Livy, xxxii. 32.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_17'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f17'><a href='#r17'>[17]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All the details of this action are from Polybius. Reliquiæ
-Lib. xviii.; who is here singularly clear and vivid
-in his description.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_18'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f18'><a href='#r18'>[18]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Plutarch, vita Flaminini, x.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_19'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f19'><a href='#r19'>[19]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>About twenty pounds sterling.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_20'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f20'><a href='#r20'>[20]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Ring, avenger of Cannæ and of so much blood.—<span class='it'>Juvenal. Satire X.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>An allusion to the poison, by which he died, and which
-he was said to keep concealed in a ring.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk127'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='our'></a>OUR MINNIE’S DREAM.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY A REVERIST.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Her dream is like this book-mark red,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Which has long lain buried</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Within a hallowéd tome;</p>
-<p class='line0'>If to unfold the page, soul-bid,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Mark the contrast, all unsaid,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of the fresh deep ruby—wed</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To the fastness dear of home—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the faded outside hue</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of a token all too true</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;From its claspéd cell to roam.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>All that the idle world hath kenned</p>
-<p class='line0'>Is like the faded, visible end</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of that lore-lettered mark;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dim, sadly paled its pristine hues,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In streaming through earth’s chilling dews,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Obedient to imperious muse.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The folded end, still perfect, bright,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In keeping here of household faith,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Awaits Heaven’s kindly angel, Death,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To open it to truer light.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk128'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='sonn'></a>SONNET.—PLEASURE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY WM. ALEXANDER.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Hues how fantastic dost thou still assume,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Deluding man, amid life’s sweetest scene,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Spreading o’er all his way gay, gorgeous green,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With fairest flowers, which but a moment bloom—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like evening cloud which golden Sol hath decked,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;All evanescent, fading soon away;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;So, Pleasure! grasped, thou hastest to decay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bidding each rising hope in bud be checked—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In Eden, erst, truth-like didst thou appear.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thy right hand holding sweets surpassing fair,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Till, with her sombre train sin entered there,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To drag man thence, an exile full of fear—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Farewell, false Pleasure! and again, farewell—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thy guests, the Wise hath told us, “are in depths of hell.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk129'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='nell'></a>NELLY NOWLAN’S EXPERIENCE.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>BY MRS. S. C. HALL.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I broke off in my last without an ending, which
-I could not help; I am not a bit more mistress of my
-own time than if I was a born lady, and oh, aunt
-dear, but I <span class='it'>do</span> pity them ladies—you’d never believe
-how hard they work—not with their heads or their
-hands, but in a way twice as bad. You think it hard
-enough to put on your things of a Sunday. Oh! if
-you knew the dressing and undressing, the shopping,
-the driving round and round and round in a place
-they call a park—where there’s no sign of a mountain
-or any thing to raise the spirits—the visiting! not
-having a bit of friendly talk with those they like, but
-wearing the life and liveries off their servants, posting
-from house to house, and just leaving little squares of
-<span class='it'>pasteboard</span> at the doors.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Has Lady Jane Vivian never inquired how I
-am?’ asked my poor mistress.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Never, Ma’am,’ I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, she had a puzzled look on her face, and
-there it ended for awhile.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ellen,’ she said again, a few days after, ‘Mrs.
-Brett tells me, Lady Jane Vivian called every day,
-and left cards.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I was fairly bothered about the cards.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Sure, Ma’am,’ I said, ‘what would make her
-leave the cards here, we’re no gamblers;’ this was
-when first I was own maid to my mistress—so she
-smiled again, and said how it was I did not understand
-that ladies left their names printed on pasteboard
-squares; and that was the same thing as a visit.
-Well! I had my own thought of what a cold, unnatural
-thing it was to send a square of pasteboard up
-to a poor sick lady, instead of comforting her, with
-a bright smile and kind words, and all sorts of cheerful
-discourse. But I supposed it was manners, and
-every people have their own; and then she asked
-for the <span class='it'>cards</span>. Now, the mistress of the house we
-lodged in, scrambled up every bit of them pasteboards
-with a title, and stuck them round the looking-glass,
-in her little, dingy back-parlor, for a nobility show.
-So I had to go and ask her to pick out all the Lady
-Jane Vivians, which she did, and gave them with a
-toss of her head, saying, ‘She did not want such a
-scrap of an ould maid’s title for the matter of that, she
-had lords and dukes! calling on her, before now.’ It
-was on the tip of my tongue to say, ‘Calling on your
-lodgers, you mean, ma’am,’ but I held my peace.
-Well! would you believe it? My own mistress was
-as proud of them five bits of pasteboard, as I’d be of
-five shillings! And she bade me bring her a fine
-chaney dish with a small tea-party painted on it, up
-in the air and down on the earth, beside a little railway,
-and little tufty houses one atop of the other,
-and bells at the corners—a fine ancient dish it is, like
-nothing on the earth or in the sea, which she says
-shows its imagination; well, she takes every one of
-the cards up in her poor, thin, trembling fingers, and
-then she rubs them clean and puts them right; the
-Misters and Mistresses, and the young Misses all
-down below, and the Sirs and Lords and Ladies on
-the top; mighty neat entirely to look at; and all the
-time, the darling! she was railing at the vanity of
-the lodging-house woman who wanted to show off
-the fine names, and never seemed to think that she
-was doing the same thing; to be sure, she had a right
-to them, and right is right; but the vanity, to my
-thinking, was all one. I had a deal more to tell you
-about <span class='it'>that</span> church—but <span class='it'>one who knows</span> said, it was
-fitter for me to hold my tongue; the reason is this,
-that it’s better for us, you understand, to keep on
-never heeding them, and not to put them in mind of
-what they are doing, and they will all walk, as easy
-as any thing, back to the fine, true, ould, ancient
-church of Rome: they call it <span class='it'>High Church</span> now, but
-if they’re let alone, <span class='it'>one who knows</span> says, they’ll
-soon be higher, on the highest pinnacle of St. Peter’s!
-so all we have to say, aunt dear, is just good luck to
-every poor traveler on the <span class='it'>right road</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mind Mary Considine, who you used to
-call the blue-bell of the Shannon? She was the
-beauty of the place, I have heard, when she married
-her own first cousin, Ned Considine? don’t you also
-mind telling me how cruel hard she was to be pleased;
-and how, after she had married him, she said she
-intended taking a house, but changed her mind, and
-took Ned, and was greatly disappointed in taking him,
-for he was very deaf?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, who should I chance to find out but this
-very Mr. and Mrs. Considine; and indeed it’s little
-remains of beauty she has now; the country, or rather
-the town life, does not agree any how with beauty,
-living as they do, at the back of ‘God speed,’ in a
-small court; though, as you will see by’n bye, they
-have lashings<a id='r21'/><a href='#f21' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[21]</span></sup></a> of money: they’ve one son and a
-daughter. I met the young girl (she was born to
-them, I may say, in their old age, a last rose of their
-summer) at mass, and I think we knew each other
-by nature: my mistress gave me leave to run over
-and see her, and when she came to me took great
-delight in her smiling, innocent face, and the sweet
-voice I told her she had; and she sang some of the
-Irish melodies like an angel, if you can think of an
-angel singing any thing but holy psalms. And this
-young Mary is well brought up, quite above the common;
-reading and writing is nothing to her; and as
-to other accomplishments she’s wonderful; and can
-tell every fortune out of a book, except her own!
-Now, among the many prides her mother has gathered,
-the one that bothers Mary the most, is that
-she does not like any body to think she is Irish; she
-thinks she <span class='it'>turns her tongue</span> so purty on the English,
-and as my poor mistress says (for she heard her at
-it) with a brogue, a rale Cork brogue; not the same
-as our pretty, delicate Leinster accent; but (as the
-mistress says) ‘a brogue strong enough to carry St.
-Paul’s to St. Peter’s,’ and so I thought, <span class='it'>particularly
-now, when it’s on the road</span>. My mistress says it’s
-quite absurd to look at her courtesey; and when you
-talk to her of her country, to hear her cry out—‘Why
-then, how did you know I was Irish?’ The
-Irish divert my poor mistress a great deal. She encourages
-me to tell all about my country, and she
-has been more like a mother than a lady to Mary
-Considine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But about poor Mary. She was overjoyed that
-her father and mother took so to me, and, indeed, so
-was I, for the music of home is in Mary’s sweet
-voice; and it is the next best thing to being in my
-own land, to hear her sing ‘The Exile of Erin;’ and
-then, while the tears are wet on my cheek, she tunes
-up ‘Shielan-a-guira,’ with a heart and a half; her
-eyes are so beaming with light, that you wonder
-where the dark place is in them, and yet <a id='its'></a>it’s all the
-time a light in darkness. I can’t discourse you now
-her features one by one, but altogether: the poor
-Irish never pass her in the street without a blessing,
-or the English without a stare—still I saw that Mary
-was far from happy. I have not much time to watch
-or inquire, but I could not sleep for thinking of her—Mrs.
-Considine’s mouth was full of the titles of the
-great quality she’d see in the Park, and she traveled
-about with a book she called a peerage, in her
-pocket, while poor Mary would show me the bits of
-flowers she’d pick out of the grass, or bring my mistress
-a bunch of violets from Covent Garden Market.
-As to her father, he hardly ever stirs out, except to
-watch that his son, who has a situation at Blackwall,
-does not spend his pence on an omnibus—he
-makes a fair god of his money; how the priest gets
-over it I don’t know, for he’s the greatest miser
-I ever heard of—a fair neager<a id='r22'/><a href='#f22' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[22]</span></sup></a>—not like his countrymen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, aunt; at last poor little Mary let me into
-the very heart of her trouble. She was in love—in
-love with maybe you think some delicate dandy chap
-of an Englishman; for Mary is very little—a fairy of
-a thing, (God bless us!) that might pass for a real
-‘fairy’ in her own country—as thin as a willow-wand,
-as straight as a bullrush, but small, you understand.
-I wanted her to tell me who it was, and
-she used to hide her face and cry, and then look up,
-blushing like a rose among the dew-drops. At last,
-she said she’d <span class='it'>show</span> him to me next evening; she
-was going to confession, and he would do the same,
-and meet her at the door. So away they went.
-There were three or four young men at the door, one
-with a sky-blue tie and a fine waistcoat. I was so
-sure <span class='it'>that was him</span>, that I never looked at any one
-else; but she passed on, tossing her head disdainfully
-at the blue tie.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘He’s not here,’ she whispered; and the little
-creature trembled on my arm. She soon made a
-clean breast, and I waited, as I had leave to do; the
-sky-blue tie waited also, but Mary was too quick for
-him, she darted round the corner, while he was admiring
-his own shadow, thrown by the full moon on
-the wall, and I after her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Come on,’ she said, almost breathlessly; ‘come
-on; that’s the man my father wants me to marry,
-but <span class='it'>I’ll die first</span>!’ We walked fast, but she took,
-as I thought, the wrong turning—I told her so, but
-she looked up in my face, and smiled. It was a narrow
-court, and at the far end, a smith’s forge. I
-heard the bang of the hammer, and saw the light, all
-in a glow, and a thousand sparkles like falling stars!
-Mary got under the shadow of the houses—she crept
-on, the hammer going, the fire glowing, the sparkles
-falling all the time, and the shadow as of a giant,
-forging the red bar, as if the hammer was a wand.
-Well, she avoided the door, but drew me on to a slit
-in the window, still keeping in the shadow—‘that’s
-him,’ she whispered. Aunt, dear, the sweetheart
-that mite of a little beauty had set her love on, was—just
-there and then—a rale giant! He looked
-strong enough to fling a thunderbolt, and active
-enough to make a play-fellow of the lightning.
-When he stopped, and threw back his hair, I thought
-I had never seen so noble a head, but his face looked
-pale in the flashing light. Mary never spoke but the
-one word, she never sighed, nor signed to him in any
-way, yet he wiped his brow, pulled down his sleeves,
-and came to the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Mary, Mary,’ he whispered, and his voice was
-as soft as the coo of a wood-quest.<a id='r23'/><a href='#f23' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[23]</span></sup></a> ‘Speak, Mary,
-I know you are there, it’s no use hiding from me, I
-know it as well as if my eyes were looking into yours,
-and as if you had told me so.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I am here, Philip,’ she said. ‘My friend was
-with me, and as you were not at the Priest’s, I thought
-you had something to do particular.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Yes, Mary,’ he answered; ‘but <span class='it'>that</span> did not
-keep me. Your father came here to-night; he gave
-me clearly to understand, and without civility, he
-did not wish me to continue to keep your company;
-he said, your mind, as well as his own, turned another
-way.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘And you believed him?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Her voice was like the murmur of a young bird
-in its nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I believed my own eyes,’ he answered, folding
-his great arms over his chest, his eyes glaring in his
-dusky face like coals of fire. ‘I went to the Priest’s
-door, and saw that clean, done-up youth, with his
-blue tie round his throat, and his boyish hands, only
-fit to finger a yard measure, scenting the place with
-his white pocket-handkerchief. O, Mary, fancy my
-hands dangling a scented handkerchief!’ and he
-dashed them passionately forward. ‘When you did
-change,’ he added, ‘you might have chosen a man—not
-a monkey.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘And you misdoubted me,’ she said, standing firm
-and straight in her pride. ‘Well, then, Philip, I’ll
-just say good-bye at once;’ and then she struggled
-and struggled to untwist something from her neck,
-and flung it right in through the window. The fire,
-which had been flickering and flickering, flamed up,
-and there, lying on the black floor, shone a little
-golden locket, and a broken velvet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To my dying day, I shall never forget the look
-that strong man cast from the locket to Mary, but I
-know he could not see <span class='it'>her</span> face, it was in the darkness
-<span class='it'>to him</span>, though I saw, plain enough, her quivering
-lips and glowing cheeks—he stamped on the
-locket, and I heard it scrunch beneath his foot.
-She flew like a rapid over a rock of the Shannon,
-and was away in a minute—I turned to follow her,
-but the strong grasp of the smith was on my
-shoulder.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Why did she come here at all?’ he said, and his
-voice was deep and husky. ‘What brought her?
-why should she come to torture me? it’s all along of
-the old man’s love of money, and her mother’s mad
-love of fine names. She told me my name, Philip
-Roche, was vulgar. O, to think of the love I bore
-her, slaving by day and night to make her a home,
-keeping to my pledge, and working—and well able to
-do it—on water.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mary, I told him, knew nothing of it, she had no
-hand in it: I wanted to tell him how she took me to
-the door to see <span class='it'>him</span>, and not finding him there, drew
-me to the forge—her innocent heart full of love for
-him, and for him alone; the thoughts came fast
-enough into my head, but I could not speak them—I
-was bewildered, the despair written in his face
-haunted me—the look he gave, and the iron hand on
-my shoulder, stupefied me altogether, and though we
-walked on fast—fast after her—I trembled in every
-limb, and lost all power of speech.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Words he certainly spoke betimes, and they
-hissed off his lips, as water hisses off a smoothing-iron.
-We tramped faster and faster, past the houses,
-and under the light of the lamps, and through the
-people, until we came to the court where they lived—<span class='it'>there</span>
-he stopped in sight of the door, and such a
-sight it was to him!—for there, on the very step,
-waiting to have it opened, stood Mary Considine, and
-the blue neck-tie. I cannot tell you, aunt dear, how
-it was that I felt so interested for that strange, strong
-smith, Philip Roche, whom I had never, to say rightly,
-seen. No wonder the people stopped and stared after
-him, for he was without a hat, and his long hair <span class='it'>tossicated</span>
-about his head: I looked up to him, and maybe
-it was best that I could not see his features, I only
-heard him mutter—‘Do you see, do you see? Has
-she <span class='it'>no hand in it now</span>?’ He staggered forward, but
-I caught him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Have patience,’ I said; ‘have patience, it will
-all come right, she has no hand in it.’ He threw me
-off as if I had been a child, and the last I saw of him
-was his head above the people that had gathered
-round the court. I walked quietly on, and when I
-entered the house there stood Mary, white as a sheet,
-while Mr. and Mrs. Considine were doing all manner
-of civilities to the young man, who was acting the
-gentleman, smiling and bowing and twisting a seal—set
-the likes of him up with a seal—at the end of his
-watch-chain—a seal which was big enough for the
-rapper of a hall-door—and dangling a ring he had on
-his starved, crooked, little finger, right in the foolish
-old man’s eyes. ‘And wont you sit down, Mr. Henry
-Highley,’ said one, ‘and wont you stop for <span class='it'>tay</span>,’ says
-the other. And seeing me staring at him, Mrs. Considine
-adds—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘A young lady-friend of my daughter’s, who
-stops mostly with a friend of her own at the West-end.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, aunt, I didn’t care about her calling me a
-lady, but I couldn’t bear being put on a level with
-my mistress, a rale lady born.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And I said, ‘my mistress lives at the West-end,
-sure enough.’ Mrs. Considine frowned at me, and
-Mary left the little room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Come back, Mary,’ called her father; ‘bring
-her back,’ whispered her mother.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was well I followed her—she had fainted: I
-laid her on the bed, and did all I could for her.
-When she was coming to herself, she put up her
-hand—I thought, maybe, to feel for the locket, but
-that might be my fancy. It was long before I could
-make her deaf father understand that she was too ill
-to return, but her mother saw it at once, and after
-we put her to bed, and she drank a cup of tea, and
-said she thought to go to sleep, we left her—I staid
-a few minutes below, though I saw the old man
-wished me gone. And now, aunt, don’t be angry,
-but I think I could have found it in my heart to give
-that <span class='it'>Cub-een</span> of a fellow, a glass of poison: his face
-was not only vicious, sharp, and thin, and active, like
-a rat’s—but he had his eyes every where. I saw
-him weigh the tea-spoon on his fore-finger in a balancing
-sort of fashion, and then look at the mark to
-be sure it was silver: he drew the old people on in
-such a way, getting more out of Mr. Considine than
-ever was got out of him before, as to his property
-and means—getting him to talk of interest and bankers,
-and the like: and the old man cursed the savings
-banks, and said money was never so safe as in one’s
-own house, and that the best of all banks for him
-was his leather bag—the more I looked at Mr. Henry
-Highley, the more I hated him, and sorry enough
-was I to know that young Considine had gone a journey
-for his employer, and was not to the fore, when
-most wanted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I stole up for another look at Mary. She was,
-or <span class='it'>pur</span>tended to be, asleep; but it was put into my
-heart to kneel down and pray for her. The words
-were not many, but the Lord knew their meaning.
-I dipped my finger in the holy-water cup, that hung
-at the head of her bed, and signed the blessed sign
-over her forehead, without touching her. She looked
-so helpless, and so lonely there—her young innocent
-face, still wet with tears, turned up to the heavens—the
-moonlight was hindered from shining on her by
-the fog that hangs about the London streets by day
-and night; and maybe so best, for moonlight lays
-heavy on a throbbing brow, and is not over lucky,
-particularly—as you know—when it’s full moon. So
-I did not go into the little room again, but hurried
-home, for I had overstaid my time by more than an
-hour. I was near my own street, when who came
-to my side but Mr. Henry Highley: and he said, it
-was dull walking my lone,<a id='r24'/><a href='#f24' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[24]</span></sup></a> and he’d see me home,
-and I told him I had the sight of my eyes, and could
-see myself and him too. And he said I was very
-witty, and I said, I was sorry I could not return the
-compliment. Then he thought to fish out about my
-mistress—she must be a rich lady to keep the likes
-of me. And I answered riches had nothing to do
-with that: I did not want to sell myself, or buy any
-one, and that I should be happier to serve for love
-than for money; but he stuck to the question—Had
-she plate and jewels? So, turning sharp on him, I
-said that any one would think he was a house-breaker,
-and I laughed: this was at the door; and
-there was a policeman passing, who stopped. Well,
-aunt, Mr. Henry Highley, without another word—with
-your leave or by your leave—whisked off.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘What do you know of that young man?’ inquired
-the blue-coat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Nothing pleasant,’ I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Where did you meet him?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘You are neither judge or jury, to be questioning
-me,’ I answered; for it isn’t the nature of an Irish
-girl to put up with a policeman.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I mark you,’ he said very stiff—but they are all
-that—‘and when the time comes, young woman, I’ll
-find a way to make you tell,’ and he walked off.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, aunt dear, sure I had enough of walking on
-and off that night! My mistress was angry; but I
-did as you told me often enough—instead of making
-excuses, and inventions, which come mighty pleasant
-and natural, I just told the plain truth—quiet and easy—all
-except the last, for I did not wish to make her
-uneasy, as I was myself, having a cruel bad opinion
-of Mr. Henry Highley.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It’s mighty <span class='it'>quare</span> how, in this wonderful city of
-business and bother, how your little, peaceful sayings,
-darling aunt! and the songs you sung to the
-wheel of a winter’s evening, with none but the
-pusheen-cat, and myself, and a cricket or two to the
-fore, come into my head, or one of Watts’ hymns,
-in the very bustle of the town: I often dust the room
-to ‘Aileen Mavourneen,’ and brush my lady’s hair
-to ‘Eveleen’s bower,’ played on the chords of my
-heart. Sometimes, when I draw back the curtain,
-and shade the light of the pale night-lamp, with my
-hand, for fear it might wake her—the mistress I
-mean—for I never lay down until she is asleep: often,
-when I watch her features, worn with pain, yet
-so still, and gentle-looking, and see her pale, pink
-lips, half open, and such a sweet smile on them, I
-think—the sleeping face differs so from the waking
-one—that angels must be whispering the joys that
-will come. When the last dull sleep is ended, aunt,
-I am sure I should go mad if I thought that dear innocent
-woman, so tortured in this world, yet so
-meek in herself, so thoughtful and generous to the
-poor, so kind in her judgments, so fond to take the
-sorrows of all who have sorrow into her bosom, and
-turn them to blessings—I should indeed break my
-heart, if I believed that, for reading the one book another
-way, we should never meet in the world that’s
-to come. I can’t believe it, so there’s enough about
-it. As I looked at her, the song of ‘The Angels’
-Whisper,’ came for a second time into my head that
-night, and then I <span class='it'>crooned</span> over that ‘Savourneen
-delish’ you are so fond of; and that brought poor
-Tom and his motherless children before me! Aunt,
-dear—maybe I didn’t use Tom well! I couldn’t
-help it: though you often told me I should not cast out
-dirty water until I could get clean—not a grate compliment
-to Tom either!—yet to be obliged, after a
-few words, to be a mother all out to three sharp
-children; and if <span class='it'>he</span> was cold and weary, and didn’t
-smile and talk every day the same, to have the
-creeping chill steal over me like the shake,<a id='r25'/><a href='#f25' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[25]</span></sup></a> that
-he was thinking of his first wife, and maybe comparing
-us in his own mind—that would drive me as
-wild as the other thing I tould you of a while ago;
-and yet, I own to you, I have thought more of poor
-Tom since I left home, than ever I did while I was
-there.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The next day, and the next day, and the next
-passed, and no word from Mary, and my mistress
-was ill. Once I ran as far as the turn to the
-lane, and looked down at the forge. The fire was
-burning low, and there was no sound of the hammer
-on the anvil. At last, Mrs. Considine herself called;
-she was very full of prate: she had the dirty red
-book, as usual, half sticking out of her black bag:
-she said, that indeed Mary had demeaned herself by
-taking up with nothing but a smith, a great friend of
-her brother’s, and one she would not deny who had
-done him more than one good turn, and would be
-right well to do in the world if he had a little capital
-to push him on, which neither her nor her husband
-would give to a man of the name of Roche.
-Roche, indeed! Roches were as plentiful as black-berries,
-and as common, where she came from. Set
-her Mary before the priest with a Roche? No, no;
-Mr. Henry Highley was the man for their money, so
-nice a gentleman; for every sovereign her husband
-laid down as Mary’s fortune, he would lay down another,
-or could two! And such <span class='it'>jewelery</span> as he had;
-rings for every finger, and fine watches, one set with
-precious stones—which had belonged to his grandmother—a
-Talbot itself! There was all about the
-family printed in the peerage, and sure it wouldn’t
-be <span class='it'>there</span> if it wasn’t true—but indeed she couldn’t
-tell what was come over Mary: she had no pride,
-no spirit in her; her husband would weigh the
-watches in his hand, and look at the rings all day,
-and ask what they were worth over and over again,
-and take them to bed with him, if he was let, he had
-such delight in them. But they might be so much
-<span class='it'>pinchback</span>, for any thing Mary cared; they would
-have the wedding at once, and when it was over,
-she’d know better. Mr. Highley was so fond of
-her, he wouldn’t hear of delay, not even until her
-brother came home! She let on that Mary, when
-married, would be too grand company for the likes
-of me, but that <span class='it'>she</span> would not be proud. I might
-look in sometimes, she’d be glad to see my mistress
-when they got into a new lodging, which Mr. Highley
-said they must after the wedding—for <span class='it'>his</span> sake,
-dear, sweet, well-born, well-bred young gentleman!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Like her impudence, it was: <span class='it'>My mistress itself!</span>
-<span style='font-size:smaller'>MY MISTRESS!</span> visit with her: och hone!
-What would the cards on the fine china dish say to
-it, if they could but speak? But, aunt dear, what
-do you think I did, when she, and her bag, and her
-book were cleared out of the house? I told my
-mistress every word she had said. Now it was a
-mercy that she was quite herself that morning, and
-sure enough she has a head almost as clear for business
-as our dear <span style='font-size:smaller'>QUEEN’S</span>! God bless it for ever,
-for a right, royal, noble head!—the Queen’s, I mean—She
-did not ponder long, but laying her spectacles
-in her Bible, for a mark, she set it besides the china
-dish.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Ellen,’ she said, ‘have you ever seen the policeman,
-who spoke to you, since that night?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And I said I had: that very morning he was on
-our beat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Bring him to me, Ellen.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My heart was <span class='it'>leping</span>—leping up into my mouth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Bring him into the house?’ I repeated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘into the house.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Have I done any thing wrong, ma’am?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So she smiled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Nothing, but very right: do as I tell you.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That ‘Do as I tell you,’ is the same thing as
-‘Hold your tongue.’ So, aunt dear, if you please,
-you must just fancy me looking for a real, living
-policeman; and for a wonder, I found him when he
-was wanted. He soon stood like a <span class='it'>statute</span> before
-my mistress.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She told him word for word what I have told
-you: he noted it all down in a bit of a book, and was
-mighty particular over the number of rings and the
-Talbot watch; he then looked at me, and my mistress
-nodded for me to leave the room. Now, wasn’t
-that too bad?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I never felt more hard set to put up with any
-thing in my born days; but I went—and, only my
-mistress has nerves, wouldn’t I have banged the
-door? When the bell rung he was gone: she told
-me I was to go over in the evening, and see Mary.
-When I got there, Mrs. Considine was watching for
-the postman, who was coming down the court. She
-took a letter from him, which I saw was directed to
-Mary: she read it hastily, and tossed it into the fire.
-‘My relations,’ she said, with a toss of a different
-kind, ‘hearing of the fine match Mary is going to
-make, write constantly to get them situations.’ A
-double story—I was so ashamed for her. Aunt dear,
-God bless you for teaching me that there is no such
-thing as an ‘innocent lie.’ The old miser of a man
-was in a little inner room they have, divided by a
-passage from the one we were in, where they sleep
-themselves: the windows open into a lane, dark as
-dungeon by day or night. He was fumbling at his
-leather bag, and came out talking to himself, muttering
-such things as these—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘At first he said it should be guinea for guinea;
-but now, it’s two guineas for one—two guineas for
-one! Ah! Nelly Nowlan, a fine match! The
-smith had nothing but his four bones, and would
-have wanted my hard-earned, little savings, and no
-guinea for guinea, or one to two:’ and his eyes, so
-dim and glassy, rolled within their seamed lids, and
-he rubbed his skinny, bloodless hands together, as if
-joy and gold were all one. ‘Money makes the man,’
-he continued, ‘all England owns that: they are a
-wise people, the English, they never ask <span class='it'>what you
-are</span>, but <span class='it'>what you have</span>. When my pretty daughter
-sits on her own car, wont every one bow to her and
-I? O, if I was back in my own place, instead of poor
-ould Ned Considine, wouldn’t I be Mr. Edward, sir,
-with a ’squire to it! Ah, ah, I know the world, but
-the world does not know me!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Has there been no letter?’ I heard the low,
-trembling voice of Mary inquire, as she entered the
-house.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The girl’s foolish to be asking after letters.
-One from Ireland, from our people, wanting places,’
-was her mother’s reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When Mary saw me, she burst into tears, and
-hung about my neck like a child. She whispered
-that she was not long for this world, that Philip had
-forgotten her, that she should never be happy more.
-She would obey her parents and die—my mistress
-had warned me to hear all and say nothing. I comforted
-poor Mary as well as I could, and was asked
-to the wedding the next day—I told my mistress, and
-again she saw the policeman. O, aunt, wasn’t it
-cruel of the mistress not to trust me? I didn’t care
-what she had to say, but I did want to be trusted.
-She said she did not fear my zeal, only my discretion.
-Wasn’t it hard?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I went to the wedding—there was the Priest, a
-fine, ould, ancient Clargy, of the right sort: there
-was the bridegroom, looking pale and wicked, with
-as much finery on him as would set up a jeweler’s
-shop. There was the father and mother, all excited;
-there were a couple of bridesmaids, new-fangled acquaintances,
-and two or three strangers, friends of the
-bridegroom’s, that Mr. and Mrs. Considine made a
-great fuss over, and called by the finest of names:
-there was a dinner, half-laid out in an upper room,
-that no one on the banks of the Shannon ever saw
-the like of: little puff things, all ornamented out by
-a real confectioner, in a white apron, such a sight of
-folly and nonsense. I was quite set on one side, and
-looked on any thing but kindly by the whole of them,
-except the old man, who kept on talking about his
-money. They seemed all unnatural to me, as if they
-only wanted the bride as a part of the ceremony,
-while all over the world, if a woman is ever as a
-queen, <a id='its2'></a>it’s from the morning till the evening of her
-wedding day, what she is after that depends upon another.
-The bridesmaids kept going in and out, and
-at last, one had the manners to tell me, the bride
-wanted me. I knew that long ago.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She was standing like a spirit, all in white, in the
-middle of her little room. She seemed turned into
-stone, stiff and stark as a corpse in its shroud: her
-mother was wringing her hands by her side, her face
-like scarlet, and if ever she spoke with a brogue she
-did then.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Och Mary a lanna machree!—Sure it isn’t disgracing
-us you’d be, going back of your word, Mary,
-my own darlin’ child. Sure, darlin’, I hated the
-very ground yer father walked on, even after I had
-married him a good while. I was disappointed in
-him, dear: but when I got over thinking of love,
-and all that sort of nonsense, when my heart dried
-up, and I was all head, I knew what a fine, savin’
-man I had got, who understood the value, even of a
-brass farthing: he was <span class='it'>ould</span> enough to be my father—let
-alone yours; but what does that signify, he
-helped me to grow ould before my time: and look at
-the money he’s able to give you, and win you, Mary
-<span class='it'>mavourneen</span>—what’s come to you, child? sure you
-consented all out, and what ails you now?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I pressed her cold hands within mine: they felt
-turned into bone, cold and hard and dry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘You’re murderin’ your own child, Mrs. Considine,’
-I said: ‘you are killing her as surely as if
-you put a pistol to her head, or poison to her lips.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wicked old man called to Mary from the bottom
-of the stairs to go down, and added a curse on
-her delay: the bridesmaids—one in particular, who
-was as hard as the rest at first, had kept on saying—God
-forgive her—that love one side was like a fire,
-and would soon catch the other—now looked terrified,
-and pity-struck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Again the call and the curse were repeated:
-Mary started, as if from a dream: she drank off a
-glass of water from her mother’s hand, who kept repeating—‘That’s
-a jewel, there’s a darlin’, <span class='it'>corra
-machree</span> was she,’ and such like nonsense; to which
-the poor girl made no reply, but pressed her hands
-on her temples, and whispered to me—‘Pray to God
-for me!’ She walked straight into the room: the
-bridegroom met her with ‘Sweet Love,’ and a
-flourish of his pocket-handkerchief, a smile on his
-lips—but such oak-sticks between his eyes. She put
-him on one side with her little hand, and advancing to
-the priest, knelt down reverently before him: there
-was a hush in the room, nothing heard but the clink
-of the gold in the leather bag the old man was shaking
-out of pride.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“O, it would have melted a heart of stone to look
-at that young creature! Tears overflowing her face,
-so that she could not speak, and her hands wrung together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The bridegroom whispered something to her
-mother about her being nervous, but it would soon
-go off: I could have killed him! He then handed
-round the ring for us to look at; aye, while <span style='font-size:smaller'>SHE</span> was
-weeping and trembling at the priest’s feet. When
-he held it to me, I struck it down. Aunt, I could
-not help it! What a look he gave! It rolled along
-the floor; but his attention was drawn to Mary’s
-words.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Father,’ she sobbed, to the priest, ‘save me—save
-me from my own people; save me, a young,
-helpless girl; save me from marrying him I hate.
-Oh, do not let them put the sin of a false oath upon
-my young head—I cannot love him. Father, you
-know I owned to you in holy confession, but ten
-days past, that I loved another—that I love him still.
-I will never, never speak to him, or write to him, or
-ask to set eyes on him again; I will quit the world,
-and go into a holy house if you think me fit for it—but
-oh, save me, save me from perjuring my soul—save
-me,’ she repeated wildly, ‘or I shall go mad!’
-To see the holy priest raise her up; to see him place
-her in his own chair; to see him put his hands upon
-her head, and hear his words of comfort! ‘Trust in
-me, my dear child; I will never join a willing to an
-unwilling hand; be calm, my child; and you,’ he said,
-turning to the bridegroom, ‘and you, have <span class='it'>you</span> the
-feelings of a man, to stand by and see this, and wish
-to keep her to her promise?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I never promised him—I never promised him,’
-sobbed Mary—‘the most I ever said, and that was in
-anger and agony—was—that I would do my parents’
-bidding. Father! Mother!—you cannot be so cruel
-at the last.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Considine edged up to his reverence—‘Talk to
-her, holy father,’ he muttered, ‘talk to her: he’s so
-rich—rings, and watches and <span class='it'>goolden</span> guineas two to
-one, holy father, think of that? two to one! her mother
-married me for my goold, and we’ve been happy—two
-to one, holy father!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Begone!’ said the priest sternly, in such grand
-English, ‘and do not dare to stain this holy sacrament
-by the money-loving spirit that crushes your soul to
-destruction. If this dear child persists in her refusal,
-I myself forbid the marriage.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, aunt dear, the lep I gave, and found myself at
-his holy feet as if he was the Pope of Rome! and surely
-no pope could have looked more like a guardian angel
-than he did at that minute.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I must speak with you in private,’ said the
-bridegroom to his intended father-in-law as meek as
-a lamb, ‘just one word;’ and he laid his hand so
-gently on the old man’s arm: ‘this can be arranged.’
-They went out of the room together, Mrs. Considine
-exclaiming, while clapping her hands so vulgarly!
-‘<span class='it'>Och-e-yah!</span> the poor, dear young man! Ah, then!
-Och Mary, my <span class='it'>gra</span> girl, how could you have the heart
-to refuse such a match? and he, after promising you
-a car—a cab, I mean, of your own. Och Mary, darlin’,
-be friends with him, Mary <span class='it'>Machree</span>! <span class='it'>Och yah!</span>
-poor broken-hearted crayther that I am!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She kept on that way for some time, until a fall,
-which shook the house, and the dull, hoarse scream
-of murder startled us into silence. The priest and
-myself rushed to the door; but the two groomsmen
-came between us, exclaiming, ‘It was in the court.’
-I saw the whole thing then, like a flash of lightning,
-bright and clear. Again the cry. We cleared the
-way somehow; the window of their bed-room was
-open, and the poor old man, blinded by the blood
-which gushed from a wound in his head, was groveling
-on the floor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We lifted him up: his fingers kept on grappling
-the air, while his cries of ‘Murder!’ and ‘Help!’
-were broken by such words as ‘My money! my
-bag! my hard-earned money! catch him! two to one
-indeed! Oh let me after him!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was an awful sight—the roars of the old man
-for his money, the shrieks of Mrs. Considine, the
-still more terrible calmness of Mary, who, while
-binding up her father’s head, said ‘This is my doing.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was a scuffling at the outward door.
-‘Keep a brave heart, Mary Considine,’ said the priest,
-‘he’s not hurt to signify.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘A hundred and fifty in the bag, not a farthing
-less, the murdering young villain; oh, I can’t live—I
-wont live.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Shame upon you,’ said the silver voice of the
-fine old priest. ‘Give God thanks for your deliverance,
-first from the man, next from your money.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘They are both here,’ said my policeman, who
-came upon us unawares; ‘it would be strange if we
-were not up to Bill Soames. We caught him on the
-bound, but I managed badly this time; I ought to
-have saved you that tap on the head, old gentleman;
-though I must say it serves you right, to want to give
-that poor girl to a fellow once tried for bigamy, and
-a house-breaker to boot!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Aunt, I tore a silk handkerchief to ribands, trying
-to keep my hands off the blue tie, who stood as
-if nothing had happened, between two other policemen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It’s but a step to the court, and the magistrate
-is sitting,’ continued the superintendent; ‘half an
-hour will send my old acquaintance to his quarters.’
-Of course there was plenty of people outside; and in
-the midst of it all the two groomsmen had cleared the
-table of every spoon, and Mr. Considine’s own watch,
-during the time we were with the old man. Oh,
-what a deliverance for poor Mary!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My heart flew into my mouth—I was as light as
-a lark leaving the corn-field for the sky in the early
-morning, and from the same cause, both thankful for
-the new light!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I was <span class='it'>so</span> happy!—‘He’s of a <span class='it'>high family</span>,
-ma’am,’ said the policeman, with a knowing look at
-Mrs. Considine; ‘all that I heard of, traveled at the
-expense of government, while some—you understand
-me?—’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He made a sign round his throat, not pleasant to
-look at, while Mrs. Considine’s grief took a new
-turn, and she bemoaned the disgrace to her family,
-and the loss of the family plate! It was delightful
-how brisk the old man grew when he knew that his
-money was found—he called the cut a scratch, and
-said ‘his head would be all the better for a taste of
-the ould times,’ and away they went, the whole
-party—barring<a id='r26'/><a href='#f26' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[26]</span></sup></a> his reverence, and Mary, Mrs. Considine
-(who declared nothing should force her to
-enter a police-court) and myself—were cleared out
-of the house, and I had the satisfaction of seeing Mr.
-Henry Highley in the grasp of two policemen; Mary
-came wonderful to herself, considerin’, and went to
-her room. I peeped through a crack, and saw her
-on her knees before the image of the blessed Virgin.
-Mrs. Considine continued sobbing, and exclaiming
-all the time she wandered about the house—I was
-just going to see how they were getting on in the
-court, when the priest called me back.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Nelly,’ he says; I made my courtesy—‘Nelly,’
-he says again—‘it is a beautiful dinner.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Indeed, your reverence,’ I answered, ‘it would
-be <span class='it'>that</span> certainly when the solid things come on the
-table; there was to be a roast turkey, and a ham,
-and such a lovely piece of boiled beef—poor Mrs.
-Considine was bemoaning it all to me not a minute
-ago.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘A ham, a roast turkey, and a fine piece of
-boiled beef,’ repeated his reverence slowly, ‘besides
-all the kickshaws—and wine?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The finest of port, (thick round the bottles with
-age) and champagne, that the villain of a bridegroom
-brought,’ I answered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Say nothing about who brought it, Nelly, if
-it’s <span class='it'>there</span>, and he’s not,’ said his reverence—he
-paused awhile, but I knew by the twinkle of his
-eyes, he was thinking of something past the common—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It’s a mighty fine dinner, Nelly!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It is, your reverence.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Nelly, it’s a sin and a shame to have such a
-dinner as that in the house, and no wedding.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘True, for your reverence.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Nelly, we must have a wedding!’ and he looked
-me through and through.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Your reverence,’ I said—hardly knowing how
-to answer, ‘knows best; but I don’t see how at this
-present time; it’s my ignorance, your reverence.’
-He shook his head and smiled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘I know the secrets of more hearts than one, and
-instead of going down to the court, just step away to
-Philip Roche, and tell him what happened and how
-Mary kept true to her old love, and let him dress
-himself at once—we’re not tied to canonical hours
-like our neighbors—and tell him from me, to come
-here, and before the evening’s out, Nelly, we’ll have
-a wedding, and a dinner, and a dance!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, how I flew! There was Philip in the thick
-of cold iron, reading a paper about emigration. I
-never saw a man so altered: he was but the ghost of
-himself, bent and bowed and broken-hearted, he
-seemed, and his voice as changed as himself, he
-knew me at once, and knew that it was <span class='it'>her</span> wedding
-day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It’s all over by this time, I know,’ he said,
-with a ghastly smile; ‘and I suppose you have
-brought me the bride-cake tied with green riband.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Here was the place,’ he continued, going across
-a little yard, ‘where I thought she might live quiet
-and content; a pretty, bright room for London, and
-two others inside it—she could sit in that window
-at her sewing, and sing; and, if she raised her head,
-see me at work at the forge—she never even answered
-my letters—for I was too hasty that evening;
-but it’s over now. She never can be any thing
-more to me; yet this day’s post brought me a letter,
-telling of an uncle’s death in New York, who has left
-a good thousand English pounds, to be divided between
-my brother and myself; so I’ll just sell off,
-and go after it. Old Considine might have kept his
-money; it was not <span class='it'>that</span> I wanted; but it’s all over!’
-Such a wail as there was in the voice of the strong,
-broken down man, like the <span class='it'>sough</span> of the winter’s
-wind, I could keep silent no longer. I believe he
-thought me wild—mad; I could hardly begin my tale
-for joy—joy throbbing in my heart—joy beating in
-my throat, and keeping back my words. I got it
-out at last, all that passed in one little hour, on which
-depended so much happiness or misery; oh, aunt, he
-is such a great darlint! Not a bit of exultation over
-Mr. and Mrs. Considine; only bitter reproaches to
-himself for not having understood Mary better; wondering
-if she could ever forgive him!—and so glad
-her father was not badly hurt. Oh, how my heart
-warmed to him! And when, at last, I bid him trust
-all to his reverence, to see how quickly he dressed!
-and maybe <span class='it'>he</span> didn’t look like an O’Brian, or an
-O’Sullivan, or some of the great, grand O’s—so
-plenty about Killarney in the ancient times. I didn’t
-know my own shadow on the wall, side-beside his;
-and yet he was so overcome, that at times he stopped
-from downright weakness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The priest opened the door with his own blessed
-hands: they had returned from the police-court, and
-his reverence had both the old people crying. I
-don’t think Mr. Considine heard all he said; but,
-indeed, his heart was softened; he was ashamed of
-having been imposed on by a well-known London
-thief; and who can say that he was not grateful for
-his deliverance? for, next to his money, he loved his
-child.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Come in, Philip Roche,’ said the priest; ‘there
-has been a bit of a misunderstanding here, which we
-are sorry for; but it’s well to forget and forgive.
-Mrs. Considine says she never believed Mary thought
-so much about you, or she would not have put between
-you: if you can make friends with the little
-girl up-stairs, we’ll have the wedding!—and the
-dinner!—and now, Nelly Nowlan, I trust to you to
-bring Mary Considine down, without telling her why.
-Leave that to me.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, then, isn’t that priest a rale minister? The
-delight he took in his little innocent plot, and all to
-make those young people happy! He hid away
-Philip in the back-room, and Mary came with me,
-easy enough, when I told her her father and mother
-were crying.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Now, Mary, my child,’ says the priest, ‘you’ll
-obey me, wont you?—that’s right. I must give you
-a penance, Mary: I saved you from one husband,
-my darling—I have found you another!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The life that had come slowly back to the poor
-girl seemed leaving her altogether, but Philip could
-not bear it—he rushed forward, and caught her in
-his arms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I can’t tell you what he said, aunt, or what any
-one said; but in less than five minutes the priest had
-opened his book.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘What will be done for a ring?’ sobbed Mrs.
-Considine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I had picked up the one I struck from the hand
-of that wicked man, and said so.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Use <span class='it'>his</span> ring!’ exclaimed Philip; and he flung
-it into the fire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Oh, the sinful waste!’ screamed old Considine;
-‘it was pure gold.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He would have raked the fire out to find it, but
-the priest commanded him to be still. Oh, but he’s
-a fine man; only terrible in anger. Aunt, I’ll tell you
-the truth; if I had a very heavy sin, it’s not to him
-I’d go.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The key of the door will do as well,’ he said;
-‘it’s the <span class='it'>sign</span> of the Eternal Union we want, nothing
-more.’ No one gainsaid him, and in another five
-minutes they were bound together in the sight of
-God and man.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘And now for her fortune, Mr. Considine,’ said
-the good priest, so considerate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The young smith stood straighter than ever on the
-floor; straight and firm. With one arm he drew his
-little bride to his heart, the other he held out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘It would all feel to me like a dream,’ he said,
-‘but for this.’ He pressed her more closely to him,
-bent down and kissed her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Keep your money, Mr. Considine; cross or coin
-of yours, sir, I’ll never touch. Mary was all I ever
-cared for, and only this blessed morning did I learn
-that it has pleased God to give me what you think so
-much of. Mary, your husband has five hundred
-good pounds of his own: keep your money, Mr. Considine,
-I never cared for it; but I must say—’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘<span class='it'>No more</span>,’ interrupted the priest. ‘Let us have
-in some of our good friends and neighbors; and,
-Nelly Nowlan, sure it’s a comfort that the beautiful
-dinner wont be wasted.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And so, aunt darling, there’s an end of Mary
-Considine; for in all the books I read my mistress,
-there seems an end of a woman when she marries—a
-wife and a mother go for nothing! And maybe, I
-haven’t something to tell you about <span class='it'>that</span>, for sure
-enough, the women (some of them) want to change
-places; now who do you think with, aunt? I am
-sure your simple head would never find out. Shall
-I tell you next time?”</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_21'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f21'><a href='#r21'>[21]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Plenty.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_22'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f22'><a href='#r22'>[22]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Neager, <span class='it'>i. e.</span> miser.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_23'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f23'><a href='#r23'>[23]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Wood-Pigeon.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_24'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f24'><a href='#r24'>[24]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My lone,” alone.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_25'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f25'><a href='#r25'>[25]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Shake,” ague.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_26'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f26'><a href='#r26'>[26]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Except, putting aside.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk130'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='toad'></a>TO ADHEMAR.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>———</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:0.8em;font-weight:bold;'>E. A. L.</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>———</p>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Thy voice flows o’er my list’ning heart, like sound</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;From fairy fount, or lute in land of dreams,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And full thy loveliness upon me teems,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With thy bright presence lighting all around,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Until my pulses leap like rills unbound.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I see again thine eyes’ effulgent beams—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I walk with thee along the laughing streams—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thro’ whispering groves—o’er flower-bespangled ground,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And feel thy glowing touch my heart-strings thrill,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As I upon thy doating arm recline,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Listing thee speak, from out thy spirit’s shrine.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Love-freighted words, whose heavenly music still</p>
-<p class='line0'>Steals softly o’er my weary, thirsting soul,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Exerting o’er it aye a calm and sweet control.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk131'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='rev'></a>REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.</h1></div>
-
-<hr class='tbk132'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Course of the History of Modern Philosophy. By M. Victor
-Cousin. Translated by O. W. Wight. New York: D.
-Appleton &amp; Co. 2 vols. 8vo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The thinking portion of the reading public are under
-great obligations to Mr. Wight for his vigorous and accurate
-version of Cousin’s master work, and to the
-Messrs. Appletons for the beautiful dress in which it fitly
-appears. It belongs, indeed, to that rare class of works
-which illustrate the intellectual history of the age in which
-they are produced; and it deserves the attention of all
-readers who desire to take the first step in acquiring a
-taste for metaphysics. It is composed of two courses of
-lectures, originally delivered in Paris to large and enthusiastic
-audiences, whose admiration of the splendid
-eloquence of the lecturer soon compelled them to love the
-subject likewise; and when published, their influence was
-felt in every country into which the French language and
-literature penetrates, and caused a revival in philosophy,
-which somewhat amazed its hard and dry cultivators from
-its peculiarity and its extent. These lectures, indeed,
-made metaphysical science popular everywhere. Men
-and women read Victor Cousin as they read Scott and
-Byron. His bold and dazzling generalizations, expressed
-in a style of singular clearness, energy and vehemence,
-stimulated the most jaded minds; and the dictatorial confidence
-with which he settled all the problems of history,
-philosophy and religion, and the ease with which his
-solutions were comprehended, made him the universal
-favorite. There was something captivating, too, in the
-theory by which he reconciled all the various systems in
-his eclectic and electric method. There are four systems,
-sensualism, idealism, skepticism, and mysticism, each having
-its root in consciousness, each containing an element
-of truth, and each wrong as an exclusive system. Select
-from these what is true, place the four partial truths in
-their relations, and the result is the eclectic philosophy.
-This is a loose, short-hand statement, in unphilosophic
-language, of Cousin’s scheme.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It must be admitted that Cousin’s system did not long
-hold its ground. After the first surprise was over, the
-metaphysicians <span class='it'>par eminence</span> began to attack him with
-great fury, and gave him some blows from which he has
-never recovered; and the public, who had been carried
-away by his eloquence, forgot him as soon as another
-novelty appeared. The result has been, that of late he has
-not been estimated according to his real merits. He most
-certainly has not done what he pretended to do. He has
-not reconciled the philosophers or the philosophies; he
-has hardly formed a school; his disciples have expired, recanted,
-or left the inclusive for some more satisfactory exclusive
-system. But he is still a metaphysician of uncommon
-power, acuteness, insight, genius; his works are full
-of important truths and principles, which stimulate the mind
-to independent thought; his information is immense; and
-he is the most brilliant, comprehensible and readable of all
-the historians of philosophy. He is to metaphysical history
-what Macaulay is to civil history; and we do not see
-why the present work is not as capable of holding the
-pleased and breathless attention of the intelligent reader as
-the “History of the Revolution of 1688.” There is in
-both writers the same confident manner of settling controversies
-about which centuries of disputants have
-wrangled; and, on the first blush, it seems impossible to
-resist the statements of either of them, as both drive
-directly at the common sense of men; are clear and brilliant,
-while their opponents are obscure and dull; and
-never leave the impression of an undefined something outside
-of the limits of their respective systems, to puzzle and
-torture their readers with a latent doubt. “I wish,” said
-Lord Melbourne, “that I knew any thing as well as Tom
-Macaulay knows every thing.” This “I know,” and “I
-am sure,” this absence of self-distrust, is as characteristic
-of Cousin as Macaulay; and the mischief is that after reading
-either, we are apt to be as satisfied as they are themselves,
-and think we have thoroughly mastered the matter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It would be impossible in our limited space to convey
-an idea of the contents of these volumes. Beginning with
-the proposition that philosophy is a special want and necessary
-product of the human mind, and the last development
-of thought, Cousin proceeds to show that it has
-existed in every epoch of humanity, is a real element of
-universal history, and contains the explanation of its
-various parts. He thus explains Indian Civilization by
-the Bhagavad-Gita, the age of Pericles by the philosophy
-of Socrates, the sixteenth century by the philosophy of
-Descartes, the eighteenth century by the philosophy of
-Condillac and Helvetius. He then states the psychological
-method in history, a method which is neither empirical or
-speculative, but combines the two, seeking in history the
-development of the human reason. After stating the fundamental
-ideas of history, which are the fundamental ideas
-of the human reason, namely, the Infinite, the finite, and
-the relation between the two, he treats the great epochs
-of history as answering to the successive development of
-these ideas. The influence of geography, of nations, and of
-great men, in history, is then stated with great eloquence,
-force, and subtle complication of truth and paradox. Some
-vigorous sketches of the historians of humanity and philosophy,
-in which their merits are luminously exhibited and
-their defects acutely analyzed, are followed by a view of
-the philosophy of the 19th century. The eclectic tendency
-of European society and philosophy is noted, and the
-necessity is shown of a new general history of philosophy
-to explain the new movement of thought. Next follows
-a picture of the eighteenth century, with the character and
-method of its philosophy. Its different systems are not
-peculiar to that century; and the origin, natural development,
-relative utility, and intrinsic merit of Sensualism,
-Idealism, Skepticism, and Mysticism, the four classes into
-which all ideas fall, are vigorously and clearly stated. The
-history of these is then given, in a splendid review of the
-Hindoo, Greek, Scholastic, and modern philosophies; and
-the sensualism of the eighteenth century is traced to all
-its sources. A criticism of Locke, running through ten
-lectures, and generally considered to be the ablest of
-Cousin’s productions, concludes the work.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It will be seen, even from this bold outline, that all the
-questions which have puzzled human reason, and to which
-it has at different periods given different answers, are
-stated and discussed in Cousin’s work. The splendor
-and the beauty, the unwearied energy and the rapid movement
-of his style, carry the reader on to the end with
-hardly a pause of distrust or fatigue; and we hope that a
-translation, executed with such a lavish expenditure of
-intelligence and industry as Mr. Wight’s, will meet with
-its due reward in an extensive circulation. Certainly nothing
-which can by courtesy be called a library can afford
-to be without it.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk133'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Works of Daniel Webster. Boston: Little &amp; Brown,
-6 vols. 8vo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This beautiful edition of the works of one of the greatest
-statesmen that the country has produced, contains all the
-speeches and legal arguments in the former editions of Mr.
-Webster’s writings, together with the numerous orations
-and addresses he has made since the year 1841, and the
-masterly state papers which he produced while Secretary
-of State in the administration of General Harrison. To
-these are added the celebrated letter to Chevalier Hulseman,
-written while in his present station. The collection
-is edited with much care and ability by the Hon.
-Edward Everett. The biography of Mr. Webster by the
-editor, is a clear, candid, elaborate, and somewhat frigid
-view of his whole life as a statesman and lawyer, giving
-an accurate statement of the various circumstances under
-which the great efforts of his mind were produced, and
-placing the reader in a position to appreciate their importance.
-The tone of the biography is cautiously moderate,
-indulging in none of the fervors of eulogy or exaggerations
-of friendship, and, on the whole, not coming up to the
-enthusiastic praise with which Mr. Webster’s powers are
-commonly mentioned by those who have had most occasion
-to dread or decry their exercise. Mr. Everett seems
-to have felt too acutely the delicacy of his position, as the
-biographer of a living friend; and, shrinking from the responsibility
-of pouring out in glowing words his own admiration
-of his subject, is content to import all such perilous
-matter from the dashing and vivid pages of Mr.
-March.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It seems to us, also, that Mr. Everett gives little evidence
-in his biography of a sustained and vigorous conception
-of Mr. Webster’s mind and character. We do not
-mean that his epithets are not appropriate, that his judgments
-are not accurate, that his generalities are not abstractly
-just; but he evinces no power of diffusing the results
-of analysis through the veins of narration, of making
-the reader feel constantly that he is following the life of a
-man as peculiar and individual as he is great. The Websterian
-quality of the subject never flashes once out from
-Mr. Everett’s elegant sentences. Take any page from the
-biography and compare it with any paragraph in the
-speeches, and the defect we have noticed will be apparent
-to the most unapprehensive reader. There is no mental
-and moral agreement between them. It would seem to be
-one duty of the biographer to translate into intelligible
-form the vague impression which the works of the subject
-of the biography leaves on the most superficial mind; to
-detect, to fix, to embody the subtle spirit which, emanating
-from character, gives unity and individuality equally
-to the events of a man’s life and the productions of a man’s
-mind. A man of the large dimensions and massive force
-of Mr. Webster, whose personality stamps itself so readily
-upon the imagination, and groups fit words round its own
-image by a kind of magnetism, offers few obstacles to a
-right psychological treatment; and we are somewhat
-astonished that a man of Mr. Everett’s various talents and
-accomplishments should have failed in this important
-part of the biographer’s duty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We trust that this collection of Mr. Webster’s writings
-will have an extensive circulation, were it only for the
-good influence it is calculated to exert on the literature of
-the country. To one party in the United States they are
-invaluable as containing the best exposition they possess
-of their political principles—to all parties they must be
-attractive for the many electric passages of purely patriotic
-eloquence with which they teem; but to the author they
-are especially valuable as models of style. We use the
-word models not in its usual sense, for we certainly would
-not give any one the ridiculous advice to imitate the diction
-even of Mr. Webster; but we would advise every
-one to follow Mr. Webster’s own method of composition,
-which is simply the method of common sense and common
-honesty. The great literary sin of the day is pretension;
-and it is refreshing to read a man who, comprehensive and
-powerful as he is, modestly accepts the limitations of his
-genius, never borrows a thought or an emotion, and rarely
-uses a word which he has not a right to use. If we compare
-him for a moment with men who gain popularity by
-debauching in language, we feel at once the force of that
-expression which austerely limits itself within the bounds
-of character, and stamps on every sentence the authority
-of personal experience.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk134'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>A Journey through Tartary, Thibet and China. By M.
-Huc. New York: D. Appleton &amp; Co. 2 vols. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These quaint and interesting volumes are the record of
-the travels of a Catholic Missionary in countries of which
-the reading world knows little or nothing. The sketches
-of scenery, manners, customs, religion, and character, are
-very graphic, and the style of composition is so direct and
-simple that the words form pictures in the mind without
-any effort on the part of the reader. The views of the
-religion of Thibet are very clear, and add to our knowledge
-of its philosophic basis. The mind of M. Huc almost
-realizes the ideal of the observing faculty. He sees distinctly,
-and gives us exactly what he sees, without modifying
-it by his own opinions or sentiments. To read his
-book, is next to walking or riding by his side, and seeing
-the strange objects he describes with our own eyes. His
-illustrations of Tartar life are especially graphic and
-amusing. Here is a specimen. “When not on horseback,
-a Tartar is generally quite idle, and passes a great
-part of the day crouched in his tent, drinking tea, and
-sometimes he lounges about like a Parisian dandy, though
-not quite in the same way. When he has a mind to see
-what is passing in the world, he mounts his horse, and
-goes galloping away into the desert, without heeding in
-what direction, and whenever he sees the smoke of a tent
-rising, he makes a call, and has a gossip.” His description
-also of the Jonathan Wilds and Dick Turpins of Tartary
-is quite edifying. “The robbers,” he says, “are in
-general remarkable for the politeness with which they
-flavor their address. They do not put a pistol to your
-head, and cry roughly, ‘Your money or your life,’ but
-they say in the most courteous tone, ‘My eldest brother,
-I am weary of walking on foot. Be so good as to lend me
-your horse!’ or, ‘It is very cold to-day—be kind enough
-to lend me your coat!’ If the eldest brother be charitable
-enough to comply, he receives thanks; if not the request
-is enforced by two or three blows of the cudgel, or, if that
-is not sufficient, recourse is had to the sabre.” It is the
-custom of these polite gentlemen, however, to rob none
-the less thoroughly because they use the amenities of
-genteel life. The poor traveler who falls into their hands
-is not only deprived of horse, camel, money and goods,
-but he is stripped of every rag of clothes, and left, with an
-elegant bow and smooth farewell, to die of cold and
-hunger. This is the very method of genteel society
-everywhere.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The shrewd and remorseless avarice of the Chinese is
-illustrated in these volumes to perfection. From the emperor
-to the trader, all prey on the poor Tartars. Thus
-M. Huc meets a member of a great commercial house in
-Pekin, at Blue Town, and enters into a conversation with
-him. The merchant claims the missionary at once as one
-of his own trade, which, with Spartan brevity, he describes
-to consist in eating Tartars. “Eaters of Tartars!”
-exclaims good M. Huc, “what is the meaning of that?”
-to which the other answers, “Our trade—yours and mine—is
-to eat the Mongols—we by traffic, you by prayers.”
-On the missionary’s assuring him that he paid for every
-thing as he went along, and that his mission was purely
-disinterested, the merchant almost choked himself with
-laughing at the folly of a man who should venture into
-such a country for any other purpose than to prey upon its
-inhabitants; and then proceeds to describe the mysteries
-and moralities of the Wall street of China. We commend
-his system to our glorious army of shavers and capitalists.
-You see, he says, these Tartars “are simple as children
-when they come into our towns. They want to have
-every thing they see—they seldom have any money, but
-we come to their help. We give them goods on credit,
-and then, of course, they must pay rather high. When
-people take away goods without leaving the money, of
-course, there must be a little interest of thirty or forty
-per cent. Then, by degrees, the interest mounts up, and
-you come to compound interest; but that’s only with the
-Tartars. In China the laws forbid it; but we, who are
-obliged to run about the Land of Grass—we may well ask
-for a little extra profit. Isn’t that fair? A Tartar debit
-is never paid—it goes on from generation to generation;
-every year goes to get the interest, and it’s paid in
-sheep, oxen, camels, horses—all that is a great deal
-better than money. We get the beasts at a very low
-price, and we sell them at a very good price in the
-market. Oh! it’s a capital thing—a Tartar debt! It’s
-a mine of gold.” This is but one specimen of a Chinese
-“eater of Tartars.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>M. Huc’s volumes are full of equally piquant sketches,
-and we know of few tourists who seize with such inevitable
-tact on incidents and peculiarities which illustrate
-the morals and the habits of whole classes of people. The
-work is one of the most original and novel yet published
-in “Appleton’s Popular Library of the Best Authors”—a
-collection of which no lover of readable books should be
-without.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk135'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, afterward
-Mistress Milton. New York: D. Appleton &amp; Co.
-1 vol. 18mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It appears to us that this volume is fully as felicitous as
-“Lady Willoughby’s Diary.” Like that it is in the form
-of a journal, written in the orthography and style of the
-seventeenth century. The simplicity with which the
-whole is conceived and wrought out is exquisite. The idea
-of the book is taken from the well-known incident of Milton’s
-first courtship and marriage; and its charm consists
-in accounting for the disagreement between the couple on
-grounds of nature which do not appear in the bold statement
-of the fact. It is a delicious volume, full of the
-essential spirit of poetry, and pure, tender, simple and
-refined throughout.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk136'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Yellowplush Papers. By William M. Thackeray.
-New York: D. Appleton &amp; Co. 1 vol. 18mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is one of the earliest and best of Thackeray’s delightful
-works. It is a sort of autobiography of a London
-footman, Charles Yellowplush, comprising very vigorous
-sketches of his various masters, and written in a style
-which inimitably combines shrewdness with vulgarity.
-The spelling alone is a work of genius. The portion relating
-to Mr. Deuceace has passages of great power and
-pathos as well as humor, and exhibits the utter lack of sentiment
-and principle, the hard demoniacal selfishness of a
-true London blood, with extraordinary closeness to the
-fact. “Mr. Yellowplush’s Ajew” and “Epistles to the
-Literati,” are also riotous with mirth. Bulwer Lytton’s
-coxcombry is caricatured in these last very ludicrously.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk137'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Putnam’s Semi-Monthly Library for Travelers and the
-Fireside. New York: George P. Putnam. 6 vols. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is one of the cheapest and best edited literary enterprises
-ever started in the United States. It is published
-in semi-monthly volumes, each of which is printed in large
-type on fine white paper, contains some two hundred and
-fifty pages, and is placed at the low price of twenty-five
-cents a volume. Two volumes are given to prose and poetical
-comicalities, carefully selected, humorous cuts and all,
-from “Hood’s Own;” three volumes consist of capital
-selections from Dickens’ Household Words, entitled
-“Home and Social Philosophy,” “The World Here and
-There,” and “Home Narratives;” and the last is an
-original production, written by Mr. Olmstead, and called,
-very aptly, “Walks and Talks of an American Farmer
-in England”—an exceedingly interesting book, in which
-the author gives, in a homely but expressive style, his
-experiences among the farming population of England.
-We trust that Mr. Putnam’s admirable plan will be fully
-carried out, and that his success will be as complete as his
-enterprise is commendable. The price is hardly one-third
-of the usual cost of American reprints of equal elegance
-of execution.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk138'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Lyra and Other Poems. By Alice Carey. New York:
-Redfield. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We wish that we had sufficient space this month to do
-justice to the qualities of mind and character impressed on
-this beautiful volume; but we shall be compelled to defer
-an elaborate view of its merits. The first glance at its
-pages will reveal to the reader the extreme sensitiveness
-of the writer’s mind to all that is beautiful, and tender,
-and sublime, and the swift felicity with which she embodies
-the most evanescent shades of emotion, and the
-most subtle meanings of natural objects. We regret that
-so large a portion of the poems should be so sad in their
-tone, as Alice Carey’s genius is by no means bounded by
-the serious side of things, but can sing cheerily as well as
-mournfully. The present volume, however, has more
-“hearse-like airs than carols.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk139'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Isa; A Pilgrimage. By Caroline <a id='chese'></a>Chesebro’. New York:
-Redfield. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This powerful story has a peculiar interest from its
-bearing on the fashionable ethics of certain novelists, who
-inculcate libertinism under the guise of liberality of thought
-and nobility of sentiment. The authoress shows the depraving
-influence of this philosophy on the noblest natures.
-Her insight into the workings of passion is remarkably
-bright and clear; and the vigorous movement of her narrative
-fastens the reader’s interest to the end. The chief
-fault of the book is its unrelieved intensity.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk140'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Tales and Traditions of Hungary. By Theresa Pulszky.
-New York: Redfield. 1 vol. 12mo.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>To those who are interested in the recent struggles of
-the brave and unfortunate Hungarian people for national
-independence, this volume will be heartily welcome. It
-gives us glimpses into the manners of the people, and exhibits
-the strong foundations on which the national character
-rests. The work has been popular in England, and
-its authoress, now a resident in the United States, has republished
-it with additions. We hope it will meet with
-a large share of popular favor.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk141'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='lit'></a>LITERARY GOSSIP.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0em;'>“<span class='it'>The Household of Sir Thomas More.</span>”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.3em;'>“<span class='it'>The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell.</span>”<a id='r27'/><a href='#f27' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[27]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Two of the most exquisitely finished and delightful
-works that have come before our eyes in years, have lately
-been reproduced from the English press by two of our
-New York publishers, without any hint in regard to authorship,
-or indeed to the aim and nature of the books,
-whether fact or fiction. Their names stand above, and the
-personages to whom they have relation will be recognized
-as the great and good chancellor of Henry VIII., barbarously
-and illegally put to death for his refusal to take the
-oath of supremacy, and for his opposition to the unjust
-divorce of Katharine and marriage of the king with Anne
-Boleyn; and as the unhappy wife of that greatest of poets,
-but sternest and most impracticable of husbands, John
-Milton. No hint, as I have observed, is given as to authorship,
-but it is I think impossible that we shall be mistaken
-in ascribing both to the same pen; for, although the
-wielder of that pen has chosen to maintain an absolute incognito,
-his mark—though I am not altogether clear that
-for <span class='it'>his</span> we might not better read <span class='it'>her</span>—is not to be confounded
-with that of any other; nor do we recognize any
-other in England or America at all comparable to this.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In both works we find the same delicate and delicious
-freshness, like the perfume from a rich clover-field after a
-summer shower; the same truthfulness to nature; the
-same intimate acquaintance with the spirit of the times,
-the character and circumstances of the supposed writers;
-the same natural and artless pathos; the same simplicity,
-and, if I may so speak of writing evidently fictitious, the
-same authenticity and genuineness of style.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So perfect indeed is the skill and tact of the handling,
-and so admirably is the whole character of either work
-kept up, that it cannot be doubted, had they been put forth
-as genuine ancient memoirs, recovered by any accident you
-will, their success as forgeries would have been as complete
-as that very remarkable—but to me very dull—book,
-“The Amber Witch” of the Pastor Meinhold, or the supposititious
-letters of Shelley and other notables of the nineteenth
-century, which have recently created so much wonder
-and excitement in the literary world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What is to me, however, even more remarkable than
-the excellence of these chaste and unpretending little fictions,
-is the total absence of bruit or loud encomium with
-which they have issued both from the English and American
-presses; for in good sooth we have hardly heard them
-named, while they are in every respect the cleverest and
-most highly wrought, and in their own line the very best
-fictitious works that we have seen in years.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Fiction they undoubtedly are, in some sense; but fiction
-of some such nature—far be it from me to write profanely—as
-the parables of our ever-blessed Saviour, and in their
-humbler sphere and lesser degree improvable to the same
-good end. There is not one line in either from which any
-mental alchemy could extract one grain of evil counsel or
-unholy thought; on the contrary, there is not one which
-prompts not to good works, and faith, and reliance in the
-mercy and justice of the Most High.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the Holy Bible itself, we are cognizant of no reading
-which may be put more fitly into the innocent hands
-of a beloved daughter on a Sunday afternoon, than either
-of these beautiful and touching little volumes; and to render
-the effects more certain, as more salutary, so far is there
-from being any effort or straining after religionism, moralizing
-or lay-preaching, so apt to frustrate their own ends,
-that the whole tenor of each flows so naturally and with
-so much probability forward, the thinkings, doings and
-speakings of the actors springing so spontaneously from
-the causes, that we read on enthralled, engrossed, with a
-tear often stealing to the eye, hardly able to believe that
-we are not perusing the real memoirs of real authors; and
-think nothing of the moral until the book is closed and the
-paramount interest ended.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is an evil sign in relation to the influence and tone of
-the press-criticism of any countries, when we find the
-vulgar absurdities and exaggerations of Cockton, the trivial
-and overdone flippancies of Albert Smith, or even the brilliant
-eccentricities of Thackeray, over-lauded to the skies,
-while such gems of nature, verisimilitude and poesy, as
-these little volumes, creep forward, almost unushered,
-timid and unknown to fame, into the gradual favor of the
-public.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In one word, I know not nor conjecture to what dead or
-living author, male or female, of either hemisphere they
-may be attributed; but I do know there is not one—no!
-not Sir Walter himself—who would not derive fresh reputation
-from their authorship; and in order to substantiate
-this my opinion, I proceed to extract somewhat largely
-from the former work, which—although I have hitherto
-spoken of them in general terms, and in common, as cognate
-compositions, and I doubt not by the same pen—is by
-many degrees the abler and more perfect, as far as the
-more agreeable and fascinating volume.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There is not a syllable in it which might not have been
-penned in her <span class='it'>libellus</span> by sweet Margaret More, bravest
-and best of English daughters—not one, which did not
-probably, in some shape or other, pass through her living
-brain—not one, to make an end of it, which, as we read,
-we do not implicitly believe, for the moment, to be of her
-actual penning.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There is, moreover, a fine, free humor, singularly characteristic
-of the age and the characters of “The Household
-of Sir Thomas More,” which is lacking, and which
-would perhaps have been out of place, in the “Maiden
-and Married Life of Mary Powell;” but which nevertheless
-beautifully relieves the soft and tender melancholy of
-the memoir.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is, however, in truthfulness, if I may not absolutely
-say truth, that Margaret’s libellus is most clearly superior;
-for we are constrained, in justice, to say that the portraiture
-of John Milton in his domestic relations, however
-great his public glory, is most overweening flattery, and
-that the happiness ascribed to the latter portion of “the
-married life of Mary Powell,” is as pure a fiction as ever
-emanated from the fancy of the wildest romancer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But to return to our “A Margarettâ More, libellus,
-quindecim annos nata, Chelseiæ inceptus;” here we have,
-in her own words, the incident—not accident—of its inception.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“On asking Mr. Gunnel to what use I s<sup>d</sup> put this fair
-<span class='it'>libellus</span>, he did suggest my making it a kinde of family
-register, wherein to note y<sup>e</sup> more important of our domestic
-passages, whether of joy or griefe—my father’s journies
-and absences—the visits of learned men, theire notable
-sayings, etc. ‘You art smart at the pen, Mistress
-Margaret,’ he was pleased to say; ‘and I would humblie
-advise your journalling in y<sup>e</sup> same fearless manner in the
-which you framed that letter which soe well pleased the
-Bishop of Exeter, that he sent you a Portugal piece.
-’Twill be well to write it in English, which ’tis expedient
-for you not altogether to negleckt, even for the more honorable
-Latin.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Methinks I am close upon womanhood.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. ‘Humblie
-advise,’ quotha! to me, that hath so oft humblie sued
-for his pardon, and sometimes in vain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ’Tis well to make trial of Gonellus his ‘humble’ advice:
-albeit, our daylie course is so methodicall, that
-’twill afford scant subject for y<sup>e</sup> pen—<span class='it'>Vitam continet una
-dies</span>.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here, again, we are introduced to the younger members
-of the household in their moments of home-merriment and
-simple occupations, as usual at that unsophisticated day,
-before fear or grief fell upon their happy circle—and what
-was ever writ more naturally and unaffectedly?</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This morn, hinting to Bess that she was lacing herselfe
-too straightlie, she brisklie replyed, ‘One w<sup>d</sup> think ’twere
-as great meritt to have a thick waiste as to be one of y<sup>e</sup>
-earlie Christians!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These humourous retorts are ever at her tongue’s end;
-and, albeit, as Jacky one day angrilie remarked, when she
-had beene teazing him, ‘Bess, thy witt is stupidnesse;’
-yet, for one who talks soe much at random, no one can be
-more keene when she chooseth. Father sayd of her, half
-fondly, half apologeticallie to Erasmus. ‘Her wit has a
-fine subtletie that eludes you almoste before you have time
-to recognize it for what it really is.’ To which, Erasmus
-readilie assented, adding, that it had y<sup>e</sup> rare meritt of
-playing less on persons than things, and never on bodilie
-defects.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hum!—I wonder if they ever sayd as much in favour
-of me. I knowe, indeede, Erasmus calls me a forward
-girl! Alas! that may be taken in two senses.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk142'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grievous work, overnighte, with y<sup>e</sup> churning. Nought
-w<sup>d</sup> persuade Gillian but that y<sup>e</sup> creame was bewitched by
-Gammer Gurney, who was dissatisfyde last Friday with
-her dole, and hobbled away mumping and cursing. At alle
-events y<sup>e</sup> butter w<sup>d</sup> not come; but mother was resolute not
-to have soe much good creame wasted; soe sent for Bess
-and me, Daisy and Mercy Giggs, and insisted on our churning
-in turn till y<sup>e</sup> butter came, if we sate up all nighte for’t.
-’Twas a hard saying; and mighte have hampered her like
-as Jephtha his rash vow: howbeit, soe soone as she had
-left us, we turned it into a frolick, and sang Chevy Chase
-from end to end, to beguile time; ne’erthelesse, the butter
-w<sup>d</sup> not come; soe then we grew sober, and, at y<sup>e</sup> instance
-of sweete Mercy, chaunted y<sup>e</sup> 119th Psalme; and, by the
-time we had attayned to ‘Lucerna pedibus,’ I heard y<sup>e</sup>
-buttermilk separating and splashing in righte earnest.
-’Twas neare midnighte, however; and Daisy had fallen
-asleep on y<sup>e</sup> dresser. Gillian will ne’er be convinced but
-that our Latin brake the spell.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few pages farther, we are let into the secret of the
-who, and the wherefore, of the aforesaid merry damsels,
-“Daisy and Bess, and Mercy Giggs, and I,” who are to
-be our delectable companions through many a mirthful,
-many a melancholy page.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As we rose from table, I noted Argus pearcht on y<sup>e</sup>
-window-sill, eagerlie watching for his dinner, which he
-looketh for as punctualie as if he c<sup>d</sup> tell the diall; and to
-please the good, patient bird, till the scullion broughte him
-his mess of garden-stuff, I fetched him some pulse, which
-he took from mine hand, taking good heede not to hurt me
-with his sharpe beak. While I was feeding him, Erasmus
-came up, and asked me concerning Mercy Giggs; and I
-tolde him how that she was a friendlesse orphan, to whom
-deare father afforded protection and the run of y<sup>e</sup> house; and
-tolde him of her gratitude, her meekness, her patience, her
-docilitie, her aptitude for alle goode works and alms-deeds;
-and how, in her little chamber, she improved eache spare
-moment in y<sup>e</sup> way of studdy and prayer. He repeated
-‘Friendlesse? she cannot be called friendlesse, who hath
-More for her protector, and his children for companions;’
-and then woulde heare more of her parent’s sad story.
-Alsoe, would heare somewhat of Rupert Allington, and
-how father gained his law-suit. Alsoe, of Daisy, whose
-name he tooke to be y<sup>e</sup> true abbreviation for Margaret, but
-I tolde him how that my step-sister, and Mercy, and I,
-being all three of a name, and I being alwaies called Meg,
-we had in sport given one the significative of her characteristic
-virtue, and the other that of y<sup>e</sup> French Marguerite,
-which may indeed be rendered either pearl or daisy. And
-Chaucer, speaking of our English daisy, saith</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>‘Si douce est la Marguerite.’ ”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Next, a little further yet, we have dear Margaret’s
-thoughts upon herself and her own attractiveness—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A glance at the anteceding pages of this libellus me-sheweth
-poor Will Roper at y<sup>e</sup> season his love-fitt for me
-was at its height. He troubleth me with it no longer, nor
-with his religious disquietations. Hard study of the law
-hath filled his head with other matters, and made him infinitely
-more rationall, and by consequents, more agreeable.
-’Twas one of those preferences young people sometimes
-manifest, themselves know neither why nor wherefore,
-and are shamed, afterwards, to be reminded of. I’m
-sure I shall ne’er remind him. There was nothing in me
-to fix a rational or passionate regard. I have neither Bess’s
-witt nor white teeth, nor Daisy’s dark eyes, nor Mercy’s
-dimple. A plain-favoured girl, with changefule spiritts—that’s
-all.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And within but a brief space we find her much in error,
-as to its degree, and its effect on William Roper, which
-she records as thus in the libellus.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Soe my fate is settled. Who knoweth at sunrise what
-will chance before sunsett? No; the Greeks and Romans
-mighte speake of chance and of fate, but we must not.
-Ruth’s <span class='it'>hap</span> was to light on y<sup>e</sup> field of Boaz; but what she
-thought casual, y<sup>e</sup> Lord had contrived.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Firste, he gives me y<sup>e</sup> marmot. Then, the marmot
-dies. Then, I, having kept y<sup>e</sup> creature soe long, and being
-naturalie tender, must cry a little over it. Then Will
-must come in and find me drying mine eyes. Then he
-must, most unreasonablie, suppose that I c<sup>d</sup> not have loved
-the poor animal for its own sake soe much as for his; and
-thereupon, falle a love-making in such down righte earneste,
-that I, being alreadie somewhat upset, and knowing
-’twoulde please father .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and hating to be perverse .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-and thinking much better of Will since he hath studied soe
-hard, and given soe largelie to y<sup>e</sup> poor, and left off broaching
-his heteroclite opinions.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I say, I supposed it must
-be soe, some time or another, soe ’twas noe use hanging
-back for ever and ever, soe now there’s an end, and I pray
-God give us a quiet life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Noe one w<sup>d</sup> suppose me reckoning on a quiet life if
-they knew how I’ve cried alle this forenoon, ever since I
-got quit of Will, by father’s carrying him off to Westminster.
-He’ll tell father, I know, as they goe along in the
-barge, or else coming back, which will be soon enow,
-though I’ve ta’en no heed of the hour. I wish ’twere cold
-weather, and that I had a sore throat or stiff neck, or
-somewhat that might reasonablie send me a-bed, and keep
-me there till to-morrow morning. But I’m quite well, and
-’tis the dog-days, and cook is thumping the rolling-pin on
-the dresser, and dinner is being served, and here comes
-father.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk143'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But with this extract the happy days of the household
-are ended; doubts, darkness, dangers and the shadows of
-the valley of death henceforth begin to close around and
-above them; and if, as the old Greeks and Romans deemed,
-a good man struggling nobly in the toils of necessity were
-a spectacle for the eyes of gods, then were the sufferings
-of Sir Thomas and his household of the grandest and most
-glorious.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now, he has thwarted the uxorious, cruel tyrant, offended
-unto death the ambitious Anne Boleyn, and brought
-his head into jeopardy by denying the supremacy of a layman
-in affairs ecclesiastical.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And lo! how gently, and with how exquisite a harmony
-of circumstances, he breaks to his favorite child his own
-distinct anticipation of his coming doom.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ever since father’s speech to us in y<sup>e</sup> pavillion, we
-have been of one heart and one soul; neither have any of
-us said that aught of the things we possessed were our
-own, but we have had all things in common. And we
-have eaten our meat with gladness and singleness of heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This afternoon, expressing to father my gratefull sense
-of our present happiness.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. ‘Yes, Meg,’ returns he, ‘I
-too am deeply thankful for this breathing space.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Do you look on it as no more, then?’ I sayd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘As no more, Meg: we shall have a thunder-clap by-and-by.
-Look out on the Thames. See how unwontedlie
-clear it is, and how low the swallows fly.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. How
-distinctlie we see the green sedges on Battersea bank, and
-their reflected images in the water. We can almost discern
-the features of those poor knaves digging in the cabbage
-gardens, and hear ’em talk, so still is y<sup>e</sup> air. Have
-you ne’er before noted these signs?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘A storm is brewing,’ I sayd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Aye, we shall have a lightening-flash anon. So still,
-Meg, is also our atmosphere just now. God is giving us
-a breathing space, as he did to the Egyptians before the
-plague of hail, that they might gather their live stock
-within doors. Let us take for example them that believed
-and obeyed him; and improve this holy pause.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Just at this moment, a few heavy drops fell agaynst
-the window pane, and were seen by both. Our eyes met;
-and I felt a silent pang.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Five days before the Passover,’ resumed father, ‘all
-seemed as still and quiet as we are now; but Jesus knew
-his hour was at hand. E’en while he yet spake familiarly
-among the people, there came a sound from heaven, and
-they that stood by said it thundered; but <span class='it'>he</span> knew it for
-the voice of his dear Father. Let us, in like manner, when
-the clap cometh, recognize in it the voice of God, and not
-be afraid with any amazement.’ ”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again she visits him in the tower, by especial favor,
-after the blow has descended, and his fate, all but the
-doom, is fixed, and so, “ye who have tears prepare to
-shed them now.”</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I minded to put y<sup>e</sup> haircloth and cord under my
-farthingale, and one or two of y<sup>e</sup> smaller books in my
-pouch, as alsoe some sweets and suckets such as he was
-used to love. Will and Bonvisi were awaiting for me,
-and deare Bess, putting forthe her head from her chamber
-door, cries pitiously, ‘Tell him, dear Meg, tell him .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-’twas never soe sad to me to be sick .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and that I hope
-.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I pray .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. the time may come .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.’ then falls back
-swooning into Dancey’s arms, whom I leave crying heartilie
-over her, and hasten below to receive the confused
-medley of messages sent by every other member of y<sup>e</sup>
-house. For mine owne part, I was in such a tremulous
-succussion as to be scarce fitt to stand or goe, but time and
-the tide will noe man bide, and, once having taken boat,
-the cool river air allayed my fevered spiritts; onlie I coulde
-not for awhile get rid of y<sup>e</sup> impression of poor Dancey crying
-over Bess in her deliquium.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I think none o’ the three opened our lips before we
-reached Lambeth, save in y<sup>e</sup> Reach, Will cried to y<sup>e</sup> steersman,
-‘Look you run us not a ground,’ in a sharper voyce
-than I e’er heard from him. After passing y<sup>e</sup> Archbishop’s
-palace, whereon I gazed full ruefullie, good Bonvisi beganne
-to mention some rhymes he had founde writ with a
-diamond on one of his window-panes at Crosby House,
-and would know were they father’s! and was’t y<sup>e</sup> chamber
-father had used to sleep in? I tolde him it was, but
-knew nought of y<sup>e</sup> distich, though ’twas like enow to be
-his. And thence he went on to this and that, how that father’s
-cheerfulle, funny humour never forsook him, nor his
-brave heart quelled, instancing his fearless passage through
-the Traitor’s Gate, asking his neighbours whether <span class='it'>his</span> gait
-was that of a traditor; and, on being sued by the porter
-for his upper garment, giving him his <span class='it'>cap</span>, which he sayd
-was uppermost. And other such quips and passages,
-which I scarce noted nor smiled at, soe sorry was I of
-cheer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At length we stayed rowing: Will lifted me out,
-kissed me, heartened me up, and, indeede, I was in better
-heart then, having been quietlie in prayer a good while.
-After some few forms, we were led through sundrie turns
-and passages, and, or ever I was aware, I found myselfe
-quit of my companions, and in father’s arms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We both cried a little at first; I wonder I wept noe
-more, but strength was given me in that hour. As soone
-as I coulde, I lookt him in the face, and he lookt at me, and
-I was beginning to note his hollow cheeks, when he sayd,
-‘Why, Meg, you are getting freckled:’ soe that made us
-both laugh. He sayd, ‘You should get some freckle-water
-of the lady that sent me here; depend on it, she hath
-washes and tinctures in plenty; and after all, Meg, she’ll
-come to the same end at last, and be as the lady all bone
-and skin, whoso ghastlie legends used to scare thee soe
-when thou wert a child. Don’t tell that story to thy children;
-’twill hamper ’em with unsavory images of death.
-Tell them of heavenlie hosts awaiting to carry off good
-men’s souls in fire-bright chariots, with horses of the sun,
-to a land where they shall never more be surbated and
-weary, but walk on cool, springy turf and among myrtle
-trees, and eat fruits that shall heal while they delight them,
-and drink the coldest of cold water, fresh from y<sup>e</sup> river of
-life, and have space to stretch themselves, and bathe, and
-leap, and run, and whichever way they look, meet Christ’s
-eyes smiling on them. Lord, Meg, who would live that
-could die? One mighte as lief be an angel shut up in a
-nutshell as bide here. Fancy how gladsome the sweet
-spirit would be to have the shell cracked! no matter by
-whom; the king, or king’s mistress.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Let her dainty foot
-but set him free, he’d say, ‘For this release, much thanks.
-.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. And how goes the court, Meg?’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘In faith, father, never better.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. There is nothing
-else there, I hear, but dancing and disporting.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Never better, child, sayst thou? Alas, Meg, it pitieth
-me to consider what misery, poor soul, she will shortlie
-come to. These dances of hers will prove such dances that
-she will spurn our heads off like footballs; but ’twill not
-be long ere her head will dance the like dance. Mark you,
-Meg, a man that restraineth not his passions, hath always
-something cruel in his nature, and if there be a woman toward,
-she is sure to suffer heaviest for it, first or last.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-Seek Scripture precedent for’t .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. you’ll find it as I say.
-Stony as death, cruel as the grave. Those Pharisees that
-there, to a man, convicted of sin, yet haled a sinning woman
-before the Lord, and woulde fain have seen the dogs
-lick up her blood. When they lick up mine, deare Meg,
-let not your heart be troubled, even though they shoulde
-hale thee to London Bridge to see my head stuck on a pole.
-Think, most dear’st, I shall then have more reason to weep
-for thee than thou for me. But there’s noe weeping in
-heaven, and bear in mind, Meg, distinctlie, that if they
-send me thither, ’twill be for obeying the law of God rather
-than of men. And after alle, we live not in the bloody,
-barbarous old times of crucifyings and flayings, and immerseings
-in cauldrons of boiling oil. One stroke, and the
-affair’s done. A clumsy chirurgeon would be longer extracting
-a tooth. We have oft agreed that the little birds
-struck down by the kite and hawk suffer less than if they
-were reserved to a naturall death. There is one sensible
-difference, indeed, between us. In our cases, preparation
-is a-wanting.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hereon, I minded me to slip off y<sup>e</sup> haircloth and rope,
-and give the same to him, along with the books and suckets,
-all which he hid away privatelie, making merry at the
-last.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘ ’Twoulde tell well before the council,’ quoth he,
-‘that on searching the prison-cell of Sir Thomas More,
-there was founde, flagitiouslie and mysteriouslie laid up
-.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. a piece of barley-sugar!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we talked over sundry home matters; and anon,
-having now both of us attayned unto an equable and chastened
-serenite of mind, which needed not any false shows
-of mirth to hide y<sup>e</sup> naturall complexion of, he sayth, ‘I
-believe, Meg, they that have put me here ween they have
-done me a high displeasure; but I assure thee on my faith,
-mine own good daughter, that if it had not beene for my
-wife, and you, my dear good children, I would faine have
-been closed up, long ere this, in as straight a room, and
-straighter too.’ ”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>While he is yet in prison, and his sentence yet unpassed,
-although certain, Margaret—for she has now been for some
-time the wife of good William Roper—loses her baby; for
-when do sorrows ever fall singly—can any thing than this
-be more beautiful, more true?</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>“Midnight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wild wind is abroad, and, methinketh, <span class='it'>nothing
-else</span>. Sure, how it rages through our empty courts! In
-such a season, men, beasts, and fowls cower beneath y<sup>e</sup>
-shelter of their rocking walls, yet almost fear to trust
-them. Lord, I know that thou canst give the tempest
-double force, but do not, I beseech thee! Oh! have
-mercy on the frail dwelling and the ship at sea.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear little Bill hath ta’en a feverish attack. I watch
-beside him while his nurse sleeps. Earlie in the night his
-mind wandered, and he told me of a pretty ring-streaked
-poney noe bigger than a bee that had golden housings and
-barley-sugar eyes; then dozed, but ever and anon kept
-starting up, crying ‘Mammy, dear!’ and softlie murmured,
-‘Oh,’ when he saw I was by. At length I gave
-him my fore-finger to hold, which kept him ware of my
-presence without speaking, but presentlie he stares hard
-toward y<sup>e</sup> foot of the bed, and says fearfullie, ‘Mother,
-why hangs yon hatchet in the air, with its sharp edge
-turned towards us!’ I rise, move the lamp, and say, ‘Do
-you see it now?’ He sayth, ‘No? not now,’ and closes
-his eyes. After a good space, during the which I hoped
-he slept, he says in quite an altered tone, most like unto
-soft, sweet music, ‘There’s a pretty little cherub there
-now, alle head and noe body, with two little wings aneath
-his chin; but, for alle he’s soe pretty, he is just like dear
-Gaffer, and seems to know me .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and he’ll have a
-body agayn, too, I believe, by-and-by .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Mother,
-mother, tell Hobbinol there’s such a gentle lamb in
-heaven!’ And soe, slept.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk144'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He’s gone, my pretty .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. ! slipt through my
-fingers like a bird! upfled to his own native skies, and yet
-whenas I think on him, I can not choose but weepe .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-Such a guileless little lamb! .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. My Billy-bird! his
-mother’s owne heart. They are alle wondrous kind
-to me .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How strange that a little child shoulde be permitted
-to suffer soe much payn, when of such is the kingdom of
-heaven! But ’tis onlie transient, whereas a mother makes
-it permanent, by thinking it over and over agayn. One
-lesson it taughte us betimes, that a natural death is not,
-necessarilie the most easie. We must alle die.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-As poor Patteson was used to say, ‘The greatest king that
-ever was made, must bed at last with shovel and spade.’
-.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and I’d sooner have my Billy’s baby deathbed
-than King Harry’s, or Nan Boleyn’s either, however
-manie years they may yet carry matters with a high hand.
-Oh, you ministers of evill, whoever you be, visible or invisible,
-you shall not build a wall between my God and
-me .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. I’ve something within me, grows stronger
-and stronger, as times grow more and more evill; some
-woulde call it resolution, but methinketh ’tis faith.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And then comes the terrible catastrophe, the glorious devotion,
-the patient martyrdom, the heroic womanhood.
-Throughout the whole of this exquisite little volume, the
-interest, the tone, the vigor, the pathos, the poetry, the
-sublimity, is ever on the ascendant; and in this splendid
-passage it reaches its climax. Almost as we read, we
-see what passeth; altogether we feel it to our own heart’s
-core; scarcely can we refrain to accept it as fact not fiction.
-What writer of any day has effected much more than
-this?</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And then came ye frightfulle sentence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, yes, my soul, I know; there were saints of old
-sawn asunder. Men of whom the world was not worthy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Then he spake unto ’em his mind, how that
-after lifelong studdy, he could never find that a layman
-mighte be head of the church. And bade his judges and
-accusers farewell; hoping that like as St. Paul was present
-and consenting unto St. Stephen’s death and yet both
-were now holy saints in heaven, soe he and they might
-speedilie meet there, joint heirs of e’erlasting salvation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Meantime poor Bess and Cecilie, spent with grief and
-long waiting, were for once carried home by Heron, or
-ever father returned to his prison. Was’t less feeling, or
-more strength of body, enabled me to bide at the Tower
-wharf with Dancey? God knoweth. They brought him
-back by water; my poor sisters must have passed him.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-The first thing I saw was the ax, <span class='it'>turned with its edge toward
-him</span>—my first note of his sentence. I forct my way
-through the crowd .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. some one laid a cold hand on
-my arm; ’twas poor Patteson, soe changed I scarce knew
-him, with a rosary of gooseberries he kept running through
-his fingers. He sayth, ‘Bide your time, Mistress Meg;
-when he comes past, I’ll make a passage for ye’ .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-‘Oh, brother, brother! what ailed thee to refuse the oath?
-<span class='it'>I’ve</span> taken it!’ In another moment. ‘Now, mistress,
-now!’ and flinging his arms right and left, made a breach
-through which I darted, fearlesse of bills and halberds, and
-did fling mine arms about father’s neck. He cries, ‘My
-Meg!’ and hugs me to him as though our very souls
-shoulde grow together. He sayth, ‘Bless thee, bless thee!
-Enough, enough, my child; what mean ye, to weep and
-break mine heart? Remember, though I die innocent, ’tis
-not without the will of God, who could send ’s angels to
-rescue me if ’twere best; therefore possess your soul in
-patience. Kiss them all for me, thus and thus’ .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-soe gave me back into Dancey’s arms, the guards about
-him alle weeping; but I coulde not thus lose sight of him
-forever; soe, after a minute’s pause did make a second
-rush, brake away from Dancey, clave to father agayn, and
-agayn they had pitie on me, and made pause while I hung
-upon his neck. This time there were large drops standing
-on his dear brow; and the big tears were swelling into his
-eyes. He whispered, ‘Meg, for Christ’s sake don’t unman
-me; thou’lt not deny my last request?’ I sayd, ‘Oh!
-no;’ and at once loosened mine arms. ‘God’s blessing be
-with you,’ he sayth with a last kiss. I could not help
-crying, ‘My father! my father!’ ‘The chariot of Israel,
-and the horsemen thereof!’ he vehementlie whispers,
-pointing upward with soe passionate a regard, that I look
-up, almost expecting a beatific vision; and when I turn
-about agayn, he’s gone, and I have no more sense, nor
-life till I find myself agayn in mine own chamber, my
-sisters chafing my hands.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk145'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alle’s over now .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. they’ve done theire worst,
-and yet I live. There were women coulde stand aneath
-y<sup>e</sup> cross. The Maccabees’ mother—.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. yes, my
-soul, yes; I know—naught but unpardoned sin .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-The chariot of Israel.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk146'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dr. Clement hath beene with us. Sayth he went up
-as blythe as a bridegroom to be clothed upon with mortality.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Rupert stoode it alle out. Perfect love casteth out
-feare. Soe did his.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk147'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. “My most precious treasure is this deare
-billet, writ with a coal; the last thing he sett his hand to,
-wherein he sayth, ‘I never liked your manner toward me
-better than when you kissed me last.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They have let us bury his poor mangled trunk; but,
-as sure as there’s a sun in heaven, I’ll have his head!—before
-another sun hath risen, too. If wise men wont
-speed me, I’ll e’en content me with a fool.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I doe think men, for ye most part, be cowards in
-theire hearts .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. moral cowards. Here and there, we
-find one like father, and like Socrates, and like .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-this and that one, I mind not theire names just now; but
-in y<sup>e</sup> main, me thinketh they lack the moral courage of
-woman. Maybe, I’m unjust to ’em just now, being crost.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk148'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. “I lay down, but my heart was waking.
-Soon after the first cock crew, I hearde a pebble cast
-agaynst my lattice, knew ye signall, rose, dressed, stole
-softlie down and let myself out. I knew the touch of y<sup>e</sup>
-poor fool’s fingers; his teeth were chattering, ’twixt cold
-and fear, yet he laught aneath his breath as he caught my
-arm and dragged me after him, whispering, ‘Fool and fayr
-lady will cheat ’em yet.’ At the stairs lay a wherry with
-a couple of boatmen, and one of ’em stepping up to me,
-cries, ‘Alas for ruth, Mistress Meg, what is’t ye do?
-Art mad to go on this errand?’ I sayed, ‘I shall be mad if
-I go not, and succeed too—put me in, and push off.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We went down the river quietlie enow—at length
-reach London Bridge stairs. Patteson, starting up, says,
-‘Bide ye all as ye are,’ and springs aland and runneth up
-to the bridge. Anon returns, and sayth, ‘Now, mistress,
-alle’s readie .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. readier than ye wist .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. come
-up quickly, for the coast’s clear.’ Hobson (for ’twas he)
-helps me forth, saying, ‘God speed ye, mistress .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-Gin I dared, I woulde goe with ye.’ .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Thought I,
-there be others in that case.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nor lookt I up, till aneath the bridge-gate, when casting
-upward a fearsome look, I beheld y<sup>e</sup> dark outline of the
-ghastly yet precious relic; and, falling into a tremor, did
-wring my hands and exclaim, ‘Alas, alas, that head hath
-lain full manie a time in my lap, woulde God, woulde
-God it lay there now!’ When, o’ suddain, I saw the pole
-tremble and sway toward me; and stretching forth my
-apron, I did in an extasy of gladness, pity, and horror,
-catch its burthen as it fell. Patteson, shuddering, yet
-grinning, cries under his breath, ‘Managed I not well,
-mistress? Let’s speed away with our theft, for fools and
-their treasures are soon parted; but I think not they’ll
-follow hard after us, neither, for there are well-wishers to
-us on the bridge. I’ll put ye into the boat, and then say,
-God speed ye, lady, with your burthen.’</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If I have quoted very largely, it is from the assurance
-that the best criticism of the author is to let him be heard
-for himself; and that his own words must needs be far
-more interesting, as more touching, than any criticism,
-how eloquent or analytical soever; much more, than a
-mere string of laudatory comments—for in this instance
-criticism is limited to pure laudation—intended to illustrate,
-and link together in something of connection, the
-choicest passages of this choice volume.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With the last page of the book this article shall close,
-and the writer rests right confident that he has proved his
-position and won his case, by the evidence; that the Libellus,
-a Margarettâ More, is the book of the season, and
-one that must endure for all seasons, so long as the English
-tongue, and the fame of one of its brightest ornaments,
-endureth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At another time, Mary Powell may furnish us with a
-theme for more varied disquisition, if more limited quotation.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Flow on, bright shining Thames. A good brave man
-hath walked aforetime on your margent, himself as bright,
-and useful, and delightsome as be you, sweet river. And
-like you, he never murmured; like you, he upbore the
-weary, and gave drink to the thirsty, and reflected heaven
-in his face. I’ll not swell your full current with any more
-fruitless tears. There’s a river whose streams make glad
-the city of our God. He now rests beside it. Good Christian
-folks, as they hereafter pass this spot, upborne on thy
-gentle tide, will, maybe, point this way, and say—‘There
-dwelt Sir Thomas More;’ but whether they doe or not,
-<span class='it'>vox populi</span> is a very inconsiderable matter, for the majority
-are evil, and ‘<span class='it'>the people</span> sayd, Let him be crucified!’
-Who would live on theire breath? They hailed St. Paul
-as Jupiter, and then stoned him and cast him out of the
-city, supposing him to be dead. Theire favourite of to-day
-may, for what they care, goe hang himself to-morrow
-in his surcingle. Thus it must be while the world lasts;
-and the very racks and scrues wherewith they aim to overcome
-the nobler spiritt, onlie test and reveal its power of
-exaltation above the heaviest gloom of circumstance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>“Interfecistis, interfecistis hominem omnium Anglorum
-optimum.</span>”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_27'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f27'><a href='#r27'>[27]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Published respectively by Charles Scribner and Appleton
-Bros. New York: 1852.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk149'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='talk'></a>GRAHAM’S SMALL-TALK.</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>Held in his idle moments, with his Readers, Correspondents and Exchanges.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Our New Suit.</span>—It is not our purpose to show off—to
-take airs, to be proud, to refuse to speak to anybody,
-simply because our new suit has come home, and we are
-giving it its first holyday airing—but our new type, our
-new coat which covers it, and the very superior quality of
-our whole rig is rather stared at, we know—or we should
-not mention the fact. Excessive modesty has been our
-weakness—it is the besetting frailty of most Magazine
-publishers, as is fully evinced in their prospectuses. Humility
-is tenderly nursed and taken out riding, until it has
-a consumptive look, and is pronounced “too good for this
-world.” Yet it is the fashion. Nobody—least of all
-Godey—or Sartain or Harper—presumes to say a word in
-self-praise—then why should Graham set himself up and
-play Captain Grand, even if he is a little stouter and haler,
-and has a greater extent of territory over which he can
-gaze like Selkirk,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Monarch of all he surveys;”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='noindent'>and like Alexander, sigh for “more worlds to conquer.”
-Why should <span class='it'>he</span> be proud? That question rather
-startles us; but the answer is at hand—because he has the
-greatest Magazine in the world—and the prettiest girls,
-and the <span class='it'>most of ’em—to read it</span>! It is estimated that
-60,000 beautiful women are in love with <span class='it'>Graham</span>—the
-Magazine, of course—and Graham is as proud as Lucifer
-about it; and Graham prides himself, too, that his subscribers
-<span class='it'>read</span> his book, and are not satisfied with the picture
-books, which in younger days had so many charms for
-innocent eyes; when the whale in the spelling-book
-spouted hugely, even to the top of the page, and the camel
-had a hump that was a wonder—when stale love-stories
-and most sickly verse, with fragments disjointed of the
-veriest cold meats of literature were a marvel—when
-homilies upon graces, made up of whalebones—the last
-agony of fashion which it is agony to look at—were food
-for dreams.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We hold you by the button, reader, merely to mention the
-various excellencies which crown the feast; that our <span class='it'>new
-type</span> and finer paper, are worthy of special mention.
-Whether anybody ever had such type—or paper—or ever
-will have, is not the question; for in these days of special
-self-sacrifice, it will not do to be too modest, but—<span class='sc'>Our
-book is Grand for June</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk150'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The Fast Press.</span>—No allusion is made in the title of
-this article to the extremely fast press which prints
-Graham—nor to the press which is fast upon the International
-Magazine—nor ironically to the slow teams which
-drive some of our cotemporaries with their small editions
-dismally along; nor yet to the American Press—which is
-rather progressive—but to <span class='it'>Hoe’s</span> immortal invention—the
-which, in compliment to the Press of the Union, we illustrate
-in our present and next issues in our usual happy
-manner. The entire establishment of Col. Hoe is to be set
-forth in pictured beauty before the readers of Graham in the
-June and July numbers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We have paid the artists $400 for the drawings and
-engravings, and merely mention the fact that those who
-suppose <span class='it'>first rate wood engravings</span> are cheap, may take
-breath and reform their calculations. No indifferent old
-block, is ever put off upon our readers as a choice and rare
-engraving—nor do we submit to any imposition from
-engravers. Our work <span class='it'>must</span> be of the first order—or it is
-not ours. Some that we have rejected, we see elsewhere,
-and the publishers appear to be proud of their bargains—and
-cry, excelsior!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk151'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Graham for May</span>, with twelve engravings and 112
-pages of reading, is already on our table—the gem of the
-season. Long live Graham. Why don’t such a clever
-fellow get married? That’s what we want to know—and
-so do the ladies. Then, friend Graham, you would not
-be troubled so much with your <span class='it'>batch</span> of ‘love letters.’ ”—<span class='it'>Gazette,
-Hallowell, Me.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fact is, we have been thinking of it, for—the last
-thirteen years—but every month we have to get up a very
-beautiful woman for the Magazine, and we are always
-head over ears in love with a new feature. Some of
-these times we shall settle down quietly and be “a love of
-a husband”—see if we don’t!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk152'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We think that Godey will have to acknowledge himself
-beaten this month by Graham; but we wish to ask Graham
-two questions, and hope he will answer truthfully. The
-first is, if he is a married man: the second, who engraved
-the ‘Jolly Good Fellows?’ ”—<span class='it'>Southern Argus, Houston,
-Miss.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Godey says his “Book” is a “<span class='it'>peculiar</span> Magazine in all
-respects—containing matter that does not appear in other
-magazines, and all other matters that do.” So you see,
-friend Argus, that he dodges the question, which is what
-we never did. Devereux engraved the “Jolly Good
-Fellows.” As to being married—that is another question!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk153'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our friend Duval, of “The Phœnix,” Camden, Ala.,
-throws up his cap and hurras for Graham, and says we
-are “ahead of all cotemporaries, and understand our business.”
-It is very evident from the following from the
-Phœnix, that the <span class='it'>merchants</span> of that place do <span class='it'>not</span>. “Persons
-at a distance, looking over the columns of our Camden
-papers might very reasonably come to the conclusion that
-we have no merchants or business men in Camden. Well,
-that is pretty near the truth—we have none who <span class='it'>fully</span> understand
-their <span class='it'>business</span>, or they would more frequently
-make use of the columns of their village papers, to inform
-the country people that they <span class='it'>want</span> their patronage. Our
-merchants seem to think that all their customers are in
-town, and <span class='it'>see</span> the arrival of their new goods, never thinking,
-perhaps, that their country customers wait to hear
-the news.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How any man, who has a desire to do business, can
-overlook the manifest advantage of letting people <span class='it'>know</span>
-he has goods to sell, is a marvel—and that large wholesale
-dealers in our Atlantic cities should overlook the advantage
-of advertising in the distant papers of business towns,
-is to be set down as a piece of stupidity only equaled by
-the tortoise, which shuts its shell that it may not be seen.
-<span class='it'>Wherever your customers are likely to come from—there
-should be your advertising cards.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='tbk154'/>
-
-<div><h1><a id='hour'></a>HOUR OF FOND DELIGHT.</h1></div>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i237a.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0014' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>COMPOSED BY ALEXANDER LEE.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>Presented by LEE &amp; WALKER, 188 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i237b.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0015' style='width:80%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i238.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0016' style='width:80%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-
- <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
- <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>What an hour is this,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Joy and love o’erflowing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Ev’ry sense of bliss,</p>
-<p class='line0'>O’er our feelings throwing;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thy sweet image, love,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Round my heart is twining,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Brightly from above,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The silver moon is shining:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Moonlight! Moonlight!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Hour of ev’ry fond delight!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Moonlight! Moonlight!—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Hour of ev’ry fond delight!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span style='font-size:smaller'>SECOND VERSE.</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>All is silent now,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Philomel thou hearest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From yon cypress bough,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sounds to lovers dearest;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Daylight be for those</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Who for wealth aspiring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Give me sweet repose,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While the moon is shining.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Moonlight! &amp;c.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk155'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:bold;'><a id='notes'></a>Transcriber’s Notes:</p>
-
-<p class='noindent'>Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic spellings and
-hyphenation have been retained. Obvious typesetting and punctuation errors have been corrected
-without note. Other errors have been corrected as noted below. For
-illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of
-the originals available for preparation of the eBook.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the first article <span class='it'>NEW YORK PRINTING MACHINE, PRESS, AND SAW WORKS.</span>, the <a href='#bot2'>footnote</a>
-was added to clarify the meaning of a sentence which may be confusing to some modern day readers.</p>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>page 592, believed to the real.” ==> believed to <a href='#tobe'>be</a> real.”</p>
-<p class='line'>page 600, The butcher’s looked: a ==> The <a href='#butch'>butchers</a> looked: a</p>
-<p class='line'>page 609, in livery where already ==> in livery <a href='#were'>were</a> already</p>
-<p class='line'>page 656, in them, and yet its all ==> in them, and yet <a href='#its'>it’s</a> all</p>
-<p class='line'>page 659, queen, its from the ==> queen, <a href='#its2'>it’s</a> from the</p>
-<p class='line'>page 665, By Caroline Chesboro’. ==> By Caroline <a href='#chese'>Chesebro’</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='noindent'>[End of Graham’s Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 6, June 1852]</p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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diff --git a/old/60202-h/images/i238.jpg b/old/60202-h/images/i238.jpg
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