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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6148-8.txt b/6148-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b881b33 --- /dev/null +++ b/6148-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14598 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, by Thomas De Quincey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers + Volumes I and II, Complete + +Author: Thomas De Quincey + + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6148] +This file was first posted on November 19, 2002 +Last Updated: June 15, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + +NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. + +By Thomas De Quincey. + + +Contents Of Volume I. + + The Household Wreck + The Spanish Nun + Flight Of A Tartar Tribe + + +Contents Of Volume II. + + System Of The Heavens As Revealed By Lord Rosse's Telescopes + Modern Superstition + Coleridge And Opium-Eating + Temperance Movement + On War + The Last Days Of Immanuel Kant + + + + + + +VOLUME I. + + + + +THE HOUSEHOLD WRECK. + + +'To be weak,' we need not the great archangel's voice to tell us, '_is +to be miserable_.' All weakness is suffering and humiliation, no matter +for its mode or its subject. Beyond all other weakness, therefore, and +by a sad prerogative, as more miserable than what is most miserable +in all, that capital weakness of man which regards the _tenure_ of his +enjoyments and his power to protect, even for a moment, the crown of +flowers--flowers, at the best, how frail and few!--which sometimes +settles upon his haughty brow. There is no end, there never will be +an end, of the lamentations which ascend from earth and the rebellious +heart of her children, upon this huge opprobrium of human pride--the +everlasting mutabilities of all which man can grasp by his power or +by his aspirations, the fragility of all which he inherits, and the +hollowness visible amid the very raptures of enjoyment to every eye +which looks for a moment underneath the draperies of the shadowy +_present_, the hollowness, the blank treachery of hollowness, upon which +all the pomps and vanities of life ultimately repose. This trite but +unwearying theme, this impassioned common-place of humanity, is the +subject in every age of variation without end, from the poet, +the rhetorician, the fabulist, the moralist, the divine, and the +philosopher. All, amidst the sad vanity of their sighs and groans, labor +to put on record and to establish this monotonous complaint, which needs +not other record or evidence than those very sighs and groans. What is +life? Darkness and formless vacancy for a beginning, or something beyond +all beginning--then next a dim lotos of human consciousness, finding +itself afloat upon the bosom of waters without a shore--then a few sunny +smiles and many tears--a little love and infinite strife--whisperings +from paradise and fierce mockeries from the anarchy of chaos--dust and +ashes--and once more darkness circling round, as if from the beginning, +and in this way rounding or making an island of our fantastic +existence,--_that_ is human life; _that_ the inevitable amount of man's +laughter and his tears--of what he suffers and he does--of his motions +this way and that way--to the right or to the left--backwards +or forwards--of all his seeming realities and all his absolute +negations--his shadowy pomps and his pompous shadows--of whatsoever he +thinks, finds, makes or mars, creates or animates, loves, hates, or in +dread hope anticipates;--so it is, so it has been, so it will be, for +ever and ever. + +Yet in the lowest deep there still yawns a lower deep; and in the vast +halls of man's frailty, there are separate and more gloomy chambers of +a frailty more exquisite and consummate. We account it frailty that +threescore years and ten make the upshot of man's pleasurable existence, +and that, far before that time is reached, his beauty and his power +have fallen among weeds and forgetfulness. But there is a frailty, by +comparison with which this ordinary flux of the human race seems to have +a vast duration. Cases there are, and those not rare, in which a +single week, a day, an hour sweeps away all vestiges and landmarks of +a memorable felicity; in which the ruin travels faster than the flying +showers upon the mountain-side, faster 'than a musician scatters +sounds;' in which 'it was' and 'it is not' are words of the self-same +tongue, in the self-same minute; in which the sun that at noon beheld +all sound and prosperous, long before its setting hour looks out upon +a total wreck, and sometimes upon the total abolition of any fugitive +memorial that there ever had been a vessel to be wrecked, or a wreck to +be obliterated. + +These cases, though here spoken of rhetorically, are of daily +occurrence; and, though they may seem few by comparison with the +infinite millions of the species, they are many indeed, if they be +reckoned absolutely for themselves; and throughout the limits of a whole +nation, not a day passes over us but many families are robbed of their +heads, or even swallowed up in ruin themselves, or their course turned +out of the sunny beams into a dark wilderness. Shipwrecks and nightly +conflagrations are sometimes, and especially among some nations, +wholesale calamities; battles yet more so; earthquakes, the famine, the +pestilence, though rarer, are visitations yet wider in their desolation. +Sickness and commercial ill-luck, if narrower, are more frequent +scourges. And most of all, or with most darkness in its train, comes the +sickness of the brain--lunacy--which, visiting nearly one thousand in +every million, must, in every populous nation, make many ruins in each +particular day. 'Babylon in ruins,' says a great author, 'is not so sad +a sight as a human soul overthrown by lunacy.' But there is a sadder +even than _that_,--the sight of a family-ruin wrought by crime is even +more appalling. Forgery, breaches of trust, embezzlement, of private +or public funds--(a crime sadly on the increase since the example of +Fauntleroy, and the suggestion of its great feasibility first made by +him)--these enormities, followed too often, and countersigned for their +final result to the future happiness of families, by the appalling +catastrophe of suicide, must naturally, in every wealthy nation, +or wherever property and the modes of property are much developed, +constitute the vast majority of all that come under the review of public +justice. Any of these is sufficient to make shipwreck of all peace and +comfort for a family; and often, indeed, it happens that the desolation +is accomplished within the course of one revolving sun; often the +whole dire catastrophe, together with its total consequences, is both +accomplished and made known to those whom it chiefly concerns within one +and the same hour. The mighty Juggernaut of social life, moving onwards +with its everlasting thunders, pauses not for a moment to spare--to +pity--to look aside, but rushes forward for ever, impassive as the +marble in the quarry--caring not for whom it destroys, for the how +many, or for the results, direct and indirect, whether many or few. +The increasing grandeur and magnitude of the social system, the more it +multiplies and extends its victims, the more it conceals them; and for +the very same reason: just as in the Roman amphitheatres, when they grew +to the magnitude of mighty cities, (in some instances accommodating +four hundred thousand spectators, in many a fifth part of that amount,) +births and deaths became ordinary events, which, in a small modern +theatre, are rare and memorable; and exactly as these prodigious +accidents multiplied, _pari passu_, they were disregarded and easily +concealed: for curiosity was no longer excited; the sensation attached +to them was little or none. + +From these terrific tragedies, which, like monsoons or tornadoes, +accomplish the work of years in an hour, not merely an impressive lesson +is derived, sometimes, perhaps, a warning, but also (and this is of +universal application) some consolation. Whatever may have been the +misfortunes or the sorrows of a man's life, he is still privileged to +regard himself and his friends as amongst the fortunate by comparison, +in so far as he has escaped these wholesale storms, either as an actor +in producing them, or a contributor to their violence--or even more +innocently, (though oftentimes not less miserably)--as a participator in +the instant ruin, or in the long arrears of suffering which they entail. + +The following story falls within the class of hasty tragedies, and +sudden desolations here described. The reader is assured that every +incident is strictly true: nothing, in that respect, has been altered; +nor, indeed, anywhere except in the conversations, of which, though +the results and general outline are known, the separate details have +necessarily been lost under the agitating circumstances which produced +them. It has been judged right and delicate to conceal the name of the +great city, and therefore of the nation in which these events occurred, +chiefly out of consideration for the descendants of one person concerned +in the narrative: otherwise, it might not have been requisite: for it +is proper to mention, that every person directly a party to the case has +been long laid in the grave: all of them, with one solitary exception, +upwards of fifty years. + + * * * * * + +It was early spring in the year 17--; the day was the 6th of April; and +the weather, which had been of a wintry fierceness for the preceding six +or seven weeks--cold indeed beyond anything known for many years, +gloomy for ever, and broken by continual storms--was now by a Swedish +transformation all at once bright, genial, heavenly. So sudden and so +early a prelusion of summer, it was generally feared, could not last. +But that only made every body the more eager to lose no hour of an +enjoyment that might prove so fleeting. It seemed as if the whole +population of the place, a population among the most numerous in +Christendom, had been composed of hybernating animals suddenly awakened +by the balmy sunshine from their long winter's torpor. Through every +hour of the golden morning the streets were resonant with female parties +of young and old, the timid and the bold, nay, even of the most delicate +valetudinarians, now first tempted to lay aside their wintry clothing +together with their fireside habits, whilst the whole rural environs of +our vast city, the woodlands, and the interminable meadows began daily +to re-echo the glad voices of the young and jovial awaking once again, +like the birds and the flowers, and universal nature, to the luxurious +happiness of this most delightful season. + +Happiness do I say? Yes, happiness; happiness to me above all others. +For I also in those days was among the young and the gay; I was healthy; +I was strong; I was prosperous in a worldly sense! I owed no man a +shilling; feared no man's face; shunned no man's presence. I held a +respectable station in society; I was myself, let me venture to say it, +respected generally for my personal qualities, apart from any advantages +I might draw from fortune or inheritance; I had reason to think myself +popular amongst the very slender circle of my acquaintance; and finally, +which perhaps was the crowning grace to all these elements of happiness, +I suffered not from the presence of _ennui_, nor ever feared to suffer: +for my temperament was constitutionally ardent; I had a powerful +animal sensibility; and I knew the one great secret for maintaining its +equipoise, viz., by powerful daily exercise; and thus I lived in +the light and presence, or, (if I should not be suspected of seeking +rhetorical expressions, I would say,) in one eternal solstice of +unclouded hope. + +These, you will say, were blessings; these were golden elements of +felicity. They were so; and yet, with the single exception of my +healthy frame and firm animal organization, I feel that I have mentioned +hitherto nothing but what by comparison might be thought of a vulgar +quality. All the other advantages that I have enumerated, had they been +yet wanting, might have been acquired; had they been forfeited, might +have been reconquered; had they been even irretrievably lost, might, by +a philosophic effort, have been dispensed with; compensations might have +been found for any of them, many equivalents, or if not, consolations at +least, for their absence. But now it remains to speak of other blessings +too mighty to be valued, not merely as transcending in rank and dignity +all other constituents of happiness, but for a reason far sadder than +that--because, once lost, they were incapable of restoration, and +because not to be dispensed with; blessings in which 'either we must +live or have no life:' lights to the darkness of our paths and to the +infirmity of our steps--which, once extinguished, never more on this +side the gates of Paradise can any man hope to see re-illumined for +himself. Amongst these I may mention an intellect, whether powerful or +not in itself, at any rate most elaborately cultivated; and, to say the +truth, I had little other business before me in this life than to pursue +this lofty and delightful task. I may add, as a blessing, not in the +same _positive_ sense as that which I have just mentioned, because not +of a nature to contribute so hourly to the employment of the thoughts, +but yet in this sense equal, that the absence of either would have been +an equal affliction,--namely, a conscience void of all offence. It +was little indeed that I, drawn by no necessities of situation into +temptations of that nature, had done no injury to any man. That was +fortunate; but I could not much value myself upon what was so much an +accident of my situation. Something, however, I might pretend to beyond +this _negative_ merit; for I had originally a benign nature; and, as I +advanced in years and thoughtfulness, the gratitude which possessed me +for my own exceeding happiness led me to do that by principle and system +which I had already done upon blind impulse; and thus upon a double +argument I was incapable of turning away from the prayer of the +afflicted, whatever had been the sacrifice to myself. Hardly, perhaps, +could it have been said in a sufficient sense at that time that I was +a religious man: yet, undoubtedly, I had all the foundations within me +upon which religion might hereafter have grown. My heart overflowed with +thankfulness to Providence: I had a natural tone of unaffected piety; +and thus far, at least, I might have been called a religious man, that +in the simplicity of truth I could have exclaimed, + + 'O, Abner, I fear God, and I fear none beside.' + +But wherefore seek to delay ascending by a natural climax to that final +consummation and perfect crown of my felicity--that almighty blessing +which ratified their value to all the rest? Wherefore, oh! wherefore +do I shrink in miserable weakness from--what? Is it from reviving, +from calling up again into fierce and insufferable light the images and +features of a long-buried happiness? That would be a natural shrinking +and a reasonable weakness. But how escape from reviving, whether I give +it utterance or not, that which is for ever vividly before me? What need +to call into artificial light that which, whether sleeping or waking, by +night or by day, for eight-and-thirty years has seemed by its miserable +splendor to scorch my brain? Wherefore shrink from giving language, +simple vocal utterance, to that burden of anguish which by so long an +endurance has lost no atom of its weight, nor can gain any most surely +by the loudest publication? Need there can be none, after this, to say +that the priceless blessing, which I have left to the final place in +this ascending review, was the companion of my life--my darling and +youthful wife. Oh! dovelike woman! fated in an hour the most +defenceless to meet with the ravening vulture,--lamb fallen amongst +wolves,--trembling--fluttering fawn, whose path was inevitably to be +crossed by the bloody tiger;--angel, whose most innocent heart fitted +thee for too early a flight from this impure planet; if indeed it were a +necessity that thou shouldst find no rest for thy footing except amidst +thy native heavens, if indeed to leave what was not worthy of thee were +a destiny not to be evaded--a summons not to be put by,--yet why, why, +again and again I demand--why was it also necessary that this, thy +departure, so full of wo to me, should also to thyself be heralded by +the pangs of martyrdom? Sainted love, if, like the ancient children +of the Hebrews, like Meshech and Abednego, thou wert called by divine +command, whilst yet almost a child, to walk, and to walk alone, through +the fiery furnace,--wherefore then couldst not thou, like that Meshech +and that Abednego, walk unsinged by the dreadful torment, and come forth +unharmed? Why, if the sacrifice were to be total, was it necessary to +reach it by so dire a struggle? and if the cup, the bitter cup, of final +separation from those that were the light of thy eyes and the pulse +of thy heart might not be put aside,--yet wherefore was it that thou +mightest not drink it up in the natural peace which belongs to a sinless +heart? + +But these are murmurings, you will say, rebellious murmurings against +the proclamations of God. Not so: I have long since submitted myself, +resigned myself, nay, even reconciled myself, perhaps, to the great +wreck of my life, in so far as it was the will of God, and according to +the weakness of my imperfect nature. But my wrath still rises, like a +towering flame, against all the earthly instruments of this ruin; I am +still at times as unresigned as ever to this tragedy, in so far as it +was the work of human malice. Vengeance, as a mission for _me_, as +a task for _my_ hands in particular, is no longer possible; the +thunderbolts of retribution have been long since launched by other +hands; and yet still it happens that at times I do--I must--I shall +perhaps to the hour of death, rise in maniac fury, and seek, in the +very impotence of vindictive madness, groping as it were in blindness of +heart, for that tiger from hell-gates that tore away my darling from my +heart. Let me pause, and interrupt this painful strain, to say a word +or two upon what she was--and how far worthy of a love more honorable +to her (that was possible) and deeper (but that was not possible) than +mine. When first I saw her, she--my Agnes--was merely a child, not much +(if anything) above sixteen. But, as in perfect womanhood she retained +a most childlike expression of countenance, so even then in absolute +childhood she put forward the blossoms and the dignity of a woman. Never +yet did my eye light upon creature that was born of woman, nor could it +enter my heart to conceive one, possessing a figure more matchless in +its proportions, more statuesque, and more deliberately and advisedly to +be characterized by no adequate word but the word _magnificent_, (a word +too often and lightly abused.) In reality, speaking of women, I have +seen many beautiful figures, but hardly one except Agnes that could, +without hyperbole, be styled truly and memorably magnificent. Though +in the first order of tall women, yet, being full in person, and with a +symmetry that was absolutely faultless, she seemed to the random sight +as little above the ordinary height. Possibly from the dignity of her +person, assisted by the dignity of her movements, a stranger would +have been disposed to call her at a distance a woman of _commanding_ +presence; but never, after he had approached near enough to behold her +face. Every thought of artifice, of practised effect, or of haughty +pretension, fled before the childlike innocence, the sweet feminine +timidity, and the more than cherub loveliness of that countenance, which +yet in its lineaments was noble, whilst its expression was purely gentle +and confiding. A shade of pensiveness there was about her; but _that_ +was in her manners, scarcely ever in her features; and the exquisite +fairness of her complexion, enriched by the very sweetest and most +delicate bloom that ever I have beheld, should rather have allied it +to a tone of cheerfulness. Looking at this noble creature, as I first +looked at her, when yet upon the early threshold of womanhood + + 'With household motions light and free, + And steps of virgin liberty' + +you might have supposed her some Hebe or young Aurora of the dawn. When +you saw only her superb figure, and its promise of womanly development, +with the measured dignity of her step, you might for a moment have +fancied her some imperial Medea of the Athenian stage--some Volumnia +from Rome, + + 'Or ruling bandit's wife amidst the Grecian isles.' + + But catch one glance from her angelic countenance--and then combining +the face and the person, you would have dismissed all such fancies, and +have pronounced her a Pandora or an Eve, expressly accomplished and held +forth by nature as an exemplary model or ideal pattern for the future +female sex:-- + + 'A perfect woman, nobly plann'd, + To warm, to comfort, to command: + And yet a spirit too, and bright + With something of an angel light.' + +To this superb young woman, such as I have here sketched her, I +surrendered my heart for ever, almost from my first opportunity of +seeing her: for so natural and without disguise was her character, and +so winning the simplicity of her manners, due in part to her own native +dignity of mind, and in part to the deep solitude in which she had been +reared, that little penetration was required to put me in possession of +all her thoughts; and to win her love, not very much more than to let +her see, as see she could not avoid, in connection with that chivalrous +homage which at any rate was due to her sex and her sexual perfections, +a love for herself on my part, which was in its nature as exalted a +passion and as profoundly rooted as any merely human affection can ever +yet have been. + +On the seventeenth birthday of Agnes we were married. Oh! calendar of +everlasting months--months that, like the mighty rivers, shall flow on +for ever, immortal as thou, Nile, or Danube, Euphrates, or St. Lawrence! +and ye, summer and winter, day and night, wherefore do you bring round +continually your signs, and seasons, and revolving hours, that still +point and barb the anguish of local recollections, telling me of this +and that celestial morning that never shall return, and of too blessed +expectations, travelling like yourselves through a heavenly zodiac of +changes, till at once and for ever they sank into the grave! Often do I +think of seeking for some quiet cell either in the Tropics or in +Arctic latitudes, where the changes of the year, and the external signs +corresponding to them, express themselves by no features like those in +which the same seasons are invested under our temperate climes: so that, +if knowing, we cannot at least feel the identity of their revolutions. +We were married, I have said, on the birthday--the seventeenth +birthday--of Agnes; and pretty nearly on her eighteenth it was that she +placed me at the summit of my happiness, whilst for herself she +thus completed the circle of her relations to this life's duties, +by presenting me with a son. Of this child, knowing how wearisome to +strangers is the fond exultation of parents, I shall simply say, that +he inherited his mother's beauty; the same touching loveliness and +innocence of expression, the same chiselled nose, mouth, and chin, +the same exquisite auburn hair. In many other features, not of person +merely, but also of mind and manners, as they gradually began to open +before me, this child deepened my love to him by recalling the image of +his mother; and what other image was there that I so much wished to +keep before me, whether waking or asleep? At the time to which I am now +coming but too rapidly, this child, still our only one, and unusually +premature, was within four months of completing his third year; +consequently Agnes was at that time in her twenty-first year; and I may +here add, with respect to myself, that I was in my twenty-sixth. + +But, before I come to that period of wo, let me say one word on the +temper of mind which so fluent and serene a current of prosperity may +be thought to have generated. Too common a course I know it is, when +the stream of life flows with absolute tranquillity, and ruffled by no +menace of a breeze--the azure overhead never dimmed by a passing cloud, +that in such circumstances the blood stagnates: life, from excess and +plethora of sweets, becomes insipid: the spirit of action droops: and +it is oftentimes found at such seasons that slight annoyances and +molestations, or even misfortunes in a lower key, are not wholly +undesirable, as means of stimulating the lazy energies, and disturbing a +slumber which is, or soon will be, morbid in its character. I have known +myself cases not a few, where, by the very nicest gradations, and by +steps too silent and insensible for daily notice, the utmost harmony and +reciprocal love had shaded down into fretfulness and petulance, purely +from too easy a life, and because all nobler agitations that might have +ruffled the sensations occasionally, and all distresses even on the +narrowest scale that might have re-awakened the solicitudes of love, by +opening necessities for sympathy, for counsel, or for mutual aid, had +been shut out by foresight too elaborate, or by prosperity too cloying. +But all this, had it otherwise been possible with my particular mind, +and at my early age, was utterly precluded by one remarkable peculiarity +in my temper. Whether it were that I derived from nature some jealousy +and suspicion of all happiness which seems too perfect and unalloyed--[a +spirit of restless distrust, which in ancient times often led men to +throw valuable gems into the sea, in the hope of thus propitiating the +dire deity of misfortune, by voluntarily breaking the fearful chain of +prosperity, and led some of them to weep and groan when the gems +thus sacrificed were afterwards brought back to their hand by simple +fishermen, who had recovered them in the intestines of fishes--a +portentous omen, which was interpreted into a sorrowful indication +that the deity thus answered the propitiatory appeal, and made solemn +proclamation that he had rejected it]--whether, I say, it were this +spirit of jealousy awaked in me by too steady and too profound a +felicity--or whether it were that great overthrows and calamities have +some mysterious power to send forward a dim misgiving of their advancing +footsteps, and really and indeed, + + 'That in to-day already walks to-morrow;' + +or whether it were partly, as I have already put the case in my first +supposition, a natural instinct of distrust, but irritated and enlivened +by a particular shock of superstitious alarm; which, or whether any of +these causes it were that kept me apprehensive, and on the watch for +disastrous change, I will not here undertake to determine. Too certain +it is that I was so. I never ridded myself of an over-mastering and +brooding sense, shadowy and vague, a dim abiding feeling (that sometimes +was and sometimes was not exalted into a conscious presentiment) of +some great calamity travelling towards me; not perhaps immediately +impending--perhaps even at a great distance; but already--dating from +some secret hour--already in motion upon some remote line of approach. +This feeling I could not assuage by sharing it with Agnes. No motive +could be strong enough for persuading me to communicate so gloomy a +thought with one who, considering her extreme healthiness, was but too +remarkably prone to pensive, if not to sorrowful, contemplations. And +thus the obligation which I felt to silence and reserve, strengthened +the morbid impression I had received; whilst the remarkable incident +I have adverted to served powerfully to rivet the superstitious chain +which was continually gathering round me. The incident was this--and +before I repeat it, let me pledge my word of honor, that I report to you +the bare facts of the case, without exaggeration, and in the simplicity +of truth:--There was at that time resident in the great city, which +is the scene of my narrative, a woman, from some part of Hungary, who +pretended to the gift of looking into futurity. She had made herself +known advantageously in several of the greatest cities of Europe, under +the designation of the Hungarian Prophetess; and very extraordinary +instances were cited amongst the highest circles of her success in the +art which she professed. So ample were the pecuniary tributes which +she levied upon the hopes and the fears, or the simple curiosity of +the aristocracy, that she was thus able to display not unfrequently +a disinterestedness and a generosity, which seemed native to her +disposition, amongst the humbler classes of her applicants; for she +rejected no addresses that were made to her, provided only they were +not expressed in levity or scorn, but with sincerity, and in a spirit of +confiding respect. It happened, on one occasion, when a nursery-servant +of ours was waiting in her anteroom for the purpose of taking her turn +in consulting the prophetess professionally, that she had witnessed a +scene of consternation and unaffected maternal grief in this Hungarian +lady upon the sudden seizure of her son, a child of four or five years +old, by a spasmodic inflammation of the throat (since called croup) +peculiar to children, and in those days not very well understood by +medical men. The poor Hungarian, who had lived chiefly in warm, or +at least not damp, climates, and had never so much as heard of this +complaint, was almost wild with alarm at the rapid increase of the +symptoms which attend the paroxysms, and especially of that loud and +distressing sound which marks the impeded respiration. Great, therefore, +was her joy and gratitude on finding from our servant that she had +herself been in attendance more than once upon cases of the same nature, +but very much more violent,--and that, consequently, she was well +qualified to suggest and to superintend all the measures of instant +necessity, such as the hot-bath, the peculiar medicines, &c., which are +almost sure of success when applied in an early stage. Staying to give +her assistance until a considerable improvement had taken place in the +child, our servant then hurried home to her mistress. Agnes, it may +be imagined, dispatched her back with such further and more precise +directions as in a very short time availed to re-establish the child in +convalescence. These practical services, and the messages of maternal +sympathy repeatedly conveyed from Agnes, had completely won the heart of +the grateful Hungarian, and she announced her intention of calling with +her little boy, to make her personal acknowledgments for the kindness +which had been shown to her. She did so, and we were as much impressed +by the sultana-like style of her Oriental beauty, as she, on her part, +was touched and captivated by the youthful loveliness of my angelic +wife. After sitting for above an hour, during which time she talked with +a simplicity and good feeling that struck us as remarkable in a person +professing an art usually connected with so much of conscious fraud, she +rose to take her leave. I must mention that she had previously had our +little boy sitting on her knee, and had at intervals thrown a hasty +glance upon the palms of his hands. On parting, Agnes, with her usual +frankness, held out her hand. The Hungarian took it with an air of sad +solemnity, pressed it fervently, and said:--'Lady, it is my part in +this life to look behind the curtain of fate; and oftentimes I see such +sights in futurity--some near, some far off--as willingly I would _not_ +see. For you, young and charming lady, looking like that angel which you +are, no destiny can be equal to your deserts. Yet sometimes, true it +is, God sees not as man sees; and he ordains, after his unfathomable +counsels, to the heavenly-minded a portion in heaven, and to the +children whom he loves a rest and a haven not built with hands. +Something that I have seen dimly warns me to look no farther. Yet, if +you desire it, I will do my office, and I will read for you with truth +the lines of fate as they are written upon your hands.' Agnes was a +little startled, or even shocked, by this solemn address; but, in a +minute or so, a mixed feeling--one half of which was curiosity, and +the other half a light-hearted mockery of her own mysterious awe in +the presence of what she had been taught to view as either fraud or +insanity--prompted her playfully to insist upon the fullest application +of the Hungarian's art to her own case; nay, she would have the hands +of our little Francis read and interpreted as well as her own, and +she desired to hear the full professional judgment delivered without +suppression or softening of its harshest awards. She laughed whilst she +said all this; but she also trembled a little. The Hungarian first +took the hand of our young child, and perused it with a long and steady +scrutiny. She said nothing, but sighed heavily as she resigned it. She +then took the hand of Agnes--looked bewildered and aghast--then gazed +piteously from Agnes to her child--and at last, bursting into tears, +began to move steadily out of the room. I followed her hastily, and +remonstrated upon this conduct, by pointing her attention to the obvious +truth--that these mysterious suppressions and insinuations, which +left all shadowy and indistinct, were far more alarming than the most +definite denunciations. Her answer yet rings in my ear:--'Why should I +make myself odious to you and to your innocent wife? Messenger of evil +I am, and have been to many; but evil I will not prophecy to her. Watch +and pray! Much may be done by effectual prayer. Human means, fleshly +arms, are vain. There is an enemy in the house of life,' [here she +quitted her palmistry for the language of astrology;] 'there is a +frightful danger at hand, both for your wife and your child. Already +on that dark ocean, over which we are all sailing, I can see dimly the +point at which the enemy's course shall cross your wife's. There is +but little interval remaining--not many hours. All is finished; all +is accomplished; and already he is almost up with the darlings of your +heart. Be vigilant, be vigilant, and yet look not to yourself, but to +Heaven, for deliverance.' + +This woman was not an impostor: she spoke and uttered her oracles +under a wild sense of possession by some superior being, and of mystic +compulsion to say what she would have willingly left unsaid; and never +yet, before or since, have I seen the light of sadness settle with so +solemn an expression into human eyes as when she dropped my wife's +hand, and refused to deliver that burden of prophetic wo with which she +believed herself to be inspired. + +The prophetess departed; and what mood of mind did she leave behind her +in Agnes and myself? Naturally there was a little drooping of spirits +at first; the solemnity and the heart-felt sincerity of fear and grief +which marked her demeanor, made it impossible, at the moment when we +were just fresh from their natural influences, that we should recoil +into our ordinary spirits. But with the inevitable elasticity of youth +and youthful gaiety we soon did so; we could not attempt to persuade +ourselves that there had been any conscious fraud or any attempt at +scenical effect in the Hungarian's conduct. She had no motive for +deceiving us; she had refused all offerings of money, and her whole +visit had evidently been made under an overflow of the most grateful +feelings for the attentions shown to her child. We acquitted her, +therefore, of sinister intentions; and with our feelings of jealousy, +feelings in which we had been educated, towards everything that tended +to superstition, we soon agreed to think her some gentle maniac or sad +enthusiast, suffering under some form of morbid melancholy. Forty-eight +hours, with two nights' sleep, sufficed to restore the wonted +equilibrium of our spirits; and that interval brought us onwards to +the 6th of April--the day on which, as I have already said, my story +properly commences. + + On that day, on that lovely 6th of April, such as I have described it, +that 6th of April, about nine o'clock in the morning, we were seated at +breakfast near the open window--we, that is, Agnes, myself, and little +Francis; the freshness of morning spirits rested upon us; the golden +light of the morning sun illuminated the room; incense was floating +through the air from the gorgeous flowers within and without the house; +there in youthful happiness we sat gathered together, a family of +love, and there we never sat again. Never again were we three gathered +together, nor ever shall be, so long as the sun and its golden +light--the morning and the evening--the earth and its flowers endure. + +Often have I occupied myself in recalling every circumstance the most +trivial of this the final morning of what merits to be called my life. +Eleven o'clock, I remember, was striking when Agnes came into my study, +and said that she would go into the city, (for we lived in a quite rural +suburb,) that she would execute some trifling commissions which she +had received from a friend in the country, and would be at home again +between one and two for a stroll which we had agreed to take in the +neighboring meadows. About twenty minutes after this she again came into +my study dressed for going abroad; for such was my admiration of her, +that I had a fancy--fancy it must have been, and yet still I felt it to +be real--that under every change she looked best; if she put on a shawl, +then a shawl became the most feminine of ornaments; if she laid +aside her shawl and her bonnet, then how nymph-like she seemed in her +undisguised and unadorned beauty! Full-dress seemed for the time to be +best, as bringing forward into relief the splendor of her person, and +allowing the exposure of her arms; a simple morning-dress, again, seemed +better still, as fitted to call out the childlike innocence of her face, +by confining the attention to that. But all these are feelings of fond +and blind affection, hanging with rapture over the object of something +too like idolatry. God knows, if that be a sin, I was but too profound +a sinner; yet sin it never was, sin it could not be, to adore a beauty +such as thine, my Agnes. Neither was it her beauty by itself, and that +only, which I sought at such times to admire; there was a peculiar +sort of double relation in which she stood at moments of pleasurable +expectation and excitement, since our little Francis had become of an +age to join our party, which made some aspects of her character trebly +interesting. She was a wife--and wife to one whom she looked up to +as her superior in understanding and in knowledge of the world, whom, +therefore, she leaned to for protection. On the other hand, she was also +a mother. Whilst, therefore, to her child she supported the matronly +part of guide, and the air of an experienced person; to me she wore, +ingenuously and without disguise, the part of a child herself, with all +the giddy hopes and unchastised imaginings of that buoyant age. This +double character, one aspect of which looks towards her husband and one +to her children, sits most gracefully upon many a young wife whose heart +is pure and innocent; and the collision between the two separate parts +imposed by duty on the one hand, by extreme youth on the other, the +one telling her that she is a responsible head of a family and the +depository of her husband's honor in its tenderest and most vital +interests, the other telling her, through the liveliest language of +animal sensibility, and through the very pulses of her blood, that she +is herself a child; this collision gives an inexpressible charm to +the whole demeanor of many a young married woman, making her other +fascinations more touching to her husband, and deepening the admiration +she excites; and the more so, as it is a collision which cannot exist +except among the very innocent. Years, at any rate, will irresistibly +remove this peculiar charm, and gradually replace it by the graces +of the matronly character. But in Agnes this change had not yet been +effected, partly from nature, and partly from the extreme seclusion of +her life. Hitherto she still retained the unaffected expression of her +childlike nature; and so lovely in my eyes was this perfect exhibition +of natural feminine character, that she rarely or never went out alone +upon any little errand to town which might require her to rely upon her +own good sense and courage, that she did not previously come to exhibit +herself before me. Partly this was desired by me in that lover-like +feeling of admiration already explained, which leads one to court the +sight of a beloved object under every change of dress, and under all +effects of novelty. Partly it was the interest I took in that exhibition +of sweet timidity, and almost childish apprehensiveness, half disguised +or imperfectly acknowledged by herself, which (in the way I have just +explained) so touchingly contrasted with (and for that very reason so +touchingly drew forth) her matronly character. But I hear some objector +say at this point, ought not this very timidity, founded (as in part +at least it was) upon inexperience and conscious inability to face the +dangers of the world, to have suggested reasons for not leaving her to +her own protection? And does it not argue, on my part, an arrogant or +too blind a confidence in the durability of my happiness, as though +charmed against assaults, and liable to no shocks of sudden revolution? +I reply that, from the very constitution of society, and the tone of +manners in the city which we inhabited, there seemed to be a moral +impossibility that any dangers of consequence should meet her in the +course of those brief absences from my protection, which only +were possible; that even to herself any dangers, of a nature to be +anticipated under the known circumstances of the case, seemed almost +imaginary; that even _she_ acknowledged a propriety in being trained, by +slight and brief separations from my guardianship, to face more boldly +those cases of longer separation and of more absolute consignment to her +own resources which circumstances might arise to create necessarily, and +perhaps abruptly. And it is evident that, had she been the wife of any +man engaged in the duties of a profession, she might have been summoned +from the very first, and without the possibility of any such gradual +training, to the necessity of relying almost singly upon her own courage +and discretion. For the other question, whether I did not depend too +blindly and presumptuously upon my good luck in not at least affording +her my protection so long as nothing occurred to make it impossible? I +may reply, most truly, that all my feelings ran naturally in the very +opposite channel. So far from confiding too much in my luck, in the +present instance I was engaged in a task of writing upon some points +of business which could not admit of further delay; but now, and at all +times, I had a secret aversion to seeing so gentle a creature thrown +even for an hour upon her own resources, though in situations which +scarcely seemed to admit of any occasion for taxing those resources; +and often I have felt anger towards myself for what appeared to be an +irrational or effeminate timidity, and have struggled with my own mind +upon occasions like the present, when I knew that I could not have +acknowledged my tremors to a friend without something like shame, and +a fear to excite his ridicule. No; if in anything I ran into excess, +it was in this very point of anxiety as to all that regarded my wife's +security. Her good sense, her prudence, her courage, (for courage she +had in the midst of her timidity,) her dignity of manner, the more +impressive from the childlike character of her countenance, all should +have combined to reassure me, and yet they did not. I was still anxious +for her safety to an irrational extent; and to sum up the whole in a +most weighty line of Shakspeare, I lived under the constant presence of +a feeling which only that great observer of human nature (so far as I +am aware) has ever noticed, viz., that merely the excess of my happiness +made me jealous of its ability to last, and in that extent less capable +of enjoying it; that in fact the prelibation of my tears, as a homage to +its fragility, was drawn forth by my very sense that my felicity was too +exquisite; or, in the words of the great master + + 'I wept to have' [absolutely, by anticipation, shed tears in + possessing] 'what I so feared to lose.' + +Thus end my explanations, and I now pursue my narrative: Agnes, as +I have said, came into my room again before leaving the house--we +conversed for five minutes--we parted--she went out--her last words +being that she would return at half-past one o'clock; and not long +after that time, if ever mimic bells--bells of rejoicing, or bells of +mourning, are heard in desert spaces of the air, and (as some have said) +in unreal worlds, that mock our own, and repeat, for ridicule, the vain +and unprofitable motions of man, then too surely, about this hour, began +to toll the funeral knell of my earthly happiness--its final hour had +sounded. + + * * * * * + +One o'clock had arrived; fifteen minutes after, I strolled into the +garden, and began to look over the little garden-gate in expectation of +every moment descrying Agnes in the distance. Half an hour passed, +and for ten minutes more I was tolerably quiet. From this time till +half-past two I became constantly more agitated--_agitated,_ perhaps, is +too strong a word--but I was restless and anxious beyond what I should +have chosen to acknowledge. Still I kept arguing, What is half an hour? +what is an hour? A thousand things might have occurred to cause that +delay, without needing to suppose any accident; or, if an accident, why +not a very trifling one? She may have slightly hurt her foot--she +may have slightly sprained her ankle. 'Oh, doubtless,' I exclaimed to +myself, 'it will be a mere trifle, or perhaps nothing at all.' But I +remember that, even whilst I was saying this, I took my hat and walked +with nervous haste into the little quiet lane upon which our garden-gate +opened. The lane led by a few turnings, and after a course of about five +hundred yards, into a broad high-road, which even at that day had begun +to assume the character of a street, and allowed an unobstructed +range of view in the direction of the city for at least a mile. Here +I stationed myself, for the air was so clear that I could distinguish +dress and figure to a much greater distance than usual. Even on such a +day, however, the remote distance was hazy and indistinct, and at any +other season I should have been diverted with the various mistakes +I made. From occasional combinations of color, modified by light and +shade, and of course powerfully assisted by the creative state of the +eye under this nervous apprehensiveness, I continued to shape into +images of Agnes forms without end, that upon nearer approach presented +the most grotesque contrasts to her impressive appearance. But I +had ceased even to comprehend the ludicrous; my agitation was now so +overruling and engrossing that I lost even my intellectual sense of it; +and now first I understood practically and feelingly the anguish of hope +alternating with disappointment, as it may be supposed to act upon the +poor shipwrecked seaman, alone and upon a desolate coast, straining his +sight for ever to the fickle element which has betrayed him, but +which only can deliver him, and with his eyes still tracing in the far +distance, + + 'Ships, dim-discover'd, dropping from the clouds,'-- + +which a brief interval of suspense still for ever disperses into hollow +pageants of air or vapor. One deception melted away only to be succeeded +by another; still I fancied that at last to a certainty I could descry +the tall figure of Agnes, her gipsy hat, and even the peculiar elegance +of her walk. Often I went so far as to laugh at myself, and even to tax +my recent fears with unmanliness and effeminacy, on recollecting the +audible throbbings of my heart, and the nervous palpitations which had +besieged me; but these symptoms, whether effeminate or not, began to +come back tumultuously under the gloomy doubts that succeeded almost +before I had uttered this self-reproach. Still I found myself mocked +and deluded with false hopes; yet still I renewed my quick walk, and the +intensity of my watch for that radiant form that was fated never more to +be seen returning from the cruel city. + +It was nearly half-past three, and therefore close upon two hours +beyond the time fixed by Agnes for her return, when I became absolutely +incapable of supporting the further torture of suspense, and I suddenly +took the resolution of returning home and concerting with my female +servants some energetic measures, though _what_ I could hardly say, on +behalf of their mistress. On entering the garden-gate I met our little +child Francis, who unconsciously inflicted a pang upon me which he +neither could have meditated nor have understood. I passed him at his +play, perhaps even unaware of his presence, but he recalled me to that +perception by crying aloud that he had just seen his mamma. + +'When--where?' I asked convulsively. + +'Up stairs in her bedroom,' was his instantaneous answer. + +His manner was such as forbade me to suppose that he could be joking; +and, as it was barely possible (though, for reasons well known to me, +in the highest degree improbable) that Agnes might have returned by a +by-path, which, leading through a dangerous and disreputable suburb, +would not have coincided at any one point with the public road where I +had been keeping my station. I sprang forward into the house, up stairs, +and in rapid succession into every room where it was likely that she +might be found; but everywhere there was a dead silence, disturbed only +by myself, for, in my growing confusion of thought, I believe that +I rang the bell violently in every room I entered. No such summons, +however, was needed, for the servants, two of whom at the least were +most faithful creatures, and devotedly attached to their young mistress, +stood ready of themselves to come and make inquiries of me as soon as +they became aware of the alarming fact, that I had returned without her. + +Until this moment, though having some private reasons for surprise that +she should have failed to come into the house for a minute or two at the +hour prefixed, in order to make some promised domestic arrangements for +the day, they had taken it for granted that she must have met with me at +some distance from home--and that either the extreme beauty of the +day had beguiled her of all petty household recollections, or (as a +conjecture more in harmony with past experiences) that my impatience +and solicitations had persuaded her to lay aside her own plans for the +moment at the risk of some little domestic inconvenience. Now, however, +in a single instant vanished _every_ mode of accounting for their +mistress's absence; and the consternation of our looks communicated +contagiously, by the most unerring of all languages, from each to the +other what thoughts were uppermost in our panic-stricken hearts. If +to any person it should seem that our alarm was disproportioned to the +occasion, and not justified at least by anything as yet made known to +us, let that person consider the weight due to the two following facts: +First, that from the recency of our settlement in this neighborhood, and +from the extreme seclusion of my wife's previous life at a vast distance +from the metropolis, she had positively no friends on her list of +visitors who resided in this great capital; secondly, and far above +all beside, let him remember the awful denunciations, so unexpectedly +tallying with this alarming and mysterious absence, of the Hungarian +prophetess; these had been slighted--almost dismissed from our thoughts; +but now in sudden reaction they came back upon us with a frightful power +to lacerate and to sting--the shadowy outline of a spiritual agency, +such as that which could at all predict the events, combining in one +mysterious effect, with the shadowy outline of those very predictions. +The power, that could have predicted, was as dim and as hard to grasp as +was the precise nature of the evil that had been predicted. + +An icy terror froze my blood at this moment when I looked at the +significant glances, too easily understood by me, that were exchanged +between the servants. My mouth had been for the last two hours growing +more and more parched, so that at present, from mere want of moisture, +I could not separate my lips to speak. One of the women saw the vain +efforts I was making, and hastily brought me a glass of water. With the +first recovery of speech, I asked them what little Francis had meant by +saying that he had seen his mother in her bedroom. Their reply was, that +they were as much at a loss to discover his meaning as I was; that he +had made the same assertion to them, and with so much earnestness, that +they had, all in succession, gone up stairs to look for her, and +with the fullest expectation of finding her. This was a mystery which +remained such to the very last; there was no doubt whatsoever that the +child believed himself to have seen his mother; that he could not have +seen her in her human bodily presence, there is as little doubt as there +is, alas! that in this world he never _did_ see her again. The poor +child constantly adhered to his story, and with a circumstantiality +far beyond all power of invention that could be presumed in an +artless infant. Every attempt at puzzling him or entangling him in +contradictions by means of cross-examination was but labor thrown away; +though indeed, it is true enough that for those attempts, as will soon +be seen, there was but a brief interval allowed. + +Not dwelling upon this subject at present, I turned to Hannah--a woman +who held the nominal office of cook in our little establishment, but +whose real duties had been much more about her mistress's person--and +with a searching look of appeal I asked her whether, in this moment of +trial, when (as she might see) I was not so perfectly master of myself +as perhaps always to depend upon seeing what was best to be done, she +would consent to accompany me into the city, and take upon herself those +obvious considerations of policy or prudence which might but too easily +escape my mind, darkened, and likely to be darkened, as to its power of +discernment by the hurricane of affliction now too probably at hand. She +answered my appeal with the fervor I expected from what I had already +known of her character. She was a woman of a strong, fiery, perhaps I +might say of heroic mind, supported by a courage that was absolutely +indomitable, and by a strength of bodily frame very unusual in a woman, +and beyond the promise even of her person. She had suffered as deep a +wrench in her own affections as a human being can suffer; she had +lost her one sole child, a fair-haired boy of most striking beauty and +interesting disposition, at the age of seventeen, and by the worst +of all possible fates; he lived (as we did at that time) in a large +commercial city overflowing with profligacy, and with temptations of +every order; he had been led astray; culpable he had been, but by very +much the least culpable of the set into which accident had thrown him, +as regarded acts and probable intentions; and as regarded palliations +from childish years, from total inexperience, or any other alleviating +circumstances that could be urged, having everything to plead--and of +all his accomplices the only one who had anything to plead. Interest, +however, he had little or none; and whilst some hoary villains of the +party, who happened to be more powerfully befriended, were finally +allowed to escape with a punishment little more than nominal, he and two +others were selected as sacrifices to the offended laws. They suffered +capitally. All three behaved well; but the poor boy in particular, with +a courage, a resignation, and a meekness, so distinguished and beyond +his years as to attract the admiration and the liveliest sympathy of +the public universally. If strangers could feel in that way, if the +mere hardened executioner could be melted at the final scene,--it may be +judged to what a fierce and terrific height would ascend the affliction +of a doating mother, constitutionally too fervid in her affections. +I have heard an official person declare, that the spectacle of her +desolation and frantic anguish was the most frightful thing he had ever +witnessed, and so harrowing to the feelings, that all who could by their +rank venture upon such an irregularity, absented themselves during the +critical period from the office which corresponded with the government; +for, as I have said, the affair took place in a large provincial city, +at a great distance from the capital. All who knew this woman, or who +were witnesses to the alteration which one fortnight had wrought in her +person as well as her demeanor, fancied it impossible that she could +continue to live; or that, if she did, it must be through the giving way +of her reason. They proved, however, to be mistaken; or, at least, if +(as some thought) her reason did suffer in some degree, this result +showed itself in the inequality of her temper, in moody fits of +abstraction, and the morbid energy of her manner at times under the +absence of all adequate external excitement, rather than in any positive +and apparent hallucinations of thought. The charm which had mainly +carried off the instant danger to her faculties, was doubtless the +intense sympathy which she met with. And in these offices of consolation +my wife stood foremost. For, and that was fortunate, she had found +herself able, without violence to her own sincerest opinions in the +case, to offer precisely that form of sympathy which was most soothing +to the angry irritation of the poor mother; not only had she shown a +_direct_ interest in the boy, and not a mere interest of _reflection_ +from that which she took in the mother, and had expressed it by visits +to his dungeon, and by every sort of attention to his comforts which +his case called for, or the prison regulations allowed; not only had +she wept with the distracted woman as if for a brother of her own; but, +which went farther than all the rest in softening the mother's heart, +she had loudly and indignantly proclaimed her belief in the boy's +innocence, and in the same tone her sense of the crying injustice +committed as to the selection of the victims, and the proportion of the +punishment awarded. Others, in the language of a great poet, + + 'Had pitied _her,_ and not her grief;' + +they had either not been able to see, or, from carelessness, had +neglected to see, any peculiar wrong done to her in the matter which +occasioned her grief,--but had simply felt compassion for her as for one +summoned, in a regular course of providential and human dispensation, +to face an affliction, heavy in itself, but not heavy from any special +defect of equity. Consequently their very sympathy, being so much +built upon the assumption that an only child had offended to the extent +implied in his sentence, oftentimes clothed itself in expressions which +she felt to be not consolations but insults, and, in fact, so many +justifications of those whom it relieved her overcharged heart to regard +as the very worst of enemies. Agnes, on the other hand, took the very +same view of the case as herself; and, though otherwise the gentlest +of all gentle creatures, yet here, from the generous fervor of her +reverence for justice, and her abhorrence of oppression, she gave +herself no trouble to moderate the energy of her language: nor did I, +on my part, feeling that substantially she was in the right, think it of +importance to dispute about the exact degrees of the wrong done or the +indignation due to it. In this way it happened naturally enough that +at one and the same time, though little contemplating either of these +results, Agnes had done a prodigious service to the poor desolate mother +by breaking the force of her misery, as well as by arming the active +agencies of indignation against the depressing ones of solitary grief, +and for herself had won a most grateful and devoted friend, who would +have gone through fire and water to serve her, and was thenceforwards +most anxious for some opportunity to testify how deep had been her +sense of the goodness shown to her by her benign young mistress, and +how incapable of suffering abatement by time. It remains to add, which +I have slightly noticed before, that this woman was of unusual personal +strength: her bodily frame matched with her intellectual: and I notice +this _now_ with the more emphasis, because I am coming rapidly upon +ground where it will be seen that this one qualification was of more +summary importance to us--did us more 'yeoman's service' at a crisis +the most awful--than other qualities of greater name and pretension. +_Hannah_ was this woman's Christian name; and her name and her memory +are to me amongst the most hallowed of my earthly recollections. + +One of her two fellow-servants, known technically amongst us as the +'parlor maid,' was also, but not equally, attached to her mistress; and +merely because her nature, less powerfully formed and endowed, did not +allow her to entertain or to comprehend any service equally fervid of +passion or of impassioned action. She, however, was good, affectionate, +and worthy to be trusted. But a third there was, a nursery maid, and +therefore more naturally and more immediately standing within the +confidence of her mistress--her I could not trust: her I suspected. But +of that hereafter. Meantime, Hannah, she upon whom I leaned as upon a +staff in all which respected her mistress, ran up stairs, after I had +spoken and received her answer, in order hastily to dress and prepare +herself for going out along with me to the city. I did not ask her to +be quick in her movements: I knew there was no need: and, whilst she was +absent, I took up, in one of my fretful movements of nervousness, a book +which was lying upon a side-table: the book fell open of itself at a +particular page; and in that, perhaps, there was nothing extraordinary, +for it was a little portable edition of _Paradise Lost_; and the page +was one which I must naturally have turned to many a time: for to Agnes +I had read all the great masters of literature, especially those of +modern times; so that few people knew the high classics more familiarly: +and as to the passage in question, from its divine beauty I had read it +aloud to her, perhaps, on fifty separate occasions. All this I mention +to take away any appearance of a vulgar attempt to create omens; +but still, in the very act of confessing the simple truth, and thus +weakening the marvellous character of the anecdote, I must notice it as +a strange instance of the '_Sortes Miltonianć_,'--that precisely at such +a moment as this I should find thrown in my way, should feel tempted +to take up, and should open, a volume containing such a passage as the +following: and observe, moreover, that although the volume, _once being +taken up_, would naturally open where it had been most frequently +read, there were, however, many passages which had been read _as_ +frequently--or more so. The particular passage upon which I opened +at this moment was that most beautiful one in which the fatal morning +separation is described between Adam and his bride--that separation so +pregnant with wo, which eventually proved the occasion of the mortal +transgression--the last scene between our first parents at which both +were innocent and both were happy--although the superior intellect +already felt, and, in the slight altercation preceding this separation, +had already expressed a dim misgiving of some coming change: these are +the words, and in depth of pathos they have rarely been approached:-- + + 'Oft he to her his charge of quick return + Repeated; she to him as oft engag'd + To be returned by noon amid the bow'r, + And all things in best order to invite + Noon-tide repast, or afternoon's repose. + Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve! + Of thy presumed return, event perverse! + Thou never from that hour in Paradise + Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose.' + +'_My_ Eve!' I exclaimed, 'partner in _my_ paradise, where art thou? +_Much failing_ thou wilt not be found, nor _much deceived_; innocent in +any case thou art; but, alas! too surely by this time _hapless_, and the +victim of some diabolic wickedness.' Thus I murmured to myself; thus I +ejaculated; thus I apostrophized my Agnes; then again came a stormier +mood. I could not sit still; I could not stand in quiet; I threw the +book from me with violence against the wall; I began to hurry backwards +and forwards in a short uneasy walk, when suddenly a sound, a step; it +was the sound of the garden-gate opening, followed by a hasty tread. +Whose tread? Not for a moment could it be fancied the oread step which +belonged to that daughter of the hills--my wife, my Agnes; no, it was +the dull massy tread of a man: and immediately there came a loud blow +upon the door, and in the next moment, the bell having been found, a +furious peal of ringing. Oh coward heart! not for a lease of immortality +could I have gone forwards myself. My breath failed me; an interval +came in which respiration seemed to be stifled--the blood to halt in its +current; and then and there I recognised in myself the force and living +truth of that Scriptural description of a heart consciously beset by +evil without escape: 'Susannah _sighed_.' Yes, a long, long sigh--a +deep, deep sigh--that is, the natural language by which the over-charged +heart utters forth the wo that else would break it. I sighed--oh how +profoundly! But that did not give me power to move. Who will go to the +door? I whispered audibly. Who is at the door? was the inaudible whisper +of my heart. Then might be seen the characteristic differences of the +three women. That one, whom I suspected, I heard raising an upper window +to look out and reconnoitre. The affectionate Rachael, on the other +hand, ran eagerly down stairs; but Hannah, half dressed, even her +bosom exposed, passed her like a storm; and before I heard any sound of +opening a door, I saw from the spot where I stood the door already wide +open, and a man in the costume of a policeman. All that he said I could +not hear; but this I heard--that I was wanted at the police office, and +had better come off without delay. He seemed then to get a glimpse of +me, and to make an effort towards coming nearer; but I slunk away, and +left to Hannah the task of drawing from him any circumstances which he +might know. But apparently there was not much to tell, or rather, said +I, there is too much, the _much_ absorbs the _many_; some one mighty +evil transcends and quells all particulars. At length the door was +closed, and the man was gone. Hannah crept slowly along the passage, and +looked in hesitatingly. Her very movements and stealthy pace testified +that she had heard nothing which, even by comparison, she could think +good news. 'Tell me not now, Hannah,' I said; 'wait till we are in the +open air.' She went up stairs again. How short seemed the time till she +descended! how I longed for further respite! 'Hannah!' I said at length +when we were fairly moving upon the road, 'Hannah! I am too sure you +have nothing good to tell. But now tell me the worst, and let that be in +the fewest words possible.' + +'Sir,' she said, 'we had better wait until we reach the office; for +really I could not understand the man. He says that my mistress is +detained upon some charge; but _what_, I could not at all make out. He +was a man that knew something of you, Sir, I believe, and he wished to +be civil, and kept saying, "Oh! I dare say it will turn out nothing +at all, many such charges are made idly and carelessly, and some +maliciously." "But what charges?" I cried, and then he wanted to speak +privately to you. But I told him that of all persons he must not speak +to you, if he had anything painful to tell; for that you were too much +disturbed already, and had been for some hours, out of anxiety and +terror about my mistress, to bear much more. So, when he heard that, he +was less willing to speak freely than before. He might prove wrong, he +said; he might give offence; things might turn out far otherwise than +according to first appearances; for his part, he could not believe +anything amiss of so sweet a lady. And after all, it would be better to +wait till we reached the office.' + +Thus much then was clear--Agnes was under some accusation. This was +already worse than the worst I had anticipated. 'And then,' said I, +thinking aloud to Hannah, 'one of two things is apparent to me; either +the accusation is one of pure hellish malice, without a color of +probability or the shadow of a foundation, and that way, alas! I am +driven in my fears by that Hungarian woman's prophecy; or, which but for +my desponding heart I should be more inclined to think, the charge +has grown out of my poor wife's rustic ignorance as to the usages then +recently established by law with regard to the kind of money that could +be legally tendered. This, however, was a suggestion that did not tend +to alleviate my anxiety; and my nervousness had mounted to a painful, +almost to a disabling degree, by the time we reached the office. Already +on our road thither some parties had passed us who were conversing with +eagerness upon the case: so much we collected from the many and ardent +expressions about 'the lady's beauty,' though the rest of such words as +we could catch were ill calculated to relieve my suspense. This, +then, at least, was certain--that my poor timid Agnes had already been +exhibited before a tumultuous crowd; that her name and reputation had +gone forth as a subject of discussion for the public; and that the +domestic seclusion and privacy within which it was her matronly +privilege to move had already undergone a rude violation. + +The office, and all the purlieus of the office, were occupied by a dense +crowd. That, perhaps, was always the case, more or less, at this time +of day; but at present the crowd was manifestly possessed by a more than +ordinary interest; and there was a unity in this possessing interest; +all were talking on the same subject, the case in which Agnes had so +recently appeared in some character or other; and by this time it became +but too certain in the character of an accused person. Pity was the +prevailing sentiment amongst the mob; but the opinions varied much as to +the probable criminality of the prisoner. I made my way into the office. +The presiding magistrates had all retired for the afternoon, and would +not reassemble until eight o'clock in the evening. Some clerks only +or officers of the court remained, who were too much harassed by +applications for various forms and papers connected with the routine of +public business, and by other official duties which required signatures +or attestations, to find much leisure for answering individual +questions. Some, however, listened with a marked air of attention to my +earnest request for the circumstantial details of the case, but finally +referred me to a vast folio volume, in which were entered all the +charges, of whatever nature, involving any serious tendency--in fact, +all that exceeded a misdemeanor--in the regular chronological succession +according to which they came before the magistrate. Here, in this vast +calendar of guilt and misery, amidst the _aliases_ or cant designations +of ruffians, prostitutes, felons, stood the description, at full length, +Christian and surnames all properly registered, of my Agnes--of her +whose very name had always sounded to my ears like the very echo of +mountain innocence, purity, and pastoral simplicity. Here in another +column stood the name and residence of her accuser. I shall call him +_Barratt_, for that was amongst his names, and a name by which he had at +one period of his infamous life been known to the public, though not his +principal name, or the one which he had thought fit to assume at +this era. James Barratt, then, as I shall here call him, was a +haberdasher--keeping a large and conspicuous shop in a very crowded and +what was then considered a fashionable part of the city. The charge was +plain and short. Did I live to read it? It accused Agnes M---- of having +on that morning secreted in her muff, and feloniously carried away, a +valuable piece of Mechlin lace, the property of James Barratt. And the +result of the first examination was thus communicated in a separate +column, written in red ink--'Remanded to the second day after to-morrow +for final examination.' Everything in this sin-polluted register was +in manuscript; but at night the records of each day were regularly +transferred to a printed journal, enlarged by comments and explanatory +descriptions from some one of the clerks, whose province it was to +furnish this intelligence to the public journals. On that same night, +therefore, would go forth to the world such an account of the case, and +such a description of my wife's person, as would inevitably summon +to the next exhibition of her misery, as by special invitation and +advertisement, the whole world of this vast metropolis--the idle, the +curious, the brutal, the hardened amateur in spectacles of wo, and the +benign philanthropist who frequents such scenes with the purpose of +carrying alleviation to their afflictions. All alike, whatever might +be their motives or the spirit of their actions, would rush (as to +some grand festival of curiosity and sentimental luxury) to this public +martyrdom of my innocent wife. + +Meantime, what was the first thing to be done? Manifestly, to see Agnes: +her account of the affair might suggest the steps to be taken. Prudence, +therefore, at any rate, prescribed this course; and my heart would not +have tolerated any other. I applied, therefore, at once, for information +as to the proper mode of effecting this purpose without delay. What +was my horror at learning that, by a recent regulation of all the +police-offices, under the direction of the public minister who presided +over that department of the national administration, no person could be +admitted to an interview with any accused party during the progress of +the official examinations; or, in fact, until the final committal of +the prisoner for trial. This rule was supposed to be attended by great +public advantages, and had rarely been relaxed--never, indeed, without a +special interposition of the police minister authorizing its suspension. +But was the exclusion absolute and universal? Might not, at least, +a female servant, simply as the bearer of such articles as were +indispensable to female delicacy and comfort, have access to her +mistress? No; the exclusion was total and unconditional. To argue the +point was manifestly idle; the subordinate officers had no discretion in +the matter; nor, in fact, had any other official person, whatever were +his rank, except the supreme one; and to him I neither had any obvious +means of introduction, nor (in case of obtaining such an introduction) +any chance of success; for the spirit of the rule, I foresaw it would be +answered, applied with especial force to cases like the present. + +Mere human feelings of pity, sympathy with my too visible agitation, +superadded to something of perhaps reverence for the blighting misery +that was now opening its artillery upon me--for misery has a privilege, +and everywhere is felt to be a holy thing--had combined to procure for +me some attention and some indulgence hitherto. Answers had been given +with precision, explanations made at length, and anxiety shown +to satisfy my inquiries. But this could not last; the inexorable +necessities of public business coming back in a torrent upon the +official people after this momentary interruption, forbade them to +indulge any further consideration for an individual case, and I saw that +I must not stay any longer. I was rapidly coming to be regarded as a +hinderance to the movement of public affairs; and the recollection +that I might again have occasion for some appeal to these men in their +official characters, admonished me not to abuse my privilege of the +moment. After returning thanks, therefore, for the disposition shown to +oblige me, I retired. + +Slowly did I and Hannah retrace our steps. Hannah sustained, in the tone +of her spirits, by the extremity of her anger, a mood of feeling which +I did not share. Indignation was to her in the stead of consolation and +hope. I, for my part, could not seek even a momentary shelter from my +tempestuous affliction in that temper of mind. The man who could accuse +my Agnes, and accuse her of such a crime, I felt to be a monster; and +in my thoughts he was already doomed to a bloody atonement (atonement! +alas! what atonement!) whenever the time arrived that _her_ cause would +not be prejudiced, or the current of public feeling made to turn in his +favor by investing him with the semblance of an injured or suffering +person. So much was settled in my thoughts with the stern serenity of a +decree issuing from a judgment-seat. But that gave no relief, no shadow +of relief, to the misery which was now consuming me. Here was an end, in +one hour, to the happiness of a life. In one hour it had given way, root +and branch--had melted like so much frost-work, or a pageant of vapory +exhalations. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and yet for ever +and ever, I comprehended the total ruin of my situation. The case, as +others might think, was yet in suspense; and there was room enough for +very rational hopes, especially where there was an absolute certainty of +innocence. Total freedom from all doubt on that point seemed to justify +almost more than hopes. This might be said, and most people would have +been more or less consoled by it. I was not. I felt as certain, as +irredeemably, as hopelessly certain of the final results as though I +had seen the record in the books of Heaven. 'Hope nothing,' I said to +myself; 'think not of hope in this world, but think only how best to +walk steadily, and not to reel like a creature wanting discourse of +reason, or incapable of religious hopes under the burden which it has +pleased God to impose, and which in this life cannot be shaken off. The +countenance of man is made to look upward and to the skies. Thither also +point henceforwards your heart and your thoughts. Never again let your +thoughts travel earthwards. Settle them on the heavens, to which your +Agnes is already summoned. The call is clear, and not to be mistaken. +Little in _her_ fate now depends upon you, or upon anything that man +can do. Look, therefore, to yourself; see that you make not shipwreck +of your heavenly freight because your earthly freight is lost; and miss +not, by any acts of wild and presumptuous despair, that final reunion +with your Agnes, which can only be descried through vistas that open +through the heavens.' + +Such were the thoughts, thoughts often made audible, which came +spontaneously like oracles from afar, as I strode homewards with Hannah +by my side. Her, meantime, I seemed to hear; for at times I seemed and +I intended to answer her. But answer her I did not; for not ten words of +all that she said did I really and consciously hear. How I went through +that night is more entirely a blank in my memory, more entirely a +chapter of chaos and the confusion of chaos, than any other passage +the most impressive in my life. If I even slumbered for a moment, as at +intervals I did sometimes, though never sitting down, but standing +or pacing about throughout the night, and if in this way I attained a +momentary respite from self-consciousness, no sooner had I reached this +enviable state of oblivion, than some internal sting of irritation +_as_ rapidly dispersed the whole fickle fabric of sleep; and as if the +momentary trance--this fugitive beguilement of my wo--had been conceded +by a demon's subtle malice only with the purpose of barbing the pang, +by thus forcing it into a stronger relief through the insidious peace +preceding it. It is a well known and most familiar experience to all +the sons and daughters of affliction, that under no circumstances is the +piercing, lancinating torment of a recent calamity felt so keenly as in +the first moments of awaking in the morning from the night's slumbers. +Just at the very instant when the clouds of sleep, and the whole +fantastic illusions of dreaminess are dispersing, just as the +realities of life are re-assuming their steadfast forms--re-shaping +themselves--and settling anew into those fixed relations which they are +to preserve throughout the waking hours; in that particular crisis of +transition from the unreal to the real, the wo which besieges the brain +and the life-springs at the heart rushes in afresh amongst the other +crowd of realities, and has at the moment of restoration literally the +force and liveliness of a new birth--the very same pang, and no whit +feebler, as that which belonged to it when it was first made known. From +the total hush of oblivion which had buried it and sealed it up, as it +were, during the sleeping hours, it starts into sudden life on our +first awaking, and is to all intents and purposes a new and not an +old affliction--one which brings with it the old original shock which +attended its first annunciation. + +That night--that first night of separation from my wife--_how_ it +passed, I know not; I know only _that_ it passed, I being in our common +bed-chamber, that holiest of all temples that are consecrated to human +attachments, whenever the heart is pure of man and woman, and the love +is strong--I being in that bedchamber, once the temple now the sepulchre +of our happiness,--I there, and my wife--my innocent wife--in a dungeon. +As the morning light began to break, somebody knocked at the door; it +was Hannah: she took my hand--misery levels all feeble distinctions of +station, sex, age--she noticed my excessive feverishness, and gravely +remonstrated with me upon the necessity there was that I should maintain +as much health as possible for the sake of 'others,' if not for myself. +She then brought me some tea, which refreshed me greatly; for I +had tasted nothing at all beyond a little water since the preceding +morning's breakfast. This refreshment seemed to relax and thaw the stiff +frozen state of cheerless, rayless despair in which I had passed the +night; I became susceptible of consolation--that consolation which lies +involved in kindness and gentleness of manner--if not susceptible more +than before of any positive hope. I sat down; and, having no witnesses +to my weakness but this kind and faithful woman, I wept, and I found a +relief in tears; and she, with the ready sympathy of woman, wept along +with me. All at once she ventured upon the circumstances (so far as she +had been able to collect them from the reports of those who had been +present at the examination) of our calamity. There was little indeed +either to excite or to gratify any interest or curiosity separate from +the _personal_ interest inevitably connected with a case to which there +were two such parties as a brutal, sensual, degraded ruffian, on one +side in character of accuser, and on the other as defendant, a meek +angel of a woman, timid and fainting from the horrors of her situation, +and under the licentious gaze of the crowd--yet, at the same time, bold +in conscious innocence, and in the very teeth of the suspicions which +beset her, winning the good opinion, as well as the good wishes of all +who saw her. There had been at this first examination little for her to +say beyond the assigning her name, age, and place of abode; and here +it was fortunate that her own excellent good sense concurred with +her perfect integrity and intuitive hatred of all indirect or crooked +courses in prompting her to an undisguised statement of the simple +truth, without a momentary hesitation or attempt either at evasion or +suppression. With equally good intentions in similar situations many a +woman has seriously injured her cause by slight evasions of the entire +truth, where nevertheless her only purpose has been the natural and +ingenuous one of seeking to save the reputation untainted of a name +which she felt to have been confided to her keeping. The purpose was an +honorable one, but erroneously pursued. Agnes fell into no such error. +She answered calmly, simply, and truly, to every question put by the +magistrates; and beyond _that_ there was little opportunity for her to +speak; the whole business of this preliminary examination being confined +to the deposition of the accuser as to the circumstances under which he +alleged the act of felonious appropriation to have taken place. These +circumstances were perfectly uninteresting, considered in themselves; +but amongst them was one which to us had the most shocking interest, +from the absolute proof thus furnished of a deep-laid plot against +Agnes. But for this one circumstance there would have been a possibility +that the whole had originated in error--error growing out of and +acting upon a nature originally suspicious, and confirmed perhaps by +an unfortunate experience. And in proportion as that was possible, the +chances increased that the accuser might, as the examinations advanced, +and the winning character of the accused party began to develop itself, +begin to see his error, and to retract his own over-hasty suspicions. +But now we saw at a glance that for this hope there was no countenance +whatever, since one solitary circumstance sufficed to establish a +conspiracy. The deposition bore--that the lace had been secreted and +afterwards detected in a muff; now it was a fact as well known to both +of us as the fact of Agnes having gone out at all--that she had laid +aside her winter's dress for the first time on this genial sunny day. +Muff she had not at the time, nor could have had appropriately from the +style of her costume in other respects. What was the effect upon us of +this remarkable discovery! Of course there died at once the hope of any +abandonment by the prosecutor of his purpose; because here was proof of +a predetermined plot. This hope died at once; but then, as it was one +which never had presented itself to my mind, I lost nothing by which I +had ever been solaced. On the other hand, it will be obvious that a new +hope at the same time arose to take its place, viz., the reasonable one +that by this single detection, if once established, we might raise a +strong presumption of conspiracy, and moreover that, as a leading fact +or clue, it might serve to guide us in detecting others. Hannah +was sanguine in this expectation; and for a moment her hopes were +contagiously exciting to mine. But the hideous despondency which in +my mind had settled upon the whole affair from the very first, the +superstitious presentiment I had of a total blight brooding over the +entire harvest of my life and its promises, (tracing itself originally, +I am almost ashamed to own, up to that prediction of the Hungarian +woman)--denied me steady light, anything--all in short but a wandering +ray of hope. It was right, of course, nay, indispensable, that the +circumstance of the muff should be strongly insisted upon at the +next examination, pressed against the prosecutor, and sifted to the +uttermost. An able lawyer would turn this to a triumphant account; and +it would be admirable as a means of pre-engaging the good opinion as +well as the sympathies of the public in behalf of the prisoner. But, +for its final effect--my conviction remained, not to be shaken, that all +would be useless; that our doom had gone forth, and was irrevocable. + +Let me not linger too much over those sad times. Morning came on as +usual; for it is strange, but true, that to the very wretched it seems +wonderful that times and seasons should keep their appointed courses +in the midst of such mighty overthrows, and such interruption to the +courses of their own wonted happiness and their habitual expectations. +Why should morning and night, why should all movements in the natural +world be so regular, whilst in the moral world all is so irregular +and anomalous? Yet the sun and the moon rise and set as usual upon the +mightiest revolutions of empire and of worldly fortune that this planet +ever beholds; and it is sometimes even a comfort to know that this will +be the case. A great criminal, sentenced to an agonizing punishment, +has derived a fortitude and a consolation from recollecting that the +day would run its inevitable course--that a day after all was _but_ +a day--that the mighty wheel of alternate light and darkness must and +would revolve--and that the evening star would rise as usual, and shine +with its untroubled lustre upon the dust and ashes of what _had_ indeed +suffered, and so recently, the most bitter pangs, but would then have +ceased to suffer. 'La Journée,' said Damien, + + 'La journée sera dure, mais elle se passera.' + +'----_Se passera_:' yes, that is true, I whispered to myself; my day +also, my season of trial will be hard to bear; but that also will have +an end; that also '_se passera_.' Thus I talked or thought so long as I +thought at all; for the hour was now rapidly approaching, when thinking +in any shape would for some time be at an end for me. + +That day, as the morning advanced, I went again, accompanied by Hannah, +to the police court and to the prison--a vast, ancient, in parts +ruinous, and most gloomy pile of building. In those days the +administration of justice was, if not more corrupt, certainly in its +inferior departments by far more careless than it is at present, and +liable to thousands of interruptions and mal-practices, supporting +themselves upon old traditionary usages which required at least half +a century, and the shattering everywhere given to old systems by the +French Revolution, together with the universal energy of mind applied +to those subjects over the whole length and breadth of Christendom, to +approach with any effectual reforms. Knowing this, and having myself had +direct personal cognisance of various cases in which bribery had been +applied with success, I was not without considerable hope that perhaps +Hannah and myself might avail ourselves of this irregular passport +through the gates of the prison. And, had the new regulation been of +somewhat longer standing, there is little doubt that I should have been +found right; unfortunately, as yet it had all the freshness of newborn +vigor, and kept itself in remembrance by the singular irritation it +excited. Besides this, it was a pet novelty of one particular minister, +new to the possession of power, anxious to distinguish himself, proud +of his creative functions within the range of his office, and very +sensitively jealous on the point of opposition to his mandates. Vain, +therefore, on this day were all my efforts to corrupt the jailers; and, +in fact, anticipating a time when I might have occasion to corrupt some +of them for a more important purpose and on a larger scale, I did not +think it prudent to proclaim my character beforehand as one who tampered +with such means, and thus to arm against myself those jealousies in +official people, which it was so peculiarly important that I should keep +asleep. + +All that day, however, I lingered about the avenues and vast courts +in the precincts of the prison, and near one particular wing of the +building, which had been pointed out to me by a jailer as the section +allotted to those who were in the situation of Agnes; that is, waiting +their final commitment for trial. The building generally he could +indicate with certainty, but he professed himself unable to indicate +the particular part of it which 'the young woman brought in on the day +previous' would be likely to occupy; consequently he could not point +out the window from which her cell (her '_cell_!' what a word!) would be +lighted. 'But, master,' he went on to say, 'I would advise nobody to try +that game.' He looked with an air so significant, and at the same time +used a gesture so indicative of private understanding, that I at +once apprehended his meaning, and assured him that he had altogether +misconstrued my drift; that, as to attempts at escape, or at any mode of +communicating with the prisoner from the outside, I trusted all _that_ +was perfectly needless; and that at any rate in my eyes it was perfectly +hopeless. 'Well, master,' he replied, 'that's neither here nor there. +You've come down handsomely, that I _will_ say; and where a gentleman +acts like a gentleman, and behaves himself as such, I'm not the man to +go and split upon him for a word. To be sure it's quite nat'ral that a +gentleman--put case that a young woman is his fancy woman--it's nothing +but nat'ral that he should want to get her out of such an old rat-hole +as this, where many's the fine-timbered creature, both he and she, that +has lain to rot, and has never got out of the old trap at all, first +or last'----'How so?' I interrupted him; 'surely they don't detain the +corpses of prisoners?' 'Ay, but mind you--put case that he or that she +should die in this rat-trap before sentence is past, why then the prison +counts them as its own children, and buries them in its own chapel--that +old stack of pigeon-holes that you see up yonder to the right hand.' So +then, after all, thought I, if my poor Agnes should, in her desolation +and solitary confinement to these wretched walls, find her frail +strength give way--should the moral horrors of her situation work their +natural effect upon her health, and she should chance to die within this +dungeon, here within this same dungeon will she lie to the resurrection, +and in that case her prison-doors have already closed upon her for +ever. The man, who perhaps had some rough kindness in his nature, +though tainted by the mercenary feelings too inevitably belonging to +his situation, seemed to guess at the character of my ruminations by the +change of my countenance, for he expressed some pity for my being 'in +so much trouble;' and it seemed to increase his respect for me that this +trouble should be directed to the case of a woman, for he appeared +to have a manly sense of the peculiar appeal made to the honor and +gallantry of man, by the mere general fact of the feebleness and the +dependence of woman. I looked at him more attentively in consequence of +the feeling tone in which he now spoke, and was surprised that I had not +more particularly noticed him before; he was a fine looking, youngish +man, with a bold Robin-hood style of figure and appearance; and, morally +speaking, he was absolutely transfigured to my eyes by the effect worked +upon him for the moment, through the simple calling up of his better +nature. However, he recurred to his cautions about the peril in a legal +sense of tampering with the windows, bolts, and bars of the old decaying +prison; which, in fact, precisely according to the degree in which its +absolute power over its prisoners was annually growing less and less, +grew more and more jealous of its own reputation, and punished the +attempts to break loose with the more severity, in exact proportion as +they were the more tempting by the chances of success. I persisted in +disowning any schemes of the sort, and especially upon the ground of +their hopelessness. But this, on the other hand, was a ground that in +his inner thoughts he treated with scorn; and I could easily see that, +with a little skilful management of opportunity, I might, upon occasion, +draw from him all the secrets he knew as to the special points of +infirmity in this old ruinous building. For the present, and until it +should certainly appear that there was some use to be derived from +this species of knowledge, I forbore to raise superfluous suspicions +by availing myself further of his communicative disposition. Taking, +however, the precaution of securing his name, together with his +particular office and designation in the prison, I parted from him as +if to go home, but in fact to resume my sad roamings up and down the +precincts of the jail. + +What made these precincts much larger than otherwise they would have +been, was the circumstance that, by a usage derived from older days, +both criminal prisoners and those who were prisoners for debt, equally +fell under the custody of this huge caravanserai for the indifferent +reception of crime, of misdemeanor, and of misfortune. And those who +came under the two first titles, were lodged here through all stages of +their connection with public justice; alike when mere objects of vague +suspicion to the police, when under examination upon a specific charge, +when fully committed for trial, when convicted and under sentence, +awaiting the execution of that sentence, and, in a large proportion of +cases, even through their final stage of punishment, when it happened +to be of any nature compatible with in-door confinement. Hence it arose +that the number of those who haunted the prison gates, with or without +a title to admission, was enormous; all the relatives, or more properly +the acquaintances and connections of the criminal population within +the prison, being swelled by all the families of needy debtors who came +daily, either to offer the consolation of their society, or to diminish +their common expenditure by uniting their slender establishments. One +of the rules applied to the management of this vast multitude that were +every day candidates for admission was, that to save the endless trouble +as well as risk, perhaps, of opening and shutting the main gates +to every successive arrival, periodic intervals were fixed for the +admission by wholesale; and as these periods came round every two hours, +it would happen at many parts of the day that vast crowds accumulated +waiting for the next opening of the gate. These crowds were assembled +in two or three large outer courts, in which also were many stalls and +booths, kept there upon some local privilege of ancient inheritance, +or upon some other plea made good by gifts or bribes--some by Jews +and others by Christians, perhaps equally Jewish. Superadded to these +stationary elements of this miscellaneous population, were others drawn +thither by pure motives of curiosity, so that altogether an almost +permanent mob was gathered together in these courts; and amid this mob +it was,--from I know not what definite motive, partly because I thought +it probable that amongst these people I should hear the cause of Agnes +peculiarly the subject of conversation; and so, in fact, it did really +happen,--but partly, and even more, I believe, because I now awfully +began to shrink from solitude. Tumult I must have, and distraction of +thought. Amid this mob, I say, it was that I passed two days. Feverish I +had been from the first--and from bad to worse, in such a case, was, at +any rate, a natural progress; but, perhaps, also amongst this crowd of +the poor, the abjectly wretched, the ill-fed, the desponding, and the +dissolute, there might be very naturally a larger body of contagion +lurking than according to their mere numerical expectations. There was +at that season a very extensive depopulation going on in some quarters +of this great metropolis, and in other cities of the same empire, by +means of a very malignant typhus. This fever is supposed to be the +peculiar product of jails; and though it had not as yet been felt as +a scourge and devastator of this particular jail, or at least the +consequent mortality had been hitherto kept down to a moderate amount, +yet it was highly probable that a certain quantity of contagion, much +beyond the proportion of other popular assemblages less uniformly +wretched in their composition, was here to be found all day long; and +doubtless my excited state, and irritable habit of body, had offered +a peculiar predisposition that favored the rapid development of this +contagion. However this might be, the result was, that on the evening +of the second day which I spent in haunting the purlieus of the prison, +(consequently the night preceding the second public examination of +Agnes,) I was attacked by ardent fever in such unmitigated fury, that +before morning I had lost all command of my intellectual faculties. For +some weeks I became a pitiable maniac, and in every sense the wreck of +my former self; and seven entire weeks, together with the better half of +an eighth week, had passed over my head whilst I lay unconscious of time +and its dreadful freight of events, excepting in so far as my disordered +brain, by its fantastic coinages, created endless mimicries and +mockeries of these events--less substantial, but oftentimes less +afflicting, or less agitating. It would have been well for me had my +destiny decided that I was not to be recalled to this world of wo. But +I had no such happiness in store. I recovered, and through twenty and +eight years my groans have recorded the sorrow I feel that I did. + + * * * * * + +I shall not rehearse circumstantially, and point by point, the sad +unfolding, as it proceeded through successive revelations to me, of all +which had happened during my state of physical incapacity. When I first +became aware that my wandering senses had returned to me, and knew, by +the cessation of all throbbings, and the unutterable pains that had +so long possessed my brain, that I was now returning from the gates of +death, a sad confusion assailed me as to some indefinite cloud of evil +that had been hovering over me at the time when I first fell into a +state of insensibility. For a time I struggled vainly to recover the +lost connection of my thoughts, and I endeavored ineffectually to +address myself to sleep. I opened my eyes, but found the glare of light +painful beyond measure. Strength, however, it seemed to me that I had, +and more than enough, to raise myself out of bed. I made the attempt, +but fell back, almost giddy with the effort. At the sound of the +disturbance which I had thus made, a woman whom I did not know came from +behind a curtain, and spoke to me. Shrinking from any communication +with a stranger, especially one whose discretion I could not estimate in +making discoveries to me with the requisite caution, I asked her simply +what o'clock it was. + +'Eleven in the forenoon,' she replied. + +'And what day of the month?' + +'The second,' was her brief answer. + +I felt almost a sense of shame in adding--; 'The second! but of what +month?' + +'Of June,' was the startling rejoinder. + +On the 8th of April I had fallen ill, and it was now actually the 2d +of June. Oh! sickening calculation! revolting register of hours! for in +that same moment which brought back this one recollection, perhaps by +steadying my brain, rushed back in a torrent all the other dreadful +remembrances of the period, and now the more so, because, though the +event was still uncertain as regarded my knowledge, it must have become +dreadfully certain as regarded the facts of the case, and the happiness +of all who were concerned. Alas! one little circumstance too painfully +assured me that this event had not been a happy one. Had Agnes been +restored to her liberty and her home, where would she have been +found but watching at my bed-side? That too certainly I knew, and the +inference was too bitter to support. + +On this same day, some hours afterwards, upon Hannah's return from the +city, I received from her, and heard with perfect calmness, the whole +sum of evil which awaited me. Little Francis--she took up her tale at +that point--'was with God:' so she expressed herself. He had died of the +same fever which had attacked me--had died and been buried nearly +five weeks before. Too probably he had caught the infection from me. +Almost--such are the caprices of human feeling--almost I could have +rejoiced that this young memorial of my vanished happiness had vanished +also. It gave me a pang, nevertheless, that the grave should thus have +closed upon him before I had seen his fair little face again. But I +steeled my heart to hear worse things than this. Next she went on to +inform me that already, on the first or second day of our calamity, she +had taken upon herself, without waiting for authority, on observing the +rapid approaches of illness in me, and arguing the state of helplessness +which would follow, to write off at once a summons in the most urgent +terms to the brother of my wife. This gentleman, whom I shall call +Pierpoint, was a high-spirited, generous young man as I have ever known. +When I say that he was a sportsman, that at one season of the year he +did little else than pursue his darling amusement of fox-hunting, for +which indeed he had almost a maniacal passion--saying this, I shall +already have prejudged him in the opinions of many, who fancy all such +persons the slaves of corporeal enjoyments. But, with submission, the +truth lies the other way. According to my experience, people of these +habits have their bodies more than usually under their command, as being +subdued by severe exercise; and their minds, neither better nor worse on +an average than those of their neighbors, are more available from being +so much more rarely clogged by morbid habits in that uneasy yoke-fellow +of the intellectual part--the body. He at all events was a man to +justify in his own person this way of thinking; for he was a man not +only of sound, but even of bold and energetic intellect, and in all +moral respects one whom any man might feel proud to call his friend. +This young man, Pierpoint, without delay obeyed the summons; and on +being made acquainted with what had already passed, the first step he +took was to call upon Barratt, and without further question than what +might ascertain his identity, he proceeded to inflict upon him a severe +horsewhipping. A worse step on his sister's account he could not have +taken. Previously to this the popular feeling had run strongly against +Barratt, but now its unity was broken. A new element was introduced +into the question: Democratic feelings were armed against this outrage; +gentlemen and nobles, it was said, thought themselves not amenable +to justice; and again, the majesty of the law was offended at this +intrusion upon an affair already under solemn course of adjudication. +Everything, however, passes away under the healing hand of time, and +this also faded from the public mind. People remembered also that he +was a brother, and in that character, at any rate, had a right to some +allowances for his intemperance; and what quickened the oblivion of the +affair was, which in itself was sufficiently strange, that Barratt did +not revive the case in the public mind by seeking legal reparation for +his injuries. It was, however, still matter of regret that Pierpoint +should have indulged himself in this movement of passion, since +undoubtedly it broke and disturbed the else uniform stream of public +indignation, by investing the original aggressor with something like the +character of an injured person; and therefore with some set-off to plead +against his own wantonness of malice;--his malice might now assume the +nobler aspect of revenge. + +Thus far, in reporting the circumstances, Hannah had dallied--thus far +I had rejoiced that she dallied, with the main burden of the wo; but now +there remained nothing to dally with any longer--and she rushed along in +her narrative, hurrying to tell--I hurrying to hear. A second, a third +examination had ensued, then a final committal--all this within a week. +By that time all the world was agitated with the case; literally not +the city only, vast as that city was, but the nation was convulsed and +divided into parties upon the question, Whether the prosecution were one +of mere malice or not? The very government of the land was reported to +be equally interested, and almost equally divided in opinion. In this +state of public feeling came the trial. Image to yourself, oh reader, +whosoever you are, the intensity of the excitement which by that time +had arisen in all people to be spectators of the scene--then image to +yourself the effect of all this, a perfect consciousness that in +herself as a centre was settled the whole mighty interest of +the exhibition--that interest again of so dubious and mixed a +character--sympathy in some with mere misfortune--sympathy in others +with female frailty and guilt, not perhaps founded upon an absolute +unwavering belief in her innocence, even amongst those who were most +loud and positive as partisans in affirming it,--and then remember that +all this hideous scenical display and notoriety settled upon one whose +very nature, constitutionally timid, recoiled with the triple agony of +womanly shame--of matronly dignity--of insulted innocence, from every +mode and shape of public display. Combine all these circumstances and +elements of the case, and you may faintly enter into the situation of my +poor Agnes. Perhaps the best way to express it at once is by recurring +to the case of a young female Christian martyr, in the early ages of +Christianity, exposed in the bloody amphitheatre of Rome or Verona, to +'fight with wild beasts,' as it was expressed in mockery--she to fight +the lamb to fight with lions! But in reality the young martyr _had_ +a fight to maintain, and a fight (in contempt of that cruel mockery) +fiercer than the fiercest of her persecutors could have faced +perhaps--the combat with the instincts of her own shrinking, trembling, +fainting nature. Such a fight had my Agnes to maintain; and at that time +there was a large party of gentlemen in whom the gentlemanly instinct +was predominant, and who felt so powerfully the cruel indignities of her +situation, that they made a public appeal in her behalf. One thing, and +a strong one, which they said, was this:--'We all talk and move in this +case as if, because the question appears doubtful to some people, and +the accused party to some people wears a doubtful character, it would +follow that she therefore had in reality a mixed character composed in +joint proportions of the best and the worst that is imputed to her. But +let us not forget that this mixed character belongs not to her, but +to the infirmity of our human judgments--_they_ are mixed--_they_ are +dubious--but she is not--she is, or she is not, guilty--there is no +middle case--and let us consider for a single moment, that if this young +lady (as many among us heartily believe) _is_ innocent, then and upon +that supposition let us consider how cruel we should all think the +public exposure which aggravates the other injuries (as in that case +they must be thought) to which her situation exposes her.' They went on +to make some suggestions for the officers of the court in preparing +the arrangements for the trial, and some also for the guidance of +the audience, which showed the same generous anxiety for sparing the +feelings of the prisoner. If these did not wholly succeed in repressing +the open avowal of coarse and brutal curiosity amongst the intensely +vulgar, at least they availed to diffuse amongst the neutral and +indifferent part of the public a sentiment of respect and forbearance +which, emanating from high quarters, had a very extensive influence upon +most of what met the eye or the ear of my poor wife. She, on the day of +trial, was supported by her brother; and by that time she needed support +indeed. I was reported to be dying; her little son was dead; neither had +she been allowed to see him. Perhaps these things, by weaning her from +all further care about life, might have found their natural effect in +making her indifferent to the course of the trial, or even to its issue. +And so, perhaps, in the main, they did. But at times some lingering +sense of outraged dignity, some fitful gleams of old sympathies, +'the hectic of a moment,' came back upon her, and prevailed over the +deadening stupor of her grief. Then she shone for a moment into a starry +light--sweet and woful to remember. Then----but why linger? I hurry to +the close: she was pronounced guilty; whether by a jury or a bench of +judges, I do not say--having determined, from the beginning, to give no +hint of the land in which all these events happened; neither is that of +the slightest consequence. Guilty she was pronounced: but sentence at +that time was deferred. Ask me not, I beseech you, about the muff +or other circumstances inconsistent with the hostile evidence. These +circumstances had the testimony, you will observe, of my own servants +only; nay, as it turned out, of one servant exclusively: _that_ +naturally diminished their value. And, on the other side, evidence was +arrayed, perjury was suborned, that would have wrecked a wilderness of +simple truth trusting to its own unaided forces. What followed? Did this +judgment of the court settle the opinion of the public? Opinion of +the public! Did it settle the winds? Did it settle the motion of the +Atlantic? Wilder, fiercer, and louder grew the cry against the wretched +accuser: mighty had been the power over the vast audience of the +dignity, the affliction, the perfect simplicity, and the Madonna beauty +of the prisoner. That beauty so childlike, and at the same time so +saintly, made, besides, so touching in its pathos by means of the +abandonment--the careless abandonment and the infinite desolation of her +air and manner--would of itself, and without further aid, have made many +converts. Much more was done by the simplicity of her statements, and +the indifference with which she neglected to improve any strong points +in her own favor--the indifference, as every heart perceived, of +despairing grief. Then came the manners on the hostile side--the haggard +consciousness of guilt, the drooping tone, the bravado and fierce strut +which sought to dissemble all this. Not one amongst all the witnesses, +assembled on that side, had (by all agreement) the bold natural tone of +conscious uprightness. Hence it could not be surprising that the storm +of popular opinion made itself heard with a louder and a louder sound. +The government itself began to be disturbed; the ministers of the +sovereign were agitated; and, had no menaces been thrown out, it was +generally understood that they would have given way to the popular +voice, now continually more distinct and clamorous. In the midst of all +this tumult, obscure murmurs began to arise that Barratt had practised +the same or similar villanies in former instances. One case in +particular was beginning to be whispered about, which at once threw +a light upon the whole affair: it was the case of a young and very +beautiful married woman, who had been on the very brink of a catastrophe +such as had befallen my own wife, when some seasonable interference, of +what nature was not known, had critically delivered her. This case +arose 'like a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand,' then spread and +threatened to burst in tempest upon the public mind, when all at once, +more suddenly even than it had arisen, it was hushed up, or in some way +disappeared. But a trifling circumstance made it possible to trace +this case:--in after times, when means offered, but unfortunately no +particular purpose of good, nor any purpose, in fact, beyond that of +curiosity, it _was_ traced; and enough was soon ascertained to have +blown to fragments any possible conspiracy emanating from this Barratt, +had that been of any further importance. However, in spite of all that +money or art could effect, a sullen growl continued to be heard amongst +the populace of villanies many and profound that had been effected or +attempted by this Barratt; and accordingly, much in the same way as +was many years afterwards practised in London, when a hosier had caused +several young people to be prosecuted to death for passing forged +bank-notes, the wrath of the people showed itself in marking the shop +for vengeance upon any favorable occasion offering through fire or +riots, and in the mean time in deserting it. These things had been going +on for some time when I awoke from my long delirium; but the effect they +had produced upon a weak and obstinate and haughty government, or at +least upon the weak and obstinate and haughty member of the government +who presided in the police administration, was, to confirm and rivet the +line of conduct which had been made the object of popular denunciation. +More energetically, more scornfully, to express that determination of +flying in the face of public opinion and censure, four days before my +awakening, Agnes had been brought up to receive her sentence. On +that same day (nay, it was said in that same hour,) petitions, very +numerously signed, and various petitions from different ranks, different +ages, different sexes, were carried up to the throne, praying, upon +manifold grounds, but all noticing the extreme doubtfulness of the +case, for an unconditional pardon. By whose advice or influence, it was +guessed easily, though never exactly ascertained, these petitions were +unanimously, almost contemptuously rejected. And to express the contempt +of public opinion as powerfully as possible, Agnes was sentenced by the +court, reassembled in full pomp, order, and ceremonial costume, to a +punishment the severest that the laws allowed--viz. hard labor for ten +years. The people raged more than ever; threats public and private +were conveyed to the ears of the minister chiefly concerned in the +responsibility, and who had indeed, by empty and ostentatious talking, +assumed that responsibility to himself in a way that was perfectly +needless. + +Thus stood matters when I awoke to consciousness: and this was the +fatal journal of the interval--interval so long as measured by my fierce +calendar of delirium--so brief measured by the huge circuit of +events which it embraced, and their mightiness for evil. Wrath, wrath +immeasurable, unimaginable, unmitigable, burned at my heart like +a cancer. The worst had come. And the thing which kills a man for +action--the living in two climates at once--a torrid and a frigid +zone--of hope and fear--that was past. Weak--suppose I were for the +moment: I felt that a day or two might bring back my strength. No +miserable tremors of hope _now_ shook my nerves: if they shook from that +inevitable rocking of the waters that follows a storm, so much might +be pardoned to the infirmity of a nature that could not lay aside its +fleshly necessities, nor altogether forego its homage to 'these frail +elements,' but which by inspiration already lived within a region +where no voices were heard but the spiritual voices of transcendent +passions--of + + 'Wrongs unrevenged, and insults unredress'd.' + +Six days from that time I was well--well and strong. I rose from bed; I +bathed; I dressed; dressed as if I were a bridegroom. And that _was_ in +fact a great day in my life. I was to see Agnes. Oh! yes: permission had +been obtained from the lordly minister that I should see my wife. Is it +possible? Can such condescensions exist? Yes: solicitations from +ladies, eloquent notes wet with ducal tears, these had won from the +thrice-radiant secretary, redolent of roseate attar, a countersign to +some order or other, by which I--yes I--under license of a fop, and +supervision of a jailer--was to see and for a time to converse with my +own wife. + +The hour appointed for the first day's interview was eight o'clock +in the evening. On the outside of the jail all was summer light and +animation. The sports of children in the streets of mighty cities are +but sad, and too painfully recall the circumstances of freedom and +breezy nature that are not there. But still the pomp of glorious summer, +and the presence, 'not to be put by,' of the everlasting light, that +is either always present, or always dawning--these potent elements +impregnate the very city life, and the dim reflex of nature which is +found at the bottom of well-like streets, with more solemn powers to +move and to soothe in summer. I struck upon the prison gates, the first +among multitudes waiting to strike. Not because we struck, but because +the hour had sounded, suddenly the gate opened; and in we streamed. I, +as a visitor for the first time, was immediately distinguished by the +jailers, whose glance of the eye is fatally unerring. 'Who was it that I +wanted?' At the name a stir of emotion was manifest, even there: the dry +bones stirred and moved: the passions outside had long ago passed to the +interior of this gloomy prison: and not a man but had his hypothesis on +the case; not a man but had almost fought with some comrade (many had +literally fought) about the merits of their several opinions. + +If any man had expected a scene at this reunion, he would have been +disappointed. Exhaustion, and the ravages of sorrow, had left to dear +Agnes so little power of animation or of action, that her emotions were +rather to be guessed at, both for kind and for degree, than directly +to have been perceived. She was in fact a sick patient, far gone in an +illness that should properly have confined her to bed; and was as much +past the power of replying to my frenzied exclamations, as a dying +victim of fever of entering upon a strife of argument. In bed, however, +she was not. When the door opened she was discovered sitting at a table +placed against the opposite wall, her head pillowed upon her arms, and +these resting upon the table. Her beautiful long auburn hair had escaped +from its confinement, and was floating over the table and her own +person. She took no notice of the disturbance made by our entrance, did +not turn, did not raise her head, nor make an effort to do so, nor by +any sign whatever intimate that she was conscious of our presence, until +the turnkey in a respectful tone announced me. Upon that a low groan, or +rather a feeble moan, showed that she had become aware of my presence, +and relieved me from all apprehension of causing too sudden a shock by +taking her in my arms. The turnkey had now retired; we were alone. I +knelt by her side, threw my arms about her, and pressed her to my heart. +She drooped her head upon my shoulder, and lay for some time like one +who slumbered; but, alas! not as she had used to slumber. Her breathing, +which had been like that of sinless infancy, was now frightfully short +and quick; she seemed not properly to breathe, but to gasp. This, +thought I, may be sudden agitation, and in that case she will gradually +recover; half an hour will restore her. Wo is me! she did _not_ recover; +and internally I said--she never _will_ recover. The arrows have gone +too deep for a frame so exquisite in its sensibility, and already her +hours are numbered. + +At this first visit I said nothing to her about the past; _that_, and +the whole extent to which our communications should go, I left rather +to her own choice. At the second visit, however, upon some word or other +arising which furnished an occasion for touching on this hateful topic, +I pressed her, contrary to my own previous intention, for as full an +account of the fatal event as she could without a distressing effort +communicate. To my surprise she was silent--gloomily--almost it might +have seemed obstinately silent. A horrid thought came into my mind; +could it, might it have been possible that my noble-minded wife, such +she had ever seemed to me, was open to temptations of this nature? Could +it have been that in some moment of infirmity, when her better angel was +away from her side, she had yielded to a sudden impulse of frailty, +such as a second moment for consideration would have resisted, but which +unhappily had been followed by no such opportunity of retrieval? I +had heard of such things. Cases there were in our own times (and not +confined to one nation), when irregular impulses of this sort were known +to have haunted and besieged natures not otherwise ignoble and base. +I ran over some of the names amongst those which were taxed with this +propensity. More than one were the names of people in a technical sense +held noble. That, nor any other consideration abated my horror. Better, +I said, better, (because more compatible with elevation of mind,) better +to have committed some bloody act--some murderous act. Dreadful was the +panic I underwent. God pardon the wrong I did; and even now I pray +to him--as though the past thing were a future thing and capable +of change--that he would forbid her for ever to know what was the +derogatory thought I had admitted. I sometimes think, by recollecting a +momentary blush that suffused her marble countenance,--I think--I fear +that she might have read what was fighting in my mind. Yet that would +admit of another explanation. If she did read the very worst, meek +saint! she suffered no complaint or sense of that injury to escape her. +It might, however, be that perception, or it might be that fear which +roused her to an effort that otherwise had seemed too revolting to +undertake. She now rehearsed the whole steps of the affair from first to +last; but the only material addition, which her narrative made to that +which the trial itself had involved, was the following:--On two separate +occasions previous to the last and fatal one, when she had happened to +walk unaccompanied by me in the city, the monster Barratt had met her +in the street. He had probably--and this was, indeed, subsequently +ascertained--at first, and for some time afterwards, mistaken her rank, +and had addressed some proposals to her, which, from the suppressed +tone of his speaking, or from her own terror and surprise, she had not +clearly understood; but enough had reached her alarmed ear to satisfy +her that they were of a nature in the last degree licentious and +insulting. Terrified and shocked rather than indignant, for she too +easily presumed the man to be a maniac, she hurried homewards; and was +rejoiced, on first venturing to look round when close to her own gate, +to perceive that the man was not following. There, however, she was +mistaken; for either on this occasion, or on some other, he had traced +her homewards. The last of these rencontres had occurred just three +months before the fatal 6th of April; and if, in any one instance, Agnes +had departed from the strict line of her duty as a wife, or had shown +a defect of judgment, it was at this point--in not having frankly and +fully reported the circumstances to me. On the last of these occasions +I had met her at the garden-gate, and had particularly remarked that she +seemed agitated; and now, at recalling these incidents, Agnes reminded +me that I had noticed that circumstance to herself, and that she had +answered me faithfully as to the main fact. It was true she had done so; +for she had said that she had just met a lunatic who had alarmed her +by fixing his attention upon herself, and speaking to her in a ruffian +manner; and it was also true that she did sincerely regard him in that +light. This led me at the time to construe the whole affair into a +casual collision with some poor maniac escaping from his keepers, and of +no future moment, having passed by without present consequences. But had +she, instead of thus reporting her own erroneous impression, reported +the entire circumstances of the case, I should have given them a +very different interpretation. Affection for me, and fear to throw me +needlessly into a quarrel with a man of apparently brutal and violent +nature--these considerations, as too often they do with the most upright +wives, had operated to check Agnes in the perfect sincerity of her +communications. She had told nothing _but_ the truth--only, and fatally +it turned out for us both, she had not told the _whole_ truth. The very +suppression, to which she had reconciled herself, under the belief that +thus she was providing for my safety and her own consequent happiness, +had been the indirect occasion of ruin to both. It was impossible to +show displeasure under such circumstances, or under any circumstances, +to one whose self-reproaches were at any rate too bitter; but certainly, +as a general rule, every conscientious woman should resolve to consider +her husband's honor in the first case, and far before all other regards +whatsoever; to make this the first, the second, the third law of her +conduct, and his personal safety but the fourth or fifth. Yet women, +and especially when the interests of children are at stake upon their +husbands' safety, rarely indeed are able to take this Roman view of +their duties. + +To return to the narrative. Agnes had not, nor could have, the most +remote suspicion of this Barratt's connection with the shop which he had +not accidentally entered; and the sudden appearance of this wretch it +was, at the very moment of finding herself charged with so vile and +degrading an offence, that contributed most of all to rob her of her +natural firmness, by suddenly revealing to her terrified heart the depth +of the conspiracy which thus yawned like a gulf below her. And not only +had this sudden horror, upon discovering a guilty design in what before +had seemed accident, and links uniting remote incidents which else +seemed casual and disconnected, greatly disturbed and confused her +manner, which confusion again had become more intense upon her own +consciousness that she _was_ confused, and that her manner was greatly +to her disadvantage; but--which was the worst effect of all, because the +rest could not operate against her, except upon those who were present +to witness it, whereas this was noted down and recorded--so utterly +did her confusion strip her of all presence of mind, that she did not +consciously notice (and consequently could not protest against at +the moment when it was most important to do so, and most natural) the +important circumstance of the muff. This capital objection, therefore, +though dwelt upon and improved to the utmost at the trial, was looked +upon by the judges as an after-thought; and merely because it had not +been seized upon by herself, and urged in the first moments of her +almost incapacitating terror on finding this amongst the circumstances +of the charge against her--as if an ingenuous nature, in the very act of +recoiling with horror from a criminal charge the most degrading, and in +the very instant of discovering, with a perfect rapture of alarm, the +too plausible appearance of probability amongst the circumstances, would +be likely to pause, and with attorney-like dexterity, to pick out the +particular circumstance that might admit of being _proved_ to be false, +when the conscience proclaimed, though in despondence for the result, +that all the circumstances were, as to the use made of them, one tissue +of falsehoods. Agnes, who had made a powerful effort in speaking of the +case at all, found her calmness increase as she advanced; and she now +told me, that in reality there were two discoveries which she made in +the same instant, and not one only, which had disarmed her firmness and +ordinary presence of mind. One I have mentioned--the fact of Barratt, +the proprietor of the shop, being the same person who had in former +instances persecuted her in the street; but the other was even more +alarming--it has been said already that it was _not_ a pure matter of +accident that she had visited this particular shop. In reality, that +nursery-maid, of whom some mention has been made above, and in terms +expressing the suspicion with which even then I regarded her, had +persuaded her into going thither by some representations which Agnes +had already ascertained to be altogether unwarranted. Other presumptions +against this girl's fidelity crowded dimly upon my wife's mind at the +very moment of finding her eyes thus suddenly opened. And it was not +five minutes after her first examination, and in fact five minutes +after it had ceased to be of use to her, that she remembered another +circumstance which now, when combined with the sequel, told its own +tale,--the muff had been missed some little time before the 6th of +April. Search had been made for it; but, the particular occasion which +required it having passed off, this search was laid aside for the +present, in the expectation that it would soon reappear in some corner +of the house before it was wanted: then came the sunny day, which made +it no longer useful, and would perhaps have dismissed it entirely from +the recollection of all parties, until it was now brought back in this +memorable way. The name of my wife was embroidered within, upon the +lining, and it thus became a serviceable link to the hellish cabal +against her. Upon reviewing the circumstances from first to last, upon +recalling the manner of the girl at the time when the muff was missed, +and upon combining the whole with her recent deception, by which she had +misled her poor mistress into visiting this shop, Agnes began to see the +entire truth as to this servant's wicked collusion with Barratt, though, +perhaps, it might be too much to suppose her aware of the unhappy result +to which her collusion tended. All this she saw at a glance when it was +too late, for her first examination was over. This girl, I must add, had +left our house during my illness, and she had afterwards a melancholy +end. + +One thing surprised me in all this. Barratt's purpose must manifestly +have been to create merely a terror in my poor wife's mind, and to stop +short of any legal consequences, in order to profit of that panic and +confusion for extorting compliances with his hideous pretensions. It +perplexed me, therefore, that he did not appear to have pursued this +manifestly his primary purpose, the other being merely a mask to conceal +his true ends, and also (as he fancied) a means for effecting them. In +this, however, I had soon occasion to find that I was deceived. He had, +but without the knowledge of Agnes, taken such steps as were then open +to him, for making overtures to her with regard to the terms upon which +he would agree to defeat the charge against her by failing to appear. +But the law had travelled too fast for him, and too determinately; so +that, by the time he supposed terror to have operated sufficiently in +favor of his views, it had already become unsafe to venture upon such +explicit proposals as he would otherwise have tried. His own safety was +now at stake, and would have been compromised by any open or written +avowal of the motives on which he had been all along acting. In fact, at +this time he was foiled by the agent in whom he confided; but much +more he had been confounded upon another point--the prodigious interest +manifested by the public. Thus it seems--that, whilst he meditated only +a snare for my poor Agnes, he had prepared one for himself; and finally, +to evade the suspicions which began to arise powerfully as to his true +motives, and thus to stave off his own ruin, had found himself in a +manner obliged to go forward and consummate the ruin of another. + + * * * * * + +The state of Agnes, as to health and bodily strength, was now becoming +such that I was forcibly warned--whatsoever I meditated doing, to do +quickly. There was this urgent reason for alarm: once conveyed into +that region of the prison in which sentences like hers were executed, it +became hopeless that I could communicate with her again. All intercourse +whatsoever, and with whomsoever, was then placed under the most rigorous +interdict; and the alarming circumstance was, that this transfer was +governed by no settled rules, but might take place at any hour, and +would certainly be precipitated by the slightest violence on my part, +the slightest indiscretion, or the slightest argument for suspicion. +Hard indeed was the part I had to play, for it was indispensable that +I should appear calm and tranquil, in order to disarm suspicions around +me, whilst continually contemplating the possibility that I myself might +be summoned to extremities which I could not so much as trust myself to +name or distinctly to conceive. But thus stood the case: the Government, +it was understood, angered by the public opposition, resolute for the +triumph of what they called 'principle,' had settled finally that the +sentence should be carried into execution. Now that she, that my Agnes, +being the frail wreck that she had become, could have stood one week of +this sentence practically and literally enforced--was a mere chimera. A +few hours probably of the experiment would have settled that question +by dismissing her to the death she longed for; but because the suffering +would be short, was I to stand by and to witness the degradation--the +pollution--attempted to be fastened upon her. What! to know that her +beautiful tresses would be shorn ignominiously--a felon's dress forced +upon her--a vile taskmaster with authority to----; blistered be the +tongue that could go on to utter, in connection with her innocent name, +the vile dishonors which were to settle upon her person! I, however, and +her brother had taken such resolutions that this result was one barely +possible; and yet I sickened (yes, literally I many times experienced +the effect of physical sickness) at contemplating our own utter childish +helplessness, and recollecting that every night during our seclusion +from the prison the last irreversible step might be taken--and in the +morning we might find a solitary cell, and the angel form that had +illuminated it gone where we could not follow, and leaving behind her +the certainty that we should see her no more. Every night, at the hour +of locking up, _she_, at least, manifestly had a fear that she saw +us for the last time; she put her arms feebly about my neck, sobbed +convulsively, and, I believe, guessed--but, if really so, did not much +reprove or quarrel with the desperate purposes which I struggled with in +regard to her own life. One thing was quite evident--that to the peace +of her latter days, now hurrying to their close, it was indispensable +that she should pass them undivided from me; and possibly, as was +afterwards alleged, when it became easy to allege any thing, some +relenting did take place in high quarters at this time; for upon some +medical reports made just now, a most seasonable indulgence was granted, +viz. that Hannah was permitted to attend her mistress constantly; and +it was also felt as a great alleviation of the horrors belonging to this +prison, that candles were now allowed throughout the nights. But I was +warned privately that these indulgences were with no consent from +the police minister; and that circumstances might soon withdraw the +momentary intercession by which we profited. With this knowledge, we +could not linger in our preparations; we had resolved upon accomplishing +an escape for Agnes, at whatever risk or price; the main difficulty was +her own extreme feebleness, which might forbid her to co-operate with us +in any degree at the critical moment; and the main danger was--delay. We +pushed forward, therefore, in our attempts with prodigious energy, and I +for my part with an energy like that of insanity. + + * * * * * + +The first attempt we made was upon the fidelity to his trust of the +chief jailer. He was a coarse, vulgar man, brutal in his manners, but +with vestiges of generosity in his character--though damaged a good deal +by his daily associates. Him we invited to a meeting at a tavern in +the neighborhood of the prison, disguising our names as too certain to +betray our objects, and baiting our invitation with some hints which +we had ascertained were likely to prove temptations under his immediate +circumstances. He had a graceless young son whom he was most anxious to +wean from his dissolute connections, and to steady, by placing him in +some office of no great responsibility. Upon this knowledge we framed +the terms of our invitation. + +These proved to be effectual, as regarded our immediate object of +obtaining an interview of persuasion. The night was wet; and at seven +o'clock, the hour fixed for the interview, we were seated in readiness, +much perplexed to know whether he would take any notice of our +invitation. We had waited three quarters of an hour, when we heard a +heavy lumbering step ascending the stair. The door was thrown open +to its widest extent, and in the centre of the door-way stood a short +stout-built man, and the very broadest I ever beheld--staring at us with +bold inquiring eyes. His salutation was something to this effect. + +'What the hell do you gay fellows want with me? What the blazes is this +humbugging letter about? My son, and be hanged! What do you know of my +son?' + +Upon this overture we ventured to request that he would come in and +suffer us to shut the door, which we also locked. Next we produced the +official paper nominating his son to a small place in the customs,--not +yielding much, it was true, in the way of salary, but fortunately, and +in accordance with the known wishes of the father, unburdened with any +dangerous trust. + +'Well, I suppose I must say thank ye: but what comes next? What am I to +do to pay the damages?' We informed him that for this particular little +service we asked no return. + +'No, no,' said he, 'that'll not go down: that cat'll not jump. I'm +not green enough for that. So, say away--what's the damage?' We then +explained that we had certainly a favor and a great one to ask: ['Ay, +I'll be bound you have,' was his parenthesis:] but that for this we were +prepared to offer a separate remuneration; repeating that with respect +to the little place procured for his son, it had not cost us anything, +and therefore we did really and sincerely decline to receive anything +in return; satisfied that, by this little offering, we had procured +the opportunity of this present interview. At this point we withdrew a +covering from the table upon which we had previously arranged a heap of +gold coins, amounting in value to twelve hundred English guineas: this +being the entire sum which circumstances allowed us to raise on so +sudden a warning: for some landed property that we both had was so +settled and limited, that we could not convert it into money either +by way of sale, loan, or mortgage. This sum, stating to him its exact +amount, we offered to his acceptance, upon the single condition that he +would look aside, or wink hard, or (in whatever way he chose to express +it) would make, or suffer to be made, such facilities for our liberating +a female prisoner as we would point out. He mused: full five minutes he +sat deliberating without opening his lips. At length he shocked us by +saying, in a firm, decisive tone, that left us little hope of altering +his resolution,--'No: gentlemen, it's a very fair offer, and a good deal +of money for a single prisoner. I think I can guess at the person. It's +a fair offer--fair enough. But, bless your heart! if I were to do the +thing you want--why perhaps another case might be overlooked: but this +prisoner, no: there's too much depending. No, they would turn me out of +my place. Now the place is worth more to me in the long run than what +you offer: though you bid fair enough, if it were only for my time in +it. But look here: in case I can get my son to come into harness, I'm +expecting to get the office for him after I've retired. So I can't do +it. But I'll tell you what: you've been kind to my son: and therefore +I'll not say a word about it. You're safe for me. And so good-night +to you.' Saying which, and standing no further question, he walked +resolutely out of the room and down stairs. + +Two days we mourned over this failure, and scarcely knew which way +to turn for another ray of hope;--on the third morning we received +intelligence that this very jailer had been attacked by the fever, +which, after long desolating the city, had at length made its way into +the prison. In a very few days the jailer was lying without hope of +recovery: and of necessity another person was appointed to fill his +station for the present. This person I had seen, and I liked him less +by much than the one he succeeded: he had an Italian appearance, and he +wore an air of Italian subtlety and dissimulation. I was surprised to +find, on proposing the same service to him, and on the same terms, that +he made no objection whatever, but closed instantly with my offers. In +prudence, however, I had made this change in the articles: a sum equal +to two hundred English guineas, or one-sixth part of the whole money, he +was to receive beforehand as a retaining fee; but the remainder was to +be paid only to himself, or to anybody of his appointing, at the very +moment of our finding the prison gates thrown open to us. He spoke +fairly enough, and seemed to meditate no treachery; nor was there any +obvious or known interest to serve by treachery; and yet I doubted him +grievously. + +The night came: it was chosen as a gala night, one of two nights +throughout the year in which the prisoners were allowed to celebrate a +great national event: and in those days of relaxed prison management +the utmost license was allowed to the rejoicing. This indulgence was +extended to prisoners of all classes, though, of course, under more +restrictions with regard to the criminal class. Ten o'clock came--the +hour at which we had been instructed to hold ourselves in readiness. +We had been long prepared. Agnes had been dressed by Hannah in such a +costume externally (a man's hat and cloak, &c.) that, from her height, +she might easily have passed amongst a mob of masquerading figures in +the debtors' halls and galleries for a young stripling. Pierpoint and +myself were also to a certain degree disguised; so far, at least, that +we should not have been recognized at any hurried glance by those of the +prison officers who had become acquainted with our persons. We were all +more or less disguised about the face; and in that age when masks were +commonly used at all hours by people of a certain rank, there would have +been nothing suspicious in any possible costume of the kind in a night +like this, if we could succeed in passing for friends of debtors. + +I am impatient of these details, and I hasten over the ground. One +entire hour passed away, and no jailer appeared. We began to despond +heavily; and Agnes, poor thing! was now the most agitated of us all. +At length eleven struck in the harsh tones of the prison-clock. A +few minutes after, we heard the sound of bolts drawing, and bars +unfastening. The jailer entered--drunk, and much disposed to be +insolent. I thought it advisable to give him another bribe, and he +resumed the fawning insinuation of his manner. He now directed us, by +passages which he pointed out, to gain the other side of the prison. +There we were to mix with the debtors and their mob of friends, and +to await his joining us, which in that crowd he could do without much +suspicion. He wished us to traverse the passages separately; but this +was impossible, for it was necessary that one of us should support Agnes +on each side. I previously persuaded her to take a small quantity +of brandy, which we rejoiced to see had given her, at this moment of +starting, a most seasonable strength and animation. The gloomy passages +were more than usually empty, for all the turnkeys were employed in a +vigilant custody of the gates, and examination of the parties going out. +So the jailer had told us, and the news alarmed us. We came at length to +a turning which brought us in sight of a strong iron gate, that divided +the two main quarters of the prison. For this we had not been prepared. +The man, however, opened the gate without a word spoken, only putting +out his hand for a fee; and in my joy, perhaps, I gave him one +imprudently large. After passing this gate, the distant uproar of the +debtors guided us to the scene of their merriment; and when there, such +was the tumult and the vast multitude assembled, that we now hoped in +good earnest to accomplish our purpose without accident. Just at this +moment the jailer appeared in the distance; he seemed looking towards +us, and at length one of our party could distinguish that he was +beckoning to us. We went forward, and found him in some agitation, real +or counterfeit. He muttered a word or two quite unintelligible about the +man at the wicket, told us we must wait a while, and he would then see +what could be done for us. We were beginning to demur, and to express +the suspicions which now too seriously arose, when he, seeing, or +affecting to see some object of alarm, pushed us with a hurried movement +into a cell opening upon the part of the gallery at which we were now +standing. Not knowing whether we really might not be retreating from +some danger, we could do no otherwise than comply with his signals; but +we were troubled at finding ourselves immediately locked in from the +outside, and thus apparently all our motions had only sufficed to +exchange one prison for another. + +We were now completely in the dark, and found, by a hard breathing from +one corner of the little dormitory, that it was not unoccupied. Having +taken care to provide ourselves separately with means for striking a +light, we soon had more than one torch burning. The brilliant light +falling upon the eyes of a man who lay stretched on the iron bedstead, +woke him. It proved to be my friend the under-jailer, Ratcliffe, but +no longer holding any office in the prison. He sprang up, and a rapid +explanation took place. He had become a prisoner for debt; and on this +evening, after having caroused through the day with some friends +from the country, had retired at an early hour to sleep away +his intoxication. I on my part thought it prudent to intrust him +unreservedly with our situation and purposes, not omitting our gloomy +suspicions. Ratcliffe looked, with a pity that won my love, upon the +poor wasted Agnes. He had seen her on her first entrance into the +prison, had spoken to her, and therefore knew _from_ what she had +fallen, _to_ what. Even then he had felt for her; how much more at this +time, when he beheld, by the fierce light of the torches, her wo-worn +features! + +'Who was it,' he asked eagerly, 'you made the bargain with? Manasseh?' + +'The same.' + +'Then I can tell you this--not a greater villain walks the earth. He is +a Jew from Portugal; he has betrayed many a man, and will many another, +unless he gets his own neck stretched, which might happen, if I told all +I know.' + +'But what was it probable that this man meditated? Or how could it +profit him to betray us?' + +'That's more than I can tell. He wants to get your money, and that he +doesn't know how to bring about without doing his part. But that's what +he never _will_ do, take my word for it. That would cut him out of all +chance for the head-jailer's place.' He mused a little, and then told us +that he could himself put us outside the prison walls, and _would_ do it +without fee or reward. 'But we must be quiet, or that devil will bethink +him of me. I'll wager something he thought that I was out merry-making +like the rest; and if he should chance to light upon the truth, he'll be +back in no time.' Ratcliffe then removed an old fire-grate, at the back +of which was an iron plate, that swung round into a similar fire-place +in the contiguous cell. From that, by a removal of a few slight +obstacles, we passed, by a long avenue, into the chapel. Then he left +us, whilst he went out alone to reconnoitre his ground. Agnes was now +in so pitiable a condition of weakness, as we stood on the very brink of +our final effort, that we placed her in a pew, where she could rest as +upon a sofa. Previously we had stood upon graves, and with monuments +more or less conspicuous all around us: some raised by friends to +the memory of friends--some by subscriptions in the prison--some by +children, who had risen into prosperity, to the memory of a father, +brother, or other relative, who had died in captivity. I was grieved +that these sad memorials should meet the eye of my wife at this moment +of awe and terrific anxiety. Pierpoint and I were well armed, and all +of us determined not to suffer a recapture, now that we were free of the +crowds that made resistance hopeless. This Agnes easily perceived; +and _that_, by suggesting a bloody arbitration, did not lessen her +agitation. I hoped therefore, that, by placing her in the pew, I might +at least liberate her for the moment from the besetting memorials of +sorrow and calamity. But, as if in the very teeth of my purpose, one of +the large columns which supported the roof of the chapel, had its basis +and lower part of the shaft in this very pew. On the side of it, and +just facing her as she lay reclining on the cushions, appeared a +mural tablet, with a bas-relief in white marble, to the memory of two +children, twins, who had lived and died at the same time, and in +this prison--children who had never breathed another air than that of +captivity, their parents having passed many years within these walls, +under confinement for debt. The sculptures were not remarkable, being a +trite, but not the less affecting, representation of angels descending +to receive the infants; but the hallowed words of the inscription, +distinct and legible--'Suffer little children to come unto me, and +forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God'--met her eye, +and, by the thoughts they awakened, made me fear that she would become +unequal to the exertions which yet awaited her. At this moment Ratcliffe +returned, and informed us that all was right; and that, from the ruinous +state of all the buildings which surrounded the chapel, no difficulty +remained for us, who were, in fact, beyond the strong part of the +prison, excepting at a single door, which we should be obliged to break +down. But had we any means arranged for pursuing our flight, and turning +this escape to account when out of confinement? All that, I assured him, +was provided for long ago. We proceeded, and soon reached the door. We +had one crow-bar amongst us, but beyond that had no better weapons +than the loose stones found about some new-made graves in the chapel. +Ratcliffe and Pierpoint, both powerful men, applied themselves by turns +to the door, whilst Hannah and I supported Agnes. The door did not +yield, being of enormous strength; but the wall did, and a large mass +of stone-work fell outwards, twisting the door aside; so that, by +afterwards working with our hands, we removed stones many enough to +admit of our egress. Unfortunately this aperture was high above the +ground, and it was necessary to climb over a huge heap of loose rubbish +in order to profit by it. My brother-in-law passed first in order to +receive my wife, quite helpless at surmounting the obstacle by her own +efforts, out of my arms. He had gone through the opening, and, turning +round so as to face me, he naturally could see something that I did +_not_ see. 'Look behind!' he called out rapidly. I did so, and saw the +murderous villain Manasseh with his arm uplifted, and in the act of +cutting at my wife, nearly insensible as she was, with a cutlass. The +blow was not for me, but for her, as the fugitive prisoner; and the law +would have borne him out in the act. I saw, I comprehended the whole. I +groped, as far as I could without letting my wife drop, for my pistols; +but all that I could do would have been unavailing, and too late--she +would have been murdered in my arms. But--and that was what none of us +saw--neither I, nor Pierpoint, nor the hound Manasseh--one person stood +back in the shade; one person had seen, but had not uttered a word +on seeing Manasseh advancing through the shades; one person only +had forecast the exact succession of all that was coming; me she saw +embarrassed and my hands preoccupied--Pierpoint and Ratcliffe useless +by position--and the gleam of the dog's eye directed her to his aim. The +crow-bar was leaning against the shattered wall. This she had silently +seized. One blow knocked up the sword; a second laid the villain +prostrate. At this moment appeared another of the turnkeys advancing +from the rear, for the noise of our assault upon the door had drawn +attention in the interior of the prison, from which, however, no great +number of assistants could on this dangerous night venture to absent +themselves. What followed for the next few minutes hurried onwards, +incident crowding upon incident, like the motions of a dream:--Manasseh, +lying on the ground, yelled out, 'The bell! the bell!' to him who +followed. The man understood, and made for the belfry-door attached +to the chapel; upon which Pierpoint drew a pistol, and sent the bullet +whizzing past his ear so truly, that fear made the man obedient to the +counter-orders of Pierpoint for the moment. He paused and awaited the +issue. In a moment had all cleared the wall, traversed the waste ground +beyond it, lifted Agnes over the low railing, shaken hands with our +benefactor Ratcliffe, and pushed onwards as rapidly as we were able +to the little dark lane, a quarter of a mile distant, where had stood +waiting for the last two hours a chaise-and-four. + +[Ratcliffe, before my story closes, I will pursue to the last of my +acquaintance with him, according to the just claims of his services. He +had privately whispered to me, as we went along, that he could speak to +the innocence of that lady, pointing to my wife, better than anybody. +He was the person whom (as then holding an office in the prison) Barratt +had attempted to employ as agent in conveying any messages that he found +it safe to send--obscurely hinting the terms on which he would desist +from prosecution. Ratcliffe had at first undertaken the negotiation from +mere levity of character. But when the story and the public interest +spread, and after himself becoming deeply struck by the prisoner's +affliction, beauty, and reputed innocence, he had pursued it only as a +means of entrapping Barratt into such written communications and such +private confessions of the truth as might have served Agnes effectually. +He wanted the art, however, to disguise his purposes: Barratt came to +suspect him violently, and feared his evidence so far, even for those +imperfect and merely oral overtures which he had really sent through +Ratcliffe--that on the very day of the trial, he, as was believed, +though by another nominally, contrived that Ratcliffe should be arrested +for debt; and, after harassing him with intricate forms of business, had +finally caused him to be conveyed to prison. Ratcliffe was thus involved +in his own troubles at the time; and afterwards supposed that, without +written documents to support his evidence, he could not be of much +service to the re-establisment of my wife's reputation. Six months after +his services in the night-escape from the prison, I saw him, and pressed +him to take the money so justly forfeited to him by Manasseh's perfidy. +He would, however, be persuaded to take no more than paid his debts. A +second and a third time his debts were paid by myself and Pierpoint. +But the same habits of intemperance and dissolute pleasure which led him +into these debts, finally ruined his constitution; and he died, though +otherwise of a fine generous manly nature, a martyr to dissipation at +the early age of twenty-nine. With respect to his prison confinement, it +was so frequently recurring in his life, and was alleviated by so many +indulgences, that he scarcely viewed it as a hardship: having once been +an officer of the prison, and having thus formed connections with the +whole official establishment, and done services to many of them, and +being of so convivial a turn, he was, even as a prisoner, treated with +distinction, and considered as a privileged son of the house.] + +It was just striking twelve o'clock as we entered the lane where the +carriage was drawn up. Rain, about the profoundest I had ever witnessed, +was falling. Though near to midsummer, the night had been unusually dark +to begin with, and from the increasing rain had become much more so. We +could see nothing; and at first we feared that some mistake had occurred +as to the station of the carriage--in which case we might have sought +for it vainly through the intricate labyrinth of the streets in +that quarter. I first descried it by the light of a torch, reflected +powerfully from the large eyes of the leaders. All was ready. +Horse-keepers were at the horses' heads. The postilions were mounted; +each door had the steps let down: Agnes was lifted in: Hannah and I +followed: Pierpoint mounted his horse; and at the word--Oh! how strange +a word!--'_All's right_,' the horses sprang off like leopards, a manner +ill-suited to the slippery pavement of a narrow street. At that moment, +but we valued it little indeed, we heard the prison-bell ringing out +loud and clear. Thrice within the first three minutes we had to pull up +suddenly, on the brink of formidable accidents, from the dangerous +speed we maintained, and which, nevertheless, the driver had orders to +maintain, as essential to our plan. All the stoppages and hinderances +of every kind along the road had been anticipated previously, and met by +contrivance, of one kind or other; and Pierpoint was constantly a +little ahead of us to attend to anything that had been neglected. The +consequence of these arrangements was--that no person along the road +could possibly have assisted to trace us by any thing in our appearance: +for we passed all objects at too flying a pace, and through darkness too +profound, to allow of any one feature in our equipage being distinctly +noticed. Ten miles out of town, a space which we traversed in forty-four +minutes, a second relay of horses was ready; but we carried on the same +postilions throughout. Six miles ahead of this distance we had a second +relay; and with this set of horses, after pushing two miles further +along the road, we crossed by a miserable lane five miles long, scarcely +even a bridge road, into another of the great roads from the capital; +and by thus crossing the country, we came back upon the city at a point +far distant from that at which we left it. We had performed a distance +of forty-two miles in three hours, and lost a fourth hour upon the +wretched five miles of cross-road. It was, therefore, four o'clock, and +broad daylight, when we drew near the suburbs of the city; but a most +happy accident now favored us; a fog the most intense now prevailed; +nobody could see an object six feet distant; we alighted in an +uninhabited new-built street, plunged into the fog, thus confounding our +traces to any observer. We then stepped into a hackney-coach which had +been stationed at a little distance. Thence, according to our plan, we +drove to a miserable quarter of the town, whither the poor only and the +wretched resorted; mounted a gloomy dirty staircase, and, befriended by +the fog, still growing thicker and thicker, and by the early hour of the +morning, reached a house previously hired, which, if shocking to the eye +and the imagination from its squalid appearance and its gloom, still +was a home--a sanctuary--an asylum from treachery, from captivity, from +persecution. Here Pierpoint for the present quitted us: and once more +Agnes, Hannah, and I, the shattered members of a shattered family, were +thus gathered together in a house of our own. + +Yes: once again, daughter of the hills, thou sleptst as heretofore in my +encircling arms; but not again in that peace which crowned thy innocence +in those days, and should have crowned it now. Through the whole of our +flying journey, in some circumstances at its outset strikingly recalling +to me that blessed one which followed our marriage, Agnes slept away +unconscious of our movements. She slept through all that day and the +following night; and I watched over her with as much jealousy of all +that might disturb her, as a mother watches over her new-born baby; for +I hoped, I fancied, that a long--long rest, a rest, a halcyon calm, a +deep, deep Sabbath of security, might prove healing and medicinal. I +thought wrong; her breathing became more disturbed, and sleep was now +haunted by dreams; all of us, indeed, were agitated by dreams; the past +pursued me, and the present, for high rewards had been advertised by +Government to those who traced us; and though for the moment we were +secure, because we never went abroad, and could not have been naturally +sought in such a neighborhood, still that very circumstance would +eventually operate against us. At length, every night I dreamed of +our insecurity under a thousand forms; but more often by far my dreams +turned upon our wrongs; wrath moved me rather than fear. Every night, +for the greater part, I lay painfully and elaborately involved, by deep +sense of wrong, + + '--in long orations, which I pleaded + Before unjust tribunals.' + [Footnote: From a MS. poem of a great living Poet.] + +And for poor Agnes, her also did the remembrance of mighty wrongs occupy +through vast worlds of sleep in the same way--though colored by +that tenderness which belonged to her gentler nature. One dream in +particular--a dream of sublime circumstances--she repeated to me so +movingly, with a pathos so thrilling, that by some profound sympathy +it transplanted itself to my own sleep, settled itself there, and is to +this hour a part of the fixed dream scenery which revolves at intervals +through my sleeping life. This it was:--She would hear a trumpet +sound--though perhaps as having been the prelude to the solemn entry of +the judges at a town which she had once visited in her childhood; other +preparations would follow, and at last all the solemnities of a great +trial would shape themselves and fall into settled images. The audience +was assembled, the judges were arrayed, the court was set. The prisoner +was cited. Inquest was made, witnesses were called; and false witnesses +came tumultuously to the bar. Then again a trumpet was heard, but the +trumpet of a mighty archangel; and then would roll away thick clouds and +vapors. Again the audience, but another audience, was assembled; again +the tribunal was established; again the court was set; but a tribunal +and a court--how different to her! _That_ had been composed of men +seeking indeed for truth, but themselves erring and fallible creatures; +the witnesses had been full of lies, the judges of darkness. But +here was a court composed of heavenly witnesses--here was a righteous +tribunal--and then at last a judge that could not be deceived. The judge +smote with his eye a person who sought to hide himself in the crowd; +the guilty man stepped forward; the poor prisoner was called up to the +presence of the mighty judge; suddenly the voice of a little child was +heard ascending before her. Then the trumpet sounded once again; and +then there were new heavens and a new earth; and her tears and +her agitation (for she had seen her little Francis) awoke the poor +palpitating dreamer. + + * * * * * + +Two months passed on: nothing could possibly be done materially to raise +the standard of those wretched accommodations which the house +offered. The dilapidated walls, the mouldering plaster, the blackened +mantel-pieces, the stained and polluted wainscots--what could be +attempted to hide or to repair all this by those who durst not venture +abroad? Yet whatever could be done, Hannah did; and, in the mean time, +very soon indeed my Agnes ceased to see or to be offended by these +objects. First of all her sight went from her; and nothing which +appealed to that sense could ever more offend her. It is to me the one +only consolation I have, that my presence and that of Hannah, with such +innocent frauds as we concerted together, made her latter days pass in +a heavenly calm, by persuading her that our security was absolute, +and that all search after us had ceased, under a belief on the part of +Government that we had gained the shelter of a foreign land. All this +was a delusion; but it was a delusion--blessed be Heaven! which +lasted exactly as long as her life, and was just commensurate with its +necessity. I hurry over the final circumstances. + +There was fortunately now, even for me, no fear that the hand of any +policeman or emissary of justice could effectually disturb the latter +days of my wife; for, besides pistols always lying loaded in an inner +room, there happened to be a long narrow passage on entering the house, +which, by means of a blunderbuss, I could have swept effectually, and +cleared many times over; and I know what to do in a last extremity. +Just two months it was, to a day, since we had entered the house; and +it happened that the medical attendant upon Agnes, who awakened no +suspicion by his visits, had prescribed some opiate or anodyne which had +not come; being dark early, for it was now September, I had ventured out +to fetch it. In this I conceived there could be no danger. On my return +I saw a man examining the fastenings of the door. He made no opposition +to my entrance, nor seemed much to observe it--but I was disturbed. Two +hours after, both Hannah and I heard a noise about the door, and voices +in low conversation. It is remarkable that Agnes heard this also--so +quick had grown her hearing. She was agitated, but was easily calmed; +and at ten o'clock we were all in bed. The hand of Agnes was in mine; +so only she felt herself in security. She had been restless for an hour, +and talking at intervals in sleep. Once she certainly wakened, for she +pressed her lips to mine. Two minutes after, I heard something in +her breathing which did not please me. I rose hastily--brought a +light--raised her head--two long, long gentle sighs, that scarcely moved +the lips, were all that could be perceived. At that moment, at that very +moment, Hannah called out to me that the door was surrounded. 'Open it!' +I said; six men entered; Agnes it was they sought; I pointed to the bed; +they advanced, gazed, and walked away in silence. + +After this I wandered about, caring little for life or its affairs, and +roused only at times to think of vengeance upon all who had contributed +to lay waste my happiness. In this pursuit, however, I was confounded +as much by my own thoughts as by the difficulties of accomplishing my +purpose. To assault and murder either of the two principal agents in +this tragedy, what would it be, what other effect could it have, than to +invest them with the character of injured and suffering people, and thus +to attract a pity or a forgiveness at least to their persons which never +otherwise could have illustrated their deaths? I remembered, indeed, the +words of a sea-captain who had taken such vengeance as had offered at +the moment upon his bitter enemy and persecutor (a young passenger on +board his ship), who had informed against him at the Custom-house on his +arrival in port, and had thus effected the confiscation of his ship, +and the ruin of the captain's family. The vengeance, and it was all +that circumstances allowed, consisted in coming behind the young man +clandestinely and pushing him into the deep waters of the dock, when, +being unable to swim, he perished by drowning. 'And the like,' said the +captain, when musing on his trivial vengeance, 'and the like happens +to many an honest sailor.' Yes, thought I, the captain was right. The +momentary shock of a pistol-bullet--what is it? Perhaps it may save +the wretch after all from the pangs of some lingering disease; and then +again I shall have the character of a murderer, if known to have shot +him; he will with many people have no such character, but at worst the +character of a man too harsh (they will say), and possibly mistaken in +protecting his property. And then, if not known as the man who shot +him, where is the shadow even of vengeance? Strange it seemed to me, and +passing strange, that I should be the person to urge arguments in behalf +of letting this man escape. For at one time I had as certainly, as +inexorably, doomed him as ever I took any resolution in my life. But the +fact is, and I began to see it upon closer view, it is not easy by any +means to take an adequate vengeance for any injury beyond a very trivial +standard; and that with common magnanimity one does not care to avenge. +Whilst I was in this mood of mind, still debating with myself whether +I should or should not contaminate my hands with the blood of this +monster, and still unable to shut my eyes upon one fact, viz. that my +buried Agnes could above all things have urged me to abstain from such +acts of violence, too evidently useless, listlessly and scarcely knowing +what I was in quest of, I strayed by accident into a church where a +venerable old man was preaching at the very moment I entered; he was +either delivering as a text, or repeating in the course of his sermon, +these words--'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' By +some accident also he fixed his eyes upon me at the moment; and +this concurrence with the subject then occupying my thoughts so much +impressed me, that I determined very seriously to review my half-formed +purposes of revenge; and well it was that I did so: for in that same +week an explosion of popular fury brought the life of this wretched +Barratt to a shocking termination, pretty much resembling the fate of +the De Witts in Holland. And the consequences to me were such, and so +full of all the consolation and indemnification which this world could +give me, that I have often shuddered since then at the narrow escape +I had had from myself intercepting this remarkable retribution. The +villain had again been attempting to play off the same hellish scheme +with a beautiful young rustic which had succeeded in the case of my +ill-fated Agnes. But the young woman in this instance had a high, and, +in fact, termagant spirit. Rustic as she was, she had been warned of the +character of the man; everybody, in fact, was familiar with the recent +tragedy. Either her lover or her brother happened to be waiting for +her outside the window. He saw in part the very tricks in the act of +perpetration by which some article or other, meant to be claimed as +stolen property, was conveyed into a parcel she had incautiously laid +down. He heard the charge against her made by Barratt, and seconded by +his creatures--heard her appeal--sprang to her aid--dragged the ruffian +into the street, when in less time than the tale could be told, and +before the police (though tolerably alert) could effectually interpose +for his rescue, the mob had so used or so abused the opportunity they +had long wished for, that he remained the mere disfigured wreck of what +had once been a man, rather than a creature with any resemblance to +humanity. I myself heard the uproar at a distance, and the shouts and +yells of savage exultation; they were sounds I shall never forget, +though I did not at that time know them for what they were, or +understood their meaning. The result, however, to me was something +beyond this, and worthy to have been purchased with my heart's blood. +Barratt still breathed; spite of his mutilations he could speak; he was +rational. One only thing he demanded--it was that his dying confession +might be taken. Two magistrates and a clergyman attended. He gave a +list of those whom he had trepanned, and had failed to trepan, by his +artifices and threats, into the sacrifice of their honor. He expired +before the record was closed, but not before he had placed my wife's +name in the latter list as the one whose injuries in his dying moments +most appalled him. This confession on the following day went into the +hands of the hostile minister, and my revenge was perfect. + + + + +THE SPANISH NUN. + + +Why is it that _Adventures_ are so generally repulsive to people of +meditative minds? It is for the same reason that any other want of law, +that any other anarchy is repulsive. Floating passively from action to +action, as helplessly as a withered leaf surrendered to the breath +of winds, the human spirit (out of which comes all grandeur of human +motions) is exhibited in mere _Adventures_, as either entirely laid +asleep, or as acting only by lower organs that regulate the _means_, +whilst the _ends_ are derived from alien sources, and are imperiously +predetermined. It is a case of exception, however, when even amongst +such adventures the agent reacts upon his own difficulties and +necessities by a temper of extraordinary courage, and a mind of +premature decision. Further strength arises to such an exception, if the +very moulding accidents of the life, if the very external coercions are +themselves unusually romantic. They may thus gain a separate interest of +their own. And, lastly, the whole is locked into validity of interest, +even for the psychological philosopher, by complete authentication +of its truth. In the case now brought before him, the reader must not +doubt; for no memoir exists, or personal biography, that is so trebly +authenticated by proofs and attestations direct and collateral. From the +archives of the Royal Marine at Seville, from the autobiography or the +heroine, from contemporary chronicles, and from several official sources +scattered in and out of Spain, some of them ecclesiastical, the +amplest proofs have been drawn, and may yet be greatly extended, of the +extraordinary events here recorded. M. de Ferrer, a Spaniard of much +research, and originally incredulous as to the facts, published about +seventeen years ago a selection from the leading documents, accompanied +by his _palinode_ as to their accuracy. His materials have been since +used for the basis of more than one narrative, not inaccurate, in +French, German and Spanish journals of high authority. It is seldom the +case that French writers err by prolixity. They _have_ done so in this +case. The present narrative, which contains no sentence derived from any +foreign one, has the great advantage of close compression; my own pages, +after equating the size, being as 1 to 3 of the shortest continental +form. In the mode of narration, I am vain enough to flatter myself +that the reader will find little reason to hesitate between us. Mine +at least, weary nobody; which is more than can be always said for the +continental versions. + +On a night in the year 1592, (but which night is a secret liable to 365 +answers,) a Spanish '_son of somebody_,' [Footnote: _i.e._ 'Hidalgo'] +in the fortified town of St. Sebastian, received the disagreeable +intelligence from a nurse, that his wife had just presented him with a +daughter. No present that the poor misjudging lady could possibly have +made him was so entirely useless for any purpose of his. He had three +daughters already, which happened to be more by 2+1 than _his_ reckoning +assumed as a reasonable allowance of daughters. A supernumerary son +might have been stowed away; but daughters in excess were the very +nuisance of Spain. He did, therefore, what in such cases every proud +and lazy Spanish gentleman was apt to do--he wrapped the new little +daughter, odious to his paternal eyes, in a pocket handkerchief; and +then, wrapping up his own throat with a good deal more care, off he +bolted to the neighboring convent of St. Sebastian, not merely of that +city, but also (amongst several convents) the one dedicated to that +saint. It is well that in this quarrelsome world we quarrel furiously +about tastes; since agreeing too closely about the objects to be +liked and appropriated would breed much more fighting than is bred by +disagreeing. That little human tadpole, which the old toad of a father +would not suffer to stay ten minutes in his house, proved as welcome at +the nunnery of St. Sebastian as she was odious elsewhere. The superior +of the convent was aunt, by the mother's side, to the new-born stranger. +She, therefore, kissed and blessed the little lady. The poor nuns, who +were never to have any babies of their own, and were languishing for +some amusement, perfectly doated on this prospect of a wee pet. The +superior thanked the hidalgo for his very splendid present. The nuns +thanked him each and all; until the old crocodile actually began to +cry and whimper sentimentally at what he now perceived to be excess of +munificence in himself. Munificence, indeed, he remarked, was his foible +next after parental tenderness. + +What a luxury it is sometimes to a cynic that there go two words to a +bargain. In the convent of St. Sebastian all was gratitude; gratitude +(as aforesaid) to the hidalgo from all the convent for his present, +until at last the hidalgo began to express gratitude to _them_ for their +gratitude to _him_. Then came a rolling fire of thanks to St. Sebastian; +from the superior, for sending a future saint; from the nuns, for +sending such a love of a plaything; and, finally, from papa, for sending +such substantial board and well-bolted lodgings, 'from which,' said the +malicious old fellow, 'my pussy will never find her way out to a thorny +and dangerous world.' Won't she? I suspect, son of somebody, that the +next time you see 'pussy,' which may happen to be also the last, +will not be in a convent of any kind. At present, whilst this general +rendering of thanks was going on, one person only took no part in them. +That person was 'pussy,' whose little figure lay quietly stretched out +in the arms of a smiling young nun, with eyes nearly shut, yet peering +a little at the candles. Pussy said nothing. It's of no great use to +say much, when all the world is against you. But if St. Sebastian had +enabled her to speak out the whole truth, pussy _would_ have said: 'So, +Mr. Hidalgo, you have been engaging lodgings for me; lodgings for life. +Wait a little. We'll try that question, when my claws are grown a little +longer.' + +Disappointment, therefore, was gathering ahead. But for the present +there was nothing of the kind. That noble old crocodile, papa, was not +in the least disappointed as regarded _his_ expectation of having +no anxiety to waste, and no money to pay, on account of his youngest +daughter. He insisted on his right to forget her; and in a week _had_ +forgotten her, never to think of her again but once. The lady superior, +as regarded _her_ demands, was equally content, and through a course of +several years; for, as often as she asked pussy if she would be a +saint, pussy replied that she would, if saints were allowed plenty of +sweetmeats. But least of all were the nuns disappointed. Everything that +they had fancied possible in a human plaything fell short of what pussy +realized in racketing, racing, and eternal plots against the peace of +the elder nuns. No fox ever kept a hen-roost in such alarm as pussy kept +the dormitory of the senior sisters; whilst the younger ladies were +run off their legs by the eternal wiles, and had their chapel gravity +discomposed, even in chapel, by the eternal antics of this privileged +little kitten. + +The kitten had long ago received a baptismal name, which was Kitty; this +is Catharine, or Kate, or _Hispanice_ Catalina. It was a good name, as +it recalled her original name of pussy. And, by the way, she had also an +ancient and honorable surname, viz., _De Erauso_, which is to this day a +name rooted in Biscay. Her father, the _hidalgo_, was a military officer +in the Spanish service, and had little care whether his kitten should +turn out a wolf or a lamb, having made over the fee simple of his own +interest in the little Kate to St. Sebastian, 'to have and to hold,' +so long as Kate should keep her hold of this present life. Kate had +no apparent intention to let slip that hold, for she was blooming as +a rose-bush in June, tall and strong as a young cedar. Yet, +notwithstanding this robust health and the strength of the convent +walls, the time was drawing near when St. Sebastian's lease in Kate +must, in legal phrase, 'determine;' and any _chateaux en Espagne_, +that the Saint might have built on the cloisteral fidelity of his pet +Catalina, must suddenly give way in one hour, like many other vanities +in our own days of Spanish bonds and promises. After reaching her tenth +year, Catalina became thoughtful, and not very docile. At times she +was even headstrong and turbulent, so that the gentle sisterhood of St. +Sebastian, who had no other pet or plaything in the world, began to weep +in secret--fearing that they might have been rearing by mistake some +future tigress--for as to infancy, _that_, you know, is playful and +innocent even in the cubs of a tigress. But _there_ the ladies were +going too far. Catalina was impetuous and aspiring, but not cruel. She +was gentle, if people would let her be so. But woe to those that +took liberties with _her_! A female servant of the convent, in some +authority, one day, in passing up the aisle to matins, _wilfully_ gave +Kate a push; and in return, Kate, who never left her debts in arrear, +gave the servant for a keepsake a look which that servant carried with +her in fearful remembrance to her grave. It seemed as if Kate had tropic +blood in her veins, that continually called her away to the tropics. It +was all the fault of that 'blue rejoicing sky,' of those purple Biscayan +mountains, of that tumultuous ocean, which she beheld daily from the +nunnery gardens. Or, if only half of it was _their_ fault, the other +half lay in those golden tales, streaming upwards even into the +sanctuaries of convents, like morning mists touched by earliest +sunlight, of kingdoms overshadowing a new world which had been founded +by her kinsmen with the simple aid of a horse and a lance. The reader is +to remember that this is no romance, or at least no fiction, that he +is reading; and it is proper to remind the reader of real romances in +Ariosto or our own Spenser, that such martial ladies as the _Marfisa_, +or _Bradamant_ of the first, and _Britomart_ of the other, were really +not the improbabilities that modern society imagines. Many a stout man, +as you will soon see, found that Kate, with a sabre in hand, and well +mounted, was but too serious a fact. + +The day is come--the evening is come--when our poor Kate, that had for +fifteen years been so tenderly rocked in the arms of St. Sebastian and +his daughters, and that henceforth shall hardly find a breathing space +between eternal storms, must see her peaceful cell, must see the holy +chapel, for the last time. It was at vespers, it was during the chanting +of the vesper service, that she finally read the secret signal for her +departure, which long she had been looking for. It happened that her +aunt, the Lady Principal, had forgotten her breviary. As this was in +a private 'scrutoire, she did not choose to send a servant for it, but +gave the key to her niece. The niece, on opening the 'scrutoire, saw, +with that rapidity of eye-glance for the one thing needed in any great +emergency, which ever attended her through life, that _now_ was the +moment for an attempt which, if neglected, might never return. There lay +the total keys, in one massive _trousseau_, of that fortress impregnable +even to armies from without. Saint Sebastian! do you see what your +pet is going to do? And do it she will, as sure as your name is St. +Sebastian. Kate went back to her aunt with the breviary and the key; but +taking good care to leave that awful door, on whose hinge revolved her +whole life, unlocked. Delivering the two articles to the Superior, she +complained of a headache--[Ah, Kate! what did you know of headaches, +except now and then afterwards from a stray bullet, or so?]--upon which +her aunt, kissing her forehead, dismissed her to bed. Now, then, through +three-fourths of an hour Kate will have free elbow-room for unanchoring +her boat, for unshipping her oars, and for pulling ahead right out of +St. Sebastian's cove into the main ocean of life. + +Catalina, the reader is to understand, does not belong to the class of +persons in whom chiefly I pretend to an interest. But everywhere one +loves energy and indomitable courage. I, for my part, admire not, by +preference, anything that points to this world. It is the child of +reverie and profounder sensibility who turns _away_ from the world as +hateful and insufficient, that engages _my_ interest: whereas Catalina +was the very model of the class fitted for facing this world, and who +express their love to it by fighting with it and kicking it from year to +year. But, always, what is best in its kind one admires, even though the +kind be disagreeable. Kate's advantages for her _role_ in this life lay +in four things, viz., in a well-built person, and a particularly strong +wrist; 2d, in a heart that nothing could appal; 3d, in a sagacious head, +never drawn aside from the _hoc age_ [from the instant question of life] +by any weakness of imagination; 4th, in a tolerably thick skin--not +literally, for she was fair and blooming, and decidedly handsome, having +such a skin as became a young woman of family in northernmost Spain. +But her sensibilities were obtuse as regarded _some_ modes of delicacy, +_some_ modes of equity, _some_ modes of the world's opinion, and +_all_ modes whatever of personal hardship. Lay a stress on that word +_some_--for, as to delicacy, she never lost sight of the kind which +peculiarly concerns her sex. Long afterwards she told the Pope himself, +when confessing without disguise her sad and infinite wanderings to the +paternal old man (and I feel convinced of her veracity), that in this +respect, even then, at middle age, she was as pure as is a child. And, +as to equity, it was only that she substituted the equity of camps for +the polished (but often more iniquitous) equity of courts and towns. As +to the third item--the world's opinion--I don't know that you need lay +a stress on _some_; for, generally speaking, _all_ that the world did, +said, or thought, was alike contemptible in her eyes, in which, perhaps, +she was not so _very_ far wrong. I must add, though at the cost of +interrupting the story by two or three more sentences, that Catalina had +also a fifth advantage, which sounds humbly, but is really of use in a +world, where even to fold and seal a letter adroitly is not the least +of accomplishments. She was a _handy_ girl. She could turn her hand to +anything, of which I will give you two memorable instances. Was there +ever a girl in this world but herself that cheated and snapped her +fingers at that awful Inquisition, which brooded over the convents of +Spain, that did this without collusion from outside, trusting to nobody, +but to herself, and what? to one needle, two hanks of thread, and a very +inferior pair of scissors? For, that the scissors were bad, though Kate +does not say so in her memoirs, I knew by an _a priori_ argument, viz., +because _all_ scissors were bad in the year 1607. Now, say all decent +logicians, from a universal to a particular _valet consequentia_, _all_ +scissors were bad: _ergo_, _some_ scissors were bad. The second instance +of her handiness will surprise you even more:--She once stood upon a +scaffold, under sentence of death--[but, understand, on the evidence +of false witnesses]. Jack Ketch was absolutely tying the knot under her +ear, and the shameful man of ropes fumbled so deplorably, that Kate (who +by much nautical experience had learned from another sort of 'Jack' +how a knot _should_ be tied in this world,) lost all patience with the +contemptible artist, told him she was ashamed of him, took the rope out +of his hand, and tied the knot irreproachably herself. The crowd saluted +her with a festal roll, long and loud, of _vivas_; and this word _viva_ +of good augury--but stop; let me not anticipate. + +From this sketch of Catalina's character, the reader is prepared to +understand the decision of her present proceeding. She had no time to +lose: the twilight favored her; but she must get under hiding before +pursuit commenced. Consequently she lost not one of her forty-five +minutes in picking and choosing. No _shilly-shally_ in Kate. She saw +with the eyeball of an eagle what was indispensable. Some little money +perhaps to pay the first toll-bar of life: so, out of four shillings in +Aunty's purse, she took one. You can't say _that_ was exorbitant. Which +of us wouldn't subscribe a shilling for poor Katy to put into the first +trouser pockets that ever she will wear? I remember even yet, as a +personal experience, that when first arrayed, at four years old, in +nankeen trousers, though still so far retaining hermaphrodite relations +of dress as to wear a petticoat above my trousers, all my female friends +(because they pitied me, as one that had suffered from years of ague) +filled my pockets with half-crowns, of which I can render no account at +this day. But what were my poor pretensions by the side of Kate's? Kate +was a fine blooming girl of fifteen, with no touch of ague, and, before +the next sun rises, Kate shall draw on her first trousers, and made by +her own hand; and, that she may do so, of all the valuables in Aunty's +repository she takes nothing beside the shilling, _quantum sufficit_ of +thread, one stout needle, and (as I told you before, if you would please +to remember things) one bad pair of scissors. Now she was ready; ready +to cast off St. Sebastian's towing-rope; ready to cut and run for port +anywhere. The finishing touch of her preparations was to pick out the +proper keys: even there she showed the same discretion. She did do no +gratuitous mischief. She did not take the wine-cellar key, which would +have irritated the good father confessor; she took those keys only that +belonged to _her_, if ever keys did; for they were the keys that locked +her out from her natural birthright of liberty. 'Show me,' says the +Romish Casuist, 'her right in law to let herself out of that nunnery.' +'Show us,' we reply, '_your_ right to lock her in.' + +Right or wrong, however, in strict casuistry, Kate was resolved to let +herself out; and _did_ so; and, for fear any man should creep in whilst +vespers lasted, and steal the kitchen grate, she locked her old friends +_in_. Then she sought a shelter. The air was not cold. She hurried into +a chestnut wood, and upon withered leaves slept till dawn. Spanish diet +and youth leaves the digestion undisordered, and the slumbers light. +When the lark rose, up rose Catalina. No time to lose, for she was still +in the dress of a nun, and liable to be arrested by any man in Spain. +With her _armed_ finger, [aye, by the way, I forgot the thimble; but +Kate did _not_]--she set to work upon her amply-embroidered petticoat. +She turned it wrong side out; and with the magic that only female hands +possess, she had soon sketched and finished a dashing pair of Wellington +trousers. All other changes were made according to the materials she +possessed, and quite sufficiently to disguise the two main perils--her +sex, and her monastic dedication. What was she to do next. Speaking of +Wellington trousers would remind _us_, but could hardly remind _her_, +of Vittoria, where she dimly had heard of some maternal relative. +To Vittoria, therefore, she bent her course; and, like the Duke of +Wellington, but arriving more than two centuries earlier, [though _he_ +too is an early riser,] she gained a great victory at that place. She +had made a two days' march, baggage far in the rear, and no provisions +but wild berries; she depended for anything better, as light-heartedly +as the Duke, upon attacking, sword in hand, storming her dear friend's +entrenchments, and effecting a lodgment in his breakfast-room, should he +happen to have one. This amiable relative, an elderly man, had but +one foible, or perhaps one virtue in this world; but _that_ he had in +perfection,--it was pedantry. On that hint Catalina spoke: she knew +by heart, from the services of the convent, a few Latin phrases. +Latin!--Oh, but _that_ was charming; and in one so young! The grave Don +owned the soft impeachment; relented at once, and clasped the hopeful +young gentleman in the Wellington trousers to his _uncular_ and rather +angular breast. In this house the yarn of life was of a mingled quality. +The table was good, but that was exactly what Kate cared little about. +The amusement was of the worst kind. It consisted chiefly in conjugating +Latin verbs, especially such as were obstinately irregular. To show +him a withered frost-bitten verb, that wanted its preterite, wanted its +supines, wanted, in fact, everything in this world, fruits or blossoms, +that make a verb desirable, was to earn the Don's gratitude for life. +All day long he was marching and countermarching his favorite +brigades of verbs--verbs frequentative, verbs inceptive, verbs +desiderative--horse, foot, and artillery; changing front, advancing from +the rear, throwing out skirmishing parties, until Kate, not given to +faint, must have thought of such a resource, as once in her life she had +thought so seasonably of a vesper headache. This was really worse than +St. Sebastian's. It reminds one of a French gayety in Thiebault or +some such author, who describes a rustic party, under equal despair, as +employing themselves in conjugating the verb _s'ennuyer,--Je m'ennuie, +tu t'ennuies, il s'ennuit; nous nous ennuyons_, &c.; thence to +the imperfect--_Je m'ennuyois, tu t'ennuyois_, &c.; thence to the +imperative--_Qu'il s'ennuye_, &c.; and so on through the whole +melancholy conjugation. Now, you know, when the time comes that, _nous +nous ennuyons_, the best course is, to part. Kate saw _that_; and she +walked off from the Don's [of whose amorous passion for defective +verbs one would have wished to know the catastrophe], and took from his +mantel-piece rather move silver than she had levied on her aunt. But the +Don also was a relative; and really he owed her a small cheque on his +banker for turning out on his field-days. A man, if he _is_ a kinsman, +has no right to bore one _gratis_. + +From Vittoria, Kate was guided by a carrier to Valladolid. Luckily, as +it seemed at first, but it made little difference in the end, here, at +Valladolid, were the King and his Court. Consequently, there was plenty +of regiments and plenty of regimental bands. Attracted by one of these, +Catalina was quietly listening to the music, when some street +ruffians, in derision of the gay colors and the form of her forest-made +costume--[rascals! one would like to have seen what sort of trousers +_they_ would have made with no better scissors!]--began to pelt her with +stones. Ah, my friends, of the genus _blackguard_, you little know who +it is that you are selecting for experiments. This is the one creature +of fifteen in all Spain, be the other male or female, whom nature, and +temper, and provocation have qualified for taking the conceit out of +you. This she very soon did, laying open a head or two with a sharp +stone, and letting out rather too little than too much of bad +Valladolid blood. But mark the constant villany of this world. +Certain Alguazils--very like some other Alguazils that I know nearer +home--having stood by quietly to see the friendless stranger insulted +and assaulted, now felt it their duty to apprehend the poor nun for +murderous violence: and had there been such a thing as a treadmill in +Valladolid, Kate was booked for a place on it without further inquiry. +Luckily, injustice does not _always_ prosper. A gallant young cavalier, +who had witnessed from his windows the whole affair, had seen the +provocation, and admired Catalina's behavior--equally patient at first +and bold at last--hastened into the street, pursued the officers, forced +them to release their prisoner, upon stating the circumstances of the +case, and instantly offered Catalina a situation amongst his retinue. +He was a man of birth and fortune; and the place offered, that of +an honorary page, not being at all degrading even to a 'daughter of +somebody,' was cheerfully accepted. Here Catalina spent a happy month. +She was now splendidly dressed in dark blue velvet, by a tailor that +did not work within the gloom of a chestnut forest. She and the young +cavalier, Don Francisco de Cardenas, were mutually pleased, and had +mutual confidence. All went well--when one evening, but, luckily, not +until the sun had been set so long as to make all things indistinct, who +should march into the ante-chamber of the cavalier but that sublime of +crocodiles, _Papa_, that we lost sight of fifteen years ago, and shall +never see again after this night. He had his crocodile tears all ready +for use, in working order, like a good industrious fire-engine. It was +absolutely to Catalina herself that he advanced; whom, for many reasons, +he could not be supposed to recognise--lapse of years, male attire, +twilight, were all against him. Still, she might have the family +countenance; and Kate thought he looked with a suspicious scrutiny into +her face, as he inquired for the young Don. To avert her own face, to +announce him to Don Francisco, to wish him on the shores of that ancient +river for crocodiles, the Nile, furnished but one moment's work to the +active Catalina. She lingered, however, as her place entitled her to +do, at the door of the audience chamber. She guessed already, but in a +moment she _heard_ from papa's lips what was the nature of his errand. +His daughter Catharine, he informed the Don, had eloped from the +convent of St. Sebastian, a place rich in delight. Then he laid open the +unparalleled ingratitude of such a step. Oh, the unseen treasure that +had been spent upon that girl! Oh, the untold sums of money that he had +sunk in that unhappy speculation! The nights of sleeplessness suffered +during her infancy! The fifteen years of solicitude thrown away in +schemes for her improvement! It would have moved the heart of a stone. +The _hidalgo_ wept copiously at his own pathos. And to such a height +of grandeur had he carried his Spanish sense of the sublime, that he +disdained to mention the pocket-handkerchief which he had left at St. +Sebastian's fifteen years ago, by way of envelope for 'pussy,' and +which, to the best of pussy's knowledge, was the one sole memorandum +of papa ever heard of at St. Sebastian's. Pussy, however, saw no use in +revising and correcting the text of papa's remembrances. She showed her +usual prudence, and her usual incomparable decision. It did not appear, +as yet, that she would be reclaimed, or was at all suspected for the +fugitive by her father. For it is an instance of that singular fatality +which pursued Catalina through life, that, to her own astonishment, (as +she now collected from her father's conference,) nobody had traced her +to Valladolid, nor had her father's visit any connection with suspicious +travelling in that direction. The case was quite different. Strangely +enough, her street row had thrown her into the one sole household in all +Spain that had an official connection with St. Sebastian's. That convent +had been founded by the young cavalier's family; and, according to the +usage of Spain, the young man (as present representative of his house) +was the responsible protector of the establishment. It was not to +the Don, as harborer of his daughter, but to the Don, as _ex officio_ +visitor of the convent, that the hidalgo was appealing. Probably Kate +might have staid safely some time longer. Yet, again, this would but +have multiplied the clues for tracing her; and, finally, she would +too probably have been discovered; after which, with all his youthful +generosity, the poor Don could not have protected her. Too terrific was +the vengeance that awaited an abettor of any fugitive nun; but, above +all, if such a crime were perpetrated by an official mandatory of the +church. Yet, again, so far it was the more hazardous course to abscond, +that it almost revealed her to the young Don as the missing daughter. +Still, if it really _had_ that effect, nothing at present obliged him to +pursue her, as might have been the case a few weeks later. Kate +argued (I dare say) rightly, as she always did. Her prudence whispered +eternally, that safety there was none for her, until she had laid the +Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's. Life was to be for _her_ +a Bay of Biscay; and it was odds but she had first embarked upon this +billowy life from the literal Bay of Biscay. Chance ordered otherwise. +Or, as a Frenchman says with eloquent ingenuity, in connection with this +story, 'Chance is but the _pseudonyme_ of God for those particular cases +which he does not subscribe openly with his own sign manual.' She crept +up stairs to her bed-room. Simple are the travelling preparations of +those that, possessing nothing, have no imperials to pack. She had +Juvenal's qualification for carolling gaily through a forest full of +robbers; for she had nothing to lose but a change of linen, that rode +easily enough under her left arm, leaving the right free for answering +any questions of impertinent customers. As she crept down stairs, she +heard the Crocodile still weeping forth his sorrows to the pensive ear +of twilight, and to the sympathetic Don Francisco. Now, it would not +have been filial or lady-like for Kate to do what I am going to suggest; +but what a pity that some gay brother page had not been there to +turn aside into the room, armed with a roasted potato, and, taking a +sportsman's aim, to have lodged it in the Crocodile's abominable mouth. +Yet, what an anachronism! There _were_ no roasted potatoes in Spain +at that date, and very few in England. But anger drives a man to say +anything. + +Catalina had seen her last of friends and enemies in Valladolid. Short +was her time there; but she had improved it so far as to make a few of +both. There was an eye or two in Valladolid that would have glared with +malice upon her, had she been seen by _all_ eyes in that city, as she +tripped through the streets in the dusk; and eyes there were that would +have softened into tears, had they seen the desolate condition of the +child, or in vision had seen the struggles that were before her. But +what's the use of wasting tears upon our Kate? Wait till to-morrow +morning at sunrise, and see if she is particularly in need of pity. +What now should a young lady do--I propose it as a subject for a prize +essay--that finds herself in Valladolid at nighfall, having no letters +of introduction, not aware of any reason great or small for preferring +any street in general, except so far as she knows of some reason for +avoiding one or two streets in particular? The great problem I have +stated, Kate investigated as she went along; and she solved it with +the accuracy with which she ever applied to _practical_ exigencies. Her +conclusion was--that the best door to knock at in such a case was the +door where there was no need to knock at all, as being unfastened, and +open to all comers. For she argued that within such a door there would +be nothing to steal, so that, at least, you could not be mistaken in the +ark for a thief. Then, as to stealing from _her_, they might do that if +they could. + +Upon these principles, which hostile critics will in vain endeavor to +undermine, she laid her hand upon what seemed a rude stable door. Such +it proved. There was an empty cart inside, certainly there was, but you +couldn't take _that_ away in your pocket; and there were five loads of +straw, but then of those a lady could take no more than her _reticule_ +would carry, which perhaps was allowed by the courtesy of Spain. So Kate +was right as to the difficulty of being challenged for a thief. Closing +the door as gently as she had opened it, she dropped her person, dressed +as she was, upon the nearest heap of straw. Some ten feet further were +lying two muleteers, honest and happy enough, as compared with the lords +of the bed-chamber then in Valladolid: but still gross men, carnally +deaf from eating garlic and onions, and other horrible substances. +Accordingly, they never heard her, nor were aware, until dawn, that such +a blooming person existed. But she was aware of _them_, and of their +conversation. They were talking of an expedition for America, on the +point of sailing under Don Ferdinand de Cordova. It was to sail from +some Andalusian port. That was the very thing for _her_. At daylight she +woke, and jumped up, needing no more toilet than the birds that already +were singing in the gardens, or than the two muleteers, who, good, +honest fellows, saluted the handsome boy kindly--thinking no ill at his +making free with _their_ straw, though no leave had been asked. + +With these philo-garlic men Kate took her departure. The morning was +divine: and leaving Valladolid with the transports that befitted such +a golden dawn, feeling also already, in the very obscurity of her exit, +the pledge of her escape; she cared no longer for the Crocodile, or +for St. Sebastian, or (in the way of fear) for the protector of St. +Sebastian, though of _him_ she thought with some tenderness; so deep is +the remembrance of kindness mixed with justice. Andalusia she reached +rather slowly; but many months before she was sixteen years old, and +quite in time for the expedition. St. Lucar being the port of rendezvous +for the Peruvian expedition, thither she went. All comers were welcome +on board the fleet; much more a fine young fellow like Kate. She was at +once engaged as a mate; and _her_ ship, in particular, after doubling +Cape Horn without loss, made the coast of Peru. Paita was the port of +her destination. Very near to this port they were, when a storm threw +them upon a coral reef. There was little hope of the ship from the +first, for she was unmanageable, and was not expected to hold together +for twenty-four hours. In this condition, with death before their faces, +mark what Kate did; and please to remember it for her benefit, when +she does any other little thing that angers you. The crew lowered the +long-boat. Vainly the captain protested against this disloyal desertion +of a king's ship, which might yet perhaps be run on shore, so as to save +the stores. All the crew, to a man, deserted the captain. You may say +_that_ literally; for the single exception was _not_ a man, being our +bold-hearted Kate. She was the only sailor that refused to leave her +captain, or the king of Spain's ship. The rest pulled away for the +shore, and with fair hopes of reaching it. But one half-hour told +another tale: just about that time came a broad sheet of lightning, +which, through the darkness of evening, revealed the boat in the very +act of mounting like a horse upon an inner reef, instantly filling, +and throwing out the crew, every man of whom disappeared amongst +the breakers. The night which succeeded was gloomy for both the +representatives of his Catholic Majesty. It cannot be denied by the +greatest of philosophers, that the muleteer's stable at Valladolid was +worth twenty such ships, though the stable was _not_ insured against +fire, and the ship _was_ insured against the sea and the wind by some +fellow that thought very little of his engagements. But what's the +use of sitting down to cry? That was never any trick of Catalina's. By +daybreak, she was at work with an axe in her hand. I knew it, before +ever I came to this place, in her memoirs. I felt, as sure as if I had +read it, that when day broke, we should find Kate hard at work. Thimble +or axe, trousers or raft, all one to _her_. + +The Captain, though true to his duty, seems to have desponded. He gave +no help towards the raft. Signs were speaking, however, pretty loudly +that he must do something; for notice to quit was now served pretty +liberally. Kate's raft was ready; and she encouraged the captain to +think that it would give both of them something to hold by in swimming, +if not even carry double. At this moment, when all was waiting for +a start, and the ship herself was waiting for a final lurch, to say +_Good-bye_ to the King of Spain, Kate went and did a thing which some +misjudging people will object to. She knew of a box laden with gold +coins, reputed to be the King of Spain's, and meant for contingencies in +the voyage out. This she smashed open with her axe, and took a sum +equal to one hundred guineas English; which, having well secured in a +pillow-case, she then lashed firmly to the raft. Now this, you know, +though not _flotsam_, because it would not float, was certainly, by +maritime law, '_jetsom_.' It would be the idlest of scruples to fancy +that the sea or a shark had a better right to it than a philosopher, or +a splendid girl who showed herself capable of writing a very fair 8vo, +to say nothing of her decapitating in battle several of the king's +enemies, and recovering the king's banner. No sane moralist would +hesitate to do the same thing under the same circumstances, on board an +English vessel, though the First Lord of the Admiralty should be looking +on. The raft was now thrown into the sea. Kate jumped after it, and then +entreated the captain to follow her. He attempted it; but, wanting her +youthful agility, he struck his head against a spar, and sank like lead, +giving notice below that his ship was coming. Kate mounted the raft, +and was gradually washed ashore, but so exhausted, as to have lost all +recollection. She lay for hours until the warmth of the sun revived her. +On sitting up, she saw a desolate shore stretching both ways--nothing to +eat, nothing to drink, but fortunately the raft and the money had been +thrown near her; none of the lashings having given way--only what is the +use of a guinea amongst tangle and sea-gulls? The money she distributed +amongst her pockets, and soon found strength to rise and march +forward. But which _was_ forward? and which backward? She knew by the +conversation of the sailors that Paita must be in the neighborhood; and +Paita, being a port, could not be in the inside of Peru, but, of course, +somewhere on its outside--and the outside of a maritime land must be the +shore; so that, if she kept the shore, and went far enough, she could +not fail of hitting her foot against Paita at last, in the very darkest +night, provided only she could first find out which was _up_ and which +was _down_; else she might walk her shoes off, and find herself six +thousand miles in the wrong. Here was an awkward case, all for want of a +guide-post. Still, when one thinks of Kate's prosperous horoscope, that +after so long a voyage, _she_ only, out of the total crew, was thrown +on the American shore, with one hundred and five pounds in her purse of +clear gain on the voyage, a conviction arises that she _could_ not guess +wrongly. She might have tossed up, having coins in her pocket, _heads +or tails_? but this kind of sortilege was then coming to be thought +irreligious in Christendom, as a Jewish and a Heathen mode of +questioning the dark future. She simply guessed, therefore; and very +soon a thing happened which, though adding nothing to strengthen her +guess as a true one, did much to sweeten it if it should prove a false +one. On turning a point of the shore, she came upon a barrel of biscuit +washed ashore from the ship. Biscuit is about the best thing I know, +but it is the soonest spoiled; and one would like to hear counsel on one +puzzling point, why it is that a touch of water utterly ruins it, taking +its life, and leaving a _caput mortuum_ corpse! Upon this _caput_ Kate +breakfasted, though _her_ case was worse than mine; for any water that +ever plagued _me_ was always fresh; now _hers_ was a present from the +Pacific ocean. She, that was always prudent, packed up some of the +Catholic king's biscuit, as she had previously packed up far too little +of his gold. But in such cases a most delicate question occurs, pressing +equally on medicine and algebra. It is this: if you pack up too much, +then, by this extra burthen of salt provisions, you may retard for days +your arrival at fresh provisions; on the other hand, if you pack up too +little, you may never arrive at all. Catalina hit the _juste milieu;_ +and about twilight on the second day, she found herself entering Paita, +without having had to swim any river in her walk. + +The first thing, in such a case of distress, which a young lady does, +even if she happens to be a young gentleman, is to beautify her dress. +Kate always attended to _that_, as we know, having overlooked her in the +chestnut wood. The man she sent for was not properly a tailor, but one +who employed tailors, he himself furnishing the materials. His name was +Urquiza, a fact of very little importance to us in 1847, if it had stood +only at the head and foot of Kate's little account. But unhappily for +Kate's _début_ on this vast American stage, the case was otherwise. Mr. +Urquiza had the misfortune (equally common in the old world and the +new) of being a knave; and also a showy specious knave. Kate, who +had prospered under sea allowances of biscuit and hardship, was now +expanding in proportions. With very little vanity or consciousness on +that head, she now displayed a really fine person; and, when drest +anew in the way that became a young officer in the Spanish service, she +looked [Footnote: _'She looked,' etc_. If ever the reader should visit +Aix-la-Chapelle, he will probably feel interest enough in the poor, wild +impassioned girl, to look out for a picture of her in that city, and the +only one known _certainly_ to be authentic. It is in the collection of +Mr. Sempeller. For some time it was supposed that the best (if not the +only) portrait of her lurked somewhere in Italy. Since the discovery +of the picture at Aix-la-Chapelle, that notion has been abandoned. But +there is great reason to believe that, both in Madrid and Rome, many +portraits of her must have been painted to meet the intense interest +which arose in her history subsequently amongst all the men of rank, +military or ecclesiastical, whether in Italy or Spain. The date of these +would range between sixteen and twenty-two years from, the period which +we have now reached (1608.)] the representative picture of a Spanish +_caballador_. It is strange that such an appearance, and such a rank, +should have suggested to Urquiza the presumptuous idea of wishing that +Kate might become his clerk. He _did_, however wish it; for Kate wrote +a beautiful hand; and a stranger thing is, that Kate accepted his +proposal. This might arise from the difficulty of moving in those days +to any distance in Peru. The ship had been merely bringing stores to +the station of Paita; and no corps of the royal armies was readily to be +reached, whilst something must be done at once for a livelihood. Urquiza +had two mercantile establishments, one at Trujillo, to which he repaired +in person, on Kate's agreeing to undertake the management of the other +in Paita. Like the sensible girl, that we have always found her, she +demanded specific instructions for her guidance in duties so new. +Certainly she was in a fair way for seeing life. Telling her beads at +St. Sebastian's, manoeuvreing irregular verbs at Vittoria, acting as +gentleman-usher at Valladolid, serving his Spanish Majesty round Cape +Horn, fighting with storms and sharks off the coast of Peru, and now +commencing as book-keeper or _commis_ to a draper at Paita, does she not +justify the character that I myself gave her, just before dismissing +her from St. Sebastian's, of being a 'handy' girl? Mr. Urquiza's +instructions were short, easy to be understood, but rather comic; and +yet, which is odd, they led to tragic results. There were two debtors of +the shop, (_many_, it is to be hoped, but two meriting his affectionate +notice,) with respect to whom he left the most opposite directions. The +one was a very handsome lady; and the rule as to _her_ was, that she was +to have credit unlimited, strictly unlimited. That was plain. The other +customer, favored by Mr. Urquiza's valedictory thoughts, was a young +man, cousin to the handsome lady, and bearing the name of Reyes. This +youth occupied in Mr. Urquiza's estimate the same hyperbolical rank as +the handsome lady, but on the opposite side of the equation. The rule +as to _him_ was--that he was to have _no_ credit; strictly none. In this +case, also, Kate saw no difficulty; and when she came to know Mr. Reyes +a little, she found the path of pleasure coinciding with the path of +duty. Mr. Urquiza could not be more precise in laying down the rule +than Kate was in enforcing it. But in the other case a scruple arose. +_Unlimited_ might be a word, not of Spanish law, but of Spanish +rhetoric; such as '_Live a thousand years_,' which even annuity offices +hear, and perhaps utter, without a pang. Kate, therefore, wrote to +Trujillo, expressing her honest fears, and desiring to have more +definite instructions. These were positive. If the lady chose to send +for the entire shop, her account was to be debited instantly with +_that_. She had, however, as yet, not sent for the shop, but she +began to manifest strong signs of sending for the shop _man_. Upon the +blooming young Biscayan had her roving eye settled; and she was in a +course of making up her mind to take Kate for a sweetheart. Poor Kate +saw this with a heavy heart. And, at the same time that she had a +prospect of a tender friend more than she wanted, she had become certain +of an extra enemy that she wanted quite as little. What she had done to +offend Mr. Reyes, Kate could not guess, except as to the matter of the +credit; but then, in that, she only executed her instructions. Still Mr. +Reyes was of opinion that there were two ways of executing orders: but +the main offence was unintentional on Kate's part. Reyes, though as yet +she did not know it, had himself been a candidate for the situation of +clerk; and intended probably to keep the equation precisely as it was +with respect to the allowance of credit, only to change places with +the handsome lady--keeping _her_ on the negative side, himself on the +affirmative--an arrangement that you know could have made no sort of +pecuniary difference to Urquiza. + +Thus stood matters, when a party of strolling players strolled into +Paita. Kate, as a Spaniard, being one held of the Paita aristocracy, was +expected to attend. She did so; and there also was the malignant Reyes. +He came and seated himself purposely so as to shut out Kate from all +view of the stage. She, who had nothing of the bully in her nature, and +was a gentle creature when her wild Biscayan blood had not been kindled +by insult, courteously requested him to move a little; upon which Reyes +remarked that it was not in his power to oblige the clerk as to that, +but that he _could_ oblige him by cutting his throat. The tiger that +slept in Catalina wakened at once. She seized him, and would have +executed vengeance on the spot, but that a party of young men interposed +to part them. The next day, when Kate (always ready to forget and +forgive) was thinking no more of the row, Reyes passed; by spitting at +the window, and other gestures insulting to Kate, again he roused +her Spanish blood. Out she rushed, sword in hand--a duel began in the +street, and very soon Kate's sword had passed into the heart of Reyes. +Now that the mischief was done, the police were, as usual, all alive +for the pleasure of avenging it. Kate found herself suddenly in a strong +prison, and with small hopes of leaving it, except for execution. +The relations of the dead man were potent in Paita, and clamorous for +justice, so that the _corregidor_, in a case where he saw a very poor +chance of being corrupted by bribes, felt it his duty to be sublimely +incorruptible. The reader knows, however, that, amongst the relatives +of the deceased bully, was that handsome lady, who differed as much from +her cousin in her sentiments as to Kate, as she did in the extent of her +credit with Mr. Urquiza. To _her_ Kate wrote a note; and, using one +of the Spanish King's gold coins for bribing the jailor, got it safely +delivered. That, perhaps, was unnecessary; for the lady had been already +on the alert, and had summoned Urquiza from Trujillo. By some means, not +very luminously stated, and by paying proper fees in proper quarters, +Kate was smuggled out of the prison at nightfall, and smuggled into a +pretty house in the suburbs. Had she known exactly the footing she +stood on as to the law, she would have been decided. As it was, she +was uneasy, and jealous of mischief abroad; and, before supper, she +understood it all. Urquiza briefly informed his clerk, that it would +be requisite for him to marry the handsome lady. But why? Because, said +Urquiza, after talking for hours with the _corregidor_, who was infamous +for obstinacy, he had found it impossible to make him 'hear reason,' and +release the prisoner, until this compromise of marriage was suggested. +But how could public justice be pacified for the clerk's unfortunate +homicide of Reyes, by a female cousin of the deceased man engaging to +love, honor, and obey the clerk for life? Kate could not see her way +through this logic. 'Nonsense, my friend,' said Urquiza, 'you don't +comprehend. As it stands, the affair is a murder, and hanging the +penalty. But, if you marry into the murdered man's house, then it +becomes a little family murder, all quiet and comfortable amongst +ourselves. What has the _corregidor_ to do with that? or the public +either? Now, let me introduce the bride.' Supper entered at that moment, +and the bride immediately after. The thoughtfulness of Kate was narrowly +observed, and even alluded to, but politely ascribed to the natural +anxieties of a prisoner, and the very imperfect state of liberation +even yet from prison _surveillance_. Kate had, indeed, never been in so +trying a situation before. The anxieties of the farewell night at St. +Sebastian were nothing to this; because, even if she had failed _then_, +a failure might not have been always irreparable. It was but to watch +and wait. But now, at this supper table, she was not more alive to the +nature of the peril than she was to the fact, that if, before the night +closed, she did not by some means escape from it, she never _would_ +escape with life. The deception as to her sex, though resting on no +motive that pointed to these people, or at all concerned them, would be +resented as if it had. The lady would resent the case as a mockery; +and Urquiza would lose his opportunity of delivering himself from an +imperious mistress. According to the usages of the times and country, +Kate knew that in twelve hours she would be assassinated. + +People of infirmer resolution would have lingered at the supper table, +for the sake of putting off the evil moment of final crisis. Not so +Kate. She had revolved the case on all its sides in a few minutes, and +had formed her resolution. This done, she was as ready for the trial at +one moment as another; and, when the lady suggested that the hardships +of a prison must have made repose desirable, Kate assented, and +instantly rose. A sort of procession formed, for the purpose of doing +honor to the interesting guest, and escorting him in pomp to his +bedroom. Kate viewed it much in the same light as the procession to +which for some days she had been expecting an invitation from the +_corregidor_. Far ahead ran the servant-woman as a sort of outrider. +Then came Urquiza, like a Pasha of two tails, who granted two sorts of +credit, viz. unlimited and none at all, bearing two wax-lights, one +in each hand, and wanting only cymbals and kettle-drums to express +emphatically the pathos of his Castilian strut. Next came the bride, a +little in advance of the clerk, but still turning obliquely towards him, +and smiling graciously into his face. Lastly, bringing up the rear, +came the prisoner--our Kate--the nun, the page, the mate, the clerk, the +homicide, the convict; and, for this day only, by particular desire, the +bridegroom elect. + +It was Kate's fixed opinion, that, if for a moment she entered any +bedroom having obviously no outlet, her fate would be that of an ox once +driven within the shambles. Outside, the bullock might make some defence +with his horns; but once in, with no space for turning, he is muffled +and gagged. She carried her eye, therefore, like a hawk's, steady, +though restless, for vigilant examination of every angle she turned. +Before she entered any bedroom, she was resolved to reconnoiter it +from the doorway, and, in case of necessity, show fight at once, before +entering--as the best chance, after all, where all chances were bad. +Everything ends; and at last the procession reached the bedroom door, +the outrider having filed off to the rear. One glance sufficed to +satisfy Kate that windows there were none, and, therefore, no outlet +for escape. Treachery appeared even in _that_; and Kate, though +unfortunately without arms, was now fixed for resistance. Mr. Urquiza +entered first--'Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!' There were, as we +know already, no windows; but a slight interruption to Mr. Urquiza's +pompous tread showed that there were steps downwards into the room. +Those, thought Kate, will suit me even better. She had watched the +unlocking of the bedroom door--she had lost nothing--she had marked that +the key was left in the lock. At this moment, the beautiful lady, as +one acquainted with the details of the house, turning with the air of +a gracious monitress, held out her fair hand to guide Kate in careful +descent of the steps. This had the air of taking out Kate to dance; and +Kate, at that same moment, answering to it by the gesture of a modern +waltzer, threw her arm behind the lady's waist, hurled her headlong down +the steps right against Mr. Urquiza, draper and haberdasher; and +then, with the speed of lightning, throwing the door _home_ within its +architrave, doubly locked the creditor and debtor into the rat-trap +which they had prepared for herself. + +The affrighted out-rider fled with horror: she already knew that the +clerk had committed one homicide; a second would cost him still less +thought; and thus it happened that egress was left easy. But, when out +and free once more in the bright starry night, which way should Kate +turn? The whole city would prove but a rat-trap for her, as bad as +Mr. Urquiza's, if she was not off before morning. At a glance she +comprehended that the sea was her only chance. To the port she fled. All +was silent. Watchmen there were none. She jumped into a boat. To use +the oars was dangerous, for she had no means of muffling them. But she +contrived to hoist a sail, pushed off with a boat-hook, and was soon +stretching across the water for the mouth of the harbor before a breeze +light but favorable. Having cleared the difficulties of exit she lay +down, and unintentionally fell asleep. When she awoke the sun had been +up three or four hours; all was right otherwise; but had she not served +as a sailor, Kate would have trembled upon finding that, during her long +sleep of perhaps seven or eight hours, she had lost sight of land; by +what distance she could only guess; and in what direction, was to some +degree doubtful. All this, however, seemed a great advantage to the bold +girl, throwing her thoughts back on the enemies she had left behind. +The disadvantage was--having no breakfast, not even damaged biscuit; and +some anxiety naturally arose as to ulterior prospects a little beyond +the horizon of breakfast. But who's afraid? As sailors whistle for a +wind, Catalina really had but to whistle for anything with energy, and +it was sure to come. Like Caesar to the pilot of Dyrrhachium, she might +have said, for the comfort of her poor timorous boat, (though destined +soon to perish,) '_Catalinam vehis, et fortunas ejus_.' Meantime, being +very doubtful as to the best course for sailing, and content if her +course did but lie offshore, she 'carried on,' as sailors say, under +easy sail, going, in fact, just whither and just how the Pacific breezes +suggested in the gentlest of whispers. _All right behind_, was Kate's +opinion; and, what was better, very soon she might say, _all right +ahead:_ for some hour or two before sunset, when dinner was for once +becoming, even to Kate, the most interesting of subjects for meditation, +suddenly a large ship began to swell upon the brilliant atmosphere. +In those latitudes, and in those years, any ship was pretty sure to +be Spanish: sixty years later the odds were in favor of its being an +English buccaneer; which would have given a new direction to Kate's +energy. Kate continued to make signals with a handkerchief whiter +than the crocodile's of Ann. Dom. 1592, else it would hardly have been +noticed. Perhaps, after all, it would not, but that the ship's course +carried her very nearly across Kate's. The stranger lay-to for her. It +was dark by the time Kate steered herself under the ship's quarter; +and _then_ was seen an instance of this girl's eternal wakefulness. +Something was painted on the stern of her boat, she could not see +_what;_ but she judged that it would express some connection with the +port that she had just quitted. Now it was her wish to break the chain +of traces connecting her with such a scamp as Urquiza; since else, +through his commercial correspondence, he might disperse over Peru a +portrait of herself by no means flattering. How should she accomplish +this? It was dark; and she stood, as you may see an Etonian do at times, +rocking her little boat from side to side, until it had taken in +water as much as might be agreeable. Too much it proved for the boat's +constitution, and the boat perished of dropsy--Kate declining to tap it. +She got a ducking herself; but what cared she? Up the ship's side she +went, as gaily as ever, in those years when she was called pussy, she +had raced after the nuns of St. Sebastian; jumped upon deck, and told +the first lieutenant, when he questioned her about her adventures, quite +as much truth as any man, under the rank of admiral, had a right to +expect. + +This ship was full of recruits for the Spanish army, and bound to +Concepcion. Even in that destiny was an iteration, or repeating memorial +of the significance that ran through Catalina's most casual adventures. +She had enlisted amongst the soldiers; and, on reaching port, the +very first person who came off from shore was a dashing young military +officer, whom at once by his name and rank, (though she had never +consciously seen him,) she identified as her own brother. He was +splendidly situated in the service, being the Governor-General's +secretary, besides his rank as a cavalry officer; and, his errand on +board being to inspect the recruits, naturally, on reading in the roll +one of them described as a Biscayan, the ardent young man came up with +high-bred courtesy to Catalina, took the young recruit's hand with +kindness, feeling that to be a compatriot at so great a distance was +to be a sort of relative, and asked with emotion after old boyish +remembrances. There was a scriptural pathos in what followed, as if it +were some scene of domestic re-union, opening itself from patriarchal +ages. The young officer was the eldest son of the house, and had left +Spain when Catalina was only three years old. But, singularly enough, +Catalina it was, the little wild cat that he yet remembered seeing at +St. Sebastian's, upon whom his earliest inquiries settled. 'Did the +recruit know his family, the De Erausos?' O yes, every body knew _them_. +'Did the recruit know little Catalina?' Catalina smiled, as she replied +that she did; and gave such an animated description of the little fiery +wretch, as made the officer's eye flash with gratified tenderness, and +with certainty that the recruit was no counterfeit Biscayan. Indeed, you +know, if Kate couldn't give a good description of 'Pussy,' who could? +The issue of the interview was--that the officer insisted on Kate's +making a home of his quarters. He did other services for his unknown +sister. He placed her as a trooper in his own regiment, and favored +her in many a way that is open to one having authority. But the person, +after all, that did most to serve our Kate, was Kate. War was then +raging with Indians, both from Chili and Peru. Kate had always done her +duty in action; but at length, in the decisive battle of Puren, there +was an opening for doing something more. Havoc had been made of her own +squadron: most of the officers were killed, and the standard was carried +off. Kate gathered around her a small party--galloped after the Indian +column that was carrying away the trophy--charged--saw all her own party +killed--but (in spite of wounds on her face and shoulder) succeeded in +bearing away the recovered standard. She rode up to the general and his +staff; she dismounted; she rendered up her prize; and fainted away, much +less from the blinding blood, than from the tears of joy which dimmed +her eyes, as the general, waving his sword in admiration over her head, +pronounced our Kate on the spot an _Alferez_, [Footnote: _Alferez_. +This rank in the Spanish army is, or was, on a level with the modern +_sous-lieutenant_ of France.] or standard-bearer, with a commission from +the King of Spain and the Indies. Bonny Kate! Noble Kate! I would +there were not two centuries laid between us, so that I might have the +pleasure of kissing thy fair hand. + +Kate had the good sense to see the danger of revealing her sex, or her +relationship, even to her own brother. The grasp of the Church never +relaxed, never 'prescribed,' unless freely and by choice. The nun, if +discovered, would have been taken out of the horse-barracks, or the +dragoon-saddle. She had the firmness, therefore, for many years, to +resist the sisterly impulses that sometimes suggested such a confidence. +For years, and those years the most important of her life--the years +that developed her character--she lived undetected as a brilliant +cavalry officer under her brother's patronage. And the bitterest grief +in poor Kate's whole life, was the tragical (and, were it not fully +attested, one might say the ultra-scenical,) event that dissolved their +long connection. Let me spend a word of apology on poor Kate's errors. +We all commit many; both you and I, reader. No, stop; that's not civil. +You, reader, I know, are a saint; I am _not_, though very near it. I +_do_ err at long intervals; and then I think with indulgence of the many +circumstances that plead for this poor girl. The Spanish armies of that +day inherited, from the days of Cortez and Pizarro, shining remembrances +of martial prowess, and the very worst of ethics. To think little of +bloodshed, to quarrel, to fight, to gamble, to plunder, belonged to the +very atmosphere of a camp, to its indolence, to its ancient traditions. +In your own defence, you were obliged to do such things. Besides +all these grounds of evil, the Spanish army had just there an extra +demoralization from a war with savages--faithless and bloody. Do not +think, I beseech you, too much, reader, of killing a man. That word +'_kill_' is sprinkled over every page of Kate's own autobiography. It +ought not to be read by the light of these days. Yet, how if a man that +she killed were----? Hush! It was sad; but is better hurried over in a +few words. Years after this period, a young officer one day dining with +Kate, entreated her to become his second in a duel. Such things were +every-day affairs. However, Kate had reasons for declining the service, +and did so. But the officer, as he was sullenly departing, said--that, +if he were killed, (as he thought he _should_ be,) his death would lie +at Kate's door. I do not take _his_ view of the case, and am not moved +by his rhetoric or his logic. Kate _was_, and relented. The duel was +fixed for eleven at night, under the walls of a monastery. Unhappily the +night proved unusually dark, so that the two principals had to tie white +handkerchiefs round their elbows, in order to descry each other. In the +confusion they wounded each other mortally. Upon that, according to a +usage not peculiar to Spaniards, but extending (as doubtless the reader +knows) for a century longer to our own countrymen, the two seconds were +obliged in honor to do something towards avenging their principals. Kate +had her usual fatal luck. Her sword passed sheer through the body of her +opponent: this unknown opponent falling dead, had just breath left +to cry out, 'Ah, villain, you have killed me,' in a voice of horrific +reproach; and the voice was the voice of her brother! + +The monks of the monastery, under whose silent shadows this murderous +duel had taken place, roused by the clashing of swords and the angry +shouts of combatants, issued out with torches to find one only of the +four officers surviving. Every convent and altar had a right of asylum +for a short period. According to the custom, the monks carried Kate, +insensible with anguish of mind, to the sanctuary of their chapel. There +for some days they detained her; but then, having furnished her with a +horse and some provisions, they turned her adrift. Which way should the +unhappy fugitive turn? In blindness of heart she turned towards the sea. +It was the sea that had brought her to Peru; it was the sea that would +perhaps carry her away. It was the sea that had first showed her this +land and its golden hopes; it was the sea that ought to hide from her +its fearful remembrances. The sea it was that had twice spared her life +in extremities; the sea it was that might now if it chose, take back the +bauble that it had spared in vain. + + +KATE'S PASSAGE OVER THE ANDES. + +Three days our poor heroine followed the coast. Her horse was then +almost unable to move; and on _his_ account, she turned inland to +a thicket for grass and shelter. As she drew near to it, a voice +challenged--'_Who goes there_?' Kate answered, '_Spain_.' '_What +people_?' '_A friend_.' It was two soldiers, deserters, and almost +starving. Kate shared her provisions with these men: and, on hearing +their plan, which was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join the +party. _Their_ object was the wild one of seeking the river _Dorado_, +whose waters rolled along golden sands, and whose pebbles were emeralds. +_Hers_ was to throw herself upon a line the least liable to pursuit, and +the readiest for a new chapter of life in which oblivion might be found +for the past. After a few days of incessant climbing and fatigue, they +found themselves in the regions of perpetual snow. Summer would come as +vainly to this kingdom of frost as to the grave of her brother. No +fire, but the fire of human blood in youthful veins, could ever be kept +burning in these aerial solitudes. Fuel was rarely to be found, and +kindling a secret hardly known except to Indians. However, our Kate can +do everything, and she's the girl, if ever girl _did_ such a thing, or +ever girl did _not_ such a thing, that I back at any odds for crossing +the Cordilleras. I would bet you something now, reader, if I thought +you would deposit your stakes by return of post, (as they play at chess +through the post-office,) that Kate does the trick, that she gets down +to the other side; that the soldiers do _not_: and that the horse, if +preserved at all, is preserved in a way that will leave him very little +to boast of. + +The party had gathered wild berries and esculent roots at the foot of +the mountains, and the horse was of very great use in carrying them. But +this larder was soon emptied. There was nothing then to carry; so that +the horse's value, as a beast of burthen, fell cent per cent. In fact, +very soon he could not carry himself, and it became easy to calculate +when he would reach the bottom on the wrong side the Cordilleras. He +took three steps back for one upwards. A council of war being held, the +small army resolved to slaughter their horse. He, though a member of the +expedition, had no vote, and if he had the votes would have stood three +to one--majority, two against him. He was cut into quarters; which +surprises me; for, unless _one_ quarter was considered his own share, +it reminds one too much of this amongst the many _facetić_ of English +midshipmen, who ask (on any one of their number looking sulky) 'if it is +his intention to marry and retire from the service upon a superannuation +of Ł4 4s. 4 1/2d. a year, paid quarterly by way of bothering the +purser.' The purser can't do it with the help of farthings. And +as respects aliquot parts, four shares among three persons are as +incommensurable as a guinea is against any attempt at giving change +in half-crowns. However, this was all the preservation that the horse +found. No saltpetre or sugar could be had: but the frost was antiseptic. +And the horse was preserved in as useful a sense as ever apricots were +preserved or strawberries. + +On a fire, painfully devised out of broom and withered leaves, a +horse-steak was dressed, for drink, snow as allowed _a discretion_. This +ought to have revived the party, and Kate, perhaps, it _did_. But the +poor deserters were thinly clad, and they had not the boiling heart of +Catalina. More and more they drooped. Kate did her best to cheer them. +But the march was nearly at an end for _them_, and they were going +in one half hour to receive their last billet. Yet, before this +consummation, they have a strange spectacle to see; such as few places +could show, but the upper chambers of the Cordilleras. They had reached +a billowy scene of rocky masses, large and small, looking shockingly +black on their perpendicular sides as they rose out of the vast snowy +expanse. Upon the highest of these, that was accessible, Kate mounted +to look around her, and she saw--oh, rapture at such an hour!--a man +sitting on a shelf of rock with a gun by his side. She shouted with joy +to her comrades, and ran down to communicate the joyful news. Here was +a sportsman, watching, perhaps, for an eagle; and now they would have +relief. One man's cheek kindled with the hectic of sudden joy, and he +rose eagerly to march. The other was fast sinking under the fatal sleep +that frost sends before herself as her merciful minister of death; but +hearing in his dream the tidings of relief, and assisted by his friends, +he also staggeringly arose. It could not be three minutes' walk, Kate +thought, to the station of the sportsman. That thought supported them +all. Under Kate's guidance, who had taken a sailor's glance at the +bearings, they soon unthreaded the labyrinth of rocks so far as to bring +the man within view. He had not left his resting-place; their steps on +the soundless snow, naturally, he could not hear; and, as their road +brought them upon him from the rear, still less could he see them. Kate +hailed him; but so keenly was he absorbed in some speculation, or in the +object of his watching, that he took no notice of them, not even moving +his head. Kate began to think there would be another man to rouse from +sleep. Coming close behind him, she touched his shoulder, and said, 'My +friend, are you sleeping?' Yes, he _was_ sleeping; sleeping the sleep +from which there is no awaking; and the slight touch of Kate having +disturbed the equilibrium of the corpse, down it rolled on the snow: +the frozen body rang like a hollow iron cylinder; the face uppermost and +blue with mould, mouth open, teeth ghastly and bleaching in the frost, +and a frightful grin upon the lips. This dreadful spectacle finished the +struggles of the weaker man, who sank and died at once. The other made +an effort with so much spirit, that, in Kate's opinion, horror had acted +upon him beneficially as a stimulant. But it was not really so. It was +a spasm of morbid strength; a collapse succeeded; his blood began to +freeze; he sat down in spite of Kate, and _he_ also died without further +struggle. Gone are the poor suffering deserters; stretched and bleaching +upon the snow; and insulted discipline is avenged. Great kings have long +arms; and sycophants are ever at hand for the errand of the potent. What +had frost and snow to do with the quarrel? Yet _they_ made themselves +sycophantic servants of the King of Spain; and _they_ dogged his +deserters up to the summit of the Cordilleras, more surely than any +Spanish bloodhound, or any Spanish tirailleur's bullet. + +Now is our Kate standing alone on the summits of the Andes, in solitude +that is shocking, for she is alone with her own afflicted conscience. +Twice before she had stood in solitude as deep upon the wild--wild +waters of the Pacific; but her conscience had been then untroubled. Now, +is there nobody left that can help; her horse is dead--the soldiers are +dead. There is nobody that she can speak to except God; and very soon +you will find that she _does_ speak to him; for already on these vast +aerial deserts He has been whispering to _her_. The condition of Kate is +exactly that of Coleridge's '_Ancient Mariner_.' But possibly, reader, +you may be amongst the many careless readers that have never fully +understood what that condition was. Suffer me to enlighten you, else you +ruin the story of the mariner; and by losing all its pathos, lose half +the jewels of its beauty. + +There are three readers of the 'Ancient Mariner.' The first is gross +enough to fancy all the imagery of the mariner's visions delivered by +the poet for actual facts of experience; which being impossible, the +whole pulverizes, for that reader, into a baseless fairy tale. The +second reader is wiser than _that_; he knows that the imagery is _not_ +baseless; it is the imagery of febrile delirium; really seen, but not +seen as an external reality. The mariner had caught the pestilential +fever, which carried off all his mates; he only had survived--the +delirium had vanished; but the visions that had haunted the delirium +remained. 'Yes,' says the third reader, 'they remained; naturally they +did, being scorched by fever into his brain; but how did they happen to +remain on his belief as gospel truths? The delirium had vanished: +why had not the painted scenery of the delirium vanished, except as +visionary memorials of a sorrow that was cancelled? Why was it that +craziness settled upon this mariner's brain, driving him, as if he were +a Cain, or another Wandering Jew, to 'pass like night--from land +to land;' and, at uncertain intervals, wrenching him until he made +rehearsal of his errors, even at the hard price of 'holding children +from their play, and old men from the chimney corner?' [Footnote: The +beautiful words of Sir Philip Sidney, in his '_Defense of Poesie_.'] +That craziness, as the _third reader_ deciphers, rose out of a deeper +soil than any bodily affection. It had its root in penitential sorrow. +Oh, bitter is the sorrow to a conscientious heart, when, too late, it +discovers the depth of a love that has been trampled under foot! This +mariner had slain the creature that, on all the earth, loved him best. +In the darkness of his cruel superstition he had done it, to save his +human brothers from a fancied inconvenience; and yet, by that very act +of cruelty, he had himself called destruction upon their heads. The +Nemesis that followed punished _him_ through _them_--him, that wronged, +through those that wrongfully he sought to benefit. That spirit who +watches over the sanctities of love is a strong angel--is a jealous +angel; and this angel it was + + 'That lov'd the bird, that lov'd the man, + That shot him with his bow.' + +He it was that followed the cruel archer into silent and slumbering +seas; + + 'Nine fathom deep he had follow'd him + Through the realms of mist and snow.' + +This jealous angel it was that pursued the man into noon-day darkness, +and the vision of dying oceans, into delirium, and finally, (when +recovered from disease) into an unsettled mind. + +Such, also, had been the offence of Kate; such, also was the punishment +that now is dogging her steps. She, like the mariner, had slain the one +sole creature that loved her upon the whole wide earth; she, like the +mariner, for this offence, had been hunted into frost and snow--very +soon will be hunted into delirium; and from _that_ (if she escapes with +life) will be hunted into the trouble of a heart that cannot rest. +There was the excuse of one darkness for _her_; there was the excuse of +another darkness for the mariner. But, with all the excuses that earth, +and the darkness of earth, can furnish, bitter it would be for you or +me, reader, through every hour of life, waking or dreaming, to look back +upon one fatal moment when we had pierced the heart that would have died +for us. In this only the darkness had been merciful to Kate--that it had +hidden for ever from her victim the hand that slew him. But now in such +utter solitude, her thoughts ran back to their earliest interview. She +remembered with anguish, how, on first touching the shores of America, +almost the very first word that met her ear had been from _him_, the +brother whom she had killed, about the 'Pussy' of times long past; how +the gallant young man had hung upon her words, as in her native Basque +she described her own mischievous little self, of twelve years back; how +his color went and came, whilst his loving memory of the little sister +was revived by her own descriptive traits, giving back, as in a mirror, +the fawn-like grace, the squirrel-like restlessness, that once had +kindled his own delighted laughter; how he would take no denial, but +showed on the spot, that, simply to have touched--to have kissed--to +have played with the little wild thing, that glorified, by her +innocence, the gloom of St. Sebastian's cloisters, gave a _right_ to his +hospitality; how, through _him_ only, she had found a welcome in camps; +how, through _him_, she had found the avenue to honor and distinction. +And yet this brother, so loving and generous, it was that she had +dismissed from life. She paused; she turned round, as if looking back +for his grave; she saw the dreadful wildernesses of snow which already +she had traversed. + +Silent they were at this season, even as in the panting heats of noon, +the Zaarrahs of the torrid zone are oftentimes silent. Dreadful was the +silence; it was the nearest thing to the silence of the grave. Graves +were at the foot of the Andes, _that_ she knew too well; graves were at +the summit of the Andes, _that_ she saw too well. And, as she gazed, a +sudden thought flashed upon her, when her eyes settled upon the corpses +of the poor deserters--could she, like _them_, have been all this while +unconsciously executing judgment upon herself? Running from a wrath that +was doubtful, into the very jaws of a wrath that was inexorable? Flying +in panic--and behold! there was no man that pursued? For the first time +in her life, Kate trembled. _Not_ for the first time, Kate wept. Far +less for the first time was it, that Kate bent her knee--that Kate +clasped her hands--that Kate prayed. But it _was_ the first time that +she prayed as _they_ pray, for whom no more hope is left but in prayer. + +Here let me pause a moment for the sake of making somebody angry. A +Frenchman, who sadly misjudges Kate, looking at her through a Parisian +opera-glass, gives it as _his_ opinion--that, because Kate first +_records_ her prayer on this occasion, therefore, now first of all she +prayed. _I_ think not so. _I_ love this Kate, blood-stained as she is; +and I could not love a woman that never bent her knee in thankfulness or +in supplication. However, we have all a right to our own little opinion; +and it is not you, '_mon cher_,' you Frenchman, that I am angry with, +but somebody else that stands behind you. You, Frenchman, and your +compatriots, I love oftentimes for your festal gaiety of heart; and I +quarrel only with your levity and that eternal worldliness that freezes +too fiercely--that absolutely blisters with its frost--like the upper +air of the Andes. _You_ speak of Kate only as too readily you speak of +all women; the instinct of a natural scepticism being to scoff at all +hidden depths of truth. Else you are civil enough to Kate; and your +'_homage_' (such as it may happen to be) is always at the service of a +woman on the shortest notice. But behind _you_, I see a worse fellow; +a gloomy fanatic; a religious sycophant that seeks to propitiate his +circle by bitterness against the offences that are most unlike his own. +And against him, I must say one word for Kate to the too hasty reader. +This villain, whom I mark for a shot if he does not get out of the +way, opens his fire on our Kate under shelter of a lie. For there is a +standing lie in the very constitution of civil society, a _necessity_ +of error, misleading us as to the proportions of crime. Mere necessity +obliges man to create many acts into felonies, and to punish them as the +heaviest offences, which his better sense teaches him secretly to regard +as perhaps among the lightest. Those poor deserters, for instance, were +they necessarily without excuse? They might have been oppressively used; +but in critical times of war, no matter for the individual palliations, +the deserter from his colors _must_ be shot: there is no help for it: +as in extremities of general famine, we shoot the man (alas! we are +_obliged_ to shoot him) that is found robbing the common stores in order +to feed his own perishing children, though the offence is hardly visible +in the sight of God. Only blockheads adjust their scale of guilt to +the scale of human punishments. Now, our wicked friend the fanatic, who +calumniates Kate, abuses the advantage which, for such a purpose, he +derives from the exaggerated social estimate of all violence. Personal +security being so main an object of social union, we are obliged to +frown upon all modes of violence as hostile to the central principle +of that union. We are _obliged_ to rate it, according to the universal +results towards which it tends, and scarcely at all, according to the +special condition of circumstances, in which it may originate. Hence +a horror arises for that class of offences, which is (philosophically +speaking) exaggerated; and by daily use, the ethics of a police-office +translate themselves, insensibly, into the ethics even of religious +people. But I tell that sycophantish fanatic--not this only, viz., that +he abuses unfairly, against Kate, the advantage which he has from the +_inevitably_ distorted bias of society; but also, I tell him this second +little thing, viz., that upon turning away the glass from that one +obvious aspect of Kate's character, her too fiery disposition to +vindicate all rights by violence, and viewing her in relation +to _general_ religious capacities, she was a thousand times more +promisingly endowed than himself. It is impossible to be noble in many +things, without having many points of contact with true religion. If you +deny _that_ you it is that calumniate religion. Kate _was_ noble in many +things. Her worst errors never took a shape of self-interest or deceit. +She was brave, she was generous, she was forgiving, she bore no malice, +she was full of truth--qualities that God loves either in man or woman. +She hated sycophants and dissemblers. _I_ hate them; and more than ever +at this moment on her behalf. I wish she were but here--to give a punch +on the head to that fellow who traduces her. And, coming round again +to the occasion from which this short digression has started, viz., the +question raised by the Frenchman--whether Kate were a person likely to +_pray_ under other circumstances than those of extreme danger? I offer +it as _my_ opinion that she was. Violent people are not always such from +choice, but perhaps from situation. And, though the circumstances of +Kate's position allowed her little means for realizing her own wishes, +it is certain that those wishes pointed continually to peace and an +unworldly happiness, if _that_ were possible. The stormy clouds that +enveloped her in camps, opened overhead at intervals--showing her a far +distant blue serene. She yearned, at many times, for the rest which is +not in camps or armies; and it is certain, that she ever combined with +any plans or day-dreams of tranquillity, as their most essential ally, +some aid derived from that dovelike religion which, at St. Sebastian's, +as an infant and through girlhood, she had been taught so profoundly to +adore. + +Now, let us rise from this discussion of Kate against libellers, as Kate +herself is rising from prayer, and consider, in conjunction with _her_, +the character and promise of that dreadful ground which lies immediately +before her. What is to be thought of it? I could wish we had a +theodolite here, and a spirit-level, and other instruments, for settling +some important questions. Yet no: on consideration, if one _had_ a wish +allowed by that kind fairy, without whose assistance it would be quite +impossible to send, even for the spirit-level, nobody would throw away +the wish upon things so paltry. I would not put the fairy upon any such +errand: I would order the good creature to bring no spirit-level, but a +stiff glass of spirits for Kate--a palanquin, and relays of fifty stout +bearers--all drunk, in order that they might not feel the cold. The +main interest at this moment, and the main difficulty--indeed, the 'open +question' of the case--was, to ascertain whether the ascent were yet +accomplished or not; and when would the descent commence? or had it, +perhaps, long commenced? The character of the ground, in those immediate +successions that could be connected by the eye, decided nothing; for the +undulations of the level had been so continual for miles, as to perplex +any eye but an engineer's, in attempting to judge whether, upon the +whole, the tendency were upwards or downwards. Possibly it was yet +neither way; it is, indeed, probable, that Kate had been for some time +travelling along a series of terraces, that traversed the whole breadth +of the topmost area at that point of crossing the Cordilleras, and which +perhaps, but not certainly, compensated any casual tendencies downwards +by corresponding reascents. Then came the question--how long would these +terraces yet continue? and had the ascending parts _really_ balanced +the descending?--upon _that_ seemed to rest the final chance for Kate. +Because, unless she very soon reached a lower level, and a warmer +atmosphere, mere weariness would oblige her to lie down, under a +fierceness of cold, that would not suffer her to rise after once losing +the warmth of motion; or, inversely, if she even continued in motion, +mere extremity of cold would, of itself, speedily absorb the little +surplus energy for moving, which yet remained unexhausted by weariness. + +At this stage of her progress, and whilst the agonizing question seemed +yet as indeterminate as ever, Kate's struggle with despair, which had +been greatly soothed by the fervor of her prayer, revolved upon her in +deadlier blackness. All turned, she saw, upon a race against time, and +the arrears of the road; and she, poor thing! how little qualified could +_she_ be, in such a condition, for a race of any kind; and against two +such obstinate brutes as time and space! This hour of the progress, +this noontide of Kate's struggle, must have been the very crisis of +the whole. Despair was rapidly tending to ratify itself. Hope, in any +degree, would be a cordial for sustaining her efforts. But to flounder +along a dreadful chaos of snow-drifts, or snow-chasms, towards a point +of rock, which, being turned, should expose only another interminable +succession of the same character--might _that_ be endured by ebbing +spirits, by stiffening limbs, by the ghastly darkness that was now +beginning to gather upon the inner eye? And, if once despair became +triumphant, all the little arrear of physical strength would collapse at +once. + +Oh! verdure of human fields, cottages of men and women, (that now +suddenly seemed all brothers and sisters,) cottages with children around +them at play, that are so far below--oh! summer and spring, flowers +and blossoms, to which, as to _his_ symbols, God has given the gorgeous +privilege of rehearsing for ever upon earth his most mysterious +perfection--Life, and the resurrections of Life--is it indeed true, that +poor Kate must never see you more? Mutteringly she put that question +to herself. But strange are the caprices of ebb and flow in the deep +fountains of human sensibilities. At this very moment, when the utter +incapacitation of despair was gathering fast at Kate's heart, a sudden +lightening shot far into her spirit, a reflux almost supernatural, from +the earliest effects of her prayer. A thought had struck her all at +once, and this thought prompted her immediately to turn round. Perhaps +it was in some blind yearning after the only memorials of life in this +frightful region, that she fixed her eye upon a point of hilly ground by +which she identified the spot near which the three corpses were lying. +The silence seemed deeper than ever. Neither was there any phantom +memorial of life for the eye or for the ear, nor wing of bird, nor echo, +nor green leaf, nor creeping thing, that moved or stirred, upon the +soundless waste. Oh, what a relief to this burthen of silence would be a +human groan! Here seemed a motive for still darker despair. And yet, at +that very moment, a pulse of joy began to thaw the ice at her heart. It +struck her, as she reviewed the ground, that undoubtedly it had been for +some time slowly descending. Her senses were much dulled by suffering; +but this thought it was, suggested by a sudden apprehension of a +continued descending movement, which had caused her to turn round. +Sight had confirmed the suggestion first derived from her own steps. The +distance attained was now sufficient to establish the tendency. Oh, yes, +yes, to a certainty she had been descending for some time. Frightful was +the spasm of joy which whispered that the worst was over. It was as when +the shadow of midnight, that murderers had relied on, is passing away +from your beleagured shelter, and dawn will soon be manifest. It was +as when a flood, that all day long has raved against the walls of your +house, has ceased (you suddenly think) to rise; yes! measured by a +golden plummet, it _is_ sinking beyond a doubt, and the darlings of +your household are saved. Kate faced round in agitation to her proper +direction. She saw, what previously, in her stunning confusion, she had +_not_ seen, that, hardly two stones' throw in advance, lay a mass +of rock, split as into a gateway. Through that opening it now became +probable that the road was lying. Hurrying forward, she passed within +the natural gates. Gates of paradise they were. Ah, what a vista +did that gateway expose before her dazzled eye? what a revelation of +heavenly promise? Full two miles long, stretched a long narrow glen, +everywhere descending, and in many parts rapidly. All was now placed +beyond a doubt. She _was_ descending--for hours, perhaps, _had_ been +descending insensibly, the mighty staircase. Yes, Kate is leaving behind +her the kingdom of frost and the victories of death. Two miles farther +there may be rest, if there is not shelter. And very soon, as the crest +of her new-born happiness, she distinguished at the other end of that +rocky vista, a pavilion-shaped mass of dark green foliage--a belt of +trees, such as we see in the lovely parks of England, but islanded by +a screen (though not everywhere occupied by the usurpations) of a thick +bushy undergrowth. Oh, verdure of dark olive foliage, offered suddenly +to fainting eyes, as if by some winged patriarchal herald of wrath +relenting--solitary Arab's tent, rising with saintly signals of peace, +in the dreadful desert, must Kate indeed die even yet, whilst she +sees but cannot reach you? Outpost on the frontier of man's dominions, +standing within life, but looking out upon everlasting death, wilt thou +hold up the anguish of thy mocking invitation, only to betray? Never, +perhaps, in this world was the line so exquisitely grazed, that parts +salvation and ruin. As the dove to her dove-cot from the swooping +hawk--as the Christian pinnace to Christian batteries, from the bloody +Mahometan corsair, so flew--so tried to fly towards the anchoring +thickets, that, alas! could not weigh their anchors and make sail to +meet her--the poor exhausted Kate from the vengeance of pursuing frost. + +And she reached them; staggering, fainting, reeling, she entered beneath +the canopy of umbrageous trees. But, as oftentimes, the Hebrew fugitive +to a city of refuge, flying for his life before the avenger of blood, +was pressed so hotly that, on entering the archway of what seemed to +_him_ the heavenly city-gate, as he kneeled in deep thankfulness to kiss +its holy merciful shadow, he could not rise again, but sank instantly +with infant weakness into sleep--sometimes to wake no more; so sank, so +collapsed upon the ground, without power to choose her couch, and with +little prospect of ever rising again to her feet, the martial nun. She +lay as luck had ordered it, with her head screened by the undergrowth +of bushes, from any gales that might arise; she lay exactly as she sank, +with her eyes up to heaven; and thus it was that the nun saw, before +falling asleep, the two sights that upon earth are fittest for the +closing eyes of a nun, whether destined to open again, or to close for +ever. She saw the interlacing of boughs overhead forming a dome, that +seemed like the dome of a cathedral. She saw through the fretwork of the +foliage, another dome, far beyond, the dome of an evening sky, the dome +of some heavenly cathedral, not built with hands. She saw upon this +upper dome the vesper lights, all alive with pathetic grandeur of +coloring from a sunset that had just been rolling down like a chorus. +She had not, till now, consciously observed the time of day; whether it +were morning, or whether it were afternoon, in her confusion she had not +distinctly known. But now she whispered to herself--'_It is evening_:' +and what lurked half unconsciously in these words might be--'The sun, +that rejoices, has finished his daily toil; man, that labors, has +finished _his_; I, that suffer, have finished mine.' That might be what +she thought, but what she _said_ was--'It is evening; and the hour is +come when the _Angelus_ is sounding through St. Sebastian.' What made +her think of St. Sebastian, so far away in depths of space and time? Her +brain was wandering, now that her feet were _not_; and, because her eyes +had descended from the heavenly to the earthly dome, _that_ made +her think of earthly cathedrals, and of cathedral choirs, and of St. +Sebastian's chapel, with its silvery bells that carried the _Angelus_ +far into mountain recesses. Perhaps, as her wanderings increased, she +thought herself back in childhood; became 'pussy' once again; fancied +that all since then was a frightful dream; that she was not upon the +dreadful Andes, but still kneeling in the holy chapel at vespers; still +innocent as then; loved as then she had been loved; and that all men +were liars, who said her hand was ever stained with blood. Little enough +is mentioned of the delusions which possessed her; but that little gives +a key to the impulse which her palpitating heart obeyed, and which her +rambling brain for ever reproduced in multiplying mirrors. Restlessness +kept her in waking dreams for a brief half hour. But then, fever and +delirium would wait no longer; the killing exhaustion would no longer be +refused; the fever, the delirium, and the exhaustion, swept in together +with power like an army with banners; and the nun ceased through the +gathering twilight any more to watch the cathedrals of earth, or the +more solemn cathedrals that rose in the heavens above. + +All night long she slept in her verdurous St. Bernard's hospice without +awaking, and whether she would _ever_ awake seemed to depend upon +an accident. The slumber that towered above her brain was like that +fluctuating silvery column which stands in scientific tubes sinking, +rising, deepening, lightening, contracting, expanding; or like the mist +that sits, through sultry afternoons, upon the river of the American +St. Peter, sometimes rarefying for minutes into sunny gauze, sometimes +condensing for hours into palls of funeral darkness. You fancy that, +after twelve hours of _any_ sleep, she must have been refreshed; better +at least than she was last night. Ah! but sleep is not always sent upon +missions of refreshment. Sleep is sometimes the secret chamber in which +death arranges his machinery. Sleep is sometimes that deep mysterious +atmosphere, in which the human spirit is slowly unsettling its wings for +flight from earthly tenements. It is now eight o'clock in the morning; +and, to all appearance, if Kate should receive no aid before noon, when +next the sun is departing to his rest, Kate will be departing to hers; +when next the sun is holding out his golden Christian signal to man, +that the hour is come for letting his anger go down, Kate will be +sleeping away for ever into the arms of brotherly forgiveness. + +What is wanted just now for Kate, supposing Kate herself to be wanted +by this world, is, that this world would be kind enough to send her a +little brandy before it is too late. The simple truth was, and a truth +which I have known to take place in more ladies than Kate, who died +or did _not_ die, accordingly, as they had or had not an adviser like +myself, capable of giving so sound an opinion, that the jewelly star of +life had descended too far down the arch towards setting, for any chance +of re-ascending by _spontaneous_ effort. The fire was still burning +in secret, but needed to be rekindled by potent artificial breath. It +lingered, and _might_ linger, but would never culminate again without +some stimulus from earthly vineyards. [Footnote: Though not exactly in +the same circumstances as Kate, or sleeping, _ŕ la belle étoile_, on +a declivity of the Andes, I have known (or heard circumstantially +reported) the cases of many ladies besides Kate, who were in precisely +the same critical danger of perishing for want of a little brandy. +A dessert spoonful or two would have saved them. Avaunt! you wicked +'Temperance' medallist! repent as fast as ever you can, or, perhaps the +next time we hear of you, _anasarca_ and _hydro-thorax_ will be running +after you to punish your shocking excesses in water. Seriously, the +case is one of constant recurrence, and constantly ending fatally from +_unseasonable_ and pedantic rigor of temperance. The fact is, that the +medical profession composes the most generous and liberal body of +men amongst us; taken generally, by much the most enlightened; but +professionally, the most timid. Want of boldness in the administration +of opium, &c., though they can be bold enough with mercury, is their +besetting infirmity. And from this infirmity females suffer most. +One instance I need hardly mention, the fatal case of an august lady, +mourned by nations, with respect to whom it was, and is, the belief of +multitudes to this hour (well able to judge), that she would have been +saved by a glass of brandy; and her attendant, who shot himself, came to +think so too late--too late for _her_, and too late for himself. Amongst +many cases of the same nature, which personally I have been acquainted +with, twenty years ago, a man, illustrious for his intellectual +accomplishments, mentioned to me that his own wife, during her first or +second confinement, was suddenly reported to him, by one of her female +attendants, (who slipped away unobserved by the medical people,) as +undoubtedly sinking fast. He hurried to her chamber, and _saw_ that it +was so. The presiding medical authority, however, was inexorable. 'Oh, +by no means,' shaking his ambrosial wig, 'any stimulant at this +crisis would be fatal.' But no authority could overrule the concurrent +testimony of all symptoms, and of all unprofessional opinions. By some +pious falsehood my friend smuggled the doctor out of the room, and +immediately smuggled a glass of brandy into the poor lady's lips. She +recovered with magical power. The doctor is now dead, and went to his +grave under the delusive persuasion--that not any vile glass of brandy, +but the stern refusal of all brandy, was the thing that saved his +collapsing patient. The patient herself, who might naturally know +something of the matter, was of a different opinion. She sided with the +factious body around her bed, (comprehending all beside the doctor,) who +felt sure that death was rapidly approaching, _barring_ that brandy. +The same result in the same appalling crisis, I have known repeatedly +produced by twenty-five drops of laudanum. An obstinate man will +say--'Oh, never listen to a non-medical man like this writer. Consult in +such a case your medical adviser.' You will, will you? Then let me tell +you, that you are missing the very logic of all I have been saying for +the improvement of blockheads, which is--that you should consult any man +_but_ a medical man, since no other man has any obstinate prejudice of +professional timidity. N. B.--I prescribe for Kate _gratis_, because +she, poor thing! has so little to give. But from other ladies, who may +have the happiness to benefit by my advice, I expect a fee--not so large +a one considering the service--a flowering plant, suppose the _second_ +best in their collection. I know it would be of no use to ask for the +_very_ best, (which else I could wish to do,) because that would only be +leading them into little fibs. I don't insist on a _Yucca gloriosa_, or +a _Magnolia speciosissima_, (I hope there _is_ such a plant)--a rose or +a violet will do. I am sure there is such a plant as that. And if they +settle their debts justly, I shall very soon be master of the prettiest +little conservatory in England. For, treat it not as a jest, reader; +no case of timid practice is so fatally frequent.] Kate was ever lucky, +though ever unfortunate; and the world, being of my opinion that Kate +was worth saving, made up its mind about half-past eight o'clock in the +morning to save her. Just at that time, when the night was over, and its +sufferings were hidden--in one of those intermitting gleams that for +a moment or two lightened the clouds of her slumber, Kate's dull ear +caught a sound that for years had spoken a familiar language to _her_. +What was it? It was the sound, though muffled and deadened, like the +ear that heard it, of horsemen advancing. Interpreted by the tumultuous +dreams of Kate, was it the cavalry of Spain, at whose head so often she +had charged the bloody Indian scalpers? Was it, according to the legend +of ancient days, cavalry that had been sown by her brother's blood, +cavalry that rose from the ground on an inquest of retribution, and were +racing up the Andes to seize her? Her dreams that had opened sullenly to +the sound waited for no answer, but closed again into pompous darkness. +Happily, the horsemen had caught the glimpse of some bright ornament, +clasp, or aiguillette, on Kate's dress. They were hunters and foresters +from below; servants in the household of a beneficent lady; and in some +pursuit of flying game had wandered beyond their ordinary limits. Struck +by the sudden scintillation from Kate's dress played upon by the morning +sun, they rode up to the thicket. Great was their surprise, great their +pity, to see a young officer in uniform stretched within the bushes upon +the ground, and perhaps dying. Borderers from childhood on this dreadful +frontier, sacred to winter and death, they understood the case at once. +They dismounted: and with the tenderness of women, raising the poor +frozen cornet in their arms, washed her temples with brandy, whilst one, +at intervals, suffered a few drops to trickle within her lips. As the +restoration of a warm bed was now most likely to be successful, they +lifted the helpless stranger upon a horse, walking on each side with +supporting arms. Once again our Kate is in the saddle; once again a +Spanish Caballador. But Kate's bridle-hand is deadly cold. And her +spurs, that she had never unfastened since leaving the monastic asylum, +hung as idle as the flapping sail that fills unsteadily with the breeze +upon a stranded ship. + +This procession had some miles to go, and over difficult ground; but at +length it reached the forest-like park and the chateau of the wealthy +proprietress. Kate was still half-frozen and speechless, except at +intervals. Heavens! can this corpse-like, languishing young woman, be +the Kate that once, in her radiant girlhood, rode with a handful of +comrades into a column of two thousand enemies, that saw her comrades +die, that persisted when all were dead, that tore from the heart of +all resistance the banner of her native Spain? Chance and change have +'written strange defeatures in her face.' Much is changed; but some +things are not changed: there is still kindness that overflows with +pity: there is still helplessness that asks for this pity without a +voice: she is now received by a Senora, not less kind than that maternal +aunt, who, on the night of her birth, first welcomed her to a loving +home; and she, the heroine of Spain, is herself as helpless now as that +little lady who, then at ten minutes of age, was kissed and blessed by +all the household of St. Sebastian. + +Let us suppose Kate placed in a warm bed. Let us suppose her in a few +hours recovering steady consciousness; in a few days recovering some +power of self-support; in a fortnight able to seek the gay saloon, +where the Senora was sitting alone, and rendering thanks, with that +deep sincerity which ever characterized our wild-hearted Kate, for the +critical services received from that lady and her establishment. + +This lady, a widow, was what the French call a _métisse_, the Spaniards +a _mestizza_; that is, the daughter of a genuine Spaniard, and an Indian +mother. I shall call her simply a _creole_, [Footnote: 'Creole.'--At +that time the infusion of negro or African blood was small. +Consequently none of the negro hideousness was diffused. After these +intercomplexities had arisen between all complications of descent from +three original strands, European, American, African, the distinctions +of social consideration founded on them bred names so many, that a +court calendar was necessary to keep you from blundering. As yet, +the varieties were few. Meantime, the word _creole_ has always been +misapplied in our English colonies to a person (though of strictly +European blood,) simply because _born_ in the West Indies. In this +English use, it expresses the same difference as the Romans indicated by +_Hispanus_ and _Hispanicus_. The first meant a person of Spanish blood, +a native of Spain; the second, a Roman born in Spain. So of _Germanus_ +and _Germanicus_, _Italus_ and _Italicus_, _Anglus_ and _Anglicus_, &c.; +an important distinction, on which see Casaubon _apud Scriptores. +Hist. Augustan._] which will indicate her want of pure Spanish blood +sufficiently to explain her deference for those who had it. She was a +kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where there were no +opera boxes to rent--a widow about fifty years old in the wicked world's +account, some forty-four in her own; and happy, above all, in the +possession of a most lovely daughter, whom even the wicked world did +not accuse of more than sixteen years. This daughter, Juana, was--But +stop--let her open the door of the saloon in which the Senora and the +cornet are conversing, and speak for herself. She did so, after an hour +had passed; which length of time, to _her_ that never had any business +whatever in her innocent life, seemed sufficient to settle the business +of the old world and the new. Had Pietro Diaz (as Catalina now called +herself) been really a Peter, and not a sham Peter, what a vision of +loveliness would have rushed upon his sensibilities as the door +opened! Do not expect me to describe her, for which, however, there are +materials extant, sleeping in archives, where they have slept for two +hundred and twenty years. It is enough that she is reported to +have united the stately tread of Andalusian women with the innocent +voluptuousness of Peruvian eyes. As to her complexion and figure, be it +known that Juana's father was a gentleman from Grenada, having in his +veins the grandest blood of all this earth, blood of Goths and Vandals, +tainted (for which Heaven be thanked!) twice over with blood of +Arabs--once through Moors, once through Jews; [Footnote: It is well +known, that the very reason why the Spanish of all nations became the +most gloomily jealous of a Jewish cross in the pedigree, was because, +until the vigilance of the Church rose into ferocity, in no nation was +such a cross so common. The hatred of fear is ever the deepest. And men +hated the Jewish taint, as once in Jerusalem they hated the leprosy, +because even whilst they raved against it, the secret proofs of it might +be detected amongst their own kindred, even as in the Temple, whilst +once a king rose in mutiny against the priesthood, (2 Chron. xxvi +16-20,) suddenly the leprosy that dethroned him, blazed out upon his +forehead.] whilst from her grandmother, Juana drew the deep subtle +melancholy and the beautiful contours of limb which belong to the Indian +race--a race destined silently and slowly to fade from the earth. No +awkwardness was or could be in this antelope, when gliding with forest +grace into the room--no town-bred shame--nothing but the unaffected +pleasure of one who wishes to speak a fervent welcome, but knows not if +she ought--the astonishment of a Miranda, bred in utter solitude, when +first beholding a princely Ferdinand--and just so much reserve as to +remind you, that if Catalina thought fit to dissemble her sex, she +did _not_. And consider, reader, if you look back and are a great +arithmetician, that whilst the Senora had only fifty per cent of Spanish +blood, Juana had seventy-five; so that her Indian melancholy after all +was swallowed up for the present by her Vandal, by her Arab, by her +Spanish fire. + +Catalina, seared as she was by the world, has left it evident in her +memoirs that she was touched more than she wished to be by this +innocent child. Juana formed a brief lull for Catalina in her too stormy +existence. And if for _her_ in this life the sweet reality of a sister +had been possible, here was the sister she would have chosen. On the +other hand, what might Juana think of the cornet? To have been thrown +upon the kind hospitalities of her native home, to have been rescued +by her mother's servants from that fearful death which, lying but a few +miles off, had filled her nursery with traditionary tragedies,--_that_ +was sufficient to create an interest in the stranger. But his bold +martial demeanor, his yet youthful style of beauty, his frank manners, +his animated conversation that reported a hundred contests with +suffering and peril, wakened for the first time her admiration. Men she +had never seen before, except menial servants, or a casual priest. But +here was a gentleman, young like herself, that rode in the cavalry of +Spain--that carried the banner of the only potentate whom Peruvians knew +of--the King of the Spains and the Indies--that had doubled Cape Horn, +that had crossed the Andes, that had suffered shipwreck, that had rocked +upon fifty storms, and had wrestled for life through fifty battles. + +The reader knows all that followed. The sisterly love which Catalina +did really feel for this young mountaineer was inevitably misconstrued. +Embarrassed, but not able, from sincere affection, or almost in bare +propriety, to refuse such expressions of feeling as corresponded to the +artless and involuntary kindnesses of the ingenuous Juana, one day the +cornet was surprised by mamma in the act of encircling her daughter's +waist with his martial arm, although waltzing was premature by at least +two centuries in Peru. She taxed him instantly with dishonorably abusing +her confidence. The cornet made but a bad defence. He muttered something +about '_fraternal affection_,' about 'esteem,' and a great deal of +metaphysical words that are destined to remain untranslated in their +original Spanish. The good Senora, though she could boast only of +forty-four years' experience, was not altogether to be '_had_' in that +fashion--she was as learned as if she had been fifty, and she brought +matters to a speedy crisis. 'You are a Spaniard,' she said, 'a +gentleman, therefore; _remember_ that you are a gentleman. This very +night, if your intentions are not serious, quit my house. Go to Tucuman; +you shall command my horses and servants; but stay no longer to increase +the sorrow that already you will have left behind you. My daughter loves +you. That is sorrow enough, if you are trifling with us. But, if not, +and you also love _her_, and can be happy in our solitary mode of life, +stay with us--stay for ever. Marry Juana with my free consent. I ask not +for wealth. Mine is sufficient for you both.' The cornet protested +that the honor was one never contemplated by _him_--that it was too +great--that--. But, of course, reader, you know that 'gammon' flourishes +in Peru, amongst the silver mines, as well as in some more boreal lands +that produce little better than copper and tin. 'Tin,' however, has its +uses. The delighted Senora overruled all objections, great and small; +and she confirmed Juana's notion that the business of two worlds could +be transacted in an hour, by settling her daughter's future happiness in +exactly twenty minutes. The poor, weak Catalina, not acting now in any +spirit of recklessness, grieving sincerely for the gulf that was opening +before her, and yet shrinking effeminately from the momentary shock +that would be inflicted by a firm adherence to her duty, clinging to the +anodyne of a short delay, allowed herself to be installed as the +lover of Juana. Considerations of convenience, however, postponed the +marriage. It was requisite to make various purchases; and for this, it +was requisite to visit Tucuman, where, also, the marriage ceremony could +be performed with more circumstantial splendor. To Tucuman, therefore, +after some weeks' interval, the whole party repaired. And at Tucuman it +was that the tragical events arose, which, whilst interrupting such a +mockery for ever, left the poor Juana still happily deceived, and never +believing for a moment that hers was a rejected or a deluded heart. + +One reporter of Mr. De Ferrer's narrative forgets his usual generosity, +when he says that the Senora's gift of her daughter to the Alferez was +not quite so disinterested as it seemed to be. Certainly it was not so +disinterested as European ignorance might fancy it: but it was quite as +much so as it ought to have been, in balancing the interests of a child. +Very true it is--that, being a genuine Spaniard, who was still a rare +creature in so vast a world as Peru, being a Spartan amongst Helots, an +Englishman amongst Savages, an Alferez would in those days have been +a natural noble. His alliance created honor for his wife and for his +descendants. Something, therefore, the cornet would add to the family +consideration. But, instead of selfishness, it argued just regard for +her daughter's interest to build upon this, as some sort of equipoise to +the wealth which her daughter would bring. + +Spaniard, however, as he was, our Alferez on reaching Tucuman found no +Spaniards to mix with, but instead twelve Portuguese. + +Catalina remembered the Spanish proverb--'Subtract from a Spaniard all +his good qualities, and the remainder makes a pretty fair Portuguese;' +but, as there was nobody else to gamble with, she entered freely into +their society. Very soon she suspected that there was foul play: +all modes of doctoring dice had been made familiar to _her_ by the +experience of camps. She watched; and, by the time she had lost her +final coin, she was satisfied that she had been plundered. In her first +anger she would have been glad to switch the whole dozen across the +eyes; but, as twelve to one were too great odds, she determined on +limiting her vengeance to the immediate culprit. Him she followed into +the street; and coming near enough to distinguish his profile reflected +on a wall, she continued to keep him in view from a short distance. The +light-hearted young cavalier whistled, as he went, an old Portuguese +ballad of romance; and in a quarter of an hour came up to an house, the +front door of which he began to open with a pass-key. This operation +was the signal for Catalina that the hour of vengeance had struck; +and, stepping hastily up, she tapped the Portuguese on the shoulder, +saying--'Senor, you are a robber!' The Portuguese turned coolly round, +and, seeing his gaming antagonist, replied--'Possibly, Sir; but I have +no particular fancy for being told so,' at the same time drawing his +sword. Catalina had not designed to take any advantage; and the touching +him on the shoulder, with the interchange of speeches, and the known +character of Kate, sufficiently imply it. But it is too probable in such +cases, that the party whose intention has been regularly settled from +the first, will, and must have an advantage unconsciously over a man +so abruptly thrown on his defence. However this might be, they had not +fought a minute before Catalina passed her sword through her opponent's +body; and without a groan or a sigh, the Portuguese cavalier fell dead +at his own door. Kate searched the street with her ears, and (as far as +the indistinctness of night allowed) with her eyes. All was profoundly +silent; and she was satisfied that no human figure was in motion. What +should be done with the body? A glance at the door of the house settled +_that_: Fernando had himself opened it at the very moment when +he received the summons to turn round. She dragged the corpse in, +therefore, to the foot of the staircase, put the key by the dead man's +side, and then issuing softly into the street, drew the door close with +as little noise as possible. Catalina again paused to listen and to +watch, went home to the hospitable Senora's house, retired to bed, fell +asleep, and early the next morning was awakened by the Corregidor and +four alguazils. + +The lawlessness of all that followed strikingly exposes the frightful +state of criminal justice at that time, wherever Spanish law prevailed. +No evidence appeared to connect Catalina in any way with the death of +Fernando Acosta. The Portuguese gamblers, besides that perhaps they +thought lightly of such an accident, might have reasons of their own for +drawing off public attention from their pursuits in Tucuman: not one +of these men came forward openly; else the circumstances at the gaming +table, and the departure of Catalina so closely on the heels of her +opponent, would have suggested reasonable grounds for detaining her +until some further light should be obtained. As it was, her imprisonment +rested upon no colorable ground whatever, unless the magistrate had +received some anonymous information, which, however, he never alleged. +One comfort there was, meantime, in Spanish injustice: it did not +loiter. Full gallop it went over the ground: one week often sufficed +for informations--for trial--for execution; and the only bad consequence +was, that a second or a third week sometimes exposed the disagreeable +fact that everything had been 'premature;' a solemn sacrifice had +been made to offended justice, in which all was right except as to the +victim; it was the wrong man; and _that_ gave extra trouble; for then +all was to do over again, another man to be executed, and, possibly, +still to be caught. + +Justice moved at her usual Spanish rate in the present case. Kate was +obliged to rise instantly; not suffered to speak to anybody in the +house, though, in going out, a door opened, and she saw the young Juana +looking out with saddest Indian expression. In one day the trial was all +finished. Catalina said (which was true) that she hardly knew Acosta; +and that people of her rank were used to attack their enemies face to +face, not by murderous surprises. The magistrates were impressed with +Catalina's answers (yet answered to _what_?) Things were beginning to +look well, when all was suddenly upset by two witnesses, whom the reader +(who is a sort of accomplice after the fact, having been privately let +into the truths of the case, and having concealed his knowledge), will +know at once to be false witnesses, but whom the old Spanish buzwigs +doated on as models of all that could be looked for in the best. Both +were very ill-looking fellows, as it was their duty to be. And the first +deposed as follows:--That through his quarter of Tucuman, the fact was +notorious of Acosta's wife being the object of a criminal pursuit on the +part of the Alferez (Catalina): that, _doubtless_, the injured husband +had surprised the prisoner, which, of course, had led to the murder, +to the staircase, to the key--to everything, in short, that could be +wished; no--stop! what am I saying?--to everything that ought to be +abominated. Finally--for he had now settled the main question--that +he had a friend who would take up the case where he himself, from +short-sightedness, was obliged to lay it down.' This friend, the Pythias +of this short-sighted Damon started up in a frenzy of virtue at this +summons, and, rushing to the front of the alguazils, said, 'That since +his friend had proved sufficiently the fact of the Alferez having been +lurking in the house, and having murdered a man, all that rested upon +_him_ to show was, how that murderer got out of the house; which he +could do satisfactorily; for there was a balcony running along the +windows on the second floor, one of which windows he himself, lurking +in a corner of the street, saw the Alferez throw up, and from the said +balcony take a flying leap into the said street.' Evidence like this was +conclusive; no defence was listened to, nor indeed had the prisoner +any to produce. The Alferez could deny neither the staircase nor the +balcony: the street is there to this day, like the bricks in Jack Cade's +Chimney, testifying all that may be required; and, as to our friend who +saw the leap, there he was; nobody could deny _him_. The prisoner might +indeed have suggested that she never heard of Acosta's wife, nor had +the existence of such a wife been ripened even into a suspicion. But +the bench were satisfied; chopping logic was of no use; and sentence was +pronounced--that on the eighth day from the day of arrest, the Alferez +should be executed in the public square. + +It was not amongst the weaknesses of Catalina--who had so often +inflicted death, and, by her own journal, thought so lightly of +inflicting it (if not under cowardly advantages)--to shrink from facing +death in her own person. Many incidents in her career show the coolness +and even gaiety with which, in any case where death was apparently +inevitable, she would have gone to meet it. But in this case she _had_ +a temptation for escaping it, which was probably in her power. She had +only to reveal the secret of her sex, and the ridiculous witnesses, +beyond whose testimony there was nothing at all against her, must at +once be covered with derision. Catalina had some liking for fun; and a +main inducement to this course was, that it would enable her to say to +the judges, 'Now you see what old fools you've made of yourselves; +every woman and child in Peru will soon be laughing at you.' I must +acknowledge my own weakness; this last temptation I could _not_ have +withstood; flesh is weak, and fun is strong. But Catalina _did_. On +consideration she fancied, that although the particular motive for +murdering Acosta would be dismissed with laughter, still this might not +clear her of the murder, which on some _other_ motive she might have +committed. But supposing that she were cleared altogether, what most of +all she feared was, that the publication of her sex would throw a reflex +light upon many past transactions in her life--would instantly find +its way to Spain--and would probably soon bring her within the tender +attentions of the Inquisition. She kept firm to the resolution of not +saving her life by this discovery. And so far as her fate lay in her own +hands, she would (as the reader will perceive from a little incident at +the scaffold) have perished to a certainty. But even at this point, how +strange a case! A woman _falsely_ accused of an act which she really +_did_ commit! And falsely accused of a true offence upon a motive that +was impossible! + +As the sun set upon the seventh day, when the hours were numbered +for the prisoner, there filed into her cell four persons in religious +habits. They came on the charitable mission of preparing the poor +convict for death. Catalina, however, watching all things narrowly, +remarked something earnest and significant in the eye of the leader, as +of one who had some secret communication to make. She contrived to clasp +this man's hands, as if in the energy of internal struggles, and _he_ +contrived to slip into hers the very smallest of billets from poor +Juana. It contained, for indeed it _could_ contain, only these three +words--'Do not confess. J.' This one caution, so simple and so brief, +was a talisman. It did not refer to any confession of the crime; _that_ +would have been assuming what Juana was neither entitled nor disposed +to assume, but, in the technical sense of the Church, to the act of +devotional confession. Catalina found a single moment for a glance at +it--understood the whole--resolutely refused to confess, as a person +unsettled in her religious opinions, that needed spiritual instructions, +and the four monks withdrew to make their report. The principal judge, +upon hearing of the prisoner's impenitence, granted another day. At the +end of _that_, no change having occurred either in the prisoner's +mind, or in the circumstances, he issued his warrant for the execution. +Accordingly, as the sun went down, the sad procession formed within the +prison. Into the great square of Tucuman it moved, where the scaffold +had been built, and the whole city had assembled for the spectacle. +Catalina steadily ascended the ladder of the scaffold; even then she +resolved not to benefit by revealing her sex; even then it was that she +expressed her scorn for the lubberly executioner's mode of tying a knot; +did it herself in a 'ship-shape,' orthodox manner; received in return +the enthusiastic plaudits of the crowd, and so far ran the risk of +precipitating her fate; for the timid magistrates, fearing a rescue from +the impetuous mob, angrily ordered the executioner to finish the scene. +The clatter of a galloping horse, however, at this instant forced them +to pause. The crowd opened a road for the agitated horseman, who was +the bearer of an order from the President of La Plata to suspend the +execution until two prisoners could be examined. The whole was the +work of the Senora and her daughter. The elder lady, having gathered +informations against the witnesses, had pursued them to La Plata. There, +by her influence with the Governor, they were arrested; recognised as +old malefactors; and in their terror had partly confessed their perjury. +Catalina was removed to La Plata; solemnly acquitted; and, by the advice +of the President, for the present the connection with the Senora's +family was postponed indefinitely. + +Now was the last adventure approaching that ever Catalina should see in +the new world. Some fine sights she may yet see in Europe, but nothing +after this (_which she has recorded_) in America. Europe, if it had +ever heard of her name (which very shortly it _shall_), Kings, Pope, +Cardinals, if they were but aware of her existence (which in six months +they _shall_ be), would thirst for an introduction to our Catalina. +You hardly thought now, reader, that she was such a great person, or +anybody's pet but yours and mine. Bless you, Sir, she would scorn to +look at _us_. I tell you, royalties are languishing to see her, or soon +_will_ be. But how can this come to pass, if she is to continue in her +present obscurity? Certainly it cannot without some great _peripetteia_ +or vertiginous whirl of fortune; which, therefore, you shall now behold +taking place in one turn of her next adventure. _That_ shall let in +a light, _that_ shall throw back a Claude Lorraine gleam over all +the past, able to make Kings, that would have cared not for her under +Peruvian daylight, come to glorify her setting beams. + +The Senora--and, observe, whatever kindness she does to Catalina speaks +secretly from two hearts, her own and Juana's--had, by the advice of +Mr. President Mendonia, given sufficient money for Catalina's travelling +expenses. So far well. But Mr. M. chose to add a little codicil to this +bequest of the Senora's, never suggested by her or by her daughter. +'Pray,' said this inquisitive President, who surely might have found +business enough in La Plata, 'Pray, Senor Pietro Diaz, did you ever live +at Concepcion? And were you ever acquainted there with Senor Miguel de +Erauso? That man, Sir, was my friend.' What a pity that on this occasion +Catalina could not venture to be candid! What a capital speech it +would have made to say--'_Friend_ were you? I think you could hardly +be _that_, with seven hundred miles between you. But that man was _my_ +friend also; and, secondly, my brother. True it is I killed him. But if +you happen to know that this was by pure mistake in the dark, what +an old rogue you must be to throw _that_ in my teeth, which is the +affliction of my life!' Again, however, as so often in the same +circumstances, Catalina thought that it would cause more ruin than it +could heal to be candid; and, indeed, if she were really _P. Diaz, Esq. +_, how came she to be brother to the late Mr. Erauso? On consideration, +also, if she could not tell _all_, merely to have professed a fraternal +connection which never was avowed by either whilst living together, +would not have brightened the reputation of Catalina, which too surely +required a scouring. Still, from my kindness for poor Kate, I feel +uncharitably towards the president for advising Senor Pietro 'to travel +for his health.' What had _he_ to do with people's health? However, Mr. +Peter, as he had pocketed the Senora's money, thought it right to pocket +also the advice that accompanied its payment. That he might be in a +condition to do so, he went off to buy a horse. He was in luck to-day. +For beside money and advice, he obtained, at a low rate, a horse both +beautiful and serviceable for a journey. To Paz it was, a city of +prosperous name, that the cornet first moved. But Paz did not fulfil the +promise of its name. For it laid the grounds of a feud that drove our +Kate out of America. + +Her first adventure was a bagatelle, and fitter for a jest-book than a +history; yet it proved no jest either, since it led to the tragedy that +followed. Riding into Paz, our gallant standard-bearer and her bonny +black horse drew all eyes, _comme de raison_, upon their separate +charms. This was inevitable amongst the indolent population of a Spanish +town; and Kate was used to it. But, having recently had a little too +much of the public attention, she felt nervous on remarking two soldiers +eyeing the handsome horse and the handsome rider, with an attention that +seemed too solemn for mere _aesthetics_. However, Kate was not the kind +of person to let anything dwell on her spirits, especially if it +took the shape of impudence; and, whistling gaily, she was riding +forward--when, who should cross her path but the Alcalde! Ah! Alcalde, +you see a person now that has a mission against you, though quite +unknown to herself. He looked so sternly, that Kate asked if his worship +had any commands. 'These men,' said the Alcalde, 'these two soldiers, +say that this horse is stolen.' To one who had so narrowly and so lately +escaped the balcony witness and his friend, it was really no laughing +matter to hear of new affidavits in preparation. Kate was nervous, but +never disconcerted. In a moment she had twitched off a saddle-cloth on +which she sat; and throwing it over the horse's head, so as to cover up +all between the ears and the mouth, she replied, 'that she had bought +and paid for the horse at La Plata. But now, your worship, if this horse +has really been stolen from these men, they must know well of which eye +it is blind; for it _can_ be only in the right eye or the left.' One +of the soldiers cried out instantly, that it was the left eye; but +the other said, 'No, no, you forget, it's the right.' Kate maliciously +called attention to this little schism. But the men said, 'Ah, _that_ +was nothing--they were hurried; but now, on recollecting themselves, +they were agreed that it was the left eye.' Did they stand to that? 'Oh +yes, positive they were, left eye, left.' + +Upon which our Kate, twitching off the horse-cloth, said gaily to the +magistrate, 'Now, Sir, please to observe that this horse has nothing +the matter with either eye.' And in fact it _was_ so. Then his worship +ordered his alguazils to apprehend the two witnesses, who posted off to +bread and water, with other reversionary advantages, whilst Kate rode in +quest of the best dinner that Paz could furnish. + +This Alcalde's acquaintance, however, was not destined to drop here. +Something had appeared in the young _caballero's_ bearing, which made +it painful to have addressed him with harshness, or for a moment to +have entertained such a charge against such a person. He despatched his +cousin, therefore, Don Antonio Calderon, to offer his apologies, and at +the same time to request that the stranger, whose rank and quality he +regretted not to have known, would do him the honor to come and dine +with him. This explanation, and the fact that Don Antonio had already +proclaimed his own position as cousin to the magistrate and nephew +to the Bishop of Cuzco, obliged Catalina to say, after thanking the +gentlemen for their obliging attentions, 'I myself hold the rank of +Alferez in the service of his Catholic Majesty. I am a native of Biscay, +and I am now repairing to Cuzco on private business.' 'To Cuzco!' +exclaimed Don Antonio, 'how very fortunate! My cousin is a Basque like +you; and, like you, he starts for Cuzco to-morrow morning; so that, if +it is agreeable to you, Senor Alferez, we will travel together.' It was +settled that they should. To travel--amongst 'balcony witnesses,' and +anglers for 'blind horses'--not merely with a just man, but with the +very abstract idea and riding allegory of justice, was too delightful to +the storm-wearied cornet; and he cheerfully accompanied Don Antonio +to the house of the magistrate, called Don Pedro de Chavarria. +Distinguished was his reception; the Alcalde personally renewed his +regrets for the ridiculous scene of the two scampish oculists, and +presented him to his wife, a splendid Andalusian beauty, to whom he had +been married about a year. + +This lady there is a reason for describing; and the French reporter +of Catalina's memoirs dwells upon the theme. She united, he says, +the sweetness of the German lady with the energy of the Arabian, a +combination hard to judge of. As to her feet, he adds, I say nothing; +for she had scarcely any at all. '_Je ne parle point de ses pieds, elle +n'en avait presque pas_.' 'Poor lady!' says a compassionate rustic: 'no +feet! What a shocking thing that so fine a woman should have been so +sadly mutilated!' Oh, my dear rustic, you're quite in the wrong box. The +Frenchman means this as the very highest compliment. Beautiful, however, +she must have been; and a Cinderella, I hope, not a Cinderellula, +considering that she had the inimitable walk and step of the +Andalusians, which cannot be accomplished without something of a +proportionate basis to stand upon. + +The reason which there is (as I have said) for describing this lady, +arises out of her relation to the tragic events which followed. She, +by her criminal levity, was the cause of all. And I must here warn the +moralizing blunderer of two errors that he is too likely to make: 1st, +That he is invited to read some extract from a licentious amour, as if +for its own interest; 2d, Or on account of Donna Catalina's memoirs, +with a view to relieve their too martial character. I have the pleasure +to assure him of his being so utterly in the darkness of error, that any +possible change he can make in his opinions, right or left, must be +for the better: he cannot stir, but he will mend, which is a delightful +thought for the moral and blundering mind. As to the first point, +what little glimpse he obtains of a licentious amour is, as a court +of justice will sometimes show him such a glimpse, simply to make +intelligible the subsequent facts which depend upon it. Secondly, As to +the conceit, that Catalina wished to embellish her memoirs, understand +that no such practice then existed; certainly not in Spanish literature. +Her memoirs are electrifying by their facts; else, in the manner of +telling these facts, they are systematically dry. + +Don Antonio Calderon was a handsome, accomplished cavalier. And in the +course of dinner, Catalina was led to judge, from the behavior to each +other of this gentleman and the lady, the Alcalde's beautiful wife, +that they had an improper understanding. This also she inferred from the +furtive language of their eyes. Her wonder was, that the Alcalde should +be so blind; though upon that point she saw reason in a day or two +to change her opinion. Some people see everything by affecting to see +nothing. The whole affair, however, was nothing at all to _her_, and +she would have dismissed it from her thoughts altogether, but for what +happened on the journey. + +From the miserable roads, eight hours a day of travelling was found +quite enough for man and beast; the product of which eight hours was +from ten to twelve leagues. On the last day but one of the journey, the +travelling party, which was precisely the original dinner party, reached +a little town ten leagues short of Cuzco. The Corregidor of this place +was a friend of the Alcalde; and through _his_ influence the party +obtained better accommodations than those which they had usually had in +a hovel calling itself a _venta_, or in the sheltered corner of a +barn. The Alcalde was to sleep at the Corregidor's house; the two young +cavaliers, Calderon and our Kate, had sleeping rooms at the public +_locanda_; but for the lady was reserved a little pleasure-house in an +enclosed garden. This was a plaything of a house; but the season +being summer, and the house surrounded with tropical flowers, the lady +preferred it (in spite of its loneliness) to the damp mansion of the +official grandee, who, in her humble opinion, was quite as fusty as his +mansion, and his mansion not much less so than himself. + +After dining gaily together at the _locanda_, and possibly taking a +'rise' out of his worship the Corregidor, as a repeating echo of Don +Quixote, (then growing popular in Spanish America,) the young man +who was no young officer, and the young officer who was no young man, +lounged down together to the little pavilion in the flower-garden, with +the purpose of paying their respects to the presiding belle. They were +graciously received, and had the honor of meeting there his Mustiness +the Alcalde, and his Fustiness the Corregidor; whose conversation was +surely improving, but not equally brilliant. How they got on under the +weight of two such muffs, has been a mystery for two centuries. But they +_did_ to a certainty, for the party did not break up till eleven. _Tea +and turn out_ you could not call it; for there was the _turn out_ in +rigor, but not the _tea_. One thing, however, Catalina by mere accident +had an opportunity of observing, and observed with pain. The two +official gentlemen had gone down the steps into the garden. Catalina, +having forgot her hat, went back into the little vestibule to look for +it. There stood the lady and Don Antonio, exchanging a few final +words (they _were_ final) and a few final signs. Amongst the last +Kate observed distinctly this, and distinctly she understood it. First +drawing Calderon's attention to the gesture, as one of significant +pantomime, by raising her forefinger, the lady snuffed out one of the +candles. The young man answered it by a look of intelligence, and all +three passed down the steps together. The lady was disposed to take the +cool air, and accompanied them to the garden-gate; but, in passing down +the walk, Catalina noticed a second ill-omened sign that all was not +right. Two glaring eyes she distinguished amongst the shrubs for a +moment, and a rustling immediately after. 'What's that?' said the lady, +and Don Antonio answered carelessly, 'A bird flying out of the bushes.' + +Catalina, as usual, had read everything. Not a wrinkle or a rustle was +lost upon _her_. And, therefore, when she reached the _locanda_, knowing +to an iota all that was coming, she did not retire to bed, but paced +before the house. She had not long to wait: in fifteen minutes the door +opened softly, and out stepped Calderon. Kate walked forward, and faced +him immediately; telling him laughingly that it was not good for his +health to go abroad on this night. The young man showed some impatience; +upon which, very seriously, Kate acquainted him with her suspicions, and +with the certainty that the Alcalde was not so blind as he had seemed. +Calderon thanked her for the information; would be upon his guard; but, +to prevent further expostulation, he wheeled round instantly into the +darkness. Catalina was too well convinced, however, of the mischief on +foot, to leave him thus. She followed rapidly, and passed silently +into the garden, almost at the same time with Calderon. Both took +their stations behind trees; Calderon watching nothing but the burning +candles, Catalina watching circumstances to direct her movements. +The candles burned brightly in the little pavilion. Presently one was +extinguished. Upon this, Calderon pressed forward to the steps, hastily +ascended them, and passed into the vestibule. Catalina followed on his +traces. What succeeded was all one scene of continued, dreadful dumb +show; different passions of panic, or deadly struggle, or hellish malice +absolutely suffocated all articulate words. + +In a moment a gurgling sound was heard, as of a wild beast attempting +vainly to yell over some creature that it was strangling. Next came a +tumbling out at the door of one black mass, which heaved and parted at +intervals into two figures, which closed, which parted again, which at +last fell down the steps together. Then appeared a figure in white. It +was the unhappy Andalusian; and she seeing the outline of Catalina's +person, ran up to her, unable to utter one syllable. Pitying the agony +of her horror, Catalina took her within her own cloak, and carried her +out at the garden gate. Calderon had by this time died; and the maniacal +Alcalde had risen up to pursue his wife. But Kate, foreseeing what he +would do, had stepped silently within the shadow of the garden wall. +Looking down the road to the town, and seeing nobody moving, the maniac, +for some purpose, went back to the house. This moment Kate used to +recover the _locanda_ with the lady still panting in horror. What was +to be done? To think of concealment in this little place was out of the +question. The Alcalde was a man of local power, and it was certain that +he would kill his wife on the spot. Kate's generosity would not allow +her to have any collusion with this murderous purpose. At Cuzco, the +principal convent was ruled by a near relative of the Andalusian; +and there she would find shelter. Kate, therefore, saddled her horse +rapidly, placed the lady behind, and rode off in the darkness. About +five miles out of the town their road was crossed by a torrent, over +which they could not hit the bridge. 'Forward!' cried the lady; and Kate +repeating the word to the horse, the docile creature leaped down into +the water. They were all sinking at first; but having its head free, +the horse swam clear of all obstacles through the midnight darkness, and +scrambled out on the opposite bank. The two riders were dripping from +the shoulders downward. But, seeing a light twinkling from a cottage +window, Kate rode up; obtained a little refreshment, and the benefit of +a fire, from a poor laboring man. From this man she also bought a warm +mantle for the lady, who, besides her torrent bath, was dressed in a +light evening robe, so that but for the horseman's cloak of Kate she +would have perished. But there was no time to lose. They had already +lost two hours from the consequences of their cold bath. Cuzco was +still eighteen miles distant; and the Alcalde's shrewdness would at once +divine this to be his wife's mark. They remounted: very soon the silent +night echoed the hoofs of a pursuing rider; and now commenced the most +frantic race, in which each party rode as if the whole game of life were +staked upon the issue. The pace was killing: and Kate has delivered it +as her opinion, in the memoirs which she wrote, that the Alcalde was the +better mounted. This may be doubted. And certainly Kate had ridden too +many years in the Spanish cavalry to have any fear of his worship's +horsemanship; but it was a prodigious disadvantage that _her_ horse had +to carry double; while the horse ridden by her opponent was one of those +belonging to the murdered Don Antonio, and known to Kate as a powerful +animal. At length they had come within three miles at Cuzco. The road +after this descended the whole way to the city, and in some places +rapidly, so as to require a cool rider. Suddenly a deep trench appeared +traversing the whole extent of a broad heath. It was useless to evade +it. To have hesitated was to be lost. Kate saw the necessity of clearing +it, but doubted much whether her poor exhausted horse, after twenty-one +miles of work so severe, had strength for the effort. Kate's maxim, +however, which never yet had failed, both figuratively for life, and +literally for the saddle, was--to ride at everything that showed a front +of resistance. She did so now. Having come upon the trench rather too +suddenly, she wheeled round for the advantage of coming down upon it +more determinately, rode resolutely at it, and gained the opposite bank. +The hind feet of her horse were sinking back from the rottenness of +the ground; but the strong supporting bridle-hand of Kate carried him +forward; and in ten minutes more they would be in Cuzco. This being +seen by the vicious Alcalde, who had built great hopes on the trench, +he unslung his carbine, pulled up, and fired after the bonny black +horse and its bonny fair riders. But this manoeuvre would have lost +his worship any bet that he might have had depending on this admirable +steeple-chase. Had I been stakeholder, what a pleasure it would have +been, in fifteen minutes from this very vicious shot, to pay into +Kate's hands every shilling of the deposits. I would have listened to +no nonsense about referees or protests. The bullets, says Kate, whistled +round the poor clinging lady _en croupe_--luckily none struck her; +but one wounded the horse. And that settled the odds. Kate now planted +herself well in her stirrups to enter Cuzco, almost dangerously a +winner; for the horse was so maddened by the wound, and the road so +steep, that he went like blazes; and it really became difficult for +Kate to guide him with any precision through narrow episcopal paths. +Henceforwards the wounded horse required Kate's continued attention; and +yet, in the mere luxury of strife, it was impossible for Kate to avoid +turning a little in her saddle to see the Alcalde's performance on +this tight rope of the trench. His worship's horsemanship being perhaps +rather rusty, and he not perfectly acquainted with his horse, it +would have been agreeable to compromise the case by riding round, or +dismounting. But all _that_ was impossible. The job must be done. And I +am happy to report, for the reader's satisfaction, the sequel--so far +as Kate could attend the performance. Gathering himself up for mischief, +the Alcalde took a sweep, as if ploughing out the line of some vast +encampment, or tracing the _pomćrium_ for some future Rome; then, like +thunder and lightning, with arms flying aloft in the air, down he came +upon the trembling trench. + +But the horse refused the leap; and, as the only compromise that _his_ +unlearned brain could suggest, he threw his worship right over his ears, +lodging him safely in a sand-heap that rose with clouds of dust and +screams of birds into the morning air. Kate had now no time to send back +her compliments in a musical halloo. The Alcalde missed breaking his +neck on this occasion very narrowly; but his neck was of no use to him +in twenty minutes more, as the reader will soon find. Kate rode right +onwards; and, coming in with a lady behind her, horse bloody, and pace +such as no hounds could have lived with, she ought to have made a great +sensation in Cuzco. But, unhappily, the people were all in bed. + +The steeple-chase into Cuzco had been a fine headlong thing, considering +the torrent, the trench, the wounded horse, the lovely lady, with her +agonizing fears, mounted behind Kate, together with the meek dove-like +dawn: but the finale crowded together the quickest succession of changes +that out of a melodrama can ever have been witnessed. Kate reached the +convent in safety; carried into the cloisters, and delivered like a +parcel the fair Andalusian. But to rouse the servants caused delay; and +on returning to the street through the broad gateway of the convent, +whom should she face but the Alcalde! How he escaped the trench, who can +tell? He had no time to write memoirs; his horse was too illiterate. But +he _had_ escaped; temper not at all improved by that adventure, and now +raised to a hell of malignity by seeing that he had lost his prey. In +the morning light he now saw how to use his sword. He attacked Kate with +fury. Both were exhausted; and Kate, besides that she had no personal +quarrel with the Alcalde, having now accomplished her sole object +in saving the lady, would have been glad of a truce. She could with +difficulty wield her sword: and the Alcalde had so far the advantage, +that he wounded Kate severely. That roused her ancient blood. She turned +on him now with determination. At that moment in rode two servants of +the Alcalde, who took part with their master. These odds strengthened +Kate's resolution, but weakened her chances. Just then, however, rode +in, and ranged himself on Kate's side, the servant of the murdered Don +Calderon. In an instant, Kate had pushed her sword through the Alcalde, +who died upon the spot. In an instant the servant of Calderon had fled. +In an instant the Alguazils had come up. They and the servants of the +Alcalde pressed furiously on Kate, who now again was fighting for life. +Against such odds, she was rapidly losing ground; when, in an instant, +on the opposite side of the street, the great gates of the Episcopal +palace rolled open. Thither it was that Calderon's servant had fled. The +bishop and his attendants hurried across. 'Senor Caballador,' said +the bishop, 'in the name of the Virgin, I enjoin you to surrender your +sword.' 'My lord,' said Kate, 'I dare not do it with so many enemies +about me.' 'But I,' replied the bishop, 'become answerable to the law +for your safe keeping.' Upon which, with filial reverence, all parties +dropped their swords. Kate being severely wounded, the bishop led her +into his palace. In an instant came the catastrophe; Kate's discovery +could no longer be delayed; the blood flowed too rapidly; the wound was +in her bosom. She requested a private interview with the bishop; all was +known in a moment; for surgeons and attendants were summoned hastily, +and Kate had fainted. The good bishop pitied her, and had her attended +in his palace; then removed to a convent; then to a second at Lima; and, +after many months had passed, his report to the Spanish Government at +home of all the particulars, drew from the King of Spain and from the +Pope an order that the Nun should be transferred to Spain. + +Yes, at length the warrior lady, the blooming cornet, this nun that is +so martial, this dragoon that is so lovely, must visit again the home +of her childhood, which now for seventeen years she has not seen. All +Spain, Portugal, Italy, rang with her adventures. Spain, from north to +south, was frantic with desire to behold her fiery child, whose girlish +romance, whose patriotic heroism electrified the national imagination. +The King of Spain must kiss his _faithful_ daughter, that would not +suffer his banner to see dishonor. The Pope must kiss his _wandering_ +daughter, that henceforwards will be a lamb travelling back into the +Christian fold. Potentates so great as these, when _they_ speak words +of love, do not speak in vain. All was forgiven; the sacrilege, the +bloodshed, the flight and the scorn of St. Peter's keys; the pardons +were made out, were signed, were sealed, and the chanceries of earth +were satisfied. + +Ah! what a day of sorrow and of joy was _that_ one day, in the first +week of November, 1624, when the returning Kate drew near to the shore +of Andalusia--when, descending into the ship's barge, she was rowed to +the piers of Cadiz by bargemen in the royal liveries--when she saw every +ship, street, house, convent, church, crowded, like a day of judgment, +with human faces, with men, with women, with children, all bending +the lights of their flashing and their loving eyes upon herself. Forty +myriads of people had gathered in Cadiz alone. All Andalusia had turned +out to receive her. Ah! what joy, if she had not looked back to the +Andes, to their dreadful summits, and their more dreadful feet. Ah! what +sorrow, if she had not been forced by music, and endless banners, and +triumphant clamors, to turn away from the Andes to the joyous shore +which she approached! + +Upon this shore stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this mighty +crowd, the Prime Minister of Spain, the same Conde Olivarez, who but +one year before had been so haughty and so defying to our haughty and +defying Duke of Buckingham. But a year ago the Prince of Wales was in +Spain, and he also was welcomed with triumph and great joy, but not with +the hundredth part of that enthusiasm which now met the returning nun. +And Olivarez, that had spoken so roughly to the English Duke, to +_her_ 'was sweet as summer.' [Footnote: Griffith in Shakspeare, when +vindicating, in that immortal scene with Queen Catherine, Cardinal +Wolsey.] Through endless crowds of festive compatriots he conducted +her to the King. The King folded her in his arms, and could never be +satisfied with listening to her. He sent for her continually to his +presence--he delighted in her conversation, so new, so natural, so +spirited--he settled a pension upon her at that time, of unprecedented +amount, in the case of a subaltern officer; and by _his_ desire, because +the year 1625 was a year of jubilee, she departed in a few months +from Madrid to Rome. She went through Barcelona; there and everywhere +welcomed as the lady whom the King delighted to honor. She travelled to +Rome, and all doors flew open to receive her. She was presented to his +Holiness, with letters from his most Catholic majesty. But letters there +needed none. The Pope admired her as much as all before had done. He +caused her to recite all her adventures; and what he loved most in her +account, was the sincere and sorrowing spirit in which she described +herself as neither better nor worse than she had been. Neither proud +was Kate, nor sycophantishly and falsely humble. Urban VIII. it was +that then filled the chair of St. Peter. He did not neglect to raise +his daughter's thoughts from earthly things--he pointed her eyes to the +clouds that were above the dome of St. Peter's cathedral--he told her +what the cathedral had told her in the gorgeous clouds of the Andes +and the vesper lights, how sweet a thing, how divine a thing it was for +Christ's sake to forgive all injuries, and how he trusted that no more +she would think of bloodshed. He also said two words to her in Latin, +which, if I had time to repeat a Spanish bishop's remark to Kate some +time afterwards upon those two mysterious words, with Kate's most +natural and ingenuous answer to the Bishop upon what she supposed to +be their meaning, would make the reader smile not less than they made +myself. You know that Kate _did_ understand a little Latin, which, +probably, had not been much improved by riding in the Light Dragoons. I +must find time, however, whether the press and the compositors are in a +fury or not, to mention that the Pope, in his farewell audience to his +dear daughter, whom he was to see no more, gave her a general license +to wear henceforth in all countries--even _in partibus Infidelium_--a +cavalry officer's dress--boots, spurs, sabre, and sabretache; in fact, +anything that she and the Horse Guards might agree upon. Consequently, +reader, remember for your life never to say one word, nor suffer any +tailor to say one word, against those Wellington trousers made in the +chestnut forest; for, understand that the Papal indulgence, as to this +point, runs backwards as well as forwards; it is equally shocking and +heretical to murmur against trousers in the forgotten rear or against +trousers yet to come. + +From Rome, Kate returned to Spain. She even went to St. Sebastian's--to +the city, but--whether it was that her heart failed her or not--never +to the convent. She roamed up and down; everywhere she was +welcome--everywhere an honored guest; but everywhere restless. The poor +and humble never ceased from their admiration of her; and amongst the +rich and aristocratic of Spain, with the King at their head, Kate found +especial love from two classes of men. The Cardinals and Bishops all +doated upon her--as their daughter that was returning. The military men +all doated upon her--as their sister that was retiring. + +Some time or other, when I am allowed more elbow-room, I will tell you +why it is that I myself love this Kate. Now, at this moment, when it +is necessary for me to close, if I allow you one question before laying +down my pen--if I say, 'Come now, be quick, ask anything you _have_ +to ask, for, in one minute, I am going to write _Finis_, after which +(unless the Queen wished it) I could not add a syllable'--twenty to +one, I guess what your question will be. You will ask me, What became of +Kate? What was her end? + +Ah, reader! but, if I answer that question, you will say I have _not_ +answered it. If I tell you that secret, you will say that the secret +is still hidden. Yet, because I have promised, and because you will be +angry if I do not, let me do my best; and bad is the best. After ten +years of restlessness in Spain, with thoughts always turning back to the +Andes, Kate heard of an expedition on the point of sailing to Spanish +America. All soldiers knew _her_, so that she had information of +everything that stirred in camps. Men of the highest military rank were +going out with the expedition; but they all loved Kate as a sister, and +were delighted to hear that she would join their mess on board ship. +This ship, with others, sailed, whither finally bound, I really forget. +But, on reaching America, all the expedition touched at _Vera Cruz_. +Thither a great crowd of the military went on shore. The leading +officers made a separate party for the same purpose. Their intention +was, to have a gay happy dinner, after their long confinement to a ship, +at the chief hotel; and happy in perfection it could not be, unless Kate +would consent to join it. She, that was ever kind to brother soldiers, +agreed to do so. She descended into the boat along with them, and in +twenty minutes the boat touched the shore. All the bevy of gay laughing +officers, junior and senior, like schoolboys escaping from school, +jumped on shore, and walked hastily, as their time was limited, up to +the hotel. Arriving there, all turned round in eagerness, saying, 'Where +is our dear Kate?' Ah, yes, my dear Kate, at that solemn moment, where, +indeed, were _you_? She had _certainly_ taken her seat in the boat: that +was sure. Nobody, in the general confusion, was certain of having seen +her on coming ashore. The sea was searched for her--the forests were +ransacked. The sea made no answer--the forests gave up no sign. I have +a conjecture of my own; but her brother soldiers were lost in sorrow and +confusion, and could never arrive even at a conjecture. + +That happened two hundred and fourteen years ago! Here is the brief sum +of all:--This nun sailed from Spain to Peru, and she found no rest for +the sole of her foot. This nun sailed back from Peru to Spain, and she +found no rest for the agitations of her heart. This nun sailed again +from Spain to America, and she found--the rest which all of us find. But +where it was, could never be made known to the father of Spanish camps, +that sat in Madrid; nor to Kate's spiritual father, that sat in Rome. +Known it is to the great Father that once whispered to Kate on the +Andes; but else it has been a secret for two centuries; and to man it +remains a secret for ever and ever! + + + + +FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. + + +There is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said +more broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less +generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight +eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless _steppes_ +of Asia in the latter half of the last century. The _terminus a quo_ of +this flight, and the _terminus ad quem_, are equally magnificent; the +mightiest of Christian thrones being the one, the mightiest of Pagan the +other. And the grandeur of these two terminal objects, is harmoniously +supported by the romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness +of its commencement, and the fierce velocity of its execution, we read +an expression of the wild barbaric character of the agents. In the +unity of purpose connecting this myriad of wills, and in the blind but +unerring aim at a mark so remote, there is something which recalls to +the mind those Almighty instincts that propel the migrations of the +swallow, or the life-withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the +gloomy vengeance of Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the +rear and the skirts of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic +images--such, for instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing +through desert spaces and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and +overtaking with volleying thunders those who believed themselves already +within the security of darkness and of distance. + +We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other great +national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But it may +also challenge a comparison with similar events under another relation, +viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance or +history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the complexity +of its separate interests. The great outline of the enterprise, taken +in connection with the operative motives, hidden or avowed, and the +religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to the case a +triple character: 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a unity +in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the moving +characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as belongs to Venice +Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military +expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to +be traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies +obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which mark +the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the anabasis of the younger Cyrus, +and the subsequent retreat of the ten thousand to the Black Sea--the +Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and +Julian--or (as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space +as well as in amount of forces, more extensive,) the Russian anabasis +and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized +by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia, an Exodus, +therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus of the +Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar +distinction of carrying along with them their entire families, women, +children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and +their camels. + +This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a more +comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we ascribed to +it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends partly upon the +marked variety and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and +partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even the _steppes_, +the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy deserts, are not beyond +the scale of our modern representative powers, as often called into +action in the theatres both of Paris and London; and the series of +situations unfolded, beginning with the general conflagration on the +Wolga--passing thence to the disastrous scenes of the flight (as it +literally was in its commencement)--to the Tartar siege of the Russian +fortress Koulagina--the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the +mountain passes at Ouchim--the surprisal by the Bashkirs and the +advanced posts of the Russian army at Torgau--the private conspiracy at +this point against the Khan--the long succession of running fights--the +parting massacres at the lake of Tengis under the eyes of the +Chinese--and finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at the +hunting-lodge of the Chinese emperor;--all these situations communicate +a _scenical_ animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically; +whilst a higher and a philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of +authentic history, commemorating a great revolution for good and for +evil, in the fortunes of a whole people--a people semi-barbarous, but +simple-hearted, and of ancient descent. + +On the 2lst of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha assumed the +sceptre of the Kalmucks upon the death of his father. Some part of +the power attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his +fourteenth year, in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment, +and with the avowed support of the Russian Government. He was now +about eighteen years of age, amiable in his personal character, and not +without titles to respect in his public character as a sovereign prince. +In times more peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized, +or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that he might have +discharged his high duties with considerable distinction. But his +lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a most difficult crisis amongst +tribes, whose native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of +superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated conceit of +their own merit absolutely unparalleled, whilst the circumstances of +their hard and trying position under the jealous _surveillance_ of an +irresistible lord paramount, in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a +fiercer edge to the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, +and irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless +impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No prince could hope for +a cordial allegiance from his subjects, or a peaceful reign under the +circumstances of the case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler +stood at present was of this nature; _wanting_ the sanction and +support of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from without to command +confidence from his subjects, or resistance to his competitors: on the +other hand, _with_ this kind of support, and deriving his title in any +degree from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost in that +extent an object of hatred at home, and within the whole compass of his +own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for the past, being a +living monument of national independence, ignominiously surrendered, and +an object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already advertised +himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate purposes (whatsoever those +might prove to be) of the Russian Court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck +sceptre under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate +circumstances of his position, it might have been expected that Oubacha +would have been pre-eminently an object of detestation; for besides his +known dependence upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the direct line +of succession had been set aside, and the principle of inheritance +violently suspended, in favor of his own father, so recently as nineteen +years before the era of his own accession, consequently within the +lively remembrance of the existing generation. He therefore, almost +equally with his father, stood within the full current of the national +prejudices, and might have anticipated the most pointed hostility. But +it was not so: such are the caprices in human affairs, that he was even, +in a moderate sense, popular,--a benefit which wore the more cheering +aspect, and the promises of permanence, inasmuch as he owed it +exclusively to his personal qualities of kindness and affability, as +well as to the beneficence of his government. On the other hand, to +balance this unlooked-for prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met +with a rival in popular favor--almost a competitor--in the person of +Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to the throne, and, +perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions. Zebek-Dorchi was +a direct descendant of the same royal house as himself, through a +different branch. On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on +a footing equally good with that of Oubacha, whilst his personal +qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philosophical +observer most odious and repulsive, promised the most effectual aid to +the dark purposes of an intriguer or a conspirator, and were generally +fitted to win a popular support precisely in those points where +_Oubacha_ was most defective. He was much superior in external +appearance to his rival on the throne, and so far better qualified +to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous people; whilst his +dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian dissimulation, profound +hypocrisy, and perfidy which knew no touch of remorse, were admirably +calculated to sustain any ground which he might win from the +simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal--and from the frank +carelessness of his unconscious competitor. + +At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi was sagacious +enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open declaration of +hostility to the reigning prince: the choice had been a deliberate act +on the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the person to +recall her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. Openly, +therefore, to have declared his enmity towards his relative on the +throne, could have had no effect but that of arming suspicions against +his own ulterior purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to +his interest that, for the present, all suspicion should be hoodwinked. +Accordingly, after much meditation, the course he took for opening his +snares was this:--He raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from +the plots of several _Saissang_, (that is, Kalmuck nobles,) who were +leagued together, under an oath to assassinate him; and immediately +after, assuming a well-counterfeited alarm, he fled to Tcherkask, +followed by sixty-five tents. From this place he kept up a +correspondence with the Imperial Court; and, by way of soliciting his +cause more effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg. +Once admitted to personal conferences with the Cabinet, he found no +difficulty in winning over the Russian counsels to a concurrence with +some of his political views, and thus covertly introducing the point of +that wedge which was finally to accomplish his purposes. In particular, +he persuaded the Russian Government to make a very important alteration +in the constitution of the Kalmuck State Council, which in effect +reorganized the whole political condition of the state, and disturbed +the balance of power as previously adjusted. Of this Council--in the +Kalmuck language called _Sarga_--there were eight members, called +_Sargatchi;_ and hitherto it had been the custom that these eight +members should be entirely subordinate to the Khan; holding, in fact, +the ministerial character of secretaries and assistants, but in no +respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. That had produced some +inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy for Zebek-Dorchi to +point the jealousy of the Russian Court to others more serious which +might arise in future circumstances of war or other contingencies. +It was resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward on +a footing of perfect independence, and therefore (as regarded +responsibility) on a footing of equality with the Khan. Their +independence, however, had respect only to their own sovereign; for +towards Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and +accountability, by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300 +roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more +considerable than might be supposed, and had a further value as marks +of honorary distinction emanating from a great Empress. Thus far the +purposes of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment: +but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in the further +development of his plots, this very dependency upon Russian influence +would be the most serious obstacle in his way. There was, however, +another point carried which outweighed all inferior considerations, as +it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever should +arise to disturb his plots: he was himself appointed President and +Controller of the _Sargatchi_. The Russian Court had been aware of his +high pretensions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy the +ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged to be a reasonable +passion for any man occupying his situation. + +Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi +proceeded in his new character to fulfil his political mission with +the Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his +favorable reception at the court of this Prince, that he was at once +and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the +counsellors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar +exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had +not yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he +himself should be the chief of these mercenary counsellors, was so far +from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any ground of suspicion, +that his relative the Khan returned him hearty thanks for his services, +under the belief that he could have accepted this appointment only with +a view to keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who would not +have had the same motives of consanguinity or friendship for executing +its duties in a spirit of kindness to the Kalmucks. The first use which +he made of his new functions about the Khan's person was to attack the +Court of Russia, by a romantic villany not easy to be credited, for +those very acts of interference with the council which he himself had +prompted. This was a dangerous step: but it was indispensable to +his further advance upon the gloomy path which he had traced out for +himself. A triple vengeance was what he meditated--1, Upon the Russian +Cabinet for having undervalued his own pretensions to the throne--2, +upon his amiable rival for having supplanted him--and 3, upon all those +of the nobility who had manifested their sense of his weakness by their +neglect, or their sense of his perfidious character by their suspicions. +Here was a colossal outline of wickedness; and by one in his situation, +feeble (as it might seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts, +how was the total edifice to be reared in its comprehensive grandeur? +He, a worm as he was, could he venture to assail the mighty behemoth of +Muscovy, the potentate who counted three hundred languages around the +footsteps of his throne, and from whose 'lion ramp' recoiled alike +'baptized and infidel'--Christendom on the one side, strong by her +intellect and her organization, and the `Barbaric East' on the other, +with her unnumbered numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its +very monstrosity there lay this germ of encouragement, that it could not +be suspected. The very hopelessness of the scheme grounded his hope, and +he resolved to execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, +in the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged to be his +enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from the Russian empire the +whole Kalmuck nation, and breaking up that system of intercourse which +had thus far been beneficial to both. This last was a consideration +which moved him but little. True it was that Russia to the Kalmucks had +secured lands and extensive pasturage; true it was that the Kalmucks +reciprocally to Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry. But the latter +loss would be part of his triumph, and the former might be more than +compensated in other climates under other sovereigns. Here was a scheme +which, in its final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on the +Czarina, and in the course of its accomplishment might furnish him +with ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may be readily +supposed indeed that he, who could deliberately raise his eyes to the +Russian autocrat as an antagonist in single duel with himself, was not +likely to feel much anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He +took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably to effect this +astonishing translation of an ancient people across the pathless +deserts of Central Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivers, rarely +furnished with bridges, and of which the fords were known only to those +who might think it for their interest to conceal them, through many +nations inhospitable or hostile; frost and snow around them, (from the +necessity of commencing their flight in the winter,) famine in their +front, and the sabre, or even the artillery of an offended and mighty +empress, hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was +to be their final mark, the port of shelter after so fearful a course +of wandering? Two things were evident: it must be some power at a great +distance from Russia, so as to make return even in that view hopeless; +and it must be a power of sufficient rank to ensure them protection from +any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming them, or +for chastising their revolt. Both conditions were united obviously in +the person of Kien Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was farther +recommended to them by his respect for the head of their religion. To +China, therefore, and as their first rendezvous to the shadow of the +great Chinese Wall, it was settled by Zebek that they should direct +their flight. + +Next came the question of time; _when_ should the flight commence:--and +finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices. +To extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far, was to insure +its betrayal to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the +preparations it was evident that a very extensive confidence must be +made, because in no other way could the mass of the Kalmuck population +be persuaded to furnish their families with the requisite equipments +for so long a migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved to +defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all events, to make no +general communication on the subject until the time of departure should +be definitely settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three +persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning prince, was +almost necessarily one; but him, from his yielding and somewhat feeble +character, he viewed rather in the light of a tool than as one of his +active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an unreserved +participation in his counsels, were two only, the great _Lama_ among the +Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, Erempel, a ruling prince of some +tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian sea, recommended to his favor +not so much by any strength of talent corresponding to the occasion, as +by his blind devotion to himself, and his passionate anxiety to promote +the elevation of his daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a +sovereign prince. A titular prince Zebek already was: but this dignity, +without the substantial accompaniment of a sceptre, seemed but an empty +sound to both of these ambitious rivals. The other accomplice, whose +name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank was that of Lama, or Kalmuck +pontiff, was a person of far more distinguished pretensions; he had +something of the same gloomy and terrific pride which marked the +character of Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, +accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural facility +of dissimulation even more profound. It was by this man that the other +question was settled as to the time for giving effect to their designs. +His own pontifical character had suggested to him, that in order to +strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded men whom +they were to lead into a howling wilderness, after persuading them to +lay desolate their own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they +should be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction of +God for their entire enterprise. This could only be done by addressing +themselves to the great head of their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. +Him they easily persuaded to countenance their schemes: and an oracle +was delivered solemnly at Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate +prosperity would attend this great Exodus unless it were pursued through +the years of the _tiger_ and the _hare_. Now, the Kalmuck custom is to +distinguish their years by attaching to each a denomination taken from +one of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being absolutely +fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course through a period of a +dozen years. Consequently, if the approaching year of the _tiger_ were +suffered to escape them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for +twelve years more, within which period, even were no other unfavorable +changes to arise, it was pretty well foreseen that the Russian +Government would take the most effectual means for bridling their +vagrant propensities by a ring fence of forts or military posts; to say +nothing of the still readier plan for securing their fidelity (a plan +already talked of in all quarters), by exacting a large body of hostages +selected from the families of the most influential nobles. On these +cogent considerations, it was solemnly determined that this terrific +experiment should be made in the next year of the _tiger_, which +happened to fall upon the Christian year 1771. With respect to the +month, there was, unhappily for the Kalmucks, even less latitude +allowed to their choice than with respect to the year. It was absolutely +necessary, or it was thought so, that the different divisions of the +nation, which pastured their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should +have the means of effecting an instantaneous junction; because the +danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the Imperial armies was +precisely the greatest at the outset. Now, from the want of bridges, or +sufficient river craft for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole +means which could be depended upon (especially where so many women, +children, and camels were concerned,) was _ice_: and this, in a state +of sufficient firmness, could not be absolutely counted upon before the +month of January. Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a +whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to +circulate amongst those whom it most interested, before it was even +suspected that any man's wishes pointed in that direction, had been +definitively appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost up +to the Christmas of 1770, the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their +families were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even dreaming +that the _fiat_ had already gone forth from their rulers which consigned +those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned +within them, to a withering desolation, now close at hand. + +Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan. +And, until the time arrived for throwing off their vassalage, it was +necessary that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of martial +aid. Nay, it had unfortunately become prudent that he should contribute +much more than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample evidence +that in some mysterious and unaccountable way no great design is ever +agitated, no matter how few or how faithful may be the participators, +but that some presentiment--some dim misgiving--is kindled amongst +those whom it is chiefly important to blind. And, however it might have +happened, certain it is, that already, when as yet no syllable of the +conspiracy had been breathed to any man whose very existence was +not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless, some vague and uneasy +jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet as to the future schemes of +the Kalmuck Khan: and very probable it is--that, but for the war then +raging, and the consequent prudence of conciliating a very important +vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would powerfully alienate +him, even at that moment such measures would have been adopted as +must for ever have intercepted the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the +jealousies of the Imperial Court, they had not escaped the Machiavelian +eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under their guidance, Oubacha, bending +to the circumstances of the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the +Russian Court with a policy corresponding to their own, strove by +unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's unfavorable impressions. He +enlarged the scale of his contributions; and _that_ so prodigiously, +that he absolutely carried to head-quarters a force of 35,000 cavalry +fully equipped; some go further, and rate the amount beyond 40,000: but +the smaller estimate is, at all events, _within_ the truth. + +With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the Khan +went into the field under great expectations; and these he more than +realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized +and disorderly a description of force as that which at all times +composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along with +his banners; gained many partial successes; and at last, in a pitched +battle, overthrew the Turkish force opposed to him with a loss of 5000 +men left upon the field. + +These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways +against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the +martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire +in whose service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully +appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire, one of the +Paladins around the imperial throne; in China he would be nobody, +or (worse than that) a mendicant-alien, prostrate at the feet, +and soliciting the precarious alms of a prince with whom he had no +connection. Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina, +grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar prince, would +confer upon him such eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor +his hopes upon Russia, and to wean him from every possible seduction. +These were the obvious suggestions of prudence and good sense to every +man who stood neutral in the case. But they were disappointed. The +Czarina knew her obligations to the Khan, but she did not acknowledge +them. Wherefore? That is a mystery, perhaps never to be explained. So +it was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_ ever proclaimed his +merits; and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly recompensed by +Russia, there were others who would have defeated these tendencies +to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the Lama, were pledged +life-deep to prevent any accommodation; and their efforts were +unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the +Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles pre-occupied +with feelings of hatred and blind malice towards the Kalmucks, quite as +strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor towards Russia, and not, +perhaps, so well-founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated the Russian +yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked air of disdain, +as towards a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians, which too +generally marked the Russian bearing and language; but above all, the +insolent contempt, or even outrages which the Russian governors or great +military commandants tolerated in their followers towards the +barbarous religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck +priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the Russian +resentment, and their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or attempt +a feeble retaliation, re-act upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At this +crisis it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing +the splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and +Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian irritation. And it must +have been through the intrigues of those nobles about her person, who +chiefly smarted under these feelings, that the Czarina could ever +have lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this +critical period towards the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was no longer +Elizabeth Petrowna, it was Catharine the Second; a princess who did not +often err so injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for +others) in the measures of her government. She had soon ample reason +for repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it must have +co-operated with the other motives previously acting upon Oubacha in +sustaining his determination to revolt; and how powerfully it must have +assisted the efforts of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds +of their people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by +arming their pride and their suspicions against the Russian Government, +through the keenness of their sympathy with the wrongs of their insulted +prince, may be readily imagined. It is a fact, and it has been +confessed by candid Russians themselves, when treating of this great +dismemberment, that the conduct of the Russian Cabinet throughout the +period of suspense, and during the crisis of hesitation in the Kalmuck +Council, was exactly such as was most desirable for the purposes of +the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as to set the seal to all their +machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and official vouchers for +what could otherwise have been at the most matters of doubtful suspicion +and indirect presumption. + +Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing +their weight so far as not at all to deny the injustice or the impolicy +of the Imperial Ministers, it is contended by many persons who have +reviewed the affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the +case, more especially the letters or minutes of Council subsequently +discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, and the important +evidence of the Russian captive Weseloff, who was carried off by the +Kalmucks in their flight, that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless +for any purpose of impeding, or even of delaying the revolt. He himself, +indeed, was under religious obligations of the most terrific solemnity +never to flinch from the enterprise, or even to slacken in his zeal; +for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting the firmness of his resolution under any +unusual pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest +stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's well known +superstition, to engage him, by means of previous concert with the +priests and their head the Lama, in some dark and mysterious rites of +consecration, terminating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no +Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, as regarded +the personal share of the Khan in what was to come, Zebek was entirely +at his ease: he knew him to be so deeply pledged by religious terrors to +the prosecution of the conspiracy, that no honors within the Czarina's +gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion: and then, as to threats +from the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed against those fears +by others of a gloomier character, and better adapted to his peculiar +temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all bodily +enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and timid +as the most superstitious of old women in facing the frowns of a priest, +or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. But had it +been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady +demeanor on the part of this Prince at the approach of the critical +moment, such were the changes already effected in the state of their +domestic politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of +Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little importance would +have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in +the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of +the Kalmuck sceptre: all measures of importance were submitted to his +discretion; and nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation. +This result he had brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently +simple; first of all, by availing himself of the prejudice in his favor, +so largely diffused amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own +title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a direct line from +Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans, stood upon a +better basis than that of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral branch: +secondly, with respect to that sole advantage which Oubacha possessed +above himself in the ratification of his title, by improving this +difference between their situations to the disadvantage of his +competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept that triumph from an +alien power at the price of his independence, which he himself (as +he would have it understood) disdained to court: thirdly, by his own +talents and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his moral +character: fourthly--and perhaps in an equal degree--by the criminal +facility and good-nature of Oubacha: finally, (which is remarkable +enough, as illustrating the character of the man,) by that very +new modelling of the Sarga or Privy Council, which he had used as a +principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against the Russian +Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the alteration to +the Empress, and he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which +it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the chief of +the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior Sargatchi passed +through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to his +nomination, it may be easily supposed that whatever power existed in the +state capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga under its +new organization, and this body being completely under his influence, +the final result was to throw all the functions of the state, whether +nominally in the Prince or in the council, substantially into the hands +of this one man: whilst, at the same time, from the strict league which +he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders of the spiritual power +were always ready to come in aid of the magistrate, or to supply his +incapacity in cases which he could not reach. + +But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The +day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising +the standard of revolt, and by a combined movement on both sides of the +Wolga for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration, that should +wrap in a common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their +enemies, over the breadth and length of those great provinces in which +their flocks were dispersed. The year of the _tiger_ was now within one +little month of its commencement; the fifth morning of that year was +fixed for the fatal day, when the fortunes and happiness of a whole +nation were to be put upon the hazard of a dicer's throw; and as yet +that nation was in profound ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, such +was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to make the +revelation so urgently required. It was clear, however, that this could +not be delayed; and Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon himself. +But where or how should this notification be made, so as to exclude +Russian hearers? After some deliberation, the following plan was +adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should arrive in furious haste, +one upon the heels of another, reporting a sudden inroad of the +Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant +about one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, +according to immemorial custom, were required to send a separate +representative; and there, accordingly, within three days, all appeared. +The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the rendezvous, the +rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost certain that no +Russian could be present. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did +not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an immense sheet of +parchment, visible from the outermost distance at which any of this vast +crowd could stand; the total number amounted to eighty thousand; all +saw, and many heard. They were told of the oppressions of Russia; of her +pride and haughty disdain, evidenced towards them by a thousand acts; of +her contempt for their religion; of her determination to reduce them to +absolute slavery; of the preliminary measures she had already taken by +erecting forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood; +of the ulterior intentions she thus announced to circumscribe their +pastoral lands, until they would all be obliged to renounce their +flocks, and to collect in towns like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical +and servile trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the +freeborn Tartar had always disdained. 'Then again,' said the subtle +prince, 'she increases her military levies upon our population every +year; we pour out our blood as young men in her defence, or more often +in support of her insolent aggressions; and as old men, we reap nothing +from our sufferings, nor benefit by our survivorship where so many +are sacrificed.' At this point of his harangue, Zebek produced several +papers, (forged, as it is generally believed, by himself and the Lama,) +containing projects of the Russian court for a general transfer of the +eldest sons, taken _en masse_ from the greatest Kalmuck families, to +the Imperial court. 'Now let this be once accomplished,' he argued, +'and there is an end of all useful resistance from that day forwards. +Petitions we might make, or even remonstrances; as men of words, we +might play a bold part; but for deeds, for that sort of language by +which our ancestors were used to speak; holding us by such a chain, +Russia would make a jest of our wishes,--knowing full well that we +should not dare to make any effectual movement.' + +Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast audience, +and having alarmed their fears by this pretended scheme against their +first-born, (an artifice which was indispensable to his purpose, because +it met beforehand _every_ form of amendment to his proposal coming from +the more moderate nobles, who would not otherwise have failed to +insist upon trying the effect of bold addresses to the Empress, before +resorting to any desperate extremity,) Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of +revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt; since any preparations reported +at St. Petersburg would be a signal for the armies of Russia to cross +into such positions from all parts of Asia, as would effectually +intercept their march. It is remarkable, however, that, with all his +audacity and his reliance upon the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks, +the subtle prince did not venture, at this stage of his seduction, to +make so startling a proposal as that of a flight to China. All that he +held out for the present was a rapid march to the Temba or some other +great river, which they were to cross, and to take up a strong position +on the further bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security, +they could hold a bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would +have a better chance of winning a favorable audience. + +These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed +by acclamation; and all returned homewards, to push forward with the +most furious speed the preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid +and energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree they became +noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to be intermingled +with the different hordes, either on commercial errands, or as agents +officially from the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a +diplomatic character. + +Amongst these last (indeed at the head of them) was a Russian of some +distinction, by name Kichinskoi, a man memorable for his vanity, and +memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. This +Kichinskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook the +conduct of the Kalmucks; he was styled the _Grand Pristaw_, or Great +Commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes +by this title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political +_surveillant_, combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, gave +him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might have given him a +far greater, had not his outrageous self-conceit, and his arrogant +confidence in his own authority, as due chiefly to his personal +qualities for command, led him into such harsh displays of power, and +menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon made him an object +of their profoundest malice. He had publicly insulted the Khan; and upon +making a communication to him to the effect that some reports began to +circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in agitation to +fly from the Imperial dominions, he had ventured to say,--'But this you +dare not attempt; I laugh at such rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to +the Empress; for you are a chained bear, and that you know.' The Khan +turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and the Pristaw, foaming +at the mouth, continued to utter, amongst those of the Khan's attendants +who staid behind, to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded +passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could suggest to the most +presumptuous of fools. It was now ascertained that suspicions _had_ +arisen; but at the same time it was ascertained that the Pristaw spoke +no more than the truth in representing himself to have discredited these +suspicions. The fact was, that the mere infatuation of vanity made +him believe that nothing could go on undetected by his all-piercing +sagacity, and that no rebellion could prosper when rebuked by his +commanding presence. The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, +confiding in the obstinate blindness of the Grand Pristaw as in their +perfect safeguard; and such it proved--to his own ruin, as well as that +of myriads beside. + +Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier upon courier +came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. Petersburg, +assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks were in the +very crisis of departure. These despatches came from the Governor of +Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to Kichinskoi. Now, it +happened that between this governor--a Russian named Beketoff--and the +Pristaw had been an ancient feud. The very name of Beketoff inflamed +his resentment; and no sooner did he see that hated name attached to +the despatch, than he felt himself confirmed in his former views with +tenfold bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of the most pointed +ridicule, against the new alarmist, pledging his own head upon the +visionariness of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not to be put down +by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he persisted in his statements: the +Russian Ministry were confounded by the obstinacy of the disputants; and +some were beginning even to treat the Governor of Astrachan as a bore, +and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors, when the memorable day +arrived, the fatal 5th of January, which for ever terminated the +dispute, and put a seal upon the earthly hopes and fortunes of +unnumbered myriads. The Governor of Astrachan was the first to hear the +news. Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant vengeance, +and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his sledge, and, at the rate of +three hundred miles a day, pursued his route to St. Petersburg, rushed +into the Imperial presence,--announced the total realization of his +worst predictions,--and upon the confirmation of this intelligence +by subsequent despatches from many different posts on the Wolga, he +received an imperial commission to seize the person of his deluded +enemy, and to keep him in strict captivity. These orders were eagerly +fulfilled, and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards expired of +grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon; a victim +to his own immeasurable vanity, and the blinding self-delusions of a +presumption that refused all warning. + +The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps +even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness with which the verification +followed his reports. Precisely on the 5th of January, the day so +solemnly appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the Kalmucks +on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn of day +assembling by troops and squadrons, and in the tumultuous movement of +some great morning of battle. Tens of thousands continued moving off the +ground at every half-hour's interval. Women and children, to the amount +of two hundred thousand and upwards, were placed upon wagons, or upon +camels, and drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once--placed under +suitable escorts, and continually swelled in numbers by other outlying +bodies of the horde who kept falling in at various distances upon the +first and second day's march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those +who were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the tribes, +with purposes of devastation and plunder more violent than prudence +justified, or the amiable character of the Khan could be supposed to +approve. But in this, as in other instances, he was completely overruled +by the malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest of +the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself upon their own +habitations. But this, as cutting off all infirm looking backward from +the hardships of their march, had been thought so necessary a measure by +all the chieftains, that even Oubacha himself was the first to authorize +the act by his own example. He seized a torch previously prepared with +materials the most durable as well as combustible, and steadily applied +it to the timbers of his own palace. Nothing was saved from the general +wreck except the portable part of the domestic utensils, and that part +of the woodwork which could be applied to the manufacture of the +long Tartar lances. This chapter in their memorable day's work being +finished, and the whole of their villages throughout a district of ten +thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the Tartars waited for +further orders. + +These, it was intended, should have taken a character of valedictory +vengeance, and thus have left behind to the Czarina a dreadful +commentary upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose +of Zebek-Dorchi that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of +every description, should be given up to pillage and destruction, and +such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants as might naturally +be expected from a fierce people already infuriated by the spectacle +of their own outrages, and by the bloody retaliations which they must +necessarily have provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, was +happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at the very +crisis of departure. It has been mentioned already that the motive for +selecting the depth of winter as the season of flight (which otherwise +was obviously the very worst possible) had been the impossibility of +effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on the west of +the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of ice. +For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had consented to aggravate +by a thousandfold the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight over +boundless tracts of country with women, children, and herds of +cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet, after all, it was lost. +The reason never has been explained satisfactorily, but the fact was +such. Some have said that the signals were not properly concerted +for marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying +whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks might not have +been suddenly interrupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed +that the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river, +and might even be generally insecure for the treading of heavy and +heavily-laden animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is, that +some accidental movements on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops +in the neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really having no +reference to them or their plans, had been construed into certain +signs that all was discovered; and that the prudence of the Western +chieftains, who, from situation, had never been exposed to those +intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of the +Eastern tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin. Be the +cause what it might, it is certain that the Western Kalmucks were +in some way prevented from forming the intended junction with their +brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was, that at least one +hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia. This +accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors universally from +the desolation which else awaited them. One general massacre and +conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the utter +extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had it +not been for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not +dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren under the first +impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy; for +as they were well aware of too many circumstances by which she might +discover the concurrence of the Western people in the general scheme of +revolt, they justly feared that she would thence infer their concurrence +also in the bloody events which marked its outset. + +Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for +gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which at +the moment they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed the +thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren +in the first month of their sad flight, they would have blessed Heaven +for their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of the first month +were but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of those which +afterwards succeeded. + +For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the +most extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and +daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying +nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, may have +inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the desolation +would be sudden--like the flight of volleying lightning. Those who were +spared at first would generally be spared to the end; those who perished +would perish instantly. It is possible that the French retreat from +Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this calamity in duration, +though still a feeble and miniature approach; for the French sufferings +did not commence in good earnest until about one month from the time of +leaving Moscow; and though it is true that afterwards the vials of wrath +were emptied upon the devoted army for six or seven weeks in succession, +yet what is that to this Kalmuck tragedy, which lasted for more than as +many months? But the main feature of horror, by which the Tartar march +was distinguished from the French, lies in the accompaniment of women +[Footnote: Singular it is, and not generally known, that Grecian women +accompanied the _Anabasis_ of the younger Cyrus and the subsequent +Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Xenophon affirms that there were 'many' +women in the Greek army--pollai aesun etairai en tosratenaeazi; and in +a late stage of that trying expedition it is evident that women were +amongst the survivors.] and children. There were both, it is true, with +the French army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the +total numbers concerned. The French, in short, were merely an army--a +host of professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed, and +whose regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a +nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty thousand +women and children, utterly unequal, for the most part, to any contest +with the calamities before them. The Children of Israel were in the same +circumstances as to the accompaniment of their families; but they were +released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very early stage of +their flight; and their subsequent residence in the Desert was not a +march, but a continued halt, and under a continued interposition of +Heaven for their comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however +comprehensive in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's duration. A +much nearer approach made to the wide range and the long duration of the +Kalmuck tragedy may have been in a pestilence such as that which visited +Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the reign of Charles II. +There also the martyrs were counted by myriads, and the period of the +desolation was counted by months. But, after all, the total amount +of destruction was on a smaller scale; and there was this feature of +alleviation to the _conscious_ pressure of the calamity--that the misery +was withdrawn from public notice into private chambers and hospitals. +The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his son, taken in its entire +circumstances, comes nearest of all--for breadth and depth of suffering, +for duration, for the exasperation of the suffering from without by +internal feuds, and, finally, for that last most appalling expression of +the furnace-heat of the anguish in its power to extinguish the natural +affections even of maternal love. But, after all, each case had +circumstances of romantic misery peculiar to itself--circumstances +without precedent, and (wherever human nature is ennobled by +Christianity) it may be confidently hoped--never to be repeated. + +The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be +encouraged, was the river Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles +from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and if the march thither +was to be a forced one, and a severe one, it was alleged on the other +hand that the suffering would be the more brief and transient; one +summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced +the march was, and severe beyond example: there the forewarning +proved correct; but the promised rest proved a mere phantom of the +wilderness--a visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes, +across these interminable solitudes, for seven months of hardship and +calamity, without a pause. These sufferings, by their very nature, and +the circumstances under which they arose, were (like the scenery of the +_Steppes_) somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external features: +what variety, however, there was, will be most naturally exhibited +by tracing historically the successive stages of the general misery, +exactly as it unfolded itself under the double agency of weakness still +increasing from within, and hostile pressure from without. Viewed in +this manner, under the real order of development, it is remarkable that +these sufferings of the Tartars, though under the moulding hands of +accident, arrange themselves almost with a scenical propriety. They seem +combined, as with the skill of an artist; the intensity of the misery +advancing regularly with the advances of the march, and the stages of +the calamity corresponding to the stages of the route; so that, upon +raising the curtain which veils the great catastrophe, we behold one +vast climax of anguish, towering upwards by regular gradations, as if +constructed artificially for picturesque effect:--a result which might +not have been surprising, had it been reasonable to anticipate the same +rate of speed, and even an accelerated rate, as prevailing through the +later stages of the expedition. But it seemed, on the contrary, most +reasonable to calculate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion +according to the increasing distance from the head-quarters of +the pursuing enemy. This calculation, however, was defeated by the +extraordinary circumstance, that the Russian armies did not begin +to close in very fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had +accomplished a distance of full two thousand miles; one thousand miles +further on the assaults became even more tumultuous and murderous; and +already the great shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when +the frenzy and _acharnement_ of the pursuers, and the bloody desperation +of the miserable fugitives had reached its uttermost extremity. Let us +briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending +steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route +marked out by the central rivers of Asia. + +The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; +the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days. +For the first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about +forty-three English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing; +and, at a more moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been +accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy as the Kalmucks: +as it was, the cattle suffered greatly from overdriving: milk began to +fail even for the children: the sheep perished by wholesale: and the +children themselves were saved only by the innumerable camels. + +The Cossacks, who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik, were the first among +the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. Great +was their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great also +their consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by far the +greater part of their number was absent during the winter months at the +fisheries upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to surprise at the most +exposed points, fled in crowds to the fortress of Koulagina, which was +immediately invested, and summoned by Oubacha. He had, however, in his +train only a few light pieces of artillery; and the Russian commandant +at Koulagina, being aware of the hurried circumstances in which the +Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge, as it were, of +a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these considerations to a more +obstinate resistance than might else have been advisable, with an enemy +so little disposed to observe the usages of civilized warfare. The +period of his anxiety was not long: on the fifth day of the siege, he +descried from the walls a succession of Tartar couriers, mounted upon +fleet Bactrian camels, crossing the vast plains around the fortress at a +furious pace, and riding into the Kalmuck encampment at various points. +Great agitation appeared immediately to follow; orders were soon after +despatched in all directions: and it became speedily known that upon a +distant flank of the Kalmuck movement a bloody and exterminating battle +had been fought the day before, in which one entire tribe of the Khan's +dependents, numbering not less than nine thousand fighting men, had +perished to the last man. This was the _ouloss_, or clan, called +_Feka-Zechorr_, between whom and the Cossacks there was a feud of +ancient standing. In selecting, therefore, the points of attack, on +occasion of the present hasty inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally +eager so to direct their efforts as to combine with the service of the +Empress some gratification to their own party hatreds; more especially +as the present was likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if +the Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated as +large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances allowed, they attacked +the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation which denied to it all means +for communicating with Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding an ample +range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast flocks and +herds, had separated this _ouloss_ from the Khan's head-quarters by an +interval of eighty miles: and thus it was, and not from oversight, that +it came to be thrown entirely upon its own resources. These had proved +insufficient; retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and +camels, no less than from the prodigious encumbrances of their live +stock, was absolutely out of the question: quarter was disdained on the +one side, and would not have been granted on the other; and thus it had +happened that the setting sun of that one day (the 13th from the first +opening of the revolt) threw his parting rays upon the final agonies of +an ancient _ouloss_, stretched upon a bloody field, who on that day's +dawning had held and styled themselves an independent nation. + +Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the +Khan's encampment by this disastrous intelligence; not so much on +account of the numbers slain, or the total extinction of a powerful +ally, as because the position of the Cossack force was likely to put to +hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard, and +hold them in check, until the heavier columns of the Russian army should +arrive upon their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised; +and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and their +children, once again resounded through the tents--the signal for flight, +and this time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one hundred and +fifty miles ahead of their present position, there arose a tract of +hilly country, forming a sort of margin to the vast, sea-like expanse +of champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy deserts, which +stretched away on each side of this margin both eastwards and westwards. +Pretty nearly in the centre of this hilly range, lay a narrow defile, +through which passed the nearest and the most practicable route to the +river Torgai (the further bank of which river offered the next great +station of security for a general halt.) It was the more essential to +gain this pass before the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the +delay in forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing columns for +combining their attacks and for bringing up their artillery, but also +because (even if all enemies in pursuit were thrown out of the question) +it was held by those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure +geography of these pathless steppes--that the loss of this one narrow +strait amongst the hills would have the effect of throwing them (as +their only alternative in a case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was +required) upon a circuit of at least five hundred miles extra; besides +that, after all, this circuitous route would carry them to the Torgai at +a point ill fitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The defile +in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and yet, unless they +moved upon it with the velocity of light cavalry, there was little +chance but it would be found pre-occupied by the Cossacks. They, it is +true, had suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with their +enemies; but the excitement of victory, and the intense sympathy with +their unexampled triumph, had again swelled their ranks--and would +probably act with the force of a vortex to draw in their simple +countrymen from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of pre-occupation +was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching upon an oblique line +not above fifty miles longer than that which led to the same point from +the Kalmuck head-quarters before Koulagina: and therefore without the +most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not a chance +for them, burdened and 'trashed' [Footnote: _'Trashed'_--This is an +expressive word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Bonduca, etc., to +describe the case of a person retarded and embarrassed in flight, or in +pursuit, by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable to +be left behind.] as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as +the Cossacks in seizing this important pass. + +Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition +of the case. For they easily understood that too capital an interest +(the _summa rerum_) was now at stake to allow of any regard to +minor interests, or what would be considered such in their present +circumstances. The dreadful week already passed,--their inauguration in +misery,--was yet fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffering were +impressed not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons and +the persons of their children. And they knew that where no speed had +much chance of meeting the cravings of the chieftains, no test would +be accepted, short of absolute exhaustion, that as much had been +accomplished as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive, +has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the women and elder boys +assisted in drawing the tent-ropes. On the 5th of January all had been +animation, and the joyousness of indefinite expectation: now, on the +contrary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to take an +amended calculation of what it was that lay before them. + +One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight +continued: the sufferings had been greater than before: for the cold had +been more intense: and many perished out of the living creatures through +every class, except only the camels--whose powers of endurance seemed +equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, brought +an alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall: and though not +deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would be so; and +that, as a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no plan could +be better than that of staying where they were: especially as the same +cause would check the advance of the Cossacks. Here then was the last +interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy nation during their +whole migration. For ten days the snow continued to fall with little +intermission. At the end of that time keen bright frosty weather +succeeded: the drifting had ceased: in three days the smooth expanse +became firm enough to support the treading of the camels, and the flight +was recommenced. But during the halt much domestic comfort had been +enjoyed: and for the last time universal plenty. The cows and oxen had +perished in such vast numbers on the previous marches, that an order was +now issued to turn what remained to account by slaughtering the whole, +and salting whatever part should be found to exceed the immediate +consumption. This measure led to a scene of general banqueting and even +of festivity amongst all who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions +by distress of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the few last +days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy future. Seventy thousand persons +of all ages had already perished; exclusively of the many thousand +allies who had been cut down by the Cossack sabre. And the losses in +reversion were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to arrive +from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom the Khan had despatched +to the rear and to each flank as well as in advance, that large masses +of the Imperial troops were converging from all parts of Central Asia +to the fords of the river Torgai as the most convenient point for +intercepting the flying tribes: and it was already well known that a +powerful division was close in their rear, and was retarded only by +the numerous artillery which had been judged necessary to support their +operations. New motives were thus daily arising for quickening the +motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting those who were +previously but too much exhausted. + +It was not until the 2d day of February that the Khan's advanced guard +came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, +in which they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A +pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, pre-occupied the +pass by some hours; but the Khan having too great advantages, namely, +a strong body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on +about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which +he had not yet been forced to abandon, soon began to make a serious +impression upon this unsupported detachment; and they would probably at +any rate have retired; but at the very moment when they were making some +dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear with +a body of trained riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in the war +with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the cliffs +which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the dry beds of the +summer torrents, and other inequalities of the ground, to conceal their +movement. Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack +files; the Khan, who had been waiting with the _elite_ of his heavy +cavalry, charged furiously upon them; total overthrow followed to the +Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some measure avenged the +recent bloody extermination of their allies, the ancient _ouloss_ of +Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were unable to support +the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of trained _cameleers_ +(that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were, but +not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight; and their +extraordinary efforts through the last few days to gain their present +position, had greatly diminished their powers for effecting an escape. +Very few, in fact, _did_ escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim became as +memorable amongst the Cossacks as that which, about twenty days before, +had signalized the complete annihilation of the Faka-Zechorr. [Footnote: +There was another _ouloss_ equally strong with that of _Feka-Zechorr_, +viz., that of Erketunn, under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom +some obligations of treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general +conspiracy of revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means +to assure the Governor of Astrachan, on the first outbreak of the +insurrection, that their real wishes were for maintaining the old +connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit +was intrusted, had instructions to act cautiously and according to +circumstances on coming up with them. The result was, through the +prudent management of Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising +their pride or independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied +the Cossacks; and eventually both chiefs and people received from the +Czarina the rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity.] + +The road was now open to the river Igritch, and as yet even far beyond +it to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue, was +every day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a +large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon the +Torgau, under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to be +joined on his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the +same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks--both +exasperated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which Oubacha +and Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as +served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore with +submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been imposed; +and, accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present occasion +offered to their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of +their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time a message +significantly declaring in what spirit they meant to execute them, viz., +'That they would not trouble her Majesty with prisoners.' + +Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks +with the regular armies of Russia, and concurrently with nations as +fierce and semi-humanized as themselves, besides that they were stung +into threefold activity by the furies of mortified pride and military +abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more +especially the artillery, of Russia, were far too overwhelming to permit +the thought of a regular opposition in pitched battles, even with a less +dilapidated state of their resources than they could reasonably expect +at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In their speed lay their +only hope--in strength of foot, as before, and not in strength of arm. +Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, marking the lines of their +wide-extending march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a +never-ending chain of corpses. The old and the young, the sick man on +his couch, the mother with her baby--all were left behind. Sights such +as these, with the many rueful aggravations incident to the helpless +condition of infancy--of disease and of female weakness abandoned to +the wolves amidst a howling wilderness, continued to track their course +through a space of full two thousand miles; for so much at the least, +it was likely to prove, including the circuits to which they were often +compelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of starting on the +Wolga until they could reach their destined halting-ground on the +east bank of the Torgau. For the first seven weeks of this march their +sufferings had been embittered by the excessive severity of the cold; +and every night--so long as wood was to be had for fires, either from +the lading of the camels, or from the desperate sacrifice of their +baggage-wagons, or (as occasionally happened) from the forests which +skirted the banks of the many rivers which crossed their path--no +spectacle was more frequent than that of a circle, composed of men, +women, and children, gathered by hundreds round a central fire, all dead +and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads were left behind from +pure exhaustion of whom none had a chance, under the combined evils +which beset them, of surviving through the next twenty-four hours. +Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute; the vast extent +of the march at length brought them into more genial latitudes, and the +unusual duration of the march was gradually bringing them into the +more genial seasons of the year: Two thousand miles had at least been +traversed; February, March, April were gone; the balmy month of May had +opened; vernal sights and sounds came from every side to comfort the +heart-weary travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, they +crossed the Torgau, and took up a position where they hoped to find +liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort as well as in +security, and to draw such supplies from the fertile neighborhood as +might restore their shattered forces to a condition for executing, with +less of wreck and ruin, the large remainder of the journey. + +Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been +completed, but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific +sacrifice of at least two hundred and fifty thousand souls, to say +nothing of herds and flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: +ox, cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived--only the +camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of some +antediluvian animals, without the affections or sensibilities of flesh +and blood--these only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern +heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this long tempest +of trial unscathed and unharmed. The Khan, knowing how much he was +individually answerable for the misery which had been sustained, must +have wept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes when he threw his +eyes over the myriads whom he had assembled: for the tears of Xerxes +were unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in his power +he resolved to make by sacrifices to the general good of all personal +regards; and accordingly, even at this point of their advance, he once +more deliberately brought under review the whole question of the revolt. +The question was formally debated before the Council, whether, even at +this point, they should untread their steps, and, throwing themselves +upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old allegiance? In that +case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become the scapegoat for the +general transgression. This, he argued, was no fantastic scheme, but +even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited and sacred power of the +Khan, so well known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to +attribute any separate responsibility to the people--upon the Khan +rested the guilt, upon the Khan would descend the Imperial vengeance. +This proposal was applauded for its generosity, but was energetically +opposed by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole journey of two +thousand miles? Was their misery to perish without fruit; true it was +that they had yet reached only the half-way house; but, in that respect, +the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for advance. Either way +they would have pretty nearly the same distance to traverse, but +with this difference--that, forwards, their rout lay through lands +comparatively fertile--backwards, through a blasted wilderness, rich +only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to Kalmuck eyes by the +trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the Empress might accept +an excuse for the past, would she the less forbear to suspect for the +future? The Czarina's _pardon_ they might obtain, but could they +ever hope to recover her _confidence_? Doubtless there would now be a +standing presumption against them, an immortal ground of jealousy; and +a jealous government would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally, +whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt surely remained +unimpaired by anything that had occurred. In reality the revolt was, +after all, no revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return to their old +allegiance, since, not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz., in +the year 1616,) their ancestors had revolted from the Emperor of China. +They had now tried both governments; and for them China was the land of +promise, and Russia the house of bondage. + +Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the +people was strongly in behalf of the Khan's proposal; the pardon of +their prince, they persuaded themselves, would be readily conceded by +the Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time have +thrown themselves gladly upon the Imperial mercy; when suddenly all was +defeated by the arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had +reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the 12th of +April; thence he set forwards towards Oriembourg, which he reached +upon the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at various times +through the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand +Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official offer to +the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory, holding out no specific +stipulations as to pardon or impunity, and exacting unconditional +submission as the preliminary price of any cessation from military +operations. The personal character of Traubenberg, which was anything +but energetic, and the condition of his army, disorganized in a great +measure by the length and severity of the march, made it probable that, +with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone would have +been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister events occurred +in the meantime, such as effectually put an end to every hope of the +kind. + +The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this +officer that a distance of only ten days' march lay between his own +head-quarters and those of the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the +Kirghises, by their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the +Russian general to advance without delay. Once having placed his cannon +in position, so as to command the Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel +Khan and his people would be in his own hands; and they would themselves +form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however, _why_ has not been +certainly explained, refused to march, grounding his refusal upon the +condition of his army, and their absolute need of refreshment. Long +and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing no chance of +prevailing, and dreading above all other events the escape of their +detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off in a body by forced +marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their +horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed for many a league +in search of food or provender for their camels. The first day's action +was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field +of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often breaking up into +three or four, and again (according to the accidents of ground) three or +four blending into one; flight and pursuit, rescue and total overthrow, +going on simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in all quarters of +the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged, by the scattered +state of the Kalmucks, to split up into innumerable sections; and thus, +for some hours, it had been impossible for the most practised eye to +collect the general tendency of the day's fortune. Both the Khan and +Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners, and more than once in +imminent danger of being cut down; but at length Zebek succeeded in +rallying a strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the +camel-corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds, +however, of these wild cavalry continued to arrive through the next two +days and nights, followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being +viewed as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kalmuck +chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it +happened that a retreat, which had so recently been brought to a +pause, was resumed at the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were +anticipating a deep repose without further molestation, the whole summer +through. + +It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to +the Kalmucks; and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they +were rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of +summer's heat could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this +sequel of their story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing +a little romantic episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha +and his unprincipled cousin Zebek-Dorchi. + +There was at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian +gentleman of some rank at the court of the Khan, whom, for political +reasons, it was thought necessary to carry along with them as a captive. +For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in one or +two instances cruel. But, as the increasing distance was continually +diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as the misery of +the guards gradually withdrew their attention from all minor interests +to their own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody grew +more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a petition to the Khan, Mr. +Weseloff was formally restored to liberty; and it was understood that +he might use his liberty in whatever way he chose, even for returning +to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he was making active +preparations for his journey to St. Petersburg, when it occurred to +Zebek-Dorchi that, not improbably, in some of the battles which were +then anticipated with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to lose some +prisoner of rank, in which case the Russian Weseloff would be a pledge +in their hands for negotiating an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own +severe affliction, the Russian was detained until the further pleasure +of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was used through the whole affair, +but, as it seemed, with so little concurrence on his part, that, when +Weseloff in a private audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice +done him, and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by setting +him at liberty, and, as it were, tempting him into dreams of home +and restored happiness only for the purpose of blighting them, the +good-natured prince disclaimed all participation in the affair, and went +so far in proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to effect +his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing it without raising +suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr. Weseloff that he had just then +received a message from the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a +private interview on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out; that +interview was arranged for the coming night; and Mr. Weseloff might +go in the Khan's _suite_, which on either side was not to exceed three +persons. Weseloff was a prudent man, acquainted with the world, and +he read treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by the +Khan--treachery against the Khan's person. He mused a little, and then +communicated so much of his suspicions to the Khan as might put him on +his guard; but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to decline +the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact was, that three Kalmucks, +who had strong motives for returning to their countrymen on the west +bank of the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered to +join him in his escape. These men the Khan would probably find himself +obliged to countenance in their project; so that it became a point +of honor with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to +accomplish the evasion from the camp, (of which the first steps only +would be hazardous,) without risking the notice of the Khan. + +The district in which they were now encamped abounded, through many +hundred miles, with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each +of the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited +creatures in the course of the last few days; this raised no suspicion; +for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of provision +against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These horses +were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets which +lined the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at night, +the four fugitives repaired; they took a circuitous path, which drew +them as little as possible within danger of challenge from any of the +outposts or of the patrols which had been established on the quarters +where the Bashkirs lay; and in three quarters of an hour they reached +the rendezvous. The moon had now risen, the horses were unfastened, and +they were in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the woods +was disturbed by a violent uproar, and the clashing of arms. Weseloff +fancied that he heard the voice of the Khan shouting for assistance. +He remembered the communication made by that prince in the morning; and +requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in the direction +of the sound. A very short distance brought him to an open glade in the +wood, where he beheld four men contending with a party of at least +nine or ten. Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of +Weseloff's arrival; one of these he recognized almost certainly as the +Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, but at great disadvantage, with two +of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff +fired, and brought down one of the two. His companions discharged their +carbines at the same moment, and then all rushed simultaneously into +the little open area. The thundering sound of about thirty horses, all +rushing at once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a whole +troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assailants; who, accordingly, +wheeled about and fled with one impulse. Weseloff advanced to the +dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, proved to be the Khan. The +man whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were shocked, though +Weseloff at least was not surprised, on stooping down and scrutinizing +his features, to recognize a well known confidential servant of +Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. The Khan rode off, +escorted by Weseloff and his companions, and for some time a dead +silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was delicate and critical; +to leave the Khan at this point was probably to cancel their recent +services; for he might be again crossed on his path, and again attacked +by the very party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on the +other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the chances of +accomplishing the escape. The Khan also was apparently revolving +all this in his mind, for at length he broke silence, and said--'I +comprehend your situation; and, under other circumstances, I might feel +it my duty to detain your companions. But it would ill become me to do +so after the important service you have just rendered me. Let us turn a +little to the left. There, where you see the watchfire, is an outpost. +Attend me so far. I am then safe. You may turn and pursue your +enterprise; for the circumstances under which you will appear, as my +escort, are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for the present. +I regret having no better means at my disposal for testifying my +gratitude. But tell me, before we part, was it accident only which led +you to my rescue? Or had you acquired any knowledge of the plot by which +I was decoyed into this snare?' Weseloff answered very candidly that +mere accident had brought him to the spot at which he heard the +uproar, but that _having_ heard it, and connecting it with the Khan's +communication of the morning, he had then designedly gone after the +sound in a way which he certainly should not have done at so critical +a moment, unless in the expectation of finding the Khan assaulted by +assassins. A few minutes after they reached the outpost at which it +became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain; and immediately the four +fugitives commenced a flight which is perhaps without a parallel in the +annals of travelling. Each of them led six or seven horses besides the +one he rode; and by shifting from one to the other (like the ancient +_Desultors_ of the Roman circus,) so as never to burden the same horse +for more than half an hour at a time, they continued to advance at +the rate of two hundred miles in the twenty-four hours for three days +consecutively. After that time, considering themselves beyond pursuit, +they proceeded less rapidly; though still with a velocity which +staggered the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was, +however, a man of high principle, and always adhered firmly to the +details of his printed report. One of the circumstances there stated is, +that they continued to pursue the route by which the Kalmucks had +fled, never for an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the +skeletons and other memorials of their calamities. In particular, he +mentions vast heaps of money as part of the valuable property which +it had been necessary to sacrifice. These heaps were found lying still +untouched in the deserts. From these, Weseloff and his companions took +as much as they could conveniently carry; and this it was, with the +price of their beautiful horses, which they afterwards sold at one of +the Russian military settlements for about Ł15 a-piece, which eventually +enabled them to pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as +regarded Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe. +He was at that time young, and the only child of a doating mother. Her +affliction under the violent abduction of her son had been excessive, +and probably had undermined her constitution. Still she had supported +it. Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial +affection, had imprudently posted through Russia, to his mother's +house without warning of his approach. He rushed precipitately into her +presense; and she, who had stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal +to the shock of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon the spot. + +We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. These it would +be useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand +miles of suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering +was even more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but +also more severe. Its main elements were excessive heat, with the +accompaniments of famine and thirst, but aggravated at every step by +the murderous attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the +Kirghises. + +These people, 'more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,' stuck to the +unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of enraged hornets. And very often whilst +_they_ were attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and +flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people of the country +which they were traversing; and with good reason, since the law of +self-preservation had now obliged the fugitive Tartars to plunder +provisions, and to forage wherever they passed. In this respect their +condition was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for, sometimes, +pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred +miles, in order to strike into a land rich in the comforts of life; but +in such a land they were sure to find a crowded population, of which +every arm was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the advantages +of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of all the +defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges. Sometimes, again, +wearied out with this mode of suffering, they took a circuit of +perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land with few or +no inhabitants. But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute +starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of +starvation, whether with or without this plague of hostility in front, +whatever might he the 'fierce varieties' of their misery in this +respect, no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet +atra cura_; it was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. And, +upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented in the +history of mankind. Private and personal malignity is not unfrequently +immortal; but rare indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice +in a nation. And what embittered the interest was, that the malice was +reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon equal terms; but that +equality only sharpened the sense of their dire inequality as to other +circumstances. The Bashkirs were ready to fight 'from morn to dewy eve.' +The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to run; was it _from_ +their enemies, as creatures whom they feared? No; but _towards_ their +friends--towards that final haven of China--as what was hourly implored +by their wives, and the tears of their children. But though they fled +unwillingly, too often they fled in vain--being unwillingly recalled. +There lay the torment. Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day +the same unprofitable battle was renewed; as a matter of course, the +Kalmucks recalled part of their advanced guard to fight them; every day +the battle raged for hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no +sooner did the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that +the Kalmuck march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired +into the boundless deserts where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the +Kalmucks resolved to press forward, regardless of their enemies, in that +case their attacks became so fierce and overwhelming, that the general +safety seemed likely to be brought into question; nor could any +effectual remedy be applied to the case, even for each separate day, +except by a most embarrassing halt, and by countermarches, that, to men +in their circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not +be surprising, that the irritation of such a systematic persecution, +superadded to a previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the +stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual +vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into the +wildest expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before +the frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both sides had +assumed the appearance much more of a warfare amongst wild beasts than +amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims +of a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it was that of a +host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends. + +On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the +Emperor of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier +district lying on the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred square +leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in woods of +ancient growth, and overrun with game of every description. In a +central spot of this solitary region, the Emperor had built a gorgeous +hunting-lodge, to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief +from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of game, he had +rambled to a distance of two hundred miles or more from this lodge, +followed at a little distance by a sufficient military escort, and every +night pitching his tent in a different situation, until at length he +had arrived on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia. +[Footnote: All the circumstances are learned from a long state paper +upon the subject of this Kalmuck migration, drawn up in the Chinese +language by the Emperor himself. Parts of this paper have been +translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor states the whole +motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great length.] Here he +was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, enjoying +the morning sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there arose a vast +cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be +slowly diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By-and-by +this vast sheet of mist began to thicken towards the horizon, and to +roll forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite assembled from all +quarters. The silver trumpets were sounded in the rear, and from all the +glades and forest avenues began to trot forward towards the pavilion the +yagers, half cavalry, half huntsmen, who composed the Imperial escort. +Conjecture was on the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon, +and the interest continually increased, in proportion as simple +curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain danger. At +first it had been imagined that some vast troops of deer, or other wild +animals of the chase, had been disturbed in their forest haunts by the +Emperor's movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey, and +might be fetching a compass by way of re-entering the forest grounds +at some remoter points secure from molestation. But this conjecture was +dissipated by the slow increase of the cloud, and the steadiness of its +motion. In the course of two hours the vast phenomenon had advanced to a +point which was judged to be within five miles of the spectators, though +all calculations of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when +applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next +hour, during which the gentle morning breeze had a little freshened, +the dusty vapor had developed itself far and wide into the appearance +of huge aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the +earth; and at particular points, where the eddies of the breeze acted +upon the pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains rents were perceived, +sometimes taking the form of regular arches, portals, and windows, +through which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 'indorsed' +[Footnote: _Camels 'indorsed;'_--'And elephants indorsed with towers.' +MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.] with human beings--and at intervals the +moving of men and horses, in tumultuous array--and then, through other +openings or vistas, at far distant points, the flashing of polished +arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened or died away, all those +openings, of whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and +for a time the whole pageant was shut up from view; although the growing +din, the clamors, the shrieks and groans, ascending from infuriated +myriads, reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, what was going +on behind the cloudy screen. + +It was in fact the Kalmuck host, now in the last extremities of their +exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation +and intense misery, beyond which few or none could have lived, but also, +happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final +stage of their long pilgrimage, at which they would meet hospitality on +a scale of royal magnificence, and full protection from their enemies. +These enemies, however, as yet still were hanging on their rear as +fiercely as ever, though this day was destined to be the last of their +hideous persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward couriers with +all the requisite statements and petitions, addressed to the Emperor +of China. These had been duly received, and preparations made in +consequence to welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence. +But as these couriers had been despatched from the Torgau at the moment +of arrival thither, and before the advance of Traubenberg had made +it necessary for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the +Emperor had not looked for their arrival on their frontier until full +three months after the present time. The Khan had indeed expressly +notified his intention to pass the summer heats on the banks of the +Torgau, and to recommence his retreat about the beginning of September. +The subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long, left him for +some time in doubt as to the true interpretation to be put upon this +mighty apparition in the desert; but at length the savage clamors of +hostile fury, and the clangor of weapons, unveiled to the Emperor the +true nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely +precipitated the Kalmuck measure. + +Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived +that the first act of his fatherly care for these erring children (as +he esteemed them) now returning to their ancient obedience, must be--to +deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than +might have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well +appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment of artillery, who always +attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime it +occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to the +Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy; and accordingly +he was induced to retire a little to the rear. It soon appeared, +however, to those who watched the vapory shroud in the desert, that +its motion was not such as would argue the direction of the march to +be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in a diagonal line, making an +angle of full forty-five degrees with that line in which the Imperial +_cortčge_ had been standing, and therefore with a distance continually +increasing. Those who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks were +making for a large fresh-water lake about seven or eight miles distant; +they were right; and to that point the Imperial cavalry was ordered up; +and it was precisely in that spot, and about three hours after and at +noon-day on the 8th of September, that the great Exodus of the Kalmuck +Tartars was brought to a final close, and with a scene of such memorable +and hellish fury, as formed an appropriate winding-up to an expedition +in all its parts and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not +personally present, or at least he saw whatever he _did_ see from too +great a distance to discriminate its individual features; but he records +in his written memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of +his own officers. + +The lake of Tengis, near the frightful desert of Kobi, lay in a hollow +amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three +thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese +cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like dip +in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. From this pass, +elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, they +continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour +and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were compelled to +be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. The Kalmucks, +reduced by this time from about six hundred thousand souls to two +hundred thousand, and after enduring for two months and a half the +miseries we have previously described--outrageous heat, famine, and the +destroying scimitar of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs, had for the last +ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were seen +of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found. Camels and men were +already so overladen, that it was a mere impossibility that they +should carry a tolerable sufficiency for the passage of this frightful +wilderness. On the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had +been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus for two days +of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst had been carried to the +fiercest extremity. Upon this last morning, at the sight of the hills +and the forest scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides +the neighborhood of the lake of Tengis, all the people rushed along with +maddening eagerness to the anticipated solace. The day grew hotter +and hotter, the people more and more exhausted, and gradually, in the +general rush forwards to the lake, all discipline and command were +lost--all attempts to preserve a rear-guard were neglected--the wild +Bashkirs rode in amongst the encumbered people, and slaughtered them by +wholesale, and almost without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts +proclaimed the progress of the massacre; but none heeded--none halted; +all alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to +the waters--all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver, +and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was affected +by the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery as +the wretched Kalmuck; the murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic +misery as his murdered victim--many indeed (an ordinary effect of +thirst) in both nations had become lunatic--and in this state, whilst +mere multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to the +destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and +to that the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together continued +to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one almighty +instinct. This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening appetite +lasted for a single minute; but in the next arose the final scene of +parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake were +instantly dyed red with blood and gore; here rode a party of savage +Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swathes fall before the +mower's scythe; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death-grapple with +their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both +sinking together below the surface, from weakness, or from struggles, +and perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at any point +collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the assault? +Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode them, +generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were forced into +a share in this carnival of murder, by trampling down as many as they +could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore-legs. Every moment +the water grew more polluted: and yet every moment fresh myriads came up +to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their frantic thirst, and +swallowing large draughts of water, visibly contaminated with the blood +of their slaughtered compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow +enough to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there for +scores of acres were to be seen all forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing +struggle, of spasm, of convulsion, of mortal conflict, death, and the +fear of death--revenge, and the lunacy of revenge--hatred, and the +frenzy of hatred--until the neutral spectators, of whom there were not +a few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length averted +their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed incapable of further +addition, was, however, increased by an unexpected incident. The +Bashkirs, beginning to perceive here and there the approach of the +Chinese cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever they were sufficiently at +leisure from the passions of the murderous scene--to gather into bodies. +This was noticed by the governor of a small Chinese fort, built upon an +eminence above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside, +which spread havoc amongst the Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs +collected into 'globes' and 'turms' as their only means of meeting +the long line of descending Chinese cavalry--so often did the Chinese +governor of the fort pour in his exterminating broadside; until at +length the lake at the lower end, became one vast seething cauldron of +human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese cavalry had reached the foot +of the hills: the Bashkirs, attentive to their movements, had formed; +skirmishes had been fought: and, with a quick sense that the contest +was henceforwards rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises +began to retire. The pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred +would have desired. But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred +could not but find, in their own dreadful experience of the Asiatic +deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat +that same experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price +exacted by a retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty--not +the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting, but found +in all this a retaliatory chastisement more complete and absolute +than any which their swords and lances could have obtained, or human +vengeance could have devised. + +Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the Desert; for any +subsequent marches which awaited them, were neither long nor painful. +Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exhausted +bodies had been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely +munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to +them in ample extent along the river Ily, not very far from the point +at which they had first emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the +beneficent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in +his own words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit +missionaries:--"La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_) arriva ŕ +Ily, toute _delabree_, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vętir. Je +l'avais prévu; et j'avais ordonné de faire en tout genre les provisions +nécessaires pour pouvoir les secourir promptement; c'est ce qui a été +exécuté. On a fait la division des terres; et on a assigné ŕ chaque +famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir ŕ son entretien, soit +en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On a donne a chaque +particulier des étoffes pour l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir +pendant l'espace d'une année, des ustensiles pour le ménage et d'autres +choses nécessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent, pour +se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a désigné des lieux +particuliers, fertiles en pâturages; et on leur a donné des boeufs, +moutons, &c. pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite travailler par euxmęmes a +leur entretien et ŕ leur bienętre." + +These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person +of his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same +subject, records the munificence of this prince in terms which proclaim +still more forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and the +delicate considerateness which conducted this extensive bounty. He +has been speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils +arrivčrent sur nos frontičres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de +mille), quoique la fatigue extręme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les +autres incommodités inséparables d'une trčs-longue et trčs pénible route +en eussent fait périr presque autant, ils étaient réduits a la derničre +misčre: ils manquaient de tout. Il" (viz. l'Empereur, Kien Long) "leur +fit préparer des logemens conformes a leur maničre de vivre; il leur fit +distribuer des aliments et des habits; il leur fit donner des boeufs, +des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en état de former des +troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, _et tout cela ŕ ses propres frais_, +qui se sont montés ŕ des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent qu'il +a donné ŕ chaque chef-de-famille, pour pourvoir ŕ la subsistance de sa +femme et de ses enfans." + +Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks were replaced +in territorial possessions, and in comfort equal perhaps, or even +superior, to that which they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior +political advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no +longer the same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered +in quality; for instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people, +they were now in circumstances which obliged them to become essentially +dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social rank, that by +the natural course of their habits and the necessities of life they were +effectually reclaimed from roving, and from the savage customs connected +with so unsettled a life. They gained also in political privileges, +chiefly through the immunity from military service which their new +relations enabled them to obtain. These were circumstances of advantage +and gain. But one great disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance +all other possible gain; the chances were lost or were removed to an +incalculable distance for their conversion to Christianity, without +which in these times there is no absolute advance possible on the path +of true civilization. + +One word remains to be said upon the _personal_ interests concerned in +this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was remarkable and +complete. Oubacha, with all his goodness and incapacity of suspecting, +had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his +mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the man that would have +murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so visibly as to provoke +a reaction in the bearing of Zebek-Dorchi, and a displeasure which all +his dissimulation could not hide. This had produced a feud, which, by +keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of Oubacha; for the +friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than his open enmity. After +the settlement on the Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came +under the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which all the +Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting-lodge in 1772. The +Emperor informed himself accurately of all the particulars connected +with the transaction--of all the rights and claims put forward--and +of the way in which they would severally affect the interests of the +Kalmuck people. The consequence was, that he adopted the cause of +Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his +part, so deeply resented this discountenance to his ambitious projects, +that in conjunction with other chiefs he had the presumption even to +weave nets of treason against the Emperor himself. Plots were laid--were +detected--were baffled--counterplots were constructed upon the same +basis, and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered. + +Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with +all his accomplices; and under the skilful management of the Chinese +nobles in the Emperor's establishment, the murderous artifices of these +Tartar chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole +of them perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet. For the +Chinese morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything +the _lex talionis:_-- + + ----'lex nec justior ulla est (as _they_ think) + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.' + +So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar +_Exodus_. Oubacha, meantime, and his people, were gradually recovering +from the effects of their misery, and repairing their losses. Peace +and prosperity, under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount, +re-dawned upon the tribes; their household _lares_, after so harsh a +translation to distant climates, found again a happy reinstatement in +what had in fact been their primitive abodes; they found themselves +settled in quiet sylvan scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and +endowed with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from the +hills of this favored land and even from the level grounds as they +approach its western border, they still look out upon that fearful +wilderness which once beheld a nation in agony--the utter extirpation of +nearly half a million from amongst its numbers, and, for the remainder, +a storm of misery so fierce, that in the end (as happened also at Athens +during the Peloponnesian war from a different form of misery) very many +lost their memory; all records of their past life were wiped out as +with a sponge--utterly erased and cancelled; and many others lost their +reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy, some in a more +restless form of feverish delirium and nervous agitation, and others in +the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. +Two great commemorative monuments arose in after years to mark the depth +and permanence of the awe--the sacred and reverential grief with which +all persons looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the year +of the Tiger--all who had either personally shared in those calamities, +and had themselves drunk from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually +been made witnesses to their results, and associated with their +relief; two great monuments, we say; first of all, one in the religious +solemnity, enjoined by the Dalai Lama, called in the Tartar language a +_Romanang_, that is, a national commemoration, with music the most rich +and solemn, of all the souls who departed to the rest of Paradise from +the afflictions of the Desert: this took place about six years after the +arrival in China. Secondly, another more durable and more commensurate +to the scale of the calamity and to the grandeur of this national +Exodus, in the mighty columns of granite and brass, erected by the +Emperor Kien Long, near the banks of the Ily: these columns stand upon +the very margin of the _steppes_; and they bear a short but emphatic +inscription [Footnote: This inscription has been slightly altered in one +or two phrases, and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the +Emperor's expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China and +the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the designation +adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon some confusion +between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the former, being +of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in part the same +longitudes, though in different latitudes) might be considered as +his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the Greek form of +Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church.] to the +following effect:-- + +By the Will of God Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, Which from +this Point begin and stretch away Pathless, treeless, waterless, For +thousands of miles--and along the margins of many mighty Nations, Rested +from their labors and from great afflictions Under the shadow of the +Chinese Wall, And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon +Earth, The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars +Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar, Wandering Sheep who had +strayed away from the Celestial Empire in the year 1616, But are now +mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow, Into the fold of their +forgiving Shepherd. Hallowed be the spot for ever, and Hallowed be the +day--September 8, 1771! Amen. + +END OF VOLUME I. + + + + +VOLUME II + + + + +SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. + + +[Footnote: Thoughts on Some Important Points relating to the System of +the World. By J. P. Nichol, LL.D., Professor of Astronomy in the +University of Glasgow. William Tait, Edinburgh. 1846.] + +Some years ago, some person or other, [in fact I believe it was myself,] +published a paper from the German of Kant, on a very interesting +question, viz., the age of our own little Earth. Those who have never +seen that paper, a class of unfortunate people whom I suspect to form +_rather_ the majority in our present perverse generation, will be likely +to misconceive its object. Kant's purpose was, not to ascertain how many +years the Earth had lived: a million of years, more or less, made very +little difference to _him_. What he wished to settle was no such barren +conundrum. For, had there even been any means of coercing the Earth into +an honest answer, on such a delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, +Recupero, fancied that there was; [Footnote: _Recupero_. See Brydone's +Travels, some sixty or seventy years ago. The canon, being a beneficed +clergyman in the Papal church, was naturally an infidel. He wished +exceedingly to refute Moses: and he fancied that he really had done so +by means of some collusive assistance from the layers of lava on Mount +Etna. But there survives, at this day, very little to remind us of the +canon, except an unpleasant guffaw that rises, at times, in solitary +valleys of Etna.] but which, in my own opinion, there neither is, nor +ought to be,--(since a man deserves to be cudgelled who could put such +improper questions to a _lady_ planet,)--still what would it amount +to? What good would it do us to have a certificate of our dear little +mother's birth and baptism? Other people--people in Jupiter, or +the Uranians--may amuse themselves with her pretended foibles or +infirmities: it is quite safe to do so at _their_ distance; and, in +a female planet like Venus, it might be natural, (though, strictly +speaking, not quite correct,) to scatter abroad malicious insinuations, +as though our excellent little mamma had begun to wear false hair, or +had lost some of her front teeth. But all this, we men of sense know +to be gammon. Our mother Tellus, beyond all doubt, is a lovely little +thing. I am satisfied that she is very much admired throughout the Solar +System: and, in clear seasons, when she is seen to advantage, with her +bonny wee pet of a Moon tripping round her like a lamb, I should be +thankful to any gentleman who will mention where he has happened to +observe--either he or his telescope--will he only have the goodness +to say, in what part of the heavens he has discovered a more elegant +turn-out. I wish to make no personal reflections. I name no names. Only +this I say, that, though some people have the gift of seeing things that +other people never could see, and though some other people, or other +some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, so that, +generally, their geese count for swans, yet, after all, swans or geese, +it would be a pleasure to me, and really a curiosity, to see the planet +that could fancy herself entitled to sneeze at our Earth. And then, if +she (viz., our Earth,) keeps but one Moon, even _that_ (you know) is +an advantage as regards some people that keep none. There are people, +pretty well known to you and me, that can't make it convenient to keep +even one Moon. And so I come to my moral; which is this, that, to all +appearance, it is mere justice; but, supposing it were not, still it is +_our_ duty, (as children of the Earth,) right or wrong, to stand up for +our bonny young mamma, if she _is_ young; or for our dear old mother, if +she _is_ old; whether young or old, to take her part against all comers; +and to argue through thick and thin, which (sober or not) I always +attempt to do, that she is the most respectable member of the Copernican +System. + +Meantime, what Kant understood by being old, is something that still +remains to be explained. If one stumbled, in the steppes of Tartary, +on the grave of a Megalonyx, and, after long study, had deciphered from +some pre-Adamite heiro-pothooks, the following epitaph:--'_Hic jacet_ +a Megalonyx, or _Hic jacet_ a Mammoth, (as the case might be,) who +departed this life, to the grief of his numerous acquaintance in the +seventeen thousandth year of his age,'--of course, one would be sorry +for him; because it must be disagreeable at _any_ age to be torn away +from life, and from all one's little megalonychal comforts; that's not +pleasant, you know, even if one _is_ seventeen thousand years old. But +it would make all the difference possible in your grief, whether the +record indicated a premature death, that he had been cut off, in fact, +whilst just stepping into life, or had kicked the bucket when full +of honors, and been followed to the grave by a train of weeping +grandchildren. He had died 'in his teens,' that's past denying. But +still we must know to what stage of life in a man, had corresponded +seventeen thousand years in a Mammoth. Now exactly this was what Kant +desired to know about our planet. Let her have lived any number of +years that you suggest, (shall we say if you please, that she is in her +billionth year?) still that tells us nothing about the _period_ of life, +the _stage_, which she may be supposed to have reached. Is she a child, +in fact, or is she an adult? And, _if_ an adult, and that you gave a +ball to the Solar System, is she that kind of person, that you would +introduce to a waltzing partner, some fiery young gentlemen like Mars, +or would you rather suggest to her the sort of partnership which takes +place at a whist-table? On this, as on so many other questions, Kant was +perfectly sensible that people, of the finest understandings, may and +do take the most opposite views. Some think that our planet is in that +stage of her life, which corresponds to the playful period of twelve +or thirteen in a spirited girl. Such a girl, were it not that she is +checked by a sweet natural sense of feminine grace, you might call a +romp; but not a hoyden, observe; no horse-play; oh, no, nothing of that +sort. And these people fancy that earthquakes, volcanoes, and all such +little _escapades_ will be over, they will, in lawyer's phrase, 'cease +and determine,' as soon as our Earth reaches the age of maidenly +bashfulness. Poor thing! It's quite natural, you know, in a healthy +growing girl. A little overflow of vivacity, a _pirouette_ more or less, +what harm should _that_ do to any of us? Nobody takes more delight than +I in the fawn-like sportiveness of an innocent girl, at this period of +life: even a shade of _espičglerie_ does not annoy me. But still my own +impressions incline me rather to represent the Earth as a fine noble +young woman, full of the pride which is so becoming to her sex, and well +able to take her own part, in case that, at any solitary point of +the heavens, she should come across one of those vulgar fussy Comets, +disposed to be rude and take improper liberties. These Comets, by the +way, are public nuisances, very much like the mounted messengers of +butchers in great cities, who are always at full gallop, and moving upon +such an infinity of angles to human shinbones, that the final purpose of +such boys (one of whom lately had the audacity nearly to ride down the +Duke of Wellington) seems to be--not the translation of mutton, which +would certainly find its way into human mouths even if riding boys were +not,--but the improved geometry of transcendental curves. They ought to +be numbered, ought these boys, and to wear badges--X 10, &c. And exactly +the same evil, asking therefore by implication for exactly the same +remedy, affects the Comets. A respectable planet is known everywhere, +and responsible for any mischief that he does. But if a cry should +arise, 'Stop that wretch, who was rude to the Earth: who is he?' twenty +voices will answer, perhaps, 'It's Encke's Comet; he is always doing +mischief;' well, what can you say? it _may_ be Encke's, it may be some +other man's Comet; there are so many abroad and on so many roads, that +you might as well ask upon a night of fog, such fog as may be opened +with an oyster knife, whose cab that was (whose, viz., out of 27,000 in +London) that floored you into the kennel. + +These are constructive ideas upon the Earth's stage of evolution, which +Kant was aware of, and which will always find toleration, even where +they do not find patronage. But others there are, a class whom I +perfectly abominate, that place our Earth in the category of decaying +women, nay of decayed women, going, going, and all but gone. 'Hair like +arctic snows, failure of vital heat, palsy that shakes the head as in +the porcelain toys on our mantel-pieces, asthma that shakes the whole +fabric--these they absolutely fancy themselves to _see_. They absolutely +_hear_ the tellurian lungs wheezing, panting, crying, 'Bellows to mend!' +periodically as the Earth approaches her aphelion. + +But suddenly at this point a demur arises upon the total question. +Kant's very problem explodes, bursts, as poison in Venetian wine-glass +of old shivered the glass into fragments. For is there, after all, any +stationary meaning in the question? Perhaps in reality the Earth is both +young and old. Young? If she is not young at present, perhaps she _will_ +be so in future. Old? if she is not old at this moment, perhaps she +_has_ been old, and has a fair chance of becoming so again. In fact, +she is a Phoenix that is known to have secret processes for rebuilding +herself out of her own ashes. Little doubt there is but she has +seen many a birthday, many a funeral night, and many a morning of +resurrection. Where now the mightiest of oceans rolls in pacific beauty, +once were anchored continents and boundless forests. Where the south +pole now shuts her frozen gates inhospitably against the intrusions +of flesh, once were probably accumulated the ribs of empires; man's +imperial forehead, woman's roseate lips, gleamed upon ten thousand +hills; and there were innumerable contributions to antarctic journals +almost as good (but not quite) as our own. Even within our domestic +limits, even where little England, in her south-eastern quarter now +devolves so quietly to the sea her sweet pastoral rivulets, once +came roaring down, in pomp of waters, a regal Ganges [Footnote: +_'Ganges:'_--Dr. Nichol calls it by this name for the purpose of +expressing its grandeur; and certainly in breadth, in diffusion at all +times, but especially in the rainy season, the Ganges is the cock of +the walk in our British orient. Else, as regards the body of water +discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's exchequer, and the +majesty of column riding downwards from the Himalaya, I believe that, +since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, the Indus ranks foremost by +a long chalk.], that drained some hyperbolical continent, some Quinbus +Flestrin of Asiatic proportions, long since gone to the dogs. All things +pass away. Generations wax old as does a garment: but eternally God +says:--'Come again, ye children of men.' Wildernesses of fruit, and +worlds of flowers, are annually gathered in solitary South America to +ancestral graves: yet still the Pomona of Earth, yet still the Flora of +Earth, does not become superannuated, but blossoms in everlasting youth. +Not otherwise by secular periods, known to us geologically as facts, +though obscure as durations, _Tellus_ herself, the planet, as a whole, +is for ever working by golden balances of change and compensation, +of ruin and restoration. She recasts her glorious habitations in +decomposing them; she lies down for death, which perhaps a thousand +times she has suffered; she rises for a new birth, which perhaps for +the thousandth time has glorified her disc. Hers is the wedding garment, +hers is the shroud, that eternally is being woven in the loom. And God +imposes upon her the awful necessity of working for ever at her +own grave, yet of listening for ever to his far-off trumpet of +_palingenesis_. + +If this account of the matter be just, and were it not treasonable +to insinuate the possibility of an error against so great a swell as +Immanuel Kant, one would be inclined to fancy that Mr. Kant had +really been dozing a little on this occasion; or, agreeably to his own +illustration elsewhere, that he had realized the pleasant picture of one +learned doctor trying to milk a he-goat, whilst another doctor, equally +learned, holds the milk-pail below. [Footnote: Kant applied this +illustration to the case where one worshipful scholar proposes some +impossible problem, (as the squaring of the circle, or the perpetual +motion,) which another worshipful scholar sits down to solve. The +reference was of course to Virgil's line,--'Atque idem jungat vulpes, et +_mulgeat hircos_.'] And there is apparently this two-edged embarrassment +pressing upon the case--that, if our dear excellent mother the Earth +could be persuaded to tell us her exact age in Julian years, still +_that_ would leave us all as much in the dark as ever: since, if the +answer were, 'Why, children, at my next birth-day I shall count a matter +of some million centuries,' we should still be at a loss to _value_ her +age: would it mean that she was a mere chicken, or that she was 'getting +up in years?' On the other hand, if (declining to state any odious +circumstantialities,) she were to reply,--'No matter, children, for my +precise years, which are disagreeable remembrances; I confess generally +to being a lady of a certain age,'--here, in the inverse order, +given the _valuation_ of the age, we should yet be at a loss for the +_absolute_ years numerically: would a 'certain age,' mean that 'mamma' +was a million, be the same more or less, or perhaps not much above +seventy thousand? + +Every way, you see, reader, there are difficulties. But two things +used to strike me, as unaccountably overlooked by Kant; who, to say the +truth, was profound--yet at no time very agile--in the character of his +understanding. First, what age now might we take our brother and +sister planets to be? For _that_ determination as to a point in _their_ +constitution, will do something to illustrate our own. We are as good +as they, I hope, any day: perhaps in a growl, one might modestly +insinuate--_better_. It's not at all likely that there can be any +great disproportion of age amongst children of the same household: and +therefore, since Kant always countenanced the idea that Jupiter had +not quite finished the upholstery of his extensive premises, as a +comfortable residence for a man, Jupiter having, in fact, a fine family +of mammoths, but no family at all of 'humans,' (as brother Jonathan +calls them,) Kant was bound, _ex analogo_, to hold that any little +precedency in the trade of living, on the part of our own mother Earth, +could not count for much in the long run. At Newmarket, or Doncaster, +the start is seldom mathematically true: trifling advantages will +survive all human trials after abstract equity; and the logic of this +case argues, that any few thousands of years by which Tellus may have +got ahead of Jupiter, such as the having finished her Roman Empire, +finished her Crusades, and finished her French Revolution, virtually +amounts to little or nothing; indicates no higher proportion to the +total scale upon which she has to run, than the few tickings of a watch +by which one horse at the start for the Leger is in advance of another. +When checked in our chronology by each other, it transpires that, in +effect, we are but executing the nice manoeuvre of a start; and that the +small matter of six thousand years, by which we may have advanced +our own position beyond some of our planetary rivals, is but the +outstretched neck of an uneasy horse at Doncaster. This is _one_ of the +data overlooked by Kant; and the less excusably overlooked, because +it was his own peculiar doctrine,--that uncle Jupiter ought to be +considered a greenhorn. Jupiter may be a younger brother of our mamma; +but, if he is a brother at all, he cannot be so very wide of our own +chronology; and therefore the first _datum_ overlooked by Kant was--the +analogy of our whole planetary system. A second datum, as it always +occurred to myself, might reasonably enough be derived from the +intellectual vigor of us men. If our mother could, with any show of +reason, be considered an old decayed lady, snoring stentorously in +her arm-chair, there would naturally be some _aroma_ of phthisis, or +apoplexy, beginning to form about _us_, that are her children. But _is_ +there? If ever Dr. Johnson said a true word, it was when he replied to +the Scottish judge Burnett, so well known to the world as Lord Monboddo. +The judge, a learned man, but obstinate as a mule in certain prejudices, +had said plaintively, querulously, piteously,--'Ah, Doctor, we are poor +creatures, we men of the eighteenth century, by comparison with our +forefathers!' 'Oh, no, my Lord,' said Johnson, 'we are quite as strong +as our ancestors, and a great deal wiser.' Yes; our kick is, at least, +as dangerous, and our logic does three times as much execution. This +would be a complex topic to treat effectively; and I wish merely to +indicate the opening which it offers for a most decisive order of +arguments in such a controversy. If the Earth were on her last legs, we +her children could not be very strong or healthy. Whereas, if there were +less pedantry amongst us, less malice, less falsehood, and less darkness +of prejudice, easy it would be to show, that in almost every mode of +intellectual power, we are more than a match for the most conceited +of elder generations, and that in some modes we have energies or arts +absolutely and exclusively our own. Amongst a thousand indications of +strength and budding youth, I will mention two:--Is it likely, is +it plausible, that our Earth should just begin to find out effective +methods of traversing land and sea, when she had a summons to leave +both? Is it not, on the contrary, a clear presumption that the great +career of earthly nations is but on the point of opening, that life +is but just beginning to kindle, when the great obstacles to effectual +locomotion, and therefore to extensive human intercourse, are first of +all beginning to give way? Secondly, I ask peremptorily,--Does it +stand with good sense, is it reasonable that Earth is waning, science +drooping, man looking downward, precisely in that epoch when, first of +all, man's eye is arming itself for looking effectively into the mighty +depths of space? A new era for the human intellect, upon a path that +lies amongst its most aspiring, is promised, is inaugurated, by Lord +Rosse's almost awful telescope. + +What is it then that Lord Rosse has accomplished? If a man were aiming +at dazzling by effects of rhetoric, he might reply: He has accomplished +that which once the condition of the telescope not only refused its +permission to hope for, but expressly bade man to despair of. What is it +that Lord Rosse has revealed? Answer: he has revealed more by far than +he found. The theatre to which he has introduced us, is _immeasurably_ +beyond the old one which he found. To say that he found, in the visible +universe, a little wooden theatre of Thespis, a _tréteau_ or shed of +vagrants, and that he presented us, at a price of toil and of _anxiety_ +that cannot be measured, with a Roman colosseum,--_that_ is to say +nothing. It is to undertake the measurement of the tropics with the +pocket-tape of an upholsterer. Columbus, when he introduced the Old +World to the New, after all that can be said in his praise, did in +fact only introduce the majority to the minority; but Lord Rosse has +introduced the minority to the majority. There are two worlds, one +called Ante-Rosse, and the other Post-Rosse; and, if it should come to +voting, the latter would shockingly outvote the other. Augustus Cćsar +made it his boast when dying, that he had found the city of Rome built +of brick, and that he left it built of marble: _lateritiam invenit, +marmoream reliquit_. Lord Rosse may say, even if to-day he should die, +'I found God's universe represented for human convenience, even after +all the sublime discoveries of Herschel, upon a globe or spherical chart +having a radius of one hundred and fifty feet; and I left it sketched +upon a similar chart, keeping exactly the same scale of proportions, but +now elongating its radius into one thousand feet.' The reader of course +understands that this expression, founded on absolute calculations of +Dr. Nichol, is simply meant to exhibit the _relative_ dimensions of the +_mundus Ante-Rosseanus_ and the _mundus Post-Rosseanus;_ for as to +the _absolute_ dimensions, when stated in miles, leagues or any units +familiar to the human experience, they are too stunning and confounding. +If, again, they are stated in larger units, as for instance diameters of +the earth's orbit, the unit itself that should facilitate the grasping +of the result, and which really _is_ more manageable numerically, +becomes itself elusive of the mental grasp: it comes in as an +interpreter; and (as in some other cases) the interpreter is hardest to +be understood of the two. If, finally, TIME be assumed as the exponent +of the dreadful magnitudes, time combining itself with motion, as in the +flight of cannon-balls or the flight of swallows, the sublimity +becomes greater; but horror seizes upon the reflecting intellect, and +incredulity upon the irreflective. Even a railroad generation, that +_should_ have faith in the miracles of velocity, lifts up its hands with +an '_Incredulus odi_!' we know that Dr. Nichol speaks the truth; but he +_seems_ to speak falsehood. And the ignorant by-stander prays that the +doctor may have grace given him and time for repentance; whilst his +more liberal companion reproves his want of charity, observing that +travellers into far countries have always had a license for lying, as +a sort of tax or fine levied for remunerating their own risks; and +that great astronomers, as necessarily far travellers into space, are +entitled to a double per centage of the same Munchausen privilege. + +Great is the mystery of Space, greater is the mystery of Time; either +mystery grows upon man, as man himself grows; and either seems to be a +function of the godlike which is in man. In reality the depths and the +heights which are in man, the depths by which he searches, the heights +by which he aspires, are but projected and made objective externally in +the three dimensions of space which are outside of him. He trembles at +the abyss into which his bodily eyes look down, or look up; not knowing +that abyss to be, not always consciously suspecting it to be, but by an +instinct written in his prophetic heart feeling it to be, boding it to +be, fearing it to be, and sometimes hoping it to be, the mirror to a +mightier abyss that will one day be expanded in himself. Even as to +the sense of space, which is the lesser mystery than time, I know not +whether the reader has remarked that it is one which swells upon man +with the expansion of his mind, and that it is probably peculiar to the +mind of man. An infant of a year old, or oftentimes even older, takes no +notice of a sound, however loud, which is a quarter of a mile removed, +or even in a distant chamber. And brutes, even of the most enlarged +capacities, seem not to have any commerce with distance: distance is +probably not revealed to them except by a _presence_, viz., by some +shadow of their own animality, which, if perceived at all, is perceived +as a thing _present_ to their organs. An animal desire, or a deep +animal hostility, may render sensible a distance which else would not be +sensible; but not render it sensible _as_ a distance. Hence perhaps is +explained, and not out of any self-oblivion from higher enthusiasm, a +fact that often has occurred, of deer, or hares, or foxes, and the +pack of hounds in pursuit, chaser and chased, all going headlong over a +precipice together. Depth or height does not readily manifest itself to +_them_; so that any _strong_ motive is sufficient to overpower the sense +of it. Man only has a natural function for expanding on an illimitable +sensorium, the illimitable growths of space. Man, coming to the +precipice, reads his danger; the brute perishes: man is saved; and the +horse is saved by his rider. + +But, if this sounds in the ear of some a doubtful refinement, the doubt +applies only to the lowest degrees of space. For the highest, it is +certain that brutes have no perception. To man is as much reserved +the prerogative of perceiving space in its higher extensions, as of +geometrically constructing the relations of space. And the brute is no +more capable of apprehending abysses through his eye, than he can build +upwards or can analyze downwards the ćrial synthesis of Geometry. Such, +therefore, as is space for the grandeur of man's perceptions, such as is +space for the benefit of man's towering mathematic speculations, such is +the nature of our debt to Lord Rosse--as being the philosopher who has +most pushed back the frontiers of our conquests upon this _exclusive_ +inheritance of man. We have all heard of a king that, sitting on the +sea-shore, bade the waves, as they began to lave his feet, upon their +allegiance to retire. _That_ was said not vainly or presumptuously, +but in reproof of sycophantic courtiers. Now, however, we see in good +earnest another man, wielding another kind of sceptre, and sitting upon +the shores of infinity, that says to the ice which had frozen up our +progress,--'Melt thou before my breath!' that says to the rebellious +_nebulć_,--'Submit, and burst into blazing worlds!' that says to the +gates of darkness,--'Roll back, ye barriers, and no longer hide from us +the infinities of God!' + + 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful.' + +From the days of infancy still lingers in my ears this opening of +a prose hymn by a lady, then very celebrated, viz., the late Mrs. +Barbauld. The hymn began by enticing some solitary infant into some +silent garden, I believe, or some forest lawn; and the opening words +were, 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful!' Well, and what +beside? There is nothing beside; oh, disappointed and therefore enraged +reader; positively this is the sum-total of what I can recall from the +wreck of years; and certainly it is not much. Even of Sappho, though +time has made mere ducks and drakes of her lyrics, we have rather more +spared to us than this. And yet this trifle, simple as you think it, +this shred of a fragment, if the reader will believe me, still +echoes with luxurious sweetness in my ears, from some unaccountable +hide-and-seek of fugitive childish memories; just as a marine shell, +if applied steadily to the ear, awakens (according to the fine image +of Landor [Footnote: 'Of Landor,' viz., in his 'Gebir;' but also of +Wordsworth in 'The Excursion.' And I must tell the reader, that a +contest raged at one time as to the _original property_ in this image, +not much less keen than that between Neptune and Minerva, for the +chancellorship of Athens.]) the great vision of the sea; places the +listener + + 'In the sun's palace-porch, + And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there.' + +Now, on some moonless night, in some fitting condition of the +atmosphere, if Lord Rosse would permit the reader and myself to walk +into the front drawing-room of his telescope, then, in Mrs. Barbauld's +words, slightly varied, I might say to him,--Come, and I will show you +what is sublime! In fact, what I am going to lay before him, from Dr. +Nichol's work, is, or at least _would_ be, (when translated into Hebrew +grandeur by the mighty telescope,) a step above even that object which +some four-and-twenty years ago in the British Museum struck me as simply +the sublimest sight which in this sight-seeing world I had seen. It was +the Memnon's head, then recently brought from Egypt. I looked at it, as +the reader must suppose, in order to understand the depth which I have +here ascribed to the impression, not as a human but as a symbolic +head; and what it symbolized to me were: 1. The peace which passeth all +understanding. 2. The eternity which baffles and confounds all faculty +of computation; the eternity which _had_ been, the eternity which _was_ +to be. 3. The diffusive love, not such as rises and falls upon waves of +life and mortality, not such as sinks and swells by undulations of time, +but a procession--an emanation from some mystery of endless dawn. You +durst not call it a smile that radiated from the lips; the radiation was +too awful to clothe itself in adumbrations or memorials of flesh. + +In _that mode_ of sublimity, perhaps, I still adhere to my first +opinion, that nothing so great was ever beheld. The atmosphere for +_this_, for the Memnon, was the breathlessness which belongs to a +saintly trance; the holy thing seemed to live by silence. But there _is_ +a picture, the pendant of the Memnon, there _is_ a dreadful cartoon, +from the gallery which has begun to open upon Lord Rosse's telescope, +where the appropriate atmosphere for investing it must be drawn from +another silence, from the frost and from the eternities of death. It +is the famous _nebula_ in the constellation of Orion; famous for the +unexampled defiance with which it resisted all approaches from the most +potent of former telescopes; famous for its frightful magnitude and for +the frightful depth to which it is sunk in the abysses of the heavenly +wilderness; famous just now for the submission with which it has begun +to render up its secrets to the all-conquering telescope; and famous +in all time coming for the horror of the regal phantasma which it has +perfected to eyes of flesh. Had Milton's 'incestuous mother,' with her +fleshless son, and with the warrior angel, his father, that led the +rebellions of heaven, been suddenly unmasked by Lord Rosse's instrument, +in these dreadful distances before which, simply as expressions of +resistance, the mind of man shudders and recoils, there would have been +nothing more appalling in the exposure; in fact, it would have been +essentially the same exposure: the same expression of power in the +detestable phantom, the same rebellion in the attitude, the same pomp of +malice in the features to a universe seasoned for its assaults. + +The reader must look to Dr. Nichol's book, at page 51, for the picture +of this abominable apparition. But then, in order to see what _I_ see, +the obedient reader must do what I tell him to do. Let him therefore +view the wretch upside down. If he neglects that simple direction, of +course I don't answer for anything that follows: without any fault of +mine, my description will be unintelligible. This inversion being made, +the following is the dreadful creature that will then reveal itself. + +_Description of the Nebula in Orion, as forced to show out by Lord +Rosse._--You see a head thrown back, and raising its face, (or eyes, if +eyes it had,) in the very anguish of hatred, to some unknown heavens. +What _should_ be its skull wears what _might_ be an Assyrian tiara, only +ending behind in a floating train. This head rests upon a beautifully +developed neck and throat. All power being given to the awful enemy, he +is beautiful where he pleases, in order to point and envenom his ghostly +ugliness. The mouth, in that stage of the apocalypse which Sir John +Herschel was able to arrest in his eighteen-inch mirror, is amply +developed. Brutalities unspeakable sit upon the upper lip, which is +confluent with a snout; for separate nostrils there are none. Were it +not for this one defect of nostrils; and, even in spite of this defect, +(since, in so mysterious a mixture of the angelic and the brutal, we may +suppose the sense of odor to work by some compensatory organ,) one is +reminded by the phantom's attitude of a passage, ever memorable, in +Milton: that passage, I mean, where Death first becomes aware, soon +after the original trespass, of his own future empire over man. The +'meagre shadow' even smiles (for the first time and the last) on +apprehending his own abominable bliss, by apprehending from afar the +savor 'of mortal change on earth.' + + ----'Such a scent,' (he says,) 'I draw + Of carnage, prey innumerable.' + +As illustrating the attitude of the phantom in Orion, let the reader +allow me to quote the tremendous passage:-- + + 'So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell + Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock + Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, + Against the day of battle, to a field, + Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lured + With scent of living carcasses design'd + For death, the following day, in bloody fight; + So scented the grim feature, + +[Footnote: 'So scented the grim feature,' [_feature_ is the old word for +_form or outline that is shadowy_; and also for form (shadowy or not) +which abstracts from the _matter_.] By the way, I have never seen it +noticed, that Milton was indebted for the hint of this immortal passage +to a superb line-and-a-half, in Lucan's Pharsalia.] + + and upturn'd + His nostril wide into the murky air, + Sagacious of his quarry from so far.' + +But the lower lip, which is drawn inwards with the curve of a conch +shell,--oh what a convolute of cruelty and revenge is _there_! +Cruelty!--to whom? Revenge!--for what? Ask not, whisper not. Look +upwards to other mysteries. In the very region of his temples, driving +itself downwards into his cruel brain, and breaking the continuity of +his diadem, is a horrid chasm, a ravine, a shaft, that many centuries +would not traverse; and it is serrated on its posterior wall with a +harrow that perhaps is partly hidden. From the anterior wall of this +chasm rise, in vertical directions, two processes; one perpendicular, +and rigid as a horn, the other streaming forward before some portentous +breath. What these could be, seemed doubtful; but now, when further +examinations by Sir John Herschel, at the Cape of Good Hope, have filled +up the scattered outline with a rich umbrageous growth, one is inclined +to regard them as the plumes of a sultan. Dressed he is, therefore, as +well as armed. And finally comes Lord Rosse, that glorifies him with +the jewellery [Footnote: _The jewellery of Stars_. And one thing is +very remarkable, viz., that not only the stars justify this name of +jewellery, as usual, by the life of their splendor, but also, in this +case, by their arrangement. No jeweller could have set, or disposed with +more art, the magnificent quadrille of stars which is placed immediately +below the upright plume. There is also another, a truncated quadrille, +wanting only the left hand star (or you might call it a bisected +lozenge) placed on the diadem, but obliquely placed as regards the curve +of that diadem. Two or three other arrangements are striking, though +not equally so, both from their regularity and from their repeating each +other, as the forms in a kaleidoscope.] of stars: he is now a vision 'to +dream of, not to tell:' he is ready for the worship of those that +are tormented in sleep: and the stages of his solemn uncovering by +astronomy, first by Sir W. Herschel, secondly, by his son, and finally +by Lord Rosse, is like the reversing of some heavenly doom, like +the raising of the seals that had been sealed by the angel, in the +Revelations. But the reader naturally asks, How does all this concern +Lord Rosse's telescope on the one side, or general astronomy on the +other? This _nebula_, he will say, seems a bad kind of fellow by your +account; and of course it will not break my heart to hear, that he has +had the conceit taken out of him. But in what way can _that_ affect the +pretensions of this new instrument; or, if it did, how can the character +of the instrument affect the general condition of a science? Besides, is +not the science a growth from very ancient times? With great respect for +the Earl of Rosse, is it conceivable that he, or any man, by one hour's +working the tackle of his new instrument, can have carried any stunning +revolutionary effect into the heart of a section so ancient in our +mathematical physics? But the reader is to consider, that the ruins made +by Lord Rosse, are in _sidereal_ astronomy, which is almost wholly a +growth of modern times; and the particular part of it demolished by the +new telescope, is almost exclusively the creation of the two Herschels, +father and son. Laplace, it is true, adopted their views; and he +transferred them to the particular service of our own planetary system. +But he gave to them no new sanction, except what arises from showing +that they would account for the appearances, as they present themselves +to our experience at this day. That was a _negative_ confirmation; by +which I mean, that, had their views failed in the hands of Laplace, +then they were proved to be false; but, _not_ failing, they were not +therefore proved to be true. It was like proving a gun; if the charge is +insufficient, or if, in trying the strength of cast iron, timber, ropes, +&c., the strain is not up to the rigor of the demand, you go away with +perhaps a favorable impression as to the promises of the article; it has +stood a moderate trial; it has stood all the trial that offered, which +is always something; but you are still obliged to feel that, when the +ultimate test is applied, smash may go the whole concern. Lord Rosse +applied an ultimate test; and smash went the whole concern. Really I +must have laughed, though all the world had been angry, when the shrieks +and yells of expiring systems began to reverberate all the way from the +belt of Orion; and positively at the very first broadside delivered from +this huge four-decker of a telescope. + +But what was it then that went to wreck? That is a thing more easy to +ask than to answer. At least, for my own part, I complain that some +vagueness hangs over all the accounts of the nebular hypothesis. +However, in this place a brief sketch will suffice. + +Herschel the elder, having greatly improved the telescope, began to +observe with special attention a class of remarkable phenomena in the +starry world hitherto unstudied, viz.: milky spots in various stages of +diffusion. The nature of these appearances soon cleared itself up thus +far, that generally they were found to be starry worlds, separated from +ours by inconceivable distances, and in that way concealing at first +their real nature. The whitish gleam was the mask conferred by the +enormity of their remotion. This being so, it might have been supposed +that, as was the faintness of these cloudy spots or _nebulć_, such was +the distance. But _that_ did not follow: for in the treasury of nature +it turned out that there were other resources for modifying the powers +of distance, for muffling and unmuffling the voice of stars. Suppose +a world at the distance _x_, which distance is so great as to make the +manifestation of that world weak, milky, nebular. Now let the secret +power that wields these awful orbs, push this world back to a double +distance! _that_ should naturally make it paler and more dilute than +ever: and yet by _compression_, by deeper centralization, this effect +shall be defeated; by forcing into far closer neighborhood the stars +which compose this world, again it shall gleam out brighter when at 2_x_ +than when at _x_. At this point of compression, let the great moulding +power a second time push it back; and a second time it will grow faint. +But once more let this world be tortured into closer compression, again +let the screw be put upon it, and once again it shall shake off the +oppression of distance as the dew-drops are shaken from a lion's mane. +And thus in fact the mysterious architect plays at hide-and-seek with +his worlds. 'I will hide it,' he says, 'and it shall be found again by +man; I will withdraw it into distances that shall seem fabulous, and +again it shall apparel itself in glorious light; a third time I will +plunge it into aboriginal darkness, and upon the vision of man a third +time it shall rise with a new epiphany.' + +But, says the objector, there is no such world; there is no world that +has thus been driven back, and depressed from one deep to a lower +deep. Granted: but the same effect, an illustration of the same law, +is produced equally, whether you take four worlds, all of the same +magnitude, and plunge them _simultaneously_ into four different abysses, +sinking by graduated distances one below another, or take one world and +plunge it to the same distances _successively_. So in Geology, when men +talk of substances in different stages, or of transitional states, they +do not mean that they have watched the same individual _stratum_ or +_phenomenon_, exhibiting states removed from each other by depths of +many thousand years; how could they? but they have seen one stage in +the case A, another stage in the case B. They take, for instance, three +objects, the same (to use the technical language of logic) generically, +though numerically different, under separate circumstances, or in +different stages of advance. They are one object for logic, they are +three for human convenience. So again it might seem impossible to give +the history of a rose tree from infancy to age: how could the same rose +tree, at the same time, be young and old? Yet by taking the different +developments of its flowers, even as they hang on the same tree, from +the earliest bud to the full-blown rose, you may in effect pursue this +vegetable growth through all its stages: you have before you the bony +blushing little rose-bud, and the respectable 'medićval' full-blown +rose. + +This point settled, let it now be remarked, that Herschel's resources +enabled him to unmask many of these _nebulć_: stars they were, and stars +he forced them to own themselves. Why should any decent world wear +an _alias_? There was nothing, you know, to be ashamed of in being an +honest cluster of stars. Indeed, they seemed to be sensible of this +themselves, and they now yielded to the force of Herschel's arguments so +far as to show themselves in the new character of _nebulć_ spangled with +stars; these are the _stellar nebulć_; quite as much as you could expect +in so short a time: Rome was not built in a day: and one must have +some respect to stellar feelings. It was noticed, however, that where a +bright haze, and not a weak milk-and-water haze, had revealed itself +to the telescope, this, arising from a case of _compression_, (as +previously explained,) required very little increase of telescopic power +to force him into a fuller confession. He made a clean breast of it. +But at length came a dreadful anomaly. A 'nebula' in the constellation +_Andromeda_ turned restive: another in _Orion_, I grieve to say it, +still more so. I confine myself to the latter. A very low power sufficed +to bring him to a slight confession, which in fact amounted to nothing; +the very highest would not persuade him to show a star. 'Just one,' +said some coaxing person; 'we'll be satisfied with only one.' But no: +he would _not_. He was hardened, 'he wouldn't _split_.' And Herschel +was thus led, after waiting as long as flesh and blood _could_ wait, +to infer two classes of _nebulć_; one that were stars; and another +that were _not_ stars, nor ever were meant to be stars. Yet _that_ was +premature: he found at last, that, though not raised to the peerage of +stars, finally they would be so: they were the matter of stars; and by +gradual condensation would become suns, whose atmosphere, by a similar +process of condensing, would become planets, capable of brilliant +literati and philosophers, in several volumes octavo. So stood the case +for a long time; it was settled to the satisfaction of Europe that there +were two classes of _nebulć_, one that _were_ worlds, one that were +_not_, but only the pabulum of future worlds. Silence arose. A voice was +heard, 'Let there be Lord Rosse!' and immediately his telescope walked +into Orion; destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, +created immeasurable worlds. + +As a hint for apprehending the delicacy and difficulty of the process in +sidereal astronomy, let the inexperienced reader figure to himself these +separate cases of perplexity: 1st, A perplexity where the dilemma arises +from the collision between magnitude and distance:--is the size less, or +the distance greater? 2dly, Where the dilemma arises between motions, a +motion in ourselves doubtfully confounded with a motion in some external +body; or, 3dly, Where it arises between possible positions of an object: +is it a real proximity that we see between two stars, or simply an +apparent proximity from lying in the same visual line, though in far +other depths of space? As regards the first dilemma, we may suppose two +laws, A and B, absolutely in contradiction, laid down at starting: A, +that all fixed stars are precisely at the same _distance_; in this case +every difference in the apparent magnitude will indicate a corresponding +difference in the real magnitude, and will measure that difference. B, +that all the fixed stars are precisely of the same _magnitude_; in which +case, every variety in the size will indicate a corresponding difference +in the distance, and will measure that difference. Nor could we imagine +any exception to these inferences from A or from B, whichever of the two +were assumed, unless through optical laws that might not equally affect +objects under different circumstances; I mean, for instance, that might +suffer a disturbance as applied under hypoth. B, to different depths in +space, or under hypoth. A, to different arrangements of structure in the +star. But thirdly, it is certain, that neither A nor B is the abiding +law: and next it becomes an object by science and by instruments to +distinguish more readily and more certainly between the cases where +the distance has degraded the size, and the cases where the size being +_really_ less, has caused an exaggeration of the distance: or again, +where the size being really less, yet co-operating with a distance +really greater, may degrade the estimate, (though travelling in a right +direction,) below the truth; or again where the size being really less, +yet counteracted by a distance also less, may equally disturb the truth +of human measurements, and so on. + +A second large order of equivocating appearances will arise,--not as to +magnitude, but as to motion. If it could be a safe assumption, that +the system to which our planet is attached were absolutely fixed and +motionless, except as regards its own _internal_ relations of movement, +then every change outside of us, every motion that the registers of +astronomy had established, would be objective and not subjective. It +would be safe to pronounce at once that it was a motion in the object +contemplated, _not_ in the subject contemplating. Or, reversely, if it +were safe to assume as a universal law, that no motion was possible in +the starry heavens, then every change of relations in space, between +ourselves and them, would indicate and would measure a progress, or +regress, on the part of our solar system, in certain known directions. +But now, because it is not safe to rest in either assumption, the range +of possibilities for which science has to provide, is enlarged; the +immediate difficulties are multiplied; but with the result (as in the +former case) of reversionally expanding the powers, and consequently the +facilities, lodged both in the science and in the arts ministerial +to the science. Thus, in the constellation _Cygnus_, there is a star +gradually changing its relation to our system, whose distance from +ourselves (as Dr. Nichol tells us) is ascertained to be about six +hundred and seventy thousand times our own distance from the sun: that +is, neglecting minute accuracy, about six hundred and seventy thousand +stages of one hundred million miles each. This point being known, it +falls within the _arts_ of astronomy to translate this apparent angular +motion into miles; and presuming this change of relation to be not in +the star, but really in ourselves, we may deduce the velocity of our +course, we may enter into our _log_ daily the rate at which our whole +solar system is running. Bessel, it seems, the eminent astronomer who +died lately, computed this velocity to be such (viz., three times that +of our own earth in its proper orbit) as would carry us to the star in +forty-one thousand years. But, in the mean time, the astronomer is to +hold in reserve some small share of his attention, some trifle of a +side-glance, now and then, to the possibility of an error, after all, in +the main assumption: he must watch the indications, if any such should +arise, that not ourselves, but the star in _Cygnus_, is the real party +concerned, in drifting at this shocking rate, with no prospect of coming +to an anchorage. [Footnote: It is worth adding at this point, whilst the +reader remembers without effort the numbers, viz., forty-one thousand +years, for the time, (the space being our own distance from the sun +repeated six hundred and seventy thousand times,) what would be the +time required for reaching, in the _body_, that distance to which Lord +Rosse's six feet mirror has so recently extended our _vision_. The time +would be, as Dr. Nichol computes, about two hundred and fifty millions +of years, supposing that our rate of travelling was about three times +that of our earth in its orbit. Now, as the velocity is assumed to +be the same in both cases, the ratio between the distance (already so +tremendous) of Bessel's 61 _Cygni_, and that of Lord Rosse's farthest +frontier, is as forty-one thousand to two hundred and fifty millions. +This is a simple rule-of-three problem for a child. And the answer to +it will, perhaps, convey the simplest expression of the superhuman power +lodged in the new telescope:--as is the ratio of forty-one thousand to +two hundred and fifty million, so is the ratio of our own distance from +the sun multiplied by six hundred and seventy thousand, to the outermost +limit of Lord Rosse's sidereal vision.] + +Another class, and a frequent one, of equivocal phenomena, phenomena +that are reconcilable indifferently with either of two assumptions, +though less plausibly reconciled with the one than with the other, +concerns the position of stars that seem connected with each other by +systematic relations, and which yet _may_ lie in very different depths +of space, being brought into seeming connection only by the human eye. +There have been, and there are, cases where two stars dissemble an +interconnection which they really _have_, and other cases where they +simulate an interconnection which they have not. All these cases of +simulation and dissimulation torment the astronomer by multiplying his +perplexities, and deepening the difficulty of escaping them. He cannot +get at the truth: in many cases, magnitude and distance are in collusion +with each other to deceive him: motion subjective is in collusion with +motion objective; duplex systems are in collusion with fraudulent stars, +having no real partnership whatever, but mimicking such a partnership by +means of the limitations or errors affecting the human eye, where it can +apply no other sense to aid or to correct itself. So that the business +of astronomy, in these days, is no sinecure, as the reader perceives. +And by another evidence, it is continually becoming less of a sinecure. +Formerly, one or two men,--Tycho, suppose, or, in a later age, Cassini +and Horrox, and Bradley, had observatories: one man, suppose, observed +the stars for all Christendom; and the rest of Europe observed _him_. +But now, up and down Europe, from the deep blue of Italian skies to the +cold frosty atmospheres of St. Petersburg and Glasgow, the stars are +conscious of being watched everywhere; and if all astronomers do not +publish their observations, all use them in their speculations. New and +brilliantly appointed observatories are rising in every latitude, or +risen; and none, by the way, of these new-born observatories, is +more interesting from the circumstances of its position, or more +_picturesque_ to a higher organ than the eye--viz., to the human +heart--than the New Observatory raised by the university of +Glasgow.[Footnote: It has been reported, ever since the autumn of 1845, +and the report is now, (August, 1846,) gathering strength, that some +railway potentate, having taken a fancy for the ancient college of +Glasgow, as a bauble to hang about his wife's neck, (no accounting for +tastes,) has offered, (or _will_ offer,) such a price, that the good +old academic lady in this her moss-grown antiquity, seriously thinks +of taking him at his word, packing up her traps, and being off. When a +spirit of galavanting comes across an aged lady, it is always difficult +to know where it will stop: so, in fact, you know, she may choose to +steam for Texas. But the present impression is, that she will +settle down by the side of what you may call her married or settled +daughter--the Observatory; which one would be glad to have confirmed, +as indicating that no purpose of pleasure-seeking had been working in +elderly minds, but the instinct of religious rest and aspiration. The +Observatory would thus remind one of those early Christian anchorites, +and self-exiled visionaries, that being led by almost a necessity of +nature to take up their residence in deserts, sometimes drew after +themselves the whole of their own neighborhood.] + +The New Observatory of Glasgow is now, I believe, finished; and the +only fact connected with its history that was painful, as embodying and +recording that Vandal alienation from science, literature, and all their +interests, which has ever marked our too haughty and Caliph-Omar-like +British government, lay in the circumstance that the glasses of the +apparatus, the whole mounting of the establishment, in so far as it +was a scientific establishment, and even the workmen for putting up +the machinery, were imported from Bavaria. We, that once bade the world +stand aside when the question arose about glasses, or the graduation of +instruments, were now literally obliged to stand cap in hand, bowing to +Mr. Somebody, successor of Frauenhofer or Frauendevil, in Munich! +Who caused _that_, we should all be glad to know, if not the wicked +Treasury, that killed the hen that laid the golden eggs by taxing her +until her spine broke? It is to be hoped that, at this moment, and +specifically for this offence, some scores of Exchequer men, chancellors +and other rubbish, are in purgatory, and perhaps working, with +shirt-sleeves tucked up, in purgatorial glass-houses, with very small +allowances of beer, to defray the cost of perspiration. But why trouble +a festal remembrance with commemorations of crimes or criminals? +What makes the Glasgow Observatory so peculiarly interesting, is its +position, connected with and overlooking so vast a city, having more +than three hundred thousand inhabitants, (in spite of an American +sceptic,) nearly all children of toil; and a city, too, which, from the +necessities of its circumstances, draws so deeply upon that fountain of +misery and guilt which some ordinance, as ancient as 'our father Jacob,' +with his patriarchal well for Samaria, has bequeathed to manufacturing +towns,--to Ninevehs, to Babylons, to Tyres. How tarnished with eternal +canopies of smoke, and of sorrow; how dark with agitations of many +orders, is the mighty town below! How serene, how quiet, how lifted +above the confusion and the roar, how liberated from the strifes of +earth, is the solemn Observatory that crowns the grounds above! And +duly, at night, just when the toil of over-wrought Glasgow is mercifully +relaxing, then comes the summons to the laboring astronomer. _He_ speaks +not of the night, but of the day and the flaunting day-light, as the +hours 'in which no man can work.' And the least reflecting of men +must be impressed by the idea, that at wide intervals, but intervals +scattered over Europe, whilst 'all that mighty heart' is, by sleep, +resting from its labors, secret eyes are lifted up to heaven in +astronomical watch-towers; eyes that keep watch and ward over spaces +that make us dizzy to remember, eyes that register the promises of +comets, and disentangle the labyrinths of worlds. + +Another feature of interest, connected with the Glasgow Observatory, is +personal, and founded on the intellectual characteristics of the present +professor, Dr. Nichol; in the deep meditative style of his mind seeking +for rest, yet placed in conflict for ever with the tumultuous necessity +in _him_ for travelling along the line of revolutionary thought, and +following it loyally, wearied or not, to its natural home. + +In a sonnet of Milton, one of three connected with his own blindness, +he distinguishes between two classes of servants that minister to +the purposes of God. '_His_ state,' says he, meaning God's state, the +arrangement of his regular service, 'is kingly;' that is to say, it +resembles the mode of service established in the courts of kings; +and, in this, it resembles that service, that there are two classes of +ministers attending on his pleasure. For, as in the trains of kings +are some that run without resting, night or day, to carry the royal +messages, and also others--great lords in waiting--that move not from +the royal gates; so of the divine retinues, some are for action only, +some for contemplation. 'Thousands' there are that + + ----'at his bidding speed, + And post o'er land and ocean without rest.' + +Others, on the contrary, motionless as statues, that share not in the +agitations of their times, that tremble not in sympathy with the +storms around them, but that listen--that watch--that wait--for secret +indications to be fulfilled, or secret signs to be deciphered. And, +of this latter class, he adds-that they, not less than the others, are +accepted by God; or, as it is so exquisitely expressed in the closing +line, + + '_They_ also serve, that only stand and wait.' + +Something analogous to this one may see in the distributions of +literature and science. Many popularize and diffuse: some reap and +gather on their own account. Many translate, into languages fit for the +multitude, messages which they receive from human voices: some listen, +like Kubla Khan, far down in caverns or hanging over subterranean +rivers, for secret whispers that mingle and confuse themselves with the +general uproar of torrents, but which can be detected and kept apart +by the obstinate prophetic ear, which spells into words and ominous +sentences the distracted syllables of ćrial voices. Dr. Nichol is one +of those who pass to and fro between these classes; and has the rare +function of keeping open their vital communications. As a popularizing +astronomer, he has done more for the benefit of his great science than +all the rest of Europe combined: and now, when he notices, without +murmur, the fact that his office of popular teacher is almost taken out +of his hands, (so many are they who have trained of late for the duty,) +that change has, in fact, been accomplished through knowledge, through +explanations, through suggestions, dispersed and prompted by himself. + +For my own part, as one belonging to the laity, and not to the _clerus_, +in the science of astronomy, I could scarcely have presumed to report +minutely, or to sit in the character of dissector upon the separate +details of Dr. Nichol's works, either this, or those which have preceded +it, had there even been room left disposable for such a task. But in +this view it is sufficient to have made the general acknowledgment which +already _has_ been made, that Dr. Nichol's works, and his oral lectures +upon astronomy, are to be considered as the _fundus_ of the knowledge on +that science now working in this generation. More important it is, and +more in reconciliation with the tenor of my own ordinary studies, to +notice the philosophic spirit in which Dr. Nichol's works are framed; +the breadth of his views, the eternal tendency of his steps in advance, +or (if advance on that quarter, or at that point, happens to +be absolutely walled out for the present,) the vigor of the +_reconnoissances_ by which he examines the hostile intrenchments. +Another feature challenges notice. In reading astronomical works, there +arises (from old experience of what is usually most faulty) a wish +either for the naked severities of science, with a total abstinence from +all display of enthusiasm; or else, if the cravings of human sensibility +are to be met and gratified, that it shall be by an enthusiasm +unaffected and grand as its subject. Of that kind is the enthusiasm +of Dr. Nichol. The grandeurs of astronomy are such to him who has a +capacity for being grandly moved. They are none at all to him who has +not. To the mean they become meannesses. Space, for example, has no +grandeur to him who has no space in the theatre of his own brain. I know +writers who report the marvels of velocity, &c., in such a way that +they become insults to yourself. It is obvious that in _their_ way of +insisting on our earth's speed in her annual orbit, they do not seek +to exalt _her_, but to mortify _you_. And, besides, these fellows are +answerable for provoking people into fibs:--for I remember one day, that +reading a statement of this nature, about how many things the Earth +had done that we could never hope to do, and about the number of cannon +balls, harnessed as a _tandem_, which the Earth would fly past, without +leaving time to say, _How are you off for soap?_ in vexation of heart I +could not help exclaiming--'That's nothing: I've done a great deal more +myself;' though, when one turns it in one's mind, you know there must be +some inaccuracy _there_. How different is Dr. Nichol's enthusiasm from +this hypocritical and vulgar wonderment! It shows itself not merely in +reflecting the grandeurs of his theme, and by the sure test of detecting +and allying itself with all the indirect grandeurs that arrange +themselves from any distance, upon or about that centre, but by the +manifest promptness with which Dr. Nichol's enthusiasm awakens itself +upon _every_ road that leads to things elevating for man; or to things +promising for knowledge; or to things which, like dubious theories +or imperfect attempts at systematizing, though neutral as regards +knowledge, minister to what is greater than knowledge, viz., to +intellectual _power_, to the augmented power of handling your materials, +though with no more materials than before. In his geological and +cosmological inquiries, in his casual speculations, the same quality of +intellect betrays itself; the intellect that labors in sympathy with the +laboring _nisus_ of these gladiatorial times; that works (and sees the +necessity of working) the apparatus of many sciences towards a composite +result; the intellect that retires in one direction only to make head in +another; and that already is prefiguring the route beyond the barriers, +whilst yet the gates are locked. + +There was a man in the last century, and an eminent man too, who used +to say, that whereas people in general pretended to admire astronomy as +being essentially sublime, he for _his_ part looked upon all that sort +of thing as a swindle; and, on the contrary, he regarded the solar +system as decidedly vulgar; because the planets were all of them so +infernally punctual, they kept time with such horrible precision, +that they forced him, whether he would or no, to think of nothing but +post-office clocks, mail-coaches, and book-keepers. Regularity may be +beautiful, but it excludes the sublime. What he wished for was something +like Lloyd's list. + +_Comets_--due 3; arrived 1. _Mercury_, when last seen, appeared to be +distressed; but made no signals. _Pallas_ and _Vesta_, not heard of for +some time; supposed to have foundered. _Moon_, spoken last night through +a heavy bank of clouds; out sixteen days: all right. + +Now this poor man's misfortune was, to have lived in the days of mere +planetary astronomy. At present, when our own little system, with all +its grandeurs, has dwindled by comparison to a subordinate province, if +any man is bold enough to say so, a poor shivering unit amongst myriads +that are brighter, we ought no longer to talk of astronomy, but of +_the astronomies_. There is the planetary, the cometary, the sidereal, +perhaps also others; as, for instance, even yet the nebular; because, +though Lord Rosse has smitten it with the son of Amram's rod, has +made it open, and cloven a path through it, yet other and more fearful +_nebulć_ may loom in sight, (if further improvements should be effected +in the telescope,) that may puzzle even Lord Rosse. And when he tells +his _famulus_--'Fire a shot at that strange fellow, and make him show +his colors,' possibly the mighty stranger may disdain the summons. That +would be vexatious: we should all be incensed at _that_. But no matter. +What's a _nebula_, what's a world, more or less? In the spiritual +heavens are many mansions: in the starry heavens, that are now unfolding +and preparing to unfold before us, are many vacant areas upon which the +astronomer may pitch his secret pavilion. He may dedicate himself to the +service of the _Double Suns_; he has my license to devote his whole time +to the quadruple system of suns in _Lyra_. Swammerdam spent his life in +a ditch watching frogs and tadpoles; why may not an astronomer give +nine lives, if he had them, to the watching of that awful appearance +in _Hercules_, which pretends to some rights over our own unoffending +system? Why may he not mount guard with public approbation, for the +next fifty years, upon the zodiacal light, the interplanetary ether, +and other rarities, which the professional body of astronomers would +naturally keep (if they could) for their own private enjoyment? There +is no want of variety now, nor in fact of irregularity: for the most +exquisite clock-work, which from enormous distance _seems_ to go +wrong, virtually for us _does_ go wrong; so that our friend of the last +century, who complained of the solar system, would not need to do so any +longer. There are anomalies enough to keep him cheerful. There are now +even things to alarm us; for anything in the starry worlds that look +suspicious, anything that ought _not_ to be there, is, for all purposes +of frightening us, as good as a ghost. + +But of all the novelties that excite my own interest in the expanding +astronomy of recent times, the most delightful and promising are +those charming little pyrotechnic planetoids,[Footnote: _'Pyrotechnic +Planetoids:'_--The reader will understand me as alluding to the periodic +shooting stars. It is now well known, that as, upon our own poor little +earthly ocean, we fall in with certain phenomena as we approach certain +latitudes; so also upon the great ocean navigated by our Earth, we +fall in with prodigious showers of these meteors at periods no longer +uncertain, but fixed as jail-deliveries. 'These remarkable showers of +meteors,' says Dr. Nichol, 'observed at different periods in August and +November, seem to demonstrate the fact, that, at these periods, we have +come in contact with two streams of such planetoids then intersecting +the earth's orbit.' If they intermit, it is only because they are +shifting their nodes, or points of intersection.] that variegate our +annual course. It always struck me as most disgusting, that, in going +round the sun, we must be passing continually over old roads, and yet +we had no means of establishing an acquaintance with them: they might +as well be new for every trip. Those chambers of ether, through which we +are tearing along night and day, (for _our_ train stops at no stations,) +doubtless, if we could put some mark upon them, must be old fellows +perfectly liable to recognition. I suppose, _they_ never have notice to +quit. And yet, for want of such a mark, though all our lives flying past +them and through them, we can never challenge them as known. The same +thing happens in the desert: one monotonous iteration of sand, sand, +sand, unless where some miserable fountain stagnates, forbids all +approach to familiarity: nothing is circumstantiated or differenced: +travel it for three generations, and you are no nearer to identification +of its parts: so that it amounts to travelling through an abstract idea. +For the desert, really I suspect the thing is hopeless: but, as regards +our planetary orbit, matters are mending: for the last six or seven +years I have heard of these fiery showers, but indeed I cannot say how +much earlier they were first noticed,[Footnote: Somewhere I have seen it +remarked, that if, on a public road, you meet a party of four women, +it is at least fifty to one that they are all laughing; whereas, if you +meet an equal party of my own unhappy sex, you may wager safely that +they are talking gravely, and that one of them is uttering the word +_money_. Hence it must be, viz, because our sisters are too much +occupied with the playful things of this earth, and our brothers with +its gravities, that neither party sufficiently watches the skies. And +_that_ accounts for a fact which often has struck myself, viz., that, in +cities, on bright moonless nights, when some brilliant skirmishings of +the Aurora are exhibiting, or even a luminous arch, which is a broad +ribbon of snowy light that spans the skies, positively unless I myself +say to people--'Eyes upwards!' not one in a hundred, male or female, but +fails to see the show, though it may be seen _gratis_, simply because +their eyes are too uniformly reading the earth. This downward direction +of the eyes, however, must have been worse in former ages: because else +it never _could_ have happened that, until Queen Anne's days, nobody +ever hinted in a book that there _was_ such a thing, or _could_ be such +a thing, as the Aurora Borealis; and in fact Halley had the credit of +discovering it.] as celebrating two annual festivals--one in August, one +in November. You are a little too late, reader, for seeing this year's +summer festival; but that's no reason why you should not engage a good +seat for the November meeting; which, if I recollect, is about the +9th, or the Lord Mayor's day, and on the whole better worth seeing. +For anything _we_ know, this may be a great day in the earth's earlier +history; she may have put forth her original rose on this day, or tried +her hand at a primitive specimen of wheat; or she may, in fact, have +survived some gunpowder plot about this time; so that the meteoric +appearance may be a kind congratulating _feu-de-joye_, on the +anniversary of the happy event. What it is that the 'cosmogony man' in +the 'Vicar of Wakefield' would have thought of such novelties, whether +he would have favored us with his usual opinion upon such topics, viz., +that _anarchon ara kai ateleutaion to pan_, or have sported a new +one exclusively for this occasion, may be doubtful. What it is that +astronomers think, who are a kind of 'cosmogony men,' the reader may +learn from Dr. Nichol, Note B, (p. 139, 140.) + +In taking leave of a book and a subject so well fitted to draw out +the highest mode of that grandeur, which _can_ connect itself with +the external, (a grandeur capable of drawing down a spiritual being to +earth, but not of raising an earthly being to heaven,) I would wish to +contribute my own brief word of homage to this grandeur by recalling +from a fading remembrance of twenty-five years back a short _bravura_ +of John Paul Richter. I call it a _bravura_, as being intentionally a +passage of display and elaborate execution; and in this sense I may +call it partly 'my own,' that at twenty-five years' distance, (after one +single reading,) it would not have been possible for any man to report +a passage of this length without greatly disturbing [Footnote: +_'Disturbing;'_--neither perhaps should I much have sought to avoid +alterations if the original had been lying before me: for it takes the +shape of a dream; and this most brilliant of all German writers wanted +in that field the severe simplicity, that horror of the _too much_, +belonging to Grecian architecture, which is essential to the perfection +of a dream considered as a work of art. He was too elaborate, to +realize the grandeur of the shadowy.] the texture of the composition: +by altering, one makes it partly one's own; but it is right to mention, +that the sublime turn at the end belongs entirely to John Paul. + +'God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, +saying,--"Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house." And to the +servants that stood around his throne he said,--"Take him, and undress +him from his robes of flesh: cleanse his vision, and put a new breath +into his nostrils: only touch not with any change his human heart--the +heart that weeps and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel +for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage; and from the +terraces of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled away +into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing they +fled through Zaarrahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death, that +divided the worlds of life: sometimes they swept over frontiers, that +were quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then, from a distance +that is counted only in heaven, light dawned for a time through a sleepy +film: by unutterable pace the light swept to _them_, they by unutterable +pace to the light: in a moment the rushing of planets was upon them: in +a moment the blazing of suns was around them. Then came eternities of +twilight, that revealed, but were not revealed. To the right hand and +to the left towered mighty constellations, that by self-repetitions and +answers from afar, that by counter-positions, built up triumphal gates, +whose architraves, whose archways--horizontal, upright--rested, rose--at +altitudes, by spans--that seemed ghostly from infinitude. Without +measure were the architraves, past number were the archways, beyond +memory the gates. Within were stairs that scaled the eternities above, +that descended to the eternities below: above was below, below was +above, to the man stripped of gravitating body: depth was swallowed up +in height insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth unfathomable. +Suddenly as thus they rode from infinite to infinite, suddenly as thus +they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose--that systems +more mysterious, that worlds more billowy,--other heights, and other +depths,--were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Then the man sighed, +and stopped, shuddered and wept. His over-laden heart uttered itself in +tears; and he said,--"Angel, I will go no farther. For the spirit of man +aches with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie +down in the grave from the persecutions of the infinite; for end, I +see, there is none." And from all the listening stars that shone around +issued a choral voice, "The man speaks truly: end there is none, that +ever yet we heard of." "End is there none?" the angel solemnly demanded: +"Is there indeed no end? And is this the sorrow that kills you?" But no +voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the angel threw up +his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens; saying, "End is there none +to the universe of God? Lo! also there is no Beginning."' + + +NOTE.--On throwing his eyes hastily over the preceding paper, the writer +becomes afraid that some readers may give such an interpretation to a +few playful expressions upon the age of our earth, &c., as to class him +with those who use geology, cosmology, &c., for purposes of attack, +or insinuation against the Scriptures. Upon this point, therefore, he +wishes to make a firm explanation of his own opinions, which, (whether +right or wrong,) will liberate him, once and for all, from any such +jealousy. + +It is sometimes said, that the revealer of a true religion, does +not come amongst men for the sake of teaching truths in science, or +correcting errors in science. Most justly is this said: but often in +terms far too feeble. For generally these terms are such as to +imply, that, although no function of his mission, it was yet open to +him--although not pressing with the force of an obligation upon the +revealer, it was yet at his discretion--if not to correct other +men's errors, yet at least in his own person to speak with scientific +precision. I contend that it was _not_. I contend, that to have uttered +the truths of astronomy, of geology, &c., at the era of new-born +Christianity, was not only _below_ the purposes of a religion, but would +have been _against_ them. Even upon errors of a far more important class +than any errors in science can ever be,--superstitions, for instance, +that degraded the very idea of God; prejudices and false usages, that +laid waste human happiness, (such as slavery and many hundreds of other +abuses that might be mentioned,) the rule evidently acted upon by +the Founder of Christianity was this--Given the purification of the +fountain, once assumed that the fountains of truth are cleansed, all +these derivative currents of evil will cleanse themselves. And the only +exceptions, which I remember, to this rule, are two cases in which, from +the personal appeal made to his decision, Christ would have made himself +a party to wretched delusions, if he had not condescended to expose +their folly. But, as a general rule, the branches of error were +disregarded, and the roots only attacked. If, then, so lofty a station +was taken with regard even to such errors as had moral and spiritual +relations, how much more with regard to the comparative trifles, (as +in the ultimate relations of human nature they are,) of merely human +science! But, for my part, I go further, and assert, that upon three +reasons it was impossible for any messenger from God, (or offering +himself in that character,) for a moment to have descended into the +communication of truth merely scientific, or economic, or worldly. +And the reasons are these: _First_, Because it would have degraded his +mission, by lowering it to the base level of a collision with human +curiosity, or with petty and transitory interests. _Secondly_, Because +it would have ruined his mission; would utterly have prostrated the free +agency and the proper agency of that mission. He that, in those days, +should have proclaimed the true theory of the Solar System and the +heavenly forces, would have been shut up at once--as a lunatic likely +to become dangerous. But suppose him to have escaped _that_; still, as +a divine teacher, he has no liberty of caprice. He must stand to the +promises of his own acts. Uttering the first truth of a science, he +is pledged to the second: taking the main step, he is committed to all +which follow. He is thrown at once upon the endless controversies which +science in every stage provokes, and in none more than in the +earliest. Or, if he retires as from a scene of contest that he had not +anticipated, he retires as one confessing a human precipitance and +a human oversight, weaknesses, venial in others, but fatal to the +pretensions of a divine teacher. Starting besides from such pretensions, +he could not (as others might) have the privilege of selecting +arbitrarily or partially. If upon one science, then upon all,--if upon +science, then upon, art,--if upon art and science, then upon _every_ +branch of social economy, upon _every_ organ of civilization, his +reformations and advances are equally due; due as to all, if due as to +any. To move in one direction, is constructively to undertake for all. +Without power to retreat, he has thus thrown the intellectual interests +of his followers into a channel utterly alien to the purposes of a +spiritual mission. + +Thus far he has simply failed: but next comes a worse result; an evil, +not negative but positive. Because, _thirdly_, to apply the light of a +revelation for the benefit of a merely human science, which is virtually +done by so applying the illumination of an _inspired_ teacher, is--to +assault capitally the scheme of God's discipline and training for man. +To improve by _heavenly_ means, if but in one solitary science--to +lighten, if but in one solitary section, the condition of difficulty +which had been designed for the strengthening and training of human +faculties, is _pro tanto_ to disturb--to cancel--to contradict a +previous purpose of God, made known by silent indications from the +beginning of the world. Wherefore did God give to man the powers for +contending with scientific difficulties? Wherefore did he lay a secret +train of continual occasions, that should rise, by intervals, through +thousands of generations, for provoking and developing those activities +in man's intellect, if, after all, he is to send a messenger of his own, +more than human, to intercept and strangle all these great purposes? +When, therefore, the persecutors of Galileo, alleged that Jupiter, for +instance, could not move in the way alleged, because then the Bible +would have proclaimed it,--as they thus threw back upon God the burthen +of discovery, which he had thrown upon Galileo, why did they not, +by following out their own logic, throw upon the Bible the duty of +discovering the telescope, or discovering the satellites of Jupiter? +And, as no such discoveries were there, why did they not, by parity of +logic, and for mere consistency, deny the telescope as a fact, deny the +Jovian planets as facts? But this it is to mistake the very meaning and +purposes of a revelation. A revelation is not made for the purpose of +showing to idle men that which they may show to themselves, by faculties +already given to them, if only they will exert those faculties, but for +the purpose of showing _that_ which the moral darkness of man will +not, without supernatural light, allow him to perceive. With disdain, +therefore, must every considerate person regard the notion,--that God +could wilfully interfere with his own plans, by accrediting ambassadors +to reveal astronomy, or any other science, which he has commanded men +to cultivate _without_ revelation, by endowing them with all the natural +powers for doing so. + +Even as regards astronomy, a science so nearly allying itself to +religion by the loftiness and by the purity of its contemplations, +Scripture is nowhere the _parent_ of any doctrine, nor so much as the +silent sanctioner of any doctrine. Scripture cannot become the author +of falsehood,--though it were as to a trifle, cannot become a party to +falsehood. And it is made impossible for Scripture to teach falsely, by +the simple fact that Scripture, on such subjects, will not condescend to +teach at all. The Bible adopts the erroneous language of men, (which at +any rate it must do, in order to make itself understood,) not by way +of sanctioning a theory, but by way of using a fact. The Bible _uses_ +(postulates) the phenomena of day and night, of summer and winter, and +expresses them, in relation to their causes, as _men_ express them, men, +even, that are scientific astronomers. But the results, which are all +that concern Scripture, are equally true, whether accounted for by one +hypothesis which is philosophically just, or by another which is popular +and erring. + +Now, on the other hand, in geology and cosmology, the case is still +stronger. _Here_ there is no opening for a compliance even with popular +language. _Here_, where there is no such stream of apparent phenomena +running counter (as in astronomy) to the real phenomena, neither is +there any popular language opposed to the scientific. The whole are +abstruse speculations, even as regards their objects, not dreamed of as +possibilities, either in their true aspects or their false aspects, +till modern times. The Scriptures, therefore, nowhere allude to such +sciences, either under the shape of histories, applied to processes +current and in movement, or under the shape of theories applied to +processes past and accomplished. The Mosaic cosmogony, indeed, gives the +succession of natural births; and that succession will doubtless be more +and more confirmed and illustrated as geology advances. But as to the +time, the duration, of this cosmogony, it is the idlest of notions that +the Scriptures either have or could have condescended to human curiosity +upon so awful a prologue to the drama of this world. Genesis would no +more have indulged so mean a passion with respect to the mysterious +inauguration of the world, than the Apocalypse with respect to its +mysterious close. 'Yet the six _days_ of Moses!' Days! But is any man +so little versed in biblical language as not to know that (except in the +merely historical parts of the Jewish records) every section of time +has a secret and separate acceptation in the Scriptures? Does an _ćon_, +though a Grecian word, bear scripturally [either in Daniel or in Saint +John] any sense known to Grecian ears? Do the seventy _weeks_ of the +prophet mean weeks in the sense of human calendars? Already the Psalms, +(xc) already St. Peter, (2d Epist.) warn us of a peculiar sense +attached to the word _day_ in divine ears? And who of the innumerable +interpreters understands the twelve hundred and odd days in Daniel, +or his two thousand and odd days, to mean, by possibility, periods of +twenty-four hours? Surely the theme of Moses was as mystical, and +as much entitled to the benefit of mystical language, as that of the +prophets. + +The sum of the matter is this:--God, by a Hebrew prophet, is sublimely +described as _the Revealer_; and, in variation of his own expression, +the same prophet describes him as the Being 'that knoweth the darkness.' +Under no idea can the relations of God to man be more grandly expressed. +But of what is he the revealer? Not surely of those things which he has +enabled man to reveal for himself, and which he has commanded him so +to reveal, but of those things which, were it not through special +light from heaven, must eternally remain sealed up in the inaccessible +darkness. On this principle we should all laugh at a revealed cookery. +But essentially the same ridicule applies to a revealed astronomy, or a +revealed geology. As a fact, there _is_ no such astronomy or geology: as +a possibility, by the _a priori_ argument which I have used, (viz., that +a revelation on such fields, would contradict _other_ machineries of +providence,) there _can_ be no such astronomy or geology. Consequently +there _can_ be none such in the Bible. Consequently there _is_ none. +Consequently there can be no schism or feud upon _these_ subjects +between the Bible and the philosophies outside. Geology is a field left +open, with the amplest permission from above, to the widest and wildest +speculations of man. + + + + +MODERN SUPERSTITION + + +It is said continually--that the age of miracles is past. We deny that +it is so in any sense which implies this age to differ from all other +generations of man except one. It is neither past, nor ought we to wish +it past. Superstition is no vice in the constitution of man: it is +not true that, in any philosophic view, _primus in orbe deos fecit +timor_--meaning by _fecit_ even so much as _raised into light_. As Burke +remarked, the _timor_ at least must be presumed to preexist, and must +be accounted for, if not the gods. If the fear created the gods, what +created the fear? Far more true, and more just to the grandeur of man, +it would have been to say--_Primus in orbe deos fecit sensus infiniti_. +Even in the lowest Caffre, more goes to the sense of a divine being than +simply his wrath or his power. Superstition, indeed, or the sympathy +with the invisible, is the great test of man's nature, as an earthly +combining with a celestial. In superstition lies the possibility +of religion. And though superstition is often injurious, degrading, +demoralizing, it is so, not as a form of corruption or degradation, +but as a form of non-development. The crab is harsh, and for itself +worthless. But it is the germinal form of innumerable finer fruits: not +apples only the most exquisite, and pears; the peach and the nectarine +are said to have radiated from this austere stock when cultured, +developed, and transferred to all varieties of climate. Superstition +will finally pass into pure forms of religion as man advances. It would +be matter of lamentation to hear that superstition had at all decayed +until man had made corresponding steps in the purification and +development of his intellect as applicable to religious faith. Let us +hope that this is not so. And, by way of judging, let us throw a hasty +eye over the modes of popular superstition. If these manifest their +vitality, it will prove that the popular intellect does not go along +with the bookish or the worldly (philosophic we cannot call it) in +pronouncing the miraculous extinct. The popular feeling is all in all. + +This function of miraculous power, which is most widely diffused through +Pagan and Christian ages alike, but which has the least root in the +solemnities of the imagination, we may call the _Ovidian_. By way of +distinction, it may be so called; and with some justice, since Ovid in +his _Metamorphoses_ gave the first elaborate record of such a tendency +in human superstition. It is a movement of superstition under the +domination of human affections; a mode of spiritual awe which seeks +to reconcile itself with human tenderness or admiration; and which +represents supernatural power as expressing itself by a sympathy with +human distress or passion concurrently with human sympathies, and as +supporting that blended sympathy by a symbol incarnated with the fixed +agencies of nature. For instance, a pair of youthful lovers perish by a +double suicide originating in a fatal mistake, and a mistake operating +in each case through a noble self-oblivion. The tree under which their +meeting has been concerted, and which witnesses their tragedy, is +supposed ever afterwards to express the divine sympathy with this +catastrophe in the gloomy color of its fruit:-- + + 'At tu, quć ramis (arbor!) miserabile corpus + Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum, + Signa tene cćdis:--pullosque et luctibus aptos + Semper habe fructus--gemini monumenta cruoris:' + +Such is the dying adjuration of the lady to the tree. And the fruit +becomes from that time a monument of a double sympathy--sympathy from +man, sympathy from a dark power standing behind the agencies of nature, +and speaking through them. Meantime the object of this sympathy is +understood to be not the individual catastrophe, but the universal +case of unfortunate love exemplified in this particular romance. The +inimitable grace with which Ovid has delivered these early traditions +of human tenderness, blending with human superstition, is notorious; the +artfulness of the pervading connection, by which every tale in the long +succession is made to arise spontaneously out of that which precedes, is +absolutely unrivalled; and this it was, with his luxuriant gayety, which +procured for him a preference, even with Milton, a poet so opposite by +intellectual constitution. It is but reasonable, therefore, that this +function of the miraculous should bear the name of _Ovidian_. Pagan it +was in its birth; and to paganism its titles ultimately ascend. Yet we +know that in the transitional state through the centuries succeeding to +Christ, during which paganism and Christianity were slowly descending +and ascending, as if from two different strata of the atmosphere, the +two powers interchanged whatsoever they could. (See Conyer's Middleton; +and see Blount of our own days.) It marked the earthly nature of +paganism, that it could borrow little or nothing by organization: it +was fitted to no expansion. But the true faith, from its vast and +comprehensive adaptation to the nature of man, lent itself to many +corruptions--some deadly in their tendencies, some harmless. Amongst +these last was the Ovidian form of connecting the unseen powers moving +in nature with human sympathies of love or reverence. The legends of +this kind are universal and endless. No land, the most austere in its +Protestantism, but has adopted these superstitions: and everywhere by +those even who reject them they are entertained with some degree of +affectionate respect. That the ass, which in its very degradation still +retains an under-power of sublimity, [Footnote: '_An under-power of +sublimity_.'--Everybody knows that Homer compared the Telamonian Ajax, +in a moment of heroic endurance, to an ass. This, however, was only +under a momentary glance from a peculiar angle of the case. But the +Mahometan, too solemn, and also perhaps too stupid to catch the fanciful +colors of things, absolutely by choice, under the Bagdad Caliphate, +decorated a most favorite hero with the title of the _Ass_--which title +is repeated with veneration to this day. The wild ass is one of the few +animals which has the reputation of never flying from an enemy.] or of +sublime suggestion through its ancient connection with the wilderness, +with the Orient, with Jerusalem, should have been honored amongst +all animals, by the visible impression upon its back of Christian +symbols--seems reasonable even to the infantine understanding when made +acquainted with its meekness, its patience, its suffering life, and +its association with the founder of Christianity in one great triumphal +solemnity. The very man who brutally abuses it, and feels a hardhearted +contempt for its misery and its submission, has a semi-conscious feeling +that the same qualities were possibly those which recommended it to a +distinction, [Footnote: '_Which recommended it to a distinction_.'--It +might be objected that the Oriental ass was often a superb animal; that +it is spoken of prophetically as such; and that historically the Syrian +ass is made known to us as having been used in the prosperous ages +of Judea for the riding of princes. But this is no objection. Those +circumstances in the history of the ass were requisite to establish its +symbolic propriety in a great symbolic pageant of triumph. Whilst, on +the other hand, the individual animal, there is good reason to think, +was marked by all the qualities of the general race as a suffering and +unoffending tribe in the animal creation. The asses on which princes +rode were of a separate color, of a peculiar breed, and improved, like +the English racer, by continual care.] when all things were valued +upon a scale inverse to that of the world. Certain it is, that in all +Christian lands the legend about the ass is current amongst the rural +population. The haddock, again, amongst marine animals, is supposed, +throughout all maritime Europe, to be a privileged fish; even in austere +Scotland, every child can point out the impression of St. Peter's +thumb, by which from age to age it is distinguished from fishes having +otherwise an external resemblance. All domesticated cattle, having the +benefit of man's guardianship and care, are believed throughout England +and Germany to go down upon their knees at one particular moment of +Christmas eve, when the fields are covered with darkness, when no eye +looks down but that of God, and when the exact anniversary hour +revolves of the angelic song, once rolling over the fields and flocks +of Palestine. [Footnote: Mahometanism, which everywhere pillages +Christianity, cannot but have its own face at times glorified by its +stolen jewels. This solemn hour of jubilation, gathering even the brutal +natures into its fold, recalls accordingly the Mahometan legend (which +the reader may remember is one of those incorporated into Southey's +_Thalaba_) of a great hour revolving once in every year, during which +the gates of Paradise were thrown open to their utmost extent, and gales +of happiness issued forth upon the total family of man.] The Glastonbury +Thorn is a more local superstition; but at one time the legend was as +widely diffused as that of Loretto, with the angelic translation of +its sanctities: on Christmas morning, it was devoutly believed by all +Christendom, that this holy thorn put forth its annual blossoms. And +with respect to the aspen tree, which Mrs. Hemans very naturally mistook +for a Welsh legend, having first heard it in Denbighshire, the popular +faith is universal--that it shivers mystically in sympathy with the +horror of that mother tree in Palestine which was compelled to furnish +materials for the cross. Neither would it in this case be any objection, +if a passage were produced from Solinus or Theophrastus, implying that +the aspen tree had always shivered--for the tree might presumably be +penetrated by remote presentiments, as well as by remote remembrances. +In so vast a case the obscure sympathy should stretch, Janus-like, each +way. And an objection of the same kind to the rainbow, considered as +the sign or seal by which God attested his covenant in bar of all future +deluges, may be parried in something of the same way. It was not then +first created--true: but it was then first selected by preference, +amongst a multitude of natural signs as yet unappropriated, and then +first charged with the new function of a message and a ratification to +man. Pretty much the same theory, that is, the same way of accounting +for the natural existence without disturbing the supernatural functions, +may be applied to the great constellation of the other hemisphere, +called the Southern Cross. It is viewed popularly in South America, and +the southern parts of our northern hemisphere, as the great banner, or +gonfalon, held aloft by Heaven before the Spanish heralds of the true +faith in 1492. To that superstitious and ignorant race it costs not an +effort to suppose, that by some synchronizing miracle, the constellation +had been then specially called into existence at the very moment when +the first Christian procession, bearing a cross in their arms, solemnly +stepped on shore from the vessels of Christendom. We Protestants know +better: we understand the impossibility of supposing such a narrow and +local reference in orbs, so transcendently vast as those composing the +constellation--orbs removed from each other by such unvoyageable worlds +of space, and having, in fact, no real reference to each other more +than to any other heavenly bodies whatsoever. The unity of synthesis, by +which they are composed into one figure of a cross, we know to be a mere +accidental result from an arbitrary synthesis of human fancy. Take such +and such stars, compose them into letters, and they will spell such a +word. But still it was our own choice--a synthesis of our own fancy, +originally to combine them in this way. They might be divided from +each other, and otherwise combined. All this is true: and yet, as +the combination does spontaneously offer itself [Footnote: '_Does +spontaneously offer itself._'--Heber (Bishop of Calcutta) complains that +this constellation is not composed of stars answering his expectation in +point of magnitude. But he admits that the dark barren space around it +gives to this inferior magnitude a very advantageous relief.] to every +eye, as the glorious cross does really glitter for ever through the +silent hours of a vast hemisphere, even they who are not superstitious, +may willingly yield to the belief--that, as the rainbow was laid in +the very elements and necessities of nature, yet still bearing a +pre-dedication to a service which would not be called for until many +ages had passed, so also the mysterious cipher of man's imperishable +hopes may have been entwined and enwreathed with the starry heavens from +their earliest creation, as a prefiguration--as a silent heraldry of +hope through one period, and as a heraldry of gratitude through the +other. + +All these cases which we have been rehearsing, taking them in the +fullest literality, agree in this general point of union--they are all +silent incarnations of miraculous power--miracles, supposing them to +have been such originally, locked up and embodied in the regular +course of nature, just as we see lineaments of faces and of forms in +petrifactions, in variegated marbles, in spars, or in rocky strata, +which our fancy interprets as once having been real human existences; +but which are now confounded with the substance of a mineral product. +Even those who are most superstitious, therefore, look upon cases of +this order as occupying a midway station between the physical and the +hyperphysical, between the regular course of nature and the providential +interruption of that course. The stream of the miraculous is here +confluent with the stream of the natural. By such legends the credulous +man finds his superstition but little nursed; the incredulous finds his +philosophy but little revolted. Both alike will be willing to admit, for +instance, that the apparent act of reverential thanksgiving, in certain +birds, when drinking, is caused and supported by a physiological +arrangement; and yet, perhaps, both alike would bend so far to the +legendary faith as to allow a child to believe, and would perceive a +pure childlike beauty in believing, that the bird was thus rendering a +homage of deep thankfulness to the universal Father, who watches for +the safety of sparrows, and sends his rain upon the just and upon the +unjust. In short, the faith in this order of the physico-miraculous +is open alike to the sceptical and the non-sceptical: it is touched +superficially with the coloring of superstition, with its tenderness, +its humility, its thankfulness, its awe; but, on the other hand, it is +not therefore tainted with the coarseness, with the silliness, with the +credulity of superstition. Such a faith reposes upon the universal +signs diffused through nature, and blends with the mysterious of natural +grandeurs wherever found--with the mysterious of the starry heavens, +with the mysterious of music, and with that infinite form of the +mysterious for man's dimmest misgivings-- + + 'Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.' + +But, from this earliest note in the ascending scale of superstitious +faith, let us pass to a more alarming key. This first, which we have +styled (in equity as well as for distinction) the _Ovidian_, is too +ćrial, too allegoric, almost to be susceptible of much terror. It is the +mere _fancy_, in a mood half-playful, half-tender, which submits to the +belief. It is the feeling, the sentiment, which creates the faith; not +the faith which creates the feeling. And thus far we see that modern +feeling and Christian feeling has been to the full as operative as any +that is peculiar to paganism; judging by the Romish _Legenda_, very +much more so. The Ovidian illustrations, under a false superstition, are +entitled to give the designation, as being the first, the earliest, but +not at all as the richest. Besides that, Ovid's illustrations emanated +often from himself individually, not from the popular mind of his +country; ours of the same classification uniformly repose on large +popular traditions from the whole of Christian antiquity. These again +are agencies of the supernatural which can never have a private or +personal application; they belong to all mankind and to all generations. +But the next in order are more solemn; they become terrific by becoming +personal. These comprehend all that vast body of the marvellous which is +expressed by the word _Ominous_. On this head, as dividing itself into +the ancient and modern, we will speak next. + +Everybody is aware of the deep emphasis which the Pagans laid upon words +and upon names, under this aspect of the ominous. The name of several +places was formally changed by the Roman government, solely with a view +to that contagion of evil which was thought to lurk in the syllables, +if taken significantly. Thus, the town of Maleventum, (Ill-come, as one +might render it,) had its name changed by the Romans to Beneventum, (or +Welcome.) _Epidamnum_ again, the Grecian Calais, corresponding to the +Roman Dover of Brundusium, was a name that would have startled the +stoutest-hearted Roman 'from his propriety.' Had he suffered this name +to escape him inadvertently, his spirits would have forsaken him--he +would have pined away under a certainty of misfortune, like a poor +Negro of Koromantyn who is the victim of Obi.[Footnote: '_The victim +of Obi._'--It seems worthy of notice, that this magical fascination is +generally called Obi, and the magicians Obeah men, throughout Guinea, +Negroland, &c.; whilst the Hebrew or Syriac word for the rites +of necromancy, was _Ob_ or _Obh_, at least when ventriloquism was +concerned.] As a Greek word, which it was, the name imported no ill; but +for a Roman to say _Ibo Epidamnum_, was in effect saying, though in a +hybrid dialect, half-Greek half-Roman, 'I will go to ruin.' The name +was therefore changed to Dyrrachium; a substitution which quieted more +anxieties in Roman hearts than the erection of a light-house or the +deepening of the harbor mouth. A case equally strong, to take one out of +many hundreds that have come down to us, is reported by Livy. There was +an officer in a Roman legion, at some period of the Republic, who bore +the name either of Atrius Umber or Umbrius Ater: and this man being +ordered on some expedition, the soldiers refused to follow him. They +did right. We remember that Mr. Coleridge used facetiously to call +the well-known sister of Dr. Aikin, Mrs. Barbauld, 'that pleonasm of +nakedness'--the idea of nakedness being reduplicated and reverberated +in the _bare_ and the _bald_. This Atrius Umber might be called 'that +pleonasm of darkness;' and one might say to him, in the words of +Othello, 'What needs this iteration?' To serve under the Gloomy was +enough to darken the spirit of hope; but to serve under the Black Gloomy +was really rushing upon destruction. Yet it will be alleged that Captain +Death was a most favorite and heroic leader in the English navy; and +that in our own times, Admiral Coffin, though an American by birth, has +not been unpopular in the same service. This is true: and all that can +be said is, that these names were two-edged swords, which might be made +to tell against the enemy as well as against friends. And possibly the +Roman centurion might have turned his name to the same account, had he +possessed the great Dictator's presence of mind; for he, when landing in +Africa, having happened to stumble--an omen of the worst character, in +Roman estimation--took out its sting by following up his own oversight, +as if it had been intentional, falling to the ground, kissing it, and +ejaculating that in this way he appropriated the soil. + +Omens of every class were certainly regarded, in ancient Rome, with a +reverence that can hardly be surpassed. But yet, with respect to these +omens derived from names, it is certain that our modern times have more +memorable examples on record. Out of a large number which occur to us, +we will cite two:--The present King of the French bore in his boyish +days a title which he would not have borne, but for an omen of bad +augury attached to his proper title. He was called the Duc de Chartres +before the Revolution, whereas his proper title was Duc de Valois. And +the origin of the change was this:--The Regent's father had been the +sole brother of Louis Quatorze. He married for his first wife our +English princess Henrietta, the sister of Charles II., (and through her +daughter, by the way, it is that the house of Savoy, _i.e._ of Sardinia, +has pretensions to the English throne.) This unhappy lady, it is too +well established, was poisoned. Voltaire, amongst many others, has +affected to doubt the fact; for which in his time there might be some +excuse. But since then better evidences have placed the matter beyond +all question. We now know both the fact, and the how, and the why. The +Duke, who probably was no party to the murder of his young wife, though +otherwise on bad terms with her, married for his second wife a coarse +German princess, homely in every sense, and a singular contrast to the +elegant creature whom he had lost. She was a daughter of the Bavarian +Elector; ill-tempered by her own confession, self-willed, and a plain +speaker to excess; but otherwise a woman of honest German principles. +Unhappy she was through a long life; unhappy through the monotony as +well as the malicious intrigues of the French court; and so much so, +that she did her best (though without effect) to prevent her Bavarian +niece from becoming dauphiness. She acquits her husband, however, in +the memoirs which she left behind, of any intentional share in her +unhappiness; she describes him constantly as a well-disposed prince. +But whether it were, that often walking in the dusk through the numerous +apartments of that vast mansion which her husband had so much enlarged, +naturally she turned her thoughts to the injured lady who had presided +there before herself; or whether it arose from the inevitable gloom +which broods continually over mighty palaces, so much is known for +certain, that one evening, in the twilight, she met, at a remote quarter +of the reception-rooms, something that she conceived to be a spectre. +What she fancied to have passed on that occasion, was never known except +to her nearest friends; and if she made any explanations in her memoirs, +the editor has thought fit to suppress them. She mentions only, that +in consequence of some ominous circumstances relating to the title of +_Valois_, which was the proper second title of the Orleans family, her +son, the Regent, had assumed in his boyhood that of Duc de Chartres. His +elder brother was dead, so that the superior title was open to him; but, +in consequence of those mysterious omens, whatever they might be, which +occasioned much whispering at the time, the great title of Valois was +laid aside for ever as of bad augury; nor has it ever been resumed +through a century and a half that have followed that mysterious warning; +nor will it be resumed unless the numerous children of the present +Orleans branch should find themselves distressed for ancient titles; +which is not likely, since they enjoy the honors of the elder house, and +are now the _children of France_ in a technical sense. + +Here we have a great European case of state omens in the eldest of +Christian houses. The next which we shall cite is equally a state case, +and carries its public verification along with itself. In the spring of +1799, when Napoleon was lying before Acre, he became anxious for news +from Upper Egypt, whither he had despatched Dessaix in pursuit of a +distinguished Mameluke leader. This was in the middle of May. Not many +days after, a courier arrived with favorable despatches--favorable in +the main, but reporting one tragical occurrence on a small scale +that, to Napoleon, for a superstitious reason, outweighed the public +prosperity. A _djerme_, or Nile boat of the largest class, having on +board a large party of troops and of wounded men, together with most +of a regimental band, had run ashore at the village of Benouth. No +case could be more hopeless. The neighboring Arabs were of the Yambo +tribe--of all Arabs the most ferocious. These Arabs and the Fellahs +(whom, by the way, many of our countrymen are so ready to represent +as friendly to the French and hostile to ourselves,) had taken the +opportunity of attacking the vessel. The engagement was obstinate; but +at length the inevitable catastrophe could be delayed no longer. The +commander, an Italian named Morandi, was a brave man; any fate appeared +better than that which awaited him from an enemy so malignant. He set +fire to the powder magazine; the vessel blew up; Morandi perished in +the Nile; and all of less nerve, who had previously reached the shore in +safety, were put to death to the very last man, with cruelties the +most detestable, by their inhuman enemies. For all this Napoleon cared +little; but one solitary fact there was in the report which struck him +with consternation. This ill-fated _djerme_--what was it called? It was +called _L'Italie_; and in the name of the vessel Napoleon read an augury +of the fate which had befallen the Italian territory. Considered as a +dependency of France, he felt certain that Italy was lost; and Napoleon +was inconsolable. But what possible connection, it was asked, can exist +between this vessel on the Nile and a remote peninsula of Southern +Europe? 'No matter,' replied Napoleon; 'my presentiments never deceive +me. You will see that all is ruined. I am satisfied that my Italy, my +conquest, is lost to France!' So, indeed, it was. All European news had +long been intercepted by the English cruisers; but immediately after the +battle with the Vizier in July 1799, an English admiral first informed +the French army of Egypt that Massena and others had lost all that +Bonaparte had won in 1796. But it is a strange illustration of human +blindness, that this very subject of Napoleon's lamentation--this very +campaign of 1799--it was, with its blunders and its long equipage of +disasters, that paved the way for his own elevation to the Consulship, +just seven calendar months from the receipt of that Egyptian despatch; +since most certainly, in the struggle of Brumaire 1799, doubtful and +critical through every stage, it was the pointed contrast between _his_ +Italian campaigns and those of his successors which gave effect to +Napoleon's pretensions with the political combatants, and which procured +them a ratification amongst the people. The loss of Italy was essential +to the full effect of Napoleon's previous conquest. That and the +imbecile characters of Napoleon's chief military opponents were the true +keys to the great revolution of Brumaire. The stone which he rejected +became the keystone of the arch. So that, after all, he valued the omen +falsely; though the very next news from Europe, courteously communicated +by his English enemies, showed that he had interpreted its meaning +rightly. + +These omens, derived from names, are therefore common to the ancient and +the modern world. But perhaps, in strict logic, they ought to have been +classed as one subdivision or variety under a much larger head, viz. +words generally, no matter whether proper names or appellatives, as +operative powers and agencies, having, that is to say, a charmed power +against some party concerned from the moment that they leave the lips. + +Homer describes prayers as having a separate life, rising buoyantly upon +wings, and making their way upwards to the throne of Jove. Such, but in +a sense gloomy and terrific, is the force ascribed under a widespread +superstition, ancient and modern, to words uttered on critical +occasions; or to words uttered at any time, which point to critical +occasions. Hence the doctrine of _euphaemismos_, the necessity of +abstaining from strong words or direct words in expressing fatal +contingencies. It was shocking, at all times of paganism, to say of a +third person--'If he should die;' or to suppose the case that he might +be murdered. The very word _death_ was consecrated and forbidden. +_Si quiddam humanum passus fuerit_ was the extreme form to which men +advanced in such cases. And this scrupulous feeling, originally founded +on the supposed efficacy of words, prevails to this day. It is a feeling +undoubtedly supported by good taste, which strongly impresses upon us +all the discordant tone of all impassioned subjects, (death, religion, +&c.,) with the common key of ordinary conversation. But good taste is +not in itself sufficient to account for a scrupulousness so general and +so austere. In the lowest classes there is a shuddering recoil still +felt from uttering coarsely and roundly the anticipation of a +person's death. Suppose a child, heir to some estate, the subject of +conversation--the hypothesis of his death is put cautiously, under such +forms as, 'If anything but good should happen;' 'if any change should +occur;' 'if any of us should chance to miscarry;' and so forth. Always a +modified expression is sought--always an indirect one. And this timidity +arises under the old superstition still lingering amongst men, like +that ancient awe, alluded to by Wordsworth, for the sea and its deep +secrets--feelings that have not, no, nor ever will, utterly decay. No +excess of nautical skill will ever perfectly disenchant the great abyss +from its terrors--no progressive knowledge will ever medicine that dread +misgiving of a mysterious and pathless power given to words of a certain +import, or uttered in certain situations, by a parent, to persecuting or +insulting children; by the victim of horrible oppression, when laboring +in final agonies; and by others, whether cursing or blessing, who stand +central to great passions, to great interests, or to great perplexities. + +And here, by way of parenthesis, we may stop to explain the force of +that expression, so common in Scripture, '_Thou hast said it._' It is an +answer often adopted by our Saviour; and the meaning we hold to be this: +Many forms in eastern idioms, as well as in the Greek occasionally, +though meant _interrogatively_, are of a nature to convey a direct +categorical _affirmation_, unless as their meaning is modified by +the cadence and intonation. _Art thou_, detached from this vocal and +accentual modification, is equivalent to _thou art_. Nay, even apart +from this accident, the popular belief authorized the notion, that +simply to have uttered any great thesis, though unconsciously--simply to +have united verbally any two great ideas, though for a purpose the most +different or even opposite, had the mysterious power of realizing them +in act. An exclamation, though in the purest spirit of sport, to a +boy, '_You shall be our imperator_,' was many times supposed to be +the forerunner and fatal mandate for the boy's elevation. Such words +executed themselves. To connect, though but for denial or for mockery, +the ideas of Jesus and the Messiah, furnished an augury that eventually +they would be found to coincide, and to have their coincidence admitted. +It was an _argumentum ad hominem_, and drawn from a popular faith. + +But a modern reader will object the want of an accompanying design or +serious meaning on the part of him who utters the words--he never meant +his words to be taken seriously--nay, his purpose was the very opposite. +True: and precisely that is the reason why his words are likely to +operate effectually, and why they should be feared. Here lies the +critical point which most of all distinguishes this faith. Words +took effect, not merely in default of a serious use, but exactly in +consequence of that default. It was the chance word, the stray word, +the word uttered in jest, or in trifling, or in scorn, or unconsciously, +which took effect; whilst ten thousand words, uttered with purpose +and deliberation, were sure to prove inert. One case will illustrate +this:--Alexander of Macedon, in the outset of his great expedition, +consulted the oracle at Delphi. For the sake of his army, had he +been even without personal faith, he desired to have his enterprise +consecrated. No persuasions, however, would move the priestess to enter +upon her painful and agitating duties for the sake of obtaining the +regular answer of the god. Wearied with this, Alexander seized the great +lady by the arm, and using as much violence as was becoming to the two +characters--of a great prince acting and a great priestess suffering--he +pushed her gently backwards to the tripod on which, in her professional +character, she was to seat herself. Upon this, in the hurry and +excitement of the moment, the priestess exclaimed, _O pai, anixaitos +ei--O son, thou art irresistible_; never adverting for an instant to his +martial purposes, but simply to his personal importunities. The person +whom she thought of as incapable of resistance, was herself, and all she +meant _consciously_ was--O son, I can refuse nothing to one so earnest. +But mark what followed: Alexander desisted at once--he asked for no +further oracle--he refused it, and exclaimed joyously:--'Now then, noble +priestess, farewell; I have the oracle--I have your answer, and better +than any which you could deliver from the tripod. I am invincible--so +you have declared, you cannot revoke it. True, you thought not of +Persia--you thought only of my importunity. But that very fact is what +ratifies your answer. In its blindness I recognise its truth. An oracle +from a god might be distorted by political ministers of the god, as +in time past too often has been suspected. The oracle has been said to +_Medize_, and in my own father's time to _Philippize_. But an oracle +delivered unconsciously, indirectly, blindly, that is the oracle +which cannot deceive.' Such was the all-famous oracle which Alexander +accepted--such was the oracle on which he and his army reposing went +forth 'conquering and to conquer.' + +Exactly on this principle do the Turks act, in putting so high a value +on the words of idiots. Enlightened Christians have often wondered at +their allowing any weight to people bereft of understanding. But that is +the very reason for allowing them weight: that very defect it is which +makes them capable of being organs for conveying words from higher +intelligences. A fine human intelligence cannot be a passive +instrument--it cannot be a mere tube for conveying the words of +inspiration: such an intelligence will intermingle ideas of its own, or +otherwise modify what is given, and pollute what is sacred. + +It is also on this principle that the whole practice and doctrine of +Sortilegy rest. Let us confine ourselves to that mode of sortilegy which +is conducted by throwing open privileged books at random, leaving to +chance the page and the particular line on which the oracular functions +are thrown. The books used have varied with the caprice or the error of +ages. Once the Hebrew Scriptures had the preference. Probably they were +laid aside, not because the reverence for their authority decayed, +but because it increased. In later times Virgil has been the favorite. +Considering the very limited range of ideas to which Virgil was tied +by his theme--a colonizing expedition in a barbarous age, no worse book +could have been selected: [Footnote: '_No worse book could have been +selected._'--The probable reason for making so unhappy a choice seems +to have been that Virgil, in the middle ages, had the character of +a necromancer, a diviner, &c. This we all know from Dante. Now, the +original reason for this strange translation of character and functions +we hold to have arisen from the circumstance of his maternal grandfather +having borne the name of _Magus_. People in those ages held that a +powerful enchanter, exorciser, &c., must have a magician amongst his +_cognati_; the power must run in the blood, which on the maternal side +could be undeniably ascertained. Under this preconception, they took +Magus not for a proper name, but for a professional designation. Amongst +many illustrations of the magical character sustained by Virgil in the +middle ages, we may mention that a writer, about the year 1200, or the +era of our Robin Hood, published by Montfaucon, and cited by Gibbon in +his last volume, says of Virgil,--that '_Captus a Romanis invisibiliter +exiit, ivitque Neapopolim_.'] so little indeed does the AEneid exhibit +of human life in its multiformity, that much tampering with the text +is required to bring real cases of human interest and real situations +within the scope of any Virgilian sentence, though aided by the utmost +latitude of accommodation. A king, a soldier, a sailor, &c., might look +for correspondences to their own circumstances; but not many others. +Accordingly, everybody remembers the remarkable answer which Charles I. +received at Oxford from this Virgilian oracle, about the opening of the +Parliamentary war. But from this limitation in the range of ideas it was +that others, and very pious people too, have not thought it profane to +resume the old reliance on the Scriptures. No case, indeed, can try +so severely, or put upon record so conspicuously, this indestructible +propensity for seeking light out of darkness--this thirst for looking +into the future by the aid of dice, real or figurative, as the fact +of men eminent for piety having yielded to the temptation. We give one +instance--the instance of a person who, in _practical_ theology, has +been, perhaps, more popular than any other in any church. Dr. Doddridge, +in his earlier days, was in a dilemma both of conscience and of taste +as to the election he should make between two situations, one in +possession, both at his command. He was settled at Harborough, +in Leicestershire, and was 'pleasing himself with the view of a +continuance' in that situation. True, he had received an invitation to +Northampton; but the reasons against complying seemed so strong, that +nothing was wanting but the civility of going over to Northampton, and +making an apologetic farewell. On the last Sunday in November of the +year 1729, the doctor went and preached a sermon in conformity with +those purposes. 'But,' says he, 'on the morning of that day an incident +happened, which affected me greatly.' On the night previous, it seems, +he had been urged very importunately by his Northampton friends to +undertake the vacant office. Much personal kindness had concurred with +this public importunity: the good doctor was affected; he had prayed +fervently, alleging in his prayer, as the reason which chiefly weighed +with him to reject the offer, that it was far beyond his forces, +and chiefly because he was too young [Footnote: '_Because he was too +young_'--Dr. Doddridge was born in the summer of 1702; consequently +he was at this era of his life about twenty-seven years old, and +consequently not so obviously entitled to the excuse of youth. But he +pleaded his youth, not with a view to the exertions required, but to +the _auctoritas_ and responsibilities of the situation.] and had no +assistant. He goes on thus:--'As soon as ever this address' (meaning +the prayer) 'was ended, I passed through a room of the house in which +I lodged, where a child was reading to his mother, and the only words +I heard distinctly were these, _And as thy days, so shall thy strength +be_.' This singular coincidence between his own difficulty and a +scriptural line caught at random in passing hastily through a room, (but +observe, a line insulated from the context, and placed in high relief +to his ear,) shook his resolution. Accident co-operated; a promise to +be fulfilled at Northampton, in a certain contingency, fell due at the +instant; the doctor was detained, this detention gave time for further +representations; new motives arose, old difficulties were removed, and +finally the doctor saw, in all this succession of steps, the first of +which, however, lay in the _Sortes Biblicć_, clear indications of a +providential guidance. With that conviction he took up his abode at +Northampton, and remained there for the next thirty-one years, until he +left it for his grave at Lisbon; in fact, he passed at Northampton the +whole of his public life. It must, therefore, be allowed to stand upon +the records of sortilegy, that in the main direction of his life--not, +indeed, as to its spirit, but as to its form and local connections--a +Protestant divine of much merit, and chiefly in what regards practice, +and of the class most opposed to superstition, took his determining +impulse from a variety of the _Sortes Virgilianć_. + +This variety was known in early times to the Jews--as early, indeed, as +the era of the Grecian Pericles, if we are to believe the Talmud. It +is known familiarly to this day amongst Polish Jews, and is called +_Bathcol_, or the _daughter of a voice_; the meaning of which +appellation is this:--The _Urim and Thummim_, or oracle in the +breast-plate of the high priest, spoke directly from God. It was, +therefore, the original or mother-voice. But about the time of Pericles, +that is, exactly one hundred years before the time of Alexander the +Great, the light of prophecy was quenched in Malachi or Haggai; and +the oracular jewels in the breast-plate became simultaneously dim. +Henceforwards the mother-voice was heard no longer: but to this +succeeded an imperfect or daughter-voice, (_Bathcol_,) which lay in the +first words happening to arrest the attention at a moment of perplexity. +An illustration, which has been often quoted from the Talmud, is to the +following effect:--Rabbi Tochanan, and Rabbi Simeon Ben Lachish, were +anxious about a friend, Rabbi Samuel, six hundred miles distant on +the Euphrates. Whilst talking earnestly together on this subject in +Palestine, they passed a school; they paused to listen: it was a child +reading the first book of Samuel; and the words which they caught were +these--_And Samuel died_. These words they received as a _Bath-col_: and +the next horseman from the Euphrates brought word accordingly that +Rabbi Samuel had been gathered to his fathers at some station on the +Euphrates. + +Here is the very same case, the same _Bath-col_ substantially, which +we have cited from Orton's _Life of Doddridge_. And Du Cange himself +notices, in his Glossary, the relation which this bore to the Pagan +_Sortes_. 'It was,' says he, 'a fantastical way of divination, invented +by the Jews, not unlike the _Sortes Virgilianć_ of the heathens. For, as +with them the first words they happened to dip into in the works of that +poet were a kind of oracle whereby they predicted future events,--so, +with the Jews, when they appealed to _Bath-col_, the first words they +heard from any one's mouth were looked upon as a voice from Heaven +directing them in the matter they inquired about.' + +If the reader imagines that this ancient form of the practical +miraculous is at all gone out of use, even the example of Dr. Doddridge +may satisfy him to the contrary. Such an example was sure to authorize a +large imitation. But, even apart from that, the superstition is common. +The records of conversion amongst felons and other ignorant persons +might be cited by hundreds upon hundreds to prove that no practice is +more common than that of trying the spiritual fate, and abiding by the +import of any passage in the Scriptures which may first present itself +to the eye. Cowper, the poet, has recorded a case of this sort in his +own experience. It is one to which all the unhappy are prone. But a mode +of questioning the oracles of darkness, far more childish, and, under +some shape or other, equally common amongst those who are prompted by +mere vacancy of mind, without that determination to sacred fountains +which is impressed by misery, may be found in the following extravagant +silliness of Rousseau, which we give in his own words--a case for which +he admits that he himself would have _shut up_ any other man (meaning in +a lunatic hospital) whom he had seen practising the same absurdities:-- + +'Au milieu de mes études et d'une vie innocente autant qu'on la puisse +mener, et malgré tout ce qu'on m'avoit pu dire, la peur de l'Enfer +m'agitoit encore. Souvent je me demandois--En quel état suis-je? Si je +mourrois ŕ l'instant męme, _serois-je damné_? Selon mes Jansénistes, [he +had been reading the books of the Port Royal,] la chose est indubitable: +mais, selon ma conscience, il me paroissoit que non. Toujours craintif +et flottant dans cette cruelle incertitude, j'avois recours (pour en +sortir) aux expédients les plus risibles, et pour lesquels je ferois +volontiers enfermer un homme si je lui en voyois faire autant. ... Un +jour, ręvant ŕ ce triste sujet, je m'exerçois machinalement ŕ lancer +les pierres contre les troncs des arbres; et cela avec mon addresse +ordinaire, c'est-ŕ-dire sans presque jamais en toucher aucun. Tout au +milieu de ce bel exercise, je m'avisai de faire une espčce de pronostic +pour calmer mon inquiétude. Je me dis--je m'en vais jeter cette pierre +contre l'arbre qui est vis-ŕ-vis de moi: si je le touche, signe de +salut: si je le manque, signe de damnation. Tout en disant ainsi, je +jette ma pierre d'une main tremblante, et avec un horrible battement +de coeur, mais si heureusement qu'elle va frapper au beau-milieu de +l'arbre: ce qui véritablement n'étoit pas difficile: car j'avois eu soin +de le choisir fort gros et fort prčs. _Depuis lors je n'ai plus doubté +de mon salut._ Je ne sais, en me rappelant ce trait, si je dois rire ou +gémir sur moimęme.'--_Les Confessions, Partie I. Livre VI._ + +Now, really, if Rousseau thought fit to try such tremendous appeals +by taking 'a shy' at any random object, he should have governed his +sortilegy (for such it may be called) with something more like equity. +Fair play is a jewel: and in such a case, a man is supposed to play +against an adverse party hid in darkness. To shy at a cow within six +feet distance gives no chance at all to his dark antagonist. A pigeon +rising from a trap at a suitable distance might be thought a _sincere_ +staking of the interest at issue: but, as to the massy stem of a tree +'fort gros et fort prčs'--the sarcasm of a Roman emperor applies, that +to miss under such conditions implied an original genius for stupidity, +and to hit was no trial of the case. After all, the sentimentalist had +youth to plead in apology for this extravagance. He was hypochondriacal; +he was in solitude; and he was possessed by gloomy imaginations from the +works of a society in the highest public credit. But most readers will +be aware of similar appeals to the mysteries of Providence, made in +public by illustrious sectarians, speaking from the solemn station of a +pulpit. We forbear to quote cases of this nature, though really existing +in print, because we feel that the blasphemy of such anecdotes is more +revolting and more painful to pious minds than the absurdity is amusing. +Meantime it must not be forgotten, that the principle concerned, +though it may happen to disgust men when associated with ludicrous +circumstances, is, after all, the very same which has latently governed +very many modes of ordeal, or judicial inquiry; and which has been +adopted, blindly, as a moral rule, or canon, equally by the blindest of +the Pagans, the most fanatical of the Jews, and the most enlightened of +the Christians. It proceeds upon the assumption that man by his actions +puts a question to Heaven; and that Heaven answers by the event. Lucan, +in a well known passage, takes it for granted that the cause of Cćsar +had the approbation of the gods. And why? Simply from the event. It was +notoriously the triumphant cause. It was victorious, (_victrix_ causa +Deis placuit; sed _victa_ Catoni.) It was the '_victrix_ causa;' and, +_as_ such, simply because it was 'victrix,' it had a right in his eyes +to postulate the divine favor as mere matter of necessary interference: +whilst, on the other hand, the _victa causa_, though it seemed to Lucan +sanctioned by human virtue in the person of Cato, stood unappealably +condemned. This mode of reasoning may strike the reader as merely Pagan. +Not at all. In England, at the close of the Parliamentary war, it was +generally argued--that Providence had decided the question against the +Royalists by the mere fact of the issue. Milton himself, with all his +high-toned morality, uses this argument as irrefragable: which is odd, +were it only on this account--that the issue ought necessarily to have +been held for a time as merely hypothetic, and liable to be set aside +by possible counter-issues through one generation at the least. But +the capital argument against such doctrine is to be found in the +New Testament. Strange that Milton should overlook, and strange that +moralists in general have overlooked, the sudden arrest given to this +dangerous but most prevalent mode of reasoning by the Founder of our +faith. He first, he last, taught to his astonished disciples the new +truth--at that time the astounding truth--that no relation exists +between the immediate practical events of things on the one side, and +divine sentences on the other. There was no presumption, he teaches +them, against a man's favor with God, or that of his parents, because he +happened to be afflicted to extremity with bodily disease. There was no +shadow of an argument for believing a party of men criminal objects +of heavenly wrath because upon them, by fatal preference, a tower had +fallen, and because _their_ bodies were exclusively mangled. How little +can it be said that Christianity has yet developed the fulness of its +power, when kings and senates so recently acted under a total oblivion +of this great though novel Christian doctrine, and would do so still, +were it not that religious arguments have been banished by the progress +of manners from the field of political discussion. + +But, quitting this province of the ominous, where it is made the object +of a direct personal inquest, whether by private or by national trials, +or the sortilegy of events, let us throw our eyes over the broader field +of omens, as they offer themselves spontaneously to those who do not +seek, or would even willingly evade them. There are few of these, +perhaps none, which are not universal in their authority, though every +land in turn fancies them (like its proverbs) of local prescription and +origin. The death-watch extends from England to Cashmere, and across +India diagonally to the remotest nook of Bengal, over a three thousand +miles' distance from the entrance of the Indian Punjaub. A hare crossing +a man's path on starting in the morning, has been held in all countries +alike to prognosticate evil in the course of that day. Thus, in the +_Confessions of a Thug_, (which is partially built on a real judicial +document, and everywhere conforms to the usages of Hindostan,) the +hero of the horrid narrative [Footnote: '_The hero of the horrid +narrative_.'--Horrid it certainly is; and one incident in every case +gives a demoniacal air of coolness to the hellish atrocities, viz the +regular forwarding of the _bheels_, or grave-diggers. But else the tale +tends too much to monotony; and for a reason which ought to have checked +the author in carrying on the work to three volumes, namely, that +although there is much dramatic variety in the circumstances of the +several cases, there is none in the catastrophes. The brave man and the +coward, the erect spirit fighting to the last, and the poor +creature that despairs from the first,--all are confounded in one +undistinguishing end by sudden strangulation. This was the original +defect of the plan. The sudden surprise, and the scientific noosing as +with a Chilian _lasso_, constituted in fact a main feature of Thuggee. +But still, the gradual theatrical arrangement of each Thug severally by +the side of a victim, must often have roused violent suspicion, and that +in time to intercept the suddenness of the murder. Now, for the sake +of the dramatic effect, this interception ought more often to have been +introduced, else the murders are but so many blind surprises as if in +sleep.] charges some disaster of his own upon having neglected such an +omen of the morning. The same belief operated in Pagan Italy. The same +omen announced to Lord Lindsay's Arab attendants in the desert the +approach of some disaster, which partially happened in the morning. And +a Highlander of the 42d Regiment, in his printed memoirs, notices +the same harbinger of evil as having crossed his own path on a day of +personal disaster in Spain. + +Birds are even more familiarly associated with such ominous warnings. +This chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated +with unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans--_ornithomancy_ grew into an +elaborate science. But if every rule and distinction upon the number +and the position of birds, whether to the right or the left, had been +collected from our own village matrons amongst ourselves, it would +appear that no more of this Pagan science had gone to wreck than must +naturally follow the difference between a believing and a disbelieving +government. Magpies are still of awful authority in village life, +according to their number, &c.; for a striking illustration of which we +may refer the reader to Sir Walter Scott's _Demonology_, reported not +at second-hand, but from Sir Walter's personal communication with some +seafaring fellow-traveller in a stage-coach. + +Among the ancient stories of the same class is one which we shall +repeat--having reference to that Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the +Great, before whom St. Paul made his famous apology at Cćsarea. This +Agrippa, overwhelmed by debts, had fled from Palestine to Rome in +the latter years of Tiberius. His mother's interest with the widow of +Germanicus procured him a special recommendation to her son Caligula. +Viewing this child and heir of the popular Germanicus as the rising sun, +Agrippa had been too free in his language. True, the uncle of Germanicus +was the reigning prince; but he was old, and breaking up. True, the +son of Germanicus was not yet on the throne; but he soon would be; +and Agrippa was rash enough to call the Emperor a _superannuated old +fellow_, and even to wish for his death. Sejanus was now dead and gone; +but there was no want of spies: and a certain Macro reported his words +to Tiberius. Agrippa was in consequence arrested; the Emperor himself +condescending to point out the noble Jew to the officer on duty. The +case was a gloomy one, if Tiberius should happen to survive much longer: +and the story of the omen proceeds thus:--'Now Agrippa stood in his +bonds before the Imperial palace, and in his affliction leaned against +a certain tree, upon the boughs of which it happened that a bird +had alighted which the Romans call _bubo_, or the owl. All this was +steadfastly observed by a German prisoner, who asked a soldier what +might be the name and offence of that man habited in purple. Being told +that the man's name was Agrippa, and that he was a Jew of high rank, who +had given a personal offence to the Emperor, the German asked permission +to go near and address him; which being granted, he spoke thus:--"This +disaster, I doubt not, young man, is trying to your heart; and +perhaps you will not believe me when I announce to you beforehand the +providential deliverance which is impending. However, this much I will +say--and for my sincerity let me appeal to my native gods, as well as +to the gods of this Rome, who have brought us both into trouble--that +no selfish objects prompt me to this revelation--for a revelation it +is--and to the following effect:--It is fated that you shall not long +remain in chains. Your deliverance will be speedy; you shall be raised +to the very highest rank and power; you shall be the object of as much +envy as now you are of pity; you shall retain your prosperity till +death; and you shall transmit that prosperity to your children. +But"--and there the German paused. Agrippa was agitated; the bystanders +were attentive; and after a time, the German, pointing solemnly to the +bird, proceeded thus:--"But this remember heedfully--that, when next you +see the bird which now perches above your head, you will have only five +days longer to live! This event will be surely accomplished by that same +mysterious god who has thought fit to send the bird as a warning sign; +and you, when you come to your glory, do not forget me that foreshadowed +it in your humiliation."' The story adds, that Agrippa affected to laugh +when the German concluded; after which it goes on to say, that in a few +weeks, being delivered by the death of Tiberius; being released from +prison by the very prince on whose account he had incurred the risk; +being raised to a tetrarchy, and afterwards to the kingdom of all Judea; +coming into all the prosperity which had been promised to him by the +German; and not losing any part of his interest at Rome through the +assassination of his patron Caligula--he began to look back respectfully +to the words of the German, and forwards with anxiety to the second +coming of the bird. Seven years of sunshine had now slipped away as +silently as a dream. A great festival, shows and vows, was on the point +of being celebrated in honor of Claudius Cćsar, at Strato's Tower, +otherwise called Cćsarea, the Roman metropolis of Palestine. Duty and +policy alike required that the king of the land should go down and unite +in this mode of religious homage to the emperor. He did so; and on the +second morning of the festival, by way of doing more conspicuous honor +to the great solemnity, he assumed a very sumptuous attire of silver +armor, burnished so highly as to throw back a dazzling glare from the +sun's morning beams upon the upturned eyes of the vast multitude around +him. Immediately from the sycophantish part of the crowd, of whom a +vast majority were Pagans, ascended a cry of glorification as to some +manifestation of Deity. Agrippa, gratified by this success of his new +apparel, and by this flattery, not unusual in the case of kings, had not +the firmness (though a Jew, and conscious of the wickedness, greater in +himself than in the heathen crowd,) to reject the blasphemous homage. +Voices of adoration continued to ascend; when suddenly, looking upward +to the vast awnings prepared for screening the audience from the noonday +heats, the king perceived the same ominous bird which he had seen at +Rome in the day of his affliction, seated quietly, and looking down upon +himself. In that same moment an icy pang shot through his intestines. +He was removed into the palace; and at the end of five days, completely +worn out by pain, Agrippa expired in the 54th year of his age, and the +seventh of his sovereign power. + +Whether the bird, here described as an owl, was really such, may be +doubted, considering the narrow nomenclature of the Romans for all +zoological purposes, and the total indifference of the Roman mind to +all distinctions in natural history which are not upon the very largest +scale. We should much suspect that the bird was a magpie. Meantime, +speaking of ornithoscopy in relation to Jews, we remember another +story in that subdivision of the subject which it may be worth while +repeating; not merely on its own account, as wearing a fine oriental +air, but also for the correction which it suggests to a very common +error. + +In some period of Syrian warfare, a large military detachment was +entering at some point of Syria from the desert of the Euphrates. At +the head of the whole array rode two men of some distinction: one was an +augur of high reputation, the other was a Jew called Mosollam, a man +of admirable beauty, a matchless horseman, an unerring archer, and +accomplished in all martial arts. As they were now first coming within +enclosed grounds, after a long march in the wilderness, the augur was +most anxious to inaugurate the expedition by some considerable omen. +Watching anxiously, therefore, he soon saw a bird of splendid plumage +perching on a low wall. 'Halt!' he said to the advanced guard: and all +drew up in a line. At that moment of silence and expectation, Mosollam, +slightly turning himself in his saddle, drew his bow-string to his ear; +his Jewish hatred of Pagan auguries burned within him; his inevitable +shaft went right to its mark, and the beautiful bird fell dead. The +augur turned round in fury. But the Jew laughed at him. 'This bird, you +say, should have furnished us with omens of our future fortunes. But had +he known anything of his own, he would never have perched where he did, +or have come within the range of Mosollam's archery. How should that +bird know our destiny, who did not know that it was his own to be shot +by Mosollam the Jew?' + +Now, this is a most common but a most erroneous way of arguing. In +a case of this kind, the bird was not supposed to have any conscious +acquaintance with futurity, either for his own benefit or that of +others. But even where such a consciousness may be supposed, as in the +case of oneiromancy, or prophecy by means of dreams, it must be +supposed limited, and the more limited in a personal sense as they are +illimitable in a sublime one. Who imagines that, because a Daniel or +Ezekiel foresaw the grand revolutions of the earth, therefore they must +or could have foreseen the little details of their own ordinary life? +And even descending from that perfect inspiration to the more doubtful +power of augury amongst the Pagans, (concerning which the most eminent +of theologians have held very opposite theories,) one thing is certain, +that, so long as we entertain such pretensions, or discuss them at all, +we must take them with the principle of those who professed such arts, +not with principles of our own arbitrary invention. + +One example will make this clear:--There are in England [Footnote: +'_There are in England_'--Especially in Somersetshire, and for twenty +miles round Wrington, the birthplace of Locke. Nobody sinks for wells +without their advice. We ourselves knew an amiable and accomplished +Scottish family, who, at an estate called Belmadrothie, in memory of +a similar property in Ross shire, built a house in Somersetshire, and +resolved to find water without help from the jowser. But after sinking +to a greater depth than ever had been known before, and spending nearly +Ł200, they were finally obliged to consult the jowser, who found water +at once.] a class of men who practise the Pagan rhabdomancy in a limited +sense. They carry a rod or rhabdos (_rhabdos_) of willow: this they +hold horizontally; and by the bending of the rod towards the ground +they discover the favorable places for sinking wells; a matter of +considerable importance in a province so ill-watered as the northern +district of Somersetshire, &c. These people are locally called +_jowsers_; and it is probable, that from the suspicion with which their +art has been usually regarded amongst people of education, as a mere +legerdemain trick of Dousterswivel's, is derived the slang word to +_chouse_ for _swindle_. Meantime, the experimental evidences of a real +practical skill in these men, and the enlarged compass of speculation +in these days, have led many enlightened people to a Stoic _epochey_, or +suspension of judgment, on the reality of this somewhat mysterious art. +Now, in the East, there are men who make the same pretensions in a +more showy branch of the art. It is not water, but treasures which they +profess to find by some hidden kind of rhabdomancy. The very existence +of treasures with us is reasonably considered a thing of improbable +occurrence. But in the unsettled East, and with the low valuation of +human life wherever Mahometanism prevails, insecurity and other causes +must have caused millions of such deposits in every century to have +perished as to any knowledge of survivors. The sword has been moving +backwards and forwards, for instance, like a weaver's shuttle, since +the time of Mahmoud the Ghaznevide, [Footnote: Mahmood of Ghizni, which, +under the European name of Ghaznee, was so recently taken in one hour by +our Indian army under Lord Keane Mahmood was the first Mahometan invader +of Hindostan.] in Anno Domini 1000, in the vast regions between the +Tigris, the Oxus, and the Indus. Regularly as it approached, gold and +jewels must have sunk by whole harvests into the ground. A certain +per centage has been doubtless recovered: a larger per centage has +disappeared for ever. Hence naturally the jealousy of barbarous +Orientals that we Europeans, in groping amongst pyramids, sphynxes, and +tombs, are looking for buried treasures. The wretches are not so wide +astray in what they believe as in what they disbelieve. The treasures do +really exist which they fancy; but then also the other treasures in the +glorious antiquities have that existence for our sense of beauty which +to their brutality is inconceivable. In these circumstances, why should +it surprise us that men will pursue the science of discovery as +a regular trade? Many discoveries of treasure are doubtless made +continually, which, for obvious reasons, are communicated to nobody. +Some proportion there must be between the sowing of such grain as +diamonds or emeralds, and the subsequent reaping, whether by accident or +by art. For, with regard to the last, it is no more impossible, _prima +fronte_, that a substance may exist having an occult sympathy with +subterraneous water or subterraneous gold, than that the magnet should +have a sympathy (as yet occult) with the northern pole of our planet. + +The first flash of careless thought applied to such a case will suggest, +that men holding powers of this nature need not offer their services for +hire to others. And this, in fact, is the objection universally urged by +us Europeans as decisive against their pretensions. Their knavery, it +is fancied, stands self-recorded; since, assuredly, they would not be +willing to divide their subterranean treasures, if they knew of any. +But the men are not in such self-contradiction as may seem. Lady +Hester Stanhope, from the better knowledge she had acquired of Oriental +opinions, set Dr. Madden right on this point. The Oriental belief is +that a fatality attends the appropriator of a treasure in any case where +he happens also to be the discoverer. Such a person, it is held, will +die soon, and suddenly--so that he is compelled to seek his remuneration +from the wages or fees of his employers, not from the treasure itself. + +Many more secret laws are held sacred amongst the professors of that art +than that which was explained by Lady Hester Stanhope. These we shall +not enter upon at present: but generally we may remark, that the same +practices of subterranean deposits, during our troubled periods in +Europe, led to the same superstitions. And it may be added, that the +same error has arisen in both cases as to some of these superstitions. +How often must it have struck people of liberal feelings, as a +scandalous proof of the preposterous value set upon riches by poor men, +that ghosts should popularly be supposed to rise and wander for the sake +of revealing the situations of buried treasures. For ourselves, we have +been accustomed to view this popular belief in the light of an argument +for pity rather than for contempt towards poor men, as indicating the +extreme pressure of that necessity which could so have demoralized their +natural sense of truth. But certainly, in whatever feelings originating, +such popular superstitions as to motives of ghostly missions did seem to +argue a deplorable misconception of the relation subsisting between the +spiritual world and the perishable treasures of this perishable world. +Yet, when we look into the Eastern explanations of this case, we find +that it is meant to express, not any overvaluation of riches, but +the direct contrary passion. A human spirit is punished--such is the +notion--punished in the spiritual world for excessive attachment to +gold, by degradation to the office of its guardian; and from this office +the tortured spirit can release itself only by revealing the treasure +and transferring the custody. It is a penal martyrdom, not an elective +passion for gold, which is thus exemplified in the wanderings of a +treasure-ghost. + +But, in a field where of necessity we are so much limited, we willingly +pass from the consideration of these treasure or _khasne_ phantoms +(which alone sufficiently ensure a swarm of ghostly terrors for all +Oriental ruins of cities,) to the same marvellous apparitions, as they +haunt other solitudes even more awful than those of ruined cities. In +this world there are two mighty forms of perfect solitude--the ocean and +the desert: the wilderness of the barren sands, and the wilderness of +the barren waters. Both are the parents of inevitable superstitions--of +terrors, solemn, ineradicable, eternal. Sailors and the children of the +desert are alike overrun with spiritual hauntings, from accidents of +peril essentially connected with those modes of life, and from the +eternal spectacle of the infinite. Voices seem to blend with the raving +of the sea, which will for ever impress the feeling of beings more than +human: and every chamber of the great wilderness which, with little +interruption, stretches from the Euphrates to the western shores of +Africa, has its own peculiar terrors both as to sights and sounds. In +the wilderness of Zin, between Palestine and the Red Sea, a section of +the desert well known in these days to our own countrymen, bells are +heard daily pealing for matins, or for vespers, from some phantom +convent that no search of Christian or of Bedouin Arab has ever been +able to discover. These bells have sounded since the Crusades. Other +sounds, trumpets, the _Alala_ of armies, &c., are heard in other regions +of the Desert. Forms, also, are seen of more people than have any +right to be walking in human paths: sometimes forms of avowed terror; +sometimes, which is a case of far more danger, appearances that mimic +the shapes of men, and even of friends or comrades. This is a case +much dwelt on by the old travellers, and which throws a gloom over the +spirits of all Bedouins, and of every cafila or caravan. We all know +what a sensation of loneliness or 'eeriness' (to use an expressive term +of the ballad poetry) arises to any small party assembling in a +single room of a vast desolate mansion: how the timid among them fancy +continually that they hear some remote door opening, or trace the sound +of suppressed footsteps from some distant staircase. Such is the feeling +in the desert, even in the midst of the caravan. The mighty solitude is +seen: the dread silence is anticipated which will succeed to this brief +transit of men, camels, and horses. Awe prevails even in the midst of +society: but, if the traveller should loiter behind from fatigue, or +be so imprudent as to ramble aside--should he from any cause once lose +sight of his party, it is held that his chance is small of recovering +their traces. And why? Not chiefly from the want of footmarks where the +wind effaces all impressions in half an hour, or of eyemarks where all +is one blank ocean of sand, but much more from the sounds or the visual +appearances which are supposed to beset and to seduce all insulated +wanderers. + +Everybody knows the superstitions of the ancients about the +_Nympholeptoi_, or those who had seen Pan. But far more awful and gloomy +are the existing superstitions, throughout Asia and Africa, as to the +perils of those who are phantom-haunted in the wilderness. The old +Venetian traveller Marco Polo states them well: he speaks, indeed, of +the Eastern or Tartar deserts; the steppes which stretch from European +Russia to the footsteps of the Chinese throne; but exactly the same +creed prevails amongst the Arabs, from Bagdad to Suez and Cairo--from +Rosetta to Tunis--Tunis to Timbuctoo or Mequinez. 'If, during the +daytime,' says he, 'any person should remain behind until the caravan is +no longer in sight, he hears himself unexpectedly called to by name, +and in a voice with which he is familiar. Not doubting that the voice +proceeds from some of his comrades, the unhappy man is beguiled from the +right direction; and soon finding himself utterly confounded as to the +path, he roams about in distraction until he perishes miserably. If, +on the other hand, this perilous separation of himself from the caravan +should happen at night, he is sure to hear the uproar of a great +cavalcade a mile or two to the right or left of the true track. He is +thus seduced on one side: and at break of day finds himself far removed +from man. Nay, even at noon-day, it is well known that grave and +respectable men to all appearance will come up to a particular +traveller, will bear the look of a friend, and will gradually lure him +by earnest conversation to a distance from the caravan; after which the +sounds of men and camels will be heard continually at all points but the +true one; whilst an insensible turning by the tenth of an inch at each +separate step from the true direction will very soon suffice to set the +traveller's face to the opposite point of the compass from that which +his safety requires, and which his fancy represents to him as his +real direction. Marvellous, indeed, and almost passing belief, are the +stories reported of these desert phantoms, which are said at times +to fill the air with choral music from all kinds of instruments, from +drums, and the clash of arms: so that oftentimes a whole caravan are +obliged to close up their open ranks, and to proceed in a compact line +of march.' + +Lord Lindsay, in his very interesting travels in Egypt, Edom, &c., +agrees with Warton in supposing (and probably enough) that from this +account of the desert traditions in Marco Polo was derived Milton's fine +passage in Comus:-- + + 'Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, + And aery tongues that syllable men's names + On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.' + +But the most remarkable of these desert superstitions, as suggested by +the mention of Lord Lindsay, is one which that young nobleman, in some +place which we cannot immediately find, has noticed, but which he only +was destined by a severe personal loss immediately to illustrate. Lord +L. quotes from Vincent le Blanc an anecdote of a man in his own caravan, +the companion of an Arab merchant, who disappeared in a mysterious +manner. Four Moors, with a retaining fee of 100 ducats, were sent in +quest of him, but came back _re infecta_. 'And 'tis uncertain,' adds Le +Blanc, 'whether he was swallowed up in the sands, or met his death by +any other misfortune; as it often happens, by the relation of a merchant +then in our company, who told us, that two years before, traversing the +same journey, a comrade of his, going a little aside from the company, +saw three men who called him by his name; and one of them, to his +thinking, favored very much his companion; and, as he was about to +follow them, his real companion calling him to come back to his company, +he found himself deceived by the others, and thus was saved. And all +travellers in these parts hold, that in the deserts are many such +phantasms seen, that strive to seduce the traveller.' Thus far it is +the traveller's own fault, warned as he is continually by the extreme +anxiety of the Arab leaders or guides, with respect to all who stray to +any distance, if he is duped or enticed by these pseudo-men: though, +in the case of Lapland dogs, who ought to have a surer instinct of +detection for counterfeits, we know from Sir Capel de Broke and others, +that they are continually wiled away by the wolves who roam about the +nightly encampments of travellers. But there is a secondary disaster, +according to the Arab superstition, awaiting those whose eyes are once +opened to the discernment of these phantoms. To see them, or to hear +them, even where the traveller is careful to refuse their lures, entails +the certainty of death in no long time. This is another form of that +universal faith which made it impossible for any man to survive a bodily +commerce, by whatever sense, with a spiritual being. We find it in the +Old Testament, where the expression, 'I have seen God and shall die,' +means simply a supernatural being; since no Hebrew believed it possible +for a nature purely human to sustain for a moment the sight of the +Infinite Being. We find the same faith amongst ourselves, in case +of _doppelgänger_ becoming apparent to the sight of those whom they +counterfeit; and in many other varieties. We modern Europeans, of +course, laugh at these superstitions; though, as La Place remarks, +(_Essai sur les Probabilités_,) any case, however apparently incredible, +if it is a recurrent case, is as much entitled to a fair valuation as if +it had been more probable beforehand.[Footnote: _'Is as much entitled +to a fair valuation, under the lans of induction, as if it had been +more probable beforehand'_--One of the cases which La Place notices as +entitled to a grave consideration, but which would most assuredly be +treated as a trivial phenomenon, unworthy of attention, by commonplace +spectators, is--when a run of success, with no apparent cause, takes +place on heads or tails, (_pile ou croix_) Most people dismiss such a +case as pure accident. But La Place insists on its being duly valued +as a fact, however unaccountable as an effect. So again, if in a large +majority of experiences like those of Lord Lindsay's party in the +desert, death should follow, such a phenomenon is as well entitled +to its separate valuation as any other.] This being premised, we who +connect superstition with the personal result, are more impressed by the +disaster which happened to Lord Lindsay, than his lordship, who either +failed to notice the _nexus_ between the events, or possibly declined to +put the case too forward in his reader's eye, from the solemnity of the +circumstances, and the private interest to himself and his own family, +of the subsequent event. The case was this:--Mr. William Wardlaw Ramsay, +the companion (and we believe relative) of Lord Lindsay, a man whose +honorable character, and whose intellectual accomplishments speak for +themselves, in the posthumus memorabilia of his travels published +by Lord L., had seen an array of objects in the desert, which facts +immediately succeeding demonstrated to have been a mere ocular _lusus_, +or (according to Arab notions) phantoms. During the absence from home of +an Arab sheikh, who had been hired as conductor of Lord Lindsay's party, +a hostile tribe (bearing the name of Tellaheens) had assaulted and +pillaged his tents. Report of this had reached the English travelling +party; it was known that the Tellaheens were still in motion, and a +hostile rencounter was looked for for some days. At length, in crossing +the well known valley of the _Wady Araba_, that most ancient channel of +communication between the Red Sea and Judea, &c., Mr. Ramsay saw, to his +own entire conviction, a party of horse moving amongst some sand-hills. +Afterwards it became certain, from accurate information, that this must +have been a delusion. It was established, that no horseman _could_ have +been in that neighborhood at that time. Lord Lindsay records the case +as an illustration of 'that spiritualized tone the imagination naturally +assumes, in scenes presenting so little sympathy with the ordinary +feelings of humanity;' and he reports the case in these pointed +terms:--'Mr. Ramsay, a man of remarkably strong sight, and by no means +disposed to superstitious credulity, distinctly saw a party of horse +moving among the sand-hills; and I do not believe he was ever able +to divest himself of that impression.' No--and, according to Arab +interpretation, very naturally so; for, according to their faith, he +really _had_ seen the horsemen; phantom horseman certainly, but +still objects of sight. The sequel remains to be told--by the Arabian +hypothesis, Mr. Ramsay had but a short time to live--he was under a +secret summons to the next world. And accordingly, in a few weeks after +this, whilst Lord Lindsay had gone to visit Palmyra, Mr. Ramsay died at +Damascus. + +This was a case exactly corresponding to the Pagan _nympholepsis_--he +had seen the beings whom it is not lawful to see and live. Another case +of Eastern superstition, not less determined, and not less remarkably +fulfilled, occurred some years before to Dr. Madden, who travelled +pretty much in the same route as Lord Lindsay. The doctor, as a +phrenologist, had been struck with the very singular conformation of +a skull which he saw amongst many others on an altar in some Syrian +convent. He offered a considerable sum in gold for it; but it was by +repute the skull of a saint; and the monk with whom Dr. M. attempted to +negotiate, not only refused his offers, but protested that even for the +doctor's sake, apart from the interests of the convent, he could not +venture on such a transfer: for that, by the tradition attached to it, +the skull would endanger any vessel carrying it from the Syrian shore: +the vessel might escape; but it would never succeed in reaching any but +a Syrian harbor. After this, for the credit of our country, which +stands so high in the East, and should be so punctiliously tended by all +Englishmen, we are sorry to record that Dr. Madden (though otherwise a +man of scrupulous honor) yielded to the temptation of substituting for +the saint's skull another less remarkable from his own collection. With +this saintly relic he embarked on board a Grecian ship; was alternately +pursued and met by storms the most violent; larboard and starboard, on +every quarter, he was buffeted; the wind blew from every point of the +compass; the doctor honestly confesses that he often wished this baleful +skull back in safety on the quiet altar from which he took it; and +finally, after many days of anxiety, he was too happy in finding himself +again restored to some oriental port, from which he secretly vowed +never again to sail with a saint's skull, or with any skull, however +remarkable phrenologically, not purchased in an open market. + +Thus we have pursued, through many of its most memorable sections, +the spirit of the miraculous as it moulded and gathered itself in +the superstitions of Paganism; and we have shown that, in the modern +superstitions of Christianity, or of Mahometanism, (often enough +borrowed from Christian sources,) there is a pretty regular +correspondence. Speaking with a reference to the strictly popular +belief, it cannot be pretended for a moment, that miraculous agencies +are slumbering in modern ages. For one superstition of that nature which +the Pagans had, we can produce twenty. And if, from the collation of +numbers, we should pass to that of quality, it is a matter of notoriety, +that from the very philosophy of Paganism, and its slight root in the +terrors or profounder mysteries of spiritual nature, no comparison +could be sustained for a moment between the true religion and any mode +whatever of the false. Ghosts we have purposely omitted, because that +idea is so peculiarly Christian [Footnote: '_Because that idea is so +peculiarly Christian_'--One reason, additional to the main one, why the +idea of a ghost could not be conceived or reproduced by Paganism, +lies in the fourfold resolution of the human nature at death, viz.--1. +_corpus_; 2. _manes_; 3. _spiritus_; 4. _anima_. No reversionary +consciousness, no restitution of the total nature, sentient and active, +was thus possible. Pliny has a story which looks like a ghost story; but +it is all moonshine--a mere _simulacrum_.] as to reject all counterparts +or affinities from other modes of the supernatural. The Christian ghost +is too awful a presence, and with too large a substratum of the real, +the impassioned, the human, for our present purposes. We deal chiefly +with the wilder and more ćrial forms of superstition; not so far off +from fleshly nature as the purely allegoric--not so near as the penal, +the purgatorial, the penitential. In this middle class, 'Gabriel's +hounds'--the 'phantom ship'--the gloomy legends of the charcoal burners +in the German forests--and the local or epichorial superstitions from +every district of Europe, come forward by thousands, attesting the high +activity of the miraculous and the hyperphysical instincts, even in this +generation, wheresoever the voice of the people makes itself heard. + +But in Pagan times, it will be objected, the popular superstitions +blended themselves with the highest political functions, gave a sanction +to national counsels, and oftentimes gave their starting point to the +very primary movements of the state. Prophecies, omens, miracles, all +worked concurrently with senates or princes. Whereas in our days, +says Charles Lamb, the witch who takes her pleasure with the moon, and +summons Beelzebub to her sabbaths, nevertheless trembles before the +beadle, and hides herself from the overseer. Now, as to the witch, even +the horrid Canidia of Horace, or the more dreadful Erichtho of Lucan, +seems hardly to have been much respected in any era. But for the +other modes of the supernatural, they have entered into more frequent +combinations with state functions and state movements in our modern ages +than in the classical age of Paganism. Look at prophecies, for example: +the Romans had a few obscure oracles afloat, and they had the Sibylline +books under the state seal. These books, in fact, had been kept so long, +that, like port wine superannuated, they had lost their flavor and body. +[Footnote: '_Like port wine superannuated, the Sibylline books had lost +their flavor and their body_.'--There is an allegoric description in +verse, by Mr. Rogers, of an ice-house, in which winter is described as +a captive, &c., which is memorable on this account, that a brother +poet, on reading the passage, mistook it, (from not understanding +the allegorical expressions,) either sincerely or maliciously, for a +description of the house-dog. Now, this little anecdote seems to embody +the poor Sibyl's history,--from a stern icy sovereign, with a petrific +mace, she lapsed into an old toothless mastiff. She continued to snore +in her ancient kennel for above a thousand years. The last person who +attempted to stir her up with a long pole, and to extract from her +paralytic dreaming some growls or snarls against Christianity, was +Aurelian, in a moment of public panic. But the thing was past all +tampering. The poor creature could neither be kicked nor coaxed into +vitality.] On the other hand, look at France. Henry the historian, +speaking of the fifteenth century, describes it as a national infirmity +of the English to be prophecy-ridden. Perhaps there never was any +foundation for this as an exclusive remark; but assuredly not in the +next century. There had been with us British, from the twelfth century, +Thomas of Ercildoune in the north, and many monkish local prophets for +every part of the island; but latterly England had no terrific prophet, +unless, indeed Nixon of the Vale Royal in Cheshire, who uttered his +dark oracles sometimes with a merely Cestrian, sometimes with a national +reference. Whereas in France, throughout the sixteenth century, every +principal event was foretold successively, with an accuracy that still +shocks and confounds us. Francis the First, who opens the century, (and +by many is held to open the book of _modern history_, as distinguished +from the middle or _feudal_ history,) had the battle of Pavia +foreshown to him, not by name, but in its results--by his own Spanish +captivity--by the exchange for his own children upon a frontier river +of Spain--finally, by his own disgraceful death, through an infamous +disease conveyed to him under a deadly circuit of revenge. This king's +son, Henry the Second, read some years _before_ the event a description +of that tournament, on the marriage of the Scottish Queen with his +eldest son, Francis II., which proved fatal to himself, through the +awkwardness of the Compte de Montgomery and his own obstinacy. After +this, and we believe a little after the brief reign of Francis II., +arose Nostradamus, the great prophet of the age. All the children of +Henry II. and of Catharine de Medici, one after the other, died in +circumstances of suffering and horror, and Nostradamus pursued the +whole with ominous allusions. Charles IX., though the authorizer of the +Bartholomew massacre, was the least guilty of his party, and the only +one who manifested a dreadful remorse. Henry III., the last of the +brothers, died, as the reader will remember, by assassination. And all +these tragic successions of events are still to be read more or less +dimly prefigured in verses of which we will not here discuss the dates. +Suffice it, that many authentic historians attest the good faith of the +prophets; and finally, with respect to the first of the Bourbon dynasty, +Henry IV., who succeeded upon the assassination of his brother-in-law, +we have the peremptory assurance of Sully and other Protestants, +countersigned by writers both historical and controversial, that not +only was he prepared, by many warnings, for his own tragical death--not +only was the day, the hour prefixed--not only was an almanac sent to +him, in which the bloody summer's day of 1610 was pointed out to his +attention in bloody colors; but the mere record of the king's last +afternoon shows beyond a doubt the extent and the punctual limitation of +his anxieties. In fact, it is to this attitude of listening expectation +in the king, and breathless waiting for the blow, that Schiller alludes +in that fine speech of Wallenstein to his sister, where he notices the +funeral knells that sounded continually in Henry's ears, and, above all, +his prophetic instinct, that caught the sound from a far distance of his +murderer's motions, and could distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a +mighty capital, those stealthy steps + + ----'Which even then were seeking him + Throughout the streets of Paris.' + +We profess not to admire Henry the Fourth of France, whose secret +character we shall, on some other occasion, attempt to expose. But his +resignation to the appointments of Heaven, in dismissing his guards, as +feeling that against a danger so domestic and so mysterious, all fleshly +arms were vain, has always struck us as the most like magnanimity of +anything in his very theatrical life. + +Passing to our own country, and to the times immediately in succession, +we fall upon some striking prophecies, not verbal but symbolic, if we +turn from the broad highway of public histories, to the by-paths of +private memories. Either Clarendon it is, in his Life (not his public +history), or else Laud, who mentions an anecdote connected with the +coronation of Charles I., (the son-in-law of the murdered Bourbon,) +which threw a gloom upon the spirits of the royal friends, already +saddened by the dreadful pestilence which inaugurated the reign of this +ill-fated prince, levying a tribute of one life in sixteen from the +population of the English metropolis. At the coronation of Charles, it +was discovered that all London would not furnish the quantity of purple +velvet required for the royal robes and the furniture of the throne. +What was to be done? Decorum required that the furniture should be +all _en suite_. Nearer than Genoa no considerable addition could +be expected. That would impose a delay of 150 days. Upon mature +consideration, and chiefly of the many private interests that would +suffer amongst the multitudes whom such a solemnity had called up from +the country, it was resolved to robe the King in _white_ velvet. But +this, as it afterwards occurred, was the color in which victims were +arrayed. And thus, it was alleged, did the King's council establish an +augury of evil. Three other ill omens, of some celebrity, occurred to +Charles I., viz., on occasion of creating his son Charles a knight of +the Bath, at Oxford some years after; and at the bar of that tribunal +which sat in judgment upon him. + +The reign of his second son, James II., the next reign that could be +considered an unfortunate reign, was inaugurated by the same evil omens. +The day selected for the coronation (in 1685) was a day memorable for +England--it was St. George's day, the 23d of April, and entitled, +even on a separate account, to be held a sacred day as the birthday of +Shakspeare in 1564, and his deathday in 1616. The King saved a sum of +sixty thousand pounds by cutting off the ordinary cavalcade from the +Tower of London to Westminster. Even this was imprudent. It is well +known that, amongst the lowest class of the English, there is an +obstinate prejudice (though unsanctioned by law) with respect to the +obligation imposed by the ceremony of coronation. So long as this +ceremony is delayed, or mutilated, they fancy that their obedience is +a matter of mere prudence, liable to be enforced by arms, but not +consecrated either by law or by religion. The change made by James was, +therefore, highly imprudent; shorn of its antique traditionary usages, +the yoke of conscience was lightened at a moment when it required a +double ratification. Neither was it called for on motives of economy, +for James was unusually rich. This voluntary arrangement was, therefore, +a bad beginning; but the accidental omens were worse. They are thus +reported by Blennerhassett, (History of England to the end of George +I., Vol. iv., p. 1760, printed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 1751.) 'The +crown being too little for the King's head, was often in a tottering +condition, and like to fall off.' Even this was observed attentively +by spectators of the most opposite feelings. But there was another +simultaneous omen, which affected the Protestant enthusiasts, and the +superstitious, whether Catholic or Protestant, still more alarmingly. +'The same day the king's arms, pompously painted in the great altar +window of a London church, suddenly fell down without apparent cause, +and broke to pieces, whilst the rest of the window remained standing. +Blennerhassett mutters the dark terrors which possessed himself and +others.' 'These,' says he, 'were reckoned ill omens to the king.' + +In France, as the dreadful criminality of the French sovereigns through +the 17th century began to tell powerfully, and reproduce itself in the +miseries and tumults of the French populace through the 18th century, it +is interesting to note the omens which unfolded themselves at intervals. +A volume might be written upon them. The French Bourbons renewed the +picture of that fatal house which in Thebes offered to the Grecian +observers the spectacle of dire auguries, emerging from darkness through +three generations, _ŕ plusieurs reprises_. Everybody knows the fatal +pollution of the marriage pomps on the reception of Marie Antoinette in +Paris; the numbers who perished are still spoken of obscurely as to the +amount, and with shuddering awe for the unparalleled horrors standing in +the background of the fatal reign--horrors + + 'That hush'd in grim repose, await their evening prey.' + +But in the life of Goethe is mentioned a still more portentous (though +more shadowy) omen in the pictorial decorations of the arras which +adorned the pavilion on the French frontier; the first objects which met +the Austrian Archduchess on being hailed as Dauphiness, was a succession +of the most tragic groups from the most awful section of the Grecian +theatre. The next alliance of the same kind between the same great +empires, in the persons of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louisa, +was overshadowed by the same unhappy omens, and, as we all remember, +with the same unhappy results, within a brief period of five years. + +Or, if we should resort to the fixed and monumental rather than to these +auguries of great nations--such, for instance, as were embodied in those +_Palladia_, or protesting talismans, which capital cities, whether Pagan +or Christian, glorified through a period of twenty-five hundred years, +we shall find a long succession of these enchanted pledges, from the +earliest precedent of Troy (whose palladium was undoubtedly a talisman) +down to that equally memorable, and bearing the same name, at Western +Rome. We may pass, by a vast transition of two and a half millennia, +to that great talisman of Constantinople, the triple serpent, (having +perhaps an original reference to the Mosaic serpent of the wilderness, +which healed the infected by the simple act of looking upon it, as the +symbol of the Redeemer, held aloft upon the Cross for the deliverance +from moral contagion.) This great consecrated talisman, venerated +equally by Christian, by Pagan, and by Mahometan, was struck on the head +by Mahomet the Second, on that same day, May 29th of 1453, in which +he mastered by storm this glorious city, the bulwark of eastern +Christendom, and the immediate rival of his own European throne at +Adrianople. But mark the superfetation of omens--omen supervening +upon omen, augury engrafted upon augury. The hour was a sad one for +Christianity; just 720 years before the western horn of Islam had been +rebutted in France by the Germans, chiefly under Charles Martel. But now +it seemed as though another horn, even more vigorous, was preparing +to assault Christendom and its hopes from the eastern quarter. At this +epoch, in the very hour of triumph, when the last of the Cćsars had +glorified his station, and sealed his testimony by martyrdom, the +fanatical Sultan, riding to his stirrups in blood, and wielding that +iron mace which had been his sole weapon, as well as cognizance, through +the battle, advanced to the column, round which the triple serpent +roared spirally upwards. He smote the brazen talisman; he shattered one +head; he left it mutilated as the record of his great revolution; but +crush it, destroy it, he did not--as a symbol prefiguring the fortunes +of Mahometanism, his people noticed, that in the critical hour of fate, +which stamped the Sultan's acts with efficacy through ages, he had been +prompted by his secret genius only to 'scotch the snake,' not to crush +it. Afterwards the fatal hour was gone by; and this imperfect augury has +since concurred traditionally with the Mahometan prophecies about the +Adrianople gate of Constantinople, to depress the ultimate hopes of +Islam in the midst of all its insolence. The very haughtiest of the +Mussulmans believe that the gate is already in existence, through which +the red Giaours (the _Russi_) shall pass to the conquest of Stamboul; +and that everywhere, in Europe at least, the hat of Frangistan is +destined to surmount the turban--the crescent must go down before the +cross. + + + + +COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING. + + +What is the deadest of things earthly? It is, says the world, ever +forward and rash--'a door-nail!' But the world is wrong. There is a +thing deader than a door-nail, viz., Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I. Dead, +more dead, most dead, is Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I.; and this +upon more arguments than one. The book has clearly not completed its +elementary act of respiration; the _systole_ of Vol. I. is absolutely +useless and lost without the _diastole_ of that Vol. II., which is never +to exist. That is one argument, and perhaps this second argument is +stronger. Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I., deals rashly, unjustly, and +almost maliciously, with some of our own particular friends; and yet, +until late in this summer, _Anno Domini_ 1844, we--that is, neither +ourselves nor our friends--ever heard of its existence. Now a sloth, +even without the benefit of Mr. Waterton's evidence to his character, +will travel faster than that. But malice, which travels fastest of +all things, must be dead and cold at starting, when it can thus have +lingered in the rear for six years; and therefore, though the world +was so far right, that people _do_ say, 'Dead as a door-nail,' yet, +henceforward, the weakest of these people will see the propriety of +saying--'Dead as Gillman's Coleridge.' + +The reader of experience, on sliding over the surface of this opening +paragraph, begins to think there's mischief singing in the upper air. +'No, reader, not at all. We never were cooler in our days. And this we +protest, that, were it not for the excellence of the subject, _Coleridge +and Opium-Eating_, Mr. Gillman would have been dismissed by us +unnoticed. Indeed, we not only forgive Mr. Gillman, but we have +a kindness for him; and on this account, that he was good, he was +generous, he was most forbearing, through twenty years, to poor +Coleridge, when thrown upon his hospitality. An excellent thing _that_, +Mr. Gillman, till, noticing the theme suggested by this unhappy Vol. +I., we are forced at times to notice its author, Nor is this to be +regretted. We remember a line of Horace never yet properly translated, +viz:-- + + 'Nec scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello.' + +The true translation of which, as we assure the unlearned reader, +is--'Nor must you pursue with the horrid knout of Christopher that man +who merits only a switching.' Very true. We protest against all attempts +to invoke the exterminating knout; for _that_ sends a man to the +hospital for two months; but you see that the same judicious poet, who +dissuades an appeal to the knout, indirectly recommends the switch, +which, indeed, is rather pleasant than otherwise, amiably playful +in some of its little caprices, and in its worst, suggesting only a +pennyworth of diachylon. + +We begin by professing, with hearty sincerity, our fervent admiration +of the extraordinary man who furnishes the theme for Mr. Gillman's +_coup-d'essai_ in biography. He was, in a literary sense, our +brother--for he also was amongst the contributors to _Blackwood_--and +will, we presume, take his station in that Blackwood gallery of +portraits, which, in a century hence, will possess more interest for +intellectual Europe than any merely martial series of portraits, or any +gallery of statesmen assembled in congress, except as regards one or two +leaders; for defunct major-generals, and secondary diplomatists, +when their date is past, awake no more emotion than last year's +advertisements, or obsolete directories; whereas those who, in a stormy +age, have swept the harps of passion, of genial wit, or of the wrestling +and gladiatorial reason, become more interesting to men when they can no +longer be seen as bodily agents, than even in the middle chorus of that +intellectual music over which, living, they presided. + +Of this great camp Coleridge was a leader, and fought amongst the +_primipili_; yet, comparatively, he is still unknown. Heavy, indeed, are +the arrears still due to philosophic curiosity on the real merits, +and on the separate merits, of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge as a +poet--Coleridge as a philosopher! How extensive are those questions, +if those were all! and upon neither question have we yet any +investigation--such as, by compass of views, by research, or even by +earnestness of sympathy with the subject, can, or ought to satisfy, a +philosophic demand. Blind is that man who can persuade himself that the +interest in Coleridge, taken as a total object, is becoming an obsolete +interest. We are of opinion that even Milton, now viewed from a distance +of two centuries, is still inadequately judged or appreciated in +his character of poet, of patriot and partisan, or, finally, in his +character of accomplished scholar. But, if so, how much less can it +be pretended that satisfaction has been rendered to the claims of +Coleridge? for, upon Milton, libraries have been written. There has been +time for the malice of men, for the jealousy of men, for the enthusiasm, +the scepticism, the adoring admiration of men, to expand themselves! +There has been room for a Bentley, for an Addison, for a Johnson, for a +wicked Lauder, for an avenging Douglas, for an idolizing Chateaubriand; +and yet, after all, little enough has been done towards any +comprehensive estimate of the mighty being concerned. Piles of materials +have been gathered to the ground; but, for the monument which should +have risen from these materials, neither the first stone has been laid, +nor has a qualified architect yet presented his credentials. On the +other hand, upon Coleridge little, comparatively, has yet been written, +whilst the separate characters on which the judgment is awaited, are +more by one than those which Milton sustained. Coleridge, also, is a +poet; Coleridge, also, was mixed up with the fervent politics of his +age--an age how memorably reflecting the revolutionary agitations of +Milton's age. Coleridge, also, was an extensive and brilliant scholar. +Whatever might be the separate proportions of the two men in each +particular department of the three here noticed, think as the reader +will upon that point, sure we are that either subject is ample enough to +make a strain upon the amplest faculties. How alarming, therefore, +for any _honest_ critic, who should undertake this later subject of +Coleridge, to recollect that, after pursuing him through a zodiac of +splendors corresponding to those of Milton in kind, however different in +degree--after weighing him as a poet, as a philosophic politician, as +a scholar, he will have to wheel after him into another orbit, into +the unfathomable _nimbus_ of transcendental metaphysics. Weigh him the +critic must in the golden balance of philosophy the most abstruse--a +balance which even itself requires weighing previously, or he will +have done nothing that can be received for an estimate of the composite +Coleridge. This astonishing man, be it again remembered, besides being +an exquisite poet, a profound political speculator, a philosophic +student of literature through all its chambers and recesses, was also +a circumnavigator on the most pathless waters of scholasticism and +metaphysics. He had sounded, without guiding charts, the secret deeps +of Proclus and Plotinus; he had laid down buoys on the twilight, or +moonlight, ocean of Jacob Boehmen; [Footnote: 'JACOB BOEHMEN.' We +ourselves had the honor of presenting to Mr. Coleridge, Law's English +version of Jacob--a set of huge quartos. Some months afterwards we saw +this work lying open, and one volume at least overflowing, in parts, +with the commentaries and the _corollaries_ of Coleridge. Whither has +this work, and so many others swathed about with Coleridge's MS. notes, +vanished from the world?] he had cruised over the broad Atlantic of Kant +and Schelling, of Fichte and Oken. Where is the man who shall be equal +to these things? We at least make no such adventurous effort; or, if +ever we should presume to do so, not at present. Here we design only +to make a coasting voyage of survey round the headlands and most +conspicuous seamarks of our subject, as they are brought forward by +Mr. Gillman, or collaterally suggested by our own reflections; and +especially we wish to say a word or two on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +Naturally the first point to which we direct our attention, is the +history and personal relations of Coleridge. Living with Mr. Gillman for +nineteen years as a domesticated friend, Coleridge ought to have +been known intimately. And it is reasonable to expect, from so much +intercourse, some additions to our slender knowledge of Coleridge's +adventures, (if we may use so coarse a word,) and of the secret springs +at work in those early struggles of Coleridge at Cambridge, London, +Bristol, which have been rudely told to the world, and repeatedly told, +as showy romances, but never rationally explained. + +The anecdotes, however, which Mr. Gillman has added to the personal +history of Coleridge, are as little advantageous to the effect of his +own book as they are to the interest of the memorable character which he +seeks to illustrate. Always they are told without grace, and generally +are suspicious in their details. Mr. Gillman we believe to be too +upright a man for countenancing any untruth. He has been deceived. For +example, will any man believe this? A certain 'excellent equestrian' +falling in with Coleridge on horseback, thus accosted him--'Pray, Sir, +did you meet a tailor along the road?' '_A tailor_!' answered Coleridge; +'_I did meet a person answering such a description, who told me he had +dropped his goose; that if I rode a little further I should find it; and +I guess he must have meant you._' In Joe Miller this story would +read, perhaps, sufferably. Joe has a privilege; and we do not look too +narrowly into the mouth of a Joe-Millerism. But Mr. Gillman, writing +the life of a philosopher, and no jest-book, is under a different law of +decorum. That retort, however, which silences the jester, it may seem, +must be a good one. And we are desired to believe that, in this case, +the baffled assailant rode off in a spirit of benign candor, saying +aloud to himself, like the excellent philosopher that he evidently was, +'Caught a Tartar!' + +But another story of a sporting baronet, who was besides a Member of +Parliament, is much worse, and altogether degrading to Coleridge. +This gentleman, by way of showing off before a party of ladies, is +represented as insulting Coleridge by putting questions to him on the +qualities of his horse, so as to draw the animal's miserable defects +into public notice, and then closing his display by demanding what he +would take for the horse 'including the rider.' The supposed reply +of Coleridge might seem good to those who understand nothing of true +dignity; for, as an _impromptu_, it was smart and even caustic. The +baronet, it seems, was reputed to have been bought by the minister; and +the reader will at once divine that the retort took advantage of that +current belief, so as to throw back the sarcasm, by proclaiming that +neither horse nor rider had a price placarded in the market at which any +man could become their purchaser. But this was not the temper in which +Coleridge either did reply, or could have replied. Coleridge showed, in +the _spirit_ of his manner, a profound sensibility to the nature of +a gentleman; and he felt too justly what it became a self-respecting +person to say, ever to have aped the sort of flashy fencing which might +seem fine to a theatrical blood. + +Another story is self-refuted: 'A hired partisan' had come to one of +Coleridge's political lectures with the express purpose of bringing the +lecturer into trouble; and most preposterously he laid himself open +to his own snare by refusing to pay for admission. Spies must be poor +artists who proceed thus. Upon which Coleridge remarked--'That, before +the gentleman kicked up a dust, surely he would down with the dust.' +So far the story will not do. But what follows is possible enough. +The _same_ 'hired' gentleman, by way of giving unity to the tale, is +described as having hissed. Upon this a cry arose of 'Turn him out!' But +Coleridge interfered to protect him; he insisted on the man's right to +hiss if he thought fit; it was legal to hiss; it was natural to hiss; +'for what is to be expected, gentlemen, when the cool waters of reason +come in contact with red-hot aristocracy, but a hiss?' _Euge!_ + +Amongst all the anecdotes, however of this splendid man, often trivial, +often incoherent, often unauthenticated, there is one which strikes us +as both true and interesting; and we are grateful to Mr. Gillman for +preserving it. We find it introduced, and partially authenticated, by +the following sentence from Coleridge himself:--'From eight to fourteen +I was a playless day-dreamer, a _helluo librorum_; my appetite for which +was indulged by a singular incident. A stranger, who was struck by my +conversation, made me free of a circulating library in King's Street, +Cheapside.' The more circumstantial explanation of Mr. Gillman is this: +`The incident indeed was singular. Going down the Strand, in one of his +day-dreams, fancying himself swimming across the Hellespont, thrusting +his hands before him as in the act of swimming, his hand came in contact +with a gentleman's pocket. The gentleman seized his hand, turning round, +and looking at him with some anger--"What! so young, and yet so wicked?" +at the same time accused him of an attempt to pick his pocket. The +frightened boy sobbed out his denial of the intention, and explained to +him how he thought himself Leander swimming across the Hellespont. The +gentleman was so struck and delighted with the novelty of the thing, and +with the simplicity and intelligence of the boy, that he subscribed, +as before stated, to the library; in consequence of which Coleridge was +further enabled to indulge his love of reading.' + +We fear that this slovenly narrative is the very perfection of bad +story-telling. But the story itself is striking, and, by the very +oddness of the incidents, not likely to have been invented. The effect, +from the position of the two parties--on the one side, a simple child +from Devonshire, dreaming in the Strand that he was swimming over from +Sestos to Abydos, and, on the other, the experienced man, dreaming +only of this world, its knaves and its thieves, but still kind and +generous--is beautiful and picturesque. _Oh! si sic omnia!_ + +But the most interesting to us of the _personalities_ connected with +Coleridge are his feuds and his personal dislikes. Incomprehensible to +us is the war of extermination which Coleridge made upon the political +economists. Did Sir James Steuart, in speaking of vine-dressers, (not +_as_ vine-dressers, but generally as cultivators,) tell his readers, +that, if such a man simply replaced his own consumption, having no +surplus whatever or increment for the public capital, he could not be +considered a useful citizen? Not the beast in the Revelation is held up +by Coleridge as more hateful to the spirit of truth than the Jacobite +baronet. And yet we know of an author--viz., one S. T. Coleridge--who +repeated that same doctrine without finding any evil in it. Look at the +first part of the _Wallenstein_, where Count Isolani having said, 'Pooh! +we are _all_ his subjects,' _i. e._, soldiers, (though unproductive +laborers,) not less than productive peasants, the emperor's envoy +replies--'Yet with a difference, general;' and the difference implies +Sir James's scale, his vine-dresser being the equatorial case between +the two extremes of the envoy. Malthus again, in his population-book, +contends for a mathematic difference between animal and vegetable life, +in respect to the law of increase, as though the first increased by +geometrical ratios, the last by arithmetical! No proposition more +worthy of laughter; since both, when permitted to expand, increase +by geometrical ratios, and the latter by much higher ratios. Whereas, +Malthus persuaded himself of his crotchet simply by refusing the +requisite condition in the vegetable case, and granting it in the +other. If you take a few grains of wheat, and are required to plant all +successive generations of their produce in the same flower-pot for ever, +of course you neutralize its expansion by your own act of arbitrary +limitation. [Footnote: Malthus would have rejoined by saying--that the +flowerpot limitation was the actual limitation of nature in our present +circumstances. In America it is otherwise, he would say, but England +is the very flowerpot you suppose; she is a flowerpot which cannot be +multiplied, and cannot even be enlarged. Very well, so be it (which we +say in order to waive irrelevant disputes). But then the true inference +will be--not that vegetable increase proceeds under a different law from +that which governs animal increase, but that, through an accident of +position, the experiment cannot be tried in England. Surely the levers +of Archimedes, with submission to Sir Edward B. Lytton, were not the +less levers because he wanted the _locum standi_. It is proper, by the +way, that we should inform the reader of this generation where to look +for Coleridge's skirmishings with Malthus. They are to be found chiefly +in the late Mr. William Hazlitt's work on that subject: a work which +Coleridge so far claimed as to assert that it had been substantially +made up from his own conversation.] But so you would do, if you tried +the case of _animal_ increase by still exterminating all but one +replacing couple of parents. This is not to try, but merely a pretence +of trying, one order of powers against another. That was folly. But +Coleridge combated this idea in a manner so obscure, that nobody +understood it. And leaving these speculative conundrums, in coming to +the great practical interests afloat in the Poor Laws, Coleridge did so +little real work, that he left, as a _res integra_, to Dr. Alison, +the capital argument that legal and _adequate_ provision for the poor, +whether impotent poor or poor accidentally out of work, does not extend +pauperism--no, but is the one great resource for putting it down. Dr. +Alison's overwhelming and _experimental_ manifestations of that truth +have prostrated Malthus and his generation for ever. This comes of not +attending to the Latin maxim--'_Hoc_ age'--mind the object before you. +Dr. Alison, a wise man, '_hoc_ egit:' Coleridge '_aliud_ egit.' And we +see the result. In a case which suited him, by interesting his peculiar +feeling, Coleridge could command + + 'Attention full ten times as much as there needs.' + +But search documents, value evidence, or thresh out bushels of +statistical tables, Coleridge could not, any more than he could ride +with Elliot's dragoons. + +Another instance of Coleridge's inaptitude for such studies as political +economy is found in his fancy, by no means 'rich and rare,' but meagre +and trite, that taxes can never injure public prosperity by mere excess +of quantity; if they injure, we are to conclude that it must be by their +quality and mode of operation, or by their false appropriation, (as, +for instance, if they are sent out of the country and spent abroad.) +Because, says Coleridge, if the taxes are exhaled from the country as +vapors, back they come in drenching showers. Twenty pounds ascend in a +Scotch mist to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from Leeds; but does it +evaporate? Not at all: By return of post down comes an order for twenty +pounds' worth of Leeds cloth, on account of Government, seeing that +the poor men of the ----th regiment want new gaiters. True; but of this +return twenty pounds, not more than four will be profit, _i.e._, surplus +accruing to the public capital; whereas, of the original twenty pounds, +every shilling was surplus. The same unsound fancy has been many times +brought forward; often in England, often in France. But it is curious, +that its first appearance upon any stage was precisely two centuries +ago, when as yet political economy slept with the pre-Adamites, viz., in +the Long Parliament. In a quarto volume of the debates during 1644-45, +printed as an independent work, will be found the same identical +doctrine, supported very sonorously by the same little love of an +illustration from the see-saw of mist and rain. + +Political economy was not Coleridge's forte. In politics he was happier. +In mere personal politics, he (like every man when reviewed from a +station distant by forty years) will often appear to have erred; nay, +he will be detected and nailed in error. But this is the necessity of us +all. Keen are the refutations of time. And absolute results to posterity +are the fatal touchstone of opinions in the past. It is undeniable, +besides, that Coleridge had strong personal antipathies, for instance, +to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas. Yet _why_, we never could understand. We +once heard him tell a story upon Windermere, to the late Mr. Curwen, +then M. P. for Workington, which was meant, apparently, to account +for this feeling. The story amounted to this; that, when a freshman at +Cambridge, Mr. Pitt had wantonly amused himself at a dinner party +in Trinity, in smashing with filberts (discharged in showers like +grape-shot) a most costly dessert set of cut glass, from which +Samuel Taylor Coleridge argued a principle of destructiveness in his +_cerebellum_. Now, if this dessert set belonged to some poor suffering +Trinitarian, and not to himself, we are of opinion that he was faulty, +and ought, upon his own great subsequent maxim, to have been coerced +into 'indemnity for the past, and security for the future.' But, besides +that this glassy _mythus_ belongs to an ćra fifteen years earlier than +Coleridge's so as to justify a shadow of scepticism, we really cannot +find, in such an _escapade_ under the boiling blood of youth, any +sufficient justification of that withering malignity towards the name +of Pitt, which runs through Coleridge's famous _Fire, Famine, +and Slaughter_. As this little viperous _jeu-d'esprit_ (published +anonymously) subsequently became the subject of a celebrated +after-dinner discussion in London, at which Coleridge (_comme de +raison_) was the chief speaker, the reader of this generation may wish +to know the question at issue; and in order to judge of _that_, he must +know the outline of this devil's squib. The writer brings upon the scene +three pleasant young ladies, viz., Miss Fire, Miss Famine, and Miss +Slaughter. 'What are you up to? What's the row?'--we may suppose to +be the introductory question of the poet. And the answer of the ladies +makes us aware that they are fresh from larking in Ireland, and +in France. A glorious spree they had; lots of fun; and laughter _a +discretion_. At all times _gratus puellć risus ab angulo_; so that we +listen to their little gossip with interest. They had been setting +men, it seems, by the ears; and the drollest little atrocities they do +certainly report. Not but we have seen better in the Nenagh paper, so +far as Ireland is concerned. But the pet little joke was in La Vendee. +Miss Famine, who is the girl for our money, raises the question--whether +any of them can tell the name of the leader and prompter to these high +jinks of hell--if so, let her whisper it. + + 'Whisper it, sister, so and so, + In a dark hint--distinct and low.' + +Upon which the playful Miss Slaughter replies:-- + + 'Letters _four_ do form his name. + * * * * * + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And I have drunk the blood since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Good: but the sting of the hornet lies in the conclusion. If this +quadriliteral man had done so much for _them_, (though really, we think, +6s. 8d. might have settled his claim,) what, says Fire, setting her arms +a-kimbo, would they do for _him_? Slaughter replies, rather crustily, +that, as far as a good kicking would go--or (says Famine) a little +matter of tearing to pieces by the mob--they would be glad to take +tickets at his benefit. 'How, you bitches!' says Fire, 'is that all? + + 'I alone am faithful; I + _Cling to him everlastingly_.' + +The sentiment is diabolical. And the question argued at the London +dinner-table was--Could the writer have been other than a devil? The +dinner was at the late excellent Mr. Sotheby's, known advantageously in +those days as the translator of Wieland's _Oberon_. Several of the great +guns amongst the literary body were present; in particular, Sir +Walter Scott; and he, we believe, with his usual good-nature, took the +apologetic side of the dispute. In fact, he was in the secret. Nobody +else, barring the author, knew at first whose good name was at stake. +The scene must have been high. The company kicked about the poor +diabolic writer's head as if it had been a tennis-ball. Coleridge, the +yet unknown criminal, absolutely perspired and fumed in pleading for the +defendant; the company demurred; the orator grew urgent; wits began to +_smoke_ the case, as active verbs; the advocate to _smoke_, as a neuter +verb; the 'fun grew fast and furious;' until at length _delinquent +arose_, burning tears in his eyes, and confessed to an audience, (now +bursting with stifled laughter, but whom he supposed to be bursting with +fiery indignation,) 'Lo! I am he that wrote it.' + +For our own parts, we side with Coleridge. Malice is not always of the +heart. There is a malice of the understanding and the fancy. Neither do +we think the worse of a man for having invented the most horrible and +old-woman-troubling curse that demons ever listened to. We are too apt +to swear horribly ourselves; and often have we frightened the cat, to +say nothing of the kettle, by our shocking [far too shocking!] oaths. + +There were other celebrated men whom Coleridge detested, or seemed +to detest--Paley, Sir Sidney Smith, Lord Hutchinson, (the last Lord +Donoughmore,) and Cuvier. To Paley it might seem as if his antipathy had +been purely philosophic; but we believe that partly it was personal; +and it tallies with this belief, that, in his earliest political tracts, +Coleridge charged the archdeacon repeatedly with his own joke, as if +it had been a serious saying, viz.--'That he could not afford to keep +a conscience;' such luxuries, like a carriage, for instance, being +obviously beyond the finances of poor men. + +With respect to the philosophic question between the parties, as to the +grounds of moral election, we hope it is no treason to suggest that both +were perhaps in error. Against Paley, it occurs at once that he himself +would not have made consequences the _practical_ test in valuing the +morality of an act, since these can very seldom be traced at all up to +the final stages, and in the earliest stages are exceedingly different +under different circumstances; so that the same act, tried by its +consequences, would bear a fluctuating appreciation. This could not have +been Paley's _revised_ meaning. Consequently, had he been pressed +by opposition, it would have come out, that by _test_ he meant only +_speculative_ test: a very harmless doctrine certainly, but useless +and impertinent to any purpose of his system. The reader may catch our +meaning in the following illustration. It is a matter of general belief, +that happiness, upon the whole, follows in a higher degree from constant +integrity, than from the closest attention to self-interest. Now +happiness is one of those consequences which Paley meant by final or +remotest. But we could never use this idea as an exponent of integrity, +or interchangeable criterion, because happiness cannot be ascertained or +appreciated except upon long tracts of time, whereas the particular act +of integrity depends continually upon the election of the moment. No +man, therefore, could venture to lay down as a rule, Do what makes you +happy; use this as your test of actions, satisfied that in that case +always you will do the thing which is right. For he cannot discern +independently what _will_ make him happy; and he must decide on the +spot. The use of the _nexus_ between morality and happiness must +therefore be inverted; it is not practical or prospective, but simply +retrospective; and in that form it says no more than the good old rules +hallowed in every cottage. But this furnishes no practical guide for +moral election which a man had not, before he ever thought of this +_nexus_. In the sense in which it is true, we need not go to the +professor's chair for this maxim; in the sense in which it would serve +Paley, it is absolutely false. + +On the other hand, as against Coleridge, it is certain that many acts +could be mentioned which are judged to be good or bad only because their +consequences are known to be so, whilst the great catholic acts of life +are entirely (and, if we may so phrase it, haughtily) independent of +consequences. For instance, fidelity to a trust is a law of immutable +morality subject to no casuistry whatever. You have been left executor +to a friend--you are to pay over his last legacy to X, though a +dissolute scoundrel; and you are to give no shilling of it to the +poor brother of X, though a good man, and a wise man, struggling +with adversity. You are absolutely excluded from all contemplation of +results. It was your deceased friend's right to make the will; it is +yours simply to see it executed. Now, in opposition to this primary +class of actions stands another, such as the habit of intoxication, +which are known to be wrong only by observing the consequences. If +drunkenness did not terminate, after some years, in producing bodily +weakness, irritability in the temper, and so forth, it would _not_ be a +vicious act. And accordingly, if a transcendent motive should arise in +favor of drunkenness, as that it would enable you to face a degree of +cold, or contagion, else menacing to life, a duty would arise, _pro hac +vice_, of getting drunk. We had an amiable friend who suffered under +the infirmity of cowardice; an awful coward he was when sober; but, +when very drunk, he had courage enough for the Seven Champions of +Christendom, Therefore, in an emergency, where he knew himself suddenly +loaded with the responsibility of defending a family, we approved highly +of his getting drunk. But to violate a trust could never become right +under any change of circumstances. Coleridge, however, altogether +overlooked this distinction: which, on the other hand, stirring in +Paley's mind, but never brought out to distinct consciousness, nor ever +investigated, nor limited, has undermined his system. Perhaps it is not +very important how a man _theorizes_ upon morality; happily for us all, +God has left no man in such questions practically to the guidance of his +understanding; but still, considering that academic bodies _are_ +partly instituted for the support of speculative truth as well as truth +practical, we must think it a blot upon the splendor of Oxford and +Cambridge that both of them, in a Christian land, make Paley the +foundation of their ethics; the alternative being Aristotle. And, in +our mind, though far inferior as a moralist to the Stoics, Aristotle is +often less of a pagan than Paley. + +Coleridge's dislike to Sir Sidney Smith and the Egyptian Lord Hutchinson +fell under the category of Martial's case. + + 'Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare, + Hoc solum novi--non amo te, Sabidi.' + +Against Lord Hutchinson, we never heard him plead anything of moment, +except that he was finically Frenchified in his diction; of which he +gave this instance--that having occasion to notice a brick wall, (which +was literally _that_, not more and not less,) when reconnoitring the +French defences, he called it a _revętement_. And we ourselves remember +his using the French word _gloriole_ rather ostentatiously; that is, +when no particular emphasis attached to the case. But every man has his +foibles; and few, perhaps, are less conspicuously annoying than this of +Lord Hutchinson's. Sir Sidney's crimes were less distinctly revealed +to our mind. As to Cuvier, Coleridge's hatred of _him_ was more to our +taste; for (though quite unreasonable, we fear) it took the shape of +patriotism. He insisted on it, that our British John Hunter was the +genuine article, and that Cuvier was a humbug. Now, speaking privately +to the public, we cannot go quite so far as _that_. But, when publicly +we address that most respectable character, _en grand costume_, +we always mean to back Coleridge. For we are a horrible John Bull +ourselves. As Joseph Hume observes, it makes no difference to us--right +or wrong, black or white--when our countrymen are concerned. And John +Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, [Footnote: _Vide_, +in particular, for the most exquisite specimen of pigheadedness that the +world can furnish, his perverse evidence on the once famous case at the +Warwick assizes, of Captain Donelan for poisoning his brother-in-law, +Sir Theodosius Boughton.] was really a great man; though it will not +follow that Cuvier must, therefore, have been a little one. We do not +pretend to be acquainted with the tenth part of Cuvier's performances; +but we suspect that Coleridge's range in that respect was not much +greater than our own. + +Other cases of monomaniac antipathy we might revive from our +recollections of Coleridge, had we a sufficient motive. But in +compensation, and by way of redressing the balance, he had many strange +likings--equally monomaniac--and, unaccountably, he chose to exhibit his +whimsical partialities by dressing up, as it were, in his own clothes, +such a set of scarecrows as eye has not beheld. Heavens! what an ark +of unclean beasts would have been Coleridge's private _menagerie_ +of departed philosophers, could they all have been trotted out in +succession! But did the reader feel them to be the awful bores which, +in fact, they were? No; because Coleridge had blown upon these withered +anatomies, through the blowpipe of his own creative genius, a stream of +gas that swelled the tissue of their antediluvian wrinkles, forced color +upon their cheeks, and splendor upon their sodden eyes. Such a process +of ventriloquism never _has_ existed. He spoke by their organs. They +were the tubes; and he forced through their wooden machinery his own +Beethoven harmonies. + +First came Dr. Andrew Bell. We knew him. Was he dull? Is a wooden spoon +dull? Fishy were his eyes; torpedinous was his manner; and his main +idea, out of two which he really had, related to the moon--from which +you infer, perhaps, that he was lunatic. By no means. It was no craze, +under the influence of the moon, which possessed him; it was an idea of +mere hostility to the moon. The Madras people, like many others, had an +idea that she influenced the weather. Subsequently the Herschels, +senior and junior, systematized this idea; and then the wrath of Andrew, +previously in a crescent state, actually dilated to a plenilunar orb. +The Westmoreland people (for at the lakes it was we knew him) expounded +his condition to us by saying that he was 'maffled;' which word means +'perplexed in the extreme.' His wrath did not pass into lunacy; it +produced simple distraction; an uneasy fumbling with the idea; like that +of an old superannuated dog who longs to worry, but cannot for want of +teeth. In this condition you will judge that he was rather tedious. And +in this condition Coleridge took him up. Andrew's other idea, because he +_had_ two, related to education. Perhaps six-sevenths of that also came +from Madras. No matter, Coleridge took _that_ up; Southey also; but +Southey with his usual temperate fervor. Coleridge, on the other +hand, found celestial marvels both in the scheme and in the man. Then +commenced the apotheosis of Andrew Bell: and because it happened that +his opponent, Lancaster, between ourselves, really _had_ stolen his +ideas from Bell, what between the sad wickedness of Lancaster and the +celestial transfiguration of Bell, gradually Coleridge heated himself to +such an extent, that people, when referring to that subject, asked each +other, 'Have you heard Coleridge lecture on _Bel and the Dragon_?' + +The next man glorified by Coleridge was John Woolman, the Quaker. Him, +though we once possessed his works, it cannot be truly affirmed that +we ever read. Try to read John, we often did; but read John we did not. +This, however, you say, might be our fault, and not John's. Very likely. +And we have a notion that now, with our wiser thoughts, we _should_ read +John, if he were here on this table. It is certain that he was a good +man, and one of the earliest in America, if not in Christendom, who +lifted up his hand to protest against the slave-trade. But still, we +suspect, that had John been all that Coleridge represented, he would +not have repelled us from reading his travels in the fearful way that he +did. But, again, we beg pardon, and entreat the earth of Virginia to lie +light upon the remains of John Woolman; for he was an Israelite, indeed, +in whom there was no guile. + +The third person raised to divine honors by Coleridge was Bowyer, the +master of Christ's Hospital, London--a man whose name rises into +the nostrils of all who knew him with the gracious odor of a +tallow-chandler's melting-house upon melting day, and whose memory +is embalmed in the hearty detestation of all his pupils. Coleridge +describes this man as a profound critic. Our idea of him is different. +We are of opinion that Bowyer was the greatest villain of the eighteenth +century. We may be wrong; but we cannot be _far_ wrong. Talk of +knouting indeed! which we did at the beginning of this paper in the +mere playfulness of our hearts--and which the great master of the knout, +Christopher, who visited men's trespasses like the Eumenides, never +resorted to but in love for some great idea which had been outraged; +why, this man knouted his way through life, from bloody youth up to +truculent old age. Grim idol! whose altars reeked with children's blood, +and whose dreadful eyes never smiled except as the stern goddess of the +Thugs smiles, when the sound of human lamentations inhabits her ears. +So much had the monster fed upon this great idea of 'flogging,' and +transmuted it into the very nutriment of his heart, that he seems to +have conceived the gigantic project of flogging all mankind; nay +worse, for Mr. Gillman, on Coleridge's authority, tells us (p. 24) the +following anecdote:--'"_Sirrah, I'll flog you_," were words so familiar +to him, that on one occasion some _female_ friend of one of the boys,' +(who had come on an errand of intercession,) 'still lingering at the +door, after having been abruptly told to go, Bowyer exclaimed--"Bring +that woman here, and I'll flog her."' + +To this horrid incarnation of whips and scourges, Coleridge, in his +_Biographia Literaria_, ascribes ideas upon criticism and taste, which +every man will recognise as the intense peculiarities of Coleridge. +Could these notions really have belonged to Bowyer, then how do we know +but he wrote _The Ancient Mariner_? Yet, on consideration, no. For even +Coleridge admitted that, spite of his fine theorizing upon composition, +Mr. Bowyer did not prosper in the practice. Of which he gave us this +illustration; and as it is supposed to be the only specimen of the +Bowyeriana which now survives in this sublunary world, we are glad to +extend its glory. It is the most curious example extant of the melodious +in sound:-- + + ''Twas thou that smooth'd'st the rough-rugg'd bed of pain.' + +'Smooth'd'st!' Would the teeth of a crocodile not splinter under that +word? It seems to us as if Mr. Bowyer's verses ought to be boiled before +they can be read. And when he says, 'Twas thou, what is the wretch +talking to? Can he be apostrophizing the knout? We very much fear it. +If so, then, you see (reader!) that, even when incapacitated by illness +from operating, he still adores the image of his holy scourge, and +invokes it as alone able to smooth 'his rough-rugg'd bed.' Oh, +thou infernal Bowyer! upon whom even Trollope (_History of Christ's +Hospital_) charges 'a discipline _tinctured_ with more than due +severity;'--can there be any partners found for thee in a quadrille, +except Draco, the bloody lawgiver, Bishop Bonner, and Mrs. Brownrigg? + +The next pet was Sir Alexander Ball. Concerning Bowyer, Coleridge did +not talk much, but chiefly wrote; concerning Bell, he did not write +much, but chiefly talked. Concerning Ball, however, he both wrote +and talked. It was in vain to muse upon any plan for having Ball +blackballed, or for rebelling against Bell. Think of a man, who had +fallen into one pit called Bell; secondly, falling into another pit +called Ball. This was too much. We were obliged to quote poetry against +them:-- + + 'Letters four do form his name; + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And the nightmare I have felt since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Not that we insinuate any disrespect to Sir Alexander Ball. He was +about the foremost, we believe, in all good qualities, amongst Nelson's +admirable captains at the Nile. He commanded a seventy-four most +effectually in that battle; he governed Malta as well as Sancho governed +Barataria; and he was a true practical philosopher--as, indeed, was +Sancho. But still, by all that we could ever learn, Sir Alexander had +no taste for the abstract upon any subject; and would have read, as +mere delirious wanderings, those philosophic opinions which Coleridge +fastened like wings upon his respectable, but astounded, shoulders. + +We really beg pardon for having laughed a little at these crazes of +Coleridge. But laugh we did, of mere necessity, in those days, at +Bell and Ball, whenever we did not groan. And, as the same precise +alternative offered itself now, viz., that, in recalling the case, we +must reverberate either the groaning or the laughter, we presumed the +reader would vote for the last. Coleridge, we are well convinced, owed +all these wandering and exaggerated estimates of men--these diseased +impulses, that, like the _mirage_, showed lakes and fountains where +in reality there were only arid deserts, to the derangements worked by +opium. But now, for the sake of change, let us pass to another topic. +Suppose we say a word or two on Coleridge's accomplishments as a +scholar. We are not going to enter on so large a field as that of his +scholarship in connection with his philosophic labors, scholarship in +the result; not this, but scholarship in the means and machinery, range +of _verbal_ scholarship, is what we propose for a moment's review. + +For instance, what sort of a German scholar was Coleridge? We dare +say that, because in his version of the _Wallenstein_ there are some +inaccuracies, those who may have noticed them will hold him cheap in +this particular pretension. But, to a certain degree, they will be +wrong. Coleridge was not _very_ accurate in anything but in the use of +logic. All his philological attainments were imperfect. He did not +talk German; or so obscurely--and, if he attempted to speak fast, so +erroneously--that in his second sentence, when conversing with a German +lady of rank, he contrived to assure her that in his humble opinion she +was a ----. Hard it is to fill up the hiatus decorously; but, in fact, +the word very coarsely expressed that she was no better than she should +be. Which reminds us of a parallel misadventure to a German, whose +colloquial English had been equally neglected. Having obtained an +interview with an English lady, he opened his business (whatever it +might be) thus--'High-born madam, since your husband have kicked de +bucket'----'Sir!' interrupted the lady, astonished and displeased. 'Oh, +pardon!--nine, ten thousand pardon! Now, I make new beginning--quite +oder beginning. Madam, since your husband have cut his stick'----It may +be supposed that this did not mend matters; and, reading that in the +lady's countenance, the German drew out an octavo dictionary, and said, +perspiring with shame at having a second time missed fire,--'Madam, +since your husband have gone to kingdom come'----This he said +beseechingly; but the lady was past propitiation by this time, and +rapidly moved towards the door. Things had now reached a crisis; and, if +something were not done quickly, the game was up. Now, therefore, taking +a last hurried look at his dictionary, the German flew after the lady, +crying out in a voice of despair--'Madam, since your husband, your most +respected husband, have hopped de twig'----This was his sheet-anchor; +and, as this also _came home_, of course the poor man was totally +wrecked. It turned out that the dictionary he had used (Arnold's, we +think,)--a work of a hundred years back, and, from mere ignorance, +giving slang translations from Tom Brown, L'Estrange, and other jocular +writers--had put down the verb _sterben (to die)_ with the following +worshipful series of equivalents--1. To kick the bucket; 2. To cut one's +stick; 3. To go to kingdom come; 4. To hop the twig. + +But, though Coleridge did not pretend to any fluent command of +conversational German, he read it with great ease. His knowledge +of German literature was, indeed, too much limited by his rare +opportunities for commanding anything like a well-mounted library. And +particularly it surprised us that Coleridge knew little or nothing of +John Paul (Richter). But his acquaintance with the German philosophic +masters was extensive. And his valuation of many individual German words +or phrases was delicate and sometimes profound. + +As a Grecian, Coleridge must be estimated with a reference to the state +and standard of Greek literature at that time and in this country. +Porson had not yet raised our ideal. The earliest laurels of Coleridge +were gathered, however, in that field. Yet no man will, at this day, +pretend that the Greek of his prize ode is sufferable. Neither did +Coleridge ever become an accurate Grecian in later times, when better +models of scholarship, and better aids to scholarship, had begun +to multiply. But still we must assert this point of superiority for +Coleridge, that, whilst he never was what may be called a well-mounted +scholar in any department of verbal scholarship, he yet displayed +sometimes a brilliancy of conjectural sagacity, and a felicity of +philosophic investigation, even in this path, such as better scholars do +not often attain, and of a kind which cannot be learned from books. But, +as respects his accuracy, again we must recall to the reader the state +of Greek literature in England during Coleridge's youth; and, in all +equity, as a means of placing Coleridge in the balances, specifically we +must recall the state of Greek metrical composition at that period. + +To measure the condition of Greek literature even in Cambridge, about +the initial period of Coleridge, we need only look back to the several +translations of Gray's _Elegy_ by three (if not four) of the reverend +gentlemen at that time attached to Eton College. Mathias, no very great +scholar himself in this particular field, made himself merry, in his +_Pursuits of Literature_, with these Eton translations. In that he was +right. But he was _not_ right in praising a contemporary translation by +Cook, who (we believe) was the immediate predecessor of Porson in +the Greek chair. As a specimen of this translation, [Footnote: It was +printed at the end of Aristotle's _Poetics_, which Dr. Cook edited.] we +cite one stanza; and we cannot be supposed to select unfairly, because +it is the stanza which Mathias praises in extravagant terms. "Here," +says he, "Gray, Cook, and Nature, do seem to contend for the mastery." +The English quatrain must be familiar to every body:-- + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour: + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +And the following, we believe, though quoting from a thirty-three years' +recollection of it, is the exact Greek version of Cook:-- + + 'A charis eugenon, charis a basilaeidos achas + Lora tuchaes chryseaes, Aphroditaes kala ta dora, + Paith ama tauta tethiake, kai eiden morsimon amar + Proon kle olole, kai ocheto xunon es Adaen.' + +Now really these verses, by force of a little mosaic tesselation from +genuine Greek sources, pass fluently over the tongue; but can they be +considered other than a _cento_? Swarms of English schoolboys, at this +day, would not feel very proud to adopt them. In fact, we remember (at a +period say twelve years later than this) some iambic verses, which were +really composed by a boy, viz., a son of Dr. Prettyman, (afterwards +Tomline,) Bishop of Winchester, and, in earlier times, private tutor to +Mr. Pitt; they were published by Middleton, first Bishop of Calcutta, +in the preface to his work on the Greek article; and for racy idiomatic +Greek, self-originated, and not a mere mocking-bird's iteration of alien +notes, are so much superior to all the attempts of these sexagenarian +doctors, as distinctly to mark the growth of a new era and a new +generation in this difficult accomplishment, within the first decennium +of this century. It is singular that only one blemish is suggested by +any of the contemporary critics in Dr. Cook's verses, viz., in the +word _xunon_, for which this critic proposes to substitute _ooinon_, +to prevent, as he observes, the last syllable of _ocheto_ from being +lengthened by the _x_. Such considerations as these are necessary to the +_trutinć castigatio_, before we can value Coleridge's place on the scale +of his own day; which day, _quoad hoc_, be it remembered, was 1790. + +As to French, Coleridge read it with too little freedom to find pleasure +in French literature. Accordingly, we never recollect his referring for +any purpose, either of argument or illustration, to a French classic. +Latin, from his regular scholastic training, naturally he read with a +scholar's fluency; and indeed, he read constantly in authors, such as +Petrarch, Erasmus, Calvin, &c., whom he could not then have found in +translations. But Coleridge had not cultivated an acquaintance with the +delicacies of classic Latinity. And it is remarkable that Wordsworth, +educated most negligently at Hawkshead school, subsequently by reading +the lyric poetry of Horace, simply for his own delight as a student of +composition, made himself a master of Latinity in its most difficult +form; whilst Coleridge, trained regularly in a great Southern school, +never carried his Latin to any classical polish. + +There is another accomplishment of Coleridge's, less broadly open to +the judgment of this generation, and not at all of the next--viz., his +splendid art of conversation, on which it will be interesting to say a +word. Ten years ago, when the music of this rare performance had not yet +ceased to vibrate in men's ears, what a sensation was gathering amongst +the educated classes on this particular subject! What a tumult of +anxiety prevailed to 'hear Mr. Coleridge'--or even to talk with a man +who _had_ heard him! Had he lived till this day, not Paganini would have +been so much sought after. That sensation is now decaying; because a new +generation has emerged during the ten years since his death. But many +still remain whose sympathy (whether of curiosity in those who did _not_ +know him, or of admiration in those who _did_) still reflects as in a +mirror the great stir upon this subject which then was moving in the +world. To these, if they should inquire for the great distinguishing +principle of Coleridge's conversation, we might say that it was the +power of vast combination 'in linked sweetness long drawn out.' +He gathered into focal concentration the largest body of objects, +_apparently_ disconnected, that any man ever yet, by any magic, could +assemble, or, _having_ assembled, could manage. His great fault was, +that, by not opening sufficient spaces for reply or suggestion, or +collateral notice, he not only narrowed his own field, but he grievously +injured the final impression. For when men's minds are purely passive, +when they are not allowed to re-act, then it is that they collapse most, +and that their sense of what is said must ever be feeblest. Doubtless +there must have been great conversational masters elsewhere, and at many +periods; but in this lay Coleridge's characteristic advantage, that he +was a great natural power, and also a great artist. He was a power in +the art, and he carried a new art into the power. + +But now, finally--having left ourselves little room for more--one or two +words on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +We have not often read a sentence falling from a wise man with +astonishment so profound, as that particular one in a letter of +Coleridge's to Mr. Gillman, which speaks of the effort to wean +one's-self from opium as a trivial task. There are, we believe, several +such passages. But we refer to that one in particular which assumes +that a single 'week' will suffice for the whole process of so mighty a +revolution. Is indeed leviathan _so_ tamed? In that case the quarantine +of the opium-eater might be finished within Coleridge's time, and +with Coleridge's romantic ease. But mark the contradictions of this +extraordinary man. Not long ago we were domesticated with a venerable +rustic, strong-headed, but incurably obstinate in his prejudices, who +treated the whole body of medical men as ignorant pretenders, knowing +absolutely nothing of the system which they professed to superintend. +This, you will remark, is no very singular case. No; nor, as we believe, +is the antagonist case of ascribing to such men magical powers. Nor, +what is worse still, the co-existence of both cases in the same mind, +as in fact happened here. For this same obstinate friend of ours, who +treated all medical pretensions as the mere jest of the universe, every +'third day was exacting from his own medical attendants some exquisite +_tour-de-force_, as that they should know or should do something, +which, if they _had_ known or done, all men would have suspected them +reasonably of magic. He rated the whole medical body as infants; and +yet what he exacted from them every third day as a matter of course, +virtually presumed them to be the only giants within the whole range of +science. Parallel and equal is the contradiction of Coleridge. He speaks +of opium excess, his own excess, we mean--the excess of twenty-five +years--as a thing to be laid aside easily and for ever within seven +days; and yet, on the other hand, he describes it pathetically, +sometimes with a frantic pathos, as the scourge, the curse, the one +almighty blight which had desolated his life. + +This shocking contradiction we need not press. All readers will see +_that_. But some will ask--Was Mr. Coleridge right in either view? +Being so atrociously wrong in the first notion, (viz., that the opium +of twenty-five years was a thing easily to be forsworn,) where a child +could know that he was wrong, was he even altogether right, secondly, +in believing that his own life, root and branch, had been withered by +opium? For it will not follow, because, with a relation to happiness and +tranquillity, a man may have found opium his curse, that therefore, as +a creature of energies and great purposes, he must have been the wreck +which he seems to suppose. Opium gives and takes away. It defeats the +_steady_ habit of exertion, but it creates spasms of irregular exertion; +it ruins the natural power of life, but it develops preternatural +paroxysms of intermitting power. Let us ask of any man who holds that +not Coleridge himself but the world, as interested in Coleridge's +usefulness, has suffered by his addiction to opium; whether he is aware +of the way in which opium affected Coleridge; and secondly, whether +he is aware of the actual contributions to literature--how large they +were--which Coleridge made _in spite_ of opium. All who were intimate +with Coleridge must remember the fits of genial animation which were +created continually in his manner and in his buoyancy of thought by a +recent or by an _extra_ dose of the omnipotent drug. A lady, who knew +nothing experimentally of opium, once told us, that she 'could tell when +Mr. Coleridge had taken too much opium by his shining countenance.' She +was right; we know that mark of opium excesses well, and the cause of +it; or at least we believe the cause to lie in the quickening of the +insensible perspiration which accumulates and glistens on the face. Be +that as it may, a criterion it was that could not deceive us as to the +condition of Coleridge. And uniformly in that condition he made his most +effective intellectual displays. It is true that he might not be happy +under this fiery animation, and we fully believe that he was not. Nobody +is happy under laudanum except for a very short term of years. But in +what way did that operate upon his exertions as a writer? We are of +opinion that it killed Coleridge as a poet. 'The harp of Quantock' was +silenced for ever by the torment of opium. But proportionably it roused +and stung by misery his metaphysical instincts into more spasmodic life. +Poetry can flourish only in the atmosphere of happiness. But subtle and +perplexed investigations of difficult problems are amongst the commonest +resources for beguiling the sense of misery. And for this we have the +direct authority of Coleridge himself speculating on his own case. +In the beautiful though unequal ode entitled _Dejection_, stanza six, +occurs the following passage: + + 'For not to think of what I needs must feel, + But to be still and patient all I can; + _And haply by abstruse research to steal + From my own nature all the natural man_-- + This was my sole resource, my only plan; + Till that, which suits a part, infects the whole, + And now is almost grown the habit of my soul.' + +Considering the exquisite quality of some poems which Coleridge has +composed, nobody can grieve (or _has_ grieved) more than ourselves, at +seeing so beautiful a fountain choked up with weeds. But had Coleridge +been a happier man, it is our fixed belief that we should have had far +less of his philosophy, and perhaps, but not certainly, might have +had more of his general literature. In the estimate of the public, +doubtless, _that_ will seem a bad exchange. Every man to his taste. +Meantime, what we wish to show is, that the loss was not absolute, +but merely relative. + +It is urged, however, that, even on his philosophic speculations, opium +operated unfavorably in one respect, by often causing him to leave them +unfinished. This is true. Whenever Coleridge (being highly charged, +or saturated, with opium) had written with distempered vigor upon any +question, there occurred soon after a recoil of intense disgust, not +from his own paper only, but even from the subject. All opium-eaters are +tainted with the infirmity of leaving works unfinished, and suffering +reactions of disgust. But Coleridge taxed himself with that infirmity in +verse before he could at all have commenced opium-eating. Besides, it is +too much assumed by Coleridge and by his biographer, that to leave off +opium was of course to regain juvenile health. But all opium-eaters make +the mistake of supposing every pain or irritation which they suffer to +be the product of opium. Whereas a wise man will say, suppose you _do_ +leave off opium, that will not deliver you from the load of years (say +sixty-three) which you carry on your back. Charles Lamb, another man of +true genius, and another head belonging to the Blackwood Gallery, made +that mistake in his _Confessions of a Drunkard_. 'I looked back,' says +he, 'to the time when always, on waking in the morning, I had a song +rising to my lips.' At present, it seems, being a drunkard, he has no +such song. Ay, dear Lamb, but note this, that the drunkard was fifty-six +years old, the songster was twenty-three. Take twenty-three from +fifty-six, and we have some reason to believe that thirty-three will +remain; which period of thirty-three years is a pretty good reason for +not singing in the morning, even if brandy has been out of the question. + +It is singular, as respects Coleridge, that Mr. Gillman never says one +word upon the event of the great Highgate experiment for leaving off +laudanum, though Coleridge came to Mr. Gillman's for no other purpose; +and in a week, this vast creation of new earth, sea, and all that in +them is, was to have been accomplished. We _rayther_ think, as Bayley +junior observes, that the explosion must have hung fire. But _that_ is +a trifle. We have another pleasing hypothesis on the subject. Mr. +Wordsworth, in his exquisite lines written on a fly-leaf of his own +_Castle of Indolence_, having described Coleridge as 'a noticeable man +with large grey eyes,' goes on to say, 'He' (viz., Coleridge) 'did that +other man entice' to view his imagery. Now we are sadly afraid that 'the +noticeable man with large grey eyes' did entice 'that other man,' viz., +Gillman, to commence opium-eating. This is droll; and it makes us laugh +horribly. Gillman should have reformed _him_; and lo! _he_ corrupts +Gillman. S. T. Coleridge visited Highgate by way of being converted +from the heresy of opium; and the issue is--that, in two months' time, +various grave men, amongst whom our friend Gillman marches first in +great pomp, are found to have faces shining and glorious as that of +AEsculapius; a fact of which we have already explained the secret +meaning. And scandal says (but then what will not scandal say?) that +a hogshead of opium goes up daily through Highgate tunnel. Surely one +corroboration of our hypothesis may be found in the fact, that Vol. I. +of Gillman's Coleridge is for ever to stand unpropped by Vol. II. For we +have already observed, that opium-eaters, though good fellows upon the +whole, never finish anything. + +What then? A man has a right never to finish anything. Certainly he has; +and by Magna Charta. But he has no right, by Magna Charta or by Parva +Charta, to slander decent men, like ourselves and our friend the author +of the _Opium Confessions_. Here it is that our complaint arises against +Mr. Gillman. If he has taken to opium-eating, can we help _that_? If +_his_ face shines, must our faces be blackened? He has very improperly +published some intemperate passages from Coleridge's letters, which +ought to have been considered confidential, unless Coleridge had +left them for publication, charging upon the author of the _Opium +Confessions_ a reckless disregard of the temptations which, in that +work, he was scattering abroad amongst men. Now this author is connected +with ourselves, and we cannot neglect his defence, unless in the case +that he undertakes it himself. + +We complain, also, that Coleridge raises (and is backed by Mr. Gillman +in raising) a distinction perfectly perplexing to us, between himself +and the author of the _Opium Confessions_ upon the question--Why they +severally began the practice of opium-eating? In himself, it seems, this +motive was to relieve pain, whereas the Confessor was surreptitiously +seeking for pleasure. Ay, indeed--where did he learn _that_? We have no +copy of the _Confessions_ here, so we cannot quote chapter and verse; +but we distinctly remember, that toothache is recorded in that book +as the particular occasion which first introduced the author to the +knowledge of opium. Whether afterwards, having been thus initiated +by the demon of pain, the opium confessor did not apply powers thus +discovered to purposes of mere pleasure, is a question for himself; and +the same question applies with the same cogency to Coleridge. Coleridge +began in rheumatic pains. What then? This is no proof that he did not +end in voluptuousness. For our parts, we are slow to believe that ever +any man did, or could, learn the somewhat awful truth, that in a certain +ruby-colored elixir, there lurked a divine power to chase away the +genius of ennui, without subsequently abusing this power. To taste but +once from the tree of knowledge, is fatal to the subsequent power +of abstinence. True it is, that generations have used laudanum as an +anodyne, (for instance, hospital patients,) who have not afterwards +courted its powers as a voluptuous stimulant; but that, be sure, has +arisen from no abstinence in _them_. There are, in fact, two classes of +temperaments as to this terrific drug--those which are, and those which +are not, preconformed to its power; those which genially expand to its +temptations, and those which frostily exclude them. Not in the energies +of the will, but in the qualities of the nervous organization, lies +the dread arbitration of--Fall or stand: doomed thou art to yield; or, +strengthened constitutionally, to resist. Most of those who have but a +low sense of the spells lying couchant in opium, have practically none +at all. For the initial fascination is for _them_ effectually defeated +by the sickness which nature has associated with the first stages of +opium-eating. But to that other class, whose nervous sensibilities +vibrate to their profoundest depths under the first touch of the angelic +poison, even as a lover's ear thrills on hearing unexpectedly the voice +of her whom he loves, opium is the Amreeta cup of beatitude. You know +the _Paradise Lost_? and you remember, from the eleventh book, in its +earlier part, that laudanum already existed in Eden--nay, that it was +used medicinally by an archangel; for, after Michael had 'purged with +euphrasy and rue' the eyes of Adam, lest he should be unequal to the +mere _sight_ of the great visions about to unfold their draperies before +him, next he fortifies his fleshly spirits against the _affliction_ of +these visions, of which visions the first was death. And how? + + 'He from the well of life three drops instill'd.' + +What was their operation? + + 'So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, + _Even to the inmost seat of mental sight_, + That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, + Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced. + But him the gentle angel by the hand + Soon raised'---- + +The second of these lines it is which betrays the presence of laudanum. +It is in the faculty of mental vision, it is in the increased power of +dealing with the shadowy and the dark, that the characteristic virtue +of opium lies. Now, in the original higher sensibility is found some +palliation for the _practice_ of opium-eating; in the greater temptation +is a greater excuse. And in this faculty of self-revelation is found +some palliation for _reporting_ the case to the world, which both +Coleridge and his biographer have overlooked. + + + + +TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. + + +The most remarkable instance of a combined movement in society, which +history, perhaps, will be summoned to notice, is that which, in our own +days, has applied itself to the abatement of intemperance. Naturally, +or by any _direct_ process, the machinery set in motion would seem +irrelevant to the object: if one hundred men unite to elevate +the standard of temperance, they can do this with effect only by +improvements in their own separate cases: each individual, for such an +effort of self-conquest, can draw upon no resources but his own. One +member in a combination of one hundred, when running a race, can hope +for no cooperation from his ninety-nine associates. And yet, by a +secondary action, such combinations are found eminently successful. +Having obtained from every confederate a pledge, in some shape or +other, that he will give them his support, thenceforwards they bring the +passions of shame and self-esteem to bear upon each member's personal +perseverance. Not only they keep alive and continually refresh in his +thoughts the general purpose, which else might fade; but they also point +the action of public contempt and of self-contempt at any defaulter much +more potently, and with more acknowledged right to do so, when they use +this influence under a license, volunteered, and signed, and sealed, by +the man's own hand. They first conciliate his countenance through his +intellectual perceptions of what is right; and next they sustain it +through his conscience, (the strongest of his internal forces,) and +even through the weakest of his human sensibilities. That revolution, +therefore, which no combination of men can further by abating the +original impulse of temptations, they often accomplish happily by +maturing the secondary energies of resistance. + +Already in their earliest stage, these temperance movements had +obtained, both at home and abroad, a _national_ range of grandeur. More +than ten years ago, when M. de Tocqueville was resident in the United +States, the principal American society counted two hundred and seventy +thousand members: and in one single state (Pennsylvania) the annual +diminution in the use of spirits had very soon reached half a million of +gallons. Now a machinery must be so far good which accomplishes its end: +the means are meritorious for so much as they effect. Even to strengthen +a feeble resolution by the aid of other infirmities, such as shame or +the very servility and cowardice of deference to public opinion, becomes +prudent and laudable in the service of so great a cause. Nay, sometimes +to make public profession of self-distrust by assuming the coercion of +public pledges, may become an expression of frank courage, or even of +noble principle, not fearing the shame of confession when it can aid the +powers of victorious resistance. Yet still, so far as it is possible, +every man sighs for a still higher victory over himself: a victory not +tainted by bribes, and won from no impulses but those inspired by his +own higher nature, and his own mysterious force of will; powers that in +no man were fully developed. + +This being so, it is well that from time to time every man should throw +out any hints that have occurred to his experience,--suggesting such as +may be new, renewing such as may be old, towards the encouragement +or the information of persons engaged in so great a struggle. My own +experience had never travelled in that course which could much instruct +me in the miseries from wine, or in the resources for struggling with +it. I had repeatedly been obliged indeed to lay it aside altogether; but +in this I never found room for more than seven or ten days' struggle: +excesses I had never practised in the use of wine; simply the habit of +using it, and the collateral habits formed by excessive use of opium, +had produced any difficulty at all in resigning it even on an hour's +notice. From opium I derive my right of offering hints at all upon the +subjects of abstinence in other forms. But the modes of suffering +from the evil, and the separate modes of suffering from the effort of +self-conquest, together with errors of judgment incident to such states +of transitional torment, are all nearly allied, practically analogous +as regards the remedies, even if characteristically distinguished to the +inner consciousness. I make no scruple, therefore, of speaking as from +a station of high experience and of most watchful attention, which never +remitted even under sufferings that were at times absolutely frantic. + +I. The first hint is one that has been often offered; viz., the +diminution of the particular liquor used, by the introduction into +each glass of some inert substance, ascertained in bulk, and equally +increasing in amount from day to day. But this plan has often been +intercepted by an accident: shot, or sometimes bullets, were the +substances nearest at hand; an objection arose from too scrupulous a +caution of chemistry as to the action upon lead of the vinous acid. Yet +all objection of this kind might be removed at once, by using beads in a +case where small decrements were wanted, and marbles, if it were thought +advisable to use larger. Once for all, however, in cases deeply rooted, +no advances ought ever to be made but by small stages: for the effect, +which is insensible at first, by the tenth, twelfth, or fifteenth day, +generally accumulates unendurably under any bolder deductions. I must +not stop to illustrate this point; but certain it is, that by an error +of this nature at the outset, most natural to human impatience under +exquisite suffering, too generally the trial is abruptly brought to an +end through the crisis of a passionate relapse. + +II. Another object, and one to which the gladiator matched in single +duel with intemperance, must direct a religious vigilance, is the +_digestibility_ of his food: it must be digestible not only by its +original qualities, but also by its culinary preparation. In this last +point we are all of us Manichćans: all of us yield a cordial assent to +that Manichćan proverb, which refers the meats and the cooks of this +world to two opposite fountains of light and of darkness. Oromasdes it +is, or the good principle, that sends the food; Ahrimanes, or the evil +principle, that everywhere sends the cooks. Man has been repeatedly +described or even defined, as by differential privilege of his nature, +'A cooking animal.' Brutes, it is said, have faces,--man only has a +countenance; brutes are as well able to eat as man,--man only is able +to cook what he eats. Such are the romances of self-flattery. I, on the +contrary, maintain, that six thousand years have not availed, in this +point, to raise our race generally to the level of ingenious savages. +The natives of the Society and the Friendly Isles, or of New Zealand, +and other favored spots, had, and still have, an _art_ of cookery, +though very limited in its range: the French [Footnote: But judge not, +reader, of French skill by the attempts of fourth-rate artists; and +understand me to speak with respect of this skill, not as it is the tool +of luxury, but as it is the handmaid of health.] have an art, and +more extensive; but we English are about upon a level (as regards this +science) with the ape, to whom an instinct whispers that chestnuts may +be roasted; or with the aboriginal Chinese of Charles Lamb's story, to +whom the experience of many centuries had revealed thus much, viz., that +a dish very much beyond the raw flesh of their ancestors, might be had +by burning down the family mansion, and thus roasting the pig-stye. +Rudest of barbarous devices is English cookery, and not much in advance +of this primitive Chinese step; a fact which it would not be worth while +to lament, were it not for the sake of the poor trembling deserter from +the banners of intoxication, who is thus, and by no other cause, so +often thrown back beneath the yoke which he had abjured. Past counting +are the victims of alcohol, that, having by vast efforts emancipated +themselves for a season, are violently forced into relapsing by the +nervous irritations of demoniac cookery. Unhappily for _them_, the +horrors of indigestion are relieved for the moment, however ultimately +strengthened, by strong liquors; the relief is immediate, and cannot +fail to be perceived; but the aggravation, being removed to a distance, +is not always referred to its proper cause. This is the capital rock and +stumbling-block in the path of him who is hurrying back to the camps of +temperance; and many a reader is likely to misapprehend the case through +the habit he has acquired of supposing indigestion to lurk chiefly +amongst _luxurious_ dishes. But, on the contrary, it is amongst the +plainest, simplest, and commonest dishes that such misery lurks, in +England. Let us glance at three articles of diet, beyond all comparison +of most ordinary occurrence, viz., potatoes, bread, and butcher's meat. +The art of preparing potatoes for _human_ use is utterly unknown, except +in certain provinces of our empire, and amongst certain sections of the +laboring class. In our great cities,--London, Edinburgh, &c.--the sort +of things which you see offered at table under the name and reputation +of potatoes, are such that, if you could suppose the company to be +composed of Centaurs and Lapithć, or any other quarrelsome people, it +would become necessary for the police to interfere. The potato of cities +is a very dangerous missile; and, if thrown with an accurate aim by an +angry hand, will fracture any known skull. In volume and consistency, it +is very like a paving-stone; only that, I should say, the paving-stone +had the advantage in point of tenderness. And upon this horrid basis, +which youthful ostriches would repent of swallowing, the trembling, +palpitating invalid, fresh from the scourging of alcohol, is requested +to build the superstructure of his dinner. The proverb says, that three +flittings are as bad as a fire; and on that model I conceive that three +potatoes, as they are found at many British dinner-tables, would be +equal, in principle of ruin, to two glasses of vitriol. The same savage +ignorance appears, and only not so often, in the bread of this island. +Myriads of families eat it in that early stage of sponge which bread +assumes during the process of baking; but less than sixty hours will not +fit this dangerous article of human diet to be eaten. And those who are +acquainted with the works of Parmentier, or other learned investigators +of bread and of the baker's art, must be aware that this quality of +sponginess (though quite equal to the ruin of the digestive organs) is +but one in a legion of vices to which the article is liable. A German of +much research wrote a book on the conceivable faults in a pair of shoes, +which he found to be about six hundred and sixty-six, many of them, as +he observed, requiring a very delicate process of study to find out; +whereas the possible faults in bread, which are not less in number, +require no study at all for the defection; they publish themselves +through all varieties of misery. But the perfection of barbarism, as +regards our island cookery, is reserved for animal food; and the two +poles of Oromasdes and Ahrimanes are nowhere so conspicuously exhibited. +Our insular sheep, for instance, are so far superior to any which the +continent produces, that the present Prussian minister at our court is +in the habit of questioning a man's right to talk of mutton as anything +beyond a great idea, unless he can prove a residence in Great Britain. +One sole case he cites of a dinner on the Elbe, when a particular leg of +mutton really struck him as rivalling any which he had known in England. +The mystery seemed inexplicable; but, upon inquiry, it turned out to +be an importation from Leith. Yet this incomparable article, to produce +which the skill of the feeder must co-operate with the peculiar bounty +of nature, calls forth the most dangerous refinements of barbarism in +its cookery. A Frenchman requires, as the primary qualification of flesh +meat, that it should be tender. We English universally, but especially +the Scots, treat that quality with indifference, or with bare +toleration. What we require is, that it should be fresh, that is, +recently killed, (in which state it cannot be digestible except by a +crocodile;) and we present it at table in a transition state of leather, +demanding the teeth of a tiger to rend it in pieces, and the stomach of +a tiger to digest it. + +With these habits amongst our countrymen, exemplified daily in +the articles of widest use, it is evident that the sufferer from +intemperance has a harder quarantine, in this island, to support +during the effort of restoration, than he could have anywhere else in +Christendom. In Persia, and, perhaps, there only on this terraqueous +planet, matters might be even worse: for, whilst we English neglect the +machinery of digestion, as a matter entitled to little consideration, +the people of Teheran seem unaware that there _is_ any such machinery. +So, at least, one might presume, from cases on record, and especially +from the reckless folly, under severe illness, from indigestion, of +the three Persian princes, who visited this country, as stated by their +official _mehmander_, Mr. Fraser. With us, the excess of ignorance, upon +this subject, betrays itself oftenest in that vain-glorious answer made +by the people, who at any time are admonished of the sufferings which +they are preparing for themselves by these outrages upon the most +delicate of human organs. They, for _their_ parts, 'know not if they +_have_ a stomach; they know not what it is that dyspepsy means;' +forgetting that, in thus vaunting their _strength_ of stomach, they are, +at the same time, proclaiming its coarseness; and showing themselves +unaware that precisely those, whom such coarseness of organization +reprieves from immediate and seasonable reaction of suffering, are the +favorite subjects of that heavier reaction which takes the shape of +_delirium tremens_, of palsy, and of lunacy. It is but a fanciful +advantage which _they_ enjoy, for whom the immediate impunity avails +only to hide the final horrors which are gathering upon them from the +gloomy rear. Better, by far, that more of immediate discomfort had +guaranteed to them less of reversionary anguish. It may be safely +asserted, that few, indeed, are the suicides amongst us to which the +miseries of indigestion have not been a large concurring cause; and even +where nothing so dreadful as _that_ occurs, always these miseries are +the chief hinderance of the self-reforming drunkard, and the commonest +cause of his relapse. It is certain, also, that misanthropic gloom +and bad temper besiege that class, by preference, to whom peculiar +coarseness or obtuse sensibility of organization has denied the salutary +warnings and early prelibations of punishment which, happily for most +men, besiege the more direct and obvious frailties of the digestive +apparatus. + +The whole process and elaborate machinery of digestion are felt to be +mean and humiliating when viewed in relation to our mere animal economy. +But they rise into dignity, and assert their own supreme importance, +when they arc studied from another station, viz., in relation to the +intellect and temper; no man dares, _then_, to despise them: it is then +seen that these functions of the human system form the essential basis +upon which the strength and health of our higher nature repose; and +that upon these functions, chiefly, the general happiness of life is +dependent. All the rules of prudence, or gifts of experience that life +can accumulate, will never do as much for human comfort and welfare as +would be done by a stricter attention, and a wiser science, directed +to the digestive system; in this attention lies the key to any perfect +restoration for the victim of intemperance: and, considering the +peculiar hostility to the digestive health which exists in the dietetic +habits of our own country, it may be feared that nowhere upon earth has +the reclaimed martyr to intemperance so difficult a combat to sustain; +nowhere, therefore, is it so important to direct the attention upon +an _artificial_ culture of those resources which naturally, and by the +established habits of the land, are surest to be neglected. The sheet +anchor for the storm-beaten sufferer, who is laboring to recover a haven +of rest from the agonies of intemperance, and who has had the fortitude +to abjure the poison which ruined, but which also, for brief intervals, +offered him his only consolation, lies, beyond all doubt, in a most +anxious regard to everything connected with this supreme function of +our animal economy. And, as few men that are not regularly trained to +medical studies can have the complex knowledge requisite for such a +duty, some printed guide should be sought of a regular professional +order. Twenty years ago, Dr. Wilson Philip published a valuable book of +this class, which united a wide range of practical directions as to the +choice of diet, and as to the qualities and tendencies of all esculent +articles likely to be found at British tables, with some ingenious +speculations upon the still mysterious theory of digestion. These were +derived from experiments made upon rabbits, and had originally been +communicated by him to the Royal Society of London, who judged them +worthy of publication in their Transactions. I notice them chiefly +for the sake of remarking, that the rationale of digestion, as here +suggested, explains the reason of a fact, which merely _as_ a fact, had +not been known until modern times, viz., the injuriousness to enfeebled +stomachs of all fluid. Fifty years ago--and still lingering inveterately +amongst nurses, and other ignorant persons--there prevailed a notion +that 'slops' must be the proper resource of the valetudinarian; and +the same erroneous notion appears in the common expression of ignorant +wonder at the sort of breakfasts usual amongst women of rank in the +times of Queen Elizabeth. 'What robust stomachs they must have had, +to support such solid meals!' As to the question of fact, whether the +stomachs were more or less robust in those days than at the present, +there is no need to offer an opinion. But the question of principle +concerned in scientific dietetics points in the very opposite direction. +By how much the organs of digestion are feebler, by so much is it the +more indispensable that solid food and animal food should be adopted. +A robust stomach may be equal to the trying task of supporting a fluid, +such as tea for breakfast; but for a feeble stomach, and still more for +a stomach _enfeebled_ by bad habits, broiled beef, or something equally +solid and animal, but not too much subjected to the action of fire, is +the only tolerable diet. This, indeed, is the one capital rule for a +sufferer from habitual intoxication, who must inevitably labor under +an impaired digestion; that as little as possible he should use of any +liquid diet, and as little as possible of vegetable diet. Beef, and a +little bread, (at the least sixty hours old,) compose the privileged +bill of fare for his breakfast. But precisely it is, by the way, in +relation to this earliest meal, that human folly has in one or two +instances shown itself most ruinously inventive. The less variety there +is at that meal, the more is the danger from any single luxury; and +there is one, known by the name of 'muffins,' which has repeatedly +manifested itself to be a plain and direct bounty upon suicide. Darwin, +in his 'Zoonomia,' reports a case where an officer, holding the rank of +lieutenant-colonel, could not tolerate a breakfast in which this odious +article was wanting; but, as a savage retribution invariably supervened +within an hour or two upon this act of insane sensuality, he came to +a resolution that life was intolerable _with_ muffins, but still more +intolerable _without_ muffins. He would stand the nuisance no longer; +but yet, being a just man, he would give nature one final chance of +reforming her dyspeptic atrocities. Muffins, therefore, being laid at +one angle of the breakfast-table, and loaded pistols at another, with +rigid equity the Colonel awaited the result. This was naturally pretty +much as usual: and then, the poor man, incapable of retreating from his +word of honor, committed suicide,--having previously left a line for +posterity to the effect (though I forget the expression), 'That a +muffinless world was no world for him: better no life at all than a life +dismantled of muffins.'--Dr. Darwin was a showy philosopher, and fond of +producing effect, so that some allowance must be made in construing the +affair. Strictly speaking, it is probable that not the especial want +of muffins, but the general torment of indigestion, was the curse from +which the unhappy sufferer sought relief by suicide. And the Colonel was +not the first by many a million, that has fled from the very same form +of wretchedness, or from its effects upon the genial spirits, to the +same gloomy refuge. It should never be forgotten that, although some +other more overt vexation is generally assigned as the proximate cause +of suicide, and often may be so as regards the immediate occasion, too +generally this vexation borrowed its whole power to annoy, from the +habitual atmosphere of irritation in which the system had been kept by +indigestion. So that indirectly, and virtually, perhaps, all suicides +may be traced to mismanaged digestion. Meantime, in alluding at all to +so dreadful a subject as suicide, I do so only by way of giving deeper +effect to the opinion expressed above, upon the chief cause of relapse +into habits of intemperance amongst those who have once accomplished +their deliverance. Errors of digestion, either from impaired powers, or +from powers not so much enfeebled as deranged, is the one immeasurable +source both of disease and of secret wretchedness to the human race. +Life is laid waste by the eternal fretting of the vital forces, +emanating from this one cause. And it may well be conceived, that if +cases so endless, even of suicide, in every generation, are virtually +traceable to this main root, much more must it be able to shake +and undermine the yet palpitating frame of the poor fugitive from +intemperance; since indigestion in every mode and variety of its changes +irresistibly upholds the temptation to that form of excitement which, +though one foremost cause of indigestion, is yet unhappily its sole +immediate palliation. + +III. Next, after the most vigorous attention, and a scientific attention +to the digestive system, in power of operation, stands _exercise_. Here, +however, most people have their own separate habits, with respect to +the time of exercise, the duration, and the particular mode, on which a +stranger cannot venture to intrude with his advice. Some will not endure +the steady patience required for walking exercise; many benefit most by +riding on horseback; and in days when roads were more rugged, and the +springs of carriages less improved, I have known people who found +most advantage in the vibrations communicated to the frame by a heavy +rumbling carriage. For myself, under the ravages of opium, I have found +walking the most beneficial exercise; besides that, it requires no +previous notice or preparation of any kind; and this is a capital +advantage in a state of drooping energies, or of impatient and unresting +agitation. I may mention, as possibly an accident of my individual +temperament, but possibly, also, no accident at all, that the relief +obtained by walking was always most sensibly brought home to my +consciousness, when some part of it (at least a mile and a half) has +been performed before breakfast. In this there soon ceased to be any +difficulty; for, whilst under the full oppression of opium, it was +impossible for me to rise at any hour that could, by the most indulgent +courtesy, be described as within the pale of morning, no sooner had +there been established any considerable relief from this oppression, +than the tendency was in the opposite direction; the difficulty became +continually greater of sleeping even to a reasonable hour. Having once +accomplished the feat of walking at nine A. M., I backed, in a space of +seven or eight months, to eight o'clock, to seven, to six, five, four, +three; until at this point a metaphysical fear fell upon me that I was +actually backing into 'yesterday,' and should soon have no sleep at all. +Below three, however, I did not descend; and, for a couple of years, +three and a half hours' sleep was all that I could obtain in the +twenty-four hours. From this no particular suffering arose, except +the nervous impatience of lying in bed for one moment after awaking. +Consequently, the habit of walking before breakfast became at length +troublesome no longer as a most odious duty, but, on the contrary, as a +temptation that could hardly be resisted on the wettest mornings. As to +the quantity of the exercise, I found that six miles a day formed the +_minimum_ which would support permanently a particular standard of +animal spirits, evidenced to myself by certain apparent symptoms. I +averaged about nine and a half miles a day; but ascended on particular +days to fifteen or sixteen, and more rarely to twenty-three or +twenty-four; a quantity which did not produce fatigue, on the contrary +it spread a sense of improvement through almost the whole week that +followed; but usually, in the night immediately succeeding to such +an exertion, I lost much of my sleep; a privation that, under the +circumstances explained, deterred me from trying the experiment too +often. For one or two years, I accomplished more than I have here +claimed, viz., from six to seven thousand miles in the twelve months. +Let me add to this slight abstract of my own experience, in a point +where it is really difficult to offer any useful advice, (the tastes +and habits of men varying so much in this chapter of exercise,) that +one caution seems applicable to the case of all persons suffering from +nervous irritability, viz., that a secluded space should be measured off +accurately, in some private grounds not liable to the interruption or +notice of chance intruders; for these annoyances are unendurable to the +restless invalid; to be questioned upon trivial things is death to +him; and the perpetual anticipation of such annoyances is little less +distressing. Some plan must also be adopted for registering the number +of rounds performed. I once walked for eighteen months in a circuit so +confined that forty revolutions were needed to complete a mile. These +I counted, at one time, by a rosary of beads; every tenth round being +marked by drawing a blue bead, the other nine by drawing white beads. +But this plan, I found in practice, more troublesome and inaccurate than +that of using ten detached counters, stones, or anything else that was +large enough and solid. These were applied to the separate bars of a +garden chair; the first bar indicating of itself the first decade, the +second bar the second decade, and so on. In fact, I used the chair in +some measure as a Roman abacus, but on a still simpler plan; and as the +chair offered sixteen bars, it followed, that on covering the last bar +of the series with the ten markers, I perceived without any trouble of +calculation the accomplishment of my fourth mile. + +A necessity, more painful to me by far than that of taking continued +exercise, arose out of a cause which applies, perhaps, with the same +intensity only to opium cases, but must also apply in some degree to all +cases of debilitation from morbid stimulation of the nerves, whether +by means of wine, or opium, or distilled liquors. In travelling on the +outside of mails, during my youthful days, for I could not endure the +inside, occasionally, during the night-time, I suffered naturally from +cold: no cloaks, &c. were always sufficient to relieve this; and I then +made the discovery that opium, after an hour or so, diffuses a warmth +deeper and far more permanent than could be had from any other known +source. I mention this, to explain, in some measure, the awful passion +of cold which for some years haunted the inverse process of laying aside +the opium. It was a perfect frenzy of misery; cold was a sensation which +then first, as a mode of torment, seemed to have been revealed. In +the months of July and August, and not at all the less during the very +middle watch of the day, I sate in the closest proximity to a blazing +fire; cloaks, blankets, counterpanes, hearthrugs, horse-cloths, were +piled upon my shoulders, but with hardly a glimmering of relief. At +night, and after taking coffee, I felt a little warmer, and could +sometimes afford to smile at the resemblance of my own case to that of +Harry Gill. [Footnote: 'Harry Gill:'--Many readers, in this generation, +may not be aware of this ballad as one amongst the early poems of +Wordsworth. Thirty or forty years ago, it was the object of some insipid +ridicule, which ought, perhaps, in another place, to be noticed. And, +doubtless, this ridicule was heightened by the false impression that +the story had been some old woman's superstitious fiction, meant to +illustrate a supernatural judgment on hard-heartedness. But the story +was a physiologic fact; and, originally, it had been brought forward in +a philosophic work, by Darwin, who had the reputation of an irreligious +man, and even of an infidel. A bold freethinker he certainly was: a +Deist, and, by public repute, something more.] But, secretly, I was +struck with awe at the revelation of powers so unsearchably new, lurking +within old affections so familiarly known as cold. Upon the analogy of +this case, it might be thought that nothing whatever had yet been +truly and seriously felt by man; nothing searched or probed by human +sensibilities, to a depth below the surface. If cold could give out +mysteries of suffering so novel, all things in the world might be yet +unvisited by the truth of human sensations. All experience, worthy of +the name, was yet to begin. Meantime, the external phenomenon, by which +the cold expressed itself, was a sense (but with little reality) of +eternal freezing perspiration. From this I was never free; and at +length, from finding one general ablution sufficient for one day, I was +thrown upon the irritating necessity of repeating it more frequently +than would seem credible, if stated. At this time, I used always hot +water; and a thought occurred to me very seriously that it would be best +to live constantly, and, perhaps, to sleep in a bath. What caused me to +renounce this plan, was an accident that compelled me for one day to use +cold water. This, first of all, communicated any lasting warmth; so that +ever afterwards I used none _but_ cold water. Now, to live in a _cold_ +bath, in our climate, and in my own state of preternatural sensibility +to cold, was not an idea to dally with. I wish to mention, however, for +the information of other sufferers in the same way, one change in the +mode of applying the water, which led to a considerable and a sudden +improvement in the condition of my feelings. I had endeavored to procure +a child's battledore, as an easy means (when clothed with sponge) of +reaching the interspace between the shoulders; which interspace, by the +way, is a sort of Bokhara, so provokingly situated, that it will neither +suffer itself to be reached from the north, in which direction even the +Czar, with his long arms, has only singed his own fingers, and lost six +thousand camels; nor at all better from the south, upon which line +of approach the greatest potentate in Southern Asia, viz., No.--, in +Leadenhall Street, has found it the best policy to pocket the little +Khan's murderous defiances and persevering insults. There is no +battledore long enough to reach him in either way. In my own difficulty, +I felt almost as perplexed as the Honorable East India Company, when I +found that no battledore was to be had; for no town was near at hand. +In default of a battledore, therefore, my necessity threw my experiment +upon a long hair-brush; and this, eventually, proved of much greater +service than any sponge or any battledore; for, the friction of the +brush caused an irritation on the surface of the skin, which, more than +anything else, has gradually diminished the once continual misery of +unrelenting frost; although even yet it renews itself most distressingly +at uncertain intervals. + +IV. I counsel the patient not to make the mistake of supposing that his +amendment will necessarily proceed continuously, or by equal increments; +because this, which is a common notion, will certainly lead to dangerous +disappointments. How frequently I have heard people encouraging a +self-reformer by such language as this:--'When you have got over the +fourth day of abstinence, which suppose to be Sunday, then Monday will +find you a trifle better; Tuesday better still,--though still it should +be only by a trifle; and so on. You may, at least, rely on never going +back; you may assure yourself of having seen the worst; and the positive +improvements, if trifles separately, must soon gather into a sensible +magnitude.' This may be true in a case of short standing: but, as a +general rule, it is perilously delusive. On the contrary, the line of +progress, if exhibited in a geometrical construction, would describe +an ascending path upon the whole, but with frequent retrocessions into +descending curves, which, compared with the point of ascent that had +been previously gained and so vexatiously interrupted, would sometimes +seem deeper than the original point of starting. This mortifying +tendency I can report from experience many times repeated with regard +to opium; and so unaccountably, as regarded all the previous grounds of +expectation, that I am compelled to suppose it a tendency inherent in +the very nature of all self-restorations for animal systems. They +move perhaps necessarily _per saltum_, by, intermitting spasms, and +pulsations of unequal energy. + +V. I counsel the patient frequently to call back before his +thoughts--when suffering sorrowful collapses, that seem unmerited by +anything done or neglected--that such, and far worse, perhaps, must +have been his experience, and with no reversion of hope behind, had he +persisted in his intemperate indulgencies; _these_ also suffer their own +collapses, and (so far as things not co-present can be compared) by many +degrees more shocking to the genial instincts. + +VI. I exhort him to believe, that no movement on his own part, not the +smallest conceivable, towards the restoration of his healthy state, can +by possibility perish. Nothing in this direction is finally lost; but +often it disappears and hides itself; suddenly, however, to reappear, +and in unexpected strength, and much more hopefully; because such +minute elements of improvement, by reappearing at a remoter stage, show +themselves to have combined with other elements of the same kind: so +that equally by their gathering tendency and their duration through +intervals of apparent darkness, and below the current of what seemed +absolute interruption, they argue themselves to be settled in the +system. There is no good gift that does not come from God: almost his +greatest is health, with the peace which it inherits; and man must reap +_this_ on the same terms as he was told to reap God's earliest gift, the +fruits of the earth, viz.: 'in the sweat of his brow,' through labor, +often through sorrow, through disappointment, but still through +imperishable perseverance, and hoping under clouds, when all hope seems +darkened. + +VII. It is difficult, in selecting from many memoranda of warning and +encouragement, to know which to prefer when the space disposable is +limited. But it seems to me important not to omit this particular +caution: The patient will be naturally anxious, as he goes on, +frequently to test the amount of his advance, and its rate, if that +were possible. But this he will see no mode of doing, except through +tentative balancings of his feelings, and generally of the moral +atmosphere around him, as to pleasure and hope, against the +corresponding states, so far as he can recall them from his periods of +intemperance. But these comparisons, I warn him, are fallacious, when +made in this way; the two states are incommensurable on any plan of +_direct_ comparison. Some common measure must be found, and, _out of +himself_; some positive fact, that will not bend to his own delusive +feeling at the moment; as, for instance, in what degree he finds +tolerable what heretofore was _not_ so--the effort of writing letters, +or transacting business, or undertaking a journey, or overtaking the +arrears of labor, that had been once thrown off to a distance. If +in these things he finds himself improved, by tests that cannot be +disputed, he may safely disregard any sceptical whispers from a wayward +sensibility which cannot yet, perhaps, have recovered its normal health, +however much improved. His inner feelings may not yet point steadily +to the truth, though they may vibrate in that direction. Besides, it is +certain that sometimes very manifest advances, such as any medical man +would perceive at a glance, carry a man through stages of agitation and +discomfort. A far worse condition might happen to be less agitated, +and so far more bearable. Now, when a man is positively suffering +discomfort, when he is below the line of pleasurable feeling, he is +no proper judge of his own condition, which he neither will nor can +appreciate. Tooth-ache extorts more groans than dropsy. + +VIII. Another important caution is, not to confound with the effects of +intemperance any other natural effects of debility from advanced years. +Many a man, having begun to be intemperate at thirty, enters at sixty +or upwards upon a career of self-restoration. And by self-restoration he +understands a renewal of that state in which he was when first swerving +from temperance. But that state, for his memory, is coincident with his +state of youth. The two states are coadunated. In his recollections they +are intertwisted too closely. But life, without any intemperance at +all, would soon have untwisted them. Charles Lamb, for instance, at +forty-five, and Coleridge at sixty, measured their several conditions +by such tests as the loss of all disposition to involuntary murmuring of +musical airs or fragments when rising from bed. Once they had sung +when rising in the morning light; now they sang no more. The _vocal_ +utterance of joy, for _them_, was silenced for ever. But these are +amongst the changes that life, stern power, inflicts at any rate; +these would have happened, and above all, to men worn by the unequal +irritations of too much thinking, and by those modes of care + + That kill the bloom before its time, + And blanch without the owner's crime + The most resplendent hair, + +not at all the less had the one drunk no brandy, nor the other any +laudanum. A man must submit to the conditions of humanity, and not +quarrel with a cure as incomplete, because in his climacteric year of +sixty-three, he cannot recover, entirely, the vivacities of thirty-five. +If, by dipping seven times in Jordan, he had cleansed his whole leprosy +of intemperance; if, by going down into Bethesda, he were able to mount +again upon the pinions of his youth,--even then he might querulously +say,--'But, after all these marvels in my favor, I suppose that one +of these fine mornings I, like other people, shall have to bespeak +a coffin.' Why, yes, undoubtedly he will, or somebody _for_ him. But +privileges so especial were not promised even by the mysterious waters +of Palestine. Die he must. And counsels tendered to the intemperate do +not hope to accomplish what might have been beyond the baths of Jordan +or Bethesda. They do enough, if, being executed by efforts in the spirit +of earnest sincerity, they make a life of _growing_ misery moderately +happy for the patient; and, through that great change, perhaps, more +than moderately useful for others. + +IX. One final remark I will make:--pointed to the case, not of the yet +struggling patient, but of him who is fully re-established; and the more +so, because I (who am no hypocrite, but, rather, frank to an infirmity) +acknowledge, in myself, the trembling tendency at intervals, which +would, if permitted, sweep round into currents that might be hard to +overrule. After the absolute restoration to health, a man is very apt to +say,--'Now, then, how shall I use my health? To what delightful purpose +shall I apply it? Surely it is idle to carry a fine jewel in one's +watch-pocket, and never to astonish the weak minds of this world, +by wearing it and flashing it in their eyes.' 'But how?' retorts his +philosophic friend; 'my good fellow, are you not using it at this +moment? Breathing, for instance, talking to me, (though rather +absurdly,) and airing your legs at a glowing fire?' 'Why, yes,' the +other confesses, 'that is all true; but I am dull; and, if you will +pardon my rudeness, even in spite of your too philosophic presence. It +is painful to say so, but sincerely, if I had the power, at this moment, +to turn you, by magic, into a bottle of old port wine, so corrupt is +my nature, that really I fear lest the exchange might, for the moment, +strike me as agreeable.' Such a mood, I apprehend, is apt to revolve +upon many of us, at intervals, however firmly married to temperance. And +the propensity to it has a root in certain analogies running through +our nature. If the reader will permit me for a moment the use of what, +without such an apology, might seem pedantic, I would call it the +instinct of _focalizing_, which prompts such random desires. Feeling is +diffused over the whole surface of the body; but light is focalized in +the eye; sound in the ear. The organization of a sense or a pleasure +seems diluted and imperfect, unless it is gathered by some machinery +into one focus, or local centre. And thus it is that a general state of +pleasurable feeling sometimes seems too superficially diffused, and one +has a craving to intensify or brighten it by concentration through some +sufficient stimulant. I, for my part, have tried every thing in this +world except '_bang_,' which, I believe, is obtained from hemp. There +are other preparations of hemp which have been found to give great +relief from _ennui_; not ropes, but something lately introduced, which +acts upon the system as the laughing gas (nitrous oxide) acts at times. +One farmer in Mid-Lothian was mentioned to me, eight months ago, as +having taken it, and ever since annoyed his neighbors by immoderate +fits of laughter; so that in January it was agreed to present him to the +sheriff as a nuisance. But, for some reason, the plan was laid aside; +and now, eight months later, I hear that the farmer is laughing more +rapturously than ever, continues in the happiest frame of mind, the +kindest of creatures, and the general torment of his neighborhood. Now, +I confess to having had a lurking interest in this extract of hemp, when +first I heard of it: and at intervals a desire will continue to make +itself felt for some deeper compression or centralization of the genial +feelings than ordinary life affords. But old things will not avail, and +new things I am now able to resist. Still, as the occasional craving +does really arise in most men, it is well to notice it; and chiefly for +the purpose of saying, that this dangerous feeling wears off by degrees; +and oftentimes for long periods it intermits so entirely as to be even +displaced by a profound disgust to all modes of artificial stimulation. +At those times I have remarked that the pleasurable condition of health +does _not_ seem weakened by its want of centralization. It seems to form +a thousand centres. This it is well to know; because there are many who +would resist effectually, if they were aware of any natural change going +on silently in favor of their own efforts, such as would finally ratify +the success. Towards such a result they would gladly contribute by +waiting and forbearing; whilst, under despondency as to this result, +they might more easily yield to some chance temptation. + +Finally, there is something to interest us in the _time_ at which this +temperance movement has begun to stir. Let me close with a slight notice +of what chiefly impresses myself in the relation between this time and +the other circumstances of the case. In reviewing history, we may see +something more than mere convenience in distributing it into three +chambers; ancient history, ending in the space between the Western +Empire falling and Mahomet arising; modern history, from that time to +this; and a new modern history arising at present, or from the +French Revolution. Two great races of men, our own in a two-headed +form--British and American, and secondly, the Russian, are those which, +like rising deluges, already reveal their mission to overflow the earth. +Both these races, partly through climate, or through derivation of +blood, and partly through the contagion of habits inevitable to brothers +of the same nation, are tainted carnally with the appetite for brandy, +for slings, for juleps. And no fire racing through the forests of Nova +Scotia for three hundred miles in the direction of some doomed city, +ever moved so fiercely as the infection of habits amongst the dense and +fiery populations of republican North America. + +But it is remarkable, that the whole _ancient_ system of civilization, +all the miracles of Greece and Rome, Persia and Egypt, moved by the +machinery of races that were _not_ tainted with any such popular +_marasmus_. The taste was slightly sowed, as an _artificial_ taste, +amongst luxurious individuals, but never ran through the laboring +classes, through armies, through cities The blood and the climate +forbade it. In this earliest era of history, all the great races, +consequently all the great empires, threw themselves, by accumulation, +upon the genial climates of the south,--having, in fact, the magnificent +lake of the Mediterranean for their general centre of evolutions. Round +this lake, in a zone of varying depth, towered the whole grandeurs of +the Pagan earth. But, in such climates, man is naturally temperate. +He is so by physical coercion, and for the necessities of rest and +coolness. The Spaniard, the Moor, or the Arab, has no merit in his +temperance. The effort, for _him_, would be to form the taste for +alcohol. He has a vast foreground of disgust to traverse before he can +reach a taste so remote and alien. No need for resistance in his will +where nature resists on his behalf. Sherbet, shaddocks, grapes, +these were innocent applications to thirst. And the great republic of +antiquity said to her legionary sons:--'Soldier, if you thirst, there +is the river;--Nile, suppose, or Ebro. Better drink there cannot be. +Of this you may take "at discretion." Or, if you wait till the +_impedimenta_ come up, you may draw your ration of _Posca_' What was +_posca_? It was, in fact, acidulated water; three parts of superfine +water to one part of the very best vinegar. Nothing stronger did Rome, +that awful mother, allow to her dearest children, _i. e._, her legions. +Truest of blessings, that veiling itself in seeming sternness, drove +away the wicked phantoms that haunt the couches of yet greater nations. +'The blessings of the evil genii,' says an Eastern proverb, 'these are +curses.' And the stern refusals of wisely loving mothers,--these are the +mightiest of gifts. + +Now, on the other hand, our northern climates have universally the +taste, latent if not developed, for powerful liquors. And through their +blood, as also through the natural tendency of the imitative principle +amongst compatriots, from these high latitudes the greatest of our +modern nations propagate the contagion to their brothers, though +colonizing warm climates. And it is remarkable that our modern +preparations of liquors, even when harmless in their earliest stages, +are fitted, like stepping-stones, for making the transition to higher +stages that are _not_ harmless. The weakest preparations from malt, +lead, by graduated steps, to the strongest; until we arrive at +the intoxicating porter of London, which, under its local name (so +insidiously delusive) of '_beer_,' diffuses the most extensive ravages. + +Under these marked circumstances of difference between the ruling races +of antiquity and of our modern times, it now happens that the greatest +era by far of human expansion is opening upon us. Two vast movements are +hurrying into action by velocities continually accelerated--the great +revolutionary movement from political causes concurring with the +great physical movement in locomotion and social intercourse, from the +gigantic (though still infant) powers of steam. No such Titan resources +for modifying each other were ever before dreamed of by nations: and +the next hundred years will have changed the face of the world. At the +opening of such a crisis, had no third movement arisen of resistance to +intemperate habits, there would have been ground for despondency as to +the amelioration of the human race. But, as the case stands, the new +principle of resistance nationally to bad habits, has arisen almost +concurrently with the new powers of national intercourse; and +henceforward by a change equally sudden and unlooked for, that new +machinery, which would else most surely have multiplied the ruins +of intoxication, has become the strongest agency for hastening its +extirpation. + + + + +ON WAR. + + +Few people need to be told--that associations exist up and down +Christendom, having the ambitious object of abolishing war. Some go so +far as to believe that this evil of war, so ubiquitous, so ancient and +apparently so inalienable from man's position upon earth, is already +doomed; that not the private associations only, but the prevailing +voice of races the most highly civilized, may be looked on as tending to +confederation against it; that sentence of extermination has virtually +gone forth, and that all which remains is gradually to execute that +sentence. Conscientiously I find myself unable to join in these views. +The project seems to me the most romantic of all romances in the course +of publication. Consequently, when asked to become a member in any such +association, I have always thought it most respectful, because most +sincere, to decline. Yet, as it is painful to refuse all marks of +sympathy with persons whose motives one honors, I design at my death to +bequeath half-a-crown to the chief association for extinguishing war; +the said half-crown to be improved in all time coming for the benefit of +the association, under the trusteeship of Europe, Asia, and America, +but not of Africa. I really dare not trust Africa with money, she is not +able as yet to take care of herself. This half-crown, a fund that will +overshadow the earth before it comes to be wanted under the provisions +of my will, is to be improved at any interest whatever--no matter what; +for the vast period of the accumulations will easily make good any +tardiness of advance, long before the time comes for its commencing +payment; a point which will be soon understood from the following +explanation, by any gentleman that hopes to draw upon it. + +There is in Ceylon a granite _cippus_, or monumental pillar, of +immemorial antiquity; and to this pillar a remarkable legend is +attached. The pillar measures six feet by six, _i. e._ thirty-six +square feet, on the flat tablet of its horizontal surface; and in height +several _riyanas_, (which arc Ceylonese cubits of eighteen inches each,) +but of these cubits, there are either eight or twelve; excuse me for +having forgotten which. At first, perhaps, you will be angry, viz., +when you hear that this simple difference of four cubits, or six feet, +measures a difference for your expectations, whether you count your +expectations in kicks or halfpence, that absolutely strikes horror into +arithmetic. The singularity of the case is, that the very solemnity of +the legend and the wealth of the human race in time, depend upon the +cubical contents of the monument, so that a loss of one granite chip is +a loss of a frightful infinity; yet, again, for that very reason, the +loss of all _but_ a chip, leaves behind riches so appallingly too rich, +that everybody is careless about the four cubits. Enough is as good as +a feast. Two bottomless abysses take as much time for the diver as ten; +and five eternities are as frightful to look down as four-and-twenty. In +the Ceylon legend all turns upon the inexhaustible series of ages which +this pillar guarantees. But, as one inexhaustible is quite enough for +one race of men, and you are sure of more by ineffable excess than you +can use in any private consumption of your own, you become generous; +'and between friends,' you say, in accepting my apologies for the +doubtful error as to the four cubits, 'what signifies an infinity more +or less?' + +For the Ceylonese legend is this, that once in every hundred years +an angel visits this granite pillar. He is dressed in a robe of +white muslin, muslin of that kind which the Romans called _aura +textilis_--woven, as might seem, from zephyrs or from pulses of the air, +such in its transparency, such in its gossamer lightness. Does the angel +touch the pillar with his foot? Oh no! Even _that_ would be something, +but even _that_ is not allowed. In his soundless flight across it, he +suffers the hem of his impalpable robe to sweep the surface as softly +as a moon-beam. So much and no more of pollution he endures from contact +with earthly objects. The lowest extremity of his dress, but with the +delicacy of light, grazes the granite surface. And _that_ is all the +attrition which the sacred granite receives in the course of any one +century, and this is all the progress which we, the poor children of +earth, in any one century make towards the exhaustion of our earthly +imprisonment. But, argues the subtle legend, even _that_ attrition, +when weighed in metaphysical scales, cannot be denied its value; it +has detached from the pillar an atom (no matter that it is an invisible +atom) of granite dust, the ratio of which atom to a grain avoirdupois, +if expressed as a fraction of unity, would by its denominator stretch +from the Accountant-General's office in London to the Milky Way. Now +the total mass of the granite represents, on this scheme of payment, the +total funded debt of man's race to Father Time and earthly corruption; +all this intolerable score, chalked up to our debit, we by ourselves and +our representatives have to rub off, before the granite will be rubbed +away by the muslin robe of the proud flying angel, (who, if he were a +good fellow, might just as well give a sly kick with his heel to +the granite,) before time will be at an end, and the burden of flesh +accomplished. But you hear it expressed in terms that will astonish +Baron Rothschild, what is the progress in liquidation which we make +for each particular century. A billion of centuries pays off a quantity +equal to a pinch of snuff. Despair seizes a man in contemplating a +single _coupon_, no bigger than a visiting card, of such a stock as +this; and behold we have to keep on paying away until the total granite +is reduced to a level with a grain of mustard-seed. But when that is +accomplished, thank heaven, our last generation of descendants will +be entitled to leave at Master Time's door a visiting card, which the +meagre shadow cannot refuse to take, though he will sicken at seeing it; +viz., a P. P. C. card, upon seeing which, the old thief is bound to give +receipt in full for all debts and pretended arrears. + +The reader perhaps knows of debts on both sides the Atlantic that have +no great prospect of being paid off sooner than this in Ceylon. + +And naturally, to match this order of debts, moving off so slowly, there +are funds that accumulate as slowly. My own funded half-crown is an +illustration. The half-crown will travel in the inverse order of the +granite pillar. The pillar and the half-crown move upon opposite tacks; +and there _is_ a point of time (which it is for Algebra to investigate) +when they will cross each other in the exact moment of their several +bisections--my aspiring half-crown tending gradually towards the fixed +stars, so that perhaps it might be right to make the man in the moon +trustee for that part of the accumulations which rises above the optics +of sublunary bankers; whilst the Ceylon pillar is constantly unweaving +its own granite texture, and dwindling earthwards. It is probable that +each of the parties will have reached its consummation about the same +time. What is to be done with the mustard-seed, Ceylon has forgotten to +say. But what is to be done with the half-crown and its surplus, nobody +can doubt after reading my last will and testament. After reciting a few +inconsiderable legacies to the three continents, and to the man in the +moon, for any trouble they may have had in managing the hyperbolical +accumulations, I go on to observe, that, when war is reported to have +taken itself off for ever, 'and no mistake,' (because I foresee many +false alarms of a perpetual peace,) a variety of inconveniences will +arise to all branches of the United Service, including the Horse +Marines. Clearly there can be no more half-pay; and even more clearly, +there is an end to full-pay. Pensions are at an end for 'good service.' +Allowances for wounds cannot be thought of, when all wounds shall have +ceased except those from female eyes--for which the Horse Guards is too +little advanced in civilization to make any allowance at all. Bargains +there will be no more amongst auctions of old Government stores. +Birmingham will be ruined, or so much of it as depended on rifles. And +the great Scotch works on the river Carron will be hungering for beef, +so far as Carron depended for beef upon carronades. Other arrears of +evil will stretch after the extinction of war. + +Now upon my half-crown fund (which will be equal to anything by the time +it is wanted) I charge once and for ever the general relief of all these +arrears--of the poverty, the loss, the bankruptcy, arising by reason +of this _quietus_ of final extinction applied to war. I charge the fund +with a perpetual allowance of half-pay to all the armies of earth; +or indeed, whilst my hand is in, I charge it with _full_ pay. And I +strictly enjoin upon my trustees and executors, but especially upon +the man in the moon, if his unsocial lip has left him one spark +of gentlemanly feeling, that he and they shall construe all claims +liberally; nay, with that riotous liberality which is safe and becoming, +when applied to a fund so inexhaustible. Yes, reader, my fund will be +inexhaustible, because the period of its growth will be measured by the +concurrent deposition of the Ceylon mustard-seed from the everlasting +pillar. + +Yet why, or on what principle? It is because I see, or imagine that +I see, a twofold necessity for war--necessity in two different +senses--1st, a physical necessity arising out of man's nature when +combined with man's situation; a necessity under which war may be +regarded, if you please, as a nuisance, but as a nuisance inalienable +from circumstances essential to human frailty. 2dly, a moral necessity +connected with benefits of compensation, such as continually lurk in +evils acknowledged to be such--a necessity under which it becomes lawful +to say, that war _ought_ to exist as a balance to opposite tendencies of +a still more evil character. War is the mother of wrong and spoliation: +war is a scourge of God--granted; but, like other scourges in the +divine economy, war purifies and redeems itself in its character of a +counterforce to greater evils that could not otherwise be intercepted or +redressed. In two different meanings we say that a thing is necessary; +either in that case where it is inexorably forced on by some sad +overruling principle which it is vain to fight against, though all good +men mourn over its existence and view it as an unconditional evil; or +secondly, in that case, where an instrument of sorrowful consequences +to man is nevertheless invoked and postulated by man's highest moral +interests, is nevertheless clamorously indicated as a blessing when +looked at in relation to some antagonist cause of evil for which it +offers the one only remedy or principle of palliation. The very evil +and woe of man's condition upon earth may be oftentimes detected in +the necessity of looking to some other woe as the pledge of its +purification; so that what separately would have been hateful for +itself, passes mysteriously into an object of toleration, of hope, or +even of prayer, as a counter-venom to the taint of some more mortal +poison. Poverty, for instance, is in both senses necessary for man. +It is necessary in the same sense as thirst is necessary (_i. e._ +inevitable) in a fever--necessary as one corollary amongst many others, +from the eternal hollowness of all human efforts for organizing any +perfect model of society--a corollary which, how gladly would all of us +unite to cancel, but which our hearts suggest, which Scripture solemnly +proclaims, to be ineradicable from the land. In this sense, poverty is a +necessity over which we _mourn_,--as one of the dark phases that +sadden the vision of human life. But far differently, and with a stern +gratitude, we recognize another mode of necessity for this gloomy +distinction--a call for poverty, when seen in relation to the manifold +agencies by which it developes human energies, in relation to the trials +by which it searches the power of patience and religion, in relation to +the struggles by which it evokes the nobilities of fortitude; or again, +amongst those who are not sharers in these trials and struggles, but +sympathizing spectators, in relation to the stimulation by which it +quickens wisdom that watches over the causes of this evil, or by which +it vivifies the spirit of love that labors for its mitigation. War +stands, or seems to stand, upon the same double basis of necessity; a +primary necessity that belongs to our human degradations, a secondary +one that towers by means of its moral relations into the region of our +impassioned exaltations. The two propositions on which I take my stand +are these. _First_, that there are nowhere latent in society any powers +by which it can effectually operate on war for its extermination. The +machinery is not there. The game is not within the compass of the cards. +_Secondly_, that this defect of power is, though sincerely I grieve in +avowing such a sentiment, and perhaps (if an infirm reader had his eye +upon me) I might seem, in sympathy with his weakness, to blush--not +a curse, no not at all, but on the whole a blessing from century to +century, if it is an inconvenience from year to year. The Abolition +Committees, it is to be feared, will be very angry at both propositions. +Yet, Gentlemen, hear me--strike, but hear me. I believe that's a sort of +plagiarism from Themistocles. But never mind. I have as good a right to +the words, until translated back into Greek, as that most classical of +yellow admirals. '_Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!_' + +The first proposition is, that war _cannot_ be abolished. The second, +and more offensive--that war ought not to be abolished. First, +therefore, concerning the first. One at a time. Sufficient for the page +is the evil thereof! How came it into any man's heart, first of all, +to conceive so audacious an idea as that of a conspiracy against war? +Whence could he draw any vapor of hope to sustain his preliminary steps? +And in framing his plot, which way did he set his face to look out +for accomplices? Revolving this question in times past, I came to the +conclusion--that, perhaps, this colossal project of a war against war, +had been first put in motion under a misconception (natural enough, and +countenanced by innumerable books) as to the true historical origin +of wars in many notorious instances. If these had arisen on trivial +impulses, a trivial resistance might have intercepted them. If a man has +once persuaded himself, that long, costly, and bloody wars had arisen +upon a point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, upon a hasty word, upon +some explosion of momentary caprice; it is a natural inference, that +strength of national will and public combinations for resistance, +supposing such forces to have been trained, organized, and, from the +circumstances of the particular nation, to be permanently disposable for +action, might prove redundantly effective, when pointed against a few +personal authors of war, so presumably weak, and so flexible to any +stern counter-volition as those _must_ be supposed, whose wars argued +so much of vicious levity. The inference is unexceptionable: it is the +premises that are unsound. Anecdotes of war as having emanated from a +lady's tea-table or toilette, would authorize such inference as to the +facilities of controlling them. But the anecdotes themselves are false, +or false substantially. _All_ anecdotes, I fear, are false. I am sorry +to say so, but my duty to the reader extorts from me the disagreeable +confession, as upon a matter specially investigated by myself, that all +dealers in anecdotes are tainted with mendacity. Where is the Scotchman, +said Dr. Johnson, who does not prefer Scotland to truth? but, however +this may be, rarer than such a Scotchman, rarer than the phoenix, is +that virtuous man, a monster he is, nay, he is an impossible man, who +will consent to lose a prosperous anecdote on the consideration that +it happens to be a lie. All history, therefore, being built partly, and +some of it altogether, upon anecdotage, must be a tissue of lies. Such, +for the most part, is the history of Suetonius, who may be esteemed the +father of anecdotage; and being such, he (and not Herodotus) should +have been honored with the title, _Father of Lies_. Such is the Augustan +history, which is all that remains of the Roman empire; such is the vast +series of French memoirs, now stretching through more than three entire +centuries. Are these works, then, to be held cheap, because their truths +to their falsehoods are in the ratio of one to five hundred? On the +contrary, they are better, and more to be esteemed on that account; +because, _now_ they are admirable reading on a winter's night; whereas, +written on the principle of sticking to the truth, they would have been +as dull as ditch water. Generally, therefore, the dealers in anecdotage +are to be viewed with admiration, as patriotic citizens, willing to +sacrifice their own characters, lest their countrymen should find +themselves short of amusement. I esteem them as equal to Codrus, +Timoleon, William Tell, or to Milton, as regards the liberty of +unlicensed printing. And I object to them only in the exceptional case +of their being cited as authorities for an inference, or as vouchers +for a fact. Universally, it may be received as a rule of unlimited +application,--that when an anecdote involves a stinging repartee, or +collision of ideas, fancifully and brilliantly related to each other +by resemblance or contrast, then you may challenge it as false to +a certainty. One illustration of which is--that pretty nearly every +memorable _propos_, or pointed repartee, or striking _mot_, circulating +at this moment in Paris or London, as the undoubted property of +Talleyrand, (that eminent knave,) was ascribed at Vienna, ninety years +ago, to the Prince de Ligne, and thirty years previously, to Voltaire, +and so on, regressively, to many other wits (knaves or not); until, at +length, if you persist in backing far enough, you find yourself amongst +Pagans, with the very same repartee, &c., doing duty in pretty good +Greek; [Footnote: This is _literally_ true, more frequently than would +be supposed. For instance, a jest often ascribed to Voltaire, and of +late pointedly reclaimed for him by Lord Brougham, as being one that +he (Lord B.) could swear to for _his_, so characteristic seemed the +impression of Voltaire's mind upon the _tournure_ of the sarcasm, +unhappily for this waste of sagacity, may be found recorded by Fabricius +in the _Bibliotheca Grćca_, as the jest of a Greek who has been dead for +about seventeen centuries. The man certainly _did_ utter the jest; +and 1750 years ago. But who it was that he stole it from is another +question. To all appearance, and according to Lord Brougham's opinion, +the party robbed must have been M. de Voltaire. I notice the case, +however, of the Greek thefts and frauds committed upon so many of our +excellent wits belonging to the 18th and 19th centuries, chiefly with a +view to M. de Talleyrand--that rather middling bishop, but very eminent +knave. He also has been extensively robbed by the Greeks of the 2d and +3d centuries. How else can you account for so many of his sayings being +found amongst _their_ pages? A thing you may ascertain in a moment, at +any police office, by having the Greeks searched: for surely you would +never think of searching a bishop. Most of the Talleyrand jewels will be +found concealed amongst the goods of these unprincipled Greeks. But one, +and the most famous in the whole jewel-case, sorry am I to confess, +was nearly stolen from the Bishop, not by any Greek, but by an English +writer, viz., Goldsmith, who must have been dying about the time that +his Excellency, the diplomatist, had the goodness to be born. That +famous _mot_ about language, as a gift made to man for the purpose of +_concealing_ his thoughts, is lurking in Goldsmith's Essays. Think of +_that!_ Already, in his innocent childhood, whilst the Bishop was in +petticoats, and almost before he had begun to curse and to swear plainly +in French, an Irish vagabond had attempted to swindle him out of that +famous witticism which has since been as good as a life-annuity to the +venerable knave's literary fame.] sometimes, for instance in Hierocles, +sometimes in Diogenes Lćrtius, in Plutarch, or in Athenćus. Now the +thing you know claimed by so many people, could not belong to all of +them: _all_ of them could not be the inventors. Logic and common sense +unite in showing us that it must have belonged to the moderns, who had +clearly been hustled and robbed by the ancients, so much more +likely to commit a robbery than Christians, they being all +Gentiles--Pagans--Heathen dogs. What do I infer from this? Why, that +upon _any_ solution of the case, hardly one worthy saying can be +mentioned, hardly one jest, pun, or sarcasm, which has not been the +occasion and subject of many falsehoods--as having been _au-(and +men)-daciously_ transferred from generation to generation, sworn to in +every age as this man's property, or that man's, by people that must +have known they were lying, until you retire from the investigation with +a conviction, that under any system of chronology, the science of lying +is the only one that has never drooped. Date from _Anno Domini_, or +from the Julian era, patronize Olympiads, or patronize (as _I_ do, from +misanthropy, because nobody else _will_) the era of Nabonassar,--no +matter, upon every road, thicker than mile-stones, you see records +of human mendacity, or (which is much worse, in my opinion,) of human +sympathy with other people's mendacity. + +This digression, now, on anecdotes,[Footnote: The word 'Anecdotes,' +first, I believe, came into currency about the middle of the 6th +century, from the use made of it by Procopius. _Literally_ it indicated +nothing that could interest either public malice or public favor; it +promised only _unpublished_ notices of the Emperor Justinian, his wife +Theodora, Narses, Belisarius, &c. But _why_ had they been unpublished? +Simply because scandalous and defamatory: and hence, from the interest +which invested the case of an imperial court so remarkable, this +oblique, secondary and purely accidental modification of the word came +to influence its _general_ acceptation. Simply to have been previously +unpublished, no longer raised any statement into an anecdote: it +now received a new integration it must be some fresh publication of +_personal_ memorabilia; and these having reference to _human_ creatures, +must always be presumed to involve more evil than good--much defamation +true or false--much doubtful insinuation--much suggestion of things +worse than could be openly affirmed. So arose the word: but the _thing_ +arose with Suetonius, that dear, excellent and hard-working 'father of +lies.'] is what the learned call an _excursus_, and, I am afraid, too +long by half; not strictly in proportion. But don't mind _that_. I'll +make it all right by being too short upon something else, at the next +opportunity; and then nobody can complain. Meantime, I argue, that as +all brilliant or epigrammatic anecdotes are probably false, (a thing +that hereafter I shall have much pleasure in making out to the angry +reader's satisfaction,) but to a dead certainty those anecdotes, in +particular, which bear marks in their construction that a rhetorical +effect of art had been contemplated by the narrator,--we may take for +granted, that the current stories ascribing modern wars (French and +English) to accidents the most inconsiderable, are false even in +a literal sense; but at all events they are so when valued +philosophically, and brought out into their circumstantial relations. +For instance, we have a French anecdote, from the latter part of the +seventeenth century, which ascribes one bloody war to the accident of a +little 'miff,' arising between the king and his minister upon some such +trifle as the situation of a palace window. Again, from the early +part of the eighteenth century, we have an English anecdote, ascribing +consequences no less bloody to a sudden feud between two ladies, and +that feud, (if I remember,) tracing itself up to a pair of gloves; +so that, in effect, the war and the gloves form the two poles of +the transaction. Harlequin throws a pair of Limerick gloves into a +corn-mill; and the spectator is astonished to see the gloves immediately +issuing from the hopper, well ground into seven armies of one hundred +thousand men each, and with parks of artillery to correspond. In these +two anecdotes, we recognize at once the able and industrious artist +arranging his materials with a pious regard to theatrical effect. This +man knows how to group his figures; well he understands where to plant +his masses of light and shade; and what impertinence it would be in us +spectators, the reader suppose and myself, to go behind the scenes for +critical inquiry into daylight realities. All reasonable men see that, +the less of such realities our artist had to work with, the more was his +merit. I am one of those that detest all insidious attempts to rob +men situated as this artist of their fair fame, by going about and +whispering that perhaps the thing is true. Far from it! I sympathize +with the poor trembling artist, and agree most cordially that the whole +story is a lie; and he may rely upon my support at all times to +the extent of denying that any vestige of truth probably lay at the +foundations of his ingenious apologue. And what I say of the English +fable, I am willing to say of the French one. Both, I dare say, were the +rankest fictions. But next, what, after all, if they were _not?_ For, in +the rear of all discussion upon anecdotes, considered simply as true +or _not_ true, comes finally a _valuation_ of those anecdotes in their +moral relation, and as to the inferences which they will sustain. The +story, for example, of the French minister Louvois, and the adroitness +with which he fastened upon great foreign potentates, in the shape of +war, that irritability of temper in his royal master which threatened +to consume himself; the diplomatic address with which he transmuted +suddenly a task so delicate as that of skirmishing daily in a +Council Chamber with his own sovereign, into that far jollier mode of +disputation where one replies to all objections of the very keenest +logician, either with round shot or with grape; here is an anecdote, +which (for my own part) I am inclined to view as pure gasconade. But +suppose the story true, still it may happen that a better valuation +of it may disturb the whole edifice of logical inferences by which it +seemed to favor the speculations of the war abolitionists. Let us see. +What _was_ the logic through which such a tale as this could lend any +countenance to the schemes of these abolitionists? That logic travelled +in the following channel. Such a tale, or the English tale of the +gloves, being supposed true, it would seem to follow, that war and the +purposes of war were phenomena of chance growth, not attached to any +instinct so ancient, and apparently so grooved into the dark necessities +of our nature, as we had all taken for granted. Usually, we rank war +with hunger, with cold, with sorrow, with death, afflictions of our +human state that spring up as inevitably without separate culture and +in defiance of all hostile culture, as verdure, as weeds, and as flowers +that overspread in spring time a fertile soil without needing to be +sown or watered--awful is the necessity, as it seems, of all such +afflictions. Yet, again, if (as these anecdote simply) war could by +possibility depend frequently on accidents of personal temperament, +irritability in a sensual king, wounded sensibilities of pride between +two sensitive ladies, there in a moment shone forth a light of hope upon +the crusade against war. + +If _personal_ accidents could, to any serious extent, be amongst the +causes of war, then it would become a hopeful duty to combine personal +influences that should take an opposite direction. If casual causes +could be supposed chiefly to have promoted war, how easy for a nation to +arrange permanent and determinate causes against it! The logic of these +anecdotes seemed to argue that the whole fountains of war were left to +the government of chance and the windiest of levities; that war was not +in reality roused into activity by the evil that resides in the human +will, but on the contrary, by the simple defect of any will energetic +enough or steady enough to merit that name. Multitudes of evils exist in +our social system, simply because no steadiness of attention, nor action +of combined will, has been converged upon them. War, by the silent +evidence of these anecdotes, seemed to lie amongst that class of evils. +A new era might be expected to commence in new views upon war; and the +evil would be half conquered from the moment that it should be traced to +a trivial or a personal origin. + +All this was plausible, but false. The anecdotes, and all similar +anecdotes, might be true, but were delusive. The logical vice in them +was--that they substituted an occasion for a cause. The king's ill +temper for instance, acting through the levity and impatience of the +minister, might be the _causa occasionalis_ of the war, but not its true +_causa efficiens_. What _was?_ Where do the true permanent causes +of war, as distinguished from its proximate excitements, find their +lodgment and abiding ground? They lie in the system of national +competitions; in the common political system to which all individual +nations are unavoidably parties; in the system of public forces +distributed amongst a number of adjacent nations, with no internal +principle for adjusting the equilibrium of these forces, and no supreme +_Areopagus_, or court of appeal, for deciding disputes. Here lies the +_matrix_ of war, because an eternal _matrix_ of disputes lies in a +system of interests that are continually the same, and therefore the +parents of rivalships too close, that are continually different, and +so far the parents of alienation too wide. All war is an instinctive +_nisus_ for redressing the errors of equilibrium in the relative +position of nations amongst nations. Every nation's duty, first, midst, +and last, is to itself. No nation can be safe from continual (because +insensible) losses of ground, but by continual jealousies, watchings, +and ambitious strivings to mend its own position. Civilities and +high-bred courtesies pass and ought to pass between nations; that is +the graceful drapery which shrouds their natural, fierce, and tiger-like +relations to each other. But the glaring eyes, which express this +deep and inalienable ferocity, look out at intervals from below these +gorgeous draperies; and sad it is to think that at intervals the acts +and the temper suitable to those glaring eyes _must_ come forward. Mr. +Carter was on terms of the most exquisite dissimulation with his lions +and tigers; but, as often as he trusted his person amongst them, if, +in the midst of infinite politeness exchanged on all sides, he saw a +certain portentous expression of mutiny kindling in the eyeball of any +discontented tiger, all was lost, unless he came down instantly +upon that tiger's skull with a blow from an iron bar, that suggested +something like apoplexy. On such terms do nations meet in diplomacy; +high consideration for each other does not conceal the basis of enmity +on which they rest; not an enmity that belongs to their feelings, but to +the necessities of their position. Every nation in negotiating has +its right hand upon the hilt of its sword, and at intervals playfully +unsheaths a little of its gleaming blade. As things stand at present, +war and peace are bound together like the vicissitudes of day and night, +of Castor and Pollux. It matters little which bucket of the two is +going up at the moment, which going down. Both are steadfastly tied by a +system of alternations to a revolving wheel; and a new war as certainly +becomes due during the evolutions of a tedious peace, as a new peace +may be relied on during the throes of a bloody war, to tranquillize its +wounds. Consequently, when the arrogant Louvois carried a war to the +credit of his own little account on the national leger of France, +this coxcomb well knew that a war was at any rate due about that +time. Really, says he, I must find out some little war to exhaust the +_surplus_ irritability of this person, or he'll be the death of me. But +irritable or not irritable, with a puppy for his minister or not, the +French king would naturally have been carried headlong into war by the +mere system of Europe, within a very few months. So much had the causes +of complaint reciprocally accumulated. The account must be cleansed, the +court roll of grievances must be purged. With respect to the two English +ladies again, it is still more evident that they could not have _caused_ +a war by pulling caps with each other, since the grounds of every war, +what had caused it, and prolonged it, was sure to be angrily reviewed by +Parliament at each annual exposition of the Finance Minister's Budget. +These ladies, and the French coxcomb, could at the utmost have claimed a +distinction--such as that which belonged to a particular Turkish gunner, +the captain of a gun at Navarino, viz., that he, by firing the first +shot without orders, did (as a matter of fact) let loose and unmuzzle +the whole of that dreadful iron hurricane from four nations which +instantly followed, but which (be it known to the gunner) could not +have been delayed for fifty minutes longer, whether he had fired the +unauthorized gun or not. + +But now, let me speak to the second proposition of my two-headed thesis, +viz., that war _ought_ not to be abolished, if such an abolition were +even possible. _Prima facie_, it seems a dreadful doctrine to claim +a place for war as amongst the evils that are salutary to man; but +conscientiously I hold it to be such. I hold with Wordsworth, but +for reasons which may or may not be the same, since he has not stated +_his_-- + + 'That God's most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man--array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is his daughter.' + +I am obliged to hold, that supposing so romantic a condition realized +as the cessation of war, this change, unless other evils were previously +abolished, or neutralized in a way still more romantic to suppose, would +not be for the welfare of human nature, but would tend to its rapid +degradation. + +One, in fact, of the earliest aspects under which this moral necessity +for war forces itself upon our notice, is its physical necessity. I mean +to say that one of the earliest reasons why war _ought_ to exist, is +because under any mode of suppressing war, virtually it _will_ exist. +Banish war as now administered, and it will revolve upon us in a worse +shape, that is, in a shape of predatory and ruffian war, more and more +licentious, as it enjoys no privilege or sufferance, by the supposition, +under the national laws. Will the causes of war die away because war is +forbidden? Certainly not; and the only result of the prohibition would +be to throw back the exercise of war from national into private and +mercenary hands; and _that_ is precisely the retrograde or inverse +course of civilization; for, in the natural order of civilization, war +passes from the hands of knights, barons, insulated cities, into those +of the universal community. If, again, it is attempted to put down this +lawless _guerilla_ state by national forces, then the result will be to +have established an interminable warfare of a mixed character, private +and public, civil and foreign, infesting the frontiers of all states +like a fever, and in substitution for the occasional and intermitting +wars of high national police, administered with the dignified +responsibility that belongs to supreme rank, with the humanity that +belongs to conscious power, and with the diminishing havoc that belongs +to increasing skill in the arts of destruction. Even as to this last +feature in warfare, which in the war of brigands and _condottieri_ would +for many reasons instantly decay, no reader can fail to be aware of the +marvels effected by the forces of inventive science that run along +side by side with the advances of civilization; look back even to the +grandest period of the humane Roman warfare, listen to the noblest and +most merciful of all Roman captains, saying on the day of Pharsalia, +(and saying of necessity,) 'Strike at their faces, cavalry,'--yes, +absolutely directing his own troopers to plough up with their sabres the +blooming faces of the young Roman nobility; and then pass to a modern +field of battle, where all is finished by musquetry and artillery amidst +clouds of smoke, no soldier recognizing his own desolations, or the +ghastly ruin of his own right arm, so that war, by losing all its +brutality, is losing half of its demoralization. + +War, so far from ending, because war was forbidden and nationally +renounced, on the contrary would transmigrate into a more fearful +shape. As things are at present, (and, observe, they are always growing +better,) what numbers of noble-minded men, in the persons of our +officers (yes, and often of non-commissioned officers,) do we British, +for example, disperse over battle-fields, that could not dishonor their +glorious uniform by any countenance to an act of cruelty! They are eyes +delegated from the charities of our domestic life, to overlook and +curb the license of war. I remember, in Xenophon, some passage where +he describes a class of Persian gentlemen, who were called the +_ophthalmoi_, or _eyes_ of the king; but for a very different purpose. +These British officers may be called the _opthalmoi_, or eyes of +our Sovereign Lady, that into every corner of the battle carry their +scrutiny, lest any cruelty should be committed on the helpless, or any +advantage taken of a dying enemy. But mark, such officers would be rare +in the irregular troops succeeding to the official armies. And through +this channel, amongst others, war, when cried down by act of Parliament, +and precisely _because_ it was cried down, would become more perilously +effective for the degradation of human nature. Being itself dishonored, +war would become the more effective as an instrument for the dishonoring +of its agents. However, at length, we will suppose the impossible +problem solved--war, we will assume, is at last put down. + +At length there is no more war. Though by the way, let me whisper in +your ear, (supposing you to be a Christian,) this would be a prelibation +drawn prematurely from the cup of millennial happiness; and, strictly +speaking, there is no great homage to religion, even thus far--in +figuring _that_ to be the purchase of man for himself, and through his +own efforts, which is viewed by Scripture as a glory removed to the +infinite and starry distance of a millennium, and as the _teleutaion +epigeinaema_, the last crowning attainment of Christian truth, no +longer _militant_ on earth. Christianity it is, but Christianity when +_triumphant_, and no longer in conflict with adverse, or thwarting, or +limiting influences, which only can be equal to a revolution so mighty. +But all this, for the sake of pursuing the assumption, let us agree to +waive. In reality, there are two separate stations taken up by the war +denouncers. One class hold, that an influence derived from political +economy is quite equal to the flying leap by which man is to clear this +unfathomable gulph of war, and to land his race for ever on the opposite +shore of a self-sustaining peace. Simply, the contemplation of national +debts, (as a burthen which never would have existed without war,) and +a computation of the waste, havoc, unproductive labor, &c., attached to +any single campaign--these, they imagine, might suffice, _per se_, +for the extinction of war. But the other class cannot go along with +a speculation so infirm. Reasons there are, in the opposite scale, +tempting man into war,--which are far mightier than any motives +addressed to his self-interest. Even straining her energies to the +utmost, they regard all policy of the _purse_ as adequate: anything +short of religion, they are satisfied, must be incommensurate to a +result so vast. + +I myself certainly agree with this last class; but upon this arises +a delusion, which I shall have some trouble in making the reader +understand: and of this I am confident-that a majority, perhaps, in +every given amount of readers, will share in the delusion; will part +from me in the persuasion that the error I attempt to expose is no error +at all, but that it is myself who am in the wrong. The delusion which +I challenge as such, respects the very meaning and value of a sacrifice +made to Christianity. What is it? what do we properly mean, by +a concession or a sacrifice made to a spiritual power, such as +Christianity? If a king and his people, impressed by the unchristian +character of war, were to say, in some solemn act--'We, the parties +undersigned, for the reasons stated in the body of this document, +proclaim to all nations, that from and after Midsummer eve of the year +1850, this being the eve of St. John the Baptist, (who was the herald of +Christ,) we will no more prosecute any interest of ours, unless the one +sole interest of national defence, by means of war,--and this sacrifice +we make as a concession and act of homage to Christianity,--would +_that_ vow, I ask, sincerely offered, and steadily observed, really be a +sacrifice made to Christianity? Not at all. A sacrifice, that was truly +such, to a spiritual religion, must be a sacrifice not verbally (though +sincerely) dedicating itself to the religion, but a sacrifice wrought +and accomplished by that religion, through and by its own spirit. +Midsummer eve of 1850 could clearly make no spiritual change in the king +or his people--such they would be on the morning after St. John's day, +as on the morning before it--_i. e._, filled with all elements (though +possibly undeveloped) of strife, feud, pernicious ambition. + +The delusion, therefore, which I charge upon this religious class of +war denouncers is, that whilst they see and recognize this infinite +imperfection of any influence which Christianity yet exercises upon +the world, they nevertheless rely upon that acknowledged shadow for the +accomplishment of what would, in such circumstances, be a real miracle; +they rely upon that shadow, as truly and entirely as if it were already +that substance which, in a vast revolution of ages, it will finally +become. And they rely upon this mockery in _two_ senses; first, for the +_endurance_ of the frail human resolution that would thaw in an hour +before a great outrage, or provocation suited to the nobler infirmities +of man. Secondly, which is the point I mainly aim at, assuming, for a +moment, that the resolution _could_ endure, amongst all mankind, we are +all equally convinced, that an evil so vast is not likely to be checked +or controlled, except by some very extraordinary power. Well, where +_is_ it? Show me that power. I know of none but Christianity. _There_, +undoubtedly, is hope. But, in order that the hope may become rational, +the power must become practical. And practical it is not in the extent +required, until this Christianity, from being dimly appreciated by a +section [Footnote _What_ section, if you please? I, for my part, do not +agree with those that geographically degrade Christianity as occupying +but a trifle on the area of our earth. Mark this; all Eastern +populations have dwindled upon better acquaintance. Persia that _ought_ +to have, at least, two hundred and fifty millions of people, and _would_ +have them under English government, and once was supposed to have at +least one hundred millions, how many millions has she? _Eight!_ This +was ascertained by Napoleon's emissary in 1808, General Gardanne. +Afghanistan has very little more, though some falsely count fourteen +millions. There go two vast chambers of Mahometanism; not twenty +millions between them. Hindostan may _really_ have one hundred and +twenty millions claimed for her. As to the Burman Empire, I, nor anybody +else knows the truth. But, as to China, I have never for a moment been +moved by those ridiculous estimates of the flowery people, which our +simple countrymen copy. Instead of three hundred and fifty millions, a +third of the human race upon the most exaggerated estimate, read eighty +or one hundred millions at most. Africa, as it regards religion, counts +for a cipher. Europe, America, and the half of Asia, as to space, are +Christian. Consequently, the total _facit_, as regards Christianity, is +not what many amiable infidels make it to be. My dears, your wish was +father to that thought.] of this world, shall have been the law that +overrides the whole. That consummation is not immeasurably distant. Even +now, from considerations connected with China, with New Zealand, Borneo, +Australia, we may say, that already the fields are white for harvest. +But alas! the interval is brief between Christianity small, and +Christianity great, as regards space or terraqueous importance, compared +with that interval which separates Christianity formally professed, +from Christianity thankfully acknowledged by universal man in beauty and +power. + +Here, therefore, is one spoke in the wheel for so vast a change as war +dethroned, viz., that you see no cause, though you should travel round +the whole horizon, adequate to so prodigious an effect. What could +do it? Why, Christianity could do it. Aye, true; but man disarms +Christianity. And no mock Christianity, no lip homage to Christianity, +will answer. + +But is war, then, to go on for ever? Are we never to improve? Are +nations to conduct their intercourse eternally under the secret +understanding that an unchristian solution of all irreconcileable feuds +stands in the rear as the ultimate appeal? I answer that war, going on +even for ever, may still be for ever amending its modes and its results +upon human happiness; secondly, that we not only are under no fatal +arrest in our process of improvement, but that, as regards war, history +shows how steadily we _have_ been improving; and, thirdly, that although +war may be irreversible as the last resource, this last resource may +constantly be retiring further into the rear. Let us speak to this +last point. War is the last resource only, because other and more +intellectual resources for solving disputes are not available. And +_why_ are they not? Simply, because the knowledge, and the logic, which +ultimately will govern the case, and the very circumstances of the case +itself in its details, as the basis on which this knowledge and logic +are to operate, happen not to have been sufficiently developed. A code +of law is not a spasmodic effort of gigantic talent in any one man +or any one generation; it is a slow growth of accidents and occasions +expanding with civilization; dependent upon time as a multiform element +in its development; and presupposing often a concurrent growth of +_analogous_ cases towards the completion of its system. For instance, +the law which regulates the rights of shipping, seafaring men, and +maritime commerce--how slow was its development! Before such works as +the _Consolato del Mare_ had been matured, how wide must have been the +experience, and how slow its accumulation! During that long period of +infancy for law, how many must have been the openings for ignorant +and unintentional injustice! How differently, again, will the several +parties to any transaction construe the rights of the case! Discussion, +without rules for guiding it, will but embitter the dispute. And in the +absence of all guidance from the intellect, gradually weaving a _common_ +standard of international appeal, it is clear that nations _must_ fight, +and _ought_ to fight. Not being convinced, it is base to pretend that +you _are_ convinced; and failing to be convinced by your neighbor's +arguments, you confess yourself a poltroon (and moreover you _invite_ +injuries from every neighbor) if you pocket your wrongs. The only course +in such a case is to thump your neighbor, and to thump him soundly +for the present. This treatment is very serviceable to your neighbor's +optics; he sees things in a new light after a sufficient course of so +distressing a regimen. But mark, even in this case, war has no tendency +to propagate war, but tends to the very opposite result. To thump is as +costly, and in other ways as painful, as to _be_ thumped. The evil to +both sides arises in an undeveloped state of law. If rights were defined +by a well considered code growing out of long experience, each party +sees that this scourge of war would continually tend to limit itself. +Consequently the very necessity of war becomes the strongest invitation +to that system of judicial logic which forms its sole limitation. But +all war whatsoever stands in these circumstances. It follows that all +war whatever, unless on the brutal principle of a Spartan warfare, that +made war its own sufficient object and self-justification, operates as +a perpetual bounty offered to men upon the investigation and final +adjudication of those disputed cases through which war prospers. Hence +it is, viz., because the true boundaries of reciprocal rights are for +ever ascertaining themselves more clearly, that war is growing less +frequent. The fields open to injustice (which originally from pure +ignorance are so vast) continually (through deeper and more expansive +surveys by man's intellect--searching--reflecting--comparing) are +narrowing themselves; narrowing themselves in this sense, that all +nations under a common centre of religious civilization, as Christendom +suppose, or Islamism, would not fight--no, and would not (by the +national sense of wrong and right) be permitted to fight--in a cause +_confessedly_ condemned by equity as now developed. The causes of war +that still remain, are causes on which international law is silent--that +large arrear of cases as yet unsettled; or else they are cases in which +though law speaks with an authentic voice, it speaks in vain, because +the circumstances are doubtful; so that, if the law is fixed as a lamp +nailed to a wall, yet the _incidence_ of the law on the particular +circumstances, becomes as doubtful as the light of the lamp upon objects +that are capriciously moving. We see all this illustrated in a class of +cases that powerfully illustrate the good and the bad in war, the why +and the wherefore, as likewise the why _not_, and therefore I presume +the wherefore _not_; and this class of cases belongs to the _lex +vicinitatis_. In the Roman law this section makes a great figure. And +speaking accurately, it makes a greater in our own. But the reason why +this _law of neighborhood_ seems to fill so much smaller a section in +ours, is because in English law, being _positively_ a longer section, +_negatively_ to the whole compass of our law, it is less. The Roman law +would have paved a road to the moon. And what is _that_ expressed in +time? Let us see: a railway train, worked at the speed of the Great +Western Express, accomplishes easily a thousand miles in twenty-four +hours; consequently in two hundred and forty days or eight months it +would run into the moon with its buffers, and break up the quarters of +that Robinson Crusoe who (and without any Friday) is the only policeman +that parades that little pensive appendage or tender to our fuming +engine of an earth. But the English law--oh frightful reader, don't even +think of such a question as its relation in space and time to the Roman +law. That it would stretch to the fixed stars is plain, but to which +of them,--don't now, dear persecuting reader, unsettle our brains by +asking. Enough it is that both in Roman and English law the rights of +neighborhood are past measuring. Has a man a right to play the German +flute, where the partitions are slender, all day long in the house +adjoining to yours? Or, supposing a beneficent jury (beneficent to +_him_) finds this to be no legal nuisance, has he a right to play it +ill? Or, because juries, when tipsy, will wink at anything, does the +privilege extend to the jew's-harp? to the poker and tongs? to the +marrowbones and cleavers? Or, without ranging through the whole of the +_Spectator's_ culinary music, will the bagpipes be found within benefit +of jury law? _War to the knife_ I say, before we'll submit to _that_. +And if the law won't protect us against it, then we'll turn rebels. + +Now this law of neighborhood, this _lex vicinitatis_, amongst the +Romans, righted itself and settled itself, as amongst ourselves it +continues to do, by means of actions or legal suits. If a man poisons us +with smoke, we compel him by an action to eat his own smoke, or (if he +chooses) to make his chimneys eat it. Here you see is a transmuted war; +in a barbarous state, fire and sword would have avenged this invasion of +smoke; but amongst civilized men, paper bullets in the form of _Qui +tam_ and _Scire facias_, beat off the enemy. And on the same principle, +exactly as the law of international rights clears up its dark places, +war gradually narrows its grounds, and the _jus gentium_ defines itself +through national attorneys, _i. e._, diplomatists. + +For instance, now I have myself seen a case where a man cultivating a +flower-garden, and distressed for some deliverance from his rubbish of +dead leaves, litter, straw, stones, took the desperate resolution of +projecting the whole upon his neighbor's flower-garden. I, a chance +spectator of the outrage, knew too much of this world to lodge any +protest against it, on the principle of mere abstract justice; so it +would have passed unnoticed, but for the accident that his injured +neighbor unexpectedly raised up his head above the dividing wall, and +reproached the aggressor with his unprincipled conduct. This aggressor, +adding evil to evil, suggested as the natural remedy for his own wrong, +that the sufferer should pass the nuisance onwards to the garden next +beyond him; from which it might be posted forward on the same principle. +The aggrieved man, however, preferred passing it back, without any +discount to the original proprietor. Here now, is a ripe case, a _causa +teterrima_, for war between the parties, and for a national war had +the parties been nations. In fact, the very same injury, in a more +aggravated shape, is perpetrated from time to time by Jersey upon +ourselves, and would, upon a larger scale, right itself by war. Convicts +are costly to maintain; and Jersey, whose national revenue is limited, +being too well aware of this, does us the favor to land upon the coasts +of Hampshire, Dorset, &c., all the criminals whom she cannot summarily +send back to self-support, at each jail-delivery. 'What are we to do in +England?' is the natural question propounded by the injured scoundrels, +when taking leave of their Jersey escort. 'Anything you please,' is +the answer: 'rise if you can, to be dukes: only never come back hither; +since, dukes or _no_ dukes, to the rest of Christendom, to _us_ of +the Channel Islands you will always be transported felons.' There is +therefore a good right of action, _i.e._, a good ground of war, against +Jersey, on the part of Great Britain, since, besides the atrocious +injury inflicted, this unprincipled little island has the audacity to +regard our England, (all Europe looking on,) as existing only for the +purposes of a sewer or cess-pool to receive _her_ impurities. Some time +back I remember a Scottish newspaper holding up the case as a newly +discovered horror in the social system. But, in a quiet way Jersey has +always been engaged in this branch of exportation, and rarely fails to +'run' a cargo of rogues upon our shore, once or so in the season. What +amuses one besides, in this Scottish denunciation of the villany, is, +that Scotland [Footnote: To banish them 'forth of the kingdom,' was the +_euphuismus_; but the reality understood was--to carry the knaves, like +foxes in a bag, to the English soil, and there unbag them for English +use.] of old, pursued the very same mode of jail-delivery as to knaves +that were not thought ripe enough for hanging: she carted them to +the English border, unchained them, and hurried them adrift into the +wilderness, saying--Now, boys, shift for yourselves, and henceforth +plunder none but Englishmen. + +What I deduce from all this is, that as the feuds arising between +individuals under the relation of neighbors, are so far from tending to +a hostile result, that, on the contrary, as coming under a rule of +law already ascertained, or furnishing the basis for a new rule, they +gradually tighten the cords which exclude all opening for quarrel; not +otherwise is the result, and therefore the usefulness, of war amongst +nations. All the causes of war, the occasions upon which it is likely to +arise, the true and the ostensible motives, are gradually evolved, are +examined, searched, valued, by publicists; and by such means, in the +further progress of men, a comprehensive law of nations will finally be +accumulated, not such as now passes for international law, (a worthless +code that _has_ no weight in the practice of nations, nor deserves any,) +but one which will exhaust the great body of cases under which wars have +arisen under the Christian era, and gradually collect a public opinion +of Christendom upon the nature of each particular case. The causes that +_have_ existed for war are the causes that _will_ exist; or, at least, +they are the same under modifications that will simply vary the rule, +as our law cases in the courts are every day circumstantiating the +particular statute concerned. At this stage of advance, and when a true +European opinion has been created, a '_sensus communis_,' or community +of feeling on the main classifications of wars, it will become possible +to erect a real Areopagus, or central congress for all Christendom, not +with any commission to suppress wars,--a policy which would neutralize +itself by reacting as a fresh cause of war, since high-spirited nations +would arm for the purpose of resisting such decrees; but with the +purpose and the effect of oftentimes healing local or momentary +animosities, and also by publishing the opinion of Europe, assembled in +council, with the effect of taking away the shadow of dishonor from the +act of retiring from war. Not to mention that the mere delay, involved +in the waiting for the solemn opinion of congress, would always be +friendly to pacific councils. But _would_ the belligerents wait? That +concession might be secured by general exchange of treaties, in the +same way that the cooperation of so many nations has been secured to the +suppression of the trade in slaves. And one thing is clear, that when +all the causes of war, involving _manifest_ injustice, are banished by +the force of European opinion, focally converged upon the subject, the +range of war will be prodigiously circumscribed. The costliness of war, +which, for various reasons has been continually increasing since the +feudal period, will operate as another limitation upon its field, +concurring powerfully with the public declaration from a council of +collective Christendom. + +There is, besides, a distinct and separate cause of war, more fatal to +the possibilities of peace in Europe than open injustice; and this cause +being certainly in the hands of nations to deal with as they please, +there is a tolerable certainty that a congress _sincerely_ pacific would +cut it up by the roots. It is a cause noticed by Kant in his Essay on +Perpetual Peace, and with great sagacity, though otherwise that little +work is not free from visionary self-delusions: and this cause lies in +the diplomacy of Europe. Treaties of peace are so constructed, as almost +always to sow the seeds of future wars. This seems to the inexperienced +reader a matter of carelessness or laxity in the choice of expression; +and sometimes it may have been so; but more often it has been done under +the secret dictation of powerful courts--making peaces only as truces, +anxious only for time to nurse their energies, and to keep open some +plausible call for war. This is not only amongst the most extensive +causes of war, but the very worst: because it gives a colorable air of +justice, and almost of necessity to a war, which is, in fact, the most +outrageously unjust, as being derived from a pretext silently prepared +in former years, with mere subtlety of malice: it is a war growing out +of occasions, forged beforehand, lest no occasions should spontaneously +arise. Now, this cause of war could and would be healed by a congress, +and through an easy reform in European diplomacy.[Footnote: One great +_nidus_ of this insidious preparation for war under the very masque of +peace, which Kant, from brevity, has failed to particularize, lies in +the neglecting to make any provision for cases that are likely enough to +arise. A, B, C, D, are all equally possible, but the treaty provides a +specific course of action only for A, suppose. Then upon B or C arising, +the high contracting parties, though desperately and equally pacific, +find themselves committed to war actually by a treaty of lasting peace. +Their pacific majesties sigh, and say--Alas! that it should be so, but +really fight we must, for what says the treaty?] + +It is the strongest confirmation of the power inherent in growing +civilization, to amend war, and to narrow the field of war, if we look +back for the records of the changes in this direction which have already +arisen in generations before our own. + +The most careless reviewer of history can hardly fail to read a rude +outline of progress made by men in the rights, and consequently in the +duties of war through the last twenty-five centuries. It is a happy +circumstance for man--that oftentimes he is led by pure selfishness into +reforms, the very same as high principle would have prompted; and in the +next stage of his advance, when once habituated to an improved code of +usages, he begins to find a gratification to his sensibilities, (partly +luxurious sensibilities, but partly moral,) in what originally had been +a mere movement of self-interest. Then comes a third stage, in which +having thoroughly reconciled himself to a better order of things, and +made it even necessary to his own comfort, at length he begins in +his reflecting moments to perceive a moral beauty and a fitness in +arrangements that had emanated from accidents of convenience, so that +finally he generates a sublime pleasure of conscientiousness out of +that which originally commenced in the meanest forms of mercenary +convenience. A Roman lady of rank, out of mere voluptuous regard to her +own comfort, revolted from the harsh clamors of eternal chastisements +inflicted on her numerous slaves; she forbade them; the grateful slaves +showed their love for her; gradually and unintentionally she trained +her feelings, when thus liberated from a continual temptation to the +sympathies with cruelty, into a demand for gentler and purer excitement. +Her purpose had been one of luxury; but, by the benignity of nature +still watching for ennobling opportunities, the actual result was a +development given to the higher capacities of her heart. In the same +way, when the brutal right (and in many circumstances the brutal duty) +of inflicting death upon prisoners taken in battle, had exchanged +itself for the profits of ransom or slavery, this relaxation of ferocity +(though commencing in selfishness) gradually exalted itself into a habit +of mildness, and some dim perception of a sanctity in human life. The +very vice of avarice ministered to the purification of barbarism; +and the very evil of slavery in its earliest form was applied to the +mitigation of another evil--war conducted in the spirit of piratical +outrage. The commercial instincts of men having worked one set of +changes in war, a second set of changes was prompted by instincts +derived from the arts of ornament and pomp. Splendor of arms, of +banners, of equipages, of ceremonies, and the elaborate forms of +intercourse with enemies through conferences, armistices, treaties of +peace, &c., having tamed the savagery of war into connection with +modes of intellectual grandeur, and with the endless restraints of +superstition or scrupulous religion,--a permanent light of civilization +began to steal over the bloody shambles of buccaneering warfare. Other +modes of harmonizing influences arose more directly from the bosom of +war itself. Gradually the mere practice of war, and the culture of +war though merely viewed as a rude trade of bloodshed, ripened into an +intellectual art. Were it merely with a view to more effectual carnage, +this art (however simple and gross at first) opened at length into wide +scientific arts, into strategies, into tactics, into castrametation, +into poliorcetics, and all the processes through which the first rude +efforts of martial cunning finally connect themselves with the exquisite +resources of science. War, being a game in which each side forces the +other into the instant adoption of all improvements through the mere +necessities of self-preservation, became continually more intellectual. + +It is interesting to observe the steps by which, were it only through +impulses of self-conservation, and when searching with a view to more +effectual destructiveness, war did and must refine itself from a horrid +trade of butchery into a magnificent and enlightened science. Starting +from no higher impulse or question than how to cut throats most rapidly, +most safely, and on the largest scale, it has issued even at our own +stage of advance into a science, magnificent, oftentimes ennobling, and +cleansed from all horrors except those which (not being within man's +power utterly to divorce from it) no longer stand out as reproaches to +his humanity. + +Meantime a more circumstantial review of war, in relation to its motives +and the causes assigned for its justification, would expose a series +of changes greater perhaps than the reader is aware of. Such a review, +which would too much lengthen a single paper, may or may not form the +subject of a second. And I will content myself with saying, as a closing +remark, that this review will detect a principle of steady advance in +the purification and elevation of war--such as must offer hope to those +who believe in the possibility of its absolute extermination, and must +offer consolation to those who (like myself) deny it. + + + + +THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT. + + +I take it for granted that every person of education will acknowledge +some interest in the personal history of Immanuel Kant. A great man, +though in an unpopular path, must always be an object of liberal +curiosity. To suppose a reader thoroughly indifferent to Kant, is to +suppose him thoroughly unintellectual; and, therefore, though in reality +he should happen _not_ to regard him with interest, it is one of the +fictions of courtesy to presume that he does. On this principle I make +no apology to the reader for detaining him upon a short sketch of +Kant's life and domestic habits, drawn from the authentic records of his +friends and pupils. It is true, that, without any illiberality on the +part of the public in this country, the _works_ of Kant are not regarded +with the same interest which has gathered about his _name_; and this may +be attributed to three causes--first, to the language in which they are +written; secondly, to the supposed obscurity of the philosophy which +they teach, whether intrinsic or due to Kant's particular mode +of expounding it; thirdly, to the unpopularity of all speculative +philosophy, no matter how treated, in a country where the structure and +tendency of society impress upon the whole activities of the nation +a direction exclusively practical. But, whatever may be the immediate +fortunes of his writings, no man of enlightened curiosity will regard +the author himself without something of a profounder interest. Measured +by one test of power, viz., by the number of books written directly +for or against himself, to say nothing of those which he has indirectly +modified, there is no philosophic writer whatsoever, if we except +Aristotle, who can pretend to approach Kant in the extent of the +influence which he has exercised over the minds of men. Such being his +claims upon our notice, I repeat that it is no more than a reasonable +act of respect to the reader--to presume in him so much interest about +Kant as will justify a sketch of his life. + +Immanuel Kant, [Footnote: By the paternal side, the family of Kant was +of Scotch derivation; and hence it is that the name was written by Kant +the father--_Cant_, that being a Scotch name, and still to be found in +Scotland. But Immanuel, though he always cherished his Scotch descent, +substituted a _K_ for a _C_, in order to adapt it better to the +analogies of the German language.] the second of six children, was born +at Königsberg, in Prussia, a city at that time containing about fifty +thousand inhabitants, on the 22d of April, 1724. His parents were people +of humble rank, and not rich even for their own station, but able (with +some assistance from a near relative, and a trifle in addition from a +gentleman, who esteemed them for their piety and domestic virtues,) to +give their son Immanuel a liberal education. He was sent when a child +to a charity school; and, in the year 1732, removed to the Royal (or +Frederician) Academy. Here he studied the Greek and Latin classics, +and formed an intimacy with one of his schoolfellows, David Ruhnken, +(afterwards so well known to scholars under his Latin name of +Ruhn-kenius,) which lasted until the death of the latter. In 1737, Kant +lost his mother, a woman of excellent character, and of accomplishments +and knowledge beyond her rank, who contributed to the future eminence +of her illustrious son by the direction which she gave to his youthful +thoughts, and by the elevated morals to which she trained him. Kant +never spoke of her to the end of his life without the utmost tenderness, +and acknowledgment of his great obligations to her maternal care. In +1740, at Michćlmas, he entered the University of Königsberg. In 1746, +when about twenty-two years old, he printed his first work, upon a +question partly mathematical and partly philosophic, viz., the valuation +of living forces. The question had been first moved by Leibnitz, in +opposition to the Cartesians, and was here finally settled, after having +occupied most of the great mathematicians of Europe for more than half +a century. It was dedicated to the King of Prussia, but never reached +him--having, in fact, never been published. [Footnote: To this +circumstance we must attribute its being so little known amongst the +philosophers and mathematicians of foreign countries, and also the fact +that D'Alembert, whose philosophy was miserably below his mathematics, +many years afterwards still continued to represent the dispute as +a verbal one.] From this time until 1770, he supported himself as a +private tutor in different families, or by giving private lectures in +Königsberg, especially to military men on the art of fortification. In +1770, he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics, which he exchanged +soon after for that of Logic and Metaphysics. On this occasion, +he delivered an inaugural disputation--[_De Mundi Sensibilis atque +Intelligibilis Forma et Principiis_]--which is remarkable for containing +the first germs of the Transcendental Philosophy. In 1781, he published +his great work, the _Critik der Reinen Vernunft,_ or _Investigation of +the Pure Reason_. On February 12, 1804, he died. + +These are the great epochs of Kant's life. But his was a life remarkable +not so much for its incidents, as for the purity and philosophic dignity +of its daily tenor; and of this the best impression will be obtained +from Wasianski's account of his last years, checked and supported by +the collateral testimonies of Jachmann, Rink, Borowski, and other +biographers. We see him here struggling with the misery of decaying +faculties, and with the pain, depression, and agitation of two different +complaints, one affecting his stomach, and the other his head; over +all which the benignity and nobility of his mind are seen victoriously +eminent to the last. The principal defect of this and all other +memoirs of Kant is, that they report too little of his conversation and +opinions. And perhaps the reader will be disposed to complain, that some +of the notices are too minute and circumstantial, so as to be at one +time undignified, and at another unfeeling. As to the first objection, +it may be answered, that biographical gossip of this sort, and +ungentlemanly scrutiny into a man's private life, though not what a man +of honor would choose to write, may be read without blame; and, where a +great man is the subject, sometimes with advantage. With respect to the +other objection, I know not how to excuse Mr. Wasianski for kneeling +at the bed-side of his dying friend, to record, with the accuracy of a +short-hand reporter, the last flutter of his pulse and the struggles of +expiring nature, except by supposing that the idea of Kant, as a person +belonging to all ages, in his mind transcended and extinguished +the ordinary restraints of human sensibility, and that, under this +impression, he gave _that_ to his sense of a public duty which, it may +be hoped, he would willingly have declined on the impulse of his private +affections. + +_The following paper on The Last Days of Kant, is gathered from the +German of Wasianski, Jachmann, Borowski, and others._ + +My knowledge of Professor Kant began long before the period to which +this little memorial of him chiefly refers. In the year 1773, or 1774, +I cannot exactly remember which, I attended his lectures. Afterwards, I +acted as his amanuensis; and in that office was naturally brought into +a closer connection with him than any other of his pupils; so that, +without any request on my part, he granted me a general privilege of +free admission to his class-room. In 1780 I took orders, and withdrew +myself from all connection with the university. I still continued, +however, to reside in Königsberg; but wholly forgotten, or wholly +unnoticed at least, by Kant. Ten years afterwards, (that is to say, +in 1790,) I met him by accident at a party given on occasion of the +marriage of one of the professors. At table, Kant distributed +his conversation and attentions pretty generally; but after the +entertainment, when the company broke up into parties, he came and +seated himself very obligingly by my side. I was at that time a +florist--an amateur, I mean, from the passion I had for flowers; +upon learning which, he talked of my favorite pursuit, and with +very extensive information. In the course of our conversation, I +was surprised to find that he was perfectly acquainted with all +the circumstances of my situation. He reminded me of our previous +connection; expressed his satisfaction at finding that I was happy; and +was so good as to desire that, if my engagements allowed me, I would now +and then come and dine with him. Soon after this, he rose to take his +leave; and, as our road lay the same way, he proposed to me that I +should accompany him home. I did so, and received an invitation for +the next week, with a general invitation for every week after, and +permission to name my own day. At first I was unable to explain the +distinction with which Kant had treated me; and I conjectured that +some obliging friend had spoken of me in his hearing, somewhat more +advantageously than I could pretend to deserve; but more intimate +experience has convinced me that he was in the habit of making continual +inquiries after the welfare of his former pupils, and was heartily +rejoiced to hear of their prosperity. So that it appeared I was wrong in +thinking he had forgotten me. + +This revival of my intimacy with Professor Kant, coincided pretty +nearly, in point of time, with a complete change in his domestic +arrangements. Up to this period it had been his custom to eat at a +_table d'hôte_. But he now began to keep house himself, and every day +invited two friends to dine with him, and upon any little festival from +five to eight; for he was a punctual observer of Lord Chesterfield's +rule--that his dinner party, himself included, should not fall below the +number of the Graces--nor exceed that of the Muses. In the whole economy +of his household arrangements, and especially of his dinner parties, +there was something peculiar and amusingly opposed to the usual +conventional restraints of society; not, however, that there was any +neglect of decorum, such as sometimes occurs in houses where there are +no ladies to impress a better tone upon the manners. The invariable +routine was this: The moment that dinner was ready, Lampe, the +professor's old footman, stepped into the study with a certain measured +air, and announced it. This summons was obeyed at the pace of double +quick time--Kant talking all the way to the eating-room about the state +of the weather [Footnote: His reason for which was, that he considered +the weather one of the principal forces which act upon the health; +and his own frame was exquisitely sensible to all atmospheric +influences.]--a subject which he usually pursued during the earlier part +of the dinner. Graver themes, such as the political events of the day, +were never introduced before dinner, or at all in his study. The moment +that Kant had taken his seat, and unfolded his napkin, he opened the +business of dinner with a particular formula--'_Now, then, gentlemen!_' +and the tone and air with which he uttered these words, proclaimed, in +a way which nobody could mistake, relaxation from the toils of the +morning, and determinate abandonment of himself to social enjoyment. +The table was hospitably spread; three dishes, wine, &c., with a small +second course, composed the dinner. Every person helped himself; and all +delays of ceremony were so disagreeable to Kant, that he seldom failed +to express his displeasure with anything of that sort, though not +angrily. He was displeased also if people ate little; and treated it as +affectation. The first man to help himself was in his eyes the politest +guest; for so much the sooner came his own turn. For this hatred of +delay, Kant had a special excuse, having always worked hard from an +early hour in the morning, and eaten nothing until dinner. Hence it was, +that in the latter period of his life, though less perhaps from actual +hunger than from some uneasy sensation of habit or periodical irritation +of stomach, he could hardly wait with patience for the arrival of the +last person invited. + +There was no friend of Kant's but considered the day on which he was to +dine with him as a day of pleasure. Without giving himself the air of +an instructor, Kant really was so in the very highest degree. The whole +entertainment was seasoned with the overflow of his enlightened mind, +poured out naturally and unaffectedly upon every topic, as the chances +of conversation suggested it; and the time flew rapidly away, from one +o'clock to four, five, or even later, profitably and delightfully. Kant +tolerated no _calms_, which was the name he gave to the momentary pauses +in conversation, or periods when its animation languished. Some means or +other he always devised for restoring its tone of interest, in which he +was much assisted by the tact with which he drew from every guest his +peculiar tastes, or the particular direction of his pursuits; and on +these, be they what they might, he was never unprepared to speak with +knowledge, and the interest of an original observer. The local affairs +of Königsberg must have been interesting indeed, before they could be +allowed to occupy the attention at _his_ table. And, what may seem still +more singular, it was rarely or never that he directed the conversation +to any branch of the philosophy founded by himself. Indeed he was +perfectly free from the fault which besets so many _savans_ and +_literati_, of intolerance towards those whose pursuits had disqualified +them for any particular sympathy with his own. His style of conversation +was popular in the highest degree, and unscholastic; so much so, that +any stranger who should have studied his works, and been unacquainted +with his person, would have found it difficult to believe, that in this +delightful companion he saw the profound author of the Transcendental +Philosophy. + +The subjects of conversation at Kant's table were drawn chiefly from +natural philosophy, chemistry, meteorology, natural history, and above +all, from politics. The news of the day, as reported in the public +journals, was discussed with a peculiar vigilance of examination. With +regard to any narrative that wanted dates of time and place, however +otherwise plausible, he was uniformly an inexorable sceptic, and held it +unworthy of repetition. So keen was his penetration into the interior of +political events, and the secret policy under which they moved, that he +talked rather with the authority of a diplomatic person who had access +to cabinet intelligence, than as a simple spectator of the great scenes +which were unfolding in Europe. At the time of the French Revolution, +he threw out many conjectures, and what were then accounted paradoxical +anticipations, especially in regard to military operations, which were +as punctually fulfilled as his own memorable conjecture in regard to the +hiatus in the planetary system between Mars and Jupiter,[Footnote: To +which the author should have added--and in regard to the hiatus between +the planetary and cometary systems, which was pointed out by Kant +several years before his conjecture was established by the good +telescope of Dr. Herschel. Vesta and Juno, further confirmations of +Kant's conjecture, were discovered in June 1804, when Wasianski wrote.] +the entire confirmation of which he lived to witness on the discovery +of Ceres by Piazzi, in Palermo, and of Pallas, by Dr. Olbers, at +Bremen. These two discoveries, by the way, impressed him much; and +they furnished a topic on which he always talked with pleasure; though, +according to his usual modesty, he never said a word of his own +sagacity in having upon _ŕ priori_ grounds shown the probability of such +discoveries many years before. + +It was not only in the character of a companion that Kant shone, but +also as a most courteous and liberal host, who had no greater pleasure +than in seeing his guests happy and jovial, and rising with exhilarated +spirits from the mixed pleasures--intellectual and liberally sensual--of +his Platonic banquets. Chiefly, perhaps, with a view to the sustaining +of this tone of genial hilarity, he showed himself somewhat of an artist +in the composition of his dinner parties. Two rules there were which he +obviously observed, and I may say invariably: the first was, that +the company should be miscellaneous; this for the sake of securing +sufficient variety to the conversation: and accordingly his parties +presented as much variety as the world of Königsberg afforded, being +drawn from all the modes of life, men in office, professors, physicians, +clergymen, and enlightened merchants. His second rule was, to have a due +balance of _young_ men, frequently of _very_ young men, selected from +the students of the university, in order to impress a movement of gaiety +and juvenile playfulness on the conversation; an additional motive for +which, as I have reason to believe, was, that in this way he withdrew +his mind from the sadness which sometimes overshadowed it, for the early +deaths of some young friends whom he loved. + +And this leads me to mention a singular feature in Kant's way of +expressing his sympathy with his friends in sickness. So long as the +danger was imminent, he testified a restless anxiety, made perpetual +inquiries, waited with patience for the crisis, and sometimes could not +pursue his customary labors from agitation of mind. But no sooner was +the patient's death announced, than he recovered his composure, and +assumed an air of stern tranquillity--almost of indifference. The reason +was, that he viewed life in general, and therefore, that particular +affection of life which we call sickness, as a state of oscillation and +perpetual change, between which and the fluctuating sympathies of hope +and fear, there was a natural proportion that justified them to the +reason; whereas death, as a permanent state that admitted of no _more_ +or _less_, that terminated all anxiety, and for ever extinguished the +agitation of suspense, he would not allow to be fitted to any state of +feeling, but one of the same enduring and unchanging character. However, +all this philosophic heroism gave way on one occasion; for many persons +will remember the tumultuous grief which he manifested upon the death +of Mr. Ehrenboth, a young man of very fine understanding and extensive +attainments, for whom he had the greatest affection. And naturally it +happened, in so long a life as his, in spite of his provident rule for +selecting his social companions as much as possible amongst the young, +that he had to mourn for many a heavy loss that could never be supplied +to him. + +To return, however, to the course of his day, immediately after the +termination of his dinner party, Kant walked out for exercise; but on +this occasion he never took any companion, partly, perhaps, because he +thought it right, after so much convivial and colloquial relaxation, to +pursue his meditations,[Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is wrong. To pursue his +meditations under these circumstances, might perhaps be an inclination +of Kant's to which he yielded, but not one which he would justify or +erect into a maxim. He disapproved of eating alone, or _solipsismus +convictorii_, as he calls it, on the principle, that a man would be apt, +if not called off by the business and pleasure of a social party, to +think too much or too closely, an exercise which he considered very +injurious to the stomach during the first process of digestion. On the +same principle he disapproved of walking or riding alone; the double +exercise of thinking and bodily agitation, carried on at the same time, +being likely, as he conceived, to press too hard upon the stomach.] and +partly (as I happen to know) for a very peculiar reason, viz., that he +wished to breathe exclusively through his nostrils, which he could not +do if he were obliged continually to open his mouth in conversation. His +reason for this was, that the atmospheric air, being thus carried round +by a longer circuit, and reaching the lungs, therefore, in a state of +less rawness, and at a temperature somewhat higher, would be less apt +to irritate them. By a steady perseverance in this practice, which he +constantly recommended to his friends, he flattered himself with a long +immunity from coughs, colds, hoarseness, and every mode of defluxion; +and the fact really was, that these troublesome affections attacked him +very rarely. Indeed I myself, by only occasionally adopting his rule, +have found my chest not so liable as formerly to such attacks. + +At six o'clock he sat down to his library table, which was a plain +ordinary piece of furniture, and read till dusk. During this period of +dubious light, so friendly to thought, he rested in tranquil meditation +on what he had been reading, provided the book were worth it; if not, he +sketched his lecture for the next day, or some part of any book he +might then be composing. During this state of repose he took his station +winter and summer by the stove, looking through the window at the old +tower of Lobenicht; not that he could be said properly to see it, but +the tower rested upon his eye,--obscurely, or but half revealed to his +consciousness. No words seemed forcible enough to express his sense of +the gratification which he derived from this old tower, when seen under +these circumstances of twilight and quiet reverie. The sequel, indeed, +showed how important it was to his comfort; for at length some poplars +in a neighboring garden shot up to such a height as to obscure the +tower, upon which Kant became very uneasy and restless, and at length +found himself positively unable to pursue his evening meditations. +Fortunately, the proprietor of the garden was a very considerate +and obliging person, who had, besides, a high regard for Kant; and, +accordingly, upon a representation of the case being made to him, he +gave orders that the poplars should be cropped. This was done, the +old tower of Lobenicht was again unveiled, and Kant recovered his +equanimity, and pursued his twilight meditations as before. + +After the candles were brought, Kant prosecuted his studies till nearly +ten o'clock. A quarter of an hour before retiring for the night, he +withdrew his mind as much as possible from every class of thoughts which +demanded any exertion or energy of attention, on the principle, that +by stimulating and exciting him too much, such thoughts would be apt +to cause wakefulness; and the slightest interference with his customary +hour of falling asleep, was in the highest degree unpleasant to him. +Happily, this was with him a very rare occurrence. He undressed himself +without his servant's assistance, but in such an order, and with such a +Roman regard to decorum and the _to prepon_, that he was always ready +at a moment's warning to make his appearance without embarrassment to +himself or to others. This done, he lay down on a mattress, and wrapped +himself up in a quilt, which in summer was always of cotton,--in autumn, +of wool; at the setting-in of winter he used both--and against very +severe cold, he protected himself by one of eider-down, of which the +part which covered his shoulders was not stuffed with feathers, but +padded, or rather wadded closely with layers of wool. Long practice had +taught him a very dexterous mode of _nesting_ himself, as it were, in +the bed-clothes. First of all, he sat down on the bedside; then with an +agile motion he vaulted obliquely into his lair; next he drew one corner +of the bedclothes under his left shoulder, and passing it below his +back, brought it round so as to rest under his right shoulder; fourthly, +by a particular _tour d'adresse_, he treated the other corner in the +same way, and finally contrived to roll it round his whole person. Thus +swathed like a mummy, or (as I used to tell him) self-involved like +the silk-worm in its cocoon, he awaited the approach of sleep, which +generally came on immediately. For Kant's health was exquisite; not +mere negative health, or the absence of pain, but a state of positive +pleasurable sensation, and a genial sense of the entire possession of +all his activities. Accordingly, when packed up for the night in the +way I have described, he would often ejaculate to himself (as he used to +tell us at dinner)--'Is it possible to conceive a human being with more +perfect health than myself?' In fact, such was the innocence of his +life, and such the happy condition of his situation, that no uneasy +passion ever arose to excite him--nor care to harass--nor pain to awake +him. Even in the severest winter his sleeping-room was without a fire; +only in his latter years he yielded so far to the entreaties of his +friends as to allow of a very small one. All nursing or self-indulgence +found no quarter with Kant. In fact, five minutes, in the coldest +weather, sufficed to supersede the first chill of the bed, by the +diffusion of a general glow over his person. If he had any occasion to +leave his room in the night-time, (for it was always kept dark day and +night, summer and winter,) he guided himself by a rope, which was duly +attached to his bed-post every night, and carried into the adjoining +apartment. + +Kant never perspired, [Footnote: This appears less extraordinary, +considering the description of Kant's person, given originally by +Reichardt, about eight years after his death. 'Kant,' says this writer, +'was drier than dust both in body and mind. His person was small; and +possibly a more meagre, arid, parched anatomy of a man, has not appeared +upon this earth. The upper part of his face was grand; forehead lofty +and serene, nose elegantly turned, eyes brilliant and penetrating; but +below it expressed powerfully the coarsest sensuality, which in him +displayed itself by immoderate addiction to eating and drinking.' This +last feature of his temperament is here expressed much too harshly.] +night or day. Yet it was astonishing how much heat he supported +habitually in his study, and in fact was not easy if it wanted but +one degree of this heat. Seventy-five degrees of Fahrenheit was the +invariable temperature of this room in which he chiefly lived; and if it +fell below that point, no matter at what season of the year, he had it +raised artificially to the usual standard. In the heats of summer he +went thinly dressed, and invariably in silk stockings; yet, as even this +dress could not always secure him against perspiring when engaged in +active exercise, he had a singular remedy in reserve. Retiring to some +shady place, he stood still and motionless--with the air and attitude +of a person listening, or in suspense--until his usual _aridity_ was +restored. Even in the most sultry summer night, if the slightest +trace of perspiration had sullied his night-dress, he spoke of it with +emphasis, as of an accident that perfectly shocked him. + +On this occasion, whilst illustrating Kant's notions of the animal +economy, it may be as well to add one other particular, which is, that +for fear of obstructing the circulation of the blood, he never would +wear garters; yet, as he found it difficult to keep up his stockings +without them, he had invented for himself a most elaborate substitute, +which I shall describe. In a little pocket, somewhat smaller than +a watch-pocket, but occupying pretty nearly the same situation as a +watch-pocket on each thigh, there was placed a small box, something like +a watch-case, but smaller; into this box was introduced a watch-spring +in a wheel, round about which wheel was wound an elastic cord, for +regulating the force of which there was a separate contrivance. To the +two ends of this cord were attached hooks, which hooks were carried +through a small aperture in the pockets, and so passing down the inner +and the outer side of the thigh, caught hold of two loops which were +fixed on the off side and the near side of each stocking. As might be +expected, so complex an apparatus was liable, like the Ptolemaic system +of the heavens, to occasional derangements; however, by good luck, I +was able to apply an easy remedy to these disorders which sometimes +threatened to disturb the comfort, and even the serenity, of the great +man. + +Precisely at five minutes before five o'clock, winter or summer, Lampe, +Kant's servant, who had formerly served in the army, marched into his +master's room with the air of a sentinel on duty, and cried aloud in +a military tone,--'Mr. Professor, the time is come.' This summons Kant +invariably obeyed without one moment's delay, as a soldier does the word +of command--never, under any circumstances, allowing himself a respite, +not even under the rare accident of having passed a sleepless night. As +the clock struck five, Kant was seated at the breakfast-table, where he +drank what he called _one_ cup of tea; and no doubt he thought it such; +but the fact was, that in part from his habit of reverie, and in part +also for the purpose of refreshing its warmth, he filled up his cup so +often, that in general he is supposed to have drunk two, three, or some +unknown number. Immediately after he smoked a pipe of tobacco, (the only +one which he allowed himself through the entire day,) but so rapidly, +that a pile of glowing embers remained unsmoked. During this operation +he thought over his arrangements for the day, as he had done the +evening before during the twilight. About seven he usually went to his +lecture-room, and from that he returned to his writing-table. Precisely +at three quarters before one he rose from his chair, and called aloud to +the cook,--'It has struck three quarters.' The meaning of which summons +was this:--Immediately after taking soup, it was his constant practice +to swallow what he called a dram, which consisted either of Hungarian +wine, of Rhenish, of a cordial, or (in default of these) of Bishop. +A flask of this was brought up by the cook on the proclamation of the +three quarters. Kant hurried with it to the eating-room, poured out his +_quantum_, left it standing in readiness, covered, however, with paper, +to prevent its becoming vapid, and then went back to his study, and +awaited the arrival of his guests, whom to the latest period of his life +he never received but in full dress. + +Thus we come round again to dinner, and the reader has now an accurate +picture of the course of Kant's day; the rigid monotony of which was not +burthensome to him; and probably contributed, with the uniformity of his +diet, and other habits of the same regularity, to lengthen his life. On +this consideration, indeed, he had come to regard his health and his old +age as in a great measure the product of his own exertions. He spoke of +himself often under the figure of a gymnastic artist, who had continued +for nearly fourscore years to support his balance upon the slack-rope +of life, without once swerving to the right or to the left. In spite of +every illness to which his constitutional tendencies had exposed him, +he still kept his position in life triumphantly. However, he would +sometimes observe sportively, that it was really absurd, and a sort of +insult to the next generation for a man to live so long, because he thus +interfered with the prospects of younger people. + +This anxious attention to his health accounts for the great interest +which he attached to all new discoveries in medicine, or to new ways +of theorizing on the old ones. As a work of great pretension in +both classes, he set the highest value upon the theory of the Scotch +physician Brown, or (as it is usually called, from the Latin name of its +author,) the Brunonian Theory. No sooner had Weikard adopted [Footnote: +This theory was afterwards greatly modified in Germany; and, judging +from the random glances which I throw on these subjects, I believe that +in this recast it still keeps its ground in that country.] and made it +known in Germany, than Kant became familiar with it. He considered it +not only as a great step taken for medicine, but even for the general +interests of man, and fancied that in this he saw something analogous +to the course which human nature has held in still more important +inquiries, viz.: first of all, a continual ascent towards the more and +more elaborately complex, and then a treading back, on its own steps, +towards the simple and elementary. Dr. Beddoes's Essays, also, for +producing by art and curing pulmonary consumption, and the method of +Reich for curing fevers, made a powerful impression upon him; which, +however, declined as those novelties (especially the last) began to +sink in credit. As to Dr. Jenner's discovery of vaccination, he was less +favorably disposed to it; he apprehended dangerous consequences from the +absorption of a brutal miasma into the human blood, or at least into +the lymph; and at any rate he thought, that, as a guarantee against the +variolous infection, it required a much longer probation. Groundless +as all these views were, it was exceedingly entertaining to hear the +fertility of argument and analogy which he brought forward to support +them. One of the subjects which occupied him at the latter end of his +life, was the theory and phenomena of galvanism, which, however, he +never satisfactorily mastered. Augustin's book upon this subject was +about the last that he read, and his copy still retains on the margin +his, pencil-marks of doubts, queries and suggestions. + +The infirmities of age now began to steal upon Kant, and betrayed +themselves in more shapes than one. Connected with Kant's prodigious +memory for all things that had any intellectual bearings, he had from +youth labored under an unusual weakness of this faculty in relation to +the common affairs of daily life. Some remarkable instances of this +are on record, from the period of his childish days; and now, when his +second childhood was commencing, this infirmity increased upon him very +sensibly. One of the first signs was, that he began to repeat the same +stories more than once on the same day. Indeed, the decay of his memory +was too palpable to escape his own notice; and, to provide against it, +and secure himself from all apprehension of inflicting tedium upon his +guests, he began to write a syllabus, or list of themes, for each day's +conversation, on cards, or the covers of letters, or any chance scrap +of paper. But these memoranda accumulated so fast upon him, and were so +easily lost, or not forthcoming at the proper moment, that I prevailed +on him to substitute a blank-paper book, which I had directed to be +made, and which still remains, with some affecting memorials of his own +conscious weakness. As often happens, however, in such cases, he had a +perfect memory for the remote events of his life, and could repeat with +great readiness, and without once stumbling, very long passages from +German or Latin poems, especially from the AEneid, whilst the very +words that had been uttered but a moment before dropped away from his +remembrance. The past came forward with the distinctness and liveliness +of an immediate existence, whilst the present faded away into the +obscurity of infinite distance. + +Another sign of his mental decay was the weakness with which he now +began to theorize. He accounted for everything by electricity. A +singular mortality at this time prevailed amongst the cats of Vienna, +Basle, Copenhagen, and other places. Cats being so eminently an electric +animal, of course he attributed this epizootic to electricity. During +the same period, he persuaded himself that a peculiar configuration of +clouds prevailed; this he took as a collateral proof of his electrical +hypothesis. His own headaches, too, which in all probability were a mere +remote effect of old age, and a direct one of an inability [Footnote: +Mr. Wasianski is quite in the wrong here. If the hindrances which nature +presented to the act of thinking were now on the increase, on the other +hand, the disposition to think, by his own acknowledgment, was on the +wane. The power and the habit altering in proportion, there is no case +made out of that disturbed equilibrium to which apparently he would +attribute the headaches. But the fact is, that, if he had been as well +acquainted with Kant's writings as with Kant personally, he would +have known, that some affection of the head of a spasmodic kind was +complained of by Kant at a time when nobody could suspect him of being +in a decaying state.] to think as easily and as severely as formerly, +he explained upon the same principle. And this was a notion of which his +friends were not anxious to disabuse him, because, as something of +the same character of weather (and therefore probably the same general +tendency of the electric power) is found to prevail for whole cycles +of years, entrance upon another cycle held out to him some prospect of +relief. A delusion which secured the comforts of hope was the next best +thing to an actual remedy; and a man who, in such circumstances, is +cured of his delusion, '_cui demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error_,' +might reasonably have exclaimed, '_Pol, me occidistis, amici._' + +Possibly the reader may suppose, that, in this particular instance +of charging his own decays upon the state of the atmosphere, Kant was +actuated by the weakness of vanity, or some unwillingness to face the +real fact that his powers were decaying. But this was not the case. +He was perfectly aware of his own condition, and, as early as 1799, he +said, in my presence, to a party of his friends--'Gentlemen, I am old, +and weak, and childish, and you must treat me as a child.' Or perhaps it +may be thought that he shrank from the contemplation of death, which, +as apoplexy seemed to be threatened by the pains in his head, might +have happened any day. But neither was this the case. He now lived in a +continual state of resignation, and prepared to meet any dispensation of +Providence. 'Gentlemen,' said he one day to his guests, 'I do not fear +to die. I assure you, as in the presence of God, that if I were this +night to be made suddenly aware that I was on the point of being +summoned, I would raise my hands to heaven, fold them, and say, Blessed +be God! If indeed it were possible that a whisper such as this could +reach my ear--Fourscore years thou hast lived, in which time thou hast +inflicted much evil upon thy fellow-men, the case would be otherwise.' +Whosoever has heard Kant speak of his own death, will bear witness +to the tone of earnest sincerity which, on such occasions, marked his +manner and utterance. + +A third sign of his decaying faculties was, that he now lost all +accurate measure of time. One minute, nay, without exaggeration, a much +less space of time, stretched out in his apprehension of things to a +wearisome duration. Of this I can give one rather amusing instance, +which was of constant recurrence. At the beginning of the last year of +his life, he fell into a custom of taking immediately after dinner a cup +of coffee, especially on those days when it happened that I was of his +party. And such was the importance he attached to this little pleasure, +that he would even make a memorandum beforehand, in the blank-paper +book I had given him, that on the next day I was to dine with him, and +consequently that there was to be coffee. Sometimes it would happen, +that the interest of conversation carried him past the time at which +he felt the craving for it; and this I was not sorry to observe, as I +feared that coffee, which he had never been accustomed to, [Footnote: +How this happened to be the case in Germany, Mr. Wasianski has not +explained. Perhaps the English merchants at Königsberg, being amongst +Kant's oldest and most intimate friends, had early familiarized him +to the practice of drinking tea, and to other English tastes. However, +Jachmann tells us, (p. 164,) that Kant was extravagantly fond of coffee, +but forced himself to abstain from it under a notion that it was very +unwholesome.] might disturb his rest at night. But, if this did not +happen, then commenced a scene of some interest. Coffee must be brought +'upon the spot,' (a word he had constantly in his mouth during his +latter days,) 'in a moment.' And the expressions of his impatience, +though from old habit still gentle, were so lively, and had so much of +infantine naďveté about them, that none of us could forbear smiling. +Knowing what would happen, I had taken care that all the preparations +should be made beforehand; the coffee was ground; the water was boiling; +and the very moment the word was given, his servant shot in like +an arrow, and plunged the coffee into the water. All that remained, +therefore, was to give it time to boil up. But this trifling delay +seemed unendurable to Kant. All consolations were thrown away upon him: +vary the formula as we might, he was never at a loss for a reply. If +it was said--'Dear Professor, the coffee will be brought up in a +moment.'--'_Will_ be!' he would say, 'but there's the rub, that it only +_will_ be: + + Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest.' + +If another cried out--'The coffee is coming immediately.'--'Yes,' he +would retort, 'and so is the next hour: and, by the way, it's about that +length of time that I have waited for it.' Then he would collect himself +with a stoical air, and say--'Well, one can die after all: it is but +dying; and in the next world, thank God! there is no drinking of coffee, +and consequently no--waiting for it.' Sometimes he would rise from his +chair, open the door, and cry out with a feeble querulousness--'Coffee! +coffee!' And when at length he heard the servant's step upon the stairs, +he would turn round to us, and, as joyfully as ever sailor from the +mast-head, he would call out--'Land, land! my dear friends, I see land.' + +This general decline in Kant's powers, active and passive, gradually +brought about a revolution in his habits of life. Heretofore, as I have +already mentioned, he went to bed at ten, and rose a little before five. +The latter practice he still observed, but not the other. In 1802 he +retired as early as nine, and afterwards still earlier. He found himself +so much refreshed by this addition to his rest, that at first he was +disposed to utter a _Euraeka_, as over some great discovery in the +art of restoring exhausted nature: but afterwards, on pushing it still +farther, he did not find the success answer his expectations. His walks +he now limited to a few turns in the King's gardens, which were at no +great distance from his own house. In order to walk more firmly, he +adopted a peculiar method of stepping; he carried his foot to the +ground, not forward, and obliquely, but perpendicularly, and with a kind +of stamp, so as to secure a larger basis, by setting down the entire +sole at once. Notwithstanding this precaution, upon one occasion he +fell in the street. He was quite unable to raise himself; and two young +ladies, who saw the accident, ran to his assistance. With his usual +graciousness of manner he thanked them fervently for their assistance, +and presented one of them with a rose which he happened to have in his +hand. This lady was not personally known to Kant; but she was greatly +delighted with his little present, and still keeps the rose as a frail +memorial of her transitory interview with the great philosopher. + +This accident, as I have reason to think, was the cause of his +henceforth renouncing exercise altogether. All labors, even that of +reading, were now performed slowly, and with manifest effort; and those +which cost him any bodily exertion became very exhausting to him. His +feet refused to do their office more and more; he fell continually, both +when moving across the room, and even when standing still: yet he +seldom suffered from these falls; and he constantly laughed at them, +maintaining that it was impossible he could hurt himself, from the +extreme lightness of his person, which was indeed by this time the +merest skeleton. Very often, especially in the morning, he dropped +asleep in his chair from pure weariness: on these occasions he fell +forward upon the floor, and lay there unable to raise himself up, until +accident brought one of his servants or his friends into the room. +Afterwards these falls were prevented, by substituting a chair with +circular supports, that met and clasped in front. + +These unseasonable dozings exposed him to another danger. He fell +repeatedly, whilst reading, with his head into the candles; a cotton +night-cap which he wore was instantly in a blaze, and flaming about his +head. Whenever this happened, Kant behaved with great presence of mind. +Disregarding the pain, he seized the blazing cap, drew it from his head, +laid it quietly on the floor, and trod out the flames with his feet. +Yet, as this last act brought his dressing-gown into a dangerous +neighborhood to the flames, I changed the form of his cap, persuaded him +to arrange the candles differently, and had a decanter of water placed +constantly by his side; and in this way I applied a remedy to a danger, +which would else probably have been fatal to him. + +From the sallies of impatience, which I have described in the case +of the coffee, there was reason to fear that, with the increasing +infirmities of Kant, would grow up a general waywardness and obstinacy +of temper. For my own sake, therefore, and not less for his, I now laid +down one rule for my future conduct in his house; which was, that I +would, on no occasion, allow my reverence for him to interfere with the +firmest expression of my opinion on subjects relating to his own health; +and in cases of great importance, that I would make no compromise with +his particular humors, but insist, not only on my view of the case, but +also on the practical adoption of my views; or, if this were refused me, +that I would take my departure at once, and not be made responsible +for the comfort of a person whom I had no power to influence. And this +behavior on my part it was that won Kant's confidence; for there was +nothing which disgusted him so much as any approach to fawning or +sycophancy. As his imbecility increased, he became daily more liable +to mental delusions; and, in particular, he fell into many fantastic +notions about the conduct of his servants, and, in consequence, into a +peevish mode of treating them. Upon these occasions I generally observed +a deep silence. But sometimes he would ask me for my opinion; and +when this happened, I did not scruple to say, 'Ingenuously, then, Mr. +Professor, I think that you are in the wrong.'--'You think so?' he would +reply calmly, at the same time asking for my reasons, which he would +listen to with great patience, and openness to conviction. Indeed, +it was evident that the firmest opposition, so long as it rested upon +assignable grounds and principles, won upon his regard; whilst his own +nobleness of character still moved him to habitual contempt for timorous +and partial acquiescence in his opinions, even when his infirmities made +him most anxious for such acquiescence. + +Earlier in life Kant had been little used to contradiction. His superb +understanding, his brilliancy in conversation, founded in part upon his +ready and sometimes rather caustic wit, and in part upon his prodigious +command of knowledge--the air of noble self-confidence which the +consciousness of these advantages impressed upon his manners--and the +general knowledge of the severe innocence of his life--all combined to +give him a station of superiority to others, which generally secured +him from open contradiction. And if it sometimes happened that he met a +noisy and intemperate opposition, supported by any pretences to wit, he +usually withdrew himself from that sort of unprofitable altercation with +dignity, by contriving to give such a turn to the conversation as won +the general favor of the company to himself, and impressed, silence, or +modesty at least, upon the boldest disputant. From a person so little +familiar with opposition, it could scarcely have been anticipated that +he should daily surrender his wishes to mine--if not without discussion, +yet always without displeasure. So, however, it was. No habit, of +whatever long standing, could be objected to as injurious to his health, +but he would generally renounce it. And he had this excellent custom in +such cases, that either he would resolutely and at once decide for his +own opinion, or, if he professed to follow his friend's, he would follow +it sincerely, and not try it unfairly by trying it imperfectly. Any +plan, however trifling, which he had once consented to adopt on the +suggestion of another, was never afterwards defeated or embarrassed +by unseasonable interposition from his own humors. And thus, the +very period of his decay drew forth so many fresh expressions of his +character, in its amiable or noble features, as daily increased my +affection and reverence for his person. + +Having mentioned his servants, I shall here take occasion to give some +account of his man-servant Lampe. It was a great misfortune for Kant, in +his old age and infirmities, that this man also became old, and subject +to a different sort of infirmities. This Lampe had originally served in +the Prussian army; on quitting which he entered the service of Kant. In +this situation he had lived about forty years; and, though always dull +and stupid, had, in the early part of this period, discharged his +duties with tolerable fidelity. But latterly, presuming upon his own +indispensableness, from his perfect knowledge of all the domestic +arrangements, and upon his master's weakness, he had fallen into +great irregularities and neglect of his duties. Kant had been obliged, +therefore, of late, to threaten repeatedly that he would discharge him. +I, who knew that Kant, though one of the kindest-hearted men, was also +one of the firmest, foresaw that this discharge, once given, would be +irrevocable: for the word of Kant was as sacred as other men's oaths. +Consequently, upon every opportunity, I remonstrated with Lampe on the +folly of his conduct, and his wife joined me on these occasions. Indeed, +it was high time that a change should be made in some quarter; for it +now became dangerous to leave Kant, who was constantly falling from +weakness, to the care of an old ruffian, who was himself apt to fall +from intoxication. The fact was, that from the moment I undertook the +management of Kant's affairs, Lampe saw there was an end to his old +system of abusing his master's confidence in pecuniary affairs, and the +other advantages which he took of his helpless situation. This made +him desperate, and he behaved worse and worse; until one morning, +in January, 1802, Kant told me, that, humiliating as he felt such a +confession, the fact was, that Lampe had just treated him in a way which +he was ashamed to repeat. I was too much shocked to distress him by +inquiring into the particulars. But the result was, that Kant now +insisted, temperately but firmly, on Lampe's dismissal. Accordingly, a +new servant, of the name of Kaufmann, was immediately engaged; and on +the next day Lampe was discharged with a handsome pension for life. + +Here I must mention a little circumstance which does honor to Kant's +benevolence. In his last will, on the assumption that Lampe would +continue with him to his death, he had made a very liberal provision +for him; but upon this new arrangement of the pension, which was to take +effect immediately, it became necessary to revoke that part of his will, +which he did in a separate codicil, that began thus:--'In consequence of +the ill behavior of my servant Lampe, I think fit,' &c. But soon after, +considering that such a record of Lampe's misconduct might be seriously +injurious to his interests, he cancelled the passage, and expressed it +in such a way, that no trace remained behind of his just displeasure. +And his benign nature was gratified with knowing, that, this one +sentence blotted out, there remained no other in all his numerous +writings, published or confidential, which spoke the language of anger, +or could leave any ground for doubting that he died in charity with all +the world. Upon Lampe's calling to demand a written character, he was, +however, a good deal embarrassed; his stern reverence for truth being, +in this instance, armed against the first impulses of his kindness. Long +and anxiously he sat, with the certificate lying before him, debating +how he should fill up the blanks. I was present, but in such a matter I +did not take the liberty of suggesting any advice. At last, he took +his pen, and filled up the blank as follows:--'--has served me long and +faithfully,'--(for Kant was not aware that he had robbed him,)--'but did +not display those particular qualifications which fitted him for waiting +on an old and infirm man like myself.' + +This scene of disturbance over, which to Kant, a lover of peace and +tranquillity, caused a shock that he would gladly have been spared; it +was fortunate that no other of that nature occurred during the rest +of his life. Kaufmann, the successor of Lampe, turned out to be a +respectable and upright man, and soon conceived a great attachment to +his master's person. Things now put on a new face in Kant's family: by +the removal of one of the belligerents, peace was once more restored +amongst his servants; for hitherto there had been eternal wars between +Lampe and the cook. Sometimes it was Lampe that carried a war of +aggression into the cook's territory of the kitchen; sometimes it was +the cook that revenged these insults, by sallying out upon Lampe in the +neutral ground of the hall, or invaded him even in his own sanctuary of +the butler's pantry. The uproars were everlasting; and thus far it was +fortunate for the peace of the philosopher, that his hearing had begun +to fail; by which means he was spared many an exhibition of hateful +passions and ruffian violence, which annoyed his guests and friends. +But now all things had changed: deep silence reigned in the pantry; the +kitchen rang no more with martial alarums; and the hall was unvexed with +skirmish or pursuit. Yet it may be readily supposed that to Kant, at the +age of seventy-eight, changes, even for the better, were not welcome: so +intense had been the uniformity of his life and habits, that the least +innovation in the arrangement of articles as trifling as a penknife, or +a pair of scissors, disturbed him; and not merely if they were pushed +two or three inches out of their customary position, but even if they +were laid a little awry; and as to larger objects, such as chairs, +&c., any dislocation of their usual arrangement, any trans position, or +addition to their number, perfectly confounded him; and his eye appeared +restlessly to haunt the seat of the mal-arrangement, until the ancient +order was restored. With such habits the reader may conceive how +distressing it must have been to him, at this period of decaying powers, +to adapt himself to a new servant, a new voice, a new step, &c. + +Aware of this, I had on the day before he entered upon his duties, +written down for the new servant upon a sheet of paper the entire +routine of Kant's daily life, down to the minutest and most trivial +circumstances; all which he mastered with the greatest rapidity. To +make sure, however, we went through a rehearsal of the whole ritual; +he performing the manoeuvres, I looking on and giving the word. Still I +felt uneasy at the idea of his being left entirely to his own discretion +on his first _debut_ in good earnest, and therefore I made a point of +attending on this important day; and in the few instances where the new +recruit missed the accurate manoeuvre, a glance or a nod from me easily +made him comprehend his failure. + +One part only there was of the daily ceremonial, where all of us were +at a loss, as it was a part which no mortal eyes had ever witnessed but +those of Lampe: this was breakfast. However, that we might do all in +our power, I myself attended at four o'clock in the morning. The day +happened, as I remember, to be the 1st of February, 1802. Precisely at +five, Kant made his appearance; and nothing could equal his astonishment +on finding me in the room. Fresh from the confusion of dreaming, and +bewildered alike by the sight of his new servant, by Lampe's absence, +and by my presence, he could with difficulty be made to comprehend the +purpose of my visit. A friend in need is a friend indeed; and we +would now have given any money to that learned person who could have +instructed us in the arrangement of the breakfast table. But this was a +mystery revealed to none but Lampe. At length Kant took this task upon +himself; and apparently all was now settled to his satisfaction. Yet +still it struck me that he was under some embarrassment or constraint. +Upon this I said--that, with his permission, I would take a cup of tea, +and afterwards smoke a pipe with him. He accepted my offer with his +usual courteous demeanor; but seemed unable to familiarize himself +with the novelty of his situation. I was at this time sitting directly +opposite to him; and at last he frankly told me, but with the kindest +and most apologetic air, that he was really under the necessity of +begging that I would sit out of his sight; for that, having sat alone at +the breakfast table for considerably more than half a century, he could +not abruptly adapt his mind to a change in this respect; and he found +his thoughts very sensibly disturbed. I did as he desired; the servant +retired into an antiroom, where he waited within call; and Kant +recovered his wonted composure. Just the same scene passed over again, +when I called at the same hour on a fine summer morning some months +after. + +Henceforth all went right: or, if occasionally some little mistake +occurred, Kant showed himself very considerate and indulgent, and would +remark of his own accord, that a new servant could not be expected to +know all his peculiar ways and humors. In one respect, indeed, this man +adapted himself to Kant's scholarlike taste, in a way which Lampe +was incapable of doing. Kant was somewhat fastidious in matters of +pronunciation; and this man had a great facility in catching the true +sound of Latin words, the titles of books, and the names or designations +of Kant's friends: not one of which accomplishments could Lampe, the +most insufferable of blockheads, ever attain to. In particular, I have +been told by Kant's old friends, that for the space of more than thirty +years, during which he had been in the habit of reading the newspaper +published by Hartung, Lampe delivered it with the same identical blunder +on every day of publication.--'Mr. Professor, here is Hart_mann's_ +journal.' Upon which Kant would reply--'Eh! what?--What's that you say? +Hartmann's journal? I tell you, it is not Hartmann, but Hartung: now, +repeat it after me--not Hartmann, but Hartung.' Then Lampe, looking +sulky, and drawing himself up with the stiff air of a soldier on guard, +and in the very same monotonous tone with which he had been used to sing +out his challenge of--_Who goes there?_ would roar--'not Hartmann, but +Hartung.' 'Now again!' Kant would say: on which again Lampe roared--'not +Hartmann, but Hartung.' 'Now a third time,' cried Kant: on which for +a third time the unhappy Lampe would howl out--'not Hartmann, but +Hartung.' And this whimsical scene of parade duty was continually +repeated: duly as the day of publication came, the irreclaimable old +dunce was put through the same manoeuvres, which were as invariably +followed by the same blunder on the next. In spite, however, of this +advantage, in the new servant, and his general superiority to his +predecessor, Kant's nature was too kind and good, and too indulgent to +all people's infirmities but his own, not to miss the voice and the 'old +familiar face' that he had been accustomed to for forty years. And I met +with what struck me as an affecting instance of Kant's yearning after +his old good-for-nothing servant in his memorandum-book: other people +record what they wish to remember; but Kant had here recorded what he +was to forget. 'Mem.: February, 1802, the name of Lampe must now be +remembered no more.' + +In the spring of this year, 1802, I advised Kant to take the air. It +was very long since he had been out of doors, [Footnote: Wasianski here +returns thanks to some unknown person, who, having observed that Kant in +his latter walks took pleasure in leaning against a particular wall to +view the prospect, had caused a seat to be fixed at that point for his +use.] and walking was now out of the question. But I thought the motion +of a carriage and the air would be likely to revive him. On the power of +vernal sights and sounds I did not much rely; for these had long ceased +to affect him. Of all the changes that spring brings with it, there +was one only that now interested Kant; and he longed for it with an +eagerness and intensity of expectation, that it was almost painful to +witness: this was the return of a hedge sparrow that sang in his garden, +and before his window. This bird, either the same, or one of the next +generation, had sung for years in the same situation; and Kant grew +uneasy when the cold weather, lasting longer than usual, retarded its +return. Like Lord Bacon, indeed, he had a childlike love for birds in +general, and in particular, took pains to encourage the sparrows to +build above the windows of his study; and when this happened, (as it +often did, from the silence which prevailed in his study,) he watched +their proceedings with the delight and the tenderness which others give +to a human interest. To return to the point I was speaking of, Kant was +at first very unwilling to accede to my proposal of going abroad. 'I +shall sink down in the carriage,' said he, 'and fall together like a +heap of old rags.' But I persisted with a gentle importunity in urging +him to the attempt, assuring him that we would return immediately if he +found the effort too much for him. Accordingly, upon a tolerably warm +day of early [Footnote: Mr. Wasianski says--_late_ in summer: but, as +he elsewhere describes by the same expression of 'late in summer,' a day +which was confessedly _before_ the longest day, and as the multitude +of birds which continued to sing will not allow us to suppose that +the summer could be very far advanced, I have translated accordingly.] +summer, I, and an old friend of Kant's, accompanied him to a little +place which I rented in the country. As we drove through the streets, +Kant was delighted to find that he could sit upright, and bear the +motion of the carriage, and seemed to draw youthful pleasure from the +sight of the towers and other public buildings, which he had not seen +for years. We reached the place of our destination in high spirits. Kant +drank a cup of coffee, and attempted to smoke a little. After this, he +sat and sunned himself, listening with delight to the warbling of birds, +which congregated in great numbers about this spot. He distinguished +every bird by its song, and called it by its right name. After staying +about half an hour, we set off on our homeward journey, Kant still +cheerful, but apparently satiated with his day's enjoyment. + +I had on this occasion purposely avoided taking him to any public +gardens, that I might not disturb his pleasure by exposing him to +the distressing gaze of public curiosity. However, it was known in +Königsberg that Kant had gone out; and accordingly, as the carriage +moved through the streets which led to his residence, there was a +general rush from all quarters in that direction, and, when we turned +into the street where the house stood, we found it already choked up +with people. As we slowly drew up to the door, a lane was formed in the +crowd, through which Kant was led, I and my friend supporting him on +our arms. Looking at the crowd, I observed the faces of many persons +of rank, and distinguished strangers, some of whom now saw Kant for the +first time, and many of them for the last. + +As the winter of 1802-3 approached, he complained more than ever of +an affection of the stomach, which no medical man had been able to +mitigate, or even to explain. The winter passed over in a complaining +way; he was weary of life, and longed for the hour of dismission. 'I +can be of service to the world no more,' said he, 'and am a burden +to myself.' Often I endeavored to cheer him by the anticipation of +excursions that we would make together when summer came again. On these +he calculated with so much earnestness, that he had made a regular scale +or classification of them--l. Airings; 2. Journeys; 3. Travels. And +nothing could equal the yearning impatience expressed for the coming of +spring and summer, not so much for their own peculiar attractions, as +because they were the seasons for travelling. In his memorandum-book, +he made this note:--'The three summer months are June, July, and +August'--meaning that they were the three months for travelling. And +in conversation he expressed the feverish strength of his wishes so +plaintively and affectingly, that everybody was drawn into powerful +sympathy with him, and wished for some magical means of ante-dating the +course of the seasons. + +In this winter his bed-room was often warmed. This was the room in which +he kept his little collection of books, of about four hundred and fifty +volumes, chiefly presentation-copies from the authors. It may seem +singular that Kant, who read so extensively, should have no larger +library; but he had less need of one than most scholars, having in his +earlier years been librarian at the Royal Library of the Castle; +and since then having enjoyed from the liberality of Hartknoch, his +publisher, (who, in his turn, had profited by the liberal terms on which +Kant had made over to him the copyright of his own works,) the first +sight of every new book that appeared. + +At the close of this winter, that is in 1803, Kant first began to +complain of unpleasant dreams, sometimes of very terrific ones, which +awakened him in great agitation. Oftentimes melodies, which he had heard +in earliest youth sung in the streets of Königsberg, resounded painfully +in his ears, and dwelt upon them in a way from which no efforts of +abstraction could release him. These kept him awake to unseasonable +hours; and often when, after long watching, he had fallen asleep, +however deep his sleep might be, it was suddenly broken up by terrific +dreams, which alarmed him beyond description. Almost every night, the +bell-rope, which communicated with a bell in the room above his own, +where his servant slept, was pulled violently, and with the utmost +agitation. No matter how fast the servant might hurry down, he was +almost always too late, and was pretty sure to find his master out of +bed, and often making his way in terror to some other part of the house. +The weakness of his feet exposed him to such dreadful falls on these +occasions, that at length (but with much difficulty) I persuaded him to +let his servant sleep in the same room with himself. + +The morbid affection of the stomach began now to be more and more +distressing; and he tried various applications, which he had formerly +been loud in condemning, such as a few drops of rum upon a piece of +sugar, naphtha, [Footnote: For Kant's particular complaint, as described +by other biographers, a quarter of a grain of opium, every twelve hours, +would have been the best remedy, perhaps a perfect remedy.] &c. But all +these were only palliatives; for his advanced age precluded the hope of +a radical cure. His dreadful dreams became continually more appalling: +single scenes, or passages in these dreams, were sufficient to compose +the whole course of mighty tragedies, the impression from which was +so profound as to stretch far into his waking hours. Amongst other +phantasmata more shocking and indescribable, his dreams constantly +represented to him the forms of murderers advancing to his bedside; and +so agitated was he by the awful trains of phantoms that swept past him +nightly, that in the first confusion of awaking he generally mistook +his servant, who was hastening to his assistance, for a murderer. In the +day-time we often conversed upon these shadowy illusions; and Kant, with +his usual spirit of stoical contempt for nervous weakness of every sort, +laughed at them; and, to fortify his own resolution to contend against +them, he wrote down in his memorandum-book, 'There must be no yielding +to panics of darkness.' At my suggestion, however, he now burned a light +in his chamber, so placed as that the rays might be shaded from his +face. At first he was very averse to this, though gradually he became +reconciled to it. But that he could bear it at all, was to me an +expression of the great revolution accomplished by the terrific agency +of his dreams. Heretofore, darkness and utter silence were the two +pillars on which his sleep rested: no step must approach his room; +and as to light, if he saw but a moonbeam penetrating a crevice of +the shutters, it made him unhappy; and, in fact, the windows of his +bed-chamber were barricadoed night and day. But now darkness was a +terror to him, and silence an oppression. In addition to his lamp, +therefore, he had now a repeater in his room; the sound was at first too +loud, but, after muffling the hammer with cloth, both the ticking and +the striking became companionable sounds to him. + +At this time (spring of 1803) his appetite began to fail, which I +thought no good sign. Many persons insist that Kant was in the habit of +eating too much for health. [Footnote: Who these worthy people were +that criticised Kant's eating, is not mentioned. They could have had no +opportunity of exercising their abilities on this question, except +as hosts, guests, or fellow-guests; and in any of those characters, a +gentleman, one would suppose, must feel himself degraded by directing +his attention to a point of that nature. However, the merits of the +case stand thus between the parlies: Kant, it is agreed by all his +biographers, ate only once a day; for as to his breakfast, it was +nothing more than a very weak infusion of tea, (vide Jachmann's Letters, +p. 163,) with no bread, or eatable of any kind. Now, his critics, by +general confession, ate their way, from 'morn to dewy eve,' through +the following course of meals: 1. Breakfast early in the morning; 2. +Breakfast _ŕ la fourchette_ about ten, A.M.; 3. Dinner at one or two; +4. Vesper Brod; 5. Abend Brod; all which does really seem a very fair +allowance for a man who means to lecture upon abstinence at night. But +I shall cut this matter short by stating one plain fact; there were two +things, and no more, for which Kant had an inordinate craving during +his whole life; these were tobacco and coffee; and from both these +he abstained almost altogether, merely under a sense of duty, resting +probably upon erroneous grounds. Of the first he allowed himself a very +small quantity, (and everybody knows that temperance is a more difficult +virtue than abstinence;) of the other none at all, until the labors of +his life were accomplished.] I, however, cannot assent to this opinion; +for he ate but once a day, and drank no beer. Of this liquor, (I mean +the strong black beer,) he was, indeed, the most determined enemy. If +ever a man died prematurely, Kant would say--'He has been drinking beer, +I presume.' Or, if another were indisposed, you might be sure he would +ask, 'But does he drink beer?' And, according to the answer on this +point, he regulated his anticipations for the patient. Strong beer, in +short, he uniformly maintained to be a slow poison. Voltaire, by the +way, had said to a young physician who denounced coffee under the same +bad name of a 'slow poison,' 'You're right there, my friend, however; +slow it is, and horribly slow; for I have been drinking it these seventy +years, and it has not killed me yet;' but this was an answer which, in +the case of beer, Kant would not allow of. + +On the 22d of April, 1803, his birth-day, the last which he lived to +see, was celebrated in a full assembly of his friends. This festival he +had long looked forward to with great expectation, and delighted even +to hear the progress made in the preparations for it. But when the day +came, the over-excitement and tension of expectation seemed to have +defeated itself. He tried to appear happy; but the bustle of a numerous +company confounded and distressed him; and his spirits were manifestly +forced. He seemed first to revive to any real sense of pleasure at +night, when the company had departed, and he was undressing in his +study. He then talked with much pleasure about the presents which, as +usual, would be made to his servants on this occasion; for Kant was +never happy himself, unless he saw all around him happy. He was a great +maker of presents; but at the same time he had no toleration for the +studied theatrical effect, the accompaniment of formal congratulations, +and the sentimental pathos with which birth-day presents are made in +Germany. [Footnote: In this, as in many other things, the taste of Kant +was entirely English and Roman; as, on the other hand, some eminent +Englishmen, I am sorry to say, have, on this very point, shown the +effeminacy and _falsetto_ taste of the Germans. In particular, Mr. +Coleridge, describing, in The Friend, the custom amongst German children +of making presents to their parents on Christmas Eve, (a custom which +he unaccountably supposes to be peculiar to Ratzeburg,) represents the +mother as 'weeping aloud for joy'--the old idiot of a father with 'tears +running down his face,' &c. &c., and all for what? For a snuff-box, a +pencil-case, or some article of jewellery. Now, we English agree with +Kant on such maudlin display of stage sentimentality, and are prone to +suspect that papa's tears are the product of rum-punch. Tenderness +let us have by all means, and the deepest you can imagine, but upon +proportionate occasions, and with causes fitted to justify it and +sustain its dignity.] In all this, his masculine taste gave him a sense +of something fade and ludicrous. + +The summer of 1803 was now come, and, visiting Kant one day, I was +thunderstruck to hear him direct me, in the most serious tone, to +provide the funds necessary for an extensive foreign tour. I made +no opposition, but asked his reasons for such a plan; he alleged +the miserable sensations he had in his stomach, which were no longer +endurable. Knowing what power over Kant a quotation from a Roman poet +had always had, I simply replied--'Post equitem sedet atra cura,' +and for the present he said no more. But the touching and pathetic +earnestness with which he was continually ejaculating prayers for warmer +weather, made it doubtful to me whether his wishes on this point ought +not, partially at least, to be gratified; and I therefore proposed to +him a little excursion to the cottage we had visited the year before. +'Anywhere,' said he, 'no matter whither, provided it be far enough.' +Towards the latter end of June, therefore, we executed this scheme; +on getting into the carriage, the order of the day with Kant was, +'Distance, distance. Only let us go far enough,' said he: but scarcely +had we reached the city-gates before the journey seemed already to have +lasted too long. On reaching the cottage we found coffee waiting for +us; but he would scarcely allow himself time for drinking it, before +he ordered the carriage to the door; and the journey back seemed +insupportably long to him, though it was performed in something less +than twenty minutes. 'Is this never to have an end?' was his continual +exclamation; and great was his joy when he found himself once more in +his study, undressed, and in bed. And for this night he slept in peace, +and once again was liberated from the persecution of dreams. + +Soon after he began again to talk of journeys, of travels in remote +countries, &c., and, in consequence, we repeated our former excursion +several times; and though the circumstances were pretty nearly the same +on every occasion, and always terminating in disappointment as to the +immediate pleasure anticipated, yet, undoubtedly, they were, on the +whole, salutary to his spirits. In particular, the cottage itself, +standing under the shelter of tall alders, with a valley stretched +beneath it, through which a little brook meandered, broken by a +water-fall, whose pealing sound dwelt pleasantly on the ear, sometimes, +on a quiet sunny day, gave a lively delight to Kant: and once, under +accidental circumstances of summer clouds and sun-lights, the little +pastoral landscape suddenly awakened a lively remembrance which had been +long laid asleep, of a heavenly summer morning in youth, which he had +passed in a bower upon the banks of a rivulet that ran through the +grounds of a dear and early friend, Gen. Von Lossow. The strength of +the impression was such, that he seemed actually to be living over that +morning again, thinking as he then thought, and conversing with those +that were no more. + +His very last excursion was in August of this year, (1803,) not to my +cottage, but to the garden of a friend. But on this day he manifested +great impatience. It had been arranged that he was to meet an old +friend at the gardens; and I, with two other gentlemen, attended him. It +happened that _out_ party arrived first; and such was Kant's weakness, +and total loss of power to estimate the duration of time, that, after +waiting a few moments, he insisted that some hours had elapsed--that +his friend could not be expected--and went away in great discomposure of +mind. And so ended Kant's travelling in this world. + +In the beginning of autumn the sight of his right eye began to fail him; +the left he had long lost the use of. This earliest of his losses, +by the way, he discovered by mere accident, and without any previous +warning. Sitting down one day to rest himself in the course of a walk, +it occurred to him that he would try the comparative strength of his +eyes; but on taking out a newspaper which he had in his pocket, he was +surprised to find that with his left eye he could not distinguish a +letter. In earlier life he had two remarkable affections of the eyes: +once, on returning from a walk, he saw objects double for a long space +of time; and twice he became stone-blind. Whether these accidents are to +be considered as uncommon, I leave to the decision of oculists. Certain +it is, they gave very little disturbance to Kant; who, until old age had +reduced his powers, lived in a constant state of stoical preparation +for the worst that could befall him. I was now shocked to think of the +degree in which his burthensome sense of dependence would be aggravated, +if he should totally lose the power of sight. As it was, he read and +wrote with great difficulty: in fact, his writing was little better than +that which most people can produce as a trial of skill with their eyes +shut. From old habits of solitary study, he had no pleasure in +hearing others read to him; and he daily distressed me by the pathetic +earnestness of his entreaties that I would have a reading-glass devised +for him. Whatever my own optical skill could suggest, I tried; and +the best opticians were sent for to bring their glasses, and take his +directions for altering them; but all was to no purpose. + +In this last year of his life Kant very unwillingly received the +visits of strangers; and, unless under particular circumstances, wholly +declined them. Yet, when travellers had come a very great way out of +their road to see him, I confess that I was at a loss how to conduct +myself. To have refused too pertinaciously, could not but give me the +air of wishing to make myself of importance. And I must acknowledge, +that, amongst some instances of importunity and coarse expressions of +low-bred curiosity, I witnessed, on the part of many people of rank, +a most delicate sensibility to the condition of the aged recluse. On +sending in their cards, they would generally accompany them by some +message, expressive of their unwillingness to gratify their wish to see +him at any risk of distressing him. The fact was, that such visits _did_ +distress him much; for he felt it a degradation to be exhibited in his +helpless state, when he was aware of his own incapacity to meet properly +the attention that was paid to him. Some, however, were admitted, +[Footnote: To whom it appears that Kant would generally reply, upon +their expressing the pleasure it gave them to see him, 'In me you behold +a poor superannuated, weak, old man.'] according to the circumstances of +the case, and the state of Kant's spirits at the moment. Amongst these, +I remember that we were particularly pleased with M. Otto, the same who +signed the treaty of peace between France and England with the present +Lord Liverpool, (then Lord Hawkesbury.) A young Russian also rises to my +recollection at this moment, from the excessive (and I think unaffected) +enthusiasm which he displayed. On being introduced to Kant, he advanced +hastily, took both his hands, and kissed them. Kant, who, from living +so much amongst his English friends, had a good deal of the English +dignified reserve about him, and hated anything like _scenes_, appeared +to shrink a little from this mode of salutation, and was rather +embarrassed. However, the young man's manner, I believe, was not at all +beyond his genuine feelings; for next day he called again, made some +inquiries about Kant's health, was very anxious to know whether his old +age were burthensome to him, and above all things entreated for some +little memorial of the great man to carry away with him. By accident +the servant had found a small cancelled fragment of the original MS. of +Kant's 'Anthropologie:' this, with my sanction, he gave to the Russian; +who received it with rapture, kissed it, and then gave him in return the +only dollar he had about him; and, thinking that not enough, actually +pulled off his coat and waistcoat and forced them upon the man. Kant, +whose native simplicity of character very much indisposed him to +sympathy with any extravagances of feeling, could not, however, forbear +smiling good-humoredly on being made acquainted with this instance of +_naďveté_ and enthusiasm in his young admirer. + +I now come to an event in Kant's life, which ushered in its closing +stage. On the 8th of October, 1803, for the first time since his youth, +he was seriously ill. When a student at the University, he had once +suffered from an ague, which, however, gave way to pedestrian exercise; +and in later years, he had endured some pain from a contusion on his +head; but, with these two exceptions, (if they can be considered such,) +he had never (properly speaking) been ill. The cause of his illness was +this: his appetite had latterly been irregular, or rather I should +say depraved; and he no longer took pleasure in anything but bread +and butter, and English cheese.[Footnote: Mr. W. here falls into the +ordinary mistake of confounding the cause and the occasion, and would +leave the impression, that Kant (who from his youth up had been a model +of temperance) died of sensual indulgence. The cause of Kant's death +was clearly the general decay of the vital powers, and in particular the +atony of the digestive organs, which must soon have destroyed him under +any care or abstinence whatever. This was the cause. The accidental +occasion, which made that cause operative on the 7th of October, might +or might not be what Mr. W. says. But in Kant's burthensome state of +existence, it could not be a question of much importance whether his +illness were to commence in an October or a November.] On the 7th of +October, at dinner, he ate little else, in spite of everything that I +and another friend then dining with him, could urge to dissuade him. +And for the first time I fancied that he seemed displeased with my +importunity, as though I were overstepping the just line of my duties. +He insisted that the cheese never had done him any harm, nor would now. +I had no course left me but to hold my tongue; and he did as he pleased. +The consequence was what might have been anticipated--a restless night, +succeeded by a day of memorable illness. The next morning all went on +as usual, till nine o'clock, when Kant, who was then leaning on his +sister's arm, suddenly fell senseless to the ground. A messenger was +immediately despatched for me; and I hurried down to his house, where I +found him lying in his bed, which had now been removed into his study, +speechless and insensible. I had already summoned his physician; but, +before he arrived, nature put forth efforts which brought Kant a little +to himself. In about an hour he opened his eyes, and continued to mutter +unintelligibly till towards the evening, when he rallied a little, and +began to talk rationally. For the first time in his life, he was now, +for a few days, confined to his bed, and ate nothing. On the 12th +October, he again took some refreshment, and would have had his favorite +food; but I was now resolved, at any risk of his displeasure, to oppose +him firmly. I therefore stated to him the whole consequences of his last +indulgence, of all which he manifestly had no recollection. He listened +to what I said very attentively, and calmly expressed his conviction +that I was perfectly in the wrong; but for the present he submitted. +However, some days after, I found that he had offered a florin for a +little bread and cheese, and then a dollar, and even more. Being again +refused, he complained heavily; but gradually he weaned himself from +asking for it, though at times he betrayed involuntarily how much he +desired it. + +On the 13th of October, his usual dinner parties were resumed, and he +was considered convalescent; but it was seldom indeed that he recovered +the tone of tranquil spirits which he had preserved until his late +attack. Hitherto he had always loved to prolong this meal, the only one +he took--or, as he expressed it in classical phrase, 'coenam _ducere_;' +but now it was difficult to hurry it over fast enough for his wishes. +From dinner, which terminated about two o'clock, he went straight to +bed, and at intervals fell into slumbers; from which, however, he was +regularly awoke by phantasmata or terrific dreams. At seven in the +evening came on duly a period of great agitation, which lasted till five +or six in the morning--sometimes later; and he continued through the +night alternately to walk about and lie down, occasionally tranquil, +but more often in great distress. It now became necessary that somebody +should sit up with him, his man-servant being wearied out with the toils +of the day. No person seemed to be so proper for this office as his +sister, both as having long received a very liberal pension from him, +and also as his nearest relative, who would be the best witness to the +fact that her illustrious brother had wanted no comforts or attention +in his last hours, which his situation admitted of. Accordingly she was +applied to, and undertook to watch him alternately with his footman--a +separate table being kept for her, and a very handsome addition made +to her allowance. She turned out to be a quiet gentle-minded woman, who +raised no disturbances amongst the servants, and soon won her brother's +regard by the modest and retiring style of her manners; I may add, also, +by the truly sisterly affection which she displayed towards him to the +last. + +The 8th of October had grievously affected Kant's faculties, but had +not wholly destroyed them. For short intervals the clouds seemed to roll +away that had settled upon his majestic intellect, and it shone forth +as heretofore. During these moments of brief self-possession, his +wonted benignity returned to him; and he expressed his gratitude for +the exertions of those about him, and his sense of the trouble they +underwent, in a very affecting way. With regard to his man-servant in +particular, he was very anxious that he should be rewarded by liberal +presents; and he pressed me earnestly on no account to be parsimonious. +Indeed Kant was nothing less than princely in his use of money; and +there was no occasion on which he was known to express the passion of +scorn very powerfully, but when he was commenting on mean and penurious +acts or habits. Those who knew him only in the streets, fancied that he +was not liberal; for he steadily refused, upon principle, to relieve +all common beggars. But, on the other hand, he was liberal to the public +charitable institutions; he secretly assisted his own poor relations in +a much ampler way than could reasonably have been expected of him; and +it now appeared that he had many other deserving pensioners upon +his bounty; a fact that was utterly unknown to any of us, until his +increasing blindness and other infirmities devolved the duty of paying +these pensions upon myself. It must be recollected, also, that Kant's +whole fortune, which amounted to about twenty thousand dollars, was the +product of his own honorable toils for nearly threescore years; and +that he had himself suffered all the hardships of poverty in his youth, +though he never once ran into any man's debt,--circumstances in his +history, which, as they express how fully he must have been acquainted +with the value of money, greatly enhance the merit of his munificence. + +In December, 1803, he became incapable of signing his name. His sight, +indeed, had for some time failed him so much, that at dinner he could +not find his spoon without assistance; and, when I happened to dine with +him, I first cut in pieces whatever was on his plate, next put it into a +spoon, and then guided his hand to find the spoon. But his inability to +sign his name did not arise merely from blindness: the fact was, that, +from irretention of memory, he could not recollect the letters which +composed his name; and, when they were repeated to him, he could not +represent the figure of the letters in his imagination. At the latter +end of November, I had remarked that these incapacities were rapidly +growing upon him, and in consequence I prevailed on him to sign +beforehand all the receipts, &c., which would be wanted at the end +of the year; and, afterwards, on my representation, to prevent all +disputes, he gave me a regular legal power to sign on his behalf. + +Much as Kant was now reduced, yet he had occasionally moods of social +hilarity. His birth-day was always an agreeable subject to him: some +weeks before his death, I was calculating the time which it still +wanted of that anniversary, and cheering him with the prospect of the +rejoicings which would then take place: 'All your old friends,' said +I, 'will meet together, and drink a glass of champagne to your health.' +'That,' said he, 'must be done upon the spot:' and he was not satisfied +till the party was actually assembled. He drank a glass of wine with +them, and with great elevation of spirits celebrated this birth-day +which he was destined never to see. + +In the latter weeks of his life, however, a great change took place in +the tone of his spirits. At his dinner-table, where heretofore such a +cloudless spirit of joviality had reigned, there was now a melancholy +silence. It disturbed him to see his two dinner companions conversing +privately together, whilst he himself sat like a mute on the stage with +no part to perform. Yet to have engaged him in the conversation +would have been still more distressing; for his hearing was now very +imperfect; the effort to hear was itself painful to him; and his +expressions, even when his thoughts were accurate enough, became nearly +unintelligible. It is remarkable, however, that at the very lowest point +of his depression, when he became perfectly incapable of conversing with +any rational meaning on the ordinary affairs of life, he was still +able to answer correctly and distinctly, in a degree that was perfectly +astonishing, upon any question of philosophy or of science, especially +of physical geography, [Footnote: _Physical_ Geography, in opposition to +_Political_.] chemistry, or natural history. He talked satisfactorily, +in his very worst state, of the gases, and stated very accurately +different propositions of Kepler's, especially the law of the planetary +motions. And I remember in particular, that upon the very last Monday +of his life, when the extremity of his weakness moved a circle of his +friends to tears, and he sat amongst us insensible to all we could say +to him, cowering down, or rather I might say collapsing into a shapeless +heap upon his chair, deaf, blind, torpid, motionless,--even then I +whispered to the others that I would engage that Kant should take his +part in conversation with propriety and animation. This they found it +difficult to believe. Upon which I drew close to his ear, and put a +question to him about the Moors of Barbary. To the surprise of everybody +but myself, he immediately gave us a summary account of their habits +and customs; and told us by the way, that in the word _Algiers_, the _g_ +ought to be pronounced hard (as in the English word _gear_). + +During the last fortnight of Kant's life, he busied himself unceasingly +in a way that seemed not merely purposeless but self-contradictory. +Twenty times in a minute he would unloose and tie his neck +handkerchief--so also with a sort of belt which he wore about his +dressing-gown, the moment it was clasped, he unclasped it with +impatience, and was then equally impatient to have it clasped again. +But no description can convey an adequate impression of the weary +restlessness with which from morning to night he pursued these labors of +Sisyphus--doing and undoing--fretting that he could not do it, fretting +that he had done it. + +By this time he seldom knew any of us who were about him, but took us +all for strangers. This happened first with his sister, then with me, +and finally with his servant. Such an alienation distressed me more than +any other instance of his decay: though I knew that he had not really +withdrawn his affection from me, yet his air and mode of addressing me +gave me constantly that feeling. So much the more affecting was it, when +the sanity of his perceptions and his remembrances returned; but these +intervals were of slower and slower occurrence. In this condition, +silent or babbling childishly, self-involved and torpidly abstracted, or +else busy with self-created phantoms and delusions, what a contrast did +he offer to _that_ Kant who had once been the brilliant centre of +the most brilliant circles for rank, wit, or knowledge, that Prussia +afforded! A distinguished person from Berlin, who had called upon him +during the preceding summer, was greatly shocked at his appearance, and +said, 'This is not Kant that I have seen, but the shell of Kant!' How +much more would he have said this, if he had seen him now! + +Now came February, 1804, which was the last month that Kant was destined +to see. It is remarkable that, in the memorandum book which I have +before mentioned, I found a fragment of an old song, (inserted by Kant, +and dated in the summer about six months before the time of his death,) +which expressed that February was the month in which people had the +least weight to carry, for the obvious reason that it was shorter by two +and by three days than the others; and the concluding sentiment was in +a tone of fanciful pathos to this effect--'Oh, happy February! in which +man has least to bear--least pain, least sorrow, least self-reproach!' +Even of this short month, however, Kant had not twelve entire days to +bear; for it was on the 12th that he died; and in fact he may be said to +have been dying from the 1st. He now barely vegetated; though there were +still transitory gleams flashing by fits from the embers of his ancient +intellect. + +On the 3d of February the springs of life seemed to be ceasing from +their play, for, from this day, strictly speaking, he ate nothing more. +His existence henceforward seemed to be the mere prolongation of an +impetus derived from an eighty years' life, after the moving power of +the mechanism was withdrawn. His physician visited him every day at a +particular hour; and it was settled that I should always be there to +meet him. Nine days before his death, on paying his usual visit, the +following little circumstance occurred, which affected us both, by +recalling forcibly to our minds the ineradicable courtesy and goodness +of Kant's nature. When the physician was announced, I went up to Kant +and said to him, 'Here is Dr. A----.' Kant rose from his chair, and, +offering his hand to the Doctor, murmured something in which the word +'posts' was frequently repeated, but with an air as though he wished +to be helped out with the rest of the sentence. Dr. A----, who thought +that, by _posts_, he meant the stations for relays of post-horses, and +therefore that his mind was wandering, replied that all the horses were +engaged, and begged him to compose himself. But Kant went on, with +great effort to himself, and added--'Many posts, heavy posts--then +much goodness--then much gratitude.' All this he said with apparent +incoherence, but with great warmth, and increasing self-possession. I +meantime perfectly divined what it was that Kant, under his cloud of +imbecility, wished to say, and I interpreted accordingly. 'What the +Professor wishes to say, Dr. A----, is this, that, considering the many +and weighty offices which you fill in the city and in the university, +it argues great goodness on your part to give up so much of your time to +him,' (for Dr. A---- would never take any fees from Kant;) 'and that he +has the deepest sense of this goodness.' 'Right,' said Kant, earnestly, +'right!' But he still continued to stand, and was nearly sinking to +the ground. Upon which I remarked to the physician, that I was so +well acquainted with Kant, that I was satisfied he would not sit down, +however much he suffered from standing, until he knew that his visitors +were seated. The Doctor seemed to doubt this--but Kant, who heard what +I said, by a prodigious effort confirmed my construction of his conduct, +and spoke distinctly these words--'God forbid I should be sunk so low as +to forget the offices of humanity.' + +When dinner was announced, Dr. A---- took his leave. Another guest had +now arrived, and I was in hopes, from the animation which Kant had so +recently displayed, that we should to-day have a pleasant party, but +my hopes were vain--Kant was more than usually exhausted, and though +he raised a spoon to his mouth, he swallowed nothing. For some time +everything had been tasteless to him; and I had endeavored, but with +little success, to stimulate the organs of taste by nutmeg, cinnamon, +&c. To-day all failed, and I could not even prevail upon him to taste a +biscuit, rusk, or anything of that sort. I had once heard him say that +several of his friends, who had died of _marasmus_, had closed their +illness by four or five days of entire freedom from pain, but totally +without appetite, and then slumbered tranquilly away. Through this state +I apprehended that he was himself now passing. + +Saturday, the 4th of February, I heard his guests loudly expressing +their fears that they should never meet him again; and I could not but +share these fears myself. However, on + +Sunday, the 5th, I dined at his table in company with his particular +friend Mr. R. R. V. Kant was still present, but so weak that his head +drooped upon his knees, and he sank down against the right side of the +chair. I went and arranged his pillows so as to raise and support his +head; and, having done this, I said--'Now, my dear Sir, you are again in +right order.' Great was our astonishment when he answered clearly and +audibly in the Roman military phrase--'Yes, _testudine et facie;_' and +immediately after added, 'Ready for the enemy, and in battle array.' His +powers of mind were (if I may be allowed that expression) smouldering +away in their ashes; but every now and then some lambent flame, or grand +emanation of light, shot forth to make it evident that the ancient fire +still slumbered below. + +Monday, the 6th, he was much weaker and more torpid: he spoke not +a word, except on the occasion of my question about the Moors, as +previously stated, and sate with sightless eyes, lost in himself, and +manifesting no sense of our presence, so that we had the feeling of some +mighty shade or phantom from some forgotten century being seated amongst +us. + +About this time, Kant had become much more tranquil and composed. In +the earlier periods of his illness, when his yet unbroken strength was +brought into active contest with the first attacks of decay, he was +apt to be peevish, and sometimes spoke roughly or even harshly to his +servants. This, though very opposite to his natural disposition, was +altogether excusable under the circumstances. He could not make himself +understood: things were therefore brought to him continually which he +had not asked for; and often it happened that what he really wanted +he could not obtain, because all his efforts to name it were +unintelligible. A violent nervous irritation, besides, affected him +from the unsettling of the equilibrium in the different functions of +his nature; weakness in one organ being made more palpable to him by +disproportionate strength in another. But now the strife was over; +the whole system was at length undermined, and in rapid and harmonious +progress to dissolution. And from this time forward, no movement of +impatience, or expression of fretfulness, ever escaped him. + +I now visited him three times a-day; and on + +Tuesday, Feb. 7th, going about dinner-time, I found the usual party of +friends sitting down alone; for Kant was in bed. This was a new scene +in his house, and increased our fears that his end was now at hand. +However, having seen him rally so often, I would not run the risk of +leaving him without a dinner-party for the next day; and accordingly, at +the customary hour of one, we assembled in his house on + +Wednesday, Feb. 8th. I paid my respects to him as cheerfully as +possible, and ordered dinner to be served up. Kant sat at the table with +us; and, taking a spoon with a little soup in it, put it to his lips; +but immediately put it down again, and retired to bed, from which he +never rose again, except during the few minutes when it was re-arranged. + +Thursday, the 9th, he had sunk into the weakness of a dying person, +and the corpse-like appearance had already taken possession of him. I +visited him frequently through the day; and, going at ten o'clock at +night, I found him in a state of insensibility. I could not draw any +sign from him that he knew me, and I left him to the care of his sister +and his servant. + +Friday, the 10th, I went to see him at six o'clock in the morning. It +was very stormy, and a deep snow had fallen in the night-time. And, by +the way, I remember that a gang of house-breakers had forced their way +through the premises in order to reach Kant's next neighbor, who was a +goldsmith. As I drew near to his bed-side, I said, 'Good morning.' He +returned my salutation by saying, 'Good morning,' but in so feeble and +faltering a voice that it was hardly articulate. I was rejoiced to find +him sensible, and I asked him if he knew me:--'Yes,' he replied; and, +stretching out his hand, touched me gently upon the cheek. Through the +rest of the day, whenever I visited him, he seemed to have relapsed into +a state of insensibility. + +Saturday, the 11th, he lay with fixed and rayless eyes; but to all +appearance in perfect peace. I asked him again, on this day, if he knew +me. He was speechless, but he turned his face towards me and made signs +that I should kiss him. Deep emotion thrilled me, as I stooped down to +kiss his pallid lips; for I knew that in this solemn act of tenderness +he meant to express his thankfulness for our long friendship, and to +signify his affection and his last farewell. I had never seen him confer +this mark of his love upon anybody, except once, and that was a few +weeks before his death, when he drew his sister to him and kissed her. +The kiss which he now gave to me was the last memorial that he knew me. + +Whatever fluid was now offered to him passed the oesophagus with a +rattling sound, as often happens with dying people; and there were all +the signs of death being close at hand. + +I wished to stay with him till all was over; and as I had been witness +of his life, to be witness also of his departure; and therefore I never +quitted him except when I was called off for a few minutes to attend +some private business. The whole of this night I spent at his bed-side. +Though he had passed the day in a state of insensibility, yet in the +evening he made intelligible signs that he wished to have his bed put in +order; he was therefore lifted out in our arms, and the bed-clothes and +pillows being hastily arranged, he was carried back again. He did not +sleep; and a spoonful of liquid, which was sometimes put to his lips, he +usually pushed aside; but about one o'clock in the night he himself made +a motion towards the spoon, from which I collected that he was thirsty; +and I gave him a small quantity of wine and water sweetened; but the +muscles of his mouth had not strength enough to retain it, so that to +prevent its flowing back he raised his hand to his lips, until with +a rattling sound it was swallowed. He seemed to wish for more; and I +continued to give him more, until he said, in a way that I was just +able to understand,--'It is enough.' And these were his last words. +At intervals he pushed away the bed-clothes, and exposed his person; I +constantly restored the clothes to their situation, and on one of these +occasions I found that the whole body and extremities were already +growing cold, and the pulse intermitting. + +At a quarter after three o'clock on Sunday morning, February 12, Kant +stretched himself out as if taking a position for his final act, and +settled into the precise posture which he preserved to the moment of +death. The pulse was now no longer perceptible to the touch in his +hands, feet or neck. I tried every part where a pulse beats, and found +none anywhere but in the left hip, where it beat with violence, but +often intermitted. + +About ten o'clock in the forenoon he suffered a remarkable change; his +eye was rigid and his face and lips became discolored by a cadaverous +pallor. Still, such was the effect of his previous habits, that no trace +appeared of the cold sweat which naturally accompanies the last mortal +agony. + +It was near eleven o'clock when the moment of dissolution approached. +His sister was standing at the foot of the bed, his sister's son at +the head. I, for the purpose of still observing the fluctuations of the +pulse in his hip, was kneeling at the bed-side; and I called his servant +to come and witness the death of his good master. Now began the last +agony, if to him it could be called an agony, where there seemed to be +no struggle. And precisely at this moment, his distinguished friend, Mr. +R. R. V., whom I had summoned by a messenger, entered the room. First of +all, the breath grew feebler; then it missed its regularity of return; +then it wholly intermitted, and the upper lip was slightly convulsed; +after this there followed one slight respiration or sigh; and after that +no more; but the pulse still beat for a few seconds--slower and fainter, +till it ceased altogether; the mechanism stopped; the last motion was at +an end; and exactly at that moment the clock struck eleven. + +Soon after his death the head of Kant was shaved; and, under the +direction of Professor Knorr, a plaster cast was taken, not a masque +merely, but a cast of the whole bead, designed (I believe) to enrich the +craniological collection of Dr. Gall. + +The corpse being laid out and properly attired, immense numbers of +people of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, flocked to see it. +Everybody was anxious to make use of the last opportunity he would have +for entitling himself to say--'I too have seen Kant.' This went on for +many days--during which, from morning to night, the house was thronged +with the public. Great was the astonishment of all people at the +meagreness of Kant's appearance; and it was universally agreed that a +corpse so wasted and fleshless had never been beheld. His head rested +upon the same cushion on which once the gentlemen of the university had +presented an address to him; and I thought that I could not apply it to +a more honorable purpose than by placing it in the coffin, as the final +pillow of that immortal head. + +Upon the style and mode of his funeral, Kant had expressed his wishes in +earlier years in a separate memorandum. He there desired that it should +take place early in the morning, with as little noise and disturbance +as possible, and attended only by a few of his most intimate friends. +Happening to meet with this memorandum, whilst I was engaged at his +request in arranging his papers, I very frankly gave him my opinion, +that such an injunction would lay me, as the executor of his will, under +great embarrassments; for that circumstances might very probably arise +under which it would be next to impossible to carry it into effect. Upon +this Kant tore the paper, and left the whole to my own discretion. The +fact was, I foresaw that the students of the University would never +allow themselves to be robbed of this occasion for expressing their +veneration by a public funeral. The event showed that I was right; for +a funeral such as Kant's, one so solemn and so magnificent, the city of +Königsberg has never witnessed before or since. The public journals, and +separate accounts in pamphlets, etc., have given so minute an account of +its details, that I shall here notice only the heads of the ceremony. + +On the 28th of February, at two o'clock in the afternoon, all the +dignitaries of church and state, not only those resident in Königsberg, +but from the remotest parts of Prussia, assembled in the church of the +Castle. Hence they were escorted by the whole body of the University, +splendidly dressed for the occasion, and by many military officers of +rank, with whom Kant had always been a great favorite, to the house +of the deceased Professor; from which the corpse was carried by +torch-light, the bells of every church in Königsberg tolling, to the +Cathedral which was lit up by innumerable wax-lights. A never-ending +train of many thousand persons followed it on foot. In the Cathedral, +after the usual burial rites, accompanied with every possible expression +of national veneration to the deceased, there was a grand musical +service, most admirably performed, at the close of which Kant's mortal +remains were lowered into the academic vault, where he now rests among +the ancient patriarchs of the University. PEACE BE TO HIS DUST, AND +EVERLASTING HONOR! + + +END OF VOLUME II + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, by +Thomas De Quincey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS *** + +***** This file should be named 6148-8.txt or 6148-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/4/6148/ + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/6148-8.zip b/6148-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee54642 --- /dev/null +++ b/6148-8.zip diff --git a/6148-h.zip b/6148-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ed4204 --- /dev/null +++ b/6148-h.zip diff --git a/6148-h/6148-h.htm b/6148-h/6148-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d43a1a --- /dev/null +++ b/6148-h/6148-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15062 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers, by Thomas de Quincey. + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + .side { float: right; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; margin-left: 0.8em; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, by Thomas De Quincey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers + Volumes I and II, Complete + +Author: Thomas De Quincey + + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6148] +This file was first posted on November 19, 2002 +Last Updated: June 15, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS *** + + + + +Text file produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. + </h1> + <h2> + By Thomas De Quincey. + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>VOLUME I.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> THE HOUSEHOLD WRECK. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE SPANISH NUN. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> <b>VOLUME II</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD + ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> MODERN SUPERSTITION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> ON WAR. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + VOLUME I. + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE HOUSEHOLD WRECK. + </h2> + <p> + 'To be weak,' we need not the great archangel's voice to tell us, '<i>is + to be miserable</i>.' All weakness is suffering and humiliation, no matter + for its mode or its subject. Beyond all other weakness, therefore, and by + a sad prerogative, as more miserable than what is most miserable in all, + that capital weakness of man which regards the <i>tenure</i> of his + enjoyments and his power to protect, even for a moment, the crown of + flowers—flowers, at the best, how frail and few!—which + sometimes settles upon his haughty brow. There is no end, there never will + be an end, of the lamentations which ascend from earth and the rebellious + heart of her children, upon this huge opprobrium of human pride—the + everlasting mutabilities of all which man can grasp by his power or by his + aspirations, the fragility of all which he inherits, and the hollowness + visible amid the very raptures of enjoyment to every eye which looks for a + moment underneath the draperies of the shadowy <i>present</i>, the + hollowness, the blank treachery of hollowness, upon which all the pomps + and vanities of life ultimately repose. This trite but unwearying theme, + this impassioned common-place of humanity, is the subject in every age of + variation without end, from the poet, the rhetorician, the fabulist, the + moralist, the divine, and the philosopher. All, amidst the sad vanity of + their sighs and groans, labor to put on record and to establish this + monotonous complaint, which needs not other record or evidence than those + very sighs and groans. What is life? Darkness and formless vacancy for a + beginning, or something beyond all beginning—then next a dim lotos + of human consciousness, finding itself afloat upon the bosom of waters + without a shore—then a few sunny smiles and many tears—a + little love and infinite strife—whisperings from paradise and fierce + mockeries from the anarchy of chaos—dust and ashes—and once + more darkness circling round, as if from the beginning, and in this way + rounding or making an island of our fantastic existence,—<i>that</i> + is human life; <i>that</i> the inevitable amount of man's laughter and his + tears—of what he suffers and he does—of his motions this way + and that way—to the right or to the left—backwards or forwards—of + all his seeming realities and all his absolute negations—his shadowy + pomps and his pompous shadows—of whatsoever he thinks, finds, makes + or mars, creates or animates, loves, hates, or in dread hope anticipates;—so + it is, so it has been, so it will be, for ever and ever. + </p> + <p> + Yet in the lowest deep there still yawns a lower deep; and in the vast + halls of man's frailty, there are separate and more gloomy chambers of a + frailty more exquisite and consummate. We account it frailty that + threescore years and ten make the upshot of man's pleasurable existence, + and that, far before that time is reached, his beauty and his power have + fallen among weeds and forgetfulness. But there is a frailty, by + comparison with which this ordinary flux of the human race seems to have a + vast duration. Cases there are, and those not rare, in which a single + week, a day, an hour sweeps away all vestiges and landmarks of a memorable + felicity; in which the ruin travels faster than the flying showers upon + the mountain-side, faster 'than a musician scatters sounds;' in which 'it + was' and 'it is not' are words of the self-same tongue, in the self-same + minute; in which the sun that at noon beheld all sound and prosperous, + long before its setting hour looks out upon a total wreck, and sometimes + upon the total abolition of any fugitive memorial that there ever had been + a vessel to be wrecked, or a wreck to be obliterated. + </p> + <p> + These cases, though here spoken of rhetorically, are of daily occurrence; + and, though they may seem few by comparison with the infinite millions of + the species, they are many indeed, if they be reckoned absolutely for + themselves; and throughout the limits of a whole nation, not a day passes + over us but many families are robbed of their heads, or even swallowed up + in ruin themselves, or their course turned out of the sunny beams into a + dark wilderness. Shipwrecks and nightly conflagrations are sometimes, and + especially among some nations, wholesale calamities; battles yet more so; + earthquakes, the famine, the pestilence, though rarer, are visitations yet + wider in their desolation. Sickness and commercial ill-luck, if narrower, + are more frequent scourges. And most of all, or with most darkness in its + train, comes the sickness of the brain—lunacy—which, visiting + nearly one thousand in every million, must, in every populous nation, make + many ruins in each particular day. 'Babylon in ruins,' says a great + author, 'is not so sad a sight as a human soul overthrown by lunacy.' But + there is a sadder even than <i>that</i>,—the sight of a family-ruin + wrought by crime is even more appalling. Forgery, breaches of trust, + embezzlement, of private or public funds—(a crime sadly on the + increase since the example of Fauntleroy, and the suggestion of its great + feasibility first made by him)—these enormities, followed too often, + and countersigned for their final result to the future happiness of + families, by the appalling catastrophe of suicide, must naturally, in + every wealthy nation, or wherever property and the modes of property are + much developed, constitute the vast majority of all that come under the + review of public justice. Any of these is sufficient to make shipwreck of + all peace and comfort for a family; and often, indeed, it happens that the + desolation is accomplished within the course of one revolving sun; often + the whole dire catastrophe, together with its total consequences, is both + accomplished and made known to those whom it chiefly concerns within one + and the same hour. The mighty Juggernaut of social life, moving onwards + with its everlasting thunders, pauses not for a moment to spare—to + pity—to look aside, but rushes forward for ever, impassive as the + marble in the quarry—caring not for whom it destroys, for the how + many, or for the results, direct and indirect, whether many or few. The + increasing grandeur and magnitude of the social system, the more it + multiplies and extends its victims, the more it conceals them; and for the + very same reason: just as in the Roman amphitheatres, when they grew to + the magnitude of mighty cities, (in some instances accommodating four + hundred thousand spectators, in many a fifth part of that amount,) births + and deaths became ordinary events, which, in a small modern theatre, are + rare and memorable; and exactly as these prodigious accidents multiplied, + <i>pari passu</i>, they were disregarded and easily concealed: for + curiosity was no longer excited; the sensation attached to them was little + or none. + </p> + <p> + From these terrific tragedies, which, like monsoons or tornadoes, + accomplish the work of years in an hour, not merely an impressive lesson + is derived, sometimes, perhaps, a warning, but also (and this is of + universal application) some consolation. Whatever may have been the + misfortunes or the sorrows of a man's life, he is still privileged to + regard himself and his friends as amongst the fortunate by comparison, in + so far as he has escaped these wholesale storms, either as an actor in + producing them, or a contributor to their violence—or even more + innocently, (though oftentimes not less miserably)—as a participator + in the instant ruin, or in the long arrears of suffering which they + entail. + </p> + <p> + The following story falls within the class of hasty tragedies, and sudden + desolations here described. The reader is assured that every incident is + strictly true: nothing, in that respect, has been altered; nor, indeed, + anywhere except in the conversations, of which, though the results and + general outline are known, the separate details have necessarily been lost + under the agitating circumstances which produced them. It has been judged + right and delicate to conceal the name of the great city, and therefore of + the nation in which these events occurred, chiefly out of consideration + for the descendants of one person concerned in the narrative: otherwise, + it might not have been requisite: for it is proper to mention, that every + person directly a party to the case has been long laid in the grave: all + of them, with one solitary exception, upwards of fifty years. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + It was early spring in the year 17—; the day was the 6th of April; + and the weather, which had been of a wintry fierceness for the preceding + six or seven weeks—cold indeed beyond anything known for many years, + gloomy for ever, and broken by continual storms—was now by a Swedish + transformation all at once bright, genial, heavenly. So sudden and so + early a prelusion of summer, it was generally feared, could not last. But + that only made every body the more eager to lose no hour of an enjoyment + that might prove so fleeting. It seemed as if the whole population of the + place, a population among the most numerous in Christendom, had been + composed of hybernating animals suddenly awakened by the balmy sunshine + from their long winter's torpor. Through every hour of the golden morning + the streets were resonant with female parties of young and old, the timid + and the bold, nay, even of the most delicate valetudinarians, now first + tempted to lay aside their wintry clothing together with their fireside + habits, whilst the whole rural environs of our vast city, the woodlands, + and the interminable meadows began daily to re-echo the glad voices of the + young and jovial awaking once again, like the birds and the flowers, and + universal nature, to the luxurious happiness of this most delightful + season. + </p> + <p> + Happiness do I say? Yes, happiness; happiness to me above all others. For + I also in those days was among the young and the gay; I was healthy; I was + strong; I was prosperous in a worldly sense! I owed no man a shilling; + feared no man's face; shunned no man's presence. I held a respectable + station in society; I was myself, let me venture to say it, respected + generally for my personal qualities, apart from any advantages I might + draw from fortune or inheritance; I had reason to think myself popular + amongst the very slender circle of my acquaintance; and finally, which + perhaps was the crowning grace to all these elements of happiness, I + suffered not from the presence of <i>ennui</i>, nor ever feared to suffer: + for my temperament was constitutionally ardent; I had a powerful animal + sensibility; and I knew the one great secret for maintaining its + equipoise, viz., by powerful daily exercise; and thus I lived in the light + and presence, or, (if I should not be suspected of seeking rhetorical + expressions, I would say,) in one eternal solstice of unclouded hope. + </p> + <p> + These, you will say, were blessings; these were golden elements of + felicity. They were so; and yet, with the single exception of my healthy + frame and firm animal organization, I feel that I have mentioned hitherto + nothing but what by comparison might be thought of a vulgar quality. All + the other advantages that I have enumerated, had they been yet wanting, + might have been acquired; had they been forfeited, might have been + reconquered; had they been even irretrievably lost, might, by a + philosophic effort, have been dispensed with; compensations might have + been found for any of them, many equivalents, or if not, consolations at + least, for their absence. But now it remains to speak of other blessings + too mighty to be valued, not merely as transcending in rank and dignity + all other constituents of happiness, but for a reason far sadder than that—because, + once lost, they were incapable of restoration, and because not to be + dispensed with; blessings in which 'either we must live or have no life:' + lights to the darkness of our paths and to the infirmity of our steps—which, + once extinguished, never more on this side the gates of Paradise can any + man hope to see re-illumined for himself. Amongst these I may mention an + intellect, whether powerful or not in itself, at any rate most elaborately + cultivated; and, to say the truth, I had little other business before me + in this life than to pursue this lofty and delightful task. I may add, as + a blessing, not in the same <i>positive</i> sense as that which I have + just mentioned, because not of a nature to contribute so hourly to the + employment of the thoughts, but yet in this sense equal, that the absence + of either would have been an equal affliction,—namely, a conscience + void of all offence. It was little indeed that I, drawn by no necessities + of situation into temptations of that nature, had done no injury to any + man. That was fortunate; but I could not much value myself upon what was + so much an accident of my situation. Something, however, I might pretend + to beyond this <i>negative</i> merit; for I had originally a benign + nature; and, as I advanced in years and thoughtfulness, the gratitude + which possessed me for my own exceeding happiness led me to do that by + principle and system which I had already done upon blind impulse; and thus + upon a double argument I was incapable of turning away from the prayer of + the afflicted, whatever had been the sacrifice to myself. Hardly, perhaps, + could it have been said in a sufficient sense at that time that I was a + religious man: yet, undoubtedly, I had all the foundations within me upon + which religion might hereafter have grown. My heart overflowed with + thankfulness to Providence: I had a natural tone of unaffected piety; and + thus far, at least, I might have been called a religious man, that in the + simplicity of truth I could have exclaimed, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'O, Abner, I fear God, and I fear none beside.' +</pre> + <p> + But wherefore seek to delay ascending by a natural climax to that final + consummation and perfect crown of my felicity—that almighty blessing + which ratified their value to all the rest? Wherefore, oh! wherefore do I + shrink in miserable weakness from—what? Is it from reviving, from + calling up again into fierce and insufferable light the images and + features of a long-buried happiness? That would be a natural shrinking and + a reasonable weakness. But how escape from reviving, whether I give it + utterance or not, that which is for ever vividly before me? What need to + call into artificial light that which, whether sleeping or waking, by + night or by day, for eight-and-thirty years has seemed by its miserable + splendor to scorch my brain? Wherefore shrink from giving language, simple + vocal utterance, to that burden of anguish which by so long an endurance + has lost no atom of its weight, nor can gain any most surely by the + loudest publication? Need there can be none, after this, to say that the + priceless blessing, which I have left to the final place in this ascending + review, was the companion of my life—my darling and youthful wife. + Oh! dovelike woman! fated in an hour the most defenceless to meet with the + ravening vulture,—lamb fallen amongst wolves,—trembling—fluttering + fawn, whose path was inevitably to be crossed by the bloody tiger;—angel, + whose most innocent heart fitted thee for too early a flight from this + impure planet; if indeed it were a necessity that thou shouldst find no + rest for thy footing except amidst thy native heavens, if indeed to leave + what was not worthy of thee were a destiny not to be evaded—a + summons not to be put by,—yet why, why, again and again I demand—why + was it also necessary that this, thy departure, so full of wo to me, + should also to thyself be heralded by the pangs of martyrdom? Sainted + love, if, like the ancient children of the Hebrews, like Meshech and + Abednego, thou wert called by divine command, whilst yet almost a child, + to walk, and to walk alone, through the fiery furnace,—wherefore + then couldst not thou, like that Meshech and that Abednego, walk unsinged + by the dreadful torment, and come forth unharmed? Why, if the sacrifice + were to be total, was it necessary to reach it by so dire a struggle? and + if the cup, the bitter cup, of final separation from those that were the + light of thy eyes and the pulse of thy heart might not be put aside,—yet + wherefore was it that thou mightest not drink it up in the natural peace + which belongs to a sinless heart? + </p> + <p> + But these are murmurings, you will say, rebellious murmurings against the + proclamations of God. Not so: I have long since submitted myself, resigned + myself, nay, even reconciled myself, perhaps, to the great wreck of my + life, in so far as it was the will of God, and according to the weakness + of my imperfect nature. But my wrath still rises, like a towering flame, + against all the earthly instruments of this ruin; I am still at times as + unresigned as ever to this tragedy, in so far as it was the work of human + malice. Vengeance, as a mission for <i>me</i>, as a task for <i>my</i> + hands in particular, is no longer possible; the thunderbolts of + retribution have been long since launched by other hands; and yet still it + happens that at times I do—I must—I shall perhaps to the hour + of death, rise in maniac fury, and seek, in the very impotence of + vindictive madness, groping as it were in blindness of heart, for that + tiger from hell-gates that tore away my darling from my heart. Let me + pause, and interrupt this painful strain, to say a word or two upon what + she was—and how far worthy of a love more honorable to her (that was + possible) and deeper (but that was not possible) than mine. When first I + saw her, she—my Agnes—was merely a child, not much (if + anything) above sixteen. But, as in perfect womanhood she retained a most + childlike expression of countenance, so even then in absolute childhood + she put forward the blossoms and the dignity of a woman. Never yet did my + eye light upon creature that was born of woman, nor could it enter my + heart to conceive one, possessing a figure more matchless in its + proportions, more statuesque, and more deliberately and advisedly to be + characterized by no adequate word but the word <i>magnificent</i>, (a word + too often and lightly abused.) In reality, speaking of women, I have seen + many beautiful figures, but hardly one except Agnes that could, without + hyperbole, be styled truly and memorably magnificent. Though in the first + order of tall women, yet, being full in person, and with a symmetry that + was absolutely faultless, she seemed to the random sight as little above + the ordinary height. Possibly from the dignity of her person, assisted by + the dignity of her movements, a stranger would have been disposed to call + her at a distance a woman of <i>commanding</i> presence; but never, after + he had approached near enough to behold her face. Every thought of + artifice, of practised effect, or of haughty pretension, fled before the + childlike innocence, the sweet feminine timidity, and the more than cherub + loveliness of that countenance, which yet in its lineaments was noble, + whilst its expression was purely gentle and confiding. A shade of + pensiveness there was about her; but <i>that</i> was in her manners, + scarcely ever in her features; and the exquisite fairness of her + complexion, enriched by the very sweetest and most delicate bloom that + ever I have beheld, should rather have allied it to a tone of + cheerfulness. Looking at this noble creature, as I first looked at her, + when yet upon the early threshold of womanhood + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'With household motions light and free, + And steps of virgin liberty' +</pre> + <p> + you might have supposed her some Hebe or young Aurora of the dawn. When + you saw only her superb figure, and its promise of womanly development, + with the measured dignity of her step, you might for a moment have fancied + her some imperial Medea of the Athenian stage—some Volumnia from + Rome, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Or ruling bandit's wife amidst the Grecian isles.' + + But catch one glance from her angelic countenance—and then combining +the face and the person, you would have dismissed all such fancies, and +have pronounced her a Pandora or an Eve, expressly accomplished and held +forth by nature as an exemplary model or ideal pattern for the future +female sex:— + + 'A perfect woman, nobly plann'd, + To warm, to comfort, to command: + And yet a spirit too, and bright + With something of an angel light.' +</pre> + <p> + To this superb young woman, such as I have here sketched her, I + surrendered my heart for ever, almost from my first opportunity of seeing + her: for so natural and without disguise was her character, and so winning + the simplicity of her manners, due in part to her own native dignity of + mind, and in part to the deep solitude in which she had been reared, that + little penetration was required to put me in possession of all her + thoughts; and to win her love, not very much more than to let her see, as + see she could not avoid, in connection with that chivalrous homage which + at any rate was due to her sex and her sexual perfections, a love for + herself on my part, which was in its nature as exalted a passion and as + profoundly rooted as any merely human affection can ever yet have been. + </p> + <p> + On the seventeenth birthday of Agnes we were married. Oh! calendar of + everlasting months—months that, like the mighty rivers, shall flow + on for ever, immortal as thou, Nile, or Danube, Euphrates, or St. + Lawrence! and ye, summer and winter, day and night, wherefore do you bring + round continually your signs, and seasons, and revolving hours, that still + point and barb the anguish of local recollections, telling me of this and + that celestial morning that never shall return, and of too blessed + expectations, travelling like yourselves through a heavenly zodiac of + changes, till at once and for ever they sank into the grave! Often do I + think of seeking for some quiet cell either in the Tropics or in Arctic + latitudes, where the changes of the year, and the external signs + corresponding to them, express themselves by no features like those in + which the same seasons are invested under our temperate climes: so that, + if knowing, we cannot at least feel the identity of their revolutions. We + were married, I have said, on the birthday—the seventeenth birthday—of + Agnes; and pretty nearly on her eighteenth it was that she placed me at + the summit of my happiness, whilst for herself she thus completed the + circle of her relations to this life's duties, by presenting me with a + son. Of this child, knowing how wearisome to strangers is the fond + exultation of parents, I shall simply say, that he inherited his mother's + beauty; the same touching loveliness and innocence of expression, the same + chiselled nose, mouth, and chin, the same exquisite auburn hair. In many + other features, not of person merely, but also of mind and manners, as + they gradually began to open before me, this child deepened my love to him + by recalling the image of his mother; and what other image was there that + I so much wished to keep before me, whether waking or asleep? At the time + to which I am now coming but too rapidly, this child, still our only one, + and unusually premature, was within four months of completing his third + year; consequently Agnes was at that time in her twenty-first year; and I + may here add, with respect to myself, that I was in my twenty-sixth. + </p> + <p> + But, before I come to that period of wo, let me say one word on the temper + of mind which so fluent and serene a current of prosperity may be thought + to have generated. Too common a course I know it is, when the stream of + life flows with absolute tranquillity, and ruffled by no menace of a + breeze—the azure overhead never dimmed by a passing cloud, that in + such circumstances the blood stagnates: life, from excess and plethora of + sweets, becomes insipid: the spirit of action droops: and it is oftentimes + found at such seasons that slight annoyances and molestations, or even + misfortunes in a lower key, are not wholly undesirable, as means of + stimulating the lazy energies, and disturbing a slumber which is, or soon + will be, morbid in its character. I have known myself cases not a few, + where, by the very nicest gradations, and by steps too silent and + insensible for daily notice, the utmost harmony and reciprocal love had + shaded down into fretfulness and petulance, purely from too easy a life, + and because all nobler agitations that might have ruffled the sensations + occasionally, and all distresses even on the narrowest scale that might + have re-awakened the solicitudes of love, by opening necessities for + sympathy, for counsel, or for mutual aid, had been shut out by foresight + too elaborate, or by prosperity too cloying. But all this, had it + otherwise been possible with my particular mind, and at my early age, was + utterly precluded by one remarkable peculiarity in my temper. Whether it + were that I derived from nature some jealousy and suspicion of all + happiness which seems too perfect and unalloyed—[a spirit of + restless distrust, which in ancient times often led men to throw valuable + gems into the sea, in the hope of thus propitiating the dire deity of + misfortune, by voluntarily breaking the fearful chain of prosperity, and + led some of them to weep and groan when the gems thus sacrificed were + afterwards brought back to their hand by simple fishermen, who had + recovered them in the intestines of fishes—a portentous omen, which + was interpreted into a sorrowful indication that the deity thus answered + the propitiatory appeal, and made solemn proclamation that he had rejected + it]—whether, I say, it were this spirit of jealousy awaked in me by + too steady and too profound a felicity—or whether it were that great + overthrows and calamities have some mysterious power to send forward a dim + misgiving of their advancing footsteps, and really and indeed, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'That in to-day already walks to-morrow;' +</pre> + <p> + or whether it were partly, as I have already put the case in my first + supposition, a natural instinct of distrust, but irritated and enlivened + by a particular shock of superstitious alarm; which, or whether any of + these causes it were that kept me apprehensive, and on the watch for + disastrous change, I will not here undertake to determine. Too certain it + is that I was so. I never ridded myself of an over-mastering and brooding + sense, shadowy and vague, a dim abiding feeling (that sometimes was and + sometimes was not exalted into a conscious presentiment) of some great + calamity travelling towards me; not perhaps immediately impending—perhaps + even at a great distance; but already—dating from some secret hour—already + in motion upon some remote line of approach. This feeling I could not + assuage by sharing it with Agnes. No motive could be strong enough for + persuading me to communicate so gloomy a thought with one who, considering + her extreme healthiness, was but too remarkably prone to pensive, if not + to sorrowful, contemplations. And thus the obligation which I felt to + silence and reserve, strengthened the morbid impression I had received; + whilst the remarkable incident I have adverted to served powerfully to + rivet the superstitious chain which was continually gathering round me. + The incident was this—and before I repeat it, let me pledge my word + of honor, that I report to you the bare facts of the case, without + exaggeration, and in the simplicity of truth:—There was at that time + resident in the great city, which is the scene of my narrative, a woman, + from some part of Hungary, who pretended to the gift of looking into + futurity. She had made herself known advantageously in several of the + greatest cities of Europe, under the designation of the Hungarian + Prophetess; and very extraordinary instances were cited amongst the + highest circles of her success in the art which she professed. So ample + were the pecuniary tributes which she levied upon the hopes and the fears, + or the simple curiosity of the aristocracy, that she was thus able to + display not unfrequently a disinterestedness and a generosity, which + seemed native to her disposition, amongst the humbler classes of her + applicants; for she rejected no addresses that were made to her, provided + only they were not expressed in levity or scorn, but with sincerity, and + in a spirit of confiding respect. It happened, on one occasion, when a + nursery-servant of ours was waiting in her anteroom for the purpose of + taking her turn in consulting the prophetess professionally, that she had + witnessed a scene of consternation and unaffected maternal grief in this + Hungarian lady upon the sudden seizure of her son, a child of four or five + years old, by a spasmodic inflammation of the throat (since called croup) + peculiar to children, and in those days not very well understood by + medical men. The poor Hungarian, who had lived chiefly in warm, or at + least not damp, climates, and had never so much as heard of this + complaint, was almost wild with alarm at the rapid increase of the + symptoms which attend the paroxysms, and especially of that loud and + distressing sound which marks the impeded respiration. Great, therefore, + was her joy and gratitude on finding from our servant that she had herself + been in attendance more than once upon cases of the same nature, but very + much more violent,—and that, consequently, she was well qualified to + suggest and to superintend all the measures of instant necessity, such as + the hot-bath, the peculiar medicines, &c., which are almost sure of + success when applied in an early stage. Staying to give her assistance + until a considerable improvement had taken place in the child, our servant + then hurried home to her mistress. Agnes, it may be imagined, dispatched + her back with such further and more precise directions as in a very short + time availed to re-establish the child in convalescence. These practical + services, and the messages of maternal sympathy repeatedly conveyed from + Agnes, had completely won the heart of the grateful Hungarian, and she + announced her intention of calling with her little boy, to make her + personal acknowledgments for the kindness which had been shown to her. She + did so, and we were as much impressed by the sultana-like style of her + Oriental beauty, as she, on her part, was touched and captivated by the + youthful loveliness of my angelic wife. After sitting for above an hour, + during which time she talked with a simplicity and good feeling that + struck us as remarkable in a person professing an art usually connected + with so much of conscious fraud, she rose to take her leave. I must + mention that she had previously had our little boy sitting on her knee, + and had at intervals thrown a hasty glance upon the palms of his hands. On + parting, Agnes, with her usual frankness, held out her hand. The Hungarian + took it with an air of sad solemnity, pressed it fervently, and said:—'Lady, + it is my part in this life to look behind the curtain of fate; and + oftentimes I see such sights in futurity—some near, some far off—as + willingly I would <i>not</i> see. For you, young and charming lady, + looking like that angel which you are, no destiny can be equal to your + deserts. Yet sometimes, true it is, God sees not as man sees; and he + ordains, after his unfathomable counsels, to the heavenly-minded a portion + in heaven, and to the children whom he loves a rest and a haven not built + with hands. Something that I have seen dimly warns me to look no farther. + Yet, if you desire it, I will do my office, and I will read for you with + truth the lines of fate as they are written upon your hands.' Agnes was a + little startled, or even shocked, by this solemn address; but, in a minute + or so, a mixed feeling—one half of which was curiosity, and the + other half a light-hearted mockery of her own mysterious awe in the + presence of what she had been taught to view as either fraud or insanity—prompted + her playfully to insist upon the fullest application of the Hungarian's + art to her own case; nay, she would have the hands of our little Francis + read and interpreted as well as her own, and she desired to hear the full + professional judgment delivered without suppression or softening of its + harshest awards. She laughed whilst she said all this; but she also + trembled a little. The Hungarian first took the hand of our young child, + and perused it with a long and steady scrutiny. She said nothing, but + sighed heavily as she resigned it. She then took the hand of Agnes—looked + bewildered and aghast—then gazed piteously from Agnes to her child—and + at last, bursting into tears, began to move steadily out of the room. I + followed her hastily, and remonstrated upon this conduct, by pointing her + attention to the obvious truth—that these mysterious suppressions + and insinuations, which left all shadowy and indistinct, were far more + alarming than the most definite denunciations. Her answer yet rings in my + ear:—'Why should I make myself odious to you and to your innocent + wife? Messenger of evil I am, and have been to many; but evil I will not + prophecy to her. Watch and pray! Much may be done by effectual prayer. + Human means, fleshly arms, are vain. There is an enemy in the house of + life,' [here she quitted her palmistry for the language of astrology;] + 'there is a frightful danger at hand, both for your wife and your child. + Already on that dark ocean, over which we are all sailing, I can see dimly + the point at which the enemy's course shall cross your wife's. There is + but little interval remaining—not many hours. All is finished; all + is accomplished; and already he is almost up with the darlings of your + heart. Be vigilant, be vigilant, and yet look not to yourself, but to + Heaven, for deliverance.' + </p> + <p> + This woman was not an impostor: she spoke and uttered her oracles under a + wild sense of possession by some superior being, and of mystic compulsion + to say what she would have willingly left unsaid; and never yet, before or + since, have I seen the light of sadness settle with so solemn an + expression into human eyes as when she dropped my wife's hand, and refused + to deliver that burden of prophetic wo with which she believed herself to + be inspired. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The prophetess departed; and what mood of mind did she leave behind her +in Agnes and myself? Naturally there was a little drooping of spirits +at first; the solemnity and the heart-felt sincerity of fear and grief +which marked her demeanor, made it impossible, at the moment when we +were just fresh from their natural influences, that we should recoil +into our ordinary spirits. But with the inevitable elasticity of youth +and youthful gaiety we soon did so; we could not attempt to persuade +ourselves that there had been any conscious fraud or any attempt at +scenical effect in the Hungarian's conduct. She had no motive for +deceiving us; she had refused all offerings of money, and her whole +visit had evidently been made under an overflow of the most grateful +feelings for the attentions shown to her child. We acquitted her, +therefore, of sinister intentions; and with our feelings of jealousy, +feelings in which we had been educated, towards everything that tended +to superstition, we soon agreed to think her some gentle maniac or sad +enthusiast, suffering under some form of morbid melancholy. Forty-eight +hours, with two nights' sleep, sufficed to restore the wonted +equilibrium of our spirits; and that interval brought us onwards to +the 6th of April—the day on which, as I have already said, my story +properly commences. + + On that day, on that lovely 6th of April, such as I have described it, +that 6th of April, about nine o'clock in the morning, we were seated at +breakfast near the open window—we, that is, Agnes, myself, and little +Francis; the freshness of morning spirits rested upon us; the golden +light of the morning sun illuminated the room; incense was floating +through the air from the gorgeous flowers within and without the house; +there in youthful happiness we sat gathered together, a family of +love, and there we never sat again. Never again were we three gathered +together, nor ever shall be, so long as the sun and its golden +light—the morning and the evening—the earth and its flowers endure. +</pre> + <p> + Often have I occupied myself in recalling every circumstance the most + trivial of this the final morning of what merits to be called my life. + Eleven o'clock, I remember, was striking when Agnes came into my study, + and said that she would go into the city, (for we lived in a quite rural + suburb,) that she would execute some trifling commissions which she had + received from a friend in the country, and would be at home again between + one and two for a stroll which we had agreed to take in the neighboring + meadows. About twenty minutes after this she again came into my study + dressed for going abroad; for such was my admiration of her, that I had a + fancy—fancy it must have been, and yet still I felt it to be real—that + under every change she looked best; if she put on a shawl, then a shawl + became the most feminine of ornaments; if she laid aside her shawl and her + bonnet, then how nymph-like she seemed in her undisguised and unadorned + beauty! Full-dress seemed for the time to be best, as bringing forward + into relief the splendor of her person, and allowing the exposure of her + arms; a simple morning-dress, again, seemed better still, as fitted to + call out the childlike innocence of her face, by confining the attention + to that. But all these are feelings of fond and blind affection, hanging + with rapture over the object of something too like idolatry. God knows, if + that be a sin, I was but too profound a sinner; yet sin it never was, sin + it could not be, to adore a beauty such as thine, my Agnes. Neither was it + her beauty by itself, and that only, which I sought at such times to + admire; there was a peculiar sort of double relation in which she stood at + moments of pleasurable expectation and excitement, since our little + Francis had become of an age to join our party, which made some aspects of + her character trebly interesting. She was a wife—and wife to one + whom she looked up to as her superior in understanding and in knowledge of + the world, whom, therefore, she leaned to for protection. On the other + hand, she was also a mother. Whilst, therefore, to her child she supported + the matronly part of guide, and the air of an experienced person; to me + she wore, ingenuously and without disguise, the part of a child herself, + with all the giddy hopes and unchastised imaginings of that buoyant age. + This double character, one aspect of which looks towards her husband and + one to her children, sits most gracefully upon many a young wife whose + heart is pure and innocent; and the collision between the two separate + parts imposed by duty on the one hand, by extreme youth on the other, the + one telling her that she is a responsible head of a family and the + depository of her husband's honor in its tenderest and most vital + interests, the other telling her, through the liveliest language of animal + sensibility, and through the very pulses of her blood, that she is herself + a child; this collision gives an inexpressible charm to the whole demeanor + of many a young married woman, making her other fascinations more touching + to her husband, and deepening the admiration she excites; and the more so, + as it is a collision which cannot exist except among the very innocent. + Years, at any rate, will irresistibly remove this peculiar charm, and + gradually replace it by the graces of the matronly character. But in Agnes + this change had not yet been effected, partly from nature, and partly from + the extreme seclusion of her life. Hitherto she still retained the + unaffected expression of her childlike nature; and so lovely in my eyes + was this perfect exhibition of natural feminine character, that she rarely + or never went out alone upon any little errand to town which might require + her to rely upon her own good sense and courage, that she did not + previously come to exhibit herself before me. Partly this was desired by + me in that lover-like feeling of admiration already explained, which leads + one to court the sight of a beloved object under every change of dress, + and under all effects of novelty. Partly it was the interest I took in + that exhibition of sweet timidity, and almost childish apprehensiveness, + half disguised or imperfectly acknowledged by herself, which (in the way I + have just explained) so touchingly contrasted with (and for that very + reason so touchingly drew forth) her matronly character. But I hear some + objector say at this point, ought not this very timidity, founded (as in + part at least it was) upon inexperience and conscious inability to face + the dangers of the world, to have suggested reasons for not leaving her to + her own protection? And does it not argue, on my part, an arrogant or too + blind a confidence in the durability of my happiness, as though charmed + against assaults, and liable to no shocks of sudden revolution? I reply + that, from the very constitution of society, and the tone of manners in + the city which we inhabited, there seemed to be a moral impossibility that + any dangers of consequence should meet her in the course of those brief + absences from my protection, which only were possible; that even to + herself any dangers, of a nature to be anticipated under the known + circumstances of the case, seemed almost imaginary; that even <i>she</i> + acknowledged a propriety in being trained, by slight and brief separations + from my guardianship, to face more boldly those cases of longer separation + and of more absolute consignment to her own resources which circumstances + might arise to create necessarily, and perhaps abruptly. And it is evident + that, had she been the wife of any man engaged in the duties of a + profession, she might have been summoned from the very first, and without + the possibility of any such gradual training, to the necessity of relying + almost singly upon her own courage and discretion. For the other question, + whether I did not depend too blindly and presumptuously upon my good luck + in not at least affording her my protection so long as nothing occurred to + make it impossible? I may reply, most truly, that all my feelings ran + naturally in the very opposite channel. So far from confiding too much in + my luck, in the present instance I was engaged in a task of writing upon + some points of business which could not admit of further delay; but now, + and at all times, I had a secret aversion to seeing so gentle a creature + thrown even for an hour upon her own resources, though in situations which + scarcely seemed to admit of any occasion for taxing those resources; and + often I have felt anger towards myself for what appeared to be an + irrational or effeminate timidity, and have struggled with my own mind + upon occasions like the present, when I knew that I could not have + acknowledged my tremors to a friend without something like shame, and a + fear to excite his ridicule. No; if in anything I ran into excess, it was + in this very point of anxiety as to all that regarded my wife's security. + Her good sense, her prudence, her courage, (for courage she had in the + midst of her timidity,) her dignity of manner, the more impressive from + the childlike character of her countenance, all should have combined to + reassure me, and yet they did not. I was still anxious for her safety to + an irrational extent; and to sum up the whole in a most weighty line of + Shakspeare, I lived under the constant presence of a feeling which only + that great observer of human nature (so far as I am aware) has ever + noticed, viz., that merely the excess of my happiness made me jealous of + its ability to last, and in that extent less capable of enjoying it; that + in fact the prelibation of my tears, as a homage to its fragility, was + drawn forth by my very sense that my felicity was too exquisite; or, in + the words of the great master + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'I wept to have' [absolutely, by anticipation, shed tears in + possessing] 'what I so feared to lose.' +</pre> + <p> + Thus end my explanations, and I now pursue my narrative: Agnes, as I have + said, came into my room again before leaving the house—we conversed + for five minutes—we parted—she went out—her last words + being that she would return at half-past one o'clock; and not long after + that time, if ever mimic bells—bells of rejoicing, or bells of + mourning, are heard in desert spaces of the air, and (as some have said) + in unreal worlds, that mock our own, and repeat, for ridicule, the vain + and unprofitable motions of man, then too surely, about this hour, began + to toll the funeral knell of my earthly happiness—its final hour had + sounded. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + One o'clock had arrived; fifteen minutes after, I strolled into the + garden, and began to look over the little garden-gate in expectation of + every moment descrying Agnes in the distance. Half an hour passed, and for + ten minutes more I was tolerably quiet. From this time till half-past two + I became constantly more agitated—<i>agitated,</i> perhaps, is too + strong a word—but I was restless and anxious beyond what I should + have chosen to acknowledge. Still I kept arguing, What is half an hour? + what is an hour? A thousand things might have occurred to cause that + delay, without needing to suppose any accident; or, if an accident, why + not a very trifling one? She may have slightly hurt her foot—she may + have slightly sprained her ankle. 'Oh, doubtless,' I exclaimed to myself, + 'it will be a mere trifle, or perhaps nothing at all.' But I remember + that, even whilst I was saying this, I took my hat and walked with nervous + haste into the little quiet lane upon which our garden-gate opened. The + lane led by a few turnings, and after a course of about five hundred + yards, into a broad high-road, which even at that day had begun to assume + the character of a street, and allowed an unobstructed range of view in + the direction of the city for at least a mile. Here I stationed myself, + for the air was so clear that I could distinguish dress and figure to a + much greater distance than usual. Even on such a day, however, the remote + distance was hazy and indistinct, and at any other season I should have + been diverted with the various mistakes I made. From occasional + combinations of color, modified by light and shade, and of course + powerfully assisted by the creative state of the eye under this nervous + apprehensiveness, I continued to shape into images of Agnes forms without + end, that upon nearer approach presented the most grotesque contrasts to + her impressive appearance. But I had ceased even to comprehend the + ludicrous; my agitation was now so overruling and engrossing that I lost + even my intellectual sense of it; and now first I understood practically + and feelingly the anguish of hope alternating with disappointment, as it + may be supposed to act upon the poor shipwrecked seaman, alone and upon a + desolate coast, straining his sight for ever to the fickle element which + has betrayed him, but which only can deliver him, and with his eyes still + tracing in the far distance, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Ships, dim-discover'd, dropping from the clouds,'— +</pre> + <p> + which a brief interval of suspense still for ever disperses into hollow + pageants of air or vapor. One deception melted away only to be succeeded + by another; still I fancied that at last to a certainty I could descry the + tall figure of Agnes, her gipsy hat, and even the peculiar elegance of her + walk. Often I went so far as to laugh at myself, and even to tax my recent + fears with unmanliness and effeminacy, on recollecting the audible + throbbings of my heart, and the nervous palpitations which had besieged + me; but these symptoms, whether effeminate or not, began to come back + tumultuously under the gloomy doubts that succeeded almost before I had + uttered this self-reproach. Still I found myself mocked and deluded with + false hopes; yet still I renewed my quick walk, and the intensity of my + watch for that radiant form that was fated never more to be seen returning + from the cruel city. + </p> + <p> + It was nearly half-past three, and therefore close upon two hours beyond + the time fixed by Agnes for her return, when I became absolutely incapable + of supporting the further torture of suspense, and I suddenly took the + resolution of returning home and concerting with my female servants some + energetic measures, though <i>what</i> I could hardly say, on behalf of + their mistress. On entering the garden-gate I met our little child + Francis, who unconsciously inflicted a pang upon me which he neither could + have meditated nor have understood. I passed him at his play, perhaps even + unaware of his presence, but he recalled me to that perception by crying + aloud that he had just seen his mamma. + </p> + <p> + 'When—where?' I asked convulsively. + </p> + <p> + 'Up stairs in her bedroom,' was his instantaneous answer. + </p> + <p> + His manner was such as forbade me to suppose that he could be joking; and, + as it was barely possible (though, for reasons well known to me, in the + highest degree improbable) that Agnes might have returned by a by-path, + which, leading through a dangerous and disreputable suburb, would not have + coincided at any one point with the public road where I had been keeping + my station. I sprang forward into the house, up stairs, and in rapid + succession into every room where it was likely that she might be found; + but everywhere there was a dead silence, disturbed only by myself, for, in + my growing confusion of thought, I believe that I rang the bell violently + in every room I entered. No such summons, however, was needed, for the + servants, two of whom at the least were most faithful creatures, and + devotedly attached to their young mistress, stood ready of themselves to + come and make inquiries of me as soon as they became aware of the alarming + fact, that I had returned without her. + </p> + <p> + Until this moment, though having some private reasons for surprise that + she should have failed to come into the house for a minute or two at the + hour prefixed, in order to make some promised domestic arrangements for + the day, they had taken it for granted that she must have met with me at + some distance from home—and that either the extreme beauty of the + day had beguiled her of all petty household recollections, or (as a + conjecture more in harmony with past experiences) that my impatience and + solicitations had persuaded her to lay aside her own plans for the moment + at the risk of some little domestic inconvenience. Now, however, in a + single instant vanished <i>every</i> mode of accounting for their + mistress's absence; and the consternation of our looks communicated + contagiously, by the most unerring of all languages, from each to the + other what thoughts were uppermost in our panic-stricken hearts. If to any + person it should seem that our alarm was disproportioned to the occasion, + and not justified at least by anything as yet made known to us, let that + person consider the weight due to the two following facts: First, that + from the recency of our settlement in this neighborhood, and from the + extreme seclusion of my wife's previous life at a vast distance from the + metropolis, she had positively no friends on her list of visitors who + resided in this great capital; secondly, and far above all beside, let him + remember the awful denunciations, so unexpectedly tallying with this + alarming and mysterious absence, of the Hungarian prophetess; these had + been slighted—almost dismissed from our thoughts; but now in sudden + reaction they came back upon us with a frightful power to lacerate and to + sting—the shadowy outline of a spiritual agency, such as that which + could at all predict the events, combining in one mysterious effect, with + the shadowy outline of those very predictions. The power, that could have + predicted, was as dim and as hard to grasp as was the precise nature of + the evil that had been predicted. + </p> + <p> + An icy terror froze my blood at this moment when I looked at the + significant glances, too easily understood by me, that were exchanged + between the servants. My mouth had been for the last two hours growing + more and more parched, so that at present, from mere want of moisture, I + could not separate my lips to speak. One of the women saw the vain efforts + I was making, and hastily brought me a glass of water. With the first + recovery of speech, I asked them what little Francis had meant by saying + that he had seen his mother in her bedroom. Their reply was, that they + were as much at a loss to discover his meaning as I was; that he had made + the same assertion to them, and with so much earnestness, that they had, + all in succession, gone up stairs to look for her, and with the fullest + expectation of finding her. This was a mystery which remained such to the + very last; there was no doubt whatsoever that the child believed himself + to have seen his mother; that he could not have seen her in her human + bodily presence, there is as little doubt as there is, alas! that in this + world he never <i>did</i> see her again. The poor child constantly adhered + to his story, and with a circumstantiality far beyond all power of + invention that could be presumed in an artless infant. Every attempt at + puzzling him or entangling him in contradictions by means of + cross-examination was but labor thrown away; though indeed, it is true + enough that for those attempts, as will soon be seen, there was but a + brief interval allowed. + </p> + <p> + Not dwelling upon this subject at present, I turned to Hannah—a + woman who held the nominal office of cook in our little establishment, but + whose real duties had been much more about her mistress's person—and + with a searching look of appeal I asked her whether, in this moment of + trial, when (as she might see) I was not so perfectly master of myself as + perhaps always to depend upon seeing what was best to be done, she would + consent to accompany me into the city, and take upon herself those obvious + considerations of policy or prudence which might but too easily escape my + mind, darkened, and likely to be darkened, as to its power of discernment + by the hurricane of affliction now too probably at hand. She answered my + appeal with the fervor I expected from what I had already known of her + character. She was a woman of a strong, fiery, perhaps I might say of + heroic mind, supported by a courage that was absolutely indomitable, and + by a strength of bodily frame very unusual in a woman, and beyond the + promise even of her person. She had suffered as deep a wrench in her own + affections as a human being can suffer; she had lost her one sole child, a + fair-haired boy of most striking beauty and interesting disposition, at + the age of seventeen, and by the worst of all possible fates; he lived (as + we did at that time) in a large commercial city overflowing with + profligacy, and with temptations of every order; he had been led astray; + culpable he had been, but by very much the least culpable of the set into + which accident had thrown him, as regarded acts and probable intentions; + and as regarded palliations from childish years, from total inexperience, + or any other alleviating circumstances that could be urged, having + everything to plead—and of all his accomplices the only one who had + anything to plead. Interest, however, he had little or none; and whilst + some hoary villains of the party, who happened to be more powerfully + befriended, were finally allowed to escape with a punishment little more + than nominal, he and two others were selected as sacrifices to the + offended laws. They suffered capitally. All three behaved well; but the + poor boy in particular, with a courage, a resignation, and a meekness, so + distinguished and beyond his years as to attract the admiration and the + liveliest sympathy of the public universally. If strangers could feel in + that way, if the mere hardened executioner could be melted at the final + scene,—it may be judged to what a fierce and terrific height would + ascend the affliction of a doating mother, constitutionally too fervid in + her affections. I have heard an official person declare, that the + spectacle of her desolation and frantic anguish was the most frightful + thing he had ever witnessed, and so harrowing to the feelings, that all + who could by their rank venture upon such an irregularity, absented + themselves during the critical period from the office which corresponded + with the government; for, as I have said, the affair took place in a large + provincial city, at a great distance from the capital. All who knew this + woman, or who were witnesses to the alteration which one fortnight had + wrought in her person as well as her demeanor, fancied it impossible that + she could continue to live; or that, if she did, it must be through the + giving way of her reason. They proved, however, to be mistaken; or, at + least, if (as some thought) her reason did suffer in some degree, this + result showed itself in the inequality of her temper, in moody fits of + abstraction, and the morbid energy of her manner at times under the + absence of all adequate external excitement, rather than in any positive + and apparent hallucinations of thought. The charm which had mainly carried + off the instant danger to her faculties, was doubtless the intense + sympathy which she met with. And in these offices of consolation my wife + stood foremost. For, and that was fortunate, she had found herself able, + without violence to her own sincerest opinions in the case, to offer + precisely that form of sympathy which was most soothing to the angry + irritation of the poor mother; not only had she shown a <i>direct</i> + interest in the boy, and not a mere interest of <i>reflection</i> from + that which she took in the mother, and had expressed it by visits to his + dungeon, and by every sort of attention to his comforts which his case + called for, or the prison regulations allowed; not only had she wept with + the distracted woman as if for a brother of her own; but, which went + farther than all the rest in softening the mother's heart, she had loudly + and indignantly proclaimed her belief in the boy's innocence, and in the + same tone her sense of the crying injustice committed as to the selection + of the victims, and the proportion of the punishment awarded. Others, in + the language of a great poet, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Had pitied <i>her,</i> and not her grief;' +</pre> + <p> + they had either not been able to see, or, from carelessness, had neglected + to see, any peculiar wrong done to her in the matter which occasioned her + grief,—but had simply felt compassion for her as for one summoned, + in a regular course of providential and human dispensation, to face an + affliction, heavy in itself, but not heavy from any special defect of + equity. Consequently their very sympathy, being so much built upon the + assumption that an only child had offended to the extent implied in his + sentence, oftentimes clothed itself in expressions which she felt to be + not consolations but insults, and, in fact, so many justifications of + those whom it relieved her overcharged heart to regard as the very worst + of enemies. Agnes, on the other hand, took the very same view of the case + as herself; and, though otherwise the gentlest of all gentle creatures, + yet here, from the generous fervor of her reverence for justice, and her + abhorrence of oppression, she gave herself no trouble to moderate the + energy of her language: nor did I, on my part, feeling that substantially + she was in the right, think it of importance to dispute about the exact + degrees of the wrong done or the indignation due to it. In this way it + happened naturally enough that at one and the same time, though little + contemplating either of these results, Agnes had done a prodigious service + to the poor desolate mother by breaking the force of her misery, as well + as by arming the active agencies of indignation against the depressing + ones of solitary grief, and for herself had won a most grateful and + devoted friend, who would have gone through fire and water to serve her, + and was thenceforwards most anxious for some opportunity to testify how + deep had been her sense of the goodness shown to her by her benign young + mistress, and how incapable of suffering abatement by time. It remains to + add, which I have slightly noticed before, that this woman was of unusual + personal strength: her bodily frame matched with her intellectual: and I + notice this <i>now</i> with the more emphasis, because I am coming rapidly + upon ground where it will be seen that this one qualification was of more + summary importance to us—did us more 'yeoman's service' at a crisis + the most awful—than other qualities of greater name and pretension. + <i>Hannah</i> was this woman's Christian name; and her name and her memory + are to me amongst the most hallowed of my earthly recollections. + </p> + <p> + One of her two fellow-servants, known technically amongst us as the + 'parlor maid,' was also, but not equally, attached to her mistress; and + merely because her nature, less powerfully formed and endowed, did not + allow her to entertain or to comprehend any service equally fervid of + passion or of impassioned action. She, however, was good, affectionate, + and worthy to be trusted. But a third there was, a nursery maid, and + therefore more naturally and more immediately standing within the + confidence of her mistress—her I could not trust: her I suspected. + But of that hereafter. Meantime, Hannah, she upon whom I leaned as upon a + staff in all which respected her mistress, ran up stairs, after I had + spoken and received her answer, in order hastily to dress and prepare + herself for going out along with me to the city. I did not ask her to be + quick in her movements: I knew there was no need: and, whilst she was + absent, I took up, in one of my fretful movements of nervousness, a book + which was lying upon a side-table: the book fell open of itself at a + particular page; and in that, perhaps, there was nothing extraordinary, + for it was a little portable edition of <i>Paradise Lost</i>; and the page + was one which I must naturally have turned to many a time: for to Agnes I + had read all the great masters of literature, especially those of modern + times; so that few people knew the high classics more familiarly: and as + to the passage in question, from its divine beauty I had read it aloud to + her, perhaps, on fifty separate occasions. All this I mention to take away + any appearance of a vulgar attempt to create omens; but still, in the very + act of confessing the simple truth, and thus weakening the marvellous + character of the anecdote, I must notice it as a strange instance of the '<i>Sortes + Miltonianć</i>,'—that precisely at such a moment as this I should + find thrown in my way, should feel tempted to take up, and should open, a + volume containing such a passage as the following: and observe, moreover, + that although the volume, <i>once being taken up</i>, would naturally open + where it had been most frequently read, there were, however, many passages + which had been read <i>as</i> frequently—or more so. The particular + passage upon which I opened at this moment was that most beautiful one in + which the fatal morning separation is described between Adam and his bride—that + separation so pregnant with wo, which eventually proved the occasion of + the mortal transgression—the last scene between our first parents at + which both were innocent and both were happy—although the superior + intellect already felt, and, in the slight altercation preceding this + separation, had already expressed a dim misgiving of some coming change: + these are the words, and in depth of pathos they have rarely been + approached:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Oft he to her his charge of quick return + Repeated; she to him as oft engag'd + To be returned by noon amid the bow'r, + And all things in best order to invite + Noon-tide repast, or afternoon's repose. + Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve! + Of thy presumed return, event perverse! + Thou never from that hour in Paradise + Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose.' +</pre> + <p> + '<i>My</i> Eve!' I exclaimed, 'partner in <i>my</i> paradise, where art + thou? <i>Much failing</i> thou wilt not be found, nor <i>much deceived</i>; + innocent in any case thou art; but, alas! too surely by this time <i>hapless</i>, + and the victim of some diabolic wickedness.' Thus I murmured to myself; + thus I ejaculated; thus I apostrophized my Agnes; then again came a + stormier mood. I could not sit still; I could not stand in quiet; I threw + the book from me with violence against the wall; I began to hurry + backwards and forwards in a short uneasy walk, when suddenly a sound, a + step; it was the sound of the garden-gate opening, followed by a hasty + tread. Whose tread? Not for a moment could it be fancied the oread step + which belonged to that daughter of the hills—my wife, my Agnes; no, + it was the dull massy tread of a man: and immediately there came a loud + blow upon the door, and in the next moment, the bell having been found, a + furious peal of ringing. Oh coward heart! not for a lease of immortality + could I have gone forwards myself. My breath failed me; an interval came + in which respiration seemed to be stifled—the blood to halt in its + current; and then and there I recognised in myself the force and living + truth of that Scriptural description of a heart consciously beset by evil + without escape: 'Susannah <i>sighed</i>.' Yes, a long, long sigh—a + deep, deep sigh—that is, the natural language by which the + over-charged heart utters forth the wo that else would break it. I sighed—oh + how profoundly! But that did not give me power to move. Who will go to the + door? I whispered audibly. Who is at the door? was the inaudible whisper + of my heart. Then might be seen the characteristic differences of the + three women. That one, whom I suspected, I heard raising an upper window + to look out and reconnoitre. The affectionate Rachael, on the other hand, + ran eagerly down stairs; but Hannah, half dressed, even her bosom exposed, + passed her like a storm; and before I heard any sound of opening a door, I + saw from the spot where I stood the door already wide open, and a man in + the costume of a policeman. All that he said I could not hear; but this I + heard—that I was wanted at the police office, and had better come + off without delay. He seemed then to get a glimpse of me, and to make an + effort towards coming nearer; but I slunk away, and left to Hannah the + task of drawing from him any circumstances which he might know. But + apparently there was not much to tell, or rather, said I, there is too + much, the <i>much</i> absorbs the <i>many</i>; some one mighty evil + transcends and quells all particulars. At length the door was closed, and + the man was gone. Hannah crept slowly along the passage, and looked in + hesitatingly. Her very movements and stealthy pace testified that she had + heard nothing which, even by comparison, she could think good news. 'Tell + me not now, Hannah,' I said; 'wait till we are in the open air.' She went + up stairs again. How short seemed the time till she descended! how I + longed for further respite! 'Hannah!' I said at length when we were fairly + moving upon the road, 'Hannah! I am too sure you have nothing good to + tell. But now tell me the worst, and let that be in the fewest words + possible.' + </p> + <p> + 'Sir,' she said, 'we had better wait until we reach the office; for really + I could not understand the man. He says that my mistress is detained upon + some charge; but <i>what</i>, I could not at all make out. He was a man + that knew something of you, Sir, I believe, and he wished to be civil, and + kept saying, "Oh! I dare say it will turn out nothing at all, many such + charges are made idly and carelessly, and some maliciously." "But what + charges?" I cried, and then he wanted to speak privately to you. But I + told him that of all persons he must not speak to you, if he had anything + painful to tell; for that you were too much disturbed already, and had + been for some hours, out of anxiety and terror about my mistress, to bear + much more. So, when he heard that, he was less willing to speak freely + than before. He might prove wrong, he said; he might give offence; things + might turn out far otherwise than according to first appearances; for his + part, he could not believe anything amiss of so sweet a lady. And after + all, it would be better to wait till we reached the office.' + </p> + <p> + Thus much then was clear—Agnes was under some accusation. This was + already worse than the worst I had anticipated. 'And then,' said I, + thinking aloud to Hannah, 'one of two things is apparent to me; either the + accusation is one of pure hellish malice, without a color of probability + or the shadow of a foundation, and that way, alas! I am driven in my fears + by that Hungarian woman's prophecy; or, which but for my desponding heart + I should be more inclined to think, the charge has grown out of my poor + wife's rustic ignorance as to the usages then recently established by law + with regard to the kind of money that could be legally tendered. This, + however, was a suggestion that did not tend to alleviate my anxiety; and + my nervousness had mounted to a painful, almost to a disabling degree, by + the time we reached the office. Already on our road thither some parties + had passed us who were conversing with eagerness upon the case: so much we + collected from the many and ardent expressions about 'the lady's beauty,' + though the rest of such words as we could catch were ill calculated to + relieve my suspense. This, then, at least, was certain—that my poor + timid Agnes had already been exhibited before a tumultuous crowd; that her + name and reputation had gone forth as a subject of discussion for the + public; and that the domestic seclusion and privacy within which it was + her matronly privilege to move had already undergone a rude violation. + </p> + <p> + The office, and all the purlieus of the office, were occupied by a dense + crowd. That, perhaps, was always the case, more or less, at this time of + day; but at present the crowd was manifestly possessed by a more than + ordinary interest; and there was a unity in this possessing interest; all + were talking on the same subject, the case in which Agnes had so recently + appeared in some character or other; and by this time it became but too + certain in the character of an accused person. Pity was the prevailing + sentiment amongst the mob; but the opinions varied much as to the probable + criminality of the prisoner. I made my way into the office. The presiding + magistrates had all retired for the afternoon, and would not reassemble + until eight o'clock in the evening. Some clerks only or officers of the + court remained, who were too much harassed by applications for various + forms and papers connected with the routine of public business, and by + other official duties which required signatures or attestations, to find + much leisure for answering individual questions. Some, however, listened + with a marked air of attention to my earnest request for the + circumstantial details of the case, but finally referred me to a vast + folio volume, in which were entered all the charges, of whatever nature, + involving any serious tendency—in fact, all that exceeded a + misdemeanor—in the regular chronological succession according to + which they came before the magistrate. Here, in this vast calendar of + guilt and misery, amidst the <i>aliases</i> or cant designations of + ruffians, prostitutes, felons, stood the description, at full length, + Christian and surnames all properly registered, of my Agnes—of her + whose very name had always sounded to my ears like the very echo of + mountain innocence, purity, and pastoral simplicity. Here in another + column stood the name and residence of her accuser. I shall call him <i>Barratt</i>, + for that was amongst his names, and a name by which he had at one period + of his infamous life been known to the public, though not his principal + name, or the one which he had thought fit to assume at this era. James + Barratt, then, as I shall here call him, was a haberdasher—keeping a + large and conspicuous shop in a very crowded and what was then considered + a fashionable part of the city. The charge was plain and short. Did I live + to read it? It accused Agnes M—— of having on that morning + secreted in her muff, and feloniously carried away, a valuable piece of + Mechlin lace, the property of James Barratt. And the result of the first + examination was thus communicated in a separate column, written in red ink—'Remanded + to the second day after to-morrow for final examination.' Everything in + this sin-polluted register was in manuscript; but at night the records of + each day were regularly transferred to a printed journal, enlarged by + comments and explanatory descriptions from some one of the clerks, whose + province it was to furnish this intelligence to the public journals. On + that same night, therefore, would go forth to the world such an account of + the case, and such a description of my wife's person, as would inevitably + summon to the next exhibition of her misery, as by special invitation and + advertisement, the whole world of this vast metropolis—the idle, the + curious, the brutal, the hardened amateur in spectacles of wo, and the + benign philanthropist who frequents such scenes with the purpose of + carrying alleviation to their afflictions. All alike, whatever might be + their motives or the spirit of their actions, would rush (as to some grand + festival of curiosity and sentimental luxury) to this public martyrdom of + my innocent wife. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, what was the first thing to be done? Manifestly, to see Agnes: + her account of the affair might suggest the steps to be taken. Prudence, + therefore, at any rate, prescribed this course; and my heart would not + have tolerated any other. I applied, therefore, at once, for information + as to the proper mode of effecting this purpose without delay. What was my + horror at learning that, by a recent regulation of all the police-offices, + under the direction of the public minister who presided over that + department of the national administration, no person could be admitted to + an interview with any accused party during the progress of the official + examinations; or, in fact, until the final committal of the prisoner for + trial. This rule was supposed to be attended by great public advantages, + and had rarely been relaxed—never, indeed, without a special + interposition of the police minister authorizing its suspension. But was + the exclusion absolute and universal? Might not, at least, a female + servant, simply as the bearer of such articles as were indispensable to + female delicacy and comfort, have access to her mistress? No; the + exclusion was total and unconditional. To argue the point was manifestly + idle; the subordinate officers had no discretion in the matter; nor, in + fact, had any other official person, whatever were his rank, except the + supreme one; and to him I neither had any obvious means of introduction, + nor (in case of obtaining such an introduction) any chance of success; for + the spirit of the rule, I foresaw it would be answered, applied with + especial force to cases like the present. + </p> + <p> + Mere human feelings of pity, sympathy with my too visible agitation, + superadded to something of perhaps reverence for the blighting misery that + was now opening its artillery upon me—for misery has a privilege, + and everywhere is felt to be a holy thing—had combined to procure + for me some attention and some indulgence hitherto. Answers had been given + with precision, explanations made at length, and anxiety shown to satisfy + my inquiries. But this could not last; the inexorable necessities of + public business coming back in a torrent upon the official people after + this momentary interruption, forbade them to indulge any further + consideration for an individual case, and I saw that I must not stay any + longer. I was rapidly coming to be regarded as a hinderance to the + movement of public affairs; and the recollection that I might again have + occasion for some appeal to these men in their official characters, + admonished me not to abuse my privilege of the moment. After returning + thanks, therefore, for the disposition shown to oblige me, I retired. + </p> + <p> + Slowly did I and Hannah retrace our steps. Hannah sustained, in the tone + of her spirits, by the extremity of her anger, a mood of feeling which I + did not share. Indignation was to her in the stead of consolation and + hope. I, for my part, could not seek even a momentary shelter from my + tempestuous affliction in that temper of mind. The man who could accuse my + Agnes, and accuse her of such a crime, I felt to be a monster; and in my + thoughts he was already doomed to a bloody atonement (atonement! alas! + what atonement!) whenever the time arrived that <i>her</i> cause would not + be prejudiced, or the current of public feeling made to turn in his favor + by investing him with the semblance of an injured or suffering person. So + much was settled in my thoughts with the stern serenity of a decree + issuing from a judgment-seat. But that gave no relief, no shadow of + relief, to the misery which was now consuming me. Here was an end, in one + hour, to the happiness of a life. In one hour it had given way, root and + branch—had melted like so much frost-work, or a pageant of vapory + exhalations. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and yet for ever and + ever, I comprehended the total ruin of my situation. The case, as others + might think, was yet in suspense; and there was room enough for very + rational hopes, especially where there was an absolute certainty of + innocence. Total freedom from all doubt on that point seemed to justify + almost more than hopes. This might be said, and most people would have + been more or less consoled by it. I was not. I felt as certain, as + irredeemably, as hopelessly certain of the final results as though I had + seen the record in the books of Heaven. 'Hope nothing,' I said to myself; + 'think not of hope in this world, but think only how best to walk + steadily, and not to reel like a creature wanting discourse of reason, or + incapable of religious hopes under the burden which it has pleased God to + impose, and which in this life cannot be shaken off. The countenance of + man is made to look upward and to the skies. Thither also point + henceforwards your heart and your thoughts. Never again let your thoughts + travel earthwards. Settle them on the heavens, to which your Agnes is + already summoned. The call is clear, and not to be mistaken. Little in <i>her</i> + fate now depends upon you, or upon anything that man can do. Look, + therefore, to yourself; see that you make not shipwreck of your heavenly + freight because your earthly freight is lost; and miss not, by any acts of + wild and presumptuous despair, that final reunion with your Agnes, which + can only be descried through vistas that open through the heavens.' + </p> + <p> + Such were the thoughts, thoughts often made audible, which came + spontaneously like oracles from afar, as I strode homewards with Hannah by + my side. Her, meantime, I seemed to hear; for at times I seemed and I + intended to answer her. But answer her I did not; for not ten words of all + that she said did I really and consciously hear. How I went through that + night is more entirely a blank in my memory, more entirely a chapter of + chaos and the confusion of chaos, than any other passage the most + impressive in my life. If I even slumbered for a moment, as at intervals I + did sometimes, though never sitting down, but standing or pacing about + throughout the night, and if in this way I attained a momentary respite + from self-consciousness, no sooner had I reached this enviable state of + oblivion, than some internal sting of irritation <i>as</i> rapidly + dispersed the whole fickle fabric of sleep; and as if the momentary trance—this + fugitive beguilement of my wo—had been conceded by a demon's subtle + malice only with the purpose of barbing the pang, by thus forcing it into + a stronger relief through the insidious peace preceding it. It is a well + known and most familiar experience to all the sons and daughters of + affliction, that under no circumstances is the piercing, lancinating + torment of a recent calamity felt so keenly as in the first moments of + awaking in the morning from the night's slumbers. Just at the very instant + when the clouds of sleep, and the whole fantastic illusions of dreaminess + are dispersing, just as the realities of life are re-assuming their + steadfast forms—re-shaping themselves—and settling anew into + those fixed relations which they are to preserve throughout the waking + hours; in that particular crisis of transition from the unreal to the + real, the wo which besieges the brain and the life-springs at the heart + rushes in afresh amongst the other crowd of realities, and has at the + moment of restoration literally the force and liveliness of a new birth—the + very same pang, and no whit feebler, as that which belonged to it when it + was first made known. From the total hush of oblivion which had buried it + and sealed it up, as it were, during the sleeping hours, it starts into + sudden life on our first awaking, and is to all intents and purposes a new + and not an old affliction—one which brings with it the old original + shock which attended its first annunciation. + </p> + <p> + That night—that first night of separation from my wife—<i>how</i> + it passed, I know not; I know only <i>that</i> it passed, I being in our + common bed-chamber, that holiest of all temples that are consecrated to + human attachments, whenever the heart is pure of man and woman, and the + love is strong—I being in that bedchamber, once the temple now the + sepulchre of our happiness,—I there, and my wife—my innocent + wife—in a dungeon. As the morning light began to break, somebody + knocked at the door; it was Hannah: she took my hand—misery levels + all feeble distinctions of station, sex, age—she noticed my + excessive feverishness, and gravely remonstrated with me upon the + necessity there was that I should maintain as much health as possible for + the sake of 'others,' if not for myself. She then brought me some tea, + which refreshed me greatly; for I had tasted nothing at all beyond a + little water since the preceding morning's breakfast. This refreshment + seemed to relax and thaw the stiff frozen state of cheerless, rayless + despair in which I had passed the night; I became susceptible of + consolation—that consolation which lies involved in kindness and + gentleness of manner—if not susceptible more than before of any + positive hope. I sat down; and, having no witnesses to my weakness but + this kind and faithful woman, I wept, and I found a relief in tears; and + she, with the ready sympathy of woman, wept along with me. All at once she + ventured upon the circumstances (so far as she had been able to collect + them from the reports of those who had been present at the examination) of + our calamity. There was little indeed either to excite or to gratify any + interest or curiosity separate from the <i>personal</i> interest + inevitably connected with a case to which there were two such parties as a + brutal, sensual, degraded ruffian, on one side in character of accuser, + and on the other as defendant, a meek angel of a woman, timid and fainting + from the horrors of her situation, and under the licentious gaze of the + crowd—yet, at the same time, bold in conscious innocence, and in the + very teeth of the suspicions which beset her, winning the good opinion, as + well as the good wishes of all who saw her. There had been at this first + examination little for her to say beyond the assigning her name, age, and + place of abode; and here it was fortunate that her own excellent good + sense concurred with her perfect integrity and intuitive hatred of all + indirect or crooked courses in prompting her to an undisguised statement + of the simple truth, without a momentary hesitation or attempt either at + evasion or suppression. With equally good intentions in similar situations + many a woman has seriously injured her cause by slight evasions of the + entire truth, where nevertheless her only purpose has been the natural and + ingenuous one of seeking to save the reputation untainted of a name which + she felt to have been confided to her keeping. The purpose was an + honorable one, but erroneously pursued. Agnes fell into no such error. She + answered calmly, simply, and truly, to every question put by the + magistrates; and beyond <i>that</i> there was little opportunity for her + to speak; the whole business of this preliminary examination being + confined to the deposition of the accuser as to the circumstances under + which he alleged the act of felonious appropriation to have taken place. + These circumstances were perfectly uninteresting, considered in + themselves; but amongst them was one which to us had the most shocking + interest, from the absolute proof thus furnished of a deep-laid plot + against Agnes. But for this one circumstance there would have been a + possibility that the whole had originated in error—error growing out + of and acting upon a nature originally suspicious, and confirmed perhaps + by an unfortunate experience. And in proportion as that was possible, the + chances increased that the accuser might, as the examinations advanced, + and the winning character of the accused party began to develop itself, + begin to see his error, and to retract his own over-hasty suspicions. But + now we saw at a glance that for this hope there was no countenance + whatever, since one solitary circumstance sufficed to establish a + conspiracy. The deposition bore—that the lace had been secreted and + afterwards detected in a muff; now it was a fact as well known to both of + us as the fact of Agnes having gone out at all—that she had laid + aside her winter's dress for the first time on this genial sunny day. Muff + she had not at the time, nor could have had appropriately from the style + of her costume in other respects. What was the effect upon us of this + remarkable discovery! Of course there died at once the hope of any + abandonment by the prosecutor of his purpose; because here was proof of a + predetermined plot. This hope died at once; but then, as it was one which + never had presented itself to my mind, I lost nothing by which I had ever + been solaced. On the other hand, it will be obvious that a new hope at the + same time arose to take its place, viz., the reasonable one that by this + single detection, if once established, we might raise a strong presumption + of conspiracy, and moreover that, as a leading fact or clue, it might + serve to guide us in detecting others. Hannah was sanguine in this + expectation; and for a moment her hopes were contagiously exciting to + mine. But the hideous despondency which in my mind had settled upon the + whole affair from the very first, the superstitious presentiment I had of + a total blight brooding over the entire harvest of my life and its + promises, (tracing itself originally, I am almost ashamed to own, up to + that prediction of the Hungarian woman)—denied me steady light, + anything—all in short but a wandering ray of hope. It was right, of + course, nay, indispensable, that the circumstance of the muff should be + strongly insisted upon at the next examination, pressed against the + prosecutor, and sifted to the uttermost. An able lawyer would turn this to + a triumphant account; and it would be admirable as a means of pre-engaging + the good opinion as well as the sympathies of the public in behalf of the + prisoner. But, for its final effect—my conviction remained, not to + be shaken, that all would be useless; that our doom had gone forth, and + was irrevocable. + </p> + <p> + Let me not linger too much over those sad times. Morning came on as usual; + for it is strange, but true, that to the very wretched it seems wonderful + that times and seasons should keep their appointed courses in the midst of + such mighty overthrows, and such interruption to the courses of their own + wonted happiness and their habitual expectations. Why should morning and + night, why should all movements in the natural world be so regular, whilst + in the moral world all is so irregular and anomalous? Yet the sun and the + moon rise and set as usual upon the mightiest revolutions of empire and of + worldly fortune that this planet ever beholds; and it is sometimes even a + comfort to know that this will be the case. A great criminal, sentenced to + an agonizing punishment, has derived a fortitude and a consolation from + recollecting that the day would run its inevitable course—that a day + after all was <i>but</i> a day—that the mighty wheel of alternate + light and darkness must and would revolve—and that the evening star + would rise as usual, and shine with its untroubled lustre upon the dust + and ashes of what <i>had</i> indeed suffered, and so recently, the most + bitter pangs, but would then have ceased to suffer. 'La Journée,' said + Damien, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'La journée sera dure, mais elle se passera.' +</pre> + <p> + '——<i>Se passera</i>:' yes, that is true, I whispered to + myself; my day also, my season of trial will be hard to bear; but that + also will have an end; that also '<i>se passera</i>.' Thus I talked or + thought so long as I thought at all; for the hour was now rapidly + approaching, when thinking in any shape would for some time be at an end + for me. + </p> + <p> + That day, as the morning advanced, I went again, accompanied by Hannah, to + the police court and to the prison—a vast, ancient, in parts + ruinous, and most gloomy pile of building. In those days the + administration of justice was, if not more corrupt, certainly in its + inferior departments by far more careless than it is at present, and + liable to thousands of interruptions and mal-practices, supporting + themselves upon old traditionary usages which required at least half a + century, and the shattering everywhere given to old systems by the French + Revolution, together with the universal energy of mind applied to those + subjects over the whole length and breadth of Christendom, to approach + with any effectual reforms. Knowing this, and having myself had direct + personal cognisance of various cases in which bribery had been applied + with success, I was not without considerable hope that perhaps Hannah and + myself might avail ourselves of this irregular passport through the gates + of the prison. And, had the new regulation been of somewhat longer + standing, there is little doubt that I should have been found right; + unfortunately, as yet it had all the freshness of newborn vigor, and kept + itself in remembrance by the singular irritation it excited. Besides this, + it was a pet novelty of one particular minister, new to the possession of + power, anxious to distinguish himself, proud of his creative functions + within the range of his office, and very sensitively jealous on the point + of opposition to his mandates. Vain, therefore, on this day were all my + efforts to corrupt the jailers; and, in fact, anticipating a time when I + might have occasion to corrupt some of them for a more important purpose + and on a larger scale, I did not think it prudent to proclaim my character + beforehand as one who tampered with such means, and thus to arm against + myself those jealousies in official people, which it was so peculiarly + important that I should keep asleep. + </p> + <p> + All that day, however, I lingered about the avenues and vast courts in the + precincts of the prison, and near one particular wing of the building, + which had been pointed out to me by a jailer as the section allotted to + those who were in the situation of Agnes; that is, waiting their final + commitment for trial. The building generally he could indicate with + certainty, but he professed himself unable to indicate the particular part + of it which 'the young woman brought in on the day previous' would be + likely to occupy; consequently he could not point out the window from + which her cell (her '<i>cell</i>!' what a word!) would be lighted. 'But, + master,' he went on to say, 'I would advise nobody to try that game.' He + looked with an air so significant, and at the same time used a gesture so + indicative of private understanding, that I at once apprehended his + meaning, and assured him that he had altogether misconstrued my drift; + that, as to attempts at escape, or at any mode of communicating with the + prisoner from the outside, I trusted all <i>that</i> was perfectly + needless; and that at any rate in my eyes it was perfectly hopeless. + 'Well, master,' he replied, 'that's neither here nor there. You've come + down handsomely, that I <i>will</i> say; and where a gentleman acts like a + gentleman, and behaves himself as such, I'm not the man to go and split + upon him for a word. To be sure it's quite nat'ral that a gentleman—put + case that a young woman is his fancy woman—it's nothing but nat'ral + that he should want to get her out of such an old rat-hole as this, where + many's the fine-timbered creature, both he and she, that has lain to rot, + and has never got out of the old trap at all, first or last'——'How + so?' I interrupted him; 'surely they don't detain the corpses of + prisoners?' 'Ay, but mind you—put case that he or that she should + die in this rat-trap before sentence is past, why then the prison counts + them as its own children, and buries them in its own chapel—that old + stack of pigeon-holes that you see up yonder to the right hand.' So then, + after all, thought I, if my poor Agnes should, in her desolation and + solitary confinement to these wretched walls, find her frail strength give + way—should the moral horrors of her situation work their natural + effect upon her health, and she should chance to die within this dungeon, + here within this same dungeon will she lie to the resurrection, and in + that case her prison-doors have already closed upon her for ever. The man, + who perhaps had some rough kindness in his nature, though tainted by the + mercenary feelings too inevitably belonging to his situation, seemed to + guess at the character of my ruminations by the change of my countenance, + for he expressed some pity for my being 'in so much trouble;' and it + seemed to increase his respect for me that this trouble should be directed + to the case of a woman, for he appeared to have a manly sense of the + peculiar appeal made to the honor and gallantry of man, by the mere + general fact of the feebleness and the dependence of woman. I looked at + him more attentively in consequence of the feeling tone in which he now + spoke, and was surprised that I had not more particularly noticed him + before; he was a fine looking, youngish man, with a bold Robin-hood style + of figure and appearance; and, morally speaking, he was absolutely + transfigured to my eyes by the effect worked upon him for the moment, + through the simple calling up of his better nature. However, he recurred + to his cautions about the peril in a legal sense of tampering with the + windows, bolts, and bars of the old decaying prison; which, in fact, + precisely according to the degree in which its absolute power over its + prisoners was annually growing less and less, grew more and more jealous + of its own reputation, and punished the attempts to break loose with the + more severity, in exact proportion as they were the more tempting by the + chances of success. I persisted in disowning any schemes of the sort, and + especially upon the ground of their hopelessness. But this, on the other + hand, was a ground that in his inner thoughts he treated with scorn; and I + could easily see that, with a little skilful management of opportunity, I + might, upon occasion, draw from him all the secrets he knew as to the + special points of infirmity in this old ruinous building. For the present, + and until it should certainly appear that there was some use to be derived + from this species of knowledge, I forbore to raise superfluous suspicions + by availing myself further of his communicative disposition. Taking, + however, the precaution of securing his name, together with his particular + office and designation in the prison, I parted from him as if to go home, + but in fact to resume my sad roamings up and down the precincts of the + jail. + </p> + <p> + What made these precincts much larger than otherwise they would have been, + was the circumstance that, by a usage derived from older days, both + criminal prisoners and those who were prisoners for debt, equally fell + under the custody of this huge caravanserai for the indifferent reception + of crime, of misdemeanor, and of misfortune. And those who came under the + two first titles, were lodged here through all stages of their connection + with public justice; alike when mere objects of vague suspicion to the + police, when under examination upon a specific charge, when fully + committed for trial, when convicted and under sentence, awaiting the + execution of that sentence, and, in a large proportion of cases, even + through their final stage of punishment, when it happened to be of any + nature compatible with in-door confinement. Hence it arose that the number + of those who haunted the prison gates, with or without a title to + admission, was enormous; all the relatives, or more properly the + acquaintances and connections of the criminal population within the + prison, being swelled by all the families of needy debtors who came daily, + either to offer the consolation of their society, or to diminish their + common expenditure by uniting their slender establishments. One of the + rules applied to the management of this vast multitude that were every day + candidates for admission was, that to save the endless trouble as well as + risk, perhaps, of opening and shutting the main gates to every successive + arrival, periodic intervals were fixed for the admission by wholesale; and + as these periods came round every two hours, it would happen at many parts + of the day that vast crowds accumulated waiting for the next opening of + the gate. These crowds were assembled in two or three large outer courts, + in which also were many stalls and booths, kept there upon some local + privilege of ancient inheritance, or upon some other plea made good by + gifts or bribes—some by Jews and others by Christians, perhaps + equally Jewish. Superadded to these stationary elements of this + miscellaneous population, were others drawn thither by pure motives of + curiosity, so that altogether an almost permanent mob was gathered + together in these courts; and amid this mob it was,—from I know not + what definite motive, partly because I thought it probable that amongst + these people I should hear the cause of Agnes peculiarly the subject of + conversation; and so, in fact, it did really happen,—but partly, and + even more, I believe, because I now awfully began to shrink from solitude. + Tumult I must have, and distraction of thought. Amid this mob, I say, it + was that I passed two days. Feverish I had been from the first—and + from bad to worse, in such a case, was, at any rate, a natural progress; + but, perhaps, also amongst this crowd of the poor, the abjectly wretched, + the ill-fed, the desponding, and the dissolute, there might be very + naturally a larger body of contagion lurking than according to their mere + numerical expectations. There was at that season a very extensive + depopulation going on in some quarters of this great metropolis, and in + other cities of the same empire, by means of a very malignant typhus. This + fever is supposed to be the peculiar product of jails; and though it had + not as yet been felt as a scourge and devastator of this particular jail, + or at least the consequent mortality had been hitherto kept down to a + moderate amount, yet it was highly probable that a certain quantity of + contagion, much beyond the proportion of other popular assemblages less + uniformly wretched in their composition, was here to be found all day + long; and doubtless my excited state, and irritable habit of body, had + offered a peculiar predisposition that favored the rapid development of + this contagion. However this might be, the result was, that on the evening + of the second day which I spent in haunting the purlieus of the prison, + (consequently the night preceding the second public examination of Agnes,) + I was attacked by ardent fever in such unmitigated fury, that before + morning I had lost all command of my intellectual faculties. For some + weeks I became a pitiable maniac, and in every sense the wreck of my + former self; and seven entire weeks, together with the better half of an + eighth week, had passed over my head whilst I lay unconscious of time and + its dreadful freight of events, excepting in so far as my disordered + brain, by its fantastic coinages, created endless mimicries and mockeries + of these events—less substantial, but oftentimes less afflicting, or + less agitating. It would have been well for me had my destiny decided that + I was not to be recalled to this world of wo. But I had no such happiness + in store. I recovered, and through twenty and eight years my groans have + recorded the sorrow I feel that I did. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + I shall not rehearse circumstantially, and point by point, the sad + unfolding, as it proceeded through successive revelations to me, of all + which had happened during my state of physical incapacity. When I first + became aware that my wandering senses had returned to me, and knew, by the + cessation of all throbbings, and the unutterable pains that had so long + possessed my brain, that I was now returning from the gates of death, a + sad confusion assailed me as to some indefinite cloud of evil that had + been hovering over me at the time when I first fell into a state of + insensibility. For a time I struggled vainly to recover the lost + connection of my thoughts, and I endeavored ineffectually to address + myself to sleep. I opened my eyes, but found the glare of light painful + beyond measure. Strength, however, it seemed to me that I had, and more + than enough, to raise myself out of bed. I made the attempt, but fell + back, almost giddy with the effort. At the sound of the disturbance which + I had thus made, a woman whom I did not know came from behind a curtain, + and spoke to me. Shrinking from any communication with a stranger, + especially one whose discretion I could not estimate in making discoveries + to me with the requisite caution, I asked her simply what o'clock it was. + </p> + <p> + 'Eleven in the forenoon,' she replied. + </p> + <p> + 'And what day of the month?' + </p> + <p> + 'The second,' was her brief answer. + </p> + <p> + I felt almost a sense of shame in adding—; 'The second! but of what + month?' + </p> + <p> + 'Of June,' was the startling rejoinder. + </p> + <p> + On the 8th of April I had fallen ill, and it was now actually the 2d of + June. Oh! sickening calculation! revolting register of hours! for in that + same moment which brought back this one recollection, perhaps by steadying + my brain, rushed back in a torrent all the other dreadful remembrances of + the period, and now the more so, because, though the event was still + uncertain as regarded my knowledge, it must have become dreadfully certain + as regarded the facts of the case, and the happiness of all who were + concerned. Alas! one little circumstance too painfully assured me that + this event had not been a happy one. Had Agnes been restored to her + liberty and her home, where would she have been found but watching at my + bed-side? That too certainly I knew, and the inference was too bitter to + support. + </p> + <p> + On this same day, some hours afterwards, upon Hannah's return from the + city, I received from her, and heard with perfect calmness, the whole sum + of evil which awaited me. Little Francis—she took up her tale at + that point—'was with God:' so she expressed herself. He had died of + the same fever which had attacked me—had died and been buried nearly + five weeks before. Too probably he had caught the infection from me. + Almost—such are the caprices of human feeling—almost I could + have rejoiced that this young memorial of my vanished happiness had + vanished also. It gave me a pang, nevertheless, that the grave should thus + have closed upon him before I had seen his fair little face again. But I + steeled my heart to hear worse things than this. Next she went on to + inform me that already, on the first or second day of our calamity, she + had taken upon herself, without waiting for authority, on observing the + rapid approaches of illness in me, and arguing the state of helplessness + which would follow, to write off at once a summons in the most urgent + terms to the brother of my wife. This gentleman, whom I shall call + Pierpoint, was a high-spirited, generous young man as I have ever known. + When I say that he was a sportsman, that at one season of the year he did + little else than pursue his darling amusement of fox-hunting, for which + indeed he had almost a maniacal passion—saying this, I shall already + have prejudged him in the opinions of many, who fancy all such persons the + slaves of corporeal enjoyments. But, with submission, the truth lies the + other way. According to my experience, people of these habits have their + bodies more than usually under their command, as being subdued by severe + exercise; and their minds, neither better nor worse on an average than + those of their neighbors, are more available from being so much more + rarely clogged by morbid habits in that uneasy yoke-fellow of the + intellectual part—the body. He at all events was a man to justify in + his own person this way of thinking; for he was a man not only of sound, + but even of bold and energetic intellect, and in all moral respects one + whom any man might feel proud to call his friend. This young man, + Pierpoint, without delay obeyed the summons; and on being made acquainted + with what had already passed, the first step he took was to call upon + Barratt, and without further question than what might ascertain his + identity, he proceeded to inflict upon him a severe horsewhipping. A worse + step on his sister's account he could not have taken. Previously to this + the popular feeling had run strongly against Barratt, but now its unity + was broken. A new element was introduced into the question: Democratic + feelings were armed against this outrage; gentlemen and nobles, it was + said, thought themselves not amenable to justice; and again, the majesty + of the law was offended at this intrusion upon an affair already under + solemn course of adjudication. Everything, however, passes away under the + healing hand of time, and this also faded from the public mind. People + remembered also that he was a brother, and in that character, at any rate, + had a right to some allowances for his intemperance; and what quickened + the oblivion of the affair was, which in itself was sufficiently strange, + that Barratt did not revive the case in the public mind by seeking legal + reparation for his injuries. It was, however, still matter of regret that + Pierpoint should have indulged himself in this movement of passion, since + undoubtedly it broke and disturbed the else uniform stream of public + indignation, by investing the original aggressor with something like the + character of an injured person; and therefore with some set-off to plead + against his own wantonness of malice;—his malice might now assume + the nobler aspect of revenge. + </p> + <p> + Thus far, in reporting the circumstances, Hannah had dallied—thus + far I had rejoiced that she dallied, with the main burden of the wo; but + now there remained nothing to dally with any longer—and she rushed + along in her narrative, hurrying to tell—I hurrying to hear. A + second, a third examination had ensued, then a final committal—all + this within a week. By that time all the world was agitated with the case; + literally not the city only, vast as that city was, but the nation was + convulsed and divided into parties upon the question, Whether the + prosecution were one of mere malice or not? The very government of the + land was reported to be equally interested, and almost equally divided in + opinion. In this state of public feeling came the trial. Image to + yourself, oh reader, whosoever you are, the intensity of the excitement + which by that time had arisen in all people to be spectators of the scene—then + image to yourself the effect of all this, a perfect consciousness that in + herself as a centre was settled the whole mighty interest of the + exhibition—that interest again of so dubious and mixed a character—sympathy + in some with mere misfortune—sympathy in others with female frailty + and guilt, not perhaps founded upon an absolute unwavering belief in her + innocence, even amongst those who were most loud and positive as partisans + in affirming it,—and then remember that all this hideous scenical + display and notoriety settled upon one whose very nature, constitutionally + timid, recoiled with the triple agony of womanly shame—of matronly + dignity—of insulted innocence, from every mode and shape of public + display. Combine all these circumstances and elements of the case, and you + may faintly enter into the situation of my poor Agnes. Perhaps the best + way to express it at once is by recurring to the case of a young female + Christian martyr, in the early ages of Christianity, exposed in the bloody + amphitheatre of Rome or Verona, to 'fight with wild beasts,' as it was + expressed in mockery—she to fight the lamb to fight with lions! But + in reality the young martyr <i>had</i> a fight to maintain, and a fight + (in contempt of that cruel mockery) fiercer than the fiercest of her + persecutors could have faced perhaps—the combat with the instincts + of her own shrinking, trembling, fainting nature. Such a fight had my + Agnes to maintain; and at that time there was a large party of gentlemen + in whom the gentlemanly instinct was predominant, and who felt so + powerfully the cruel indignities of her situation, that they made a public + appeal in her behalf. One thing, and a strong one, which they said, was + this:—'We all talk and move in this case as if, because the question + appears doubtful to some people, and the accused party to some people + wears a doubtful character, it would follow that she therefore had in + reality a mixed character composed in joint proportions of the best and + the worst that is imputed to her. But let us not forget that this mixed + character belongs not to her, but to the infirmity of our human judgments—<i>they</i> + are mixed—<i>they</i> are dubious—but she is not—she is, + or she is not, guilty—there is no middle case—and let us + consider for a single moment, that if this young lady (as many among us + heartily believe) <i>is</i> innocent, then and upon that supposition let + us consider how cruel we should all think the public exposure which + aggravates the other injuries (as in that case they must be thought) to + which her situation exposes her.' They went on to make some suggestions + for the officers of the court in preparing the arrangements for the trial, + and some also for the guidance of the audience, which showed the same + generous anxiety for sparing the feelings of the prisoner. If these did + not wholly succeed in repressing the open avowal of coarse and brutal + curiosity amongst the intensely vulgar, at least they availed to diffuse + amongst the neutral and indifferent part of the public a sentiment of + respect and forbearance which, emanating from high quarters, had a very + extensive influence upon most of what met the eye or the ear of my poor + wife. She, on the day of trial, was supported by her brother; and by that + time she needed support indeed. I was reported to be dying; her little son + was dead; neither had she been allowed to see him. Perhaps these things, + by weaning her from all further care about life, might have found their + natural effect in making her indifferent to the course of the trial, or + even to its issue. And so, perhaps, in the main, they did. But at times + some lingering sense of outraged dignity, some fitful gleams of old + sympathies, 'the hectic of a moment,' came back upon her, and prevailed + over the deadening stupor of her grief. Then she shone for a moment into a + starry light—sweet and woful to remember. Then——but why + linger? I hurry to the close: she was pronounced guilty; whether by a jury + or a bench of judges, I do not say—having determined, from the + beginning, to give no hint of the land in which all these events happened; + neither is that of the slightest consequence. Guilty she was pronounced: + but sentence at that time was deferred. Ask me not, I beseech you, about + the muff or other circumstances inconsistent with the hostile evidence. + These circumstances had the testimony, you will observe, of my own + servants only; nay, as it turned out, of one servant exclusively: <i>that</i> + naturally diminished their value. And, on the other side, evidence was + arrayed, perjury was suborned, that would have wrecked a wilderness of + simple truth trusting to its own unaided forces. What followed? Did this + judgment of the court settle the opinion of the public? Opinion of the + public! Did it settle the winds? Did it settle the motion of the Atlantic? + Wilder, fiercer, and louder grew the cry against the wretched accuser: + mighty had been the power over the vast audience of the dignity, the + affliction, the perfect simplicity, and the Madonna beauty of the + prisoner. That beauty so childlike, and at the same time so saintly, made, + besides, so touching in its pathos by means of the abandonment—the + careless abandonment and the infinite desolation of her air and manner—would + of itself, and without further aid, have made many converts. Much more was + done by the simplicity of her statements, and the indifference with which + she neglected to improve any strong points in her own favor—the + indifference, as every heart perceived, of despairing grief. Then came the + manners on the hostile side—the haggard consciousness of guilt, the + drooping tone, the bravado and fierce strut which sought to dissemble all + this. Not one amongst all the witnesses, assembled on that side, had (by + all agreement) the bold natural tone of conscious uprightness. Hence it + could not be surprising that the storm of popular opinion made itself + heard with a louder and a louder sound. The government itself began to be + disturbed; the ministers of the sovereign were agitated; and, had no + menaces been thrown out, it was generally understood that they would have + given way to the popular voice, now continually more distinct and + clamorous. In the midst of all this tumult, obscure murmurs began to arise + that Barratt had practised the same or similar villanies in former + instances. One case in particular was beginning to be whispered about, + which at once threw a light upon the whole affair: it was the case of a + young and very beautiful married woman, who had been on the very brink of + a catastrophe such as had befallen my own wife, when some seasonable + interference, of what nature was not known, had critically delivered her. + This case arose 'like a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand,' then + spread and threatened to burst in tempest upon the public mind, when all + at once, more suddenly even than it had arisen, it was hushed up, or in + some way disappeared. But a trifling circumstance made it possible to + trace this case:—in after times, when means offered, but + unfortunately no particular purpose of good, nor any purpose, in fact, + beyond that of curiosity, it <i>was</i> traced; and enough was soon + ascertained to have blown to fragments any possible conspiracy emanating + from this Barratt, had that been of any further importance. However, in + spite of all that money or art could effect, a sullen growl continued to + be heard amongst the populace of villanies many and profound that had been + effected or attempted by this Barratt; and accordingly, much in the same + way as was many years afterwards practised in London, when a hosier had + caused several young people to be prosecuted to death for passing forged + bank-notes, the wrath of the people showed itself in marking the shop for + vengeance upon any favorable occasion offering through fire or riots, and + in the mean time in deserting it. These things had been going on for some + time when I awoke from my long delirium; but the effect they had produced + upon a weak and obstinate and haughty government, or at least upon the + weak and obstinate and haughty member of the government who presided in + the police administration, was, to confirm and rivet the line of conduct + which had been made the object of popular denunciation. More + energetically, more scornfully, to express that determination of flying in + the face of public opinion and censure, four days before my awakening, + Agnes had been brought up to receive her sentence. On that same day (nay, + it was said in that same hour,) petitions, very numerously signed, and + various petitions from different ranks, different ages, different sexes, + were carried up to the throne, praying, upon manifold grounds, but all + noticing the extreme doubtfulness of the case, for an unconditional + pardon. By whose advice or influence, it was guessed easily, though never + exactly ascertained, these petitions were unanimously, almost + contemptuously rejected. And to express the contempt of public opinion as + powerfully as possible, Agnes was sentenced by the court, reassembled in + full pomp, order, and ceremonial costume, to a punishment the severest + that the laws allowed—viz. hard labor for ten years. The people + raged more than ever; threats public and private were conveyed to the ears + of the minister chiefly concerned in the responsibility, and who had + indeed, by empty and ostentatious talking, assumed that responsibility to + himself in a way that was perfectly needless. + </p> + <p> + Thus stood matters when I awoke to consciousness: and this was the fatal + journal of the interval—interval so long as measured by my fierce + calendar of delirium—so brief measured by the huge circuit of events + which it embraced, and their mightiness for evil. Wrath, wrath + immeasurable, unimaginable, unmitigable, burned at my heart like a cancer. + The worst had come. And the thing which kills a man for action—the + living in two climates at once—a torrid and a frigid zone—of + hope and fear—that was past. Weak—suppose I were for the + moment: I felt that a day or two might bring back my strength. No + miserable tremors of hope <i>now</i> shook my nerves: if they shook from + that inevitable rocking of the waters that follows a storm, so much might + be pardoned to the infirmity of a nature that could not lay aside its + fleshly necessities, nor altogether forego its homage to 'these frail + elements,' but which by inspiration already lived within a region where no + voices were heard but the spiritual voices of transcendent passions—of + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Wrongs unrevenged, and insults unredress'd.' +</pre> + <p> + Six days from that time I was well—well and strong. I rose from bed; + I bathed; I dressed; dressed as if I were a bridegroom. And that <i>was</i> + in fact a great day in my life. I was to see Agnes. Oh! yes: permission + had been obtained from the lordly minister that I should see my wife. Is + it possible? Can such condescensions exist? Yes: solicitations from + ladies, eloquent notes wet with ducal tears, these had won from the + thrice-radiant secretary, redolent of roseate attar, a countersign to some + order or other, by which I—yes I—under license of a fop, and + supervision of a jailer—was to see and for a time to converse with + my own wife. + </p> + <p> + The hour appointed for the first day's interview was eight o'clock in the + evening. On the outside of the jail all was summer light and animation. + The sports of children in the streets of mighty cities are but sad, and + too painfully recall the circumstances of freedom and breezy nature that + are not there. But still the pomp of glorious summer, and the presence, + 'not to be put by,' of the everlasting light, that is either always + present, or always dawning—these potent elements impregnate the very + city life, and the dim reflex of nature which is found at the bottom of + well-like streets, with more solemn powers to move and to soothe in + summer. I struck upon the prison gates, the first among multitudes waiting + to strike. Not because we struck, but because the hour had sounded, + suddenly the gate opened; and in we streamed. I, as a visitor for the + first time, was immediately distinguished by the jailers, whose glance of + the eye is fatally unerring. 'Who was it that I wanted?' At the name a + stir of emotion was manifest, even there: the dry bones stirred and moved: + the passions outside had long ago passed to the interior of this gloomy + prison: and not a man but had his hypothesis on the case; not a man but + had almost fought with some comrade (many had literally fought) about the + merits of their several opinions. + </p> + <p> + If any man had expected a scene at this reunion, he would have been + disappointed. Exhaustion, and the ravages of sorrow, had left to dear + Agnes so little power of animation or of action, that her emotions were + rather to be guessed at, both for kind and for degree, than directly to + have been perceived. She was in fact a sick patient, far gone in an + illness that should properly have confined her to bed; and was as much + past the power of replying to my frenzied exclamations, as a dying victim + of fever of entering upon a strife of argument. In bed, however, she was + not. When the door opened she was discovered sitting at a table placed + against the opposite wall, her head pillowed upon her arms, and these + resting upon the table. Her beautiful long auburn hair had escaped from + its confinement, and was floating over the table and her own person. She + took no notice of the disturbance made by our entrance, did not turn, did + not raise her head, nor make an effort to do so, nor by any sign whatever + intimate that she was conscious of our presence, until the turnkey in a + respectful tone announced me. Upon that a low groan, or rather a feeble + moan, showed that she had become aware of my presence, and relieved me + from all apprehension of causing too sudden a shock by taking her in my + arms. The turnkey had now retired; we were alone. I knelt by her side, + threw my arms about her, and pressed her to my heart. She drooped her head + upon my shoulder, and lay for some time like one who slumbered; but, alas! + not as she had used to slumber. Her breathing, which had been like that of + sinless infancy, was now frightfully short and quick; she seemed not + properly to breathe, but to gasp. This, thought I, may be sudden + agitation, and in that case she will gradually recover; half an hour will + restore her. Wo is me! she did <i>not</i> recover; and internally I said—she + never <i>will</i> recover. The arrows have gone too deep for a frame so + exquisite in its sensibility, and already her hours are numbered. + </p> + <p> + At this first visit I said nothing to her about the past; <i>that</i>, and + the whole extent to which our communications should go, I left rather to + her own choice. At the second visit, however, upon some word or other + arising which furnished an occasion for touching on this hateful topic, I + pressed her, contrary to my own previous intention, for as full an account + of the fatal event as she could without a distressing effort communicate. + To my surprise she was silent—gloomily—almost it might have + seemed obstinately silent. A horrid thought came into my mind; could it, + might it have been possible that my noble-minded wife, such she had ever + seemed to me, was open to temptations of this nature? Could it have been + that in some moment of infirmity, when her better angel was away from her + side, she had yielded to a sudden impulse of frailty, such as a second + moment for consideration would have resisted, but which unhappily had been + followed by no such opportunity of retrieval? I had heard of such things. + Cases there were in our own times (and not confined to one nation), when + irregular impulses of this sort were known to have haunted and besieged + natures not otherwise ignoble and base. I ran over some of the names + amongst those which were taxed with this propensity. More than one were + the names of people in a technical sense held noble. That, nor any other + consideration abated my horror. Better, I said, better, (because more + compatible with elevation of mind,) better to have committed some bloody + act—some murderous act. Dreadful was the panic I underwent. God + pardon the wrong I did; and even now I pray to him—as though the + past thing were a future thing and capable of change—that he would + forbid her for ever to know what was the derogatory thought I had + admitted. I sometimes think, by recollecting a momentary blush that + suffused her marble countenance,—I think—I fear that she might + have read what was fighting in my mind. Yet that would admit of another + explanation. If she did read the very worst, meek saint! she suffered no + complaint or sense of that injury to escape her. It might, however, be + that perception, or it might be that fear which roused her to an effort + that otherwise had seemed too revolting to undertake. She now rehearsed + the whole steps of the affair from first to last; but the only material + addition, which her narrative made to that which the trial itself had + involved, was the following:—On two separate occasions previous to + the last and fatal one, when she had happened to walk unaccompanied by me + in the city, the monster Barratt had met her in the street. He had + probably—and this was, indeed, subsequently ascertained—at + first, and for some time afterwards, mistaken her rank, and had addressed + some proposals to her, which, from the suppressed tone of his speaking, or + from her own terror and surprise, she had not clearly understood; but + enough had reached her alarmed ear to satisfy her that they were of a + nature in the last degree licentious and insulting. Terrified and shocked + rather than indignant, for she too easily presumed the man to be a maniac, + she hurried homewards; and was rejoiced, on first venturing to look round + when close to her own gate, to perceive that the man was not following. + There, however, she was mistaken; for either on this occasion, or on some + other, he had traced her homewards. The last of these rencontres had + occurred just three months before the fatal 6th of April; and if, in any + one instance, Agnes had departed from the strict line of her duty as a + wife, or had shown a defect of judgment, it was at this point—in not + having frankly and fully reported the circumstances to me. On the last of + these occasions I had met her at the garden-gate, and had particularly + remarked that she seemed agitated; and now, at recalling these incidents, + Agnes reminded me that I had noticed that circumstance to herself, and + that she had answered me faithfully as to the main fact. It was true she + had done so; for she had said that she had just met a lunatic who had + alarmed her by fixing his attention upon herself, and speaking to her in a + ruffian manner; and it was also true that she did sincerely regard him in + that light. This led me at the time to construe the whole affair into a + casual collision with some poor maniac escaping from his keepers, and of + no future moment, having passed by without present consequences. But had + she, instead of thus reporting her own erroneous impression, reported the + entire circumstances of the case, I should have given them a very + different interpretation. Affection for me, and fear to throw me + needlessly into a quarrel with a man of apparently brutal and violent + nature—these considerations, as too often they do with the most + upright wives, had operated to check Agnes in the perfect sincerity of her + communications. She had told nothing <i>but</i> the truth—only, and + fatally it turned out for us both, she had not told the <i>whole</i> + truth. The very suppression, to which she had reconciled herself, under + the belief that thus she was providing for my safety and her own + consequent happiness, had been the indirect occasion of ruin to both. It + was impossible to show displeasure under such circumstances, or under any + circumstances, to one whose self-reproaches were at any rate too bitter; + but certainly, as a general rule, every conscientious woman should resolve + to consider her husband's honor in the first case, and far before all + other regards whatsoever; to make this the first, the second, the third + law of her conduct, and his personal safety but the fourth or fifth. Yet + women, and especially when the interests of children are at stake upon + their husbands' safety, rarely indeed are able to take this Roman view of + their duties. + </p> + <p> + To return to the narrative. Agnes had not, nor could have, the most remote + suspicion of this Barratt's connection with the shop which he had not + accidentally entered; and the sudden appearance of this wretch it was, at + the very moment of finding herself charged with so vile and degrading an + offence, that contributed most of all to rob her of her natural firmness, + by suddenly revealing to her terrified heart the depth of the conspiracy + which thus yawned like a gulf below her. And not only had this sudden + horror, upon discovering a guilty design in what before had seemed + accident, and links uniting remote incidents which else seemed casual and + disconnected, greatly disturbed and confused her manner, which confusion + again had become more intense upon her own consciousness that she <i>was</i> + confused, and that her manner was greatly to her disadvantage; but—which + was the worst effect of all, because the rest could not operate against + her, except upon those who were present to witness it, whereas this was + noted down and recorded—so utterly did her confusion strip her of + all presence of mind, that she did not consciously notice (and + consequently could not protest against at the moment when it was most + important to do so, and most natural) the important circumstance of the + muff. This capital objection, therefore, though dwelt upon and improved to + the utmost at the trial, was looked upon by the judges as an + after-thought; and merely because it had not been seized upon by herself, + and urged in the first moments of her almost incapacitating terror on + finding this amongst the circumstances of the charge against her—as + if an ingenuous nature, in the very act of recoiling with horror from a + criminal charge the most degrading, and in the very instant of + discovering, with a perfect rapture of alarm, the too plausible appearance + of probability amongst the circumstances, would be likely to pause, and + with attorney-like dexterity, to pick out the particular circumstance that + might admit of being <i>proved</i> to be false, when the conscience + proclaimed, though in despondence for the result, that all the + circumstances were, as to the use made of them, one tissue of falsehoods. + Agnes, who had made a powerful effort in speaking of the case at all, + found her calmness increase as she advanced; and she now told me, that in + reality there were two discoveries which she made in the same instant, and + not one only, which had disarmed her firmness and ordinary presence of + mind. One I have mentioned—the fact of Barratt, the proprietor of + the shop, being the same person who had in former instances persecuted her + in the street; but the other was even more alarming—it has been said + already that it was <i>not</i> a pure matter of accident that she had + visited this particular shop. In reality, that nursery-maid, of whom some + mention has been made above, and in terms expressing the suspicion with + which even then I regarded her, had persuaded her into going thither by + some representations which Agnes had already ascertained to be altogether + unwarranted. Other presumptions against this girl's fidelity crowded dimly + upon my wife's mind at the very moment of finding her eyes thus suddenly + opened. And it was not five minutes after her first examination, and in + fact five minutes after it had ceased to be of use to her, that she + remembered another circumstance which now, when combined with the sequel, + told its own tale,—the muff had been missed some little time before + the 6th of April. Search had been made for it; but, the particular + occasion which required it having passed off, this search was laid aside + for the present, in the expectation that it would soon reappear in some + corner of the house before it was wanted: then came the sunny day, which + made it no longer useful, and would perhaps have dismissed it entirely + from the recollection of all parties, until it was now brought back in + this memorable way. The name of my wife was embroidered within, upon the + lining, and it thus became a serviceable link to the hellish cabal against + her. Upon reviewing the circumstances from first to last, upon recalling + the manner of the girl at the time when the muff was missed, and upon + combining the whole with her recent deception, by which she had misled her + poor mistress into visiting this shop, Agnes began to see the entire truth + as to this servant's wicked collusion with Barratt, though, perhaps, it + might be too much to suppose her aware of the unhappy result to which her + collusion tended. All this she saw at a glance when it was too late, for + her first examination was over. This girl, I must add, had left our house + during my illness, and she had afterwards a melancholy end. + </p> + <p> + One thing surprised me in all this. Barratt's purpose must manifestly have + been to create merely a terror in my poor wife's mind, and to stop short + of any legal consequences, in order to profit of that panic and confusion + for extorting compliances with his hideous pretensions. It perplexed me, + therefore, that he did not appear to have pursued this manifestly his + primary purpose, the other being merely a mask to conceal his true ends, + and also (as he fancied) a means for effecting them. In this, however, I + had soon occasion to find that I was deceived. He had, but without the + knowledge of Agnes, taken such steps as were then open to him, for making + overtures to her with regard to the terms upon which he would agree to + defeat the charge against her by failing to appear. But the law had + travelled too fast for him, and too determinately; so that, by the time he + supposed terror to have operated sufficiently in favor of his views, it + had already become unsafe to venture upon such explicit proposals as he + would otherwise have tried. His own safety was now at stake, and would + have been compromised by any open or written avowal of the motives on + which he had been all along acting. In fact, at this time he was foiled by + the agent in whom he confided; but much more he had been confounded upon + another point—the prodigious interest manifested by the public. Thus + it seems—that, whilst he meditated only a snare for my poor Agnes, + he had prepared one for himself; and finally, to evade the suspicions + which began to arise powerfully as to his true motives, and thus to stave + off his own ruin, had found himself in a manner obliged to go forward and + consummate the ruin of another. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The state of Agnes, as to health and bodily strength, was now becoming + such that I was forcibly warned—whatsoever I meditated doing, to do + quickly. There was this urgent reason for alarm: once conveyed into that + region of the prison in which sentences like hers were executed, it became + hopeless that I could communicate with her again. All intercourse + whatsoever, and with whomsoever, was then placed under the most rigorous + interdict; and the alarming circumstance was, that this transfer was + governed by no settled rules, but might take place at any hour, and would + certainly be precipitated by the slightest violence on my part, the + slightest indiscretion, or the slightest argument for suspicion. Hard + indeed was the part I had to play, for it was indispensable that I should + appear calm and tranquil, in order to disarm suspicions around me, whilst + continually contemplating the possibility that I myself might be summoned + to extremities which I could not so much as trust myself to name or + distinctly to conceive. But thus stood the case: the Government, it was + understood, angered by the public opposition, resolute for the triumph of + what they called 'principle,' had settled finally that the sentence should + be carried into execution. Now that she, that my Agnes, being the frail + wreck that she had become, could have stood one week of this sentence + practically and literally enforced—was a mere chimera. A few hours + probably of the experiment would have settled that question by dismissing + her to the death she longed for; but because the suffering would be short, + was I to stand by and to witness the degradation—the pollution—attempted + to be fastened upon her. What! to know that her beautiful tresses would be + shorn ignominiously—a felon's dress forced upon her—a vile + taskmaster with authority to——; blistered be the tongue that + could go on to utter, in connection with her innocent name, the vile + dishonors which were to settle upon her person! I, however, and her + brother had taken such resolutions that this result was one barely + possible; and yet I sickened (yes, literally I many times experienced the + effect of physical sickness) at contemplating our own utter childish + helplessness, and recollecting that every night during our seclusion from + the prison the last irreversible step might be taken—and in the + morning we might find a solitary cell, and the angel form that had + illuminated it gone where we could not follow, and leaving behind her the + certainty that we should see her no more. Every night, at the hour of + locking up, <i>she</i>, at least, manifestly had a fear that she saw us + for the last time; she put her arms feebly about my neck, sobbed + convulsively, and, I believe, guessed—but, if really so, did not + much reprove or quarrel with the desperate purposes which I struggled with + in regard to her own life. One thing was quite evident—that to the + peace of her latter days, now hurrying to their close, it was + indispensable that she should pass them undivided from me; and possibly, + as was afterwards alleged, when it became easy to allege any thing, some + relenting did take place in high quarters at this time; for upon some + medical reports made just now, a most seasonable indulgence was granted, + viz. that Hannah was permitted to attend her mistress constantly; and it + was also felt as a great alleviation of the horrors belonging to this + prison, that candles were now allowed throughout the nights. But I was + warned privately that these indulgences were with no consent from the + police minister; and that circumstances might soon withdraw the momentary + intercession by which we profited. With this knowledge, we could not + linger in our preparations; we had resolved upon accomplishing an escape + for Agnes, at whatever risk or price; the main difficulty was her own + extreme feebleness, which might forbid her to co-operate with us in any + degree at the critical moment; and the main danger was—delay. We + pushed forward, therefore, in our attempts with prodigious energy, and I + for my part with an energy like that of insanity. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + The first attempt we made was upon the fidelity to his trust of the chief + jailer. He was a coarse, vulgar man, brutal in his manners, but with + vestiges of generosity in his character—though damaged a good deal + by his daily associates. Him we invited to a meeting at a tavern in the + neighborhood of the prison, disguising our names as too certain to betray + our objects, and baiting our invitation with some hints which we had + ascertained were likely to prove temptations under his immediate + circumstances. He had a graceless young son whom he was most anxious to + wean from his dissolute connections, and to steady, by placing him in some + office of no great responsibility. Upon this knowledge we framed the terms + of our invitation. + </p> + <p> + These proved to be effectual, as regarded our immediate object of + obtaining an interview of persuasion. The night was wet; and at seven + o'clock, the hour fixed for the interview, we were seated in readiness, + much perplexed to know whether he would take any notice of our invitation. + We had waited three quarters of an hour, when we heard a heavy lumbering + step ascending the stair. The door was thrown open to its widest extent, + and in the centre of the door-way stood a short stout-built man, and the + very broadest I ever beheld—staring at us with bold inquiring eyes. + His salutation was something to this effect. + </p> + <p> + 'What the hell do you gay fellows want with me? What the blazes is this + humbugging letter about? My son, and be hanged! What do you know of my + son?' + </p> + <p> + Upon this overture we ventured to request that he would come in and suffer + us to shut the door, which we also locked. Next we produced the official + paper nominating his son to a small place in the customs,—not + yielding much, it was true, in the way of salary, but fortunately, and in + accordance with the known wishes of the father, unburdened with any + dangerous trust. + </p> + <p> + 'Well, I suppose I must say thank ye: but what comes next? What am I to do + to pay the damages?' We informed him that for this particular little + service we asked no return. + </p> + <p> + 'No, no,' said he, 'that'll not go down: that cat'll not jump. I'm not + green enough for that. So, say away—what's the damage?' We then + explained that we had certainly a favor and a great one to ask: ['Ay, I'll + be bound you have,' was his parenthesis:] but that for this we were + prepared to offer a separate remuneration; repeating that with respect to + the little place procured for his son, it had not cost us anything, and + therefore we did really and sincerely decline to receive anything in + return; satisfied that, by this little offering, we had procured the + opportunity of this present interview. At this point we withdrew a + covering from the table upon which we had previously arranged a heap of + gold coins, amounting in value to twelve hundred English guineas: this + being the entire sum which circumstances allowed us to raise on so sudden + a warning: for some landed property that we both had was so settled and + limited, that we could not convert it into money either by way of sale, + loan, or mortgage. This sum, stating to him its exact amount, we offered + to his acceptance, upon the single condition that he would look aside, or + wink hard, or (in whatever way he chose to express it) would make, or + suffer to be made, such facilities for our liberating a female prisoner as + we would point out. He mused: full five minutes he sat deliberating + without opening his lips. At length he shocked us by saying, in a firm, + decisive tone, that left us little hope of altering his resolution,—'No: + gentlemen, it's a very fair offer, and a good deal of money for a single + prisoner. I think I can guess at the person. It's a fair offer—fair + enough. But, bless your heart! if I were to do the thing you want—why + perhaps another case might be overlooked: but this prisoner, no: there's + too much depending. No, they would turn me out of my place. Now the place + is worth more to me in the long run than what you offer: though you bid + fair enough, if it were only for my time in it. But look here: in case I + can get my son to come into harness, I'm expecting to get the office for + him after I've retired. So I can't do it. But I'll tell you what: you've + been kind to my son: and therefore I'll not say a word about it. You're + safe for me. And so good-night to you.' Saying which, and standing no + further question, he walked resolutely out of the room and down stairs. + </p> + <p> + Two days we mourned over this failure, and scarcely knew which way to turn + for another ray of hope;—on the third morning we received + intelligence that this very jailer had been attacked by the fever, which, + after long desolating the city, had at length made its way into the + prison. In a very few days the jailer was lying without hope of recovery: + and of necessity another person was appointed to fill his station for the + present. This person I had seen, and I liked him less by much than the one + he succeeded: he had an Italian appearance, and he wore an air of Italian + subtlety and dissimulation. I was surprised to find, on proposing the same + service to him, and on the same terms, that he made no objection whatever, + but closed instantly with my offers. In prudence, however, I had made this + change in the articles: a sum equal to two hundred English guineas, or + one-sixth part of the whole money, he was to receive beforehand as a + retaining fee; but the remainder was to be paid only to himself, or to + anybody of his appointing, at the very moment of our finding the prison + gates thrown open to us. He spoke fairly enough, and seemed to meditate no + treachery; nor was there any obvious or known interest to serve by + treachery; and yet I doubted him grievously. + </p> + <p> + The night came: it was chosen as a gala night, one of two nights + throughout the year in which the prisoners were allowed to celebrate a + great national event: and in those days of relaxed prison management the + utmost license was allowed to the rejoicing. This indulgence was extended + to prisoners of all classes, though, of course, under more restrictions + with regard to the criminal class. Ten o'clock came—the hour at + which we had been instructed to hold ourselves in readiness. We had been + long prepared. Agnes had been dressed by Hannah in such a costume + externally (a man's hat and cloak, &c.) that, from her height, she + might easily have passed amongst a mob of masquerading figures in the + debtors' halls and galleries for a young stripling. Pierpoint and myself + were also to a certain degree disguised; so far, at least, that we should + not have been recognized at any hurried glance by those of the prison + officers who had become acquainted with our persons. We were all more or + less disguised about the face; and in that age when masks were commonly + used at all hours by people of a certain rank, there would have been + nothing suspicious in any possible costume of the kind in a night like + this, if we could succeed in passing for friends of debtors. + </p> + <p> + I am impatient of these details, and I hasten over the ground. One entire + hour passed away, and no jailer appeared. We began to despond heavily; and + Agnes, poor thing! was now the most agitated of us all. At length eleven + struck in the harsh tones of the prison-clock. A few minutes after, we + heard the sound of bolts drawing, and bars unfastening. The jailer entered—drunk, + and much disposed to be insolent. I thought it advisable to give him + another bribe, and he resumed the fawning insinuation of his manner. He + now directed us, by passages which he pointed out, to gain the other side + of the prison. There we were to mix with the debtors and their mob of + friends, and to await his joining us, which in that crowd he could do + without much suspicion. He wished us to traverse the passages separately; + but this was impossible, for it was necessary that one of us should + support Agnes on each side. I previously persuaded her to take a small + quantity of brandy, which we rejoiced to see had given her, at this moment + of starting, a most seasonable strength and animation. The gloomy passages + were more than usually empty, for all the turnkeys were employed in a + vigilant custody of the gates, and examination of the parties going out. + So the jailer had told us, and the news alarmed us. We came at length to a + turning which brought us in sight of a strong iron gate, that divided the + two main quarters of the prison. For this we had not been prepared. The + man, however, opened the gate without a word spoken, only putting out his + hand for a fee; and in my joy, perhaps, I gave him one imprudently large. + After passing this gate, the distant uproar of the debtors guided us to + the scene of their merriment; and when there, such was the tumult and the + vast multitude assembled, that we now hoped in good earnest to accomplish + our purpose without accident. Just at this moment the jailer appeared in + the distance; he seemed looking towards us, and at length one of our party + could distinguish that he was beckoning to us. We went forward, and found + him in some agitation, real or counterfeit. He muttered a word or two + quite unintelligible about the man at the wicket, told us we must wait a + while, and he would then see what could be done for us. We were beginning + to demur, and to express the suspicions which now too seriously arose, + when he, seeing, or affecting to see some object of alarm, pushed us with + a hurried movement into a cell opening upon the part of the gallery at + which we were now standing. Not knowing whether we really might not be + retreating from some danger, we could do no otherwise than comply with his + signals; but we were troubled at finding ourselves immediately locked in + from the outside, and thus apparently all our motions had only sufficed to + exchange one prison for another. + </p> + <p> + We were now completely in the dark, and found, by a hard breathing from + one corner of the little dormitory, that it was not unoccupied. Having + taken care to provide ourselves separately with means for striking a + light, we soon had more than one torch burning. The brilliant light + falling upon the eyes of a man who lay stretched on the iron bedstead, + woke him. It proved to be my friend the under-jailer, Ratcliffe, but no + longer holding any office in the prison. He sprang up, and a rapid + explanation took place. He had become a prisoner for debt; and on this + evening, after having caroused through the day with some friends from the + country, had retired at an early hour to sleep away his intoxication. I on + my part thought it prudent to intrust him unreservedly with our situation + and purposes, not omitting our gloomy suspicions. Ratcliffe looked, with a + pity that won my love, upon the poor wasted Agnes. He had seen her on her + first entrance into the prison, had spoken to her, and therefore knew <i>from</i> + what she had fallen, <i>to</i> what. Even then he had felt for her; how + much more at this time, when he beheld, by the fierce light of the + torches, her wo-worn features! + </p> + <p> + 'Who was it,' he asked eagerly, 'you made the bargain with? Manasseh?' + </p> + <p> + 'The same.' + </p> + <p> + 'Then I can tell you this—not a greater villain walks the earth. He + is a Jew from Portugal; he has betrayed many a man, and will many another, + unless he gets his own neck stretched, which might happen, if I told all I + know.' + </p> + <p> + 'But what was it probable that this man meditated? Or how could it profit + him to betray us?' + </p> + <p> + 'That's more than I can tell. He wants to get your money, and that he + doesn't know how to bring about without doing his part. But that's what he + never <i>will</i> do, take my word for it. That would cut him out of all + chance for the head-jailer's place.' He mused a little, and then told us + that he could himself put us outside the prison walls, and <i>would</i> do + it without fee or reward. 'But we must be quiet, or that devil will + bethink him of me. I'll wager something he thought that I was out + merry-making like the rest; and if he should chance to light upon the + truth, he'll be back in no time.' Ratcliffe then removed an old + fire-grate, at the back of which was an iron plate, that swung round into + a similar fire-place in the contiguous cell. From that, by a removal of a + few slight obstacles, we passed, by a long avenue, into the chapel. Then + he left us, whilst he went out alone to reconnoitre his ground. Agnes was + now in so pitiable a condition of weakness, as we stood on the very brink + of our final effort, that we placed her in a pew, where she could rest as + upon a sofa. Previously we had stood upon graves, and with monuments more + or less conspicuous all around us: some raised by friends to the memory of + friends—some by subscriptions in the prison—some by children, + who had risen into prosperity, to the memory of a father, brother, or + other relative, who had died in captivity. I was grieved that these sad + memorials should meet the eye of my wife at this moment of awe and + terrific anxiety. Pierpoint and I were well armed, and all of us + determined not to suffer a recapture, now that we were free of the crowds + that made resistance hopeless. This Agnes easily perceived; and <i>that</i>, + by suggesting a bloody arbitration, did not lessen her agitation. I hoped + therefore, that, by placing her in the pew, I might at least liberate her + for the moment from the besetting memorials of sorrow and calamity. But, + as if in the very teeth of my purpose, one of the large columns which + supported the roof of the chapel, had its basis and lower part of the + shaft in this very pew. On the side of it, and just facing her as she lay + reclining on the cushions, appeared a mural tablet, with a bas-relief in + white marble, to the memory of two children, twins, who had lived and died + at the same time, and in this prison—children who had never breathed + another air than that of captivity, their parents having passed many years + within these walls, under confinement for debt. The sculptures were not + remarkable, being a trite, but not the less affecting, representation of + angels descending to receive the infants; but the hallowed words of the + inscription, distinct and legible—'Suffer little children to come + unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God'—met + her eye, and, by the thoughts they awakened, made me fear that she would + become unequal to the exertions which yet awaited her. At this moment + Ratcliffe returned, and informed us that all was right; and that, from the + ruinous state of all the buildings which surrounded the chapel, no + difficulty remained for us, who were, in fact, beyond the strong part of + the prison, excepting at a single door, which we should be obliged to + break down. But had we any means arranged for pursuing our flight, and + turning this escape to account when out of confinement? All that, I + assured him, was provided for long ago. We proceeded, and soon reached the + door. We had one crow-bar amongst us, but beyond that had no better + weapons than the loose stones found about some new-made graves in the + chapel. Ratcliffe and Pierpoint, both powerful men, applied themselves by + turns to the door, whilst Hannah and I supported Agnes. The door did not + yield, being of enormous strength; but the wall did, and a large mass of + stone-work fell outwards, twisting the door aside; so that, by afterwards + working with our hands, we removed stones many enough to admit of our + egress. Unfortunately this aperture was high above the ground, and it was + necessary to climb over a huge heap of loose rubbish in order to profit by + it. My brother-in-law passed first in order to receive my wife, quite + helpless at surmounting the obstacle by her own efforts, out of my arms. + He had gone through the opening, and, turning round so as to face me, he + naturally could see something that I did <i>not</i> see. 'Look behind!' he + called out rapidly. I did so, and saw the murderous villain Manasseh with + his arm uplifted, and in the act of cutting at my wife, nearly insensible + as she was, with a cutlass. The blow was not for me, but for her, as the + fugitive prisoner; and the law would have borne him out in the act. I saw, + I comprehended the whole. I groped, as far as I could without letting my + wife drop, for my pistols; but all that I could do would have been + unavailing, and too late—she would have been murdered in my arms. + But—and that was what none of us saw—neither I, nor Pierpoint, + nor the hound Manasseh—one person stood back in the shade; one + person had seen, but had not uttered a word on seeing Manasseh advancing + through the shades; one person only had forecast the exact succession of + all that was coming; me she saw embarrassed and my hands preoccupied—Pierpoint + and Ratcliffe useless by position—and the gleam of the dog's eye + directed her to his aim. The crow-bar was leaning against the shattered + wall. This she had silently seized. One blow knocked up the sword; a + second laid the villain prostrate. At this moment appeared another of the + turnkeys advancing from the rear, for the noise of our assault upon the + door had drawn attention in the interior of the prison, from which, + however, no great number of assistants could on this dangerous night + venture to absent themselves. What followed for the next few minutes + hurried onwards, incident crowding upon incident, like the motions of a + dream:—Manasseh, lying on the ground, yelled out, 'The bell! the + bell!' to him who followed. The man understood, and made for the + belfry-door attached to the chapel; upon which Pierpoint drew a pistol, + and sent the bullet whizzing past his ear so truly, that fear made the man + obedient to the counter-orders of Pierpoint for the moment. He paused and + awaited the issue. In a moment had all cleared the wall, traversed the + waste ground beyond it, lifted Agnes over the low railing, shaken hands + with our benefactor Ratcliffe, and pushed onwards as rapidly as we were + able to the little dark lane, a quarter of a mile distant, where had stood + waiting for the last two hours a chaise-and-four. + </p> + <p> + [Ratcliffe, before my story closes, I will pursue to the last of my + acquaintance with him, according to the just claims of his services. He + had privately whispered to me, as we went along, that he could speak to + the innocence of that lady, pointing to my wife, better than anybody. He + was the person whom (as then holding an office in the prison) Barratt had + attempted to employ as agent in conveying any messages that he found it + safe to send—obscurely hinting the terms on which he would desist + from prosecution. Ratcliffe had at first undertaken the negotiation from + mere levity of character. But when the story and the public interest + spread, and after himself becoming deeply struck by the prisoner's + affliction, beauty, and reputed innocence, he had pursued it only as a + means of entrapping Barratt into such written communications and such + private confessions of the truth as might have served Agnes effectually. + He wanted the art, however, to disguise his purposes: Barratt came to + suspect him violently, and feared his evidence so far, even for those + imperfect and merely oral overtures which he had really sent through + Ratcliffe—that on the very day of the trial, he, as was believed, + though by another nominally, contrived that Ratcliffe should be arrested + for debt; and, after harassing him with intricate forms of business, had + finally caused him to be conveyed to prison. Ratcliffe was thus involved + in his own troubles at the time; and afterwards supposed that, without + written documents to support his evidence, he could not be of much service + to the re-establisment of my wife's reputation. Six months after his + services in the night-escape from the prison, I saw him, and pressed him + to take the money so justly forfeited to him by Manasseh's perfidy. He + would, however, be persuaded to take no more than paid his debts. A second + and a third time his debts were paid by myself and Pierpoint. But the same + habits of intemperance and dissolute pleasure which led him into these + debts, finally ruined his constitution; and he died, though otherwise of a + fine generous manly nature, a martyr to dissipation at the early age of + twenty-nine. With respect to his prison confinement, it was so frequently + recurring in his life, and was alleviated by so many indulgences, that he + scarcely viewed it as a hardship: having once been an officer of the + prison, and having thus formed connections with the whole official + establishment, and done services to many of them, and being of so + convivial a turn, he was, even as a prisoner, treated with distinction, + and considered as a privileged son of the house.] + </p> + <p> + It was just striking twelve o'clock as we entered the lane where the + carriage was drawn up. Rain, about the profoundest I had ever witnessed, + was falling. Though near to midsummer, the night had been unusually dark + to begin with, and from the increasing rain had become much more so. We + could see nothing; and at first we feared that some mistake had occurred as + to the station of the carriage—in which case we might have sought + for it vainly through the intricate labyrinth of the streets in that + quarter. I first descried it by the light of a torch, reflected powerfully + from the large eyes of the leaders. All was ready. Horse-keepers were at + the horses' heads. The postilions were mounted; each door had the steps + let down: Agnes was lifted in: Hannah and I followed: Pierpoint mounted + his horse; and at the word—Oh! how strange a word!—'<i>All's + right</i>,' the horses sprang off like leopards, a manner ill-suited to + the slippery pavement of a narrow street. At that moment, but we valued it + little indeed, we heard the prison-bell ringing out loud and clear. Thrice + within the first three minutes we had to pull up suddenly, on the brink of + formidable accidents, from the dangerous speed we maintained, and which, + nevertheless, the driver had orders to maintain, as essential to our plan. + All the stoppages and hinderances of every kind along the road had been + anticipated previously, and met by contrivance, of one kind or other; and + Pierpoint was constantly a little ahead of us to attend to anything that + had been neglected. The consequence of these arrangements was—that + no person along the road could possibly have assisted to trace us by any + thing in our appearance: for we passed all objects at too flying a pace, + and through darkness too profound, to allow of any one feature in our + equipage being distinctly noticed. Ten miles out of town, a space which we + traversed in forty-four minutes, a second relay of horses was ready; but + we carried on the same postilions throughout. Six miles ahead of this + distance we had a second relay; and with this set of horses, after pushing + two miles further along the road, we crossed by a miserable lane five + miles long, scarcely even a bridge road, into another of the great roads + from the capital; and by thus crossing the country, we came back upon the + city at a point far distant from that at which we left it. We had + performed a distance of forty-two miles in three hours, and lost a fourth + hour upon the wretched five miles of cross-road. It was, therefore, four + o'clock, and broad daylight, when we drew near the suburbs of the city; + but a most happy accident now favored us; a fog the most intense now + prevailed; nobody could see an object six feet distant; we alighted in an + uninhabited new-built street, plunged into the fog, thus confounding our + traces to any observer. We then stepped into a hackney-coach which had + been stationed at a little distance. Thence, according to our plan, we + drove to a miserable quarter of the town, whither the poor only and the + wretched resorted; mounted a gloomy dirty staircase, and, befriended by + the fog, still growing thicker and thicker, and by the early hour of the + morning, reached a house previously hired, which, if shocking to the eye + and the imagination from its squalid appearance and its gloom, still was a + home—a sanctuary—an asylum from treachery, from captivity, + from persecution. Here Pierpoint for the present quitted us: and once more + Agnes, Hannah, and I, the shattered members of a shattered family, were + thus gathered together in a house of our own. + </p> + <p> + Yes: once again, daughter of the hills, thou sleptst as heretofore in my + encircling arms; but not again in that peace which crowned thy innocence + in those days, and should have crowned it now. Through the whole of our + flying journey, in some circumstances at its outset strikingly recalling + to me that blessed one which followed our marriage, Agnes slept away + unconscious of our movements. She slept through all that day and the + following night; and I watched over her with as much jealousy of all that + might disturb her, as a mother watches over her new-born baby; for I + hoped, I fancied, that a long—long rest, a rest, a halcyon calm, a + deep, deep Sabbath of security, might prove healing and medicinal. I + thought wrong; her breathing became more disturbed, and sleep was now + haunted by dreams; all of us, indeed, were agitated by dreams; the past + pursued me, and the present, for high rewards had been advertised by + Government to those who traced us; and though for the moment we were + secure, because we never went abroad, and could not have been naturally + sought in such a neighborhood, still that very circumstance would + eventually operate against us. At length, every night I dreamed of our + insecurity under a thousand forms; but more often by far my dreams turned + upon our wrongs; wrath moved me rather than fear. Every night, for the + greater part, I lay painfully and elaborately involved, by deep sense of + wrong, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + '—in long orations, which I pleaded + Before unjust tribunals.' + [Footnote: From a MS. poem of a great living Poet.] +</pre> + <p> + And for poor Agnes, her also did the remembrance of mighty wrongs occupy + through vast worlds of sleep in the same way—though colored by that + tenderness which belonged to her gentler nature. One dream in particular—a + dream of sublime circumstances—she repeated to me so movingly, with + a pathos so thrilling, that by some profound sympathy it transplanted + itself to my own sleep, settled itself there, and is to this hour a part + of the fixed dream scenery which revolves at intervals through my sleeping + life. This it was:—She would hear a trumpet sound—though + perhaps as having been the prelude to the solemn entry of the judges at a + town which she had once visited in her childhood; other preparations would + follow, and at last all the solemnities of a great trial would shape + themselves and fall into settled images. The audience was assembled, the + judges were arrayed, the court was set. The prisoner was cited. Inquest + was made, witnesses were called; and false witnesses came tumultuously to + the bar. Then again a trumpet was heard, but the trumpet of a mighty + archangel; and then would roll away thick clouds and vapors. Again the + audience, but another audience, was assembled; again the tribunal was + established; again the court was set; but a tribunal and a court—how + different to her! <i>That</i> had been composed of men seeking indeed for + truth, but themselves erring and fallible creatures; the witnesses had + been full of lies, the judges of darkness. But here was a court composed + of heavenly witnesses—here was a righteous tribunal—and then + at last a judge that could not be deceived. The judge smote with his eye a + person who sought to hide himself in the crowd; the guilty man stepped + forward; the poor prisoner was called up to the presence of the mighty + judge; suddenly the voice of a little child was heard ascending before + her. Then the trumpet sounded once again; and then there were new heavens + and a new earth; and her tears and her agitation (for she had seen her + little Francis) awoke the poor palpitating dreamer. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + Two months passed on: nothing could possibly be done materially to raise + the standard of those wretched accommodations which the house offered. The + dilapidated walls, the mouldering plaster, the blackened mantel-pieces, + the stained and polluted wainscots—what could be attempted to hide + or to repair all this by those who durst not venture abroad? Yet whatever + could be done, Hannah did; and, in the mean time, very soon indeed my + Agnes ceased to see or to be offended by these objects. First of all her + sight went from her; and nothing which appealed to that sense could ever + more offend her. It is to me the one only consolation I have, that my + presence and that of Hannah, with such innocent frauds as we concerted + together, made her latter days pass in a heavenly calm, by persuading her + that our security was absolute, and that all search after us had ceased, + under a belief on the part of Government that we had gained the shelter of + a foreign land. All this was a delusion; but it was a delusion—blessed + be Heaven! which lasted exactly as long as her life, and was just + commensurate with its necessity. I hurry over the final circumstances. + </p> + <p> + There was fortunately now, even for me, no fear that the hand of any + policeman or emissary of justice could effectually disturb the latter days + of my wife; for, besides pistols always lying loaded in an inner room, + there happened to be a long narrow passage on entering the house, which, + by means of a blunderbuss, I could have swept effectually, and cleared + many times over; and I know what to do in a last extremity. Just two + months it was, to a day, since we had entered the house; and it happened + that the medical attendant upon Agnes, who awakened no suspicion by his + visits, had prescribed some opiate or anodyne which had not come; being + dark early, for it was now September, I had ventured out to fetch it. In + this I conceived there could be no danger. On my return I saw a man + examining the fastenings of the door. He made no opposition to my + entrance, nor seemed much to observe it—but I was disturbed. Two + hours after, both Hannah and I heard a noise about the door, and voices in + low conversation. It is remarkable that Agnes heard this also—so + quick had grown her hearing. She was agitated, but was easily calmed; and + at ten o'clock we were all in bed. The hand of Agnes was in mine; so only + she felt herself in security. She had been restless for an hour, and + talking at intervals in sleep. Once she certainly wakened, for she pressed + her lips to mine. Two minutes after, I heard something in her breathing + which did not please me. I rose hastily—brought a light—raised + her head—two long, long gentle sighs, that scarcely moved the lips, + were all that could be perceived. At that moment, at that very moment, + Hannah called out to me that the door was surrounded. 'Open it!' I said; + six men entered; Agnes it was they sought; I pointed to the bed; they + advanced, gazed, and walked away in silence. + </p> + <p> + After this I wandered about, caring little for life or its affairs, and + roused only at times to think of vengeance upon all who had contributed to + lay waste my happiness. In this pursuit, however, I was confounded as much + by my own thoughts as by the difficulties of accomplishing my purpose. To + assault and murder either of the two principal agents in this tragedy, + what would it be, what other effect could it have, than to invest them + with the character of injured and suffering people, and thus to attract a + pity or a forgiveness at least to their persons which never otherwise + could have illustrated their deaths? I remembered, indeed, the words of a + sea-captain who had taken such vengeance as had offered at the moment upon + his bitter enemy and persecutor (a young passenger on board his ship), who + had informed against him at the Custom-house on his arrival in port, and + had thus effected the confiscation of his ship, and the ruin of the + captain's family. The vengeance, and it was all that circumstances + allowed, consisted in coming behind the young man clandestinely and + pushing him into the deep waters of the dock, when, being unable to swim, + he perished by drowning. 'And the like,' said the captain, when musing on + his trivial vengeance, 'and the like happens to many an honest sailor.' + Yes, thought I, the captain was right. The momentary shock of a + pistol-bullet—what is it? Perhaps it may save the wretch after all + from the pangs of some lingering disease; and then again I shall have the + character of a murderer, if known to have shot him; he will with many + people have no such character, but at worst the character of a man too + harsh (they will say), and possibly mistaken in protecting his property. + And then, if not known as the man who shot him, where is the shadow even + of vengeance? Strange it seemed to me, and passing strange, that I should + be the person to urge arguments in behalf of letting this man escape. For + at one time I had as certainly, as inexorably, doomed him as ever I took + any resolution in my life. But the fact is, and I began to see it upon + closer view, it is not easy by any means to take an adequate vengeance for + any injury beyond a very trivial standard; and that with common + magnanimity one does not care to avenge. Whilst I was in this mood of + mind, still debating with myself whether I should or should not + contaminate my hands with the blood of this monster, and still unable to + shut my eyes upon one fact, viz. that my buried Agnes could above all + things have urged me to abstain from such acts of violence, too evidently + useless, listlessly and scarcely knowing what I was in quest of, I strayed + by accident into a church where a venerable old man was preaching at the + very moment I entered; he was either delivering as a text, or repeating in + the course of his sermon, these words—'Vengeance is mine, I will + repay, saith the Lord.' By some accident also he fixed his eyes upon me at + the moment; and this concurrence with the subject then occupying my + thoughts so much impressed me, that I determined very seriously to review + my half-formed purposes of revenge; and well it was that I did so: for in + that same week an explosion of popular fury brought the life of this + wretched Barratt to a shocking termination, pretty much resembling the + fate of the De Witts in Holland. And the consequences to me were such, and + so full of all the consolation and indemnification which this world could + give me, that I have often shuddered since then at the narrow escape I had + had from myself intercepting this remarkable retribution. The villain had + again been attempting to play off the same hellish scheme with a beautiful + young rustic which had succeeded in the case of my ill-fated Agnes. But + the young woman in this instance had a high, and, in fact, termagant + spirit. Rustic as she was, she had been warned of the character of the + man; everybody, in fact, was familiar with the recent tragedy. Either her + lover or her brother happened to be waiting for her outside the window. He + saw in part the very tricks in the act of perpetration by which some + article or other, meant to be claimed as stolen property, was conveyed + into a parcel she had incautiously laid down. He heard the charge against + her made by Barratt, and seconded by his creatures—heard her appeal—sprang + to her aid—dragged the ruffian into the street, when in less time + than the tale could be told, and before the police (though tolerably + alert) could effectually interpose for his rescue, the mob had so used or + so abused the opportunity they had long wished for, that he remained the + mere disfigured wreck of what had once been a man, rather than a creature + with any resemblance to humanity. I myself heard the uproar at a distance, + and the shouts and yells of savage exultation; they were sounds I shall + never forget, though I did not at that time know them for what they were, + or understood their meaning. The result, however, to me was something + beyond this, and worthy to have been purchased with my heart's blood. + Barratt still breathed; spite of his mutilations he could speak; he was + rational. One only thing he demanded—it was that his dying + confession might be taken. Two magistrates and a clergyman attended. He + gave a list of those whom he had trepanned, and had failed to trepan, by + his artifices and threats, into the sacrifice of their honor. He expired + before the record was closed, but not before he had placed my wife's name + in the latter list as the one whose injuries in his dying moments most + appalled him. This confession on the following day went into the hands of + the hostile minister, and my revenge was perfect. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SPANISH NUN. + </h2> + <p> + Why is it that <i>Adventures</i> are so generally repulsive to people of + meditative minds? It is for the same reason that any other want of law, + that any other anarchy is repulsive. Floating passively from action to + action, as helplessly as a withered leaf surrendered to the breath of + winds, the human spirit (out of which comes all grandeur of human motions) + is exhibited in mere <i>Adventures</i>, as either entirely laid asleep, or + as acting only by lower organs that regulate the <i>means</i>, whilst the + <i>ends</i> are derived from alien sources, and are imperiously + predetermined. It is a case of exception, however, when even amongst such + adventures the agent reacts upon his own difficulties and necessities by a + temper of extraordinary courage, and a mind of premature decision. Further + strength arises to such an exception, if the very moulding accidents of + the life, if the very external coercions are themselves unusually + romantic. They may thus gain a separate interest of their own. And, + lastly, the whole is locked into validity of interest, even for the + psychological philosopher, by complete authentication of its truth. In the + case now brought before him, the reader must not doubt; for no memoir + exists, or personal biography, that is so trebly authenticated by proofs + and attestations direct and collateral. From the archives of the Royal + Marine at Seville, from the autobiography or the heroine, from + contemporary chronicles, and from several official sources scattered in + and out of Spain, some of them ecclesiastical, the amplest proofs have + been drawn, and may yet be greatly extended, of the extraordinary events + here recorded. M. de Ferrer, a Spaniard of much research, and originally + incredulous as to the facts, published about seventeen years ago a + selection from the leading documents, accompanied by his <i>palinode</i> + as to their accuracy. His materials have been since used for the basis of + more than one narrative, not inaccurate, in French, German and Spanish + journals of high authority. It is seldom the case that French writers err + by prolixity. They <i>have</i> done so in this case. The present + narrative, which contains no sentence derived from any foreign one, has + the great advantage of close compression; my own pages, after equating the + size, being as 1 to 3 of the shortest continental form. In the mode of + narration, I am vain enough to flatter myself that the reader will find + little reason to hesitate between us. Mine at least, weary nobody; which + is more than can be always said for the continental versions. + </p> + <p> + On a night in the year 1592, (but which night is a secret liable to 365 + answers,) a Spanish '<i>son of somebody</i>,' [Footnote: <i>i.e.</i> + 'Hidalgo'] in the fortified town of St. Sebastian, received the + disagreeable intelligence from a nurse, that his wife had just presented + him with a daughter. No present that the poor misjudging lady could + possibly have made him was so entirely useless for any purpose of his. He + had three daughters already, which happened to be more by 2+1 than <i>his</i> + reckoning assumed as a reasonable allowance of daughters. A supernumerary + son might have been stowed away; but daughters in excess were the very + nuisance of Spain. He did, therefore, what in such cases every proud and + lazy Spanish gentleman was apt to do—he wrapped the new little + daughter, odious to his paternal eyes, in a pocket handkerchief; and then, + wrapping up his own throat with a good deal more care, off he bolted to + the neighboring convent of St. Sebastian, not merely of that city, but + also (amongst several convents) the one dedicated to that saint. It is + well that in this quarrelsome world we quarrel furiously about tastes; + since agreeing too closely about the objects to be liked and appropriated + would breed much more fighting than is bred by disagreeing. That little + human tadpole, which the old toad of a father would not suffer to stay ten + minutes in his house, proved as welcome at the nunnery of St. Sebastian as + she was odious elsewhere. The superior of the convent was aunt, by the + mother's side, to the new-born stranger. She, therefore, kissed and + blessed the little lady. The poor nuns, who were never to have any babies + of their own, and were languishing for some amusement, perfectly doated on + this prospect of a wee pet. The superior thanked the hidalgo for his very + splendid present. The nuns thanked him each and all; until the old + crocodile actually began to cry and whimper sentimentally at what he now + perceived to be excess of munificence in himself. Munificence, indeed, he + remarked, was his foible next after parental tenderness. + </p> + <p> + What a luxury it is sometimes to a cynic that there go two words to a + bargain. In the convent of St. Sebastian all was gratitude; gratitude (as + aforesaid) to the hidalgo from all the convent for his present, until at + last the hidalgo began to express gratitude to <i>them</i> for their + gratitude to <i>him</i>. Then came a rolling fire of thanks to St. + Sebastian; from the superior, for sending a future saint; from the nuns, + for sending such a love of a plaything; and, finally, from papa, for + sending such substantial board and well-bolted lodgings, 'from which,' + said the malicious old fellow, 'my pussy will never find her way out to a + thorny and dangerous world.' Won't she? I suspect, son of somebody, that + the next time you see 'pussy,' which may happen to be also the last, will + not be in a convent of any kind. At present, whilst this general rendering + of thanks was going on, one person only took no part in them. That person + was 'pussy,' whose little figure lay quietly stretched out in the arms of + a smiling young nun, with eyes nearly shut, yet peering a little at the + candles. Pussy said nothing. It's of no great use to say much, when all + the world is against you. But if St. Sebastian had enabled her to speak + out the whole truth, pussy <i>would</i> have said: 'So, Mr. Hidalgo, you + have been engaging lodgings for me; lodgings for life. Wait a little. + We'll try that question, when my claws are grown a little longer.' + </p> + <p> + Disappointment, therefore, was gathering ahead. But for the present there + was nothing of the kind. That noble old crocodile, papa, was not in the + least disappointed as regarded <i>his</i> expectation of having no anxiety + to waste, and no money to pay, on account of his youngest daughter. He + insisted on his right to forget her; and in a week <i>had</i> forgotten + her, never to think of her again but once. The lady superior, as regarded + <i>her</i> demands, was equally content, and through a course of several + years; for, as often as she asked pussy if she would be a saint, pussy + replied that she would, if saints were allowed plenty of sweetmeats. But + least of all were the nuns disappointed. Everything that they had fancied + possible in a human plaything fell short of what pussy realized in + racketing, racing, and eternal plots against the peace of the elder nuns. + No fox ever kept a hen-roost in such alarm as pussy kept the dormitory of + the senior sisters; whilst the younger ladies were run off their legs by + the eternal wiles, and had their chapel gravity discomposed, even in + chapel, by the eternal antics of this privileged little kitten. + </p> + <p> + The kitten had long ago received a baptismal name, which was Kitty; this + is Catharine, or Kate, or <i>Hispanice</i> Catalina. It was a good name, + as it recalled her original name of pussy. And, by the way, she had also + an ancient and honorable surname, viz., <i>De Erauso</i>, which is to this + day a name rooted in Biscay. Her father, the <i>hidalgo</i>, was a + military officer in the Spanish service, and had little care whether his + kitten should turn out a wolf or a lamb, having made over the fee simple + of his own interest in the little Kate to St. Sebastian, 'to have and to + hold,' so long as Kate should keep her hold of this present life. Kate had + no apparent intention to let slip that hold, for she was blooming as a + rose-bush in June, tall and strong as a young cedar. Yet, notwithstanding + this robust health and the strength of the convent walls, the time was + drawing near when St. Sebastian's lease in Kate must, in legal phrase, + 'determine;' and any <i>chateaux en Espagne</i>, that the Saint might have + built on the cloisteral fidelity of his pet Catalina, must suddenly give + way in one hour, like many other vanities in our own days of Spanish bonds + and promises. After reaching her tenth year, Catalina became thoughtful, + and not very docile. At times she was even headstrong and turbulent, so + that the gentle sisterhood of St. Sebastian, who had no other pet or + plaything in the world, began to weep in secret—fearing that they + might have been rearing by mistake some future tigress—for as to + infancy, <i>that</i>, you know, is playful and innocent even in the cubs + of a tigress. But <i>there</i> the ladies were going too far. Catalina was + impetuous and aspiring, but not cruel. She was gentle, if people would let + her be so. But woe to those that took liberties with <i>her</i>! A female + servant of the convent, in some authority, one day, in passing up the + aisle to matins, <i>wilfully</i> gave Kate a push; and in return, Kate, + who never left her debts in arrear, gave the servant for a keepsake a look + which that servant carried with her in fearful remembrance to her grave. + It seemed as if Kate had tropic blood in her veins, that continually + called her away to the tropics. It was all the fault of that 'blue + rejoicing sky,' of those purple Biscayan mountains, of that tumultuous + ocean, which she beheld daily from the nunnery gardens. Or, if only half + of it was <i>their</i> fault, the other half lay in those golden tales, + streaming upwards even into the sanctuaries of convents, like morning + mists touched by earliest sunlight, of kingdoms overshadowing a new world + which had been founded by her kinsmen with the simple aid of a horse and a + lance. The reader is to remember that this is no romance, or at least no + fiction, that he is reading; and it is proper to remind the reader of real + romances in Ariosto or our own Spenser, that such martial ladies as the <i>Marfisa</i>, + or <i>Bradamant</i> of the first, and <i>Britomart</i> of the other, were + really not the improbabilities that modern society imagines. Many a stout + man, as you will soon see, found that Kate, with a sabre in hand, and well + mounted, was but too serious a fact. + </p> + <p> + The day is come—the evening is come—when our poor Kate, that + had for fifteen years been so tenderly rocked in the arms of St. Sebastian + and his daughters, and that henceforth shall hardly find a breathing space + between eternal storms, must see her peaceful cell, must see the holy + chapel, for the last time. It was at vespers, it was during the chanting + of the vesper service, that she finally read the secret signal for her + departure, which long she had been looking for. It happened that her aunt, + the Lady Principal, had forgotten her breviary. As this was in a private + 'scrutoire, she did not choose to send a servant for it, but gave the key + to her niece. The niece, on opening the 'scrutoire, saw, with that + rapidity of eye-glance for the one thing needed in any great emergency, + which ever attended her through life, that <i>now</i> was the moment for + an attempt which, if neglected, might never return. There lay the total + keys, in one massive <i>trousseau</i>, of that fortress impregnable even + to armies from without. Saint Sebastian! do you see what your pet is going + to do? And do it she will, as sure as your name is St. Sebastian. Kate + went back to her aunt with the breviary and the key; but taking good care + to leave that awful door, on whose hinge revolved her whole life, + unlocked. Delivering the two articles to the Superior, she complained of a + headache—[Ah, Kate! what did you know of headaches, except now and + then afterwards from a stray bullet, or so?]—upon which her aunt, + kissing her forehead, dismissed her to bed. Now, then, through + three-fourths of an hour Kate will have free elbow-room for unanchoring + her boat, for unshipping her oars, and for pulling ahead right out of St. + Sebastian's cove into the main ocean of life. + </p> + <p> + Catalina, the reader is to understand, does not belong to the class of + persons in whom chiefly I pretend to an interest. But everywhere one loves + energy and indomitable courage. I, for my part, admire not, by preference, + anything that points to this world. It is the child of reverie and + profounder sensibility who turns <i>away</i> from the world as hateful and + insufficient, that engages <i>my</i> interest: whereas Catalina was the + very model of the class fitted for facing this world, and who express + their love to it by fighting with it and kicking it from year to year. + But, always, what is best in its kind one admires, even though the kind be + disagreeable. Kate's advantages for her <i>role</i> in this life lay in + four things, viz., in a well-built person, and a particularly strong + wrist; 2d, in a heart that nothing could appal; 3d, in a sagacious head, + never drawn aside from the <i>hoc age</i> [from the instant question of + life] by any weakness of imagination; 4th, in a tolerably thick skin—not + literally, for she was fair and blooming, and decidedly handsome, having + such a skin as became a young woman of family in northernmost Spain. But + her sensibilities were obtuse as regarded <i>some</i> modes of delicacy, + <i>some</i> modes of equity, <i>some</i> modes of the world's opinion, and + <i>all</i> modes whatever of personal hardship. Lay a stress on that word + <i>some</i>—for, as to delicacy, she never lost sight of the kind + which peculiarly concerns her sex. Long afterwards she told the Pope + himself, when confessing without disguise her sad and infinite wanderings + to the paternal old man (and I feel convinced of her veracity), that in + this respect, even then, at middle age, she was as pure as is a child. + And, as to equity, it was only that she substituted the equity of camps + for the polished (but often more iniquitous) equity of courts and towns. + As to the third item—the world's opinion—I don't know that you + need lay a stress on <i>some</i>; for, generally speaking, <i>all</i> that + the world did, said, or thought, was alike contemptible in her eyes, in + which, perhaps, she was not so <i>very</i> far wrong. I must add, though + at the cost of interrupting the story by two or three more sentences, that + Catalina had also a fifth advantage, which sounds humbly, but is really of + use in a world, where even to fold and seal a letter adroitly is not the + least of accomplishments. She was a <i>handy</i> girl. She could turn her + hand to anything, of which I will give you two memorable instances. Was + there ever a girl in this world but herself that cheated and snapped her + fingers at that awful Inquisition, which brooded over the convents of + Spain, that did this without collusion from outside, trusting to nobody, + but to herself, and what? to one needle, two hanks of thread, and a very + inferior pair of scissors? For, that the scissors were bad, though Kate + does not say so in her memoirs, I knew by an <i>a priori</i> argument, + viz., because <i>all</i> scissors were bad in the year 1607. Now, say all + decent logicians, from a universal to a particular <i>valet consequentia</i>, + <i>all</i> scissors were bad: <i>ergo</i>, <i>some</i> scissors were bad. + The second instance of her handiness will surprise you even more:—She + once stood upon a scaffold, under sentence of death—[but, + understand, on the evidence of false witnesses]. Jack Ketch was absolutely + tying the knot under her ear, and the shameful man of ropes fumbled so + deplorably, that Kate (who by much nautical experience had learned from + another sort of 'Jack' how a knot <i>should</i> be tied in this world,) + lost all patience with the contemptible artist, told him she was ashamed + of him, took the rope out of his hand, and tied the knot irreproachably + herself. The crowd saluted her with a festal roll, long and loud, of <i>vivas</i>; + and this word <i>viva</i> of good augury—but stop; let me not + anticipate. + </p> + <p> + From this sketch of Catalina's character, the reader is prepared to + understand the decision of her present proceeding. She had no time to + lose: the twilight favored her; but she must get under hiding before + pursuit commenced. Consequently she lost not one of her forty-five minutes + in picking and choosing. No <i>shilly-shally</i> in Kate. She saw with the + eyeball of an eagle what was indispensable. Some little money perhaps to + pay the first toll-bar of life: so, out of four shillings in Aunty's + purse, she took one. You can't say <i>that</i> was exorbitant. Which of us + wouldn't subscribe a shilling for poor Katy to put into the first trouser + pockets that ever she will wear? I remember even yet, as a personal + experience, that when first arrayed, at four years old, in nankeen + trousers, though still so far retaining hermaphrodite relations of dress + as to wear a petticoat above my trousers, all my female friends (because + they pitied me, as one that had suffered from years of ague) filled my + pockets with half-crowns, of which I can render no account at this day. + But what were my poor pretensions by the side of Kate's? Kate was a fine + blooming girl of fifteen, with no touch of ague, and, before the next sun + rises, Kate shall draw on her first trousers, and made by her own hand; + and, that she may do so, of all the valuables in Aunty's repository she + takes nothing beside the shilling, <i>quantum sufficit</i> of thread, one + stout needle, and (as I told you before, if you would please to remember + things) one bad pair of scissors. Now she was ready; ready to cast off St. + Sebastian's towing-rope; ready to cut and run for port anywhere. The + finishing touch of her preparations was to pick out the proper keys: even + there she showed the same discretion. She did do no gratuitous mischief. + She did not take the wine-cellar key, which would have irritated the good + father confessor; she took those keys only that belonged to <i>her</i>, if + ever keys did; for they were the keys that locked her out from her natural + birthright of liberty. 'Show me,' says the Romish Casuist, 'her right in + law to let herself out of that nunnery.' 'Show us,' we reply, '<i>your</i> + right to lock her in.' + </p> + <p> + Right or wrong, however, in strict casuistry, Kate was resolved to let + herself out; and <i>did</i> so; and, for fear any man should creep in + whilst vespers lasted, and steal the kitchen grate, she locked her old + friends <i>in</i>. Then she sought a shelter. The air was not cold. She + hurried into a chestnut wood, and upon withered leaves slept till dawn. + Spanish diet and youth leaves the digestion undisordered, and the slumbers + light. When the lark rose, up rose Catalina. No time to lose, for she was + still in the dress of a nun, and liable to be arrested by any man in + Spain. With her <i>armed</i> finger, [aye, by the way, I forgot the + thimble; but Kate did <i>not</i>]—she set to work upon her + amply-embroidered petticoat. She turned it wrong side out; and with the + magic that only female hands possess, she had soon sketched and finished a + dashing pair of Wellington trousers. All other changes were made according + to the materials she possessed, and quite sufficiently to disguise the two + main perils—her sex, and her monastic dedication. What was she to do + next. Speaking of Wellington trousers would remind <i>us</i>, but could + hardly remind <i>her</i>, of Vittoria, where she dimly had heard of some + maternal relative. To Vittoria, therefore, she bent her course; and, like + the Duke of Wellington, but arriving more than two centuries earlier, + [though <i>he</i> too is an early riser,] she gained a great victory at + that place. She had made a two days' march, baggage far in the rear, and + no provisions but wild berries; she depended for anything better, as + light-heartedly as the Duke, upon attacking, sword in hand, storming her + dear friend's entrenchments, and effecting a lodgment in his + breakfast-room, should he happen to have one. This amiable relative, an + elderly man, had but one foible, or perhaps one virtue in this world; but + <i>that</i> he had in perfection,—it was pedantry. On that hint + Catalina spoke: she knew by heart, from the services of the convent, a few + Latin phrases. Latin!—Oh, but <i>that</i> was charming; and in one + so young! The grave Don owned the soft impeachment; relented at once, and + clasped the hopeful young gentleman in the Wellington trousers to his <i>uncular</i> + and rather angular breast. In this house the yarn of life was of a mingled + quality. The table was good, but that was exactly what Kate cared little + about. The amusement was of the worst kind. It consisted chiefly in + conjugating Latin verbs, especially such as were obstinately irregular. To + show him a withered frost-bitten verb, that wanted its preterite, wanted + its supines, wanted, in fact, everything in this world, fruits or + blossoms, that make a verb desirable, was to earn the Don's gratitude for + life. All day long he was marching and countermarching his favorite + brigades of verbs—verbs frequentative, verbs inceptive, verbs + desiderative—horse, foot, and artillery; changing front, advancing + from the rear, throwing out skirmishing parties, until Kate, not given to + faint, must have thought of such a resource, as once in her life she had + thought so seasonably of a vesper headache. This was really worse than St. + Sebastian's. It reminds one of a French gayety in Thiebault or some such + author, who describes a rustic party, under equal despair, as employing + themselves in conjugating the verb <i>s'ennuyer,—Je m'ennuie, tu + t'ennuies, il s'ennuit; nous nous ennuyons</i>, &c.; thence to the + imperfect—<i>Je m'ennuyois, tu t'ennuyois</i>, &c.; thence to + the imperative—<i>Qu'il s'ennuye</i>, &c.; and so on through the + whole melancholy conjugation. Now, you know, when the time comes that, <i>nous + nous ennuyons</i>, the best course is, to part. Kate saw <i>that</i>; and + she walked off from the Don's [of whose amorous passion for defective + verbs one would have wished to know the catastrophe], and took from his + mantel-piece rather move silver than she had levied on her aunt. But the + Don also was a relative; and really he owed her a small cheque on his + banker for turning out on his field-days. A man, if he <i>is</i> a + kinsman, has no right to bore one <i>gratis</i>. + </p> + <p> + From Vittoria, Kate was guided by a carrier to Valladolid. Luckily, as it + seemed at first, but it made little difference in the end, here, at + Valladolid, were the King and his Court. Consequently, there was plenty of + regiments and plenty of regimental bands. Attracted by one of these, + Catalina was quietly listening to the music, when some street ruffians, in + derision of the gay colors and the form of her forest-made costume—[rascals! + one would like to have seen what sort of trousers <i>they</i> would have + made with no better scissors!]—began to pelt her with stones. Ah, my + friends, of the genus <i>blackguard</i>, you little know who it is that + you are selecting for experiments. This is the one creature of fifteen in + all Spain, be the other male or female, whom nature, and temper, and + provocation have qualified for taking the conceit out of you. This she + very soon did, laying open a head or two with a sharp stone, and letting + out rather too little than too much of bad Valladolid blood. But mark the + constant villany of this world. Certain Alguazils—very like some + other Alguazils that I know nearer home—having stood by quietly to + see the friendless stranger insulted and assaulted, now felt it their duty + to apprehend the poor nun for murderous violence: and had there been such + a thing as a treadmill in Valladolid, Kate was booked for a place on it + without further inquiry. Luckily, injustice does not <i>always</i> + prosper. A gallant young cavalier, who had witnessed from his windows the + whole affair, had seen the provocation, and admired Catalina's behavior—equally + patient at first and bold at last—hastened into the street, pursued + the officers, forced them to release their prisoner, upon stating the + circumstances of the case, and instantly offered Catalina a situation + amongst his retinue. He was a man of birth and fortune; and the place + offered, that of an honorary page, not being at all degrading even to a + 'daughter of somebody,' was cheerfully accepted. Here Catalina spent a + happy month. She was now splendidly dressed in dark blue velvet, by a + tailor that did not work within the gloom of a chestnut forest. She and + the young cavalier, Don Francisco de Cardenas, were mutually pleased, and + had mutual confidence. All went well—when one evening, but, luckily, + not until the sun had been set so long as to make all things indistinct, + who should march into the ante-chamber of the cavalier but that sublime of + crocodiles, <i>Papa</i>, that we lost sight of fifteen years ago, and + shall never see again after this night. He had his crocodile tears all + ready for use, in working order, like a good industrious fire-engine. It + was absolutely to Catalina herself that he advanced; whom, for many + reasons, he could not be supposed to recognise—lapse of years, male + attire, twilight, were all against him. Still, she might have the family + countenance; and Kate thought he looked with a suspicious scrutiny into + her face, as he inquired for the young Don. To avert her own face, to + announce him to Don Francisco, to wish him on the shores of that ancient + river for crocodiles, the Nile, furnished but one moment's work to the + active Catalina. She lingered, however, as her place entitled her to do, + at the door of the audience chamber. She guessed already, but in a moment + she <i>heard</i> from papa's lips what was the nature of his errand. His + daughter Catharine, he informed the Don, had eloped from the convent of + St. Sebastian, a place rich in delight. Then he laid open the unparalleled + ingratitude of such a step. Oh, the unseen treasure that had been spent + upon that girl! Oh, the untold sums of money that he had sunk in that + unhappy speculation! The nights of sleeplessness suffered during her + infancy! The fifteen years of solicitude thrown away in schemes for her + improvement! It would have moved the heart of a stone. The <i>hidalgo</i> + wept copiously at his own pathos. And to such a height of grandeur had he + carried his Spanish sense of the sublime, that he disdained to mention the + pocket-handkerchief which he had left at St. Sebastian's fifteen years + ago, by way of envelope for 'pussy,' and which, to the best of pussy's + knowledge, was the one sole memorandum of papa ever heard of at St. + Sebastian's. Pussy, however, saw no use in revising and correcting the + text of papa's remembrances. She showed her usual prudence, and her usual + incomparable decision. It did not appear, as yet, that she would be + reclaimed, or was at all suspected for the fugitive by her father. For it + is an instance of that singular fatality which pursued Catalina through + life, that, to her own astonishment, (as she now collected from her + father's conference,) nobody had traced her to Valladolid, nor had her + father's visit any connection with suspicious travelling in that + direction. The case was quite different. Strangely enough, her street row + had thrown her into the one sole household in all Spain that had an + official connection with St. Sebastian's. That convent had been founded by + the young cavalier's family; and, according to the usage of Spain, the + young man (as present representative of his house) was the responsible + protector of the establishment. It was not to the Don, as harborer of his + daughter, but to the Don, as <i>ex officio</i> visitor of the convent, + that the hidalgo was appealing. Probably Kate might have staid safely some + time longer. Yet, again, this would but have multiplied the clues for + tracing her; and, finally, she would too probably have been discovered; + after which, with all his youthful generosity, the poor Don could not have + protected her. Too terrific was the vengeance that awaited an abettor of + any fugitive nun; but, above all, if such a crime were perpetrated by an + official mandatory of the church. Yet, again, so far it was the more + hazardous course to abscond, that it almost revealed her to the young Don + as the missing daughter. Still, if it really <i>had</i> that effect, + nothing at present obliged him to pursue her, as might have been the case + a few weeks later. Kate argued (I dare say) rightly, as she always did. + Her prudence whispered eternally, that safety there was none for her, + until she had laid the Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's. Life + was to be for <i>her</i> a Bay of Biscay; and it was odds but she had + first embarked upon this billowy life from the literal Bay of Biscay. + Chance ordered otherwise. Or, as a Frenchman says with eloquent ingenuity, + in connection with this story, 'Chance is but the <i>pseudonyme</i> of God + for those particular cases which he does not subscribe openly with his own + sign manual.' She crept up stairs to her bed-room. Simple are the + travelling preparations of those that, possessing nothing, have no + imperials to pack. She had Juvenal's qualification for carolling gaily + through a forest full of robbers; for she had nothing to lose but a change + of linen, that rode easily enough under her left arm, leaving the right + free for answering any questions of impertinent customers. As she crept + down stairs, she heard the Crocodile still weeping forth his sorrows to + the pensive ear of twilight, and to the sympathetic Don Francisco. Now, it + would not have been filial or lady-like for Kate to do what I am going to + suggest; but what a pity that some gay brother page had not been there to + turn aside into the room, armed with a roasted potato, and, taking a + sportsman's aim, to have lodged it in the Crocodile's abominable mouth. + Yet, what an anachronism! There <i>were</i> no roasted potatoes in Spain + at that date, and very few in England. But anger drives a man to say + anything. + </p> + <p> + Catalina had seen her last of friends and enemies in Valladolid. Short was + her time there; but she had improved it so far as to make a few of both. + There was an eye or two in Valladolid that would have glared with malice + upon her, had she been seen by <i>all</i> eyes in that city, as she + tripped through the streets in the dusk; and eyes there were that would + have softened into tears, had they seen the desolate condition of the + child, or in vision had seen the struggles that were before her. But + what's the use of wasting tears upon our Kate? Wait till to-morrow morning + at sunrise, and see if she is particularly in need of pity. What now + should a young lady do—I propose it as a subject for a prize essay—that + finds herself in Valladolid at nighfall, having no letters of + introduction, not aware of any reason great or small for preferring any + street in general, except so far as she knows of some reason for avoiding + one or two streets in particular? The great problem I have stated, Kate + investigated as she went along; and she solved it with the accuracy with + which she ever applied to <i>practical</i> exigencies. Her conclusion was—that + the best door to knock at in such a case was the door where there was no + need to knock at all, as being unfastened, and open to all comers. For she + argued that within such a door there would be nothing to steal, so that, + at least, you could not be mistaken in the ark for a thief. Then, as to + stealing from <i>her</i>, they might do that if they could. + </p> + <p> + Upon these principles, which hostile critics will in vain endeavor to + undermine, she laid her hand upon what seemed a rude stable door. Such it + proved. There was an empty cart inside, certainly there was, but you + couldn't take <i>that</i> away in your pocket; and there were five loads + of straw, but then of those a lady could take no more than her <i>reticule</i> + would carry, which perhaps was allowed by the courtesy of Spain. So Kate + was right as to the difficulty of being challenged for a thief. Closing + the door as gently as she had opened it, she dropped her person, dressed + as she was, upon the nearest heap of straw. Some ten feet further were + lying two muleteers, honest and happy enough, as compared with the lords + of the bed-chamber then in Valladolid: but still gross men, carnally deaf + from eating garlic and onions, and other horrible substances. Accordingly, + they never heard her, nor were aware, until dawn, that such a blooming + person existed. But she was aware of <i>them</i>, and of their + conversation. They were talking of an expedition for America, on the point + of sailing under Don Ferdinand de Cordova. It was to sail from some + Andalusian port. That was the very thing for <i>her</i>. At daylight she + woke, and jumped up, needing no more toilet than the birds that already + were singing in the gardens, or than the two muleteers, who, good, honest + fellows, saluted the handsome boy kindly—thinking no ill at his + making free with <i>their</i> straw, though no leave had been asked. + </p> + <p> + With these philo-garlic men Kate took her departure. The morning was + divine: and leaving Valladolid with the transports that befitted such a + golden dawn, feeling also already, in the very obscurity of her exit, the + pledge of her escape; she cared no longer for the Crocodile, or for St. + Sebastian, or (in the way of fear) for the protector of St. Sebastian, + though of <i>him</i> she thought with some tenderness; so deep is the + remembrance of kindness mixed with justice. Andalusia she reached rather + slowly; but many months before she was sixteen years old, and quite in + time for the expedition. St. Lucar being the port of rendezvous for the + Peruvian expedition, thither she went. All comers were welcome on board + the fleet; much more a fine young fellow like Kate. She was at once + engaged as a mate; and <i>her</i> ship, in particular, after doubling Cape + Horn without loss, made the coast of Peru. Paita was the port of her + destination. Very near to this port they were, when a storm threw them + upon a coral reef. There was little hope of the ship from the first, for + she was unmanageable, and was not expected to hold together for + twenty-four hours. In this condition, with death before their faces, mark + what Kate did; and please to remember it for her benefit, when she does + any other little thing that angers you. The crew lowered the long-boat. + Vainly the captain protested against this disloyal desertion of a king's + ship, which might yet perhaps be run on shore, so as to save the stores. + All the crew, to a man, deserted the captain. You may say <i>that</i> + literally; for the single exception was <i>not</i> a man, being our + bold-hearted Kate. She was the only sailor that refused to leave her + captain, or the king of Spain's ship. The rest pulled away for the shore, + and with fair hopes of reaching it. But one half-hour told another tale: + just about that time came a broad sheet of lightning, which, through the + darkness of evening, revealed the boat in the very act of mounting like a + horse upon an inner reef, instantly filling, and throwing out the crew, + every man of whom disappeared amongst the breakers. The night which + succeeded was gloomy for both the representatives of his Catholic Majesty. + It cannot be denied by the greatest of philosophers, that the muleteer's + stable at Valladolid was worth twenty such ships, though the stable was <i>not</i> + insured against fire, and the ship <i>was</i> insured against the sea and + the wind by some fellow that thought very little of his engagements. But + what's the use of sitting down to cry? That was never any trick of + Catalina's. By daybreak, she was at work with an axe in her hand. I knew + it, before ever I came to this place, in her memoirs. I felt, as sure as + if I had read it, that when day broke, we should find Kate hard at work. + Thimble or axe, trousers or raft, all one to <i>her</i>. + </p> + <p> + The Captain, though true to his duty, seems to have desponded. He gave no + help towards the raft. Signs were speaking, however, pretty loudly that he + must do something; for notice to quit was now served pretty liberally. + Kate's raft was ready; and she encouraged the captain to think that it + would give both of them something to hold by in swimming, if not even + carry double. At this moment, when all was waiting for a start, and the + ship herself was waiting for a final lurch, to say <i>Good-bye</i> to the + King of Spain, Kate went and did a thing which some misjudging people will + object to. She knew of a box laden with gold coins, reputed to be the King + of Spain's, and meant for contingencies in the voyage out. This she + smashed open with her axe, and took a sum equal to one hundred guineas + English; which, having well secured in a pillow-case, she then lashed + firmly to the raft. Now this, you know, though not <i>flotsam</i>, because + it would not float, was certainly, by maritime law, '<i>jetsom</i>.' It + would be the idlest of scruples to fancy that the sea or a shark had a + better right to it than a philosopher, or a splendid girl who showed + herself capable of writing a very fair 8vo, to say nothing of her + decapitating in battle several of the king's enemies, and recovering the + king's banner. No sane moralist would hesitate to do the same thing under + the same circumstances, on board an English vessel, though the First Lord + of the Admiralty should be looking on. The raft was now thrown into the + sea. Kate jumped after it, and then entreated the captain to follow her. + He attempted it; but, wanting her youthful agility, he struck his head + against a spar, and sank like lead, giving notice below that his ship was + coming. Kate mounted the raft, and was gradually washed ashore, but so + exhausted, as to have lost all recollection. She lay for hours until the + warmth of the sun revived her. On sitting up, she saw a desolate shore + stretching both ways—nothing to eat, nothing to drink, but + fortunately the raft and the money had been thrown near her; none of the + lashings having given way—only what is the use of a guinea amongst + tangle and sea-gulls? The money she distributed amongst her pockets, and + soon found strength to rise and march forward. But which <i>was</i> + forward? and which backward? She knew by the conversation of the sailors + that Paita must be in the neighborhood; and Paita, being a port, could not + be in the inside of Peru, but, of course, somewhere on its outside—and + the outside of a maritime land must be the shore; so that, if she kept the + shore, and went far enough, she could not fail of hitting her foot against + Paita at last, in the very darkest night, provided only she could first + find out which was <i>up</i> and which was <i>down</i>; else she might + walk her shoes off, and find herself six thousand miles in the wrong. Here + was an awkward case, all for want of a guide-post. Still, when one thinks + of Kate's prosperous horoscope, that after so long a voyage, <i>she</i> + only, out of the total crew, was thrown on the American shore, with one + hundred and five pounds in her purse of clear gain on the voyage, a + conviction arises that she <i>could</i> not guess wrongly. She might have + tossed up, having coins in her pocket, <i>heads or tails</i>? but this + kind of sortilege was then coming to be thought irreligious in + Christendom, as a Jewish and a Heathen mode of questioning the dark + future. She simply guessed, therefore; and very soon a thing happened + which, though adding nothing to strengthen her guess as a true one, did + much to sweeten it if it should prove a false one. On turning a point of + the shore, she came upon a barrel of biscuit washed ashore from the ship. + Biscuit is about the best thing I know, but it is the soonest spoiled; and + one would like to hear counsel on one puzzling point, why it is that a + touch of water utterly ruins it, taking its life, and leaving a <i>caput + mortuum</i> corpse! Upon this <i>caput</i> Kate breakfasted, though <i>her</i> + case was worse than mine; for any water that ever plagued <i>me</i> was + always fresh; now <i>hers</i> was a present from the Pacific ocean. She, + that was always prudent, packed up some of the Catholic king's biscuit, as + she had previously packed up far too little of his gold. But in such cases + a most delicate question occurs, pressing equally on medicine and algebra. + It is this: if you pack up too much, then, by this extra burthen of salt + provisions, you may retard for days your arrival at fresh provisions; on + the other hand, if you pack up too little, you may never arrive at all. + Catalina hit the <i>juste milieu;</i> and about twilight on the second + day, she found herself entering Paita, without having had to swim any + river in her walk. + </p> + <p> + The first thing, in such a case of distress, which a young lady does, even + if she happens to be a young gentleman, is to beautify her dress. Kate + always attended to <i>that</i>, as we know, having overlooked her in the + chestnut wood. The man she sent for was not properly a tailor, but one who + employed tailors, he himself furnishing the materials. His name was + Urquiza, a fact of very little importance to us in 1847, if it had stood + only at the head and foot of Kate's little account. But unhappily for + Kate's <i>début</i> on this vast American stage, the case was otherwise. + Mr. Urquiza had the misfortune (equally common in the old world and the + new) of being a knave; and also a showy specious knave. Kate, who had + prospered under sea allowances of biscuit and hardship, was now expanding + in proportions. With very little vanity or consciousness on that head, she + now displayed a really fine person; and, when drest anew in the way that + became a young officer in the Spanish service, she looked [Footnote: <i>'She + looked,' etc</i>. If ever the reader should visit Aix-la-Chapelle, he will + probably feel interest enough in the poor, wild impassioned girl, to look + out for a picture of her in that city, and the only one known <i>certainly</i> + to be authentic. It is in the collection of Mr. Sempeller. For some time + it was supposed that the best (if not the only) portrait of her lurked + somewhere in Italy. Since the discovery of the picture at Aix-la-Chapelle, + that notion has been abandoned. But there is great reason to believe that, + both in Madrid and Rome, many portraits of her must have been painted to + meet the intense interest which arose in her history subsequently amongst + all the men of rank, military or ecclesiastical, whether in Italy or + Spain. The date of these would range between sixteen and twenty-two years + from, the period which we have now reached (1608.)] the representative + picture of a Spanish <i>caballador</i>. It is strange that such an + appearance, and such a rank, should have suggested to Urquiza the + presumptuous idea of wishing that Kate might become his clerk. He <i>did</i>, + however wish it; for Kate wrote a beautiful hand; and a stranger thing is, + that Kate accepted his proposal. This might arise from the difficulty of + moving in those days to any distance in Peru. The ship had been merely + bringing stores to the station of Paita; and no corps of the royal armies + was readily to be reached, whilst something must be done at once for a + livelihood. Urquiza had two mercantile establishments, one at Trujillo, to + which he repaired in person, on Kate's agreeing to undertake the + management of the other in Paita. Like the sensible girl, that we have + always found her, she demanded specific instructions for her guidance in + duties so new. Certainly she was in a fair way for seeing life. Telling + her beads at St. Sebastian's, manoeuvreing irregular verbs at Vittoria, + acting as gentleman-usher at Valladolid, serving his Spanish Majesty round + Cape Horn, fighting with storms and sharks off the coast of Peru, and now + commencing as book-keeper or <i>commis</i> to a draper at Paita, does she + not justify the character that I myself gave her, just before dismissing + her from St. Sebastian's, of being a 'handy' girl? Mr. Urquiza's + instructions were short, easy to be understood, but rather comic; and yet, + which is odd, they led to tragic results. There were two debtors of the + shop, (<i>many</i>, it is to be hoped, but two meriting his affectionate + notice,) with respect to whom he left the most opposite directions. The + one was a very handsome lady; and the rule as to <i>her</i> was, that she + was to have credit unlimited, strictly unlimited. That was plain. The + other customer, favored by Mr. Urquiza's valedictory thoughts, was a young + man, cousin to the handsome lady, and bearing the name of Reyes. This + youth occupied in Mr. Urquiza's estimate the same hyperbolical rank as the + handsome lady, but on the opposite side of the equation. The rule as to <i>him</i> + was—that he was to have <i>no</i> credit; strictly none. In this + case, also, Kate saw no difficulty; and when she came to know Mr. Reyes a + little, she found the path of pleasure coinciding with the path of duty. + Mr. Urquiza could not be more precise in laying down the rule than Kate + was in enforcing it. But in the other case a scruple arose. <i>Unlimited</i> + might be a word, not of Spanish law, but of Spanish rhetoric; such as '<i>Live + a thousand years</i>,' which even annuity offices hear, and perhaps utter, + without a pang. Kate, therefore, wrote to Trujillo, expressing her honest + fears, and desiring to have more definite instructions. These were + positive. If the lady chose to send for the entire shop, her account was + to be debited instantly with <i>that</i>. She had, however, as yet, not + sent for the shop, but she began to manifest strong signs of sending for + the shop <i>man</i>. Upon the blooming young Biscayan had her roving eye + settled; and she was in a course of making up her mind to take Kate for a + sweetheart. Poor Kate saw this with a heavy heart. And, at the same time + that she had a prospect of a tender friend more than she wanted, she had + become certain of an extra enemy that she wanted quite as little. What she + had done to offend Mr. Reyes, Kate could not guess, except as to the + matter of the credit; but then, in that, she only executed her + instructions. Still Mr. Reyes was of opinion that there were two ways of + executing orders: but the main offence was unintentional on Kate's part. + Reyes, though as yet she did not know it, had himself been a candidate for + the situation of clerk; and intended probably to keep the equation + precisely as it was with respect to the allowance of credit, only to + change places with the handsome lady—keeping <i>her</i> on the + negative side, himself on the affirmative—an arrangement that you + know could have made no sort of pecuniary difference to Urquiza. + </p> + <p> + Thus stood matters, when a party of strolling players strolled into Paita. + Kate, as a Spaniard, being one held of the Paita aristocracy, was expected + to attend. She did so; and there also was the malignant Reyes. He came and + seated himself purposely so as to shut out Kate from all view of the + stage. She, who had nothing of the bully in her nature, and was a gentle + creature when her wild Biscayan blood had not been kindled by insult, + courteously requested him to move a little; upon which Reyes remarked that + it was not in his power to oblige the clerk as to that, but that he <i>could</i> + oblige him by cutting his throat. The tiger that slept in Catalina wakened + at once. She seized him, and would have executed vengeance on the spot, + but that a party of young men interposed to part them. The next day, when + Kate (always ready to forget and forgive) was thinking no more of the row, + Reyes passed; by spitting at the window, and other gestures insulting to + Kate, again he roused her Spanish blood. Out she rushed, sword in hand—a + duel began in the street, and very soon Kate's sword had passed into the + heart of Reyes. Now that the mischief was done, the police were, as usual, + all alive for the pleasure of avenging it. Kate found herself suddenly in + a strong prison, and with small hopes of leaving it, except for execution. + The relations of the dead man were potent in Paita, and clamorous for + justice, so that the <i>corregidor</i>, in a case where he saw a very poor + chance of being corrupted by bribes, felt it his duty to be sublimely + incorruptible. The reader knows, however, that, amongst the relatives of + the deceased bully, was that handsome lady, who differed as much from her + cousin in her sentiments as to Kate, as she did in the extent of her + credit with Mr. Urquiza. To <i>her</i> Kate wrote a note; and, using one + of the Spanish King's gold coins for bribing the jailor, got it safely + delivered. That, perhaps, was unnecessary; for the lady had been already + on the alert, and had summoned Urquiza from Trujillo. By some means, not + very luminously stated, and by paying proper fees in proper quarters, Kate + was smuggled out of the prison at nightfall, and smuggled into a pretty + house in the suburbs. Had she known exactly the footing she stood on as to + the law, she would have been decided. As it was, she was uneasy, and + jealous of mischief abroad; and, before supper, she understood it all. + Urquiza briefly informed his clerk, that it would be requisite for him to + marry the handsome lady. But why? Because, said Urquiza, after talking for + hours with the <i>corregidor</i>, who was infamous for obstinacy, he had + found it impossible to make him 'hear reason,' and release the prisoner, + until this compromise of marriage was suggested. But how could public + justice be pacified for the clerk's unfortunate homicide of Reyes, by a + female cousin of the deceased man engaging to love, honor, and obey the + clerk for life? Kate could not see her way through this logic. 'Nonsense, + my friend,' said Urquiza, 'you don't comprehend. As it stands, the affair + is a murder, and hanging the penalty. But, if you marry into the murdered + man's house, then it becomes a little family murder, all quiet and + comfortable amongst ourselves. What has the <i>corregidor</i> to do with + that? or the public either? Now, let me introduce the bride.' Supper + entered at that moment, and the bride immediately after. The + thoughtfulness of Kate was narrowly observed, and even alluded to, but + politely ascribed to the natural anxieties of a prisoner, and the very + imperfect state of liberation even yet from prison <i>surveillance</i>. + Kate had, indeed, never been in so trying a situation before. The + anxieties of the farewell night at St. Sebastian were nothing to this; + because, even if she had failed <i>then</i>, a failure might not have been + always irreparable. It was but to watch and wait. But now, at this supper + table, she was not more alive to the nature of the peril than she was to + the fact, that if, before the night closed, she did not by some means + escape from it, she never <i>would</i> escape with life. The deception as + to her sex, though resting on no motive that pointed to these people, or + at all concerned them, would be resented as if it had. The lady would + resent the case as a mockery; and Urquiza would lose his opportunity of + delivering himself from an imperious mistress. According to the usages of + the times and country, Kate knew that in twelve hours she would be + assassinated. + </p> + <p> + People of infirmer resolution would have lingered at the supper table, for + the sake of putting off the evil moment of final crisis. Not so Kate. She + had revolved the case on all its sides in a few minutes, and had formed + her resolution. This done, she was as ready for the trial at one moment as + another; and, when the lady suggested that the hardships of a prison must + have made repose desirable, Kate assented, and instantly rose. A sort of + procession formed, for the purpose of doing honor to the interesting + guest, and escorting him in pomp to his bedroom. Kate viewed it much in + the same light as the procession to which for some days she had been + expecting an invitation from the <i>corregidor</i>. Far ahead ran the + servant-woman as a sort of outrider. Then came Urquiza, like a Pasha of + two tails, who granted two sorts of credit, viz. unlimited and none at + all, bearing two wax-lights, one in each hand, and wanting only cymbals + and kettle-drums to express emphatically the pathos of his Castilian + strut. Next came the bride, a little in advance of the clerk, but still + turning obliquely towards him, and smiling graciously into his face. + Lastly, bringing up the rear, came the prisoner—our Kate—the + nun, the page, the mate, the clerk, the homicide, the convict; and, for + this day only, by particular desire, the bridegroom elect. + </p> + <p> + It was Kate's fixed opinion, that, if for a moment she entered any bedroom + having obviously no outlet, her fate would be that of an ox once driven + within the shambles. Outside, the bullock might make some defence with his + horns; but once in, with no space for turning, he is muffled and gagged. + She carried her eye, therefore, like a hawk's, steady, though restless, + for vigilant examination of every angle she turned. Before she entered any + bedroom, she was resolved to reconnoiter it from the doorway, and, in case + of necessity, show fight at once, before entering—as the best + chance, after all, where all chances were bad. Everything ends; and at + last the procession reached the bedroom door, the outrider having filed + off to the rear. One glance sufficed to satisfy Kate that windows there + were none, and, therefore, no outlet for escape. Treachery appeared even + in <i>that</i>; and Kate, though unfortunately without arms, was now fixed + for resistance. Mr. Urquiza entered first—'Sound the trumpets! Beat + the drums!' There were, as we know already, no windows; but a slight + interruption to Mr. Urquiza's pompous tread showed that there were steps + downwards into the room. Those, thought Kate, will suit me even better. + She had watched the unlocking of the bedroom door—she had lost + nothing—she had marked that the key was left in the lock. At this + moment, the beautiful lady, as one acquainted with the details of the + house, turning with the air of a gracious monitress, held out her fair + hand to guide Kate in careful descent of the steps. This had the air of + taking out Kate to dance; and Kate, at that same moment, answering to it + by the gesture of a modern waltzer, threw her arm behind the lady's waist, + hurled her headlong down the steps right against Mr. Urquiza, draper and + haberdasher; and then, with the speed of lightning, throwing the door <i>home</i> + within its architrave, doubly locked the creditor and debtor into the + rat-trap which they had prepared for herself. + </p> + <p> + The affrighted out-rider fled with horror: she already knew that the clerk + had committed one homicide; a second would cost him still less thought; + and thus it happened that egress was left easy. But, when out and free + once more in the bright starry night, which way should Kate turn? The + whole city would prove but a rat-trap for her, as bad as Mr. Urquiza's, if + she was not off before morning. At a glance she comprehended that the sea + was her only chance. To the port she fled. All was silent. Watchmen there + were none. She jumped into a boat. To use the oars was dangerous, for she + had no means of muffling them. But she contrived to hoist a sail, pushed + off with a boat-hook, and was soon stretching across the water for the + mouth of the harbor before a breeze light but favorable. Having cleared + the difficulties of exit she lay down, and unintentionally fell asleep. + When she awoke the sun had been up three or four hours; all was right + otherwise; but had she not served as a sailor, Kate would have trembled + upon finding that, during her long sleep of perhaps seven or eight hours, + she had lost sight of land; by what distance she could only guess; and in + what direction, was to some degree doubtful. All this, however, seemed a + great advantage to the bold girl, throwing her thoughts back on the + enemies she had left behind. The disadvantage was—having no + breakfast, not even damaged biscuit; and some anxiety naturally arose as + to ulterior prospects a little beyond the horizon of breakfast. But who's + afraid? As sailors whistle for a wind, Catalina really had but to whistle + for anything with energy, and it was sure to come. Like Caesar to the + pilot of Dyrrhachium, she might have said, for the comfort of her poor + timorous boat, (though destined soon to perish,) '<i>Catalinam vehis, et + fortunas ejus</i>.' Meantime, being very doubtful as to the best course + for sailing, and content if her course did but lie offshore, she 'carried + on,' as sailors say, under easy sail, going, in fact, just whither and + just how the Pacific breezes suggested in the gentlest of whispers. <i>All + right behind</i>, was Kate's opinion; and, what was better, very soon she + might say, <i>all right ahead:</i> for some hour or two before sunset, + when dinner was for once becoming, even to Kate, the most interesting of + subjects for meditation, suddenly a large ship began to swell upon the + brilliant atmosphere. In those latitudes, and in those years, any ship was + pretty sure to be Spanish: sixty years later the odds were in favor of its + being an English buccaneer; which would have given a new direction to + Kate's energy. Kate continued to make signals with a handkerchief whiter + than the crocodile's of Ann. Dom. 1592, else it would hardly have been + noticed. Perhaps, after all, it would not, but that the ship's course + carried her very nearly across Kate's. The stranger lay-to for her. It was + dark by the time Kate steered herself under the ship's quarter; and <i>then</i> + was seen an instance of this girl's eternal wakefulness. Something was + painted on the stern of her boat, she could not see <i>what;</i> but she + judged that it would express some connection with the port that she had + just quitted. Now it was her wish to break the chain of traces connecting + her with such a scamp as Urquiza; since else, through his commercial + correspondence, he might disperse over Peru a portrait of herself by no + means flattering. How should she accomplish this? It was dark; and she + stood, as you may see an Etonian do at times, rocking her little boat from + side to side, until it had taken in water as much as might be agreeable. + Too much it proved for the boat's constitution, and the boat perished of + dropsy—Kate declining to tap it. She got a ducking herself; but what + cared she? Up the ship's side she went, as gaily as ever, in those years + when she was called pussy, she had raced after the nuns of St. Sebastian; + jumped upon deck, and told the first lieutenant, when he questioned her + about her adventures, quite as much truth as any man, under the rank of + admiral, had a right to expect. + </p> + <p> + This ship was full of recruits for the Spanish army, and bound to + Concepcion. Even in that destiny was an iteration, or repeating memorial + of the significance that ran through Catalina's most casual adventures. + She had enlisted amongst the soldiers; and, on reaching port, the very + first person who came off from shore was a dashing young military officer, + whom at once by his name and rank, (though she had never consciously seen + him,) she identified as her own brother. He was splendidly situated in the + service, being the Governor-General's secretary, besides his rank as a + cavalry officer; and, his errand on board being to inspect the recruits, + naturally, on reading in the roll one of them described as a Biscayan, the + ardent young man came up with high-bred courtesy to Catalina, took the + young recruit's hand with kindness, feeling that to be a compatriot at so + great a distance was to be a sort of relative, and asked with emotion + after old boyish remembrances. There was a scriptural pathos in what + followed, as if it were some scene of domestic re-union, opening itself + from patriarchal ages. The young officer was the eldest son of the house, + and had left Spain when Catalina was only three years old. But, singularly + enough, Catalina it was, the little wild cat that he yet remembered seeing + at St. Sebastian's, upon whom his earliest inquiries settled. 'Did the + recruit know his family, the De Erausos?' O yes, every body knew <i>them</i>. + 'Did the recruit know little Catalina?' Catalina smiled, as she replied + that she did; and gave such an animated description of the little fiery + wretch, as made the officer's eye flash with gratified tenderness, and + with certainty that the recruit was no counterfeit Biscayan. Indeed, you + know, if Kate couldn't give a good description of 'Pussy,' who could? The + issue of the interview was—that the officer insisted on Kate's + making a home of his quarters. He did other services for his unknown + sister. He placed her as a trooper in his own regiment, and favored her in + many a way that is open to one having authority. But the person, after + all, that did most to serve our Kate, was Kate. War was then raging with + Indians, both from Chili and Peru. Kate had always done her duty in + action; but at length, in the decisive battle of Puren, there was an + opening for doing something more. Havoc had been made of her own squadron: + most of the officers were killed, and the standard was carried off. Kate + gathered around her a small party—galloped after the Indian column + that was carrying away the trophy—charged—saw all her own + party killed—but (in spite of wounds on her face and shoulder) + succeeded in bearing away the recovered standard. She rode up to the + general and his staff; she dismounted; she rendered up her prize; and + fainted away, much less from the blinding blood, than from the tears of + joy which dimmed her eyes, as the general, waving his sword in admiration + over her head, pronounced our Kate on the spot an <i>Alferez</i>, + [Footnote: <i>Alferez</i>. This rank in the Spanish army is, or was, on a + level with the modern <i>sous-lieutenant</i> of France.] or + standard-bearer, with a commission from the King of Spain and the Indies. + Bonny Kate! Noble Kate! I would there were not two centuries laid between + us, so that I might have the pleasure of kissing thy fair hand. + </p> + <p> + Kate had the good sense to see the danger of revealing her sex, or her + relationship, even to her own brother. The grasp of the Church never + relaxed, never 'prescribed,' unless freely and by choice. The nun, if + discovered, would have been taken out of the horse-barracks, or the + dragoon-saddle. She had the firmness, therefore, for many years, to resist + the sisterly impulses that sometimes suggested such a confidence. For + years, and those years the most important of her life—the years that + developed her character—she lived undetected as a brilliant cavalry + officer under her brother's patronage. And the bitterest grief in poor + Kate's whole life, was the tragical (and, were it not fully attested, one + might say the ultra-scenical,) event that dissolved their long connection. + Let me spend a word of apology on poor Kate's errors. We all commit many; + both you and I, reader. No, stop; that's not civil. You, reader, I know, + are a saint; I am <i>not</i>, though very near it. I <i>do</i> err at long + intervals; and then I think with indulgence of the many circumstances that + plead for this poor girl. The Spanish armies of that day inherited, from + the days of Cortez and Pizarro, shining remembrances of martial prowess, + and the very worst of ethics. To think little of bloodshed, to quarrel, to + fight, to gamble, to plunder, belonged to the very atmosphere of a camp, + to its indolence, to its ancient traditions. In your own defence, you were + obliged to do such things. Besides all these grounds of evil, the Spanish + army had just there an extra demoralization from a war with savages—faithless + and bloody. Do not think, I beseech you, too much, reader, of killing a + man. That word '<i>kill</i>' is sprinkled over every page of Kate's own + autobiography. It ought not to be read by the light of these days. Yet, + how if a man that she killed were——? Hush! It was sad; but is + better hurried over in a few words. Years after this period, a young + officer one day dining with Kate, entreated her to become his second in a + duel. Such things were every-day affairs. However, Kate had reasons for + declining the service, and did so. But the officer, as he was sullenly + departing, said—that, if he were killed, (as he thought he <i>should</i> + be,) his death would lie at Kate's door. I do not take <i>his</i> view of + the case, and am not moved by his rhetoric or his logic. Kate <i>was</i>, + and relented. The duel was fixed for eleven at night, under the walls of a + monastery. Unhappily the night proved unusually dark, so that the two + principals had to tie white handkerchiefs round their elbows, in order to + descry each other. In the confusion they wounded each other mortally. Upon + that, according to a usage not peculiar to Spaniards, but extending (as + doubtless the reader knows) for a century longer to our own countrymen, + the two seconds were obliged in honor to do something towards avenging + their principals. Kate had her usual fatal luck. Her sword passed sheer + through the body of her opponent: this unknown opponent falling dead, had + just breath left to cry out, 'Ah, villain, you have killed me,' in a voice + of horrific reproach; and the voice was the voice of her brother! + </p> + <p> + The monks of the monastery, under whose silent shadows this murderous duel + had taken place, roused by the clashing of swords and the angry shouts of + combatants, issued out with torches to find one only of the four officers + surviving. Every convent and altar had a right of asylum for a short + period. According to the custom, the monks carried Kate, insensible with + anguish of mind, to the sanctuary of their chapel. There for some days + they detained her; but then, having furnished her with a horse and some + provisions, they turned her adrift. Which way should the unhappy fugitive + turn? In blindness of heart she turned towards the sea. It was the sea + that had brought her to Peru; it was the sea that would perhaps carry her + away. It was the sea that had first showed her this land and its golden + hopes; it was the sea that ought to hide from her its fearful + remembrances. The sea it was that had twice spared her life in + extremities; the sea it was that might now if it chose, take back the + bauble that it had spared in vain. + </p> + <h3> + KATE'S PASSAGE OVER THE ANDES. + </h3> + <p> + Three days our poor heroine followed the coast. Her horse was then almost + unable to move; and on <i>his</i> account, she turned inland to a thicket + for grass and shelter. As she drew near to it, a voice challenged—'<i>Who + goes there</i>?' Kate answered, '<i>Spain</i>.' '<i>What people</i>?' '<i>A + friend</i>.' It was two soldiers, deserters, and almost starving. Kate + shared her provisions with these men: and, on hearing their plan, which + was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join the party. <i>Their</i> + object was the wild one of seeking the river <i>Dorado</i>, whose waters + rolled along golden sands, and whose pebbles were emeralds. <i>Hers</i> + was to throw herself upon a line the least liable to pursuit, and the + readiest for a new chapter of life in which oblivion might be found for + the past. After a few days of incessant climbing and fatigue, they found + themselves in the regions of perpetual snow. Summer would come as vainly + to this kingdom of frost as to the grave of her brother. No fire, but the + fire of human blood in youthful veins, could ever be kept burning in these + aerial solitudes. Fuel was rarely to be found, and kindling a secret + hardly known except to Indians. However, our Kate can do everything, and + she's the girl, if ever girl <i>did</i> such a thing, or ever girl did <i>not</i> + such a thing, that I back at any odds for crossing the Cordilleras. I + would bet you something now, reader, if I thought you would deposit your + stakes by return of post, (as they play at chess through the post-office,) + that Kate does the trick, that she gets down to the other side; that the + soldiers do <i>not</i>: and that the horse, if preserved at all, is + preserved in a way that will leave him very little to boast of. + </p> + <p> + The party had gathered wild berries and esculent roots at the foot of the + mountains, and the horse was of very great use in carrying them. But this + larder was soon emptied. There was nothing then to carry; so that the + horse's value, as a beast of burthen, fell cent per cent. In fact, very + soon he could not carry himself, and it became easy to calculate when he + would reach the bottom on the wrong side the Cordilleras. He took three + steps back for one upwards. A council of war being held, the small army + resolved to slaughter their horse. He, though a member of the expedition, + had no vote, and if he had the votes would have stood three to one—majority, + two against him. He was cut into quarters; which surprises me; for, unless + <i>one</i> quarter was considered his own share, it reminds one too much + of this amongst the many <i>facetić</i> of English midshipmen, who ask (on + any one of their number looking sulky) 'if it is his intention to marry + and retire from the service upon a superannuation of Ł4 4s. 4 1/2d. a + year, paid quarterly by way of bothering the purser.' The purser can't do + it with the help of farthings. And as respects aliquot parts, four shares + among three persons are as incommensurable as a guinea is against any + attempt at giving change in half-crowns. However, this was all the + preservation that the horse found. No saltpetre or sugar could be had: but + the frost was antiseptic. And the horse was preserved in as useful a sense + as ever apricots were preserved or strawberries. + </p> + <p> + On a fire, painfully devised out of broom and withered leaves, a + horse-steak was dressed, for drink, snow as allowed <i>a discretion</i>. + This ought to have revived the party, and Kate, perhaps, it <i>did</i>. + But the poor deserters were thinly clad, and they had not the boiling + heart of Catalina. More and more they drooped. Kate did her best to cheer + them. But the march was nearly at an end for <i>them</i>, and they were + going in one half hour to receive their last billet. Yet, before this + consummation, they have a strange spectacle to see; such as few places + could show, but the upper chambers of the Cordilleras. They had reached a + billowy scene of rocky masses, large and small, looking shockingly black + on their perpendicular sides as they rose out of the vast snowy expanse. + Upon the highest of these, that was accessible, Kate mounted to look + around her, and she saw—oh, rapture at such an hour!—a man + sitting on a shelf of rock with a gun by his side. She shouted with joy to + her comrades, and ran down to communicate the joyful news. Here was a + sportsman, watching, perhaps, for an eagle; and now they would have + relief. One man's cheek kindled with the hectic of sudden joy, and he rose + eagerly to march. The other was fast sinking under the fatal sleep that + frost sends before herself as her merciful minister of death; but hearing + in his dream the tidings of relief, and assisted by his friends, he also + staggeringly arose. It could not be three minutes' walk, Kate thought, to + the station of the sportsman. That thought supported them all. Under + Kate's guidance, who had taken a sailor's glance at the bearings, they + soon unthreaded the labyrinth of rocks so far as to bring the man within + view. He had not left his resting-place; their steps on the soundless + snow, naturally, he could not hear; and, as their road brought them upon + him from the rear, still less could he see them. Kate hailed him; but so + keenly was he absorbed in some speculation, or in the object of his + watching, that he took no notice of them, not even moving his head. Kate + began to think there would be another man to rouse from sleep. Coming + close behind him, she touched his shoulder, and said, 'My friend, are you + sleeping?' Yes, he <i>was</i> sleeping; sleeping the sleep from which + there is no awaking; and the slight touch of Kate having disturbed the + equilibrium of the corpse, down it rolled on the snow: the frozen body + rang like a hollow iron cylinder; the face uppermost and blue with mould, + mouth open, teeth ghastly and bleaching in the frost, and a frightful grin + upon the lips. This dreadful spectacle finished the struggles of the + weaker man, who sank and died at once. The other made an effort with so + much spirit, that, in Kate's opinion, horror had acted upon him + beneficially as a stimulant. But it was not really so. It was a spasm of + morbid strength; a collapse succeeded; his blood began to freeze; he sat + down in spite of Kate, and <i>he</i> also died without further struggle. + Gone are the poor suffering deserters; stretched and bleaching upon the + snow; and insulted discipline is avenged. Great kings have long arms; and + sycophants are ever at hand for the errand of the potent. What had frost + and snow to do with the quarrel? Yet <i>they</i> made themselves + sycophantic servants of the King of Spain; and <i>they</i> dogged his + deserters up to the summit of the Cordilleras, more surely than any + Spanish bloodhound, or any Spanish tirailleur's bullet. + </p> + <p> + Now is our Kate standing alone on the summits of the Andes, in solitude + that is shocking, for she is alone with her own afflicted conscience. + Twice before she had stood in solitude as deep upon the wild—wild + waters of the Pacific; but her conscience had been then untroubled. Now, + is there nobody left that can help; her horse is dead—the soldiers + are dead. There is nobody that she can speak to except God; and very soon + you will find that she <i>does</i> speak to him; for already on these vast + aerial deserts He has been whispering to <i>her</i>. The condition of Kate + is exactly that of Coleridge's '<i>Ancient Mariner</i>.' But possibly, + reader, you may be amongst the many careless readers that have never fully + understood what that condition was. Suffer me to enlighten you, else you + ruin the story of the mariner; and by losing all its pathos, lose half the + jewels of its beauty. + </p> + <p> + There are three readers of the 'Ancient Mariner.' The first is gross + enough to fancy all the imagery of the mariner's visions delivered by the + poet for actual facts of experience; which being impossible, the whole + pulverizes, for that reader, into a baseless fairy tale. The second reader + is wiser than <i>that</i>; he knows that the imagery is <i>not</i> + baseless; it is the imagery of febrile delirium; really seen, but not seen + as an external reality. The mariner had caught the pestilential fever, + which carried off all his mates; he only had survived—the delirium + had vanished; but the visions that had haunted the delirium remained. + 'Yes,' says the third reader, 'they remained; naturally they did, being + scorched by fever into his brain; but how did they happen to remain on his + belief as gospel truths? The delirium had vanished: why had not the + painted scenery of the delirium vanished, except as visionary memorials of + a sorrow that was cancelled? Why was it that craziness settled upon this + mariner's brain, driving him, as if he were a Cain, or another Wandering + Jew, to 'pass like night—from land to land;' and, at uncertain + intervals, wrenching him until he made rehearsal of his errors, even at + the hard price of 'holding children from their play, and old men from the + chimney corner?' [Footnote: The beautiful words of Sir Philip Sidney, in + his '<i>Defense of Poesie</i>.'] That craziness, as the <i>third reader</i> + deciphers, rose out of a deeper soil than any bodily affection. It had its + root in penitential sorrow. Oh, bitter is the sorrow to a conscientious + heart, when, too late, it discovers the depth of a love that has been + trampled under foot! This mariner had slain the creature that, on all the + earth, loved him best. In the darkness of his cruel superstition he had + done it, to save his human brothers from a fancied inconvenience; and yet, + by that very act of cruelty, he had himself called destruction upon their + heads. The Nemesis that followed punished <i>him</i> through <i>them</i>—him, + that wronged, through those that wrongfully he sought to benefit. That + spirit who watches over the sanctities of love is a strong angel—is + a jealous angel; and this angel it was + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'That lov'd the bird, that lov'd the man, + That shot him with his bow.' +</pre> + <p> + He it was that followed the cruel archer into silent and slumbering seas; + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Nine fathom deep he had follow'd him + Through the realms of mist and snow.' +</pre> + <p> + This jealous angel it was that pursued the man into noon-day darkness, and + the vision of dying oceans, into delirium, and finally, (when recovered + from disease) into an unsettled mind. + </p> + <p> + Such, also, had been the offence of Kate; such, also was the punishment + that now is dogging her steps. She, like the mariner, had slain the one + sole creature that loved her upon the whole wide earth; she, like the + mariner, for this offence, had been hunted into frost and snow—very + soon will be hunted into delirium; and from <i>that</i> (if she escapes + with life) will be hunted into the trouble of a heart that cannot rest. + There was the excuse of one darkness for <i>her</i>; there was the excuse + of another darkness for the mariner. But, with all the excuses that earth, + and the darkness of earth, can furnish, bitter it would be for you or me, + reader, through every hour of life, waking or dreaming, to look back upon + one fatal moment when we had pierced the heart that would have died for + us. In this only the darkness had been merciful to Kate—that it had + hidden for ever from her victim the hand that slew him. But now in such + utter solitude, her thoughts ran back to their earliest interview. She + remembered with anguish, how, on first touching the shores of America, + almost the very first word that met her ear had been from <i>him</i>, the + brother whom she had killed, about the 'Pussy' of times long past; how the + gallant young man had hung upon her words, as in her native Basque she + described her own mischievous little self, of twelve years back; how his + color went and came, whilst his loving memory of the little sister was + revived by her own descriptive traits, giving back, as in a mirror, the + fawn-like grace, the squirrel-like restlessness, that once had kindled his + own delighted laughter; how he would take no denial, but showed on the + spot, that, simply to have touched—to have kissed—to have + played with the little wild thing, that glorified, by her innocence, the + gloom of St. Sebastian's cloisters, gave a <i>right</i> to his + hospitality; how, through <i>him</i> only, she had found a welcome in + camps; how, through <i>him</i>, she had found the avenue to honor and + distinction. And yet this brother, so loving and generous, it was that she + had dismissed from life. She paused; she turned round, as if looking back + for his grave; she saw the dreadful wildernesses of snow which already she + had traversed. + </p> + <p> + Silent they were at this season, even as in the panting heats of noon, the + Zaarrahs of the torrid zone are oftentimes silent. Dreadful was the + silence; it was the nearest thing to the silence of the grave. Graves were + at the foot of the Andes, <i>that</i> she knew too well; graves were at + the summit of the Andes, <i>that</i> she saw too well. And, as she gazed, + a sudden thought flashed upon her, when her eyes settled upon the corpses + of the poor deserters—could she, like <i>them</i>, have been all + this while unconsciously executing judgment upon herself? Running from a + wrath that was doubtful, into the very jaws of a wrath that was + inexorable? Flying in panic—and behold! there was no man that + pursued? For the first time in her life, Kate trembled. <i>Not</i> for the + first time, Kate wept. Far less for the first time was it, that Kate bent + her knee—that Kate clasped her hands—that Kate prayed. But it + <i>was</i> the first time that she prayed as <i>they</i> pray, for whom no + more hope is left but in prayer. + </p> + <p> + Here let me pause a moment for the sake of making somebody angry. A + Frenchman, who sadly misjudges Kate, looking at her through a Parisian + opera-glass, gives it as <i>his</i> opinion—that, because Kate first + <i>records</i> her prayer on this occasion, therefore, now first of all + she prayed. <i>I</i> think not so. <i>I</i> love this Kate, blood-stained + as she is; and I could not love a woman that never bent her knee in + thankfulness or in supplication. However, we have all a right to our own + little opinion; and it is not you, '<i>mon cher</i>,' you Frenchman, that + I am angry with, but somebody else that stands behind you. You, Frenchman, + and your compatriots, I love oftentimes for your festal gaiety of heart; + and I quarrel only with your levity and that eternal worldliness that + freezes too fiercely—that absolutely blisters with its frost—like + the upper air of the Andes. <i>You</i> speak of Kate only as too readily + you speak of all women; the instinct of a natural scepticism being to + scoff at all hidden depths of truth. Else you are civil enough to Kate; + and your '<i>homage</i>' (such as it may happen to be) is always at the + service of a woman on the shortest notice. But behind <i>you</i>, I see a + worse fellow; a gloomy fanatic; a religious sycophant that seeks to + propitiate his circle by bitterness against the offences that are most + unlike his own. And against him, I must say one word for Kate to the too + hasty reader. This villain, whom I mark for a shot if he does not get out + of the way, opens his fire on our Kate under shelter of a lie. For there + is a standing lie in the very constitution of civil society, a <i>necessity</i> + of error, misleading us as to the proportions of crime. Mere necessity + obliges man to create many acts into felonies, and to punish them as the + heaviest offences, which his better sense teaches him secretly to regard + as perhaps among the lightest. Those poor deserters, for instance, were + they necessarily without excuse? They might have been oppressively used; + but in critical times of war, no matter for the individual palliations, + the deserter from his colors <i>must</i> be shot: there is no help for it: + as in extremities of general famine, we shoot the man (alas! we are <i>obliged</i> + to shoot him) that is found robbing the common stores in order to feed his + own perishing children, though the offence is hardly visible in the sight + of God. Only blockheads adjust their scale of guilt to the scale of human + punishments. Now, our wicked friend the fanatic, who calumniates Kate, + abuses the advantage which, for such a purpose, he derives from the + exaggerated social estimate of all violence. Personal security being so + main an object of social union, we are obliged to frown upon all modes of + violence as hostile to the central principle of that union. We are <i>obliged</i> + to rate it, according to the universal results towards which it tends, and + scarcely at all, according to the special condition of circumstances, in + which it may originate. Hence a horror arises for that class of offences, + which is (philosophically speaking) exaggerated; and by daily use, the + ethics of a police-office translate themselves, insensibly, into the + ethics even of religious people. But I tell that sycophantish fanatic—not + this only, viz., that he abuses unfairly, against Kate, the advantage + which he has from the <i>inevitably</i> distorted bias of society; but + also, I tell him this second little thing, viz., that upon turning away + the glass from that one obvious aspect of Kate's character, her too fiery + disposition to vindicate all rights by violence, and viewing her in + relation to <i>general</i> religious capacities, she was a thousand times + more promisingly endowed than himself. It is impossible to be noble in + many things, without having many points of contact with true religion. If + you deny <i>that</i> you it is that calumniate religion. Kate <i>was</i> + noble in many things. Her worst errors never took a shape of self-interest + or deceit. She was brave, she was generous, she was forgiving, she bore no + malice, she was full of truth—qualities that God loves either in man + or woman. She hated sycophants and dissemblers. <i>I</i> hate them; and + more than ever at this moment on her behalf. I wish she were but here—to + give a punch on the head to that fellow who traduces her. And, coming + round again to the occasion from which this short digression has started, + viz., the question raised by the Frenchman—whether Kate were a + person likely to <i>pray</i> under other circumstances than those of + extreme danger? I offer it as <i>my</i> opinion that she was. Violent + people are not always such from choice, but perhaps from situation. And, + though the circumstances of Kate's position allowed her little means for + realizing her own wishes, it is certain that those wishes pointed + continually to peace and an unworldly happiness, if <i>that</i> were + possible. The stormy clouds that enveloped her in camps, opened overhead + at intervals—showing her a far distant blue serene. She yearned, at + many times, for the rest which is not in camps or armies; and it is + certain, that she ever combined with any plans or day-dreams of + tranquillity, as their most essential ally, some aid derived from that + dovelike religion which, at St. Sebastian's, as an infant and through + girlhood, she had been taught so profoundly to adore. + </p> + <p> + Now, let us rise from this discussion of Kate against libellers, as Kate + herself is rising from prayer, and consider, in conjunction with <i>her</i>, + the character and promise of that dreadful ground which lies immediately + before her. What is to be thought of it? I could wish we had a theodolite + here, and a spirit-level, and other instruments, for settling some + important questions. Yet no: on consideration, if one <i>had</i> a wish + allowed by that kind fairy, without whose assistance it would be quite + impossible to send, even for the spirit-level, nobody would throw away the + wish upon things so paltry. I would not put the fairy upon any such + errand: I would order the good creature to bring no spirit-level, but a + stiff glass of spirits for Kate—a palanquin, and relays of fifty + stout bearers—all drunk, in order that they might not feel the cold. + The main interest at this moment, and the main difficulty—indeed, + the 'open question' of the case—was, to ascertain whether the ascent + were yet accomplished or not; and when would the descent commence? or had + it, perhaps, long commenced? The character of the ground, in those + immediate successions that could be connected by the eye, decided nothing; + for the undulations of the level had been so continual for miles, as to + perplex any eye but an engineer's, in attempting to judge whether, upon + the whole, the tendency were upwards or downwards. Possibly it was yet + neither way; it is, indeed, probable, that Kate had been for some time + travelling along a series of terraces, that traversed the whole breadth of + the topmost area at that point of crossing the Cordilleras, and which + perhaps, but not certainly, compensated any casual tendencies downwards by + corresponding reascents. Then came the question—how long would these + terraces yet continue? and had the ascending parts <i>really</i> balanced + the descending?—upon <i>that</i> seemed to rest the final chance for + Kate. Because, unless she very soon reached a lower level, and a warmer + atmosphere, mere weariness would oblige her to lie down, under a + fierceness of cold, that would not suffer her to rise after once losing + the warmth of motion; or, inversely, if she even continued in motion, mere + extremity of cold would, of itself, speedily absorb the little surplus + energy for moving, which yet remained unexhausted by weariness. + </p> + <p> + At this stage of her progress, and whilst the agonizing question seemed + yet as indeterminate as ever, Kate's struggle with despair, which had been + greatly soothed by the fervor of her prayer, revolved upon her in deadlier + blackness. All turned, she saw, upon a race against time, and the arrears + of the road; and she, poor thing! how little qualified could <i>she</i> + be, in such a condition, for a race of any kind; and against two such + obstinate brutes as time and space! This hour of the progress, this + noontide of Kate's struggle, must have been the very crisis of the whole. + Despair was rapidly tending to ratify itself. Hope, in any degree, would + be a cordial for sustaining her efforts. But to flounder along a dreadful + chaos of snow-drifts, or snow-chasms, towards a point of rock, which, + being turned, should expose only another interminable succession of the + same character—might <i>that</i> be endured by ebbing spirits, by + stiffening limbs, by the ghastly darkness that was now beginning to gather + upon the inner eye? And, if once despair became triumphant, all the little + arrear of physical strength would collapse at once. + </p> + <p> + Oh! verdure of human fields, cottages of men and women, (that now suddenly + seemed all brothers and sisters,) cottages with children around them at + play, that are so far below—oh! summer and spring, flowers and + blossoms, to which, as to <i>his</i> symbols, God has given the gorgeous + privilege of rehearsing for ever upon earth his most mysterious perfection—Life, + and the resurrections of Life—is it indeed true, that poor Kate must + never see you more? Mutteringly she put that question to herself. But + strange are the caprices of ebb and flow in the deep fountains of human + sensibilities. At this very moment, when the utter incapacitation of + despair was gathering fast at Kate's heart, a sudden lightening shot far + into her spirit, a reflux almost supernatural, from the earliest effects + of her prayer. A thought had struck her all at once, and this thought + prompted her immediately to turn round. Perhaps it was in some blind + yearning after the only memorials of life in this frightful region, that + she fixed her eye upon a point of hilly ground by which she identified the + spot near which the three corpses were lying. The silence seemed deeper + than ever. Neither was there any phantom memorial of life for the eye or + for the ear, nor wing of bird, nor echo, nor green leaf, nor creeping + thing, that moved or stirred, upon the soundless waste. Oh, what a relief + to this burthen of silence would be a human groan! Here seemed a motive + for still darker despair. And yet, at that very moment, a pulse of joy + began to thaw the ice at her heart. It struck her, as she reviewed the + ground, that undoubtedly it had been for some time slowly descending. Her + senses were much dulled by suffering; but this thought it was, suggested + by a sudden apprehension of a continued descending movement, which had + caused her to turn round. Sight had confirmed the suggestion first derived + from her own steps. The distance attained was now sufficient to establish + the tendency. Oh, yes, yes, to a certainty she had been descending for + some time. Frightful was the spasm of joy which whispered that the worst + was over. It was as when the shadow of midnight, that murderers had relied + on, is passing away from your beleagured shelter, and dawn will soon be + manifest. It was as when a flood, that all day long has raved against the + walls of your house, has ceased (you suddenly think) to rise; yes! + measured by a golden plummet, it <i>is</i> sinking beyond a doubt, and the + darlings of your household are saved. Kate faced round in agitation to her + proper direction. She saw, what previously, in her stunning confusion, she + had <i>not</i> seen, that, hardly two stones' throw in advance, lay a mass + of rock, split as into a gateway. Through that opening it now became + probable that the road was lying. Hurrying forward, she passed within the + natural gates. Gates of paradise they were. Ah, what a vista did that + gateway expose before her dazzled eye? what a revelation of heavenly + promise? Full two miles long, stretched a long narrow glen, everywhere + descending, and in many parts rapidly. All was now placed beyond a doubt. + She <i>was</i> descending—for hours, perhaps, <i>had</i> been + descending insensibly, the mighty staircase. Yes, Kate is leaving behind + her the kingdom of frost and the victories of death. Two miles farther + there may be rest, if there is not shelter. And very soon, as the crest of + her new-born happiness, she distinguished at the other end of that rocky + vista, a pavilion-shaped mass of dark green foliage—a belt of trees, + such as we see in the lovely parks of England, but islanded by a screen + (though not everywhere occupied by the usurpations) of a thick bushy + undergrowth. Oh, verdure of dark olive foliage, offered suddenly to + fainting eyes, as if by some winged patriarchal herald of wrath relenting—solitary + Arab's tent, rising with saintly signals of peace, in the dreadful desert, + must Kate indeed die even yet, whilst she sees but cannot reach you? + Outpost on the frontier of man's dominions, standing within life, but + looking out upon everlasting death, wilt thou hold up the anguish of thy + mocking invitation, only to betray? Never, perhaps, in this world was the + line so exquisitely grazed, that parts salvation and ruin. As the dove to + her dove-cot from the swooping hawk—as the Christian pinnace to + Christian batteries, from the bloody Mahometan corsair, so flew—so + tried to fly towards the anchoring thickets, that, alas! could not weigh + their anchors and make sail to meet her—the poor exhausted Kate from + the vengeance of pursuing frost. + </p> + <p> + And she reached them; staggering, fainting, reeling, she entered beneath + the canopy of umbrageous trees. But, as oftentimes, the Hebrew fugitive to + a city of refuge, flying for his life before the avenger of blood, was + pressed so hotly that, on entering the archway of what seemed to <i>him</i> + the heavenly city-gate, as he kneeled in deep thankfulness to kiss its + holy merciful shadow, he could not rise again, but sank instantly with + infant weakness into sleep—sometimes to wake no more; so sank, so + collapsed upon the ground, without power to choose her couch, and with + little prospect of ever rising again to her feet, the martial nun. She lay + as luck had ordered it, with her head screened by the undergrowth of + bushes, from any gales that might arise; she lay exactly as she sank, with + her eyes up to heaven; and thus it was that the nun saw, before falling + asleep, the two sights that upon earth are fittest for the closing eyes of + a nun, whether destined to open again, or to close for ever. She saw the + interlacing of boughs overhead forming a dome, that seemed like the dome + of a cathedral. She saw through the fretwork of the foliage, another dome, + far beyond, the dome of an evening sky, the dome of some heavenly + cathedral, not built with hands. She saw upon this upper dome the vesper + lights, all alive with pathetic grandeur of coloring from a sunset that + had just been rolling down like a chorus. She had not, till now, + consciously observed the time of day; whether it were morning, or whether + it were afternoon, in her confusion she had not distinctly known. But now + she whispered to herself—'<i>It is evening</i>:' and what lurked + half unconsciously in these words might be—'The sun, that rejoices, + has finished his daily toil; man, that labors, has finished <i>his</i>; I, + that suffer, have finished mine.' That might be what she thought, but what + she <i>said</i> was—'It is evening; and the hour is come when the <i>Angelus</i> + is sounding through St. Sebastian.' What made her think of St. Sebastian, + so far away in depths of space and time? Her brain was wandering, now that + her feet were <i>not</i>; and, because her eyes had descended from the + heavenly to the earthly dome, <i>that</i> made her think of earthly + cathedrals, and of cathedral choirs, and of St. Sebastian's chapel, with + its silvery bells that carried the <i>Angelus</i> far into mountain + recesses. Perhaps, as her wanderings increased, she thought herself back + in childhood; became 'pussy' once again; fancied that all since then was a + frightful dream; that she was not upon the dreadful Andes, but still + kneeling in the holy chapel at vespers; still innocent as then; loved as + then she had been loved; and that all men were liars, who said her hand + was ever stained with blood. Little enough is mentioned of the delusions + which possessed her; but that little gives a key to the impulse which her + palpitating heart obeyed, and which her rambling brain for ever reproduced + in multiplying mirrors. Restlessness kept her in waking dreams for a brief + half hour. But then, fever and delirium would wait no longer; the killing + exhaustion would no longer be refused; the fever, the delirium, and the + exhaustion, swept in together with power like an army with banners; and + the nun ceased through the gathering twilight any more to watch the + cathedrals of earth, or the more solemn cathedrals that rose in the + heavens above. + </p> + <p> + All night long she slept in her verdurous St. Bernard's hospice without + awaking, and whether she would <i>ever</i> awake seemed to depend upon an + accident. The slumber that towered above her brain was like that + fluctuating silvery column which stands in scientific tubes sinking, + rising, deepening, lightening, contracting, expanding; or like the mist + that sits, through sultry afternoons, upon the river of the American St. + Peter, sometimes rarefying for minutes into sunny gauze, sometimes + condensing for hours into palls of funeral darkness. You fancy that, after + twelve hours of <i>any</i> sleep, she must have been refreshed; better at + least than she was last night. Ah! but sleep is not always sent upon + missions of refreshment. Sleep is sometimes the secret chamber in which + death arranges his machinery. Sleep is sometimes that deep mysterious + atmosphere, in which the human spirit is slowly unsettling its wings for + flight from earthly tenements. It is now eight o'clock in the morning; + and, to all appearance, if Kate should receive no aid before noon, when + next the sun is departing to his rest, Kate will be departing to hers; + when next the sun is holding out his golden Christian signal to man, that + the hour is come for letting his anger go down, Kate will be sleeping away + for ever into the arms of brotherly forgiveness. + </p> + <p> + What is wanted just now for Kate, supposing Kate herself to be wanted by + this world, is, that this world would be kind enough to send her a little + brandy before it is too late. The simple truth was, and a truth which I + have known to take place in more ladies than Kate, who died or did <i>not</i> + die, accordingly, as they had or had not an adviser like myself, capable + of giving so sound an opinion, that the jewelly star of life had descended + too far down the arch towards setting, for any chance of re-ascending by + <i>spontaneous</i> effort. The fire was still burning in secret, but + needed to be rekindled by potent artificial breath. It lingered, and <i>might</i> + linger, but would never culminate again without some stimulus from earthly + vineyards. [Footnote: Though not exactly in the same circumstances as + Kate, or sleeping, <i>ŕ la belle étoile</i>, on a declivity of the Andes, + I have known (or heard circumstantially reported) the cases of many ladies + besides Kate, who were in precisely the same critical danger of perishing + for want of a little brandy. A dessert spoonful or two would have saved + them. Avaunt! you wicked 'Temperance' medallist! repent as fast as ever + you can, or, perhaps the next time we hear of you, <i>anasarca</i> and <i>hydro-thorax</i> + will be running after you to punish your shocking excesses in water. + Seriously, the case is one of constant recurrence, and constantly ending + fatally from <i>unseasonable</i> and pedantic rigor of temperance. The + fact is, that the medical profession composes the most generous and + liberal body of men amongst us; taken generally, by much the most + enlightened; but professionally, the most timid. Want of boldness in the + administration of opium, &c., though they can be bold enough with + mercury, is their besetting infirmity. And from this infirmity females + suffer most. One instance I need hardly mention, the fatal case of an + august lady, mourned by nations, with respect to whom it was, and is, the + belief of multitudes to this hour (well able to judge), that she would + have been saved by a glass of brandy; and her attendant, who shot himself, + came to think so too late—too late for <i>her</i>, and too late for + himself. Amongst many cases of the same nature, which personally I have + been acquainted with, twenty years ago, a man, illustrious for his + intellectual accomplishments, mentioned to me that his own wife, during + her first or second confinement, was suddenly reported to him, by one of + her female attendants, (who slipped away unobserved by the medical + people,) as undoubtedly sinking fast. He hurried to her chamber, and <i>saw</i> + that it was so. The presiding medical authority, however, was inexorable. + 'Oh, by no means,' shaking his ambrosial wig, 'any stimulant at this + crisis would be fatal.' But no authority could overrule the concurrent + testimony of all symptoms, and of all unprofessional opinions. By some + pious falsehood my friend smuggled the doctor out of the room, and + immediately smuggled a glass of brandy into the poor lady's lips. She + recovered with magical power. The doctor is now dead, and went to his + grave under the delusive persuasion—that not any vile glass of + brandy, but the stern refusal of all brandy, was the thing that saved his + collapsing patient. The patient herself, who might naturally know + something of the matter, was of a different opinion. She sided with the + factious body around her bed, (comprehending all beside the doctor,) who + felt sure that death was rapidly approaching, <i>barring</i> that brandy. + The same result in the same appalling crisis, I have known repeatedly + produced by twenty-five drops of laudanum. An obstinate man will say—'Oh, + never listen to a non-medical man like this writer. Consult in such a case + your medical adviser.' You will, will you? Then let me tell you, that you + are missing the very logic of all I have been saying for the improvement + of blockheads, which is—that you should consult any man <i>but</i> a + medical man, since no other man has any obstinate prejudice of + professional timidity. N. B.—I prescribe for Kate <i>gratis</i>, + because she, poor thing! has so little to give. But from other ladies, who + may have the happiness to benefit by my advice, I expect a fee—not + so large a one considering the service—a flowering plant, suppose + the <i>second</i> best in their collection. I know it would be of no use + to ask for the <i>very</i> best, (which else I could wish to do,) because + that would only be leading them into little fibs. I don't insist on a <i>Yucca + gloriosa</i>, or a <i>Magnolia speciosissima</i>, (I hope there <i>is</i> + such a plant)—a rose or a violet will do. I am sure there is such a + plant as that. And if they settle their debts justly, I shall very soon be + master of the prettiest little conservatory in England. For, treat it not + as a jest, reader; no case of timid practice is so fatally frequent.] Kate + was ever lucky, though ever unfortunate; and the world, being of my + opinion that Kate was worth saving, made up its mind about half-past eight + o'clock in the morning to save her. Just at that time, when the night was + over, and its sufferings were hidden—in one of those intermitting + gleams that for a moment or two lightened the clouds of her slumber, + Kate's dull ear caught a sound that for years had spoken a familiar + language to <i>her</i>. What was it? It was the sound, though muffled and + deadened, like the ear that heard it, of horsemen advancing. Interpreted + by the tumultuous dreams of Kate, was it the cavalry of Spain, at whose + head so often she had charged the bloody Indian scalpers? Was it, + according to the legend of ancient days, cavalry that had been sown by her + brother's blood, cavalry that rose from the ground on an inquest of + retribution, and were racing up the Andes to seize her? Her dreams that + had opened sullenly to the sound waited for no answer, but closed again + into pompous darkness. Happily, the horsemen had caught the glimpse of + some bright ornament, clasp, or aiguillette, on Kate's dress. They were + hunters and foresters from below; servants in the household of a + beneficent lady; and in some pursuit of flying game had wandered beyond + their ordinary limits. Struck by the sudden scintillation from Kate's + dress played upon by the morning sun, they rode up to the thicket. Great + was their surprise, great their pity, to see a young officer in uniform + stretched within the bushes upon the ground, and perhaps dying. Borderers + from childhood on this dreadful frontier, sacred to winter and death, they + understood the case at once. They dismounted: and with the tenderness of + women, raising the poor frozen cornet in their arms, washed her temples + with brandy, whilst one, at intervals, suffered a few drops to trickle + within her lips. As the restoration of a warm bed was now most likely to + be successful, they lifted the helpless stranger upon a horse, walking on + each side with supporting arms. Once again our Kate is in the saddle; once + again a Spanish Caballador. But Kate's bridle-hand is deadly cold. And her + spurs, that she had never unfastened since leaving the monastic asylum, + hung as idle as the flapping sail that fills unsteadily with the breeze + upon a stranded ship. + </p> + <p> + This procession had some miles to go, and over difficult ground; but at + length it reached the forest-like park and the chateau of the wealthy + proprietress. Kate was still half-frozen and speechless, except at + intervals. Heavens! can this corpse-like, languishing young woman, be the + Kate that once, in her radiant girlhood, rode with a handful of comrades + into a column of two thousand enemies, that saw her comrades die, that + persisted when all were dead, that tore from the heart of all resistance + the banner of her native Spain? Chance and change have 'written strange + defeatures in her face.' Much is changed; but some things are not changed: + there is still kindness that overflows with pity: there is still + helplessness that asks for this pity without a voice: she is now received + by a Senora, not less kind than that maternal aunt, who, on the night of + her birth, first welcomed her to a loving home; and she, the heroine of + Spain, is herself as helpless now as that little lady who, then at ten + minutes of age, was kissed and blessed by all the household of St. + Sebastian. + </p> + <p> + Let us suppose Kate placed in a warm bed. Let us suppose her in a few + hours recovering steady consciousness; in a few days recovering some power + of self-support; in a fortnight able to seek the gay saloon, where the + Senora was sitting alone, and rendering thanks, with that deep sincerity + which ever characterized our wild-hearted Kate, for the critical services + received from that lady and her establishment. + </p> + <p> + This lady, a widow, was what the French call a <i>métisse</i>, the + Spaniards a <i>mestizza</i>; that is, the daughter of a genuine Spaniard, + and an Indian mother. I shall call her simply a <i>creole</i>, [Footnote: + 'Creole.'—At that time the infusion of negro or African blood was + small. Consequently none of the negro hideousness was diffused. After + these intercomplexities had arisen between all complications of descent + from three original strands, European, American, African, the distinctions + of social consideration founded on them bred names so many, that a court + calendar was necessary to keep you from blundering. As yet, the varieties + were few. Meantime, the word <i>creole</i> has always been misapplied in + our English colonies to a person (though of strictly European blood,) + simply because <i>born</i> in the West Indies. In this English use, it + expresses the same difference as the Romans indicated by <i>Hispanus</i> + and <i>Hispanicus</i>. The first meant a person of Spanish blood, a native + of Spain; the second, a Roman born in Spain. So of <i>Germanus</i> and <i>Germanicus</i>, + <i>Italus</i> and <i>Italicus</i>, <i>Anglus</i> and <i>Anglicus</i>, + &c.; an important distinction, on which see Casaubon <i>apud + Scriptores. Hist. Augustan.</i>] which will indicate her want of pure + Spanish blood sufficiently to explain her deference for those who had it. + She was a kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where there + were no opera boxes to rent—a widow about fifty years old in the + wicked world's account, some forty-four in her own; and happy, above all, + in the possession of a most lovely daughter, whom even the wicked world + did not accuse of more than sixteen years. This daughter, Juana, was—But + stop—let her open the door of the saloon in which the Senora and the + cornet are conversing, and speak for herself. She did so, after an hour + had passed; which length of time, to <i>her</i> that never had any + business whatever in her innocent life, seemed sufficient to settle the + business of the old world and the new. Had Pietro Diaz (as Catalina now + called herself) been really a Peter, and not a sham Peter, what a vision + of loveliness would have rushed upon his sensibilities as the door opened! + Do not expect me to describe her, for which, however, there are materials + extant, sleeping in archives, where they have slept for two hundred and + twenty years. It is enough that she is reported to have united the stately + tread of Andalusian women with the innocent voluptuousness of Peruvian + eyes. As to her complexion and figure, be it known that Juana's father was + a gentleman from Grenada, having in his veins the grandest blood of all + this earth, blood of Goths and Vandals, tainted (for which Heaven be + thanked!) twice over with blood of Arabs—once through Moors, once + through Jews; [Footnote: It is well known, that the very reason why the + Spanish of all nations became the most gloomily jealous of a Jewish cross + in the pedigree, was because, until the vigilance of the Church rose into + ferocity, in no nation was such a cross so common. The hatred of fear is + ever the deepest. And men hated the Jewish taint, as once in Jerusalem + they hated the leprosy, because even whilst they raved against it, the + secret proofs of it might be detected amongst their own kindred, even as + in the Temple, whilst once a king rose in mutiny against the priesthood, + (2 Chron. xxvi 16-20,) suddenly the leprosy that dethroned him, blazed out + upon his forehead.] whilst from her grandmother, Juana drew the deep + subtle melancholy and the beautiful contours of limb which belong to the + Indian race—a race destined silently and slowly to fade from the + earth. No awkwardness was or could be in this antelope, when gliding with + forest grace into the room—no town-bred shame—nothing but the + unaffected pleasure of one who wishes to speak a fervent welcome, but + knows not if she ought—the astonishment of a Miranda, bred in utter + solitude, when first beholding a princely Ferdinand—and just so much + reserve as to remind you, that if Catalina thought fit to dissemble her + sex, she did <i>not</i>. And consider, reader, if you look back and are a + great arithmetician, that whilst the Senora had only fifty per cent of + Spanish blood, Juana had seventy-five; so that her Indian melancholy after + all was swallowed up for the present by her Vandal, by her Arab, by her + Spanish fire. + </p> + <p> + Catalina, seared as she was by the world, has left it evident in her + memoirs that she was touched more than she wished to be by this innocent + child. Juana formed a brief lull for Catalina in her too stormy existence. + And if for <i>her</i> in this life the sweet reality of a sister had been + possible, here was the sister she would have chosen. On the other hand, + what might Juana think of the cornet? To have been thrown upon the kind + hospitalities of her native home, to have been rescued by her mother's + servants from that fearful death which, lying but a few miles off, had + filled her nursery with traditionary tragedies,—<i>that</i> was + sufficient to create an interest in the stranger. But his bold martial + demeanor, his yet youthful style of beauty, his frank manners, his + animated conversation that reported a hundred contests with suffering and + peril, wakened for the first time her admiration. Men she had never seen + before, except menial servants, or a casual priest. But here was a + gentleman, young like herself, that rode in the cavalry of Spain—that + carried the banner of the only potentate whom Peruvians knew of—the + King of the Spains and the Indies—that had doubled Cape Horn, that + had crossed the Andes, that had suffered shipwreck, that had rocked upon + fifty storms, and had wrestled for life through fifty battles. + </p> + <p> + The reader knows all that followed. The sisterly love which Catalina did + really feel for this young mountaineer was inevitably misconstrued. + Embarrassed, but not able, from sincere affection, or almost in bare + propriety, to refuse such expressions of feeling as corresponded to the + artless and involuntary kindnesses of the ingenuous Juana, one day the + cornet was surprised by mamma in the act of encircling her daughter's + waist with his martial arm, although waltzing was premature by at least + two centuries in Peru. She taxed him instantly with dishonorably abusing + her confidence. The cornet made but a bad defence. He muttered something + about '<i>fraternal affection</i>,' about 'esteem,' and a great deal of + metaphysical words that are destined to remain untranslated in their + original Spanish. The good Senora, though she could boast only of + forty-four years' experience, was not altogether to be '<i>had</i>' in + that fashion—she was as learned as if she had been fifty, and she + brought matters to a speedy crisis. 'You are a Spaniard,' she said, 'a + gentleman, therefore; <i>remember</i> that you are a gentleman. This very + night, if your intentions are not serious, quit my house. Go to Tucuman; + you shall command my horses and servants; but stay no longer to increase + the sorrow that already you will have left behind you. My daughter loves + you. That is sorrow enough, if you are trifling with us. But, if not, and + you also love <i>her</i>, and can be happy in our solitary mode of life, + stay with us—stay for ever. Marry Juana with my free consent. I ask + not for wealth. Mine is sufficient for you both.' The cornet protested + that the honor was one never contemplated by <i>him</i>—that it was + too great—that—. But, of course, reader, you know that + 'gammon' flourishes in Peru, amongst the silver mines, as well as in some + more boreal lands that produce little better than copper and tin. 'Tin,' + however, has its uses. The delighted Senora overruled all objections, + great and small; and she confirmed Juana's notion that the business of two + worlds could be transacted in an hour, by settling her daughter's future + happiness in exactly twenty minutes. The poor, weak Catalina, not acting + now in any spirit of recklessness, grieving sincerely for the gulf that + was opening before her, and yet shrinking effeminately from the momentary + shock that would be inflicted by a firm adherence to her duty, clinging to + the anodyne of a short delay, allowed herself to be installed as the lover + of Juana. Considerations of convenience, however, postponed the marriage. + It was requisite to make various purchases; and for this, it was requisite + to visit Tucuman, where, also, the marriage ceremony could be performed + with more circumstantial splendor. To Tucuman, therefore, after some + weeks' interval, the whole party repaired. And at Tucuman it was that the + tragical events arose, which, whilst interrupting such a mockery for ever, + left the poor Juana still happily deceived, and never believing for a + moment that hers was a rejected or a deluded heart. + </p> + <p> + One reporter of Mr. De Ferrer's narrative forgets his usual generosity, + when he says that the Senora's gift of her daughter to the Alferez was not + quite so disinterested as it seemed to be. Certainly it was not so + disinterested as European ignorance might fancy it: but it was quite as + much so as it ought to have been, in balancing the interests of a child. + Very true it is—that, being a genuine Spaniard, who was still a rare + creature in so vast a world as Peru, being a Spartan amongst Helots, an + Englishman amongst Savages, an Alferez would in those days have been a + natural noble. His alliance created honor for his wife and for his + descendants. Something, therefore, the cornet would add to the family + consideration. But, instead of selfishness, it argued just regard for her + daughter's interest to build upon this, as some sort of equipoise to the + wealth which her daughter would bring. + </p> + <p> + Spaniard, however, as he was, our Alferez on reaching Tucuman found no + Spaniards to mix with, but instead twelve Portuguese. + </p> + <p> + Catalina remembered the Spanish proverb—'Subtract from a Spaniard + all his good qualities, and the remainder makes a pretty fair Portuguese;' + but, as there was nobody else to gamble with, she entered freely into + their society. Very soon she suspected that there was foul play: all modes + of doctoring dice had been made familiar to <i>her</i> by the experience + of camps. She watched; and, by the time she had lost her final coin, she + was satisfied that she had been plundered. In her first anger she would + have been glad to switch the whole dozen across the eyes; but, as twelve + to one were too great odds, she determined on limiting her vengeance to + the immediate culprit. Him she followed into the street; and coming near + enough to distinguish his profile reflected on a wall, she continued to + keep him in view from a short distance. The light-hearted young cavalier + whistled, as he went, an old Portuguese ballad of romance; and in a + quarter of an hour came up to an house, the front door of which he began + to open with a pass-key. This operation was the signal for Catalina that + the hour of vengeance had struck; and, stepping hastily up, she tapped the + Portuguese on the shoulder, saying—'Senor, you are a robber!' The + Portuguese turned coolly round, and, seeing his gaming antagonist, replied—'Possibly, + Sir; but I have no particular fancy for being told so,' at the same time + drawing his sword. Catalina had not designed to take any advantage; and + the touching him on the shoulder, with the interchange of speeches, and + the known character of Kate, sufficiently imply it. But it is too probable + in such cases, that the party whose intention has been regularly settled + from the first, will, and must have an advantage unconsciously over a man + so abruptly thrown on his defence. However this might be, they had not + fought a minute before Catalina passed her sword through her opponent's + body; and without a groan or a sigh, the Portuguese cavalier fell dead at + his own door. Kate searched the street with her ears, and (as far as the + indistinctness of night allowed) with her eyes. All was profoundly silent; + and she was satisfied that no human figure was in motion. What should be + done with the body? A glance at the door of the house settled <i>that</i>: + Fernando had himself opened it at the very moment when he received the + summons to turn round. She dragged the corpse in, therefore, to the foot + of the staircase, put the key by the dead man's side, and then issuing + softly into the street, drew the door close with as little noise as + possible. Catalina again paused to listen and to watch, went home to the + hospitable Senora's house, retired to bed, fell asleep, and early the next + morning was awakened by the Corregidor and four alguazils. + </p> + <p> + The lawlessness of all that followed strikingly exposes the frightful + state of criminal justice at that time, wherever Spanish law prevailed. No + evidence appeared to connect Catalina in any way with the death of + Fernando Acosta. The Portuguese gamblers, besides that perhaps they + thought lightly of such an accident, might have reasons of their own for + drawing off public attention from their pursuits in Tucuman: not one of + these men came forward openly; else the circumstances at the gaming table, + and the departure of Catalina so closely on the heels of her opponent, + would have suggested reasonable grounds for detaining her until some + further light should be obtained. As it was, her imprisonment rested upon + no colorable ground whatever, unless the magistrate had received some + anonymous information, which, however, he never alleged. One comfort there + was, meantime, in Spanish injustice: it did not loiter. Full gallop it + went over the ground: one week often sufficed for informations—for + trial—for execution; and the only bad consequence was, that a second + or a third week sometimes exposed the disagreeable fact that everything + had been 'premature;' a solemn sacrifice had been made to offended + justice, in which all was right except as to the victim; it was the wrong + man; and <i>that</i> gave extra trouble; for then all was to do over + again, another man to be executed, and, possibly, still to be caught. + </p> + <p> + Justice moved at her usual Spanish rate in the present case. Kate was + obliged to rise instantly; not suffered to speak to anybody in the house, + though, in going out, a door opened, and she saw the young Juana looking + out with saddest Indian expression. In one day the trial was all finished. + Catalina said (which was true) that she hardly knew Acosta; and that + people of her rank were used to attack their enemies face to face, not by + murderous surprises. The magistrates were impressed with Catalina's + answers (yet answered to <i>what</i>?) Things were beginning to look well, + when all was suddenly upset by two witnesses, whom the reader (who is a + sort of accomplice after the fact, having been privately let into the + truths of the case, and having concealed his knowledge), will know at once + to be false witnesses, but whom the old Spanish buzwigs doated on as + models of all that could be looked for in the best. Both were very + ill-looking fellows, as it was their duty to be. And the first deposed as + follows:—That through his quarter of Tucuman, the fact was notorious + of Acosta's wife being the object of a criminal pursuit on the part of the + Alferez (Catalina): that, <i>doubtless</i>, the injured husband had + surprised the prisoner, which, of course, had led to the murder, to the + staircase, to the key—to everything, in short, that could be wished; + no—stop! what am I saying?—to everything that ought to be + abominated. Finally—for he had now settled the main question—that + he had a friend who would take up the case where he himself, from + short-sightedness, was obliged to lay it down.' This friend, the Pythias + of this short-sighted Damon started up in a frenzy of virtue at this + summons, and, rushing to the front of the alguazils, said, 'That since his + friend had proved sufficiently the fact of the Alferez having been lurking + in the house, and having murdered a man, all that rested upon <i>him</i> + to show was, how that murderer got out of the house; which he could do + satisfactorily; for there was a balcony running along the windows on the + second floor, one of which windows he himself, lurking in a corner of the + street, saw the Alferez throw up, and from the said balcony take a flying + leap into the said street.' Evidence like this was conclusive; no defence + was listened to, nor indeed had the prisoner any to produce. The Alferez + could deny neither the staircase nor the balcony: the street is there to + this day, like the bricks in Jack Cade's Chimney, testifying all that may + be required; and, as to our friend who saw the leap, there he was; nobody + could deny <i>him</i>. The prisoner might indeed have suggested that she + never heard of Acosta's wife, nor had the existence of such a wife been + ripened even into a suspicion. But the bench were satisfied; chopping + logic was of no use; and sentence was pronounced—that on the eighth + day from the day of arrest, the Alferez should be executed in the public + square. + </p> + <p> + It was not amongst the weaknesses of Catalina—who had so often + inflicted death, and, by her own journal, thought so lightly of inflicting + it (if not under cowardly advantages)—to shrink from facing death in + her own person. Many incidents in her career show the coolness and even + gaiety with which, in any case where death was apparently inevitable, she + would have gone to meet it. But in this case she <i>had</i> a temptation + for escaping it, which was probably in her power. She had only to reveal + the secret of her sex, and the ridiculous witnesses, beyond whose + testimony there was nothing at all against her, must at once be covered + with derision. Catalina had some liking for fun; and a main inducement to + this course was, that it would enable her to say to the judges, 'Now you + see what old fools you've made of yourselves; every woman and child in + Peru will soon be laughing at you.' I must acknowledge my own weakness; + this last temptation I could <i>not</i> have withstood; flesh is weak, and + fun is strong. But Catalina <i>did</i>. On consideration she fancied, that + although the particular motive for murdering Acosta would be dismissed + with laughter, still this might not clear her of the murder, which on some + <i>other</i> motive she might have committed. But supposing that she were + cleared altogether, what most of all she feared was, that the publication + of her sex would throw a reflex light upon many past transactions in her + life—would instantly find its way to Spain—and would probably + soon bring her within the tender attentions of the Inquisition. She kept + firm to the resolution of not saving her life by this discovery. And so + far as her fate lay in her own hands, she would (as the reader will + perceive from a little incident at the scaffold) have perished to a + certainty. But even at this point, how strange a case! A woman <i>falsely</i> + accused of an act which she really <i>did</i> commit! And falsely accused + of a true offence upon a motive that was impossible! + </p> + <p> + As the sun set upon the seventh day, when the hours were numbered for the + prisoner, there filed into her cell four persons in religious habits. They + came on the charitable mission of preparing the poor convict for death. + Catalina, however, watching all things narrowly, remarked something + earnest and significant in the eye of the leader, as of one who had some + secret communication to make. She contrived to clasp this man's hands, as + if in the energy of internal struggles, and <i>he</i> contrived to slip + into hers the very smallest of billets from poor Juana. It contained, for + indeed it <i>could</i> contain, only these three words—'Do not + confess. J.' This one caution, so simple and so brief, was a talisman. It + did not refer to any confession of the crime; <i>that</i> would have been + assuming what Juana was neither entitled nor disposed to assume, but, in + the technical sense of the Church, to the act of devotional confession. + Catalina found a single moment for a glance at it—understood the + whole—resolutely refused to confess, as a person unsettled in her + religious opinions, that needed spiritual instructions, and the four monks + withdrew to make their report. The principal judge, upon hearing of the + prisoner's impenitence, granted another day. At the end of <i>that</i>, no + change having occurred either in the prisoner's mind, or in the + circumstances, he issued his warrant for the execution. Accordingly, as + the sun went down, the sad procession formed within the prison. Into the + great square of Tucuman it moved, where the scaffold had been built, and + the whole city had assembled for the spectacle. Catalina steadily ascended + the ladder of the scaffold; even then she resolved not to benefit by + revealing her sex; even then it was that she expressed her scorn for the + lubberly executioner's mode of tying a knot; did it herself in a + 'ship-shape,' orthodox manner; received in return the enthusiastic + plaudits of the crowd, and so far ran the risk of precipitating her fate; + for the timid magistrates, fearing a rescue from the impetuous mob, + angrily ordered the executioner to finish the scene. The clatter of a + galloping horse, however, at this instant forced them to pause. The crowd + opened a road for the agitated horseman, who was the bearer of an order + from the President of La Plata to suspend the execution until two + prisoners could be examined. The whole was the work of the Senora and her + daughter. The elder lady, having gathered informations against the + witnesses, had pursued them to La Plata. There, by her influence with the + Governor, they were arrested; recognised as old malefactors; and in their + terror had partly confessed their perjury. Catalina was removed to La + Plata; solemnly acquitted; and, by the advice of the President, for the + present the connection with the Senora's family was postponed + indefinitely. + </p> + <p> + Now was the last adventure approaching that ever Catalina should see in + the new world. Some fine sights she may yet see in Europe, but nothing + after this (<i>which she has recorded</i>) in America. Europe, if it had + ever heard of her name (which very shortly it <i>shall</i>), Kings, Pope, + Cardinals, if they were but aware of her existence (which in six months + they <i>shall</i> be), would thirst for an introduction to our Catalina. + You hardly thought now, reader, that she was such a great person, or + anybody's pet but yours and mine. Bless you, Sir, she would scorn to look + at <i>us</i>. I tell you, royalties are languishing to see her, or soon <i>will</i> + be. But how can this come to pass, if she is to continue in her present + obscurity? Certainly it cannot without some great <i>peripetteia</i> or + vertiginous whirl of fortune; which, therefore, you shall now behold + taking place in one turn of her next adventure. <i>That</i> shall let in a + light, <i>that</i> shall throw back a Claude Lorraine gleam over all the + past, able to make Kings, that would have cared not for her under Peruvian + daylight, come to glorify her setting beams. + </p> + <p> + The Senora—and, observe, whatever kindness she does to Catalina + speaks secretly from two hearts, her own and Juana's—had, by the + advice of Mr. President Mendonia, given sufficient money for Catalina's + travelling expenses. So far well. But Mr. M. chose to add a little codicil + to this bequest of the Senora's, never suggested by her or by her + daughter. 'Pray,' said this inquisitive President, who surely might have + found business enough in La Plata, 'Pray, Senor Pietro Diaz, did you ever + live at Concepcion? And were you ever acquainted there with Senor Miguel + de Erauso? That man, Sir, was my friend.' What a pity that on this + occasion Catalina could not venture to be candid! What a capital speech it + would have made to say—'<i>Friend</i> were you? I think you could + hardly be <i>that</i>, with seven hundred miles between you. But that man + was <i>my</i> friend also; and, secondly, my brother. True it is I killed + him. But if you happen to know that this was by pure mistake in the dark, + what an old rogue you must be to throw <i>that</i> in my teeth, which is + the affliction of my life!' Again, however, as so often in the same + circumstances, Catalina thought that it would cause more ruin than it + could heal to be candid; and, indeed, if she were really <i>P. Diaz, Esq. + </i>, how came she to be brother to the late Mr. Erauso? On consideration, + also, if she could not tell <i>all</i>, merely to have professed a + fraternal connection which never was avowed by either whilst living + together, would not have brightened the reputation of Catalina, which too + surely required a scouring. Still, from my kindness for poor Kate, I feel + uncharitably towards the president for advising Senor Pietro 'to travel + for his health.' What had <i>he</i> to do with people's health? However, + Mr. Peter, as he had pocketed the Senora's money, thought it right to + pocket also the advice that accompanied its payment. That he might be in a + condition to do so, he went off to buy a horse. He was in luck to-day. For + beside money and advice, he obtained, at a low rate, a horse both + beautiful and serviceable for a journey. To Paz it was, a city of + prosperous name, that the cornet first moved. But Paz did not fulfil the + promise of its name. For it laid the grounds of a feud that drove our Kate + out of America. + </p> + <p> + Her first adventure was a bagatelle, and fitter for a jest-book than a + history; yet it proved no jest either, since it led to the tragedy that + followed. Riding into Paz, our gallant standard-bearer and her bonny black + horse drew all eyes, <i>comme de raison</i>, upon their separate charms. + This was inevitable amongst the indolent population of a Spanish town; and + Kate was used to it. But, having recently had a little too much of the + public attention, she felt nervous on remarking two soldiers eyeing the + handsome horse and the handsome rider, with an attention that seemed too + solemn for mere <i>aesthetics</i>. However, Kate was not the kind of + person to let anything dwell on her spirits, especially if it took the + shape of impudence; and, whistling gaily, she was riding forward—when, + who should cross her path but the Alcalde! Ah! Alcalde, you see a person + now that has a mission against you, though quite unknown to herself. He + looked so sternly, that Kate asked if his worship had any commands. 'These + men,' said the Alcalde, 'these two soldiers, say that this horse is + stolen.' To one who had so narrowly and so lately escaped the balcony + witness and his friend, it was really no laughing matter to hear of new + affidavits in preparation. Kate was nervous, but never disconcerted. In a + moment she had twitched off a saddle-cloth on which she sat; and throwing + it over the horse's head, so as to cover up all between the ears and the + mouth, she replied, 'that she had bought and paid for the horse at La + Plata. But now, your worship, if this horse has really been stolen from + these men, they must know well of which eye it is blind; for it <i>can</i> + be only in the right eye or the left.' One of the soldiers cried out + instantly, that it was the left eye; but the other said, 'No, no, you + forget, it's the right.' Kate maliciously called attention to this little + schism. But the men said, 'Ah, <i>that</i> was nothing—they were + hurried; but now, on recollecting themselves, they were agreed that it was + the left eye.' Did they stand to that? 'Oh yes, positive they were, left + eye, left.' + </p> + <p> + Upon which our Kate, twitching off the horse-cloth, said gaily to the + magistrate, 'Now, Sir, please to observe that this horse has nothing the + matter with either eye.' And in fact it <i>was</i> so. Then his worship + ordered his alguazils to apprehend the two witnesses, who posted off to + bread and water, with other reversionary advantages, whilst Kate rode in + quest of the best dinner that Paz could furnish. + </p> + <p> + This Alcalde's acquaintance, however, was not destined to drop here. + Something had appeared in the young <i>caballero's</i> bearing, which made + it painful to have addressed him with harshness, or for a moment to have + entertained such a charge against such a person. He despatched his cousin, + therefore, Don Antonio Calderon, to offer his apologies, and at the same + time to request that the stranger, whose rank and quality he regretted not + to have known, would do him the honor to come and dine with him. This + explanation, and the fact that Don Antonio had already proclaimed his own + position as cousin to the magistrate and nephew to the Bishop of Cuzco, + obliged Catalina to say, after thanking the gentlemen for their obliging + attentions, 'I myself hold the rank of Alferez in the service of his + Catholic Majesty. I am a native of Biscay, and I am now repairing to Cuzco + on private business.' 'To Cuzco!' exclaimed Don Antonio, 'how very + fortunate! My cousin is a Basque like you; and, like you, he starts for + Cuzco to-morrow morning; so that, if it is agreeable to you, Senor + Alferez, we will travel together.' It was settled that they should. To + travel—amongst 'balcony witnesses,' and anglers for 'blind horses'—not + merely with a just man, but with the very abstract idea and riding + allegory of justice, was too delightful to the storm-wearied cornet; and + he cheerfully accompanied Don Antonio to the house of the magistrate, + called Don Pedro de Chavarria. Distinguished was his reception; the + Alcalde personally renewed his regrets for the ridiculous scene of the two + scampish oculists, and presented him to his wife, a splendid Andalusian + beauty, to whom he had been married about a year. + </p> + <p> + This lady there is a reason for describing; and the French reporter of + Catalina's memoirs dwells upon the theme. She united, he says, the + sweetness of the German lady with the energy of the Arabian, a combination + hard to judge of. As to her feet, he adds, I say nothing; for she had + scarcely any at all. '<i>Je ne parle point de ses pieds, elle n'en avait + presque pas</i>.' 'Poor lady!' says a compassionate rustic: 'no feet! What + a shocking thing that so fine a woman should have been so sadly + mutilated!' Oh, my dear rustic, you're quite in the wrong box. The + Frenchman means this as the very highest compliment. Beautiful, however, + she must have been; and a Cinderella, I hope, not a Cinderellula, + considering that she had the inimitable walk and step of the Andalusians, + which cannot be accomplished without something of a proportionate basis to + stand upon. + </p> + <p> + The reason which there is (as I have said) for describing this lady, + arises out of her relation to the tragic events which followed. She, by + her criminal levity, was the cause of all. And I must here warn the + moralizing blunderer of two errors that he is too likely to make: 1st, + That he is invited to read some extract from a licentious amour, as if for + its own interest; 2d, Or on account of Donna Catalina's memoirs, with a + view to relieve their too martial character. I have the pleasure to assure + him of his being so utterly in the darkness of error, that any possible + change he can make in his opinions, right or left, must be for the better: + he cannot stir, but he will mend, which is a delightful thought for the + moral and blundering mind. As to the first point, what little glimpse he + obtains of a licentious amour is, as a court of justice will sometimes + show him such a glimpse, simply to make intelligible the subsequent facts + which depend upon it. Secondly, As to the conceit, that Catalina wished to + embellish her memoirs, understand that no such practice then existed; + certainly not in Spanish literature. Her memoirs are electrifying by their + facts; else, in the manner of telling these facts, they are systematically + dry. + </p> + <p> + Don Antonio Calderon was a handsome, accomplished cavalier. And in the + course of dinner, Catalina was led to judge, from the behavior to each + other of this gentleman and the lady, the Alcalde's beautiful wife, that + they had an improper understanding. This also she inferred from the + furtive language of their eyes. Her wonder was, that the Alcalde should be + so blind; though upon that point she saw reason in a day or two to change + her opinion. Some people see everything by affecting to see nothing. The + whole affair, however, was nothing at all to <i>her</i>, and she would + have dismissed it from her thoughts altogether, but for what happened on + the journey. + </p> + <p> + From the miserable roads, eight hours a day of travelling was found quite + enough for man and beast; the product of which eight hours was from ten to + twelve leagues. On the last day but one of the journey, the travelling + party, which was precisely the original dinner party, reached a little + town ten leagues short of Cuzco. The Corregidor of this place was a friend + of the Alcalde; and through <i>his</i> influence the party obtained better + accommodations than those which they had usually had in a hovel calling + itself a <i>venta</i>, or in the sheltered corner of a barn. The Alcalde + was to sleep at the Corregidor's house; the two young cavaliers, Calderon + and our Kate, had sleeping rooms at the public <i>locanda</i>; but for the + lady was reserved a little pleasure-house in an enclosed garden. This was + a plaything of a house; but the season being summer, and the house + surrounded with tropical flowers, the lady preferred it (in spite of its + loneliness) to the damp mansion of the official grandee, who, in her + humble opinion, was quite as fusty as his mansion, and his mansion not + much less so than himself. + </p> + <p> + After dining gaily together at the <i>locanda</i>, and possibly taking a + 'rise' out of his worship the Corregidor, as a repeating echo of Don + Quixote, (then growing popular in Spanish America,) the young man who was + no young officer, and the young officer who was no young man, lounged down + together to the little pavilion in the flower-garden, with the purpose of + paying their respects to the presiding belle. They were graciously + received, and had the honor of meeting there his Mustiness the Alcalde, + and his Fustiness the Corregidor; whose conversation was surely improving, + but not equally brilliant. How they got on under the weight of two such + muffs, has been a mystery for two centuries. But they <i>did</i> to a + certainty, for the party did not break up till eleven. <i>Tea and turn out</i> + you could not call it; for there was the <i>turn out</i> in rigor, but not + the <i>tea</i>. One thing, however, Catalina by mere accident had an + opportunity of observing, and observed with pain. The two official + gentlemen had gone down the steps into the garden. Catalina, having forgot + her hat, went back into the little vestibule to look for it. There stood + the lady and Don Antonio, exchanging a few final words (they <i>were</i> + final) and a few final signs. Amongst the last Kate observed distinctly + this, and distinctly she understood it. First drawing Calderon's attention + to the gesture, as one of significant pantomime, by raising her + forefinger, the lady snuffed out one of the candles. The young man + answered it by a look of intelligence, and all three passed down the steps + together. The lady was disposed to take the cool air, and accompanied them + to the garden-gate; but, in passing down the walk, Catalina noticed a + second ill-omened sign that all was not right. Two glaring eyes she + distinguished amongst the shrubs for a moment, and a rustling immediately + after. 'What's that?' said the lady, and Don Antonio answered carelessly, + 'A bird flying out of the bushes.' + </p> + <p> + Catalina, as usual, had read everything. Not a wrinkle or a rustle was + lost upon <i>her</i>. And, therefore, when she reached the <i>locanda</i>, + knowing to an iota all that was coming, she did not retire to bed, but + paced before the house. She had not long to wait: in fifteen minutes the + door opened softly, and out stepped Calderon. Kate walked forward, and + faced him immediately; telling him laughingly that it was not good for his + health to go abroad on this night. The young man showed some impatience; + upon which, very seriously, Kate acquainted him with her suspicions, and + with the certainty that the Alcalde was not so blind as he had seemed. + Calderon thanked her for the information; would be upon his guard; but, to + prevent further expostulation, he wheeled round instantly into the + darkness. Catalina was too well convinced, however, of the mischief on + foot, to leave him thus. She followed rapidly, and passed silently into + the garden, almost at the same time with Calderon. Both took their + stations behind trees; Calderon watching nothing but the burning candles, + Catalina watching circumstances to direct her movements. The candles + burned brightly in the little pavilion. Presently one was extinguished. + Upon this, Calderon pressed forward to the steps, hastily ascended them, + and passed into the vestibule. Catalina followed on his traces. What + succeeded was all one scene of continued, dreadful dumb show; different + passions of panic, or deadly struggle, or hellish malice absolutely + suffocated all articulate words. + </p> + <p> + In a moment a gurgling sound was heard, as of a wild beast attempting + vainly to yell over some creature that it was strangling. Next came a + tumbling out at the door of one black mass, which heaved and parted at + intervals into two figures, which closed, which parted again, which at + last fell down the steps together. Then appeared a figure in white. It was + the unhappy Andalusian; and she seeing the outline of Catalina's person, + ran up to her, unable to utter one syllable. Pitying the agony of her + horror, Catalina took her within her own cloak, and carried her out at the + garden gate. Calderon had by this time died; and the maniacal Alcalde had + risen up to pursue his wife. But Kate, foreseeing what he would do, had + stepped silently within the shadow of the garden wall. Looking down the + road to the town, and seeing nobody moving, the maniac, for some purpose, + went back to the house. This moment Kate used to recover the <i>locanda</i> + with the lady still panting in horror. What was to be done? To think of + concealment in this little place was out of the question. The Alcalde was + a man of local power, and it was certain that he would kill his wife on + the spot. Kate's generosity would not allow her to have any collusion with + this murderous purpose. At Cuzco, the principal convent was ruled by a + near relative of the Andalusian; and there she would find shelter. Kate, + therefore, saddled her horse rapidly, placed the lady behind, and rode off + in the darkness. About five miles out of the town their road was crossed + by a torrent, over which they could not hit the bridge. 'Forward!' cried + the lady; and Kate repeating the word to the horse, the docile creature + leaped down into the water. They were all sinking at first; but having its + head free, the horse swam clear of all obstacles through the midnight + darkness, and scrambled out on the opposite bank. The two riders were + dripping from the shoulders downward. But, seeing a light twinkling from a + cottage window, Kate rode up; obtained a little refreshment, and the + benefit of a fire, from a poor laboring man. From this man she also bought + a warm mantle for the lady, who, besides her torrent bath, was dressed in + a light evening robe, so that but for the horseman's cloak of Kate she + would have perished. But there was no time to lose. They had already lost + two hours from the consequences of their cold bath. Cuzco was still + eighteen miles distant; and the Alcalde's shrewdness would at once divine + this to be his wife's mark. They remounted: very soon the silent night + echoed the hoofs of a pursuing rider; and now commenced the most frantic + race, in which each party rode as if the whole game of life were staked + upon the issue. The pace was killing: and Kate has delivered it as her + opinion, in the memoirs which she wrote, that the Alcalde was the better + mounted. This may be doubted. And certainly Kate had ridden too many years + in the Spanish cavalry to have any fear of his worship's horsemanship; but + it was a prodigious disadvantage that <i>her</i> horse had to carry + double; while the horse ridden by her opponent was one of those belonging + to the murdered Don Antonio, and known to Kate as a powerful animal. At + length they had come within three miles at Cuzco. The road after this + descended the whole way to the city, and in some places rapidly, so as to + require a cool rider. Suddenly a deep trench appeared traversing the whole + extent of a broad heath. It was useless to evade it. To have hesitated was + to be lost. Kate saw the necessity of clearing it, but doubted much + whether her poor exhausted horse, after twenty-one miles of work so + severe, had strength for the effort. Kate's maxim, however, which never + yet had failed, both figuratively for life, and literally for the saddle, + was—to ride at everything that showed a front of resistance. She did + so now. Having come upon the trench rather too suddenly, she wheeled round + for the advantage of coming down upon it more determinately, rode + resolutely at it, and gained the opposite bank. The hind feet of her horse + were sinking back from the rottenness of the ground; but the strong + supporting bridle-hand of Kate carried him forward; and in ten minutes + more they would be in Cuzco. This being seen by the vicious Alcalde, who + had built great hopes on the trench, he unslung his carbine, pulled up, + and fired after the bonny black horse and its bonny fair riders. But this + manoeuvre would have lost his worship any bet that he might have had + depending on this admirable steeple-chase. Had I been stakeholder, what a + pleasure it would have been, in fifteen minutes from this very vicious + shot, to pay into Kate's hands every shilling of the deposits. I would + have listened to no nonsense about referees or protests. The bullets, says + Kate, whistled round the poor clinging lady <i>en croupe</i>—luckily + none struck her; but one wounded the horse. And that settled the odds. + Kate now planted herself well in her stirrups to enter Cuzco, almost + dangerously a winner; for the horse was so maddened by the wound, and the + road so steep, that he went like blazes; and it really became difficult + for Kate to guide him with any precision through narrow episcopal paths. + Henceforwards the wounded horse required Kate's continued attention; and + yet, in the mere luxury of strife, it was impossible for Kate to avoid + turning a little in her saddle to see the Alcalde's performance on this + tight rope of the trench. His worship's horsemanship being perhaps rather + rusty, and he not perfectly acquainted with his horse, it would have been + agreeable to compromise the case by riding round, or dismounting. But all + <i>that</i> was impossible. The job must be done. And I am happy to + report, for the reader's satisfaction, the sequel—so far as Kate + could attend the performance. Gathering himself up for mischief, the + Alcalde took a sweep, as if ploughing out the line of some vast + encampment, or tracing the <i>pomćrium</i> for some future Rome; then, + like thunder and lightning, with arms flying aloft in the air, down he + came upon the trembling trench. + </p> + <p> + But the horse refused the leap; and, as the only compromise that <i>his</i> + unlearned brain could suggest, he threw his worship right over his ears, + lodging him safely in a sand-heap that rose with clouds of dust and + screams of birds into the morning air. Kate had now no time to send back + her compliments in a musical halloo. The Alcalde missed breaking his neck + on this occasion very narrowly; but his neck was of no use to him in + twenty minutes more, as the reader will soon find. Kate rode right + onwards; and, coming in with a lady behind her, horse bloody, and pace + such as no hounds could have lived with, she ought to have made a great + sensation in Cuzco. But, unhappily, the people were all in bed. + </p> + <p> + The steeple-chase into Cuzco had been a fine headlong thing, considering + the torrent, the trench, the wounded horse, the lovely lady, with her + agonizing fears, mounted behind Kate, together with the meek dove-like + dawn: but the finale crowded together the quickest succession of changes + that out of a melodrama can ever have been witnessed. Kate reached the + convent in safety; carried into the cloisters, and delivered like a parcel + the fair Andalusian. But to rouse the servants caused delay; and on + returning to the street through the broad gateway of the convent, whom + should she face but the Alcalde! How he escaped the trench, who can tell? + He had no time to write memoirs; his horse was too illiterate. But he <i>had</i> + escaped; temper not at all improved by that adventure, and now raised to a + hell of malignity by seeing that he had lost his prey. In the morning + light he now saw how to use his sword. He attacked Kate with fury. Both + were exhausted; and Kate, besides that she had no personal quarrel with + the Alcalde, having now accomplished her sole object in saving the lady, + would have been glad of a truce. She could with difficulty wield her + sword: and the Alcalde had so far the advantage, that he wounded Kate + severely. That roused her ancient blood. She turned on him now with + determination. At that moment in rode two servants of the Alcalde, who + took part with their master. These odds strengthened Kate's resolution, + but weakened her chances. Just then, however, rode in, and ranged himself + on Kate's side, the servant of the murdered Don Calderon. In an instant, + Kate had pushed her sword through the Alcalde, who died upon the spot. In + an instant the servant of Calderon had fled. In an instant the Alguazils + had come up. They and the servants of the Alcalde pressed furiously on + Kate, who now again was fighting for life. Against such odds, she was + rapidly losing ground; when, in an instant, on the opposite side of the + street, the great gates of the Episcopal palace rolled open. Thither it + was that Calderon's servant had fled. The bishop and his attendants + hurried across. 'Senor Caballador,' said the bishop, 'in the name of the + Virgin, I enjoin you to surrender your sword.' 'My lord,' said Kate, 'I + dare not do it with so many enemies about me.' 'But I,' replied the + bishop, 'become answerable to the law for your safe keeping.' Upon which, + with filial reverence, all parties dropped their swords. Kate being + severely wounded, the bishop led her into his palace. In an instant came + the catastrophe; Kate's discovery could no longer be delayed; the blood + flowed too rapidly; the wound was in her bosom. She requested a private + interview with the bishop; all was known in a moment; for surgeons and + attendants were summoned hastily, and Kate had fainted. The good bishop + pitied her, and had her attended in his palace; then removed to a convent; + then to a second at Lima; and, after many months had passed, his report to + the Spanish Government at home of all the particulars, drew from the King + of Spain and from the Pope an order that the Nun should be transferred to + Spain. + </p> + <p> + Yes, at length the warrior lady, the blooming cornet, this nun that is so + martial, this dragoon that is so lovely, must visit again the home of her + childhood, which now for seventeen years she has not seen. All Spain, + Portugal, Italy, rang with her adventures. Spain, from north to south, was + frantic with desire to behold her fiery child, whose girlish romance, + whose patriotic heroism electrified the national imagination. The King of + Spain must kiss his <i>faithful</i> daughter, that would not suffer his + banner to see dishonor. The Pope must kiss his <i>wandering</i> daughter, + that henceforwards will be a lamb travelling back into the Christian fold. + Potentates so great as these, when <i>they</i> speak words of love, do not + speak in vain. All was forgiven; the sacrilege, the bloodshed, the flight + and the scorn of St. Peter's keys; the pardons were made out, were signed, + were sealed, and the chanceries of earth were satisfied. + </p> + <p> + Ah! what a day of sorrow and of joy was <i>that</i> one day, in the first + week of November, 1624, when the returning Kate drew near to the shore of + Andalusia—when, descending into the ship's barge, she was rowed to + the piers of Cadiz by bargemen in the royal liveries—when she saw + every ship, street, house, convent, church, crowded, like a day of + judgment, with human faces, with men, with women, with children, all + bending the lights of their flashing and their loving eyes upon herself. + Forty myriads of people had gathered in Cadiz alone. All Andalusia had + turned out to receive her. Ah! what joy, if she had not looked back to the + Andes, to their dreadful summits, and their more dreadful feet. Ah! what + sorrow, if she had not been forced by music, and endless banners, and + triumphant clamors, to turn away from the Andes to the joyous shore which + she approached! + </p> + <p> + Upon this shore stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this mighty + crowd, the Prime Minister of Spain, the same Conde Olivarez, who but one + year before had been so haughty and so defying to our haughty and defying + Duke of Buckingham. But a year ago the Prince of Wales was in Spain, and + he also was welcomed with triumph and great joy, but not with the + hundredth part of that enthusiasm which now met the returning nun. And + Olivarez, that had spoken so roughly to the English Duke, to <i>her</i> + 'was sweet as summer.' [Footnote: Griffith in Shakspeare, when + vindicating, in that immortal scene with Queen Catherine, Cardinal + Wolsey.] Through endless crowds of festive compatriots he conducted her to + the King. The King folded her in his arms, and could never be satisfied + with listening to her. He sent for her continually to his presence—he + delighted in her conversation, so new, so natural, so spirited—he + settled a pension upon her at that time, of unprecedented amount, in the + case of a subaltern officer; and by <i>his</i> desire, because the year + 1625 was a year of jubilee, she departed in a few months from Madrid to + Rome. She went through Barcelona; there and everywhere welcomed as the + lady whom the King delighted to honor. She travelled to Rome, and all + doors flew open to receive her. She was presented to his Holiness, with + letters from his most Catholic majesty. But letters there needed none. The + Pope admired her as much as all before had done. He caused her to recite + all her adventures; and what he loved most in her account, was the sincere + and sorrowing spirit in which she described herself as neither better nor + worse than she had been. Neither proud was Kate, nor sycophantishly and + falsely humble. Urban VIII. it was that then filled the chair of St. + Peter. He did not neglect to raise his daughter's thoughts from earthly + things—he pointed her eyes to the clouds that were above the dome of + St. Peter's cathedral—he told her what the cathedral had told her in + the gorgeous clouds of the Andes and the vesper lights, how sweet a thing, + how divine a thing it was for Christ's sake to forgive all injuries, and + how he trusted that no more she would think of bloodshed. He also said two + words to her in Latin, which, if I had time to repeat a Spanish bishop's + remark to Kate some time afterwards upon those two mysterious words, with + Kate's most natural and ingenuous answer to the Bishop upon what she + supposed to be their meaning, would make the reader smile not less than + they made myself. You know that Kate <i>did</i> understand a little Latin, + which, probably, had not been much improved by riding in the Light + Dragoons. I must find time, however, whether the press and the compositors + are in a fury or not, to mention that the Pope, in his farewell audience + to his dear daughter, whom he was to see no more, gave her a general + license to wear henceforth in all countries—even <i>in partibus + Infidelium</i>—a cavalry officer's dress—boots, spurs, sabre, + and sabretache; in fact, anything that she and the Horse Guards might + agree upon. Consequently, reader, remember for your life never to say one + word, nor suffer any tailor to say one word, against those Wellington + trousers made in the chestnut forest; for, understand that the Papal + indulgence, as to this point, runs backwards as well as forwards; it is + equally shocking and heretical to murmur against trousers in the forgotten + rear or against trousers yet to come. + </p> + <p> + From Rome, Kate returned to Spain. She even went to St. Sebastian's—to + the city, but—whether it was that her heart failed her or not—never + to the convent. She roamed up and down; everywhere she was welcome—everywhere + an honored guest; but everywhere restless. The poor and humble never + ceased from their admiration of her; and amongst the rich and aristocratic + of Spain, with the King at their head, Kate found especial love from two + classes of men. The Cardinals and Bishops all doated upon her—as + their daughter that was returning. The military men all doated upon her—as + their sister that was retiring. + </p> + <p> + Some time or other, when I am allowed more elbow-room, I will tell you why + it is that I myself love this Kate. Now, at this moment, when it is + necessary for me to close, if I allow you one question before laying down + my pen—if I say, 'Come now, be quick, ask anything you <i>have</i> + to ask, for, in one minute, I am going to write <i>Finis</i>, after which + (unless the Queen wished it) I could not add a syllable'—twenty to + one, I guess what your question will be. You will ask me, What became of + Kate? What was her end? + </p> + <p> + Ah, reader! but, if I answer that question, you will say I have <i>not</i> + answered it. If I tell you that secret, you will say that the secret is + still hidden. Yet, because I have promised, and because you will be angry + if I do not, let me do my best; and bad is the best. After ten years of + restlessness in Spain, with thoughts always turning back to the Andes, + Kate heard of an expedition on the point of sailing to Spanish America. + All soldiers knew <i>her</i>, so that she had information of everything + that stirred in camps. Men of the highest military rank were going out + with the expedition; but they all loved Kate as a sister, and were + delighted to hear that she would join their mess on board ship. This ship, + with others, sailed, whither finally bound, I really forget. But, on + reaching America, all the expedition touched at <i>Vera Cruz</i>. Thither + a great crowd of the military went on shore. The leading officers made a + separate party for the same purpose. Their intention was, to have a gay + happy dinner, after their long confinement to a ship, at the chief hotel; + and happy in perfection it could not be, unless Kate would consent to join + it. She, that was ever kind to brother soldiers, agreed to do so. She + descended into the boat along with them, and in twenty minutes the boat + touched the shore. All the bevy of gay laughing officers, junior and + senior, like schoolboys escaping from school, jumped on shore, and walked + hastily, as their time was limited, up to the hotel. Arriving there, all + turned round in eagerness, saying, 'Where is our dear Kate?' Ah, yes, my + dear Kate, at that solemn moment, where, indeed, were <i>you</i>? She had + <i>certainly</i> taken her seat in the boat: that was sure. Nobody, in the + general confusion, was certain of having seen her on coming ashore. The + sea was searched for her—the forests were ransacked. The sea made no + answer—the forests gave up no sign. I have a conjecture of my own; + but her brother soldiers were lost in sorrow and confusion, and could + never arrive even at a conjecture. + </p> + <p> + That happened two hundred and fourteen years ago! Here is the brief sum of + all:—This nun sailed from Spain to Peru, and she found no rest for + the sole of her foot. This nun sailed back from Peru to Spain, and she + found no rest for the agitations of her heart. This nun sailed again from + Spain to America, and she found—the rest which all of us find. But + where it was, could never be made known to the father of Spanish camps, + that sat in Madrid; nor to Kate's spiritual father, that sat in Rome. + Known it is to the great Father that once whispered to Kate on the Andes; + but else it has been a secret for two centuries; and to man it remains a + secret for ever and ever! + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. + </h2> + <p> + There is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said more + broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less generally + known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight eastwards of a + principal Tartar nation across the boundless <i>steppes</i> of Asia in the + latter half of the last century. The <i>terminus a quo</i> of this flight, + and the <i>terminus ad quem</i>, are equally magnificent; the mightiest of + Christian thrones being the one, the mightiest of Pagan the other. And the + grandeur of these two terminal objects, is harmoniously supported by the + romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness of its + commencement, and the fierce velocity of its execution, we read an + expression of the wild barbaric character of the agents. In the unity of + purpose connecting this myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim + at a mark so remote, there is something which recalls to the mind those + Almighty instincts that propel the migrations of the swallow, or the + life-withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the gloomy vengeance + of Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the rear and the skirts + of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic images—such, + for instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing through desert spaces + and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and overtaking with volleying + thunders those who believed themselves already within the security of + darkness and of distance. + </p> + <p> + We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other great + national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But it may + also challenge a comparison with similar events under another relation, + viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance or + history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the complexity of + its separate interests. The great outline of the enterprise, taken in + connection with the operative motives, hidden or avowed, and the religious + sanctions under which it was pursued, give to the case a triple character: + 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a unity in the incidents, and as + much of a personal interest in the moving characters, with fine dramatic + contrasts, as belongs to Venice Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. + 2dly, That of a great military expedition offering the same romantic + features of vast distances to be traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, + untried routes, enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely + prefigured, which mark the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses—the + anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the subsequent retreat of the ten + thousand to the Black Sea—the Parthian expeditions of the Romans, + especially those of Crassus and Julian—or (as more disastrous than + any of them, and in point of space as well as in amount of forces, more + extensive,) the Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of + a religious Exodus, authorized by an oracle venerated throughout many + nations of Asia, an Exodus, therefore, in so far resembling the great + Scriptural Exodus of the Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in + the very peculiar distinction of carrying along with them their entire + families, women, children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, + their horses and their camels. + </p> + <p> + This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a more + comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we ascribed to + it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends partly upon the + marked variety and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and + partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even the <i>steppes</i>, + the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy deserts, are not beyond the + scale of our modern representative powers, as often called into action in + the theatres both of Paris and London; and the series of situations + unfolded, beginning with the general conflagration on the Wolga—passing + thence to the disastrous scenes of the flight (as it literally was in its + commencement)—to the Tartar siege of the Russian fortress Koulagina—the + bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the mountain passes at Ouchim—the + surprisal by the Bashkirs and the advanced posts of the Russian army at + Torgau—the private conspiracy at this point against the Khan—the + long succession of running fights—the parting massacres at the lake + of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese—and finally, the tragical + retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at the hunting-lodge of the Chinese emperor;—all + these situations communicate a <i>scenical</i> animation to the wild + romance, if treated dramatically; whilst a higher and a philosophic + interest belongs to it as a case of authentic history, commemorating a + great revolution for good and for evil, in the fortunes of a whole people—a + people semi-barbarous, but simple-hearted, and of ancient descent. + </p> + <p> + On the 2lst of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha assumed the sceptre + of the Kalmucks upon the death of his father. Some part of the power + attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his fourteenth year, + in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment, and with the avowed + support of the Russian Government. He was now about eighteen years of age, + amiable in his personal character, and not without titles to respect in + his public character as a sovereign prince. In times more peaceable, and + amongst a people more entirely civilized, or more humanized by religion, + it is even probable that he might have discharged his high duties with + considerable distinction. But his lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a + most difficult crisis amongst tribes, whose native ferocity was + exasperated by debasing forms of superstition, and by a nationality as + well as an inflated conceit of their own merit absolutely unparalleled, + whilst the circumstances of their hard and trying position under the + jealous <i>surveillance</i> of an irresistible lord paramount, in the + person of the Russian Czar, gave a fiercer edge to the natural + unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, and irritated its gloomier + qualities into action under the restless impulses of suspicion and + permanent distrust. No prince could hope for a cordial allegiance from his + subjects, or a peaceful reign under the circumstances of the case; for the + dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler stood at present was of this nature; <i>wanting</i> + the sanction and support of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from + without to command confidence from his subjects, or resistance to his + competitors: on the other hand, <i>with</i> this kind of support, and + deriving his title in any degree from the favor of the Imperial Court, he + became almost in that extent an object of hatred at home, and within the + whole compass of his own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for + the past, being a living monument of national independence, ignominiously + surrendered, and an object of jealousy for the future, as one who had + already advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate purposes + (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the Russian Court. Coming himself + to the Kalmuck sceptre under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the + unfortunate circumstances of his position, it might have been expected + that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently an object of detestation; for + besides his known dependence upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the + direct line of succession had been set aside, and the principle of + inheritance violently suspended, in favor of his own father, so recently + as nineteen years before the era of his own accession, consequently within + the lively remembrance of the existing generation. He therefore, almost + equally with his father, stood within the full current of the national + prejudices, and might have anticipated the most pointed hostility. But it + was not so: such are the caprices in human affairs, that he was even, in a + moderate sense, popular,—a benefit which wore the more cheering + aspect, and the promises of permanence, inasmuch as he owed it exclusively + to his personal qualities of kindness and affability, as well as to the + beneficence of his government. On the other hand, to balance this + unlooked-for prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met with a rival in + popular favor—almost a competitor—in the person of + Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to the throne, and, + perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions. Zebek-Dorchi was a + direct descendant of the same royal house as himself, through a different + branch. On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on a footing equally + good with that of Oubacha, whilst his personal qualities, even in those + aspects which seemed to a philosophical observer most odious and + repulsive, promised the most effectual aid to the dark purposes of an + intriguer or a conspirator, and were generally fitted to win a popular + support precisely in those points where <i>Oubacha</i> was most defective. + He was much superior in external appearance to his rival on the throne, + and so far better qualified to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous + people; whilst his dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian + dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy which knew no touch of + remorse, were admirably calculated to sustain any ground which he might + win from the simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal—and from + the frank carelessness of his unconscious competitor. + </p> + <p> + At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi was sagacious + enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open declaration of + hostility to the reigning prince: the choice had been a deliberate act on + the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the person to recall + her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. Openly, therefore, to + have declared his enmity towards his relative on the throne, could have + had no effect but that of arming suspicions against his own ulterior + purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to his interest that, + for the present, all suspicion should be hoodwinked. Accordingly, after + much meditation, the course he took for opening his snares was this:—He + raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from the plots of several + <i>Saissang</i>, (that is, Kalmuck nobles,) who were leagued together, + under an oath to assassinate him; and immediately after, assuming a + well-counterfeited alarm, he fled to Tcherkask, followed by sixty-five + tents. From this place he kept up a correspondence with the Imperial + Court; and, by way of soliciting his cause more effectually, he soon + repaired in person to St. Petersburg. Once admitted to personal + conferences with the Cabinet, he found no difficulty in winning over the + Russian counsels to a concurrence with some of his political views, and + thus covertly introducing the point of that wedge which was finally to + accomplish his purposes. In particular, he persuaded the Russian + Government to make a very important alteration in the constitution of the + Kalmuck State Council, which in effect reorganized the whole political + condition of the state, and disturbed the balance of power as previously + adjusted. Of this Council—in the Kalmuck language called <i>Sarga</i>—there + were eight members, called <i>Sargatchi;</i> and hitherto it had been the + custom that these eight members should be entirely subordinate to the + Khan; holding, in fact, the ministerial character of secretaries and + assistants, but in no respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. That had + produced some inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy for + Zebek-Dorchi to point the jealousy of the Russian Court to others more + serious which might arise in future circumstances of war or other + contingencies. It was resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi + henceforward on a footing of perfect independence, and therefore (as + regarded responsibility) on a footing of equality with the Khan. Their + independence, however, had respect only to their own sovereign; for + towards Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and + accountability, by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300 + roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more + considerable than might be supposed, and had a further value as marks of + honorary distinction emanating from a great Empress. Thus far the purposes + of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment: but, apparently, + it was only for the moment; since, in the further development of his + plots, this very dependency upon Russian influence would be the most + serious obstacle in his way. There was, however, another point carried + which outweighed all inferior considerations, as it gave him a power of + setting aside discretionally whatsoever should arise to disturb his plots: + he was himself appointed President and Controller of the <i>Sargatchi</i>. + The Russian Court had been aware of his high pretensions by birth, and + hoped by this promotion to satisfy the ambition which, in some degree, was + acknowledged to be a reasonable passion for any man occupying his + situation. + </p> + <p> + Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi + proceeded in his new character to fulfil his political mission with the + Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his + favorable reception at the court of this Prince, that he was at once and + universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the + counsellors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar + exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had not + yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he himself + should be the chief of these mercenary counsellors, was so far from being + charged upon Zebek as any offence or any ground of suspicion, that his + relative the Khan returned him hearty thanks for his services, under the + belief that he could have accepted this appointment only with a view to + keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who would not have had the + same motives of consanguinity or friendship for executing its duties in a + spirit of kindness to the Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his new + functions about the Khan's person was to attack the Court of Russia, by a + romantic villany not easy to be credited, for those very acts of + interference with the council which he himself had prompted. This was a + dangerous step: but it was indispensable to his further advance upon the + gloomy path which he had traced out for himself. A triple vengeance was + what he meditated—1, Upon the Russian Cabinet for having undervalued + his own pretensions to the throne—2, upon his amiable rival for + having supplanted him—and 3, upon all those of the nobility who had + manifested their sense of his weakness by their neglect, or their sense of + his perfidious character by their suspicions. Here was a colossal outline + of wickedness; and by one in his situation, feeble (as it might seem) for + the accomplishment of its humblest parts, how was the total edifice to be + reared in its comprehensive grandeur? He, a worm as he was, could he + venture to assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the potentate who + counted three hundred languages around the footsteps of his throne, and + from whose 'lion ramp' recoiled alike 'baptized and infidel'—Christendom + on the one side, strong by her intellect and her organization, and the + `Barbaric East' on the other, with her unnumbered numbers? The match was a + monstrous one; but in its very monstrosity there lay this germ of + encouragement, that it could not be suspected. The very hopelessness of + the scheme grounded his hope, and he resolved to execute a vengeance which + should involve as it were, in the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all + whom he judged to be his enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from the + Russian empire the whole Kalmuck nation, and breaking up that system of + intercourse which had thus far been beneficial to both. This last was a + consideration which moved him but little. True it was that Russia to the + Kalmucks had secured lands and extensive pasturage; true it was that the + Kalmucks reciprocally to Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry. But the + latter loss would be part of his triumph, and the former might be more + than compensated in other climates under other sovereigns. Here was a + scheme which, in its final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on + the Czarina, and in the course of its accomplishment might furnish him + with ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may be readily + supposed indeed that he, who could deliberately raise his eyes to the + Russian autocrat as an antagonist in single duel with himself, was not + likely to feel much anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He + took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably to effect this + astonishing translation of an ancient people across the pathless deserts + of Central Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivers, rarely furnished + with bridges, and of which the fords were known only to those who might + think it for their interest to conceal them, through many nations + inhospitable or hostile; frost and snow around them, (from the necessity + of commencing their flight in the winter,) famine in their front, and the + sabre, or even the artillery of an offended and mighty empress, hanging + upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was to be their final + mark, the port of shelter after so fearful a course of wandering? Two + things were evident: it must be some power at a great distance from + Russia, so as to make return even in that view hopeless; and it must be a + power of sufficient rank to ensure them protection from any hostile + efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming them, or for chastising + their revolt. Both conditions were united obviously in the person of Kien + Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was farther recommended to them + by his respect for the head of their religion. To China, therefore, and as + their first rendezvous to the shadow of the great Chinese Wall, it was + settled by Zebek that they should direct their flight. + </p> + <p> + Next came the question of time; <i>when</i> should the flight commence:—and + finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices. To + extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far, was to insure its betrayal + to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the preparations it was + evident that a very extensive confidence must be made, because in no other + way could the mass of the Kalmuck population be persuaded to furnish their + families with the requisite equipments for so long a migration. This + critical step, however, it was resolved to defer up to the latest possible + moment, and, at all events, to make no general communication on the + subject until the time of departure should be definitely settled. In the + meantime, Zebek admitted only three persons to his confidence; of whom + Oubacha, the reigning prince, was almost necessarily one; but him, from + his yielding and somewhat feeble character, he viewed rather in the light + of a tool than as one of his active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) + he admitted to an unreserved participation in his counsels, were two only, + the great <i>Lama</i> among the Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, + Erempel, a ruling prince of some tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian + sea, recommended to his favor not so much by any strength of talent + corresponding to the occasion, as by his blind devotion to himself, and + his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his daughter and his + son-in-law to the throne of a sovereign prince. A titular prince Zebek + already was: but this dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of a + sceptre, seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambitious rivals. The + other accomplice, whose name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank was + that of Lama, or Kalmuck pontiff, was a person of far more distinguished + pretensions; he had something of the same gloomy and terrific pride which + marked the character of Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, + accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural facility of + dissimulation even more profound. It was by this man that the other + question was settled as to the time for giving effect to their designs. + His own pontifical character had suggested to him, that in order to + strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded men whom + they were to lead into a howling wilderness, after persuading them to lay + desolate their own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they should + be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction of God for + their entire enterprise. This could only be done by addressing themselves + to the great head of their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. Him they + easily persuaded to countenance their schemes: and an oracle was delivered + solemnly at Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate prosperity would attend + this great Exodus unless it were pursued through the years of the <i>tiger</i> + and the <i>hare</i>. Now, the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their years + by attaching to each a denomination taken from one of twelve animals, the + exact order of succession being absolutely fixed, so that the cycle + revolves of course through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if the + approaching year of the <i>tiger</i> were suffered to escape them, in that + case the expedition must be delayed for twelve years more, within which + period, even were no other unfavorable changes to arise, it was pretty + well foreseen that the Russian Government would take the most effectual + means for bridling their vagrant propensities by a ring fence of forts or + military posts; to say nothing of the still readier plan for securing + their fidelity (a plan already talked of in all quarters), by exacting a + large body of hostages selected from the families of the most influential + nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was solemnly determined that + this terrific experiment should be made in the next year of the <i>tiger</i>, + which happened to fall upon the Christian year 1771. With respect to the + month, there was, unhappily for the Kalmucks, even less latitude allowed + to their choice than with respect to the year. It was absolutely + necessary, or it was thought so, that the different divisions of the + nation, which pastured their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should + have the means of effecting an instantaneous junction; because the danger + of being intercepted by flying columns of the Imperial armies was + precisely the greatest at the outset. Now, from the want of bridges, or + sufficient river craft for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole + means which could be depended upon (especially where so many women, + children, and camels were concerned,) was <i>ice</i>: and this, in a state + of sufficient firmness, could not be absolutely counted upon before the + month of January. Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a + whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to + circulate amongst those whom it most interested, before it was even + suspected that any man's wishes pointed in that direction, had been + definitively appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost up to the + Christmas of 1770, the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their families + were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even dreaming that the + <i>fiat</i> had already gone forth from their rulers which consigned those + quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned within + them, to a withering desolation, now close at hand. + </p> + <p> + Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan. And, + until the time arrived for throwing off their vassalage, it was necessary + that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of martial aid. Nay, + it had unfortunately become prudent that he should contribute much more + than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample evidence that in some + mysterious and unaccountable way no great design is ever agitated, no + matter how few or how faithful may be the participators, but that some + presentiment—some dim misgiving—is kindled amongst those whom + it is chiefly important to blind. And, however it might have happened, + certain it is, that already, when as yet no syllable of the conspiracy had + been breathed to any man whose very existence was not staked upon its + concealment, nevertheless, some vague and uneasy jealousy had arisen in + the Russian Cabinet as to the future schemes of the Kalmuck Khan: and very + probable it is—that, but for the war then raging, and the consequent + prudence of conciliating a very important vassal, or, at least, of + abstaining from what would powerfully alienate him, even at that moment + such measures would have been adopted as must for ever have intercepted + the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the jealousies of the Imperial Court, + they had not escaped the Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And + under their guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of the moment, + and meeting the jealousy of the Russian Court with a policy corresponding + to their own, strove by unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's unfavorable + impressions. He enlarged the scale of his contributions; and <i>that</i> + so prodigiously, that he absolutely carried to head-quarters a force of + 35,000 cavalry fully equipped; some go further, and rate the amount beyond + 40,000: but the smaller estimate is, at all events, <i>within</i> the + truth. + </p> + <p> + With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the Khan + went into the field under great expectations; and these he more than + realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized + and disorderly a description of force as that which at all times composed + the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along with his banners; + gained many partial successes; and at last, in a pitched battle, overthrew + the Turkish force opposed to him with a loss of 5000 men left upon the + field. + </p> + <p> + These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways + against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the + martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire in + whose service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully + appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire, one of the + Paladins around the imperial throne; in China he would be nobody, or + (worse than that) a mendicant-alien, prostrate at the feet, and soliciting + the precarious alms of a prince with whom he had no connection. Besides, + it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina, grateful for the really + efficient aid given by the Tartar prince, would confer upon him such + eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor his hopes upon Russia, + and to wean him from every possible seduction. These were the obvious + suggestions of prudence and good sense to every man who stood neutral in + the case. But they were disappointed. The Czarina knew her obligations to + the Khan, but she did not acknowledge them. Wherefore? That is a mystery, + perhaps never to be explained. So it was, however. The Khan went + unhonored; no <i>ukase</i> ever proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had + he even been abundantly recompensed by Russia, there were others who would + have defeated these tendencies to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and + Loosang the Lama, were pledged life-deep to prevent any accommodation; and + their efforts were unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest + enemies. In the Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles + pre-occupied with feelings of hatred and blind malice towards the + Kalmucks, quite as strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor towards + Russia, and not, perhaps, so well-founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks + hated the Russian yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked + air of disdain, as towards a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy + barbarians, which too generally marked the Russian bearing and language; + but above all, the insolent contempt, or even outrages which the Russian + governors or great military commandants tolerated in their followers + towards the barbarous religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck + priesthood—precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the Russian + resentment, and their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or attempt a + feeble retaliation, re-act upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At this crisis + it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing the splendid + victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and Bashkirs, + contributed strength to the Russian irritation. And it must have been + through the intrigues of those nobles about her person, who chiefly + smarted under these feelings, that the Czarina could ever have lent + herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this critical + period towards the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was no longer Elizabeth + Petrowna, it was Catharine the Second; a princess who did not often err so + injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for others) in the + measures of her government. She had soon ample reason for repenting of her + false policy. Meantime, how much it must have co-operated with the other + motives previously acting upon Oubacha in sustaining his determination to + revolt; and how powerfully it must have assisted the efforts of all the + Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds of their people to feel the + necessity of this difficult enterprise, by arming their pride and their + suspicions against the Russian Government, through the keenness of their + sympathy with the wrongs of their insulted prince, may be readily + imagined. It is a fact, and it has been confessed by candid Russians + themselves, when treating of this great dismemberment, that the conduct of + the Russian Cabinet throughout the period of suspense, and during the + crisis of hesitation in the Kalmuck Council, was exactly such as was most + desirable for the purposes of the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as + to set the seal to all their machinations, by supplying distinct evidences + and official vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most + matters of doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing their + weight so far as not at all to deny the injustice or the impolicy of the + Imperial Ministers, it is contended by many persons who have reviewed the + affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the case, more + especially the letters or minutes of Council subsequently discovered, in + the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, and the important evidence of the Russian + captive Weseloff, who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight, + that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any purpose of impeding, + or even of delaying the revolt. He himself, indeed, was under religious + obligations of the most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the + enterprise, or even to slacken in his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting + the firmness of his resolution under any unusual pressure of alarm or + difficulty, had, in the very earliest stage of the conspiracy, availed + himself of the Khan's well known superstition, to engage him, by means of + previous concert with the priests and their head the Lama, in some dark + and mysterious rites of consecration, terminating in oaths under such + terrific sanctions as no Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, + therefore, as regarded the personal share of the Khan in what was to come, + Zebek was entirely at his ease: he knew him to be so deeply pledged by + religious terrors to the prosecution of the conspiracy, that no honors + within the Czarina's gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion: and + then, as to threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed + against those fears by others of a gloomier character, and better adapted + to his peculiar temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all + bodily enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and + timid as the most superstitious of old women in facing the frowns of a + priest, or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. But had + it been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady + demeanor on the part of this Prince at the approach of the critical + moment, such were the changes already effected in the state of their + domestic politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of + Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little importance would + have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in the + hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of the Kalmuck + sceptre: all measures of importance were submitted to his discretion; and + nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation. This result he had + brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently simple; first of all, + by availing himself of the prejudice in his favor, so largely diffused + amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own title to the throne, in + quality of great-grandson in a direct line from Ajouka, the most + illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans, stood upon a better basis than that + of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral branch: secondly, with respect + to that sole advantage which Oubacha possessed above himself in the + ratification of his title, by improving this difference between their + situations to the disadvantage of his competitor, as one who had not + scrupled to accept that triumph from an alien power at the price of his + independence, which he himself (as he would have it understood) disdained + to court: thirdly, by his own talents and address, coupled with the + ferocious energy of his moral character: fourthly—and perhaps in an + equal degree—by the criminal facility and good-nature of Oubacha: + finally, (which is remarkable enough, as illustrating the character of the + man,) by that very new modelling of the Sarga or Privy Council, which he + had used as a principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against + the Russian Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the + alteration to the Empress, and he chiefly appropriated the political + advantages which it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed + the chief of the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior Sargatchi + passed through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to + his nomination, it may be easily supposed that whatever power existed in + the state capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga under + its new organization, and this body being completely under his influence, + the final result was to throw all the functions of the state, whether + nominally in the Prince or in the council, substantially into the hands of + this one man: whilst, at the same time, from the strict league which he + maintained with the Lama, all the thunders of the spiritual power were + always ready to come in aid of the magistrate, or to supply his incapacity + in cases which he could not reach. + </p> + <p> + But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The + day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising the + standard of revolt, and by a combined movement on both sides of the Wolga + for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration, that should wrap in a + common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their enemies, over + the breadth and length of those great provinces in which their flocks were + dispersed. The year of the <i>tiger</i> was now within one little month of + its commencement; the fifth morning of that year was fixed for the fatal + day, when the fortunes and happiness of a whole nation were to be put upon + the hazard of a dicer's throw; and as yet that nation was in profound + ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, such was the kindness of his + nature, could not bring himself to make the revelation so urgently + required. It was clear, however, that this could not be delayed; and + Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon himself. But where or how should + this notification be made, so as to exclude Russian hearers? After some + deliberation, the following plan was adopted:—Couriers, it was + contrived, should arrive in furious haste, one upon the heels of another, + reporting a sudden inroad of the Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck + lands, at a point distant about one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all + the Kalmuck families, according to immemorial custom, were required to + send a separate representative; and there, accordingly, within three days, + all appeared. The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the + rendezvous, the rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost + certain that no Russian could be present. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. + He did not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an immense sheet of + parchment, visible from the outermost distance at which any of this vast + crowd could stand; the total number amounted to eighty thousand; all saw, + and many heard. They were told of the oppressions of Russia; of her pride + and haughty disdain, evidenced towards them by a thousand acts; of her + contempt for their religion; of her determination to reduce them to + absolute slavery; of the preliminary measures she had already taken by + erecting forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood; of the + ulterior intentions she thus announced to circumscribe their pastoral + lands, until they would all be obliged to renounce their flocks, and to + collect in towns like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical and servile + trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the freeborn Tartar had + always disdained. 'Then again,' said the subtle prince, 'she increases her + military levies upon our population every year; we pour out our blood as + young men in her defence, or more often in support of her insolent + aggressions; and as old men, we reap nothing from our sufferings, nor + benefit by our survivorship where so many are sacrificed.' At this point + of his harangue, Zebek produced several papers, (forged, as it is + generally believed, by himself and the Lama,) containing projects of the + Russian court for a general transfer of the eldest sons, taken <i>en masse</i> + from the greatest Kalmuck families, to the Imperial court. 'Now let this + be once accomplished,' he argued, 'and there is an end of all useful + resistance from that day forwards. Petitions we might make, or even + remonstrances; as men of words, we might play a bold part; but for deeds, + for that sort of language by which our ancestors were used to speak; + holding us by such a chain, Russia would make a jest of our wishes,—knowing + full well that we should not dare to make any effectual movement.' + </p> + <p> + Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast audience, + and having alarmed their fears by this pretended scheme against their + first-born, (an artifice which was indispensable to his purpose, because + it met beforehand <i>every</i> form of amendment to his proposal coming + from the more moderate nobles, who would not otherwise have failed to + insist upon trying the effect of bold addresses to the Empress, before + resorting to any desperate extremity,) Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of + revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt; since any preparations reported at + St. Petersburg would be a signal for the armies of Russia to cross into + such positions from all parts of Asia, as would effectually intercept + their march. It is remarkable, however, that, with all his audacity and + his reliance upon the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks, the subtle + prince did not venture, at this stage of his seduction, to make so + startling a proposal as that of a flight to China. All that he held out + for the present was a rapid march to the Temba or some other great river, + which they were to cross, and to take up a strong position on the further + bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security, they could hold a + bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would have a better chance + of winning a favorable audience. + </p> + <p> + These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed by + acclamation; and all returned homewards, to push forward with the most + furious speed the preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid and + energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree they became + noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to be intermingled + with the different hordes, either on commercial errands, or as agents + officially from the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a + diplomatic character. + </p> + <p> + Amongst these last (indeed at the head of them) was a Russian of some + distinction, by name Kichinskoi, a man memorable for his vanity, and + memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. This + Kichinskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook the + conduct of the Kalmucks; he was styled the <i>Grand Pristaw</i>, or Great + Commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes by this + title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political <i>surveillant</i>, + combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, gave him a real weight + in the Tartar councils, and might have given him a far greater, had not + his outrageous self-conceit, and his arrogant confidence in his own + authority, as due chiefly to his personal qualities for command, led him + into such harsh displays of power, and menaces so odious to the Tartar + pride, as very soon made him an object of their profoundest malice. He had + publicly insulted the Khan; and upon making a communication to him to the + effect that some reports began to circulate, and even to reach the + Empress, of a design in agitation to fly from the Imperial dominions, he + had ventured to say,—'But this you dare not attempt; I laugh at such + rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to the Empress; for you are a chained + bear, and that you know.' The Khan turned away on his heel with marked + disdain; and the Pristaw, foaming at the mouth, continued to utter, + amongst those of the Khan's attendants who staid behind, to catch his real + sentiments in a moment of unguarded passion, all that the blindest frenzy + of rage could suggest to the most presumptuous of fools. It was now + ascertained that suspicions <i>had</i> arisen; but at the same time it was + ascertained that the Pristaw spoke no more than the truth in representing + himself to have discredited these suspicions. The fact was, that the mere + infatuation of vanity made him believe that nothing could go on undetected + by his all-piercing sagacity, and that no rebellion could prosper when + rebuked by his commanding presence. The Tartars, therefore, pursued their + preparations, confiding in the obstinate blindness of the Grand Pristaw as + in their perfect safeguard; and such it proved—to his own ruin, as + well as that of myriads beside. + </p> + <p> + Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier upon courier + came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. Petersburg, + assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks were in the very + crisis of departure. These despatches came from the Governor of Astrachan, + and copies were instantly forwarded to Kichinskoi. Now, it happened that + between this governor—a Russian named Beketoff—and the Pristaw + had been an ancient feud. The very name of Beketoff inflamed his + resentment; and no sooner did he see that hated name attached to the + despatch, than he felt himself confirmed in his former views with tenfold + bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of the most pointed ridicule, + against the new alarmist, pledging his own head upon the visionariness of + his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not to be put down by a few hard words, + or by ridicule: he persisted in his statements: the Russian Ministry were + confounded by the obstinacy of the disputants; and some were beginning + even to treat the Governor of Astrachan as a bore, and as the dupe of his + own nervous terrors, when the memorable day arrived, the fatal 5th of + January, which for ever terminated the dispute, and put a seal upon the + earthly hopes and fortunes of unnumbered myriads. The Governor of + Astrachan was the first to hear the news. Stung by the mixed furies of + jealousy, of triumphant vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into + his sledge, and, at the rate of three hundred miles a day, pursued his + route to St. Petersburg, rushed into the Imperial presence,—announced + the total realization of his worst predictions,—and upon the + confirmation of this intelligence by subsequent despatches from many + different posts on the Wolga, he received an imperial commission to seize + the person of his deluded enemy, and to keep him in strict captivity. + These orders were eagerly fulfilled, and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon + afterwards expired of grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a + dungeon; a victim to his own immeasurable vanity, and the blinding + self-delusions of a presumption that refused all warning. + </p> + <p> + The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps + even <i>he</i> was surprised at the suddenness with which the verification + followed his reports. Precisely on the 5th of January, the day so solemnly + appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the Kalmucks on the east + bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn of day assembling by + troops and squadrons, and in the tumultuous movement of some great morning + of battle. Tens of thousands continued moving off the ground at every + half-hour's interval. Women and children, to the amount of two hundred + thousand and upwards, were placed upon wagons, or upon camels, and drew + off by masses of twenty thousand at once—placed under suitable + escorts, and continually swelled in numbers by other outlying bodies of + the horde who kept falling in at various distances upon the first and + second day's march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those who were the + best mounted stayed behind the rest of the tribes, with purposes of + devastation and plunder more violent than prudence justified, or the + amiable character of the Khan could be supposed to approve. But in this, + as in other instances, he was completely overruled by the malignant + counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest of the desolating fury of the + Tartars discharged itself upon their own habitations. But this, as cutting + off all infirm looking backward from the hardships of their march, had + been thought so necessary a measure by all the chieftains, that even + Oubacha himself was the first to authorize the act by his own example. He + seized a torch previously prepared with materials the most durable as well + as combustible, and steadily applied it to the timbers of his own palace. + Nothing was saved from the general wreck except the portable part of the + domestic utensils, and that part of the woodwork which could be applied to + the manufacture of the long Tartar lances. This chapter in their memorable + day's work being finished, and the whole of their villages throughout a + district of ten thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the + Tartars waited for further orders. + </p> + <p> + These, it was intended, should have taken a character of valedictory + vengeance, and thus have left behind to the Czarina a dreadful commentary + upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose of Zebek-Dorchi + that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of every description, + should be given up to pillage and destruction, and such treatment applied + to the defenceless inhabitants as might naturally be expected from a + fierce people already infuriated by the spectacle of their own outrages, + and by the bloody retaliations which they must necessarily have provoked. + This part of the tragedy, however, was happily intercepted by a + providential disappointment at the very crisis of departure. It has been + mentioned already that the motive for selecting the depth of winter as the + season of flight (which otherwise was obviously the very worst possible) + had been the impossibility of effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with + the tribes on the west of the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless by + a natural bridge of ice. For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had + consented to aggravate by a thousandfold the calamities inevitable to a + rapid flight over boundless tracts of country with women, children, and + herds of cattle—for this one single advantage; and yet, after all, + it was lost. The reason never has been explained satisfactorily, but the + fact was such. Some have said that the signals were not properly concerted + for marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying + whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks might not have been + suddenly interrupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed that + the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river, and might + even be generally insecure for the treading of heavy and heavily-laden + animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is, that some accidental + movements on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops in the + neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really having no reference to + them or their plans, had been construed into certain signs that all was + discovered; and that the prudence of the Western chieftains, who, from + situation, had never been exposed to those intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi + had practised upon the pride of the Eastern tribes, now stepped in to save + their people from ruin. Be the cause what it might, it is certain that the + Western Kalmucks were in some way prevented from forming the intended + junction with their brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was, + that at least one hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in + Russia. This accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors + universally from the desolation which else awaited them. One general + massacre and conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the + utter extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had + it not been for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not + dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren under the first impulse + of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy; for as they were + well aware of too many circumstances by which she might discover the + concurrence of the Western people in the general scheme of revolt, they + justly feared that she would thence infer their concurrence also in the + bloody events which marked its outset. + </p> + <p> + Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for + gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which at the + moment they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed the + thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren in + the first month of their sad flight, they would have blessed Heaven for + their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of the first month were + but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of those which afterwards + succeeded. + </p> + <p> + For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the most + extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and + daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying + nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, may have + inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the desolation + would be sudden—like the flight of volleying lightning. Those who + were spared at first would generally be spared to the end; those who + perished would perish instantly. It is possible that the French retreat + from Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this calamity in + duration, though still a feeble and miniature approach; for the French + sufferings did not commence in good earnest until about one month from the + time of leaving Moscow; and though it is true that afterwards the vials of + wrath were emptied upon the devoted army for six or seven weeks in + succession, yet what is that to this Kalmuck tragedy, which lasted for + more than as many months? But the main feature of horror, by which the + Tartar march was distinguished from the French, lies in the accompaniment + of women [Footnote: Singular it is, and not generally known, that Grecian + women accompanied the <i>Anabasis</i> of the younger Cyrus and the + subsequent Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Xenophon affirms that there were + 'many' women in the Greek army—pollai aesun etairai en + tosratenaeazi; and in a late stage of that trying expedition it is evident + that women were amongst the survivors.] and children. There were both, it + is true, with the French army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion + to the total numbers concerned. The French, in short, were merely an army—a + host of professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed, and + whose regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a + nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty thousand + women and children, utterly unequal, for the most part, to any contest + with the calamities before them. The Children of Israel were in the same + circumstances as to the accompaniment of their families; but they were + released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very early stage of their + flight; and their subsequent residence in the Desert was not a march, but + a continued halt, and under a continued interposition of Heaven for their + comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however comprehensive in their + ravages, are shocks of a moment's duration. A much nearer approach made to + the wide range and the long duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may have been + in a pestilence such as that which visited Athens in the Peloponnesian + war, or London in the reign of Charles II. There also the martyrs were + counted by myriads, and the period of the desolation was counted by + months. But, after all, the total amount of destruction was on a smaller + scale; and there was this feature of alleviation to the <i>conscious</i> + pressure of the calamity—that the misery was withdrawn from public + notice into private chambers and hospitals. The siege of Jerusalem by + Vespasian and his son, taken in its entire circumstances, comes nearest of + all—for breadth and depth of suffering, for duration, for the + exasperation of the suffering from without by internal feuds, and, + finally, for that last most appalling expression of the furnace-heat of + the anguish in its power to extinguish the natural affections even of + maternal love. But, after all, each case had circumstances of romantic + misery peculiar to itself—circumstances without precedent, and + (wherever human nature is ennobled by Christianity) it may be confidently + hoped—never to be repeated. + </p> + <p> + The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be + encouraged, was the river Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles + from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and if the march thither + was to be a forced one, and a severe one, it was alleged on the other hand + that the suffering would be the more brief and transient; one summary + exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced the march was, + and severe beyond example: there the forewarning proved correct; but the + promised rest proved a mere phantom of the wilderness—a visionary + rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes, across these interminable + solitudes, for seven months of hardship and calamity, without a pause. + These sufferings, by their very nature, and the circumstances under which + they arose, were (like the scenery of the <i>Steppes</i>) somewhat + monotonous in their coloring and external features: what variety, however, + there was, will be most naturally exhibited by tracing historically the + successive stages of the general misery, exactly as it unfolded itself + under the double agency of weakness still increasing from within, and + hostile pressure from without. Viewed in this manner, under the real order + of development, it is remarkable that these sufferings of the Tartars, + though under the moulding hands of accident, arrange themselves almost + with a scenical propriety. They seem combined, as with the skill of an + artist; the intensity of the misery advancing regularly with the advances + of the march, and the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages + of the route; so that, upon raising the curtain which veils the great + catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of anguish, towering upwards by + regular gradations, as if constructed artificially for picturesque effect:—a + result which might not have been surprising, had it been reasonable to + anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an accelerated rate, as + prevailing through the later stages of the expedition. But it seemed, on + the contrary, most reasonable to calculate upon a continual decrement in + the rate of motion according to the increasing distance from the + head-quarters of the pursuing enemy. This calculation, however, was + defeated by the extraordinary circumstance, that the Russian armies did + not begin to close in very fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had + accomplished a distance of full two thousand miles; one thousand miles + further on the assaults became even more tumultuous and murderous; and + already the great shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when + the frenzy and <i>acharnement</i> of the pursuers, and the bloody + desperation of the miserable fugitives had reached its uttermost + extremity. Let us briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery, and + trace the ascending steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions + of the route marked out by the central rivers of Asia. + </p> + <p> + The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; the + distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days. For the + first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about forty-three + English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing; and, at a more + moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been accomplished + without much distress by a people as hardy as the Kalmucks: as it was, the + cattle suffered greatly from overdriving: milk began to fail even for the + children: the sheep perished by wholesale: and the children themselves + were saved only by the innumerable camels. + </p> + <p> + The Cossacks, who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik, were the first among + the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. Great was + their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great also their + consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by far the greater + part of their number was absent during the winter months at the fisheries + upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to surprise at the most exposed + points, fled in crowds to the fortress of Koulagina, which was immediately + invested, and summoned by Oubacha. He had, however, in his train only a + few light pieces of artillery; and the Russian commandant at Koulagina, + being aware of the hurried circumstances in which the Khan was placed, and + that he stood upon the very edge, as it were, of a renewed flight, felt + encouraged by these considerations to a more obstinate resistance than + might else have been advisable, with an enemy so little disposed to + observe the usages of civilized warfare. The period of his anxiety was not + long: on the fifth day of the siege, he descried from the walls a + succession of Tartar couriers, mounted upon fleet Bactrian camels, + crossing the vast plains around the fortress at a furious pace, and riding + into the Kalmuck encampment at various points. Great agitation appeared + immediately to follow; orders were soon after despatched in all + directions: and it became speedily known that upon a distant flank of the + Kalmuck movement a bloody and exterminating battle had been fought the day + before, in which one entire tribe of the Khan's dependents, numbering not + less than nine thousand fighting men, had perished to the last man. This + was the <i>ouloss</i>, or clan, called <i>Feka-Zechorr</i>, between whom + and the Cossacks there was a feud of ancient standing. In selecting, + therefore, the points of attack, on occasion of the present hasty inroad, + the Cossack chiefs were naturally eager so to direct their efforts as to + combine with the service of the Empress some gratification to their own + party hatreds; more especially as the present was likely to be their final + opportunity for revenge if the Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, + therefore, concentrated as large a body of Cossack cavalry as + circumstances allowed, they attacked the hostile <i>ouloss</i> with a + precipitation which denied to it all means for communicating with Oubacha; + for the necessity of commanding an ample range of pasturage, to meet the + necessities of their vast flocks and herds, had separated this <i>ouloss</i> + from the Khan's head-quarters by an interval of eighty miles: and thus it + was, and not from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely upon its + own resources. These had proved insufficient; retreat, from the exhausted + state of their horses and camels, no less than from the prodigious + encumbrances of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question: + quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not have been granted on + the other; and thus it had happened that the setting sun of that one day + (the 13th from the first opening of the revolt) threw his parting rays + upon the final agonies of an ancient <i>ouloss</i>, stretched upon a + bloody field, who on that day's dawning had held and styled themselves an + independent nation. + </p> + <p> + Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the + Khan's encampment by this disastrous intelligence; not so much on account + of the numbers slain, or the total extinction of a powerful ally, as + because the position of the Cossack force was likely to put to hazard the + future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard, and hold them in + check, until the heavier columns of the Russian army should arrive upon + their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised; and that + signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and their children, once + again resounded through the tents—the signal for flight, and this + time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one hundred and fifty miles + ahead of their present position, there arose a tract of hilly country, + forming a sort of margin to the vast, sea-like expanse of champaign + savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy deserts, which stretched away + on each side of this margin both eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in + the centre of this hilly range, lay a narrow defile, through which passed + the nearest and the most practicable route to the river Torgai (the + further bank of which river offered the next great station of security for + a general halt.) It was the more essential to gain this pass before the + Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the delay in forcing the pass give + time to the Russian pursuing columns for combining their attacks and for + bringing up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in + pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held by those best + acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography of these pathless + steppes—that the loss of this one narrow strait amongst the hills + would have the effect of throwing them (as their only alternative in a + case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit of at + least five hundred miles extra; besides that, after all, this circuitous + route would carry them to the Torgai at a point ill fitted for the passage + of their heavy baggage. The defile in the hills, therefore, it was + resolved to gain; and yet, unless they moved upon it with the velocity of + light cavalry, there was little chance but it would be found pre-occupied + by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had suffered greatly in the recent + sanguinary action with their enemies; but the excitement of victory, and + the intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had again swelled + their ranks—and would probably act with the force of a vortex to + draw in their simple countrymen from the Caspian. The question, therefore, + of pre-occupation was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching upon + an oblique line not above fifty miles longer than that which led to the + same point from the Kalmuck head-quarters before Koulagina: and therefore + without the most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not + a chance for them, burdened and 'trashed' [Footnote: <i>'Trashed'</i>—This + is an expressive word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Bonduca, + etc., to describe the case of a person retarded and embarrassed in flight, + or in pursuit, by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable + to be left behind.] as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry + as the Cossacks in seizing this important pass. + </p> + <p> + Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition of + the case. For they easily understood that too capital an interest (the <i>summa + rerum</i>) was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor interests, or + what would be considered such in their present circumstances. The dreadful + week already passed,—their inauguration in misery,—was yet + fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffering were impressed not only + upon their memories, but upon their very persons and the persons of their + children. And they knew that where no speed had much chance of meeting the + cravings of the chieftains, no test would be accepted, short of absolute + exhaustion, that as much had been accomplished as could be accomplished. + Weseloff, the Russian captive, has recorded the silent wretchedness with + which the women and elder boys assisted in drawing the tent-ropes. On the + 5th of January all had been animation, and the joyousness of indefinite + expectation: now, on the contrary, a brief but bitter experience had + taught them to take an amended calculation of what it was that lay before + them. + </p> + <p> + One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight + continued: the sufferings had been greater than before: for the cold had + been more intense: and many perished out of the living creatures through + every class, except only the camels—whose powers of endurance seemed + equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, brought an + alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall: and though not deep + at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would be so; and that, as + a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no plan could be better than + that of staying where they were: especially as the same cause would check + the advance of the Cossacks. Here then was the last interval of comfort + which gleamed upon the unhappy nation during their whole migration. For + ten days the snow continued to fall with little intermission. At the end + of that time keen bright frosty weather succeeded: the drifting had + ceased: in three days the smooth expanse became firm enough to support the + treading of the camels, and the flight was recommenced. But during the + halt much domestic comfort had been enjoyed: and for the last time + universal plenty. The cows and oxen had perished in such vast numbers on + the previous marches, that an order was now issued to turn what remained + to account by slaughtering the whole, and salting whatever part should be + found to exceed the immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene of + general banqueting and even of festivity amongst all who were not + incapacitated for joyous emotions by distress of mind, by grief for the + unhappy experience of the few last days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy + future. Seventy thousand persons of all ages had already perished; + exclusively of the many thousand allies who had been cut down by the + Cossack sabre. And the losses in reversion were likely to be many more. + For rumors began now to arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers + whom the Khan had despatched to the rear and to each flank as well as in + advance, that large masses of the Imperial troops were converging from all + parts of Central Asia to the fords of the river Torgai as the most + convenient point for intercepting the flying tribes: and it was already + well known that a powerful division was close in their rear, and was + retarded only by the numerous artillery which had been judged necessary to + support their operations. New motives were thus daily arising for + quickening the motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting those + who were previously but too much exhausted. + </p> + <p> + It was not until the 2d day of February that the Khan's advanced guard + came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, in + which they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A pretty + large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, pre-occupied the pass by + some hours; but the Khan having too great advantages, namely, a strong + body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on about two + hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which he had not yet + been forced to abandon, soon began to make a serious impression upon this + unsupported detachment; and they would probably at any rate have retired; + but at the very moment when they were making some dispositions in that + view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear with a body of trained + riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in the war with Turkey. These + men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the cliffs which skirted the + ravine, availing themselves of the dry beds of the summer torrents, and + other inequalities of the ground, to conceal their movement. Disorder and + trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack files; the Khan, who had been + waiting with the <i>elite</i> of his heavy cavalry, charged furiously upon + them; total overthrow followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in + some measure avenged the recent bloody extermination of their allies, the + ancient <i>ouloss</i> of Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks + were unable to support the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of + trained <i>cameleers</i> (that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy + they were, but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight; + and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days to gain their + present position, had greatly diminished their powers for effecting an + escape. Very few, in fact, <i>did</i> escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim + became as memorable amongst the Cossacks as that which, about twenty days + before, had signalized the complete annihilation of the Faka-Zechorr. + [Footnote: There was another <i>ouloss</i> equally strong with that of <i>Feka-Zechorr</i>, + viz., that of Erketunn, under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom + some obligations of treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general + conspiracy of revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means to + assure the Governor of Astrachan, on the first outbreak of the + insurrection, that their real wishes were for maintaining the old + connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit was + intrusted, had instructions to act cautiously and according to + circumstances on coming up with them. The result was, through the prudent + management of Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising their pride or + independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied the Cossacks; + and eventually both chiefs and people received from the Czarina the + rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity.] + </p> + <p> + The road was now open to the river Igritch, and as yet even far beyond it + to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue, was every + day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a large + Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon the Torgau, + under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to be joined on + his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the same amount of + Kirghises—both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks—both + exasperated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which Oubacha and + Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as + served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore with + submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been imposed; and, + accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present occasion offered to + their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of their perfect + obedience to her commands, and at the same time a message significantly + declaring in what spirit they meant to execute them, viz., 'That they + would not trouble her Majesty with prisoners.' + </p> + <p> + Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks with + the regular armies of Russia, and concurrently with nations as fierce and + semi-humanized as themselves, besides that they were stung into threefold + activity by the furies of mortified pride and military abasement, under + the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more especially the + artillery, of Russia, were far too overwhelming to permit the thought of a + regular opposition in pitched battles, even with a less dilapidated state + of their resources than they could reasonably expect at the period of + their arrival on the Torgau. In their speed lay their only hope—in + strength of foot, as before, and not in strength of arm. Onward, + therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, marking the lines of their wide-extending + march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a never-ending chain of + corpses. The old and the young, the sick man on his couch, the mother with + her baby—all were left behind. Sights such as these, with the many + rueful aggravations incident to the helpless condition of infancy—of + disease and of female weakness abandoned to the wolves amidst a howling + wilderness, continued to track their course through a space of full two + thousand miles; for so much at the least, it was likely to prove, + including the circuits to which they were often compelled by rivers or + hostile tribes, from the point of starting on the Wolga until they could + reach their destined halting-ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For + the first seven weeks of this march their sufferings had been embittered + by the excessive severity of the cold; and every night—so long as + wood was to be had for fires, either from the lading of the camels, or + from the desperate sacrifice of their baggage-wagons, or (as occasionally + happened) from the forests which skirted the banks of the many rivers + which crossed their path—no spectacle was more frequent than that of + a circle, composed of men, women, and children, gathered by hundreds round + a central fire, all dead and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads + were left behind from pure exhaustion of whom none had a chance, under the + combined evils which beset them, of surviving through the next twenty-four + hours. Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute; the vast + extent of the march at length brought them into more genial latitudes, and + the unusual duration of the march was gradually bringing them into the + more genial seasons of the year: Two thousand miles had at least been + traversed; February, March, April were gone; the balmy month of May had + opened; vernal sights and sounds came from every side to comfort the + heart-weary travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, they + crossed the Torgau, and took up a position where they hoped to find + liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort as well as in + security, and to draw such supplies from the fertile neighborhood as might + restore their shattered forces to a condition for executing, with less of + wreck and ruin, the large remainder of the journey. + </p> + <p> + Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been completed, + but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific sacrifice of + at least two hundred and fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and + flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: ox, cow, horse, mule, + ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived—only the camels. These arid + and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of some antediluvian + animals, without the affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood—these + only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern heavens, and had to + all appearance come out from this long tempest of trial unscathed and + unharmed. The Khan, knowing how much he was individually answerable for + the misery which had been sustained, must have wept tears even more bitter + than those of Xerxes when he threw his eyes over the myriads whom he had + assembled: for the tears of Xerxes were unmingled with compunction. + Whatever amends were in his power he resolved to make by sacrifices to the + general good of all personal regards; and accordingly, even at this point + of their advance, he once more deliberately brought under review the whole + question of the revolt. The question was formally debated before the + Council, whether, even at this point, they should untread their steps, + and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old + allegiance? In that case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become the + scapegoat for the general transgression. This, he argued, was no fantastic + scheme, but even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited and sacred + power of the Khan, so well known to the Empress, made it absolutely + iniquitous to attribute any separate responsibility to the people—upon + the Khan rested the guilt, upon the Khan would descend the Imperial + vengeance. This proposal was applauded for its generosity, but was + energetically opposed by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole journey + of two thousand miles? Was their misery to perish without fruit; true it + was that they had yet reached only the half-way house; but, in that + respect, the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for advance. + Either way they would have pretty nearly the same distance to traverse, + but with this difference—that, forwards, their rout lay through + lands comparatively fertile—backwards, through a blasted wilderness, + rich only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to Kalmuck eyes by the + trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the Empress might accept an + excuse for the past, would she the less forbear to suspect for the future? + The Czarina's <i>pardon</i> they might obtain, but could they ever hope to + recover her <i>confidence</i>? Doubtless there would now be a standing + presumption against them, an immortal ground of jealousy; and a jealous + government would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally, whatever + motives there ever had been for the revolt surely remained unimpaired by + anything that had occurred. In reality the revolt was, after all, no + revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return to their old allegiance, since, + not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz., in the year 1616,) their + ancestors had revolted from the Emperor of China. They had now tried both + governments; and for them China was the land of promise, and Russia the + house of bondage. + </p> + <p> + Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the + people was strongly in behalf of the Khan's proposal; the pardon of their + prince, they persuaded themselves, would be readily conceded by the + Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time have + thrown themselves gladly upon the Imperial mercy; when suddenly all was + defeated by the arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had + reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the 12th of + April; thence he set forwards towards Oriembourg, which he reached upon + the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at various times through + the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand Bashkirs. + From Oriembourg he sent forward his official offer to the Khan, which were + harsh and peremptory, holding out no specific stipulations as to pardon or + impunity, and exacting unconditional submission as the preliminary price + of any cessation from military operations. The personal character of + Traubenberg, which was anything but energetic, and the condition of his + army, disorganized in a great measure by the length and severity of the + march, made it probable that, with a little time for negotiation, a more + conciliatory tone would have been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, + sinister events occurred in the meantime, such as effectually put an end + to every hope of the kind. + </p> + <p> + The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this officer + that a distance of only ten days' march lay between his own head-quarters + and those of the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the Kirghises, by their + prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the Russian general to advance + without delay. Once having placed his cannon in position, so as to command + the Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel Khan and his people would be in + his own hands; and they would themselves form his advanced guard. + Traubenberg, however, <i>why</i> has not been certainly explained, refused + to march, grounding his refusal upon the condition of his army, and their + absolute need of refreshment. Long and fierce was the altercation; but at + length, seeing no chance of prevailing, and dreading above all other + events the escape of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off + in a body by forced marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed + by swimming their horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed + for many a league in search of food or provender for their camels. The + first day's action was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, + diffused over a field of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often + breaking up into three or four, and again (according to the accidents of + ground) three or four blending into one; flight and pursuit, rescue and + total overthrow, going on simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in + all quarters of the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged, by + the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up into innumerable + sections; and thus, for some hours, it had been impossible for the most + practised eye to collect the general tendency of the day's fortune. Both + the Khan and Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners, and more than + once in imminent danger of being cut down; but at length Zebek succeeded + in rallying a strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the + camel-corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds, + however, of these wild cavalry continued to arrive through the next two + days and nights, followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being + viewed as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kalmuck + chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it + happened that a retreat, which had so recently been brought to a pause, + was resumed at the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were + anticipating a deep repose without further molestation, the whole summer + through. + </p> + <p> + It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to the + Kalmucks; and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they were + rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of summer's + heat could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this sequel of their + story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing a little romantic + episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled + cousin Zebek-Dorchi. + </p> + <p> + There was at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian + gentleman of some rank at the court of the Khan, whom, for political + reasons, it was thought necessary to carry along with them as a captive. + For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in one or two + instances cruel. But, as the increasing distance was continually + diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as the misery of the + guards gradually withdrew their attention from all minor interests to + their own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody grew more and + more relaxed; until at length, upon a petition to the Khan, Mr. Weseloff + was formally restored to liberty; and it was understood that he might use + his liberty in whatever way he chose, even for returning to Russia, if + that should be his wish. Accordingly, he was making active preparations + for his journey to St. Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that, + not improbably, in some of the battles which were then anticipated with + Traubenberg, it might happen to them to lose some prisoner of rank, in + which case the Russian Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands for + negotiating an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own severe affliction, the + Russian was detained until the further pleasure of the Khan. The Khan's + name, indeed, was used through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with + so little concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private + audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done him, and the cruelty + of thus sporting with his feelings by setting him at liberty, and, as it + were, tempting him into dreams of home and restored happiness only for the + purpose of blighting them, the good-natured prince disclaimed all + participation in the affair, and went so far in proving his sincerity as + even to give him permission to effect his escape; and, as a ready means of + commencing it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr. + Weseloff that he had just then received a message from the Hetman of the + Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview on the banks of the Torgau at a + spot pointed out; that interview was arranged for the coming night; and + Mr. Weseloff might go in the Khan's <i>suite</i>, which on either side was + not to exceed three persons. Weseloff was a prudent man, acquainted with + the world, and he read treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as + stated by the Khan—treachery against the Khan's person. He mused a + little, and then communicated so much of his suspicions to the Khan as + might put him on his guard; but, upon further consideration, he begged + leave to decline the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact was, that + three Kalmucks, who had strong motives for returning to their countrymen + on the west bank of the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had + offered to join him in his escape. These men the Khan would probably find + himself obliged to countenance in their project; so that it became a point + of honor with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to + accomplish the evasion from the camp, (of which the first steps only would + be hazardous,) without risking the notice of the Khan. + </p> + <p> + The district in which they were now encamped abounded, through many + hundred miles, with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each of + the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited + creatures in the course of the last few days; this raised no suspicion; + for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of provision + against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These horses + were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets which lined + the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at night, the four + fugitives repaired; they took a circuitous path, which drew them as little + as possible within danger of challenge from any of the outposts or of the + patrols which had been established on the quarters where the Bashkirs lay; + and in three quarters of an hour they reached the rendezvous. The moon had + now risen, the horses were unfastened, and they were in the act of + mounting, when the deep silence of the woods was disturbed by a violent + uproar, and the clashing of arms. Weseloff fancied that he heard the voice + of the Khan shouting for assistance. He remembered the communication made + by that prince in the morning; and requesting his companions to support + him, he rode off in the direction of the sound. A very short distance + brought him to an open glade in the wood, where he beheld four men + contending with a party of at least nine or ten. Two of the four were + dismounted at the very instant of Weseloff's arrival; one of these he + recognized almost certainly as the Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, + but at great disadvantage, with two of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that + no time was to be lost, Weseloff fired, and brought down one of the two. + His companions discharged their carbines at the same moment, and then all + rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The thundering sound of + about thirty horses, all rushing at once into a narrow space, gave the + impression that a whole troop of cavalry was coming down upon the + assailants; who, accordingly, wheeled about and fled with one impulse. + Weseloff advanced to the dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, proved + to be the Khan. The man whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both + were shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on stooping down + and scrutinizing his features, to recognize a well known confidential + servant of Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. The Khan rode + off, escorted by Weseloff and his companions, and for some time a dead + silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was delicate and critical; to + leave the Khan at this point was probably to cancel their recent services; + for he might be again crossed on his path, and again attacked by the very + party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on the other hand, to + return to the camp was to endanger the chances of accomplishing the + escape. The Khan also was apparently revolving all this in his mind, for + at length he broke silence, and said—'I comprehend your situation; + and, under other circumstances, I might feel it my duty to detain your + companions. But it would ill become me to do so after the important + service you have just rendered me. Let us turn a little to the left. + There, where you see the watchfire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am + then safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise; for the circumstances + under which you will appear, as my escort, are sufficient to shield you + from all suspicion for the present. I regret having no better means at my + disposal for testifying my gratitude. But tell me, before we part, was it + accident only which led you to my rescue? Or had you acquired any + knowledge of the plot by which I was decoyed into this snare?' Weseloff + answered very candidly that mere accident had brought him to the spot at + which he heard the uproar, but that <i>having</i> heard it, and connecting + it with the Khan's communication of the morning, he had then designedly + gone after the sound in a way which he certainly should not have done at + so critical a moment, unless in the expectation of finding the Khan + assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after they reached the outpost at + which it became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain; and immediately the + four fugitives commenced a flight which is perhaps without a parallel in + the annals of travelling. Each of them led six or seven horses besides the + one he rode; and by shifting from one to the other (like the ancient <i>Desultors</i> + of the Roman circus,) so as never to burden the same horse for more than + half an hour at a time, they continued to advance at the rate of two + hundred miles in the twenty-four hours for three days consecutively. After + that time, considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded less + rapidly; though still with a velocity which staggered the belief of + Weseloff's friends in after years. He was, however, a man of high + principle, and always adhered firmly to the details of his printed report. + One of the circumstances there stated is, that they continued to pursue + the route by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for an instant finding any + difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons and other memorials of their + calamities. In particular, he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the + valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice. These heaps + were found lying still untouched in the deserts. From these, Weseloff and + his companions took as much as they could conveniently carry; and this it + was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which they afterwards sold + at one of the Russian military settlements for about Ł15 a-piece, which + eventually enabled them to pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, + as regarded Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe. + He was at that time young, and the only child of a doating mother. Her + affliction under the violent abduction of her son had been excessive, and + probably had undermined her constitution. Still she had supported it. + Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial affection, had + imprudently posted through Russia, to his mother's house without warning + of his approach. He rushed precipitately into her presense; and she, who + had stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal to the shock of joy too + sudden and too acute. She died upon the spot. + </p> + <p> + We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. These it would be + useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand miles of + suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering was even + more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but also more + severe. Its main elements were excessive heat, with the accompaniments of + famine and thirst, but aggravated at every step by the murderous attacks + of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the Kirghises. + </p> + <p> + These people, 'more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,' stuck to the + unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of enraged hornets. And very often whilst <i>they</i> + were attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and flanks were + attacked with almost equal fury by the people of the country which they + were traversing; and with good reason, since the law of self-preservation + had now obliged the fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions, and to forage + wherever they passed. In this respect their condition was a constant + oscillation of wretchedness; for, sometimes, pressed by grinding famine, + they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a + land rich in the comforts of life; but in such a land they were sure to + find a crowded population, of which every arm was raised in unrelenting + hostility, with all the advantages of local knowledge, and with constant + preoccupation of all the defensible positions, mountain passes, or + bridges. Sometimes, again, wearied out with this mode of suffering, they + took a circuit of perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land + with few or no inhabitants. But in such a land they were sure to meet + absolute starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of + starvation, whether with or without this plague of hostility in front, + whatever might he the 'fierce varieties' of their misery in this respect, + no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; <i>post equitem sedet atra cura</i>; + it was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. And, upon the whole, + it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented in the history of + mankind. Private and personal malignity is not unfrequently immortal; but + rare indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in a nation. And + what embittered the interest was, that the malice was reciprocal. Thus far + the parties met upon equal terms; but that equality only sharpened the + sense of their dire inequality as to other circumstances. The Bashkirs + were ready to fight 'from morn to dewy eve.' The Kalmucks, on the + contrary, were always obliged to run; was it <i>from</i> their enemies, as + creatures whom they feared? No; but <i>towards</i> their friends—towards + that final haven of China—as what was hourly implored by their + wives, and the tears of their children. But though they fled unwillingly, + too often they fled in vain—being unwillingly recalled. There lay + the torment. Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day the same + unprofitable battle was renewed; as a matter of course, the Kalmucks + recalled part of their advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle + raged for hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no sooner did + the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that the Kalmuck + march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired into the + boundless deserts where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks + resolved to press forward, regardless of their enemies, in that case their + attacks became so fierce and overwhelming, that the general safety seemed + likely to be brought into question; nor could any effectual remedy be + applied to the case, even for each separate day, except by a most + embarrassing halt, and by countermarches, that, to men in their + circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not be surprising, + that the irritation of such a systematic persecution, superadded to a + previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the stinging + consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual vengeance, + should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into the wildest + expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before the + frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both sides had + assumed the appearance much more of a warfare amongst wild beasts than + amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims of + a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it was that of a host + of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends. + </p> + <p> + On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the Emperor + of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier district lying on + the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred square leagues the country + was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in woods of ancient growth, and + overrun with game of every description. In a central spot of this solitary + region, the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunting-lodge, to which he + resorted annually for recreation and relief from the cares of government. + Led onwards in pursuit of game, he had rambled to a distance of two + hundred miles or more from this lodge, followed at a little distance by a + sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his tent in a + different situation, until at length he had arrived on the very margin of + the vast central deserts of Asia. [Footnote: All the circumstances are + learned from a long state paper upon the subject of this Kalmuck + migration, drawn up in the Chinese language by the Emperor himself. Parts + of this paper have been translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor + states the whole motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great + length.] Here he was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, + enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there arose a + vast cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be + slowly diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By-and-by this + vast sheet of mist began to thicken towards the horizon, and to roll + forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite assembled from all + quarters. The silver trumpets were sounded in the rear, and from all the + glades and forest avenues began to trot forward towards the pavilion the + yagers, half cavalry, half huntsmen, who composed the Imperial escort. + Conjecture was on the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon, and + the interest continually increased, in proportion as simple curiosity + gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain danger. At first it had + been imagined that some vast troops of deer, or other wild animals of the + chase, had been disturbed in their forest haunts by the Emperor's + movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey, and might be + fetching a compass by way of re-entering the forest grounds at some + remoter points secure from molestation. But this conjecture was dissipated + by the slow increase of the cloud, and the steadiness of its motion. In + the course of two hours the vast phenomenon had advanced to a point which + was judged to be within five miles of the spectators, though all + calculations of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when + applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next + hour, during which the gentle morning breeze had a little freshened, the + dusty vapor had developed itself far and wide into the appearance of huge + aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the earth; and + at particular points, where the eddies of the breeze acted upon the + pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains rents were perceived, sometimes + taking the form of regular arches, portals, and windows, through which + began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 'indorsed' [Footnote: <i>Camels + 'indorsed;'</i>—'And elephants indorsed with towers.' MILTON in <i>Paradise + Regained</i>.] with human beings—and at intervals the moving of men + and horses, in tumultuous array—and then, through other openings or + vistas, at far distant points, the flashing of polished arms. But + sometimes, as the wind slackened or died away, all those openings, of + whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and for a time the + whole pageant was shut up from view; although the growing din, the + clamors, the shrieks and groans, ascending from infuriated myriads, + reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, what was going on behind + the cloudy screen. + </p> + <p> + It was in fact the Kalmuck host, now in the last extremities of their + exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation and + intense misery, beyond which few or none could have lived, but also, + happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final + stage of their long pilgrimage, at which they would meet hospitality on a + scale of royal magnificence, and full protection from their enemies. These + enemies, however, as yet still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as + ever, though this day was destined to be the last of their hideous + persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward couriers with all the + requisite statements and petitions, addressed to the Emperor of China. + These had been duly received, and preparations made in consequence to + welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence. But as these + couriers had been despatched from the Torgau at the moment of arrival + thither, and before the advance of Traubenberg had made it necessary for + the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the Emperor had not + looked for their arrival on their frontier until full three months after + the present time. The Khan had indeed expressly notified his intention to + pass the summer heats on the banks of the Torgau, and to recommence his + retreat about the beginning of September. The subsequent change of plan + being unknown to Kien Long, left him for some time in doubt as to the true + interpretation to be put upon this mighty apparition in the desert; but at + length the savage clamors of hostile fury, and the clangor of weapons, + unveiled to the Emperor the true nature of those unexpected calamities + which had so prematurely precipitated the Kalmuck measure. + </p> + <p> + Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived + that the first act of his fatherly care for these erring children (as he + esteemed them) now returning to their ancient obedience, must be—to + deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than might + have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well + appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment of artillery, who always + attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime it + occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to the + Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy; and accordingly he + was induced to retire a little to the rear. It soon appeared, however, to + those who watched the vapory shroud in the desert, that its motion was not + such as would argue the direction of the march to be exactly upon the + pavilion, but rather in a diagonal line, making an angle of full + forty-five degrees with that line in which the Imperial <i>cortčge</i> had + been standing, and therefore with a distance continually increasing. Those + who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks were making for a large + fresh-water lake about seven or eight miles distant; they were right; and + to that point the Imperial cavalry was ordered up; and it was precisely in + that spot, and about three hours after and at noon-day on the 8th of + September, that the great Exodus of the Kalmuck Tartars was brought to a + final close, and with a scene of such memorable and hellish fury, as + formed an appropriate winding-up to an expedition in all its parts and + details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not personally present, or + at least he saw whatever he <i>did</i> see from too great a distance to + discriminate its individual features; but he records in his written + memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of his own officers. + </p> + <p> + The lake of Tengis, near the frightful desert of Kobi, lay in a hollow + amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three + thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese + cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like dip + in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. From this pass, + elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, they + continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour + and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were compelled to be + inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. The Kalmucks, reduced + by this time from about six hundred thousand souls to two hundred + thousand, and after enduring for two months and a half the miseries we + have previously described—outrageous heat, famine, and the + destroying scimitar of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs, had for the last + ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were seen of + vegetation, and no drop of water could be found. Camels and men were + already so overladen, that it was a mere impossibility that they should + carry a tolerable sufficiency for the passage of this frightful + wilderness. On the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had been + continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus for two days of + insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst had been carried to the + fiercest extremity. Upon this last morning, at the sight of the hills and + the forest scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides the + neighborhood of the lake of Tengis, all the people rushed along with + maddening eagerness to the anticipated solace. The day grew hotter and + hotter, the people more and more exhausted, and gradually, in the general + rush forwards to the lake, all discipline and command were lost—all + attempts to preserve a rear-guard were neglected—the wild Bashkirs + rode in amongst the encumbered people, and slaughtered them by wholesale, + and almost without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts proclaimed + the progress of the massacre; but none heeded—none halted; all + alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to the + waters—all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver, + and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was affected by + the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery as the + wretched Kalmuck; the murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic misery + as his murdered victim—many indeed (an ordinary effect of thirst) in + both nations had become lunatic—and in this state, whilst mere + multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to the + destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and to + that the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together continued to + rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one almighty instinct. + This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a + single minute; but in the next arose the final scene of parting vengeance. + Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake were instantly dyed red with + blood and gore; here rode a party of savage Bashkirs, hewing off heads as + fast as the swathes fall before the mower's scythe; there stood unarmed + Kalmucks in a death-grapple with their detested foes, both up to the + middle in water, and oftentimes both sinking together below the surface, + from weakness, or from struggles, and perishing in each other's arms. Did + the Bashkirs at any point collect into a cluster for the sake of giving + impetus to the assault? Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by + those who rode them, generally women or boys; and even these quiet + creatures were forced into a share in this carnival of murder, by + trampling down as many as they could strike prostrate with the lash of + their fore-legs. Every moment the water grew more polluted: and yet every + moment fresh myriads came up to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist + their frantic thirst, and swallowing large draughts of water, visibly + contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered compatriots. Wheresoever + the lake was shallow enough to allow of men raising their heads above the + water, there for scores of acres were to be seen all forms of ghastly + fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of convulsion, of mortal conflict, + death, and the fear of death—revenge, and the lunacy of revenge—hatred, + and the frenzy of hatred—until the neutral spectators, of whom there + were not a few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length + averted their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed incapable of + further addition, was, however, increased by an unexpected incident. The + Bashkirs, beginning to perceive here and there the approach of the Chinese + cavalry, felt it prudent—wheresoever they were sufficiently at + leisure from the passions of the murderous scene—to gather into + bodies. This was noticed by the governor of a small Chinese fort, built + upon an eminence above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside, + which spread havoc amongst the Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs + collected into 'globes' and 'turms' as their only means of meeting the + long line of descending Chinese cavalry—so often did the Chinese + governor of the fort pour in his exterminating broadside; until at length + the lake at the lower end, became one vast seething cauldron of human + bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese cavalry had reached the foot of the + hills: the Bashkirs, attentive to their movements, had formed; skirmishes + had been fought: and, with a quick sense that the contest was + henceforwards rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises began + to retire. The pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would + have desired. But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could not + but find, in their own dreadful experience of the Asiatic deserts, and in + the certainty that these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat that same + experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted by + a retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty—not the very + gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting, but found in all this + a retaliatory chastisement more complete and absolute than any which their + swords and lances could have obtained, or human vengeance could have + devised. + </p> + <p> + Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the Desert; for any + subsequent marches which awaited them, were neither long nor painful. + Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exhausted bodies had + been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely munificence; and + lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to them in ample extent + along the river Ily, not very far from the point at which they had first + emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the beneficent attention of the + Chinese Emperor may be best stated in his own words, as translated into + French by one of the Jesuit missionaries:—"La nation des Torgotes (<i>savoir + les Kalmuques</i>) arriva ŕ Ily, toute <i>delabree</i>, n'ayant ni de quoi + vivre, ni de quoi se vętir. Je l'avais prévu; et j'avais ordonné de faire + en tout genre les provisions nécessaires pour pouvoir les secourir + promptement; c'est ce qui a été exécuté. On a fait la division des terres; + et on a assigné ŕ chaque famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir + servir ŕ son entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des + bestiaux. On a donne a chaque particulier des étoffes pour l'habiller, des + grains pour se nourrir pendant l'espace d'une année, des ustensiles pour + le ménage et d'autres choses nécessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces + d'argent, pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a désigné des + lieux particuliers, fertiles en pâturages; et on leur a donné des boeufs, + moutons, &c. pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite travailler par euxmęmes + a leur entretien et ŕ leur bienętre." + </p> + <p> + These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person of + his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same subject, + records the munificence of this prince in terms which proclaim still more + forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and the delicate + considerateness which conducted this extensive bounty. He has been + speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus:—"Lorsqu'ils + arrivčrent sur nos frontičres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de mille), + quoique la fatigue extręme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les autres + incommodités inséparables d'une trčs-longue et trčs pénible route en + eussent fait périr presque autant, ils étaient réduits a la derničre + misčre: ils manquaient de tout. Il" (viz. l'Empereur, Kien Long) "leur fit + préparer des logemens conformes a leur maničre de vivre; il leur fit + distribuer des aliments et des habits; il leur fit donner des boeufs, des + moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en état de former des + troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, <i>et tout cela ŕ ses propres frais</i>, + qui se sont montés ŕ des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent qu'il a + donné ŕ chaque chef-de-famille, pour pourvoir ŕ la subsistance de sa femme + et de ses enfans." + </p> + <p> + Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks were replaced in + territorial possessions, and in comfort equal perhaps, or even superior, + to that which they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political + advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no longer the + same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered in quality; + for instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people, they were now + in circumstances which obliged them to become essentially dependent upon + agriculture; and thus far raised in social rank, that by the natural + course of their habits and the necessities of life they were effectually + reclaimed from roving, and from the savage customs connected with so + unsettled a life. They gained also in political privileges, chiefly + through the immunity from military service which their new relations + enabled them to obtain. These were circumstances of advantage and gain. + But one great disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance all other + possible gain; the chances were lost or were removed to an incalculable + distance for their conversion to Christianity, without which in these + times there is no absolute advance possible on the path of true + civilization. + </p> + <p> + One word remains to be said upon the <i>personal</i> interests concerned + in this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was remarkable and + complete. Oubacha, with all his goodness and incapacity of suspecting, + had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his mind + alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the man that would have + murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so visibly as to provoke a + reaction in the bearing of Zebek-Dorchi, and a displeasure which all his + dissimulation could not hide. This had produced a feud, which, by keeping + them aloof, had probably saved the life of Oubacha; for the friendship of + Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than his open enmity. After the settlement on + the Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came under the notice of + the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which all the Tartar chieftains made + to his Majesty at his hunting-lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself + accurately of all the particulars connected with the transaction—of + all the rights and claims put forward—and of the way in which they + would severally affect the interests of the Kalmuck people. The + consequence was, that he adopted the cause of Oubacha, and repressed the + pretensions of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his part, so deeply resented this + discountenance to his ambitious projects, that in conjunction with other + chiefs he had the presumption even to weave nets of treason against the + Emperor himself. Plots were laid—were detected—were baffled—counterplots + were constructed upon the same basis, and with the benefit of the + opportunities thus offered. + </p> + <p> + Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with all + his accomplices; and under the skilful management of the Chinese nobles in + the Emperor's establishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar + chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole of them + perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet. For the Chinese + morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything the <i>lex + talionis:</i>— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ——'lex nec justior ulla est (as <i>they</i> think) + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.' +</pre> + <p> + So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar <i>Exodus</i>. + Oubacha, meantime, and his people, were gradually recovering from the + effects of their misery, and repairing their losses. Peace and prosperity, + under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount, re-dawned upon the + tribes; their household <i>lares</i>, after so harsh a translation to + distant climates, found again a happy reinstatement in what had in fact + been their primitive abodes; they found themselves settled in quiet sylvan + scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and endowed with the perfect + loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from the hills of this favored land and + even from the level grounds as they approach its western border, they + still look out upon that fearful wilderness which once beheld a nation in + agony—the utter extirpation of nearly half a million from amongst + its numbers, and, for the remainder, a storm of misery so fierce, that in + the end (as happened also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a + different form of misery) very many lost their memory; all records of + their past life were wiped out as with a sponge—utterly erased and + cancelled; and many others lost their reason; some in a gentle form of + pensive melancholy, some in a more restless form of feverish delirium and + nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, + raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. Two great commemorative monuments arose + in after years to mark the depth and permanence of the awe—the + sacred and reverential grief with which all persons looked back upon the + dread calamities attached to the year of the Tiger—all who had + either personally shared in those calamities, and had themselves drunk + from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually been made witnesses to + their results, and associated with their relief; two great monuments, we + say; first of all, one in the religious solemnity, enjoined by the Dalai + Lama, called in the Tartar language a <i>Romanang</i>, that is, a national + commemoration, with music the most rich and solemn, of all the souls who + departed to the rest of Paradise from the afflictions of the Desert: this + took place about six years after the arrival in China. Secondly, another + more durable and more commensurate to the scale of the calamity and to the + grandeur of this national Exodus, in the mighty columns of granite and + brass, erected by the Emperor Kien Long, near the banks of the Ily: these + columns stand upon the very margin of the <i>steppes</i>; and they bear a + short but emphatic inscription [Footnote: This inscription has been + slightly altered in one or two phrases, and particularly in adapting to + the Christian era the Emperor's expressions for the year of the original + Exodus from China and the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect + to the designation adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built + upon some confusion between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the + former, being of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in part + the same longitudes, though in different latitudes) might be considered as + his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the Greek form of + Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church.] to the + following effect:— + </p> + <p> + By the Will of God Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, Which from this + Point begin and stretch away Pathless, treeless, waterless, For thousands + of miles—and along the margins of many mighty Nations, Rested from + their labors and from great afflictions Under the shadow of the Chinese + Wall, And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon Earth, The + ancient Children of the Wilderness—the Torgote Tartars Flying before + the wrath of the Grecian Czar, Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from + the Celestial Empire in the year 1616, But are now mercifully gathered + again, after infinite sorrow, Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd. + Hallowed be the spot for ever, and Hallowed be the day—September 8, + 1771! Amen. + </p> + <h3> + END OF VOLUME I. + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + VOLUME II + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. + </h2> + <p> + [Footnote: Thoughts on Some Important Points relating to the System of the + World. By J. P. Nichol, LL.D., Professor of Astronomy in the University of + Glasgow. William Tait, Edinburgh. 1846.] + </p> + <p> + Some years ago, some person or other, [in fact I believe it was myself,] + published a paper from the German of Kant, on a very interesting question, + viz., the age of our own little Earth. Those who have never seen that + paper, a class of unfortunate people whom I suspect to form <i>rather</i> + the majority in our present perverse generation, will be likely to + misconceive its object. Kant's purpose was, not to ascertain how many + years the Earth had lived: a million of years, more or less, made very + little difference to <i>him</i>. What he wished to settle was no such + barren conundrum. For, had there even been any means of coercing the Earth + into an honest answer, on such a delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, + Recupero, fancied that there was; [Footnote: <i>Recupero</i>. See + Brydone's Travels, some sixty or seventy years ago. The canon, being a + beneficed clergyman in the Papal church, was naturally an infidel. He + wished exceedingly to refute Moses: and he fancied that he really had done + so by means of some collusive assistance from the layers of lava on Mount + Etna. But there survives, at this day, very little to remind us of the + canon, except an unpleasant guffaw that rises, at times, in solitary + valleys of Etna.] but which, in my own opinion, there neither is, nor + ought to be,—(since a man deserves to be cudgelled who could put + such improper questions to a <i>lady</i> planet,)—still what would + it amount to? What good would it do us to have a certificate of our dear + little mother's birth and baptism? Other people—people in Jupiter, + or the Uranians—may amuse themselves with her pretended foibles or + infirmities: it is quite safe to do so at <i>their</i> distance; and, in a + female planet like Venus, it might be natural, (though, strictly speaking, + not quite correct,) to scatter abroad malicious insinuations, as though + our excellent little mamma had begun to wear false hair, or had lost some + of her front teeth. But all this, we men of sense know to be gammon. Our + mother Tellus, beyond all doubt, is a lovely little thing. I am satisfied + that she is very much admired throughout the Solar System: and, in clear + seasons, when she is seen to advantage, with her bonny wee pet of a Moon + tripping round her like a lamb, I should be thankful to any gentleman who + will mention where he has happened to observe—either he or his + telescope—will he only have the goodness to say, in what part of the + heavens he has discovered a more elegant turn-out. I wish to make no + personal reflections. I name no names. Only this I say, that, though some + people have the gift of seeing things that other people never could see, + and though some other people, or other some people are born with a silver + spoon in their mouths, so that, generally, their geese count for swans, + yet, after all, swans or geese, it would be a pleasure to me, and really a + curiosity, to see the planet that could fancy herself entitled to sneeze + at our Earth. And then, if she (viz., our Earth,) keeps but one Moon, even + <i>that</i> (you know) is an advantage as regards some people that keep + none. There are people, pretty well known to you and me, that can't make + it convenient to keep even one Moon. And so I come to my moral; which is + this, that, to all appearance, it is mere justice; but, supposing it were + not, still it is <i>our</i> duty, (as children of the Earth,) right or + wrong, to stand up for our bonny young mamma, if she <i>is</i> young; or + for our dear old mother, if she <i>is</i> old; whether young or old, to + take her part against all comers; and to argue through thick and thin, + which (sober or not) I always attempt to do, that she is the most + respectable member of the Copernican System. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, what Kant understood by being old, is something that still + remains to be explained. If one stumbled, in the steppes of Tartary, on + the grave of a Megalonyx, and, after long study, had deciphered from some + pre-Adamite heiro-pothooks, the following epitaph:—'<i>Hic jacet</i> + a Megalonyx, or <i>Hic jacet</i> a Mammoth, (as the case might be,) who + departed this life, to the grief of his numerous acquaintance in the + seventeen thousandth year of his age,'—of course, one would be sorry + for him; because it must be disagreeable at <i>any</i> age to be torn away + from life, and from all one's little megalonychal comforts; that's not + pleasant, you know, even if one <i>is</i> seventeen thousand years old. + But it would make all the difference possible in your grief, whether the + record indicated a premature death, that he had been cut off, in fact, + whilst just stepping into life, or had kicked the bucket when full of + honors, and been followed to the grave by a train of weeping + grandchildren. He had died 'in his teens,' that's past denying. But still + we must know to what stage of life in a man, had corresponded seventeen + thousand years in a Mammoth. Now exactly this was what Kant desired to + know about our planet. Let her have lived any number of years that you + suggest, (shall we say if you please, that she is in her billionth year?) + still that tells us nothing about the <i>period</i> of life, the <i>stage</i>, + which she may be supposed to have reached. Is she a child, in fact, or is + she an adult? And, <i>if</i> an adult, and that you gave a ball to the + Solar System, is she that kind of person, that you would introduce to a + waltzing partner, some fiery young gentlemen like Mars, or would you + rather suggest to her the sort of partnership which takes place at a + whist-table? On this, as on so many other questions, Kant was perfectly + sensible that people, of the finest understandings, may and do take the + most opposite views. Some think that our planet is in that stage of her + life, which corresponds to the playful period of twelve or thirteen in a + spirited girl. Such a girl, were it not that she is checked by a sweet + natural sense of feminine grace, you might call a romp; but not a hoyden, + observe; no horse-play; oh, no, nothing of that sort. And these people + fancy that earthquakes, volcanoes, and all such little <i>escapades</i> + will be over, they will, in lawyer's phrase, 'cease and determine,' as + soon as our Earth reaches the age of maidenly bashfulness. Poor thing! + It's quite natural, you know, in a healthy growing girl. A little overflow + of vivacity, a <i>pirouette</i> more or less, what harm should <i>that</i> + do to any of us? Nobody takes more delight than I in the fawn-like + sportiveness of an innocent girl, at this period of life: even a shade of + <i>espičglerie</i> does not annoy me. But still my own impressions incline + me rather to represent the Earth as a fine noble young woman, full of the + pride which is so becoming to her sex, and well able to take her own part, + in case that, at any solitary point of the heavens, she should come across + one of those vulgar fussy Comets, disposed to be rude and take improper + liberties. These Comets, by the way, are public nuisances, very much like + the mounted messengers of butchers in great cities, who are always at full + gallop, and moving upon such an infinity of angles to human shinbones, + that the final purpose of such boys (one of whom lately had the audacity + nearly to ride down the Duke of Wellington) seems to be—not the + translation of mutton, which would certainly find its way into human + mouths even if riding boys were not,—but the improved geometry of + transcendental curves. They ought to be numbered, ought these boys, and to + wear badges—X 10, &c. And exactly the same evil, asking + therefore by implication for exactly the same remedy, affects the Comets. + A respectable planet is known everywhere, and responsible for any mischief + that he does. But if a cry should arise, 'Stop that wretch, who was rude + to the Earth: who is he?' twenty voices will answer, perhaps, 'It's + Encke's Comet; he is always doing mischief;' well, what can you say? it <i>may</i> + be Encke's, it may be some other man's Comet; there are so many abroad and + on so many roads, that you might as well ask upon a night of fog, such fog + as may be opened with an oyster knife, whose cab that was (whose, viz., + out of 27,000 in London) that floored you into the kennel. + </p> + <p> + These are constructive ideas upon the Earth's stage of evolution, which + Kant was aware of, and which will always find toleration, even where they + do not find patronage. But others there are, a class whom I perfectly + abominate, that place our Earth in the category of decaying women, nay of + decayed women, going, going, and all but gone. 'Hair like arctic snows, + failure of vital heat, palsy that shakes the head as in the porcelain toys + on our mantel-pieces, asthma that shakes the whole fabric—these they + absolutely fancy themselves to <i>see</i>. They absolutely <i>hear</i> the + tellurian lungs wheezing, panting, crying, 'Bellows to mend!' periodically + as the Earth approaches her aphelion. + </p> + <p> + But suddenly at this point a demur arises upon the total question. Kant's + very problem explodes, bursts, as poison in Venetian wine-glass of old + shivered the glass into fragments. For is there, after all, any stationary + meaning in the question? Perhaps in reality the Earth is both young and + old. Young? If she is not young at present, perhaps she <i>will</i> be so + in future. Old? if she is not old at this moment, perhaps she <i>has</i> + been old, and has a fair chance of becoming so again. In fact, she is a + Phoenix that is known to have secret processes for rebuilding herself out + of her own ashes. Little doubt there is but she has seen many a birthday, + many a funeral night, and many a morning of resurrection. Where now the + mightiest of oceans rolls in pacific beauty, once were anchored continents + and boundless forests. Where the south pole now shuts her frozen gates + inhospitably against the intrusions of flesh, once were probably + accumulated the ribs of empires; man's imperial forehead, woman's roseate + lips, gleamed upon ten thousand hills; and there were innumerable + contributions to antarctic journals almost as good (but not quite) as our + own. Even within our domestic limits, even where little England, in her + south-eastern quarter now devolves so quietly to the sea her sweet + pastoral rivulets, once came roaring down, in pomp of waters, a regal + Ganges [Footnote: <i>'Ganges:'</i>—Dr. Nichol calls it by this name + for the purpose of expressing its grandeur; and certainly in breadth, in + diffusion at all times, but especially in the rainy season, the Ganges is + the cock of the walk in our British orient. Else, as regards the body of + water discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's exchequer, and + the majesty of column riding downwards from the Himalaya, I believe that, + since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, the Indus ranks foremost by a + long chalk.], that drained some hyperbolical continent, some Quinbus + Flestrin of Asiatic proportions, long since gone to the dogs. All things + pass away. Generations wax old as does a garment: but eternally God says:—'Come + again, ye children of men.' Wildernesses of fruit, and worlds of flowers, + are annually gathered in solitary South America to ancestral graves: yet + still the Pomona of Earth, yet still the Flora of Earth, does not become + superannuated, but blossoms in everlasting youth. Not otherwise by secular + periods, known to us geologically as facts, though obscure as durations, + <i>Tellus</i> herself, the planet, as a whole, is for ever working by + golden balances of change and compensation, of ruin and restoration. She + recasts her glorious habitations in decomposing them; she lies down for + death, which perhaps a thousand times she has suffered; she rises for a + new birth, which perhaps for the thousandth time has glorified her disc. + Hers is the wedding garment, hers is the shroud, that eternally is being + woven in the loom. And God imposes upon her the awful necessity of working + for ever at her own grave, yet of listening for ever to his far-off + trumpet of <i>palingenesis</i>. + </p> + <p> + If this account of the matter be just, and were it not treasonable to + insinuate the possibility of an error against so great a swell as Immanuel + Kant, one would be inclined to fancy that Mr. Kant had really been dozing + a little on this occasion; or, agreeably to his own illustration + elsewhere, that he had realized the pleasant picture of one learned doctor + trying to milk a he-goat, whilst another doctor, equally learned, holds + the milk-pail below. [Footnote: Kant applied this illustration to the case + where one worshipful scholar proposes some impossible problem, (as the + squaring of the circle, or the perpetual motion,) which another worshipful + scholar sits down to solve. The reference was of course to Virgil's line,—'Atque + idem jungat vulpes, et <i>mulgeat hircos</i>.'] And there is apparently + this two-edged embarrassment pressing upon the case—that, if our + dear excellent mother the Earth could be persuaded to tell us her exact + age in Julian years, still <i>that</i> would leave us all as much in the + dark as ever: since, if the answer were, 'Why, children, at my next + birth-day I shall count a matter of some million centuries,' we should + still be at a loss to <i>value</i> her age: would it mean that she was a + mere chicken, or that she was 'getting up in years?' On the other hand, if + (declining to state any odious circumstantialities,) she were to reply,—'No + matter, children, for my precise years, which are disagreeable + remembrances; I confess generally to being a lady of a certain age,'—here, + in the inverse order, given the <i>valuation</i> of the age, we should yet + be at a loss for the <i>absolute</i> years numerically: would a 'certain + age,' mean that 'mamma' was a million, be the same more or less, or + perhaps not much above seventy thousand? + </p> + <p> + Every way, you see, reader, there are difficulties. But two things used to + strike me, as unaccountably overlooked by Kant; who, to say the truth, was + profound—yet at no time very agile—in the character of his + understanding. First, what age now might we take our brother and sister + planets to be? For <i>that</i> determination as to a point in <i>their</i> + constitution, will do something to illustrate our own. We are as good as + they, I hope, any day: perhaps in a growl, one might modestly insinuate—<i>better</i>. + It's not at all likely that there can be any great disproportion of age + amongst children of the same household: and therefore, since Kant always + countenanced the idea that Jupiter had not quite finished the upholstery + of his extensive premises, as a comfortable residence for a man, Jupiter + having, in fact, a fine family of mammoths, but no family at all of + 'humans,' (as brother Jonathan calls them,) Kant was bound, <i>ex analogo</i>, + to hold that any little precedency in the trade of living, on the part of + our own mother Earth, could not count for much in the long run. At + Newmarket, or Doncaster, the start is seldom mathematically true: trifling + advantages will survive all human trials after abstract equity; and the + logic of this case argues, that any few thousands of years by which Tellus + may have got ahead of Jupiter, such as the having finished her Roman + Empire, finished her Crusades, and finished her French Revolution, + virtually amounts to little or nothing; indicates no higher proportion to + the total scale upon which she has to run, than the few tickings of a + watch by which one horse at the start for the Leger is in advance of + another. When checked in our chronology by each other, it transpires that, + in effect, we are but executing the nice manoeuvre of a start; and that + the small matter of six thousand years, by which we may have advanced our + own position beyond some of our planetary rivals, is but the outstretched + neck of an uneasy horse at Doncaster. This is <i>one</i> of the data + overlooked by Kant; and the less excusably overlooked, because it was his + own peculiar doctrine,—that uncle Jupiter ought to be considered a + greenhorn. Jupiter may be a younger brother of our mamma; but, if he is a + brother at all, he cannot be so very wide of our own chronology; and + therefore the first <i>datum</i> overlooked by Kant was—the analogy + of our whole planetary system. A second datum, as it always occurred to + myself, might reasonably enough be derived from the intellectual vigor of + us men. If our mother could, with any show of reason, be considered an old + decayed lady, snoring stentorously in her arm-chair, there would naturally + be some <i>aroma</i> of phthisis, or apoplexy, beginning to form about <i>us</i>, + that are her children. But <i>is</i> there? If ever Dr. Johnson said a + true word, it was when he replied to the Scottish judge Burnett, so well + known to the world as Lord Monboddo. The judge, a learned man, but + obstinate as a mule in certain prejudices, had said plaintively, + querulously, piteously,—'Ah, Doctor, we are poor creatures, we men + of the eighteenth century, by comparison with our forefathers!' 'Oh, no, + my Lord,' said Johnson, 'we are quite as strong as our ancestors, and a + great deal wiser.' Yes; our kick is, at least, as dangerous, and our logic + does three times as much execution. This would be a complex topic to treat + effectively; and I wish merely to indicate the opening which it offers for + a most decisive order of arguments in such a controversy. If the Earth + were on her last legs, we her children could not be very strong or + healthy. Whereas, if there were less pedantry amongst us, less malice, + less falsehood, and less darkness of prejudice, easy it would be to show, + that in almost every mode of intellectual power, we are more than a match + for the most conceited of elder generations, and that in some modes we + have energies or arts absolutely and exclusively our own. Amongst a + thousand indications of strength and budding youth, I will mention two:—Is + it likely, is it plausible, that our Earth should just begin to find out + effective methods of traversing land and sea, when she had a summons to + leave both? Is it not, on the contrary, a clear presumption that the great + career of earthly nations is but on the point of opening, that life is but + just beginning to kindle, when the great obstacles to effectual + locomotion, and therefore to extensive human intercourse, are first of all + beginning to give way? Secondly, I ask peremptorily,—Does it stand + with good sense, is it reasonable that Earth is waning, science drooping, + man looking downward, precisely in that epoch when, first of all, man's + eye is arming itself for looking effectively into the mighty depths of + space? A new era for the human intellect, upon a path that lies amongst + its most aspiring, is promised, is inaugurated, by Lord Rosse's almost + awful telescope. + </p> + <p> + What is it then that Lord Rosse has accomplished? If a man were aiming at + dazzling by effects of rhetoric, he might reply: He has accomplished that + which once the condition of the telescope not only refused its permission + to hope for, but expressly bade man to despair of. What is it that Lord + Rosse has revealed? Answer: he has revealed more by far than he found. The + theatre to which he has introduced us, is <i>immeasurably</i> beyond the + old one which he found. To say that he found, in the visible universe, a + little wooden theatre of Thespis, a <i>tréteau</i> or shed of vagrants, + and that he presented us, at a price of toil and of <i>anxiety</i> that + cannot be measured, with a Roman colosseum,—<i>that</i> is to say + nothing. It is to undertake the measurement of the tropics with the + pocket-tape of an upholsterer. Columbus, when he introduced the Old World + to the New, after all that can be said in his praise, did in fact only + introduce the majority to the minority; but Lord Rosse has introduced the + minority to the majority. There are two worlds, one called Ante-Rosse, and + the other Post-Rosse; and, if it should come to voting, the latter would + shockingly outvote the other. Augustus Cćsar made it his boast when dying, + that he had found the city of Rome built of brick, and that he left it + built of marble: <i>lateritiam invenit, marmoream reliquit</i>. Lord Rosse + may say, even if to-day he should die, 'I found God's universe represented + for human convenience, even after all the sublime discoveries of Herschel, + upon a globe or spherical chart having a radius of one hundred and fifty + feet; and I left it sketched upon a similar chart, keeping exactly the + same scale of proportions, but now elongating its radius into one thousand + feet.' The reader of course understands that this expression, founded on + absolute calculations of Dr. Nichol, is simply meant to exhibit the <i>relative</i> + dimensions of the <i>mundus Ante-Rosseanus</i> and the <i>mundus + Post-Rosseanus;</i> for as to the <i>absolute</i> dimensions, when stated + in miles, leagues or any units familiar to the human experience, they are + too stunning and confounding. If, again, they are stated in larger units, + as for instance diameters of the earth's orbit, the unit itself that + should facilitate the grasping of the result, and which really <i>is</i> + more manageable numerically, becomes itself elusive of the mental grasp: + it comes in as an interpreter; and (as in some other cases) the + interpreter is hardest to be understood of the two. If, finally, TIME be + assumed as the exponent of the dreadful magnitudes, time combining itself + with motion, as in the flight of cannon-balls or the flight of swallows, + the sublimity becomes greater; but horror seizes upon the reflecting + intellect, and incredulity upon the irreflective. Even a railroad + generation, that <i>should</i> have faith in the miracles of velocity, + lifts up its hands with an '<i>Incredulus odi</i>!' we know that Dr. + Nichol speaks the truth; but he <i>seems</i> to speak falsehood. And the + ignorant by-stander prays that the doctor may have grace given him and + time for repentance; whilst his more liberal companion reproves his want + of charity, observing that travellers into far countries have always had a + license for lying, as a sort of tax or fine levied for remunerating their + own risks; and that great astronomers, as necessarily far travellers into + space, are entitled to a double per centage of the same Munchausen + privilege. + </p> + <p> + Great is the mystery of Space, greater is the mystery of Time; either + mystery grows upon man, as man himself grows; and either seems to be a + function of the godlike which is in man. In reality the depths and the + heights which are in man, the depths by which he searches, the heights by + which he aspires, are but projected and made objective externally in the + three dimensions of space which are outside of him. He trembles at the + abyss into which his bodily eyes look down, or look up; not knowing that + abyss to be, not always consciously suspecting it to be, but by an + instinct written in his prophetic heart feeling it to be, boding it to be, + fearing it to be, and sometimes hoping it to be, the mirror to a mightier + abyss that will one day be expanded in himself. Even as to the sense of + space, which is the lesser mystery than time, I know not whether the + reader has remarked that it is one which swells upon man with the + expansion of his mind, and that it is probably peculiar to the mind of + man. An infant of a year old, or oftentimes even older, takes no notice of + a sound, however loud, which is a quarter of a mile removed, or even in a + distant chamber. And brutes, even of the most enlarged capacities, seem + not to have any commerce with distance: distance is probably not revealed + to them except by a <i>presence</i>, viz., by some shadow of their own + animality, which, if perceived at all, is perceived as a thing <i>present</i> + to their organs. An animal desire, or a deep animal hostility, may render + sensible a distance which else would not be sensible; but not render it + sensible <i>as</i> a distance. Hence perhaps is explained, and not out of + any self-oblivion from higher enthusiasm, a fact that often has occurred, + of deer, or hares, or foxes, and the pack of hounds in pursuit, chaser and + chased, all going headlong over a precipice together. Depth or height does + not readily manifest itself to <i>them</i>; so that any <i>strong</i> + motive is sufficient to overpower the sense of it. Man only has a natural + function for expanding on an illimitable sensorium, the illimitable + growths of space. Man, coming to the precipice, reads his danger; the + brute perishes: man is saved; and the horse is saved by his rider. + </p> + <p> + But, if this sounds in the ear of some a doubtful refinement, the doubt + applies only to the lowest degrees of space. For the highest, it is + certain that brutes have no perception. To man is as much reserved the + prerogative of perceiving space in its higher extensions, as of + geometrically constructing the relations of space. And the brute is no + more capable of apprehending abysses through his eye, than he can build + upwards or can analyze downwards the ćrial synthesis of Geometry. Such, + therefore, as is space for the grandeur of man's perceptions, such as is + space for the benefit of man's towering mathematic speculations, such is + the nature of our debt to Lord Rosse—as being the philosopher who + has most pushed back the frontiers of our conquests upon this <i>exclusive</i> + inheritance of man. We have all heard of a king that, sitting on the + sea-shore, bade the waves, as they began to lave his feet, upon their + allegiance to retire. <i>That</i> was said not vainly or presumptuously, + but in reproof of sycophantic courtiers. Now, however, we see in good + earnest another man, wielding another kind of sceptre, and sitting upon + the shores of infinity, that says to the ice which had frozen up our + progress,—'Melt thou before my breath!' that says to the rebellious + <i>nebulć</i>,—'Submit, and burst into blazing worlds!' that says to + the gates of darkness,—'Roll back, ye barriers, and no longer hide + from us the infinities of God!' + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful.' +</pre> + <p> + From the days of infancy still lingers in my ears this opening of a prose + hymn by a lady, then very celebrated, viz., the late Mrs. Barbauld. The + hymn began by enticing some solitary infant into some silent garden, I + believe, or some forest lawn; and the opening words were, 'Come, and I + will show you what is beautiful!' Well, and what beside? There is nothing + beside; oh, disappointed and therefore enraged reader; positively this is + the sum-total of what I can recall from the wreck of years; and certainly + it is not much. Even of Sappho, though time has made mere ducks and drakes + of her lyrics, we have rather more spared to us than this. And yet this + trifle, simple as you think it, this shred of a fragment, if the reader + will believe me, still echoes with luxurious sweetness in my ears, from + some unaccountable hide-and-seek of fugitive childish memories; just as a + marine shell, if applied steadily to the ear, awakens (according to the + fine image of Landor [Footnote: 'Of Landor,' viz., in his 'Gebir;' but + also of Wordsworth in 'The Excursion.' And I must tell the reader, that a + contest raged at one time as to the <i>original property</i> in this + image, not much less keen than that between Neptune and Minerva, for the + chancellorship of Athens.]) the great vision of the sea; places the + listener + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'In the sun's palace-porch, + And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there.' +</pre> + <p> + Now, on some moonless night, in some fitting condition of the atmosphere, + if Lord Rosse would permit the reader and myself to walk into the front + drawing-room of his telescope, then, in Mrs. Barbauld's words, slightly + varied, I might say to him,—Come, and I will show you what is + sublime! In fact, what I am going to lay before him, from Dr. Nichol's + work, is, or at least <i>would</i> be, (when translated into Hebrew + grandeur by the mighty telescope,) a step above even that object which + some four-and-twenty years ago in the British Museum struck me as simply + the sublimest sight which in this sight-seeing world I had seen. It was + the Memnon's head, then recently brought from Egypt. I looked at it, as + the reader must suppose, in order to understand the depth which I have + here ascribed to the impression, not as a human but as a symbolic head; + and what it symbolized to me were: 1. The peace which passeth all + understanding. 2. The eternity which baffles and confounds all faculty of + computation; the eternity which <i>had</i> been, the eternity which <i>was</i> + to be. 3. The diffusive love, not such as rises and falls upon waves of + life and mortality, not such as sinks and swells by undulations of time, + but a procession—an emanation from some mystery of endless dawn. You + durst not call it a smile that radiated from the lips; the radiation was + too awful to clothe itself in adumbrations or memorials of flesh. + </p> + <p> + In <i>that mode</i> of sublimity, perhaps, I still adhere to my first + opinion, that nothing so great was ever beheld. The atmosphere for <i>this</i>, + for the Memnon, was the breathlessness which belongs to a saintly trance; + the holy thing seemed to live by silence. But there <i>is</i> a picture, + the pendant of the Memnon, there <i>is</i> a dreadful cartoon, from the + gallery which has begun to open upon Lord Rosse's telescope, where the + appropriate atmosphere for investing it must be drawn from another + silence, from the frost and from the eternities of death. It is the famous + <i>nebula</i> in the constellation of Orion; famous for the unexampled + defiance with which it resisted all approaches from the most potent of + former telescopes; famous for its frightful magnitude and for the + frightful depth to which it is sunk in the abysses of the heavenly + wilderness; famous just now for the submission with which it has begun to + render up its secrets to the all-conquering telescope; and famous in all + time coming for the horror of the regal phantasma which it has perfected + to eyes of flesh. Had Milton's 'incestuous mother,' with her fleshless + son, and with the warrior angel, his father, that led the rebellions of + heaven, been suddenly unmasked by Lord Rosse's instrument, in these + dreadful distances before which, simply as expressions of resistance, the + mind of man shudders and recoils, there would have been nothing more + appalling in the exposure; in fact, it would have been essentially the + same exposure: the same expression of power in the detestable phantom, the + same rebellion in the attitude, the same pomp of malice in the features to + a universe seasoned for its assaults. + </p> + <p> + The reader must look to Dr. Nichol's book, at page 51, for the picture of + this abominable apparition. But then, in order to see what <i>I</i> see, + the obedient reader must do what I tell him to do. Let him therefore view + the wretch upside down. If he neglects that simple direction, of course I + don't answer for anything that follows: without any fault of mine, my + description will be unintelligible. This inversion being made, the + following is the dreadful creature that will then reveal itself. + </p> + <p> + <i>Description of the Nebula in Orion, as forced to show out by Lord + Rosse.</i>—You see a head thrown back, and raising its face, (or + eyes, if eyes it had,) in the very anguish of hatred, to some unknown + heavens. What <i>should</i> be its skull wears what <i>might</i> be an + Assyrian tiara, only ending behind in a floating train. This head rests + upon a beautifully developed neck and throat. All power being given to the + awful enemy, he is beautiful where he pleases, in order to point and + envenom his ghostly ugliness. The mouth, in that stage of the apocalypse + which Sir John Herschel was able to arrest in his eighteen-inch mirror, is + amply developed. Brutalities unspeakable sit upon the upper lip, which is + confluent with a snout; for separate nostrils there are none. Were it not + for this one defect of nostrils; and, even in spite of this defect, + (since, in so mysterious a mixture of the angelic and the brutal, we may + suppose the sense of odor to work by some compensatory organ,) one is + reminded by the phantom's attitude of a passage, ever memorable, in + Milton: that passage, I mean, where Death first becomes aware, soon after + the original trespass, of his own future empire over man. The 'meagre + shadow' even smiles (for the first time and the last) on apprehending his + own abominable bliss, by apprehending from afar the savor 'of mortal + change on earth.' + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ——'Such a scent,' (he says,) 'I draw + Of carnage, prey innumerable.' +</pre> + <p> + As illustrating the attitude of the phantom in Orion, let the reader allow + me to quote the tremendous passage:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell + Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock + Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, + Against the day of battle, to a field, + Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lured + With scent of living carcasses design'd + For death, the following day, in bloody fight; + So scented the grim feature, +</pre> + <p> + [Footnote: 'So scented the grim feature,' [<i>feature</i> is the old word + for <i>form or outline that is shadowy</i>; and also for form (shadowy or + not) which abstracts from the <i>matter</i>.] By the way, I have never + seen it noticed, that Milton was indebted for the hint of this immortal + passage to a superb line-and-a-half, in Lucan's Pharsalia.] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + and upturn'd + His nostril wide into the murky air, + Sagacious of his quarry from so far.' +</pre> + <p> + But the lower lip, which is drawn inwards with the curve of a conch shell,—oh + what a convolute of cruelty and revenge is <i>there</i>! Cruelty!—to + whom? Revenge!—for what? Ask not, whisper not. Look upwards to other + mysteries. In the very region of his temples, driving itself downwards + into his cruel brain, and breaking the continuity of his diadem, is a + horrid chasm, a ravine, a shaft, that many centuries would not traverse; + and it is serrated on its posterior wall with a harrow that perhaps is + partly hidden. From the anterior wall of this chasm rise, in vertical + directions, two processes; one perpendicular, and rigid as a horn, the + other streaming forward before some portentous breath. What these could + be, seemed doubtful; but now, when further examinations by Sir John + Herschel, at the Cape of Good Hope, have filled up the scattered outline + with a rich umbrageous growth, one is inclined to regard them as the + plumes of a sultan. Dressed he is, therefore, as well as armed. And + finally comes Lord Rosse, that glorifies him with the jewellery [Footnote: + <i>The jewellery of Stars</i>. And one thing is very remarkable, viz., + that not only the stars justify this name of jewellery, as usual, by the + life of their splendor, but also, in this case, by their arrangement. No + jeweller could have set, or disposed with more art, the magnificent + quadrille of stars which is placed immediately below the upright plume. + There is also another, a truncated quadrille, wanting only the left hand + star (or you might call it a bisected lozenge) placed on the diadem, but + obliquely placed as regards the curve of that diadem. Two or three other + arrangements are striking, though not equally so, both from their + regularity and from their repeating each other, as the forms in a + kaleidoscope.] of stars: he is now a vision 'to dream of, not to tell:' he + is ready for the worship of those that are tormented in sleep: and the + stages of his solemn uncovering by astronomy, first by Sir W. Herschel, + secondly, by his son, and finally by Lord Rosse, is like the reversing of + some heavenly doom, like the raising of the seals that had been sealed by + the angel, in the Revelations. But the reader naturally asks, How does all + this concern Lord Rosse's telescope on the one side, or general astronomy + on the other? This <i>nebula</i>, he will say, seems a bad kind of fellow + by your account; and of course it will not break my heart to hear, that he + has had the conceit taken out of him. But in what way can <i>that</i> + affect the pretensions of this new instrument; or, if it did, how can the + character of the instrument affect the general condition of a science? + Besides, is not the science a growth from very ancient times? With great + respect for the Earl of Rosse, is it conceivable that he, or any man, by + one hour's working the tackle of his new instrument, can have carried any + stunning revolutionary effect into the heart of a section so ancient in + our mathematical physics? But the reader is to consider, that the ruins + made by Lord Rosse, are in <i>sidereal</i> astronomy, which is almost + wholly a growth of modern times; and the particular part of it demolished + by the new telescope, is almost exclusively the creation of the two + Herschels, father and son. Laplace, it is true, adopted their views; and + he transferred them to the particular service of our own planetary system. + But he gave to them no new sanction, except what arises from showing that + they would account for the appearances, as they present themselves to our + experience at this day. That was a <i>negative</i> confirmation; by which + I mean, that, had their views failed in the hands of Laplace, then they + were proved to be false; but, <i>not</i> failing, they were not therefore + proved to be true. It was like proving a gun; if the charge is + insufficient, or if, in trying the strength of cast iron, timber, ropes, + &c., the strain is not up to the rigor of the demand, you go away with + perhaps a favorable impression as to the promises of the article; it has + stood a moderate trial; it has stood all the trial that offered, which is + always something; but you are still obliged to feel that, when the + ultimate test is applied, smash may go the whole concern. Lord Rosse + applied an ultimate test; and smash went the whole concern. Really I must + have laughed, though all the world had been angry, when the shrieks and + yells of expiring systems began to reverberate all the way from the belt + of Orion; and positively at the very first broadside delivered from this + huge four-decker of a telescope. + </p> + <p> + But what was it then that went to wreck? That is a thing more easy to ask + than to answer. At least, for my own part, I complain that some vagueness + hangs over all the accounts of the nebular hypothesis. However, in this + place a brief sketch will suffice. + </p> + <p> + Herschel the elder, having greatly improved the telescope, began to + observe with special attention a class of remarkable phenomena in the + starry world hitherto unstudied, viz.: milky spots in various stages of + diffusion. The nature of these appearances soon cleared itself up thus + far, that generally they were found to be starry worlds, separated from + ours by inconceivable distances, and in that way concealing at first their + real nature. The whitish gleam was the mask conferred by the enormity of + their remotion. This being so, it might have been supposed that, as was + the faintness of these cloudy spots or <i>nebulć</i>, such was the + distance. But <i>that</i> did not follow: for in the treasury of nature it + turned out that there were other resources for modifying the powers of + distance, for muffling and unmuffling the voice of stars. Suppose a world + at the distance <i>x</i>, which distance is so great as to make the + manifestation of that world weak, milky, nebular. Now let the secret power + that wields these awful orbs, push this world back to a double distance! + <i>that</i> should naturally make it paler and more dilute than ever: and + yet by <i>compression</i>, by deeper centralization, this effect shall be + defeated; by forcing into far closer neighborhood the stars which compose + this world, again it shall gleam out brighter when at 2<i>x</i> than when + at <i>x</i>. At this point of compression, let the great moulding power a + second time push it back; and a second time it will grow faint. But once + more let this world be tortured into closer compression, again let the + screw be put upon it, and once again it shall shake off the oppression of + distance as the dew-drops are shaken from a lion's mane. And thus in fact + the mysterious architect plays at hide-and-seek with his worlds. 'I will + hide it,' he says, 'and it shall be found again by man; I will withdraw it + into distances that shall seem fabulous, and again it shall apparel itself + in glorious light; a third time I will plunge it into aboriginal darkness, + and upon the vision of man a third time it shall rise with a new + epiphany.' + </p> + <p> + But, says the objector, there is no such world; there is no world that has + thus been driven back, and depressed from one deep to a lower deep. + Granted: but the same effect, an illustration of the same law, is produced + equally, whether you take four worlds, all of the same magnitude, and + plunge them <i>simultaneously</i> into four different abysses, sinking by + graduated distances one below another, or take one world and plunge it to + the same distances <i>successively</i>. So in Geology, when men talk of + substances in different stages, or of transitional states, they do not + mean that they have watched the same individual <i>stratum</i> or <i>phenomenon</i>, + exhibiting states removed from each other by depths of many thousand + years; how could they? but they have seen one stage in the case A, another + stage in the case B. They take, for instance, three objects, the same (to + use the technical language of logic) generically, though numerically + different, under separate circumstances, or in different stages of + advance. They are one object for logic, they are three for human + convenience. So again it might seem impossible to give the history of a + rose tree from infancy to age: how could the same rose tree, at the same + time, be young and old? Yet by taking the different developments of its + flowers, even as they hang on the same tree, from the earliest bud to the + full-blown rose, you may in effect pursue this vegetable growth through + all its stages: you have before you the bony blushing little rose-bud, and + the respectable 'medićval' full-blown rose. + </p> + <p> + This point settled, let it now be remarked, that Herschel's resources + enabled him to unmask many of these <i>nebulć</i>: stars they were, and + stars he forced them to own themselves. Why should any decent world wear + an <i>alias</i>? There was nothing, you know, to be ashamed of in being an + honest cluster of stars. Indeed, they seemed to be sensible of this + themselves, and they now yielded to the force of Herschel's arguments so + far as to show themselves in the new character of <i>nebulć</i> spangled + with stars; these are the <i>stellar nebulć</i>; quite as much as you + could expect in so short a time: Rome was not built in a day: and one must + have some respect to stellar feelings. It was noticed, however, that where + a bright haze, and not a weak milk-and-water haze, had revealed itself to + the telescope, this, arising from a case of <i>compression</i>, (as + previously explained,) required very little increase of telescopic power + to force him into a fuller confession. He made a clean breast of it. But + at length came a dreadful anomaly. A 'nebula' in the constellation <i>Andromeda</i> + turned restive: another in <i>Orion</i>, I grieve to say it, still more + so. I confine myself to the latter. A very low power sufficed to bring him + to a slight confession, which in fact amounted to nothing; the very + highest would not persuade him to show a star. 'Just one,' said some + coaxing person; 'we'll be satisfied with only one.' But no: he would <i>not</i>. + He was hardened, 'he wouldn't <i>split</i>.' And Herschel was thus led, + after waiting as long as flesh and blood <i>could</i> wait, to infer two + classes of <i>nebulć</i>; one that were stars; and another that were <i>not</i> + stars, nor ever were meant to be stars. Yet <i>that</i> was premature: he + found at last, that, though not raised to the peerage of stars, finally + they would be so: they were the matter of stars; and by gradual + condensation would become suns, whose atmosphere, by a similar process of + condensing, would become planets, capable of brilliant literati and + philosophers, in several volumes octavo. So stood the case for a long + time; it was settled to the satisfaction of Europe that there were two + classes of <i>nebulć</i>, one that <i>were</i> worlds, one that were <i>not</i>, + but only the pabulum of future worlds. Silence arose. A voice was heard, + 'Let there be Lord Rosse!' and immediately his telescope walked into + Orion; destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, created + immeasurable worlds. + </p> + <p> + As a hint for apprehending the delicacy and difficulty of the process in + sidereal astronomy, let the inexperienced reader figure to himself these + separate cases of perplexity: 1st, A perplexity where the dilemma arises + from the collision between magnitude and distance:—is the size less, + or the distance greater? 2dly, Where the dilemma arises between motions, a + motion in ourselves doubtfully confounded with a motion in some external + body; or, 3dly, Where it arises between possible positions of an object: + is it a real proximity that we see between two stars, or simply an + apparent proximity from lying in the same visual line, though in far other + depths of space? As regards the first dilemma, we may suppose two laws, A + and B, absolutely in contradiction, laid down at starting: A, that all + fixed stars are precisely at the same <i>distance</i>; in this case every + difference in the apparent magnitude will indicate a corresponding + difference in the real magnitude, and will measure that difference. B, + that all the fixed stars are precisely of the same <i>magnitude</i>; in + which case, every variety in the size will indicate a corresponding + difference in the distance, and will measure that difference. Nor could we + imagine any exception to these inferences from A or from B, whichever of + the two were assumed, unless through optical laws that might not equally + affect objects under different circumstances; I mean, for instance, that + might suffer a disturbance as applied under hypoth. B, to different depths + in space, or under hypoth. A, to different arrangements of structure in + the star. But thirdly, it is certain, that neither A nor B is the abiding + law: and next it becomes an object by science and by instruments to + distinguish more readily and more certainly between the cases where the + distance has degraded the size, and the cases where the size being <i>really</i> + less, has caused an exaggeration of the distance: or again, where the size + being really less, yet co-operating with a distance really greater, may + degrade the estimate, (though travelling in a right direction,) below the + truth; or again where the size being really less, yet counteracted by a + distance also less, may equally disturb the truth of human measurements, + and so on. + </p> + <p> + A second large order of equivocating appearances will arise,—not as + to magnitude, but as to motion. If it could be a safe assumption, that the + system to which our planet is attached were absolutely fixed and + motionless, except as regards its own <i>internal</i> relations of + movement, then every change outside of us, every motion that the registers + of astronomy had established, would be objective and not subjective. It + would be safe to pronounce at once that it was a motion in the object + contemplated, <i>not</i> in the subject contemplating. Or, reversely, if + it were safe to assume as a universal law, that no motion was possible in + the starry heavens, then every change of relations in space, between + ourselves and them, would indicate and would measure a progress, or + regress, on the part of our solar system, in certain known directions. But + now, because it is not safe to rest in either assumption, the range of + possibilities for which science has to provide, is enlarged; the immediate + difficulties are multiplied; but with the result (as in the former case) + of reversionally expanding the powers, and consequently the facilities, + lodged both in the science and in the arts ministerial to the science. + Thus, in the constellation <i>Cygnus</i>, there is a star gradually + changing its relation to our system, whose distance from ourselves (as Dr. + Nichol tells us) is ascertained to be about six hundred and seventy + thousand times our own distance from the sun: that is, neglecting minute + accuracy, about six hundred and seventy thousand stages of one hundred + million miles each. This point being known, it falls within the <i>arts</i> + of astronomy to translate this apparent angular motion into miles; and + presuming this change of relation to be not in the star, but really in + ourselves, we may deduce the velocity of our course, we may enter into our + <i>log</i> daily the rate at which our whole solar system is running. + Bessel, it seems, the eminent astronomer who died lately, computed this + velocity to be such (viz., three times that of our own earth in its proper + orbit) as would carry us to the star in forty-one thousand years. But, in + the mean time, the astronomer is to hold in reserve some small share of + his attention, some trifle of a side-glance, now and then, to the + possibility of an error, after all, in the main assumption: he must watch + the indications, if any such should arise, that not ourselves, but the + star in <i>Cygnus</i>, is the real party concerned, in drifting at this + shocking rate, with no prospect of coming to an anchorage. [Footnote: It + is worth adding at this point, whilst the reader remembers without effort + the numbers, viz., forty-one thousand years, for the time, (the space + being our own distance from the sun repeated six hundred and seventy + thousand times,) what would be the time required for reaching, in the <i>body</i>, + that distance to which Lord Rosse's six feet mirror has so recently + extended our <i>vision</i>. The time would be, as Dr. Nichol computes, + about two hundred and fifty millions of years, supposing that our rate of + travelling was about three times that of our earth in its orbit. Now, as + the velocity is assumed to be the same in both cases, the ratio between + the distance (already so tremendous) of Bessel's 61 <i>Cygni</i>, and that + of Lord Rosse's farthest frontier, is as forty-one thousand to two hundred + and fifty millions. This is a simple rule-of-three problem for a child. + And the answer to it will, perhaps, convey the simplest expression of the + superhuman power lodged in the new telescope:—as is the ratio of + forty-one thousand to two hundred and fifty million, so is the ratio of + our own distance from the sun multiplied by six hundred and seventy + thousand, to the outermost limit of Lord Rosse's sidereal vision.] + </p> + <p> + Another class, and a frequent one, of equivocal phenomena, phenomena that + are reconcilable indifferently with either of two assumptions, though less + plausibly reconciled with the one than with the other, concerns the + position of stars that seem connected with each other by systematic + relations, and which yet <i>may</i> lie in very different depths of space, + being brought into seeming connection only by the human eye. There have + been, and there are, cases where two stars dissemble an interconnection + which they really <i>have</i>, and other cases where they simulate an + interconnection which they have not. All these cases of simulation and + dissimulation torment the astronomer by multiplying his perplexities, and + deepening the difficulty of escaping them. He cannot get at the truth: in + many cases, magnitude and distance are in collusion with each other to + deceive him: motion subjective is in collusion with motion objective; + duplex systems are in collusion with fraudulent stars, having no real + partnership whatever, but mimicking such a partnership by means of the + limitations or errors affecting the human eye, where it can apply no other + sense to aid or to correct itself. So that the business of astronomy, in + these days, is no sinecure, as the reader perceives. And by another + evidence, it is continually becoming less of a sinecure. Formerly, one or + two men,—Tycho, suppose, or, in a later age, Cassini and Horrox, and + Bradley, had observatories: one man, suppose, observed the stars for all + Christendom; and the rest of Europe observed <i>him</i>. But now, up and + down Europe, from the deep blue of Italian skies to the cold frosty + atmospheres of St. Petersburg and Glasgow, the stars are conscious of + being watched everywhere; and if all astronomers do not publish their + observations, all use them in their speculations. New and brilliantly + appointed observatories are rising in every latitude, or risen; and none, + by the way, of these new-born observatories, is more interesting from the + circumstances of its position, or more <i>picturesque</i> to a higher + organ than the eye—viz., to the human heart—than the New + Observatory raised by the university of Glasgow.[Footnote: It has been + reported, ever since the autumn of 1845, and the report is now, (August, + 1846,) gathering strength, that some railway potentate, having taken a + fancy for the ancient college of Glasgow, as a bauble to hang about his + wife's neck, (no accounting for tastes,) has offered, (or <i>will</i> + offer,) such a price, that the good old academic lady in this her + moss-grown antiquity, seriously thinks of taking him at his word, packing + up her traps, and being off. When a spirit of galavanting comes across an + aged lady, it is always difficult to know where it will stop: so, in fact, + you know, she may choose to steam for Texas. But the present impression + is, that she will settle down by the side of what you may call her married + or settled daughter—the Observatory; which one would be glad to have + confirmed, as indicating that no purpose of pleasure-seeking had been + working in elderly minds, but the instinct of religious rest and + aspiration. The Observatory would thus remind one of those early Christian + anchorites, and self-exiled visionaries, that being led by almost a + necessity of nature to take up their residence in deserts, sometimes drew + after themselves the whole of their own neighborhood.] + </p> + <p> + The New Observatory of Glasgow is now, I believe, finished; and the only + fact connected with its history that was painful, as embodying and + recording that Vandal alienation from science, literature, and all their + interests, which has ever marked our too haughty and Caliph-Omar-like + British government, lay in the circumstance that the glasses of the + apparatus, the whole mounting of the establishment, in so far as it was a + scientific establishment, and even the workmen for putting up the + machinery, were imported from Bavaria. We, that once bade the world stand + aside when the question arose about glasses, or the graduation of + instruments, were now literally obliged to stand cap in hand, bowing to + Mr. Somebody, successor of Frauenhofer or Frauendevil, in Munich! Who + caused <i>that</i>, we should all be glad to know, if not the wicked + Treasury, that killed the hen that laid the golden eggs by taxing her + until her spine broke? It is to be hoped that, at this moment, and + specifically for this offence, some scores of Exchequer men, chancellors + and other rubbish, are in purgatory, and perhaps working, with + shirt-sleeves tucked up, in purgatorial glass-houses, with very small + allowances of beer, to defray the cost of perspiration. But why trouble a + festal remembrance with commemorations of crimes or criminals? What makes + the Glasgow Observatory so peculiarly interesting, is its position, + connected with and overlooking so vast a city, having more than three + hundred thousand inhabitants, (in spite of an American sceptic,) nearly + all children of toil; and a city, too, which, from the necessities of its + circumstances, draws so deeply upon that fountain of misery and guilt + which some ordinance, as ancient as 'our father Jacob,' with his + patriarchal well for Samaria, has bequeathed to manufacturing towns,—to + Ninevehs, to Babylons, to Tyres. How tarnished with eternal canopies of + smoke, and of sorrow; how dark with agitations of many orders, is the + mighty town below! How serene, how quiet, how lifted above the confusion + and the roar, how liberated from the strifes of earth, is the solemn + Observatory that crowns the grounds above! And duly, at night, just when + the toil of over-wrought Glasgow is mercifully relaxing, then comes the + summons to the laboring astronomer. <i>He</i> speaks not of the night, but + of the day and the flaunting day-light, as the hours 'in which no man can + work.' And the least reflecting of men must be impressed by the idea, that + at wide intervals, but intervals scattered over Europe, whilst 'all that + mighty heart' is, by sleep, resting from its labors, secret eyes are + lifted up to heaven in astronomical watch-towers; eyes that keep watch and + ward over spaces that make us dizzy to remember, eyes that register the + promises of comets, and disentangle the labyrinths of worlds. + </p> + <p> + Another feature of interest, connected with the Glasgow Observatory, is + personal, and founded on the intellectual characteristics of the present + professor, Dr. Nichol; in the deep meditative style of his mind seeking + for rest, yet placed in conflict for ever with the tumultuous necessity in + <i>him</i> for travelling along the line of revolutionary thought, and + following it loyally, wearied or not, to its natural home. + </p> + <p> + In a sonnet of Milton, one of three connected with his own blindness, he + distinguishes between two classes of servants that minister to the + purposes of God. '<i>His</i> state,' says he, meaning God's state, the + arrangement of his regular service, 'is kingly;' that is to say, it + resembles the mode of service established in the courts of kings; and, in + this, it resembles that service, that there are two classes of ministers + attending on his pleasure. For, as in the trains of kings are some that + run without resting, night or day, to carry the royal messages, and also + others—great lords in waiting—that move not from the royal + gates; so of the divine retinues, some are for action only, some for + contemplation. 'Thousands' there are that + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ——'at his bidding speed, + And post o'er land and ocean without rest.' +</pre> + <p> + Others, on the contrary, motionless as statues, that share not in the + agitations of their times, that tremble not in sympathy with the storms + around them, but that listen—that watch—that wait—for + secret indications to be fulfilled, or secret signs to be deciphered. And, + of this latter class, he adds-that they, not less than the others, are + accepted by God; or, as it is so exquisitely expressed in the closing + line, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + '<i>They</i> also serve, that only stand and wait.' +</pre> + <p> + Something analogous to this one may see in the distributions of literature + and science. Many popularize and diffuse: some reap and gather on their + own account. Many translate, into languages fit for the multitude, + messages which they receive from human voices: some listen, like Kubla + Khan, far down in caverns or hanging over subterranean rivers, for secret + whispers that mingle and confuse themselves with the general uproar of + torrents, but which can be detected and kept apart by the obstinate + prophetic ear, which spells into words and ominous sentences the + distracted syllables of ćrial voices. Dr. Nichol is one of those who pass + to and fro between these classes; and has the rare function of keeping + open their vital communications. As a popularizing astronomer, he has done + more for the benefit of his great science than all the rest of Europe + combined: and now, when he notices, without murmur, the fact that his + office of popular teacher is almost taken out of his hands, (so many are + they who have trained of late for the duty,) that change has, in fact, + been accomplished through knowledge, through explanations, through + suggestions, dispersed and prompted by himself. + </p> + <p> + For my own part, as one belonging to the laity, and not to the <i>clerus</i>, + in the science of astronomy, I could scarcely have presumed to report + minutely, or to sit in the character of dissector upon the separate + details of Dr. Nichol's works, either this, or those which have preceded + it, had there even been room left disposable for such a task. But in this + view it is sufficient to have made the general acknowledgment which + already <i>has</i> been made, that Dr. Nichol's works, and his oral + lectures upon astronomy, are to be considered as the <i>fundus</i> of the + knowledge on that science now working in this generation. More important + it is, and more in reconciliation with the tenor of my own ordinary + studies, to notice the philosophic spirit in which Dr. Nichol's works are + framed; the breadth of his views, the eternal tendency of his steps in + advance, or (if advance on that quarter, or at that point, happens to be + absolutely walled out for the present,) the vigor of the <i>reconnoissances</i> + by which he examines the hostile intrenchments. Another feature challenges + notice. In reading astronomical works, there arises (from old experience + of what is usually most faulty) a wish either for the naked severities of + science, with a total abstinence from all display of enthusiasm; or else, + if the cravings of human sensibility are to be met and gratified, that it + shall be by an enthusiasm unaffected and grand as its subject. Of that + kind is the enthusiasm of Dr. Nichol. The grandeurs of astronomy are such + to him who has a capacity for being grandly moved. They are none at all to + him who has not. To the mean they become meannesses. Space, for example, + has no grandeur to him who has no space in the theatre of his own brain. I + know writers who report the marvels of velocity, &c., in such a way + that they become insults to yourself. It is obvious that in <i>their</i> + way of insisting on our earth's speed in her annual orbit, they do not + seek to exalt <i>her</i>, but to mortify <i>you</i>. And, besides, these + fellows are answerable for provoking people into fibs:—for I + remember one day, that reading a statement of this nature, about how many + things the Earth had done that we could never hope to do, and about the + number of cannon balls, harnessed as a <i>tandem</i>, which the Earth + would fly past, without leaving time to say, <i>How are you off for soap?</i> + in vexation of heart I could not help exclaiming—'That's nothing: + I've done a great deal more myself;' though, when one turns it in one's + mind, you know there must be some inaccuracy <i>there</i>. How different + is Dr. Nichol's enthusiasm from this hypocritical and vulgar wonderment! + It shows itself not merely in reflecting the grandeurs of his theme, and + by the sure test of detecting and allying itself with all the indirect + grandeurs that arrange themselves from any distance, upon or about that + centre, but by the manifest promptness with which Dr. Nichol's enthusiasm + awakens itself upon <i>every</i> road that leads to things elevating for + man; or to things promising for knowledge; or to things which, like + dubious theories or imperfect attempts at systematizing, though neutral as + regards knowledge, minister to what is greater than knowledge, viz., to + intellectual <i>power</i>, to the augmented power of handling your + materials, though with no more materials than before. In his geological + and cosmological inquiries, in his casual speculations, the same quality + of intellect betrays itself; the intellect that labors in sympathy with + the laboring <i>nisus</i> of these gladiatorial times; that works (and + sees the necessity of working) the apparatus of many sciences towards a + composite result; the intellect that retires in one direction only to make + head in another; and that already is prefiguring the route beyond the + barriers, whilst yet the gates are locked. + </p> + <p> + There was a man in the last century, and an eminent man too, who used to + say, that whereas people in general pretended to admire astronomy as being + essentially sublime, he for <i>his</i> part looked upon all that sort of + thing as a swindle; and, on the contrary, he regarded the solar system as + decidedly vulgar; because the planets were all of them so infernally + punctual, they kept time with such horrible precision, that they forced + him, whether he would or no, to think of nothing but post-office clocks, + mail-coaches, and book-keepers. Regularity may be beautiful, but it + excludes the sublime. What he wished for was something like Lloyd's list. + </p> + <p> + <i>Comets</i>—due 3; arrived 1. <i>Mercury</i>, when last seen, + appeared to be distressed; but made no signals. <i>Pallas</i> and <i>Vesta</i>, + not heard of for some time; supposed to have foundered. <i>Moon</i>, + spoken last night through a heavy bank of clouds; out sixteen days: all + right. + </p> + <p> + Now this poor man's misfortune was, to have lived in the days of mere + planetary astronomy. At present, when our own little system, with all its + grandeurs, has dwindled by comparison to a subordinate province, if any + man is bold enough to say so, a poor shivering unit amongst myriads that + are brighter, we ought no longer to talk of astronomy, but of <i>the + astronomies</i>. There is the planetary, the cometary, the sidereal, + perhaps also others; as, for instance, even yet the nebular; because, + though Lord Rosse has smitten it with the son of Amram's rod, has made it + open, and cloven a path through it, yet other and more fearful <i>nebulć</i> + may loom in sight, (if further improvements should be effected in the + telescope,) that may puzzle even Lord Rosse. And when he tells his <i>famulus</i>—'Fire + a shot at that strange fellow, and make him show his colors,' possibly the + mighty stranger may disdain the summons. That would be vexatious: we + should all be incensed at <i>that</i>. But no matter. What's a <i>nebula</i>, + what's a world, more or less? In the spiritual heavens are many mansions: + in the starry heavens, that are now unfolding and preparing to unfold + before us, are many vacant areas upon which the astronomer may pitch his + secret pavilion. He may dedicate himself to the service of the <i>Double + Suns</i>; he has my license to devote his whole time to the quadruple + system of suns in <i>Lyra</i>. Swammerdam spent his life in a ditch + watching frogs and tadpoles; why may not an astronomer give nine lives, if + he had them, to the watching of that awful appearance in <i>Hercules</i>, + which pretends to some rights over our own unoffending system? Why may he + not mount guard with public approbation, for the next fifty years, upon + the zodiacal light, the interplanetary ether, and other rarities, which + the professional body of astronomers would naturally keep (if they could) + for their own private enjoyment? There is no want of variety now, nor in + fact of irregularity: for the most exquisite clock-work, which from + enormous distance <i>seems</i> to go wrong, virtually for us <i>does</i> + go wrong; so that our friend of the last century, who complained of the + solar system, would not need to do so any longer. There are anomalies + enough to keep him cheerful. There are now even things to alarm us; for + anything in the starry worlds that look suspicious, anything that ought <i>not</i> + to be there, is, for all purposes of frightening us, as good as a ghost. + </p> + <p> + But of all the novelties that excite my own interest in the expanding + astronomy of recent times, the most delightful and promising are those + charming little pyrotechnic planetoids,[Footnote: <i>'Pyrotechnic + Planetoids:'</i>—The reader will understand me as alluding to the + periodic shooting stars. It is now well known, that as, upon our own poor + little earthly ocean, we fall in with certain phenomena as we approach + certain latitudes; so also upon the great ocean navigated by our Earth, we + fall in with prodigious showers of these meteors at periods no longer + uncertain, but fixed as jail-deliveries. 'These remarkable showers of + meteors,' says Dr. Nichol, 'observed at different periods in August and + November, seem to demonstrate the fact, that, at these periods, we have + come in contact with two streams of such planetoids then intersecting the + earth's orbit.' If they intermit, it is only because they are shifting + their nodes, or points of intersection.] that variegate our annual course. + It always struck me as most disgusting, that, in going round the sun, we + must be passing continually over old roads, and yet we had no means of + establishing an acquaintance with them: they might as well be new for + every trip. Those chambers of ether, through which we are tearing along + night and day, (for <i>our</i> train stops at no stations,) doubtless, if + we could put some mark upon them, must be old fellows perfectly liable to + recognition. I suppose, <i>they</i> never have notice to quit. And yet, + for want of such a mark, though all our lives flying past them and through + them, we can never challenge them as known. The same thing happens in the + desert: one monotonous iteration of sand, sand, sand, unless where some + miserable fountain stagnates, forbids all approach to familiarity: nothing + is circumstantiated or differenced: travel it for three generations, and + you are no nearer to identification of its parts: so that it amounts to + travelling through an abstract idea. For the desert, really I suspect the + thing is hopeless: but, as regards our planetary orbit, matters are + mending: for the last six or seven years I have heard of these fiery + showers, but indeed I cannot say how much earlier they were first + noticed,[Footnote: Somewhere I have seen it remarked, that if, on a public + road, you meet a party of four women, it is at least fifty to one that + they are all laughing; whereas, if you meet an equal party of my own + unhappy sex, you may wager safely that they are talking gravely, and that + one of them is uttering the word <i>money</i>. Hence it must be, viz, + because our sisters are too much occupied with the playful things of this + earth, and our brothers with its gravities, that neither party + sufficiently watches the skies. And <i>that</i> accounts for a fact which + often has struck myself, viz., that, in cities, on bright moonless nights, + when some brilliant skirmishings of the Aurora are exhibiting, or even a + luminous arch, which is a broad ribbon of snowy light that spans the + skies, positively unless I myself say to people—'Eyes upwards!' not + one in a hundred, male or female, but fails to see the show, though it may + be seen <i>gratis</i>, simply because their eyes are too uniformly reading + the earth. This downward direction of the eyes, however, must have been + worse in former ages: because else it never <i>could</i> have happened + that, until Queen Anne's days, nobody ever hinted in a book that there <i>was</i> + such a thing, or <i>could</i> be such a thing, as the Aurora Borealis; and + in fact Halley had the credit of discovering it.] as celebrating two + annual festivals—one in August, one in November. You are a little + too late, reader, for seeing this year's summer festival; but that's no + reason why you should not engage a good seat for the November meeting; + which, if I recollect, is about the 9th, or the Lord Mayor's day, and on + the whole better worth seeing. For anything <i>we</i> know, this may be a + great day in the earth's earlier history; she may have put forth her + original rose on this day, or tried her hand at a primitive specimen of + wheat; or she may, in fact, have survived some gunpowder plot about this + time; so that the meteoric appearance may be a kind congratulating <i>feu-de-joye</i>, + on the anniversary of the happy event. What it is that the 'cosmogony man' + in the 'Vicar of Wakefield' would have thought of such novelties, whether + he would have favored us with his usual opinion upon such topics, viz., + that <i>anarchon ara kai ateleutaion to pan</i>, or have sported a new one + exclusively for this occasion, may be doubtful. What it is that + astronomers think, who are a kind of 'cosmogony men,' the reader may learn + from Dr. Nichol, Note B, (p. 139, 140.) + </p> + <p> + In taking leave of a book and a subject so well fitted to draw out the + highest mode of that grandeur, which <i>can</i> connect itself with the + external, (a grandeur capable of drawing down a spiritual being to earth, + but not of raising an earthly being to heaven,) I would wish to contribute + my own brief word of homage to this grandeur by recalling from a fading + remembrance of twenty-five years back a short <i>bravura</i> of John Paul + Richter. I call it a <i>bravura</i>, as being intentionally a passage of + display and elaborate execution; and in this sense I may call it partly + 'my own,' that at twenty-five years' distance, (after one single reading,) + it would not have been possible for any man to report a passage of this + length without greatly disturbing [Footnote: <i>'Disturbing;'</i>—neither + perhaps should I much have sought to avoid alterations if the original had + been lying before me: for it takes the shape of a dream; and this most + brilliant of all German writers wanted in that field the severe + simplicity, that horror of the <i>too much</i>, belonging to Grecian + architecture, which is essential to the perfection of a dream considered + as a work of art. He was too elaborate, to realize the grandeur of the + shadowy.] the texture of the composition: by altering, one makes it partly + one's own; but it is right to mention, that the sublime turn at the end + belongs entirely to John Paul. + </p> + <p> + 'God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, saying,—"Come + thou hither, and see the glory of my house." And to the servants that + stood around his throne he said,—"Take him, and undress him from his + robes of flesh: cleanse his vision, and put a new breath into his + nostrils: only touch not with any change his human heart—the heart + that weeps and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel for his + guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage; and from the terraces + of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled away into + endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing they fled + through Zaarrahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death, that divided + the worlds of life: sometimes they swept over frontiers, that were + quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then, from a distance that is + counted only in heaven, light dawned for a time through a sleepy film: by + unutterable pace the light swept to <i>them</i>, they by unutterable pace + to the light: in a moment the rushing of planets was upon them: in a + moment the blazing of suns was around them. Then came eternities of + twilight, that revealed, but were not revealed. To the right hand and to + the left towered mighty constellations, that by self-repetitions and + answers from afar, that by counter-positions, built up triumphal gates, + whose architraves, whose archways—horizontal, upright—rested, + rose—at altitudes, by spans—that seemed ghostly from + infinitude. Without measure were the architraves, past number were the + archways, beyond memory the gates. Within were stairs that scaled the + eternities above, that descended to the eternities below: above was below, + below was above, to the man stripped of gravitating body: depth was + swallowed up in height insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth + unfathomable. Suddenly as thus they rode from infinite to infinite, + suddenly as thus they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose—that + systems more mysterious, that worlds more billowy,—other heights, + and other depths,—were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Then the + man sighed, and stopped, shuddered and wept. His over-laden heart uttered + itself in tears; and he said,—"Angel, I will go no farther. For the + spirit of man aches with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. + Let me lie down in the grave from the persecutions of the infinite; for + end, I see, there is none." And from all the listening stars that shone + around issued a choral voice, "The man speaks truly: end there is none, + that ever yet we heard of." "End is there none?" the angel solemnly + demanded: "Is there indeed no end? And is this the sorrow that kills you?" + But no voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the angel threw + up his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens; saying, "End is there none + to the universe of God? Lo! also there is no Beginning."' + </p> + <p> + NOTE.—On throwing his eyes hastily over the preceding paper, the + writer becomes afraid that some readers may give such an interpretation to + a few playful expressions upon the age of our earth, &c., as to class + him with those who use geology, cosmology, &c., for purposes of + attack, or insinuation against the Scriptures. Upon this point, therefore, + he wishes to make a firm explanation of his own opinions, which, (whether + right or wrong,) will liberate him, once and for all, from any such + jealousy. + </p> + <p> + It is sometimes said, that the revealer of a true religion, does not come + amongst men for the sake of teaching truths in science, or correcting + errors in science. Most justly is this said: but often in terms far too + feeble. For generally these terms are such as to imply, that, although no + function of his mission, it was yet open to him—although not + pressing with the force of an obligation upon the revealer, it was yet at + his discretion—if not to correct other men's errors, yet at least in + his own person to speak with scientific precision. I contend that it was + <i>not</i>. I contend, that to have uttered the truths of astronomy, of + geology, &c., at the era of new-born Christianity, was not only <i>below</i> + the purposes of a religion, but would have been <i>against</i> them. Even + upon errors of a far more important class than any errors in science can + ever be,—superstitions, for instance, that degraded the very idea of + God; prejudices and false usages, that laid waste human happiness, (such + as slavery and many hundreds of other abuses that might be mentioned,) the + rule evidently acted upon by the Founder of Christianity was this—Given + the purification of the fountain, once assumed that the fountains of truth + are cleansed, all these derivative currents of evil will cleanse + themselves. And the only exceptions, which I remember, to this rule, are + two cases in which, from the personal appeal made to his decision, Christ + would have made himself a party to wretched delusions, if he had not + condescended to expose their folly. But, as a general rule, the branches + of error were disregarded, and the roots only attacked. If, then, so lofty + a station was taken with regard even to such errors as had moral and + spiritual relations, how much more with regard to the comparative trifles, + (as in the ultimate relations of human nature they are,) of merely human + science! But, for my part, I go further, and assert, that upon three + reasons it was impossible for any messenger from God, (or offering himself + in that character,) for a moment to have descended into the communication + of truth merely scientific, or economic, or worldly. And the reasons are + these: <i>First</i>, Because it would have degraded his mission, by + lowering it to the base level of a collision with human curiosity, or with + petty and transitory interests. <i>Secondly</i>, Because it would have + ruined his mission; would utterly have prostrated the free agency and the + proper agency of that mission. He that, in those days, should have + proclaimed the true theory of the Solar System and the heavenly forces, + would have been shut up at once—as a lunatic likely to become + dangerous. But suppose him to have escaped <i>that</i>; still, as a divine + teacher, he has no liberty of caprice. He must stand to the promises of + his own acts. Uttering the first truth of a science, he is pledged to the + second: taking the main step, he is committed to all which follow. He is + thrown at once upon the endless controversies which science in every stage + provokes, and in none more than in the earliest. Or, if he retires as from + a scene of contest that he had not anticipated, he retires as one + confessing a human precipitance and a human oversight, weaknesses, venial + in others, but fatal to the pretensions of a divine teacher. Starting + besides from such pretensions, he could not (as others might) have the + privilege of selecting arbitrarily or partially. If upon one science, then + upon all,—if upon science, then upon, art,—if upon art and + science, then upon <i>every</i> branch of social economy, upon <i>every</i> + organ of civilization, his reformations and advances are equally due; due + as to all, if due as to any. To move in one direction, is constructively + to undertake for all. Without power to retreat, he has thus thrown the + intellectual interests of his followers into a channel utterly alien to + the purposes of a spiritual mission. + </p> + <p> + Thus far he has simply failed: but next comes a worse result; an evil, not + negative but positive. Because, <i>thirdly</i>, to apply the light of a + revelation for the benefit of a merely human science, which is virtually + done by so applying the illumination of an <i>inspired</i> teacher, is—to + assault capitally the scheme of God's discipline and training for man. To + improve by <i>heavenly</i> means, if but in one solitary science—to + lighten, if but in one solitary section, the condition of difficulty which + had been designed for the strengthening and training of human faculties, + is <i>pro tanto</i> to disturb—to cancel—to contradict a + previous purpose of God, made known by silent indications from the + beginning of the world. Wherefore did God give to man the powers for + contending with scientific difficulties? Wherefore did he lay a secret + train of continual occasions, that should rise, by intervals, through + thousands of generations, for provoking and developing those activities in + man's intellect, if, after all, he is to send a messenger of his own, more + than human, to intercept and strangle all these great purposes? When, + therefore, the persecutors of Galileo, alleged that Jupiter, for instance, + could not move in the way alleged, because then the Bible would have + proclaimed it,—as they thus threw back upon God the burthen of + discovery, which he had thrown upon Galileo, why did they not, by + following out their own logic, throw upon the Bible the duty of + discovering the telescope, or discovering the satellites of Jupiter? And, + as no such discoveries were there, why did they not, by parity of logic, + and for mere consistency, deny the telescope as a fact, deny the Jovian + planets as facts? But this it is to mistake the very meaning and purposes + of a revelation. A revelation is not made for the purpose of showing to + idle men that which they may show to themselves, by faculties already + given to them, if only they will exert those faculties, but for the + purpose of showing <i>that</i> which the moral darkness of man will not, + without supernatural light, allow him to perceive. With disdain, + therefore, must every considerate person regard the notion,—that God + could wilfully interfere with his own plans, by accrediting ambassadors to + reveal astronomy, or any other science, which he has commanded men to + cultivate <i>without</i> revelation, by endowing them with all the natural + powers for doing so. + </p> + <p> + Even as regards astronomy, a science so nearly allying itself to religion + by the loftiness and by the purity of its contemplations, Scripture is + nowhere the <i>parent</i> of any doctrine, nor so much as the silent + sanctioner of any doctrine. Scripture cannot become the author of + falsehood,—though it were as to a trifle, cannot become a party to + falsehood. And it is made impossible for Scripture to teach falsely, by + the simple fact that Scripture, on such subjects, will not condescend to + teach at all. The Bible adopts the erroneous language of men, (which at + any rate it must do, in order to make itself understood,) not by way of + sanctioning a theory, but by way of using a fact. The Bible <i>uses</i> + (postulates) the phenomena of day and night, of summer and winter, and + expresses them, in relation to their causes, as <i>men</i> express them, + men, even, that are scientific astronomers. But the results, which are all + that concern Scripture, are equally true, whether accounted for by one + hypothesis which is philosophically just, or by another which is popular + and erring. + </p> + <p> + Now, on the other hand, in geology and cosmology, the case is still + stronger. <i>Here</i> there is no opening for a compliance even with + popular language. <i>Here</i>, where there is no such stream of apparent + phenomena running counter (as in astronomy) to the real phenomena, neither + is there any popular language opposed to the scientific. The whole are + abstruse speculations, even as regards their objects, not dreamed of as + possibilities, either in their true aspects or their false aspects, till + modern times. The Scriptures, therefore, nowhere allude to such sciences, + either under the shape of histories, applied to processes current and in + movement, or under the shape of theories applied to processes past and + accomplished. The Mosaic cosmogony, indeed, gives the succession of + natural births; and that succession will doubtless be more and more + confirmed and illustrated as geology advances. But as to the time, the + duration, of this cosmogony, it is the idlest of notions that the + Scriptures either have or could have condescended to human curiosity upon + so awful a prologue to the drama of this world. Genesis would no more have + indulged so mean a passion with respect to the mysterious inauguration of + the world, than the Apocalypse with respect to its mysterious close. 'Yet + the six <i>days</i> of Moses!' Days! But is any man so little versed in + biblical language as not to know that (except in the merely historical + parts of the Jewish records) every section of time has a secret and + separate acceptation in the Scriptures? Does an <i>ćon</i>, though a + Grecian word, bear scripturally [either in Daniel or in Saint John] any + sense known to Grecian ears? Do the seventy <i>weeks</i> of the prophet + mean weeks in the sense of human calendars? Already the Psalms, (xc) + already St. Peter, (2d Epist.) warn us of a peculiar sense attached to the + word <i>day</i> in divine ears? And who of the innumerable interpreters + understands the twelve hundred and odd days in Daniel, or his two thousand + and odd days, to mean, by possibility, periods of twenty-four hours? + Surely the theme of Moses was as mystical, and as much entitled to the + benefit of mystical language, as that of the prophets. + </p> + <p> + The sum of the matter is this:—God, by a Hebrew prophet, is + sublimely described as <i>the Revealer</i>; and, in variation of his own + expression, the same prophet describes him as the Being 'that knoweth the + darkness.' Under no idea can the relations of God to man be more grandly + expressed. But of what is he the revealer? Not surely of those things + which he has enabled man to reveal for himself, and which he has commanded + him so to reveal, but of those things which, were it not through special + light from heaven, must eternally remain sealed up in the inaccessible + darkness. On this principle we should all laugh at a revealed cookery. But + essentially the same ridicule applies to a revealed astronomy, or a + revealed geology. As a fact, there <i>is</i> no such astronomy or geology: + as a possibility, by the <i>a priori</i> argument which I have used, + (viz., that a revelation on such fields, would contradict <i>other</i> + machineries of providence,) there <i>can</i> be no such astronomy or + geology. Consequently there <i>can</i> be none such in the Bible. + Consequently there <i>is</i> none. Consequently there can be no schism or + feud upon <i>these</i> subjects between the Bible and the philosophies + outside. Geology is a field left open, with the amplest permission from + above, to the widest and wildest speculations of man. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MODERN SUPERSTITION + </h2> + <p> + It is said continually—that the age of miracles is past. We deny + that it is so in any sense which implies this age to differ from all other + generations of man except one. It is neither past, nor ought we to wish it + past. Superstition is no vice in the constitution of man: it is not true + that, in any philosophic view, <i>primus in orbe deos fecit timor</i>—meaning + by <i>fecit</i> even so much as <i>raised into light</i>. As Burke + remarked, the <i>timor</i> at least must be presumed to preexist, and must + be accounted for, if not the gods. If the fear created the gods, what + created the fear? Far more true, and more just to the grandeur of man, it + would have been to say—<i>Primus in orbe deos fecit sensus infiniti</i>. + Even in the lowest Caffre, more goes to the sense of a divine being than + simply his wrath or his power. Superstition, indeed, or the sympathy with + the invisible, is the great test of man's nature, as an earthly combining + with a celestial. In superstition lies the possibility of religion. And + though superstition is often injurious, degrading, demoralizing, it is so, + not as a form of corruption or degradation, but as a form of + non-development. The crab is harsh, and for itself worthless. But it is + the germinal form of innumerable finer fruits: not apples only the most + exquisite, and pears; the peach and the nectarine are said to have + radiated from this austere stock when cultured, developed, and transferred + to all varieties of climate. Superstition will finally pass into pure + forms of religion as man advances. It would be matter of lamentation to + hear that superstition had at all decayed until man had made corresponding + steps in the purification and development of his intellect as applicable + to religious faith. Let us hope that this is not so. And, by way of + judging, let us throw a hasty eye over the modes of popular superstition. + If these manifest their vitality, it will prove that the popular intellect + does not go along with the bookish or the worldly (philosophic we cannot + call it) in pronouncing the miraculous extinct. The popular feeling is all + in all. + </p> + <p> + This function of miraculous power, which is most widely diffused through + Pagan and Christian ages alike, but which has the least root in the + solemnities of the imagination, we may call the <i>Ovidian</i>. By way of + distinction, it may be so called; and with some justice, since Ovid in his + <i>Metamorphoses</i> gave the first elaborate record of such a tendency in + human superstition. It is a movement of superstition under the domination + of human affections; a mode of spiritual awe which seeks to reconcile + itself with human tenderness or admiration; and which represents + supernatural power as expressing itself by a sympathy with human distress + or passion concurrently with human sympathies, and as supporting that + blended sympathy by a symbol incarnated with the fixed agencies of nature. + For instance, a pair of youthful lovers perish by a double suicide + originating in a fatal mistake, and a mistake operating in each case + through a noble self-oblivion. The tree under which their meeting has been + concerted, and which witnesses their tragedy, is supposed ever afterwards + to express the divine sympathy with this catastrophe in the gloomy color + of its fruit:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'At tu, quć ramis (arbor!) miserabile corpus + Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum, + Signa tene cćdis:—pullosque et luctibus aptos + Semper habe fructus—gemini monumenta cruoris:' +</pre> + <p> + Such is the dying adjuration of the lady to the tree. And the fruit + becomes from that time a monument of a double sympathy—sympathy from + man, sympathy from a dark power standing behind the agencies of nature, + and speaking through them. Meantime the object of this sympathy is + understood to be not the individual catastrophe, but the universal case of + unfortunate love exemplified in this particular romance. The inimitable + grace with which Ovid has delivered these early traditions of human + tenderness, blending with human superstition, is notorious; the artfulness + of the pervading connection, by which every tale in the long succession is + made to arise spontaneously out of that which precedes, is absolutely + unrivalled; and this it was, with his luxuriant gayety, which procured for + him a preference, even with Milton, a poet so opposite by intellectual + constitution. It is but reasonable, therefore, that this function of the + miraculous should bear the name of <i>Ovidian</i>. Pagan it was in its + birth; and to paganism its titles ultimately ascend. Yet we know that in + the transitional state through the centuries succeeding to Christ, during + which paganism and Christianity were slowly descending and ascending, as + if from two different strata of the atmosphere, the two powers + interchanged whatsoever they could. (See Conyer's Middleton; and see + Blount of our own days.) It marked the earthly nature of paganism, that it + could borrow little or nothing by organization: it was fitted to no + expansion. But the true faith, from its vast and comprehensive adaptation + to the nature of man, lent itself to many corruptions—some deadly in + their tendencies, some harmless. Amongst these last was the Ovidian form + of connecting the unseen powers moving in nature with human sympathies of + love or reverence. The legends of this kind are universal and endless. No + land, the most austere in its Protestantism, but has adopted these + superstitions: and everywhere by those even who reject them they are + entertained with some degree of affectionate respect. That the ass, which + in its very degradation still retains an under-power of sublimity, + [Footnote: '<i>An under-power of sublimity</i>.'—Everybody knows + that Homer compared the Telamonian Ajax, in a moment of heroic endurance, + to an ass. This, however, was only under a momentary glance from a + peculiar angle of the case. But the Mahometan, too solemn, and also + perhaps too stupid to catch the fanciful colors of things, absolutely by + choice, under the Bagdad Caliphate, decorated a most favorite hero with + the title of the <i>Ass</i>—which title is repeated with veneration + to this day. The wild ass is one of the few animals which has the + reputation of never flying from an enemy.] or of sublime suggestion + through its ancient connection with the wilderness, with the Orient, with + Jerusalem, should have been honored amongst all animals, by the visible + impression upon its back of Christian symbols—seems reasonable even + to the infantine understanding when made acquainted with its meekness, its + patience, its suffering life, and its association with the founder of + Christianity in one great triumphal solemnity. The very man who brutally + abuses it, and feels a hardhearted contempt for its misery and its + submission, has a semi-conscious feeling that the same qualities were + possibly those which recommended it to a distinction, [Footnote: '<i>Which + recommended it to a distinction</i>.'—It might be objected that the + Oriental ass was often a superb animal; that it is spoken of prophetically + as such; and that historically the Syrian ass is made known to us as + having been used in the prosperous ages of Judea for the riding of + princes. But this is no objection. Those circumstances in the history of + the ass were requisite to establish its symbolic propriety in a great + symbolic pageant of triumph. Whilst, on the other hand, the individual + animal, there is good reason to think, was marked by all the qualities of + the general race as a suffering and unoffending tribe in the animal + creation. The asses on which princes rode were of a separate color, of a + peculiar breed, and improved, like the English racer, by continual care.] + when all things were valued upon a scale inverse to that of the world. + Certain it is, that in all Christian lands the legend about the ass is + current amongst the rural population. The haddock, again, amongst marine + animals, is supposed, throughout all maritime Europe, to be a privileged + fish; even in austere Scotland, every child can point out the impression + of St. Peter's thumb, by which from age to age it is distinguished from + fishes having otherwise an external resemblance. All domesticated cattle, + having the benefit of man's guardianship and care, are believed throughout + England and Germany to go down upon their knees at one particular moment + of Christmas eve, when the fields are covered with darkness, when no eye + looks down but that of God, and when the exact anniversary hour revolves + of the angelic song, once rolling over the fields and flocks of Palestine. + [Footnote: Mahometanism, which everywhere pillages Christianity, cannot + but have its own face at times glorified by its stolen jewels. This solemn + hour of jubilation, gathering even the brutal natures into its fold, + recalls accordingly the Mahometan legend (which the reader may remember is + one of those incorporated into Southey's <i>Thalaba</i>) of a great hour + revolving once in every year, during which the gates of Paradise were + thrown open to their utmost extent, and gales of happiness issued forth + upon the total family of man.] The Glastonbury Thorn is a more local + superstition; but at one time the legend was as widely diffused as that of + Loretto, with the angelic translation of its sanctities: on Christmas + morning, it was devoutly believed by all Christendom, that this holy thorn + put forth its annual blossoms. And with respect to the aspen tree, which + Mrs. Hemans very naturally mistook for a Welsh legend, having first heard + it in Denbighshire, the popular faith is universal—that it shivers + mystically in sympathy with the horror of that mother tree in Palestine + which was compelled to furnish materials for the cross. Neither would it + in this case be any objection, if a passage were produced from Solinus or + Theophrastus, implying that the aspen tree had always shivered—for + the tree might presumably be penetrated by remote presentiments, as well + as by remote remembrances. In so vast a case the obscure sympathy should + stretch, Janus-like, each way. And an objection of the same kind to the + rainbow, considered as the sign or seal by which God attested his covenant + in bar of all future deluges, may be parried in something of the same way. + It was not then first created—true: but it was then first selected + by preference, amongst a multitude of natural signs as yet unappropriated, + and then first charged with the new function of a message and a + ratification to man. Pretty much the same theory, that is, the same way of + accounting for the natural existence without disturbing the supernatural + functions, may be applied to the great constellation of the other + hemisphere, called the Southern Cross. It is viewed popularly in South + America, and the southern parts of our northern hemisphere, as the great + banner, or gonfalon, held aloft by Heaven before the Spanish heralds of + the true faith in 1492. To that superstitious and ignorant race it costs + not an effort to suppose, that by some synchronizing miracle, the + constellation had been then specially called into existence at the very + moment when the first Christian procession, bearing a cross in their arms, + solemnly stepped on shore from the vessels of Christendom. We Protestants + know better: we understand the impossibility of supposing such a narrow + and local reference in orbs, so transcendently vast as those composing the + constellation—orbs removed from each other by such unvoyageable + worlds of space, and having, in fact, no real reference to each other more + than to any other heavenly bodies whatsoever. The unity of synthesis, by + which they are composed into one figure of a cross, we know to be a mere + accidental result from an arbitrary synthesis of human fancy. Take such + and such stars, compose them into letters, and they will spell such a + word. But still it was our own choice—a synthesis of our own fancy, + originally to combine them in this way. They might be divided from each + other, and otherwise combined. All this is true: and yet, as the + combination does spontaneously offer itself [Footnote: '<i>Does + spontaneously offer itself.</i>'—Heber (Bishop of Calcutta) + complains that this constellation is not composed of stars answering his + expectation in point of magnitude. But he admits that the dark barren + space around it gives to this inferior magnitude a very advantageous + relief.] to every eye, as the glorious cross does really glitter for ever + through the silent hours of a vast hemisphere, even they who are not + superstitious, may willingly yield to the belief—that, as the + rainbow was laid in the very elements and necessities of nature, yet still + bearing a pre-dedication to a service which would not be called for until + many ages had passed, so also the mysterious cipher of man's imperishable + hopes may have been entwined and enwreathed with the starry heavens from + their earliest creation, as a prefiguration—as a silent heraldry of + hope through one period, and as a heraldry of gratitude through the other. + </p> + <p> + All these cases which we have been rehearsing, taking them in the fullest + literality, agree in this general point of union—they are all silent + incarnations of miraculous power—miracles, supposing them to have + been such originally, locked up and embodied in the regular course of + nature, just as we see lineaments of faces and of forms in petrifactions, + in variegated marbles, in spars, or in rocky strata, which our fancy + interprets as once having been real human existences; but which are now + confounded with the substance of a mineral product. Even those who are + most superstitious, therefore, look upon cases of this order as occupying + a midway station between the physical and the hyperphysical, between the + regular course of nature and the providential interruption of that course. + The stream of the miraculous is here confluent with the stream of the + natural. By such legends the credulous man finds his superstition but + little nursed; the incredulous finds his philosophy but little revolted. + Both alike will be willing to admit, for instance, that the apparent act + of reverential thanksgiving, in certain birds, when drinking, is caused + and supported by a physiological arrangement; and yet, perhaps, both alike + would bend so far to the legendary faith as to allow a child to believe, + and would perceive a pure childlike beauty in believing, that the bird was + thus rendering a homage of deep thankfulness to the universal Father, who + watches for the safety of sparrows, and sends his rain upon the just and + upon the unjust. In short, the faith in this order of the + physico-miraculous is open alike to the sceptical and the non-sceptical: + it is touched superficially with the coloring of superstition, with its + tenderness, its humility, its thankfulness, its awe; but, on the other + hand, it is not therefore tainted with the coarseness, with the silliness, + with the credulity of superstition. Such a faith reposes upon the + universal signs diffused through nature, and blends with the mysterious of + natural grandeurs wherever found—with the mysterious of the starry + heavens, with the mysterious of music, and with that infinite form of the + mysterious for man's dimmest misgivings— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.' +</pre> + <p> + But, from this earliest note in the ascending scale of superstitious + faith, let us pass to a more alarming key. This first, which we have + styled (in equity as well as for distinction) the <i>Ovidian</i>, is too + ćrial, too allegoric, almost to be susceptible of much terror. It is the + mere <i>fancy</i>, in a mood half-playful, half-tender, which submits to + the belief. It is the feeling, the sentiment, which creates the faith; not + the faith which creates the feeling. And thus far we see that modern + feeling and Christian feeling has been to the full as operative as any + that is peculiar to paganism; judging by the Romish <i>Legenda</i>, very + much more so. The Ovidian illustrations, under a false superstition, are + entitled to give the designation, as being the first, the earliest, but + not at all as the richest. Besides that, Ovid's illustrations emanated + often from himself individually, not from the popular mind of his country; + ours of the same classification uniformly repose on large popular + traditions from the whole of Christian antiquity. These again are agencies + of the supernatural which can never have a private or personal + application; they belong to all mankind and to all generations. But the + next in order are more solemn; they become terrific by becoming personal. + These comprehend all that vast body of the marvellous which is expressed + by the word <i>Ominous</i>. On this head, as dividing itself into the + ancient and modern, we will speak next. + </p> + <p> + Everybody is aware of the deep emphasis which the Pagans laid upon words + and upon names, under this aspect of the ominous. The name of several + places was formally changed by the Roman government, solely with a view to + that contagion of evil which was thought to lurk in the syllables, if + taken significantly. Thus, the town of Maleventum, (Ill-come, as one might + render it,) had its name changed by the Romans to Beneventum, (or + Welcome.) <i>Epidamnum</i> again, the Grecian Calais, corresponding to the + Roman Dover of Brundusium, was a name that would have startled the + stoutest-hearted Roman 'from his propriety.' Had he suffered this name to + escape him inadvertently, his spirits would have forsaken him—he + would have pined away under a certainty of misfortune, like a poor Negro + of Koromantyn who is the victim of Obi.[Footnote: '<i>The victim of Obi.</i>'—It + seems worthy of notice, that this magical fascination is generally called + Obi, and the magicians Obeah men, throughout Guinea, Negroland, &c.; + whilst the Hebrew or Syriac word for the rites of necromancy, was <i>Ob</i> + or <i>Obh</i>, at least when ventriloquism was concerned.] As a Greek + word, which it was, the name imported no ill; but for a Roman to say <i>Ibo + Epidamnum</i>, was in effect saying, though in a hybrid dialect, + half-Greek half-Roman, 'I will go to ruin.' The name was therefore changed + to Dyrrachium; a substitution which quieted more anxieties in Roman hearts + than the erection of a light-house or the deepening of the harbor mouth. A + case equally strong, to take one out of many hundreds that have come down + to us, is reported by Livy. There was an officer in a Roman legion, at + some period of the Republic, who bore the name either of Atrius Umber or + Umbrius Ater: and this man being ordered on some expedition, the soldiers + refused to follow him. They did right. We remember that Mr. Coleridge used + facetiously to call the well-known sister of Dr. Aikin, Mrs. Barbauld, + 'that pleonasm of nakedness'—the idea of nakedness being + reduplicated and reverberated in the <i>bare</i> and the <i>bald</i>. This + Atrius Umber might be called 'that pleonasm of darkness;' and one might + say to him, in the words of Othello, 'What needs this iteration?' To serve + under the Gloomy was enough to darken the spirit of hope; but to serve + under the Black Gloomy was really rushing upon destruction. Yet it will be + alleged that Captain Death was a most favorite and heroic leader in the + English navy; and that in our own times, Admiral Coffin, though an + American by birth, has not been unpopular in the same service. This is + true: and all that can be said is, that these names were two-edged swords, + which might be made to tell against the enemy as well as against friends. + And possibly the Roman centurion might have turned his name to the same + account, had he possessed the great Dictator's presence of mind; for he, + when landing in Africa, having happened to stumble—an omen of the + worst character, in Roman estimation—took out its sting by following + up his own oversight, as if it had been intentional, falling to the + ground, kissing it, and ejaculating that in this way he appropriated the + soil. + </p> + <p> + Omens of every class were certainly regarded, in ancient Rome, with a + reverence that can hardly be surpassed. But yet, with respect to these + omens derived from names, it is certain that our modern times have more + memorable examples on record. Out of a large number which occur to us, we + will cite two:—The present King of the French bore in his boyish + days a title which he would not have borne, but for an omen of bad augury + attached to his proper title. He was called the Duc de Chartres before the + Revolution, whereas his proper title was Duc de Valois. And the origin of + the change was this:—The Regent's father had been the sole brother + of Louis Quatorze. He married for his first wife our English princess + Henrietta, the sister of Charles II., (and through her daughter, by the + way, it is that the house of Savoy, <i>i.e.</i> of Sardinia, has + pretensions to the English throne.) This unhappy lady, it is too well + established, was poisoned. Voltaire, amongst many others, has affected to + doubt the fact; for which in his time there might be some excuse. But + since then better evidences have placed the matter beyond all question. We + now know both the fact, and the how, and the why. The Duke, who probably + was no party to the murder of his young wife, though otherwise on bad + terms with her, married for his second wife a coarse German princess, + homely in every sense, and a singular contrast to the elegant creature + whom he had lost. She was a daughter of the Bavarian Elector; ill-tempered + by her own confession, self-willed, and a plain speaker to excess; but + otherwise a woman of honest German principles. Unhappy she was through a + long life; unhappy through the monotony as well as the malicious intrigues + of the French court; and so much so, that she did her best (though without + effect) to prevent her Bavarian niece from becoming dauphiness. She + acquits her husband, however, in the memoirs which she left behind, of any + intentional share in her unhappiness; she describes him constantly as a + well-disposed prince. But whether it were, that often walking in the dusk + through the numerous apartments of that vast mansion which her husband had + so much enlarged, naturally she turned her thoughts to the injured lady + who had presided there before herself; or whether it arose from the + inevitable gloom which broods continually over mighty palaces, so much is + known for certain, that one evening, in the twilight, she met, at a remote + quarter of the reception-rooms, something that she conceived to be a + spectre. What she fancied to have passed on that occasion, was never known + except to her nearest friends; and if she made any explanations in her + memoirs, the editor has thought fit to suppress them. She mentions only, + that in consequence of some ominous circumstances relating to the title of + <i>Valois</i>, which was the proper second title of the Orleans family, + her son, the Regent, had assumed in his boyhood that of Duc de Chartres. + His elder brother was dead, so that the superior title was open to him; + but, in consequence of those mysterious omens, whatever they might be, + which occasioned much whispering at the time, the great title of Valois + was laid aside for ever as of bad augury; nor has it ever been resumed + through a century and a half that have followed that mysterious warning; + nor will it be resumed unless the numerous children of the present Orleans + branch should find themselves distressed for ancient titles; which is not + likely, since they enjoy the honors of the elder house, and are now the <i>children + of France</i> in a technical sense. + </p> + <p> + Here we have a great European case of state omens in the eldest of + Christian houses. The next which we shall cite is equally a state case, + and carries its public verification along with itself. In the spring of + 1799, when Napoleon was lying before Acre, he became anxious for news from + Upper Egypt, whither he had despatched Dessaix in pursuit of a + distinguished Mameluke leader. This was in the middle of May. Not many + days after, a courier arrived with favorable despatches—favorable in + the main, but reporting one tragical occurrence on a small scale that, to + Napoleon, for a superstitious reason, outweighed the public prosperity. A + <i>djerme</i>, or Nile boat of the largest class, having on board a large + party of troops and of wounded men, together with most of a regimental + band, had run ashore at the village of Benouth. No case could be more + hopeless. The neighboring Arabs were of the Yambo tribe—of all Arabs + the most ferocious. These Arabs and the Fellahs (whom, by the way, many of + our countrymen are so ready to represent as friendly to the French and + hostile to ourselves,) had taken the opportunity of attacking the vessel. + The engagement was obstinate; but at length the inevitable catastrophe + could be delayed no longer. The commander, an Italian named Morandi, was a + brave man; any fate appeared better than that which awaited him from an + enemy so malignant. He set fire to the powder magazine; the vessel blew + up; Morandi perished in the Nile; and all of less nerve, who had + previously reached the shore in safety, were put to death to the very last + man, with cruelties the most detestable, by their inhuman enemies. For all + this Napoleon cared little; but one solitary fact there was in the report + which struck him with consternation. This ill-fated <i>djerme</i>—what + was it called? It was called <i>L'Italie</i>; and in the name of the + vessel Napoleon read an augury of the fate which had befallen the Italian + territory. Considered as a dependency of France, he felt certain that + Italy was lost; and Napoleon was inconsolable. But what possible + connection, it was asked, can exist between this vessel on the Nile and a + remote peninsula of Southern Europe? 'No matter,' replied Napoleon; 'my + presentiments never deceive me. You will see that all is ruined. I am + satisfied that my Italy, my conquest, is lost to France!' So, indeed, it + was. All European news had long been intercepted by the English cruisers; + but immediately after the battle with the Vizier in July 1799, an English + admiral first informed the French army of Egypt that Massena and others + had lost all that Bonaparte had won in 1796. But it is a strange + illustration of human blindness, that this very subject of Napoleon's + lamentation—this very campaign of 1799—it was, with its + blunders and its long equipage of disasters, that paved the way for his + own elevation to the Consulship, just seven calendar months from the + receipt of that Egyptian despatch; since most certainly, in the struggle + of Brumaire 1799, doubtful and critical through every stage, it was the + pointed contrast between <i>his</i> Italian campaigns and those of his + successors which gave effect to Napoleon's pretensions with the political + combatants, and which procured them a ratification amongst the people. The + loss of Italy was essential to the full effect of Napoleon's previous + conquest. That and the imbecile characters of Napoleon's chief military + opponents were the true keys to the great revolution of Brumaire. The + stone which he rejected became the keystone of the arch. So that, after + all, he valued the omen falsely; though the very next news from Europe, + courteously communicated by his English enemies, showed that he had + interpreted its meaning rightly. + </p> + <p> + These omens, derived from names, are therefore common to the ancient and + the modern world. But perhaps, in strict logic, they ought to have been + classed as one subdivision or variety under a much larger head, viz. words + generally, no matter whether proper names or appellatives, as operative + powers and agencies, having, that is to say, a charmed power against some + party concerned from the moment that they leave the lips. + </p> + <p> + Homer describes prayers as having a separate life, rising buoyantly upon + wings, and making their way upwards to the throne of Jove. Such, but in a + sense gloomy and terrific, is the force ascribed under a widespread + superstition, ancient and modern, to words uttered on critical occasions; + or to words uttered at any time, which point to critical occasions. Hence + the doctrine of <i>euphaemismos</i>, the necessity of abstaining from + strong words or direct words in expressing fatal contingencies. It was + shocking, at all times of paganism, to say of a third person—'If he + should die;' or to suppose the case that he might be murdered. The very + word <i>death</i> was consecrated and forbidden. <i>Si quiddam humanum + passus fuerit</i> was the extreme form to which men advanced in such + cases. And this scrupulous feeling, originally founded on the supposed + efficacy of words, prevails to this day. It is a feeling undoubtedly + supported by good taste, which strongly impresses upon us all the + discordant tone of all impassioned subjects, (death, religion, &c.,) + with the common key of ordinary conversation. But good taste is not in + itself sufficient to account for a scrupulousness so general and so + austere. In the lowest classes there is a shuddering recoil still felt + from uttering coarsely and roundly the anticipation of a person's death. + Suppose a child, heir to some estate, the subject of conversation—the + hypothesis of his death is put cautiously, under such forms as, 'If + anything but good should happen;' 'if any change should occur;' 'if any of + us should chance to miscarry;' and so forth. Always a modified expression + is sought—always an indirect one. And this timidity arises under the + old superstition still lingering amongst men, like that ancient awe, + alluded to by Wordsworth, for the sea and its deep secrets—feelings + that have not, no, nor ever will, utterly decay. No excess of nautical + skill will ever perfectly disenchant the great abyss from its terrors—no + progressive knowledge will ever medicine that dread misgiving of a + mysterious and pathless power given to words of a certain import, or + uttered in certain situations, by a parent, to persecuting or insulting + children; by the victim of horrible oppression, when laboring in final + agonies; and by others, whether cursing or blessing, who stand central to + great passions, to great interests, or to great perplexities. + </p> + <p> + And here, by way of parenthesis, we may stop to explain the force of that + expression, so common in Scripture, '<i>Thou hast said it.</i>' It is an + answer often adopted by our Saviour; and the meaning we hold to be this: + Many forms in eastern idioms, as well as in the Greek occasionally, though + meant <i>interrogatively</i>, are of a nature to convey a direct + categorical <i>affirmation</i>, unless as their meaning is modified by the + cadence and intonation. <i>Art thou</i>, detached from this vocal and + accentual modification, is equivalent to <i>thou art</i>. Nay, even apart + from this accident, the popular belief authorized the notion, that simply + to have uttered any great thesis, though unconsciously—simply to + have united verbally any two great ideas, though for a purpose the most + different or even opposite, had the mysterious power of realizing them in + act. An exclamation, though in the purest spirit of sport, to a boy, '<i>You + shall be our imperator</i>,' was many times supposed to be the forerunner + and fatal mandate for the boy's elevation. Such words executed themselves. + To connect, though but for denial or for mockery, the ideas of Jesus and + the Messiah, furnished an augury that eventually they would be found to + coincide, and to have their coincidence admitted. It was an <i>argumentum + ad hominem</i>, and drawn from a popular faith. + </p> + <p> + But a modern reader will object the want of an accompanying design or + serious meaning on the part of him who utters the words—he never + meant his words to be taken seriously—nay, his purpose was the very + opposite. True: and precisely that is the reason why his words are likely + to operate effectually, and why they should be feared. Here lies the + critical point which most of all distinguishes this faith. Words took + effect, not merely in default of a serious use, but exactly in consequence + of that default. It was the chance word, the stray word, the word uttered + in jest, or in trifling, or in scorn, or unconsciously, which took effect; + whilst ten thousand words, uttered with purpose and deliberation, were + sure to prove inert. One case will illustrate this:—Alexander of + Macedon, in the outset of his great expedition, consulted the oracle at + Delphi. For the sake of his army, had he been even without personal faith, + he desired to have his enterprise consecrated. No persuasions, however, + would move the priestess to enter upon her painful and agitating duties + for the sake of obtaining the regular answer of the god. Wearied with + this, Alexander seized the great lady by the arm, and using as much + violence as was becoming to the two characters—of a great prince + acting and a great priestess suffering—he pushed her gently + backwards to the tripod on which, in her professional character, she was + to seat herself. Upon this, in the hurry and excitement of the moment, the + priestess exclaimed, <i>O pai, anixaitos ei—O son, thou art + irresistible</i>; never adverting for an instant to his martial purposes, + but simply to his personal importunities. The person whom she thought of + as incapable of resistance, was herself, and all she meant <i>consciously</i> + was—O son, I can refuse nothing to one so earnest. But mark what + followed: Alexander desisted at once—he asked for no further oracle—he + refused it, and exclaimed joyously:—'Now then, noble priestess, + farewell; I have the oracle—I have your answer, and better than any + which you could deliver from the tripod. I am invincible—so you have + declared, you cannot revoke it. True, you thought not of Persia—you + thought only of my importunity. But that very fact is what ratifies your + answer. In its blindness I recognise its truth. An oracle from a god might + be distorted by political ministers of the god, as in time past too often + has been suspected. The oracle has been said to <i>Medize</i>, and in my + own father's time to <i>Philippize</i>. But an oracle delivered + unconsciously, indirectly, blindly, that is the oracle which cannot + deceive.' Such was the all-famous oracle which Alexander accepted—such + was the oracle on which he and his army reposing went forth 'conquering + and to conquer.' + </p> + <p> + Exactly on this principle do the Turks act, in putting so high a value on + the words of idiots. Enlightened Christians have often wondered at their + allowing any weight to people bereft of understanding. But that is the + very reason for allowing them weight: that very defect it is which makes + them capable of being organs for conveying words from higher + intelligences. A fine human intelligence cannot be a passive instrument—it + cannot be a mere tube for conveying the words of inspiration: such an + intelligence will intermingle ideas of its own, or otherwise modify what + is given, and pollute what is sacred. + </p> + <p> + It is also on this principle that the whole practice and doctrine of + Sortilegy rest. Let us confine ourselves to that mode of sortilegy which + is conducted by throwing open privileged books at random, leaving to + chance the page and the particular line on which the oracular functions + are thrown. The books used have varied with the caprice or the error of + ages. Once the Hebrew Scriptures had the preference. Probably they were + laid aside, not because the reverence for their authority decayed, but + because it increased. In later times Virgil has been the favorite. + Considering the very limited range of ideas to which Virgil was tied by + his theme—a colonizing expedition in a barbarous age, no worse book + could have been selected: [Footnote: '<i>No worse book could have been + selected.</i>'—The probable reason for making so unhappy a choice + seems to have been that Virgil, in the middle ages, had the character of a + necromancer, a diviner, &c. This we all know from Dante. Now, the + original reason for this strange translation of character and functions we + hold to have arisen from the circumstance of his maternal grandfather + having borne the name of <i>Magus</i>. People in those ages held that a + powerful enchanter, exorciser, &c., must have a magician amongst his + <i>cognati</i>; the power must run in the blood, which on the maternal + side could be undeniably ascertained. Under this preconception, they took + Magus not for a proper name, but for a professional designation. Amongst + many illustrations of the magical character sustained by Virgil in the + middle ages, we may mention that a writer, about the year 1200, or the era + of our Robin Hood, published by Montfaucon, and cited by Gibbon in his + last volume, says of Virgil,—that '<i>Captus a Romanis invisibiliter + exiit, ivitque Neapopolim</i>.'] so little indeed does the AEneid exhibit + of human life in its multiformity, that much tampering with the text is + required to bring real cases of human interest and real situations within + the scope of any Virgilian sentence, though aided by the utmost latitude + of accommodation. A king, a soldier, a sailor, &c., might look for + correspondences to their own circumstances; but not many others. + Accordingly, everybody remembers the remarkable answer which Charles I. + received at Oxford from this Virgilian oracle, about the opening of the + Parliamentary war. But from this limitation in the range of ideas it was + that others, and very pious people too, have not thought it profane to + resume the old reliance on the Scriptures. No case, indeed, can try so + severely, or put upon record so conspicuously, this indestructible + propensity for seeking light out of darkness—this thirst for looking + into the future by the aid of dice, real or figurative, as the fact of men + eminent for piety having yielded to the temptation. We give one instance—the + instance of a person who, in <i>practical</i> theology, has been, perhaps, + more popular than any other in any church. Dr. Doddridge, in his earlier + days, was in a dilemma both of conscience and of taste as to the election + he should make between two situations, one in possession, both at his + command. He was settled at Harborough, in Leicestershire, and was + 'pleasing himself with the view of a continuance' in that situation. True, + he had received an invitation to Northampton; but the reasons against + complying seemed so strong, that nothing was wanting but the civility of + going over to Northampton, and making an apologetic farewell. On the last + Sunday in November of the year 1729, the doctor went and preached a sermon + in conformity with those purposes. 'But,' says he, 'on the morning of that + day an incident happened, which affected me greatly.' On the night + previous, it seems, he had been urged very importunately by his + Northampton friends to undertake the vacant office. Much personal kindness + had concurred with this public importunity: the good doctor was affected; + he had prayed fervently, alleging in his prayer, as the reason which + chiefly weighed with him to reject the offer, that it was far beyond his + forces, and chiefly because he was too young [Footnote: '<i>Because he was + too young</i>'—Dr. Doddridge was born in the summer of 1702; + consequently he was at this era of his life about twenty-seven years old, + and consequently not so obviously entitled to the excuse of youth. But he + pleaded his youth, not with a view to the exertions required, but to the + <i>auctoritas</i> and responsibilities of the situation.] and had no + assistant. He goes on thus:—'As soon as ever this address' (meaning + the prayer) 'was ended, I passed through a room of the house in which I + lodged, where a child was reading to his mother, and the only words I + heard distinctly were these, <i>And as thy days, so shall thy strength be</i>.' + This singular coincidence between his own difficulty and a scriptural line + caught at random in passing hastily through a room, (but observe, a line + insulated from the context, and placed in high relief to his ear,) shook + his resolution. Accident co-operated; a promise to be fulfilled at + Northampton, in a certain contingency, fell due at the instant; the doctor + was detained, this detention gave time for further representations; new + motives arose, old difficulties were removed, and finally the doctor saw, + in all this succession of steps, the first of which, however, lay in the + <i>Sortes Biblicć</i>, clear indications of a providential guidance. With + that conviction he took up his abode at Northampton, and remained there + for the next thirty-one years, until he left it for his grave at Lisbon; + in fact, he passed at Northampton the whole of his public life. It must, + therefore, be allowed to stand upon the records of sortilegy, that in the + main direction of his life—not, indeed, as to its spirit, but as to + its form and local connections—a Protestant divine of much merit, + and chiefly in what regards practice, and of the class most opposed to + superstition, took his determining impulse from a variety of the <i>Sortes + Virgilianć</i>. + </p> + <p> + This variety was known in early times to the Jews—as early, indeed, + as the era of the Grecian Pericles, if we are to believe the Talmud. It is + known familiarly to this day amongst Polish Jews, and is called <i>Bathcol</i>, + or the <i>daughter of a voice</i>; the meaning of which appellation is + this:—The <i>Urim and Thummim</i>, or oracle in the breast-plate of + the high priest, spoke directly from God. It was, therefore, the original + or mother-voice. But about the time of Pericles, that is, exactly one + hundred years before the time of Alexander the Great, the light of + prophecy was quenched in Malachi or Haggai; and the oracular jewels in the + breast-plate became simultaneously dim. Henceforwards the mother-voice was + heard no longer: but to this succeeded an imperfect or daughter-voice, (<i>Bathcol</i>,) + which lay in the first words happening to arrest the attention at a moment + of perplexity. An illustration, which has been often quoted from the + Talmud, is to the following effect:—Rabbi Tochanan, and Rabbi Simeon + Ben Lachish, were anxious about a friend, Rabbi Samuel, six hundred miles + distant on the Euphrates. Whilst talking earnestly together on this + subject in Palestine, they passed a school; they paused to listen: it was + a child reading the first book of Samuel; and the words which they caught + were these—<i>And Samuel died</i>. These words they received as a <i>Bath-col</i>: + and the next horseman from the Euphrates brought word accordingly that + Rabbi Samuel had been gathered to his fathers at some station on the + Euphrates. + </p> + <p> + Here is the very same case, the same <i>Bath-col</i> substantially, which + we have cited from Orton's <i>Life of Doddridge</i>. And Du Cange himself + notices, in his Glossary, the relation which this bore to the Pagan <i>Sortes</i>. + 'It was,' says he, 'a fantastical way of divination, invented by the Jews, + not unlike the <i>Sortes Virgilianć</i> of the heathens. For, as with them + the first words they happened to dip into in the works of that poet were a + kind of oracle whereby they predicted future events,—so, with the + Jews, when they appealed to <i>Bath-col</i>, the first words they heard + from any one's mouth were looked upon as a voice from Heaven directing + them in the matter they inquired about.' + </p> + <p> + If the reader imagines that this ancient form of the practical miraculous + is at all gone out of use, even the example of Dr. Doddridge may satisfy + him to the contrary. Such an example was sure to authorize a large + imitation. But, even apart from that, the superstition is common. The + records of conversion amongst felons and other ignorant persons might be + cited by hundreds upon hundreds to prove that no practice is more common + than that of trying the spiritual fate, and abiding by the import of any + passage in the Scriptures which may first present itself to the eye. + Cowper, the poet, has recorded a case of this sort in his own experience. + It is one to which all the unhappy are prone. But a mode of questioning + the oracles of darkness, far more childish, and, under some shape or + other, equally common amongst those who are prompted by mere vacancy of + mind, without that determination to sacred fountains which is impressed by + misery, may be found in the following extravagant silliness of Rousseau, + which we give in his own words—a case for which he admits that he + himself would have <i>shut up</i> any other man (meaning in a lunatic + hospital) whom he had seen practising the same absurdities:— + </p> + <p> + 'Au milieu de mes études et d'une vie innocente autant qu'on la puisse + mener, et malgré tout ce qu'on m'avoit pu dire, la peur de l'Enfer + m'agitoit encore. Souvent je me demandois—En quel état suis-je? Si + je mourrois ŕ l'instant męme, <i>serois-je damné</i>? Selon mes + Jansénistes, [he had been reading the books of the Port Royal,] la chose + est indubitable: mais, selon ma conscience, il me paroissoit que non. + Toujours craintif et flottant dans cette cruelle incertitude, j'avois + recours (pour en sortir) aux expédients les plus risibles, et pour + lesquels je ferois volontiers enfermer un homme si je lui en voyois faire + autant. ... Un jour, ręvant ŕ ce triste sujet, je m'exerçois machinalement + ŕ lancer les pierres contre les troncs des arbres; et cela avec mon + addresse ordinaire, c'est-ŕ-dire sans presque jamais en toucher aucun. + Tout au milieu de ce bel exercise, je m'avisai de faire une espčce de + pronostic pour calmer mon inquiétude. Je me dis—je m'en vais jeter + cette pierre contre l'arbre qui est vis-ŕ-vis de moi: si je le touche, + signe de salut: si je le manque, signe de damnation. Tout en disant ainsi, + je jette ma pierre d'une main tremblante, et avec un horrible battement de + coeur, mais si heureusement qu'elle va frapper au beau-milieu de l'arbre: + ce qui véritablement n'étoit pas difficile: car j'avois eu soin de le + choisir fort gros et fort prčs. <i>Depuis lors je n'ai plus doubté de mon + salut.</i> Je ne sais, en me rappelant ce trait, si je dois rire ou gémir + sur moimęme.'—<i>Les Confessions, Partie I. Livre VI.</i> + </p> + <p> + Now, really, if Rousseau thought fit to try such tremendous appeals by + taking 'a shy' at any random object, he should have governed his sortilegy + (for such it may be called) with something more like equity. Fair play is + a jewel: and in such a case, a man is supposed to play against an adverse + party hid in darkness. To shy at a cow within six feet distance gives no + chance at all to his dark antagonist. A pigeon rising from a trap at a + suitable distance might be thought a <i>sincere</i> staking of the + interest at issue: but, as to the massy stem of a tree 'fort gros et fort + prčs'—the sarcasm of a Roman emperor applies, that to miss under + such conditions implied an original genius for stupidity, and to hit was + no trial of the case. After all, the sentimentalist had youth to plead in + apology for this extravagance. He was hypochondriacal; he was in solitude; + and he was possessed by gloomy imaginations from the works of a society in + the highest public credit. But most readers will be aware of similar + appeals to the mysteries of Providence, made in public by illustrious + sectarians, speaking from the solemn station of a pulpit. We forbear to + quote cases of this nature, though really existing in print, because we + feel that the blasphemy of such anecdotes is more revolting and more + painful to pious minds than the absurdity is amusing. Meantime it must not + be forgotten, that the principle concerned, though it may happen to + disgust men when associated with ludicrous circumstances, is, after all, + the very same which has latently governed very many modes of ordeal, or + judicial inquiry; and which has been adopted, blindly, as a moral rule, or + canon, equally by the blindest of the Pagans, the most fanatical of the + Jews, and the most enlightened of the Christians. It proceeds upon the + assumption that man by his actions puts a question to Heaven; and that + Heaven answers by the event. Lucan, in a well known passage, takes it for + granted that the cause of Cćsar had the approbation of the gods. And why? + Simply from the event. It was notoriously the triumphant cause. It was + victorious, (<i>victrix</i> causa Deis placuit; sed <i>victa</i> Catoni.) + It was the '<i>victrix</i> causa;' and, <i>as</i> such, simply because it + was 'victrix,' it had a right in his eyes to postulate the divine favor as + mere matter of necessary interference: whilst, on the other hand, the <i>victa + causa</i>, though it seemed to Lucan sanctioned by human virtue in the + person of Cato, stood unappealably condemned. This mode of reasoning may + strike the reader as merely Pagan. Not at all. In England, at the close of + the Parliamentary war, it was generally argued—that Providence had + decided the question against the Royalists by the mere fact of the issue. + Milton himself, with all his high-toned morality, uses this argument as + irrefragable: which is odd, were it only on this account—that the + issue ought necessarily to have been held for a time as merely hypothetic, + and liable to be set aside by possible counter-issues through one + generation at the least. But the capital argument against such doctrine is + to be found in the New Testament. Strange that Milton should overlook, and + strange that moralists in general have overlooked, the sudden arrest given + to this dangerous but most prevalent mode of reasoning by the Founder of + our faith. He first, he last, taught to his astonished disciples the new + truth—at that time the astounding truth—that no relation + exists between the immediate practical events of things on the one side, + and divine sentences on the other. There was no presumption, he teaches + them, against a man's favor with God, or that of his parents, because he + happened to be afflicted to extremity with bodily disease. There was no + shadow of an argument for believing a party of men criminal objects of + heavenly wrath because upon them, by fatal preference, a tower had fallen, + and because <i>their</i> bodies were exclusively mangled. How little can + it be said that Christianity has yet developed the fulness of its power, + when kings and senates so recently acted under a total oblivion of this + great though novel Christian doctrine, and would do so still, were it not + that religious arguments have been banished by the progress of manners + from the field of political discussion. + </p> + <p> + But, quitting this province of the ominous, where it is made the object of + a direct personal inquest, whether by private or by national trials, or + the sortilegy of events, let us throw our eyes over the broader field of + omens, as they offer themselves spontaneously to those who do not seek, or + would even willingly evade them. There are few of these, perhaps none, + which are not universal in their authority, though every land in turn + fancies them (like its proverbs) of local prescription and origin. The + death-watch extends from England to Cashmere, and across India diagonally + to the remotest nook of Bengal, over a three thousand miles' distance from + the entrance of the Indian Punjaub. A hare crossing a man's path on + starting in the morning, has been held in all countries alike to + prognosticate evil in the course of that day. Thus, in the <i>Confessions + of a Thug</i>, (which is partially built on a real judicial document, and + everywhere conforms to the usages of Hindostan,) the hero of the horrid + narrative [Footnote: '<i>The hero of the horrid narrative</i>.'—Horrid + it certainly is; and one incident in every case gives a demoniacal air of + coolness to the hellish atrocities, viz the regular forwarding of the <i>bheels</i>, + or grave-diggers. But else the tale tends too much to monotony; and for a + reason which ought to have checked the author in carrying on the work to + three volumes, namely, that although there is much dramatic variety in the + circumstances of the several cases, there is none in the catastrophes. The + brave man and the coward, the erect spirit fighting to the last, and the + poor creature that despairs from the first,—all are confounded in + one undistinguishing end by sudden strangulation. This was the original + defect of the plan. The sudden surprise, and the scientific noosing as + with a Chilian <i>lasso</i>, constituted in fact a main feature of + Thuggee. But still, the gradual theatrical arrangement of each Thug + severally by the side of a victim, must often have roused violent + suspicion, and that in time to intercept the suddenness of the murder. + Now, for the sake of the dramatic effect, this interception ought more + often to have been introduced, else the murders are but so many blind + surprises as if in sleep.] charges some disaster of his own upon having + neglected such an omen of the morning. The same belief operated in Pagan + Italy. The same omen announced to Lord Lindsay's Arab attendants in the + desert the approach of some disaster, which partially happened in the + morning. And a Highlander of the 42d Regiment, in his printed memoirs, + notices the same harbinger of evil as having crossed his own path on a day + of personal disaster in Spain. + </p> + <p> + Birds are even more familiarly associated with such ominous warnings. This + chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated with + unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans—<i>ornithomancy</i> grew into + an elaborate science. But if every rule and distinction upon the number + and the position of birds, whether to the right or the left, had been + collected from our own village matrons amongst ourselves, it would appear + that no more of this Pagan science had gone to wreck than must naturally + follow the difference between a believing and a disbelieving government. + Magpies are still of awful authority in village life, according to their + number, &c.; for a striking illustration of which we may refer the + reader to Sir Walter Scott's <i>Demonology</i>, reported not at + second-hand, but from Sir Walter's personal communication with some + seafaring fellow-traveller in a stage-coach. + </p> + <p> + Among the ancient stories of the same class is one which we shall repeat—having + reference to that Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, before whom + St. Paul made his famous apology at Cćsarea. This Agrippa, overwhelmed by + debts, had fled from Palestine to Rome in the latter years of Tiberius. + His mother's interest with the widow of Germanicus procured him a special + recommendation to her son Caligula. Viewing this child and heir of the + popular Germanicus as the rising sun, Agrippa had been too free in his + language. True, the uncle of Germanicus was the reigning prince; but he + was old, and breaking up. True, the son of Germanicus was not yet on the + throne; but he soon would be; and Agrippa was rash enough to call the + Emperor a <i>superannuated old fellow</i>, and even to wish for his death. + Sejanus was now dead and gone; but there was no want of spies: and a + certain Macro reported his words to Tiberius. Agrippa was in consequence + arrested; the Emperor himself condescending to point out the noble Jew to + the officer on duty. The case was a gloomy one, if Tiberius should happen + to survive much longer: and the story of the omen proceeds thus:—'Now + Agrippa stood in his bonds before the Imperial palace, and in his + affliction leaned against a certain tree, upon the boughs of which it + happened that a bird had alighted which the Romans call <i>bubo</i>, or + the owl. All this was steadfastly observed by a German prisoner, who asked + a soldier what might be the name and offence of that man habited in + purple. Being told that the man's name was Agrippa, and that he was a Jew + of high rank, who had given a personal offence to the Emperor, the German + asked permission to go near and address him; which being granted, he spoke + thus:—"This disaster, I doubt not, young man, is trying to your + heart; and perhaps you will not believe me when I announce to you + beforehand the providential deliverance which is impending. However, this + much I will say—and for my sincerity let me appeal to my native + gods, as well as to the gods of this Rome, who have brought us both into + trouble—that no selfish objects prompt me to this revelation—for + a revelation it is—and to the following effect:—It is fated + that you shall not long remain in chains. Your deliverance will be speedy; + you shall be raised to the very highest rank and power; you shall be the + object of as much envy as now you are of pity; you shall retain your + prosperity till death; and you shall transmit that prosperity to your + children. But"—and there the German paused. Agrippa was agitated; + the bystanders were attentive; and after a time, the German, pointing + solemnly to the bird, proceeded thus:—"But this remember heedfully—that, + when next you see the bird which now perches above your head, you will + have only five days longer to live! This event will be surely accomplished + by that same mysterious god who has thought fit to send the bird as a + warning sign; and you, when you come to your glory, do not forget me that + foreshadowed it in your humiliation."' The story adds, that Agrippa + affected to laugh when the German concluded; after which it goes on to + say, that in a few weeks, being delivered by the death of Tiberius; being + released from prison by the very prince on whose account he had incurred + the risk; being raised to a tetrarchy, and afterwards to the kingdom of + all Judea; coming into all the prosperity which had been promised to him + by the German; and not losing any part of his interest at Rome through the + assassination of his patron Caligula—he began to look back + respectfully to the words of the German, and forwards with anxiety to the + second coming of the bird. Seven years of sunshine had now slipped away as + silently as a dream. A great festival, shows and vows, was on the point of + being celebrated in honor of Claudius Cćsar, at Strato's Tower, otherwise + called Cćsarea, the Roman metropolis of Palestine. Duty and policy alike + required that the king of the land should go down and unite in this mode + of religious homage to the emperor. He did so; and on the second morning + of the festival, by way of doing more conspicuous honor to the great + solemnity, he assumed a very sumptuous attire of silver armor, burnished + so highly as to throw back a dazzling glare from the sun's morning beams + upon the upturned eyes of the vast multitude around him. Immediately from + the sycophantish part of the crowd, of whom a vast majority were Pagans, + ascended a cry of glorification as to some manifestation of Deity. + Agrippa, gratified by this success of his new apparel, and by this + flattery, not unusual in the case of kings, had not the firmness (though a + Jew, and conscious of the wickedness, greater in himself than in the + heathen crowd,) to reject the blasphemous homage. Voices of adoration + continued to ascend; when suddenly, looking upward to the vast awnings + prepared for screening the audience from the noonday heats, the king + perceived the same ominous bird which he had seen at Rome in the day of + his affliction, seated quietly, and looking down upon himself. In that + same moment an icy pang shot through his intestines. He was removed into + the palace; and at the end of five days, completely worn out by pain, + Agrippa expired in the 54th year of his age, and the seventh of his + sovereign power. + </p> + <p> + Whether the bird, here described as an owl, was really such, may be + doubted, considering the narrow nomenclature of the Romans for all + zoological purposes, and the total indifference of the Roman mind to all + distinctions in natural history which are not upon the very largest scale. + We should much suspect that the bird was a magpie. Meantime, speaking of + ornithoscopy in relation to Jews, we remember another story in that + subdivision of the subject which it may be worth while repeating; not + merely on its own account, as wearing a fine oriental air, but also for + the correction which it suggests to a very common error. + </p> + <p> + In some period of Syrian warfare, a large military detachment was entering + at some point of Syria from the desert of the Euphrates. At the head of + the whole array rode two men of some distinction: one was an augur of high + reputation, the other was a Jew called Mosollam, a man of admirable + beauty, a matchless horseman, an unerring archer, and accomplished in all + martial arts. As they were now first coming within enclosed grounds, after + a long march in the wilderness, the augur was most anxious to inaugurate + the expedition by some considerable omen. Watching anxiously, therefore, + he soon saw a bird of splendid plumage perching on a low wall. 'Halt!' he + said to the advanced guard: and all drew up in a line. At that moment of + silence and expectation, Mosollam, slightly turning himself in his saddle, + drew his bow-string to his ear; his Jewish hatred of Pagan auguries burned + within him; his inevitable shaft went right to its mark, and the beautiful + bird fell dead. The augur turned round in fury. But the Jew laughed at + him. 'This bird, you say, should have furnished us with omens of our + future fortunes. But had he known anything of his own, he would never have + perched where he did, or have come within the range of Mosollam's archery. + How should that bird know our destiny, who did not know that it was his + own to be shot by Mosollam the Jew?' + </p> + <p> + Now, this is a most common but a most erroneous way of arguing. In a case + of this kind, the bird was not supposed to have any conscious acquaintance + with futurity, either for his own benefit or that of others. But even + where such a consciousness may be supposed, as in the case of oneiromancy, + or prophecy by means of dreams, it must be supposed limited, and the more + limited in a personal sense as they are illimitable in a sublime one. Who + imagines that, because a Daniel or Ezekiel foresaw the grand revolutions + of the earth, therefore they must or could have foreseen the little + details of their own ordinary life? And even descending from that perfect + inspiration to the more doubtful power of augury amongst the Pagans, + (concerning which the most eminent of theologians have held very opposite + theories,) one thing is certain, that, so long as we entertain such + pretensions, or discuss them at all, we must take them with the principle + of those who professed such arts, not with principles of our own arbitrary + invention. + </p> + <p> + One example will make this clear:—There are in England [Footnote: '<i>There + are in England</i>'—Especially in Somersetshire, and for twenty + miles round Wrington, the birthplace of Locke. Nobody sinks for wells + without their advice. We ourselves knew an amiable and accomplished + Scottish family, who, at an estate called Belmadrothie, in memory of a + similar property in Ross shire, built a house in Somersetshire, and + resolved to find water without help from the jowser. But after sinking to + a greater depth than ever had been known before, and spending nearly Ł200, + they were finally obliged to consult the jowser, who found water at once.] + a class of men who practise the Pagan rhabdomancy in a limited sense. They + carry a rod or rhabdos (<i>rhabdos</i>) of willow: this they hold + horizontally; and by the bending of the rod towards the ground they + discover the favorable places for sinking wells; a matter of considerable + importance in a province so ill-watered as the northern district of + Somersetshire, &c. These people are locally called <i>jowsers</i>; and + it is probable, that from the suspicion with which their art has been + usually regarded amongst people of education, as a mere legerdemain trick + of Dousterswivel's, is derived the slang word to <i>chouse</i> for <i>swindle</i>. + Meantime, the experimental evidences of a real practical skill in these + men, and the enlarged compass of speculation in these days, have led many + enlightened people to a Stoic <i>epochey</i>, or suspension of judgment, + on the reality of this somewhat mysterious art. Now, in the East, there + are men who make the same pretensions in a more showy branch of the art. + It is not water, but treasures which they profess to find by some hidden + kind of rhabdomancy. The very existence of treasures with us is reasonably + considered a thing of improbable occurrence. But in the unsettled East, + and with the low valuation of human life wherever Mahometanism prevails, + insecurity and other causes must have caused millions of such deposits in + every century to have perished as to any knowledge of survivors. The sword + has been moving backwards and forwards, for instance, like a weaver's + shuttle, since the time of Mahmoud the Ghaznevide, [Footnote: Mahmood of + Ghizni, which, under the European name of Ghaznee, was so recently taken + in one hour by our Indian army under Lord Keane Mahmood was the first + Mahometan invader of Hindostan.] in Anno Domini 1000, in the vast regions + between the Tigris, the Oxus, and the Indus. Regularly as it approached, + gold and jewels must have sunk by whole harvests into the ground. A + certain per centage has been doubtless recovered: a larger per centage has + disappeared for ever. Hence naturally the jealousy of barbarous Orientals + that we Europeans, in groping amongst pyramids, sphynxes, and tombs, are + looking for buried treasures. The wretches are not so wide astray in what + they believe as in what they disbelieve. The treasures do really exist + which they fancy; but then also the other treasures in the glorious + antiquities have that existence for our sense of beauty which to their + brutality is inconceivable. In these circumstances, why should it surprise + us that men will pursue the science of discovery as a regular trade? Many + discoveries of treasure are doubtless made continually, which, for obvious + reasons, are communicated to nobody. Some proportion there must be between + the sowing of such grain as diamonds or emeralds, and the subsequent + reaping, whether by accident or by art. For, with regard to the last, it + is no more impossible, <i>prima fronte</i>, that a substance may exist + having an occult sympathy with subterraneous water or subterraneous gold, + than that the magnet should have a sympathy (as yet occult) with the + northern pole of our planet. + </p> + <p> + The first flash of careless thought applied to such a case will suggest, + that men holding powers of this nature need not offer their services for + hire to others. And this, in fact, is the objection universally urged by + us Europeans as decisive against their pretensions. Their knavery, it is + fancied, stands self-recorded; since, assuredly, they would not be willing + to divide their subterranean treasures, if they knew of any. But the men + are not in such self-contradiction as may seem. Lady Hester Stanhope, from + the better knowledge she had acquired of Oriental opinions, set Dr. Madden + right on this point. The Oriental belief is that a fatality attends the + appropriator of a treasure in any case where he happens also to be the + discoverer. Such a person, it is held, will die soon, and suddenly—so + that he is compelled to seek his remuneration from the wages or fees of + his employers, not from the treasure itself. + </p> + <p> + Many more secret laws are held sacred amongst the professors of that art + than that which was explained by Lady Hester Stanhope. These we shall not + enter upon at present: but generally we may remark, that the same + practices of subterranean deposits, during our troubled periods in Europe, + led to the same superstitions. And it may be added, that the same error + has arisen in both cases as to some of these superstitions. How often must + it have struck people of liberal feelings, as a scandalous proof of the + preposterous value set upon riches by poor men, that ghosts should + popularly be supposed to rise and wander for the sake of revealing the + situations of buried treasures. For ourselves, we have been accustomed to + view this popular belief in the light of an argument for pity rather than + for contempt towards poor men, as indicating the extreme pressure of that + necessity which could so have demoralized their natural sense of truth. + But certainly, in whatever feelings originating, such popular + superstitions as to motives of ghostly missions did seem to argue a + deplorable misconception of the relation subsisting between the spiritual + world and the perishable treasures of this perishable world. Yet, when we + look into the Eastern explanations of this case, we find that it is meant + to express, not any overvaluation of riches, but the direct contrary + passion. A human spirit is punished—such is the notion—punished + in the spiritual world for excessive attachment to gold, by degradation to + the office of its guardian; and from this office the tortured spirit can + release itself only by revealing the treasure and transferring the + custody. It is a penal martyrdom, not an elective passion for gold, which + is thus exemplified in the wanderings of a treasure-ghost. + </p> + <p> + But, in a field where of necessity we are so much limited, we willingly + pass from the consideration of these treasure or <i>khasne</i> phantoms + (which alone sufficiently ensure a swarm of ghostly terrors for all + Oriental ruins of cities,) to the same marvellous apparitions, as they + haunt other solitudes even more awful than those of ruined cities. In this + world there are two mighty forms of perfect solitude—the ocean and + the desert: the wilderness of the barren sands, and the wilderness of the + barren waters. Both are the parents of inevitable superstitions—of + terrors, solemn, ineradicable, eternal. Sailors and the children of the + desert are alike overrun with spiritual hauntings, from accidents of peril + essentially connected with those modes of life, and from the eternal + spectacle of the infinite. Voices seem to blend with the raving of the + sea, which will for ever impress the feeling of beings more than human: + and every chamber of the great wilderness which, with little interruption, + stretches from the Euphrates to the western shores of Africa, has its own + peculiar terrors both as to sights and sounds. In the wilderness of Zin, + between Palestine and the Red Sea, a section of the desert well known in + these days to our own countrymen, bells are heard daily pealing for + matins, or for vespers, from some phantom convent that no search of + Christian or of Bedouin Arab has ever been able to discover. These bells + have sounded since the Crusades. Other sounds, trumpets, the <i>Alala</i> + of armies, &c., are heard in other regions of the Desert. Forms, also, + are seen of more people than have any right to be walking in human paths: + sometimes forms of avowed terror; sometimes, which is a case of far more + danger, appearances that mimic the shapes of men, and even of friends or + comrades. This is a case much dwelt on by the old travellers, and which + throws a gloom over the spirits of all Bedouins, and of every cafila or + caravan. We all know what a sensation of loneliness or 'eeriness' (to use + an expressive term of the ballad poetry) arises to any small party + assembling in a single room of a vast desolate mansion: how the timid + among them fancy continually that they hear some remote door opening, or + trace the sound of suppressed footsteps from some distant staircase. Such + is the feeling in the desert, even in the midst of the caravan. The mighty + solitude is seen: the dread silence is anticipated which will succeed to + this brief transit of men, camels, and horses. Awe prevails even in the + midst of society: but, if the traveller should loiter behind from fatigue, + or be so imprudent as to ramble aside—should he from any cause once + lose sight of his party, it is held that his chance is small of recovering + their traces. And why? Not chiefly from the want of footmarks where the + wind effaces all impressions in half an hour, or of eyemarks where all is + one blank ocean of sand, but much more from the sounds or the visual + appearances which are supposed to beset and to seduce all insulated + wanderers. + </p> + <p> + Everybody knows the superstitions of the ancients about the <i>Nympholeptoi</i>, + or those who had seen Pan. But far more awful and gloomy are the existing + superstitions, throughout Asia and Africa, as to the perils of those who + are phantom-haunted in the wilderness. The old Venetian traveller Marco + Polo states them well: he speaks, indeed, of the Eastern or Tartar + deserts; the steppes which stretch from European Russia to the footsteps + of the Chinese throne; but exactly the same creed prevails amongst the + Arabs, from Bagdad to Suez and Cairo—from Rosetta to Tunis—Tunis + to Timbuctoo or Mequinez. 'If, during the daytime,' says he, 'any person + should remain behind until the caravan is no longer in sight, he hears + himself unexpectedly called to by name, and in a voice with which he is + familiar. Not doubting that the voice proceeds from some of his comrades, + the unhappy man is beguiled from the right direction; and soon finding + himself utterly confounded as to the path, he roams about in distraction + until he perishes miserably. If, on the other hand, this perilous + separation of himself from the caravan should happen at night, he is sure + to hear the uproar of a great cavalcade a mile or two to the right or left + of the true track. He is thus seduced on one side: and at break of day + finds himself far removed from man. Nay, even at noon-day, it is well + known that grave and respectable men to all appearance will come up to a + particular traveller, will bear the look of a friend, and will gradually + lure him by earnest conversation to a distance from the caravan; after + which the sounds of men and camels will be heard continually at all points + but the true one; whilst an insensible turning by the tenth of an inch at + each separate step from the true direction will very soon suffice to set + the traveller's face to the opposite point of the compass from that which + his safety requires, and which his fancy represents to him as his real + direction. Marvellous, indeed, and almost passing belief, are the stories + reported of these desert phantoms, which are said at times to fill the air + with choral music from all kinds of instruments, from drums, and the clash + of arms: so that oftentimes a whole caravan are obliged to close up their + open ranks, and to proceed in a compact line of march.' + </p> + <p> + Lord Lindsay, in his very interesting travels in Egypt, Edom, &c., + agrees with Warton in supposing (and probably enough) that from this + account of the desert traditions in Marco Polo was derived Milton's fine + passage in Comus:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, + And aery tongues that syllable men's names + On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.' +</pre> + <p> + But the most remarkable of these desert superstitions, as suggested by the + mention of Lord Lindsay, is one which that young nobleman, in some place + which we cannot immediately find, has noticed, but which he only was + destined by a severe personal loss immediately to illustrate. Lord L. + quotes from Vincent le Blanc an anecdote of a man in his own caravan, the + companion of an Arab merchant, who disappeared in a mysterious manner. + Four Moors, with a retaining fee of 100 ducats, were sent in quest of him, + but came back <i>re infecta</i>. 'And 'tis uncertain,' adds Le Blanc, + 'whether he was swallowed up in the sands, or met his death by any other + misfortune; as it often happens, by the relation of a merchant then in our + company, who told us, that two years before, traversing the same journey, + a comrade of his, going a little aside from the company, saw three men who + called him by his name; and one of them, to his thinking, favored very + much his companion; and, as he was about to follow them, his real + companion calling him to come back to his company, he found himself + deceived by the others, and thus was saved. And all travellers in these + parts hold, that in the deserts are many such phantasms seen, that strive + to seduce the traveller.' Thus far it is the traveller's own fault, warned + as he is continually by the extreme anxiety of the Arab leaders or guides, + with respect to all who stray to any distance, if he is duped or enticed + by these pseudo-men: though, in the case of Lapland dogs, who ought to + have a surer instinct of detection for counterfeits, we know from Sir + Capel de Broke and others, that they are continually wiled away by the + wolves who roam about the nightly encampments of travellers. But there is + a secondary disaster, according to the Arab superstition, awaiting those + whose eyes are once opened to the discernment of these phantoms. To see + them, or to hear them, even where the traveller is careful to refuse their + lures, entails the certainty of death in no long time. This is another + form of that universal faith which made it impossible for any man to + survive a bodily commerce, by whatever sense, with a spiritual being. We + find it in the Old Testament, where the expression, 'I have seen God and + shall die,' means simply a supernatural being; since no Hebrew believed it + possible for a nature purely human to sustain for a moment the sight of + the Infinite Being. We find the same faith amongst ourselves, in case of + <i>doppelgänger</i> becoming apparent to the sight of those whom they + counterfeit; and in many other varieties. We modern Europeans, of course, + laugh at these superstitions; though, as La Place remarks, (<i>Essai sur + les Probabilités</i>,) any case, however apparently incredible, if it is a + recurrent case, is as much entitled to a fair valuation as if it had been + more probable beforehand.[Footnote: <i>'Is as much entitled to a fair + valuation, under the lans of induction, as if it had been more probable + beforehand'</i>—One of the cases which La Place notices as entitled + to a grave consideration, but which would most assuredly be treated as a + trivial phenomenon, unworthy of attention, by commonplace spectators, is—when + a run of success, with no apparent cause, takes place on heads or tails, (<i>pile + ou croix</i>) Most people dismiss such a case as pure accident. But La + Place insists on its being duly valued as a fact, however unaccountable as + an effect. So again, if in a large majority of experiences like those of + Lord Lindsay's party in the desert, death should follow, such a phenomenon + is as well entitled to its separate valuation as any other.] This being + premised, we who connect superstition with the personal result, are more + impressed by the disaster which happened to Lord Lindsay, than his + lordship, who either failed to notice the <i>nexus</i> between the events, + or possibly declined to put the case too forward in his reader's eye, from + the solemnity of the circumstances, and the private interest to himself + and his own family, of the subsequent event. The case was this:—Mr. + William Wardlaw Ramsay, the companion (and we believe relative) of Lord + Lindsay, a man whose honorable character, and whose intellectual + accomplishments speak for themselves, in the posthumus memorabilia of his + travels published by Lord L., had seen an array of objects in the desert, + which facts immediately succeeding demonstrated to have been a mere ocular + <i>lusus</i>, or (according to Arab notions) phantoms. During the absence + from home of an Arab sheikh, who had been hired as conductor of Lord + Lindsay's party, a hostile tribe (bearing the name of Tellaheens) had + assaulted and pillaged his tents. Report of this had reached the English + travelling party; it was known that the Tellaheens were still in motion, + and a hostile rencounter was looked for for some days. At length, in + crossing the well known valley of the <i>Wady Araba</i>, that most ancient + channel of communication between the Red Sea and Judea, &c., Mr. + Ramsay saw, to his own entire conviction, a party of horse moving amongst + some sand-hills. Afterwards it became certain, from accurate information, + that this must have been a delusion. It was established, that no horseman + <i>could</i> have been in that neighborhood at that time. Lord Lindsay + records the case as an illustration of 'that spiritualized tone the + imagination naturally assumes, in scenes presenting so little sympathy + with the ordinary feelings of humanity;' and he reports the case in these + pointed terms:—'Mr. Ramsay, a man of remarkably strong sight, and by + no means disposed to superstitious credulity, distinctly saw a party of + horse moving among the sand-hills; and I do not believe he was ever able + to divest himself of that impression.' No—and, according to Arab + interpretation, very naturally so; for, according to their faith, he + really <i>had</i> seen the horsemen; phantom horseman certainly, but still + objects of sight. The sequel remains to be told—by the Arabian + hypothesis, Mr. Ramsay had but a short time to live—he was under a + secret summons to the next world. And accordingly, in a few weeks after + this, whilst Lord Lindsay had gone to visit Palmyra, Mr. Ramsay died at + Damascus. + </p> + <p> + This was a case exactly corresponding to the Pagan <i>nympholepsis</i>—he + had seen the beings whom it is not lawful to see and live. Another case of + Eastern superstition, not less determined, and not less remarkably + fulfilled, occurred some years before to Dr. Madden, who travelled pretty + much in the same route as Lord Lindsay. The doctor, as a phrenologist, had + been struck with the very singular conformation of a skull which he saw + amongst many others on an altar in some Syrian convent. He offered a + considerable sum in gold for it; but it was by repute the skull of a + saint; and the monk with whom Dr. M. attempted to negotiate, not only + refused his offers, but protested that even for the doctor's sake, apart + from the interests of the convent, he could not venture on such a + transfer: for that, by the tradition attached to it, the skull would + endanger any vessel carrying it from the Syrian shore: the vessel might + escape; but it would never succeed in reaching any but a Syrian harbor. + After this, for the credit of our country, which stands so high in the + East, and should be so punctiliously tended by all Englishmen, we are + sorry to record that Dr. Madden (though otherwise a man of scrupulous + honor) yielded to the temptation of substituting for the saint's skull + another less remarkable from his own collection. With this saintly relic + he embarked on board a Grecian ship; was alternately pursued and met by + storms the most violent; larboard and starboard, on every quarter, he was + buffeted; the wind blew from every point of the compass; the doctor + honestly confesses that he often wished this baleful skull back in safety + on the quiet altar from which he took it; and finally, after many days of + anxiety, he was too happy in finding himself again restored to some + oriental port, from which he secretly vowed never again to sail with a + saint's skull, or with any skull, however remarkable phrenologically, not + purchased in an open market. + </p> + <p> + Thus we have pursued, through many of its most memorable sections, the + spirit of the miraculous as it moulded and gathered itself in the + superstitions of Paganism; and we have shown that, in the modern + superstitions of Christianity, or of Mahometanism, (often enough borrowed + from Christian sources,) there is a pretty regular correspondence. + Speaking with a reference to the strictly popular belief, it cannot be + pretended for a moment, that miraculous agencies are slumbering in modern + ages. For one superstition of that nature which the Pagans had, we can + produce twenty. And if, from the collation of numbers, we should pass to + that of quality, it is a matter of notoriety, that from the very + philosophy of Paganism, and its slight root in the terrors or profounder + mysteries of spiritual nature, no comparison could be sustained for a + moment between the true religion and any mode whatever of the false. + Ghosts we have purposely omitted, because that idea is so peculiarly + Christian [Footnote: '<i>Because that idea is so peculiarly Christian</i>'—One + reason, additional to the main one, why the idea of a ghost could not be + conceived or reproduced by Paganism, lies in the fourfold resolution of + the human nature at death, viz.—1. <i>corpus</i>; 2. <i>manes</i>; + 3. <i>spiritus</i>; 4. <i>anima</i>. No reversionary consciousness, no + restitution of the total nature, sentient and active, was thus possible. + Pliny has a story which looks like a ghost story; but it is all moonshine—a + mere <i>simulacrum</i>.] as to reject all counterparts or affinities from + other modes of the supernatural. The Christian ghost is too awful a + presence, and with too large a substratum of the real, the impassioned, + the human, for our present purposes. We deal chiefly with the wilder and + more ćrial forms of superstition; not so far off from fleshly nature as + the purely allegoric—not so near as the penal, the purgatorial, the + penitential. In this middle class, 'Gabriel's hounds'—the 'phantom + ship'—the gloomy legends of the charcoal burners in the German + forests—and the local or epichorial superstitions from every + district of Europe, come forward by thousands, attesting the high activity + of the miraculous and the hyperphysical instincts, even in this + generation, wheresoever the voice of the people makes itself heard. + </p> + <p> + But in Pagan times, it will be objected, the popular superstitions blended + themselves with the highest political functions, gave a sanction to + national counsels, and oftentimes gave their starting point to the very + primary movements of the state. Prophecies, omens, miracles, all worked + concurrently with senates or princes. Whereas in our days, says Charles + Lamb, the witch who takes her pleasure with the moon, and summons + Beelzebub to her sabbaths, nevertheless trembles before the beadle, and + hides herself from the overseer. Now, as to the witch, even the horrid + Canidia of Horace, or the more dreadful Erichtho of Lucan, seems hardly to + have been much respected in any era. But for the other modes of the + supernatural, they have entered into more frequent combinations with state + functions and state movements in our modern ages than in the classical age + of Paganism. Look at prophecies, for example: the Romans had a few obscure + oracles afloat, and they had the Sibylline books under the state seal. + These books, in fact, had been kept so long, that, like port wine + superannuated, they had lost their flavor and body. [Footnote: '<i>Like + port wine superannuated, the Sibylline books had lost their flavor and + their body</i>.'—There is an allegoric description in verse, by Mr. + Rogers, of an ice-house, in which winter is described as a captive, &c., + which is memorable on this account, that a brother poet, on reading the + passage, mistook it, (from not understanding the allegorical expressions,) + either sincerely or maliciously, for a description of the house-dog. Now, + this little anecdote seems to embody the poor Sibyl's history,—from + a stern icy sovereign, with a petrific mace, she lapsed into an old + toothless mastiff. She continued to snore in her ancient kennel for above + a thousand years. The last person who attempted to stir her up with a long + pole, and to extract from her paralytic dreaming some growls or snarls + against Christianity, was Aurelian, in a moment of public panic. But the + thing was past all tampering. The poor creature could neither be kicked + nor coaxed into vitality.] On the other hand, look at France. Henry the + historian, speaking of the fifteenth century, describes it as a national + infirmity of the English to be prophecy-ridden. Perhaps there never was + any foundation for this as an exclusive remark; but assuredly not in the + next century. There had been with us British, from the twelfth century, + Thomas of Ercildoune in the north, and many monkish local prophets for + every part of the island; but latterly England had no terrific prophet, + unless, indeed Nixon of the Vale Royal in Cheshire, who uttered his dark + oracles sometimes with a merely Cestrian, sometimes with a national + reference. Whereas in France, throughout the sixteenth century, every + principal event was foretold successively, with an accuracy that still + shocks and confounds us. Francis the First, who opens the century, (and by + many is held to open the book of <i>modern history</i>, as distinguished + from the middle or <i>feudal</i> history,) had the battle of Pavia + foreshown to him, not by name, but in its results—by his own Spanish + captivity—by the exchange for his own children upon a frontier river + of Spain—finally, by his own disgraceful death, through an infamous + disease conveyed to him under a deadly circuit of revenge. This king's + son, Henry the Second, read some years <i>before</i> the event a + description of that tournament, on the marriage of the Scottish Queen with + his eldest son, Francis II., which proved fatal to himself, through the + awkwardness of the Compte de Montgomery and his own obstinacy. After this, + and we believe a little after the brief reign of Francis II., arose + Nostradamus, the great prophet of the age. All the children of Henry II. + and of Catharine de Medici, one after the other, died in circumstances of + suffering and horror, and Nostradamus pursued the whole with ominous + allusions. Charles IX., though the authorizer of the Bartholomew massacre, + was the least guilty of his party, and the only one who manifested a + dreadful remorse. Henry III., the last of the brothers, died, as the + reader will remember, by assassination. And all these tragic successions + of events are still to be read more or less dimly prefigured in verses of + which we will not here discuss the dates. Suffice it, that many authentic + historians attest the good faith of the prophets; and finally, with + respect to the first of the Bourbon dynasty, Henry IV., who succeeded upon + the assassination of his brother-in-law, we have the peremptory assurance + of Sully and other Protestants, countersigned by writers both historical + and controversial, that not only was he prepared, by many warnings, for + his own tragical death—not only was the day, the hour prefixed—not + only was an almanac sent to him, in which the bloody summer's day of 1610 + was pointed out to his attention in bloody colors; but the mere record of + the king's last afternoon shows beyond a doubt the extent and the punctual + limitation of his anxieties. In fact, it is to this attitude of listening + expectation in the king, and breathless waiting for the blow, that + Schiller alludes in that fine speech of Wallenstein to his sister, where + he notices the funeral knells that sounded continually in Henry's ears, + and, above all, his prophetic instinct, that caught the sound from a far + distance of his murderer's motions, and could distinguish, amidst all the + tumult of a mighty capital, those stealthy steps + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ——'Which even then were seeking him + Throughout the streets of Paris.' +</pre> + <p> + We profess not to admire Henry the Fourth of France, whose secret + character we shall, on some other occasion, attempt to expose. But his + resignation to the appointments of Heaven, in dismissing his guards, as + feeling that against a danger so domestic and so mysterious, all fleshly + arms were vain, has always struck us as the most like magnanimity of + anything in his very theatrical life. + </p> + <p> + Passing to our own country, and to the times immediately in succession, we + fall upon some striking prophecies, not verbal but symbolic, if we turn + from the broad highway of public histories, to the by-paths of private + memories. Either Clarendon it is, in his Life (not his public history), or + else Laud, who mentions an anecdote connected with the coronation of + Charles I., (the son-in-law of the murdered Bourbon,) which threw a gloom + upon the spirits of the royal friends, already saddened by the dreadful + pestilence which inaugurated the reign of this ill-fated prince, levying a + tribute of one life in sixteen from the population of the English + metropolis. At the coronation of Charles, it was discovered that all + London would not furnish the quantity of purple velvet required for the + royal robes and the furniture of the throne. What was to be done? Decorum + required that the furniture should be all <i>en suite</i>. Nearer than + Genoa no considerable addition could be expected. That would impose a + delay of 150 days. Upon mature consideration, and chiefly of the many + private interests that would suffer amongst the multitudes whom such a + solemnity had called up from the country, it was resolved to robe the King + in <i>white</i> velvet. But this, as it afterwards occurred, was the color + in which victims were arrayed. And thus, it was alleged, did the King's + council establish an augury of evil. Three other ill omens, of some + celebrity, occurred to Charles I., viz., on occasion of creating his son + Charles a knight of the Bath, at Oxford some years after; and at the bar + of that tribunal which sat in judgment upon him. + </p> + <p> + The reign of his second son, James II., the next reign that could be + considered an unfortunate reign, was inaugurated by the same evil omens. + The day selected for the coronation (in 1685) was a day memorable for + England—it was St. George's day, the 23d of April, and entitled, + even on a separate account, to be held a sacred day as the birthday of + Shakspeare in 1564, and his deathday in 1616. The King saved a sum of + sixty thousand pounds by cutting off the ordinary cavalcade from the Tower + of London to Westminster. Even this was imprudent. It is well known that, + amongst the lowest class of the English, there is an obstinate prejudice + (though unsanctioned by law) with respect to the obligation imposed by the + ceremony of coronation. So long as this ceremony is delayed, or mutilated, + they fancy that their obedience is a matter of mere prudence, liable to be + enforced by arms, but not consecrated either by law or by religion. The + change made by James was, therefore, highly imprudent; shorn of its + antique traditionary usages, the yoke of conscience was lightened at a + moment when it required a double ratification. Neither was it called for + on motives of economy, for James was unusually rich. This voluntary + arrangement was, therefore, a bad beginning; but the accidental omens were + worse. They are thus reported by Blennerhassett, (History of England to + the end of George I., Vol. iv., p. 1760, printed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne: + 1751.) 'The crown being too little for the King's head, was often in a + tottering condition, and like to fall off.' Even this was observed + attentively by spectators of the most opposite feelings. But there was + another simultaneous omen, which affected the Protestant enthusiasts, and + the superstitious, whether Catholic or Protestant, still more alarmingly. + 'The same day the king's arms, pompously painted in the great altar window + of a London church, suddenly fell down without apparent cause, and broke + to pieces, whilst the rest of the window remained standing. Blennerhassett + mutters the dark terrors which possessed himself and others.' 'These,' + says he, 'were reckoned ill omens to the king.' + </p> + <p> + In France, as the dreadful criminality of the French sovereigns through + the 17th century began to tell powerfully, and reproduce itself in the + miseries and tumults of the French populace through the 18th century, it + is interesting to note the omens which unfolded themselves at intervals. A + volume might be written upon them. The French Bourbons renewed the picture + of that fatal house which in Thebes offered to the Grecian observers the + spectacle of dire auguries, emerging from darkness through three + generations, <i>ŕ plusieurs reprises</i>. Everybody knows the fatal + pollution of the marriage pomps on the reception of Marie Antoinette in + Paris; the numbers who perished are still spoken of obscurely as to the + amount, and with shuddering awe for the unparalleled horrors standing in + the background of the fatal reign—horrors + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'That hush'd in grim repose, await their evening prey.' +</pre> + <p> + But in the life of Goethe is mentioned a still more portentous (though + more shadowy) omen in the pictorial decorations of the arras which adorned + the pavilion on the French frontier; the first objects which met the + Austrian Archduchess on being hailed as Dauphiness, was a succession of + the most tragic groups from the most awful section of the Grecian theatre. + The next alliance of the same kind between the same great empires, in the + persons of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louisa, was overshadowed by + the same unhappy omens, and, as we all remember, with the same unhappy + results, within a brief period of five years. + </p> + <p> + Or, if we should resort to the fixed and monumental rather than to these + auguries of great nations—such, for instance, as were embodied in + those <i>Palladia</i>, or protesting talismans, which capital cities, + whether Pagan or Christian, glorified through a period of twenty-five + hundred years, we shall find a long succession of these enchanted pledges, + from the earliest precedent of Troy (whose palladium was undoubtedly a + talisman) down to that equally memorable, and bearing the same name, at + Western Rome. We may pass, by a vast transition of two and a half + millennia, to that great talisman of Constantinople, the triple serpent, + (having perhaps an original reference to the Mosaic serpent of the + wilderness, which healed the infected by the simple act of looking upon + it, as the symbol of the Redeemer, held aloft upon the Cross for the + deliverance from moral contagion.) This great consecrated talisman, + venerated equally by Christian, by Pagan, and by Mahometan, was struck on + the head by Mahomet the Second, on that same day, May 29th of 1453, in + which he mastered by storm this glorious city, the bulwark of eastern + Christendom, and the immediate rival of his own European throne at + Adrianople. But mark the superfetation of omens—omen supervening + upon omen, augury engrafted upon augury. The hour was a sad one for + Christianity; just 720 years before the western horn of Islam had been + rebutted in France by the Germans, chiefly under Charles Martel. But now + it seemed as though another horn, even more vigorous, was preparing to + assault Christendom and its hopes from the eastern quarter. At this epoch, + in the very hour of triumph, when the last of the Cćsars had glorified his + station, and sealed his testimony by martyrdom, the fanatical Sultan, + riding to his stirrups in blood, and wielding that iron mace which had + been his sole weapon, as well as cognizance, through the battle, advanced + to the column, round which the triple serpent roared spirally upwards. He + smote the brazen talisman; he shattered one head; he left it mutilated as + the record of his great revolution; but crush it, destroy it, he did not—as + a symbol prefiguring the fortunes of Mahometanism, his people noticed, + that in the critical hour of fate, which stamped the Sultan's acts with + efficacy through ages, he had been prompted by his secret genius only to + 'scotch the snake,' not to crush it. Afterwards the fatal hour was gone + by; and this imperfect augury has since concurred traditionally with the + Mahometan prophecies about the Adrianople gate of Constantinople, to + depress the ultimate hopes of Islam in the midst of all its insolence. The + very haughtiest of the Mussulmans believe that the gate is already in + existence, through which the red Giaours (the <i>Russi</i>) shall pass to + the conquest of Stamboul; and that everywhere, in Europe at least, the hat + of Frangistan is destined to surmount the turban—the crescent must + go down before the cross. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING. + </h2> + <p> + What is the deadest of things earthly? It is, says the world, ever forward + and rash—'a door-nail!' But the world is wrong. There is a thing + deader than a door-nail, viz., Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I. Dead, more + dead, most dead, is Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I.; and this upon more + arguments than one. The book has clearly not completed its elementary act + of respiration; the <i>systole</i> of Vol. I. is absolutely useless and + lost without the <i>diastole</i> of that Vol. II., which is never to + exist. That is one argument, and perhaps this second argument is stronger. + Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I., deals rashly, unjustly, and almost + maliciously, with some of our own particular friends; and yet, until late + in this summer, <i>Anno Domini</i> 1844, we—that is, neither + ourselves nor our friends—ever heard of its existence. Now a sloth, + even without the benefit of Mr. Waterton's evidence to his character, will + travel faster than that. But malice, which travels fastest of all things, + must be dead and cold at starting, when it can thus have lingered in the + rear for six years; and therefore, though the world was so far right, that + people <i>do</i> say, 'Dead as a door-nail,' yet, henceforward, the + weakest of these people will see the propriety of saying—'Dead as + Gillman's Coleridge.' + </p> + <p> + The reader of experience, on sliding over the surface of this opening + paragraph, begins to think there's mischief singing in the upper air. 'No, + reader, not at all. We never were cooler in our days. And this we protest, + that, were it not for the excellence of the subject, <i>Coleridge and + Opium-Eating</i>, Mr. Gillman would have been dismissed by us unnoticed. + Indeed, we not only forgive Mr. Gillman, but we have a kindness for him; + and on this account, that he was good, he was generous, he was most + forbearing, through twenty years, to poor Coleridge, when thrown upon his + hospitality. An excellent thing <i>that</i>, Mr. Gillman, till, noticing + the theme suggested by this unhappy Vol. I., we are forced at times to + notice its author, Nor is this to be regretted. We remember a line of + Horace never yet properly translated, viz:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Nec scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello.' +</pre> + <p> + The true translation of which, as we assure the unlearned reader, is—'Nor + must you pursue with the horrid knout of Christopher that man who merits + only a switching.' Very true. We protest against all attempts to invoke + the exterminating knout; for <i>that</i> sends a man to the hospital for + two months; but you see that the same judicious poet, who dissuades an + appeal to the knout, indirectly recommends the switch, which, indeed, is + rather pleasant than otherwise, amiably playful in some of its little + caprices, and in its worst, suggesting only a pennyworth of diachylon. + </p> + <p> + We begin by professing, with hearty sincerity, our fervent admiration of + the extraordinary man who furnishes the theme for Mr. Gillman's <i>coup-d'essai</i> + in biography. He was, in a literary sense, our brother—for he also + was amongst the contributors to <i>Blackwood</i>—and will, we + presume, take his station in that Blackwood gallery of portraits, which, + in a century hence, will possess more interest for intellectual Europe + than any merely martial series of portraits, or any gallery of statesmen + assembled in congress, except as regards one or two leaders; for defunct + major-generals, and secondary diplomatists, when their date is past, awake + no more emotion than last year's advertisements, or obsolete directories; + whereas those who, in a stormy age, have swept the harps of passion, of + genial wit, or of the wrestling and gladiatorial reason, become more + interesting to men when they can no longer be seen as bodily agents, than + even in the middle chorus of that intellectual music over which, living, + they presided. + </p> + <p> + Of this great camp Coleridge was a leader, and fought amongst the <i>primipili</i>; + yet, comparatively, he is still unknown. Heavy, indeed, are the arrears + still due to philosophic curiosity on the real merits, and on the separate + merits, of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge as a poet—Coleridge as + a philosopher! How extensive are those questions, if those were all! and + upon neither question have we yet any investigation—such as, by + compass of views, by research, or even by earnestness of sympathy with the + subject, can, or ought to satisfy, a philosophic demand. Blind is that man + who can persuade himself that the interest in Coleridge, taken as a total + object, is becoming an obsolete interest. We are of opinion that even + Milton, now viewed from a distance of two centuries, is still inadequately + judged or appreciated in his character of poet, of patriot and partisan, + or, finally, in his character of accomplished scholar. But, if so, how + much less can it be pretended that satisfaction has been rendered to the + claims of Coleridge? for, upon Milton, libraries have been written. There + has been time for the malice of men, for the jealousy of men, for the + enthusiasm, the scepticism, the adoring admiration of men, to expand + themselves! There has been room for a Bentley, for an Addison, for a + Johnson, for a wicked Lauder, for an avenging Douglas, for an idolizing + Chateaubriand; and yet, after all, little enough has been done towards any + comprehensive estimate of the mighty being concerned. Piles of materials + have been gathered to the ground; but, for the monument which should have + risen from these materials, neither the first stone has been laid, nor has + a qualified architect yet presented his credentials. On the other hand, + upon Coleridge little, comparatively, has yet been written, whilst the + separate characters on which the judgment is awaited, are more by one than + those which Milton sustained. Coleridge, also, is a poet; Coleridge, also, + was mixed up with the fervent politics of his age—an age how + memorably reflecting the revolutionary agitations of Milton's age. + Coleridge, also, was an extensive and brilliant scholar. Whatever might be + the separate proportions of the two men in each particular department of + the three here noticed, think as the reader will upon that point, sure we + are that either subject is ample enough to make a strain upon the amplest + faculties. How alarming, therefore, for any <i>honest</i> critic, who + should undertake this later subject of Coleridge, to recollect that, after + pursuing him through a zodiac of splendors corresponding to those of + Milton in kind, however different in degree—after weighing him as a + poet, as a philosophic politician, as a scholar, he will have to wheel + after him into another orbit, into the unfathomable <i>nimbus</i> of + transcendental metaphysics. Weigh him the critic must in the golden + balance of philosophy the most abstruse—a balance which even itself + requires weighing previously, or he will have done nothing that can be + received for an estimate of the composite Coleridge. This astonishing man, + be it again remembered, besides being an exquisite poet, a profound + political speculator, a philosophic student of literature through all its + chambers and recesses, was also a circumnavigator on the most pathless + waters of scholasticism and metaphysics. He had sounded, without guiding + charts, the secret deeps of Proclus and Plotinus; he had laid down buoys + on the twilight, or moonlight, ocean of Jacob Boehmen; [Footnote: 'JACOB + BOEHMEN.' We ourselves had the honor of presenting to Mr. Coleridge, Law's + English version of Jacob—a set of huge quartos. Some months + afterwards we saw this work lying open, and one volume at least + overflowing, in parts, with the commentaries and the <i>corollaries</i> of + Coleridge. Whither has this work, and so many others swathed about with + Coleridge's MS. notes, vanished from the world?] he had cruised over the + broad Atlantic of Kant and Schelling, of Fichte and Oken. Where is the man + who shall be equal to these things? We at least make no such adventurous + effort; or, if ever we should presume to do so, not at present. Here we + design only to make a coasting voyage of survey round the headlands and + most conspicuous seamarks of our subject, as they are brought forward by + Mr. Gillman, or collaterally suggested by our own reflections; and + especially we wish to say a word or two on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + </p> + <p> + Naturally the first point to which we direct our attention, is the history + and personal relations of Coleridge. Living with Mr. Gillman for nineteen + years as a domesticated friend, Coleridge ought to have been known + intimately. And it is reasonable to expect, from so much intercourse, some + additions to our slender knowledge of Coleridge's adventures, (if we may + use so coarse a word,) and of the secret springs at work in those early + struggles of Coleridge at Cambridge, London, Bristol, which have been + rudely told to the world, and repeatedly told, as showy romances, but + never rationally explained. + </p> + <p> + The anecdotes, however, which Mr. Gillman has added to the personal + history of Coleridge, are as little advantageous to the effect of his own + book as they are to the interest of the memorable character which he seeks + to illustrate. Always they are told without grace, and generally are + suspicious in their details. Mr. Gillman we believe to be too upright a + man for countenancing any untruth. He has been deceived. For example, will + any man believe this? A certain 'excellent equestrian' falling in with + Coleridge on horseback, thus accosted him—'Pray, Sir, did you meet a + tailor along the road?' '<i>A tailor</i>!' answered Coleridge; '<i>I did + meet a person answering such a description, who told me he had dropped his + goose; that if I rode a little further I should find it; and I guess he + must have meant you.</i>' In Joe Miller this story would read, perhaps, + sufferably. Joe has a privilege; and we do not look too narrowly into the + mouth of a Joe-Millerism. But Mr. Gillman, writing the life of a + philosopher, and no jest-book, is under a different law of decorum. That + retort, however, which silences the jester, it may seem, must be a good + one. And we are desired to believe that, in this case, the baffled + assailant rode off in a spirit of benign candor, saying aloud to himself, + like the excellent philosopher that he evidently was, 'Caught a Tartar!' + </p> + <p> + But another story of a sporting baronet, who was besides a Member of + Parliament, is much worse, and altogether degrading to Coleridge. This + gentleman, by way of showing off before a party of ladies, is represented + as insulting Coleridge by putting questions to him on the qualities of his + horse, so as to draw the animal's miserable defects into public notice, + and then closing his display by demanding what he would take for the horse + 'including the rider.' The supposed reply of Coleridge might seem good to + those who understand nothing of true dignity; for, as an <i>impromptu</i>, + it was smart and even caustic. The baronet, it seems, was reputed to have + been bought by the minister; and the reader will at once divine that the + retort took advantage of that current belief, so as to throw back the + sarcasm, by proclaiming that neither horse nor rider had a price placarded + in the market at which any man could become their purchaser. But this was + not the temper in which Coleridge either did reply, or could have replied. + Coleridge showed, in the <i>spirit</i> of his manner, a profound + sensibility to the nature of a gentleman; and he felt too justly what it + became a self-respecting person to say, ever to have aped the sort of + flashy fencing which might seem fine to a theatrical blood. + </p> + <p> + Another story is self-refuted: 'A hired partisan' had come to one of + Coleridge's political lectures with the express purpose of bringing the + lecturer into trouble; and most preposterously he laid himself open to his + own snare by refusing to pay for admission. Spies must be poor artists who + proceed thus. Upon which Coleridge remarked—'That, before the + gentleman kicked up a dust, surely he would down with the dust.' So far + the story will not do. But what follows is possible enough. The <i>same</i> + 'hired' gentleman, by way of giving unity to the tale, is described as + having hissed. Upon this a cry arose of 'Turn him out!' But Coleridge + interfered to protect him; he insisted on the man's right to hiss if he + thought fit; it was legal to hiss; it was natural to hiss; 'for what is to + be expected, gentlemen, when the cool waters of reason come in contact + with red-hot aristocracy, but a hiss?' <i>Euge!</i> + </p> + <p> + Amongst all the anecdotes, however of this splendid man, often trivial, + often incoherent, often unauthenticated, there is one which strikes us as + both true and interesting; and we are grateful to Mr. Gillman for + preserving it. We find it introduced, and partially authenticated, by the + following sentence from Coleridge himself:—'From eight to fourteen I + was a playless day-dreamer, a <i>helluo librorum</i>; my appetite for + which was indulged by a singular incident. A stranger, who was struck by + my conversation, made me free of a circulating library in King's Street, + Cheapside.' The more circumstantial explanation of Mr. Gillman is this: + `The incident indeed was singular. Going down the Strand, in one of his + day-dreams, fancying himself swimming across the Hellespont, thrusting his + hands before him as in the act of swimming, his hand came in contact with + a gentleman's pocket. The gentleman seized his hand, turning round, and + looking at him with some anger—"What! so young, and yet so wicked?" + at the same time accused him of an attempt to pick his pocket. The + frightened boy sobbed out his denial of the intention, and explained to + him how he thought himself Leander swimming across the Hellespont. The + gentleman was so struck and delighted with the novelty of the thing, and + with the simplicity and intelligence of the boy, that he subscribed, as + before stated, to the library; in consequence of which Coleridge was + further enabled to indulge his love of reading.' + </p> + <p> + We fear that this slovenly narrative is the very perfection of bad + story-telling. But the story itself is striking, and, by the very oddness + of the incidents, not likely to have been invented. The effect, from the + position of the two parties—on the one side, a simple child from + Devonshire, dreaming in the Strand that he was swimming over from Sestos + to Abydos, and, on the other, the experienced man, dreaming only of this + world, its knaves and its thieves, but still kind and generous—is + beautiful and picturesque. <i>Oh! si sic omnia!</i> + </p> + <p> + But the most interesting to us of the <i>personalities</i> connected with + Coleridge are his feuds and his personal dislikes. Incomprehensible to us + is the war of extermination which Coleridge made upon the political + economists. Did Sir James Steuart, in speaking of vine-dressers, (not <i>as</i> + vine-dressers, but generally as cultivators,) tell his readers, that, if + such a man simply replaced his own consumption, having no surplus whatever + or increment for the public capital, he could not be considered a useful + citizen? Not the beast in the Revelation is held up by Coleridge as more + hateful to the spirit of truth than the Jacobite baronet. And yet we know + of an author—viz., one S. T. Coleridge—who repeated that same + doctrine without finding any evil in it. Look at the first part of the <i>Wallenstein</i>, + where Count Isolani having said, 'Pooh! we are <i>all</i> his subjects,' + <i>i. e.</i>, soldiers, (though unproductive laborers,) not less than + productive peasants, the emperor's envoy replies—'Yet with a + difference, general;' and the difference implies Sir James's scale, his + vine-dresser being the equatorial case between the two extremes of the + envoy. Malthus again, in his population-book, contends for a mathematic + difference between animal and vegetable life, in respect to the law of + increase, as though the first increased by geometrical ratios, the last by + arithmetical! No proposition more worthy of laughter; since both, when + permitted to expand, increase by geometrical ratios, and the latter by + much higher ratios. Whereas, Malthus persuaded himself of his crotchet + simply by refusing the requisite condition in the vegetable case, and + granting it in the other. If you take a few grains of wheat, and are + required to plant all successive generations of their produce in the same + flower-pot for ever, of course you neutralize its expansion by your own + act of arbitrary limitation. [Footnote: Malthus would have rejoined by + saying—that the flowerpot limitation was the actual limitation of + nature in our present circumstances. In America it is otherwise, he would + say, but England is the very flowerpot you suppose; she is a flowerpot + which cannot be multiplied, and cannot even be enlarged. Very well, so be + it (which we say in order to waive irrelevant disputes). But then the true + inference will be—not that vegetable increase proceeds under a + different law from that which governs animal increase, but that, through + an accident of position, the experiment cannot be tried in England. Surely + the levers of Archimedes, with submission to Sir Edward B. Lytton, were + not the less levers because he wanted the <i>locum standi</i>. It is + proper, by the way, that we should inform the reader of this generation + where to look for Coleridge's skirmishings with Malthus. They are to be + found chiefly in the late Mr. William Hazlitt's work on that subject: a + work which Coleridge so far claimed as to assert that it had been + substantially made up from his own conversation.] But so you would do, if + you tried the case of <i>animal</i> increase by still exterminating all + but one replacing couple of parents. This is not to try, but merely a + pretence of trying, one order of powers against another. That was folly. + But Coleridge combated this idea in a manner so obscure, that nobody + understood it. And leaving these speculative conundrums, in coming to the + great practical interests afloat in the Poor Laws, Coleridge did so little + real work, that he left, as a <i>res integra</i>, to Dr. Alison, the + capital argument that legal and <i>adequate</i> provision for the poor, + whether impotent poor or poor accidentally out of work, does not extend + pauperism—no, but is the one great resource for putting it down. Dr. + Alison's overwhelming and <i>experimental</i> manifestations of that truth + have prostrated Malthus and his generation for ever. This comes of not + attending to the Latin maxim—'<i>Hoc</i> age'—mind the object + before you. Dr. Alison, a wise man, '<i>hoc</i> egit:' Coleridge '<i>aliud</i> + egit.' And we see the result. In a case which suited him, by interesting + his peculiar feeling, Coleridge could command + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Attention full ten times as much as there needs.' +</pre> + <p> + But search documents, value evidence, or thresh out bushels of statistical + tables, Coleridge could not, any more than he could ride with Elliot's + dragoons. + </p> + <p> + Another instance of Coleridge's inaptitude for such studies as political + economy is found in his fancy, by no means 'rich and rare,' but meagre and + trite, that taxes can never injure public prosperity by mere excess of + quantity; if they injure, we are to conclude that it must be by their + quality and mode of operation, or by their false appropriation, (as, for + instance, if they are sent out of the country and spent abroad.) Because, + says Coleridge, if the taxes are exhaled from the country as vapors, back + they come in drenching showers. Twenty pounds ascend in a Scotch mist to + the Chancellor of the Exchequer from Leeds; but does it evaporate? Not at + all: By return of post down comes an order for twenty pounds' worth of + Leeds cloth, on account of Government, seeing that the poor men of the + ——th regiment want new gaiters. True; but of this return + twenty pounds, not more than four will be profit, <i>i.e.</i>, surplus + accruing to the public capital; whereas, of the original twenty pounds, + every shilling was surplus. The same unsound fancy has been many times + brought forward; often in England, often in France. But it is curious, + that its first appearance upon any stage was precisely two centuries ago, + when as yet political economy slept with the pre-Adamites, viz., in the + Long Parliament. In a quarto volume of the debates during 1644-45, printed + as an independent work, will be found the same identical doctrine, + supported very sonorously by the same little love of an illustration from + the see-saw of mist and rain. + </p> + <p> + Political economy was not Coleridge's forte. In politics he was happier. + In mere personal politics, he (like every man when reviewed from a station + distant by forty years) will often appear to have erred; nay, he will be + detected and nailed in error. But this is the necessity of us all. Keen + are the refutations of time. And absolute results to posterity are the + fatal touchstone of opinions in the past. It is undeniable, besides, that + Coleridge had strong personal antipathies, for instance, to Messrs. Pitt + and Dundas. Yet <i>why</i>, we never could understand. We once heard him + tell a story upon Windermere, to the late Mr. Curwen, then M. P. for + Workington, which was meant, apparently, to account for this feeling. The + story amounted to this; that, when a freshman at Cambridge, Mr. Pitt had + wantonly amused himself at a dinner party in Trinity, in smashing with + filberts (discharged in showers like grape-shot) a most costly dessert set + of cut glass, from which Samuel Taylor Coleridge argued a principle of + destructiveness in his <i>cerebellum</i>. Now, if this dessert set + belonged to some poor suffering Trinitarian, and not to himself, we are of + opinion that he was faulty, and ought, upon his own great subsequent + maxim, to have been coerced into 'indemnity for the past, and security for + the future.' But, besides that this glassy <i>mythus</i> belongs to an ćra + fifteen years earlier than Coleridge's so as to justify a shadow of + scepticism, we really cannot find, in such an <i>escapade</i> under the + boiling blood of youth, any sufficient justification of that withering + malignity towards the name of Pitt, which runs through Coleridge's famous + <i>Fire, Famine, and Slaughter</i>. As this little viperous <i>jeu-d'esprit</i> + (published anonymously) subsequently became the subject of a celebrated + after-dinner discussion in London, at which Coleridge (<i>comme de raison</i>) + was the chief speaker, the reader of this generation may wish to know the + question at issue; and in order to judge of <i>that</i>, he must know the + outline of this devil's squib. The writer brings upon the scene three + pleasant young ladies, viz., Miss Fire, Miss Famine, and Miss Slaughter. + 'What are you up to? What's the row?'—we may suppose to be the + introductory question of the poet. And the answer of the ladies makes us + aware that they are fresh from larking in Ireland, and in France. A + glorious spree they had; lots of fun; and laughter <i>a discretion</i>. At + all times <i>gratus puellć risus ab angulo</i>; so that we listen to their + little gossip with interest. They had been setting men, it seems, by the + ears; and the drollest little atrocities they do certainly report. Not but + we have seen better in the Nenagh paper, so far as Ireland is concerned. + But the pet little joke was in La Vendee. Miss Famine, who is the girl for + our money, raises the question—whether any of them can tell the name + of the leader and prompter to these high jinks of hell—if so, let + her whisper it. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Whisper it, sister, so and so, + In a dark hint—distinct and low.' +</pre> + <p> + Upon which the playful Miss Slaughter replies:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Letters <i>four</i> do form his name. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> </pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And I have drunk the blood since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' +</pre> + <p> + Good: but the sting of the hornet lies in the conclusion. If this + quadriliteral man had done so much for <i>them</i>, (though really, we + think, 6s. 8d. might have settled his claim,) what, says Fire, setting her + arms a-kimbo, would they do for <i>him</i>? Slaughter replies, rather + crustily, that, as far as a good kicking would go—or (says Famine) a + little matter of tearing to pieces by the mob—they would be glad to + take tickets at his benefit. 'How, you bitches!' says Fire, 'is that all? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'I alone am faithful; I + <i>Cling to him everlastingly</i>.' +</pre> + <p> + The sentiment is diabolical. And the question argued at the London + dinner-table was—Could the writer have been other than a devil? The + dinner was at the late excellent Mr. Sotheby's, known advantageously in + those days as the translator of Wieland's <i>Oberon</i>. Several of the + great guns amongst the literary body were present; in particular, Sir + Walter Scott; and he, we believe, with his usual good-nature, took the + apologetic side of the dispute. In fact, he was in the secret. Nobody + else, barring the author, knew at first whose good name was at stake. The + scene must have been high. The company kicked about the poor diabolic + writer's head as if it had been a tennis-ball. Coleridge, the yet unknown + criminal, absolutely perspired and fumed in pleading for the defendant; + the company demurred; the orator grew urgent; wits began to <i>smoke</i> + the case, as active verbs; the advocate to <i>smoke</i>, as a neuter verb; + the 'fun grew fast and furious;' until at length <i>delinquent arose</i>, + burning tears in his eyes, and confessed to an audience, (now bursting + with stifled laughter, but whom he supposed to be bursting with fiery + indignation,) 'Lo! I am he that wrote it.' + </p> + <p> + For our own parts, we side with Coleridge. Malice is not always of the + heart. There is a malice of the understanding and the fancy. Neither do we + think the worse of a man for having invented the most horrible and + old-woman-troubling curse that demons ever listened to. We are too apt to + swear horribly ourselves; and often have we frightened the cat, to say + nothing of the kettle, by our shocking [far too shocking!] oaths. + </p> + <p> + There were other celebrated men whom Coleridge detested, or seemed to + detest—Paley, Sir Sidney Smith, Lord Hutchinson, (the last Lord + Donoughmore,) and Cuvier. To Paley it might seem as if his antipathy had + been purely philosophic; but we believe that partly it was personal; and + it tallies with this belief, that, in his earliest political tracts, + Coleridge charged the archdeacon repeatedly with his own joke, as if it + had been a serious saying, viz.—'That he could not afford to keep a + conscience;' such luxuries, like a carriage, for instance, being obviously + beyond the finances of poor men. + </p> + <p> + With respect to the philosophic question between the parties, as to the + grounds of moral election, we hope it is no treason to suggest that both + were perhaps in error. Against Paley, it occurs at once that he himself + would not have made consequences the <i>practical</i> test in valuing the + morality of an act, since these can very seldom be traced at all up to the + final stages, and in the earliest stages are exceedingly different under + different circumstances; so that the same act, tried by its consequences, + would bear a fluctuating appreciation. This could not have been Paley's <i>revised</i> + meaning. Consequently, had he been pressed by opposition, it would have + come out, that by <i>test</i> he meant only <i>speculative</i> test: a + very harmless doctrine certainly, but useless and impertinent to any + purpose of his system. The reader may catch our meaning in the following + illustration. It is a matter of general belief, that happiness, upon the + whole, follows in a higher degree from constant integrity, than from the + closest attention to self-interest. Now happiness is one of those + consequences which Paley meant by final or remotest. But we could never + use this idea as an exponent of integrity, or interchangeable criterion, + because happiness cannot be ascertained or appreciated except upon long + tracts of time, whereas the particular act of integrity depends + continually upon the election of the moment. No man, therefore, could + venture to lay down as a rule, Do what makes you happy; use this as your + test of actions, satisfied that in that case always you will do the thing + which is right. For he cannot discern independently what <i>will</i> make + him happy; and he must decide on the spot. The use of the <i>nexus</i> + between morality and happiness must therefore be inverted; it is not + practical or prospective, but simply retrospective; and in that form it + says no more than the good old rules hallowed in every cottage. But this + furnishes no practical guide for moral election which a man had not, + before he ever thought of this <i>nexus</i>. In the sense in which it is + true, we need not go to the professor's chair for this maxim; in the sense + in which it would serve Paley, it is absolutely false. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, as against Coleridge, it is certain that many acts + could be mentioned which are judged to be good or bad only because their + consequences are known to be so, whilst the great catholic acts of life + are entirely (and, if we may so phrase it, haughtily) independent of + consequences. For instance, fidelity to a trust is a law of immutable + morality subject to no casuistry whatever. You have been left executor to + a friend—you are to pay over his last legacy to X, though a + dissolute scoundrel; and you are to give no shilling of it to the poor + brother of X, though a good man, and a wise man, struggling with + adversity. You are absolutely excluded from all contemplation of results. + It was your deceased friend's right to make the will; it is yours simply + to see it executed. Now, in opposition to this primary class of actions + stands another, such as the habit of intoxication, which are known to be + wrong only by observing the consequences. If drunkenness did not + terminate, after some years, in producing bodily weakness, irritability in + the temper, and so forth, it would <i>not</i> be a vicious act. And + accordingly, if a transcendent motive should arise in favor of + drunkenness, as that it would enable you to face a degree of cold, or + contagion, else menacing to life, a duty would arise, <i>pro hac vice</i>, + of getting drunk. We had an amiable friend who suffered under the + infirmity of cowardice; an awful coward he was when sober; but, when very + drunk, he had courage enough for the Seven Champions of Christendom, + Therefore, in an emergency, where he knew himself suddenly loaded with the + responsibility of defending a family, we approved highly of his getting + drunk. But to violate a trust could never become right under any change of + circumstances. Coleridge, however, altogether overlooked this distinction: + which, on the other hand, stirring in Paley's mind, but never brought out + to distinct consciousness, nor ever investigated, nor limited, has + undermined his system. Perhaps it is not very important how a man <i>theorizes</i> + upon morality; happily for us all, God has left no man in such questions + practically to the guidance of his understanding; but still, considering + that academic bodies <i>are</i> partly instituted for the support of + speculative truth as well as truth practical, we must think it a blot upon + the splendor of Oxford and Cambridge that both of them, in a Christian + land, make Paley the foundation of their ethics; the alternative being + Aristotle. And, in our mind, though far inferior as a moralist to the + Stoics, Aristotle is often less of a pagan than Paley. + </p> + <p> + Coleridge's dislike to Sir Sidney Smith and the Egyptian Lord Hutchinson + fell under the category of Martial's case. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare, + Hoc solum novi—non amo te, Sabidi.' +</pre> + <p> + Against Lord Hutchinson, we never heard him plead anything of moment, + except that he was finically Frenchified in his diction; of which he gave + this instance—that having occasion to notice a brick wall, (which + was literally <i>that</i>, not more and not less,) when reconnoitring the + French defences, he called it a <i>revętement</i>. And we ourselves + remember his using the French word <i>gloriole</i> rather ostentatiously; + that is, when no particular emphasis attached to the case. But every man + has his foibles; and few, perhaps, are less conspicuously annoying than + this of Lord Hutchinson's. Sir Sidney's crimes were less distinctly + revealed to our mind. As to Cuvier, Coleridge's hatred of <i>him</i> was + more to our taste; for (though quite unreasonable, we fear) it took the + shape of patriotism. He insisted on it, that our British John Hunter was + the genuine article, and that Cuvier was a humbug. Now, speaking privately + to the public, we cannot go quite so far as <i>that</i>. But, when + publicly we address that most respectable character, <i>en grand costume</i>, + we always mean to back Coleridge. For we are a horrible John Bull + ourselves. As Joseph Hume observes, it makes no difference to us—right + or wrong, black or white—when our countrymen are concerned. And John + Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, [Footnote: <i>Vide</i>, + in particular, for the most exquisite specimen of pigheadedness that the + world can furnish, his perverse evidence on the once famous case at the + Warwick assizes, of Captain Donelan for poisoning his brother-in-law, Sir + Theodosius Boughton.] was really a great man; though it will not follow + that Cuvier must, therefore, have been a little one. We do not pretend to + be acquainted with the tenth part of Cuvier's performances; but we suspect + that Coleridge's range in that respect was not much greater than our own. + </p> + <p> + Other cases of monomaniac antipathy we might revive from our recollections + of Coleridge, had we a sufficient motive. But in compensation, and by way + of redressing the balance, he had many strange likings—equally + monomaniac—and, unaccountably, he chose to exhibit his whimsical + partialities by dressing up, as it were, in his own clothes, such a set of + scarecrows as eye has not beheld. Heavens! what an ark of unclean beasts + would have been Coleridge's private <i>menagerie</i> of departed + philosophers, could they all have been trotted out in succession! But did + the reader feel them to be the awful bores which, in fact, they were? No; + because Coleridge had blown upon these withered anatomies, through the + blowpipe of his own creative genius, a stream of gas that swelled the + tissue of their antediluvian wrinkles, forced color upon their cheeks, and + splendor upon their sodden eyes. Such a process of ventriloquism never <i>has</i> + existed. He spoke by their organs. They were the tubes; and he forced + through their wooden machinery his own Beethoven harmonies. + </p> + <p> + First came Dr. Andrew Bell. We knew him. Was he dull? Is a wooden spoon + dull? Fishy were his eyes; torpedinous was his manner; and his main idea, + out of two which he really had, related to the moon—from which you + infer, perhaps, that he was lunatic. By no means. It was no craze, under + the influence of the moon, which possessed him; it was an idea of mere + hostility to the moon. The Madras people, like many others, had an idea + that she influenced the weather. Subsequently the Herschels, senior and + junior, systematized this idea; and then the wrath of Andrew, previously + in a crescent state, actually dilated to a plenilunar orb. The + Westmoreland people (for at the lakes it was we knew him) expounded his + condition to us by saying that he was 'maffled;' which word means + 'perplexed in the extreme.' His wrath did not pass into lunacy; it + produced simple distraction; an uneasy fumbling with the idea; like that + of an old superannuated dog who longs to worry, but cannot for want of + teeth. In this condition you will judge that he was rather tedious. And in + this condition Coleridge took him up. Andrew's other idea, because he <i>had</i> + two, related to education. Perhaps six-sevenths of that also came from + Madras. No matter, Coleridge took <i>that</i> up; Southey also; but + Southey with his usual temperate fervor. Coleridge, on the other hand, + found celestial marvels both in the scheme and in the man. Then commenced + the apotheosis of Andrew Bell: and because it happened that his opponent, + Lancaster, between ourselves, really <i>had</i> stolen his ideas from + Bell, what between the sad wickedness of Lancaster and the celestial + transfiguration of Bell, gradually Coleridge heated himself to such an + extent, that people, when referring to that subject, asked each other, + 'Have you heard Coleridge lecture on <i>Bel and the Dragon</i>?' + </p> + <p> + The next man glorified by Coleridge was John Woolman, the Quaker. Him, + though we once possessed his works, it cannot be truly affirmed that we + ever read. Try to read John, we often did; but read John we did not. This, + however, you say, might be our fault, and not John's. Very likely. And we + have a notion that now, with our wiser thoughts, we <i>should</i> read + John, if he were here on this table. It is certain that he was a good man, + and one of the earliest in America, if not in Christendom, who lifted up + his hand to protest against the slave-trade. But still, we suspect, that + had John been all that Coleridge represented, he would not have repelled + us from reading his travels in the fearful way that he did. But, again, we + beg pardon, and entreat the earth of Virginia to lie light upon the + remains of John Woolman; for he was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there + was no guile. + </p> + <p> + The third person raised to divine honors by Coleridge was Bowyer, the + master of Christ's Hospital, London—a man whose name rises into the + nostrils of all who knew him with the gracious odor of a tallow-chandler's + melting-house upon melting day, and whose memory is embalmed in the hearty + detestation of all his pupils. Coleridge describes this man as a profound + critic. Our idea of him is different. We are of opinion that Bowyer was + the greatest villain of the eighteenth century. We may be wrong; but we + cannot be <i>far</i> wrong. Talk of knouting indeed! which we did at the + beginning of this paper in the mere playfulness of our hearts—and + which the great master of the knout, Christopher, who visited men's + trespasses like the Eumenides, never resorted to but in love for some + great idea which had been outraged; why, this man knouted his way through + life, from bloody youth up to truculent old age. Grim idol! whose altars + reeked with children's blood, and whose dreadful eyes never smiled except + as the stern goddess of the Thugs smiles, when the sound of human + lamentations inhabits her ears. So much had the monster fed upon this + great idea of 'flogging,' and transmuted it into the very nutriment of his + heart, that he seems to have conceived the gigantic project of flogging + all mankind; nay worse, for Mr. Gillman, on Coleridge's authority, tells + us (p. 24) the following anecdote:—'"<i>Sirrah, I'll flog you</i>," + were words so familiar to him, that on one occasion some <i>female</i> + friend of one of the boys,' (who had come on an errand of intercession,) + 'still lingering at the door, after having been abruptly told to go, + Bowyer exclaimed—"Bring that woman here, and I'll flog her."' + </p> + <p> + To this horrid incarnation of whips and scourges, Coleridge, in his <i>Biographia + Literaria</i>, ascribes ideas upon criticism and taste, which every man + will recognise as the intense peculiarities of Coleridge. Could these + notions really have belonged to Bowyer, then how do we know but he wrote + <i>The Ancient Mariner</i>? Yet, on consideration, no. For even Coleridge + admitted that, spite of his fine theorizing upon composition, Mr. Bowyer + did not prosper in the practice. Of which he gave us this illustration; + and as it is supposed to be the only specimen of the Bowyeriana which now + survives in this sublunary world, we are glad to extend its glory. It is + the most curious example extant of the melodious in sound:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ''Twas thou that smooth'd'st the rough-rugg'd bed of pain.' +</pre> + <p> + 'Smooth'd'st!' Would the teeth of a crocodile not splinter under that + word? It seems to us as if Mr. Bowyer's verses ought to be boiled before + they can be read. And when he says, 'Twas thou, what is the wretch talking + to? Can he be apostrophizing the knout? We very much fear it. If so, then, + you see (reader!) that, even when incapacitated by illness from operating, + he still adores the image of his holy scourge, and invokes it as alone + able to smooth 'his rough-rugg'd bed.' Oh, thou infernal Bowyer! upon whom + even Trollope (<i>History of Christ's Hospital</i>) charges 'a discipline + <i>tinctured</i> with more than due severity;'—can there be any + partners found for thee in a quadrille, except Draco, the bloody lawgiver, + Bishop Bonner, and Mrs. Brownrigg? + </p> + <p> + The next pet was Sir Alexander Ball. Concerning Bowyer, Coleridge did not + talk much, but chiefly wrote; concerning Bell, he did not write much, but + chiefly talked. Concerning Ball, however, he both wrote and talked. It was + in vain to muse upon any plan for having Ball blackballed, or for + rebelling against Bell. Think of a man, who had fallen into one pit called + Bell; secondly, falling into another pit called Ball. This was too much. + We were obliged to quote poetry against them:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'Letters four do form his name; + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And the nightmare I have felt since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' +</pre> + <p> + Not that we insinuate any disrespect to Sir Alexander Ball. He was about + the foremost, we believe, in all good qualities, amongst Nelson's + admirable captains at the Nile. He commanded a seventy-four most + effectually in that battle; he governed Malta as well as Sancho governed + Barataria; and he was a true practical philosopher—as, indeed, was + Sancho. But still, by all that we could ever learn, Sir Alexander had no + taste for the abstract upon any subject; and would have read, as mere + delirious wanderings, those philosophic opinions which Coleridge fastened + like wings upon his respectable, but astounded, shoulders. + </p> + <p> + We really beg pardon for having laughed a little at these crazes of + Coleridge. But laugh we did, of mere necessity, in those days, at Bell and + Ball, whenever we did not groan. And, as the same precise alternative + offered itself now, viz., that, in recalling the case, we must reverberate + either the groaning or the laughter, we presumed the reader would vote for + the last. Coleridge, we are well convinced, owed all these wandering and + exaggerated estimates of men—these diseased impulses, that, like the + <i>mirage</i>, showed lakes and fountains where in reality there were only + arid deserts, to the derangements worked by opium. But now, for the sake + of change, let us pass to another topic. Suppose we say a word or two on + Coleridge's accomplishments as a scholar. We are not going to enter on so + large a field as that of his scholarship in connection with his + philosophic labors, scholarship in the result; not this, but scholarship + in the means and machinery, range of <i>verbal</i> scholarship, is what we + propose for a moment's review. + </p> + <p> + For instance, what sort of a German scholar was Coleridge? We dare say + that, because in his version of the <i>Wallenstein</i> there are some + inaccuracies, those who may have noticed them will hold him cheap in this + particular pretension. But, to a certain degree, they will be wrong. + Coleridge was not <i>very</i> accurate in anything but in the use of + logic. All his philological attainments were imperfect. He did not talk + German; or so obscurely—and, if he attempted to speak fast, so + erroneously—that in his second sentence, when conversing with a + German lady of rank, he contrived to assure her that in his humble opinion + she was a ——. Hard it is to fill up the hiatus decorously; + but, in fact, the word very coarsely expressed that she was no better than + she should be. Which reminds us of a parallel misadventure to a German, + whose colloquial English had been equally neglected. Having obtained an + interview with an English lady, he opened his business (whatever it might + be) thus—'High-born madam, since your husband have kicked de bucket'——'Sir!' + interrupted the lady, astonished and displeased. 'Oh, pardon!—nine, + ten thousand pardon! Now, I make new beginning—quite oder beginning. + Madam, since your husband have cut his stick'——It may be + supposed that this did not mend matters; and, reading that in the lady's + countenance, the German drew out an octavo dictionary, and said, + perspiring with shame at having a second time missed fire,—'Madam, + since your husband have gone to kingdom come'——This he said + beseechingly; but the lady was past propitiation by this time, and rapidly + moved towards the door. Things had now reached a crisis; and, if something + were not done quickly, the game was up. Now, therefore, taking a last + hurried look at his dictionary, the German flew after the lady, crying out + in a voice of despair—'Madam, since your husband, your most + respected husband, have hopped de twig'——This was his + sheet-anchor; and, as this also <i>came home</i>, of course the poor man + was totally wrecked. It turned out that the dictionary he had used + (Arnold's, we think,)—a work of a hundred years back, and, from mere + ignorance, giving slang translations from Tom Brown, L'Estrange, and other + jocular writers—had put down the verb <i>sterben (to die)</i> with + the following worshipful series of equivalents—1. To kick the + bucket; 2. To cut one's stick; 3. To go to kingdom come; 4. To hop the + twig. + </p> + <p> + But, though Coleridge did not pretend to any fluent command of + conversational German, he read it with great ease. His knowledge of German + literature was, indeed, too much limited by his rare opportunities for + commanding anything like a well-mounted library. And particularly it + surprised us that Coleridge knew little or nothing of John Paul (Richter). + But his acquaintance with the German philosophic masters was extensive. + And his valuation of many individual German words or phrases was delicate + and sometimes profound. + </p> + <p> + As a Grecian, Coleridge must be estimated with a reference to the state + and standard of Greek literature at that time and in this country. Porson + had not yet raised our ideal. The earliest laurels of Coleridge were + gathered, however, in that field. Yet no man will, at this day, pretend + that the Greek of his prize ode is sufferable. Neither did Coleridge ever + become an accurate Grecian in later times, when better models of + scholarship, and better aids to scholarship, had begun to multiply. But + still we must assert this point of superiority for Coleridge, that, whilst + he never was what may be called a well-mounted scholar in any department + of verbal scholarship, he yet displayed sometimes a brilliancy of + conjectural sagacity, and a felicity of philosophic investigation, even in + this path, such as better scholars do not often attain, and of a kind + which cannot be learned from books. But, as respects his accuracy, again + we must recall to the reader the state of Greek literature in England + during Coleridge's youth; and, in all equity, as a means of placing + Coleridge in the balances, specifically we must recall the state of Greek + metrical composition at that period. + </p> + <p> + To measure the condition of Greek literature even in Cambridge, about the + initial period of Coleridge, we need only look back to the several + translations of Gray's <i>Elegy</i> by three (if not four) of the reverend + gentlemen at that time attached to Eton College. Mathias, no very great + scholar himself in this particular field, made himself merry, in his <i>Pursuits + of Literature</i>, with these Eton translations. In that he was right. But + he was <i>not</i> right in praising a contemporary translation by Cook, + who (we believe) was the immediate predecessor of Porson in the Greek + chair. As a specimen of this translation, [Footnote: It was printed at the + end of Aristotle's <i>Poetics</i>, which Dr. Cook edited.] we cite one + stanza; and we cannot be supposed to select unfairly, because it is the + stanza which Mathias praises in extravagant terms. "Here," says he, "Gray, + Cook, and Nature, do seem to contend for the mastery." The English + quatrain must be familiar to every body:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour: + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." +</pre> + <p> + And the following, we believe, though quoting from a thirty-three years' + recollection of it, is the exact Greek version of Cook:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'A charis eugenon, charis a basilaeidos achas + Lora tuchaes chryseaes, Aphroditaes kala ta dora, + Paith ama tauta tethiake, kai eiden morsimon amar + Proon kle olole, kai ocheto xunon es Adaen.' +</pre> + <p> + Now really these verses, by force of a little mosaic tesselation from + genuine Greek sources, pass fluently over the tongue; but can they be + considered other than a <i>cento</i>? Swarms of English schoolboys, at + this day, would not feel very proud to adopt them. In fact, we remember + (at a period say twelve years later than this) some iambic verses, which + were really composed by a boy, viz., a son of Dr. Prettyman, (afterwards + Tomline,) Bishop of Winchester, and, in earlier times, private tutor to + Mr. Pitt; they were published by Middleton, first Bishop of Calcutta, in + the preface to his work on the Greek article; and for racy idiomatic + Greek, self-originated, and not a mere mocking-bird's iteration of alien + notes, are so much superior to all the attempts of these sexagenarian + doctors, as distinctly to mark the growth of a new era and a new + generation in this difficult accomplishment, within the first decennium of + this century. It is singular that only one blemish is suggested by any of + the contemporary critics in Dr. Cook's verses, viz., in the word <i>xunon</i>, + for which this critic proposes to substitute <i>ooinon</i>, to prevent, as + he observes, the last syllable of <i>ocheto</i> from being lengthened by + the <i>x</i>. Such considerations as these are necessary to the <i>trutinć + castigatio</i>, before we can value Coleridge's place on the scale of his + own day; which day, <i>quoad hoc</i>, be it remembered, was 1790. + </p> + <p> + As to French, Coleridge read it with too little freedom to find pleasure + in French literature. Accordingly, we never recollect his referring for + any purpose, either of argument or illustration, to a French classic. + Latin, from his regular scholastic training, naturally he read with a + scholar's fluency; and indeed, he read constantly in authors, such as + Petrarch, Erasmus, Calvin, &c., whom he could not then have found in + translations. But Coleridge had not cultivated an acquaintance with the + delicacies of classic Latinity. And it is remarkable that Wordsworth, + educated most negligently at Hawkshead school, subsequently by reading the + lyric poetry of Horace, simply for his own delight as a student of + composition, made himself a master of Latinity in its most difficult form; + whilst Coleridge, trained regularly in a great Southern school, never + carried his Latin to any classical polish. + </p> + <p> + There is another accomplishment of Coleridge's, less broadly open to the + judgment of this generation, and not at all of the next—viz., his + splendid art of conversation, on which it will be interesting to say a + word. Ten years ago, when the music of this rare performance had not yet + ceased to vibrate in men's ears, what a sensation was gathering amongst + the educated classes on this particular subject! What a tumult of anxiety + prevailed to 'hear Mr. Coleridge'—or even to talk with a man who <i>had</i> + heard him! Had he lived till this day, not Paganini would have been so + much sought after. That sensation is now decaying; because a new + generation has emerged during the ten years since his death. But many + still remain whose sympathy (whether of curiosity in those who did <i>not</i> + know him, or of admiration in those who <i>did</i>) still reflects as in a + mirror the great stir upon this subject which then was moving in the + world. To these, if they should inquire for the great distinguishing + principle of Coleridge's conversation, we might say that it was the power + of vast combination 'in linked sweetness long drawn out.' He gathered into + focal concentration the largest body of objects, <i>apparently</i> + disconnected, that any man ever yet, by any magic, could assemble, or, <i>having</i> + assembled, could manage. His great fault was, that, by not opening + sufficient spaces for reply or suggestion, or collateral notice, he not + only narrowed his own field, but he grievously injured the final + impression. For when men's minds are purely passive, when they are not + allowed to re-act, then it is that they collapse most, and that their + sense of what is said must ever be feeblest. Doubtless there must have + been great conversational masters elsewhere, and at many periods; but in + this lay Coleridge's characteristic advantage, that he was a great natural + power, and also a great artist. He was a power in the art, and he carried + a new art into the power. + </p> + <p> + But now, finally—having left ourselves little room for more—one + or two words on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + </p> + <p> + We have not often read a sentence falling from a wise man with + astonishment so profound, as that particular one in a letter of + Coleridge's to Mr. Gillman, which speaks of the effort to wean one's-self + from opium as a trivial task. There are, we believe, several such + passages. But we refer to that one in particular which assumes that a + single 'week' will suffice for the whole process of so mighty a + revolution. Is indeed leviathan <i>so</i> tamed? In that case the + quarantine of the opium-eater might be finished within Coleridge's time, + and with Coleridge's romantic ease. But mark the contradictions of this + extraordinary man. Not long ago we were domesticated with a venerable + rustic, strong-headed, but incurably obstinate in his prejudices, who + treated the whole body of medical men as ignorant pretenders, knowing + absolutely nothing of the system which they professed to superintend. + This, you will remark, is no very singular case. No; nor, as we believe, + is the antagonist case of ascribing to such men magical powers. Nor, what + is worse still, the co-existence of both cases in the same mind, as in + fact happened here. For this same obstinate friend of ours, who treated + all medical pretensions as the mere jest of the universe, every 'third day + was exacting from his own medical attendants some exquisite <i>tour-de-force</i>, + as that they should know or should do something, which, if they <i>had</i> + known or done, all men would have suspected them reasonably of magic. He + rated the whole medical body as infants; and yet what he exacted from them + every third day as a matter of course, virtually presumed them to be the + only giants within the whole range of science. Parallel and equal is the + contradiction of Coleridge. He speaks of opium excess, his own excess, we + mean—the excess of twenty-five years—as a thing to be laid + aside easily and for ever within seven days; and yet, on the other hand, + he describes it pathetically, sometimes with a frantic pathos, as the + scourge, the curse, the one almighty blight which had desolated his life. + </p> + <p> + This shocking contradiction we need not press. All readers will see <i>that</i>. + But some will ask—Was Mr. Coleridge right in either view? Being so + atrociously wrong in the first notion, (viz., that the opium of + twenty-five years was a thing easily to be forsworn,) where a child could + know that he was wrong, was he even altogether right, secondly, in + believing that his own life, root and branch, had been withered by opium? + For it will not follow, because, with a relation to happiness and + tranquillity, a man may have found opium his curse, that therefore, as a + creature of energies and great purposes, he must have been the wreck which + he seems to suppose. Opium gives and takes away. It defeats the <i>steady</i> + habit of exertion, but it creates spasms of irregular exertion; it ruins + the natural power of life, but it develops preternatural paroxysms of + intermitting power. Let us ask of any man who holds that not Coleridge + himself but the world, as interested in Coleridge's usefulness, has + suffered by his addiction to opium; whether he is aware of the way in + which opium affected Coleridge; and secondly, whether he is aware of the + actual contributions to literature—how large they were—which + Coleridge made <i>in spite</i> of opium. All who were intimate with + Coleridge must remember the fits of genial animation which were created + continually in his manner and in his buoyancy of thought by a recent or by + an <i>extra</i> dose of the omnipotent drug. A lady, who knew nothing + experimentally of opium, once told us, that she 'could tell when Mr. + Coleridge had taken too much opium by his shining countenance.' She was + right; we know that mark of opium excesses well, and the cause of it; or + at least we believe the cause to lie in the quickening of the insensible + perspiration which accumulates and glistens on the face. Be that as it + may, a criterion it was that could not deceive us as to the condition of + Coleridge. And uniformly in that condition he made his most effective + intellectual displays. It is true that he might not be happy under this + fiery animation, and we fully believe that he was not. Nobody is happy + under laudanum except for a very short term of years. But in what way did + that operate upon his exertions as a writer? We are of opinion that it + killed Coleridge as a poet. 'The harp of Quantock' was silenced for ever + by the torment of opium. But proportionably it roused and stung by misery + his metaphysical instincts into more spasmodic life. Poetry can flourish + only in the atmosphere of happiness. But subtle and perplexed + investigations of difficult problems are amongst the commonest resources + for beguiling the sense of misery. And for this we have the direct + authority of Coleridge himself speculating on his own case. In the + beautiful though unequal ode entitled <i>Dejection</i>, stanza six, occurs + the following passage: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'For not to think of what I needs must feel, + But to be still and patient all I can; + <i>And haply by abstruse research to steal + From my own nature all the natural man</i>— + This was my sole resource, my only plan; + Till that, which suits a part, infects the whole, + And now is almost grown the habit of my soul.' +</pre> + <p> + Considering the exquisite quality of some poems which Coleridge has + composed, nobody can grieve (or <i>has</i> grieved) more than ourselves, + at seeing so beautiful a fountain choked up with weeds. But had Coleridge + been a happier man, it is our fixed belief that we should have had far + less of his philosophy, and perhaps, but not certainly, might have had + more of his general literature. In the estimate of the public, doubtless, + <i>that</i> will seem a bad exchange. Every man to his taste. Meantime, + what we wish to show is, that the loss was not absolute, but merely + relative. + </p> + <p> + It is urged, however, that, even on his philosophic speculations, opium + operated unfavorably in one respect, by often causing him to leave them + unfinished. This is true. Whenever Coleridge (being highly charged, or + saturated, with opium) had written with distempered vigor upon any + question, there occurred soon after a recoil of intense disgust, not from + his own paper only, but even from the subject. All opium-eaters are + tainted with the infirmity of leaving works unfinished, and suffering + reactions of disgust. But Coleridge taxed himself with that infirmity in + verse before he could at all have commenced opium-eating. Besides, it is + too much assumed by Coleridge and by his biographer, that to leave off + opium was of course to regain juvenile health. But all opium-eaters make + the mistake of supposing every pain or irritation which they suffer to be + the product of opium. Whereas a wise man will say, suppose you <i>do</i> + leave off opium, that will not deliver you from the load of years (say + sixty-three) which you carry on your back. Charles Lamb, another man of + true genius, and another head belonging to the Blackwood Gallery, made + that mistake in his <i>Confessions of a Drunkard</i>. 'I looked back,' + says he, 'to the time when always, on waking in the morning, I had a song + rising to my lips.' At present, it seems, being a drunkard, he has no such + song. Ay, dear Lamb, but note this, that the drunkard was fifty-six years + old, the songster was twenty-three. Take twenty-three from fifty-six, and + we have some reason to believe that thirty-three will remain; which period + of thirty-three years is a pretty good reason for not singing in the + morning, even if brandy has been out of the question. + </p> + <p> + It is singular, as respects Coleridge, that Mr. Gillman never says one + word upon the event of the great Highgate experiment for leaving off + laudanum, though Coleridge came to Mr. Gillman's for no other purpose; and + in a week, this vast creation of new earth, sea, and all that in them is, + was to have been accomplished. We <i>rayther</i> think, as Bayley junior + observes, that the explosion must have hung fire. But <i>that</i> is a + trifle. We have another pleasing hypothesis on the subject. Mr. + Wordsworth, in his exquisite lines written on a fly-leaf of his own <i>Castle + of Indolence</i>, having described Coleridge as 'a noticeable man with + large grey eyes,' goes on to say, 'He' (viz., Coleridge) 'did that other + man entice' to view his imagery. Now we are sadly afraid that 'the + noticeable man with large grey eyes' did entice 'that other man,' viz., + Gillman, to commence opium-eating. This is droll; and it makes us laugh + horribly. Gillman should have reformed <i>him</i>; and lo! <i>he</i> + corrupts Gillman. S. T. Coleridge visited Highgate by way of being + converted from the heresy of opium; and the issue is—that, in two + months' time, various grave men, amongst whom our friend Gillman marches + first in great pomp, are found to have faces shining and glorious as that + of AEsculapius; a fact of which we have already explained the secret + meaning. And scandal says (but then what will not scandal say?) that a + hogshead of opium goes up daily through Highgate tunnel. Surely one + corroboration of our hypothesis may be found in the fact, that Vol. I. of + Gillman's Coleridge is for ever to stand unpropped by Vol. II. For we have + already observed, that opium-eaters, though good fellows upon the whole, + never finish anything. + </p> + <p> + What then? A man has a right never to finish anything. Certainly he has; + and by Magna Charta. But he has no right, by Magna Charta or by Parva + Charta, to slander decent men, like ourselves and our friend the author of + the <i>Opium Confessions</i>. Here it is that our complaint arises against + Mr. Gillman. If he has taken to opium-eating, can we help <i>that</i>? If + <i>his</i> face shines, must our faces be blackened? He has very + improperly published some intemperate passages from Coleridge's letters, + which ought to have been considered confidential, unless Coleridge had + left them for publication, charging upon the author of the <i>Opium + Confessions</i> a reckless disregard of the temptations which, in that + work, he was scattering abroad amongst men. Now this author is connected + with ourselves, and we cannot neglect his defence, unless in the case that + he undertakes it himself. + </p> + <p> + We complain, also, that Coleridge raises (and is backed by Mr. Gillman in + raising) a distinction perfectly perplexing to us, between himself and the + author of the <i>Opium Confessions</i> upon the question—Why they + severally began the practice of opium-eating? In himself, it seems, this + motive was to relieve pain, whereas the Confessor was surreptitiously + seeking for pleasure. Ay, indeed—where did he learn <i>that</i>? We + have no copy of the <i>Confessions</i> here, so we cannot quote chapter + and verse; but we distinctly remember, that toothache is recorded in that + book as the particular occasion which first introduced the author to the + knowledge of opium. Whether afterwards, having been thus initiated by the + demon of pain, the opium confessor did not apply powers thus discovered to + purposes of mere pleasure, is a question for himself; and the same + question applies with the same cogency to Coleridge. Coleridge began in + rheumatic pains. What then? This is no proof that he did not end in + voluptuousness. For our parts, we are slow to believe that ever any man + did, or could, learn the somewhat awful truth, that in a certain + ruby-colored elixir, there lurked a divine power to chase away the genius + of ennui, without subsequently abusing this power. To taste but once from + the tree of knowledge, is fatal to the subsequent power of abstinence. + True it is, that generations have used laudanum as an anodyne, (for + instance, hospital patients,) who have not afterwards courted its powers + as a voluptuous stimulant; but that, be sure, has arisen from no + abstinence in <i>them</i>. There are, in fact, two classes of temperaments + as to this terrific drug—those which are, and those which are not, + preconformed to its power; those which genially expand to its temptations, + and those which frostily exclude them. Not in the energies of the will, + but in the qualities of the nervous organization, lies the dread + arbitration of—Fall or stand: doomed thou art to yield; or, + strengthened constitutionally, to resist. Most of those who have but a low + sense of the spells lying couchant in opium, have practically none at all. + For the initial fascination is for <i>them</i> effectually defeated by the + sickness which nature has associated with the first stages of + opium-eating. But to that other class, whose nervous sensibilities vibrate + to their profoundest depths under the first touch of the angelic poison, + even as a lover's ear thrills on hearing unexpectedly the voice of her + whom he loves, opium is the Amreeta cup of beatitude. You know the <i>Paradise + Lost</i>? and you remember, from the eleventh book, in its earlier part, + that laudanum already existed in Eden—nay, that it was used + medicinally by an archangel; for, after Michael had 'purged with euphrasy + and rue' the eyes of Adam, lest he should be unequal to the mere <i>sight</i> + of the great visions about to unfold their draperies before him, next he + fortifies his fleshly spirits against the <i>affliction</i> of these + visions, of which visions the first was death. And how? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'He from the well of life three drops instill'd.' +</pre> + <p> + What was their operation? + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, + <i>Even to the inmost seat of mental sight</i>, + That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, + Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced. + But him the gentle angel by the hand + Soon raised'—— +</pre> + <p> + The second of these lines it is which betrays the presence of laudanum. It + is in the faculty of mental vision, it is in the increased power of + dealing with the shadowy and the dark, that the characteristic virtue of + opium lies. Now, in the original higher sensibility is found some + palliation for the <i>practice</i> of opium-eating; in the greater + temptation is a greater excuse. And in this faculty of self-revelation is + found some palliation for <i>reporting</i> the case to the world, which + both Coleridge and his biographer have overlooked. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. + </h2> + <p> + The most remarkable instance of a combined movement in society, which + history, perhaps, will be summoned to notice, is that which, in our own + days, has applied itself to the abatement of intemperance. Naturally, or + by any <i>direct</i> process, the machinery set in motion would seem + irrelevant to the object: if one hundred men unite to elevate the standard + of temperance, they can do this with effect only by improvements in their + own separate cases: each individual, for such an effort of self-conquest, + can draw upon no resources but his own. One member in a combination of one + hundred, when running a race, can hope for no cooperation from his + ninety-nine associates. And yet, by a secondary action, such combinations + are found eminently successful. Having obtained from every confederate a + pledge, in some shape or other, that he will give them his support, + thenceforwards they bring the passions of shame and self-esteem to bear + upon each member's personal perseverance. Not only they keep alive and + continually refresh in his thoughts the general purpose, which else might + fade; but they also point the action of public contempt and of + self-contempt at any defaulter much more potently, and with more + acknowledged right to do so, when they use this influence under a license, + volunteered, and signed, and sealed, by the man's own hand. They first + conciliate his countenance through his intellectual perceptions of what is + right; and next they sustain it through his conscience, (the strongest of + his internal forces,) and even through the weakest of his human + sensibilities. That revolution, therefore, which no combination of men can + further by abating the original impulse of temptations, they often + accomplish happily by maturing the secondary energies of resistance. + </p> + <p> + Already in their earliest stage, these temperance movements had obtained, + both at home and abroad, a <i>national</i> range of grandeur. More than + ten years ago, when M. de Tocqueville was resident in the United States, + the principal American society counted two hundred and seventy thousand + members: and in one single state (Pennsylvania) the annual diminution in + the use of spirits had very soon reached half a million of gallons. Now a + machinery must be so far good which accomplishes its end: the means are + meritorious for so much as they effect. Even to strengthen a feeble + resolution by the aid of other infirmities, such as shame or the very + servility and cowardice of deference to public opinion, becomes prudent + and laudable in the service of so great a cause. Nay, sometimes to make + public profession of self-distrust by assuming the coercion of public + pledges, may become an expression of frank courage, or even of noble + principle, not fearing the shame of confession when it can aid the powers + of victorious resistance. Yet still, so far as it is possible, every man + sighs for a still higher victory over himself: a victory not tainted by + bribes, and won from no impulses but those inspired by his own higher + nature, and his own mysterious force of will; powers that in no man were + fully developed. + </p> + <p> + This being so, it is well that from time to time every man should throw + out any hints that have occurred to his experience,—suggesting such + as may be new, renewing such as may be old, towards the encouragement or + the information of persons engaged in so great a struggle. My own + experience had never travelled in that course which could much instruct me + in the miseries from wine, or in the resources for struggling with it. I + had repeatedly been obliged indeed to lay it aside altogether; but in this + I never found room for more than seven or ten days' struggle: excesses I + had never practised in the use of wine; simply the habit of using it, and + the collateral habits formed by excessive use of opium, had produced any + difficulty at all in resigning it even on an hour's notice. From opium I + derive my right of offering hints at all upon the subjects of abstinence + in other forms. But the modes of suffering from the evil, and the separate + modes of suffering from the effort of self-conquest, together with errors + of judgment incident to such states of transitional torment, are all + nearly allied, practically analogous as regards the remedies, even if + characteristically distinguished to the inner consciousness. I make no + scruple, therefore, of speaking as from a station of high experience and + of most watchful attention, which never remitted even under sufferings + that were at times absolutely frantic. + </p> + <p> + I. The first hint is one that has been often offered; viz., the diminution + of the particular liquor used, by the introduction into each glass of some + inert substance, ascertained in bulk, and equally increasing in amount + from day to day. But this plan has often been intercepted by an accident: + shot, or sometimes bullets, were the substances nearest at hand; an + objection arose from too scrupulous a caution of chemistry as to the + action upon lead of the vinous acid. Yet all objection of this kind might + be removed at once, by using beads in a case where small decrements were + wanted, and marbles, if it were thought advisable to use larger. Once for + all, however, in cases deeply rooted, no advances ought ever to be made + but by small stages: for the effect, which is insensible at first, by the + tenth, twelfth, or fifteenth day, generally accumulates unendurably under + any bolder deductions. I must not stop to illustrate this point; but + certain it is, that by an error of this nature at the outset, most natural + to human impatience under exquisite suffering, too generally the trial is + abruptly brought to an end through the crisis of a passionate relapse. + </p> + <p> + II. Another object, and one to which the gladiator matched in single duel + with intemperance, must direct a religious vigilance, is the <i>digestibility</i> + of his food: it must be digestible not only by its original qualities, but + also by its culinary preparation. In this last point we are all of us + Manichćans: all of us yield a cordial assent to that Manichćan proverb, + which refers the meats and the cooks of this world to two opposite + fountains of light and of darkness. Oromasdes it is, or the good + principle, that sends the food; Ahrimanes, or the evil principle, that + everywhere sends the cooks. Man has been repeatedly described or even + defined, as by differential privilege of his nature, 'A cooking animal.' + Brutes, it is said, have faces,—man only has a countenance; brutes + are as well able to eat as man,—man only is able to cook what he + eats. Such are the romances of self-flattery. I, on the contrary, + maintain, that six thousand years have not availed, in this point, to + raise our race generally to the level of ingenious savages. The natives of + the Society and the Friendly Isles, or of New Zealand, and other favored + spots, had, and still have, an <i>art</i> of cookery, though very limited + in its range: the French [Footnote: But judge not, reader, of French skill + by the attempts of fourth-rate artists; and understand me to speak with + respect of this skill, not as it is the tool of luxury, but as it is the + handmaid of health.] have an art, and more extensive; but we English are + about upon a level (as regards this science) with the ape, to whom an + instinct whispers that chestnuts may be roasted; or with the aboriginal + Chinese of Charles Lamb's story, to whom the experience of many centuries + had revealed thus much, viz., that a dish very much beyond the raw flesh + of their ancestors, might be had by burning down the family mansion, and + thus roasting the pig-stye. Rudest of barbarous devices is English + cookery, and not much in advance of this primitive Chinese step; a fact + which it would not be worth while to lament, were it not for the sake of + the poor trembling deserter from the banners of intoxication, who is thus, + and by no other cause, so often thrown back beneath the yoke which he had + abjured. Past counting are the victims of alcohol, that, having by vast + efforts emancipated themselves for a season, are violently forced into + relapsing by the nervous irritations of demoniac cookery. Unhappily for <i>them</i>, + the horrors of indigestion are relieved for the moment, however ultimately + strengthened, by strong liquors; the relief is immediate, and cannot fail + to be perceived; but the aggravation, being removed to a distance, is not + always referred to its proper cause. This is the capital rock and + stumbling-block in the path of him who is hurrying back to the camps of + temperance; and many a reader is likely to misapprehend the case through + the habit he has acquired of supposing indigestion to lurk chiefly amongst + <i>luxurious</i> dishes. But, on the contrary, it is amongst the plainest, + simplest, and commonest dishes that such misery lurks, in England. Let us + glance at three articles of diet, beyond all comparison of most ordinary + occurrence, viz., potatoes, bread, and butcher's meat. The art of + preparing potatoes for <i>human</i> use is utterly unknown, except in + certain provinces of our empire, and amongst certain sections of the + laboring class. In our great cities,—London, Edinburgh, &c.—the + sort of things which you see offered at table under the name and + reputation of potatoes, are such that, if you could suppose the company to + be composed of Centaurs and Lapithć, or any other quarrelsome people, it + would become necessary for the police to interfere. The potato of cities + is a very dangerous missile; and, if thrown with an accurate aim by an + angry hand, will fracture any known skull. In volume and consistency, it + is very like a paving-stone; only that, I should say, the paving-stone had + the advantage in point of tenderness. And upon this horrid basis, which + youthful ostriches would repent of swallowing, the trembling, palpitating + invalid, fresh from the scourging of alcohol, is requested to build the + superstructure of his dinner. The proverb says, that three flittings are + as bad as a fire; and on that model I conceive that three potatoes, as + they are found at many British dinner-tables, would be equal, in principle + of ruin, to two glasses of vitriol. The same savage ignorance appears, and + only not so often, in the bread of this island. Myriads of families eat it + in that early stage of sponge which bread assumes during the process of + baking; but less than sixty hours will not fit this dangerous article of + human diet to be eaten. And those who are acquainted with the works of + Parmentier, or other learned investigators of bread and of the baker's + art, must be aware that this quality of sponginess (though quite equal to + the ruin of the digestive organs) is but one in a legion of vices to which + the article is liable. A German of much research wrote a book on the + conceivable faults in a pair of shoes, which he found to be about six + hundred and sixty-six, many of them, as he observed, requiring a very + delicate process of study to find out; whereas the possible faults in + bread, which are not less in number, require no study at all for the + defection; they publish themselves through all varieties of misery. But + the perfection of barbarism, as regards our island cookery, is reserved + for animal food; and the two poles of Oromasdes and Ahrimanes are nowhere + so conspicuously exhibited. Our insular sheep, for instance, are so far + superior to any which the continent produces, that the present Prussian + minister at our court is in the habit of questioning a man's right to talk + of mutton as anything beyond a great idea, unless he can prove a residence + in Great Britain. One sole case he cites of a dinner on the Elbe, when a + particular leg of mutton really struck him as rivalling any which he had + known in England. The mystery seemed inexplicable; but, upon inquiry, it + turned out to be an importation from Leith. Yet this incomparable article, + to produce which the skill of the feeder must co-operate with the peculiar + bounty of nature, calls forth the most dangerous refinements of barbarism + in its cookery. A Frenchman requires, as the primary qualification of + flesh meat, that it should be tender. We English universally, but + especially the Scots, treat that quality with indifference, or with bare + toleration. What we require is, that it should be fresh, that is, recently + killed, (in which state it cannot be digestible except by a crocodile;) + and we present it at table in a transition state of leather, demanding the + teeth of a tiger to rend it in pieces, and the stomach of a tiger to + digest it. + </p> + <p> + With these habits amongst our countrymen, exemplified daily in the + articles of widest use, it is evident that the sufferer from intemperance + has a harder quarantine, in this island, to support during the effort of + restoration, than he could have anywhere else in Christendom. In Persia, + and, perhaps, there only on this terraqueous planet, matters might be even + worse: for, whilst we English neglect the machinery of digestion, as a + matter entitled to little consideration, the people of Teheran seem + unaware that there <i>is</i> any such machinery. So, at least, one might + presume, from cases on record, and especially from the reckless folly, + under severe illness, from indigestion, of the three Persian princes, who + visited this country, as stated by their official <i>mehmander</i>, Mr. + Fraser. With us, the excess of ignorance, upon this subject, betrays + itself oftenest in that vain-glorious answer made by the people, who at + any time are admonished of the sufferings which they are preparing for + themselves by these outrages upon the most delicate of human organs. They, + for <i>their</i> parts, 'know not if they <i>have</i> a stomach; they know + not what it is that dyspepsy means;' forgetting that, in thus vaunting + their <i>strength</i> of stomach, they are, at the same time, proclaiming + its coarseness; and showing themselves unaware that precisely those, whom + such coarseness of organization reprieves from immediate and seasonable + reaction of suffering, are the favorite subjects of that heavier reaction + which takes the shape of <i>delirium tremens</i>, of palsy, and of lunacy. + It is but a fanciful advantage which <i>they</i> enjoy, for whom the + immediate impunity avails only to hide the final horrors which are + gathering upon them from the gloomy rear. Better, by far, that more of + immediate discomfort had guaranteed to them less of reversionary anguish. + It may be safely asserted, that few, indeed, are the suicides amongst us + to which the miseries of indigestion have not been a large concurring + cause; and even where nothing so dreadful as <i>that</i> occurs, always + these miseries are the chief hinderance of the self-reforming drunkard, + and the commonest cause of his relapse. It is certain, also, that + misanthropic gloom and bad temper besiege that class, by preference, to + whom peculiar coarseness or obtuse sensibility of organization has denied + the salutary warnings and early prelibations of punishment which, happily + for most men, besiege the more direct and obvious frailties of the + digestive apparatus. + </p> + <p> + The whole process and elaborate machinery of digestion are felt to be mean + and humiliating when viewed in relation to our mere animal economy. But + they rise into dignity, and assert their own supreme importance, when they + arc studied from another station, viz., in relation to the intellect and + temper; no man dares, <i>then</i>, to despise them: it is then seen that + these functions of the human system form the essential basis upon which + the strength and health of our higher nature repose; and that upon these + functions, chiefly, the general happiness of life is dependent. All the + rules of prudence, or gifts of experience that life can accumulate, will + never do as much for human comfort and welfare as would be done by a + stricter attention, and a wiser science, directed to the digestive system; + in this attention lies the key to any perfect restoration for the victim + of intemperance: and, considering the peculiar hostility to the digestive + health which exists in the dietetic habits of our own country, it may be + feared that nowhere upon earth has the reclaimed martyr to intemperance so + difficult a combat to sustain; nowhere, therefore, is it so important to + direct the attention upon an <i>artificial</i> culture of those resources + which naturally, and by the established habits of the land, are surest to + be neglected. The sheet anchor for the storm-beaten sufferer, who is + laboring to recover a haven of rest from the agonies of intemperance, and + who has had the fortitude to abjure the poison which ruined, but which + also, for brief intervals, offered him his only consolation, lies, beyond + all doubt, in a most anxious regard to everything connected with this + supreme function of our animal economy. And, as few men that are not + regularly trained to medical studies can have the complex knowledge + requisite for such a duty, some printed guide should be sought of a + regular professional order. Twenty years ago, Dr. Wilson Philip published + a valuable book of this class, which united a wide range of practical + directions as to the choice of diet, and as to the qualities and + tendencies of all esculent articles likely to be found at British tables, + with some ingenious speculations upon the still mysterious theory of + digestion. These were derived from experiments made upon rabbits, and had + originally been communicated by him to the Royal Society of London, who + judged them worthy of publication in their Transactions. I notice them + chiefly for the sake of remarking, that the rationale of digestion, as + here suggested, explains the reason of a fact, which merely <i>as</i> a + fact, had not been known until modern times, viz., the injuriousness to + enfeebled stomachs of all fluid. Fifty years ago—and still lingering + inveterately amongst nurses, and other ignorant persons—there + prevailed a notion that 'slops' must be the proper resource of the + valetudinarian; and the same erroneous notion appears in the common + expression of ignorant wonder at the sort of breakfasts usual amongst + women of rank in the times of Queen Elizabeth. 'What robust stomachs they + must have had, to support such solid meals!' As to the question of fact, + whether the stomachs were more or less robust in those days than at the + present, there is no need to offer an opinion. But the question of + principle concerned in scientific dietetics points in the very opposite + direction. By how much the organs of digestion are feebler, by so much is + it the more indispensable that solid food and animal food should be + adopted. A robust stomach may be equal to the trying task of supporting a + fluid, such as tea for breakfast; but for a feeble stomach, and still more + for a stomach <i>enfeebled</i> by bad habits, broiled beef, or something + equally solid and animal, but not too much subjected to the action of + fire, is the only tolerable diet. This, indeed, is the one capital rule + for a sufferer from habitual intoxication, who must inevitably labor under + an impaired digestion; that as little as possible he should use of any + liquid diet, and as little as possible of vegetable diet. Beef, and a + little bread, (at the least sixty hours old,) compose the privileged bill + of fare for his breakfast. But precisely it is, by the way, in relation to + this earliest meal, that human folly has in one or two instances shown + itself most ruinously inventive. The less variety there is at that meal, + the more is the danger from any single luxury; and there is one, known by + the name of 'muffins,' which has repeatedly manifested itself to be a + plain and direct bounty upon suicide. Darwin, in his 'Zoonomia,' reports a + case where an officer, holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel, could not + tolerate a breakfast in which this odious article was wanting; but, as a + savage retribution invariably supervened within an hour or two upon this + act of insane sensuality, he came to a resolution that life was + intolerable <i>with</i> muffins, but still more intolerable <i>without</i> + muffins. He would stand the nuisance no longer; but yet, being a just man, + he would give nature one final chance of reforming her dyspeptic + atrocities. Muffins, therefore, being laid at one angle of the + breakfast-table, and loaded pistols at another, with rigid equity the + Colonel awaited the result. This was naturally pretty much as usual: and + then, the poor man, incapable of retreating from his word of honor, + committed suicide,—having previously left a line for posterity to + the effect (though I forget the expression), 'That a muffinless world was + no world for him: better no life at all than a life dismantled of + muffins.'—Dr. Darwin was a showy philosopher, and fond of producing + effect, so that some allowance must be made in construing the affair. + Strictly speaking, it is probable that not the especial want of muffins, + but the general torment of indigestion, was the curse from which the + unhappy sufferer sought relief by suicide. And the Colonel was not the + first by many a million, that has fled from the very same form of + wretchedness, or from its effects upon the genial spirits, to the same + gloomy refuge. It should never be forgotten that, although some other more + overt vexation is generally assigned as the proximate cause of suicide, + and often may be so as regards the immediate occasion, too generally this + vexation borrowed its whole power to annoy, from the habitual atmosphere + of irritation in which the system had been kept by indigestion. So that + indirectly, and virtually, perhaps, all suicides may be traced to + mismanaged digestion. Meantime, in alluding at all to so dreadful a + subject as suicide, I do so only by way of giving deeper effect to the + opinion expressed above, upon the chief cause of relapse into habits of + intemperance amongst those who have once accomplished their deliverance. + Errors of digestion, either from impaired powers, or from powers not so + much enfeebled as deranged, is the one immeasurable source both of disease + and of secret wretchedness to the human race. Life is laid waste by the + eternal fretting of the vital forces, emanating from this one cause. And + it may well be conceived, that if cases so endless, even of suicide, in + every generation, are virtually traceable to this main root, much more + must it be able to shake and undermine the yet palpitating frame of the + poor fugitive from intemperance; since indigestion in every mode and + variety of its changes irresistibly upholds the temptation to that form of + excitement which, though one foremost cause of indigestion, is yet + unhappily its sole immediate palliation. + </p> + <p> + III. Next, after the most vigorous attention, and a scientific attention + to the digestive system, in power of operation, stands <i>exercise</i>. + Here, however, most people have their own separate habits, with respect to + the time of exercise, the duration, and the particular mode, on which a + stranger cannot venture to intrude with his advice. Some will not endure + the steady patience required for walking exercise; many benefit most by + riding on horseback; and in days when roads were more rugged, and the + springs of carriages less improved, I have known people who found most + advantage in the vibrations communicated to the frame by a heavy rumbling + carriage. For myself, under the ravages of opium, I have found walking the + most beneficial exercise; besides that, it requires no previous notice or + preparation of any kind; and this is a capital advantage in a state of + drooping energies, or of impatient and unresting agitation. I may mention, + as possibly an accident of my individual temperament, but possibly, also, + no accident at all, that the relief obtained by walking was always most + sensibly brought home to my consciousness, when some part of it (at least + a mile and a half) has been performed before breakfast. In this there soon + ceased to be any difficulty; for, whilst under the full oppression of + opium, it was impossible for me to rise at any hour that could, by the + most indulgent courtesy, be described as within the pale of morning, no + sooner had there been established any considerable relief from this + oppression, than the tendency was in the opposite direction; the + difficulty became continually greater of sleeping even to a reasonable + hour. Having once accomplished the feat of walking at nine A. M., I + backed, in a space of seven or eight months, to eight o'clock, to seven, + to six, five, four, three; until at this point a metaphysical fear fell + upon me that I was actually backing into 'yesterday,' and should soon have + no sleep at all. Below three, however, I did not descend; and, for a + couple of years, three and a half hours' sleep was all that I could obtain + in the twenty-four hours. From this no particular suffering arose, except + the nervous impatience of lying in bed for one moment after awaking. + Consequently, the habit of walking before breakfast became at length + troublesome no longer as a most odious duty, but, on the contrary, as a + temptation that could hardly be resisted on the wettest mornings. As to + the quantity of the exercise, I found that six miles a day formed the <i>minimum</i> + which would support permanently a particular standard of animal spirits, + evidenced to myself by certain apparent symptoms. I averaged about nine + and a half miles a day; but ascended on particular days to fifteen or + sixteen, and more rarely to twenty-three or twenty-four; a quantity which + did not produce fatigue, on the contrary it spread a sense of improvement + through almost the whole week that followed; but usually, in the night + immediately succeeding to such an exertion, I lost much of my sleep; a + privation that, under the circumstances explained, deterred me from trying + the experiment too often. For one or two years, I accomplished more than I + have here claimed, viz., from six to seven thousand miles in the twelve + months. Let me add to this slight abstract of my own experience, in a + point where it is really difficult to offer any useful advice, (the tastes + and habits of men varying so much in this chapter of exercise,) that one + caution seems applicable to the case of all persons suffering from nervous + irritability, viz., that a secluded space should be measured off + accurately, in some private grounds not liable to the interruption or + notice of chance intruders; for these annoyances are unendurable to the + restless invalid; to be questioned upon trivial things is death to him; + and the perpetual anticipation of such annoyances is little less + distressing. Some plan must also be adopted for registering the number of + rounds performed. I once walked for eighteen months in a circuit so + confined that forty revolutions were needed to complete a mile. These I + counted, at one time, by a rosary of beads; every tenth round being marked + by drawing a blue bead, the other nine by drawing white beads. But this + plan, I found in practice, more troublesome and inaccurate than that of + using ten detached counters, stones, or anything else that was large + enough and solid. These were applied to the separate bars of a garden + chair; the first bar indicating of itself the first decade, the second bar + the second decade, and so on. In fact, I used the chair in some measure as + a Roman abacus, but on a still simpler plan; and as the chair offered + sixteen bars, it followed, that on covering the last bar of the series + with the ten markers, I perceived without any trouble of calculation the + accomplishment of my fourth mile. + </p> + <p> + A necessity, more painful to me by far than that of taking continued + exercise, arose out of a cause which applies, perhaps, with the same + intensity only to opium cases, but must also apply in some degree to all + cases of debilitation from morbid stimulation of the nerves, whether by + means of wine, or opium, or distilled liquors. In travelling on the + outside of mails, during my youthful days, for I could not endure the + inside, occasionally, during the night-time, I suffered naturally from + cold: no cloaks, &c. were always sufficient to relieve this; and I + then made the discovery that opium, after an hour or so, diffuses a warmth + deeper and far more permanent than could be had from any other known + source. I mention this, to explain, in some measure, the awful passion of + cold which for some years haunted the inverse process of laying aside the + opium. It was a perfect frenzy of misery; cold was a sensation which then + first, as a mode of torment, seemed to have been revealed. In the months + of July and August, and not at all the less during the very middle watch + of the day, I sate in the closest proximity to a blazing fire; cloaks, + blankets, counterpanes, hearthrugs, horse-cloths, were piled upon my + shoulders, but with hardly a glimmering of relief. At night, and after + taking coffee, I felt a little warmer, and could sometimes afford to smile + at the resemblance of my own case to that of Harry Gill. [Footnote: 'Harry + Gill:'—Many readers, in this generation, may not be aware of this + ballad as one amongst the early poems of Wordsworth. Thirty or forty years + ago, it was the object of some insipid ridicule, which ought, perhaps, in + another place, to be noticed. And, doubtless, this ridicule was heightened + by the false impression that the story had been some old woman's + superstitious fiction, meant to illustrate a supernatural judgment on + hard-heartedness. But the story was a physiologic fact; and, originally, + it had been brought forward in a philosophic work, by Darwin, who had the + reputation of an irreligious man, and even of an infidel. A bold + freethinker he certainly was: a Deist, and, by public repute, something + more.] But, secretly, I was struck with awe at the revelation of powers so + unsearchably new, lurking within old affections so familiarly known as + cold. Upon the analogy of this case, it might be thought that nothing + whatever had yet been truly and seriously felt by man; nothing searched or + probed by human sensibilities, to a depth below the surface. If cold could + give out mysteries of suffering so novel, all things in the world might be + yet unvisited by the truth of human sensations. All experience, worthy of + the name, was yet to begin. Meantime, the external phenomenon, by which + the cold expressed itself, was a sense (but with little reality) of + eternal freezing perspiration. From this I was never free; and at length, + from finding one general ablution sufficient for one day, I was thrown + upon the irritating necessity of repeating it more frequently than would + seem credible, if stated. At this time, I used always hot water; and a + thought occurred to me very seriously that it would be best to live + constantly, and, perhaps, to sleep in a bath. What caused me to renounce + this plan, was an accident that compelled me for one day to use cold + water. This, first of all, communicated any lasting warmth; so that ever + afterwards I used none <i>but</i> cold water. Now, to live in a <i>cold</i> + bath, in our climate, and in my own state of preternatural sensibility to + cold, was not an idea to dally with. I wish to mention, however, for the + information of other sufferers in the same way, one change in the mode of + applying the water, which led to a considerable and a sudden improvement + in the condition of my feelings. I had endeavored to procure a child's + battledore, as an easy means (when clothed with sponge) of reaching the + interspace between the shoulders; which interspace, by the way, is a sort + of Bokhara, so provokingly situated, that it will neither suffer itself to + be reached from the north, in which direction even the Czar, with his long + arms, has only singed his own fingers, and lost six thousand camels; nor + at all better from the south, upon which line of approach the greatest + potentate in Southern Asia, viz., No.—, in Leadenhall Street, has + found it the best policy to pocket the little Khan's murderous defiances + and persevering insults. There is no battledore long enough to reach him + in either way. In my own difficulty, I felt almost as perplexed as the + Honorable East India Company, when I found that no battledore was to be + had; for no town was near at hand. In default of a battledore, therefore, + my necessity threw my experiment upon a long hair-brush; and this, + eventually, proved of much greater service than any sponge or any + battledore; for, the friction of the brush caused an irritation on the + surface of the skin, which, more than anything else, has gradually + diminished the once continual misery of unrelenting frost; although even + yet it renews itself most distressingly at uncertain intervals. + </p> + <p> + IV. I counsel the patient not to make the mistake of supposing that his + amendment will necessarily proceed continuously, or by equal increments; + because this, which is a common notion, will certainly lead to dangerous + disappointments. How frequently I have heard people encouraging a + self-reformer by such language as this:—'When you have got over the + fourth day of abstinence, which suppose to be Sunday, then Monday will + find you a trifle better; Tuesday better still,—though still it + should be only by a trifle; and so on. You may, at least, rely on never + going back; you may assure yourself of having seen the worst; and the + positive improvements, if trifles separately, must soon gather into a + sensible magnitude.' This may be true in a case of short standing: but, as + a general rule, it is perilously delusive. On the contrary, the line of + progress, if exhibited in a geometrical construction, would describe an + ascending path upon the whole, but with frequent retrocessions into + descending curves, which, compared with the point of ascent that had been + previously gained and so vexatiously interrupted, would sometimes seem + deeper than the original point of starting. This mortifying tendency I can + report from experience many times repeated with regard to opium; and so + unaccountably, as regarded all the previous grounds of expectation, that I + am compelled to suppose it a tendency inherent in the very nature of all + self-restorations for animal systems. They move perhaps necessarily <i>per + saltum</i>, by, intermitting spasms, and pulsations of unequal energy. + </p> + <p> + V. I counsel the patient frequently to call back before his thoughts—when + suffering sorrowful collapses, that seem unmerited by anything done or + neglected—that such, and far worse, perhaps, must have been his + experience, and with no reversion of hope behind, had he persisted in his + intemperate indulgencies; <i>these</i> also suffer their own collapses, + and (so far as things not co-present can be compared) by many degrees more + shocking to the genial instincts. + </p> + <p> + VI. I exhort him to believe, that no movement on his own part, not the + smallest conceivable, towards the restoration of his healthy state, can by + possibility perish. Nothing in this direction is finally lost; but often + it disappears and hides itself; suddenly, however, to reappear, and in + unexpected strength, and much more hopefully; because such minute elements + of improvement, by reappearing at a remoter stage, show themselves to have + combined with other elements of the same kind: so that equally by their + gathering tendency and their duration through intervals of apparent + darkness, and below the current of what seemed absolute interruption, they + argue themselves to be settled in the system. There is no good gift that + does not come from God: almost his greatest is health, with the peace + which it inherits; and man must reap <i>this</i> on the same terms as he + was told to reap God's earliest gift, the fruits of the earth, viz.: 'in + the sweat of his brow,' through labor, often through sorrow, through + disappointment, but still through imperishable perseverance, and hoping + under clouds, when all hope seems darkened. + </p> + <p> + VII. It is difficult, in selecting from many memoranda of warning and + encouragement, to know which to prefer when the space disposable is + limited. But it seems to me important not to omit this particular caution: + The patient will be naturally anxious, as he goes on, frequently to test + the amount of his advance, and its rate, if that were possible. But this + he will see no mode of doing, except through tentative balancings of his + feelings, and generally of the moral atmosphere around him, as to pleasure + and hope, against the corresponding states, so far as he can recall them + from his periods of intemperance. But these comparisons, I warn him, are + fallacious, when made in this way; the two states are incommensurable on + any plan of <i>direct</i> comparison. Some common measure must be found, + and, <i>out of himself</i>; some positive fact, that will not bend to his + own delusive feeling at the moment; as, for instance, in what degree he + finds tolerable what heretofore was <i>not</i> so—the effort of + writing letters, or transacting business, or undertaking a journey, or + overtaking the arrears of labor, that had been once thrown off to a + distance. If in these things he finds himself improved, by tests that + cannot be disputed, he may safely disregard any sceptical whispers from a + wayward sensibility which cannot yet, perhaps, have recovered its normal + health, however much improved. His inner feelings may not yet point + steadily to the truth, though they may vibrate in that direction. Besides, + it is certain that sometimes very manifest advances, such as any medical + man would perceive at a glance, carry a man through stages of agitation + and discomfort. A far worse condition might happen to be less agitated, + and so far more bearable. Now, when a man is positively suffering + discomfort, when he is below the line of pleasurable feeling, he is no + proper judge of his own condition, which he neither will nor can + appreciate. Tooth-ache extorts more groans than dropsy. + </p> + <p> + VIII. Another important caution is, not to confound with the effects of + intemperance any other natural effects of debility from advanced years. + Many a man, having begun to be intemperate at thirty, enters at sixty or + upwards upon a career of self-restoration. And by self-restoration he + understands a renewal of that state in which he was when first swerving + from temperance. But that state, for his memory, is coincident with his + state of youth. The two states are coadunated. In his recollections they + are intertwisted too closely. But life, without any intemperance at all, + would soon have untwisted them. Charles Lamb, for instance, at forty-five, + and Coleridge at sixty, measured their several conditions by such tests as + the loss of all disposition to involuntary murmuring of musical airs or + fragments when rising from bed. Once they had sung when rising in the + morning light; now they sang no more. The <i>vocal</i> utterance of joy, + for <i>them</i>, was silenced for ever. But these are amongst the changes + that life, stern power, inflicts at any rate; these would have happened, + and above all, to men worn by the unequal irritations of too much + thinking, and by those modes of care + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + That kill the bloom before its time, + And blanch without the owner's crime + The most resplendent hair, +</pre> + <p> + not at all the less had the one drunk no brandy, nor the other any + laudanum. A man must submit to the conditions of humanity, and not quarrel + with a cure as incomplete, because in his climacteric year of sixty-three, + he cannot recover, entirely, the vivacities of thirty-five. If, by dipping + seven times in Jordan, he had cleansed his whole leprosy of intemperance; + if, by going down into Bethesda, he were able to mount again upon the + pinions of his youth,—even then he might querulously say,—'But, + after all these marvels in my favor, I suppose that one of these fine + mornings I, like other people, shall have to bespeak a coffin.' Why, yes, + undoubtedly he will, or somebody <i>for</i> him. But privileges so + especial were not promised even by the mysterious waters of Palestine. Die + he must. And counsels tendered to the intemperate do not hope to + accomplish what might have been beyond the baths of Jordan or Bethesda. + They do enough, if, being executed by efforts in the spirit of earnest + sincerity, they make a life of <i>growing</i> misery moderately happy for + the patient; and, through that great change, perhaps, more than moderately + useful for others. + </p> + <p> + IX. One final remark I will make:—pointed to the case, not of the + yet struggling patient, but of him who is fully re-established; and the + more so, because I (who am no hypocrite, but, rather, frank to an + infirmity) acknowledge, in myself, the trembling tendency at intervals, + which would, if permitted, sweep round into currents that might be hard to + overrule. After the absolute restoration to health, a man is very apt to + say,—'Now, then, how shall I use my health? To what delightful + purpose shall I apply it? Surely it is idle to carry a fine jewel in one's + watch-pocket, and never to astonish the weak minds of this world, by + wearing it and flashing it in their eyes.' 'But how?' retorts his + philosophic friend; 'my good fellow, are you not using it at this moment? + Breathing, for instance, talking to me, (though rather absurdly,) and + airing your legs at a glowing fire?' 'Why, yes,' the other confesses, + 'that is all true; but I am dull; and, if you will pardon my rudeness, + even in spite of your too philosophic presence. It is painful to say so, + but sincerely, if I had the power, at this moment, to turn you, by magic, + into a bottle of old port wine, so corrupt is my nature, that really I + fear lest the exchange might, for the moment, strike me as agreeable.' + Such a mood, I apprehend, is apt to revolve upon many of us, at intervals, + however firmly married to temperance. And the propensity to it has a root + in certain analogies running through our nature. If the reader will permit + me for a moment the use of what, without such an apology, might seem + pedantic, I would call it the instinct of <i>focalizing</i>, which prompts + such random desires. Feeling is diffused over the whole surface of the + body; but light is focalized in the eye; sound in the ear. The + organization of a sense or a pleasure seems diluted and imperfect, unless + it is gathered by some machinery into one focus, or local centre. And thus + it is that a general state of pleasurable feeling sometimes seems too + superficially diffused, and one has a craving to intensify or brighten it + by concentration through some sufficient stimulant. I, for my part, have + tried every thing in this world except '<i>bang</i>,' which, I believe, is + obtained from hemp. There are other preparations of hemp which have been + found to give great relief from <i>ennui</i>; not ropes, but something + lately introduced, which acts upon the system as the laughing gas (nitrous + oxide) acts at times. One farmer in Mid-Lothian was mentioned to me, eight + months ago, as having taken it, and ever since annoyed his neighbors by + immoderate fits of laughter; so that in January it was agreed to present + him to the sheriff as a nuisance. But, for some reason, the plan was laid + aside; and now, eight months later, I hear that the farmer is laughing + more rapturously than ever, continues in the happiest frame of mind, the + kindest of creatures, and the general torment of his neighborhood. Now, I + confess to having had a lurking interest in this extract of hemp, when + first I heard of it: and at intervals a desire will continue to make + itself felt for some deeper compression or centralization of the genial + feelings than ordinary life affords. But old things will not avail, and + new things I am now able to resist. Still, as the occasional craving does + really arise in most men, it is well to notice it; and chiefly for the + purpose of saying, that this dangerous feeling wears off by degrees; and + oftentimes for long periods it intermits so entirely as to be even + displaced by a profound disgust to all modes of artificial stimulation. At + those times I have remarked that the pleasurable condition of health does + <i>not</i> seem weakened by its want of centralization. It seems to form a + thousand centres. This it is well to know; because there are many who + would resist effectually, if they were aware of any natural change going + on silently in favor of their own efforts, such as would finally ratify + the success. Towards such a result they would gladly contribute by waiting + and forbearing; whilst, under despondency as to this result, they might + more easily yield to some chance temptation. + </p> + <p> + Finally, there is something to interest us in the <i>time</i> at which + this temperance movement has begun to stir. Let me close with a slight + notice of what chiefly impresses myself in the relation between this time + and the other circumstances of the case. In reviewing history, we may see + something more than mere convenience in distributing it into three + chambers; ancient history, ending in the space between the Western Empire + falling and Mahomet arising; modern history, from that time to this; and a + new modern history arising at present, or from the French Revolution. Two + great races of men, our own in a two-headed form—British and + American, and secondly, the Russian, are those which, like rising deluges, + already reveal their mission to overflow the earth. Both these races, + partly through climate, or through derivation of blood, and partly through + the contagion of habits inevitable to brothers of the same nation, are + tainted carnally with the appetite for brandy, for slings, for juleps. And + no fire racing through the forests of Nova Scotia for three hundred miles + in the direction of some doomed city, ever moved so fiercely as the + infection of habits amongst the dense and fiery populations of republican + North America. + </p> + <p> + But it is remarkable, that the whole <i>ancient</i> system of + civilization, all the miracles of Greece and Rome, Persia and Egypt, moved + by the machinery of races that were <i>not</i> tainted with any such + popular <i>marasmus</i>. The taste was slightly sowed, as an <i>artificial</i> + taste, amongst luxurious individuals, but never ran through the laboring + classes, through armies, through cities The blood and the climate forbade + it. In this earliest era of history, all the great races, consequently all + the great empires, threw themselves, by accumulation, upon the genial + climates of the south,—having, in fact, the magnificent lake of the + Mediterranean for their general centre of evolutions. Round this lake, in + a zone of varying depth, towered the whole grandeurs of the Pagan earth. + But, in such climates, man is naturally temperate. He is so by physical + coercion, and for the necessities of rest and coolness. The Spaniard, the + Moor, or the Arab, has no merit in his temperance. The effort, for <i>him</i>, + would be to form the taste for alcohol. He has a vast foreground of + disgust to traverse before he can reach a taste so remote and alien. No + need for resistance in his will where nature resists on his behalf. + Sherbet, shaddocks, grapes, these were innocent applications to thirst. + And the great republic of antiquity said to her legionary sons:—'Soldier, + if you thirst, there is the river;—Nile, suppose, or Ebro. Better + drink there cannot be. Of this you may take "at discretion." Or, if you + wait till the <i>impedimenta</i> come up, you may draw your ration of <i>Posca</i>' + What was <i>posca</i>? It was, in fact, acidulated water; three parts of + superfine water to one part of the very best vinegar. Nothing stronger did + Rome, that awful mother, allow to her dearest children, <i>i. e.</i>, her + legions. Truest of blessings, that veiling itself in seeming sternness, + drove away the wicked phantoms that haunt the couches of yet greater + nations. 'The blessings of the evil genii,' says an Eastern proverb, + 'these are curses.' And the stern refusals of wisely loving mothers,—these + are the mightiest of gifts. + </p> + <p> + Now, on the other hand, our northern climates have universally the taste, + latent if not developed, for powerful liquors. And through their blood, as + also through the natural tendency of the imitative principle amongst + compatriots, from these high latitudes the greatest of our modern nations + propagate the contagion to their brothers, though colonizing warm + climates. And it is remarkable that our modern preparations of liquors, + even when harmless in their earliest stages, are fitted, like + stepping-stones, for making the transition to higher stages that are <i>not</i> + harmless. The weakest preparations from malt, lead, by graduated steps, to + the strongest; until we arrive at the intoxicating porter of London, + which, under its local name (so insidiously delusive) of '<i>beer</i>,' + diffuses the most extensive ravages. + </p> + <p> + Under these marked circumstances of difference between the ruling races of + antiquity and of our modern times, it now happens that the greatest era by + far of human expansion is opening upon us. Two vast movements are hurrying + into action by velocities continually accelerated—the great + revolutionary movement from political causes concurring with the great + physical movement in locomotion and social intercourse, from the gigantic + (though still infant) powers of steam. No such Titan resources for + modifying each other were ever before dreamed of by nations: and the next + hundred years will have changed the face of the world. At the opening of + such a crisis, had no third movement arisen of resistance to intemperate + habits, there would have been ground for despondency as to the + amelioration of the human race. But, as the case stands, the new principle + of resistance nationally to bad habits, has arisen almost concurrently + with the new powers of national intercourse; and henceforward by a change + equally sudden and unlooked for, that new machinery, which would else most + surely have multiplied the ruins of intoxication, has become the strongest + agency for hastening its extirpation. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON WAR. + </h2> + <p> + Few people need to be told—that associations exist up and down + Christendom, having the ambitious object of abolishing war. Some go so far + as to believe that this evil of war, so ubiquitous, so ancient and + apparently so inalienable from man's position upon earth, is already + doomed; that not the private associations only, but the prevailing voice + of races the most highly civilized, may be looked on as tending to + confederation against it; that sentence of extermination has virtually + gone forth, and that all which remains is gradually to execute that + sentence. Conscientiously I find myself unable to join in these views. The + project seems to me the most romantic of all romances in the course of + publication. Consequently, when asked to become a member in any such + association, I have always thought it most respectful, because most + sincere, to decline. Yet, as it is painful to refuse all marks of sympathy + with persons whose motives one honors, I design at my death to bequeath + half-a-crown to the chief association for extinguishing war; the said + half-crown to be improved in all time coming for the benefit of the + association, under the trusteeship of Europe, Asia, and America, but not + of Africa. I really dare not trust Africa with money, she is not able as + yet to take care of herself. This half-crown, a fund that will overshadow + the earth before it comes to be wanted under the provisions of my will, is + to be improved at any interest whatever—no matter what; for the vast + period of the accumulations will easily make good any tardiness of + advance, long before the time comes for its commencing payment; a point + which will be soon understood from the following explanation, by any + gentleman that hopes to draw upon it. + </p> + <p> + There is in Ceylon a granite <i>cippus</i>, or monumental pillar, of + immemorial antiquity; and to this pillar a remarkable legend is attached. + The pillar measures six feet by six, <i>i. e.</i> thirty-six square feet, + on the flat tablet of its horizontal surface; and in height several <i>riyanas</i>, + (which arc Ceylonese cubits of eighteen inches each,) but of these cubits, + there are either eight or twelve; excuse me for having forgotten which. At + first, perhaps, you will be angry, viz., when you hear that this simple + difference of four cubits, or six feet, measures a difference for your + expectations, whether you count your expectations in kicks or halfpence, + that absolutely strikes horror into arithmetic. The singularity of the + case is, that the very solemnity of the legend and the wealth of the human + race in time, depend upon the cubical contents of the monument, so that a + loss of one granite chip is a loss of a frightful infinity; yet, again, + for that very reason, the loss of all <i>but</i> a chip, leaves behind + riches so appallingly too rich, that everybody is careless about the four + cubits. Enough is as good as a feast. Two bottomless abysses take as much + time for the diver as ten; and five eternities are as frightful to look + down as four-and-twenty. In the Ceylon legend all turns upon the + inexhaustible series of ages which this pillar guarantees. But, as one + inexhaustible is quite enough for one race of men, and you are sure of + more by ineffable excess than you can use in any private consumption of + your own, you become generous; 'and between friends,' you say, in + accepting my apologies for the doubtful error as to the four cubits, 'what + signifies an infinity more or less?' + </p> + <p> + For the Ceylonese legend is this, that once in every hundred years an + angel visits this granite pillar. He is dressed in a robe of white muslin, + muslin of that kind which the Romans called <i>aura textilis</i>—woven, + as might seem, from zephyrs or from pulses of the air, such in its + transparency, such in its gossamer lightness. Does the angel touch the + pillar with his foot? Oh no! Even <i>that</i> would be something, but even + <i>that</i> is not allowed. In his soundless flight across it, he suffers + the hem of his impalpable robe to sweep the surface as softly as a + moon-beam. So much and no more of pollution he endures from contact with + earthly objects. The lowest extremity of his dress, but with the delicacy + of light, grazes the granite surface. And <i>that</i> is all the attrition + which the sacred granite receives in the course of any one century, and + this is all the progress which we, the poor children of earth, in any one + century make towards the exhaustion of our earthly imprisonment. But, + argues the subtle legend, even <i>that</i> attrition, when weighed in + metaphysical scales, cannot be denied its value; it has detached from the + pillar an atom (no matter that it is an invisible atom) of granite dust, + the ratio of which atom to a grain avoirdupois, if expressed as a fraction + of unity, would by its denominator stretch from the Accountant-General's + office in London to the Milky Way. Now the total mass of the granite + represents, on this scheme of payment, the total funded debt of man's race + to Father Time and earthly corruption; all this intolerable score, chalked + up to our debit, we by ourselves and our representatives have to rub off, + before the granite will be rubbed away by the muslin robe of the proud + flying angel, (who, if he were a good fellow, might just as well give a + sly kick with his heel to the granite,) before time will be at an end, and + the burden of flesh accomplished. But you hear it expressed in terms that + will astonish Baron Rothschild, what is the progress in liquidation which + we make for each particular century. A billion of centuries pays off a + quantity equal to a pinch of snuff. Despair seizes a man in contemplating + a single <i>coupon</i>, no bigger than a visiting card, of such a stock as + this; and behold we have to keep on paying away until the total granite is + reduced to a level with a grain of mustard-seed. But when that is + accomplished, thank heaven, our last generation of descendants will be + entitled to leave at Master Time's door a visiting card, which the meagre + shadow cannot refuse to take, though he will sicken at seeing it; viz., a + P. P. C. card, upon seeing which, the old thief is bound to give receipt + in full for all debts and pretended arrears. + </p> + <p> + The reader perhaps knows of debts on both sides the Atlantic that have no + great prospect of being paid off sooner than this in Ceylon. + </p> + <p> + And naturally, to match this order of debts, moving off so slowly, there + are funds that accumulate as slowly. My own funded half-crown is an + illustration. The half-crown will travel in the inverse order of the + granite pillar. The pillar and the half-crown move upon opposite tacks; + and there <i>is</i> a point of time (which it is for Algebra to + investigate) when they will cross each other in the exact moment of their + several bisections—my aspiring half-crown tending gradually towards + the fixed stars, so that perhaps it might be right to make the man in the + moon trustee for that part of the accumulations which rises above the + optics of sublunary bankers; whilst the Ceylon pillar is constantly + unweaving its own granite texture, and dwindling earthwards. It is + probable that each of the parties will have reached its consummation about + the same time. What is to be done with the mustard-seed, Ceylon has + forgotten to say. But what is to be done with the half-crown and its + surplus, nobody can doubt after reading my last will and testament. After + reciting a few inconsiderable legacies to the three continents, and to the + man in the moon, for any trouble they may have had in managing the + hyperbolical accumulations, I go on to observe, that, when war is reported + to have taken itself off for ever, 'and no mistake,' (because I foresee + many false alarms of a perpetual peace,) a variety of inconveniences will + arise to all branches of the United Service, including the Horse Marines. + Clearly there can be no more half-pay; and even more clearly, there is an + end to full-pay. Pensions are at an end for 'good service.' Allowances for + wounds cannot be thought of, when all wounds shall have ceased except + those from female eyes—for which the Horse Guards is too little + advanced in civilization to make any allowance at all. Bargains there will + be no more amongst auctions of old Government stores. Birmingham will be + ruined, or so much of it as depended on rifles. And the great Scotch works + on the river Carron will be hungering for beef, so far as Carron depended + for beef upon carronades. Other arrears of evil will stretch after the + extinction of war. + </p> + <p> + Now upon my half-crown fund (which will be equal to anything by the time + it is wanted) I charge once and for ever the general relief of all these + arrears—of the poverty, the loss, the bankruptcy, arising by reason + of this <i>quietus</i> of final extinction applied to war. I charge the + fund with a perpetual allowance of half-pay to all the armies of earth; or + indeed, whilst my hand is in, I charge it with <i>full</i> pay. And I + strictly enjoin upon my trustees and executors, but especially upon the + man in the moon, if his unsocial lip has left him one spark of gentlemanly + feeling, that he and they shall construe all claims liberally; nay, with + that riotous liberality which is safe and becoming, when applied to a fund + so inexhaustible. Yes, reader, my fund will be inexhaustible, because the + period of its growth will be measured by the concurrent deposition of the + Ceylon mustard-seed from the everlasting pillar. + </p> + <p> + Yet why, or on what principle? It is because I see, or imagine that I see, + a twofold necessity for war—necessity in two different senses—1st, + a physical necessity arising out of man's nature when combined with man's + situation; a necessity under which war may be regarded, if you please, as + a nuisance, but as a nuisance inalienable from circumstances essential to + human frailty. 2dly, a moral necessity connected with benefits of + compensation, such as continually lurk in evils acknowledged to be such—a + necessity under which it becomes lawful to say, that war <i>ought</i> to + exist as a balance to opposite tendencies of a still more evil character. + War is the mother of wrong and spoliation: war is a scourge of God—granted; + but, like other scourges in the divine economy, war purifies and redeems + itself in its character of a counterforce to greater evils that could not + otherwise be intercepted or redressed. In two different meanings we say + that a thing is necessary; either in that case where it is inexorably + forced on by some sad overruling principle which it is vain to fight + against, though all good men mourn over its existence and view it as an + unconditional evil; or secondly, in that case, where an instrument of + sorrowful consequences to man is nevertheless invoked and postulated by + man's highest moral interests, is nevertheless clamorously indicated as a + blessing when looked at in relation to some antagonist cause of evil for + which it offers the one only remedy or principle of palliation. The very + evil and woe of man's condition upon earth may be oftentimes detected in + the necessity of looking to some other woe as the pledge of its + purification; so that what separately would have been hateful for itself, + passes mysteriously into an object of toleration, of hope, or even of + prayer, as a counter-venom to the taint of some more mortal poison. + Poverty, for instance, is in both senses necessary for man. It is + necessary in the same sense as thirst is necessary (<i>i. e.</i> + inevitable) in a fever—necessary as one corollary amongst many + others, from the eternal hollowness of all human efforts for organizing + any perfect model of society—a corollary which, how gladly would all + of us unite to cancel, but which our hearts suggest, which Scripture + solemnly proclaims, to be ineradicable from the land. In this sense, + poverty is a necessity over which we <i>mourn</i>,—as one of the + dark phases that sadden the vision of human life. But far differently, and + with a stern gratitude, we recognize another mode of necessity for this + gloomy distinction—a call for poverty, when seen in relation to the + manifold agencies by which it developes human energies, in relation to the + trials by which it searches the power of patience and religion, in + relation to the struggles by which it evokes the nobilities of fortitude; + or again, amongst those who are not sharers in these trials and struggles, + but sympathizing spectators, in relation to the stimulation by which it + quickens wisdom that watches over the causes of this evil, or by which it + vivifies the spirit of love that labors for its mitigation. War stands, or + seems to stand, upon the same double basis of necessity; a primary + necessity that belongs to our human degradations, a secondary one that + towers by means of its moral relations into the region of our impassioned + exaltations. The two propositions on which I take my stand are these. <i>First</i>, + that there are nowhere latent in society any powers by which it can + effectually operate on war for its extermination. The machinery is not + there. The game is not within the compass of the cards. <i>Secondly</i>, + that this defect of power is, though sincerely I grieve in avowing such a + sentiment, and perhaps (if an infirm reader had his eye upon me) I might + seem, in sympathy with his weakness, to blush—not a curse, no not at + all, but on the whole a blessing from century to century, if it is an + inconvenience from year to year. The Abolition Committees, it is to be + feared, will be very angry at both propositions. Yet, Gentlemen, hear me—strike, + but hear me. I believe that's a sort of plagiarism from Themistocles. But + never mind. I have as good a right to the words, until translated back + into Greek, as that most classical of yellow admirals. '<i>Pereant qui + ante nos nostra dixerunt!</i>' + </p> + <p> + The first proposition is, that war <i>cannot</i> be abolished. The second, + and more offensive—that war ought not to be abolished. First, + therefore, concerning the first. One at a time. Sufficient for the page is + the evil thereof! How came it into any man's heart, first of all, to + conceive so audacious an idea as that of a conspiracy against war? Whence + could he draw any vapor of hope to sustain his preliminary steps? And in + framing his plot, which way did he set his face to look out for + accomplices? Revolving this question in times past, I came to the + conclusion—that, perhaps, this colossal project of a war against + war, had been first put in motion under a misconception (natural enough, + and countenanced by innumerable books) as to the true historical origin of + wars in many notorious instances. If these had arisen on trivial impulses, + a trivial resistance might have intercepted them. If a man has once + persuaded himself, that long, costly, and bloody wars had arisen upon a + point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, upon a hasty word, upon some + explosion of momentary caprice; it is a natural inference, that strength + of national will and public combinations for resistance, supposing such + forces to have been trained, organized, and, from the circumstances of the + particular nation, to be permanently disposable for action, might prove + redundantly effective, when pointed against a few personal authors of war, + so presumably weak, and so flexible to any stern counter-volition as those + <i>must</i> be supposed, whose wars argued so much of vicious levity. The + inference is unexceptionable: it is the premises that are unsound. + Anecdotes of war as having emanated from a lady's tea-table or toilette, + would authorize such inference as to the facilities of controlling them. + But the anecdotes themselves are false, or false substantially. <i>All</i> + anecdotes, I fear, are false. I am sorry to say so, but my duty to the + reader extorts from me the disagreeable confession, as upon a matter + specially investigated by myself, that all dealers in anecdotes are + tainted with mendacity. Where is the Scotchman, said Dr. Johnson, who does + not prefer Scotland to truth? but, however this may be, rarer than such a + Scotchman, rarer than the phoenix, is that virtuous man, a monster he is, + nay, he is an impossible man, who will consent to lose a prosperous + anecdote on the consideration that it happens to be a lie. All history, + therefore, being built partly, and some of it altogether, upon anecdotage, + must be a tissue of lies. Such, for the most part, is the history of + Suetonius, who may be esteemed the father of anecdotage; and being such, + he (and not Herodotus) should have been honored with the title, <i>Father + of Lies</i>. Such is the Augustan history, which is all that remains of + the Roman empire; such is the vast series of French memoirs, now + stretching through more than three entire centuries. Are these works, + then, to be held cheap, because their truths to their falsehoods are in + the ratio of one to five hundred? On the contrary, they are better, and + more to be esteemed on that account; because, <i>now</i> they are + admirable reading on a winter's night; whereas, written on the principle + of sticking to the truth, they would have been as dull as ditch water. + Generally, therefore, the dealers in anecdotage are to be viewed with + admiration, as patriotic citizens, willing to sacrifice their own + characters, lest their countrymen should find themselves short of + amusement. I esteem them as equal to Codrus, Timoleon, William Tell, or to + Milton, as regards the liberty of unlicensed printing. And I object to + them only in the exceptional case of their being cited as authorities for + an inference, or as vouchers for a fact. Universally, it may be received + as a rule of unlimited application,—that when an anecdote involves a + stinging repartee, or collision of ideas, fancifully and brilliantly + related to each other by resemblance or contrast, then you may challenge + it as false to a certainty. One illustration of which is—that pretty + nearly every memorable <i>propos</i>, or pointed repartee, or striking <i>mot</i>, + circulating at this moment in Paris or London, as the undoubted property + of Talleyrand, (that eminent knave,) was ascribed at Vienna, ninety years + ago, to the Prince de Ligne, and thirty years previously, to Voltaire, and + so on, regressively, to many other wits (knaves or not); until, at length, + if you persist in backing far enough, you find yourself amongst Pagans, + with the very same repartee, &c., doing duty in pretty good Greek; + [Footnote: This is <i>literally</i> true, more frequently than would be + supposed. For instance, a jest often ascribed to Voltaire, and of late + pointedly reclaimed for him by Lord Brougham, as being one that he (Lord + B.) could swear to for <i>his</i>, so characteristic seemed the impression + of Voltaire's mind upon the <i>tournure</i> of the sarcasm, unhappily for + this waste of sagacity, may be found recorded by Fabricius in the <i>Bibliotheca + Grćca</i>, as the jest of a Greek who has been dead for about seventeen + centuries. The man certainly <i>did</i> utter the jest; and 1750 years + ago. But who it was that he stole it from is another question. To all + appearance, and according to Lord Brougham's opinion, the party robbed + must have been M. de Voltaire. I notice the case, however, of the Greek + thefts and frauds committed upon so many of our excellent wits belonging + to the 18th and 19th centuries, chiefly with a view to M. de Talleyrand—that + rather middling bishop, but very eminent knave. He also has been + extensively robbed by the Greeks of the 2d and 3d centuries. How else can + you account for so many of his sayings being found amongst <i>their</i> + pages? A thing you may ascertain in a moment, at any police office, by + having the Greeks searched: for surely you would never think of searching + a bishop. Most of the Talleyrand jewels will be found concealed amongst + the goods of these unprincipled Greeks. But one, and the most famous in + the whole jewel-case, sorry am I to confess, was nearly stolen from the + Bishop, not by any Greek, but by an English writer, viz., Goldsmith, who + must have been dying about the time that his Excellency, the diplomatist, + had the goodness to be born. That famous <i>mot</i> about language, as a + gift made to man for the purpose of <i>concealing</i> his thoughts, is + lurking in Goldsmith's Essays. Think of <i>that!</i> Already, in his + innocent childhood, whilst the Bishop was in petticoats, and almost before + he had begun to curse and to swear plainly in French, an Irish vagabond + had attempted to swindle him out of that famous witticism which has since + been as good as a life-annuity to the venerable knave's literary fame.] + sometimes, for instance in Hierocles, sometimes in Diogenes Lćrtius, in + Plutarch, or in Athenćus. Now the thing you know claimed by so many + people, could not belong to all of them: <i>all</i> of them could not be + the inventors. Logic and common sense unite in showing us that it must + have belonged to the moderns, who had clearly been hustled and robbed by + the ancients, so much more likely to commit a robbery than Christians, + they being all Gentiles—Pagans—Heathen dogs. What do I infer + from this? Why, that upon <i>any</i> solution of the case, hardly one + worthy saying can be mentioned, hardly one jest, pun, or sarcasm, which + has not been the occasion and subject of many falsehoods—as having + been <i>au-(and men)-daciously</i> transferred from generation to + generation, sworn to in every age as this man's property, or that man's, + by people that must have known they were lying, until you retire from the + investigation with a conviction, that under any system of chronology, the + science of lying is the only one that has never drooped. Date from <i>Anno + Domini</i>, or from the Julian era, patronize Olympiads, or patronize (as + <i>I</i> do, from misanthropy, because nobody else <i>will</i>) the era of + Nabonassar,—no matter, upon every road, thicker than mile-stones, + you see records of human mendacity, or (which is much worse, in my + opinion,) of human sympathy with other people's mendacity. + </p> + <p> + This digression, now, on anecdotes,[Footnote: The word 'Anecdotes,' first, + I believe, came into currency about the middle of the 6th century, from + the use made of it by Procopius. <i>Literally</i> it indicated nothing + that could interest either public malice or public favor; it promised only + <i>unpublished</i> notices of the Emperor Justinian, his wife Theodora, + Narses, Belisarius, &c. But <i>why</i> had they been unpublished? + Simply because scandalous and defamatory: and hence, from the interest + which invested the case of an imperial court so remarkable, this oblique, + secondary and purely accidental modification of the word came to influence + its <i>general</i> acceptation. Simply to have been previously + unpublished, no longer raised any statement into an anecdote: it now + received a new integration it must be some fresh publication of <i>personal</i> + memorabilia; and these having reference to <i>human</i> creatures, must + always be presumed to involve more evil than good—much defamation + true or false—much doubtful insinuation—much suggestion of + things worse than could be openly affirmed. So arose the word: but the <i>thing</i> + arose with Suetonius, that dear, excellent and hard-working 'father of + lies.'] is what the learned call an <i>excursus</i>, and, I am afraid, too + long by half; not strictly in proportion. But don't mind <i>that</i>. I'll + make it all right by being too short upon something else, at the next + opportunity; and then nobody can complain. Meantime, I argue, that as all + brilliant or epigrammatic anecdotes are probably false, (a thing that + hereafter I shall have much pleasure in making out to the angry reader's + satisfaction,) but to a dead certainty those anecdotes, in particular, + which bear marks in their construction that a rhetorical effect of art had + been contemplated by the narrator,—we may take for granted, that the + current stories ascribing modern wars (French and English) to accidents + the most inconsiderable, are false even in a literal sense; but at all + events they are so when valued philosophically, and brought out into their + circumstantial relations. For instance, we have a French anecdote, from + the latter part of the seventeenth century, which ascribes one bloody war + to the accident of a little 'miff,' arising between the king and his + minister upon some such trifle as the situation of a palace window. Again, + from the early part of the eighteenth century, we have an English + anecdote, ascribing consequences no less bloody to a sudden feud between + two ladies, and that feud, (if I remember,) tracing itself up to a pair of + gloves; so that, in effect, the war and the gloves form the two poles of + the transaction. Harlequin throws a pair of Limerick gloves into a + corn-mill; and the spectator is astonished to see the gloves immediately + issuing from the hopper, well ground into seven armies of one hundred + thousand men each, and with parks of artillery to correspond. In these two + anecdotes, we recognize at once the able and industrious artist arranging + his materials with a pious regard to theatrical effect. This man knows how + to group his figures; well he understands where to plant his masses of + light and shade; and what impertinence it would be in us spectators, the + reader suppose and myself, to go behind the scenes for critical inquiry + into daylight realities. All reasonable men see that, the less of such + realities our artist had to work with, the more was his merit. I am one of + those that detest all insidious attempts to rob men situated as this + artist of their fair fame, by going about and whispering that perhaps the + thing is true. Far from it! I sympathize with the poor trembling artist, + and agree most cordially that the whole story is a lie; and he may rely + upon my support at all times to the extent of denying that any vestige of + truth probably lay at the foundations of his ingenious apologue. And what + I say of the English fable, I am willing to say of the French one. Both, I + dare say, were the rankest fictions. But next, what, after all, if they + were <i>not?</i> For, in the rear of all discussion upon anecdotes, + considered simply as true or <i>not</i> true, comes finally a <i>valuation</i> + of those anecdotes in their moral relation, and as to the inferences which + they will sustain. The story, for example, of the French minister Louvois, + and the adroitness with which he fastened upon great foreign potentates, + in the shape of war, that irritability of temper in his royal master which + threatened to consume himself; the diplomatic address with which he + transmuted suddenly a task so delicate as that of skirmishing daily in a + Council Chamber with his own sovereign, into that far jollier mode of + disputation where one replies to all objections of the very keenest + logician, either with round shot or with grape; here is an anecdote, which + (for my own part) I am inclined to view as pure gasconade. But suppose the + story true, still it may happen that a better valuation of it may disturb + the whole edifice of logical inferences by which it seemed to favor the + speculations of the war abolitionists. Let us see. What <i>was</i> the + logic through which such a tale as this could lend any countenance to the + schemes of these abolitionists? That logic travelled in the following + channel. Such a tale, or the English tale of the gloves, being supposed + true, it would seem to follow, that war and the purposes of war were + phenomena of chance growth, not attached to any instinct so ancient, and + apparently so grooved into the dark necessities of our nature, as we had + all taken for granted. Usually, we rank war with hunger, with cold, with + sorrow, with death, afflictions of our human state that spring up as + inevitably without separate culture and in defiance of all hostile + culture, as verdure, as weeds, and as flowers that overspread in spring + time a fertile soil without needing to be sown or watered—awful is + the necessity, as it seems, of all such afflictions. Yet, again, if (as + these anecdote simply) war could by possibility depend frequently on + accidents of personal temperament, irritability in a sensual king, wounded + sensibilities of pride between two sensitive ladies, there in a moment + shone forth a light of hope upon the crusade against war. + </p> + <p> + If <i>personal</i> accidents could, to any serious extent, be amongst the + causes of war, then it would become a hopeful duty to combine personal + influences that should take an opposite direction. If casual causes could + be supposed chiefly to have promoted war, how easy for a nation to arrange + permanent and determinate causes against it! The logic of these anecdotes + seemed to argue that the whole fountains of war were left to the + government of chance and the windiest of levities; that war was not in + reality roused into activity by the evil that resides in the human will, + but on the contrary, by the simple defect of any will energetic enough or + steady enough to merit that name. Multitudes of evils exist in our social + system, simply because no steadiness of attention, nor action of combined + will, has been converged upon them. War, by the silent evidence of these + anecdotes, seemed to lie amongst that class of evils. A new era might be + expected to commence in new views upon war; and the evil would be half + conquered from the moment that it should be traced to a trivial or a + personal origin. + </p> + <p> + All this was plausible, but false. The anecdotes, and all similar + anecdotes, might be true, but were delusive. The logical vice in them was—that + they substituted an occasion for a cause. The king's ill temper for + instance, acting through the levity and impatience of the minister, might + be the <i>causa occasionalis</i> of the war, but not its true <i>causa + efficiens</i>. What <i>was?</i> Where do the true permanent causes of war, + as distinguished from its proximate excitements, find their lodgment and + abiding ground? They lie in the system of national competitions; in the + common political system to which all individual nations are unavoidably + parties; in the system of public forces distributed amongst a number of + adjacent nations, with no internal principle for adjusting the equilibrium + of these forces, and no supreme <i>Areopagus</i>, or court of appeal, for + deciding disputes. Here lies the <i>matrix</i> of war, because an eternal + <i>matrix</i> of disputes lies in a system of interests that are + continually the same, and therefore the parents of rivalships too close, + that are continually different, and so far the parents of alienation too + wide. All war is an instinctive <i>nisus</i> for redressing the errors of + equilibrium in the relative position of nations amongst nations. Every + nation's duty, first, midst, and last, is to itself. No nation can be safe + from continual (because insensible) losses of ground, but by continual + jealousies, watchings, and ambitious strivings to mend its own position. + Civilities and high-bred courtesies pass and ought to pass between + nations; that is the graceful drapery which shrouds their natural, fierce, + and tiger-like relations to each other. But the glaring eyes, which + express this deep and inalienable ferocity, look out at intervals from + below these gorgeous draperies; and sad it is to think that at intervals + the acts and the temper suitable to those glaring eyes <i>must</i> come + forward. Mr. Carter was on terms of the most exquisite dissimulation with + his lions and tigers; but, as often as he trusted his person amongst them, + if, in the midst of infinite politeness exchanged on all sides, he saw a + certain portentous expression of mutiny kindling in the eyeball of any + discontented tiger, all was lost, unless he came down instantly upon that + tiger's skull with a blow from an iron bar, that suggested something like + apoplexy. On such terms do nations meet in diplomacy; high consideration + for each other does not conceal the basis of enmity on which they rest; + not an enmity that belongs to their feelings, but to the necessities of + their position. Every nation in negotiating has its right hand upon the + hilt of its sword, and at intervals playfully unsheaths a little of its + gleaming blade. As things stand at present, war and peace are bound + together like the vicissitudes of day and night, of Castor and Pollux. It + matters little which bucket of the two is going up at the moment, which + going down. Both are steadfastly tied by a system of alternations to a + revolving wheel; and a new war as certainly becomes due during the + evolutions of a tedious peace, as a new peace may be relied on during the + throes of a bloody war, to tranquillize its wounds. Consequently, when the + arrogant Louvois carried a war to the credit of his own little account on + the national leger of France, this coxcomb well knew that a war was at any + rate due about that time. Really, says he, I must find out some little war + to exhaust the <i>surplus</i> irritability of this person, or he'll be the + death of me. But irritable or not irritable, with a puppy for his minister + or not, the French king would naturally have been carried headlong into + war by the mere system of Europe, within a very few months. So much had + the causes of complaint reciprocally accumulated. The account must be + cleansed, the court roll of grievances must be purged. With respect to the + two English ladies again, it is still more evident that they could not + have <i>caused</i> a war by pulling caps with each other, since the + grounds of every war, what had caused it, and prolonged it, was sure to be + angrily reviewed by Parliament at each annual exposition of the Finance + Minister's Budget. These ladies, and the French coxcomb, could at the + utmost have claimed a distinction—such as that which belonged to a + particular Turkish gunner, the captain of a gun at Navarino, viz., that + he, by firing the first shot without orders, did (as a matter of fact) let + loose and unmuzzle the whole of that dreadful iron hurricane from four + nations which instantly followed, but which (be it known to the gunner) + could not have been delayed for fifty minutes longer, whether he had fired + the unauthorized gun or not. + </p> + <p> + But now, let me speak to the second proposition of my two-headed thesis, + viz., that war <i>ought</i> not to be abolished, if such an abolition were + even possible. <i>Prima facie</i>, it seems a dreadful doctrine to claim a + place for war as amongst the evils that are salutary to man; but + conscientiously I hold it to be such. I hold with Wordsworth, but for + reasons which may or may not be the same, since he has not stated <i>his</i>— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 'That God's most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man—array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is his daughter.' +</pre> + <p> + I am obliged to hold, that supposing so romantic a condition realized as + the cessation of war, this change, unless other evils were previously + abolished, or neutralized in a way still more romantic to suppose, would + not be for the welfare of human nature, but would tend to its rapid + degradation. + </p> + <p> + One, in fact, of the earliest aspects under which this moral necessity for + war forces itself upon our notice, is its physical necessity. I mean to + say that one of the earliest reasons why war <i>ought</i> to exist, is + because under any mode of suppressing war, virtually it <i>will</i> exist. + Banish war as now administered, and it will revolve upon us in a worse + shape, that is, in a shape of predatory and ruffian war, more and more + licentious, as it enjoys no privilege or sufferance, by the supposition, + under the national laws. Will the causes of war die away because war is + forbidden? Certainly not; and the only result of the prohibition would be + to throw back the exercise of war from national into private and mercenary + hands; and <i>that</i> is precisely the retrograde or inverse course of + civilization; for, in the natural order of civilization, war passes from + the hands of knights, barons, insulated cities, into those of the + universal community. If, again, it is attempted to put down this lawless + <i>guerilla</i> state by national forces, then the result will be to have + established an interminable warfare of a mixed character, private and + public, civil and foreign, infesting the frontiers of all states like a + fever, and in substitution for the occasional and intermitting wars of + high national police, administered with the dignified responsibility that + belongs to supreme rank, with the humanity that belongs to conscious + power, and with the diminishing havoc that belongs to increasing skill in + the arts of destruction. Even as to this last feature in warfare, which in + the war of brigands and <i>condottieri</i> would for many reasons + instantly decay, no reader can fail to be aware of the marvels effected by + the forces of inventive science that run along side by side with the + advances of civilization; look back even to the grandest period of the + humane Roman warfare, listen to the noblest and most merciful of all Roman + captains, saying on the day of Pharsalia, (and saying of necessity,) + 'Strike at their faces, cavalry,'—yes, absolutely directing his own + troopers to plough up with their sabres the blooming faces of the young + Roman nobility; and then pass to a modern field of battle, where all is + finished by musquetry and artillery amidst clouds of smoke, no soldier + recognizing his own desolations, or the ghastly ruin of his own right arm, + so that war, by losing all its brutality, is losing half of its + demoralization. + </p> + <p> + War, so far from ending, because war was forbidden and nationally + renounced, on the contrary would transmigrate into a more fearful shape. + As things are at present, (and, observe, they are always growing better,) + what numbers of noble-minded men, in the persons of our officers (yes, and + often of non-commissioned officers,) do we British, for example, disperse + over battle-fields, that could not dishonor their glorious uniform by any + countenance to an act of cruelty! They are eyes delegated from the + charities of our domestic life, to overlook and curb the license of war. I + remember, in Xenophon, some passage where he describes a class of Persian + gentlemen, who were called the <i>ophthalmoi</i>, or <i>eyes</i> of the + king; but for a very different purpose. These British officers may be + called the <i>opthalmoi</i>, or eyes of our Sovereign Lady, that into + every corner of the battle carry their scrutiny, lest any cruelty should + be committed on the helpless, or any advantage taken of a dying enemy. But + mark, such officers would be rare in the irregular troops succeeding to + the official armies. And through this channel, amongst others, war, when + cried down by act of Parliament, and precisely <i>because</i> it was cried + down, would become more perilously effective for the degradation of human + nature. Being itself dishonored, war would become the more effective as an + instrument for the dishonoring of its agents. However, at length, we will + suppose the impossible problem solved—war, we will assume, is at + last put down. + </p> + <p> + At length there is no more war. Though by the way, let me whisper in your + ear, (supposing you to be a Christian,) this would be a prelibation drawn + prematurely from the cup of millennial happiness; and, strictly speaking, + there is no great homage to religion, even thus far—in figuring <i>that</i> + to be the purchase of man for himself, and through his own efforts, which + is viewed by Scripture as a glory removed to the infinite and starry + distance of a millennium, and as the <i>teleutaion epigeinaema</i>, the + last crowning attainment of Christian truth, no longer <i>militant</i> on + earth. Christianity it is, but Christianity when <i>triumphant</i>, and no + longer in conflict with adverse, or thwarting, or limiting influences, + which only can be equal to a revolution so mighty. But all this, for the + sake of pursuing the assumption, let us agree to waive. In reality, there + are two separate stations taken up by the war denouncers. One class hold, + that an influence derived from political economy is quite equal to the + flying leap by which man is to clear this unfathomable gulph of war, and + to land his race for ever on the opposite shore of a self-sustaining + peace. Simply, the contemplation of national debts, (as a burthen which + never would have existed without war,) and a computation of the waste, + havoc, unproductive labor, &c., attached to any single campaign—these, + they imagine, might suffice, <i>per se</i>, for the extinction of war. But + the other class cannot go along with a speculation so infirm. Reasons + there are, in the opposite scale, tempting man into war,—which are + far mightier than any motives addressed to his self-interest. Even + straining her energies to the utmost, they regard all policy of the <i>purse</i> + as adequate: anything short of religion, they are satisfied, must be + incommensurate to a result so vast. + </p> + <p> + I myself certainly agree with this last class; but upon this arises a + delusion, which I shall have some trouble in making the reader understand: + and of this I am confident-that a majority, perhaps, in every given amount + of readers, will share in the delusion; will part from me in the + persuasion that the error I attempt to expose is no error at all, but that + it is myself who am in the wrong. The delusion which I challenge as such, + respects the very meaning and value of a sacrifice made to Christianity. + What is it? what do we properly mean, by a concession or a sacrifice made + to a spiritual power, such as Christianity? If a king and his people, + impressed by the unchristian character of war, were to say, in some solemn + act—'We, the parties undersigned, for the reasons stated in the body + of this document, proclaim to all nations, that from and after Midsummer + eve of the year 1850, this being the eve of St. John the Baptist, (who was + the herald of Christ,) we will no more prosecute any interest of ours, + unless the one sole interest of national defence, by means of war,—and + this sacrifice we make as a concession and act of homage to Christianity,—would + <i>that</i> vow, I ask, sincerely offered, and steadily observed, really + be a sacrifice made to Christianity? Not at all. A sacrifice, that was + truly such, to a spiritual religion, must be a sacrifice not verbally + (though sincerely) dedicating itself to the religion, but a sacrifice + wrought and accomplished by that religion, through and by its own spirit. + Midsummer eve of 1850 could clearly make no spiritual change in the king + or his people—such they would be on the morning after St. John's + day, as on the morning before it—<i>i. e.</i>, filled with all + elements (though possibly undeveloped) of strife, feud, pernicious + ambition. + </p> + <p> + The delusion, therefore, which I charge upon this religious class of war + denouncers is, that whilst they see and recognize this infinite + imperfection of any influence which Christianity yet exercises upon the + world, they nevertheless rely upon that acknowledged shadow for the + accomplishment of what would, in such circumstances, be a real miracle; + they rely upon that shadow, as truly and entirely as if it were already + that substance which, in a vast revolution of ages, it will finally + become. And they rely upon this mockery in <i>two</i> senses; first, for + the <i>endurance</i> of the frail human resolution that would thaw in an + hour before a great outrage, or provocation suited to the nobler + infirmities of man. Secondly, which is the point I mainly aim at, + assuming, for a moment, that the resolution <i>could</i> endure, amongst + all mankind, we are all equally convinced, that an evil so vast is not + likely to be checked or controlled, except by some very extraordinary + power. Well, where <i>is</i> it? Show me that power. I know of none but + Christianity. <i>There</i>, undoubtedly, is hope. But, in order that the + hope may become rational, the power must become practical. And practical + it is not in the extent required, until this Christianity, from being + dimly appreciated by a section [Footnote <i>What</i> section, if you + please? I, for my part, do not agree with those that geographically + degrade Christianity as occupying but a trifle on the area of our earth. + Mark this; all Eastern populations have dwindled upon better acquaintance. + Persia that <i>ought</i> to have, at least, two hundred and fifty millions + of people, and <i>would</i> have them under English government, and once + was supposed to have at least one hundred millions, how many millions has + she? <i>Eight!</i> This was ascertained by Napoleon's emissary in 1808, + General Gardanne. Afghanistan has very little more, though some falsely + count fourteen millions. There go two vast chambers of Mahometanism; not + twenty millions between them. Hindostan may <i>really</i> have one hundred + and twenty millions claimed for her. As to the Burman Empire, I, nor + anybody else knows the truth. But, as to China, I have never for a moment + been moved by those ridiculous estimates of the flowery people, which our + simple countrymen copy. Instead of three hundred and fifty millions, a + third of the human race upon the most exaggerated estimate, read eighty or + one hundred millions at most. Africa, as it regards religion, counts for a + cipher. Europe, America, and the half of Asia, as to space, are Christian. + Consequently, the total <i>facit</i>, as regards Christianity, is not what + many amiable infidels make it to be. My dears, your wish was father to + that thought.] of this world, shall have been the law that overrides the + whole. That consummation is not immeasurably distant. Even now, from + considerations connected with China, with New Zealand, Borneo, Australia, + we may say, that already the fields are white for harvest. But alas! the + interval is brief between Christianity small, and Christianity great, as + regards space or terraqueous importance, compared with that interval which + separates Christianity formally professed, from Christianity thankfully + acknowledged by universal man in beauty and power. + </p> + <p> + Here, therefore, is one spoke in the wheel for so vast a change as war + dethroned, viz., that you see no cause, though you should travel round the + whole horizon, adequate to so prodigious an effect. What could do it? Why, + Christianity could do it. Aye, true; but man disarms Christianity. And no + mock Christianity, no lip homage to Christianity, will answer. + </p> + <p> + But is war, then, to go on for ever? Are we never to improve? Are nations + to conduct their intercourse eternally under the secret understanding that + an unchristian solution of all irreconcileable feuds stands in the rear as + the ultimate appeal? I answer that war, going on even for ever, may still + be for ever amending its modes and its results upon human happiness; + secondly, that we not only are under no fatal arrest in our process of + improvement, but that, as regards war, history shows how steadily we <i>have</i> + been improving; and, thirdly, that although war may be irreversible as the + last resource, this last resource may constantly be retiring further into + the rear. Let us speak to this last point. War is the last resource only, + because other and more intellectual resources for solving disputes are not + available. And <i>why</i> are they not? Simply, because the knowledge, and + the logic, which ultimately will govern the case, and the very + circumstances of the case itself in its details, as the basis on which + this knowledge and logic are to operate, happen not to have been + sufficiently developed. A code of law is not a spasmodic effort of + gigantic talent in any one man or any one generation; it is a slow growth + of accidents and occasions expanding with civilization; dependent upon + time as a multiform element in its development; and presupposing often a + concurrent growth of <i>analogous</i> cases towards the completion of its + system. For instance, the law which regulates the rights of shipping, + seafaring men, and maritime commerce—how slow was its development! + Before such works as the <i>Consolato del Mare</i> had been matured, how + wide must have been the experience, and how slow its accumulation! During + that long period of infancy for law, how many must have been the openings + for ignorant and unintentional injustice! How differently, again, will the + several parties to any transaction construe the rights of the case! + Discussion, without rules for guiding it, will but embitter the dispute. + And in the absence of all guidance from the intellect, gradually weaving a + <i>common</i> standard of international appeal, it is clear that nations + <i>must</i> fight, and <i>ought</i> to fight. Not being convinced, it is + base to pretend that you <i>are</i> convinced; and failing to be convinced + by your neighbor's arguments, you confess yourself a poltroon (and + moreover you <i>invite</i> injuries from every neighbor) if you pocket + your wrongs. The only course in such a case is to thump your neighbor, and + to thump him soundly for the present. This treatment is very serviceable + to your neighbor's optics; he sees things in a new light after a + sufficient course of so distressing a regimen. But mark, even in this + case, war has no tendency to propagate war, but tends to the very opposite + result. To thump is as costly, and in other ways as painful, as to <i>be</i> + thumped. The evil to both sides arises in an undeveloped state of law. If + rights were defined by a well considered code growing out of long + experience, each party sees that this scourge of war would continually + tend to limit itself. Consequently the very necessity of war becomes the + strongest invitation to that system of judicial logic which forms its sole + limitation. But all war whatsoever stands in these circumstances. It + follows that all war whatever, unless on the brutal principle of a Spartan + warfare, that made war its own sufficient object and self-justification, + operates as a perpetual bounty offered to men upon the investigation and + final adjudication of those disputed cases through which war prospers. + Hence it is, viz., because the true boundaries of reciprocal rights are + for ever ascertaining themselves more clearly, that war is growing less + frequent. The fields open to injustice (which originally from pure + ignorance are so vast) continually (through deeper and more expansive + surveys by man's intellect—searching—reflecting—comparing) + are narrowing themselves; narrowing themselves in this sense, that all + nations under a common centre of religious civilization, as Christendom + suppose, or Islamism, would not fight—no, and would not (by the + national sense of wrong and right) be permitted to fight—in a cause + <i>confessedly</i> condemned by equity as now developed. The causes of war + that still remain, are causes on which international law is silent—that + large arrear of cases as yet unsettled; or else they are cases in which + though law speaks with an authentic voice, it speaks in vain, because the + circumstances are doubtful; so that, if the law is fixed as a lamp nailed + to a wall, yet the <i>incidence</i> of the law on the particular + circumstances, becomes as doubtful as the light of the lamp upon objects + that are capriciously moving. We see all this illustrated in a class of + cases that powerfully illustrate the good and the bad in war, the why and + the wherefore, as likewise the why <i>not</i>, and therefore I presume the + wherefore <i>not</i>; and this class of cases belongs to the <i>lex + vicinitatis</i>. In the Roman law this section makes a great figure. And + speaking accurately, it makes a greater in our own. But the reason why + this <i>law of neighborhood</i> seems to fill so much smaller a section in + ours, is because in English law, being <i>positively</i> a longer section, + <i>negatively</i> to the whole compass of our law, it is less. The Roman + law would have paved a road to the moon. And what is <i>that</i> expressed + in time? Let us see: a railway train, worked at the speed of the Great + Western Express, accomplishes easily a thousand miles in twenty-four + hours; consequently in two hundred and forty days or eight months it would + run into the moon with its buffers, and break up the quarters of that + Robinson Crusoe who (and without any Friday) is the only policeman that + parades that little pensive appendage or tender to our fuming engine of an + earth. But the English law—oh frightful reader, don't even think of + such a question as its relation in space and time to the Roman law. That + it would stretch to the fixed stars is plain, but to which of them,—don't + now, dear persecuting reader, unsettle our brains by asking. Enough it is + that both in Roman and English law the rights of neighborhood are past + measuring. Has a man a right to play the German flute, where the + partitions are slender, all day long in the house adjoining to yours? Or, + supposing a beneficent jury (beneficent to <i>him</i>) finds this to be no + legal nuisance, has he a right to play it ill? Or, because juries, when + tipsy, will wink at anything, does the privilege extend to the jew's-harp? + to the poker and tongs? to the marrowbones and cleavers? Or, without + ranging through the whole of the <i>Spectator's</i> culinary music, will + the bagpipes be found within benefit of jury law? <i>War to the knife</i> + I say, before we'll submit to <i>that</i>. And if the law won't protect us + against it, then we'll turn rebels. + </p> + <p> + Now this law of neighborhood, this <i>lex vicinitatis</i>, amongst the + Romans, righted itself and settled itself, as amongst ourselves it + continues to do, by means of actions or legal suits. If a man poisons us + with smoke, we compel him by an action to eat his own smoke, or (if he + chooses) to make his chimneys eat it. Here you see is a transmuted war; in + a barbarous state, fire and sword would have avenged this invasion of + smoke; but amongst civilized men, paper bullets in the form of <i>Qui tam</i> + and <i>Scire facias</i>, beat off the enemy. And on the same principle, + exactly as the law of international rights clears up its dark places, war + gradually narrows its grounds, and the <i>jus gentium</i> defines itself + through national attorneys, <i>i. e.</i>, diplomatists. + </p> + <p> + For instance, now I have myself seen a case where a man cultivating a + flower-garden, and distressed for some deliverance from his rubbish of + dead leaves, litter, straw, stones, took the desperate resolution of + projecting the whole upon his neighbor's flower-garden. I, a chance + spectator of the outrage, knew too much of this world to lodge any protest + against it, on the principle of mere abstract justice; so it would have + passed unnoticed, but for the accident that his injured neighbor + unexpectedly raised up his head above the dividing wall, and reproached + the aggressor with his unprincipled conduct. This aggressor, adding evil + to evil, suggested as the natural remedy for his own wrong, that the + sufferer should pass the nuisance onwards to the garden next beyond him; + from which it might be posted forward on the same principle. The aggrieved + man, however, preferred passing it back, without any discount to the + original proprietor. Here now, is a ripe case, a <i>causa teterrima</i>, + for war between the parties, and for a national war had the parties been + nations. In fact, the very same injury, in a more aggravated shape, is + perpetrated from time to time by Jersey upon ourselves, and would, upon a + larger scale, right itself by war. Convicts are costly to maintain; and + Jersey, whose national revenue is limited, being too well aware of this, + does us the favor to land upon the coasts of Hampshire, Dorset, &c., + all the criminals whom she cannot summarily send back to self-support, at + each jail-delivery. 'What are we to do in England?' is the natural + question propounded by the injured scoundrels, when taking leave of their + Jersey escort. 'Anything you please,' is the answer: 'rise if you can, to + be dukes: only never come back hither; since, dukes or <i>no</i> dukes, to + the rest of Christendom, to <i>us</i> of the Channel Islands you will + always be transported felons.' There is therefore a good right of action, + <i>i.e.</i>, a good ground of war, against Jersey, on the part of Great + Britain, since, besides the atrocious injury inflicted, this unprincipled + little island has the audacity to regard our England, (all Europe looking + on,) as existing only for the purposes of a sewer or cess-pool to receive + <i>her</i> impurities. Some time back I remember a Scottish newspaper + holding up the case as a newly discovered horror in the social system. + But, in a quiet way Jersey has always been engaged in this branch of + exportation, and rarely fails to 'run' a cargo of rogues upon our shore, + once or so in the season. What amuses one besides, in this Scottish + denunciation of the villany, is, that Scotland [Footnote: To banish them + 'forth of the kingdom,' was the <i>euphuismus</i>; but the reality + understood was—to carry the knaves, like foxes in a bag, to the + English soil, and there unbag them for English use.] of old, pursued the + very same mode of jail-delivery as to knaves that were not thought ripe + enough for hanging: she carted them to the English border, unchained them, + and hurried them adrift into the wilderness, saying—Now, boys, shift + for yourselves, and henceforth plunder none but Englishmen. + </p> + <p> + What I deduce from all this is, that as the feuds arising between + individuals under the relation of neighbors, are so far from tending to a + hostile result, that, on the contrary, as coming under a rule of law + already ascertained, or furnishing the basis for a new rule, they + gradually tighten the cords which exclude all opening for quarrel; not + otherwise is the result, and therefore the usefulness, of war amongst + nations. All the causes of war, the occasions upon which it is likely to + arise, the true and the ostensible motives, are gradually evolved, are + examined, searched, valued, by publicists; and by such means, in the + further progress of men, a comprehensive law of nations will finally be + accumulated, not such as now passes for international law, (a worthless + code that <i>has</i> no weight in the practice of nations, nor deserves + any,) but one which will exhaust the great body of cases under which wars + have arisen under the Christian era, and gradually collect a public + opinion of Christendom upon the nature of each particular case. The causes + that <i>have</i> existed for war are the causes that <i>will</i> exist; + or, at least, they are the same under modifications that will simply vary + the rule, as our law cases in the courts are every day circumstantiating + the particular statute concerned. At this stage of advance, and when a + true European opinion has been created, a '<i>sensus communis</i>,' or + community of feeling on the main classifications of wars, it will become + possible to erect a real Areopagus, or central congress for all + Christendom, not with any commission to suppress wars,—a policy + which would neutralize itself by reacting as a fresh cause of war, since + high-spirited nations would arm for the purpose of resisting such decrees; + but with the purpose and the effect of oftentimes healing local or + momentary animosities, and also by publishing the opinion of Europe, + assembled in council, with the effect of taking away the shadow of + dishonor from the act of retiring from war. Not to mention that the mere + delay, involved in the waiting for the solemn opinion of congress, would + always be friendly to pacific councils. But <i>would</i> the belligerents + wait? That concession might be secured by general exchange of treaties, in + the same way that the cooperation of so many nations has been secured to + the suppression of the trade in slaves. And one thing is clear, that when + all the causes of war, involving <i>manifest</i> injustice, are banished + by the force of European opinion, focally converged upon the subject, the + range of war will be prodigiously circumscribed. The costliness of war, + which, for various reasons has been continually increasing since the + feudal period, will operate as another limitation upon its field, + concurring powerfully with the public declaration from a council of + collective Christendom. + </p> + <p> + There is, besides, a distinct and separate cause of war, more fatal to the + possibilities of peace in Europe than open injustice; and this cause being + certainly in the hands of nations to deal with as they please, there is a + tolerable certainty that a congress <i>sincerely</i> pacific would cut it + up by the roots. It is a cause noticed by Kant in his Essay on Perpetual + Peace, and with great sagacity, though otherwise that little work is not + free from visionary self-delusions: and this cause lies in the diplomacy + of Europe. Treaties of peace are so constructed, as almost always to sow + the seeds of future wars. This seems to the inexperienced reader a matter + of carelessness or laxity in the choice of expression; and sometimes it + may have been so; but more often it has been done under the secret + dictation of powerful courts—making peaces only as truces, anxious + only for time to nurse their energies, and to keep open some plausible + call for war. This is not only amongst the most extensive causes of war, + but the very worst: because it gives a colorable air of justice, and + almost of necessity to a war, which is, in fact, the most outrageously + unjust, as being derived from a pretext silently prepared in former years, + with mere subtlety of malice: it is a war growing out of occasions, forged + beforehand, lest no occasions should spontaneously arise. Now, this cause + of war could and would be healed by a congress, and through an easy reform + in European diplomacy.[Footnote: One great <i>nidus</i> of this insidious + preparation for war under the very masque of peace, which Kant, from + brevity, has failed to particularize, lies in the neglecting to make any + provision for cases that are likely enough to arise. A, B, C, D, are all + equally possible, but the treaty provides a specific course of action only + for A, suppose. Then upon B or C arising, the high contracting parties, + though desperately and equally pacific, find themselves committed to war + actually by a treaty of lasting peace. Their pacific majesties sigh, and + say—Alas! that it should be so, but really fight we must, for what + says the treaty?] + </p> + <p> + It is the strongest confirmation of the power inherent in growing + civilization, to amend war, and to narrow the field of war, if we look + back for the records of the changes in this direction which have already + arisen in generations before our own. + </p> + <p> + The most careless reviewer of history can hardly fail to read a rude + outline of progress made by men in the rights, and consequently in the + duties of war through the last twenty-five centuries. It is a happy + circumstance for man—that oftentimes he is led by pure selfishness + into reforms, the very same as high principle would have prompted; and in + the next stage of his advance, when once habituated to an improved code of + usages, he begins to find a gratification to his sensibilities, (partly + luxurious sensibilities, but partly moral,) in what originally had been a + mere movement of self-interest. Then comes a third stage, in which having + thoroughly reconciled himself to a better order of things, and made it + even necessary to his own comfort, at length he begins in his reflecting + moments to perceive a moral beauty and a fitness in arrangements that had + emanated from accidents of convenience, so that finally he generates a + sublime pleasure of conscientiousness out of that which originally + commenced in the meanest forms of mercenary convenience. A Roman lady of + rank, out of mere voluptuous regard to her own comfort, revolted from the + harsh clamors of eternal chastisements inflicted on her numerous slaves; + she forbade them; the grateful slaves showed their love for her; gradually + and unintentionally she trained her feelings, when thus liberated from a + continual temptation to the sympathies with cruelty, into a demand for + gentler and purer excitement. Her purpose had been one of luxury; but, by + the benignity of nature still watching for ennobling opportunities, the + actual result was a development given to the higher capacities of her + heart. In the same way, when the brutal right (and in many circumstances + the brutal duty) of inflicting death upon prisoners taken in battle, had + exchanged itself for the profits of ransom or slavery, this relaxation of + ferocity (though commencing in selfishness) gradually exalted itself into + a habit of mildness, and some dim perception of a sanctity in human life. + The very vice of avarice ministered to the purification of barbarism; and + the very evil of slavery in its earliest form was applied to the + mitigation of another evil—war conducted in the spirit of piratical + outrage. The commercial instincts of men having worked one set of changes + in war, a second set of changes was prompted by instincts derived from the + arts of ornament and pomp. Splendor of arms, of banners, of equipages, of + ceremonies, and the elaborate forms of intercourse with enemies through + conferences, armistices, treaties of peace, &c., having tamed the + savagery of war into connection with modes of intellectual grandeur, and + with the endless restraints of superstition or scrupulous religion,—a + permanent light of civilization began to steal over the bloody shambles of + buccaneering warfare. Other modes of harmonizing influences arose more + directly from the bosom of war itself. Gradually the mere practice of war, + and the culture of war though merely viewed as a rude trade of bloodshed, + ripened into an intellectual art. Were it merely with a view to more + effectual carnage, this art (however simple and gross at first) opened at + length into wide scientific arts, into strategies, into tactics, into + castrametation, into poliorcetics, and all the processes through which the + first rude efforts of martial cunning finally connect themselves with the + exquisite resources of science. War, being a game in which each side + forces the other into the instant adoption of all improvements through the + mere necessities of self-preservation, became continually more + intellectual. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting to observe the steps by which, were it only through + impulses of self-conservation, and when searching with a view to more + effectual destructiveness, war did and must refine itself from a horrid + trade of butchery into a magnificent and enlightened science. Starting + from no higher impulse or question than how to cut throats most rapidly, + most safely, and on the largest scale, it has issued even at our own stage + of advance into a science, magnificent, oftentimes ennobling, and cleansed + from all horrors except those which (not being within man's power utterly + to divorce from it) no longer stand out as reproaches to his humanity. + </p> + <p> + Meantime a more circumstantial review of war, in relation to its motives + and the causes assigned for its justification, would expose a series of + changes greater perhaps than the reader is aware of. Such a review, which + would too much lengthen a single paper, may or may not form the subject of + a second. And I will content myself with saying, as a closing remark, that + this review will detect a principle of steady advance in the purification + and elevation of war—such as must offer hope to those who believe in + the possibility of its absolute extermination, and must offer consolation + to those who (like myself) deny it. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT. + </h2> + <p> + I take it for granted that every person of education will acknowledge some + interest in the personal history of Immanuel Kant. A great man, though in + an unpopular path, must always be an object of liberal curiosity. To + suppose a reader thoroughly indifferent to Kant, is to suppose him + thoroughly unintellectual; and, therefore, though in reality he should + happen <i>not</i> to regard him with interest, it is one of the fictions + of courtesy to presume that he does. On this principle I make no apology + to the reader for detaining him upon a short sketch of Kant's life and + domestic habits, drawn from the authentic records of his friends and + pupils. It is true, that, without any illiberality on the part of the + public in this country, the <i>works</i> of Kant are not regarded with the + same interest which has gathered about his <i>name</i>; and this may be + attributed to three causes—first, to the language in which they are + written; secondly, to the supposed obscurity of the philosophy which they + teach, whether intrinsic or due to Kant's particular mode of expounding + it; thirdly, to the unpopularity of all speculative philosophy, no matter + how treated, in a country where the structure and tendency of society + impress upon the whole activities of the nation a direction exclusively + practical. But, whatever may be the immediate fortunes of his writings, no + man of enlightened curiosity will regard the author himself without + something of a profounder interest. Measured by one test of power, viz., + by the number of books written directly for or against himself, to say + nothing of those which he has indirectly modified, there is no philosophic + writer whatsoever, if we except Aristotle, who can pretend to approach + Kant in the extent of the influence which he has exercised over the minds + of men. Such being his claims upon our notice, I repeat that it is no more + than a reasonable act of respect to the reader—to presume in him so + much interest about Kant as will justify a sketch of his life. + </p> + <p> + Immanuel Kant, [Footnote: By the paternal side, the family of Kant was of + Scotch derivation; and hence it is that the name was written by Kant the + father—<i>Cant</i>, that being a Scotch name, and still to be found + in Scotland. But Immanuel, though he always cherished his Scotch descent, + substituted a <i>K</i> for a <i>C</i>, in order to adapt it better to the + analogies of the German language.] the second of six children, was born at + Königsberg, in Prussia, a city at that time containing about fifty + thousand inhabitants, on the 22d of April, 1724. His parents were people + of humble rank, and not rich even for their own station, but able (with + some assistance from a near relative, and a trifle in addition from a + gentleman, who esteemed them for their piety and domestic virtues,) to + give their son Immanuel a liberal education. He was sent when a child to a + charity school; and, in the year 1732, removed to the Royal (or + Frederician) Academy. Here he studied the Greek and Latin classics, and + formed an intimacy with one of his schoolfellows, David Ruhnken, + (afterwards so well known to scholars under his Latin name of + Ruhn-kenius,) which lasted until the death of the latter. In 1737, Kant + lost his mother, a woman of excellent character, and of accomplishments + and knowledge beyond her rank, who contributed to the future eminence of + her illustrious son by the direction which she gave to his youthful + thoughts, and by the elevated morals to which she trained him. Kant never + spoke of her to the end of his life without the utmost tenderness, and + acknowledgment of his great obligations to her maternal care. In 1740, at + Michćlmas, he entered the University of Königsberg. In 1746, when about + twenty-two years old, he printed his first work, upon a question partly + mathematical and partly philosophic, viz., the valuation of living forces. + The question had been first moved by Leibnitz, in opposition to the + Cartesians, and was here finally settled, after having occupied most of + the great mathematicians of Europe for more than half a century. It was + dedicated to the King of Prussia, but never reached him—having, in + fact, never been published. [Footnote: To this circumstance we must + attribute its being so little known amongst the philosophers and + mathematicians of foreign countries, and also the fact that D'Alembert, + whose philosophy was miserably below his mathematics, many years + afterwards still continued to represent the dispute as a verbal one.] From + this time until 1770, he supported himself as a private tutor in different + families, or by giving private lectures in Königsberg, especially to + military men on the art of fortification. In 1770, he was appointed to the + Chair of Mathematics, which he exchanged soon after for that of Logic and + Metaphysics. On this occasion, he delivered an inaugural disputation—[<i>De + Mundi Sensibilis atque Intelligibilis Forma et Principiis</i>]—which + is remarkable for containing the first germs of the Transcendental + Philosophy. In 1781, he published his great work, the <i>Critik der Reinen + Vernunft,</i> or <i>Investigation of the Pure Reason</i>. On February 12, + 1804, he died. + </p> + <p> + These are the great epochs of Kant's life. But his was a life remarkable + not so much for its incidents, as for the purity and philosophic dignity + of its daily tenor; and of this the best impression will be obtained from + Wasianski's account of his last years, checked and supported by the + collateral testimonies of Jachmann, Rink, Borowski, and other biographers. + We see him here struggling with the misery of decaying faculties, and with + the pain, depression, and agitation of two different complaints, one + affecting his stomach, and the other his head; over all which the + benignity and nobility of his mind are seen victoriously eminent to the + last. The principal defect of this and all other memoirs of Kant is, that + they report too little of his conversation and opinions. And perhaps the + reader will be disposed to complain, that some of the notices are too + minute and circumstantial, so as to be at one time undignified, and at + another unfeeling. As to the first objection, it may be answered, that + biographical gossip of this sort, and ungentlemanly scrutiny into a man's + private life, though not what a man of honor would choose to write, may be + read without blame; and, where a great man is the subject, sometimes with + advantage. With respect to the other objection, I know not how to excuse + Mr. Wasianski for kneeling at the bed-side of his dying friend, to record, + with the accuracy of a short-hand reporter, the last flutter of his pulse + and the struggles of expiring nature, except by supposing that the idea of + Kant, as a person belonging to all ages, in his mind transcended and + extinguished the ordinary restraints of human sensibility, and that, under + this impression, he gave <i>that</i> to his sense of a public duty which, + it may be hoped, he would willingly have declined on the impulse of his + private affections. + </p> + <p> + <i>The following paper on The Last Days of Kant, is gathered from the + German of Wasianski, Jachmann, Borowski, and others.</i> + </p> + <p> + My knowledge of Professor Kant began long before the period to which this + little memorial of him chiefly refers. In the year 1773, or 1774, I cannot + exactly remember which, I attended his lectures. Afterwards, I acted as + his amanuensis; and in that office was naturally brought into a closer + connection with him than any other of his pupils; so that, without any + request on my part, he granted me a general privilege of free admission to + his class-room. In 1780 I took orders, and withdrew myself from all + connection with the university. I still continued, however, to reside in + Königsberg; but wholly forgotten, or wholly unnoticed at least, by Kant. + Ten years afterwards, (that is to say, in 1790,) I met him by accident at + a party given on occasion of the marriage of one of the professors. At + table, Kant distributed his conversation and attentions pretty generally; + but after the entertainment, when the company broke up into parties, he + came and seated himself very obligingly by my side. I was at that time a + florist—an amateur, I mean, from the passion I had for flowers; upon + learning which, he talked of my favorite pursuit, and with very extensive + information. In the course of our conversation, I was surprised to find + that he was perfectly acquainted with all the circumstances of my + situation. He reminded me of our previous connection; expressed his + satisfaction at finding that I was happy; and was so good as to desire + that, if my engagements allowed me, I would now and then come and dine + with him. Soon after this, he rose to take his leave; and, as our road lay + the same way, he proposed to me that I should accompany him home. I did + so, and received an invitation for the next week, with a general + invitation for every week after, and permission to name my own day. At + first I was unable to explain the distinction with which Kant had treated + me; and I conjectured that some obliging friend had spoken of me in his + hearing, somewhat more advantageously than I could pretend to deserve; but + more intimate experience has convinced me that he was in the habit of + making continual inquiries after the welfare of his former pupils, and was + heartily rejoiced to hear of their prosperity. So that it appeared I was + wrong in thinking he had forgotten me. + </p> + <p> + This revival of my intimacy with Professor Kant, coincided pretty nearly, + in point of time, with a complete change in his domestic arrangements. Up + to this period it had been his custom to eat at a <i>table d'hôte</i>. But + he now began to keep house himself, and every day invited two friends to + dine with him, and upon any little festival from five to eight; for he was + a punctual observer of Lord Chesterfield's rule—that his dinner + party, himself included, should not fall below the number of the Graces—nor + exceed that of the Muses. In the whole economy of his household + arrangements, and especially of his dinner parties, there was something + peculiar and amusingly opposed to the usual conventional restraints of + society; not, however, that there was any neglect of decorum, such as + sometimes occurs in houses where there are no ladies to impress a better + tone upon the manners. The invariable routine was this: The moment that + dinner was ready, Lampe, the professor's old footman, stepped into the + study with a certain measured air, and announced it. This summons was + obeyed at the pace of double quick time—Kant talking all the way to + the eating-room about the state of the weather [Footnote: His reason for + which was, that he considered the weather one of the principal forces + which act upon the health; and his own frame was exquisitely sensible to + all atmospheric influences.]—a subject which he usually pursued + during the earlier part of the dinner. Graver themes, such as the + political events of the day, were never introduced before dinner, or at + all in his study. The moment that Kant had taken his seat, and unfolded + his napkin, he opened the business of dinner with a particular formula—'<i>Now, + then, gentlemen!</i>' and the tone and air with which he uttered these + words, proclaimed, in a way which nobody could mistake, relaxation from + the toils of the morning, and determinate abandonment of himself to social + enjoyment. The table was hospitably spread; three dishes, wine, &c., + with a small second course, composed the dinner. Every person helped + himself; and all delays of ceremony were so disagreeable to Kant, that he + seldom failed to express his displeasure with anything of that sort, + though not angrily. He was displeased also if people ate little; and + treated it as affectation. The first man to help himself was in his eyes + the politest guest; for so much the sooner came his own turn. For this + hatred of delay, Kant had a special excuse, having always worked hard from + an early hour in the morning, and eaten nothing until dinner. Hence it + was, that in the latter period of his life, though less perhaps from + actual hunger than from some uneasy sensation of habit or periodical + irritation of stomach, he could hardly wait with patience for the arrival + of the last person invited. + </p> + <p> + There was no friend of Kant's but considered the day on which he was to + dine with him as a day of pleasure. Without giving himself the air of an + instructor, Kant really was so in the very highest degree. The whole + entertainment was seasoned with the overflow of his enlightened mind, + poured out naturally and unaffectedly upon every topic, as the chances of + conversation suggested it; and the time flew rapidly away, from one + o'clock to four, five, or even later, profitably and delightfully. Kant + tolerated no <i>calms</i>, which was the name he gave to the momentary + pauses in conversation, or periods when its animation languished. Some + means or other he always devised for restoring its tone of interest, in + which he was much assisted by the tact with which he drew from every guest + his peculiar tastes, or the particular direction of his pursuits; and on + these, be they what they might, he was never unprepared to speak with + knowledge, and the interest of an original observer. The local affairs of + Königsberg must have been interesting indeed, before they could be allowed + to occupy the attention at <i>his</i> table. And, what may seem still more + singular, it was rarely or never that he directed the conversation to any + branch of the philosophy founded by himself. Indeed he was perfectly free + from the fault which besets so many <i>savans</i> and <i>literati</i>, of + intolerance towards those whose pursuits had disqualified them for any + particular sympathy with his own. His style of conversation was popular in + the highest degree, and unscholastic; so much so, that any stranger who + should have studied his works, and been unacquainted with his person, + would have found it difficult to believe, that in this delightful + companion he saw the profound author of the Transcendental Philosophy. + </p> + <p> + The subjects of conversation at Kant's table were drawn chiefly from + natural philosophy, chemistry, meteorology, natural history, and above + all, from politics. The news of the day, as reported in the public + journals, was discussed with a peculiar vigilance of examination. With + regard to any narrative that wanted dates of time and place, however + otherwise plausible, he was uniformly an inexorable sceptic, and held it + unworthy of repetition. So keen was his penetration into the interior of + political events, and the secret policy under which they moved, that he + talked rather with the authority of a diplomatic person who had access to + cabinet intelligence, than as a simple spectator of the great scenes which + were unfolding in Europe. At the time of the French Revolution, he threw + out many conjectures, and what were then accounted paradoxical + anticipations, especially in regard to military operations, which were as + punctually fulfilled as his own memorable conjecture in regard to the + hiatus in the planetary system between Mars and Jupiter,[Footnote: To + which the author should have added—and in regard to the hiatus + between the planetary and cometary systems, which was pointed out by Kant + several years before his conjecture was established by the good telescope + of Dr. Herschel. Vesta and Juno, further confirmations of Kant's + conjecture, were discovered in June 1804, when Wasianski wrote.] the + entire confirmation of which he lived to witness on the discovery of Ceres + by Piazzi, in Palermo, and of Pallas, by Dr. Olbers, at Bremen. These two + discoveries, by the way, impressed him much; and they furnished a topic on + which he always talked with pleasure; though, according to his usual + modesty, he never said a word of his own sagacity in having upon <i>ŕ + priori</i> grounds shown the probability of such discoveries many years + before. + </p> + <p> + It was not only in the character of a companion that Kant shone, but also + as a most courteous and liberal host, who had no greater pleasure than in + seeing his guests happy and jovial, and rising with exhilarated spirits + from the mixed pleasures—intellectual and liberally sensual—of + his Platonic banquets. Chiefly, perhaps, with a view to the sustaining of + this tone of genial hilarity, he showed himself somewhat of an artist in + the composition of his dinner parties. Two rules there were which he + obviously observed, and I may say invariably: the first was, that the + company should be miscellaneous; this for the sake of securing sufficient + variety to the conversation: and accordingly his parties presented as much + variety as the world of Königsberg afforded, being drawn from all the + modes of life, men in office, professors, physicians, clergymen, and + enlightened merchants. His second rule was, to have a due balance of <i>young</i> + men, frequently of <i>very</i> young men, selected from the students of + the university, in order to impress a movement of gaiety and juvenile + playfulness on the conversation; an additional motive for which, as I have + reason to believe, was, that in this way he withdrew his mind from the + sadness which sometimes overshadowed it, for the early deaths of some + young friends whom he loved. + </p> + <p> + And this leads me to mention a singular feature in Kant's way of + expressing his sympathy with his friends in sickness. So long as the + danger was imminent, he testified a restless anxiety, made perpetual + inquiries, waited with patience for the crisis, and sometimes could not + pursue his customary labors from agitation of mind. But no sooner was the + patient's death announced, than he recovered his composure, and assumed an + air of stern tranquillity—almost of indifference. The reason was, + that he viewed life in general, and therefore, that particular affection + of life which we call sickness, as a state of oscillation and perpetual + change, between which and the fluctuating sympathies of hope and fear, + there was a natural proportion that justified them to the reason; whereas + death, as a permanent state that admitted of no <i>more</i> or <i>less</i>, + that terminated all anxiety, and for ever extinguished the agitation of + suspense, he would not allow to be fitted to any state of feeling, but one + of the same enduring and unchanging character. However, all this + philosophic heroism gave way on one occasion; for many persons will + remember the tumultuous grief which he manifested upon the death of Mr. + Ehrenboth, a young man of very fine understanding and extensive + attainments, for whom he had the greatest affection. And naturally it + happened, in so long a life as his, in spite of his provident rule for + selecting his social companions as much as possible amongst the young, + that he had to mourn for many a heavy loss that could never be supplied to + him. + </p> + <p> + To return, however, to the course of his day, immediately after the + termination of his dinner party, Kant walked out for exercise; but on this + occasion he never took any companion, partly, perhaps, because he thought + it right, after so much convivial and colloquial relaxation, to pursue his + meditations,[Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is wrong. To pursue his meditations + under these circumstances, might perhaps be an inclination of Kant's to + which he yielded, but not one which he would justify or erect into a + maxim. He disapproved of eating alone, or <i>solipsismus convictorii</i>, + as he calls it, on the principle, that a man would be apt, if not called + off by the business and pleasure of a social party, to think too much or + too closely, an exercise which he considered very injurious to the stomach + during the first process of digestion. On the same principle he + disapproved of walking or riding alone; the double exercise of thinking + and bodily agitation, carried on at the same time, being likely, as he + conceived, to press too hard upon the stomach.] and partly (as I happen to + know) for a very peculiar reason, viz., that he wished to breathe + exclusively through his nostrils, which he could not do if he were obliged + continually to open his mouth in conversation. His reason for this was, + that the atmospheric air, being thus carried round by a longer circuit, + and reaching the lungs, therefore, in a state of less rawness, and at a + temperature somewhat higher, would be less apt to irritate them. By a + steady perseverance in this practice, which he constantly recommended to + his friends, he flattered himself with a long immunity from coughs, colds, + hoarseness, and every mode of defluxion; and the fact really was, that + these troublesome affections attacked him very rarely. Indeed I myself, by + only occasionally adopting his rule, have found my chest not so liable as + formerly to such attacks. + </p> + <p> + At six o'clock he sat down to his library table, which was a plain + ordinary piece of furniture, and read till dusk. During this period of + dubious light, so friendly to thought, he rested in tranquil meditation on + what he had been reading, provided the book were worth it; if not, he + sketched his lecture for the next day, or some part of any book he might + then be composing. During this state of repose he took his station winter + and summer by the stove, looking through the window at the old tower of + Lobenicht; not that he could be said properly to see it, but the tower + rested upon his eye,—obscurely, or but half revealed to his + consciousness. No words seemed forcible enough to express his sense of the + gratification which he derived from this old tower, when seen under these + circumstances of twilight and quiet reverie. The sequel, indeed, showed + how important it was to his comfort; for at length some poplars in a + neighboring garden shot up to such a height as to obscure the tower, upon + which Kant became very uneasy and restless, and at length found himself + positively unable to pursue his evening meditations. Fortunately, the + proprietor of the garden was a very considerate and obliging person, who + had, besides, a high regard for Kant; and, accordingly, upon a + representation of the case being made to him, he gave orders that the + poplars should be cropped. This was done, the old tower of Lobenicht was + again unveiled, and Kant recovered his equanimity, and pursued his + twilight meditations as before. + </p> + <p> + After the candles were brought, Kant prosecuted his studies till nearly + ten o'clock. A quarter of an hour before retiring for the night, he + withdrew his mind as much as possible from every class of thoughts which + demanded any exertion or energy of attention, on the principle, that by + stimulating and exciting him too much, such thoughts would be apt to cause + wakefulness; and the slightest interference with his customary hour of + falling asleep, was in the highest degree unpleasant to him. Happily, this + was with him a very rare occurrence. He undressed himself without his + servant's assistance, but in such an order, and with such a Roman regard + to decorum and the <i>to prepon</i>, that he was always ready at a + moment's warning to make his appearance without embarrassment to himself + or to others. This done, he lay down on a mattress, and wrapped himself up + in a quilt, which in summer was always of cotton,—in autumn, of + wool; at the setting-in of winter he used both—and against very + severe cold, he protected himself by one of eider-down, of which the part + which covered his shoulders was not stuffed with feathers, but padded, or + rather wadded closely with layers of wool. Long practice had taught him a + very dexterous mode of <i>nesting</i> himself, as it were, in the + bed-clothes. First of all, he sat down on the bedside; then with an agile + motion he vaulted obliquely into his lair; next he drew one corner of the + bedclothes under his left shoulder, and passing it below his back, brought + it round so as to rest under his right shoulder; fourthly, by a particular + <i>tour d'adresse</i>, he treated the other corner in the same way, and + finally contrived to roll it round his whole person. Thus swathed like a + mummy, or (as I used to tell him) self-involved like the silk-worm in its + cocoon, he awaited the approach of sleep, which generally came on + immediately. For Kant's health was exquisite; not mere negative health, or + the absence of pain, but a state of positive pleasurable sensation, and a + genial sense of the entire possession of all his activities. Accordingly, + when packed up for the night in the way I have described, he would often + ejaculate to himself (as he used to tell us at dinner)—'Is it + possible to conceive a human being with more perfect health than myself?' + In fact, such was the innocence of his life, and such the happy condition + of his situation, that no uneasy passion ever arose to excite him—nor + care to harass—nor pain to awake him. Even in the severest winter + his sleeping-room was without a fire; only in his latter years he yielded + so far to the entreaties of his friends as to allow of a very small one. + All nursing or self-indulgence found no quarter with Kant. In fact, five + minutes, in the coldest weather, sufficed to supersede the first chill of + the bed, by the diffusion of a general glow over his person. If he had any + occasion to leave his room in the night-time, (for it was always kept dark + day and night, summer and winter,) he guided himself by a rope, which was + duly attached to his bed-post every night, and carried into the adjoining + apartment. + </p> + <p> + Kant never perspired, [Footnote: This appears less extraordinary, + considering the description of Kant's person, given originally by + Reichardt, about eight years after his death. 'Kant,' says this writer, + 'was drier than dust both in body and mind. His person was small; and + possibly a more meagre, arid, parched anatomy of a man, has not appeared + upon this earth. The upper part of his face was grand; forehead lofty and + serene, nose elegantly turned, eyes brilliant and penetrating; but below + it expressed powerfully the coarsest sensuality, which in him displayed + itself by immoderate addiction to eating and drinking.' This last feature + of his temperament is here expressed much too harshly.] night or day. Yet + it was astonishing how much heat he supported habitually in his study, and + in fact was not easy if it wanted but one degree of this heat. + Seventy-five degrees of Fahrenheit was the invariable temperature of this + room in which he chiefly lived; and if it fell below that point, no matter + at what season of the year, he had it raised artificially to the usual + standard. In the heats of summer he went thinly dressed, and invariably in + silk stockings; yet, as even this dress could not always secure him + against perspiring when engaged in active exercise, he had a singular + remedy in reserve. Retiring to some shady place, he stood still and + motionless—with the air and attitude of a person listening, or in + suspense—until his usual <i>aridity</i> was restored. Even in the + most sultry summer night, if the slightest trace of perspiration had + sullied his night-dress, he spoke of it with emphasis, as of an accident + that perfectly shocked him. + </p> + <p> + On this occasion, whilst illustrating Kant's notions of the animal + economy, it may be as well to add one other particular, which is, that for + fear of obstructing the circulation of the blood, he never would wear + garters; yet, as he found it difficult to keep up his stockings without + them, he had invented for himself a most elaborate substitute, which I + shall describe. In a little pocket, somewhat smaller than a watch-pocket, + but occupying pretty nearly the same situation as a watch-pocket on each + thigh, there was placed a small box, something like a watch-case, but + smaller; into this box was introduced a watch-spring in a wheel, round + about which wheel was wound an elastic cord, for regulating the force of + which there was a separate contrivance. To the two ends of this cord were + attached hooks, which hooks were carried through a small aperture in the + pockets, and so passing down the inner and the outer side of the thigh, + caught hold of two loops which were fixed on the off side and the near + side of each stocking. As might be expected, so complex an apparatus was + liable, like the Ptolemaic system of the heavens, to occasional + derangements; however, by good luck, I was able to apply an easy remedy to + these disorders which sometimes threatened to disturb the comfort, and + even the serenity, of the great man. + </p> + <p> + Precisely at five minutes before five o'clock, winter or summer, Lampe, + Kant's servant, who had formerly served in the army, marched into his + master's room with the air of a sentinel on duty, and cried aloud in a + military tone,—'Mr. Professor, the time is come.' This summons Kant + invariably obeyed without one moment's delay, as a soldier does the word + of command—never, under any circumstances, allowing himself a + respite, not even under the rare accident of having passed a sleepless + night. As the clock struck five, Kant was seated at the breakfast-table, + where he drank what he called <i>one</i> cup of tea; and no doubt he + thought it such; but the fact was, that in part from his habit of reverie, + and in part also for the purpose of refreshing its warmth, he filled up + his cup so often, that in general he is supposed to have drunk two, three, + or some unknown number. Immediately after he smoked a pipe of tobacco, + (the only one which he allowed himself through the entire day,) but so + rapidly, that a pile of glowing embers remained unsmoked. During this + operation he thought over his arrangements for the day, as he had done the + evening before during the twilight. About seven he usually went to his + lecture-room, and from that he returned to his writing-table. Precisely at + three quarters before one he rose from his chair, and called aloud to the + cook,—'It has struck three quarters.' The meaning of which summons + was this:—Immediately after taking soup, it was his constant + practice to swallow what he called a dram, which consisted either of + Hungarian wine, of Rhenish, of a cordial, or (in default of these) of + Bishop. A flask of this was brought up by the cook on the proclamation of + the three quarters. Kant hurried with it to the eating-room, poured out + his <i>quantum</i>, left it standing in readiness, covered, however, with + paper, to prevent its becoming vapid, and then went back to his study, and + awaited the arrival of his guests, whom to the latest period of his life + he never received but in full dress. + </p> + <p> + Thus we come round again to dinner, and the reader has now an accurate + picture of the course of Kant's day; the rigid monotony of which was not + burthensome to him; and probably contributed, with the uniformity of his + diet, and other habits of the same regularity, to lengthen his life. On + this consideration, indeed, he had come to regard his health and his old + age as in a great measure the product of his own exertions. He spoke of + himself often under the figure of a gymnastic artist, who had continued + for nearly fourscore years to support his balance upon the slack-rope of + life, without once swerving to the right or to the left. In spite of every + illness to which his constitutional tendencies had exposed him, he still + kept his position in life triumphantly. However, he would sometimes + observe sportively, that it was really absurd, and a sort of insult to the + next generation for a man to live so long, because he thus interfered with + the prospects of younger people. + </p> + <p> + This anxious attention to his health accounts for the great interest which + he attached to all new discoveries in medicine, or to new ways of + theorizing on the old ones. As a work of great pretension in both classes, + he set the highest value upon the theory of the Scotch physician Brown, or + (as it is usually called, from the Latin name of its author,) the + Brunonian Theory. No sooner had Weikard adopted [Footnote: This theory was + afterwards greatly modified in Germany; and, judging from the random + glances which I throw on these subjects, I believe that in this recast it + still keeps its ground in that country.] and made it known in Germany, + than Kant became familiar with it. He considered it not only as a great + step taken for medicine, but even for the general interests of man, and + fancied that in this he saw something analogous to the course which human + nature has held in still more important inquiries, viz.: first of all, a + continual ascent towards the more and more elaborately complex, and then a + treading back, on its own steps, towards the simple and elementary. Dr. + Beddoes's Essays, also, for producing by art and curing pulmonary + consumption, and the method of Reich for curing fevers, made a powerful + impression upon him; which, however, declined as those novelties + (especially the last) began to sink in credit. As to Dr. Jenner's + discovery of vaccination, he was less favorably disposed to it; he + apprehended dangerous consequences from the absorption of a brutal miasma + into the human blood, or at least into the lymph; and at any rate he + thought, that, as a guarantee against the variolous infection, it required + a much longer probation. Groundless as all these views were, it was + exceedingly entertaining to hear the fertility of argument and analogy + which he brought forward to support them. One of the subjects which + occupied him at the latter end of his life, was the theory and phenomena + of galvanism, which, however, he never satisfactorily mastered. Augustin's + book upon this subject was about the last that he read, and his copy still + retains on the margin his, pencil-marks of doubts, queries and + suggestions. + </p> + <p> + The infirmities of age now began to steal upon Kant, and betrayed + themselves in more shapes than one. Connected with Kant's prodigious + memory for all things that had any intellectual bearings, he had from + youth labored under an unusual weakness of this faculty in relation to the + common affairs of daily life. Some remarkable instances of this are on + record, from the period of his childish days; and now, when his second + childhood was commencing, this infirmity increased upon him very sensibly. + One of the first signs was, that he began to repeat the same stories more + than once on the same day. Indeed, the decay of his memory was too + palpable to escape his own notice; and, to provide against it, and secure + himself from all apprehension of inflicting tedium upon his guests, he + began to write a syllabus, or list of themes, for each day's conversation, + on cards, or the covers of letters, or any chance scrap of paper. But + these memoranda accumulated so fast upon him, and were so easily lost, or + not forthcoming at the proper moment, that I prevailed on him to + substitute a blank-paper book, which I had directed to be made, and which + still remains, with some affecting memorials of his own conscious + weakness. As often happens, however, in such cases, he had a perfect + memory for the remote events of his life, and could repeat with great + readiness, and without once stumbling, very long passages from German or + Latin poems, especially from the AEneid, whilst the very words that had + been uttered but a moment before dropped away from his remembrance. The + past came forward with the distinctness and liveliness of an immediate + existence, whilst the present faded away into the obscurity of infinite + distance. + </p> + <p> + Another sign of his mental decay was the weakness with which he now began + to theorize. He accounted for everything by electricity. A singular + mortality at this time prevailed amongst the cats of Vienna, Basle, + Copenhagen, and other places. Cats being so eminently an electric animal, + of course he attributed this epizootic to electricity. During the same + period, he persuaded himself that a peculiar configuration of clouds + prevailed; this he took as a collateral proof of his electrical + hypothesis. His own headaches, too, which in all probability were a mere + remote effect of old age, and a direct one of an inability [Footnote: Mr. + Wasianski is quite in the wrong here. If the hindrances which nature + presented to the act of thinking were now on the increase, on the other + hand, the disposition to think, by his own acknowledgment, was on the + wane. The power and the habit altering in proportion, there is no case + made out of that disturbed equilibrium to which apparently he would + attribute the headaches. But the fact is, that, if he had been as well + acquainted with Kant's writings as with Kant personally, he would have + known, that some affection of the head of a spasmodic kind was complained + of by Kant at a time when nobody could suspect him of being in a decaying + state.] to think as easily and as severely as formerly, he explained upon + the same principle. And this was a notion of which his friends were not + anxious to disabuse him, because, as something of the same character of + weather (and therefore probably the same general tendency of the electric + power) is found to prevail for whole cycles of years, entrance upon + another cycle held out to him some prospect of relief. A delusion which + secured the comforts of hope was the next best thing to an actual remedy; + and a man who, in such circumstances, is cured of his delusion, '<i>cui + demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error</i>,' might reasonably have + exclaimed, '<i>Pol, me occidistis, amici.</i>' + </p> + <p> + Possibly the reader may suppose, that, in this particular instance of + charging his own decays upon the state of the atmosphere, Kant was + actuated by the weakness of vanity, or some unwillingness to face the real + fact that his powers were decaying. But this was not the case. He was + perfectly aware of his own condition, and, as early as 1799, he said, in + my presence, to a party of his friends—'Gentlemen, I am old, and + weak, and childish, and you must treat me as a child.' Or perhaps it may + be thought that he shrank from the contemplation of death, which, as + apoplexy seemed to be threatened by the pains in his head, might have + happened any day. But neither was this the case. He now lived in a + continual state of resignation, and prepared to meet any dispensation of + Providence. 'Gentlemen,' said he one day to his guests, 'I do not fear to + die. I assure you, as in the presence of God, that if I were this night to + be made suddenly aware that I was on the point of being summoned, I would + raise my hands to heaven, fold them, and say, Blessed be God! If indeed it + were possible that a whisper such as this could reach my ear—Fourscore + years thou hast lived, in which time thou hast inflicted much evil upon + thy fellow-men, the case would be otherwise.' Whosoever has heard Kant + speak of his own death, will bear witness to the tone of earnest sincerity + which, on such occasions, marked his manner and utterance. + </p> + <p> + A third sign of his decaying faculties was, that he now lost all accurate + measure of time. One minute, nay, without exaggeration, a much less space + of time, stretched out in his apprehension of things to a wearisome + duration. Of this I can give one rather amusing instance, which was of + constant recurrence. At the beginning of the last year of his life, he + fell into a custom of taking immediately after dinner a cup of coffee, + especially on those days when it happened that I was of his party. And + such was the importance he attached to this little pleasure, that he would + even make a memorandum beforehand, in the blank-paper book I had given + him, that on the next day I was to dine with him, and consequently that + there was to be coffee. Sometimes it would happen, that the interest of + conversation carried him past the time at which he felt the craving for + it; and this I was not sorry to observe, as I feared that coffee, which he + had never been accustomed to, [Footnote: How this happened to be the case + in Germany, Mr. Wasianski has not explained. Perhaps the English merchants + at Königsberg, being amongst Kant's oldest and most intimate friends, had + early familiarized him to the practice of drinking tea, and to other + English tastes. However, Jachmann tells us, (p. 164,) that Kant was + extravagantly fond of coffee, but forced himself to abstain from it under + a notion that it was very unwholesome.] might disturb his rest at night. + But, if this did not happen, then commenced a scene of some interest. + Coffee must be brought 'upon the spot,' (a word he had constantly in his + mouth during his latter days,) 'in a moment.' And the expressions of his + impatience, though from old habit still gentle, were so lively, and had so + much of infantine naďveté about them, that none of us could forbear + smiling. Knowing what would happen, I had taken care that all the + preparations should be made beforehand; the coffee was ground; the water + was boiling; and the very moment the word was given, his servant shot in + like an arrow, and plunged the coffee into the water. All that remained, + therefore, was to give it time to boil up. But this trifling delay seemed + unendurable to Kant. All consolations were thrown away upon him: vary the + formula as we might, he was never at a loss for a reply. If it was said—'Dear + Professor, the coffee will be brought up in a moment.'—'<i>Will</i> + be!' he would say, 'but there's the rub, that it only <i>will</i> be: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Man never <i>is</i>, but always <i>to be</i> blest.' +</pre> + <p> + If another cried out—'The coffee is coming immediately.'—'Yes,' + he would retort, 'and so is the next hour: and, by the way, it's about + that length of time that I have waited for it.' Then he would collect + himself with a stoical air, and say—'Well, one can die after all: it + is but dying; and in the next world, thank God! there is no drinking of + coffee, and consequently no—waiting for it.' Sometimes he would rise + from his chair, open the door, and cry out with a feeble querulousness—'Coffee! + coffee!' And when at length he heard the servant's step upon the stairs, + he would turn round to us, and, as joyfully as ever sailor from the + mast-head, he would call out—'Land, land! my dear friends, I see + land.' + </p> + <p> + This general decline in Kant's powers, active and passive, gradually + brought about a revolution in his habits of life. Heretofore, as I have + already mentioned, he went to bed at ten, and rose a little before five. + The latter practice he still observed, but not the other. In 1802 he + retired as early as nine, and afterwards still earlier. He found himself + so much refreshed by this addition to his rest, that at first he was + disposed to utter a <i>Euraeka</i>, as over some great discovery in the + art of restoring exhausted nature: but afterwards, on pushing it still + farther, he did not find the success answer his expectations. His walks he + now limited to a few turns in the King's gardens, which were at no great + distance from his own house. In order to walk more firmly, he adopted a + peculiar method of stepping; he carried his foot to the ground, not + forward, and obliquely, but perpendicularly, and with a kind of stamp, so + as to secure a larger basis, by setting down the entire sole at once. + Notwithstanding this precaution, upon one occasion he fell in the street. + He was quite unable to raise himself; and two young ladies, who saw the + accident, ran to his assistance. With his usual graciousness of manner he + thanked them fervently for their assistance, and presented one of them + with a rose which he happened to have in his hand. This lady was not + personally known to Kant; but she was greatly delighted with his little + present, and still keeps the rose as a frail memorial of her transitory + interview with the great philosopher. + </p> + <p> + This accident, as I have reason to think, was the cause of his henceforth + renouncing exercise altogether. All labors, even that of reading, were now + performed slowly, and with manifest effort; and those which cost him any + bodily exertion became very exhausting to him. His feet refused to do + their office more and more; he fell continually, both when moving across + the room, and even when standing still: yet he seldom suffered from these + falls; and he constantly laughed at them, maintaining that it was + impossible he could hurt himself, from the extreme lightness of his + person, which was indeed by this time the merest skeleton. Very often, + especially in the morning, he dropped asleep in his chair from pure + weariness: on these occasions he fell forward upon the floor, and lay + there unable to raise himself up, until accident brought one of his + servants or his friends into the room. Afterwards these falls were + prevented, by substituting a chair with circular supports, that met and + clasped in front. + </p> + <p> + These unseasonable dozings exposed him to another danger. He fell + repeatedly, whilst reading, with his head into the candles; a cotton + night-cap which he wore was instantly in a blaze, and flaming about his + head. Whenever this happened, Kant behaved with great presence of mind. + Disregarding the pain, he seized the blazing cap, drew it from his head, + laid it quietly on the floor, and trod out the flames with his feet. Yet, + as this last act brought his dressing-gown into a dangerous neighborhood + to the flames, I changed the form of his cap, persuaded him to arrange the + candles differently, and had a decanter of water placed constantly by his + side; and in this way I applied a remedy to a danger, which would else + probably have been fatal to him. + </p> + <p> + From the sallies of impatience, which I have described in the case of the + coffee, there was reason to fear that, with the increasing infirmities of + Kant, would grow up a general waywardness and obstinacy of temper. For my + own sake, therefore, and not less for his, I now laid down one rule for my + future conduct in his house; which was, that I would, on no occasion, + allow my reverence for him to interfere with the firmest expression of my + opinion on subjects relating to his own health; and in cases of great + importance, that I would make no compromise with his particular humors, + but insist, not only on my view of the case, but also on the practical + adoption of my views; or, if this were refused me, that I would take my + departure at once, and not be made responsible for the comfort of a person + whom I had no power to influence. And this behavior on my part it was that + won Kant's confidence; for there was nothing which disgusted him so much + as any approach to fawning or sycophancy. As his imbecility increased, he + became daily more liable to mental delusions; and, in particular, he fell + into many fantastic notions about the conduct of his servants, and, in + consequence, into a peevish mode of treating them. Upon these occasions I + generally observed a deep silence. But sometimes he would ask me for my + opinion; and when this happened, I did not scruple to say, 'Ingenuously, + then, Mr. Professor, I think that you are in the wrong.'—'You think + so?' he would reply calmly, at the same time asking for my reasons, which + he would listen to with great patience, and openness to conviction. + Indeed, it was evident that the firmest opposition, so long as it rested + upon assignable grounds and principles, won upon his regard; whilst his + own nobleness of character still moved him to habitual contempt for + timorous and partial acquiescence in his opinions, even when his + infirmities made him most anxious for such acquiescence. + </p> + <p> + Earlier in life Kant had been little used to contradiction. His superb + understanding, his brilliancy in conversation, founded in part upon his + ready and sometimes rather caustic wit, and in part upon his prodigious + command of knowledge—the air of noble self-confidence which the + consciousness of these advantages impressed upon his manners—and the + general knowledge of the severe innocence of his life—all combined + to give him a station of superiority to others, which generally secured + him from open contradiction. And if it sometimes happened that he met a + noisy and intemperate opposition, supported by any pretences to wit, he + usually withdrew himself from that sort of unprofitable altercation with + dignity, by contriving to give such a turn to the conversation as won the + general favor of the company to himself, and impressed, silence, or + modesty at least, upon the boldest disputant. From a person so little + familiar with opposition, it could scarcely have been anticipated that he + should daily surrender his wishes to mine—if not without discussion, + yet always without displeasure. So, however, it was. No habit, of whatever + long standing, could be objected to as injurious to his health, but he + would generally renounce it. And he had this excellent custom in such + cases, that either he would resolutely and at once decide for his own + opinion, or, if he professed to follow his friend's, he would follow it + sincerely, and not try it unfairly by trying it imperfectly. Any plan, + however trifling, which he had once consented to adopt on the suggestion + of another, was never afterwards defeated or embarrassed by unseasonable + interposition from his own humors. And thus, the very period of his decay + drew forth so many fresh expressions of his character, in its amiable or + noble features, as daily increased my affection and reverence for his + person. + </p> + <p> + Having mentioned his servants, I shall here take occasion to give some + account of his man-servant Lampe. It was a great misfortune for Kant, in + his old age and infirmities, that this man also became old, and subject to + a different sort of infirmities. This Lampe had originally served in the + Prussian army; on quitting which he entered the service of Kant. In this + situation he had lived about forty years; and, though always dull and + stupid, had, in the early part of this period, discharged his duties with + tolerable fidelity. But latterly, presuming upon his own + indispensableness, from his perfect knowledge of all the domestic + arrangements, and upon his master's weakness, he had fallen into great + irregularities and neglect of his duties. Kant had been obliged, + therefore, of late, to threaten repeatedly that he would discharge him. I, + who knew that Kant, though one of the kindest-hearted men, was also one of + the firmest, foresaw that this discharge, once given, would be + irrevocable: for the word of Kant was as sacred as other men's oaths. + Consequently, upon every opportunity, I remonstrated with Lampe on the + folly of his conduct, and his wife joined me on these occasions. Indeed, + it was high time that a change should be made in some quarter; for it now + became dangerous to leave Kant, who was constantly falling from weakness, + to the care of an old ruffian, who was himself apt to fall from + intoxication. The fact was, that from the moment I undertook the + management of Kant's affairs, Lampe saw there was an end to his old system + of abusing his master's confidence in pecuniary affairs, and the other + advantages which he took of his helpless situation. This made him + desperate, and he behaved worse and worse; until one morning, in January, + 1802, Kant told me, that, humiliating as he felt such a confession, the + fact was, that Lampe had just treated him in a way which he was ashamed to + repeat. I was too much shocked to distress him by inquiring into the + particulars. But the result was, that Kant now insisted, temperately but + firmly, on Lampe's dismissal. Accordingly, a new servant, of the name of + Kaufmann, was immediately engaged; and on the next day Lampe was + discharged with a handsome pension for life. + </p> + <p> + Here I must mention a little circumstance which does honor to Kant's + benevolence. In his last will, on the assumption that Lampe would continue + with him to his death, he had made a very liberal provision for him; but + upon this new arrangement of the pension, which was to take effect + immediately, it became necessary to revoke that part of his will, which he + did in a separate codicil, that began thus:—'In consequence of the + ill behavior of my servant Lampe, I think fit,' &c. But soon after, + considering that such a record of Lampe's misconduct might be seriously + injurious to his interests, he cancelled the passage, and expressed it in + such a way, that no trace remained behind of his just displeasure. And his + benign nature was gratified with knowing, that, this one sentence blotted + out, there remained no other in all his numerous writings, published or + confidential, which spoke the language of anger, or could leave any ground + for doubting that he died in charity with all the world. Upon Lampe's + calling to demand a written character, he was, however, a good deal + embarrassed; his stern reverence for truth being, in this instance, armed + against the first impulses of his kindness. Long and anxiously he sat, + with the certificate lying before him, debating how he should fill up the + blanks. I was present, but in such a matter I did not take the liberty of + suggesting any advice. At last, he took his pen, and filled up the blank + as follows:—'—has served me long and faithfully,'—(for + Kant was not aware that he had robbed him,)—'but did not display + those particular qualifications which fitted him for waiting on an old and + infirm man like myself.' + </p> + <p> + This scene of disturbance over, which to Kant, a lover of peace and + tranquillity, caused a shock that he would gladly have been spared; it was + fortunate that no other of that nature occurred during the rest of his + life. Kaufmann, the successor of Lampe, turned out to be a respectable and + upright man, and soon conceived a great attachment to his master's person. + Things now put on a new face in Kant's family: by the removal of one of + the belligerents, peace was once more restored amongst his servants; for + hitherto there had been eternal wars between Lampe and the cook. Sometimes + it was Lampe that carried a war of aggression into the cook's territory of + the kitchen; sometimes it was the cook that revenged these insults, by + sallying out upon Lampe in the neutral ground of the hall, or invaded him + even in his own sanctuary of the butler's pantry. The uproars were + everlasting; and thus far it was fortunate for the peace of the + philosopher, that his hearing had begun to fail; by which means he was + spared many an exhibition of hateful passions and ruffian violence, which + annoyed his guests and friends. But now all things had changed: deep + silence reigned in the pantry; the kitchen rang no more with martial + alarums; and the hall was unvexed with skirmish or pursuit. Yet it may be + readily supposed that to Kant, at the age of seventy-eight, changes, even + for the better, were not welcome: so intense had been the uniformity of + his life and habits, that the least innovation in the arrangement of + articles as trifling as a penknife, or a pair of scissors, disturbed him; + and not merely if they were pushed two or three inches out of their + customary position, but even if they were laid a little awry; and as to + larger objects, such as chairs, &c., any dislocation of their usual + arrangement, any trans position, or addition to their number, perfectly + confounded him; and his eye appeared restlessly to haunt the seat of the + mal-arrangement, until the ancient order was restored. With such habits + the reader may conceive how distressing it must have been to him, at this + period of decaying powers, to adapt himself to a new servant, a new voice, + a new step, &c. + </p> + <p> + Aware of this, I had on the day before he entered upon his duties, written + down for the new servant upon a sheet of paper the entire routine of + Kant's daily life, down to the minutest and most trivial circumstances; + all which he mastered with the greatest rapidity. To make sure, however, + we went through a rehearsal of the whole ritual; he performing the + manoeuvres, I looking on and giving the word. Still I felt uneasy at the + idea of his being left entirely to his own discretion on his first <i>debut</i> + in good earnest, and therefore I made a point of attending on this + important day; and in the few instances where the new recruit missed the + accurate manoeuvre, a glance or a nod from me easily made him comprehend + his failure. + </p> + <p> + One part only there was of the daily ceremonial, where all of us were at a + loss, as it was a part which no mortal eyes had ever witnessed but those + of Lampe: this was breakfast. However, that we might do all in our power, + I myself attended at four o'clock in the morning. The day happened, as I + remember, to be the 1st of February, 1802. Precisely at five, Kant made + his appearance; and nothing could equal his astonishment on finding me in + the room. Fresh from the confusion of dreaming, and bewildered alike by + the sight of his new servant, by Lampe's absence, and by my presence, he + could with difficulty be made to comprehend the purpose of my visit. A + friend in need is a friend indeed; and we would now have given any money + to that learned person who could have instructed us in the arrangement of + the breakfast table. But this was a mystery revealed to none but Lampe. At + length Kant took this task upon himself; and apparently all was now + settled to his satisfaction. Yet still it struck me that he was under some + embarrassment or constraint. Upon this I said—that, with his + permission, I would take a cup of tea, and afterwards smoke a pipe with + him. He accepted my offer with his usual courteous demeanor; but seemed + unable to familiarize himself with the novelty of his situation. I was at + this time sitting directly opposite to him; and at last he frankly told + me, but with the kindest and most apologetic air, that he was really under + the necessity of begging that I would sit out of his sight; for that, + having sat alone at the breakfast table for considerably more than half a + century, he could not abruptly adapt his mind to a change in this respect; + and he found his thoughts very sensibly disturbed. I did as he desired; + the servant retired into an antiroom, where he waited within call; and + Kant recovered his wonted composure. Just the same scene passed over + again, when I called at the same hour on a fine summer morning some months + after. + </p> + <p> + Henceforth all went right: or, if occasionally some little mistake + occurred, Kant showed himself very considerate and indulgent, and would + remark of his own accord, that a new servant could not be expected to know + all his peculiar ways and humors. In one respect, indeed, this man adapted + himself to Kant's scholarlike taste, in a way which Lampe was incapable of + doing. Kant was somewhat fastidious in matters of pronunciation; and this + man had a great facility in catching the true sound of Latin words, the + titles of books, and the names or designations of Kant's friends: not one + of which accomplishments could Lampe, the most insufferable of blockheads, + ever attain to. In particular, I have been told by Kant's old friends, + that for the space of more than thirty years, during which he had been in + the habit of reading the newspaper published by Hartung, Lampe delivered + it with the same identical blunder on every day of publication.—'Mr. + Professor, here is Hart<i>mann's</i> journal.' Upon which Kant would reply—'Eh! + what?—What's that you say? Hartmann's journal? I tell you, it is not + Hartmann, but Hartung: now, repeat it after me—not Hartmann, but + Hartung.' Then Lampe, looking sulky, and drawing himself up with the stiff + air of a soldier on guard, and in the very same monotonous tone with which + he had been used to sing out his challenge of—<i>Who goes there?</i> + would roar—'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' 'Now again!' Kant would say: + on which again Lampe roared—'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' 'Now a + third time,' cried Kant: on which for a third time the unhappy Lampe would + howl out—'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' And this whimsical scene of + parade duty was continually repeated: duly as the day of publication came, + the irreclaimable old dunce was put through the same manoeuvres, which + were as invariably followed by the same blunder on the next. In spite, + however, of this advantage, in the new servant, and his general + superiority to his predecessor, Kant's nature was too kind and good, and + too indulgent to all people's infirmities but his own, not to miss the + voice and the 'old familiar face' that he had been accustomed to for forty + years. And I met with what struck me as an affecting instance of Kant's + yearning after his old good-for-nothing servant in his memorandum-book: + other people record what they wish to remember; but Kant had here recorded + what he was to forget. 'Mem.: February, 1802, the name of Lampe must now + be remembered no more.' + </p> + <p> + In the spring of this year, 1802, I advised Kant to take the air. It was + very long since he had been out of doors, [Footnote: Wasianski here + returns thanks to some unknown person, who, having observed that Kant in + his latter walks took pleasure in leaning against a particular wall to + view the prospect, had caused a seat to be fixed at that point for his + use.] and walking was now out of the question. But I thought the motion of + a carriage and the air would be likely to revive him. On the power of + vernal sights and sounds I did not much rely; for these had long ceased to + affect him. Of all the changes that spring brings with it, there was one + only that now interested Kant; and he longed for it with an eagerness and + intensity of expectation, that it was almost painful to witness: this was + the return of a hedge sparrow that sang in his garden, and before his + window. This bird, either the same, or one of the next generation, had + sung for years in the same situation; and Kant grew uneasy when the cold + weather, lasting longer than usual, retarded its return. Like Lord Bacon, + indeed, he had a childlike love for birds in general, and in particular, + took pains to encourage the sparrows to build above the windows of his + study; and when this happened, (as it often did, from the silence which + prevailed in his study,) he watched their proceedings with the delight and + the tenderness which others give to a human interest. To return to the + point I was speaking of, Kant was at first very unwilling to accede to my + proposal of going abroad. 'I shall sink down in the carriage,' said he, + 'and fall together like a heap of old rags.' But I persisted with a gentle + importunity in urging him to the attempt, assuring him that we would + return immediately if he found the effort too much for him. Accordingly, + upon a tolerably warm day of early [Footnote: Mr. Wasianski says—<i>late</i> + in summer: but, as he elsewhere describes by the same expression of 'late + in summer,' a day which was confessedly <i>before</i> the longest day, and + as the multitude of birds which continued to sing will not allow us to + suppose that the summer could be very far advanced, I have translated + accordingly.] summer, I, and an old friend of Kant's, accompanied him to a + little place which I rented in the country. As we drove through the + streets, Kant was delighted to find that he could sit upright, and bear + the motion of the carriage, and seemed to draw youthful pleasure from the + sight of the towers and other public buildings, which he had not seen for + years. We reached the place of our destination in high spirits. Kant drank + a cup of coffee, and attempted to smoke a little. After this, he sat and + sunned himself, listening with delight to the warbling of birds, which + congregated in great numbers about this spot. He distinguished every bird + by its song, and called it by its right name. After staying about half an + hour, we set off on our homeward journey, Kant still cheerful, but + apparently satiated with his day's enjoyment. + </p> + <p> + I had on this occasion purposely avoided taking him to any public gardens, + that I might not disturb his pleasure by exposing him to the distressing + gaze of public curiosity. However, it was known in Königsberg that Kant + had gone out; and accordingly, as the carriage moved through the streets + which led to his residence, there was a general rush from all quarters in + that direction, and, when we turned into the street where the house stood, + we found it already choked up with people. As we slowly drew up to the + door, a lane was formed in the crowd, through which Kant was led, I and my + friend supporting him on our arms. Looking at the crowd, I observed the + faces of many persons of rank, and distinguished strangers, some of whom + now saw Kant for the first time, and many of them for the last. + </p> + <p> + As the winter of 1802-3 approached, he complained more than ever of an + affection of the stomach, which no medical man had been able to mitigate, + or even to explain. The winter passed over in a complaining way; he was + weary of life, and longed for the hour of dismission. 'I can be of service + to the world no more,' said he, 'and am a burden to myself.' Often I + endeavored to cheer him by the anticipation of excursions that we would + make together when summer came again. On these he calculated with so much + earnestness, that he had made a regular scale or classification of them—l. + Airings; 2. Journeys; 3. Travels. And nothing could equal the yearning + impatience expressed for the coming of spring and summer, not so much for + their own peculiar attractions, as because they were the seasons for + travelling. In his memorandum-book, he made this note:—'The three + summer months are June, July, and August'—meaning that they were the + three months for travelling. And in conversation he expressed the feverish + strength of his wishes so plaintively and affectingly, that everybody was + drawn into powerful sympathy with him, and wished for some magical means + of ante-dating the course of the seasons. + </p> + <p> + In this winter his bed-room was often warmed. This was the room in which + he kept his little collection of books, of about four hundred and fifty + volumes, chiefly presentation-copies from the authors. It may seem + singular that Kant, who read so extensively, should have no larger + library; but he had less need of one than most scholars, having in his + earlier years been librarian at the Royal Library of the Castle; and since + then having enjoyed from the liberality of Hartknoch, his publisher, (who, + in his turn, had profited by the liberal terms on which Kant had made over + to him the copyright of his own works,) the first sight of every new book + that appeared. + </p> + <p> + At the close of this winter, that is in 1803, Kant first began to complain + of unpleasant dreams, sometimes of very terrific ones, which awakened him + in great agitation. Oftentimes melodies, which he had heard in earliest + youth sung in the streets of Königsberg, resounded painfully in his ears, + and dwelt upon them in a way from which no efforts of abstraction could + release him. These kept him awake to unseasonable hours; and often when, + after long watching, he had fallen asleep, however deep his sleep might + be, it was suddenly broken up by terrific dreams, which alarmed him beyond + description. Almost every night, the bell-rope, which communicated with a + bell in the room above his own, where his servant slept, was pulled + violently, and with the utmost agitation. No matter how fast the servant + might hurry down, he was almost always too late, and was pretty sure to + find his master out of bed, and often making his way in terror to some + other part of the house. The weakness of his feet exposed him to such + dreadful falls on these occasions, that at length (but with much + difficulty) I persuaded him to let his servant sleep in the same room with + himself. + </p> + <p> + The morbid affection of the stomach began now to be more and more + distressing; and he tried various applications, which he had formerly been + loud in condemning, such as a few drops of rum upon a piece of sugar, + naphtha, [Footnote: For Kant's particular complaint, as described by other + biographers, a quarter of a grain of opium, every twelve hours, would have + been the best remedy, perhaps a perfect remedy.] &c. But all these + were only palliatives; for his advanced age precluded the hope of a + radical cure. His dreadful dreams became continually more appalling: + single scenes, or passages in these dreams, were sufficient to compose the + whole course of mighty tragedies, the impression from which was so + profound as to stretch far into his waking hours. Amongst other + phantasmata more shocking and indescribable, his dreams constantly + represented to him the forms of murderers advancing to his bedside; and so + agitated was he by the awful trains of phantoms that swept past him + nightly, that in the first confusion of awaking he generally mistook his + servant, who was hastening to his assistance, for a murderer. In the + day-time we often conversed upon these shadowy illusions; and Kant, with + his usual spirit of stoical contempt for nervous weakness of every sort, + laughed at them; and, to fortify his own resolution to contend against + them, he wrote down in his memorandum-book, 'There must be no yielding to + panics of darkness.' At my suggestion, however, he now burned a light in + his chamber, so placed as that the rays might be shaded from his face. At + first he was very averse to this, though gradually he became reconciled to + it. But that he could bear it at all, was to me an expression of the great + revolution accomplished by the terrific agency of his dreams. Heretofore, + darkness and utter silence were the two pillars on which his sleep rested: + no step must approach his room; and as to light, if he saw but a moonbeam + penetrating a crevice of the shutters, it made him unhappy; and, in fact, + the windows of his bed-chamber were barricadoed night and day. But now + darkness was a terror to him, and silence an oppression. In addition to + his lamp, therefore, he had now a repeater in his room; the sound was at + first too loud, but, after muffling the hammer with cloth, both the + ticking and the striking became companionable sounds to him. + </p> + <p> + At this time (spring of 1803) his appetite began to fail, which I thought + no good sign. Many persons insist that Kant was in the habit of eating too + much for health. [Footnote: Who these worthy people were that criticised + Kant's eating, is not mentioned. They could have had no opportunity of + exercising their abilities on this question, except as hosts, guests, or + fellow-guests; and in any of those characters, a gentleman, one would + suppose, must feel himself degraded by directing his attention to a point + of that nature. However, the merits of the case stand thus between the + parlies: Kant, it is agreed by all his biographers, ate only once a day; + for as to his breakfast, it was nothing more than a very weak infusion of + tea, (vide Jachmann's Letters, p. 163,) with no bread, or eatable of any + kind. Now, his critics, by general confession, ate their way, from 'morn + to dewy eve,' through the following course of meals: 1. Breakfast early in + the morning; 2. Breakfast <i>ŕ la fourchette</i> about ten, A.M.; 3. + Dinner at one or two; 4. Vesper Brod; 5. Abend Brod; all which does really + seem a very fair allowance for a man who means to lecture upon abstinence + at night. But I shall cut this matter short by stating one plain fact; + there were two things, and no more, for which Kant had an inordinate + craving during his whole life; these were tobacco and coffee; and from + both these he abstained almost altogether, merely under a sense of duty, + resting probably upon erroneous grounds. Of the first he allowed himself a + very small quantity, (and everybody knows that temperance is a more + difficult virtue than abstinence;) of the other none at all, until the + labors of his life were accomplished.] I, however, cannot assent to this + opinion; for he ate but once a day, and drank no beer. Of this liquor, (I + mean the strong black beer,) he was, indeed, the most determined enemy. If + ever a man died prematurely, Kant would say—'He has been drinking + beer, I presume.' Or, if another were indisposed, you might be sure he + would ask, 'But does he drink beer?' And, according to the answer on this + point, he regulated his anticipations for the patient. Strong beer, in + short, he uniformly maintained to be a slow poison. Voltaire, by the way, + had said to a young physician who denounced coffee under the same bad name + of a 'slow poison,' 'You're right there, my friend, however; slow it is, + and horribly slow; for I have been drinking it these seventy years, and it + has not killed me yet;' but this was an answer which, in the case of beer, + Kant would not allow of. + </p> + <p> + On the 22d of April, 1803, his birth-day, the last which he lived to see, + was celebrated in a full assembly of his friends. This festival he had + long looked forward to with great expectation, and delighted even to hear + the progress made in the preparations for it. But when the day came, the + over-excitement and tension of expectation seemed to have defeated itself. + He tried to appear happy; but the bustle of a numerous company confounded + and distressed him; and his spirits were manifestly forced. He seemed + first to revive to any real sense of pleasure at night, when the company + had departed, and he was undressing in his study. He then talked with much + pleasure about the presents which, as usual, would be made to his servants + on this occasion; for Kant was never happy himself, unless he saw all + around him happy. He was a great maker of presents; but at the same time + he had no toleration for the studied theatrical effect, the accompaniment + of formal congratulations, and the sentimental pathos with which birth-day + presents are made in Germany. [Footnote: In this, as in many other things, + the taste of Kant was entirely English and Roman; as, on the other hand, + some eminent Englishmen, I am sorry to say, have, on this very point, + shown the effeminacy and <i>falsetto</i> taste of the Germans. In + particular, Mr. Coleridge, describing, in The Friend, the custom amongst + German children of making presents to their parents on Christmas Eve, (a + custom which he unaccountably supposes to be peculiar to Ratzeburg,) + represents the mother as 'weeping aloud for joy'—the old idiot of a + father with 'tears running down his face,' &c. &c., and all for + what? For a snuff-box, a pencil-case, or some article of jewellery. Now, + we English agree with Kant on such maudlin display of stage + sentimentality, and are prone to suspect that papa's tears are the product + of rum-punch. Tenderness let us have by all means, and the deepest you can + imagine, but upon proportionate occasions, and with causes fitted to + justify it and sustain its dignity.] In all this, his masculine taste gave + him a sense of something fade and ludicrous. + </p> + <p> + The summer of 1803 was now come, and, visiting Kant one day, I was + thunderstruck to hear him direct me, in the most serious tone, to provide + the funds necessary for an extensive foreign tour. I made no opposition, + but asked his reasons for such a plan; he alleged the miserable sensations + he had in his stomach, which were no longer endurable. Knowing what power + over Kant a quotation from a Roman poet had always had, I simply replied—'Post + equitem sedet atra cura,' and for the present he said no more. But the + touching and pathetic earnestness with which he was continually + ejaculating prayers for warmer weather, made it doubtful to me whether his + wishes on this point ought not, partially at least, to be gratified; and I + therefore proposed to him a little excursion to the cottage we had visited + the year before. 'Anywhere,' said he, 'no matter whither, provided it be + far enough.' Towards the latter end of June, therefore, we executed this + scheme; on getting into the carriage, the order of the day with Kant was, + 'Distance, distance. Only let us go far enough,' said he: but scarcely had + we reached the city-gates before the journey seemed already to have lasted + too long. On reaching the cottage we found coffee waiting for us; but he + would scarcely allow himself time for drinking it, before he ordered the + carriage to the door; and the journey back seemed insupportably long to + him, though it was performed in something less than twenty minutes. 'Is + this never to have an end?' was his continual exclamation; and great was + his joy when he found himself once more in his study, undressed, and in + bed. And for this night he slept in peace, and once again was liberated + from the persecution of dreams. + </p> + <p> + Soon after he began again to talk of journeys, of travels in remote + countries, &c., and, in consequence, we repeated our former excursion + several times; and though the circumstances were pretty nearly the same on + every occasion, and always terminating in disappointment as to the + immediate pleasure anticipated, yet, undoubtedly, they were, on the whole, + salutary to his spirits. In particular, the cottage itself, standing under + the shelter of tall alders, with a valley stretched beneath it, through + which a little brook meandered, broken by a water-fall, whose pealing + sound dwelt pleasantly on the ear, sometimes, on a quiet sunny day, gave a + lively delight to Kant: and once, under accidental circumstances of summer + clouds and sun-lights, the little pastoral landscape suddenly awakened a + lively remembrance which had been long laid asleep, of a heavenly summer + morning in youth, which he had passed in a bower upon the banks of a + rivulet that ran through the grounds of a dear and early friend, Gen. Von + Lossow. The strength of the impression was such, that he seemed actually + to be living over that morning again, thinking as he then thought, and + conversing with those that were no more. + </p> + <p> + His very last excursion was in August of this year, (1803,) not to my + cottage, but to the garden of a friend. But on this day he manifested + great impatience. It had been arranged that he was to meet an old friend + at the gardens; and I, with two other gentlemen, attended him. It happened + that <i>out</i> party arrived first; and such was Kant's weakness, and + total loss of power to estimate the duration of time, that, after waiting + a few moments, he insisted that some hours had elapsed—that his + friend could not be expected—and went away in great discomposure of + mind. And so ended Kant's travelling in this world. + </p> + <p> + In the beginning of autumn the sight of his right eye began to fail him; + the left he had long lost the use of. This earliest of his losses, by the + way, he discovered by mere accident, and without any previous warning. + Sitting down one day to rest himself in the course of a walk, it occurred + to him that he would try the comparative strength of his eyes; but on + taking out a newspaper which he had in his pocket, he was surprised to + find that with his left eye he could not distinguish a letter. In earlier + life he had two remarkable affections of the eyes: once, on returning from + a walk, he saw objects double for a long space of time; and twice he + became stone-blind. Whether these accidents are to be considered as + uncommon, I leave to the decision of oculists. Certain it is, they gave + very little disturbance to Kant; who, until old age had reduced his + powers, lived in a constant state of stoical preparation for the worst + that could befall him. I was now shocked to think of the degree in which + his burthensome sense of dependence would be aggravated, if he should + totally lose the power of sight. As it was, he read and wrote with great + difficulty: in fact, his writing was little better than that which most + people can produce as a trial of skill with their eyes shut. From old + habits of solitary study, he had no pleasure in hearing others read to + him; and he daily distressed me by the pathetic earnestness of his + entreaties that I would have a reading-glass devised for him. Whatever my + own optical skill could suggest, I tried; and the best opticians were sent + for to bring their glasses, and take his directions for altering them; but + all was to no purpose. + </p> + <p> + In this last year of his life Kant very unwillingly received the visits of + strangers; and, unless under particular circumstances, wholly declined + them. Yet, when travellers had come a very great way out of their road to + see him, I confess that I was at a loss how to conduct myself. To have + refused too pertinaciously, could not but give me the air of wishing to + make myself of importance. And I must acknowledge, that, amongst some + instances of importunity and coarse expressions of low-bred curiosity, I + witnessed, on the part of many people of rank, a most delicate sensibility + to the condition of the aged recluse. On sending in their cards, they + would generally accompany them by some message, expressive of their + unwillingness to gratify their wish to see him at any risk of distressing + him. The fact was, that such visits <i>did</i> distress him much; for he + felt it a degradation to be exhibited in his helpless state, when he was + aware of his own incapacity to meet properly the attention that was paid + to him. Some, however, were admitted, [Footnote: To whom it appears that + Kant would generally reply, upon their expressing the pleasure it gave + them to see him, 'In me you behold a poor superannuated, weak, old man.'] + according to the circumstances of the case, and the state of Kant's + spirits at the moment. Amongst these, I remember that we were particularly + pleased with M. Otto, the same who signed the treaty of peace between + France and England with the present Lord Liverpool, (then Lord + Hawkesbury.) A young Russian also rises to my recollection at this moment, + from the excessive (and I think unaffected) enthusiasm which he displayed. + On being introduced to Kant, he advanced hastily, took both his hands, and + kissed them. Kant, who, from living so much amongst his English friends, + had a good deal of the English dignified reserve about him, and hated + anything like <i>scenes</i>, appeared to shrink a little from this mode of + salutation, and was rather embarrassed. However, the young man's manner, I + believe, was not at all beyond his genuine feelings; for next day he + called again, made some inquiries about Kant's health, was very anxious to + know whether his old age were burthensome to him, and above all things + entreated for some little memorial of the great man to carry away with + him. By accident the servant had found a small cancelled fragment of the + original MS. of Kant's 'Anthropologie:' this, with my sanction, he gave to + the Russian; who received it with rapture, kissed it, and then gave him in + return the only dollar he had about him; and, thinking that not enough, + actually pulled off his coat and waistcoat and forced them upon the man. + Kant, whose native simplicity of character very much indisposed him to + sympathy with any extravagances of feeling, could not, however, forbear + smiling good-humoredly on being made acquainted with this instance of <i>naďveté</i> + and enthusiasm in his young admirer. + </p> + <p> + I now come to an event in Kant's life, which ushered in its closing stage. + On the 8th of October, 1803, for the first time since his youth, he was + seriously ill. When a student at the University, he had once suffered from + an ague, which, however, gave way to pedestrian exercise; and in later + years, he had endured some pain from a contusion on his head; but, with + these two exceptions, (if they can be considered such,) he had never + (properly speaking) been ill. The cause of his illness was this: his + appetite had latterly been irregular, or rather I should say depraved; and + he no longer took pleasure in anything but bread and butter, and English + cheese.[Footnote: Mr. W. here falls into the ordinary mistake of + confounding the cause and the occasion, and would leave the impression, + that Kant (who from his youth up had been a model of temperance) died of + sensual indulgence. The cause of Kant's death was clearly the general + decay of the vital powers, and in particular the atony of the digestive + organs, which must soon have destroyed him under any care or abstinence + whatever. This was the cause. The accidental occasion, which made that + cause operative on the 7th of October, might or might not be what Mr. W. + says. But in Kant's burthensome state of existence, it could not be a + question of much importance whether his illness were to commence in an + October or a November.] On the 7th of October, at dinner, he ate little + else, in spite of everything that I and another friend then dining with + him, could urge to dissuade him. And for the first time I fancied that he + seemed displeased with my importunity, as though I were overstepping the + just line of my duties. He insisted that the cheese never had done him any + harm, nor would now. I had no course left me but to hold my tongue; and he + did as he pleased. The consequence was what might have been anticipated—a + restless night, succeeded by a day of memorable illness. The next morning + all went on as usual, till nine o'clock, when Kant, who was then leaning + on his sister's arm, suddenly fell senseless to the ground. A messenger + was immediately despatched for me; and I hurried down to his house, where + I found him lying in his bed, which had now been removed into his study, + speechless and insensible. I had already summoned his physician; but, + before he arrived, nature put forth efforts which brought Kant a little to + himself. In about an hour he opened his eyes, and continued to mutter + unintelligibly till towards the evening, when he rallied a little, and + began to talk rationally. For the first time in his life, he was now, for + a few days, confined to his bed, and ate nothing. On the 12th October, he + again took some refreshment, and would have had his favorite food; but I + was now resolved, at any risk of his displeasure, to oppose him firmly. I + therefore stated to him the whole consequences of his last indulgence, of + all which he manifestly had no recollection. He listened to what I said + very attentively, and calmly expressed his conviction that I was perfectly + in the wrong; but for the present he submitted. However, some days after, + I found that he had offered a florin for a little bread and cheese, and + then a dollar, and even more. Being again refused, he complained heavily; + but gradually he weaned himself from asking for it, though at times he + betrayed involuntarily how much he desired it. + </p> + <p> + On the 13th of October, his usual dinner parties were resumed, and he was + considered convalescent; but it was seldom indeed that he recovered the + tone of tranquil spirits which he had preserved until his late attack. + Hitherto he had always loved to prolong this meal, the only one he took—or, + as he expressed it in classical phrase, 'coenam <i>ducere</i>;' but now it + was difficult to hurry it over fast enough for his wishes. From dinner, + which terminated about two o'clock, he went straight to bed, and at + intervals fell into slumbers; from which, however, he was regularly awoke + by phantasmata or terrific dreams. At seven in the evening came on duly a + period of great agitation, which lasted till five or six in the morning—sometimes + later; and he continued through the night alternately to walk about and + lie down, occasionally tranquil, but more often in great distress. It now + became necessary that somebody should sit up with him, his man-servant + being wearied out with the toils of the day. No person seemed to be so + proper for this office as his sister, both as having long received a very + liberal pension from him, and also as his nearest relative, who would be + the best witness to the fact that her illustrious brother had wanted no + comforts or attention in his last hours, which his situation admitted of. + Accordingly she was applied to, and undertook to watch him alternately + with his footman—a separate table being kept for her, and a very + handsome addition made to her allowance. She turned out to be a quiet + gentle-minded woman, who raised no disturbances amongst the servants, and + soon won her brother's regard by the modest and retiring style of her + manners; I may add, also, by the truly sisterly affection which she + displayed towards him to the last. + </p> + <p> + The 8th of October had grievously affected Kant's faculties, but had not + wholly destroyed them. For short intervals the clouds seemed to roll away + that had settled upon his majestic intellect, and it shone forth as + heretofore. During these moments of brief self-possession, his wonted + benignity returned to him; and he expressed his gratitude for the + exertions of those about him, and his sense of the trouble they underwent, + in a very affecting way. With regard to his man-servant in particular, he + was very anxious that he should be rewarded by liberal presents; and he + pressed me earnestly on no account to be parsimonious. Indeed Kant was + nothing less than princely in his use of money; and there was no occasion + on which he was known to express the passion of scorn very powerfully, but + when he was commenting on mean and penurious acts or habits. Those who + knew him only in the streets, fancied that he was not liberal; for he + steadily refused, upon principle, to relieve all common beggars. But, on + the other hand, he was liberal to the public charitable institutions; he + secretly assisted his own poor relations in a much ampler way than could + reasonably have been expected of him; and it now appeared that he had many + other deserving pensioners upon his bounty; a fact that was utterly + unknown to any of us, until his increasing blindness and other infirmities + devolved the duty of paying these pensions upon myself. It must be + recollected, also, that Kant's whole fortune, which amounted to about + twenty thousand dollars, was the product of his own honorable toils for + nearly threescore years; and that he had himself suffered all the + hardships of poverty in his youth, though he never once ran into any man's + debt,—circumstances in his history, which, as they express how fully + he must have been acquainted with the value of money, greatly enhance the + merit of his munificence. + </p> + <p> + In December, 1803, he became incapable of signing his name. His sight, + indeed, had for some time failed him so much, that at dinner he could not + find his spoon without assistance; and, when I happened to dine with him, + I first cut in pieces whatever was on his plate, next put it into a spoon, + and then guided his hand to find the spoon. But his inability to sign his + name did not arise merely from blindness: the fact was, that, from + irretention of memory, he could not recollect the letters which composed + his name; and, when they were repeated to him, he could not represent the + figure of the letters in his imagination. At the latter end of November, I + had remarked that these incapacities were rapidly growing upon him, and in + consequence I prevailed on him to sign beforehand all the receipts, &c., + which would be wanted at the end of the year; and, afterwards, on my + representation, to prevent all disputes, he gave me a regular legal power + to sign on his behalf. + </p> + <p> + Much as Kant was now reduced, yet he had occasionally moods of social + hilarity. His birth-day was always an agreeable subject to him: some weeks + before his death, I was calculating the time which it still wanted of that + anniversary, and cheering him with the prospect of the rejoicings which + would then take place: 'All your old friends,' said I, 'will meet + together, and drink a glass of champagne to your health.' 'That,' said he, + 'must be done upon the spot:' and he was not satisfied till the party was + actually assembled. He drank a glass of wine with them, and with great + elevation of spirits celebrated this birth-day which he was destined never + to see. + </p> + <p> + In the latter weeks of his life, however, a great change took place in the + tone of his spirits. At his dinner-table, where heretofore such a + cloudless spirit of joviality had reigned, there was now a melancholy + silence. It disturbed him to see his two dinner companions conversing + privately together, whilst he himself sat like a mute on the stage with no + part to perform. Yet to have engaged him in the conversation would have + been still more distressing; for his hearing was now very imperfect; the + effort to hear was itself painful to him; and his expressions, even when + his thoughts were accurate enough, became nearly unintelligible. It is + remarkable, however, that at the very lowest point of his depression, when + he became perfectly incapable of conversing with any rational meaning on + the ordinary affairs of life, he was still able to answer correctly and + distinctly, in a degree that was perfectly astonishing, upon any question + of philosophy or of science, especially of physical geography, [Footnote: + <i>Physical</i> Geography, in opposition to <i>Political</i>.] chemistry, + or natural history. He talked satisfactorily, in his very worst state, of + the gases, and stated very accurately different propositions of Kepler's, + especially the law of the planetary motions. And I remember in particular, + that upon the very last Monday of his life, when the extremity of his + weakness moved a circle of his friends to tears, and he sat amongst us + insensible to all we could say to him, cowering down, or rather I might + say collapsing into a shapeless heap upon his chair, deaf, blind, torpid, + motionless,—even then I whispered to the others that I would engage + that Kant should take his part in conversation with propriety and + animation. This they found it difficult to believe. Upon which I drew + close to his ear, and put a question to him about the Moors of Barbary. To + the surprise of everybody but myself, he immediately gave us a summary + account of their habits and customs; and told us by the way, that in the + word <i>Algiers</i>, the <i>g</i> ought to be pronounced hard (as in the + English word <i>gear</i>). + </p> + <p> + During the last fortnight of Kant's life, he busied himself unceasingly in + a way that seemed not merely purposeless but self-contradictory. Twenty + times in a minute he would unloose and tie his neck handkerchief—so + also with a sort of belt which he wore about his dressing-gown, the moment + it was clasped, he unclasped it with impatience, and was then equally + impatient to have it clasped again. But no description can convey an + adequate impression of the weary restlessness with which from morning to + night he pursued these labors of Sisyphus—doing and undoing—fretting + that he could not do it, fretting that he had done it. + </p> + <p> + By this time he seldom knew any of us who were about him, but took us all + for strangers. This happened first with his sister, then with me, and + finally with his servant. Such an alienation distressed me more than any + other instance of his decay: though I knew that he had not really + withdrawn his affection from me, yet his air and mode of addressing me + gave me constantly that feeling. So much the more affecting was it, when + the sanity of his perceptions and his remembrances returned; but these + intervals were of slower and slower occurrence. In this condition, silent + or babbling childishly, self-involved and torpidly abstracted, or else + busy with self-created phantoms and delusions, what a contrast did he + offer to <i>that</i> Kant who had once been the brilliant centre of the + most brilliant circles for rank, wit, or knowledge, that Prussia afforded! + A distinguished person from Berlin, who had called upon him during the + preceding summer, was greatly shocked at his appearance, and said, 'This + is not Kant that I have seen, but the shell of Kant!' How much more would + he have said this, if he had seen him now! + </p> + <p> + Now came February, 1804, which was the last month that Kant was destined + to see. It is remarkable that, in the memorandum book which I have before + mentioned, I found a fragment of an old song, (inserted by Kant, and dated + in the summer about six months before the time of his death,) which + expressed that February was the month in which people had the least weight + to carry, for the obvious reason that it was shorter by two and by three + days than the others; and the concluding sentiment was in a tone of + fanciful pathos to this effect—'Oh, happy February! in which man has + least to bear—least pain, least sorrow, least self-reproach!' Even + of this short month, however, Kant had not twelve entire days to bear; for + it was on the 12th that he died; and in fact he may be said to have been + dying from the 1st. He now barely vegetated; though there were still + transitory gleams flashing by fits from the embers of his ancient + intellect. + </p> + <p> + On the 3d of February the springs of life seemed to be ceasing from their + play, for, from this day, strictly speaking, he ate nothing more. His + existence henceforward seemed to be the mere prolongation of an impetus + derived from an eighty years' life, after the moving power of the + mechanism was withdrawn. His physician visited him every day at a + particular hour; and it was settled that I should always be there to meet + him. Nine days before his death, on paying his usual visit, the following + little circumstance occurred, which affected us both, by recalling + forcibly to our minds the ineradicable courtesy and goodness of Kant's + nature. When the physician was announced, I went up to Kant and said to + him, 'Here is Dr. A——.' Kant rose from his chair, and, + offering his hand to the Doctor, murmured something in which the word + 'posts' was frequently repeated, but with an air as though he wished to be + helped out with the rest of the sentence. Dr. A——, who thought + that, by <i>posts</i>, he meant the stations for relays of post-horses, + and therefore that his mind was wandering, replied that all the horses + were engaged, and begged him to compose himself. But Kant went on, with + great effort to himself, and added—'Many posts, heavy posts—then + much goodness—then much gratitude.' All this he said with apparent + incoherence, but with great warmth, and increasing self-possession. I + meantime perfectly divined what it was that Kant, under his cloud of + imbecility, wished to say, and I interpreted accordingly. 'What the + Professor wishes to say, Dr. A——, is this, that, considering + the many and weighty offices which you fill in the city and in the + university, it argues great goodness on your part to give up so much of + your time to him,' (for Dr. A—— would never take any fees from + Kant;) 'and that he has the deepest sense of this goodness.' 'Right,' said + Kant, earnestly, 'right!' But he still continued to stand, and was nearly + sinking to the ground. Upon which I remarked to the physician, that I was + so well acquainted with Kant, that I was satisfied he would not sit down, + however much he suffered from standing, until he knew that his visitors + were seated. The Doctor seemed to doubt this—but Kant, who heard + what I said, by a prodigious effort confirmed my construction of his + conduct, and spoke distinctly these words—'God forbid I should be + sunk so low as to forget the offices of humanity.' + </p> + <p> + When dinner was announced, Dr. A—— took his leave. Another + guest had now arrived, and I was in hopes, from the animation which Kant + had so recently displayed, that we should to-day have a pleasant party, + but my hopes were vain—Kant was more than usually exhausted, and + though he raised a spoon to his mouth, he swallowed nothing. For some time + everything had been tasteless to him; and I had endeavored, but with + little success, to stimulate the organs of taste by nutmeg, cinnamon, + &c. To-day all failed, and I could not even prevail upon him to taste + a biscuit, rusk, or anything of that sort. I had once heard him say that + several of his friends, who had died of <i>marasmus</i>, had closed their + illness by four or five days of entire freedom from pain, but totally + without appetite, and then slumbered tranquilly away. Through this state I + apprehended that he was himself now passing. + </p> + <p> + Saturday, the 4th of February, I heard his guests loudly expressing their + fears that they should never meet him again; and I could not but share + these fears myself. However, on + </p> + <p> + Sunday, the 5th, I dined at his table in company with his particular + friend Mr. R. R. V. Kant was still present, but so weak that his head + drooped upon his knees, and he sank down against the right side of the + chair. I went and arranged his pillows so as to raise and support his + head; and, having done this, I said—'Now, my dear Sir, you are again + in right order.' Great was our astonishment when he answered clearly and + audibly in the Roman military phrase—'Yes, <i>testudine et facie;</i>' + and immediately after added, 'Ready for the enemy, and in battle array.' + His powers of mind were (if I may be allowed that expression) smouldering + away in their ashes; but every now and then some lambent flame, or grand + emanation of light, shot forth to make it evident that the ancient fire + still slumbered below. + </p> + <p> + Monday, the 6th, he was much weaker and more torpid: he spoke not a word, + except on the occasion of my question about the Moors, as previously + stated, and sate with sightless eyes, lost in himself, and manifesting no + sense of our presence, so that we had the feeling of some mighty shade or + phantom from some forgotten century being seated amongst us. + </p> + <p> + About this time, Kant had become much more tranquil and composed. In the + earlier periods of his illness, when his yet unbroken strength was brought + into active contest with the first attacks of decay, he was apt to be + peevish, and sometimes spoke roughly or even harshly to his servants. + This, though very opposite to his natural disposition, was altogether + excusable under the circumstances. He could not make himself understood: + things were therefore brought to him continually which he had not asked + for; and often it happened that what he really wanted he could not obtain, + because all his efforts to name it were unintelligible. A violent nervous + irritation, besides, affected him from the unsettling of the equilibrium + in the different functions of his nature; weakness in one organ being made + more palpable to him by disproportionate strength in another. But now the + strife was over; the whole system was at length undermined, and in rapid + and harmonious progress to dissolution. And from this time forward, no + movement of impatience, or expression of fretfulness, ever escaped him. + </p> + <p> + I now visited him three times a-day; and on + </p> + <p> + Tuesday, Feb. 7th, going about dinner-time, I found the usual party of + friends sitting down alone; for Kant was in bed. This was a new scene in + his house, and increased our fears that his end was now at hand. However, + having seen him rally so often, I would not run the risk of leaving him + without a dinner-party for the next day; and accordingly, at the customary + hour of one, we assembled in his house on + </p> + <p> + Wednesday, Feb. 8th. I paid my respects to him as cheerfully as possible, + and ordered dinner to be served up. Kant sat at the table with us; and, + taking a spoon with a little soup in it, put it to his lips; but + immediately put it down again, and retired to bed, from which he never + rose again, except during the few minutes when it was re-arranged. + </p> + <p> + Thursday, the 9th, he had sunk into the weakness of a dying person, and + the corpse-like appearance had already taken possession of him. I visited + him frequently through the day; and, going at ten o'clock at night, I + found him in a state of insensibility. I could not draw any sign from him + that he knew me, and I left him to the care of his sister and his servant. + </p> + <p> + Friday, the 10th, I went to see him at six o'clock in the morning. It was + very stormy, and a deep snow had fallen in the night-time. And, by the + way, I remember that a gang of house-breakers had forced their way through + the premises in order to reach Kant's next neighbor, who was a goldsmith. + As I drew near to his bed-side, I said, 'Good morning.' He returned my + salutation by saying, 'Good morning,' but in so feeble and faltering a + voice that it was hardly articulate. I was rejoiced to find him sensible, + and I asked him if he knew me:—'Yes,' he replied; and, stretching + out his hand, touched me gently upon the cheek. Through the rest of the + day, whenever I visited him, he seemed to have relapsed into a state of + insensibility. + </p> + <p> + Saturday, the 11th, he lay with fixed and rayless eyes; but to all + appearance in perfect peace. I asked him again, on this day, if he knew + me. He was speechless, but he turned his face towards me and made signs + that I should kiss him. Deep emotion thrilled me, as I stooped down to + kiss his pallid lips; for I knew that in this solemn act of tenderness he + meant to express his thankfulness for our long friendship, and to signify + his affection and his last farewell. I had never seen him confer this mark + of his love upon anybody, except once, and that was a few weeks before his + death, when he drew his sister to him and kissed her. The kiss which he + now gave to me was the last memorial that he knew me. + </p> + <p> + Whatever fluid was now offered to him passed the oesophagus with a + rattling sound, as often happens with dying people; and there were all the + signs of death being close at hand. + </p> + <p> + I wished to stay with him till all was over; and as I had been witness of + his life, to be witness also of his departure; and therefore I never + quitted him except when I was called off for a few minutes to attend some + private business. The whole of this night I spent at his bed-side. Though + he had passed the day in a state of insensibility, yet in the evening he + made intelligible signs that he wished to have his bed put in order; he + was therefore lifted out in our arms, and the bed-clothes and pillows + being hastily arranged, he was carried back again. He did not sleep; and a + spoonful of liquid, which was sometimes put to his lips, he usually pushed + aside; but about one o'clock in the night he himself made a motion towards + the spoon, from which I collected that he was thirsty; and I gave him a + small quantity of wine and water sweetened; but the muscles of his mouth + had not strength enough to retain it, so that to prevent its flowing back + he raised his hand to his lips, until with a rattling sound it was + swallowed. He seemed to wish for more; and I continued to give him more, + until he said, in a way that I was just able to understand,—'It is + enough.' And these were his last words. At intervals he pushed away the + bed-clothes, and exposed his person; I constantly restored the clothes to + their situation, and on one of these occasions I found that the whole body + and extremities were already growing cold, and the pulse intermitting. + </p> + <p> + At a quarter after three o'clock on Sunday morning, February 12, Kant + stretched himself out as if taking a position for his final act, and + settled into the precise posture which he preserved to the moment of + death. The pulse was now no longer perceptible to the touch in his hands, + feet or neck. I tried every part where a pulse beats, and found none + anywhere but in the left hip, where it beat with violence, but often + intermitted. + </p> + <p> + About ten o'clock in the forenoon he suffered a remarkable change; his eye + was rigid and his face and lips became discolored by a cadaverous pallor. + Still, such was the effect of his previous habits, that no trace appeared + of the cold sweat which naturally accompanies the last mortal agony. + </p> + <p> + It was near eleven o'clock when the moment of dissolution approached. His + sister was standing at the foot of the bed, his sister's son at the head. + I, for the purpose of still observing the fluctuations of the pulse in his + hip, was kneeling at the bed-side; and I called his servant to come and + witness the death of his good master. Now began the last agony, if to him + it could be called an agony, where there seemed to be no struggle. And + precisely at this moment, his distinguished friend, Mr. R. R. V., whom I + had summoned by a messenger, entered the room. First of all, the breath + grew feebler; then it missed its regularity of return; then it wholly + intermitted, and the upper lip was slightly convulsed; after this there + followed one slight respiration or sigh; and after that no more; but the + pulse still beat for a few seconds—slower and fainter, till it + ceased altogether; the mechanism stopped; the last motion was at an end; + and exactly at that moment the clock struck eleven. + </p> + <p> + Soon after his death the head of Kant was shaved; and, under the direction + of Professor Knorr, a plaster cast was taken, not a masque merely, but a + cast of the whole bead, designed (I believe) to enrich the craniological + collection of Dr. Gall. + </p> + <p> + The corpse being laid out and properly attired, immense numbers of people + of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, flocked to see it. + Everybody was anxious to make use of the last opportunity he would have + for entitling himself to say—'I too have seen Kant.' This went on + for many days—during which, from morning to night, the house was + thronged with the public. Great was the astonishment of all people at the + meagreness of Kant's appearance; and it was universally agreed that a + corpse so wasted and fleshless had never been beheld. His head rested upon + the same cushion on which once the gentlemen of the university had + presented an address to him; and I thought that I could not apply it to a + more honorable purpose than by placing it in the coffin, as the final + pillow of that immortal head. + </p> + <p> + Upon the style and mode of his funeral, Kant had expressed his wishes in + earlier years in a separate memorandum. He there desired that it should + take place early in the morning, with as little noise and disturbance as + possible, and attended only by a few of his most intimate friends. + Happening to meet with this memorandum, whilst I was engaged at his + request in arranging his papers, I very frankly gave him my opinion, that + such an injunction would lay me, as the executor of his will, under great + embarrassments; for that circumstances might very probably arise under + which it would be next to impossible to carry it into effect. Upon this + Kant tore the paper, and left the whole to my own discretion. The fact + was, I foresaw that the students of the University would never allow + themselves to be robbed of this occasion for expressing their veneration + by a public funeral. The event showed that I was right; for a funeral such + as Kant's, one so solemn and so magnificent, the city of Königsberg has + never witnessed before or since. The public journals, and separate + accounts in pamphlets, etc., have given so minute an account of its + details, that I shall here notice only the heads of the ceremony. + </p> + <p> + On the 28th of February, at two o'clock in the afternoon, all the + dignitaries of church and state, not only those resident in Königsberg, + but from the remotest parts of Prussia, assembled in the church of the + Castle. Hence they were escorted by the whole body of the University, + splendidly dressed for the occasion, and by many military officers of + rank, with whom Kant had always been a great favorite, to the house of the + deceased Professor; from which the corpse was carried by torch-light, the + bells of every church in Königsberg tolling, to the Cathedral which was + lit up by innumerable wax-lights. A never-ending train of many thousand + persons followed it on foot. In the Cathedral, after the usual burial + rites, accompanied with every possible expression of national veneration + to the deceased, there was a grand musical service, most admirably + performed, at the close of which Kant's mortal remains were lowered into + the academic vault, where he now rests among the ancient patriarchs of the + University. PEACE BE TO HIS DUST, AND EVERLASTING HONOR! + </p> + <h3> + END OF VOLUME II + </h3> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, by +Thomas De Quincey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS *** + +***** This file should be named 6148-h.htm or 6148-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/4/6148/ + + +Text file produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers + Volumes I and II, Complete + +Author: Thomas De Quincey + + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6148] +This file was first posted on November 19, 2002 +Last Updated: June 15, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + +NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. + +By Thomas De Quincey. + + +Contents Of Volume I. + + The Household Wreck + The Spanish Nun + Flight Of A Tartar Tribe + + +Contents Of Volume II. + + System Of The Heavens As Revealed By Lord Rosse's Telescopes + Modern Superstition + Coleridge And Opium-Eating + Temperance Movement + On War + The Last Days Of Immanuel Kant + + + + + + +VOLUME I. + + + + +THE HOUSEHOLD WRECK. + + +'To be weak,' we need not the great archangel's voice to tell us, '_is +to be miserable_.' All weakness is suffering and humiliation, no matter +for its mode or its subject. Beyond all other weakness, therefore, and +by a sad prerogative, as more miserable than what is most miserable +in all, that capital weakness of man which regards the _tenure_ of his +enjoyments and his power to protect, even for a moment, the crown of +flowers--flowers, at the best, how frail and few!--which sometimes +settles upon his haughty brow. There is no end, there never will be +an end, of the lamentations which ascend from earth and the rebellious +heart of her children, upon this huge opprobrium of human pride--the +everlasting mutabilities of all which man can grasp by his power or +by his aspirations, the fragility of all which he inherits, and the +hollowness visible amid the very raptures of enjoyment to every eye +which looks for a moment underneath the draperies of the shadowy +_present_, the hollowness, the blank treachery of hollowness, upon which +all the pomps and vanities of life ultimately repose. This trite but +unwearying theme, this impassioned common-place of humanity, is the +subject in every age of variation without end, from the poet, +the rhetorician, the fabulist, the moralist, the divine, and the +philosopher. All, amidst the sad vanity of their sighs and groans, labor +to put on record and to establish this monotonous complaint, which needs +not other record or evidence than those very sighs and groans. What is +life? Darkness and formless vacancy for a beginning, or something beyond +all beginning--then next a dim lotos of human consciousness, finding +itself afloat upon the bosom of waters without a shore--then a few sunny +smiles and many tears--a little love and infinite strife--whisperings +from paradise and fierce mockeries from the anarchy of chaos--dust and +ashes--and once more darkness circling round, as if from the beginning, +and in this way rounding or making an island of our fantastic +existence,--_that_ is human life; _that_ the inevitable amount of man's +laughter and his tears--of what he suffers and he does--of his motions +this way and that way--to the right or to the left--backwards +or forwards--of all his seeming realities and all his absolute +negations--his shadowy pomps and his pompous shadows--of whatsoever he +thinks, finds, makes or mars, creates or animates, loves, hates, or in +dread hope anticipates;--so it is, so it has been, so it will be, for +ever and ever. + +Yet in the lowest deep there still yawns a lower deep; and in the vast +halls of man's frailty, there are separate and more gloomy chambers of +a frailty more exquisite and consummate. We account it frailty that +threescore years and ten make the upshot of man's pleasurable existence, +and that, far before that time is reached, his beauty and his power +have fallen among weeds and forgetfulness. But there is a frailty, by +comparison with which this ordinary flux of the human race seems to have +a vast duration. Cases there are, and those not rare, in which a +single week, a day, an hour sweeps away all vestiges and landmarks of +a memorable felicity; in which the ruin travels faster than the flying +showers upon the mountain-side, faster 'than a musician scatters +sounds;' in which 'it was' and 'it is not' are words of the self-same +tongue, in the self-same minute; in which the sun that at noon beheld +all sound and prosperous, long before its setting hour looks out upon +a total wreck, and sometimes upon the total abolition of any fugitive +memorial that there ever had been a vessel to be wrecked, or a wreck to +be obliterated. + +These cases, though here spoken of rhetorically, are of daily +occurrence; and, though they may seem few by comparison with the +infinite millions of the species, they are many indeed, if they be +reckoned absolutely for themselves; and throughout the limits of a whole +nation, not a day passes over us but many families are robbed of their +heads, or even swallowed up in ruin themselves, or their course turned +out of the sunny beams into a dark wilderness. Shipwrecks and nightly +conflagrations are sometimes, and especially among some nations, +wholesale calamities; battles yet more so; earthquakes, the famine, the +pestilence, though rarer, are visitations yet wider in their desolation. +Sickness and commercial ill-luck, if narrower, are more frequent +scourges. And most of all, or with most darkness in its train, comes the +sickness of the brain--lunacy--which, visiting nearly one thousand in +every million, must, in every populous nation, make many ruins in each +particular day. 'Babylon in ruins,' says a great author, 'is not so sad +a sight as a human soul overthrown by lunacy.' But there is a sadder +even than _that_,--the sight of a family-ruin wrought by crime is even +more appalling. Forgery, breaches of trust, embezzlement, of private +or public funds--(a crime sadly on the increase since the example of +Fauntleroy, and the suggestion of its great feasibility first made by +him)--these enormities, followed too often, and countersigned for their +final result to the future happiness of families, by the appalling +catastrophe of suicide, must naturally, in every wealthy nation, +or wherever property and the modes of property are much developed, +constitute the vast majority of all that come under the review of public +justice. Any of these is sufficient to make shipwreck of all peace and +comfort for a family; and often, indeed, it happens that the desolation +is accomplished within the course of one revolving sun; often the +whole dire catastrophe, together with its total consequences, is both +accomplished and made known to those whom it chiefly concerns within one +and the same hour. The mighty Juggernaut of social life, moving onwards +with its everlasting thunders, pauses not for a moment to spare--to +pity--to look aside, but rushes forward for ever, impassive as the +marble in the quarry--caring not for whom it destroys, for the how +many, or for the results, direct and indirect, whether many or few. +The increasing grandeur and magnitude of the social system, the more it +multiplies and extends its victims, the more it conceals them; and for +the very same reason: just as in the Roman amphitheatres, when they grew +to the magnitude of mighty cities, (in some instances accommodating +four hundred thousand spectators, in many a fifth part of that amount,) +births and deaths became ordinary events, which, in a small modern +theatre, are rare and memorable; and exactly as these prodigious +accidents multiplied, _pari passu_, they were disregarded and easily +concealed: for curiosity was no longer excited; the sensation attached +to them was little or none. + +From these terrific tragedies, which, like monsoons or tornadoes, +accomplish the work of years in an hour, not merely an impressive lesson +is derived, sometimes, perhaps, a warning, but also (and this is of +universal application) some consolation. Whatever may have been the +misfortunes or the sorrows of a man's life, he is still privileged to +regard himself and his friends as amongst the fortunate by comparison, +in so far as he has escaped these wholesale storms, either as an actor +in producing them, or a contributor to their violence--or even more +innocently, (though oftentimes not less miserably)--as a participator in +the instant ruin, or in the long arrears of suffering which they entail. + +The following story falls within the class of hasty tragedies, and +sudden desolations here described. The reader is assured that every +incident is strictly true: nothing, in that respect, has been altered; +nor, indeed, anywhere except in the conversations, of which, though +the results and general outline are known, the separate details have +necessarily been lost under the agitating circumstances which produced +them. It has been judged right and delicate to conceal the name of the +great city, and therefore of the nation in which these events occurred, +chiefly out of consideration for the descendants of one person concerned +in the narrative: otherwise, it might not have been requisite: for it +is proper to mention, that every person directly a party to the case has +been long laid in the grave: all of them, with one solitary exception, +upwards of fifty years. + + * * * * * + +It was early spring in the year 17--; the day was the 6th of April; and +the weather, which had been of a wintry fierceness for the preceding six +or seven weeks--cold indeed beyond anything known for many years, +gloomy for ever, and broken by continual storms--was now by a Swedish +transformation all at once bright, genial, heavenly. So sudden and so +early a prelusion of summer, it was generally feared, could not last. +But that only made every body the more eager to lose no hour of an +enjoyment that might prove so fleeting. It seemed as if the whole +population of the place, a population among the most numerous in +Christendom, had been composed of hybernating animals suddenly awakened +by the balmy sunshine from their long winter's torpor. Through every +hour of the golden morning the streets were resonant with female parties +of young and old, the timid and the bold, nay, even of the most delicate +valetudinarians, now first tempted to lay aside their wintry clothing +together with their fireside habits, whilst the whole rural environs of +our vast city, the woodlands, and the interminable meadows began daily +to re-echo the glad voices of the young and jovial awaking once again, +like the birds and the flowers, and universal nature, to the luxurious +happiness of this most delightful season. + +Happiness do I say? Yes, happiness; happiness to me above all others. +For I also in those days was among the young and the gay; I was healthy; +I was strong; I was prosperous in a worldly sense! I owed no man a +shilling; feared no man's face; shunned no man's presence. I held a +respectable station in society; I was myself, let me venture to say it, +respected generally for my personal qualities, apart from any advantages +I might draw from fortune or inheritance; I had reason to think myself +popular amongst the very slender circle of my acquaintance; and finally, +which perhaps was the crowning grace to all these elements of happiness, +I suffered not from the presence of _ennui_, nor ever feared to suffer: +for my temperament was constitutionally ardent; I had a powerful +animal sensibility; and I knew the one great secret for maintaining its +equipoise, viz., by powerful daily exercise; and thus I lived in +the light and presence, or, (if I should not be suspected of seeking +rhetorical expressions, I would say,) in one eternal solstice of +unclouded hope. + +These, you will say, were blessings; these were golden elements of +felicity. They were so; and yet, with the single exception of my +healthy frame and firm animal organization, I feel that I have mentioned +hitherto nothing but what by comparison might be thought of a vulgar +quality. All the other advantages that I have enumerated, had they been +yet wanting, might have been acquired; had they been forfeited, might +have been reconquered; had they been even irretrievably lost, might, by +a philosophic effort, have been dispensed with; compensations might have +been found for any of them, many equivalents, or if not, consolations at +least, for their absence. But now it remains to speak of other blessings +too mighty to be valued, not merely as transcending in rank and dignity +all other constituents of happiness, but for a reason far sadder than +that--because, once lost, they were incapable of restoration, and +because not to be dispensed with; blessings in which 'either we must +live or have no life:' lights to the darkness of our paths and to the +infirmity of our steps--which, once extinguished, never more on this +side the gates of Paradise can any man hope to see re-illumined for +himself. Amongst these I may mention an intellect, whether powerful or +not in itself, at any rate most elaborately cultivated; and, to say the +truth, I had little other business before me in this life than to pursue +this lofty and delightful task. I may add, as a blessing, not in the +same _positive_ sense as that which I have just mentioned, because not +of a nature to contribute so hourly to the employment of the thoughts, +but yet in this sense equal, that the absence of either would have been +an equal affliction,--namely, a conscience void of all offence. It +was little indeed that I, drawn by no necessities of situation into +temptations of that nature, had done no injury to any man. That was +fortunate; but I could not much value myself upon what was so much an +accident of my situation. Something, however, I might pretend to beyond +this _negative_ merit; for I had originally a benign nature; and, as I +advanced in years and thoughtfulness, the gratitude which possessed me +for my own exceeding happiness led me to do that by principle and system +which I had already done upon blind impulse; and thus upon a double +argument I was incapable of turning away from the prayer of the +afflicted, whatever had been the sacrifice to myself. Hardly, perhaps, +could it have been said in a sufficient sense at that time that I was +a religious man: yet, undoubtedly, I had all the foundations within me +upon which religion might hereafter have grown. My heart overflowed with +thankfulness to Providence: I had a natural tone of unaffected piety; +and thus far, at least, I might have been called a religious man, that +in the simplicity of truth I could have exclaimed, + + 'O, Abner, I fear God, and I fear none beside.' + +But wherefore seek to delay ascending by a natural climax to that final +consummation and perfect crown of my felicity--that almighty blessing +which ratified their value to all the rest? Wherefore, oh! wherefore +do I shrink in miserable weakness from--what? Is it from reviving, +from calling up again into fierce and insufferable light the images and +features of a long-buried happiness? That would be a natural shrinking +and a reasonable weakness. But how escape from reviving, whether I give +it utterance or not, that which is for ever vividly before me? What need +to call into artificial light that which, whether sleeping or waking, by +night or by day, for eight-and-thirty years has seemed by its miserable +splendor to scorch my brain? Wherefore shrink from giving language, +simple vocal utterance, to that burden of anguish which by so long an +endurance has lost no atom of its weight, nor can gain any most surely +by the loudest publication? Need there can be none, after this, to say +that the priceless blessing, which I have left to the final place in +this ascending review, was the companion of my life--my darling and +youthful wife. Oh! dovelike woman! fated in an hour the most +defenceless to meet with the ravening vulture,--lamb fallen amongst +wolves,--trembling--fluttering fawn, whose path was inevitably to be +crossed by the bloody tiger;--angel, whose most innocent heart fitted +thee for too early a flight from this impure planet; if indeed it were a +necessity that thou shouldst find no rest for thy footing except amidst +thy native heavens, if indeed to leave what was not worthy of thee were +a destiny not to be evaded--a summons not to be put by,--yet why, why, +again and again I demand--why was it also necessary that this, thy +departure, so full of wo to me, should also to thyself be heralded by +the pangs of martyrdom? Sainted love, if, like the ancient children +of the Hebrews, like Meshech and Abednego, thou wert called by divine +command, whilst yet almost a child, to walk, and to walk alone, through +the fiery furnace,--wherefore then couldst not thou, like that Meshech +and that Abednego, walk unsinged by the dreadful torment, and come forth +unharmed? Why, if the sacrifice were to be total, was it necessary to +reach it by so dire a struggle? and if the cup, the bitter cup, of final +separation from those that were the light of thy eyes and the pulse +of thy heart might not be put aside,--yet wherefore was it that thou +mightest not drink it up in the natural peace which belongs to a sinless +heart? + +But these are murmurings, you will say, rebellious murmurings against +the proclamations of God. Not so: I have long since submitted myself, +resigned myself, nay, even reconciled myself, perhaps, to the great +wreck of my life, in so far as it was the will of God, and according to +the weakness of my imperfect nature. But my wrath still rises, like a +towering flame, against all the earthly instruments of this ruin; I am +still at times as unresigned as ever to this tragedy, in so far as it +was the work of human malice. Vengeance, as a mission for _me_, as +a task for _my_ hands in particular, is no longer possible; the +thunderbolts of retribution have been long since launched by other +hands; and yet still it happens that at times I do--I must--I shall +perhaps to the hour of death, rise in maniac fury, and seek, in the +very impotence of vindictive madness, groping as it were in blindness of +heart, for that tiger from hell-gates that tore away my darling from my +heart. Let me pause, and interrupt this painful strain, to say a word +or two upon what she was--and how far worthy of a love more honorable +to her (that was possible) and deeper (but that was not possible) than +mine. When first I saw her, she--my Agnes--was merely a child, not much +(if anything) above sixteen. But, as in perfect womanhood she retained +a most childlike expression of countenance, so even then in absolute +childhood she put forward the blossoms and the dignity of a woman. Never +yet did my eye light upon creature that was born of woman, nor could it +enter my heart to conceive one, possessing a figure more matchless in +its proportions, more statuesque, and more deliberately and advisedly to +be characterized by no adequate word but the word _magnificent_, (a word +too often and lightly abused.) In reality, speaking of women, I have +seen many beautiful figures, but hardly one except Agnes that could, +without hyperbole, be styled truly and memorably magnificent. Though +in the first order of tall women, yet, being full in person, and with a +symmetry that was absolutely faultless, she seemed to the random sight +as little above the ordinary height. Possibly from the dignity of her +person, assisted by the dignity of her movements, a stranger would +have been disposed to call her at a distance a woman of _commanding_ +presence; but never, after he had approached near enough to behold her +face. Every thought of artifice, of practised effect, or of haughty +pretension, fled before the childlike innocence, the sweet feminine +timidity, and the more than cherub loveliness of that countenance, which +yet in its lineaments was noble, whilst its expression was purely gentle +and confiding. A shade of pensiveness there was about her; but _that_ +was in her manners, scarcely ever in her features; and the exquisite +fairness of her complexion, enriched by the very sweetest and most +delicate bloom that ever I have beheld, should rather have allied it +to a tone of cheerfulness. Looking at this noble creature, as I first +looked at her, when yet upon the early threshold of womanhood + + 'With household motions light and free, + And steps of virgin liberty' + +you might have supposed her some Hebe or young Aurora of the dawn. When +you saw only her superb figure, and its promise of womanly development, +with the measured dignity of her step, you might for a moment have +fancied her some imperial Medea of the Athenian stage--some Volumnia +from Rome, + + 'Or ruling bandit's wife amidst the Grecian isles.' + + But catch one glance from her angelic countenance--and then combining +the face and the person, you would have dismissed all such fancies, and +have pronounced her a Pandora or an Eve, expressly accomplished and held +forth by nature as an exemplary model or ideal pattern for the future +female sex:-- + + 'A perfect woman, nobly plann'd, + To warm, to comfort, to command: + And yet a spirit too, and bright + With something of an angel light.' + +To this superb young woman, such as I have here sketched her, I +surrendered my heart for ever, almost from my first opportunity of +seeing her: for so natural and without disguise was her character, and +so winning the simplicity of her manners, due in part to her own native +dignity of mind, and in part to the deep solitude in which she had been +reared, that little penetration was required to put me in possession of +all her thoughts; and to win her love, not very much more than to let +her see, as see she could not avoid, in connection with that chivalrous +homage which at any rate was due to her sex and her sexual perfections, +a love for herself on my part, which was in its nature as exalted a +passion and as profoundly rooted as any merely human affection can ever +yet have been. + +On the seventeenth birthday of Agnes we were married. Oh! calendar of +everlasting months--months that, like the mighty rivers, shall flow on +for ever, immortal as thou, Nile, or Danube, Euphrates, or St. Lawrence! +and ye, summer and winter, day and night, wherefore do you bring round +continually your signs, and seasons, and revolving hours, that still +point and barb the anguish of local recollections, telling me of this +and that celestial morning that never shall return, and of too blessed +expectations, travelling like yourselves through a heavenly zodiac of +changes, till at once and for ever they sank into the grave! Often do I +think of seeking for some quiet cell either in the Tropics or in +Arctic latitudes, where the changes of the year, and the external signs +corresponding to them, express themselves by no features like those in +which the same seasons are invested under our temperate climes: so that, +if knowing, we cannot at least feel the identity of their revolutions. +We were married, I have said, on the birthday--the seventeenth +birthday--of Agnes; and pretty nearly on her eighteenth it was that she +placed me at the summit of my happiness, whilst for herself she +thus completed the circle of her relations to this life's duties, +by presenting me with a son. Of this child, knowing how wearisome to +strangers is the fond exultation of parents, I shall simply say, that +he inherited his mother's beauty; the same touching loveliness and +innocence of expression, the same chiselled nose, mouth, and chin, +the same exquisite auburn hair. In many other features, not of person +merely, but also of mind and manners, as they gradually began to open +before me, this child deepened my love to him by recalling the image of +his mother; and what other image was there that I so much wished to +keep before me, whether waking or asleep? At the time to which I am now +coming but too rapidly, this child, still our only one, and unusually +premature, was within four months of completing his third year; +consequently Agnes was at that time in her twenty-first year; and I may +here add, with respect to myself, that I was in my twenty-sixth. + +But, before I come to that period of wo, let me say one word on the +temper of mind which so fluent and serene a current of prosperity may +be thought to have generated. Too common a course I know it is, when +the stream of life flows with absolute tranquillity, and ruffled by no +menace of a breeze--the azure overhead never dimmed by a passing cloud, +that in such circumstances the blood stagnates: life, from excess and +plethora of sweets, becomes insipid: the spirit of action droops: and +it is oftentimes found at such seasons that slight annoyances and +molestations, or even misfortunes in a lower key, are not wholly +undesirable, as means of stimulating the lazy energies, and disturbing a +slumber which is, or soon will be, morbid in its character. I have known +myself cases not a few, where, by the very nicest gradations, and by +steps too silent and insensible for daily notice, the utmost harmony and +reciprocal love had shaded down into fretfulness and petulance, purely +from too easy a life, and because all nobler agitations that might have +ruffled the sensations occasionally, and all distresses even on the +narrowest scale that might have re-awakened the solicitudes of love, by +opening necessities for sympathy, for counsel, or for mutual aid, had +been shut out by foresight too elaborate, or by prosperity too cloying. +But all this, had it otherwise been possible with my particular mind, +and at my early age, was utterly precluded by one remarkable peculiarity +in my temper. Whether it were that I derived from nature some jealousy +and suspicion of all happiness which seems too perfect and unalloyed--[a +spirit of restless distrust, which in ancient times often led men to +throw valuable gems into the sea, in the hope of thus propitiating the +dire deity of misfortune, by voluntarily breaking the fearful chain of +prosperity, and led some of them to weep and groan when the gems +thus sacrificed were afterwards brought back to their hand by simple +fishermen, who had recovered them in the intestines of fishes--a +portentous omen, which was interpreted into a sorrowful indication +that the deity thus answered the propitiatory appeal, and made solemn +proclamation that he had rejected it]--whether, I say, it were this +spirit of jealousy awaked in me by too steady and too profound a +felicity--or whether it were that great overthrows and calamities have +some mysterious power to send forward a dim misgiving of their advancing +footsteps, and really and indeed, + + 'That in to-day already walks to-morrow;' + +or whether it were partly, as I have already put the case in my first +supposition, a natural instinct of distrust, but irritated and enlivened +by a particular shock of superstitious alarm; which, or whether any of +these causes it were that kept me apprehensive, and on the watch for +disastrous change, I will not here undertake to determine. Too certain +it is that I was so. I never ridded myself of an over-mastering and +brooding sense, shadowy and vague, a dim abiding feeling (that sometimes +was and sometimes was not exalted into a conscious presentiment) of +some great calamity travelling towards me; not perhaps immediately +impending--perhaps even at a great distance; but already--dating from +some secret hour--already in motion upon some remote line of approach. +This feeling I could not assuage by sharing it with Agnes. No motive +could be strong enough for persuading me to communicate so gloomy a +thought with one who, considering her extreme healthiness, was but too +remarkably prone to pensive, if not to sorrowful, contemplations. And +thus the obligation which I felt to silence and reserve, strengthened +the morbid impression I had received; whilst the remarkable incident +I have adverted to served powerfully to rivet the superstitious chain +which was continually gathering round me. The incident was this--and +before I repeat it, let me pledge my word of honor, that I report to you +the bare facts of the case, without exaggeration, and in the simplicity +of truth:--There was at that time resident in the great city, which +is the scene of my narrative, a woman, from some part of Hungary, who +pretended to the gift of looking into futurity. She had made herself +known advantageously in several of the greatest cities of Europe, under +the designation of the Hungarian Prophetess; and very extraordinary +instances were cited amongst the highest circles of her success in the +art which she professed. So ample were the pecuniary tributes which +she levied upon the hopes and the fears, or the simple curiosity of +the aristocracy, that she was thus able to display not unfrequently +a disinterestedness and a generosity, which seemed native to her +disposition, amongst the humbler classes of her applicants; for she +rejected no addresses that were made to her, provided only they were +not expressed in levity or scorn, but with sincerity, and in a spirit of +confiding respect. It happened, on one occasion, when a nursery-servant +of ours was waiting in her anteroom for the purpose of taking her turn +in consulting the prophetess professionally, that she had witnessed a +scene of consternation and unaffected maternal grief in this Hungarian +lady upon the sudden seizure of her son, a child of four or five years +old, by a spasmodic inflammation of the throat (since called croup) +peculiar to children, and in those days not very well understood by +medical men. The poor Hungarian, who had lived chiefly in warm, or +at least not damp, climates, and had never so much as heard of this +complaint, was almost wild with alarm at the rapid increase of the +symptoms which attend the paroxysms, and especially of that loud and +distressing sound which marks the impeded respiration. Great, therefore, +was her joy and gratitude on finding from our servant that she had +herself been in attendance more than once upon cases of the same nature, +but very much more violent,--and that, consequently, she was well +qualified to suggest and to superintend all the measures of instant +necessity, such as the hot-bath, the peculiar medicines, &c., which are +almost sure of success when applied in an early stage. Staying to give +her assistance until a considerable improvement had taken place in the +child, our servant then hurried home to her mistress. Agnes, it may +be imagined, dispatched her back with such further and more precise +directions as in a very short time availed to re-establish the child in +convalescence. These practical services, and the messages of maternal +sympathy repeatedly conveyed from Agnes, had completely won the heart of +the grateful Hungarian, and she announced her intention of calling with +her little boy, to make her personal acknowledgments for the kindness +which had been shown to her. She did so, and we were as much impressed +by the sultana-like style of her Oriental beauty, as she, on her part, +was touched and captivated by the youthful loveliness of my angelic +wife. After sitting for above an hour, during which time she talked with +a simplicity and good feeling that struck us as remarkable in a person +professing an art usually connected with so much of conscious fraud, she +rose to take her leave. I must mention that she had previously had our +little boy sitting on her knee, and had at intervals thrown a hasty +glance upon the palms of his hands. On parting, Agnes, with her usual +frankness, held out her hand. The Hungarian took it with an air of sad +solemnity, pressed it fervently, and said:--'Lady, it is my part in +this life to look behind the curtain of fate; and oftentimes I see such +sights in futurity--some near, some far off--as willingly I would _not_ +see. For you, young and charming lady, looking like that angel which you +are, no destiny can be equal to your deserts. Yet sometimes, true it +is, God sees not as man sees; and he ordains, after his unfathomable +counsels, to the heavenly-minded a portion in heaven, and to the +children whom he loves a rest and a haven not built with hands. +Something that I have seen dimly warns me to look no farther. Yet, if +you desire it, I will do my office, and I will read for you with truth +the lines of fate as they are written upon your hands.' Agnes was a +little startled, or even shocked, by this solemn address; but, in a +minute or so, a mixed feeling--one half of which was curiosity, and +the other half a light-hearted mockery of her own mysterious awe in +the presence of what she had been taught to view as either fraud or +insanity--prompted her playfully to insist upon the fullest application +of the Hungarian's art to her own case; nay, she would have the hands +of our little Francis read and interpreted as well as her own, and +she desired to hear the full professional judgment delivered without +suppression or softening of its harshest awards. She laughed whilst she +said all this; but she also trembled a little. The Hungarian first +took the hand of our young child, and perused it with a long and steady +scrutiny. She said nothing, but sighed heavily as she resigned it. She +then took the hand of Agnes--looked bewildered and aghast--then gazed +piteously from Agnes to her child--and at last, bursting into tears, +began to move steadily out of the room. I followed her hastily, and +remonstrated upon this conduct, by pointing her attention to the obvious +truth--that these mysterious suppressions and insinuations, which +left all shadowy and indistinct, were far more alarming than the most +definite denunciations. Her answer yet rings in my ear:--'Why should I +make myself odious to you and to your innocent wife? Messenger of evil +I am, and have been to many; but evil I will not prophecy to her. Watch +and pray! Much may be done by effectual prayer. Human means, fleshly +arms, are vain. There is an enemy in the house of life,' [here she +quitted her palmistry for the language of astrology;] 'there is a +frightful danger at hand, both for your wife and your child. Already +on that dark ocean, over which we are all sailing, I can see dimly the +point at which the enemy's course shall cross your wife's. There is +but little interval remaining--not many hours. All is finished; all +is accomplished; and already he is almost up with the darlings of your +heart. Be vigilant, be vigilant, and yet look not to yourself, but to +Heaven, for deliverance.' + +This woman was not an impostor: she spoke and uttered her oracles +under a wild sense of possession by some superior being, and of mystic +compulsion to say what she would have willingly left unsaid; and never +yet, before or since, have I seen the light of sadness settle with so +solemn an expression into human eyes as when she dropped my wife's +hand, and refused to deliver that burden of prophetic wo with which she +believed herself to be inspired. + +The prophetess departed; and what mood of mind did she leave behind her +in Agnes and myself? Naturally there was a little drooping of spirits +at first; the solemnity and the heart-felt sincerity of fear and grief +which marked her demeanor, made it impossible, at the moment when we +were just fresh from their natural influences, that we should recoil +into our ordinary spirits. But with the inevitable elasticity of youth +and youthful gaiety we soon did so; we could not attempt to persuade +ourselves that there had been any conscious fraud or any attempt at +scenical effect in the Hungarian's conduct. She had no motive for +deceiving us; she had refused all offerings of money, and her whole +visit had evidently been made under an overflow of the most grateful +feelings for the attentions shown to her child. We acquitted her, +therefore, of sinister intentions; and with our feelings of jealousy, +feelings in which we had been educated, towards everything that tended +to superstition, we soon agreed to think her some gentle maniac or sad +enthusiast, suffering under some form of morbid melancholy. Forty-eight +hours, with two nights' sleep, sufficed to restore the wonted +equilibrium of our spirits; and that interval brought us onwards to +the 6th of April--the day on which, as I have already said, my story +properly commences. + + On that day, on that lovely 6th of April, such as I have described it, +that 6th of April, about nine o'clock in the morning, we were seated at +breakfast near the open window--we, that is, Agnes, myself, and little +Francis; the freshness of morning spirits rested upon us; the golden +light of the morning sun illuminated the room; incense was floating +through the air from the gorgeous flowers within and without the house; +there in youthful happiness we sat gathered together, a family of +love, and there we never sat again. Never again were we three gathered +together, nor ever shall be, so long as the sun and its golden +light--the morning and the evening--the earth and its flowers endure. + +Often have I occupied myself in recalling every circumstance the most +trivial of this the final morning of what merits to be called my life. +Eleven o'clock, I remember, was striking when Agnes came into my study, +and said that she would go into the city, (for we lived in a quite rural +suburb,) that she would execute some trifling commissions which she +had received from a friend in the country, and would be at home again +between one and two for a stroll which we had agreed to take in the +neighboring meadows. About twenty minutes after this she again came into +my study dressed for going abroad; for such was my admiration of her, +that I had a fancy--fancy it must have been, and yet still I felt it to +be real--that under every change she looked best; if she put on a shawl, +then a shawl became the most feminine of ornaments; if she laid +aside her shawl and her bonnet, then how nymph-like she seemed in her +undisguised and unadorned beauty! Full-dress seemed for the time to be +best, as bringing forward into relief the splendor of her person, and +allowing the exposure of her arms; a simple morning-dress, again, seemed +better still, as fitted to call out the childlike innocence of her face, +by confining the attention to that. But all these are feelings of fond +and blind affection, hanging with rapture over the object of something +too like idolatry. God knows, if that be a sin, I was but too profound +a sinner; yet sin it never was, sin it could not be, to adore a beauty +such as thine, my Agnes. Neither was it her beauty by itself, and that +only, which I sought at such times to admire; there was a peculiar +sort of double relation in which she stood at moments of pleasurable +expectation and excitement, since our little Francis had become of an +age to join our party, which made some aspects of her character trebly +interesting. She was a wife--and wife to one whom she looked up to +as her superior in understanding and in knowledge of the world, whom, +therefore, she leaned to for protection. On the other hand, she was also +a mother. Whilst, therefore, to her child she supported the matronly +part of guide, and the air of an experienced person; to me she wore, +ingenuously and without disguise, the part of a child herself, with all +the giddy hopes and unchastised imaginings of that buoyant age. This +double character, one aspect of which looks towards her husband and one +to her children, sits most gracefully upon many a young wife whose heart +is pure and innocent; and the collision between the two separate parts +imposed by duty on the one hand, by extreme youth on the other, the +one telling her that she is a responsible head of a family and the +depository of her husband's honor in its tenderest and most vital +interests, the other telling her, through the liveliest language of +animal sensibility, and through the very pulses of her blood, that she +is herself a child; this collision gives an inexpressible charm to +the whole demeanor of many a young married woman, making her other +fascinations more touching to her husband, and deepening the admiration +she excites; and the more so, as it is a collision which cannot exist +except among the very innocent. Years, at any rate, will irresistibly +remove this peculiar charm, and gradually replace it by the graces +of the matronly character. But in Agnes this change had not yet been +effected, partly from nature, and partly from the extreme seclusion of +her life. Hitherto she still retained the unaffected expression of her +childlike nature; and so lovely in my eyes was this perfect exhibition +of natural feminine character, that she rarely or never went out alone +upon any little errand to town which might require her to rely upon her +own good sense and courage, that she did not previously come to exhibit +herself before me. Partly this was desired by me in that lover-like +feeling of admiration already explained, which leads one to court the +sight of a beloved object under every change of dress, and under all +effects of novelty. Partly it was the interest I took in that exhibition +of sweet timidity, and almost childish apprehensiveness, half disguised +or imperfectly acknowledged by herself, which (in the way I have just +explained) so touchingly contrasted with (and for that very reason so +touchingly drew forth) her matronly character. But I hear some objector +say at this point, ought not this very timidity, founded (as in part +at least it was) upon inexperience and conscious inability to face the +dangers of the world, to have suggested reasons for not leaving her to +her own protection? And does it not argue, on my part, an arrogant or +too blind a confidence in the durability of my happiness, as though +charmed against assaults, and liable to no shocks of sudden revolution? +I reply that, from the very constitution of society, and the tone of +manners in the city which we inhabited, there seemed to be a moral +impossibility that any dangers of consequence should meet her in the +course of those brief absences from my protection, which only +were possible; that even to herself any dangers, of a nature to be +anticipated under the known circumstances of the case, seemed almost +imaginary; that even _she_ acknowledged a propriety in being trained, by +slight and brief separations from my guardianship, to face more boldly +those cases of longer separation and of more absolute consignment to her +own resources which circumstances might arise to create necessarily, and +perhaps abruptly. And it is evident that, had she been the wife of any +man engaged in the duties of a profession, she might have been summoned +from the very first, and without the possibility of any such gradual +training, to the necessity of relying almost singly upon her own courage +and discretion. For the other question, whether I did not depend too +blindly and presumptuously upon my good luck in not at least affording +her my protection so long as nothing occurred to make it impossible? I +may reply, most truly, that all my feelings ran naturally in the very +opposite channel. So far from confiding too much in my luck, in the +present instance I was engaged in a task of writing upon some points +of business which could not admit of further delay; but now, and at all +times, I had a secret aversion to seeing so gentle a creature thrown +even for an hour upon her own resources, though in situations which +scarcely seemed to admit of any occasion for taxing those resources; +and often I have felt anger towards myself for what appeared to be an +irrational or effeminate timidity, and have struggled with my own mind +upon occasions like the present, when I knew that I could not have +acknowledged my tremors to a friend without something like shame, and +a fear to excite his ridicule. No; if in anything I ran into excess, +it was in this very point of anxiety as to all that regarded my wife's +security. Her good sense, her prudence, her courage, (for courage she +had in the midst of her timidity,) her dignity of manner, the more +impressive from the childlike character of her countenance, all should +have combined to reassure me, and yet they did not. I was still anxious +for her safety to an irrational extent; and to sum up the whole in a +most weighty line of Shakspeare, I lived under the constant presence of +a feeling which only that great observer of human nature (so far as I +am aware) has ever noticed, viz., that merely the excess of my happiness +made me jealous of its ability to last, and in that extent less capable +of enjoying it; that in fact the prelibation of my tears, as a homage to +its fragility, was drawn forth by my very sense that my felicity was too +exquisite; or, in the words of the great master + + 'I wept to have' [absolutely, by anticipation, shed tears in + possessing] 'what I so feared to lose.' + +Thus end my explanations, and I now pursue my narrative: Agnes, as +I have said, came into my room again before leaving the house--we +conversed for five minutes--we parted--she went out--her last words +being that she would return at half-past one o'clock; and not long +after that time, if ever mimic bells--bells of rejoicing, or bells of +mourning, are heard in desert spaces of the air, and (as some have said) +in unreal worlds, that mock our own, and repeat, for ridicule, the vain +and unprofitable motions of man, then too surely, about this hour, began +to toll the funeral knell of my earthly happiness--its final hour had +sounded. + + * * * * * + +One o'clock had arrived; fifteen minutes after, I strolled into the +garden, and began to look over the little garden-gate in expectation of +every moment descrying Agnes in the distance. Half an hour passed, +and for ten minutes more I was tolerably quiet. From this time till +half-past two I became constantly more agitated--_agitated,_ perhaps, is +too strong a word--but I was restless and anxious beyond what I should +have chosen to acknowledge. Still I kept arguing, What is half an hour? +what is an hour? A thousand things might have occurred to cause that +delay, without needing to suppose any accident; or, if an accident, why +not a very trifling one? She may have slightly hurt her foot--she +may have slightly sprained her ankle. 'Oh, doubtless,' I exclaimed to +myself, 'it will be a mere trifle, or perhaps nothing at all.' But I +remember that, even whilst I was saying this, I took my hat and walked +with nervous haste into the little quiet lane upon which our garden-gate +opened. The lane led by a few turnings, and after a course of about five +hundred yards, into a broad high-road, which even at that day had begun +to assume the character of a street, and allowed an unobstructed +range of view in the direction of the city for at least a mile. Here +I stationed myself, for the air was so clear that I could distinguish +dress and figure to a much greater distance than usual. Even on such a +day, however, the remote distance was hazy and indistinct, and at any +other season I should have been diverted with the various mistakes +I made. From occasional combinations of color, modified by light and +shade, and of course powerfully assisted by the creative state of the +eye under this nervous apprehensiveness, I continued to shape into +images of Agnes forms without end, that upon nearer approach presented +the most grotesque contrasts to her impressive appearance. But I +had ceased even to comprehend the ludicrous; my agitation was now so +overruling and engrossing that I lost even my intellectual sense of it; +and now first I understood practically and feelingly the anguish of hope +alternating with disappointment, as it may be supposed to act upon the +poor shipwrecked seaman, alone and upon a desolate coast, straining his +sight for ever to the fickle element which has betrayed him, but +which only can deliver him, and with his eyes still tracing in the far +distance, + + 'Ships, dim-discover'd, dropping from the clouds,'-- + +which a brief interval of suspense still for ever disperses into hollow +pageants of air or vapor. One deception melted away only to be succeeded +by another; still I fancied that at last to a certainty I could descry +the tall figure of Agnes, her gipsy hat, and even the peculiar elegance +of her walk. Often I went so far as to laugh at myself, and even to tax +my recent fears with unmanliness and effeminacy, on recollecting the +audible throbbings of my heart, and the nervous palpitations which had +besieged me; but these symptoms, whether effeminate or not, began to +come back tumultuously under the gloomy doubts that succeeded almost +before I had uttered this self-reproach. Still I found myself mocked +and deluded with false hopes; yet still I renewed my quick walk, and the +intensity of my watch for that radiant form that was fated never more to +be seen returning from the cruel city. + +It was nearly half-past three, and therefore close upon two hours +beyond the time fixed by Agnes for her return, when I became absolutely +incapable of supporting the further torture of suspense, and I suddenly +took the resolution of returning home and concerting with my female +servants some energetic measures, though _what_ I could hardly say, on +behalf of their mistress. On entering the garden-gate I met our little +child Francis, who unconsciously inflicted a pang upon me which he +neither could have meditated nor have understood. I passed him at his +play, perhaps even unaware of his presence, but he recalled me to that +perception by crying aloud that he had just seen his mamma. + +'When--where?' I asked convulsively. + +'Up stairs in her bedroom,' was his instantaneous answer. + +His manner was such as forbade me to suppose that he could be joking; +and, as it was barely possible (though, for reasons well known to me, +in the highest degree improbable) that Agnes might have returned by a +by-path, which, leading through a dangerous and disreputable suburb, +would not have coincided at any one point with the public road where I +had been keeping my station. I sprang forward into the house, up stairs, +and in rapid succession into every room where it was likely that she +might be found; but everywhere there was a dead silence, disturbed only +by myself, for, in my growing confusion of thought, I believe that +I rang the bell violently in every room I entered. No such summons, +however, was needed, for the servants, two of whom at the least were +most faithful creatures, and devotedly attached to their young mistress, +stood ready of themselves to come and make inquiries of me as soon as +they became aware of the alarming fact, that I had returned without her. + +Until this moment, though having some private reasons for surprise that +she should have failed to come into the house for a minute or two at the +hour prefixed, in order to make some promised domestic arrangements for +the day, they had taken it for granted that she must have met with me at +some distance from home--and that either the extreme beauty of the +day had beguiled her of all petty household recollections, or (as a +conjecture more in harmony with past experiences) that my impatience +and solicitations had persuaded her to lay aside her own plans for the +moment at the risk of some little domestic inconvenience. Now, however, +in a single instant vanished _every_ mode of accounting for their +mistress's absence; and the consternation of our looks communicated +contagiously, by the most unerring of all languages, from each to the +other what thoughts were uppermost in our panic-stricken hearts. If +to any person it should seem that our alarm was disproportioned to the +occasion, and not justified at least by anything as yet made known to +us, let that person consider the weight due to the two following facts: +First, that from the recency of our settlement in this neighborhood, and +from the extreme seclusion of my wife's previous life at a vast distance +from the metropolis, she had positively no friends on her list of +visitors who resided in this great capital; secondly, and far above +all beside, let him remember the awful denunciations, so unexpectedly +tallying with this alarming and mysterious absence, of the Hungarian +prophetess; these had been slighted--almost dismissed from our thoughts; +but now in sudden reaction they came back upon us with a frightful power +to lacerate and to sting--the shadowy outline of a spiritual agency, +such as that which could at all predict the events, combining in one +mysterious effect, with the shadowy outline of those very predictions. +The power, that could have predicted, was as dim and as hard to grasp as +was the precise nature of the evil that had been predicted. + +An icy terror froze my blood at this moment when I looked at the +significant glances, too easily understood by me, that were exchanged +between the servants. My mouth had been for the last two hours growing +more and more parched, so that at present, from mere want of moisture, +I could not separate my lips to speak. One of the women saw the vain +efforts I was making, and hastily brought me a glass of water. With the +first recovery of speech, I asked them what little Francis had meant by +saying that he had seen his mother in her bedroom. Their reply was, that +they were as much at a loss to discover his meaning as I was; that he +had made the same assertion to them, and with so much earnestness, that +they had, all in succession, gone up stairs to look for her, and +with the fullest expectation of finding her. This was a mystery which +remained such to the very last; there was no doubt whatsoever that the +child believed himself to have seen his mother; that he could not have +seen her in her human bodily presence, there is as little doubt as there +is, alas! that in this world he never _did_ see her again. The poor +child constantly adhered to his story, and with a circumstantiality +far beyond all power of invention that could be presumed in an +artless infant. Every attempt at puzzling him or entangling him in +contradictions by means of cross-examination was but labor thrown away; +though indeed, it is true enough that for those attempts, as will soon +be seen, there was but a brief interval allowed. + +Not dwelling upon this subject at present, I turned to Hannah--a woman +who held the nominal office of cook in our little establishment, but +whose real duties had been much more about her mistress's person--and +with a searching look of appeal I asked her whether, in this moment of +trial, when (as she might see) I was not so perfectly master of myself +as perhaps always to depend upon seeing what was best to be done, she +would consent to accompany me into the city, and take upon herself those +obvious considerations of policy or prudence which might but too easily +escape my mind, darkened, and likely to be darkened, as to its power of +discernment by the hurricane of affliction now too probably at hand. She +answered my appeal with the fervor I expected from what I had already +known of her character. She was a woman of a strong, fiery, perhaps I +might say of heroic mind, supported by a courage that was absolutely +indomitable, and by a strength of bodily frame very unusual in a woman, +and beyond the promise even of her person. She had suffered as deep a +wrench in her own affections as a human being can suffer; she had +lost her one sole child, a fair-haired boy of most striking beauty and +interesting disposition, at the age of seventeen, and by the worst +of all possible fates; he lived (as we did at that time) in a large +commercial city overflowing with profligacy, and with temptations of +every order; he had been led astray; culpable he had been, but by very +much the least culpable of the set into which accident had thrown him, +as regarded acts and probable intentions; and as regarded palliations +from childish years, from total inexperience, or any other alleviating +circumstances that could be urged, having everything to plead--and of +all his accomplices the only one who had anything to plead. Interest, +however, he had little or none; and whilst some hoary villains of the +party, who happened to be more powerfully befriended, were finally +allowed to escape with a punishment little more than nominal, he and two +others were selected as sacrifices to the offended laws. They suffered +capitally. All three behaved well; but the poor boy in particular, with +a courage, a resignation, and a meekness, so distinguished and beyond +his years as to attract the admiration and the liveliest sympathy of +the public universally. If strangers could feel in that way, if the +mere hardened executioner could be melted at the final scene,--it may be +judged to what a fierce and terrific height would ascend the affliction +of a doating mother, constitutionally too fervid in her affections. +I have heard an official person declare, that the spectacle of her +desolation and frantic anguish was the most frightful thing he had ever +witnessed, and so harrowing to the feelings, that all who could by their +rank venture upon such an irregularity, absented themselves during the +critical period from the office which corresponded with the government; +for, as I have said, the affair took place in a large provincial city, +at a great distance from the capital. All who knew this woman, or who +were witnesses to the alteration which one fortnight had wrought in her +person as well as her demeanor, fancied it impossible that she could +continue to live; or that, if she did, it must be through the giving way +of her reason. They proved, however, to be mistaken; or, at least, if +(as some thought) her reason did suffer in some degree, this result +showed itself in the inequality of her temper, in moody fits of +abstraction, and the morbid energy of her manner at times under the +absence of all adequate external excitement, rather than in any positive +and apparent hallucinations of thought. The charm which had mainly +carried off the instant danger to her faculties, was doubtless the +intense sympathy which she met with. And in these offices of consolation +my wife stood foremost. For, and that was fortunate, she had found +herself able, without violence to her own sincerest opinions in the +case, to offer precisely that form of sympathy which was most soothing +to the angry irritation of the poor mother; not only had she shown a +_direct_ interest in the boy, and not a mere interest of _reflection_ +from that which she took in the mother, and had expressed it by visits +to his dungeon, and by every sort of attention to his comforts which +his case called for, or the prison regulations allowed; not only had +she wept with the distracted woman as if for a brother of her own; but, +which went farther than all the rest in softening the mother's heart, +she had loudly and indignantly proclaimed her belief in the boy's +innocence, and in the same tone her sense of the crying injustice +committed as to the selection of the victims, and the proportion of the +punishment awarded. Others, in the language of a great poet, + + 'Had pitied _her,_ and not her grief;' + +they had either not been able to see, or, from carelessness, had +neglected to see, any peculiar wrong done to her in the matter which +occasioned her grief,--but had simply felt compassion for her as for one +summoned, in a regular course of providential and human dispensation, +to face an affliction, heavy in itself, but not heavy from any special +defect of equity. Consequently their very sympathy, being so much +built upon the assumption that an only child had offended to the extent +implied in his sentence, oftentimes clothed itself in expressions which +she felt to be not consolations but insults, and, in fact, so many +justifications of those whom it relieved her overcharged heart to regard +as the very worst of enemies. Agnes, on the other hand, took the very +same view of the case as herself; and, though otherwise the gentlest +of all gentle creatures, yet here, from the generous fervor of her +reverence for justice, and her abhorrence of oppression, she gave +herself no trouble to moderate the energy of her language: nor did I, +on my part, feeling that substantially she was in the right, think it of +importance to dispute about the exact degrees of the wrong done or the +indignation due to it. In this way it happened naturally enough that +at one and the same time, though little contemplating either of these +results, Agnes had done a prodigious service to the poor desolate mother +by breaking the force of her misery, as well as by arming the active +agencies of indignation against the depressing ones of solitary grief, +and for herself had won a most grateful and devoted friend, who would +have gone through fire and water to serve her, and was thenceforwards +most anxious for some opportunity to testify how deep had been her +sense of the goodness shown to her by her benign young mistress, and +how incapable of suffering abatement by time. It remains to add, which +I have slightly noticed before, that this woman was of unusual personal +strength: her bodily frame matched with her intellectual: and I notice +this _now_ with the more emphasis, because I am coming rapidly upon +ground where it will be seen that this one qualification was of more +summary importance to us--did us more 'yeoman's service' at a crisis +the most awful--than other qualities of greater name and pretension. +_Hannah_ was this woman's Christian name; and her name and her memory +are to me amongst the most hallowed of my earthly recollections. + +One of her two fellow-servants, known technically amongst us as the +'parlor maid,' was also, but not equally, attached to her mistress; and +merely because her nature, less powerfully formed and endowed, did not +allow her to entertain or to comprehend any service equally fervid of +passion or of impassioned action. She, however, was good, affectionate, +and worthy to be trusted. But a third there was, a nursery maid, and +therefore more naturally and more immediately standing within the +confidence of her mistress--her I could not trust: her I suspected. But +of that hereafter. Meantime, Hannah, she upon whom I leaned as upon a +staff in all which respected her mistress, ran up stairs, after I had +spoken and received her answer, in order hastily to dress and prepare +herself for going out along with me to the city. I did not ask her to +be quick in her movements: I knew there was no need: and, whilst she was +absent, I took up, in one of my fretful movements of nervousness, a book +which was lying upon a side-table: the book fell open of itself at a +particular page; and in that, perhaps, there was nothing extraordinary, +for it was a little portable edition of _Paradise Lost_; and the page +was one which I must naturally have turned to many a time: for to Agnes +I had read all the great masters of literature, especially those of +modern times; so that few people knew the high classics more familiarly: +and as to the passage in question, from its divine beauty I had read it +aloud to her, perhaps, on fifty separate occasions. All this I mention +to take away any appearance of a vulgar attempt to create omens; +but still, in the very act of confessing the simple truth, and thus +weakening the marvellous character of the anecdote, I must notice it as +a strange instance of the '_Sortes Miltonianae_,'--that precisely at such +a moment as this I should find thrown in my way, should feel tempted +to take up, and should open, a volume containing such a passage as the +following: and observe, moreover, that although the volume, _once being +taken up_, would naturally open where it had been most frequently +read, there were, however, many passages which had been read _as_ +frequently--or more so. The particular passage upon which I opened +at this moment was that most beautiful one in which the fatal morning +separation is described between Adam and his bride--that separation so +pregnant with wo, which eventually proved the occasion of the mortal +transgression--the last scene between our first parents at which both +were innocent and both were happy--although the superior intellect +already felt, and, in the slight altercation preceding this separation, +had already expressed a dim misgiving of some coming change: these are +the words, and in depth of pathos they have rarely been approached:-- + + 'Oft he to her his charge of quick return + Repeated; she to him as oft engag'd + To be returned by noon amid the bow'r, + And all things in best order to invite + Noon-tide repast, or afternoon's repose. + Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve! + Of thy presumed return, event perverse! + Thou never from that hour in Paradise + Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose.' + +'_My_ Eve!' I exclaimed, 'partner in _my_ paradise, where art thou? +_Much failing_ thou wilt not be found, nor _much deceived_; innocent in +any case thou art; but, alas! too surely by this time _hapless_, and the +victim of some diabolic wickedness.' Thus I murmured to myself; thus I +ejaculated; thus I apostrophized my Agnes; then again came a stormier +mood. I could not sit still; I could not stand in quiet; I threw the +book from me with violence against the wall; I began to hurry backwards +and forwards in a short uneasy walk, when suddenly a sound, a step; it +was the sound of the garden-gate opening, followed by a hasty tread. +Whose tread? Not for a moment could it be fancied the oread step which +belonged to that daughter of the hills--my wife, my Agnes; no, it was +the dull massy tread of a man: and immediately there came a loud blow +upon the door, and in the next moment, the bell having been found, a +furious peal of ringing. Oh coward heart! not for a lease of immortality +could I have gone forwards myself. My breath failed me; an interval +came in which respiration seemed to be stifled--the blood to halt in its +current; and then and there I recognised in myself the force and living +truth of that Scriptural description of a heart consciously beset by +evil without escape: 'Susannah _sighed_.' Yes, a long, long sigh--a +deep, deep sigh--that is, the natural language by which the over-charged +heart utters forth the wo that else would break it. I sighed--oh how +profoundly! But that did not give me power to move. Who will go to the +door? I whispered audibly. Who is at the door? was the inaudible whisper +of my heart. Then might be seen the characteristic differences of the +three women. That one, whom I suspected, I heard raising an upper window +to look out and reconnoitre. The affectionate Rachael, on the other +hand, ran eagerly down stairs; but Hannah, half dressed, even her +bosom exposed, passed her like a storm; and before I heard any sound of +opening a door, I saw from the spot where I stood the door already wide +open, and a man in the costume of a policeman. All that he said I could +not hear; but this I heard--that I was wanted at the police office, and +had better come off without delay. He seemed then to get a glimpse of +me, and to make an effort towards coming nearer; but I slunk away, and +left to Hannah the task of drawing from him any circumstances which he +might know. But apparently there was not much to tell, or rather, said +I, there is too much, the _much_ absorbs the _many_; some one mighty +evil transcends and quells all particulars. At length the door was +closed, and the man was gone. Hannah crept slowly along the passage, and +looked in hesitatingly. Her very movements and stealthy pace testified +that she had heard nothing which, even by comparison, she could think +good news. 'Tell me not now, Hannah,' I said; 'wait till we are in the +open air.' She went up stairs again. How short seemed the time till she +descended! how I longed for further respite! 'Hannah!' I said at length +when we were fairly moving upon the road, 'Hannah! I am too sure you +have nothing good to tell. But now tell me the worst, and let that be in +the fewest words possible.' + +'Sir,' she said, 'we had better wait until we reach the office; for +really I could not understand the man. He says that my mistress is +detained upon some charge; but _what_, I could not at all make out. He +was a man that knew something of you, Sir, I believe, and he wished to +be civil, and kept saying, "Oh! I dare say it will turn out nothing +at all, many such charges are made idly and carelessly, and some +maliciously." "But what charges?" I cried, and then he wanted to speak +privately to you. But I told him that of all persons he must not speak +to you, if he had anything painful to tell; for that you were too much +disturbed already, and had been for some hours, out of anxiety and +terror about my mistress, to bear much more. So, when he heard that, he +was less willing to speak freely than before. He might prove wrong, he +said; he might give offence; things might turn out far otherwise than +according to first appearances; for his part, he could not believe +anything amiss of so sweet a lady. And after all, it would be better to +wait till we reached the office.' + +Thus much then was clear--Agnes was under some accusation. This was +already worse than the worst I had anticipated. 'And then,' said I, +thinking aloud to Hannah, 'one of two things is apparent to me; either +the accusation is one of pure hellish malice, without a color of +probability or the shadow of a foundation, and that way, alas! I am +driven in my fears by that Hungarian woman's prophecy; or, which but for +my desponding heart I should be more inclined to think, the charge +has grown out of my poor wife's rustic ignorance as to the usages then +recently established by law with regard to the kind of money that could +be legally tendered. This, however, was a suggestion that did not tend +to alleviate my anxiety; and my nervousness had mounted to a painful, +almost to a disabling degree, by the time we reached the office. Already +on our road thither some parties had passed us who were conversing with +eagerness upon the case: so much we collected from the many and ardent +expressions about 'the lady's beauty,' though the rest of such words as +we could catch were ill calculated to relieve my suspense. This, +then, at least, was certain--that my poor timid Agnes had already been +exhibited before a tumultuous crowd; that her name and reputation had +gone forth as a subject of discussion for the public; and that the +domestic seclusion and privacy within which it was her matronly +privilege to move had already undergone a rude violation. + +The office, and all the purlieus of the office, were occupied by a dense +crowd. That, perhaps, was always the case, more or less, at this time +of day; but at present the crowd was manifestly possessed by a more than +ordinary interest; and there was a unity in this possessing interest; +all were talking on the same subject, the case in which Agnes had so +recently appeared in some character or other; and by this time it became +but too certain in the character of an accused person. Pity was the +prevailing sentiment amongst the mob; but the opinions varied much as to +the probable criminality of the prisoner. I made my way into the office. +The presiding magistrates had all retired for the afternoon, and would +not reassemble until eight o'clock in the evening. Some clerks only +or officers of the court remained, who were too much harassed by +applications for various forms and papers connected with the routine of +public business, and by other official duties which required signatures +or attestations, to find much leisure for answering individual +questions. Some, however, listened with a marked air of attention to my +earnest request for the circumstantial details of the case, but finally +referred me to a vast folio volume, in which were entered all the +charges, of whatever nature, involving any serious tendency--in fact, +all that exceeded a misdemeanor--in the regular chronological succession +according to which they came before the magistrate. Here, in this vast +calendar of guilt and misery, amidst the _aliases_ or cant designations +of ruffians, prostitutes, felons, stood the description, at full length, +Christian and surnames all properly registered, of my Agnes--of her +whose very name had always sounded to my ears like the very echo of +mountain innocence, purity, and pastoral simplicity. Here in another +column stood the name and residence of her accuser. I shall call him +_Barratt_, for that was amongst his names, and a name by which he had at +one period of his infamous life been known to the public, though not his +principal name, or the one which he had thought fit to assume at +this era. James Barratt, then, as I shall here call him, was a +haberdasher--keeping a large and conspicuous shop in a very crowded and +what was then considered a fashionable part of the city. The charge was +plain and short. Did I live to read it? It accused Agnes M---- of having +on that morning secreted in her muff, and feloniously carried away, a +valuable piece of Mechlin lace, the property of James Barratt. And the +result of the first examination was thus communicated in a separate +column, written in red ink--'Remanded to the second day after to-morrow +for final examination.' Everything in this sin-polluted register was +in manuscript; but at night the records of each day were regularly +transferred to a printed journal, enlarged by comments and explanatory +descriptions from some one of the clerks, whose province it was to +furnish this intelligence to the public journals. On that same night, +therefore, would go forth to the world such an account of the case, and +such a description of my wife's person, as would inevitably summon +to the next exhibition of her misery, as by special invitation and +advertisement, the whole world of this vast metropolis--the idle, the +curious, the brutal, the hardened amateur in spectacles of wo, and the +benign philanthropist who frequents such scenes with the purpose of +carrying alleviation to their afflictions. All alike, whatever might +be their motives or the spirit of their actions, would rush (as to +some grand festival of curiosity and sentimental luxury) to this public +martyrdom of my innocent wife. + +Meantime, what was the first thing to be done? Manifestly, to see Agnes: +her account of the affair might suggest the steps to be taken. Prudence, +therefore, at any rate, prescribed this course; and my heart would not +have tolerated any other. I applied, therefore, at once, for information +as to the proper mode of effecting this purpose without delay. What +was my horror at learning that, by a recent regulation of all the +police-offices, under the direction of the public minister who presided +over that department of the national administration, no person could be +admitted to an interview with any accused party during the progress of +the official examinations; or, in fact, until the final committal of +the prisoner for trial. This rule was supposed to be attended by great +public advantages, and had rarely been relaxed--never, indeed, without a +special interposition of the police minister authorizing its suspension. +But was the exclusion absolute and universal? Might not, at least, +a female servant, simply as the bearer of such articles as were +indispensable to female delicacy and comfort, have access to her +mistress? No; the exclusion was total and unconditional. To argue the +point was manifestly idle; the subordinate officers had no discretion in +the matter; nor, in fact, had any other official person, whatever were +his rank, except the supreme one; and to him I neither had any obvious +means of introduction, nor (in case of obtaining such an introduction) +any chance of success; for the spirit of the rule, I foresaw it would be +answered, applied with especial force to cases like the present. + +Mere human feelings of pity, sympathy with my too visible agitation, +superadded to something of perhaps reverence for the blighting misery +that was now opening its artillery upon me--for misery has a privilege, +and everywhere is felt to be a holy thing--had combined to procure for +me some attention and some indulgence hitherto. Answers had been given +with precision, explanations made at length, and anxiety shown +to satisfy my inquiries. But this could not last; the inexorable +necessities of public business coming back in a torrent upon the +official people after this momentary interruption, forbade them to +indulge any further consideration for an individual case, and I saw that +I must not stay any longer. I was rapidly coming to be regarded as a +hinderance to the movement of public affairs; and the recollection +that I might again have occasion for some appeal to these men in their +official characters, admonished me not to abuse my privilege of the +moment. After returning thanks, therefore, for the disposition shown to +oblige me, I retired. + +Slowly did I and Hannah retrace our steps. Hannah sustained, in the tone +of her spirits, by the extremity of her anger, a mood of feeling which +I did not share. Indignation was to her in the stead of consolation and +hope. I, for my part, could not seek even a momentary shelter from my +tempestuous affliction in that temper of mind. The man who could accuse +my Agnes, and accuse her of such a crime, I felt to be a monster; and +in my thoughts he was already doomed to a bloody atonement (atonement! +alas! what atonement!) whenever the time arrived that _her_ cause would +not be prejudiced, or the current of public feeling made to turn in his +favor by investing him with the semblance of an injured or suffering +person. So much was settled in my thoughts with the stern serenity of a +decree issuing from a judgment-seat. But that gave no relief, no shadow +of relief, to the misery which was now consuming me. Here was an end, in +one hour, to the happiness of a life. In one hour it had given way, root +and branch--had melted like so much frost-work, or a pageant of vapory +exhalations. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and yet for ever +and ever, I comprehended the total ruin of my situation. The case, as +others might think, was yet in suspense; and there was room enough for +very rational hopes, especially where there was an absolute certainty of +innocence. Total freedom from all doubt on that point seemed to justify +almost more than hopes. This might be said, and most people would have +been more or less consoled by it. I was not. I felt as certain, as +irredeemably, as hopelessly certain of the final results as though I +had seen the record in the books of Heaven. 'Hope nothing,' I said to +myself; 'think not of hope in this world, but think only how best to +walk steadily, and not to reel like a creature wanting discourse of +reason, or incapable of religious hopes under the burden which it has +pleased God to impose, and which in this life cannot be shaken off. The +countenance of man is made to look upward and to the skies. Thither also +point henceforwards your heart and your thoughts. Never again let your +thoughts travel earthwards. Settle them on the heavens, to which your +Agnes is already summoned. The call is clear, and not to be mistaken. +Little in _her_ fate now depends upon you, or upon anything that man +can do. Look, therefore, to yourself; see that you make not shipwreck +of your heavenly freight because your earthly freight is lost; and miss +not, by any acts of wild and presumptuous despair, that final reunion +with your Agnes, which can only be descried through vistas that open +through the heavens.' + +Such were the thoughts, thoughts often made audible, which came +spontaneously like oracles from afar, as I strode homewards with Hannah +by my side. Her, meantime, I seemed to hear; for at times I seemed and +I intended to answer her. But answer her I did not; for not ten words of +all that she said did I really and consciously hear. How I went through +that night is more entirely a blank in my memory, more entirely a +chapter of chaos and the confusion of chaos, than any other passage +the most impressive in my life. If I even slumbered for a moment, as at +intervals I did sometimes, though never sitting down, but standing +or pacing about throughout the night, and if in this way I attained a +momentary respite from self-consciousness, no sooner had I reached this +enviable state of oblivion, than some internal sting of irritation +_as_ rapidly dispersed the whole fickle fabric of sleep; and as if the +momentary trance--this fugitive beguilement of my wo--had been conceded +by a demon's subtle malice only with the purpose of barbing the pang, +by thus forcing it into a stronger relief through the insidious peace +preceding it. It is a well known and most familiar experience to all +the sons and daughters of affliction, that under no circumstances is the +piercing, lancinating torment of a recent calamity felt so keenly as in +the first moments of awaking in the morning from the night's slumbers. +Just at the very instant when the clouds of sleep, and the whole +fantastic illusions of dreaminess are dispersing, just as the +realities of life are re-assuming their steadfast forms--re-shaping +themselves--and settling anew into those fixed relations which they are +to preserve throughout the waking hours; in that particular crisis of +transition from the unreal to the real, the wo which besieges the brain +and the life-springs at the heart rushes in afresh amongst the other +crowd of realities, and has at the moment of restoration literally the +force and liveliness of a new birth--the very same pang, and no whit +feebler, as that which belonged to it when it was first made known. From +the total hush of oblivion which had buried it and sealed it up, as it +were, during the sleeping hours, it starts into sudden life on our +first awaking, and is to all intents and purposes a new and not an +old affliction--one which brings with it the old original shock which +attended its first annunciation. + +That night--that first night of separation from my wife--_how_ it +passed, I know not; I know only _that_ it passed, I being in our common +bed-chamber, that holiest of all temples that are consecrated to human +attachments, whenever the heart is pure of man and woman, and the love +is strong--I being in that bedchamber, once the temple now the sepulchre +of our happiness,--I there, and my wife--my innocent wife--in a dungeon. +As the morning light began to break, somebody knocked at the door; it +was Hannah: she took my hand--misery levels all feeble distinctions of +station, sex, age--she noticed my excessive feverishness, and gravely +remonstrated with me upon the necessity there was that I should maintain +as much health as possible for the sake of 'others,' if not for myself. +She then brought me some tea, which refreshed me greatly; for I +had tasted nothing at all beyond a little water since the preceding +morning's breakfast. This refreshment seemed to relax and thaw the stiff +frozen state of cheerless, rayless despair in which I had passed the +night; I became susceptible of consolation--that consolation which lies +involved in kindness and gentleness of manner--if not susceptible more +than before of any positive hope. I sat down; and, having no witnesses +to my weakness but this kind and faithful woman, I wept, and I found a +relief in tears; and she, with the ready sympathy of woman, wept along +with me. All at once she ventured upon the circumstances (so far as she +had been able to collect them from the reports of those who had been +present at the examination) of our calamity. There was little indeed +either to excite or to gratify any interest or curiosity separate from +the _personal_ interest inevitably connected with a case to which there +were two such parties as a brutal, sensual, degraded ruffian, on one +side in character of accuser, and on the other as defendant, a meek +angel of a woman, timid and fainting from the horrors of her situation, +and under the licentious gaze of the crowd--yet, at the same time, bold +in conscious innocence, and in the very teeth of the suspicions which +beset her, winning the good opinion, as well as the good wishes of all +who saw her. There had been at this first examination little for her to +say beyond the assigning her name, age, and place of abode; and here +it was fortunate that her own excellent good sense concurred with +her perfect integrity and intuitive hatred of all indirect or crooked +courses in prompting her to an undisguised statement of the simple +truth, without a momentary hesitation or attempt either at evasion or +suppression. With equally good intentions in similar situations many a +woman has seriously injured her cause by slight evasions of the entire +truth, where nevertheless her only purpose has been the natural and +ingenuous one of seeking to save the reputation untainted of a name +which she felt to have been confided to her keeping. The purpose was an +honorable one, but erroneously pursued. Agnes fell into no such error. +She answered calmly, simply, and truly, to every question put by the +magistrates; and beyond _that_ there was little opportunity for her to +speak; the whole business of this preliminary examination being confined +to the deposition of the accuser as to the circumstances under which he +alleged the act of felonious appropriation to have taken place. These +circumstances were perfectly uninteresting, considered in themselves; +but amongst them was one which to us had the most shocking interest, +from the absolute proof thus furnished of a deep-laid plot against +Agnes. But for this one circumstance there would have been a possibility +that the whole had originated in error--error growing out of and +acting upon a nature originally suspicious, and confirmed perhaps by +an unfortunate experience. And in proportion as that was possible, the +chances increased that the accuser might, as the examinations advanced, +and the winning character of the accused party began to develop itself, +begin to see his error, and to retract his own over-hasty suspicions. +But now we saw at a glance that for this hope there was no countenance +whatever, since one solitary circumstance sufficed to establish a +conspiracy. The deposition bore--that the lace had been secreted and +afterwards detected in a muff; now it was a fact as well known to both +of us as the fact of Agnes having gone out at all--that she had laid +aside her winter's dress for the first time on this genial sunny day. +Muff she had not at the time, nor could have had appropriately from the +style of her costume in other respects. What was the effect upon us of +this remarkable discovery! Of course there died at once the hope of any +abandonment by the prosecutor of his purpose; because here was proof of +a predetermined plot. This hope died at once; but then, as it was one +which never had presented itself to my mind, I lost nothing by which I +had ever been solaced. On the other hand, it will be obvious that a new +hope at the same time arose to take its place, viz., the reasonable one +that by this single detection, if once established, we might raise a +strong presumption of conspiracy, and moreover that, as a leading fact +or clue, it might serve to guide us in detecting others. Hannah +was sanguine in this expectation; and for a moment her hopes were +contagiously exciting to mine. But the hideous despondency which in +my mind had settled upon the whole affair from the very first, the +superstitious presentiment I had of a total blight brooding over the +entire harvest of my life and its promises, (tracing itself originally, +I am almost ashamed to own, up to that prediction of the Hungarian +woman)--denied me steady light, anything--all in short but a wandering +ray of hope. It was right, of course, nay, indispensable, that the +circumstance of the muff should be strongly insisted upon at the +next examination, pressed against the prosecutor, and sifted to the +uttermost. An able lawyer would turn this to a triumphant account; and +it would be admirable as a means of pre-engaging the good opinion as +well as the sympathies of the public in behalf of the prisoner. But, +for its final effect--my conviction remained, not to be shaken, that all +would be useless; that our doom had gone forth, and was irrevocable. + +Let me not linger too much over those sad times. Morning came on as +usual; for it is strange, but true, that to the very wretched it seems +wonderful that times and seasons should keep their appointed courses +in the midst of such mighty overthrows, and such interruption to the +courses of their own wonted happiness and their habitual expectations. +Why should morning and night, why should all movements in the natural +world be so regular, whilst in the moral world all is so irregular +and anomalous? Yet the sun and the moon rise and set as usual upon the +mightiest revolutions of empire and of worldly fortune that this planet +ever beholds; and it is sometimes even a comfort to know that this will +be the case. A great criminal, sentenced to an agonizing punishment, +has derived a fortitude and a consolation from recollecting that the +day would run its inevitable course--that a day after all was _but_ +a day--that the mighty wheel of alternate light and darkness must and +would revolve--and that the evening star would rise as usual, and shine +with its untroubled lustre upon the dust and ashes of what _had_ indeed +suffered, and so recently, the most bitter pangs, but would then have +ceased to suffer. 'La Journee,' said Damien, + + 'La journee sera dure, mais elle se passera.' + +'----_Se passera_:' yes, that is true, I whispered to myself; my day +also, my season of trial will be hard to bear; but that also will have +an end; that also '_se passera_.' Thus I talked or thought so long as I +thought at all; for the hour was now rapidly approaching, when thinking +in any shape would for some time be at an end for me. + +That day, as the morning advanced, I went again, accompanied by Hannah, +to the police court and to the prison--a vast, ancient, in parts +ruinous, and most gloomy pile of building. In those days the +administration of justice was, if not more corrupt, certainly in its +inferior departments by far more careless than it is at present, and +liable to thousands of interruptions and mal-practices, supporting +themselves upon old traditionary usages which required at least half +a century, and the shattering everywhere given to old systems by the +French Revolution, together with the universal energy of mind applied +to those subjects over the whole length and breadth of Christendom, to +approach with any effectual reforms. Knowing this, and having myself had +direct personal cognisance of various cases in which bribery had been +applied with success, I was not without considerable hope that perhaps +Hannah and myself might avail ourselves of this irregular passport +through the gates of the prison. And, had the new regulation been of +somewhat longer standing, there is little doubt that I should have been +found right; unfortunately, as yet it had all the freshness of newborn +vigor, and kept itself in remembrance by the singular irritation it +excited. Besides this, it was a pet novelty of one particular minister, +new to the possession of power, anxious to distinguish himself, proud +of his creative functions within the range of his office, and very +sensitively jealous on the point of opposition to his mandates. Vain, +therefore, on this day were all my efforts to corrupt the jailers; and, +in fact, anticipating a time when I might have occasion to corrupt some +of them for a more important purpose and on a larger scale, I did not +think it prudent to proclaim my character beforehand as one who tampered +with such means, and thus to arm against myself those jealousies in +official people, which it was so peculiarly important that I should keep +asleep. + +All that day, however, I lingered about the avenues and vast courts +in the precincts of the prison, and near one particular wing of the +building, which had been pointed out to me by a jailer as the section +allotted to those who were in the situation of Agnes; that is, waiting +their final commitment for trial. The building generally he could +indicate with certainty, but he professed himself unable to indicate +the particular part of it which 'the young woman brought in on the day +previous' would be likely to occupy; consequently he could not point +out the window from which her cell (her '_cell_!' what a word!) would be +lighted. 'But, master,' he went on to say, 'I would advise nobody to try +that game.' He looked with an air so significant, and at the same time +used a gesture so indicative of private understanding, that I at +once apprehended his meaning, and assured him that he had altogether +misconstrued my drift; that, as to attempts at escape, or at any mode of +communicating with the prisoner from the outside, I trusted all _that_ +was perfectly needless; and that at any rate in my eyes it was perfectly +hopeless. 'Well, master,' he replied, 'that's neither here nor there. +You've come down handsomely, that I _will_ say; and where a gentleman +acts like a gentleman, and behaves himself as such, I'm not the man to +go and split upon him for a word. To be sure it's quite nat'ral that a +gentleman--put case that a young woman is his fancy woman--it's nothing +but nat'ral that he should want to get her out of such an old rat-hole +as this, where many's the fine-timbered creature, both he and she, that +has lain to rot, and has never got out of the old trap at all, first +or last'----'How so?' I interrupted him; 'surely they don't detain the +corpses of prisoners?' 'Ay, but mind you--put case that he or that she +should die in this rat-trap before sentence is past, why then the prison +counts them as its own children, and buries them in its own chapel--that +old stack of pigeon-holes that you see up yonder to the right hand.' So +then, after all, thought I, if my poor Agnes should, in her desolation +and solitary confinement to these wretched walls, find her frail +strength give way--should the moral horrors of her situation work their +natural effect upon her health, and she should chance to die within this +dungeon, here within this same dungeon will she lie to the resurrection, +and in that case her prison-doors have already closed upon her for +ever. The man, who perhaps had some rough kindness in his nature, +though tainted by the mercenary feelings too inevitably belonging to +his situation, seemed to guess at the character of my ruminations by the +change of my countenance, for he expressed some pity for my being 'in +so much trouble;' and it seemed to increase his respect for me that this +trouble should be directed to the case of a woman, for he appeared +to have a manly sense of the peculiar appeal made to the honor and +gallantry of man, by the mere general fact of the feebleness and the +dependence of woman. I looked at him more attentively in consequence of +the feeling tone in which he now spoke, and was surprised that I had not +more particularly noticed him before; he was a fine looking, youngish +man, with a bold Robin-hood style of figure and appearance; and, morally +speaking, he was absolutely transfigured to my eyes by the effect worked +upon him for the moment, through the simple calling up of his better +nature. However, he recurred to his cautions about the peril in a legal +sense of tampering with the windows, bolts, and bars of the old decaying +prison; which, in fact, precisely according to the degree in which its +absolute power over its prisoners was annually growing less and less, +grew more and more jealous of its own reputation, and punished the +attempts to break loose with the more severity, in exact proportion as +they were the more tempting by the chances of success. I persisted in +disowning any schemes of the sort, and especially upon the ground of +their hopelessness. But this, on the other hand, was a ground that in +his inner thoughts he treated with scorn; and I could easily see that, +with a little skilful management of opportunity, I might, upon occasion, +draw from him all the secrets he knew as to the special points of +infirmity in this old ruinous building. For the present, and until it +should certainly appear that there was some use to be derived from +this species of knowledge, I forbore to raise superfluous suspicions +by availing myself further of his communicative disposition. Taking, +however, the precaution of securing his name, together with his +particular office and designation in the prison, I parted from him as +if to go home, but in fact to resume my sad roamings up and down the +precincts of the jail. + +What made these precincts much larger than otherwise they would have +been, was the circumstance that, by a usage derived from older days, +both criminal prisoners and those who were prisoners for debt, equally +fell under the custody of this huge caravanserai for the indifferent +reception of crime, of misdemeanor, and of misfortune. And those who +came under the two first titles, were lodged here through all stages of +their connection with public justice; alike when mere objects of vague +suspicion to the police, when under examination upon a specific charge, +when fully committed for trial, when convicted and under sentence, +awaiting the execution of that sentence, and, in a large proportion of +cases, even through their final stage of punishment, when it happened +to be of any nature compatible with in-door confinement. Hence it arose +that the number of those who haunted the prison gates, with or without +a title to admission, was enormous; all the relatives, or more properly +the acquaintances and connections of the criminal population within +the prison, being swelled by all the families of needy debtors who came +daily, either to offer the consolation of their society, or to diminish +their common expenditure by uniting their slender establishments. One +of the rules applied to the management of this vast multitude that were +every day candidates for admission was, that to save the endless trouble +as well as risk, perhaps, of opening and shutting the main gates +to every successive arrival, periodic intervals were fixed for the +admission by wholesale; and as these periods came round every two hours, +it would happen at many parts of the day that vast crowds accumulated +waiting for the next opening of the gate. These crowds were assembled +in two or three large outer courts, in which also were many stalls and +booths, kept there upon some local privilege of ancient inheritance, +or upon some other plea made good by gifts or bribes--some by Jews +and others by Christians, perhaps equally Jewish. Superadded to these +stationary elements of this miscellaneous population, were others drawn +thither by pure motives of curiosity, so that altogether an almost +permanent mob was gathered together in these courts; and amid this mob +it was,--from I know not what definite motive, partly because I thought +it probable that amongst these people I should hear the cause of Agnes +peculiarly the subject of conversation; and so, in fact, it did really +happen,--but partly, and even more, I believe, because I now awfully +began to shrink from solitude. Tumult I must have, and distraction of +thought. Amid this mob, I say, it was that I passed two days. Feverish I +had been from the first--and from bad to worse, in such a case, was, at +any rate, a natural progress; but, perhaps, also amongst this crowd of +the poor, the abjectly wretched, the ill-fed, the desponding, and the +dissolute, there might be very naturally a larger body of contagion +lurking than according to their mere numerical expectations. There was +at that season a very extensive depopulation going on in some quarters +of this great metropolis, and in other cities of the same empire, by +means of a very malignant typhus. This fever is supposed to be the +peculiar product of jails; and though it had not as yet been felt as +a scourge and devastator of this particular jail, or at least the +consequent mortality had been hitherto kept down to a moderate amount, +yet it was highly probable that a certain quantity of contagion, much +beyond the proportion of other popular assemblages less uniformly +wretched in their composition, was here to be found all day long; and +doubtless my excited state, and irritable habit of body, had offered +a peculiar predisposition that favored the rapid development of this +contagion. However this might be, the result was, that on the evening +of the second day which I spent in haunting the purlieus of the prison, +(consequently the night preceding the second public examination of +Agnes,) I was attacked by ardent fever in such unmitigated fury, that +before morning I had lost all command of my intellectual faculties. For +some weeks I became a pitiable maniac, and in every sense the wreck of +my former self; and seven entire weeks, together with the better half of +an eighth week, had passed over my head whilst I lay unconscious of time +and its dreadful freight of events, excepting in so far as my disordered +brain, by its fantastic coinages, created endless mimicries and +mockeries of these events--less substantial, but oftentimes less +afflicting, or less agitating. It would have been well for me had my +destiny decided that I was not to be recalled to this world of wo. But +I had no such happiness in store. I recovered, and through twenty and +eight years my groans have recorded the sorrow I feel that I did. + + * * * * * + +I shall not rehearse circumstantially, and point by point, the sad +unfolding, as it proceeded through successive revelations to me, of all +which had happened during my state of physical incapacity. When I first +became aware that my wandering senses had returned to me, and knew, by +the cessation of all throbbings, and the unutterable pains that had +so long possessed my brain, that I was now returning from the gates of +death, a sad confusion assailed me as to some indefinite cloud of evil +that had been hovering over me at the time when I first fell into a +state of insensibility. For a time I struggled vainly to recover the +lost connection of my thoughts, and I endeavored ineffectually to +address myself to sleep. I opened my eyes, but found the glare of light +painful beyond measure. Strength, however, it seemed to me that I had, +and more than enough, to raise myself out of bed. I made the attempt, +but fell back, almost giddy with the effort. At the sound of the +disturbance which I had thus made, a woman whom I did not know came from +behind a curtain, and spoke to me. Shrinking from any communication +with a stranger, especially one whose discretion I could not estimate in +making discoveries to me with the requisite caution, I asked her simply +what o'clock it was. + +'Eleven in the forenoon,' she replied. + +'And what day of the month?' + +'The second,' was her brief answer. + +I felt almost a sense of shame in adding--; 'The second! but of what +month?' + +'Of June,' was the startling rejoinder. + +On the 8th of April I had fallen ill, and it was now actually the 2d +of June. Oh! sickening calculation! revolting register of hours! for in +that same moment which brought back this one recollection, perhaps by +steadying my brain, rushed back in a torrent all the other dreadful +remembrances of the period, and now the more so, because, though the +event was still uncertain as regarded my knowledge, it must have become +dreadfully certain as regarded the facts of the case, and the happiness +of all who were concerned. Alas! one little circumstance too painfully +assured me that this event had not been a happy one. Had Agnes been +restored to her liberty and her home, where would she have been +found but watching at my bed-side? That too certainly I knew, and the +inference was too bitter to support. + +On this same day, some hours afterwards, upon Hannah's return from the +city, I received from her, and heard with perfect calmness, the whole +sum of evil which awaited me. Little Francis--she took up her tale at +that point--'was with God:' so she expressed herself. He had died of the +same fever which had attacked me--had died and been buried nearly +five weeks before. Too probably he had caught the infection from me. +Almost--such are the caprices of human feeling--almost I could have +rejoiced that this young memorial of my vanished happiness had vanished +also. It gave me a pang, nevertheless, that the grave should thus have +closed upon him before I had seen his fair little face again. But I +steeled my heart to hear worse things than this. Next she went on to +inform me that already, on the first or second day of our calamity, she +had taken upon herself, without waiting for authority, on observing the +rapid approaches of illness in me, and arguing the state of helplessness +which would follow, to write off at once a summons in the most urgent +terms to the brother of my wife. This gentleman, whom I shall call +Pierpoint, was a high-spirited, generous young man as I have ever known. +When I say that he was a sportsman, that at one season of the year he +did little else than pursue his darling amusement of fox-hunting, for +which indeed he had almost a maniacal passion--saying this, I shall +already have prejudged him in the opinions of many, who fancy all such +persons the slaves of corporeal enjoyments. But, with submission, the +truth lies the other way. According to my experience, people of these +habits have their bodies more than usually under their command, as being +subdued by severe exercise; and their minds, neither better nor worse on +an average than those of their neighbors, are more available from being +so much more rarely clogged by morbid habits in that uneasy yoke-fellow +of the intellectual part--the body. He at all events was a man to +justify in his own person this way of thinking; for he was a man not +only of sound, but even of bold and energetic intellect, and in all +moral respects one whom any man might feel proud to call his friend. +This young man, Pierpoint, without delay obeyed the summons; and on +being made acquainted with what had already passed, the first step he +took was to call upon Barratt, and without further question than what +might ascertain his identity, he proceeded to inflict upon him a severe +horsewhipping. A worse step on his sister's account he could not have +taken. Previously to this the popular feeling had run strongly against +Barratt, but now its unity was broken. A new element was introduced +into the question: Democratic feelings were armed against this outrage; +gentlemen and nobles, it was said, thought themselves not amenable +to justice; and again, the majesty of the law was offended at this +intrusion upon an affair already under solemn course of adjudication. +Everything, however, passes away under the healing hand of time, and +this also faded from the public mind. People remembered also that he +was a brother, and in that character, at any rate, had a right to some +allowances for his intemperance; and what quickened the oblivion of the +affair was, which in itself was sufficiently strange, that Barratt did +not revive the case in the public mind by seeking legal reparation for +his injuries. It was, however, still matter of regret that Pierpoint +should have indulged himself in this movement of passion, since +undoubtedly it broke and disturbed the else uniform stream of public +indignation, by investing the original aggressor with something like the +character of an injured person; and therefore with some set-off to plead +against his own wantonness of malice;--his malice might now assume the +nobler aspect of revenge. + +Thus far, in reporting the circumstances, Hannah had dallied--thus far +I had rejoiced that she dallied, with the main burden of the wo; but now +there remained nothing to dally with any longer--and she rushed along in +her narrative, hurrying to tell--I hurrying to hear. A second, a third +examination had ensued, then a final committal--all this within a week. +By that time all the world was agitated with the case; literally not +the city only, vast as that city was, but the nation was convulsed and +divided into parties upon the question, Whether the prosecution were one +of mere malice or not? The very government of the land was reported to +be equally interested, and almost equally divided in opinion. In this +state of public feeling came the trial. Image to yourself, oh reader, +whosoever you are, the intensity of the excitement which by that time +had arisen in all people to be spectators of the scene--then image to +yourself the effect of all this, a perfect consciousness that in +herself as a centre was settled the whole mighty interest of +the exhibition--that interest again of so dubious and mixed a +character--sympathy in some with mere misfortune--sympathy in others +with female frailty and guilt, not perhaps founded upon an absolute +unwavering belief in her innocence, even amongst those who were most +loud and positive as partisans in affirming it,--and then remember that +all this hideous scenical display and notoriety settled upon one whose +very nature, constitutionally timid, recoiled with the triple agony of +womanly shame--of matronly dignity--of insulted innocence, from every +mode and shape of public display. Combine all these circumstances and +elements of the case, and you may faintly enter into the situation of my +poor Agnes. Perhaps the best way to express it at once is by recurring +to the case of a young female Christian martyr, in the early ages of +Christianity, exposed in the bloody amphitheatre of Rome or Verona, to +'fight with wild beasts,' as it was expressed in mockery--she to fight +the lamb to fight with lions! But in reality the young martyr _had_ +a fight to maintain, and a fight (in contempt of that cruel mockery) +fiercer than the fiercest of her persecutors could have faced +perhaps--the combat with the instincts of her own shrinking, trembling, +fainting nature. Such a fight had my Agnes to maintain; and at that time +there was a large party of gentlemen in whom the gentlemanly instinct +was predominant, and who felt so powerfully the cruel indignities of her +situation, that they made a public appeal in her behalf. One thing, and +a strong one, which they said, was this:--'We all talk and move in this +case as if, because the question appears doubtful to some people, and +the accused party to some people wears a doubtful character, it would +follow that she therefore had in reality a mixed character composed in +joint proportions of the best and the worst that is imputed to her. But +let us not forget that this mixed character belongs not to her, but +to the infirmity of our human judgments--_they_ are mixed--_they_ are +dubious--but she is not--she is, or she is not, guilty--there is no +middle case--and let us consider for a single moment, that if this young +lady (as many among us heartily believe) _is_ innocent, then and upon +that supposition let us consider how cruel we should all think the +public exposure which aggravates the other injuries (as in that case +they must be thought) to which her situation exposes her.' They went on +to make some suggestions for the officers of the court in preparing +the arrangements for the trial, and some also for the guidance of +the audience, which showed the same generous anxiety for sparing the +feelings of the prisoner. If these did not wholly succeed in repressing +the open avowal of coarse and brutal curiosity amongst the intensely +vulgar, at least they availed to diffuse amongst the neutral and +indifferent part of the public a sentiment of respect and forbearance +which, emanating from high quarters, had a very extensive influence upon +most of what met the eye or the ear of my poor wife. She, on the day of +trial, was supported by her brother; and by that time she needed support +indeed. I was reported to be dying; her little son was dead; neither had +she been allowed to see him. Perhaps these things, by weaning her from +all further care about life, might have found their natural effect in +making her indifferent to the course of the trial, or even to its issue. +And so, perhaps, in the main, they did. But at times some lingering +sense of outraged dignity, some fitful gleams of old sympathies, +'the hectic of a moment,' came back upon her, and prevailed over the +deadening stupor of her grief. Then she shone for a moment into a starry +light--sweet and woful to remember. Then----but why linger? I hurry to +the close: she was pronounced guilty; whether by a jury or a bench of +judges, I do not say--having determined, from the beginning, to give no +hint of the land in which all these events happened; neither is that of +the slightest consequence. Guilty she was pronounced: but sentence at +that time was deferred. Ask me not, I beseech you, about the muff +or other circumstances inconsistent with the hostile evidence. These +circumstances had the testimony, you will observe, of my own servants +only; nay, as it turned out, of one servant exclusively: _that_ +naturally diminished their value. And, on the other side, evidence was +arrayed, perjury was suborned, that would have wrecked a wilderness of +simple truth trusting to its own unaided forces. What followed? Did this +judgment of the court settle the opinion of the public? Opinion of +the public! Did it settle the winds? Did it settle the motion of the +Atlantic? Wilder, fiercer, and louder grew the cry against the wretched +accuser: mighty had been the power over the vast audience of the +dignity, the affliction, the perfect simplicity, and the Madonna beauty +of the prisoner. That beauty so childlike, and at the same time so +saintly, made, besides, so touching in its pathos by means of the +abandonment--the careless abandonment and the infinite desolation of her +air and manner--would of itself, and without further aid, have made many +converts. Much more was done by the simplicity of her statements, and +the indifference with which she neglected to improve any strong points +in her own favor--the indifference, as every heart perceived, of +despairing grief. Then came the manners on the hostile side--the haggard +consciousness of guilt, the drooping tone, the bravado and fierce strut +which sought to dissemble all this. Not one amongst all the witnesses, +assembled on that side, had (by all agreement) the bold natural tone of +conscious uprightness. Hence it could not be surprising that the storm +of popular opinion made itself heard with a louder and a louder sound. +The government itself began to be disturbed; the ministers of the +sovereign were agitated; and, had no menaces been thrown out, it was +generally understood that they would have given way to the popular +voice, now continually more distinct and clamorous. In the midst of all +this tumult, obscure murmurs began to arise that Barratt had practised +the same or similar villanies in former instances. One case in +particular was beginning to be whispered about, which at once threw +a light upon the whole affair: it was the case of a young and very +beautiful married woman, who had been on the very brink of a catastrophe +such as had befallen my own wife, when some seasonable interference, of +what nature was not known, had critically delivered her. This case +arose 'like a little cloud no bigger than a man's hand,' then spread and +threatened to burst in tempest upon the public mind, when all at once, +more suddenly even than it had arisen, it was hushed up, or in some way +disappeared. But a trifling circumstance made it possible to trace +this case:--in after times, when means offered, but unfortunately no +particular purpose of good, nor any purpose, in fact, beyond that of +curiosity, it _was_ traced; and enough was soon ascertained to have +blown to fragments any possible conspiracy emanating from this Barratt, +had that been of any further importance. However, in spite of all that +money or art could effect, a sullen growl continued to be heard amongst +the populace of villanies many and profound that had been effected or +attempted by this Barratt; and accordingly, much in the same way as +was many years afterwards practised in London, when a hosier had caused +several young people to be prosecuted to death for passing forged +bank-notes, the wrath of the people showed itself in marking the shop +for vengeance upon any favorable occasion offering through fire or +riots, and in the mean time in deserting it. These things had been going +on for some time when I awoke from my long delirium; but the effect they +had produced upon a weak and obstinate and haughty government, or at +least upon the weak and obstinate and haughty member of the government +who presided in the police administration, was, to confirm and rivet the +line of conduct which had been made the object of popular denunciation. +More energetically, more scornfully, to express that determination of +flying in the face of public opinion and censure, four days before my +awakening, Agnes had been brought up to receive her sentence. On +that same day (nay, it was said in that same hour,) petitions, very +numerously signed, and various petitions from different ranks, different +ages, different sexes, were carried up to the throne, praying, upon +manifold grounds, but all noticing the extreme doubtfulness of the +case, for an unconditional pardon. By whose advice or influence, it was +guessed easily, though never exactly ascertained, these petitions were +unanimously, almost contemptuously rejected. And to express the contempt +of public opinion as powerfully as possible, Agnes was sentenced by the +court, reassembled in full pomp, order, and ceremonial costume, to a +punishment the severest that the laws allowed--viz. hard labor for ten +years. The people raged more than ever; threats public and private +were conveyed to the ears of the minister chiefly concerned in the +responsibility, and who had indeed, by empty and ostentatious talking, +assumed that responsibility to himself in a way that was perfectly +needless. + +Thus stood matters when I awoke to consciousness: and this was the +fatal journal of the interval--interval so long as measured by my fierce +calendar of delirium--so brief measured by the huge circuit of +events which it embraced, and their mightiness for evil. Wrath, wrath +immeasurable, unimaginable, unmitigable, burned at my heart like +a cancer. The worst had come. And the thing which kills a man for +action--the living in two climates at once--a torrid and a frigid +zone--of hope and fear--that was past. Weak--suppose I were for the +moment: I felt that a day or two might bring back my strength. No +miserable tremors of hope _now_ shook my nerves: if they shook from that +inevitable rocking of the waters that follows a storm, so much might +be pardoned to the infirmity of a nature that could not lay aside its +fleshly necessities, nor altogether forego its homage to 'these frail +elements,' but which by inspiration already lived within a region +where no voices were heard but the spiritual voices of transcendent +passions--of + + 'Wrongs unrevenged, and insults unredress'd.' + +Six days from that time I was well--well and strong. I rose from bed; I +bathed; I dressed; dressed as if I were a bridegroom. And that _was_ in +fact a great day in my life. I was to see Agnes. Oh! yes: permission had +been obtained from the lordly minister that I should see my wife. Is it +possible? Can such condescensions exist? Yes: solicitations from +ladies, eloquent notes wet with ducal tears, these had won from the +thrice-radiant secretary, redolent of roseate attar, a countersign to +some order or other, by which I--yes I--under license of a fop, and +supervision of a jailer--was to see and for a time to converse with my +own wife. + +The hour appointed for the first day's interview was eight o'clock +in the evening. On the outside of the jail all was summer light and +animation. The sports of children in the streets of mighty cities are +but sad, and too painfully recall the circumstances of freedom and +breezy nature that are not there. But still the pomp of glorious summer, +and the presence, 'not to be put by,' of the everlasting light, that +is either always present, or always dawning--these potent elements +impregnate the very city life, and the dim reflex of nature which is +found at the bottom of well-like streets, with more solemn powers to +move and to soothe in summer. I struck upon the prison gates, the first +among multitudes waiting to strike. Not because we struck, but because +the hour had sounded, suddenly the gate opened; and in we streamed. I, +as a visitor for the first time, was immediately distinguished by the +jailers, whose glance of the eye is fatally unerring. 'Who was it that I +wanted?' At the name a stir of emotion was manifest, even there: the dry +bones stirred and moved: the passions outside had long ago passed to the +interior of this gloomy prison: and not a man but had his hypothesis on +the case; not a man but had almost fought with some comrade (many had +literally fought) about the merits of their several opinions. + +If any man had expected a scene at this reunion, he would have been +disappointed. Exhaustion, and the ravages of sorrow, had left to dear +Agnes so little power of animation or of action, that her emotions were +rather to be guessed at, both for kind and for degree, than directly +to have been perceived. She was in fact a sick patient, far gone in an +illness that should properly have confined her to bed; and was as much +past the power of replying to my frenzied exclamations, as a dying +victim of fever of entering upon a strife of argument. In bed, however, +she was not. When the door opened she was discovered sitting at a table +placed against the opposite wall, her head pillowed upon her arms, and +these resting upon the table. Her beautiful long auburn hair had escaped +from its confinement, and was floating over the table and her own +person. She took no notice of the disturbance made by our entrance, did +not turn, did not raise her head, nor make an effort to do so, nor by +any sign whatever intimate that she was conscious of our presence, until +the turnkey in a respectful tone announced me. Upon that a low groan, or +rather a feeble moan, showed that she had become aware of my presence, +and relieved me from all apprehension of causing too sudden a shock by +taking her in my arms. The turnkey had now retired; we were alone. I +knelt by her side, threw my arms about her, and pressed her to my heart. +She drooped her head upon my shoulder, and lay for some time like one +who slumbered; but, alas! not as she had used to slumber. Her breathing, +which had been like that of sinless infancy, was now frightfully short +and quick; she seemed not properly to breathe, but to gasp. This, +thought I, may be sudden agitation, and in that case she will gradually +recover; half an hour will restore her. Wo is me! she did _not_ recover; +and internally I said--she never _will_ recover. The arrows have gone +too deep for a frame so exquisite in its sensibility, and already her +hours are numbered. + +At this first visit I said nothing to her about the past; _that_, and +the whole extent to which our communications should go, I left rather +to her own choice. At the second visit, however, upon some word or other +arising which furnished an occasion for touching on this hateful topic, +I pressed her, contrary to my own previous intention, for as full an +account of the fatal event as she could without a distressing effort +communicate. To my surprise she was silent--gloomily--almost it might +have seemed obstinately silent. A horrid thought came into my mind; +could it, might it have been possible that my noble-minded wife, such +she had ever seemed to me, was open to temptations of this nature? Could +it have been that in some moment of infirmity, when her better angel was +away from her side, she had yielded to a sudden impulse of frailty, +such as a second moment for consideration would have resisted, but which +unhappily had been followed by no such opportunity of retrieval? I +had heard of such things. Cases there were in our own times (and not +confined to one nation), when irregular impulses of this sort were known +to have haunted and besieged natures not otherwise ignoble and base. +I ran over some of the names amongst those which were taxed with this +propensity. More than one were the names of people in a technical sense +held noble. That, nor any other consideration abated my horror. Better, +I said, better, (because more compatible with elevation of mind,) better +to have committed some bloody act--some murderous act. Dreadful was the +panic I underwent. God pardon the wrong I did; and even now I pray +to him--as though the past thing were a future thing and capable +of change--that he would forbid her for ever to know what was the +derogatory thought I had admitted. I sometimes think, by recollecting a +momentary blush that suffused her marble countenance,--I think--I fear +that she might have read what was fighting in my mind. Yet that would +admit of another explanation. If she did read the very worst, meek +saint! she suffered no complaint or sense of that injury to escape her. +It might, however, be that perception, or it might be that fear which +roused her to an effort that otherwise had seemed too revolting to +undertake. She now rehearsed the whole steps of the affair from first to +last; but the only material addition, which her narrative made to that +which the trial itself had involved, was the following:--On two separate +occasions previous to the last and fatal one, when she had happened to +walk unaccompanied by me in the city, the monster Barratt had met her +in the street. He had probably--and this was, indeed, subsequently +ascertained--at first, and for some time afterwards, mistaken her rank, +and had addressed some proposals to her, which, from the suppressed +tone of his speaking, or from her own terror and surprise, she had not +clearly understood; but enough had reached her alarmed ear to satisfy +her that they were of a nature in the last degree licentious and +insulting. Terrified and shocked rather than indignant, for she too +easily presumed the man to be a maniac, she hurried homewards; and was +rejoiced, on first venturing to look round when close to her own gate, +to perceive that the man was not following. There, however, she was +mistaken; for either on this occasion, or on some other, he had traced +her homewards. The last of these rencontres had occurred just three +months before the fatal 6th of April; and if, in any one instance, Agnes +had departed from the strict line of her duty as a wife, or had shown +a defect of judgment, it was at this point--in not having frankly and +fully reported the circumstances to me. On the last of these occasions +I had met her at the garden-gate, and had particularly remarked that she +seemed agitated; and now, at recalling these incidents, Agnes reminded +me that I had noticed that circumstance to herself, and that she had +answered me faithfully as to the main fact. It was true she had done so; +for she had said that she had just met a lunatic who had alarmed her +by fixing his attention upon herself, and speaking to her in a ruffian +manner; and it was also true that she did sincerely regard him in that +light. This led me at the time to construe the whole affair into a +casual collision with some poor maniac escaping from his keepers, and of +no future moment, having passed by without present consequences. But had +she, instead of thus reporting her own erroneous impression, reported +the entire circumstances of the case, I should have given them a +very different interpretation. Affection for me, and fear to throw me +needlessly into a quarrel with a man of apparently brutal and violent +nature--these considerations, as too often they do with the most upright +wives, had operated to check Agnes in the perfect sincerity of her +communications. She had told nothing _but_ the truth--only, and fatally +it turned out for us both, she had not told the _whole_ truth. The very +suppression, to which she had reconciled herself, under the belief that +thus she was providing for my safety and her own consequent happiness, +had been the indirect occasion of ruin to both. It was impossible to +show displeasure under such circumstances, or under any circumstances, +to one whose self-reproaches were at any rate too bitter; but certainly, +as a general rule, every conscientious woman should resolve to consider +her husband's honor in the first case, and far before all other regards +whatsoever; to make this the first, the second, the third law of her +conduct, and his personal safety but the fourth or fifth. Yet women, +and especially when the interests of children are at stake upon their +husbands' safety, rarely indeed are able to take this Roman view of +their duties. + +To return to the narrative. Agnes had not, nor could have, the most +remote suspicion of this Barratt's connection with the shop which he had +not accidentally entered; and the sudden appearance of this wretch it +was, at the very moment of finding herself charged with so vile and +degrading an offence, that contributed most of all to rob her of her +natural firmness, by suddenly revealing to her terrified heart the depth +of the conspiracy which thus yawned like a gulf below her. And not only +had this sudden horror, upon discovering a guilty design in what before +had seemed accident, and links uniting remote incidents which else +seemed casual and disconnected, greatly disturbed and confused her +manner, which confusion again had become more intense upon her own +consciousness that she _was_ confused, and that her manner was greatly +to her disadvantage; but--which was the worst effect of all, because the +rest could not operate against her, except upon those who were present +to witness it, whereas this was noted down and recorded--so utterly +did her confusion strip her of all presence of mind, that she did not +consciously notice (and consequently could not protest against at +the moment when it was most important to do so, and most natural) the +important circumstance of the muff. This capital objection, therefore, +though dwelt upon and improved to the utmost at the trial, was looked +upon by the judges as an after-thought; and merely because it had not +been seized upon by herself, and urged in the first moments of her +almost incapacitating terror on finding this amongst the circumstances +of the charge against her--as if an ingenuous nature, in the very act of +recoiling with horror from a criminal charge the most degrading, and in +the very instant of discovering, with a perfect rapture of alarm, the +too plausible appearance of probability amongst the circumstances, would +be likely to pause, and with attorney-like dexterity, to pick out the +particular circumstance that might admit of being _proved_ to be false, +when the conscience proclaimed, though in despondence for the result, +that all the circumstances were, as to the use made of them, one tissue +of falsehoods. Agnes, who had made a powerful effort in speaking of the +case at all, found her calmness increase as she advanced; and she now +told me, that in reality there were two discoveries which she made in +the same instant, and not one only, which had disarmed her firmness and +ordinary presence of mind. One I have mentioned--the fact of Barratt, +the proprietor of the shop, being the same person who had in former +instances persecuted her in the street; but the other was even more +alarming--it has been said already that it was _not_ a pure matter of +accident that she had visited this particular shop. In reality, that +nursery-maid, of whom some mention has been made above, and in terms +expressing the suspicion with which even then I regarded her, had +persuaded her into going thither by some representations which Agnes +had already ascertained to be altogether unwarranted. Other presumptions +against this girl's fidelity crowded dimly upon my wife's mind at the +very moment of finding her eyes thus suddenly opened. And it was not +five minutes after her first examination, and in fact five minutes +after it had ceased to be of use to her, that she remembered another +circumstance which now, when combined with the sequel, told its own +tale,--the muff had been missed some little time before the 6th of +April. Search had been made for it; but, the particular occasion which +required it having passed off, this search was laid aside for the +present, in the expectation that it would soon reappear in some corner +of the house before it was wanted: then came the sunny day, which made +it no longer useful, and would perhaps have dismissed it entirely from +the recollection of all parties, until it was now brought back in this +memorable way. The name of my wife was embroidered within, upon the +lining, and it thus became a serviceable link to the hellish cabal +against her. Upon reviewing the circumstances from first to last, upon +recalling the manner of the girl at the time when the muff was missed, +and upon combining the whole with her recent deception, by which she had +misled her poor mistress into visiting this shop, Agnes began to see the +entire truth as to this servant's wicked collusion with Barratt, though, +perhaps, it might be too much to suppose her aware of the unhappy result +to which her collusion tended. All this she saw at a glance when it was +too late, for her first examination was over. This girl, I must add, had +left our house during my illness, and she had afterwards a melancholy +end. + +One thing surprised me in all this. Barratt's purpose must manifestly +have been to create merely a terror in my poor wife's mind, and to stop +short of any legal consequences, in order to profit of that panic and +confusion for extorting compliances with his hideous pretensions. It +perplexed me, therefore, that he did not appear to have pursued this +manifestly his primary purpose, the other being merely a mask to conceal +his true ends, and also (as he fancied) a means for effecting them. In +this, however, I had soon occasion to find that I was deceived. He had, +but without the knowledge of Agnes, taken such steps as were then open +to him, for making overtures to her with regard to the terms upon which +he would agree to defeat the charge against her by failing to appear. +But the law had travelled too fast for him, and too determinately; so +that, by the time he supposed terror to have operated sufficiently in +favor of his views, it had already become unsafe to venture upon such +explicit proposals as he would otherwise have tried. His own safety was +now at stake, and would have been compromised by any open or written +avowal of the motives on which he had been all along acting. In fact, at +this time he was foiled by the agent in whom he confided; but much +more he had been confounded upon another point--the prodigious interest +manifested by the public. Thus it seems--that, whilst he meditated only +a snare for my poor Agnes, he had prepared one for himself; and finally, +to evade the suspicions which began to arise powerfully as to his true +motives, and thus to stave off his own ruin, had found himself in a +manner obliged to go forward and consummate the ruin of another. + + * * * * * + +The state of Agnes, as to health and bodily strength, was now becoming +such that I was forcibly warned--whatsoever I meditated doing, to do +quickly. There was this urgent reason for alarm: once conveyed into +that region of the prison in which sentences like hers were executed, it +became hopeless that I could communicate with her again. All intercourse +whatsoever, and with whomsoever, was then placed under the most rigorous +interdict; and the alarming circumstance was, that this transfer was +governed by no settled rules, but might take place at any hour, and +would certainly be precipitated by the slightest violence on my part, +the slightest indiscretion, or the slightest argument for suspicion. +Hard indeed was the part I had to play, for it was indispensable that +I should appear calm and tranquil, in order to disarm suspicions around +me, whilst continually contemplating the possibility that I myself might +be summoned to extremities which I could not so much as trust myself to +name or distinctly to conceive. But thus stood the case: the Government, +it was understood, angered by the public opposition, resolute for the +triumph of what they called 'principle,' had settled finally that the +sentence should be carried into execution. Now that she, that my Agnes, +being the frail wreck that she had become, could have stood one week of +this sentence practically and literally enforced--was a mere chimera. A +few hours probably of the experiment would have settled that question +by dismissing her to the death she longed for; but because the suffering +would be short, was I to stand by and to witness the degradation--the +pollution--attempted to be fastened upon her. What! to know that her +beautiful tresses would be shorn ignominiously--a felon's dress forced +upon her--a vile taskmaster with authority to----; blistered be the +tongue that could go on to utter, in connection with her innocent name, +the vile dishonors which were to settle upon her person! I, however, and +her brother had taken such resolutions that this result was one barely +possible; and yet I sickened (yes, literally I many times experienced +the effect of physical sickness) at contemplating our own utter childish +helplessness, and recollecting that every night during our seclusion +from the prison the last irreversible step might be taken--and in the +morning we might find a solitary cell, and the angel form that had +illuminated it gone where we could not follow, and leaving behind her +the certainty that we should see her no more. Every night, at the hour +of locking up, _she_, at least, manifestly had a fear that she saw +us for the last time; she put her arms feebly about my neck, sobbed +convulsively, and, I believe, guessed--but, if really so, did not much +reprove or quarrel with the desperate purposes which I struggled with in +regard to her own life. One thing was quite evident--that to the peace +of her latter days, now hurrying to their close, it was indispensable +that she should pass them undivided from me; and possibly, as was +afterwards alleged, when it became easy to allege any thing, some +relenting did take place in high quarters at this time; for upon some +medical reports made just now, a most seasonable indulgence was granted, +viz. that Hannah was permitted to attend her mistress constantly; and +it was also felt as a great alleviation of the horrors belonging to this +prison, that candles were now allowed throughout the nights. But I was +warned privately that these indulgences were with no consent from +the police minister; and that circumstances might soon withdraw the +momentary intercession by which we profited. With this knowledge, we +could not linger in our preparations; we had resolved upon accomplishing +an escape for Agnes, at whatever risk or price; the main difficulty was +her own extreme feebleness, which might forbid her to co-operate with us +in any degree at the critical moment; and the main danger was--delay. We +pushed forward, therefore, in our attempts with prodigious energy, and I +for my part with an energy like that of insanity. + + * * * * * + +The first attempt we made was upon the fidelity to his trust of the +chief jailer. He was a coarse, vulgar man, brutal in his manners, but +with vestiges of generosity in his character--though damaged a good deal +by his daily associates. Him we invited to a meeting at a tavern in +the neighborhood of the prison, disguising our names as too certain to +betray our objects, and baiting our invitation with some hints which +we had ascertained were likely to prove temptations under his immediate +circumstances. He had a graceless young son whom he was most anxious to +wean from his dissolute connections, and to steady, by placing him in +some office of no great responsibility. Upon this knowledge we framed +the terms of our invitation. + +These proved to be effectual, as regarded our immediate object of +obtaining an interview of persuasion. The night was wet; and at seven +o'clock, the hour fixed for the interview, we were seated in readiness, +much perplexed to know whether he would take any notice of our +invitation. We had waited three quarters of an hour, when we heard a +heavy lumbering step ascending the stair. The door was thrown open +to its widest extent, and in the centre of the door-way stood a short +stout-built man, and the very broadest I ever beheld--staring at us with +bold inquiring eyes. His salutation was something to this effect. + +'What the hell do you gay fellows want with me? What the blazes is this +humbugging letter about? My son, and be hanged! What do you know of my +son?' + +Upon this overture we ventured to request that he would come in and +suffer us to shut the door, which we also locked. Next we produced the +official paper nominating his son to a small place in the customs,--not +yielding much, it was true, in the way of salary, but fortunately, and +in accordance with the known wishes of the father, unburdened with any +dangerous trust. + +'Well, I suppose I must say thank ye: but what comes next? What am I to +do to pay the damages?' We informed him that for this particular little +service we asked no return. + +'No, no,' said he, 'that'll not go down: that cat'll not jump. I'm +not green enough for that. So, say away--what's the damage?' We then +explained that we had certainly a favor and a great one to ask: ['Ay, +I'll be bound you have,' was his parenthesis:] but that for this we were +prepared to offer a separate remuneration; repeating that with respect +to the little place procured for his son, it had not cost us anything, +and therefore we did really and sincerely decline to receive anything +in return; satisfied that, by this little offering, we had procured +the opportunity of this present interview. At this point we withdrew a +covering from the table upon which we had previously arranged a heap of +gold coins, amounting in value to twelve hundred English guineas: this +being the entire sum which circumstances allowed us to raise on so +sudden a warning: for some landed property that we both had was so +settled and limited, that we could not convert it into money either +by way of sale, loan, or mortgage. This sum, stating to him its exact +amount, we offered to his acceptance, upon the single condition that he +would look aside, or wink hard, or (in whatever way he chose to express +it) would make, or suffer to be made, such facilities for our liberating +a female prisoner as we would point out. He mused: full five minutes he +sat deliberating without opening his lips. At length he shocked us by +saying, in a firm, decisive tone, that left us little hope of altering +his resolution,--'No: gentlemen, it's a very fair offer, and a good deal +of money for a single prisoner. I think I can guess at the person. It's +a fair offer--fair enough. But, bless your heart! if I were to do the +thing you want--why perhaps another case might be overlooked: but this +prisoner, no: there's too much depending. No, they would turn me out of +my place. Now the place is worth more to me in the long run than what +you offer: though you bid fair enough, if it were only for my time in +it. But look here: in case I can get my son to come into harness, I'm +expecting to get the office for him after I've retired. So I can't do +it. But I'll tell you what: you've been kind to my son: and therefore +I'll not say a word about it. You're safe for me. And so good-night +to you.' Saying which, and standing no further question, he walked +resolutely out of the room and down stairs. + +Two days we mourned over this failure, and scarcely knew which way +to turn for another ray of hope;--on the third morning we received +intelligence that this very jailer had been attacked by the fever, +which, after long desolating the city, had at length made its way into +the prison. In a very few days the jailer was lying without hope of +recovery: and of necessity another person was appointed to fill his +station for the present. This person I had seen, and I liked him less +by much than the one he succeeded: he had an Italian appearance, and he +wore an air of Italian subtlety and dissimulation. I was surprised to +find, on proposing the same service to him, and on the same terms, that +he made no objection whatever, but closed instantly with my offers. In +prudence, however, I had made this change in the articles: a sum equal +to two hundred English guineas, or one-sixth part of the whole money, he +was to receive beforehand as a retaining fee; but the remainder was to +be paid only to himself, or to anybody of his appointing, at the very +moment of our finding the prison gates thrown open to us. He spoke +fairly enough, and seemed to meditate no treachery; nor was there any +obvious or known interest to serve by treachery; and yet I doubted him +grievously. + +The night came: it was chosen as a gala night, one of two nights +throughout the year in which the prisoners were allowed to celebrate a +great national event: and in those days of relaxed prison management +the utmost license was allowed to the rejoicing. This indulgence was +extended to prisoners of all classes, though, of course, under more +restrictions with regard to the criminal class. Ten o'clock came--the +hour at which we had been instructed to hold ourselves in readiness. +We had been long prepared. Agnes had been dressed by Hannah in such a +costume externally (a man's hat and cloak, &c.) that, from her height, +she might easily have passed amongst a mob of masquerading figures in +the debtors' halls and galleries for a young stripling. Pierpoint and +myself were also to a certain degree disguised; so far, at least, that +we should not have been recognized at any hurried glance by those of the +prison officers who had become acquainted with our persons. We were all +more or less disguised about the face; and in that age when masks were +commonly used at all hours by people of a certain rank, there would have +been nothing suspicious in any possible costume of the kind in a night +like this, if we could succeed in passing for friends of debtors. + +I am impatient of these details, and I hasten over the ground. One +entire hour passed away, and no jailer appeared. We began to despond +heavily; and Agnes, poor thing! was now the most agitated of us all. +At length eleven struck in the harsh tones of the prison-clock. A +few minutes after, we heard the sound of bolts drawing, and bars +unfastening. The jailer entered--drunk, and much disposed to be +insolent. I thought it advisable to give him another bribe, and he +resumed the fawning insinuation of his manner. He now directed us, by +passages which he pointed out, to gain the other side of the prison. +There we were to mix with the debtors and their mob of friends, and +to await his joining us, which in that crowd he could do without much +suspicion. He wished us to traverse the passages separately; but this +was impossible, for it was necessary that one of us should support Agnes +on each side. I previously persuaded her to take a small quantity +of brandy, which we rejoiced to see had given her, at this moment of +starting, a most seasonable strength and animation. The gloomy passages +were more than usually empty, for all the turnkeys were employed in a +vigilant custody of the gates, and examination of the parties going out. +So the jailer had told us, and the news alarmed us. We came at length to +a turning which brought us in sight of a strong iron gate, that divided +the two main quarters of the prison. For this we had not been prepared. +The man, however, opened the gate without a word spoken, only putting +out his hand for a fee; and in my joy, perhaps, I gave him one +imprudently large. After passing this gate, the distant uproar of the +debtors guided us to the scene of their merriment; and when there, such +was the tumult and the vast multitude assembled, that we now hoped in +good earnest to accomplish our purpose without accident. Just at this +moment the jailer appeared in the distance; he seemed looking towards +us, and at length one of our party could distinguish that he was +beckoning to us. We went forward, and found him in some agitation, real +or counterfeit. He muttered a word or two quite unintelligible about the +man at the wicket, told us we must wait a while, and he would then see +what could be done for us. We were beginning to demur, and to express +the suspicions which now too seriously arose, when he, seeing, or +affecting to see some object of alarm, pushed us with a hurried movement +into a cell opening upon the part of the gallery at which we were now +standing. Not knowing whether we really might not be retreating from +some danger, we could do no otherwise than comply with his signals; but +we were troubled at finding ourselves immediately locked in from the +outside, and thus apparently all our motions had only sufficed to +exchange one prison for another. + +We were now completely in the dark, and found, by a hard breathing from +one corner of the little dormitory, that it was not unoccupied. Having +taken care to provide ourselves separately with means for striking a +light, we soon had more than one torch burning. The brilliant light +falling upon the eyes of a man who lay stretched on the iron bedstead, +woke him. It proved to be my friend the under-jailer, Ratcliffe, but +no longer holding any office in the prison. He sprang up, and a rapid +explanation took place. He had become a prisoner for debt; and on this +evening, after having caroused through the day with some friends +from the country, had retired at an early hour to sleep away +his intoxication. I on my part thought it prudent to intrust him +unreservedly with our situation and purposes, not omitting our gloomy +suspicions. Ratcliffe looked, with a pity that won my love, upon the +poor wasted Agnes. He had seen her on her first entrance into the +prison, had spoken to her, and therefore knew _from_ what she had +fallen, _to_ what. Even then he had felt for her; how much more at this +time, when he beheld, by the fierce light of the torches, her wo-worn +features! + +'Who was it,' he asked eagerly, 'you made the bargain with? Manasseh?' + +'The same.' + +'Then I can tell you this--not a greater villain walks the earth. He is +a Jew from Portugal; he has betrayed many a man, and will many another, +unless he gets his own neck stretched, which might happen, if I told all +I know.' + +'But what was it probable that this man meditated? Or how could it +profit him to betray us?' + +'That's more than I can tell. He wants to get your money, and that he +doesn't know how to bring about without doing his part. But that's what +he never _will_ do, take my word for it. That would cut him out of all +chance for the head-jailer's place.' He mused a little, and then told us +that he could himself put us outside the prison walls, and _would_ do it +without fee or reward. 'But we must be quiet, or that devil will bethink +him of me. I'll wager something he thought that I was out merry-making +like the rest; and if he should chance to light upon the truth, he'll be +back in no time.' Ratcliffe then removed an old fire-grate, at the back +of which was an iron plate, that swung round into a similar fire-place +in the contiguous cell. From that, by a removal of a few slight +obstacles, we passed, by a long avenue, into the chapel. Then he left +us, whilst he went out alone to reconnoitre his ground. Agnes was now +in so pitiable a condition of weakness, as we stood on the very brink of +our final effort, that we placed her in a pew, where she could rest as +upon a sofa. Previously we had stood upon graves, and with monuments +more or less conspicuous all around us: some raised by friends to +the memory of friends--some by subscriptions in the prison--some by +children, who had risen into prosperity, to the memory of a father, +brother, or other relative, who had died in captivity. I was grieved +that these sad memorials should meet the eye of my wife at this moment +of awe and terrific anxiety. Pierpoint and I were well armed, and all +of us determined not to suffer a recapture, now that we were free of the +crowds that made resistance hopeless. This Agnes easily perceived; +and _that_, by suggesting a bloody arbitration, did not lessen her +agitation. I hoped therefore, that, by placing her in the pew, I might +at least liberate her for the moment from the besetting memorials of +sorrow and calamity. But, as if in the very teeth of my purpose, one of +the large columns which supported the roof of the chapel, had its basis +and lower part of the shaft in this very pew. On the side of it, and +just facing her as she lay reclining on the cushions, appeared a +mural tablet, with a bas-relief in white marble, to the memory of two +children, twins, who had lived and died at the same time, and in +this prison--children who had never breathed another air than that of +captivity, their parents having passed many years within these walls, +under confinement for debt. The sculptures were not remarkable, being a +trite, but not the less affecting, representation of angels descending +to receive the infants; but the hallowed words of the inscription, +distinct and legible--'Suffer little children to come unto me, and +forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God'--met her eye, +and, by the thoughts they awakened, made me fear that she would become +unequal to the exertions which yet awaited her. At this moment Ratcliffe +returned, and informed us that all was right; and that, from the ruinous +state of all the buildings which surrounded the chapel, no difficulty +remained for us, who were, in fact, beyond the strong part of the +prison, excepting at a single door, which we should be obliged to break +down. But had we any means arranged for pursuing our flight, and turning +this escape to account when out of confinement? All that, I assured him, +was provided for long ago. We proceeded, and soon reached the door. We +had one crow-bar amongst us, but beyond that had no better weapons +than the loose stones found about some new-made graves in the chapel. +Ratcliffe and Pierpoint, both powerful men, applied themselves by turns +to the door, whilst Hannah and I supported Agnes. The door did not +yield, being of enormous strength; but the wall did, and a large mass +of stone-work fell outwards, twisting the door aside; so that, by +afterwards working with our hands, we removed stones many enough to +admit of our egress. Unfortunately this aperture was high above the +ground, and it was necessary to climb over a huge heap of loose rubbish +in order to profit by it. My brother-in-law passed first in order to +receive my wife, quite helpless at surmounting the obstacle by her own +efforts, out of my arms. He had gone through the opening, and, turning +round so as to face me, he naturally could see something that I did +_not_ see. 'Look behind!' he called out rapidly. I did so, and saw the +murderous villain Manasseh with his arm uplifted, and in the act of +cutting at my wife, nearly insensible as she was, with a cutlass. The +blow was not for me, but for her, as the fugitive prisoner; and the law +would have borne him out in the act. I saw, I comprehended the whole. I +groped, as far as I could without letting my wife drop, for my pistols; +but all that I could do would have been unavailing, and too late--she +would have been murdered in my arms. But--and that was what none of us +saw--neither I, nor Pierpoint, nor the hound Manasseh--one person stood +back in the shade; one person had seen, but had not uttered a word +on seeing Manasseh advancing through the shades; one person only +had forecast the exact succession of all that was coming; me she saw +embarrassed and my hands preoccupied--Pierpoint and Ratcliffe useless +by position--and the gleam of the dog's eye directed her to his aim. The +crow-bar was leaning against the shattered wall. This she had silently +seized. One blow knocked up the sword; a second laid the villain +prostrate. At this moment appeared another of the turnkeys advancing +from the rear, for the noise of our assault upon the door had drawn +attention in the interior of the prison, from which, however, no great +number of assistants could on this dangerous night venture to absent +themselves. What followed for the next few minutes hurried onwards, +incident crowding upon incident, like the motions of a dream:--Manasseh, +lying on the ground, yelled out, 'The bell! the bell!' to him who +followed. The man understood, and made for the belfry-door attached +to the chapel; upon which Pierpoint drew a pistol, and sent the bullet +whizzing past his ear so truly, that fear made the man obedient to the +counter-orders of Pierpoint for the moment. He paused and awaited the +issue. In a moment had all cleared the wall, traversed the waste ground +beyond it, lifted Agnes over the low railing, shaken hands with our +benefactor Ratcliffe, and pushed onwards as rapidly as we were able +to the little dark lane, a quarter of a mile distant, where had stood +waiting for the last two hours a chaise-and-four. + +[Ratcliffe, before my story closes, I will pursue to the last of my +acquaintance with him, according to the just claims of his services. He +had privately whispered to me, as we went along, that he could speak to +the innocence of that lady, pointing to my wife, better than anybody. +He was the person whom (as then holding an office in the prison) Barratt +had attempted to employ as agent in conveying any messages that he found +it safe to send--obscurely hinting the terms on which he would desist +from prosecution. Ratcliffe had at first undertaken the negotiation from +mere levity of character. But when the story and the public interest +spread, and after himself becoming deeply struck by the prisoner's +affliction, beauty, and reputed innocence, he had pursued it only as a +means of entrapping Barratt into such written communications and such +private confessions of the truth as might have served Agnes effectually. +He wanted the art, however, to disguise his purposes: Barratt came to +suspect him violently, and feared his evidence so far, even for those +imperfect and merely oral overtures which he had really sent through +Ratcliffe--that on the very day of the trial, he, as was believed, +though by another nominally, contrived that Ratcliffe should be arrested +for debt; and, after harassing him with intricate forms of business, had +finally caused him to be conveyed to prison. Ratcliffe was thus involved +in his own troubles at the time; and afterwards supposed that, without +written documents to support his evidence, he could not be of much +service to the re-establisment of my wife's reputation. Six months after +his services in the night-escape from the prison, I saw him, and pressed +him to take the money so justly forfeited to him by Manasseh's perfidy. +He would, however, be persuaded to take no more than paid his debts. A +second and a third time his debts were paid by myself and Pierpoint. +But the same habits of intemperance and dissolute pleasure which led him +into these debts, finally ruined his constitution; and he died, though +otherwise of a fine generous manly nature, a martyr to dissipation at +the early age of twenty-nine. With respect to his prison confinement, it +was so frequently recurring in his life, and was alleviated by so many +indulgences, that he scarcely viewed it as a hardship: having once been +an officer of the prison, and having thus formed connections with the +whole official establishment, and done services to many of them, and +being of so convivial a turn, he was, even as a prisoner, treated with +distinction, and considered as a privileged son of the house.] + +It was just striking twelve o'clock as we entered the lane where the +carriage was drawn up. Rain, about the profoundest I had ever witnessed, +was falling. Though near to midsummer, the night had been unusually dark +to begin with, and from the increasing rain had become much more so. We +could see nothing; and at first we feared that some mistake had occurred +as to the station of the carriage--in which case we might have sought +for it vainly through the intricate labyrinth of the streets in +that quarter. I first descried it by the light of a torch, reflected +powerfully from the large eyes of the leaders. All was ready. +Horse-keepers were at the horses' heads. The postilions were mounted; +each door had the steps let down: Agnes was lifted in: Hannah and I +followed: Pierpoint mounted his horse; and at the word--Oh! how strange +a word!--'_All's right_,' the horses sprang off like leopards, a manner +ill-suited to the slippery pavement of a narrow street. At that moment, +but we valued it little indeed, we heard the prison-bell ringing out +loud and clear. Thrice within the first three minutes we had to pull up +suddenly, on the brink of formidable accidents, from the dangerous +speed we maintained, and which, nevertheless, the driver had orders to +maintain, as essential to our plan. All the stoppages and hinderances +of every kind along the road had been anticipated previously, and met by +contrivance, of one kind or other; and Pierpoint was constantly a +little ahead of us to attend to anything that had been neglected. The +consequence of these arrangements was--that no person along the road +could possibly have assisted to trace us by any thing in our appearance: +for we passed all objects at too flying a pace, and through darkness too +profound, to allow of any one feature in our equipage being distinctly +noticed. Ten miles out of town, a space which we traversed in forty-four +minutes, a second relay of horses was ready; but we carried on the same +postilions throughout. Six miles ahead of this distance we had a second +relay; and with this set of horses, after pushing two miles further +along the road, we crossed by a miserable lane five miles long, scarcely +even a bridge road, into another of the great roads from the capital; +and by thus crossing the country, we came back upon the city at a point +far distant from that at which we left it. We had performed a distance +of forty-two miles in three hours, and lost a fourth hour upon the +wretched five miles of cross-road. It was, therefore, four o'clock, and +broad daylight, when we drew near the suburbs of the city; but a most +happy accident now favored us; a fog the most intense now prevailed; +nobody could see an object six feet distant; we alighted in an +uninhabited new-built street, plunged into the fog, thus confounding our +traces to any observer. We then stepped into a hackney-coach which had +been stationed at a little distance. Thence, according to our plan, we +drove to a miserable quarter of the town, whither the poor only and the +wretched resorted; mounted a gloomy dirty staircase, and, befriended by +the fog, still growing thicker and thicker, and by the early hour of the +morning, reached a house previously hired, which, if shocking to the eye +and the imagination from its squalid appearance and its gloom, still +was a home--a sanctuary--an asylum from treachery, from captivity, from +persecution. Here Pierpoint for the present quitted us: and once more +Agnes, Hannah, and I, the shattered members of a shattered family, were +thus gathered together in a house of our own. + +Yes: once again, daughter of the hills, thou sleptst as heretofore in my +encircling arms; but not again in that peace which crowned thy innocence +in those days, and should have crowned it now. Through the whole of our +flying journey, in some circumstances at its outset strikingly recalling +to me that blessed one which followed our marriage, Agnes slept away +unconscious of our movements. She slept through all that day and the +following night; and I watched over her with as much jealousy of all +that might disturb her, as a mother watches over her new-born baby; for +I hoped, I fancied, that a long--long rest, a rest, a halcyon calm, a +deep, deep Sabbath of security, might prove healing and medicinal. I +thought wrong; her breathing became more disturbed, and sleep was now +haunted by dreams; all of us, indeed, were agitated by dreams; the past +pursued me, and the present, for high rewards had been advertised by +Government to those who traced us; and though for the moment we were +secure, because we never went abroad, and could not have been naturally +sought in such a neighborhood, still that very circumstance would +eventually operate against us. At length, every night I dreamed of +our insecurity under a thousand forms; but more often by far my dreams +turned upon our wrongs; wrath moved me rather than fear. Every night, +for the greater part, I lay painfully and elaborately involved, by deep +sense of wrong, + + '--in long orations, which I pleaded + Before unjust tribunals.' + [Footnote: From a MS. poem of a great living Poet.] + +And for poor Agnes, her also did the remembrance of mighty wrongs occupy +through vast worlds of sleep in the same way--though colored by +that tenderness which belonged to her gentler nature. One dream in +particular--a dream of sublime circumstances--she repeated to me so +movingly, with a pathos so thrilling, that by some profound sympathy +it transplanted itself to my own sleep, settled itself there, and is to +this hour a part of the fixed dream scenery which revolves at intervals +through my sleeping life. This it was:--She would hear a trumpet +sound--though perhaps as having been the prelude to the solemn entry of +the judges at a town which she had once visited in her childhood; other +preparations would follow, and at last all the solemnities of a great +trial would shape themselves and fall into settled images. The audience +was assembled, the judges were arrayed, the court was set. The prisoner +was cited. Inquest was made, witnesses were called; and false witnesses +came tumultuously to the bar. Then again a trumpet was heard, but the +trumpet of a mighty archangel; and then would roll away thick clouds and +vapors. Again the audience, but another audience, was assembled; again +the tribunal was established; again the court was set; but a tribunal +and a court--how different to her! _That_ had been composed of men +seeking indeed for truth, but themselves erring and fallible creatures; +the witnesses had been full of lies, the judges of darkness. But +here was a court composed of heavenly witnesses--here was a righteous +tribunal--and then at last a judge that could not be deceived. The judge +smote with his eye a person who sought to hide himself in the crowd; +the guilty man stepped forward; the poor prisoner was called up to the +presence of the mighty judge; suddenly the voice of a little child was +heard ascending before her. Then the trumpet sounded once again; and +then there were new heavens and a new earth; and her tears and +her agitation (for she had seen her little Francis) awoke the poor +palpitating dreamer. + + * * * * * + +Two months passed on: nothing could possibly be done materially to raise +the standard of those wretched accommodations which the house +offered. The dilapidated walls, the mouldering plaster, the blackened +mantel-pieces, the stained and polluted wainscots--what could be +attempted to hide or to repair all this by those who durst not venture +abroad? Yet whatever could be done, Hannah did; and, in the mean time, +very soon indeed my Agnes ceased to see or to be offended by these +objects. First of all her sight went from her; and nothing which +appealed to that sense could ever more offend her. It is to me the one +only consolation I have, that my presence and that of Hannah, with such +innocent frauds as we concerted together, made her latter days pass in +a heavenly calm, by persuading her that our security was absolute, +and that all search after us had ceased, under a belief on the part of +Government that we had gained the shelter of a foreign land. All this +was a delusion; but it was a delusion--blessed be Heaven! which +lasted exactly as long as her life, and was just commensurate with its +necessity. I hurry over the final circumstances. + +There was fortunately now, even for me, no fear that the hand of any +policeman or emissary of justice could effectually disturb the latter +days of my wife; for, besides pistols always lying loaded in an inner +room, there happened to be a long narrow passage on entering the house, +which, by means of a blunderbuss, I could have swept effectually, and +cleared many times over; and I know what to do in a last extremity. +Just two months it was, to a day, since we had entered the house; and +it happened that the medical attendant upon Agnes, who awakened no +suspicion by his visits, had prescribed some opiate or anodyne which had +not come; being dark early, for it was now September, I had ventured out +to fetch it. In this I conceived there could be no danger. On my return +I saw a man examining the fastenings of the door. He made no opposition +to my entrance, nor seemed much to observe it--but I was disturbed. Two +hours after, both Hannah and I heard a noise about the door, and voices +in low conversation. It is remarkable that Agnes heard this also--so +quick had grown her hearing. She was agitated, but was easily calmed; +and at ten o'clock we were all in bed. The hand of Agnes was in mine; +so only she felt herself in security. She had been restless for an hour, +and talking at intervals in sleep. Once she certainly wakened, for she +pressed her lips to mine. Two minutes after, I heard something in +her breathing which did not please me. I rose hastily--brought a +light--raised her head--two long, long gentle sighs, that scarcely moved +the lips, were all that could be perceived. At that moment, at that very +moment, Hannah called out to me that the door was surrounded. 'Open it!' +I said; six men entered; Agnes it was they sought; I pointed to the bed; +they advanced, gazed, and walked away in silence. + +After this I wandered about, caring little for life or its affairs, and +roused only at times to think of vengeance upon all who had contributed +to lay waste my happiness. In this pursuit, however, I was confounded +as much by my own thoughts as by the difficulties of accomplishing my +purpose. To assault and murder either of the two principal agents in +this tragedy, what would it be, what other effect could it have, than to +invest them with the character of injured and suffering people, and thus +to attract a pity or a forgiveness at least to their persons which never +otherwise could have illustrated their deaths? I remembered, indeed, the +words of a sea-captain who had taken such vengeance as had offered at +the moment upon his bitter enemy and persecutor (a young passenger on +board his ship), who had informed against him at the Custom-house on his +arrival in port, and had thus effected the confiscation of his ship, +and the ruin of the captain's family. The vengeance, and it was all +that circumstances allowed, consisted in coming behind the young man +clandestinely and pushing him into the deep waters of the dock, when, +being unable to swim, he perished by drowning. 'And the like,' said the +captain, when musing on his trivial vengeance, 'and the like happens +to many an honest sailor.' Yes, thought I, the captain was right. The +momentary shock of a pistol-bullet--what is it? Perhaps it may save +the wretch after all from the pangs of some lingering disease; and then +again I shall have the character of a murderer, if known to have shot +him; he will with many people have no such character, but at worst the +character of a man too harsh (they will say), and possibly mistaken in +protecting his property. And then, if not known as the man who shot +him, where is the shadow even of vengeance? Strange it seemed to me, and +passing strange, that I should be the person to urge arguments in behalf +of letting this man escape. For at one time I had as certainly, as +inexorably, doomed him as ever I took any resolution in my life. But the +fact is, and I began to see it upon closer view, it is not easy by any +means to take an adequate vengeance for any injury beyond a very trivial +standard; and that with common magnanimity one does not care to avenge. +Whilst I was in this mood of mind, still debating with myself whether +I should or should not contaminate my hands with the blood of this +monster, and still unable to shut my eyes upon one fact, viz. that my +buried Agnes could above all things have urged me to abstain from such +acts of violence, too evidently useless, listlessly and scarcely knowing +what I was in quest of, I strayed by accident into a church where a +venerable old man was preaching at the very moment I entered; he was +either delivering as a text, or repeating in the course of his sermon, +these words--'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' By +some accident also he fixed his eyes upon me at the moment; and +this concurrence with the subject then occupying my thoughts so much +impressed me, that I determined very seriously to review my half-formed +purposes of revenge; and well it was that I did so: for in that same +week an explosion of popular fury brought the life of this wretched +Barratt to a shocking termination, pretty much resembling the fate of +the De Witts in Holland. And the consequences to me were such, and so +full of all the consolation and indemnification which this world could +give me, that I have often shuddered since then at the narrow escape +I had had from myself intercepting this remarkable retribution. The +villain had again been attempting to play off the same hellish scheme +with a beautiful young rustic which had succeeded in the case of my +ill-fated Agnes. But the young woman in this instance had a high, and, +in fact, termagant spirit. Rustic as she was, she had been warned of the +character of the man; everybody, in fact, was familiar with the recent +tragedy. Either her lover or her brother happened to be waiting for +her outside the window. He saw in part the very tricks in the act of +perpetration by which some article or other, meant to be claimed as +stolen property, was conveyed into a parcel she had incautiously laid +down. He heard the charge against her made by Barratt, and seconded by +his creatures--heard her appeal--sprang to her aid--dragged the ruffian +into the street, when in less time than the tale could be told, and +before the police (though tolerably alert) could effectually interpose +for his rescue, the mob had so used or so abused the opportunity they +had long wished for, that he remained the mere disfigured wreck of what +had once been a man, rather than a creature with any resemblance to +humanity. I myself heard the uproar at a distance, and the shouts and +yells of savage exultation; they were sounds I shall never forget, +though I did not at that time know them for what they were, or +understood their meaning. The result, however, to me was something +beyond this, and worthy to have been purchased with my heart's blood. +Barratt still breathed; spite of his mutilations he could speak; he was +rational. One only thing he demanded--it was that his dying confession +might be taken. Two magistrates and a clergyman attended. He gave a +list of those whom he had trepanned, and had failed to trepan, by his +artifices and threats, into the sacrifice of their honor. He expired +before the record was closed, but not before he had placed my wife's +name in the latter list as the one whose injuries in his dying moments +most appalled him. This confession on the following day went into the +hands of the hostile minister, and my revenge was perfect. + + + + +THE SPANISH NUN. + + +Why is it that _Adventures_ are so generally repulsive to people of +meditative minds? It is for the same reason that any other want of law, +that any other anarchy is repulsive. Floating passively from action to +action, as helplessly as a withered leaf surrendered to the breath +of winds, the human spirit (out of which comes all grandeur of human +motions) is exhibited in mere _Adventures_, as either entirely laid +asleep, or as acting only by lower organs that regulate the _means_, +whilst the _ends_ are derived from alien sources, and are imperiously +predetermined. It is a case of exception, however, when even amongst +such adventures the agent reacts upon his own difficulties and +necessities by a temper of extraordinary courage, and a mind of +premature decision. Further strength arises to such an exception, if the +very moulding accidents of the life, if the very external coercions are +themselves unusually romantic. They may thus gain a separate interest of +their own. And, lastly, the whole is locked into validity of interest, +even for the psychological philosopher, by complete authentication +of its truth. In the case now brought before him, the reader must not +doubt; for no memoir exists, or personal biography, that is so trebly +authenticated by proofs and attestations direct and collateral. From the +archives of the Royal Marine at Seville, from the autobiography or the +heroine, from contemporary chronicles, and from several official sources +scattered in and out of Spain, some of them ecclesiastical, the +amplest proofs have been drawn, and may yet be greatly extended, of the +extraordinary events here recorded. M. de Ferrer, a Spaniard of much +research, and originally incredulous as to the facts, published about +seventeen years ago a selection from the leading documents, accompanied +by his _palinode_ as to their accuracy. His materials have been since +used for the basis of more than one narrative, not inaccurate, in +French, German and Spanish journals of high authority. It is seldom the +case that French writers err by prolixity. They _have_ done so in this +case. The present narrative, which contains no sentence derived from any +foreign one, has the great advantage of close compression; my own pages, +after equating the size, being as 1 to 3 of the shortest continental +form. In the mode of narration, I am vain enough to flatter myself +that the reader will find little reason to hesitate between us. Mine +at least, weary nobody; which is more than can be always said for the +continental versions. + +On a night in the year 1592, (but which night is a secret liable to 365 +answers,) a Spanish '_son of somebody_,' [Footnote: _i.e._ 'Hidalgo'] +in the fortified town of St. Sebastian, received the disagreeable +intelligence from a nurse, that his wife had just presented him with a +daughter. No present that the poor misjudging lady could possibly have +made him was so entirely useless for any purpose of his. He had three +daughters already, which happened to be more by 2+1 than _his_ reckoning +assumed as a reasonable allowance of daughters. A supernumerary son +might have been stowed away; but daughters in excess were the very +nuisance of Spain. He did, therefore, what in such cases every proud +and lazy Spanish gentleman was apt to do--he wrapped the new little +daughter, odious to his paternal eyes, in a pocket handkerchief; and +then, wrapping up his own throat with a good deal more care, off he +bolted to the neighboring convent of St. Sebastian, not merely of that +city, but also (amongst several convents) the one dedicated to that +saint. It is well that in this quarrelsome world we quarrel furiously +about tastes; since agreeing too closely about the objects to be +liked and appropriated would breed much more fighting than is bred by +disagreeing. That little human tadpole, which the old toad of a father +would not suffer to stay ten minutes in his house, proved as welcome at +the nunnery of St. Sebastian as she was odious elsewhere. The superior +of the convent was aunt, by the mother's side, to the new-born stranger. +She, therefore, kissed and blessed the little lady. The poor nuns, who +were never to have any babies of their own, and were languishing for +some amusement, perfectly doated on this prospect of a wee pet. The +superior thanked the hidalgo for his very splendid present. The nuns +thanked him each and all; until the old crocodile actually began to +cry and whimper sentimentally at what he now perceived to be excess of +munificence in himself. Munificence, indeed, he remarked, was his foible +next after parental tenderness. + +What a luxury it is sometimes to a cynic that there go two words to a +bargain. In the convent of St. Sebastian all was gratitude; gratitude +(as aforesaid) to the hidalgo from all the convent for his present, +until at last the hidalgo began to express gratitude to _them_ for their +gratitude to _him_. Then came a rolling fire of thanks to St. Sebastian; +from the superior, for sending a future saint; from the nuns, for +sending such a love of a plaything; and, finally, from papa, for sending +such substantial board and well-bolted lodgings, 'from which,' said the +malicious old fellow, 'my pussy will never find her way out to a thorny +and dangerous world.' Won't she? I suspect, son of somebody, that the +next time you see 'pussy,' which may happen to be also the last, +will not be in a convent of any kind. At present, whilst this general +rendering of thanks was going on, one person only took no part in them. +That person was 'pussy,' whose little figure lay quietly stretched out +in the arms of a smiling young nun, with eyes nearly shut, yet peering +a little at the candles. Pussy said nothing. It's of no great use to +say much, when all the world is against you. But if St. Sebastian had +enabled her to speak out the whole truth, pussy _would_ have said: 'So, +Mr. Hidalgo, you have been engaging lodgings for me; lodgings for life. +Wait a little. We'll try that question, when my claws are grown a little +longer.' + +Disappointment, therefore, was gathering ahead. But for the present +there was nothing of the kind. That noble old crocodile, papa, was not +in the least disappointed as regarded _his_ expectation of having +no anxiety to waste, and no money to pay, on account of his youngest +daughter. He insisted on his right to forget her; and in a week _had_ +forgotten her, never to think of her again but once. The lady superior, +as regarded _her_ demands, was equally content, and through a course of +several years; for, as often as she asked pussy if she would be a +saint, pussy replied that she would, if saints were allowed plenty of +sweetmeats. But least of all were the nuns disappointed. Everything that +they had fancied possible in a human plaything fell short of what pussy +realized in racketing, racing, and eternal plots against the peace of +the elder nuns. No fox ever kept a hen-roost in such alarm as pussy kept +the dormitory of the senior sisters; whilst the younger ladies were +run off their legs by the eternal wiles, and had their chapel gravity +discomposed, even in chapel, by the eternal antics of this privileged +little kitten. + +The kitten had long ago received a baptismal name, which was Kitty; this +is Catharine, or Kate, or _Hispanice_ Catalina. It was a good name, as +it recalled her original name of pussy. And, by the way, she had also an +ancient and honorable surname, viz., _De Erauso_, which is to this day a +name rooted in Biscay. Her father, the _hidalgo_, was a military officer +in the Spanish service, and had little care whether his kitten should +turn out a wolf or a lamb, having made over the fee simple of his own +interest in the little Kate to St. Sebastian, 'to have and to hold,' +so long as Kate should keep her hold of this present life. Kate had +no apparent intention to let slip that hold, for she was blooming as +a rose-bush in June, tall and strong as a young cedar. Yet, +notwithstanding this robust health and the strength of the convent +walls, the time was drawing near when St. Sebastian's lease in Kate +must, in legal phrase, 'determine;' and any _chateaux en Espagne_, +that the Saint might have built on the cloisteral fidelity of his pet +Catalina, must suddenly give way in one hour, like many other vanities +in our own days of Spanish bonds and promises. After reaching her tenth +year, Catalina became thoughtful, and not very docile. At times she +was even headstrong and turbulent, so that the gentle sisterhood of St. +Sebastian, who had no other pet or plaything in the world, began to weep +in secret--fearing that they might have been rearing by mistake some +future tigress--for as to infancy, _that_, you know, is playful and +innocent even in the cubs of a tigress. But _there_ the ladies were +going too far. Catalina was impetuous and aspiring, but not cruel. She +was gentle, if people would let her be so. But woe to those that +took liberties with _her_! A female servant of the convent, in some +authority, one day, in passing up the aisle to matins, _wilfully_ gave +Kate a push; and in return, Kate, who never left her debts in arrear, +gave the servant for a keepsake a look which that servant carried with +her in fearful remembrance to her grave. It seemed as if Kate had tropic +blood in her veins, that continually called her away to the tropics. It +was all the fault of that 'blue rejoicing sky,' of those purple Biscayan +mountains, of that tumultuous ocean, which she beheld daily from the +nunnery gardens. Or, if only half of it was _their_ fault, the other +half lay in those golden tales, streaming upwards even into the +sanctuaries of convents, like morning mists touched by earliest +sunlight, of kingdoms overshadowing a new world which had been founded +by her kinsmen with the simple aid of a horse and a lance. The reader is +to remember that this is no romance, or at least no fiction, that he +is reading; and it is proper to remind the reader of real romances in +Ariosto or our own Spenser, that such martial ladies as the _Marfisa_, +or _Bradamant_ of the first, and _Britomart_ of the other, were really +not the improbabilities that modern society imagines. Many a stout man, +as you will soon see, found that Kate, with a sabre in hand, and well +mounted, was but too serious a fact. + +The day is come--the evening is come--when our poor Kate, that had for +fifteen years been so tenderly rocked in the arms of St. Sebastian and +his daughters, and that henceforth shall hardly find a breathing space +between eternal storms, must see her peaceful cell, must see the holy +chapel, for the last time. It was at vespers, it was during the chanting +of the vesper service, that she finally read the secret signal for her +departure, which long she had been looking for. It happened that her +aunt, the Lady Principal, had forgotten her breviary. As this was in +a private 'scrutoire, she did not choose to send a servant for it, but +gave the key to her niece. The niece, on opening the 'scrutoire, saw, +with that rapidity of eye-glance for the one thing needed in any great +emergency, which ever attended her through life, that _now_ was the +moment for an attempt which, if neglected, might never return. There lay +the total keys, in one massive _trousseau_, of that fortress impregnable +even to armies from without. Saint Sebastian! do you see what your +pet is going to do? And do it she will, as sure as your name is St. +Sebastian. Kate went back to her aunt with the breviary and the key; but +taking good care to leave that awful door, on whose hinge revolved her +whole life, unlocked. Delivering the two articles to the Superior, she +complained of a headache--[Ah, Kate! what did you know of headaches, +except now and then afterwards from a stray bullet, or so?]--upon which +her aunt, kissing her forehead, dismissed her to bed. Now, then, through +three-fourths of an hour Kate will have free elbow-room for unanchoring +her boat, for unshipping her oars, and for pulling ahead right out of +St. Sebastian's cove into the main ocean of life. + +Catalina, the reader is to understand, does not belong to the class of +persons in whom chiefly I pretend to an interest. But everywhere one +loves energy and indomitable courage. I, for my part, admire not, by +preference, anything that points to this world. It is the child of +reverie and profounder sensibility who turns _away_ from the world as +hateful and insufficient, that engages _my_ interest: whereas Catalina +was the very model of the class fitted for facing this world, and who +express their love to it by fighting with it and kicking it from year to +year. But, always, what is best in its kind one admires, even though the +kind be disagreeable. Kate's advantages for her _role_ in this life lay +in four things, viz., in a well-built person, and a particularly strong +wrist; 2d, in a heart that nothing could appal; 3d, in a sagacious head, +never drawn aside from the _hoc age_ [from the instant question of life] +by any weakness of imagination; 4th, in a tolerably thick skin--not +literally, for she was fair and blooming, and decidedly handsome, having +such a skin as became a young woman of family in northernmost Spain. +But her sensibilities were obtuse as regarded _some_ modes of delicacy, +_some_ modes of equity, _some_ modes of the world's opinion, and +_all_ modes whatever of personal hardship. Lay a stress on that word +_some_--for, as to delicacy, she never lost sight of the kind which +peculiarly concerns her sex. Long afterwards she told the Pope himself, +when confessing without disguise her sad and infinite wanderings to the +paternal old man (and I feel convinced of her veracity), that in this +respect, even then, at middle age, she was as pure as is a child. And, +as to equity, it was only that she substituted the equity of camps for +the polished (but often more iniquitous) equity of courts and towns. As +to the third item--the world's opinion--I don't know that you need lay +a stress on _some_; for, generally speaking, _all_ that the world did, +said, or thought, was alike contemptible in her eyes, in which, perhaps, +she was not so _very_ far wrong. I must add, though at the cost of +interrupting the story by two or three more sentences, that Catalina had +also a fifth advantage, which sounds humbly, but is really of use in a +world, where even to fold and seal a letter adroitly is not the least +of accomplishments. She was a _handy_ girl. She could turn her hand to +anything, of which I will give you two memorable instances. Was there +ever a girl in this world but herself that cheated and snapped her +fingers at that awful Inquisition, which brooded over the convents of +Spain, that did this without collusion from outside, trusting to nobody, +but to herself, and what? to one needle, two hanks of thread, and a very +inferior pair of scissors? For, that the scissors were bad, though Kate +does not say so in her memoirs, I knew by an _a priori_ argument, viz., +because _all_ scissors were bad in the year 1607. Now, say all decent +logicians, from a universal to a particular _valet consequentia_, _all_ +scissors were bad: _ergo_, _some_ scissors were bad. The second instance +of her handiness will surprise you even more:--She once stood upon a +scaffold, under sentence of death--[but, understand, on the evidence +of false witnesses]. Jack Ketch was absolutely tying the knot under her +ear, and the shameful man of ropes fumbled so deplorably, that Kate (who +by much nautical experience had learned from another sort of 'Jack' +how a knot _should_ be tied in this world,) lost all patience with the +contemptible artist, told him she was ashamed of him, took the rope out +of his hand, and tied the knot irreproachably herself. The crowd saluted +her with a festal roll, long and loud, of _vivas_; and this word _viva_ +of good augury--but stop; let me not anticipate. + +From this sketch of Catalina's character, the reader is prepared to +understand the decision of her present proceeding. She had no time to +lose: the twilight favored her; but she must get under hiding before +pursuit commenced. Consequently she lost not one of her forty-five +minutes in picking and choosing. No _shilly-shally_ in Kate. She saw +with the eyeball of an eagle what was indispensable. Some little money +perhaps to pay the first toll-bar of life: so, out of four shillings in +Aunty's purse, she took one. You can't say _that_ was exorbitant. Which +of us wouldn't subscribe a shilling for poor Katy to put into the first +trouser pockets that ever she will wear? I remember even yet, as a +personal experience, that when first arrayed, at four years old, in +nankeen trousers, though still so far retaining hermaphrodite relations +of dress as to wear a petticoat above my trousers, all my female friends +(because they pitied me, as one that had suffered from years of ague) +filled my pockets with half-crowns, of which I can render no account at +this day. But what were my poor pretensions by the side of Kate's? Kate +was a fine blooming girl of fifteen, with no touch of ague, and, before +the next sun rises, Kate shall draw on her first trousers, and made by +her own hand; and, that she may do so, of all the valuables in Aunty's +repository she takes nothing beside the shilling, _quantum sufficit_ of +thread, one stout needle, and (as I told you before, if you would please +to remember things) one bad pair of scissors. Now she was ready; ready +to cast off St. Sebastian's towing-rope; ready to cut and run for port +anywhere. The finishing touch of her preparations was to pick out the +proper keys: even there she showed the same discretion. She did do no +gratuitous mischief. She did not take the wine-cellar key, which would +have irritated the good father confessor; she took those keys only that +belonged to _her_, if ever keys did; for they were the keys that locked +her out from her natural birthright of liberty. 'Show me,' says the +Romish Casuist, 'her right in law to let herself out of that nunnery.' +'Show us,' we reply, '_your_ right to lock her in.' + +Right or wrong, however, in strict casuistry, Kate was resolved to let +herself out; and _did_ so; and, for fear any man should creep in whilst +vespers lasted, and steal the kitchen grate, she locked her old friends +_in_. Then she sought a shelter. The air was not cold. She hurried into +a chestnut wood, and upon withered leaves slept till dawn. Spanish diet +and youth leaves the digestion undisordered, and the slumbers light. +When the lark rose, up rose Catalina. No time to lose, for she was still +in the dress of a nun, and liable to be arrested by any man in Spain. +With her _armed_ finger, [aye, by the way, I forgot the thimble; but +Kate did _not_]--she set to work upon her amply-embroidered petticoat. +She turned it wrong side out; and with the magic that only female hands +possess, she had soon sketched and finished a dashing pair of Wellington +trousers. All other changes were made according to the materials she +possessed, and quite sufficiently to disguise the two main perils--her +sex, and her monastic dedication. What was she to do next. Speaking of +Wellington trousers would remind _us_, but could hardly remind _her_, +of Vittoria, where she dimly had heard of some maternal relative. +To Vittoria, therefore, she bent her course; and, like the Duke of +Wellington, but arriving more than two centuries earlier, [though _he_ +too is an early riser,] she gained a great victory at that place. She +had made a two days' march, baggage far in the rear, and no provisions +but wild berries; she depended for anything better, as light-heartedly +as the Duke, upon attacking, sword in hand, storming her dear friend's +entrenchments, and effecting a lodgment in his breakfast-room, should he +happen to have one. This amiable relative, an elderly man, had but +one foible, or perhaps one virtue in this world; but _that_ he had in +perfection,--it was pedantry. On that hint Catalina spoke: she knew +by heart, from the services of the convent, a few Latin phrases. +Latin!--Oh, but _that_ was charming; and in one so young! The grave Don +owned the soft impeachment; relented at once, and clasped the hopeful +young gentleman in the Wellington trousers to his _uncular_ and rather +angular breast. In this house the yarn of life was of a mingled quality. +The table was good, but that was exactly what Kate cared little about. +The amusement was of the worst kind. It consisted chiefly in conjugating +Latin verbs, especially such as were obstinately irregular. To show +him a withered frost-bitten verb, that wanted its preterite, wanted its +supines, wanted, in fact, everything in this world, fruits or blossoms, +that make a verb desirable, was to earn the Don's gratitude for life. +All day long he was marching and countermarching his favorite +brigades of verbs--verbs frequentative, verbs inceptive, verbs +desiderative--horse, foot, and artillery; changing front, advancing from +the rear, throwing out skirmishing parties, until Kate, not given to +faint, must have thought of such a resource, as once in her life she had +thought so seasonably of a vesper headache. This was really worse than +St. Sebastian's. It reminds one of a French gayety in Thiebault or +some such author, who describes a rustic party, under equal despair, as +employing themselves in conjugating the verb _s'ennuyer,--Je m'ennuie, +tu t'ennuies, il s'ennuit; nous nous ennuyons_, &c.; thence to +the imperfect--_Je m'ennuyois, tu t'ennuyois_, &c.; thence to the +imperative--_Qu'il s'ennuye_, &c.; and so on through the whole +melancholy conjugation. Now, you know, when the time comes that, _nous +nous ennuyons_, the best course is, to part. Kate saw _that_; and she +walked off from the Don's [of whose amorous passion for defective +verbs one would have wished to know the catastrophe], and took from his +mantel-piece rather move silver than she had levied on her aunt. But the +Don also was a relative; and really he owed her a small cheque on his +banker for turning out on his field-days. A man, if he _is_ a kinsman, +has no right to bore one _gratis_. + +From Vittoria, Kate was guided by a carrier to Valladolid. Luckily, as +it seemed at first, but it made little difference in the end, here, at +Valladolid, were the King and his Court. Consequently, there was plenty +of regiments and plenty of regimental bands. Attracted by one of these, +Catalina was quietly listening to the music, when some street +ruffians, in derision of the gay colors and the form of her forest-made +costume--[rascals! one would like to have seen what sort of trousers +_they_ would have made with no better scissors!]--began to pelt her with +stones. Ah, my friends, of the genus _blackguard_, you little know who +it is that you are selecting for experiments. This is the one creature +of fifteen in all Spain, be the other male or female, whom nature, and +temper, and provocation have qualified for taking the conceit out of +you. This she very soon did, laying open a head or two with a sharp +stone, and letting out rather too little than too much of bad +Valladolid blood. But mark the constant villany of this world. +Certain Alguazils--very like some other Alguazils that I know nearer +home--having stood by quietly to see the friendless stranger insulted +and assaulted, now felt it their duty to apprehend the poor nun for +murderous violence: and had there been such a thing as a treadmill in +Valladolid, Kate was booked for a place on it without further inquiry. +Luckily, injustice does not _always_ prosper. A gallant young cavalier, +who had witnessed from his windows the whole affair, had seen the +provocation, and admired Catalina's behavior--equally patient at first +and bold at last--hastened into the street, pursued the officers, forced +them to release their prisoner, upon stating the circumstances of the +case, and instantly offered Catalina a situation amongst his retinue. +He was a man of birth and fortune; and the place offered, that of +an honorary page, not being at all degrading even to a 'daughter of +somebody,' was cheerfully accepted. Here Catalina spent a happy month. +She was now splendidly dressed in dark blue velvet, by a tailor that +did not work within the gloom of a chestnut forest. She and the young +cavalier, Don Francisco de Cardenas, were mutually pleased, and had +mutual confidence. All went well--when one evening, but, luckily, not +until the sun had been set so long as to make all things indistinct, who +should march into the ante-chamber of the cavalier but that sublime of +crocodiles, _Papa_, that we lost sight of fifteen years ago, and shall +never see again after this night. He had his crocodile tears all ready +for use, in working order, like a good industrious fire-engine. It was +absolutely to Catalina herself that he advanced; whom, for many reasons, +he could not be supposed to recognise--lapse of years, male attire, +twilight, were all against him. Still, she might have the family +countenance; and Kate thought he looked with a suspicious scrutiny into +her face, as he inquired for the young Don. To avert her own face, to +announce him to Don Francisco, to wish him on the shores of that ancient +river for crocodiles, the Nile, furnished but one moment's work to the +active Catalina. She lingered, however, as her place entitled her to +do, at the door of the audience chamber. She guessed already, but in a +moment she _heard_ from papa's lips what was the nature of his errand. +His daughter Catharine, he informed the Don, had eloped from the +convent of St. Sebastian, a place rich in delight. Then he laid open the +unparalleled ingratitude of such a step. Oh, the unseen treasure that +had been spent upon that girl! Oh, the untold sums of money that he had +sunk in that unhappy speculation! The nights of sleeplessness suffered +during her infancy! The fifteen years of solicitude thrown away in +schemes for her improvement! It would have moved the heart of a stone. +The _hidalgo_ wept copiously at his own pathos. And to such a height +of grandeur had he carried his Spanish sense of the sublime, that he +disdained to mention the pocket-handkerchief which he had left at St. +Sebastian's fifteen years ago, by way of envelope for 'pussy,' and +which, to the best of pussy's knowledge, was the one sole memorandum +of papa ever heard of at St. Sebastian's. Pussy, however, saw no use in +revising and correcting the text of papa's remembrances. She showed her +usual prudence, and her usual incomparable decision. It did not appear, +as yet, that she would be reclaimed, or was at all suspected for the +fugitive by her father. For it is an instance of that singular fatality +which pursued Catalina through life, that, to her own astonishment, (as +she now collected from her father's conference,) nobody had traced her +to Valladolid, nor had her father's visit any connection with suspicious +travelling in that direction. The case was quite different. Strangely +enough, her street row had thrown her into the one sole household in all +Spain that had an official connection with St. Sebastian's. That convent +had been founded by the young cavalier's family; and, according to the +usage of Spain, the young man (as present representative of his house) +was the responsible protector of the establishment. It was not to +the Don, as harborer of his daughter, but to the Don, as _ex officio_ +visitor of the convent, that the hidalgo was appealing. Probably Kate +might have staid safely some time longer. Yet, again, this would but +have multiplied the clues for tracing her; and, finally, she would +too probably have been discovered; after which, with all his youthful +generosity, the poor Don could not have protected her. Too terrific was +the vengeance that awaited an abettor of any fugitive nun; but, above +all, if such a crime were perpetrated by an official mandatory of the +church. Yet, again, so far it was the more hazardous course to abscond, +that it almost revealed her to the young Don as the missing daughter. +Still, if it really _had_ that effect, nothing at present obliged him to +pursue her, as might have been the case a few weeks later. Kate +argued (I dare say) rightly, as she always did. Her prudence whispered +eternally, that safety there was none for her, until she had laid the +Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's. Life was to be for _her_ +a Bay of Biscay; and it was odds but she had first embarked upon this +billowy life from the literal Bay of Biscay. Chance ordered otherwise. +Or, as a Frenchman says with eloquent ingenuity, in connection with this +story, 'Chance is but the _pseudonyme_ of God for those particular cases +which he does not subscribe openly with his own sign manual.' She crept +up stairs to her bed-room. Simple are the travelling preparations of +those that, possessing nothing, have no imperials to pack. She had +Juvenal's qualification for carolling gaily through a forest full of +robbers; for she had nothing to lose but a change of linen, that rode +easily enough under her left arm, leaving the right free for answering +any questions of impertinent customers. As she crept down stairs, she +heard the Crocodile still weeping forth his sorrows to the pensive ear +of twilight, and to the sympathetic Don Francisco. Now, it would not +have been filial or lady-like for Kate to do what I am going to suggest; +but what a pity that some gay brother page had not been there to +turn aside into the room, armed with a roasted potato, and, taking a +sportsman's aim, to have lodged it in the Crocodile's abominable mouth. +Yet, what an anachronism! There _were_ no roasted potatoes in Spain +at that date, and very few in England. But anger drives a man to say +anything. + +Catalina had seen her last of friends and enemies in Valladolid. Short +was her time there; but she had improved it so far as to make a few of +both. There was an eye or two in Valladolid that would have glared with +malice upon her, had she been seen by _all_ eyes in that city, as she +tripped through the streets in the dusk; and eyes there were that would +have softened into tears, had they seen the desolate condition of the +child, or in vision had seen the struggles that were before her. But +what's the use of wasting tears upon our Kate? Wait till to-morrow +morning at sunrise, and see if she is particularly in need of pity. +What now should a young lady do--I propose it as a subject for a prize +essay--that finds herself in Valladolid at nighfall, having no letters +of introduction, not aware of any reason great or small for preferring +any street in general, except so far as she knows of some reason for +avoiding one or two streets in particular? The great problem I have +stated, Kate investigated as she went along; and she solved it with +the accuracy with which she ever applied to _practical_ exigencies. Her +conclusion was--that the best door to knock at in such a case was the +door where there was no need to knock at all, as being unfastened, and +open to all comers. For she argued that within such a door there would +be nothing to steal, so that, at least, you could not be mistaken in the +ark for a thief. Then, as to stealing from _her_, they might do that if +they could. + +Upon these principles, which hostile critics will in vain endeavor to +undermine, she laid her hand upon what seemed a rude stable door. Such +it proved. There was an empty cart inside, certainly there was, but you +couldn't take _that_ away in your pocket; and there were five loads of +straw, but then of those a lady could take no more than her _reticule_ +would carry, which perhaps was allowed by the courtesy of Spain. So Kate +was right as to the difficulty of being challenged for a thief. Closing +the door as gently as she had opened it, she dropped her person, dressed +as she was, upon the nearest heap of straw. Some ten feet further were +lying two muleteers, honest and happy enough, as compared with the lords +of the bed-chamber then in Valladolid: but still gross men, carnally +deaf from eating garlic and onions, and other horrible substances. +Accordingly, they never heard her, nor were aware, until dawn, that such +a blooming person existed. But she was aware of _them_, and of their +conversation. They were talking of an expedition for America, on the +point of sailing under Don Ferdinand de Cordova. It was to sail from +some Andalusian port. That was the very thing for _her_. At daylight she +woke, and jumped up, needing no more toilet than the birds that already +were singing in the gardens, or than the two muleteers, who, good, +honest fellows, saluted the handsome boy kindly--thinking no ill at his +making free with _their_ straw, though no leave had been asked. + +With these philo-garlic men Kate took her departure. The morning was +divine: and leaving Valladolid with the transports that befitted such +a golden dawn, feeling also already, in the very obscurity of her exit, +the pledge of her escape; she cared no longer for the Crocodile, or +for St. Sebastian, or (in the way of fear) for the protector of St. +Sebastian, though of _him_ she thought with some tenderness; so deep is +the remembrance of kindness mixed with justice. Andalusia she reached +rather slowly; but many months before she was sixteen years old, and +quite in time for the expedition. St. Lucar being the port of rendezvous +for the Peruvian expedition, thither she went. All comers were welcome +on board the fleet; much more a fine young fellow like Kate. She was at +once engaged as a mate; and _her_ ship, in particular, after doubling +Cape Horn without loss, made the coast of Peru. Paita was the port of +her destination. Very near to this port they were, when a storm threw +them upon a coral reef. There was little hope of the ship from the +first, for she was unmanageable, and was not expected to hold together +for twenty-four hours. In this condition, with death before their faces, +mark what Kate did; and please to remember it for her benefit, when +she does any other little thing that angers you. The crew lowered the +long-boat. Vainly the captain protested against this disloyal desertion +of a king's ship, which might yet perhaps be run on shore, so as to save +the stores. All the crew, to a man, deserted the captain. You may say +_that_ literally; for the single exception was _not_ a man, being our +bold-hearted Kate. She was the only sailor that refused to leave her +captain, or the king of Spain's ship. The rest pulled away for the +shore, and with fair hopes of reaching it. But one half-hour told +another tale: just about that time came a broad sheet of lightning, +which, through the darkness of evening, revealed the boat in the very +act of mounting like a horse upon an inner reef, instantly filling, +and throwing out the crew, every man of whom disappeared amongst +the breakers. The night which succeeded was gloomy for both the +representatives of his Catholic Majesty. It cannot be denied by the +greatest of philosophers, that the muleteer's stable at Valladolid was +worth twenty such ships, though the stable was _not_ insured against +fire, and the ship _was_ insured against the sea and the wind by some +fellow that thought very little of his engagements. But what's the +use of sitting down to cry? That was never any trick of Catalina's. By +daybreak, she was at work with an axe in her hand. I knew it, before +ever I came to this place, in her memoirs. I felt, as sure as if I had +read it, that when day broke, we should find Kate hard at work. Thimble +or axe, trousers or raft, all one to _her_. + +The Captain, though true to his duty, seems to have desponded. He gave +no help towards the raft. Signs were speaking, however, pretty loudly +that he must do something; for notice to quit was now served pretty +liberally. Kate's raft was ready; and she encouraged the captain to +think that it would give both of them something to hold by in swimming, +if not even carry double. At this moment, when all was waiting for +a start, and the ship herself was waiting for a final lurch, to say +_Good-bye_ to the King of Spain, Kate went and did a thing which some +misjudging people will object to. She knew of a box laden with gold +coins, reputed to be the King of Spain's, and meant for contingencies in +the voyage out. This she smashed open with her axe, and took a sum +equal to one hundred guineas English; which, having well secured in a +pillow-case, she then lashed firmly to the raft. Now this, you know, +though not _flotsam_, because it would not float, was certainly, by +maritime law, '_jetsom_.' It would be the idlest of scruples to fancy +that the sea or a shark had a better right to it than a philosopher, or +a splendid girl who showed herself capable of writing a very fair 8vo, +to say nothing of her decapitating in battle several of the king's +enemies, and recovering the king's banner. No sane moralist would +hesitate to do the same thing under the same circumstances, on board an +English vessel, though the First Lord of the Admiralty should be looking +on. The raft was now thrown into the sea. Kate jumped after it, and then +entreated the captain to follow her. He attempted it; but, wanting her +youthful agility, he struck his head against a spar, and sank like lead, +giving notice below that his ship was coming. Kate mounted the raft, +and was gradually washed ashore, but so exhausted, as to have lost all +recollection. She lay for hours until the warmth of the sun revived her. +On sitting up, she saw a desolate shore stretching both ways--nothing to +eat, nothing to drink, but fortunately the raft and the money had been +thrown near her; none of the lashings having given way--only what is the +use of a guinea amongst tangle and sea-gulls? The money she distributed +amongst her pockets, and soon found strength to rise and march +forward. But which _was_ forward? and which backward? She knew by the +conversation of the sailors that Paita must be in the neighborhood; and +Paita, being a port, could not be in the inside of Peru, but, of course, +somewhere on its outside--and the outside of a maritime land must be the +shore; so that, if she kept the shore, and went far enough, she could +not fail of hitting her foot against Paita at last, in the very darkest +night, provided only she could first find out which was _up_ and which +was _down_; else she might walk her shoes off, and find herself six +thousand miles in the wrong. Here was an awkward case, all for want of a +guide-post. Still, when one thinks of Kate's prosperous horoscope, that +after so long a voyage, _she_ only, out of the total crew, was thrown +on the American shore, with one hundred and five pounds in her purse of +clear gain on the voyage, a conviction arises that she _could_ not guess +wrongly. She might have tossed up, having coins in her pocket, _heads +or tails_? but this kind of sortilege was then coming to be thought +irreligious in Christendom, as a Jewish and a Heathen mode of +questioning the dark future. She simply guessed, therefore; and very +soon a thing happened which, though adding nothing to strengthen her +guess as a true one, did much to sweeten it if it should prove a false +one. On turning a point of the shore, she came upon a barrel of biscuit +washed ashore from the ship. Biscuit is about the best thing I know, +but it is the soonest spoiled; and one would like to hear counsel on one +puzzling point, why it is that a touch of water utterly ruins it, taking +its life, and leaving a _caput mortuum_ corpse! Upon this _caput_ Kate +breakfasted, though _her_ case was worse than mine; for any water that +ever plagued _me_ was always fresh; now _hers_ was a present from the +Pacific ocean. She, that was always prudent, packed up some of the +Catholic king's biscuit, as she had previously packed up far too little +of his gold. But in such cases a most delicate question occurs, pressing +equally on medicine and algebra. It is this: if you pack up too much, +then, by this extra burthen of salt provisions, you may retard for days +your arrival at fresh provisions; on the other hand, if you pack up too +little, you may never arrive at all. Catalina hit the _juste milieu;_ +and about twilight on the second day, she found herself entering Paita, +without having had to swim any river in her walk. + +The first thing, in such a case of distress, which a young lady does, +even if she happens to be a young gentleman, is to beautify her dress. +Kate always attended to _that_, as we know, having overlooked her in the +chestnut wood. The man she sent for was not properly a tailor, but one +who employed tailors, he himself furnishing the materials. His name was +Urquiza, a fact of very little importance to us in 1847, if it had stood +only at the head and foot of Kate's little account. But unhappily for +Kate's _debut_ on this vast American stage, the case was otherwise. Mr. +Urquiza had the misfortune (equally common in the old world and the +new) of being a knave; and also a showy specious knave. Kate, who +had prospered under sea allowances of biscuit and hardship, was now +expanding in proportions. With very little vanity or consciousness on +that head, she now displayed a really fine person; and, when drest +anew in the way that became a young officer in the Spanish service, she +looked [Footnote: _'She looked,' etc_. If ever the reader should visit +Aix-la-Chapelle, he will probably feel interest enough in the poor, wild +impassioned girl, to look out for a picture of her in that city, and the +only one known _certainly_ to be authentic. It is in the collection of +Mr. Sempeller. For some time it was supposed that the best (if not the +only) portrait of her lurked somewhere in Italy. Since the discovery +of the picture at Aix-la-Chapelle, that notion has been abandoned. But +there is great reason to believe that, both in Madrid and Rome, many +portraits of her must have been painted to meet the intense interest +which arose in her history subsequently amongst all the men of rank, +military or ecclesiastical, whether in Italy or Spain. The date of these +would range between sixteen and twenty-two years from, the period which +we have now reached (1608.)] the representative picture of a Spanish +_caballador_. It is strange that such an appearance, and such a rank, +should have suggested to Urquiza the presumptuous idea of wishing that +Kate might become his clerk. He _did_, however wish it; for Kate wrote +a beautiful hand; and a stranger thing is, that Kate accepted his +proposal. This might arise from the difficulty of moving in those days +to any distance in Peru. The ship had been merely bringing stores to +the station of Paita; and no corps of the royal armies was readily to be +reached, whilst something must be done at once for a livelihood. Urquiza +had two mercantile establishments, one at Trujillo, to which he repaired +in person, on Kate's agreeing to undertake the management of the other +in Paita. Like the sensible girl, that we have always found her, she +demanded specific instructions for her guidance in duties so new. +Certainly she was in a fair way for seeing life. Telling her beads at +St. Sebastian's, manoeuvreing irregular verbs at Vittoria, acting as +gentleman-usher at Valladolid, serving his Spanish Majesty round Cape +Horn, fighting with storms and sharks off the coast of Peru, and now +commencing as book-keeper or _commis_ to a draper at Paita, does she not +justify the character that I myself gave her, just before dismissing +her from St. Sebastian's, of being a 'handy' girl? Mr. Urquiza's +instructions were short, easy to be understood, but rather comic; and +yet, which is odd, they led to tragic results. There were two debtors of +the shop, (_many_, it is to be hoped, but two meriting his affectionate +notice,) with respect to whom he left the most opposite directions. The +one was a very handsome lady; and the rule as to _her_ was, that she was +to have credit unlimited, strictly unlimited. That was plain. The other +customer, favored by Mr. Urquiza's valedictory thoughts, was a young +man, cousin to the handsome lady, and bearing the name of Reyes. This +youth occupied in Mr. Urquiza's estimate the same hyperbolical rank as +the handsome lady, but on the opposite side of the equation. The rule +as to _him_ was--that he was to have _no_ credit; strictly none. In this +case, also, Kate saw no difficulty; and when she came to know Mr. Reyes +a little, she found the path of pleasure coinciding with the path of +duty. Mr. Urquiza could not be more precise in laying down the rule +than Kate was in enforcing it. But in the other case a scruple arose. +_Unlimited_ might be a word, not of Spanish law, but of Spanish +rhetoric; such as '_Live a thousand years_,' which even annuity offices +hear, and perhaps utter, without a pang. Kate, therefore, wrote to +Trujillo, expressing her honest fears, and desiring to have more +definite instructions. These were positive. If the lady chose to send +for the entire shop, her account was to be debited instantly with +_that_. She had, however, as yet, not sent for the shop, but she +began to manifest strong signs of sending for the shop _man_. Upon the +blooming young Biscayan had her roving eye settled; and she was in a +course of making up her mind to take Kate for a sweetheart. Poor Kate +saw this with a heavy heart. And, at the same time that she had a +prospect of a tender friend more than she wanted, she had become certain +of an extra enemy that she wanted quite as little. What she had done to +offend Mr. Reyes, Kate could not guess, except as to the matter of the +credit; but then, in that, she only executed her instructions. Still Mr. +Reyes was of opinion that there were two ways of executing orders: but +the main offence was unintentional on Kate's part. Reyes, though as yet +she did not know it, had himself been a candidate for the situation of +clerk; and intended probably to keep the equation precisely as it was +with respect to the allowance of credit, only to change places with +the handsome lady--keeping _her_ on the negative side, himself on the +affirmative--an arrangement that you know could have made no sort of +pecuniary difference to Urquiza. + +Thus stood matters, when a party of strolling players strolled into +Paita. Kate, as a Spaniard, being one held of the Paita aristocracy, was +expected to attend. She did so; and there also was the malignant Reyes. +He came and seated himself purposely so as to shut out Kate from all +view of the stage. She, who had nothing of the bully in her nature, and +was a gentle creature when her wild Biscayan blood had not been kindled +by insult, courteously requested him to move a little; upon which Reyes +remarked that it was not in his power to oblige the clerk as to that, +but that he _could_ oblige him by cutting his throat. The tiger that +slept in Catalina wakened at once. She seized him, and would have +executed vengeance on the spot, but that a party of young men interposed +to part them. The next day, when Kate (always ready to forget and +forgive) was thinking no more of the row, Reyes passed; by spitting at +the window, and other gestures insulting to Kate, again he roused +her Spanish blood. Out she rushed, sword in hand--a duel began in the +street, and very soon Kate's sword had passed into the heart of Reyes. +Now that the mischief was done, the police were, as usual, all alive +for the pleasure of avenging it. Kate found herself suddenly in a strong +prison, and with small hopes of leaving it, except for execution. +The relations of the dead man were potent in Paita, and clamorous for +justice, so that the _corregidor_, in a case where he saw a very poor +chance of being corrupted by bribes, felt it his duty to be sublimely +incorruptible. The reader knows, however, that, amongst the relatives +of the deceased bully, was that handsome lady, who differed as much from +her cousin in her sentiments as to Kate, as she did in the extent of her +credit with Mr. Urquiza. To _her_ Kate wrote a note; and, using one +of the Spanish King's gold coins for bribing the jailor, got it safely +delivered. That, perhaps, was unnecessary; for the lady had been already +on the alert, and had summoned Urquiza from Trujillo. By some means, not +very luminously stated, and by paying proper fees in proper quarters, +Kate was smuggled out of the prison at nightfall, and smuggled into a +pretty house in the suburbs. Had she known exactly the footing she +stood on as to the law, she would have been decided. As it was, she +was uneasy, and jealous of mischief abroad; and, before supper, she +understood it all. Urquiza briefly informed his clerk, that it would +be requisite for him to marry the handsome lady. But why? Because, said +Urquiza, after talking for hours with the _corregidor_, who was infamous +for obstinacy, he had found it impossible to make him 'hear reason,' and +release the prisoner, until this compromise of marriage was suggested. +But how could public justice be pacified for the clerk's unfortunate +homicide of Reyes, by a female cousin of the deceased man engaging to +love, honor, and obey the clerk for life? Kate could not see her way +through this logic. 'Nonsense, my friend,' said Urquiza, 'you don't +comprehend. As it stands, the affair is a murder, and hanging the +penalty. But, if you marry into the murdered man's house, then it +becomes a little family murder, all quiet and comfortable amongst +ourselves. What has the _corregidor_ to do with that? or the public +either? Now, let me introduce the bride.' Supper entered at that moment, +and the bride immediately after. The thoughtfulness of Kate was narrowly +observed, and even alluded to, but politely ascribed to the natural +anxieties of a prisoner, and the very imperfect state of liberation +even yet from prison _surveillance_. Kate had, indeed, never been in so +trying a situation before. The anxieties of the farewell night at St. +Sebastian were nothing to this; because, even if she had failed _then_, +a failure might not have been always irreparable. It was but to watch +and wait. But now, at this supper table, she was not more alive to the +nature of the peril than she was to the fact, that if, before the night +closed, she did not by some means escape from it, she never _would_ +escape with life. The deception as to her sex, though resting on no +motive that pointed to these people, or at all concerned them, would be +resented as if it had. The lady would resent the case as a mockery; +and Urquiza would lose his opportunity of delivering himself from an +imperious mistress. According to the usages of the times and country, +Kate knew that in twelve hours she would be assassinated. + +People of infirmer resolution would have lingered at the supper table, +for the sake of putting off the evil moment of final crisis. Not so +Kate. She had revolved the case on all its sides in a few minutes, and +had formed her resolution. This done, she was as ready for the trial at +one moment as another; and, when the lady suggested that the hardships +of a prison must have made repose desirable, Kate assented, and +instantly rose. A sort of procession formed, for the purpose of doing +honor to the interesting guest, and escorting him in pomp to his +bedroom. Kate viewed it much in the same light as the procession to +which for some days she had been expecting an invitation from the +_corregidor_. Far ahead ran the servant-woman as a sort of outrider. +Then came Urquiza, like a Pasha of two tails, who granted two sorts of +credit, viz. unlimited and none at all, bearing two wax-lights, one +in each hand, and wanting only cymbals and kettle-drums to express +emphatically the pathos of his Castilian strut. Next came the bride, a +little in advance of the clerk, but still turning obliquely towards him, +and smiling graciously into his face. Lastly, bringing up the rear, +came the prisoner--our Kate--the nun, the page, the mate, the clerk, the +homicide, the convict; and, for this day only, by particular desire, the +bridegroom elect. + +It was Kate's fixed opinion, that, if for a moment she entered any +bedroom having obviously no outlet, her fate would be that of an ox once +driven within the shambles. Outside, the bullock might make some defence +with his horns; but once in, with no space for turning, he is muffled +and gagged. She carried her eye, therefore, like a hawk's, steady, +though restless, for vigilant examination of every angle she turned. +Before she entered any bedroom, she was resolved to reconnoiter it +from the doorway, and, in case of necessity, show fight at once, before +entering--as the best chance, after all, where all chances were bad. +Everything ends; and at last the procession reached the bedroom door, +the outrider having filed off to the rear. One glance sufficed to +satisfy Kate that windows there were none, and, therefore, no outlet +for escape. Treachery appeared even in _that_; and Kate, though +unfortunately without arms, was now fixed for resistance. Mr. Urquiza +entered first--'Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!' There were, as we +know already, no windows; but a slight interruption to Mr. Urquiza's +pompous tread showed that there were steps downwards into the room. +Those, thought Kate, will suit me even better. She had watched the +unlocking of the bedroom door--she had lost nothing--she had marked that +the key was left in the lock. At this moment, the beautiful lady, as +one acquainted with the details of the house, turning with the air of +a gracious monitress, held out her fair hand to guide Kate in careful +descent of the steps. This had the air of taking out Kate to dance; and +Kate, at that same moment, answering to it by the gesture of a modern +waltzer, threw her arm behind the lady's waist, hurled her headlong down +the steps right against Mr. Urquiza, draper and haberdasher; and +then, with the speed of lightning, throwing the door _home_ within its +architrave, doubly locked the creditor and debtor into the rat-trap +which they had prepared for herself. + +The affrighted out-rider fled with horror: she already knew that the +clerk had committed one homicide; a second would cost him still less +thought; and thus it happened that egress was left easy. But, when out +and free once more in the bright starry night, which way should Kate +turn? The whole city would prove but a rat-trap for her, as bad as +Mr. Urquiza's, if she was not off before morning. At a glance she +comprehended that the sea was her only chance. To the port she fled. All +was silent. Watchmen there were none. She jumped into a boat. To use +the oars was dangerous, for she had no means of muffling them. But she +contrived to hoist a sail, pushed off with a boat-hook, and was soon +stretching across the water for the mouth of the harbor before a breeze +light but favorable. Having cleared the difficulties of exit she lay +down, and unintentionally fell asleep. When she awoke the sun had been +up three or four hours; all was right otherwise; but had she not served +as a sailor, Kate would have trembled upon finding that, during her long +sleep of perhaps seven or eight hours, she had lost sight of land; by +what distance she could only guess; and in what direction, was to some +degree doubtful. All this, however, seemed a great advantage to the bold +girl, throwing her thoughts back on the enemies she had left behind. +The disadvantage was--having no breakfast, not even damaged biscuit; and +some anxiety naturally arose as to ulterior prospects a little beyond +the horizon of breakfast. But who's afraid? As sailors whistle for a +wind, Catalina really had but to whistle for anything with energy, and +it was sure to come. Like Caesar to the pilot of Dyrrhachium, she might +have said, for the comfort of her poor timorous boat, (though destined +soon to perish,) '_Catalinam vehis, et fortunas ejus_.' Meantime, being +very doubtful as to the best course for sailing, and content if her +course did but lie offshore, she 'carried on,' as sailors say, under +easy sail, going, in fact, just whither and just how the Pacific breezes +suggested in the gentlest of whispers. _All right behind_, was Kate's +opinion; and, what was better, very soon she might say, _all right +ahead:_ for some hour or two before sunset, when dinner was for once +becoming, even to Kate, the most interesting of subjects for meditation, +suddenly a large ship began to swell upon the brilliant atmosphere. +In those latitudes, and in those years, any ship was pretty sure to +be Spanish: sixty years later the odds were in favor of its being an +English buccaneer; which would have given a new direction to Kate's +energy. Kate continued to make signals with a handkerchief whiter +than the crocodile's of Ann. Dom. 1592, else it would hardly have been +noticed. Perhaps, after all, it would not, but that the ship's course +carried her very nearly across Kate's. The stranger lay-to for her. It +was dark by the time Kate steered herself under the ship's quarter; +and _then_ was seen an instance of this girl's eternal wakefulness. +Something was painted on the stern of her boat, she could not see +_what;_ but she judged that it would express some connection with the +port that she had just quitted. Now it was her wish to break the chain +of traces connecting her with such a scamp as Urquiza; since else, +through his commercial correspondence, he might disperse over Peru a +portrait of herself by no means flattering. How should she accomplish +this? It was dark; and she stood, as you may see an Etonian do at times, +rocking her little boat from side to side, until it had taken in +water as much as might be agreeable. Too much it proved for the boat's +constitution, and the boat perished of dropsy--Kate declining to tap it. +She got a ducking herself; but what cared she? Up the ship's side she +went, as gaily as ever, in those years when she was called pussy, she +had raced after the nuns of St. Sebastian; jumped upon deck, and told +the first lieutenant, when he questioned her about her adventures, quite +as much truth as any man, under the rank of admiral, had a right to +expect. + +This ship was full of recruits for the Spanish army, and bound to +Concepcion. Even in that destiny was an iteration, or repeating memorial +of the significance that ran through Catalina's most casual adventures. +She had enlisted amongst the soldiers; and, on reaching port, the +very first person who came off from shore was a dashing young military +officer, whom at once by his name and rank, (though she had never +consciously seen him,) she identified as her own brother. He was +splendidly situated in the service, being the Governor-General's +secretary, besides his rank as a cavalry officer; and, his errand on +board being to inspect the recruits, naturally, on reading in the roll +one of them described as a Biscayan, the ardent young man came up with +high-bred courtesy to Catalina, took the young recruit's hand with +kindness, feeling that to be a compatriot at so great a distance was +to be a sort of relative, and asked with emotion after old boyish +remembrances. There was a scriptural pathos in what followed, as if it +were some scene of domestic re-union, opening itself from patriarchal +ages. The young officer was the eldest son of the house, and had left +Spain when Catalina was only three years old. But, singularly enough, +Catalina it was, the little wild cat that he yet remembered seeing at +St. Sebastian's, upon whom his earliest inquiries settled. 'Did the +recruit know his family, the De Erausos?' O yes, every body knew _them_. +'Did the recruit know little Catalina?' Catalina smiled, as she replied +that she did; and gave such an animated description of the little fiery +wretch, as made the officer's eye flash with gratified tenderness, and +with certainty that the recruit was no counterfeit Biscayan. Indeed, you +know, if Kate couldn't give a good description of 'Pussy,' who could? +The issue of the interview was--that the officer insisted on Kate's +making a home of his quarters. He did other services for his unknown +sister. He placed her as a trooper in his own regiment, and favored +her in many a way that is open to one having authority. But the person, +after all, that did most to serve our Kate, was Kate. War was then +raging with Indians, both from Chili and Peru. Kate had always done her +duty in action; but at length, in the decisive battle of Puren, there +was an opening for doing something more. Havoc had been made of her own +squadron: most of the officers were killed, and the standard was carried +off. Kate gathered around her a small party--galloped after the Indian +column that was carrying away the trophy--charged--saw all her own party +killed--but (in spite of wounds on her face and shoulder) succeeded in +bearing away the recovered standard. She rode up to the general and his +staff; she dismounted; she rendered up her prize; and fainted away, much +less from the blinding blood, than from the tears of joy which dimmed +her eyes, as the general, waving his sword in admiration over her head, +pronounced our Kate on the spot an _Alferez_, [Footnote: _Alferez_. +This rank in the Spanish army is, or was, on a level with the modern +_sous-lieutenant_ of France.] or standard-bearer, with a commission from +the King of Spain and the Indies. Bonny Kate! Noble Kate! I would +there were not two centuries laid between us, so that I might have the +pleasure of kissing thy fair hand. + +Kate had the good sense to see the danger of revealing her sex, or her +relationship, even to her own brother. The grasp of the Church never +relaxed, never 'prescribed,' unless freely and by choice. The nun, if +discovered, would have been taken out of the horse-barracks, or the +dragoon-saddle. She had the firmness, therefore, for many years, to +resist the sisterly impulses that sometimes suggested such a confidence. +For years, and those years the most important of her life--the years +that developed her character--she lived undetected as a brilliant +cavalry officer under her brother's patronage. And the bitterest grief +in poor Kate's whole life, was the tragical (and, were it not fully +attested, one might say the ultra-scenical,) event that dissolved their +long connection. Let me spend a word of apology on poor Kate's errors. +We all commit many; both you and I, reader. No, stop; that's not civil. +You, reader, I know, are a saint; I am _not_, though very near it. I +_do_ err at long intervals; and then I think with indulgence of the many +circumstances that plead for this poor girl. The Spanish armies of that +day inherited, from the days of Cortez and Pizarro, shining remembrances +of martial prowess, and the very worst of ethics. To think little of +bloodshed, to quarrel, to fight, to gamble, to plunder, belonged to the +very atmosphere of a camp, to its indolence, to its ancient traditions. +In your own defence, you were obliged to do such things. Besides +all these grounds of evil, the Spanish army had just there an extra +demoralization from a war with savages--faithless and bloody. Do not +think, I beseech you, too much, reader, of killing a man. That word +'_kill_' is sprinkled over every page of Kate's own autobiography. It +ought not to be read by the light of these days. Yet, how if a man that +she killed were----? Hush! It was sad; but is better hurried over in a +few words. Years after this period, a young officer one day dining with +Kate, entreated her to become his second in a duel. Such things were +every-day affairs. However, Kate had reasons for declining the service, +and did so. But the officer, as he was sullenly departing, said--that, +if he were killed, (as he thought he _should_ be,) his death would lie +at Kate's door. I do not take _his_ view of the case, and am not moved +by his rhetoric or his logic. Kate _was_, and relented. The duel was +fixed for eleven at night, under the walls of a monastery. Unhappily the +night proved unusually dark, so that the two principals had to tie white +handkerchiefs round their elbows, in order to descry each other. In the +confusion they wounded each other mortally. Upon that, according to a +usage not peculiar to Spaniards, but extending (as doubtless the reader +knows) for a century longer to our own countrymen, the two seconds were +obliged in honor to do something towards avenging their principals. Kate +had her usual fatal luck. Her sword passed sheer through the body of her +opponent: this unknown opponent falling dead, had just breath left +to cry out, 'Ah, villain, you have killed me,' in a voice of horrific +reproach; and the voice was the voice of her brother! + +The monks of the monastery, under whose silent shadows this murderous +duel had taken place, roused by the clashing of swords and the angry +shouts of combatants, issued out with torches to find one only of the +four officers surviving. Every convent and altar had a right of asylum +for a short period. According to the custom, the monks carried Kate, +insensible with anguish of mind, to the sanctuary of their chapel. There +for some days they detained her; but then, having furnished her with a +horse and some provisions, they turned her adrift. Which way should the +unhappy fugitive turn? In blindness of heart she turned towards the sea. +It was the sea that had brought her to Peru; it was the sea that would +perhaps carry her away. It was the sea that had first showed her this +land and its golden hopes; it was the sea that ought to hide from her +its fearful remembrances. The sea it was that had twice spared her life +in extremities; the sea it was that might now if it chose, take back the +bauble that it had spared in vain. + + +KATE'S PASSAGE OVER THE ANDES. + +Three days our poor heroine followed the coast. Her horse was then +almost unable to move; and on _his_ account, she turned inland to +a thicket for grass and shelter. As she drew near to it, a voice +challenged--'_Who goes there_?' Kate answered, '_Spain_.' '_What +people_?' '_A friend_.' It was two soldiers, deserters, and almost +starving. Kate shared her provisions with these men: and, on hearing +their plan, which was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join the +party. _Their_ object was the wild one of seeking the river _Dorado_, +whose waters rolled along golden sands, and whose pebbles were emeralds. +_Hers_ was to throw herself upon a line the least liable to pursuit, and +the readiest for a new chapter of life in which oblivion might be found +for the past. After a few days of incessant climbing and fatigue, they +found themselves in the regions of perpetual snow. Summer would come as +vainly to this kingdom of frost as to the grave of her brother. No +fire, but the fire of human blood in youthful veins, could ever be kept +burning in these aerial solitudes. Fuel was rarely to be found, and +kindling a secret hardly known except to Indians. However, our Kate can +do everything, and she's the girl, if ever girl _did_ such a thing, or +ever girl did _not_ such a thing, that I back at any odds for crossing +the Cordilleras. I would bet you something now, reader, if I thought +you would deposit your stakes by return of post, (as they play at chess +through the post-office,) that Kate does the trick, that she gets down +to the other side; that the soldiers do _not_: and that the horse, if +preserved at all, is preserved in a way that will leave him very little +to boast of. + +The party had gathered wild berries and esculent roots at the foot of +the mountains, and the horse was of very great use in carrying them. But +this larder was soon emptied. There was nothing then to carry; so that +the horse's value, as a beast of burthen, fell cent per cent. In fact, +very soon he could not carry himself, and it became easy to calculate +when he would reach the bottom on the wrong side the Cordilleras. He +took three steps back for one upwards. A council of war being held, the +small army resolved to slaughter their horse. He, though a member of the +expedition, had no vote, and if he had the votes would have stood three +to one--majority, two against him. He was cut into quarters; which +surprises me; for, unless _one_ quarter was considered his own share, +it reminds one too much of this amongst the many _facetiae_ of English +midshipmen, who ask (on any one of their number looking sulky) 'if it is +his intention to marry and retire from the service upon a superannuation +of L4 4s. 4 1/2d. a year, paid quarterly by way of bothering the +purser.' The purser can't do it with the help of farthings. And +as respects aliquot parts, four shares among three persons are as +incommensurable as a guinea is against any attempt at giving change +in half-crowns. However, this was all the preservation that the horse +found. No saltpetre or sugar could be had: but the frost was antiseptic. +And the horse was preserved in as useful a sense as ever apricots were +preserved or strawberries. + +On a fire, painfully devised out of broom and withered leaves, a +horse-steak was dressed, for drink, snow as allowed _a discretion_. This +ought to have revived the party, and Kate, perhaps, it _did_. But the +poor deserters were thinly clad, and they had not the boiling heart of +Catalina. More and more they drooped. Kate did her best to cheer them. +But the march was nearly at an end for _them_, and they were going +in one half hour to receive their last billet. Yet, before this +consummation, they have a strange spectacle to see; such as few places +could show, but the upper chambers of the Cordilleras. They had reached +a billowy scene of rocky masses, large and small, looking shockingly +black on their perpendicular sides as they rose out of the vast snowy +expanse. Upon the highest of these, that was accessible, Kate mounted +to look around her, and she saw--oh, rapture at such an hour!--a man +sitting on a shelf of rock with a gun by his side. She shouted with joy +to her comrades, and ran down to communicate the joyful news. Here was +a sportsman, watching, perhaps, for an eagle; and now they would have +relief. One man's cheek kindled with the hectic of sudden joy, and he +rose eagerly to march. The other was fast sinking under the fatal sleep +that frost sends before herself as her merciful minister of death; but +hearing in his dream the tidings of relief, and assisted by his friends, +he also staggeringly arose. It could not be three minutes' walk, Kate +thought, to the station of the sportsman. That thought supported them +all. Under Kate's guidance, who had taken a sailor's glance at the +bearings, they soon unthreaded the labyrinth of rocks so far as to bring +the man within view. He had not left his resting-place; their steps on +the soundless snow, naturally, he could not hear; and, as their road +brought them upon him from the rear, still less could he see them. Kate +hailed him; but so keenly was he absorbed in some speculation, or in the +object of his watching, that he took no notice of them, not even moving +his head. Kate began to think there would be another man to rouse from +sleep. Coming close behind him, she touched his shoulder, and said, 'My +friend, are you sleeping?' Yes, he _was_ sleeping; sleeping the sleep +from which there is no awaking; and the slight touch of Kate having +disturbed the equilibrium of the corpse, down it rolled on the snow: +the frozen body rang like a hollow iron cylinder; the face uppermost and +blue with mould, mouth open, teeth ghastly and bleaching in the frost, +and a frightful grin upon the lips. This dreadful spectacle finished the +struggles of the weaker man, who sank and died at once. The other made +an effort with so much spirit, that, in Kate's opinion, horror had acted +upon him beneficially as a stimulant. But it was not really so. It was +a spasm of morbid strength; a collapse succeeded; his blood began to +freeze; he sat down in spite of Kate, and _he_ also died without further +struggle. Gone are the poor suffering deserters; stretched and bleaching +upon the snow; and insulted discipline is avenged. Great kings have long +arms; and sycophants are ever at hand for the errand of the potent. What +had frost and snow to do with the quarrel? Yet _they_ made themselves +sycophantic servants of the King of Spain; and _they_ dogged his +deserters up to the summit of the Cordilleras, more surely than any +Spanish bloodhound, or any Spanish tirailleur's bullet. + +Now is our Kate standing alone on the summits of the Andes, in solitude +that is shocking, for she is alone with her own afflicted conscience. +Twice before she had stood in solitude as deep upon the wild--wild +waters of the Pacific; but her conscience had been then untroubled. Now, +is there nobody left that can help; her horse is dead--the soldiers are +dead. There is nobody that she can speak to except God; and very soon +you will find that she _does_ speak to him; for already on these vast +aerial deserts He has been whispering to _her_. The condition of Kate is +exactly that of Coleridge's '_Ancient Mariner_.' But possibly, reader, +you may be amongst the many careless readers that have never fully +understood what that condition was. Suffer me to enlighten you, else you +ruin the story of the mariner; and by losing all its pathos, lose half +the jewels of its beauty. + +There are three readers of the 'Ancient Mariner.' The first is gross +enough to fancy all the imagery of the mariner's visions delivered by +the poet for actual facts of experience; which being impossible, the +whole pulverizes, for that reader, into a baseless fairy tale. The +second reader is wiser than _that_; he knows that the imagery is _not_ +baseless; it is the imagery of febrile delirium; really seen, but not +seen as an external reality. The mariner had caught the pestilential +fever, which carried off all his mates; he only had survived--the +delirium had vanished; but the visions that had haunted the delirium +remained. 'Yes,' says the third reader, 'they remained; naturally they +did, being scorched by fever into his brain; but how did they happen to +remain on his belief as gospel truths? The delirium had vanished: +why had not the painted scenery of the delirium vanished, except as +visionary memorials of a sorrow that was cancelled? Why was it that +craziness settled upon this mariner's brain, driving him, as if he were +a Cain, or another Wandering Jew, to 'pass like night--from land +to land;' and, at uncertain intervals, wrenching him until he made +rehearsal of his errors, even at the hard price of 'holding children +from their play, and old men from the chimney corner?' [Footnote: The +beautiful words of Sir Philip Sidney, in his '_Defense of Poesie_.'] +That craziness, as the _third reader_ deciphers, rose out of a deeper +soil than any bodily affection. It had its root in penitential sorrow. +Oh, bitter is the sorrow to a conscientious heart, when, too late, it +discovers the depth of a love that has been trampled under foot! This +mariner had slain the creature that, on all the earth, loved him best. +In the darkness of his cruel superstition he had done it, to save his +human brothers from a fancied inconvenience; and yet, by that very act +of cruelty, he had himself called destruction upon their heads. The +Nemesis that followed punished _him_ through _them_--him, that wronged, +through those that wrongfully he sought to benefit. That spirit who +watches over the sanctities of love is a strong angel--is a jealous +angel; and this angel it was + + 'That lov'd the bird, that lov'd the man, + That shot him with his bow.' + +He it was that followed the cruel archer into silent and slumbering +seas; + + 'Nine fathom deep he had follow'd him + Through the realms of mist and snow.' + +This jealous angel it was that pursued the man into noon-day darkness, +and the vision of dying oceans, into delirium, and finally, (when +recovered from disease) into an unsettled mind. + +Such, also, had been the offence of Kate; such, also was the punishment +that now is dogging her steps. She, like the mariner, had slain the one +sole creature that loved her upon the whole wide earth; she, like the +mariner, for this offence, had been hunted into frost and snow--very +soon will be hunted into delirium; and from _that_ (if she escapes with +life) will be hunted into the trouble of a heart that cannot rest. +There was the excuse of one darkness for _her_; there was the excuse of +another darkness for the mariner. But, with all the excuses that earth, +and the darkness of earth, can furnish, bitter it would be for you or +me, reader, through every hour of life, waking or dreaming, to look back +upon one fatal moment when we had pierced the heart that would have died +for us. In this only the darkness had been merciful to Kate--that it had +hidden for ever from her victim the hand that slew him. But now in such +utter solitude, her thoughts ran back to their earliest interview. She +remembered with anguish, how, on first touching the shores of America, +almost the very first word that met her ear had been from _him_, the +brother whom she had killed, about the 'Pussy' of times long past; how +the gallant young man had hung upon her words, as in her native Basque +she described her own mischievous little self, of twelve years back; how +his color went and came, whilst his loving memory of the little sister +was revived by her own descriptive traits, giving back, as in a mirror, +the fawn-like grace, the squirrel-like restlessness, that once had +kindled his own delighted laughter; how he would take no denial, but +showed on the spot, that, simply to have touched--to have kissed--to +have played with the little wild thing, that glorified, by her +innocence, the gloom of St. Sebastian's cloisters, gave a _right_ to his +hospitality; how, through _him_ only, she had found a welcome in camps; +how, through _him_, she had found the avenue to honor and distinction. +And yet this brother, so loving and generous, it was that she had +dismissed from life. She paused; she turned round, as if looking back +for his grave; she saw the dreadful wildernesses of snow which already +she had traversed. + +Silent they were at this season, even as in the panting heats of noon, +the Zaarrahs of the torrid zone are oftentimes silent. Dreadful was the +silence; it was the nearest thing to the silence of the grave. Graves +were at the foot of the Andes, _that_ she knew too well; graves were at +the summit of the Andes, _that_ she saw too well. And, as she gazed, a +sudden thought flashed upon her, when her eyes settled upon the corpses +of the poor deserters--could she, like _them_, have been all this while +unconsciously executing judgment upon herself? Running from a wrath that +was doubtful, into the very jaws of a wrath that was inexorable? Flying +in panic--and behold! there was no man that pursued? For the first time +in her life, Kate trembled. _Not_ for the first time, Kate wept. Far +less for the first time was it, that Kate bent her knee--that Kate +clasped her hands--that Kate prayed. But it _was_ the first time that +she prayed as _they_ pray, for whom no more hope is left but in prayer. + +Here let me pause a moment for the sake of making somebody angry. A +Frenchman, who sadly misjudges Kate, looking at her through a Parisian +opera-glass, gives it as _his_ opinion--that, because Kate first +_records_ her prayer on this occasion, therefore, now first of all she +prayed. _I_ think not so. _I_ love this Kate, blood-stained as she is; +and I could not love a woman that never bent her knee in thankfulness or +in supplication. However, we have all a right to our own little opinion; +and it is not you, '_mon cher_,' you Frenchman, that I am angry with, +but somebody else that stands behind you. You, Frenchman, and your +compatriots, I love oftentimes for your festal gaiety of heart; and I +quarrel only with your levity and that eternal worldliness that freezes +too fiercely--that absolutely blisters with its frost--like the upper +air of the Andes. _You_ speak of Kate only as too readily you speak of +all women; the instinct of a natural scepticism being to scoff at all +hidden depths of truth. Else you are civil enough to Kate; and your +'_homage_' (such as it may happen to be) is always at the service of a +woman on the shortest notice. But behind _you_, I see a worse fellow; +a gloomy fanatic; a religious sycophant that seeks to propitiate his +circle by bitterness against the offences that are most unlike his own. +And against him, I must say one word for Kate to the too hasty reader. +This villain, whom I mark for a shot if he does not get out of the +way, opens his fire on our Kate under shelter of a lie. For there is a +standing lie in the very constitution of civil society, a _necessity_ +of error, misleading us as to the proportions of crime. Mere necessity +obliges man to create many acts into felonies, and to punish them as the +heaviest offences, which his better sense teaches him secretly to regard +as perhaps among the lightest. Those poor deserters, for instance, were +they necessarily without excuse? They might have been oppressively used; +but in critical times of war, no matter for the individual palliations, +the deserter from his colors _must_ be shot: there is no help for it: +as in extremities of general famine, we shoot the man (alas! we are +_obliged_ to shoot him) that is found robbing the common stores in order +to feed his own perishing children, though the offence is hardly visible +in the sight of God. Only blockheads adjust their scale of guilt to +the scale of human punishments. Now, our wicked friend the fanatic, who +calumniates Kate, abuses the advantage which, for such a purpose, he +derives from the exaggerated social estimate of all violence. Personal +security being so main an object of social union, we are obliged to +frown upon all modes of violence as hostile to the central principle +of that union. We are _obliged_ to rate it, according to the universal +results towards which it tends, and scarcely at all, according to the +special condition of circumstances, in which it may originate. Hence +a horror arises for that class of offences, which is (philosophically +speaking) exaggerated; and by daily use, the ethics of a police-office +translate themselves, insensibly, into the ethics even of religious +people. But I tell that sycophantish fanatic--not this only, viz., that +he abuses unfairly, against Kate, the advantage which he has from the +_inevitably_ distorted bias of society; but also, I tell him this second +little thing, viz., that upon turning away the glass from that one +obvious aspect of Kate's character, her too fiery disposition to +vindicate all rights by violence, and viewing her in relation +to _general_ religious capacities, she was a thousand times more +promisingly endowed than himself. It is impossible to be noble in many +things, without having many points of contact with true religion. If you +deny _that_ you it is that calumniate religion. Kate _was_ noble in many +things. Her worst errors never took a shape of self-interest or deceit. +She was brave, she was generous, she was forgiving, she bore no malice, +she was full of truth--qualities that God loves either in man or woman. +She hated sycophants and dissemblers. _I_ hate them; and more than ever +at this moment on her behalf. I wish she were but here--to give a punch +on the head to that fellow who traduces her. And, coming round again +to the occasion from which this short digression has started, viz., the +question raised by the Frenchman--whether Kate were a person likely to +_pray_ under other circumstances than those of extreme danger? I offer +it as _my_ opinion that she was. Violent people are not always such from +choice, but perhaps from situation. And, though the circumstances of +Kate's position allowed her little means for realizing her own wishes, +it is certain that those wishes pointed continually to peace and an +unworldly happiness, if _that_ were possible. The stormy clouds that +enveloped her in camps, opened overhead at intervals--showing her a far +distant blue serene. She yearned, at many times, for the rest which is +not in camps or armies; and it is certain, that she ever combined with +any plans or day-dreams of tranquillity, as their most essential ally, +some aid derived from that dovelike religion which, at St. Sebastian's, +as an infant and through girlhood, she had been taught so profoundly to +adore. + +Now, let us rise from this discussion of Kate against libellers, as Kate +herself is rising from prayer, and consider, in conjunction with _her_, +the character and promise of that dreadful ground which lies immediately +before her. What is to be thought of it? I could wish we had a +theodolite here, and a spirit-level, and other instruments, for settling +some important questions. Yet no: on consideration, if one _had_ a wish +allowed by that kind fairy, without whose assistance it would be quite +impossible to send, even for the spirit-level, nobody would throw away +the wish upon things so paltry. I would not put the fairy upon any such +errand: I would order the good creature to bring no spirit-level, but a +stiff glass of spirits for Kate--a palanquin, and relays of fifty stout +bearers--all drunk, in order that they might not feel the cold. The +main interest at this moment, and the main difficulty--indeed, the 'open +question' of the case--was, to ascertain whether the ascent were yet +accomplished or not; and when would the descent commence? or had it, +perhaps, long commenced? The character of the ground, in those immediate +successions that could be connected by the eye, decided nothing; for the +undulations of the level had been so continual for miles, as to perplex +any eye but an engineer's, in attempting to judge whether, upon the +whole, the tendency were upwards or downwards. Possibly it was yet +neither way; it is, indeed, probable, that Kate had been for some time +travelling along a series of terraces, that traversed the whole breadth +of the topmost area at that point of crossing the Cordilleras, and which +perhaps, but not certainly, compensated any casual tendencies downwards +by corresponding reascents. Then came the question--how long would these +terraces yet continue? and had the ascending parts _really_ balanced +the descending?--upon _that_ seemed to rest the final chance for Kate. +Because, unless she very soon reached a lower level, and a warmer +atmosphere, mere weariness would oblige her to lie down, under a +fierceness of cold, that would not suffer her to rise after once losing +the warmth of motion; or, inversely, if she even continued in motion, +mere extremity of cold would, of itself, speedily absorb the little +surplus energy for moving, which yet remained unexhausted by weariness. + +At this stage of her progress, and whilst the agonizing question seemed +yet as indeterminate as ever, Kate's struggle with despair, which had +been greatly soothed by the fervor of her prayer, revolved upon her in +deadlier blackness. All turned, she saw, upon a race against time, and +the arrears of the road; and she, poor thing! how little qualified could +_she_ be, in such a condition, for a race of any kind; and against two +such obstinate brutes as time and space! This hour of the progress, +this noontide of Kate's struggle, must have been the very crisis of +the whole. Despair was rapidly tending to ratify itself. Hope, in any +degree, would be a cordial for sustaining her efforts. But to flounder +along a dreadful chaos of snow-drifts, or snow-chasms, towards a point +of rock, which, being turned, should expose only another interminable +succession of the same character--might _that_ be endured by ebbing +spirits, by stiffening limbs, by the ghastly darkness that was now +beginning to gather upon the inner eye? And, if once despair became +triumphant, all the little arrear of physical strength would collapse at +once. + +Oh! verdure of human fields, cottages of men and women, (that now +suddenly seemed all brothers and sisters,) cottages with children around +them at play, that are so far below--oh! summer and spring, flowers +and blossoms, to which, as to _his_ symbols, God has given the gorgeous +privilege of rehearsing for ever upon earth his most mysterious +perfection--Life, and the resurrections of Life--is it indeed true, that +poor Kate must never see you more? Mutteringly she put that question +to herself. But strange are the caprices of ebb and flow in the deep +fountains of human sensibilities. At this very moment, when the utter +incapacitation of despair was gathering fast at Kate's heart, a sudden +lightening shot far into her spirit, a reflux almost supernatural, from +the earliest effects of her prayer. A thought had struck her all at +once, and this thought prompted her immediately to turn round. Perhaps +it was in some blind yearning after the only memorials of life in this +frightful region, that she fixed her eye upon a point of hilly ground by +which she identified the spot near which the three corpses were lying. +The silence seemed deeper than ever. Neither was there any phantom +memorial of life for the eye or for the ear, nor wing of bird, nor echo, +nor green leaf, nor creeping thing, that moved or stirred, upon the +soundless waste. Oh, what a relief to this burthen of silence would be a +human groan! Here seemed a motive for still darker despair. And yet, at +that very moment, a pulse of joy began to thaw the ice at her heart. It +struck her, as she reviewed the ground, that undoubtedly it had been for +some time slowly descending. Her senses were much dulled by suffering; +but this thought it was, suggested by a sudden apprehension of a +continued descending movement, which had caused her to turn round. +Sight had confirmed the suggestion first derived from her own steps. The +distance attained was now sufficient to establish the tendency. Oh, yes, +yes, to a certainty she had been descending for some time. Frightful was +the spasm of joy which whispered that the worst was over. It was as when +the shadow of midnight, that murderers had relied on, is passing away +from your beleagured shelter, and dawn will soon be manifest. It was +as when a flood, that all day long has raved against the walls of your +house, has ceased (you suddenly think) to rise; yes! measured by a +golden plummet, it _is_ sinking beyond a doubt, and the darlings of +your household are saved. Kate faced round in agitation to her proper +direction. She saw, what previously, in her stunning confusion, she had +_not_ seen, that, hardly two stones' throw in advance, lay a mass +of rock, split as into a gateway. Through that opening it now became +probable that the road was lying. Hurrying forward, she passed within +the natural gates. Gates of paradise they were. Ah, what a vista +did that gateway expose before her dazzled eye? what a revelation of +heavenly promise? Full two miles long, stretched a long narrow glen, +everywhere descending, and in many parts rapidly. All was now placed +beyond a doubt. She _was_ descending--for hours, perhaps, _had_ been +descending insensibly, the mighty staircase. Yes, Kate is leaving behind +her the kingdom of frost and the victories of death. Two miles farther +there may be rest, if there is not shelter. And very soon, as the crest +of her new-born happiness, she distinguished at the other end of that +rocky vista, a pavilion-shaped mass of dark green foliage--a belt of +trees, such as we see in the lovely parks of England, but islanded by +a screen (though not everywhere occupied by the usurpations) of a thick +bushy undergrowth. Oh, verdure of dark olive foliage, offered suddenly +to fainting eyes, as if by some winged patriarchal herald of wrath +relenting--solitary Arab's tent, rising with saintly signals of peace, +in the dreadful desert, must Kate indeed die even yet, whilst she +sees but cannot reach you? Outpost on the frontier of man's dominions, +standing within life, but looking out upon everlasting death, wilt thou +hold up the anguish of thy mocking invitation, only to betray? Never, +perhaps, in this world was the line so exquisitely grazed, that parts +salvation and ruin. As the dove to her dove-cot from the swooping +hawk--as the Christian pinnace to Christian batteries, from the bloody +Mahometan corsair, so flew--so tried to fly towards the anchoring +thickets, that, alas! could not weigh their anchors and make sail to +meet her--the poor exhausted Kate from the vengeance of pursuing frost. + +And she reached them; staggering, fainting, reeling, she entered beneath +the canopy of umbrageous trees. But, as oftentimes, the Hebrew fugitive +to a city of refuge, flying for his life before the avenger of blood, +was pressed so hotly that, on entering the archway of what seemed to +_him_ the heavenly city-gate, as he kneeled in deep thankfulness to kiss +its holy merciful shadow, he could not rise again, but sank instantly +with infant weakness into sleep--sometimes to wake no more; so sank, so +collapsed upon the ground, without power to choose her couch, and with +little prospect of ever rising again to her feet, the martial nun. She +lay as luck had ordered it, with her head screened by the undergrowth +of bushes, from any gales that might arise; she lay exactly as she sank, +with her eyes up to heaven; and thus it was that the nun saw, before +falling asleep, the two sights that upon earth are fittest for the +closing eyes of a nun, whether destined to open again, or to close for +ever. She saw the interlacing of boughs overhead forming a dome, that +seemed like the dome of a cathedral. She saw through the fretwork of the +foliage, another dome, far beyond, the dome of an evening sky, the dome +of some heavenly cathedral, not built with hands. She saw upon this +upper dome the vesper lights, all alive with pathetic grandeur of +coloring from a sunset that had just been rolling down like a chorus. +She had not, till now, consciously observed the time of day; whether it +were morning, or whether it were afternoon, in her confusion she had not +distinctly known. But now she whispered to herself--'_It is evening_:' +and what lurked half unconsciously in these words might be--'The sun, +that rejoices, has finished his daily toil; man, that labors, has +finished _his_; I, that suffer, have finished mine.' That might be what +she thought, but what she _said_ was--'It is evening; and the hour is +come when the _Angelus_ is sounding through St. Sebastian.' What made +her think of St. Sebastian, so far away in depths of space and time? Her +brain was wandering, now that her feet were _not_; and, because her eyes +had descended from the heavenly to the earthly dome, _that_ made +her think of earthly cathedrals, and of cathedral choirs, and of St. +Sebastian's chapel, with its silvery bells that carried the _Angelus_ +far into mountain recesses. Perhaps, as her wanderings increased, she +thought herself back in childhood; became 'pussy' once again; fancied +that all since then was a frightful dream; that she was not upon the +dreadful Andes, but still kneeling in the holy chapel at vespers; still +innocent as then; loved as then she had been loved; and that all men +were liars, who said her hand was ever stained with blood. Little enough +is mentioned of the delusions which possessed her; but that little gives +a key to the impulse which her palpitating heart obeyed, and which her +rambling brain for ever reproduced in multiplying mirrors. Restlessness +kept her in waking dreams for a brief half hour. But then, fever and +delirium would wait no longer; the killing exhaustion would no longer be +refused; the fever, the delirium, and the exhaustion, swept in together +with power like an army with banners; and the nun ceased through the +gathering twilight any more to watch the cathedrals of earth, or the +more solemn cathedrals that rose in the heavens above. + +All night long she slept in her verdurous St. Bernard's hospice without +awaking, and whether she would _ever_ awake seemed to depend upon +an accident. The slumber that towered above her brain was like that +fluctuating silvery column which stands in scientific tubes sinking, +rising, deepening, lightening, contracting, expanding; or like the mist +that sits, through sultry afternoons, upon the river of the American +St. Peter, sometimes rarefying for minutes into sunny gauze, sometimes +condensing for hours into palls of funeral darkness. You fancy that, +after twelve hours of _any_ sleep, she must have been refreshed; better +at least than she was last night. Ah! but sleep is not always sent upon +missions of refreshment. Sleep is sometimes the secret chamber in which +death arranges his machinery. Sleep is sometimes that deep mysterious +atmosphere, in which the human spirit is slowly unsettling its wings for +flight from earthly tenements. It is now eight o'clock in the morning; +and, to all appearance, if Kate should receive no aid before noon, when +next the sun is departing to his rest, Kate will be departing to hers; +when next the sun is holding out his golden Christian signal to man, +that the hour is come for letting his anger go down, Kate will be +sleeping away for ever into the arms of brotherly forgiveness. + +What is wanted just now for Kate, supposing Kate herself to be wanted +by this world, is, that this world would be kind enough to send her a +little brandy before it is too late. The simple truth was, and a truth +which I have known to take place in more ladies than Kate, who died +or did _not_ die, accordingly, as they had or had not an adviser like +myself, capable of giving so sound an opinion, that the jewelly star of +life had descended too far down the arch towards setting, for any chance +of re-ascending by _spontaneous_ effort. The fire was still burning +in secret, but needed to be rekindled by potent artificial breath. It +lingered, and _might_ linger, but would never culminate again without +some stimulus from earthly vineyards. [Footnote: Though not exactly in +the same circumstances as Kate, or sleeping, _a la belle etoile_, on +a declivity of the Andes, I have known (or heard circumstantially +reported) the cases of many ladies besides Kate, who were in precisely +the same critical danger of perishing for want of a little brandy. +A dessert spoonful or two would have saved them. Avaunt! you wicked +'Temperance' medallist! repent as fast as ever you can, or, perhaps the +next time we hear of you, _anasarca_ and _hydro-thorax_ will be running +after you to punish your shocking excesses in water. Seriously, the +case is one of constant recurrence, and constantly ending fatally from +_unseasonable_ and pedantic rigor of temperance. The fact is, that the +medical profession composes the most generous and liberal body of +men amongst us; taken generally, by much the most enlightened; but +professionally, the most timid. Want of boldness in the administration +of opium, &c., though they can be bold enough with mercury, is their +besetting infirmity. And from this infirmity females suffer most. +One instance I need hardly mention, the fatal case of an august lady, +mourned by nations, with respect to whom it was, and is, the belief of +multitudes to this hour (well able to judge), that she would have been +saved by a glass of brandy; and her attendant, who shot himself, came to +think so too late--too late for _her_, and too late for himself. Amongst +many cases of the same nature, which personally I have been acquainted +with, twenty years ago, a man, illustrious for his intellectual +accomplishments, mentioned to me that his own wife, during her first or +second confinement, was suddenly reported to him, by one of her female +attendants, (who slipped away unobserved by the medical people,) as +undoubtedly sinking fast. He hurried to her chamber, and _saw_ that it +was so. The presiding medical authority, however, was inexorable. 'Oh, +by no means,' shaking his ambrosial wig, 'any stimulant at this +crisis would be fatal.' But no authority could overrule the concurrent +testimony of all symptoms, and of all unprofessional opinions. By some +pious falsehood my friend smuggled the doctor out of the room, and +immediately smuggled a glass of brandy into the poor lady's lips. She +recovered with magical power. The doctor is now dead, and went to his +grave under the delusive persuasion--that not any vile glass of brandy, +but the stern refusal of all brandy, was the thing that saved his +collapsing patient. The patient herself, who might naturally know +something of the matter, was of a different opinion. She sided with the +factious body around her bed, (comprehending all beside the doctor,) who +felt sure that death was rapidly approaching, _barring_ that brandy. +The same result in the same appalling crisis, I have known repeatedly +produced by twenty-five drops of laudanum. An obstinate man will +say--'Oh, never listen to a non-medical man like this writer. Consult in +such a case your medical adviser.' You will, will you? Then let me tell +you, that you are missing the very logic of all I have been saying for +the improvement of blockheads, which is--that you should consult any man +_but_ a medical man, since no other man has any obstinate prejudice of +professional timidity. N. B.--I prescribe for Kate _gratis_, because +she, poor thing! has so little to give. But from other ladies, who may +have the happiness to benefit by my advice, I expect a fee--not so large +a one considering the service--a flowering plant, suppose the _second_ +best in their collection. I know it would be of no use to ask for the +_very_ best, (which else I could wish to do,) because that would only be +leading them into little fibs. I don't insist on a _Yucca gloriosa_, or +a _Magnolia speciosissima_, (I hope there _is_ such a plant)--a rose or +a violet will do. I am sure there is such a plant as that. And if they +settle their debts justly, I shall very soon be master of the prettiest +little conservatory in England. For, treat it not as a jest, reader; +no case of timid practice is so fatally frequent.] Kate was ever lucky, +though ever unfortunate; and the world, being of my opinion that Kate +was worth saving, made up its mind about half-past eight o'clock in the +morning to save her. Just at that time, when the night was over, and its +sufferings were hidden--in one of those intermitting gleams that for +a moment or two lightened the clouds of her slumber, Kate's dull ear +caught a sound that for years had spoken a familiar language to _her_. +What was it? It was the sound, though muffled and deadened, like the +ear that heard it, of horsemen advancing. Interpreted by the tumultuous +dreams of Kate, was it the cavalry of Spain, at whose head so often she +had charged the bloody Indian scalpers? Was it, according to the legend +of ancient days, cavalry that had been sown by her brother's blood, +cavalry that rose from the ground on an inquest of retribution, and were +racing up the Andes to seize her? Her dreams that had opened sullenly to +the sound waited for no answer, but closed again into pompous darkness. +Happily, the horsemen had caught the glimpse of some bright ornament, +clasp, or aiguillette, on Kate's dress. They were hunters and foresters +from below; servants in the household of a beneficent lady; and in some +pursuit of flying game had wandered beyond their ordinary limits. Struck +by the sudden scintillation from Kate's dress played upon by the morning +sun, they rode up to the thicket. Great was their surprise, great their +pity, to see a young officer in uniform stretched within the bushes upon +the ground, and perhaps dying. Borderers from childhood on this dreadful +frontier, sacred to winter and death, they understood the case at once. +They dismounted: and with the tenderness of women, raising the poor +frozen cornet in their arms, washed her temples with brandy, whilst one, +at intervals, suffered a few drops to trickle within her lips. As the +restoration of a warm bed was now most likely to be successful, they +lifted the helpless stranger upon a horse, walking on each side with +supporting arms. Once again our Kate is in the saddle; once again a +Spanish Caballador. But Kate's bridle-hand is deadly cold. And her +spurs, that she had never unfastened since leaving the monastic asylum, +hung as idle as the flapping sail that fills unsteadily with the breeze +upon a stranded ship. + +This procession had some miles to go, and over difficult ground; but at +length it reached the forest-like park and the chateau of the wealthy +proprietress. Kate was still half-frozen and speechless, except at +intervals. Heavens! can this corpse-like, languishing young woman, be +the Kate that once, in her radiant girlhood, rode with a handful of +comrades into a column of two thousand enemies, that saw her comrades +die, that persisted when all were dead, that tore from the heart of +all resistance the banner of her native Spain? Chance and change have +'written strange defeatures in her face.' Much is changed; but some +things are not changed: there is still kindness that overflows with +pity: there is still helplessness that asks for this pity without a +voice: she is now received by a Senora, not less kind than that maternal +aunt, who, on the night of her birth, first welcomed her to a loving +home; and she, the heroine of Spain, is herself as helpless now as that +little lady who, then at ten minutes of age, was kissed and blessed by +all the household of St. Sebastian. + +Let us suppose Kate placed in a warm bed. Let us suppose her in a few +hours recovering steady consciousness; in a few days recovering some +power of self-support; in a fortnight able to seek the gay saloon, +where the Senora was sitting alone, and rendering thanks, with that +deep sincerity which ever characterized our wild-hearted Kate, for the +critical services received from that lady and her establishment. + +This lady, a widow, was what the French call a _metisse_, the Spaniards +a _mestizza_; that is, the daughter of a genuine Spaniard, and an Indian +mother. I shall call her simply a _creole_, [Footnote: 'Creole.'--At +that time the infusion of negro or African blood was small. +Consequently none of the negro hideousness was diffused. After these +intercomplexities had arisen between all complications of descent from +three original strands, European, American, African, the distinctions +of social consideration founded on them bred names so many, that a +court calendar was necessary to keep you from blundering. As yet, +the varieties were few. Meantime, the word _creole_ has always been +misapplied in our English colonies to a person (though of strictly +European blood,) simply because _born_ in the West Indies. In this +English use, it expresses the same difference as the Romans indicated by +_Hispanus_ and _Hispanicus_. The first meant a person of Spanish blood, +a native of Spain; the second, a Roman born in Spain. So of _Germanus_ +and _Germanicus_, _Italus_ and _Italicus_, _Anglus_ and _Anglicus_, &c.; +an important distinction, on which see Casaubon _apud Scriptores. +Hist. Augustan._] which will indicate her want of pure Spanish blood +sufficiently to explain her deference for those who had it. She was a +kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where there were no +opera boxes to rent--a widow about fifty years old in the wicked world's +account, some forty-four in her own; and happy, above all, in the +possession of a most lovely daughter, whom even the wicked world did +not accuse of more than sixteen years. This daughter, Juana, was--But +stop--let her open the door of the saloon in which the Senora and the +cornet are conversing, and speak for herself. She did so, after an hour +had passed; which length of time, to _her_ that never had any business +whatever in her innocent life, seemed sufficient to settle the business +of the old world and the new. Had Pietro Diaz (as Catalina now called +herself) been really a Peter, and not a sham Peter, what a vision of +loveliness would have rushed upon his sensibilities as the door +opened! Do not expect me to describe her, for which, however, there are +materials extant, sleeping in archives, where they have slept for two +hundred and twenty years. It is enough that she is reported to +have united the stately tread of Andalusian women with the innocent +voluptuousness of Peruvian eyes. As to her complexion and figure, be it +known that Juana's father was a gentleman from Grenada, having in his +veins the grandest blood of all this earth, blood of Goths and Vandals, +tainted (for which Heaven be thanked!) twice over with blood of +Arabs--once through Moors, once through Jews; [Footnote: It is well +known, that the very reason why the Spanish of all nations became the +most gloomily jealous of a Jewish cross in the pedigree, was because, +until the vigilance of the Church rose into ferocity, in no nation was +such a cross so common. The hatred of fear is ever the deepest. And men +hated the Jewish taint, as once in Jerusalem they hated the leprosy, +because even whilst they raved against it, the secret proofs of it might +be detected amongst their own kindred, even as in the Temple, whilst +once a king rose in mutiny against the priesthood, (2 Chron. xxvi +16-20,) suddenly the leprosy that dethroned him, blazed out upon his +forehead.] whilst from her grandmother, Juana drew the deep subtle +melancholy and the beautiful contours of limb which belong to the Indian +race--a race destined silently and slowly to fade from the earth. No +awkwardness was or could be in this antelope, when gliding with forest +grace into the room--no town-bred shame--nothing but the unaffected +pleasure of one who wishes to speak a fervent welcome, but knows not if +she ought--the astonishment of a Miranda, bred in utter solitude, when +first beholding a princely Ferdinand--and just so much reserve as to +remind you, that if Catalina thought fit to dissemble her sex, she +did _not_. And consider, reader, if you look back and are a great +arithmetician, that whilst the Senora had only fifty per cent of Spanish +blood, Juana had seventy-five; so that her Indian melancholy after all +was swallowed up for the present by her Vandal, by her Arab, by her +Spanish fire. + +Catalina, seared as she was by the world, has left it evident in her +memoirs that she was touched more than she wished to be by this +innocent child. Juana formed a brief lull for Catalina in her too stormy +existence. And if for _her_ in this life the sweet reality of a sister +had been possible, here was the sister she would have chosen. On the +other hand, what might Juana think of the cornet? To have been thrown +upon the kind hospitalities of her native home, to have been rescued +by her mother's servants from that fearful death which, lying but a few +miles off, had filled her nursery with traditionary tragedies,--_that_ +was sufficient to create an interest in the stranger. But his bold +martial demeanor, his yet youthful style of beauty, his frank manners, +his animated conversation that reported a hundred contests with +suffering and peril, wakened for the first time her admiration. Men she +had never seen before, except menial servants, or a casual priest. But +here was a gentleman, young like herself, that rode in the cavalry of +Spain--that carried the banner of the only potentate whom Peruvians knew +of--the King of the Spains and the Indies--that had doubled Cape Horn, +that had crossed the Andes, that had suffered shipwreck, that had rocked +upon fifty storms, and had wrestled for life through fifty battles. + +The reader knows all that followed. The sisterly love which Catalina +did really feel for this young mountaineer was inevitably misconstrued. +Embarrassed, but not able, from sincere affection, or almost in bare +propriety, to refuse such expressions of feeling as corresponded to the +artless and involuntary kindnesses of the ingenuous Juana, one day the +cornet was surprised by mamma in the act of encircling her daughter's +waist with his martial arm, although waltzing was premature by at least +two centuries in Peru. She taxed him instantly with dishonorably abusing +her confidence. The cornet made but a bad defence. He muttered something +about '_fraternal affection_,' about 'esteem,' and a great deal of +metaphysical words that are destined to remain untranslated in their +original Spanish. The good Senora, though she could boast only of +forty-four years' experience, was not altogether to be '_had_' in that +fashion--she was as learned as if she had been fifty, and she brought +matters to a speedy crisis. 'You are a Spaniard,' she said, 'a +gentleman, therefore; _remember_ that you are a gentleman. This very +night, if your intentions are not serious, quit my house. Go to Tucuman; +you shall command my horses and servants; but stay no longer to increase +the sorrow that already you will have left behind you. My daughter loves +you. That is sorrow enough, if you are trifling with us. But, if not, +and you also love _her_, and can be happy in our solitary mode of life, +stay with us--stay for ever. Marry Juana with my free consent. I ask not +for wealth. Mine is sufficient for you both.' The cornet protested +that the honor was one never contemplated by _him_--that it was too +great--that--. But, of course, reader, you know that 'gammon' flourishes +in Peru, amongst the silver mines, as well as in some more boreal lands +that produce little better than copper and tin. 'Tin,' however, has its +uses. The delighted Senora overruled all objections, great and small; +and she confirmed Juana's notion that the business of two worlds could +be transacted in an hour, by settling her daughter's future happiness in +exactly twenty minutes. The poor, weak Catalina, not acting now in any +spirit of recklessness, grieving sincerely for the gulf that was opening +before her, and yet shrinking effeminately from the momentary shock +that would be inflicted by a firm adherence to her duty, clinging to the +anodyne of a short delay, allowed herself to be installed as the +lover of Juana. Considerations of convenience, however, postponed the +marriage. It was requisite to make various purchases; and for this, it +was requisite to visit Tucuman, where, also, the marriage ceremony could +be performed with more circumstantial splendor. To Tucuman, therefore, +after some weeks' interval, the whole party repaired. And at Tucuman it +was that the tragical events arose, which, whilst interrupting such a +mockery for ever, left the poor Juana still happily deceived, and never +believing for a moment that hers was a rejected or a deluded heart. + +One reporter of Mr. De Ferrer's narrative forgets his usual generosity, +when he says that the Senora's gift of her daughter to the Alferez was +not quite so disinterested as it seemed to be. Certainly it was not so +disinterested as European ignorance might fancy it: but it was quite as +much so as it ought to have been, in balancing the interests of a child. +Very true it is--that, being a genuine Spaniard, who was still a rare +creature in so vast a world as Peru, being a Spartan amongst Helots, an +Englishman amongst Savages, an Alferez would in those days have been +a natural noble. His alliance created honor for his wife and for his +descendants. Something, therefore, the cornet would add to the family +consideration. But, instead of selfishness, it argued just regard for +her daughter's interest to build upon this, as some sort of equipoise to +the wealth which her daughter would bring. + +Spaniard, however, as he was, our Alferez on reaching Tucuman found no +Spaniards to mix with, but instead twelve Portuguese. + +Catalina remembered the Spanish proverb--'Subtract from a Spaniard all +his good qualities, and the remainder makes a pretty fair Portuguese;' +but, as there was nobody else to gamble with, she entered freely into +their society. Very soon she suspected that there was foul play: +all modes of doctoring dice had been made familiar to _her_ by the +experience of camps. She watched; and, by the time she had lost her +final coin, she was satisfied that she had been plundered. In her first +anger she would have been glad to switch the whole dozen across the +eyes; but, as twelve to one were too great odds, she determined on +limiting her vengeance to the immediate culprit. Him she followed into +the street; and coming near enough to distinguish his profile reflected +on a wall, she continued to keep him in view from a short distance. The +light-hearted young cavalier whistled, as he went, an old Portuguese +ballad of romance; and in a quarter of an hour came up to an house, the +front door of which he began to open with a pass-key. This operation +was the signal for Catalina that the hour of vengeance had struck; +and, stepping hastily up, she tapped the Portuguese on the shoulder, +saying--'Senor, you are a robber!' The Portuguese turned coolly round, +and, seeing his gaming antagonist, replied--'Possibly, Sir; but I have +no particular fancy for being told so,' at the same time drawing his +sword. Catalina had not designed to take any advantage; and the touching +him on the shoulder, with the interchange of speeches, and the known +character of Kate, sufficiently imply it. But it is too probable in such +cases, that the party whose intention has been regularly settled from +the first, will, and must have an advantage unconsciously over a man +so abruptly thrown on his defence. However this might be, they had not +fought a minute before Catalina passed her sword through her opponent's +body; and without a groan or a sigh, the Portuguese cavalier fell dead +at his own door. Kate searched the street with her ears, and (as far as +the indistinctness of night allowed) with her eyes. All was profoundly +silent; and she was satisfied that no human figure was in motion. What +should be done with the body? A glance at the door of the house settled +_that_: Fernando had himself opened it at the very moment when +he received the summons to turn round. She dragged the corpse in, +therefore, to the foot of the staircase, put the key by the dead man's +side, and then issuing softly into the street, drew the door close with +as little noise as possible. Catalina again paused to listen and to +watch, went home to the hospitable Senora's house, retired to bed, fell +asleep, and early the next morning was awakened by the Corregidor and +four alguazils. + +The lawlessness of all that followed strikingly exposes the frightful +state of criminal justice at that time, wherever Spanish law prevailed. +No evidence appeared to connect Catalina in any way with the death of +Fernando Acosta. The Portuguese gamblers, besides that perhaps they +thought lightly of such an accident, might have reasons of their own for +drawing off public attention from their pursuits in Tucuman: not one +of these men came forward openly; else the circumstances at the gaming +table, and the departure of Catalina so closely on the heels of her +opponent, would have suggested reasonable grounds for detaining her +until some further light should be obtained. As it was, her imprisonment +rested upon no colorable ground whatever, unless the magistrate had +received some anonymous information, which, however, he never alleged. +One comfort there was, meantime, in Spanish injustice: it did not +loiter. Full gallop it went over the ground: one week often sufficed +for informations--for trial--for execution; and the only bad consequence +was, that a second or a third week sometimes exposed the disagreeable +fact that everything had been 'premature;' a solemn sacrifice had +been made to offended justice, in which all was right except as to the +victim; it was the wrong man; and _that_ gave extra trouble; for then +all was to do over again, another man to be executed, and, possibly, +still to be caught. + +Justice moved at her usual Spanish rate in the present case. Kate was +obliged to rise instantly; not suffered to speak to anybody in the +house, though, in going out, a door opened, and she saw the young Juana +looking out with saddest Indian expression. In one day the trial was all +finished. Catalina said (which was true) that she hardly knew Acosta; +and that people of her rank were used to attack their enemies face to +face, not by murderous surprises. The magistrates were impressed with +Catalina's answers (yet answered to _what_?) Things were beginning to +look well, when all was suddenly upset by two witnesses, whom the reader +(who is a sort of accomplice after the fact, having been privately let +into the truths of the case, and having concealed his knowledge), will +know at once to be false witnesses, but whom the old Spanish buzwigs +doated on as models of all that could be looked for in the best. Both +were very ill-looking fellows, as it was their duty to be. And the first +deposed as follows:--That through his quarter of Tucuman, the fact was +notorious of Acosta's wife being the object of a criminal pursuit on the +part of the Alferez (Catalina): that, _doubtless_, the injured husband +had surprised the prisoner, which, of course, had led to the murder, +to the staircase, to the key--to everything, in short, that could be +wished; no--stop! what am I saying?--to everything that ought to be +abominated. Finally--for he had now settled the main question--that +he had a friend who would take up the case where he himself, from +short-sightedness, was obliged to lay it down.' This friend, the Pythias +of this short-sighted Damon started up in a frenzy of virtue at this +summons, and, rushing to the front of the alguazils, said, 'That since +his friend had proved sufficiently the fact of the Alferez having been +lurking in the house, and having murdered a man, all that rested upon +_him_ to show was, how that murderer got out of the house; which he +could do satisfactorily; for there was a balcony running along the +windows on the second floor, one of which windows he himself, lurking +in a corner of the street, saw the Alferez throw up, and from the said +balcony take a flying leap into the said street.' Evidence like this was +conclusive; no defence was listened to, nor indeed had the prisoner +any to produce. The Alferez could deny neither the staircase nor the +balcony: the street is there to this day, like the bricks in Jack Cade's +Chimney, testifying all that may be required; and, as to our friend who +saw the leap, there he was; nobody could deny _him_. The prisoner might +indeed have suggested that she never heard of Acosta's wife, nor had +the existence of such a wife been ripened even into a suspicion. But +the bench were satisfied; chopping logic was of no use; and sentence was +pronounced--that on the eighth day from the day of arrest, the Alferez +should be executed in the public square. + +It was not amongst the weaknesses of Catalina--who had so often +inflicted death, and, by her own journal, thought so lightly of +inflicting it (if not under cowardly advantages)--to shrink from facing +death in her own person. Many incidents in her career show the coolness +and even gaiety with which, in any case where death was apparently +inevitable, she would have gone to meet it. But in this case she _had_ +a temptation for escaping it, which was probably in her power. She had +only to reveal the secret of her sex, and the ridiculous witnesses, +beyond whose testimony there was nothing at all against her, must at +once be covered with derision. Catalina had some liking for fun; and a +main inducement to this course was, that it would enable her to say to +the judges, 'Now you see what old fools you've made of yourselves; +every woman and child in Peru will soon be laughing at you.' I must +acknowledge my own weakness; this last temptation I could _not_ have +withstood; flesh is weak, and fun is strong. But Catalina _did_. On +consideration she fancied, that although the particular motive for +murdering Acosta would be dismissed with laughter, still this might not +clear her of the murder, which on some _other_ motive she might have +committed. But supposing that she were cleared altogether, what most of +all she feared was, that the publication of her sex would throw a reflex +light upon many past transactions in her life--would instantly find +its way to Spain--and would probably soon bring her within the tender +attentions of the Inquisition. She kept firm to the resolution of not +saving her life by this discovery. And so far as her fate lay in her own +hands, she would (as the reader will perceive from a little incident at +the scaffold) have perished to a certainty. But even at this point, how +strange a case! A woman _falsely_ accused of an act which she really +_did_ commit! And falsely accused of a true offence upon a motive that +was impossible! + +As the sun set upon the seventh day, when the hours were numbered +for the prisoner, there filed into her cell four persons in religious +habits. They came on the charitable mission of preparing the poor +convict for death. Catalina, however, watching all things narrowly, +remarked something earnest and significant in the eye of the leader, as +of one who had some secret communication to make. She contrived to clasp +this man's hands, as if in the energy of internal struggles, and _he_ +contrived to slip into hers the very smallest of billets from poor +Juana. It contained, for indeed it _could_ contain, only these three +words--'Do not confess. J.' This one caution, so simple and so brief, +was a talisman. It did not refer to any confession of the crime; _that_ +would have been assuming what Juana was neither entitled nor disposed +to assume, but, in the technical sense of the Church, to the act of +devotional confession. Catalina found a single moment for a glance at +it--understood the whole--resolutely refused to confess, as a person +unsettled in her religious opinions, that needed spiritual instructions, +and the four monks withdrew to make their report. The principal judge, +upon hearing of the prisoner's impenitence, granted another day. At the +end of _that_, no change having occurred either in the prisoner's +mind, or in the circumstances, he issued his warrant for the execution. +Accordingly, as the sun went down, the sad procession formed within the +prison. Into the great square of Tucuman it moved, where the scaffold +had been built, and the whole city had assembled for the spectacle. +Catalina steadily ascended the ladder of the scaffold; even then she +resolved not to benefit by revealing her sex; even then it was that she +expressed her scorn for the lubberly executioner's mode of tying a knot; +did it herself in a 'ship-shape,' orthodox manner; received in return +the enthusiastic plaudits of the crowd, and so far ran the risk of +precipitating her fate; for the timid magistrates, fearing a rescue from +the impetuous mob, angrily ordered the executioner to finish the scene. +The clatter of a galloping horse, however, at this instant forced them +to pause. The crowd opened a road for the agitated horseman, who was +the bearer of an order from the President of La Plata to suspend the +execution until two prisoners could be examined. The whole was the +work of the Senora and her daughter. The elder lady, having gathered +informations against the witnesses, had pursued them to La Plata. There, +by her influence with the Governor, they were arrested; recognised as +old malefactors; and in their terror had partly confessed their perjury. +Catalina was removed to La Plata; solemnly acquitted; and, by the advice +of the President, for the present the connection with the Senora's +family was postponed indefinitely. + +Now was the last adventure approaching that ever Catalina should see in +the new world. Some fine sights she may yet see in Europe, but nothing +after this (_which she has recorded_) in America. Europe, if it had +ever heard of her name (which very shortly it _shall_), Kings, Pope, +Cardinals, if they were but aware of her existence (which in six months +they _shall_ be), would thirst for an introduction to our Catalina. +You hardly thought now, reader, that she was such a great person, or +anybody's pet but yours and mine. Bless you, Sir, she would scorn to +look at _us_. I tell you, royalties are languishing to see her, or soon +_will_ be. But how can this come to pass, if she is to continue in her +present obscurity? Certainly it cannot without some great _peripetteia_ +or vertiginous whirl of fortune; which, therefore, you shall now behold +taking place in one turn of her next adventure. _That_ shall let in +a light, _that_ shall throw back a Claude Lorraine gleam over all +the past, able to make Kings, that would have cared not for her under +Peruvian daylight, come to glorify her setting beams. + +The Senora--and, observe, whatever kindness she does to Catalina speaks +secretly from two hearts, her own and Juana's--had, by the advice of +Mr. President Mendonia, given sufficient money for Catalina's travelling +expenses. So far well. But Mr. M. chose to add a little codicil to this +bequest of the Senora's, never suggested by her or by her daughter. +'Pray,' said this inquisitive President, who surely might have found +business enough in La Plata, 'Pray, Senor Pietro Diaz, did you ever live +at Concepcion? And were you ever acquainted there with Senor Miguel de +Erauso? That man, Sir, was my friend.' What a pity that on this occasion +Catalina could not venture to be candid! What a capital speech it +would have made to say--'_Friend_ were you? I think you could hardly +be _that_, with seven hundred miles between you. But that man was _my_ +friend also; and, secondly, my brother. True it is I killed him. But if +you happen to know that this was by pure mistake in the dark, what +an old rogue you must be to throw _that_ in my teeth, which is the +affliction of my life!' Again, however, as so often in the same +circumstances, Catalina thought that it would cause more ruin than it +could heal to be candid; and, indeed, if she were really _P. Diaz, Esq. +_, how came she to be brother to the late Mr. Erauso? On consideration, +also, if she could not tell _all_, merely to have professed a fraternal +connection which never was avowed by either whilst living together, +would not have brightened the reputation of Catalina, which too surely +required a scouring. Still, from my kindness for poor Kate, I feel +uncharitably towards the president for advising Senor Pietro 'to travel +for his health.' What had _he_ to do with people's health? However, Mr. +Peter, as he had pocketed the Senora's money, thought it right to pocket +also the advice that accompanied its payment. That he might be in a +condition to do so, he went off to buy a horse. He was in luck to-day. +For beside money and advice, he obtained, at a low rate, a horse both +beautiful and serviceable for a journey. To Paz it was, a city of +prosperous name, that the cornet first moved. But Paz did not fulfil the +promise of its name. For it laid the grounds of a feud that drove our +Kate out of America. + +Her first adventure was a bagatelle, and fitter for a jest-book than a +history; yet it proved no jest either, since it led to the tragedy that +followed. Riding into Paz, our gallant standard-bearer and her bonny +black horse drew all eyes, _comme de raison_, upon their separate +charms. This was inevitable amongst the indolent population of a Spanish +town; and Kate was used to it. But, having recently had a little too +much of the public attention, she felt nervous on remarking two soldiers +eyeing the handsome horse and the handsome rider, with an attention that +seemed too solemn for mere _aesthetics_. However, Kate was not the kind +of person to let anything dwell on her spirits, especially if it +took the shape of impudence; and, whistling gaily, she was riding +forward--when, who should cross her path but the Alcalde! Ah! Alcalde, +you see a person now that has a mission against you, though quite +unknown to herself. He looked so sternly, that Kate asked if his worship +had any commands. 'These men,' said the Alcalde, 'these two soldiers, +say that this horse is stolen.' To one who had so narrowly and so lately +escaped the balcony witness and his friend, it was really no laughing +matter to hear of new affidavits in preparation. Kate was nervous, but +never disconcerted. In a moment she had twitched off a saddle-cloth on +which she sat; and throwing it over the horse's head, so as to cover up +all between the ears and the mouth, she replied, 'that she had bought +and paid for the horse at La Plata. But now, your worship, if this horse +has really been stolen from these men, they must know well of which eye +it is blind; for it _can_ be only in the right eye or the left.' One +of the soldiers cried out instantly, that it was the left eye; but +the other said, 'No, no, you forget, it's the right.' Kate maliciously +called attention to this little schism. But the men said, 'Ah, _that_ +was nothing--they were hurried; but now, on recollecting themselves, +they were agreed that it was the left eye.' Did they stand to that? 'Oh +yes, positive they were, left eye, left.' + +Upon which our Kate, twitching off the horse-cloth, said gaily to the +magistrate, 'Now, Sir, please to observe that this horse has nothing +the matter with either eye.' And in fact it _was_ so. Then his worship +ordered his alguazils to apprehend the two witnesses, who posted off to +bread and water, with other reversionary advantages, whilst Kate rode in +quest of the best dinner that Paz could furnish. + +This Alcalde's acquaintance, however, was not destined to drop here. +Something had appeared in the young _caballero's_ bearing, which made +it painful to have addressed him with harshness, or for a moment to +have entertained such a charge against such a person. He despatched his +cousin, therefore, Don Antonio Calderon, to offer his apologies, and at +the same time to request that the stranger, whose rank and quality he +regretted not to have known, would do him the honor to come and dine +with him. This explanation, and the fact that Don Antonio had already +proclaimed his own position as cousin to the magistrate and nephew +to the Bishop of Cuzco, obliged Catalina to say, after thanking the +gentlemen for their obliging attentions, 'I myself hold the rank of +Alferez in the service of his Catholic Majesty. I am a native of Biscay, +and I am now repairing to Cuzco on private business.' 'To Cuzco!' +exclaimed Don Antonio, 'how very fortunate! My cousin is a Basque like +you; and, like you, he starts for Cuzco to-morrow morning; so that, if +it is agreeable to you, Senor Alferez, we will travel together.' It was +settled that they should. To travel--amongst 'balcony witnesses,' and +anglers for 'blind horses'--not merely with a just man, but with the +very abstract idea and riding allegory of justice, was too delightful to +the storm-wearied cornet; and he cheerfully accompanied Don Antonio +to the house of the magistrate, called Don Pedro de Chavarria. +Distinguished was his reception; the Alcalde personally renewed his +regrets for the ridiculous scene of the two scampish oculists, and +presented him to his wife, a splendid Andalusian beauty, to whom he had +been married about a year. + +This lady there is a reason for describing; and the French reporter +of Catalina's memoirs dwells upon the theme. She united, he says, +the sweetness of the German lady with the energy of the Arabian, a +combination hard to judge of. As to her feet, he adds, I say nothing; +for she had scarcely any at all. '_Je ne parle point de ses pieds, elle +n'en avait presque pas_.' 'Poor lady!' says a compassionate rustic: 'no +feet! What a shocking thing that so fine a woman should have been so +sadly mutilated!' Oh, my dear rustic, you're quite in the wrong box. The +Frenchman means this as the very highest compliment. Beautiful, however, +she must have been; and a Cinderella, I hope, not a Cinderellula, +considering that she had the inimitable walk and step of the +Andalusians, which cannot be accomplished without something of a +proportionate basis to stand upon. + +The reason which there is (as I have said) for describing this lady, +arises out of her relation to the tragic events which followed. She, +by her criminal levity, was the cause of all. And I must here warn the +moralizing blunderer of two errors that he is too likely to make: 1st, +That he is invited to read some extract from a licentious amour, as if +for its own interest; 2d, Or on account of Donna Catalina's memoirs, +with a view to relieve their too martial character. I have the pleasure +to assure him of his being so utterly in the darkness of error, that any +possible change he can make in his opinions, right or left, must be +for the better: he cannot stir, but he will mend, which is a delightful +thought for the moral and blundering mind. As to the first point, +what little glimpse he obtains of a licentious amour is, as a court +of justice will sometimes show him such a glimpse, simply to make +intelligible the subsequent facts which depend upon it. Secondly, As to +the conceit, that Catalina wished to embellish her memoirs, understand +that no such practice then existed; certainly not in Spanish literature. +Her memoirs are electrifying by their facts; else, in the manner of +telling these facts, they are systematically dry. + +Don Antonio Calderon was a handsome, accomplished cavalier. And in the +course of dinner, Catalina was led to judge, from the behavior to each +other of this gentleman and the lady, the Alcalde's beautiful wife, +that they had an improper understanding. This also she inferred from the +furtive language of their eyes. Her wonder was, that the Alcalde should +be so blind; though upon that point she saw reason in a day or two +to change her opinion. Some people see everything by affecting to see +nothing. The whole affair, however, was nothing at all to _her_, and +she would have dismissed it from her thoughts altogether, but for what +happened on the journey. + +From the miserable roads, eight hours a day of travelling was found +quite enough for man and beast; the product of which eight hours was +from ten to twelve leagues. On the last day but one of the journey, the +travelling party, which was precisely the original dinner party, reached +a little town ten leagues short of Cuzco. The Corregidor of this place +was a friend of the Alcalde; and through _his_ influence the party +obtained better accommodations than those which they had usually had in +a hovel calling itself a _venta_, or in the sheltered corner of a +barn. The Alcalde was to sleep at the Corregidor's house; the two young +cavaliers, Calderon and our Kate, had sleeping rooms at the public +_locanda_; but for the lady was reserved a little pleasure-house in an +enclosed garden. This was a plaything of a house; but the season +being summer, and the house surrounded with tropical flowers, the lady +preferred it (in spite of its loneliness) to the damp mansion of the +official grandee, who, in her humble opinion, was quite as fusty as his +mansion, and his mansion not much less so than himself. + +After dining gaily together at the _locanda_, and possibly taking a +'rise' out of his worship the Corregidor, as a repeating echo of Don +Quixote, (then growing popular in Spanish America,) the young man +who was no young officer, and the young officer who was no young man, +lounged down together to the little pavilion in the flower-garden, with +the purpose of paying their respects to the presiding belle. They were +graciously received, and had the honor of meeting there his Mustiness +the Alcalde, and his Fustiness the Corregidor; whose conversation was +surely improving, but not equally brilliant. How they got on under the +weight of two such muffs, has been a mystery for two centuries. But they +_did_ to a certainty, for the party did not break up till eleven. _Tea +and turn out_ you could not call it; for there was the _turn out_ in +rigor, but not the _tea_. One thing, however, Catalina by mere accident +had an opportunity of observing, and observed with pain. The two +official gentlemen had gone down the steps into the garden. Catalina, +having forgot her hat, went back into the little vestibule to look for +it. There stood the lady and Don Antonio, exchanging a few final +words (they _were_ final) and a few final signs. Amongst the last +Kate observed distinctly this, and distinctly she understood it. First +drawing Calderon's attention to the gesture, as one of significant +pantomime, by raising her forefinger, the lady snuffed out one of the +candles. The young man answered it by a look of intelligence, and all +three passed down the steps together. The lady was disposed to take the +cool air, and accompanied them to the garden-gate; but, in passing down +the walk, Catalina noticed a second ill-omened sign that all was not +right. Two glaring eyes she distinguished amongst the shrubs for a +moment, and a rustling immediately after. 'What's that?' said the lady, +and Don Antonio answered carelessly, 'A bird flying out of the bushes.' + +Catalina, as usual, had read everything. Not a wrinkle or a rustle was +lost upon _her_. And, therefore, when she reached the _locanda_, knowing +to an iota all that was coming, she did not retire to bed, but paced +before the house. She had not long to wait: in fifteen minutes the door +opened softly, and out stepped Calderon. Kate walked forward, and faced +him immediately; telling him laughingly that it was not good for his +health to go abroad on this night. The young man showed some impatience; +upon which, very seriously, Kate acquainted him with her suspicions, and +with the certainty that the Alcalde was not so blind as he had seemed. +Calderon thanked her for the information; would be upon his guard; but, +to prevent further expostulation, he wheeled round instantly into the +darkness. Catalina was too well convinced, however, of the mischief on +foot, to leave him thus. She followed rapidly, and passed silently +into the garden, almost at the same time with Calderon. Both took +their stations behind trees; Calderon watching nothing but the burning +candles, Catalina watching circumstances to direct her movements. +The candles burned brightly in the little pavilion. Presently one was +extinguished. Upon this, Calderon pressed forward to the steps, hastily +ascended them, and passed into the vestibule. Catalina followed on his +traces. What succeeded was all one scene of continued, dreadful dumb +show; different passions of panic, or deadly struggle, or hellish malice +absolutely suffocated all articulate words. + +In a moment a gurgling sound was heard, as of a wild beast attempting +vainly to yell over some creature that it was strangling. Next came a +tumbling out at the door of one black mass, which heaved and parted at +intervals into two figures, which closed, which parted again, which at +last fell down the steps together. Then appeared a figure in white. It +was the unhappy Andalusian; and she seeing the outline of Catalina's +person, ran up to her, unable to utter one syllable. Pitying the agony +of her horror, Catalina took her within her own cloak, and carried her +out at the garden gate. Calderon had by this time died; and the maniacal +Alcalde had risen up to pursue his wife. But Kate, foreseeing what he +would do, had stepped silently within the shadow of the garden wall. +Looking down the road to the town, and seeing nobody moving, the maniac, +for some purpose, went back to the house. This moment Kate used to +recover the _locanda_ with the lady still panting in horror. What was +to be done? To think of concealment in this little place was out of the +question. The Alcalde was a man of local power, and it was certain that +he would kill his wife on the spot. Kate's generosity would not allow +her to have any collusion with this murderous purpose. At Cuzco, the +principal convent was ruled by a near relative of the Andalusian; +and there she would find shelter. Kate, therefore, saddled her horse +rapidly, placed the lady behind, and rode off in the darkness. About +five miles out of the town their road was crossed by a torrent, over +which they could not hit the bridge. 'Forward!' cried the lady; and Kate +repeating the word to the horse, the docile creature leaped down into +the water. They were all sinking at first; but having its head free, +the horse swam clear of all obstacles through the midnight darkness, and +scrambled out on the opposite bank. The two riders were dripping from +the shoulders downward. But, seeing a light twinkling from a cottage +window, Kate rode up; obtained a little refreshment, and the benefit of +a fire, from a poor laboring man. From this man she also bought a warm +mantle for the lady, who, besides her torrent bath, was dressed in a +light evening robe, so that but for the horseman's cloak of Kate she +would have perished. But there was no time to lose. They had already +lost two hours from the consequences of their cold bath. Cuzco was +still eighteen miles distant; and the Alcalde's shrewdness would at once +divine this to be his wife's mark. They remounted: very soon the silent +night echoed the hoofs of a pursuing rider; and now commenced the most +frantic race, in which each party rode as if the whole game of life were +staked upon the issue. The pace was killing: and Kate has delivered it +as her opinion, in the memoirs which she wrote, that the Alcalde was the +better mounted. This may be doubted. And certainly Kate had ridden too +many years in the Spanish cavalry to have any fear of his worship's +horsemanship; but it was a prodigious disadvantage that _her_ horse had +to carry double; while the horse ridden by her opponent was one of those +belonging to the murdered Don Antonio, and known to Kate as a powerful +animal. At length they had come within three miles at Cuzco. The road +after this descended the whole way to the city, and in some places +rapidly, so as to require a cool rider. Suddenly a deep trench appeared +traversing the whole extent of a broad heath. It was useless to evade +it. To have hesitated was to be lost. Kate saw the necessity of clearing +it, but doubted much whether her poor exhausted horse, after twenty-one +miles of work so severe, had strength for the effort. Kate's maxim, +however, which never yet had failed, both figuratively for life, and +literally for the saddle, was--to ride at everything that showed a front +of resistance. She did so now. Having come upon the trench rather too +suddenly, she wheeled round for the advantage of coming down upon it +more determinately, rode resolutely at it, and gained the opposite bank. +The hind feet of her horse were sinking back from the rottenness of +the ground; but the strong supporting bridle-hand of Kate carried him +forward; and in ten minutes more they would be in Cuzco. This being +seen by the vicious Alcalde, who had built great hopes on the trench, +he unslung his carbine, pulled up, and fired after the bonny black +horse and its bonny fair riders. But this manoeuvre would have lost +his worship any bet that he might have had depending on this admirable +steeple-chase. Had I been stakeholder, what a pleasure it would have +been, in fifteen minutes from this very vicious shot, to pay into +Kate's hands every shilling of the deposits. I would have listened to +no nonsense about referees or protests. The bullets, says Kate, whistled +round the poor clinging lady _en croupe_--luckily none struck her; +but one wounded the horse. And that settled the odds. Kate now planted +herself well in her stirrups to enter Cuzco, almost dangerously a +winner; for the horse was so maddened by the wound, and the road so +steep, that he went like blazes; and it really became difficult for +Kate to guide him with any precision through narrow episcopal paths. +Henceforwards the wounded horse required Kate's continued attention; and +yet, in the mere luxury of strife, it was impossible for Kate to avoid +turning a little in her saddle to see the Alcalde's performance on +this tight rope of the trench. His worship's horsemanship being perhaps +rather rusty, and he not perfectly acquainted with his horse, it +would have been agreeable to compromise the case by riding round, or +dismounting. But all _that_ was impossible. The job must be done. And I +am happy to report, for the reader's satisfaction, the sequel--so far +as Kate could attend the performance. Gathering himself up for mischief, +the Alcalde took a sweep, as if ploughing out the line of some vast +encampment, or tracing the _pomaerium_ for some future Rome; then, like +thunder and lightning, with arms flying aloft in the air, down he came +upon the trembling trench. + +But the horse refused the leap; and, as the only compromise that _his_ +unlearned brain could suggest, he threw his worship right over his ears, +lodging him safely in a sand-heap that rose with clouds of dust and +screams of birds into the morning air. Kate had now no time to send back +her compliments in a musical halloo. The Alcalde missed breaking his +neck on this occasion very narrowly; but his neck was of no use to him +in twenty minutes more, as the reader will soon find. Kate rode right +onwards; and, coming in with a lady behind her, horse bloody, and pace +such as no hounds could have lived with, she ought to have made a great +sensation in Cuzco. But, unhappily, the people were all in bed. + +The steeple-chase into Cuzco had been a fine headlong thing, considering +the torrent, the trench, the wounded horse, the lovely lady, with her +agonizing fears, mounted behind Kate, together with the meek dove-like +dawn: but the finale crowded together the quickest succession of changes +that out of a melodrama can ever have been witnessed. Kate reached the +convent in safety; carried into the cloisters, and delivered like a +parcel the fair Andalusian. But to rouse the servants caused delay; and +on returning to the street through the broad gateway of the convent, +whom should she face but the Alcalde! How he escaped the trench, who can +tell? He had no time to write memoirs; his horse was too illiterate. But +he _had_ escaped; temper not at all improved by that adventure, and now +raised to a hell of malignity by seeing that he had lost his prey. In +the morning light he now saw how to use his sword. He attacked Kate with +fury. Both were exhausted; and Kate, besides that she had no personal +quarrel with the Alcalde, having now accomplished her sole object +in saving the lady, would have been glad of a truce. She could with +difficulty wield her sword: and the Alcalde had so far the advantage, +that he wounded Kate severely. That roused her ancient blood. She turned +on him now with determination. At that moment in rode two servants of +the Alcalde, who took part with their master. These odds strengthened +Kate's resolution, but weakened her chances. Just then, however, rode +in, and ranged himself on Kate's side, the servant of the murdered Don +Calderon. In an instant, Kate had pushed her sword through the Alcalde, +who died upon the spot. In an instant the servant of Calderon had fled. +In an instant the Alguazils had come up. They and the servants of the +Alcalde pressed furiously on Kate, who now again was fighting for life. +Against such odds, she was rapidly losing ground; when, in an instant, +on the opposite side of the street, the great gates of the Episcopal +palace rolled open. Thither it was that Calderon's servant had fled. The +bishop and his attendants hurried across. 'Senor Caballador,' said +the bishop, 'in the name of the Virgin, I enjoin you to surrender your +sword.' 'My lord,' said Kate, 'I dare not do it with so many enemies +about me.' 'But I,' replied the bishop, 'become answerable to the law +for your safe keeping.' Upon which, with filial reverence, all parties +dropped their swords. Kate being severely wounded, the bishop led her +into his palace. In an instant came the catastrophe; Kate's discovery +could no longer be delayed; the blood flowed too rapidly; the wound was +in her bosom. She requested a private interview with the bishop; all was +known in a moment; for surgeons and attendants were summoned hastily, +and Kate had fainted. The good bishop pitied her, and had her attended +in his palace; then removed to a convent; then to a second at Lima; and, +after many months had passed, his report to the Spanish Government at +home of all the particulars, drew from the King of Spain and from the +Pope an order that the Nun should be transferred to Spain. + +Yes, at length the warrior lady, the blooming cornet, this nun that is +so martial, this dragoon that is so lovely, must visit again the home +of her childhood, which now for seventeen years she has not seen. All +Spain, Portugal, Italy, rang with her adventures. Spain, from north to +south, was frantic with desire to behold her fiery child, whose girlish +romance, whose patriotic heroism electrified the national imagination. +The King of Spain must kiss his _faithful_ daughter, that would not +suffer his banner to see dishonor. The Pope must kiss his _wandering_ +daughter, that henceforwards will be a lamb travelling back into the +Christian fold. Potentates so great as these, when _they_ speak words +of love, do not speak in vain. All was forgiven; the sacrilege, the +bloodshed, the flight and the scorn of St. Peter's keys; the pardons +were made out, were signed, were sealed, and the chanceries of earth +were satisfied. + +Ah! what a day of sorrow and of joy was _that_ one day, in the first +week of November, 1624, when the returning Kate drew near to the shore +of Andalusia--when, descending into the ship's barge, she was rowed to +the piers of Cadiz by bargemen in the royal liveries--when she saw every +ship, street, house, convent, church, crowded, like a day of judgment, +with human faces, with men, with women, with children, all bending +the lights of their flashing and their loving eyes upon herself. Forty +myriads of people had gathered in Cadiz alone. All Andalusia had turned +out to receive her. Ah! what joy, if she had not looked back to the +Andes, to their dreadful summits, and their more dreadful feet. Ah! what +sorrow, if she had not been forced by music, and endless banners, and +triumphant clamors, to turn away from the Andes to the joyous shore +which she approached! + +Upon this shore stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this mighty +crowd, the Prime Minister of Spain, the same Conde Olivarez, who but +one year before had been so haughty and so defying to our haughty and +defying Duke of Buckingham. But a year ago the Prince of Wales was in +Spain, and he also was welcomed with triumph and great joy, but not with +the hundredth part of that enthusiasm which now met the returning nun. +And Olivarez, that had spoken so roughly to the English Duke, to +_her_ 'was sweet as summer.' [Footnote: Griffith in Shakspeare, when +vindicating, in that immortal scene with Queen Catherine, Cardinal +Wolsey.] Through endless crowds of festive compatriots he conducted +her to the King. The King folded her in his arms, and could never be +satisfied with listening to her. He sent for her continually to his +presence--he delighted in her conversation, so new, so natural, so +spirited--he settled a pension upon her at that time, of unprecedented +amount, in the case of a subaltern officer; and by _his_ desire, because +the year 1625 was a year of jubilee, she departed in a few months +from Madrid to Rome. She went through Barcelona; there and everywhere +welcomed as the lady whom the King delighted to honor. She travelled to +Rome, and all doors flew open to receive her. She was presented to his +Holiness, with letters from his most Catholic majesty. But letters there +needed none. The Pope admired her as much as all before had done. He +caused her to recite all her adventures; and what he loved most in her +account, was the sincere and sorrowing spirit in which she described +herself as neither better nor worse than she had been. Neither proud +was Kate, nor sycophantishly and falsely humble. Urban VIII. it was +that then filled the chair of St. Peter. He did not neglect to raise +his daughter's thoughts from earthly things--he pointed her eyes to the +clouds that were above the dome of St. Peter's cathedral--he told her +what the cathedral had told her in the gorgeous clouds of the Andes +and the vesper lights, how sweet a thing, how divine a thing it was for +Christ's sake to forgive all injuries, and how he trusted that no more +she would think of bloodshed. He also said two words to her in Latin, +which, if I had time to repeat a Spanish bishop's remark to Kate some +time afterwards upon those two mysterious words, with Kate's most +natural and ingenuous answer to the Bishop upon what she supposed to +be their meaning, would make the reader smile not less than they made +myself. You know that Kate _did_ understand a little Latin, which, +probably, had not been much improved by riding in the Light Dragoons. I +must find time, however, whether the press and the compositors are in a +fury or not, to mention that the Pope, in his farewell audience to his +dear daughter, whom he was to see no more, gave her a general license +to wear henceforth in all countries--even _in partibus Infidelium_--a +cavalry officer's dress--boots, spurs, sabre, and sabretache; in fact, +anything that she and the Horse Guards might agree upon. Consequently, +reader, remember for your life never to say one word, nor suffer any +tailor to say one word, against those Wellington trousers made in the +chestnut forest; for, understand that the Papal indulgence, as to this +point, runs backwards as well as forwards; it is equally shocking and +heretical to murmur against trousers in the forgotten rear or against +trousers yet to come. + +From Rome, Kate returned to Spain. She even went to St. Sebastian's--to +the city, but--whether it was that her heart failed her or not--never +to the convent. She roamed up and down; everywhere she was +welcome--everywhere an honored guest; but everywhere restless. The poor +and humble never ceased from their admiration of her; and amongst the +rich and aristocratic of Spain, with the King at their head, Kate found +especial love from two classes of men. The Cardinals and Bishops all +doated upon her--as their daughter that was returning. The military men +all doated upon her--as their sister that was retiring. + +Some time or other, when I am allowed more elbow-room, I will tell you +why it is that I myself love this Kate. Now, at this moment, when it +is necessary for me to close, if I allow you one question before laying +down my pen--if I say, 'Come now, be quick, ask anything you _have_ +to ask, for, in one minute, I am going to write _Finis_, after which +(unless the Queen wished it) I could not add a syllable'--twenty to +one, I guess what your question will be. You will ask me, What became of +Kate? What was her end? + +Ah, reader! but, if I answer that question, you will say I have _not_ +answered it. If I tell you that secret, you will say that the secret +is still hidden. Yet, because I have promised, and because you will be +angry if I do not, let me do my best; and bad is the best. After ten +years of restlessness in Spain, with thoughts always turning back to the +Andes, Kate heard of an expedition on the point of sailing to Spanish +America. All soldiers knew _her_, so that she had information of +everything that stirred in camps. Men of the highest military rank were +going out with the expedition; but they all loved Kate as a sister, and +were delighted to hear that she would join their mess on board ship. +This ship, with others, sailed, whither finally bound, I really forget. +But, on reaching America, all the expedition touched at _Vera Cruz_. +Thither a great crowd of the military went on shore. The leading +officers made a separate party for the same purpose. Their intention +was, to have a gay happy dinner, after their long confinement to a ship, +at the chief hotel; and happy in perfection it could not be, unless Kate +would consent to join it. She, that was ever kind to brother soldiers, +agreed to do so. She descended into the boat along with them, and in +twenty minutes the boat touched the shore. All the bevy of gay laughing +officers, junior and senior, like schoolboys escaping from school, +jumped on shore, and walked hastily, as their time was limited, up to +the hotel. Arriving there, all turned round in eagerness, saying, 'Where +is our dear Kate?' Ah, yes, my dear Kate, at that solemn moment, where, +indeed, were _you_? She had _certainly_ taken her seat in the boat: that +was sure. Nobody, in the general confusion, was certain of having seen +her on coming ashore. The sea was searched for her--the forests were +ransacked. The sea made no answer--the forests gave up no sign. I have +a conjecture of my own; but her brother soldiers were lost in sorrow and +confusion, and could never arrive even at a conjecture. + +That happened two hundred and fourteen years ago! Here is the brief sum +of all:--This nun sailed from Spain to Peru, and she found no rest for +the sole of her foot. This nun sailed back from Peru to Spain, and she +found no rest for the agitations of her heart. This nun sailed again +from Spain to America, and she found--the rest which all of us find. But +where it was, could never be made known to the father of Spanish camps, +that sat in Madrid; nor to Kate's spiritual father, that sat in Rome. +Known it is to the great Father that once whispered to Kate on the +Andes; but else it has been a secret for two centuries; and to man it +remains a secret for ever and ever! + + + + +FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. + + +There is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said +more broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less +generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight +eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless _steppes_ +of Asia in the latter half of the last century. The _terminus a quo_ of +this flight, and the _terminus ad quem_, are equally magnificent; the +mightiest of Christian thrones being the one, the mightiest of Pagan the +other. And the grandeur of these two terminal objects, is harmoniously +supported by the romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness +of its commencement, and the fierce velocity of its execution, we read +an expression of the wild barbaric character of the agents. In the +unity of purpose connecting this myriad of wills, and in the blind but +unerring aim at a mark so remote, there is something which recalls to +the mind those Almighty instincts that propel the migrations of the +swallow, or the life-withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the +gloomy vengeance of Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the +rear and the skirts of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic +images--such, for instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing +through desert spaces and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and +overtaking with volleying thunders those who believed themselves already +within the security of darkness and of distance. + +We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other great +national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But it may +also challenge a comparison with similar events under another relation, +viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance or +history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the complexity +of its separate interests. The great outline of the enterprise, taken +in connection with the operative motives, hidden or avowed, and the +religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to the case a +triple character: 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a unity +in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the moving +characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as belongs to Venice +Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military +expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to +be traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies +obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which mark +the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the anabasis of the younger Cyrus, +and the subsequent retreat of the ten thousand to the Black Sea--the +Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and +Julian--or (as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space +as well as in amount of forces, more extensive,) the Russian anabasis +and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized +by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia, an Exodus, +therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus of the +Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar +distinction of carrying along with them their entire families, women, +children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and +their camels. + +This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a more +comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we ascribed to +it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends partly upon the +marked variety and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and +partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even the _steppes_, +the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy deserts, are not beyond +the scale of our modern representative powers, as often called into +action in the theatres both of Paris and London; and the series of +situations unfolded, beginning with the general conflagration on the +Wolga--passing thence to the disastrous scenes of the flight (as it +literally was in its commencement)--to the Tartar siege of the Russian +fortress Koulagina--the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the +mountain passes at Ouchim--the surprisal by the Bashkirs and the +advanced posts of the Russian army at Torgau--the private conspiracy at +this point against the Khan--the long succession of running fights--the +parting massacres at the lake of Tengis under the eyes of the +Chinese--and finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at the +hunting-lodge of the Chinese emperor;--all these situations communicate +a _scenical_ animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically; +whilst a higher and a philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of +authentic history, commemorating a great revolution for good and for +evil, in the fortunes of a whole people--a people semi-barbarous, but +simple-hearted, and of ancient descent. + +On the 2lst of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha assumed the +sceptre of the Kalmucks upon the death of his father. Some part of +the power attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his +fourteenth year, in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment, +and with the avowed support of the Russian Government. He was now +about eighteen years of age, amiable in his personal character, and not +without titles to respect in his public character as a sovereign prince. +In times more peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized, +or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that he might have +discharged his high duties with considerable distinction. But his +lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a most difficult crisis amongst +tribes, whose native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of +superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated conceit of +their own merit absolutely unparalleled, whilst the circumstances of +their hard and trying position under the jealous _surveillance_ of an +irresistible lord paramount, in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a +fiercer edge to the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, +and irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless +impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No prince could hope for +a cordial allegiance from his subjects, or a peaceful reign under the +circumstances of the case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler +stood at present was of this nature; _wanting_ the sanction and +support of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from without to command +confidence from his subjects, or resistance to his competitors: on the +other hand, _with_ this kind of support, and deriving his title in any +degree from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost in that +extent an object of hatred at home, and within the whole compass of his +own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for the past, being a +living monument of national independence, ignominiously surrendered, and +an object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already advertised +himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate purposes (whatsoever those +might prove to be) of the Russian Court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck +sceptre under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate +circumstances of his position, it might have been expected that Oubacha +would have been pre-eminently an object of detestation; for besides his +known dependence upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the direct line +of succession had been set aside, and the principle of inheritance +violently suspended, in favor of his own father, so recently as nineteen +years before the era of his own accession, consequently within the +lively remembrance of the existing generation. He therefore, almost +equally with his father, stood within the full current of the national +prejudices, and might have anticipated the most pointed hostility. But +it was not so: such are the caprices in human affairs, that he was even, +in a moderate sense, popular,--a benefit which wore the more cheering +aspect, and the promises of permanence, inasmuch as he owed it +exclusively to his personal qualities of kindness and affability, as +well as to the beneficence of his government. On the other hand, to +balance this unlooked-for prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met +with a rival in popular favor--almost a competitor--in the person of +Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to the throne, and, +perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions. Zebek-Dorchi was +a direct descendant of the same royal house as himself, through a +different branch. On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on +a footing equally good with that of Oubacha, whilst his personal +qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philosophical +observer most odious and repulsive, promised the most effectual aid to +the dark purposes of an intriguer or a conspirator, and were generally +fitted to win a popular support precisely in those points where +_Oubacha_ was most defective. He was much superior in external +appearance to his rival on the throne, and so far better qualified +to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous people; whilst his +dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian dissimulation, profound +hypocrisy, and perfidy which knew no touch of remorse, were admirably +calculated to sustain any ground which he might win from the +simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal--and from the frank +carelessness of his unconscious competitor. + +At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi was sagacious +enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open declaration of +hostility to the reigning prince: the choice had been a deliberate act +on the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the person to +recall her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. Openly, +therefore, to have declared his enmity towards his relative on the +throne, could have had no effect but that of arming suspicions against +his own ulterior purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to +his interest that, for the present, all suspicion should be hoodwinked. +Accordingly, after much meditation, the course he took for opening his +snares was this:--He raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from +the plots of several _Saissang_, (that is, Kalmuck nobles,) who were +leagued together, under an oath to assassinate him; and immediately +after, assuming a well-counterfeited alarm, he fled to Tcherkask, +followed by sixty-five tents. From this place he kept up a +correspondence with the Imperial Court; and, by way of soliciting his +cause more effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg. +Once admitted to personal conferences with the Cabinet, he found no +difficulty in winning over the Russian counsels to a concurrence with +some of his political views, and thus covertly introducing the point of +that wedge which was finally to accomplish his purposes. In particular, +he persuaded the Russian Government to make a very important alteration +in the constitution of the Kalmuck State Council, which in effect +reorganized the whole political condition of the state, and disturbed +the balance of power as previously adjusted. Of this Council--in the +Kalmuck language called _Sarga_--there were eight members, called +_Sargatchi;_ and hitherto it had been the custom that these eight +members should be entirely subordinate to the Khan; holding, in fact, +the ministerial character of secretaries and assistants, but in no +respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. That had produced some +inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy for Zebek-Dorchi to +point the jealousy of the Russian Court to others more serious which +might arise in future circumstances of war or other contingencies. +It was resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward on +a footing of perfect independence, and therefore (as regarded +responsibility) on a footing of equality with the Khan. Their +independence, however, had respect only to their own sovereign; for +towards Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and +accountability, by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300 +roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more +considerable than might be supposed, and had a further value as marks +of honorary distinction emanating from a great Empress. Thus far the +purposes of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment: +but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in the further +development of his plots, this very dependency upon Russian influence +would be the most serious obstacle in his way. There was, however, +another point carried which outweighed all inferior considerations, as +it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever should +arise to disturb his plots: he was himself appointed President and +Controller of the _Sargatchi_. The Russian Court had been aware of his +high pretensions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy the +ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged to be a reasonable +passion for any man occupying his situation. + +Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi +proceeded in his new character to fulfil his political mission with +the Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his +favorable reception at the court of this Prince, that he was at once +and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the +counsellors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar +exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had +not yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he +himself should be the chief of these mercenary counsellors, was so far +from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any ground of suspicion, +that his relative the Khan returned him hearty thanks for his services, +under the belief that he could have accepted this appointment only with +a view to keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who would not +have had the same motives of consanguinity or friendship for executing +its duties in a spirit of kindness to the Kalmucks. The first use which +he made of his new functions about the Khan's person was to attack the +Court of Russia, by a romantic villany not easy to be credited, for +those very acts of interference with the council which he himself had +prompted. This was a dangerous step: but it was indispensable to +his further advance upon the gloomy path which he had traced out for +himself. A triple vengeance was what he meditated--1, Upon the Russian +Cabinet for having undervalued his own pretensions to the throne--2, +upon his amiable rival for having supplanted him--and 3, upon all those +of the nobility who had manifested their sense of his weakness by their +neglect, or their sense of his perfidious character by their suspicions. +Here was a colossal outline of wickedness; and by one in his situation, +feeble (as it might seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts, +how was the total edifice to be reared in its comprehensive grandeur? +He, a worm as he was, could he venture to assail the mighty behemoth of +Muscovy, the potentate who counted three hundred languages around the +footsteps of his throne, and from whose 'lion ramp' recoiled alike +'baptized and infidel'--Christendom on the one side, strong by her +intellect and her organization, and the `Barbaric East' on the other, +with her unnumbered numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its +very monstrosity there lay this germ of encouragement, that it could not +be suspected. The very hopelessness of the scheme grounded his hope, and +he resolved to execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, +in the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged to be his +enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from the Russian empire the +whole Kalmuck nation, and breaking up that system of intercourse which +had thus far been beneficial to both. This last was a consideration +which moved him but little. True it was that Russia to the Kalmucks had +secured lands and extensive pasturage; true it was that the Kalmucks +reciprocally to Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry. But the latter +loss would be part of his triumph, and the former might be more than +compensated in other climates under other sovereigns. Here was a scheme +which, in its final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on the +Czarina, and in the course of its accomplishment might furnish him +with ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may be readily +supposed indeed that he, who could deliberately raise his eyes to the +Russian autocrat as an antagonist in single duel with himself, was not +likely to feel much anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He +took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably to effect this +astonishing translation of an ancient people across the pathless +deserts of Central Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivers, rarely +furnished with bridges, and of which the fords were known only to those +who might think it for their interest to conceal them, through many +nations inhospitable or hostile; frost and snow around them, (from the +necessity of commencing their flight in the winter,) famine in their +front, and the sabre, or even the artillery of an offended and mighty +empress, hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was +to be their final mark, the port of shelter after so fearful a course +of wandering? Two things were evident: it must be some power at a great +distance from Russia, so as to make return even in that view hopeless; +and it must be a power of sufficient rank to ensure them protection from +any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming them, or +for chastising their revolt. Both conditions were united obviously in +the person of Kien Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was farther +recommended to them by his respect for the head of their religion. To +China, therefore, and as their first rendezvous to the shadow of the +great Chinese Wall, it was settled by Zebek that they should direct +their flight. + +Next came the question of time; _when_ should the flight commence:--and +finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices. +To extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far, was to insure +its betrayal to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the +preparations it was evident that a very extensive confidence must be +made, because in no other way could the mass of the Kalmuck population +be persuaded to furnish their families with the requisite equipments +for so long a migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved to +defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all events, to make no +general communication on the subject until the time of departure should +be definitely settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three +persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning prince, was +almost necessarily one; but him, from his yielding and somewhat feeble +character, he viewed rather in the light of a tool than as one of his +active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an unreserved +participation in his counsels, were two only, the great _Lama_ among the +Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, Erempel, a ruling prince of some +tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian sea, recommended to his favor +not so much by any strength of talent corresponding to the occasion, as +by his blind devotion to himself, and his passionate anxiety to promote +the elevation of his daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a +sovereign prince. A titular prince Zebek already was: but this dignity, +without the substantial accompaniment of a sceptre, seemed but an empty +sound to both of these ambitious rivals. The other accomplice, whose +name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank was that of Lama, or Kalmuck +pontiff, was a person of far more distinguished pretensions; he had +something of the same gloomy and terrific pride which marked the +character of Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, +accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural facility +of dissimulation even more profound. It was by this man that the other +question was settled as to the time for giving effect to their designs. +His own pontifical character had suggested to him, that in order to +strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded men whom +they were to lead into a howling wilderness, after persuading them to +lay desolate their own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they +should be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction of +God for their entire enterprise. This could only be done by addressing +themselves to the great head of their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. +Him they easily persuaded to countenance their schemes: and an oracle +was delivered solemnly at Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate +prosperity would attend this great Exodus unless it were pursued through +the years of the _tiger_ and the _hare_. Now, the Kalmuck custom is to +distinguish their years by attaching to each a denomination taken from +one of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being absolutely +fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course through a period of a +dozen years. Consequently, if the approaching year of the _tiger_ were +suffered to escape them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for +twelve years more, within which period, even were no other unfavorable +changes to arise, it was pretty well foreseen that the Russian +Government would take the most effectual means for bridling their +vagrant propensities by a ring fence of forts or military posts; to say +nothing of the still readier plan for securing their fidelity (a plan +already talked of in all quarters), by exacting a large body of hostages +selected from the families of the most influential nobles. On these +cogent considerations, it was solemnly determined that this terrific +experiment should be made in the next year of the _tiger_, which +happened to fall upon the Christian year 1771. With respect to the +month, there was, unhappily for the Kalmucks, even less latitude +allowed to their choice than with respect to the year. It was absolutely +necessary, or it was thought so, that the different divisions of the +nation, which pastured their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should +have the means of effecting an instantaneous junction; because the +danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the Imperial armies was +precisely the greatest at the outset. Now, from the want of bridges, or +sufficient river craft for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole +means which could be depended upon (especially where so many women, +children, and camels were concerned,) was _ice_: and this, in a state +of sufficient firmness, could not be absolutely counted upon before the +month of January. Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a +whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to +circulate amongst those whom it most interested, before it was even +suspected that any man's wishes pointed in that direction, had been +definitively appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost up +to the Christmas of 1770, the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their +families were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even dreaming +that the _fiat_ had already gone forth from their rulers which consigned +those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned +within them, to a withering desolation, now close at hand. + +Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan. +And, until the time arrived for throwing off their vassalage, it was +necessary that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of martial +aid. Nay, it had unfortunately become prudent that he should contribute +much more than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample evidence +that in some mysterious and unaccountable way no great design is ever +agitated, no matter how few or how faithful may be the participators, +but that some presentiment--some dim misgiving--is kindled amongst +those whom it is chiefly important to blind. And, however it might have +happened, certain it is, that already, when as yet no syllable of the +conspiracy had been breathed to any man whose very existence was +not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless, some vague and uneasy +jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet as to the future schemes of +the Kalmuck Khan: and very probable it is--that, but for the war then +raging, and the consequent prudence of conciliating a very important +vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would powerfully alienate +him, even at that moment such measures would have been adopted as +must for ever have intercepted the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the +jealousies of the Imperial Court, they had not escaped the Machiavelian +eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under their guidance, Oubacha, bending +to the circumstances of the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the +Russian Court with a policy corresponding to their own, strove by +unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's unfavorable impressions. He +enlarged the scale of his contributions; and _that_ so prodigiously, +that he absolutely carried to head-quarters a force of 35,000 cavalry +fully equipped; some go further, and rate the amount beyond 40,000: but +the smaller estimate is, at all events, _within_ the truth. + +With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the Khan +went into the field under great expectations; and these he more than +realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized +and disorderly a description of force as that which at all times +composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along with +his banners; gained many partial successes; and at last, in a pitched +battle, overthrew the Turkish force opposed to him with a loss of 5000 +men left upon the field. + +These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways +against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the +martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire +in whose service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully +appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire, one of the +Paladins around the imperial throne; in China he would be nobody, +or (worse than that) a mendicant-alien, prostrate at the feet, +and soliciting the precarious alms of a prince with whom he had no +connection. Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina, +grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar prince, would +confer upon him such eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor +his hopes upon Russia, and to wean him from every possible seduction. +These were the obvious suggestions of prudence and good sense to every +man who stood neutral in the case. But they were disappointed. The +Czarina knew her obligations to the Khan, but she did not acknowledge +them. Wherefore? That is a mystery, perhaps never to be explained. So +it was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_ ever proclaimed his +merits; and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly recompensed by +Russia, there were others who would have defeated these tendencies +to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the Lama, were pledged +life-deep to prevent any accommodation; and their efforts were +unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the +Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles pre-occupied +with feelings of hatred and blind malice towards the Kalmucks, quite as +strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor towards Russia, and not, +perhaps, so well-founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated the Russian +yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked air of disdain, +as towards a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians, which too +generally marked the Russian bearing and language; but above all, the +insolent contempt, or even outrages which the Russian governors or great +military commandants tolerated in their followers towards the +barbarous religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck +priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the Russian +resentment, and their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or attempt +a feeble retaliation, re-act upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At this +crisis it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing +the splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and +Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian irritation. And it must +have been through the intrigues of those nobles about her person, who +chiefly smarted under these feelings, that the Czarina could ever +have lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this +critical period towards the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was no longer +Elizabeth Petrowna, it was Catharine the Second; a princess who did not +often err so injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for +others) in the measures of her government. She had soon ample reason +for repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it must have +co-operated with the other motives previously acting upon Oubacha in +sustaining his determination to revolt; and how powerfully it must have +assisted the efforts of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds +of their people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by +arming their pride and their suspicions against the Russian Government, +through the keenness of their sympathy with the wrongs of their insulted +prince, may be readily imagined. It is a fact, and it has been +confessed by candid Russians themselves, when treating of this great +dismemberment, that the conduct of the Russian Cabinet throughout the +period of suspense, and during the crisis of hesitation in the Kalmuck +Council, was exactly such as was most desirable for the purposes of +the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as to set the seal to all their +machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and official vouchers for +what could otherwise have been at the most matters of doubtful suspicion +and indirect presumption. + +Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing +their weight so far as not at all to deny the injustice or the impolicy +of the Imperial Ministers, it is contended by many persons who have +reviewed the affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the +case, more especially the letters or minutes of Council subsequently +discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, and the important +evidence of the Russian captive Weseloff, who was carried off by the +Kalmucks in their flight, that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless +for any purpose of impeding, or even of delaying the revolt. He himself, +indeed, was under religious obligations of the most terrific solemnity +never to flinch from the enterprise, or even to slacken in his zeal; +for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting the firmness of his resolution under any +unusual pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest +stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's well known +superstition, to engage him, by means of previous concert with the +priests and their head the Lama, in some dark and mysterious rites of +consecration, terminating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no +Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, as regarded +the personal share of the Khan in what was to come, Zebek was entirely +at his ease: he knew him to be so deeply pledged by religious terrors to +the prosecution of the conspiracy, that no honors within the Czarina's +gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion: and then, as to threats +from the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed against those fears +by others of a gloomier character, and better adapted to his peculiar +temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all bodily +enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and timid +as the most superstitious of old women in facing the frowns of a priest, +or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. But had it +been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady +demeanor on the part of this Prince at the approach of the critical +moment, such were the changes already effected in the state of their +domestic politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of +Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little importance would +have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in +the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of +the Kalmuck sceptre: all measures of importance were submitted to his +discretion; and nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation. +This result he had brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently +simple; first of all, by availing himself of the prejudice in his favor, +so largely diffused amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own +title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a direct line from +Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans, stood upon a +better basis than that of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral branch: +secondly, with respect to that sole advantage which Oubacha possessed +above himself in the ratification of his title, by improving this +difference between their situations to the disadvantage of his +competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept that triumph from an +alien power at the price of his independence, which he himself (as +he would have it understood) disdained to court: thirdly, by his own +talents and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his moral +character: fourthly--and perhaps in an equal degree--by the criminal +facility and good-nature of Oubacha: finally, (which is remarkable +enough, as illustrating the character of the man,) by that very +new modelling of the Sarga or Privy Council, which he had used as a +principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against the Russian +Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the alteration to +the Empress, and he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which +it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the chief of +the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior Sargatchi passed +through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to his +nomination, it may be easily supposed that whatever power existed in the +state capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga under its +new organization, and this body being completely under his influence, +the final result was to throw all the functions of the state, whether +nominally in the Prince or in the council, substantially into the hands +of this one man: whilst, at the same time, from the strict league which +he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders of the spiritual power +were always ready to come in aid of the magistrate, or to supply his +incapacity in cases which he could not reach. + +But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The +day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising +the standard of revolt, and by a combined movement on both sides of the +Wolga for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration, that should +wrap in a common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their +enemies, over the breadth and length of those great provinces in which +their flocks were dispersed. The year of the _tiger_ was now within one +little month of its commencement; the fifth morning of that year was +fixed for the fatal day, when the fortunes and happiness of a whole +nation were to be put upon the hazard of a dicer's throw; and as yet +that nation was in profound ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, such +was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to make the +revelation so urgently required. It was clear, however, that this could +not be delayed; and Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon himself. +But where or how should this notification be made, so as to exclude +Russian hearers? After some deliberation, the following plan was +adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should arrive in furious haste, +one upon the heels of another, reporting a sudden inroad of the +Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant +about one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, +according to immemorial custom, were required to send a separate +representative; and there, accordingly, within three days, all appeared. +The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the rendezvous, the +rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost certain that no +Russian could be present. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did +not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an immense sheet of +parchment, visible from the outermost distance at which any of this vast +crowd could stand; the total number amounted to eighty thousand; all +saw, and many heard. They were told of the oppressions of Russia; of her +pride and haughty disdain, evidenced towards them by a thousand acts; of +her contempt for their religion; of her determination to reduce them to +absolute slavery; of the preliminary measures she had already taken by +erecting forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood; +of the ulterior intentions she thus announced to circumscribe their +pastoral lands, until they would all be obliged to renounce their +flocks, and to collect in towns like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical +and servile trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the +freeborn Tartar had always disdained. 'Then again,' said the subtle +prince, 'she increases her military levies upon our population every +year; we pour out our blood as young men in her defence, or more often +in support of her insolent aggressions; and as old men, we reap nothing +from our sufferings, nor benefit by our survivorship where so many +are sacrificed.' At this point of his harangue, Zebek produced several +papers, (forged, as it is generally believed, by himself and the Lama,) +containing projects of the Russian court for a general transfer of the +eldest sons, taken _en masse_ from the greatest Kalmuck families, to +the Imperial court. 'Now let this be once accomplished,' he argued, +'and there is an end of all useful resistance from that day forwards. +Petitions we might make, or even remonstrances; as men of words, we +might play a bold part; but for deeds, for that sort of language by +which our ancestors were used to speak; holding us by such a chain, +Russia would make a jest of our wishes,--knowing full well that we +should not dare to make any effectual movement.' + +Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast audience, +and having alarmed their fears by this pretended scheme against their +first-born, (an artifice which was indispensable to his purpose, because +it met beforehand _every_ form of amendment to his proposal coming from +the more moderate nobles, who would not otherwise have failed to +insist upon trying the effect of bold addresses to the Empress, before +resorting to any desperate extremity,) Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of +revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt; since any preparations reported +at St. Petersburg would be a signal for the armies of Russia to cross +into such positions from all parts of Asia, as would effectually +intercept their march. It is remarkable, however, that, with all his +audacity and his reliance upon the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks, +the subtle prince did not venture, at this stage of his seduction, to +make so startling a proposal as that of a flight to China. All that he +held out for the present was a rapid march to the Temba or some other +great river, which they were to cross, and to take up a strong position +on the further bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security, +they could hold a bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would +have a better chance of winning a favorable audience. + +These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed +by acclamation; and all returned homewards, to push forward with the +most furious speed the preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid +and energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree they became +noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to be intermingled +with the different hordes, either on commercial errands, or as agents +officially from the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a +diplomatic character. + +Amongst these last (indeed at the head of them) was a Russian of some +distinction, by name Kichinskoi, a man memorable for his vanity, and +memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. This +Kichinskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook the +conduct of the Kalmucks; he was styled the _Grand Pristaw_, or Great +Commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes +by this title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political +_surveillant_, combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, gave +him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might have given him a +far greater, had not his outrageous self-conceit, and his arrogant +confidence in his own authority, as due chiefly to his personal +qualities for command, led him into such harsh displays of power, and +menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon made him an object +of their profoundest malice. He had publicly insulted the Khan; and upon +making a communication to him to the effect that some reports began to +circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in agitation to +fly from the Imperial dominions, he had ventured to say,--'But this you +dare not attempt; I laugh at such rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to +the Empress; for you are a chained bear, and that you know.' The Khan +turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and the Pristaw, foaming +at the mouth, continued to utter, amongst those of the Khan's attendants +who staid behind, to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded +passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could suggest to the most +presumptuous of fools. It was now ascertained that suspicions _had_ +arisen; but at the same time it was ascertained that the Pristaw spoke +no more than the truth in representing himself to have discredited these +suspicions. The fact was, that the mere infatuation of vanity made +him believe that nothing could go on undetected by his all-piercing +sagacity, and that no rebellion could prosper when rebuked by his +commanding presence. The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, +confiding in the obstinate blindness of the Grand Pristaw as in their +perfect safeguard; and such it proved--to his own ruin, as well as that +of myriads beside. + +Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier upon courier +came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. Petersburg, +assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks were in the +very crisis of departure. These despatches came from the Governor of +Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to Kichinskoi. Now, it +happened that between this governor--a Russian named Beketoff--and the +Pristaw had been an ancient feud. The very name of Beketoff inflamed +his resentment; and no sooner did he see that hated name attached to +the despatch, than he felt himself confirmed in his former views with +tenfold bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of the most pointed +ridicule, against the new alarmist, pledging his own head upon the +visionariness of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not to be put down +by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he persisted in his statements: the +Russian Ministry were confounded by the obstinacy of the disputants; and +some were beginning even to treat the Governor of Astrachan as a bore, +and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors, when the memorable day +arrived, the fatal 5th of January, which for ever terminated the +dispute, and put a seal upon the earthly hopes and fortunes of +unnumbered myriads. The Governor of Astrachan was the first to hear the +news. Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant vengeance, +and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his sledge, and, at the rate of +three hundred miles a day, pursued his route to St. Petersburg, rushed +into the Imperial presence,--announced the total realization of his +worst predictions,--and upon the confirmation of this intelligence +by subsequent despatches from many different posts on the Wolga, he +received an imperial commission to seize the person of his deluded +enemy, and to keep him in strict captivity. These orders were eagerly +fulfilled, and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards expired of +grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon; a victim +to his own immeasurable vanity, and the blinding self-delusions of a +presumption that refused all warning. + +The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps +even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness with which the verification +followed his reports. Precisely on the 5th of January, the day so +solemnly appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the Kalmucks +on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn of day +assembling by troops and squadrons, and in the tumultuous movement of +some great morning of battle. Tens of thousands continued moving off the +ground at every half-hour's interval. Women and children, to the amount +of two hundred thousand and upwards, were placed upon wagons, or upon +camels, and drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once--placed under +suitable escorts, and continually swelled in numbers by other outlying +bodies of the horde who kept falling in at various distances upon the +first and second day's march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those +who were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the tribes, +with purposes of devastation and plunder more violent than prudence +justified, or the amiable character of the Khan could be supposed to +approve. But in this, as in other instances, he was completely overruled +by the malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest of +the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself upon their own +habitations. But this, as cutting off all infirm looking backward from +the hardships of their march, had been thought so necessary a measure by +all the chieftains, that even Oubacha himself was the first to authorize +the act by his own example. He seized a torch previously prepared with +materials the most durable as well as combustible, and steadily applied +it to the timbers of his own palace. Nothing was saved from the general +wreck except the portable part of the domestic utensils, and that part +of the woodwork which could be applied to the manufacture of the +long Tartar lances. This chapter in their memorable day's work being +finished, and the whole of their villages throughout a district of ten +thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the Tartars waited for +further orders. + +These, it was intended, should have taken a character of valedictory +vengeance, and thus have left behind to the Czarina a dreadful +commentary upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose +of Zebek-Dorchi that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of +every description, should be given up to pillage and destruction, and +such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants as might naturally +be expected from a fierce people already infuriated by the spectacle +of their own outrages, and by the bloody retaliations which they must +necessarily have provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, was +happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at the very +crisis of departure. It has been mentioned already that the motive for +selecting the depth of winter as the season of flight (which otherwise +was obviously the very worst possible) had been the impossibility of +effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on the west of +the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of ice. +For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had consented to aggravate +by a thousandfold the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight over +boundless tracts of country with women, children, and herds of +cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet, after all, it was lost. +The reason never has been explained satisfactorily, but the fact was +such. Some have said that the signals were not properly concerted +for marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying +whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks might not have +been suddenly interrupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed +that the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river, +and might even be generally insecure for the treading of heavy and +heavily-laden animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is, that +some accidental movements on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops +in the neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really having no +reference to them or their plans, had been construed into certain +signs that all was discovered; and that the prudence of the Western +chieftains, who, from situation, had never been exposed to those +intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of the +Eastern tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin. Be the +cause what it might, it is certain that the Western Kalmucks were +in some way prevented from forming the intended junction with their +brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was, that at least one +hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia. This +accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors universally from +the desolation which else awaited them. One general massacre and +conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the utter +extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had it +not been for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not +dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren under the first +impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy; for +as they were well aware of too many circumstances by which she might +discover the concurrence of the Western people in the general scheme of +revolt, they justly feared that she would thence infer their concurrence +also in the bloody events which marked its outset. + +Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for +gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which at +the moment they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed the +thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren +in the first month of their sad flight, they would have blessed Heaven +for their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of the first month +were but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of those which +afterwards succeeded. + +For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the +most extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and +daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying +nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, may have +inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the desolation +would be sudden--like the flight of volleying lightning. Those who were +spared at first would generally be spared to the end; those who perished +would perish instantly. It is possible that the French retreat from +Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this calamity in duration, +though still a feeble and miniature approach; for the French sufferings +did not commence in good earnest until about one month from the time of +leaving Moscow; and though it is true that afterwards the vials of wrath +were emptied upon the devoted army for six or seven weeks in succession, +yet what is that to this Kalmuck tragedy, which lasted for more than as +many months? But the main feature of horror, by which the Tartar march +was distinguished from the French, lies in the accompaniment of women +[Footnote: Singular it is, and not generally known, that Grecian women +accompanied the _Anabasis_ of the younger Cyrus and the subsequent +Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Xenophon affirms that there were 'many' +women in the Greek army--pollai aesun etairai en tosratenaeazi; and in +a late stage of that trying expedition it is evident that women were +amongst the survivors.] and children. There were both, it is true, with +the French army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the +total numbers concerned. The French, in short, were merely an army--a +host of professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed, and +whose regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a +nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty thousand +women and children, utterly unequal, for the most part, to any contest +with the calamities before them. The Children of Israel were in the same +circumstances as to the accompaniment of their families; but they were +released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very early stage of +their flight; and their subsequent residence in the Desert was not a +march, but a continued halt, and under a continued interposition of +Heaven for their comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however +comprehensive in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's duration. A +much nearer approach made to the wide range and the long duration of the +Kalmuck tragedy may have been in a pestilence such as that which visited +Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the reign of Charles II. +There also the martyrs were counted by myriads, and the period of the +desolation was counted by months. But, after all, the total amount +of destruction was on a smaller scale; and there was this feature of +alleviation to the _conscious_ pressure of the calamity--that the misery +was withdrawn from public notice into private chambers and hospitals. +The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his son, taken in its entire +circumstances, comes nearest of all--for breadth and depth of suffering, +for duration, for the exasperation of the suffering from without by +internal feuds, and, finally, for that last most appalling expression of +the furnace-heat of the anguish in its power to extinguish the natural +affections even of maternal love. But, after all, each case had +circumstances of romantic misery peculiar to itself--circumstances +without precedent, and (wherever human nature is ennobled by +Christianity) it may be confidently hoped--never to be repeated. + +The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be +encouraged, was the river Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles +from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and if the march thither +was to be a forced one, and a severe one, it was alleged on the other +hand that the suffering would be the more brief and transient; one +summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced +the march was, and severe beyond example: there the forewarning +proved correct; but the promised rest proved a mere phantom of the +wilderness--a visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes, +across these interminable solitudes, for seven months of hardship and +calamity, without a pause. These sufferings, by their very nature, and +the circumstances under which they arose, were (like the scenery of the +_Steppes_) somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external features: +what variety, however, there was, will be most naturally exhibited +by tracing historically the successive stages of the general misery, +exactly as it unfolded itself under the double agency of weakness still +increasing from within, and hostile pressure from without. Viewed in +this manner, under the real order of development, it is remarkable that +these sufferings of the Tartars, though under the moulding hands of +accident, arrange themselves almost with a scenical propriety. They seem +combined, as with the skill of an artist; the intensity of the misery +advancing regularly with the advances of the march, and the stages of +the calamity corresponding to the stages of the route; so that, upon +raising the curtain which veils the great catastrophe, we behold one +vast climax of anguish, towering upwards by regular gradations, as if +constructed artificially for picturesque effect:--a result which might +not have been surprising, had it been reasonable to anticipate the same +rate of speed, and even an accelerated rate, as prevailing through the +later stages of the expedition. But it seemed, on the contrary, most +reasonable to calculate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion +according to the increasing distance from the head-quarters of +the pursuing enemy. This calculation, however, was defeated by the +extraordinary circumstance, that the Russian armies did not begin +to close in very fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had +accomplished a distance of full two thousand miles; one thousand miles +further on the assaults became even more tumultuous and murderous; and +already the great shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when +the frenzy and _acharnement_ of the pursuers, and the bloody desperation +of the miserable fugitives had reached its uttermost extremity. Let us +briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending +steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route +marked out by the central rivers of Asia. + +The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; +the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days. +For the first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about +forty-three English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing; +and, at a more moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been +accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy as the Kalmucks: +as it was, the cattle suffered greatly from overdriving: milk began to +fail even for the children: the sheep perished by wholesale: and the +children themselves were saved only by the innumerable camels. + +The Cossacks, who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik, were the first among +the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. Great +was their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great also +their consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by far the +greater part of their number was absent during the winter months at the +fisheries upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to surprise at the most +exposed points, fled in crowds to the fortress of Koulagina, which was +immediately invested, and summoned by Oubacha. He had, however, in his +train only a few light pieces of artillery; and the Russian commandant +at Koulagina, being aware of the hurried circumstances in which the +Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge, as it were, of +a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these considerations to a more +obstinate resistance than might else have been advisable, with an enemy +so little disposed to observe the usages of civilized warfare. The +period of his anxiety was not long: on the fifth day of the siege, he +descried from the walls a succession of Tartar couriers, mounted upon +fleet Bactrian camels, crossing the vast plains around the fortress at a +furious pace, and riding into the Kalmuck encampment at various points. +Great agitation appeared immediately to follow; orders were soon after +despatched in all directions: and it became speedily known that upon a +distant flank of the Kalmuck movement a bloody and exterminating battle +had been fought the day before, in which one entire tribe of the Khan's +dependents, numbering not less than nine thousand fighting men, had +perished to the last man. This was the _ouloss_, or clan, called +_Feka-Zechorr_, between whom and the Cossacks there was a feud of +ancient standing. In selecting, therefore, the points of attack, on +occasion of the present hasty inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally +eager so to direct their efforts as to combine with the service of the +Empress some gratification to their own party hatreds; more especially +as the present was likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if +the Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated as +large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances allowed, they attacked +the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation which denied to it all means +for communicating with Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding an ample +range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast flocks and +herds, had separated this _ouloss_ from the Khan's head-quarters by an +interval of eighty miles: and thus it was, and not from oversight, that +it came to be thrown entirely upon its own resources. These had proved +insufficient; retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and +camels, no less than from the prodigious encumbrances of their live +stock, was absolutely out of the question: quarter was disdained on the +one side, and would not have been granted on the other; and thus it had +happened that the setting sun of that one day (the 13th from the first +opening of the revolt) threw his parting rays upon the final agonies of +an ancient _ouloss_, stretched upon a bloody field, who on that day's +dawning had held and styled themselves an independent nation. + +Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the +Khan's encampment by this disastrous intelligence; not so much on +account of the numbers slain, or the total extinction of a powerful +ally, as because the position of the Cossack force was likely to put to +hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard, and +hold them in check, until the heavier columns of the Russian army should +arrive upon their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised; +and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and their +children, once again resounded through the tents--the signal for flight, +and this time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one hundred and +fifty miles ahead of their present position, there arose a tract of +hilly country, forming a sort of margin to the vast, sea-like expanse +of champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy deserts, which +stretched away on each side of this margin both eastwards and westwards. +Pretty nearly in the centre of this hilly range, lay a narrow defile, +through which passed the nearest and the most practicable route to the +river Torgai (the further bank of which river offered the next great +station of security for a general halt.) It was the more essential to +gain this pass before the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the +delay in forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing columns for +combining their attacks and for bringing up their artillery, but also +because (even if all enemies in pursuit were thrown out of the question) +it was held by those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure +geography of these pathless steppes--that the loss of this one narrow +strait amongst the hills would have the effect of throwing them (as +their only alternative in a case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was +required) upon a circuit of at least five hundred miles extra; besides +that, after all, this circuitous route would carry them to the Torgai at +a point ill fitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The defile +in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and yet, unless they +moved upon it with the velocity of light cavalry, there was little +chance but it would be found pre-occupied by the Cossacks. They, it is +true, had suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with their +enemies; but the excitement of victory, and the intense sympathy with +their unexampled triumph, had again swelled their ranks--and would +probably act with the force of a vortex to draw in their simple +countrymen from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of pre-occupation +was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching upon an oblique line +not above fifty miles longer than that which led to the same point from +the Kalmuck head-quarters before Koulagina: and therefore without the +most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not a chance +for them, burdened and 'trashed' [Footnote: _'Trashed'_--This is an +expressive word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Bonduca, etc., to +describe the case of a person retarded and embarrassed in flight, or in +pursuit, by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable to +be left behind.] as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as +the Cossacks in seizing this important pass. + +Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition +of the case. For they easily understood that too capital an interest +(the _summa rerum_) was now at stake to allow of any regard to +minor interests, or what would be considered such in their present +circumstances. The dreadful week already passed,--their inauguration in +misery,--was yet fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffering were +impressed not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons and +the persons of their children. And they knew that where no speed had +much chance of meeting the cravings of the chieftains, no test would +be accepted, short of absolute exhaustion, that as much had been +accomplished as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive, +has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the women and elder boys +assisted in drawing the tent-ropes. On the 5th of January all had been +animation, and the joyousness of indefinite expectation: now, on the +contrary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to take an +amended calculation of what it was that lay before them. + +One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight +continued: the sufferings had been greater than before: for the cold had +been more intense: and many perished out of the living creatures through +every class, except only the camels--whose powers of endurance seemed +equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, brought +an alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall: and though not +deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would be so; and +that, as a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no plan could +be better than that of staying where they were: especially as the same +cause would check the advance of the Cossacks. Here then was the last +interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy nation during their +whole migration. For ten days the snow continued to fall with little +intermission. At the end of that time keen bright frosty weather +succeeded: the drifting had ceased: in three days the smooth expanse +became firm enough to support the treading of the camels, and the flight +was recommenced. But during the halt much domestic comfort had been +enjoyed: and for the last time universal plenty. The cows and oxen had +perished in such vast numbers on the previous marches, that an order was +now issued to turn what remained to account by slaughtering the whole, +and salting whatever part should be found to exceed the immediate +consumption. This measure led to a scene of general banqueting and even +of festivity amongst all who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions +by distress of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the few last +days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy future. Seventy thousand persons +of all ages had already perished; exclusively of the many thousand +allies who had been cut down by the Cossack sabre. And the losses in +reversion were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to arrive +from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom the Khan had despatched +to the rear and to each flank as well as in advance, that large masses +of the Imperial troops were converging from all parts of Central Asia +to the fords of the river Torgai as the most convenient point for +intercepting the flying tribes: and it was already well known that a +powerful division was close in their rear, and was retarded only by +the numerous artillery which had been judged necessary to support their +operations. New motives were thus daily arising for quickening the +motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting those who were +previously but too much exhausted. + +It was not until the 2d day of February that the Khan's advanced guard +came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, +in which they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A +pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, pre-occupied the +pass by some hours; but the Khan having too great advantages, namely, +a strong body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on +about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which +he had not yet been forced to abandon, soon began to make a serious +impression upon this unsupported detachment; and they would probably at +any rate have retired; but at the very moment when they were making some +dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear with +a body of trained riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in the war +with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the cliffs +which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the dry beds of the +summer torrents, and other inequalities of the ground, to conceal their +movement. Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack +files; the Khan, who had been waiting with the _elite_ of his heavy +cavalry, charged furiously upon them; total overthrow followed to the +Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some measure avenged the +recent bloody extermination of their allies, the ancient _ouloss_ of +Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were unable to support +the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of trained _cameleers_ +(that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were, but +not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight; and their +extraordinary efforts through the last few days to gain their present +position, had greatly diminished their powers for effecting an escape. +Very few, in fact, _did_ escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim became as +memorable amongst the Cossacks as that which, about twenty days before, +had signalized the complete annihilation of the Faka-Zechorr. [Footnote: +There was another _ouloss_ equally strong with that of _Feka-Zechorr_, +viz., that of Erketunn, under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom +some obligations of treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general +conspiracy of revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means +to assure the Governor of Astrachan, on the first outbreak of the +insurrection, that their real wishes were for maintaining the old +connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit +was intrusted, had instructions to act cautiously and according to +circumstances on coming up with them. The result was, through the +prudent management of Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising +their pride or independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied +the Cossacks; and eventually both chiefs and people received from the +Czarina the rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity.] + +The road was now open to the river Igritch, and as yet even far beyond +it to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue, was +every day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a +large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon the +Torgau, under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to be +joined on his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the +same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks--both +exasperated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which Oubacha +and Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as +served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore with +submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been imposed; +and, accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present occasion +offered to their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of +their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time a message +significantly declaring in what spirit they meant to execute them, viz., +'That they would not trouble her Majesty with prisoners.' + +Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks +with the regular armies of Russia, and concurrently with nations as +fierce and semi-humanized as themselves, besides that they were stung +into threefold activity by the furies of mortified pride and military +abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more +especially the artillery, of Russia, were far too overwhelming to permit +the thought of a regular opposition in pitched battles, even with a less +dilapidated state of their resources than they could reasonably expect +at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In their speed lay their +only hope--in strength of foot, as before, and not in strength of arm. +Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, marking the lines of their +wide-extending march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a +never-ending chain of corpses. The old and the young, the sick man on +his couch, the mother with her baby--all were left behind. Sights such +as these, with the many rueful aggravations incident to the helpless +condition of infancy--of disease and of female weakness abandoned to +the wolves amidst a howling wilderness, continued to track their course +through a space of full two thousand miles; for so much at the least, +it was likely to prove, including the circuits to which they were often +compelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of starting on the +Wolga until they could reach their destined halting-ground on the +east bank of the Torgau. For the first seven weeks of this march their +sufferings had been embittered by the excessive severity of the cold; +and every night--so long as wood was to be had for fires, either from +the lading of the camels, or from the desperate sacrifice of their +baggage-wagons, or (as occasionally happened) from the forests which +skirted the banks of the many rivers which crossed their path--no +spectacle was more frequent than that of a circle, composed of men, +women, and children, gathered by hundreds round a central fire, all dead +and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads were left behind from +pure exhaustion of whom none had a chance, under the combined evils +which beset them, of surviving through the next twenty-four hours. +Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute; the vast extent +of the march at length brought them into more genial latitudes, and the +unusual duration of the march was gradually bringing them into the +more genial seasons of the year: Two thousand miles had at least been +traversed; February, March, April were gone; the balmy month of May had +opened; vernal sights and sounds came from every side to comfort the +heart-weary travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, they +crossed the Torgau, and took up a position where they hoped to find +liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort as well as in +security, and to draw such supplies from the fertile neighborhood as +might restore their shattered forces to a condition for executing, with +less of wreck and ruin, the large remainder of the journey. + +Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been +completed, but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific +sacrifice of at least two hundred and fifty thousand souls, to say +nothing of herds and flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: +ox, cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived--only the +camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of some +antediluvian animals, without the affections or sensibilities of flesh +and blood--these only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern +heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this long tempest +of trial unscathed and unharmed. The Khan, knowing how much he was +individually answerable for the misery which had been sustained, must +have wept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes when he threw his +eyes over the myriads whom he had assembled: for the tears of Xerxes +were unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in his power +he resolved to make by sacrifices to the general good of all personal +regards; and accordingly, even at this point of their advance, he once +more deliberately brought under review the whole question of the revolt. +The question was formally debated before the Council, whether, even at +this point, they should untread their steps, and, throwing themselves +upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old allegiance? In that +case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become the scapegoat for the +general transgression. This, he argued, was no fantastic scheme, but +even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited and sacred power of the +Khan, so well known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to +attribute any separate responsibility to the people--upon the Khan +rested the guilt, upon the Khan would descend the Imperial vengeance. +This proposal was applauded for its generosity, but was energetically +opposed by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole journey of two +thousand miles? Was their misery to perish without fruit; true it was +that they had yet reached only the half-way house; but, in that respect, +the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for advance. Either way +they would have pretty nearly the same distance to traverse, but +with this difference--that, forwards, their rout lay through lands +comparatively fertile--backwards, through a blasted wilderness, rich +only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to Kalmuck eyes by the +trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the Empress might accept +an excuse for the past, would she the less forbear to suspect for the +future? The Czarina's _pardon_ they might obtain, but could they +ever hope to recover her _confidence_? Doubtless there would now be a +standing presumption against them, an immortal ground of jealousy; and +a jealous government would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally, +whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt surely remained +unimpaired by anything that had occurred. In reality the revolt was, +after all, no revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return to their old +allegiance, since, not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz., in +the year 1616,) their ancestors had revolted from the Emperor of China. +They had now tried both governments; and for them China was the land of +promise, and Russia the house of bondage. + +Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the +people was strongly in behalf of the Khan's proposal; the pardon of +their prince, they persuaded themselves, would be readily conceded by +the Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time have +thrown themselves gladly upon the Imperial mercy; when suddenly all was +defeated by the arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had +reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the 12th of +April; thence he set forwards towards Oriembourg, which he reached +upon the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at various times +through the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand +Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official offer to +the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory, holding out no specific +stipulations as to pardon or impunity, and exacting unconditional +submission as the preliminary price of any cessation from military +operations. The personal character of Traubenberg, which was anything +but energetic, and the condition of his army, disorganized in a great +measure by the length and severity of the march, made it probable that, +with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone would have +been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister events occurred +in the meantime, such as effectually put an end to every hope of the +kind. + +The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this +officer that a distance of only ten days' march lay between his own +head-quarters and those of the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the +Kirghises, by their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the +Russian general to advance without delay. Once having placed his cannon +in position, so as to command the Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel +Khan and his people would be in his own hands; and they would themselves +form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however, _why_ has not been +certainly explained, refused to march, grounding his refusal upon the +condition of his army, and their absolute need of refreshment. Long +and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing no chance of +prevailing, and dreading above all other events the escape of their +detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off in a body by forced +marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their +horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed for many a league +in search of food or provender for their camels. The first day's action +was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field +of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often breaking up into +three or four, and again (according to the accidents of ground) three or +four blending into one; flight and pursuit, rescue and total overthrow, +going on simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in all quarters of +the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged, by the scattered +state of the Kalmucks, to split up into innumerable sections; and thus, +for some hours, it had been impossible for the most practised eye to +collect the general tendency of the day's fortune. Both the Khan and +Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners, and more than once in +imminent danger of being cut down; but at length Zebek succeeded in +rallying a strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the +camel-corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds, +however, of these wild cavalry continued to arrive through the next two +days and nights, followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being +viewed as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kalmuck +chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it +happened that a retreat, which had so recently been brought to a +pause, was resumed at the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were +anticipating a deep repose without further molestation, the whole summer +through. + +It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to +the Kalmucks; and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they +were rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of +summer's heat could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this +sequel of their story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing +a little romantic episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha +and his unprincipled cousin Zebek-Dorchi. + +There was at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian +gentleman of some rank at the court of the Khan, whom, for political +reasons, it was thought necessary to carry along with them as a captive. +For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in one or +two instances cruel. But, as the increasing distance was continually +diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as the misery of +the guards gradually withdrew their attention from all minor interests +to their own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody grew +more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a petition to the Khan, Mr. +Weseloff was formally restored to liberty; and it was understood that +he might use his liberty in whatever way he chose, even for returning +to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he was making active +preparations for his journey to St. Petersburg, when it occurred to +Zebek-Dorchi that, not improbably, in some of the battles which were +then anticipated with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to lose some +prisoner of rank, in which case the Russian Weseloff would be a pledge +in their hands for negotiating an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own +severe affliction, the Russian was detained until the further pleasure +of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was used through the whole affair, +but, as it seemed, with so little concurrence on his part, that, when +Weseloff in a private audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice +done him, and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by setting +him at liberty, and, as it were, tempting him into dreams of home +and restored happiness only for the purpose of blighting them, the +good-natured prince disclaimed all participation in the affair, and went +so far in proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to effect +his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing it without raising +suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr. Weseloff that he had just then +received a message from the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a +private interview on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out; that +interview was arranged for the coming night; and Mr. Weseloff might +go in the Khan's _suite_, which on either side was not to exceed three +persons. Weseloff was a prudent man, acquainted with the world, and +he read treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by the +Khan--treachery against the Khan's person. He mused a little, and then +communicated so much of his suspicions to the Khan as might put him on +his guard; but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to decline +the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact was, that three Kalmucks, +who had strong motives for returning to their countrymen on the west +bank of the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered to +join him in his escape. These men the Khan would probably find himself +obliged to countenance in their project; so that it became a point +of honor with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to +accomplish the evasion from the camp, (of which the first steps only +would be hazardous,) without risking the notice of the Khan. + +The district in which they were now encamped abounded, through many +hundred miles, with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each +of the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited +creatures in the course of the last few days; this raised no suspicion; +for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of provision +against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These horses +were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets which +lined the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at night, +the four fugitives repaired; they took a circuitous path, which drew +them as little as possible within danger of challenge from any of the +outposts or of the patrols which had been established on the quarters +where the Bashkirs lay; and in three quarters of an hour they reached +the rendezvous. The moon had now risen, the horses were unfastened, and +they were in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the woods +was disturbed by a violent uproar, and the clashing of arms. Weseloff +fancied that he heard the voice of the Khan shouting for assistance. +He remembered the communication made by that prince in the morning; and +requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in the direction +of the sound. A very short distance brought him to an open glade in the +wood, where he beheld four men contending with a party of at least +nine or ten. Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of +Weseloff's arrival; one of these he recognized almost certainly as the +Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, but at great disadvantage, with two +of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff +fired, and brought down one of the two. His companions discharged their +carbines at the same moment, and then all rushed simultaneously into +the little open area. The thundering sound of about thirty horses, all +rushing at once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a whole +troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assailants; who, accordingly, +wheeled about and fled with one impulse. Weseloff advanced to the +dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, proved to be the Khan. The +man whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were shocked, though +Weseloff at least was not surprised, on stooping down and scrutinizing +his features, to recognize a well known confidential servant of +Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. The Khan rode off, +escorted by Weseloff and his companions, and for some time a dead +silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was delicate and critical; +to leave the Khan at this point was probably to cancel their recent +services; for he might be again crossed on his path, and again attacked +by the very party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on the +other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the chances of +accomplishing the escape. The Khan also was apparently revolving +all this in his mind, for at length he broke silence, and said--'I +comprehend your situation; and, under other circumstances, I might feel +it my duty to detain your companions. But it would ill become me to do +so after the important service you have just rendered me. Let us turn a +little to the left. There, where you see the watchfire, is an outpost. +Attend me so far. I am then safe. You may turn and pursue your +enterprise; for the circumstances under which you will appear, as my +escort, are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for the present. +I regret having no better means at my disposal for testifying my +gratitude. But tell me, before we part, was it accident only which led +you to my rescue? Or had you acquired any knowledge of the plot by which +I was decoyed into this snare?' Weseloff answered very candidly that +mere accident had brought him to the spot at which he heard the +uproar, but that _having_ heard it, and connecting it with the Khan's +communication of the morning, he had then designedly gone after the +sound in a way which he certainly should not have done at so critical +a moment, unless in the expectation of finding the Khan assaulted by +assassins. A few minutes after they reached the outpost at which it +became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain; and immediately the four +fugitives commenced a flight which is perhaps without a parallel in the +annals of travelling. Each of them led six or seven horses besides the +one he rode; and by shifting from one to the other (like the ancient +_Desultors_ of the Roman circus,) so as never to burden the same horse +for more than half an hour at a time, they continued to advance at +the rate of two hundred miles in the twenty-four hours for three days +consecutively. After that time, considering themselves beyond pursuit, +they proceeded less rapidly; though still with a velocity which +staggered the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was, +however, a man of high principle, and always adhered firmly to the +details of his printed report. One of the circumstances there stated is, +that they continued to pursue the route by which the Kalmucks had +fled, never for an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the +skeletons and other memorials of their calamities. In particular, he +mentions vast heaps of money as part of the valuable property which +it had been necessary to sacrifice. These heaps were found lying still +untouched in the deserts. From these, Weseloff and his companions took +as much as they could conveniently carry; and this it was, with the +price of their beautiful horses, which they afterwards sold at one of +the Russian military settlements for about L15 a-piece, which eventually +enabled them to pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as +regarded Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe. +He was at that time young, and the only child of a doating mother. Her +affliction under the violent abduction of her son had been excessive, +and probably had undermined her constitution. Still she had supported +it. Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial +affection, had imprudently posted through Russia, to his mother's +house without warning of his approach. He rushed precipitately into her +presense; and she, who had stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal +to the shock of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon the spot. + +We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. These it would +be useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand +miles of suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering +was even more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but +also more severe. Its main elements were excessive heat, with the +accompaniments of famine and thirst, but aggravated at every step by +the murderous attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the +Kirghises. + +These people, 'more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,' stuck to the +unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of enraged hornets. And very often whilst +_they_ were attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and +flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people of the country +which they were traversing; and with good reason, since the law of +self-preservation had now obliged the fugitive Tartars to plunder +provisions, and to forage wherever they passed. In this respect their +condition was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for, sometimes, +pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred +miles, in order to strike into a land rich in the comforts of life; but +in such a land they were sure to find a crowded population, of which +every arm was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the advantages +of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of all the +defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges. Sometimes, again, +wearied out with this mode of suffering, they took a circuit of +perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land with few or +no inhabitants. But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute +starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of +starvation, whether with or without this plague of hostility in front, +whatever might he the 'fierce varieties' of their misery in this +respect, no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet +atra cura_; it was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. And, +upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented in the +history of mankind. Private and personal malignity is not unfrequently +immortal; but rare indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice +in a nation. And what embittered the interest was, that the malice was +reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon equal terms; but that +equality only sharpened the sense of their dire inequality as to other +circumstances. The Bashkirs were ready to fight 'from morn to dewy eve.' +The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to run; was it _from_ +their enemies, as creatures whom they feared? No; but _towards_ their +friends--towards that final haven of China--as what was hourly implored +by their wives, and the tears of their children. But though they fled +unwillingly, too often they fled in vain--being unwillingly recalled. +There lay the torment. Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day +the same unprofitable battle was renewed; as a matter of course, the +Kalmucks recalled part of their advanced guard to fight them; every day +the battle raged for hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no +sooner did the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that +the Kalmuck march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired +into the boundless deserts where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the +Kalmucks resolved to press forward, regardless of their enemies, in that +case their attacks became so fierce and overwhelming, that the general +safety seemed likely to be brought into question; nor could any +effectual remedy be applied to the case, even for each separate day, +except by a most embarrassing halt, and by countermarches, that, to men +in their circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not +be surprising, that the irritation of such a systematic persecution, +superadded to a previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the +stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual +vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into the +wildest expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before +the frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both sides had +assumed the appearance much more of a warfare amongst wild beasts than +amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims +of a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it was that of a +host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends. + +On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the +Emperor of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier +district lying on the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred square +leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in woods of +ancient growth, and overrun with game of every description. In a +central spot of this solitary region, the Emperor had built a gorgeous +hunting-lodge, to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief +from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of game, he had +rambled to a distance of two hundred miles or more from this lodge, +followed at a little distance by a sufficient military escort, and every +night pitching his tent in a different situation, until at length he +had arrived on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia. +[Footnote: All the circumstances are learned from a long state paper +upon the subject of this Kalmuck migration, drawn up in the Chinese +language by the Emperor himself. Parts of this paper have been +translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor states the whole +motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great length.] Here he +was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, enjoying +the morning sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there arose a vast +cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be +slowly diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By-and-by +this vast sheet of mist began to thicken towards the horizon, and to +roll forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite assembled from all +quarters. The silver trumpets were sounded in the rear, and from all the +glades and forest avenues began to trot forward towards the pavilion the +yagers, half cavalry, half huntsmen, who composed the Imperial escort. +Conjecture was on the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon, +and the interest continually increased, in proportion as simple +curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain danger. At +first it had been imagined that some vast troops of deer, or other wild +animals of the chase, had been disturbed in their forest haunts by the +Emperor's movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey, and +might be fetching a compass by way of re-entering the forest grounds +at some remoter points secure from molestation. But this conjecture was +dissipated by the slow increase of the cloud, and the steadiness of its +motion. In the course of two hours the vast phenomenon had advanced to a +point which was judged to be within five miles of the spectators, though +all calculations of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when +applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next +hour, during which the gentle morning breeze had a little freshened, +the dusty vapor had developed itself far and wide into the appearance +of huge aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the +earth; and at particular points, where the eddies of the breeze acted +upon the pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains rents were perceived, +sometimes taking the form of regular arches, portals, and windows, +through which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 'indorsed' +[Footnote: _Camels 'indorsed;'_--'And elephants indorsed with towers.' +MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.] with human beings--and at intervals the +moving of men and horses, in tumultuous array--and then, through other +openings or vistas, at far distant points, the flashing of polished +arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened or died away, all those +openings, of whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and +for a time the whole pageant was shut up from view; although the growing +din, the clamors, the shrieks and groans, ascending from infuriated +myriads, reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, what was going +on behind the cloudy screen. + +It was in fact the Kalmuck host, now in the last extremities of their +exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation +and intense misery, beyond which few or none could have lived, but also, +happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final +stage of their long pilgrimage, at which they would meet hospitality on +a scale of royal magnificence, and full protection from their enemies. +These enemies, however, as yet still were hanging on their rear as +fiercely as ever, though this day was destined to be the last of their +hideous persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward couriers with +all the requisite statements and petitions, addressed to the Emperor +of China. These had been duly received, and preparations made in +consequence to welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence. +But as these couriers had been despatched from the Torgau at the moment +of arrival thither, and before the advance of Traubenberg had made +it necessary for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the +Emperor had not looked for their arrival on their frontier until full +three months after the present time. The Khan had indeed expressly +notified his intention to pass the summer heats on the banks of the +Torgau, and to recommence his retreat about the beginning of September. +The subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long, left him for +some time in doubt as to the true interpretation to be put upon this +mighty apparition in the desert; but at length the savage clamors of +hostile fury, and the clangor of weapons, unveiled to the Emperor the +true nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely +precipitated the Kalmuck measure. + +Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived +that the first act of his fatherly care for these erring children (as +he esteemed them) now returning to their ancient obedience, must be--to +deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than +might have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well +appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment of artillery, who always +attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime it +occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to the +Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy; and accordingly +he was induced to retire a little to the rear. It soon appeared, +however, to those who watched the vapory shroud in the desert, that +its motion was not such as would argue the direction of the march to +be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in a diagonal line, making an +angle of full forty-five degrees with that line in which the Imperial +_cortege_ had been standing, and therefore with a distance continually +increasing. Those who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks were +making for a large fresh-water lake about seven or eight miles distant; +they were right; and to that point the Imperial cavalry was ordered up; +and it was precisely in that spot, and about three hours after and at +noon-day on the 8th of September, that the great Exodus of the Kalmuck +Tartars was brought to a final close, and with a scene of such memorable +and hellish fury, as formed an appropriate winding-up to an expedition +in all its parts and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not +personally present, or at least he saw whatever he _did_ see from too +great a distance to discriminate its individual features; but he records +in his written memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of +his own officers. + +The lake of Tengis, near the frightful desert of Kobi, lay in a hollow +amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three +thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese +cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like dip +in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. From this pass, +elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, they +continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour +and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were compelled to +be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. The Kalmucks, +reduced by this time from about six hundred thousand souls to two +hundred thousand, and after enduring for two months and a half the +miseries we have previously described--outrageous heat, famine, and the +destroying scimitar of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs, had for the last +ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were seen +of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found. Camels and men were +already so overladen, that it was a mere impossibility that they +should carry a tolerable sufficiency for the passage of this frightful +wilderness. On the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had +been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus for two days +of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst had been carried to the +fiercest extremity. Upon this last morning, at the sight of the hills +and the forest scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides +the neighborhood of the lake of Tengis, all the people rushed along with +maddening eagerness to the anticipated solace. The day grew hotter +and hotter, the people more and more exhausted, and gradually, in the +general rush forwards to the lake, all discipline and command were +lost--all attempts to preserve a rear-guard were neglected--the wild +Bashkirs rode in amongst the encumbered people, and slaughtered them by +wholesale, and almost without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts +proclaimed the progress of the massacre; but none heeded--none halted; +all alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to +the waters--all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver, +and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was affected +by the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery as +the wretched Kalmuck; the murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic +misery as his murdered victim--many indeed (an ordinary effect of +thirst) in both nations had become lunatic--and in this state, whilst +mere multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to the +destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and +to that the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together continued +to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one almighty +instinct. This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening appetite +lasted for a single minute; but in the next arose the final scene of +parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake were +instantly dyed red with blood and gore; here rode a party of savage +Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swathes fall before the +mower's scythe; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death-grapple with +their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both +sinking together below the surface, from weakness, or from struggles, +and perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at any point +collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the assault? +Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode them, +generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were forced into +a share in this carnival of murder, by trampling down as many as they +could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore-legs. Every moment +the water grew more polluted: and yet every moment fresh myriads came up +to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their frantic thirst, and +swallowing large draughts of water, visibly contaminated with the blood +of their slaughtered compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow +enough to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there for +scores of acres were to be seen all forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing +struggle, of spasm, of convulsion, of mortal conflict, death, and the +fear of death--revenge, and the lunacy of revenge--hatred, and the +frenzy of hatred--until the neutral spectators, of whom there were not +a few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length averted +their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed incapable of further +addition, was, however, increased by an unexpected incident. The +Bashkirs, beginning to perceive here and there the approach of the +Chinese cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever they were sufficiently at +leisure from the passions of the murderous scene--to gather into bodies. +This was noticed by the governor of a small Chinese fort, built upon an +eminence above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside, +which spread havoc amongst the Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs +collected into 'globes' and 'turms' as their only means of meeting +the long line of descending Chinese cavalry--so often did the Chinese +governor of the fort pour in his exterminating broadside; until at +length the lake at the lower end, became one vast seething cauldron of +human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese cavalry had reached the foot +of the hills: the Bashkirs, attentive to their movements, had formed; +skirmishes had been fought: and, with a quick sense that the contest +was henceforwards rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises +began to retire. The pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred +would have desired. But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred +could not but find, in their own dreadful experience of the Asiatic +deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat +that same experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price +exacted by a retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty--not +the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting, but found +in all this a retaliatory chastisement more complete and absolute +than any which their swords and lances could have obtained, or human +vengeance could have devised. + +Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the Desert; for any +subsequent marches which awaited them, were neither long nor painful. +Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exhausted +bodies had been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely +munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to +them in ample extent along the river Ily, not very far from the point +at which they had first emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the +beneficent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in +his own words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit +missionaries:--"La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_) arriva a +Ily, toute _delabree_, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vetir. Je +l'avais prevu; et j'avais ordonne de faire en tout genre les provisions +necessaires pour pouvoir les secourir promptement; c'est ce qui a ete +execute. On a fait la division des terres; et on a assigne a chaque +famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir a son entretien, soit +en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On a donne a chaque +particulier des etoffes pour l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir +pendant l'espace d'une annee, des ustensiles pour le menage et d'autres +choses necessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent, pour +se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a designe des lieux +particuliers, fertiles en paturages; et on leur a donne des boeufs, +moutons, &c. pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite travailler par euxmemes a +leur entretien et a leur bienetre." + +These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person +of his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same +subject, records the munificence of this prince in terms which proclaim +still more forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and the +delicate considerateness which conducted this extensive bounty. He +has been speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils +arriverent sur nos frontieres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de +mille), quoique la fatigue extreme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les +autres incommodites inseparables d'une tres-longue et tres penible route +en eussent fait perir presque autant, ils etaient reduits a la derniere +misere: ils manquaient de tout. Il" (viz. l'Empereur, Kien Long) "leur +fit preparer des logemens conformes a leur maniere de vivre; il leur fit +distribuer des aliments et des habits; il leur fit donner des boeufs, +des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en etat de former des +troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, _et tout cela a ses propres frais_, +qui se sont montes a des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent qu'il +a donne a chaque chef-de-famille, pour pourvoir a la subsistance de sa +femme et de ses enfans." + +Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks were replaced +in territorial possessions, and in comfort equal perhaps, or even +superior, to that which they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior +political advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no +longer the same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered +in quality; for instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people, +they were now in circumstances which obliged them to become essentially +dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social rank, that by +the natural course of their habits and the necessities of life they were +effectually reclaimed from roving, and from the savage customs connected +with so unsettled a life. They gained also in political privileges, +chiefly through the immunity from military service which their new +relations enabled them to obtain. These were circumstances of advantage +and gain. But one great disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance +all other possible gain; the chances were lost or were removed to an +incalculable distance for their conversion to Christianity, without +which in these times there is no absolute advance possible on the path +of true civilization. + +One word remains to be said upon the _personal_ interests concerned in +this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was remarkable and +complete. Oubacha, with all his goodness and incapacity of suspecting, +had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his +mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the man that would have +murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so visibly as to provoke +a reaction in the bearing of Zebek-Dorchi, and a displeasure which all +his dissimulation could not hide. This had produced a feud, which, by +keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of Oubacha; for the +friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than his open enmity. After +the settlement on the Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came +under the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which all the +Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting-lodge in 1772. The +Emperor informed himself accurately of all the particulars connected +with the transaction--of all the rights and claims put forward--and +of the way in which they would severally affect the interests of the +Kalmuck people. The consequence was, that he adopted the cause of +Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his +part, so deeply resented this discountenance to his ambitious projects, +that in conjunction with other chiefs he had the presumption even to +weave nets of treason against the Emperor himself. Plots were laid--were +detected--were baffled--counterplots were constructed upon the same +basis, and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered. + +Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with +all his accomplices; and under the skilful management of the Chinese +nobles in the Emperor's establishment, the murderous artifices of these +Tartar chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole +of them perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet. For the +Chinese morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything +the _lex talionis:_-- + + ----'lex nec justior ulla est (as _they_ think) + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.' + +So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar +_Exodus_. Oubacha, meantime, and his people, were gradually recovering +from the effects of their misery, and repairing their losses. Peace +and prosperity, under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount, +re-dawned upon the tribes; their household _lares_, after so harsh a +translation to distant climates, found again a happy reinstatement in +what had in fact been their primitive abodes; they found themselves +settled in quiet sylvan scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and +endowed with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from the +hills of this favored land and even from the level grounds as they +approach its western border, they still look out upon that fearful +wilderness which once beheld a nation in agony--the utter extirpation of +nearly half a million from amongst its numbers, and, for the remainder, +a storm of misery so fierce, that in the end (as happened also at Athens +during the Peloponnesian war from a different form of misery) very many +lost their memory; all records of their past life were wiped out as +with a sponge--utterly erased and cancelled; and many others lost their +reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy, some in a more +restless form of feverish delirium and nervous agitation, and others in +the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. +Two great commemorative monuments arose in after years to mark the depth +and permanence of the awe--the sacred and reverential grief with which +all persons looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the year +of the Tiger--all who had either personally shared in those calamities, +and had themselves drunk from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually +been made witnesses to their results, and associated with their +relief; two great monuments, we say; first of all, one in the religious +solemnity, enjoined by the Dalai Lama, called in the Tartar language a +_Romanang_, that is, a national commemoration, with music the most rich +and solemn, of all the souls who departed to the rest of Paradise from +the afflictions of the Desert: this took place about six years after the +arrival in China. Secondly, another more durable and more commensurate +to the scale of the calamity and to the grandeur of this national +Exodus, in the mighty columns of granite and brass, erected by the +Emperor Kien Long, near the banks of the Ily: these columns stand upon +the very margin of the _steppes_; and they bear a short but emphatic +inscription [Footnote: This inscription has been slightly altered in one +or two phrases, and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the +Emperor's expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China and +the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the designation +adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon some confusion +between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the former, being +of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in part the same +longitudes, though in different latitudes) might be considered as +his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the Greek form of +Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church.] to the +following effect:-- + +By the Will of God Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, Which from +this Point begin and stretch away Pathless, treeless, waterless, For +thousands of miles--and along the margins of many mighty Nations, Rested +from their labors and from great afflictions Under the shadow of the +Chinese Wall, And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon +Earth, The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars +Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar, Wandering Sheep who had +strayed away from the Celestial Empire in the year 1616, But are now +mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow, Into the fold of their +forgiving Shepherd. Hallowed be the spot for ever, and Hallowed be the +day--September 8, 1771! Amen. + +END OF VOLUME I. + + + + +VOLUME II + + + + +SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. + + +[Footnote: Thoughts on Some Important Points relating to the System of +the World. By J. P. Nichol, LL.D., Professor of Astronomy in the +University of Glasgow. William Tait, Edinburgh. 1846.] + +Some years ago, some person or other, [in fact I believe it was myself,] +published a paper from the German of Kant, on a very interesting +question, viz., the age of our own little Earth. Those who have never +seen that paper, a class of unfortunate people whom I suspect to form +_rather_ the majority in our present perverse generation, will be likely +to misconceive its object. Kant's purpose was, not to ascertain how many +years the Earth had lived: a million of years, more or less, made very +little difference to _him_. What he wished to settle was no such barren +conundrum. For, had there even been any means of coercing the Earth into +an honest answer, on such a delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, +Recupero, fancied that there was; [Footnote: _Recupero_. See Brydone's +Travels, some sixty or seventy years ago. The canon, being a beneficed +clergyman in the Papal church, was naturally an infidel. He wished +exceedingly to refute Moses: and he fancied that he really had done so +by means of some collusive assistance from the layers of lava on Mount +Etna. But there survives, at this day, very little to remind us of the +canon, except an unpleasant guffaw that rises, at times, in solitary +valleys of Etna.] but which, in my own opinion, there neither is, nor +ought to be,--(since a man deserves to be cudgelled who could put such +improper questions to a _lady_ planet,)--still what would it amount +to? What good would it do us to have a certificate of our dear little +mother's birth and baptism? Other people--people in Jupiter, or +the Uranians--may amuse themselves with her pretended foibles or +infirmities: it is quite safe to do so at _their_ distance; and, in +a female planet like Venus, it might be natural, (though, strictly +speaking, not quite correct,) to scatter abroad malicious insinuations, +as though our excellent little mamma had begun to wear false hair, or +had lost some of her front teeth. But all this, we men of sense know +to be gammon. Our mother Tellus, beyond all doubt, is a lovely little +thing. I am satisfied that she is very much admired throughout the Solar +System: and, in clear seasons, when she is seen to advantage, with her +bonny wee pet of a Moon tripping round her like a lamb, I should be +thankful to any gentleman who will mention where he has happened to +observe--either he or his telescope--will he only have the goodness +to say, in what part of the heavens he has discovered a more elegant +turn-out. I wish to make no personal reflections. I name no names. Only +this I say, that, though some people have the gift of seeing things that +other people never could see, and though some other people, or other +some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, so that, +generally, their geese count for swans, yet, after all, swans or geese, +it would be a pleasure to me, and really a curiosity, to see the planet +that could fancy herself entitled to sneeze at our Earth. And then, if +she (viz., our Earth,) keeps but one Moon, even _that_ (you know) is +an advantage as regards some people that keep none. There are people, +pretty well known to you and me, that can't make it convenient to keep +even one Moon. And so I come to my moral; which is this, that, to all +appearance, it is mere justice; but, supposing it were not, still it is +_our_ duty, (as children of the Earth,) right or wrong, to stand up for +our bonny young mamma, if she _is_ young; or for our dear old mother, if +she _is_ old; whether young or old, to take her part against all comers; +and to argue through thick and thin, which (sober or not) I always +attempt to do, that she is the most respectable member of the Copernican +System. + +Meantime, what Kant understood by being old, is something that still +remains to be explained. If one stumbled, in the steppes of Tartary, +on the grave of a Megalonyx, and, after long study, had deciphered from +some pre-Adamite heiro-pothooks, the following epitaph:--'_Hic jacet_ +a Megalonyx, or _Hic jacet_ a Mammoth, (as the case might be,) who +departed this life, to the grief of his numerous acquaintance in the +seventeen thousandth year of his age,'--of course, one would be sorry +for him; because it must be disagreeable at _any_ age to be torn away +from life, and from all one's little megalonychal comforts; that's not +pleasant, you know, even if one _is_ seventeen thousand years old. But +it would make all the difference possible in your grief, whether the +record indicated a premature death, that he had been cut off, in fact, +whilst just stepping into life, or had kicked the bucket when full +of honors, and been followed to the grave by a train of weeping +grandchildren. He had died 'in his teens,' that's past denying. But +still we must know to what stage of life in a man, had corresponded +seventeen thousand years in a Mammoth. Now exactly this was what Kant +desired to know about our planet. Let her have lived any number of +years that you suggest, (shall we say if you please, that she is in her +billionth year?) still that tells us nothing about the _period_ of life, +the _stage_, which she may be supposed to have reached. Is she a child, +in fact, or is she an adult? And, _if_ an adult, and that you gave a +ball to the Solar System, is she that kind of person, that you would +introduce to a waltzing partner, some fiery young gentlemen like Mars, +or would you rather suggest to her the sort of partnership which takes +place at a whist-table? On this, as on so many other questions, Kant was +perfectly sensible that people, of the finest understandings, may and +do take the most opposite views. Some think that our planet is in that +stage of her life, which corresponds to the playful period of twelve +or thirteen in a spirited girl. Such a girl, were it not that she is +checked by a sweet natural sense of feminine grace, you might call a +romp; but not a hoyden, observe; no horse-play; oh, no, nothing of that +sort. And these people fancy that earthquakes, volcanoes, and all such +little _escapades_ will be over, they will, in lawyer's phrase, 'cease +and determine,' as soon as our Earth reaches the age of maidenly +bashfulness. Poor thing! It's quite natural, you know, in a healthy +growing girl. A little overflow of vivacity, a _pirouette_ more or less, +what harm should _that_ do to any of us? Nobody takes more delight than +I in the fawn-like sportiveness of an innocent girl, at this period of +life: even a shade of _espieglerie_ does not annoy me. But still my own +impressions incline me rather to represent the Earth as a fine noble +young woman, full of the pride which is so becoming to her sex, and well +able to take her own part, in case that, at any solitary point of +the heavens, she should come across one of those vulgar fussy Comets, +disposed to be rude and take improper liberties. These Comets, by the +way, are public nuisances, very much like the mounted messengers of +butchers in great cities, who are always at full gallop, and moving upon +such an infinity of angles to human shinbones, that the final purpose of +such boys (one of whom lately had the audacity nearly to ride down the +Duke of Wellington) seems to be--not the translation of mutton, which +would certainly find its way into human mouths even if riding boys were +not,--but the improved geometry of transcendental curves. They ought to +be numbered, ought these boys, and to wear badges--X 10, &c. And exactly +the same evil, asking therefore by implication for exactly the same +remedy, affects the Comets. A respectable planet is known everywhere, +and responsible for any mischief that he does. But if a cry should +arise, 'Stop that wretch, who was rude to the Earth: who is he?' twenty +voices will answer, perhaps, 'It's Encke's Comet; he is always doing +mischief;' well, what can you say? it _may_ be Encke's, it may be some +other man's Comet; there are so many abroad and on so many roads, that +you might as well ask upon a night of fog, such fog as may be opened +with an oyster knife, whose cab that was (whose, viz., out of 27,000 in +London) that floored you into the kennel. + +These are constructive ideas upon the Earth's stage of evolution, which +Kant was aware of, and which will always find toleration, even where +they do not find patronage. But others there are, a class whom I +perfectly abominate, that place our Earth in the category of decaying +women, nay of decayed women, going, going, and all but gone. 'Hair like +arctic snows, failure of vital heat, palsy that shakes the head as in +the porcelain toys on our mantel-pieces, asthma that shakes the whole +fabric--these they absolutely fancy themselves to _see_. They absolutely +_hear_ the tellurian lungs wheezing, panting, crying, 'Bellows to mend!' +periodically as the Earth approaches her aphelion. + +But suddenly at this point a demur arises upon the total question. +Kant's very problem explodes, bursts, as poison in Venetian wine-glass +of old shivered the glass into fragments. For is there, after all, any +stationary meaning in the question? Perhaps in reality the Earth is both +young and old. Young? If she is not young at present, perhaps she _will_ +be so in future. Old? if she is not old at this moment, perhaps she +_has_ been old, and has a fair chance of becoming so again. In fact, +she is a Phoenix that is known to have secret processes for rebuilding +herself out of her own ashes. Little doubt there is but she has +seen many a birthday, many a funeral night, and many a morning of +resurrection. Where now the mightiest of oceans rolls in pacific beauty, +once were anchored continents and boundless forests. Where the south +pole now shuts her frozen gates inhospitably against the intrusions +of flesh, once were probably accumulated the ribs of empires; man's +imperial forehead, woman's roseate lips, gleamed upon ten thousand +hills; and there were innumerable contributions to antarctic journals +almost as good (but not quite) as our own. Even within our domestic +limits, even where little England, in her south-eastern quarter now +devolves so quietly to the sea her sweet pastoral rivulets, once +came roaring down, in pomp of waters, a regal Ganges [Footnote: +_'Ganges:'_--Dr. Nichol calls it by this name for the purpose of +expressing its grandeur; and certainly in breadth, in diffusion at all +times, but especially in the rainy season, the Ganges is the cock of +the walk in our British orient. Else, as regards the body of water +discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's exchequer, and the +majesty of column riding downwards from the Himalaya, I believe that, +since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, the Indus ranks foremost by +a long chalk.], that drained some hyperbolical continent, some Quinbus +Flestrin of Asiatic proportions, long since gone to the dogs. All things +pass away. Generations wax old as does a garment: but eternally God +says:--'Come again, ye children of men.' Wildernesses of fruit, and +worlds of flowers, are annually gathered in solitary South America to +ancestral graves: yet still the Pomona of Earth, yet still the Flora of +Earth, does not become superannuated, but blossoms in everlasting youth. +Not otherwise by secular periods, known to us geologically as facts, +though obscure as durations, _Tellus_ herself, the planet, as a whole, +is for ever working by golden balances of change and compensation, +of ruin and restoration. She recasts her glorious habitations in +decomposing them; she lies down for death, which perhaps a thousand +times she has suffered; she rises for a new birth, which perhaps for +the thousandth time has glorified her disc. Hers is the wedding garment, +hers is the shroud, that eternally is being woven in the loom. And God +imposes upon her the awful necessity of working for ever at her +own grave, yet of listening for ever to his far-off trumpet of +_palingenesis_. + +If this account of the matter be just, and were it not treasonable +to insinuate the possibility of an error against so great a swell as +Immanuel Kant, one would be inclined to fancy that Mr. Kant had +really been dozing a little on this occasion; or, agreeably to his own +illustration elsewhere, that he had realized the pleasant picture of one +learned doctor trying to milk a he-goat, whilst another doctor, equally +learned, holds the milk-pail below. [Footnote: Kant applied this +illustration to the case where one worshipful scholar proposes some +impossible problem, (as the squaring of the circle, or the perpetual +motion,) which another worshipful scholar sits down to solve. The +reference was of course to Virgil's line,--'Atque idem jungat vulpes, et +_mulgeat hircos_.'] And there is apparently this two-edged embarrassment +pressing upon the case--that, if our dear excellent mother the Earth +could be persuaded to tell us her exact age in Julian years, still +_that_ would leave us all as much in the dark as ever: since, if the +answer were, 'Why, children, at my next birth-day I shall count a matter +of some million centuries,' we should still be at a loss to _value_ her +age: would it mean that she was a mere chicken, or that she was 'getting +up in years?' On the other hand, if (declining to state any odious +circumstantialities,) she were to reply,--'No matter, children, for my +precise years, which are disagreeable remembrances; I confess generally +to being a lady of a certain age,'--here, in the inverse order, +given the _valuation_ of the age, we should yet be at a loss for the +_absolute_ years numerically: would a 'certain age,' mean that 'mamma' +was a million, be the same more or less, or perhaps not much above +seventy thousand? + +Every way, you see, reader, there are difficulties. But two things +used to strike me, as unaccountably overlooked by Kant; who, to say the +truth, was profound--yet at no time very agile--in the character of his +understanding. First, what age now might we take our brother and +sister planets to be? For _that_ determination as to a point in _their_ +constitution, will do something to illustrate our own. We are as good +as they, I hope, any day: perhaps in a growl, one might modestly +insinuate--_better_. It's not at all likely that there can be any +great disproportion of age amongst children of the same household: and +therefore, since Kant always countenanced the idea that Jupiter had +not quite finished the upholstery of his extensive premises, as a +comfortable residence for a man, Jupiter having, in fact, a fine family +of mammoths, but no family at all of 'humans,' (as brother Jonathan +calls them,) Kant was bound, _ex analogo_, to hold that any little +precedency in the trade of living, on the part of our own mother Earth, +could not count for much in the long run. At Newmarket, or Doncaster, +the start is seldom mathematically true: trifling advantages will +survive all human trials after abstract equity; and the logic of this +case argues, that any few thousands of years by which Tellus may have +got ahead of Jupiter, such as the having finished her Roman Empire, +finished her Crusades, and finished her French Revolution, virtually +amounts to little or nothing; indicates no higher proportion to the +total scale upon which she has to run, than the few tickings of a watch +by which one horse at the start for the Leger is in advance of another. +When checked in our chronology by each other, it transpires that, in +effect, we are but executing the nice manoeuvre of a start; and that the +small matter of six thousand years, by which we may have advanced +our own position beyond some of our planetary rivals, is but the +outstretched neck of an uneasy horse at Doncaster. This is _one_ of the +data overlooked by Kant; and the less excusably overlooked, because +it was his own peculiar doctrine,--that uncle Jupiter ought to be +considered a greenhorn. Jupiter may be a younger brother of our mamma; +but, if he is a brother at all, he cannot be so very wide of our own +chronology; and therefore the first _datum_ overlooked by Kant was--the +analogy of our whole planetary system. A second datum, as it always +occurred to myself, might reasonably enough be derived from the +intellectual vigor of us men. If our mother could, with any show of +reason, be considered an old decayed lady, snoring stentorously in +her arm-chair, there would naturally be some _aroma_ of phthisis, or +apoplexy, beginning to form about _us_, that are her children. But _is_ +there? If ever Dr. Johnson said a true word, it was when he replied to +the Scottish judge Burnett, so well known to the world as Lord Monboddo. +The judge, a learned man, but obstinate as a mule in certain prejudices, +had said plaintively, querulously, piteously,--'Ah, Doctor, we are poor +creatures, we men of the eighteenth century, by comparison with our +forefathers!' 'Oh, no, my Lord,' said Johnson, 'we are quite as strong +as our ancestors, and a great deal wiser.' Yes; our kick is, at least, +as dangerous, and our logic does three times as much execution. This +would be a complex topic to treat effectively; and I wish merely to +indicate the opening which it offers for a most decisive order of +arguments in such a controversy. If the Earth were on her last legs, we +her children could not be very strong or healthy. Whereas, if there were +less pedantry amongst us, less malice, less falsehood, and less darkness +of prejudice, easy it would be to show, that in almost every mode of +intellectual power, we are more than a match for the most conceited +of elder generations, and that in some modes we have energies or arts +absolutely and exclusively our own. Amongst a thousand indications of +strength and budding youth, I will mention two:--Is it likely, is +it plausible, that our Earth should just begin to find out effective +methods of traversing land and sea, when she had a summons to leave +both? Is it not, on the contrary, a clear presumption that the great +career of earthly nations is but on the point of opening, that life +is but just beginning to kindle, when the great obstacles to effectual +locomotion, and therefore to extensive human intercourse, are first of +all beginning to give way? Secondly, I ask peremptorily,--Does it +stand with good sense, is it reasonable that Earth is waning, science +drooping, man looking downward, precisely in that epoch when, first of +all, man's eye is arming itself for looking effectively into the mighty +depths of space? A new era for the human intellect, upon a path that +lies amongst its most aspiring, is promised, is inaugurated, by Lord +Rosse's almost awful telescope. + +What is it then that Lord Rosse has accomplished? If a man were aiming +at dazzling by effects of rhetoric, he might reply: He has accomplished +that which once the condition of the telescope not only refused its +permission to hope for, but expressly bade man to despair of. What is it +that Lord Rosse has revealed? Answer: he has revealed more by far than +he found. The theatre to which he has introduced us, is _immeasurably_ +beyond the old one which he found. To say that he found, in the visible +universe, a little wooden theatre of Thespis, a _treteau_ or shed of +vagrants, and that he presented us, at a price of toil and of _anxiety_ +that cannot be measured, with a Roman colosseum,--_that_ is to say +nothing. It is to undertake the measurement of the tropics with the +pocket-tape of an upholsterer. Columbus, when he introduced the Old +World to the New, after all that can be said in his praise, did in +fact only introduce the majority to the minority; but Lord Rosse has +introduced the minority to the majority. There are two worlds, one +called Ante-Rosse, and the other Post-Rosse; and, if it should come to +voting, the latter would shockingly outvote the other. Augustus Caesar +made it his boast when dying, that he had found the city of Rome built +of brick, and that he left it built of marble: _lateritiam invenit, +marmoream reliquit_. Lord Rosse may say, even if to-day he should die, +'I found God's universe represented for human convenience, even after +all the sublime discoveries of Herschel, upon a globe or spherical chart +having a radius of one hundred and fifty feet; and I left it sketched +upon a similar chart, keeping exactly the same scale of proportions, but +now elongating its radius into one thousand feet.' The reader of course +understands that this expression, founded on absolute calculations of +Dr. Nichol, is simply meant to exhibit the _relative_ dimensions of the +_mundus Ante-Rosseanus_ and the _mundus Post-Rosseanus;_ for as to +the _absolute_ dimensions, when stated in miles, leagues or any units +familiar to the human experience, they are too stunning and confounding. +If, again, they are stated in larger units, as for instance diameters of +the earth's orbit, the unit itself that should facilitate the grasping +of the result, and which really _is_ more manageable numerically, +becomes itself elusive of the mental grasp: it comes in as an +interpreter; and (as in some other cases) the interpreter is hardest to +be understood of the two. If, finally, TIME be assumed as the exponent +of the dreadful magnitudes, time combining itself with motion, as in the +flight of cannon-balls or the flight of swallows, the sublimity +becomes greater; but horror seizes upon the reflecting intellect, and +incredulity upon the irreflective. Even a railroad generation, that +_should_ have faith in the miracles of velocity, lifts up its hands with +an '_Incredulus odi_!' we know that Dr. Nichol speaks the truth; but he +_seems_ to speak falsehood. And the ignorant by-stander prays that the +doctor may have grace given him and time for repentance; whilst his +more liberal companion reproves his want of charity, observing that +travellers into far countries have always had a license for lying, as +a sort of tax or fine levied for remunerating their own risks; and +that great astronomers, as necessarily far travellers into space, are +entitled to a double per centage of the same Munchausen privilege. + +Great is the mystery of Space, greater is the mystery of Time; either +mystery grows upon man, as man himself grows; and either seems to be a +function of the godlike which is in man. In reality the depths and the +heights which are in man, the depths by which he searches, the heights +by which he aspires, are but projected and made objective externally in +the three dimensions of space which are outside of him. He trembles at +the abyss into which his bodily eyes look down, or look up; not knowing +that abyss to be, not always consciously suspecting it to be, but by an +instinct written in his prophetic heart feeling it to be, boding it to +be, fearing it to be, and sometimes hoping it to be, the mirror to a +mightier abyss that will one day be expanded in himself. Even as to +the sense of space, which is the lesser mystery than time, I know not +whether the reader has remarked that it is one which swells upon man +with the expansion of his mind, and that it is probably peculiar to the +mind of man. An infant of a year old, or oftentimes even older, takes no +notice of a sound, however loud, which is a quarter of a mile removed, +or even in a distant chamber. And brutes, even of the most enlarged +capacities, seem not to have any commerce with distance: distance is +probably not revealed to them except by a _presence_, viz., by some +shadow of their own animality, which, if perceived at all, is perceived +as a thing _present_ to their organs. An animal desire, or a deep +animal hostility, may render sensible a distance which else would not be +sensible; but not render it sensible _as_ a distance. Hence perhaps is +explained, and not out of any self-oblivion from higher enthusiasm, a +fact that often has occurred, of deer, or hares, or foxes, and the +pack of hounds in pursuit, chaser and chased, all going headlong over a +precipice together. Depth or height does not readily manifest itself to +_them_; so that any _strong_ motive is sufficient to overpower the sense +of it. Man only has a natural function for expanding on an illimitable +sensorium, the illimitable growths of space. Man, coming to the +precipice, reads his danger; the brute perishes: man is saved; and the +horse is saved by his rider. + +But, if this sounds in the ear of some a doubtful refinement, the doubt +applies only to the lowest degrees of space. For the highest, it is +certain that brutes have no perception. To man is as much reserved +the prerogative of perceiving space in its higher extensions, as of +geometrically constructing the relations of space. And the brute is no +more capable of apprehending abysses through his eye, than he can build +upwards or can analyze downwards the aerial synthesis of Geometry. Such, +therefore, as is space for the grandeur of man's perceptions, such as is +space for the benefit of man's towering mathematic speculations, such is +the nature of our debt to Lord Rosse--as being the philosopher who has +most pushed back the frontiers of our conquests upon this _exclusive_ +inheritance of man. We have all heard of a king that, sitting on the +sea-shore, bade the waves, as they began to lave his feet, upon their +allegiance to retire. _That_ was said not vainly or presumptuously, +but in reproof of sycophantic courtiers. Now, however, we see in good +earnest another man, wielding another kind of sceptre, and sitting upon +the shores of infinity, that says to the ice which had frozen up our +progress,--'Melt thou before my breath!' that says to the rebellious +_nebulae_,--'Submit, and burst into blazing worlds!' that says to the +gates of darkness,--'Roll back, ye barriers, and no longer hide from us +the infinities of God!' + + 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful.' + +From the days of infancy still lingers in my ears this opening of +a prose hymn by a lady, then very celebrated, viz., the late Mrs. +Barbauld. The hymn began by enticing some solitary infant into some +silent garden, I believe, or some forest lawn; and the opening words +were, 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful!' Well, and what +beside? There is nothing beside; oh, disappointed and therefore enraged +reader; positively this is the sum-total of what I can recall from the +wreck of years; and certainly it is not much. Even of Sappho, though +time has made mere ducks and drakes of her lyrics, we have rather more +spared to us than this. And yet this trifle, simple as you think it, +this shred of a fragment, if the reader will believe me, still +echoes with luxurious sweetness in my ears, from some unaccountable +hide-and-seek of fugitive childish memories; just as a marine shell, +if applied steadily to the ear, awakens (according to the fine image +of Landor [Footnote: 'Of Landor,' viz., in his 'Gebir;' but also of +Wordsworth in 'The Excursion.' And I must tell the reader, that a +contest raged at one time as to the _original property_ in this image, +not much less keen than that between Neptune and Minerva, for the +chancellorship of Athens.]) the great vision of the sea; places the +listener + + 'In the sun's palace-porch, + And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there.' + +Now, on some moonless night, in some fitting condition of the +atmosphere, if Lord Rosse would permit the reader and myself to walk +into the front drawing-room of his telescope, then, in Mrs. Barbauld's +words, slightly varied, I might say to him,--Come, and I will show you +what is sublime! In fact, what I am going to lay before him, from Dr. +Nichol's work, is, or at least _would_ be, (when translated into Hebrew +grandeur by the mighty telescope,) a step above even that object which +some four-and-twenty years ago in the British Museum struck me as simply +the sublimest sight which in this sight-seeing world I had seen. It was +the Memnon's head, then recently brought from Egypt. I looked at it, as +the reader must suppose, in order to understand the depth which I have +here ascribed to the impression, not as a human but as a symbolic +head; and what it symbolized to me were: 1. The peace which passeth all +understanding. 2. The eternity which baffles and confounds all faculty +of computation; the eternity which _had_ been, the eternity which _was_ +to be. 3. The diffusive love, not such as rises and falls upon waves of +life and mortality, not such as sinks and swells by undulations of time, +but a procession--an emanation from some mystery of endless dawn. You +durst not call it a smile that radiated from the lips; the radiation was +too awful to clothe itself in adumbrations or memorials of flesh. + +In _that mode_ of sublimity, perhaps, I still adhere to my first +opinion, that nothing so great was ever beheld. The atmosphere for +_this_, for the Memnon, was the breathlessness which belongs to a +saintly trance; the holy thing seemed to live by silence. But there _is_ +a picture, the pendant of the Memnon, there _is_ a dreadful cartoon, +from the gallery which has begun to open upon Lord Rosse's telescope, +where the appropriate atmosphere for investing it must be drawn from +another silence, from the frost and from the eternities of death. It +is the famous _nebula_ in the constellation of Orion; famous for the +unexampled defiance with which it resisted all approaches from the most +potent of former telescopes; famous for its frightful magnitude and for +the frightful depth to which it is sunk in the abysses of the heavenly +wilderness; famous just now for the submission with which it has begun +to render up its secrets to the all-conquering telescope; and famous +in all time coming for the horror of the regal phantasma which it has +perfected to eyes of flesh. Had Milton's 'incestuous mother,' with her +fleshless son, and with the warrior angel, his father, that led the +rebellions of heaven, been suddenly unmasked by Lord Rosse's instrument, +in these dreadful distances before which, simply as expressions of +resistance, the mind of man shudders and recoils, there would have been +nothing more appalling in the exposure; in fact, it would have been +essentially the same exposure: the same expression of power in the +detestable phantom, the same rebellion in the attitude, the same pomp of +malice in the features to a universe seasoned for its assaults. + +The reader must look to Dr. Nichol's book, at page 51, for the picture +of this abominable apparition. But then, in order to see what _I_ see, +the obedient reader must do what I tell him to do. Let him therefore +view the wretch upside down. If he neglects that simple direction, of +course I don't answer for anything that follows: without any fault of +mine, my description will be unintelligible. This inversion being made, +the following is the dreadful creature that will then reveal itself. + +_Description of the Nebula in Orion, as forced to show out by Lord +Rosse._--You see a head thrown back, and raising its face, (or eyes, if +eyes it had,) in the very anguish of hatred, to some unknown heavens. +What _should_ be its skull wears what _might_ be an Assyrian tiara, only +ending behind in a floating train. This head rests upon a beautifully +developed neck and throat. All power being given to the awful enemy, he +is beautiful where he pleases, in order to point and envenom his ghostly +ugliness. The mouth, in that stage of the apocalypse which Sir John +Herschel was able to arrest in his eighteen-inch mirror, is amply +developed. Brutalities unspeakable sit upon the upper lip, which is +confluent with a snout; for separate nostrils there are none. Were it +not for this one defect of nostrils; and, even in spite of this defect, +(since, in so mysterious a mixture of the angelic and the brutal, we may +suppose the sense of odor to work by some compensatory organ,) one is +reminded by the phantom's attitude of a passage, ever memorable, in +Milton: that passage, I mean, where Death first becomes aware, soon +after the original trespass, of his own future empire over man. The +'meagre shadow' even smiles (for the first time and the last) on +apprehending his own abominable bliss, by apprehending from afar the +savor 'of mortal change on earth.' + + ----'Such a scent,' (he says,) 'I draw + Of carnage, prey innumerable.' + +As illustrating the attitude of the phantom in Orion, let the reader +allow me to quote the tremendous passage:-- + + 'So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell + Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock + Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, + Against the day of battle, to a field, + Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lured + With scent of living carcasses design'd + For death, the following day, in bloody fight; + So scented the grim feature, + +[Footnote: 'So scented the grim feature,' [_feature_ is the old word for +_form or outline that is shadowy_; and also for form (shadowy or not) +which abstracts from the _matter_.] By the way, I have never seen it +noticed, that Milton was indebted for the hint of this immortal passage +to a superb line-and-a-half, in Lucan's Pharsalia.] + + and upturn'd + His nostril wide into the murky air, + Sagacious of his quarry from so far.' + +But the lower lip, which is drawn inwards with the curve of a conch +shell,--oh what a convolute of cruelty and revenge is _there_! +Cruelty!--to whom? Revenge!--for what? Ask not, whisper not. Look +upwards to other mysteries. In the very region of his temples, driving +itself downwards into his cruel brain, and breaking the continuity of +his diadem, is a horrid chasm, a ravine, a shaft, that many centuries +would not traverse; and it is serrated on its posterior wall with a +harrow that perhaps is partly hidden. From the anterior wall of this +chasm rise, in vertical directions, two processes; one perpendicular, +and rigid as a horn, the other streaming forward before some portentous +breath. What these could be, seemed doubtful; but now, when further +examinations by Sir John Herschel, at the Cape of Good Hope, have filled +up the scattered outline with a rich umbrageous growth, one is inclined +to regard them as the plumes of a sultan. Dressed he is, therefore, as +well as armed. And finally comes Lord Rosse, that glorifies him with +the jewellery [Footnote: _The jewellery of Stars_. And one thing is +very remarkable, viz., that not only the stars justify this name of +jewellery, as usual, by the life of their splendor, but also, in this +case, by their arrangement. No jeweller could have set, or disposed with +more art, the magnificent quadrille of stars which is placed immediately +below the upright plume. There is also another, a truncated quadrille, +wanting only the left hand star (or you might call it a bisected +lozenge) placed on the diadem, but obliquely placed as regards the curve +of that diadem. Two or three other arrangements are striking, though +not equally so, both from their regularity and from their repeating each +other, as the forms in a kaleidoscope.] of stars: he is now a vision 'to +dream of, not to tell:' he is ready for the worship of those that +are tormented in sleep: and the stages of his solemn uncovering by +astronomy, first by Sir W. Herschel, secondly, by his son, and finally +by Lord Rosse, is like the reversing of some heavenly doom, like +the raising of the seals that had been sealed by the angel, in the +Revelations. But the reader naturally asks, How does all this concern +Lord Rosse's telescope on the one side, or general astronomy on the +other? This _nebula_, he will say, seems a bad kind of fellow by your +account; and of course it will not break my heart to hear, that he has +had the conceit taken out of him. But in what way can _that_ affect the +pretensions of this new instrument; or, if it did, how can the character +of the instrument affect the general condition of a science? Besides, is +not the science a growth from very ancient times? With great respect for +the Earl of Rosse, is it conceivable that he, or any man, by one hour's +working the tackle of his new instrument, can have carried any stunning +revolutionary effect into the heart of a section so ancient in our +mathematical physics? But the reader is to consider, that the ruins made +by Lord Rosse, are in _sidereal_ astronomy, which is almost wholly a +growth of modern times; and the particular part of it demolished by the +new telescope, is almost exclusively the creation of the two Herschels, +father and son. Laplace, it is true, adopted their views; and he +transferred them to the particular service of our own planetary system. +But he gave to them no new sanction, except what arises from showing +that they would account for the appearances, as they present themselves +to our experience at this day. That was a _negative_ confirmation; by +which I mean, that, had their views failed in the hands of Laplace, +then they were proved to be false; but, _not_ failing, they were not +therefore proved to be true. It was like proving a gun; if the charge is +insufficient, or if, in trying the strength of cast iron, timber, ropes, +&c., the strain is not up to the rigor of the demand, you go away with +perhaps a favorable impression as to the promises of the article; it has +stood a moderate trial; it has stood all the trial that offered, which +is always something; but you are still obliged to feel that, when the +ultimate test is applied, smash may go the whole concern. Lord Rosse +applied an ultimate test; and smash went the whole concern. Really I +must have laughed, though all the world had been angry, when the shrieks +and yells of expiring systems began to reverberate all the way from the +belt of Orion; and positively at the very first broadside delivered from +this huge four-decker of a telescope. + +But what was it then that went to wreck? That is a thing more easy to +ask than to answer. At least, for my own part, I complain that some +vagueness hangs over all the accounts of the nebular hypothesis. +However, in this place a brief sketch will suffice. + +Herschel the elder, having greatly improved the telescope, began to +observe with special attention a class of remarkable phenomena in the +starry world hitherto unstudied, viz.: milky spots in various stages of +diffusion. The nature of these appearances soon cleared itself up thus +far, that generally they were found to be starry worlds, separated from +ours by inconceivable distances, and in that way concealing at first +their real nature. The whitish gleam was the mask conferred by the +enormity of their remotion. This being so, it might have been supposed +that, as was the faintness of these cloudy spots or _nebulae_, such was +the distance. But _that_ did not follow: for in the treasury of nature +it turned out that there were other resources for modifying the powers +of distance, for muffling and unmuffling the voice of stars. Suppose +a world at the distance _x_, which distance is so great as to make the +manifestation of that world weak, milky, nebular. Now let the secret +power that wields these awful orbs, push this world back to a double +distance! _that_ should naturally make it paler and more dilute than +ever: and yet by _compression_, by deeper centralization, this effect +shall be defeated; by forcing into far closer neighborhood the stars +which compose this world, again it shall gleam out brighter when at 2_x_ +than when at _x_. At this point of compression, let the great moulding +power a second time push it back; and a second time it will grow faint. +But once more let this world be tortured into closer compression, again +let the screw be put upon it, and once again it shall shake off the +oppression of distance as the dew-drops are shaken from a lion's mane. +And thus in fact the mysterious architect plays at hide-and-seek with +his worlds. 'I will hide it,' he says, 'and it shall be found again by +man; I will withdraw it into distances that shall seem fabulous, and +again it shall apparel itself in glorious light; a third time I will +plunge it into aboriginal darkness, and upon the vision of man a third +time it shall rise with a new epiphany.' + +But, says the objector, there is no such world; there is no world that +has thus been driven back, and depressed from one deep to a lower +deep. Granted: but the same effect, an illustration of the same law, +is produced equally, whether you take four worlds, all of the same +magnitude, and plunge them _simultaneously_ into four different abysses, +sinking by graduated distances one below another, or take one world and +plunge it to the same distances _successively_. So in Geology, when men +talk of substances in different stages, or of transitional states, they +do not mean that they have watched the same individual _stratum_ or +_phenomenon_, exhibiting states removed from each other by depths of +many thousand years; how could they? but they have seen one stage in +the case A, another stage in the case B. They take, for instance, three +objects, the same (to use the technical language of logic) generically, +though numerically different, under separate circumstances, or in +different stages of advance. They are one object for logic, they are +three for human convenience. So again it might seem impossible to give +the history of a rose tree from infancy to age: how could the same rose +tree, at the same time, be young and old? Yet by taking the different +developments of its flowers, even as they hang on the same tree, from +the earliest bud to the full-blown rose, you may in effect pursue this +vegetable growth through all its stages: you have before you the bony +blushing little rose-bud, and the respectable 'mediaeval' full-blown +rose. + +This point settled, let it now be remarked, that Herschel's resources +enabled him to unmask many of these _nebulae_: stars they were, and stars +he forced them to own themselves. Why should any decent world wear +an _alias_? There was nothing, you know, to be ashamed of in being an +honest cluster of stars. Indeed, they seemed to be sensible of this +themselves, and they now yielded to the force of Herschel's arguments so +far as to show themselves in the new character of _nebulae_ spangled with +stars; these are the _stellar nebulae_; quite as much as you could expect +in so short a time: Rome was not built in a day: and one must have +some respect to stellar feelings. It was noticed, however, that where a +bright haze, and not a weak milk-and-water haze, had revealed itself +to the telescope, this, arising from a case of _compression_, (as +previously explained,) required very little increase of telescopic power +to force him into a fuller confession. He made a clean breast of it. +But at length came a dreadful anomaly. A 'nebula' in the constellation +_Andromeda_ turned restive: another in _Orion_, I grieve to say it, +still more so. I confine myself to the latter. A very low power sufficed +to bring him to a slight confession, which in fact amounted to nothing; +the very highest would not persuade him to show a star. 'Just one,' +said some coaxing person; 'we'll be satisfied with only one.' But no: +he would _not_. He was hardened, 'he wouldn't _split_.' And Herschel +was thus led, after waiting as long as flesh and blood _could_ wait, +to infer two classes of _nebulae_; one that were stars; and another +that were _not_ stars, nor ever were meant to be stars. Yet _that_ was +premature: he found at last, that, though not raised to the peerage of +stars, finally they would be so: they were the matter of stars; and by +gradual condensation would become suns, whose atmosphere, by a similar +process of condensing, would become planets, capable of brilliant +literati and philosophers, in several volumes octavo. So stood the case +for a long time; it was settled to the satisfaction of Europe that there +were two classes of _nebulae_, one that _were_ worlds, one that were +_not_, but only the pabulum of future worlds. Silence arose. A voice was +heard, 'Let there be Lord Rosse!' and immediately his telescope walked +into Orion; destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, +created immeasurable worlds. + +As a hint for apprehending the delicacy and difficulty of the process in +sidereal astronomy, let the inexperienced reader figure to himself these +separate cases of perplexity: 1st, A perplexity where the dilemma arises +from the collision between magnitude and distance:--is the size less, or +the distance greater? 2dly, Where the dilemma arises between motions, a +motion in ourselves doubtfully confounded with a motion in some external +body; or, 3dly, Where it arises between possible positions of an object: +is it a real proximity that we see between two stars, or simply an +apparent proximity from lying in the same visual line, though in far +other depths of space? As regards the first dilemma, we may suppose two +laws, A and B, absolutely in contradiction, laid down at starting: A, +that all fixed stars are precisely at the same _distance_; in this case +every difference in the apparent magnitude will indicate a corresponding +difference in the real magnitude, and will measure that difference. B, +that all the fixed stars are precisely of the same _magnitude_; in which +case, every variety in the size will indicate a corresponding difference +in the distance, and will measure that difference. Nor could we imagine +any exception to these inferences from A or from B, whichever of the two +were assumed, unless through optical laws that might not equally affect +objects under different circumstances; I mean, for instance, that might +suffer a disturbance as applied under hypoth. B, to different depths in +space, or under hypoth. A, to different arrangements of structure in the +star. But thirdly, it is certain, that neither A nor B is the abiding +law: and next it becomes an object by science and by instruments to +distinguish more readily and more certainly between the cases where +the distance has degraded the size, and the cases where the size being +_really_ less, has caused an exaggeration of the distance: or again, +where the size being really less, yet co-operating with a distance +really greater, may degrade the estimate, (though travelling in a right +direction,) below the truth; or again where the size being really less, +yet counteracted by a distance also less, may equally disturb the truth +of human measurements, and so on. + +A second large order of equivocating appearances will arise,--not as to +magnitude, but as to motion. If it could be a safe assumption, that +the system to which our planet is attached were absolutely fixed and +motionless, except as regards its own _internal_ relations of movement, +then every change outside of us, every motion that the registers of +astronomy had established, would be objective and not subjective. It +would be safe to pronounce at once that it was a motion in the object +contemplated, _not_ in the subject contemplating. Or, reversely, if it +were safe to assume as a universal law, that no motion was possible in +the starry heavens, then every change of relations in space, between +ourselves and them, would indicate and would measure a progress, or +regress, on the part of our solar system, in certain known directions. +But now, because it is not safe to rest in either assumption, the range +of possibilities for which science has to provide, is enlarged; the +immediate difficulties are multiplied; but with the result (as in the +former case) of reversionally expanding the powers, and consequently the +facilities, lodged both in the science and in the arts ministerial +to the science. Thus, in the constellation _Cygnus_, there is a star +gradually changing its relation to our system, whose distance from +ourselves (as Dr. Nichol tells us) is ascertained to be about six +hundred and seventy thousand times our own distance from the sun: that +is, neglecting minute accuracy, about six hundred and seventy thousand +stages of one hundred million miles each. This point being known, it +falls within the _arts_ of astronomy to translate this apparent angular +motion into miles; and presuming this change of relation to be not in +the star, but really in ourselves, we may deduce the velocity of our +course, we may enter into our _log_ daily the rate at which our whole +solar system is running. Bessel, it seems, the eminent astronomer who +died lately, computed this velocity to be such (viz., three times that +of our own earth in its proper orbit) as would carry us to the star in +forty-one thousand years. But, in the mean time, the astronomer is to +hold in reserve some small share of his attention, some trifle of a +side-glance, now and then, to the possibility of an error, after all, in +the main assumption: he must watch the indications, if any such should +arise, that not ourselves, but the star in _Cygnus_, is the real party +concerned, in drifting at this shocking rate, with no prospect of coming +to an anchorage. [Footnote: It is worth adding at this point, whilst the +reader remembers without effort the numbers, viz., forty-one thousand +years, for the time, (the space being our own distance from the sun +repeated six hundred and seventy thousand times,) what would be the +time required for reaching, in the _body_, that distance to which Lord +Rosse's six feet mirror has so recently extended our _vision_. The time +would be, as Dr. Nichol computes, about two hundred and fifty millions +of years, supposing that our rate of travelling was about three times +that of our earth in its orbit. Now, as the velocity is assumed to +be the same in both cases, the ratio between the distance (already so +tremendous) of Bessel's 61 _Cygni_, and that of Lord Rosse's farthest +frontier, is as forty-one thousand to two hundred and fifty millions. +This is a simple rule-of-three problem for a child. And the answer to +it will, perhaps, convey the simplest expression of the superhuman power +lodged in the new telescope:--as is the ratio of forty-one thousand to +two hundred and fifty million, so is the ratio of our own distance from +the sun multiplied by six hundred and seventy thousand, to the outermost +limit of Lord Rosse's sidereal vision.] + +Another class, and a frequent one, of equivocal phenomena, phenomena +that are reconcilable indifferently with either of two assumptions, +though less plausibly reconciled with the one than with the other, +concerns the position of stars that seem connected with each other by +systematic relations, and which yet _may_ lie in very different depths +of space, being brought into seeming connection only by the human eye. +There have been, and there are, cases where two stars dissemble an +interconnection which they really _have_, and other cases where they +simulate an interconnection which they have not. All these cases of +simulation and dissimulation torment the astronomer by multiplying his +perplexities, and deepening the difficulty of escaping them. He cannot +get at the truth: in many cases, magnitude and distance are in collusion +with each other to deceive him: motion subjective is in collusion with +motion objective; duplex systems are in collusion with fraudulent stars, +having no real partnership whatever, but mimicking such a partnership by +means of the limitations or errors affecting the human eye, where it can +apply no other sense to aid or to correct itself. So that the business +of astronomy, in these days, is no sinecure, as the reader perceives. +And by another evidence, it is continually becoming less of a sinecure. +Formerly, one or two men,--Tycho, suppose, or, in a later age, Cassini +and Horrox, and Bradley, had observatories: one man, suppose, observed +the stars for all Christendom; and the rest of Europe observed _him_. +But now, up and down Europe, from the deep blue of Italian skies to the +cold frosty atmospheres of St. Petersburg and Glasgow, the stars are +conscious of being watched everywhere; and if all astronomers do not +publish their observations, all use them in their speculations. New and +brilliantly appointed observatories are rising in every latitude, or +risen; and none, by the way, of these new-born observatories, is +more interesting from the circumstances of its position, or more +_picturesque_ to a higher organ than the eye--viz., to the human +heart--than the New Observatory raised by the university of +Glasgow.[Footnote: It has been reported, ever since the autumn of 1845, +and the report is now, (August, 1846,) gathering strength, that some +railway potentate, having taken a fancy for the ancient college of +Glasgow, as a bauble to hang about his wife's neck, (no accounting for +tastes,) has offered, (or _will_ offer,) such a price, that the good +old academic lady in this her moss-grown antiquity, seriously thinks +of taking him at his word, packing up her traps, and being off. When a +spirit of galavanting comes across an aged lady, it is always difficult +to know where it will stop: so, in fact, you know, she may choose to +steam for Texas. But the present impression is, that she will +settle down by the side of what you may call her married or settled +daughter--the Observatory; which one would be glad to have confirmed, +as indicating that no purpose of pleasure-seeking had been working in +elderly minds, but the instinct of religious rest and aspiration. The +Observatory would thus remind one of those early Christian anchorites, +and self-exiled visionaries, that being led by almost a necessity of +nature to take up their residence in deserts, sometimes drew after +themselves the whole of their own neighborhood.] + +The New Observatory of Glasgow is now, I believe, finished; and the +only fact connected with its history that was painful, as embodying and +recording that Vandal alienation from science, literature, and all their +interests, which has ever marked our too haughty and Caliph-Omar-like +British government, lay in the circumstance that the glasses of the +apparatus, the whole mounting of the establishment, in so far as it +was a scientific establishment, and even the workmen for putting up +the machinery, were imported from Bavaria. We, that once bade the world +stand aside when the question arose about glasses, or the graduation of +instruments, were now literally obliged to stand cap in hand, bowing to +Mr. Somebody, successor of Frauenhofer or Frauendevil, in Munich! +Who caused _that_, we should all be glad to know, if not the wicked +Treasury, that killed the hen that laid the golden eggs by taxing her +until her spine broke? It is to be hoped that, at this moment, and +specifically for this offence, some scores of Exchequer men, chancellors +and other rubbish, are in purgatory, and perhaps working, with +shirt-sleeves tucked up, in purgatorial glass-houses, with very small +allowances of beer, to defray the cost of perspiration. But why trouble +a festal remembrance with commemorations of crimes or criminals? +What makes the Glasgow Observatory so peculiarly interesting, is its +position, connected with and overlooking so vast a city, having more +than three hundred thousand inhabitants, (in spite of an American +sceptic,) nearly all children of toil; and a city, too, which, from the +necessities of its circumstances, draws so deeply upon that fountain of +misery and guilt which some ordinance, as ancient as 'our father Jacob,' +with his patriarchal well for Samaria, has bequeathed to manufacturing +towns,--to Ninevehs, to Babylons, to Tyres. How tarnished with eternal +canopies of smoke, and of sorrow; how dark with agitations of many +orders, is the mighty town below! How serene, how quiet, how lifted +above the confusion and the roar, how liberated from the strifes of +earth, is the solemn Observatory that crowns the grounds above! And +duly, at night, just when the toil of over-wrought Glasgow is mercifully +relaxing, then comes the summons to the laboring astronomer. _He_ speaks +not of the night, but of the day and the flaunting day-light, as the +hours 'in which no man can work.' And the least reflecting of men +must be impressed by the idea, that at wide intervals, but intervals +scattered over Europe, whilst 'all that mighty heart' is, by sleep, +resting from its labors, secret eyes are lifted up to heaven in +astronomical watch-towers; eyes that keep watch and ward over spaces +that make us dizzy to remember, eyes that register the promises of +comets, and disentangle the labyrinths of worlds. + +Another feature of interest, connected with the Glasgow Observatory, is +personal, and founded on the intellectual characteristics of the present +professor, Dr. Nichol; in the deep meditative style of his mind seeking +for rest, yet placed in conflict for ever with the tumultuous necessity +in _him_ for travelling along the line of revolutionary thought, and +following it loyally, wearied or not, to its natural home. + +In a sonnet of Milton, one of three connected with his own blindness, +he distinguishes between two classes of servants that minister to +the purposes of God. '_His_ state,' says he, meaning God's state, the +arrangement of his regular service, 'is kingly;' that is to say, it +resembles the mode of service established in the courts of kings; +and, in this, it resembles that service, that there are two classes of +ministers attending on his pleasure. For, as in the trains of kings +are some that run without resting, night or day, to carry the royal +messages, and also others--great lords in waiting--that move not from +the royal gates; so of the divine retinues, some are for action only, +some for contemplation. 'Thousands' there are that + + ----'at his bidding speed, + And post o'er land and ocean without rest.' + +Others, on the contrary, motionless as statues, that share not in the +agitations of their times, that tremble not in sympathy with the +storms around them, but that listen--that watch--that wait--for secret +indications to be fulfilled, or secret signs to be deciphered. And, +of this latter class, he adds-that they, not less than the others, are +accepted by God; or, as it is so exquisitely expressed in the closing +line, + + '_They_ also serve, that only stand and wait.' + +Something analogous to this one may see in the distributions of +literature and science. Many popularize and diffuse: some reap and +gather on their own account. Many translate, into languages fit for the +multitude, messages which they receive from human voices: some listen, +like Kubla Khan, far down in caverns or hanging over subterranean +rivers, for secret whispers that mingle and confuse themselves with the +general uproar of torrents, but which can be detected and kept apart +by the obstinate prophetic ear, which spells into words and ominous +sentences the distracted syllables of aerial voices. Dr. Nichol is one +of those who pass to and fro between these classes; and has the rare +function of keeping open their vital communications. As a popularizing +astronomer, he has done more for the benefit of his great science than +all the rest of Europe combined: and now, when he notices, without +murmur, the fact that his office of popular teacher is almost taken out +of his hands, (so many are they who have trained of late for the duty,) +that change has, in fact, been accomplished through knowledge, through +explanations, through suggestions, dispersed and prompted by himself. + +For my own part, as one belonging to the laity, and not to the _clerus_, +in the science of astronomy, I could scarcely have presumed to report +minutely, or to sit in the character of dissector upon the separate +details of Dr. Nichol's works, either this, or those which have preceded +it, had there even been room left disposable for such a task. But in +this view it is sufficient to have made the general acknowledgment which +already _has_ been made, that Dr. Nichol's works, and his oral lectures +upon astronomy, are to be considered as the _fundus_ of the knowledge on +that science now working in this generation. More important it is, and +more in reconciliation with the tenor of my own ordinary studies, to +notice the philosophic spirit in which Dr. Nichol's works are framed; +the breadth of his views, the eternal tendency of his steps in advance, +or (if advance on that quarter, or at that point, happens to +be absolutely walled out for the present,) the vigor of the +_reconnoissances_ by which he examines the hostile intrenchments. +Another feature challenges notice. In reading astronomical works, there +arises (from old experience of what is usually most faulty) a wish +either for the naked severities of science, with a total abstinence from +all display of enthusiasm; or else, if the cravings of human sensibility +are to be met and gratified, that it shall be by an enthusiasm +unaffected and grand as its subject. Of that kind is the enthusiasm +of Dr. Nichol. The grandeurs of astronomy are such to him who has a +capacity for being grandly moved. They are none at all to him who has +not. To the mean they become meannesses. Space, for example, has no +grandeur to him who has no space in the theatre of his own brain. I know +writers who report the marvels of velocity, &c., in such a way that +they become insults to yourself. It is obvious that in _their_ way of +insisting on our earth's speed in her annual orbit, they do not seek +to exalt _her_, but to mortify _you_. And, besides, these fellows are +answerable for provoking people into fibs:--for I remember one day, that +reading a statement of this nature, about how many things the Earth +had done that we could never hope to do, and about the number of cannon +balls, harnessed as a _tandem_, which the Earth would fly past, without +leaving time to say, _How are you off for soap?_ in vexation of heart I +could not help exclaiming--'That's nothing: I've done a great deal more +myself;' though, when one turns it in one's mind, you know there must be +some inaccuracy _there_. How different is Dr. Nichol's enthusiasm from +this hypocritical and vulgar wonderment! It shows itself not merely in +reflecting the grandeurs of his theme, and by the sure test of detecting +and allying itself with all the indirect grandeurs that arrange +themselves from any distance, upon or about that centre, but by the +manifest promptness with which Dr. Nichol's enthusiasm awakens itself +upon _every_ road that leads to things elevating for man; or to things +promising for knowledge; or to things which, like dubious theories +or imperfect attempts at systematizing, though neutral as regards +knowledge, minister to what is greater than knowledge, viz., to +intellectual _power_, to the augmented power of handling your materials, +though with no more materials than before. In his geological and +cosmological inquiries, in his casual speculations, the same quality of +intellect betrays itself; the intellect that labors in sympathy with the +laboring _nisus_ of these gladiatorial times; that works (and sees the +necessity of working) the apparatus of many sciences towards a composite +result; the intellect that retires in one direction only to make head in +another; and that already is prefiguring the route beyond the barriers, +whilst yet the gates are locked. + +There was a man in the last century, and an eminent man too, who used +to say, that whereas people in general pretended to admire astronomy as +being essentially sublime, he for _his_ part looked upon all that sort +of thing as a swindle; and, on the contrary, he regarded the solar +system as decidedly vulgar; because the planets were all of them so +infernally punctual, they kept time with such horrible precision, +that they forced him, whether he would or no, to think of nothing but +post-office clocks, mail-coaches, and book-keepers. Regularity may be +beautiful, but it excludes the sublime. What he wished for was something +like Lloyd's list. + +_Comets_--due 3; arrived 1. _Mercury_, when last seen, appeared to be +distressed; but made no signals. _Pallas_ and _Vesta_, not heard of for +some time; supposed to have foundered. _Moon_, spoken last night through +a heavy bank of clouds; out sixteen days: all right. + +Now this poor man's misfortune was, to have lived in the days of mere +planetary astronomy. At present, when our own little system, with all +its grandeurs, has dwindled by comparison to a subordinate province, if +any man is bold enough to say so, a poor shivering unit amongst myriads +that are brighter, we ought no longer to talk of astronomy, but of +_the astronomies_. There is the planetary, the cometary, the sidereal, +perhaps also others; as, for instance, even yet the nebular; because, +though Lord Rosse has smitten it with the son of Amram's rod, has +made it open, and cloven a path through it, yet other and more fearful +_nebulae_ may loom in sight, (if further improvements should be effected +in the telescope,) that may puzzle even Lord Rosse. And when he tells +his _famulus_--'Fire a shot at that strange fellow, and make him show +his colors,' possibly the mighty stranger may disdain the summons. That +would be vexatious: we should all be incensed at _that_. But no matter. +What's a _nebula_, what's a world, more or less? In the spiritual +heavens are many mansions: in the starry heavens, that are now unfolding +and preparing to unfold before us, are many vacant areas upon which the +astronomer may pitch his secret pavilion. He may dedicate himself to the +service of the _Double Suns_; he has my license to devote his whole time +to the quadruple system of suns in _Lyra_. Swammerdam spent his life in +a ditch watching frogs and tadpoles; why may not an astronomer give +nine lives, if he had them, to the watching of that awful appearance +in _Hercules_, which pretends to some rights over our own unoffending +system? Why may he not mount guard with public approbation, for the +next fifty years, upon the zodiacal light, the interplanetary ether, +and other rarities, which the professional body of astronomers would +naturally keep (if they could) for their own private enjoyment? There +is no want of variety now, nor in fact of irregularity: for the most +exquisite clock-work, which from enormous distance _seems_ to go +wrong, virtually for us _does_ go wrong; so that our friend of the last +century, who complained of the solar system, would not need to do so any +longer. There are anomalies enough to keep him cheerful. There are now +even things to alarm us; for anything in the starry worlds that look +suspicious, anything that ought _not_ to be there, is, for all purposes +of frightening us, as good as a ghost. + +But of all the novelties that excite my own interest in the expanding +astronomy of recent times, the most delightful and promising are +those charming little pyrotechnic planetoids,[Footnote: _'Pyrotechnic +Planetoids:'_--The reader will understand me as alluding to the periodic +shooting stars. It is now well known, that as, upon our own poor little +earthly ocean, we fall in with certain phenomena as we approach certain +latitudes; so also upon the great ocean navigated by our Earth, we +fall in with prodigious showers of these meteors at periods no longer +uncertain, but fixed as jail-deliveries. 'These remarkable showers of +meteors,' says Dr. Nichol, 'observed at different periods in August and +November, seem to demonstrate the fact, that, at these periods, we have +come in contact with two streams of such planetoids then intersecting +the earth's orbit.' If they intermit, it is only because they are +shifting their nodes, or points of intersection.] that variegate our +annual course. It always struck me as most disgusting, that, in going +round the sun, we must be passing continually over old roads, and yet +we had no means of establishing an acquaintance with them: they might +as well be new for every trip. Those chambers of ether, through which we +are tearing along night and day, (for _our_ train stops at no stations,) +doubtless, if we could put some mark upon them, must be old fellows +perfectly liable to recognition. I suppose, _they_ never have notice to +quit. And yet, for want of such a mark, though all our lives flying past +them and through them, we can never challenge them as known. The same +thing happens in the desert: one monotonous iteration of sand, sand, +sand, unless where some miserable fountain stagnates, forbids all +approach to familiarity: nothing is circumstantiated or differenced: +travel it for three generations, and you are no nearer to identification +of its parts: so that it amounts to travelling through an abstract idea. +For the desert, really I suspect the thing is hopeless: but, as regards +our planetary orbit, matters are mending: for the last six or seven +years I have heard of these fiery showers, but indeed I cannot say how +much earlier they were first noticed,[Footnote: Somewhere I have seen it +remarked, that if, on a public road, you meet a party of four women, +it is at least fifty to one that they are all laughing; whereas, if you +meet an equal party of my own unhappy sex, you may wager safely that +they are talking gravely, and that one of them is uttering the word +_money_. Hence it must be, viz, because our sisters are too much +occupied with the playful things of this earth, and our brothers with +its gravities, that neither party sufficiently watches the skies. And +_that_ accounts for a fact which often has struck myself, viz., that, in +cities, on bright moonless nights, when some brilliant skirmishings of +the Aurora are exhibiting, or even a luminous arch, which is a broad +ribbon of snowy light that spans the skies, positively unless I myself +say to people--'Eyes upwards!' not one in a hundred, male or female, but +fails to see the show, though it may be seen _gratis_, simply because +their eyes are too uniformly reading the earth. This downward direction +of the eyes, however, must have been worse in former ages: because else +it never _could_ have happened that, until Queen Anne's days, nobody +ever hinted in a book that there _was_ such a thing, or _could_ be such +a thing, as the Aurora Borealis; and in fact Halley had the credit of +discovering it.] as celebrating two annual festivals--one in August, one +in November. You are a little too late, reader, for seeing this year's +summer festival; but that's no reason why you should not engage a good +seat for the November meeting; which, if I recollect, is about the +9th, or the Lord Mayor's day, and on the whole better worth seeing. +For anything _we_ know, this may be a great day in the earth's earlier +history; she may have put forth her original rose on this day, or tried +her hand at a primitive specimen of wheat; or she may, in fact, have +survived some gunpowder plot about this time; so that the meteoric +appearance may be a kind congratulating _feu-de-joye_, on the +anniversary of the happy event. What it is that the 'cosmogony man' in +the 'Vicar of Wakefield' would have thought of such novelties, whether +he would have favored us with his usual opinion upon such topics, viz., +that _anarchon ara kai ateleutaion to pan_, or have sported a new +one exclusively for this occasion, may be doubtful. What it is that +astronomers think, who are a kind of 'cosmogony men,' the reader may +learn from Dr. Nichol, Note B, (p. 139, 140.) + +In taking leave of a book and a subject so well fitted to draw out +the highest mode of that grandeur, which _can_ connect itself with +the external, (a grandeur capable of drawing down a spiritual being to +earth, but not of raising an earthly being to heaven,) I would wish to +contribute my own brief word of homage to this grandeur by recalling +from a fading remembrance of twenty-five years back a short _bravura_ +of John Paul Richter. I call it a _bravura_, as being intentionally a +passage of display and elaborate execution; and in this sense I may +call it partly 'my own,' that at twenty-five years' distance, (after one +single reading,) it would not have been possible for any man to report +a passage of this length without greatly disturbing [Footnote: +_'Disturbing;'_--neither perhaps should I much have sought to avoid +alterations if the original had been lying before me: for it takes the +shape of a dream; and this most brilliant of all German writers wanted +in that field the severe simplicity, that horror of the _too much_, +belonging to Grecian architecture, which is essential to the perfection +of a dream considered as a work of art. He was too elaborate, to +realize the grandeur of the shadowy.] the texture of the composition: +by altering, one makes it partly one's own; but it is right to mention, +that the sublime turn at the end belongs entirely to John Paul. + +'God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, +saying,--"Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house." And to the +servants that stood around his throne he said,--"Take him, and undress +him from his robes of flesh: cleanse his vision, and put a new breath +into his nostrils: only touch not with any change his human heart--the +heart that weeps and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel +for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage; and from the +terraces of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled away +into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing they +fled through Zaarrahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death, that +divided the worlds of life: sometimes they swept over frontiers, that +were quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then, from a distance +that is counted only in heaven, light dawned for a time through a sleepy +film: by unutterable pace the light swept to _them_, they by unutterable +pace to the light: in a moment the rushing of planets was upon them: in +a moment the blazing of suns was around them. Then came eternities of +twilight, that revealed, but were not revealed. To the right hand and +to the left towered mighty constellations, that by self-repetitions and +answers from afar, that by counter-positions, built up triumphal gates, +whose architraves, whose archways--horizontal, upright--rested, rose--at +altitudes, by spans--that seemed ghostly from infinitude. Without +measure were the architraves, past number were the archways, beyond +memory the gates. Within were stairs that scaled the eternities above, +that descended to the eternities below: above was below, below was +above, to the man stripped of gravitating body: depth was swallowed up +in height insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth unfathomable. +Suddenly as thus they rode from infinite to infinite, suddenly as thus +they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose--that systems +more mysterious, that worlds more billowy,--other heights, and other +depths,--were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Then the man sighed, +and stopped, shuddered and wept. His over-laden heart uttered itself in +tears; and he said,--"Angel, I will go no farther. For the spirit of man +aches with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie +down in the grave from the persecutions of the infinite; for end, I +see, there is none." And from all the listening stars that shone around +issued a choral voice, "The man speaks truly: end there is none, that +ever yet we heard of." "End is there none?" the angel solemnly demanded: +"Is there indeed no end? And is this the sorrow that kills you?" But no +voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the angel threw up +his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens; saying, "End is there none +to the universe of God? Lo! also there is no Beginning."' + + +NOTE.--On throwing his eyes hastily over the preceding paper, the writer +becomes afraid that some readers may give such an interpretation to a +few playful expressions upon the age of our earth, &c., as to class him +with those who use geology, cosmology, &c., for purposes of attack, +or insinuation against the Scriptures. Upon this point, therefore, he +wishes to make a firm explanation of his own opinions, which, (whether +right or wrong,) will liberate him, once and for all, from any such +jealousy. + +It is sometimes said, that the revealer of a true religion, does +not come amongst men for the sake of teaching truths in science, or +correcting errors in science. Most justly is this said: but often in +terms far too feeble. For generally these terms are such as to +imply, that, although no function of his mission, it was yet open to +him--although not pressing with the force of an obligation upon the +revealer, it was yet at his discretion--if not to correct other +men's errors, yet at least in his own person to speak with scientific +precision. I contend that it was _not_. I contend, that to have uttered +the truths of astronomy, of geology, &c., at the era of new-born +Christianity, was not only _below_ the purposes of a religion, but would +have been _against_ them. Even upon errors of a far more important class +than any errors in science can ever be,--superstitions, for instance, +that degraded the very idea of God; prejudices and false usages, that +laid waste human happiness, (such as slavery and many hundreds of other +abuses that might be mentioned,) the rule evidently acted upon by +the Founder of Christianity was this--Given the purification of the +fountain, once assumed that the fountains of truth are cleansed, all +these derivative currents of evil will cleanse themselves. And the only +exceptions, which I remember, to this rule, are two cases in which, from +the personal appeal made to his decision, Christ would have made himself +a party to wretched delusions, if he had not condescended to expose +their folly. But, as a general rule, the branches of error were +disregarded, and the roots only attacked. If, then, so lofty a station +was taken with regard even to such errors as had moral and spiritual +relations, how much more with regard to the comparative trifles, (as +in the ultimate relations of human nature they are,) of merely human +science! But, for my part, I go further, and assert, that upon three +reasons it was impossible for any messenger from God, (or offering +himself in that character,) for a moment to have descended into the +communication of truth merely scientific, or economic, or worldly. +And the reasons are these: _First_, Because it would have degraded his +mission, by lowering it to the base level of a collision with human +curiosity, or with petty and transitory interests. _Secondly_, Because +it would have ruined his mission; would utterly have prostrated the free +agency and the proper agency of that mission. He that, in those days, +should have proclaimed the true theory of the Solar System and the +heavenly forces, would have been shut up at once--as a lunatic likely +to become dangerous. But suppose him to have escaped _that_; still, as +a divine teacher, he has no liberty of caprice. He must stand to the +promises of his own acts. Uttering the first truth of a science, he +is pledged to the second: taking the main step, he is committed to all +which follow. He is thrown at once upon the endless controversies which +science in every stage provokes, and in none more than in the +earliest. Or, if he retires as from a scene of contest that he had not +anticipated, he retires as one confessing a human precipitance and +a human oversight, weaknesses, venial in others, but fatal to the +pretensions of a divine teacher. Starting besides from such pretensions, +he could not (as others might) have the privilege of selecting +arbitrarily or partially. If upon one science, then upon all,--if upon +science, then upon, art,--if upon art and science, then upon _every_ +branch of social economy, upon _every_ organ of civilization, his +reformations and advances are equally due; due as to all, if due as to +any. To move in one direction, is constructively to undertake for all. +Without power to retreat, he has thus thrown the intellectual interests +of his followers into a channel utterly alien to the purposes of a +spiritual mission. + +Thus far he has simply failed: but next comes a worse result; an evil, +not negative but positive. Because, _thirdly_, to apply the light of a +revelation for the benefit of a merely human science, which is virtually +done by so applying the illumination of an _inspired_ teacher, is--to +assault capitally the scheme of God's discipline and training for man. +To improve by _heavenly_ means, if but in one solitary science--to +lighten, if but in one solitary section, the condition of difficulty +which had been designed for the strengthening and training of human +faculties, is _pro tanto_ to disturb--to cancel--to contradict a +previous purpose of God, made known by silent indications from the +beginning of the world. Wherefore did God give to man the powers for +contending with scientific difficulties? Wherefore did he lay a secret +train of continual occasions, that should rise, by intervals, through +thousands of generations, for provoking and developing those activities +in man's intellect, if, after all, he is to send a messenger of his own, +more than human, to intercept and strangle all these great purposes? +When, therefore, the persecutors of Galileo, alleged that Jupiter, for +instance, could not move in the way alleged, because then the Bible +would have proclaimed it,--as they thus threw back upon God the burthen +of discovery, which he had thrown upon Galileo, why did they not, +by following out their own logic, throw upon the Bible the duty of +discovering the telescope, or discovering the satellites of Jupiter? +And, as no such discoveries were there, why did they not, by parity of +logic, and for mere consistency, deny the telescope as a fact, deny the +Jovian planets as facts? But this it is to mistake the very meaning and +purposes of a revelation. A revelation is not made for the purpose of +showing to idle men that which they may show to themselves, by faculties +already given to them, if only they will exert those faculties, but for +the purpose of showing _that_ which the moral darkness of man will +not, without supernatural light, allow him to perceive. With disdain, +therefore, must every considerate person regard the notion,--that God +could wilfully interfere with his own plans, by accrediting ambassadors +to reveal astronomy, or any other science, which he has commanded men +to cultivate _without_ revelation, by endowing them with all the natural +powers for doing so. + +Even as regards astronomy, a science so nearly allying itself to +religion by the loftiness and by the purity of its contemplations, +Scripture is nowhere the _parent_ of any doctrine, nor so much as the +silent sanctioner of any doctrine. Scripture cannot become the author +of falsehood,--though it were as to a trifle, cannot become a party to +falsehood. And it is made impossible for Scripture to teach falsely, by +the simple fact that Scripture, on such subjects, will not condescend to +teach at all. The Bible adopts the erroneous language of men, (which at +any rate it must do, in order to make itself understood,) not by way +of sanctioning a theory, but by way of using a fact. The Bible _uses_ +(postulates) the phenomena of day and night, of summer and winter, and +expresses them, in relation to their causes, as _men_ express them, men, +even, that are scientific astronomers. But the results, which are all +that concern Scripture, are equally true, whether accounted for by one +hypothesis which is philosophically just, or by another which is popular +and erring. + +Now, on the other hand, in geology and cosmology, the case is still +stronger. _Here_ there is no opening for a compliance even with popular +language. _Here_, where there is no such stream of apparent phenomena +running counter (as in astronomy) to the real phenomena, neither is +there any popular language opposed to the scientific. The whole are +abstruse speculations, even as regards their objects, not dreamed of as +possibilities, either in their true aspects or their false aspects, +till modern times. The Scriptures, therefore, nowhere allude to such +sciences, either under the shape of histories, applied to processes +current and in movement, or under the shape of theories applied to +processes past and accomplished. The Mosaic cosmogony, indeed, gives the +succession of natural births; and that succession will doubtless be more +and more confirmed and illustrated as geology advances. But as to the +time, the duration, of this cosmogony, it is the idlest of notions that +the Scriptures either have or could have condescended to human curiosity +upon so awful a prologue to the drama of this world. Genesis would no +more have indulged so mean a passion with respect to the mysterious +inauguration of the world, than the Apocalypse with respect to its +mysterious close. 'Yet the six _days_ of Moses!' Days! But is any man +so little versed in biblical language as not to know that (except in the +merely historical parts of the Jewish records) every section of time +has a secret and separate acceptation in the Scriptures? Does an _aeon_, +though a Grecian word, bear scripturally [either in Daniel or in Saint +John] any sense known to Grecian ears? Do the seventy _weeks_ of the +prophet mean weeks in the sense of human calendars? Already the Psalms, +(xc) already St. Peter, (2d Epist.) warn us of a peculiar sense +attached to the word _day_ in divine ears? And who of the innumerable +interpreters understands the twelve hundred and odd days in Daniel, +or his two thousand and odd days, to mean, by possibility, periods of +twenty-four hours? Surely the theme of Moses was as mystical, and +as much entitled to the benefit of mystical language, as that of the +prophets. + +The sum of the matter is this:--God, by a Hebrew prophet, is sublimely +described as _the Revealer_; and, in variation of his own expression, +the same prophet describes him as the Being 'that knoweth the darkness.' +Under no idea can the relations of God to man be more grandly expressed. +But of what is he the revealer? Not surely of those things which he has +enabled man to reveal for himself, and which he has commanded him so +to reveal, but of those things which, were it not through special +light from heaven, must eternally remain sealed up in the inaccessible +darkness. On this principle we should all laugh at a revealed cookery. +But essentially the same ridicule applies to a revealed astronomy, or a +revealed geology. As a fact, there _is_ no such astronomy or geology: as +a possibility, by the _a priori_ argument which I have used, (viz., that +a revelation on such fields, would contradict _other_ machineries of +providence,) there _can_ be no such astronomy or geology. Consequently +there _can_ be none such in the Bible. Consequently there _is_ none. +Consequently there can be no schism or feud upon _these_ subjects +between the Bible and the philosophies outside. Geology is a field left +open, with the amplest permission from above, to the widest and wildest +speculations of man. + + + + +MODERN SUPERSTITION + + +It is said continually--that the age of miracles is past. We deny that +it is so in any sense which implies this age to differ from all other +generations of man except one. It is neither past, nor ought we to wish +it past. Superstition is no vice in the constitution of man: it is +not true that, in any philosophic view, _primus in orbe deos fecit +timor_--meaning by _fecit_ even so much as _raised into light_. As Burke +remarked, the _timor_ at least must be presumed to preexist, and must +be accounted for, if not the gods. If the fear created the gods, what +created the fear? Far more true, and more just to the grandeur of man, +it would have been to say--_Primus in orbe deos fecit sensus infiniti_. +Even in the lowest Caffre, more goes to the sense of a divine being than +simply his wrath or his power. Superstition, indeed, or the sympathy +with the invisible, is the great test of man's nature, as an earthly +combining with a celestial. In superstition lies the possibility +of religion. And though superstition is often injurious, degrading, +demoralizing, it is so, not as a form of corruption or degradation, +but as a form of non-development. The crab is harsh, and for itself +worthless. But it is the germinal form of innumerable finer fruits: not +apples only the most exquisite, and pears; the peach and the nectarine +are said to have radiated from this austere stock when cultured, +developed, and transferred to all varieties of climate. Superstition +will finally pass into pure forms of religion as man advances. It would +be matter of lamentation to hear that superstition had at all decayed +until man had made corresponding steps in the purification and +development of his intellect as applicable to religious faith. Let us +hope that this is not so. And, by way of judging, let us throw a hasty +eye over the modes of popular superstition. If these manifest their +vitality, it will prove that the popular intellect does not go along +with the bookish or the worldly (philosophic we cannot call it) in +pronouncing the miraculous extinct. The popular feeling is all in all. + +This function of miraculous power, which is most widely diffused through +Pagan and Christian ages alike, but which has the least root in the +solemnities of the imagination, we may call the _Ovidian_. By way of +distinction, it may be so called; and with some justice, since Ovid in +his _Metamorphoses_ gave the first elaborate record of such a tendency +in human superstition. It is a movement of superstition under the +domination of human affections; a mode of spiritual awe which seeks +to reconcile itself with human tenderness or admiration; and which +represents supernatural power as expressing itself by a sympathy with +human distress or passion concurrently with human sympathies, and as +supporting that blended sympathy by a symbol incarnated with the fixed +agencies of nature. For instance, a pair of youthful lovers perish by a +double suicide originating in a fatal mistake, and a mistake operating +in each case through a noble self-oblivion. The tree under which their +meeting has been concerted, and which witnesses their tragedy, is +supposed ever afterwards to express the divine sympathy with this +catastrophe in the gloomy color of its fruit:-- + + 'At tu, quae ramis (arbor!) miserabile corpus + Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum, + Signa tene caedis:--pullosque et luctibus aptos + Semper habe fructus--gemini monumenta cruoris:' + +Such is the dying adjuration of the lady to the tree. And the fruit +becomes from that time a monument of a double sympathy--sympathy from +man, sympathy from a dark power standing behind the agencies of nature, +and speaking through them. Meantime the object of this sympathy is +understood to be not the individual catastrophe, but the universal +case of unfortunate love exemplified in this particular romance. The +inimitable grace with which Ovid has delivered these early traditions +of human tenderness, blending with human superstition, is notorious; the +artfulness of the pervading connection, by which every tale in the long +succession is made to arise spontaneously out of that which precedes, is +absolutely unrivalled; and this it was, with his luxuriant gayety, which +procured for him a preference, even with Milton, a poet so opposite by +intellectual constitution. It is but reasonable, therefore, that this +function of the miraculous should bear the name of _Ovidian_. Pagan it +was in its birth; and to paganism its titles ultimately ascend. Yet we +know that in the transitional state through the centuries succeeding to +Christ, during which paganism and Christianity were slowly descending +and ascending, as if from two different strata of the atmosphere, the +two powers interchanged whatsoever they could. (See Conyer's Middleton; +and see Blount of our own days.) It marked the earthly nature of +paganism, that it could borrow little or nothing by organization: it +was fitted to no expansion. But the true faith, from its vast and +comprehensive adaptation to the nature of man, lent itself to many +corruptions--some deadly in their tendencies, some harmless. Amongst +these last was the Ovidian form of connecting the unseen powers moving +in nature with human sympathies of love or reverence. The legends of +this kind are universal and endless. No land, the most austere in its +Protestantism, but has adopted these superstitions: and everywhere by +those even who reject them they are entertained with some degree of +affectionate respect. That the ass, which in its very degradation still +retains an under-power of sublimity, [Footnote: '_An under-power of +sublimity_.'--Everybody knows that Homer compared the Telamonian Ajax, +in a moment of heroic endurance, to an ass. This, however, was only +under a momentary glance from a peculiar angle of the case. But the +Mahometan, too solemn, and also perhaps too stupid to catch the fanciful +colors of things, absolutely by choice, under the Bagdad Caliphate, +decorated a most favorite hero with the title of the _Ass_--which title +is repeated with veneration to this day. The wild ass is one of the few +animals which has the reputation of never flying from an enemy.] or of +sublime suggestion through its ancient connection with the wilderness, +with the Orient, with Jerusalem, should have been honored amongst +all animals, by the visible impression upon its back of Christian +symbols--seems reasonable even to the infantine understanding when made +acquainted with its meekness, its patience, its suffering life, and +its association with the founder of Christianity in one great triumphal +solemnity. The very man who brutally abuses it, and feels a hardhearted +contempt for its misery and its submission, has a semi-conscious feeling +that the same qualities were possibly those which recommended it to a +distinction, [Footnote: '_Which recommended it to a distinction_.'--It +might be objected that the Oriental ass was often a superb animal; that +it is spoken of prophetically as such; and that historically the Syrian +ass is made known to us as having been used in the prosperous ages +of Judea for the riding of princes. But this is no objection. Those +circumstances in the history of the ass were requisite to establish its +symbolic propriety in a great symbolic pageant of triumph. Whilst, on +the other hand, the individual animal, there is good reason to think, +was marked by all the qualities of the general race as a suffering and +unoffending tribe in the animal creation. The asses on which princes +rode were of a separate color, of a peculiar breed, and improved, like +the English racer, by continual care.] when all things were valued +upon a scale inverse to that of the world. Certain it is, that in all +Christian lands the legend about the ass is current amongst the rural +population. The haddock, again, amongst marine animals, is supposed, +throughout all maritime Europe, to be a privileged fish; even in austere +Scotland, every child can point out the impression of St. Peter's +thumb, by which from age to age it is distinguished from fishes having +otherwise an external resemblance. All domesticated cattle, having the +benefit of man's guardianship and care, are believed throughout England +and Germany to go down upon their knees at one particular moment of +Christmas eve, when the fields are covered with darkness, when no eye +looks down but that of God, and when the exact anniversary hour +revolves of the angelic song, once rolling over the fields and flocks +of Palestine. [Footnote: Mahometanism, which everywhere pillages +Christianity, cannot but have its own face at times glorified by its +stolen jewels. This solemn hour of jubilation, gathering even the brutal +natures into its fold, recalls accordingly the Mahometan legend (which +the reader may remember is one of those incorporated into Southey's +_Thalaba_) of a great hour revolving once in every year, during which +the gates of Paradise were thrown open to their utmost extent, and gales +of happiness issued forth upon the total family of man.] The Glastonbury +Thorn is a more local superstition; but at one time the legend was as +widely diffused as that of Loretto, with the angelic translation of +its sanctities: on Christmas morning, it was devoutly believed by all +Christendom, that this holy thorn put forth its annual blossoms. And +with respect to the aspen tree, which Mrs. Hemans very naturally mistook +for a Welsh legend, having first heard it in Denbighshire, the popular +faith is universal--that it shivers mystically in sympathy with the +horror of that mother tree in Palestine which was compelled to furnish +materials for the cross. Neither would it in this case be any objection, +if a passage were produced from Solinus or Theophrastus, implying that +the aspen tree had always shivered--for the tree might presumably be +penetrated by remote presentiments, as well as by remote remembrances. +In so vast a case the obscure sympathy should stretch, Janus-like, each +way. And an objection of the same kind to the rainbow, considered as +the sign or seal by which God attested his covenant in bar of all future +deluges, may be parried in something of the same way. It was not then +first created--true: but it was then first selected by preference, +amongst a multitude of natural signs as yet unappropriated, and then +first charged with the new function of a message and a ratification to +man. Pretty much the same theory, that is, the same way of accounting +for the natural existence without disturbing the supernatural functions, +may be applied to the great constellation of the other hemisphere, +called the Southern Cross. It is viewed popularly in South America, and +the southern parts of our northern hemisphere, as the great banner, or +gonfalon, held aloft by Heaven before the Spanish heralds of the true +faith in 1492. To that superstitious and ignorant race it costs not an +effort to suppose, that by some synchronizing miracle, the constellation +had been then specially called into existence at the very moment when +the first Christian procession, bearing a cross in their arms, solemnly +stepped on shore from the vessels of Christendom. We Protestants know +better: we understand the impossibility of supposing such a narrow and +local reference in orbs, so transcendently vast as those composing the +constellation--orbs removed from each other by such unvoyageable worlds +of space, and having, in fact, no real reference to each other more +than to any other heavenly bodies whatsoever. The unity of synthesis, by +which they are composed into one figure of a cross, we know to be a mere +accidental result from an arbitrary synthesis of human fancy. Take such +and such stars, compose them into letters, and they will spell such a +word. But still it was our own choice--a synthesis of our own fancy, +originally to combine them in this way. They might be divided from +each other, and otherwise combined. All this is true: and yet, as +the combination does spontaneously offer itself [Footnote: '_Does +spontaneously offer itself._'--Heber (Bishop of Calcutta) complains that +this constellation is not composed of stars answering his expectation in +point of magnitude. But he admits that the dark barren space around it +gives to this inferior magnitude a very advantageous relief.] to every +eye, as the glorious cross does really glitter for ever through the +silent hours of a vast hemisphere, even they who are not superstitious, +may willingly yield to the belief--that, as the rainbow was laid in +the very elements and necessities of nature, yet still bearing a +pre-dedication to a service which would not be called for until many +ages had passed, so also the mysterious cipher of man's imperishable +hopes may have been entwined and enwreathed with the starry heavens from +their earliest creation, as a prefiguration--as a silent heraldry of +hope through one period, and as a heraldry of gratitude through the +other. + +All these cases which we have been rehearsing, taking them in the +fullest literality, agree in this general point of union--they are all +silent incarnations of miraculous power--miracles, supposing them to +have been such originally, locked up and embodied in the regular +course of nature, just as we see lineaments of faces and of forms in +petrifactions, in variegated marbles, in spars, or in rocky strata, +which our fancy interprets as once having been real human existences; +but which are now confounded with the substance of a mineral product. +Even those who are most superstitious, therefore, look upon cases of +this order as occupying a midway station between the physical and the +hyperphysical, between the regular course of nature and the providential +interruption of that course. The stream of the miraculous is here +confluent with the stream of the natural. By such legends the credulous +man finds his superstition but little nursed; the incredulous finds his +philosophy but little revolted. Both alike will be willing to admit, for +instance, that the apparent act of reverential thanksgiving, in certain +birds, when drinking, is caused and supported by a physiological +arrangement; and yet, perhaps, both alike would bend so far to the +legendary faith as to allow a child to believe, and would perceive a +pure childlike beauty in believing, that the bird was thus rendering a +homage of deep thankfulness to the universal Father, who watches for +the safety of sparrows, and sends his rain upon the just and upon the +unjust. In short, the faith in this order of the physico-miraculous +is open alike to the sceptical and the non-sceptical: it is touched +superficially with the coloring of superstition, with its tenderness, +its humility, its thankfulness, its awe; but, on the other hand, it is +not therefore tainted with the coarseness, with the silliness, with the +credulity of superstition. Such a faith reposes upon the universal +signs diffused through nature, and blends with the mysterious of natural +grandeurs wherever found--with the mysterious of the starry heavens, +with the mysterious of music, and with that infinite form of the +mysterious for man's dimmest misgivings-- + + 'Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.' + +But, from this earliest note in the ascending scale of superstitious +faith, let us pass to a more alarming key. This first, which we have +styled (in equity as well as for distinction) the _Ovidian_, is too +aerial, too allegoric, almost to be susceptible of much terror. It is the +mere _fancy_, in a mood half-playful, half-tender, which submits to the +belief. It is the feeling, the sentiment, which creates the faith; not +the faith which creates the feeling. And thus far we see that modern +feeling and Christian feeling has been to the full as operative as any +that is peculiar to paganism; judging by the Romish _Legenda_, very +much more so. The Ovidian illustrations, under a false superstition, are +entitled to give the designation, as being the first, the earliest, but +not at all as the richest. Besides that, Ovid's illustrations emanated +often from himself individually, not from the popular mind of his +country; ours of the same classification uniformly repose on large +popular traditions from the whole of Christian antiquity. These again +are agencies of the supernatural which can never have a private or +personal application; they belong to all mankind and to all generations. +But the next in order are more solemn; they become terrific by becoming +personal. These comprehend all that vast body of the marvellous which is +expressed by the word _Ominous_. On this head, as dividing itself into +the ancient and modern, we will speak next. + +Everybody is aware of the deep emphasis which the Pagans laid upon words +and upon names, under this aspect of the ominous. The name of several +places was formally changed by the Roman government, solely with a view +to that contagion of evil which was thought to lurk in the syllables, +if taken significantly. Thus, the town of Maleventum, (Ill-come, as one +might render it,) had its name changed by the Romans to Beneventum, (or +Welcome.) _Epidamnum_ again, the Grecian Calais, corresponding to the +Roman Dover of Brundusium, was a name that would have startled the +stoutest-hearted Roman 'from his propriety.' Had he suffered this name +to escape him inadvertently, his spirits would have forsaken him--he +would have pined away under a certainty of misfortune, like a poor +Negro of Koromantyn who is the victim of Obi.[Footnote: '_The victim +of Obi._'--It seems worthy of notice, that this magical fascination is +generally called Obi, and the magicians Obeah men, throughout Guinea, +Negroland, &c.; whilst the Hebrew or Syriac word for the rites +of necromancy, was _Ob_ or _Obh_, at least when ventriloquism was +concerned.] As a Greek word, which it was, the name imported no ill; but +for a Roman to say _Ibo Epidamnum_, was in effect saying, though in a +hybrid dialect, half-Greek half-Roman, 'I will go to ruin.' The name +was therefore changed to Dyrrachium; a substitution which quieted more +anxieties in Roman hearts than the erection of a light-house or the +deepening of the harbor mouth. A case equally strong, to take one out of +many hundreds that have come down to us, is reported by Livy. There was +an officer in a Roman legion, at some period of the Republic, who bore +the name either of Atrius Umber or Umbrius Ater: and this man being +ordered on some expedition, the soldiers refused to follow him. They +did right. We remember that Mr. Coleridge used facetiously to call +the well-known sister of Dr. Aikin, Mrs. Barbauld, 'that pleonasm of +nakedness'--the idea of nakedness being reduplicated and reverberated +in the _bare_ and the _bald_. This Atrius Umber might be called 'that +pleonasm of darkness;' and one might say to him, in the words of +Othello, 'What needs this iteration?' To serve under the Gloomy was +enough to darken the spirit of hope; but to serve under the Black Gloomy +was really rushing upon destruction. Yet it will be alleged that Captain +Death was a most favorite and heroic leader in the English navy; and +that in our own times, Admiral Coffin, though an American by birth, has +not been unpopular in the same service. This is true: and all that can +be said is, that these names were two-edged swords, which might be made +to tell against the enemy as well as against friends. And possibly the +Roman centurion might have turned his name to the same account, had he +possessed the great Dictator's presence of mind; for he, when landing in +Africa, having happened to stumble--an omen of the worst character, in +Roman estimation--took out its sting by following up his own oversight, +as if it had been intentional, falling to the ground, kissing it, and +ejaculating that in this way he appropriated the soil. + +Omens of every class were certainly regarded, in ancient Rome, with a +reverence that can hardly be surpassed. But yet, with respect to these +omens derived from names, it is certain that our modern times have more +memorable examples on record. Out of a large number which occur to us, +we will cite two:--The present King of the French bore in his boyish +days a title which he would not have borne, but for an omen of bad +augury attached to his proper title. He was called the Duc de Chartres +before the Revolution, whereas his proper title was Duc de Valois. And +the origin of the change was this:--The Regent's father had been the +sole brother of Louis Quatorze. He married for his first wife our +English princess Henrietta, the sister of Charles II., (and through her +daughter, by the way, it is that the house of Savoy, _i.e._ of Sardinia, +has pretensions to the English throne.) This unhappy lady, it is too +well established, was poisoned. Voltaire, amongst many others, has +affected to doubt the fact; for which in his time there might be some +excuse. But since then better evidences have placed the matter beyond +all question. We now know both the fact, and the how, and the why. The +Duke, who probably was no party to the murder of his young wife, though +otherwise on bad terms with her, married for his second wife a coarse +German princess, homely in every sense, and a singular contrast to the +elegant creature whom he had lost. She was a daughter of the Bavarian +Elector; ill-tempered by her own confession, self-willed, and a plain +speaker to excess; but otherwise a woman of honest German principles. +Unhappy she was through a long life; unhappy through the monotony as +well as the malicious intrigues of the French court; and so much so, +that she did her best (though without effect) to prevent her Bavarian +niece from becoming dauphiness. She acquits her husband, however, in +the memoirs which she left behind, of any intentional share in her +unhappiness; she describes him constantly as a well-disposed prince. +But whether it were, that often walking in the dusk through the numerous +apartments of that vast mansion which her husband had so much enlarged, +naturally she turned her thoughts to the injured lady who had presided +there before herself; or whether it arose from the inevitable gloom +which broods continually over mighty palaces, so much is known for +certain, that one evening, in the twilight, she met, at a remote quarter +of the reception-rooms, something that she conceived to be a spectre. +What she fancied to have passed on that occasion, was never known except +to her nearest friends; and if she made any explanations in her memoirs, +the editor has thought fit to suppress them. She mentions only, that +in consequence of some ominous circumstances relating to the title of +_Valois_, which was the proper second title of the Orleans family, her +son, the Regent, had assumed in his boyhood that of Duc de Chartres. His +elder brother was dead, so that the superior title was open to him; but, +in consequence of those mysterious omens, whatever they might be, which +occasioned much whispering at the time, the great title of Valois was +laid aside for ever as of bad augury; nor has it ever been resumed +through a century and a half that have followed that mysterious warning; +nor will it be resumed unless the numerous children of the present +Orleans branch should find themselves distressed for ancient titles; +which is not likely, since they enjoy the honors of the elder house, and +are now the _children of France_ in a technical sense. + +Here we have a great European case of state omens in the eldest of +Christian houses. The next which we shall cite is equally a state case, +and carries its public verification along with itself. In the spring of +1799, when Napoleon was lying before Acre, he became anxious for news +from Upper Egypt, whither he had despatched Dessaix in pursuit of a +distinguished Mameluke leader. This was in the middle of May. Not many +days after, a courier arrived with favorable despatches--favorable in +the main, but reporting one tragical occurrence on a small scale +that, to Napoleon, for a superstitious reason, outweighed the public +prosperity. A _djerme_, or Nile boat of the largest class, having on +board a large party of troops and of wounded men, together with most +of a regimental band, had run ashore at the village of Benouth. No +case could be more hopeless. The neighboring Arabs were of the Yambo +tribe--of all Arabs the most ferocious. These Arabs and the Fellahs +(whom, by the way, many of our countrymen are so ready to represent +as friendly to the French and hostile to ourselves,) had taken the +opportunity of attacking the vessel. The engagement was obstinate; but +at length the inevitable catastrophe could be delayed no longer. The +commander, an Italian named Morandi, was a brave man; any fate appeared +better than that which awaited him from an enemy so malignant. He set +fire to the powder magazine; the vessel blew up; Morandi perished in +the Nile; and all of less nerve, who had previously reached the shore in +safety, were put to death to the very last man, with cruelties the +most detestable, by their inhuman enemies. For all this Napoleon cared +little; but one solitary fact there was in the report which struck him +with consternation. This ill-fated _djerme_--what was it called? It was +called _L'Italie_; and in the name of the vessel Napoleon read an augury +of the fate which had befallen the Italian territory. Considered as a +dependency of France, he felt certain that Italy was lost; and Napoleon +was inconsolable. But what possible connection, it was asked, can exist +between this vessel on the Nile and a remote peninsula of Southern +Europe? 'No matter,' replied Napoleon; 'my presentiments never deceive +me. You will see that all is ruined. I am satisfied that my Italy, my +conquest, is lost to France!' So, indeed, it was. All European news had +long been intercepted by the English cruisers; but immediately after the +battle with the Vizier in July 1799, an English admiral first informed +the French army of Egypt that Massena and others had lost all that +Bonaparte had won in 1796. But it is a strange illustration of human +blindness, that this very subject of Napoleon's lamentation--this very +campaign of 1799--it was, with its blunders and its long equipage of +disasters, that paved the way for his own elevation to the Consulship, +just seven calendar months from the receipt of that Egyptian despatch; +since most certainly, in the struggle of Brumaire 1799, doubtful and +critical through every stage, it was the pointed contrast between _his_ +Italian campaigns and those of his successors which gave effect to +Napoleon's pretensions with the political combatants, and which procured +them a ratification amongst the people. The loss of Italy was essential +to the full effect of Napoleon's previous conquest. That and the +imbecile characters of Napoleon's chief military opponents were the true +keys to the great revolution of Brumaire. The stone which he rejected +became the keystone of the arch. So that, after all, he valued the omen +falsely; though the very next news from Europe, courteously communicated +by his English enemies, showed that he had interpreted its meaning +rightly. + +These omens, derived from names, are therefore common to the ancient and +the modern world. But perhaps, in strict logic, they ought to have been +classed as one subdivision or variety under a much larger head, viz. +words generally, no matter whether proper names or appellatives, as +operative powers and agencies, having, that is to say, a charmed power +against some party concerned from the moment that they leave the lips. + +Homer describes prayers as having a separate life, rising buoyantly upon +wings, and making their way upwards to the throne of Jove. Such, but in +a sense gloomy and terrific, is the force ascribed under a widespread +superstition, ancient and modern, to words uttered on critical +occasions; or to words uttered at any time, which point to critical +occasions. Hence the doctrine of _euphaemismos_, the necessity of +abstaining from strong words or direct words in expressing fatal +contingencies. It was shocking, at all times of paganism, to say of a +third person--'If he should die;' or to suppose the case that he might +be murdered. The very word _death_ was consecrated and forbidden. +_Si quiddam humanum passus fuerit_ was the extreme form to which men +advanced in such cases. And this scrupulous feeling, originally founded +on the supposed efficacy of words, prevails to this day. It is a feeling +undoubtedly supported by good taste, which strongly impresses upon us +all the discordant tone of all impassioned subjects, (death, religion, +&c.,) with the common key of ordinary conversation. But good taste is +not in itself sufficient to account for a scrupulousness so general and +so austere. In the lowest classes there is a shuddering recoil still +felt from uttering coarsely and roundly the anticipation of a +person's death. Suppose a child, heir to some estate, the subject of +conversation--the hypothesis of his death is put cautiously, under such +forms as, 'If anything but good should happen;' 'if any change should +occur;' 'if any of us should chance to miscarry;' and so forth. Always a +modified expression is sought--always an indirect one. And this timidity +arises under the old superstition still lingering amongst men, like +that ancient awe, alluded to by Wordsworth, for the sea and its deep +secrets--feelings that have not, no, nor ever will, utterly decay. No +excess of nautical skill will ever perfectly disenchant the great abyss +from its terrors--no progressive knowledge will ever medicine that dread +misgiving of a mysterious and pathless power given to words of a certain +import, or uttered in certain situations, by a parent, to persecuting or +insulting children; by the victim of horrible oppression, when laboring +in final agonies; and by others, whether cursing or blessing, who stand +central to great passions, to great interests, or to great perplexities. + +And here, by way of parenthesis, we may stop to explain the force of +that expression, so common in Scripture, '_Thou hast said it._' It is an +answer often adopted by our Saviour; and the meaning we hold to be this: +Many forms in eastern idioms, as well as in the Greek occasionally, +though meant _interrogatively_, are of a nature to convey a direct +categorical _affirmation_, unless as their meaning is modified by +the cadence and intonation. _Art thou_, detached from this vocal and +accentual modification, is equivalent to _thou art_. Nay, even apart +from this accident, the popular belief authorized the notion, that +simply to have uttered any great thesis, though unconsciously--simply to +have united verbally any two great ideas, though for a purpose the most +different or even opposite, had the mysterious power of realizing them +in act. An exclamation, though in the purest spirit of sport, to a +boy, '_You shall be our imperator_,' was many times supposed to be +the forerunner and fatal mandate for the boy's elevation. Such words +executed themselves. To connect, though but for denial or for mockery, +the ideas of Jesus and the Messiah, furnished an augury that eventually +they would be found to coincide, and to have their coincidence admitted. +It was an _argumentum ad hominem_, and drawn from a popular faith. + +But a modern reader will object the want of an accompanying design or +serious meaning on the part of him who utters the words--he never meant +his words to be taken seriously--nay, his purpose was the very opposite. +True: and precisely that is the reason why his words are likely to +operate effectually, and why they should be feared. Here lies the +critical point which most of all distinguishes this faith. Words +took effect, not merely in default of a serious use, but exactly in +consequence of that default. It was the chance word, the stray word, +the word uttered in jest, or in trifling, or in scorn, or unconsciously, +which took effect; whilst ten thousand words, uttered with purpose +and deliberation, were sure to prove inert. One case will illustrate +this:--Alexander of Macedon, in the outset of his great expedition, +consulted the oracle at Delphi. For the sake of his army, had he +been even without personal faith, he desired to have his enterprise +consecrated. No persuasions, however, would move the priestess to enter +upon her painful and agitating duties for the sake of obtaining the +regular answer of the god. Wearied with this, Alexander seized the great +lady by the arm, and using as much violence as was becoming to the two +characters--of a great prince acting and a great priestess suffering--he +pushed her gently backwards to the tripod on which, in her professional +character, she was to seat herself. Upon this, in the hurry and +excitement of the moment, the priestess exclaimed, _O pai, anixaitos +ei--O son, thou art irresistible_; never adverting for an instant to his +martial purposes, but simply to his personal importunities. The person +whom she thought of as incapable of resistance, was herself, and all she +meant _consciously_ was--O son, I can refuse nothing to one so earnest. +But mark what followed: Alexander desisted at once--he asked for no +further oracle--he refused it, and exclaimed joyously:--'Now then, noble +priestess, farewell; I have the oracle--I have your answer, and better +than any which you could deliver from the tripod. I am invincible--so +you have declared, you cannot revoke it. True, you thought not of +Persia--you thought only of my importunity. But that very fact is what +ratifies your answer. In its blindness I recognise its truth. An oracle +from a god might be distorted by political ministers of the god, as +in time past too often has been suspected. The oracle has been said to +_Medize_, and in my own father's time to _Philippize_. But an oracle +delivered unconsciously, indirectly, blindly, that is the oracle +which cannot deceive.' Such was the all-famous oracle which Alexander +accepted--such was the oracle on which he and his army reposing went +forth 'conquering and to conquer.' + +Exactly on this principle do the Turks act, in putting so high a value +on the words of idiots. Enlightened Christians have often wondered at +their allowing any weight to people bereft of understanding. But that is +the very reason for allowing them weight: that very defect it is which +makes them capable of being organs for conveying words from higher +intelligences. A fine human intelligence cannot be a passive +instrument--it cannot be a mere tube for conveying the words of +inspiration: such an intelligence will intermingle ideas of its own, or +otherwise modify what is given, and pollute what is sacred. + +It is also on this principle that the whole practice and doctrine of +Sortilegy rest. Let us confine ourselves to that mode of sortilegy which +is conducted by throwing open privileged books at random, leaving to +chance the page and the particular line on which the oracular functions +are thrown. The books used have varied with the caprice or the error of +ages. Once the Hebrew Scriptures had the preference. Probably they were +laid aside, not because the reverence for their authority decayed, +but because it increased. In later times Virgil has been the favorite. +Considering the very limited range of ideas to which Virgil was tied +by his theme--a colonizing expedition in a barbarous age, no worse book +could have been selected: [Footnote: '_No worse book could have been +selected._'--The probable reason for making so unhappy a choice seems +to have been that Virgil, in the middle ages, had the character of +a necromancer, a diviner, &c. This we all know from Dante. Now, the +original reason for this strange translation of character and functions +we hold to have arisen from the circumstance of his maternal grandfather +having borne the name of _Magus_. People in those ages held that a +powerful enchanter, exorciser, &c., must have a magician amongst his +_cognati_; the power must run in the blood, which on the maternal side +could be undeniably ascertained. Under this preconception, they took +Magus not for a proper name, but for a professional designation. Amongst +many illustrations of the magical character sustained by Virgil in the +middle ages, we may mention that a writer, about the year 1200, or the +era of our Robin Hood, published by Montfaucon, and cited by Gibbon in +his last volume, says of Virgil,--that '_Captus a Romanis invisibiliter +exiit, ivitque Neapopolim_.'] so little indeed does the AEneid exhibit +of human life in its multiformity, that much tampering with the text +is required to bring real cases of human interest and real situations +within the scope of any Virgilian sentence, though aided by the utmost +latitude of accommodation. A king, a soldier, a sailor, &c., might look +for correspondences to their own circumstances; but not many others. +Accordingly, everybody remembers the remarkable answer which Charles I. +received at Oxford from this Virgilian oracle, about the opening of the +Parliamentary war. But from this limitation in the range of ideas it was +that others, and very pious people too, have not thought it profane to +resume the old reliance on the Scriptures. No case, indeed, can try +so severely, or put upon record so conspicuously, this indestructible +propensity for seeking light out of darkness--this thirst for looking +into the future by the aid of dice, real or figurative, as the fact +of men eminent for piety having yielded to the temptation. We give one +instance--the instance of a person who, in _practical_ theology, has +been, perhaps, more popular than any other in any church. Dr. Doddridge, +in his earlier days, was in a dilemma both of conscience and of taste +as to the election he should make between two situations, one in +possession, both at his command. He was settled at Harborough, +in Leicestershire, and was 'pleasing himself with the view of a +continuance' in that situation. True, he had received an invitation to +Northampton; but the reasons against complying seemed so strong, that +nothing was wanting but the civility of going over to Northampton, and +making an apologetic farewell. On the last Sunday in November of the +year 1729, the doctor went and preached a sermon in conformity with +those purposes. 'But,' says he, 'on the morning of that day an incident +happened, which affected me greatly.' On the night previous, it seems, +he had been urged very importunately by his Northampton friends to +undertake the vacant office. Much personal kindness had concurred with +this public importunity: the good doctor was affected; he had prayed +fervently, alleging in his prayer, as the reason which chiefly weighed +with him to reject the offer, that it was far beyond his forces, +and chiefly because he was too young [Footnote: '_Because he was too +young_'--Dr. Doddridge was born in the summer of 1702; consequently +he was at this era of his life about twenty-seven years old, and +consequently not so obviously entitled to the excuse of youth. But he +pleaded his youth, not with a view to the exertions required, but to +the _auctoritas_ and responsibilities of the situation.] and had no +assistant. He goes on thus:--'As soon as ever this address' (meaning +the prayer) 'was ended, I passed through a room of the house in which +I lodged, where a child was reading to his mother, and the only words +I heard distinctly were these, _And as thy days, so shall thy strength +be_.' This singular coincidence between his own difficulty and a +scriptural line caught at random in passing hastily through a room, (but +observe, a line insulated from the context, and placed in high relief +to his ear,) shook his resolution. Accident co-operated; a promise to +be fulfilled at Northampton, in a certain contingency, fell due at the +instant; the doctor was detained, this detention gave time for further +representations; new motives arose, old difficulties were removed, and +finally the doctor saw, in all this succession of steps, the first of +which, however, lay in the _Sortes Biblicae_, clear indications of a +providential guidance. With that conviction he took up his abode at +Northampton, and remained there for the next thirty-one years, until he +left it for his grave at Lisbon; in fact, he passed at Northampton the +whole of his public life. It must, therefore, be allowed to stand upon +the records of sortilegy, that in the main direction of his life--not, +indeed, as to its spirit, but as to its form and local connections--a +Protestant divine of much merit, and chiefly in what regards practice, +and of the class most opposed to superstition, took his determining +impulse from a variety of the _Sortes Virgilianae_. + +This variety was known in early times to the Jews--as early, indeed, as +the era of the Grecian Pericles, if we are to believe the Talmud. It +is known familiarly to this day amongst Polish Jews, and is called +_Bathcol_, or the _daughter of a voice_; the meaning of which +appellation is this:--The _Urim and Thummim_, or oracle in the +breast-plate of the high priest, spoke directly from God. It was, +therefore, the original or mother-voice. But about the time of Pericles, +that is, exactly one hundred years before the time of Alexander the +Great, the light of prophecy was quenched in Malachi or Haggai; and +the oracular jewels in the breast-plate became simultaneously dim. +Henceforwards the mother-voice was heard no longer: but to this +succeeded an imperfect or daughter-voice, (_Bathcol_,) which lay in the +first words happening to arrest the attention at a moment of perplexity. +An illustration, which has been often quoted from the Talmud, is to the +following effect:--Rabbi Tochanan, and Rabbi Simeon Ben Lachish, were +anxious about a friend, Rabbi Samuel, six hundred miles distant on +the Euphrates. Whilst talking earnestly together on this subject in +Palestine, they passed a school; they paused to listen: it was a child +reading the first book of Samuel; and the words which they caught were +these--_And Samuel died_. These words they received as a _Bath-col_: and +the next horseman from the Euphrates brought word accordingly that +Rabbi Samuel had been gathered to his fathers at some station on the +Euphrates. + +Here is the very same case, the same _Bath-col_ substantially, which +we have cited from Orton's _Life of Doddridge_. And Du Cange himself +notices, in his Glossary, the relation which this bore to the Pagan +_Sortes_. 'It was,' says he, 'a fantastical way of divination, invented +by the Jews, not unlike the _Sortes Virgilianae_ of the heathens. For, as +with them the first words they happened to dip into in the works of that +poet were a kind of oracle whereby they predicted future events,--so, +with the Jews, when they appealed to _Bath-col_, the first words they +heard from any one's mouth were looked upon as a voice from Heaven +directing them in the matter they inquired about.' + +If the reader imagines that this ancient form of the practical +miraculous is at all gone out of use, even the example of Dr. Doddridge +may satisfy him to the contrary. Such an example was sure to authorize a +large imitation. But, even apart from that, the superstition is common. +The records of conversion amongst felons and other ignorant persons +might be cited by hundreds upon hundreds to prove that no practice is +more common than that of trying the spiritual fate, and abiding by the +import of any passage in the Scriptures which may first present itself +to the eye. Cowper, the poet, has recorded a case of this sort in his +own experience. It is one to which all the unhappy are prone. But a mode +of questioning the oracles of darkness, far more childish, and, under +some shape or other, equally common amongst those who are prompted by +mere vacancy of mind, without that determination to sacred fountains +which is impressed by misery, may be found in the following extravagant +silliness of Rousseau, which we give in his own words--a case for which +he admits that he himself would have _shut up_ any other man (meaning in +a lunatic hospital) whom he had seen practising the same absurdities:-- + +'Au milieu de mes etudes et d'une vie innocente autant qu'on la puisse +mener, et malgre tout ce qu'on m'avoit pu dire, la peur de l'Enfer +m'agitoit encore. Souvent je me demandois--En quel etat suis-je? Si je +mourrois a l'instant meme, _serois-je damne_? Selon mes Jansenistes, [he +had been reading the books of the Port Royal,] la chose est indubitable: +mais, selon ma conscience, il me paroissoit que non. Toujours craintif +et flottant dans cette cruelle incertitude, j'avois recours (pour en +sortir) aux expedients les plus risibles, et pour lesquels je ferois +volontiers enfermer un homme si je lui en voyois faire autant. ... Un +jour, revant a ce triste sujet, je m'exercois machinalement a lancer +les pierres contre les troncs des arbres; et cela avec mon addresse +ordinaire, c'est-a-dire sans presque jamais en toucher aucun. Tout au +milieu de ce bel exercise, je m'avisai de faire une espece de pronostic +pour calmer mon inquietude. Je me dis--je m'en vais jeter cette pierre +contre l'arbre qui est vis-a-vis de moi: si je le touche, signe de +salut: si je le manque, signe de damnation. Tout en disant ainsi, je +jette ma pierre d'une main tremblante, et avec un horrible battement +de coeur, mais si heureusement qu'elle va frapper au beau-milieu de +l'arbre: ce qui veritablement n'etoit pas difficile: car j'avois eu soin +de le choisir fort gros et fort pres. _Depuis lors je n'ai plus doubte +de mon salut._ Je ne sais, en me rappelant ce trait, si je dois rire ou +gemir sur moimeme.'--_Les Confessions, Partie I. Livre VI._ + +Now, really, if Rousseau thought fit to try such tremendous appeals +by taking 'a shy' at any random object, he should have governed his +sortilegy (for such it may be called) with something more like equity. +Fair play is a jewel: and in such a case, a man is supposed to play +against an adverse party hid in darkness. To shy at a cow within six +feet distance gives no chance at all to his dark antagonist. A pigeon +rising from a trap at a suitable distance might be thought a _sincere_ +staking of the interest at issue: but, as to the massy stem of a tree +'fort gros et fort pres'--the sarcasm of a Roman emperor applies, that +to miss under such conditions implied an original genius for stupidity, +and to hit was no trial of the case. After all, the sentimentalist had +youth to plead in apology for this extravagance. He was hypochondriacal; +he was in solitude; and he was possessed by gloomy imaginations from the +works of a society in the highest public credit. But most readers will +be aware of similar appeals to the mysteries of Providence, made in +public by illustrious sectarians, speaking from the solemn station of a +pulpit. We forbear to quote cases of this nature, though really existing +in print, because we feel that the blasphemy of such anecdotes is more +revolting and more painful to pious minds than the absurdity is amusing. +Meantime it must not be forgotten, that the principle concerned, +though it may happen to disgust men when associated with ludicrous +circumstances, is, after all, the very same which has latently governed +very many modes of ordeal, or judicial inquiry; and which has been +adopted, blindly, as a moral rule, or canon, equally by the blindest of +the Pagans, the most fanatical of the Jews, and the most enlightened of +the Christians. It proceeds upon the assumption that man by his actions +puts a question to Heaven; and that Heaven answers by the event. Lucan, +in a well known passage, takes it for granted that the cause of Caesar +had the approbation of the gods. And why? Simply from the event. It was +notoriously the triumphant cause. It was victorious, (_victrix_ causa +Deis placuit; sed _victa_ Catoni.) It was the '_victrix_ causa;' and, +_as_ such, simply because it was 'victrix,' it had a right in his eyes +to postulate the divine favor as mere matter of necessary interference: +whilst, on the other hand, the _victa causa_, though it seemed to Lucan +sanctioned by human virtue in the person of Cato, stood unappealably +condemned. This mode of reasoning may strike the reader as merely Pagan. +Not at all. In England, at the close of the Parliamentary war, it was +generally argued--that Providence had decided the question against the +Royalists by the mere fact of the issue. Milton himself, with all his +high-toned morality, uses this argument as irrefragable: which is odd, +were it only on this account--that the issue ought necessarily to have +been held for a time as merely hypothetic, and liable to be set aside +by possible counter-issues through one generation at the least. But +the capital argument against such doctrine is to be found in the +New Testament. Strange that Milton should overlook, and strange that +moralists in general have overlooked, the sudden arrest given to this +dangerous but most prevalent mode of reasoning by the Founder of our +faith. He first, he last, taught to his astonished disciples the new +truth--at that time the astounding truth--that no relation exists +between the immediate practical events of things on the one side, and +divine sentences on the other. There was no presumption, he teaches +them, against a man's favor with God, or that of his parents, because he +happened to be afflicted to extremity with bodily disease. There was no +shadow of an argument for believing a party of men criminal objects +of heavenly wrath because upon them, by fatal preference, a tower had +fallen, and because _their_ bodies were exclusively mangled. How little +can it be said that Christianity has yet developed the fulness of its +power, when kings and senates so recently acted under a total oblivion +of this great though novel Christian doctrine, and would do so still, +were it not that religious arguments have been banished by the progress +of manners from the field of political discussion. + +But, quitting this province of the ominous, where it is made the object +of a direct personal inquest, whether by private or by national trials, +or the sortilegy of events, let us throw our eyes over the broader field +of omens, as they offer themselves spontaneously to those who do not +seek, or would even willingly evade them. There are few of these, +perhaps none, which are not universal in their authority, though every +land in turn fancies them (like its proverbs) of local prescription and +origin. The death-watch extends from England to Cashmere, and across +India diagonally to the remotest nook of Bengal, over a three thousand +miles' distance from the entrance of the Indian Punjaub. A hare crossing +a man's path on starting in the morning, has been held in all countries +alike to prognosticate evil in the course of that day. Thus, in the +_Confessions of a Thug_, (which is partially built on a real judicial +document, and everywhere conforms to the usages of Hindostan,) the +hero of the horrid narrative [Footnote: '_The hero of the horrid +narrative_.'--Horrid it certainly is; and one incident in every case +gives a demoniacal air of coolness to the hellish atrocities, viz the +regular forwarding of the _bheels_, or grave-diggers. But else the tale +tends too much to monotony; and for a reason which ought to have checked +the author in carrying on the work to three volumes, namely, that +although there is much dramatic variety in the circumstances of the +several cases, there is none in the catastrophes. The brave man and the +coward, the erect spirit fighting to the last, and the poor +creature that despairs from the first,--all are confounded in one +undistinguishing end by sudden strangulation. This was the original +defect of the plan. The sudden surprise, and the scientific noosing as +with a Chilian _lasso_, constituted in fact a main feature of Thuggee. +But still, the gradual theatrical arrangement of each Thug severally by +the side of a victim, must often have roused violent suspicion, and that +in time to intercept the suddenness of the murder. Now, for the sake +of the dramatic effect, this interception ought more often to have been +introduced, else the murders are but so many blind surprises as if in +sleep.] charges some disaster of his own upon having neglected such an +omen of the morning. The same belief operated in Pagan Italy. The same +omen announced to Lord Lindsay's Arab attendants in the desert the +approach of some disaster, which partially happened in the morning. And +a Highlander of the 42d Regiment, in his printed memoirs, notices +the same harbinger of evil as having crossed his own path on a day of +personal disaster in Spain. + +Birds are even more familiarly associated with such ominous warnings. +This chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated +with unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans--_ornithomancy_ grew into an +elaborate science. But if every rule and distinction upon the number +and the position of birds, whether to the right or the left, had been +collected from our own village matrons amongst ourselves, it would +appear that no more of this Pagan science had gone to wreck than must +naturally follow the difference between a believing and a disbelieving +government. Magpies are still of awful authority in village life, +according to their number, &c.; for a striking illustration of which we +may refer the reader to Sir Walter Scott's _Demonology_, reported not +at second-hand, but from Sir Walter's personal communication with some +seafaring fellow-traveller in a stage-coach. + +Among the ancient stories of the same class is one which we shall +repeat--having reference to that Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the +Great, before whom St. Paul made his famous apology at Caesarea. This +Agrippa, overwhelmed by debts, had fled from Palestine to Rome in +the latter years of Tiberius. His mother's interest with the widow of +Germanicus procured him a special recommendation to her son Caligula. +Viewing this child and heir of the popular Germanicus as the rising sun, +Agrippa had been too free in his language. True, the uncle of Germanicus +was the reigning prince; but he was old, and breaking up. True, the +son of Germanicus was not yet on the throne; but he soon would be; +and Agrippa was rash enough to call the Emperor a _superannuated old +fellow_, and even to wish for his death. Sejanus was now dead and gone; +but there was no want of spies: and a certain Macro reported his words +to Tiberius. Agrippa was in consequence arrested; the Emperor himself +condescending to point out the noble Jew to the officer on duty. The +case was a gloomy one, if Tiberius should happen to survive much longer: +and the story of the omen proceeds thus:--'Now Agrippa stood in his +bonds before the Imperial palace, and in his affliction leaned against +a certain tree, upon the boughs of which it happened that a bird +had alighted which the Romans call _bubo_, or the owl. All this was +steadfastly observed by a German prisoner, who asked a soldier what +might be the name and offence of that man habited in purple. Being told +that the man's name was Agrippa, and that he was a Jew of high rank, who +had given a personal offence to the Emperor, the German asked permission +to go near and address him; which being granted, he spoke thus:--"This +disaster, I doubt not, young man, is trying to your heart; and +perhaps you will not believe me when I announce to you beforehand the +providential deliverance which is impending. However, this much I will +say--and for my sincerity let me appeal to my native gods, as well as +to the gods of this Rome, who have brought us both into trouble--that +no selfish objects prompt me to this revelation--for a revelation it +is--and to the following effect:--It is fated that you shall not long +remain in chains. Your deliverance will be speedy; you shall be raised +to the very highest rank and power; you shall be the object of as much +envy as now you are of pity; you shall retain your prosperity till +death; and you shall transmit that prosperity to your children. +But"--and there the German paused. Agrippa was agitated; the bystanders +were attentive; and after a time, the German, pointing solemnly to the +bird, proceeded thus:--"But this remember heedfully--that, when next you +see the bird which now perches above your head, you will have only five +days longer to live! This event will be surely accomplished by that same +mysterious god who has thought fit to send the bird as a warning sign; +and you, when you come to your glory, do not forget me that foreshadowed +it in your humiliation."' The story adds, that Agrippa affected to laugh +when the German concluded; after which it goes on to say, that in a few +weeks, being delivered by the death of Tiberius; being released from +prison by the very prince on whose account he had incurred the risk; +being raised to a tetrarchy, and afterwards to the kingdom of all Judea; +coming into all the prosperity which had been promised to him by the +German; and not losing any part of his interest at Rome through the +assassination of his patron Caligula--he began to look back respectfully +to the words of the German, and forwards with anxiety to the second +coming of the bird. Seven years of sunshine had now slipped away as +silently as a dream. A great festival, shows and vows, was on the point +of being celebrated in honor of Claudius Caesar, at Strato's Tower, +otherwise called Caesarea, the Roman metropolis of Palestine. Duty and +policy alike required that the king of the land should go down and unite +in this mode of religious homage to the emperor. He did so; and on the +second morning of the festival, by way of doing more conspicuous honor +to the great solemnity, he assumed a very sumptuous attire of silver +armor, burnished so highly as to throw back a dazzling glare from the +sun's morning beams upon the upturned eyes of the vast multitude around +him. Immediately from the sycophantish part of the crowd, of whom a +vast majority were Pagans, ascended a cry of glorification as to some +manifestation of Deity. Agrippa, gratified by this success of his new +apparel, and by this flattery, not unusual in the case of kings, had not +the firmness (though a Jew, and conscious of the wickedness, greater in +himself than in the heathen crowd,) to reject the blasphemous homage. +Voices of adoration continued to ascend; when suddenly, looking upward +to the vast awnings prepared for screening the audience from the noonday +heats, the king perceived the same ominous bird which he had seen at +Rome in the day of his affliction, seated quietly, and looking down upon +himself. In that same moment an icy pang shot through his intestines. +He was removed into the palace; and at the end of five days, completely +worn out by pain, Agrippa expired in the 54th year of his age, and the +seventh of his sovereign power. + +Whether the bird, here described as an owl, was really such, may be +doubted, considering the narrow nomenclature of the Romans for all +zoological purposes, and the total indifference of the Roman mind to +all distinctions in natural history which are not upon the very largest +scale. We should much suspect that the bird was a magpie. Meantime, +speaking of ornithoscopy in relation to Jews, we remember another +story in that subdivision of the subject which it may be worth while +repeating; not merely on its own account, as wearing a fine oriental +air, but also for the correction which it suggests to a very common +error. + +In some period of Syrian warfare, a large military detachment was +entering at some point of Syria from the desert of the Euphrates. At +the head of the whole array rode two men of some distinction: one was an +augur of high reputation, the other was a Jew called Mosollam, a man +of admirable beauty, a matchless horseman, an unerring archer, and +accomplished in all martial arts. As they were now first coming within +enclosed grounds, after a long march in the wilderness, the augur was +most anxious to inaugurate the expedition by some considerable omen. +Watching anxiously, therefore, he soon saw a bird of splendid plumage +perching on a low wall. 'Halt!' he said to the advanced guard: and all +drew up in a line. At that moment of silence and expectation, Mosollam, +slightly turning himself in his saddle, drew his bow-string to his ear; +his Jewish hatred of Pagan auguries burned within him; his inevitable +shaft went right to its mark, and the beautiful bird fell dead. The +augur turned round in fury. But the Jew laughed at him. 'This bird, you +say, should have furnished us with omens of our future fortunes. But had +he known anything of his own, he would never have perched where he did, +or have come within the range of Mosollam's archery. How should that +bird know our destiny, who did not know that it was his own to be shot +by Mosollam the Jew?' + +Now, this is a most common but a most erroneous way of arguing. In +a case of this kind, the bird was not supposed to have any conscious +acquaintance with futurity, either for his own benefit or that of +others. But even where such a consciousness may be supposed, as in the +case of oneiromancy, or prophecy by means of dreams, it must be +supposed limited, and the more limited in a personal sense as they are +illimitable in a sublime one. Who imagines that, because a Daniel or +Ezekiel foresaw the grand revolutions of the earth, therefore they must +or could have foreseen the little details of their own ordinary life? +And even descending from that perfect inspiration to the more doubtful +power of augury amongst the Pagans, (concerning which the most eminent +of theologians have held very opposite theories,) one thing is certain, +that, so long as we entertain such pretensions, or discuss them at all, +we must take them with the principle of those who professed such arts, +not with principles of our own arbitrary invention. + +One example will make this clear:--There are in England [Footnote: +'_There are in England_'--Especially in Somersetshire, and for twenty +miles round Wrington, the birthplace of Locke. Nobody sinks for wells +without their advice. We ourselves knew an amiable and accomplished +Scottish family, who, at an estate called Belmadrothie, in memory of +a similar property in Ross shire, built a house in Somersetshire, and +resolved to find water without help from the jowser. But after sinking +to a greater depth than ever had been known before, and spending nearly +L200, they were finally obliged to consult the jowser, who found water +at once.] a class of men who practise the Pagan rhabdomancy in a limited +sense. They carry a rod or rhabdos (_rhabdos_) of willow: this they +hold horizontally; and by the bending of the rod towards the ground +they discover the favorable places for sinking wells; a matter of +considerable importance in a province so ill-watered as the northern +district of Somersetshire, &c. These people are locally called +_jowsers_; and it is probable, that from the suspicion with which their +art has been usually regarded amongst people of education, as a mere +legerdemain trick of Dousterswivel's, is derived the slang word to +_chouse_ for _swindle_. Meantime, the experimental evidences of a real +practical skill in these men, and the enlarged compass of speculation +in these days, have led many enlightened people to a Stoic _epochey_, or +suspension of judgment, on the reality of this somewhat mysterious art. +Now, in the East, there are men who make the same pretensions in a +more showy branch of the art. It is not water, but treasures which they +profess to find by some hidden kind of rhabdomancy. The very existence +of treasures with us is reasonably considered a thing of improbable +occurrence. But in the unsettled East, and with the low valuation of +human life wherever Mahometanism prevails, insecurity and other causes +must have caused millions of such deposits in every century to have +perished as to any knowledge of survivors. The sword has been moving +backwards and forwards, for instance, like a weaver's shuttle, since +the time of Mahmoud the Ghaznevide, [Footnote: Mahmood of Ghizni, which, +under the European name of Ghaznee, was so recently taken in one hour by +our Indian army under Lord Keane Mahmood was the first Mahometan invader +of Hindostan.] in Anno Domini 1000, in the vast regions between the +Tigris, the Oxus, and the Indus. Regularly as it approached, gold and +jewels must have sunk by whole harvests into the ground. A certain +per centage has been doubtless recovered: a larger per centage has +disappeared for ever. Hence naturally the jealousy of barbarous +Orientals that we Europeans, in groping amongst pyramids, sphynxes, and +tombs, are looking for buried treasures. The wretches are not so wide +astray in what they believe as in what they disbelieve. The treasures do +really exist which they fancy; but then also the other treasures in the +glorious antiquities have that existence for our sense of beauty which +to their brutality is inconceivable. In these circumstances, why should +it surprise us that men will pursue the science of discovery as +a regular trade? Many discoveries of treasure are doubtless made +continually, which, for obvious reasons, are communicated to nobody. +Some proportion there must be between the sowing of such grain as +diamonds or emeralds, and the subsequent reaping, whether by accident or +by art. For, with regard to the last, it is no more impossible, _prima +fronte_, that a substance may exist having an occult sympathy with +subterraneous water or subterraneous gold, than that the magnet should +have a sympathy (as yet occult) with the northern pole of our planet. + +The first flash of careless thought applied to such a case will suggest, +that men holding powers of this nature need not offer their services for +hire to others. And this, in fact, is the objection universally urged by +us Europeans as decisive against their pretensions. Their knavery, it +is fancied, stands self-recorded; since, assuredly, they would not be +willing to divide their subterranean treasures, if they knew of any. +But the men are not in such self-contradiction as may seem. Lady +Hester Stanhope, from the better knowledge she had acquired of Oriental +opinions, set Dr. Madden right on this point. The Oriental belief is +that a fatality attends the appropriator of a treasure in any case where +he happens also to be the discoverer. Such a person, it is held, will +die soon, and suddenly--so that he is compelled to seek his remuneration +from the wages or fees of his employers, not from the treasure itself. + +Many more secret laws are held sacred amongst the professors of that art +than that which was explained by Lady Hester Stanhope. These we shall +not enter upon at present: but generally we may remark, that the same +practices of subterranean deposits, during our troubled periods in +Europe, led to the same superstitions. And it may be added, that the +same error has arisen in both cases as to some of these superstitions. +How often must it have struck people of liberal feelings, as a +scandalous proof of the preposterous value set upon riches by poor men, +that ghosts should popularly be supposed to rise and wander for the sake +of revealing the situations of buried treasures. For ourselves, we have +been accustomed to view this popular belief in the light of an argument +for pity rather than for contempt towards poor men, as indicating the +extreme pressure of that necessity which could so have demoralized their +natural sense of truth. But certainly, in whatever feelings originating, +such popular superstitions as to motives of ghostly missions did seem to +argue a deplorable misconception of the relation subsisting between the +spiritual world and the perishable treasures of this perishable world. +Yet, when we look into the Eastern explanations of this case, we find +that it is meant to express, not any overvaluation of riches, but +the direct contrary passion. A human spirit is punished--such is the +notion--punished in the spiritual world for excessive attachment to +gold, by degradation to the office of its guardian; and from this office +the tortured spirit can release itself only by revealing the treasure +and transferring the custody. It is a penal martyrdom, not an elective +passion for gold, which is thus exemplified in the wanderings of a +treasure-ghost. + +But, in a field where of necessity we are so much limited, we willingly +pass from the consideration of these treasure or _khasne_ phantoms +(which alone sufficiently ensure a swarm of ghostly terrors for all +Oriental ruins of cities,) to the same marvellous apparitions, as they +haunt other solitudes even more awful than those of ruined cities. In +this world there are two mighty forms of perfect solitude--the ocean and +the desert: the wilderness of the barren sands, and the wilderness of +the barren waters. Both are the parents of inevitable superstitions--of +terrors, solemn, ineradicable, eternal. Sailors and the children of the +desert are alike overrun with spiritual hauntings, from accidents of +peril essentially connected with those modes of life, and from the +eternal spectacle of the infinite. Voices seem to blend with the raving +of the sea, which will for ever impress the feeling of beings more than +human: and every chamber of the great wilderness which, with little +interruption, stretches from the Euphrates to the western shores of +Africa, has its own peculiar terrors both as to sights and sounds. In +the wilderness of Zin, between Palestine and the Red Sea, a section of +the desert well known in these days to our own countrymen, bells are +heard daily pealing for matins, or for vespers, from some phantom +convent that no search of Christian or of Bedouin Arab has ever been +able to discover. These bells have sounded since the Crusades. Other +sounds, trumpets, the _Alala_ of armies, &c., are heard in other regions +of the Desert. Forms, also, are seen of more people than have any +right to be walking in human paths: sometimes forms of avowed terror; +sometimes, which is a case of far more danger, appearances that mimic +the shapes of men, and even of friends or comrades. This is a case +much dwelt on by the old travellers, and which throws a gloom over the +spirits of all Bedouins, and of every cafila or caravan. We all know +what a sensation of loneliness or 'eeriness' (to use an expressive term +of the ballad poetry) arises to any small party assembling in a +single room of a vast desolate mansion: how the timid among them fancy +continually that they hear some remote door opening, or trace the sound +of suppressed footsteps from some distant staircase. Such is the feeling +in the desert, even in the midst of the caravan. The mighty solitude is +seen: the dread silence is anticipated which will succeed to this brief +transit of men, camels, and horses. Awe prevails even in the midst of +society: but, if the traveller should loiter behind from fatigue, or +be so imprudent as to ramble aside--should he from any cause once lose +sight of his party, it is held that his chance is small of recovering +their traces. And why? Not chiefly from the want of footmarks where the +wind effaces all impressions in half an hour, or of eyemarks where all +is one blank ocean of sand, but much more from the sounds or the visual +appearances which are supposed to beset and to seduce all insulated +wanderers. + +Everybody knows the superstitions of the ancients about the +_Nympholeptoi_, or those who had seen Pan. But far more awful and gloomy +are the existing superstitions, throughout Asia and Africa, as to the +perils of those who are phantom-haunted in the wilderness. The old +Venetian traveller Marco Polo states them well: he speaks, indeed, of +the Eastern or Tartar deserts; the steppes which stretch from European +Russia to the footsteps of the Chinese throne; but exactly the same +creed prevails amongst the Arabs, from Bagdad to Suez and Cairo--from +Rosetta to Tunis--Tunis to Timbuctoo or Mequinez. 'If, during the +daytime,' says he, 'any person should remain behind until the caravan is +no longer in sight, he hears himself unexpectedly called to by name, +and in a voice with which he is familiar. Not doubting that the voice +proceeds from some of his comrades, the unhappy man is beguiled from the +right direction; and soon finding himself utterly confounded as to the +path, he roams about in distraction until he perishes miserably. If, +on the other hand, this perilous separation of himself from the caravan +should happen at night, he is sure to hear the uproar of a great +cavalcade a mile or two to the right or left of the true track. He is +thus seduced on one side: and at break of day finds himself far removed +from man. Nay, even at noon-day, it is well known that grave and +respectable men to all appearance will come up to a particular +traveller, will bear the look of a friend, and will gradually lure him +by earnest conversation to a distance from the caravan; after which the +sounds of men and camels will be heard continually at all points but the +true one; whilst an insensible turning by the tenth of an inch at each +separate step from the true direction will very soon suffice to set the +traveller's face to the opposite point of the compass from that which +his safety requires, and which his fancy represents to him as his +real direction. Marvellous, indeed, and almost passing belief, are the +stories reported of these desert phantoms, which are said at times +to fill the air with choral music from all kinds of instruments, from +drums, and the clash of arms: so that oftentimes a whole caravan are +obliged to close up their open ranks, and to proceed in a compact line +of march.' + +Lord Lindsay, in his very interesting travels in Egypt, Edom, &c., +agrees with Warton in supposing (and probably enough) that from this +account of the desert traditions in Marco Polo was derived Milton's fine +passage in Comus:-- + + 'Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, + And aery tongues that syllable men's names + On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.' + +But the most remarkable of these desert superstitions, as suggested by +the mention of Lord Lindsay, is one which that young nobleman, in some +place which we cannot immediately find, has noticed, but which he only +was destined by a severe personal loss immediately to illustrate. Lord +L. quotes from Vincent le Blanc an anecdote of a man in his own caravan, +the companion of an Arab merchant, who disappeared in a mysterious +manner. Four Moors, with a retaining fee of 100 ducats, were sent in +quest of him, but came back _re infecta_. 'And 'tis uncertain,' adds Le +Blanc, 'whether he was swallowed up in the sands, or met his death by +any other misfortune; as it often happens, by the relation of a merchant +then in our company, who told us, that two years before, traversing the +same journey, a comrade of his, going a little aside from the company, +saw three men who called him by his name; and one of them, to his +thinking, favored very much his companion; and, as he was about to +follow them, his real companion calling him to come back to his company, +he found himself deceived by the others, and thus was saved. And all +travellers in these parts hold, that in the deserts are many such +phantasms seen, that strive to seduce the traveller.' Thus far it is +the traveller's own fault, warned as he is continually by the extreme +anxiety of the Arab leaders or guides, with respect to all who stray to +any distance, if he is duped or enticed by these pseudo-men: though, +in the case of Lapland dogs, who ought to have a surer instinct of +detection for counterfeits, we know from Sir Capel de Broke and others, +that they are continually wiled away by the wolves who roam about the +nightly encampments of travellers. But there is a secondary disaster, +according to the Arab superstition, awaiting those whose eyes are once +opened to the discernment of these phantoms. To see them, or to hear +them, even where the traveller is careful to refuse their lures, entails +the certainty of death in no long time. This is another form of that +universal faith which made it impossible for any man to survive a bodily +commerce, by whatever sense, with a spiritual being. We find it in the +Old Testament, where the expression, 'I have seen God and shall die,' +means simply a supernatural being; since no Hebrew believed it possible +for a nature purely human to sustain for a moment the sight of the +Infinite Being. We find the same faith amongst ourselves, in case +of _doppelgaenger_ becoming apparent to the sight of those whom they +counterfeit; and in many other varieties. We modern Europeans, of +course, laugh at these superstitions; though, as La Place remarks, +(_Essai sur les Probabilites_,) any case, however apparently incredible, +if it is a recurrent case, is as much entitled to a fair valuation as if +it had been more probable beforehand.[Footnote: _'Is as much entitled +to a fair valuation, under the lans of induction, as if it had been +more probable beforehand'_--One of the cases which La Place notices as +entitled to a grave consideration, but which would most assuredly be +treated as a trivial phenomenon, unworthy of attention, by commonplace +spectators, is--when a run of success, with no apparent cause, takes +place on heads or tails, (_pile ou croix_) Most people dismiss such a +case as pure accident. But La Place insists on its being duly valued +as a fact, however unaccountable as an effect. So again, if in a large +majority of experiences like those of Lord Lindsay's party in the +desert, death should follow, such a phenomenon is as well entitled +to its separate valuation as any other.] This being premised, we who +connect superstition with the personal result, are more impressed by the +disaster which happened to Lord Lindsay, than his lordship, who either +failed to notice the _nexus_ between the events, or possibly declined to +put the case too forward in his reader's eye, from the solemnity of the +circumstances, and the private interest to himself and his own family, +of the subsequent event. The case was this:--Mr. William Wardlaw Ramsay, +the companion (and we believe relative) of Lord Lindsay, a man whose +honorable character, and whose intellectual accomplishments speak for +themselves, in the posthumus memorabilia of his travels published +by Lord L., had seen an array of objects in the desert, which facts +immediately succeeding demonstrated to have been a mere ocular _lusus_, +or (according to Arab notions) phantoms. During the absence from home of +an Arab sheikh, who had been hired as conductor of Lord Lindsay's party, +a hostile tribe (bearing the name of Tellaheens) had assaulted and +pillaged his tents. Report of this had reached the English travelling +party; it was known that the Tellaheens were still in motion, and a +hostile rencounter was looked for for some days. At length, in crossing +the well known valley of the _Wady Araba_, that most ancient channel of +communication between the Red Sea and Judea, &c., Mr. Ramsay saw, to his +own entire conviction, a party of horse moving amongst some sand-hills. +Afterwards it became certain, from accurate information, that this must +have been a delusion. It was established, that no horseman _could_ have +been in that neighborhood at that time. Lord Lindsay records the case +as an illustration of 'that spiritualized tone the imagination naturally +assumes, in scenes presenting so little sympathy with the ordinary +feelings of humanity;' and he reports the case in these pointed +terms:--'Mr. Ramsay, a man of remarkably strong sight, and by no means +disposed to superstitious credulity, distinctly saw a party of horse +moving among the sand-hills; and I do not believe he was ever able +to divest himself of that impression.' No--and, according to Arab +interpretation, very naturally so; for, according to their faith, he +really _had_ seen the horsemen; phantom horseman certainly, but +still objects of sight. The sequel remains to be told--by the Arabian +hypothesis, Mr. Ramsay had but a short time to live--he was under a +secret summons to the next world. And accordingly, in a few weeks after +this, whilst Lord Lindsay had gone to visit Palmyra, Mr. Ramsay died at +Damascus. + +This was a case exactly corresponding to the Pagan _nympholepsis_--he +had seen the beings whom it is not lawful to see and live. Another case +of Eastern superstition, not less determined, and not less remarkably +fulfilled, occurred some years before to Dr. Madden, who travelled +pretty much in the same route as Lord Lindsay. The doctor, as a +phrenologist, had been struck with the very singular conformation of +a skull which he saw amongst many others on an altar in some Syrian +convent. He offered a considerable sum in gold for it; but it was by +repute the skull of a saint; and the monk with whom Dr. M. attempted to +negotiate, not only refused his offers, but protested that even for the +doctor's sake, apart from the interests of the convent, he could not +venture on such a transfer: for that, by the tradition attached to it, +the skull would endanger any vessel carrying it from the Syrian shore: +the vessel might escape; but it would never succeed in reaching any but +a Syrian harbor. After this, for the credit of our country, which +stands so high in the East, and should be so punctiliously tended by all +Englishmen, we are sorry to record that Dr. Madden (though otherwise a +man of scrupulous honor) yielded to the temptation of substituting for +the saint's skull another less remarkable from his own collection. With +this saintly relic he embarked on board a Grecian ship; was alternately +pursued and met by storms the most violent; larboard and starboard, on +every quarter, he was buffeted; the wind blew from every point of the +compass; the doctor honestly confesses that he often wished this baleful +skull back in safety on the quiet altar from which he took it; and +finally, after many days of anxiety, he was too happy in finding himself +again restored to some oriental port, from which he secretly vowed +never again to sail with a saint's skull, or with any skull, however +remarkable phrenologically, not purchased in an open market. + +Thus we have pursued, through many of its most memorable sections, +the spirit of the miraculous as it moulded and gathered itself in +the superstitions of Paganism; and we have shown that, in the modern +superstitions of Christianity, or of Mahometanism, (often enough +borrowed from Christian sources,) there is a pretty regular +correspondence. Speaking with a reference to the strictly popular +belief, it cannot be pretended for a moment, that miraculous agencies +are slumbering in modern ages. For one superstition of that nature which +the Pagans had, we can produce twenty. And if, from the collation of +numbers, we should pass to that of quality, it is a matter of notoriety, +that from the very philosophy of Paganism, and its slight root in the +terrors or profounder mysteries of spiritual nature, no comparison +could be sustained for a moment between the true religion and any mode +whatever of the false. Ghosts we have purposely omitted, because that +idea is so peculiarly Christian [Footnote: '_Because that idea is so +peculiarly Christian_'--One reason, additional to the main one, why the +idea of a ghost could not be conceived or reproduced by Paganism, +lies in the fourfold resolution of the human nature at death, viz.--1. +_corpus_; 2. _manes_; 3. _spiritus_; 4. _anima_. No reversionary +consciousness, no restitution of the total nature, sentient and active, +was thus possible. Pliny has a story which looks like a ghost story; but +it is all moonshine--a mere _simulacrum_.] as to reject all counterparts +or affinities from other modes of the supernatural. The Christian ghost +is too awful a presence, and with too large a substratum of the real, +the impassioned, the human, for our present purposes. We deal chiefly +with the wilder and more aerial forms of superstition; not so far off +from fleshly nature as the purely allegoric--not so near as the penal, +the purgatorial, the penitential. In this middle class, 'Gabriel's +hounds'--the 'phantom ship'--the gloomy legends of the charcoal burners +in the German forests--and the local or epichorial superstitions from +every district of Europe, come forward by thousands, attesting the high +activity of the miraculous and the hyperphysical instincts, even in this +generation, wheresoever the voice of the people makes itself heard. + +But in Pagan times, it will be objected, the popular superstitions +blended themselves with the highest political functions, gave a sanction +to national counsels, and oftentimes gave their starting point to the +very primary movements of the state. Prophecies, omens, miracles, all +worked concurrently with senates or princes. Whereas in our days, +says Charles Lamb, the witch who takes her pleasure with the moon, and +summons Beelzebub to her sabbaths, nevertheless trembles before the +beadle, and hides herself from the overseer. Now, as to the witch, even +the horrid Canidia of Horace, or the more dreadful Erichtho of Lucan, +seems hardly to have been much respected in any era. But for the +other modes of the supernatural, they have entered into more frequent +combinations with state functions and state movements in our modern ages +than in the classical age of Paganism. Look at prophecies, for example: +the Romans had a few obscure oracles afloat, and they had the Sibylline +books under the state seal. These books, in fact, had been kept so long, +that, like port wine superannuated, they had lost their flavor and body. +[Footnote: '_Like port wine superannuated, the Sibylline books had lost +their flavor and their body_.'--There is an allegoric description in +verse, by Mr. Rogers, of an ice-house, in which winter is described as +a captive, &c., which is memorable on this account, that a brother +poet, on reading the passage, mistook it, (from not understanding +the allegorical expressions,) either sincerely or maliciously, for a +description of the house-dog. Now, this little anecdote seems to embody +the poor Sibyl's history,--from a stern icy sovereign, with a petrific +mace, she lapsed into an old toothless mastiff. She continued to snore +in her ancient kennel for above a thousand years. The last person who +attempted to stir her up with a long pole, and to extract from her +paralytic dreaming some growls or snarls against Christianity, was +Aurelian, in a moment of public panic. But the thing was past all +tampering. The poor creature could neither be kicked nor coaxed into +vitality.] On the other hand, look at France. Henry the historian, +speaking of the fifteenth century, describes it as a national infirmity +of the English to be prophecy-ridden. Perhaps there never was any +foundation for this as an exclusive remark; but assuredly not in the +next century. There had been with us British, from the twelfth century, +Thomas of Ercildoune in the north, and many monkish local prophets for +every part of the island; but latterly England had no terrific prophet, +unless, indeed Nixon of the Vale Royal in Cheshire, who uttered his +dark oracles sometimes with a merely Cestrian, sometimes with a national +reference. Whereas in France, throughout the sixteenth century, every +principal event was foretold successively, with an accuracy that still +shocks and confounds us. Francis the First, who opens the century, (and +by many is held to open the book of _modern history_, as distinguished +from the middle or _feudal_ history,) had the battle of Pavia +foreshown to him, not by name, but in its results--by his own Spanish +captivity--by the exchange for his own children upon a frontier river +of Spain--finally, by his own disgraceful death, through an infamous +disease conveyed to him under a deadly circuit of revenge. This king's +son, Henry the Second, read some years _before_ the event a description +of that tournament, on the marriage of the Scottish Queen with his +eldest son, Francis II., which proved fatal to himself, through the +awkwardness of the Compte de Montgomery and his own obstinacy. After +this, and we believe a little after the brief reign of Francis II., +arose Nostradamus, the great prophet of the age. All the children of +Henry II. and of Catharine de Medici, one after the other, died in +circumstances of suffering and horror, and Nostradamus pursued the +whole with ominous allusions. Charles IX., though the authorizer of the +Bartholomew massacre, was the least guilty of his party, and the only +one who manifested a dreadful remorse. Henry III., the last of the +brothers, died, as the reader will remember, by assassination. And all +these tragic successions of events are still to be read more or less +dimly prefigured in verses of which we will not here discuss the dates. +Suffice it, that many authentic historians attest the good faith of the +prophets; and finally, with respect to the first of the Bourbon dynasty, +Henry IV., who succeeded upon the assassination of his brother-in-law, +we have the peremptory assurance of Sully and other Protestants, +countersigned by writers both historical and controversial, that not +only was he prepared, by many warnings, for his own tragical death--not +only was the day, the hour prefixed--not only was an almanac sent to +him, in which the bloody summer's day of 1610 was pointed out to his +attention in bloody colors; but the mere record of the king's last +afternoon shows beyond a doubt the extent and the punctual limitation of +his anxieties. In fact, it is to this attitude of listening expectation +in the king, and breathless waiting for the blow, that Schiller alludes +in that fine speech of Wallenstein to his sister, where he notices the +funeral knells that sounded continually in Henry's ears, and, above all, +his prophetic instinct, that caught the sound from a far distance of his +murderer's motions, and could distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a +mighty capital, those stealthy steps + + ----'Which even then were seeking him + Throughout the streets of Paris.' + +We profess not to admire Henry the Fourth of France, whose secret +character we shall, on some other occasion, attempt to expose. But his +resignation to the appointments of Heaven, in dismissing his guards, as +feeling that against a danger so domestic and so mysterious, all fleshly +arms were vain, has always struck us as the most like magnanimity of +anything in his very theatrical life. + +Passing to our own country, and to the times immediately in succession, +we fall upon some striking prophecies, not verbal but symbolic, if we +turn from the broad highway of public histories, to the by-paths of +private memories. Either Clarendon it is, in his Life (not his public +history), or else Laud, who mentions an anecdote connected with the +coronation of Charles I., (the son-in-law of the murdered Bourbon,) +which threw a gloom upon the spirits of the royal friends, already +saddened by the dreadful pestilence which inaugurated the reign of this +ill-fated prince, levying a tribute of one life in sixteen from the +population of the English metropolis. At the coronation of Charles, it +was discovered that all London would not furnish the quantity of purple +velvet required for the royal robes and the furniture of the throne. +What was to be done? Decorum required that the furniture should be +all _en suite_. Nearer than Genoa no considerable addition could +be expected. That would impose a delay of 150 days. Upon mature +consideration, and chiefly of the many private interests that would +suffer amongst the multitudes whom such a solemnity had called up from +the country, it was resolved to robe the King in _white_ velvet. But +this, as it afterwards occurred, was the color in which victims were +arrayed. And thus, it was alleged, did the King's council establish an +augury of evil. Three other ill omens, of some celebrity, occurred to +Charles I., viz., on occasion of creating his son Charles a knight of +the Bath, at Oxford some years after; and at the bar of that tribunal +which sat in judgment upon him. + +The reign of his second son, James II., the next reign that could be +considered an unfortunate reign, was inaugurated by the same evil omens. +The day selected for the coronation (in 1685) was a day memorable for +England--it was St. George's day, the 23d of April, and entitled, +even on a separate account, to be held a sacred day as the birthday of +Shakspeare in 1564, and his deathday in 1616. The King saved a sum of +sixty thousand pounds by cutting off the ordinary cavalcade from the +Tower of London to Westminster. Even this was imprudent. It is well +known that, amongst the lowest class of the English, there is an +obstinate prejudice (though unsanctioned by law) with respect to the +obligation imposed by the ceremony of coronation. So long as this +ceremony is delayed, or mutilated, they fancy that their obedience is +a matter of mere prudence, liable to be enforced by arms, but not +consecrated either by law or by religion. The change made by James was, +therefore, highly imprudent; shorn of its antique traditionary usages, +the yoke of conscience was lightened at a moment when it required a +double ratification. Neither was it called for on motives of economy, +for James was unusually rich. This voluntary arrangement was, therefore, +a bad beginning; but the accidental omens were worse. They are thus +reported by Blennerhassett, (History of England to the end of George +I., Vol. iv., p. 1760, printed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 1751.) 'The +crown being too little for the King's head, was often in a tottering +condition, and like to fall off.' Even this was observed attentively +by spectators of the most opposite feelings. But there was another +simultaneous omen, which affected the Protestant enthusiasts, and the +superstitious, whether Catholic or Protestant, still more alarmingly. +'The same day the king's arms, pompously painted in the great altar +window of a London church, suddenly fell down without apparent cause, +and broke to pieces, whilst the rest of the window remained standing. +Blennerhassett mutters the dark terrors which possessed himself and +others.' 'These,' says he, 'were reckoned ill omens to the king.' + +In France, as the dreadful criminality of the French sovereigns through +the 17th century began to tell powerfully, and reproduce itself in the +miseries and tumults of the French populace through the 18th century, it +is interesting to note the omens which unfolded themselves at intervals. +A volume might be written upon them. The French Bourbons renewed the +picture of that fatal house which in Thebes offered to the Grecian +observers the spectacle of dire auguries, emerging from darkness through +three generations, _a plusieurs reprises_. Everybody knows the fatal +pollution of the marriage pomps on the reception of Marie Antoinette in +Paris; the numbers who perished are still spoken of obscurely as to the +amount, and with shuddering awe for the unparalleled horrors standing in +the background of the fatal reign--horrors + + 'That hush'd in grim repose, await their evening prey.' + +But in the life of Goethe is mentioned a still more portentous (though +more shadowy) omen in the pictorial decorations of the arras which +adorned the pavilion on the French frontier; the first objects which met +the Austrian Archduchess on being hailed as Dauphiness, was a succession +of the most tragic groups from the most awful section of the Grecian +theatre. The next alliance of the same kind between the same great +empires, in the persons of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louisa, +was overshadowed by the same unhappy omens, and, as we all remember, +with the same unhappy results, within a brief period of five years. + +Or, if we should resort to the fixed and monumental rather than to these +auguries of great nations--such, for instance, as were embodied in those +_Palladia_, or protesting talismans, which capital cities, whether Pagan +or Christian, glorified through a period of twenty-five hundred years, +we shall find a long succession of these enchanted pledges, from the +earliest precedent of Troy (whose palladium was undoubtedly a talisman) +down to that equally memorable, and bearing the same name, at Western +Rome. We may pass, by a vast transition of two and a half millennia, +to that great talisman of Constantinople, the triple serpent, (having +perhaps an original reference to the Mosaic serpent of the wilderness, +which healed the infected by the simple act of looking upon it, as the +symbol of the Redeemer, held aloft upon the Cross for the deliverance +from moral contagion.) This great consecrated talisman, venerated +equally by Christian, by Pagan, and by Mahometan, was struck on the head +by Mahomet the Second, on that same day, May 29th of 1453, in which +he mastered by storm this glorious city, the bulwark of eastern +Christendom, and the immediate rival of his own European throne at +Adrianople. But mark the superfetation of omens--omen supervening +upon omen, augury engrafted upon augury. The hour was a sad one for +Christianity; just 720 years before the western horn of Islam had been +rebutted in France by the Germans, chiefly under Charles Martel. But now +it seemed as though another horn, even more vigorous, was preparing +to assault Christendom and its hopes from the eastern quarter. At this +epoch, in the very hour of triumph, when the last of the Caesars had +glorified his station, and sealed his testimony by martyrdom, the +fanatical Sultan, riding to his stirrups in blood, and wielding that +iron mace which had been his sole weapon, as well as cognizance, through +the battle, advanced to the column, round which the triple serpent +roared spirally upwards. He smote the brazen talisman; he shattered one +head; he left it mutilated as the record of his great revolution; but +crush it, destroy it, he did not--as a symbol prefiguring the fortunes +of Mahometanism, his people noticed, that in the critical hour of fate, +which stamped the Sultan's acts with efficacy through ages, he had been +prompted by his secret genius only to 'scotch the snake,' not to crush +it. Afterwards the fatal hour was gone by; and this imperfect augury has +since concurred traditionally with the Mahometan prophecies about the +Adrianople gate of Constantinople, to depress the ultimate hopes of +Islam in the midst of all its insolence. The very haughtiest of the +Mussulmans believe that the gate is already in existence, through which +the red Giaours (the _Russi_) shall pass to the conquest of Stamboul; +and that everywhere, in Europe at least, the hat of Frangistan is +destined to surmount the turban--the crescent must go down before the +cross. + + + + +COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING. + + +What is the deadest of things earthly? It is, says the world, ever +forward and rash--'a door-nail!' But the world is wrong. There is a +thing deader than a door-nail, viz., Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I. Dead, +more dead, most dead, is Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I.; and this +upon more arguments than one. The book has clearly not completed its +elementary act of respiration; the _systole_ of Vol. I. is absolutely +useless and lost without the _diastole_ of that Vol. II., which is never +to exist. That is one argument, and perhaps this second argument is +stronger. Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I., deals rashly, unjustly, and +almost maliciously, with some of our own particular friends; and yet, +until late in this summer, _Anno Domini_ 1844, we--that is, neither +ourselves nor our friends--ever heard of its existence. Now a sloth, +even without the benefit of Mr. Waterton's evidence to his character, +will travel faster than that. But malice, which travels fastest of +all things, must be dead and cold at starting, when it can thus have +lingered in the rear for six years; and therefore, though the world +was so far right, that people _do_ say, 'Dead as a door-nail,' yet, +henceforward, the weakest of these people will see the propriety of +saying--'Dead as Gillman's Coleridge.' + +The reader of experience, on sliding over the surface of this opening +paragraph, begins to think there's mischief singing in the upper air. +'No, reader, not at all. We never were cooler in our days. And this we +protest, that, were it not for the excellence of the subject, _Coleridge +and Opium-Eating_, Mr. Gillman would have been dismissed by us +unnoticed. Indeed, we not only forgive Mr. Gillman, but we have +a kindness for him; and on this account, that he was good, he was +generous, he was most forbearing, through twenty years, to poor +Coleridge, when thrown upon his hospitality. An excellent thing _that_, +Mr. Gillman, till, noticing the theme suggested by this unhappy Vol. +I., we are forced at times to notice its author, Nor is this to be +regretted. We remember a line of Horace never yet properly translated, +viz:-- + + 'Nec scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello.' + +The true translation of which, as we assure the unlearned reader, +is--'Nor must you pursue with the horrid knout of Christopher that man +who merits only a switching.' Very true. We protest against all attempts +to invoke the exterminating knout; for _that_ sends a man to the +hospital for two months; but you see that the same judicious poet, who +dissuades an appeal to the knout, indirectly recommends the switch, +which, indeed, is rather pleasant than otherwise, amiably playful +in some of its little caprices, and in its worst, suggesting only a +pennyworth of diachylon. + +We begin by professing, with hearty sincerity, our fervent admiration +of the extraordinary man who furnishes the theme for Mr. Gillman's +_coup-d'essai_ in biography. He was, in a literary sense, our +brother--for he also was amongst the contributors to _Blackwood_--and +will, we presume, take his station in that Blackwood gallery of +portraits, which, in a century hence, will possess more interest for +intellectual Europe than any merely martial series of portraits, or any +gallery of statesmen assembled in congress, except as regards one or two +leaders; for defunct major-generals, and secondary diplomatists, +when their date is past, awake no more emotion than last year's +advertisements, or obsolete directories; whereas those who, in a stormy +age, have swept the harps of passion, of genial wit, or of the wrestling +and gladiatorial reason, become more interesting to men when they can no +longer be seen as bodily agents, than even in the middle chorus of that +intellectual music over which, living, they presided. + +Of this great camp Coleridge was a leader, and fought amongst the +_primipili_; yet, comparatively, he is still unknown. Heavy, indeed, are +the arrears still due to philosophic curiosity on the real merits, +and on the separate merits, of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge as a +poet--Coleridge as a philosopher! How extensive are those questions, +if those were all! and upon neither question have we yet any +investigation--such as, by compass of views, by research, or even by +earnestness of sympathy with the subject, can, or ought to satisfy, a +philosophic demand. Blind is that man who can persuade himself that the +interest in Coleridge, taken as a total object, is becoming an obsolete +interest. We are of opinion that even Milton, now viewed from a distance +of two centuries, is still inadequately judged or appreciated in +his character of poet, of patriot and partisan, or, finally, in his +character of accomplished scholar. But, if so, how much less can it +be pretended that satisfaction has been rendered to the claims of +Coleridge? for, upon Milton, libraries have been written. There has been +time for the malice of men, for the jealousy of men, for the enthusiasm, +the scepticism, the adoring admiration of men, to expand themselves! +There has been room for a Bentley, for an Addison, for a Johnson, for a +wicked Lauder, for an avenging Douglas, for an idolizing Chateaubriand; +and yet, after all, little enough has been done towards any +comprehensive estimate of the mighty being concerned. Piles of materials +have been gathered to the ground; but, for the monument which should +have risen from these materials, neither the first stone has been laid, +nor has a qualified architect yet presented his credentials. On the +other hand, upon Coleridge little, comparatively, has yet been written, +whilst the separate characters on which the judgment is awaited, are +more by one than those which Milton sustained. Coleridge, also, is a +poet; Coleridge, also, was mixed up with the fervent politics of his +age--an age how memorably reflecting the revolutionary agitations of +Milton's age. Coleridge, also, was an extensive and brilliant scholar. +Whatever might be the separate proportions of the two men in each +particular department of the three here noticed, think as the reader +will upon that point, sure we are that either subject is ample enough to +make a strain upon the amplest faculties. How alarming, therefore, +for any _honest_ critic, who should undertake this later subject of +Coleridge, to recollect that, after pursuing him through a zodiac of +splendors corresponding to those of Milton in kind, however different in +degree--after weighing him as a poet, as a philosophic politician, as +a scholar, he will have to wheel after him into another orbit, into +the unfathomable _nimbus_ of transcendental metaphysics. Weigh him the +critic must in the golden balance of philosophy the most abstruse--a +balance which even itself requires weighing previously, or he will +have done nothing that can be received for an estimate of the composite +Coleridge. This astonishing man, be it again remembered, besides being +an exquisite poet, a profound political speculator, a philosophic +student of literature through all its chambers and recesses, was also +a circumnavigator on the most pathless waters of scholasticism and +metaphysics. He had sounded, without guiding charts, the secret deeps +of Proclus and Plotinus; he had laid down buoys on the twilight, or +moonlight, ocean of Jacob Boehmen; [Footnote: 'JACOB BOEHMEN.' We +ourselves had the honor of presenting to Mr. Coleridge, Law's English +version of Jacob--a set of huge quartos. Some months afterwards we saw +this work lying open, and one volume at least overflowing, in parts, +with the commentaries and the _corollaries_ of Coleridge. Whither has +this work, and so many others swathed about with Coleridge's MS. notes, +vanished from the world?] he had cruised over the broad Atlantic of Kant +and Schelling, of Fichte and Oken. Where is the man who shall be equal +to these things? We at least make no such adventurous effort; or, if +ever we should presume to do so, not at present. Here we design only +to make a coasting voyage of survey round the headlands and most +conspicuous seamarks of our subject, as they are brought forward by +Mr. Gillman, or collaterally suggested by our own reflections; and +especially we wish to say a word or two on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +Naturally the first point to which we direct our attention, is the +history and personal relations of Coleridge. Living with Mr. Gillman for +nineteen years as a domesticated friend, Coleridge ought to have +been known intimately. And it is reasonable to expect, from so much +intercourse, some additions to our slender knowledge of Coleridge's +adventures, (if we may use so coarse a word,) and of the secret springs +at work in those early struggles of Coleridge at Cambridge, London, +Bristol, which have been rudely told to the world, and repeatedly told, +as showy romances, but never rationally explained. + +The anecdotes, however, which Mr. Gillman has added to the personal +history of Coleridge, are as little advantageous to the effect of his +own book as they are to the interest of the memorable character which he +seeks to illustrate. Always they are told without grace, and generally +are suspicious in their details. Mr. Gillman we believe to be too +upright a man for countenancing any untruth. He has been deceived. For +example, will any man believe this? A certain 'excellent equestrian' +falling in with Coleridge on horseback, thus accosted him--'Pray, Sir, +did you meet a tailor along the road?' '_A tailor_!' answered Coleridge; +'_I did meet a person answering such a description, who told me he had +dropped his goose; that if I rode a little further I should find it; and +I guess he must have meant you._' In Joe Miller this story would +read, perhaps, sufferably. Joe has a privilege; and we do not look too +narrowly into the mouth of a Joe-Millerism. But Mr. Gillman, writing +the life of a philosopher, and no jest-book, is under a different law of +decorum. That retort, however, which silences the jester, it may seem, +must be a good one. And we are desired to believe that, in this case, +the baffled assailant rode off in a spirit of benign candor, saying +aloud to himself, like the excellent philosopher that he evidently was, +'Caught a Tartar!' + +But another story of a sporting baronet, who was besides a Member of +Parliament, is much worse, and altogether degrading to Coleridge. +This gentleman, by way of showing off before a party of ladies, is +represented as insulting Coleridge by putting questions to him on the +qualities of his horse, so as to draw the animal's miserable defects +into public notice, and then closing his display by demanding what he +would take for the horse 'including the rider.' The supposed reply +of Coleridge might seem good to those who understand nothing of true +dignity; for, as an _impromptu_, it was smart and even caustic. The +baronet, it seems, was reputed to have been bought by the minister; and +the reader will at once divine that the retort took advantage of that +current belief, so as to throw back the sarcasm, by proclaiming that +neither horse nor rider had a price placarded in the market at which any +man could become their purchaser. But this was not the temper in which +Coleridge either did reply, or could have replied. Coleridge showed, in +the _spirit_ of his manner, a profound sensibility to the nature of +a gentleman; and he felt too justly what it became a self-respecting +person to say, ever to have aped the sort of flashy fencing which might +seem fine to a theatrical blood. + +Another story is self-refuted: 'A hired partisan' had come to one of +Coleridge's political lectures with the express purpose of bringing the +lecturer into trouble; and most preposterously he laid himself open +to his own snare by refusing to pay for admission. Spies must be poor +artists who proceed thus. Upon which Coleridge remarked--'That, before +the gentleman kicked up a dust, surely he would down with the dust.' +So far the story will not do. But what follows is possible enough. +The _same_ 'hired' gentleman, by way of giving unity to the tale, is +described as having hissed. Upon this a cry arose of 'Turn him out!' But +Coleridge interfered to protect him; he insisted on the man's right to +hiss if he thought fit; it was legal to hiss; it was natural to hiss; +'for what is to be expected, gentlemen, when the cool waters of reason +come in contact with red-hot aristocracy, but a hiss?' _Euge!_ + +Amongst all the anecdotes, however of this splendid man, often trivial, +often incoherent, often unauthenticated, there is one which strikes us +as both true and interesting; and we are grateful to Mr. Gillman for +preserving it. We find it introduced, and partially authenticated, by +the following sentence from Coleridge himself:--'From eight to fourteen +I was a playless day-dreamer, a _helluo librorum_; my appetite for which +was indulged by a singular incident. A stranger, who was struck by my +conversation, made me free of a circulating library in King's Street, +Cheapside.' The more circumstantial explanation of Mr. Gillman is this: +`The incident indeed was singular. Going down the Strand, in one of his +day-dreams, fancying himself swimming across the Hellespont, thrusting +his hands before him as in the act of swimming, his hand came in contact +with a gentleman's pocket. The gentleman seized his hand, turning round, +and looking at him with some anger--"What! so young, and yet so wicked?" +at the same time accused him of an attempt to pick his pocket. The +frightened boy sobbed out his denial of the intention, and explained to +him how he thought himself Leander swimming across the Hellespont. The +gentleman was so struck and delighted with the novelty of the thing, and +with the simplicity and intelligence of the boy, that he subscribed, +as before stated, to the library; in consequence of which Coleridge was +further enabled to indulge his love of reading.' + +We fear that this slovenly narrative is the very perfection of bad +story-telling. But the story itself is striking, and, by the very +oddness of the incidents, not likely to have been invented. The effect, +from the position of the two parties--on the one side, a simple child +from Devonshire, dreaming in the Strand that he was swimming over from +Sestos to Abydos, and, on the other, the experienced man, dreaming +only of this world, its knaves and its thieves, but still kind and +generous--is beautiful and picturesque. _Oh! si sic omnia!_ + +But the most interesting to us of the _personalities_ connected with +Coleridge are his feuds and his personal dislikes. Incomprehensible to +us is the war of extermination which Coleridge made upon the political +economists. Did Sir James Steuart, in speaking of vine-dressers, (not +_as_ vine-dressers, but generally as cultivators,) tell his readers, +that, if such a man simply replaced his own consumption, having no +surplus whatever or increment for the public capital, he could not be +considered a useful citizen? Not the beast in the Revelation is held up +by Coleridge as more hateful to the spirit of truth than the Jacobite +baronet. And yet we know of an author--viz., one S. T. Coleridge--who +repeated that same doctrine without finding any evil in it. Look at the +first part of the _Wallenstein_, where Count Isolani having said, 'Pooh! +we are _all_ his subjects,' _i. e._, soldiers, (though unproductive +laborers,) not less than productive peasants, the emperor's envoy +replies--'Yet with a difference, general;' and the difference implies +Sir James's scale, his vine-dresser being the equatorial case between +the two extremes of the envoy. Malthus again, in his population-book, +contends for a mathematic difference between animal and vegetable life, +in respect to the law of increase, as though the first increased by +geometrical ratios, the last by arithmetical! No proposition more +worthy of laughter; since both, when permitted to expand, increase +by geometrical ratios, and the latter by much higher ratios. Whereas, +Malthus persuaded himself of his crotchet simply by refusing the +requisite condition in the vegetable case, and granting it in the +other. If you take a few grains of wheat, and are required to plant all +successive generations of their produce in the same flower-pot for ever, +of course you neutralize its expansion by your own act of arbitrary +limitation. [Footnote: Malthus would have rejoined by saying--that the +flowerpot limitation was the actual limitation of nature in our present +circumstances. In America it is otherwise, he would say, but England +is the very flowerpot you suppose; she is a flowerpot which cannot be +multiplied, and cannot even be enlarged. Very well, so be it (which we +say in order to waive irrelevant disputes). But then the true inference +will be--not that vegetable increase proceeds under a different law from +that which governs animal increase, but that, through an accident of +position, the experiment cannot be tried in England. Surely the levers +of Archimedes, with submission to Sir Edward B. Lytton, were not the +less levers because he wanted the _locum standi_. It is proper, by the +way, that we should inform the reader of this generation where to look +for Coleridge's skirmishings with Malthus. They are to be found chiefly +in the late Mr. William Hazlitt's work on that subject: a work which +Coleridge so far claimed as to assert that it had been substantially +made up from his own conversation.] But so you would do, if you tried +the case of _animal_ increase by still exterminating all but one +replacing couple of parents. This is not to try, but merely a pretence +of trying, one order of powers against another. That was folly. But +Coleridge combated this idea in a manner so obscure, that nobody +understood it. And leaving these speculative conundrums, in coming to +the great practical interests afloat in the Poor Laws, Coleridge did so +little real work, that he left, as a _res integra_, to Dr. Alison, +the capital argument that legal and _adequate_ provision for the poor, +whether impotent poor or poor accidentally out of work, does not extend +pauperism--no, but is the one great resource for putting it down. Dr. +Alison's overwhelming and _experimental_ manifestations of that truth +have prostrated Malthus and his generation for ever. This comes of not +attending to the Latin maxim--'_Hoc_ age'--mind the object before you. +Dr. Alison, a wise man, '_hoc_ egit:' Coleridge '_aliud_ egit.' And we +see the result. In a case which suited him, by interesting his peculiar +feeling, Coleridge could command + + 'Attention full ten times as much as there needs.' + +But search documents, value evidence, or thresh out bushels of +statistical tables, Coleridge could not, any more than he could ride +with Elliot's dragoons. + +Another instance of Coleridge's inaptitude for such studies as political +economy is found in his fancy, by no means 'rich and rare,' but meagre +and trite, that taxes can never injure public prosperity by mere excess +of quantity; if they injure, we are to conclude that it must be by their +quality and mode of operation, or by their false appropriation, (as, +for instance, if they are sent out of the country and spent abroad.) +Because, says Coleridge, if the taxes are exhaled from the country as +vapors, back they come in drenching showers. Twenty pounds ascend in a +Scotch mist to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from Leeds; but does it +evaporate? Not at all: By return of post down comes an order for twenty +pounds' worth of Leeds cloth, on account of Government, seeing that +the poor men of the ----th regiment want new gaiters. True; but of this +return twenty pounds, not more than four will be profit, _i.e._, surplus +accruing to the public capital; whereas, of the original twenty pounds, +every shilling was surplus. The same unsound fancy has been many times +brought forward; often in England, often in France. But it is curious, +that its first appearance upon any stage was precisely two centuries +ago, when as yet political economy slept with the pre-Adamites, viz., in +the Long Parliament. In a quarto volume of the debates during 1644-45, +printed as an independent work, will be found the same identical +doctrine, supported very sonorously by the same little love of an +illustration from the see-saw of mist and rain. + +Political economy was not Coleridge's forte. In politics he was happier. +In mere personal politics, he (like every man when reviewed from a +station distant by forty years) will often appear to have erred; nay, +he will be detected and nailed in error. But this is the necessity of us +all. Keen are the refutations of time. And absolute results to posterity +are the fatal touchstone of opinions in the past. It is undeniable, +besides, that Coleridge had strong personal antipathies, for instance, +to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas. Yet _why_, we never could understand. We +once heard him tell a story upon Windermere, to the late Mr. Curwen, +then M. P. for Workington, which was meant, apparently, to account +for this feeling. The story amounted to this; that, when a freshman at +Cambridge, Mr. Pitt had wantonly amused himself at a dinner party +in Trinity, in smashing with filberts (discharged in showers like +grape-shot) a most costly dessert set of cut glass, from which +Samuel Taylor Coleridge argued a principle of destructiveness in his +_cerebellum_. Now, if this dessert set belonged to some poor suffering +Trinitarian, and not to himself, we are of opinion that he was faulty, +and ought, upon his own great subsequent maxim, to have been coerced +into 'indemnity for the past, and security for the future.' But, besides +that this glassy _mythus_ belongs to an aera fifteen years earlier than +Coleridge's so as to justify a shadow of scepticism, we really cannot +find, in such an _escapade_ under the boiling blood of youth, any +sufficient justification of that withering malignity towards the name +of Pitt, which runs through Coleridge's famous _Fire, Famine, +and Slaughter_. As this little viperous _jeu-d'esprit_ (published +anonymously) subsequently became the subject of a celebrated +after-dinner discussion in London, at which Coleridge (_comme de +raison_) was the chief speaker, the reader of this generation may wish +to know the question at issue; and in order to judge of _that_, he must +know the outline of this devil's squib. The writer brings upon the scene +three pleasant young ladies, viz., Miss Fire, Miss Famine, and Miss +Slaughter. 'What are you up to? What's the row?'--we may suppose to +be the introductory question of the poet. And the answer of the ladies +makes us aware that they are fresh from larking in Ireland, and +in France. A glorious spree they had; lots of fun; and laughter _a +discretion_. At all times _gratus puellae risus ab angulo_; so that we +listen to their little gossip with interest. They had been setting +men, it seems, by the ears; and the drollest little atrocities they do +certainly report. Not but we have seen better in the Nenagh paper, so +far as Ireland is concerned. But the pet little joke was in La Vendee. +Miss Famine, who is the girl for our money, raises the question--whether +any of them can tell the name of the leader and prompter to these high +jinks of hell--if so, let her whisper it. + + 'Whisper it, sister, so and so, + In a dark hint--distinct and low.' + +Upon which the playful Miss Slaughter replies:-- + + 'Letters _four_ do form his name. + * * * * * + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And I have drunk the blood since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Good: but the sting of the hornet lies in the conclusion. If this +quadriliteral man had done so much for _them_, (though really, we think, +6s. 8d. might have settled his claim,) what, says Fire, setting her arms +a-kimbo, would they do for _him_? Slaughter replies, rather crustily, +that, as far as a good kicking would go--or (says Famine) a little +matter of tearing to pieces by the mob--they would be glad to take +tickets at his benefit. 'How, you bitches!' says Fire, 'is that all? + + 'I alone am faithful; I + _Cling to him everlastingly_.' + +The sentiment is diabolical. And the question argued at the London +dinner-table was--Could the writer have been other than a devil? The +dinner was at the late excellent Mr. Sotheby's, known advantageously in +those days as the translator of Wieland's _Oberon_. Several of the great +guns amongst the literary body were present; in particular, Sir +Walter Scott; and he, we believe, with his usual good-nature, took the +apologetic side of the dispute. In fact, he was in the secret. Nobody +else, barring the author, knew at first whose good name was at stake. +The scene must have been high. The company kicked about the poor +diabolic writer's head as if it had been a tennis-ball. Coleridge, the +yet unknown criminal, absolutely perspired and fumed in pleading for the +defendant; the company demurred; the orator grew urgent; wits began to +_smoke_ the case, as active verbs; the advocate to _smoke_, as a neuter +verb; the 'fun grew fast and furious;' until at length _delinquent +arose_, burning tears in his eyes, and confessed to an audience, (now +bursting with stifled laughter, but whom he supposed to be bursting with +fiery indignation,) 'Lo! I am he that wrote it.' + +For our own parts, we side with Coleridge. Malice is not always of the +heart. There is a malice of the understanding and the fancy. Neither do +we think the worse of a man for having invented the most horrible and +old-woman-troubling curse that demons ever listened to. We are too apt +to swear horribly ourselves; and often have we frightened the cat, to +say nothing of the kettle, by our shocking [far too shocking!] oaths. + +There were other celebrated men whom Coleridge detested, or seemed +to detest--Paley, Sir Sidney Smith, Lord Hutchinson, (the last Lord +Donoughmore,) and Cuvier. To Paley it might seem as if his antipathy had +been purely philosophic; but we believe that partly it was personal; +and it tallies with this belief, that, in his earliest political tracts, +Coleridge charged the archdeacon repeatedly with his own joke, as if +it had been a serious saying, viz.--'That he could not afford to keep +a conscience;' such luxuries, like a carriage, for instance, being +obviously beyond the finances of poor men. + +With respect to the philosophic question between the parties, as to the +grounds of moral election, we hope it is no treason to suggest that both +were perhaps in error. Against Paley, it occurs at once that he himself +would not have made consequences the _practical_ test in valuing the +morality of an act, since these can very seldom be traced at all up to +the final stages, and in the earliest stages are exceedingly different +under different circumstances; so that the same act, tried by its +consequences, would bear a fluctuating appreciation. This could not have +been Paley's _revised_ meaning. Consequently, had he been pressed +by opposition, it would have come out, that by _test_ he meant only +_speculative_ test: a very harmless doctrine certainly, but useless +and impertinent to any purpose of his system. The reader may catch our +meaning in the following illustration. It is a matter of general belief, +that happiness, upon the whole, follows in a higher degree from constant +integrity, than from the closest attention to self-interest. Now +happiness is one of those consequences which Paley meant by final or +remotest. But we could never use this idea as an exponent of integrity, +or interchangeable criterion, because happiness cannot be ascertained or +appreciated except upon long tracts of time, whereas the particular act +of integrity depends continually upon the election of the moment. No +man, therefore, could venture to lay down as a rule, Do what makes you +happy; use this as your test of actions, satisfied that in that case +always you will do the thing which is right. For he cannot discern +independently what _will_ make him happy; and he must decide on the +spot. The use of the _nexus_ between morality and happiness must +therefore be inverted; it is not practical or prospective, but simply +retrospective; and in that form it says no more than the good old rules +hallowed in every cottage. But this furnishes no practical guide for +moral election which a man had not, before he ever thought of this +_nexus_. In the sense in which it is true, we need not go to the +professor's chair for this maxim; in the sense in which it would serve +Paley, it is absolutely false. + +On the other hand, as against Coleridge, it is certain that many acts +could be mentioned which are judged to be good or bad only because their +consequences are known to be so, whilst the great catholic acts of life +are entirely (and, if we may so phrase it, haughtily) independent of +consequences. For instance, fidelity to a trust is a law of immutable +morality subject to no casuistry whatever. You have been left executor +to a friend--you are to pay over his last legacy to X, though a +dissolute scoundrel; and you are to give no shilling of it to the +poor brother of X, though a good man, and a wise man, struggling +with adversity. You are absolutely excluded from all contemplation of +results. It was your deceased friend's right to make the will; it is +yours simply to see it executed. Now, in opposition to this primary +class of actions stands another, such as the habit of intoxication, +which are known to be wrong only by observing the consequences. If +drunkenness did not terminate, after some years, in producing bodily +weakness, irritability in the temper, and so forth, it would _not_ be a +vicious act. And accordingly, if a transcendent motive should arise in +favor of drunkenness, as that it would enable you to face a degree of +cold, or contagion, else menacing to life, a duty would arise, _pro hac +vice_, of getting drunk. We had an amiable friend who suffered under +the infirmity of cowardice; an awful coward he was when sober; but, +when very drunk, he had courage enough for the Seven Champions of +Christendom, Therefore, in an emergency, where he knew himself suddenly +loaded with the responsibility of defending a family, we approved highly +of his getting drunk. But to violate a trust could never become right +under any change of circumstances. Coleridge, however, altogether +overlooked this distinction: which, on the other hand, stirring in +Paley's mind, but never brought out to distinct consciousness, nor ever +investigated, nor limited, has undermined his system. Perhaps it is not +very important how a man _theorizes_ upon morality; happily for us all, +God has left no man in such questions practically to the guidance of his +understanding; but still, considering that academic bodies _are_ +partly instituted for the support of speculative truth as well as truth +practical, we must think it a blot upon the splendor of Oxford and +Cambridge that both of them, in a Christian land, make Paley the +foundation of their ethics; the alternative being Aristotle. And, in +our mind, though far inferior as a moralist to the Stoics, Aristotle is +often less of a pagan than Paley. + +Coleridge's dislike to Sir Sidney Smith and the Egyptian Lord Hutchinson +fell under the category of Martial's case. + + 'Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare, + Hoc solum novi--non amo te, Sabidi.' + +Against Lord Hutchinson, we never heard him plead anything of moment, +except that he was finically Frenchified in his diction; of which he +gave this instance--that having occasion to notice a brick wall, (which +was literally _that_, not more and not less,) when reconnoitring the +French defences, he called it a _revetement_. And we ourselves remember +his using the French word _gloriole_ rather ostentatiously; that is, +when no particular emphasis attached to the case. But every man has his +foibles; and few, perhaps, are less conspicuously annoying than this of +Lord Hutchinson's. Sir Sidney's crimes were less distinctly revealed +to our mind. As to Cuvier, Coleridge's hatred of _him_ was more to our +taste; for (though quite unreasonable, we fear) it took the shape of +patriotism. He insisted on it, that our British John Hunter was the +genuine article, and that Cuvier was a humbug. Now, speaking privately +to the public, we cannot go quite so far as _that_. But, when publicly +we address that most respectable character, _en grand costume_, +we always mean to back Coleridge. For we are a horrible John Bull +ourselves. As Joseph Hume observes, it makes no difference to us--right +or wrong, black or white--when our countrymen are concerned. And John +Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, [Footnote: _Vide_, +in particular, for the most exquisite specimen of pigheadedness that the +world can furnish, his perverse evidence on the once famous case at the +Warwick assizes, of Captain Donelan for poisoning his brother-in-law, +Sir Theodosius Boughton.] was really a great man; though it will not +follow that Cuvier must, therefore, have been a little one. We do not +pretend to be acquainted with the tenth part of Cuvier's performances; +but we suspect that Coleridge's range in that respect was not much +greater than our own. + +Other cases of monomaniac antipathy we might revive from our +recollections of Coleridge, had we a sufficient motive. But in +compensation, and by way of redressing the balance, he had many strange +likings--equally monomaniac--and, unaccountably, he chose to exhibit his +whimsical partialities by dressing up, as it were, in his own clothes, +such a set of scarecrows as eye has not beheld. Heavens! what an ark +of unclean beasts would have been Coleridge's private _menagerie_ +of departed philosophers, could they all have been trotted out in +succession! But did the reader feel them to be the awful bores which, +in fact, they were? No; because Coleridge had blown upon these withered +anatomies, through the blowpipe of his own creative genius, a stream of +gas that swelled the tissue of their antediluvian wrinkles, forced color +upon their cheeks, and splendor upon their sodden eyes. Such a process +of ventriloquism never _has_ existed. He spoke by their organs. They +were the tubes; and he forced through their wooden machinery his own +Beethoven harmonies. + +First came Dr. Andrew Bell. We knew him. Was he dull? Is a wooden spoon +dull? Fishy were his eyes; torpedinous was his manner; and his main +idea, out of two which he really had, related to the moon--from which +you infer, perhaps, that he was lunatic. By no means. It was no craze, +under the influence of the moon, which possessed him; it was an idea of +mere hostility to the moon. The Madras people, like many others, had an +idea that she influenced the weather. Subsequently the Herschels, +senior and junior, systematized this idea; and then the wrath of Andrew, +previously in a crescent state, actually dilated to a plenilunar orb. +The Westmoreland people (for at the lakes it was we knew him) expounded +his condition to us by saying that he was 'maffled;' which word means +'perplexed in the extreme.' His wrath did not pass into lunacy; it +produced simple distraction; an uneasy fumbling with the idea; like that +of an old superannuated dog who longs to worry, but cannot for want of +teeth. In this condition you will judge that he was rather tedious. And +in this condition Coleridge took him up. Andrew's other idea, because he +_had_ two, related to education. Perhaps six-sevenths of that also came +from Madras. No matter, Coleridge took _that_ up; Southey also; but +Southey with his usual temperate fervor. Coleridge, on the other +hand, found celestial marvels both in the scheme and in the man. Then +commenced the apotheosis of Andrew Bell: and because it happened that +his opponent, Lancaster, between ourselves, really _had_ stolen his +ideas from Bell, what between the sad wickedness of Lancaster and the +celestial transfiguration of Bell, gradually Coleridge heated himself to +such an extent, that people, when referring to that subject, asked each +other, 'Have you heard Coleridge lecture on _Bel and the Dragon_?' + +The next man glorified by Coleridge was John Woolman, the Quaker. Him, +though we once possessed his works, it cannot be truly affirmed that +we ever read. Try to read John, we often did; but read John we did not. +This, however, you say, might be our fault, and not John's. Very likely. +And we have a notion that now, with our wiser thoughts, we _should_ read +John, if he were here on this table. It is certain that he was a good +man, and one of the earliest in America, if not in Christendom, who +lifted up his hand to protest against the slave-trade. But still, we +suspect, that had John been all that Coleridge represented, he would +not have repelled us from reading his travels in the fearful way that he +did. But, again, we beg pardon, and entreat the earth of Virginia to lie +light upon the remains of John Woolman; for he was an Israelite, indeed, +in whom there was no guile. + +The third person raised to divine honors by Coleridge was Bowyer, the +master of Christ's Hospital, London--a man whose name rises into +the nostrils of all who knew him with the gracious odor of a +tallow-chandler's melting-house upon melting day, and whose memory +is embalmed in the hearty detestation of all his pupils. Coleridge +describes this man as a profound critic. Our idea of him is different. +We are of opinion that Bowyer was the greatest villain of the eighteenth +century. We may be wrong; but we cannot be _far_ wrong. Talk of +knouting indeed! which we did at the beginning of this paper in the +mere playfulness of our hearts--and which the great master of the knout, +Christopher, who visited men's trespasses like the Eumenides, never +resorted to but in love for some great idea which had been outraged; +why, this man knouted his way through life, from bloody youth up to +truculent old age. Grim idol! whose altars reeked with children's blood, +and whose dreadful eyes never smiled except as the stern goddess of the +Thugs smiles, when the sound of human lamentations inhabits her ears. +So much had the monster fed upon this great idea of 'flogging,' and +transmuted it into the very nutriment of his heart, that he seems to +have conceived the gigantic project of flogging all mankind; nay +worse, for Mr. Gillman, on Coleridge's authority, tells us (p. 24) the +following anecdote:--'"_Sirrah, I'll flog you_," were words so familiar +to him, that on one occasion some _female_ friend of one of the boys,' +(who had come on an errand of intercession,) 'still lingering at the +door, after having been abruptly told to go, Bowyer exclaimed--"Bring +that woman here, and I'll flog her."' + +To this horrid incarnation of whips and scourges, Coleridge, in his +_Biographia Literaria_, ascribes ideas upon criticism and taste, which +every man will recognise as the intense peculiarities of Coleridge. +Could these notions really have belonged to Bowyer, then how do we know +but he wrote _The Ancient Mariner_? Yet, on consideration, no. For even +Coleridge admitted that, spite of his fine theorizing upon composition, +Mr. Bowyer did not prosper in the practice. Of which he gave us this +illustration; and as it is supposed to be the only specimen of the +Bowyeriana which now survives in this sublunary world, we are glad to +extend its glory. It is the most curious example extant of the melodious +in sound:-- + + ''Twas thou that smooth'd'st the rough-rugg'd bed of pain.' + +'Smooth'd'st!' Would the teeth of a crocodile not splinter under that +word? It seems to us as if Mr. Bowyer's verses ought to be boiled before +they can be read. And when he says, 'Twas thou, what is the wretch +talking to? Can he be apostrophizing the knout? We very much fear it. +If so, then, you see (reader!) that, even when incapacitated by illness +from operating, he still adores the image of his holy scourge, and +invokes it as alone able to smooth 'his rough-rugg'd bed.' Oh, +thou infernal Bowyer! upon whom even Trollope (_History of Christ's +Hospital_) charges 'a discipline _tinctured_ with more than due +severity;'--can there be any partners found for thee in a quadrille, +except Draco, the bloody lawgiver, Bishop Bonner, and Mrs. Brownrigg? + +The next pet was Sir Alexander Ball. Concerning Bowyer, Coleridge did +not talk much, but chiefly wrote; concerning Bell, he did not write +much, but chiefly talked. Concerning Ball, however, he both wrote +and talked. It was in vain to muse upon any plan for having Ball +blackballed, or for rebelling against Bell. Think of a man, who had +fallen into one pit called Bell; secondly, falling into another pit +called Ball. This was too much. We were obliged to quote poetry against +them:-- + + 'Letters four do form his name; + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And the nightmare I have felt since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Not that we insinuate any disrespect to Sir Alexander Ball. He was +about the foremost, we believe, in all good qualities, amongst Nelson's +admirable captains at the Nile. He commanded a seventy-four most +effectually in that battle; he governed Malta as well as Sancho governed +Barataria; and he was a true practical philosopher--as, indeed, was +Sancho. But still, by all that we could ever learn, Sir Alexander had +no taste for the abstract upon any subject; and would have read, as +mere delirious wanderings, those philosophic opinions which Coleridge +fastened like wings upon his respectable, but astounded, shoulders. + +We really beg pardon for having laughed a little at these crazes of +Coleridge. But laugh we did, of mere necessity, in those days, at +Bell and Ball, whenever we did not groan. And, as the same precise +alternative offered itself now, viz., that, in recalling the case, we +must reverberate either the groaning or the laughter, we presumed the +reader would vote for the last. Coleridge, we are well convinced, owed +all these wandering and exaggerated estimates of men--these diseased +impulses, that, like the _mirage_, showed lakes and fountains where +in reality there were only arid deserts, to the derangements worked by +opium. But now, for the sake of change, let us pass to another topic. +Suppose we say a word or two on Coleridge's accomplishments as a +scholar. We are not going to enter on so large a field as that of his +scholarship in connection with his philosophic labors, scholarship in +the result; not this, but scholarship in the means and machinery, range +of _verbal_ scholarship, is what we propose for a moment's review. + +For instance, what sort of a German scholar was Coleridge? We dare +say that, because in his version of the _Wallenstein_ there are some +inaccuracies, those who may have noticed them will hold him cheap in +this particular pretension. But, to a certain degree, they will be +wrong. Coleridge was not _very_ accurate in anything but in the use of +logic. All his philological attainments were imperfect. He did not +talk German; or so obscurely--and, if he attempted to speak fast, so +erroneously--that in his second sentence, when conversing with a German +lady of rank, he contrived to assure her that in his humble opinion she +was a ----. Hard it is to fill up the hiatus decorously; but, in fact, +the word very coarsely expressed that she was no better than she should +be. Which reminds us of a parallel misadventure to a German, whose +colloquial English had been equally neglected. Having obtained an +interview with an English lady, he opened his business (whatever it +might be) thus--'High-born madam, since your husband have kicked de +bucket'----'Sir!' interrupted the lady, astonished and displeased. 'Oh, +pardon!--nine, ten thousand pardon! Now, I make new beginning--quite +oder beginning. Madam, since your husband have cut his stick'----It may +be supposed that this did not mend matters; and, reading that in the +lady's countenance, the German drew out an octavo dictionary, and said, +perspiring with shame at having a second time missed fire,--'Madam, +since your husband have gone to kingdom come'----This he said +beseechingly; but the lady was past propitiation by this time, and +rapidly moved towards the door. Things had now reached a crisis; and, if +something were not done quickly, the game was up. Now, therefore, taking +a last hurried look at his dictionary, the German flew after the lady, +crying out in a voice of despair--'Madam, since your husband, your most +respected husband, have hopped de twig'----This was his sheet-anchor; +and, as this also _came home_, of course the poor man was totally +wrecked. It turned out that the dictionary he had used (Arnold's, we +think,)--a work of a hundred years back, and, from mere ignorance, +giving slang translations from Tom Brown, L'Estrange, and other jocular +writers--had put down the verb _sterben (to die)_ with the following +worshipful series of equivalents--1. To kick the bucket; 2. To cut one's +stick; 3. To go to kingdom come; 4. To hop the twig. + +But, though Coleridge did not pretend to any fluent command of +conversational German, he read it with great ease. His knowledge +of German literature was, indeed, too much limited by his rare +opportunities for commanding anything like a well-mounted library. And +particularly it surprised us that Coleridge knew little or nothing of +John Paul (Richter). But his acquaintance with the German philosophic +masters was extensive. And his valuation of many individual German words +or phrases was delicate and sometimes profound. + +As a Grecian, Coleridge must be estimated with a reference to the state +and standard of Greek literature at that time and in this country. +Porson had not yet raised our ideal. The earliest laurels of Coleridge +were gathered, however, in that field. Yet no man will, at this day, +pretend that the Greek of his prize ode is sufferable. Neither did +Coleridge ever become an accurate Grecian in later times, when better +models of scholarship, and better aids to scholarship, had begun +to multiply. But still we must assert this point of superiority for +Coleridge, that, whilst he never was what may be called a well-mounted +scholar in any department of verbal scholarship, he yet displayed +sometimes a brilliancy of conjectural sagacity, and a felicity of +philosophic investigation, even in this path, such as better scholars do +not often attain, and of a kind which cannot be learned from books. But, +as respects his accuracy, again we must recall to the reader the state +of Greek literature in England during Coleridge's youth; and, in all +equity, as a means of placing Coleridge in the balances, specifically we +must recall the state of Greek metrical composition at that period. + +To measure the condition of Greek literature even in Cambridge, about +the initial period of Coleridge, we need only look back to the several +translations of Gray's _Elegy_ by three (if not four) of the reverend +gentlemen at that time attached to Eton College. Mathias, no very great +scholar himself in this particular field, made himself merry, in his +_Pursuits of Literature_, with these Eton translations. In that he was +right. But he was _not_ right in praising a contemporary translation by +Cook, who (we believe) was the immediate predecessor of Porson in +the Greek chair. As a specimen of this translation, [Footnote: It was +printed at the end of Aristotle's _Poetics_, which Dr. Cook edited.] we +cite one stanza; and we cannot be supposed to select unfairly, because +it is the stanza which Mathias praises in extravagant terms. "Here," +says he, "Gray, Cook, and Nature, do seem to contend for the mastery." +The English quatrain must be familiar to every body:-- + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour: + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +And the following, we believe, though quoting from a thirty-three years' +recollection of it, is the exact Greek version of Cook:-- + + 'A charis eugenon, charis a basilaeidos achas + Lora tuchaes chryseaes, Aphroditaes kala ta dora, + Paith ama tauta tethiake, kai eiden morsimon amar + Proon kle olole, kai ocheto xunon es Adaen.' + +Now really these verses, by force of a little mosaic tesselation from +genuine Greek sources, pass fluently over the tongue; but can they be +considered other than a _cento_? Swarms of English schoolboys, at this +day, would not feel very proud to adopt them. In fact, we remember (at a +period say twelve years later than this) some iambic verses, which were +really composed by a boy, viz., a son of Dr. Prettyman, (afterwards +Tomline,) Bishop of Winchester, and, in earlier times, private tutor to +Mr. Pitt; they were published by Middleton, first Bishop of Calcutta, +in the preface to his work on the Greek article; and for racy idiomatic +Greek, self-originated, and not a mere mocking-bird's iteration of alien +notes, are so much superior to all the attempts of these sexagenarian +doctors, as distinctly to mark the growth of a new era and a new +generation in this difficult accomplishment, within the first decennium +of this century. It is singular that only one blemish is suggested by +any of the contemporary critics in Dr. Cook's verses, viz., in the +word _xunon_, for which this critic proposes to substitute _ooinon_, +to prevent, as he observes, the last syllable of _ocheto_ from being +lengthened by the _x_. Such considerations as these are necessary to the +_trutinae castigatio_, before we can value Coleridge's place on the scale +of his own day; which day, _quoad hoc_, be it remembered, was 1790. + +As to French, Coleridge read it with too little freedom to find pleasure +in French literature. Accordingly, we never recollect his referring for +any purpose, either of argument or illustration, to a French classic. +Latin, from his regular scholastic training, naturally he read with a +scholar's fluency; and indeed, he read constantly in authors, such as +Petrarch, Erasmus, Calvin, &c., whom he could not then have found in +translations. But Coleridge had not cultivated an acquaintance with the +delicacies of classic Latinity. And it is remarkable that Wordsworth, +educated most negligently at Hawkshead school, subsequently by reading +the lyric poetry of Horace, simply for his own delight as a student of +composition, made himself a master of Latinity in its most difficult +form; whilst Coleridge, trained regularly in a great Southern school, +never carried his Latin to any classical polish. + +There is another accomplishment of Coleridge's, less broadly open to +the judgment of this generation, and not at all of the next--viz., his +splendid art of conversation, on which it will be interesting to say a +word. Ten years ago, when the music of this rare performance had not yet +ceased to vibrate in men's ears, what a sensation was gathering amongst +the educated classes on this particular subject! What a tumult of +anxiety prevailed to 'hear Mr. Coleridge'--or even to talk with a man +who _had_ heard him! Had he lived till this day, not Paganini would have +been so much sought after. That sensation is now decaying; because a new +generation has emerged during the ten years since his death. But many +still remain whose sympathy (whether of curiosity in those who did _not_ +know him, or of admiration in those who _did_) still reflects as in a +mirror the great stir upon this subject which then was moving in the +world. To these, if they should inquire for the great distinguishing +principle of Coleridge's conversation, we might say that it was the +power of vast combination 'in linked sweetness long drawn out.' +He gathered into focal concentration the largest body of objects, +_apparently_ disconnected, that any man ever yet, by any magic, could +assemble, or, _having_ assembled, could manage. His great fault was, +that, by not opening sufficient spaces for reply or suggestion, or +collateral notice, he not only narrowed his own field, but he grievously +injured the final impression. For when men's minds are purely passive, +when they are not allowed to re-act, then it is that they collapse most, +and that their sense of what is said must ever be feeblest. Doubtless +there must have been great conversational masters elsewhere, and at many +periods; but in this lay Coleridge's characteristic advantage, that he +was a great natural power, and also a great artist. He was a power in +the art, and he carried a new art into the power. + +But now, finally--having left ourselves little room for more--one or two +words on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +We have not often read a sentence falling from a wise man with +astonishment so profound, as that particular one in a letter of +Coleridge's to Mr. Gillman, which speaks of the effort to wean +one's-self from opium as a trivial task. There are, we believe, several +such passages. But we refer to that one in particular which assumes +that a single 'week' will suffice for the whole process of so mighty a +revolution. Is indeed leviathan _so_ tamed? In that case the quarantine +of the opium-eater might be finished within Coleridge's time, and +with Coleridge's romantic ease. But mark the contradictions of this +extraordinary man. Not long ago we were domesticated with a venerable +rustic, strong-headed, but incurably obstinate in his prejudices, who +treated the whole body of medical men as ignorant pretenders, knowing +absolutely nothing of the system which they professed to superintend. +This, you will remark, is no very singular case. No; nor, as we believe, +is the antagonist case of ascribing to such men magical powers. Nor, +what is worse still, the co-existence of both cases in the same mind, +as in fact happened here. For this same obstinate friend of ours, who +treated all medical pretensions as the mere jest of the universe, every +'third day was exacting from his own medical attendants some exquisite +_tour-de-force_, as that they should know or should do something, +which, if they _had_ known or done, all men would have suspected them +reasonably of magic. He rated the whole medical body as infants; and +yet what he exacted from them every third day as a matter of course, +virtually presumed them to be the only giants within the whole range of +science. Parallel and equal is the contradiction of Coleridge. He speaks +of opium excess, his own excess, we mean--the excess of twenty-five +years--as a thing to be laid aside easily and for ever within seven +days; and yet, on the other hand, he describes it pathetically, +sometimes with a frantic pathos, as the scourge, the curse, the one +almighty blight which had desolated his life. + +This shocking contradiction we need not press. All readers will see +_that_. But some will ask--Was Mr. Coleridge right in either view? +Being so atrociously wrong in the first notion, (viz., that the opium +of twenty-five years was a thing easily to be forsworn,) where a child +could know that he was wrong, was he even altogether right, secondly, +in believing that his own life, root and branch, had been withered by +opium? For it will not follow, because, with a relation to happiness and +tranquillity, a man may have found opium his curse, that therefore, as +a creature of energies and great purposes, he must have been the wreck +which he seems to suppose. Opium gives and takes away. It defeats the +_steady_ habit of exertion, but it creates spasms of irregular exertion; +it ruins the natural power of life, but it develops preternatural +paroxysms of intermitting power. Let us ask of any man who holds that +not Coleridge himself but the world, as interested in Coleridge's +usefulness, has suffered by his addiction to opium; whether he is aware +of the way in which opium affected Coleridge; and secondly, whether +he is aware of the actual contributions to literature--how large they +were--which Coleridge made _in spite_ of opium. All who were intimate +with Coleridge must remember the fits of genial animation which were +created continually in his manner and in his buoyancy of thought by a +recent or by an _extra_ dose of the omnipotent drug. A lady, who knew +nothing experimentally of opium, once told us, that she 'could tell when +Mr. Coleridge had taken too much opium by his shining countenance.' She +was right; we know that mark of opium excesses well, and the cause of +it; or at least we believe the cause to lie in the quickening of the +insensible perspiration which accumulates and glistens on the face. Be +that as it may, a criterion it was that could not deceive us as to the +condition of Coleridge. And uniformly in that condition he made his most +effective intellectual displays. It is true that he might not be happy +under this fiery animation, and we fully believe that he was not. Nobody +is happy under laudanum except for a very short term of years. But in +what way did that operate upon his exertions as a writer? We are of +opinion that it killed Coleridge as a poet. 'The harp of Quantock' was +silenced for ever by the torment of opium. But proportionably it roused +and stung by misery his metaphysical instincts into more spasmodic life. +Poetry can flourish only in the atmosphere of happiness. But subtle and +perplexed investigations of difficult problems are amongst the commonest +resources for beguiling the sense of misery. And for this we have the +direct authority of Coleridge himself speculating on his own case. +In the beautiful though unequal ode entitled _Dejection_, stanza six, +occurs the following passage: + + 'For not to think of what I needs must feel, + But to be still and patient all I can; + _And haply by abstruse research to steal + From my own nature all the natural man_-- + This was my sole resource, my only plan; + Till that, which suits a part, infects the whole, + And now is almost grown the habit of my soul.' + +Considering the exquisite quality of some poems which Coleridge has +composed, nobody can grieve (or _has_ grieved) more than ourselves, at +seeing so beautiful a fountain choked up with weeds. But had Coleridge +been a happier man, it is our fixed belief that we should have had far +less of his philosophy, and perhaps, but not certainly, might have +had more of his general literature. In the estimate of the public, +doubtless, _that_ will seem a bad exchange. Every man to his taste. +Meantime, what we wish to show is, that the loss was not absolute, +but merely relative. + +It is urged, however, that, even on his philosophic speculations, opium +operated unfavorably in one respect, by often causing him to leave them +unfinished. This is true. Whenever Coleridge (being highly charged, +or saturated, with opium) had written with distempered vigor upon any +question, there occurred soon after a recoil of intense disgust, not +from his own paper only, but even from the subject. All opium-eaters are +tainted with the infirmity of leaving works unfinished, and suffering +reactions of disgust. But Coleridge taxed himself with that infirmity in +verse before he could at all have commenced opium-eating. Besides, it is +too much assumed by Coleridge and by his biographer, that to leave off +opium was of course to regain juvenile health. But all opium-eaters make +the mistake of supposing every pain or irritation which they suffer to +be the product of opium. Whereas a wise man will say, suppose you _do_ +leave off opium, that will not deliver you from the load of years (say +sixty-three) which you carry on your back. Charles Lamb, another man of +true genius, and another head belonging to the Blackwood Gallery, made +that mistake in his _Confessions of a Drunkard_. 'I looked back,' says +he, 'to the time when always, on waking in the morning, I had a song +rising to my lips.' At present, it seems, being a drunkard, he has no +such song. Ay, dear Lamb, but note this, that the drunkard was fifty-six +years old, the songster was twenty-three. Take twenty-three from +fifty-six, and we have some reason to believe that thirty-three will +remain; which period of thirty-three years is a pretty good reason for +not singing in the morning, even if brandy has been out of the question. + +It is singular, as respects Coleridge, that Mr. Gillman never says one +word upon the event of the great Highgate experiment for leaving off +laudanum, though Coleridge came to Mr. Gillman's for no other purpose; +and in a week, this vast creation of new earth, sea, and all that in +them is, was to have been accomplished. We _rayther_ think, as Bayley +junior observes, that the explosion must have hung fire. But _that_ is +a trifle. We have another pleasing hypothesis on the subject. Mr. +Wordsworth, in his exquisite lines written on a fly-leaf of his own +_Castle of Indolence_, having described Coleridge as 'a noticeable man +with large grey eyes,' goes on to say, 'He' (viz., Coleridge) 'did that +other man entice' to view his imagery. Now we are sadly afraid that 'the +noticeable man with large grey eyes' did entice 'that other man,' viz., +Gillman, to commence opium-eating. This is droll; and it makes us laugh +horribly. Gillman should have reformed _him_; and lo! _he_ corrupts +Gillman. S. T. Coleridge visited Highgate by way of being converted +from the heresy of opium; and the issue is--that, in two months' time, +various grave men, amongst whom our friend Gillman marches first in +great pomp, are found to have faces shining and glorious as that of +AEsculapius; a fact of which we have already explained the secret +meaning. And scandal says (but then what will not scandal say?) that +a hogshead of opium goes up daily through Highgate tunnel. Surely one +corroboration of our hypothesis may be found in the fact, that Vol. I. +of Gillman's Coleridge is for ever to stand unpropped by Vol. II. For we +have already observed, that opium-eaters, though good fellows upon the +whole, never finish anything. + +What then? A man has a right never to finish anything. Certainly he has; +and by Magna Charta. But he has no right, by Magna Charta or by Parva +Charta, to slander decent men, like ourselves and our friend the author +of the _Opium Confessions_. Here it is that our complaint arises against +Mr. Gillman. If he has taken to opium-eating, can we help _that_? If +_his_ face shines, must our faces be blackened? He has very improperly +published some intemperate passages from Coleridge's letters, which +ought to have been considered confidential, unless Coleridge had +left them for publication, charging upon the author of the _Opium +Confessions_ a reckless disregard of the temptations which, in that +work, he was scattering abroad amongst men. Now this author is connected +with ourselves, and we cannot neglect his defence, unless in the case +that he undertakes it himself. + +We complain, also, that Coleridge raises (and is backed by Mr. Gillman +in raising) a distinction perfectly perplexing to us, between himself +and the author of the _Opium Confessions_ upon the question--Why they +severally began the practice of opium-eating? In himself, it seems, this +motive was to relieve pain, whereas the Confessor was surreptitiously +seeking for pleasure. Ay, indeed--where did he learn _that_? We have no +copy of the _Confessions_ here, so we cannot quote chapter and verse; +but we distinctly remember, that toothache is recorded in that book +as the particular occasion which first introduced the author to the +knowledge of opium. Whether afterwards, having been thus initiated +by the demon of pain, the opium confessor did not apply powers thus +discovered to purposes of mere pleasure, is a question for himself; and +the same question applies with the same cogency to Coleridge. Coleridge +began in rheumatic pains. What then? This is no proof that he did not +end in voluptuousness. For our parts, we are slow to believe that ever +any man did, or could, learn the somewhat awful truth, that in a certain +ruby-colored elixir, there lurked a divine power to chase away the +genius of ennui, without subsequently abusing this power. To taste but +once from the tree of knowledge, is fatal to the subsequent power +of abstinence. True it is, that generations have used laudanum as an +anodyne, (for instance, hospital patients,) who have not afterwards +courted its powers as a voluptuous stimulant; but that, be sure, has +arisen from no abstinence in _them_. There are, in fact, two classes of +temperaments as to this terrific drug--those which are, and those which +are not, preconformed to its power; those which genially expand to its +temptations, and those which frostily exclude them. Not in the energies +of the will, but in the qualities of the nervous organization, lies +the dread arbitration of--Fall or stand: doomed thou art to yield; or, +strengthened constitutionally, to resist. Most of those who have but a +low sense of the spells lying couchant in opium, have practically none +at all. For the initial fascination is for _them_ effectually defeated +by the sickness which nature has associated with the first stages of +opium-eating. But to that other class, whose nervous sensibilities +vibrate to their profoundest depths under the first touch of the angelic +poison, even as a lover's ear thrills on hearing unexpectedly the voice +of her whom he loves, opium is the Amreeta cup of beatitude. You know +the _Paradise Lost_? and you remember, from the eleventh book, in its +earlier part, that laudanum already existed in Eden--nay, that it was +used medicinally by an archangel; for, after Michael had 'purged with +euphrasy and rue' the eyes of Adam, lest he should be unequal to the +mere _sight_ of the great visions about to unfold their draperies before +him, next he fortifies his fleshly spirits against the _affliction_ of +these visions, of which visions the first was death. And how? + + 'He from the well of life three drops instill'd.' + +What was their operation? + + 'So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, + _Even to the inmost seat of mental sight_, + That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, + Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced. + But him the gentle angel by the hand + Soon raised'---- + +The second of these lines it is which betrays the presence of laudanum. +It is in the faculty of mental vision, it is in the increased power of +dealing with the shadowy and the dark, that the characteristic virtue +of opium lies. Now, in the original higher sensibility is found some +palliation for the _practice_ of opium-eating; in the greater temptation +is a greater excuse. And in this faculty of self-revelation is found +some palliation for _reporting_ the case to the world, which both +Coleridge and his biographer have overlooked. + + + + +TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. + + +The most remarkable instance of a combined movement in society, which +history, perhaps, will be summoned to notice, is that which, in our own +days, has applied itself to the abatement of intemperance. Naturally, +or by any _direct_ process, the machinery set in motion would seem +irrelevant to the object: if one hundred men unite to elevate +the standard of temperance, they can do this with effect only by +improvements in their own separate cases: each individual, for such an +effort of self-conquest, can draw upon no resources but his own. One +member in a combination of one hundred, when running a race, can hope +for no cooperation from his ninety-nine associates. And yet, by a +secondary action, such combinations are found eminently successful. +Having obtained from every confederate a pledge, in some shape or +other, that he will give them his support, thenceforwards they bring the +passions of shame and self-esteem to bear upon each member's personal +perseverance. Not only they keep alive and continually refresh in his +thoughts the general purpose, which else might fade; but they also point +the action of public contempt and of self-contempt at any defaulter much +more potently, and with more acknowledged right to do so, when they use +this influence under a license, volunteered, and signed, and sealed, by +the man's own hand. They first conciliate his countenance through his +intellectual perceptions of what is right; and next they sustain it +through his conscience, (the strongest of his internal forces,) and +even through the weakest of his human sensibilities. That revolution, +therefore, which no combination of men can further by abating the +original impulse of temptations, they often accomplish happily by +maturing the secondary energies of resistance. + +Already in their earliest stage, these temperance movements had +obtained, both at home and abroad, a _national_ range of grandeur. More +than ten years ago, when M. de Tocqueville was resident in the United +States, the principal American society counted two hundred and seventy +thousand members: and in one single state (Pennsylvania) the annual +diminution in the use of spirits had very soon reached half a million of +gallons. Now a machinery must be so far good which accomplishes its end: +the means are meritorious for so much as they effect. Even to strengthen +a feeble resolution by the aid of other infirmities, such as shame or +the very servility and cowardice of deference to public opinion, becomes +prudent and laudable in the service of so great a cause. Nay, sometimes +to make public profession of self-distrust by assuming the coercion of +public pledges, may become an expression of frank courage, or even of +noble principle, not fearing the shame of confession when it can aid the +powers of victorious resistance. Yet still, so far as it is possible, +every man sighs for a still higher victory over himself: a victory not +tainted by bribes, and won from no impulses but those inspired by his +own higher nature, and his own mysterious force of will; powers that in +no man were fully developed. + +This being so, it is well that from time to time every man should throw +out any hints that have occurred to his experience,--suggesting such as +may be new, renewing such as may be old, towards the encouragement +or the information of persons engaged in so great a struggle. My own +experience had never travelled in that course which could much instruct +me in the miseries from wine, or in the resources for struggling with +it. I had repeatedly been obliged indeed to lay it aside altogether; but +in this I never found room for more than seven or ten days' struggle: +excesses I had never practised in the use of wine; simply the habit of +using it, and the collateral habits formed by excessive use of opium, +had produced any difficulty at all in resigning it even on an hour's +notice. From opium I derive my right of offering hints at all upon the +subjects of abstinence in other forms. But the modes of suffering +from the evil, and the separate modes of suffering from the effort of +self-conquest, together with errors of judgment incident to such states +of transitional torment, are all nearly allied, practically analogous +as regards the remedies, even if characteristically distinguished to the +inner consciousness. I make no scruple, therefore, of speaking as from +a station of high experience and of most watchful attention, which never +remitted even under sufferings that were at times absolutely frantic. + +I. The first hint is one that has been often offered; viz., the +diminution of the particular liquor used, by the introduction into +each glass of some inert substance, ascertained in bulk, and equally +increasing in amount from day to day. But this plan has often been +intercepted by an accident: shot, or sometimes bullets, were the +substances nearest at hand; an objection arose from too scrupulous a +caution of chemistry as to the action upon lead of the vinous acid. Yet +all objection of this kind might be removed at once, by using beads in a +case where small decrements were wanted, and marbles, if it were thought +advisable to use larger. Once for all, however, in cases deeply rooted, +no advances ought ever to be made but by small stages: for the effect, +which is insensible at first, by the tenth, twelfth, or fifteenth day, +generally accumulates unendurably under any bolder deductions. I must +not stop to illustrate this point; but certain it is, that by an error +of this nature at the outset, most natural to human impatience under +exquisite suffering, too generally the trial is abruptly brought to an +end through the crisis of a passionate relapse. + +II. Another object, and one to which the gladiator matched in single +duel with intemperance, must direct a religious vigilance, is the +_digestibility_ of his food: it must be digestible not only by its +original qualities, but also by its culinary preparation. In this last +point we are all of us Manichaeans: all of us yield a cordial assent to +that Manichaean proverb, which refers the meats and the cooks of this +world to two opposite fountains of light and of darkness. Oromasdes it +is, or the good principle, that sends the food; Ahrimanes, or the evil +principle, that everywhere sends the cooks. Man has been repeatedly +described or even defined, as by differential privilege of his nature, +'A cooking animal.' Brutes, it is said, have faces,--man only has a +countenance; brutes are as well able to eat as man,--man only is able +to cook what he eats. Such are the romances of self-flattery. I, on the +contrary, maintain, that six thousand years have not availed, in this +point, to raise our race generally to the level of ingenious savages. +The natives of the Society and the Friendly Isles, or of New Zealand, +and other favored spots, had, and still have, an _art_ of cookery, +though very limited in its range: the French [Footnote: But judge not, +reader, of French skill by the attempts of fourth-rate artists; and +understand me to speak with respect of this skill, not as it is the tool +of luxury, but as it is the handmaid of health.] have an art, and +more extensive; but we English are about upon a level (as regards this +science) with the ape, to whom an instinct whispers that chestnuts may +be roasted; or with the aboriginal Chinese of Charles Lamb's story, to +whom the experience of many centuries had revealed thus much, viz., that +a dish very much beyond the raw flesh of their ancestors, might be had +by burning down the family mansion, and thus roasting the pig-stye. +Rudest of barbarous devices is English cookery, and not much in advance +of this primitive Chinese step; a fact which it would not be worth while +to lament, were it not for the sake of the poor trembling deserter from +the banners of intoxication, who is thus, and by no other cause, so +often thrown back beneath the yoke which he had abjured. Past counting +are the victims of alcohol, that, having by vast efforts emancipated +themselves for a season, are violently forced into relapsing by the +nervous irritations of demoniac cookery. Unhappily for _them_, the +horrors of indigestion are relieved for the moment, however ultimately +strengthened, by strong liquors; the relief is immediate, and cannot +fail to be perceived; but the aggravation, being removed to a distance, +is not always referred to its proper cause. This is the capital rock and +stumbling-block in the path of him who is hurrying back to the camps of +temperance; and many a reader is likely to misapprehend the case through +the habit he has acquired of supposing indigestion to lurk chiefly +amongst _luxurious_ dishes. But, on the contrary, it is amongst the +plainest, simplest, and commonest dishes that such misery lurks, in +England. Let us glance at three articles of diet, beyond all comparison +of most ordinary occurrence, viz., potatoes, bread, and butcher's meat. +The art of preparing potatoes for _human_ use is utterly unknown, except +in certain provinces of our empire, and amongst certain sections of the +laboring class. In our great cities,--London, Edinburgh, &c.--the sort +of things which you see offered at table under the name and reputation +of potatoes, are such that, if you could suppose the company to be +composed of Centaurs and Lapithae, or any other quarrelsome people, it +would become necessary for the police to interfere. The potato of cities +is a very dangerous missile; and, if thrown with an accurate aim by an +angry hand, will fracture any known skull. In volume and consistency, it +is very like a paving-stone; only that, I should say, the paving-stone +had the advantage in point of tenderness. And upon this horrid basis, +which youthful ostriches would repent of swallowing, the trembling, +palpitating invalid, fresh from the scourging of alcohol, is requested +to build the superstructure of his dinner. The proverb says, that three +flittings are as bad as a fire; and on that model I conceive that three +potatoes, as they are found at many British dinner-tables, would be +equal, in principle of ruin, to two glasses of vitriol. The same savage +ignorance appears, and only not so often, in the bread of this island. +Myriads of families eat it in that early stage of sponge which bread +assumes during the process of baking; but less than sixty hours will not +fit this dangerous article of human diet to be eaten. And those who are +acquainted with the works of Parmentier, or other learned investigators +of bread and of the baker's art, must be aware that this quality of +sponginess (though quite equal to the ruin of the digestive organs) is +but one in a legion of vices to which the article is liable. A German of +much research wrote a book on the conceivable faults in a pair of shoes, +which he found to be about six hundred and sixty-six, many of them, as +he observed, requiring a very delicate process of study to find out; +whereas the possible faults in bread, which are not less in number, +require no study at all for the defection; they publish themselves +through all varieties of misery. But the perfection of barbarism, as +regards our island cookery, is reserved for animal food; and the two +poles of Oromasdes and Ahrimanes are nowhere so conspicuously exhibited. +Our insular sheep, for instance, are so far superior to any which the +continent produces, that the present Prussian minister at our court is +in the habit of questioning a man's right to talk of mutton as anything +beyond a great idea, unless he can prove a residence in Great Britain. +One sole case he cites of a dinner on the Elbe, when a particular leg of +mutton really struck him as rivalling any which he had known in England. +The mystery seemed inexplicable; but, upon inquiry, it turned out to +be an importation from Leith. Yet this incomparable article, to produce +which the skill of the feeder must co-operate with the peculiar bounty +of nature, calls forth the most dangerous refinements of barbarism in +its cookery. A Frenchman requires, as the primary qualification of flesh +meat, that it should be tender. We English universally, but especially +the Scots, treat that quality with indifference, or with bare +toleration. What we require is, that it should be fresh, that is, +recently killed, (in which state it cannot be digestible except by a +crocodile;) and we present it at table in a transition state of leather, +demanding the teeth of a tiger to rend it in pieces, and the stomach of +a tiger to digest it. + +With these habits amongst our countrymen, exemplified daily in +the articles of widest use, it is evident that the sufferer from +intemperance has a harder quarantine, in this island, to support +during the effort of restoration, than he could have anywhere else in +Christendom. In Persia, and, perhaps, there only on this terraqueous +planet, matters might be even worse: for, whilst we English neglect the +machinery of digestion, as a matter entitled to little consideration, +the people of Teheran seem unaware that there _is_ any such machinery. +So, at least, one might presume, from cases on record, and especially +from the reckless folly, under severe illness, from indigestion, of +the three Persian princes, who visited this country, as stated by their +official _mehmander_, Mr. Fraser. With us, the excess of ignorance, upon +this subject, betrays itself oftenest in that vain-glorious answer made +by the people, who at any time are admonished of the sufferings which +they are preparing for themselves by these outrages upon the most +delicate of human organs. They, for _their_ parts, 'know not if they +_have_ a stomach; they know not what it is that dyspepsy means;' +forgetting that, in thus vaunting their _strength_ of stomach, they are, +at the same time, proclaiming its coarseness; and showing themselves +unaware that precisely those, whom such coarseness of organization +reprieves from immediate and seasonable reaction of suffering, are the +favorite subjects of that heavier reaction which takes the shape of +_delirium tremens_, of palsy, and of lunacy. It is but a fanciful +advantage which _they_ enjoy, for whom the immediate impunity avails +only to hide the final horrors which are gathering upon them from the +gloomy rear. Better, by far, that more of immediate discomfort had +guaranteed to them less of reversionary anguish. It may be safely +asserted, that few, indeed, are the suicides amongst us to which the +miseries of indigestion have not been a large concurring cause; and even +where nothing so dreadful as _that_ occurs, always these miseries are +the chief hinderance of the self-reforming drunkard, and the commonest +cause of his relapse. It is certain, also, that misanthropic gloom +and bad temper besiege that class, by preference, to whom peculiar +coarseness or obtuse sensibility of organization has denied the salutary +warnings and early prelibations of punishment which, happily for most +men, besiege the more direct and obvious frailties of the digestive +apparatus. + +The whole process and elaborate machinery of digestion are felt to be +mean and humiliating when viewed in relation to our mere animal economy. +But they rise into dignity, and assert their own supreme importance, +when they arc studied from another station, viz., in relation to the +intellect and temper; no man dares, _then_, to despise them: it is then +seen that these functions of the human system form the essential basis +upon which the strength and health of our higher nature repose; and +that upon these functions, chiefly, the general happiness of life is +dependent. All the rules of prudence, or gifts of experience that life +can accumulate, will never do as much for human comfort and welfare as +would be done by a stricter attention, and a wiser science, directed +to the digestive system; in this attention lies the key to any perfect +restoration for the victim of intemperance: and, considering the +peculiar hostility to the digestive health which exists in the dietetic +habits of our own country, it may be feared that nowhere upon earth has +the reclaimed martyr to intemperance so difficult a combat to sustain; +nowhere, therefore, is it so important to direct the attention upon +an _artificial_ culture of those resources which naturally, and by the +established habits of the land, are surest to be neglected. The sheet +anchor for the storm-beaten sufferer, who is laboring to recover a haven +of rest from the agonies of intemperance, and who has had the fortitude +to abjure the poison which ruined, but which also, for brief intervals, +offered him his only consolation, lies, beyond all doubt, in a most +anxious regard to everything connected with this supreme function of +our animal economy. And, as few men that are not regularly trained to +medical studies can have the complex knowledge requisite for such a +duty, some printed guide should be sought of a regular professional +order. Twenty years ago, Dr. Wilson Philip published a valuable book of +this class, which united a wide range of practical directions as to the +choice of diet, and as to the qualities and tendencies of all esculent +articles likely to be found at British tables, with some ingenious +speculations upon the still mysterious theory of digestion. These were +derived from experiments made upon rabbits, and had originally been +communicated by him to the Royal Society of London, who judged them +worthy of publication in their Transactions. I notice them chiefly +for the sake of remarking, that the rationale of digestion, as here +suggested, explains the reason of a fact, which merely _as_ a fact, had +not been known until modern times, viz., the injuriousness to enfeebled +stomachs of all fluid. Fifty years ago--and still lingering inveterately +amongst nurses, and other ignorant persons--there prevailed a notion +that 'slops' must be the proper resource of the valetudinarian; and +the same erroneous notion appears in the common expression of ignorant +wonder at the sort of breakfasts usual amongst women of rank in the +times of Queen Elizabeth. 'What robust stomachs they must have had, +to support such solid meals!' As to the question of fact, whether the +stomachs were more or less robust in those days than at the present, +there is no need to offer an opinion. But the question of principle +concerned in scientific dietetics points in the very opposite direction. +By how much the organs of digestion are feebler, by so much is it the +more indispensable that solid food and animal food should be adopted. +A robust stomach may be equal to the trying task of supporting a fluid, +such as tea for breakfast; but for a feeble stomach, and still more for +a stomach _enfeebled_ by bad habits, broiled beef, or something equally +solid and animal, but not too much subjected to the action of fire, is +the only tolerable diet. This, indeed, is the one capital rule for a +sufferer from habitual intoxication, who must inevitably labor under +an impaired digestion; that as little as possible he should use of any +liquid diet, and as little as possible of vegetable diet. Beef, and a +little bread, (at the least sixty hours old,) compose the privileged +bill of fare for his breakfast. But precisely it is, by the way, in +relation to this earliest meal, that human folly has in one or two +instances shown itself most ruinously inventive. The less variety there +is at that meal, the more is the danger from any single luxury; and +there is one, known by the name of 'muffins,' which has repeatedly +manifested itself to be a plain and direct bounty upon suicide. Darwin, +in his 'Zoonomia,' reports a case where an officer, holding the rank of +lieutenant-colonel, could not tolerate a breakfast in which this odious +article was wanting; but, as a savage retribution invariably supervened +within an hour or two upon this act of insane sensuality, he came to +a resolution that life was intolerable _with_ muffins, but still more +intolerable _without_ muffins. He would stand the nuisance no longer; +but yet, being a just man, he would give nature one final chance of +reforming her dyspeptic atrocities. Muffins, therefore, being laid at +one angle of the breakfast-table, and loaded pistols at another, with +rigid equity the Colonel awaited the result. This was naturally pretty +much as usual: and then, the poor man, incapable of retreating from his +word of honor, committed suicide,--having previously left a line for +posterity to the effect (though I forget the expression), 'That a +muffinless world was no world for him: better no life at all than a life +dismantled of muffins.'--Dr. Darwin was a showy philosopher, and fond of +producing effect, so that some allowance must be made in construing the +affair. Strictly speaking, it is probable that not the especial want +of muffins, but the general torment of indigestion, was the curse from +which the unhappy sufferer sought relief by suicide. And the Colonel was +not the first by many a million, that has fled from the very same form +of wretchedness, or from its effects upon the genial spirits, to the +same gloomy refuge. It should never be forgotten that, although some +other more overt vexation is generally assigned as the proximate cause +of suicide, and often may be so as regards the immediate occasion, too +generally this vexation borrowed its whole power to annoy, from the +habitual atmosphere of irritation in which the system had been kept by +indigestion. So that indirectly, and virtually, perhaps, all suicides +may be traced to mismanaged digestion. Meantime, in alluding at all to +so dreadful a subject as suicide, I do so only by way of giving deeper +effect to the opinion expressed above, upon the chief cause of relapse +into habits of intemperance amongst those who have once accomplished +their deliverance. Errors of digestion, either from impaired powers, or +from powers not so much enfeebled as deranged, is the one immeasurable +source both of disease and of secret wretchedness to the human race. +Life is laid waste by the eternal fretting of the vital forces, +emanating from this one cause. And it may well be conceived, that if +cases so endless, even of suicide, in every generation, are virtually +traceable to this main root, much more must it be able to shake +and undermine the yet palpitating frame of the poor fugitive from +intemperance; since indigestion in every mode and variety of its changes +irresistibly upholds the temptation to that form of excitement which, +though one foremost cause of indigestion, is yet unhappily its sole +immediate palliation. + +III. Next, after the most vigorous attention, and a scientific attention +to the digestive system, in power of operation, stands _exercise_. Here, +however, most people have their own separate habits, with respect to +the time of exercise, the duration, and the particular mode, on which a +stranger cannot venture to intrude with his advice. Some will not endure +the steady patience required for walking exercise; many benefit most by +riding on horseback; and in days when roads were more rugged, and the +springs of carriages less improved, I have known people who found +most advantage in the vibrations communicated to the frame by a heavy +rumbling carriage. For myself, under the ravages of opium, I have found +walking the most beneficial exercise; besides that, it requires no +previous notice or preparation of any kind; and this is a capital +advantage in a state of drooping energies, or of impatient and unresting +agitation. I may mention, as possibly an accident of my individual +temperament, but possibly, also, no accident at all, that the relief +obtained by walking was always most sensibly brought home to my +consciousness, when some part of it (at least a mile and a half) has +been performed before breakfast. In this there soon ceased to be any +difficulty; for, whilst under the full oppression of opium, it was +impossible for me to rise at any hour that could, by the most indulgent +courtesy, be described as within the pale of morning, no sooner had +there been established any considerable relief from this oppression, +than the tendency was in the opposite direction; the difficulty became +continually greater of sleeping even to a reasonable hour. Having once +accomplished the feat of walking at nine A. M., I backed, in a space of +seven or eight months, to eight o'clock, to seven, to six, five, four, +three; until at this point a metaphysical fear fell upon me that I was +actually backing into 'yesterday,' and should soon have no sleep at all. +Below three, however, I did not descend; and, for a couple of years, +three and a half hours' sleep was all that I could obtain in the +twenty-four hours. From this no particular suffering arose, except +the nervous impatience of lying in bed for one moment after awaking. +Consequently, the habit of walking before breakfast became at length +troublesome no longer as a most odious duty, but, on the contrary, as a +temptation that could hardly be resisted on the wettest mornings. As to +the quantity of the exercise, I found that six miles a day formed the +_minimum_ which would support permanently a particular standard of +animal spirits, evidenced to myself by certain apparent symptoms. I +averaged about nine and a half miles a day; but ascended on particular +days to fifteen or sixteen, and more rarely to twenty-three or +twenty-four; a quantity which did not produce fatigue, on the contrary +it spread a sense of improvement through almost the whole week that +followed; but usually, in the night immediately succeeding to such +an exertion, I lost much of my sleep; a privation that, under the +circumstances explained, deterred me from trying the experiment too +often. For one or two years, I accomplished more than I have here +claimed, viz., from six to seven thousand miles in the twelve months. +Let me add to this slight abstract of my own experience, in a point +where it is really difficult to offer any useful advice, (the tastes +and habits of men varying so much in this chapter of exercise,) that +one caution seems applicable to the case of all persons suffering from +nervous irritability, viz., that a secluded space should be measured off +accurately, in some private grounds not liable to the interruption or +notice of chance intruders; for these annoyances are unendurable to the +restless invalid; to be questioned upon trivial things is death to +him; and the perpetual anticipation of such annoyances is little less +distressing. Some plan must also be adopted for registering the number +of rounds performed. I once walked for eighteen months in a circuit so +confined that forty revolutions were needed to complete a mile. These +I counted, at one time, by a rosary of beads; every tenth round being +marked by drawing a blue bead, the other nine by drawing white beads. +But this plan, I found in practice, more troublesome and inaccurate than +that of using ten detached counters, stones, or anything else that was +large enough and solid. These were applied to the separate bars of a +garden chair; the first bar indicating of itself the first decade, the +second bar the second decade, and so on. In fact, I used the chair in +some measure as a Roman abacus, but on a still simpler plan; and as the +chair offered sixteen bars, it followed, that on covering the last bar +of the series with the ten markers, I perceived without any trouble of +calculation the accomplishment of my fourth mile. + +A necessity, more painful to me by far than that of taking continued +exercise, arose out of a cause which applies, perhaps, with the same +intensity only to opium cases, but must also apply in some degree to all +cases of debilitation from morbid stimulation of the nerves, whether +by means of wine, or opium, or distilled liquors. In travelling on the +outside of mails, during my youthful days, for I could not endure the +inside, occasionally, during the night-time, I suffered naturally from +cold: no cloaks, &c. were always sufficient to relieve this; and I then +made the discovery that opium, after an hour or so, diffuses a warmth +deeper and far more permanent than could be had from any other known +source. I mention this, to explain, in some measure, the awful passion +of cold which for some years haunted the inverse process of laying aside +the opium. It was a perfect frenzy of misery; cold was a sensation which +then first, as a mode of torment, seemed to have been revealed. In +the months of July and August, and not at all the less during the very +middle watch of the day, I sate in the closest proximity to a blazing +fire; cloaks, blankets, counterpanes, hearthrugs, horse-cloths, were +piled upon my shoulders, but with hardly a glimmering of relief. At +night, and after taking coffee, I felt a little warmer, and could +sometimes afford to smile at the resemblance of my own case to that of +Harry Gill. [Footnote: 'Harry Gill:'--Many readers, in this generation, +may not be aware of this ballad as one amongst the early poems of +Wordsworth. Thirty or forty years ago, it was the object of some insipid +ridicule, which ought, perhaps, in another place, to be noticed. And, +doubtless, this ridicule was heightened by the false impression that +the story had been some old woman's superstitious fiction, meant to +illustrate a supernatural judgment on hard-heartedness. But the story +was a physiologic fact; and, originally, it had been brought forward in +a philosophic work, by Darwin, who had the reputation of an irreligious +man, and even of an infidel. A bold freethinker he certainly was: a +Deist, and, by public repute, something more.] But, secretly, I was +struck with awe at the revelation of powers so unsearchably new, lurking +within old affections so familiarly known as cold. Upon the analogy of +this case, it might be thought that nothing whatever had yet been +truly and seriously felt by man; nothing searched or probed by human +sensibilities, to a depth below the surface. If cold could give out +mysteries of suffering so novel, all things in the world might be yet +unvisited by the truth of human sensations. All experience, worthy of +the name, was yet to begin. Meantime, the external phenomenon, by which +the cold expressed itself, was a sense (but with little reality) of +eternal freezing perspiration. From this I was never free; and at +length, from finding one general ablution sufficient for one day, I was +thrown upon the irritating necessity of repeating it more frequently +than would seem credible, if stated. At this time, I used always hot +water; and a thought occurred to me very seriously that it would be best +to live constantly, and, perhaps, to sleep in a bath. What caused me to +renounce this plan, was an accident that compelled me for one day to use +cold water. This, first of all, communicated any lasting warmth; so that +ever afterwards I used none _but_ cold water. Now, to live in a _cold_ +bath, in our climate, and in my own state of preternatural sensibility +to cold, was not an idea to dally with. I wish to mention, however, for +the information of other sufferers in the same way, one change in the +mode of applying the water, which led to a considerable and a sudden +improvement in the condition of my feelings. I had endeavored to procure +a child's battledore, as an easy means (when clothed with sponge) of +reaching the interspace between the shoulders; which interspace, by the +way, is a sort of Bokhara, so provokingly situated, that it will neither +suffer itself to be reached from the north, in which direction even the +Czar, with his long arms, has only singed his own fingers, and lost six +thousand camels; nor at all better from the south, upon which line +of approach the greatest potentate in Southern Asia, viz., No.--, in +Leadenhall Street, has found it the best policy to pocket the little +Khan's murderous defiances and persevering insults. There is no +battledore long enough to reach him in either way. In my own difficulty, +I felt almost as perplexed as the Honorable East India Company, when I +found that no battledore was to be had; for no town was near at hand. +In default of a battledore, therefore, my necessity threw my experiment +upon a long hair-brush; and this, eventually, proved of much greater +service than any sponge or any battledore; for, the friction of the +brush caused an irritation on the surface of the skin, which, more than +anything else, has gradually diminished the once continual misery of +unrelenting frost; although even yet it renews itself most distressingly +at uncertain intervals. + +IV. I counsel the patient not to make the mistake of supposing that his +amendment will necessarily proceed continuously, or by equal increments; +because this, which is a common notion, will certainly lead to dangerous +disappointments. How frequently I have heard people encouraging a +self-reformer by such language as this:--'When you have got over the +fourth day of abstinence, which suppose to be Sunday, then Monday will +find you a trifle better; Tuesday better still,--though still it should +be only by a trifle; and so on. You may, at least, rely on never going +back; you may assure yourself of having seen the worst; and the positive +improvements, if trifles separately, must soon gather into a sensible +magnitude.' This may be true in a case of short standing: but, as a +general rule, it is perilously delusive. On the contrary, the line of +progress, if exhibited in a geometrical construction, would describe +an ascending path upon the whole, but with frequent retrocessions into +descending curves, which, compared with the point of ascent that had +been previously gained and so vexatiously interrupted, would sometimes +seem deeper than the original point of starting. This mortifying +tendency I can report from experience many times repeated with regard +to opium; and so unaccountably, as regarded all the previous grounds of +expectation, that I am compelled to suppose it a tendency inherent in +the very nature of all self-restorations for animal systems. They +move perhaps necessarily _per saltum_, by, intermitting spasms, and +pulsations of unequal energy. + +V. I counsel the patient frequently to call back before his +thoughts--when suffering sorrowful collapses, that seem unmerited by +anything done or neglected--that such, and far worse, perhaps, must +have been his experience, and with no reversion of hope behind, had he +persisted in his intemperate indulgencies; _these_ also suffer their own +collapses, and (so far as things not co-present can be compared) by many +degrees more shocking to the genial instincts. + +VI. I exhort him to believe, that no movement on his own part, not the +smallest conceivable, towards the restoration of his healthy state, can +by possibility perish. Nothing in this direction is finally lost; but +often it disappears and hides itself; suddenly, however, to reappear, +and in unexpected strength, and much more hopefully; because such +minute elements of improvement, by reappearing at a remoter stage, show +themselves to have combined with other elements of the same kind: so +that equally by their gathering tendency and their duration through +intervals of apparent darkness, and below the current of what seemed +absolute interruption, they argue themselves to be settled in the +system. There is no good gift that does not come from God: almost his +greatest is health, with the peace which it inherits; and man must reap +_this_ on the same terms as he was told to reap God's earliest gift, the +fruits of the earth, viz.: 'in the sweat of his brow,' through labor, +often through sorrow, through disappointment, but still through +imperishable perseverance, and hoping under clouds, when all hope seems +darkened. + +VII. It is difficult, in selecting from many memoranda of warning and +encouragement, to know which to prefer when the space disposable is +limited. But it seems to me important not to omit this particular +caution: The patient will be naturally anxious, as he goes on, +frequently to test the amount of his advance, and its rate, if that +were possible. But this he will see no mode of doing, except through +tentative balancings of his feelings, and generally of the moral +atmosphere around him, as to pleasure and hope, against the +corresponding states, so far as he can recall them from his periods of +intemperance. But these comparisons, I warn him, are fallacious, when +made in this way; the two states are incommensurable on any plan of +_direct_ comparison. Some common measure must be found, and, _out of +himself_; some positive fact, that will not bend to his own delusive +feeling at the moment; as, for instance, in what degree he finds +tolerable what heretofore was _not_ so--the effort of writing letters, +or transacting business, or undertaking a journey, or overtaking the +arrears of labor, that had been once thrown off to a distance. If +in these things he finds himself improved, by tests that cannot be +disputed, he may safely disregard any sceptical whispers from a wayward +sensibility which cannot yet, perhaps, have recovered its normal health, +however much improved. His inner feelings may not yet point steadily +to the truth, though they may vibrate in that direction. Besides, it is +certain that sometimes very manifest advances, such as any medical man +would perceive at a glance, carry a man through stages of agitation and +discomfort. A far worse condition might happen to be less agitated, +and so far more bearable. Now, when a man is positively suffering +discomfort, when he is below the line of pleasurable feeling, he is +no proper judge of his own condition, which he neither will nor can +appreciate. Tooth-ache extorts more groans than dropsy. + +VIII. Another important caution is, not to confound with the effects of +intemperance any other natural effects of debility from advanced years. +Many a man, having begun to be intemperate at thirty, enters at sixty +or upwards upon a career of self-restoration. And by self-restoration he +understands a renewal of that state in which he was when first swerving +from temperance. But that state, for his memory, is coincident with his +state of youth. The two states are coadunated. In his recollections they +are intertwisted too closely. But life, without any intemperance at +all, would soon have untwisted them. Charles Lamb, for instance, at +forty-five, and Coleridge at sixty, measured their several conditions +by such tests as the loss of all disposition to involuntary murmuring of +musical airs or fragments when rising from bed. Once they had sung +when rising in the morning light; now they sang no more. The _vocal_ +utterance of joy, for _them_, was silenced for ever. But these are +amongst the changes that life, stern power, inflicts at any rate; +these would have happened, and above all, to men worn by the unequal +irritations of too much thinking, and by those modes of care + + That kill the bloom before its time, + And blanch without the owner's crime + The most resplendent hair, + +not at all the less had the one drunk no brandy, nor the other any +laudanum. A man must submit to the conditions of humanity, and not +quarrel with a cure as incomplete, because in his climacteric year of +sixty-three, he cannot recover, entirely, the vivacities of thirty-five. +If, by dipping seven times in Jordan, he had cleansed his whole leprosy +of intemperance; if, by going down into Bethesda, he were able to mount +again upon the pinions of his youth,--even then he might querulously +say,--'But, after all these marvels in my favor, I suppose that one +of these fine mornings I, like other people, shall have to bespeak +a coffin.' Why, yes, undoubtedly he will, or somebody _for_ him. But +privileges so especial were not promised even by the mysterious waters +of Palestine. Die he must. And counsels tendered to the intemperate do +not hope to accomplish what might have been beyond the baths of Jordan +or Bethesda. They do enough, if, being executed by efforts in the spirit +of earnest sincerity, they make a life of _growing_ misery moderately +happy for the patient; and, through that great change, perhaps, more +than moderately useful for others. + +IX. One final remark I will make:--pointed to the case, not of the yet +struggling patient, but of him who is fully re-established; and the more +so, because I (who am no hypocrite, but, rather, frank to an infirmity) +acknowledge, in myself, the trembling tendency at intervals, which +would, if permitted, sweep round into currents that might be hard to +overrule. After the absolute restoration to health, a man is very apt to +say,--'Now, then, how shall I use my health? To what delightful purpose +shall I apply it? Surely it is idle to carry a fine jewel in one's +watch-pocket, and never to astonish the weak minds of this world, +by wearing it and flashing it in their eyes.' 'But how?' retorts his +philosophic friend; 'my good fellow, are you not using it at this +moment? Breathing, for instance, talking to me, (though rather +absurdly,) and airing your legs at a glowing fire?' 'Why, yes,' the +other confesses, 'that is all true; but I am dull; and, if you will +pardon my rudeness, even in spite of your too philosophic presence. It +is painful to say so, but sincerely, if I had the power, at this moment, +to turn you, by magic, into a bottle of old port wine, so corrupt is +my nature, that really I fear lest the exchange might, for the moment, +strike me as agreeable.' Such a mood, I apprehend, is apt to revolve +upon many of us, at intervals, however firmly married to temperance. And +the propensity to it has a root in certain analogies running through +our nature. If the reader will permit me for a moment the use of what, +without such an apology, might seem pedantic, I would call it the +instinct of _focalizing_, which prompts such random desires. Feeling is +diffused over the whole surface of the body; but light is focalized in +the eye; sound in the ear. The organization of a sense or a pleasure +seems diluted and imperfect, unless it is gathered by some machinery +into one focus, or local centre. And thus it is that a general state of +pleasurable feeling sometimes seems too superficially diffused, and one +has a craving to intensify or brighten it by concentration through some +sufficient stimulant. I, for my part, have tried every thing in this +world except '_bang_,' which, I believe, is obtained from hemp. There +are other preparations of hemp which have been found to give great +relief from _ennui_; not ropes, but something lately introduced, which +acts upon the system as the laughing gas (nitrous oxide) acts at times. +One farmer in Mid-Lothian was mentioned to me, eight months ago, as +having taken it, and ever since annoyed his neighbors by immoderate +fits of laughter; so that in January it was agreed to present him to the +sheriff as a nuisance. But, for some reason, the plan was laid aside; +and now, eight months later, I hear that the farmer is laughing more +rapturously than ever, continues in the happiest frame of mind, the +kindest of creatures, and the general torment of his neighborhood. Now, +I confess to having had a lurking interest in this extract of hemp, when +first I heard of it: and at intervals a desire will continue to make +itself felt for some deeper compression or centralization of the genial +feelings than ordinary life affords. But old things will not avail, and +new things I am now able to resist. Still, as the occasional craving +does really arise in most men, it is well to notice it; and chiefly for +the purpose of saying, that this dangerous feeling wears off by degrees; +and oftentimes for long periods it intermits so entirely as to be even +displaced by a profound disgust to all modes of artificial stimulation. +At those times I have remarked that the pleasurable condition of health +does _not_ seem weakened by its want of centralization. It seems to form +a thousand centres. This it is well to know; because there are many who +would resist effectually, if they were aware of any natural change going +on silently in favor of their own efforts, such as would finally ratify +the success. Towards such a result they would gladly contribute by +waiting and forbearing; whilst, under despondency as to this result, +they might more easily yield to some chance temptation. + +Finally, there is something to interest us in the _time_ at which this +temperance movement has begun to stir. Let me close with a slight notice +of what chiefly impresses myself in the relation between this time and +the other circumstances of the case. In reviewing history, we may see +something more than mere convenience in distributing it into three +chambers; ancient history, ending in the space between the Western +Empire falling and Mahomet arising; modern history, from that time to +this; and a new modern history arising at present, or from the +French Revolution. Two great races of men, our own in a two-headed +form--British and American, and secondly, the Russian, are those which, +like rising deluges, already reveal their mission to overflow the earth. +Both these races, partly through climate, or through derivation of +blood, and partly through the contagion of habits inevitable to brothers +of the same nation, are tainted carnally with the appetite for brandy, +for slings, for juleps. And no fire racing through the forests of Nova +Scotia for three hundred miles in the direction of some doomed city, +ever moved so fiercely as the infection of habits amongst the dense and +fiery populations of republican North America. + +But it is remarkable, that the whole _ancient_ system of civilization, +all the miracles of Greece and Rome, Persia and Egypt, moved by the +machinery of races that were _not_ tainted with any such popular +_marasmus_. The taste was slightly sowed, as an _artificial_ taste, +amongst luxurious individuals, but never ran through the laboring +classes, through armies, through cities The blood and the climate +forbade it. In this earliest era of history, all the great races, +consequently all the great empires, threw themselves, by accumulation, +upon the genial climates of the south,--having, in fact, the magnificent +lake of the Mediterranean for their general centre of evolutions. Round +this lake, in a zone of varying depth, towered the whole grandeurs of +the Pagan earth. But, in such climates, man is naturally temperate. +He is so by physical coercion, and for the necessities of rest and +coolness. The Spaniard, the Moor, or the Arab, has no merit in his +temperance. The effort, for _him_, would be to form the taste for +alcohol. He has a vast foreground of disgust to traverse before he can +reach a taste so remote and alien. No need for resistance in his will +where nature resists on his behalf. Sherbet, shaddocks, grapes, +these were innocent applications to thirst. And the great republic of +antiquity said to her legionary sons:--'Soldier, if you thirst, there +is the river;--Nile, suppose, or Ebro. Better drink there cannot be. +Of this you may take "at discretion." Or, if you wait till the +_impedimenta_ come up, you may draw your ration of _Posca_' What was +_posca_? It was, in fact, acidulated water; three parts of superfine +water to one part of the very best vinegar. Nothing stronger did Rome, +that awful mother, allow to her dearest children, _i. e._, her legions. +Truest of blessings, that veiling itself in seeming sternness, drove +away the wicked phantoms that haunt the couches of yet greater nations. +'The blessings of the evil genii,' says an Eastern proverb, 'these are +curses.' And the stern refusals of wisely loving mothers,--these are the +mightiest of gifts. + +Now, on the other hand, our northern climates have universally the +taste, latent if not developed, for powerful liquors. And through their +blood, as also through the natural tendency of the imitative principle +amongst compatriots, from these high latitudes the greatest of our +modern nations propagate the contagion to their brothers, though +colonizing warm climates. And it is remarkable that our modern +preparations of liquors, even when harmless in their earliest stages, +are fitted, like stepping-stones, for making the transition to higher +stages that are _not_ harmless. The weakest preparations from malt, +lead, by graduated steps, to the strongest; until we arrive at +the intoxicating porter of London, which, under its local name (so +insidiously delusive) of '_beer_,' diffuses the most extensive ravages. + +Under these marked circumstances of difference between the ruling races +of antiquity and of our modern times, it now happens that the greatest +era by far of human expansion is opening upon us. Two vast movements are +hurrying into action by velocities continually accelerated--the great +revolutionary movement from political causes concurring with the +great physical movement in locomotion and social intercourse, from the +gigantic (though still infant) powers of steam. No such Titan resources +for modifying each other were ever before dreamed of by nations: and +the next hundred years will have changed the face of the world. At the +opening of such a crisis, had no third movement arisen of resistance to +intemperate habits, there would have been ground for despondency as to +the amelioration of the human race. But, as the case stands, the new +principle of resistance nationally to bad habits, has arisen almost +concurrently with the new powers of national intercourse; and +henceforward by a change equally sudden and unlooked for, that new +machinery, which would else most surely have multiplied the ruins +of intoxication, has become the strongest agency for hastening its +extirpation. + + + + +ON WAR. + + +Few people need to be told--that associations exist up and down +Christendom, having the ambitious object of abolishing war. Some go so +far as to believe that this evil of war, so ubiquitous, so ancient and +apparently so inalienable from man's position upon earth, is already +doomed; that not the private associations only, but the prevailing +voice of races the most highly civilized, may be looked on as tending to +confederation against it; that sentence of extermination has virtually +gone forth, and that all which remains is gradually to execute that +sentence. Conscientiously I find myself unable to join in these views. +The project seems to me the most romantic of all romances in the course +of publication. Consequently, when asked to become a member in any such +association, I have always thought it most respectful, because most +sincere, to decline. Yet, as it is painful to refuse all marks of +sympathy with persons whose motives one honors, I design at my death to +bequeath half-a-crown to the chief association for extinguishing war; +the said half-crown to be improved in all time coming for the benefit of +the association, under the trusteeship of Europe, Asia, and America, +but not of Africa. I really dare not trust Africa with money, she is not +able as yet to take care of herself. This half-crown, a fund that will +overshadow the earth before it comes to be wanted under the provisions +of my will, is to be improved at any interest whatever--no matter what; +for the vast period of the accumulations will easily make good any +tardiness of advance, long before the time comes for its commencing +payment; a point which will be soon understood from the following +explanation, by any gentleman that hopes to draw upon it. + +There is in Ceylon a granite _cippus_, or monumental pillar, of +immemorial antiquity; and to this pillar a remarkable legend is +attached. The pillar measures six feet by six, _i. e._ thirty-six +square feet, on the flat tablet of its horizontal surface; and in height +several _riyanas_, (which arc Ceylonese cubits of eighteen inches each,) +but of these cubits, there are either eight or twelve; excuse me for +having forgotten which. At first, perhaps, you will be angry, viz., +when you hear that this simple difference of four cubits, or six feet, +measures a difference for your expectations, whether you count your +expectations in kicks or halfpence, that absolutely strikes horror into +arithmetic. The singularity of the case is, that the very solemnity of +the legend and the wealth of the human race in time, depend upon the +cubical contents of the monument, so that a loss of one granite chip is +a loss of a frightful infinity; yet, again, for that very reason, the +loss of all _but_ a chip, leaves behind riches so appallingly too rich, +that everybody is careless about the four cubits. Enough is as good as +a feast. Two bottomless abysses take as much time for the diver as ten; +and five eternities are as frightful to look down as four-and-twenty. In +the Ceylon legend all turns upon the inexhaustible series of ages which +this pillar guarantees. But, as one inexhaustible is quite enough for +one race of men, and you are sure of more by ineffable excess than you +can use in any private consumption of your own, you become generous; +'and between friends,' you say, in accepting my apologies for the +doubtful error as to the four cubits, 'what signifies an infinity more +or less?' + +For the Ceylonese legend is this, that once in every hundred years +an angel visits this granite pillar. He is dressed in a robe of +white muslin, muslin of that kind which the Romans called _aura +textilis_--woven, as might seem, from zephyrs or from pulses of the air, +such in its transparency, such in its gossamer lightness. Does the angel +touch the pillar with his foot? Oh no! Even _that_ would be something, +but even _that_ is not allowed. In his soundless flight across it, he +suffers the hem of his impalpable robe to sweep the surface as softly +as a moon-beam. So much and no more of pollution he endures from contact +with earthly objects. The lowest extremity of his dress, but with the +delicacy of light, grazes the granite surface. And _that_ is all the +attrition which the sacred granite receives in the course of any one +century, and this is all the progress which we, the poor children of +earth, in any one century make towards the exhaustion of our earthly +imprisonment. But, argues the subtle legend, even _that_ attrition, +when weighed in metaphysical scales, cannot be denied its value; it +has detached from the pillar an atom (no matter that it is an invisible +atom) of granite dust, the ratio of which atom to a grain avoirdupois, +if expressed as a fraction of unity, would by its denominator stretch +from the Accountant-General's office in London to the Milky Way. Now +the total mass of the granite represents, on this scheme of payment, the +total funded debt of man's race to Father Time and earthly corruption; +all this intolerable score, chalked up to our debit, we by ourselves and +our representatives have to rub off, before the granite will be rubbed +away by the muslin robe of the proud flying angel, (who, if he were a +good fellow, might just as well give a sly kick with his heel to +the granite,) before time will be at an end, and the burden of flesh +accomplished. But you hear it expressed in terms that will astonish +Baron Rothschild, what is the progress in liquidation which we make +for each particular century. A billion of centuries pays off a quantity +equal to a pinch of snuff. Despair seizes a man in contemplating a +single _coupon_, no bigger than a visiting card, of such a stock as +this; and behold we have to keep on paying away until the total granite +is reduced to a level with a grain of mustard-seed. But when that is +accomplished, thank heaven, our last generation of descendants will +be entitled to leave at Master Time's door a visiting card, which the +meagre shadow cannot refuse to take, though he will sicken at seeing it; +viz., a P. P. C. card, upon seeing which, the old thief is bound to give +receipt in full for all debts and pretended arrears. + +The reader perhaps knows of debts on both sides the Atlantic that have +no great prospect of being paid off sooner than this in Ceylon. + +And naturally, to match this order of debts, moving off so slowly, there +are funds that accumulate as slowly. My own funded half-crown is an +illustration. The half-crown will travel in the inverse order of the +granite pillar. The pillar and the half-crown move upon opposite tacks; +and there _is_ a point of time (which it is for Algebra to investigate) +when they will cross each other in the exact moment of their several +bisections--my aspiring half-crown tending gradually towards the fixed +stars, so that perhaps it might be right to make the man in the moon +trustee for that part of the accumulations which rises above the optics +of sublunary bankers; whilst the Ceylon pillar is constantly unweaving +its own granite texture, and dwindling earthwards. It is probable that +each of the parties will have reached its consummation about the same +time. What is to be done with the mustard-seed, Ceylon has forgotten to +say. But what is to be done with the half-crown and its surplus, nobody +can doubt after reading my last will and testament. After reciting a few +inconsiderable legacies to the three continents, and to the man in the +moon, for any trouble they may have had in managing the hyperbolical +accumulations, I go on to observe, that, when war is reported to have +taken itself off for ever, 'and no mistake,' (because I foresee many +false alarms of a perpetual peace,) a variety of inconveniences will +arise to all branches of the United Service, including the Horse +Marines. Clearly there can be no more half-pay; and even more clearly, +there is an end to full-pay. Pensions are at an end for 'good service.' +Allowances for wounds cannot be thought of, when all wounds shall have +ceased except those from female eyes--for which the Horse Guards is too +little advanced in civilization to make any allowance at all. Bargains +there will be no more amongst auctions of old Government stores. +Birmingham will be ruined, or so much of it as depended on rifles. And +the great Scotch works on the river Carron will be hungering for beef, +so far as Carron depended for beef upon carronades. Other arrears of +evil will stretch after the extinction of war. + +Now upon my half-crown fund (which will be equal to anything by the time +it is wanted) I charge once and for ever the general relief of all these +arrears--of the poverty, the loss, the bankruptcy, arising by reason +of this _quietus_ of final extinction applied to war. I charge the fund +with a perpetual allowance of half-pay to all the armies of earth; +or indeed, whilst my hand is in, I charge it with _full_ pay. And I +strictly enjoin upon my trustees and executors, but especially upon +the man in the moon, if his unsocial lip has left him one spark +of gentlemanly feeling, that he and they shall construe all claims +liberally; nay, with that riotous liberality which is safe and becoming, +when applied to a fund so inexhaustible. Yes, reader, my fund will be +inexhaustible, because the period of its growth will be measured by the +concurrent deposition of the Ceylon mustard-seed from the everlasting +pillar. + +Yet why, or on what principle? It is because I see, or imagine that +I see, a twofold necessity for war--necessity in two different +senses--1st, a physical necessity arising out of man's nature when +combined with man's situation; a necessity under which war may be +regarded, if you please, as a nuisance, but as a nuisance inalienable +from circumstances essential to human frailty. 2dly, a moral necessity +connected with benefits of compensation, such as continually lurk in +evils acknowledged to be such--a necessity under which it becomes lawful +to say, that war _ought_ to exist as a balance to opposite tendencies of +a still more evil character. War is the mother of wrong and spoliation: +war is a scourge of God--granted; but, like other scourges in the +divine economy, war purifies and redeems itself in its character of a +counterforce to greater evils that could not otherwise be intercepted or +redressed. In two different meanings we say that a thing is necessary; +either in that case where it is inexorably forced on by some sad +overruling principle which it is vain to fight against, though all good +men mourn over its existence and view it as an unconditional evil; or +secondly, in that case, where an instrument of sorrowful consequences +to man is nevertheless invoked and postulated by man's highest moral +interests, is nevertheless clamorously indicated as a blessing when +looked at in relation to some antagonist cause of evil for which it +offers the one only remedy or principle of palliation. The very evil +and woe of man's condition upon earth may be oftentimes detected in +the necessity of looking to some other woe as the pledge of its +purification; so that what separately would have been hateful for +itself, passes mysteriously into an object of toleration, of hope, or +even of prayer, as a counter-venom to the taint of some more mortal +poison. Poverty, for instance, is in both senses necessary for man. +It is necessary in the same sense as thirst is necessary (_i. e._ +inevitable) in a fever--necessary as one corollary amongst many others, +from the eternal hollowness of all human efforts for organizing any +perfect model of society--a corollary which, how gladly would all of us +unite to cancel, but which our hearts suggest, which Scripture solemnly +proclaims, to be ineradicable from the land. In this sense, poverty is a +necessity over which we _mourn_,--as one of the dark phases that +sadden the vision of human life. But far differently, and with a stern +gratitude, we recognize another mode of necessity for this gloomy +distinction--a call for poverty, when seen in relation to the manifold +agencies by which it developes human energies, in relation to the trials +by which it searches the power of patience and religion, in relation to +the struggles by which it evokes the nobilities of fortitude; or again, +amongst those who are not sharers in these trials and struggles, but +sympathizing spectators, in relation to the stimulation by which it +quickens wisdom that watches over the causes of this evil, or by which +it vivifies the spirit of love that labors for its mitigation. War +stands, or seems to stand, upon the same double basis of necessity; a +primary necessity that belongs to our human degradations, a secondary +one that towers by means of its moral relations into the region of our +impassioned exaltations. The two propositions on which I take my stand +are these. _First_, that there are nowhere latent in society any powers +by which it can effectually operate on war for its extermination. The +machinery is not there. The game is not within the compass of the cards. +_Secondly_, that this defect of power is, though sincerely I grieve in +avowing such a sentiment, and perhaps (if an infirm reader had his eye +upon me) I might seem, in sympathy with his weakness, to blush--not +a curse, no not at all, but on the whole a blessing from century to +century, if it is an inconvenience from year to year. The Abolition +Committees, it is to be feared, will be very angry at both propositions. +Yet, Gentlemen, hear me--strike, but hear me. I believe that's a sort of +plagiarism from Themistocles. But never mind. I have as good a right to +the words, until translated back into Greek, as that most classical of +yellow admirals. '_Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!_' + +The first proposition is, that war _cannot_ be abolished. The second, +and more offensive--that war ought not to be abolished. First, +therefore, concerning the first. One at a time. Sufficient for the page +is the evil thereof! How came it into any man's heart, first of all, +to conceive so audacious an idea as that of a conspiracy against war? +Whence could he draw any vapor of hope to sustain his preliminary steps? +And in framing his plot, which way did he set his face to look out +for accomplices? Revolving this question in times past, I came to the +conclusion--that, perhaps, this colossal project of a war against war, +had been first put in motion under a misconception (natural enough, and +countenanced by innumerable books) as to the true historical origin +of wars in many notorious instances. If these had arisen on trivial +impulses, a trivial resistance might have intercepted them. If a man has +once persuaded himself, that long, costly, and bloody wars had arisen +upon a point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, upon a hasty word, upon +some explosion of momentary caprice; it is a natural inference, that +strength of national will and public combinations for resistance, +supposing such forces to have been trained, organized, and, from the +circumstances of the particular nation, to be permanently disposable for +action, might prove redundantly effective, when pointed against a few +personal authors of war, so presumably weak, and so flexible to any +stern counter-volition as those _must_ be supposed, whose wars argued +so much of vicious levity. The inference is unexceptionable: it is the +premises that are unsound. Anecdotes of war as having emanated from a +lady's tea-table or toilette, would authorize such inference as to the +facilities of controlling them. But the anecdotes themselves are false, +or false substantially. _All_ anecdotes, I fear, are false. I am sorry +to say so, but my duty to the reader extorts from me the disagreeable +confession, as upon a matter specially investigated by myself, that all +dealers in anecdotes are tainted with mendacity. Where is the Scotchman, +said Dr. Johnson, who does not prefer Scotland to truth? but, however +this may be, rarer than such a Scotchman, rarer than the phoenix, is +that virtuous man, a monster he is, nay, he is an impossible man, who +will consent to lose a prosperous anecdote on the consideration that +it happens to be a lie. All history, therefore, being built partly, and +some of it altogether, upon anecdotage, must be a tissue of lies. Such, +for the most part, is the history of Suetonius, who may be esteemed the +father of anecdotage; and being such, he (and not Herodotus) should +have been honored with the title, _Father of Lies_. Such is the Augustan +history, which is all that remains of the Roman empire; such is the vast +series of French memoirs, now stretching through more than three entire +centuries. Are these works, then, to be held cheap, because their truths +to their falsehoods are in the ratio of one to five hundred? On the +contrary, they are better, and more to be esteemed on that account; +because, _now_ they are admirable reading on a winter's night; whereas, +written on the principle of sticking to the truth, they would have been +as dull as ditch water. Generally, therefore, the dealers in anecdotage +are to be viewed with admiration, as patriotic citizens, willing to +sacrifice their own characters, lest their countrymen should find +themselves short of amusement. I esteem them as equal to Codrus, +Timoleon, William Tell, or to Milton, as regards the liberty of +unlicensed printing. And I object to them only in the exceptional case +of their being cited as authorities for an inference, or as vouchers +for a fact. Universally, it may be received as a rule of unlimited +application,--that when an anecdote involves a stinging repartee, or +collision of ideas, fancifully and brilliantly related to each other +by resemblance or contrast, then you may challenge it as false to +a certainty. One illustration of which is--that pretty nearly every +memorable _propos_, or pointed repartee, or striking _mot_, circulating +at this moment in Paris or London, as the undoubted property of +Talleyrand, (that eminent knave,) was ascribed at Vienna, ninety years +ago, to the Prince de Ligne, and thirty years previously, to Voltaire, +and so on, regressively, to many other wits (knaves or not); until, at +length, if you persist in backing far enough, you find yourself amongst +Pagans, with the very same repartee, &c., doing duty in pretty good +Greek; [Footnote: This is _literally_ true, more frequently than would +be supposed. For instance, a jest often ascribed to Voltaire, and of +late pointedly reclaimed for him by Lord Brougham, as being one that +he (Lord B.) could swear to for _his_, so characteristic seemed the +impression of Voltaire's mind upon the _tournure_ of the sarcasm, +unhappily for this waste of sagacity, may be found recorded by Fabricius +in the _Bibliotheca Graeca_, as the jest of a Greek who has been dead for +about seventeen centuries. The man certainly _did_ utter the jest; +and 1750 years ago. But who it was that he stole it from is another +question. To all appearance, and according to Lord Brougham's opinion, +the party robbed must have been M. de Voltaire. I notice the case, +however, of the Greek thefts and frauds committed upon so many of our +excellent wits belonging to the 18th and 19th centuries, chiefly with a +view to M. de Talleyrand--that rather middling bishop, but very eminent +knave. He also has been extensively robbed by the Greeks of the 2d and +3d centuries. How else can you account for so many of his sayings being +found amongst _their_ pages? A thing you may ascertain in a moment, at +any police office, by having the Greeks searched: for surely you would +never think of searching a bishop. Most of the Talleyrand jewels will be +found concealed amongst the goods of these unprincipled Greeks. But one, +and the most famous in the whole jewel-case, sorry am I to confess, +was nearly stolen from the Bishop, not by any Greek, but by an English +writer, viz., Goldsmith, who must have been dying about the time that +his Excellency, the diplomatist, had the goodness to be born. That +famous _mot_ about language, as a gift made to man for the purpose of +_concealing_ his thoughts, is lurking in Goldsmith's Essays. Think of +_that!_ Already, in his innocent childhood, whilst the Bishop was in +petticoats, and almost before he had begun to curse and to swear plainly +in French, an Irish vagabond had attempted to swindle him out of that +famous witticism which has since been as good as a life-annuity to the +venerable knave's literary fame.] sometimes, for instance in Hierocles, +sometimes in Diogenes Laertius, in Plutarch, or in Athenaeus. Now the +thing you know claimed by so many people, could not belong to all of +them: _all_ of them could not be the inventors. Logic and common sense +unite in showing us that it must have belonged to the moderns, who had +clearly been hustled and robbed by the ancients, so much more +likely to commit a robbery than Christians, they being all +Gentiles--Pagans--Heathen dogs. What do I infer from this? Why, that +upon _any_ solution of the case, hardly one worthy saying can be +mentioned, hardly one jest, pun, or sarcasm, which has not been the +occasion and subject of many falsehoods--as having been _au-(and +men)-daciously_ transferred from generation to generation, sworn to in +every age as this man's property, or that man's, by people that must +have known they were lying, until you retire from the investigation with +a conviction, that under any system of chronology, the science of lying +is the only one that has never drooped. Date from _Anno Domini_, or +from the Julian era, patronize Olympiads, or patronize (as _I_ do, from +misanthropy, because nobody else _will_) the era of Nabonassar,--no +matter, upon every road, thicker than mile-stones, you see records +of human mendacity, or (which is much worse, in my opinion,) of human +sympathy with other people's mendacity. + +This digression, now, on anecdotes,[Footnote: The word 'Anecdotes,' +first, I believe, came into currency about the middle of the 6th +century, from the use made of it by Procopius. _Literally_ it indicated +nothing that could interest either public malice or public favor; it +promised only _unpublished_ notices of the Emperor Justinian, his wife +Theodora, Narses, Belisarius, &c. But _why_ had they been unpublished? +Simply because scandalous and defamatory: and hence, from the interest +which invested the case of an imperial court so remarkable, this +oblique, secondary and purely accidental modification of the word came +to influence its _general_ acceptation. Simply to have been previously +unpublished, no longer raised any statement into an anecdote: it +now received a new integration it must be some fresh publication of +_personal_ memorabilia; and these having reference to _human_ creatures, +must always be presumed to involve more evil than good--much defamation +true or false--much doubtful insinuation--much suggestion of things +worse than could be openly affirmed. So arose the word: but the _thing_ +arose with Suetonius, that dear, excellent and hard-working 'father of +lies.'] is what the learned call an _excursus_, and, I am afraid, too +long by half; not strictly in proportion. But don't mind _that_. I'll +make it all right by being too short upon something else, at the next +opportunity; and then nobody can complain. Meantime, I argue, that as +all brilliant or epigrammatic anecdotes are probably false, (a thing +that hereafter I shall have much pleasure in making out to the angry +reader's satisfaction,) but to a dead certainty those anecdotes, in +particular, which bear marks in their construction that a rhetorical +effect of art had been contemplated by the narrator,--we may take for +granted, that the current stories ascribing modern wars (French and +English) to accidents the most inconsiderable, are false even in +a literal sense; but at all events they are so when valued +philosophically, and brought out into their circumstantial relations. +For instance, we have a French anecdote, from the latter part of the +seventeenth century, which ascribes one bloody war to the accident of a +little 'miff,' arising between the king and his minister upon some such +trifle as the situation of a palace window. Again, from the early +part of the eighteenth century, we have an English anecdote, ascribing +consequences no less bloody to a sudden feud between two ladies, and +that feud, (if I remember,) tracing itself up to a pair of gloves; +so that, in effect, the war and the gloves form the two poles of +the transaction. Harlequin throws a pair of Limerick gloves into a +corn-mill; and the spectator is astonished to see the gloves immediately +issuing from the hopper, well ground into seven armies of one hundred +thousand men each, and with parks of artillery to correspond. In these +two anecdotes, we recognize at once the able and industrious artist +arranging his materials with a pious regard to theatrical effect. This +man knows how to group his figures; well he understands where to plant +his masses of light and shade; and what impertinence it would be in us +spectators, the reader suppose and myself, to go behind the scenes for +critical inquiry into daylight realities. All reasonable men see that, +the less of such realities our artist had to work with, the more was his +merit. I am one of those that detest all insidious attempts to rob +men situated as this artist of their fair fame, by going about and +whispering that perhaps the thing is true. Far from it! I sympathize +with the poor trembling artist, and agree most cordially that the whole +story is a lie; and he may rely upon my support at all times to +the extent of denying that any vestige of truth probably lay at the +foundations of his ingenious apologue. And what I say of the English +fable, I am willing to say of the French one. Both, I dare say, were the +rankest fictions. But next, what, after all, if they were _not?_ For, in +the rear of all discussion upon anecdotes, considered simply as true +or _not_ true, comes finally a _valuation_ of those anecdotes in their +moral relation, and as to the inferences which they will sustain. The +story, for example, of the French minister Louvois, and the adroitness +with which he fastened upon great foreign potentates, in the shape of +war, that irritability of temper in his royal master which threatened +to consume himself; the diplomatic address with which he transmuted +suddenly a task so delicate as that of skirmishing daily in a +Council Chamber with his own sovereign, into that far jollier mode of +disputation where one replies to all objections of the very keenest +logician, either with round shot or with grape; here is an anecdote, +which (for my own part) I am inclined to view as pure gasconade. But +suppose the story true, still it may happen that a better valuation +of it may disturb the whole edifice of logical inferences by which it +seemed to favor the speculations of the war abolitionists. Let us see. +What _was_ the logic through which such a tale as this could lend any +countenance to the schemes of these abolitionists? That logic travelled +in the following channel. Such a tale, or the English tale of the +gloves, being supposed true, it would seem to follow, that war and the +purposes of war were phenomena of chance growth, not attached to any +instinct so ancient, and apparently so grooved into the dark necessities +of our nature, as we had all taken for granted. Usually, we rank war +with hunger, with cold, with sorrow, with death, afflictions of our +human state that spring up as inevitably without separate culture and +in defiance of all hostile culture, as verdure, as weeds, and as flowers +that overspread in spring time a fertile soil without needing to be +sown or watered--awful is the necessity, as it seems, of all such +afflictions. Yet, again, if (as these anecdote simply) war could by +possibility depend frequently on accidents of personal temperament, +irritability in a sensual king, wounded sensibilities of pride between +two sensitive ladies, there in a moment shone forth a light of hope upon +the crusade against war. + +If _personal_ accidents could, to any serious extent, be amongst the +causes of war, then it would become a hopeful duty to combine personal +influences that should take an opposite direction. If casual causes +could be supposed chiefly to have promoted war, how easy for a nation to +arrange permanent and determinate causes against it! The logic of these +anecdotes seemed to argue that the whole fountains of war were left to +the government of chance and the windiest of levities; that war was not +in reality roused into activity by the evil that resides in the human +will, but on the contrary, by the simple defect of any will energetic +enough or steady enough to merit that name. Multitudes of evils exist in +our social system, simply because no steadiness of attention, nor action +of combined will, has been converged upon them. War, by the silent +evidence of these anecdotes, seemed to lie amongst that class of evils. +A new era might be expected to commence in new views upon war; and the +evil would be half conquered from the moment that it should be traced to +a trivial or a personal origin. + +All this was plausible, but false. The anecdotes, and all similar +anecdotes, might be true, but were delusive. The logical vice in them +was--that they substituted an occasion for a cause. The king's ill +temper for instance, acting through the levity and impatience of the +minister, might be the _causa occasionalis_ of the war, but not its true +_causa efficiens_. What _was?_ Where do the true permanent causes +of war, as distinguished from its proximate excitements, find their +lodgment and abiding ground? They lie in the system of national +competitions; in the common political system to which all individual +nations are unavoidably parties; in the system of public forces +distributed amongst a number of adjacent nations, with no internal +principle for adjusting the equilibrium of these forces, and no supreme +_Areopagus_, or court of appeal, for deciding disputes. Here lies the +_matrix_ of war, because an eternal _matrix_ of disputes lies in a +system of interests that are continually the same, and therefore the +parents of rivalships too close, that are continually different, and +so far the parents of alienation too wide. All war is an instinctive +_nisus_ for redressing the errors of equilibrium in the relative +position of nations amongst nations. Every nation's duty, first, midst, +and last, is to itself. No nation can be safe from continual (because +insensible) losses of ground, but by continual jealousies, watchings, +and ambitious strivings to mend its own position. Civilities and +high-bred courtesies pass and ought to pass between nations; that is +the graceful drapery which shrouds their natural, fierce, and tiger-like +relations to each other. But the glaring eyes, which express this +deep and inalienable ferocity, look out at intervals from below these +gorgeous draperies; and sad it is to think that at intervals the acts +and the temper suitable to those glaring eyes _must_ come forward. Mr. +Carter was on terms of the most exquisite dissimulation with his lions +and tigers; but, as often as he trusted his person amongst them, if, +in the midst of infinite politeness exchanged on all sides, he saw a +certain portentous expression of mutiny kindling in the eyeball of any +discontented tiger, all was lost, unless he came down instantly +upon that tiger's skull with a blow from an iron bar, that suggested +something like apoplexy. On such terms do nations meet in diplomacy; +high consideration for each other does not conceal the basis of enmity +on which they rest; not an enmity that belongs to their feelings, but to +the necessities of their position. Every nation in negotiating has +its right hand upon the hilt of its sword, and at intervals playfully +unsheaths a little of its gleaming blade. As things stand at present, +war and peace are bound together like the vicissitudes of day and night, +of Castor and Pollux. It matters little which bucket of the two is +going up at the moment, which going down. Both are steadfastly tied by a +system of alternations to a revolving wheel; and a new war as certainly +becomes due during the evolutions of a tedious peace, as a new peace +may be relied on during the throes of a bloody war, to tranquillize its +wounds. Consequently, when the arrogant Louvois carried a war to the +credit of his own little account on the national leger of France, +this coxcomb well knew that a war was at any rate due about that +time. Really, says he, I must find out some little war to exhaust the +_surplus_ irritability of this person, or he'll be the death of me. But +irritable or not irritable, with a puppy for his minister or not, the +French king would naturally have been carried headlong into war by the +mere system of Europe, within a very few months. So much had the causes +of complaint reciprocally accumulated. The account must be cleansed, the +court roll of grievances must be purged. With respect to the two English +ladies again, it is still more evident that they could not have _caused_ +a war by pulling caps with each other, since the grounds of every war, +what had caused it, and prolonged it, was sure to be angrily reviewed by +Parliament at each annual exposition of the Finance Minister's Budget. +These ladies, and the French coxcomb, could at the utmost have claimed a +distinction--such as that which belonged to a particular Turkish gunner, +the captain of a gun at Navarino, viz., that he, by firing the first +shot without orders, did (as a matter of fact) let loose and unmuzzle +the whole of that dreadful iron hurricane from four nations which +instantly followed, but which (be it known to the gunner) could not +have been delayed for fifty minutes longer, whether he had fired the +unauthorized gun or not. + +But now, let me speak to the second proposition of my two-headed thesis, +viz., that war _ought_ not to be abolished, if such an abolition were +even possible. _Prima facie_, it seems a dreadful doctrine to claim +a place for war as amongst the evils that are salutary to man; but +conscientiously I hold it to be such. I hold with Wordsworth, but +for reasons which may or may not be the same, since he has not stated +_his_-- + + 'That God's most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man--array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is his daughter.' + +I am obliged to hold, that supposing so romantic a condition realized +as the cessation of war, this change, unless other evils were previously +abolished, or neutralized in a way still more romantic to suppose, would +not be for the welfare of human nature, but would tend to its rapid +degradation. + +One, in fact, of the earliest aspects under which this moral necessity +for war forces itself upon our notice, is its physical necessity. I mean +to say that one of the earliest reasons why war _ought_ to exist, is +because under any mode of suppressing war, virtually it _will_ exist. +Banish war as now administered, and it will revolve upon us in a worse +shape, that is, in a shape of predatory and ruffian war, more and more +licentious, as it enjoys no privilege or sufferance, by the supposition, +under the national laws. Will the causes of war die away because war is +forbidden? Certainly not; and the only result of the prohibition would +be to throw back the exercise of war from national into private and +mercenary hands; and _that_ is precisely the retrograde or inverse +course of civilization; for, in the natural order of civilization, war +passes from the hands of knights, barons, insulated cities, into those +of the universal community. If, again, it is attempted to put down this +lawless _guerilla_ state by national forces, then the result will be to +have established an interminable warfare of a mixed character, private +and public, civil and foreign, infesting the frontiers of all states +like a fever, and in substitution for the occasional and intermitting +wars of high national police, administered with the dignified +responsibility that belongs to supreme rank, with the humanity that +belongs to conscious power, and with the diminishing havoc that belongs +to increasing skill in the arts of destruction. Even as to this last +feature in warfare, which in the war of brigands and _condottieri_ would +for many reasons instantly decay, no reader can fail to be aware of the +marvels effected by the forces of inventive science that run along +side by side with the advances of civilization; look back even to the +grandest period of the humane Roman warfare, listen to the noblest and +most merciful of all Roman captains, saying on the day of Pharsalia, +(and saying of necessity,) 'Strike at their faces, cavalry,'--yes, +absolutely directing his own troopers to plough up with their sabres the +blooming faces of the young Roman nobility; and then pass to a modern +field of battle, where all is finished by musquetry and artillery amidst +clouds of smoke, no soldier recognizing his own desolations, or the +ghastly ruin of his own right arm, so that war, by losing all its +brutality, is losing half of its demoralization. + +War, so far from ending, because war was forbidden and nationally +renounced, on the contrary would transmigrate into a more fearful +shape. As things are at present, (and, observe, they are always growing +better,) what numbers of noble-minded men, in the persons of our +officers (yes, and often of non-commissioned officers,) do we British, +for example, disperse over battle-fields, that could not dishonor their +glorious uniform by any countenance to an act of cruelty! They are eyes +delegated from the charities of our domestic life, to overlook and +curb the license of war. I remember, in Xenophon, some passage where +he describes a class of Persian gentlemen, who were called the +_ophthalmoi_, or _eyes_ of the king; but for a very different purpose. +These British officers may be called the _opthalmoi_, or eyes of +our Sovereign Lady, that into every corner of the battle carry their +scrutiny, lest any cruelty should be committed on the helpless, or any +advantage taken of a dying enemy. But mark, such officers would be rare +in the irregular troops succeeding to the official armies. And through +this channel, amongst others, war, when cried down by act of Parliament, +and precisely _because_ it was cried down, would become more perilously +effective for the degradation of human nature. Being itself dishonored, +war would become the more effective as an instrument for the dishonoring +of its agents. However, at length, we will suppose the impossible +problem solved--war, we will assume, is at last put down. + +At length there is no more war. Though by the way, let me whisper in +your ear, (supposing you to be a Christian,) this would be a prelibation +drawn prematurely from the cup of millennial happiness; and, strictly +speaking, there is no great homage to religion, even thus far--in +figuring _that_ to be the purchase of man for himself, and through his +own efforts, which is viewed by Scripture as a glory removed to the +infinite and starry distance of a millennium, and as the _teleutaion +epigeinaema_, the last crowning attainment of Christian truth, no +longer _militant_ on earth. Christianity it is, but Christianity when +_triumphant_, and no longer in conflict with adverse, or thwarting, or +limiting influences, which only can be equal to a revolution so mighty. +But all this, for the sake of pursuing the assumption, let us agree to +waive. In reality, there are two separate stations taken up by the war +denouncers. One class hold, that an influence derived from political +economy is quite equal to the flying leap by which man is to clear this +unfathomable gulph of war, and to land his race for ever on the opposite +shore of a self-sustaining peace. Simply, the contemplation of national +debts, (as a burthen which never would have existed without war,) and +a computation of the waste, havoc, unproductive labor, &c., attached to +any single campaign--these, they imagine, might suffice, _per se_, +for the extinction of war. But the other class cannot go along with +a speculation so infirm. Reasons there are, in the opposite scale, +tempting man into war,--which are far mightier than any motives +addressed to his self-interest. Even straining her energies to the +utmost, they regard all policy of the _purse_ as adequate: anything +short of religion, they are satisfied, must be incommensurate to a +result so vast. + +I myself certainly agree with this last class; but upon this arises +a delusion, which I shall have some trouble in making the reader +understand: and of this I am confident-that a majority, perhaps, in +every given amount of readers, will share in the delusion; will part +from me in the persuasion that the error I attempt to expose is no error +at all, but that it is myself who am in the wrong. The delusion which +I challenge as such, respects the very meaning and value of a sacrifice +made to Christianity. What is it? what do we properly mean, by +a concession or a sacrifice made to a spiritual power, such as +Christianity? If a king and his people, impressed by the unchristian +character of war, were to say, in some solemn act--'We, the parties +undersigned, for the reasons stated in the body of this document, +proclaim to all nations, that from and after Midsummer eve of the year +1850, this being the eve of St. John the Baptist, (who was the herald of +Christ,) we will no more prosecute any interest of ours, unless the one +sole interest of national defence, by means of war,--and this sacrifice +we make as a concession and act of homage to Christianity,--would +_that_ vow, I ask, sincerely offered, and steadily observed, really be a +sacrifice made to Christianity? Not at all. A sacrifice, that was truly +such, to a spiritual religion, must be a sacrifice not verbally (though +sincerely) dedicating itself to the religion, but a sacrifice wrought +and accomplished by that religion, through and by its own spirit. +Midsummer eve of 1850 could clearly make no spiritual change in the king +or his people--such they would be on the morning after St. John's day, +as on the morning before it--_i. e._, filled with all elements (though +possibly undeveloped) of strife, feud, pernicious ambition. + +The delusion, therefore, which I charge upon this religious class of +war denouncers is, that whilst they see and recognize this infinite +imperfection of any influence which Christianity yet exercises upon +the world, they nevertheless rely upon that acknowledged shadow for the +accomplishment of what would, in such circumstances, be a real miracle; +they rely upon that shadow, as truly and entirely as if it were already +that substance which, in a vast revolution of ages, it will finally +become. And they rely upon this mockery in _two_ senses; first, for the +_endurance_ of the frail human resolution that would thaw in an hour +before a great outrage, or provocation suited to the nobler infirmities +of man. Secondly, which is the point I mainly aim at, assuming, for a +moment, that the resolution _could_ endure, amongst all mankind, we are +all equally convinced, that an evil so vast is not likely to be checked +or controlled, except by some very extraordinary power. Well, where +_is_ it? Show me that power. I know of none but Christianity. _There_, +undoubtedly, is hope. But, in order that the hope may become rational, +the power must become practical. And practical it is not in the extent +required, until this Christianity, from being dimly appreciated by a +section [Footnote _What_ section, if you please? I, for my part, do not +agree with those that geographically degrade Christianity as occupying +but a trifle on the area of our earth. Mark this; all Eastern +populations have dwindled upon better acquaintance. Persia that _ought_ +to have, at least, two hundred and fifty millions of people, and _would_ +have them under English government, and once was supposed to have at +least one hundred millions, how many millions has she? _Eight!_ This +was ascertained by Napoleon's emissary in 1808, General Gardanne. +Afghanistan has very little more, though some falsely count fourteen +millions. There go two vast chambers of Mahometanism; not twenty +millions between them. Hindostan may _really_ have one hundred and +twenty millions claimed for her. As to the Burman Empire, I, nor anybody +else knows the truth. But, as to China, I have never for a moment been +moved by those ridiculous estimates of the flowery people, which our +simple countrymen copy. Instead of three hundred and fifty millions, a +third of the human race upon the most exaggerated estimate, read eighty +or one hundred millions at most. Africa, as it regards religion, counts +for a cipher. Europe, America, and the half of Asia, as to space, are +Christian. Consequently, the total _facit_, as regards Christianity, is +not what many amiable infidels make it to be. My dears, your wish was +father to that thought.] of this world, shall have been the law that +overrides the whole. That consummation is not immeasurably distant. Even +now, from considerations connected with China, with New Zealand, Borneo, +Australia, we may say, that already the fields are white for harvest. +But alas! the interval is brief between Christianity small, and +Christianity great, as regards space or terraqueous importance, compared +with that interval which separates Christianity formally professed, +from Christianity thankfully acknowledged by universal man in beauty and +power. + +Here, therefore, is one spoke in the wheel for so vast a change as war +dethroned, viz., that you see no cause, though you should travel round +the whole horizon, adequate to so prodigious an effect. What could +do it? Why, Christianity could do it. Aye, true; but man disarms +Christianity. And no mock Christianity, no lip homage to Christianity, +will answer. + +But is war, then, to go on for ever? Are we never to improve? Are +nations to conduct their intercourse eternally under the secret +understanding that an unchristian solution of all irreconcileable feuds +stands in the rear as the ultimate appeal? I answer that war, going on +even for ever, may still be for ever amending its modes and its results +upon human happiness; secondly, that we not only are under no fatal +arrest in our process of improvement, but that, as regards war, history +shows how steadily we _have_ been improving; and, thirdly, that although +war may be irreversible as the last resource, this last resource may +constantly be retiring further into the rear. Let us speak to this +last point. War is the last resource only, because other and more +intellectual resources for solving disputes are not available. And +_why_ are they not? Simply, because the knowledge, and the logic, which +ultimately will govern the case, and the very circumstances of the case +itself in its details, as the basis on which this knowledge and logic +are to operate, happen not to have been sufficiently developed. A code +of law is not a spasmodic effort of gigantic talent in any one man +or any one generation; it is a slow growth of accidents and occasions +expanding with civilization; dependent upon time as a multiform element +in its development; and presupposing often a concurrent growth of +_analogous_ cases towards the completion of its system. For instance, +the law which regulates the rights of shipping, seafaring men, and +maritime commerce--how slow was its development! Before such works as +the _Consolato del Mare_ had been matured, how wide must have been the +experience, and how slow its accumulation! During that long period of +infancy for law, how many must have been the openings for ignorant +and unintentional injustice! How differently, again, will the several +parties to any transaction construe the rights of the case! Discussion, +without rules for guiding it, will but embitter the dispute. And in the +absence of all guidance from the intellect, gradually weaving a _common_ +standard of international appeal, it is clear that nations _must_ fight, +and _ought_ to fight. Not being convinced, it is base to pretend that +you _are_ convinced; and failing to be convinced by your neighbor's +arguments, you confess yourself a poltroon (and moreover you _invite_ +injuries from every neighbor) if you pocket your wrongs. The only course +in such a case is to thump your neighbor, and to thump him soundly +for the present. This treatment is very serviceable to your neighbor's +optics; he sees things in a new light after a sufficient course of so +distressing a regimen. But mark, even in this case, war has no tendency +to propagate war, but tends to the very opposite result. To thump is as +costly, and in other ways as painful, as to _be_ thumped. The evil to +both sides arises in an undeveloped state of law. If rights were defined +by a well considered code growing out of long experience, each party +sees that this scourge of war would continually tend to limit itself. +Consequently the very necessity of war becomes the strongest invitation +to that system of judicial logic which forms its sole limitation. But +all war whatsoever stands in these circumstances. It follows that all +war whatever, unless on the brutal principle of a Spartan warfare, that +made war its own sufficient object and self-justification, operates as +a perpetual bounty offered to men upon the investigation and final +adjudication of those disputed cases through which war prospers. Hence +it is, viz., because the true boundaries of reciprocal rights are for +ever ascertaining themselves more clearly, that war is growing less +frequent. The fields open to injustice (which originally from pure +ignorance are so vast) continually (through deeper and more expansive +surveys by man's intellect--searching--reflecting--comparing) are +narrowing themselves; narrowing themselves in this sense, that all +nations under a common centre of religious civilization, as Christendom +suppose, or Islamism, would not fight--no, and would not (by the +national sense of wrong and right) be permitted to fight--in a cause +_confessedly_ condemned by equity as now developed. The causes of war +that still remain, are causes on which international law is silent--that +large arrear of cases as yet unsettled; or else they are cases in which +though law speaks with an authentic voice, it speaks in vain, because +the circumstances are doubtful; so that, if the law is fixed as a lamp +nailed to a wall, yet the _incidence_ of the law on the particular +circumstances, becomes as doubtful as the light of the lamp upon objects +that are capriciously moving. We see all this illustrated in a class of +cases that powerfully illustrate the good and the bad in war, the why +and the wherefore, as likewise the why _not_, and therefore I presume +the wherefore _not_; and this class of cases belongs to the _lex +vicinitatis_. In the Roman law this section makes a great figure. And +speaking accurately, it makes a greater in our own. But the reason why +this _law of neighborhood_ seems to fill so much smaller a section in +ours, is because in English law, being _positively_ a longer section, +_negatively_ to the whole compass of our law, it is less. The Roman law +would have paved a road to the moon. And what is _that_ expressed in +time? Let us see: a railway train, worked at the speed of the Great +Western Express, accomplishes easily a thousand miles in twenty-four +hours; consequently in two hundred and forty days or eight months it +would run into the moon with its buffers, and break up the quarters of +that Robinson Crusoe who (and without any Friday) is the only policeman +that parades that little pensive appendage or tender to our fuming +engine of an earth. But the English law--oh frightful reader, don't even +think of such a question as its relation in space and time to the Roman +law. That it would stretch to the fixed stars is plain, but to which +of them,--don't now, dear persecuting reader, unsettle our brains by +asking. Enough it is that both in Roman and English law the rights of +neighborhood are past measuring. Has a man a right to play the German +flute, where the partitions are slender, all day long in the house +adjoining to yours? Or, supposing a beneficent jury (beneficent to +_him_) finds this to be no legal nuisance, has he a right to play it +ill? Or, because juries, when tipsy, will wink at anything, does the +privilege extend to the jew's-harp? to the poker and tongs? to the +marrowbones and cleavers? Or, without ranging through the whole of the +_Spectator's_ culinary music, will the bagpipes be found within benefit +of jury law? _War to the knife_ I say, before we'll submit to _that_. +And if the law won't protect us against it, then we'll turn rebels. + +Now this law of neighborhood, this _lex vicinitatis_, amongst the +Romans, righted itself and settled itself, as amongst ourselves it +continues to do, by means of actions or legal suits. If a man poisons us +with smoke, we compel him by an action to eat his own smoke, or (if he +chooses) to make his chimneys eat it. Here you see is a transmuted war; +in a barbarous state, fire and sword would have avenged this invasion of +smoke; but amongst civilized men, paper bullets in the form of _Qui +tam_ and _Scire facias_, beat off the enemy. And on the same principle, +exactly as the law of international rights clears up its dark places, +war gradually narrows its grounds, and the _jus gentium_ defines itself +through national attorneys, _i. e._, diplomatists. + +For instance, now I have myself seen a case where a man cultivating a +flower-garden, and distressed for some deliverance from his rubbish of +dead leaves, litter, straw, stones, took the desperate resolution of +projecting the whole upon his neighbor's flower-garden. I, a chance +spectator of the outrage, knew too much of this world to lodge any +protest against it, on the principle of mere abstract justice; so it +would have passed unnoticed, but for the accident that his injured +neighbor unexpectedly raised up his head above the dividing wall, and +reproached the aggressor with his unprincipled conduct. This aggressor, +adding evil to evil, suggested as the natural remedy for his own wrong, +that the sufferer should pass the nuisance onwards to the garden next +beyond him; from which it might be posted forward on the same principle. +The aggrieved man, however, preferred passing it back, without any +discount to the original proprietor. Here now, is a ripe case, a _causa +teterrima_, for war between the parties, and for a national war had +the parties been nations. In fact, the very same injury, in a more +aggravated shape, is perpetrated from time to time by Jersey upon +ourselves, and would, upon a larger scale, right itself by war. Convicts +are costly to maintain; and Jersey, whose national revenue is limited, +being too well aware of this, does us the favor to land upon the coasts +of Hampshire, Dorset, &c., all the criminals whom she cannot summarily +send back to self-support, at each jail-delivery. 'What are we to do in +England?' is the natural question propounded by the injured scoundrels, +when taking leave of their Jersey escort. 'Anything you please,' is +the answer: 'rise if you can, to be dukes: only never come back hither; +since, dukes or _no_ dukes, to the rest of Christendom, to _us_ of +the Channel Islands you will always be transported felons.' There is +therefore a good right of action, _i.e._, a good ground of war, against +Jersey, on the part of Great Britain, since, besides the atrocious +injury inflicted, this unprincipled little island has the audacity to +regard our England, (all Europe looking on,) as existing only for the +purposes of a sewer or cess-pool to receive _her_ impurities. Some time +back I remember a Scottish newspaper holding up the case as a newly +discovered horror in the social system. But, in a quiet way Jersey has +always been engaged in this branch of exportation, and rarely fails to +'run' a cargo of rogues upon our shore, once or so in the season. What +amuses one besides, in this Scottish denunciation of the villany, is, +that Scotland [Footnote: To banish them 'forth of the kingdom,' was the +_euphuismus_; but the reality understood was--to carry the knaves, like +foxes in a bag, to the English soil, and there unbag them for English +use.] of old, pursued the very same mode of jail-delivery as to knaves +that were not thought ripe enough for hanging: she carted them to +the English border, unchained them, and hurried them adrift into the +wilderness, saying--Now, boys, shift for yourselves, and henceforth +plunder none but Englishmen. + +What I deduce from all this is, that as the feuds arising between +individuals under the relation of neighbors, are so far from tending to +a hostile result, that, on the contrary, as coming under a rule of +law already ascertained, or furnishing the basis for a new rule, they +gradually tighten the cords which exclude all opening for quarrel; not +otherwise is the result, and therefore the usefulness, of war amongst +nations. All the causes of war, the occasions upon which it is likely to +arise, the true and the ostensible motives, are gradually evolved, are +examined, searched, valued, by publicists; and by such means, in the +further progress of men, a comprehensive law of nations will finally be +accumulated, not such as now passes for international law, (a worthless +code that _has_ no weight in the practice of nations, nor deserves any,) +but one which will exhaust the great body of cases under which wars have +arisen under the Christian era, and gradually collect a public opinion +of Christendom upon the nature of each particular case. The causes that +_have_ existed for war are the causes that _will_ exist; or, at least, +they are the same under modifications that will simply vary the rule, +as our law cases in the courts are every day circumstantiating the +particular statute concerned. At this stage of advance, and when a true +European opinion has been created, a '_sensus communis_,' or community +of feeling on the main classifications of wars, it will become possible +to erect a real Areopagus, or central congress for all Christendom, not +with any commission to suppress wars,--a policy which would neutralize +itself by reacting as a fresh cause of war, since high-spirited nations +would arm for the purpose of resisting such decrees; but with the +purpose and the effect of oftentimes healing local or momentary +animosities, and also by publishing the opinion of Europe, assembled in +council, with the effect of taking away the shadow of dishonor from the +act of retiring from war. Not to mention that the mere delay, involved +in the waiting for the solemn opinion of congress, would always be +friendly to pacific councils. But _would_ the belligerents wait? That +concession might be secured by general exchange of treaties, in the +same way that the cooperation of so many nations has been secured to the +suppression of the trade in slaves. And one thing is clear, that when +all the causes of war, involving _manifest_ injustice, are banished by +the force of European opinion, focally converged upon the subject, the +range of war will be prodigiously circumscribed. The costliness of war, +which, for various reasons has been continually increasing since the +feudal period, will operate as another limitation upon its field, +concurring powerfully with the public declaration from a council of +collective Christendom. + +There is, besides, a distinct and separate cause of war, more fatal to +the possibilities of peace in Europe than open injustice; and this cause +being certainly in the hands of nations to deal with as they please, +there is a tolerable certainty that a congress _sincerely_ pacific would +cut it up by the roots. It is a cause noticed by Kant in his Essay on +Perpetual Peace, and with great sagacity, though otherwise that little +work is not free from visionary self-delusions: and this cause lies in +the diplomacy of Europe. Treaties of peace are so constructed, as almost +always to sow the seeds of future wars. This seems to the inexperienced +reader a matter of carelessness or laxity in the choice of expression; +and sometimes it may have been so; but more often it has been done under +the secret dictation of powerful courts--making peaces only as truces, +anxious only for time to nurse their energies, and to keep open some +plausible call for war. This is not only amongst the most extensive +causes of war, but the very worst: because it gives a colorable air of +justice, and almost of necessity to a war, which is, in fact, the most +outrageously unjust, as being derived from a pretext silently prepared +in former years, with mere subtlety of malice: it is a war growing out +of occasions, forged beforehand, lest no occasions should spontaneously +arise. Now, this cause of war could and would be healed by a congress, +and through an easy reform in European diplomacy.[Footnote: One great +_nidus_ of this insidious preparation for war under the very masque of +peace, which Kant, from brevity, has failed to particularize, lies in +the neglecting to make any provision for cases that are likely enough to +arise. A, B, C, D, are all equally possible, but the treaty provides a +specific course of action only for A, suppose. Then upon B or C arising, +the high contracting parties, though desperately and equally pacific, +find themselves committed to war actually by a treaty of lasting peace. +Their pacific majesties sigh, and say--Alas! that it should be so, but +really fight we must, for what says the treaty?] + +It is the strongest confirmation of the power inherent in growing +civilization, to amend war, and to narrow the field of war, if we look +back for the records of the changes in this direction which have already +arisen in generations before our own. + +The most careless reviewer of history can hardly fail to read a rude +outline of progress made by men in the rights, and consequently in the +duties of war through the last twenty-five centuries. It is a happy +circumstance for man--that oftentimes he is led by pure selfishness into +reforms, the very same as high principle would have prompted; and in the +next stage of his advance, when once habituated to an improved code of +usages, he begins to find a gratification to his sensibilities, (partly +luxurious sensibilities, but partly moral,) in what originally had been +a mere movement of self-interest. Then comes a third stage, in which +having thoroughly reconciled himself to a better order of things, and +made it even necessary to his own comfort, at length he begins in +his reflecting moments to perceive a moral beauty and a fitness in +arrangements that had emanated from accidents of convenience, so that +finally he generates a sublime pleasure of conscientiousness out of +that which originally commenced in the meanest forms of mercenary +convenience. A Roman lady of rank, out of mere voluptuous regard to her +own comfort, revolted from the harsh clamors of eternal chastisements +inflicted on her numerous slaves; she forbade them; the grateful slaves +showed their love for her; gradually and unintentionally she trained +her feelings, when thus liberated from a continual temptation to the +sympathies with cruelty, into a demand for gentler and purer excitement. +Her purpose had been one of luxury; but, by the benignity of nature +still watching for ennobling opportunities, the actual result was a +development given to the higher capacities of her heart. In the same +way, when the brutal right (and in many circumstances the brutal duty) +of inflicting death upon prisoners taken in battle, had exchanged +itself for the profits of ransom or slavery, this relaxation of ferocity +(though commencing in selfishness) gradually exalted itself into a habit +of mildness, and some dim perception of a sanctity in human life. The +very vice of avarice ministered to the purification of barbarism; +and the very evil of slavery in its earliest form was applied to the +mitigation of another evil--war conducted in the spirit of piratical +outrage. The commercial instincts of men having worked one set of +changes in war, a second set of changes was prompted by instincts +derived from the arts of ornament and pomp. Splendor of arms, of +banners, of equipages, of ceremonies, and the elaborate forms of +intercourse with enemies through conferences, armistices, treaties of +peace, &c., having tamed the savagery of war into connection with +modes of intellectual grandeur, and with the endless restraints of +superstition or scrupulous religion,--a permanent light of civilization +began to steal over the bloody shambles of buccaneering warfare. Other +modes of harmonizing influences arose more directly from the bosom of +war itself. Gradually the mere practice of war, and the culture of +war though merely viewed as a rude trade of bloodshed, ripened into an +intellectual art. Were it merely with a view to more effectual carnage, +this art (however simple and gross at first) opened at length into wide +scientific arts, into strategies, into tactics, into castrametation, +into poliorcetics, and all the processes through which the first rude +efforts of martial cunning finally connect themselves with the exquisite +resources of science. War, being a game in which each side forces the +other into the instant adoption of all improvements through the mere +necessities of self-preservation, became continually more intellectual. + +It is interesting to observe the steps by which, were it only through +impulses of self-conservation, and when searching with a view to more +effectual destructiveness, war did and must refine itself from a horrid +trade of butchery into a magnificent and enlightened science. Starting +from no higher impulse or question than how to cut throats most rapidly, +most safely, and on the largest scale, it has issued even at our own +stage of advance into a science, magnificent, oftentimes ennobling, and +cleansed from all horrors except those which (not being within man's +power utterly to divorce from it) no longer stand out as reproaches to +his humanity. + +Meantime a more circumstantial review of war, in relation to its motives +and the causes assigned for its justification, would expose a series +of changes greater perhaps than the reader is aware of. Such a review, +which would too much lengthen a single paper, may or may not form the +subject of a second. And I will content myself with saying, as a closing +remark, that this review will detect a principle of steady advance in +the purification and elevation of war--such as must offer hope to those +who believe in the possibility of its absolute extermination, and must +offer consolation to those who (like myself) deny it. + + + + +THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT. + + +I take it for granted that every person of education will acknowledge +some interest in the personal history of Immanuel Kant. A great man, +though in an unpopular path, must always be an object of liberal +curiosity. To suppose a reader thoroughly indifferent to Kant, is to +suppose him thoroughly unintellectual; and, therefore, though in reality +he should happen _not_ to regard him with interest, it is one of the +fictions of courtesy to presume that he does. On this principle I make +no apology to the reader for detaining him upon a short sketch of +Kant's life and domestic habits, drawn from the authentic records of his +friends and pupils. It is true, that, without any illiberality on the +part of the public in this country, the _works_ of Kant are not regarded +with the same interest which has gathered about his _name_; and this may +be attributed to three causes--first, to the language in which they are +written; secondly, to the supposed obscurity of the philosophy which +they teach, whether intrinsic or due to Kant's particular mode +of expounding it; thirdly, to the unpopularity of all speculative +philosophy, no matter how treated, in a country where the structure and +tendency of society impress upon the whole activities of the nation +a direction exclusively practical. But, whatever may be the immediate +fortunes of his writings, no man of enlightened curiosity will regard +the author himself without something of a profounder interest. Measured +by one test of power, viz., by the number of books written directly +for or against himself, to say nothing of those which he has indirectly +modified, there is no philosophic writer whatsoever, if we except +Aristotle, who can pretend to approach Kant in the extent of the +influence which he has exercised over the minds of men. Such being his +claims upon our notice, I repeat that it is no more than a reasonable +act of respect to the reader--to presume in him so much interest about +Kant as will justify a sketch of his life. + +Immanuel Kant, [Footnote: By the paternal side, the family of Kant was +of Scotch derivation; and hence it is that the name was written by Kant +the father--_Cant_, that being a Scotch name, and still to be found in +Scotland. But Immanuel, though he always cherished his Scotch descent, +substituted a _K_ for a _C_, in order to adapt it better to the +analogies of the German language.] the second of six children, was born +at Koenigsberg, in Prussia, a city at that time containing about fifty +thousand inhabitants, on the 22d of April, 1724. His parents were people +of humble rank, and not rich even for their own station, but able (with +some assistance from a near relative, and a trifle in addition from a +gentleman, who esteemed them for their piety and domestic virtues,) to +give their son Immanuel a liberal education. He was sent when a child +to a charity school; and, in the year 1732, removed to the Royal (or +Frederician) Academy. Here he studied the Greek and Latin classics, +and formed an intimacy with one of his schoolfellows, David Ruhnken, +(afterwards so well known to scholars under his Latin name of +Ruhn-kenius,) which lasted until the death of the latter. In 1737, Kant +lost his mother, a woman of excellent character, and of accomplishments +and knowledge beyond her rank, who contributed to the future eminence +of her illustrious son by the direction which she gave to his youthful +thoughts, and by the elevated morals to which she trained him. Kant +never spoke of her to the end of his life without the utmost tenderness, +and acknowledgment of his great obligations to her maternal care. In +1740, at Michaelmas, he entered the University of Koenigsberg. In 1746, +when about twenty-two years old, he printed his first work, upon a +question partly mathematical and partly philosophic, viz., the valuation +of living forces. The question had been first moved by Leibnitz, in +opposition to the Cartesians, and was here finally settled, after having +occupied most of the great mathematicians of Europe for more than half +a century. It was dedicated to the King of Prussia, but never reached +him--having, in fact, never been published. [Footnote: To this +circumstance we must attribute its being so little known amongst the +philosophers and mathematicians of foreign countries, and also the fact +that D'Alembert, whose philosophy was miserably below his mathematics, +many years afterwards still continued to represent the dispute as +a verbal one.] From this time until 1770, he supported himself as a +private tutor in different families, or by giving private lectures in +Koenigsberg, especially to military men on the art of fortification. In +1770, he was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics, which he exchanged +soon after for that of Logic and Metaphysics. On this occasion, +he delivered an inaugural disputation--[_De Mundi Sensibilis atque +Intelligibilis Forma et Principiis_]--which is remarkable for containing +the first germs of the Transcendental Philosophy. In 1781, he published +his great work, the _Critik der Reinen Vernunft,_ or _Investigation of +the Pure Reason_. On February 12, 1804, he died. + +These are the great epochs of Kant's life. But his was a life remarkable +not so much for its incidents, as for the purity and philosophic dignity +of its daily tenor; and of this the best impression will be obtained +from Wasianski's account of his last years, checked and supported by +the collateral testimonies of Jachmann, Rink, Borowski, and other +biographers. We see him here struggling with the misery of decaying +faculties, and with the pain, depression, and agitation of two different +complaints, one affecting his stomach, and the other his head; over +all which the benignity and nobility of his mind are seen victoriously +eminent to the last. The principal defect of this and all other +memoirs of Kant is, that they report too little of his conversation and +opinions. And perhaps the reader will be disposed to complain, that some +of the notices are too minute and circumstantial, so as to be at one +time undignified, and at another unfeeling. As to the first objection, +it may be answered, that biographical gossip of this sort, and +ungentlemanly scrutiny into a man's private life, though not what a man +of honor would choose to write, may be read without blame; and, where a +great man is the subject, sometimes with advantage. With respect to the +other objection, I know not how to excuse Mr. Wasianski for kneeling +at the bed-side of his dying friend, to record, with the accuracy of a +short-hand reporter, the last flutter of his pulse and the struggles of +expiring nature, except by supposing that the idea of Kant, as a person +belonging to all ages, in his mind transcended and extinguished +the ordinary restraints of human sensibility, and that, under this +impression, he gave _that_ to his sense of a public duty which, it may +be hoped, he would willingly have declined on the impulse of his private +affections. + +_The following paper on The Last Days of Kant, is gathered from the +German of Wasianski, Jachmann, Borowski, and others._ + +My knowledge of Professor Kant began long before the period to which +this little memorial of him chiefly refers. In the year 1773, or 1774, +I cannot exactly remember which, I attended his lectures. Afterwards, I +acted as his amanuensis; and in that office was naturally brought into +a closer connection with him than any other of his pupils; so that, +without any request on my part, he granted me a general privilege of +free admission to his class-room. In 1780 I took orders, and withdrew +myself from all connection with the university. I still continued, +however, to reside in Koenigsberg; but wholly forgotten, or wholly +unnoticed at least, by Kant. Ten years afterwards, (that is to say, +in 1790,) I met him by accident at a party given on occasion of the +marriage of one of the professors. At table, Kant distributed +his conversation and attentions pretty generally; but after the +entertainment, when the company broke up into parties, he came and +seated himself very obligingly by my side. I was at that time a +florist--an amateur, I mean, from the passion I had for flowers; +upon learning which, he talked of my favorite pursuit, and with +very extensive information. In the course of our conversation, I +was surprised to find that he was perfectly acquainted with all +the circumstances of my situation. He reminded me of our previous +connection; expressed his satisfaction at finding that I was happy; and +was so good as to desire that, if my engagements allowed me, I would now +and then come and dine with him. Soon after this, he rose to take his +leave; and, as our road lay the same way, he proposed to me that I +should accompany him home. I did so, and received an invitation for +the next week, with a general invitation for every week after, and +permission to name my own day. At first I was unable to explain the +distinction with which Kant had treated me; and I conjectured that +some obliging friend had spoken of me in his hearing, somewhat more +advantageously than I could pretend to deserve; but more intimate +experience has convinced me that he was in the habit of making continual +inquiries after the welfare of his former pupils, and was heartily +rejoiced to hear of their prosperity. So that it appeared I was wrong in +thinking he had forgotten me. + +This revival of my intimacy with Professor Kant, coincided pretty +nearly, in point of time, with a complete change in his domestic +arrangements. Up to this period it had been his custom to eat at a +_table d'hote_. But he now began to keep house himself, and every day +invited two friends to dine with him, and upon any little festival from +five to eight; for he was a punctual observer of Lord Chesterfield's +rule--that his dinner party, himself included, should not fall below the +number of the Graces--nor exceed that of the Muses. In the whole economy +of his household arrangements, and especially of his dinner parties, +there was something peculiar and amusingly opposed to the usual +conventional restraints of society; not, however, that there was any +neglect of decorum, such as sometimes occurs in houses where there are +no ladies to impress a better tone upon the manners. The invariable +routine was this: The moment that dinner was ready, Lampe, the +professor's old footman, stepped into the study with a certain measured +air, and announced it. This summons was obeyed at the pace of double +quick time--Kant talking all the way to the eating-room about the state +of the weather [Footnote: His reason for which was, that he considered +the weather one of the principal forces which act upon the health; +and his own frame was exquisitely sensible to all atmospheric +influences.]--a subject which he usually pursued during the earlier part +of the dinner. Graver themes, such as the political events of the day, +were never introduced before dinner, or at all in his study. The moment +that Kant had taken his seat, and unfolded his napkin, he opened the +business of dinner with a particular formula--'_Now, then, gentlemen!_' +and the tone and air with which he uttered these words, proclaimed, in +a way which nobody could mistake, relaxation from the toils of the +morning, and determinate abandonment of himself to social enjoyment. +The table was hospitably spread; three dishes, wine, &c., with a small +second course, composed the dinner. Every person helped himself; and all +delays of ceremony were so disagreeable to Kant, that he seldom failed +to express his displeasure with anything of that sort, though not +angrily. He was displeased also if people ate little; and treated it as +affectation. The first man to help himself was in his eyes the politest +guest; for so much the sooner came his own turn. For this hatred of +delay, Kant had a special excuse, having always worked hard from an +early hour in the morning, and eaten nothing until dinner. Hence it was, +that in the latter period of his life, though less perhaps from actual +hunger than from some uneasy sensation of habit or periodical irritation +of stomach, he could hardly wait with patience for the arrival of the +last person invited. + +There was no friend of Kant's but considered the day on which he was to +dine with him as a day of pleasure. Without giving himself the air of +an instructor, Kant really was so in the very highest degree. The whole +entertainment was seasoned with the overflow of his enlightened mind, +poured out naturally and unaffectedly upon every topic, as the chances +of conversation suggested it; and the time flew rapidly away, from one +o'clock to four, five, or even later, profitably and delightfully. Kant +tolerated no _calms_, which was the name he gave to the momentary pauses +in conversation, or periods when its animation languished. Some means or +other he always devised for restoring its tone of interest, in which he +was much assisted by the tact with which he drew from every guest his +peculiar tastes, or the particular direction of his pursuits; and on +these, be they what they might, he was never unprepared to speak with +knowledge, and the interest of an original observer. The local affairs +of Koenigsberg must have been interesting indeed, before they could be +allowed to occupy the attention at _his_ table. And, what may seem still +more singular, it was rarely or never that he directed the conversation +to any branch of the philosophy founded by himself. Indeed he was +perfectly free from the fault which besets so many _savans_ and +_literati_, of intolerance towards those whose pursuits had disqualified +them for any particular sympathy with his own. His style of conversation +was popular in the highest degree, and unscholastic; so much so, that +any stranger who should have studied his works, and been unacquainted +with his person, would have found it difficult to believe, that in this +delightful companion he saw the profound author of the Transcendental +Philosophy. + +The subjects of conversation at Kant's table were drawn chiefly from +natural philosophy, chemistry, meteorology, natural history, and above +all, from politics. The news of the day, as reported in the public +journals, was discussed with a peculiar vigilance of examination. With +regard to any narrative that wanted dates of time and place, however +otherwise plausible, he was uniformly an inexorable sceptic, and held it +unworthy of repetition. So keen was his penetration into the interior of +political events, and the secret policy under which they moved, that he +talked rather with the authority of a diplomatic person who had access +to cabinet intelligence, than as a simple spectator of the great scenes +which were unfolding in Europe. At the time of the French Revolution, +he threw out many conjectures, and what were then accounted paradoxical +anticipations, especially in regard to military operations, which were +as punctually fulfilled as his own memorable conjecture in regard to the +hiatus in the planetary system between Mars and Jupiter,[Footnote: To +which the author should have added--and in regard to the hiatus between +the planetary and cometary systems, which was pointed out by Kant +several years before his conjecture was established by the good +telescope of Dr. Herschel. Vesta and Juno, further confirmations of +Kant's conjecture, were discovered in June 1804, when Wasianski wrote.] +the entire confirmation of which he lived to witness on the discovery +of Ceres by Piazzi, in Palermo, and of Pallas, by Dr. Olbers, at +Bremen. These two discoveries, by the way, impressed him much; and +they furnished a topic on which he always talked with pleasure; though, +according to his usual modesty, he never said a word of his own +sagacity in having upon _a priori_ grounds shown the probability of such +discoveries many years before. + +It was not only in the character of a companion that Kant shone, but +also as a most courteous and liberal host, who had no greater pleasure +than in seeing his guests happy and jovial, and rising with exhilarated +spirits from the mixed pleasures--intellectual and liberally sensual--of +his Platonic banquets. Chiefly, perhaps, with a view to the sustaining +of this tone of genial hilarity, he showed himself somewhat of an artist +in the composition of his dinner parties. Two rules there were which he +obviously observed, and I may say invariably: the first was, that +the company should be miscellaneous; this for the sake of securing +sufficient variety to the conversation: and accordingly his parties +presented as much variety as the world of Koenigsberg afforded, being +drawn from all the modes of life, men in office, professors, physicians, +clergymen, and enlightened merchants. His second rule was, to have a due +balance of _young_ men, frequently of _very_ young men, selected from +the students of the university, in order to impress a movement of gaiety +and juvenile playfulness on the conversation; an additional motive for +which, as I have reason to believe, was, that in this way he withdrew +his mind from the sadness which sometimes overshadowed it, for the early +deaths of some young friends whom he loved. + +And this leads me to mention a singular feature in Kant's way of +expressing his sympathy with his friends in sickness. So long as the +danger was imminent, he testified a restless anxiety, made perpetual +inquiries, waited with patience for the crisis, and sometimes could not +pursue his customary labors from agitation of mind. But no sooner was +the patient's death announced, than he recovered his composure, and +assumed an air of stern tranquillity--almost of indifference. The reason +was, that he viewed life in general, and therefore, that particular +affection of life which we call sickness, as a state of oscillation and +perpetual change, between which and the fluctuating sympathies of hope +and fear, there was a natural proportion that justified them to the +reason; whereas death, as a permanent state that admitted of no _more_ +or _less_, that terminated all anxiety, and for ever extinguished the +agitation of suspense, he would not allow to be fitted to any state of +feeling, but one of the same enduring and unchanging character. However, +all this philosophic heroism gave way on one occasion; for many persons +will remember the tumultuous grief which he manifested upon the death +of Mr. Ehrenboth, a young man of very fine understanding and extensive +attainments, for whom he had the greatest affection. And naturally it +happened, in so long a life as his, in spite of his provident rule for +selecting his social companions as much as possible amongst the young, +that he had to mourn for many a heavy loss that could never be supplied +to him. + +To return, however, to the course of his day, immediately after the +termination of his dinner party, Kant walked out for exercise; but on +this occasion he never took any companion, partly, perhaps, because he +thought it right, after so much convivial and colloquial relaxation, to +pursue his meditations,[Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is wrong. To pursue his +meditations under these circumstances, might perhaps be an inclination +of Kant's to which he yielded, but not one which he would justify or +erect into a maxim. He disapproved of eating alone, or _solipsismus +convictorii_, as he calls it, on the principle, that a man would be apt, +if not called off by the business and pleasure of a social party, to +think too much or too closely, an exercise which he considered very +injurious to the stomach during the first process of digestion. On the +same principle he disapproved of walking or riding alone; the double +exercise of thinking and bodily agitation, carried on at the same time, +being likely, as he conceived, to press too hard upon the stomach.] and +partly (as I happen to know) for a very peculiar reason, viz., that he +wished to breathe exclusively through his nostrils, which he could not +do if he were obliged continually to open his mouth in conversation. His +reason for this was, that the atmospheric air, being thus carried round +by a longer circuit, and reaching the lungs, therefore, in a state of +less rawness, and at a temperature somewhat higher, would be less apt +to irritate them. By a steady perseverance in this practice, which he +constantly recommended to his friends, he flattered himself with a long +immunity from coughs, colds, hoarseness, and every mode of defluxion; +and the fact really was, that these troublesome affections attacked him +very rarely. Indeed I myself, by only occasionally adopting his rule, +have found my chest not so liable as formerly to such attacks. + +At six o'clock he sat down to his library table, which was a plain +ordinary piece of furniture, and read till dusk. During this period of +dubious light, so friendly to thought, he rested in tranquil meditation +on what he had been reading, provided the book were worth it; if not, he +sketched his lecture for the next day, or some part of any book he +might then be composing. During this state of repose he took his station +winter and summer by the stove, looking through the window at the old +tower of Lobenicht; not that he could be said properly to see it, but +the tower rested upon his eye,--obscurely, or but half revealed to his +consciousness. No words seemed forcible enough to express his sense of +the gratification which he derived from this old tower, when seen under +these circumstances of twilight and quiet reverie. The sequel, indeed, +showed how important it was to his comfort; for at length some poplars +in a neighboring garden shot up to such a height as to obscure the +tower, upon which Kant became very uneasy and restless, and at length +found himself positively unable to pursue his evening meditations. +Fortunately, the proprietor of the garden was a very considerate +and obliging person, who had, besides, a high regard for Kant; and, +accordingly, upon a representation of the case being made to him, he +gave orders that the poplars should be cropped. This was done, the +old tower of Lobenicht was again unveiled, and Kant recovered his +equanimity, and pursued his twilight meditations as before. + +After the candles were brought, Kant prosecuted his studies till nearly +ten o'clock. A quarter of an hour before retiring for the night, he +withdrew his mind as much as possible from every class of thoughts which +demanded any exertion or energy of attention, on the principle, that +by stimulating and exciting him too much, such thoughts would be apt +to cause wakefulness; and the slightest interference with his customary +hour of falling asleep, was in the highest degree unpleasant to him. +Happily, this was with him a very rare occurrence. He undressed himself +without his servant's assistance, but in such an order, and with such a +Roman regard to decorum and the _to prepon_, that he was always ready +at a moment's warning to make his appearance without embarrassment to +himself or to others. This done, he lay down on a mattress, and wrapped +himself up in a quilt, which in summer was always of cotton,--in autumn, +of wool; at the setting-in of winter he used both--and against very +severe cold, he protected himself by one of eider-down, of which the +part which covered his shoulders was not stuffed with feathers, but +padded, or rather wadded closely with layers of wool. Long practice had +taught him a very dexterous mode of _nesting_ himself, as it were, in +the bed-clothes. First of all, he sat down on the bedside; then with an +agile motion he vaulted obliquely into his lair; next he drew one corner +of the bedclothes under his left shoulder, and passing it below his +back, brought it round so as to rest under his right shoulder; fourthly, +by a particular _tour d'adresse_, he treated the other corner in the +same way, and finally contrived to roll it round his whole person. Thus +swathed like a mummy, or (as I used to tell him) self-involved like +the silk-worm in its cocoon, he awaited the approach of sleep, which +generally came on immediately. For Kant's health was exquisite; not +mere negative health, or the absence of pain, but a state of positive +pleasurable sensation, and a genial sense of the entire possession of +all his activities. Accordingly, when packed up for the night in the +way I have described, he would often ejaculate to himself (as he used to +tell us at dinner)--'Is it possible to conceive a human being with more +perfect health than myself?' In fact, such was the innocence of his +life, and such the happy condition of his situation, that no uneasy +passion ever arose to excite him--nor care to harass--nor pain to awake +him. Even in the severest winter his sleeping-room was without a fire; +only in his latter years he yielded so far to the entreaties of his +friends as to allow of a very small one. All nursing or self-indulgence +found no quarter with Kant. In fact, five minutes, in the coldest +weather, sufficed to supersede the first chill of the bed, by the +diffusion of a general glow over his person. If he had any occasion to +leave his room in the night-time, (for it was always kept dark day and +night, summer and winter,) he guided himself by a rope, which was duly +attached to his bed-post every night, and carried into the adjoining +apartment. + +Kant never perspired, [Footnote: This appears less extraordinary, +considering the description of Kant's person, given originally by +Reichardt, about eight years after his death. 'Kant,' says this writer, +'was drier than dust both in body and mind. His person was small; and +possibly a more meagre, arid, parched anatomy of a man, has not appeared +upon this earth. The upper part of his face was grand; forehead lofty +and serene, nose elegantly turned, eyes brilliant and penetrating; but +below it expressed powerfully the coarsest sensuality, which in him +displayed itself by immoderate addiction to eating and drinking.' This +last feature of his temperament is here expressed much too harshly.] +night or day. Yet it was astonishing how much heat he supported +habitually in his study, and in fact was not easy if it wanted but +one degree of this heat. Seventy-five degrees of Fahrenheit was the +invariable temperature of this room in which he chiefly lived; and if it +fell below that point, no matter at what season of the year, he had it +raised artificially to the usual standard. In the heats of summer he +went thinly dressed, and invariably in silk stockings; yet, as even this +dress could not always secure him against perspiring when engaged in +active exercise, he had a singular remedy in reserve. Retiring to some +shady place, he stood still and motionless--with the air and attitude +of a person listening, or in suspense--until his usual _aridity_ was +restored. Even in the most sultry summer night, if the slightest +trace of perspiration had sullied his night-dress, he spoke of it with +emphasis, as of an accident that perfectly shocked him. + +On this occasion, whilst illustrating Kant's notions of the animal +economy, it may be as well to add one other particular, which is, that +for fear of obstructing the circulation of the blood, he never would +wear garters; yet, as he found it difficult to keep up his stockings +without them, he had invented for himself a most elaborate substitute, +which I shall describe. In a little pocket, somewhat smaller than +a watch-pocket, but occupying pretty nearly the same situation as a +watch-pocket on each thigh, there was placed a small box, something like +a watch-case, but smaller; into this box was introduced a watch-spring +in a wheel, round about which wheel was wound an elastic cord, for +regulating the force of which there was a separate contrivance. To the +two ends of this cord were attached hooks, which hooks were carried +through a small aperture in the pockets, and so passing down the inner +and the outer side of the thigh, caught hold of two loops which were +fixed on the off side and the near side of each stocking. As might be +expected, so complex an apparatus was liable, like the Ptolemaic system +of the heavens, to occasional derangements; however, by good luck, I +was able to apply an easy remedy to these disorders which sometimes +threatened to disturb the comfort, and even the serenity, of the great +man. + +Precisely at five minutes before five o'clock, winter or summer, Lampe, +Kant's servant, who had formerly served in the army, marched into his +master's room with the air of a sentinel on duty, and cried aloud in +a military tone,--'Mr. Professor, the time is come.' This summons Kant +invariably obeyed without one moment's delay, as a soldier does the word +of command--never, under any circumstances, allowing himself a respite, +not even under the rare accident of having passed a sleepless night. As +the clock struck five, Kant was seated at the breakfast-table, where he +drank what he called _one_ cup of tea; and no doubt he thought it such; +but the fact was, that in part from his habit of reverie, and in part +also for the purpose of refreshing its warmth, he filled up his cup so +often, that in general he is supposed to have drunk two, three, or some +unknown number. Immediately after he smoked a pipe of tobacco, (the only +one which he allowed himself through the entire day,) but so rapidly, +that a pile of glowing embers remained unsmoked. During this operation +he thought over his arrangements for the day, as he had done the +evening before during the twilight. About seven he usually went to his +lecture-room, and from that he returned to his writing-table. Precisely +at three quarters before one he rose from his chair, and called aloud to +the cook,--'It has struck three quarters.' The meaning of which summons +was this:--Immediately after taking soup, it was his constant practice +to swallow what he called a dram, which consisted either of Hungarian +wine, of Rhenish, of a cordial, or (in default of these) of Bishop. +A flask of this was brought up by the cook on the proclamation of the +three quarters. Kant hurried with it to the eating-room, poured out his +_quantum_, left it standing in readiness, covered, however, with paper, +to prevent its becoming vapid, and then went back to his study, and +awaited the arrival of his guests, whom to the latest period of his life +he never received but in full dress. + +Thus we come round again to dinner, and the reader has now an accurate +picture of the course of Kant's day; the rigid monotony of which was not +burthensome to him; and probably contributed, with the uniformity of his +diet, and other habits of the same regularity, to lengthen his life. On +this consideration, indeed, he had come to regard his health and his old +age as in a great measure the product of his own exertions. He spoke of +himself often under the figure of a gymnastic artist, who had continued +for nearly fourscore years to support his balance upon the slack-rope +of life, without once swerving to the right or to the left. In spite of +every illness to which his constitutional tendencies had exposed him, +he still kept his position in life triumphantly. However, he would +sometimes observe sportively, that it was really absurd, and a sort of +insult to the next generation for a man to live so long, because he thus +interfered with the prospects of younger people. + +This anxious attention to his health accounts for the great interest +which he attached to all new discoveries in medicine, or to new ways +of theorizing on the old ones. As a work of great pretension in +both classes, he set the highest value upon the theory of the Scotch +physician Brown, or (as it is usually called, from the Latin name of its +author,) the Brunonian Theory. No sooner had Weikard adopted [Footnote: +This theory was afterwards greatly modified in Germany; and, judging +from the random glances which I throw on these subjects, I believe that +in this recast it still keeps its ground in that country.] and made it +known in Germany, than Kant became familiar with it. He considered it +not only as a great step taken for medicine, but even for the general +interests of man, and fancied that in this he saw something analogous +to the course which human nature has held in still more important +inquiries, viz.: first of all, a continual ascent towards the more and +more elaborately complex, and then a treading back, on its own steps, +towards the simple and elementary. Dr. Beddoes's Essays, also, for +producing by art and curing pulmonary consumption, and the method of +Reich for curing fevers, made a powerful impression upon him; which, +however, declined as those novelties (especially the last) began to +sink in credit. As to Dr. Jenner's discovery of vaccination, he was less +favorably disposed to it; he apprehended dangerous consequences from the +absorption of a brutal miasma into the human blood, or at least into +the lymph; and at any rate he thought, that, as a guarantee against the +variolous infection, it required a much longer probation. Groundless +as all these views were, it was exceedingly entertaining to hear the +fertility of argument and analogy which he brought forward to support +them. One of the subjects which occupied him at the latter end of his +life, was the theory and phenomena of galvanism, which, however, he +never satisfactorily mastered. Augustin's book upon this subject was +about the last that he read, and his copy still retains on the margin +his, pencil-marks of doubts, queries and suggestions. + +The infirmities of age now began to steal upon Kant, and betrayed +themselves in more shapes than one. Connected with Kant's prodigious +memory for all things that had any intellectual bearings, he had from +youth labored under an unusual weakness of this faculty in relation to +the common affairs of daily life. Some remarkable instances of this +are on record, from the period of his childish days; and now, when his +second childhood was commencing, this infirmity increased upon him very +sensibly. One of the first signs was, that he began to repeat the same +stories more than once on the same day. Indeed, the decay of his memory +was too palpable to escape his own notice; and, to provide against it, +and secure himself from all apprehension of inflicting tedium upon his +guests, he began to write a syllabus, or list of themes, for each day's +conversation, on cards, or the covers of letters, or any chance scrap +of paper. But these memoranda accumulated so fast upon him, and were so +easily lost, or not forthcoming at the proper moment, that I prevailed +on him to substitute a blank-paper book, which I had directed to be +made, and which still remains, with some affecting memorials of his own +conscious weakness. As often happens, however, in such cases, he had a +perfect memory for the remote events of his life, and could repeat with +great readiness, and without once stumbling, very long passages from +German or Latin poems, especially from the AEneid, whilst the very +words that had been uttered but a moment before dropped away from his +remembrance. The past came forward with the distinctness and liveliness +of an immediate existence, whilst the present faded away into the +obscurity of infinite distance. + +Another sign of his mental decay was the weakness with which he now +began to theorize. He accounted for everything by electricity. A +singular mortality at this time prevailed amongst the cats of Vienna, +Basle, Copenhagen, and other places. Cats being so eminently an electric +animal, of course he attributed this epizootic to electricity. During +the same period, he persuaded himself that a peculiar configuration of +clouds prevailed; this he took as a collateral proof of his electrical +hypothesis. His own headaches, too, which in all probability were a mere +remote effect of old age, and a direct one of an inability [Footnote: +Mr. Wasianski is quite in the wrong here. If the hindrances which nature +presented to the act of thinking were now on the increase, on the other +hand, the disposition to think, by his own acknowledgment, was on the +wane. The power and the habit altering in proportion, there is no case +made out of that disturbed equilibrium to which apparently he would +attribute the headaches. But the fact is, that, if he had been as well +acquainted with Kant's writings as with Kant personally, he would +have known, that some affection of the head of a spasmodic kind was +complained of by Kant at a time when nobody could suspect him of being +in a decaying state.] to think as easily and as severely as formerly, +he explained upon the same principle. And this was a notion of which his +friends were not anxious to disabuse him, because, as something of +the same character of weather (and therefore probably the same general +tendency of the electric power) is found to prevail for whole cycles +of years, entrance upon another cycle held out to him some prospect of +relief. A delusion which secured the comforts of hope was the next best +thing to an actual remedy; and a man who, in such circumstances, is +cured of his delusion, '_cui demptus per vim mentis gratissimus error_,' +might reasonably have exclaimed, '_Pol, me occidistis, amici._' + +Possibly the reader may suppose, that, in this particular instance +of charging his own decays upon the state of the atmosphere, Kant was +actuated by the weakness of vanity, or some unwillingness to face the +real fact that his powers were decaying. But this was not the case. +He was perfectly aware of his own condition, and, as early as 1799, he +said, in my presence, to a party of his friends--'Gentlemen, I am old, +and weak, and childish, and you must treat me as a child.' Or perhaps it +may be thought that he shrank from the contemplation of death, which, +as apoplexy seemed to be threatened by the pains in his head, might +have happened any day. But neither was this the case. He now lived in a +continual state of resignation, and prepared to meet any dispensation of +Providence. 'Gentlemen,' said he one day to his guests, 'I do not fear +to die. I assure you, as in the presence of God, that if I were this +night to be made suddenly aware that I was on the point of being +summoned, I would raise my hands to heaven, fold them, and say, Blessed +be God! If indeed it were possible that a whisper such as this could +reach my ear--Fourscore years thou hast lived, in which time thou hast +inflicted much evil upon thy fellow-men, the case would be otherwise.' +Whosoever has heard Kant speak of his own death, will bear witness +to the tone of earnest sincerity which, on such occasions, marked his +manner and utterance. + +A third sign of his decaying faculties was, that he now lost all +accurate measure of time. One minute, nay, without exaggeration, a much +less space of time, stretched out in his apprehension of things to a +wearisome duration. Of this I can give one rather amusing instance, +which was of constant recurrence. At the beginning of the last year of +his life, he fell into a custom of taking immediately after dinner a cup +of coffee, especially on those days when it happened that I was of his +party. And such was the importance he attached to this little pleasure, +that he would even make a memorandum beforehand, in the blank-paper +book I had given him, that on the next day I was to dine with him, and +consequently that there was to be coffee. Sometimes it would happen, +that the interest of conversation carried him past the time at which +he felt the craving for it; and this I was not sorry to observe, as I +feared that coffee, which he had never been accustomed to, [Footnote: +How this happened to be the case in Germany, Mr. Wasianski has not +explained. Perhaps the English merchants at Koenigsberg, being amongst +Kant's oldest and most intimate friends, had early familiarized him +to the practice of drinking tea, and to other English tastes. However, +Jachmann tells us, (p. 164,) that Kant was extravagantly fond of coffee, +but forced himself to abstain from it under a notion that it was very +unwholesome.] might disturb his rest at night. But, if this did not +happen, then commenced a scene of some interest. Coffee must be brought +'upon the spot,' (a word he had constantly in his mouth during his +latter days,) 'in a moment.' And the expressions of his impatience, +though from old habit still gentle, were so lively, and had so much of +infantine naivete about them, that none of us could forbear smiling. +Knowing what would happen, I had taken care that all the preparations +should be made beforehand; the coffee was ground; the water was boiling; +and the very moment the word was given, his servant shot in like +an arrow, and plunged the coffee into the water. All that remained, +therefore, was to give it time to boil up. But this trifling delay +seemed unendurable to Kant. All consolations were thrown away upon him: +vary the formula as we might, he was never at a loss for a reply. If +it was said--'Dear Professor, the coffee will be brought up in a +moment.'--'_Will_ be!' he would say, 'but there's the rub, that it only +_will_ be: + + Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest.' + +If another cried out--'The coffee is coming immediately.'--'Yes,' he +would retort, 'and so is the next hour: and, by the way, it's about that +length of time that I have waited for it.' Then he would collect himself +with a stoical air, and say--'Well, one can die after all: it is but +dying; and in the next world, thank God! there is no drinking of coffee, +and consequently no--waiting for it.' Sometimes he would rise from his +chair, open the door, and cry out with a feeble querulousness--'Coffee! +coffee!' And when at length he heard the servant's step upon the stairs, +he would turn round to us, and, as joyfully as ever sailor from the +mast-head, he would call out--'Land, land! my dear friends, I see land.' + +This general decline in Kant's powers, active and passive, gradually +brought about a revolution in his habits of life. Heretofore, as I have +already mentioned, he went to bed at ten, and rose a little before five. +The latter practice he still observed, but not the other. In 1802 he +retired as early as nine, and afterwards still earlier. He found himself +so much refreshed by this addition to his rest, that at first he was +disposed to utter a _Euraeka_, as over some great discovery in the +art of restoring exhausted nature: but afterwards, on pushing it still +farther, he did not find the success answer his expectations. His walks +he now limited to a few turns in the King's gardens, which were at no +great distance from his own house. In order to walk more firmly, he +adopted a peculiar method of stepping; he carried his foot to the +ground, not forward, and obliquely, but perpendicularly, and with a kind +of stamp, so as to secure a larger basis, by setting down the entire +sole at once. Notwithstanding this precaution, upon one occasion he +fell in the street. He was quite unable to raise himself; and two young +ladies, who saw the accident, ran to his assistance. With his usual +graciousness of manner he thanked them fervently for their assistance, +and presented one of them with a rose which he happened to have in his +hand. This lady was not personally known to Kant; but she was greatly +delighted with his little present, and still keeps the rose as a frail +memorial of her transitory interview with the great philosopher. + +This accident, as I have reason to think, was the cause of his +henceforth renouncing exercise altogether. All labors, even that of +reading, were now performed slowly, and with manifest effort; and those +which cost him any bodily exertion became very exhausting to him. His +feet refused to do their office more and more; he fell continually, both +when moving across the room, and even when standing still: yet he +seldom suffered from these falls; and he constantly laughed at them, +maintaining that it was impossible he could hurt himself, from the +extreme lightness of his person, which was indeed by this time the +merest skeleton. Very often, especially in the morning, he dropped +asleep in his chair from pure weariness: on these occasions he fell +forward upon the floor, and lay there unable to raise himself up, until +accident brought one of his servants or his friends into the room. +Afterwards these falls were prevented, by substituting a chair with +circular supports, that met and clasped in front. + +These unseasonable dozings exposed him to another danger. He fell +repeatedly, whilst reading, with his head into the candles; a cotton +night-cap which he wore was instantly in a blaze, and flaming about his +head. Whenever this happened, Kant behaved with great presence of mind. +Disregarding the pain, he seized the blazing cap, drew it from his head, +laid it quietly on the floor, and trod out the flames with his feet. +Yet, as this last act brought his dressing-gown into a dangerous +neighborhood to the flames, I changed the form of his cap, persuaded him +to arrange the candles differently, and had a decanter of water placed +constantly by his side; and in this way I applied a remedy to a danger, +which would else probably have been fatal to him. + +From the sallies of impatience, which I have described in the case +of the coffee, there was reason to fear that, with the increasing +infirmities of Kant, would grow up a general waywardness and obstinacy +of temper. For my own sake, therefore, and not less for his, I now laid +down one rule for my future conduct in his house; which was, that I +would, on no occasion, allow my reverence for him to interfere with the +firmest expression of my opinion on subjects relating to his own health; +and in cases of great importance, that I would make no compromise with +his particular humors, but insist, not only on my view of the case, but +also on the practical adoption of my views; or, if this were refused me, +that I would take my departure at once, and not be made responsible +for the comfort of a person whom I had no power to influence. And this +behavior on my part it was that won Kant's confidence; for there was +nothing which disgusted him so much as any approach to fawning or +sycophancy. As his imbecility increased, he became daily more liable +to mental delusions; and, in particular, he fell into many fantastic +notions about the conduct of his servants, and, in consequence, into a +peevish mode of treating them. Upon these occasions I generally observed +a deep silence. But sometimes he would ask me for my opinion; and +when this happened, I did not scruple to say, 'Ingenuously, then, Mr. +Professor, I think that you are in the wrong.'--'You think so?' he would +reply calmly, at the same time asking for my reasons, which he would +listen to with great patience, and openness to conviction. Indeed, +it was evident that the firmest opposition, so long as it rested upon +assignable grounds and principles, won upon his regard; whilst his own +nobleness of character still moved him to habitual contempt for timorous +and partial acquiescence in his opinions, even when his infirmities made +him most anxious for such acquiescence. + +Earlier in life Kant had been little used to contradiction. His superb +understanding, his brilliancy in conversation, founded in part upon his +ready and sometimes rather caustic wit, and in part upon his prodigious +command of knowledge--the air of noble self-confidence which the +consciousness of these advantages impressed upon his manners--and the +general knowledge of the severe innocence of his life--all combined to +give him a station of superiority to others, which generally secured +him from open contradiction. And if it sometimes happened that he met a +noisy and intemperate opposition, supported by any pretences to wit, he +usually withdrew himself from that sort of unprofitable altercation with +dignity, by contriving to give such a turn to the conversation as won +the general favor of the company to himself, and impressed, silence, or +modesty at least, upon the boldest disputant. From a person so little +familiar with opposition, it could scarcely have been anticipated that +he should daily surrender his wishes to mine--if not without discussion, +yet always without displeasure. So, however, it was. No habit, of +whatever long standing, could be objected to as injurious to his health, +but he would generally renounce it. And he had this excellent custom in +such cases, that either he would resolutely and at once decide for his +own opinion, or, if he professed to follow his friend's, he would follow +it sincerely, and not try it unfairly by trying it imperfectly. Any +plan, however trifling, which he had once consented to adopt on the +suggestion of another, was never afterwards defeated or embarrassed +by unseasonable interposition from his own humors. And thus, the +very period of his decay drew forth so many fresh expressions of his +character, in its amiable or noble features, as daily increased my +affection and reverence for his person. + +Having mentioned his servants, I shall here take occasion to give some +account of his man-servant Lampe. It was a great misfortune for Kant, in +his old age and infirmities, that this man also became old, and subject +to a different sort of infirmities. This Lampe had originally served in +the Prussian army; on quitting which he entered the service of Kant. In +this situation he had lived about forty years; and, though always dull +and stupid, had, in the early part of this period, discharged his +duties with tolerable fidelity. But latterly, presuming upon his own +indispensableness, from his perfect knowledge of all the domestic +arrangements, and upon his master's weakness, he had fallen into +great irregularities and neglect of his duties. Kant had been obliged, +therefore, of late, to threaten repeatedly that he would discharge him. +I, who knew that Kant, though one of the kindest-hearted men, was also +one of the firmest, foresaw that this discharge, once given, would be +irrevocable: for the word of Kant was as sacred as other men's oaths. +Consequently, upon every opportunity, I remonstrated with Lampe on the +folly of his conduct, and his wife joined me on these occasions. Indeed, +it was high time that a change should be made in some quarter; for it +now became dangerous to leave Kant, who was constantly falling from +weakness, to the care of an old ruffian, who was himself apt to fall +from intoxication. The fact was, that from the moment I undertook the +management of Kant's affairs, Lampe saw there was an end to his old +system of abusing his master's confidence in pecuniary affairs, and the +other advantages which he took of his helpless situation. This made +him desperate, and he behaved worse and worse; until one morning, +in January, 1802, Kant told me, that, humiliating as he felt such a +confession, the fact was, that Lampe had just treated him in a way which +he was ashamed to repeat. I was too much shocked to distress him by +inquiring into the particulars. But the result was, that Kant now +insisted, temperately but firmly, on Lampe's dismissal. Accordingly, a +new servant, of the name of Kaufmann, was immediately engaged; and on +the next day Lampe was discharged with a handsome pension for life. + +Here I must mention a little circumstance which does honor to Kant's +benevolence. In his last will, on the assumption that Lampe would +continue with him to his death, he had made a very liberal provision +for him; but upon this new arrangement of the pension, which was to take +effect immediately, it became necessary to revoke that part of his will, +which he did in a separate codicil, that began thus:--'In consequence of +the ill behavior of my servant Lampe, I think fit,' &c. But soon after, +considering that such a record of Lampe's misconduct might be seriously +injurious to his interests, he cancelled the passage, and expressed it +in such a way, that no trace remained behind of his just displeasure. +And his benign nature was gratified with knowing, that, this one +sentence blotted out, there remained no other in all his numerous +writings, published or confidential, which spoke the language of anger, +or could leave any ground for doubting that he died in charity with all +the world. Upon Lampe's calling to demand a written character, he was, +however, a good deal embarrassed; his stern reverence for truth being, +in this instance, armed against the first impulses of his kindness. Long +and anxiously he sat, with the certificate lying before him, debating +how he should fill up the blanks. I was present, but in such a matter I +did not take the liberty of suggesting any advice. At last, he took +his pen, and filled up the blank as follows:--'--has served me long and +faithfully,'--(for Kant was not aware that he had robbed him,)--'but did +not display those particular qualifications which fitted him for waiting +on an old and infirm man like myself.' + +This scene of disturbance over, which to Kant, a lover of peace and +tranquillity, caused a shock that he would gladly have been spared; it +was fortunate that no other of that nature occurred during the rest +of his life. Kaufmann, the successor of Lampe, turned out to be a +respectable and upright man, and soon conceived a great attachment to +his master's person. Things now put on a new face in Kant's family: by +the removal of one of the belligerents, peace was once more restored +amongst his servants; for hitherto there had been eternal wars between +Lampe and the cook. Sometimes it was Lampe that carried a war of +aggression into the cook's territory of the kitchen; sometimes it was +the cook that revenged these insults, by sallying out upon Lampe in the +neutral ground of the hall, or invaded him even in his own sanctuary of +the butler's pantry. The uproars were everlasting; and thus far it was +fortunate for the peace of the philosopher, that his hearing had begun +to fail; by which means he was spared many an exhibition of hateful +passions and ruffian violence, which annoyed his guests and friends. +But now all things had changed: deep silence reigned in the pantry; the +kitchen rang no more with martial alarums; and the hall was unvexed with +skirmish or pursuit. Yet it may be readily supposed that to Kant, at the +age of seventy-eight, changes, even for the better, were not welcome: so +intense had been the uniformity of his life and habits, that the least +innovation in the arrangement of articles as trifling as a penknife, or +a pair of scissors, disturbed him; and not merely if they were pushed +two or three inches out of their customary position, but even if they +were laid a little awry; and as to larger objects, such as chairs, +&c., any dislocation of their usual arrangement, any trans position, or +addition to their number, perfectly confounded him; and his eye appeared +restlessly to haunt the seat of the mal-arrangement, until the ancient +order was restored. With such habits the reader may conceive how +distressing it must have been to him, at this period of decaying powers, +to adapt himself to a new servant, a new voice, a new step, &c. + +Aware of this, I had on the day before he entered upon his duties, +written down for the new servant upon a sheet of paper the entire +routine of Kant's daily life, down to the minutest and most trivial +circumstances; all which he mastered with the greatest rapidity. To +make sure, however, we went through a rehearsal of the whole ritual; +he performing the manoeuvres, I looking on and giving the word. Still I +felt uneasy at the idea of his being left entirely to his own discretion +on his first _debut_ in good earnest, and therefore I made a point of +attending on this important day; and in the few instances where the new +recruit missed the accurate manoeuvre, a glance or a nod from me easily +made him comprehend his failure. + +One part only there was of the daily ceremonial, where all of us were +at a loss, as it was a part which no mortal eyes had ever witnessed but +those of Lampe: this was breakfast. However, that we might do all in +our power, I myself attended at four o'clock in the morning. The day +happened, as I remember, to be the 1st of February, 1802. Precisely at +five, Kant made his appearance; and nothing could equal his astonishment +on finding me in the room. Fresh from the confusion of dreaming, and +bewildered alike by the sight of his new servant, by Lampe's absence, +and by my presence, he could with difficulty be made to comprehend the +purpose of my visit. A friend in need is a friend indeed; and we +would now have given any money to that learned person who could have +instructed us in the arrangement of the breakfast table. But this was a +mystery revealed to none but Lampe. At length Kant took this task upon +himself; and apparently all was now settled to his satisfaction. Yet +still it struck me that he was under some embarrassment or constraint. +Upon this I said--that, with his permission, I would take a cup of tea, +and afterwards smoke a pipe with him. He accepted my offer with his +usual courteous demeanor; but seemed unable to familiarize himself +with the novelty of his situation. I was at this time sitting directly +opposite to him; and at last he frankly told me, but with the kindest +and most apologetic air, that he was really under the necessity of +begging that I would sit out of his sight; for that, having sat alone at +the breakfast table for considerably more than half a century, he could +not abruptly adapt his mind to a change in this respect; and he found +his thoughts very sensibly disturbed. I did as he desired; the servant +retired into an antiroom, where he waited within call; and Kant +recovered his wonted composure. Just the same scene passed over again, +when I called at the same hour on a fine summer morning some months +after. + +Henceforth all went right: or, if occasionally some little mistake +occurred, Kant showed himself very considerate and indulgent, and would +remark of his own accord, that a new servant could not be expected to +know all his peculiar ways and humors. In one respect, indeed, this man +adapted himself to Kant's scholarlike taste, in a way which Lampe +was incapable of doing. Kant was somewhat fastidious in matters of +pronunciation; and this man had a great facility in catching the true +sound of Latin words, the titles of books, and the names or designations +of Kant's friends: not one of which accomplishments could Lampe, the +most insufferable of blockheads, ever attain to. In particular, I have +been told by Kant's old friends, that for the space of more than thirty +years, during which he had been in the habit of reading the newspaper +published by Hartung, Lampe delivered it with the same identical blunder +on every day of publication.--'Mr. Professor, here is Hart_mann's_ +journal.' Upon which Kant would reply--'Eh! what?--What's that you say? +Hartmann's journal? I tell you, it is not Hartmann, but Hartung: now, +repeat it after me--not Hartmann, but Hartung.' Then Lampe, looking +sulky, and drawing himself up with the stiff air of a soldier on guard, +and in the very same monotonous tone with which he had been used to sing +out his challenge of--_Who goes there?_ would roar--'not Hartmann, but +Hartung.' 'Now again!' Kant would say: on which again Lampe roared--'not +Hartmann, but Hartung.' 'Now a third time,' cried Kant: on which for +a third time the unhappy Lampe would howl out--'not Hartmann, but +Hartung.' And this whimsical scene of parade duty was continually +repeated: duly as the day of publication came, the irreclaimable old +dunce was put through the same manoeuvres, which were as invariably +followed by the same blunder on the next. In spite, however, of this +advantage, in the new servant, and his general superiority to his +predecessor, Kant's nature was too kind and good, and too indulgent to +all people's infirmities but his own, not to miss the voice and the 'old +familiar face' that he had been accustomed to for forty years. And I met +with what struck me as an affecting instance of Kant's yearning after +his old good-for-nothing servant in his memorandum-book: other people +record what they wish to remember; but Kant had here recorded what he +was to forget. 'Mem.: February, 1802, the name of Lampe must now be +remembered no more.' + +In the spring of this year, 1802, I advised Kant to take the air. It +was very long since he had been out of doors, [Footnote: Wasianski here +returns thanks to some unknown person, who, having observed that Kant in +his latter walks took pleasure in leaning against a particular wall to +view the prospect, had caused a seat to be fixed at that point for his +use.] and walking was now out of the question. But I thought the motion +of a carriage and the air would be likely to revive him. On the power of +vernal sights and sounds I did not much rely; for these had long ceased +to affect him. Of all the changes that spring brings with it, there +was one only that now interested Kant; and he longed for it with an +eagerness and intensity of expectation, that it was almost painful to +witness: this was the return of a hedge sparrow that sang in his garden, +and before his window. This bird, either the same, or one of the next +generation, had sung for years in the same situation; and Kant grew +uneasy when the cold weather, lasting longer than usual, retarded its +return. Like Lord Bacon, indeed, he had a childlike love for birds in +general, and in particular, took pains to encourage the sparrows to +build above the windows of his study; and when this happened, (as it +often did, from the silence which prevailed in his study,) he watched +their proceedings with the delight and the tenderness which others give +to a human interest. To return to the point I was speaking of, Kant was +at first very unwilling to accede to my proposal of going abroad. 'I +shall sink down in the carriage,' said he, 'and fall together like a +heap of old rags.' But I persisted with a gentle importunity in urging +him to the attempt, assuring him that we would return immediately if he +found the effort too much for him. Accordingly, upon a tolerably warm +day of early [Footnote: Mr. Wasianski says--_late_ in summer: but, as +he elsewhere describes by the same expression of 'late in summer,' a day +which was confessedly _before_ the longest day, and as the multitude +of birds which continued to sing will not allow us to suppose that +the summer could be very far advanced, I have translated accordingly.] +summer, I, and an old friend of Kant's, accompanied him to a little +place which I rented in the country. As we drove through the streets, +Kant was delighted to find that he could sit upright, and bear the +motion of the carriage, and seemed to draw youthful pleasure from the +sight of the towers and other public buildings, which he had not seen +for years. We reached the place of our destination in high spirits. Kant +drank a cup of coffee, and attempted to smoke a little. After this, he +sat and sunned himself, listening with delight to the warbling of birds, +which congregated in great numbers about this spot. He distinguished +every bird by its song, and called it by its right name. After staying +about half an hour, we set off on our homeward journey, Kant still +cheerful, but apparently satiated with his day's enjoyment. + +I had on this occasion purposely avoided taking him to any public +gardens, that I might not disturb his pleasure by exposing him to +the distressing gaze of public curiosity. However, it was known in +Koenigsberg that Kant had gone out; and accordingly, as the carriage +moved through the streets which led to his residence, there was a +general rush from all quarters in that direction, and, when we turned +into the street where the house stood, we found it already choked up +with people. As we slowly drew up to the door, a lane was formed in the +crowd, through which Kant was led, I and my friend supporting him on +our arms. Looking at the crowd, I observed the faces of many persons +of rank, and distinguished strangers, some of whom now saw Kant for the +first time, and many of them for the last. + +As the winter of 1802-3 approached, he complained more than ever of +an affection of the stomach, which no medical man had been able to +mitigate, or even to explain. The winter passed over in a complaining +way; he was weary of life, and longed for the hour of dismission. 'I +can be of service to the world no more,' said he, 'and am a burden +to myself.' Often I endeavored to cheer him by the anticipation of +excursions that we would make together when summer came again. On these +he calculated with so much earnestness, that he had made a regular scale +or classification of them--l. Airings; 2. Journeys; 3. Travels. And +nothing could equal the yearning impatience expressed for the coming of +spring and summer, not so much for their own peculiar attractions, as +because they were the seasons for travelling. In his memorandum-book, +he made this note:--'The three summer months are June, July, and +August'--meaning that they were the three months for travelling. And +in conversation he expressed the feverish strength of his wishes so +plaintively and affectingly, that everybody was drawn into powerful +sympathy with him, and wished for some magical means of ante-dating the +course of the seasons. + +In this winter his bed-room was often warmed. This was the room in which +he kept his little collection of books, of about four hundred and fifty +volumes, chiefly presentation-copies from the authors. It may seem +singular that Kant, who read so extensively, should have no larger +library; but he had less need of one than most scholars, having in his +earlier years been librarian at the Royal Library of the Castle; +and since then having enjoyed from the liberality of Hartknoch, his +publisher, (who, in his turn, had profited by the liberal terms on which +Kant had made over to him the copyright of his own works,) the first +sight of every new book that appeared. + +At the close of this winter, that is in 1803, Kant first began to +complain of unpleasant dreams, sometimes of very terrific ones, which +awakened him in great agitation. Oftentimes melodies, which he had heard +in earliest youth sung in the streets of Koenigsberg, resounded painfully +in his ears, and dwelt upon them in a way from which no efforts of +abstraction could release him. These kept him awake to unseasonable +hours; and often when, after long watching, he had fallen asleep, +however deep his sleep might be, it was suddenly broken up by terrific +dreams, which alarmed him beyond description. Almost every night, the +bell-rope, which communicated with a bell in the room above his own, +where his servant slept, was pulled violently, and with the utmost +agitation. No matter how fast the servant might hurry down, he was +almost always too late, and was pretty sure to find his master out of +bed, and often making his way in terror to some other part of the house. +The weakness of his feet exposed him to such dreadful falls on these +occasions, that at length (but with much difficulty) I persuaded him to +let his servant sleep in the same room with himself. + +The morbid affection of the stomach began now to be more and more +distressing; and he tried various applications, which he had formerly +been loud in condemning, such as a few drops of rum upon a piece of +sugar, naphtha, [Footnote: For Kant's particular complaint, as described +by other biographers, a quarter of a grain of opium, every twelve hours, +would have been the best remedy, perhaps a perfect remedy.] &c. But all +these were only palliatives; for his advanced age precluded the hope of +a radical cure. His dreadful dreams became continually more appalling: +single scenes, or passages in these dreams, were sufficient to compose +the whole course of mighty tragedies, the impression from which was +so profound as to stretch far into his waking hours. Amongst other +phantasmata more shocking and indescribable, his dreams constantly +represented to him the forms of murderers advancing to his bedside; and +so agitated was he by the awful trains of phantoms that swept past him +nightly, that in the first confusion of awaking he generally mistook +his servant, who was hastening to his assistance, for a murderer. In the +day-time we often conversed upon these shadowy illusions; and Kant, with +his usual spirit of stoical contempt for nervous weakness of every sort, +laughed at them; and, to fortify his own resolution to contend against +them, he wrote down in his memorandum-book, 'There must be no yielding +to panics of darkness.' At my suggestion, however, he now burned a light +in his chamber, so placed as that the rays might be shaded from his +face. At first he was very averse to this, though gradually he became +reconciled to it. But that he could bear it at all, was to me an +expression of the great revolution accomplished by the terrific agency +of his dreams. Heretofore, darkness and utter silence were the two +pillars on which his sleep rested: no step must approach his room; +and as to light, if he saw but a moonbeam penetrating a crevice of +the shutters, it made him unhappy; and, in fact, the windows of his +bed-chamber were barricadoed night and day. But now darkness was a +terror to him, and silence an oppression. In addition to his lamp, +therefore, he had now a repeater in his room; the sound was at first too +loud, but, after muffling the hammer with cloth, both the ticking and +the striking became companionable sounds to him. + +At this time (spring of 1803) his appetite began to fail, which I +thought no good sign. Many persons insist that Kant was in the habit of +eating too much for health. [Footnote: Who these worthy people were +that criticised Kant's eating, is not mentioned. They could have had no +opportunity of exercising their abilities on this question, except +as hosts, guests, or fellow-guests; and in any of those characters, a +gentleman, one would suppose, must feel himself degraded by directing +his attention to a point of that nature. However, the merits of the +case stand thus between the parlies: Kant, it is agreed by all his +biographers, ate only once a day; for as to his breakfast, it was +nothing more than a very weak infusion of tea, (vide Jachmann's Letters, +p. 163,) with no bread, or eatable of any kind. Now, his critics, by +general confession, ate their way, from 'morn to dewy eve,' through +the following course of meals: 1. Breakfast early in the morning; 2. +Breakfast _a la fourchette_ about ten, A.M.; 3. Dinner at one or two; +4. Vesper Brod; 5. Abend Brod; all which does really seem a very fair +allowance for a man who means to lecture upon abstinence at night. But +I shall cut this matter short by stating one plain fact; there were two +things, and no more, for which Kant had an inordinate craving during +his whole life; these were tobacco and coffee; and from both these +he abstained almost altogether, merely under a sense of duty, resting +probably upon erroneous grounds. Of the first he allowed himself a very +small quantity, (and everybody knows that temperance is a more difficult +virtue than abstinence;) of the other none at all, until the labors of +his life were accomplished.] I, however, cannot assent to this opinion; +for he ate but once a day, and drank no beer. Of this liquor, (I mean +the strong black beer,) he was, indeed, the most determined enemy. If +ever a man died prematurely, Kant would say--'He has been drinking beer, +I presume.' Or, if another were indisposed, you might be sure he would +ask, 'But does he drink beer?' And, according to the answer on this +point, he regulated his anticipations for the patient. Strong beer, in +short, he uniformly maintained to be a slow poison. Voltaire, by the +way, had said to a young physician who denounced coffee under the same +bad name of a 'slow poison,' 'You're right there, my friend, however; +slow it is, and horribly slow; for I have been drinking it these seventy +years, and it has not killed me yet;' but this was an answer which, in +the case of beer, Kant would not allow of. + +On the 22d of April, 1803, his birth-day, the last which he lived to +see, was celebrated in a full assembly of his friends. This festival he +had long looked forward to with great expectation, and delighted even +to hear the progress made in the preparations for it. But when the day +came, the over-excitement and tension of expectation seemed to have +defeated itself. He tried to appear happy; but the bustle of a numerous +company confounded and distressed him; and his spirits were manifestly +forced. He seemed first to revive to any real sense of pleasure at +night, when the company had departed, and he was undressing in his +study. He then talked with much pleasure about the presents which, as +usual, would be made to his servants on this occasion; for Kant was +never happy himself, unless he saw all around him happy. He was a great +maker of presents; but at the same time he had no toleration for the +studied theatrical effect, the accompaniment of formal congratulations, +and the sentimental pathos with which birth-day presents are made in +Germany. [Footnote: In this, as in many other things, the taste of Kant +was entirely English and Roman; as, on the other hand, some eminent +Englishmen, I am sorry to say, have, on this very point, shown the +effeminacy and _falsetto_ taste of the Germans. In particular, Mr. +Coleridge, describing, in The Friend, the custom amongst German children +of making presents to their parents on Christmas Eve, (a custom which +he unaccountably supposes to be peculiar to Ratzeburg,) represents the +mother as 'weeping aloud for joy'--the old idiot of a father with 'tears +running down his face,' &c. &c., and all for what? For a snuff-box, a +pencil-case, or some article of jewellery. Now, we English agree with +Kant on such maudlin display of stage sentimentality, and are prone to +suspect that papa's tears are the product of rum-punch. Tenderness +let us have by all means, and the deepest you can imagine, but upon +proportionate occasions, and with causes fitted to justify it and +sustain its dignity.] In all this, his masculine taste gave him a sense +of something fade and ludicrous. + +The summer of 1803 was now come, and, visiting Kant one day, I was +thunderstruck to hear him direct me, in the most serious tone, to +provide the funds necessary for an extensive foreign tour. I made +no opposition, but asked his reasons for such a plan; he alleged +the miserable sensations he had in his stomach, which were no longer +endurable. Knowing what power over Kant a quotation from a Roman poet +had always had, I simply replied--'Post equitem sedet atra cura,' +and for the present he said no more. But the touching and pathetic +earnestness with which he was continually ejaculating prayers for warmer +weather, made it doubtful to me whether his wishes on this point ought +not, partially at least, to be gratified; and I therefore proposed to +him a little excursion to the cottage we had visited the year before. +'Anywhere,' said he, 'no matter whither, provided it be far enough.' +Towards the latter end of June, therefore, we executed this scheme; +on getting into the carriage, the order of the day with Kant was, +'Distance, distance. Only let us go far enough,' said he: but scarcely +had we reached the city-gates before the journey seemed already to have +lasted too long. On reaching the cottage we found coffee waiting for +us; but he would scarcely allow himself time for drinking it, before +he ordered the carriage to the door; and the journey back seemed +insupportably long to him, though it was performed in something less +than twenty minutes. 'Is this never to have an end?' was his continual +exclamation; and great was his joy when he found himself once more in +his study, undressed, and in bed. And for this night he slept in peace, +and once again was liberated from the persecution of dreams. + +Soon after he began again to talk of journeys, of travels in remote +countries, &c., and, in consequence, we repeated our former excursion +several times; and though the circumstances were pretty nearly the same +on every occasion, and always terminating in disappointment as to the +immediate pleasure anticipated, yet, undoubtedly, they were, on the +whole, salutary to his spirits. In particular, the cottage itself, +standing under the shelter of tall alders, with a valley stretched +beneath it, through which a little brook meandered, broken by a +water-fall, whose pealing sound dwelt pleasantly on the ear, sometimes, +on a quiet sunny day, gave a lively delight to Kant: and once, under +accidental circumstances of summer clouds and sun-lights, the little +pastoral landscape suddenly awakened a lively remembrance which had been +long laid asleep, of a heavenly summer morning in youth, which he had +passed in a bower upon the banks of a rivulet that ran through the +grounds of a dear and early friend, Gen. Von Lossow. The strength of +the impression was such, that he seemed actually to be living over that +morning again, thinking as he then thought, and conversing with those +that were no more. + +His very last excursion was in August of this year, (1803,) not to my +cottage, but to the garden of a friend. But on this day he manifested +great impatience. It had been arranged that he was to meet an old +friend at the gardens; and I, with two other gentlemen, attended him. It +happened that _out_ party arrived first; and such was Kant's weakness, +and total loss of power to estimate the duration of time, that, after +waiting a few moments, he insisted that some hours had elapsed--that +his friend could not be expected--and went away in great discomposure of +mind. And so ended Kant's travelling in this world. + +In the beginning of autumn the sight of his right eye began to fail him; +the left he had long lost the use of. This earliest of his losses, +by the way, he discovered by mere accident, and without any previous +warning. Sitting down one day to rest himself in the course of a walk, +it occurred to him that he would try the comparative strength of his +eyes; but on taking out a newspaper which he had in his pocket, he was +surprised to find that with his left eye he could not distinguish a +letter. In earlier life he had two remarkable affections of the eyes: +once, on returning from a walk, he saw objects double for a long space +of time; and twice he became stone-blind. Whether these accidents are to +be considered as uncommon, I leave to the decision of oculists. Certain +it is, they gave very little disturbance to Kant; who, until old age had +reduced his powers, lived in a constant state of stoical preparation +for the worst that could befall him. I was now shocked to think of the +degree in which his burthensome sense of dependence would be aggravated, +if he should totally lose the power of sight. As it was, he read and +wrote with great difficulty: in fact, his writing was little better than +that which most people can produce as a trial of skill with their eyes +shut. From old habits of solitary study, he had no pleasure in +hearing others read to him; and he daily distressed me by the pathetic +earnestness of his entreaties that I would have a reading-glass devised +for him. Whatever my own optical skill could suggest, I tried; and +the best opticians were sent for to bring their glasses, and take his +directions for altering them; but all was to no purpose. + +In this last year of his life Kant very unwillingly received the +visits of strangers; and, unless under particular circumstances, wholly +declined them. Yet, when travellers had come a very great way out of +their road to see him, I confess that I was at a loss how to conduct +myself. To have refused too pertinaciously, could not but give me the +air of wishing to make myself of importance. And I must acknowledge, +that, amongst some instances of importunity and coarse expressions of +low-bred curiosity, I witnessed, on the part of many people of rank, +a most delicate sensibility to the condition of the aged recluse. On +sending in their cards, they would generally accompany them by some +message, expressive of their unwillingness to gratify their wish to see +him at any risk of distressing him. The fact was, that such visits _did_ +distress him much; for he felt it a degradation to be exhibited in his +helpless state, when he was aware of his own incapacity to meet properly +the attention that was paid to him. Some, however, were admitted, +[Footnote: To whom it appears that Kant would generally reply, upon +their expressing the pleasure it gave them to see him, 'In me you behold +a poor superannuated, weak, old man.'] according to the circumstances of +the case, and the state of Kant's spirits at the moment. Amongst these, +I remember that we were particularly pleased with M. Otto, the same who +signed the treaty of peace between France and England with the present +Lord Liverpool, (then Lord Hawkesbury.) A young Russian also rises to my +recollection at this moment, from the excessive (and I think unaffected) +enthusiasm which he displayed. On being introduced to Kant, he advanced +hastily, took both his hands, and kissed them. Kant, who, from living +so much amongst his English friends, had a good deal of the English +dignified reserve about him, and hated anything like _scenes_, appeared +to shrink a little from this mode of salutation, and was rather +embarrassed. However, the young man's manner, I believe, was not at all +beyond his genuine feelings; for next day he called again, made some +inquiries about Kant's health, was very anxious to know whether his old +age were burthensome to him, and above all things entreated for some +little memorial of the great man to carry away with him. By accident +the servant had found a small cancelled fragment of the original MS. of +Kant's 'Anthropologie:' this, with my sanction, he gave to the Russian; +who received it with rapture, kissed it, and then gave him in return the +only dollar he had about him; and, thinking that not enough, actually +pulled off his coat and waistcoat and forced them upon the man. Kant, +whose native simplicity of character very much indisposed him to +sympathy with any extravagances of feeling, could not, however, forbear +smiling good-humoredly on being made acquainted with this instance of +_naivete_ and enthusiasm in his young admirer. + +I now come to an event in Kant's life, which ushered in its closing +stage. On the 8th of October, 1803, for the first time since his youth, +he was seriously ill. When a student at the University, he had once +suffered from an ague, which, however, gave way to pedestrian exercise; +and in later years, he had endured some pain from a contusion on his +head; but, with these two exceptions, (if they can be considered such,) +he had never (properly speaking) been ill. The cause of his illness was +this: his appetite had latterly been irregular, or rather I should +say depraved; and he no longer took pleasure in anything but bread +and butter, and English cheese.[Footnote: Mr. W. here falls into the +ordinary mistake of confounding the cause and the occasion, and would +leave the impression, that Kant (who from his youth up had been a model +of temperance) died of sensual indulgence. The cause of Kant's death +was clearly the general decay of the vital powers, and in particular the +atony of the digestive organs, which must soon have destroyed him under +any care or abstinence whatever. This was the cause. The accidental +occasion, which made that cause operative on the 7th of October, might +or might not be what Mr. W. says. But in Kant's burthensome state of +existence, it could not be a question of much importance whether his +illness were to commence in an October or a November.] On the 7th of +October, at dinner, he ate little else, in spite of everything that I +and another friend then dining with him, could urge to dissuade him. +And for the first time I fancied that he seemed displeased with my +importunity, as though I were overstepping the just line of my duties. +He insisted that the cheese never had done him any harm, nor would now. +I had no course left me but to hold my tongue; and he did as he pleased. +The consequence was what might have been anticipated--a restless night, +succeeded by a day of memorable illness. The next morning all went on +as usual, till nine o'clock, when Kant, who was then leaning on his +sister's arm, suddenly fell senseless to the ground. A messenger was +immediately despatched for me; and I hurried down to his house, where I +found him lying in his bed, which had now been removed into his study, +speechless and insensible. I had already summoned his physician; but, +before he arrived, nature put forth efforts which brought Kant a little +to himself. In about an hour he opened his eyes, and continued to mutter +unintelligibly till towards the evening, when he rallied a little, and +began to talk rationally. For the first time in his life, he was now, +for a few days, confined to his bed, and ate nothing. On the 12th +October, he again took some refreshment, and would have had his favorite +food; but I was now resolved, at any risk of his displeasure, to oppose +him firmly. I therefore stated to him the whole consequences of his last +indulgence, of all which he manifestly had no recollection. He listened +to what I said very attentively, and calmly expressed his conviction +that I was perfectly in the wrong; but for the present he submitted. +However, some days after, I found that he had offered a florin for a +little bread and cheese, and then a dollar, and even more. Being again +refused, he complained heavily; but gradually he weaned himself from +asking for it, though at times he betrayed involuntarily how much he +desired it. + +On the 13th of October, his usual dinner parties were resumed, and he +was considered convalescent; but it was seldom indeed that he recovered +the tone of tranquil spirits which he had preserved until his late +attack. Hitherto he had always loved to prolong this meal, the only one +he took--or, as he expressed it in classical phrase, 'coenam _ducere_;' +but now it was difficult to hurry it over fast enough for his wishes. +From dinner, which terminated about two o'clock, he went straight to +bed, and at intervals fell into slumbers; from which, however, he was +regularly awoke by phantasmata or terrific dreams. At seven in the +evening came on duly a period of great agitation, which lasted till five +or six in the morning--sometimes later; and he continued through the +night alternately to walk about and lie down, occasionally tranquil, +but more often in great distress. It now became necessary that somebody +should sit up with him, his man-servant being wearied out with the toils +of the day. No person seemed to be so proper for this office as his +sister, both as having long received a very liberal pension from him, +and also as his nearest relative, who would be the best witness to the +fact that her illustrious brother had wanted no comforts or attention +in his last hours, which his situation admitted of. Accordingly she was +applied to, and undertook to watch him alternately with his footman--a +separate table being kept for her, and a very handsome addition made +to her allowance. She turned out to be a quiet gentle-minded woman, who +raised no disturbances amongst the servants, and soon won her brother's +regard by the modest and retiring style of her manners; I may add, also, +by the truly sisterly affection which she displayed towards him to the +last. + +The 8th of October had grievously affected Kant's faculties, but had +not wholly destroyed them. For short intervals the clouds seemed to roll +away that had settled upon his majestic intellect, and it shone forth +as heretofore. During these moments of brief self-possession, his +wonted benignity returned to him; and he expressed his gratitude for +the exertions of those about him, and his sense of the trouble they +underwent, in a very affecting way. With regard to his man-servant in +particular, he was very anxious that he should be rewarded by liberal +presents; and he pressed me earnestly on no account to be parsimonious. +Indeed Kant was nothing less than princely in his use of money; and +there was no occasion on which he was known to express the passion of +scorn very powerfully, but when he was commenting on mean and penurious +acts or habits. Those who knew him only in the streets, fancied that he +was not liberal; for he steadily refused, upon principle, to relieve +all common beggars. But, on the other hand, he was liberal to the public +charitable institutions; he secretly assisted his own poor relations in +a much ampler way than could reasonably have been expected of him; and +it now appeared that he had many other deserving pensioners upon +his bounty; a fact that was utterly unknown to any of us, until his +increasing blindness and other infirmities devolved the duty of paying +these pensions upon myself. It must be recollected, also, that Kant's +whole fortune, which amounted to about twenty thousand dollars, was the +product of his own honorable toils for nearly threescore years; and +that he had himself suffered all the hardships of poverty in his youth, +though he never once ran into any man's debt,--circumstances in his +history, which, as they express how fully he must have been acquainted +with the value of money, greatly enhance the merit of his munificence. + +In December, 1803, he became incapable of signing his name. His sight, +indeed, had for some time failed him so much, that at dinner he could +not find his spoon without assistance; and, when I happened to dine with +him, I first cut in pieces whatever was on his plate, next put it into a +spoon, and then guided his hand to find the spoon. But his inability to +sign his name did not arise merely from blindness: the fact was, that, +from irretention of memory, he could not recollect the letters which +composed his name; and, when they were repeated to him, he could not +represent the figure of the letters in his imagination. At the latter +end of November, I had remarked that these incapacities were rapidly +growing upon him, and in consequence I prevailed on him to sign +beforehand all the receipts, &c., which would be wanted at the end +of the year; and, afterwards, on my representation, to prevent all +disputes, he gave me a regular legal power to sign on his behalf. + +Much as Kant was now reduced, yet he had occasionally moods of social +hilarity. His birth-day was always an agreeable subject to him: some +weeks before his death, I was calculating the time which it still +wanted of that anniversary, and cheering him with the prospect of the +rejoicings which would then take place: 'All your old friends,' said +I, 'will meet together, and drink a glass of champagne to your health.' +'That,' said he, 'must be done upon the spot:' and he was not satisfied +till the party was actually assembled. He drank a glass of wine with +them, and with great elevation of spirits celebrated this birth-day +which he was destined never to see. + +In the latter weeks of his life, however, a great change took place in +the tone of his spirits. At his dinner-table, where heretofore such a +cloudless spirit of joviality had reigned, there was now a melancholy +silence. It disturbed him to see his two dinner companions conversing +privately together, whilst he himself sat like a mute on the stage with +no part to perform. Yet to have engaged him in the conversation +would have been still more distressing; for his hearing was now very +imperfect; the effort to hear was itself painful to him; and his +expressions, even when his thoughts were accurate enough, became nearly +unintelligible. It is remarkable, however, that at the very lowest point +of his depression, when he became perfectly incapable of conversing with +any rational meaning on the ordinary affairs of life, he was still +able to answer correctly and distinctly, in a degree that was perfectly +astonishing, upon any question of philosophy or of science, especially +of physical geography, [Footnote: _Physical_ Geography, in opposition to +_Political_.] chemistry, or natural history. He talked satisfactorily, +in his very worst state, of the gases, and stated very accurately +different propositions of Kepler's, especially the law of the planetary +motions. And I remember in particular, that upon the very last Monday +of his life, when the extremity of his weakness moved a circle of his +friends to tears, and he sat amongst us insensible to all we could say +to him, cowering down, or rather I might say collapsing into a shapeless +heap upon his chair, deaf, blind, torpid, motionless,--even then I +whispered to the others that I would engage that Kant should take his +part in conversation with propriety and animation. This they found it +difficult to believe. Upon which I drew close to his ear, and put a +question to him about the Moors of Barbary. To the surprise of everybody +but myself, he immediately gave us a summary account of their habits +and customs; and told us by the way, that in the word _Algiers_, the _g_ +ought to be pronounced hard (as in the English word _gear_). + +During the last fortnight of Kant's life, he busied himself unceasingly +in a way that seemed not merely purposeless but self-contradictory. +Twenty times in a minute he would unloose and tie his neck +handkerchief--so also with a sort of belt which he wore about his +dressing-gown, the moment it was clasped, he unclasped it with +impatience, and was then equally impatient to have it clasped again. +But no description can convey an adequate impression of the weary +restlessness with which from morning to night he pursued these labors of +Sisyphus--doing and undoing--fretting that he could not do it, fretting +that he had done it. + +By this time he seldom knew any of us who were about him, but took us +all for strangers. This happened first with his sister, then with me, +and finally with his servant. Such an alienation distressed me more than +any other instance of his decay: though I knew that he had not really +withdrawn his affection from me, yet his air and mode of addressing me +gave me constantly that feeling. So much the more affecting was it, when +the sanity of his perceptions and his remembrances returned; but these +intervals were of slower and slower occurrence. In this condition, +silent or babbling childishly, self-involved and torpidly abstracted, or +else busy with self-created phantoms and delusions, what a contrast did +he offer to _that_ Kant who had once been the brilliant centre of +the most brilliant circles for rank, wit, or knowledge, that Prussia +afforded! A distinguished person from Berlin, who had called upon him +during the preceding summer, was greatly shocked at his appearance, and +said, 'This is not Kant that I have seen, but the shell of Kant!' How +much more would he have said this, if he had seen him now! + +Now came February, 1804, which was the last month that Kant was destined +to see. It is remarkable that, in the memorandum book which I have +before mentioned, I found a fragment of an old song, (inserted by Kant, +and dated in the summer about six months before the time of his death,) +which expressed that February was the month in which people had the +least weight to carry, for the obvious reason that it was shorter by two +and by three days than the others; and the concluding sentiment was in +a tone of fanciful pathos to this effect--'Oh, happy February! in which +man has least to bear--least pain, least sorrow, least self-reproach!' +Even of this short month, however, Kant had not twelve entire days to +bear; for it was on the 12th that he died; and in fact he may be said to +have been dying from the 1st. He now barely vegetated; though there were +still transitory gleams flashing by fits from the embers of his ancient +intellect. + +On the 3d of February the springs of life seemed to be ceasing from +their play, for, from this day, strictly speaking, he ate nothing more. +His existence henceforward seemed to be the mere prolongation of an +impetus derived from an eighty years' life, after the moving power of +the mechanism was withdrawn. His physician visited him every day at a +particular hour; and it was settled that I should always be there to +meet him. Nine days before his death, on paying his usual visit, the +following little circumstance occurred, which affected us both, by +recalling forcibly to our minds the ineradicable courtesy and goodness +of Kant's nature. When the physician was announced, I went up to Kant +and said to him, 'Here is Dr. A----.' Kant rose from his chair, and, +offering his hand to the Doctor, murmured something in which the word +'posts' was frequently repeated, but with an air as though he wished +to be helped out with the rest of the sentence. Dr. A----, who thought +that, by _posts_, he meant the stations for relays of post-horses, and +therefore that his mind was wandering, replied that all the horses were +engaged, and begged him to compose himself. But Kant went on, with +great effort to himself, and added--'Many posts, heavy posts--then +much goodness--then much gratitude.' All this he said with apparent +incoherence, but with great warmth, and increasing self-possession. I +meantime perfectly divined what it was that Kant, under his cloud of +imbecility, wished to say, and I interpreted accordingly. 'What the +Professor wishes to say, Dr. A----, is this, that, considering the many +and weighty offices which you fill in the city and in the university, +it argues great goodness on your part to give up so much of your time to +him,' (for Dr. A---- would never take any fees from Kant;) 'and that he +has the deepest sense of this goodness.' 'Right,' said Kant, earnestly, +'right!' But he still continued to stand, and was nearly sinking to +the ground. Upon which I remarked to the physician, that I was so +well acquainted with Kant, that I was satisfied he would not sit down, +however much he suffered from standing, until he knew that his visitors +were seated. The Doctor seemed to doubt this--but Kant, who heard what +I said, by a prodigious effort confirmed my construction of his conduct, +and spoke distinctly these words--'God forbid I should be sunk so low as +to forget the offices of humanity.' + +When dinner was announced, Dr. A---- took his leave. Another guest had +now arrived, and I was in hopes, from the animation which Kant had so +recently displayed, that we should to-day have a pleasant party, but +my hopes were vain--Kant was more than usually exhausted, and though +he raised a spoon to his mouth, he swallowed nothing. For some time +everything had been tasteless to him; and I had endeavored, but with +little success, to stimulate the organs of taste by nutmeg, cinnamon, +&c. To-day all failed, and I could not even prevail upon him to taste a +biscuit, rusk, or anything of that sort. I had once heard him say that +several of his friends, who had died of _marasmus_, had closed their +illness by four or five days of entire freedom from pain, but totally +without appetite, and then slumbered tranquilly away. Through this state +I apprehended that he was himself now passing. + +Saturday, the 4th of February, I heard his guests loudly expressing +their fears that they should never meet him again; and I could not but +share these fears myself. However, on + +Sunday, the 5th, I dined at his table in company with his particular +friend Mr. R. R. V. Kant was still present, but so weak that his head +drooped upon his knees, and he sank down against the right side of the +chair. I went and arranged his pillows so as to raise and support his +head; and, having done this, I said--'Now, my dear Sir, you are again in +right order.' Great was our astonishment when he answered clearly and +audibly in the Roman military phrase--'Yes, _testudine et facie;_' and +immediately after added, 'Ready for the enemy, and in battle array.' His +powers of mind were (if I may be allowed that expression) smouldering +away in their ashes; but every now and then some lambent flame, or grand +emanation of light, shot forth to make it evident that the ancient fire +still slumbered below. + +Monday, the 6th, he was much weaker and more torpid: he spoke not +a word, except on the occasion of my question about the Moors, as +previously stated, and sate with sightless eyes, lost in himself, and +manifesting no sense of our presence, so that we had the feeling of some +mighty shade or phantom from some forgotten century being seated amongst +us. + +About this time, Kant had become much more tranquil and composed. In +the earlier periods of his illness, when his yet unbroken strength was +brought into active contest with the first attacks of decay, he was +apt to be peevish, and sometimes spoke roughly or even harshly to his +servants. This, though very opposite to his natural disposition, was +altogether excusable under the circumstances. He could not make himself +understood: things were therefore brought to him continually which he +had not asked for; and often it happened that what he really wanted +he could not obtain, because all his efforts to name it were +unintelligible. A violent nervous irritation, besides, affected him +from the unsettling of the equilibrium in the different functions of +his nature; weakness in one organ being made more palpable to him by +disproportionate strength in another. But now the strife was over; +the whole system was at length undermined, and in rapid and harmonious +progress to dissolution. And from this time forward, no movement of +impatience, or expression of fretfulness, ever escaped him. + +I now visited him three times a-day; and on + +Tuesday, Feb. 7th, going about dinner-time, I found the usual party of +friends sitting down alone; for Kant was in bed. This was a new scene +in his house, and increased our fears that his end was now at hand. +However, having seen him rally so often, I would not run the risk of +leaving him without a dinner-party for the next day; and accordingly, at +the customary hour of one, we assembled in his house on + +Wednesday, Feb. 8th. I paid my respects to him as cheerfully as +possible, and ordered dinner to be served up. Kant sat at the table with +us; and, taking a spoon with a little soup in it, put it to his lips; +but immediately put it down again, and retired to bed, from which he +never rose again, except during the few minutes when it was re-arranged. + +Thursday, the 9th, he had sunk into the weakness of a dying person, +and the corpse-like appearance had already taken possession of him. I +visited him frequently through the day; and, going at ten o'clock at +night, I found him in a state of insensibility. I could not draw any +sign from him that he knew me, and I left him to the care of his sister +and his servant. + +Friday, the 10th, I went to see him at six o'clock in the morning. It +was very stormy, and a deep snow had fallen in the night-time. And, by +the way, I remember that a gang of house-breakers had forced their way +through the premises in order to reach Kant's next neighbor, who was a +goldsmith. As I drew near to his bed-side, I said, 'Good morning.' He +returned my salutation by saying, 'Good morning,' but in so feeble and +faltering a voice that it was hardly articulate. I was rejoiced to find +him sensible, and I asked him if he knew me:--'Yes,' he replied; and, +stretching out his hand, touched me gently upon the cheek. Through the +rest of the day, whenever I visited him, he seemed to have relapsed into +a state of insensibility. + +Saturday, the 11th, he lay with fixed and rayless eyes; but to all +appearance in perfect peace. I asked him again, on this day, if he knew +me. He was speechless, but he turned his face towards me and made signs +that I should kiss him. Deep emotion thrilled me, as I stooped down to +kiss his pallid lips; for I knew that in this solemn act of tenderness +he meant to express his thankfulness for our long friendship, and to +signify his affection and his last farewell. I had never seen him confer +this mark of his love upon anybody, except once, and that was a few +weeks before his death, when he drew his sister to him and kissed her. +The kiss which he now gave to me was the last memorial that he knew me. + +Whatever fluid was now offered to him passed the oesophagus with a +rattling sound, as often happens with dying people; and there were all +the signs of death being close at hand. + +I wished to stay with him till all was over; and as I had been witness +of his life, to be witness also of his departure; and therefore I never +quitted him except when I was called off for a few minutes to attend +some private business. The whole of this night I spent at his bed-side. +Though he had passed the day in a state of insensibility, yet in the +evening he made intelligible signs that he wished to have his bed put in +order; he was therefore lifted out in our arms, and the bed-clothes and +pillows being hastily arranged, he was carried back again. He did not +sleep; and a spoonful of liquid, which was sometimes put to his lips, he +usually pushed aside; but about one o'clock in the night he himself made +a motion towards the spoon, from which I collected that he was thirsty; +and I gave him a small quantity of wine and water sweetened; but the +muscles of his mouth had not strength enough to retain it, so that to +prevent its flowing back he raised his hand to his lips, until with +a rattling sound it was swallowed. He seemed to wish for more; and I +continued to give him more, until he said, in a way that I was just +able to understand,--'It is enough.' And these were his last words. +At intervals he pushed away the bed-clothes, and exposed his person; I +constantly restored the clothes to their situation, and on one of these +occasions I found that the whole body and extremities were already +growing cold, and the pulse intermitting. + +At a quarter after three o'clock on Sunday morning, February 12, Kant +stretched himself out as if taking a position for his final act, and +settled into the precise posture which he preserved to the moment of +death. The pulse was now no longer perceptible to the touch in his +hands, feet or neck. I tried every part where a pulse beats, and found +none anywhere but in the left hip, where it beat with violence, but +often intermitted. + +About ten o'clock in the forenoon he suffered a remarkable change; his +eye was rigid and his face and lips became discolored by a cadaverous +pallor. Still, such was the effect of his previous habits, that no trace +appeared of the cold sweat which naturally accompanies the last mortal +agony. + +It was near eleven o'clock when the moment of dissolution approached. +His sister was standing at the foot of the bed, his sister's son at +the head. I, for the purpose of still observing the fluctuations of the +pulse in his hip, was kneeling at the bed-side; and I called his servant +to come and witness the death of his good master. Now began the last +agony, if to him it could be called an agony, where there seemed to be +no struggle. And precisely at this moment, his distinguished friend, Mr. +R. R. V., whom I had summoned by a messenger, entered the room. First of +all, the breath grew feebler; then it missed its regularity of return; +then it wholly intermitted, and the upper lip was slightly convulsed; +after this there followed one slight respiration or sigh; and after that +no more; but the pulse still beat for a few seconds--slower and fainter, +till it ceased altogether; the mechanism stopped; the last motion was at +an end; and exactly at that moment the clock struck eleven. + +Soon after his death the head of Kant was shaved; and, under the +direction of Professor Knorr, a plaster cast was taken, not a masque +merely, but a cast of the whole bead, designed (I believe) to enrich the +craniological collection of Dr. Gall. + +The corpse being laid out and properly attired, immense numbers of +people of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, flocked to see it. +Everybody was anxious to make use of the last opportunity he would have +for entitling himself to say--'I too have seen Kant.' This went on for +many days--during which, from morning to night, the house was thronged +with the public. Great was the astonishment of all people at the +meagreness of Kant's appearance; and it was universally agreed that a +corpse so wasted and fleshless had never been beheld. His head rested +upon the same cushion on which once the gentlemen of the university had +presented an address to him; and I thought that I could not apply it to +a more honorable purpose than by placing it in the coffin, as the final +pillow of that immortal head. + +Upon the style and mode of his funeral, Kant had expressed his wishes in +earlier years in a separate memorandum. He there desired that it should +take place early in the morning, with as little noise and disturbance +as possible, and attended only by a few of his most intimate friends. +Happening to meet with this memorandum, whilst I was engaged at his +request in arranging his papers, I very frankly gave him my opinion, +that such an injunction would lay me, as the executor of his will, under +great embarrassments; for that circumstances might very probably arise +under which it would be next to impossible to carry it into effect. Upon +this Kant tore the paper, and left the whole to my own discretion. The +fact was, I foresaw that the students of the University would never +allow themselves to be robbed of this occasion for expressing their +veneration by a public funeral. The event showed that I was right; for +a funeral such as Kant's, one so solemn and so magnificent, the city of +Koenigsberg has never witnessed before or since. The public journals, and +separate accounts in pamphlets, etc., have given so minute an account of +its details, that I shall here notice only the heads of the ceremony. + +On the 28th of February, at two o'clock in the afternoon, all the +dignitaries of church and state, not only those resident in Koenigsberg, +but from the remotest parts of Prussia, assembled in the church of the +Castle. Hence they were escorted by the whole body of the University, +splendidly dressed for the occasion, and by many military officers of +rank, with whom Kant had always been a great favorite, to the house +of the deceased Professor; from which the corpse was carried by +torch-light, the bells of every church in Koenigsberg tolling, to the +Cathedral which was lit up by innumerable wax-lights. A never-ending +train of many thousand persons followed it on foot. In the Cathedral, +after the usual burial rites, accompanied with every possible expression +of national veneration to the deceased, there was a grand musical +service, most admirably performed, at the close of which Kant's mortal +remains were lowered into the academic vault, where he now rests among +the ancient patriarchs of the University. PEACE BE TO HIS DUST, AND +EVERLASTING HONOR! + + +END OF VOLUME II + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, by +Thomas De Quincey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS *** + +***** This file should be named 6148.txt or 6148.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/4/6148/ + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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All weakness is suffering and humiliation, +no matter for its mode or its subject. Beyond all other weakness, +therefore, and by a sad prerogative, as more miserable than what is +most miserable in all, that capital weakness of man which regards the +_tenure_ of his enjoyments and his power to protect, even for a +moment, the crown of flowers--flowers, at the best, how frail and few! +--which sometimes settles upon his haughty brow. There is no end, there +never will be an end, of the lamentations which ascend from earth and +the rebellious heart of her children, upon this huge opprobrium of +human pride--the everlasting mutabilities of all which man can grasp by +his power or by his aspirations, the fragility of all which he +inherits, and the hollowness visible amid the very raptures of +enjoyment to every eye which looks for a moment underneath the +draperies of the shadowy _present_, the hollowness, the blank +treachery of hollowness, upon which all the pomps and vanities of life +ultimately repose. This trite but unwearying theme, this impassioned +common-place of humanity, is the subject in every age of variation +without end, from the poet, the rhetorician, the fabulist, the +moralist, the divine, and the philosopher. All, amidst the sad vanity +of their sighs and groans, labor to put on record and to establish this +monotonous complaint, which needs not other record or evidence than +those very sighs and groans. What is life? Darkness and formless +vacancy for a beginning, or something beyond all beginning--then next a +dim lotos of human consciousness, finding itself afloat upon the bosom +of waters without a shore--then a few sunny smiles and many tears--a +little love and infinite strife--whisperings from paradise and fierce +mockeries from the anarchy of chaos--dust and ashes--and once more +darkness circling round, as if from the beginning, and in this way +rounding or making an island of our fantastic existence,--_that_ +is human life; _that_ the inevitable amount of man's laughter and +his tears--of what he suffers and he does--of his motions this way and +that way--to the right or to the left--backwards or forwards--of all +his seeming realities and all his absolute negations--his shadowy +pomps and his pompous shadows--of whatsoever he thinks, finds, makes +or mars, creates or animates, loves, hates, or in dread hope +anticipates;--so it is, so it has been, so it will be, for ever and +ever. + +Yet in the lowest deep there still yawns a lower deep; and in the vast +halls of man's frailty, there are separate and more gloomy chambers of +a frailty more exquisite and consummate. We account it frailty that +threescore years and ten make the upshot of man's pleasurable +existence, and that, far before that time is reached, his beauty and +his power have fallen among weeds and forgetfulness. But there is a +frailty, by comparison with which this ordinary flux of the human race +seems to have a vast duration. Cases there are, and those not rare, in +which a single week, a day, an hour sweeps away all vestiges and +landmarks of a memorable felicity; in which the ruin travels faster +than the flying showers upon the mountain-side, faster 'than a musician +scatters sounds;' in which 'it was' and 'it is not' are words of the +self-same tongue, in the self-same minute; in which the sun that at +noon beheld all sound and prosperous, long before its setting hour +looks out upon a total wreck, and sometimes upon the total abolition of +any fugitive memorial that there ever had been a vessel to be wrecked, +or a wreck to be obliterated. + +These cases, though here spoken of rhetorically, are of daily +occurrence; and, though they may seem few by comparison with the +infinite millions of the species, they are many indeed, if they be +reckoned absolutely for themselves; and throughout the limits of a +whole nation, not a day passes over us but many families are robbed of +their heads, or even swallowed up in ruin themselves, or their course +turned out of the sunny beams into a dark wilderness. Shipwrecks and +nightly conflagrations are sometimes, and especially among some +nations, wholesale calamities; battles yet more so; earthquakes, the +famine, the pestilence, though rarer, are visitations yet wider in +their desolation. Sickness and commercial ill-luck, if narrower, are +more frequent scourges. And most of all, or with most darkness in its +train, comes the sickness of the brain--lunacy--which, visiting nearly +one thousand in every million, must, in every populous nation, make +many ruins in each particular day. 'Babylon in ruins,' says a great +author, 'is not so sad a sight as a human soul overthrown by lunacy.' +But there is a sadder even than _that_,--the sight of a family-ruin +wrought by crime is even more appalling. Forgery, breaches of trust, +embezzlement, of private or public funds--(a crime sadly on the +increase since the example of Fauntleroy, and the suggestion of its +great feasibility first made by him)--these enormities, followed too +often, and countersigned for their final result to the future happiness +of families, by the appalling catastrophe of suicide, must naturally, +in every wealthy nation, or wherever property and the modes of property +are much developed, constitute the vast majority of all that come under +the review of public justice. Any of these is sufficient to make +shipwreck of all peace and comfort for a family; and often, indeed, it +happens that the desolation is accomplished within the course of one +revolving sun; often the whole dire catastrophe, together with its +total consequences, is both accomplished and made known to those whom +it chiefly concerns within one and the same hour. The mighty Juggernaut +of social life, moving onwards with its everlasting thunders, pauses +not for a moment to spare--to pity--to look aside, but rushes forward +for ever, impassive as the marble in the quarry--caring not for whom it +destroys, for the how many, or for the results, direct and indirect, +whether many or few. The increasing grandeur and magnitude of the +social system, the more it multiplies and extends its victims, the more +it conceals them; and for the very same reason: just as in the Roman +amphitheatres, when they grew to the magnitude of mighty cities, (in +some instances accommodating four hundred thousand spectators, in many +a fifth part of that amount,) births and deaths became ordinary events, +which, in a small modern theatre, are rare and memorable; and exactly +as these prodigious accidents multiplied, _pari passu_, they were +disregarded and easily concealed: for curiosity was no longer excited; +the sensation attached to them was little or none. + +From these terrific tragedies, which, like monsoons or tornadoes, +accomplish the work of years in an hour, not merely an impressive +lesson is derived, sometimes, perhaps, a warning, but also (and this is +of universal application) some consolation. Whatever may have been the +misfortunes or the sorrows of a man's life, he is still privileged to +regard himself and his friends as amongst the fortunate by comparison, +in so far as he has escaped these wholesale storms, either as an actor +in producing them, or a contributor to their violence--or even more +innocently, (though oftentimes not less miserably)--as a participator +in the instant ruin, or in the long arrears of suffering which they +entail. + +The following story falls within the class of hasty tragedies, and +sudden desolations here described. The reader is assured that every +incident is strictly true: nothing, in that respect, has been altered; +nor, indeed, anywhere except in the conversations, of which, though the +results and general outline are known, the separate details have +necessarily been lost under the agitating circumstances which produced +them. It has been judged right and delicate to conceal the name of the +great city, and therefore of the nation in which these events occurred, +chiefly out of consideration for the descendants of one person +concerned in the narrative: otherwise, it might not have been +requisite: for it is proper to mention, that every person directly a +party to the case has been long laid in the grave: all of them, with +one solitary exception, upwards of fifty years. + + * * * * * + +It was early spring in the year 17--; the day was the 6th of April; and +the weather, which had been of a wintry fierceness for the preceding +six or seven weeks--cold indeed beyond anything known for many years, +gloomy for ever, and broken by continual storms--was now by a Swedish +transformation all at once bright, genial, heavenly. So sudden and so +early a prelusion of summer, it was generally feared, could not last. +But that only made every body the more eager to lose no hour of an +enjoyment that might prove so fleeting. It seemed as if the whole +population of the place, a population among the most numerous in +Christendom, had been composed of hybernating animals suddenly awakened +by the balmy sunshine from their long winter's torpor. Through every +hour of the golden morning the streets were resonant with female +parties of young and old, the timid and the bold, nay, even of the most +delicate valetudinarians, now first tempted to lay aside their wintry +clothing together with their fireside habits, whilst the whole rural +environs of our vast city, the woodlands, and the interminable meadows +began daily to re-echo the glad voices of the young and jovial awaking +once again, like the birds and the flowers, and universal nature, to +the luxurious happiness of this most delightful season. + +Happiness do I say? Yes, happiness; happiness to me above all others. +For I also in those days was among the young and the gay; I was +healthy; I was strong; I was prosperous in a worldly sense! I owed no +man a shilling; feared no man's face; shunned no man's presence. I held +a respectable station in society; I was myself, let me venture to say +it, respected generally for my personal qualities, apart from any +advantages I might draw from fortune or inheritance; I had reason to +think myself popular amongst the very slender circle of my +acquaintance; and finally, which perhaps was the crowning grace to all +these elements of happiness, I suffered not from the presence of +_ennui_, nor ever feared to suffer: for my temperament was +constitutionally ardent; I had a powerful animal sensibility; and I +knew the one great secret for maintaining its equipoise, viz., by +powerful daily exercise; and thus I lived in the light and presence, +or, (if I should not be suspected of seeking rhetorical expressions, I +would say,) in one eternal solstice of unclouded hope. + +These, you will say, were blessings; these were golden elements of +felicity. They were so; and yet, with the single exception of my +healthy frame and firm animal organization, I feel that I have +mentioned hitherto nothing but what by comparison might be thought of a +vulgar quality. All the other advantages that I have enumerated, had +they been yet wanting, might have been acquired; had they been +forfeited, might have been reconquered; had they been even +irretrievably lost, might, by a philosophic effort, have been dispensed +with; compensations might have been found for any of them, many +equivalents, or if not, consolations at least, for their absence. But +now it remains to speak of other blessings too mighty to be valued, not +merely as transcending in rank and dignity all other constituents of +happiness, but for a reason far sadder than that--because, once lost, +they were incapable of restoration, and because not to be dispensed +with; blessings in which 'either we must live or have no life:' lights +to the darkness of our paths and to the infirmity of our steps--which, +once extinguished, never more on this side the gates of Paradise can +any man hope to see re-illumined for himself. Amongst these I may +mention an intellect, whether powerful or not in itself, at any rate +most elaborately cultivated; and, to say the truth, I had little other +business before me in this life than to pursue this lofty and +delightful task. I may add, as a blessing, not in the same +_positive_ sense as that which I have just mentioned, because not +of a nature to contribute so hourly to the employment of the thoughts, +but yet in this sense equal, that the absence of either would have been +an equal affliction,--namely, a conscience void of all offence. It was +little indeed that I, drawn by no necessities of situation into +temptations of that nature, had done no injury to any man. That was +fortunate; but I could not much value myself upon what was so much an +accident of my situation. Something, however, I might pretend to beyond +this _negative_ merit; for I had originally a benign nature; and, +as I advanced in years and thoughtfulness, the gratitude which +possessed me for my own exceeding happiness led me to do that by +principle and system which I had already done upon blind impulse; and +thus upon a double argument I was incapable of turning away from the +prayer of the afflicted, whatever had been the sacrifice to myself. +Hardly, perhaps, could it have been said in a sufficient sense at that +time that I was a religious man: yet, undoubtedly, I had all the +foundations within me upon which religion might hereafter have grown. +My heart overflowed with thankfulness to Providence: I had a natural +tone of unaffected piety; and thus far, at least, I might have been +called a religious man, that in the simplicity of truth I could have +exclaimed, + + 'O, Abner, I fear God, and I fear none beside.' + +But wherefore seek to delay ascending by a natural climax to that final +consummation and perfect crown of my felicity--that almighty blessing +which ratified their value to all the rest? Wherefore, oh! wherefore do +I shrink in miserable weakness from--what? Is it from reviving, from +calling up again into fierce and insufferable light the images and +features of a long-buried happiness? That would be a natural shrinking +and a reasonable weakness. But how escape from reviving, whether I give +it utterance or not, that which is for ever vividly before me? What +need to call into artificial light that which, whether sleeping or +waking, by night or by day, for eight-and-thirty years has seemed by +its miserable splendor to scorch my brain? Wherefore shrink from giving +language, simple vocal utterance, to that burden of anguish which by so +long an endurance has lost no atom of its weight, nor can gain any most +surely by the loudest publication? Need there can be none, after this, +to say that the priceless blessing, which I have left to the final +place in this ascending review, was the companion of my life--my +darling and youthful wife. Oh! dovelike woman! fated in an hour the +most defenceless to meet with the ravening vulture,--lamb fallen +amongst wolves,--trembling--fluttering fawn, whose path was inevitably +to be crossed by the bloody tiger;--angel, whose most innocent heart +fitted thee for too early a flight from this impure planet; if indeed +it were a necessity that thou shouldst find no rest for thy footing +except amidst thy native heavens, if indeed to leave what was not +worthy of thee were a destiny not to be evaded--a summons not to be put +by,--yet why, why, again and again I demand--why was it also necessary +that this, thy departure, so full of wo to me, should also to thyself +be heralded by the pangs of martyrdom? Sainted love, if, like the +ancient children of the Hebrews, like Meshech and Abednego, thou wert +called by divine command, whilst yet almost a child, to walk, and to +walk alone, through the fiery furnace,--wherefore then couldst not +thou, like that Meshech and that Abednego, walk unsinged by the +dreadful torment, and come forth unharmed? Why, if the sacrifice were +to be total, was it necessary to reach it by so dire a struggle? and if +the cup, the bitter cup, of final separation from those that were the +light of thy eyes and the pulse of thy heart might not be put aside,-- +yet wherefore was it that thou mightest not drink it up in the natural +peace which belongs to a sinless heart? + +But these are murmurings, you will say, rebellious murmurings against +the proclamations of God. Not so: I have long since submitted myself, +resigned myself, nay, even reconciled myself, perhaps, to the great +wreck of my life, in so far as it was the will of God, and according to +the weakness of my imperfect nature. But my wrath still rises, like a +towering flame, against all the earthly instruments of this ruin; I am +still at times as unresigned as ever to this tragedy, in so far as it +was the work of human malice. Vengeance, as a mission for _me_, as +a task for _my_ hands in particular, is no longer possible; the +thunderbolts of retribution have been long since launched by other +hands; and yet still it happens that at times I do--I must--I shall +perhaps to the hour of death, rise in maniac fury, and seek, in the +very impotence of vindictive madness, groping as it were in blindness +of heart, for that tiger from hell-gates that tore away my darling from +my heart. Let me pause, and interrupt this painful strain, to say a +word or two upon what she was--and how far worthy of a love more +honorable to her (that was possible) and deeper (but that was not +possible) than mine. When first I saw her, she--my Agnes--was merely a +child, not much (if anything) above sixteen. But, as in perfect +womanhood she retained a most childlike expression of countenance, so +even then in absolute childhood she put forward the blossoms and the +dignity of a woman. Never yet did my eye light upon creature that was +born of woman, nor could it enter my heart to conceive one, possessing +a figure more matchless in its proportions, more statuesque, and more +deliberately and advisedly to be characterized by no adequate word but +the word _magnificent_, (a word too often and lightly abused.) In +reality, speaking of women, I have seen many beautiful figures, but +hardly one except Agnes that could, without hyperbole, be styled truly +and memorably magnificent. Though in the first order of tall women, +yet, being full in person, and with a symmetry that was absolutely +faultless, she seemed to the random sight as little above the ordinary +height. Possibly from the dignity of her person, assisted by the +dignity of her movements, a stranger would have been disposed to call +her at a distance a woman of _commanding_ presence; but never, +after he had approached near enough to behold her face. Every thought +of artifice, of practised effect, or of haughty pretension, fled before +the childlike innocence, the sweet feminine timidity, and the more than +cherub loveliness of that countenance, which yet in its lineaments was +noble, whilst its expression was purely gentle and confiding. A shade +of pensiveness there was about her; but _that_ was in her manners, +scarcely ever in her features; and the exquisite fairness of her +complexion, enriched by the very sweetest and most delicate bloom that +ever I have beheld, should rather have allied it to a tone of +cheerfulness. Looking at this noble creature, as I first looked at her, +when yet upon the early threshold of womanhood + + 'With household motions light and free, + And steps of virgin liberty' + +you might have supposed her some Hebe or young Aurora of the dawn. When +you saw only her superb figure, and its promise of womanly development, +with the measured dignity of her step, you might for a moment have +fancied her some imperial Medea of the Athenian stage--some Volumnia +from Rome, + + 'Or ruling bandit's wife amidst the Grecian isles.' + + But catch one glance from her angelic countenance--and then combining +the face and the person, you would have dismissed all such fancies, and +have pronounced her a Pandora or an Eve, expressly accomplished and +held forth by nature as an exemplary model or ideal pattern for the +future female sex:-- + + 'A perfect woman, nobly plann'd, + To warm, to comfort, to command: + And yet a spirit too, and bright + With something of an angel light.' + +To this superb young woman, such as I have here sketched her, I +surrendered my heart for ever, almost from my first opportunity of +seeing her: for so natural and without disguise was her character, and +so winning the simplicity of her manners, due in part to her own native +dignity of mind, and in part to the deep solitude in which she had been +reared, that little penetration was required to put me in possession of +all her thoughts; and to win her love, not very much more than to let +her see, as see she could not avoid, in connection with that chivalrous +homage which at any rate was due to her sex and her sexual perfections, +a love for herself on my part, which was in its nature as exalted a +passion and as profoundly rooted as any merely human affection can ever +yet have been. + +On the seventeenth birthday of Agnes we were married. Oh! calendar of +everlasting months--months that, like the mighty rivers, shall flow on +for ever, immortal as thou, Nile, or Danube, Euphrates, or St. +Lawrence! and ye, summer and winter, day and night, wherefore do you +bring round continually your signs, and seasons, and revolving hours, +that still point and barb the anguish of local recollections, telling +me of this and that celestial morning that never shall return, and of +too blessed expectations, travelling like yourselves through a heavenly +zodiac of changes, till at once and for ever they sank into the grave! +Often do I think of seeking for some quiet cell either in the Tropics +or in Arctic latitudes, where the changes of the year, and the external +signs corresponding to them, express themselves by no features like +those in which the same seasons are invested under our temperate +climes: so that, if knowing, we cannot at least feel the identity of +their revolutions. We were married, I have said, on the birthday--the +seventeenth birthday--of Agnes; and pretty nearly on her eighteenth it +was that she placed me at the summit of my happiness, whilst for +herself she thus completed the circle of her relations to this life's +duties, by presenting me with a son. Of this child, knowing how +wearisome to strangers is the fond exultation of parents, I shall +simply say, that he inherited his mother's beauty; the same touching +loveliness and innocence of expression, the same chiselled nose, mouth, +and chin, the same exquisite auburn hair. In many other features, not +of person merely, but also of mind and manners, as they gradually began +to open before me, this child deepened my love to him by recalling the +image of his mother; and what other image was there that I so much +wished to keep before me, whether waking or asleep? At the time to +which I am now coming but too rapidly, this child, still our only one, +and unusually premature, was within four months of completing his third +year; consequently Agnes was at that time in her twenty-first year; and +I may here add, with respect to myself, that I was in my twenty-sixth. + +But, before I come to that period of wo, let me say one word on the +temper of mind which so fluent and serene a current of prosperity may +be thought to have generated. Too common a course I know it is, when +the stream of life flows with absolute tranquillity, and ruffled by no +menace of a breeze--the azure overhead never dimmed by a passing cloud, +that in such circumstances the blood stagnates: life, from excess and +plethora of sweets, becomes insipid: the spirit of action droops: and +it is oftentimes found at such seasons that slight annoyances and +molestations, or even misfortunes in a lower key, are not wholly +undesirable, as means of stimulating the lazy energies, and disturbing +a slumber which is, or soon will be, morbid in its character. I have +known myself cases not a few, where, by the very nicest gradations, and +by steps too silent and insensible for daily notice, the utmost harmony +and reciprocal love had shaded down into fretfulness and petulance, +purely from too easy a life, and because all nobler agitations that +might have ruffled the sensations occasionally, and all distresses even +on the narrowest scale that might have re-awakened the solicitudes of +love, by opening necessities for sympathy, for counsel, or for mutual +aid, had been shut out by foresight too elaborate, or by prosperity too +cloying. But all this, had it otherwise been possible with my +particular mind, and at my early age, was utterly precluded by one +remarkable peculiarity in my temper. Whether it were that I derived +from nature some jealousy and suspicion of all happiness which seems +too perfect and unalloyed--[a spirit of restless distrust, which in +ancient times often led men to throw valuable gems into the sea, in the +hope of thus propitiating the dire deity of misfortune, by voluntarily +breaking the fearful chain of prosperity, and led some of them to weep +and groan when the gems thus sacrificed were afterwards brought back to +their hand by simple fishermen, who had recovered them in the +intestines of fishes--a portentous omen, which was interpreted into a +sorrowful indication that the deity thus answered the propitiatory +appeal, and made solemn proclamation that he had rejected it]-- +whether, I say, it were this spirit of jealousy awaked in me by too +steady and too profound a felicity--or whether it were that great +overthrows and calamities have some mysterious power to send forward a +dim misgiving of their advancing footsteps, and really and indeed, + + 'That in to-day already walks to-morrow;' + +or whether it were partly, as I have already put the case in my first +supposition, a natural instinct of distrust, but irritated and +enlivened by a particular shock of superstitious alarm; which, or +whether any of these causes it were that kept me apprehensive, and on +the watch for disastrous change, I will not here undertake to +determine. Too certain it is that I was so. I never ridded myself of an +over-mastering and brooding sense, shadowy and vague, a dim abiding +feeling (that sometimes was and sometimes was not exalted into a +conscious presentiment) of some great calamity travelling towards me; +not perhaps immediately impending--perhaps even at a great distance; +but already--dating from some secret hour--already in motion upon some +remote line of approach. This feeling I could not assuage by sharing it +with Agnes. No motive could be strong enough for persuading me to +communicate so gloomy a thought with one who, considering her extreme +healthiness, was but too remarkably prone to pensive, if not to +sorrowful, contemplations. And thus the obligation which I felt to +silence and reserve, strengthened the morbid impression I had received; +whilst the remarkable incident I have adverted to served powerfully to +rivet the superstitious chain which was continually gathering round me. +The incident was this--and before I repeat it, let me pledge my word of +honor, that I report to you the bare facts of the case, without +exaggeration, and in the simplicity of truth:--There was at that time +resident in the great city, which is the scene of my narrative, a +woman, from some part of Hungary, who pretended to the gift of looking +into futurity. She had made herself known advantageously in several of +the greatest cities of Europe, under the designation of the Hungarian +Prophetess; and very extraordinary instances were cited amongst the +highest circles of her success in the art which she professed. So ample +were the pecuniary tributes which she levied upon the hopes and the +fears, or the simple curiosity of the aristocracy, that she was thus +able to display not unfrequently a disinterestedness and a generosity, +which seemed native to her disposition, amongst the humbler classes of +her applicants; for she rejected no addresses that were made to her, +provided only they were not expressed in levity or scorn, but with +sincerity, and in a spirit of confiding respect. It happened, on one +occasion, when a nursery-servant of ours was waiting in her anteroom +for the purpose of taking her turn in consulting the prophetess +professionally, that she had witnessed a scene of consternation and +unaffected maternal grief in this Hungarian lady upon the sudden +seizure of her son, a child of four or five years old, by a spasmodic +inflammation of the throat (since called croup) peculiar to children, +and in those days not very well understood by medical men. The poor +Hungarian, who had lived chiefly in warm, or at least not damp, +climates, and had never so much as heard of this complaint, was almost +wild with alarm at the rapid increase of the symptoms which attend the +paroxysms, and especially of that loud and distressing sound which +marks the impeded respiration. Great, therefore, was her joy and +gratitude on finding from our servant that she had herself been in +attendance more than once upon cases of the same nature, but very much +more violent,--and that, consequently, she was well qualified to +suggest and to superintend all the measures of instant necessity, such +as the hot-bath, the peculiar medicines, &c., which are almost sure of +success when applied in an early stage. Staying to give her assistance +until a considerable improvement had taken place in the child, our +servant then hurried home to her mistress. Agnes, it may be imagined, +dispatched her back with such further and more precise directions as in +a very short time availed to re-establish the child in convalescence. +These practical services, and the messages of maternal sympathy +repeatedly conveyed from Agnes, had completely won the heart of the +grateful Hungarian, and she announced her intention of calling with her +little boy, to make her personal acknowledgments for the kindness which +had been shown to her. She did so, and we were as much impressed by the +sultana-like style of her Oriental beauty, as she, on her part, was +touched and captivated by the youthful loveliness of my angelic wife. +After sitting for above an hour, during which time she talked with a +simplicity and good feeling that struck us as remarkable in a person +professing an art usually connected with so much of conscious fraud, +she rose to take her leave. I must mention that she had previously had +our little boy sitting on her knee, and had at intervals thrown a hasty +glance upon the palms of his hands. On parting, Agnes, with her usual +frankness, held out her hand. The Hungarian took it with an air of sad +solemnity, pressed it fervently, and said:--'Lady, it is my part in +this life to look behind the curtain of fate; and oftentimes I see such +sights in futurity--some near, some far off--as willingly I would +_not_ see. For you, young and charming lady, looking like that +angel which you are, no destiny can be equal to your deserts. Yet +sometimes, true it is, God sees not as man sees; and he ordains, after +his unfathomable counsels, to the heavenly-minded a portion in heaven, +and to the children whom he loves a rest and a haven not built with +hands. Something that I have seen dimly warns me to look no farther. +Yet, if you desire it, I will do my office, and I will read for you +with truth the lines of fate as they are written upon your hands.' +Agnes was a little startled, or even shocked, by this solemn address; +but, in a minute or so, a mixed feeling--one half of which was +curiosity, and the other half a light-hearted mockery of her own +mysterious awe in the presence of what she had been taught to view as +either fraud or insanity--prompted her playfully to insist upon the +fullest application of the Hungarian's art to her own case; nay, she +would have the hands of our little Francis read and interpreted as well +as her own, and she desired to hear the full professional judgment +delivered without suppression or softening of its harshest awards. She +laughed whilst she said all this; but she also trembled a little. The +Hungarian first took the hand of our young child, and perused it with a +long and steady scrutiny. She said nothing, but sighed heavily as she +resigned it. She then took the hand of Agnes--looked bewildered and +aghast--then gazed piteously from Agnes to her child--and at last, +bursting into tears, began to move steadily out of the room. I followed +her hastily, and remonstrated upon this conduct, by pointing her +attention to the obvious truth--that these mysterious suppressions and +insinuations, which left all shadowy and indistinct, were far more +alarming than the most definite denunciations. Her answer yet rings in +my ear:--'Why should I make myself odious to you and to your innocent +wife? Messenger of evil I am, and have been to many; but evil I will +not prophecy to her. Watch and pray! Much may be done by effectual +prayer. Human means, fleshly arms, are vain. There is an enemy in the +house of life,' [here she quitted her palmistry for the language of +astrology;] 'there is a frightful danger at hand, both for your wife +and your child. Already on that dark ocean, over which we are all +sailing, I can see dimly the point at which the enemy's course shall +cross your wife's. There is but little interval remaining--not many +hours. All is finished; all is accomplished; and already he is almost +up with the darlings of your heart. Be vigilant, be vigilant, and yet +look not to yourself, but to Heaven, for deliverance.' + +This woman was not an impostor: she spoke and uttered her oracles under +a wild sense of possession by some superior being, and of mystic +compulsion to say what she would have willingly left unsaid; and never +yet, before or since, have I seen the light of sadness settle with so +solemn an expression into human eyes as when she dropped my wife's +hand, and refused to deliver that burden of prophetic wo with which she +believed herself to be inspired. + +The prophetess departed; and what mood of mind did she leave behind her +in Agnes and myself? Naturally there was a little drooping of spirits +at first; the solemnity and the heart-felt sincerity of fear and grief +which marked her demeanor, made it impossible, at the moment when we +were just fresh from their natural influences, that we should recoil +into our ordinary spirits. But with the inevitable elasticity of youth +and youthful gaiety we soon did so; we could not attempt to persuade +ourselves that there had been any conscious fraud or any attempt at +scenical effect in the Hungarian's conduct. She had no motive for +deceiving us; she had refused all offerings of money, and her whole +visit had evidently been made under an overflow of the most grateful +feelings for the attentions shown to her child. We acquitted her, +therefore, of sinister intentions; and with our feelings of jealousy, +feelings in which we had been educated, towards everything that tended +to superstition, we soon agreed to think her some gentle maniac or sad +enthusiast, suffering under some form of morbid melancholy. Forty-eight +hours, with two nights' sleep, sufficed to restore the wonted +equilibrium of our spirits; and that interval brought us onwards to the +6th of April--the day on which, as I have already said, my story +properly commences. + + On that day, on that lovely 6th of April, such as I have described it, +that 6th of April, about nine o'clock in the morning, we were seated at +breakfast near the open window--we, that is, Agnes, myself, and little +Francis; the freshness of morning spirits rested upon us; the golden +light of the morning sun illuminated the room; incense was floating +through the air from the gorgeous flowers within and without the house; +there in youthful happiness we sat gathered together, a family of love, +and there we never sat again. Never again were we three gathered +together, nor ever shall be, so long as the sun and its golden light-- +the morning and the evening--the earth and its flowers endure. + +Often have I occupied myself in recalling every circumstance the most +trivial of this the final morning of what merits to be called my life. +Eleven o'clock, I remember, was striking when Agnes came into my study, +and said that she would go into the city, (for we lived in a quite +rural suburb,) that she would execute some trifling commissions which +she had received from a friend in the country, and would be at home +again between one and two for a stroll which we had agreed to take in +the neighboring meadows. About twenty minutes after this she again came +into my study dressed for going abroad; for such was my admiration of +her, that I had a fancy--fancy it must have been, and yet still I felt +it to be real--that under every change she looked best; if she put on a +shawl, then a shawl became the most feminine of ornaments; if she laid +aside her shawl and her bonnet, then how nymph-like she seemed in her +undisguised and unadorned beauty! Full-dress seemed for the time to be +best, as bringing forward into relief the splendor of her person, and +allowing the exposure of her arms; a simple morning-dress, again, +seemed better still, as fitted to call out the childlike innocence of +her face, by confining the attention to that. But all these are +feelings of fond and blind affection, hanging with rapture over the +object of something too like idolatry. God knows, if that be a sin, I +was but too profound a sinner; yet sin it never was, sin it could not +be, to adore a beauty such as thine, my Agnes. Neither was it her +beauty by itself, and that only, which I sought at such times to +admire; there was a peculiar sort of double relation in which she stood +at moments of pleasurable expectation and excitement, since our little +Francis had become of an age to join our party, which made some aspects +of her character trebly interesting. She was a wife--and wife to one +whom she looked up to as her superior in understanding and in knowledge +of the world, whom, therefore, she leaned to for protection. On the +other hand, she was also a mother. Whilst, therefore, to her child she +supported the matronly part of guide, and the air of an experienced +person; to me she wore, ingenuously and without disguise, the part of a +child herself, with all the giddy hopes and unchastised imaginings of +that buoyant age. This double character, one aspect of which looks +towards her husband and one to her children, sits most gracefully upon +many a young wife whose heart is pure and innocent; and the collision +between the two separate parts imposed by duty on the one hand, by +extreme youth on the other, the one telling her that she is a +responsible head of a family and the depository of her husband's honor +in its tenderest and most vital interests, the other telling her, +through the liveliest language of animal sensibility, and through the +very pulses of her blood, that she is herself a child; this collision +gives an inexpressible charm to the whole demeanor of many a young +married woman, making her other fascinations more touching to her +husband, and deepening the admiration she excites; and the more so, as +it is a collision which cannot exist except among the very innocent. +Years, at any rate, will irresistibly remove this peculiar charm, and +gradually replace it by the graces of the matronly character. But in +Agnes this change had not yet been effected, partly from nature, and +partly from the extreme seclusion of her life. Hitherto she still +retained the unaffected expression of her childlike nature; and so +lovely in my eyes was this perfect exhibition of natural feminine +character, that she rarely or never went out alone upon any little +errand to town which might require her to rely upon her own good sense +and courage, that she did not previously come to exhibit herself before +me. Partly this was desired by me in that lover-like feeling of +admiration already explained, which leads one to court the sight of a +beloved object under every change of dress, and under all effects of +novelty. Partly it was the interest I took in that exhibition of sweet +timidity, and almost childish apprehensiveness, half disguised or +imperfectly acknowledged by herself, which (in the way I have just +explained) so touchingly contrasted with (and for that very reason so +touchingly drew forth) her matronly character. But I hear some objector +say at this point, ought not this very timidity, founded (as in part at +least it was) upon inexperience and conscious inability to face the +dangers of the world, to have suggested reasons for not leaving her to +her own protection? And does it not argue, on my part, an arrogant or +too blind a confidence in the durability of my happiness, as though +charmed against assaults, and liable to no shocks of sudden revolution? +I reply that, from the very constitution of society, and the tone of +manners in the city which we inhabited, there seemed to be a moral +impossibility that any dangers of consequence should meet her in the +course of those brief absences from my protection, which only were +possible; that even to herself any dangers, of a nature to be +anticipated under the known circumstances of the case, seemed almost +imaginary; that even _she_ acknowledged a propriety in being +trained, by slight and brief separations from my guardianship, to face +more boldly those cases of longer separation and of more absolute +consignment to her own resources which circumstances might arise to +create necessarily, and perhaps abruptly. And it is evident that, had +she been the wife of any man engaged in the duties of a profession, she +might have been summoned from the very first, and without the +possibility of any such gradual training, to the necessity of relying +almost singly upon her own courage and discretion. For the other +question, whether I did not depend too blindly and presumptuously upon +my good luck in not at least affording her my protection so long as +nothing occurred to make it impossible? I may reply, most truly, that +all my feelings ran naturally in the very opposite channel. So far from +confiding too much in my luck, in the present instance I was engaged in +a task of writing upon some points of business which could not admit of +further delay; but now, and at all times, I had a secret aversion to +seeing so gentle a creature thrown even for an hour upon her own +resources, though in situations which scarcely seemed to admit of any +occasion for taxing those resources; and often I have felt anger +towards myself for what appeared to be an irrational or effeminate +timidity, and have struggled with my own mind upon occasions like the +present, when I knew that I could not have acknowledged my tremors to a +friend without something like shame, and a fear to excite his ridicule. +No; if in anything I ran into excess, it was in this very point of +anxiety as to all that regarded my wife's security. Her good sense, her +prudence, her courage, (for courage she had in the midst of her +timidity,) her dignity of manner, the more impressive from the +childlike character of her countenance, all should have combined to +reassure me, and yet they did not. I was still anxious for her safety +to an irrational extent; and to sum up the whole in a most weighty line +of Shakspeare, I lived under the constant presence of a feeling which +only that great observer of human nature (so far as I am aware) has +ever noticed, viz., that merely the excess of my happiness made me +jealous of its ability to last, and in that extent less capable of +enjoying it; that in fact the prelibation of my tears, as a homage to +its fragility, was drawn forth by my very sense that my felicity was +too exquisite; or, in the words of the great master + + 'I wept to have' [absolutely, by anticipation, shed tears in + possessing] 'what I so feared to lose.' + +Thus end my explanations, and I now pursue my narrative: Agnes, as I +have said, came into my room again before leaving the house--we +conversed for five minutes--we parted--she went out--her last words +being that she would return at half-past one o'clock; and not long +after that time, if ever mimic bells--bells of rejoicing, or bells of +mourning, are heard in desert spaces of the air, and (as some have +said) in unreal worlds, that mock our own, and repeat, for ridicule, +the vain and unprofitable motions of man, then too surely, about this +hour, began to toll the funeral knell of my earthly happiness--its +final hour had sounded. + + * * * * * + +One o'clock had arrived; fifteen minutes after, I strolled into the +garden, and began to look over the little garden-gate in expectation of +every moment descrying Agnes in the distance. Half an hour passed, and +for ten minutes more I was tolerably quiet. From this time till half- +past two I became constantly more agitated--_agitated,_ perhaps, +is too strong a word--but I was restless and anxious beyond what I +should have chosen to acknowledge. Still I kept arguing, What is half +an hour? what is an hour? A thousand things might have occurred to +cause that delay, without needing to suppose any accident; or, if an +accident, why not a very trifling one? She may have slightly hurt her +foot--she may have slightly sprained her ankle. 'Oh, doubtless,' I +exclaimed to myself, 'it will be a mere trifle, or perhaps nothing at +all.' But I remember that, even whilst I was saying this, I took my hat +and walked with nervous haste into the little quiet lane upon which our +garden-gate opened. The lane led by a few turnings, and after a course +of about five hundred yards, into a broad high-road, which even at that +day had begun to assume the character of a street, and allowed an +unobstructed range of view in the direction of the city for at least a +mile. Here I stationed myself, for the air was so clear that I could +distinguish dress and figure to a much greater distance than usual. +Even on such a day, however, the remote distance was hazy and +indistinct, and at any other season I should have been diverted with +the various mistakes I made. From occasional combinations of color, +modified by light and shade, and of course powerfully assisted by the +creative state of the eye under this nervous apprehensiveness, I +continued to shape into images of Agnes forms without end, that upon +nearer approach presented the most grotesque contrasts to her +impressive appearance. But I had ceased even to comprehend the +ludicrous; my agitation was now so overruling and engrossing that I +lost even my intellectual sense of it; and now first I understood +practically and feelingly the anguish of hope alternating with +disappointment, as it may be supposed to act upon the poor shipwrecked +seaman, alone and upon a desolate coast, straining his sight for ever +to the fickle element which has betrayed him, but which only can +deliver him, and with his eyes still tracing in the far distance, + + 'Ships, dim-discover'd, dropping from the clouds,'-- + +which a brief interval of suspense still for ever disperses into hollow +pageants of air or vapor. One deception melted away only to be +succeeded by another; still I fancied that at last to a certainty I +could descry the tall figure of Agnes, her gipsy hat, and even the +peculiar elegance of her walk. Often I went so far as to laugh at +myself, and even to tax my recent fears with unmanliness and +effeminacy, on recollecting the audible throbbings of my heart, and the +nervous palpitations which had besieged me; but these symptoms, whether +effeminate or not, began to come back tumultuously under the gloomy +doubts that succeeded almost before I had uttered this self-reproach. +Still I found myself mocked and deluded with false hopes; yet still I +renewed my quick walk, and the intensity of my watch for that radiant +form that was fated never more to be seen returning from the cruel +city. + +It was nearly half-past three, and therefore close upon two hours +beyond the time fixed by Agnes for her return, when I became absolutely +incapable of supporting the further torture of suspense, and I suddenly +took the resolution of returning home and concerting with my female +servants some energetic measures, though _what_ I could hardly say, +on behalf of their mistress. On entering the garden-gate I met our +little child Francis, who unconsciously inflicted a pang upon me which +he neither could have meditated nor have understood. I passed him at +his play, perhaps even unaware of his presence, but he recalled me to +that perception by crying aloud that he had just seen his mamma. + +'When--where?' I asked convulsively. + +'Up stairs in her bedroom,' was his instantaneous answer. + +His manner was such as forbade me to suppose that he could be joking; +and, as it was barely possible (though, for reasons well known to me, +in the highest degree improbable) that Agnes might have returned by a +by-path, which, leading through a dangerous and disreputable suburb, +would not have coincided at any one point with the public road where I +had been keeping my station. I sprang forward into the house, up +stairs, and in rapid succession into every room where it was likely +that she might be found; but everywhere there was a dead silence, +disturbed only by myself, for, in my growing confusion of thought, I +believe that I rang the bell violently in every room I entered. No such +summons, however, was needed, for the servants, two of whom at the +least were most faithful creatures, and devotedly attached to their +young mistress, stood ready of themselves to come and make inquiries of +me as soon as they became aware of the alarming fact, that I had +returned without her. + +Until this moment, though having some private reasons for surprise that +she should have failed to come into the house for a minute or two at +the hour prefixed, in order to make some promised domestic arrangements +for the day, they had taken it for granted that she must have met with +me at some distance from home--and that either the extreme beauty of +the day had beguiled her of all petty household recollections, or (as a +conjecture more in harmony with past experiences) that my impatience +and solicitations had persuaded her to lay aside her own plans for the +moment at the risk of some little domestic inconvenience. Now, however, +in a single instant vanished _every_ mode of accounting for their +mistress's absence; and the consternation of our looks communicated +contagiously, by the most unerring of all languages, from each to the +other what thoughts were uppermost in our panic-stricken hearts. If to +any person it should seem that our alarm was disproportioned to the +occasion, and not justified at least by anything as yet made known to +us, let that person consider the weight due to the two following facts: +First, that from the recency of our settlement in this neighborhood, +and from the extreme seclusion of my wife's previous life at a vast +distance from the metropolis, she had positively no friends on her list +of visitors who resided in this great capital; secondly, and far above +all beside, let him remember the awful denunciations, so unexpectedly +tallying with this alarming and mysterious absence, of the Hungarian +prophetess; these had been slighted--almost dismissed from our +thoughts; but now in sudden reaction they came back upon us with a +frightful power to lacerate and to sting--the shadowy outline of a +spiritual agency, such as that which could at all predict the events, +combining in one mysterious effect, with the shadowy outline of those +very predictions. The power, that could have predicted, was as dim and +as hard to grasp as was the precise nature of the evil that had been +predicted. + +An icy terror froze my blood at this moment when I looked at the +significant glances, too easily understood by me, that were exchanged +between the servants. My mouth had been for the last two hours growing +more and more parched, so that at present, from mere want of moisture, +I could not separate my lips to speak. One of the women saw the vain +efforts I was making, and hastily brought me a glass of water. With the +first recovery of speech, I asked them what little Francis had meant by +saying that he had seen his mother in her bedroom. Their reply was, +that they were as much at a loss to discover his meaning as I was; that +he had made the same assertion to them, and with so much earnestness, +that they had, all in succession, gone up stairs to look for her, and +with the fullest expectation of finding her. This was a mystery which +remained such to the very last; there was no doubt whatsoever that the +child believed himself to have seen his mother; that he could not have +seen her in her human bodily presence, there is as little doubt as +there is, alas! that in this world he never _did_ see her again. +The poor child constantly adhered to his story, and with a +circumstantiality far beyond all power of invention that could be +presumed in an artless infant. Every attempt at puzzling him or +entangling him in contradictions by means of cross-examination was but +labor thrown away; though indeed, it is true enough that for those +attempts, as will soon be seen, there was but a brief interval allowed. + +Not dwelling upon this subject at present, I turned to Hannah--a woman +who held the nominal office of cook in our little establishment, but +whose real duties had been much more about her mistress's person--and +with a searching look of appeal I asked her whether, in this moment of +trial, when (as she might see) I was not so perfectly master of myself +as perhaps always to depend upon seeing what was best to be done, she +would consent to accompany me into the city, and take upon herself +those obvious considerations of policy or prudence which might but too +easily escape my mind, darkened, and likely to be darkened, as to its +power of discernment by the hurricane of affliction now too probably at +hand. She answered my appeal with the fervor I expected from what I had +already known of her character. She was a woman of a strong, fiery, +perhaps I might say of heroic mind, supported by a courage that was +absolutely indomitable, and by a strength of bodily frame very unusual +in a woman, and beyond the promise even of her person. She had suffered +as deep a wrench in her own affections as a human being can suffer; she +had lost her one sole child, a fair-haired boy of most striking beauty +and interesting disposition, at the age of seventeen, and by the worst +of all possible fates; he lived (as we did at that time) in a large +commercial city overflowing with profligacy, and with temptations of +every order; he had been led astray; culpable he had been, but by very +much the least culpable of the set into which accident had thrown him, +as regarded acts and probable intentions; and as regarded palliations +from childish years, from total inexperience, or any other alleviating +circumstances that could be urged, having everything to plead--and of +all his accomplices the only one who had anything to plead. Interest, +however, he had little or none; and whilst some hoary villains of the +party, who happened to be more powerfully befriended, were finally +allowed to escape with a punishment little more than nominal, he and +two others were selected as sacrifices to the offended laws. They +suffered capitally. All three behaved well; but the poor boy in +particular, with a courage, a resignation, and a meekness, so +distinguished and beyond his years as to attract the admiration and the +liveliest sympathy of the public universally. If strangers could feel +in that way, if the mere hardened executioner could be melted at the +final scene,--it may be judged to what a fierce and terrific height +would ascend the affliction of a doating mother, constitutionally too +fervid in her affections. I have heard an official person declare, that +the spectacle of her desolation and frantic anguish was the most +frightful thing he had ever witnessed, and so harrowing to the +feelings, that all who could by their rank venture upon such an +irregularity, absented themselves during the critical period from the +office which corresponded with the government; for, as I have said, the +affair took place in a large provincial city, at a great distance from +the capital. All who knew this woman, or who were witnesses to the +alteration which one fortnight had wrought in her person as well as her +demeanor, fancied it impossible that she could continue to live; or +that, if she did, it must be through the giving way of her reason. They +proved, however, to be mistaken; or, at least, if (as some thought) her +reason did suffer in some degree, this result showed itself in the +inequality of her temper, in moody fits of abstraction, and the morbid +energy of her manner at times under the absence of all adequate +external excitement, rather than in any positive and apparent +hallucinations of thought. The charm which had mainly carried off the +instant danger to her faculties, was doubtless the intense sympathy +which she met with. And in these offices of consolation my wife stood +foremost. For, and that was fortunate, she had found herself able, +without violence to her own sincerest opinions in the case, to offer +precisely that form of sympathy which was most soothing to the angry +irritation of the poor mother; not only had she shown a _direct_ +interest in the boy, and not a mere interest of _reflection_ from +that which she took in the mother, and had expressed it by visits to +his dungeon, and by every sort of attention to his comforts which his +case called for, or the prison regulations allowed; not only had she +wept with the distracted woman as if for a brother of her own; but, +which went farther than all the rest in softening the mother's heart, +she had loudly and indignantly proclaimed her belief in the boy's +innocence, and in the same tone her sense of the crying injustice +committed as to the selection of the victims, and the proportion of the +punishment awarded. Others, in the language of a great poet, + + 'Had pitied _her,_ and not her grief;' + +they had either not been able to see, or, from carelessness, had +neglected to see, any peculiar wrong done to her in the matter which +occasioned her grief,--but had simply felt compassion for her as for +one summoned, in a regular course of providential and human +dispensation, to face an affliction, heavy in itself, but not heavy +from any special defect of equity. Consequently their very sympathy, +being so much built upon the assumption that an only child had offended +to the extent implied in his sentence, oftentimes clothed itself in +expressions which she felt to be not consolations but insults, and, in +fact, so many justifications of those whom it relieved her overcharged +heart to regard as the very worst of enemies. Agnes, on the other hand, +took the very same view of the case as herself; and, though otherwise +the gentlest of all gentle creatures, yet here, from the generous +fervor of her reverence for justice, and her abhorrence of oppression, +she gave herself no trouble to moderate the energy of her language: nor +did I, on my part, feeling that substantially she was in the right, +think it of importance to dispute about the exact degrees of the wrong +done or the indignation due to it. In this way it happened naturally +enough that at one and the same time, though little contemplating +either of these results, Agnes had done a prodigious service to the +poor desolate mother by breaking the force of her misery, as well as by +arming the active agencies of indignation against the depressing ones +of solitary grief, and for herself had won a most grateful and devoted +friend, who would have gone through fire and water to serve her, and +was thenceforwards most anxious for some opportunity to testify how +deep had been her sense of the goodness shown to her by her benign +young mistress, and how incapable of suffering abatement by time. It +remains to add, which I have slightly noticed before, that this woman +was of unusual personal strength: her bodily frame matched with her +intellectual: and I notice this _now_ with the more emphasis, +because I am coming rapidly upon ground where it will be seen that this +one qualification was of more summary importance to us--did us more +'yeoman's service' at a crisis the most awful--than other qualities of +greater name and pretension. _Hannah_ was this woman's Christian +name; and her name and her memory are to me amongst the most hallowed +of my earthly recollections. + +One of her two fellow-servants, known technically amongst us as the +'parlor maid,' was also, but not equally, attached to her mistress; and +merely because her nature, less powerfully formed and endowed, did not +allow her to entertain or to comprehend any service equally fervid of +passion or of impassioned action. She, however, was good, affectionate, +and worthy to be trusted. But a third there was, a nursery maid, and +therefore more naturally and more immediately standing within the +confidence of her mistress--her I could not trust: her I suspected. But +of that hereafter. Meantime, Hannah, she upon whom I leaned as upon a +staff in all which respected her mistress, ran up stairs, after I had +spoken and received her answer, in order hastily to dress and prepare +herself for going out along with me to the city. I did not ask her to +be quick in her movements: I knew there was no need: and, whilst she +was absent, I took up, in one of my fretful movements of nervousness, a +book which was lying upon a side-table: the book fell open of itself at +a particular page; and in that, perhaps, there was nothing +extraordinary, for it was a little portable edition of _Paradise +Lost_; and the page was one which I must naturally have turned to +many a time: for to Agnes I had read all the great masters of +literature, especially those of modern times; so that few people knew +the high classics more familiarly: and as to the passage in question, +from its divine beauty I had read it aloud to her, perhaps, on fifty +separate occasions. All this I mention to take away any appearance of a +vulgar attempt to create omens; but still, in the very act of +confessing the simple truth, and thus weakening the marvellous +character of the anecdote, I must notice it as a strange instance of +the '_Sortes Miltonianae_,'--that precisely at such a moment as +this I should find thrown in my way, should feel tempted to take up, +and should open, a volume containing such a passage as the following: +and observe, moreover, that although the volume, _once being taken +up_, would naturally open where it had been most frequently read, +there were, however, many passages which had been read _as_ +frequently--or more so. The particular passage upon which I opened at +this moment was that most beautiful one in which the fatal morning +separation is described between Adam and his bride--that separation so +pregnant with wo, which eventually proved the occasion of the mortal +transgression--the last scene between our first parents at which both +were innocent and both were happy--although the superior intellect +already felt, and, in the slight altercation preceding this separation, +had already expressed a dim misgiving of some coming change: these are +the words, and in depth of pathos they have rarely been approached:-- + + 'Oft he to her his charge of quick return + Repeated; she to him as oft engag'd + To be returned by noon amid the bow'r, + And all things in best order to invite + Noon-tide repast, or afternoon's repose. + Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve! + Of thy presumed return, event perverse! + Thou never from that hour in Paradise + Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose.' + +'_My_ Eve!' I exclaimed, 'partner in _my_ paradise, where art thou? +_Much failing_ thou wilt not be found, nor _much deceived_; innocent in +any case thou art; but, alas! too surely by this time _hapless_, and +the victim of some diabolic wickedness.' Thus I murmured to myself; +thus I ejaculated; thus I apostrophized my Agnes; then again came a +stormier mood. I could not sit still; I could not stand in quiet; I +threw the book from me with violence against the wall; I began to hurry +backwards and forwards in a short uneasy walk, when suddenly a sound, a +step; it was the sound of the garden-gate opening, followed by a hasty +tread. Whose tread? Not for a moment could it be fancied the oread step +which belonged to that daughter of the hills--my wife, my Agnes; no, it +was the dull massy tread of a man: and immediately there came a loud +blow upon the door, and in the next moment, the bell having been found, +a furious peal of ringing. Oh coward heart! not for a lease of +immortality could I have gone forwards myself. My breath failed me; an +interval came in which respiration seemed to be stifled--the blood to +halt in its current; and then and there I recognised in myself the +force and living truth of that Scriptural description of a heart +consciously beset by evil without escape: 'Susannah _sighed_.' Yes, a +long, long sigh--a deep, deep sigh--that is, the natural language by +which the over-charged heart utters forth the wo that else would break +it. I sighed--oh how profoundly! But that did not give me power to +move. Who will go to the door? I whispered audibly. Who is at the door? +was the inaudible whisper of my heart. Then might be seen the +characteristic differences of the three women. That one, whom I +suspected, I heard raising an upper window to look out and reconnoitre. +The affectionate Rachael, on the other hand, ran eagerly down stairs; +but Hannah, half dressed, even her bosom exposed, passed her like a +storm; and before I heard any sound of opening a door, I saw from the +spot where I stood the door already wide open, and a man in the costume +of a policeman. All that he said I could not hear; but this I heard-- +that I was wanted at the police office, and had better come off without +delay. He seemed then to get a glimpse of me, and to make an effort +towards coming nearer; but I slunk away, and left to Hannah the task of +drawing from him any circumstances which he might know. But apparently +there was not much to tell, or rather, said I, there is too much, the +_much_ absorbs the _many_; some one mighty evil transcends and quells +all particulars. At length the door was closed, and the man was gone. +Hannah crept slowly along the passage, and looked in hesitatingly. Her +very movements and stealthy pace testified that she had heard nothing +which, even by comparison, she could think good news. 'Tell me not now, +Hannah,' I said; 'wait till we are in the open air.' She went up stairs +again. How short seemed the time till she descended! how I longed for +further respite! 'Hannah!' I said at length when we were fairly moving +upon the road, 'Hannah! I am too sure you have nothing good to tell. +But now tell me the worst, and let that be in the fewest words +possible.' + +'Sir,' she said, 'we had better wait until we reach the office; for +really I could not understand the man. He says that my mistress is +detained upon some charge; but _what_, I could not at all make +out. He was a man that knew something of you, Sir, I believe, and he +wished to be civil, and kept saying, "Oh! I dare say it will turn out +nothing at all, many such charges are made idly and carelessly, and +some maliciously." "But what charges?" I cried, and then he wanted to +speak privately to you. But I told him that of all persons he must not +speak to you, if he had anything painful to tell; for that you were too +much disturbed already, and had been for some hours, out of anxiety and +terror about my mistress, to bear much more. So, when he heard that, he +was less willing to speak freely than before. He might prove wrong, he +said; he might give offence; things might turn out far otherwise than +according to first appearances; for his part, he could not believe +anything amiss of so sweet a lady. And after all, it would be better to +wait till we reached the office.' + +Thus much then was clear--Agnes was under some accusation. This was +already worse than the worst I had anticipated. 'And then,' said I, +thinking aloud to Hannah, 'one of two things is apparent to me; either +the accusation is one of pure hellish malice, without a color of +probability or the shadow of a foundation, and that way, alas! I am +driven in my fears by that Hungarian woman's prophecy; or, which but +for my desponding heart I should be more inclined to think, the charge +has grown out of my poor wife's rustic ignorance as to the usages then +recently established by law with regard to the kind of money that could +be legally tendered. This, however, was a suggestion that did not tend +to alleviate my anxiety; and my nervousness had mounted to a painful, +almost to a disabling degree, by the time we reached the office. +Already on our road thither some parties had passed us who were +conversing with eagerness upon the case: so much we collected from the +many and ardent expressions about 'the lady's beauty,' though the rest +of such words as we could catch were ill calculated to relieve my +suspense. This, then, at least, was certain--that my poor timid Agnes +had already been exhibited before a tumultuous crowd; that her name and +reputation had gone forth as a subject of discussion for the public; +and that the domestic seclusion and privacy within which it was her +matronly privilege to move had already undergone a rude violation. + +The office, and all the purlieus of the office, were occupied by a +dense crowd. That, perhaps, was always the case, more or less, at this +time of day; but at present the crowd was manifestly possessed by a +more than ordinary interest; and there was a unity in this possessing +interest; all were talking on the same subject, the case in which Agnes +had so recently appeared in some character or other; and by this time +it became but too certain in the character of an accused person. Pity +was the prevailing sentiment amongst the mob; but the opinions varied +much as to the probable criminality of the prisoner. I made my way into +the office. The presiding magistrates had all retired for the +afternoon, and would not reassemble until eight o'clock in the evening. +Some clerks only or officers of the court remained, who were too much +harassed by applications for various forms and papers connected with +the routine of public business, and by other official duties which +required signatures or attestations, to find much leisure for answering +individual questions. Some, however, listened with a marked air of +attention to my earnest request for the circumstantial details of the +case, but finally referred me to a vast folio volume, in which were +entered all the charges, of whatever nature, involving any serious +tendency--in fact, all that exceeded a misdemeanor--in the regular +chronological succession according to which they came before the +magistrate. Here, in this vast calendar of guilt and misery, amidst the +_aliases_ or cant designations of ruffians, prostitutes, felons, +stood the description, at full length, Christian and surnames all +properly registered, of my Agnes--of her whose very name had always +sounded to my ears like the very echo of mountain innocence, purity, +and pastoral simplicity. Here in another column stood the name and +residence of her accuser. I shall call him _Barratt_, for that was +amongst his names, and a name by which he had at one period of his +infamous life been known to the public, though not his principal name, +or the one which he had thought fit to assume at this era. James +Barratt, then, as I shall here call him, was a haberdasher--keeping a +large and conspicuous shop in a very crowded and what was then +considered a fashionable part of the city. The charge was plain and +short. Did I live to read it? It accused Agnes M---- of having on that +morning secreted in her muff, and feloniously carried away, a valuable +piece of Mechlin lace, the property of James Barratt. And the result of +the first examination was thus communicated in a separate column, +written in red ink--'Remanded to the second day after to-morrow for +final examination.' Everything in this sin-polluted register was in +manuscript; but at night the records of each day were regularly +transferred to a printed journal, enlarged by comments and explanatory +descriptions from some one of the clerks, whose province it was to +furnish this intelligence to the public journals. On that same night, +therefore, would go forth to the world such an account of the case, and +such a description of my wife's person, as would inevitably summon to +the next exhibition of her misery, as by special invitation and +advertisement, the whole world of this vast metropolis--the idle, the +curious, the brutal, the hardened amateur in spectacles of wo, and the +benign philanthropist who frequents such scenes with the purpose of +carrying alleviation to their afflictions. All alike, whatever might be +their motives or the spirit of their actions, would rush (as to some +grand festival of curiosity and sentimental luxury) to this public +martyrdom of my innocent wife. + +Meantime, what was the first thing to be done? Manifestly, to see +Agnes: her account of the affair might suggest the steps to be taken. +Prudence, therefore, at any rate, prescribed this course; and my heart +would not have tolerated any other. I applied, therefore, at once, for +information as to the proper mode of effecting this purpose without +delay. What was my horror at learning that, by a recent regulation of +all the police-offices, under the direction of the public minister who +presided over that department of the national administration, no person +could be admitted to an interview with any accused party during the +progress of the official examinations; or, in fact, until the final +committal of the prisoner for trial. This rule was supposed to be +attended by great public advantages, and had rarely been relaxed-- +never, indeed, without a special interposition of the police minister +authorizing its suspension. But was the exclusion absolute and +universal? Might not, at least, a female servant, simply as the bearer +of such articles as were indispensable to female delicacy and comfort, +have access to her mistress? No; the exclusion was total and +unconditional. To argue the point was manifestly idle; the subordinate +officers had no discretion in the matter; nor, in fact, had any other +official person, whatever were his rank, except the supreme one; and to +him I neither had any obvious means of introduction, nor (in case of +obtaining such an introduction) any chance of success; for the spirit +of the rule, I foresaw it would be answered, applied with especial +force to cases like the present. + +Mere human feelings of pity, sympathy with my too visible agitation, +superadded to something of perhaps reverence for the blighting misery +that was now opening its artillery upon me--for misery has a privilege, +and everywhere is felt to be a holy thing--had combined to procure for +me some attention and some indulgence hitherto. Answers had been given +with precision, explanations made at length, and anxiety shown to +satisfy my inquiries. But this could not last; the inexorable +necessities of public business coming back in a torrent upon the +official people after this momentary interruption, forbade them to +indulge any further consideration for an individual case, and I saw +that I must not stay any longer. I was rapidly coming to be regarded as +a hinderance to the movement of public affairs; and the recollection +that I might again have occasion for some appeal to these men in their +official characters, admonished me not to abuse my privilege of the +moment. After returning thanks, therefore, for the disposition shown to +oblige me, I retired. + +Slowly did I and Hannah retrace our steps. Hannah sustained, in the +tone of her spirits, by the extremity of her anger, a mood of feeling +which I did not share. Indignation was to her in the stead of +consolation and hope. I, for my part, could not seek even a momentary +shelter from my tempestuous affliction in that temper of mind. The man +who could accuse my Agnes, and accuse her of such a crime, I felt to be +a monster; and in my thoughts he was already doomed to a bloody +atonement (atonement! alas! what atonement!) whenever the time arrived +that _her_ cause would not be prejudiced, or the current of public +feeling made to turn in his favor by investing him with the semblance +of an injured or suffering person. So much was settled in my thoughts +with the stern serenity of a decree issuing from a judgment-seat. But +that gave no relief, no shadow of relief, to the misery which was now +consuming me. Here was an end, in one hour, to the happiness of a life. +In one hour it had given way, root and branch--had melted like so much +frost-work, or a pageant of vapory exhalations. In a moment, in the +twinkling of an eye, and yet for ever and ever, I comprehended the +total ruin of my situation. The case, as others might think, was yet in +suspense; and there was room enough for very rational hopes, especially +where there was an absolute certainty of innocence. Total freedom from +all doubt on that point seemed to justify almost more than hopes. This +might be said, and most people would have been more or less consoled by +it. I was not. I felt as certain, as irredeemably, as hopelessly +certain of the final results as though I had seen the record in the +books of Heaven. 'Hope nothing,' I said to myself; 'think not of hope +in this world, but think only how best to walk steadily, and not to +reel like a creature wanting discourse of reason, or incapable of +religious hopes under the burden which it has pleased God to impose, +and which in this life cannot be shaken off. The countenance of man is +made to look upward and to the skies. Thither also point henceforwards +your heart and your thoughts. Never again let your thoughts travel +earthwards. Settle them on the heavens, to which your Agnes is already +summoned. The call is clear, and not to be mistaken. Little in +_her_ fate now depends upon you, or upon anything that man can do. +Look, therefore, to yourself; see that you make not shipwreck of your +heavenly freight because your earthly freight is lost; and miss not, by +any acts of wild and presumptuous despair, that final reunion with your +Agnes, which can only be descried through vistas that open through the +heavens.' + +Such were the thoughts, thoughts often made audible, which came +spontaneously like oracles from afar, as I strode homewards with Hannah +by my side. Her, meantime, I seemed to hear; for at times I seemed and +I intended to answer her. But answer her I did not; for not ten words +of all that she said did I really and consciously hear. How I went +through that night is more entirely a blank in my memory, more entirely +a chapter of chaos and the confusion of chaos, than any other passage +the most impressive in my life. If I even slumbered for a moment, as at +intervals I did sometimes, though never sitting down, but standing or +pacing about throughout the night, and if in this way I attained a +momentary respite from self-consciousness, no sooner had I reached this +enviable state of oblivion, than some internal sting of irritation +_as_ rapidly dispersed the whole fickle fabric of sleep; and as if +the momentary trance--this fugitive beguilement of my wo--had been +conceded by a demon's subtle malice only with the purpose of barbing +the pang, by thus forcing it into a stronger relief through the +insidious peace preceding it. It is a well known and most familiar +experience to all the sons and daughters of affliction, that under no +circumstances is the piercing, lancinating torment of a recent calamity +felt so keenly as in the first moments of awaking in the morning from +the night's slumbers. Just at the very instant when the clouds of +sleep, and the whole fantastic illusions of dreaminess are dispersing, +just as the realities of life are re-assuming their steadfast forms-- +re-shaping themselves--and settling anew into those fixed relations +which they are to preserve throughout the waking hours; in that +particular crisis of transition from the unreal to the real, the wo +which besieges the brain and the life-springs at the heart rushes in +afresh amongst the other crowd of realities, and has at the moment of +restoration literally the force and liveliness of a new birth--the very +same pang, and no whit feebler, as that which belonged to it when it +was first made known. From the total hush of oblivion which had buried +it and sealed it up, as it were, during the sleeping hours, it starts +into sudden life on our first awaking, and is to all intents and +purposes a new and not an old affliction--one which brings with it the +old original shock which attended its first annunciation. + +That night--that first night of separation from my wife--_how_ it +passed, I know not; I know only _that_ it passed, I being in our +common bed-chamber, that holiest of all temples that are consecrated to +human attachments, whenever the heart is pure of man and woman, and the +love is strong--I being in that bedchamber, once the temple now the +sepulchre of our happiness,--I there, and my wife--my innocent wife--in +a dungeon. As the morning light began to break, somebody knocked at the +door; it was Hannah: she took my hand--misery levels all feeble +distinctions of station, sex, age--she noticed my excessive +feverishness, and gravely remonstrated with me upon the necessity there +was that I should maintain as much health as possible for the sake of +'others,' if not for myself. She then brought me some tea, which +refreshed me greatly; for I had tasted nothing at all beyond a little +water since the preceding morning's breakfast. This refreshment seemed +to relax and thaw the stiff frozen state of cheerless, rayless despair +in which I had passed the night; I became susceptible of consolation-- +that consolation which lies involved in kindness and gentleness of +manner--if not susceptible more than before of any positive hope. I sat +down; and, having no witnesses to my weakness but this kind and +faithful woman, I wept, and I found a relief in tears; and she, with +the ready sympathy of woman, wept along with me. All at once she +ventured upon the circumstances (so far as she had been able to collect +them from the reports of those who had been present at the examination) +of our calamity. There was little indeed either to excite or to gratify +any interest or curiosity separate from the _personal_ interest +inevitably connected with a case to which there were two such parties +as a brutal, sensual, degraded ruffian, on one side in character of +accuser, and on the other as defendant, a meek angel of a woman, timid +and fainting from the horrors of her situation, and under the +licentious gaze of the crowd--yet, at the same time, bold in conscious +innocence, and in the very teeth of the suspicions which beset her, +winning the good opinion, as well as the good wishes of all who saw +her. There had been at this first examination little for her to say +beyond the assigning her name, age, and place of abode; and here it was +fortunate that her own excellent good sense concurred with her perfect +integrity and intuitive hatred of all indirect or crooked courses in +prompting her to an undisguised statement of the simple truth, without +a momentary hesitation or attempt either at evasion or suppression. +With equally good intentions in similar situations many a woman has +seriously injured her cause by slight evasions of the entire truth, +where nevertheless her only purpose has been the natural and ingenuous +one of seeking to save the reputation untainted of a name which she +felt to have been confided to her keeping. The purpose was an honorable +one, but erroneously pursued. Agnes fell into no such error. She +answered calmly, simply, and truly, to every question put by the +magistrates; and beyond _that_ there was little opportunity for +her to speak; the whole business of this preliminary examination being +confined to the deposition of the accuser as to the circumstances under +which he alleged the act of felonious appropriation to have taken +place. These circumstances were perfectly uninteresting, considered in +themselves; but amongst them was one which to us had the most shocking +interest, from the absolute proof thus furnished of a deep-laid plot +against Agnes. But for this one circumstance there would have been a +possibility that the whole had originated in error--error growing out +of and acting upon a nature originally suspicious, and confirmed +perhaps by an unfortunate experience. And in proportion as that was +possible, the chances increased that the accuser might, as the +examinations advanced, and the winning character of the accused party +began to develop itself, begin to see his error, and to retract his own +over-hasty suspicions. But now we saw at a glance that for this hope +there was no countenance whatever, since one solitary circumstance +sufficed to establish a conspiracy. The deposition bore--that the lace +had been secreted and afterwards detected in a muff; now it was a fact +as well known to both of us as the fact of Agnes having gone out at +all--that she had laid aside her winter's dress for the first time on +this genial sunny day. Muff she had not at the time, nor could have had +appropriately from the style of her costume in other respects. What was +the effect upon us of this remarkable discovery! Of course there died +at once the hope of any abandonment by the prosecutor of his purpose; +because here was proof of a predetermined plot. This hope died at once; +but then, as it was one which never had presented itself to my mind, I +lost nothing by which I had ever been solaced. On the other hand, it +will be obvious that a new hope at the same time arose to take its +place, viz., the reasonable one that by this single detection, if once +established, we might raise a strong presumption of conspiracy, and +moreover that, as a leading fact or clue, it might serve to guide us in +detecting others. Hannah was sanguine in this expectation; and for a +moment her hopes were contagiously exciting to mine. But the hideous +despondency which in my mind had settled upon the whole affair from the +very first, the superstitious presentiment I had of a total blight +brooding over the entire harvest of my life and its promises, (tracing +itself originally, I am almost ashamed to own, up to that prediction of +the Hungarian woman)--denied me steady light, anything--all in short +but a wandering ray of hope. It was right, of course, nay, +indispensable, that the circumstance of the muff should be strongly +insisted upon at the next examination, pressed against the prosecutor, +and sifted to the uttermost. An able lawyer would turn this to a +triumphant account; and it would be admirable as a means of pre- +engaging the good opinion as well as the sympathies of the public in +behalf of the prisoner. But, for its final effect--my conviction +remained, not to be shaken, that all would be useless; that our doom +had gone forth, and was irrevocable. + +Let me not linger too much over those sad times. Morning came on as +usual; for it is strange, but true, that to the very wretched it seems +wonderful that times and seasons should keep their appointed courses in +the midst of such mighty overthrows, and such interruption to the +courses of their own wonted happiness and their habitual expectations. +Why should morning and night, why should all movements in the natural +world be so regular, whilst in the moral world all is so irregular and +anomalous? Yet the sun and the moon rise and set as usual upon the +mightiest revolutions of empire and of worldly fortune that this planet +ever beholds; and it is sometimes even a comfort to know that this will +be the case. A great criminal, sentenced to an agonizing punishment, +has derived a fortitude and a consolation from recollecting that the +day would run its inevitable course--that a day after all was +_but_ a day--that the mighty wheel of alternate light and darkness +must and would revolve--and that the evening star would rise as usual, +and shine with its untroubled lustre upon the dust and ashes of what +_had_ indeed suffered, and so recently, the most bitter pangs, but +would then have ceased to suffer. 'La Journee,' said Damien, + + 'La journee sera dure, mais elle se passera.' + +'----_Se passera_:' yes, that is true, I whispered to myself; my +day also, my season of trial will be hard to bear; but that also will +have an end; that also '_se passera_.' Thus I talked or thought so +long as I thought at all; for the hour was now rapidly approaching, +when thinking in any shape would for some time be at an end for me. + +That day, as the morning advanced, I went again, accompanied by Hannah, +to the police court and to the prison--a vast, ancient, in parts +ruinous, and most gloomy pile of building. In those days the +administration of justice was, if not more corrupt, certainly in its +inferior departments by far more careless than it is at present, and +liable to thousands of interruptions and mal-practices, supporting +themselves upon old traditionary usages which required at least half a +century, and the shattering everywhere given to old systems by the +French Revolution, together with the universal energy of mind applied +to those subjects over the whole length and breadth of Christendom, to +approach with any effectual reforms. Knowing this, and having myself +had direct personal cognisance of various cases in which bribery had +been applied with success, I was not without considerable hope that +perhaps Hannah and myself might avail ourselves of this irregular +passport through the gates of the prison. And, had the new regulation +been of somewhat longer standing, there is little doubt that I should +have been found right; unfortunately, as yet it had all the freshness +of newborn vigor, and kept itself in remembrance by the singular +irritation it excited. Besides this, it was a pet novelty of one +particular minister, new to the possession of power, anxious to +distinguish himself, proud of his creative functions within the range +of his office, and very sensitively jealous on the point of opposition +to his mandates. Vain, therefore, on this day were all my efforts to +corrupt the jailers; and, in fact, anticipating a time when I might +have occasion to corrupt some of them for a more important purpose and +on a larger scale, I did not think it prudent to proclaim my character +beforehand as one who tampered with such means, and thus to arm against +myself those jealousies in official people, which it was so peculiarly +important that I should keep asleep. + +All that day, however, I lingered about the avenues and vast courts in +the precincts of the prison, and near one particular wing of the +building, which had been pointed out to me by a jailer as the section +allotted to those who were in the situation of Agnes; that is, waiting +their final commitment for trial. The building generally he could +indicate with certainty, but he professed himself unable to indicate +the particular part of it which 'the young woman brought in on the day +previous' would be likely to occupy; consequently he could not point +out the window from which her cell (her '_cell_!' what a word!) +would be lighted. 'But, master,' he went on to say, 'I would advise +nobody to try that game.' He looked with an air so significant, and at +the same time used a gesture so indicative of private understanding, +that I at once apprehended his meaning, and assured him that he had +altogether misconstrued my drift; that, as to attempts at escape, or at +any mode of communicating with the prisoner from the outside, I trusted +all _that_ was perfectly needless; and that at any rate in my eyes +it was perfectly hopeless. 'Well, master,' he replied, 'that's neither +here nor there. You've come down handsomely, that I _will_ say; +and where a gentleman acts like a gentleman, and behaves himself as +such, I'm not the man to go and split upon him for a word. To be sure +it's quite nat'ral that a gentleman--put case that a young woman is his +fancy woman--it's nothing but nat'ral that he should want to get her +out of such an old rat-hole as this, where many's the fine-timbered +creature, both he and she, that has lain to rot, and has never got out +of the old trap at all, first or last'----'How so?' I interrupted him; +'surely they don't detain the corpses of prisoners?' 'Ay, but mind you +--put case that he or that she should die in this rat-trap before +sentence is past, why then the prison counts them as its own children, +and buries them in its own chapel--that old stack of pigeon-holes that +you see up yonder to the right hand.' So then, after all, thought I, if +my poor Agnes should, in her desolation and solitary confinement to +these wretched walls, find her frail strength give way--should the +moral horrors of her situation work their natural effect upon her +health, and she should chance to die within this dungeon, here within +this same dungeon will she lie to the resurrection, and in that case +her prison-doors have already closed upon her for ever. The man, who +perhaps had some rough kindness in his nature, though tainted by the +mercenary feelings too inevitably belonging to his situation, seemed to +guess at the character of my ruminations by the change of my +countenance, for he expressed some pity for my being 'in so much +trouble;' and it seemed to increase his respect for me that this +trouble should be directed to the case of a woman, for he appeared to +have a manly sense of the peculiar appeal made to the honor and +gallantry of man, by the mere general fact of the feebleness and the +dependence of woman. I looked at him more attentively in consequence of +the feeling tone in which he now spoke, and was surprised that I had +not more particularly noticed him before; he was a fine looking, +youngish man, with a bold Robin-hood style of figure and appearance; +and, morally speaking, he was absolutely transfigured to my eyes by the +effect worked upon him for the moment, through the simple calling up of +his better nature. However, he recurred to his cautions about the peril +in a legal sense of tampering with the windows, bolts, and bars of the +old decaying prison; which, in fact, precisely according to the degree +in which its absolute power over its prisoners was annually growing +less and less, grew more and more jealous of its own reputation, and +punished the attempts to break loose with the more severity, in exact +proportion as they were the more tempting by the chances of success. I +persisted in disowning any schemes of the sort, and especially upon the +ground of their hopelessness. But this, on the other hand, was a ground +that in his inner thoughts he treated with scorn; and I could easily +see that, with a little skilful management of opportunity, I might, +upon occasion, draw from him all the secrets he knew as to the special +points of infirmity in this old ruinous building. For the present, and +until it should certainly appear that there was some use to be derived +from this species of knowledge, I forbore to raise superfluous +suspicions by availing myself further of his communicative disposition. +Taking, however, the precaution of securing his name, together with his +particular office and designation in the prison, I parted from him as +if to go home, but in fact to resume my sad roamings up and down the +precincts of the jail. + +What made these precincts much larger than otherwise they would have +been, was the circumstance that, by a usage derived from older days, +both criminal prisoners and those who were prisoners for debt, equally +fell under the custody of this huge caravanserai for the indifferent +reception of crime, of misdemeanor, and of misfortune. And those who +came under the two first titles, were lodged here through all stages of +their connection with public justice; alike when mere objects of vague +suspicion to the police, when under examination upon a specific charge, +when fully committed for trial, when convicted and under sentence, +awaiting the execution of that sentence, and, in a large proportion of +cases, even through their final stage of punishment, when it happened +to be of any nature compatible with in-door confinement. Hence it arose +that the number of those who haunted the prison gates, with or without +a title to admission, was enormous; all the relatives, or more properly +the acquaintances and connections of the criminal population within the +prison, being swelled by all the families of needy debtors who came +daily, either to offer the consolation of their society, or to diminish +their common expenditure by uniting their slender establishments. One +of the rules applied to the management of this vast multitude that were +every day candidates for admission was, that to save the endless +trouble as well as risk, perhaps, of opening and shutting the main +gates to every successive arrival, periodic intervals were fixed for +the admission by wholesale; and as these periods came round every two +hours, it would happen at many parts of the day that vast crowds +accumulated waiting for the next opening of the gate. These crowds were +assembled in two or three large outer courts, in which also were many +stalls and booths, kept there upon some local privilege of ancient +inheritance, or upon some other plea made good by gifts or bribes--some +by Jews and others by Christians, perhaps equally Jewish. Superadded to +these stationary elements of this miscellaneous population, were others +drawn thither by pure motives of curiosity, so that altogether an +almost permanent mob was gathered together in these courts; and amid +this mob it was,--from I know not what definite motive, partly because +I thought it probable that amongst these people I should hear the cause +of Agnes peculiarly the subject of conversation; and so, in fact, it +did really happen,--but partly, and even more, I believe, because I now +awfully began to shrink from solitude. Tumult I must have, and +distraction of thought. Amid this mob, I say, it was that I passed two +days. Feverish I had been from the first--and from bad to worse, in +such a case, was, at any rate, a natural progress; but, perhaps, also +amongst this crowd of the poor, the abjectly wretched, the ill-fed, the +desponding, and the dissolute, there might be very naturally a larger +body of contagion lurking than according to their mere numerical +expectations. There was at that season a very extensive depopulation +going on in some quarters of this great metropolis, and in other cities +of the same empire, by means of a very malignant typhus. This fever is +supposed to be the peculiar product of jails; and though it had not as +yet been felt as a scourge and devastator of this particular jail, or +at least the consequent mortality had been hitherto kept down to a +moderate amount, yet it was highly probable that a certain quantity of +contagion, much beyond the proportion of other popular assemblages less +uniformly wretched in their composition, was here to be found all day +long; and doubtless my excited state, and irritable habit of body, had +offered a peculiar predisposition that favored the rapid development of +this contagion. However this might be, the result was, that on the +evening of the second day which I spent in haunting the purlieus of the +prison, (consequently the night preceding the second public examination +of Agnes,) I was attacked by ardent fever in such unmitigated fury, +that before morning I had lost all command of my intellectual +faculties. For some weeks I became a pitiable maniac, and in every +sense the wreck of my former self; and seven entire weeks, together +with the better half of an eighth week, had passed over my head whilst +I lay unconscious of time and its dreadful freight of events, excepting +in so far as my disordered brain, by its fantastic coinages, created +endless mimicries and mockeries of these events--less substantial, but +oftentimes less afflicting, or less agitating. It would have been well +for me had my destiny decided that I was not to be recalled to this +world of wo. But I had no such happiness in store. I recovered, and +through twenty and eight years my groans have recorded the sorrow I +feel that I did. + + * * * * * + +I shall not rehearse circumstantially, and point by point, the sad +unfolding, as it proceeded through successive revelations to me, of all +which had happened during my state of physical incapacity. When I first +became aware that my wandering senses had returned to me, and knew, by +the cessation of all throbbings, and the unutterable pains that had so +long possessed my brain, that I was now returning from the gates of +death, a sad confusion assailed me as to some indefinite cloud of evil +that had been hovering over me at the time when I first fell into a +state of insensibility. For a time I struggled vainly to recover the +lost connection of my thoughts, and I endeavored ineffectually to +address myself to sleep. I opened my eyes, but found the glare of light +painful beyond measure. Strength, however, it seemed to me that I had, +and more than enough, to raise myself out of bed. I made the attempt, +but fell back, almost giddy with the effort. At the sound of the +disturbance which I had thus made, a woman whom I did not know came +from behind a curtain, and spoke to me. Shrinking from any +communication with a stranger, especially one whose discretion I could +not estimate in making discoveries to me with the requisite caution, I +asked her simply what o'clock it was. + +'Eleven in the forenoon,' she replied. + +'And what day of the month?' + +'The second,' was her brief answer. + +I felt almost a sense of shame in adding--; 'The second! but of what +month?' + +'Of June,' was the startling rejoinder. + +On the 8th of April I had fallen ill, and it was now actually the 2d of +June. Oh! sickening calculation! revolting register of hours! for in +that same moment which brought back this one recollection, perhaps by +steadying my brain, rushed back in a torrent all the other dreadful +remembrances of the period, and now the more so, because, though the +event was still uncertain as regarded my knowledge, it must have become +dreadfully certain as regarded the facts of the case, and the happiness +of all who were concerned. Alas! one little circumstance too painfully +assured me that this event had not been a happy one. Had Agnes been +restored to her liberty and her home, where would she have been found +but watching at my bed-side? That too certainly I knew, and the +inference was too bitter to support. + +On this same day, some hours afterwards, upon Hannah's return from the +city, I received from her, and heard with perfect calmness, the whole +sum of evil which awaited me. Little Francis--she took up her tale at +that point--'was with God:' so she expressed herself. He had died of +the same fever which had attacked me--had died and been buried nearly +five weeks before. Too probably he had caught the infection from me. +Almost--such are the caprices of human feeling--almost I could have +rejoiced that this young memorial of my vanished happiness had vanished +also. It gave me a pang, nevertheless, that the grave should thus have +closed upon him before I had seen his fair little face again. But I +steeled my heart to hear worse things than this. Next she went on to +inform me that already, on the first or second day of our calamity, she +had taken upon herself, without waiting for authority, on observing the +rapid approaches of illness in me, and arguing the state of +helplessness which would follow, to write off at once a summons in the +most urgent terms to the brother of my wife. This gentleman, whom I +shall call Pierpoint, was a high-spirited, generous young man as I have +ever known. When I say that he was a sportsman, that at one season of +the year he did little else than pursue his darling amusement of fox- +hunting, for which indeed he had almost a maniacal passion--saying +this, I shall already have prejudged him in the opinions of many, who +fancy all such persons the slaves of corporeal enjoyments. But, with +submission, the truth lies the other way. According to my experience, +people of these habits have their bodies more than usually under their +command, as being subdued by severe exercise; and their minds, neither +better nor worse on an average than those of their neighbors, are more +available from being so much more rarely clogged by morbid habits in +that uneasy yoke-fellow of the intellectual part--the body. He at all +events was a man to justify in his own person this way of thinking; for +he was a man not only of sound, but even of bold and energetic +intellect, and in all moral respects one whom any man might feel proud +to call his friend. This young man, Pierpoint, without delay obeyed the +summons; and on being made acquainted with what had already passed, the +first step he took was to call upon Barratt, and without further +question than what might ascertain his identity, he proceeded to +inflict upon him a severe horsewhipping. A worse step on his sister's +account he could not have taken. Previously to this the popular feeling +had run strongly against Barratt, but now its unity was broken. A new +element was introduced into the question: Democratic feelings were +armed against this outrage; gentlemen and nobles, it was said, thought +themselves not amenable to justice; and again, the majesty of the law +was offended at this intrusion upon an affair already under solemn +course of adjudication. Everything, however, passes away under the +healing hand of time, and this also faded from the public mind. People +remembered also that he was a brother, and in that character, at any +rate, had a right to some allowances for his intemperance; and what +quickened the oblivion of the affair was, which in itself was +sufficiently strange, that Barratt did not revive the case in the +public mind by seeking legal reparation for his injuries. It was, +however, still matter of regret that Pierpoint should have indulged +himself in this movement of passion, since undoubtedly it broke and +disturbed the else uniform stream of public indignation, by investing +the original aggressor with something like the character of an injured +person; and therefore with some set-off to plead against his own +wantonness of malice;--his malice might now assume the nobler aspect of +revenge. + +Thus far, in reporting the circumstances, Hannah had dallied--thus far +I had rejoiced that she dallied, with the main burden of the wo; but +now there remained nothing to dally with any longer--and she rushed +along in her narrative, hurrying to tell--I hurrying to hear. A second, +a third examination had ensued, then a final committal--all this within +a week. By that time all the world was agitated with the case; +literally not the city only, vast as that city was, but the nation was +convulsed and divided into parties upon the question, Whether the +prosecution were one of mere malice or not? The very government of the +land was reported to be equally interested, and almost equally divided +in opinion. In this state of public feeling came the trial. Image to +yourself, oh reader, whosoever you are, the intensity of the excitement +which by that time had arisen in all people to be spectators of the +scene--then image to yourself the effect of all this, a perfect +consciousness that in herself as a centre was settled the whole mighty +interest of the exhibition--that interest again of so dubious and mixed +a character--sympathy in some with mere misfortune--sympathy in others +with female frailty and guilt, not perhaps founded upon an absolute +unwavering belief in her innocence, even amongst those who were most +loud and positive as partisans in affirming it,--and then remember that +all this hideous scenical display and notoriety settled upon one whose +very nature, constitutionally timid, recoiled with the triple agony of +womanly shame--of matronly dignity--of insulted innocence, from every +mode and shape of public display. Combine all these circumstances and +elements of the case, and you may faintly enter into the situation of +my poor Agnes. Perhaps the best way to express it at once is by +recurring to the case of a young female Christian martyr, in the early +ages of Christianity, exposed in the bloody amphitheatre of Rome or +Verona, to 'fight with wild beasts,' as it was expressed in mockery-- +she to fight the lamb to fight with lions! But in reality the young +martyr _had_ a fight to maintain, and a fight (in contempt of that +cruel mockery) fiercer than the fiercest of her persecutors could have +faced perhaps--the combat with the instincts of her own shrinking, +trembling, fainting nature. Such a fight had my Agnes to maintain; and +at that time there was a large party of gentlemen in whom the +gentlemanly instinct was predominant, and who felt so powerfully the +cruel indignities of her situation, that they made a public appeal in +her behalf. One thing, and a strong one, which they said, was this:-- +'We all talk and move in this case as if, because the question appears +doubtful to some people, and the accused party to some people wears a +doubtful character, it would follow that she therefore had in reality a +mixed character composed in joint proportions of the best and the worst +that is imputed to her. But let us not forget that this mixed character +belongs not to her, but to the infirmity of our human judgments-- +_they_ are mixed--_they_ are dubious--but she is not--she is, +or she is not, guilty--there is no middle case--and let us consider for +a single moment, that if this young lady (as many among us heartily +believe) _is_ innocent, then and upon that supposition let us +consider how cruel we should all think the public exposure which +aggravates the other injuries (as in that case they must be thought) to +which her situation exposes her.' They went on to make some suggestions +for the officers of the court in preparing the arrangements for the +trial, and some also for the guidance of the audience, which showed the +same generous anxiety for sparing the feelings of the prisoner. If +these did not wholly succeed in repressing the open avowal of coarse +and brutal curiosity amongst the intensely vulgar, at least they +availed to diffuse amongst the neutral and indifferent part of the +public a sentiment of respect and forbearance which, emanating from +high quarters, had a very extensive influence upon most of what met the +eye or the ear of my poor wife. She, on the day of trial, was supported +by her brother; and by that time she needed support indeed. I was +reported to be dying; her little son was dead; neither had she been +allowed to see him. Perhaps these things, by weaning her from all +further care about life, might have found their natural effect in +making her indifferent to the course of the trial, or even to its +issue. And so, perhaps, in the main, they did. But at times some +lingering sense of outraged dignity, some fitful gleams of old +sympathies, 'the hectic of a moment,' came back upon her, and prevailed +over the deadening stupor of her grief. Then she shone for a moment +into a starry light--sweet and woful to remember. Then----but why +linger? I hurry to the close: she was pronounced guilty; whether by a +jury or a bench of judges, I do not say--having determined, from the +beginning, to give no hint of the land in which all these events +happened; neither is that of the slightest consequence. Guilty she was +pronounced: but sentence at that time was deferred. Ask me not, I +beseech you, about the muff or other circumstances inconsistent with +the hostile evidence. These circumstances had the testimony, you will +observe, of my own servants only; nay, as it turned out, of one servant +exclusively: _that_ naturally diminished their value. And, on the +other side, evidence was arrayed, perjury was suborned, that would have +wrecked a wilderness of simple truth trusting to its own unaided +forces. What followed? Did this judgment of the court settle the +opinion of the public? Opinion of the public! Did it settle the winds? +Did it settle the motion of the Atlantic? Wilder, fiercer, and louder +grew the cry against the wretched accuser: mighty had been the power +over the vast audience of the dignity, the affliction, the perfect +simplicity, and the Madonna beauty of the prisoner. That beauty so +childlike, and at the same time so saintly, made, besides, so touching +in its pathos by means of the abandonment--the careless abandonment and +the infinite desolation of her air and manner--would of itself, and +without further aid, have made many converts. Much more was done by the +simplicity of her statements, and the indifference with which she +neglected to improve any strong points in her own favor--the +indifference, as every heart perceived, of despairing grief. Then came +the manners on the hostile side--the haggard consciousness of guilt, +the drooping tone, the bravado and fierce strut which sought to +dissemble all this. Not one amongst all the witnesses, assembled on +that side, had (by all agreement) the bold natural tone of conscious +uprightness. Hence it could not be surprising that the storm of popular +opinion made itself heard with a louder and a louder sound. The +government itself began to be disturbed; the ministers of the sovereign +were agitated; and, had no menaces been thrown out, it was generally +understood that they would have given way to the popular voice, now +continually more distinct and clamorous. In the midst of all this +tumult, obscure murmurs began to arise that Barratt had practised the +same or similar villanies in former instances. One case in particular +was beginning to be whispered about, which at once threw a light upon +the whole affair: it was the case of a young and very beautiful married +woman, who had been on the very brink of a catastrophe such as had +befallen my own wife, when some seasonable interference, of what nature +was not known, had critically delivered her. This case arose 'like a +little cloud no bigger than a man's hand,' then spread and threatened +to burst in tempest upon the public mind, when all at once, more +suddenly even than it had arisen, it was hushed up, or in some way +disappeared. But a trifling circumstance made it possible to trace this +case:--in after times, when means offered, but unfortunately no +particular purpose of good, nor any purpose, in fact, beyond that of +curiosity, it _was_ traced; and enough was soon ascertained to +have blown to fragments any possible conspiracy emanating from this +Barratt, had that been of any further importance. However, in spite of +all that money or art could effect, a sullen growl continued to be +heard amongst the populace of villanies many and profound that had been +effected or attempted by this Barratt; and accordingly, much in the +same way as was many years afterwards practised in London, when a +hosier had caused several young people to be prosecuted to death for +passing forged bank-notes, the wrath of the people showed itself in +marking the shop for vengeance upon any favorable occasion offering +through fire or riots, and in the mean time in deserting it. These +things had been going on for some time when I awoke from my long +delirium; but the effect they had produced upon a weak and obstinate +and haughty government, or at least upon the weak and obstinate and +haughty member of the government who presided in the police +administration, was, to confirm and rivet the line of conduct which had +been made the object of popular denunciation. More energetically, more +scornfully, to express that determination of flying in the face of +public opinion and censure, four days before my awakening, Agnes had +been brought up to receive her sentence. On that same day (nay, it was +said in that same hour,) petitions, very numerously signed, and various +petitions from different ranks, different ages, different sexes, were +carried up to the throne, praying, upon manifold grounds, but all +noticing the extreme doubtfulness of the case, for an unconditional +pardon. By whose advice or influence, it was guessed easily, though +never exactly ascertained, these petitions were unanimously, almost +contemptuously rejected. And to express the contempt of public opinion +as powerfully as possible, Agnes was sentenced by the court, +reassembled in full pomp, order, and ceremonial costume, to a +punishment the severest that the laws allowed--viz. hard labor for ten +years. The people raged more than ever; threats public and private were +conveyed to the ears of the minister chiefly concerned in the +responsibility, and who had indeed, by empty and ostentatious talking, +assumed that responsibility to himself in a way that was perfectly +needless. + +Thus stood matters when I awoke to consciousness: and this was the +fatal journal of the interval--interval so long as measured by my +fierce calendar of delirium--so brief measured by the huge circuit of +events which it embraced, and their mightiness for evil. Wrath, wrath +immeasurable, unimaginable, unmitigable, burned at my heart like a +cancer. The worst had come. And the thing which kills a man for action +--the living in two climates at once--a torrid and a frigid zone--of +hope and fear--that was past. Weak--suppose I were for the moment: I +felt that a day or two might bring back my strength. No miserable +tremors of hope _now_ shook my nerves: if they shook from that +inevitable rocking of the waters that follows a storm, so much might be +pardoned to the infirmity of a nature that could not lay aside its +fleshly necessities, nor altogether forego its homage to 'these frail +elements,' but which by inspiration already lived within a region where +no voices were heard but the spiritual voices of transcendent passions +--of + + 'Wrongs unrevenged, and insults unredress'd.' + +Six days from that time I was well--well and strong. I rose from bed; I +bathed; I dressed; dressed as if I were a bridegroom. And that +_was_ in fact a great day in my life. I was to see Agnes. Oh! yes: +permission had been obtained from the lordly minister that I should see +my wife. Is it possible? Can such condescensions exist? Yes: +solicitations from ladies, eloquent notes wet with ducal tears, these +had won from the thrice-radiant secretary, redolent of roseate attar, a +countersign to some order or other, by which I--yes I--under license of +a fop, and supervision of a jailer--was to see and for a time to +converse with my own wife. + +The hour appointed for the first day's interview was eight o'clock in +the evening. On the outside of the jail all was summer light and +animation. The sports of children in the streets of mighty cities are +but sad, and too painfully recall the circumstances of freedom and +breezy nature that are not there. But still the pomp of glorious +summer, and the presence, 'not to be put by,' of the everlasting light, +that is either always present, or always dawning--these potent elements +impregnate the very city life, and the dim reflex of nature which is +found at the bottom of well-like streets, with more solemn powers to +move and to soothe in summer. I struck upon the prison gates, the first +among multitudes waiting to strike. Not because we struck, but because +the hour had sounded, suddenly the gate opened; and in we streamed. I, +as a visitor for the first time, was immediately distinguished by the +jailers, whose glance of the eye is fatally unerring. 'Who was it that +I wanted?' At the name a stir of emotion was manifest, even there: the +dry bones stirred and moved: the passions outside had long ago passed +to the interior of this gloomy prison: and not a man but had his +hypothesis on the case; not a man but had almost fought with some +comrade (many had literally fought) about the merits of their several +opinions. + +If any man had expected a scene at this reunion, he would have been +disappointed. Exhaustion, and the ravages of sorrow, had left to dear +Agnes so little power of animation or of action, that her emotions were +rather to be guessed at, both for kind and for degree, than directly to +have been perceived. She was in fact a sick patient, far gone in an +illness that should properly have confined her to bed; and was as much +past the power of replying to my frenzied exclamations, as a dying +victim of fever of entering upon a strife of argument. In bed, however, +she was not. When the door opened she was discovered sitting at a table +placed against the opposite wall, her head pillowed upon her arms, and +these resting upon the table. Her beautiful long auburn hair had +escaped from its confinement, and was floating over the table and her +own person. She took no notice of the disturbance made by our entrance, +did not turn, did not raise her head, nor make an effort to do so, nor +by any sign whatever intimate that she was conscious of our presence, +until the turnkey in a respectful tone announced me. Upon that a low +groan, or rather a feeble moan, showed that she had become aware of my +presence, and relieved me from all apprehension of causing too sudden a +shock by taking her in my arms. The turnkey had now retired; we were +alone. I knelt by her side, threw my arms about her, and pressed her to +my heart. She drooped her head upon my shoulder, and lay for some time +like one who slumbered; but, alas! not as she had used to slumber. Her +breathing, which had been like that of sinless infancy, was now +frightfully short and quick; she seemed not properly to breathe, but to +gasp. This, thought I, may be sudden agitation, and in that case she +will gradually recover; half an hour will restore her. Wo is me! she +did _not_ recover; and internally I said--she never _will_ +recover. The arrows have gone too deep for a frame so exquisite in its +sensibility, and already her hours are numbered. + +At this first visit I said nothing to her about the past; _that_, +and the whole extent to which our communications should go, I left +rather to her own choice. At the second visit, however, upon some word +or other arising which furnished an occasion for touching on this +hateful topic, I pressed her, contrary to my own previous intention, +for as full an account of the fatal event as she could without a +distressing effort communicate. To my surprise she was silent-- +gloomily--almost it might have seemed obstinately silent. A horrid +thought came into my mind; could it, might it have been possible that +my noble-minded wife, such she had ever seemed to me, was open to +temptations of this nature? Could it have been that in some moment of +infirmity, when her better angel was away from her side, she had +yielded to a sudden impulse of frailty, such as a second moment for +consideration would have resisted, but which unhappily had been +followed by no such opportunity of retrieval? I had heard of such +things. Cases there were in our own times (and not confined to one +nation), when irregular impulses of this sort were known to have +haunted and besieged natures not otherwise ignoble and base. I ran over +some of the names amongst those which were taxed with this propensity. +More than one were the names of people in a technical sense held noble. +That, nor any other consideration abated my horror. Better, I said, +better, (because more compatible with elevation of mind,) better to +have committed some bloody act--some murderous act. Dreadful was the +panic I underwent. God pardon the wrong I did; and even now I pray to +him--as though the past thing were a future thing and capable of +change--that he would forbid her for ever to know what was the +derogatory thought I had admitted. I sometimes think, by recollecting a +momentary blush that suffused her marble countenance,--I think--I fear +that she might have read what was fighting in my mind. Yet that would +admit of another explanation. If she did read the very worst, meek +saint! she suffered no complaint or sense of that injury to escape her. +It might, however, be that perception, or it might be that fear which +roused her to an effort that otherwise had seemed too revolting to +undertake. She now rehearsed the whole steps of the affair from first +to last; but the only material addition, which her narrative made to +that which the trial itself had involved, was the following:--On two +separate occasions previous to the last and fatal one, when she had +happened to walk unaccompanied by me in the city, the monster Barratt +had met her in the street. He had probably--and this was, indeed, +subsequently ascertained--at first, and for some time afterwards, +mistaken her rank, and had addressed some proposals to her, which, from +the suppressed tone of his speaking, or from her own terror and +surprise, she had not clearly understood; but enough had reached her +alarmed ear to satisfy her that they were of a nature in the last +degree licentious and insulting. Terrified and shocked rather than +indignant, for she too easily presumed the man to be a maniac, she +hurried homewards; and was rejoiced, on first venturing to look round +when close to her own gate, to perceive that the man was not following. +There, however, she was mistaken; for either on this occasion, or on +some other, he had traced her homewards. The last of these rencontres +had occurred just three months before the fatal 6th of April; and if, +in any one instance, Agnes had departed from the strict line of her +duty as a wife, or had shown a defect of judgment, it was at this +point--in not having frankly and fully reported the circumstances to +me. On the last of these occasions I had met her at the garden-gate, +and had particularly remarked that she seemed agitated; and now, at +recalling these incidents, Agnes reminded me that I had noticed that +circumstance to herself, and that she had answered me faithfully as to +the main fact. It was true she had done so; for she had said that she +had just met a lunatic who had alarmed her by fixing his attention upon +herself, and speaking to her in a ruffian manner; and it was also true +that she did sincerely regard him in that light. This led me at the +time to construe the whole affair into a casual collision with some +poor maniac escaping from his keepers, and of no future moment, having +passed by without present consequences. But had she, instead of thus +reporting her own erroneous impression, reported the entire +circumstances of the case, I should have given them a very different +interpretation. Affection for me, and fear to throw me needlessly into +a quarrel with a man of apparently brutal and violent nature--these +considerations, as too often they do with the most upright wives, had +operated to check Agnes in the perfect sincerity of her communications. +She had told nothing _but_ the truth--only, and fatally it turned +out for us both, she had not told the _whole_ truth. The very +suppression, to which she had reconciled herself, under the belief that +thus she was providing for my safety and her own consequent happiness, +had been the indirect occasion of ruin to both. It was impossible to +show displeasure under such circumstances, or under any circumstances, +to one whose self-reproaches were at any rate too bitter; but +certainly, as a general rule, every conscientious woman should resolve +to consider her husband's honor in the first case, and far before all +other regards whatsoever; to make this the first, the second, the third +law of her conduct, and his personal safety but the fourth or fifth. +Yet women, and especially when the interests of children are at stake +upon their husbands' safety, rarely indeed are able to take this Roman +view of their duties. + +To return to the narrative. Agnes had not, nor could have, the most +remote suspicion of this Barratt's connection with the shop which he +had not accidentally entered; and the sudden appearance of this wretch +it was, at the very moment of finding herself charged with so vile and +degrading an offence, that contributed most of all to rob her of her +natural firmness, by suddenly revealing to her terrified heart the +depth of the conspiracy which thus yawned like a gulf below her. And +not only had this sudden horror, upon discovering a guilty design in +what before had seemed accident, and links uniting remote incidents +which else seemed casual and disconnected, greatly disturbed and +confused her manner, which confusion again had become more intense upon +her own consciousness that she _was_ confused, and that her manner +was greatly to her disadvantage; but--which was the worst effect of +all, because the rest could not operate against her, except upon those +who were present to witness it, whereas this was noted down and +recorded--so utterly did her confusion strip her of all presence of +mind, that she did not consciously notice (and consequently could not +protest against at the moment when it was most important to do so, and +most natural) the important circumstance of the muff. This capital +objection, therefore, though dwelt upon and improved to the utmost at +the trial, was looked upon by the judges as an after-thought; and +merely because it had not been seized upon by herself, and urged in the +first moments of her almost incapacitating terror on finding this +amongst the circumstances of the charge against her--as if an ingenuous +nature, in the very act of recoiling with horror from a criminal charge +the most degrading, and in the very instant of discovering, with a +perfect rapture of alarm, the too plausible appearance of probability +amongst the circumstances, would be likely to pause, and with attorney- +like dexterity, to pick out the particular circumstance that might +admit of being _proved_ to be false, when the conscience +proclaimed, though in despondence for the result, that all the +circumstances were, as to the use made of them, one tissue of +falsehoods. Agnes, who had made a powerful effort in speaking of the +case at all, found her calmness increase as she advanced; and she now +told me, that in reality there were two discoveries which she made in +the same instant, and not one only, which had disarmed her firmness and +ordinary presence of mind. One I have mentioned--the fact of Barratt, +the proprietor of the shop, being the same person who had in former +instances persecuted her in the street; but the other was even more +alarming--it has been said already that it was _not_ a pure matter +of accident that she had visited this particular shop. In reality, that +nursery-maid, of whom some mention has been made above, and in terms +expressing the suspicion with which even then I regarded her, had +persuaded her into going thither by some representations which Agnes +had already ascertained to be altogether unwarranted. Other +presumptions against this girl's fidelity crowded dimly upon my wife's +mind at the very moment of finding her eyes thus suddenly opened. And +it was not five minutes after her first examination, and in fact five +minutes after it had ceased to be of use to her, that she remembered +another circumstance which now, when combined with the sequel, told its +own tale,--the muff had been missed some little time before the 6th of +April. Search had been made for it; but, the particular occasion which +required it having passed off, this search was laid aside for the +present, in the expectation that it would soon reappear in some corner +of the house before it was wanted: then came the sunny day, which made +it no longer useful, and would perhaps have dismissed it entirely from +the recollection of all parties, until it was now brought back in this +memorable way. The name of my wife was embroidered within, upon the +lining, and it thus became a serviceable link to the hellish cabal +against her. Upon reviewing the circumstances from first to last, upon +recalling the manner of the girl at the time when the muff was missed, +and upon combining the whole with her recent deception, by which she +had misled her poor mistress into visiting this shop, Agnes began to +see the entire truth as to this servant's wicked collusion with +Barratt, though, perhaps, it might be too much to suppose her aware of +the unhappy result to which her collusion tended. All this she saw at a +glance when it was too late, for her first examination was over. This +girl, I must add, had left our house during my illness, and she had +afterwards a melancholy end. + +One thing surprised me in all this. Barratt's purpose must manifestly +have been to create merely a terror in my poor wife's mind, and to stop +short of any legal consequences, in order to profit of that panic and +confusion for extorting compliances with his hideous pretensions. It +perplexed me, therefore, that he did not appear to have pursued this +manifestly his primary purpose, the other being merely a mask to +conceal his true ends, and also (as he fancied) a means for effecting +them. In this, however, I had soon occasion to find that I was +deceived. He had, but without the knowledge of Agnes, taken such steps +as were then open to him, for making overtures to her with regard to +the terms upon which he would agree to defeat the charge against her by +failing to appear. But the law had travelled too fast for him, and too +determinately; so that, by the time he supposed terror to have operated +sufficiently in favor of his views, it had already become unsafe to +venture upon such explicit proposals as he would otherwise have tried. +His own safety was now at stake, and would have been compromised by any +open or written avowal of the motives on which he had been all along +acting. In fact, at this time he was foiled by the agent in whom he +confided; but much more he had been confounded upon another point--the +prodigious interest manifested by the public. Thus it seems--that, +whilst he meditated only a snare for my poor Agnes, he had prepared one +for himself; and finally, to evade the suspicions which began to arise +powerfully as to his true motives, and thus to stave off his own ruin, +had found himself in a manner obliged to go forward and consummate the +ruin of another. + + * * * * * + +The state of Agnes, as to health and bodily strength, was now becoming +such that I was forcibly warned--whatsoever I meditated doing, to do +quickly. There was this urgent reason for alarm: once conveyed into +that region of the prison in which sentences like hers were executed, +it became hopeless that I could communicate with her again. All +intercourse whatsoever, and with whomsoever, was then placed under the +most rigorous interdict; and the alarming circumstance was, that this +transfer was governed by no settled rules, but might take place at any +hour, and would certainly be precipitated by the slightest violence on +my part, the slightest indiscretion, or the slightest argument for +suspicion. Hard indeed was the part I had to play, for it was +indispensable that I should appear calm and tranquil, in order to +disarm suspicions around me, whilst continually contemplating the +possibility that I myself might be summoned to extremities which I +could not so much as trust myself to name or distinctly to conceive. +But thus stood the case: the Government, it was understood, angered by +the public opposition, resolute for the triumph of what they called +'principle,' had settled finally that the sentence should be carried +into execution. Now that she, that my Agnes, being the frail wreck that +she had become, could have stood one week of this sentence practically +and literally enforced--was a mere chimera. A few hours probably of the +experiment would have settled that question by dismissing her to the +death she longed for; but because the suffering would be short, was I +to stand by and to witness the degradation--the pollution--attempted to +be fastened upon her. What! to know that her beautiful tresses would be +shorn ignominiously--a felon's dress forced upon her--a vile taskmaster +with authority to----; blistered be the tongue that could go on to +utter, in connection with her innocent name, the vile dishonors which +were to settle upon her person! I, however, and her brother had taken +such resolutions that this result was one barely possible; and yet I +sickened (yes, literally I many times experienced the effect of +physical sickness) at contemplating our own utter childish +helplessness, and recollecting that every night during our seclusion +from the prison the last irreversible step might be taken--and in the +morning we might find a solitary cell, and the angel form that had +illuminated it gone where we could not follow, and leaving behind her +the certainty that we should see her no more. Every night, at the hour +of locking up, _she_, at least, manifestly had a fear that she saw +us for the last time; she put her arms feebly about my neck, sobbed +convulsively, and, I believe, guessed--but, if really so, did not much +reprove or quarrel with the desperate purposes which I struggled with +in regard to her own life. One thing was quite evident--that to the +peace of her latter days, now hurrying to their close, it was +indispensable that she should pass them undivided from me; and +possibly, as was afterwards alleged, when it became easy to allege any +thing, some relenting did take place in high quarters at this time; for +upon some medical reports made just now, a most seasonable indulgence +was granted, viz. that Hannah was permitted to attend her mistress +constantly; and it was also felt as a great alleviation of the horrors +belonging to this prison, that candles were now allowed throughout the +nights. But I was warned privately that these indulgences were with no +consent from the police minister; and that circumstances might soon +withdraw the momentary intercession by which we profited. With this +knowledge, we could not linger in our preparations; we had resolved +upon accomplishing an escape for Agnes, at whatever risk or price; the +main difficulty was her own extreme feebleness, which might forbid her +to co-operate with us in any degree at the critical moment; and the +main danger was--delay. We pushed forward, therefore, in our attempts +with prodigious energy, and I for my part with an energy like that of +insanity. + + * * * * * + +The first attempt we made was upon the fidelity to his trust of the +chief jailer. He was a coarse, vulgar man, brutal in his manners, but +with vestiges of generosity in his character--though damaged a good +deal by his daily associates. Him we invited to a meeting at a tavern +in the neighborhood of the prison, disguising our names as too certain +to betray our objects, and baiting our invitation with some hints which +we had ascertained were likely to prove temptations under his immediate +circumstances. He had a graceless young son whom he was most anxious to +wean from his dissolute connections, and to steady, by placing him in +some office of no great responsibility. Upon this knowledge we framed +the terms of our invitation. + +These proved to be effectual, as regarded our immediate object of +obtaining an interview of persuasion. The night was wet; and at seven +o'clock, the hour fixed for the interview, we were seated in readiness, +much perplexed to know whether he would take any notice of our +invitation. We had waited three quarters of an hour, when we heard a +heavy lumbering step ascending the stair. The door was thrown open to +its widest extent, and in the centre of the door-way stood a short +stout-built man, and the very broadest I ever beheld--staring at us +with bold inquiring eyes. His salutation was something to this effect. + +'What the hell do you gay fellows want with me? What the blazes is this +humbugging letter about? My son, and be hanged! What do you know of my +son?' + +Upon this overture we ventured to request that he would come in and +suffer us to shut the door, which we also locked. Next we produced the +official paper nominating his son to a small place in the customs,-- +not yielding much, it was true, in the way of salary, but fortunately, +and in accordance with the known wishes of the father, unburdened with +any dangerous trust. + +'Well, I suppose I must say thank ye: but what comes next? What am I to +do to pay the damages?' We informed him that for this particular little +service we asked no return. + +'No, no,' said he, 'that'll not go down: that cat'll not jump. I'm not +green enough for that. So, say away--what's the damage?' We then +explained that we had certainly a favor and a great one to ask: ['Ay, +I'll be bound you have,' was his parenthesis:] but that for this we +were prepared to offer a separate remuneration; repeating that with +respect to the little place procured for his son, it had not cost us +anything, and therefore we did really and sincerely decline to receive +anything in return; satisfied that, by this little offering, we had +procured the opportunity of this present interview. At this point we +withdrew a covering from the table upon which we had previously +arranged a heap of gold coins, amounting in value to twelve hundred +English guineas: this being the entire sum which circumstances allowed +us to raise on so sudden a warning: for some landed property that we +both had was so settled and limited, that we could not convert it into +money either by way of sale, loan, or mortgage. This sum, stating to +him its exact amount, we offered to his acceptance, upon the single +condition that he would look aside, or wink hard, or (in whatever way +he chose to express it) would make, or suffer to be made, such +facilities for our liberating a female prisoner as we would point out. +He mused: full five minutes he sat deliberating without opening his +lips. At length he shocked us by saying, in a firm, decisive tone, that +left us little hope of altering his resolution,--'No: gentlemen, it's a +very fair offer, and a good deal of money for a single prisoner. I +think I can guess at the person. It's a fair offer--fair enough. But, +bless your heart! if I were to do the thing you want--why perhaps +another case might be overlooked: but this prisoner, no: there's too +much depending. No, they would turn me out of my place. Now the place +is worth more to me in the long run than what you offer: though you bid +fair enough, if it were only for my time in it. But look here: in case +I can get my son to come into harness, I'm expecting to get the office +for him after I've retired. So I can't do it. But I'll tell you what: +you've been kind to my son: and therefore I'll not say a word about it. +You're safe for me. And so good-night to you.' Saying which, and +standing no further question, he walked resolutely out of the room and +down stairs. + +Two days we mourned over this failure, and scarcely knew which way to +turn for another ray of hope;--on the third morning we received +intelligence that this very jailer had been attacked by the fever, +which, after long desolating the city, had at length made its way into +the prison. In a very few days the jailer was lying without hope of +recovery: and of necessity another person was appointed to fill his +station for the present. This person I had seen, and I liked him less +by much than the one he succeeded: he had an Italian appearance, and he +wore an air of Italian subtlety and dissimulation. I was surprised to +find, on proposing the same service to him, and on the same terms, that +he made no objection whatever, but closed instantly with my offers. In +prudence, however, I had made this change in the articles: a sum equal +to two hundred English guineas, or one-sixth part of the whole money, +he was to receive beforehand as a retaining fee; but the remainder was +to be paid only to himself, or to anybody of his appointing, at the +very moment of our finding the prison gates thrown open to us. He spoke +fairly enough, and seemed to meditate no treachery; nor was there any +obvious or known interest to serve by treachery; and yet I doubted him +grievously. + +The night came: it was chosen as a gala night, one of two nights +throughout the year in which the prisoners were allowed to celebrate a +great national event: and in those days of relaxed prison management +the utmost license was allowed to the rejoicing. This indulgence was +extended to prisoners of all classes, though, of course, under more +restrictions with regard to the criminal class. Ten o'clock came--the +hour at which we had been instructed to hold ourselves in readiness. We +had been long prepared. Agnes had been dressed by Hannah in such a +costume externally (a man's hat and cloak, &c.) that, from her height, +she might easily have passed amongst a mob of masquerading figures in +the debtors' halls and galleries for a young stripling. Pierpoint and +myself were also to a certain degree disguised; so far, at least, that +we should not have been recognized at any hurried glance by those of +the prison officers who had become acquainted with our persons. We were +all more or less disguised about the face; and in that age when masks +were commonly used at all hours by people of a certain rank, there +would have been nothing suspicious in any possible costume of the kind +in a night like this, if we could succeed in passing for friends of +debtors. + +I am impatient of these details, and I hasten over the ground. One +entire hour passed away, and no jailer appeared. We began to despond +heavily; and Agnes, poor thing! was now the most agitated of us all. At +length eleven struck in the harsh tones of the prison-clock. A few +minutes after, we heard the sound of bolts drawing, and bars +unfastening. The jailer entered--drunk, and much disposed to be +insolent. I thought it advisable to give him another bribe, and he +resumed the fawning insinuation of his manner. He now directed us, by +passages which he pointed out, to gain the other side of the prison. +There we were to mix with the debtors and their mob of friends, and to +await his joining us, which in that crowd he could do without much +suspicion. He wished us to traverse the passages separately; but this +was impossible, for it was necessary that one of us should support +Agnes on each side. I previously persuaded her to take a small quantity +of brandy, which we rejoiced to see had given her, at this moment of +starting, a most seasonable strength and animation. The gloomy passages +were more than usually empty, for all the turnkeys were employed in a +vigilant custody of the gates, and examination of the parties going +out. So the jailer had told us, and the news alarmed us. We came at +length to a turning which brought us in sight of a strong iron gate, +that divided the two main quarters of the prison. For this we had not +been prepared. The man, however, opened the gate without a word spoken, +only putting out his hand for a fee; and in my joy, perhaps, I gave him +one imprudently large. After passing this gate, the distant uproar of +the debtors guided us to the scene of their merriment; and when there, +such was the tumult and the vast multitude assembled, that we now hoped +in good earnest to accomplish our purpose without accident. Just at +this moment the jailer appeared in the distance; he seemed looking +towards us, and at length one of our party could distinguish that he +was beckoning to us. We went forward, and found him in some agitation, +real or counterfeit. He muttered a word or two quite unintelligible +about the man at the wicket, told us we must wait a while, and he would +then see what could be done for us. We were beginning to demur, and to +express the suspicions which now too seriously arose, when he, seeing, +or affecting to see some object of alarm, pushed us with a hurried +movement into a cell opening upon the part of the gallery at which we +were now standing. Not knowing whether we really might not be +retreating from some danger, we could do no otherwise than comply with +his signals; but we were troubled at finding ourselves immediately +locked in from the outside, and thus apparently all our motions had +only sufficed to exchange one prison for another. + +We were now completely in the dark, and found, by a hard breathing from +one corner of the little dormitory, that it was not unoccupied. Having +taken care to provide ourselves separately with means for striking a +light, we soon had more than one torch burning. The brilliant light +falling upon the eyes of a man who lay stretched on the iron bedstead, +woke him. It proved to be my friend the under-jailer, Ratcliffe, but no +longer holding any office in the prison. He sprang up, and a rapid +explanation took place. He had become a prisoner for debt; and on this +evening, after having caroused through the day with some friends from +the country, had retired at an early hour to sleep away his +intoxication. I on my part thought it prudent to intrust him +unreservedly with our situation and purposes, not omitting our gloomy +suspicions. Ratcliffe looked, with a pity that won my love, upon the +poor wasted Agnes. He had seen her on her first entrance into the +prison, had spoken to her, and therefore knew _from_ what she had +fallen, _to_ what. Even then he had felt for her; how much more at +this time, when he beheld, by the fierce light of the torches, her wo- +worn features! + +'Who was it,' he asked eagerly, 'you made the bargain with? Manasseh?' + +'The same.' + +'Then I can tell you this--not a greater villain walks the earth. He is +a Jew from Portugal; he has betrayed many a man, and will many another, +unless he gets his own neck stretched, which might happen, if I told +all I know.' + +'But what was it probable that this man meditated? Or how could it +profit him to betray us?' + +'That's more than I can tell. He wants to get your money, and that he +doesn't know how to bring about without doing his part. But that's what +he never _will_ do, take my word for it. That would cut him out of +all chance for the head-jailer's place.' He mused a little, and then +told us that he could himself put us outside the prison walls, and +_would_ do it without fee or reward. 'But we must be quiet, or +that devil will bethink him of me. I'll wager something he thought that +I was out merry-making like the rest; and if he should chance to light +upon the truth, he'll be back in no time.' Ratcliffe then removed an +old fire-grate, at the back of which was an iron plate, that swung +round into a similar fire-place in the contiguous cell. From that, by a +removal of a few slight obstacles, we passed, by a long avenue, into +the chapel. Then he left us, whilst he went out alone to reconnoitre +his ground. Agnes was now in so pitiable a condition of weakness, as we +stood on the very brink of our final effort, that we placed her in a +pew, where she could rest as upon a sofa. Previously we had stood upon +graves, and with monuments more or less conspicuous all around us: some +raised by friends to the memory of friends--some by subscriptions in +the prison--some by children, who had risen into prosperity, to the +memory of a father, brother, or other relative, who had died in +captivity. I was grieved that these sad memorials should meet the eye +of my wife at this moment of awe and terrific anxiety. Pierpoint and I +were well armed, and all of us determined not to suffer a recapture, +now that we were free of the crowds that made resistance hopeless. This +Agnes easily perceived; and _that_, by suggesting a bloody +arbitration, did not lessen her agitation. I hoped therefore, that, by +placing her in the pew, I might at least liberate her for the moment +from the besetting memorials of sorrow and calamity. But, as if in the +very teeth of my purpose, one of the large columns which supported the +roof of the chapel, had its basis and lower part of the shaft in this +very pew. On the side of it, and just facing her as she lay reclining +on the cushions, appeared a mural tablet, with a bas-relief in white +marble, to the memory of two children, twins, who had lived and died at +the same time, and in this prison--children who had never breathed +another air than that of captivity, their parents having passed many +years within these walls, under confinement for debt. The sculptures +were not remarkable, being a trite, but not the less affecting, +representation of angels descending to receive the infants; but the +hallowed words of the inscription, distinct and legible--'Suffer little +children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the +kingdom of God'--met her eye, and, by the thoughts they awakened, made +me fear that she would become unequal to the exertions which yet +awaited her. At this moment Ratcliffe returned, and informed us that +all was right; and that, from the ruinous state of all the buildings +which surrounded the chapel, no difficulty remained for us, who were, +in fact, beyond the strong part of the prison, excepting at a single +door, which we should be obliged to break down. But had we any means +arranged for pursuing our flight, and turning this escape to account +when out of confinement? All that, I assured him, was provided for long +ago. We proceeded, and soon reached the door. We had one crow-bar +amongst us, but beyond that had no better weapons than the loose stones +found about some new-made graves in the chapel. Ratcliffe and +Pierpoint, both powerful men, applied themselves by turns to the door, +whilst Hannah and I supported Agnes. The door did not yield, being of +enormous strength; but the wall did, and a large mass of stone-work +fell outwards, twisting the door aside; so that, by afterwards working +with our hands, we removed stones many enough to admit of our egress. +Unfortunately this aperture was high above the ground, and it was +necessary to climb over a huge heap of loose rubbish in order to profit +by it. My brother-in-law passed first in order to receive my wife, +quite helpless at surmounting the obstacle by her own efforts, out of +my arms. He had gone through the opening, and, turning round so as to +face me, he naturally could see something that I did _not_ see. +'Look behind!' he called out rapidly. I did so, and saw the murderous +villain Manasseh with his arm uplifted, and in the act of cutting at my +wife, nearly insensible as she was, with a cutlass. The blow was not +for me, but for her, as the fugitive prisoner; and the law would have +borne him out in the act. I saw, I comprehended the whole. I groped, as +far as I could without letting my wife drop, for my pistols; but all +that I could do would have been unavailing, and too late--she would +have been murdered in my arms. But--and that was what none of us saw-- +neither I, nor Pierpoint, nor the hound Manasseh--one person stood +back in the shade; one person had seen, but had not uttered a word on +seeing Manasseh advancing through the shades; one person only had +forecast the exact succession of all that was coming; me she saw +embarrassed and my hands preoccupied--Pierpoint and Ratcliffe useless +by position--and the gleam of the dog's eye directed her to his aim. +The crow-bar was leaning against the shattered wall. This she had +silently seized. One blow knocked up the sword; a second laid the +villain prostrate. At this moment appeared another of the turnkeys +advancing from the rear, for the noise of our assault upon the door had +drawn attention in the interior of the prison, from which, however, no +great number of assistants could on this dangerous night venture to +absent themselves. What followed for the next few minutes hurried +onwards, incident crowding upon incident, like the motions of a dream: +--Manasseh, lying on the ground, yelled out, 'The bell! the bell!' to +him who followed. The man understood, and made for the belfry-door +attached to the chapel; upon which Pierpoint drew a pistol, and sent +the bullet whizzing past his ear so truly, that fear made the man +obedient to the counter-orders of Pierpoint for the moment. He paused +and awaited the issue. In a moment had all cleared the wall, traversed +the waste ground beyond it, lifted Agnes over the low railing, shaken +hands with our benefactor Ratcliffe, and pushed onwards as rapidly as +we were able to the little dark lane, a quarter of a mile distant, +where had stood waiting for the last two hours a chaise-and-four. + +[Ratcliffe, before my story closes, I will pursue to the last of my +acquaintance with him, according to the just claims of his services. He +had privately whispered to me, as we went along, that he could speak to +the innocence of that lady, pointing to my wife, better than anybody. +He was the person whom (as then holding an office in the prison) +Barratt had attempted to employ as agent in conveying any messages that +he found it safe to send--obscurely hinting the terms on which he would +desist from prosecution. Ratcliffe had at first undertaken the +negotiation from mere levity of character. But when the story and the +public interest spread, and after himself becoming deeply struck by the +prisoner's affliction, beauty, and reputed innocence, he had pursued it +only as a means of entrapping Barratt into such written communications +and such private confessions of the truth as might have served Agnes +effectually. He wanted the art, however, to disguise his purposes: +Barratt came to suspect him violently, and feared his evidence so far, +even for those imperfect and merely oral overtures which he had really +sent through Ratcliffe--that on the very day of the trial, he, as was +believed, though by another nominally, contrived that Ratcliffe should +be arrested for debt; and, after harassing him with intricate forms of +business, had finally caused him to be conveyed to prison. Ratcliffe +was thus involved in his own troubles at the time; and afterwards +supposed that, without written documents to support his evidence, he +could not be of much service to the re-establisment of my wife's +reputation. Six months after his services in the night-escape from the +prison, I saw him, and pressed him to take the money so justly +forfeited to him by Manasseh's perfidy. He would, however, be persuaded +to take no more than paid his debts. A second and a third time his +debts were paid by myself and Pierpoint. But the same habits of +intemperance and dissolute pleasure which led him into these debts, +finally ruined his constitution; and he died, though otherwise of a +fine generous manly nature, a martyr to dissipation at the early age of +twenty-nine. With respect to his prison confinement, it was so +frequently recurring in his life, and was alleviated by so many +indulgences, that he scarcely viewed it as a hardship: having once been +an officer of the prison, and having thus formed connections with the +whole official establishment, and done services to many of them, and +being of so convivial a turn, he was, even as a prisoner, treated with +distinction, and considered as a privileged son of the house.] + +It was just striking twelve o'clock as we entered the lane where the +carriage was drawn up. Rain, about the profoundest I had ever +witnessed, was falling. Though near to midsummer, the night had been +unusually dark to begin with, and from the increasing rain had become +much more so. We could see nothing; and at first we feared that some +mistake had occurred as to the station of the carriage--in which case +we might have sought for it vainly through the intricate labyrinth of +the streets in that quarter. I first descried it by the light of a +torch, reflected powerfully from the large eyes of the leaders. All was +ready. Horse-keepers were at the horses' heads. The postilions were +mounted; each door had the steps let down: Agnes was lifted in: Hannah +and I followed: Pierpoint mounted his horse; and at the word--Oh! how +strange a word!--'_All's right_,' the horses sprang off like leopards, +a manner ill-suited to the slippery pavement of a narrow street. At +that moment, but we valued it little indeed, we heard the prison-bell +ringing out loud and clear. Thrice within the first three minutes we +had to pull up suddenly, on the brink of formidable accidents, from the +dangerous speed we maintained, and which, nevertheless, the driver had +orders to maintain, as essential to our plan. All the stoppages and +hinderances of every kind along the road had been anticipated +previously, and met by contrivance, of one kind or other; and Pierpoint +was constantly a little ahead of us to attend to anything that had been +neglected. The consequence of these arrangements was--that no person +along the road could possibly have assisted to trace us by any thing in +our appearance: for we passed all objects at too flying a pace, and +through darkness too profound, to allow of any one feature in our +equipage being distinctly noticed. Ten miles out of town, a space which +we traversed in forty-four minutes, a second relay of horses was ready; +but we carried on the same postilions throughout. Six miles ahead of +this distance we had a second relay; and with this set of horses, after +pushing two miles further along the road, we crossed by a miserable +lane five miles long, scarcely even a bridge road, into another of the +great roads from the capital; and by thus crossing the country, we came +back upon the city at a point far distant from that at which we left +it. We had performed a distance of forty-two miles in three hours, and +lost a fourth hour upon the wretched five miles of cross-road. It was, +therefore, four o'clock, and broad daylight, when we drew near the +suburbs of the city; but a most happy accident now favored us; a fog +the most intense now prevailed; nobody could see an object six feet +distant; we alighted in an uninhabited new-built street, plunged into +the fog, thus confounding our traces to any observer. We then stepped +into a hackney-coach which had been stationed at a little distance. +Thence, according to our plan, we drove to a miserable quarter of the +town, whither the poor only and the wretched resorted; mounted a gloomy +dirty staircase, and, befriended by the fog, still growing thicker and +thicker, and by the early hour of the morning, reached a house +previously hired, which, if shocking to the eye and the imagination +from its squalid appearance and its gloom, still was a home--a +sanctuary--an asylum from treachery, from captivity, from persecution. +Here Pierpoint for the present quitted us: and once more Agnes, Hannah, +and I, the shattered members of a shattered family, were thus gathered +together in a house of our own. + +Yes: once again, daughter of the hills, thou sleptst as heretofore in +my encircling arms; but not again in that peace which crowned thy +innocence in those days, and should have crowned it now. Through the +whole of our flying journey, in some circumstances at its outset +strikingly recalling to me that blessed one which followed our +marriage, Agnes slept away unconscious of our movements. She slept +through all that day and the following night; and I watched over her +with as much jealousy of all that might disturb her, as a mother +watches over her new-born baby; for I hoped, I fancied, that a long-- +long rest, a rest, a halcyon calm, a deep, deep Sabbath of security, +might prove healing and medicinal. I thought wrong; her breathing +became more disturbed, and sleep was now haunted by dreams; all of us, +indeed, were agitated by dreams; the past pursued me, and the present, +for high rewards had been advertised by Government to those who traced +us; and though for the moment we were secure, because we never went +abroad, and could not have been naturally sought in such a +neighborhood, still that very circumstance would eventually operate +against us. At length, every night I dreamed of our insecurity under a +thousand forms; but more often by far my dreams turned upon our wrongs; +wrath moved me rather than fear. Every night, for the greater part, I +lay painfully and elaborately involved, by deep sense of wrong, + + '--in long orations, which I pleaded + Before unjust tribunals.' + [Footnote: From a MS. poem of a great living Poet.] + +And for poor Agnes, her also did the remembrance of mighty wrongs +occupy through vast worlds of sleep in the same way--though colored by +that tenderness which belonged to her gentler nature. One dream in +particular--a dream of sublime circumstances--she repeated to me so +movingly, with a pathos so thrilling, that by some profound sympathy it +transplanted itself to my own sleep, settled itself there, and is to +this hour a part of the fixed dream scenery which revolves at intervals +through my sleeping life. This it was:--She would hear a trumpet sound +--though perhaps as having been the prelude to the solemn entry of the +judges at a town which she had once visited in her childhood; other +preparations would follow, and at last all the solemnities of a great +trial would shape themselves and fall into settled images. The audience +was assembled, the judges were arrayed, the court was set. The prisoner +was cited. Inquest was made, witnesses were called; and false witnesses +came tumultuously to the bar. Then again a trumpet was heard, but the +trumpet of a mighty archangel; and then would roll away thick clouds +and vapors. Again the audience, but another audience, was assembled; +again the tribunal was established; again the court was set; but a +tribunal and a court--how different to her! _That_ had been +composed of men seeking indeed for truth, but themselves erring and +fallible creatures; the witnesses had been full of lies, the judges of +darkness. But here was a court composed of heavenly witnesses--here was +a righteous tribunal--and then at last a judge that could not be +deceived. The judge smote with his eye a person who sought to hide +himself in the crowd; the guilty man stepped forward; the poor prisoner +was called up to the presence of the mighty judge; suddenly the voice +of a little child was heard ascending before her. Then the trumpet +sounded once again; and then there were new heavens and a new earth; +and her tears and her agitation (for she had seen her little Francis) +awoke the poor palpitating dreamer. + + * * * * * + +Two months passed on: nothing could possibly be done materially to +raise the standard of those wretched accommodations which the house +offered. The dilapidated walls, the mouldering plaster, the blackened +mantel-pieces, the stained and polluted wainscots--what could be +attempted to hide or to repair all this by those who durst not venture +abroad? Yet whatever could be done, Hannah did; and, in the mean time, +very soon indeed my Agnes ceased to see or to be offended by these +objects. First of all her sight went from her; and nothing which +appealed to that sense could ever more offend her. It is to me the one +only consolation I have, that my presence and that of Hannah, with such +innocent frauds as we concerted together, made her latter days pass in +a heavenly calm, by persuading her that our security was absolute, and +that all search after us had ceased, under a belief on the part of +Government that we had gained the shelter of a foreign land. All this +was a delusion; but it was a delusion--blessed be Heaven! which lasted +exactly as long as her life, and was just commensurate with its +necessity. I hurry over the final circumstances. + +There was fortunately now, even for me, no fear that the hand of any +policeman or emissary of justice could effectually disturb the latter +days of my wife; for, besides pistols always lying loaded in an inner +room, there happened to be a long narrow passage on entering the house, +which, by means of a blunderbuss, I could have swept effectually, and +cleared many times over; and I know what to do in a last extremity. +Just two months it was, to a day, since we had entered the house; and +it happened that the medical attendant upon Agnes, who awakened no +suspicion by his visits, had prescribed some opiate or anodyne which +had not come; being dark early, for it was now September, I had +ventured out to fetch it. In this I conceived there could be no danger. +On my return I saw a man examining the fastenings of the door. He made +no opposition to my entrance, nor seemed much to observe it--but I was +disturbed. Two hours after, both Hannah and I heard a noise about the +door, and voices in low conversation. It is remarkable that Agnes heard +this also--so quick had grown her hearing. She was agitated, but was +easily calmed; and at ten o'clock we were all in bed. The hand of Agnes +was in mine; so only she felt herself in security. She had been +restless for an hour, and talking at intervals in sleep. Once she +certainly wakened, for she pressed her lips to mine. Two minutes after, +I heard something in her breathing which did not please me. I rose +hastily--brought a light--raised her head--two long, long gentle +sighs, that scarcely moved the lips, were all that could be perceived. +At that moment, at that very moment, Hannah called out to me that the +door was surrounded. 'Open it!' I said; six men entered; Agnes it was +they sought; I pointed to the bed; they advanced, gazed, and walked +away in silence. + +After this I wandered about, caring little for life or its affairs, and +roused only at times to think of vengeance upon all who had contributed +to lay waste my happiness. In this pursuit, however, I was confounded +as much by my own thoughts as by the difficulties of accomplishing my +purpose. To assault and murder either of the two principal agents in +this tragedy, what would it be, what other effect could it have, than +to invest them with the character of injured and suffering people, and +thus to attract a pity or a forgiveness at least to their persons which +never otherwise could have illustrated their deaths? I remembered, +indeed, the words of a sea-captain who had taken such vengeance as had +offered at the moment upon his bitter enemy and persecutor (a young +passenger on board his ship), who had informed against him at the +Custom-house on his arrival in port, and had thus effected the +confiscation of his ship, and the ruin of the captain's family. The +vengeance, and it was all that circumstances allowed, consisted in +coming behind the young man clandestinely and pushing him into the deep +waters of the dock, when, being unable to swim, he perished by +drowning. 'And the like,' said the captain, when musing on his trivial +vengeance, 'and the like happens to many an honest sailor.' Yes, +thought I, the captain was right. The momentary shock of a pistol- +bullet--what is it? Perhaps it may save the wretch after all from the +pangs of some lingering disease; and then again I shall have the +character of a murderer, if known to have shot him; he will with many +people have no such character, but at worst the character of a man too +harsh (they will say), and possibly mistaken in protecting his +property. And then, if not known as the man who shot him, where is the +shadow even of vengeance? Strange it seemed to me, and passing strange, +that I should be the person to urge arguments in behalf of letting this +man escape. For at one time I had as certainly, as inexorably, doomed +him as ever I took any resolution in my life. But the fact is, and I +began to see it upon closer view, it is not easy by any means to take +an adequate vengeance for any injury beyond a very trivial standard; +and that with common magnanimity one does not care to avenge. Whilst I +was in this mood of mind, still debating with myself whether I should +or should not contaminate my hands with the blood of this monster, and +still unable to shut my eyes upon one fact, viz. that my buried Agnes +could above all things have urged me to abstain from such acts of +violence, too evidently useless, listlessly and scarcely knowing what I +was in quest of, I strayed by accident into a church where a venerable +old man was preaching at the very moment I entered; he was either +delivering as a text, or repeating in the course of his sermon, these +words--'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' By some +accident also he fixed his eyes upon me at the moment; and this +concurrence with the subject then occupying my thoughts so much +impressed me, that I determined very seriously to review my half-formed +purposes of revenge; and well it was that I did so: for in that same +week an explosion of popular fury brought the life of this wretched +Barratt to a shocking termination, pretty much resembling the fate of +the De Witts in Holland. And the consequences to me were such, and so +full of all the consolation and indemnification which this world could +give me, that I have often shuddered since then at the narrow escape I +had had from myself intercepting this remarkable retribution. The +villain had again been attempting to play off the same hellish scheme +with a beautiful young rustic which had succeeded in the case of my +ill-fated Agnes. But the young woman in this instance had a high, and, +in fact, termagant spirit. Rustic as she was, she had been warned of +the character of the man; everybody, in fact, was familiar with the +recent tragedy. Either her lover or her brother happened to be waiting +for her outside the window. He saw in part the very tricks in the act +of perpetration by which some article or other, meant to be claimed as +stolen property, was conveyed into a parcel she had incautiously laid +down. He heard the charge against her made by Barratt, and seconded by +his creatures--heard her appeal--sprang to her aid--dragged the ruffian +into the street, when in less time than the tale could be told, and +before the police (though tolerably alert) could effectually interpose +for his rescue, the mob had so used or so abused the opportunity they +had long wished for, that he remained the mere disfigured wreck of what +had once been a man, rather than a creature with any resemblance to +humanity. I myself heard the uproar at a distance, and the shouts and +yells of savage exultation; they were sounds I shall never forget, +though I did not at that time know them for what they were, or +understood their meaning. The result, however, to me was something +beyond this, and worthy to have been purchased with my heart's blood. +Barratt still breathed; spite of his mutilations he could speak; he was +rational. One only thing he demanded--it was that his dying confession +might be taken. Two magistrates and a clergyman attended. He gave a +list of those whom he had trepanned, and had failed to trepan, by his +artifices and threats, into the sacrifice of their honor. He expired +before the record was closed, but not before he had placed my wife's +name in the latter list as the one whose injuries in his dying moments +most appalled him. This confession on the following day went into the +hands of the hostile minister, and my revenge was perfect. + + + + +THE SPANISH NUN. + + +Why is it that _Adventures_ are so generally repulsive to people of +meditative minds? It is for the same reason that any other want of law, +that any other anarchy is repulsive. Floating passively from action to +action, as helplessly as a withered leaf surrendered to the breath of +winds, the human spirit (out of which comes all grandeur of human +motions) is exhibited in mere _Adventures_, as either entirely laid +asleep, or as acting only by lower organs that regulate the _means_, +whilst the _ends_ are derived from alien sources, and are imperiously +predetermined. It is a case of exception, however, when even amongst +such adventures the agent reacts upon his own difficulties and +necessities by a temper of extraordinary courage, and a mind of +premature decision. Further strength arises to such an exception, if +the very moulding accidents of the life, if the very external coercions +are themselves unusually romantic. They may thus gain a separate +interest of their own. And, lastly, the whole is locked into validity +of interest, even for the psychological philosopher, by complete +authentication of its truth. In the case now brought before him, the +reader must not doubt; for no memoir exists, or personal biography, +that is so trebly authenticated by proofs and attestations direct and +collateral. From the archives of the Royal Marine at Seville, from the +autobiography or the heroine, from contemporary chronicles, and from +several official sources scattered in and out of Spain, some of them +ecclesiastical, the amplest proofs have been drawn, and may yet be +greatly extended, of the extraordinary events here recorded. M. de +Ferrer, a Spaniard of much research, and originally incredulous as to +the facts, published about seventeen years ago a selection from the +leading documents, accompanied by his _palinode_ as to their accuracy. +His materials have been since used for the basis of more than one +narrative, not inaccurate, in French, German and Spanish journals of +high authority. It is seldom the case that French writers err by +prolixity. They _have_ done so in this case. The present narrative, +which contains no sentence derived from any foreign one, has the great +advantage of close compression; my own pages, after equating the size, +being as 1 to 3 of the shortest continental form. In the mode of +narration, I am vain enough to flatter myself that the reader will find +little reason to hesitate between us. Mine at least, weary nobody; +which is more than can be always said for the continental versions. + +On a night in the year 1592, (but which night is a secret liable to 365 +answers,) a Spanish '_son of somebody_,' [Footnote: _i.e._ 'Hidalgo'] +in the fortified town of St. Sebastian, received the disagreeable +intelligence from a nurse, that his wife had just presented him with a +daughter. No present that the poor misjudging lady could possibly have +made him was so entirely useless for any purpose of his. He had three +daughters already, which happened to be more by 2+1 than _his_ +reckoning assumed as a reasonable allowance of daughters. A +supernumerary son might have been stowed away; but daughters in excess +were the very nuisance of Spain. He did, therefore, what in such cases +every proud and lazy Spanish gentleman was apt to do--he wrapped the +new little daughter, odious to his paternal eyes, in a pocket +handkerchief; and then, wrapping up his own throat with a good deal +more care, off he bolted to the neighboring convent of St. Sebastian, +not merely of that city, but also (amongst several convents) the one +dedicated to that saint. It is well that in this quarrelsome world we +quarrel furiously about tastes; since agreeing too closely about the +objects to be liked and appropriated would breed much more fighting +than is bred by disagreeing. That little human tadpole, which the old +toad of a father would not suffer to stay ten minutes in his house, +proved as welcome at the nunnery of St. Sebastian as she was odious +elsewhere. The superior of the convent was aunt, by the mother's side, +to the new-born stranger. She, therefore, kissed and blessed the little +lady. The poor nuns, who were never to have any babies of their own, +and were languishing for some amusement, perfectly doated on this +prospect of a wee pet. The superior thanked the hidalgo for his very +splendid present. The nuns thanked him each and all; until the old +crocodile actually began to cry and whimper sentimentally at what he +now perceived to be excess of munificence in himself. Munificence, +indeed, he remarked, was his foible next after parental tenderness. + +What a luxury it is sometimes to a cynic that there go two words to a +bargain. In the convent of St. Sebastian all was gratitude; gratitude +(as aforesaid) to the hidalgo from all the convent for his present, +until at last the hidalgo began to express gratitude to _them_ for +their gratitude to _him_. Then came a rolling fire of thanks to +St. Sebastian; from the superior, for sending a future saint; from the +nuns, for sending such a love of a plaything; and, finally, from papa, +for sending such substantial board and well-bolted lodgings, 'from +which,' said the malicious old fellow, 'my pussy will never find her +way out to a thorny and dangerous world.' Won't she? I suspect, son of +somebody, that the next time you see 'pussy,' which may happen to be +also the last, will not be in a convent of any kind. At present, whilst +this general rendering of thanks was going on, one person only took no +part in them. That person was 'pussy,' whose little figure lay quietly +stretched out in the arms of a smiling young nun, with eyes nearly +shut, yet peering a little at the candles. Pussy said nothing. It's of +no great use to say much, when all the world is against you. But if St. +Sebastian had enabled her to speak out the whole truth, pussy +_would_ have said: 'So, Mr. Hidalgo, you have been engaging +lodgings for me; lodgings for life. Wait a little. We'll try that +question, when my claws are grown a little longer.' + +Disappointment, therefore, was gathering ahead. But for the present +there was nothing of the kind. That noble old crocodile, papa, was not +in the least disappointed as regarded _his_ expectation of having +no anxiety to waste, and no money to pay, on account of his youngest +daughter. He insisted on his right to forget her; and in a week +_had_ forgotten her, never to think of her again but once. The +lady superior, as regarded _her_ demands, was equally content, and +through a course of several years; for, as often as she asked pussy if +she would be a saint, pussy replied that she would, if saints were +allowed plenty of sweetmeats. But least of all were the nuns +disappointed. Everything that they had fancied possible in a human +plaything fell short of what pussy realized in racketing, racing, and +eternal plots against the peace of the elder nuns. No fox ever kept a +hen-roost in such alarm as pussy kept the dormitory of the senior +sisters; whilst the younger ladies were run off their legs by the +eternal wiles, and had their chapel gravity discomposed, even in +chapel, by the eternal antics of this privileged little kitten. + +The kitten had long ago received a baptismal name, which was Kitty; +this is Catharine, or Kate, or _Hispanice_ Catalina. It was a good +name, as it recalled her original name of pussy. And, by the way, she +had also an ancient and honorable surname, viz., _De Erauso_, which is +to this day a name rooted in Biscay. Her father, the _hidalgo_, was a +military officer in the Spanish service, and had little care whether +his kitten should turn out a wolf or a lamb, having made over the fee +simple of his own interest in the little Kate to St. Sebastian, 'to +have and to hold,' so long as Kate should keep her hold of this present +life. Kate had no apparent intention to let slip that hold, for she was +blooming as a rose-bush in June, tall and strong as a young cedar. Yet, +notwithstanding this robust health and the strength of the convent +walls, the time was drawing near when St. Sebastian's lease in Kate +must, in legal phrase, 'determine;' and any _chateaux en Espagne_, that +the Saint might have built on the cloisteral fidelity of his pet +Catalina, must suddenly give way in one hour, like many other vanities +in our own days of Spanish bonds and promises. After reaching her tenth +year, Catalina became thoughtful, and not very docile. At times she was +even headstrong and turbulent, so that the gentle sisterhood of St. +Sebastian, who had no other pet or plaything in the world, began to +weep in secret--fearing that they might have been rearing by mistake +some future tigress--for as to infancy, _that_, you know, is playful +and innocent even in the cubs of a tigress. But _there_ the ladies were +going too far. Catalina was impetuous and aspiring, but not cruel. She +was gentle, if people would let her be so. But woe to those that took +liberties with _her_! A female servant of the convent, in some +authority, one day, in passing up the aisle to matins, _wilfully_ gave +Kate a push; and in return, Kate, who never left her debts in arrear, +gave the servant for a keepsake a look which that servant carried with +her in fearful remembrance to her grave. It seemed as if Kate had +tropic blood in her veins, that continually called her away to the +tropics. It was all the fault of that 'blue rejoicing sky,' of those +purple Biscayan mountains, of that tumultuous ocean, which she beheld +daily from the nunnery gardens. Or, if only half of it was _their_ +fault, the other half lay in those golden tales, streaming upwards even +into the sanctuaries of convents, like morning mists touched by +earliest sunlight, of kingdoms overshadowing a new world which had been +founded by her kinsmen with the simple aid of a horse and a lance. The +reader is to remember that this is no romance, or at least no fiction, +that he is reading; and it is proper to remind the reader of real +romances in Ariosto or our own Spenser, that such martial ladies as the +_Marfisa_, or _Bradamant_ of the first, and _Britomart_ of the other, +were really not the improbabilities that modern society imagines. Many +a stout man, as you will soon see, found that Kate, with a sabre in +hand, and well mounted, was but too serious a fact. + +The day is come--the evening is come--when our poor Kate, that had for +fifteen years been so tenderly rocked in the arms of St. Sebastian and +his daughters, and that henceforth shall hardly find a breathing space +between eternal storms, must see her peaceful cell, must see the holy +chapel, for the last time. It was at vespers, it was during the +chanting of the vesper service, that she finally read the secret signal +for her departure, which long she had been looking for. It happened +that her aunt, the Lady Principal, had forgotten her breviary. As this +was in a private 'scrutoire, she did not choose to send a servant for +it, but gave the key to her niece. The niece, on opening the +'scrutoire, saw, with that rapidity of eye-glance for the one thing +needed in any great emergency, which ever attended her through life, +that _now_ was the moment for an attempt which, if neglected, +might never return. There lay the total keys, in one massive +_trousseau_, of that fortress impregnable even to armies from +without. Saint Sebastian! do you see what your pet is going to do? And +do it she will, as sure as your name is St. Sebastian. Kate went back +to her aunt with the breviary and the key; but taking good care to +leave that awful door, on whose hinge revolved her whole life, +unlocked. Delivering the two articles to the Superior, she complained +of a headache--[Ah, Kate! what did you know of headaches, except now +and then afterwards from a stray bullet, or so?]--upon which her aunt, +kissing her forehead, dismissed her to bed. Now, then, through three- +fourths of an hour Kate will have free elbow-room for unanchoring her +boat, for unshipping her oars, and for pulling ahead right out of St. +Sebastian's cove into the main ocean of life. + +Catalina, the reader is to understand, does not belong to the class of +persons in whom chiefly I pretend to an interest. But everywhere one +loves energy and indomitable courage. I, for my part, admire not, by +preference, anything that points to this world. It is the child of +reverie and profounder sensibility who turns _away_ from the world as +hateful and insufficient, that engages _my_ interest: whereas Catalina +was the very model of the class fitted for facing this world, and who +express their love to it by fighting with it and kicking it from year +to year. But, always, what is best in its kind one admires, even though +the kind be disagreeable. Kate's advantages for her _role_ in this life +lay in four things, viz., in a well-built person, and a particularly +strong wrist; 2d, in a heart that nothing could appal; 3d, in a +sagacious head, never drawn aside from the _hoc age_ [from the instant +question of life] by any weakness of imagination; 4th, in a tolerably +thick skin--not literally, for she was fair and blooming, and decidedly +handsome, having such a skin as became a young woman of family in +northernmost Spain. But her sensibilities were obtuse as regarded +_some_ modes of delicacy, _some_ modes of equity, _some_ modes of the +world's opinion, and _all_ modes whatever of personal hardship. Lay a +stress on that word _some_--for, as to delicacy, she never lost sight +of the kind which peculiarly concerns her sex. Long afterwards she told +the Pope himself, when confessing without disguise her sad and infinite +wanderings to the paternal old man (and I feel convinced of her +veracity), that in this respect, even then, at middle age, she was as +pure as is a child. And, as to equity, it was only that she substituted +the equity of camps for the polished (but often more iniquitous) equity +of courts and towns. As to the third item--the world's opinion--I don't +know that you need lay a stress on _some_; for, generally speaking, +_all_ that the world did, said, or thought, was alike contemptible in +her eyes, in which, perhaps, she was not so _very_ far wrong. I must +add, though at the cost of interrupting the story by two or three more +sentences, that Catalina had also a fifth advantage, which sounds +humbly, but is really of use in a world, where even to fold and seal a +letter adroitly is not the least of accomplishments. She was a _handy_ +girl. She could turn her hand to anything, of which I will give you two +memorable instances. Was there ever a girl in this world but herself +that cheated and snapped her fingers at that awful Inquisition, which +brooded over the convents of Spain, that did this without collusion +from outside, trusting to nobody, but to herself, and what? to one +needle, two hanks of thread, and a very inferior pair of scissors? For, +that the scissors were bad, though Kate does not say so in her memoirs, +I knew by an _a priori_ argument, viz., because _all_ scissors were bad +in the year 1607. Now, say all decent logicians, from a universal to a +particular _valet consequentia_, _all_ scissors were bad: _ergo_, +_some_ scissors were bad. The second instance of her handiness will +surprise you even more:--She once stood upon a scaffold, under sentence +of death--[but, understand, on the evidence of false witnesses]. Jack +Ketch was absolutely tying the knot under her ear, and the shameful man +of ropes fumbled so deplorably, that Kate (who by much nautical +experience had learned from another sort of 'Jack' how a knot _should_ +be tied in this world,) lost all patience with the contemptible artist, +told him she was ashamed of him, took the rope out of his hand, and +tied the knot irreproachably herself. The crowd saluted her with a +festal roll, long and loud, of _vivas_; and this word _viva_ of good +augury--but stop; let me not anticipate. + +From this sketch of Catalina's character, the reader is prepared to +understand the decision of her present proceeding. She had no time to +lose: the twilight favored her; but she must get under hiding before +pursuit commenced. Consequently she lost not one of her forty-five +minutes in picking and choosing. No _shilly-shally_ in Kate. She +saw with the eyeball of an eagle what was indispensable. Some little +money perhaps to pay the first toll-bar of life: so, out of four +shillings in Aunty's purse, she took one. You can't say _that_ was +exorbitant. Which of us wouldn't subscribe a shilling for poor Katy to +put into the first trouser pockets that ever she will wear? I remember +even yet, as a personal experience, that when first arrayed, at four +years old, in nankeen trousers, though still so far retaining +hermaphrodite relations of dress as to wear a petticoat above my +trousers, all my female friends (because they pitied me, as one that +had suffered from years of ague) filled my pockets with half-crowns, of +which I can render no account at this day. But what were my poor +pretensions by the side of Kate's? Kate was a fine blooming girl of +fifteen, with no touch of ague, and, before the next sun rises, Kate +shall draw on her first trousers, and made by her own hand; and, that +she may do so, of all the valuables in Aunty's repository she takes +nothing beside the shilling, _quantum sufficit_ of thread, one +stout needle, and (as I told you before, if you would please to +remember things) one bad pair of scissors. Now she was ready; ready to +cast off St. Sebastian's towing-rope; ready to cut and run for port +anywhere. The finishing touch of her preparations was to pick out the +proper keys: even there she showed the same discretion. She did do no +gratuitous mischief. She did not take the wine-cellar key, which would +have irritated the good father confessor; she took those keys only that +belonged to _her_, if ever keys did; for they were the keys that +locked her out from her natural birthright of liberty. 'Show me,' says +the Romish Casuist, 'her right in law to let herself out of that +nunnery.' 'Show us,' we reply, '_your_ right to lock her in.' + +Right or wrong, however, in strict casuistry, Kate was resolved to let +herself out; and _did_ so; and, for fear any man should creep in whilst +vespers lasted, and steal the kitchen grate, she locked her old friends +_in_. Then she sought a shelter. The air was not cold. She hurried into +a chestnut wood, and upon withered leaves slept till dawn. Spanish diet +and youth leaves the digestion undisordered, and the slumbers light. +When the lark rose, up rose Catalina. No time to lose, for she was +still in the dress of a nun, and liable to be arrested by any man in +Spain. With her _armed_ finger, [aye, by the way, I forgot the thimble; +but Kate did _not_]--she set to work upon her amply-embroidered +petticoat. She turned it wrong side out; and with the magic that only +female hands possess, she had soon sketched and finished a dashing pair +of Wellington trousers. All other changes were made according to the +materials she possessed, and quite sufficiently to disguise the two +main perils--her sex, and her monastic dedication. What was she to do +next. Speaking of Wellington trousers would remind _us_, but could +hardly remind _her_, of Vittoria, where she dimly had heard of some +maternal relative. To Vittoria, therefore, she bent her course; and, +like the Duke of Wellington, but arriving more than two centuries +earlier, [though _he_ too is an early riser,] she gained a great +victory at that place. She had made a two days' march, baggage far in +the rear, and no provisions but wild berries; she depended for anything +better, as light-heartedly as the Duke, upon attacking, sword in hand, +storming her dear friend's entrenchments, and effecting a lodgment in +his breakfast-room, should he happen to have one. This amiable +relative, an elderly man, had but one foible, or perhaps one virtue in +this world; but _that_ he had in perfection,--it was pedantry. On that +hint Catalina spoke: she knew by heart, from the services of the +convent, a few Latin phrases. Latin!--Oh, but _that_ was charming; and +in one so young! The grave Don owned the soft impeachment; relented at +once, and clasped the hopeful young gentleman in the Wellington +trousers to his _uncular_ and rather angular breast. In this house the +yarn of life was of a mingled quality. The table was good, but that was +exactly what Kate cared little about. The amusement was of the worst +kind. It consisted chiefly in conjugating Latin verbs, especially such +as were obstinately irregular. To show him a withered frost-bitten +verb, that wanted its preterite, wanted its supines, wanted, in fact, +everything in this world, fruits or blossoms, that make a verb +desirable, was to earn the Don's gratitude for life. All day long he +was marching and countermarching his favorite brigades of verbs--verbs +frequentative, verbs inceptive, verbs desiderative--horse, foot, and +artillery; changing front, advancing from the rear, throwing out +skirmishing parties, until Kate, not given to faint, must have thought +of such a resource, as once in her life she had thought so seasonably +of a vesper headache. This was really worse than St. Sebastian's. It +reminds one of a French gayety in Thiebault or some such author, who +describes a rustic party, under equal despair, as employing themselves +in conjugating the verb _s'ennuyer,--Je m'ennuie, tu t'ennuies, il +s'ennuit; nous nous ennuyons_, &c.; thence to the imperfect--_Je +m'ennuyois, tu t'ennuyois_, &c.; thence to the imperative--_Qu'il +s'ennuye_, &c.; and so on through the whole melancholy conjugation. +Now, you know, when the time comes that, _nous nous ennuyons_, the best +course is, to part. Kate saw _that_; and she walked off from the Don's +[of whose amorous passion for defective verbs one would have wished to +know the catastrophe], and took from his mantel-piece rather move +silver than she had levied on her aunt. But the Don also was a +relative; and really he owed her a small cheque on his banker for +turning out on his field-days. A man, if he _is_ a kinsman, has no +right to bore one _gratis_. + +From Vittoria, Kate was guided by a carrier to Valladolid. Luckily, as +it seemed at first, but it made little difference in the end, here, at +Valladolid, were the King and his Court. Consequently, there was plenty +of regiments and plenty of regimental bands. Attracted by one of these, +Catalina was quietly listening to the music, when some street ruffians, +in derision of the gay colors and the form of her forest-made costume-- +[rascals! one would like to have seen what sort of trousers _they_ +would have made with no better scissors!]--began to pelt her with +stones. Ah, my friends, of the genus _blackguard_, you little know +who it is that you are selecting for experiments. This is the one +creature of fifteen in all Spain, be the other male or female, whom +nature, and temper, and provocation have qualified for taking the +conceit out of you. This she very soon did, laying open a head or two +with a sharp stone, and letting out rather too little than too much of +bad Valladolid blood. But mark the constant villany of this world. +Certain Alguazils--very like some other Alguazils that I know nearer +home--having stood by quietly to see the friendless stranger insulted +and assaulted, now felt it their duty to apprehend the poor nun for +murderous violence: and had there been such a thing as a treadmill in +Valladolid, Kate was booked for a place on it without further inquiry. +Luckily, injustice does not _always_ prosper. A gallant young +cavalier, who had witnessed from his windows the whole affair, had seen +the provocation, and admired Catalina's behavior--equally patient at +first and bold at last--hastened into the street, pursued the officers, +forced them to release their prisoner, upon stating the circumstances +of the case, and instantly offered Catalina a situation amongst his +retinue. He was a man of birth and fortune; and the place offered, that +of an honorary page, not being at all degrading even to a 'daughter of +somebody,' was cheerfully accepted. Here Catalina spent a happy month. +She was now splendidly dressed in dark blue velvet, by a tailor that +did not work within the gloom of a chestnut forest. She and the young +cavalier, Don Francisco de Cardenas, were mutually pleased, and had +mutual confidence. All went well--when one evening, but, luckily, not +until the sun had been set so long as to make all things indistinct, +who should march into the ante-chamber of the cavalier but that sublime +of crocodiles, _Papa_, that we lost sight of fifteen years ago, +and shall never see again after this night. He had his crocodile tears +all ready for use, in working order, like a good industrious fire- +engine. It was absolutely to Catalina herself that he advanced; whom, +for many reasons, he could not be supposed to recognise--lapse of +years, male attire, twilight, were all against him. Still, she might +have the family countenance; and Kate thought he looked with a +suspicious scrutiny into her face, as he inquired for the young Don. To +avert her own face, to announce him to Don Francisco, to wish him on +the shores of that ancient river for crocodiles, the Nile, furnished +but one moment's work to the active Catalina. She lingered, however, as +her place entitled her to do, at the door of the audience chamber. She +guessed already, but in a moment she _heard_ from papa's lips what +was the nature of his errand. His daughter Catharine, he informed the +Don, had eloped from the convent of St. Sebastian, a place rich in +delight. Then he laid open the unparalleled ingratitude of such a step. +Oh, the unseen treasure that had been spent upon that girl! Oh, the +untold sums of money that he had sunk in that unhappy speculation! The +nights of sleeplessness suffered during her infancy! The fifteen years +of solicitude thrown away in schemes for her improvement! It would have +moved the heart of a stone. The _hidalgo_ wept copiously at his +own pathos. And to such a height of grandeur had he carried his Spanish +sense of the sublime, that he disdained to mention the pocket- +handkerchief which he had left at St. Sebastian's fifteen years ago, by +way of envelope for 'pussy,' and which, to the best of pussy's +knowledge, was the one sole memorandum of papa ever heard of at St. +Sebastian's. Pussy, however, saw no use in revising and correcting the +text of papa's remembrances. She showed her usual prudence, and her +usual incomparable decision. It did not appear, as yet, that she would +be reclaimed, or was at all suspected for the fugitive by her father. +For it is an instance of that singular fatality which pursued Catalina +through life, that, to her own astonishment, (as she now collected from +her father's conference,) nobody had traced her to Valladolid, nor had +her father's visit any connection with suspicious travelling in that +direction. The case was quite different. Strangely enough, her street +row had thrown her into the one sole household in all Spain that had an +official connection with St. Sebastian's. That convent had been founded +by the young cavalier's family; and, according to the usage of Spain, +the young man (as present representative of his house) was the +responsible protector of the establishment. It was not to the Don, as +harborer of his daughter, but to the Don, as _ex officio_ visitor +of the convent, that the hidalgo was appealing. Probably Kate might +have staid safely some time longer. Yet, again, this would but have +multiplied the clues for tracing her; and, finally, she would too +probably have been discovered; after which, with all his youthful +generosity, the poor Don could not have protected her. Too terrific was +the vengeance that awaited an abettor of any fugitive nun; but, above +all, if such a crime were perpetrated by an official mandatory of the +church. Yet, again, so far it was the more hazardous course to abscond, +that it almost revealed her to the young Don as the missing daughter. +Still, if it really _had_ that effect, nothing at present obliged +him to pursue her, as might have been the case a few weeks later. Kate +argued (I dare say) rightly, as she always did. Her prudence whispered +eternally, that safety there was none for her, until she had laid the +Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's. Life was to be for +_her_ a Bay of Biscay; and it was odds but she had first embarked +upon this billowy life from the literal Bay of Biscay. Chance ordered +otherwise. Or, as a Frenchman says with eloquent ingenuity, in +connection with this story, 'Chance is but the _pseudonyme_ of God +for those particular cases which he does not subscribe openly with his +own sign manual.' She crept up stairs to her bed-room. Simple are the +travelling preparations of those that, possessing nothing, have no +imperials to pack. She had Juvenal's qualification for carolling gaily +through a forest full of robbers; for she had nothing to lose but a +change of linen, that rode easily enough under her left arm, leaving +the right free for answering any questions of impertinent customers. As +she crept down stairs, she heard the Crocodile still weeping forth his +sorrows to the pensive ear of twilight, and to the sympathetic Don +Francisco. Now, it would not have been filial or lady-like for Kate to +do what I am going to suggest; but what a pity that some gay brother +page had not been there to turn aside into the room, armed with a +roasted potato, and, taking a sportsman's aim, to have lodged it in the +Crocodile's abominable mouth. Yet, what an anachronism! There +_were_ no roasted potatoes in Spain at that date, and very few in +England. But anger drives a man to say anything. + +Catalina had seen her last of friends and enemies in Valladolid. Short +was her time there; but she had improved it so far as to make a few of +both. There was an eye or two in Valladolid that would have glared with +malice upon her, had she been seen by _all_ eyes in that city, as +she tripped through the streets in the dusk; and eyes there were that +would have softened into tears, had they seen the desolate condition of +the child, or in vision had seen the struggles that were before her. +But what's the use of wasting tears upon our Kate? Wait till to-morrow +morning at sunrise, and see if she is particularly in need of pity. +What now should a young lady do--I propose it as a subject for a prize +essay--that finds herself in Valladolid at nighfall, having no letters +of introduction, not aware of any reason great or small for preferring +any street in general, except so far as she knows of some reason for +avoiding one or two streets in particular? The great problem I have +stated, Kate investigated as she went along; and she solved it with the +accuracy with which she ever applied to _practical_ exigencies. +Her conclusion was--that the best door to knock at in such a case was +the door where there was no need to knock at all, as being unfastened, +and open to all comers. For she argued that within such a door there +would be nothing to steal, so that, at least, you could not be mistaken +in the ark for a thief. Then, as to stealing from _her_, they +might do that if they could. + +Upon these principles, which hostile critics will in vain endeavor to +undermine, she laid her hand upon what seemed a rude stable door. Such +it proved. There was an empty cart inside, certainly there was, but you +couldn't take _that_ away in your pocket; and there were five +loads of straw, but then of those a lady could take no more than her +_reticule_ would carry, which perhaps was allowed by the courtesy +of Spain. So Kate was right as to the difficulty of being challenged +for a thief. Closing the door as gently as she had opened it, she +dropped her person, dressed as she was, upon the nearest heap of straw. +Some ten feet further were lying two muleteers, honest and happy +enough, as compared with the lords of the bed-chamber then in +Valladolid: but still gross men, carnally deaf from eating garlic and +onions, and other horrible substances. Accordingly, they never heard +her, nor were aware, until dawn, that such a blooming person existed. +But she was aware of _them_, and of their conversation. They were +talking of an expedition for America, on the point of sailing under Don +Ferdinand de Cordova. It was to sail from some Andalusian port. That +was the very thing for _her_. At daylight she woke, and jumped up, +needing no more toilet than the birds that already were singing in the +gardens, or than the two muleteers, who, good, honest fellows, saluted +the handsome boy kindly--thinking no ill at his making free with +_their_ straw, though no leave had been asked. + +With these philo-garlic men Kate took her departure. The morning was +divine: and leaving Valladolid with the transports that befitted such a +golden dawn, feeling also already, in the very obscurity of her exit, +the pledge of her escape; she cared no longer for the Crocodile, or for +St. Sebastian, or (in the way of fear) for the protector of St. +Sebastian, though of _him_ she thought with some tenderness; so +deep is the remembrance of kindness mixed with justice. Andalusia she +reached rather slowly; but many months before she was sixteen years +old, and quite in time for the expedition. St. Lucar being the port of +rendezvous for the Peruvian expedition, thither she went. All comers +were welcome on board the fleet; much more a fine young fellow like +Kate. She was at once engaged as a mate; and _her_ ship, in +particular, after doubling Cape Horn without loss, made the coast of +Peru. Paita was the port of her destination. Very near to this port +they were, when a storm threw them upon a coral reef. There was little +hope of the ship from the first, for she was unmanageable, and was not +expected to hold together for twenty-four hours. In this condition, +with death before their faces, mark what Kate did; and please to +remember it for her benefit, when she does any other little thing that +angers you. The crew lowered the long-boat. Vainly the captain +protested against this disloyal desertion of a king's ship, which might +yet perhaps be run on shore, so as to save the stores. All the crew, to +a man, deserted the captain. You may say _that_ literally; for the +single exception was _not_ a man, being our bold-hearted Kate. She +was the only sailor that refused to leave her captain, or the king of +Spain's ship. The rest pulled away for the shore, and with fair hopes +of reaching it. But one half-hour told another tale: just about that +time came a broad sheet of lightning, which, through the darkness of +evening, revealed the boat in the very act of mounting like a horse +upon an inner reef, instantly filling, and throwing out the crew, every +man of whom disappeared amongst the breakers. The night which succeeded +was gloomy for both the representatives of his Catholic Majesty. It +cannot be denied by the greatest of philosophers, that the muleteer's +stable at Valladolid was worth twenty such ships, though the stable was +_not_ insured against fire, and the ship _was_ insured against the sea +and the wind by some fellow that thought very little of his +engagements. But what's the use of sitting down to cry? That was never +any trick of Catalina's. By daybreak, she was at work with an axe +in her hand. I knew it, before ever I came to this place, in her +memoirs. I felt, as sure as if I had read it, that when day broke, we +should find Kate hard at work. Thimble or axe, trousers or raft, all +one to _her_. + +The Captain, though true to his duty, seems to have desponded. He gave +no help towards the raft. Signs were speaking, however, pretty loudly +that he must do something; for notice to quit was now served pretty +liberally. Kate's raft was ready; and she encouraged the captain to +think that it would give both of them something to hold by in swimming, +if not even carry double. At this moment, when all was waiting for a +start, and the ship herself was waiting for a final lurch, to say +_Good-bye_ to the King of Spain, Kate went and did a thing which +some misjudging people will object to. She knew of a box laden with +gold coins, reputed to be the King of Spain's, and meant for +contingencies in the voyage out. This she smashed open with her axe, +and took a sum equal to one hundred guineas English; which, having well +secured in a pillow-case, she then lashed firmly to the raft. Now this, +you know, though not _flotsam_, because it would not float, was +certainly, by maritime law, '_jetsom_.' It would be the idlest of +scruples to fancy that the sea or a shark had a better right to it than +a philosopher, or a splendid girl who showed herself capable of writing +a very fair 8vo, to say nothing of her decapitating in battle several +of the king's enemies, and recovering the king's banner. No sane +moralist would hesitate to do the same thing under the same +circumstances, on board an English vessel, though the First Lord of the +Admiralty should be looking on. The raft was now thrown into the sea. +Kate jumped after it, and then entreated the captain to follow her. He +attempted it; but, wanting her youthful agility, he struck his head +against a spar, and sank like lead, giving notice below that his ship +was coming. Kate mounted the raft, and was gradually washed ashore, but +so exhausted, as to have lost all recollection. She lay for hours until +the warmth of the sun revived her. On sitting up, she saw a desolate +shore stretching both ways--nothing to eat, nothing to drink, but +fortunately the raft and the money had been thrown near her; none of +the lashings having given way--only what is the use of a guinea amongst +tangle and sea-gulls? The money she distributed amongst her pockets, +and soon found strength to rise and march forward. But which _was_ +forward? and which backward? She knew by the conversation of the +sailors that Paita must be in the neighborhood; and Paita, being a +port, could not be in the inside of Peru, but, of course, somewhere on +its outside--and the outside of a maritime land must be the shore; so +that, if she kept the shore, and went far enough, she could not fail of +hitting her foot against Paita at last, in the very darkest night, +provided only she could first find out which was _up_ and which +was _down_; else she might walk her shoes off, and find herself +six thousand miles in the wrong. Here was an awkward case, all for want +of a guide-post. Still, when one thinks of Kate's prosperous horoscope, +that after so long a voyage, _she_ only, out of the total crew, +was thrown on the American shore, with one hundred and five pounds in +her purse of clear gain on the voyage, a conviction arises that she +_could_ not guess wrongly. She might have tossed up, having coins +in her pocket, _heads or tails_? but this kind of sortilege was +then coming to be thought irreligious in Christendom, as a Jewish and a +Heathen mode of questioning the dark future. She simply guessed, +therefore; and very soon a thing happened which, though adding nothing +to strengthen her guess as a true one, did much to sweeten it if it +should prove a false one. On turning a point of the shore, she came +upon a barrel of biscuit washed ashore from the ship. Biscuit is about +the best thing I know, but it is the soonest spoiled; and one would +like to hear counsel on one puzzling point, why it is that a touch of +water utterly ruins it, taking its life, and leaving a _caput +mortuum_ corpse! Upon this _caput_ Kate breakfasted, though +_her_ case was worse than mine; for any water that ever plagued +_me_ was always fresh; now _hers_ was a present from the +Pacific ocean. She, that was always prudent, packed up some of the +Catholic king's biscuit, as she had previously packed up far too little +of his gold. But in such cases a most delicate question occurs, +pressing equally on medicine and algebra. It is this: if you pack up +too much, then, by this extra burthen of salt provisions, you may +retard for days your arrival at fresh provisions; on the other hand, if +you pack up too little, you may never arrive at all. Catalina hit the +_juste milieu;_ and about twilight on the second day, she found +herself entering Paita, without having had to swim any river in her +walk. + +The first thing, in such a case of distress, which a young lady does, +even if she happens to be a young gentleman, is to beautify her dress. +Kate always attended to _that_, as we know, having overlooked her +in the chestnut wood. The man she sent for was not properly a tailor, +but one who employed tailors, he himself furnishing the materials. His +name was Urquiza, a fact of very little importance to us in 1847, if it +had stood only at the head and foot of Kate's little account. But +unhappily for Kate's _debut_ on this vast American stage, the case +was otherwise. Mr. Urquiza had the misfortune (equally common in the +old world and the new) of being a knave; and also a showy specious +knave. Kate, who had prospered under sea allowances of biscuit and +hardship, was now expanding in proportions. With very little vanity or +consciousness on that head, she now displayed a really fine person; +and, when drest anew in the way that became a young officer in the +Spanish service, she looked [Footnote: _'She looked,' etc_. If +ever the reader should visit Aix-la-Chapelle, he will probably feel +interest enough in the poor, wild impassioned girl, to look out for a +picture of her in that city, and the only one known _certainly_ to +be authentic. It is in the collection of Mr. Sempeller. For some time +it was supposed that the best (if not the only) portrait of her lurked +somewhere in Italy. Since the discovery of the picture at Aix-la- +Chapelle, that notion has been abandoned. But there is great reason to +believe that, both in Madrid and Rome, many portraits of her must have +been painted to meet the intense interest which arose in her history +subsequently amongst all the men of rank, military or ecclesiastical, +whether in Italy or Spain. The date of these would range between +sixteen and twenty-two years from, the period which we have now reached +(1608.)] the representative picture of a Spanish _caballador_. It +is strange that such an appearance, and such a rank, should have +suggested to Urquiza the presumptuous idea of wishing that Kate might +become his clerk. He _did_, however wish it; for Kate wrote a +beautiful hand; and a stranger thing is, that Kate accepted his +proposal. This might arise from the difficulty of moving in those days +to any distance in Peru. The ship had been merely bringing stores to +the station of Paita; and no corps of the royal armies was readily to +be reached, whilst something must be done at once for a livelihood. +Urquiza had two mercantile establishments, one at Trujillo, to which he +repaired in person, on Kate's agreeing to undertake the management of +the other in Paita. Like the sensible girl, that we have always found +her, she demanded specific instructions for her guidance in duties so +new. Certainly she was in a fair way for seeing life. Telling her beads +at St. Sebastian's, manoeuvreing irregular verbs at Vittoria, acting as +gentleman-usher at Valladolid, serving his Spanish Majesty round Cape +Horn, fighting with storms and sharks off the coast of Peru, and now +commencing as book-keeper or _commis_ to a draper at Paita, does +she not justify the character that I myself gave her, just before +dismissing her from St. Sebastian's, of being a 'handy' girl? Mr. +Urquiza's instructions were short, easy to be understood, but rather +comic; and yet, which is odd, they led to tragic results. There were +two debtors of the shop, (_many_, it is to be hoped, but two +meriting his affectionate notice,) with respect to whom he left the +most opposite directions. The one was a very handsome lady; and the +rule as to _her_ was, that she was to have credit unlimited, +strictly unlimited. That was plain. The other customer, favored by Mr. +Urquiza's valedictory thoughts, was a young man, cousin to the handsome +lady, and bearing the name of Reyes. This youth occupied in Mr. +Urquiza's estimate the same hyperbolical rank as the handsome lady, but +on the opposite side of the equation. The rule as to _him_ was-- +that he was to have _no_ credit; strictly none. In this case, +also, Kate saw no difficulty; and when she came to know Mr. Reyes a +little, she found the path of pleasure coinciding with the path of +duty. Mr. Urquiza could not be more precise in laying down the rule +than Kate was in enforcing it. But in the other case a scruple arose. +_Unlimited_ might be a word, not of Spanish law, but of Spanish +rhetoric; such as '_Live a thousand years_,' which even annuity +offices hear, and perhaps utter, without a pang. Kate, therefore, wrote +to Trujillo, expressing her honest fears, and desiring to have more +definite instructions. These were positive. If the lady chose to send +for the entire shop, her account was to be debited instantly with +_that_. She had, however, as yet, not sent for the shop, but she +began to manifest strong signs of sending for the shop _man_. Upon +the blooming young Biscayan had her roving eye settled; and she was in +a course of making up her mind to take Kate for a sweetheart. Poor Kate +saw this with a heavy heart. And, at the same time that she had a +prospect of a tender friend more than she wanted, she had become +certain of an extra enemy that she wanted quite as little. What she had +done to offend Mr. Reyes, Kate could not guess, except as to the matter +of the credit; but then, in that, she only executed her instructions. +Still Mr. Reyes was of opinion that there were two ways of executing +orders: but the main offence was unintentional on Kate's part. Reyes, +though as yet she did not know it, had himself been a candidate for the +situation of clerk; and intended probably to keep the equation +precisely as it was with respect to the allowance of credit, only to +change places with the handsome lady--keeping _her_ on the +negative side, himself on the affirmative--an arrangement that you know +could have made no sort of pecuniary difference to Urquiza. + +Thus stood matters, when a party of strolling players strolled into +Paita. Kate, as a Spaniard, being one held of the Paita aristocracy, +was expected to attend. She did so; and there also was the malignant +Reyes. He came and seated himself purposely so as to shut out Kate from +all view of the stage. She, who had nothing of the bully in her nature, +and was a gentle creature when her wild Biscayan blood had not been +kindled by insult, courteously requested him to move a little; upon +which Reyes remarked that it was not in his power to oblige the clerk +as to that, but that he _could_ oblige him by cutting his throat. +The tiger that slept in Catalina wakened at once. She seized him, and +would have executed vengeance on the spot, but that a party of young +men interposed to part them. The next day, when Kate (always ready to +forget and forgive) was thinking no more of the row, Reyes passed; by +spitting at the window, and other gestures insulting to Kate, again he +roused her Spanish blood. Out she rushed, sword in hand--a duel began +in the street, and very soon Kate's sword had passed into the heart of +Reyes. Now that the mischief was done, the police were, as usual, all +alive for the pleasure of avenging it. Kate found herself suddenly in a +strong prison, and with small hopes of leaving it, except for +execution. The relations of the dead man were potent in Paita, and +clamorous for justice, so that the _corregidor_, in a case where +he saw a very poor chance of being corrupted by bribes, felt it his +duty to be sublimely incorruptible. The reader knows, however, that, +amongst the relatives of the deceased bully, was that handsome lady, +who differed as much from her cousin in her sentiments as to Kate, as +she did in the extent of her credit with Mr. Urquiza. To _her_ +Kate wrote a note; and, using one of the Spanish King's gold coins for +bribing the jailor, got it safely delivered. That, perhaps, was +unnecessary; for the lady had been already on the alert, and had +summoned Urquiza from Trujillo. By some means, not very luminously +stated, and by paying proper fees in proper quarters, Kate was smuggled +out of the prison at nightfall, and smuggled into a pretty house in the +suburbs. Had she known exactly the footing she stood on as to the law, +she would have been decided. As it was, she was uneasy, and jealous of +mischief abroad; and, before supper, she understood it all. Urquiza +briefly informed his clerk, that it would be requisite for him to marry +the handsome lady. But why? Because, said Urquiza, after talking for +hours with the _corregidor_, who was infamous for obstinacy, he +had found it impossible to make him 'hear reason,' and release the +prisoner, until this compromise of marriage was suggested. But how +could public justice be pacified for the clerk's unfortunate homicide +of Reyes, by a female cousin of the deceased man engaging to love, +honor, and obey the clerk for life? Kate could not see her way through +this logic. 'Nonsense, my friend,' said Urquiza, 'you don't comprehend. +As it stands, the affair is a murder, and hanging the penalty. But, if +you marry into the murdered man's house, then it becomes a little +family murder, all quiet and comfortable amongst ourselves. What has +the _corregidor_ to do with that? or the public either? Now, let +me introduce the bride.' Supper entered at that moment, and the bride +immediately after. The thoughtfulness of Kate was narrowly observed, +and even alluded to, but politely ascribed to the natural anxieties of +a prisoner, and the very imperfect state of liberation even yet from +prison _surveillance_. Kate had, indeed, never been in so trying a +situation before. The anxieties of the farewell night at St. Sebastian +were nothing to this; because, even if she had failed _then_, a +failure might not have been always irreparable. It was but to watch and +wait. But now, at this supper table, she was not more alive to the +nature of the peril than she was to the fact, that if, before the night +closed, she did not by some means escape from it, she never +_would_ escape with life. The deception as to her sex, though +resting on no motive that pointed to these people, or at all concerned +them, would be resented as if it had. The lady would resent the case as +a mockery; and Urquiza would lose his opportunity of delivering himself +from an imperious mistress. According to the usages of the times and +country, Kate knew that in twelve hours she would be assassinated. + +People of infirmer resolution would have lingered at the supper table, +for the sake of putting off the evil moment of final crisis. Not so +Kate. She had revolved the case on all its sides in a few minutes, and +had formed her resolution. This done, she was as ready for the trial at +one moment as another; and, when the lady suggested that the hardships +of a prison must have made repose desirable, Kate assented, and +instantly rose. A sort of procession formed, for the purpose of doing +honor to the interesting guest, and escorting him in pomp to his +bedroom. Kate viewed it much in the same light as the procession to +which for some days she had been expecting an invitation from the +_corregidor_. Far ahead ran the servant-woman as a sort of +outrider. Then came Urquiza, like a Pasha of two tails, who granted two +sorts of credit, viz. unlimited and none at all, bearing two wax- +lights, one in each hand, and wanting only cymbals and kettle-drums to +express emphatically the pathos of his Castilian strut. Next came the +bride, a little in advance of the clerk, but still turning obliquely +towards him, and smiling graciously into his face. Lastly, bringing up +the rear, came the prisoner--our Kate--the nun, the page, the mate, the +clerk, the homicide, the convict; and, for this day only, by particular +desire, the bridegroom elect. + +It was Kate's fixed opinion, that, if for a moment she entered any +bedroom having obviously no outlet, her fate would be that of an ox +once driven within the shambles. Outside, the bullock might make some +defence with his horns; but once in, with no space for turning, he is +muffled and gagged. She carried her eye, therefore, like a hawk's, +steady, though restless, for vigilant examination of every angle she +turned. Before she entered any bedroom, she was resolved to reconnoiter +it from the doorway, and, in case of necessity, show fight at once, +before entering--as the best chance, after all, where all chances were +bad. Everything ends; and at last the procession reached the bedroom +door, the outrider having filed off to the rear. One glance sufficed to +satisfy Kate that windows there were none, and, therefore, no outlet +for escape. Treachery appeared even in _that_; and Kate, though +unfortunately without arms, was now fixed for resistance. Mr. Urquiza +entered first--'Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!' There were, as we +know already, no windows; but a slight interruption to Mr. Urquiza's +pompous tread showed that there were steps downwards into the room. +Those, thought Kate, will suit me even better. She had watched the +unlocking of the bedroom door--she had lost nothing--she had marked +that the key was left in the lock. At this moment, the beautiful lady, +as one acquainted with the details of the house, turning with the air +of a gracious monitress, held out her fair hand to guide Kate in +careful descent of the steps. This had the air of taking out Kate to +dance; and Kate, at that same moment, answering to it by the gesture of +a modern waltzer, threw her arm behind the lady's waist, hurled her +headlong down the steps right against Mr. Urquiza, draper and +haberdasher; and then, with the speed of lightning, throwing the door +_home_ within its architrave, doubly locked the creditor and +debtor into the rat-trap which they had prepared for herself. + +The affrighted out-rider fled with horror: she already knew that the +clerk had committed one homicide; a second would cost him still less +thought; and thus it happened that egress was left easy. But, when out +and free once more in the bright starry night, which way should Kate +turn? The whole city would prove but a rat-trap for her, as bad as Mr. +Urquiza's, if she was not off before morning. At a glance she +comprehended that the sea was her only chance. To the port she fled. +All was silent. Watchmen there were none. She jumped into a boat. To +use the oars was dangerous, for she had no means of muffling them. But +she contrived to hoist a sail, pushed off with a boat-hook, and was +soon stretching across the water for the mouth of the harbor before a +breeze light but favorable. Having cleared the difficulties of exit she +lay down, and unintentionally fell asleep. When she awoke the sun had +been up three or four hours; all was right otherwise; but had she not +served as a sailor, Kate would have trembled upon finding that, during +her long sleep of perhaps seven or eight hours, she had lost sight of +land; by what distance she could only guess; and in what direction, was +to some degree doubtful. All this, however, seemed a great advantage to +the bold girl, throwing her thoughts back on the enemies she had left +behind. The disadvantage was--having no breakfast, not even damaged +biscuit; and some anxiety naturally arose as to ulterior prospects a +little beyond the horizon of breakfast. But who's afraid? As sailors +whistle for a wind, Catalina really had but to whistle for anything +with energy, and it was sure to come. Like Caesar to the pilot of +Dyrrhachium, she might have said, for the comfort of her poor timorous +boat, (though destined soon to perish,) '_Catalinam vehis, et +fortunas ejus_.' Meantime, being very doubtful as to the best course +for sailing, and content if her course did but lie offshore, she +'carried on,' as sailors say, under easy sail, going, in fact, just +whither and just how the Pacific breezes suggested in the gentlest of +whispers. _All right behind_, was Kate's opinion; and, what was +better, very soon she might say, _all right ahead:_ for some hour +or two before sunset, when dinner was for once becoming, even to Kate, +the most interesting of subjects for meditation, suddenly a large ship +began to swell upon the brilliant atmosphere. In those latitudes, and +in those years, any ship was pretty sure to be Spanish: sixty years +later the odds were in favor of its being an English buccaneer; which +would have given a new direction to Kate's energy. Kate continued to +make signals with a handkerchief whiter than the crocodile's of Ann. +Dom. 1592, else it would hardly have been noticed. Perhaps, after all, +it would not, but that the ship's course carried her very nearly across +Kate's. The stranger lay-to for her. It was dark by the time Kate +steered herself under the ship's quarter; and _then_ was seen an +instance of this girl's eternal wakefulness. Something was painted on +the stern of her boat, she could not see _what;_ but she judged +that it would express some connection with the port that she had just +quitted. Now it was her wish to break the chain of traces connecting +her with such a scamp as Urquiza; since else, through his commercial +correspondence, he might disperse over Peru a portrait of herself by no +means flattering. How should she accomplish this? It was dark; and she +stood, as you may see an Etonian do at times, rocking her little boat +from side to side, until it had taken in water as much as might be +agreeable. Too much it proved for the boat's constitution, and the boat +perished of dropsy--Kate declining to tap it. She got a ducking +herself; but what cared she? Up the ship's side she went, as gaily as +ever, in those years when she was called pussy, she had raced after the +nuns of St. Sebastian; jumped upon deck, and told the first lieutenant, +when he questioned her about her adventures, quite as much truth as any +man, under the rank of admiral, had a right to expect. + +This ship was full of recruits for the Spanish army, and bound to +Concepcion. Even in that destiny was an iteration, or repeating +memorial of the significance that ran through Catalina's most casual +adventures. She had enlisted amongst the soldiers; and, on reaching +port, the very first person who came off from shore was a dashing young +military officer, whom at once by his name and rank, (though she had +never consciously seen him,) she identified as her own brother. He was +splendidly situated in the service, being the Governor-General's +secretary, besides his rank as a cavalry officer; and, his errand on +board being to inspect the recruits, naturally, on reading in the roll +one of them described as a Biscayan, the ardent young man came up with +high-bred courtesy to Catalina, took the young recruit's hand with +kindness, feeling that to be a compatriot at so great a distance was to +be a sort of relative, and asked with emotion after old boyish +remembrances. There was a scriptural pathos in what followed, as if it +were some scene of domestic re-union, opening itself from patriarchal +ages. The young officer was the eldest son of the house, and had left +Spain when Catalina was only three years old. But, singularly enough, +Catalina it was, the little wild cat that he yet remembered seeing at +St. Sebastian's, upon whom his earliest inquiries settled. 'Did the +recruit know his family, the De Erausos?' O yes, every body knew +_them_. 'Did the recruit know little Catalina?' Catalina smiled, +as she replied that she did; and gave such an animated description of +the little fiery wretch, as made the officer's eye flash with gratified +tenderness, and with certainty that the recruit was no counterfeit +Biscayan. Indeed, you know, if Kate couldn't give a good description of +'Pussy,' who could? The issue of the interview was--that the officer +insisted on Kate's making a home of his quarters. He did other services +for his unknown sister. He placed her as a trooper in his own regiment, +and favored her in many a way that is open to one having authority. But +the person, after all, that did most to serve our Kate, was Kate. War +was then raging with Indians, both from Chili and Peru. Kate had always +done her duty in action; but at length, in the decisive battle of +Puren, there was an opening for doing something more. Havoc had been +made of her own squadron: most of the officers were killed, and the +standard was carried off. Kate gathered around her a small party-- +galloped after the Indian column that was carrying away the trophy-- +charged--saw all her own party killed--but (in spite of wounds on her +face and shoulder) succeeded in bearing away the recovered standard. +She rode up to the general and his staff; she dismounted; she rendered +up her prize; and fainted away, much less from the blinding blood, than +from the tears of joy which dimmed her eyes, as the general, waving his +sword in admiration over her head, pronounced our Kate on the spot an +_Alferez_, [Footnote: _Alferez_. This rank in the Spanish +army is, or was, on a level with the modern _sous-lieutenant_ of +France.] or standard-bearer, with a commission from the King of Spain +and the Indies. Bonny Kate! Noble Kate! I would there were not two +centuries laid between us, so that I might have the pleasure of kissing +thy fair hand. + +Kate had the good sense to see the danger of revealing her sex, or her +relationship, even to her own brother. The grasp of the Church never +relaxed, never 'prescribed,' unless freely and by choice. The nun, if +discovered, would have been taken out of the horse-barracks, or the +dragoon-saddle. She had the firmness, therefore, for many years, to +resist the sisterly impulses that sometimes suggested such a +confidence. For years, and those years the most important of her life-- +the years that developed her character--she lived undetected as a +brilliant cavalry officer under her brother's patronage. And the +bitterest grief in poor Kate's whole life, was the tragical (and, were +it not fully attested, one might say the ultra-scenical,) event that +dissolved their long connection. Let me spend a word of apology on poor +Kate's errors. We all commit many; both you and I, reader. No, stop; +that's not civil. You, reader, I know, are a saint; I am _not_, +though very near it. I _do_ err at long intervals; and then I +think with indulgence of the many circumstances that plead for this +poor girl. The Spanish armies of that day inherited, from the days of +Cortez and Pizarro, shining remembrances of martial prowess, and the +very worst of ethics. To think little of bloodshed, to quarrel, to +fight, to gamble, to plunder, belonged to the very atmosphere of a +camp, to its indolence, to its ancient traditions. In your own defence, +you were obliged to do such things. Besides all these grounds of evil, +the Spanish army had just there an extra demoralization from a war with +savages--faithless and bloody. Do not think, I beseech you, too much, +reader, of killing a man. That word '_kill_' is sprinkled over +every page of Kate's own autobiography. It ought not to be read by the +light of these days. Yet, how if a man that she killed were----? Hush! +It was sad; but is better hurried over in a few words. Years after this +period, a young officer one day dining with Kate, entreated her to +become his second in a duel. Such things were every-day affairs. +However, Kate had reasons for declining the service, and did so. But +the officer, as he was sullenly departing, said--that, if he were +killed, (as he thought he _should_ be,) his death would lie at +Kate's door. I do not take _his_ view of the case, and am not +moved by his rhetoric or his logic. Kate _was_, and relented. The +duel was fixed for eleven at night, under the walls of a monastery. +Unhappily the night proved unusually dark, so that the two principals +had to tie white handkerchiefs round their elbows, in order to descry +each other. In the confusion they wounded each other mortally. Upon +that, according to a usage not peculiar to Spaniards, but extending (as +doubtless the reader knows) for a century longer to our own countrymen, +the two seconds were obliged in honor to do something towards avenging +their principals. Kate had her usual fatal luck. Her sword passed sheer +through the body of her opponent: this unknown opponent falling dead, +had just breath left to cry out, 'Ah, villain, you have killed me,' in +a voice of horrific reproach; and the voice was the voice of her +brother! + +The monks of the monastery, under whose silent shadows this murderous +duel had taken place, roused by the clashing of swords and the angry +shouts of combatants, issued out with torches to find one only of the +four officers surviving. Every convent and altar had a right of asylum +for a short period. According to the custom, the monks carried Kate, +insensible with anguish of mind, to the sanctuary of their chapel. +There for some days they detained her; but then, having furnished her +with a horse and some provisions, they turned her adrift. Which way +should the unhappy fugitive turn? In blindness of heart she turned +towards the sea. It was the sea that had brought her to Peru; it was +the sea that would perhaps carry her away. It was the sea that had +first showed her this land and its golden hopes; it was the sea that +ought to hide from her its fearful remembrances. The sea it was that +had twice spared her life in extremities; the sea it was that might now +if it chose, take back the bauble that it had spared in vain. + + +KATE'S PASSAGE OVER THE ANDES. + +Three days our poor heroine followed the coast. Her horse was then +almost unable to move; and on _his_ account, she turned inland to a +thicket for grass and shelter. As she drew near to it, a voice +challenged--'_Who goes there_?' Kate answered, '_Spain_.' '_What +people_?' '_A friend_.' It was two soldiers, deserters, and almost +starving. Kate shared her provisions with these men: and, on hearing +their plan, which was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join +the party. _Their_ object was the wild one of seeking the river +_Dorado_, whose waters rolled along golden sands, and whose pebbles +were emeralds. _Hers_ was to throw herself upon a line the least liable +to pursuit, and the readiest for a new chapter of life in which +oblivion might be found for the past. After a few days of incessant +climbing and fatigue, they found themselves in the regions of perpetual +snow. Summer would come as vainly to this kingdom of frost as to the +grave of her brother. No fire, but the fire of human blood in youthful +veins, could ever be kept burning in these aerial solitudes. Fuel was +rarely to be found, and kindling a secret hardly known except to +Indians. However, our Kate can do everything, and she's the girl, if +ever girl _did_ such a thing, or ever girl did _not_ such a thing, that +I back at any odds for crossing the Cordilleras. I would bet you +something now, reader, if I thought you would deposit your stakes by +return of post, (as they play at chess through the post-office,) that +Kate does the trick, that she gets down to the other side; that the +soldiers do _not_: and that the horse, if preserved at all, is +preserved in a way that will leave him very little to boast of. + +The party had gathered wild berries and esculent roots at the foot of +the mountains, and the horse was of very great use in carrying them. +But this larder was soon emptied. There was nothing then to carry; so +that the horse's value, as a beast of burthen, fell cent per cent. In +fact, very soon he could not carry himself, and it became easy to +calculate when he would reach the bottom on the wrong side the +Cordilleras. He took three steps back for one upwards. A council of war +being held, the small army resolved to slaughter their horse. He, +though a member of the expedition, had no vote, and if he had the votes +would have stood three to one--majority, two against him. He was cut +into quarters; which surprises me; for, unless _one_ quarter was +considered his own share, it reminds one too much of this amongst the +many _facetiae_ of English midshipmen, who ask (on any one of their +number looking sulky) 'if it is his intention to marry and retire from +the service upon a superannuation of L4 4s. 4 1/2d. a year, paid +quarterly by way of bothering the purser.' The purser can't do it with +the help of farthings. And as respects aliquot parts, four shares among +three persons are as incommensurable as a guinea is against any attempt +at giving change in half-crowns. However, this was all the +preservation that the horse found. No saltpetre or sugar could be had: +but the frost was antiseptic. And the horse was preserved in as useful +a sense as ever apricots were preserved or strawberries. + +On a fire, painfully devised out of broom and withered leaves, a horse- +steak was dressed, for drink, snow as allowed _a discretion_. This +ought to have revived the party, and Kate, perhaps, it _did_. But +the poor deserters were thinly clad, and they had not the boiling heart +of Catalina. More and more they drooped. Kate did her best to cheer +them. But the march was nearly at an end for _them_, and they +were going in one half hour to receive their last billet. Yet, before +this consummation, they have a strange spectacle to see; such as few +places could show, but the upper chambers of the Cordilleras. They had +reached a billowy scene of rocky masses, large and small, looking +shockingly black on their perpendicular sides as they rose out of the +vast snowy expanse. Upon the highest of these, that was accessible, +Kate mounted to look around her, and she saw--oh, rapture at such an +hour!--a man sitting on a shelf of rock with a gun by his side. She +shouted with joy to her comrades, and ran down to communicate the +joyful news. Here was a sportsman, watching, perhaps, for an eagle; and +now they would have relief. One man's cheek kindled with the hectic of +sudden joy, and he rose eagerly to march. The other was fast sinking +under the fatal sleep that frost sends before herself as her merciful +minister of death; but hearing in his dream the tidings of relief, and +assisted by his friends, he also staggeringly arose. It could not be +three minutes' walk, Kate thought, to the station of the sportsman. +That thought supported them all. Under Kate's guidance, who had taken a +sailor's glance at the bearings, they soon unthreaded the labyrinth of +rocks so far as to bring the man within view. He had not left his +resting-place; their steps on the soundless snow, naturally, he could +not hear; and, as their road brought them upon him from the rear, still +less could he see them. Kate hailed him; but so keenly was he absorbed +in some speculation, or in the object of his watching, that he took no +notice of them, not even moving his head. Kate began to think there +would be another man to rouse from sleep. Coming close behind him, she +touched his shoulder, and said, 'My friend, are you sleeping?' Yes, he +_was_ sleeping; sleeping the sleep from which there is no awaking; +and the slight touch of Kate having disturbed the equilibrium of the +corpse, down it rolled on the snow: the frozen body rang like a hollow +iron cylinder; the face uppermost and blue with mould, mouth open, +teeth ghastly and bleaching in the frost, and a frightful grin upon the +lips. This dreadful spectacle finished the struggles of the weaker man, +who sank and died at once. The other made an effort with so much +spirit, that, in Kate's opinion, horror had acted upon him beneficially +as a stimulant. But it was not really so. It was a spasm of morbid +strength; a collapse succeeded; his blood began to freeze; he sat down +in spite of Kate, and _he_ also died without further struggle. +Gone are the poor suffering deserters; stretched and bleaching upon the +snow; and insulted discipline is avenged. Great kings have long arms; +and sycophants are ever at hand for the errand of the potent. What had +frost and snow to do with the quarrel? Yet _they_ made themselves +sycophantic servants of the King of Spain; and _they_ dogged his +deserters up to the summit of the Cordilleras, more surely than any +Spanish bloodhound, or any Spanish tirailleur's bullet. + +Now is our Kate standing alone on the summits of the Andes, in solitude +that is shocking, for she is alone with her own afflicted conscience. +Twice before she had stood in solitude as deep upon the wild--wild +waters of the Pacific; but her conscience had been then untroubled. +Now, is there nobody left that can help; her horse is dead--the +soldiers are dead. There is nobody that she can speak to except God; +and very soon you will find that she _does_ speak to him; for +already on these vast aerial deserts He has been whispering to +_her_. The condition of Kate is exactly that of Coleridge's +'_Ancient Mariner_.' But possibly, reader, you may be amongst the +many careless readers that have never fully understood what that +condition was. Suffer me to enlighten you, else you ruin the story of +the mariner; and by losing all its pathos, lose half the jewels of its +beauty. + +There are three readers of the 'Ancient Mariner.' The first is gross +enough to fancy all the imagery of the mariner's visions delivered by +the poet for actual facts of experience; which being impossible, the +whole pulverizes, for that reader, into a baseless fairy tale. The +second reader is wiser than _that_; he knows that the imagery is _not_ +baseless; it is the imagery of febrile delirium; really seen, but not +seen as an external reality. The mariner had caught the pestilential +fever, which carried off all his mates; he only had survived--the +delirium had vanished; but the visions that had haunted the delirium +remained. 'Yes,' says the third reader, 'they remained; naturally they +did, being scorched by fever into his brain; but how did they happen to +remain on his belief as gospel truths? The delirium had vanished: why +had not the painted scenery of the delirium vanished, except as +visionary memorials of a sorrow that was cancelled? Why was it that +craziness settled upon this mariner's brain, driving him, as if he were +a Cain, or another Wandering Jew, to 'pass like night--from land to +land;' and, at uncertain intervals, wrenching him until he made +rehearsal of his errors, even at the hard price of 'holding children +from their play, and old men from the chimney corner?' [Footnote: The +beautiful words of Sir Philip Sidney, in his '_Defense of Poesie_.'] +That craziness, as the _third reader_ deciphers, rose out of a deeper +soil than any bodily affection. It had its root in penitential sorrow. +Oh, bitter is the sorrow to a conscientious heart, when, too late, it +discovers the depth of a love that has been trampled under foot! This +mariner had slain the creature that, on all the earth, loved him best. +In the darkness of his cruel superstition he had done it, to save his +human brothers from a fancied inconvenience; and yet, by that very act +of cruelty, he had himself called destruction upon their heads. The +Nemesis that followed punished _him_ through _them_--him, that wronged, +through those that wrongfully he sought to benefit. That spirit who +watches over the sanctities of love is a strong angel--is a jealous +angel; and this angel it was + + 'That lov'd the bird, that lov'd the man, + That shot him with his bow.' + +He it was that followed the cruel archer into silent and slumbering +seas; + + 'Nine fathom deep he had follow'd him + Through the realms of mist and snow.' + +This jealous angel it was that pursued the man into noon-day darkness, +and the vision of dying oceans, into delirium, and finally, (when +recovered from disease) into an unsettled mind. + +Such, also, had been the offence of Kate; such, also was the punishment +that now is dogging her steps. She, like the mariner, had slain the one +sole creature that loved her upon the whole wide earth; she, like the +mariner, for this offence, had been hunted into frost and snow--very +soon will be hunted into delirium; and from _that_ (if she escapes +with life) will be hunted into the trouble of a heart that cannot rest. +There was the excuse of one darkness for _her_; there was the +excuse of another darkness for the mariner. But, with all the excuses +that earth, and the darkness of earth, can furnish, bitter it would be +for you or me, reader, through every hour of life, waking or dreaming, +to look back upon one fatal moment when we had pierced the heart that +would have died for us. In this only the darkness had been merciful to +Kate--that it had hidden for ever from her victim the hand that slew +him. But now in such utter solitude, her thoughts ran back to their +earliest interview. She remembered with anguish, how, on first touching +the shores of America, almost the very first word that met her ear had +been from _him_, the brother whom she had killed, about the +'Pussy' of times long past; how the gallant young man had hung upon her +words, as in her native Basque she described her own mischievous little +self, of twelve years back; how his color went and came, whilst his +loving memory of the little sister was revived by her own descriptive +traits, giving back, as in a mirror, the fawn-like grace, the squirrel- +like restlessness, that once had kindled his own delighted laughter; +how he would take no denial, but showed on the spot, that, simply to +have touched--to have kissed--to have played with the little wild +thing, that glorified, by her innocence, the gloom of St. Sebastian's +cloisters, gave a _right_ to his hospitality; how, through +_him_ only, she had found a welcome in camps; how, through +_him_, she had found the avenue to honor and distinction. And yet +this brother, so loving and generous, it was that she had dismissed +from life. She paused; she turned round, as if looking back for his +grave; she saw the dreadful wildernesses of snow which already she had +traversed. + +Silent they were at this season, even as in the panting heats of noon, +the Zaarrahs of the torrid zone are oftentimes silent. Dreadful was the +silence; it was the nearest thing to the silence of the grave. Graves +were at the foot of the Andes, _that_ she knew too well; graves were at +the summit of the Andes, _that_ she saw too well. And, as she gazed, a +sudden thought flashed upon her, when her eyes settled upon the corpses +of the poor deserters--could she, like _them_, have been all this while +unconsciously executing judgment upon herself? Running from a wrath +that was doubtful, into the very jaws of a wrath that was inexorable? +Flying in panic--and behold! there was no man that pursued? For the +first time in her life, Kate trembled. _Not_ for the first time, Kate +wept. Far less for the first time was it, that Kate bent her knee--that +Kate clasped her hands--that Kate prayed. But it _was_ the first time +that she prayed as _they_ pray, for whom no more hope is left but in +prayer. + +Here let me pause a moment for the sake of making somebody angry. A +Frenchman, who sadly misjudges Kate, looking at her through a Parisian +opera-glass, gives it as _his_ opinion--that, because Kate first +_records_ her prayer on this occasion, therefore, now first of all +she prayed. _I_ think not so. _I_ love this Kate, blood- +stained as she is; and I could not love a woman that never bent her +knee in thankfulness or in supplication. However, we have all a right +to our own little opinion; and it is not you, '_mon cher_,' you +Frenchman, that I am angry with, but somebody else that stands behind +you. You, Frenchman, and your compatriots, I love oftentimes for your +festal gaiety of heart; and I quarrel only with your levity and that +eternal worldliness that freezes too fiercely--that absolutely blisters +with its frost--like the upper air of the Andes. _You_ speak of +Kate only as too readily you speak of all women; the instinct of a +natural scepticism being to scoff at all hidden depths of truth. Else +you are civil enough to Kate; and your '_homage_' (such as it may +happen to be) is always at the service of a woman on the shortest +notice. But behind _you_, I see a worse fellow; a gloomy fanatic; +a religious sycophant that seeks to propitiate his circle by bitterness +against the offences that are most unlike his own. And against him, I +must say one word for Kate to the too hasty reader. This villain, whom +I mark for a shot if he does not get out of the way, opens his fire on +our Kate under shelter of a lie. For there is a standing lie in the +very constitution of civil society, a _necessity_ of error, +misleading us as to the proportions of crime. Mere necessity obliges +man to create many acts into felonies, and to punish them as the +heaviest offences, which his better sense teaches him secretly to +regard as perhaps among the lightest. Those poor deserters, for +instance, were they necessarily without excuse? They might have been +oppressively used; but in critical times of war, no matter for the +individual palliations, the deserter from his colors _must_ be +shot: there is no help for it: as in extremities of general famine, we +shoot the man (alas! we are _obliged_ to shoot him) that is found +robbing the common stores in order to feed his own perishing children, +though the offence is hardly visible in the sight of God. Only +blockheads adjust their scale of guilt to the scale of human +punishments. Now, our wicked friend the fanatic, who calumniates Kate, +abuses the advantage which, for such a purpose, he derives from the +exaggerated social estimate of all violence. Personal security being so +main an object of social union, we are obliged to frown upon all modes +of violence as hostile to the central principle of that union. We are +_obliged_ to rate it, according to the universal results towards +which it tends, and scarcely at all, according to the special condition +of circumstances, in which it may originate. Hence a horror arises for +that class of offences, which is (philosophically speaking) +exaggerated; and by daily use, the ethics of a police-office translate +themselves, insensibly, into the ethics even of religious people. But I +tell that sycophantish fanatic--not this only, viz., that he abuses +unfairly, against Kate, the advantage which he has from the +_inevitably_ distorted bias of society; but also, I tell him this +second little thing, viz., that upon turning away the glass from that +one obvious aspect of Kate's character, her too fiery disposition to +vindicate all rights by violence, and viewing her in relation to +_general_ religious capacities, she was a thousand times more +promisingly endowed than himself. It is impossible to be noble in many +things, without having many points of contact with true religion. If +you deny _that_ you it is that calumniate religion. Kate +_was_ noble in many things. Her worst errors never took a shape of +self-interest or deceit. She was brave, she was generous, she was +forgiving, she bore no malice, she was full of truth--qualities that +God loves either in man or woman. She hated sycophants and dissemblers. +_I_ hate them; and more than ever at this moment on her behalf. I +wish she were but here--to give a punch on the head to that fellow who +traduces her. And, coming round again to the occasion from which this +short digression has started, viz., the question raised by the +Frenchman--whether Kate were a person likely to _pray_ under other +circumstances than those of extreme danger? I offer it as _my_ +opinion that she was. Violent people are not always such from choice, +but perhaps from situation. And, though the circumstances of Kate's +position allowed her little means for realizing her own wishes, it is +certain that those wishes pointed continually to peace and an unworldly +happiness, if _that_ were possible. The stormy clouds that +enveloped her in camps, opened overhead at intervals--showing her a far +distant blue serene. She yearned, at many times, for the rest which is +not in camps or armies; and it is certain, that she ever combined with +any plans or day-dreams of tranquillity, as their most essential ally, +some aid derived from that dovelike religion which, at St. Sebastian's, +as an infant and through girlhood, she had been taught so profoundly to +adore. + +Now, let us rise from this discussion of Kate against libellers, as +Kate herself is rising from prayer, and consider, in conjunction with +_her_, the character and promise of that dreadful ground which +lies immediately before her. What is to be thought of it? I could wish +we had a theodolite here, and a spirit-level, and other instruments, +for settling some important questions. Yet no: on consideration, if one +_had_ a wish allowed by that kind fairy, without whose assistance +it would be quite impossible to send, even for the spirit-level, nobody +would throw away the wish upon things so paltry. I would not put the +fairy upon any such errand: I would order the good creature to bring no +spirit-level, but a stiff glass of spirits for Kate--a palanquin, and +relays of fifty stout bearers--all drunk, in order that they might not +feel the cold. The main interest at this moment, and the main +difficulty--indeed, the 'open question' of the case--was, to ascertain +whether the ascent were yet accomplished or not; and when would the +descent commence? or had it, perhaps, long commenced? The character of +the ground, in those immediate successions that could be connected by +the eye, decided nothing; for the undulations of the level had been so +continual for miles, as to perplex any eye but an engineer's, in +attempting to judge whether, upon the whole, the tendency were upwards +or downwards. Possibly it was yet neither way; it is, indeed, probable, +that Kate had been for some time travelling along a series of terraces, +that traversed the whole breadth of the topmost area at that point of +crossing the Cordilleras, and which perhaps, but not certainly, +compensated any casual tendencies downwards by corresponding reascents. +Then came the question--how long would these terraces yet continue? and +had the ascending parts _really_ balanced the descending?--upon +_that_ seemed to rest the final chance for Kate. Because, unless +she very soon reached a lower level, and a warmer atmosphere, mere +weariness would oblige her to lie down, under a fierceness of cold, +that would not suffer her to rise after once losing the warmth of +motion; or, inversely, if she even continued in motion, mere extremity +of cold would, of itself, speedily absorb the little surplus energy for +moving, which yet remained unexhausted by weariness. + +At this stage of her progress, and whilst the agonizing question seemed +yet as indeterminate as ever, Kate's struggle with despair, which had +been greatly soothed by the fervor of her prayer, revolved upon her in +deadlier blackness. All turned, she saw, upon a race against time, and +the arrears of the road; and she, poor thing! how little qualified +could _she_ be, in such a condition, for a race of any kind; and +against two such obstinate brutes as time and space! This hour of the +progress, this noontide of Kate's struggle, must have been the very +crisis of the whole. Despair was rapidly tending to ratify itself. +Hope, in any degree, would be a cordial for sustaining her efforts. But +to flounder along a dreadful chaos of snow-drifts, or snow-chasms, +towards a point of rock, which, being turned, should expose only +another interminable succession of the same character--might +_that_ be endured by ebbing spirits, by stiffening limbs, by the +ghastly darkness that was now beginning to gather upon the inner eye? +And, if once despair became triumphant, all the little arrear of +physical strength would collapse at once. + +Oh! verdure of human fields, cottages of men and women, (that now +suddenly seemed all brothers and sisters,) cottages with children +around them at play, that are so far below--oh! summer and spring, +flowers and blossoms, to which, as to _his_ symbols, God has given +the gorgeous privilege of rehearsing for ever upon earth his most +mysterious perfection--Life, and the resurrections of Life--is it +indeed true, that poor Kate must never see you more? Mutteringly she +put that question to herself. But strange are the caprices of ebb and +flow in the deep fountains of human sensibilities. At this very moment, +when the utter incapacitation of despair was gathering fast at Kate's +heart, a sudden lightening shot far into her spirit, a reflux almost +supernatural, from the earliest effects of her prayer. A thought had +struck her all at once, and this thought prompted her immediately to +turn round. Perhaps it was in some blind yearning after the only +memorials of life in this frightful region, that she fixed her eye upon +a point of hilly ground by which she identified the spot near which the +three corpses were lying. The silence seemed deeper than ever. Neither +was there any phantom memorial of life for the eye or for the ear, nor +wing of bird, nor echo, nor green leaf, nor creeping thing, that moved +or stirred, upon the soundless waste. Oh, what a relief to this burthen +of silence would be a human groan! Here seemed a motive for still +darker despair. And yet, at that very moment, a pulse of joy began to +thaw the ice at her heart. It struck her, as she reviewed the ground, +that undoubtedly it had been for some time slowly descending. Her +senses were much dulled by suffering; but this thought it was, +suggested by a sudden apprehension of a continued descending movement, +which had caused her to turn round. Sight had confirmed the suggestion +first derived from her own steps. The distance attained was now +sufficient to establish the tendency. Oh, yes, yes, to a certainty she +had been descending for some time. Frightful was the spasm of joy which +whispered that the worst was over. It was as when the shadow of +midnight, that murderers had relied on, is passing away from your +beleagured shelter, and dawn will soon be manifest. It was as when a +flood, that all day long has raved against the walls of your house, has +ceased (you suddenly think) to rise; yes! measured by a golden plummet, +it _is_ sinking beyond a doubt, and the darlings of your household +are saved. Kate faced round in agitation to her proper direction. She +saw, what previously, in her stunning confusion, she had _not_ +seen, that, hardly two stones' throw in advance, lay a mass of rock, +split as into a gateway. Through that opening it now became probable +that the road was lying. Hurrying forward, she passed within the +natural gates. Gates of paradise they were. Ah, what a vista did that +gateway expose before her dazzled eye? what a revelation of heavenly +promise? Full two miles long, stretched a long narrow glen, everywhere +descending, and in many parts rapidly. All was now placed beyond a +doubt. She _was_ descending--for hours, perhaps, _had_ been +descending insensibly, the mighty staircase. Yes, Kate is leaving +behind her the kingdom of frost and the victories of death. Two miles +farther there may be rest, if there is not shelter. And very soon, as +the crest of her new-born happiness, she distinguished at the other end +of that rocky vista, a pavilion-shaped mass of dark green foliage--a +belt of trees, such as we see in the lovely parks of England, but +islanded by a screen (though not everywhere occupied by the +usurpations) of a thick bushy undergrowth. Oh, verdure of dark olive +foliage, offered suddenly to fainting eyes, as if by some winged +patriarchal herald of wrath relenting--solitary Arab's tent, rising +with saintly signals of peace, in the dreadful desert, must Kate indeed +die even yet, whilst she sees but cannot reach you? Outpost on the +frontier of man's dominions, standing within life, but looking out upon +everlasting death, wilt thou hold up the anguish of thy mocking +invitation, only to betray? Never, perhaps, in this world was the line +so exquisitely grazed, that parts salvation and ruin. As the dove to +her dove-cot from the swooping hawk--as the Christian pinnace to +Christian batteries, from the bloody Mahometan corsair, so flew--so +tried to fly towards the anchoring thickets, that, alas! could not +weigh their anchors and make sail to meet her--the poor exhausted Kate +from the vengeance of pursuing frost. + +And she reached them; staggering, fainting, reeling, she entered +beneath the canopy of umbrageous trees. But, as oftentimes, the Hebrew +fugitive to a city of refuge, flying for his life before the avenger of +blood, was pressed so hotly that, on entering the archway of what +seemed to _him_ the heavenly city-gate, as he kneeled in deep +thankfulness to kiss its holy merciful shadow, he could not rise again, +but sank instantly with infant weakness into sleep--sometimes to wake +no more; so sank, so collapsed upon the ground, without power to choose +her couch, and with little prospect of ever rising again to her feet, +the martial nun. She lay as luck had ordered it, with her head screened +by the undergrowth of bushes, from any gales that might arise; she lay +exactly as she sank, with her eyes up to heaven; and thus it was that +the nun saw, before falling asleep, the two sights that upon earth are +fittest for the closing eyes of a nun, whether destined to open again, +or to close for ever. She saw the interlacing of boughs overhead +forming a dome, that seemed like the dome of a cathedral. She saw +through the fretwork of the foliage, another dome, far beyond, the dome +of an evening sky, the dome of some heavenly cathedral, not built with +hands. She saw upon this upper dome the vesper lights, all alive with +pathetic grandeur of coloring from a sunset that had just been rolling +down like a chorus. She had not, till now, consciously observed the +time of day; whether it were morning, or whether it were afternoon, in +her confusion she had not distinctly known. But now she whispered to +herself--'_It is evening_:' and what lurked half unconsciously in +these words might be--'The sun, that rejoices, has finished his daily +toil; man, that labors, has finished _his_; I, that suffer, have +finished mine.' That might be what she thought, but what she +_said_ was--'It is evening; and the hour is come when the +_Angelus_ is sounding through St. Sebastian.' What made her think +of St. Sebastian, so far away in depths of space and time? Her brain +was wandering, now that her feet were _not_; and, because her eyes +had descended from the heavenly to the earthly dome, _that_ made +her think of earthly cathedrals, and of cathedral choirs, and of St. +Sebastian's chapel, with its silvery bells that carried the +_Angelus_ far into mountain recesses. Perhaps, as her wanderings +increased, she thought herself back in childhood; became 'pussy' once +again; fancied that all since then was a frightful dream; that she was +not upon the dreadful Andes, but still kneeling in the holy chapel at +vespers; still innocent as then; loved as then she had been loved; and +that all men were liars, who said her hand was ever stained with blood. +Little enough is mentioned of the delusions which possessed her; but +that little gives a key to the impulse which her palpitating heart +obeyed, and which her rambling brain for ever reproduced in multiplying +mirrors. Restlessness kept her in waking dreams for a brief half hour. +But then, fever and delirium would wait no longer; the killing +exhaustion would no longer be refused; the fever, the delirium, and the +exhaustion, swept in together with power like an army with banners; and +the nun ceased through the gathering twilight any more to watch the +cathedrals of earth, or the more solemn cathedrals that rose in the +heavens above. + +All night long she slept in her verdurous St. Bernard's hospice without +awaking, and whether she would _ever_ awake seemed to depend upon +an accident. The slumber that towered above her brain was like that +fluctuating silvery column which stands in scientific tubes sinking, +rising, deepening, lightening, contracting, expanding; or like the mist +that sits, through sultry afternoons, upon the river of the American +St. Peter, sometimes rarefying for minutes into sunny gauze, sometimes +condensing for hours into palls of funeral darkness. You fancy that, +after twelve hours of _any_ sleep, she must have been refreshed; +better at least than she was last night. Ah! but sleep is not always +sent upon missions of refreshment. Sleep is sometimes the secret +chamber in which death arranges his machinery. Sleep is sometimes that +deep mysterious atmosphere, in which the human spirit is slowly +unsettling its wings for flight from earthly tenements. It is now eight +o'clock in the morning; and, to all appearance, if Kate should receive +no aid before noon, when next the sun is departing to his rest, Kate +will be departing to hers; when next the sun is holding out his golden +Christian signal to man, that the hour is come for letting his anger go +down, Kate will be sleeping away for ever into the arms of brotherly +forgiveness. + +What is wanted just now for Kate, supposing Kate herself to be wanted +by this world, is, that this world would be kind enough to send her a +little brandy before it is too late. The simple truth was, and a truth +which I have known to take place in more ladies than Kate, who died or +did _not_ die, accordingly, as they had or had not an adviser like +myself, capable of giving so sound an opinion, that the jewelly star of +life had descended too far down the arch towards setting, for any +chance of re-ascending by _spontaneous_ effort. The fire was still +burning in secret, but needed to be rekindled by potent artificial +breath. It lingered, and _might_ linger, but would never culminate +again without some stimulus from earthly vineyards. [Footnote: Though +not exactly in the same circumstances as Kate, or sleeping, _a la +belle etoile_, on a declivity of the Andes, I have known (or heard +circumstantially reported) the cases of many ladies besides Kate, who +were in precisely the same critical danger of perishing for want of a +little brandy. A dessert spoonful or two would have saved them. Avaunt! +you wicked 'Temperance' medallist! repent as fast as ever you can, or, +perhaps the next time we hear of you, _anasarca_ and _hydro- +thorax_ will be running after you to punish your shocking excesses +in water. Seriously, the case is one of constant recurrence, and +constantly ending fatally from _unseasonable_ and pedantic rigor +of temperance. The fact is, that the medical profession composes the +most generous and liberal body of men amongst us; taken generally, by +much the most enlightened; but professionally, the most timid. Want of +boldness in the administration of opium, &c., though they can be bold +enough with mercury, is their besetting infirmity. And from this +infirmity females suffer most. One instance I need hardly mention, the +fatal case of an august lady, mourned by nations, with respect to whom +it was, and is, the belief of multitudes to this hour (well able to +judge), that she would have been saved by a glass of brandy; and her +attendant, who shot himself, came to think so too late--too late for +_her_, and too late for himself. Amongst many cases of the same +nature, which personally I have been acquainted with, twenty years ago, +a man, illustrious for his intellectual accomplishments, mentioned to +me that his own wife, during her first or second confinement, was +suddenly reported to him, by one of her female attendants, (who slipped +away unobserved by the medical people,) as undoubtedly sinking fast. He +hurried to her chamber, and _saw_ that it was so. The presiding +medical authority, however, was inexorable. 'Oh, by no means,' shaking +his ambrosial wig, 'any stimulant at this crisis would be fatal.' But +no authority could overrule the concurrent testimony of all symptoms, +and of all unprofessional opinions. By some pious falsehood my friend +smuggled the doctor out of the room, and immediately smuggled a glass +of brandy into the poor lady's lips. She recovered with magical power. +The doctor is now dead, and went to his grave under the delusive +persuasion--that not any vile glass of brandy, but the stern refusal of +all brandy, was the thing that saved his collapsing patient. The +patient herself, who might naturally know something of the matter, was +of a different opinion. She sided with the factious body around her +bed, (comprehending all beside the doctor,) who felt sure that death +was rapidly approaching, _barring_ that brandy. The same result in +the same appalling crisis, I have known repeatedly produced by twenty- +five drops of laudanum. An obstinate man will say--'Oh, never listen to +a non-medical man like this writer. Consult in such a case your medical +adviser.' You will, will you? Then let me tell you, that you are +missing the very logic of all I have been saying for the improvement of +blockheads, which is--that you should consult any man _but_ a +medical man, since no other man has any obstinate prejudice of +professional timidity. N. B.--I prescribe for Kate _gratis_, +because she, poor thing! has so little to give. But from other ladies, +who may have the happiness to benefit by my advice, I expect a fee--not +so large a one considering the service--a flowering plant, suppose the +_second_ best in their collection. I know it would be of no use to +ask for the _very_ best, (which else I could wish to do,) because +that would only be leading them into little fibs. I don't insist on a +_Yucca gloriosa_, or a _Magnolia speciosissima_, (I hope +there _is_ such a plant)--a rose or a violet will do. I am sure +there is such a plant as that. And if they settle their debts justly, I +shall very soon be master of the prettiest little conservatory in +England. For, treat it not as a jest, reader; no case of timid practice +is so fatally frequent.] Kate was ever lucky, though ever unfortunate; +and the world, being of my opinion that Kate was worth saving, made up +its mind about half-past eight o'clock in the morning to save her. Just +at that time, when the night was over, and its sufferings were hidden-- +in one of those intermitting gleams that for a moment or two lightened +the clouds of her slumber, Kate's dull ear caught a sound that for +years had spoken a familiar language to _her_. What was it? It was +the sound, though muffled and deadened, like the ear that heard it, of +horsemen advancing. Interpreted by the tumultuous dreams of Kate, was +it the cavalry of Spain, at whose head so often she had charged the +bloody Indian scalpers? Was it, according to the legend of ancient +days, cavalry that had been sown by her brother's blood, cavalry that +rose from the ground on an inquest of retribution, and were racing up +the Andes to seize her? Her dreams that had opened sullenly to the +sound waited for no answer, but closed again into pompous darkness. +Happily, the horsemen had caught the glimpse of some bright ornament, +clasp, or aiguillette, on Kate's dress. They were hunters and foresters +from below; servants in the household of a beneficent lady; and in some +pursuit of flying game had wandered beyond their ordinary limits. +Struck by the sudden scintillation from Kate's dress played upon by the +morning sun, they rode up to the thicket. Great was their surprise, +great their pity, to see a young officer in uniform stretched within +the bushes upon the ground, and perhaps dying. Borderers from childhood +on this dreadful frontier, sacred to winter and death, they understood +the case at once. They dismounted: and with the tenderness of women, +raising the poor frozen cornet in their arms, washed her temples with +brandy, whilst one, at intervals, suffered a few drops to trickle +within her lips. As the restoration of a warm bed was now most likely +to be successful, they lifted the helpless stranger upon a horse, +walking on each side with supporting arms. Once again our Kate is in +the saddle; once again a Spanish Caballador. But Kate's bridle-hand is +deadly cold. And her spurs, that she had never unfastened since leaving +the monastic asylum, hung as idle as the flapping sail that fills +unsteadily with the breeze upon a stranded ship. + +This procession had some miles to go, and over difficult ground; but at +length it reached the forest-like park and the chateau of the wealthy +proprietress. Kate was still half-frozen and speechless, except at +intervals. Heavens! can this corpse-like, languishing young woman, be +the Kate that once, in her radiant girlhood, rode with a handful of +comrades into a column of two thousand enemies, that saw her comrades +die, that persisted when all were dead, that tore from the heart of all +resistance the banner of her native Spain? Chance and change have +'written strange defeatures in her face.' Much is changed; but some +things are not changed: there is still kindness that overflows with +pity: there is still helplessness that asks for this pity without a +voice: she is now received by a Senora, not less kind than that +maternal aunt, who, on the night of her birth, first welcomed her to a +loving home; and she, the heroine of Spain, is herself as helpless now +as that little lady who, then at ten minutes of age, was kissed and +blessed by all the household of St. Sebastian. + +Let us suppose Kate placed in a warm bed. Let us suppose her in a few +hours recovering steady consciousness; in a few days recovering some +power of self-support; in a fortnight able to seek the gay saloon, +where the Senora was sitting alone, and rendering thanks, with that +deep sincerity which ever characterized our wild-hearted Kate, for the +critical services received from that lady and her establishment. + +This lady, a widow, was what the French call a _metisse_, the Spaniards +a _mestizza_; that is, the daughter of a genuine Spaniard, and an +Indian mother. I shall call her simply a _creole_, [Footnote: +'Creole.'--At that time the infusion of negro or African blood was +small. Consequently none of the negro hideousness was diffused. After +these intercomplexities had arisen between all complications of descent +from three original strands, European, American, African, the +distinctions of social consideration founded on them bred names so +many, that a court calendar was necessary to keep you from blundering. +As yet, the varieties were few. Meantime, the word _creole_ has always +been misapplied in our English colonies to a person (though of strictly +European blood,) simply because _born_ in the West Indies. In this +English use, it expresses the same difference as the Romans indicated +by _Hispanus_ and _Hispanicus_. The first meant a person of Spanish +blood, a native of Spain; the second, a Roman born in Spain. So of +_Germanus_ and _Germanicus_, _Italus_ and _Italicus_, _Anglus_ and +_Anglicus_, &c.; an important distinction, on which see Casaubon _apud +Scriptores. Hist. Augustan._] which will indicate her want of pure +Spanish blood sufficiently to explain her deference for those who had +it. She was a kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where +there were no opera boxes to rent--a widow about fifty years old in the +wicked world's account, some forty-four in her own; and happy, above +all, in the possession of a most lovely daughter, whom even the wicked +world did not accuse of more than sixteen years. This daughter, Juana, +was--But stop--let her open the door of the saloon in which the Senora +and the cornet are conversing, and speak for herself. She did so, after +an hour had passed; which length of time, to _her_ that never had any +business whatever in her innocent life, seemed sufficient to settle the +business of the old world and the new. Had Pietro Diaz (as Catalina now +called herself) been really a Peter, and not a sham Peter, what a +vision of loveliness would have rushed upon his sensibilities as the +door opened! Do not expect me to describe her, for which, however, +there are materials extant, sleeping in archives, where they have slept +for two hundred and twenty years. It is enough that she is reported to +have united the stately tread of Andalusian women with the innocent +voluptuousness of Peruvian eyes. As to her complexion and figure, be it +known that Juana's father was a gentleman from Grenada, having in his +veins the grandest blood of all this earth, blood of Goths and Vandals, +tainted (for which Heaven be thanked!) twice over with blood of Arabs-- +once through Moors, once through Jews; [Footnote: It is well known, +that the very reason why the Spanish of all nations became the most +gloomily jealous of a Jewish cross in the pedigree, was because, until +the vigilance of the Church rose into ferocity, in no nation was such a +cross so common. The hatred of fear is ever the deepest. And men hated +the Jewish taint, as once in Jerusalem they hated the leprosy, because +even whilst they raved against it, the secret proofs of it might be +detected amongst their own kindred, even as in the Temple, whilst once +a king rose in mutiny against the priesthood, (2 Chron. xxvi 16-20,) +suddenly the leprosy that dethroned him, blazed out upon his forehead.] +whilst from her grandmother, Juana drew the deep subtle melancholy and +the beautiful contours of limb which belong to the Indian race--a race +destined silently and slowly to fade from the earth. No awkwardness was +or could be in this antelope, when gliding with forest grace into the +room--no town-bred shame--nothing but the unaffected pleasure of one +who wishes to speak a fervent welcome, but knows not if she ought--the +astonishment of a Miranda, bred in utter solitude, when first beholding +a princely Ferdinand--and just so much reserve as to remind you, that +if Catalina thought fit to dissemble her sex, she did _not_. And +consider, reader, if you look back and are a great arithmetician, that +whilst the Senora had only fifty per cent of Spanish blood, Juana had +seventy-five; so that her Indian melancholy after all was swallowed up +for the present by her Vandal, by her Arab, by her Spanish fire. + +Catalina, seared as she was by the world, has left it evident in her +memoirs that she was touched more than she wished to be by this +innocent child. Juana formed a brief lull for Catalina in her too +stormy existence. And if for _her_ in this life the sweet reality +of a sister had been possible, here was the sister she would have +chosen. On the other hand, what might Juana think of the cornet? To +have been thrown upon the kind hospitalities of her native home, to +have been rescued by her mother's servants from that fearful death +which, lying but a few miles off, had filled her nursery with +traditionary tragedies,--_that_ was sufficient to create an +interest in the stranger. But his bold martial demeanor, his yet +youthful style of beauty, his frank manners, his animated conversation +that reported a hundred contests with suffering and peril, wakened for +the first time her admiration. Men she had never seen before, except +menial servants, or a casual priest. But here was a gentleman, young +like herself, that rode in the cavalry of Spain--that carried the +banner of the only potentate whom Peruvians knew of--the King of the +Spains and the Indies--that had doubled Cape Horn, that had crossed the +Andes, that had suffered shipwreck, that had rocked upon fifty storms, +and had wrestled for life through fifty battles. + +The reader knows all that followed. The sisterly love which Catalina +did really feel for this young mountaineer was inevitably misconstrued. +Embarrassed, but not able, from sincere affection, or almost in bare +propriety, to refuse such expressions of feeling as corresponded to the +artless and involuntary kindnesses of the ingenuous Juana, one day the +cornet was surprised by mamma in the act of encircling her daughter's +waist with his martial arm, although waltzing was premature by at least +two centuries in Peru. She taxed him instantly with dishonorably +abusing her confidence. The cornet made but a bad defence. He muttered +something about '_fraternal affection_,' about 'esteem,' and a +great deal of metaphysical words that are destined to remain +untranslated in their original Spanish. The good Senora, though she +could boast only of forty-four years' experience, was not altogether to +be '_had_' in that fashion--she was as learned as if she had been +fifty, and she brought matters to a speedy crisis. 'You are a +Spaniard,' she said, 'a gentleman, therefore; _remember_ that you +are a gentleman. This very night, if your intentions are not serious, +quit my house. Go to Tucuman; you shall command my horses and servants; +but stay no longer to increase the sorrow that already you will have +left behind you. My daughter loves you. That is sorrow enough, if you +are trifling with us. But, if not, and you also love _her_, and +can be happy in our solitary mode of life, stay with us--stay for ever. +Marry Juana with my free consent. I ask not for wealth. Mine is +sufficient for you both.' The cornet protested that the honor was one +never contemplated by _him_--that it was too great--that--. But, +of course, reader, you know that 'gammon' flourishes in Peru, amongst +the silver mines, as well as in some more boreal lands that produce +little better than copper and tin. 'Tin,' however, has its uses. The +delighted Senora overruled all objections, great and small; and she +confirmed Juana's notion that the business of two worlds could be +transacted in an hour, by settling her daughter's future happiness in +exactly twenty minutes. The poor, weak Catalina, not acting now in any +spirit of recklessness, grieving sincerely for the gulf that was +opening before her, and yet shrinking effeminately from the momentary +shock that would be inflicted by a firm adherence to her duty, clinging +to the anodyne of a short delay, allowed herself to be installed as the +lover of Juana. Considerations of convenience, however, postponed the +marriage. It was requisite to make various purchases; and for this, it +was requisite to visit Tucuman, where, also, the marriage ceremony +could be performed with more circumstantial splendor. To Tucuman, +therefore, after some weeks' interval, the whole party repaired. And at +Tucuman it was that the tragical events arose, which, whilst +interrupting such a mockery for ever, left the poor Juana still happily +deceived, and never believing for a moment that hers was a rejected or +a deluded heart. + +One reporter of Mr. De Ferrer's narrative forgets his usual generosity, +when he says that the Senora's gift of her daughter to the Alferez was +not quite so disinterested as it seemed to be. Certainly it was not so +disinterested as European ignorance might fancy it: but it was quite as +much so as it ought to have been, in balancing the interests of a +child. Very true it is--that, being a genuine Spaniard, who was still +a rare creature in so vast a world as Peru, being a Spartan amongst +Helots, an Englishman amongst Savages, an Alferez would in those days +have been a natural noble. His alliance created honor for his wife and +for his descendants. Something, therefore, the cornet would add to the +family consideration. But, instead of selfishness, it argued just +regard for her daughter's interest to build upon this, as some sort of +equipoise to the wealth which her daughter would bring. + +Spaniard, however, as he was, our Alferez on reaching Tucuman found no +Spaniards to mix with, but instead twelve Portuguese. + +Catalina remembered the Spanish proverb--'Subtract from a Spaniard all +his good qualities, and the remainder makes a pretty fair Portuguese;' +but, as there was nobody else to gamble with, she entered freely into +their society. Very soon she suspected that there was foul play: all +modes of doctoring dice had been made familiar to _her_ by the +experience of camps. She watched; and, by the time she had lost her +final coin, she was satisfied that she had been plundered. In her first +anger she would have been glad to switch the whole dozen across the +eyes; but, as twelve to one were too great odds, she determined on +limiting her vengeance to the immediate culprit. Him she followed into +the street; and coming near enough to distinguish his profile reflected +on a wall, she continued to keep him in view from a short distance. The +light-hearted young cavalier whistled, as he went, an old Portuguese +ballad of romance; and in a quarter of an hour came up to an house, the +front door of which he began to open with a pass-key. This operation +was the signal for Catalina that the hour of vengeance had struck; and, +stepping hastily up, she tapped the Portuguese on the shoulder, saying +--'Senor, you are a robber!' The Portuguese turned coolly round, and, +seeing his gaming antagonist, replied--'Possibly, Sir; but I have no +particular fancy for being told so,' at the same time drawing his +sword. Catalina had not designed to take any advantage; and the +touching him on the shoulder, with the interchange of speeches, and the +known character of Kate, sufficiently imply it. But it is too probable +in such cases, that the party whose intention has been regularly +settled from the first, will, and must have an advantage unconsciously +over a man so abruptly thrown on his defence. However this might be, +they had not fought a minute before Catalina passed her sword through +her opponent's body; and without a groan or a sigh, the Portuguese +cavalier fell dead at his own door. Kate searched the street with her +ears, and (as far as the indistinctness of night allowed) with her +eyes. All was profoundly silent; and she was satisfied that no human +figure was in motion. What should be done with the body? A glance at +the door of the house settled _that_: Fernando had himself opened +it at the very moment when he received the summons to turn round. She +dragged the corpse in, therefore, to the foot of the staircase, put the +key by the dead man's side, and then issuing softly into the street, +drew the door close with as little noise as possible. Catalina again +paused to listen and to watch, went home to the hospitable Senora's +house, retired to bed, fell asleep, and early the next morning was +awakened by the Corregidor and four alguazils. + +The lawlessness of all that followed strikingly exposes the frightful +state of criminal justice at that time, wherever Spanish law prevailed. +No evidence appeared to connect Catalina in any way with the death of +Fernando Acosta. The Portuguese gamblers, besides that perhaps they +thought lightly of such an accident, might have reasons of their own +for drawing off public attention from their pursuits in Tucuman: not +one of these men came forward openly; else the circumstances at the +gaming table, and the departure of Catalina so closely on the heels of +her opponent, would have suggested reasonable grounds for detaining her +until some further light should be obtained. As it was, her +imprisonment rested upon no colorable ground whatever, unless the +magistrate had received some anonymous information, which, however, he +never alleged. One comfort there was, meantime, in Spanish injustice: +it did not loiter. Full gallop it went over the ground: one week often +sufficed for informations--for trial--for execution; and the only bad +consequence was, that a second or a third week sometimes exposed the +disagreeable fact that everything had been 'premature;' a solemn +sacrifice had been made to offended justice, in which all was right +except as to the victim; it was the wrong man; and _that_ gave +extra trouble; for then all was to do over again, another man to be +executed, and, possibly, still to be caught. + +Justice moved at her usual Spanish rate in the present case. Kate was +obliged to rise instantly; not suffered to speak to anybody in the +house, though, in going out, a door opened, and she saw the young Juana +looking out with saddest Indian expression. In one day the trial was +all finished. Catalina said (which was true) that she hardly knew +Acosta; and that people of her rank were used to attack their enemies +face to face, not by murderous surprises. The magistrates were +impressed with Catalina's answers (yet answered to _what_?) Things +were beginning to look well, when all was suddenly upset by two +witnesses, whom the reader (who is a sort of accomplice after the fact, +having been privately let into the truths of the case, and having +concealed his knowledge), will know at once to be false witnesses, but +whom the old Spanish buzwigs doated on as models of all that could be +looked for in the best. Both were very ill-looking fellows, as it was +their duty to be. And the first deposed as follows:--That through his +quarter of Tucuman, the fact was notorious of Acosta's wife being the +object of a criminal pursuit on the part of the Alferez (Catalina): +that, _doubtless_, the injured husband had surprised the prisoner, +which, of course, had led to the murder, to the staircase, to the key-- +to everything, in short, that could be wished; no--stop! what am I +saying?--to everything that ought to be abominated. Finally--for he had +now settled the main question--that he had a friend who would take up +the case where he himself, from short-sightedness, was obliged to lay +it down.' This friend, the Pythias of this short-sighted Damon started +up in a frenzy of virtue at this summons, and, rushing to the front of +the alguazils, said, 'That since his friend had proved sufficiently the +fact of the Alferez having been lurking in the house, and having +murdered a man, all that rested upon _him_ to show was, how that +murderer got out of the house; which he could do satisfactorily; for +there was a balcony running along the windows on the second floor, one +of which windows he himself, lurking in a corner of the street, saw the +Alferez throw up, and from the said balcony take a flying leap into the +said street.' Evidence like this was conclusive; no defence was +listened to, nor indeed had the prisoner any to produce. The Alferez +could deny neither the staircase nor the balcony: the street is there +to this day, like the bricks in Jack Cade's Chimney, testifying all +that may be required; and, as to our friend who saw the leap, there he +was; nobody could deny _him_. The prisoner might indeed have +suggested that she never heard of Acosta's wife, nor had the existence +of such a wife been ripened even into a suspicion. But the bench were +satisfied; chopping logic was of no use; and sentence was pronounced-- +that on the eighth day from the day of arrest, the Alferez should be +executed in the public square. + +It was not amongst the weaknesses of Catalina--who had so often +inflicted death, and, by her own journal, thought so lightly of +inflicting it (if not under cowardly advantages)--to shrink from facing +death in her own person. Many incidents in her career show the coolness +and even gaiety with which, in any case where death was apparently +inevitable, she would have gone to meet it. But in this case she +_had_ a temptation for escaping it, which was probably in her +power. She had only to reveal the secret of her sex, and the ridiculous +witnesses, beyond whose testimony there was nothing at all against her, +must at once be covered with derision. Catalina had some liking for +fun; and a main inducement to this course was, that it would enable her +to say to the judges, 'Now you see what old fools you've made of +yourselves; every woman and child in Peru will soon be laughing at +you.' I must acknowledge my own weakness; this last temptation I could +_not_ have withstood; flesh is weak, and fun is strong. But +Catalina _did_. On consideration she fancied, that although the +particular motive for murdering Acosta would be dismissed with +laughter, still this might not clear her of the murder, which on some +_other_ motive she might have committed. But supposing that she +were cleared altogether, what most of all she feared was, that the +publication of her sex would throw a reflex light upon many past +transactions in her life--would instantly find its way to Spain--and +would probably soon bring her within the tender attentions of the +Inquisition. She kept firm to the resolution of not saving her life by +this discovery. And so far as her fate lay in her own hands, she would +(as the reader will perceive from a little incident at the scaffold) +have perished to a certainty. But even at this point, how strange a +case! A woman _falsely_ accused of an act which she really +_did_ commit! And falsely accused of a true offence upon a motive +that was impossible! + +As the sun set upon the seventh day, when the hours were numbered for +the prisoner, there filed into her cell four persons in religious +habits. They came on the charitable mission of preparing the poor +convict for death. Catalina, however, watching all things narrowly, +remarked something earnest and significant in the eye of the leader, as +of one who had some secret communication to make. She contrived to +clasp this man's hands, as if in the energy of internal struggles, and +_he_ contrived to slip into hers the very smallest of billets from +poor Juana. It contained, for indeed it _could_ contain, only +these three words--'Do not confess. J.' This one caution, so simple and +so brief, was a talisman. It did not refer to any confession of the +crime; _that_ would have been assuming what Juana was neither +entitled nor disposed to assume, but, in the technical sense of the +Church, to the act of devotional confession. Catalina found a single +moment for a glance at it--understood the whole--resolutely refused to +confess, as a person unsettled in her religious opinions, that needed +spiritual instructions, and the four monks withdrew to make their +report. The principal judge, upon hearing of the prisoner's +impenitence, granted another day. At the end of _that_, no change +having occurred either in the prisoner's mind, or in the circumstances, +he issued his warrant for the execution. Accordingly, as the sun went +down, the sad procession formed within the prison. Into the great +square of Tucuman it moved, where the scaffold had been built, and the +whole city had assembled for the spectacle. Catalina steadily ascended +the ladder of the scaffold; even then she resolved not to benefit by +revealing her sex; even then it was that she expressed her scorn for +the lubberly executioner's mode of tying a knot; did it herself in a +'ship-shape,' orthodox manner; received in return the enthusiastic +plaudits of the crowd, and so far ran the risk of precipitating her +fate; for the timid magistrates, fearing a rescue from the impetuous +mob, angrily ordered the executioner to finish the scene. The clatter +of a galloping horse, however, at this instant forced them to pause. +The crowd opened a road for the agitated horseman, who was the bearer +of an order from the President of La Plata to suspend the execution +until two prisoners could be examined. The whole was the work of the +Senora and her daughter. The elder lady, having gathered informations +against the witnesses, had pursued them to La Plata. There, by her +influence with the Governor, they were arrested; recognised as old +malefactors; and in their terror had partly confessed their perjury. +Catalina was removed to La Plata; solemnly acquitted; and, by the +advice of the President, for the present the connection with the +Senora's family was postponed indefinitely. + +Now was the last adventure approaching that ever Catalina should see in +the new world. Some fine sights she may yet see in Europe, but nothing +after this (_which she has recorded_) in America. Europe, if it +had ever heard of her name (which very shortly it _shall_), Kings, +Pope, Cardinals, if they were but aware of her existence (which in six +months they _shall_ be), would thirst for an introduction to our +Catalina. You hardly thought now, reader, that she was such a great +person, or anybody's pet but yours and mine. Bless you, Sir, she would +scorn to look at _us_. I tell you, royalties are languishing to +see her, or soon _will_ be. But how can this come to pass, if she +is to continue in her present obscurity? Certainly it cannot without +some great _peripetteia_ or vertiginous whirl of fortune; which, +therefore, you shall now behold taking place in one turn of her next +adventure. _That_ shall let in a light, _that_ shall throw +back a Claude Lorraine gleam over all the past, able to make Kings, +that would have cared not for her under Peruvian daylight, come to +glorify her setting beams. + +The Senora--and, observe, whatever kindness she does to Catalina speaks +secretly from two hearts, her own and Juana's--had, by the advice of +Mr. President Mendonia, given sufficient money for Catalina's +travelling expenses. So far well. But Mr. M. chose to add a little +codicil to this bequest of the Senora's, never suggested by her or by +her daughter. 'Pray,' said this inquisitive President, who surely might +have found business enough in La Plata, 'Pray, Senor Pietro Diaz, did +you ever live at Concepcion? And were you ever acquainted there with +Senor Miguel de Erauso? That man, Sir, was my friend.' What a pity that +on this occasion Catalina could not venture to be candid! What a +capital speech it would have made to say--'_Friend_ were you? I +think you could hardly be _that_, with seven hundred miles between +you. But that man was _my_ friend also; and, secondly, my brother. +True it is I killed him. But if you happen to know that this was by +pure mistake in the dark, what an old rogue you must be to throw +_that_ in my teeth, which is the affliction of my life!' Again, +however, as so often in the same circumstances, Catalina thought that +it would cause more ruin than it could heal to be candid; and, indeed, +if she were really _P. Diaz, Esq. _, how came she to be brother to +the late Mr. Erauso? On consideration, also, if she could not tell +_all_, merely to have professed a fraternal connection which never +was avowed by either whilst living together, would not have brightened +the reputation of Catalina, which too surely required a scouring. +Still, from my kindness for poor Kate, I feel uncharitably towards the +president for advising Senor Pietro 'to travel for his health.' What +had _he_ to do with people's health? However, Mr. Peter, as he had +pocketed the Senora's money, thought it right to pocket also the advice +that accompanied its payment. That he might be in a condition to do so, +he went off to buy a horse. He was in luck to-day. For beside money and +advice, he obtained, at a low rate, a horse both beautiful and +serviceable for a journey. To Paz it was, a city of prosperous name, +that the cornet first moved. But Paz did not fulfil the promise of its +name. For it laid the grounds of a feud that drove our Kate out of +America. + +Her first adventure was a bagatelle, and fitter for a jest-book than a +history; yet it proved no jest either, since it led to the tragedy that +followed. Riding into Paz, our gallant standard-bearer and her bonny +black horse drew all eyes, _comme de raison_, upon their separate +charms. This was inevitable amongst the indolent population of a +Spanish town; and Kate was used to it. But, having recently had a +little too much of the public attention, she felt nervous on remarking +two soldiers eyeing the handsome horse and the handsome rider, with an +attention that seemed too solemn for mere _aesthetics_. However, +Kate was not the kind of person to let anything dwell on her spirits, +especially if it took the shape of impudence; and, whistling gaily, she +was riding forward--when, who should cross her path but the Alcalde! +Ah! Alcalde, you see a person now that has a mission against you, +though quite unknown to herself. He looked so sternly, that Kate asked +if his worship had any commands. 'These men,' said the Alcalde, 'these +two soldiers, say that this horse is stolen.' To one who had so +narrowly and so lately escaped the balcony witness and his friend, it +was really no laughing matter to hear of new affidavits in preparation. +Kate was nervous, but never disconcerted. In a moment she had twitched +off a saddle-cloth on which she sat; and throwing it over the horse's +head, so as to cover up all between the ears and the mouth, she +replied, 'that she had bought and paid for the horse at La Plata. But +now, your worship, if this horse has really been stolen from these men, +they must know well of which eye it is blind; for it _can_ be only +in the right eye or the left.' One of the soldiers cried out instantly, +that it was the left eye; but the other said, 'No, no, you forget, it's +the right.' Kate maliciously called attention to this little schism. +But the men said, 'Ah, _that_ was nothing--they were hurried; but +now, on recollecting themselves, they were agreed that it was the left +eye.' Did they stand to that? 'Oh yes, positive they were, left eye, +left.' + +Upon which our Kate, twitching off the horse-cloth, said gaily to the +magistrate, 'Now, Sir, please to observe that this horse has nothing +the matter with either eye.' And in fact it _was_ so. Then his +worship ordered his alguazils to apprehend the two witnesses, who +posted off to bread and water, with other reversionary advantages, +whilst Kate rode in quest of the best dinner that Paz could furnish. + +This Alcalde's acquaintance, however, was not destined to drop here. +Something had appeared in the young _caballero's_ bearing, which +made it painful to have addressed him with harshness, or for a moment +to have entertained such a charge against such a person. He despatched +his cousin, therefore, Don Antonio Calderon, to offer his apologies, +and at the same time to request that the stranger, whose rank and +quality he regretted not to have known, would do him the honor to come +and dine with him. This explanation, and the fact that Don Antonio had +already proclaimed his own position as cousin to the magistrate and +nephew to the Bishop of Cuzco, obliged Catalina to say, after thanking +the gentlemen for their obliging attentions, 'I myself hold the rank of +Alferez in the service of his Catholic Majesty. I am a native of +Biscay, and I am now repairing to Cuzco on private business.' 'To +Cuzco!' exclaimed Don Antonio, 'how very fortunate! My cousin is a +Basque like you; and, like you, he starts for Cuzco to-morrow morning; +so that, if it is agreeable to you, Senor Alferez, we will travel +together.' It was settled that they should. To travel--amongst 'balcony +witnesses,' and anglers for 'blind horses'--not merely with a just man, +but with the very abstract idea and riding allegory of justice, was too +delightful to the storm-wearied cornet; and he cheerfully accompanied +Don Antonio to the house of the magistrate, called Don Pedro de +Chavarria. Distinguished was his reception; the Alcalde personally +renewed his regrets for the ridiculous scene of the two scampish +oculists, and presented him to his wife, a splendid Andalusian beauty, +to whom he had been married about a year. + +This lady there is a reason for describing; and the French reporter of +Catalina's memoirs dwells upon the theme. She united, he says, the +sweetness of the German lady with the energy of the Arabian, a +combination hard to judge of. As to her feet, he adds, I say nothing; +for she had scarcely any at all. '_Je ne parle point de ses pieds, +elle n'en avait presque pas_.' 'Poor lady!' says a compassionate +rustic: 'no feet! What a shocking thing that so fine a woman should +have been so sadly mutilated!' Oh, my dear rustic, you're quite in the +wrong box. The Frenchman means this as the very highest compliment. +Beautiful, however, she must have been; and a Cinderella, I hope, not a +Cinderellula, considering that she had the inimitable walk and step of +the Andalusians, which cannot be accomplished without something of a +proportionate basis to stand upon. + +The reason which there is (as I have said) for describing this lady, +arises out of her relation to the tragic events which followed. She, by +her criminal levity, was the cause of all. And I must here warn the +moralizing blunderer of two errors that he is too likely to make: 1st, +That he is invited to read some extract from a licentious amour, as if +for its own interest; 2d, Or on account of Donna Catalina's memoirs, +with a view to relieve their too martial character. I have the pleasure +to assure him of his being so utterly in the darkness of error, that +any possible change he can make in his opinions, right or left, must be +for the better: he cannot stir, but he will mend, which is a delightful +thought for the moral and blundering mind. As to the first point, what +little glimpse he obtains of a licentious amour is, as a court of +justice will sometimes show him such a glimpse, simply to make +intelligible the subsequent facts which depend upon it. Secondly, As to +the conceit, that Catalina wished to embellish her memoirs, understand +that no such practice then existed; certainly not in Spanish +literature. Her memoirs are electrifying by their facts; else, in the +manner of telling these facts, they are systematically dry. + +Don Antonio Calderon was a handsome, accomplished cavalier. And in the +course of dinner, Catalina was led to judge, from the behavior to each +other of this gentleman and the lady, the Alcalde's beautiful wife, +that they had an improper understanding. This also she inferred from +the furtive language of their eyes. Her wonder was, that the Alcalde +should be so blind; though upon that point she saw reason in a day or +two to change her opinion. Some people see everything by affecting to +see nothing. The whole affair, however, was nothing at all to +_her_, and she would have dismissed it from her thoughts +altogether, but for what happened on the journey. + +From the miserable roads, eight hours a day of travelling was found +quite enough for man and beast; the product of which eight hours was +from ten to twelve leagues. On the last day but one of the journey, the +travelling party, which was precisely the original dinner party, +reached a little town ten leagues short of Cuzco. The Corregidor of +this place was a friend of the Alcalde; and through _his_ +influence the party obtained better accommodations than those which +they had usually had in a hovel calling itself a _venta_, or in +the sheltered corner of a barn. The Alcalde was to sleep at the +Corregidor's house; the two young cavaliers, Calderon and our Kate, had +sleeping rooms at the public _locanda_; but for the lady was +reserved a little pleasure-house in an enclosed garden. This was a +plaything of a house; but the season being summer, and the house +surrounded with tropical flowers, the lady preferred it (in spite of +its loneliness) to the damp mansion of the official grandee, who, in +her humble opinion, was quite as fusty as his mansion, and his mansion +not much less so than himself. + +After dining gaily together at the _locanda_, and possibly taking a +'rise' out of his worship the Corregidor, as a repeating echo of Don +Quixote, (then growing popular in Spanish America,) the young man who +was no young officer, and the young officer who was no young man, +lounged down together to the little pavilion in the flower-garden, with +the purpose of paying their respects to the presiding belle. They were +graciously received, and had the honor of meeting there his Mustiness +the Alcalde, and his Fustiness the Corregidor; whose conversation was +surely improving, but not equally brilliant. How they got on under the +weight of two such muffs, has been a mystery for two centuries. But +they _did_ to a certainty, for the party did not break up till eleven. +_Tea and turn out_ you could not call it; for there was the _turn out_ +in rigor, but not the _tea_. One thing, however, Catalina by mere +accident had an opportunity of observing, and observed with pain. The +two official gentlemen had gone down the steps into the garden. +Catalina, having forgot her hat, went back into the little vestibule to +look for it. There stood the lady and Don Antonio, exchanging a few +final words (they _were_ final) and a few final signs. Amongst the last +Kate observed distinctly this, and distinctly she understood it. First +drawing Calderon's attention to the gesture, as one of significant +pantomime, by raising her forefinger, the lady snuffed out one of the +candles. The young man answered it by a look of intelligence, and all +three passed down the steps together. The lady was disposed to take the +cool air, and accompanied them to the garden-gate; but, in passing +down the walk, Catalina noticed a second ill-omened sign that all was +not right. Two glaring eyes she distinguished amongst the shrubs for a +moment, and a rustling immediately after. 'What's that?' said the lady, +and Don Antonio answered carelessly, 'A bird flying out of the bushes.' + +Catalina, as usual, had read everything. Not a wrinkle or a rustle was +lost upon _her_. And, therefore, when she reached the +_locanda_, knowing to an iota all that was coming, she did not +retire to bed, but paced before the house. She had not long to wait: in +fifteen minutes the door opened softly, and out stepped Calderon. Kate +walked forward, and faced him immediately; telling him laughingly that +it was not good for his health to go abroad on this night. The young +man showed some impatience; upon which, very seriously, Kate acquainted +him with her suspicions, and with the certainty that the Alcalde was +not so blind as he had seemed. Calderon thanked her for the +information; would be upon his guard; but, to prevent further +expostulation, he wheeled round instantly into the darkness. Catalina +was too well convinced, however, of the mischief on foot, to leave him +thus. She followed rapidly, and passed silently into the garden, almost +at the same time with Calderon. Both took their stations behind trees; +Calderon watching nothing but the burning candles, Catalina watching +circumstances to direct her movements. The candles burned brightly in +the little pavilion. Presently one was extinguished. Upon this, +Calderon pressed forward to the steps, hastily ascended them, and +passed into the vestibule. Catalina followed on his traces. What +succeeded was all one scene of continued, dreadful dumb show; different +passions of panic, or deadly struggle, or hellish malice absolutely +suffocated all articulate words. + +In a moment a gurgling sound was heard, as of a wild beast attempting +vainly to yell over some creature that it was strangling. Next came a +tumbling out at the door of one black mass, which heaved and parted at +intervals into two figures, which closed, which parted again, which at +last fell down the steps together. Then appeared a figure in white. It +was the unhappy Andalusian; and she seeing the outline of Catalina's +person, ran up to her, unable to utter one syllable. Pitying the agony +of her horror, Catalina took her within her own cloak, and carried her +out at the garden gate. Calderon had by this time died; and the +maniacal Alcalde had risen up to pursue his wife. But Kate, foreseeing +what he would do, had stepped silently within the shadow of the garden +wall. Looking down the road to the town, and seeing nobody moving, the +maniac, for some purpose, went back to the house. This moment Kate used +to recover the _locanda_ with the lady still panting in horror. +What was to be done? To think of concealment in this little place was +out of the question. The Alcalde was a man of local power, and it was +certain that he would kill his wife on the spot. Kate's generosity +would not allow her to have any collusion with this murderous purpose. +At Cuzco, the principal convent was ruled by a near relative of the +Andalusian; and there she would find shelter. Kate, therefore, saddled +her horse rapidly, placed the lady behind, and rode off in the +darkness. About five miles out of the town their road was crossed by a +torrent, over which they could not hit the bridge. 'Forward!' cried the +lady; and Kate repeating the word to the horse, the docile creature +leaped down into the water. They were all sinking at first; but having +its head free, the horse swam clear of all obstacles through the +midnight darkness, and scrambled out on the opposite bank. The two +riders were dripping from the shoulders downward. But, seeing a light +twinkling from a cottage window, Kate rode up; obtained a little +refreshment, and the benefit of a fire, from a poor laboring man. From +this man she also bought a warm mantle for the lady, who, besides her +torrent bath, was dressed in a light evening robe, so that but for the +horseman's cloak of Kate she would have perished. But there was no time +to lose. They had already lost two hours from the consequences of their +cold bath. Cuzco was still eighteen miles distant; and the Alcalde's +shrewdness would at once divine this to be his wife's mark. They +remounted: very soon the silent night echoed the hoofs of a pursuing +rider; and now commenced the most frantic race, in which each party +rode as if the whole game of life were staked upon the issue. The pace +was killing: and Kate has delivered it as her opinion, in the memoirs +which she wrote, that the Alcalde was the better mounted. This may be +doubted. And certainly Kate had ridden too many years in the Spanish +cavalry to have any fear of his worship's horsemanship; but it was a +prodigious disadvantage that _her_ horse had to carry double; +while the horse ridden by her opponent was one of those belonging to +the murdered Don Antonio, and known to Kate as a powerful animal. At +length they had come within three miles at Cuzco. The road after this +descended the whole way to the city, and in some places rapidly, so as +to require a cool rider. Suddenly a deep trench appeared traversing the +whole extent of a broad heath. It was useless to evade it. To have +hesitated was to be lost. Kate saw the necessity of clearing it, but +doubted much whether her poor exhausted horse, after twenty-one miles +of work so severe, had strength for the effort. Kate's maxim, however, +which never yet had failed, both figuratively for life, and literally +for the saddle, was--to ride at everything that showed a front of +resistance. She did so now. Having come upon the trench rather too +suddenly, she wheeled round for the advantage of coming down upon it +more determinately, rode resolutely at it, and gained the opposite +bank. The hind feet of her horse were sinking back from the rottenness +of the ground; but the strong supporting bridle-hand of Kate carried +him forward; and in ten minutes more they would be in Cuzco. This being +seen by the vicious Alcalde, who had built great hopes on the trench, +he unslung his carbine, pulled up, and fired after the bonny black +horse and its bonny fair riders. But this manoeuvre would have lost his +worship any bet that he might have had depending on this admirable +steeple-chase. Had I been stakeholder, what a pleasure it would have +been, in fifteen minutes from this very vicious shot, to pay into +Kate's hands every shilling of the deposits. I would have listened to +no nonsense about referees or protests. The bullets, says Kate, +whistled round the poor clinging lady _en croupe_--luckily none +struck her; but one wounded the horse. And that settled the odds. Kate +now planted herself well in her stirrups to enter Cuzco, almost +dangerously a winner; for the horse was so maddened by the wound, and +the road so steep, that he went like blazes; and it really became +difficult for Kate to guide him with any precision through narrow +episcopal paths. Henceforwards the wounded horse required Kate's +continued attention; and yet, in the mere luxury of strife, it was +impossible for Kate to avoid turning a little in her saddle to see the +Alcalde's performance on this tight rope of the trench. His worship's +horsemanship being perhaps rather rusty, and he not perfectly +acquainted with his horse, it would have been agreeable to compromise +the case by riding round, or dismounting. But all _that_ was +impossible. The job must be done. And I am happy to report, for the +reader's satisfaction, the sequel--so far as Kate could attend the +performance. Gathering himself up for mischief, the Alcalde took a +sweep, as if ploughing out the line of some vast encampment, or tracing +the _pomaerium_ for some future Rome; then, like thunder and +lightning, with arms flying aloft in the air, down he came upon the +trembling trench. + +But the horse refused the leap; and, as the only compromise that +_his_ unlearned brain could suggest, he threw his worship right +over his ears, lodging him safely in a sand-heap that rose with clouds +of dust and screams of birds into the morning air. Kate had now no time +to send back her compliments in a musical halloo. The Alcalde missed +breaking his neck on this occasion very narrowly; but his neck was of +no use to him in twenty minutes more, as the reader will soon find. +Kate rode right onwards; and, coming in with a lady behind her, horse +bloody, and pace such as no hounds could have lived with, she ought to +have made a great sensation in Cuzco. But, unhappily, the people were +all in bed. + +The steeple-chase into Cuzco had been a fine headlong thing, +considering the torrent, the trench, the wounded horse, the lovely +lady, with her agonizing fears, mounted behind Kate, together with the +meek dove-like dawn: but the finale crowded together the quickest +succession of changes that out of a melodrama can ever have been +witnessed. Kate reached the convent in safety; carried into the +cloisters, and delivered like a parcel the fair Andalusian. But to +rouse the servants caused delay; and on returning to the street through +the broad gateway of the convent, whom should she face but the Alcalde! +How he escaped the trench, who can tell? He had no time to write +memoirs; his horse was too illiterate. But he _had_ escaped; +temper not at all improved by that adventure, and now raised to a hell +of malignity by seeing that he had lost his prey. In the morning light +he now saw how to use his sword. He attacked Kate with fury. Both were +exhausted; and Kate, besides that she had no personal quarrel with the +Alcalde, having now accomplished her sole object in saving the lady, +would have been glad of a truce. She could with difficulty wield her +sword: and the Alcalde had so far the advantage, that he wounded Kate +severely. That roused her ancient blood. She turned on him now with +determination. At that moment in rode two servants of the Alcalde, who +took part with their master. These odds strengthened Kate's resolution, +but weakened her chances. Just then, however, rode in, and ranged +himself on Kate's side, the servant of the murdered Don Calderon. In an +instant, Kate had pushed her sword through the Alcalde, who died upon +the spot. In an instant the servant of Calderon had fled. In an instant +the Alguazils had come up. They and the servants of the Alcalde pressed +furiously on Kate, who now again was fighting for life. Against such +odds, she was rapidly losing ground; when, in an instant, on the +opposite side of the street, the great gates of the Episcopal palace +rolled open. Thither it was that Calderon's servant had fled. The +bishop and his attendants hurried across. 'Senor Caballador,' said the +bishop, 'in the name of the Virgin, I enjoin you to surrender your +sword.' 'My lord,' said Kate, 'I dare not do it with so many enemies +about me.' 'But I,' replied the bishop, 'become answerable to the law +for your safe keeping.' Upon which, with filial reverence, all parties +dropped their swords. Kate being severely wounded, the bishop led her +into his palace. In an instant came the catastrophe; Kate's discovery +could no longer be delayed; the blood flowed too rapidly; the wound was +in her bosom. She requested a private interview with the bishop; all +was known in a moment; for surgeons and attendants were summoned +hastily, and Kate had fainted. The good bishop pitied her, and had her +attended in his palace; then removed to a convent; then to a second at +Lima; and, after many months had passed, his report to the Spanish +Government at home of all the particulars, drew from the King of Spain +and from the Pope an order that the Nun should be transferred to Spain. + +Yes, at length the warrior lady, the blooming cornet, this nun that is +so martial, this dragoon that is so lovely, must visit again the home +of her childhood, which now for seventeen years she has not seen. All +Spain, Portugal, Italy, rang with her adventures. Spain, from north to +south, was frantic with desire to behold her fiery child, whose girlish +romance, whose patriotic heroism electrified the national imagination. +The King of Spain must kiss his _faithful_ daughter, that would +not suffer his banner to see dishonor. The Pope must kiss his +_wandering_ daughter, that henceforwards will be a lamb travelling +back into the Christian fold. Potentates so great as these, when +_they_ speak words of love, do not speak in vain. All was +forgiven; the sacrilege, the bloodshed, the flight and the scorn of St. +Peter's keys; the pardons were made out, were signed, were sealed, and +the chanceries of earth were satisfied. + +Ah! what a day of sorrow and of joy was _that_ one day, in the +first week of November, 1624, when the returning Kate drew near to the +shore of Andalusia--when, descending into the ship's barge, she was +rowed to the piers of Cadiz by bargemen in the royal liveries--when she +saw every ship, street, house, convent, church, crowded, like a day of +judgment, with human faces, with men, with women, with children, all +bending the lights of their flashing and their loving eyes upon +herself. Forty myriads of people had gathered in Cadiz alone. All +Andalusia had turned out to receive her. Ah! what joy, if she had not +looked back to the Andes, to their dreadful summits, and their more +dreadful feet. Ah! what sorrow, if she had not been forced by music, +and endless banners, and triumphant clamors, to turn away from the +Andes to the joyous shore which she approached! + +Upon this shore stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this +mighty crowd, the Prime Minister of Spain, the same Conde Olivarez, who +but one year before had been so haughty and so defying to our haughty +and defying Duke of Buckingham. But a year ago the Prince of Wales was +in Spain, and he also was welcomed with triumph and great joy, but not +with the hundredth part of that enthusiasm which now met the returning +nun. And Olivarez, that had spoken so roughly to the English Duke, to +_her_ 'was sweet as summer.' [Footnote: Griffith in Shakspeare, +when vindicating, in that immortal scene with Queen Catherine, Cardinal +Wolsey.] Through endless crowds of festive compatriots he conducted her +to the King. The King folded her in his arms, and could never be +satisfied with listening to her. He sent for her continually to his +presence--he delighted in her conversation, so new, so natural, so +spirited--he settled a pension upon her at that time, of unprecedented +amount, in the case of a subaltern officer; and by _his_ desire, +because the year 1625 was a year of jubilee, she departed in a few +months from Madrid to Rome. She went through Barcelona; there and +everywhere welcomed as the lady whom the King delighted to honor. She +travelled to Rome, and all doors flew open to receive her. She was +presented to his Holiness, with letters from his most Catholic majesty. +But letters there needed none. The Pope admired her as much as all +before had done. He caused her to recite all her adventures; and what +he loved most in her account, was the sincere and sorrowing spirit in +which she described herself as neither better nor worse than she had +been. Neither proud was Kate, nor sycophantishly and falsely humble. +Urban VIII. it was that then filled the chair of St. Peter. He did not +neglect to raise his daughter's thoughts from earthly things--he +pointed her eyes to the clouds that were above the dome of St. Peter's +cathedral--he told her what the cathedral had told her in the gorgeous +clouds of the Andes and the vesper lights, how sweet a thing, how +divine a thing it was for Christ's sake to forgive all injuries, and +how he trusted that no more she would think of bloodshed. He also said +two words to her in Latin, which, if I had time to repeat a Spanish +bishop's remark to Kate some time afterwards upon those two mysterious +words, with Kate's most natural and ingenuous answer to the Bishop upon +what she supposed to be their meaning, would make the reader smile not +less than they made myself. You know that Kate _did_ understand a +little Latin, which, probably, had not been much improved by riding in +the Light Dragoons. I must find time, however, whether the press and +the compositors are in a fury or not, to mention that the Pope, in his +farewell audience to his dear daughter, whom he was to see no more, +gave her a general license to wear henceforth in all countries--even +_in partibus Infidelium_--a cavalry officer's dress--boots, spurs, +sabre, and sabretache; in fact, anything that she and the Horse Guards +might agree upon. Consequently, reader, remember for your life never to +say one word, nor suffer any tailor to say one word, against those +Wellington trousers made in the chestnut forest; for, understand that +the Papal indulgence, as to this point, runs backwards as well as +forwards; it is equally shocking and heretical to murmur against +trousers in the forgotten rear or against trousers yet to come. + +From Rome, Kate returned to Spain. She even went to St. Sebastian's--to +the city, but--whether it was that her heart failed her or not--never +to the convent. She roamed up and down; everywhere she was welcome-- +everywhere an honored guest; but everywhere restless. The poor and +humble never ceased from their admiration of her; and amongst the rich +and aristocratic of Spain, with the King at their head, Kate found +especial love from two classes of men. The Cardinals and Bishops all +doated upon her--as their daughter that was returning. The military men +all doated upon her--as their sister that was retiring. + +Some time or other, when I am allowed more elbow-room, I will tell you +why it is that I myself love this Kate. Now, at this moment, when it is +necessary for me to close, if I allow you one question before laying +down my pen--if I say, 'Come now, be quick, ask anything you _have_ to +ask, for, in one minute, I am going to write _Finis_, after which +(unless the Queen wished it) I could not add a syllable'--twenty to +one, I guess what your question will be. You will ask me, What became +of Kate? What was her end? + +Ah, reader! but, if I answer that question, you will say I have +_not_ answered it. If I tell you that secret, you will say that +the secret is still hidden. Yet, because I have promised, and because +you will be angry if I do not, let me do my best; and bad is the best. +After ten years of restlessness in Spain, with thoughts always turning +back to the Andes, Kate heard of an expedition on the point of sailing +to Spanish America. All soldiers knew _her_, so that she had +information of everything that stirred in camps. Men of the highest +military rank were going out with the expedition; but they all loved +Kate as a sister, and were delighted to hear that she would join their +mess on board ship. This ship, with others, sailed, whither finally +bound, I really forget. But, on reaching America, all the expedition +touched at _Vera Cruz_. Thither a great crowd of the military went +on shore. The leading officers made a separate party for the same +purpose. Their intention was, to have a gay happy dinner, after their +long confinement to a ship, at the chief hotel; and happy in perfection +it could not be, unless Kate would consent to join it. She, that was +ever kind to brother soldiers, agreed to do so. She descended into the +boat along with them, and in twenty minutes the boat touched the shore. +All the bevy of gay laughing officers, junior and senior, like +schoolboys escaping from school, jumped on shore, and walked hastily, +as their time was limited, up to the hotel. Arriving there, all turned +round in eagerness, saying, 'Where is our dear Kate?' Ah, yes, my dear +Kate, at that solemn moment, where, indeed, were _you_? She had +_certainly_ taken her seat in the boat: that was sure. Nobody, in +the general confusion, was certain of having seen her on coming ashore. +The sea was searched for her--the forests were ransacked. The sea made +no answer--the forests gave up no sign. I have a conjecture of my own; +but her brother soldiers were lost in sorrow and confusion, and could +never arrive even at a conjecture. + +That happened two hundred and fourteen years ago! Here is the brief sum +of all:--This nun sailed from Spain to Peru, and she found no rest for +the sole of her foot. This nun sailed back from Peru to Spain, and she +found no rest for the agitations of her heart. This nun sailed again +from Spain to America, and she found--the rest which all of us find. +But where it was, could never be made known to the father of Spanish +camps, that sat in Madrid; nor to Kate's spiritual father, that sat in +Rome. Known it is to the great Father that once whispered to Kate on +the Andes; but else it has been a secret for two centuries; and to man +it remains a secret for ever and ever! + + + + +FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. + + +There is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said +more broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less +generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight +eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless +_steppes_ of Asia in the latter half of the last century. The +_terminus a quo_ of this flight, and the _terminus ad quem_, +are equally magnificent; the mightiest of Christian thrones being the +one, the mightiest of Pagan the other. And the grandeur of these two +terminal objects, is harmoniously supported by the romantic +circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness of its commencement, and +the fierce velocity of its execution, we read an expression of the wild +barbaric character of the agents. In the unity of purpose connecting +this myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim at a mark so +remote, there is something which recalls to the mind those Almighty +instincts that propel the migrations of the swallow, or the life- +withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the gloomy vengeance of +Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the rear and the skirts +of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic images--such, for +instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing through desert spaces +and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and overtaking with +volleying thunders those who believed themselves already within the +security of darkness and of distance. + +We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other +great national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But +it may also challenge a comparison with similar events under another +relation, viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in +romance or history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the +complexity of its separate interests. The great outline of the +enterprise, taken in connection with the operative motives, hidden or +avowed, and the religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to +the case a triple character: 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a +unity in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the +moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as belongs to Venice +Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military +expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to be +traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies +obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which mark +the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the anabasis of the younger Cyrus, +and the subsequent retreat of the ten thousand to the Black Sea--the +Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and +Julian--or (as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space +as well as in amount of forces, more extensive,) the Russian anabasis +and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized +by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia, an Exodus, +therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus of the +Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar +distinction of carrying along with them their entire families, women, +children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and +their camels. + +This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a +more comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we +ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends +partly upon the marked variety and the strength of the personal +agencies concerned, and partly upon the succession of scenical +situations. Even the _steppes_, the camels, the tents, the snowy +and the sandy deserts, are not beyond the scale of our modern +representative powers, as often called into action in the theatres both +of Paris and London; and the series of situations unfolded, beginning +with the general conflagration on the Wolga--passing thence to the +disastrous scenes of the flight (as it literally was in its +commencement)--to the Tartar siege of the Russian fortress Koulagina-- +the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the mountain passes at +Ouchim--the surprisal by the Bashkirs and the advanced posts of the +Russian army at Torgau--the private conspiracy at this point against +the Khan--the long succession of running fights--the parting massacres +at the lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese--and finally, the +tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at the hunting-lodge of the +Chinese emperor;--all these situations communicate a _scenical_ +animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically; whilst a higher +and a philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of authentic +history, commemorating a great revolution for good and for evil, in the +fortunes of a whole people--a people semi-barbarous, but simple- +hearted, and of ancient descent. + +On the 2lst of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha assumed the +sceptre of the Kalmucks upon the death of his father. Some part of the +power attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his +fourteenth year, in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment, +and with the avowed support of the Russian Government. He was now about +eighteen years of age, amiable in his personal character, and not +without titles to respect in his public character as a sovereign +prince. In times more peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely +civilized, or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that he +might have discharged his high duties with considerable distinction. +But his lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a most difficult crisis +amongst tribes, whose native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms +of superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated conceit of +their own merit absolutely unparalleled, whilst the circumstances of +their hard and trying position under the jealous _surveillance_ of +an irresistible lord paramount, in the person of the Russian Czar, gave +a fiercer edge to the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, +and irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless +impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No prince could hope for +a cordial allegiance from his subjects, or a peaceful reign under the +circumstances of the case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler +stood at present was of this nature; _wanting_ the sanction and +support of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from without to command +confidence from his subjects, or resistance to his competitors: on the +other hand, _with_ this kind of support, and deriving his title in +any degree from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost in +that extent an object of hatred at home, and within the whole compass +of his own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for the past, +being a living monument of national independence, ignominiously +surrendered, and an object of jealousy for the future, as one who had +already advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate +purposes (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the Russian Court. +Coming himself to the Kalmuck sceptre under the heaviest weight of +prejudice from the unfortunate circumstances of his position, it might +have been expected that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently an object +of detestation; for besides his known dependence upon the Cabinet of +St. Petersburg, the direct line of succession had been set aside, and +the principle of inheritance violently suspended, in favor of his own +father, so recently as nineteen years before the era of his own +accession, consequently within the lively remembrance of the existing +generation. He therefore, almost equally with his father, stood within +the full current of the national prejudices, and might have anticipated +the most pointed hostility. But it was not so: such are the caprices in +human affairs, that he was even, in a moderate sense, popular,--a +benefit which wore the more cheering aspect, and the promises of +permanence, inasmuch as he owed it exclusively to his personal +qualities of kindness and affability, as well as to the beneficence of +his government. On the other hand, to balance this unlooked-for +prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met with a rival in popular +favor--almost a competitor--in the person of Zebek-Dorchi, a prince +with considerable pretensions to the throne, and, perhaps it might be +said, with equal pretensions. Zebek-Dorchi was a direct descendant of +the same royal house as himself, through a different branch. On public +grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on a footing equally good with that +of Oubacha, whilst his personal qualities, even in those aspects which +seemed to a philosophical observer most odious and repulsive, promised +the most effectual aid to the dark purposes of an intriguer or a +conspirator, and were generally fitted to win a popular support +precisely in those points where _Oubacha_ was most defective. He +was much superior in external appearance to his rival on the throne, +and so far better qualified to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous +people; whilst his dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian +dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy which knew no touch of +remorse, were admirably calculated to sustain any ground which he might +win from the simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal--and from +the frank carelessness of his unconscious competitor. + +At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi was +sagacious enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open +declaration of hostility to the reigning prince: the choice had been a +deliberate act on the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not +the person to recall her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. +Openly, therefore, to have declared his enmity towards his relative on +the throne, could have had no effect but that of arming suspicions +against his own ulterior purposes in a quarter where it was most +essential to his interest that, for the present, all suspicion should +be hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, the course he took +for opening his snares was this:--He raised a rumor that his own life +was in danger from the plots of several _Saissang_, (that is, +Kalmuck nobles,) who were leagued together, under an oath to +assassinate him; and immediately after, assuming a well-counterfeited +alarm, he fled to Tcherkask, followed by sixty-five tents. From this +place he kept up a correspondence with the Imperial Court; and, by way +of soliciting his cause more effectually, he soon repaired in person to +St. Petersburg. Once admitted to personal conferences with the Cabinet, +he found no difficulty in winning over the Russian counsels to a +concurrence with some of his political views, and thus covertly +introducing the point of that wedge which was finally to accomplish his +purposes. In particular, he persuaded the Russian Government to make a +very important alteration in the constitution of the Kalmuck State +Council, which in effect reorganized the whole political condition of +the state, and disturbed the balance of power as previously adjusted. +Of this Council--in the Kalmuck language called _Sarga_--there +were eight members, called _Sargatchi;_ and hitherto it had been +the custom that these eight members should be entirely subordinate to +the Khan; holding, in fact, the ministerial character of secretaries +and assistants, but in no respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. +That had produced some inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy +for Zebek-Dorchi to point the jealousy of the Russian Court to others +more serious which might arise in future circumstances of war or other +contingencies. It was resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi +henceforward on a footing of perfect independence, and therefore (as +regarded responsibility) on a footing of equality with the Khan. Their +independence, however, had respect only to their own sovereign; for +towards Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and +accountability, by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300 +roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more +considerable than might be supposed, and had a further value as marks +of honorary distinction emanating from a great Empress. Thus far the +purposes of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment: but, +apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in the further +development of his plots, this very dependency upon Russian influence +would be the most serious obstacle in his way. There was, however, +another point carried which outweighed all inferior considerations, as +it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever should +arise to disturb his plots: he was himself appointed President and +Controller of the _Sargatchi_. The Russian Court had been aware of +his high pretensions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy +the ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged to be a reasonable +passion for any man occupying his situation. + +Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi +proceeded in his new character to fulfil his political mission with the +Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his +favorable reception at the court of this Prince, that he was at once +and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the +counsellors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar +exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had +not yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he +himself should be the chief of these mercenary counsellors, was so far +from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any ground of +suspicion, that his relative the Khan returned him hearty thanks for +his services, under the belief that he could have accepted this +appointment only with a view to keep out other and more unwelcome +pretenders, who would not have had the same motives of consanguinity or +friendship for executing its duties in a spirit of kindness to the +Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his new functions about the +Khan's person was to attack the Court of Russia, by a romantic villany +not easy to be credited, for those very acts of interference with the +council which he himself had prompted. This was a dangerous step: but +it was indispensable to his further advance upon the gloomy path which +he had traced out for himself. A triple vengeance was what he +meditated--1, Upon the Russian Cabinet for having undervalued his own +pretensions to the throne--2, upon his amiable rival for having +supplanted him--and 3, upon all those of the nobility who had +manifested their sense of his weakness by their neglect, or their sense +of his perfidious character by their suspicions. Here was a colossal +outline of wickedness; and by one in his situation, feeble (as it might +seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts, how was the total +edifice to be reared in its comprehensive grandeur? He, a worm as he +was, could he venture to assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the +potentate who counted three hundred languages around the footsteps of +his throne, and from whose 'lion ramp' recoiled alike 'baptized and +infidel'--Christendom on the one side, strong by her intellect and her +organization, and the `Barbaric East' on the other, with her unnumbered +numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its very monstrosity +there lay this germ of encouragement, that it could not be suspected. +The very hopelessness of the scheme grounded his hope, and he resolved +to execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in the unity of +a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged to be his enemies. That +vengeance lay in detaching from the Russian empire the whole Kalmuck +nation, and breaking up that system of intercourse which had thus far +been beneficial to both. This last was a consideration which moved him +but little. True it was that Russia to the Kalmucks had secured lands +and extensive pasturage; true it was that the Kalmucks reciprocally to +Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry. But the latter loss would be +part of his triumph, and the former might be more than compensated in +other climates under other sovereigns. Here was a scheme which, in its +final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on the Czarina, and in +the course of its accomplishment might furnish him with ample occasions +for removing his other enemies. It may be readily supposed indeed that +he, who could deliberately raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an +antagonist in single duel with himself, was not likely to feel much +anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He took his resolution, +therefore, sternly and irrevocably to effect this astonishing +translation of an ancient people across the pathless deserts of Central +Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivers, rarely furnished with +bridges, and of which the fords were known only to those who might +think it for their interest to conceal them, through many nations +inhospitable or hostile; frost and snow around them, (from the +necessity of commencing their flight in the winter,) famine in their +front, and the sabre, or even the artillery of an offended and mighty +empress, hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was +to be their final mark, the port of shelter after so fearful a course +of wandering? Two things were evident: it must be some power at a great +distance from Russia, so as to make return even in that view hopeless; +and it must be a power of sufficient rank to ensure them protection +from any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming +them, or for chastising their revolt. Both conditions were united +obviously in the person of Kien Long, the reigning Emperor of China, +who was farther recommended to them by his respect for the head of +their religion. To China, therefore, and as their first rendezvous to +the shadow of the great Chinese Wall, it was settled by Zebek that they +should direct their flight. + +Next came the question of time; _when_ should the flight commence:--and +finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices. To +extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far, was to insure its +betrayal to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the +preparations it was evident that a very extensive confidence must be +made, because in no other way could the mass of the Kalmuck population +be persuaded to furnish their families with the requisite equipments +for so long a migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved +to defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all events, to make +no general communication on the subject until the time of departure +should be definitely settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only +three persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning prince, +was almost necessarily one; but him, from his yielding and somewhat +feeble character, he viewed rather in the light of a tool than as one +of his active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an +unreserved participation in his counsels, were two only, the great +_Lama_ among the Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, Erempel, a ruling +prince of some tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian sea, +recommended to his favor not so much by any strength of talent +corresponding to the occasion, as by his blind devotion to himself, and +his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his daughter and his +son-in-law to the throne of a sovereign prince. A titular prince Zebek +already was: but this dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of +a sceptre, seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambitious rivals. +The other accomplice, whose name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank +was that of Lama, or Kalmuck pontiff, was a person of far more +distinguished pretensions; he had something of the same gloomy and +terrific pride which marked the character of Zebek himself, manifesting +also the same energy, accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and +a natural facility of dissimulation even more profound. It was by this +man that the other question was settled as to the time for giving +effect to their designs. His own pontifical character had suggested to +him, that in order to strengthen their influence with the vast mob of +simple-minded men whom they were to lead into a howling wilderness, +after persuading them to lay desolate their own ancient hearths, it was +indispensable that they should be able, in cases of extremity, to plead +the express sanction of God for their entire enterprise. This could +only be done by addressing themselves to the great head of their +religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. Him they easily persuaded to +countenance their schemes: and an oracle was delivered solemnly at +Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate prosperity would attend this +great Exodus unless it were pursued through the years of the _tiger_ +and the _hare_. Now, the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their years +by attaching to each a denomination taken from one of twelve animals, +the exact order of succession being absolutely fixed, so that the cycle +revolves of course through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if +the approaching year of the _tiger_ were suffered to escape them, in +that case the expedition must be delayed for twelve years more, within +which period, even were no other unfavorable changes to arise, it was +pretty well foreseen that the Russian Government would take the most +effectual means for bridling their vagrant propensities by a ring fence +of forts or military posts; to say nothing of the still readier plan +for securing their fidelity (a plan already talked of in all quarters), +by exacting a large body of hostages selected from the families of the +most influential nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was +solemnly determined that this terrific experiment should be made in the +next year of the _tiger_, which happened to fall upon the Christian +year 1771. With respect to the month, there was, unhappily for the +Kalmucks, even less latitude allowed to their choice than with respect +to the year. It was absolutely necessary, or it was thought so, that +the different divisions of the nation, which pastured their flocks on +both banks of the Wolga, should have the means of effecting an +instantaneous junction; because the danger of being intercepted by +flying columns of the Imperial armies was precisely the greatest at the +outset. Now, from the want of bridges, or sufficient river craft for +transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means which could be +depended upon (especially where so many women, children, and camels +were concerned,) was _ice_: and this, in a state of sufficient +firmness, could not be absolutely counted upon before the month of +January. Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a whole +nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to +circulate amongst those whom it most interested, before it was even +suspected that any man's wishes pointed in that direction, had been +definitively appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost up to +the Christmas of 1770, the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their +families were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even +dreaming that the _fiat_ had already gone forth from their rulers which +consigned those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which +reigned within them, to a withering desolation, now close at hand. + +Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan. And, +until the time arrived for throwing off their vassalage, it was +necessary that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of +martial aid. Nay, it had unfortunately become prudent that he should +contribute much more than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample +evidence that in some mysterious and unaccountable way no great design +is ever agitated, no matter how few or how faithful may be the +participators, but that some presentiment--some dim misgiving--is +kindled amongst those whom it is chiefly important to blind. And, +however it might have happened, certain it is, that already, when as +yet no syllable of the conspiracy had been breathed to any man whose +very existence was not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless, some +vague and uneasy jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet as to the +future schemes of the Kalmuck Khan: and very probable it is--that, but +for the war then raging, and the consequent prudence of conciliating a +very important vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would +powerfully alienate him, even at that moment such measures would have +been adopted as must for ever have intercepted the Kalmuck schemes. +Slight as were the jealousies of the Imperial Court, they had not +escaped the Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under their +guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of the moment, and +meeting the jealousy of the Russian Court with a policy corresponding +to their own, strove by unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's +unfavorable impressions. He enlarged the scale of his contributions; +and _that_ so prodigiously, that he absolutely carried to head- +quarters a force of 35,000 cavalry fully equipped; some go further, and +rate the amount beyond 40,000: but the smaller estimate is, at all +events, _within_ the truth. + +With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the +Khan went into the field under great expectations; and these he more +than realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill- +organized and disorderly a description of force as that which at all +times composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along +with his banners; gained many partial successes; and at last, in a +pitched battle, overthrew the Turkish force opposed to him with a loss +of 5000 men left upon the field. + +These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways +against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the +martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire +in whose service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully +appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire, one of the +Paladins around the imperial throne; in China he would be nobody, or +(worse than that) a mendicant-alien, prostrate at the feet, and +soliciting the precarious alms of a prince with whom he had no +connection. Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina, +grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar prince, would +confer upon him such eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor +his hopes upon Russia, and to wean him from every possible seduction. +These were the obvious suggestions of prudence and good sense to every +man who stood neutral in the case. But they were disappointed. The +Czarina knew her obligations to the Khan, but she did not acknowledge +them. Wherefore? That is a mystery, perhaps never to be explained. So +it was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_ ever +proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly +recompensed by Russia, there were others who would have defeated these +tendencies to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the Lama, +were pledged life-deep to prevent any accommodation; and their efforts +were unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the +Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles pre-occupied +with feelings of hatred and blind malice towards the Kalmucks, quite as +strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor towards Russia, and not, +perhaps, so well-founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated the +Russian yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked air of +disdain, as towards a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians, +which too generally marked the Russian bearing and language; but above +all, the insolent contempt, or even outrages which the Russian +governors or great military commandants tolerated in their followers +towards the barbarous religion and superstitious mummeries of the +Kalmuck priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the +Russian resentment, and their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or +attempt a feeble retaliation, re-act upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At +this crisis it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing +the splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and +Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian irritation. And it must +have been through the intrigues of those nobles about her person, who +chiefly smarted under these feelings, that the Czarina could ever have +lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this +critical period towards the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was no longer +Elizabeth Petrowna, it was Catharine the Second; a princess who did not +often err so injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for +others) in the measures of her government. She had soon ample reason +for repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it must have co- +operated with the other motives previously acting upon Oubacha in +sustaining his determination to revolt; and how powerfully it must have +assisted the efforts of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the +minds of their people to feel the necessity of this difficult +enterprise, by arming their pride and their suspicions against the +Russian Government, through the keenness of their sympathy with the +wrongs of their insulted prince, may be readily imagined. It is a fact, +and it has been confessed by candid Russians themselves, when treating +of this great dismemberment, that the conduct of the Russian Cabinet +throughout the period of suspense, and during the crisis of hesitation +in the Kalmuck Council, was exactly such as was most desirable for the +purposes of the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as to set the seal +to all their machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and official +vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most matters of +doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption. + +Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing +their weight so far as not at all to deny the injustice or the impolicy +of the Imperial Ministers, it is contended by many persons who have +reviewed the affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the +case, more especially the letters or minutes of Council subsequently +discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, and the important +evidence of the Russian captive Weseloff, who was carried off by the +Kalmucks in their flight, that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless +for any purpose of impeding, or even of delaying the revolt. He +himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the most terrific +solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise, or even to slacken in +his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting the firmness of his resolution +under any unusual pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very +earliest stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's well +known superstition, to engage him, by means of previous concert with +the priests and their head the Lama, in some dark and mysterious rites +of consecration, terminating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as +no Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, as +regarded the personal share of the Khan in what was to come, Zebek was +entirely at his ease: he knew him to be so deeply pledged by religious +terrors to the prosecution of the conspiracy, that no honors within the +Czarina's gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion: and then, as to +threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed against those +fears by others of a gloomier character, and better adapted to his +peculiar temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all +bodily enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive +and timid as the most superstitious of old women in facing the frowns +of a priest, or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. +But had it been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend +an unsteady demeanor on the part of this Prince at the approach of the +critical moment, such were the changes already effected in the state of +their domestic politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of +Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little importance would +have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in +the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of the +Kalmuck sceptre: all measures of importance were submitted to his +discretion; and nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation. +This result he had brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently +simple; first of all, by availing himself of the prejudice in his +favor, so largely diffused amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his +own title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a direct line +from Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans, stood upon +a better basis than that of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral +branch: secondly, with respect to that sole advantage which Oubacha +possessed above himself in the ratification of his title, by improving +this difference between their situations to the disadvantage of his +competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept that triumph from an +alien power at the price of his independence, which he himself (as he +would have it understood) disdained to court: thirdly, by his own +talents and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his moral +character: fourthly--and perhaps in an equal degree--by the criminal +facility and good-nature of Oubacha: finally, (which is remarkable +enough, as illustrating the character of the man,) by that very new +modelling of the Sarga or Privy Council, which he had used as a +principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against the Russian +Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the alteration to +the Empress, and he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which +it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the chief of +the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior Sargatchi passed +through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to his +nomination, it may be easily supposed that whatever power existed in +the state capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga +under its new organization, and this body being completely under his +influence, the final result was to throw all the functions of the +state, whether nominally in the Prince or in the council, substantially +into the hands of this one man: whilst, at the same time, from the +strict league which he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders of +the spiritual power were always ready to come in aid of the magistrate, +or to supply his incapacity in cases which he could not reach. + +But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The +day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising +the standard of revolt, and by a combined movement on both sides of the +Wolga for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration, that should +wrap in a common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their +enemies, over the breadth and length of those great provinces in which +their flocks were dispersed. The year of the _tiger_ was now +within one little month of its commencement; the fifth morning of that +year was fixed for the fatal day, when the fortunes and happiness of a +whole nation were to be put upon the hazard of a dicer's throw; and as +yet that nation was in profound ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, +such was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to make +the revelation so urgently required. It was clear, however, that this +could not be delayed; and Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon +himself. But where or how should this notification be made, so as to +exclude Russian hearers? After some deliberation, the following plan +was adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should arrive in furious +haste, one upon the heels of another, reporting a sudden inroad of the +Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant about +one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, +according to immemorial custom, were required to send a separate +representative; and there, accordingly, within three days, all +appeared. The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the +rendezvous, the rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost +certain that no Russian could be present. Zebek-Dorchi then came +forward. He did not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an +immense sheet of parchment, visible from the outermost distance at +which any of this vast crowd could stand; the total number amounted to +eighty thousand; all saw, and many heard. They were told of the +oppressions of Russia; of her pride and haughty disdain, evidenced +towards them by a thousand acts; of her contempt for their religion; of +her determination to reduce them to absolute slavery; of the +preliminary measures she had already taken by erecting forts upon many +of the great rivers of their neighborhood; of the ulterior intentions +she thus announced to circumscribe their pastoral lands, until they +would all be obliged to renounce their flocks, and to collect in towns +like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical and servile trades of +shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the freeborn Tartar had always +disdained. 'Then again,' said the subtle prince, 'she increases her +military levies upon our population every year; we pour out our blood +as young men in her defence, or more often in support of her insolent +aggressions; and as old men, we reap nothing from our sufferings, nor +benefit by our survivorship where so many are sacrificed.' At this +point of his harangue, Zebek produced several papers, (forged, as it is +generally believed, by himself and the Lama,) containing projects of +the Russian court for a general transfer of the eldest sons, taken +_en masse_ from the greatest Kalmuck families, to the Imperial +court. 'Now let this be once accomplished,' he argued, 'and there is an +end of all useful resistance from that day forwards. Petitions we might +make, or even remonstrances; as men of words, we might play a bold +part; but for deeds, for that sort of language by which our ancestors +were used to speak; holding us by such a chain, Russia would make a +jest of our wishes,--knowing full well that we should not dare to make +any effectual movement.' + +Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast +audience, and having alarmed their fears by this pretended scheme +against their first-born, (an artifice which was indispensable to his +purpose, because it met beforehand _every_ form of amendment to +his proposal coming from the more moderate nobles, who would not +otherwise have failed to insist upon trying the effect of bold +addresses to the Empress, before resorting to any desperate extremity,) +Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of revolt, and, if so, of instant +revolt; since any preparations reported at St. Petersburg would be a +signal for the armies of Russia to cross into such positions from all +parts of Asia, as would effectually intercept their march. It is +remarkable, however, that, with all his audacity and his reliance upon +the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks, the subtle prince did not +venture, at this stage of his seduction, to make so startling a +proposal as that of a flight to China. All that he held out for the +present was a rapid march to the Temba or some other great river, which +they were to cross, and to take up a strong position on the further +bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security, they could hold +a bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would have a better +chance of winning a favorable audience. + +These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed +by acclamation; and all returned homewards, to push forward with the +most furious speed the preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid +and energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree they became +noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to be intermingled +with the different hordes, either on commercial errands, or as agents +officially from the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in +a diplomatic character. + +Amongst these last (indeed at the head of them) was a Russian of some +distinction, by name Kichinskoi, a man memorable for his vanity, and +memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. +This Kichinskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook +the conduct of the Kalmucks; he was styled the _Grand Pristaw_, or +Great Commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes +by this title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political +_surveillant_, combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, +gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might have given him +a far greater, had not his outrageous self-conceit, and his arrogant +confidence in his own authority, as due chiefly to his personal +qualities for command, led him into such harsh displays of power, and +menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon made him an object +of their profoundest malice. He had publicly insulted the Khan; and +upon making a communication to him to the effect that some reports +began to circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in +agitation to fly from the Imperial dominions, he had ventured to say,-- +'But this you dare not attempt; I laugh at such rumors; yes, Khan, I +laugh at them to the Empress; for you are a chained bear, and that you +know.' The Khan turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and the +Pristaw, foaming at the mouth, continued to utter, amongst those of the +Khan's attendants who staid behind, to catch his real sentiments in a +moment of unguarded passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could +suggest to the most presumptuous of fools. It was now ascertained that +suspicions _had_ arisen; but at the same time it was ascertained +that the Pristaw spoke no more than the truth in representing himself +to have discredited these suspicions. The fact was, that the mere +infatuation of vanity made him believe that nothing could go on +undetected by his all-piercing sagacity, and that no rebellion could +prosper when rebuked by his commanding presence. The Tartars, +therefore, pursued their preparations, confiding in the obstinate +blindness of the Grand Pristaw as in their perfect safeguard; and such +it proved--to his own ruin, as well as that of myriads beside. + +Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier upon courier +came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. +Petersburg, assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks +were in the very crisis of departure. These despatches came from the +Governor of Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to +Kichinskoi. Now, it happened that between this governor--a Russian +named Beketoff--and the Pristaw had been an ancient feud. The very name +of Beketoff inflamed his resentment; and no sooner did he see that +hated name attached to the despatch, than he felt himself confirmed in +his former views with tenfold bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of +the most pointed ridicule, against the new alarmist, pledging his own +head upon the visionariness of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not +to be put down by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he persisted in his +statements: the Russian Ministry were confounded by the obstinacy of +the disputants; and some were beginning even to treat the Governor of +Astrachan as a bore, and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors, when +the memorable day arrived, the fatal 5th of January, which for ever +terminated the dispute, and put a seal upon the earthly hopes and +fortunes of unnumbered myriads. The Governor of Astrachan was the first +to hear the news. Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant +vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his sledge, and, at +the rate of three hundred miles a day, pursued his route to St. +Petersburg, rushed into the Imperial presence,--announced the total +realization of his worst predictions,--and upon the confirmation of +this intelligence by subsequent despatches from many different posts on +the Wolga, he received an imperial commission to seize the person of +his deluded enemy, and to keep him in strict captivity. These orders +were eagerly fulfilled, and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards +expired of grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon; +a victim to his own immeasurable vanity, and the blinding self- +delusions of a presumption that refused all warning. + +The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps +even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness with which the +verification followed his reports. Precisely on the 5th of January, the +day so solemnly appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the +Kalmucks on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn +of day assembling by troops and squadrons, and in the tumultuous +movement of some great morning of battle. Tens of thousands continued +moving off the ground at every half-hour's interval. Women and +children, to the amount of two hundred thousand and upwards, were +placed upon wagons, or upon camels, and drew off by masses of twenty +thousand at once--placed under suitable escorts, and continually +swelled in numbers by other outlying bodies of the horde who kept +falling in at various distances upon the first and second day's march. +From sixty to eighty thousand of those who were the best mounted stayed +behind the rest of the tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder +more violent than prudence justified, or the amiable character of the +Khan could be supposed to approve. But in this, as in other instances, +he was completely overruled by the malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. +The first tempest of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged +itself upon their own habitations. But this, as cutting off all infirm +looking backward from the hardships of their march, had been thought so +necessary a measure by all the chieftains, that even Oubacha himself +was the first to authorize the act by his own example. He seized a +torch previously prepared with materials the most durable as well as +combustible, and steadily applied it to the timbers of his own palace. +Nothing was saved from the general wreck except the portable part of +the domestic utensils, and that part of the woodwork which could be +applied to the manufacture of the long Tartar lances. This chapter in +their memorable day's work being finished, and the whole of their +villages throughout a district of ten thousand square miles in one +simultaneous blaze, the Tartars waited for further orders. + +These, it was intended, should have taken a character of valedictory +vengeance, and thus have left behind to the Czarina a dreadful +commentary upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose of +Zebek-Dorchi that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of +every description, should be given up to pillage and destruction, and +such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants as might +naturally be expected from a fierce people already infuriated by the +spectacle of their own outrages, and by the bloody retaliations which +they must necessarily have provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, +was happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at the very +crisis of departure. It has been mentioned already that the motive for +selecting the depth of winter as the season of flight (which otherwise +was obviously the very worst possible) had been the impossibility of +effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on the west of +the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of +ice. For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had consented to +aggravate by a thousandfold the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight +over boundless tracts of country with women, children, and herds of +cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet, after all, it was lost. +The reason never has been explained satisfactorily, but the fact was +such. Some have said that the signals were not properly concerted for +marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying +whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks might not have +been suddenly interrupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed +that the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river, +and might even be generally insecure for the treading of heavy and +heavily-laden animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is, +that some accidental movements on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian +troops in the neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really +having no reference to them or their plans, had been construed into +certain signs that all was discovered; and that the prudence of the +Western chieftains, who, from situation, had never been exposed to +those intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of +the Eastern tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin. Be +the cause what it might, it is certain that the Western Kalmucks were +in some way prevented from forming the intended junction with their +brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was, that at least one +hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia. This +accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors universally from +the desolation which else awaited them. One general massacre and +conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the utter +extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had it +not been for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not +dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren under the first +impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy; for as +they were well aware of too many circumstances by which she might +discover the concurrence of the Western people in the general scheme of +revolt, they justly feared that she would thence infer their +concurrence also in the bloody events which marked its outset. + +Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for +gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which at +the moment they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed +the thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern +brethren in the first month of their sad flight, they would have +blessed Heaven for their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of +the first month were but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of +those which afterwards succeeded. + +For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the +most extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and +daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying +nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, may +have inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the +desolation would be sudden--like the flight of volleying lightning. +Those who were spared at first would generally be spared to the end; +those who perished would perish instantly. It is possible that the +French retreat from Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this +calamity in duration, though still a feeble and miniature approach; for +the French sufferings did not commence in good earnest until about one +month from the time of leaving Moscow; and though it is true that +afterwards the vials of wrath were emptied upon the devoted army for +six or seven weeks in succession, yet what is that to this Kalmuck +tragedy, which lasted for more than as many months? But the main +feature of horror, by which the Tartar march was distinguished from the +French, lies in the accompaniment of women [Footnote: Singular it is, +and not generally known, that Grecian women accompanied the +_Anabasis_ of the younger Cyrus and the subsequent Retreat of the +Ten Thousand. Xenophon affirms that there were 'many' women in the +Greek army--pollai aesun etairai en tosratenaeazi; and in a late stage +of that trying expedition it is evident that women were amongst the +survivors.] and children. There were both, it is true, with the French +army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the total numbers +concerned. The French, in short, were merely an army--a host of +professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed, and whose +regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a +nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty +thousand women and children, utterly unequal, for the most part, to any +contest with the calamities before them. The Children of Israel were +in the same circumstances as to the accompaniment of their families; +but they were released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very +early stage of their flight; and their subsequent residence in the +Desert was not a march, but a continued halt, and under a continued +interposition of Heaven for their comfortable support. Earthquakes, +again, however comprehensive in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's +duration. A much nearer approach made to the wide range and the long +duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may have been in a pestilence such as +that which visited Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the +reign of Charles II. There also the martyrs were counted by myriads, +and the period of the desolation was counted by months. But, after all, +the total amount of destruction was on a smaller scale; and there was +this feature of alleviation to the _conscious_ pressure of the +calamity--that the misery was withdrawn from public notice into private +chambers and hospitals. The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his +son, taken in its entire circumstances, comes nearest of all--for +breadth and depth of suffering, for duration, for the exasperation of +the suffering from without by internal feuds, and, finally, for that +last most appalling expression of the furnace-heat of the anguish in +its power to extinguish the natural affections even of maternal love. +But, after all, each case had circumstances of romantic misery peculiar +to itself--circumstances without precedent, and (wherever human nature +is ennobled by Christianity) it may be confidently hoped--never to be +repeated. + +The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be +encouraged, was the river Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles +from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and if the march thither +was to be a forced one, and a severe one, it was alleged on the other +hand that the suffering would be the more brief and transient; one +summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced the +march was, and severe beyond example: there the forewarning proved +correct; but the promised rest proved a mere phantom of the wilderness +--a visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes, across +these interminable solitudes, for seven months of hardship and +calamity, without a pause. These sufferings, by their very nature, and +the circumstances under which they arose, were (like the scenery of the +_Steppes_) somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external +features: what variety, however, there was, will be most naturally +exhibited by tracing historically the successive stages of the general +misery, exactly as it unfolded itself under the double agency of +weakness still increasing from within, and hostile pressure from +without. Viewed in this manner, under the real order of development, it +is remarkable that these sufferings of the Tartars, though under the +moulding hands of accident, arrange themselves almost with a scenical +propriety. They seem combined, as with the skill of an artist; the +intensity of the misery advancing regularly with the advances of the +march, and the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages of +the route; so that, upon raising the curtain which veils the great +catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of anguish, towering upwards by +regular gradations, as if constructed artificially for picturesque +effect:--a result which might not have been surprising, had it been +reasonable to anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an +accelerated rate, as prevailing through the later stages of the +expedition. But it seemed, on the contrary, most reasonable to +calculate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion according to +the increasing distance from the head-quarters of the pursuing enemy. +This calculation, however, was defeated by the extraordinary +circumstance, that the Russian armies did not begin to close in very +fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had accomplished a distance +of full two thousand miles; one thousand miles further on the assaults +became even more tumultuous and murderous; and already the great +shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when the frenzy and +_acharnement_ of the pursuers, and the bloody desperation of the +miserable fugitives had reached its uttermost extremity. Let us briefly +rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending steps +of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route marked +out by the central rivers of Asia. + +The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; +the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days. +For the first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about +forty-three English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing; +and, at a more moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been +accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy as the +Kalmucks: as it was, the cattle suffered greatly from overdriving: milk +began to fail even for the children: the sheep perished by wholesale: +and the children themselves were saved only by the innumerable camels. + +The Cossacks, who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik, were the first +among the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. +Great was their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great +also their consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by +far the greater part of their number was absent during the winter +months at the fisheries upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to +surprise at the most exposed points, fled in crowds to the fortress of +Koulagina, which was immediately invested, and summoned by Oubacha. He +had, however, in his train only a few light pieces of artillery; and +the Russian commandant at Koulagina, being aware of the hurried +circumstances in which the Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the +very edge, as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these +considerations to a more obstinate resistance than might else have been +advisable, with an enemy so little disposed to observe the usages of +civilized warfare. The period of his anxiety was not long: on the fifth +day of the siege, he descried from the walls a succession of Tartar +couriers, mounted upon fleet Bactrian camels, crossing the vast plains +around the fortress at a furious pace, and riding into the Kalmuck +encampment at various points. Great agitation appeared immediately to +follow; orders were soon after despatched in all directions: and it +became speedily known that upon a distant flank of the Kalmuck movement +a bloody and exterminating battle had been fought the day before, in +which one entire tribe of the Khan's dependents, numbering not less +than nine thousand fighting men, had perished to the last man. This was +the _ouloss_, or clan, called _Feka-Zechorr_, between whom and +the Cossacks there was a feud of ancient standing. In selecting, +therefore, the points of attack, on occasion of the present hasty +inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally eager so to direct their +efforts as to combine with the service of the Empress some +gratification to their own party hatreds; more especially as the +present was likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if the +Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated as +large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances allowed, they attacked +the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation which denied to it all +means for communicating with Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding +an ample range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast +flocks and herds, had separated this _ouloss_ from the Khan's +head-quarters by an interval of eighty miles: and thus it was, and not +from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely upon its own +resources. These had proved insufficient; retreat, from the exhausted +state of their horses and camels, no less than from the prodigious +encumbrances of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question: +quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not have been granted +on the other; and thus it had happened that the setting sun of that one +day (the 13th from the first opening of the revolt) threw his parting +rays upon the final agonies of an ancient _ouloss_, stretched upon +a bloody field, who on that day's dawning had held and styled +themselves an independent nation. + +Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the +Khan's encampment by this disastrous intelligence; not so much on +account of the numbers slain, or the total extinction of a powerful +ally, as because the position of the Cossack force was likely to put to +hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard, and +hold them in check, until the heavier columns of the Russian army +should arrive upon their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly +raised; and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and +their children, once again resounded through the tents--the signal for +flight, and this time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one +hundred and fifty miles ahead of their present position, there arose a +tract of hilly country, forming a sort of margin to the vast, sea-like +expanse of champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy +deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin both +eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in the centre of this hilly +range, lay a narrow defile, through which passed the nearest and the +most practicable route to the river Torgai (the further bank of which +river offered the next great station of security for a general halt.) +It was the more essential to gain this pass before the Cossacks, +inasmuch as not only would the delay in forcing the pass give time to +the Russian pursuing columns for combining their attacks and for +bringing up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in +pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held by those best +acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography of these pathless +steppes--that the loss of this one narrow strait amongst the hills +would have the effect of throwing them (as their only alternative in a +case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit of +at least five hundred miles extra; besides that, after all, this +circuitous route would carry them to the Torgai at a point ill fitted +for the passage of their heavy baggage. The defile in the hills, +therefore, it was resolved to gain; and yet, unless they moved upon it +with the velocity of light cavalry, there was little chance but it +would be found pre-occupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had +suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with their enemies; +but the excitement of victory, and the intense sympathy with their +unexampled triumph, had again swelled their ranks--and would probably +act with the force of a vortex to draw in their simple countrymen from +the Caspian. The question, therefore, of pre-occupation was reduced to +a race. The Cossacks were marching upon an oblique line not above fifty +miles longer than that which led to the same point from the Kalmuck +head-quarters before Koulagina: and therefore without the most furious +haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not a chance for them, +burdened and 'trashed' [Footnote: _'Trashed'_--This is an expressive +word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Bonduca, etc., to describe +the case of a person retarded and embarrassed in flight, or in pursuit, +by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable to be left +behind.] as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the +Cossacks in seizing this important pass. + +Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition +of the case. For they easily understood that too capital an interest +(the _summa rerum_) was now at stake to allow of any regard to +minor interests, or what would be considered such in their present +circumstances. The dreadful week already passed,--their inauguration in +misery,--was yet fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffering +were impressed not only upon their memories, but upon their very +persons and the persons of their children. And they knew that where no +speed had much chance of meeting the cravings of the chieftains, no +test would be accepted, short of absolute exhaustion, that as much had +been accomplished as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian +captive, has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the women and +elder boys assisted in drawing the tent-ropes. On the 5th of January +all had been animation, and the joyousness of indefinite expectation: +now, on the contrary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to +take an amended calculation of what it was that lay before them. + +One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight +continued: the sufferings had been greater than before: for the cold +had been more intense: and many perished out of the living creatures +through every class, except only the camels--whose powers of endurance +seemed equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, +brought an alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall: and +though not deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would +be so; and that, as a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no +plan could be better than that of staying where they were: especially +as the same cause would check the advance of the Cossacks. Here then +was the last interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy nation +during their whole migration. For ten days the snow continued to fall +with little intermission. At the end of that time keen bright frosty +weather succeeded: the drifting had ceased: in three days the smooth +expanse became firm enough to support the treading of the camels, and +the flight was recommenced. But during the halt much domestic comfort +had been enjoyed: and for the last time universal plenty. The cows and +oxen had perished in such vast numbers on the previous marches, that an +order was now issued to turn what remained to account by slaughtering +the whole, and salting whatever part should be found to exceed the +immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene of general +banqueting and even of festivity amongst all who were not incapacitated +for joyous emotions by distress of mind, by grief for the unhappy +experience of the few last days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy +future. Seventy thousand persons of all ages had already perished; +exclusively of the many thousand allies who had been cut down by the +Cossack sabre. And the losses in reversion were likely to be many more. +For rumors began now to arrive from all quarters, by the mounted +couriers whom the Khan had despatched to the rear and to each flank as +well as in advance, that large masses of the Imperial troops were +converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords of the river +Torgai as the most convenient point for intercepting the flying tribes: +and it was already well known that a powerful division was close in +their rear, and was retarded only by the numerous artillery which had +been judged necessary to support their operations. New motives were +thus daily arising for quickening the motions of the wretched Kalmucks, +and for exhausting those who were previously but too much exhausted. + +It was not until the 2d day of February that the Khan's advanced guard +came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, +in which they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A +pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, pre-occupied the +pass by some hours; but the Khan having too great advantages, namely, a +strong body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on +about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which he +had not yet been forced to abandon, soon began to make a serious +impression upon this unsupported detachment; and they would probably at +any rate have retired; but at the very moment when they were making +some dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear +with a body of trained riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in +the war with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over +the cliffs which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the dry +beds of the summer torrents, and other inequalities of the ground, to +conceal their movement. Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in +the Cossack files; the Khan, who had been waiting with the _elite_ +of his heavy cavalry, charged furiously upon them; total overthrow +followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some measure +avenged the recent bloody extermination of their allies, the ancient +_ouloss_ of Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were +unable to support the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of +trained _cameleers_ (that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); +hardy they were, but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in +weight; and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days to +gain their present position, had greatly diminished their powers for +effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, _did_ escape; and the +bloody day of Ouchim became as memorable amongst the Cossacks as that +which, about twenty days before, had signalized the complete +annihilation of the Faka-Zechorr. [Footnote: There was another _ouloss_ +equally strong with that of _Feka-Zechorr_, viz., that of Erketunn, +under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom some obligations of +treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general conspiracy of +revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means to assure the +Governor of Astrachan, on the first outbreak of the insurrection, that +their real wishes were for maintaining the old connection with Russia. +The Cossacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit was intrusted, had +instructions to act cautiously and according to circumstances on coming +up with them. The result was, through the prudent management of +Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising their pride or +independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied the Cossacks; +and eventually both chiefs and people received from the Czarina the +rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity.] + +The road was now open to the river Igritch, and as yet even far beyond +it to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue, was +every day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a +large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon the +Torgau, under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to +be joined on his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the +same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks--both +exasperated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which Oubacha +and Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots +as served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore +with submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been +imposed; and, accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present +occasion offered to their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the +Czarina of their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same +time a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant to +execute them, viz., 'That they would not trouble her Majesty with +prisoners.' + +Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks +with the regular armies of Russia, and concurrently with nations as +fierce and semi-humanized as themselves, besides that they were stung +into threefold activity by the furies of mortified pride and military +abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more +especially the artillery, of Russia, were far too overwhelming to +permit the thought of a regular opposition in pitched battles, even +with a less dilapidated state of their resources than they could +reasonably expect at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In +their speed lay their only hope--in strength of foot, as before, and +not in strength of arm. Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, +marking the lines of their wide-extending march over the sad solitudes +of the steppes by a never-ending chain of corpses. The old and the +young, the sick man on his couch, the mother with her baby--all were +left behind. Sights such as these, with the many rueful aggravations +incident to the helpless condition of infancy--of disease and of female +weakness abandoned to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness, continued +to track their course through a space of full two thousand miles; for +so much at the least, it was likely to prove, including the circuits to +which they were often compelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the +point of starting on the Wolga until they could reach their destined +halting-ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first seven +weeks of this march their sufferings had been embittered by the +excessive severity of the cold; and every night--so long as wood was to +be had for fires, either from the lading of the camels, or from the +desperate sacrifice of their baggage-wagons, or (as occasionally +happened) from the forests which skirted the banks of the many rivers +which crossed their path--no spectacle was more frequent than that of a +circle, composed of men, women, and children, gathered by hundreds +round a central fire, all dead and stiff at the return of morning +light. Myriads were left behind from pure exhaustion of whom none had a +chance, under the combined evils which beset them, of surviving through +the next twenty-four hours. Frost, however, and snow at length ceased +to persecute; the vast extent of the march at length brought them into +more genial latitudes, and the unusual duration of the march was +gradually bringing them into the more genial seasons of the year: Two +thousand miles had at least been traversed; February, March, April were +gone; the balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and sounds came +from every side to comfort the heart-weary travellers; and at last, in +the latter end of May, they crossed the Torgau, and took up a position +where they hoped to find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in +comfort as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from the +fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered forces to a +condition for executing, with less of wreck and ruin, the large +remainder of the journey. + +Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been +completed, but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific +sacrifice of at least two hundred and fifty thousand souls, to say +nothing of herds and flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: +ox, cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived--only the +camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of +some antediluvian animals, without the affections or sensibilities of +flesh and blood--these only still erected their speaking eyes to the +eastern heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this long +tempest of trial unscathed and unharmed. The Khan, knowing how much he +was individually answerable for the misery which had been sustained, +must have wept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes when he +threw his eyes over the myriads whom he had assembled: for the tears of +Xerxes were unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in his +power he resolved to make by sacrifices to the general good of all +personal regards; and accordingly, even at this point of their advance, +he once more deliberately brought under review the whole question of +the revolt. The question was formally debated before the Council, +whether, even at this point, they should untread their steps, and, +throwing themselves upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old +allegiance? In that case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become +the scapegoat for the general transgression. This, he argued, was no +fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited +and sacred power of the Khan, so well known to the Empress, made it +absolutely iniquitous to attribute any separate responsibility to the +people--upon the Khan rested the guilt, upon the Khan would descend +the Imperial vengeance. This proposal was applauded for its generosity, +but was energetically opposed by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the +whole journey of two thousand miles? Was their misery to perish without +fruit; true it was that they had yet reached only the half-way house; +but, in that respect, the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or +for advance. Either way they would have pretty nearly the same distance +to traverse, but with this difference--that, forwards, their rout lay +through lands comparatively fertile--backwards, through a blasted +wilderness, rich only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to +Kalmuck eyes by the trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the +Empress might accept an excuse for the past, would she the less forbear +to suspect for the future? The Czarina's _pardon_ they might obtain, +but could they ever hope to recover her _confidence_? Doubtless there +would now be a standing presumption against them, an immortal ground of +jealousy; and a jealous government would be but another name for a +harsh one. Finally, whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt +surely remained unimpaired by anything that had occurred. In reality +the revolt was, after all, no revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return +to their old allegiance, since, not above one hundred and fifty years +ago (viz., in the year 1616,) their ancestors had revolted from the +Emperor of China. They had now tried both governments; and for them +China was the land of promise, and Russia the house of bondage. + +Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the +people was strongly in behalf of the Khan's proposal; the pardon of +their prince, they persuaded themselves, would be readily conceded by +the Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time +have thrown themselves gladly upon the Imperial mercy; when suddenly +all was defeated by the arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This +general had reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, +on the 12th of April; thence he set forwards towards Oriembourg, which +he reached upon the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at +various times through the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps of +ten thousand Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official +offer to the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory, holding out no +specific stipulations as to pardon or impunity, and exacting +unconditional submission as the preliminary price of any cessation from +military operations. The personal character of Traubenberg, which was +anything but energetic, and the condition of his army, disorganized in +a great measure by the length and severity of the march, made it +probable that, with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory +tone would have been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister +events occurred in the meantime, such as effectually put an end to +every hope of the kind. + +The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this officer +that a distance of only ten days' march lay between his own head- +quarters and those of the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the +Kirghises, by their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the +Russian general to advance without delay. Once having placed his cannon +in position, so as to command the Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel +Khan and his people would be in his own hands; and they would +themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however, _why_ +has not been certainly explained, refused to march, grounding his +refusal upon the condition of his army, and their absolute need of +refreshment. Long and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing +no chance of prevailing, and dreading above all other events the escape +of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off in a body by +forced marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed by +swimming their horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed +for many a league in search of food or provender for their camels. The +first day's action was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, +diffused over a field of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party +often breaking up into three or four, and again (according to the +accidents of ground) three or four blending into one; flight and +pursuit, rescue and total overthrow, going on simultaneously, under all +varieties of form, in all quarters of the plain. The Bashkirs had found +themselves obliged, by the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up +into innumerable sections; and thus, for some hours, it had been +impossible for the most practised eye to collect the general tendency +of the day's fortune. Both the Khan and Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment +made prisoners, and more than once in imminent danger of being cut +down; but at length Zebek succeeded in rallying a strong column of +infantry, which, with the support of the camel-corps on each flank, +compelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild +cavalry continued to arrive through the next two days and nights, +followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed as the +advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kalmuck chieftains saw no +hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it happened that a +retreat, which had so recently been brought to a pause, was resumed at +the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were anticipating a deep +repose without further molestation, the whole summer through. + +It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to +the Kalmucks; and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they +were rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of +summer's heat could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this +sequel of their story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing +a little romantic episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha +and his unprincipled cousin Zebek-Dorchi. + +There was at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian +gentleman of some rank at the court of the Khan, whom, for political +reasons, it was thought necessary to carry along with them as a +captive. For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in +one or two instances cruel. But, as the increasing distance was +continually diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as +the misery of the guards gradually withdrew their attention from all +minor interests to their own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the +custody grew more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a petition to +the Khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored to liberty; and it was +understood that he might use his liberty in whatever way he chose, even +for returning to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he +was making active preparations for his journey to St. Petersburg, when +it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that, not improbably, in some of the +battles which were then anticipated with Traubenberg, it might happen +to them to lose some prisoner of rank, in which case the Russian +Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands for negotiating an exchange. +Upon this plea, to his own severe affliction, the Russian was detained +until the further pleasure of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was +used through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with so little +concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private audience +humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done him, and the cruelty of +thus sporting with his feelings by setting him at liberty, and, as it +were, tempting him into dreams of home and restored happiness only for +the purpose of blighting them, the good-natured prince disclaimed all +participation in the affair, and went so far in proving his sincerity +as even to give him permission to effect his escape; and, as a ready +means of commencing it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to +Mr. Weseloff that he had just then received a message from the Hetman +of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview on the banks of the +Torgau at a spot pointed out; that interview was arranged for the +coming night; and Mr. Weseloff might go in the Khan's _suite_, +which on either side was not to exceed three persons. Weseloff was a +prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read treachery in the +very outline of this scheme, as stated by the Khan--treachery against +the Khan's person. He mused a little, and then communicated so much of +his suspicions to the Khan as might put him on his guard; but, upon +further consideration, he begged leave to decline the honor of +accompanying the Khan. The fact was, that three Kalmucks, who had +strong motives for returning to their countrymen on the west bank of +the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered to join him +in his escape. These men the Khan would probably find himself obliged +to countenance in their project; so that it became a point of honor +with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to accomplish +the evasion from the camp, (of which the first steps only would be +hazardous,) without risking the notice of the Khan. + +The district in which they were now encamped abounded, through many +hundred miles, with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each +of the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited +creatures in the course of the last few days; this raised no suspicion; +for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of provision +against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These +horses were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets +which lined the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at +night, the four fugitives repaired; they took a circuitous path, which +drew them as little as possible within danger of challenge from any of +the outposts or of the patrols which had been established on the +quarters where the Bashkirs lay; and in three quarters of an hour they +reached the rendezvous. The moon had now risen, the horses were +unfastened, and they were in the act of mounting, when the deep silence +of the woods was disturbed by a violent uproar, and the clashing of +arms. Weseloff fancied that he heard the voice of the Khan shouting for +assistance. He remembered the communication made by that prince in the +morning; and requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in +the direction of the sound. A very short distance brought him to an +open glade in the wood, where he beheld four men contending with a +party of at least nine or ten. Two of the four were dismounted at the +very instant of Weseloff's arrival; one of these he recognized almost +certainly as the Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, but at great +disadvantage, with two of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that no time was +to be lost, Weseloff fired, and brought down one of the two. His +companions discharged their carbines at the same moment, and then all +rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The thundering sound +of about thirty horses, all rushing at once into a narrow space, gave +the impression that a whole troop of cavalry was coming down upon the +assailants; who, accordingly, wheeled about and fled with one impulse. +Weseloff advanced to the dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, +proved to be the Khan. The man whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; +and both were shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on +stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize a well known +confidential servant of Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. +The Khan rode off, escorted by Weseloff and his companions, and for +some time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was +delicate and critical; to leave the Khan at this point was probably to +cancel their recent services; for he might be again crossed on his +path, and again attacked by the very party from whom he had just been +delivered. Yet, on the other hand, to return to the camp was to +endanger the chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan also was +apparently revolving all this in his mind, for at length he broke +silence, and said--'I comprehend your situation; and, under other +circumstances, I might feel it my duty to detain your companions. But +it would ill become me to do so after the important service you have +just rendered me. Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you +see the watchfire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then safe. You +may turn and pursue your enterprise; for the circumstances under which +you will appear, as my escort, are sufficient to shield you from all +suspicion for the present. I regret having no better means at my +disposal for testifying my gratitude. But tell me, before we part, was +it accident only which led you to my rescue? Or had you acquired any +knowledge of the plot by which I was decoyed into this snare?' Weseloff +answered very candidly that mere accident had brought him to the spot +at which he heard the uproar, but that _having_ heard it, and +connecting it with the Khan's communication of the morning, he had then +designedly gone after the sound in a way which he certainly should not +have done at so critical a moment, unless in the expectation of finding +the Khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after they reached the +outpost at which it became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain; and +immediately the four fugitives commenced a flight which is perhaps +without a parallel in the annals of travelling. Each of them led six or +seven horses besides the one he rode; and by shifting from one to the +other (like the ancient _Desultors_ of the Roman circus,) so as +never to burden the same horse for more than half an hour at a time, +they continued to advance at the rate of two hundred miles in the +twenty-four hours for three days consecutively. After that time, +considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded less rapidly; +though still with a velocity which staggered the belief of Weseloff's +friends in after years. He was, however, a man of high principle, and +always adhered firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the +circumstances there stated is, that they continued to pursue the route +by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for an instant finding any +difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons and other memorials of their +calamities. In particular, he mentions vast heaps of money as part of +the valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice. These +heaps were found lying still untouched in the deserts. From these, +Weseloff and his companions took as much as they could conveniently +carry; and this it was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which +they afterwards sold at one of the Russian military settlements for +about L15 a-piece, which eventually enabled them to pursue their +journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded Weseloff in particular, +was closed by a tragical catastrophe. He was at that time young, and +the only child of a doating mother. Her affliction under the violent +abduction of her son had been excessive, and probably had undermined +her constitution. Still she had supported it. Weseloff, giving way to +the natural impulses of his filial affection, had imprudently posted +through Russia, to his mother's house without warning of his approach. +He rushed precipitately into her presense; and she, who had stood the +shocks of sorrow, was found unequal to the shock of joy too sudden and +too acute. She died upon the spot. + +We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. These it would +be useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand +miles of suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering +was even more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but +also more severe. Its main elements were excessive heat, with the +accompaniments of famine and thirst, but aggravated at every step by +the murderous attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the +Kirghises. + +These people, 'more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,' stuck to +the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of enraged hornets. And very often +whilst _they_ were attacking them in the rear, their advanced +parties and flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people +of the country which they were traversing; and with good reason, since +the law of self-preservation had now obliged the fugitive Tartars to +plunder provisions, and to forage wherever they passed. In this respect +their condition was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for, +sometimes, pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of perhaps a +hundred miles, in order to strike into a land rich in the comforts of +life; but in such a land they were sure to find a crowded population, +of which every arm was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the +advantages of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of all +the defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges. Sometimes, +again, wearied out with this mode of suffering, they took a circuit of +perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land with few or no +inhabitants. But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute +starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of +starvation, whether with or without this plague of hostility in front, +whatever might he the 'fierce varieties' of their misery in this +respect, no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet +atra cura_; it was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. +And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented +in the history of mankind. Private and personal malignity is not +unfrequently immortal; but rare indeed is it to find the same +pertinacity of malice in a nation. And what embittered the interest +was, that the malice was reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon +equal terms; but that equality only sharpened the sense of their dire +inequality as to other circumstances. The Bashkirs were ready to fight +'from morn to dewy eve.' The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always +obliged to run; was it _from_ their enemies, as creatures whom +they feared? No; but _towards_ their friends--towards that final +haven of China--as what was hourly implored by their wives, and the +tears of their children. But though they fled unwillingly, too often +they fled in vain--being unwillingly recalled. There lay the torment. +Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day the same unprofitable +battle was renewed; as a matter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part +of their advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle raged for +hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no sooner did the +Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that the Kalmuck +march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired into the +boundless deserts where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks +resolved to press forward, regardless of their enemies, in that case +their attacks became so fierce and overwhelming, that the general +safety seemed likely to be brought into question; nor could any +effectual remedy be applied to the case, even for each separate day, +except by a most embarrassing halt, and by countermarches, that, to men +in their circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not be +surprising, that the irritation of such a systematic persecution, +superadded to a previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the +stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual +vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into +the wildest expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long +before the frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both +sides had assumed the appearance much more of a warfare amongst wild +beasts than amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or +the claims of a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it +was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends. + +On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the +Emperor of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier +district lying on the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred +square leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in +woods of ancient growth, and overrun with game of every description. In +a central spot of this solitary region, the Emperor had built a +gorgeous hunting-lodge, to which he resorted annually for recreation +and relief from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of +game, he had rambled to a distance of two hundred miles or more from +this lodge, followed at a little distance by a sufficient military +escort, and every night pitching his tent in a different situation, +until at length he had arrived on the very margin of the vast central +deserts of Asia. [Footnote: All the circumstances are learned from a +long state paper upon the subject of this Kalmuck migration, drawn up +in the Chinese language by the Emperor himself. Parts of this paper +have been translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor states the +whole motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great length.] +Here he was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, +enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there +arose a vast cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and +seemed to be slowly diffusing itself over the whole face of the +heavens. By-and-by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken towards the +horizon, and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite +assembled from all quarters. The silver trumpets were sounded in the +rear, and from all the glades and forest avenues began to trot forward +towards the pavilion the yagers, half cavalry, half huntsmen, who +composed the Imperial escort. Conjecture was on the stretch to divine +the cause of this phenomenon, and the interest continually increased, +in proportion as simple curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety +of uncertain danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast +troops of deer, or other wild animals of the chase, had been disturbed +in their forest haunts by the Emperor's movements, or possibly by wild +beasts prowling for prey, and might be fetching a compass by way of re- +entering the forest grounds at some remoter points secure from +molestation. But this conjecture was dissipated by the slow increase of +the cloud, and the steadiness of its motion. In the course of two hours +the vast phenomenon had advanced to a point which was judged to be +within five miles of the spectators, though all calculations of +distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when applied to the +endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next hour, during +which the gentle morning breeze had a little freshened, the dusty vapor +had developed itself far and wide into the appearance of huge aerial +draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the earth; and at +particular points, where the eddies of the breeze acted upon the +pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains rents were perceived, +sometimes taking the form of regular arches, portals, and windows, +through which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 'indorsed' +[Footnote: _Camels 'indorsed;'_--'And elephants indorsed with +towers.' MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.] with human beings--and at +intervals the moving of men and horses, in tumultuous array--and then, +through other openings or vistas, at far distant points, the flashing +of polished arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened or died away, +all those openings, of whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly +close, and for a time the whole pageant was shut up from view; although +the growing din, the clamors, the shrieks and groans, ascending from +infuriated myriads, reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, +what was going on behind the cloudy screen. + +It was in fact the Kalmuck host, now in the last extremities of their +exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation +and intense misery, beyond which few or none could have lived, but +also, happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) +that final stage of their long pilgrimage, at which they would meet +hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence, and full protection from +their enemies. These enemies, however, as yet still were hanging on +their rear as fiercely as ever, though this day was destined to be the +last of their hideous persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward +couriers with all the requisite statements and petitions, addressed to +the Emperor of China. These had been duly received, and preparations +made in consequence to welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal +benevolence. But as these couriers had been despatched from the Torgau +at the moment of arrival thither, and before the advance of Traubenberg +had made it necessary for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the +flight, the Emperor had not looked for their arrival on their frontier +until full three months after the present time. The Khan had indeed +expressly notified his intention to pass the summer heats on the banks +of the Torgau, and to recommence his retreat about the beginning of +September. The subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long, +left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation to be put +upon this mighty apparition in the desert; but at length the savage +clamors of hostile fury, and the clangor of weapons, unveiled to the +Emperor the true nature of those unexpected calamities which had so +prematurely precipitated the Kalmuck measure. + +Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived +that the first act of his fatherly care for these erring children (as +he esteemed them) now returning to their ancient obedience, must be-- +to deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than +might have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well +appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment of artillery, who always +attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime +it occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to +the Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy; and +accordingly he was induced to retire a little to the rear. It soon +appeared, however, to those who watched the vapory shroud in the +desert, that its motion was not such as would argue the direction of +the march to be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in a diagonal +line, making an angle of full forty-five degrees with that line in +which the Imperial _cortege_ had been standing, and therefore with +a distance continually increasing. Those who knew the country judged +that the Kalmucks were making for a large fresh-water lake about seven +or eight miles distant; they were right; and to that point the Imperial +cavalry was ordered up; and it was precisely in that spot, and about +three hours after and at noon-day on the 8th of September, that the +great Exodus of the Kalmuck Tartars was brought to a final close, and +with a scene of such memorable and hellish fury, as formed an +appropriate winding-up to an expedition in all its parts and details so +awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not personally present, or at least +he saw whatever he _did_ see from too great a distance to +discriminate its individual features; but he records in his written +memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of his own +officers. + +The lake of Tengis, near the frightful desert of Kobi, lay in a hollow +amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three +thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese +cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like +dip in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. From this +pass, elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, +they continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an +hour and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were +compelled to be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. +The Kalmucks, reduced by this time from about six hundred thousand +souls to two hundred thousand, and after enduring for two months and a +half the miseries we have previously described--outrageous heat, +famine, and the destroying scimitar of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs, +had for the last ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no +vestiges were seen of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found. +Camels and men were already so overladen, that it was a mere +impossibility that they should carry a tolerable sufficiency for the +passage of this frightful wilderness. On the eighth day the wretched +daily allowance, which had been continually diminishing, failed +entirely; and thus for two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors +of thirst had been carried to the fiercest extremity. Upon this last +morning, at the sight of the hills and the forest scenery, which +announced to those who acted as guides the neighborhood of the lake of +Tengis, all the people rushed along with maddening eagerness to the +anticipated solace. The day grew hotter and hotter, the people more and +more exhausted, and gradually, in the general rush forwards to the +lake, all discipline and command were lost--all attempts to preserve a +rear-guard were neglected--the wild Bashkirs rode in amongst the +encumbered people, and slaughtered them by wholesale, and almost +without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts proclaimed the +progress of the massacre; but none heeded--none halted; all alike, +pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to the +waters--all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver, +and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was affected +by the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery as +the wretched Kalmuck; the murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic +misery as his murdered victim--many indeed (an ordinary effect of +thirst) in both nations had become lunatic--and in this state, whilst +mere multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to +the destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; +and to that the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together +continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one +almighty instinct. This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening +appetite lasted for a single minute; but in the next arose the final +scene of parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary +lake were instantly dyed red with blood and gore; here rode a party of +savage Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swathes fall before +the mower's scythe; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death-grapple +with their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and +oftentimes both sinking together below the surface, from weakness, or +from struggles, and perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at +any point collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the +assault? Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode +them, generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were +forced into a share in this carnival of murder, by trampling down as +many as they could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore-legs. +Every moment the water grew more polluted: and yet every moment fresh +myriads came up to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their +frantic thirst, and swallowing large draughts of water, visibly +contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered compatriots. +Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough to allow of men raising their +heads above the water, there for scores of acres were to be seen all +forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of convulsion, +of mortal conflict, death, and the fear of death--revenge, and the +lunacy of revenge--hatred, and the frenzy of hatred--until the neutral +spectators, of whom there were not a few, now descending the eastern +side of the lake, at length averted their eyes in horror. This horror, +which seemed incapable of further addition, was, however, increased by +an unexpected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to perceive here and +there the approach of the Chinese cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever +they were sufficiently at leisure from the passions of the murderous +scene--to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the governor of a +small Chinese fort, built upon an eminence above the lake; and +immediately he threw in a broadside, which spread havoc amongst the +Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs collected into 'globes' and +'turms' as their only means of meeting the long line of descending +Chinese cavalry--so often did the Chinese governor of the fort pour in +his exterminating broadside; until at length the lake at the lower end, +became one vast seething cauldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The +Chinese cavalry had reached the foot of the hills: the Bashkirs, +attentive to their movements, had formed; skirmishes had been fought: +and, with a quick sense that the contest was henceforwards rapidly +becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises began to retire. The +pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would have desired. +But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could not but find, in +their own dreadful experience of the Asiatic deserts, and in the +certainty that these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat that same +experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted +by a retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty--not the very +gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting, but found in all +this a retaliatory chastisement more complete and absolute than any +which their swords and lances could have obtained, or human vengeance +could have devised. + +Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the Desert; for any +subsequent marches which awaited them, were neither long nor painful. +Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exhausted bodies +had been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely +munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to +them in ample extent along the river Ily, not very far from the point +at which they had first emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the +beneficent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in his +own words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit +missionaries:--"La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_) arriva +a Ily, toute _delabree_, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vetir. +Je l'avais prevu; et j'avais ordonne de faire en tout genre les +provisions necessaires pour pouvoir les secourir promptement; c'est ce +qui a ete execute. On a fait la division des terres; et on a assigne a +chaque famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir a son +entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On +a donne a chaque particulier des etoffes pour l'habiller, des grains +pour se nourrir pendant l'espace d'une annee, des ustensiles pour le +menage et d'autres choses necessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces +d'argent, pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a designe +des lieux particuliers, fertiles en paturages; et on leur a donne des +boeufs, moutons, &c. pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite travailler par +euxmemes a leur entretien et a leur bienetre." + +These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person +of his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same +subject, records the munificence of this prince in terms which proclaim +still more forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and +the delicate considerateness which conducted this extensive bounty. He +has been speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils +arriverent sur nos frontieres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de +mille), quoique la fatigue extreme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les +autres incommodites inseparables d'une tres-longue et tres penible +route en eussent fait perir presque autant, ils etaient reduits a la +derniere misere: ils manquaient de tout. Il" (viz. l'Empereur, Kien +Long) "leur fit preparer des logemens conformes a leur maniere de +vivre; il leur fit distribuer des aliments et des habits; il leur fit +donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en +etat de former des troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, _et tout cela a +ses propres frais_, qui se sont montes a des sommes immenses, sans +compter l'argent qu'il a donne a chaque chef-de-famille, pour pourvoir +a la subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans." + +Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks were replaced +in territorial possessions, and in comfort equal perhaps, or even +superior, to that which they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior +political advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no +longer the same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered +in quality; for instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people, +they were now in circumstances which obliged them to become essentially +dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social rank, that by +the natural course of their habits and the necessities of life they +were effectually reclaimed from roving, and from the savage customs +connected with so unsettled a life. They gained also in political +privileges, chiefly through the immunity from military service which +their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were circumstances of +advantage and gain. But one great disadvantage there was, amply to +overbalance all other possible gain; the chances were lost or were +removed to an incalculable distance for their conversion to +Christianity, without which in these times there is no absolute advance +possible on the path of true civilization. + +One word remains to be said upon the _personal_ interests +concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was +remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all his goodness and incapacity +of suspecting, had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the +Torgau, felt his mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the +man that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so +visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing of Zebek-Dorchi, and a +displeasure which all his dissimulation could not hide. This had +produced a feud, which, by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the +life of Oubacha; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than +his open enmity. After the settlement on the Ily this feud continued to +advance, until it came under the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of +a visit which all the Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his +hunting-lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately of all +the particulars connected with the transaction--of all the rights and +claims put forward--and of the way in which they would severally affect +the interests of the Kalmuck people. The consequence was, that he +adopted the cause of Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions of Zebek- +Dorchi, who, on his part, so deeply resented this discountenance to his +ambitious projects, that in conjunction with other chiefs he had the +presumption even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor himself. +Plots were laid--were detected--were baffled--counterplots were +constructed upon the same basis, and with the benefit of the +opportunities thus offered. + +Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with +all his accomplices; and under the skilful management of the Chinese +nobles in the Emperor's establishment, the murderous artifices of these +Tartar chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole of +them perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet. For the +Chinese morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything +the _lex talionis:_-- + + ----'lex nec justior ulla est (as _they_ think) + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.' + +So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar +_Exodus_. Oubacha, meantime, and his people, were gradually +recovering from the effects of their misery, and repairing their +losses. Peace and prosperity, under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord +paramount, re-dawned upon the tribes; their household _lares_, +after so harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a happy +reinstatement in what had in fact been their primitive abodes; they +found themselves settled in quiet sylvan scenes, rich in all the +luxuries of life, and endowed with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian +beauty. But from the hills of this favored land and even from the level +grounds as they approach its western border, they still look out upon +that fearful wilderness which once beheld a nation in agony--the utter +extirpation of nearly half a million from amongst its numbers, and, for +the remainder, a storm of misery so fierce, that in the end (as +happened also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different +form of misery) very many lost their memory; all records of their past +life were wiped out as with a sponge--utterly erased and cancelled; and +many others lost their reason; some in a gentle form of pensive +melancholy, some in a more restless form of feverish delirium and +nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, +raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. Two great commemorative monuments +arose in after years to mark the depth and permanence of the awe--the +sacred and reverential grief with which all persons looked back upon +the dread calamities attached to the year of the Tiger--all who had +either personally shared in those calamities, and had themselves drunk +from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually been made witnesses to +their results, and associated with their relief; two great monuments, +we say; first of all, one in the religious solemnity, enjoined by the +Dalai Lama, called in the Tartar language a _Romanang_, that is, a +national commemoration, with music the most rich and solemn, of all the +souls who departed to the rest of Paradise from the afflictions of the +Desert: this took place about six years after the arrival in China. +Secondly, another more durable and more commensurate to the scale of +the calamity and to the grandeur of this national Exodus, in the mighty +columns of granite and brass, erected by the Emperor Kien Long, near +the banks of the Ily: these columns stand upon the very margin of the +_steppes_; and they bear a short but emphatic inscription +[Footnote: This inscription has been slightly altered in one or two +phrases, and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the +Emperor's expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China +and the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the +designation adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon +some confusion between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the +former, being of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in +part the same longitudes, though in different latitudes) might be +considered as his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the +Greek form of Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and +Church.] to the following effect:-- + +By the Will of God +Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, +Which from this Point begin and stretch away +Pathless, treeless, waterless, +For thousands of miles--and along the margins of many mighty Nations, +Rested from their labors and from great afflictions +Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall, +And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon Earth, +The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars +Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar, +Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire in the +year 1616, +But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow, +Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd. +Hallowed be the spot for ever, +and +Hallowed be the day--September 8, 1771! +Amen. + +END OF VOLUME I. + + + + +VOLUME II + + +SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. +[Footnote: Thoughts on Some Important Points relating to the System of +the World. By J. P. Nichol, LL.D., Professor of Astronomy in the +University of Glasgow. William Tait, Edinburgh. 1846.] + +Some years ago, some person or other, [in fact I believe it was +myself,] published a paper from the German of Kant, on a very +interesting question, viz., the age of our own little Earth. Those who +have never seen that paper, a class of unfortunate people whom I +suspect to form _rather_ the majority in our present perverse +generation, will be likely to misconceive its object. Kant's purpose +was, not to ascertain how many years the Earth had lived: a million of +years, more or less, made very little difference to _him_. What he +wished to settle was no such barren conundrum. For, had there even been +any means of coercing the Earth into an honest answer, on such a +delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, Recupero, fancied that there +was; [Footnote: _Recupero_. See Brydone's Travels, some sixty or +seventy years ago. The canon, being a beneficed clergyman in the Papal +church, was naturally an infidel. He wished exceedingly to refute +Moses: and he fancied that he really had done so by means of some +collusive assistance from the layers of lava on Mount Etna. But there +survives, at this day, very little to remind us of the canon, except an +unpleasant guffaw that rises, at times, in solitary valleys of Etna.] +but which, in my own opinion, there neither is, nor ought to be,-- +(since a man deserves to be cudgelled who could put such improper +questions to a _lady_ planet,)--still what would it amount to? +What good would it do us to have a certificate of our dear little +mother's birth and baptism? Other people--people in Jupiter, or the +Uranians--may amuse themselves with her pretended foibles or +infirmities: it is quite safe to do so at _their_ distance; and, +in a female planet like Venus, it might be natural, (though, strictly +speaking, not quite correct,) to scatter abroad malicious insinuations, +as though our excellent little mamma had begun to wear false hair, or +had lost some of her front teeth. But all this, we men of sense know to +be gammon. Our mother Tellus, beyond all doubt, is a lovely little +thing. I am satisfied that she is very much admired throughout the +Solar System: and, in clear seasons, when she is seen to advantage, +with her bonny wee pet of a Moon tripping round her like a lamb, I +should be thankful to any gentleman who will mention where he has +happened to observe--either he or his telescope--will he only have the +goodness to say, in what part of the heavens he has discovered a more +elegant turn-out. I wish to make no personal reflections. I name no +names. Only this I say, that, though some people have the gift of +seeing things that other people never could see, and though some other +people, or other some people are born with a silver spoon in their +mouths, so that, generally, their geese count for swans, yet, after +all, swans or geese, it would be a pleasure to me, and really a +curiosity, to see the planet that could fancy herself entitled to +sneeze at our Earth. And then, if she (viz., our Earth,) keeps but one +Moon, even _that_ (you know) is an advantage as regards some +people that keep none. There are people, pretty well known to you and +me, that can't make it convenient to keep even one Moon. And so I come +to my moral; which is this, that, to all appearance, it is mere +justice; but, supposing it were not, still it is _our_ duty, (as +children of the Earth,) right or wrong, to stand up for our bonny young +mamma, if she _is_ young; or for our dear old mother, if she +_is_ old; whether young or old, to take her part against all +comers; and to argue through thick and thin, which (sober or not) I +always attempt to do, that she is the most respectable member of the +Copernican System. + +Meantime, what Kant understood by being old, is something that still +remains to be explained. If one stumbled, in the steppes of Tartary, on +the grave of a Megalonyx, and, after long study, had deciphered from +some pre-Adamite heiro-pothooks, the following epitaph:--'_Hic +jacet_ a Megalonyx, or _Hic jacet_ a Mammoth, (as the case +might be,) who departed this life, to the grief of his numerous +acquaintance in the seventeen thousandth year of his age,'--of course, +one would be sorry for him; because it must be disagreeable at +_any_ age to be torn away from life, and from all one's little +megalonychal comforts; that's not pleasant, you know, even if one +_is_ seventeen thousand years old. But it would make all the +difference possible in your grief, whether the record indicated a +premature death, that he had been cut off, in fact, whilst just +stepping into life, or had kicked the bucket when full of honors, and +been followed to the grave by a train of weeping grandchildren. He had +died 'in his teens,' that's past denying. But still we must know to +what stage of life in a man, had corresponded seventeen thousand years +in a Mammoth. Now exactly this was what Kant desired to know about our +planet. Let her have lived any number of years that you suggest, (shall +we say if you please, that she is in her billionth year?) still that +tells us nothing about the _period_ of life, the _stage_, which she may +be supposed to have reached. Is she a child, in fact, or is she an +adult? And, _if_ an adult, and that you gave a ball to the Solar +System, is she that kind of person, that you would introduce to a +waltzing partner, some fiery young gentlemen like Mars, or would +you rather suggest to her the sort of partnership which takes place at +a whist-table? On this, as on so many other questions, Kant was +perfectly sensible that people, of the finest understandings, may and +do take the most opposite views. Some think that our planet is in that +stage of her life, which corresponds to the playful period of twelve or +thirteen in a spirited girl. Such a girl, were it not that she is +checked by a sweet natural sense of feminine grace, you might call a +romp; but not a hoyden, observe; no horse-play; oh, no, nothing of that +sort. And these people fancy that earthquakes, volcanoes, and all such +little _escapades_ will be over, they will, in lawyer's phrase, +'cease and determine,' as soon as our Earth reaches the age of maidenly +bashfulness. Poor thing! It's quite natural, you know, in a healthy +growing girl. A little overflow of vivacity, a _pirouette_ more or +less, what harm should _that_ do to any of us? Nobody takes more +delight than I in the fawn-like sportiveness of an innocent girl, at +this period of life: even a shade of _espieglerie_ does not annoy +me. But still my own impressions incline me rather to represent the +Earth as a fine noble young woman, full of the pride which is so +becoming to her sex, and well able to take her own part, in case that, +at any solitary point of the heavens, she should come across one of +those vulgar fussy Comets, disposed to be rude and take improper +liberties. These Comets, by the way, are public nuisances, very much +like the mounted messengers of butchers in great cities, who are always +at full gallop, and moving upon such an infinity of angles to human +shinbones, that the final purpose of such boys (one of whom lately had +the audacity nearly to ride down the Duke of Wellington) seems to be-- +not the translation of mutton, which would certainly find its way into +human mouths even if riding boys were not,--but the improved geometry +of transcendental curves. They ought to be numbered, ought these boys, +and to wear badges--X 10, &c. And exactly the same evil, asking +therefore by implication for exactly the same remedy, affects the +Comets. A respectable planet is known everywhere, and responsible for +any mischief that he does. But if a cry should arise, 'Stop that +wretch, who was rude to the Earth: who is he?' twenty voices will +answer, perhaps, 'It's Encke's Comet; he is always doing mischief;' +well, what can you say? it _may_ be Encke's, it may be some other +man's Comet; there are so many abroad and on so many roads, that you +might as well ask upon a night of fog, such fog as may be opened with +an oyster knife, whose cab that was (whose, viz., out of 27,000 in +London) that floored you into the kennel. + +These are constructive ideas upon the Earth's stage of evolution, which +Kant was aware of, and which will always find toleration, even where +they do not find patronage. But others there are, a class whom I +perfectly abominate, that place our Earth in the category of decaying +women, nay of decayed women, going, going, and all but gone. 'Hair like +arctic snows, failure of vital heat, palsy that shakes the head as in +the porcelain toys on our mantel-pieces, asthma that shakes the whole +fabric--these they absolutely fancy themselves to _see_. They +absolutely _hear_ the tellurian lungs wheezing, panting, crying, +'Bellows to mend!' periodically as the Earth approaches her aphelion. + +But suddenly at this point a demur arises upon the total question. +Kant's very problem explodes, bursts, as poison in Venetian wine-glass +of old shivered the glass into fragments. For is there, after all, any +stationary meaning in the question? Perhaps in reality the Earth is +both young and old. Young? If she is not young at present, perhaps she +_will_ be so in future. Old? if she is not old at this moment, +perhaps she _has_ been old, and has a fair chance of becoming so +again. In fact, she is a Phoenix that is known to have secret processes +for rebuilding herself out of her own ashes. Little doubt there is but +she has seen many a birthday, many a funeral night, and many a morning +of resurrection. Where now the mightiest of oceans rolls in pacific +beauty, once were anchored continents and boundless forests. Where the +south pole now shuts her frozen gates inhospitably against the +intrusions of flesh, once were probably accumulated the ribs of +empires; man's imperial forehead, woman's roseate lips, gleamed upon +ten thousand hills; and there were innumerable contributions to +antarctic journals almost as good (but not quite) as our own. Even +within our domestic limits, even where little England, in her south- +eastern quarter now devolves so quietly to the sea her sweet pastoral +rivulets, once came roaring down, in pomp of waters, a regal Ganges +[Footnote: _'Ganges:'_--Dr. Nichol calls it by this name for the +purpose of expressing its grandeur; and certainly in breadth, in +diffusion at all times, but especially in the rainy season, the Ganges +is the cock of the walk in our British orient. Else, as regards the +body of water discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's +exchequer, and the majesty of column riding downwards from the +Himalaya, I believe that, since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, +the Indus ranks foremost by a long chalk.], that drained some +hyperbolical continent, some Quinbus Flestrin of Asiatic proportions, +long since gone to the dogs. All things pass away. Generations wax old +as does a garment: but eternally God says:--'Come again, ye children of +men.' Wildernesses of fruit, and worlds of flowers, are annually +gathered in solitary South America to ancestral graves: yet still the +Pomona of Earth, yet still the Flora of Earth, does not become +superannuated, but blossoms in everlasting youth. Not otherwise by +secular periods, known to us geologically as facts, though obscure as +durations, _Tellus_ herself, the planet, as a whole, is for ever +working by golden balances of change and compensation, of ruin and +restoration. She recasts her glorious habitations in decomposing them; +she lies down for death, which perhaps a thousand times she has +suffered; she rises for a new birth, which perhaps for the thousandth +time has glorified her disc. Hers is the wedding garment, hers is the +shroud, that eternally is being woven in the loom. And God imposes upon +her the awful necessity of working for ever at her own grave, yet of +listening for ever to his far-off trumpet of _palingenesis_. + +If this account of the matter be just, and were it not treasonable to +insinuate the possibility of an error against so great a swell as +Immanuel Kant, one would be inclined to fancy that Mr. Kant had really +been dozing a little on this occasion; or, agreeably to his own +illustration elsewhere, that he had realized the pleasant picture of +one learned doctor trying to milk a he-goat, whilst another doctor, +equally learned, holds the milk-pail below. [Footnote: Kant applied +this illustration to the case where one worshipful scholar proposes +some impossible problem, (as the squaring of the circle, or the +perpetual motion,) which another worshipful scholar sits down to solve. +The reference was of course to Virgil's line,--'Atque idem jungat +vulpes, et _mulgeat hircos_.'] And there is apparently this two- +edged embarrassment pressing upon the case--that, if our dear excellent +mother the Earth could be persuaded to tell us her exact age in Julian +years, still _that_ would leave us all as much in the dark as +ever: since, if the answer were, 'Why, children, at my next birth-day I +shall count a matter of some million centuries,' we should still be at +a loss to _value_ her age: would it mean that she was a mere +chicken, or that she was 'getting up in years?' On the other hand, if +(declining to state any odious circumstantialities,) she were to +reply,--'No matter, children, for my precise years, which are +disagreeable remembrances; I confess generally to being a lady of a +certain age,'--here, in the inverse order, given the _valuation_ +of the age, we should yet be at a loss for the _absolute_ years +numerically: would a 'certain age,' mean that 'mamma' was a million, be +the same more or less, or perhaps not much above seventy thousand? + +Every way, you see, reader, there are difficulties. But two things used +to strike me, as unaccountably overlooked by Kant; who, to say the +truth, was profound--yet at no time very agile--in the character of his +understanding. First, what age now might we take our brother and sister +planets to be? For _that_ determination as to a point in +_their_ constitution, will do something to illustrate our own. We +are as good as they, I hope, any day: perhaps in a growl, one might +modestly insinuate--_better_. It's not at all likely that there +can be any great disproportion of age amongst children of the same +household: and therefore, since Kant always countenanced the idea that +Jupiter had not quite finished the upholstery of his extensive +premises, as a comfortable residence for a man, Jupiter having, in +fact, a fine family of mammoths, but no family at all of 'humans,' (as +brother Jonathan calls them,) Kant was bound, _ex analogo_, to +hold that any little precedency in the trade of living, on the part of +our own mother Earth, could not count for much in the long run. At +Newmarket, or Doncaster, the start is seldom mathematically true: +trifling advantages will survive all human trials after abstract +equity; and the logic of this case argues, that any few thousands of +years by which Tellus may have got ahead of Jupiter, such as the having +finished her Roman Empire, finished her Crusades, and finished her +French Revolution, virtually amounts to little or nothing; indicates no +higher proportion to the total scale upon which she has to run, than +the few tickings of a watch by which one horse at the start for the +Leger is in advance of another. When checked in our chronology by each +other, it transpires that, in effect, we are but executing the nice +manoeuvre of a start; and that the small matter of six thousand years, +by which we may have advanced our own position beyond some of our +planetary rivals, is but the outstretched neck of an uneasy horse at +Doncaster. This is _one_ of the data overlooked by Kant; and the +less excusably overlooked, because it was his own peculiar doctrine,-- +that uncle Jupiter ought to be considered a greenhorn. Jupiter may be a +younger brother of our mamma; but, if he is a brother at all, he cannot +be so very wide of our own chronology; and therefore the first +_datum_ overlooked by Kant was--the analogy of our whole planetary +system. A second datum, as it always occurred to myself, might +reasonably enough be derived from the intellectual vigor of us men. If +our mother could, with any show of reason, be considered an old decayed +lady, snoring stentorously in her arm-chair, there would naturally be +some _aroma_ of phthisis, or apoplexy, beginning to form about +_us_, that are her children. But _is_ there? If ever Dr. Johnson +said a true word, it was when he replied to the Scottish judge +Burnett, so well known to the world as Lord Monboddo. The judge, a +learned man, but obstinate as a mule in certain prejudices, had said +plaintively, querulously, piteously,--'Ah, Doctor, we are poor +creatures, we men of the eighteenth century, by comparison with our +forefathers!' 'Oh, no, my Lord,' said Johnson, 'we are quite as strong +as our ancestors, and a great deal wiser.' Yes; our kick is, at least, +as dangerous, and our logic does three times as much execution. This +would be a complex topic to treat effectively; and I wish merely to +indicate the opening which it offers for a most decisive order of +arguments in such a controversy. If the Earth were on her last legs, we +her children could not be very strong or healthy. Whereas, if there +were less pedantry amongst us, less malice, less falsehood, and less +darkness of prejudice, easy it would be to show, that in almost every +mode of intellectual power, we are more than a match for the most +conceited of elder generations, and that in some modes we have energies +or arts absolutely and exclusively our own. Amongst a thousand +indications of strength and budding youth, I will mention two:--Is it +likely, is it plausible, that our Earth should just begin to find out +effective methods of traversing land and sea, when she had a summons to +leave both? Is it not, on the contrary, a clear presumption that the +great career of earthly nations is but on the point of opening, that +life is but just beginning to kindle, when the great obstacles to +effectual locomotion, and therefore to extensive human intercourse, are +first of all beginning to give way? Secondly, I ask peremptorily,--Does +it stand with good sense, is it reasonable that Earth is waning, +science drooping, man looking downward, precisely in that epoch when, +first of all, man's eye is arming itself for looking effectively into +the mighty depths of space? A new era for the human intellect, upon a +path that lies amongst its most aspiring, is promised, is inaugurated, +by Lord Rosse's almost awful telescope. + +What is it then that Lord Rosse has accomplished? If a man were aiming +at dazzling by effects of rhetoric, he might reply: He has accomplished +that which once the condition of the telescope not only refused its +permission to hope for, but expressly bade man to despair of. What is +it that Lord Rosse has revealed? Answer: he has revealed more by far +than he found. The theatre to which he has introduced us, is +_immeasurably_ beyond the old one which he found. To say that he +found, in the visible universe, a little wooden theatre of Thespis, a +_treteau_ or shed of vagrants, and that he presented us, at a +price of toil and of _anxiety_ that cannot be measured, with a +Roman colosseum,--_that_ is to say nothing. It is to undertake the +measurement of the tropics with the pocket-tape of an upholsterer. +Columbus, when he introduced the Old World to the New, after all that +can be said in his praise, did in fact only introduce the majority to +the minority; but Lord Rosse has introduced the minority to the +majority. There are two worlds, one called Ante-Rosse, and the other +Post-Rosse; and, if it should come to voting, the latter would +shockingly outvote the other. Augustus Caesar made it his boast when +dying, that he had found the city of Rome built of brick, and that he +left it built of marble: _lateritiam invenit, marmoream reliquit_. +Lord Rosse may say, even if to-day he should die, 'I found God's +universe represented for human convenience, even after all the sublime +discoveries of Herschel, upon a globe or spherical chart having a +radius of one hundred and fifty feet; and I left it sketched upon a +similar chart, keeping exactly the same scale of proportions, but now +elongating its radius into one thousand feet.' The reader of course +understands that this expression, founded on absolute calculations of +Dr. Nichol, is simply meant to exhibit the _relative_ dimensions +of the _mundus Ante-Rosseanus_ and the _mundus Post-Rosseanus;_ +for as to the _absolute_ dimensions, when stated in miles, leagues +or any units familiar to the human experience, they are too stunning +and confounding. If, again, they are stated in larger units, as for +instance diameters of the earth's orbit, the unit itself that +should facilitate the grasping of the result, and which really +_is_ more manageable numerically, becomes itself elusive of the +mental grasp: it comes in as an interpreter; and (as in some other +cases) the interpreter is hardest to be understood of the two. If, +finally, TIME be assumed as the exponent of the dreadful magnitudes, +time combining itself with motion, as in the flight of cannon-balls or +the flight of swallows, the sublimity becomes greater; but horror +seizes upon the reflecting intellect, and incredulity upon the +irreflective. Even a railroad generation, that _should_ have faith +in the miracles of velocity, lifts up its hands with an '_Incredulus +odi_!' we know that Dr. Nichol speaks the truth; but he _seems_ +to speak falsehood. And the ignorant by-stander prays that the doctor +may have grace given him and time for repentance; whilst his more +liberal companion reproves his want of charity, observing that +travellers into far countries have always had a license for lying, as a +sort of tax or fine levied for remunerating their own risks; and that +great astronomers, as necessarily far travellers into space, are +entitled to a double per centage of the same Munchausen privilege. + +Great is the mystery of Space, greater is the mystery of Time; either +mystery grows upon man, as man himself grows; and either seems to be a +function of the godlike which is in man. In reality the depths and the +heights which are in man, the depths by which he searches, the heights +by which he aspires, are but projected and made objective externally in +the three dimensions of space which are outside of him. He trembles at +the abyss into which his bodily eyes look down, or look up; not knowing +that abyss to be, not always consciously suspecting it to be, but by an +instinct written in his prophetic heart feeling it to be, boding it to +be, fearing it to be, and sometimes hoping it to be, the mirror to a +mightier abyss that will one day be expanded in himself. Even as to the +sense of space, which is the lesser mystery than time, I know not +whether the reader has remarked that it is one which swells upon man +with the expansion of his mind, and that it is probably peculiar to the +mind of man. An infant of a year old, or oftentimes even older, takes +no notice of a sound, however loud, which is a quarter of a mile +removed, or even in a distant chamber. And brutes, even of the most +enlarged capacities, seem not to have any commerce with distance: +distance is probably not revealed to them except by a _presence_, +viz., by some shadow of their own animality, which, if perceived at +all, is perceived as a thing _present_ to their organs. An animal +desire, or a deep animal hostility, may render sensible a distance +which else would not be sensible; but not render it sensible _as_ +a distance. Hence perhaps is explained, and not out of any self- +oblivion from higher enthusiasm, a fact that often has occurred, of +deer, or hares, or foxes, and the pack of hounds in pursuit, chaser and +chased, all going headlong over a precipice together. Depth or height +does not readily manifest itself to _them_; so that any _strong_ motive +is sufficient to overpower the sense of it. Man only has a natural +function for expanding on an illimitable sensorium, the illimitable +growths of space. Man, coming to the precipice, reads his danger; the +brute perishes: man is saved; and the horse is saved by his rider. + +But, if this sounds in the ear of some a doubtful refinement, the doubt +applies only to the lowest degrees of space. For the highest, it is +certain that brutes have no perception. To man is as much reserved the +prerogative of perceiving space in its higher extensions, as of +geometrically constructing the relations of space. And the brute is no +more capable of apprehending abysses through his eye, than he can build +upwards or can analyze downwards the aerial synthesis of Geometry. Such, +therefore, as is space for the grandeur of man's perceptions, such as +is space for the benefit of man's towering mathematic speculations, +such is the nature of our debt to Lord Rosse--as being the philosopher +who has most pushed back the frontiers of our conquests upon this +_exclusive_ inheritance of man. We have all heard of a king that, +sitting on the sea-shore, bade the waves, as they began to lave his +feet, upon their allegiance to retire. _That_ was said not vainly +or presumptuously, but in reproof of sycophantic courtiers. Now, +however, we see in good earnest another man, wielding another kind of +sceptre, and sitting upon the shores of infinity, that says to the ice +which had frozen up our progress,--'Melt thou before my breath!' that +says to the rebellious _nebulae_,--'Submit, and burst into blazing +worlds!' that says to the gates of darkness,--'Roll back, ye barriers, +and no longer hide from us the infinities of God!' + + 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful.' + +From the days of infancy still lingers in my ears this opening of a +prose hymn by a lady, then very celebrated, viz., the late Mrs. +Barbauld. The hymn began by enticing some solitary infant into some +silent garden, I believe, or some forest lawn; and the opening words +were, 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful!' Well, and what +beside? There is nothing beside; oh, disappointed and therefore enraged +reader; positively this is the sum-total of what I can recall from the +wreck of years; and certainly it is not much. Even of Sappho, though +time has made mere ducks and drakes of her lyrics, we have rather more +spared to us than this. And yet this trifle, simple as you think it, +this shred of a fragment, if the reader will believe me, still echoes +with luxurious sweetness in my ears, from some unaccountable hide-and- +seek of fugitive childish memories; just as a marine shell, if applied +steadily to the ear, awakens (according to the fine image of Landor +[Footnote: 'Of Landor,' viz., in his 'Gebir;' but also of Wordsworth in +'The Excursion.' And I must tell the reader, that a contest raged at +one time as to the _original property_ in this image, not much +less keen than that between Neptune and Minerva, for the chancellorship +of Athens.]) the great vision of the sea; places the listener + + 'In the sun's palace-porch, + And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there.' + +Now, on some moonless night, in some fitting condition of the +atmosphere, if Lord Rosse would permit the reader and myself to walk +into the front drawing-room of his telescope, then, in Mrs. Barbauld's +words, slightly varied, I might say to him,--Come, and I will show you +what is sublime! In fact, what I am going to lay before him, from Dr. +Nichol's work, is, or at least _would_ be, (when translated into +Hebrew grandeur by the mighty telescope,) a step above even that object +which some four-and-twenty years ago in the British Museum struck me as +simply the sublimest sight which in this sight-seeing world I had seen. +It was the Memnon's head, then recently brought from Egypt. I looked at +it, as the reader must suppose, in order to understand the depth which +I have here ascribed to the impression, not as a human but as a +symbolic head; and what it symbolized to me were: 1. The peace which +passeth all understanding. 2. The eternity which baffles and confounds +all faculty of computation; the eternity which _had_ been, the +eternity which _was_ to be. 3. The diffusive love, not such as +rises and falls upon waves of life and mortality, not such as sinks and +swells by undulations of time, but a procession--an emanation from some +mystery of endless dawn. You durst not call it a smile that radiated +from the lips; the radiation was too awful to clothe itself in +adumbrations or memorials of flesh. + +In _that mode_ of sublimity, perhaps, I still adhere to my first +opinion, that nothing so great was ever beheld. The atmosphere for +_this_, for the Memnon, was the breathlessness which belongs to a +saintly trance; the holy thing seemed to live by silence. But there +_is_ a picture, the pendant of the Memnon, there _is_ a dreadful +cartoon, from the gallery which has begun to open upon Lord Rosse's +telescope, where the appropriate atmosphere for investing it +must be drawn from another silence, from the frost and from the +eternities of death. It is the famous _nebula_ in the constellation +of Orion; famous for the unexampled defiance with which it resisted +all approaches from the most potent of former telescopes; famous +for its frightful magnitude and for the frightful depth to which +it is sunk in the abysses of the heavenly wilderness; famous just now +for the submission with which it has begun to render up its secrets to +the all-conquering telescope; and famous in all time coming for the +horror of the regal phantasma which it has perfected to eyes of flesh. +Had Milton's 'incestuous mother,' with her fleshless son, and with the +warrior angel, his father, that led the rebellions of heaven, been +suddenly unmasked by Lord Rosse's instrument, in these dreadful +distances before which, simply as expressions of resistance, the mind +of man shudders and recoils, there would have been nothing more +appalling in the exposure; in fact, it would have been essentially the +same exposure: the same expression of power in the detestable phantom, +the same rebellion in the attitude, the same pomp of malice in the +features to a universe seasoned for its assaults. + +The reader must look to Dr. Nichol's book, at page 51, for the picture +of this abominable apparition. But then, in order to see what _I_ +see, the obedient reader must do what I tell him to do. Let him +therefore view the wretch upside down. If he neglects that simple +direction, of course I don't answer for anything that follows: without +any fault of mine, my description will be unintelligible. This +inversion being made, the following is the dreadful creature that will +then reveal itself. + +_Description of the Nebula in Orion, as forced to show out by Lord +Rosse._--You see a head thrown back, and raising its face, (or eyes, +if eyes it had,) in the very anguish of hatred, to some unknown +heavens. What _should_ be its skull wears what _might_ be an +Assyrian tiara, only ending behind in a floating train. This head rests +upon a beautifully developed neck and throat. All power being given to +the awful enemy, he is beautiful where he pleases, in order to point +and envenom his ghostly ugliness. The mouth, in that stage of the +apocalypse which Sir John Herschel was able to arrest in his eighteen- +inch mirror, is amply developed. Brutalities unspeakable sit upon the +upper lip, which is confluent with a snout; for separate nostrils there +are none. Were it not for this one defect of nostrils; and, even in +spite of this defect, (since, in so mysterious a mixture of the angelic +and the brutal, we may suppose the sense of odor to work by some +compensatory organ,) one is reminded by the phantom's attitude of a +passage, ever memorable, in Milton: that passage, I mean, where Death +first becomes aware, soon after the original trespass, of his own +future empire over man. The 'meagre shadow' even smiles (for the first +time and the last) on apprehending his own abominable bliss, by +apprehending from afar the savor 'of mortal change on earth.' + + ----'Such a scent,' (he says,) 'I draw + Of carnage, prey innumerable.' + +As illustrating the attitude of the phantom in Orion, let the reader +allow me to quote the tremendous passage:-- + + 'So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell + Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock + Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, + Against the day of battle, to a field, + Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lured + With scent of living carcasses design'd + For death, the following day, in bloody fight; + So scented the grim feature, [Footnote: 'So scented the grim +feature,' [_feature_ is the old word for _form or outline that +is shadowy_; and also for form (shadowy or not) which abstracts from +the _matter_.] By the way, I have never seen it noticed, that +Milton was indebted for the hint of this immortal passage to a superb +line-and-a-half, in Lucan's Pharsalia.] and upturn'd + His nostril wide into the murky air, + Sagacious of his quarry from so far.' + +But the lower lip, which is drawn inwards with the curve of a conch +shell,--oh what a convolute of cruelty and revenge is _there_! +Cruelty!--to whom? Revenge!--for what? Ask not, whisper not. Look +upwards to other mysteries. In the very region of his temples, driving +itself downwards into his cruel brain, and breaking the continuity of +his diadem, is a horrid chasm, a ravine, a shaft, that many centuries +would not traverse; and it is serrated on its posterior wall with a +harrow that perhaps is partly hidden. From the anterior wall of this +chasm rise, in vertical directions, two processes; one perpendicular, +and rigid as a horn, the other streaming forward before some portentous +breath. What these could be, seemed doubtful; but now, when further +examinations by Sir John Herschel, at the Cape of Good Hope, have +filled up the scattered outline with a rich umbrageous growth, one is +inclined to regard them as the plumes of a sultan. Dressed he is, +therefore, as well as armed. And finally comes Lord Rosse, that +glorifies him with the jewellery [Footnote: _The jewellery of +Stars_. And one thing is very remarkable, viz., that not only the +stars justify this name of jewellery, as usual, by the life of their +splendor, but also, in this case, by their arrangement. No jeweller +could have set, or disposed with more art, the magnificent quadrille of +stars which is placed immediately below the upright plume. There is +also another, a truncated quadrille, wanting only the left hand star +(or you might call it a bisected lozenge) placed on the diadem, but +obliquely placed as regards the curve of that diadem. Two or three +other arrangements are striking, though not equally so, both from their +regularity and from their repeating each other, as the forms in a +kaleidoscope.] of stars: he is now a vision 'to dream of, not to tell:' +he is ready for the worship of those that are tormented in sleep: and +the stages of his solemn uncovering by astronomy, first by Sir W. +Herschel, secondly, by his son, and finally by Lord Rosse, is like the +reversing of some heavenly doom, like the raising of the seals that had +been sealed by the angel, in the Revelations. But the reader naturally +asks, How does all this concern Lord Rosse's telescope on the one side, +or general astronomy on the other? This _nebula_, he will say, +seems a bad kind of fellow by your account; and of course it will not +break my heart to hear, that he has had the conceit taken out of him. +But in what way can _that_ affect the pretensions of this new +instrument; or, if it did, how can the character of the instrument +affect the general condition of a science? Besides, is not the science +a growth from very ancient times? With great respect for the Earl of +Rosse, is it conceivable that he, or any man, by one hour's working the +tackle of his new instrument, can have carried any stunning +revolutionary effect into the heart of a section so ancient in our +mathematical physics? But the reader is to consider, that the ruins +made by Lord Rosse, are in _sidereal_ astronomy, which is almost +wholly a growth of modern times; and the particular part of it +demolished by the new telescope, is almost exclusively the creation of +the two Herschels, father and son. Laplace, it is true, adopted their +views; and he transferred them to the particular service of our own +planetary system. But he gave to them no new sanction, except what +arises from showing that they would account for the appearances, as +they present themselves to our experience at this day. That was a +_negative_ confirmation; by which I mean, that, had their views +failed in the hands of Laplace, then they were proved to be false; but, +_not_ failing, they were not therefore proved to be true. It was +like proving a gun; if the charge is insufficient, or if, in trying the +strength of cast iron, timber, ropes, &c., the strain is not up to the +rigor of the demand, you go away with perhaps a favorable impression as +to the promises of the article; it has stood a moderate trial; it has +stood all the trial that offered, which is always something; but you +are still obliged to feel that, when the ultimate test is applied, +smash may go the whole concern. Lord Rosse applied an ultimate test; +and smash went the whole concern. Really I must have laughed, though +all the world had been angry, when the shrieks and yells of expiring +systems began to reverberate all the way from the belt of Orion; and +positively at the very first broadside delivered from this huge four- +decker of a telescope. + +But what was it then that went to wreck? That is a thing more easy to +ask than to answer. At least, for my own part, I complain that some +vagueness hangs over all the accounts of the nebular hypothesis. +However, in this place a brief sketch will suffice. + +Herschel the elder, having greatly improved the telescope, began to +observe with special attention a class of remarkable phenomena in the +starry world hitherto unstudied, viz.: milky spots in various stages of +diffusion. The nature of these appearances soon cleared itself up thus +far, that generally they were found to be starry worlds, separated from +ours by inconceivable distances, and in that way concealing at first +their real nature. The whitish gleam was the mask conferred by the +enormity of their remotion. This being so, it might have been supposed +that, as was the faintness of these cloudy spots or _nebulae_, such +was the distance. But _that_ did not follow: for in the treasury +of nature it turned out that there were other resources for modifying +the powers of distance, for muffling and unmuffling the voice of stars. +Suppose a world at the distance _x_, which distance is so great as +to make the manifestation of that world weak, milky, nebular. Now let +the secret power that wields these awful orbs, push this world back to +a double distance! _that_ should naturally make it paler and more +dilute than ever: and yet by _compression_, by deeper centralization, +this effect shall be defeated; by forcing into far closer neighborhood +the stars which compose this world, again it shall gleam out brighter +when at 2_x_ than when at _x_. At this point of compression, let the +great moulding power a second time push it back; and a second time it +will grow faint. But once more let this world be tortured into closer +compression, again let the screw be put upon it, and once again it +shall shake off the oppression of distance as the dew-drops are shaken +from a lion's mane. And thus in fact the mysterious architect plays at +hide-and-seek with his worlds. 'I will hide it,' he says, 'and it shall +be found again by man; I will withdraw it into distances that shall +seem fabulous, and again it shall apparel itself in glorious light; a +third time I will plunge it into aboriginal darkness, and upon the +vision of man a third time it shall rise with a new epiphany.' + +But, says the objector, there is no such world; there is no world that +has thus been driven back, and depressed from one deep to a lower deep. +Granted: but the same effect, an illustration of the same law, is +produced equally, whether you take four worlds, all of the same +magnitude, and plunge them _simultaneously_ into four different +abysses, sinking by graduated distances one below another, or take one +world and plunge it to the same distances _successively_. So in +Geology, when men talk of substances in different stages, or of +transitional states, they do not mean that they have watched the same +individual _stratum_ or _phenomenon_, exhibiting states removed +from each other by depths of many thousand years; how could they? +but they have seen one stage in the case A, another stage in the +case B. They take, for instance, three objects, the same (to use the +technical language of logic) generically, though numerically different, +under separate circumstances, or in different stages of advance. They +are one object for logic, they are three for human convenience. So +again it might seem impossible to give the history of a rose tree from +infancy to age: how could the same rose tree, at the same time, be +young and old? Yet by taking the different developments of its flowers, +even as they hang on the same tree, from the earliest bud to the full- +blown rose, you may in effect pursue this vegetable growth through all +its stages: you have before you the bony blushing little rose-bud, and +the respectable 'mediaeval' full-blown rose. + +This point settled, let it now be remarked, that Herschel's resources +enabled him to unmask many of these _nebulae_: stars they were, and +stars he forced them to own themselves. Why should any decent world +wear an _alias_? There was nothing, you know, to be ashamed of in +being an honest cluster of stars. Indeed, they seemed to be sensible of +this themselves, and they now yielded to the force of Herschel's +arguments so far as to show themselves in the new character of +_nebulae_ spangled with stars; these are the _stellar nebulae_; +quite as much as you could expect in so short a time: Rome was not +built in a day: and one must have some respect to stellar feelings. It +was noticed, however, that where a bright haze, and not a weak milk- +and-water haze, had revealed itself to the telescope, this, arising +from a case of _compression_, (as previously explained,) required +very little increase of telescopic power to force him into a fuller +confession. He made a clean breast of it. But at length came a dreadful +anomaly. A 'nebula' in the constellation _Andromeda_ turned +restive: another in _Orion_, I grieve to say it, still more so. I +confine myself to the latter. A very low power sufficed to bring him to +a slight confession, which in fact amounted to nothing; the very +highest would not persuade him to show a star. 'Just one,' said some +coaxing person; 'we'll be satisfied with only one.' But no: he would +_not_. He was hardened, 'he wouldn't _split_.' And Herschel +was thus led, after waiting as long as flesh and blood _could_ +wait, to infer two classes of _nebulae_; one that were stars; and +another that were _not_ stars, nor ever were meant to be stars. +Yet _that_ was premature: he found at last, that, though not raised +to the peerage of stars, finally they would be so: they were the +matter of stars; and by gradual condensation would become suns, whose +atmosphere, by a similar process of condensing, would become planets, +capable of brilliant literati and philosophers, in several volumes +octavo. So stood the case for a long time; it was settled to the +satisfaction of Europe that there were two classes of _nebulae_, +one that _were_ worlds, one that were _not_, but only the pabulum +of future worlds. Silence arose. A voice was heard, 'Let there +be Lord Rosse!' and immediately his telescope walked into Orion; +destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, created +immeasurable worlds. + +As a hint for apprehending the delicacy and difficulty of the process +in sidereal astronomy, let the inexperienced reader figure to himself +these separate cases of perplexity: 1st, A perplexity where the dilemma +arises from the collision between magnitude and distance:--is the size +less, or the distance greater? 2dly, Where the dilemma arises between +motions, a motion in ourselves doubtfully confounded with a motion in +some external body; or, 3dly, Where it arises between possible +positions of an object: is it a real proximity that we see between two +stars, or simply an apparent proximity from lying in the same visual +line, though in far other depths of space? As regards the first +dilemma, we may suppose two laws, A and B, absolutely in contradiction, +laid down at starting: A, that all fixed stars are precisely at the +same _distance_; in this case every difference in the apparent +magnitude will indicate a corresponding difference in the real +magnitude, and will measure that difference. B, that all the fixed +stars are precisely of the same _magnitude_; in which case, every +variety in the size will indicate a corresponding difference in the +distance, and will measure that difference. Nor could we imagine any +exception to these inferences from A or from B, whichever of the two +were assumed, unless through optical laws that might not equally affect +objects under different circumstances; I mean, for instance, that might +suffer a disturbance as applied under hypoth. B, to different depths in +space, or under hypoth. A, to different arrangements of structure in +the star. But thirdly, it is certain, that neither A nor B is the +abiding law: and next it becomes an object by science and by +instruments to distinguish more readily and more certainly between the +cases where the distance has degraded the size, and the cases where the +size being _really_ less, has caused an exaggeration of the +distance: or again, where the size being really less, yet co-operating +with a distance really greater, may degrade the estimate, (though +travelling in a right direction,) below the truth; or again where the +size being really less, yet counteracted by a distance also less, may +equally disturb the truth of human measurements, and so on. + +A second large order of equivocating appearances will arise,--not as to +magnitude, but as to motion. If it could be a safe assumption, that the +system to which our planet is attached were absolutely fixed and +motionless, except as regards its own _internal_ relations of +movement, then every change outside of us, every motion that the +registers of astronomy had established, would be objective and not +subjective. It would be safe to pronounce at once that it was a motion +in the object contemplated, _not_ in the subject contemplating. +Or, reversely, if it were safe to assume as a universal law, that no +motion was possible in the starry heavens, then every change of +relations in space, between ourselves and them, would indicate and +would measure a progress, or regress, on the part of our solar system, +in certain known directions. But now, because it is not safe to rest in +either assumption, the range of possibilities for which science has to +provide, is enlarged; the immediate difficulties are multiplied; but +with the result (as in the former case) of reversionally expanding the +powers, and consequently the facilities, lodged both in the science and +in the arts ministerial to the science. Thus, in the constellation +_Cygnus_, there is a star gradually changing its relation to our +system, whose distance from ourselves (as Dr. Nichol tells us) is +ascertained to be about six hundred and seventy thousand times our own +distance from the sun: that is, neglecting minute accuracy, about six +hundred and seventy thousand stages of one hundred million miles each. +This point being known, it falls within the _arts_ of astronomy to +translate this apparent angular motion into miles; and presuming this +change of relation to be not in the star, but really in ourselves, we +may deduce the velocity of our course, we may enter into our _log_ +daily the rate at which our whole solar system is running. Bessel, it +seems, the eminent astronomer who died lately, computed this velocity +to be such (viz., three times that of our own earth in its proper +orbit) as would carry us to the star in forty-one thousand years. But, +in the mean time, the astronomer is to hold in reserve some small share +of his attention, some trifle of a side-glance, now and then, to the +possibility of an error, after all, in the main assumption: he must +watch the indications, if any such should arise, that not ourselves, +but the star in _Cygnus_, is the real party concerned, in drifting +at this shocking rate, with no prospect of coming to an anchorage. +[Footnote: It is worth adding at this point, whilst the reader +remembers without effort the numbers, viz., forty-one thousand +years, for the time, (the space being our own distance from the sun +repeated six hundred and seventy thousand times,) what would be the +time required for reaching, in the _body_, that distance to which +Lord Rosse's six feet mirror has so recently extended our +_vision_. The time would be, as Dr. Nichol computes, about two +hundred and fifty millions of years, supposing that our rate of +travelling was about three times that of our earth in its orbit. Now, +as the velocity is assumed to be the same in both cases, the ratio +between the distance (already so tremendous) of Bessel's 61 +_Cygni_, and that of Lord Rosse's farthest frontier, is as forty- +one thousand to two hundred and fifty millions. This is a simple rule- +of-three problem for a child. And the answer to it will, perhaps, +convey the simplest expression of the superhuman power lodged in the +new telescope:--as is the ratio of forty-one thousand to two hundred +and fifty million, so is the ratio of our own distance from the sun +multiplied by six hundred and seventy thousand, to the outermost limit +of Lord Rosse's sidereal vision.] + +Another class, and a frequent one, of equivocal phenomena, phenomena +that are reconcilable indifferently with either of two assumptions, +though less plausibly reconciled with the one than with the other, +concerns the position of stars that seem connected with each other by +systematic relations, and which yet _may_ lie in very different +depths of space, being brought into seeming connection only by the +human eye. There have been, and there are, cases where two stars +dissemble an interconnection which they really _have_, and other +cases where they simulate an interconnection which they have not. All +these cases of simulation and dissimulation torment the astronomer by +multiplying his perplexities, and deepening the difficulty of escaping +them. He cannot get at the truth: in many cases, magnitude and distance +are in collusion with each other to deceive him: motion subjective is +in collusion with motion objective; duplex systems are in collusion +with fraudulent stars, having no real partnership whatever, but +mimicking such a partnership by means of the limitations or errors +affecting the human eye, where it can apply no other sense to aid or to +correct itself. So that the business of astronomy, in these days, is no +sinecure, as the reader perceives. And by another evidence, it is +continually becoming less of a sinecure. Formerly, one or two men,-- +Tycho, suppose, or, in a later age, Cassini and Horrox, and Bradley, +had observatories: one man, suppose, observed the stars for all +Christendom; and the rest of Europe observed _him_. But now, up +and down Europe, from the deep blue of Italian skies to the cold frosty +atmospheres of St. Petersburg and Glasgow, the stars are conscious of +being watched everywhere; and if all astronomers do not publish their +observations, all use them in their speculations. New and brilliantly +appointed observatories are rising in every latitude, or risen; and +none, by the way, of these new-born observatories, is more interesting +from the circumstances of its position, or more _picturesque_ to a +higher organ than the eye--viz., to the human heart--than the New +Observatory raised by the university of Glasgow.[Footnote: It has been +reported, ever since the autumn of 1845, and the report is now, +(August, 1846,) gathering strength, that some railway potentate, having +taken a fancy for the ancient college of Glasgow, as a bauble to hang +about his wife's neck, (no accounting for tastes,) has offered, (or +_will_ offer,) such a price, that the good old academic lady in +this her moss-grown antiquity, seriously thinks of taking him at his +word, packing up her traps, and being off. When a spirit of galavanting +comes across an aged lady, it is always difficult to know where it will +stop: so, in fact, you know, she may choose to steam for Texas. But the +present impression is, that she will settle down by the side of what +you may call her married or settled daughter--the Observatory; which +one would be glad to have confirmed, as indicating that no purpose of +pleasure-seeking had been working in elderly minds, but the instinct of +religious rest and aspiration. The Observatory would thus remind one of +those early Christian anchorites, and self-exiled visionaries, that +being led by almost a necessity of nature to take up their residence in +deserts, sometimes drew after themselves the whole of their own +neighborhood.] + +The New Observatory of Glasgow is now, I believe, finished; and the +only fact connected with its history that was painful, as embodying and +recording that Vandal alienation from science, literature, and all +their interests, which has ever marked our too haughty and Caliph-Omar- +like British government, lay in the circumstance that the glasses of +the apparatus, the whole mounting of the establishment, in so far as it +was a scientific establishment, and even the workmen for putting up the +machinery, were imported from Bavaria. We, that once bade the world +stand aside when the question arose about glasses, or the graduation of +instruments, were now literally obliged to stand cap in hand, bowing to +Mr. Somebody, successor of Frauenhofer or Frauendevil, in Munich! Who +caused _that_, we should all be glad to know, if not the wicked +Treasury, that killed the hen that laid the golden eggs by taxing her +until her spine broke? It is to be hoped that, at this moment, and +specifically for this offence, some scores of Exchequer men, +chancellors and other rubbish, are in purgatory, and perhaps working, +with shirt-sleeves tucked up, in purgatorial glass-houses, with very +small allowances of beer, to defray the cost of perspiration. But why +trouble a festal remembrance with commemorations of crimes or +criminals? What makes the Glasgow Observatory so peculiarly +interesting, is its position, connected with and overlooking so vast a +city, having more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, (in spite of +an American sceptic,) nearly all children of toil; and a city, too, +which, from the necessities of its circumstances, draws so deeply upon +that fountain of misery and guilt which some ordinance, as ancient as +'our father Jacob,' with his patriarchal well for Samaria, has +bequeathed to manufacturing towns,--to Ninevehs, to Babylons, to Tyres. +How tarnished with eternal canopies of smoke, and of sorrow; how dark +with agitations of many orders, is the mighty town below! How serene, +how quiet, how lifted above the confusion and the roar, how liberated +from the strifes of earth, is the solemn Observatory that crowns the +grounds above! And duly, at night, just when the toil of over-wrought +Glasgow is mercifully relaxing, then comes the summons to the laboring +astronomer. _He_ speaks not of the night, but of the day and the +flaunting day-light, as the hours 'in which no man can work.' And the +least reflecting of men must be impressed by the idea, that at wide +intervals, but intervals scattered over Europe, whilst 'all that mighty +heart' is, by sleep, resting from its labors, secret eyes are lifted up +to heaven in astronomical watch-towers; eyes that keep watch and ward +over spaces that make us dizzy to remember, eyes that register the +promises of comets, and disentangle the labyrinths of worlds. + +Another feature of interest, connected with the Glasgow Observatory, is +personal, and founded on the intellectual characteristics of the +present professor, Dr. Nichol; in the deep meditative style of his mind +seeking for rest, yet placed in conflict for ever with the tumultuous +necessity in _him_ for travelling along the line of revolutionary +thought, and following it loyally, wearied or not, to its natural home. + +In a sonnet of Milton, one of three connected with his own blindness, +he distinguishes between two classes of servants that minister to the +purposes of God. '_His_ state,' says he, meaning God's state, the +arrangement of his regular service, 'is kingly;' that is to say, it +resembles the mode of service established in the courts of kings; and, +in this, it resembles that service, that there are two classes of +ministers attending on his pleasure. For, as in the trains of kings are +some that run without resting, night or day, to carry the royal +messages, and also others--great lords in waiting--that move not from +the royal gates; so of the divine retinues, some are for action only, +some for contemplation. 'Thousands' there are that + + ----'at his bidding speed, + And post o'er land and ocean without rest.' + +Others, on the contrary, motionless as statues, that share not in the +agitations of their times, that tremble not in sympathy with the storms +around them, but that listen--that watch--that wait--for secret +indications to be fulfilled, or secret signs to be deciphered. And, of +this latter class, he adds-that they, not less than the others, are +accepted by God; or, as it is so exquisitely expressed in the closing +line, + + '_They_ also serve, that only stand and wait.' + +Something analogous to this one may see in the distributions of +literature and science. Many popularize and diffuse: some reap and +gather on their own account. Many translate, into languages fit for the +multitude, messages which they receive from human voices: some listen, +like Kubla Khan, far down in caverns or hanging over subterranean +rivers, for secret whispers that mingle and confuse themselves with the +general uproar of torrents, but which can be detected and kept apart by +the obstinate prophetic ear, which spells into words and ominous +sentences the distracted syllables of aerial voices. Dr. Nichol is one +of those who pass to and fro between these classes; and has the rare +function of keeping open their vital communications. As a popularizing +astronomer, he has done more for the benefit of his great science than +all the rest of Europe combined: and now, when he notices, without +murmur, the fact that his office of popular teacher is almost taken out +of his hands, (so many are they who have trained of late for the duty,) +that change has, in fact, been accomplished through knowledge, through +explanations, through suggestions, dispersed and prompted by himself. + +For my own part, as one belonging to the laity, and not to the +_clerus_, in the science of astronomy, I could scarcely have +presumed to report minutely, or to sit in the character of dissector +upon the separate details of Dr. Nichol's works, either this, or those +which have preceded it, had there even been room left disposable for +such a task. But in this view it is sufficient to have made the general +acknowledgment which already _has_ been made, that Dr. Nichol's +works, and his oral lectures upon astronomy, are to be considered as +the _fundus_ of the knowledge on that science now working in this +generation. More important it is, and more in reconciliation with the +tenor of my own ordinary studies, to notice the philosophic spirit in +which Dr. Nichol's works are framed; the breadth of his views, the +eternal tendency of his steps in advance, or (if advance on that +quarter, or at that point, happens to be absolutely walled out for the +present,) the vigor of the _reconnoissances_ by which he examines +the hostile intrenchments. Another feature challenges notice. In +reading astronomical works, there arises (from old experience of what +is usually most faulty) a wish either for the naked severities of +science, with a total abstinence from all display of enthusiasm; or +else, if the cravings of human sensibility are to be met and gratified, +that it shall be by an enthusiasm unaffected and grand as its subject. +Of that kind is the enthusiasm of Dr. Nichol. The grandeurs of +astronomy are such to him who has a capacity for being grandly moved. +They are none at all to him who has not. To the mean they become +meannesses. Space, for example, has no grandeur to him who has no space +in the theatre of his own brain. I know writers who report the marvels +of velocity, &c., in such a way that they become insults to yourself. +It is obvious that in _their_ way of insisting on our earth's +speed in her annual orbit, they do not seek to exalt _her_, but to +mortify _you_. And, besides, these fellows are answerable for +provoking people into fibs:--for I remember one day, that reading a +statement of this nature, about how many things the Earth had done that +we could never hope to do, and about the number of cannon balls, +harnessed as a _tandem_, which the Earth would fly past, without +leaving time to say, _How are you off for soap?_ in vexation of +heart I could not help exclaiming--'That's nothing: I've done a great +deal more myself;' though, when one turns it in one's mind, you know +there must be some inaccuracy _there_. How different is Dr. +Nichol's enthusiasm from this hypocritical and vulgar wonderment! It +shows itself not merely in reflecting the grandeurs of his theme, and +by the sure test of detecting and allying itself with all the indirect +grandeurs that arrange themselves from any distance, upon or about that +centre, but by the manifest promptness with which Dr. Nichol's +enthusiasm awakens itself upon _every_ road that leads to things +elevating for man; or to things promising for knowledge; or to things +which, like dubious theories or imperfect attempts at systematizing, +though neutral as regards knowledge, minister to what is greater than +knowledge, viz., to intellectual _power_, to the augmented power +of handling your materials, though with no more materials than before. +In his geological and cosmological inquiries, in his casual +speculations, the same quality of intellect betrays itself; the +intellect that labors in sympathy with the laboring _nisus_ of +these gladiatorial times; that works (and sees the necessity of +working) the apparatus of many sciences towards a composite result; the +intellect that retires in one direction only to make head in another; +and that already is prefiguring the route beyond the barriers, whilst +yet the gates are locked. + +There was a man in the last century, and an eminent man too, who used +to say, that whereas people in general pretended to admire astronomy as +being essentially sublime, he for _his_ part looked upon all that +sort of thing as a swindle; and, on the contrary, he regarded the solar +system as decidedly vulgar; because the planets were all of them so +infernally punctual, they kept time with such horrible precision, that +they forced him, whether he would or no, to think of nothing but post- +office clocks, mail-coaches, and book-keepers. Regularity may be +beautiful, but it excludes the sublime. What he wished for was +something like Lloyd's list. + +_Comets_--due 3; arrived 1. +_Mercury_, when last seen, appeared to be distressed; but made no +signals. +_Pallas_ and _Vesta_, not heard of for some time; supposed to +have foundered. +_Moon_, spoken last night through a heavy bank of clouds; out +sixteen days: all right. + +Now this poor man's misfortune was, to have lived in the days of mere +planetary astronomy. At present, when our own little system, with all +its grandeurs, has dwindled by comparison to a subordinate province, if +any man is bold enough to say so, a poor shivering unit amongst myriads +that are brighter, we ought no longer to talk of astronomy, but of +_the astronomies_. There is the planetary, the cometary, the +sidereal, perhaps also others; as, for instance, even yet the nebular; +because, though Lord Rosse has smitten it with the son of Amram's rod, +has made it open, and cloven a path through it, yet other and more +fearful _nebulae_ may loom in sight, (if further improvements +should be effected in the telescope,) that may puzzle even Lord Rosse. +And when he tells his _famulus_--'Fire a shot at that strange +fellow, and make him show his colors,' possibly the mighty stranger may +disdain the summons. That would be vexatious: we should all be incensed +at _that_. But no matter. What's a _nebula_, what's a world, +more or less? In the spiritual heavens are many mansions: in the starry +heavens, that are now unfolding and preparing to unfold before us, are +many vacant areas upon which the astronomer may pitch his secret +pavilion. He may dedicate himself to the service of the _Double +Suns_; he has my license to devote his whole time to the quadruple +system of suns in _Lyra_. Swammerdam spent his life in a ditch +watching frogs and tadpoles; why may not an astronomer give nine lives, +if he had them, to the watching of that awful appearance in +_Hercules_, which pretends to some rights over our own unoffending +system? Why may he not mount guard with public approbation, for the +next fifty years, upon the zodiacal light, the interplanetary ether, +and other rarities, which the professional body of astronomers would +naturally keep (if they could) for their own private enjoyment? There +is no want of variety now, nor in fact of irregularity: for the most +exquisite clock-work, which from enormous distance _seems_ to go +wrong, virtually for us _does_ go wrong; so that our friend of the +last century, who complained of the solar system, would not need to do +so any longer. There are anomalies enough to keep him cheerful. There +are now even things to alarm us; for anything in the starry worlds that +look suspicious, anything that ought _not_ to be there, is, for +all purposes of frightening us, as good as a ghost. + +But of all the novelties that excite my own interest in the expanding +astronomy of recent times, the most delightful and promising are those +charming little pyrotechnic planetoids,[Footnote: _'Pyrotechnic +Planetoids:'_--The reader will understand me as alluding to the +periodic shooting stars. It is now well known, that as, upon our own +poor little earthly ocean, we fall in with certain phenomena as we +approach certain latitudes; so also upon the great ocean navigated by +our Earth, we fall in with prodigious showers of these meteors at +periods no longer uncertain, but fixed as jail-deliveries. 'These +remarkable showers of meteors,' says Dr. Nichol, 'observed at different +periods in August and November, seem to demonstrate the fact, that, at +these periods, we have come in contact with two streams of such +planetoids then intersecting the earth's orbit.' If they intermit, it +is only because they are shifting their nodes, or points of +intersection.] that variegate our annual course. It always struck me as +most disgusting, that, in going round the sun, we must be passing +continually over old roads, and yet we had no means of establishing an +acquaintance with them: they might as well be new for every trip. Those +chambers of ether, through which we are tearing along night and day, +(for _our_ train stops at no stations,) doubtless, if we could put +some mark upon them, must be old fellows perfectly liable to +recognition. I suppose, _they_ never have notice to quit. And yet, +for want of such a mark, though all our lives flying past them and +through them, we can never challenge them as known. The same thing +happens in the desert: one monotonous iteration of sand, sand, sand, +unless where some miserable fountain stagnates, forbids all approach to +familiarity: nothing is circumstantiated or differenced: travel it for +three generations, and you are no nearer to identification of its +parts: so that it amounts to travelling through an abstract idea. For +the desert, really I suspect the thing is hopeless: but, as regards our +planetary orbit, matters are mending: for the last six or seven years I +have heard of these fiery showers, but indeed I cannot say how much +earlier they were first noticed,[Footnote: Somewhere I have seen it +remarked, that if, on a public road, you meet a party of four women, it +is at least fifty to one that they are all laughing; whereas, if you +meet an equal party of my own unhappy sex, you may wager safely that +they are talking gravely, and that one of them is uttering the word +_money_. Hence it must be, viz, because our sisters are too much +occupied with the playful things of this earth, and our brothers with +its gravities, that neither party sufficiently watches the skies. And +_that_ accounts for a fact which often has struck myself, viz., +that, in cities, on bright moonless nights, when some brilliant +skirmishings of the Aurora are exhibiting, or even a luminous arch, +which is a broad ribbon of snowy light that spans the skies, positively +unless I myself say to people--'Eyes upwards!' not one in a hundred, +male or female, but fails to see the show, though it may be seen +_gratis_, simply because their eyes are too uniformly reading the +earth. This downward direction of the eyes, however, must have been +worse in former ages: because else it never _could_ have happened +that, until Queen Anne's days, nobody ever hinted in a book that there +_was_ such a thing, or _could_ be such a thing, as the Aurora +Borealis; and in fact Halley had the credit of discovering it.] as +celebrating two annual festivals--one in August, one in November. You +are a little too late, reader, for seeing this year's summer festival; +but that's no reason why you should not engage a good seat for the +November meeting; which, if I recollect, is about the 9th, or the Lord +Mayor's day, and on the whole better worth seeing. For anything +_we_ know, this may be a great day in the earth's earlier history; +she may have put forth her original rose on this day, or tried her hand +at a primitive specimen of wheat; or she may, in fact, have survived +some gunpowder plot about this time; so that the meteoric appearance +may be a kind congratulating _feu-de-joye_, on the anniversary of +the happy event. What it is that the 'cosmogony man' in the 'Vicar of +Wakefield' would have thought of such novelties, whether he would have +favored us with his usual opinion upon such topics, viz., that +_anarchon ara kai ateleutaion to pan_, or have sported a new one +exclusively for this occasion, may be doubtful. What it is that +astronomers think, who are a kind of 'cosmogony men,' the reader may +learn from Dr. Nichol, Note B, (p. 139, 140.) + +In taking leave of a book and a subject so well fitted to draw out the +highest mode of that grandeur, which _can_ connect itself with the +external, (a grandeur capable of drawing down a spiritual being to +earth, but not of raising an earthly being to heaven,) I would wish to +contribute my own brief word of homage to this grandeur by recalling +from a fading remembrance of twenty-five years back a short +_bravura_ of John Paul Richter. I call it a _bravura_, as being +intentionally a passage of display and elaborate execution; and +in this sense I may call it partly 'my own,' that at twenty-five years' +distance, (after one single reading,) it would not have been possible +for any man to report a passage of this length without greatly +disturbing [Footnote: _'Disturbing;'_--neither perhaps should I +much have sought to avoid alterations if the original had been lying +before me: for it takes the shape of a dream; and this most brilliant +of all German writers wanted in that field the severe simplicity, that +horror of the _too much_, belonging to Grecian architecture, which +is essential to the perfection of a dream considered as a work of art. +He was too elaborate, to realize the grandeur of the shadowy.] the +texture of the composition: by altering, one makes it partly one's own; +but it is right to mention, that the sublime turn at the end belongs +entirely to John Paul. + +'God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, saying, +--"Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house." And to the +servants that stood around his throne he said,--"Take him, and undress +him from his robes of flesh: cleanse his vision, and put a new breath +into his nostrils: only touch not with any change his human heart--the +heart that weeps and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel +for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage; and from +the terraces of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled +away into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing +they fled through Zaarrahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death, +that divided the worlds of life: sometimes they swept over frontiers, +that were quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then, from a +distance that is counted only in heaven, light dawned for a time +through a sleepy film: by unutterable pace the light swept to +_them_, they by unutterable pace to the light: in a moment the +rushing of planets was upon them: in a moment the blazing of suns was +around them. Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed, but were +not revealed. To the right hand and to the left towered mighty +constellations, that by self-repetitions and answers from afar, that by +counter-positions, built up triumphal gates, whose architraves, whose +archways--horizontal, upright--rested, rose--at altitudes, by spans-- +that seemed ghostly from infinitude. Without measure were the +architraves, past number were the archways, beyond memory the gates. +Within were stairs that scaled the eternities above, that descended to +the eternities below: above was below, below was above, to the man +stripped of gravitating body: depth was swallowed up in height +insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth unfathomable. Suddenly +as thus they rode from infinite to infinite, suddenly as thus they +tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose--that systems more +mysterious, that worlds more billowy,--other heights, and other +depths,--were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Then the man sighed, +and stopped, shuddered and wept. His over-laden heart uttered itself in +tears; and he said,--"Angel, I will go no farther. For the spirit of +man aches with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me +lie down in the grave from the persecutions of the infinite; for end, I +see, there is none." And from all the listening stars that shone around +issued a choral voice, "The man speaks truly: end there is none, that +ever yet we heard of." "End is there none?" the angel solemnly +demanded: "Is there indeed no end? And is this the sorrow that kills +you?" But no voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the +angel threw up his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens; saying, +"End is there none to the universe of God? Lo! also there is no +Beginning."' + + +NOTE.--On throwing his eyes hastily over the preceding paper, the +writer becomes afraid that some readers may give such an interpretation +to a few playful expressions upon the age of our earth, &c., as to +class him with those who use geology, cosmology, &c., for purposes of +attack, or insinuation against the Scriptures. Upon this point, +therefore, he wishes to make a firm explanation of his own opinions, +which, (whether right or wrong,) will liberate him, once and for all, +from any such jealousy. + +It is sometimes said, that the revealer of a true religion, does not +come amongst men for the sake of teaching truths in science, or +correcting errors in science. Most justly is this said: but often in +terms far too feeble. For generally these terms are such as to imply, +that, although no function of his mission, it was yet open to him-- +although not pressing with the force of an obligation upon the +revealer, it was yet at his discretion--if not to correct other men's +errors, yet at least in his own person to speak with scientific +precision. I contend that it was _not_. I contend, that to have +uttered the truths of astronomy, of geology, &c., at the era of new- +born Christianity, was not only _below_ the purposes of a +religion, but would have been _against_ them. Even upon errors of +a far more important class than any errors in science can ever be,-- +superstitions, for instance, that degraded the very idea of God; +prejudices and false usages, that laid waste human happiness, (such as +slavery and many hundreds of other abuses that might be mentioned,) the +rule evidently acted upon by the Founder of Christianity was this-- +Given the purification of the fountain, once assumed that the fountains +of truth are cleansed, all these derivative currents of evil will +cleanse themselves. And the only exceptions, which I remember, to this +rule, are two cases in which, from the personal appeal made to his +decision, Christ would have made himself a party to wretched delusions, +if he had not condescended to expose their folly. But, as a general +rule, the branches of error were disregarded, and the roots only +attacked. If, then, so lofty a station was taken with regard even to +such errors as had moral and spiritual relations, how much more with +regard to the comparative trifles, (as in the ultimate relations of +human nature they are,) of merely human science! But, for my part, I go +further, and assert, that upon three reasons it was impossible for any +messenger from God, (or offering himself in that character,) for a +moment to have descended into the communication of truth merely +scientific, or economic, or worldly. And the reasons are these: +_First_, Because it would have degraded his mission, by lowering +it to the base level of a collision with human curiosity, or with petty +and transitory interests. _Secondly_, Because it would have ruined +his mission; would utterly have prostrated the free agency and the +proper agency of that mission. He that, in those days, should have +proclaimed the true theory of the Solar System and the heavenly forces, +would have been shut up at once--as a lunatic likely to become +dangerous. But suppose him to have escaped _that_; still, as a +divine teacher, he has no liberty of caprice. He must stand to the +promises of his own acts. Uttering the first truth of a science, he is +pledged to the second: taking the main step, he is committed to all +which follow. He is thrown at once upon the endless controversies which +science in every stage provokes, and in none more than in the earliest. +Or, if he retires as from a scene of contest that he had not +anticipated, he retires as one confessing a human precipitance and a +human oversight, weaknesses, venial in others, but fatal to the +pretensions of a divine teacher. Starting besides from such +pretensions, he could not (as others might) have the privilege of +selecting arbitrarily or partially. If upon one science, then upon +all,--if upon science, then upon, art,--if upon art and science, then +upon _every_ branch of social economy, upon _every_ organ of +civilization, his reformations and advances are equally due; due as to +all, if due as to any. To move in one direction, is constructively to +undertake for all. Without power to retreat, he has thus thrown the +intellectual interests of his followers into a channel utterly alien to +the purposes of a spiritual mission. + +Thus far he has simply failed: but next comes a worse result; an evil, +not negative but positive. Because, _thirdly_, to apply the light +of a revelation for the benefit of a merely human science, which is +virtually done by so applying the illumination of an _inspired_ +teacher, is--to assault capitally the scheme of God's discipline and +training for man. To improve by _heavenly_ means, if but in one +solitary science--to lighten, if but in one solitary section, the +condition of difficulty which had been designed for the strengthening +and training of human faculties, is _pro tanto_ to disturb--to +cancel--to contradict a previous purpose of God, made known by silent +indications from the beginning of the world. Wherefore did God give to +man the powers for contending with scientific difficulties? Wherefore +did he lay a secret train of continual occasions, that should rise, by +intervals, through thousands of generations, for provoking and +developing those activities in man's intellect, if, after all, he is to +send a messenger of his own, more than human, to intercept and strangle +all these great purposes? When, therefore, the persecutors of Galileo, +alleged that Jupiter, for instance, could not move in the way alleged, +because then the Bible would have proclaimed it,--as they thus threw +back upon God the burthen of discovery, which he had thrown upon +Galileo, why did they not, by following out their own logic, throw upon +the Bible the duty of discovering the telescope, or discovering the +satellites of Jupiter? And, as no such discoveries were there, why did +they not, by parity of logic, and for mere consistency, deny the +telescope as a fact, deny the Jovian planets as facts? But this it is +to mistake the very meaning and purposes of a revelation. A revelation +is not made for the purpose of showing to idle men that which they may +show to themselves, by faculties already given to them, if only they +will exert those faculties, but for the purpose of showing _that_ +which the moral darkness of man will not, without supernatural light, +allow him to perceive. With disdain, therefore, must every considerate +person regard the notion,--that God could wilfully interfere with his +own plans, by accrediting ambassadors to reveal astronomy, or any other +science, which he has commanded men to cultivate _without_ +revelation, by endowing them with all the natural powers for doing so. + +Even as regards astronomy, a science so nearly allying itself to +religion by the loftiness and by the purity of its contemplations, +Scripture is nowhere the _parent_ of any doctrine, nor so much as +the silent sanctioner of any doctrine. Scripture cannot become the +author of falsehood,--though it were as to a trifle, cannot become a +party to falsehood. And it is made impossible for Scripture to teach +falsely, by the simple fact that Scripture, on such subjects, will not +condescend to teach at all. The Bible adopts the erroneous language of +men, (which at any rate it must do, in order to make itself +understood,) not by way of sanctioning a theory, but by way of using a +fact. The Bible _uses_ (postulates) the phenomena of day and +night, of summer and winter, and expresses them, in relation to their +causes, as _men_ express them, men, even, that are scientific +astronomers. But the results, which are all that concern Scripture, are +equally true, whether accounted for by one hypothesis which is +philosophically just, or by another which is popular and erring. + +Now, on the other hand, in geology and cosmology, the case is still +stronger. _Here_ there is no opening for a compliance even with +popular language. _Here_, where there is no such stream of +apparent phenomena running counter (as in astronomy) to the real +phenomena, neither is there any popular language opposed to the +scientific. The whole are abstruse speculations, even as regards their +objects, not dreamed of as possibilities, either in their true aspects +or their false aspects, till modern times. The Scriptures, therefore, +nowhere allude to such sciences, either under the shape of histories, +applied to processes current and in movement, or under the shape of +theories applied to processes past and accomplished. The Mosaic +cosmogony, indeed, gives the succession of natural births; and that +succession will doubtless be more and more confirmed and illustrated as +geology advances. But as to the time, the duration, of this cosmogony, +it is the idlest of notions that the Scriptures either have or could +have condescended to human curiosity upon so awful a prologue to the +drama of this world. Genesis would no more have indulged so mean a +passion with respect to the mysterious inauguration of the world, than +the Apocalypse with respect to its mysterious close. 'Yet the six +_days_ of Moses!' Days! But is any man so little versed in biblical +language as not to know that (except in the merely historical +parts of the Jewish records) every section of time has a secret and +separate acceptation in the Scriptures? Does an _aeon_, though a +Grecian word, bear scripturally [either in Daniel or in Saint John] any +sense known to Grecian ears? Do the seventy _weeks_ of the prophet +mean weeks in the sense of human calendars? Already the Psalms, (xc) +already St. Peter, (2d Epist.) warn us of a peculiar sense attached to +the word _day_ in divine ears? And who of the innumerable +interpreters understands the twelve hundred and odd days in Daniel, or +his two thousand and odd days, to mean, by possibility, periods of +twenty-four hours? Surely the theme of Moses was as mystical, and as +much entitled to the benefit of mystical language, as that of the +prophets. + +The sum of the matter is this:--God, by a Hebrew prophet, is sublimely +described as _the Revealer_; and, in variation of his own expression, +the same prophet describes him as the Being 'that knoweth the +darkness.' Under no idea can the relations of God to man be more +grandly expressed. But of what is he the revealer? Not surely of those +things which he has enabled man to reveal for himself, and which he has +commanded him so to reveal, but of those things which, were it not +through special light from heaven, must eternally remain sealed up in +the inaccessible darkness. On this principle we should all laugh at a +revealed cookery. But essentially the same ridicule applies to a +revealed astronomy, or a revealed geology. As a fact, there _is_ +no such astronomy or geology: as a possibility, by the _a priori_ +argument which I have used, (viz., that a revelation on such fields, +would contradict _other_ machineries of providence,) there _can_ be no +such astronomy or geology. Consequently there _can_ be none such in the +Bible. Consequently there _is_ none. Consequently there can be no +schism or feud upon _these_ subjects between the Bible and the +philosophies outside. Geology is a field left open, with the amplest +permission from above, to the widest and wildest speculations of man. + + + + +MODERN SUPERSTITION + + +It is said continually--that the age of miracles is past. We deny that +it is so in any sense which implies this age to differ from all other +generations of man except one. It is neither past, nor ought we to wish +it past. Superstition is no vice in the constitution of man: it is not +true that, in any philosophic view, _primus in orbe deos fecit timor_ +--meaning by _fecit_ even so much as _raised into light_. As Burke +remarked, the _timor_ at least must be presumed to preexist, and must +be accounted for, if not the gods. If the fear created the gods, what +created the fear? Far more true, and more just to the grandeur of man, +it would have been to say--_Primus in orbe deos fecit sensus +infiniti_. Even in the lowest Caffre, more goes to the sense of a +divine being than simply his wrath or his power. Superstition, indeed, +or the sympathy with the invisible, is the great test of man's nature, +as an earthly combining with a celestial. In superstition lies the +possibility of religion. And though superstition is often injurious, +degrading, demoralizing, it is so, not as a form of corruption or +degradation, but as a form of non-development. The crab is harsh, and +for itself worthless. But it is the germinal form of innumerable finer +fruits: not apples only the most exquisite, and pears; the peach and +the nectarine are said to have radiated from this austere stock when +cultured, developed, and transferred to all varieties of climate. +Superstition will finally pass into pure forms of religion as man +advances. It would be matter of lamentation to hear that superstition +had at all decayed until man had made corresponding steps in the +purification and development of his intellect as applicable to +religious faith. Let us hope that this is not so. And, by way of +judging, let us throw a hasty eye over the modes of popular +superstition. If these manifest their vitality, it will prove that the +popular intellect does not go along with the bookish or the worldly +(philosophic we cannot call it) in pronouncing the miraculous extinct. +The popular feeling is all in all. + +This function of miraculous power, which is most widely diffused +through Pagan and Christian ages alike, but which has the least root in +the solemnities of the imagination, we may call the _Ovidian_. By +way of distinction, it may be so called; and with some justice, since +Ovid in his _Metamorphoses_ gave the first elaborate record of +such a tendency in human superstition. It is a movement of superstition +under the domination of human affections; a mode of spiritual awe which +seeks to reconcile itself with human tenderness or admiration; and +which represents supernatural power as expressing itself by a sympathy +with human distress or passion concurrently with human sympathies, and +as supporting that blended sympathy by a symbol incarnated with the +fixed agencies of nature. For instance, a pair of youthful lovers +perish by a double suicide originating in a fatal mistake, and a +mistake operating in each case through a noble self-oblivion. The tree +under which their meeting has been concerted, and which witnesses their +tragedy, is supposed ever afterwards to express the divine sympathy +with this catastrophe in the gloomy color of its fruit:-- + + 'At tu, quae ramis (arbor!) miserabile corpus + Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum, + Signa tene caedis:--pullosque et luctibus aptos + Semper habe fructus--gemini monumenta cruoris:' + +Such is the dying adjuration of the lady to the tree. And the fruit +becomes from that time a monument of a double sympathy--sympathy from +man, sympathy from a dark power standing behind the agencies of nature, +and speaking through them. Meantime the object of this sympathy is +understood to be not the individual catastrophe, but the universal case +of unfortunate love exemplified in this particular romance. The +inimitable grace with which Ovid has delivered these early traditions +of human tenderness, blending with human superstition, is notorious; +the artfulness of the pervading connection, by which every tale in the +long succession is made to arise spontaneously out of that which +precedes, is absolutely unrivalled; and this it was, with his luxuriant +gayety, which procured for him a preference, even with Milton, a poet +so opposite by intellectual constitution. It is but reasonable, +therefore, that this function of the miraculous should bear the name of +_Ovidian_. Pagan it was in its birth; and to paganism its titles +ultimately ascend. Yet we know that in the transitional state through +the centuries succeeding to Christ, during which paganism and +Christianity were slowly descending and ascending, as if from two +different strata of the atmosphere, the two powers interchanged +whatsoever they could. (See Conyer's Middleton; and see Blount of our +own days.) It marked the earthly nature of paganism, that it could +borrow little or nothing by organization: it was fitted to no +expansion. But the true faith, from its vast and comprehensive +adaptation to the nature of man, lent itself to many corruptions--some +deadly in their tendencies, some harmless. Amongst these last was the +Ovidian form of connecting the unseen powers moving in nature with +human sympathies of love or reverence. The legends of this kind are +universal and endless. No land, the most austere in its Protestantism, +but has adopted these superstitions: and everywhere by those even who +reject them they are entertained with some degree of affectionate +respect. That the ass, which in its very degradation still retains an +under-power of sublimity, [Footnote: '_An under-power of sublimity_.'-- +Everybody knows that Homer compared the Telamonian Ajax, in a moment of +heroic endurance, to an ass. This, however, was only under a momentary +glance from a peculiar angle of the case. But the Mahometan, too +solemn, and also perhaps too stupid to catch the fanciful colors of +things, absolutely by choice, under the Bagdad Caliphate, decorated a +most favorite hero with the title of the _Ass_--which title is +repeated with veneration to this day. The wild ass is one of the few +animals which has the reputation of never flying from an enemy.] or of +sublime suggestion through its ancient connection with the wilderness, +with the Orient, with Jerusalem, should have been honored amongst all +animals, by the visible impression upon its back of Christian symbols +--seems reasonable even to the infantine understanding when made +acquainted with its meekness, its patience, its suffering life, and +its association with the founder of Christianity in one great +triumphal solemnity. The very man who brutally abuses it, and feels a +hardhearted contempt for its misery and its submission, has a semi- +conscious feeling that the same qualities were possibly those which +recommended it to a distinction, [Footnote: '_Which recommended it to +a distinction_.'--It might be objected that the Oriental ass was often +a superb animal; that it is spoken of prophetically as such; and that +historically the Syrian ass is made known to us as having been +used in the prosperous ages of Judea for the riding of princes. But +this is no objection. Those circumstances in the history of the ass +were requisite to establish its symbolic propriety in a great symbolic +pageant of triumph. Whilst, on the other hand, the individual animal, +there is good reason to think, was marked by all the qualities of the +general race as a suffering and unoffending tribe in the animal +creation. The asses on which princes rode were of a separate color, of +a peculiar breed, and improved, like the English racer, by continual +care.] when all things were valued upon a scale inverse to that of the +world. Certain it is, that in all Christian lands the legend about the +ass is current amongst the rural population. The haddock, again, +amongst marine animals, is supposed, throughout all maritime Europe, to +be a privileged fish; even in austere Scotland, every child can point +out the impression of St. Peter's thumb, by which from age to age it is +distinguished from fishes having otherwise an external resemblance. All +domesticated cattle, having the benefit of man's guardianship and care, +are believed throughout England and Germany to go down upon their knees +at one particular moment of Christmas eve, when the fields are covered +with darkness, when no eye looks down but that of God, and when the +exact anniversary hour revolves of the angelic song, once rolling over +the fields and flocks of Palestine. [Footnote: Mahometanism, which +everywhere pillages Christianity, cannot but have its own face at times +glorified by its stolen jewels. This solemn hour of jubilation, +gathering even the brutal natures into its fold, recalls accordingly +the Mahometan legend (which the reader may remember is one of those +incorporated into Southey's _Thalaba_) of a great hour revolving +once in every year, during which the gates of Paradise were thrown open +to their utmost extent, and gales of happiness issued forth upon the +total family of man.] The Glastonbury Thorn is a more local +superstition; but at one time the legend was as widely diffused as that +of Loretto, with the angelic translation of its sanctities: on +Christmas morning, it was devoutly believed by all Christendom, that +this holy thorn put forth its annual blossoms. And with respect to the +aspen tree, which Mrs. Hemans very naturally mistook for a Welsh +legend, having first heard it in Denbighshire, the popular faith is +universal--that it shivers mystically in sympathy with the horror of +that mother tree in Palestine which was compelled to furnish materials +for the cross. Neither would it in this case be any objection, if a +passage were produced from Solinus or Theophrastus, implying that the +aspen tree had always shivered--for the tree might presumably be +penetrated by remote presentiments, as well as by remote remembrances. +In so vast a case the obscure sympathy should stretch, Janus-like, each +way. And an objection of the same kind to the rainbow, considered as +the sign or seal by which God attested his covenant in bar of all +future deluges, may be parried in something of the same way. It was not +then first created--true: but it was then first selected by preference, +amongst a multitude of natural signs as yet unappropriated, and then +first charged with the new function of a message and a ratification to +man. Pretty much the same theory, that is, the same way of accounting +for the natural existence without disturbing the supernatural +functions, may be applied to the great constellation of the other +hemisphere, called the Southern Cross. It is viewed popularly in South +America, and the southern parts of our northern hemisphere, as the +great banner, or gonfalon, held aloft by Heaven before the Spanish +heralds of the true faith in 1492. To that superstitious and ignorant +race it costs not an effort to suppose, that by some synchronizing +miracle, the constellation had been then specially called into +existence at the very moment when the first Christian procession, +bearing a cross in their arms, solemnly stepped on shore from the +vessels of Christendom. We Protestants know better: we understand the +impossibility of supposing such a narrow and local reference in orbs, +so transcendently vast as those composing the constellation--orbs +removed from each other by such unvoyageable worlds of space, and +having, in fact, no real reference to each other more than to any other +heavenly bodies whatsoever. The unity of synthesis, by which they are +composed into one figure of a cross, we know to be a mere accidental +result from an arbitrary synthesis of human fancy. Take such and such +stars, compose them into letters, and they will spell such a word. But +still it was our own choice--a synthesis of our own fancy, originally +to combine them in this way. They might be divided from each other, and +otherwise combined. All this is true: and yet, as the combination does +spontaneously offer itself [Footnote: '_Does spontaneously offer +itself._'--Heber (Bishop of Calcutta) complains that this constellation +is not composed of stars answering his expectation in point of +magnitude. But he admits that the dark barren space around it +gives to this inferior magnitude a very advantageous relief.] to every +eye, as the glorious cross does really glitter for ever through the +silent hours of a vast hemisphere, even they who are not superstitious, +may willingly yield to the belief--that, as the rainbow was laid in the +very elements and necessities of nature, yet still bearing a pre- +dedication to a service which would not be called for until many ages +had passed, so also the mysterious cipher of man's imperishable hopes +may have been entwined and enwreathed with the starry heavens from +their earliest creation, as a prefiguration--as a silent heraldry of +hope through one period, and as a heraldry of gratitude through the +other. + +All these cases which we have been rehearsing, taking them in the +fullest literality, agree in this general point of union--they are all +silent incarnations of miraculous power--miracles, supposing them to +have been such originally, locked up and embodied in the regular course +of nature, just as we see lineaments of faces and of forms in +petrifactions, in variegated marbles, in spars, or in rocky strata, +which our fancy interprets as once having been real human existences; +but which are now confounded with the substance of a mineral product. +Even those who are most superstitious, therefore, look upon cases of +this order as occupying a midway station between the physical and the +hyperphysical, between the regular course of nature and the +providential interruption of that course. The stream of the miraculous +is here confluent with the stream of the natural. By such legends the +credulous man finds his superstition but little nursed; the incredulous +finds his philosophy but little revolted. Both alike will be willing to +admit, for instance, that the apparent act of reverential thanksgiving, +in certain birds, when drinking, is caused and supported by a +physiological arrangement; and yet, perhaps, both alike would bend so +far to the legendary faith as to allow a child to believe, and would +perceive a pure childlike beauty in believing, that the bird was thus +rendering a homage of deep thankfulness to the universal Father, who +watches for the safety of sparrows, and sends his rain upon the just +and upon the unjust. In short, the faith in this order of the physico- +miraculous is open alike to the sceptical and the non-sceptical: it is +touched superficially with the coloring of superstition, with its +tenderness, its humility, its thankfulness, its awe; but, on the other +hand, it is not therefore tainted with the coarseness, with the +silliness, with the credulity of superstition. Such a faith reposes +upon the universal signs diffused through nature, and blends with the +mysterious of natural grandeurs wherever found--with the mysterious of +the starry heavens, with the mysterious of music, and with that +infinite form of the mysterious for man's dimmest misgivings-- + + 'Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.' + +But, from this earliest note in the ascending scale of superstitious +faith, let us pass to a more alarming key. This first, which we have +styled (in equity as well as for distinction) the _Ovidian_, is +too aerial, too allegoric, almost to be susceptible of much terror. It +is the mere _fancy_, in a mood half-playful, half-tender, which +submits to the belief. It is the feeling, the sentiment, which creates +the faith; not the faith which creates the feeling. And thus far we see +that modern feeling and Christian feeling has been to the full as +operative as any that is peculiar to paganism; judging by the Romish +_Legenda_, very much more so. The Ovidian illustrations, under a +false superstition, are entitled to give the designation, as being the +first, the earliest, but not at all as the richest. Besides that, +Ovid's illustrations emanated often from himself individually, not from +the popular mind of his country; ours of the same classification +uniformly repose on large popular traditions from the whole of +Christian antiquity. These again are agencies of the supernatural which +can never have a private or personal application; they belong to all +mankind and to all generations. But the next in order are more solemn; +they become terrific by becoming personal. These comprehend all that +vast body of the marvellous which is expressed by the word _Ominous_. +On this head, as dividing itself into the ancient and modern, we will +speak next. + +Everybody is aware of the deep emphasis which the Pagans laid upon +words and upon names, under this aspect of the ominous. The name of +several places was formally changed by the Roman government, solely +with a view to that contagion of evil which was thought to lurk in the +syllables, if taken significantly. Thus, the town of Maleventum, (Ill- +come, as one might render it,) had its name changed by the Romans to +Beneventum, (or Welcome.) _Epidamnum_ again, the Grecian Calais, +corresponding to the Roman Dover of Brundusium, was a name that would +have startled the stoutest-hearted Roman 'from his propriety.' Had he +suffered this name to escape him inadvertently, his spirits would have +forsaken him--he would have pined away under a certainty of misfortune, +like a poor Negro of Koromantyn who is the victim of Obi.[Footnote: +'_The victim of Obi._'--It seems worthy of notice, that this +magical fascination is generally called Obi, and the magicians Obeah +men, throughout Guinea, Negroland, &c.; whilst the Hebrew or Syriac +word for the rites of necromancy, was _Ob_ or _Obh_, at least +when ventriloquism was concerned.] As a Greek word, which it was, the +name imported no ill; but for a Roman to say _Ibo Epidamnum_, was +in effect saying, though in a hybrid dialect, half-Greek half-Roman, 'I +will go to ruin.' The name was therefore changed to Dyrrachium; a +substitution which quieted more anxieties in Roman hearts than the +erection of a light-house or the deepening of the harbor mouth. A case +equally strong, to take one out of many hundreds that have come down to +us, is reported by Livy. There was an officer in a Roman legion, at +some period of the Republic, who bore the name either of Atrius Umber +or Umbrius Ater: and this man being ordered on some expedition, the +soldiers refused to follow him. They did right. We remember that Mr. +Coleridge used facetiously to call the well-known sister of Dr. Aikin, +Mrs. Barbauld, 'that pleonasm of nakedness'--the idea of nakedness +being reduplicated and reverberated in the _bare_ and the _bald_. +This Atrius Umber might be called 'that pleonasm of darkness;' and one +might say to him, in the words of Othello, 'What needs this iteration?' +To serve under the Gloomy was enough to darken the spirit of hope; but +to serve under the Black Gloomy was really rushing upon destruction. +Yet it will be alleged that Captain Death was a most favorite and +heroic leader in the English navy; and that in our own times, Admiral +Coffin, though an American by birth, has not been unpopular in the same +service. This is true: and all that can be said is, that these names +were two-edged swords, which might be made to tell against the enemy as +well as against friends. And possibly the Roman centurion might have +turned his name to the same account, had he possessed the great +Dictator's presence of mind; for he, when landing in Africa, having +happened to stumble--an omen of the worst character, in Roman +estimation--took out its sting by following up his own +oversight, as if it had been intentional, falling to the ground, +kissing it, and ejaculating that in this way he appropriated the soil. + +Omens of every class were certainly regarded, in ancient Rome, with a +reverence that can hardly be surpassed. But yet, with respect to these +omens derived from names, it is certain that our modern times have more +memorable examples on record. Out of a large number which occur to us, +we will cite two:--The present King of the French bore in his boyish +days a title which he would not have borne, but for an omen of bad +augury attached to his proper title. He was called the Duc de Chartres +before the Revolution, whereas his proper title was Duc de Valois. And +the origin of the change was this:--The Regent's father had been the +sole brother of Louis Quatorze. He married for his first wife our +English princess Henrietta, the sister of Charles II., (and through her +daughter, by the way, it is that the house of Savoy, _i.e._ of +Sardinia, has pretensions to the English throne.) This unhappy lady, it +is too well established, was poisoned. Voltaire, amongst many others, +has affected to doubt the fact; for which in his time there might be +some excuse. But since then better evidences have placed the matter +beyond all question. We now know both the fact, and the how, and the +why. The Duke, who probably was no party to the murder of his young +wife, though otherwise on bad terms with her, married for his second +wife a coarse German princess, homely in every sense, and a singular +contrast to the elegant creature whom he had lost. She was a daughter +of the Bavarian Elector; ill-tempered by her own confession, self- +willed, and a plain speaker to excess; but otherwise a woman of honest +German principles. Unhappy she was through a long life; unhappy through +the monotony as well as the malicious intrigues of the French court; +and so much so, that she did her best (though without effect) to +prevent her Bavarian niece from becoming dauphiness. She acquits her +husband, however, in the memoirs which she left behind, of any +intentional share in her unhappiness; she describes him constantly as a +well-disposed prince. But whether it were, that often walking in the +dusk through the numerous apartments of that vast mansion which her +husband had so much enlarged, naturally she turned her thoughts to the +injured lady who had presided there before herself; or whether it arose +from the inevitable gloom which broods continually over mighty palaces, +so much is known for certain, that one evening, in the twilight, she +met, at a remote quarter of the reception-rooms, something that she +conceived to be a spectre. What she fancied to have passed on that +occasion, was never known except to her nearest friends; and if she +made any explanations in her memoirs, the editor has thought fit to +suppress them. She mentions only, that in consequence of some ominous +circumstances relating to the title of _Valois_, which was the +proper second title of the Orleans family, her son, the Regent, had +assumed in his boyhood that of Duc de Chartres. His elder brother was +dead, so that the superior title was open to him; but, in consequence +of those mysterious omens, whatever they might be, which occasioned +much whispering at the time, the great title of Valois was laid aside +for ever as of bad augury; nor has it ever been resumed through a +century and a half that have followed that mysterious warning; nor will +it be resumed unless the numerous children of the present Orleans +branch should find themselves distressed for ancient titles; which is +not likely, since they enjoy the honors of the elder house, and are now +the _children of France_ in a technical sense. + +Here we have a great European case of state omens in the eldest of +Christian houses. The next which we shall cite is equally a state case, +and carries its public verification along with itself. In the spring of +1799, when Napoleon was lying before Acre, he became anxious for news +from Upper Egypt, whither he had despatched Dessaix in pursuit of a +distinguished Mameluke leader. This was in the middle of May. Not many +days after, a courier arrived with favorable despatches--favorable in +the main, but reporting one tragical occurrence on a small scale that, +to Napoleon, for a superstitious reason, outweighed the public +prosperity. A _djerme_, or Nile boat of the largest class, having +on board a large party of troops and of wounded men, together with most +of a regimental band, had run ashore at the village of Benouth. No case +could be more hopeless. The neighboring Arabs were of the Yambo tribe-- +of all Arabs the most ferocious. These Arabs and the Fellahs (whom, by +the way, many of our countrymen are so ready to represent as friendly +to the French and hostile to ourselves,) had taken the opportunity of +attacking the vessel. The engagement was obstinate; but at length the +inevitable catastrophe could be delayed no longer. The commander, an +Italian named Morandi, was a brave man; any fate appeared better than +that which awaited him from an enemy so malignant. He set fire to the +powder magazine; the vessel blew up; Morandi perished in the Nile; and +all of less nerve, who had previously reached the shore in safety, were +put to death to the very last man, with cruelties the most detestable, +by their inhuman enemies. For all this Napoleon cared little; but one +solitary fact there was in the report which struck him with +consternation. This ill-fated _djerme_--what was it called? It was +called _L'Italie_; and in the name of the vessel Napoleon read an +augury of the fate which had befallen the Italian territory. Considered +as a dependency of France, he felt certain that Italy was lost; and +Napoleon was inconsolable. But what possible connection, it was asked, +can exist between this vessel on the Nile and a remote peninsula of +Southern Europe? 'No matter,' replied Napoleon; 'my presentiments never +deceive me. You will see that all is ruined. I am satisfied that my +Italy, my conquest, is lost to France!' So, indeed, it was. All +European news had long been intercepted by the English cruisers; but +immediately after the battle with the Vizier in July 1799, an English +admiral first informed the French army of Egypt that Massena and others +had lost all that Bonaparte had won in 1796. But it is a strange +illustration of human blindness, that this very subject of Napoleon's +lamentation--this very campaign of 1799--it was, with its blunders and +its long equipage of disasters, that paved the way for his own +elevation to the Consulship, just seven calendar months from the +receipt of that Egyptian despatch; since most certainly, in the +struggle of Brumaire 1799, doubtful and critical through every stage, +it was the pointed contrast between _his_ Italian campaigns and +those of his successors which gave effect to Napoleon's pretensions +with the political combatants, and which procured them a ratification +amongst the people. The loss of Italy was essential to the full effect +of Napoleon's previous conquest. That and the imbecile characters of +Napoleon's chief military opponents were the true keys to the great +revolution of Brumaire. The stone which he rejected became the keystone +of the arch. So that, after all, he valued the omen falsely; though the +very next news from Europe, courteously communicated by his English +enemies, showed that he had interpreted its meaning rightly. + +These omens, derived from names, are therefore common to the ancient +and the modern world. But perhaps, in strict logic, they ought to have +been classed as one subdivision or variety under a much larger head, +viz. words generally, no matter whether proper names or appellatives, +as operative powers and agencies, having, that is to say, a charmed +power against some party concerned from the moment that they leave the +lips. + +Homer describes prayers as having a separate life, rising buoyantly +upon wings, and making their way upwards to the throne of Jove. Such, +but in a sense gloomy and terrific, is the force ascribed under a +widespread superstition, ancient and modern, to words uttered on +critical occasions; or to words uttered at any time, which point to +critical occasions. Hence the doctrine of _euphaemismos_, the +necessity of abstaining from strong words or direct words in expressing +fatal contingencies. It was shocking, at all times of paganism, to say +of a third person--'If he should die;' or to suppose the case that he +might be murdered. The very word _death_ was consecrated and +forbidden. _Si quiddam humanum passus fuerit_ was the extreme form +to which men advanced in such cases. And this scrupulous feeling, +originally founded on the supposed efficacy of words, prevails to this +day. It is a feeling undoubtedly supported by good taste, which +strongly impresses upon us all the discordant tone of all impassioned +subjects, (death, religion, &c.,) with the common key of ordinary +conversation. But good taste is not in itself sufficient to account for +a scrupulousness so general and so austere. In the lowest classes there +is a shuddering recoil still felt from uttering coarsely and roundly +the anticipation of a person's death. Suppose a child, heir to some +estate, the subject of conversation--the hypothesis of his death is put +cautiously, under such forms as, 'If anything but good should happen;' +'if any change should occur;' 'if any of us should chance to miscarry;' +and so forth. Always a modified expression is sought--always an +indirect one. And this timidity arises under the old superstition still +lingering amongst men, like that ancient awe, alluded to by Wordsworth, +for the sea and its deep secrets--feelings that have not, no, nor ever +will, utterly decay. No excess of nautical skill will ever perfectly +disenchant the great abyss from its terrors--no progressive knowledge +will ever medicine that dread misgiving of a mysterious and pathless +power given to words of a certain import, or uttered in certain +situations, by a parent, to persecuting or insulting children; by the +victim of horrible oppression, when laboring in final agonies; and by +others, whether cursing or blessing, who stand central to great +passions, to great interests, or to great perplexities. + +And here, by way of parenthesis, we may stop to explain the force of +that expression, so common in Scripture, '_Thou hast said it._' It +is an answer often adopted by our Saviour; and the meaning we hold to +be this: Many forms in eastern idioms, as well as in the Greek +occasionally, though meant _interrogatively_, are of a nature to +convey a direct categorical _affirmation_, unless as their meaning +is modified by the cadence and intonation. _Art thou_, detached +from this vocal and accentual modification, is equivalent to _thou +art_. Nay, even apart from this accident, the popular belief +authorized the notion, that simply to have uttered any great thesis, +though unconsciously--simply to have united verbally any two great +ideas, though for a purpose the most different or even opposite, had +the mysterious power of realizing them in act. An exclamation, though +in the purest spirit of sport, to a boy, '_You shall be our +imperator_,' was many times supposed to be the forerunner and fatal +mandate for the boy's elevation. Such words executed themselves. To +connect, though but for denial or for mockery, the ideas of Jesus and +the Messiah, furnished an augury that eventually they would be found to +coincide, and to have their coincidence admitted. It was an +_argumentum ad hominem_, and drawn from a popular faith. + +But a modern reader will object the want of an accompanying design or +serious meaning on the part of him who utters the words--he never meant +his words to be taken seriously--nay, his purpose was the very +opposite. True: and precisely that is the reason why his words are +likely to operate effectually, and why they should be feared. Here lies +the critical point which most of all distinguishes this faith. Words +took effect, not merely in default of a serious use, but exactly in +consequence of that default. It was the chance word, the stray word, +the word uttered in jest, or in trifling, or in scorn, or +unconsciously, which took effect; whilst ten thousand words, uttered +with purpose and deliberation, were sure to prove inert. One case will +illustrate this:--Alexander of Macedon, in the outset of his great +expedition, consulted the oracle at Delphi. For the sake of his army, +had he been even without personal faith, he desired to have his +enterprise consecrated. No persuasions, however, would move the +priestess to enter upon her painful and agitating duties for the sake +of obtaining the regular answer of the god. Wearied with this, +Alexander seized the great lady by the arm, and using as much violence +as was becoming to the two characters--of a great prince acting and a +great priestess suffering--he pushed her gently backwards to the tripod +on which, in her professional character, she was to seat herself. Upon +this, in the hurry and excitement of the moment, the priestess +exclaimed, _O pai, anixaitos ei--O son, thou art irresistible_; +never adverting for an instant to his martial purposes, but simply to +his personal importunities. The person whom she thought of as incapable +of resistance, was herself, and all she meant _consciously_ was--O +son, I can refuse nothing to one so earnest. But mark what followed: +Alexander desisted at once--he asked for no further oracle--he refused +it, and exclaimed joyously:--'Now then, noble priestess, farewell; I +have the oracle--I have your answer, and better than any which you +could deliver from the tripod. I am invincible--so you have declared, +you cannot revoke it. True, you thought not of Persia--you thought only +of my importunity. But that very fact is what ratifies your answer. In +its blindness I recognise its truth. An oracle from a god might be +distorted by political ministers of the god, as in time past too often +has been suspected. The oracle has been said to _Medize_, and in +my own father's time to _Philippize_. But an oracle delivered +unconsciously, indirectly, blindly, that is the oracle which cannot +deceive.' Such was the all-famous oracle which Alexander accepted--such +was the oracle on which he and his army reposing went forth 'conquering +and to conquer.' + +Exactly on this principle do the Turks act, in putting so high a value +on the words of idiots. Enlightened Christians have often wondered at +their allowing any weight to people bereft of understanding. But that +is the very reason for allowing them weight: that very defect it is +which makes them capable of being organs for conveying words from +higher intelligences. A fine human intelligence cannot be a passive +instrument--it cannot be a mere tube for conveying the words of +inspiration: such an intelligence will intermingle ideas of its own, or +otherwise modify what is given, and pollute what is sacred. + +It is also on this principle that the whole practice and doctrine of +Sortilegy rest. Let us confine ourselves to that mode of sortilegy +which is conducted by throwing open privileged books at random, leaving +to chance the page and the particular line on which the oracular +functions are thrown. The books used have varied with the caprice or +the error of ages. Once the Hebrew Scriptures had the preference. +Probably they were laid aside, not because the reverence for their +authority decayed, but because it increased. In later times Virgil has +been the favorite. Considering the very limited range of ideas to which +Virgil was tied by his theme--a colonizing expedition in a barbarous +age, no worse book could have been selected: [Footnote: '_No worse +book could have been selected._'--The probable reason for making so +unhappy a choice seems to have been that Virgil, in the middle ages, +had the character of a necromancer, a diviner, &c. This we all know +from Dante. Now, the original reason for this strange translation of +character and functions we hold to have arisen from the circumstance of +his maternal grandfather having borne the name of _Magus_. People +in those ages held that a powerful enchanter, exorciser, &c., must have +a magician amongst his _cognati_; the power must run in the blood, +which on the maternal side could be undeniably ascertained. Under this +preconception, they took Magus not for a proper name, but for a +professional designation. Amongst many illustrations of the magical +character sustained by Virgil in the middle ages, we may mention that a +writer, about the year 1200, or the era of our Robin Hood, published by +Montfaucon, and cited by Gibbon in his last volume, says of Virgil,-- +that '_Captus a Romanis invisibiliter exiit, ivitque Neapopolim_.'] so +little indeed does the AEneid exhibit of human life in its +multiformity, that much tampering with the text is required +to bring real cases of human interest and real situations within the +scope of any Virgilian sentence, though aided by the utmost latitude of +accommodation. A king, a soldier, a sailor, &c., might look for +correspondences to their own circumstances; but not many others. +Accordingly, everybody remembers the remarkable answer which Charles I. +received at Oxford from this Virgilian oracle, about the opening of the +Parliamentary war. But from this limitation in the range of ideas it +was that others, and very pious people too, have not thought it profane +to resume the old reliance on the Scriptures. No case, indeed, can try +so severely, or put upon record so conspicuously, this indestructible +propensity for seeking light out of darkness--this thirst for looking +into the future by the aid of dice, real or figurative, as the fact of +men eminent for piety having yielded to the temptation. We give one +instance--the instance of a person who, in _practical_ theology, +has been, perhaps, more popular than any other in any church. Dr. +Doddridge, in his earlier days, was in a dilemma both of conscience and +of taste as to the election he should make between two situations, one +in possession, both at his command. He was settled at Harborough, in +Leicestershire, and was 'pleasing himself with the view of a +continuance' in that situation. True, he had received an invitation to +Northampton; but the reasons against complying seemed so strong, that +nothing was wanting but the civility of going over to Northampton, and +making an apologetic farewell. On the last Sunday in November of the +year 1729, the doctor went and preached a sermon in conformity with +those purposes. 'But,' says he, 'on the morning of that day an incident +happened, which affected me greatly.' On the night previous, it seems, +he had been urged very importunately by his Northampton friends to +undertake the vacant office. Much personal kindness had concurred with +this public importunity: the good doctor was affected; he had prayed +fervently, alleging in his prayer, as the reason which chiefly weighed +with him to reject the offer, that it was far beyond his forces, and +chiefly because he was too young [Footnote: '_Because he was too +young_'--Dr. Doddridge was born in the summer of 1702; consequently +he was at this era of his life about twenty-seven years old, and +consequently not so obviously entitled to the excuse of youth. But he +pleaded his youth, not with a view to the exertions required, but to +the _auctoritas_ and responsibilities of the situation.] and had +no assistant. He goes on thus:--'As soon as ever this address' (meaning +the prayer) 'was ended, I passed through a room of the house in which I +lodged, where a child was reading to his mother, and the only words I +heard distinctly were these, _And as thy days, so shall thy strength +be_.' This singular coincidence between his own difficulty and a +scriptural line caught at random in passing hastily through a room, +(but observe, a line insulated from the context, and placed in high +relief to his ear,) shook his resolution. Accident co-operated; a +promise to be fulfilled at Northampton, in a certain contingency, fell +due at the instant; the doctor was detained, this detention gave time +for further representations; new motives arose, old difficulties were +removed, and finally the doctor saw, in all this succession of steps, +the first of which, however, lay in the _Sortes Biblicae_, clear +indications of a providential guidance. With that conviction he took up +his abode at Northampton, and remained there for the next thirty-one +years, until he left it for his grave at Lisbon; in fact, he passed at +Northampton the whole of his public life. It must, therefore, be +allowed to stand upon the records of sortilegy, that in the main +direction of his life--not, indeed, as to its spirit, but as to its +form and local connections--a Protestant divine of much merit, and +chiefly in what regards practice, and of the class most opposed to +superstition, took his determining impulse from a variety of the +_Sortes Virgilianae_. + +This variety was known in early times to the Jews--as early, indeed, as +the era of the Grecian Pericles, if we are to believe the Talmud. It is +known familiarly to this day amongst Polish Jews, and is called +_Bathcol_, or the _daughter of a voice_; the meaning of which +appellation is this:--The _Urim and Thummim_, or oracle in the +breast-plate of the high priest, spoke directly from God. It was, +therefore, the original or mother-voice. But about the time of +Pericles, that is, exactly one hundred years before the time of +Alexander the Great, the light of prophecy was quenched in Malachi or +Haggai; and the oracular jewels in the breast-plate became +simultaneously dim. Henceforwards the mother-voice was heard no longer: +but to this succeeded an imperfect or daughter-voice, (_Bathcol_,) +which lay in the first words happening to arrest the attention at a +moment of perplexity. An illustration, which has been often quoted from +the Talmud, is to the following effect:--Rabbi Tochanan, and Rabbi +Simeon Ben Lachish, were anxious about a friend, Rabbi Samuel, six +hundred miles distant on the Euphrates. Whilst talking earnestly +together on this subject in Palestine, they passed a school; they +paused to listen: it was a child reading the first book of Samuel; and +the words which they caught were these--_And Samuel died_. These +words they received as a _Bath-col_: and the next horseman from +the Euphrates brought word accordingly that Rabbi Samuel had been +gathered to his fathers at some station on the Euphrates. + +Here is the very same case, the same _Bath-col_ substantially, +which we have cited from Orton's _Life of Doddridge_. And Du Cange +himself notices, in his Glossary, the relation which this bore to the +Pagan _Sortes_. 'It was,' says he, 'a fantastical way of divination, +invented by the Jews, not unlike the _Sortes Virgilianae_ of the +heathens. For, as with them the first words they happened to dip into +in the works of that poet were a kind of oracle whereby they predicted +future events,--so, with the Jews, when they appealed to _Bath-col_, +the first words they heard from any one's mouth were looked upon as a +voice from Heaven directing them in the matter they inquired about.' + +If the reader imagines that this ancient form of the practical +miraculous is at all gone out of use, even the example of Dr. Doddridge +may satisfy him to the contrary. Such an example was sure to authorize +a large imitation. But, even apart from that, the superstition is +common. The records of conversion amongst felons and other ignorant +persons might be cited by hundreds upon hundreds to prove that no +practice is more common than that of trying the spiritual fate, and +abiding by the import of any passage in the Scriptures which may first +present itself to the eye. Cowper, the poet, has recorded a case of +this sort in his own experience. It is one to which all the unhappy are +prone. But a mode of questioning the oracles of darkness, far more +childish, and, under some shape or other, equally common amongst those +who are prompted by mere vacancy of mind, without that determination to +sacred fountains which is impressed by misery, may be found in the +following extravagant silliness of Rousseau, which we give in his own +words--a case for which he admits that he himself would have _shut +up_ any other man (meaning in a lunatic hospital) whom he had seen +practising the same absurdities:-- + +'Au milieu de mes etudes et d'une vie innocente autant qu'on la puisse +mener, et malgre tout ce qu'on m'avoit pu dire, la peur de l'Enfer +m'agitoit encore. Souvent je me demandois--En quel etat suis-je? Si je +mourrois a l'instant meme, _serois-je damne_? Selon mes Jansenistes, +[he had been reading the books of the Port Royal,] la chose est +indubitable: mais, selon ma conscience, il me paroissoit que +non. Toujours craintif et flottant dans cette cruelle incertitude, +j'avois recours (pour en sortir) aux expedients les plus risibles, et +pour lesquels je ferois volontiers enfermer un homme si je lui en +voyois faire autant. ... Un jour, revant a ce triste sujet, je +m'exercois machinalement a lancer les pierres contre les troncs des +arbres; et cela avec mon addresse ordinaire, c'est-a-dire sans presque +jamais en toucher aucun. Tout au milieu de ce bel exercise, je m'avisai +de faire une espece de pronostic pour calmer mon inquietude. Je me dis +--je m'en vais jeter cette pierre contre l'arbre qui est vis-a-vis de +moi: si je le touche, signe de salut: si je le manque, signe de +damnation. Tout en disant ainsi, je jette ma pierre d'une main +tremblante, et avec un horrible battement de coeur, mais si +heureusement qu'elle va frapper au beau-milieu de l'arbre: ce qui +veritablement n'etoit pas difficile: car j'avois eu soin de le choisir +fort gros et fort pres. _Depuis lors je n'ai plus doubte de mon +salut._ Je ne sais, en me rappelant ce trait, si je dois rire ou +gemir sur moimeme.'--_Les Confessions, Partie I. Livre VI._ + +Now, really, if Rousseau thought fit to try such tremendous appeals by +taking 'a shy' at any random object, he should have governed his +sortilegy (for such it may be called) with something more like equity. +Fair play is a jewel: and in such a case, a man is supposed to play +against an adverse party hid in darkness. To shy at a cow within six +feet distance gives no chance at all to his dark antagonist. A pigeon +rising from a trap at a suitable distance might be thought a +_sincere_ staking of the interest at issue: but, as to the massy +stem of a tree 'fort gros et fort pres'--the sarcasm of a Roman emperor +applies, that to miss under such conditions implied an original genius +for stupidity, and to hit was no trial of the case. After all, the +sentimentalist had youth to plead in apology for this extravagance. He +was hypochondriacal; he was in solitude; and he was possessed by gloomy +imaginations from the works of a society in the highest public credit. +But most readers will be aware of similar appeals to the mysteries of +Providence, made in public by illustrious sectarians, speaking from the +solemn station of a pulpit. We forbear to quote cases of this nature, +though really existing in print, because we feel that the blasphemy of +such anecdotes is more revolting and more painful to pious minds than +the absurdity is amusing. Meantime it must not be forgotten, that the +principle concerned, though it may happen to disgust men when +associated with ludicrous circumstances, is, after all, the very same +which has latently governed very many modes of ordeal, or judicial +inquiry; and which has been adopted, blindly, as a moral rule, or +canon, equally by the blindest of the Pagans, the most fanatical of the +Jews, and the most enlightened of the Christians. It proceeds upon the +assumption that man by his actions puts a question to Heaven; and that +Heaven answers by the event. Lucan, in a well known passage, takes it +for granted that the cause of Caesar had the approbation of the gods. +And why? Simply from the event. It was notoriously the triumphant +cause. It was victorious, (_victrix_ causa Deis placuit; sed +_victa_ Catoni.) It was the '_victrix_ causa;' and, _as_ such, +simply because it was 'victrix,' it had a right in his eyes to +postulate the divine favor as mere matter of necessary interference: +whilst, on the other hand, the _victa causa_, though it seemed to +Lucan sanctioned by human virtue in the person of Cato, stood +unappealably condemned. This mode of reasoning may strike the reader as +merely Pagan. Not at all. In England, at the close of the Parliamentary +war, it was generally argued--that Providence had decided the question +against the Royalists by the mere fact of the issue. Milton himself, +with all his high-toned morality, uses this argument as irrefragable: +which is odd, were it only on this account--that the issue ought +necessarily to have been held for a time as merely hypothetic, and +liable to be set aside by possible counter-issues through one +generation at the least. But the capital argument against such doctrine +is to be found in the New Testament. Strange that Milton should +overlook, and strange that moralists in general have overlooked, the +sudden arrest given to this dangerous but most prevalent mode of +reasoning by the Founder of our faith. He first, he last, taught to his +astonished disciples the new truth--at that time the astounding truth-- +that no relation exists between the immediate practical events of +things on the one side, and divine sentences on the other. There was no +presumption, he teaches them, against a man's favor with God, or that +of his parents, because he happened to be afflicted to extremity with +bodily disease. There was no shadow of an argument for believing a +party of men criminal objects of heavenly wrath because upon them, by +fatal preference, a tower had fallen, and because _their_ bodies +were exclusively mangled. How little can it be said that Christianity +has yet developed the fulness of its power, when kings and senates so +recently acted under a total oblivion of this great though novel +Christian doctrine, and would do so still, were it not that religious +arguments have been banished by the progress of manners from the field +of political discussion. + +But, quitting this province of the ominous, where it is made the object +of a direct personal inquest, whether by private or by national trials, +or the sortilegy of events, let us throw our eyes over the broader +field of omens, as they offer themselves spontaneously to those who do +not seek, or would even willingly evade them. There are few of these, +perhaps none, which are not universal in their authority, though every +land in turn fancies them (like its proverbs) of local prescription and +origin. The death-watch extends from England to Cashmere, and across +India diagonally to the remotest nook of Bengal, over a three thousand +miles' distance from the entrance of the Indian Punjaub. A hare +crossing a man's path on starting in the morning, has been held in all +countries alike to prognosticate evil in the course of that day. Thus, +in the _Confessions of a Thug_, (which is partially built on a +real judicial document, and everywhere conforms to the usages of +Hindostan,) the hero of the horrid narrative [Footnote: '_The hero of +the horrid narrative_.'--Horrid it certainly is; and one incident in +every case gives a demoniacal air of coolness to the hellish +atrocities, viz the regular forwarding of the _bheels_, or grave- +diggers. But else the tale tends too much to monotony; and for a reason +which ought to have checked the author in carrying on the work to three +volumes, namely, that although there is much dramatic variety in the +circumstances of the several cases, there is none in the catastrophes. +The brave man and the coward, the erect spirit fighting to the last, +and the poor creature that despairs from the first,--all are confounded +in one undistinguishing end by sudden strangulation. This was the +original defect of the plan. The sudden surprise, and the scientific +noosing as with a Chilian _lasso_, constituted in fact a main +feature of Thuggee. But still, the gradual theatrical arrangement of +each Thug severally by the side of a victim, must often have roused +violent suspicion, and that in time to intercept the suddenness of the +murder. Now, for the sake of the dramatic effect, this interception +ought more often to have been introduced, else the murders are but so +many blind surprises as if in sleep.] charges some disaster of his own +upon having neglected such an omen of the morning. The same belief +operated in Pagan Italy. The same omen announced to Lord Lindsay's Arab +attendants in the desert the approach of some disaster, which partially +happened in the morning. And a Highlander of the 42d Regiment, in his +printed memoirs, notices the same harbinger of evil as having crossed +his own path on a day of personal disaster in Spain. + +Birds are even more familiarly associated with such ominous warnings. +This chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated +with unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans--_ornithomancy_ grew +into an elaborate science. But if every rule and distinction upon the +number and the position of birds, whether to the right or the left, had +been collected from our own village matrons amongst ourselves, it would +appear that no more of this Pagan science had gone to wreck than must +naturally follow the difference between a believing and a disbelieving +government. Magpies are still of awful authority in village life, +according to their number, &c.; for a striking illustration of which we +may refer the reader to Sir Walter Scott's _Demonology_, reported +not at second-hand, but from Sir Walter's personal communication with +some seafaring fellow-traveller in a stage-coach. + +Among the ancient stories of the same class is one which we shall +repeat--having reference to that Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the +Great, before whom St. Paul made his famous apology at Caesarea. This +Agrippa, overwhelmed by debts, had fled from Palestine to Rome in the +latter years of Tiberius. His mother's interest with the widow of +Germanicus procured him a special recommendation to her son Caligula. +Viewing this child and heir of the popular Germanicus as the rising +sun, Agrippa had been too free in his language. True, the uncle of +Germanicus was the reigning prince; but he was old, and breaking up. +True, the son of Germanicus was not yet on the throne; but he soon +would be; and Agrippa was rash enough to call the Emperor a +_superannuated old fellow_, and even to wish for his death. +Sejanus was now dead and gone; but there was no want of spies: and a +certain Macro reported his words to Tiberius. Agrippa was in +consequence arrested; the Emperor himself condescending to point out +the noble Jew to the officer on duty. The case was a gloomy one, if +Tiberius should happen to survive much longer: and the story of the +omen proceeds thus:--'Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the +Imperial palace, and in his affliction leaned against a certain tree, +upon the boughs of which it happened that a bird had alighted which the +Romans call _bubo_, or the owl. All this was steadfastly observed +by a German prisoner, who asked a soldier what might be the name and +offence of that man habited in purple. Being told that the man's name +was Agrippa, and that he was a Jew of high rank, who had given a +personal offence to the Emperor, the German asked permission to go near +and address him; which being granted, he spoke thus:--"This disaster, I +doubt not, young man, is trying to your heart; and perhaps you will not +believe me when I announce to you beforehand the providential +deliverance which is impending. However, this much I will say--and for +my sincerity let me appeal to my native gods, as well as to the gods of +this Rome, who have brought us both into trouble--that no selfish +objects prompt me to this revelation--for a revelation it is--and to +the following effect:--It is fated that you shall not long remain in +chains. Your deliverance will be speedy; you shall be raised to the +very highest rank and power; you shall be the object of as much envy as +now you are of pity; you shall retain your prosperity till death; and +you shall transmit that prosperity to your children. But"--and there +the German paused. Agrippa was agitated; the bystanders were attentive; +and after a time, the German, pointing solemnly to the bird, proceeded +thus:--"But this remember heedfully--that, when next you see the bird +which now perches above your head, you will have only five days longer +to live! This event will be surely accomplished by that same mysterious +god who has thought fit to send the bird as a warning sign; and you, +when you come to your glory, do not forget me that foreshadowed it in +your humiliation."' The story adds, that Agrippa affected to laugh when +the German concluded; after which it goes on to say, that in a few +weeks, being delivered by the death of Tiberius; being released from +prison by the very prince on whose account he had incurred the risk; +being raised to a tetrarchy, and afterwards to the kingdom of all +Judea; coming into all the prosperity which had been promised to him by +the German; and not losing any part of his interest at Rome through the +assassination of his patron Caligula--he began to look back +respectfully to the words of the German, and forwards with anxiety to +the second coming of the bird. Seven years of sunshine had now slipped +away as silently as a dream. A great festival, shows and vows, was on +the point of being celebrated in honor of Claudius Caesar, at Strato's +Tower, otherwise called Caesarea, the Roman metropolis of Palestine. +Duty and policy alike required that the king of the land should go down +and unite in this mode of religious homage to the emperor. He did so; +and on the second morning of the festival, by way of doing more +conspicuous honor to the great solemnity, he assumed a very sumptuous +attire of silver armor, burnished so highly as to throw back a dazzling +glare from the sun's morning beams upon the upturned eyes of the vast +multitude around him. Immediately from the sycophantish part of the +crowd, of whom a vast majority were Pagans, ascended a cry of +glorification as to some manifestation of Deity. Agrippa, gratified by +this success of his new apparel, and by this flattery, not unusual in +the case of kings, had not the firmness (though a Jew, and conscious of +the wickedness, greater in himself than in the heathen crowd,) to +reject the blasphemous homage. Voices of adoration continued to ascend; +when suddenly, looking upward to the vast awnings prepared for +screening the audience from the noonday heats, the king perceived the +same ominous bird which he had seen at Rome in the day of his +affliction, seated quietly, and looking down upon himself. In that same +moment an icy pang shot through his intestines. He was removed into the +palace; and at the end of five days, completely worn out by pain, +Agrippa expired in the 54th year of his age, and the seventh of his +sovereign power. + +Whether the bird, here described as an owl, was really such, may be +doubted, considering the narrow nomenclature of the Romans for all +zoological purposes, and the total indifference of the Roman mind to +all distinctions in natural history which are not upon the very largest +scale. We should much suspect that the bird was a magpie. Meantime, +speaking of ornithoscopy in relation to Jews, we remember another story +in that subdivision of the subject which it may be worth while +repeating; not merely on its own account, as wearing a fine oriental +air, but also for the correction which it suggests to a very common +error. + +In some period of Syrian warfare, a large military detachment was +entering at some point of Syria from the desert of the Euphrates. At +the head of the whole array rode two men of some distinction: one was +an augur of high reputation, the other was a Jew called Mosollam, a man +of admirable beauty, a matchless horseman, an unerring archer, and +accomplished in all martial arts. As they were now first coming within +enclosed grounds, after a long march in the wilderness, the augur was +most anxious to inaugurate the expedition by some considerable omen. +Watching anxiously, therefore, he soon saw a bird of splendid plumage +perching on a low wall. 'Halt!' he said to the advanced guard: and all +drew up in a line. At that moment of silence and expectation, Mosollam, +slightly turning himself in his saddle, drew his bow-string to his ear; +his Jewish hatred of Pagan auguries burned within him; his inevitable +shaft went right to its mark, and the beautiful bird fell dead. The +augur turned round in fury. But the Jew laughed at him. 'This bird, you +say, should have furnished us with omens of our future fortunes. But +had he known anything of his own, he would never have perched where he +did, or have come within the range of Mosollam's archery. How should +that bird know our destiny, who did not know that it was his own to be +shot by Mosollam the Jew?' + +Now, this is a most common but a most erroneous way of arguing. In a +case of this kind, the bird was not supposed to have any conscious +acquaintance with futurity, either for his own benefit or that of +others. But even where such a consciousness may be supposed, as in the +case of oneiromancy, or prophecy by means of dreams, it must be +supposed limited, and the more limited in a personal sense as they are +illimitable in a sublime one. Who imagines that, because a Daniel or +Ezekiel foresaw the grand revolutions of the earth, therefore they must +or could have foreseen the little details of their own ordinary life? +And even descending from that perfect inspiration to the more doubtful +power of augury amongst the Pagans, (concerning which the most eminent +of theologians have held very opposite theories,) one thing is certain, +that, so long as we entertain such pretensions, or discuss them at all, +we must take them with the principle of those who professed such arts, +not with principles of our own arbitrary invention. + +One example will make this clear:--There are in England [Footnote: +'_There are in England_'--Especially in Somersetshire, and for +twenty miles round Wrington, the birthplace of Locke. Nobody sinks for +wells without their advice. We ourselves knew an amiable and +accomplished Scottish family, who, at an estate called Belmadrothie, in +memory of a similar property in Ross shire, built a house in +Somersetshire, and resolved to find water without help from the jowser. +But after sinking to a greater depth than ever had been known before, +and spending nearly L200, they were finally obliged to consult the +jowser, who found water at once.] a class of men who practise the Pagan +rhabdomancy in a limited sense. They carry a rod or rhabdos +(_rhabdos_) of willow: this they hold horizontally; and by the +bending of the rod towards the ground they discover the favorable +places for sinking wells; a matter of considerable importance in a +province so ill-watered as the northern district of Somersetshire, &c. +These people are locally called _jowsers_; and it is probable, +that from the suspicion with which their art has been usually regarded +amongst people of education, as a mere legerdemain trick of +Dousterswivel's, is derived the slang word to _chouse_ for _swindle_. +Meantime, the experimental evidences of a real practical skill in these +men, and the enlarged compass of speculation in these days, have led +many enlightened people to a Stoic _epochey_, or suspension of +judgment, on the reality of this somewhat mysterious art. Now, in the +East, there are men who make the same pretensions in a more showy +branch of the art. It is not water, but treasures which they profess to +find by some hidden kind of rhabdomancy. The very existence of +treasures with us is reasonably considered a thing of improbable +occurrence. But in the unsettled East, and with the low valuation of +human life wherever Mahometanism prevails, insecurity and other causes +must have caused millions of such deposits in every century to have +perished as to any knowledge of survivors. The sword has been moving +backwards and forwards, for instance, like a weaver's shuttle, since +the time of Mahmoud the Ghaznevide, [Footnote: Mahmood of Ghizni, +which, under the European name of Ghaznee, was so recently taken in one +hour by our Indian army under Lord Keane Mahmood was the first +Mahometan invader of Hindostan.] in Anno Domini 1000, in the vast +regions between the Tigris, the Oxus, and the Indus. Regularly as it +approached, gold and jewels must have sunk by whole harvests into the +ground. A certain per centage has been doubtless recovered: a larger +per centage has disappeared for ever. Hence naturally the jealousy of +barbarous Orientals that we Europeans, in groping amongst pyramids, +sphynxes, and tombs, are looking for buried treasures. The wretches are +not so wide astray in what they believe as in what they disbelieve. The +treasures do really exist which they fancy; but then also the other +treasures in the glorious antiquities have that existence for our sense +of beauty which to their brutality is inconceivable. In these +circumstances, why should it surprise us that men will pursue the +science of discovery as a regular trade? Many discoveries of treasure +are doubtless made continually, which, for obvious reasons, are +communicated to nobody. Some proportion there must be between the +sowing of such grain as diamonds or emeralds, and the subsequent +reaping, whether by accident or by art. For, with regard to the last, +it is no more impossible, _prima fronte_, that a substance may exist +having an occult sympathy with subterraneous water or subterraneous +gold, than that the magnet should have a sympathy (as yet occult) with +the northern pole of our planet. + +The first flash of careless thought applied to such a case will +suggest, that men holding powers of this nature need not offer their +services for hire to others. And this, in fact, is the objection +universally urged by us Europeans as decisive against their +pretensions. Their knavery, it is fancied, stands self-recorded; since, +assuredly, they would not be willing to divide their subterranean +treasures, if they knew of any. But the men are not in such self- +contradiction as may seem. Lady Hester Stanhope, from the better +knowledge she had acquired of Oriental opinions, set Dr. Madden right +on this point. The Oriental belief is that a fatality attends the +appropriator of a treasure in any case where he happens also to be the +discoverer. Such a person, it is held, will die soon, and suddenly--so +that he is compelled to seek his remuneration from the wages or fees of +his employers, not from the treasure itself. + +Many more secret laws are held sacred amongst the professors of that +art than that which was explained by Lady Hester Stanhope. These we +shall not enter upon at present: but generally we may remark, that the +same practices of subterranean deposits, during our troubled periods in +Europe, led to the same superstitions. And it may be added, that the +same error has arisen in both cases as to some of these superstitions. +How often must it have struck people of liberal feelings, as a +scandalous proof of the preposterous value set upon riches by poor men, +that ghosts should popularly be supposed to rise and wander for the +sake of revealing the situations of buried treasures. For ourselves, we +have been accustomed to view this popular belief in the light of an +argument for pity rather than for contempt towards poor men, as +indicating the extreme pressure of that necessity which could so have +demoralized their natural sense of truth. But certainly, in whatever +feelings originating, such popular superstitions as to motives of +ghostly missions did seem to argue a deplorable misconception of the +relation subsisting between the spiritual world and the perishable +treasures of this perishable world. Yet, when we look into the Eastern +explanations of this case, we find that it is meant to express, not any +overvaluation of riches, but the direct contrary passion. A human +spirit is punished--such is the notion--punished in the spiritual world +for excessive attachment to gold, by degradation to the office of its +guardian; and from this office the tortured spirit can release itself +only by revealing the treasure and transferring the custody. It is a +penal martyrdom, not an elective passion for gold, which is thus +exemplified in the wanderings of a treasure-ghost. + +But, in a field where of necessity we are so much limited, we willingly +pass from the consideration of these treasure or _khasne_ phantoms +(which alone sufficiently ensure a swarm of ghostly terrors for all +Oriental ruins of cities,) to the same marvellous apparitions, as they +haunt other solitudes even more awful than those of ruined cities. In +this world there are two mighty forms of perfect solitude--the ocean +and the desert: the wilderness of the barren sands, and the wilderness +of the barren waters. Both are the parents of inevitable superstitions +--of terrors, solemn, ineradicable, eternal. Sailors and the children +of the desert are alike overrun with spiritual hauntings, from +accidents of peril essentially connected with those modes of life, and +from the eternal spectacle of the infinite. Voices seem to blend with +the raving of the sea, which will for ever impress the feeling of +beings more than human: and every chamber of the great wilderness +which, with little interruption, stretches from the Euphrates to the +western shores of Africa, has its own peculiar terrors both as to +sights and sounds. In the wilderness of Zin, between Palestine and the +Red Sea, a section of the desert well known in these days to our own +countrymen, bells are heard daily pealing for matins, or for vespers, +from some phantom convent that no search of Christian or of Bedouin +Arab has ever been able to discover. These bells have sounded since the +Crusades. Other sounds, trumpets, the _Alala_ of armies, &c., are +heard in other regions of the Desert. Forms, also, are seen of more +people than have any right to be walking in human paths: sometimes +forms of avowed terror; sometimes, which is a case of far more danger, +appearances that mimic the shapes of men, and even of friends or +comrades. This is a case much dwelt on by the old travellers, and which +throws a gloom over the spirits of all Bedouins, and of every cafila or +caravan. We all know what a sensation of loneliness or 'eeriness' (to +use an expressive term of the ballad poetry) arises to any small party +assembling in a single room of a vast desolate mansion: how the timid +among them fancy continually that they hear some remote door opening, +or trace the sound of suppressed footsteps from some distant staircase. +Such is the feeling in the desert, even in the midst of the caravan. +The mighty solitude is seen: the dread silence is anticipated which +will succeed to this brief transit of men, camels, and horses. Awe +prevails even in the midst of society: but, if the traveller should +loiter behind from fatigue, or be so imprudent as to ramble aside-- +should he from any cause once lose sight of his party, it is held that +his chance is small of recovering their traces. And why? Not chiefly +from the want of footmarks where the wind effaces all impressions in +half an hour, or of eyemarks where all is one blank ocean of sand, but +much more from the sounds or the visual appearances which are supposed +to beset and to seduce all insulated wanderers. + +Everybody knows the superstitions of the ancients about the +_Nympholeptoi_, or those who had seen Pan. But far more awful and +gloomy are the existing superstitions, throughout Asia and Africa, as +to the perils of those who are phantom-haunted in the wilderness. The +old Venetian traveller Marco Polo states them well: he speaks, indeed, +of the Eastern or Tartar deserts; the steppes which stretch from +European Russia to the footsteps of the Chinese throne; but exactly the +same creed prevails amongst the Arabs, from Bagdad to Suez and Cairo-- +from Rosetta to Tunis--Tunis to Timbuctoo or Mequinez. 'If, during the +daytime,' says he, 'any person should remain behind until the caravan +is no longer in sight, he hears himself unexpectedly called to by name, +and in a voice with which he is familiar. Not doubting that the voice +proceeds from some of his comrades, the unhappy man is beguiled from +the right direction; and soon finding himself utterly confounded as to +the path, he roams about in distraction until he perishes miserably. +If, on the other hand, this perilous separation of himself from the +caravan should happen at night, he is sure to hear the uproar of a +great cavalcade a mile or two to the right or left of the true track. +He is thus seduced on one side: and at break of day finds himself far +removed from man. Nay, even at noon-day, it is well known that grave +and respectable men to all appearance will come up to a particular +traveller, will bear the look of a friend, and will gradually lure him +by earnest conversation to a distance from the caravan; after which the +sounds of men and camels will be heard continually at all points but +the true one; whilst an insensible turning by the tenth of an inch at +each separate step from the true direction will very soon suffice to +set the traveller's face to the opposite point of the compass from that +which his safety requires, and which his fancy represents to him as his +real direction. Marvellous, indeed, and almost passing belief, are the +stories reported of these desert phantoms, which are said at times to +fill the air with choral music from all kinds of instruments, from +drums, and the clash of arms: so that oftentimes a whole caravan are +obliged to close up their open ranks, and to proceed in a compact line +of march.' + +Lord Lindsay, in his very interesting travels in Egypt, Edom, &c., +agrees with Warton in supposing (and probably enough) that from this +account of the desert traditions in Marco Polo was derived Milton's +fine passage in Comus:-- + + 'Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, + And aery tongues that syllable men's names + On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.' + +But the most remarkable of these desert superstitions, as suggested by +the mention of Lord Lindsay, is one which that young nobleman, in some +place which we cannot immediately find, has noticed, but which he only +was destined by a severe personal loss immediately to illustrate. Lord +L. quotes from Vincent le Blanc an anecdote of a man in his own +caravan, the companion of an Arab merchant, who disappeared in a +mysterious manner. Four Moors, with a retaining fee of 100 ducats, were +sent in quest of him, but came back _re infecta_. 'And 'tis +uncertain,' adds Le Blanc, 'whether he was swallowed up in the sands, +or met his death by any other misfortune; as it often happens, by the +relation of a merchant then in our company, who told us, that two years +before, traversing the same journey, a comrade of his, going a little +aside from the company, saw three men who called him by his name; and +one of them, to his thinking, favored very much his companion; and, as +he was about to follow them, his real companion calling him to come +back to his company, he found himself deceived by the others, and thus +was saved. And all travellers in these parts hold, that in the deserts +are many such phantasms seen, that strive to seduce the traveller.' +Thus far it is the traveller's own fault, warned as he is continually +by the extreme anxiety of the Arab leaders or guides, with respect to +all who stray to any distance, if he is duped or enticed by these +pseudo-men: though, in the case of Lapland dogs, who ought to have a +surer instinct of detection for counterfeits, we know from Sir Capel de +Broke and others, that they are continually wiled away by the wolves +who roam about the nightly encampments of travellers. But there is a +secondary disaster, according to the Arab superstition, awaiting those +whose eyes are once opened to the discernment of these phantoms. To see +them, or to hear them, even where the traveller is careful to refuse +their lures, entails the certainty of death in no long time. This is +another form of that universal faith which made it impossible for any +man to survive a bodily commerce, by whatever sense, with a spiritual +being. We find it in the Old Testament, where the expression, 'I have +seen God and shall die,' means simply a supernatural being; since no +Hebrew believed it possible for a nature purely human to sustain for a +moment the sight of the Infinite Being. We find the same faith amongst +ourselves, in case of _doppelgaenger_ becoming apparent to the +sight of those whom they counterfeit; and in many other varieties. We +modern Europeans, of course, laugh at these superstitions; though, as +La Place remarks, (_Essai sur les Probabilites_,) any case, +however apparently incredible, if it is a recurrent case, is as much +entitled to a fair valuation as if it had been more probable +beforehand.[Footnote: _'Is as much entitled to a fair valuation, +under the lans of induction, as if it had been more probable +beforehand'_--One of the cases which La Place notices as entitled to +a grave consideration, but which would most assuredly be treated as a +trivial phenomenon, unworthy of attention, by commonplace spectators, +is--when a run of success, with no apparent cause, takes place on heads +or tails, (_pile ou croix_) Most people dismiss such a case as +pure accident. But La Place insists on its being duly valued as a fact, +however unaccountable as an effect. So again, if in a large majority of +experiences like those of Lord Lindsay's party in the desert, death +should follow, such a phenomenon is as well entitled to its separate +valuation as any other.] This being premised, we who connect +superstition with the personal result, are more impressed by the +disaster which happened to Lord Lindsay, than his lordship, who either +failed to notice the _nexus_ between the events, or possibly +declined to put the case too forward in his reader's eye, from the +solemnity of the circumstances, and the private interest to himself and +his own family, of the subsequent event. The case was this:--Mr. +William Wardlaw Ramsay, the companion (and we believe relative) of Lord +Lindsay, a man whose honorable character, and whose intellectual +accomplishments speak for themselves, in the posthumus memorabilia of +his travels published by Lord L., had seen an array of objects in the +desert, which facts immediately succeeding demonstrated to have been a +mere ocular _lusus_, or (according to Arab notions) phantoms. +During the absence from home of an Arab sheikh, who had been hired as +conductor of Lord Lindsay's party, a hostile tribe (bearing the name of +Tellaheens) had assaulted and pillaged his tents. Report of this had +reached the English travelling party; it was known that the Tellaheens +were still in motion, and a hostile rencounter was looked for for some +days. At length, in crossing the well known valley of the _Wady +Araba_, that most ancient channel of communication between the Red +Sea and Judea, &c., Mr. Ramsay saw, to his own entire conviction, a +party of horse moving amongst some sand-hills. Afterwards it became +certain, from accurate information, that this must have been a +delusion. It was established, that no horseman _could_ have been +in that neighborhood at that time. Lord Lindsay records the case as an +illustration of 'that spiritualized tone the imagination naturally +assumes, in scenes presenting so little sympathy with the ordinary +feelings of humanity;' and he reports the case in these pointed terms: +--'Mr. Ramsay, a man of remarkably strong sight, and by no means +disposed to superstitious credulity, distinctly saw a party of horse +moving among the sand-hills; and I do not believe he was ever able to +divest himself of that impression.' No--and, according to Arab +interpretation, very naturally so; for, according to their faith, he +really _had_ seen the horsemen; phantom horseman certainly, but +still objects of sight. The sequel remains to be told--by the Arabian +hypothesis, Mr. Ramsay had but a short time to live--he was under a +secret summons to the next world. And accordingly, in a few weeks after +this, whilst Lord Lindsay had gone to visit Palmyra, Mr. Ramsay died at +Damascus. + +This was a case exactly corresponding to the Pagan _nympholepsis_ +--he had seen the beings whom it is not lawful to see and live. Another +case of Eastern superstition, not less determined, and not less +remarkably fulfilled, occurred some years before to Dr. Madden, who +travelled pretty much in the same route as Lord Lindsay. The doctor, as +a phrenologist, had been struck with the very singular conformation of +a skull which he saw amongst many others on an altar in some Syrian +convent. He offered a considerable sum in gold for it; but it was by +repute the skull of a saint; and the monk with whom Dr. M. attempted to +negotiate, not only refused his offers, but protested that even for the +doctor's sake, apart from the interests of the convent, he could not +venture on such a transfer: for that, by the tradition attached to it, +the skull would endanger any vessel carrying it from the Syrian shore: +the vessel might escape; but it would never succeed in reaching any but +a Syrian harbor. After this, for the credit of our country, which +stands so high in the East, and should be so punctiliously tended by +all Englishmen, we are sorry to record that Dr. Madden (though +otherwise a man of scrupulous honor) yielded to the temptation of +substituting for the saint's skull another less remarkable from his own +collection. With this saintly relic he embarked on board a Grecian +ship; was alternately pursued and met by storms the most violent; +larboard and starboard, on every quarter, he was buffeted; the wind +blew from every point of the compass; the doctor honestly confesses +that he often wished this baleful skull back in safety on the quiet +altar from which he took it; and finally, after many days of anxiety, +he was too happy in finding himself again restored to some oriental +port, from which he secretly vowed never again to sail with a saint's +skull, or with any skull, however remarkable phrenologically, not +purchased in an open market. + +Thus we have pursued, through many of its most memorable sections, the +spirit of the miraculous as it moulded and gathered itself in the +superstitions of Paganism; and we have shown that, in the modern +superstitions of Christianity, or of Mahometanism, (often enough +borrowed from Christian sources,) there is a pretty regular +correspondence. Speaking with a reference to the strictly popular +belief, it cannot be pretended for a moment, that miraculous agencies +are slumbering in modern ages. For one superstition of that nature +which the Pagans had, we can produce twenty. And if, from the collation +of numbers, we should pass to that of quality, it is a matter of +notoriety, that from the very philosophy of Paganism, and its slight +root in the terrors or profounder mysteries of spiritual nature, no +comparison could be sustained for a moment between the true religion +and any mode whatever of the false. Ghosts we have purposely omitted, +because that idea is so peculiarly Christian [Footnote: '_Because +that idea is so peculiarly Christian_'--One reason, additional to +the main one, why the idea of a ghost could not be conceived or +reproduced by Paganism, lies in the fourfold resolution of the human +nature at death, viz.--1. _corpus_; 2. _manes_; 3. _spiritus_; +4. _anima_. No reversionary consciousness, no restitution of the total +nature, sentient and active, was thus possible. Pliny has a story which +looks like a ghost story; but it is all moonshine--a mere +_simulacrum_.] as to reject all counterparts or affinities from other +modes of the supernatural. The Christian ghost is too awful a presence, +and with too large a substratum of the real, the impassioned, the +human, for our present purposes. We deal chiefly with the wilder and +more aerial forms of superstition; not so far off from fleshly nature as +the purely allegoric--not so near as the penal, the purgatorial, the +penitential. In this middle class, 'Gabriel's hounds'--the 'phantom +ship'--the gloomy legends of the charcoal burners in the German +forests--and the local or epichorial superstitions from every district +of Europe, come forward by thousands, attesting the high activity of +the miraculous and the hyperphysical instincts, even in this +generation, wheresoever the voice of the people makes itself heard. + +But in Pagan times, it will be objected, the popular superstitions +blended themselves with the highest political functions, gave a +sanction to national counsels, and oftentimes gave their starting point +to the very primary movements of the state. Prophecies, omens, +miracles, all worked concurrently with senates or princes. Whereas in +our days, says Charles Lamb, the witch who takes her pleasure with the +moon, and summons Beelzebub to her sabbaths, nevertheless trembles +before the beadle, and hides herself from the overseer. Now, as to the +witch, even the horrid Canidia of Horace, or the more dreadful Erichtho +of Lucan, seems hardly to have been much respected in any era. But for +the other modes of the supernatural, they have entered into more +frequent combinations with state functions and state movements in our +modern ages than in the classical age of Paganism. Look at prophecies, +for example: the Romans had a few obscure oracles afloat, and they had +the Sibylline books under the state seal. These books, in fact, had +been kept so long, that, like port wine superannuated, they had lost +their flavor and body. [Footnote: '_Like port wine superannuated, the +Sibylline books had lost their flavor and their body_.'--There is an +allegoric description in verse, by Mr. Rogers, of an ice-house, in +which winter is described as a captive, &c., which is memorable on this +account, that a brother poet, on reading the passage, mistook it, (from +not understanding the allegorical expressions,) either sincerely or +maliciously, for a description of the house-dog. Now, this little +anecdote seems to embody the poor Sibyl's history,--from a stern icy +sovereign, with a petrific mace, she lapsed into an old toothless +mastiff. She continued to snore in her ancient kennel for above a +thousand years. The last person who attempted to stir her up with a +long pole, and to extract from her paralytic dreaming some growls or +snarls against Christianity, was Aurelian, in a moment of public panic. +But the thing was past all tampering. The poor creature could neither +be kicked nor coaxed into vitality.] On the other hand, look at France. +Henry the historian, speaking of the fifteenth century, describes it as +a national infirmity of the English to be prophecy-ridden. Perhaps +there never was any foundation for this as an exclusive remark; but +assuredly not in the next century. There had been with us British, from +the twelfth century, Thomas of Ercildoune in the north, and many +monkish local prophets for every part of the island; but latterly +England had no terrific prophet, unless, indeed Nixon of the Vale Royal +in Cheshire, who uttered his dark oracles sometimes with a merely +Cestrian, sometimes with a national reference. Whereas in France, +throughout the sixteenth century, every principal event was foretold +successively, with an accuracy that still shocks and confounds us. +Francis the First, who opens the century, (and by many is held to open +the book of _modern history_, as distinguished from the middle or +_feudal_ history,) had the battle of Pavia foreshown to him, not +by name, but in its results--by his own Spanish captivity--by the +exchange for his own children upon a frontier river of Spain--finally, +by his own disgraceful death, through an infamous disease conveyed to +him under a deadly circuit of revenge. This king's son, Henry the +Second, read some years _before_ the event a description of that +tournament, on the marriage of the Scottish Queen with his eldest son, +Francis II., which proved fatal to himself, through the awkwardness of +the Compte de Montgomery and his own obstinacy. After this, and we +believe a little after the brief reign of Francis II., arose +Nostradamus, the great prophet of the age. All the children of Henry +II. and of Catharine de Medici, one after the other, died in +circumstances of suffering and horror, and Nostradamus pursued the +whole with ominous allusions. Charles IX., though the authorizer of the +Bartholomew massacre, was the least guilty of his party, and the only +one who manifested a dreadful remorse. Henry III., the last of the +brothers, died, as the reader will remember, by assassination. And all +these tragic successions of events are still to be read more or less +dimly prefigured in verses of which we will not here discuss the dates. +Suffice it, that many authentic historians attest the good faith of the +prophets; and finally, with respect to the first of the Bourbon +dynasty, Henry IV., who succeeded upon the assassination of his +brother-in-law, we have the peremptory assurance of Sully and other +Protestants, countersigned by writers both historical and +controversial, that not only was he prepared, by many warnings, for his +own tragical death--not only was the day, the hour prefixed--not only +was an almanac sent to him, in which the bloody summer's day of 1610 +was pointed out to his attention in bloody colors; but the mere record +of the king's last afternoon shows beyond a doubt the extent and the +punctual limitation of his anxieties. In fact, it is to this attitude +of listening expectation in the king, and breathless waiting for the +blow, that Schiller alludes in that fine speech of Wallenstein to his +sister, where he notices the funeral knells that sounded continually in +Henry's ears, and, above all, his prophetic instinct, that caught the +sound from a far distance of his murderer's motions, and could +distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a mighty capital, those stealthy +steps + + ----'Which even then were seeking him + Throughout the streets of Paris.' + +We profess not to admire Henry the Fourth of France, whose secret +character we shall, on some other occasion, attempt to expose. But his +resignation to the appointments of Heaven, in dismissing his guards, as +feeling that against a danger so domestic and so mysterious, all +fleshly arms were vain, has always struck us as the most like +magnanimity of anything in his very theatrical life. + +Passing to our own country, and to the times immediately in succession, +we fall upon some striking prophecies, not verbal but symbolic, if we +turn from the broad highway of public histories, to the by-paths of +private memories. Either Clarendon it is, in his Life (not his public +history), or else Laud, who mentions an anecdote connected with the +coronation of Charles I., (the son-in-law of the murdered Bourbon,) +which threw a gloom upon the spirits of the royal friends, already +saddened by the dreadful pestilence which inaugurated the reign of this +ill-fated prince, levying a tribute of one life in sixteen from the +population of the English metropolis. At the coronation of Charles, it +was discovered that all London would not furnish the quantity of purple +velvet required for the royal robes and the furniture of the throne. +What was to be done? Decorum required that the furniture should be all +_en suite_. Nearer than Genoa no considerable addition could be +expected. That would impose a delay of 150 days. Upon mature +consideration, and chiefly of the many private interests that would +suffer amongst the multitudes whom such a solemnity had called up from +the country, it was resolved to robe the King in _white_ velvet. +But this, as it afterwards occurred, was the color in which victims +were arrayed. And thus, it was alleged, did the King's council +establish an augury of evil. Three other ill omens, of some celebrity, +occurred to Charles I., viz., on occasion of creating his son Charles a +knight of the Bath, at Oxford some years after; and at the bar of that +tribunal which sat in judgment upon him. + +The reign of his second son, James II., the next reign that could be +considered an unfortunate reign, was inaugurated by the same evil +omens. The day selected for the coronation (in 1685) was a day +memorable for England--it was St. George's day, the 23d of April, and +entitled, even on a separate account, to be held a sacred day as the +birthday of Shakspeare in 1564, and his deathday in 1616. The King +saved a sum of sixty thousand pounds by cutting off the ordinary +cavalcade from the Tower of London to Westminster. Even this was +imprudent. It is well known that, amongst the lowest class of the +English, there is an obstinate prejudice (though unsanctioned by law) +with respect to the obligation imposed by the ceremony of coronation. +So long as this ceremony is delayed, or mutilated, they fancy that +their obedience is a matter of mere prudence, liable to be enforced by +arms, but not consecrated either by law or by religion. The change made +by James was, therefore, highly imprudent; shorn of its antique +traditionary usages, the yoke of conscience was lightened at a moment +when it required a double ratification. Neither was it called for on +motives of economy, for James was unusually rich. This voluntary +arrangement was, therefore, a bad beginning; but the accidental omens +were worse. They are thus reported by Blennerhassett, (History of +England to the end of George I., Vol. iv., p. 1760, printed at +Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 1751.) 'The crown being too little for the King's +head, was often in a tottering condition, and like to fall off.' Even +this was observed attentively by spectators of the most opposite +feelings. But there was another simultaneous omen, which affected the +Protestant enthusiasts, and the superstitious, whether Catholic or +Protestant, still more alarmingly. 'The same day the king's arms, +pompously painted in the great altar window of a London church, +suddenly fell down without apparent cause, and broke to pieces, whilst +the rest of the window remained standing. Blennerhassett mutters the +dark terrors which possessed himself and others.' 'These,' says he, +'were reckoned ill omens to the king.' + +In France, as the dreadful criminality of the French sovereigns through +the 17th century began to tell powerfully, and reproduce itself in the +miseries and tumults of the French populace through the 18th century, +it is interesting to note the omens which unfolded themselves at +intervals. A volume might be written upon them. The French Bourbons +renewed the picture of that fatal house which in Thebes offered to the +Grecian observers the spectacle of dire auguries, emerging from +darkness through three generations, _a plusieurs reprises_. +Everybody knows the fatal pollution of the marriage pomps on the +reception of Marie Antoinette in Paris; the numbers who perished are +still spoken of obscurely as to the amount, and with shuddering awe for +the unparalleled horrors standing in the background of the fatal reign +--horrors + + 'That hush'd in grim repose, await their evening prey.' + +But in the life of Goethe is mentioned a still more portentous (though +more shadowy) omen in the pictorial decorations of the arras which +adorned the pavilion on the French frontier; the first objects which +met the Austrian Archduchess on being hailed as Dauphiness, was a +succession of the most tragic groups from the most awful section of the +Grecian theatre. The next alliance of the same kind between the same +great empires, in the persons of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie +Louisa, was overshadowed by the same unhappy omens, and, as we all +remember, with the same unhappy results, within a brief period of five +years. + +Or, if we should resort to the fixed and monumental rather than to +these auguries of great nations--such, for instance, as were embodied +in those _Palladia_, or protesting talismans, which capital +cities, whether Pagan or Christian, glorified through a period of +twenty-five hundred years, we shall find a long succession of these +enchanted pledges, from the earliest precedent of Troy (whose palladium +was undoubtedly a talisman) down to that equally memorable, and bearing +the same name, at Western Rome. We may pass, by a vast transition of +two and a half millennia, to that great talisman of Constantinople, the +triple serpent, (having perhaps an original reference to the Mosaic +serpent of the wilderness, which healed the infected by the simple act +of looking upon it, as the symbol of the Redeemer, held aloft upon the +Cross for the deliverance from moral contagion.) This great consecrated +talisman, venerated equally by Christian, by Pagan, and by Mahometan, +was struck on the head by Mahomet the Second, on that same day, May +29th of 1453, in which he mastered by storm this glorious city, the +bulwark of eastern Christendom, and the immediate rival of his own +European throne at Adrianople. But mark the superfetation of omens-- +omen supervening upon omen, augury engrafted upon augury. The hour was +a sad one for Christianity; just 720 years before the western horn of +Islam had been rebutted in France by the Germans, chiefly under Charles +Martel. But now it seemed as though another horn, even more vigorous, +was preparing to assault Christendom and its hopes from the eastern +quarter. At this epoch, in the very hour of triumph, when the last of +the Caesars had glorified his station, and sealed his testimony by +martyrdom, the fanatical Sultan, riding to his stirrups in blood, and +wielding that iron mace which had been his sole weapon, as well as +cognizance, through the battle, advanced to the column, round which the +triple serpent roared spirally upwards. He smote the brazen talisman; +he shattered one head; he left it mutilated as the record of his great +revolution; but crush it, destroy it, he did not--as a symbol +prefiguring the fortunes of Mahometanism, his people noticed, that in +the critical hour of fate, which stamped the Sultan's acts with +efficacy through ages, he had been prompted by his secret genius only +to 'scotch the snake,' not to crush it. Afterwards the fatal hour was +gone by; and this imperfect augury has since concurred traditionally +with the Mahometan prophecies about the Adrianople gate of +Constantinople, to depress the ultimate hopes of Islam in the midst of +all its insolence. The very haughtiest of the Mussulmans believe that +the gate is already in existence, through which the red Giaours (the +_Russi_) shall pass to the conquest of Stamboul; and that +everywhere, in Europe at least, the hat of Frangistan is destined to +surmount the turban--the crescent must go down before the cross. + + + + +COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING. + + +What is the deadest of things earthly? It is, says the world, ever +forward and rash--'a door-nail!' But the world is wrong. There is a +thing deader than a door-nail, viz., Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I. Dead, +more dead, most dead, is Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I.; and this upon +more arguments than one. The book has clearly not completed its +elementary act of respiration; the _systole_ of Vol. I. is +absolutely useless and lost without the _diastole_ of that Vol. +II., which is never to exist. That is one argument, and perhaps this +second argument is stronger. Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I., deals +rashly, unjustly, and almost maliciously, with some of our own +particular friends; and yet, until late in this summer, _Anno +Domini_ 1844, we--that is, neither ourselves nor our friends--ever +heard of its existence. Now a sloth, even without the benefit of Mr. +Waterton's evidence to his character, will travel faster than that. But +malice, which travels fastest of all things, must be dead and cold at +starting, when it can thus have lingered in the rear for six years; and +therefore, though the world was so far right, that people _do_ +say, 'Dead as a door-nail,' yet, henceforward, the weakest of these +people will see the propriety of saying--'Dead as Gillman's Coleridge.' + +The reader of experience, on sliding over the surface of this opening +paragraph, begins to think there's mischief singing in the upper air. +'No, reader, not at all. We never were cooler in our days. And this we +protest, that, were it not for the excellence of the subject, +_Coleridge and Opium-Eating_, Mr. Gillman would have been dismissed +by us unnoticed. Indeed, we not only forgive Mr. Gillman, but we +have a kindness for him; and on this account, that he was good, he +was generous, he was most forbearing, through twenty years, to poor +Coleridge, when thrown upon his hospitality. An excellent thing +_that_, Mr. Gillman, till, noticing the theme suggested by this +unhappy Vol. I., we are forced at times to notice its author, Nor is +this to be regretted. We remember a line of Horace never yet properly +translated, viz:-- + + 'Nec scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello.' + +The true translation of which, as we assure the unlearned reader, is-- +'Nor must you pursue with the horrid knout of Christopher that man who +merits only a switching.' Very true. We protest against all attempts to +invoke the exterminating knout; for _that_ sends a man to the +hospital for two months; but you see that the same judicious poet, who +dissuades an appeal to the knout, indirectly recommends the switch, +which, indeed, is rather pleasant than otherwise, amiably playful in +some of its little caprices, and in its worst, suggesting only a +pennyworth of diachylon. + +We begin by professing, with hearty sincerity, our fervent admiration +of the extraordinary man who furnishes the theme for Mr. Gillman's +_coup-d'essai_ in biography. He was, in a literary sense, our +brother--for he also was amongst the contributors to _Blackwood_-- +and will, we presume, take his station in that Blackwood gallery of +portraits, which, in a century hence, will possess more interest for +intellectual Europe than any merely martial series of portraits, or any +gallery of statesmen assembled in congress, except as regards one or +two leaders; for defunct major-generals, and secondary diplomatists, +when their date is past, awake no more emotion than last year's +advertisements, or obsolete directories; whereas those who, in a stormy +age, have swept the harps of passion, of genial wit, or of the +wrestling and gladiatorial reason, become more interesting to men when +they can no longer be seen as bodily agents, than even in the middle +chorus of that intellectual music over which, living, they presided. + +Of this great camp Coleridge was a leader, and fought amongst the +_primipili_; yet, comparatively, he is still unknown. Heavy, +indeed, are the arrears still due to philosophic curiosity on the real +merits, and on the separate merits, of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. +Coleridge as a poet--Coleridge as a philosopher! How extensive are +those questions, if those were all! and upon neither question have we +yet any investigation--such as, by compass of views, by research, or +even by earnestness of sympathy with the subject, can, or ought to +satisfy, a philosophic demand. Blind is that man who can persuade +himself that the interest in Coleridge, taken as a total object, is +becoming an obsolete interest. We are of opinion that even Milton, now +viewed from a distance of two centuries, is still inadequately judged +or appreciated in his character of poet, of patriot and partisan, or, +finally, in his character of accomplished scholar. But, if so, how much +less can it be pretended that satisfaction has been rendered to the +claims of Coleridge? for, upon Milton, libraries have been written. +There has been time for the malice of men, for the jealousy of men, for +the enthusiasm, the scepticism, the adoring admiration of men, to +expand themselves! There has been room for a Bentley, for an Addison, +for a Johnson, for a wicked Lauder, for an avenging Douglas, for an +idolizing Chateaubriand; and yet, after all, little enough has been +done towards any comprehensive estimate of the mighty being concerned. +Piles of materials have been gathered to the ground; but, for the +monument which should have risen from these materials, neither the +first stone has been laid, nor has a qualified architect yet presented +his credentials. On the other hand, upon Coleridge little, +comparatively, has yet been written, whilst the separate characters on +which the judgment is awaited, are more by one than those which Milton +sustained. Coleridge, also, is a poet; Coleridge, also, was mixed up +with the fervent politics of his age--an age how memorably reflecting +the revolutionary agitations of Milton's age. Coleridge, also, was an +extensive and brilliant scholar. Whatever might be the separate +proportions of the two men in each particular department of the three +here noticed, think as the reader will upon that point, sure we are +that either subject is ample enough to make a strain upon the amplest +faculties. How alarming, therefore, for any _honest_ critic, who +should undertake this later subject of Coleridge, to recollect that, +after pursuing him through a zodiac of splendors corresponding to those +of Milton in kind, however different in degree--after weighing him as a +poet, as a philosophic politician, as a scholar, he will have to wheel +after him into another orbit, into the unfathomable _nimbus_ of +transcendental metaphysics. Weigh him the critic must in the golden +balance of philosophy the most abstruse--a balance which even itself +requires weighing previously, or he will have done nothing that can be +received for an estimate of the composite Coleridge. This astonishing +man, be it again remembered, besides being an exquisite poet, a +profound political speculator, a philosophic student of literature +through all its chambers and recesses, was also a circumnavigator on +the most pathless waters of scholasticism and metaphysics. He had +sounded, without guiding charts, the secret deeps of Proclus and +Plotinus; he had laid down buoys on the twilight, or moonlight, ocean +of Jacob Boehmen; [Footnote: 'JACOB BOEHMEN.' We ourselves had the +honor of presenting to Mr. Coleridge, Law's English version of Jacob--a +set of huge quartos. Some months afterwards we saw this work lying +open, and one volume at least overflowing, in parts, with the +commentaries and the _corollaries_ of Coleridge. Whither has this +work, and so many others swathed about with Coleridge's MS. notes, +vanished from the world?] he had cruised over the broad Atlantic of +Kant and Schelling, of Fichte and Oken. Where is the man who shall be +equal to these things? We at least make no such adventurous effort; or, +if ever we should presume to do so, not at present. Here we design only +to make a coasting voyage of survey round the headlands and most +conspicuous seamarks of our subject, as they are brought forward by Mr. +Gillman, or collaterally suggested by our own reflections; and +especially we wish to say a word or two on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +Naturally the first point to which we direct our attention, is the +history and personal relations of Coleridge. Living with Mr. Gillman +for nineteen years as a domesticated friend, Coleridge ought to have +been known intimately. And it is reasonable to expect, from so much +intercourse, some additions to our slender knowledge of Coleridge's +adventures, (if we may use so coarse a word,) and of the secret springs +at work in those early struggles of Coleridge at Cambridge, London, +Bristol, which have been rudely told to the world, and repeatedly told, +as showy romances, but never rationally explained. + +The anecdotes, however, which Mr. Gillman has added to the personal +history of Coleridge, are as little advantageous to the effect of his +own book as they are to the interest of the memorable character which +he seeks to illustrate. Always they are told without grace, and +generally are suspicious in their details. Mr. Gillman we believe to be +too upright a man for countenancing any untruth. He has been deceived. +For example, will any man believe this? A certain 'excellent +equestrian' falling in with Coleridge on horseback, thus accosted him-- +'Pray, Sir, did you meet a tailor along the road?' '_A tailor_!' +answered Coleridge; '_I did meet a person answering such a description, +who told me he had dropped his goose; that if I rode a little further +I should find it; and I guess he must have meant you._' In Joe Miller +this story would read, perhaps, sufferably. Joe has a privilege; and +we do not look too narrowly into the mouth of a Joe-Millerism. But +Mr. Gillman, writing the life of a philosopher, and no jest-book, is +under a different law of decorum. That retort, however, which silences +the jester, it may seem, must be a good one. And we are desired to +believe that, in this case, the baffled assailant rode off in a spirit +of benign candor, saying aloud to himself, like the excellent +philosopher that he evidently was, 'Caught a Tartar!' + +But another story of a sporting baronet, who was besides a Member of +Parliament, is much worse, and altogether degrading to Coleridge. This +gentleman, by way of showing off before a party of ladies, is +represented as insulting Coleridge by putting questions to him on the +qualities of his horse, so as to draw the animal's miserable defects +into public notice, and then closing his display by demanding what he +would take for the horse 'including the rider.' The supposed reply of +Coleridge might seem good to those who understand nothing of true +dignity; for, as an _impromptu_, it was smart and even caustic. +The baronet, it seems, was reputed to have been bought by the minister; +and the reader will at once divine that the retort took advantage of +that current belief, so as to throw back the sarcasm, by proclaiming +that neither horse nor rider had a price placarded in the market at +which any man could become their purchaser. But this was not the temper +in which Coleridge either did reply, or could have replied. Coleridge +showed, in the _spirit_ of his manner, a profound sensibility to +the nature of a gentleman; and he felt too justly what it became a +self-respecting person to say, ever to have aped the sort of flashy +fencing which might seem fine to a theatrical blood. + +Another story is self-refuted: 'A hired partisan' had come to one of +Coleridge's political lectures with the express purpose of bringing the +lecturer into trouble; and most preposterously he laid himself open to +his own snare by refusing to pay for admission. Spies must be poor +artists who proceed thus. Upon which Coleridge remarked--'That, before +the gentleman kicked up a dust, surely he would down with the dust.' So +far the story will not do. But what follows is possible enough. The +_same_ 'hired' gentleman, by way of giving unity to the tale, is +described as having hissed. Upon this a cry arose of 'Turn him out!' +But Coleridge interfered to protect him; he insisted on the man's right +to hiss if he thought fit; it was legal to hiss; it was natural to +hiss; 'for what is to be expected, gentlemen, when the cool waters of +reason come in contact with red-hot aristocracy, but a hiss?' _Euge!_ + +Amongst all the anecdotes, however of this splendid man, often trivial, +often incoherent, often unauthenticated, there is one which strikes us +as both true and interesting; and we are grateful to Mr. Gillman for +preserving it. We find it introduced, and partially authenticated, by +the following sentence from Coleridge himself:--'From eight to fourteen +I was a playless day-dreamer, a _helluo librorum_; my appetite for +which was indulged by a singular incident. A stranger, who was struck +by my conversation, made me free of a circulating library in King's +Street, Cheapside.' The more circumstantial explanation of Mr. Gillman +is this: `The incident indeed was singular. Going down the Strand, in +one of his day-dreams, fancying himself swimming across the Hellespont, +thrusting his hands before him as in the act of swimming, his hand came +in contact with a gentleman's pocket. The gentleman seized his hand, +turning round, and looking at him with some anger--"What! so young, and +yet so wicked?" at the same time accused him of an attempt to pick his +pocket. The frightened boy sobbed out his denial of the intention, and +explained to him how he thought himself Leander swimming across the +Hellespont. The gentleman was so struck and delighted with the novelty +of the thing, and with the simplicity and intelligence of the boy, that +he subscribed, as before stated, to the library; in consequence of +which Coleridge was further enabled to indulge his love of reading.' + +We fear that this slovenly narrative is the very perfection of bad +story-telling. But the story itself is striking, and, by the very +oddness of the incidents, not likely to have been invented. The effect, +from the position of the two parties--on the one side, a simple child +from Devonshire, dreaming in the Strand that he was swimming over from +Sestos to Abydos, and, on the other, the experienced man, dreaming only +of this world, its knaves and its thieves, but still kind and generous +--is beautiful and picturesque. _Oh! si sic omnia!_ + +But the most interesting to us of the _personalities_ connected +with Coleridge are his feuds and his personal dislikes. +Incomprehensible to us is the war of extermination which Coleridge made +upon the political economists. Did Sir James Steuart, in speaking of +vine-dressers, (not _as_ vine-dressers, but generally as +cultivators,) tell his readers, that, if such a man simply replaced his +own consumption, having no surplus whatever or increment for the public +capital, he could not be considered a useful citizen? Not the beast in +the Revelation is held up by Coleridge as more hateful to the spirit of +truth than the Jacobite baronet. And yet we know of an author--viz., +one S. T. Coleridge--who repeated that same doctrine without finding +any evil in it. Look at the first part of the _Wallenstein_, where +Count Isolani having said, 'Pooh! we are _all_ his subjects,' +_i. e._, soldiers, (though unproductive laborers,) not less than +productive peasants, the emperor's envoy replies--'Yet with a +difference, general;' and the difference implies Sir James's scale, his +vine-dresser being the equatorial case between the two extremes of the +envoy. Malthus again, in his population-book, contends for a mathematic +difference between animal and vegetable life, in respect to the law of +increase, as though the first increased by geometrical ratios, the last +by arithmetical! No proposition more worthy of laughter; since both, +when permitted to expand, increase by geometrical ratios, and the +latter by much higher ratios. Whereas, Malthus persuaded himself of his +crotchet simply by refusing the requisite condition in the vegetable +case, and granting it in the other. If you take a few grains of wheat, +and are required to plant all successive generations of their produce +in the same flower-pot for ever, of course you neutralize its expansion +by your own act of arbitrary limitation. [Footnote: Malthus would have +rejoined by saying--that the flowerpot limitation was the actual +limitation of nature in our present circumstances. In America it is +otherwise, he would say, but England is the very flowerpot you suppose; +she is a flowerpot which cannot be multiplied, and cannot even be +enlarged. Very well, so be it (which we say in order to waive +irrelevant disputes). But then the true inference will be--not that +vegetable increase proceeds under a different law from that which +governs animal increase, but that, through an accident of position, the +experiment cannot be tried in England. Surely the levers of Archimedes, +with submission to Sir Edward B. Lytton, were not the less levers +because he wanted the _locum standi_. It is proper, by the way, +that we should inform the reader of this generation where to look for +Coleridge's skirmishings with Malthus. They are to be found chiefly in +the late Mr. William Hazlitt's work on that subject: a work which +Coleridge so far claimed as to assert that it had been substantially +made up from his own conversation.] But so you would do, if you tried +the case of _animal_ increase by still exterminating all but one +replacing couple of parents. This is not to try, but merely a pretence +of trying, one order of powers against another. That was folly. But +Coleridge combated this idea in a manner so obscure, that nobody +understood it. And leaving these speculative conundrums, in coming to +the great practical interests afloat in the Poor Laws, Coleridge did so +little real work, that he left, as a _res integra_, to Dr. Alison, +the capital argument that legal and _adequate_ provision for the +poor, whether impotent poor or poor accidentally out of work, does not +extend pauperism--no, but is the one great resource for putting it +down. Dr. Alison's overwhelming and _experimental_ manifestations +of that truth have prostrated Malthus and his generation for ever. This +comes of not attending to the Latin maxim--'_Hoc_ age'--mind the +object before you. Dr. Alison, a wise man, '_hoc_ egit:' Coleridge +'_aliud_ egit.' And we see the result. In a case which suited him, +by interesting his peculiar feeling, Coleridge could command + + 'Attention full ten times as much as there needs.' + +But search documents, value evidence, or thresh out bushels of +statistical tables, Coleridge could not, any more than he could ride +with Elliot's dragoons. + +Another instance of Coleridge's inaptitude for such studies as +political economy is found in his fancy, by no means 'rich and rare,' +but meagre and trite, that taxes can never injure public prosperity by +mere excess of quantity; if they injure, we are to conclude that it +must be by their quality and mode of operation, or by their false +appropriation, (as, for instance, if they are sent out of the country +and spent abroad.) Because, says Coleridge, if the taxes are exhaled +from the country as vapors, back they come in drenching showers. Twenty +pounds ascend in a Scotch mist to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from +Leeds; but does it evaporate? Not at all: By return of post down comes +an order for twenty pounds' worth of Leeds cloth, on account of +Government, seeing that the poor men of the ----th regiment want new +gaiters. True; but of this return twenty pounds, not more than four +will be profit, _i.e._, surplus accruing to the public capital; +whereas, of the original twenty pounds, every shilling was surplus. The +same unsound fancy has been many times brought forward; often in +England, often in France. But it is curious, that its first appearance +upon any stage was precisely two centuries ago, when as yet political +economy slept with the pre-Adamites, viz., in the Long Parliament. In a +quarto volume of the debates during 1644-45, printed as an independent +work, will be found the same identical doctrine, supported very +sonorously by the same little love of an illustration from the see-saw +of mist and rain. + +Political economy was not Coleridge's forte. In politics he was +happier. In mere personal politics, he (like every man when reviewed +from a station distant by forty years) will often appear to have erred; +nay, he will be detected and nailed in error. But this is the necessity +of us all. Keen are the refutations of time. And absolute results to +posterity are the fatal touchstone of opinions in the past. It is +undeniable, besides, that Coleridge had strong personal antipathies, +for instance, to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas. Yet _why_, we never +could understand. We once heard him tell a story upon Windermere, to +the late Mr. Curwen, then M. P. for Workington, which was meant, +apparently, to account for this feeling. The story amounted to this; +that, when a freshman at Cambridge, Mr. Pitt had wantonly amused +himself at a dinner party in Trinity, in smashing with filberts +(discharged in showers like grape-shot) a most costly dessert set of +cut glass, from which Samuel Taylor Coleridge argued a principle of +destructiveness in his _cerebellum_. Now, if this dessert set +belonged to some poor suffering Trinitarian, and not to himself, we are +of opinion that he was faulty, and ought, upon his own great subsequent +maxim, to have been coerced into 'indemnity for the past, and security +for the future.' But, besides that this glassy _mythus_ belongs to +an aera fifteen years earlier than Coleridge's so as to justify a shadow +of scepticism, we really cannot find, in such an _escapade_ under +the boiling blood of youth, any sufficient justification of that +withering malignity towards the name of Pitt, which runs through +Coleridge's famous _Fire, Famine, and Slaughter_. As this little +viperous _jeu-d'esprit_ (published anonymously) subsequently +became the subject of a celebrated after-dinner discussion in London, +at which Coleridge (_comme de raison_) was the chief speaker, the +reader of this generation may wish to know the question at issue; and +in order to judge of _that_, he must know the outline of this +devil's squib. The writer brings upon the scene three pleasant young +ladies, viz., Miss Fire, Miss Famine, and Miss Slaughter. 'What are you +up to? What's the row?'--we may suppose to be the introductory question +of the poet. And the answer of the ladies makes us aware that they are +fresh from larking in Ireland, and in France. A glorious spree they +had; lots of fun; and laughter _a discretion_. At all times +_gratus puellae risus ab angulo_; so that we listen to their little +gossip with interest. They had been setting men, it seems, by the ears; +and the drollest little atrocities they do certainly report. Not but we +have seen better in the Nenagh paper, so far as Ireland is concerned. +But the pet little joke was in La Vendee. Miss Famine, who is the girl +for our money, raises the question--whether any of them can tell the +name of the leader and prompter to these high jinks of hell--if so, let +her whisper it. + + 'Whisper it, sister, so and so, + In a dark hint--distinct and low.' + +Upon which the playful Miss Slaughter replies:-- + + 'Letters _four_ do form his name. + * * * * * + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And I have drunk the blood since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Good: but the sting of the hornet lies in the conclusion. If this +quadriliteral man had done so much for _them_, (though really, we +think, 6s. 8d. might have settled his claim,) what, says Fire, setting +her arms a-kimbo, would they do for _him_? Slaughter replies, +rather crustily, that, as far as a good kicking would go--or (says +Famine) a little matter of tearing to pieces by the mob--they would be +glad to take tickets at his benefit. 'How, you bitches!' says Fire, 'is +that all? + + 'I alone am faithful; I + _Cling to him everlastingly_.' + +The sentiment is diabolical. And the question argued at the London +dinner-table was--Could the writer have been other than a devil? The +dinner was at the late excellent Mr. Sotheby's, known advantageously in +those days as the translator of Wieland's _Oberon_. Several of the +great guns amongst the literary body were present; in particular, Sir +Walter Scott; and he, we believe, with his usual good-nature, took the +apologetic side of the dispute. In fact, he was in the secret. Nobody +else, barring the author, knew at first whose good name was at stake. +The scene must have been high. The company kicked about the poor +diabolic writer's head as if it had been a tennis-ball. Coleridge, the +yet unknown criminal, absolutely perspired and fumed in pleading for +the defendant; the company demurred; the orator grew urgent; wits began +to _smoke_ the case, as active verbs; the advocate to _smoke_, as a +neuter verb; the 'fun grew fast and furious;' until at length +_delinquent arose_, burning tears in his eyes, and confessed to an +audience, (now bursting with stifled laughter, but whom he supposed to +be bursting with fiery indignation,) 'Lo! I am he that wrote it.' + +For our own parts, we side with Coleridge. Malice is not always of the +heart. There is a malice of the understanding and the fancy. Neither do +we think the worse of a man for having invented the most horrible and +old-woman-troubling curse that demons ever listened to. We are too apt +to swear horribly ourselves; and often have we frightened the cat, to +say nothing of the kettle, by our shocking [far too shocking!] oaths. + +There were other celebrated men whom Coleridge detested, or seemed to +detest--Paley, Sir Sidney Smith, Lord Hutchinson, (the last Lord +Donoughmore,) and Cuvier. To Paley it might seem as if his antipathy +had been purely philosophic; but we believe that partly it was +personal; and it tallies with this belief, that, in his earliest +political tracts, Coleridge charged the archdeacon repeatedly with his +own joke, as if it had been a serious saying, viz.--'That he could not +afford to keep a conscience;' such luxuries, like a carriage, for +instance, being obviously beyond the finances of poor men. + +With respect to the philosophic question between the parties, as to the +grounds of moral election, we hope it is no treason to suggest that +both were perhaps in error. Against Paley, it occurs at once that he +himself would not have made consequences the _practical_ test in +valuing the morality of an act, since these can very seldom be traced +at all up to the final stages, and in the earliest stages are +exceedingly different under different circumstances; so that the same +act, tried by its consequences, would bear a fluctuating appreciation. +This could not have been Paley's _revised_ meaning. Consequently, +had he been pressed by opposition, it would have come out, that by +_test_ he meant only _speculative_ test: a very harmless doctrine +certainly, but useless and impertinent to any purpose of his system. +The reader may catch our meaning in the following illustration. +It is a matter of general belief, that happiness, upon the whole, +follows in a higher degree from constant integrity, than from the +closest attention to self-interest. Now happiness is one of those +consequences which Paley meant by final or remotest. But we could never +use this idea as an exponent of integrity, or interchangeable +criterion, because happiness cannot be ascertained or appreciated +except upon long tracts of time, whereas the particular act of +integrity depends continually upon the election of the moment. No man, +therefore, could venture to lay down as a rule, Do what makes you +happy; use this as your test of actions, satisfied that in that case +always you will do the thing which is right. For he cannot discern +independently what _will_ make him happy; and he must decide on +the spot. The use of the _nexus_ between morality and happiness +must therefore be inverted; it is not practical or prospective, but +simply retrospective; and in that form it says no more than the good +old rules hallowed in every cottage. But this furnishes no practical +guide for moral election which a man had not, before he ever thought of +this _nexus_. In the sense in which it is true, we need not go to +the professor's chair for this maxim; in the sense in which it would +serve Paley, it is absolutely false. + +On the other hand, as against Coleridge, it is certain that many acts +could be mentioned which are judged to be good or bad only because +their consequences are known to be so, whilst the great catholic acts +of life are entirely (and, if we may so phrase it, haughtily) +independent of consequences. For instance, fidelity to a trust is a law +of immutable morality subject to no casuistry whatever. You have been +left executor to a friend--you are to pay over his last legacy to X, +though a dissolute scoundrel; and you are to give no shilling of it to +the poor brother of X, though a good man, and a wise man, struggling +with adversity. You are absolutely excluded from all contemplation of +results. It was your deceased friend's right to make the will; it is +yours simply to see it executed. Now, in opposition to this primary +class of actions stands another, such as the habit of intoxication, +which are known to be wrong only by observing the consequences. If +drunkenness did not terminate, after some years, in producing bodily +weakness, irritability in the temper, and so forth, it would _not_ +be a vicious act. And accordingly, if a transcendent motive should +arise in favor of drunkenness, as that it would enable you to face a +degree of cold, or contagion, else menacing to life, a duty would +arise, _pro hac vice_, of getting drunk. We had an amiable friend +who suffered under the infirmity of cowardice; an awful coward he was +when sober; but, when very drunk, he had courage enough for the Seven +Champions of Christendom, Therefore, in an emergency, where he knew +himself suddenly loaded with the responsibility of defending a family, +we approved highly of his getting drunk. But to violate a trust could +never become right under any change of circumstances. Coleridge, +however, altogether overlooked this distinction: which, on the other +hand, stirring in Paley's mind, but never brought out to distinct +consciousness, nor ever investigated, nor limited, has undermined his +system. Perhaps it is not very important how a man _theorizes_ +upon morality; happily for us all, God has left no man in such +questions practically to the guidance of his understanding; but still, +considering that academic bodies _are_ partly instituted for the +support of speculative truth as well as truth practical, we must think +it a blot upon the splendor of Oxford and Cambridge that both of them, +in a Christian land, make Paley the foundation of their ethics; the +alternative being Aristotle. And, in our mind, though far inferior as a +moralist to the Stoics, Aristotle is often less of a pagan than Paley. + +Coleridge's dislike to Sir Sidney Smith and the Egyptian Lord +Hutchinson fell under the category of Martial's case. + + 'Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare, + Hoc solum novi--non amo te, Sabidi.' + +Against Lord Hutchinson, we never heard him plead anything of moment, +except that he was finically Frenchified in his diction; of which he +gave this instance--that having occasion to notice a brick wall, (which +was literally _that_, not more and not less,) when reconnoitring +the French defences, he called it a _revetement_. And we ourselves +remember his using the French word _gloriole_ rather ostentatiously; +that is, when no particular emphasis attached to the case. But every +man has his foibles; and few, perhaps, are less conspicuously annoying +than this of Lord Hutchinson's. Sir Sidney's crimes were less +distinctly revealed to our mind. As to Cuvier, Coleridge's hatred of +_him_ was more to our taste; for (though quite unreasonable, we fear) +it took the shape of patriotism. He insisted on it, that our British +John Hunter was the genuine article, and that Cuvier was a humbug. Now, +speaking privately to the public, we cannot go quite so far as _that_. +But, when publicly we address that most respectable character, _en +grand costume_, we always mean to back Coleridge. For we are a horrible +John Bull ourselves. As Joseph Hume observes, it makes no difference to +us--right or wrong, black or white--when our countrymen are concerned. +And John Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, [Footnote: +_Vide_, in particular, for the most exquisite specimen of pigheadedness +that the world can furnish, his perverse evidence on the once famous +case at the Warwick assizes, of Captain Donelan for poisoning his +brother-in-law, Sir Theodosius Boughton.] was really a great man; +though it will not follow that Cuvier must, therefore, have been a +little one. We do not pretend to be acquainted with the tenth part of +Cuvier's performances; but we suspect that Coleridge's range in that +respect was not much greater than our own. + +Other cases of monomaniac antipathy we might revive from our +recollections of Coleridge, had we a sufficient motive. But in +compensation, and by way of redressing the balance, he had many strange +likings--equally monomaniac--and, unaccountably, he chose to exhibit +his whimsical partialities by dressing up, as it were, in his own +clothes, such a set of scarecrows as eye has not beheld. Heavens! what +an ark of unclean beasts would have been Coleridge's private +_menagerie_ of departed philosophers, could they all have been +trotted out in succession! But did the reader feel them to be the awful +bores which, in fact, they were? No; because Coleridge had blown upon +these withered anatomies, through the blowpipe of his own creative +genius, a stream of gas that swelled the tissue of their antediluvian +wrinkles, forced color upon their cheeks, and splendor upon their +sodden eyes. Such a process of ventriloquism never _has_ existed. +He spoke by their organs. They were the tubes; and he forced through +their wooden machinery his own Beethoven harmonies. + +First came Dr. Andrew Bell. We knew him. Was he dull? Is a wooden spoon +dull? Fishy were his eyes; torpedinous was his manner; and his main +idea, out of two which he really had, related to the moon--from which +you infer, perhaps, that he was lunatic. By no means. It was no craze, +under the influence of the moon, which possessed him; it was an idea of +mere hostility to the moon. The Madras people, like many others, had an +idea that she influenced the weather. Subsequently the Herschels, +senior and junior, systematized this idea; and then the wrath of +Andrew, previously in a crescent state, actually dilated to a +plenilunar orb. The Westmoreland people (for at the lakes it was we +knew him) expounded his condition to us by saying that he was +'maffled;' which word means 'perplexed in the extreme.' His wrath did +not pass into lunacy; it produced simple distraction; an uneasy +fumbling with the idea; like that of an old superannuated dog who longs +to worry, but cannot for want of teeth. In this condition you will +judge that he was rather tedious. And in this condition Coleridge took +him up. Andrew's other idea, because he _had_ two, related to +education. Perhaps six-sevenths of that also came from Madras. No +matter, Coleridge took _that_ up; Southey also; but Southey with +his usual temperate fervor. Coleridge, on the other hand, found +celestial marvels both in the scheme and in the man. Then commenced the +apotheosis of Andrew Bell: and because it happened that his opponent, +Lancaster, between ourselves, really _had_ stolen his ideas from +Bell, what between the sad wickedness of Lancaster and the celestial +transfiguration of Bell, gradually Coleridge heated himself to such an +extent, that people, when referring to that subject, asked each other, +'Have you heard Coleridge lecture on _Bel and the Dragon_?' + +The next man glorified by Coleridge was John Woolman, the Quaker. Him, +though we once possessed his works, it cannot be truly affirmed that we +ever read. Try to read John, we often did; but read John we did not. +This, however, you say, might be our fault, and not John's. Very +likely. And we have a notion that now, with our wiser thoughts, we +_should_ read John, if he were here on this table. It is certain +that he was a good man, and one of the earliest in America, if not in +Christendom, who lifted up his hand to protest against the slave-trade. +But still, we suspect, that had John been all that Coleridge +represented, he would not have repelled us from reading his travels in +the fearful way that he did. But, again, we beg pardon, and entreat the +earth of Virginia to lie light upon the remains of John Woolman; for he +was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile. + +The third person raised to divine honors by Coleridge was Bowyer, the +master of Christ's Hospital, London--a man whose name rises into the +nostrils of all who knew him with the gracious odor of a tallow- +chandler's melting-house upon melting day, and whose memory is embalmed +in the hearty detestation of all his pupils. Coleridge describes this +man as a profound critic. Our idea of him is different. We are of +opinion that Bowyer was the greatest villain of the eighteenth century. +We may be wrong; but we cannot be _far_ wrong. Talk of knouting +indeed! which we did at the beginning of this paper in the mere +playfulness of our hearts--and which the great master of the knout, +Christopher, who visited men's trespasses like the Eumenides, never +resorted to but in love for some great idea which had been outraged; +why, this man knouted his way through life, from bloody youth up to +truculent old age. Grim idol! whose altars reeked with children's +blood, and whose dreadful eyes never smiled except as the stern goddess +of the Thugs smiles, when the sound of human lamentations inhabits her +ears. So much had the monster fed upon this great idea of 'flogging,' +and transmuted it into the very nutriment of his heart, that he seems +to have conceived the gigantic project of flogging all mankind; nay +worse, for Mr. Gillman, on Coleridge's authority, tells us (p. 24) the +following anecdote:--'"_Sirrah, I'll flog you_," were words so +familiar to him, that on one occasion some _female_ friend of one +of the boys,' (who had come on an errand of intercession,) 'still +lingering at the door, after having been abruptly told to go, Bowyer +exclaimed--"Bring that woman here, and I'll flog her."' + +To this horrid incarnation of whips and scourges, Coleridge, in his +_Biographia Literaria_, ascribes ideas upon criticism and taste, +which every man will recognise as the intense peculiarities of +Coleridge. Could these notions really have belonged to Bowyer, then how +do we know but he wrote _The Ancient Mariner_? Yet, on consideration, +no. For even Coleridge admitted that, spite of his fine theorizing upon +composition, Mr. Bowyer did not prosper in the practice. Of which he +gave us this illustration; and as it is supposed to be the only +specimen of the Bowyeriana which now survives in this sublunary world, +we are glad to extend its glory. It is the most curious example extant +of the melodious in sound:-- + + ''Twas thou that smooth'd'st the rough-rugg'd bed of pain.' + +'Smooth'd'st!' Would the teeth of a crocodile not splinter under that +word? It seems to us as if Mr. Bowyer's verses ought to be boiled +before they can be read. And when he says, 'Twas thou, what is the +wretch talking to? Can he be apostrophizing the knout? We very much +fear it. If so, then, you see (reader!) that, even when incapacitated +by illness from operating, he still adores the image of his holy +scourge, and invokes it as alone able to smooth 'his rough-rugg'd bed.' +Oh, thou infernal Bowyer! upon whom even Trollope (_History of +Christ's Hospital_) charges 'a discipline _tinctured_ with more +than due severity;'--can there be any partners found for thee in a +quadrille, except Draco, the bloody lawgiver, Bishop Bonner, and Mrs. +Brownrigg? + +The next pet was Sir Alexander Ball. Concerning Bowyer, Coleridge did +not talk much, but chiefly wrote; concerning Bell, he did not write +much, but chiefly talked. Concerning Ball, however, he both wrote and +talked. It was in vain to muse upon any plan for having Ball +blackballed, or for rebelling against Bell. Think of a man, who had +fallen into one pit called Bell; secondly, falling into another pit +called Ball. This was too much. We were obliged to quote poetry against +them:-- + + 'Letters four do form his name; + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And the nightmare I have felt since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Not that we insinuate any disrespect to Sir Alexander Ball. He was +about the foremost, we believe, in all good qualities, amongst Nelson's +admirable captains at the Nile. He commanded a seventy-four most +effectually in that battle; he governed Malta as well as Sancho +governed Barataria; and he was a true practical philosopher--as, +indeed, was Sancho. But still, by all that we could ever learn, Sir +Alexander had no taste for the abstract upon any subject; and would +have read, as mere delirious wanderings, those philosophic opinions +which Coleridge fastened like wings upon his respectable, but +astounded, shoulders. + +We really beg pardon for having laughed a little at these crazes of +Coleridge. But laugh we did, of mere necessity, in those days, at Bell +and Ball, whenever we did not groan. And, as the same precise +alternative offered itself now, viz., that, in recalling the case, we +must reverberate either the groaning or the laughter, we presumed the +reader would vote for the last. Coleridge, we are well convinced, owed +all these wandering and exaggerated estimates of men--these diseased +impulses, that, like the _mirage_, showed lakes and fountains +where in reality there were only arid deserts, to the derangements +worked by opium. But now, for the sake of change, let us pass to +another topic. Suppose we say a word or two on Coleridge's +accomplishments as a scholar. We are not going to enter on so large a +field as that of his scholarship in connection with his philosophic +labors, scholarship in the result; not this, but scholarship in the +means and machinery, range of _verbal_ scholarship, is what we +propose for a moment's review. + +For instance, what sort of a German scholar was Coleridge? We dare say +that, because in his version of the _Wallenstein_ there are some +inaccuracies, those who may have noticed them will hold him cheap in +this particular pretension. But, to a certain degree, they will be +wrong. Coleridge was not _very_ accurate in anything but in the +use of logic. All his philological attainments were imperfect. He did +not talk German; or so obscurely--and, if he attempted to speak fast, +so erroneously--that in his second sentence, when conversing with a +German lady of rank, he contrived to assure her that in his humble +opinion she was a ----. Hard it is to fill up the hiatus decorously; +but, in fact, the word very coarsely expressed that she was no better +than she should be. Which reminds us of a parallel misadventure to a +German, whose colloquial English had been equally neglected. Having +obtained an interview with an English lady, he opened his business +(whatever it might be) thus--'High-born madam, since your husband have +kicked de bucket'----'Sir!' interrupted the lady, astonished and +displeased. 'Oh, pardon!--nine, ten thousand pardon! Now, I make new +beginning--quite oder beginning. Madam, since your husband have cut his +stick'----It may be supposed that this did not mend matters; and, +reading that in the lady's countenance, the German drew out an octavo +dictionary, and said, perspiring with shame at having a second time +missed fire,--'Madam, since your husband have gone to kingdom come'---- +This he said beseechingly; but the lady was past propitiation by this +time, and rapidly moved towards the door. Things had now reached a +crisis; and, if something were not done quickly, the game was up. Now, +therefore, taking a last hurried look at his dictionary, the German +flew after the lady, crying out in a voice of despair--'Madam, since +your husband, your most respected husband, have hopped de twig'----This +was his sheet-anchor; and, as this also _came home_, of course the +poor man was totally wrecked. It turned out that the dictionary he had +used (Arnold's, we think,)--a work of a hundred years back, and, from +mere ignorance, giving slang translations from Tom Brown, L'Estrange, +and other jocular writers--had put down the verb _sterben (to +die)_ with the following worshipful series of equivalents--1. To +kick the bucket; 2. To cut one's stick; 3. To go to kingdom come; 4. To +hop the twig. + +But, though Coleridge did not pretend to any fluent command of +conversational German, he read it with great ease. His knowledge of +German literature was, indeed, too much limited by his rare +opportunities for commanding anything like a well-mounted library. And +particularly it surprised us that Coleridge knew little or nothing of +John Paul (Richter). But his acquaintance with the German philosophic +masters was extensive. And his valuation of many individual German +words or phrases was delicate and sometimes profound. + +As a Grecian, Coleridge must be estimated with a reference to the state +and standard of Greek literature at that time and in this country. +Porson had not yet raised our ideal. The earliest laurels of Coleridge +were gathered, however, in that field. Yet no man will, at this day, +pretend that the Greek of his prize ode is sufferable. Neither did +Coleridge ever become an accurate Grecian in later times, when better +models of scholarship, and better aids to scholarship, had begun to +multiply. But still we must assert this point of superiority for +Coleridge, that, whilst he never was what may be called a well-mounted +scholar in any department of verbal scholarship, he yet displayed +sometimes a brilliancy of conjectural sagacity, and a felicity of +philosophic investigation, even in this path, such as better scholars +do not often attain, and of a kind which cannot be learned from books. +But, as respects his accuracy, again we must recall to the reader the +state of Greek literature in England during Coleridge's youth; and, in +all equity, as a means of placing Coleridge in the balances, +specifically we must recall the state of Greek metrical composition at +that period. + +To measure the condition of Greek literature even in Cambridge, about +the initial period of Coleridge, we need only look back to the several +translations of Gray's _Elegy_ by three (if not four) of the +reverend gentlemen at that time attached to Eton College. Mathias, no +very great scholar himself in this particular field, made himself +merry, in his _Pursuits of Literature_, with these Eton translations. +In that he was right. But he was _not_ right in praising a contemporary +translation by Cook, who (we believe) was the immediate predecessor of +Porson in the Greek chair. As a specimen of this translation, +[Footnote: It was printed at the end of Aristotle's _Poetics_, which +Dr. Cook edited.] we cite one stanza; and we cannot be supposed to +select unfairly, because it is the stanza which Mathias praises in +extravagant terms. "Here," says he, "Gray, Cook, and Nature, do seem to +contend for the mastery." The English quatrain must be familiar to +every body:-- + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour: + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +And the following, we believe, though quoting from a thirty-three +years' recollection of it, is the exact Greek version of Cook:-- + + 'A charis eugenon, charis a basilaeidos achas + Lora tuchaes chryseaes, Aphroditaes kala ta dora, + Paith ama tauta tethiake, kai eiden morsimon amar + Proon kle olole, kai ocheto xunon es Adaen.' + +Now really these verses, by force of a little mosaic tesselation from +genuine Greek sources, pass fluently over the tongue; but can they be +considered other than a _cento_? Swarms of English schoolboys, at +this day, would not feel very proud to adopt them. In fact, we remember +(at a period say twelve years later than this) some iambic verses, +which were really composed by a boy, viz., a son of Dr. Prettyman, +(afterwards Tomline,) Bishop of Winchester, and, in earlier times, +private tutor to Mr. Pitt; they were published by Middleton, first +Bishop of Calcutta, in the preface to his work on the Greek article; +and for racy idiomatic Greek, self-originated, and not a mere mocking- +bird's iteration of alien notes, are so much superior to all the +attempts of these sexagenarian doctors, as distinctly to mark the +growth of a new era and a new generation in this difficult +accomplishment, within the first decennium of this century. It is +singular that only one blemish is suggested by any of the contemporary +critics in Dr. Cook's verses, viz., in the word _xunon_, for which +this critic proposes to substitute _ooinon_, to prevent, as he +observes, the last syllable of _ocheto_ from being lengthened by +the _x_. Such considerations as these are necessary to the +_trutinae castigatio_, before we can value Coleridge's place on the +scale of his own day; which day, _quoad hoc_, be it remembered, +was 1790. + +As to French, Coleridge read it with too little freedom to find +pleasure in French literature. Accordingly, we never recollect his +referring for any purpose, either of argument or illustration, to a +French classic. Latin, from his regular scholastic training, naturally +he read with a scholar's fluency; and indeed, he read constantly in +authors, such as Petrarch, Erasmus, Calvin, &c., whom he could not then +have found in translations. But Coleridge had not cultivated an +acquaintance with the delicacies of classic Latinity. And it is +remarkable that Wordsworth, educated most negligently at Hawkshead +school, subsequently by reading the lyric poetry of Horace, simply for +his own delight as a student of composition, made himself a master of +Latinity in its most difficult form; whilst Coleridge, trained +regularly in a great Southern school, never carried his Latin to any +classical polish. + +There is another accomplishment of Coleridge's, less broadly open to +the judgment of this generation, and not at all of the next--viz., his +splendid art of conversation, on which it will be interesting to say a +word. Ten years ago, when the music of this rare performance had not +yet ceased to vibrate in men's ears, what a sensation was gathering +amongst the educated classes on this particular subject! What a tumult +of anxiety prevailed to 'hear Mr. Coleridge'--or even to talk with a +man who _had_ heard him! Had he lived till this day, not Paganini +would have been so much sought after. That sensation is now decaying; +because a new generation has emerged during the ten years since his +death. But many still remain whose sympathy (whether of curiosity in +those who did _not_ know him, or of admiration in those who +_did_) still reflects as in a mirror the great stir upon this +subject which then was moving in the world. To these, if they should +inquire for the great distinguishing principle of Coleridge's +conversation, we might say that it was the power of vast combination +'in linked sweetness long drawn out.' He gathered into focal +concentration the largest body of objects, _apparently_ disconnected, +that any man ever yet, by any magic, could assemble, or, _having_ +assembled, could manage. His great fault was, that, by not opening +sufficient spaces for reply or suggestion, or collateral notice, he not +only narrowed his own field, but he grievously injured the final +impression. For when men's minds are purely passive, when they are not +allowed to re-act, then it is that they collapse most, and that their +sense of what is said must ever be feeblest. Doubtless there must have +been great conversational masters elsewhere, and at many periods; but +in this lay Coleridge's characteristic advantage, that he was a great +natural power, and also a great artist. He was a power in the art, and +he carried a new art into the power. + +But now, finally--having left ourselves little room for more--one or +two words on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +We have not often read a sentence falling from a wise man with +astonishment so profound, as that particular one in a letter of +Coleridge's to Mr. Gillman, which speaks of the effort to wean one's- +self from opium as a trivial task. There are, we believe, several such +passages. But we refer to that one in particular which assumes that a +single 'week' will suffice for the whole process of so mighty a +revolution. Is indeed leviathan _so_ tamed? In that case the +quarantine of the opium-eater might be finished within Coleridge's +time, and with Coleridge's romantic ease. But mark the contradictions +of this extraordinary man. Not long ago we were domesticated with a +venerable rustic, strong-headed, but incurably obstinate in his +prejudices, who treated the whole body of medical men as ignorant +pretenders, knowing absolutely nothing of the system which they +professed to superintend. This, you will remark, is no very singular +case. No; nor, as we believe, is the antagonist case of ascribing to +such men magical powers. Nor, what is worse still, the co-existence of +both cases in the same mind, as in fact happened here. For this same +obstinate friend of ours, who treated all medical pretensions as the +mere jest of the universe, every 'third day was exacting from his own +medical attendants some exquisite _tour-de-force_, as that they +should know or should do something, which, if they _had_ known or +done, all men would have suspected them reasonably of magic. He rated +the whole medical body as infants; and yet what he exacted from them +every third day as a matter of course, virtually presumed them to be +the only giants within the whole range of science. Parallel and equal +is the contradiction of Coleridge. He speaks of opium excess, his own +excess, we mean--the excess of twenty-five years--as a thing to be laid +aside easily and for ever within seven days; and yet, on the other +hand, he describes it pathetically, sometimes with a frantic pathos, as +the scourge, the curse, the one almighty blight which had desolated his +life. + +This shocking contradiction we need not press. All readers will see +_that_. But some will ask--Was Mr. Coleridge right in either view? +Being so atrociously wrong in the first notion, (viz., that the opium +of twenty-five years was a thing easily to be forsworn,) where a child +could know that he was wrong, was he even altogether right, secondly, +in believing that his own life, root and branch, had been withered by +opium? For it will not follow, because, with a relation to happiness +and tranquillity, a man may have found opium his curse, that therefore, +as a creature of energies and great purposes, he must have been the +wreck which he seems to suppose. Opium gives and takes away. It defeats +the _steady_ habit of exertion, but it creates spasms of irregular +exertion; it ruins the natural power of life, but it develops +preternatural paroxysms of intermitting power. Let us ask of any man +who holds that not Coleridge himself but the world, as interested in +Coleridge's usefulness, has suffered by his addiction to opium; whether +he is aware of the way in which opium affected Coleridge; and secondly, +whether he is aware of the actual contributions to literature--how +large they were--which Coleridge made _in spite_ of opium. All who +were intimate with Coleridge must remember the fits of genial animation +which were created continually in his manner and in his buoyancy of +thought by a recent or by an _extra_ dose of the omnipotent drug. +A lady, who knew nothing experimentally of opium, once told us, that +she 'could tell when Mr. Coleridge had taken too much opium by his +shining countenance.' She was right; we know that mark of opium +excesses well, and the cause of it; or at least we believe the cause to +lie in the quickening of the insensible perspiration which accumulates +and glistens on the face. Be that as it may, a criterion it was that +could not deceive us as to the condition of Coleridge. And uniformly in +that condition he made his most effective intellectual displays. It is +true that he might not be happy under this fiery animation, and we +fully believe that he was not. Nobody is happy under laudanum except +for a very short term of years. But in what way did that operate upon +his exertions as a writer? We are of opinion that it killed Coleridge +as a poet. 'The harp of Quantock' was silenced for ever by the torment +of opium. But proportionably it roused and stung by misery his +metaphysical instincts into more spasmodic life. Poetry can flourish +only in the atmosphere of happiness. But subtle and perplexed +investigations of difficult problems are amongst the commonest +resources for beguiling the sense of misery. And for this we have the +direct authority of Coleridge himself speculating on his own case. In +the beautiful though unequal ode entitled _Dejection_, stanza six, +occurs the following passage: + + 'For not to think of what I needs must feel, + But to be still and patient all I can; + _And haply by abstruse research to steal + From my own nature all the natural man_-- + This was my sole resource, my only plan; + Till that, which suits a part, infects the whole, + And now is almost grown the habit of my soul.' + +Considering the exquisite quality of some poems which Coleridge has +composed, nobody can grieve (or _has_ grieved) more than ourselves, at +seeing so beautiful a fountain choked up with weeds. But had Coleridge +been a happier man, it is our fixed belief that we should have had far +less of his philosophy, and perhaps, but not certainly, might have had +more of his general literature. In the estimate of the public, +doubtless, _that_ will seem a bad exchange. Every man to his taste. +Meantime, what we wish to show is, that the loss was not absolute, but + merely relative. + +It is urged, however, that, even on his philosophic speculations, opium +operated unfavorably in one respect, by often causing him to leave them +unfinished. This is true. Whenever Coleridge (being highly charged, or +saturated, with opium) had written with distempered vigor upon any +question, there occurred soon after a recoil of intense disgust, not +from his own paper only, but even from the subject. All opium-eaters +are tainted with the infirmity of leaving works unfinished, and +suffering reactions of disgust. But Coleridge taxed himself with that +infirmity in verse before he could at all have commenced opium-eating. +Besides, it is too much assumed by Coleridge and by his biographer, +that to leave off opium was of course to regain juvenile health. But +all opium-eaters make the mistake of supposing every pain or irritation +which they suffer to be the product of opium. Whereas a wise man will +say, suppose you _do_ leave off opium, that will not deliver you +from the load of years (say sixty-three) which you carry on your back. +Charles Lamb, another man of true genius, and another head belonging to +the Blackwood Gallery, made that mistake in his _Confessions of a +Drunkard_. 'I looked back,' says he, 'to the time when always, on +waking in the morning, I had a song rising to my lips.' At present, it +seems, being a drunkard, he has no such song. Ay, dear Lamb, but note +this, that the drunkard was fifty-six years old, the songster was +twenty-three. Take twenty-three from fifty-six, and we have some reason +to believe that thirty-three will remain; which period of thirty-three +years is a pretty good reason for not singing in the morning, even if +brandy has been out of the question. + +It is singular, as respects Coleridge, that Mr. Gillman never says one +word upon the event of the great Highgate experiment for leaving off +laudanum, though Coleridge came to Mr. Gillman's for no other purpose; +and in a week, this vast creation of new earth, sea, and all that in +them is, was to have been accomplished. We _rayther_ think, as +Bayley junior observes, that the explosion must have hung fire. But +_that_ is a trifle. We have another pleasing hypothesis on the +subject. Mr. Wordsworth, in his exquisite lines written on a fly-leaf +of his own _Castle of Indolence_, having described Coleridge as 'a +noticeable man with large grey eyes,' goes on to say, 'He' (viz., +Coleridge) 'did that other man entice' to view his imagery. Now we are +sadly afraid that 'the noticeable man with large grey eyes' did entice +'that other man,' viz., Gillman, to commence opium-eating. This is +droll; and it makes us laugh horribly. Gillman should have reformed +_him_; and lo! _he_ corrupts Gillman. S. T. Coleridge visited +Highgate by way of being converted from the heresy of opium; and the +issue is--that, in two months' time, various grave men, amongst whom +our friend Gillman marches first in great pomp, are found to have faces +shining and glorious as that of AEsculapius; a fact of which we have +already explained the secret meaning. And scandal says (but then what +will not scandal say?) that a hogshead of opium goes up daily through +Highgate tunnel. Surely one corroboration of our hypothesis may be +found in the fact, that Vol. I. of Gillman's Coleridge is for ever to +stand unpropped by Vol. II. For we have already observed, that opium- +eaters, though good fellows upon the whole, never finish anything. + +What then? A man has a right never to finish anything. Certainly he +has; and by Magna Charta. But he has no right, by Magna Charta or by +Parva Charta, to slander decent men, like ourselves and our friend the +author of the _Opium Confessions_. Here it is that our complaint +arises against Mr. Gillman. If he has taken to opium-eating, can we +help _that_? If _his_ face shines, must our faces be blackened? He has +very improperly published some intemperate passages from Coleridge's +letters, which ought to have been considered confidential, unless +Coleridge had left them for publication, charging upon the author of +the _Opium Confessions_ a reckless disregard of the temptations which, +in that work, he was scattering abroad amongst men. Now this author is +connected with ourselves, and we cannot neglect his defence, unless in +the case that he undertakes it himself. + +We complain, also, that Coleridge raises (and is backed by Mr. Gillman +in raising) a distinction perfectly perplexing to us, between himself +and the author of the _Opium Confessions_ upon the question--Why +they severally began the practice of opium-eating? In himself, it +seems, this motive was to relieve pain, whereas the Confessor was +surreptitiously seeking for pleasure. Ay, indeed--where did he learn +_that_? We have no copy of the _Confessions_ here, so we cannot quote +chapter and verse; but we distinctly remember, that toothache is +recorded in that book as the particular occasion which first introduced +the author to the knowledge of opium. Whether afterwards, having been +thus initiated by the demon of pain, the opium confessor did not apply +powers thus discovered to purposes of mere pleasure, is a question for +himself; and the same question applies with the same cogency to +Coleridge. Coleridge began in rheumatic pains. What then? This is no +proof that he did not end in voluptuousness. For our parts, we are slow +to believe that ever any man did, or could, learn the somewhat awful +truth, that in a certain ruby-colored elixir, there lurked a divine +power to chase away the genius of ennui, without subsequently abusing +this power. To taste but once from the tree of knowledge, is fatal to +the subsequent power of abstinence. True it is, that generations have +used laudanum as an anodyne, (for instance, hospital patients,) who +have not afterwards courted its powers as a voluptuous stimulant; but +that, be sure, has arisen from no abstinence in _them_. There are, in +fact, two classes of temperaments as to this terrific drug--those which +are, and those which are not, preconformed to its power; those which +genially expand to its temptations, and those which frostily exclude +them. Not in the energies of the will, but in the qualities of the +nervous organization, lies the dread arbitration of--Fall or stand: +doomed thou art to yield; or, strengthened constitutionally, to resist. +Most of those who have but a low sense of the spells lying couchant in +opium, have practically none at all. For the initial fascination is for +_them_ effectually defeated by the sickness which nature has associated +with the first stages of opium-eating. But to that other class, whose +nervous sensibilities vibrate to their profoundest depths under the +first touch of the angelic poison, even as a lover's ear thrills on +hearing unexpectedly the voice of her whom he loves, opium is the +Amreeta cup of beatitude. You know the _Paradise Lost_? and you +remember, from the eleventh book, in its earlier part, that laudanum +already existed in Eden--nay, that it was used medicinally by an +archangel; for, after Michael had 'purged with euphrasy and rue' the +eyes of Adam, lest he should be unequal to the mere _sight_ of the +great visions about to unfold their draperies before him, next he +fortifies his fleshly spirits against the _affliction_ of these +visions, of which visions the first was death. And how? + + 'He from the well of life three drops instill'd.' + +What was their operation? + + 'So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, + _Even to the inmost seat of mental sight_, + That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, + Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced. + But him the gentle angel by the hand + Soon raised'---- + +The second of these lines it is which betrays the presence of laudanum. +It is in the faculty of mental vision, it is in the increased power of +dealing with the shadowy and the dark, that the characteristic virtue +of opium lies. Now, in the original higher sensibility is found some +palliation for the _practice_ of opium-eating; in the greater +temptation is a greater excuse. And in this faculty of self-revelation +is found some palliation for _reporting_ the case to the world, +which both Coleridge and his biographer have overlooked. + + + + +TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. + + +The most remarkable instance of a combined movement in society, which +history, perhaps, will be summoned to notice, is that which, in our own +days, has applied itself to the abatement of intemperance. Naturally, +or by any _direct_ process, the machinery set in motion would seem +irrelevant to the object: if one hundred men unite to elevate the +standard of temperance, they can do this with effect only by +improvements in their own separate cases: each individual, for such an +effort of self-conquest, can draw upon no resources but his own. One +member in a combination of one hundred, when running a race, can hope +for no cooperation from his ninety-nine associates. And yet, by a +secondary action, such combinations are found eminently successful. +Having obtained from every confederate a pledge, in some shape or +other, that he will give them his support, thenceforwards they bring +the passions of shame and self-esteem to bear upon each member's +personal perseverance. Not only they keep alive and continually refresh +in his thoughts the general purpose, which else might fade; but they +also point the action of public contempt and of self-contempt at any +defaulter much more potently, and with more acknowledged right to do +so, when they use this influence under a license, volunteered, and +signed, and sealed, by the man's own hand. They first conciliate his +countenance through his intellectual perceptions of what is right; and +next they sustain it through his conscience, (the strongest of his +internal forces,) and even through the weakest of his human +sensibilities. That revolution, therefore, which no combination of men +can further by abating the original impulse of temptations, they often +accomplish happily by maturing the secondary energies of resistance. + +Already in their earliest stage, these temperance movements had +obtained, both at home and abroad, a _national_ range of grandeur. +More than ten years ago, when M. de Tocqueville was resident in the +United States, the principal American society counted two hundred and +seventy thousand members: and in one single state (Pennsylvania) the +annual diminution in the use of spirits had very soon reached half a +million of gallons. Now a machinery must be so far good which +accomplishes its end: the means are meritorious for so much as they +effect. Even to strengthen a feeble resolution by the aid of other +infirmities, such as shame or the very servility and cowardice of +deference to public opinion, becomes prudent and laudable in the +service of so great a cause. Nay, sometimes to make public profession +of self-distrust by assuming the coercion of public pledges, may become +an expression of frank courage, or even of noble principle, not fearing +the shame of confession when it can aid the powers of victorious +resistance. Yet still, so far as it is possible, every man sighs for a +still higher victory over himself: a victory not tainted by bribes, and +won from no impulses but those inspired by his own higher nature, and +his own mysterious force of will; powers that in no man were fully +developed. + +This being so, it is well that from time to time every man should throw +out any hints that have occurred to his experience,--suggesting such as +may be new, renewing such as may be old, towards the encouragement or +the information of persons engaged in so great a struggle. My own +experience had never travelled in that course which could much instruct +me in the miseries from wine, or in the resources for struggling with +it. I had repeatedly been obliged indeed to lay it aside altogether; +but in this I never found room for more than seven or ten days' +struggle: excesses I had never practised in the use of wine; simply the +habit of using it, and the collateral habits formed by excessive use of +opium, had produced any difficulty at all in resigning it even on an +hour's notice. From opium I derive my right of offering hints at all +upon the subjects of abstinence in other forms. But the modes of +suffering from the evil, and the separate modes of suffering from the +effort of self-conquest, together with errors of judgment incident to +such states of transitional torment, are all nearly allied, practically +analogous as regards the remedies, even if characteristically +distinguished to the inner consciousness. I make no scruple, therefore, +of speaking as from a station of high experience and of most watchful +attention, which never remitted even under sufferings that were at +times absolutely frantic. + +I. The first hint is one that has been often offered; viz., the +diminution of the particular liquor used, by the introduction into each +glass of some inert substance, ascertained in bulk, and equally +increasing in amount from day to day. But this plan has often been +intercepted by an accident: shot, or sometimes bullets, were the +substances nearest at hand; an objection arose from too scrupulous a +caution of chemistry as to the action upon lead of the vinous acid. Yet +all objection of this kind might be removed at once, by using beads in +a case where small decrements were wanted, and marbles, if it were +thought advisable to use larger. Once for all, however, in cases deeply +rooted, no advances ought ever to be made but by small stages: for the +effect, which is insensible at first, by the tenth, twelfth, or +fifteenth day, generally accumulates unendurably under any bolder +deductions. I must not stop to illustrate this point; but certain it +is, that by an error of this nature at the outset, most natural to +human impatience under exquisite suffering, too generally the trial is +abruptly brought to an end through the crisis of a passionate relapse. + +II. Another object, and one to which the gladiator matched in single +duel with intemperance, must direct a religious vigilance, is the +_digestibility_ of his food: it must be digestible not only by its +original qualities, but also by its culinary preparation. In this last +point we are all of us Manichaeans: all of us yield a cordial assent to +that Manichaean proverb, which refers the meats and the cooks of this +world to two opposite fountains of light and of darkness. Oromasdes it +is, or the good principle, that sends the food; Ahrimanes, or the evil +principle, that everywhere sends the cooks. Man has been repeatedly +described or even defined, as by differential privilege of his nature, +'A cooking animal.' Brutes, it is said, have faces,--man only has a +countenance; brutes are as well able to eat as man,--man only is able +to cook what he eats. Such are the romances of self-flattery. I, on the +contrary, maintain, that six thousand years have not availed, in this +point, to raise our race generally to the level of ingenious savages. +The natives of the Society and the Friendly Isles, or of New Zealand, +and other favored spots, had, and still have, an _art_ of cookery, +though very limited in its range: the French [Footnote: But judge not, +reader, of French skill by the attempts of fourth-rate artists; and +understand me to speak with respect of this skill, not as it is the +tool of luxury, but as it is the handmaid of health.] have an art, and +more extensive; but we English are about upon a level (as regards this +science) with the ape, to whom an instinct whispers that chestnuts may +be roasted; or with the aboriginal Chinese of Charles Lamb's story, to +whom the experience of many centuries had revealed thus much, viz., +that a dish very much beyond the raw flesh of their ancestors, might be +had by burning down the family mansion, and thus roasting the pig-stye. +Rudest of barbarous devices is English cookery, and not much in advance +of this primitive Chinese step; a fact which it would not be worth +while to lament, were it not for the sake of the poor trembling +deserter from the banners of intoxication, who is thus, and by no other +cause, so often thrown back beneath the yoke which he had abjured. Past +counting are the victims of alcohol, that, having by vast efforts +emancipated themselves for a season, are violently forced into +relapsing by the nervous irritations of demoniac cookery. Unhappily for +_them_, the horrors of indigestion are relieved for the moment, +however ultimately strengthened, by strong liquors; the relief is +immediate, and cannot fail to be perceived; but the aggravation, being +removed to a distance, is not always referred to its proper cause. This +is the capital rock and stumbling-block in the path of him who is +hurrying back to the camps of temperance; and many a reader is likely +to misapprehend the case through the habit he has acquired of supposing +indigestion to lurk chiefly amongst _luxurious_ dishes. But, on +the contrary, it is amongst the plainest, simplest, and commonest +dishes that such misery lurks, in England. Let us glance at three +articles of diet, beyond all comparison of most ordinary occurrence, +viz., potatoes, bread, and butcher's meat. The art of preparing +potatoes for _human_ use is utterly unknown, except in certain +provinces of our empire, and amongst certain sections of the laboring +class. In our great cities,--London, Edinburgh, &c.--the sort of things +which you see offered at table under the name and reputation of +potatoes, are such that, if you could suppose the company to be +composed of Centaurs and Lapithae, or any other quarrelsome people, it +would become necessary for the police to interfere. The potato of +cities is a very dangerous missile; and, if thrown with an accurate aim +by an angry hand, will fracture any known skull. In volume and +consistency, it is very like a paving-stone; only that, I should say, +the paving-stone had the advantage in point of tenderness. And upon +this horrid basis, which youthful ostriches would repent of swallowing, +the trembling, palpitating invalid, fresh from the scourging of +alcohol, is requested to build the superstructure of his dinner. The +proverb says, that three flittings are as bad as a fire; and on that +model I conceive that three potatoes, as they are found at many British +dinner-tables, would be equal, in principle of ruin, to two glasses of +vitriol. The same savage ignorance appears, and only not so often, in +the bread of this island. Myriads of families eat it in that early +stage of sponge which bread assumes during the process of baking; but +less than sixty hours will not fit this dangerous article of human diet +to be eaten. And those who are acquainted with the works of Parmentier, +or other learned investigators of bread and of the baker's art, must be +aware that this quality of sponginess (though quite equal to the ruin +of the digestive organs) is but one in a legion of vices to which the +article is liable. A German of much research wrote a book on the +conceivable faults in a pair of shoes, which he found to be about six +hundred and sixty-six, many of them, as he observed, requiring a very +delicate process of study to find out; whereas the possible faults in +bread, which are not less in number, require no study at all for the +defection; they publish themselves through all varieties of misery. But +the perfection of barbarism, as regards our island cookery, is reserved +for animal food; and the two poles of Oromasdes and Ahrimanes are +nowhere so conspicuously exhibited. Our insular sheep, for instance, +are so far superior to any which the continent produces, that the +present Prussian minister at our court is in the habit of questioning a +man's right to talk of mutton as anything beyond a great idea, unless +he can prove a residence in Great Britain. One sole case he cites of a +dinner on the Elbe, when a particular leg of mutton really struck him +as rivalling any which he had known in England. The mystery seemed +inexplicable; but, upon inquiry, it turned out to be an importation +from Leith. Yet this incomparable article, to produce which the skill +of the feeder must co-operate with the peculiar bounty of nature, calls +forth the most dangerous refinements of barbarism in its cookery. A +Frenchman requires, as the primary qualification of flesh meat, that it +should be tender. We English universally, but especially the Scots, +treat that quality with indifference, or with bare toleration. What we +require is, that it should be fresh, that is, recently killed, (in +which state it cannot be digestible except by a crocodile;) and we +present it at table in a transition state of leather, demanding the +teeth of a tiger to rend it in pieces, and the stomach of a tiger to +digest it. + +With these habits amongst our countrymen, exemplified daily in the +articles of widest use, it is evident that the sufferer from +intemperance has a harder quarantine, in this island, to support during +the effort of restoration, than he could have anywhere else in +Christendom. In Persia, and, perhaps, there only on this terraqueous +planet, matters might be even worse: for, whilst we English neglect the +machinery of digestion, as a matter entitled to little consideration, +the people of Teheran seem unaware that there _is_ any such +machinery. So, at least, one might presume, from cases on record, and +especially from the reckless folly, under severe illness, from +indigestion, of the three Persian princes, who visited this country, as +stated by their official _mehmander_, Mr. Fraser. With us, the +excess of ignorance, upon this subject, betrays itself oftenest in that +vain-glorious answer made by the people, who at any time are admonished +of the sufferings which they are preparing for themselves by these +outrages upon the most delicate of human organs. They, for _their_ +parts, 'know not if they _have_ a stomach; they know not what it +is that dyspepsy means;' forgetting that, in thus vaunting their +_strength_ of stomach, they are, at the same time, proclaiming its +coarseness; and showing themselves unaware that precisely those, whom +such coarseness of organization reprieves from immediate and seasonable +reaction of suffering, are the favorite subjects of that heavier +reaction which takes the shape of _delirium tremens_, of palsy, +and of lunacy. It is but a fanciful advantage which _they_ enjoy, +for whom the immediate impunity avails only to hide the final horrors +which are gathering upon them from the gloomy rear. Better, by far, +that more of immediate discomfort had guaranteed to them less of +reversionary anguish. It may be safely asserted, that few, indeed, are +the suicides amongst us to which the miseries of indigestion have not +been a large concurring cause; and even where nothing so dreadful as +_that_ occurs, always these miseries are the chief hinderance of +the self-reforming drunkard, and the commonest cause of his relapse. It +is certain, also, that misanthropic gloom and bad temper besiege that +class, by preference, to whom peculiar coarseness or obtuse sensibility +of organization has denied the salutary warnings and early prelibations +of punishment which, happily for most men, besiege the more direct and +obvious frailties of the digestive apparatus. + +The whole process and elaborate machinery of digestion are felt to be +mean and humiliating when viewed in relation to our mere animal +economy. But they rise into dignity, and assert their own supreme +importance, when they arc studied from another station, viz., in +relation to the intellect and temper; no man dares, _then_, to +despise them: it is then seen that these functions of the human system +form the essential basis upon which the strength and health of our +higher nature repose; and that upon these functions, chiefly, the +general happiness of life is dependent. All the rules of prudence, or +gifts of experience that life can accumulate, will never do as much for +human comfort and welfare as would be done by a stricter attention, and +a wiser science, directed to the digestive system; in this attention +lies the key to any perfect restoration for the victim of intemperance: +and, considering the peculiar hostility to the digestive health which +exists in the dietetic habits of our own country, it may be feared that +nowhere upon earth has the reclaimed martyr to intemperance so +difficult a combat to sustain; nowhere, therefore, is it so important +to direct the attention upon an _artificial_ culture of those +resources which naturally, and by the established habits of the land, +are surest to be neglected. The sheet anchor for the storm-beaten +sufferer, who is laboring to recover a haven of rest from the agonies +of intemperance, and who has had the fortitude to abjure the poison +which ruined, but which also, for brief intervals, offered him his only +consolation, lies, beyond all doubt, in a most anxious regard to +everything connected with this supreme function of our animal economy. +And, as few men that are not regularly trained to medical studies can +have the complex knowledge requisite for such a duty, some printed +guide should be sought of a regular professional order. Twenty years +ago, Dr. Wilson Philip published a valuable book of this class, which +united a wide range of practical directions as to the choice of diet, +and as to the qualities and tendencies of all esculent articles likely +to be found at British tables, with some ingenious speculations upon +the still mysterious theory of digestion. These were derived from +experiments made upon rabbits, and had originally been communicated by +him to the Royal Society of London, who judged them worthy of +publication in their Transactions. I notice them chiefly for the sake +of remarking, that the rationale of digestion, as here suggested, +explains the reason of a fact, which merely _as_ a fact, had not +been known until modern times, viz., the injuriousness to enfeebled +stomachs of all fluid. Fifty years ago--and still lingering +inveterately amongst nurses, and other ignorant persons--there +prevailed a notion that 'slops' must be the proper resource of the +valetudinarian; and the same erroneous notion appears in the common +expression of ignorant wonder at the sort of breakfasts usual amongst +women of rank in the times of Queen Elizabeth. 'What robust stomachs +they must have had, to support such solid meals!' As to the question of +fact, whether the stomachs were more or less robust in those days than +at the present, there is no need to offer an opinion. But the question +of principle concerned in scientific dietetics points in the very +opposite direction. By how much the organs of digestion are feebler, by +so much is it the more indispensable that solid food and animal food +should be adopted. A robust stomach may be equal to the trying task of +supporting a fluid, such as tea for breakfast; but for a feeble +stomach, and still more for a stomach _enfeebled_ by bad habits, +broiled beef, or something equally solid and animal, but not too much +subjected to the action of fire, is the only tolerable diet. This, +indeed, is the one capital rule for a sufferer from habitual +intoxication, who must inevitably labor under an impaired digestion; +that as little as possible he should use of any liquid diet, and as +little as possible of vegetable diet. Beef, and a little bread, (at the +least sixty hours old,) compose the privileged bill of fare for his +breakfast. But precisely it is, by the way, in relation to this +earliest meal, that human folly has in one or two instances shown +itself most ruinously inventive. The less variety there is at that +meal, the more is the danger from any single luxury; and there is one, +known by the name of 'muffins,' which has repeatedly manifested itself +to be a plain and direct bounty upon suicide. Darwin, in his +'Zoonomia,' reports a case where an officer, holding the rank of +lieutenant-colonel, could not tolerate a breakfast in which this odious +article was wanting; but, as a savage retribution invariably supervened +within an hour or two upon this act of insane sensuality, he came to a +resolution that life was intolerable _with_ muffins, but still +more intolerable _without_ muffins. He would stand the nuisance no +longer; but yet, being a just man, he would give nature one final +chance of reforming her dyspeptic atrocities. Muffins, therefore, being +laid at one angle of the breakfast-table, and loaded pistols at +another, with rigid equity the Colonel awaited the result. This was +naturally pretty much as usual: and then, the poor man, incapable of +retreating from his word of honor, committed suicide,--having +previously left a line for posterity to the effect (though I forget the +expression), 'That a muffinless world was no world for him: better no +life at all than a life dismantled of muffins.'--Dr. Darwin was a showy +philosopher, and fond of producing effect, so that some allowance must +be made in construing the affair. Strictly speaking, it is probable +that not the especial want of muffins, but the general torment of +indigestion, was the curse from which the unhappy sufferer sought +relief by suicide. And the Colonel was not the first by many a million, +that has fled from the very same form of wretchedness, or from its +effects upon the genial spirits, to the same gloomy refuge. It should +never be forgotten that, although some other more overt vexation is +generally assigned as the proximate cause of suicide, and often may be +so as regards the immediate occasion, too generally this vexation +borrowed its whole power to annoy, from the habitual atmosphere of +irritation in which the system had been kept by indigestion. So that +indirectly, and virtually, perhaps, all suicides may be traced to +mismanaged digestion. Meantime, in alluding at all to so dreadful a +subject as suicide, I do so only by way of giving deeper effect to the +opinion expressed above, upon the chief cause of relapse into habits of +intemperance amongst those who have once accomplished their +deliverance. Errors of digestion, either from impaired powers, or from +powers not so much enfeebled as deranged, is the one immeasurable +source both of disease and of secret wretchedness to the human race. +Life is laid waste by the eternal fretting of the vital forces, +emanating from this one cause. And it may well be conceived, that if +cases so endless, even of suicide, in every generation, are virtually +traceable to this main root, much more must it be able to shake and +undermine the yet palpitating frame of the poor fugitive from +intemperance; since indigestion in every mode and variety of its +changes irresistibly upholds the temptation to that form of excitement +which, though one foremost cause of indigestion, is yet unhappily its +sole immediate palliation. + +III. Next, after the most vigorous attention, and a scientific +attention to the digestive system, in power of operation, stands +_exercise_. Here, however, most people have their own separate +habits, with respect to the time of exercise, the duration, and the +particular mode, on which a stranger cannot venture to intrude with his +advice. Some will not endure the steady patience required for walking +exercise; many benefit most by riding on horseback; and in days when +roads were more rugged, and the springs of carriages less improved, I +have known people who found most advantage in the vibrations +communicated to the frame by a heavy rumbling carriage. For myself, +under the ravages of opium, I have found walking the most beneficial +exercise; besides that, it requires no previous notice or preparation +of any kind; and this is a capital advantage in a state of drooping +energies, or of impatient and unresting agitation. I may mention, as +possibly an accident of my individual temperament, but possibly, also, +no accident at all, that the relief obtained by walking was always most +sensibly brought home to my consciousness, when some part of it (at +least a mile and a half) has been performed before breakfast. In this +there soon ceased to be any difficulty; for, whilst under the full +oppression of opium, it was impossible for me to rise at any hour that +could, by the most indulgent courtesy, be described as within the pale +of morning, no sooner had there been established any considerable +relief from this oppression, than the tendency was in the opposite +direction; the difficulty became continually greater of sleeping even +to a reasonable hour. Having once accomplished the feat of walking at +nine A. M., I backed, in a space of seven or eight months, to eight +o'clock, to seven, to six, five, four, three; until at this point a +metaphysical fear fell upon me that I was actually backing into +'yesterday,' and should soon have no sleep at all. Below three, +however, I did not descend; and, for a couple of years, three and a +half hours' sleep was all that I could obtain in the twenty-four hours. +From this no particular suffering arose, except the nervous impatience +of lying in bed for one moment after awaking. Consequently, the habit +of walking before breakfast became at length troublesome no longer as a +most odious duty, but, on the contrary, as a temptation that could +hardly be resisted on the wettest mornings. As to the quantity of the +exercise, I found that six miles a day formed the _minimum_ which +would support permanently a particular standard of animal spirits, +evidenced to myself by certain apparent symptoms. I averaged about nine +and a half miles a day; but ascended on particular days to fifteen or +sixteen, and more rarely to twenty-three or twenty-four; a quantity +which did not produce fatigue, on the contrary it spread a sense of +improvement through almost the whole week that followed; but usually, +in the night immediately succeeding to such an exertion, I lost much of +my sleep; a privation that, under the circumstances explained, deterred +me from trying the experiment too often. For one or two years, I +accomplished more than I have here claimed, viz., from six to seven +thousand miles in the twelve months. Let me add to this slight abstract +of my own experience, in a point where it is really difficult to offer +any useful advice, (the tastes and habits of men varying so much in +this chapter of exercise,) that one caution seems applicable to the +case of all persons suffering from nervous irritability, viz., that a +secluded space should be measured off accurately, in some private +grounds not liable to the interruption or notice of chance intruders; +for these annoyances are unendurable to the restless invalid; to be +questioned upon trivial things is death to him; and the perpetual +anticipation of such annoyances is little less distressing. Some plan +must also be adopted for registering the number of rounds performed. I +once walked for eighteen months in a circuit so confined that forty +revolutions were needed to complete a mile. These I counted, at one +time, by a rosary of beads; every tenth round being marked by drawing a +blue bead, the other nine by drawing white beads. But this plan, I +found in practice, more troublesome and inaccurate than that of using +ten detached counters, stones, or anything else that was large enough +and solid. These were applied to the separate bars of a garden chair; +the first bar indicating of itself the first decade, the second bar the +second decade, and so on. In fact, I used the chair in some measure as +a Roman abacus, but on a still simpler plan; and as the chair offered +sixteen bars, it followed, that on covering the last bar of the series +with the ten markers, I perceived without any trouble of calculation +the accomplishment of my fourth mile. + +A necessity, more painful to me by far than that of taking continued +exercise, arose out of a cause which applies, perhaps, with the same +intensity only to opium cases, but must also apply in some degree to +all cases of debilitation from morbid stimulation of the nerves, +whether by means of wine, or opium, or distilled liquors. In travelling +on the outside of mails, during my youthful days, for I could not +endure the inside, occasionally, during the night-time, I suffered +naturally from cold: no cloaks, &c. were always sufficient to relieve +this; and I then made the discovery that opium, after an hour or so, +diffuses a warmth deeper and far more permanent than could be had from +any other known source. I mention this, to explain, in some measure, +the awful passion of cold which for some years haunted the inverse +process of laying aside the opium. It was a perfect frenzy of misery; +cold was a sensation which then first, as a mode of torment, seemed to +have been revealed. In the months of July and August, and not at all +the less during the very middle watch of the day, I sate in the closest +proximity to a blazing fire; cloaks, blankets, counterpanes, +hearthrugs, horse-cloths, were piled upon my shoulders, but with hardly +a glimmering of relief. At night, and after taking coffee, I felt a +little warmer, and could sometimes afford to smile at the resemblance +of my own case to that of Harry Gill. [Footnote: 'Harry Gill:'--Many +readers, in this generation, may not be aware of this ballad as one +amongst the early poems of Wordsworth. Thirty or forty years ago, it +was the object of some insipid ridicule, which ought, perhaps, in +another place, to be noticed. And, doubtless, this ridicule was +heightened by the false impression that the story had been some old +woman's superstitious fiction, meant to illustrate a supernatural +judgment on hard-heartedness. But the story was a physiologic fact; +and, originally, it had been brought forward in a philosophic work, by +Darwin, who had the reputation of an irreligious man, and even of an +infidel. A bold freethinker he certainly was: a Deist, and, by public +repute, something more.] But, secretly, I was struck with awe at the +revelation of powers so unsearchably new, lurking within old affections +so familiarly known as cold. Upon the analogy of this case, it might be +thought that nothing whatever had yet been truly and seriously felt by +man; nothing searched or probed by human sensibilities, to a depth +below the surface. If cold could give out mysteries of suffering so +novel, all things in the world might be yet unvisited by the truth of +human sensations. All experience, worthy of the name, was yet to begin. +Meantime, the external phenomenon, by which the cold expressed itself, +was a sense (but with little reality) of eternal freezing perspiration. +From this I was never free; and at length, from finding one general +ablution sufficient for one day, I was thrown upon the irritating +necessity of repeating it more frequently than would seem credible, if +stated. At this time, I used always hot water; and a thought occurred +to me very seriously that it would be best to live constantly, and, +perhaps, to sleep in a bath. What caused me to renounce this plan, was +an accident that compelled me for one day to use cold water. This, +first of all, communicated any lasting warmth; so that ever afterwards +I used none _but_ cold water. Now, to live in a _cold_ bath, +in our climate, and in my own state of preternatural sensibility to +cold, was not an idea to dally with. I wish to mention, however, for +the information of other sufferers in the same way, one change in the +mode of applying the water, which led to a considerable and a sudden +improvement in the condition of my feelings. I had endeavored to +procure a child's battledore, as an easy means (when clothed with +sponge) of reaching the interspace between the shoulders; which +interspace, by the way, is a sort of Bokhara, so provokingly situated, +that it will neither suffer itself to be reached from the north, in +which direction even the Czar, with his long arms, has only singed his +own fingers, and lost six thousand camels; nor at all better from the +south, upon which line of approach the greatest potentate in Southern +Asia, viz., No.--, in Leadenhall Street, has found it the best policy +to pocket the little Khan's murderous defiances and persevering +insults. There is no battledore long enough to reach him in either way. +In my own difficulty, I felt almost as perplexed as the Honorable East +India Company, when I found that no battledore was to be had; for no +town was near at hand. In default of a battledore, therefore, my +necessity threw my experiment upon a long hair-brush; and this, +eventually, proved of much greater service than any sponge or any +battledore; for, the friction of the brush caused an irritation on the +surface of the skin, which, more than anything else, has gradually +diminished the once continual misery of unrelenting frost; although +even yet it renews itself most distressingly at uncertain intervals. + +IV. I counsel the patient not to make the mistake of supposing that his +amendment will necessarily proceed continuously, or by equal +increments; because this, which is a common notion, will certainly lead +to dangerous disappointments. How frequently I have heard people +encouraging a self-reformer by such language as this:--'When you have +got over the fourth day of abstinence, which suppose to be Sunday, then +Monday will find you a trifle better; Tuesday better still,--though +still it should be only by a trifle; and so on. You may, at least, rely +on never going back; you may assure yourself of having seen the worst; +and the positive improvements, if trifles separately, must soon gather +into a sensible magnitude.' This may be true in a case of short +standing: but, as a general rule, it is perilously delusive. On the +contrary, the line of progress, if exhibited in a geometrical +construction, would describe an ascending path upon the whole, but with +frequent retrocessions into descending curves, which, compared with the +point of ascent that had been previously gained and so vexatiously +interrupted, would sometimes seem deeper than the original point of +starting. This mortifying tendency I can report from experience many +times repeated with regard to opium; and so unaccountably, as regarded +all the previous grounds of expectation, that I am compelled to suppose +it a tendency inherent in the very nature of all self-restorations for +animal systems. They move perhaps necessarily _per saltum_, by, +intermitting spasms, and pulsations of unequal energy. + +V. I counsel the patient frequently to call back before his thoughts-- +when suffering sorrowful collapses, that seem unmerited by anything +done or neglected--that such, and far worse, perhaps, must have been +his experience, and with no reversion of hope behind, had he persisted +in his intemperate indulgencies; _these_ also suffer their own +collapses, and (so far as things not co-present can be compared) by +many degrees more shocking to the genial instincts. + +VI. I exhort him to believe, that no movement on his own part, not the +smallest conceivable, towards the restoration of his healthy state, can +by possibility perish. Nothing in this direction is finally lost; but +often it disappears and hides itself; suddenly, however, to reappear, +and in unexpected strength, and much more hopefully; because such +minute elements of improvement, by reappearing at a remoter stage, show +themselves to have combined with other elements of the same kind: so +that equally by their gathering tendency and their duration through +intervals of apparent darkness, and below the current of what seemed +absolute interruption, they argue themselves to be settled in the +system. There is no good gift that does not come from God: almost his +greatest is health, with the peace which it inherits; and man must reap +_this_ on the same terms as he was told to reap God's earliest +gift, the fruits of the earth, viz.: 'in the sweat of his brow,' +through labor, often through sorrow, through disappointment, but still +through imperishable perseverance, and hoping under clouds, when all +hope seems darkened. + +VII. It is difficult, in selecting from many memoranda of warning and +encouragement, to know which to prefer when the space disposable is +limited. But it seems to me important not to omit this particular +caution: The patient will be naturally anxious, as he goes on, +frequently to test the amount of his advance, and its rate, if that +were possible. But this he will see no mode of doing, except through +tentative balancings of his feelings, and generally of the moral +atmosphere around him, as to pleasure and hope, against the +corresponding states, so far as he can recall them from his periods of +intemperance. But these comparisons, I warn him, are fallacious, when +made in this way; the two states are incommensurable on any plan of +_direct_ comparison. Some common measure must be found, and, +_out of himself_; some positive fact, that will not bend to his +own delusive feeling at the moment; as, for instance, in what degree he +finds tolerable what heretofore was _not_ so--the effort of writing +letters, or transacting business, or undertaking a journey, or +overtaking the arrears of labor, that had been once thrown off to a +distance. If in these things he finds himself improved, by tests that +cannot be disputed, he may safely disregard any sceptical whispers from +a wayward sensibility which cannot yet, perhaps, have recovered its +normal health, however much improved. His inner feelings may not yet +point steadily to the truth, though they may vibrate in that direction. +Besides, it is certain that sometimes very manifest advances, such as +any medical man would perceive at a glance, carry a man through stages +of agitation and discomfort. A far worse condition might happen to be +less agitated, and so far more bearable. Now, when a man is positively +suffering discomfort, when he is below the line of pleasurable feeling, +he is no proper judge of his own condition, which he neither will nor +can appreciate. Tooth-ache extorts more groans than dropsy. + +VIII. Another important caution is, not to confound with the effects of +intemperance any other natural effects of debility from advanced years. +Many a man, having begun to be intemperate at thirty, enters at sixty +or upwards upon a career of self-restoration. And by self-restoration +he understands a renewal of that state in which he was when first +swerving from temperance. But that state, for his memory, is coincident +with his state of youth. The two states are coadunated. In his +recollections they are intertwisted too closely. But life, without any +intemperance at all, would soon have untwisted them. Charles Lamb, for +instance, at forty-five, and Coleridge at sixty, measured their several +conditions by such tests as the loss of all disposition to involuntary +murmuring of musical airs or fragments when rising from bed. Once they +had sung when rising in the morning light; now they sang no more. The +_vocal_ utterance of joy, for _them_, was silenced for ever. +But these are amongst the changes that life, stern power, inflicts at +any rate; these would have happened, and above all, to men worn by the +unequal irritations of too much thinking, and by those modes of care + + That kill the bloom before its time, + And blanch without the owner's crime + The most resplendent hair, + +not at all the less had the one drunk no brandy, nor the other any +laudanum. A man must submit to the conditions of humanity, and not +quarrel with a cure as incomplete, because in his climacteric year of +sixty-three, he cannot recover, entirely, the vivacities of thirty- +five. If, by dipping seven times in Jordan, he had cleansed his whole +leprosy of intemperance; if, by going down into Bethesda, he were able +to mount again upon the pinions of his youth,--even then he might +querulously say,--'But, after all these marvels in my favor, I suppose +that one of these fine mornings I, like other people, shall have to +bespeak a coffin.' Why, yes, undoubtedly he will, or somebody +_for_ him. But privileges so especial were not promised even by +the mysterious waters of Palestine. Die he must. And counsels tendered +to the intemperate do not hope to accomplish what might have been +beyond the baths of Jordan or Bethesda. They do enough, if, being +executed by efforts in the spirit of earnest sincerity, they make a +life of _growing_ misery moderately happy for the patient; and, +through that great change, perhaps, more than moderately useful for +others. + +IX. One final remark I will make:--pointed to the case, not of the yet +struggling patient, but of him who is fully re-established; and the +more so, because I (who am no hypocrite, but, rather, frank to an +infirmity) acknowledge, in myself, the trembling tendency at intervals, +which would, if permitted, sweep round into currents that might be hard +to overrule. After the absolute restoration to health, a man is very +apt to say,--'Now, then, how shall I use my health? To what delightful +purpose shall I apply it? Surely it is idle to carry a fine jewel in +one's watch-pocket, and never to astonish the weak minds of this world, +by wearing it and flashing it in their eyes.' 'But how?' retorts his +philosophic friend; 'my good fellow, are you not using it at this +moment? Breathing, for instance, talking to me, (though rather +absurdly,) and airing your legs at a glowing fire?' 'Why, yes,' the +other confesses, 'that is all true; but I am dull; and, if you will +pardon my rudeness, even in spite of your too philosophic presence. It +is painful to say so, but sincerely, if I had the power, at this +moment, to turn you, by magic, into a bottle of old port wine, so +corrupt is my nature, that really I fear lest the exchange might, for +the moment, strike me as agreeable.' Such a mood, I apprehend, is apt +to revolve upon many of us, at intervals, however firmly married to +temperance. And the propensity to it has a root in certain analogies +running through our nature. If the reader will permit me for a moment +the use of what, without such an apology, might seem pedantic, I would +call it the instinct of _focalizing_, which prompts such random +desires. Feeling is diffused over the whole surface of the body; but +light is focalized in the eye; sound in the ear. The organization of a +sense or a pleasure seems diluted and imperfect, unless it is gathered +by some machinery into one focus, or local centre. And thus it is that +a general state of pleasurable feeling sometimes seems too +superficially diffused, and one has a craving to intensify or brighten +it by concentration through some sufficient stimulant. I, for my part, +have tried every thing in this world except '_bang_,' which, I +believe, is obtained from hemp. There are other preparations of hemp +which have been found to give great relief from _ennui_; not +ropes, but something lately introduced, which acts upon the system as +the laughing gas (nitrous oxide) acts at times. One farmer in Mid- +Lothian was mentioned to me, eight months ago, as having taken it, and +ever since annoyed his neighbors by immoderate fits of laughter; so +that in January it was agreed to present him to the sheriff as a +nuisance. But, for some reason, the plan was laid aside; and now, eight +months later, I hear that the farmer is laughing more rapturously than +ever, continues in the happiest frame of mind, the kindest of +creatures, and the general torment of his neighborhood. Now, I confess +to having had a lurking interest in this extract of hemp, when first I +heard of it: and at intervals a desire will continue to make itself +felt for some deeper compression or centralization of the genial +feelings than ordinary life affords. But old things will not avail, and +new things I am now able to resist. Still, as the occasional craving +does really arise in most men, it is well to notice it; and chiefly for +the purpose of saying, that this dangerous feeling wears off by +degrees; and oftentimes for long periods it intermits so entirely as to +be even displaced by a profound disgust to all modes of artificial +stimulation. At those times I have remarked that the pleasurable +condition of health does _not_ seem weakened by its want of +centralization. It seems to form a thousand centres. This it is well to +know; because there are many who would resist effectually, if they were +aware of any natural change going on silently in favor of their own +efforts, such as would finally ratify the success. Towards such a +result they would gladly contribute by waiting and forbearing; whilst, +under despondency as to this result, they might more easily yield to +some chance temptation. + +Finally, there is something to interest us in the _time_ at which +this temperance movement has begun to stir. Let me close with a slight +notice of what chiefly impresses myself in the relation between this +time and the other circumstances of the case. In reviewing history, we +may see something more than mere convenience in distributing it into +three chambers; ancient history, ending in the space between the +Western Empire falling and Mahomet arising; modern history, from that +time to this; and a new modern history arising at present, or from the +French Revolution. Two great races of men, our own in a two-headed +form--British and American, and secondly, the Russian, are those which, +like rising deluges, already reveal their mission to overflow the +earth. Both these races, partly through climate, or through derivation +of blood, and partly through the contagion of habits inevitable to +brothers of the same nation, are tainted carnally with the appetite for +brandy, for slings, for juleps. And no fire racing through the forests +of Nova Scotia for three hundred miles in the direction of some doomed +city, ever moved so fiercely as the infection of habits amongst the +dense and fiery populations of republican North America. + +But it is remarkable, that the whole _ancient_ system of +civilization, all the miracles of Greece and Rome, Persia and Egypt, +moved by the machinery of races that were _not_ tainted with any +such popular _marasmus_. The taste was slightly sowed, as an +_artificial_ taste, amongst luxurious individuals, but never ran +through the laboring classes, through armies, through cities The blood +and the climate forbade it. In this earliest era of history, all the +great races, consequently all the great empires, threw themselves, by +accumulation, upon the genial climates of the south,--having, in fact, +the magnificent lake of the Mediterranean for their general centre of +evolutions. Round this lake, in a zone of varying depth, towered the +whole grandeurs of the Pagan earth. But, in such climates, man is +naturally temperate. He is so by physical coercion, and for the +necessities of rest and coolness. The Spaniard, the Moor, or the Arab, +has no merit in his temperance. The effort, for _him_, would be to +form the taste for alcohol. He has a vast foreground of disgust to +traverse before he can reach a taste so remote and alien. No need for +resistance in his will where nature resists on his behalf. Sherbet, +shaddocks, grapes, these were innocent applications to thirst. And the +great republic of antiquity said to her legionary sons:--'Soldier, if +you thirst, there is the river;--Nile, suppose, or Ebro. Better drink +there cannot be. Of this you may take "at discretion." Or, if you wait +till the _impedimenta_ come up, you may draw your ration of _Posca_' +What was _posca_? It was, in fact, acidulated water; three parts of +superfine water to one part of the very best vinegar. Nothing stronger +did Rome, that awful mother, allow to her dearest children, _i. e._, +her legions. Truest of blessings, that veiling itself in seeming +sternness, drove away the wicked phantoms that haunt the couches of yet +greater nations. 'The blessings of the evil genii,' says an Eastern +proverb, 'these are curses.' And the stern refusals of wisely loving +mothers,--these are the mightiest of gifts. + +Now, on the other hand, our northern climates have universally the +taste, latent if not developed, for powerful liquors. And through their +blood, as also through the natural tendency of the imitative principle +amongst compatriots, from these high latitudes the greatest of our +modern nations propagate the contagion to their brothers, though +colonizing warm climates. And it is remarkable that our modern +preparations of liquors, even when harmless in their earliest stages, +are fitted, like stepping-stones, for making the transition to higher +stages that are _not_ harmless. The weakest preparations from +malt, lead, by graduated steps, to the strongest; until we arrive at +the intoxicating porter of London, which, under its local name (so +insidiously delusive) of '_beer_,' diffuses the most extensive +ravages. + +Under these marked circumstances of difference between the ruling races +of antiquity and of our modern times, it now happens that the greatest +era by far of human expansion is opening upon us. Two vast movements +are hurrying into action by velocities continually accelerated--the +great revolutionary movement from political causes concurring with the +great physical movement in locomotion and social intercourse, from the +gigantic (though still infant) powers of steam. No such Titan resources +for modifying each other were ever before dreamed of by nations: and +the next hundred years will have changed the face of the world. At the +opening of such a crisis, had no third movement arisen of resistance to +intemperate habits, there would have been ground for despondency as to +the amelioration of the human race. But, as the case stands, the new +principle of resistance nationally to bad habits, has arisen almost +concurrently with the new powers of national intercourse; and +henceforward by a change equally sudden and unlooked for, that new +machinery, which would else most surely have multiplied the ruins of +intoxication, has become the strongest agency for hastening its +extirpation. + + + + +ON WAR. + + +Few people need to be told--that associations exist up and down +Christendom, having the ambitious object of abolishing war. Some go so +far as to believe that this evil of war, so ubiquitous, so ancient and +apparently so inalienable from man's position upon earth, is already +doomed; that not the private associations only, but the prevailing +voice of races the most highly civilized, may be looked on as tending +to confederation against it; that sentence of extermination has +virtually gone forth, and that all which remains is gradually to +execute that sentence. Conscientiously I find myself unable to join in +these views. The project seems to me the most romantic of all romances +in the course of publication. Consequently, when asked to become a +member in any such association, I have always thought it most +respectful, because most sincere, to decline. Yet, as it is painful to +refuse all marks of sympathy with persons whose motives one honors, I +design at my death to bequeath half-a-crown to the chief association +for extinguishing war; the said half-crown to be improved in all time +coming for the benefit of the association, under the trusteeship of +Europe, Asia, and America, but not of Africa. I really dare not trust +Africa with money, she is not able as yet to take care of herself. This +half-crown, a fund that will overshadow the earth before it comes to be +wanted under the provisions of my will, is to be improved at any +interest whatever--no matter what; for the vast period of the +accumulations will easily make good any tardiness of advance, long +before the time comes for its commencing payment; a point which will be +soon understood from the following explanation, by any gentleman that +hopes to draw upon it. + +There is in Ceylon a granite _cippus_, or monumental pillar, of +immemorial antiquity; and to this pillar a remarkable legend is +attached. The pillar measures six feet by six, _i. e._ thirty-six +square feet, on the flat tablet of its horizontal surface; and in +height several _riyanas_, (which arc Ceylonese cubits of eighteen +inches each,) but of these cubits, there are either eight or twelve; +excuse me for having forgotten which. At first, perhaps, you will be +angry, viz., when you hear that this simple difference of four cubits, +or six feet, measures a difference for your expectations, whether you +count your expectations in kicks or halfpence, that absolutely strikes +horror into arithmetic. The singularity of the case is, that the very +solemnity of the legend and the wealth of the human race in time, +depend upon the cubical contents of the monument, so that a loss of one +granite chip is a loss of a frightful infinity; yet, again, for that +very reason, the loss of all _but_ a chip, leaves behind riches so +appallingly too rich, that everybody is careless about the four cubits. +Enough is as good as a feast. Two bottomless abysses take as much time +for the diver as ten; and five eternities are as frightful to look down +as four-and-twenty. In the Ceylon legend all turns upon the +inexhaustible series of ages which this pillar guarantees. But, as one +inexhaustible is quite enough for one race of men, and you are sure of +more by ineffable excess than you can use in any private consumption of +your own, you become generous; 'and between friends,' you say, in +accepting my apologies for the doubtful error as to the four cubits, +'what signifies an infinity more or less?' + +For the Ceylonese legend is this, that once in every hundred years an +angel visits this granite pillar. He is dressed in a robe of white +muslin, muslin of that kind which the Romans called _aura textilis_-- +woven, as might seem, from zephyrs or from pulses of the air, such in +its transparency, such in its gossamer lightness. Does the angel touch +the pillar with his foot? Oh no! Even _that_ would be something, but +even _that_ is not allowed. In his soundless flight across it, he +suffers the hem of his impalpable robe to sweep the surface as softly +as a moon-beam. So much and no more of pollution he endures from +contact with earthly objects. The lowest extremity of his dress, +but with the delicacy of light, grazes the granite surface. And +_that_ is all the attrition which the sacred granite receives in +the course of any one century, and this is all the progress which we, +the poor children of earth, in any one century make towards the +exhaustion of our earthly imprisonment. But, argues the subtle legend, +even _that_ attrition, when weighed in metaphysical scales, cannot +be denied its value; it has detached from the pillar an atom (no matter +that it is an invisible atom) of granite dust, the ratio of which atom +to a grain avoirdupois, if expressed as a fraction of unity, would by +its denominator stretch from the Accountant-General's office in London +to the Milky Way. Now the total mass of the granite represents, on this +scheme of payment, the total funded debt of man's race to Father Time +and earthly corruption; all this intolerable score, chalked up to our +debit, we by ourselves and our representatives have to rub off, before +the granite will be rubbed away by the muslin robe of the proud flying +angel, (who, if he were a good fellow, might just as well give a sly +kick with his heel to the granite,) before time will be at an end, and +the burden of flesh accomplished. But you hear it expressed in terms +that will astonish Baron Rothschild, what is the progress in +liquidation which we make for each particular century. A billion of +centuries pays off a quantity equal to a pinch of snuff. Despair seizes +a man in contemplating a single _coupon_, no bigger than a +visiting card, of such a stock as this; and behold we have to keep on +paying away until the total granite is reduced to a level with a grain +of mustard-seed. But when that is accomplished, thank heaven, our last +generation of descendants will be entitled to leave at Master Time's +door a visiting card, which the meagre shadow cannot refuse to take, +though he will sicken at seeing it; viz., a P. P. C. card, upon seeing +which, the old thief is bound to give receipt in full for all debts and +pretended arrears. + +The reader perhaps knows of debts on both sides the Atlantic that have +no great prospect of being paid off sooner than this in Ceylon. + +And naturally, to match this order of debts, moving off so slowly, +there are funds that accumulate as slowly. My own funded half-crown is +an illustration. The half-crown will travel in the inverse order of the +granite pillar. The pillar and the half-crown move upon opposite tacks; +and there _is_ a point of time (which it is for Algebra to investigate) +when they will cross each other in the exact moment of their several +bisections--my aspiring half-crown tending gradually towards +the fixed stars, so that perhaps it might be right to make the +man in the moon trustee for that part of the accumulations which rises +above the optics of sublunary bankers; whilst the Ceylon pillar is +constantly unweaving its own granite texture, and dwindling earthwards. +It is probable that each of the parties will have reached its +consummation about the same time. What is to be done with the mustard- +seed, Ceylon has forgotten to say. But what is to be done with the +half-crown and its surplus, nobody can doubt after reading my last will +and testament. After reciting a few inconsiderable legacies to the +three continents, and to the man in the moon, for any trouble they may +have had in managing the hyperbolical accumulations, I go on to +observe, that, when war is reported to have taken itself off for ever, +'and no mistake,' (because I foresee many false alarms of a perpetual +peace,) a variety of inconveniences will arise to all branches of the +United Service, including the Horse Marines. Clearly there can be no +more half-pay; and even more clearly, there is an end to full-pay. +Pensions are at an end for 'good service.' Allowances for wounds cannot +be thought of, when all wounds shall have ceased except those from +female eyes--for which the Horse Guards is too little advanced in +civilization to make any allowance at all. Bargains there will be no +more amongst auctions of old Government stores. Birmingham will be +ruined, or so much of it as depended on rifles. And the great Scotch +works on the river Carron will be hungering for beef, so far as Carron +depended for beef upon carronades. Other arrears of evil will stretch +after the extinction of war. + +Now upon my half-crown fund (which will be equal to anything by the +time it is wanted) I charge once and for ever the general relief of all +these arrears--of the poverty, the loss, the bankruptcy, arising by +reason of this _quietus_ of final extinction applied to war. I +charge the fund with a perpetual allowance of half-pay to all the +armies of earth; or indeed, whilst my hand is in, I charge it with +_full_ pay. And I strictly enjoin upon my trustees and executors, +but especially upon the man in the moon, if his unsocial lip has left +him one spark of gentlemanly feeling, that he and they shall construe +all claims liberally; nay, with that riotous liberality which is safe +and becoming, when applied to a fund so inexhaustible. Yes, reader, my +fund will be inexhaustible, because the period of its growth will be +measured by the concurrent deposition of the Ceylon mustard-seed from +the everlasting pillar. + +Yet why, or on what principle? It is because I see, or imagine that I +see, a twofold necessity for war--necessity in two different senses-- +1st, a physical necessity arising out of man's nature when combined +with man's situation; a necessity under which war may be regarded, if +you please, as a nuisance, but as a nuisance inalienable from +circumstances essential to human frailty. 2dly, a moral necessity +connected with benefits of compensation, such as continually lurk in +evils acknowledged to be such--a necessity under which it becomes +lawful to say, that war _ought_ to exist as a balance to opposite +tendencies of a still more evil character. War is the mother of wrong +and spoliation: war is a scourge of God--granted; but, like other +scourges in the divine economy, war purifies and redeems itself in its +character of a counterforce to greater evils that could not otherwise +be intercepted or redressed. In two different meanings we say that a +thing is necessary; either in that case where it is inexorably forced +on by some sad overruling principle which it is vain to fight against, +though all good men mourn over its existence and view it as an +unconditional evil; or secondly, in that case, where an instrument of +sorrowful consequences to man is nevertheless invoked and postulated by +man's highest moral interests, is nevertheless clamorously indicated as +a blessing when looked at in relation to some antagonist cause of evil +for which it offers the one only remedy or principle of palliation. The +very evil and woe of man's condition upon earth may be oftentimes +detected in the necessity of looking to some other woe as the pledge of +its purification; so that what separately would have been hateful for +itself, passes mysteriously into an object of toleration, of hope, or +even of prayer, as a counter-venom to the taint of some more mortal +poison. Poverty, for instance, is in both senses necessary for man. It +is necessary in the same sense as thirst is necessary (_i. e._ +inevitable) in a fever--necessary as one corollary amongst many others, +from the eternal hollowness of all human efforts for organizing any +perfect model of society--a corollary which, how gladly would all of us +unite to cancel, but which our hearts suggest, which Scripture solemnly +proclaims, to be ineradicable from the land. In this sense, poverty is +a necessity over which we _mourn_,--as one of the dark phases that +sadden the vision of human life. But far differently, and with a stern +gratitude, we recognize another mode of necessity for this gloomy +distinction--a call for poverty, when seen in relation to the manifold +agencies by which it developes human energies, in relation to the +trials by which it searches the power of patience and religion, in +relation to the struggles by which it evokes the nobilities of +fortitude; or again, amongst those who are not sharers in these trials +and struggles, but sympathizing spectators, in relation to the +stimulation by which it quickens wisdom that watches over the causes of +this evil, or by which it vivifies the spirit of love that labors for +its mitigation. War stands, or seems to stand, upon the same double +basis of necessity; a primary necessity that belongs to our human +degradations, a secondary one that towers by means of its moral +relations into the region of our impassioned exaltations. The two +propositions on which I take my stand are these. _First_, that +there are nowhere latent in society any powers by which it can +effectually operate on war for its extermination. The machinery is not +there. The game is not within the compass of the cards. _Secondly_, +that this defect of power is, though sincerely I grieve in avowing +such a sentiment, and perhaps (if an infirm reader had his eye +upon me) I might seem, in sympathy with his weakness, to blush +--not a curse, no not at all, but on the whole a blessing from +century to century, if it is an inconvenience from year to year. The +Abolition Committees, it is to be feared, will be very angry at both +propositions. Yet, Gentlemen, hear me--strike, but hear me. I believe +that's a sort of plagiarism from Themistocles. But never mind. I have +as good a right to the words, until translated back into Greek, as that +most classical of yellow admirals. '_Pereant qui ante nos nostra +dixerunt!_' + +The first proposition is, that war _cannot_ be abolished. The +second, and more offensive--that war ought not to be abolished. First, +therefore, concerning the first. One at a time. Sufficient for the page +is the evil thereof! How came it into any man's heart, first of all, to +conceive so audacious an idea as that of a conspiracy against war? +Whence could he draw any vapor of hope to sustain his preliminary +steps? And in framing his plot, which way did he set his face to look +out for accomplices? Revolving this question in times past, I came to +the conclusion--that, perhaps, this colossal project of a war against +war, had been first put in motion under a misconception (natural +enough, and countenanced by innumerable books) as to the true +historical origin of wars in many notorious instances. If these had +arisen on trivial impulses, a trivial resistance might have intercepted +them. If a man has once persuaded himself, that long, costly, and +bloody wars had arisen upon a point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, +upon a hasty word, upon some explosion of momentary caprice; it is a +natural inference, that strength of national will and public +combinations for resistance, supposing such forces to have been +trained, organized, and, from the circumstances of the particular +nation, to be permanently disposable for action, might prove +redundantly effective, when pointed against a few personal authors of +war, so presumably weak, and so flexible to any stern counter-volition +as those _must_ be supposed, whose wars argued so much of vicious +levity. The inference is unexceptionable: it is the premises that are +unsound. Anecdotes of war as having emanated from a lady's tea-table or +toilette, would authorize such inference as to the facilities of +controlling them. But the anecdotes themselves are false, or false +substantially. _All_ anecdotes, I fear, are false. I am sorry to +say so, but my duty to the reader extorts from me the disagreeable +confession, as upon a matter specially investigated by myself, that all +dealers in anecdotes are tainted with mendacity. Where is the +Scotchman, said Dr. Johnson, who does not prefer Scotland to truth? +but, however this may be, rarer than such a Scotchman, rarer than the +phoenix, is that virtuous man, a monster he is, nay, he is an +impossible man, who will consent to lose a prosperous anecdote on the +consideration that it happens to be a lie. All history, therefore, +being built partly, and some of it altogether, upon anecdotage, must be +a tissue of lies. Such, for the most part, is the history of Suetonius, +who may be esteemed the father of anecdotage; and being such, he (and +not Herodotus) should have been honored with the title, _Father of +Lies_. Such is the Augustan history, which is all that remains of +the Roman empire; such is the vast series of French memoirs, now +stretching through more than three entire centuries. Are these works, +then, to be held cheap, because their truths to their falsehoods are in +the ratio of one to five hundred? On the contrary, they are better, and +more to be esteemed on that account; because, _now_ they are +admirable reading on a winter's night; whereas, written on the +principle of sticking to the truth, they would have been as dull as +ditch water. Generally, therefore, the dealers in anecdotage are to be +viewed with admiration, as patriotic citizens, willing to sacrifice +their own characters, lest their countrymen should find themselves +short of amusement. I esteem them as equal to Codrus, Timoleon, William +Tell, or to Milton, as regards the liberty of unlicensed printing. And +I object to them only in the exceptional case of their being cited as +authorities for an inference, or as vouchers for a fact. Universally, +it may be received as a rule of unlimited application,--that when an +anecdote involves a stinging repartee, or collision of ideas, +fancifully and brilliantly related to each other by resemblance or +contrast, then you may challenge it as false to a certainty. One +illustration of which is--that pretty nearly every memorable +_propos_, or pointed repartee, or striking _mot_, circulating +at this moment in Paris or London, as the undoubted property of +Talleyrand, (that eminent knave,) was ascribed at Vienna, ninety years +ago, to the Prince de Ligne, and thirty years previously, to Voltaire, +and so on, regressively, to many other wits (knaves or not); until, at +length, if you persist in backing far enough, you find yourself amongst +Pagans, with the very same repartee, &c., doing duty in pretty good +Greek; [Footnote: This is _literally_ true, more frequently than +would be supposed. For instance, a jest often ascribed to Voltaire, and +of late pointedly reclaimed for him by Lord Brougham, as being one that +he (Lord B.) could swear to for _his_, so characteristic seemed +the impression of Voltaire's mind upon the _tournure_ of the +sarcasm, unhappily for this waste of sagacity, may be found recorded by +Fabricius in the _Bibliotheca Graeca_, as the jest of a Greek who +has been dead for about seventeen centuries. The man certainly +_did_ utter the jest; and 1750 years ago. But who it was that he +stole it from is another question. To all appearance, and according to +Lord Brougham's opinion, the party robbed must have been M. de +Voltaire. I notice the case, however, of the Greek thefts and frauds +committed upon so many of our excellent wits belonging to the 18th and +19th centuries, chiefly with a view to M. de Talleyrand--that rather +middling bishop, but very eminent knave. He also has been extensively +robbed by the Greeks of the 2d and 3d centuries. How else can you +account for so many of his sayings being found amongst _their_ +pages? A thing you may ascertain in a moment, at any police office, by +having the Greeks searched: for surely you would never think of +searching a bishop. Most of the Talleyrand jewels will be found +concealed amongst the goods of these unprincipled Greeks. But one, and +the most famous in the whole jewel-case, sorry am I to confess, was +nearly stolen from the Bishop, not by any Greek, but by an English +writer, viz., Goldsmith, who must have been dying about the time that +his Excellency, the diplomatist, had the goodness to be born. That +famous _mot_ about language, as a gift made to man for the purpose +of _concealing_ his thoughts, is lurking in Goldsmith's Essays. +Think of _that!_ Already, in his innocent childhood, whilst the +Bishop was in petticoats, and almost before he had begun to curse and +to swear plainly in French, an Irish vagabond had attempted to swindle +him out of that famous witticism which has since been as good as a +life-annuity to the venerable knave's literary fame.] sometimes, for +instance in Hierocles, sometimes in Diogenes Laertius, in Plutarch, or +in Athenaeus. Now the thing you know claimed by so many people, could +not belong to all of them: _all_ of them could not be the inventors. +Logic and common sense unite in showing us that it must have belonged +to the moderns, who had clearly been hustled and robbed by the +ancients, so much more likely to commit a robbery than Christians, they +being all Gentiles--Pagans--Heathen dogs. What do I infer from this? +Why, that upon _any_ solution of the case, hardly one worthy +saying can be mentioned, hardly one jest, pun, or sarcasm, which has +not been the occasion and subject of many falsehoods--as having been +_au-(and men)-daciously_ transferred from generation to generation, +sworn to in every age as this man's property, or that man's, +by people that must have known they were lying, until you retire +from the investigation with a conviction, that under any system of +chronology, the science of lying is the only one that has never +drooped. Date from _Anno Domini_, or from the Julian era, patronize +Olympiads, or patronize (as _I_ do, from misanthropy, because nobody +else _will_) the era of Nabonassar,--no matter, upon every road, +thicker than mile-stones, you see records of human mendacity, or (which +is much worse, in my opinion,) of human sympathy with other people's +mendacity. + +This digression, now, on anecdotes,[Footnote: The word 'Anecdotes,' +first, I believe, came into currency about the middle of the 6th +century, from the use made of it by Procopius. _Literally_ it +indicated nothing that could interest either public malice or public +favor; it promised only _unpublished_ notices of the Emperor +Justinian, his wife Theodora, Narses, Belisarius, &c. But _why_ +had they been unpublished? Simply because scandalous and defamatory: +and hence, from the interest which invested the case of an imperial +court so remarkable, this oblique, secondary and purely accidental +modification of the word came to influence its _general_ acceptation. +Simply to have been previously unpublished, no longer raised any +statement into an anecdote: it now received a new integration +it must be some fresh publication of _personal_ memorabilia; and +these having reference to _human_ creatures, must always be +presumed to involve more evil than good--much defamation +true or false--much doubtful insinuation--much suggestion of things +worse than could be openly affirmed. So arose the word: but the +_thing_ arose with Suetonius, that dear, excellent and hard- +working 'father of lies.'] is what the learned call an _excursus_, +and, I am afraid, too long by half; not strictly in proportion. But +don't mind _that_. I'll make it all right by being too short upon +something else, at the next opportunity; and then nobody can complain. +Meantime, I argue, that as all brilliant or epigrammatic anecdotes are +probably false, (a thing that hereafter I shall have much pleasure in +making out to the angry reader's satisfaction,) but to a dead certainty +those anecdotes, in particular, which bear marks in their construction +that a rhetorical effect of art had been contemplated by the narrator, +--we may take for granted, that the current stories ascribing modern +wars (French and English) to accidents the most inconsiderable, are +false even in a literal sense; but at all events they are so when +valued philosophically, and brought out into their circumstantial +relations. For instance, we have a French anecdote, from the latter +part of the seventeenth century, which ascribes one bloody war to the +accident of a little 'miff,' arising between the king and his minister +upon some such trifle as the situation of a palace window. Again, from +the early part of the eighteenth century, we have an English anecdote, +ascribing consequences no less bloody to a sudden feud between two +ladies, and that feud, (if I remember,) tracing itself up to a pair of +gloves; so that, in effect, the war and the gloves form the two poles +of the transaction. Harlequin throws a pair of Limerick gloves into a +corn-mill; and the spectator is astonished to see the gloves +immediately issuing from the hopper, well ground into seven armies of +one hundred thousand men each, and with parks of artillery to +correspond. In these two anecdotes, we recognize at once the able and +industrious artist arranging his materials with a pious regard to +theatrical effect. This man knows how to group his figures; well he +understands where to plant his masses of light and shade; and what +impertinence it would be in us spectators, the reader suppose and +myself, to go behind the scenes for critical inquiry into daylight +realities. All reasonable men see that, the less of such realities our +artist had to work with, the more was his merit. I am one of those that +detest all insidious attempts to rob men situated as this artist of +their fair fame, by going about and whispering that perhaps the thing +is true. Far from it! I sympathize with the poor trembling artist, and +agree most cordially that the whole story is a lie; and he may rely +upon my support at all times to the extent of denying that any vestige +of truth probably lay at the foundations of his ingenious apologue. And +what I say of the English fable, I am willing to say of the French one. +Both, I dare say, were the rankest fictions. But next, what, after all, +if they were _not?_ For, in the rear of all discussion upon anecdotes, +considered simply as true or _not_ true, comes finally a _valuation_ +of those anecdotes in their moral relation, and as to the inferences +which they will sustain. The story, for example, of the French +minister Louvois, and the adroitness with which he fastened upon +great foreign potentates, in the shape of war, that irritability +of temper in his royal master which threatened to consume himself; the +diplomatic address with which he transmuted suddenly a task so delicate +as that of skirmishing daily in a Council Chamber with his own +sovereign, into that far jollier mode of disputation where one replies +to all objections of the very keenest logician, either with round shot +or with grape; here is an anecdote, which (for my own part) I am +inclined to view as pure gasconade. But suppose the story true, still +it may happen that a better valuation of it may disturb the whole +edifice of logical inferences by which it seemed to favor the +speculations of the war abolitionists. Let us see. What _was_ the +logic through which such a tale as this could lend any countenance to +the schemes of these abolitionists? That logic travelled in the +following channel. Such a tale, or the English tale of the gloves, +being supposed true, it would seem to follow, that war and the purposes +of war were phenomena of chance growth, not attached to any instinct so +ancient, and apparently so grooved into the dark necessities of our +nature, as we had all taken for granted. Usually, we rank war with +hunger, with cold, with sorrow, with death, afflictions of our human +state that spring up as inevitably without separate culture and in +defiance of all hostile culture, as verdure, as weeds, and as flowers +that overspread in spring time a fertile soil without needing to be +sown or watered--awful is the necessity, as it seems, of all such +afflictions. Yet, again, if (as these anecdote simply) war could by +possibility depend frequently on accidents of personal temperament, +irritability in a sensual king, wounded sensibilities of pride between +two sensitive ladies, there in a moment shone forth a light of hope +upon the crusade against war. + +If _personal_ accidents could, to any serious extent, be amongst +the causes of war, then it would become a hopeful duty to combine +personal influences that should take an opposite direction. If casual +causes could be supposed chiefly to have promoted war, how easy for a +nation to arrange permanent and determinate causes against it! The +logic of these anecdotes seemed to argue that the whole fountains of +war were left to the government of chance and the windiest of levities; +that war was not in reality roused into activity by the evil that +resides in the human will, but on the contrary, by the simple defect of +any will energetic enough or steady enough to merit that name. +Multitudes of evils exist in our social system, simply because no +steadiness of attention, nor action of combined will, has been +converged upon them. War, by the silent evidence of these anecdotes, +seemed to lie amongst that class of evils. A new era might be expected +to commence in new views upon war; and the evil would be half conquered +from the moment that it should be traced to a trivial or a personal +origin. + +All this was plausible, but false. The anecdotes, and all similar +anecdotes, might be true, but were delusive. The logical vice in them +was--that they substituted an occasion for a cause. The king's ill +temper for instance, acting through the levity and impatience of the +minister, might be the _causa occasionalis_ of the war, but not +its true _causa efficiens_. What _was?_ Where do the true permanent +causes of war, as distinguished from its proximate excitements, +find their lodgment and abiding ground? They lie in the system +of national competitions; in the common political system to which +all individual nations are unavoidably parties; in the system of +public forces distributed amongst a number of adjacent nations, with no +internal principle for adjusting the equilibrium of these forces, and +no supreme _Areopagus_, or court of appeal, for deciding disputes. +Here lies the _matrix_ of war, because an eternal _matrix_ of +disputes lies in a system of interests that are continually the same, +and therefore the parents of rivalships too close, that are continually +different, and so far the parents of alienation too wide. All war is an +instinctive _nisus_ for redressing the errors of equilibrium in +the relative position of nations amongst nations. Every nation's duty, +first, midst, and last, is to itself. No nation can be safe from +continual (because insensible) losses of ground, but by continual +jealousies, watchings, and ambitious strivings to mend its own +position. Civilities and high-bred courtesies pass and ought to pass +between nations; that is the graceful drapery which shrouds their +natural, fierce, and tiger-like relations to each other. But the +glaring eyes, which express this deep and inalienable ferocity, look +out at intervals from below these gorgeous draperies; and sad it is to +think that at intervals the acts and the temper suitable to those +glaring eyes _must_ come forward. Mr. Carter was on terms of the +most exquisite dissimulation with his lions and tigers; but, as often +as he trusted his person amongst them, if, in the midst of infinite +politeness exchanged on all sides, he saw a certain portentous +expression of mutiny kindling in the eyeball of any discontented tiger, +all was lost, unless he came down instantly upon that tiger's skull +with a blow from an iron bar, that suggested something like apoplexy. +On such terms do nations meet in diplomacy; high consideration for each +other does not conceal the basis of enmity on which they rest; not an +enmity that belongs to their feelings, but to the necessities of their +position. Every nation in negotiating has its right hand upon the hilt +of its sword, and at intervals playfully unsheaths a little of its +gleaming blade. As things stand at present, war and peace are bound +together like the vicissitudes of day and night, of Castor and Pollux. +It matters little which bucket of the two is going up at the moment, +which going down. Both are steadfastly tied by a system of alternations +to a revolving wheel; and a new war as certainly becomes due during the +evolutions of a tedious peace, as a new peace may be relied on during +the throes of a bloody war, to tranquillize its wounds. Consequently, +when the arrogant Louvois carried a war to the credit of his own little +account on the national leger of France, this coxcomb well knew that a +war was at any rate due about that time. Really, says he, I must find +out some little war to exhaust the _surplus_ irritability of this +person, or he'll be the death of me. But irritable or not irritable, +with a puppy for his minister or not, the French king would naturally +have been carried headlong into war by the mere system of Europe, +within a very few months. So much had the causes of complaint +reciprocally accumulated. The account must be cleansed, the court roll +of grievances must be purged. With respect to the two English ladies +again, it is still more evident that they could not have _caused_ +a war by pulling caps with each other, since the grounds of every war, +what had caused it, and prolonged it, was sure to be angrily reviewed +by Parliament at each annual exposition of the Finance Minister's +Budget. These ladies, and the French coxcomb, could at the utmost have +claimed a distinction--such as that which belonged to a particular +Turkish gunner, the captain of a gun at Navarino, viz., that he, by +firing the first shot without orders, did (as a matter of fact) let +loose and unmuzzle the whole of that dreadful iron hurricane from four +nations which instantly followed, but which (be it known to the gunner) +could not have been delayed for fifty minutes longer, whether he had +fired the unauthorized gun or not. + +But now, let me speak to the second proposition of my two-headed +thesis, viz., that war _ought_ not to be abolished, if such an +abolition were even possible. _Prima facie_, it seems a dreadful +doctrine to claim a place for war as amongst the evils that are +salutary to man; but conscientiously I hold it to be such. I hold with +Wordsworth, but for reasons which may or may not be the same, since he +has not stated _his_-- + + 'That God's most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man--array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is his daughter.' + +I am obliged to hold, that supposing so romantic a condition realized +as the cessation of war, this change, unless other evils were +previously abolished, or neutralized in a way still more romantic to +suppose, would not be for the welfare of human nature, but would tend +to its rapid degradation. + +One, in fact, of the earliest aspects under which this moral necessity +for war forces itself upon our notice, is its physical necessity. I +mean to say that one of the earliest reasons why war _ought_ to +exist, is because under any mode of suppressing war, virtually it +_will_ exist. Banish war as now administered, and it will revolve +upon us in a worse shape, that is, in a shape of predatory and ruffian +war, more and more licentious, as it enjoys no privilege or sufferance, +by the supposition, under the national laws. Will the causes of war die +away because war is forbidden? Certainly not; and the only result of +the prohibition would be to throw back the exercise of war from +national into private and mercenary hands; and _that_ is precisely +the retrograde or inverse course of civilization; for, in the natural +order of civilization, war passes from the hands of knights, barons, +insulated cities, into those of the universal community. If, again, it +is attempted to put down this lawless _guerilla_ state by national +forces, then the result will be to have established an interminable +warfare of a mixed character, private and public, civil and foreign, +infesting the frontiers of all states like a fever, and in substitution +for the occasional and intermitting wars of high national police, +administered with the dignified responsibility that belongs to supreme +rank, with the humanity that belongs to conscious power, and with the +diminishing havoc that belongs to increasing skill in the arts of +destruction. Even as to this last feature in warfare, which in the war +of brigands and _condottieri_ would for many reasons instantly +decay, no reader can fail to be aware of the marvels effected by the +forces of inventive science that run along side by side with the +advances of civilization; look back even to the grandest period of the +humane Roman warfare, listen to the noblest and most merciful of all +Roman captains, saying on the day of Pharsalia, (and saying of +necessity,) 'Strike at their faces, cavalry,'--yes, absolutely +directing his own troopers to plough up with their sabres the blooming +faces of the young Roman nobility; and then pass to a modern field of +battle, where all is finished by musquetry and artillery amidst clouds +of smoke, no soldier recognizing his own desolations, or the ghastly +ruin of his own right arm, so that war, by losing all its brutality, is +losing half of its demoralization. + +War, so far from ending, because war was forbidden and nationally +renounced, on the contrary would transmigrate into a more fearful +shape. As things are at present, (and, observe, they are always growing +better,) what numbers of noble-minded men, in the persons of our +officers (yes, and often of non-commissioned officers,) do we British, +for example, disperse over battle-fields, that could not dishonor their +glorious uniform by any countenance to an act of cruelty! They are eyes +delegated from the charities of our domestic life, to overlook and curb +the license of war. I remember, in Xenophon, some passage where he +describes a class of Persian gentlemen, who were called the +_ophthalmoi_, or _eyes_ of the king; but for a very different +purpose. These British officers may be called the _opthalmoi_, or +eyes of our Sovereign Lady, that into every corner of the battle carry +their scrutiny, lest any cruelty should be committed on the helpless, +or any advantage taken of a dying enemy. But mark, such officers would +be rare in the irregular troops succeeding to the official armies. And +through this channel, amongst others, war, when cried down by act of +Parliament, and precisely _because_ it was cried down, would +become more perilously effective for the degradation of human nature. +Being itself dishonored, war would become the more effective as an +instrument for the dishonoring of its agents. However, at length, we +will suppose the impossible problem solved--war, we will assume, is at +last put down. + +At length there is no more war. Though by the way, let me whisper in +your ear, (supposing you to be a Christian,) this would be a +prelibation drawn prematurely from the cup of millennial happiness; +and, strictly speaking, there is no great homage to religion, even thus +far--in figuring _that_ to be the purchase of man for himself, and +through his own efforts, which is viewed by Scripture as a glory +removed to the infinite and starry distance of a millennium, and as the +_teleutaion epigeinaema_, the last crowning attainment of +Christian truth, no longer _militant_ on earth. Christianity it +is, but Christianity when _triumphant_, and no longer in conflict +with adverse, or thwarting, or limiting influences, which only can be +equal to a revolution so mighty. But all this, for the sake of pursuing +the assumption, let us agree to waive. In reality, there are two +separate stations taken up by the war denouncers. One class hold, that +an influence derived from political economy is quite equal to the +flying leap by which man is to clear this unfathomable gulph of war, +and to land his race for ever on the opposite shore of a self- +sustaining peace. Simply, the contemplation of national debts, (as a +burthen which never would have existed without war,) and a computation +of the waste, havoc, unproductive labor, &c., attached to any single +campaign--these, they imagine, might suffice, _per se_, for the +extinction of war. But the other class cannot go along with a +speculation so infirm. Reasons there are, in the opposite scale, +tempting man into war,--which are far mightier than any motives +addressed to his self-interest. Even straining her energies to the +utmost, they regard all policy of the _purse_ as adequate: anything +short of religion, they are satisfied, must be incommensurate to a +result so vast. + +I myself certainly agree with this last class; but upon this arises a +delusion, which I shall have some trouble in making the reader +understand: and of this I am confident-that a majority, perhaps, in +every given amount of readers, will share in the delusion; will part +from me in the persuasion that the error I attempt to expose is no +error at all, but that it is myself who am in the wrong. The delusion +which I challenge as such, respects the very meaning and value of a +sacrifice made to Christianity. What is it? what do we properly mean, +by a concession or a sacrifice made to a spiritual power, such as +Christianity? If a king and his people, impressed by the unchristian +character of war, were to say, in some solemn act--'We, the parties +undersigned, for the reasons stated in the body of this document, +proclaim to all nations, that from and after Midsummer eve of the year +1850, this being the eve of St. John the Baptist, (who was the herald +of Christ,) we will no more prosecute any interest of ours, unless the +one sole interest of national defence, by means of war,--and this +sacrifice we make as a concession and act of homage to Christianity,-- +would _that_ vow, I ask, sincerely offered, and steadily observed, +really be a sacrifice made to Christianity? Not at all. A sacrifice, +that was truly such, to a spiritual religion, must be a sacrifice not +verbally (though sincerely) dedicating itself to the religion, but a +sacrifice wrought and accomplished by that religion, through and by its +own spirit. Midsummer eve of 1850 could clearly make no spiritual +change in the king or his people--such they would be on the morning +after St. John's day, as on the morning before it--_i. e._, filled +with all elements (though possibly undeveloped) of strife, feud, +pernicious ambition, + +The delusion, therefore, which I charge upon this religious class of +war denouncers is, that whilst they see and recognize this infinite +imperfection of any influence which Christianity yet exercises upon the +world, they nevertheless rely upon that acknowledged shadow for the +accomplishment of what would, in such circumstances, be a real miracle; +they rely upon that shadow, as truly and entirely as if it were already +that substance which, in a vast revolution of ages, it will finally +become. And they rely upon this mockery in _two_ senses; first, +for the _endurance_ of the frail human resolution that would thaw +in an hour before a great outrage, or provocation suited to the nobler +infirmities of man. Secondly, which is the point I mainly aim at, +assuming, for a moment, that the resolution _could_ endure, +amongst all mankind, we are all equally convinced, that an evil so vast +is not likely to be checked or controlled, except by some very +extraordinary power. Well, where _is_ it? Show me that power. I +know of none but Christianity. _There_, undoubtedly, is hope. But, +in order that the hope may become rational, the power must become +practical. And practical it is not in the extent required, until this +Christianity, from being dimly appreciated by a section [Footnote +_What_ section, if you please? I, for my part, do not agree with +those that geographically degrade Christianity as occupying but a +trifle on the area of our earth. Mark this; all Eastern populations +have dwindled upon better acquaintance. Persia that _ought_ to +have, at least, two hundred and fifty millions of people, and +_would_ have them under English government, and once was supposed +to have at least one hundred millions, how many millions has she? +_Eight!_ This was ascertained by Napoleon's emissary in 1808, +General Gardanne. Afghanistan has very little more, though some falsely +count fourteen millions. There go two vast chambers of Mahometanism; +not twenty millions between them. Hindostan may _really_ have one +hundred and twenty millions claimed for her. As to the Burman Empire, +I, nor anybody else knows the truth. But, as to China, I have never for +a moment been moved by those ridiculous estimates of the flowery +people, which our simple countrymen copy. Instead of three hundred and +fifty millions, a third of the human race upon the most exaggerated +estimate, read eighty or one hundred millions at most. Africa, as it +regards religion, counts for a cipher. Europe, America, and the half of +Asia, as to space, are Christian. Consequently, the total _facit_, +as regards Christianity, is not what many amiable infidels make it to +be. My dears, your wish was father to that thought.] of this world, +shall have been the law that overrides the whole. That consummation is +not immeasurably distant. Even now, from considerations connected with +China, with New Zealand, Borneo, Australia, we may say, that already +the fields are white for harvest. But alas! the interval is brief +between Christianity small, and Christianity great, as regards space or +terraqueous importance, compared with that interval which separates +Christianity formally professed, from Christianity thankfully +acknowledged by universal man in beauty and power. + +Here, therefore, is one spoke in the wheel for so vast a change as war +dethroned, viz., that you see no cause, though you should travel round +the whole horizon, adequate to so prodigious an effect. What could do +it? Why, Christianity could do it. Aye, true; but man disarms +Christianity. And no mock Christianity, no lip homage to Christianity, +will answer. + +But is war, then, to go on for ever? Are we never to improve? Are +nations to conduct their intercourse eternally under the secret +understanding that an unchristian solution of all irreconcileable feuds +stands in the rear as the ultimate appeal? I answer that war, going on +even for ever, may still be for ever amending its modes and its results +upon human happiness; secondly, that we not only are under no fatal +arrest in our process of improvement, but that, as regards war, history +shows how steadily we _have_ been improving; and, thirdly, that +although war may be irreversible as the last resource, this last +resource may constantly be retiring further into the rear. Let us speak +to this last point. War is the last resource only, because other and +more intellectual resources for solving disputes are not available. And +_why_ are they not? Simply, because the knowledge, and the logic, +which ultimately will govern the case, and the very circumstances of +the case itself in its details, as the basis on which this knowledge +and logic are to operate, happen not to have been sufficiently +developed. A code of law is not a spasmodic effort of gigantic talent +in any one man or any one generation; it is a slow growth of accidents +and occasions expanding with civilization; dependent upon time as a +multiform element in its development; and presupposing often a +concurrent growth of _analogous_ cases towards the completion of +its system. For instance, the law which regulates the rights of +shipping, seafaring men, and maritime commerce--how slow was its +development! Before such works as the _Consolato del Mare_ had +been matured, how wide must have been the experience, and how slow its +accumulation! During that long period of infancy for law, how many must +have been the openings for ignorant and unintentional injustice! How +differently, again, will the several parties to any transaction +construe the rights of the case! Discussion, without rules for guiding +it, will but embitter the dispute. And in the absence of all guidance +from the intellect, gradually weaving a _common_ standard of +international appeal, it is clear that nations _must_ fight, and +_ought_ to fight. Not being convinced, it is base to pretend that +you _are_ convinced; and failing to be convinced by your neighbor's +arguments, you confess yourself a poltroon (and moreover you +_invite_ injuries from every neighbor) if you pocket your wrongs. +The only course in such a case is to thump your neighbor, and to thump +him soundly for the present. This treatment is very serviceable to your +neighbor's optics; he sees things in a new light after a sufficient +course of so distressing a regimen. But mark, even in this case, war +has no tendency to propagate war, but tends to the very opposite +result. To thump is as costly, and in other ways as painful, as to +_be_ thumped. The evil to both sides arises in an undeveloped +state of law. If rights were defined by a well considered code growing +out of long experience, each party sees that this scourge of war would +continually tend to limit itself. Consequently the very necessity of +war becomes the strongest invitation to that system of judicial logic +which forms its sole limitation. But all war whatsoever stands in these +circumstances. It follows that all war whatever, unless on the brutal +principle of a Spartan warfare, that made war its own sufficient object +and self-justification, operates as a perpetual bounty offered to men +upon the investigation and final adjudication of those disputed cases +through which war prospers. Hence it is, viz., because the true +boundaries of reciprocal rights are for ever ascertaining themselves +more clearly, that war is growing less frequent. The fields open to +injustice (which originally from pure ignorance are so vast) +continually (through deeper and more expansive surveys by man's +intellect--searching--reflecting--comparing) are narrowing themselves; +narrowing themselves in this sense, that all nations under a common +centre of religious civilization, as Christendom suppose, or Islamism, +would not fight--no, and would not (by the national sense of wrong and +right) be permitted to fight--in a cause _confessedly_ condemned +by equity as now developed. The causes of war that still remain, are +causes on which international law is silent--that large arrear of cases +as yet unsettled; or else they are cases in which though law speaks +with an authentic voice, it speaks in vain, because the circumstances +are doubtful; so that, if the law is fixed as a lamp nailed to a wall, +yet the _incidence_ of the law on the particular circumstances, +becomes as doubtful as the light of the lamp upon objects that are +capriciously moving. We see all this illustrated in a class of cases +that powerfully illustrate the good and the bad in war, the why and the +wherefore, as likewise the why _not_, and therefore I presume the +wherefore _not_; and this class of cases belongs to the _lex +vicinitatis_. In the Roman law this section makes a great figure. +And speaking accurately, it makes a greater in our own. But the reason +why this _law of neighborhood_ seems to fill so much smaller a +section in ours, is because in English law, being _positively_ a +longer section, _negatively_ to the whole compass of our law, it +is less. The Roman law would have paved a road to the moon. And what is +_that_ expressed in time? Let us see: a railway train, worked at +the speed of the Great Western Express, accomplishes easily a thousand +miles in twenty-four hours; consequently in two hundred and forty days +or eight months it would run into the moon with its buffers, and break +up the quarters of that Robinson Crusoe who (and without any Friday) is +the only policeman that parades that little pensive appendage or tender +to our fuming engine of an earth. But the English law--oh frightful +reader, don't even think of such a question as its relation in space +and time to the Roman law. That it would stretch to the fixed stars is +plain, but to which of them,--don't now, dear persecuting reader, +unsettle our brains by asking. Enough it is that both in Roman and +English law the rights of neighborhood are past measuring. Has a man a +right to play the German flute, where the partitions are slender, all +day long in the house adjoining to yours? Or, supposing a beneficent +jury (beneficent to _him_) finds this to be no legal nuisance, has +he a right to play it ill? Or, because juries, when tipsy, will wink at +anything, does the privilege extend to the jew's-harp? to the poker and +tongs? to the marrowbones and cleavers? Or, without ranging through the +whole of the _Spectator's_ culinary music, will the bagpipes be +found within benefit of jury law? _War to the knife_ I say, before +we'll submit to _that_. And if the law won't protect us against +it, then we'll turn rebels. + +Now this law of neighborhood, this _lex vicinitatis_, amongst the +Romans, righted itself and settled itself, as amongst ourselves it +continues to do, by means of actions or legal suits. If a man poisons +us with smoke, we compel him by an action to eat his own smoke, or (if +he chooses) to make his chimneys eat it. Here you see is a transmuted +war; in a barbarous state, fire and sword would have avenged this +invasion of smoke; but amongst civilized men, paper bullets in the form +of _Qui tam_ and _Scire facias_, beat off the enemy. And on the same +principle, exactly as the law of international rights clears up its +dark places, war gradually narrows its grounds, and the _jus gentium_ +defines itself through national attorneys, _i. e._, diplomatists. + +For instance, now I have myself seen a case where a man cultivating a +flower-garden, and distressed for some deliverance from his rubbish of +dead leaves, litter, straw, stones, took the desperate resolution of +projecting the whole upon his neighbor's flower-garden. I, a chance +spectator of the outrage, knew too much of this world to lodge any +protest against it, on the principle of mere abstract justice; so it +would have passed unnoticed, but for the accident that his injured +neighbor unexpectedly raised up his head above the dividing wall, and +reproached the aggressor with his unprincipled conduct. This aggressor, +adding evil to evil, suggested as the natural remedy for his own wrong, +that the sufferer should pass the nuisance onwards to the garden next +beyond him; from which it might be posted forward on the same +principle. The aggrieved man, however, preferred passing it back, +without any discount to the original proprietor. Here now, is a ripe +case, a _causa teterrima_, for war between the parties, and for a +national war had the parties been nations. In fact, the very same +injury, in a more aggravated shape, is perpetrated from time to time by +Jersey upon ourselves, and would, upon a larger scale, right itself by +war. Convicts are costly to maintain; and Jersey, whose national +revenue is limited, being too well aware of this, does us the favor to +land upon the coasts of Hampshire, Dorset, &c., all the criminals whom +she cannot summarily send back to self-support, at each jail-delivery. +'What are we to do in England?' is the natural question propounded by +the injured scoundrels, when taking leave of their Jersey escort. +'Anything you please,' is the answer: 'rise if you can, to be dukes: +only never come back hither; since, dukes or _no_ dukes, to the +rest of Christendom, to _us_ of the Channel Islands you will +always be transported felons.' There is therefore a good right of +action, _i.e._, a good ground of war, against Jersey, on the part +of Great Britain, since, besides the atrocious injury inflicted, this +unprincipled little island has the audacity to regard our England, (all +Europe looking on,) as existing only for the purposes of a sewer or +cess-pool to receive _her_ impurities. Some time back I remember a +Scottish newspaper holding up the case as a newly discovered horror in +the social system. But, in a quiet way Jersey has always been engaged +in this branch of exportation, and rarely fails to 'run' a cargo of +rogues upon our shore, once or so in the season. What amuses one +besides, in this Scottish denunciation of the villany, is, that +Scotland [Footnote: To banish them 'forth of the kingdom,' was the +_euphuismus_; but the reality understood was--to carry the knaves, +like foxes in a bag, to the English soil, and there unbag them for +English use.] of old, pursued the very same mode of jail-delivery as to +knaves that were not thought ripe enough for hanging: she carted them +to the English border, unchained them, and hurried them adrift into the +wilderness, saying--Now, boys, shift for yourselves, and henceforth +plunder none but Englishmen. + +What I deduce from all this is, that as the feuds arising between +individuals under the relation of neighbors, are so far from tending to +a hostile result, that, on the contrary, as coming under a rule of law +already ascertained, or furnishing the basis for a new rule, they +gradually tighten the cords which exclude all opening for quarrel; not +otherwise is the result, and therefore the usefulness, of war amongst +nations. All the causes of war, the occasions upon which it is likely +to arise, the true and the ostensible motives, are gradually evolved, +are examined, searched, valued, by publicists; and by such means, in +the further progress of men, a comprehensive law of nations will +finally be accumulated, not such as now passes for international law, +(a worthless code that _has_ no weight in the practice of nations, +nor deserves any,) but one which will exhaust the great body of cases +under which wars have arisen under the Christian era, and gradually +collect a public opinion of Christendom upon the nature of each +particular case. The causes that _have_ existed for war are the +causes that _will_ exist; or, at least, they are the same under +modifications that will simply vary the rule, as our law cases in the +courts are every day circumstantiating the particular statute +concerned. At this stage of advance, and when a true European opinion +has been created, a '_sensus communis_,' or community of feeling +on the main classifications of wars, it will become possible to erect a +real Areopagus, or central congress for all Christendom, not with any +commission to suppress wars,--a policy which would neutralize itself by +reacting as a fresh cause of war, since high-spirited nations would arm +for the purpose of resisting such decrees; but with the purpose and the +effect of oftentimes healing local or momentary animosities, and also +by publishing the opinion of Europe, assembled in council, with the +effect of taking away the shadow of dishonor from the act of retiring +from war. Not to mention that the mere delay, involved in the waiting +for the solemn opinion of congress, would always be friendly to pacific +councils. But _would_ the belligerents wait? That concession might +be secured by general exchange of treaties, in the same way that the +cooperation of so many nations has been secured to the suppression of +the trade in slaves. And one thing is clear, that when all the causes +of war, involving _manifest_ injustice, are banished by the force +of European opinion, focally converged upon the subject, the range of +war will be prodigiously circumscribed. The costliness of war, which, +for various reasons has been continually increasing since the feudal +period, will operate as another limitation upon its field, concurring +powerfully with the public declaration from a council of collective +Christendom. + +There is, besides, a distinct and separate cause of war, more fatal to +the possibilities of peace in Europe than open injustice; and this +cause being certainly in the hands of nations to deal with as they +please, there is a tolerable certainty that a congress _sincerely_ +pacific would cut it up by the roots. It is a cause noticed by Kant in +his Essay on Perpetual Peace, and with great sagacity, though otherwise +that little work is not free from visionary self-delusions: and this +cause lies in the diplomacy of Europe. Treaties of peace are so +constructed, as almost always to sow the seeds of future wars. This +seems to the inexperienced reader a matter of carelessness or laxity in +the choice of expression; and sometimes it may have been so; but more +often it has been done under the secret dictation of powerful courts-- +making peaces only as truces, anxious only for time to nurse their +energies, and to keep open some plausible call for war. This is not +only amongst the most extensive causes of war, but the very worst: +because it gives a colorable air of justice, and almost of necessity to +a war, which is, in fact, the most outrageously unjust, as being +derived from a pretext silently prepared in former years, with mere +subtlety of malice: it is a war growing out of occasions, forged +beforehand, lest no occasions should spontaneously arise. Now, this +cause of war could and would be healed by a congress, and through an +easy reform in European diplomacy.[Footnote: One great _nidus_ of +this insidious preparation for war under the very masque of peace, +which Kant, from brevity, has failed to particularize, lies in the +neglecting to make any provision for cases that are likely enough to +arise. A, B, C, D, are all equally possible, but the treaty provides a +specific course of action only for A, suppose. Then upon B or C +arising, the high contracting parties, though desperately and equally +pacific, find themselves committed to war actually by a treaty of +lasting peace. Their pacific majesties sigh, and say--Alas! that it +should be so, but really fight we must, for what says the treaty?] + +It is the strongest confirmation of the power inherent in growing +civilization, to amend war, and to narrow the field of war, if we look +back for the records of the changes in this direction which have +already arisen in generations before our own. + +The most careless reviewer of history can hardly fail to read a rude +outline of progress made by men in the rights, and consequently in the +duties of war through the last twenty-five centuries. It is a happy +circumstance for man--that oftentimes he is led by pure selfishness +into reforms, the very same as high principle would have prompted; and +in the next stage of his advance, when once habituated to an improved +code of usages, he begins to find a gratification to his sensibilities, +(partly luxurious sensibilities, but partly moral,) in what originally +had been a mere movement of self-interest. Then comes a third stage, in +which having thoroughly reconciled himself to a better order of things, +and made it even necessary to his own comfort, at length he begins in +his reflecting moments to perceive a moral beauty and a fitness in +arrangements that had emanated from accidents of convenience, so that +finally he generates a sublime pleasure of conscientiousness out of +that which originally commenced in the meanest forms of mercenary +convenience. A Roman lady of rank, out of mere voluptuous regard to her +own comfort, revolted from the harsh clamors of eternal chastisements +inflicted on her numerous slaves; she forbade them; the grateful slaves +showed their love for her; gradually and unintentionally she trained +her feelings, when thus liberated from a continual temptation to the +sympathies with cruelty, into a demand for gentler and purer +excitement. Her purpose had been one of luxury; but, by the benignity +of nature still watching for ennobling opportunities, the actual result +was a development given to the higher capacities of her heart. In the +same way, when the brutal right (and in many circumstances the brutal +duty) of inflicting death upon prisoners taken in battle, had exchanged +itself for the profits of ransom or slavery, this relaxation of +ferocity (though commencing in selfishness) gradually exalted itself +into a habit of mildness, and some dim perception of a sanctity in +human life. The very vice of avarice ministered to the purification of +barbarism; and the very evil of slavery in its earliest form was +applied to the mitigation of another evil--war conducted in the spirit +of piratical outrage. The commercial instincts of men having worked one +set of changes in war, a second set of changes was prompted by +instincts derived from the arts of ornament and pomp. Splendor of arms, +of banners, of equipages, of ceremonies, and the elaborate forms of +intercourse with enemies through conferences, armistices, treaties of +peace, &c., having tamed the savagery of war into connection with modes +of intellectual grandeur, and with the endless restraints of +superstition or scrupulous religion,--a permanent light of civilization +began to steal over the bloody shambles of buccaneering warfare. Other +modes of harmonizing influences arose more directly from the bosom of +war itself. Gradually the mere practice of war, and the culture of war +though merely viewed as a rude trade of bloodshed, ripened into an +intellectual art. Were it merely with a view to more effectual carnage, +this art (however simple and gross at first) opened at length into wide +scientific arts, into strategies, into tactics, into castrametation, +into poliorcetics, and all the processes through which the first rude +efforts of martial cunning finally connect themselves with the +exquisite resources of science. War, being a game in which each side +forces the other into the instant adoption of all improvements through +the mere necessities of self-preservation, became continually more +intellectual. + +It is interesting to observe the steps by which, were it only through +impulses of self-conservation, and when searching with a view to more +effectual destructiveness, war did and must refine itself from a horrid +trade of butchery into a magnificent and enlightened science. Starting +from no higher impulse or question than how to cut throats most +rapidly, most safely, and on the largest scale, it has issued even at +our own stage of advance into a science, magnificent, oftentimes +ennobling, and cleansed from all horrors except those which (not being +within man's power utterly to divorce from it) no longer stand out as +reproaches to his humanity. + +Meantime a more circumstantial review of war, in relation to its +motives and the causes assigned for its justification, would expose a +series of changes greater perhaps than the reader is aware of. Such a +review, which would too much lengthen a single paper, may or may not +form the subject of a second. And I will content myself with saying, as +a closing remark, that this review will detect a principle of steady +advance in the purification and elevation of war--such as must offer +hope to those who believe in the possibility of its absolute +extermination, and must offer consolation to those who (like myself) +deny it. + + + + +THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT. + + +I take it for granted that every person of education will acknowledge +some interest in the personal history of Immanuel Kant. A great man, +though in an unpopular path, must always be an object of liberal +curiosity. To suppose a reader thoroughly indifferent to Kant, is to +suppose him thoroughly unintellectual; and, therefore, though in +reality he should happen _not_ to regard him with interest, it is +one of the fictions of courtesy to presume that he does. On this +principle I make no apology to the reader for detaining him upon a +short sketch of Kant's life and domestic habits, drawn from the +authentic records of his friends and pupils. It is true, that, without +any illiberality on the part of the public in this country, the +_works_ of Kant are not regarded with the same interest which has +gathered about his _name_; and this may be attributed to three +causes--first, to the language in which they are written; secondly, to +the supposed obscurity of the philosophy which they teach, whether +intrinsic or due to Kant's particular mode of expounding it; thirdly, +to the unpopularity of all speculative philosophy, no matter how +treated, in a country where the structure and tendency of society +impress upon the whole activities of the nation a direction exclusively +practical. But, whatever may be the immediate fortunes of his writings, +no man of enlightened curiosity will regard the author himself without +something of a profounder interest. Measured by one test of power, +viz., by the number of books written directly for or against himself, +to say nothing of those which he has indirectly modified, there is no +philosophic writer whatsoever, if we except Aristotle, who can pretend +to approach Kant in the extent of the influence which he has exercised +over the minds of men. Such being his claims upon our notice, I repeat +that it is no more than a reasonable act of respect to the reader--to +presume in him so much interest about Kant as will justify a sketch of +his life. + +Immanuel Kant, [Footnote: By the paternal side, the family of Kant was +of Scotch derivation; and hence it is that the name was written by Kant +the father--_Cant_, that being a Scotch name, and still to be found +in Scotland. But Immanuel, though he always cherished his Scotch +descent, substituted a _K_ for a _C_, in order to adapt it better +to the analogies of the German language.] the second of six +children, was born at Koenigsberg, in Prussia, a city at that time +containing about fifty thousand inhabitants, on the 22d of April, 1724. +His parents were people of humble rank, and not rich even for their own +station, but able (with some assistance from a near relative, and a +trifle in addition from a gentleman, who esteemed them for their piety +and domestic virtues,) to give their son Immanuel a liberal education. +He was sent when a child to a charity school; and, in the year 1732, +removed to the Royal (or Frederician) Academy. Here he studied the +Greek and Latin classics, and formed an intimacy with one of his +schoolfellows, David Ruhnken, (afterwards so well known to scholars +under his Latin name of Ruhn-kenius,) which lasted until the death of +the latter. In 1737, Kant lost his mother, a woman of excellent +character, and of accomplishments and knowledge beyond her rank, who +contributed to the future eminence of her illustrious son by the +direction which she gave to his youthful thoughts, and by the elevated +morals to which she trained him. Kant never spoke of her to the end of +his life without the utmost tenderness, and acknowledgment of his great +obligations to her maternal care. In 1740, at Michaelmas, he entered the +University of Koenigsberg. In 1746, when about twenty-two years old, he +printed his first work, upon a question partly mathematical and partly +philosophic, viz., the valuation of living forces. The question had +been first moved by Leibnitz, in opposition to the Cartesians, and was +here finally settled, after having occupied most of the great +mathematicians of Europe for more than half a century. It was dedicated +to the King of Prussia, but never reached him--having, in fact, never +been published. [Footnote: To this circumstance we must attribute its +being so little known amongst the philosophers and mathematicians of +foreign countries, and also the fact that D'Alembert, whose philosophy +was miserably below his mathematics, many years afterwards still +continued to represent the dispute as a verbal one.] From this time +until 1770, he supported himself as a private tutor in different +families, or by giving private lectures in Koenigsberg, especially to +military men on the art of fortification. In 1770, he was appointed to +the Chair of Mathematics, which he exchanged soon after for that of +Logic and Metaphysics. On this occasion, he delivered an inaugural +disputation--[_De Mundi Sensibilis atque Intelligibilis Forma et +Principiis_]--which is remarkable for containing the first germs of +the Transcendental Philosophy. In 1781, he published his great work, +the _Critik der Reinen Vernunft,_ or _Investigation of the Pure +Reason_. On February 12, 1804, he died. + +These are the great epochs of Kant's life. But his was a life +remarkable not so much for its incidents, as for the purity and +philosophic dignity of its daily tenor; and of this the best impression +will be obtained from Wasianski's account of his last years, checked +and supported by the collateral testimonies of Jachmann, Rink, +Borowski, and other biographers. We see him here struggling with the +misery of decaying faculties, and with the pain, depression, and +agitation of two different complaints, one affecting his stomach, and +the other his head; over all which the benignity and nobility of his +mind are seen victoriously eminent to the last. The principal defect of +this and all other memoirs of Kant is, that they report too little of +his conversation and opinions. And perhaps the reader will be disposed +to complain, that some of the notices are too minute and +circumstantial, so as to be at one time undignified, and at another +unfeeling. As to the first objection, it may be answered, that +biographical gossip of this sort, and ungentlemanly scrutiny into a +man's private life, though not what a man of honor would choose to +write, may be read without blame; and, where a great man is the +subject, sometimes with advantage. With respect to the other objection, +I know not how to excuse Mr. Wasianski for kneeling at the bed-side of +his dying friend, to record, with the accuracy of a short-hand +reporter, the last flutter of his pulse and the struggles of expiring +nature, except by supposing that the idea of Kant, as a person +belonging to all ages, in his mind transcended and extinguished the +ordinary restraints of human sensibility, and that, under this +impression, he gave _that_ to his sense of a public duty which, it +may be hoped, he would willingly have declined on the impulse of his +private affections. + +_The following paper on The Last Days of Kant, is gathered from the +German of Wasianski, Jachmann, Borowski, and others._ + +My knowledge of Professor Kant began long before the period to which +this little memorial of him chiefly refers. In the year 1773, or 1774, +I cannot exactly remember which, I attended his lectures. Afterwards, I +acted as his amanuensis; and in that office was naturally brought into +a closer connection with him than any other of his pupils; so that, +without any request on my part, he granted me a general privilege of +free admission to his class-room. In 1780 I took orders, and withdrew +myself from all connection with the university. I still continued, +however, to reside in Koenigsberg; but wholly forgotten, or wholly +unnoticed at least, by Kant. Ten years afterwards, (that is to say, in +1790,) I met him by accident at a party given on occasion of the +marriage of one of the professors. At table, Kant distributed his +conversation and attentions pretty generally; but after the +entertainment, when the company broke up into parties, he came and +seated himself very obligingly by my side. I was at that time a +florist--an amateur, I mean, from the passion I had for flowers; upon +learning which, he talked of my favorite pursuit, and with very +extensive information. In the course of our conversation, I was +surprised to find that he was perfectly acquainted with all the +circumstances of my situation. He reminded me of our previous +connection; expressed his satisfaction at finding that I was happy; and +was so good as to desire that, if my engagements allowed me, I would +now and then come and dine with him. Soon after this, he rose to take +his leave; and, as our road lay the same way, he proposed to me that I +should accompany him home. I did so, and received an invitation for the +next week, with a general invitation for every week after, and +permission to name my own day. At first I was unable to explain the +distinction with which Kant had treated me; and I conjectured that some +obliging friend had spoken of me in his hearing, somewhat more +advantageously than I could pretend to deserve; but more intimate +experience has convinced me that he was in the habit of making +continual inquiries after the welfare of his former pupils, and was +heartily rejoiced to hear of their prosperity. So that it appeared I +was wrong in thinking he had forgotten me. + +This revival of my intimacy with Professor Kant, coincided pretty +nearly, in point of time, with a complete change in his domestic +arrangements. Up to this period it had been his custom to eat at a +_table d'hote_. But he now began to keep house himself, and every +day invited two friends to dine with him, and upon any little festival +from five to eight; for he was a punctual observer of Lord +Chesterfield's rule--that his dinner party, himself included, should +not fall below the number of the Graces--nor exceed that of the Muses. +In the whole economy of his household arrangements, and especially of +his dinner parties, there was something peculiar and amusingly opposed +to the usual conventional restraints of society; not, however, that +there was any neglect of decorum, such as sometimes occurs in houses +where there are no ladies to impress a better tone upon the manners. +The invariable routine was this: The moment that dinner was ready, +Lampe, the professor's old footman, stepped into the study with a +certain measured air, and announced it. This summons was obeyed at the +pace of double quick time--Kant talking all the way to the eating-room +about the state of the weather [Footnote: His reason for which was, +that he considered the weather one of the principal forces which act +upon the health; and his own frame was exquisitely sensible to all +atmospheric influences.]--a subject which he usually pursued during the +earlier part of the dinner. Graver themes, such as the political events +of the day, were never introduced before dinner, or at all in his +study. The moment that Kant had taken his seat, and unfolded his +napkin, he opened the business of dinner with a particular formula-- +'_Now, then, gentlemen!_' and the tone and air with which he +uttered these words, proclaimed, in a way which nobody could mistake, +relaxation from the toils of the morning, and determinate abandonment +of himself to social enjoyment. The table was hospitably spread; three +dishes, wine, &c., with a small second course, composed the dinner. +Every person helped himself; and all delays of ceremony were so +disagreeable to Kant, that he seldom failed to express his displeasure +with anything of that sort, though not angrily. He was displeased also +if people ate little; and treated it as affectation. The first man to +help himself was in his eyes the politest guest; for so much the sooner +came his own turn. For this hatred of delay, Kant had a special excuse, +having always worked hard from an early hour in the morning, and eaten +nothing until dinner. Hence it was, that in the latter period of his +life, though less perhaps from actual hunger than from some uneasy +sensation of habit or periodical irritation of stomach, he could hardly +wait with patience for the arrival of the last person invited. + +There was no friend of Kant's but considered the day on which he was to +dine with him as a day of pleasure. Without giving himself the air of +an instructor, Kant really was so in the very highest degree. The whole +entertainment was seasoned with the overflow of his enlightened mind, +poured out naturally and unaffectedly upon every topic, as the chances +of conversation suggested it; and the time flew rapidly away, from one +o'clock to four, five, or even later, profitably and delightfully. Kant +tolerated no _calms_, which was the name he gave to the momentary +pauses in conversation, or periods when its animation languished. Some +means or other he always devised for restoring its tone of interest, in +which he was much assisted by the tact with which he drew from every +guest his peculiar tastes, or the particular direction of his pursuits; +and on these, be they what they might, he was never unprepared to speak +with knowledge, and the interest of an original observer. The local +affairs of Koenigsberg must have been interesting indeed, before they +could be allowed to occupy the attention at _his_ table. And, what +may seem still more singular, it was rarely or never that he directed +the conversation to any branch of the philosophy founded by himself. +Indeed he was perfectly free from the fault which besets so many +_savans_ and _literati_, of intolerance towards those whose +pursuits had disqualified them for any particular sympathy with his +own. His style of conversation was popular in the highest degree, and +unscholastic; so much so, that any stranger who should have studied his +works, and been unacquainted with his person, would have found it +difficult to believe, that in this delightful companion he saw the +profound author of the Transcendental Philosophy. + +The subjects of conversation at Kant's table were drawn chiefly from +natural philosophy, chemistry, meteorology, natural history, and above +all, from politics. The news of the day, as reported in the public +journals, was discussed with a peculiar vigilance of examination. With +regard to any narrative that wanted dates of time and place, however +otherwise plausible, he was uniformly an inexorable sceptic, and held +it unworthy of repetition. So keen was his penetration into the +interior of political events, and the secret policy under which they +moved, that he talked rather with the authority of a diplomatic person +who had access to cabinet intelligence, than as a simple spectator of +the great scenes which were unfolding in Europe. At the time of the +French Revolution, he threw out many conjectures, and what were then +accounted paradoxical anticipations, especially in regard to military +operations, which were as punctually fulfilled as his own memorable +conjecture in regard to the hiatus in the planetary system between Mars +and Jupiter,[Footnote: To which the author should have added--and in +regard to the hiatus between the planetary and cometary systems, which +was pointed out by Kant several years before his conjecture was +established by the good telescope of Dr. Herschel. Vesta and Juno, +further confirmations of Kant's conjecture, were discovered in June +1804, when Wasianski wrote.] the entire confirmation of which he lived +to witness on the discovery of Ceres by Piazzi, in Palermo, and of +Pallas, by Dr. Olbers, at Bremen. These two discoveries, by the way, +impressed him much; and they furnished a topic on which he always +talked with pleasure; though, according to his usual modesty, he never +said a word of his own sagacity in having upon _a priori_ grounds +shown the probability of such discoveries many years before. + +It was not only in the character of a companion that Kant shone, but +also as a most courteous and liberal host, who had no greater pleasure +than in seeing his guests happy and jovial, and rising with exhilarated +spirits from the mixed pleasures--intellectual and liberally sensual-- +of his Platonic banquets. Chiefly, perhaps, with a view to the +sustaining of this tone of genial hilarity, he showed himself somewhat +of an artist in the composition of his dinner parties. Two rules there +were which he obviously observed, and I may say invariably: the first +was, that the company should be miscellaneous; this for the sake of +securing sufficient variety to the conversation: and accordingly his +parties presented as much variety as the world of Koenigsberg afforded, +being drawn from all the modes of life, men in office, professors, +physicians, clergymen, and enlightened merchants. His second rule was, +to have a due balance of _young_ men, frequently of _very_ young +men, selected from the students of the university, in order to +impress a movement of gaiety and juvenile playfulness on the +conversation; an additional motive for which, as I have reason to +believe, was, that in this way he withdrew his mind from the sadness +which sometimes overshadowed it, for the early deaths of some young +friends whom he loved. + +And this leads me to mention a singular feature in Kant's way of +expressing his sympathy with his friends in sickness. So long as the +danger was imminent, he testified a restless anxiety, made perpetual +inquiries, waited with patience for the crisis, and sometimes could not +pursue his customary labors from agitation of mind. But no sooner was +the patient's death announced, than he recovered his composure, and +assumed an air of stern tranquillity--almost of indifference. The +reason was, that he viewed life in general, and therefore, that +particular affection of life which we call sickness, as a state of +oscillation and perpetual change, between which and the fluctuating +sympathies of hope and fear, there was a natural proportion that +justified them to the reason; whereas death, as a permanent state that +admitted of no _more_ or _less_, that terminated all anxiety, and +for ever extinguished the agitation of suspense, he would not allow +to be fitted to any state of feeling, but one of the same enduring and +unchanging character. However, all this philosophic heroism gave way on +one occasion; for many persons will remember the tumultuous grief which +he manifested upon the death of Mr. Ehrenboth, a young man of very fine +understanding and extensive attainments, for whom he had the greatest +affection. And naturally it happened, in so long a life as his, in +spite of his provident rule for selecting his social companions as much +as possible amongst the young, that he had to mourn for many a heavy +loss that could never be supplied to him. + +To return, however, to the course of his day, immediately after the +termination of his dinner party, Kant walked out for exercise; but on +this occasion he never took any companion, partly, perhaps, because he +thought it right, after so much convivial and colloquial relaxation, to +pursue his meditations,[Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is wrong. To pursue his +meditations under these circumstances, might perhaps be an inclination +of Kant's to which he yielded, but not one which he would justify or +erect into a maxim. He disapproved of eating alone, or _solipsismus +convictorii_, as he calls it, on the principle, that a man would be +apt, if not called off by the business and pleasure of a social party, +to think too much or too closely, an exercise which he considered very +injurious to the stomach during the first process of digestion. On the +same principle he disapproved of walking or riding alone; the double +exercise of thinking and bodily agitation, carried on at the same time, +being likely, as he conceived, to press too hard upon the stomach.] and +partly (as I happen to know) for a very peculiar reason, viz., that he +wished to breathe exclusively through his nostrils, which he could not +do if he were obliged continually to open his mouth in conversation. +His reason for this was, that the atmospheric air, being thus carried +round by a longer circuit, and reaching the lungs, therefore, in a +state of less rawness, and at a temperature somewhat higher, would be +less apt to irritate them. By a steady perseverance in this practice, +which he constantly recommended to his friends, he flattered himself +with a long immunity from coughs, colds, hoarseness, and every mode of +defluxion; and the fact really was, that these troublesome affections +attacked him very rarely. Indeed I myself, by only occasionally +adopting his rule, have found my chest not so liable as formerly to +such attacks. + +At six o'clock he sat down to his library table, which was a plain +ordinary piece of furniture, and read till dusk. During this period of +dubious light, so friendly to thought, he rested in tranquil meditation +on what he had been reading, provided the book were worth it; if not, +he sketched his lecture for the next day, or some part of any book he +might then be composing. During this state of repose he took his +station winter and summer by the stove, looking through the window at +the old tower of Lobenicht; not that he could be said properly to see +it, but the tower rested upon his eye,--obscurely, or but half revealed +to his consciousness. No words seemed forcible enough to express his +sense of the gratification which he derived from this old tower, when +seen under these circumstances of twilight and quiet reverie. The +sequel, indeed, showed how important it was to his comfort; for at +length some poplars in a neighboring garden shot up to such a height as +to obscure the tower, upon which Kant became very uneasy and restless, +and at length found himself positively unable to pursue his evening +meditations. Fortunately, the proprietor of the garden was a very +considerate and obliging person, who had, besides, a high regard for +Kant; and, accordingly, upon a representation of the case being made to +him, he gave orders that the poplars should be cropped. This was done, +the old tower of Lobenicht was again unveiled, and Kant recovered his +equanimity, and pursued his twilight meditations as before. + +After the candles were brought, Kant prosecuted his studies till nearly +ten o'clock. A quarter of an hour before retiring for the night, he +withdrew his mind as much as possible from every class of thoughts +which demanded any exertion or energy of attention, on the principle, +that by stimulating and exciting him too much, such thoughts would be +apt to cause wakefulness; and the slightest interference with his +customary hour of falling asleep, was in the highest degree unpleasant +to him. Happily, this was with him a very rare occurrence. He undressed +himself without his servant's assistance, but in such an order, and +with such a Roman regard to decorum and the _to prepon_, that he +was always ready at a moment's warning to make his appearance without +embarrassment to himself or to others. This done, he lay down on a +mattress, and wrapped himself up in a quilt, which in summer was always +of cotton,--in autumn, of wool; at the setting-in of winter he used +both--and against very severe cold, he protected himself by one of +eider-down, of which the part which covered his shoulders was not +stuffed with feathers, but padded, or rather wadded closely with layers +of wool. Long practice had taught him a very dexterous mode of +_nesting_ himself, as it were, in the bed-clothes. First of all, +he sat down on the bedside; then with an agile motion he vaulted +obliquely into his lair; next he drew one corner of the bedclothes +under his left shoulder, and passing it below his back, brought it +round so as to rest under his right shoulder; fourthly, by a particular +_tour d'adresse_, he treated the other corner in the same way, and +finally contrived to roll it round his whole person. Thus swathed like +a mummy, or (as I used to tell him) self-involved like the silk-worm in +its cocoon, he awaited the approach of sleep, which generally came on +immediately. For Kant's health was exquisite; not mere negative health, +or the absence of pain, but a state of positive pleasurable sensation, +and a genial sense of the entire possession of all his activities. +Accordingly, when packed up for the night in the way I have described, +he would often ejaculate to himself (as he used to tell us at dinner)-- +'Is it possible to conceive a human being with more perfect health than +myself?' In fact, such was the innocence of his life, and such the +happy condition of his situation, that no uneasy passion ever arose to +excite him--nor care to harass--nor pain to awake him. Even in the +severest winter his sleeping-room was without a fire; only in his +latter years he yielded so far to the entreaties of his friends as to +allow of a very small one. All nursing or self-indulgence found no +quarter with Kant. In fact, five minutes, in the coldest weather, +sufficed to supersede the first chill of the bed, by the diffusion of a +general glow over his person. If he had any occasion to leave his room +in the night-time, (for it was always kept dark day and night, summer +and winter,) he guided himself by a rope, which was duly attached to +his bed-post every night, and carried into the adjoining apartment. + +Kant never perspired, [Footnote: This appears less extraordinary, +considering the description of Kant's person, given originally by +Reichardt, about eight years after his death. 'Kant,' says this writer, +'was drier than dust both in body and mind. His person was small; and +possibly a more meagre, arid, parched anatomy of a man, has not +appeared upon this earth. The upper part of his face was grand; +forehead lofty and serene, nose elegantly turned, eyes brilliant and +penetrating; but below it expressed powerfully the coarsest sensuality, +which in him displayed itself by immoderate addiction to eating and +drinking.' This last feature of his temperament is here expressed much +too harshly.] night or day. Yet it was astonishing how much heat he +supported habitually in his study, and in fact was not easy if it +wanted but one degree of this heat. Seventy-five degrees of Fahrenheit +was the invariable temperature of this room in which he chiefly lived; +and if it fell below that point, no matter at what season of the year, +he had it raised artificially to the usual standard. In the heats of +summer he went thinly dressed, and invariably in silk stockings; yet, +as even this dress could not always secure him against perspiring when +engaged in active exercise, he had a singular remedy in reserve. +Retiring to some shady place, he stood still and motionless--with the +air and attitude of a person listening, or in suspense--until his usual +_aridity_ was restored. Even in the most sultry summer night, if +the slightest trace of perspiration had sullied his night-dress, he +spoke of it with emphasis, as of an accident that perfectly shocked +him. + +On this occasion, whilst illustrating Kant's notions of the animal +economy, it may be as well to add one other particular, which is, that +for fear of obstructing the circulation of the blood, he never would +wear garters; yet, as he found it difficult to keep up his stockings +without them, he had invented for himself a most elaborate substitute, +which I shall describe. In a little pocket, somewhat smaller than a +watch-pocket, but occupying pretty nearly the same situation as a +watch-pocket on each thigh, there was placed a small box, something +like a watch-case, but smaller; into this box was introduced a watch- +spring in a wheel, round about which wheel was wound an elastic cord, +for regulating the force of which there was a separate contrivance. To +the two ends of this cord were attached hooks, which hooks were carried +through a small aperture in the pockets, and so passing down the inner +and the outer side of the thigh, caught hold of two loops which were +fixed on the off side and the near side of each stocking. As might be +expected, so complex an apparatus was liable, like the Ptolemaic system +of the heavens, to occasional derangements; however, by good luck, I +was able to apply an easy remedy to these disorders which sometimes +threatened to disturb the comfort, and even the serenity, of the great +man. + +Precisely at five minutes before five o'clock, winter or summer, Lampe, +Kant's servant, who had formerly served in the army, marched into his +master's room with the air of a sentinel on duty, and cried aloud in a +military tone,--'Mr. Professor, the time is come.' This summons Kant +invariably obeyed without one moment's delay, as a soldier does the +word of command--never, under any circumstances, allowing himself a +respite, not even under the rare accident of having passed a sleepless +night. As the clock struck five, Kant was seated at the breakfast- +table, where he drank what he called _one_ cup of tea; and no +doubt he thought it such; but the fact was, that in part from his habit +of reverie, and in part also for the purpose of refreshing its warmth, +he filled up his cup so often, that in general he is supposed to have +drunk two, three, or some unknown number. Immediately after he smoked a +pipe of tobacco, (the only one which he allowed himself through the +entire day,) but so rapidly, that a pile of glowing embers remained +unsmoked. During this operation he thought over his arrangements for +the day, as he had done the evening before during the twilight. About +seven he usually went to his lecture-room, and from that he returned to +his writing-table. Precisely at three quarters before one he rose from +his chair, and called aloud to the cook,--'It has struck three +quarters.' The meaning of which summons was this:--Immediately after +taking soup, it was his constant practice to swallow what he called a +dram, which consisted either of Hungarian wine, of Rhenish, of a +cordial, or (in default of these) of Bishop. A flask of this was +brought up by the cook on the proclamation of the three quarters. Kant +hurried with it to the eating-room, poured out his _quantum_, left +it standing in readiness, covered, however, with paper, to prevent its +becoming vapid, and then went back to his study, and awaited the +arrival of his guests, whom to the latest period of his life he never +received but in full dress. + +Thus we come round again to dinner, and the reader has now an accurate +picture of the course of Kant's day; the rigid monotony of which was +not burthensome to him; and probably contributed, with the uniformity +of his diet, and other habits of the same regularity, to lengthen his +life. On this consideration, indeed, he had come to regard his health +and his old age as in a great measure the product of his own exertions. +He spoke of himself often under the figure of a gymnastic artist, who +had continued for nearly fourscore years to support his balance upon +the slack-rope of life, without once swerving to the right or to the +left. In spite of every illness to which his constitutional tendencies +had exposed him, he still kept his position in life triumphantly. +However, he would sometimes observe sportively, that it was really +absurd, and a sort of insult to the next generation for a man to live +so long, because he thus interfered with the prospects of younger +people. + +This anxious attention to his health accounts for the great interest +which he attached to all new discoveries in medicine, or to new ways of +theorizing on the old ones. As a work of great pretension in both +classes, he set the highest value upon the theory of the Scotch +physician Brown, or (as it is usually called, from the Latin name of +its author,) the Brunonian Theory. No sooner had Weikard adopted +[Footnote: This theory was afterwards greatly modified in Germany; and, +judging from the random glances which I throw on these subjects, I +believe that in this recast it still keeps its ground in that country.] +and made it known in Germany, than Kant became familiar with it. He +considered it not only as a great step taken for medicine, but even for +the general interests of man, and fancied that in this he saw something +analogous to the course which human nature has held in still more +important inquiries, viz.: first of all, a continual ascent towards the +more and more elaborately complex, and then a treading back, on its own +steps, towards the simple and elementary. Dr. Beddoes's Essays, also, +for producing by art and curing pulmonary consumption, and the method +of Reich for curing fevers, made a powerful impression upon him; which, +however, declined as those novelties (especially the last) began to +sink in credit. As to Dr. Jenner's discovery of vaccination, he was +less favorably disposed to it; he apprehended dangerous consequences +from the absorption of a brutal miasma into the human blood, or at +least into the lymph; and at any rate he thought, that, as a guarantee +against the variolous infection, it required a much longer probation. +Groundless as all these views were, it was exceedingly entertaining to +hear the fertility of argument and analogy which he brought forward to +support them. One of the subjects which occupied him at the latter end +of his life, was the theory and phenomena of galvanism, which, however, +he never satisfactorily mastered. Augustin's book upon this subject was +about the last that he read, and his copy still retains on the margin +his, pencil-marks of doubts, queries and suggestions. + +The infirmities of age now began to steal upon Kant, and betrayed +themselves in more shapes than one. Connected with Kant's prodigious +memory for all things that had any intellectual bearings, he had from +youth labored under an unusual weakness of this faculty in relation to +the common affairs of daily life. Some remarkable instances of this are +on record, from the period of his childish days; and now, when his +second childhood was commencing, this infirmity increased upon him very +sensibly. One of the first signs was, that he began to repeat the same +stories more than once on the same day. Indeed, the decay of his memory +was too palpable to escape his own notice; and, to provide against it, +and secure himself from all apprehension of inflicting tedium upon his +guests, he began to write a syllabus, or list of themes, for each day's +conversation, on cards, or the covers of letters, or any chance scrap +of paper. But these memoranda accumulated so fast upon him, and were so +easily lost, or not forthcoming at the proper moment, that I prevailed +on him to substitute a blank-paper book, which I had directed to be +made, and which still remains, with some affecting memorials of his own +conscious weakness. As often happens, however, in such cases, he had a +perfect memory for the remote events of his life, and could repeat with +great readiness, and without once stumbling, very long passages from +German or Latin poems, especially from the AEneid, whilst the very +words that had been uttered but a moment before dropped away from his +remembrance. The past came forward with the distinctness and liveliness +of an immediate existence, whilst the present faded away into the +obscurity of infinite distance. + +Another sign of his mental decay was the weakness with which he now +began to theorize. He accounted for everything by electricity. A +singular mortality at this time prevailed amongst the cats of Vienna, +Basle, Copenhagen, and other places. Cats being so eminently an +electric animal, of course he attributed this epizootic to electricity. +During the same period, he persuaded himself that a peculiar +configuration of clouds prevailed; this he took as a collateral proof +of his electrical hypothesis. His own headaches, too, which in all +probability were a mere remote effect of old age, and a direct one of +an inability [Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is quite in the wrong here. If +the hindrances which nature presented to the act of thinking were now +on the increase, on the other hand, the disposition to think, by his +own acknowledgment, was on the wane. The power and the habit altering +in proportion, there is no case made out of that disturbed equilibrium +to which apparently he would attribute the headaches. But the fact is, +that, if he had been as well acquainted with Kant's writings as with +Kant personally, he would have known, that some affection of the head +of a spasmodic kind was complained of by Kant at a time when nobody +could suspect him of being in a decaying state.] to think as easily and +as severely as formerly, he explained upon the same principle. And this +was a notion of which his friends were not anxious to disabuse him, +because, as something of the same character of weather (and therefore +probably the same general tendency of the electric power) is found to +prevail for whole cycles of years, entrance upon another cycle held out +to him some prospect of relief. A delusion which secured the comforts +of hope was the next best thing to an actual remedy; and a man who, in +such circumstances, is cured of his delusion, '_cui demptus per vim +mentis gratissimus error_,' might reasonably have exclaimed, +'_Pol, me occidistis, amici._' + +Possibly the reader may suppose, that, in this particular instance of +charging his own decays upon the state of the atmosphere, Kant was +actuated by the weakness of vanity, or some unwillingness to face the +real fact that his powers were decaying. But this was not the case. He +was perfectly aware of his own condition, and, as early as 1799, he +said, in my presence, to a party of his friends--'Gentlemen, I am old, +and weak, and childish, and you must treat me as a child.' Or perhaps +it may be thought that he shrank from the contemplation of death, +which, as apoplexy seemed to be threatened by the pains in his head, +might have happened any day. But neither was this the case. He now +lived in a continual state of resignation, and prepared to meet any +dispensation of Providence. 'Gentlemen,' said he one day to his guests, +'I do not fear to die. I assure you, as in the presence of God, that if +I were this night to be made suddenly aware that I was on the point of +being summoned, I would raise my hands to heaven, fold them, and say, +Blessed be God! If indeed it were possible that a whisper such as this +could reach my ear--Fourscore years thou hast lived, in which time thou +hast inflicted much evil upon thy fellow-men, the case would be +otherwise.' Whosoever has heard Kant speak of his own death, will bear +witness to the tone of earnest sincerity which, on such occasions, +marked his manner and utterance. + +A third sign of his decaying faculties was, that he now lost all +accurate measure of time. One minute, nay, without exaggeration, a much +less space of time, stretched out in his apprehension of things to a +wearisome duration. Of this I can give one rather amusing instance, +which was of constant recurrence. At the beginning of the last year of +his life, he fell into a custom of taking immediately after dinner a +cup of coffee, especially on those days when it happened that I was of +his party. And such was the importance he attached to this little +pleasure, that he would even make a memorandum beforehand, in the +blank-paper book I had given him, that on the next day I was to dine +with him, and consequently that there was to be coffee. Sometimes it +would happen, that the interest of conversation carried him past the +time at which he felt the craving for it; and this I was not sorry to +observe, as I feared that coffee, which he had never been accustomed +to, [Footnote: How this happened to be the case in Germany, Mr. +Wasianski has not explained. Perhaps the English merchants at +Koenigsberg, being amongst Kant's oldest and most intimate friends, had +early familiarized him to the practice of drinking tea, and to other +English tastes. However, Jachmann tells us, (p. 164,) that Kant was +extravagantly fond of coffee, but forced himself to abstain from it +under a notion that it was very unwholesome.] might disturb his rest at +night. But, if this did not happen, then commenced a scene of some +interest. Coffee must be brought 'upon the spot,' (a word he had +constantly in his mouth during his latter days,) 'in a moment.' And the +expressions of his impatience, though from old habit still gentle, were +so lively, and had so much of infantine naivete about them, that none +of us could forbear smiling. Knowing what would happen, I had taken +care that all the preparations should be made beforehand; the coffee +was ground; the water was boiling; and the very moment the word was +given, his servant shot in like an arrow, and plunged the coffee into +the water. All that remained, therefore, was to give it time to boil +up. But this trifling delay seemed unendurable to Kant. All +consolations were thrown away upon him: vary the formula as we might, +he was never at a loss for a reply. If it was said--'Dear Professor, +the coffee will be brought up in a moment.'--'_Will_ be!' he would +say, 'but there's the rub, that it only _will_ be: + + Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest.' + +If another cried out--'The coffee is coming immediately.'--'Yes,' he +would retort, 'and so is the next hour: and, by the way, it's about +that length of time that I have waited for it.' Then he would collect +himself with a stoical air, and say--'Well, one can die after all: it +is but dying; and in the next world, thank God! there is no drinking of +coffee, and consequently no--waiting for it.' Sometimes he would rise +from his chair, open the door, and cry out with a feeble querulousness +--'Coffee! coffee!' And when at length he heard the servant's step upon +the stairs, he would turn round to us, and, as joyfully as ever sailor +from the mast-head, he would call out--'Land, land! my dear friends, I +see land.' + +This general decline in Kant's powers, active and passive, gradually +brought about a revolution in his habits of life. Heretofore, as I have +already mentioned, he went to bed at ten, and rose a little before +five. The latter practice he still observed, but not the other. In 1802 +he retired as early as nine, and afterwards still earlier. He found +himself so much refreshed by this addition to his rest, that at first +he was disposed to utter a _Euraeka_, as over some great discovery +in the art of restoring exhausted nature: but afterwards, on pushing it +still farther, he did not find the success answer his expectations. His +walks he now limited to a few turns in the King's gardens, which were +at no great distance from his own house. In order to walk more firmly, +he adopted a peculiar method of stepping; he carried his foot to the +ground, not forward, and obliquely, but perpendicularly, and with a +kind of stamp, so as to secure a larger basis, by setting down the +entire sole at once. Notwithstanding this precaution, upon one occasion +he fell in the street. He was quite unable to raise himself; and two +young ladies, who saw the accident, ran to his assistance. With his +usual graciousness of manner he thanked them fervently for their +assistance, and presented one of them with a rose which he happened to +have in his hand. This lady was not personally known to Kant; but she +was greatly delighted with his little present, and still keeps the rose +as a frail memorial of her transitory interview with the great +philosopher. + +This accident, as I have reason to think, was the cause of his +henceforth renouncing exercise altogether. All labors, even that of +reading, were now performed slowly, and with manifest effort; and those +which cost him any bodily exertion became very exhausting to him. His +feet refused to do their office more and more; he fell continually, +both when moving across the room, and even when standing still: yet he +seldom suffered from these falls; and he constantly laughed at them, +maintaining that it was impossible he could hurt himself, from the +extreme lightness of his person, which was indeed by this time the +merest skeleton. Very often, especially in the morning, he dropped +asleep in his chair from pure weariness: on these occasions he fell +forward upon the floor, and lay there unable to raise himself up, until +accident brought one of his servants or his friends into the room. +Afterwards these falls were prevented, by substituting a chair with +circular supports, that met and clasped in front. + +These unseasonable dozings exposed him to another danger. He fell +repeatedly, whilst reading, with his head into the candles; a cotton +night-cap which he wore was instantly in a blaze, and flaming about his +head. Whenever this happened, Kant behaved with great presence of mind. +Disregarding the pain, he seized the blazing cap, drew it from his +head, laid it quietly on the floor, and trod out the flames with his +feet. Yet, as this last act brought his dressing-gown into a dangerous +neighborhood to the flames, I changed the form of his cap, persuaded +him to arrange the candles differently, and had a decanter of water +placed constantly by his side; and in this way I applied a remedy to a +danger, which would else probably have been fatal to him. + +From the sallies of impatience, which I have described in the case of +the coffee, there was reason to fear that, with the increasing +infirmities of Kant, would grow up a general waywardness and obstinacy +of temper. For my own sake, therefore, and not less for his, I now laid +down one rule for my future conduct in his house; which was, that I +would, on no occasion, allow my reverence for him to interfere with the +firmest expression of my opinion on subjects relating to his own +health; and in cases of great importance, that I would make no +compromise with his particular humors, but insist, not only on my view +of the case, but also on the practical adoption of my views; or, if +this were refused me, that I would take my departure at once, and not +be made responsible for the comfort of a person whom I had no power to +influence. And this behavior on my part it was that won Kant's +confidence; for there was nothing which disgusted him so much as any +approach to fawning or sycophancy. As his imbecility increased, he +became daily more liable to mental delusions; and, in particular, he +fell into many fantastic notions about the conduct of his servants, +and, in consequence, into a peevish mode of treating them. Upon these +occasions I generally observed a deep silence. But sometimes he would +ask me for my opinion; and when this happened, I did not scruple to +say, 'Ingenuously, then, Mr. Professor, I think that you are in the +wrong.'--'You think so?' he would reply calmly, at the same time asking +for my reasons, which he would listen to with great patience, and +openness to conviction. Indeed, it was evident that the firmest +opposition, so long as it rested upon assignable grounds and +principles, won upon his regard; whilst his own nobleness of character +still moved him to habitual contempt for timorous and partial +acquiescence in his opinions, even when his infirmities made him most +anxious for such acquiescence. + +Earlier in life Kant had been little used to contradiction. His superb +understanding, his brilliancy in conversation, founded in part upon his +ready and sometimes rather caustic wit, and in part upon his prodigious +command of knowledge--the air of noble self-confidence which the +consciousness of these advantages impressed upon his manners--and the +general knowledge of the severe innocence of his life--all combined to +give him a station of superiority to others, which generally secured +him from open contradiction. And if it sometimes happened that he met a +noisy and intemperate opposition, supported by any pretences to wit, he +usually withdrew himself from that sort of unprofitable altercation +with dignity, by contriving to give such a turn to the conversation as +won the general favor of the company to himself, and impressed, +silence, or modesty at least, upon the boldest disputant. From a person +so little familiar with opposition, it could scarcely have been +anticipated that he should daily surrender his wishes to mine--if not +without discussion, yet always without displeasure. So, however, it +was. No habit, of whatever long standing, could be objected to as +injurious to his health, but he would generally renounce it. And he had +this excellent custom in such cases, that either he would resolutely +and at once decide for his own opinion, or, if he professed to follow +his friend's, he would follow it sincerely, and not try it unfairly by +trying it imperfectly. Any plan, however trifling, which he had once +consented to adopt on the suggestion of another, was never afterwards +defeated or embarrassed by unseasonable interposition from his own +humors. And thus, the very period of his decay drew forth so many fresh +expressions of his character, in its amiable or noble features, as +daily increased my affection and reverence for his person. + +Having mentioned his servants, I shall here take occasion to give some +account of his man-servant Lampe. It was a great misfortune for Kant, +in his old age and infirmities, that this man also became old, and +subject to a different sort of infirmities. This Lampe had originally +served in the Prussian army; on quitting which he entered the service +of Kant. In this situation he had lived about forty years; and, though +always dull and stupid, had, in the early part of this period, +discharged his duties with tolerable fidelity. But latterly, presuming +upon his own indispensableness, from his perfect knowledge of all the +domestic arrangements, and upon his master's weakness, he had fallen +into great irregularities and neglect of his duties. Kant had been +obliged, therefore, of late, to threaten repeatedly that he would +discharge him. I, who knew that Kant, though one of the kindest-hearted +men, was also one of the firmest, foresaw that this discharge, once +given, would be irrevocable: for the word of Kant was as sacred as +other men's oaths. Consequently, upon every opportunity, I remonstrated +with Lampe on the folly of his conduct, and his wife joined me on these +occasions. Indeed, it was high time that a change should be made in +some quarter; for it now became dangerous to leave Kant, who was +constantly falling from weakness, to the care of an old ruffian, who +was himself apt to fall from intoxication. The fact was, that from the +moment I undertook the management of Kant's affairs, Lampe saw there +was an end to his old system of abusing his master's confidence in +pecuniary affairs, and the other advantages which he took of his +helpless situation. This made him desperate, and he behaved worse and +worse; until one morning, in January, 1802, Kant told me, that, +humiliating as he felt such a confession, the fact was, that Lampe had +just treated him in a way which he was ashamed to repeat. I was too +much shocked to distress him by inquiring into the particulars. But the +result was, that Kant now insisted, temperately but firmly, on Lampe's +dismissal. Accordingly, a new servant, of the name of Kaufmann, was +immediately engaged; and on the next day Lampe was discharged with a +handsome pension for life. + +Here I must mention a little circumstance which does honor to Kant's +benevolence. In his last will, on the assumption that Lampe would +continue with him to his death, he had made a very liberal provision +for him; but upon this new arrangement of the pension, which was to +take effect immediately, it became necessary to revoke that part of his +will, which he did in a separate codicil, that began thus:--'In +consequence of the ill behavior of my servant Lampe, I think fit,' &c. +But soon after, considering that such a record of Lampe's misconduct +might be seriously injurious to his interests, he cancelled the +passage, and expressed it in such a way, that no trace remained behind +of his just displeasure. And his benign nature was gratified with +knowing, that, this one sentence blotted out, there remained no other +in all his numerous writings, published or confidential, which spoke +the language of anger, or could leave any ground for doubting that he +died in charity with all the world. Upon Lampe's calling to demand a +written character, he was, however, a good deal embarrassed; his stern +reverence for truth being, in this instance, armed against the first +impulses of his kindness. Long and anxiously he sat, with the +certificate lying before him, debating how he should fill up the +blanks. I was present, but in such a matter I did not take the liberty +of suggesting any advice. At last, he took his pen, and filled up the +blank as follows:--'--has served me long and faithfully,'--(for Kant +was not aware that he had robbed him,)--'but did not display those +particular qualifications which fitted him for waiting on an old and +infirm man like myself.' + +This scene of disturbance over, which to Kant, a lover of peace and +tranquillity, caused a shock that he would gladly have been spared; it +was fortunate that no other of that nature occurred during the rest of +his life. Kaufmann, the successor of Lampe, turned out to be a +respectable and upright man, and soon conceived a great attachment to +his master's person. Things now put on a new face in Kant's family: by +the removal of one of the belligerents, peace was once more restored +amongst his servants; for hitherto there had been eternal wars between +Lampe and the cook. Sometimes it was Lampe that carried a war of +aggression into the cook's territory of the kitchen; sometimes it was +the cook that revenged these insults, by sallying out upon Lampe in the +neutral ground of the hall, or invaded him even in his own sanctuary of +the butler's pantry. The uproars were everlasting; and thus far it was +fortunate for the peace of the philosopher, that his hearing had begun +to fail; by which means he was spared many an exhibition of hateful +passions and ruffian violence, which annoyed his guests and friends. +But now all things had changed: deep silence reigned in the pantry; the +kitchen rang no more with martial alarums; and the hall was unvexed +with skirmish or pursuit. Yet it may be readily supposed that to Kant, +at the age of seventy-eight, changes, even for the better, were not +welcome: so intense had been the uniformity of his life and habits, +that the least innovation in the arrangement of articles as trifling as +a penknife, or a pair of scissors, disturbed him; and not merely if +they were pushed two or three inches out of their customary position, +but even if they were laid a little awry; and as to larger objects, +such as chairs, &c., any dislocation of their usual arrangement, any +trans position, or addition to their number, perfectly confounded him; +and his eye appeared restlessly to haunt the seat of the mal- +arrangement, until the ancient order was restored. With such habits the +reader may conceive how distressing it must have been to him, at this +period of decaying powers, to adapt himself to a new servant, a new +voice, a new step, &c. + +Aware of this, I had on the day before he entered upon his duties, +written down for the new servant upon a sheet of paper the entire +routine of Kant's daily life, down to the minutest and most trivial +circumstances; all which he mastered with the greatest rapidity. To +make sure, however, we went through a rehearsal of the whole ritual; he +performing the manoeuvres, I looking on and giving the word. Still I +felt uneasy at the idea of his being left entirely to his own +discretion on his first _debut_ in good earnest, and therefore I +made a point of attending on this important day; and in the few +instances where the new recruit missed the accurate manoeuvre, a glance +or a nod from me easily made him comprehend his failure. + +One part only there was of the daily ceremonial, where all of us were +at a loss, as it was a part which no mortal eyes had ever witnessed but +those of Lampe: this was breakfast. However, that we might do all in +our power, I myself attended at four o'clock in the morning. The day +happened, as I remember, to be the 1st of February, 1802. Precisely at +five, Kant made his appearance; and nothing could equal his +astonishment on finding me in the room. Fresh from the confusion of +dreaming, and bewildered alike by the sight of his new servant, by +Lampe's absence, and by my presence, he could with difficulty be made +to comprehend the purpose of my visit. A friend in need is a friend +indeed; and we would now have given any money to that learned person +who could have instructed us in the arrangement of the breakfast table. +But this was a mystery revealed to none but Lampe. At length Kant took +this task upon himself; and apparently all was now settled to his +satisfaction. Yet still it struck me that he was under some +embarrassment or constraint. Upon this I said--that, with his +permission, I would take a cup of tea, and afterwards smoke a pipe with +him. He accepted my offer with his usual courteous demeanor; but seemed +unable to familiarize himself with the novelty of his situation. I was +at this time sitting directly opposite to him; and at last he frankly +told me, but with the kindest and most apologetic air, that he was +really under the necessity of begging that I would sit out of his +sight; for that, having sat alone at the breakfast table for +considerably more than half a century, he could not abruptly adapt his +mind to a change in this respect; and he found his thoughts very +sensibly disturbed. I did as he desired; the servant retired into an +antiroom, where he waited within call; and Kant recovered his wonted +composure. Just the same scene passed over again, when I called at the +same hour on a fine summer morning some months after. + +Henceforth all went right: or, if occasionally some little mistake +occurred, Kant showed himself very considerate and indulgent, and would +remark of his own accord, that a new servant could not be expected to +know all his peculiar ways and humors. In one respect, indeed, this man +adapted himself to Kant's scholarlike taste, in a way which Lampe was +incapable of doing. Kant was somewhat fastidious in matters of +pronunciation; and this man had a great facility in catching the true +sound of Latin words, the titles of books, and the names or +designations of Kant's friends: not one of which accomplishments could +Lampe, the most insufferable of blockheads, ever attain to. In +particular, I have been told by Kant's old friends, that for the space +of more than thirty years, during which he had been in the habit of +reading the newspaper published by Hartung, Lampe delivered it with the +same identical blunder on every day of publication.--'Mr. Professor, +here is Hart_mann's_ journal.' Upon which Kant would reply--'Eh! +what?--What's that you say? Hartmann's journal? I tell you, it is not +Hartmann, but Hartung: now, repeat it after me--not Hartmann, but +Hartung.' Then Lampe, looking sulky, and drawing himself up with the +stiff air of a soldier on guard, and in the very same monotonous tone +with which he had been used to sing out his challenge of--_Who goes +there?_ would roar--'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' 'Now again!' Kant +would say: on which again Lampe roared--'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' +'Now a third time,' cried Kant: on which for a third time the unhappy +Lampe would howl out--'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' And this whimsical +scene of parade duty was continually repeated: duly as the day of +publication came, the irreclaimable old dunce was put through the same +manoeuvres, which were as invariably followed by the same blunder on +the next. In spite, however, of this advantage, in the new servant, and +his general superiority to his predecessor, Kant's nature was too kind +and good, and too indulgent to all people's infirmities but his own, +not to miss the voice and the 'old familiar face' that he had been +accustomed to for forty years. And I met with what struck me as an +affecting instance of Kant's yearning after his old good-for-nothing +servant in his memorandum-book: other people record what they wish to +remember; but Kant had here recorded what he was to forget. 'Mem.: +February, 1802, the name of Lampe must now be remembered no more.' + +In the spring of this year, 1802, I advised Kant to take the air. It +was very long since he had been out of doors, [Footnote: Wasianski here +returns thanks to some unknown person, who, having observed that Kant +in his latter walks took pleasure in leaning against a particular wall +to view the prospect, had caused a seat to be fixed at that point for +his use.] and walking was now out of the question. But I thought the +motion of a carriage and the air would be likely to revive him. On the +power of vernal sights and sounds I did not much rely; for these had +long ceased to affect him. Of all the changes that spring brings with +it, there was one only that now interested Kant; and he longed for it +with an eagerness and intensity of expectation, that it was almost +painful to witness: this was the return of a hedge sparrow that sang in +his garden, and before his window. This bird, either the same, or one +of the next generation, had sung for years in the same situation; and +Kant grew uneasy when the cold weather, lasting longer than usual, +retarded its return. Like Lord Bacon, indeed, he had a childlike love +for birds in general, and in particular, took pains to encourage the +sparrows to build above the windows of his study; and when this +happened, (as it often did, from the silence which prevailed in his +study,) he watched their proceedings with the delight and the +tenderness which others give to a human interest. To return to the +point I was speaking of, Kant was at first very unwilling to accede to +my proposal of going abroad. 'I shall sink down in the carriage,' said +he, 'and fall together like a heap of old rags.' But I persisted with a +gentle importunity in urging him to the attempt, assuring him that we +would return immediately if he found the effort too much for him. +Accordingly, upon a tolerably warm day of early [Footnote: Mr. +Wasianski says--_late_ in summer: but, as he elsewhere describes +by the same expression of 'late in summer,' a day which was confessedly +_before_ the longest day, and as the multitude of birds which +continued to sing will not allow us to suppose that the summer could be +very far advanced, I have translated accordingly.] summer, I, and an +old friend of Kant's, accompanied him to a little place which I rented +in the country. As we drove through the streets, Kant was delighted to +find that he could sit upright, and bear the motion of the carriage, +and seemed to draw youthful pleasure from the sight of the towers and +other public buildings, which he had not seen for years. We reached the +place of our destination in high spirits. Kant drank a cup of coffee, +and attempted to smoke a little. After this, he sat and sunned himself, +listening with delight to the warbling of birds, which congregated in +great numbers about this spot. He distinguished every bird by its song, +and called it by its right name. After staying about half an hour, we +set off on our homeward journey, Kant still cheerful, but apparently +satiated with his day's enjoyment. + +I had on this occasion purposely avoided taking him to any public +gardens, that I might not disturb his pleasure by exposing him to the +distressing gaze of public curiosity. However, it was known in +Koenigsberg that Kant had gone out; and accordingly, as the carriage +moved through the streets which led to his residence, there was a +general rush from all quarters in that direction, and, when we turned +into the street where the house stood, we found it already choked up +with people. As we slowly drew up to the door, a lane was formed in the +crowd, through which Kant was led, I and my friend supporting him on +our arms. Looking at the crowd, I observed the faces of many persons of +rank, and distinguished strangers, some of whom now saw Kant for the +first time, and many of them for the last. + +As the winter of 1802-3 approached, he complained more than ever of an +affection of the stomach, which no medical man had been able to +mitigate, or even to explain. The winter passed over in a complaining +way; he was weary of life, and longed for the hour of dismission. 'I +can be of service to the world no more,' said he, 'and am a burden to +myself.' Often I endeavored to cheer him by the anticipation of +excursions that we would make together when summer came again. On these +he calculated with so much earnestness, that he had made a regular +scale or classification of them--l. Airings; 2. Journeys; 3. Travels. +And nothing could equal the yearning impatience expressed for the +coming of spring and summer, not so much for their own peculiar +attractions, as because they were the seasons for travelling. In his +memorandum-book, he made this note:--'The three summer months are June, +July, and August'--meaning that they were the three months for +travelling. And in conversation he expressed the feverish strength of +his wishes so plaintively and affectingly, that everybody was drawn +into powerful sympathy with him, and wished for some magical means of +ante-dating the course of the seasons. + +In this winter his bed-room was often warmed. This was the room in +which he kept his little collection of books, of about four hundred and +fifty volumes, chiefly presentation-copies from the authors. It may +seem singular that Kant, who read so extensively, should have no larger +library; but he had less need of one than most scholars, having in his +earlier years been librarian at the Royal Library of the Castle; and +since then having enjoyed from the liberality of Hartknoch, his +publisher, (who, in his turn, had profited by the liberal terms on +which Kant had made over to him the copyright of his own works,) the +first sight of every new book that appeared. + +At the close of this winter, that is in 1803, Kant first began to +complain of unpleasant dreams, sometimes of very terrific ones, which +awakened him in great agitation. Oftentimes melodies, which he had +heard in earliest youth sung in the streets of Koenigsberg, resounded +painfully in his ears, and dwelt upon them in a way from which no +efforts of abstraction could release him. These kept him awake to +unseasonable hours; and often when, after long watching, he had fallen +asleep, however deep his sleep might be, it was suddenly broken up by +terrific dreams, which alarmed him beyond description. Almost every +night, the bell-rope, which communicated with a bell in the room above +his own, where his servant slept, was pulled violently, and with the +utmost agitation. No matter how fast the servant might hurry down, he +was almost always too late, and was pretty sure to find his master out +of bed, and often making his way in terror to some other part of the +house. The weakness of his feet exposed him to such dreadful falls on +these occasions, that at length (but with much difficulty) I persuaded +him to let his servant sleep in the same room with himself. + +The morbid affection of the stomach began now to be more and more +distressing; and he tried various applications, which he had formerly +been loud in condemning, such as a few drops of rum upon a piece of +sugar, naphtha, [Footnote: For Kant's particular complaint, as +described by other biographers, a quarter of a grain of opium, every +twelve hours, would have been the best remedy, perhaps a perfect +remedy.] &c. But all these were only palliatives; for his advanced age +precluded the hope of a radical cure. His dreadful dreams became +continually more appalling: single scenes, or passages in these dreams, +were sufficient to compose the whole course of mighty tragedies, the +impression from which was so profound as to stretch far into his waking +hours. Amongst other phantasmata more shocking and indescribable, his +dreams constantly represented to him the forms of murderers advancing +to his bedside; and so agitated was he by the awful trains of phantoms +that swept past him nightly, that in the first confusion of awaking he +generally mistook his servant, who was hastening to his assistance, for +a murderer. In the day-time we often conversed upon these shadowy +illusions; and Kant, with his usual spirit of stoical contempt for +nervous weakness of every sort, laughed at them; and, to fortify his +own resolution to contend against them, he wrote down in his +memorandum-book, 'There must be no yielding to panics of darkness.' At +my suggestion, however, he now burned a light in his chamber, so placed +as that the rays might be shaded from his face. At first he was very +averse to this, though gradually he became reconciled to it. But that +he could bear it at all, was to me an expression of the great +revolution accomplished by the terrific agency of his dreams. +Heretofore, darkness and utter silence were the two pillars on which +his sleep rested: no step must approach his room; and as to light, if +he saw but a moonbeam penetrating a crevice of the shutters, it made +him unhappy; and, in fact, the windows of his bed-chamber were +barricadoed night and day. But now darkness was a terror to him, and +silence an oppression. In addition to his lamp, therefore, he had now a +repeater in his room; the sound was at first too loud, but, after +muffling the hammer with cloth, both the ticking and the striking +became companionable sounds to him. + +At this time (spring of 1803) his appetite began to fail, which I +thought no good sign. Many persons insist that Kant was in the habit of +eating too much for health. [Footnote: Who these worthy people were +that criticised Kant's eating, is not mentioned. They could have had no +opportunity of exercising their abilities on this question, except as +hosts, guests, or fellow-guests; and in any of those characters, a +gentleman, one would suppose, must feel himself degraded by directing +his attention to a point of that nature. However, the merits of the +case stand thus between the parlies: Kant, it is agreed by all his +biographers, ate only once a day; for as to his breakfast, it was +nothing more than a very weak infusion of tea, (vide Jachmann's +Letters, p. 163,) with no bread, or eatable of any kind. Now, his +critics, by general confession, ate their way, from 'morn to dewy eve,' +through the following course of meals: 1. Breakfast early in the +morning; 2. Breakfast _a la fourchette_ about ten, A.M.; 3. Dinner +at one or two; 4. Vesper Brod; 5. Abend Brod; all which does really +seem a very fair allowance for a man who means to lecture upon +abstinence at night. But I shall cut this matter short by stating one +plain fact; there were two things, and no more, for which Kant had an +inordinate craving during his whole life; these were tobacco and +coffee; and from both these he abstained almost altogether, merely +under a sense of duty, resting probably upon erroneous grounds. Of the +first he allowed himself a very small quantity, (and everybody knows +that temperance is a more difficult virtue than abstinence;) of the +other none at all, until the labors of his life were accomplished.] I, +however, cannot assent to this opinion; for he ate but once a day, and +drank no beer. Of this liquor, (I mean the strong black beer,) he was, +indeed, the most determined enemy. If ever a man died prematurely, Kant +would say--'He has been drinking beer, I presume.' Or, if another were +indisposed, you might be sure he would ask, 'But does he drink beer?' +And, according to the answer on this point, he regulated his +anticipations for the patient. Strong beer, in short, he uniformly +maintained to be a slow poison. Voltaire, by the way, had said to a +young physician who denounced coffee under the same bad name of a 'slow +poison,' 'You're right there, my friend, however; slow it is, and +horribly slow; for I have been drinking it these seventy years, and it +has not killed me yet;' but this was an answer which, in the case of +beer, Kant would not allow of. + +On the 22d of April, 1803, his birth-day, the last which he lived to +see, was celebrated in a full assembly of his friends. This festival he +had long looked forward to with great expectation, and delighted even +to hear the progress made in the preparations for it. But when the day +came, the over-excitement and tension of expectation seemed to have +defeated itself. He tried to appear happy; but the bustle of a numerous +company confounded and distressed him; and his spirits were manifestly +forced. He seemed first to revive to any real sense of pleasure at +night, when the company had departed, and he was undressing in his +study. He then talked with much pleasure about the presents which, as +usual, would be made to his servants on this occasion; for Kant was +never happy himself, unless he saw all around him happy. He was a great +maker of presents; but at the same time he had no toleration for the +studied theatrical effect, the accompaniment of formal congratulations, +and the sentimental pathos with which birth-day presents are made in +Germany. [Footnote: In this, as in many other things, the taste of Kant +was entirely English and Roman; as, on the other hand, some eminent +Englishmen, I am sorry to say, have, on this very point, shown the +effeminacy and _falsetto_ taste of the Germans. In particular, Mr. +Coleridge, describing, in The Friend, the custom amongst German +children of making presents to their parents on Christmas Eve, (a +custom which he unaccountably supposes to be peculiar to Ratzeburg,) +represents the mother as 'weeping aloud for joy'--the old idiot of a +father with 'tears running down his face,' &c. &c., and all for what? +For a snuff-box, a pencil-case, or some article of jewellery. Now, we +English agree with Kant on such maudlin display of stage +sentimentality, and are prone to suspect that papa's tears are the +product of rum-punch. Tenderness let us have by all means, and the +deepest you can imagine, but upon proportionate occasions, and with +causes fitted to justify it and sustain its dignity.] In all this, his +masculine taste gave him a sense of something fade and ludicrous. + +The summer of 1803 was now come, and, visiting Kant one day, I was +thunderstruck to hear him direct me, in the most serious tone, to +provide the funds necessary for an extensive foreign tour. I made no +opposition, but asked his reasons for such a plan; he alleged the +miserable sensations he had in his stomach, which were no longer +endurable. Knowing what power over Kant a quotation from a Roman poet +had always had, I simply replied--'Post equitem sedet atra cura,' and +for the present he said no more. But the touching and pathetic +earnestness with which he was continually ejaculating prayers for +warmer weather, made it doubtful to me whether his wishes on this point +ought not, partially at least, to be gratified; and I therefore +proposed to him a little excursion to the cottage we had visited the +year before. 'Anywhere,' said he, 'no matter whither, provided it be +far enough.' Towards the latter end of June, therefore, we executed +this scheme; on getting into the carriage, the order of the day with +Kant was, 'Distance, distance. Only let us go far enough,' said he: but +scarcely had we reached the city-gates before the journey seemed +already to have lasted too long. On reaching the cottage we found +coffee waiting for us; but he would scarcely allow himself time for +drinking it, before he ordered the carriage to the door; and the +journey back seemed insupportably long to him, though it was performed +in something less than twenty minutes. 'Is this never to have an end?' +was his continual exclamation; and great was his joy when he found +himself once more in his study, undressed, and in bed. And for this +night he slept in peace, and once again was liberated from the +persecution of dreams. + +Soon after he began again to talk of journeys, of travels in remote +countries, &c., and, in consequence, we repeated our former excursion +several times; and though the circumstances were pretty nearly the same +on every occasion, and always terminating in disappointment as to the +immediate pleasure anticipated, yet, undoubtedly, they were, on the +whole, salutary to his spirits. In particular, the cottage itself, +standing under the shelter of tall alders, with a valley stretched +beneath it, through which a little brook meandered, broken by a water- +fall, whose pealing sound dwelt pleasantly on the ear, sometimes, on a +quiet sunny day, gave a lively delight to Kant: and once, under +accidental circumstances of summer clouds and sun-lights, the little +pastoral landscape suddenly awakened a lively remembrance which had +been long laid asleep, of a heavenly summer morning in youth, which he +had passed in a bower upon the banks of a rivulet that ran through the +grounds of a dear and early friend, Gen. Von Lossow. The strength of +the impression was such, that he seemed actually to be living over that +morning again, thinking as he then thought, and conversing with those +that were no more. + +His very last excursion was in August of this year, (1803,) not to my +cottage, but to the garden of a friend. But on this day he manifested +great impatience. It had been arranged that he was to meet an old +friend at the gardens; and I, with two other gentlemen, attended him. +It happened that _out_ party arrived first; and such was Kant's +weakness, and total loss of power to estimate the duration of time, +that, after waiting a few moments, he insisted that some hours had +elapsed--that his friend could not be expected--and went away in great +discomposure of mind. And so ended Kant's travelling in this world. + +In the beginning of autumn the sight of his right eye began to fail +him; the left he had long lost the use of. This earliest of his losses, +by the way, he discovered by mere accident, and without any previous +warning. Sitting down one day to rest himself in the course of a walk, +it occurred to him that he would try the comparative strength of his +eyes; but on taking out a newspaper which he had in his pocket, he was +surprised to find that with his left eye he could not distinguish a +letter. In earlier life he had two remarkable affections of the eyes: +once, on returning from a walk, he saw objects double for a long space +of time; and twice he became stone-blind. Whether these accidents are +to be considered as uncommon, I leave to the decision of oculists. +Certain it is, they gave very little disturbance to Kant; who, until +old age had reduced his powers, lived in a constant state of stoical +preparation for the worst that could befall him. I was now shocked to +think of the degree in which his burthensome sense of dependence would +be aggravated, if he should totally lose the power of sight. As it was, +he read and wrote with great difficulty: in fact, his writing was +little better than that which most people can produce as a trial of +skill with their eyes shut. From old habits of solitary study, he had +no pleasure in hearing others read to him; and he daily distressed me +by the pathetic earnestness of his entreaties that I would have a +reading-glass devised for him. Whatever my own optical skill could +suggest, I tried; and the best opticians were sent for to bring their +glasses, and take his directions for altering them; but all was to no +purpose. + +In this last year of his life Kant very unwillingly received the visits +of strangers; and, unless under particular circumstances, wholly +declined them. Yet, when travellers had come a very great way out of +their road to see him, I confess that I was at a loss how to conduct +myself. To have refused too pertinaciously, could not but give me the +air of wishing to make myself of importance. And I must acknowledge, +that, amongst some instances of importunity and coarse expressions of +low-bred curiosity, I witnessed, on the part of many people of rank, a +most delicate sensibility to the condition of the aged recluse. On +sending in their cards, they would generally accompany them by some +message, expressive of their unwillingness to gratify their wish to see +him at any risk of distressing him. The fact was, that such visits +_did_ distress him much; for he felt it a degradation to be exhibited +in his helpless state, when he was aware of his own incapacity to meet +properly the attention that was paid to him. Some, however, were +admitted, [Footnote: To whom it appears that Kant would generally +reply, upon their expressing the pleasure it gave them to see him, +'In me you behold a poor superannuated, weak, old man.'] according +to the circumstances of the case, and the state of Kant's spirits at +the moment. Amongst these, I remember that we were particularly pleased +with M. Otto, the same who signed the treaty of peace between France +and England with the present Lord Liverpool, (then Lord Hawkesbury.) A +young Russian also rises to my recollection at this moment, from the +excessive (and I think unaffected) enthusiasm which he displayed. On +being introduced to Kant, he advanced hastily, took both his hands, and +kissed them. Kant, who, from living so much amongst his English +friends, had a good deal of the English dignified reserve about him, +and hated anything like _scenes_, appeared to shrink a little from +this mode of salutation, and was rather embarrassed. However, the young +man's manner, I believe, was not at all beyond his genuine feelings; +for next day he called again, made some inquiries about Kant's health, +was very anxious to know whether his old age were burthensome to him, +and above all things entreated for some little memorial of the great +man to carry away with him. By accident the servant had found a small +cancelled fragment of the original MS. of Kant's 'Anthropologie:' this, +with my sanction, he gave to the Russian; who received it with rapture, +kissed it, and then gave him in return the only dollar he had about +him; and, thinking that not enough, actually pulled off his coat and +waistcoat and forced them upon the man. Kant, whose native simplicity +of character very much indisposed him to sympathy with any +extravagances of feeling, could not, however, forbear smiling good- +humoredly on being made acquainted with this instance of _naivete_ +and enthusiasm in his young admirer. + +I now come to an event in Kant's life, which ushered in its closing +stage. On the 8th of October, 1803, for the first time since his youth, +he was seriously ill. When a student at the University, he had once +suffered from an ague, which, however, gave way to pedestrian exercise; +and in later years, he had endured some pain from a contusion on his +head; but, with these two exceptions, (if they can be considered such,) +he had never (properly speaking) been ill. The cause of his illness was +this: his appetite had latterly been irregular, or rather I should say +depraved; and he no longer took pleasure in anything but bread and +butter, and English cheese.[Footnote: Mr. W. here falls into the +ordinary mistake of confounding the cause and the occasion, and would +leave the impression, that Kant (who from his youth up had been a model +of temperance) died of sensual indulgence. The cause of Kant's death +was clearly the general decay of the vital powers, and in particular +the atony of the digestive organs, which must soon have destroyed him +under any care or abstinence whatever. This was the cause. The +accidental occasion, which made that cause operative on the 7th of +October, might or might not be what Mr. W. says. But in Kant's +burthensome state of existence, it could not be a question of much +importance whether his illness were to commence in an October or a +November.] On the 7th of October, at dinner, he ate little else, in +spite of everything that I and another friend then dining with him, +could urge to dissuade him. And for the first time I fancied that he +seemed displeased with my importunity, as though I were overstepping +the just line of my duties. He insisted that the cheese never had done +him any harm, nor would now. I had no course left me but to hold my +tongue; and he did as he pleased. The consequence was what might have +been anticipated--a restless night, succeeded by a day of memorable +illness. The next morning all went on as usual, till nine o'clock, when +Kant, who was then leaning on his sister's arm, suddenly fell senseless +to the ground. A messenger was immediately despatched for me; and I +hurried down to his house, where I found him lying in his bed, which +had now been removed into his study, speechless and insensible. I had +already summoned his physician; but, before he arrived, nature put +forth efforts which brought Kant a little to himself. In about an hour +he opened his eyes, and continued to mutter unintelligibly till towards +the evening, when he rallied a little, and began to talk rationally. +For the first time in his life, he was now, for a few days, confined to +his bed, and ate nothing. On the 12th October, he again took some +refreshment, and would have had his favorite food; but I was now +resolved, at any risk of his displeasure, to oppose him firmly. I +therefore stated to him the whole consequences of his last indulgence, +of all which he manifestly had no recollection. He listened to what I +said very attentively, and calmly expressed his conviction that I was +perfectly in the wrong; but for the present he submitted. However, some +days after, I found that he had offered a florin for a little bread and +cheese, and then a dollar, and even more. Being again refused, he +complained heavily; but gradually he weaned himself from asking for it, +though at times he betrayed involuntarily how much he desired it. + +On the 13th of October, his usual dinner parties were resumed, and he +was considered convalescent; but it was seldom indeed that he recovered +the tone of tranquil spirits which he had preserved until his late +attack. Hitherto he had always loved to prolong this meal, the only one +he took--or, as he expressed it in classical phrase, 'coenam +_ducere_;' but now it was difficult to hurry it over fast enough +for his wishes. From dinner, which terminated about two o'clock, he +went straight to bed, and at intervals fell into slumbers; from which, +however, he was regularly awoke by phantasmata or terrific dreams. At +seven in the evening came on duly a period of great agitation, which +lasted till five or six in the morning--sometimes later; and he +continued through the night alternately to walk about and lie down, +occasionally tranquil, but more often in great distress. It now became +necessary that somebody should sit up with him, his man-servant being +wearied out with the toils of the day. No person seemed to be so proper +for this office as his sister, both as having long received a very +liberal pension from him, and also as his nearest relative, who would +be the best witness to the fact that her illustrious brother had wanted +no comforts or attention in his last hours, which his situation +admitted of. Accordingly she was applied to, and undertook to watch him +alternately with his footman--a separate table being kept for her, and +a very handsome addition made to her allowance. She turned out to be a +quiet gentle-minded woman, who raised no disturbances amongst the +servants, and soon won her brother's regard by the modest and retiring +style of her manners; I may add, also, by the truly sisterly affection +which she displayed towards him to the last. + +The 8th of October had grievously affected Kant's faculties, but had +not wholly destroyed them. For short intervals the clouds seemed to +roll away that had settled upon his majestic intellect, and it shone +forth as heretofore. During these moments of brief self-possession, his +wonted benignity returned to him; and he expressed his gratitude for +the exertions of those about him, and his sense of the trouble they +underwent, in a very affecting way. With regard to his man-servant in +particular, he was very anxious that he should be rewarded by liberal +presents; and he pressed me earnestly on no account to be parsimonious. +Indeed Kant was nothing less than princely in his use of money; and +there was no occasion on which he was known to express the passion of +scorn very powerfully, but when he was commenting on mean and penurious +acts or habits. Those who knew him only in the streets, fancied that he +was not liberal; for he steadily refused, upon principle, to relieve +all common beggars. But, on the other hand, he was liberal to the +public charitable institutions; he secretly assisted his own poor +relations in a much ampler way than could reasonably have been expected +of him; and it now appeared that he had many other deserving pensioners +upon his bounty; a fact that was utterly unknown to any of us, until +his increasing blindness and other infirmities devolved the duty of +paying these pensions upon myself. It must be recollected, also, that +Kant's whole fortune, which amounted to about twenty thousand dollars, +was the product of his own honorable toils for nearly threescore years; +and that he had himself suffered all the hardships of poverty in his +youth, though he never once ran into any man's debt,--circumstances in +his history, which, as they express how fully he must have been +acquainted with the value of money, greatly enhance the merit of his +munificence. + +In December, 1803, he became incapable of signing his name. His sight, +indeed, had for some time failed him so much, that at dinner he could +not find his spoon without assistance; and, when I happened to dine +with him, I first cut in pieces whatever was on his plate, next put it +into a spoon, and then guided his hand to find the spoon. But his +inability to sign his name did not arise merely from blindness: the +fact was, that, from irretention of memory, he could not recollect the +letters which composed his name; and, when they were repeated to him, +he could not represent the figure of the letters in his imagination. At +the latter end of November, I had remarked that these incapacities were +rapidly growing upon him, and in consequence I prevailed on him to sign +beforehand all the receipts, &c., which would be wanted at the end of +the year; and, afterwards, on my representation, to prevent all +disputes, he gave me a regular legal power to sign on his behalf. + +Much as Kant was now reduced, yet he had occasionally moods of social +hilarity. His birth-day was always an agreeable subject to him: some +weeks before his death, I was calculating the time which it still +wanted of that anniversary, and cheering him with the prospect of the +rejoicings which would then take place: 'All your old friends,' said I, +'will meet together, and drink a glass of champagne to your health.' +'That,' said he, 'must be done upon the spot:' and he was not satisfied +till the party was actually assembled. He drank a glass of wine with +them, and with great elevation of spirits celebrated this birth-day +which he was destined never to see. + +In the latter weeks of his life, however, a great change took place in +the tone of his spirits. At his dinner-table, where heretofore such a +cloudless spirit of joviality had reigned, there was now a melancholy +silence. It disturbed him to see his two dinner companions conversing +privately together, whilst he himself sat like a mute on the stage with +no part to perform. Yet to have engaged him in the conversation would +have been still more distressing; for his hearing was now very +imperfect; the effort to hear was itself painful to him; and his +expressions, even when his thoughts were accurate enough, became nearly +unintelligible. It is remarkable, however, that at the very lowest +point of his depression, when he became perfectly incapable of +conversing with any rational meaning on the ordinary affairs of life, +he was still able to answer correctly and distinctly, in a degree that +was perfectly astonishing, upon any question of philosophy or of +science, especially of physical geography, [Footnote: _Physical_ +Geography, in opposition to _Political_.] chemistry, or natural +history. He talked satisfactorily, in his very worst state, of the +gases, and stated very accurately different propositions of Kepler's, +especially the law of the planetary motions. And I remember in +particular, that upon the very last Monday of his life, when the +extremity of his weakness moved a circle of his friends to tears, and +he sat amongst us insensible to all we could say to him, cowering down, +or rather I might say collapsing into a shapeless heap upon his chair, +deaf, blind, torpid, motionless,--even then I whispered to the others +that I would engage that Kant should take his part in conversation with +propriety and animation. This they found it difficult to believe. Upon +which I drew close to his ear, and put a question to him about the +Moors of Barbary. To the surprise of everybody but myself, he +immediately gave us a summary account of their habits and customs; and +told us by the way, that in the word _Algiers_, the _g_ ought to be +pronounced hard (as in the English word _gear_). + +During the last fortnight of Kant's life, he busied himself unceasingly +in a way that seemed not merely purposeless but self-contradictory. +Twenty times in a minute he would unloose and tie his neck +handkerchief--so also with a sort of belt which he wore about his +dressing-gown, the moment it was clasped, he unclasped it with +impatience, and was then equally impatient to have it clasped again. +But no description can convey an adequate impression of the weary +restlessness with which from morning to night he pursued these labors +of Sisyphus--doing and undoing--fretting that he could not do it, +fretting that he had done it. + +By this time he seldom knew any of us who were about him, but took us +all for strangers. This happened first with his sister, then with me, +and finally with his servant. Such an alienation distressed me more +than any other instance of his decay: though I knew that he had not +really withdrawn his affection from me, yet his air and mode of +addressing me gave me constantly that feeling. So much the more +affecting was it, when the sanity of his perceptions and his +remembrances returned; but these intervals were of slower and slower +occurrence. In this condition, silent or babbling childishly, self- +involved and torpidly abstracted, or else busy with self-created +phantoms and delusions, what a contrast did he offer to _that_ +Kant who had once been the brilliant centre of the most brilliant +circles for rank, wit, or knowledge, that Prussia afforded! A +distinguished person from Berlin, who had called upon him during the +preceding summer, was greatly shocked at his appearance, and said, +'This is not Kant that I have seen, but the shell of Kant!' How much +more would he have said this, if he had seen him now! + +Now came February, 1804, which was the last month that Kant was +destined to see. It is remarkable that, in the memorandum book which I +have before mentioned, I found a fragment of an old song, (inserted by +Kant, and dated in the summer about six months before the time of his +death,) which expressed that February was the month in which people had +the least weight to carry, for the obvious reason that it was shorter +by two and by three days than the others; and the concluding sentiment +was in a tone of fanciful pathos to this effect--'Oh, happy February! +in which man has least to bear--least pain, least sorrow, least self- +reproach!' Even of this short month, however, Kant had not twelve +entire days to bear; for it was on the 12th that he died; and in fact +he may be said to have been dying from the 1st. He now barely +vegetated; though there were still transitory gleams flashing by fits +from the embers of his ancient intellect. + +On the 3d of February the springs of life seemed to be ceasing from +their play, for, from this day, strictly speaking, he ate nothing more. +His existence henceforward seemed to be the mere prolongation of an +impetus derived from an eighty years' life, after the moving power of +the mechanism was withdrawn. His physician visited him every day at a +particular hour; and it was settled that I should always be there to +meet him. Nine days before his death, on paying his usual visit, the +following little circumstance occurred, which affected us both, by +recalling forcibly to our minds the ineradicable courtesy and goodness +of Kant's nature. When the physician was announced, I went up to Kant +and said to him, 'Here is Dr. A----.' Kant rose from his chair, and, +offering his hand to the Doctor, murmured something in which the word +'posts' was frequently repeated, but with an air as though he wished to +be helped out with the rest of the sentence. Dr. A----, who thought +that, by _posts_, he meant the stations for relays of post-horses, and +therefore that his mind was wandering, replied that all the horses were +engaged, and begged him to compose himself. But Kant went on, with +great effort to himself, and added--'Many posts, heavy posts--then much +goodness--then much gratitude.' All this he said with apparent +incoherence, but with great warmth, and increasing self-possession. I +meantime perfectly divined what it was that Kant, under his cloud of +imbecility, wished to say, and I interpreted accordingly. 'What the +Professor wishes to say, Dr. A----, is this, that, considering the many +and weighty offices which you fill in the city and in the university, +it argues great goodness on your part to give up so much of your time +to him,' (for Dr. A---- would never take any fees from Kant;) 'and that +he has the deepest sense of this goodness.' 'Right,' said Kant, +earnestly, 'right!' But he still continued to stand, and was nearly +sinking to the ground. Upon which I remarked to the physician, that I +was so well acquainted with Kant, that I was satisfied he would not sit +down, however much he suffered from standing, until he knew that his +visitors were seated. The Doctor seemed to doubt this--but Kant, who +heard what I said, by a prodigious effort confirmed my construction of +his conduct, and spoke distinctly these words--'God forbid I should be +sunk so low as to forget the offices of humanity.' + +When dinner was announced, Dr. A---- took his leave. Another guest had +now arrived, and I was in hopes, from the animation which Kant had so +recently displayed, that we should to-day have a pleasant party, but my +hopes were vain--Kant was more than usually exhausted, and though he +raised a spoon to his mouth, he swallowed nothing. For some time +everything had been tasteless to him; and I had endeavored, but with +little success, to stimulate the organs of taste by nutmeg, cinnamon, +&c. To-day all failed, and I could not even prevail upon him to taste a +biscuit, rusk, or anything of that sort. I had once heard him say that +several of his friends, who had died of _marasmus_, had closed +their illness by four or five days of entire freedom from pain, but +totally without appetite, and then slumbered tranquilly away. Through +this state I apprehended that he was himself now passing. + +Saturday, the 4th of February, I heard his guests loudly expressing +their fears that they should never meet him again; and I could not but +share these fears myself. However, on + +Sunday, the 5th, I dined at his table in company with his particular +friend Mr. R. R. V. Kant was still present, but so weak that his head +drooped upon his knees, and he sank down against the right side of the +chair. I went and arranged his pillows so as to raise and support his +head; and, having done this, I said--'Now, my dear Sir, you are again +in right order.' Great was our astonishment when he answered clearly +and audibly in the Roman military phrase--'Yes, _testudine et +facie;_' and immediately after added, 'Ready for the enemy, and in +battle array.' His powers of mind were (if I may be allowed that +expression) smouldering away in their ashes; but every now and then +some lambent flame, or grand emanation of light, shot forth to make it +evident that the ancient fire still slumbered below. + +Monday, the 6th, he was much weaker and more torpid: he spoke not a +word, except on the occasion of my question about the Moors, as +previously stated, and sate with sightless eyes, lost in himself, and +manifesting no sense of our presence, so that we had the feeling of +some mighty shade or phantom from some forgotten century being seated +amongst us. + +About this time, Kant had become much more tranquil and composed. In +the earlier periods of his illness, when his yet unbroken strength was +brought into active contest with the first attacks of decay, he was apt +to be peevish, and sometimes spoke roughly or even harshly to his +servants. This, though very opposite to his natural disposition, was +altogether excusable under the circumstances. He could not make himself +understood: things were therefore brought to him continually which he +had not asked for; and often it happened that what he really wanted he +could not obtain, because all his efforts to name it were +unintelligible. A violent nervous irritation, besides, affected him +from the unsettling of the equilibrium in the different functions of +his nature; weakness in one organ being made more palpable to him by +disproportionate strength in another. But now the strife was over; the +whole system was at length undermined, and in rapid and harmonious +progress to dissolution. And from this time forward, no movement of +impatience, or expression of fretfulness, ever escaped him. + +I now visited him three times a-day; and on + +Tuesday, Feb. 7th, going about dinner-time, I found the usual party of +friends sitting down alone; for Kant was in bed. This was a new scene +in his house, and increased our fears that his end was now at hand. +However, having seen him rally so often, I would not run the risk of +leaving him without a dinner-party for the next day; and accordingly, +at the customary hour of one, we assembled in his house on + +Wednesday, Feb. 8th. I paid my respects to him as cheerfully as +possible, and ordered dinner to be served up. Kant sat at the table +with us; and, taking a spoon with a little soup in it, put it to his +lips; but immediately put it down again, and retired to bed, from which +he never rose again, except during the few minutes when it was re- +arranged. + +Thursday, the 9th, he had sunk into the weakness of a dying person, and +the corpse-like appearance had already taken possession of him. I +visited him frequently through the day; and, going at ten o'clock at +night, I found him in a state of insensibility. I could not draw any +sign from him that he knew me, and I left him to the care of his sister +and his servant. + +Friday, the 10th, I went to see him at six o'clock in the morning. It +was very stormy, and a deep snow had fallen in the night-time. And, by +the way, I remember that a gang of house-breakers had forced their way +through the premises in order to reach Kant's next neighbor, who was a +goldsmith. As I drew near to his bed-side, I said, 'Good morning.' He +returned my salutation by saying, 'Good morning,' but in so feeble and +faltering a voice that it was hardly articulate. I was rejoiced to find +him sensible, and I asked him if he knew me:--'Yes,' he replied; and, +stretching out his hand, touched me gently upon the cheek. Through the +rest of the day, whenever I visited him, he seemed to have relapsed +into a state of insensibility. + +Saturday, the 11th, he lay with fixed and rayless eyes; but to all +appearance in perfect peace. I asked him again, on this day, if he knew +me. He was speechless, but he turned his face towards me and made signs +that I should kiss him. Deep emotion thrilled me, as I stooped down to +kiss his pallid lips; for I knew that in this solemn act of tenderness +he meant to express his thankfulness for our long friendship, and to +signify his affection and his last farewell. I had never seen him +confer this mark of his love upon anybody, except once, and that was a +few weeks before his death, when he drew his sister to him and kissed +her. The kiss which he now gave to me was the last memorial that he +knew me. + +Whatever fluid was now offered to him passed the oesophagus with a +rattling sound, as often happens with dying people; and there were all +the signs of death being close at hand. + +I wished to stay with him till all was over; and as I had been witness +of his life, to be witness also of his departure; and therefore I never +quitted him except when I was called off for a few minutes to attend +some private business. The whole of this night I spent at his bed-side. +Though he had passed the day in a state of insensibility, yet in the +evening he made intelligible signs that he wished to have his bed put +in order; he was therefore lifted out in our arms, and the bed-clothes +and pillows being hastily arranged, he was carried back again. He did +not sleep; and a spoonful of liquid, which was sometimes put to his +lips, he usually pushed aside; but about one o'clock in the night he +himself made a motion towards the spoon, from which I collected that he +was thirsty; and I gave him a small quantity of wine and water +sweetened; but the muscles of his mouth had not strength enough to +retain it, so that to prevent its flowing back he raised his hand to +his lips, until with a rattling sound it was swallowed. He seemed to +wish for more; and I continued to give him more, until he said, in a +way that I was just able to understand,--'It is enough.' And these were +his last words. At intervals he pushed away the bed-clothes, and +exposed his person; I constantly restored the clothes to their +situation, and on one of these occasions I found that the whole body +and extremities were already growing cold, and the pulse intermitting. + +At a quarter after three o'clock on Sunday morning, February 12, Kant +stretched himself out as if taking a position for his final act, and +settled into the precise posture which he preserved to the moment of +death. The pulse was now no longer perceptible to the touch in his +hands, feet or neck. I tried every part where a pulse beats, and found +none anywhere but in the left hip, where it beat with violence, but +often intermitted. + +About ten o'clock in the forenoon he suffered a remarkable change; his +eye was rigid and his face and lips became discolored by a cadaverous +pallor. Still, such was the effect of his previous habits, that no +trace appeared of the cold sweat which naturally accompanies the last +mortal agony. + +It was near eleven o'clock when the moment of dissolution approached. +His sister was standing at the foot of the bed, his sister's son at the +head. I, for the purpose of still observing the fluctuations of the +pulse in his hip, was kneeling at the bed-side; and I called his +servant to come and witness the death of his good master. Now began the +last agony, if to him it could be called an agony, where there seemed +to be no struggle. And precisely at this moment, his distinguished +friend, Mr. R. R. V., whom I had summoned by a messenger, entered the +room. First of all, the breath grew feebler; then it missed its +regularity of return; then it wholly intermitted, and the upper lip was +slightly convulsed; after this there followed one slight respiration or +sigh; and after that no more; but the pulse still beat for a few +seconds--slower and fainter, till it ceased altogether; the mechanism +stopped; the last motion was at an end; and exactly at that moment the +clock struck eleven. + +Soon after his death the head of Kant was shaved; and, under the +direction of Professor Knorr, a plaster cast was taken, not a masque +merely, but a cast of the whole bead, designed (I believe) to enrich +the craniological collection of Dr. Gall. + +The corpse being laid out and properly attired, immense numbers of +people of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, flocked to see +it. Everybody was anxious to make use of the last opportunity he would +have for entitling himself to say--'I too have seen Kant.' This went on +for many days--during which, from morning to night, the house was +thronged with the public. Great was the astonishment of all people at +the meagreness of Kant's appearance; and it was universally agreed that +a corpse so wasted and fleshless had never been beheld. His head rested +upon the same cushion on which once the gentlemen of the university had +presented an address to him; and I thought that I could not apply it to +a more honorable purpose than by placing it in the coffin, as the final +pillow of that immortal head. + +Upon the style and mode of his funeral, Kant had expressed his wishes +in earlier years in a separate memorandum. He there desired that it +should take place early in the morning, with as little noise and +disturbance as possible, and attended only by a few of his most +intimate friends. Happening to meet with this memorandum, whilst I was +engaged at his request in arranging his papers, I very frankly gave him +my opinion, that such an injunction would lay me, as the executor of +his will, under great embarrassments; for that circumstances might very +probably arise under which it would be next to impossible to carry it +into effect. Upon this Kant tore the paper, and left the whole to my +own discretion. The fact was, I foresaw that the students of the +University would never allow themselves to be robbed of this occasion +for expressing their veneration by a public funeral. The event showed +that I was right; for a funeral such as Kant's, one so solemn and so +magnificent, the city of Koenigsberg has never witnessed before or +since. The public journals, and separate accounts in pamphlets, etc., +have given so minute an account of its details, that I shall here +notice only the heads of the ceremony. + +On the 28th of February, at two o'clock in the afternoon, all the +dignitaries of church and state, not only those resident in Koenigsberg, +but from the remotest parts of Prussia, assembled in the church of the +Castle. Hence they were escorted by the whole body of the University, +splendidly dressed for the occasion, and by many military officers of +rank, with whom Kant had always been a great favorite, to the house of +the deceased Professor; from which the corpse was carried by torch- +light, the bells of every church in Koenigsberg tolling, to the +Cathedral which was lit up by innumerable wax-lights. A never-ending +train of many thousand persons followed it on foot. In the Cathedral, +after the usual burial rites, accompanied with every possible +expression of national veneration to the deceased, there was a grand +musical service, most admirably performed, at the close of which Kant's +mortal remains were lowered into the academic vault, where he now rests +among the ancient patriarchs of the University. PEACE BE TO HIS DUST, +AND EVERLASTING HONOR! + + + + +END OF VOLUME II + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, +by Thomas De Quincey + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE QUINCY'S PAPERS *** + +This file should be named 7qncc10.txt or 7qncc10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7qncc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7qncc10a.txt + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers + +Author: Thomas De Quincey + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6148] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on November 19, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE QUINCY'S PAPERS *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +NARRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. + +BY +THOMAS DE QUINCEY. + + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. + + +THE HOUSEHOLD WRECK +THE SPANISH NUN +FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. + + +SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES +MODERN SUPERSTITION +COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING +TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT +ON WAR +THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT + + + + + +THE HOUSEHOLD WRECK. + + +'To be weak,' we need not the great archangel's voice to tell us, +'_is to be miserable_.' All weakness is suffering and humiliation, +no matter for its mode or its subject. Beyond all other weakness, +therefore, and by a sad prerogative, as more miserable than what is +most miserable in all, that capital weakness of man which regards the +_tenure_ of his enjoyments and his power to protect, even for a +moment, the crown of flowers--flowers, at the best, how frail and few! +--which sometimes settles upon his haughty brow. There is no end, there +never will be an end, of the lamentations which ascend from earth and +the rebellious heart of her children, upon this huge opprobrium of +human pride--the everlasting mutabilities of all which man can grasp by +his power or by his aspirations, the fragility of all which he +inherits, and the hollowness visible amid the very raptures of +enjoyment to every eye which looks for a moment underneath the +draperies of the shadowy _present_, the hollowness, the blank +treachery of hollowness, upon which all the pomps and vanities of life +ultimately repose. This trite but unwearying theme, this impassioned +common-place of humanity, is the subject in every age of variation +without end, from the poet, the rhetorician, the fabulist, the +moralist, the divine, and the philosopher. All, amidst the sad vanity +of their sighs and groans, labor to put on record and to establish this +monotonous complaint, which needs not other record or evidence than +those very sighs and groans. What is life? Darkness and formless +vacancy for a beginning, or something beyond all beginning--then next a +dim lotos of human consciousness, finding itself afloat upon the bosom +of waters without a shore--then a few sunny smiles and many tears--a +little love and infinite strife--whisperings from paradise and fierce +mockeries from the anarchy of chaos--dust and ashes--and once more +darkness circling round, as if from the beginning, and in this way +rounding or making an island of our fantastic existence,--_that_ +is human life; _that_ the inevitable amount of man's laughter and +his tears--of what he suffers and he does--of his motions this way and +that way--to the right or to the left--backwards or forwards--of all +his seeming realities and all his absolute negations--his shadowy +pomps and his pompous shadows--of whatsoever he thinks, finds, makes +or mars, creates or animates, loves, hates, or in dread hope +anticipates;--so it is, so it has been, so it will be, for ever and +ever. + +Yet in the lowest deep there still yawns a lower deep; and in the vast +halls of man's frailty, there are separate and more gloomy chambers of +a frailty more exquisite and consummate. We account it frailty that +threescore years and ten make the upshot of man's pleasurable +existence, and that, far before that time is reached, his beauty and +his power have fallen among weeds and forgetfulness. But there is a +frailty, by comparison with which this ordinary flux of the human race +seems to have a vast duration. Cases there are, and those not rare, in +which a single week, a day, an hour sweeps away all vestiges and +landmarks of a memorable felicity; in which the ruin travels faster +than the flying showers upon the mountain-side, faster 'than a musician +scatters sounds;' in which 'it was' and 'it is not' are words of the +self-same tongue, in the self-same minute; in which the sun that at +noon beheld all sound and prosperous, long before its setting hour +looks out upon a total wreck, and sometimes upon the total abolition of +any fugitive memorial that there ever had been a vessel to be wrecked, +or a wreck to be obliterated. + +These cases, though here spoken of rhetorically, are of daily +occurrence; and, though they may seem few by comparison with the +infinite millions of the species, they are many indeed, if they be +reckoned absolutely for themselves; and throughout the limits of a +whole nation, not a day passes over us but many families are robbed of +their heads, or even swallowed up in ruin themselves, or their course +turned out of the sunny beams into a dark wilderness. Shipwrecks and +nightly conflagrations are sometimes, and especially among some +nations, wholesale calamities; battles yet more so; earthquakes, the +famine, the pestilence, though rarer, are visitations yet wider in +their desolation. Sickness and commercial ill-luck, if narrower, are +more frequent scourges. And most of all, or with most darkness in its +train, comes the sickness of the brain--lunacy--which, visiting nearly +one thousand in every million, must, in every populous nation, make +many ruins in each particular day. 'Babylon in ruins,' says a great +author, 'is not so sad a sight as a human soul overthrown by lunacy.' +But there is a sadder even than _that_,--the sight of a family-ruin +wrought by crime is even more appalling. Forgery, breaches of trust, +embezzlement, of private or public funds--(a crime sadly on the +increase since the example of Fauntleroy, and the suggestion of its +great feasibility first made by him)--these enormities, followed too +often, and countersigned for their final result to the future happiness +of families, by the appalling catastrophe of suicide, must naturally, +in every wealthy nation, or wherever property and the modes of property +are much developed, constitute the vast majority of all that come under +the review of public justice. Any of these is sufficient to make +shipwreck of all peace and comfort for a family; and often, indeed, it +happens that the desolation is accomplished within the course of one +revolving sun; often the whole dire catastrophe, together with its +total consequences, is both accomplished and made known to those whom +it chiefly concerns within one and the same hour. The mighty Juggernaut +of social life, moving onwards with its everlasting thunders, pauses +not for a moment to spare--to pity--to look aside, but rushes forward +for ever, impassive as the marble in the quarry--caring not for whom it +destroys, for the how many, or for the results, direct and indirect, +whether many or few. The increasing grandeur and magnitude of the +social system, the more it multiplies and extends its victims, the more +it conceals them; and for the very same reason: just as in the Roman +amphitheatres, when they grew to the magnitude of mighty cities, (in +some instances accommodating four hundred thousand spectators, in many +a fifth part of that amount,) births and deaths became ordinary events, +which, in a small modern theatre, are rare and memorable; and exactly +as these prodigious accidents multiplied, _pari passu_, they were +disregarded and easily concealed: for curiosity was no longer excited; +the sensation attached to them was little or none. + +From these terrific tragedies, which, like monsoons or tornadoes, +accomplish the work of years in an hour, not merely an impressive +lesson is derived, sometimes, perhaps, a warning, but also (and this is +of universal application) some consolation. Whatever may have been the +misfortunes or the sorrows of a man's life, he is still privileged to +regard himself and his friends as amongst the fortunate by comparison, +in so far as he has escaped these wholesale storms, either as an actor +in producing them, or a contributor to their violence--or even more +innocently, (though oftentimes not less miserably)--as a participator +in the instant ruin, or in the long arrears of suffering which they +entail. + +The following story falls within the class of hasty tragedies, and +sudden desolations here described. The reader is assured that every +incident is strictly true: nothing, in that respect, has been altered; +nor, indeed, anywhere except in the conversations, of which, though the +results and general outline are known, the separate details have +necessarily been lost under the agitating circumstances which produced +them. It has been judged right and delicate to conceal the name of the +great city, and therefore of the nation in which these events occurred, +chiefly out of consideration for the descendants of one person +concerned in the narrative: otherwise, it might not have been +requisite: for it is proper to mention, that every person directly a +party to the case has been long laid in the grave: all of them, with +one solitary exception, upwards of fifty years. + + * * * * * + +It was early spring in the year 17--; the day was the 6th of April; and +the weather, which had been of a wintry fierceness for the preceding +six or seven weeks--cold indeed beyond anything known for many years, +gloomy for ever, and broken by continual storms--was now by a Swedish +transformation all at once bright, genial, heavenly. So sudden and so +early a prelusion of summer, it was generally feared, could not last. +But that only made every body the more eager to lose no hour of an +enjoyment that might prove so fleeting. It seemed as if the whole +population of the place, a population among the most numerous in +Christendom, had been composed of hybernating animals suddenly awakened +by the balmy sunshine from their long winter's torpor. Through every +hour of the golden morning the streets were resonant with female +parties of young and old, the timid and the bold, nay, even of the most +delicate valetudinarians, now first tempted to lay aside their wintry +clothing together with their fireside habits, whilst the whole rural +environs of our vast city, the woodlands, and the interminable meadows +began daily to re-echo the glad voices of the young and jovial awaking +once again, like the birds and the flowers, and universal nature, to +the luxurious happiness of this most delightful season. + +Happiness do I say? Yes, happiness; happiness to me above all others. +For I also in those days was among the young and the gay; I was +healthy; I was strong; I was prosperous in a worldly sense! I owed no +man a shilling; feared no man's face; shunned no man's presence. I held +a respectable station in society; I was myself, let me venture to say +it, respected generally for my personal qualities, apart from any +advantages I might draw from fortune or inheritance; I had reason to +think myself popular amongst the very slender circle of my +acquaintance; and finally, which perhaps was the crowning grace to all +these elements of happiness, I suffered not from the presence of +_ennui_, nor ever feared to suffer: for my temperament was +constitutionally ardent; I had a powerful animal sensibility; and I +knew the one great secret for maintaining its equipoise, viz., by +powerful daily exercise; and thus I lived in the light and presence, +or, (if I should not be suspected of seeking rhetorical expressions, I +would say,) in one eternal solstice of unclouded hope. + +These, you will say, were blessings; these were golden elements of +felicity. They were so; and yet, with the single exception of my +healthy frame and firm animal organization, I feel that I have +mentioned hitherto nothing but what by comparison might be thought of a +vulgar quality. All the other advantages that I have enumerated, had +they been yet wanting, might have been acquired; had they been +forfeited, might have been reconquered; had they been even +irretrievably lost, might, by a philosophic effort, have been dispensed +with; compensations might have been found for any of them, many +equivalents, or if not, consolations at least, for their absence. But +now it remains to speak of other blessings too mighty to be valued, not +merely as transcending in rank and dignity all other constituents of +happiness, but for a reason far sadder than that--because, once lost, +they were incapable of restoration, and because not to be dispensed +with; blessings in which 'either we must live or have no life:' lights +to the darkness of our paths and to the infirmity of our steps--which, +once extinguished, never more on this side the gates of Paradise can +any man hope to see re-illumined for himself. Amongst these I may +mention an intellect, whether powerful or not in itself, at any rate +most elaborately cultivated; and, to say the truth, I had little other +business before me in this life than to pursue this lofty and +delightful task. I may add, as a blessing, not in the same +_positive_ sense as that which I have just mentioned, because not +of a nature to contribute so hourly to the employment of the thoughts, +but yet in this sense equal, that the absence of either would have been +an equal affliction,--namely, a conscience void of all offence. It was +little indeed that I, drawn by no necessities of situation into +temptations of that nature, had done no injury to any man. That was +fortunate; but I could not much value myself upon what was so much an +accident of my situation. Something, however, I might pretend to beyond +this _negative_ merit; for I had originally a benign nature; and, +as I advanced in years and thoughtfulness, the gratitude which +possessed me for my own exceeding happiness led me to do that by +principle and system which I had already done upon blind impulse; and +thus upon a double argument I was incapable of turning away from the +prayer of the afflicted, whatever had been the sacrifice to myself. +Hardly, perhaps, could it have been said in a sufficient sense at that +time that I was a religious man: yet, undoubtedly, I had all the +foundations within me upon which religion might hereafter have grown. +My heart overflowed with thankfulness to Providence: I had a natural +tone of unaffected piety; and thus far, at least, I might have been +called a religious man, that in the simplicity of truth I could have +exclaimed, + + 'O, Abner, I fear God, and I fear none beside.' + +But wherefore seek to delay ascending by a natural climax to that final +consummation and perfect crown of my felicity--that almighty blessing +which ratified their value to all the rest? Wherefore, oh! wherefore do +I shrink in miserable weakness from--what? Is it from reviving, from +calling up again into fierce and insufferable light the images and +features of a long-buried happiness? That would be a natural shrinking +and a reasonable weakness. But how escape from reviving, whether I give +it utterance or not, that which is for ever vividly before me? What +need to call into artificial light that which, whether sleeping or +waking, by night or by day, for eight-and-thirty years has seemed by +its miserable splendor to scorch my brain? Wherefore shrink from giving +language, simple vocal utterance, to that burden of anguish which by so +long an endurance has lost no atom of its weight, nor can gain any most +surely by the loudest publication? Need there can be none, after this, +to say that the priceless blessing, which I have left to the final +place in this ascending review, was the companion of my life--my +darling and youthful wife. Oh! dovelike woman! fated in an hour the +most defenceless to meet with the ravening vulture,--lamb fallen +amongst wolves,--trembling--fluttering fawn, whose path was inevitably +to be crossed by the bloody tiger;--angel, whose most innocent heart +fitted thee for too early a flight from this impure planet; if indeed +it were a necessity that thou shouldst find no rest for thy footing +except amidst thy native heavens, if indeed to leave what was not +worthy of thee were a destiny not to be evaded--a summons not to be put +by,--yet why, why, again and again I demand--why was it also necessary +that this, thy departure, so full of wo to me, should also to thyself +be heralded by the pangs of martyrdom? Sainted love, if, like the +ancient children of the Hebrews, like Meshech and Abednego, thou wert +called by divine command, whilst yet almost a child, to walk, and to +walk alone, through the fiery furnace,--wherefore then couldst not +thou, like that Meshech and that Abednego, walk unsinged by the +dreadful torment, and come forth unharmed? Why, if the sacrifice were +to be total, was it necessary to reach it by so dire a struggle? and if +the cup, the bitter cup, of final separation from those that were the +light of thy eyes and the pulse of thy heart might not be put aside,-- +yet wherefore was it that thou mightest not drink it up in the natural +peace which belongs to a sinless heart? + +But these are murmurings, you will say, rebellious murmurings against +the proclamations of God. Not so: I have long since submitted myself, +resigned myself, nay, even reconciled myself, perhaps, to the great +wreck of my life, in so far as it was the will of God, and according to +the weakness of my imperfect nature. But my wrath still rises, like a +towering flame, against all the earthly instruments of this ruin; I am +still at times as unresigned as ever to this tragedy, in so far as it +was the work of human malice. Vengeance, as a mission for _me_, as +a task for _my_ hands in particular, is no longer possible; the +thunderbolts of retribution have been long since launched by other +hands; and yet still it happens that at times I do--I must--I shall +perhaps to the hour of death, rise in maniac fury, and seek, in the +very impotence of vindictive madness, groping as it were in blindness +of heart, for that tiger from hell-gates that tore away my darling from +my heart. Let me pause, and interrupt this painful strain, to say a +word or two upon what she was--and how far worthy of a love more +honorable to her (that was possible) and deeper (but that was not +possible) than mine. When first I saw her, she--my Agnes--was merely a +child, not much (if anything) above sixteen. But, as in perfect +womanhood she retained a most childlike expression of countenance, so +even then in absolute childhood she put forward the blossoms and the +dignity of a woman. Never yet did my eye light upon creature that was +born of woman, nor could it enter my heart to conceive one, possessing +a figure more matchless in its proportions, more statuesque, and more +deliberately and advisedly to be characterized by no adequate word but +the word _magnificent_, (a word too often and lightly abused.) In +reality, speaking of women, I have seen many beautiful figures, but +hardly one except Agnes that could, without hyperbole, be styled truly +and memorably magnificent. Though in the first order of tall women, +yet, being full in person, and with a symmetry that was absolutely +faultless, she seemed to the random sight as little above the ordinary +height. Possibly from the dignity of her person, assisted by the +dignity of her movements, a stranger would have been disposed to call +her at a distance a woman of _commanding_ presence; but never, +after he had approached near enough to behold her face. Every thought +of artifice, of practised effect, or of haughty pretension, fled before +the childlike innocence, the sweet feminine timidity, and the more than +cherub loveliness of that countenance, which yet in its lineaments was +noble, whilst its expression was purely gentle and confiding. A shade +of pensiveness there was about her; but _that_ was in her manners, +scarcely ever in her features; and the exquisite fairness of her +complexion, enriched by the very sweetest and most delicate bloom that +ever I have beheld, should rather have allied it to a tone of +cheerfulness. Looking at this noble creature, as I first looked at her, +when yet upon the early threshold of womanhood + + 'With household motions light and free, + And steps of virgin liberty' + +you might have supposed her some Hebe or young Aurora of the dawn. When +you saw only her superb figure, and its promise of womanly development, +with the measured dignity of her step, you might for a moment have +fancied her some imperial Medea of the Athenian stage--some Volumnia +from Rome, + + 'Or ruling bandit's wife amidst the Grecian isles.' + + But catch one glance from her angelic countenance--and then combining +the face and the person, you would have dismissed all such fancies, and +have pronounced her a Pandora or an Eve, expressly accomplished and +held forth by nature as an exemplary model or ideal pattern for the +future female sex:-- + + 'A perfect woman, nobly plann'd, + To warm, to comfort, to command: + And yet a spirit too, and bright + With something of an angel light.' + +To this superb young woman, such as I have here sketched her, I +surrendered my heart for ever, almost from my first opportunity of +seeing her: for so natural and without disguise was her character, and +so winning the simplicity of her manners, due in part to her own native +dignity of mind, and in part to the deep solitude in which she had been +reared, that little penetration was required to put me in possession of +all her thoughts; and to win her love, not very much more than to let +her see, as see she could not avoid, in connection with that chivalrous +homage which at any rate was due to her sex and her sexual perfections, +a love for herself on my part, which was in its nature as exalted a +passion and as profoundly rooted as any merely human affection can ever +yet have been. + +On the seventeenth birthday of Agnes we were married. Oh! calendar of +everlasting months--months that, like the mighty rivers, shall flow on +for ever, immortal as thou, Nile, or Danube, Euphrates, or St. +Lawrence! and ye, summer and winter, day and night, wherefore do you +bring round continually your signs, and seasons, and revolving hours, +that still point and barb the anguish of local recollections, telling +me of this and that celestial morning that never shall return, and of +too blessed expectations, travelling like yourselves through a heavenly +zodiac of changes, till at once and for ever they sank into the grave! +Often do I think of seeking for some quiet cell either in the Tropics +or in Arctic latitudes, where the changes of the year, and the external +signs corresponding to them, express themselves by no features like +those in which the same seasons are invested under our temperate +climes: so that, if knowing, we cannot at least feel the identity of +their revolutions. We were married, I have said, on the birthday--the +seventeenth birthday--of Agnes; and pretty nearly on her eighteenth it +was that she placed me at the summit of my happiness, whilst for +herself she thus completed the circle of her relations to this life's +duties, by presenting me with a son. Of this child, knowing how +wearisome to strangers is the fond exultation of parents, I shall +simply say, that he inherited his mother's beauty; the same touching +loveliness and innocence of expression, the same chiselled nose, mouth, +and chin, the same exquisite auburn hair. In many other features, not +of person merely, but also of mind and manners, as they gradually began +to open before me, this child deepened my love to him by recalling the +image of his mother; and what other image was there that I so much +wished to keep before me, whether waking or asleep? At the time to +which I am now coming but too rapidly, this child, still our only one, +and unusually premature, was within four months of completing his third +year; consequently Agnes was at that time in her twenty-first year; and +I may here add, with respect to myself, that I was in my twenty-sixth. + +But, before I come to that period of wo, let me say one word on the +temper of mind which so fluent and serene a current of prosperity may +be thought to have generated. Too common a course I know it is, when +the stream of life flows with absolute tranquillity, and ruffled by no +menace of a breeze--the azure overhead never dimmed by a passing cloud, +that in such circumstances the blood stagnates: life, from excess and +plethora of sweets, becomes insipid: the spirit of action droops: and +it is oftentimes found at such seasons that slight annoyances and +molestations, or even misfortunes in a lower key, are not wholly +undesirable, as means of stimulating the lazy energies, and disturbing +a slumber which is, or soon will be, morbid in its character. I have +known myself cases not a few, where, by the very nicest gradations, and +by steps too silent and insensible for daily notice, the utmost harmony +and reciprocal love had shaded down into fretfulness and petulance, +purely from too easy a life, and because all nobler agitations that +might have ruffled the sensations occasionally, and all distresses even +on the narrowest scale that might have re-awakened the solicitudes of +love, by opening necessities for sympathy, for counsel, or for mutual +aid, had been shut out by foresight too elaborate, or by prosperity too +cloying. But all this, had it otherwise been possible with my +particular mind, and at my early age, was utterly precluded by one +remarkable peculiarity in my temper. Whether it were that I derived +from nature some jealousy and suspicion of all happiness which seems +too perfect and unalloyed--[a spirit of restless distrust, which in +ancient times often led men to throw valuable gems into the sea, in the +hope of thus propitiating the dire deity of misfortune, by voluntarily +breaking the fearful chain of prosperity, and led some of them to weep +and groan when the gems thus sacrificed were afterwards brought back to +their hand by simple fishermen, who had recovered them in the +intestines of fishes--a portentous omen, which was interpreted into a +sorrowful indication that the deity thus answered the propitiatory +appeal, and made solemn proclamation that he had rejected it]-- +whether, I say, it were this spirit of jealousy awaked in me by too +steady and too profound a felicity--or whether it were that great +overthrows and calamities have some mysterious power to send forward a +dim misgiving of their advancing footsteps, and really and indeed, + + 'That in to-day already walks to-morrow;' + +or whether it were partly, as I have already put the case in my first +supposition, a natural instinct of distrust, but irritated and +enlivened by a particular shock of superstitious alarm; which, or +whether any of these causes it were that kept me apprehensive, and on +the watch for disastrous change, I will not here undertake to +determine. Too certain it is that I was so. I never ridded myself of an +over-mastering and brooding sense, shadowy and vague, a dim abiding +feeling (that sometimes was and sometimes was not exalted into a +conscious presentiment) of some great calamity travelling towards me; +not perhaps immediately impending--perhaps even at a great distance; +but already--dating from some secret hour--already in motion upon some +remote line of approach. This feeling I could not assuage by sharing it +with Agnes. No motive could be strong enough for persuading me to +communicate so gloomy a thought with one who, considering her extreme +healthiness, was but too remarkably prone to pensive, if not to +sorrowful, contemplations. And thus the obligation which I felt to +silence and reserve, strengthened the morbid impression I had received; +whilst the remarkable incident I have adverted to served powerfully to +rivet the superstitious chain which was continually gathering round me. +The incident was this--and before I repeat it, let me pledge my word of +honor, that I report to you the bare facts of the case, without +exaggeration, and in the simplicity of truth:--There was at that time +resident in the great city, which is the scene of my narrative, a +woman, from some part of Hungary, who pretended to the gift of looking +into futurity. She had made herself known advantageously in several of +the greatest cities of Europe, under the designation of the Hungarian +Prophetess; and very extraordinary instances were cited amongst the +highest circles of her success in the art which she professed. So ample +were the pecuniary tributes which she levied upon the hopes and the +fears, or the simple curiosity of the aristocracy, that she was thus +able to display not unfrequently a disinterestedness and a generosity, +which seemed native to her disposition, amongst the humbler classes of +her applicants; for she rejected no addresses that were made to her, +provided only they were not expressed in levity or scorn, but with +sincerity, and in a spirit of confiding respect. It happened, on one +occasion, when a nursery-servant of ours was waiting in her anteroom +for the purpose of taking her turn in consulting the prophetess +professionally, that she had witnessed a scene of consternation and +unaffected maternal grief in this Hungarian lady upon the sudden +seizure of her son, a child of four or five years old, by a spasmodic +inflammation of the throat (since called croup) peculiar to children, +and in those days not very well understood by medical men. The poor +Hungarian, who had lived chiefly in warm, or at least not damp, +climates, and had never so much as heard of this complaint, was almost +wild with alarm at the rapid increase of the symptoms which attend the +paroxysms, and especially of that loud and distressing sound which +marks the impeded respiration. Great, therefore, was her joy and +gratitude on finding from our servant that she had herself been in +attendance more than once upon cases of the same nature, but very much +more violent,--and that, consequently, she was well qualified to +suggest and to superintend all the measures of instant necessity, such +as the hot-bath, the peculiar medicines, &c., which are almost sure of +success when applied in an early stage. Staying to give her assistance +until a considerable improvement had taken place in the child, our +servant then hurried home to her mistress. Agnes, it may be imagined, +dispatched her back with such further and more precise directions as in +a very short time availed to re-establish the child in convalescence. +These practical services, and the messages of maternal sympathy +repeatedly conveyed from Agnes, had completely won the heart of the +grateful Hungarian, and she announced her intention of calling with her +little boy, to make her personal acknowledgments for the kindness which +had been shown to her. She did so, and we were as much impressed by the +sultana-like style of her Oriental beauty, as she, on her part, was +touched and captivated by the youthful loveliness of my angelic wife. +After sitting for above an hour, during which time she talked with a +simplicity and good feeling that struck us as remarkable in a person +professing an art usually connected with so much of conscious fraud, +she rose to take her leave. I must mention that she had previously had +our little boy sitting on her knee, and had at intervals thrown a hasty +glance upon the palms of his hands. On parting, Agnes, with her usual +frankness, held out her hand. The Hungarian took it with an air of sad +solemnity, pressed it fervently, and said:--'Lady, it is my part in +this life to look behind the curtain of fate; and oftentimes I see such +sights in futurity--some near, some far off--as willingly I would +_not_ see. For you, young and charming lady, looking like that +angel which you are, no destiny can be equal to your deserts. Yet +sometimes, true it is, God sees not as man sees; and he ordains, after +his unfathomable counsels, to the heavenly-minded a portion in heaven, +and to the children whom he loves a rest and a haven not built with +hands. Something that I have seen dimly warns me to look no farther. +Yet, if you desire it, I will do my office, and I will read for you +with truth the lines of fate as they are written upon your hands.' +Agnes was a little startled, or even shocked, by this solemn address; +but, in a minute or so, a mixed feeling--one half of which was +curiosity, and the other half a light-hearted mockery of her own +mysterious awe in the presence of what she had been taught to view as +either fraud or insanity--prompted her playfully to insist upon the +fullest application of the Hungarian's art to her own case; nay, she +would have the hands of our little Francis read and interpreted as well +as her own, and she desired to hear the full professional judgment +delivered without suppression or softening of its harshest awards. She +laughed whilst she said all this; but she also trembled a little. The +Hungarian first took the hand of our young child, and perused it with a +long and steady scrutiny. She said nothing, but sighed heavily as she +resigned it. She then took the hand of Agnes--looked bewildered and +aghast--then gazed piteously from Agnes to her child--and at last, +bursting into tears, began to move steadily out of the room. I followed +her hastily, and remonstrated upon this conduct, by pointing her +attention to the obvious truth--that these mysterious suppressions and +insinuations, which left all shadowy and indistinct, were far more +alarming than the most definite denunciations. Her answer yet rings in +my ear:--'Why should I make myself odious to you and to your innocent +wife? Messenger of evil I am, and have been to many; but evil I will +not prophecy to her. Watch and pray! Much may be done by effectual +prayer. Human means, fleshly arms, are vain. There is an enemy in the +house of life,' [here she quitted her palmistry for the language of +astrology;] 'there is a frightful danger at hand, both for your wife +and your child. Already on that dark ocean, over which we are all +sailing, I can see dimly the point at which the enemy's course shall +cross your wife's. There is but little interval remaining--not many +hours. All is finished; all is accomplished; and already he is almost +up with the darlings of your heart. Be vigilant, be vigilant, and yet +look not to yourself, but to Heaven, for deliverance.' + +This woman was not an impostor: she spoke and uttered her oracles under +a wild sense of possession by some superior being, and of mystic +compulsion to say what she would have willingly left unsaid; and never +yet, before or since, have I seen the light of sadness settle with so +solemn an expression into human eyes as when she dropped my wife's +hand, and refused to deliver that burden of prophetic wo with which she +believed herself to be inspired. + +The prophetess departed; and what mood of mind did she leave behind her +in Agnes and myself? Naturally there was a little drooping of spirits +at first; the solemnity and the heart-felt sincerity of fear and grief +which marked her demeanor, made it impossible, at the moment when we +were just fresh from their natural influences, that we should recoil +into our ordinary spirits. But with the inevitable elasticity of youth +and youthful gaiety we soon did so; we could not attempt to persuade +ourselves that there had been any conscious fraud or any attempt at +scenical effect in the Hungarian's conduct. She had no motive for +deceiving us; she had refused all offerings of money, and her whole +visit had evidently been made under an overflow of the most grateful +feelings for the attentions shown to her child. We acquitted her, +therefore, of sinister intentions; and with our feelings of jealousy, +feelings in which we had been educated, towards everything that tended +to superstition, we soon agreed to think her some gentle maniac or sad +enthusiast, suffering under some form of morbid melancholy. Forty-eight +hours, with two nights' sleep, sufficed to restore the wonted +equilibrium of our spirits; and that interval brought us onwards to the +6th of April--the day on which, as I have already said, my story +properly commences. + + On that day, on that lovely 6th of April, such as I have described it, +that 6th of April, about nine o'clock in the morning, we were seated at +breakfast near the open window--we, that is, Agnes, myself, and little +Francis; the freshness of morning spirits rested upon us; the golden +light of the morning sun illuminated the room; incense was floating +through the air from the gorgeous flowers within and without the house; +there in youthful happiness we sat gathered together, a family of love, +and there we never sat again. Never again were we three gathered +together, nor ever shall be, so long as the sun and its golden light-- +the morning and the evening--the earth and its flowers endure. + +Often have I occupied myself in recalling every circumstance the most +trivial of this the final morning of what merits to be called my life. +Eleven o'clock, I remember, was striking when Agnes came into my study, +and said that she would go into the city, (for we lived in a quite +rural suburb,) that she would execute some trifling commissions which +she had received from a friend in the country, and would be at home +again between one and two for a stroll which we had agreed to take in +the neighboring meadows. About twenty minutes after this she again came +into my study dressed for going abroad; for such was my admiration of +her, that I had a fancy--fancy it must have been, and yet still I felt +it to be real--that under every change she looked best; if she put on a +shawl, then a shawl became the most feminine of ornaments; if she laid +aside her shawl and her bonnet, then how nymph-like she seemed in her +undisguised and unadorned beauty! Full-dress seemed for the time to be +best, as bringing forward into relief the splendor of her person, and +allowing the exposure of her arms; a simple morning-dress, again, +seemed better still, as fitted to call out the childlike innocence of +her face, by confining the attention to that. But all these are +feelings of fond and blind affection, hanging with rapture over the +object of something too like idolatry. God knows, if that be a sin, I +was but too profound a sinner; yet sin it never was, sin it could not +be, to adore a beauty such as thine, my Agnes. Neither was it her +beauty by itself, and that only, which I sought at such times to +admire; there was a peculiar sort of double relation in which she stood +at moments of pleasurable expectation and excitement, since our little +Francis had become of an age to join our party, which made some aspects +of her character trebly interesting. She was a wife--and wife to one +whom she looked up to as her superior in understanding and in knowledge +of the world, whom, therefore, she leaned to for protection. On the +other hand, she was also a mother. Whilst, therefore, to her child she +supported the matronly part of guide, and the air of an experienced +person; to me she wore, ingenuously and without disguise, the part of a +child herself, with all the giddy hopes and unchastised imaginings of +that buoyant age. This double character, one aspect of which looks +towards her husband and one to her children, sits most gracefully upon +many a young wife whose heart is pure and innocent; and the collision +between the two separate parts imposed by duty on the one hand, by +extreme youth on the other, the one telling her that she is a +responsible head of a family and the depository of her husband's honor +in its tenderest and most vital interests, the other telling her, +through the liveliest language of animal sensibility, and through the +very pulses of her blood, that she is herself a child; this collision +gives an inexpressible charm to the whole demeanor of many a young +married woman, making her other fascinations more touching to her +husband, and deepening the admiration she excites; and the more so, as +it is a collision which cannot exist except among the very innocent. +Years, at any rate, will irresistibly remove this peculiar charm, and +gradually replace it by the graces of the matronly character. But in +Agnes this change had not yet been effected, partly from nature, and +partly from the extreme seclusion of her life. Hitherto she still +retained the unaffected expression of her childlike nature; and so +lovely in my eyes was this perfect exhibition of natural feminine +character, that she rarely or never went out alone upon any little +errand to town which might require her to rely upon her own good sense +and courage, that she did not previously come to exhibit herself before +me. Partly this was desired by me in that lover-like feeling of +admiration already explained, which leads one to court the sight of a +beloved object under every change of dress, and under all effects of +novelty. Partly it was the interest I took in that exhibition of sweet +timidity, and almost childish apprehensiveness, half disguised or +imperfectly acknowledged by herself, which (in the way I have just +explained) so touchingly contrasted with (and for that very reason so +touchingly drew forth) her matronly character. But I hear some objector +say at this point, ought not this very timidity, founded (as in part at +least it was) upon inexperience and conscious inability to face the +dangers of the world, to have suggested reasons for not leaving her to +her own protection? And does it not argue, on my part, an arrogant or +too blind a confidence in the durability of my happiness, as though +charmed against assaults, and liable to no shocks of sudden revolution? +I reply that, from the very constitution of society, and the tone of +manners in the city which we inhabited, there seemed to be a moral +impossibility that any dangers of consequence should meet her in the +course of those brief absences from my protection, which only were +possible; that even to herself any dangers, of a nature to be +anticipated under the known circumstances of the case, seemed almost +imaginary; that even _she_ acknowledged a propriety in being +trained, by slight and brief separations from my guardianship, to face +more boldly those cases of longer separation and of more absolute +consignment to her own resources which circumstances might arise to +create necessarily, and perhaps abruptly. And it is evident that, had +she been the wife of any man engaged in the duties of a profession, she +might have been summoned from the very first, and without the +possibility of any such gradual training, to the necessity of relying +almost singly upon her own courage and discretion. For the other +question, whether I did not depend too blindly and presumptuously upon +my good luck in not at least affording her my protection so long as +nothing occurred to make it impossible? I may reply, most truly, that +all my feelings ran naturally in the very opposite channel. So far from +confiding too much in my luck, in the present instance I was engaged in +a task of writing upon some points of business which could not admit of +further delay; but now, and at all times, I had a secret aversion to +seeing so gentle a creature thrown even for an hour upon her own +resources, though in situations which scarcely seemed to admit of any +occasion for taxing those resources; and often I have felt anger +towards myself for what appeared to be an irrational or effeminate +timidity, and have struggled with my own mind upon occasions like the +present, when I knew that I could not have acknowledged my tremors to a +friend without something like shame, and a fear to excite his ridicule. +No; if in anything I ran into excess, it was in this very point of +anxiety as to all that regarded my wife's security. Her good sense, her +prudence, her courage, (for courage she had in the midst of her +timidity,) her dignity of manner, the more impressive from the +childlike character of her countenance, all should have combined to +reassure me, and yet they did not. I was still anxious for her safety +to an irrational extent; and to sum up the whole in a most weighty line +of Shakspeare, I lived under the constant presence of a feeling which +only that great observer of human nature (so far as I am aware) has +ever noticed, viz., that merely the excess of my happiness made me +jealous of its ability to last, and in that extent less capable of +enjoying it; that in fact the prelibation of my tears, as a homage to +its fragility, was drawn forth by my very sense that my felicity was +too exquisite; or, in the words of the great master + + 'I wept to have' [absolutely, by anticipation, shed tears in + possessing] 'what I so feared to lose.' + +Thus end my explanations, and I now pursue my narrative: Agnes, as I +have said, came into my room again before leaving the house--we +conversed for five minutes--we parted--she went out--her last words +being that she would return at half-past one o'clock; and not long +after that time, if ever mimic bells--bells of rejoicing, or bells of +mourning, are heard in desert spaces of the air, and (as some have +said) in unreal worlds, that mock our own, and repeat, for ridicule, +the vain and unprofitable motions of man, then too surely, about this +hour, began to toll the funeral knell of my earthly happiness--its +final hour had sounded. + + * * * * * + +One o'clock had arrived; fifteen minutes after, I strolled into the +garden, and began to look over the little garden-gate in expectation of +every moment descrying Agnes in the distance. Half an hour passed, and +for ten minutes more I was tolerably quiet. From this time till half- +past two I became constantly more agitated--_agitated,_ perhaps, +is too strong a word--but I was restless and anxious beyond what I +should have chosen to acknowledge. Still I kept arguing, What is half +an hour? what is an hour? A thousand things might have occurred to +cause that delay, without needing to suppose any accident; or, if an +accident, why not a very trifling one? She may have slightly hurt her +foot--she may have slightly sprained her ankle. 'Oh, doubtless,' I +exclaimed to myself, 'it will be a mere trifle, or perhaps nothing at +all.' But I remember that, even whilst I was saying this, I took my hat +and walked with nervous haste into the little quiet lane upon which our +garden-gate opened. The lane led by a few turnings, and after a course +of about five hundred yards, into a broad high-road, which even at that +day had begun to assume the character of a street, and allowed an +unobstructed range of view in the direction of the city for at least a +mile. Here I stationed myself, for the air was so clear that I could +distinguish dress and figure to a much greater distance than usual. +Even on such a day, however, the remote distance was hazy and +indistinct, and at any other season I should have been diverted with +the various mistakes I made. From occasional combinations of color, +modified by light and shade, and of course powerfully assisted by the +creative state of the eye under this nervous apprehensiveness, I +continued to shape into images of Agnes forms without end, that upon +nearer approach presented the most grotesque contrasts to her +impressive appearance. But I had ceased even to comprehend the +ludicrous; my agitation was now so overruling and engrossing that I +lost even my intellectual sense of it; and now first I understood +practically and feelingly the anguish of hope alternating with +disappointment, as it may be supposed to act upon the poor shipwrecked +seaman, alone and upon a desolate coast, straining his sight for ever +to the fickle element which has betrayed him, but which only can +deliver him, and with his eyes still tracing in the far distance, + + 'Ships, dim-discover'd, dropping from the clouds,'-- + +which a brief interval of suspense still for ever disperses into hollow +pageants of air or vapor. One deception melted away only to be +succeeded by another; still I fancied that at last to a certainty I +could descry the tall figure of Agnes, her gipsy hat, and even the +peculiar elegance of her walk. Often I went so far as to laugh at +myself, and even to tax my recent fears with unmanliness and +effeminacy, on recollecting the audible throbbings of my heart, and the +nervous palpitations which had besieged me; but these symptoms, whether +effeminate or not, began to come back tumultuously under the gloomy +doubts that succeeded almost before I had uttered this self-reproach. +Still I found myself mocked and deluded with false hopes; yet still I +renewed my quick walk, and the intensity of my watch for that radiant +form that was fated never more to be seen returning from the cruel +city. + +It was nearly half-past three, and therefore close upon two hours +beyond the time fixed by Agnes for her return, when I became absolutely +incapable of supporting the further torture of suspense, and I suddenly +took the resolution of returning home and concerting with my female +servants some energetic measures, though _what_ I could hardly say, +on behalf of their mistress. On entering the garden-gate I met our +little child Francis, who unconsciously inflicted a pang upon me which +he neither could have meditated nor have understood. I passed him at +his play, perhaps even unaware of his presence, but he recalled me to +that perception by crying aloud that he had just seen his mamma. + +'When--where?' I asked convulsively. + +'Up stairs in her bedroom,' was his instantaneous answer. + +His manner was such as forbade me to suppose that he could be joking; +and, as it was barely possible (though, for reasons well known to me, +in the highest degree improbable) that Agnes might have returned by a +by-path, which, leading through a dangerous and disreputable suburb, +would not have coincided at any one point with the public road where I +had been keeping my station. I sprang forward into the house, up +stairs, and in rapid succession into every room where it was likely +that she might be found; but everywhere there was a dead silence, +disturbed only by myself, for, in my growing confusion of thought, I +believe that I rang the bell violently in every room I entered. No such +summons, however, was needed, for the servants, two of whom at the +least were most faithful creatures, and devotedly attached to their +young mistress, stood ready of themselves to come and make inquiries of +me as soon as they became aware of the alarming fact, that I had +returned without her. + +Until this moment, though having some private reasons for surprise that +she should have failed to come into the house for a minute or two at +the hour prefixed, in order to make some promised domestic arrangements +for the day, they had taken it for granted that she must have met with +me at some distance from home--and that either the extreme beauty of +the day had beguiled her of all petty household recollections, or (as a +conjecture more in harmony with past experiences) that my impatience +and solicitations had persuaded her to lay aside her own plans for the +moment at the risk of some little domestic inconvenience. Now, however, +in a single instant vanished _every_ mode of accounting for their +mistress's absence; and the consternation of our looks communicated +contagiously, by the most unerring of all languages, from each to the +other what thoughts were uppermost in our panic-stricken hearts. If to +any person it should seem that our alarm was disproportioned to the +occasion, and not justified at least by anything as yet made known to +us, let that person consider the weight due to the two following facts: +First, that from the recency of our settlement in this neighborhood, +and from the extreme seclusion of my wife's previous life at a vast +distance from the metropolis, she had positively no friends on her list +of visitors who resided in this great capital; secondly, and far above +all beside, let him remember the awful denunciations, so unexpectedly +tallying with this alarming and mysterious absence, of the Hungarian +prophetess; these had been slighted--almost dismissed from our +thoughts; but now in sudden reaction they came back upon us with a +frightful power to lacerate and to sting--the shadowy outline of a +spiritual agency, such as that which could at all predict the events, +combining in one mysterious effect, with the shadowy outline of those +very predictions. The power, that could have predicted, was as dim and +as hard to grasp as was the precise nature of the evil that had been +predicted. + +An icy terror froze my blood at this moment when I looked at the +significant glances, too easily understood by me, that were exchanged +between the servants. My mouth had been for the last two hours growing +more and more parched, so that at present, from mere want of moisture, +I could not separate my lips to speak. One of the women saw the vain +efforts I was making, and hastily brought me a glass of water. With the +first recovery of speech, I asked them what little Francis had meant by +saying that he had seen his mother in her bedroom. Their reply was, +that they were as much at a loss to discover his meaning as I was; that +he had made the same assertion to them, and with so much earnestness, +that they had, all in succession, gone up stairs to look for her, and +with the fullest expectation of finding her. This was a mystery which +remained such to the very last; there was no doubt whatsoever that the +child believed himself to have seen his mother; that he could not have +seen her in her human bodily presence, there is as little doubt as +there is, alas! that in this world he never _did_ see her again. +The poor child constantly adhered to his story, and with a +circumstantiality far beyond all power of invention that could be +presumed in an artless infant. Every attempt at puzzling him or +entangling him in contradictions by means of cross-examination was but +labor thrown away; though indeed, it is true enough that for those +attempts, as will soon be seen, there was but a brief interval allowed. + +Not dwelling upon this subject at present, I turned to Hannah--a woman +who held the nominal office of cook in our little establishment, but +whose real duties had been much more about her mistress's person--and +with a searching look of appeal I asked her whether, in this moment of +trial, when (as she might see) I was not so perfectly master of myself +as perhaps always to depend upon seeing what was best to be done, she +would consent to accompany me into the city, and take upon herself +those obvious considerations of policy or prudence which might but too +easily escape my mind, darkened, and likely to be darkened, as to its +power of discernment by the hurricane of affliction now too probably at +hand. She answered my appeal with the fervor I expected from what I had +already known of her character. She was a woman of a strong, fiery, +perhaps I might say of heroic mind, supported by a courage that was +absolutely indomitable, and by a strength of bodily frame very unusual +in a woman, and beyond the promise even of her person. She had suffered +as deep a wrench in her own affections as a human being can suffer; she +had lost her one sole child, a fair-haired boy of most striking beauty +and interesting disposition, at the age of seventeen, and by the worst +of all possible fates; he lived (as we did at that time) in a large +commercial city overflowing with profligacy, and with temptations of +every order; he had been led astray; culpable he had been, but by very +much the least culpable of the set into which accident had thrown him, +as regarded acts and probable intentions; and as regarded palliations +from childish years, from total inexperience, or any other alleviating +circumstances that could be urged, having everything to plead--and of +all his accomplices the only one who had anything to plead. Interest, +however, he had little or none; and whilst some hoary villains of the +party, who happened to be more powerfully befriended, were finally +allowed to escape with a punishment little more than nominal, he and +two others were selected as sacrifices to the offended laws. They +suffered capitally. All three behaved well; but the poor boy in +particular, with a courage, a resignation, and a meekness, so +distinguished and beyond his years as to attract the admiration and the +liveliest sympathy of the public universally. If strangers could feel +in that way, if the mere hardened executioner could be melted at the +final scene,--it may be judged to what a fierce and terrific height +would ascend the affliction of a doating mother, constitutionally too +fervid in her affections. I have heard an official person declare, that +the spectacle of her desolation and frantic anguish was the most +frightful thing he had ever witnessed, and so harrowing to the +feelings, that all who could by their rank venture upon such an +irregularity, absented themselves during the critical period from the +office which corresponded with the government; for, as I have said, the +affair took place in a large provincial city, at a great distance from +the capital. All who knew this woman, or who were witnesses to the +alteration which one fortnight had wrought in her person as well as her +demeanor, fancied it impossible that she could continue to live; or +that, if she did, it must be through the giving way of her reason. They +proved, however, to be mistaken; or, at least, if (as some thought) her +reason did suffer in some degree, this result showed itself in the +inequality of her temper, in moody fits of abstraction, and the morbid +energy of her manner at times under the absence of all adequate +external excitement, rather than in any positive and apparent +hallucinations of thought. The charm which had mainly carried off the +instant danger to her faculties, was doubtless the intense sympathy +which she met with. And in these offices of consolation my wife stood +foremost. For, and that was fortunate, she had found herself able, +without violence to her own sincerest opinions in the case, to offer +precisely that form of sympathy which was most soothing to the angry +irritation of the poor mother; not only had she shown a _direct_ +interest in the boy, and not a mere interest of _reflection_ from +that which she took in the mother, and had expressed it by visits to +his dungeon, and by every sort of attention to his comforts which his +case called for, or the prison regulations allowed; not only had she +wept with the distracted woman as if for a brother of her own; but, +which went farther than all the rest in softening the mother's heart, +she had loudly and indignantly proclaimed her belief in the boy's +innocence, and in the same tone her sense of the crying injustice +committed as to the selection of the victims, and the proportion of the +punishment awarded. Others, in the language of a great poet, + + 'Had pitied _her,_ and not her grief;' + +they had either not been able to see, or, from carelessness, had +neglected to see, any peculiar wrong done to her in the matter which +occasioned her grief,--but had simply felt compassion for her as for +one summoned, in a regular course of providential and human +dispensation, to face an affliction, heavy in itself, but not heavy +from any special defect of equity. Consequently their very sympathy, +being so much built upon the assumption that an only child had offended +to the extent implied in his sentence, oftentimes clothed itself in +expressions which she felt to be not consolations but insults, and, in +fact, so many justifications of those whom it relieved her overcharged +heart to regard as the very worst of enemies. Agnes, on the other hand, +took the very same view of the case as herself; and, though otherwise +the gentlest of all gentle creatures, yet here, from the generous +fervor of her reverence for justice, and her abhorrence of oppression, +she gave herself no trouble to moderate the energy of her language: nor +did I, on my part, feeling that substantially she was in the right, +think it of importance to dispute about the exact degrees of the wrong +done or the indignation due to it. In this way it happened naturally +enough that at one and the same time, though little contemplating +either of these results, Agnes had done a prodigious service to the +poor desolate mother by breaking the force of her misery, as well as by +arming the active agencies of indignation against the depressing ones +of solitary grief, and for herself had won a most grateful and devoted +friend, who would have gone through fire and water to serve her, and +was thenceforwards most anxious for some opportunity to testify how +deep had been her sense of the goodness shown to her by her benign +young mistress, and how incapable of suffering abatement by time. It +remains to add, which I have slightly noticed before, that this woman +was of unusual personal strength: her bodily frame matched with her +intellectual: and I notice this _now_ with the more emphasis, +because I am coming rapidly upon ground where it will be seen that this +one qualification was of more summary importance to us--did us more +'yeoman's service' at a crisis the most awful--than other qualities of +greater name and pretension. _Hannah_ was this woman's Christian +name; and her name and her memory are to me amongst the most hallowed +of my earthly recollections. + +One of her two fellow-servants, known technically amongst us as the +'parlor maid,' was also, but not equally, attached to her mistress; and +merely because her nature, less powerfully formed and endowed, did not +allow her to entertain or to comprehend any service equally fervid of +passion or of impassioned action. She, however, was good, affectionate, +and worthy to be trusted. But a third there was, a nursery maid, and +therefore more naturally and more immediately standing within the +confidence of her mistress--her I could not trust: her I suspected. But +of that hereafter. Meantime, Hannah, she upon whom I leaned as upon a +staff in all which respected her mistress, ran up stairs, after I had +spoken and received her answer, in order hastily to dress and prepare +herself for going out along with me to the city. I did not ask her to +be quick in her movements: I knew there was no need: and, whilst she +was absent, I took up, in one of my fretful movements of nervousness, a +book which was lying upon a side-table: the book fell open of itself at +a particular page; and in that, perhaps, there was nothing +extraordinary, for it was a little portable edition of _Paradise +Lost_; and the page was one which I must naturally have turned to +many a time: for to Agnes I had read all the great masters of +literature, especially those of modern times; so that few people knew +the high classics more familiarly: and as to the passage in question, +from its divine beauty I had read it aloud to her, perhaps, on fifty +separate occasions. All this I mention to take away any appearance of a +vulgar attempt to create omens; but still, in the very act of +confessing the simple truth, and thus weakening the marvellous +character of the anecdote, I must notice it as a strange instance of +the '_Sortes Miltonianć_,'--that precisely at such a moment as +this I should find thrown in my way, should feel tempted to take up, +and should open, a volume containing such a passage as the following: +and observe, moreover, that although the volume, _once being taken +up_, would naturally open where it had been most frequently read, +there were, however, many passages which had been read _as_ +frequently--or more so. The particular passage upon which I opened at +this moment was that most beautiful one in which the fatal morning +separation is described between Adam and his bride--that separation so +pregnant with wo, which eventually proved the occasion of the mortal +transgression--the last scene between our first parents at which both +were innocent and both were happy--although the superior intellect +already felt, and, in the slight altercation preceding this separation, +had already expressed a dim misgiving of some coming change: these are +the words, and in depth of pathos they have rarely been approached:-- + + 'Oft he to her his charge of quick return + Repeated; she to him as oft engag'd + To be returned by noon amid the bow'r, + And all things in best order to invite + Noon-tide repast, or afternoon's repose. + Oh much deceived, much failing, hapless Eve! + Of thy presumed return, event perverse! + Thou never from that hour in Paradise + Found'st either sweet repast, or sound repose.' + +'_My_ Eve!' I exclaimed, 'partner in _my_ paradise, where art thou? +_Much failing_ thou wilt not be found, nor _much deceived_; innocent in +any case thou art; but, alas! too surely by this time _hapless_, and +the victim of some diabolic wickedness.' Thus I murmured to myself; +thus I ejaculated; thus I apostrophized my Agnes; then again came a +stormier mood. I could not sit still; I could not stand in quiet; I +threw the book from me with violence against the wall; I began to hurry +backwards and forwards in a short uneasy walk, when suddenly a sound, a +step; it was the sound of the garden-gate opening, followed by a hasty +tread. Whose tread? Not for a moment could it be fancied the oread step +which belonged to that daughter of the hills--my wife, my Agnes; no, it +was the dull massy tread of a man: and immediately there came a loud +blow upon the door, and in the next moment, the bell having been found, +a furious peal of ringing. Oh coward heart! not for a lease of +immortality could I have gone forwards myself. My breath failed me; an +interval came in which respiration seemed to be stifled--the blood to +halt in its current; and then and there I recognised in myself the +force and living truth of that Scriptural description of a heart +consciously beset by evil without escape: 'Susannah _sighed_.' Yes, a +long, long sigh--a deep, deep sigh--that is, the natural language by +which the over-charged heart utters forth the wo that else would break +it. I sighed--oh how profoundly! But that did not give me power to +move. Who will go to the door? I whispered audibly. Who is at the door? +was the inaudible whisper of my heart. Then might be seen the +characteristic differences of the three women. That one, whom I +suspected, I heard raising an upper window to look out and reconnoitre. +The affectionate Rachael, on the other hand, ran eagerly down stairs; +but Hannah, half dressed, even her bosom exposed, passed her like a +storm; and before I heard any sound of opening a door, I saw from the +spot where I stood the door already wide open, and a man in the costume +of a policeman. All that he said I could not hear; but this I heard-- +that I was wanted at the police office, and had better come off without +delay. He seemed then to get a glimpse of me, and to make an effort +towards coming nearer; but I slunk away, and left to Hannah the task of +drawing from him any circumstances which he might know. But apparently +there was not much to tell, or rather, said I, there is too much, the +_much_ absorbs the _many_; some one mighty evil transcends and quells +all particulars. At length the door was closed, and the man was gone. +Hannah crept slowly along the passage, and looked in hesitatingly. Her +very movements and stealthy pace testified that she had heard nothing +which, even by comparison, she could think good news. 'Tell me not now, +Hannah,' I said; 'wait till we are in the open air.' She went up stairs +again. How short seemed the time till she descended! how I longed for +further respite! 'Hannah!' I said at length when we were fairly moving +upon the road, 'Hannah! I am too sure you have nothing good to tell. +But now tell me the worst, and let that be in the fewest words +possible.' + +'Sir,' she said, 'we had better wait until we reach the office; for +really I could not understand the man. He says that my mistress is +detained upon some charge; but _what_, I could not at all make +out. He was a man that knew something of you, Sir, I believe, and he +wished to be civil, and kept saying, "Oh! I dare say it will turn out +nothing at all, many such charges are made idly and carelessly, and +some maliciously." "But what charges?" I cried, and then he wanted to +speak privately to you. But I told him that of all persons he must not +speak to you, if he had anything painful to tell; for that you were too +much disturbed already, and had been for some hours, out of anxiety and +terror about my mistress, to bear much more. So, when he heard that, he +was less willing to speak freely than before. He might prove wrong, he +said; he might give offence; things might turn out far otherwise than +according to first appearances; for his part, he could not believe +anything amiss of so sweet a lady. And after all, it would be better to +wait till we reached the office.' + +Thus much then was clear--Agnes was under some accusation. This was +already worse than the worst I had anticipated. 'And then,' said I, +thinking aloud to Hannah, 'one of two things is apparent to me; either +the accusation is one of pure hellish malice, without a color of +probability or the shadow of a foundation, and that way, alas! I am +driven in my fears by that Hungarian woman's prophecy; or, which but +for my desponding heart I should be more inclined to think, the charge +has grown out of my poor wife's rustic ignorance as to the usages then +recently established by law with regard to the kind of money that could +be legally tendered. This, however, was a suggestion that did not tend +to alleviate my anxiety; and my nervousness had mounted to a painful, +almost to a disabling degree, by the time we reached the office. +Already on our road thither some parties had passed us who were +conversing with eagerness upon the case: so much we collected from the +many and ardent expressions about 'the lady's beauty,' though the rest +of such words as we could catch were ill calculated to relieve my +suspense. This, then, at least, was certain--that my poor timid Agnes +had already been exhibited before a tumultuous crowd; that her name and +reputation had gone forth as a subject of discussion for the public; +and that the domestic seclusion and privacy within which it was her +matronly privilege to move had already undergone a rude violation. + +The office, and all the purlieus of the office, were occupied by a +dense crowd. That, perhaps, was always the case, more or less, at this +time of day; but at present the crowd was manifestly possessed by a +more than ordinary interest; and there was a unity in this possessing +interest; all were talking on the same subject, the case in which Agnes +had so recently appeared in some character or other; and by this time +it became but too certain in the character of an accused person. Pity +was the prevailing sentiment amongst the mob; but the opinions varied +much as to the probable criminality of the prisoner. I made my way into +the office. The presiding magistrates had all retired for the +afternoon, and would not reassemble until eight o'clock in the evening. +Some clerks only or officers of the court remained, who were too much +harassed by applications for various forms and papers connected with +the routine of public business, and by other official duties which +required signatures or attestations, to find much leisure for answering +individual questions. Some, however, listened with a marked air of +attention to my earnest request for the circumstantial details of the +case, but finally referred me to a vast folio volume, in which were +entered all the charges, of whatever nature, involving any serious +tendency--in fact, all that exceeded a misdemeanor--in the regular +chronological succession according to which they came before the +magistrate. Here, in this vast calendar of guilt and misery, amidst the +_aliases_ or cant designations of ruffians, prostitutes, felons, +stood the description, at full length, Christian and surnames all +properly registered, of my Agnes--of her whose very name had always +sounded to my ears like the very echo of mountain innocence, purity, +and pastoral simplicity. Here in another column stood the name and +residence of her accuser. I shall call him _Barratt_, for that was +amongst his names, and a name by which he had at one period of his +infamous life been known to the public, though not his principal name, +or the one which he had thought fit to assume at this era. James +Barratt, then, as I shall here call him, was a haberdasher--keeping a +large and conspicuous shop in a very crowded and what was then +considered a fashionable part of the city. The charge was plain and +short. Did I live to read it? It accused Agnes M---- of having on that +morning secreted in her muff, and feloniously carried away, a valuable +piece of Mechlin lace, the property of James Barratt. And the result of +the first examination was thus communicated in a separate column, +written in red ink--'Remanded to the second day after to-morrow for +final examination.' Everything in this sin-polluted register was in +manuscript; but at night the records of each day were regularly +transferred to a printed journal, enlarged by comments and explanatory +descriptions from some one of the clerks, whose province it was to +furnish this intelligence to the public journals. On that same night, +therefore, would go forth to the world such an account of the case, and +such a description of my wife's person, as would inevitably summon to +the next exhibition of her misery, as by special invitation and +advertisement, the whole world of this vast metropolis--the idle, the +curious, the brutal, the hardened amateur in spectacles of wo, and the +benign philanthropist who frequents such scenes with the purpose of +carrying alleviation to their afflictions. All alike, whatever might be +their motives or the spirit of their actions, would rush (as to some +grand festival of curiosity and sentimental luxury) to this public +martyrdom of my innocent wife. + +Meantime, what was the first thing to be done? Manifestly, to see +Agnes: her account of the affair might suggest the steps to be taken. +Prudence, therefore, at any rate, prescribed this course; and my heart +would not have tolerated any other. I applied, therefore, at once, for +information as to the proper mode of effecting this purpose without +delay. What was my horror at learning that, by a recent regulation of +all the police-offices, under the direction of the public minister who +presided over that department of the national administration, no person +could be admitted to an interview with any accused party during the +progress of the official examinations; or, in fact, until the final +committal of the prisoner for trial. This rule was supposed to be +attended by great public advantages, and had rarely been relaxed-- +never, indeed, without a special interposition of the police minister +authorizing its suspension. But was the exclusion absolute and +universal? Might not, at least, a female servant, simply as the bearer +of such articles as were indispensable to female delicacy and comfort, +have access to her mistress? No; the exclusion was total and +unconditional. To argue the point was manifestly idle; the subordinate +officers had no discretion in the matter; nor, in fact, had any other +official person, whatever were his rank, except the supreme one; and to +him I neither had any obvious means of introduction, nor (in case of +obtaining such an introduction) any chance of success; for the spirit +of the rule, I foresaw it would be answered, applied with especial +force to cases like the present. + +Mere human feelings of pity, sympathy with my too visible agitation, +superadded to something of perhaps reverence for the blighting misery +that was now opening its artillery upon me--for misery has a privilege, +and everywhere is felt to be a holy thing--had combined to procure for +me some attention and some indulgence hitherto. Answers had been given +with precision, explanations made at length, and anxiety shown to +satisfy my inquiries. But this could not last; the inexorable +necessities of public business coming back in a torrent upon the +official people after this momentary interruption, forbade them to +indulge any further consideration for an individual case, and I saw +that I must not stay any longer. I was rapidly coming to be regarded as +a hinderance to the movement of public affairs; and the recollection +that I might again have occasion for some appeal to these men in their +official characters, admonished me not to abuse my privilege of the +moment. After returning thanks, therefore, for the disposition shown to +oblige me, I retired. + +Slowly did I and Hannah retrace our steps. Hannah sustained, in the +tone of her spirits, by the extremity of her anger, a mood of feeling +which I did not share. Indignation was to her in the stead of +consolation and hope. I, for my part, could not seek even a momentary +shelter from my tempestuous affliction in that temper of mind. The man +who could accuse my Agnes, and accuse her of such a crime, I felt to be +a monster; and in my thoughts he was already doomed to a bloody +atonement (atonement! alas! what atonement!) whenever the time arrived +that _her_ cause would not be prejudiced, or the current of public +feeling made to turn in his favor by investing him with the semblance +of an injured or suffering person. So much was settled in my thoughts +with the stern serenity of a decree issuing from a judgment-seat. But +that gave no relief, no shadow of relief, to the misery which was now +consuming me. Here was an end, in one hour, to the happiness of a life. +In one hour it had given way, root and branch--had melted like so much +frost-work, or a pageant of vapory exhalations. In a moment, in the +twinkling of an eye, and yet for ever and ever, I comprehended the +total ruin of my situation. The case, as others might think, was yet in +suspense; and there was room enough for very rational hopes, especially +where there was an absolute certainty of innocence. Total freedom from +all doubt on that point seemed to justify almost more than hopes. This +might be said, and most people would have been more or less consoled by +it. I was not. I felt as certain, as irredeemably, as hopelessly +certain of the final results as though I had seen the record in the +books of Heaven. 'Hope nothing,' I said to myself; 'think not of hope +in this world, but think only how best to walk steadily, and not to +reel like a creature wanting discourse of reason, or incapable of +religious hopes under the burden which it has pleased God to impose, +and which in this life cannot be shaken off. The countenance of man is +made to look upward and to the skies. Thither also point henceforwards +your heart and your thoughts. Never again let your thoughts travel +earthwards. Settle them on the heavens, to which your Agnes is already +summoned. The call is clear, and not to be mistaken. Little in +_her_ fate now depends upon you, or upon anything that man can do. +Look, therefore, to yourself; see that you make not shipwreck of your +heavenly freight because your earthly freight is lost; and miss not, by +any acts of wild and presumptuous despair, that final reunion with your +Agnes, which can only be descried through vistas that open through the +heavens.' + +Such were the thoughts, thoughts often made audible, which came +spontaneously like oracles from afar, as I strode homewards with Hannah +by my side. Her, meantime, I seemed to hear; for at times I seemed and +I intended to answer her. But answer her I did not; for not ten words +of all that she said did I really and consciously hear. How I went +through that night is more entirely a blank in my memory, more entirely +a chapter of chaos and the confusion of chaos, than any other passage +the most impressive in my life. If I even slumbered for a moment, as at +intervals I did sometimes, though never sitting down, but standing or +pacing about throughout the night, and if in this way I attained a +momentary respite from self-consciousness, no sooner had I reached this +enviable state of oblivion, than some internal sting of irritation +_as_ rapidly dispersed the whole fickle fabric of sleep; and as if +the momentary trance--this fugitive beguilement of my wo--had been +conceded by a demon's subtle malice only with the purpose of barbing +the pang, by thus forcing it into a stronger relief through the +insidious peace preceding it. It is a well known and most familiar +experience to all the sons and daughters of affliction, that under no +circumstances is the piercing, lancinating torment of a recent calamity +felt so keenly as in the first moments of awaking in the morning from +the night's slumbers. Just at the very instant when the clouds of +sleep, and the whole fantastic illusions of dreaminess are dispersing, +just as the realities of life are re-assuming their steadfast forms-- +re-shaping themselves--and settling anew into those fixed relations +which they are to preserve throughout the waking hours; in that +particular crisis of transition from the unreal to the real, the wo +which besieges the brain and the life-springs at the heart rushes in +afresh amongst the other crowd of realities, and has at the moment of +restoration literally the force and liveliness of a new birth--the very +same pang, and no whit feebler, as that which belonged to it when it +was first made known. From the total hush of oblivion which had buried +it and sealed it up, as it were, during the sleeping hours, it starts +into sudden life on our first awaking, and is to all intents and +purposes a new and not an old affliction--one which brings with it the +old original shock which attended its first annunciation. + +That night--that first night of separation from my wife--_how_ it +passed, I know not; I know only _that_ it passed, I being in our +common bed-chamber, that holiest of all temples that are consecrated to +human attachments, whenever the heart is pure of man and woman, and the +love is strong--I being in that bedchamber, once the temple now the +sepulchre of our happiness,--I there, and my wife--my innocent wife--in +a dungeon. As the morning light began to break, somebody knocked at the +door; it was Hannah: she took my hand--misery levels all feeble +distinctions of station, sex, age--she noticed my excessive +feverishness, and gravely remonstrated with me upon the necessity there +was that I should maintain as much health as possible for the sake of +'others,' if not for myself. She then brought me some tea, which +refreshed me greatly; for I had tasted nothing at all beyond a little +water since the preceding morning's breakfast. This refreshment seemed +to relax and thaw the stiff frozen state of cheerless, rayless despair +in which I had passed the night; I became susceptible of consolation-- +that consolation which lies involved in kindness and gentleness of +manner--if not susceptible more than before of any positive hope. I sat +down; and, having no witnesses to my weakness but this kind and +faithful woman, I wept, and I found a relief in tears; and she, with +the ready sympathy of woman, wept along with me. All at once she +ventured upon the circumstances (so far as she had been able to collect +them from the reports of those who had been present at the examination) +of our calamity. There was little indeed either to excite or to gratify +any interest or curiosity separate from the _personal_ interest +inevitably connected with a case to which there were two such parties +as a brutal, sensual, degraded ruffian, on one side in character of +accuser, and on the other as defendant, a meek angel of a woman, timid +and fainting from the horrors of her situation, and under the +licentious gaze of the crowd--yet, at the same time, bold in conscious +innocence, and in the very teeth of the suspicions which beset her, +winning the good opinion, as well as the good wishes of all who saw +her. There had been at this first examination little for her to say +beyond the assigning her name, age, and place of abode; and here it was +fortunate that her own excellent good sense concurred with her perfect +integrity and intuitive hatred of all indirect or crooked courses in +prompting her to an undisguised statement of the simple truth, without +a momentary hesitation or attempt either at evasion or suppression. +With equally good intentions in similar situations many a woman has +seriously injured her cause by slight evasions of the entire truth, +where nevertheless her only purpose has been the natural and ingenuous +one of seeking to save the reputation untainted of a name which she +felt to have been confided to her keeping. The purpose was an honorable +one, but erroneously pursued. Agnes fell into no such error. She +answered calmly, simply, and truly, to every question put by the +magistrates; and beyond _that_ there was little opportunity for +her to speak; the whole business of this preliminary examination being +confined to the deposition of the accuser as to the circumstances under +which he alleged the act of felonious appropriation to have taken +place. These circumstances were perfectly uninteresting, considered in +themselves; but amongst them was one which to us had the most shocking +interest, from the absolute proof thus furnished of a deep-laid plot +against Agnes. But for this one circumstance there would have been a +possibility that the whole had originated in error--error growing out +of and acting upon a nature originally suspicious, and confirmed +perhaps by an unfortunate experience. And in proportion as that was +possible, the chances increased that the accuser might, as the +examinations advanced, and the winning character of the accused party +began to develop itself, begin to see his error, and to retract his own +over-hasty suspicions. But now we saw at a glance that for this hope +there was no countenance whatever, since one solitary circumstance +sufficed to establish a conspiracy. The deposition bore--that the lace +had been secreted and afterwards detected in a muff; now it was a fact +as well known to both of us as the fact of Agnes having gone out at +all--that she had laid aside her winter's dress for the first time on +this genial sunny day. Muff she had not at the time, nor could have had +appropriately from the style of her costume in other respects. What was +the effect upon us of this remarkable discovery! Of course there died +at once the hope of any abandonment by the prosecutor of his purpose; +because here was proof of a predetermined plot. This hope died at once; +but then, as it was one which never had presented itself to my mind, I +lost nothing by which I had ever been solaced. On the other hand, it +will be obvious that a new hope at the same time arose to take its +place, viz., the reasonable one that by this single detection, if once +established, we might raise a strong presumption of conspiracy, and +moreover that, as a leading fact or clue, it might serve to guide us in +detecting others. Hannah was sanguine in this expectation; and for a +moment her hopes were contagiously exciting to mine. But the hideous +despondency which in my mind had settled upon the whole affair from the +very first, the superstitious presentiment I had of a total blight +brooding over the entire harvest of my life and its promises, (tracing +itself originally, I am almost ashamed to own, up to that prediction of +the Hungarian woman)--denied me steady light, anything--all in short +but a wandering ray of hope. It was right, of course, nay, +indispensable, that the circumstance of the muff should be strongly +insisted upon at the next examination, pressed against the prosecutor, +and sifted to the uttermost. An able lawyer would turn this to a +triumphant account; and it would be admirable as a means of pre- +engaging the good opinion as well as the sympathies of the public in +behalf of the prisoner. But, for its final effect--my conviction +remained, not to be shaken, that all would be useless; that our doom +had gone forth, and was irrevocable. + +Let me not linger too much over those sad times. Morning came on as +usual; for it is strange, but true, that to the very wretched it seems +wonderful that times and seasons should keep their appointed courses in +the midst of such mighty overthrows, and such interruption to the +courses of their own wonted happiness and their habitual expectations. +Why should morning and night, why should all movements in the natural +world be so regular, whilst in the moral world all is so irregular and +anomalous? Yet the sun and the moon rise and set as usual upon the +mightiest revolutions of empire and of worldly fortune that this planet +ever beholds; and it is sometimes even a comfort to know that this will +be the case. A great criminal, sentenced to an agonizing punishment, +has derived a fortitude and a consolation from recollecting that the +day would run its inevitable course--that a day after all was +_but_ a day--that the mighty wheel of alternate light and darkness +must and would revolve--and that the evening star would rise as usual, +and shine with its untroubled lustre upon the dust and ashes of what +_had_ indeed suffered, and so recently, the most bitter pangs, but +would then have ceased to suffer. 'La Journée,' said Damien, + + 'La journée sera dure, mais elle se passera.' + +'----_Se passera_:' yes, that is true, I whispered to myself; my +day also, my season of trial will be hard to bear; but that also will +have an end; that also '_se passera_.' Thus I talked or thought so +long as I thought at all; for the hour was now rapidly approaching, +when thinking in any shape would for some time be at an end for me. + +That day, as the morning advanced, I went again, accompanied by Hannah, +to the police court and to the prison--a vast, ancient, in parts +ruinous, and most gloomy pile of building. In those days the +administration of justice was, if not more corrupt, certainly in its +inferior departments by far more careless than it is at present, and +liable to thousands of interruptions and mal-practices, supporting +themselves upon old traditionary usages which required at least half a +century, and the shattering everywhere given to old systems by the +French Revolution, together with the universal energy of mind applied +to those subjects over the whole length and breadth of Christendom, to +approach with any effectual reforms. Knowing this, and having myself +had direct personal cognisance of various cases in which bribery had +been applied with success, I was not without considerable hope that +perhaps Hannah and myself might avail ourselves of this irregular +passport through the gates of the prison. And, had the new regulation +been of somewhat longer standing, there is little doubt that I should +have been found right; unfortunately, as yet it had all the freshness +of newborn vigor, and kept itself in remembrance by the singular +irritation it excited. Besides this, it was a pet novelty of one +particular minister, new to the possession of power, anxious to +distinguish himself, proud of his creative functions within the range +of his office, and very sensitively jealous on the point of opposition +to his mandates. Vain, therefore, on this day were all my efforts to +corrupt the jailers; and, in fact, anticipating a time when I might +have occasion to corrupt some of them for a more important purpose and +on a larger scale, I did not think it prudent to proclaim my character +beforehand as one who tampered with such means, and thus to arm against +myself those jealousies in official people, which it was so peculiarly +important that I should keep asleep. + +All that day, however, I lingered about the avenues and vast courts in +the precincts of the prison, and near one particular wing of the +building, which had been pointed out to me by a jailer as the section +allotted to those who were in the situation of Agnes; that is, waiting +their final commitment for trial. The building generally he could +indicate with certainty, but he professed himself unable to indicate +the particular part of it which 'the young woman brought in on the day +previous' would be likely to occupy; consequently he could not point +out the window from which her cell (her '_cell_!' what a word!) +would be lighted. 'But, master,' he went on to say, 'I would advise +nobody to try that game.' He looked with an air so significant, and at +the same time used a gesture so indicative of private understanding, +that I at once apprehended his meaning, and assured him that he had +altogether misconstrued my drift; that, as to attempts at escape, or at +any mode of communicating with the prisoner from the outside, I trusted +all _that_ was perfectly needless; and that at any rate in my eyes +it was perfectly hopeless. 'Well, master,' he replied, 'that's neither +here nor there. You've come down handsomely, that I _will_ say; +and where a gentleman acts like a gentleman, and behaves himself as +such, I'm not the man to go and split upon him for a word. To be sure +it's quite nat'ral that a gentleman--put case that a young woman is his +fancy woman--it's nothing but nat'ral that he should want to get her +out of such an old rat-hole as this, where many's the fine-timbered +creature, both he and she, that has lain to rot, and has never got out +of the old trap at all, first or last'----'How so?' I interrupted him; +'surely they don't detain the corpses of prisoners?' 'Ay, but mind you +--put case that he or that she should die in this rat-trap before +sentence is past, why then the prison counts them as its own children, +and buries them in its own chapel--that old stack of pigeon-holes that +you see up yonder to the right hand.' So then, after all, thought I, if +my poor Agnes should, in her desolation and solitary confinement to +these wretched walls, find her frail strength give way--should the +moral horrors of her situation work their natural effect upon her +health, and she should chance to die within this dungeon, here within +this same dungeon will she lie to the resurrection, and in that case +her prison-doors have already closed upon her for ever. The man, who +perhaps had some rough kindness in his nature, though tainted by the +mercenary feelings too inevitably belonging to his situation, seemed to +guess at the character of my ruminations by the change of my +countenance, for he expressed some pity for my being 'in so much +trouble;' and it seemed to increase his respect for me that this +trouble should be directed to the case of a woman, for he appeared to +have a manly sense of the peculiar appeal made to the honor and +gallantry of man, by the mere general fact of the feebleness and the +dependence of woman. I looked at him more attentively in consequence of +the feeling tone in which he now spoke, and was surprised that I had +not more particularly noticed him before; he was a fine looking, +youngish man, with a bold Robin-hood style of figure and appearance; +and, morally speaking, he was absolutely transfigured to my eyes by the +effect worked upon him for the moment, through the simple calling up of +his better nature. However, he recurred to his cautions about the peril +in a legal sense of tampering with the windows, bolts, and bars of the +old decaying prison; which, in fact, precisely according to the degree +in which its absolute power over its prisoners was annually growing +less and less, grew more and more jealous of its own reputation, and +punished the attempts to break loose with the more severity, in exact +proportion as they were the more tempting by the chances of success. I +persisted in disowning any schemes of the sort, and especially upon the +ground of their hopelessness. But this, on the other hand, was a ground +that in his inner thoughts he treated with scorn; and I could easily +see that, with a little skilful management of opportunity, I might, +upon occasion, draw from him all the secrets he knew as to the special +points of infirmity in this old ruinous building. For the present, and +until it should certainly appear that there was some use to be derived +from this species of knowledge, I forbore to raise superfluous +suspicions by availing myself further of his communicative disposition. +Taking, however, the precaution of securing his name, together with his +particular office and designation in the prison, I parted from him as +if to go home, but in fact to resume my sad roamings up and down the +precincts of the jail. + +What made these precincts much larger than otherwise they would have +been, was the circumstance that, by a usage derived from older days, +both criminal prisoners and those who were prisoners for debt, equally +fell under the custody of this huge caravanserai for the indifferent +reception of crime, of misdemeanor, and of misfortune. And those who +came under the two first titles, were lodged here through all stages of +their connection with public justice; alike when mere objects of vague +suspicion to the police, when under examination upon a specific charge, +when fully committed for trial, when convicted and under sentence, +awaiting the execution of that sentence, and, in a large proportion of +cases, even through their final stage of punishment, when it happened +to be of any nature compatible with in-door confinement. Hence it arose +that the number of those who haunted the prison gates, with or without +a title to admission, was enormous; all the relatives, or more properly +the acquaintances and connections of the criminal population within the +prison, being swelled by all the families of needy debtors who came +daily, either to offer the consolation of their society, or to diminish +their common expenditure by uniting their slender establishments. One +of the rules applied to the management of this vast multitude that were +every day candidates for admission was, that to save the endless +trouble as well as risk, perhaps, of opening and shutting the main +gates to every successive arrival, periodic intervals were fixed for +the admission by wholesale; and as these periods came round every two +hours, it would happen at many parts of the day that vast crowds +accumulated waiting for the next opening of the gate. These crowds were +assembled in two or three large outer courts, in which also were many +stalls and booths, kept there upon some local privilege of ancient +inheritance, or upon some other plea made good by gifts or bribes--some +by Jews and others by Christians, perhaps equally Jewish. Superadded to +these stationary elements of this miscellaneous population, were others +drawn thither by pure motives of curiosity, so that altogether an +almost permanent mob was gathered together in these courts; and amid +this mob it was,--from I know not what definite motive, partly because +I thought it probable that amongst these people I should hear the cause +of Agnes peculiarly the subject of conversation; and so, in fact, it +did really happen,--but partly, and even more, I believe, because I now +awfully began to shrink from solitude. Tumult I must have, and +distraction of thought. Amid this mob, I say, it was that I passed two +days. Feverish I had been from the first--and from bad to worse, in +such a case, was, at any rate, a natural progress; but, perhaps, also +amongst this crowd of the poor, the abjectly wretched, the ill-fed, the +desponding, and the dissolute, there might be very naturally a larger +body of contagion lurking than according to their mere numerical +expectations. There was at that season a very extensive depopulation +going on in some quarters of this great metropolis, and in other cities +of the same empire, by means of a very malignant typhus. This fever is +supposed to be the peculiar product of jails; and though it had not as +yet been felt as a scourge and devastator of this particular jail, or +at least the consequent mortality had been hitherto kept down to a +moderate amount, yet it was highly probable that a certain quantity of +contagion, much beyond the proportion of other popular assemblages less +uniformly wretched in their composition, was here to be found all day +long; and doubtless my excited state, and irritable habit of body, had +offered a peculiar predisposition that favored the rapid development of +this contagion. However this might be, the result was, that on the +evening of the second day which I spent in haunting the purlieus of the +prison, (consequently the night preceding the second public examination +of Agnes,) I was attacked by ardent fever in such unmitigated fury, +that before morning I had lost all command of my intellectual +faculties. For some weeks I became a pitiable maniac, and in every +sense the wreck of my former self; and seven entire weeks, together +with the better half of an eighth week, had passed over my head whilst +I lay unconscious of time and its dreadful freight of events, excepting +in so far as my disordered brain, by its fantastic coinages, created +endless mimicries and mockeries of these events--less substantial, but +oftentimes less afflicting, or less agitating. It would have been well +for me had my destiny decided that I was not to be recalled to this +world of wo. But I had no such happiness in store. I recovered, and +through twenty and eight years my groans have recorded the sorrow I +feel that I did. + + * * * * * + +I shall not rehearse circumstantially, and point by point, the sad +unfolding, as it proceeded through successive revelations to me, of all +which had happened during my state of physical incapacity. When I first +became aware that my wandering senses had returned to me, and knew, by +the cessation of all throbbings, and the unutterable pains that had so +long possessed my brain, that I was now returning from the gates of +death, a sad confusion assailed me as to some indefinite cloud of evil +that had been hovering over me at the time when I first fell into a +state of insensibility. For a time I struggled vainly to recover the +lost connection of my thoughts, and I endeavored ineffectually to +address myself to sleep. I opened my eyes, but found the glare of light +painful beyond measure. Strength, however, it seemed to me that I had, +and more than enough, to raise myself out of bed. I made the attempt, +but fell back, almost giddy with the effort. At the sound of the +disturbance which I had thus made, a woman whom I did not know came +from behind a curtain, and spoke to me. Shrinking from any +communication with a stranger, especially one whose discretion I could +not estimate in making discoveries to me with the requisite caution, I +asked her simply what o'clock it was. + +'Eleven in the forenoon,' she replied. + +'And what day of the month?' + +'The second,' was her brief answer. + +I felt almost a sense of shame in adding--; 'The second! but of what +month?' + +'Of June,' was the startling rejoinder. + +On the 8th of April I had fallen ill, and it was now actually the 2d of +June. Oh! sickening calculation! revolting register of hours! for in +that same moment which brought back this one recollection, perhaps by +steadying my brain, rushed back in a torrent all the other dreadful +remembrances of the period, and now the more so, because, though the +event was still uncertain as regarded my knowledge, it must have become +dreadfully certain as regarded the facts of the case, and the happiness +of all who were concerned. Alas! one little circumstance too painfully +assured me that this event had not been a happy one. Had Agnes been +restored to her liberty and her home, where would she have been found +but watching at my bed-side? That too certainly I knew, and the +inference was too bitter to support. + +On this same day, some hours afterwards, upon Hannah's return from the +city, I received from her, and heard with perfect calmness, the whole +sum of evil which awaited me. Little Francis--she took up her tale at +that point--'was with God:' so she expressed herself. He had died of +the same fever which had attacked me--had died and been buried nearly +five weeks before. Too probably he had caught the infection from me. +Almost--such are the caprices of human feeling--almost I could have +rejoiced that this young memorial of my vanished happiness had vanished +also. It gave me a pang, nevertheless, that the grave should thus have +closed upon him before I had seen his fair little face again. But I +steeled my heart to hear worse things than this. Next she went on to +inform me that already, on the first or second day of our calamity, she +had taken upon herself, without waiting for authority, on observing the +rapid approaches of illness in me, and arguing the state of +helplessness which would follow, to write off at once a summons in the +most urgent terms to the brother of my wife. This gentleman, whom I +shall call Pierpoint, was a high-spirited, generous young man as I have +ever known. When I say that he was a sportsman, that at one season of +the year he did little else than pursue his darling amusement of fox- +hunting, for which indeed he had almost a maniacal passion--saying +this, I shall already have prejudged him in the opinions of many, who +fancy all such persons the slaves of corporeal enjoyments. But, with +submission, the truth lies the other way. According to my experience, +people of these habits have their bodies more than usually under their +command, as being subdued by severe exercise; and their minds, neither +better nor worse on an average than those of their neighbors, are more +available from being so much more rarely clogged by morbid habits in +that uneasy yoke-fellow of the intellectual part--the body. He at all +events was a man to justify in his own person this way of thinking; for +he was a man not only of sound, but even of bold and energetic +intellect, and in all moral respects one whom any man might feel proud +to call his friend. This young man, Pierpoint, without delay obeyed the +summons; and on being made acquainted with what had already passed, the +first step he took was to call upon Barratt, and without further +question than what might ascertain his identity, he proceeded to +inflict upon him a severe horsewhipping. A worse step on his sister's +account he could not have taken. Previously to this the popular feeling +had run strongly against Barratt, but now its unity was broken. A new +element was introduced into the question: Democratic feelings were +armed against this outrage; gentlemen and nobles, it was said, thought +themselves not amenable to justice; and again, the majesty of the law +was offended at this intrusion upon an affair already under solemn +course of adjudication. Everything, however, passes away under the +healing hand of time, and this also faded from the public mind. People +remembered also that he was a brother, and in that character, at any +rate, had a right to some allowances for his intemperance; and what +quickened the oblivion of the affair was, which in itself was +sufficiently strange, that Barratt did not revive the case in the +public mind by seeking legal reparation for his injuries. It was, +however, still matter of regret that Pierpoint should have indulged +himself in this movement of passion, since undoubtedly it broke and +disturbed the else uniform stream of public indignation, by investing +the original aggressor with something like the character of an injured +person; and therefore with some set-off to plead against his own +wantonness of malice;--his malice might now assume the nobler aspect of +revenge. + +Thus far, in reporting the circumstances, Hannah had dallied--thus far +I had rejoiced that she dallied, with the main burden of the wo; but +now there remained nothing to dally with any longer--and she rushed +along in her narrative, hurrying to tell--I hurrying to hear. A second, +a third examination had ensued, then a final committal--all this within +a week. By that time all the world was agitated with the case; +literally not the city only, vast as that city was, but the nation was +convulsed and divided into parties upon the question, Whether the +prosecution were one of mere malice or not? The very government of the +land was reported to be equally interested, and almost equally divided +in opinion. In this state of public feeling came the trial. Image to +yourself, oh reader, whosoever you are, the intensity of the excitement +which by that time had arisen in all people to be spectators of the +scene--then image to yourself the effect of all this, a perfect +consciousness that in herself as a centre was settled the whole mighty +interest of the exhibition--that interest again of so dubious and mixed +a character--sympathy in some with mere misfortune--sympathy in others +with female frailty and guilt, not perhaps founded upon an absolute +unwavering belief in her innocence, even amongst those who were most +loud and positive as partisans in affirming it,--and then remember that +all this hideous scenical display and notoriety settled upon one whose +very nature, constitutionally timid, recoiled with the triple agony of +womanly shame--of matronly dignity--of insulted innocence, from every +mode and shape of public display. Combine all these circumstances and +elements of the case, and you may faintly enter into the situation of +my poor Agnes. Perhaps the best way to express it at once is by +recurring to the case of a young female Christian martyr, in the early +ages of Christianity, exposed in the bloody amphitheatre of Rome or +Verona, to 'fight with wild beasts,' as it was expressed in mockery-- +she to fight the lamb to fight with lions! But in reality the young +martyr _had_ a fight to maintain, and a fight (in contempt of that +cruel mockery) fiercer than the fiercest of her persecutors could have +faced perhaps--the combat with the instincts of her own shrinking, +trembling, fainting nature. Such a fight had my Agnes to maintain; and +at that time there was a large party of gentlemen in whom the +gentlemanly instinct was predominant, and who felt so powerfully the +cruel indignities of her situation, that they made a public appeal in +her behalf. One thing, and a strong one, which they said, was this:-- +'We all talk and move in this case as if, because the question appears +doubtful to some people, and the accused party to some people wears a +doubtful character, it would follow that she therefore had in reality a +mixed character composed in joint proportions of the best and the worst +that is imputed to her. But let us not forget that this mixed character +belongs not to her, but to the infirmity of our human judgments-- +_they_ are mixed--_they_ are dubious--but she is not--she is, +or she is not, guilty--there is no middle case--and let us consider for +a single moment, that if this young lady (as many among us heartily +believe) _is_ innocent, then and upon that supposition let us +consider how cruel we should all think the public exposure which +aggravates the other injuries (as in that case they must be thought) to +which her situation exposes her.' They went on to make some suggestions +for the officers of the court in preparing the arrangements for the +trial, and some also for the guidance of the audience, which showed the +same generous anxiety for sparing the feelings of the prisoner. If +these did not wholly succeed in repressing the open avowal of coarse +and brutal curiosity amongst the intensely vulgar, at least they +availed to diffuse amongst the neutral and indifferent part of the +public a sentiment of respect and forbearance which, emanating from +high quarters, had a very extensive influence upon most of what met the +eye or the ear of my poor wife. She, on the day of trial, was supported +by her brother; and by that time she needed support indeed. I was +reported to be dying; her little son was dead; neither had she been +allowed to see him. Perhaps these things, by weaning her from all +further care about life, might have found their natural effect in +making her indifferent to the course of the trial, or even to its +issue. And so, perhaps, in the main, they did. But at times some +lingering sense of outraged dignity, some fitful gleams of old +sympathies, 'the hectic of a moment,' came back upon her, and prevailed +over the deadening stupor of her grief. Then she shone for a moment +into a starry light--sweet and woful to remember. Then----but why +linger? I hurry to the close: she was pronounced guilty; whether by a +jury or a bench of judges, I do not say--having determined, from the +beginning, to give no hint of the land in which all these events +happened; neither is that of the slightest consequence. Guilty she was +pronounced: but sentence at that time was deferred. Ask me not, I +beseech you, about the muff or other circumstances inconsistent with +the hostile evidence. These circumstances had the testimony, you will +observe, of my own servants only; nay, as it turned out, of one servant +exclusively: _that_ naturally diminished their value. And, on the +other side, evidence was arrayed, perjury was suborned, that would have +wrecked a wilderness of simple truth trusting to its own unaided +forces. What followed? Did this judgment of the court settle the +opinion of the public? Opinion of the public! Did it settle the winds? +Did it settle the motion of the Atlantic? Wilder, fiercer, and louder +grew the cry against the wretched accuser: mighty had been the power +over the vast audience of the dignity, the affliction, the perfect +simplicity, and the Madonna beauty of the prisoner. That beauty so +childlike, and at the same time so saintly, made, besides, so touching +in its pathos by means of the abandonment--the careless abandonment and +the infinite desolation of her air and manner--would of itself, and +without further aid, have made many converts. Much more was done by the +simplicity of her statements, and the indifference with which she +neglected to improve any strong points in her own favor--the +indifference, as every heart perceived, of despairing grief. Then came +the manners on the hostile side--the haggard consciousness of guilt, +the drooping tone, the bravado and fierce strut which sought to +dissemble all this. Not one amongst all the witnesses, assembled on +that side, had (by all agreement) the bold natural tone of conscious +uprightness. Hence it could not be surprising that the storm of popular +opinion made itself heard with a louder and a louder sound. The +government itself began to be disturbed; the ministers of the sovereign +were agitated; and, had no menaces been thrown out, it was generally +understood that they would have given way to the popular voice, now +continually more distinct and clamorous. In the midst of all this +tumult, obscure murmurs began to arise that Barratt had practised the +same or similar villanies in former instances. One case in particular +was beginning to be whispered about, which at once threw a light upon +the whole affair: it was the case of a young and very beautiful married +woman, who had been on the very brink of a catastrophe such as had +befallen my own wife, when some seasonable interference, of what nature +was not known, had critically delivered her. This case arose 'like a +little cloud no bigger than a man's hand,' then spread and threatened +to burst in tempest upon the public mind, when all at once, more +suddenly even than it had arisen, it was hushed up, or in some way +disappeared. But a trifling circumstance made it possible to trace this +case:--in after times, when means offered, but unfortunately no +particular purpose of good, nor any purpose, in fact, beyond that of +curiosity, it _was_ traced; and enough was soon ascertained to +have blown to fragments any possible conspiracy emanating from this +Barratt, had that been of any further importance. However, in spite of +all that money or art could effect, a sullen growl continued to be +heard amongst the populace of villanies many and profound that had been +effected or attempted by this Barratt; and accordingly, much in the +same way as was many years afterwards practised in London, when a +hosier had caused several young people to be prosecuted to death for +passing forged bank-notes, the wrath of the people showed itself in +marking the shop for vengeance upon any favorable occasion offering +through fire or riots, and in the mean time in deserting it. These +things had been going on for some time when I awoke from my long +delirium; but the effect they had produced upon a weak and obstinate +and haughty government, or at least upon the weak and obstinate and +haughty member of the government who presided in the police +administration, was, to confirm and rivet the line of conduct which had +been made the object of popular denunciation. More energetically, more +scornfully, to express that determination of flying in the face of +public opinion and censure, four days before my awakening, Agnes had +been brought up to receive her sentence. On that same day (nay, it was +said in that same hour,) petitions, very numerously signed, and various +petitions from different ranks, different ages, different sexes, were +carried up to the throne, praying, upon manifold grounds, but all +noticing the extreme doubtfulness of the case, for an unconditional +pardon. By whose advice or influence, it was guessed easily, though +never exactly ascertained, these petitions were unanimously, almost +contemptuously rejected. And to express the contempt of public opinion +as powerfully as possible, Agnes was sentenced by the court, +reassembled in full pomp, order, and ceremonial costume, to a +punishment the severest that the laws allowed--viz. hard labor for ten +years. The people raged more than ever; threats public and private were +conveyed to the ears of the minister chiefly concerned in the +responsibility, and who had indeed, by empty and ostentatious talking, +assumed that responsibility to himself in a way that was perfectly +needless. + +Thus stood matters when I awoke to consciousness: and this was the +fatal journal of the interval--interval so long as measured by my +fierce calendar of delirium--so brief measured by the huge circuit of +events which it embraced, and their mightiness for evil. Wrath, wrath +immeasurable, unimaginable, unmitigable, burned at my heart like a +cancer. The worst had come. And the thing which kills a man for action +--the living in two climates at once--a torrid and a frigid zone--of +hope and fear--that was past. Weak--suppose I were for the moment: I +felt that a day or two might bring back my strength. No miserable +tremors of hope _now_ shook my nerves: if they shook from that +inevitable rocking of the waters that follows a storm, so much might be +pardoned to the infirmity of a nature that could not lay aside its +fleshly necessities, nor altogether forego its homage to 'these frail +elements,' but which by inspiration already lived within a region where +no voices were heard but the spiritual voices of transcendent passions +--of + + 'Wrongs unrevenged, and insults unredress'd.' + +Six days from that time I was well--well and strong. I rose from bed; I +bathed; I dressed; dressed as if I were a bridegroom. And that +_was_ in fact a great day in my life. I was to see Agnes. Oh! yes: +permission had been obtained from the lordly minister that I should see +my wife. Is it possible? Can such condescensions exist? Yes: +solicitations from ladies, eloquent notes wet with ducal tears, these +had won from the thrice-radiant secretary, redolent of roseate attar, a +countersign to some order or other, by which I--yes I--under license of +a fop, and supervision of a jailer--was to see and for a time to +converse with my own wife. + +The hour appointed for the first day's interview was eight o'clock in +the evening. On the outside of the jail all was summer light and +animation. The sports of children in the streets of mighty cities are +but sad, and too painfully recall the circumstances of freedom and +breezy nature that are not there. But still the pomp of glorious +summer, and the presence, 'not to be put by,' of the everlasting light, +that is either always present, or always dawning--these potent elements +impregnate the very city life, and the dim reflex of nature which is +found at the bottom of well-like streets, with more solemn powers to +move and to soothe in summer. I struck upon the prison gates, the first +among multitudes waiting to strike. Not because we struck, but because +the hour had sounded, suddenly the gate opened; and in we streamed. I, +as a visitor for the first time, was immediately distinguished by the +jailers, whose glance of the eye is fatally unerring. 'Who was it that +I wanted?' At the name a stir of emotion was manifest, even there: the +dry bones stirred and moved: the passions outside had long ago passed +to the interior of this gloomy prison: and not a man but had his +hypothesis on the case; not a man but had almost fought with some +comrade (many had literally fought) about the merits of their several +opinions. + +If any man had expected a scene at this reunion, he would have been +disappointed. Exhaustion, and the ravages of sorrow, had left to dear +Agnes so little power of animation or of action, that her emotions were +rather to be guessed at, both for kind and for degree, than directly to +have been perceived. She was in fact a sick patient, far gone in an +illness that should properly have confined her to bed; and was as much +past the power of replying to my frenzied exclamations, as a dying +victim of fever of entering upon a strife of argument. In bed, however, +she was not. When the door opened she was discovered sitting at a table +placed against the opposite wall, her head pillowed upon her arms, and +these resting upon the table. Her beautiful long auburn hair had +escaped from its confinement, and was floating over the table and her +own person. She took no notice of the disturbance made by our entrance, +did not turn, did not raise her head, nor make an effort to do so, nor +by any sign whatever intimate that she was conscious of our presence, +until the turnkey in a respectful tone announced me. Upon that a low +groan, or rather a feeble moan, showed that she had become aware of my +presence, and relieved me from all apprehension of causing too sudden a +shock by taking her in my arms. The turnkey had now retired; we were +alone. I knelt by her side, threw my arms about her, and pressed her to +my heart. She drooped her head upon my shoulder, and lay for some time +like one who slumbered; but, alas! not as she had used to slumber. Her +breathing, which had been like that of sinless infancy, was now +frightfully short and quick; she seemed not properly to breathe, but to +gasp. This, thought I, may be sudden agitation, and in that case she +will gradually recover; half an hour will restore her. Wo is me! she +did _not_ recover; and internally I said--she never _will_ +recover. The arrows have gone too deep for a frame so exquisite in its +sensibility, and already her hours are numbered. + +At this first visit I said nothing to her about the past; _that_, +and the whole extent to which our communications should go, I left +rather to her own choice. At the second visit, however, upon some word +or other arising which furnished an occasion for touching on this +hateful topic, I pressed her, contrary to my own previous intention, +for as full an account of the fatal event as she could without a +distressing effort communicate. To my surprise she was silent-- +gloomily--almost it might have seemed obstinately silent. A horrid +thought came into my mind; could it, might it have been possible that +my noble-minded wife, such she had ever seemed to me, was open to +temptations of this nature? Could it have been that in some moment of +infirmity, when her better angel was away from her side, she had +yielded to a sudden impulse of frailty, such as a second moment for +consideration would have resisted, but which unhappily had been +followed by no such opportunity of retrieval? I had heard of such +things. Cases there were in our own times (and not confined to one +nation), when irregular impulses of this sort were known to have +haunted and besieged natures not otherwise ignoble and base. I ran over +some of the names amongst those which were taxed with this propensity. +More than one were the names of people in a technical sense held noble. +That, nor any other consideration abated my horror. Better, I said, +better, (because more compatible with elevation of mind,) better to +have committed some bloody act--some murderous act. Dreadful was the +panic I underwent. God pardon the wrong I did; and even now I pray to +him--as though the past thing were a future thing and capable of +change--that he would forbid her for ever to know what was the +derogatory thought I had admitted. I sometimes think, by recollecting a +momentary blush that suffused her marble countenance,--I think--I fear +that she might have read what was fighting in my mind. Yet that would +admit of another explanation. If she did read the very worst, meek +saint! she suffered no complaint or sense of that injury to escape her. +It might, however, be that perception, or it might be that fear which +roused her to an effort that otherwise had seemed too revolting to +undertake. She now rehearsed the whole steps of the affair from first +to last; but the only material addition, which her narrative made to +that which the trial itself had involved, was the following:--On two +separate occasions previous to the last and fatal one, when she had +happened to walk unaccompanied by me in the city, the monster Barratt +had met her in the street. He had probably--and this was, indeed, +subsequently ascertained--at first, and for some time afterwards, +mistaken her rank, and had addressed some proposals to her, which, from +the suppressed tone of his speaking, or from her own terror and +surprise, she had not clearly understood; but enough had reached her +alarmed ear to satisfy her that they were of a nature in the last +degree licentious and insulting. Terrified and shocked rather than +indignant, for she too easily presumed the man to be a maniac, she +hurried homewards; and was rejoiced, on first venturing to look round +when close to her own gate, to perceive that the man was not following. +There, however, she was mistaken; for either on this occasion, or on +some other, he had traced her homewards. The last of these rencontres +had occurred just three months before the fatal 6th of April; and if, +in any one instance, Agnes had departed from the strict line of her +duty as a wife, or had shown a defect of judgment, it was at this +point--in not having frankly and fully reported the circumstances to +me. On the last of these occasions I had met her at the garden-gate, +and had particularly remarked that she seemed agitated; and now, at +recalling these incidents, Agnes reminded me that I had noticed that +circumstance to herself, and that she had answered me faithfully as to +the main fact. It was true she had done so; for she had said that she +had just met a lunatic who had alarmed her by fixing his attention upon +herself, and speaking to her in a ruffian manner; and it was also true +that she did sincerely regard him in that light. This led me at the +time to construe the whole affair into a casual collision with some +poor maniac escaping from his keepers, and of no future moment, having +passed by without present consequences. But had she, instead of thus +reporting her own erroneous impression, reported the entire +circumstances of the case, I should have given them a very different +interpretation. Affection for me, and fear to throw me needlessly into +a quarrel with a man of apparently brutal and violent nature--these +considerations, as too often they do with the most upright wives, had +operated to check Agnes in the perfect sincerity of her communications. +She had told nothing _but_ the truth--only, and fatally it turned +out for us both, she had not told the _whole_ truth. The very +suppression, to which she had reconciled herself, under the belief that +thus she was providing for my safety and her own consequent happiness, +had been the indirect occasion of ruin to both. It was impossible to +show displeasure under such circumstances, or under any circumstances, +to one whose self-reproaches were at any rate too bitter; but +certainly, as a general rule, every conscientious woman should resolve +to consider her husband's honor in the first case, and far before all +other regards whatsoever; to make this the first, the second, the third +law of her conduct, and his personal safety but the fourth or fifth. +Yet women, and especially when the interests of children are at stake +upon their husbands' safety, rarely indeed are able to take this Roman +view of their duties. + +To return to the narrative. Agnes had not, nor could have, the most +remote suspicion of this Barratt's connection with the shop which he +had not accidentally entered; and the sudden appearance of this wretch +it was, at the very moment of finding herself charged with so vile and +degrading an offence, that contributed most of all to rob her of her +natural firmness, by suddenly revealing to her terrified heart the +depth of the conspiracy which thus yawned like a gulf below her. And +not only had this sudden horror, upon discovering a guilty design in +what before had seemed accident, and links uniting remote incidents +which else seemed casual and disconnected, greatly disturbed and +confused her manner, which confusion again had become more intense upon +her own consciousness that she _was_ confused, and that her manner +was greatly to her disadvantage; but--which was the worst effect of +all, because the rest could not operate against her, except upon those +who were present to witness it, whereas this was noted down and +recorded--so utterly did her confusion strip her of all presence of +mind, that she did not consciously notice (and consequently could not +protest against at the moment when it was most important to do so, and +most natural) the important circumstance of the muff. This capital +objection, therefore, though dwelt upon and improved to the utmost at +the trial, was looked upon by the judges as an after-thought; and +merely because it had not been seized upon by herself, and urged in the +first moments of her almost incapacitating terror on finding this +amongst the circumstances of the charge against her--as if an ingenuous +nature, in the very act of recoiling with horror from a criminal charge +the most degrading, and in the very instant of discovering, with a +perfect rapture of alarm, the too plausible appearance of probability +amongst the circumstances, would be likely to pause, and with attorney- +like dexterity, to pick out the particular circumstance that might +admit of being _proved_ to be false, when the conscience +proclaimed, though in despondence for the result, that all the +circumstances were, as to the use made of them, one tissue of +falsehoods. Agnes, who had made a powerful effort in speaking of the +case at all, found her calmness increase as she advanced; and she now +told me, that in reality there were two discoveries which she made in +the same instant, and not one only, which had disarmed her firmness and +ordinary presence of mind. One I have mentioned--the fact of Barratt, +the proprietor of the shop, being the same person who had in former +instances persecuted her in the street; but the other was even more +alarming--it has been said already that it was _not_ a pure matter +of accident that she had visited this particular shop. In reality, that +nursery-maid, of whom some mention has been made above, and in terms +expressing the suspicion with which even then I regarded her, had +persuaded her into going thither by some representations which Agnes +had already ascertained to be altogether unwarranted. Other +presumptions against this girl's fidelity crowded dimly upon my wife's +mind at the very moment of finding her eyes thus suddenly opened. And +it was not five minutes after her first examination, and in fact five +minutes after it had ceased to be of use to her, that she remembered +another circumstance which now, when combined with the sequel, told its +own tale,--the muff had been missed some little time before the 6th of +April. Search had been made for it; but, the particular occasion which +required it having passed off, this search was laid aside for the +present, in the expectation that it would soon reappear in some corner +of the house before it was wanted: then came the sunny day, which made +it no longer useful, and would perhaps have dismissed it entirely from +the recollection of all parties, until it was now brought back in this +memorable way. The name of my wife was embroidered within, upon the +lining, and it thus became a serviceable link to the hellish cabal +against her. Upon reviewing the circumstances from first to last, upon +recalling the manner of the girl at the time when the muff was missed, +and upon combining the whole with her recent deception, by which she +had misled her poor mistress into visiting this shop, Agnes began to +see the entire truth as to this servant's wicked collusion with +Barratt, though, perhaps, it might be too much to suppose her aware of +the unhappy result to which her collusion tended. All this she saw at a +glance when it was too late, for her first examination was over. This +girl, I must add, had left our house during my illness, and she had +afterwards a melancholy end. + +One thing surprised me in all this. Barratt's purpose must manifestly +have been to create merely a terror in my poor wife's mind, and to stop +short of any legal consequences, in order to profit of that panic and +confusion for extorting compliances with his hideous pretensions. It +perplexed me, therefore, that he did not appear to have pursued this +manifestly his primary purpose, the other being merely a mask to +conceal his true ends, and also (as he fancied) a means for effecting +them. In this, however, I had soon occasion to find that I was +deceived. He had, but without the knowledge of Agnes, taken such steps +as were then open to him, for making overtures to her with regard to +the terms upon which he would agree to defeat the charge against her by +failing to appear. But the law had travelled too fast for him, and too +determinately; so that, by the time he supposed terror to have operated +sufficiently in favor of his views, it had already become unsafe to +venture upon such explicit proposals as he would otherwise have tried. +His own safety was now at stake, and would have been compromised by any +open or written avowal of the motives on which he had been all along +acting. In fact, at this time he was foiled by the agent in whom he +confided; but much more he had been confounded upon another point--the +prodigious interest manifested by the public. Thus it seems--that, +whilst he meditated only a snare for my poor Agnes, he had prepared one +for himself; and finally, to evade the suspicions which began to arise +powerfully as to his true motives, and thus to stave off his own ruin, +had found himself in a manner obliged to go forward and consummate the +ruin of another. + + * * * * * + +The state of Agnes, as to health and bodily strength, was now becoming +such that I was forcibly warned--whatsoever I meditated doing, to do +quickly. There was this urgent reason for alarm: once conveyed into +that region of the prison in which sentences like hers were executed, +it became hopeless that I could communicate with her again. All +intercourse whatsoever, and with whomsoever, was then placed under the +most rigorous interdict; and the alarming circumstance was, that this +transfer was governed by no settled rules, but might take place at any +hour, and would certainly be precipitated by the slightest violence on +my part, the slightest indiscretion, or the slightest argument for +suspicion. Hard indeed was the part I had to play, for it was +indispensable that I should appear calm and tranquil, in order to +disarm suspicions around me, whilst continually contemplating the +possibility that I myself might be summoned to extremities which I +could not so much as trust myself to name or distinctly to conceive. +But thus stood the case: the Government, it was understood, angered by +the public opposition, resolute for the triumph of what they called +'principle,' had settled finally that the sentence should be carried +into execution. Now that she, that my Agnes, being the frail wreck that +she had become, could have stood one week of this sentence practically +and literally enforced--was a mere chimera. A few hours probably of the +experiment would have settled that question by dismissing her to the +death she longed for; but because the suffering would be short, was I +to stand by and to witness the degradation--the pollution--attempted to +be fastened upon her. What! to know that her beautiful tresses would be +shorn ignominiously--a felon's dress forced upon her--a vile taskmaster +with authority to----; blistered be the tongue that could go on to +utter, in connection with her innocent name, the vile dishonors which +were to settle upon her person! I, however, and her brother had taken +such resolutions that this result was one barely possible; and yet I +sickened (yes, literally I many times experienced the effect of +physical sickness) at contemplating our own utter childish +helplessness, and recollecting that every night during our seclusion +from the prison the last irreversible step might be taken--and in the +morning we might find a solitary cell, and the angel form that had +illuminated it gone where we could not follow, and leaving behind her +the certainty that we should see her no more. Every night, at the hour +of locking up, _she_, at least, manifestly had a fear that she saw +us for the last time; she put her arms feebly about my neck, sobbed +convulsively, and, I believe, guessed--but, if really so, did not much +reprove or quarrel with the desperate purposes which I struggled with +in regard to her own life. One thing was quite evident--that to the +peace of her latter days, now hurrying to their close, it was +indispensable that she should pass them undivided from me; and +possibly, as was afterwards alleged, when it became easy to allege any +thing, some relenting did take place in high quarters at this time; for +upon some medical reports made just now, a most seasonable indulgence +was granted, viz. that Hannah was permitted to attend her mistress +constantly; and it was also felt as a great alleviation of the horrors +belonging to this prison, that candles were now allowed throughout the +nights. But I was warned privately that these indulgences were with no +consent from the police minister; and that circumstances might soon +withdraw the momentary intercession by which we profited. With this +knowledge, we could not linger in our preparations; we had resolved +upon accomplishing an escape for Agnes, at whatever risk or price; the +main difficulty was her own extreme feebleness, which might forbid her +to co-operate with us in any degree at the critical moment; and the +main danger was--delay. We pushed forward, therefore, in our attempts +with prodigious energy, and I for my part with an energy like that of +insanity. + + * * * * * + +The first attempt we made was upon the fidelity to his trust of the +chief jailer. He was a coarse, vulgar man, brutal in his manners, but +with vestiges of generosity in his character--though damaged a good +deal by his daily associates. Him we invited to a meeting at a tavern +in the neighborhood of the prison, disguising our names as too certain +to betray our objects, and baiting our invitation with some hints which +we had ascertained were likely to prove temptations under his immediate +circumstances. He had a graceless young son whom he was most anxious to +wean from his dissolute connections, and to steady, by placing him in +some office of no great responsibility. Upon this knowledge we framed +the terms of our invitation. + +These proved to be effectual, as regarded our immediate object of +obtaining an interview of persuasion. The night was wet; and at seven +o'clock, the hour fixed for the interview, we were seated in readiness, +much perplexed to know whether he would take any notice of our +invitation. We had waited three quarters of an hour, when we heard a +heavy lumbering step ascending the stair. The door was thrown open to +its widest extent, and in the centre of the door-way stood a short +stout-built man, and the very broadest I ever beheld--staring at us +with bold inquiring eyes. His salutation was something to this effect. + +'What the hell do you gay fellows want with me? What the blazes is this +humbugging letter about? My son, and be hanged! What do you know of my +son?' + +Upon this overture we ventured to request that he would come in and +suffer us to shut the door, which we also locked. Next we produced the +official paper nominating his son to a small place in the customs,-- +not yielding much, it was true, in the way of salary, but fortunately, +and in accordance with the known wishes of the father, unburdened with +any dangerous trust. + +'Well, I suppose I must say thank ye: but what comes next? What am I to +do to pay the damages?' We informed him that for this particular little +service we asked no return. + +'No, no,' said he, 'that'll not go down: that cat'll not jump. I'm not +green enough for that. So, say away--what's the damage?' We then +explained that we had certainly a favor and a great one to ask: ['Ay, +I'll be bound you have,' was his parenthesis:] but that for this we +were prepared to offer a separate remuneration; repeating that with +respect to the little place procured for his son, it had not cost us +anything, and therefore we did really and sincerely decline to receive +anything in return; satisfied that, by this little offering, we had +procured the opportunity of this present interview. At this point we +withdrew a covering from the table upon which we had previously +arranged a heap of gold coins, amounting in value to twelve hundred +English guineas: this being the entire sum which circumstances allowed +us to raise on so sudden a warning: for some landed property that we +both had was so settled and limited, that we could not convert it into +money either by way of sale, loan, or mortgage. This sum, stating to +him its exact amount, we offered to his acceptance, upon the single +condition that he would look aside, or wink hard, or (in whatever way +he chose to express it) would make, or suffer to be made, such +facilities for our liberating a female prisoner as we would point out. +He mused: full five minutes he sat deliberating without opening his +lips. At length he shocked us by saying, in a firm, decisive tone, that +left us little hope of altering his resolution,--'No: gentlemen, it's a +very fair offer, and a good deal of money for a single prisoner. I +think I can guess at the person. It's a fair offer--fair enough. But, +bless your heart! if I were to do the thing you want--why perhaps +another case might be overlooked: but this prisoner, no: there's too +much depending. No, they would turn me out of my place. Now the place +is worth more to me in the long run than what you offer: though you bid +fair enough, if it were only for my time in it. But look here: in case +I can get my son to come into harness, I'm expecting to get the office +for him after I've retired. So I can't do it. But I'll tell you what: +you've been kind to my son: and therefore I'll not say a word about it. +You're safe for me. And so good-night to you.' Saying which, and +standing no further question, he walked resolutely out of the room and +down stairs. + +Two days we mourned over this failure, and scarcely knew which way to +turn for another ray of hope;--on the third morning we received +intelligence that this very jailer had been attacked by the fever, +which, after long desolating the city, had at length made its way into +the prison. In a very few days the jailer was lying without hope of +recovery: and of necessity another person was appointed to fill his +station for the present. This person I had seen, and I liked him less +by much than the one he succeeded: he had an Italian appearance, and he +wore an air of Italian subtlety and dissimulation. I was surprised to +find, on proposing the same service to him, and on the same terms, that +he made no objection whatever, but closed instantly with my offers. In +prudence, however, I had made this change in the articles: a sum equal +to two hundred English guineas, or one-sixth part of the whole money, +he was to receive beforehand as a retaining fee; but the remainder was +to be paid only to himself, or to anybody of his appointing, at the +very moment of our finding the prison gates thrown open to us. He spoke +fairly enough, and seemed to meditate no treachery; nor was there any +obvious or known interest to serve by treachery; and yet I doubted him +grievously. + +The night came: it was chosen as a gala night, one of two nights +throughout the year in which the prisoners were allowed to celebrate a +great national event: and in those days of relaxed prison management +the utmost license was allowed to the rejoicing. This indulgence was +extended to prisoners of all classes, though, of course, under more +restrictions with regard to the criminal class. Ten o'clock came--the +hour at which we had been instructed to hold ourselves in readiness. We +had been long prepared. Agnes had been dressed by Hannah in such a +costume externally (a man's hat and cloak, &c.) that, from her height, +she might easily have passed amongst a mob of masquerading figures in +the debtors' halls and galleries for a young stripling. Pierpoint and +myself were also to a certain degree disguised; so far, at least, that +we should not have been recognized at any hurried glance by those of +the prison officers who had become acquainted with our persons. We were +all more or less disguised about the face; and in that age when masks +were commonly used at all hours by people of a certain rank, there +would have been nothing suspicious in any possible costume of the kind +in a night like this, if we could succeed in passing for friends of +debtors. + +I am impatient of these details, and I hasten over the ground. One +entire hour passed away, and no jailer appeared. We began to despond +heavily; and Agnes, poor thing! was now the most agitated of us all. At +length eleven struck in the harsh tones of the prison-clock. A few +minutes after, we heard the sound of bolts drawing, and bars +unfastening. The jailer entered--drunk, and much disposed to be +insolent. I thought it advisable to give him another bribe, and he +resumed the fawning insinuation of his manner. He now directed us, by +passages which he pointed out, to gain the other side of the prison. +There we were to mix with the debtors and their mob of friends, and to +await his joining us, which in that crowd he could do without much +suspicion. He wished us to traverse the passages separately; but this +was impossible, for it was necessary that one of us should support +Agnes on each side. I previously persuaded her to take a small quantity +of brandy, which we rejoiced to see had given her, at this moment of +starting, a most seasonable strength and animation. The gloomy passages +were more than usually empty, for all the turnkeys were employed in a +vigilant custody of the gates, and examination of the parties going +out. So the jailer had told us, and the news alarmed us. We came at +length to a turning which brought us in sight of a strong iron gate, +that divided the two main quarters of the prison. For this we had not +been prepared. The man, however, opened the gate without a word spoken, +only putting out his hand for a fee; and in my joy, perhaps, I gave him +one imprudently large. After passing this gate, the distant uproar of +the debtors guided us to the scene of their merriment; and when there, +such was the tumult and the vast multitude assembled, that we now hoped +in good earnest to accomplish our purpose without accident. Just at +this moment the jailer appeared in the distance; he seemed looking +towards us, and at length one of our party could distinguish that he +was beckoning to us. We went forward, and found him in some agitation, +real or counterfeit. He muttered a word or two quite unintelligible +about the man at the wicket, told us we must wait a while, and he would +then see what could be done for us. We were beginning to demur, and to +express the suspicions which now too seriously arose, when he, seeing, +or affecting to see some object of alarm, pushed us with a hurried +movement into a cell opening upon the part of the gallery at which we +were now standing. Not knowing whether we really might not be +retreating from some danger, we could do no otherwise than comply with +his signals; but we were troubled at finding ourselves immediately +locked in from the outside, and thus apparently all our motions had +only sufficed to exchange one prison for another. + +We were now completely in the dark, and found, by a hard breathing from +one corner of the little dormitory, that it was not unoccupied. Having +taken care to provide ourselves separately with means for striking a +light, we soon had more than one torch burning. The brilliant light +falling upon the eyes of a man who lay stretched on the iron bedstead, +woke him. It proved to be my friend the under-jailer, Ratcliffe, but no +longer holding any office in the prison. He sprang up, and a rapid +explanation took place. He had become a prisoner for debt; and on this +evening, after having caroused through the day with some friends from +the country, had retired at an early hour to sleep away his +intoxication. I on my part thought it prudent to intrust him +unreservedly with our situation and purposes, not omitting our gloomy +suspicions. Ratcliffe looked, with a pity that won my love, upon the +poor wasted Agnes. He had seen her on her first entrance into the +prison, had spoken to her, and therefore knew _from_ what she had +fallen, _to_ what. Even then he had felt for her; how much more at +this time, when he beheld, by the fierce light of the torches, her wo- +worn features! + +'Who was it,' he asked eagerly, 'you made the bargain with? Manasseh?' + +'The same.' + +'Then I can tell you this--not a greater villain walks the earth. He is +a Jew from Portugal; he has betrayed many a man, and will many another, +unless he gets his own neck stretched, which might happen, if I told +all I know.' + +'But what was it probable that this man meditated? Or how could it +profit him to betray us?' + +'That's more than I can tell. He wants to get your money, and that he +doesn't know how to bring about without doing his part. But that's what +he never _will_ do, take my word for it. That would cut him out of +all chance for the head-jailer's place.' He mused a little, and then +told us that he could himself put us outside the prison walls, and +_would_ do it without fee or reward. 'But we must be quiet, or +that devil will bethink him of me. I'll wager something he thought that +I was out merry-making like the rest; and if he should chance to light +upon the truth, he'll be back in no time.' Ratcliffe then removed an +old fire-grate, at the back of which was an iron plate, that swung +round into a similar fire-place in the contiguous cell. From that, by a +removal of a few slight obstacles, we passed, by a long avenue, into +the chapel. Then he left us, whilst he went out alone to reconnoitre +his ground. Agnes was now in so pitiable a condition of weakness, as we +stood on the very brink of our final effort, that we placed her in a +pew, where she could rest as upon a sofa. Previously we had stood upon +graves, and with monuments more or less conspicuous all around us: some +raised by friends to the memory of friends--some by subscriptions in +the prison--some by children, who had risen into prosperity, to the +memory of a father, brother, or other relative, who had died in +captivity. I was grieved that these sad memorials should meet the eye +of my wife at this moment of awe and terrific anxiety. Pierpoint and I +were well armed, and all of us determined not to suffer a recapture, +now that we were free of the crowds that made resistance hopeless. This +Agnes easily perceived; and _that_, by suggesting a bloody +arbitration, did not lessen her agitation. I hoped therefore, that, by +placing her in the pew, I might at least liberate her for the moment +from the besetting memorials of sorrow and calamity. But, as if in the +very teeth of my purpose, one of the large columns which supported the +roof of the chapel, had its basis and lower part of the shaft in this +very pew. On the side of it, and just facing her as she lay reclining +on the cushions, appeared a mural tablet, with a bas-relief in white +marble, to the memory of two children, twins, who had lived and died at +the same time, and in this prison--children who had never breathed +another air than that of captivity, their parents having passed many +years within these walls, under confinement for debt. The sculptures +were not remarkable, being a trite, but not the less affecting, +representation of angels descending to receive the infants; but the +hallowed words of the inscription, distinct and legible--'Suffer little +children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the +kingdom of God'--met her eye, and, by the thoughts they awakened, made +me fear that she would become unequal to the exertions which yet +awaited her. At this moment Ratcliffe returned, and informed us that +all was right; and that, from the ruinous state of all the buildings +which surrounded the chapel, no difficulty remained for us, who were, +in fact, beyond the strong part of the prison, excepting at a single +door, which we should be obliged to break down. But had we any means +arranged for pursuing our flight, and turning this escape to account +when out of confinement? All that, I assured him, was provided for long +ago. We proceeded, and soon reached the door. We had one crow-bar +amongst us, but beyond that had no better weapons than the loose stones +found about some new-made graves in the chapel. Ratcliffe and +Pierpoint, both powerful men, applied themselves by turns to the door, +whilst Hannah and I supported Agnes. The door did not yield, being of +enormous strength; but the wall did, and a large mass of stone-work +fell outwards, twisting the door aside; so that, by afterwards working +with our hands, we removed stones many enough to admit of our egress. +Unfortunately this aperture was high above the ground, and it was +necessary to climb over a huge heap of loose rubbish in order to profit +by it. My brother-in-law passed first in order to receive my wife, +quite helpless at surmounting the obstacle by her own efforts, out of +my arms. He had gone through the opening, and, turning round so as to +face me, he naturally could see something that I did _not_ see. +'Look behind!' he called out rapidly. I did so, and saw the murderous +villain Manasseh with his arm uplifted, and in the act of cutting at my +wife, nearly insensible as she was, with a cutlass. The blow was not +for me, but for her, as the fugitive prisoner; and the law would have +borne him out in the act. I saw, I comprehended the whole. I groped, as +far as I could without letting my wife drop, for my pistols; but all +that I could do would have been unavailing, and too late--she would +have been murdered in my arms. But--and that was what none of us saw-- +neither I, nor Pierpoint, nor the hound Manasseh--one person stood +back in the shade; one person had seen, but had not uttered a word on +seeing Manasseh advancing through the shades; one person only had +forecast the exact succession of all that was coming; me she saw +embarrassed and my hands preoccupied--Pierpoint and Ratcliffe useless +by position--and the gleam of the dog's eye directed her to his aim. +The crow-bar was leaning against the shattered wall. This she had +silently seized. One blow knocked up the sword; a second laid the +villain prostrate. At this moment appeared another of the turnkeys +advancing from the rear, for the noise of our assault upon the door had +drawn attention in the interior of the prison, from which, however, no +great number of assistants could on this dangerous night venture to +absent themselves. What followed for the next few minutes hurried +onwards, incident crowding upon incident, like the motions of a dream: +--Manasseh, lying on the ground, yelled out, 'The bell! the bell!' to +him who followed. The man understood, and made for the belfry-door +attached to the chapel; upon which Pierpoint drew a pistol, and sent +the bullet whizzing past his ear so truly, that fear made the man +obedient to the counter-orders of Pierpoint for the moment. He paused +and awaited the issue. In a moment had all cleared the wall, traversed +the waste ground beyond it, lifted Agnes over the low railing, shaken +hands with our benefactor Ratcliffe, and pushed onwards as rapidly as +we were able to the little dark lane, a quarter of a mile distant, +where had stood waiting for the last two hours a chaise-and-four. + +[Ratcliffe, before my story closes, I will pursue to the last of my +acquaintance with him, according to the just claims of his services. He +had privately whispered to me, as we went along, that he could speak to +the innocence of that lady, pointing to my wife, better than anybody. +He was the person whom (as then holding an office in the prison) +Barratt had attempted to employ as agent in conveying any messages that +he found it safe to send--obscurely hinting the terms on which he would +desist from prosecution. Ratcliffe had at first undertaken the +negotiation from mere levity of character. But when the story and the +public interest spread, and after himself becoming deeply struck by the +prisoner's affliction, beauty, and reputed innocence, he had pursued it +only as a means of entrapping Barratt into such written communications +and such private confessions of the truth as might have served Agnes +effectually. He wanted the art, however, to disguise his purposes: +Barratt came to suspect him violently, and feared his evidence so far, +even for those imperfect and merely oral overtures which he had really +sent through Ratcliffe--that on the very day of the trial, he, as was +believed, though by another nominally, contrived that Ratcliffe should +be arrested for debt; and, after harassing him with intricate forms of +business, had finally caused him to be conveyed to prison. Ratcliffe +was thus involved in his own troubles at the time; and afterwards +supposed that, without written documents to support his evidence, he +could not be of much service to the re-establisment of my wife's +reputation. Six months after his services in the night-escape from the +prison, I saw him, and pressed him to take the money so justly +forfeited to him by Manasseh's perfidy. He would, however, be persuaded +to take no more than paid his debts. A second and a third time his +debts were paid by myself and Pierpoint. But the same habits of +intemperance and dissolute pleasure which led him into these debts, +finally ruined his constitution; and he died, though otherwise of a +fine generous manly nature, a martyr to dissipation at the early age of +twenty-nine. With respect to his prison confinement, it was so +frequently recurring in his life, and was alleviated by so many +indulgences, that he scarcely viewed it as a hardship: having once been +an officer of the prison, and having thus formed connections with the +whole official establishment, and done services to many of them, and +being of so convivial a turn, he was, even as a prisoner, treated with +distinction, and considered as a privileged son of the house.] + +It was just striking twelve o'clock as we entered the lane where the +carriage was drawn up. Rain, about the profoundest I had ever +witnessed, was falling. Though near to midsummer, the night had been +unusually dark to begin with, and from the increasing rain had become +much more so. We could see nothing; and at first we feared that some +mistake had occurred as to the station of the carriage--in which case +we might have sought for it vainly through the intricate labyrinth of +the streets in that quarter. I first descried it by the light of a +torch, reflected powerfully from the large eyes of the leaders. All was +ready. Horse-keepers were at the horses' heads. The postilions were +mounted; each door had the steps let down: Agnes was lifted in: Hannah +and I followed: Pierpoint mounted his horse; and at the word--Oh! how +strange a word!--'_All's right_,' the horses sprang off like leopards, +a manner ill-suited to the slippery pavement of a narrow street. At +that moment, but we valued it little indeed, we heard the prison-bell +ringing out loud and clear. Thrice within the first three minutes we +had to pull up suddenly, on the brink of formidable accidents, from the +dangerous speed we maintained, and which, nevertheless, the driver had +orders to maintain, as essential to our plan. All the stoppages and +hinderances of every kind along the road had been anticipated +previously, and met by contrivance, of one kind or other; and Pierpoint +was constantly a little ahead of us to attend to anything that had been +neglected. The consequence of these arrangements was--that no person +along the road could possibly have assisted to trace us by any thing in +our appearance: for we passed all objects at too flying a pace, and +through darkness too profound, to allow of any one feature in our +equipage being distinctly noticed. Ten miles out of town, a space which +we traversed in forty-four minutes, a second relay of horses was ready; +but we carried on the same postilions throughout. Six miles ahead of +this distance we had a second relay; and with this set of horses, after +pushing two miles further along the road, we crossed by a miserable +lane five miles long, scarcely even a bridge road, into another of the +great roads from the capital; and by thus crossing the country, we came +back upon the city at a point far distant from that at which we left +it. We had performed a distance of forty-two miles in three hours, and +lost a fourth hour upon the wretched five miles of cross-road. It was, +therefore, four o'clock, and broad daylight, when we drew near the +suburbs of the city; but a most happy accident now favored us; a fog +the most intense now prevailed; nobody could see an object six feet +distant; we alighted in an uninhabited new-built street, plunged into +the fog, thus confounding our traces to any observer. We then stepped +into a hackney-coach which had been stationed at a little distance. +Thence, according to our plan, we drove to a miserable quarter of the +town, whither the poor only and the wretched resorted; mounted a gloomy +dirty staircase, and, befriended by the fog, still growing thicker and +thicker, and by the early hour of the morning, reached a house +previously hired, which, if shocking to the eye and the imagination +from its squalid appearance and its gloom, still was a home--a +sanctuary--an asylum from treachery, from captivity, from persecution. +Here Pierpoint for the present quitted us: and once more Agnes, Hannah, +and I, the shattered members of a shattered family, were thus gathered +together in a house of our own. + +Yes: once again, daughter of the hills, thou sleptst as heretofore in +my encircling arms; but not again in that peace which crowned thy +innocence in those days, and should have crowned it now. Through the +whole of our flying journey, in some circumstances at its outset +strikingly recalling to me that blessed one which followed our +marriage, Agnes slept away unconscious of our movements. She slept +through all that day and the following night; and I watched over her +with as much jealousy of all that might disturb her, as a mother +watches over her new-born baby; for I hoped, I fancied, that a long-- +long rest, a rest, a halcyon calm, a deep, deep Sabbath of security, +might prove healing and medicinal. I thought wrong; her breathing +became more disturbed, and sleep was now haunted by dreams; all of us, +indeed, were agitated by dreams; the past pursued me, and the present, +for high rewards had been advertised by Government to those who traced +us; and though for the moment we were secure, because we never went +abroad, and could not have been naturally sought in such a +neighborhood, still that very circumstance would eventually operate +against us. At length, every night I dreamed of our insecurity under a +thousand forms; but more often by far my dreams turned upon our wrongs; +wrath moved me rather than fear. Every night, for the greater part, I +lay painfully and elaborately involved, by deep sense of wrong, + + '--in long orations, which I pleaded + Before unjust tribunals.' + [Footnote: From a MS. poem of a great living Poet.] + +And for poor Agnes, her also did the remembrance of mighty wrongs +occupy through vast worlds of sleep in the same way--though colored by +that tenderness which belonged to her gentler nature. One dream in +particular--a dream of sublime circumstances--she repeated to me so +movingly, with a pathos so thrilling, that by some profound sympathy it +transplanted itself to my own sleep, settled itself there, and is to +this hour a part of the fixed dream scenery which revolves at intervals +through my sleeping life. This it was:--She would hear a trumpet sound +--though perhaps as having been the prelude to the solemn entry of the +judges at a town which she had once visited in her childhood; other +preparations would follow, and at last all the solemnities of a great +trial would shape themselves and fall into settled images. The audience +was assembled, the judges were arrayed, the court was set. The prisoner +was cited. Inquest was made, witnesses were called; and false witnesses +came tumultuously to the bar. Then again a trumpet was heard, but the +trumpet of a mighty archangel; and then would roll away thick clouds +and vapors. Again the audience, but another audience, was assembled; +again the tribunal was established; again the court was set; but a +tribunal and a court--how different to her! _That_ had been +composed of men seeking indeed for truth, but themselves erring and +fallible creatures; the witnesses had been full of lies, the judges of +darkness. But here was a court composed of heavenly witnesses--here was +a righteous tribunal--and then at last a judge that could not be +deceived. The judge smote with his eye a person who sought to hide +himself in the crowd; the guilty man stepped forward; the poor prisoner +was called up to the presence of the mighty judge; suddenly the voice +of a little child was heard ascending before her. Then the trumpet +sounded once again; and then there were new heavens and a new earth; +and her tears and her agitation (for she had seen her little Francis) +awoke the poor palpitating dreamer. + + * * * * * + +Two months passed on: nothing could possibly be done materially to +raise the standard of those wretched accommodations which the house +offered. The dilapidated walls, the mouldering plaster, the blackened +mantel-pieces, the stained and polluted wainscots--what could be +attempted to hide or to repair all this by those who durst not venture +abroad? Yet whatever could be done, Hannah did; and, in the mean time, +very soon indeed my Agnes ceased to see or to be offended by these +objects. First of all her sight went from her; and nothing which +appealed to that sense could ever more offend her. It is to me the one +only consolation I have, that my presence and that of Hannah, with such +innocent frauds as we concerted together, made her latter days pass in +a heavenly calm, by persuading her that our security was absolute, and +that all search after us had ceased, under a belief on the part of +Government that we had gained the shelter of a foreign land. All this +was a delusion; but it was a delusion--blessed be Heaven! which lasted +exactly as long as her life, and was just commensurate with its +necessity. I hurry over the final circumstances. + +There was fortunately now, even for me, no fear that the hand of any +policeman or emissary of justice could effectually disturb the latter +days of my wife; for, besides pistols always lying loaded in an inner +room, there happened to be a long narrow passage on entering the house, +which, by means of a blunderbuss, I could have swept effectually, and +cleared many times over; and I know what to do in a last extremity. +Just two months it was, to a day, since we had entered the house; and +it happened that the medical attendant upon Agnes, who awakened no +suspicion by his visits, had prescribed some opiate or anodyne which +had not come; being dark early, for it was now September, I had +ventured out to fetch it. In this I conceived there could be no danger. +On my return I saw a man examining the fastenings of the door. He made +no opposition to my entrance, nor seemed much to observe it--but I was +disturbed. Two hours after, both Hannah and I heard a noise about the +door, and voices in low conversation. It is remarkable that Agnes heard +this also--so quick had grown her hearing. She was agitated, but was +easily calmed; and at ten o'clock we were all in bed. The hand of Agnes +was in mine; so only she felt herself in security. She had been +restless for an hour, and talking at intervals in sleep. Once she +certainly wakened, for she pressed her lips to mine. Two minutes after, +I heard something in her breathing which did not please me. I rose +hastily--brought a light--raised her head--two long, long gentle +sighs, that scarcely moved the lips, were all that could be perceived. +At that moment, at that very moment, Hannah called out to me that the +door was surrounded. 'Open it!' I said; six men entered; Agnes it was +they sought; I pointed to the bed; they advanced, gazed, and walked +away in silence. + +After this I wandered about, caring little for life or its affairs, and +roused only at times to think of vengeance upon all who had contributed +to lay waste my happiness. In this pursuit, however, I was confounded +as much by my own thoughts as by the difficulties of accomplishing my +purpose. To assault and murder either of the two principal agents in +this tragedy, what would it be, what other effect could it have, than +to invest them with the character of injured and suffering people, and +thus to attract a pity or a forgiveness at least to their persons which +never otherwise could have illustrated their deaths? I remembered, +indeed, the words of a sea-captain who had taken such vengeance as had +offered at the moment upon his bitter enemy and persecutor (a young +passenger on board his ship), who had informed against him at the +Custom-house on his arrival in port, and had thus effected the +confiscation of his ship, and the ruin of the captain's family. The +vengeance, and it was all that circumstances allowed, consisted in +coming behind the young man clandestinely and pushing him into the deep +waters of the dock, when, being unable to swim, he perished by +drowning. 'And the like,' said the captain, when musing on his trivial +vengeance, 'and the like happens to many an honest sailor.' Yes, +thought I, the captain was right. The momentary shock of a pistol- +bullet--what is it? Perhaps it may save the wretch after all from the +pangs of some lingering disease; and then again I shall have the +character of a murderer, if known to have shot him; he will with many +people have no such character, but at worst the character of a man too +harsh (they will say), and possibly mistaken in protecting his +property. And then, if not known as the man who shot him, where is the +shadow even of vengeance? Strange it seemed to me, and passing strange, +that I should be the person to urge arguments in behalf of letting this +man escape. For at one time I had as certainly, as inexorably, doomed +him as ever I took any resolution in my life. But the fact is, and I +began to see it upon closer view, it is not easy by any means to take +an adequate vengeance for any injury beyond a very trivial standard; +and that with common magnanimity one does not care to avenge. Whilst I +was in this mood of mind, still debating with myself whether I should +or should not contaminate my hands with the blood of this monster, and +still unable to shut my eyes upon one fact, viz. that my buried Agnes +could above all things have urged me to abstain from such acts of +violence, too evidently useless, listlessly and scarcely knowing what I +was in quest of, I strayed by accident into a church where a venerable +old man was preaching at the very moment I entered; he was either +delivering as a text, or repeating in the course of his sermon, these +words--'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' By some +accident also he fixed his eyes upon me at the moment; and this +concurrence with the subject then occupying my thoughts so much +impressed me, that I determined very seriously to review my half-formed +purposes of revenge; and well it was that I did so: for in that same +week an explosion of popular fury brought the life of this wretched +Barratt to a shocking termination, pretty much resembling the fate of +the De Witts in Holland. And the consequences to me were such, and so +full of all the consolation and indemnification which this world could +give me, that I have often shuddered since then at the narrow escape I +had had from myself intercepting this remarkable retribution. The +villain had again been attempting to play off the same hellish scheme +with a beautiful young rustic which had succeeded in the case of my +ill-fated Agnes. But the young woman in this instance had a high, and, +in fact, termagant spirit. Rustic as she was, she had been warned of +the character of the man; everybody, in fact, was familiar with the +recent tragedy. Either her lover or her brother happened to be waiting +for her outside the window. He saw in part the very tricks in the act +of perpetration by which some article or other, meant to be claimed as +stolen property, was conveyed into a parcel she had incautiously laid +down. He heard the charge against her made by Barratt, and seconded by +his creatures--heard her appeal--sprang to her aid--dragged the ruffian +into the street, when in less time than the tale could be told, and +before the police (though tolerably alert) could effectually interpose +for his rescue, the mob had so used or so abused the opportunity they +had long wished for, that he remained the mere disfigured wreck of what +had once been a man, rather than a creature with any resemblance to +humanity. I myself heard the uproar at a distance, and the shouts and +yells of savage exultation; they were sounds I shall never forget, +though I did not at that time know them for what they were, or +understood their meaning. The result, however, to me was something +beyond this, and worthy to have been purchased with my heart's blood. +Barratt still breathed; spite of his mutilations he could speak; he was +rational. One only thing he demanded--it was that his dying confession +might be taken. Two magistrates and a clergyman attended. He gave a +list of those whom he had trepanned, and had failed to trepan, by his +artifices and threats, into the sacrifice of their honor. He expired +before the record was closed, but not before he had placed my wife's +name in the latter list as the one whose injuries in his dying moments +most appalled him. This confession on the following day went into the +hands of the hostile minister, and my revenge was perfect. + + + + +THE SPANISH NUN. + + +Why is it that _Adventures_ are so generally repulsive to people of +meditative minds? It is for the same reason that any other want of law, +that any other anarchy is repulsive. Floating passively from action to +action, as helplessly as a withered leaf surrendered to the breath of +winds, the human spirit (out of which comes all grandeur of human +motions) is exhibited in mere _Adventures_, as either entirely laid +asleep, or as acting only by lower organs that regulate the _means_, +whilst the _ends_ are derived from alien sources, and are imperiously +predetermined. It is a case of exception, however, when even amongst +such adventures the agent reacts upon his own difficulties and +necessities by a temper of extraordinary courage, and a mind of +premature decision. Further strength arises to such an exception, if +the very moulding accidents of the life, if the very external coercions +are themselves unusually romantic. They may thus gain a separate +interest of their own. And, lastly, the whole is locked into validity +of interest, even for the psychological philosopher, by complete +authentication of its truth. In the case now brought before him, the +reader must not doubt; for no memoir exists, or personal biography, +that is so trebly authenticated by proofs and attestations direct and +collateral. From the archives of the Royal Marine at Seville, from the +autobiography or the heroine, from contemporary chronicles, and from +several official sources scattered in and out of Spain, some of them +ecclesiastical, the amplest proofs have been drawn, and may yet be +greatly extended, of the extraordinary events here recorded. M. de +Ferrer, a Spaniard of much research, and originally incredulous as to +the facts, published about seventeen years ago a selection from the +leading documents, accompanied by his _palinode_ as to their accuracy. +His materials have been since used for the basis of more than one +narrative, not inaccurate, in French, German and Spanish journals of +high authority. It is seldom the case that French writers err by +prolixity. They _have_ done so in this case. The present narrative, +which contains no sentence derived from any foreign one, has the great +advantage of close compression; my own pages, after equating the size, +being as 1 to 3 of the shortest continental form. In the mode of +narration, I am vain enough to flatter myself that the reader will find +little reason to hesitate between us. Mine at least, weary nobody; +which is more than can be always said for the continental versions. + +On a night in the year 1592, (but which night is a secret liable to 365 +answers,) a Spanish '_son of somebody_,' [Footnote: _i.e._ 'Hidalgo'] +in the fortified town of St. Sebastian, received the disagreeable +intelligence from a nurse, that his wife had just presented him with a +daughter. No present that the poor misjudging lady could possibly have +made him was so entirely useless for any purpose of his. He had three +daughters already, which happened to be more by 2+1 than _his_ +reckoning assumed as a reasonable allowance of daughters. A +supernumerary son might have been stowed away; but daughters in excess +were the very nuisance of Spain. He did, therefore, what in such cases +every proud and lazy Spanish gentleman was apt to do--he wrapped the +new little daughter, odious to his paternal eyes, in a pocket +handkerchief; and then, wrapping up his own throat with a good deal +more care, off he bolted to the neighboring convent of St. Sebastian, +not merely of that city, but also (amongst several convents) the one +dedicated to that saint. It is well that in this quarrelsome world we +quarrel furiously about tastes; since agreeing too closely about the +objects to be liked and appropriated would breed much more fighting +than is bred by disagreeing. That little human tadpole, which the old +toad of a father would not suffer to stay ten minutes in his house, +proved as welcome at the nunnery of St. Sebastian as she was odious +elsewhere. The superior of the convent was aunt, by the mother's side, +to the new-born stranger. She, therefore, kissed and blessed the little +lady. The poor nuns, who were never to have any babies of their own, +and were languishing for some amusement, perfectly doated on this +prospect of a wee pet. The superior thanked the hidalgo for his very +splendid present. The nuns thanked him each and all; until the old +crocodile actually began to cry and whimper sentimentally at what he +now perceived to be excess of munificence in himself. Munificence, +indeed, he remarked, was his foible next after parental tenderness. + +What a luxury it is sometimes to a cynic that there go two words to a +bargain. In the convent of St. Sebastian all was gratitude; gratitude +(as aforesaid) to the hidalgo from all the convent for his present, +until at last the hidalgo began to express gratitude to _them_ for +their gratitude to _him_. Then came a rolling fire of thanks to +St. Sebastian; from the superior, for sending a future saint; from the +nuns, for sending such a love of a plaything; and, finally, from papa, +for sending such substantial board and well-bolted lodgings, 'from +which,' said the malicious old fellow, 'my pussy will never find her +way out to a thorny and dangerous world.' Won't she? I suspect, son of +somebody, that the next time you see 'pussy,' which may happen to be +also the last, will not be in a convent of any kind. At present, whilst +this general rendering of thanks was going on, one person only took no +part in them. That person was 'pussy,' whose little figure lay quietly +stretched out in the arms of a smiling young nun, with eyes nearly +shut, yet peering a little at the candles. Pussy said nothing. It's of +no great use to say much, when all the world is against you. But if St. +Sebastian had enabled her to speak out the whole truth, pussy +_would_ have said: 'So, Mr. Hidalgo, you have been engaging +lodgings for me; lodgings for life. Wait a little. We'll try that +question, when my claws are grown a little longer.' + +Disappointment, therefore, was gathering ahead. But for the present +there was nothing of the kind. That noble old crocodile, papa, was not +in the least disappointed as regarded _his_ expectation of having +no anxiety to waste, and no money to pay, on account of his youngest +daughter. He insisted on his right to forget her; and in a week +_had_ forgotten her, never to think of her again but once. The +lady superior, as regarded _her_ demands, was equally content, and +through a course of several years; for, as often as she asked pussy if +she would be a saint, pussy replied that she would, if saints were +allowed plenty of sweetmeats. But least of all were the nuns +disappointed. Everything that they had fancied possible in a human +plaything fell short of what pussy realized in racketing, racing, and +eternal plots against the peace of the elder nuns. No fox ever kept a +hen-roost in such alarm as pussy kept the dormitory of the senior +sisters; whilst the younger ladies were run off their legs by the +eternal wiles, and had their chapel gravity discomposed, even in +chapel, by the eternal antics of this privileged little kitten. + +The kitten had long ago received a baptismal name, which was Kitty; +this is Catharine, or Kate, or _Hispanice_ Catalina. It was a good +name, as it recalled her original name of pussy. And, by the way, she +had also an ancient and honorable surname, viz., _De Erauso_, which is +to this day a name rooted in Biscay. Her father, the _hidalgo_, was a +military officer in the Spanish service, and had little care whether +his kitten should turn out a wolf or a lamb, having made over the fee +simple of his own interest in the little Kate to St. Sebastian, 'to +have and to hold,' so long as Kate should keep her hold of this present +life. Kate had no apparent intention to let slip that hold, for she was +blooming as a rose-bush in June, tall and strong as a young cedar. Yet, +notwithstanding this robust health and the strength of the convent +walls, the time was drawing near when St. Sebastian's lease in Kate +must, in legal phrase, 'determine;' and any _chateaux en Espagne_, that +the Saint might have built on the cloisteral fidelity of his pet +Catalina, must suddenly give way in one hour, like many other vanities +in our own days of Spanish bonds and promises. After reaching her tenth +year, Catalina became thoughtful, and not very docile. At times she was +even headstrong and turbulent, so that the gentle sisterhood of St. +Sebastian, who had no other pet or plaything in the world, began to +weep in secret--fearing that they might have been rearing by mistake +some future tigress--for as to infancy, _that_, you know, is playful +and innocent even in the cubs of a tigress. But _there_ the ladies were +going too far. Catalina was impetuous and aspiring, but not cruel. She +was gentle, if people would let her be so. But woe to those that took +liberties with _her_! A female servant of the convent, in some +authority, one day, in passing up the aisle to matins, _wilfully_ gave +Kate a push; and in return, Kate, who never left her debts in arrear, +gave the servant for a keepsake a look which that servant carried with +her in fearful remembrance to her grave. It seemed as if Kate had +tropic blood in her veins, that continually called her away to the +tropics. It was all the fault of that 'blue rejoicing sky,' of those +purple Biscayan mountains, of that tumultuous ocean, which she beheld +daily from the nunnery gardens. Or, if only half of it was _their_ +fault, the other half lay in those golden tales, streaming upwards even +into the sanctuaries of convents, like morning mists touched by +earliest sunlight, of kingdoms overshadowing a new world which had been +founded by her kinsmen with the simple aid of a horse and a lance. The +reader is to remember that this is no romance, or at least no fiction, +that he is reading; and it is proper to remind the reader of real +romances in Ariosto or our own Spenser, that such martial ladies as the +_Marfisa_, or _Bradamant_ of the first, and _Britomart_ of the other, +were really not the improbabilities that modern society imagines. Many +a stout man, as you will soon see, found that Kate, with a sabre in +hand, and well mounted, was but too serious a fact. + +The day is come--the evening is come--when our poor Kate, that had for +fifteen years been so tenderly rocked in the arms of St. Sebastian and +his daughters, and that henceforth shall hardly find a breathing space +between eternal storms, must see her peaceful cell, must see the holy +chapel, for the last time. It was at vespers, it was during the +chanting of the vesper service, that she finally read the secret signal +for her departure, which long she had been looking for. It happened +that her aunt, the Lady Principal, had forgotten her breviary. As this +was in a private 'scrutoire, she did not choose to send a servant for +it, but gave the key to her niece. The niece, on opening the +'scrutoire, saw, with that rapidity of eye-glance for the one thing +needed in any great emergency, which ever attended her through life, +that _now_ was the moment for an attempt which, if neglected, +might never return. There lay the total keys, in one massive +_trousseau_, of that fortress impregnable even to armies from +without. Saint Sebastian! do you see what your pet is going to do? And +do it she will, as sure as your name is St. Sebastian. Kate went back +to her aunt with the breviary and the key; but taking good care to +leave that awful door, on whose hinge revolved her whole life, +unlocked. Delivering the two articles to the Superior, she complained +of a headache--[Ah, Kate! what did you know of headaches, except now +and then afterwards from a stray bullet, or so?]--upon which her aunt, +kissing her forehead, dismissed her to bed. Now, then, through three- +fourths of an hour Kate will have free elbow-room for unanchoring her +boat, for unshipping her oars, and for pulling ahead right out of St. +Sebastian's cove into the main ocean of life. + +Catalina, the reader is to understand, does not belong to the class of +persons in whom chiefly I pretend to an interest. But everywhere one +loves energy and indomitable courage. I, for my part, admire not, by +preference, anything that points to this world. It is the child of +reverie and profounder sensibility who turns _away_ from the world as +hateful and insufficient, that engages _my_ interest: whereas Catalina +was the very model of the class fitted for facing this world, and who +express their love to it by fighting with it and kicking it from year +to year. But, always, what is best in its kind one admires, even though +the kind be disagreeable. Kate's advantages for her _role_ in this life +lay in four things, viz., in a well-built person, and a particularly +strong wrist; 2d, in a heart that nothing could appal; 3d, in a +sagacious head, never drawn aside from the _hoc age_ [from the instant +question of life] by any weakness of imagination; 4th, in a tolerably +thick skin--not literally, for she was fair and blooming, and decidedly +handsome, having such a skin as became a young woman of family in +northernmost Spain. But her sensibilities were obtuse as regarded +_some_ modes of delicacy, _some_ modes of equity, _some_ modes of the +world's opinion, and _all_ modes whatever of personal hardship. Lay a +stress on that word _some_--for, as to delicacy, she never lost sight +of the kind which peculiarly concerns her sex. Long afterwards she told +the Pope himself, when confessing without disguise her sad and infinite +wanderings to the paternal old man (and I feel convinced of her +veracity), that in this respect, even then, at middle age, she was as +pure as is a child. And, as to equity, it was only that she substituted +the equity of camps for the polished (but often more iniquitous) equity +of courts and towns. As to the third item--the world's opinion--I don't +know that you need lay a stress on _some_; for, generally speaking, +_all_ that the world did, said, or thought, was alike contemptible in +her eyes, in which, perhaps, she was not so _very_ far wrong. I must +add, though at the cost of interrupting the story by two or three more +sentences, that Catalina had also a fifth advantage, which sounds +humbly, but is really of use in a world, where even to fold and seal a +letter adroitly is not the least of accomplishments. She was a _handy_ +girl. She could turn her hand to anything, of which I will give you two +memorable instances. Was there ever a girl in this world but herself +that cheated and snapped her fingers at that awful Inquisition, which +brooded over the convents of Spain, that did this without collusion +from outside, trusting to nobody, but to herself, and what? to one +needle, two hanks of thread, and a very inferior pair of scissors? For, +that the scissors were bad, though Kate does not say so in her memoirs, +I knew by an _a priori_ argument, viz., because _all_ scissors were bad +in the year 1607. Now, say all decent logicians, from a universal to a +particular _valet consequentia_, _all_ scissors were bad: _ergo_, +_some_ scissors were bad. The second instance of her handiness will +surprise you even more:--She once stood upon a scaffold, under sentence +of death--[but, understand, on the evidence of false witnesses]. Jack +Ketch was absolutely tying the knot under her ear, and the shameful man +of ropes fumbled so deplorably, that Kate (who by much nautical +experience had learned from another sort of 'Jack' how a knot _should_ +be tied in this world,) lost all patience with the contemptible artist, +told him she was ashamed of him, took the rope out of his hand, and +tied the knot irreproachably herself. The crowd saluted her with a +festal roll, long and loud, of _vivas_; and this word _viva_ of good +augury--but stop; let me not anticipate. + +From this sketch of Catalina's character, the reader is prepared to +understand the decision of her present proceeding. She had no time to +lose: the twilight favored her; but she must get under hiding before +pursuit commenced. Consequently she lost not one of her forty-five +minutes in picking and choosing. No _shilly-shally_ in Kate. She +saw with the eyeball of an eagle what was indispensable. Some little +money perhaps to pay the first toll-bar of life: so, out of four +shillings in Aunty's purse, she took one. You can't say _that_ was +exorbitant. Which of us wouldn't subscribe a shilling for poor Katy to +put into the first trouser pockets that ever she will wear? I remember +even yet, as a personal experience, that when first arrayed, at four +years old, in nankeen trousers, though still so far retaining +hermaphrodite relations of dress as to wear a petticoat above my +trousers, all my female friends (because they pitied me, as one that +had suffered from years of ague) filled my pockets with half-crowns, of +which I can render no account at this day. But what were my poor +pretensions by the side of Kate's? Kate was a fine blooming girl of +fifteen, with no touch of ague, and, before the next sun rises, Kate +shall draw on her first trousers, and made by her own hand; and, that +she may do so, of all the valuables in Aunty's repository she takes +nothing beside the shilling, _quantum sufficit_ of thread, one +stout needle, and (as I told you before, if you would please to +remember things) one bad pair of scissors. Now she was ready; ready to +cast off St. Sebastian's towing-rope; ready to cut and run for port +anywhere. The finishing touch of her preparations was to pick out the +proper keys: even there she showed the same discretion. She did do no +gratuitous mischief. She did not take the wine-cellar key, which would +have irritated the good father confessor; she took those keys only that +belonged to _her_, if ever keys did; for they were the keys that +locked her out from her natural birthright of liberty. 'Show me,' says +the Romish Casuist, 'her right in law to let herself out of that +nunnery.' 'Show us,' we reply, '_your_ right to lock her in.' + +Right or wrong, however, in strict casuistry, Kate was resolved to let +herself out; and _did_ so; and, for fear any man should creep in whilst +vespers lasted, and steal the kitchen grate, she locked her old friends +_in_. Then she sought a shelter. The air was not cold. She hurried into +a chestnut wood, and upon withered leaves slept till dawn. Spanish diet +and youth leaves the digestion undisordered, and the slumbers light. +When the lark rose, up rose Catalina. No time to lose, for she was +still in the dress of a nun, and liable to be arrested by any man in +Spain. With her _armed_ finger, [aye, by the way, I forgot the thimble; +but Kate did _not_]--she set to work upon her amply-embroidered +petticoat. She turned it wrong side out; and with the magic that only +female hands possess, she had soon sketched and finished a dashing pair +of Wellington trousers. All other changes were made according to the +materials she possessed, and quite sufficiently to disguise the two +main perils--her sex, and her monastic dedication. What was she to do +next. Speaking of Wellington trousers would remind _us_, but could +hardly remind _her_, of Vittoria, where she dimly had heard of some +maternal relative. To Vittoria, therefore, she bent her course; and, +like the Duke of Wellington, but arriving more than two centuries +earlier, [though _he_ too is an early riser,] she gained a great +victory at that place. She had made a two days' march, baggage far in +the rear, and no provisions but wild berries; she depended for anything +better, as light-heartedly as the Duke, upon attacking, sword in hand, +storming her dear friend's entrenchments, and effecting a lodgment in +his breakfast-room, should he happen to have one. This amiable +relative, an elderly man, had but one foible, or perhaps one virtue in +this world; but _that_ he had in perfection,--it was pedantry. On that +hint Catalina spoke: she knew by heart, from the services of the +convent, a few Latin phrases. Latin!--Oh, but _that_ was charming; and +in one so young! The grave Don owned the soft impeachment; relented at +once, and clasped the hopeful young gentleman in the Wellington +trousers to his _uncular_ and rather angular breast. In this house the +yarn of life was of a mingled quality. The table was good, but that was +exactly what Kate cared little about. The amusement was of the worst +kind. It consisted chiefly in conjugating Latin verbs, especially such +as were obstinately irregular. To show him a withered frost-bitten +verb, that wanted its preterite, wanted its supines, wanted, in fact, +everything in this world, fruits or blossoms, that make a verb +desirable, was to earn the Don's gratitude for life. All day long he +was marching and countermarching his favorite brigades of verbs--verbs +frequentative, verbs inceptive, verbs desiderative--horse, foot, and +artillery; changing front, advancing from the rear, throwing out +skirmishing parties, until Kate, not given to faint, must have thought +of such a resource, as once in her life she had thought so seasonably +of a vesper headache. This was really worse than St. Sebastian's. It +reminds one of a French gayety in Thiebault or some such author, who +describes a rustic party, under equal despair, as employing themselves +in conjugating the verb _s'ennuyer,--Je m'ennuie, tu t'ennuies, il +s'ennuit; nous nous ennuyons_, &c.; thence to the imperfect--_Je +m'ennuyois, tu t'ennuyois_, &c.; thence to the imperative--_Qu'il +s'ennuye_, &c.; and so on through the whole melancholy conjugation. +Now, you know, when the time comes that, _nous nous ennuyons_, the best +course is, to part. Kate saw _that_; and she walked off from the Don's +[of whose amorous passion for defective verbs one would have wished to +know the catastrophe], and took from his mantel-piece rather move +silver than she had levied on her aunt. But the Don also was a +relative; and really he owed her a small cheque on his banker for +turning out on his field-days. A man, if he _is_ a kinsman, has no +right to bore one _gratis_. + +From Vittoria, Kate was guided by a carrier to Valladolid. Luckily, as +it seemed at first, but it made little difference in the end, here, at +Valladolid, were the King and his Court. Consequently, there was plenty +of regiments and plenty of regimental bands. Attracted by one of these, +Catalina was quietly listening to the music, when some street ruffians, +in derision of the gay colors and the form of her forest-made costume-- +[rascals! one would like to have seen what sort of trousers _they_ +would have made with no better scissors!]--began to pelt her with +stones. Ah, my friends, of the genus _blackguard_, you little know +who it is that you are selecting for experiments. This is the one +creature of fifteen in all Spain, be the other male or female, whom +nature, and temper, and provocation have qualified for taking the +conceit out of you. This she very soon did, laying open a head or two +with a sharp stone, and letting out rather too little than too much of +bad Valladolid blood. But mark the constant villany of this world. +Certain Alguazils--very like some other Alguazils that I know nearer +home--having stood by quietly to see the friendless stranger insulted +and assaulted, now felt it their duty to apprehend the poor nun for +murderous violence: and had there been such a thing as a treadmill in +Valladolid, Kate was booked for a place on it without further inquiry. +Luckily, injustice does not _always_ prosper. A gallant young +cavalier, who had witnessed from his windows the whole affair, had seen +the provocation, and admired Catalina's behavior--equally patient at +first and bold at last--hastened into the street, pursued the officers, +forced them to release their prisoner, upon stating the circumstances +of the case, and instantly offered Catalina a situation amongst his +retinue. He was a man of birth and fortune; and the place offered, that +of an honorary page, not being at all degrading even to a 'daughter of +somebody,' was cheerfully accepted. Here Catalina spent a happy month. +She was now splendidly dressed in dark blue velvet, by a tailor that +did not work within the gloom of a chestnut forest. She and the young +cavalier, Don Francisco de Cardenas, were mutually pleased, and had +mutual confidence. All went well--when one evening, but, luckily, not +until the sun had been set so long as to make all things indistinct, +who should march into the ante-chamber of the cavalier but that sublime +of crocodiles, _Papa_, that we lost sight of fifteen years ago, +and shall never see again after this night. He had his crocodile tears +all ready for use, in working order, like a good industrious fire- +engine. It was absolutely to Catalina herself that he advanced; whom, +for many reasons, he could not be supposed to recognise--lapse of +years, male attire, twilight, were all against him. Still, she might +have the family countenance; and Kate thought he looked with a +suspicious scrutiny into her face, as he inquired for the young Don. To +avert her own face, to announce him to Don Francisco, to wish him on +the shores of that ancient river for crocodiles, the Nile, furnished +but one moment's work to the active Catalina. She lingered, however, as +her place entitled her to do, at the door of the audience chamber. She +guessed already, but in a moment she _heard_ from papa's lips what +was the nature of his errand. His daughter Catharine, he informed the +Don, had eloped from the convent of St. Sebastian, a place rich in +delight. Then he laid open the unparalleled ingratitude of such a step. +Oh, the unseen treasure that had been spent upon that girl! Oh, the +untold sums of money that he had sunk in that unhappy speculation! The +nights of sleeplessness suffered during her infancy! The fifteen years +of solicitude thrown away in schemes for her improvement! It would have +moved the heart of a stone. The _hidalgo_ wept copiously at his +own pathos. And to such a height of grandeur had he carried his Spanish +sense of the sublime, that he disdained to mention the pocket- +handkerchief which he had left at St. Sebastian's fifteen years ago, by +way of envelope for 'pussy,' and which, to the best of pussy's +knowledge, was the one sole memorandum of papa ever heard of at St. +Sebastian's. Pussy, however, saw no use in revising and correcting the +text of papa's remembrances. She showed her usual prudence, and her +usual incomparable decision. It did not appear, as yet, that she would +be reclaimed, or was at all suspected for the fugitive by her father. +For it is an instance of that singular fatality which pursued Catalina +through life, that, to her own astonishment, (as she now collected from +her father's conference,) nobody had traced her to Valladolid, nor had +her father's visit any connection with suspicious travelling in that +direction. The case was quite different. Strangely enough, her street +row had thrown her into the one sole household in all Spain that had an +official connection with St. Sebastian's. That convent had been founded +by the young cavalier's family; and, according to the usage of Spain, +the young man (as present representative of his house) was the +responsible protector of the establishment. It was not to the Don, as +harborer of his daughter, but to the Don, as _ex officio_ visitor +of the convent, that the hidalgo was appealing. Probably Kate might +have staid safely some time longer. Yet, again, this would but have +multiplied the clues for tracing her; and, finally, she would too +probably have been discovered; after which, with all his youthful +generosity, the poor Don could not have protected her. Too terrific was +the vengeance that awaited an abettor of any fugitive nun; but, above +all, if such a crime were perpetrated by an official mandatory of the +church. Yet, again, so far it was the more hazardous course to abscond, +that it almost revealed her to the young Don as the missing daughter. +Still, if it really _had_ that effect, nothing at present obliged +him to pursue her, as might have been the case a few weeks later. Kate +argued (I dare say) rightly, as she always did. Her prudence whispered +eternally, that safety there was none for her, until she had laid the +Atlantic between herself and St. Sebastian's. Life was to be for +_her_ a Bay of Biscay; and it was odds but she had first embarked +upon this billowy life from the literal Bay of Biscay. Chance ordered +otherwise. Or, as a Frenchman says with eloquent ingenuity, in +connection with this story, 'Chance is but the _pseudonyme_ of God +for those particular cases which he does not subscribe openly with his +own sign manual.' She crept up stairs to her bed-room. Simple are the +travelling preparations of those that, possessing nothing, have no +imperials to pack. She had Juvenal's qualification for carolling gaily +through a forest full of robbers; for she had nothing to lose but a +change of linen, that rode easily enough under her left arm, leaving +the right free for answering any questions of impertinent customers. As +she crept down stairs, she heard the Crocodile still weeping forth his +sorrows to the pensive ear of twilight, and to the sympathetic Don +Francisco. Now, it would not have been filial or lady-like for Kate to +do what I am going to suggest; but what a pity that some gay brother +page had not been there to turn aside into the room, armed with a +roasted potato, and, taking a sportsman's aim, to have lodged it in the +Crocodile's abominable mouth. Yet, what an anachronism! There +_were_ no roasted potatoes in Spain at that date, and very few in +England. But anger drives a man to say anything. + +Catalina had seen her last of friends and enemies in Valladolid. Short +was her time there; but she had improved it so far as to make a few of +both. There was an eye or two in Valladolid that would have glared with +malice upon her, had she been seen by _all_ eyes in that city, as +she tripped through the streets in the dusk; and eyes there were that +would have softened into tears, had they seen the desolate condition of +the child, or in vision had seen the struggles that were before her. +But what's the use of wasting tears upon our Kate? Wait till to-morrow +morning at sunrise, and see if she is particularly in need of pity. +What now should a young lady do--I propose it as a subject for a prize +essay--that finds herself in Valladolid at nighfall, having no letters +of introduction, not aware of any reason great or small for preferring +any street in general, except so far as she knows of some reason for +avoiding one or two streets in particular? The great problem I have +stated, Kate investigated as she went along; and she solved it with the +accuracy with which she ever applied to _practical_ exigencies. +Her conclusion was--that the best door to knock at in such a case was +the door where there was no need to knock at all, as being unfastened, +and open to all comers. For she argued that within such a door there +would be nothing to steal, so that, at least, you could not be mistaken +in the ark for a thief. Then, as to stealing from _her_, they +might do that if they could. + +Upon these principles, which hostile critics will in vain endeavor to +undermine, she laid her hand upon what seemed a rude stable door. Such +it proved. There was an empty cart inside, certainly there was, but you +couldn't take _that_ away in your pocket; and there were five +loads of straw, but then of those a lady could take no more than her +_reticule_ would carry, which perhaps was allowed by the courtesy +of Spain. So Kate was right as to the difficulty of being challenged +for a thief. Closing the door as gently as she had opened it, she +dropped her person, dressed as she was, upon the nearest heap of straw. +Some ten feet further were lying two muleteers, honest and happy +enough, as compared with the lords of the bed-chamber then in +Valladolid: but still gross men, carnally deaf from eating garlic and +onions, and other horrible substances. Accordingly, they never heard +her, nor were aware, until dawn, that such a blooming person existed. +But she was aware of _them_, and of their conversation. They were +talking of an expedition for America, on the point of sailing under Don +Ferdinand de Cordova. It was to sail from some Andalusian port. That +was the very thing for _her_. At daylight she woke, and jumped up, +needing no more toilet than the birds that already were singing in the +gardens, or than the two muleteers, who, good, honest fellows, saluted +the handsome boy kindly--thinking no ill at his making free with +_their_ straw, though no leave had been asked. + +With these philo-garlic men Kate took her departure. The morning was +divine: and leaving Valladolid with the transports that befitted such a +golden dawn, feeling also already, in the very obscurity of her exit, +the pledge of her escape; she cared no longer for the Crocodile, or for +St. Sebastian, or (in the way of fear) for the protector of St. +Sebastian, though of _him_ she thought with some tenderness; so +deep is the remembrance of kindness mixed with justice. Andalusia she +reached rather slowly; but many months before she was sixteen years +old, and quite in time for the expedition. St. Lucar being the port of +rendezvous for the Peruvian expedition, thither she went. All comers +were welcome on board the fleet; much more a fine young fellow like +Kate. She was at once engaged as a mate; and _her_ ship, in +particular, after doubling Cape Horn without loss, made the coast of +Peru. Paita was the port of her destination. Very near to this port +they were, when a storm threw them upon a coral reef. There was little +hope of the ship from the first, for she was unmanageable, and was not +expected to hold together for twenty-four hours. In this condition, +with death before their faces, mark what Kate did; and please to +remember it for her benefit, when she does any other little thing that +angers you. The crew lowered the long-boat. Vainly the captain +protested against this disloyal desertion of a king's ship, which might +yet perhaps be run on shore, so as to save the stores. All the crew, to +a man, deserted the captain. You may say _that_ literally; for the +single exception was _not_ a man, being our bold-hearted Kate. She +was the only sailor that refused to leave her captain, or the king of +Spain's ship. The rest pulled away for the shore, and with fair hopes +of reaching it. But one half-hour told another tale: just about that +time came a broad sheet of lightning, which, through the darkness of +evening, revealed the boat in the very act of mounting like a horse +upon an inner reef, instantly filling, and throwing out the crew, every +man of whom disappeared amongst the breakers. The night which succeeded +was gloomy for both the representatives of his Catholic Majesty. It +cannot be denied by the greatest of philosophers, that the muleteer's +stable at Valladolid was worth twenty such ships, though the stable was +_not_ insured against fire, and the ship _was_ insured against the sea +and the wind by some fellow that thought very little of his +engagements. But what's the use of sitting down to cry? That was never +any trick of Catalina's. By daybreak, she was at work with an axe +in her hand. I knew it, before ever I came to this place, in her +memoirs. I felt, as sure as if I had read it, that when day broke, we +should find Kate hard at work. Thimble or axe, trousers or raft, all +one to _her_. + +The Captain, though true to his duty, seems to have desponded. He gave +no help towards the raft. Signs were speaking, however, pretty loudly +that he must do something; for notice to quit was now served pretty +liberally. Kate's raft was ready; and she encouraged the captain to +think that it would give both of them something to hold by in swimming, +if not even carry double. At this moment, when all was waiting for a +start, and the ship herself was waiting for a final lurch, to say +_Good-bye_ to the King of Spain, Kate went and did a thing which +some misjudging people will object to. She knew of a box laden with +gold coins, reputed to be the King of Spain's, and meant for +contingencies in the voyage out. This she smashed open with her axe, +and took a sum equal to one hundred guineas English; which, having well +secured in a pillow-case, she then lashed firmly to the raft. Now this, +you know, though not _flotsam_, because it would not float, was +certainly, by maritime law, '_jetsom_.' It would be the idlest of +scruples to fancy that the sea or a shark had a better right to it than +a philosopher, or a splendid girl who showed herself capable of writing +a very fair 8vo, to say nothing of her decapitating in battle several +of the king's enemies, and recovering the king's banner. No sane +moralist would hesitate to do the same thing under the same +circumstances, on board an English vessel, though the First Lord of the +Admiralty should be looking on. The raft was now thrown into the sea. +Kate jumped after it, and then entreated the captain to follow her. He +attempted it; but, wanting her youthful agility, he struck his head +against a spar, and sank like lead, giving notice below that his ship +was coming. Kate mounted the raft, and was gradually washed ashore, but +so exhausted, as to have lost all recollection. She lay for hours until +the warmth of the sun revived her. On sitting up, she saw a desolate +shore stretching both ways--nothing to eat, nothing to drink, but +fortunately the raft and the money had been thrown near her; none of +the lashings having given way--only what is the use of a guinea amongst +tangle and sea-gulls? The money she distributed amongst her pockets, +and soon found strength to rise and march forward. But which _was_ +forward? and which backward? She knew by the conversation of the +sailors that Paita must be in the neighborhood; and Paita, being a +port, could not be in the inside of Peru, but, of course, somewhere on +its outside--and the outside of a maritime land must be the shore; so +that, if she kept the shore, and went far enough, she could not fail of +hitting her foot against Paita at last, in the very darkest night, +provided only she could first find out which was _up_ and which +was _down_; else she might walk her shoes off, and find herself +six thousand miles in the wrong. Here was an awkward case, all for want +of a guide-post. Still, when one thinks of Kate's prosperous horoscope, +that after so long a voyage, _she_ only, out of the total crew, +was thrown on the American shore, with one hundred and five pounds in +her purse of clear gain on the voyage, a conviction arises that she +_could_ not guess wrongly. She might have tossed up, having coins +in her pocket, _heads or tails_? but this kind of sortilege was +then coming to be thought irreligious in Christendom, as a Jewish and a +Heathen mode of questioning the dark future. She simply guessed, +therefore; and very soon a thing happened which, though adding nothing +to strengthen her guess as a true one, did much to sweeten it if it +should prove a false one. On turning a point of the shore, she came +upon a barrel of biscuit washed ashore from the ship. Biscuit is about +the best thing I know, but it is the soonest spoiled; and one would +like to hear counsel on one puzzling point, why it is that a touch of +water utterly ruins it, taking its life, and leaving a _caput +mortuum_ corpse! Upon this _caput_ Kate breakfasted, though +_her_ case was worse than mine; for any water that ever plagued +_me_ was always fresh; now _hers_ was a present from the +Pacific ocean. She, that was always prudent, packed up some of the +Catholic king's biscuit, as she had previously packed up far too little +of his gold. But in such cases a most delicate question occurs, +pressing equally on medicine and algebra. It is this: if you pack up +too much, then, by this extra burthen of salt provisions, you may +retard for days your arrival at fresh provisions; on the other hand, if +you pack up too little, you may never arrive at all. Catalina hit the +_juste milieu;_ and about twilight on the second day, she found +herself entering Paita, without having had to swim any river in her +walk. + +The first thing, in such a case of distress, which a young lady does, +even if she happens to be a young gentleman, is to beautify her dress. +Kate always attended to _that_, as we know, having overlooked her +in the chestnut wood. The man she sent for was not properly a tailor, +but one who employed tailors, he himself furnishing the materials. His +name was Urquiza, a fact of very little importance to us in 1847, if it +had stood only at the head and foot of Kate's little account. But +unhappily for Kate's _début_ on this vast American stage, the case +was otherwise. Mr. Urquiza had the misfortune (equally common in the +old world and the new) of being a knave; and also a showy specious +knave. Kate, who had prospered under sea allowances of biscuit and +hardship, was now expanding in proportions. With very little vanity or +consciousness on that head, she now displayed a really fine person; +and, when drest anew in the way that became a young officer in the +Spanish service, she looked [Footnote: _'She looked,' etc_. If +ever the reader should visit Aix-la-Chapelle, he will probably feel +interest enough in the poor, wild impassioned girl, to look out for a +picture of her in that city, and the only one known _certainly_ to +be authentic. It is in the collection of Mr. Sempeller. For some time +it was supposed that the best (if not the only) portrait of her lurked +somewhere in Italy. Since the discovery of the picture at Aix-la- +Chapelle, that notion has been abandoned. But there is great reason to +believe that, both in Madrid and Rome, many portraits of her must have +been painted to meet the intense interest which arose in her history +subsequently amongst all the men of rank, military or ecclesiastical, +whether in Italy or Spain. The date of these would range between +sixteen and twenty-two years from, the period which we have now reached +(1608.)] the representative picture of a Spanish _caballador_. It +is strange that such an appearance, and such a rank, should have +suggested to Urquiza the presumptuous idea of wishing that Kate might +become his clerk. He _did_, however wish it; for Kate wrote a +beautiful hand; and a stranger thing is, that Kate accepted his +proposal. This might arise from the difficulty of moving in those days +to any distance in Peru. The ship had been merely bringing stores to +the station of Paita; and no corps of the royal armies was readily to +be reached, whilst something must be done at once for a livelihood. +Urquiza had two mercantile establishments, one at Trujillo, to which he +repaired in person, on Kate's agreeing to undertake the management of +the other in Paita. Like the sensible girl, that we have always found +her, she demanded specific instructions for her guidance in duties so +new. Certainly she was in a fair way for seeing life. Telling her beads +at St. Sebastian's, manoeuvreing irregular verbs at Vittoria, acting as +gentleman-usher at Valladolid, serving his Spanish Majesty round Cape +Horn, fighting with storms and sharks off the coast of Peru, and now +commencing as book-keeper or _commis_ to a draper at Paita, does +she not justify the character that I myself gave her, just before +dismissing her from St. Sebastian's, of being a 'handy' girl? Mr. +Urquiza's instructions were short, easy to be understood, but rather +comic; and yet, which is odd, they led to tragic results. There were +two debtors of the shop, (_many_, it is to be hoped, but two +meriting his affectionate notice,) with respect to whom he left the +most opposite directions. The one was a very handsome lady; and the +rule as to _her_ was, that she was to have credit unlimited, +strictly unlimited. That was plain. The other customer, favored by Mr. +Urquiza's valedictory thoughts, was a young man, cousin to the handsome +lady, and bearing the name of Reyes. This youth occupied in Mr. +Urquiza's estimate the same hyperbolical rank as the handsome lady, but +on the opposite side of the equation. The rule as to _him_ was-- +that he was to have _no_ credit; strictly none. In this case, +also, Kate saw no difficulty; and when she came to know Mr. Reyes a +little, she found the path of pleasure coinciding with the path of +duty. Mr. Urquiza could not be more precise in laying down the rule +than Kate was in enforcing it. But in the other case a scruple arose. +_Unlimited_ might be a word, not of Spanish law, but of Spanish +rhetoric; such as '_Live a thousand years_,' which even annuity +offices hear, and perhaps utter, without a pang. Kate, therefore, wrote +to Trujillo, expressing her honest fears, and desiring to have more +definite instructions. These were positive. If the lady chose to send +for the entire shop, her account was to be debited instantly with +_that_. She had, however, as yet, not sent for the shop, but she +began to manifest strong signs of sending for the shop _man_. Upon +the blooming young Biscayan had her roving eye settled; and she was in +a course of making up her mind to take Kate for a sweetheart. Poor Kate +saw this with a heavy heart. And, at the same time that she had a +prospect of a tender friend more than she wanted, she had become +certain of an extra enemy that she wanted quite as little. What she had +done to offend Mr. Reyes, Kate could not guess, except as to the matter +of the credit; but then, in that, she only executed her instructions. +Still Mr. Reyes was of opinion that there were two ways of executing +orders: but the main offence was unintentional on Kate's part. Reyes, +though as yet she did not know it, had himself been a candidate for the +situation of clerk; and intended probably to keep the equation +precisely as it was with respect to the allowance of credit, only to +change places with the handsome lady--keeping _her_ on the +negative side, himself on the affirmative--an arrangement that you know +could have made no sort of pecuniary difference to Urquiza. + +Thus stood matters, when a party of strolling players strolled into +Paita. Kate, as a Spaniard, being one held of the Paita aristocracy, +was expected to attend. She did so; and there also was the malignant +Reyes. He came and seated himself purposely so as to shut out Kate from +all view of the stage. She, who had nothing of the bully in her nature, +and was a gentle creature when her wild Biscayan blood had not been +kindled by insult, courteously requested him to move a little; upon +which Reyes remarked that it was not in his power to oblige the clerk +as to that, but that he _could_ oblige him by cutting his throat. +The tiger that slept in Catalina wakened at once. She seized him, and +would have executed vengeance on the spot, but that a party of young +men interposed to part them. The next day, when Kate (always ready to +forget and forgive) was thinking no more of the row, Reyes passed; by +spitting at the window, and other gestures insulting to Kate, again he +roused her Spanish blood. Out she rushed, sword in hand--a duel began +in the street, and very soon Kate's sword had passed into the heart of +Reyes. Now that the mischief was done, the police were, as usual, all +alive for the pleasure of avenging it. Kate found herself suddenly in a +strong prison, and with small hopes of leaving it, except for +execution. The relations of the dead man were potent in Paita, and +clamorous for justice, so that the _corregidor_, in a case where +he saw a very poor chance of being corrupted by bribes, felt it his +duty to be sublimely incorruptible. The reader knows, however, that, +amongst the relatives of the deceased bully, was that handsome lady, +who differed as much from her cousin in her sentiments as to Kate, as +she did in the extent of her credit with Mr. Urquiza. To _her_ +Kate wrote a note; and, using one of the Spanish King's gold coins for +bribing the jailor, got it safely delivered. That, perhaps, was +unnecessary; for the lady had been already on the alert, and had +summoned Urquiza from Trujillo. By some means, not very luminously +stated, and by paying proper fees in proper quarters, Kate was smuggled +out of the prison at nightfall, and smuggled into a pretty house in the +suburbs. Had she known exactly the footing she stood on as to the law, +she would have been decided. As it was, she was uneasy, and jealous of +mischief abroad; and, before supper, she understood it all. Urquiza +briefly informed his clerk, that it would be requisite for him to marry +the handsome lady. But why? Because, said Urquiza, after talking for +hours with the _corregidor_, who was infamous for obstinacy, he +had found it impossible to make him 'hear reason,' and release the +prisoner, until this compromise of marriage was suggested. But how +could public justice be pacified for the clerk's unfortunate homicide +of Reyes, by a female cousin of the deceased man engaging to love, +honor, and obey the clerk for life? Kate could not see her way through +this logic. 'Nonsense, my friend,' said Urquiza, 'you don't comprehend. +As it stands, the affair is a murder, and hanging the penalty. But, if +you marry into the murdered man's house, then it becomes a little +family murder, all quiet and comfortable amongst ourselves. What has +the _corregidor_ to do with that? or the public either? Now, let +me introduce the bride.' Supper entered at that moment, and the bride +immediately after. The thoughtfulness of Kate was narrowly observed, +and even alluded to, but politely ascribed to the natural anxieties of +a prisoner, and the very imperfect state of liberation even yet from +prison _surveillance_. Kate had, indeed, never been in so trying a +situation before. The anxieties of the farewell night at St. Sebastian +were nothing to this; because, even if she had failed _then_, a +failure might not have been always irreparable. It was but to watch and +wait. But now, at this supper table, she was not more alive to the +nature of the peril than she was to the fact, that if, before the night +closed, she did not by some means escape from it, she never +_would_ escape with life. The deception as to her sex, though +resting on no motive that pointed to these people, or at all concerned +them, would be resented as if it had. The lady would resent the case as +a mockery; and Urquiza would lose his opportunity of delivering himself +from an imperious mistress. According to the usages of the times and +country, Kate knew that in twelve hours she would be assassinated. + +People of infirmer resolution would have lingered at the supper table, +for the sake of putting off the evil moment of final crisis. Not so +Kate. She had revolved the case on all its sides in a few minutes, and +had formed her resolution. This done, she was as ready for the trial at +one moment as another; and, when the lady suggested that the hardships +of a prison must have made repose desirable, Kate assented, and +instantly rose. A sort of procession formed, for the purpose of doing +honor to the interesting guest, and escorting him in pomp to his +bedroom. Kate viewed it much in the same light as the procession to +which for some days she had been expecting an invitation from the +_corregidor_. Far ahead ran the servant-woman as a sort of +outrider. Then came Urquiza, like a Pasha of two tails, who granted two +sorts of credit, viz. unlimited and none at all, bearing two wax- +lights, one in each hand, and wanting only cymbals and kettle-drums to +express emphatically the pathos of his Castilian strut. Next came the +bride, a little in advance of the clerk, but still turning obliquely +towards him, and smiling graciously into his face. Lastly, bringing up +the rear, came the prisoner--our Kate--the nun, the page, the mate, the +clerk, the homicide, the convict; and, for this day only, by particular +desire, the bridegroom elect. + +It was Kate's fixed opinion, that, if for a moment she entered any +bedroom having obviously no outlet, her fate would be that of an ox +once driven within the shambles. Outside, the bullock might make some +defence with his horns; but once in, with no space for turning, he is +muffled and gagged. She carried her eye, therefore, like a hawk's, +steady, though restless, for vigilant examination of every angle she +turned. Before she entered any bedroom, she was resolved to reconnoiter +it from the doorway, and, in case of necessity, show fight at once, +before entering--as the best chance, after all, where all chances were +bad. Everything ends; and at last the procession reached the bedroom +door, the outrider having filed off to the rear. One glance sufficed to +satisfy Kate that windows there were none, and, therefore, no outlet +for escape. Treachery appeared even in _that_; and Kate, though +unfortunately without arms, was now fixed for resistance. Mr. Urquiza +entered first--'Sound the trumpets! Beat the drums!' There were, as we +know already, no windows; but a slight interruption to Mr. Urquiza's +pompous tread showed that there were steps downwards into the room. +Those, thought Kate, will suit me even better. She had watched the +unlocking of the bedroom door--she had lost nothing--she had marked +that the key was left in the lock. At this moment, the beautiful lady, +as one acquainted with the details of the house, turning with the air +of a gracious monitress, held out her fair hand to guide Kate in +careful descent of the steps. This had the air of taking out Kate to +dance; and Kate, at that same moment, answering to it by the gesture of +a modern waltzer, threw her arm behind the lady's waist, hurled her +headlong down the steps right against Mr. Urquiza, draper and +haberdasher; and then, with the speed of lightning, throwing the door +_home_ within its architrave, doubly locked the creditor and +debtor into the rat-trap which they had prepared for herself. + +The affrighted out-rider fled with horror: she already knew that the +clerk had committed one homicide; a second would cost him still less +thought; and thus it happened that egress was left easy. But, when out +and free once more in the bright starry night, which way should Kate +turn? The whole city would prove but a rat-trap for her, as bad as Mr. +Urquiza's, if she was not off before morning. At a glance she +comprehended that the sea was her only chance. To the port she fled. +All was silent. Watchmen there were none. She jumped into a boat. To +use the oars was dangerous, for she had no means of muffling them. But +she contrived to hoist a sail, pushed off with a boat-hook, and was +soon stretching across the water for the mouth of the harbor before a +breeze light but favorable. Having cleared the difficulties of exit she +lay down, and unintentionally fell asleep. When she awoke the sun had +been up three or four hours; all was right otherwise; but had she not +served as a sailor, Kate would have trembled upon finding that, during +her long sleep of perhaps seven or eight hours, she had lost sight of +land; by what distance she could only guess; and in what direction, was +to some degree doubtful. All this, however, seemed a great advantage to +the bold girl, throwing her thoughts back on the enemies she had left +behind. The disadvantage was--having no breakfast, not even damaged +biscuit; and some anxiety naturally arose as to ulterior prospects a +little beyond the horizon of breakfast. But who's afraid? As sailors +whistle for a wind, Catalina really had but to whistle for anything +with energy, and it was sure to come. Like Caesar to the pilot of +Dyrrhachium, she might have said, for the comfort of her poor timorous +boat, (though destined soon to perish,) '_Catalinam vehis, et +fortunas ejus_.' Meantime, being very doubtful as to the best course +for sailing, and content if her course did but lie offshore, she +'carried on,' as sailors say, under easy sail, going, in fact, just +whither and just how the Pacific breezes suggested in the gentlest of +whispers. _All right behind_, was Kate's opinion; and, what was +better, very soon she might say, _all right ahead:_ for some hour +or two before sunset, when dinner was for once becoming, even to Kate, +the most interesting of subjects for meditation, suddenly a large ship +began to swell upon the brilliant atmosphere. In those latitudes, and +in those years, any ship was pretty sure to be Spanish: sixty years +later the odds were in favor of its being an English buccaneer; which +would have given a new direction to Kate's energy. Kate continued to +make signals with a handkerchief whiter than the crocodile's of Ann. +Dom. 1592, else it would hardly have been noticed. Perhaps, after all, +it would not, but that the ship's course carried her very nearly across +Kate's. The stranger lay-to for her. It was dark by the time Kate +steered herself under the ship's quarter; and _then_ was seen an +instance of this girl's eternal wakefulness. Something was painted on +the stern of her boat, she could not see _what;_ but she judged +that it would express some connection with the port that she had just +quitted. Now it was her wish to break the chain of traces connecting +her with such a scamp as Urquiza; since else, through his commercial +correspondence, he might disperse over Peru a portrait of herself by no +means flattering. How should she accomplish this? It was dark; and she +stood, as you may see an Etonian do at times, rocking her little boat +from side to side, until it had taken in water as much as might be +agreeable. Too much it proved for the boat's constitution, and the boat +perished of dropsy--Kate declining to tap it. She got a ducking +herself; but what cared she? Up the ship's side she went, as gaily as +ever, in those years when she was called pussy, she had raced after the +nuns of St. Sebastian; jumped upon deck, and told the first lieutenant, +when he questioned her about her adventures, quite as much truth as any +man, under the rank of admiral, had a right to expect. + +This ship was full of recruits for the Spanish army, and bound to +Concepcion. Even in that destiny was an iteration, or repeating +memorial of the significance that ran through Catalina's most casual +adventures. She had enlisted amongst the soldiers; and, on reaching +port, the very first person who came off from shore was a dashing young +military officer, whom at once by his name and rank, (though she had +never consciously seen him,) she identified as her own brother. He was +splendidly situated in the service, being the Governor-General's +secretary, besides his rank as a cavalry officer; and, his errand on +board being to inspect the recruits, naturally, on reading in the roll +one of them described as a Biscayan, the ardent young man came up with +high-bred courtesy to Catalina, took the young recruit's hand with +kindness, feeling that to be a compatriot at so great a distance was to +be a sort of relative, and asked with emotion after old boyish +remembrances. There was a scriptural pathos in what followed, as if it +were some scene of domestic re-union, opening itself from patriarchal +ages. The young officer was the eldest son of the house, and had left +Spain when Catalina was only three years old. But, singularly enough, +Catalina it was, the little wild cat that he yet remembered seeing at +St. Sebastian's, upon whom his earliest inquiries settled. 'Did the +recruit know his family, the De Erausos?' O yes, every body knew +_them_. 'Did the recruit know little Catalina?' Catalina smiled, +as she replied that she did; and gave such an animated description of +the little fiery wretch, as made the officer's eye flash with gratified +tenderness, and with certainty that the recruit was no counterfeit +Biscayan. Indeed, you know, if Kate couldn't give a good description of +'Pussy,' who could? The issue of the interview was--that the officer +insisted on Kate's making a home of his quarters. He did other services +for his unknown sister. He placed her as a trooper in his own regiment, +and favored her in many a way that is open to one having authority. But +the person, after all, that did most to serve our Kate, was Kate. War +was then raging with Indians, both from Chili and Peru. Kate had always +done her duty in action; but at length, in the decisive battle of +Puren, there was an opening for doing something more. Havoc had been +made of her own squadron: most of the officers were killed, and the +standard was carried off. Kate gathered around her a small party-- +galloped after the Indian column that was carrying away the trophy-- +charged--saw all her own party killed--but (in spite of wounds on her +face and shoulder) succeeded in bearing away the recovered standard. +She rode up to the general and his staff; she dismounted; she rendered +up her prize; and fainted away, much less from the blinding blood, than +from the tears of joy which dimmed her eyes, as the general, waving his +sword in admiration over her head, pronounced our Kate on the spot an +_Alferez_, [Footnote: _Alferez_. This rank in the Spanish +army is, or was, on a level with the modern _sous-lieutenant_ of +France.] or standard-bearer, with a commission from the King of Spain +and the Indies. Bonny Kate! Noble Kate! I would there were not two +centuries laid between us, so that I might have the pleasure of kissing +thy fair hand. + +Kate had the good sense to see the danger of revealing her sex, or her +relationship, even to her own brother. The grasp of the Church never +relaxed, never 'prescribed,' unless freely and by choice. The nun, if +discovered, would have been taken out of the horse-barracks, or the +dragoon-saddle. She had the firmness, therefore, for many years, to +resist the sisterly impulses that sometimes suggested such a +confidence. For years, and those years the most important of her life-- +the years that developed her character--she lived undetected as a +brilliant cavalry officer under her brother's patronage. And the +bitterest grief in poor Kate's whole life, was the tragical (and, were +it not fully attested, one might say the ultra-scenical,) event that +dissolved their long connection. Let me spend a word of apology on poor +Kate's errors. We all commit many; both you and I, reader. No, stop; +that's not civil. You, reader, I know, are a saint; I am _not_, +though very near it. I _do_ err at long intervals; and then I +think with indulgence of the many circumstances that plead for this +poor girl. The Spanish armies of that day inherited, from the days of +Cortez and Pizarro, shining remembrances of martial prowess, and the +very worst of ethics. To think little of bloodshed, to quarrel, to +fight, to gamble, to plunder, belonged to the very atmosphere of a +camp, to its indolence, to its ancient traditions. In your own defence, +you were obliged to do such things. Besides all these grounds of evil, +the Spanish army had just there an extra demoralization from a war with +savages--faithless and bloody. Do not think, I beseech you, too much, +reader, of killing a man. That word '_kill_' is sprinkled over +every page of Kate's own autobiography. It ought not to be read by the +light of these days. Yet, how if a man that she killed were----? Hush! +It was sad; but is better hurried over in a few words. Years after this +period, a young officer one day dining with Kate, entreated her to +become his second in a duel. Such things were every-day affairs. +However, Kate had reasons for declining the service, and did so. But +the officer, as he was sullenly departing, said--that, if he were +killed, (as he thought he _should_ be,) his death would lie at +Kate's door. I do not take _his_ view of the case, and am not +moved by his rhetoric or his logic. Kate _was_, and relented. The +duel was fixed for eleven at night, under the walls of a monastery. +Unhappily the night proved unusually dark, so that the two principals +had to tie white handkerchiefs round their elbows, in order to descry +each other. In the confusion they wounded each other mortally. Upon +that, according to a usage not peculiar to Spaniards, but extending (as +doubtless the reader knows) for a century longer to our own countrymen, +the two seconds were obliged in honor to do something towards avenging +their principals. Kate had her usual fatal luck. Her sword passed sheer +through the body of her opponent: this unknown opponent falling dead, +had just breath left to cry out, 'Ah, villain, you have killed me,' in +a voice of horrific reproach; and the voice was the voice of her +brother! + +The monks of the monastery, under whose silent shadows this murderous +duel had taken place, roused by the clashing of swords and the angry +shouts of combatants, issued out with torches to find one only of the +four officers surviving. Every convent and altar had a right of asylum +for a short period. According to the custom, the monks carried Kate, +insensible with anguish of mind, to the sanctuary of their chapel. +There for some days they detained her; but then, having furnished her +with a horse and some provisions, they turned her adrift. Which way +should the unhappy fugitive turn? In blindness of heart she turned +towards the sea. It was the sea that had brought her to Peru; it was +the sea that would perhaps carry her away. It was the sea that had +first showed her this land and its golden hopes; it was the sea that +ought to hide from her its fearful remembrances. The sea it was that +had twice spared her life in extremities; the sea it was that might now +if it chose, take back the bauble that it had spared in vain. + + +KATE'S PASSAGE OVER THE ANDES. + +Three days our poor heroine followed the coast. Her horse was then +almost unable to move; and on _his_ account, she turned inland to a +thicket for grass and shelter. As she drew near to it, a voice +challenged--'_Who goes there_?' Kate answered, '_Spain_.' '_What +people_?' '_A friend_.' It was two soldiers, deserters, and almost +starving. Kate shared her provisions with these men: and, on hearing +their plan, which was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join +the party. _Their_ object was the wild one of seeking the river +_Dorado_, whose waters rolled along golden sands, and whose pebbles +were emeralds. _Hers_ was to throw herself upon a line the least liable +to pursuit, and the readiest for a new chapter of life in which +oblivion might be found for the past. After a few days of incessant +climbing and fatigue, they found themselves in the regions of perpetual +snow. Summer would come as vainly to this kingdom of frost as to the +grave of her brother. No fire, but the fire of human blood in youthful +veins, could ever be kept burning in these aerial solitudes. Fuel was +rarely to be found, and kindling a secret hardly known except to +Indians. However, our Kate can do everything, and she's the girl, if +ever girl _did_ such a thing, or ever girl did _not_ such a thing, that +I back at any odds for crossing the Cordilleras. I would bet you +something now, reader, if I thought you would deposit your stakes by +return of post, (as they play at chess through the post-office,) that +Kate does the trick, that she gets down to the other side; that the +soldiers do _not_: and that the horse, if preserved at all, is +preserved in a way that will leave him very little to boast of. + +The party had gathered wild berries and esculent roots at the foot of +the mountains, and the horse was of very great use in carrying them. +But this larder was soon emptied. There was nothing then to carry; so +that the horse's value, as a beast of burthen, fell cent per cent. In +fact, very soon he could not carry himself, and it became easy to +calculate when he would reach the bottom on the wrong side the +Cordilleras. He took three steps back for one upwards. A council of war +being held, the small army resolved to slaughter their horse. He, +though a member of the expedition, had no vote, and if he had the votes +would have stood three to one--majority, two against him. He was cut +into quarters; which surprises me; for, unless _one_ quarter was +considered his own share, it reminds one too much of this amongst the +many _facetić_ of English midshipmen, who ask (on any one of their +number looking sulky) 'if it is his intention to marry and retire from +the service upon a superannuation of Ł4 4s. 4 1/2d. a year, paid +quarterly by way of bothering the purser.' The purser can't do it with +the help of farthings. And as respects aliquot parts, four shares among +three persons are as incommensurable as a guinea is against any attempt +at giving change in half-crowns. However, this was all the +preservation that the horse found. No saltpetre or sugar could be had: +but the frost was antiseptic. And the horse was preserved in as useful +a sense as ever apricots were preserved or strawberries. + +On a fire, painfully devised out of broom and withered leaves, a horse- +steak was dressed, for drink, snow as allowed _a discretion_. This +ought to have revived the party, and Kate, perhaps, it _did_. But +the poor deserters were thinly clad, and they had not the boiling heart +of Catalina. More and more they drooped. Kate did her best to cheer +them. But the march was nearly at an end for _them_, and they +were going in one half hour to receive their last billet. Yet, before +this consummation, they have a strange spectacle to see; such as few +places could show, but the upper chambers of the Cordilleras. They had +reached a billowy scene of rocky masses, large and small, looking +shockingly black on their perpendicular sides as they rose out of the +vast snowy expanse. Upon the highest of these, that was accessible, +Kate mounted to look around her, and she saw--oh, rapture at such an +hour!--a man sitting on a shelf of rock with a gun by his side. She +shouted with joy to her comrades, and ran down to communicate the +joyful news. Here was a sportsman, watching, perhaps, for an eagle; and +now they would have relief. One man's cheek kindled with the hectic of +sudden joy, and he rose eagerly to march. The other was fast sinking +under the fatal sleep that frost sends before herself as her merciful +minister of death; but hearing in his dream the tidings of relief, and +assisted by his friends, he also staggeringly arose. It could not be +three minutes' walk, Kate thought, to the station of the sportsman. +That thought supported them all. Under Kate's guidance, who had taken a +sailor's glance at the bearings, they soon unthreaded the labyrinth of +rocks so far as to bring the man within view. He had not left his +resting-place; their steps on the soundless snow, naturally, he could +not hear; and, as their road brought them upon him from the rear, still +less could he see them. Kate hailed him; but so keenly was he absorbed +in some speculation, or in the object of his watching, that he took no +notice of them, not even moving his head. Kate began to think there +would be another man to rouse from sleep. Coming close behind him, she +touched his shoulder, and said, 'My friend, are you sleeping?' Yes, he +_was_ sleeping; sleeping the sleep from which there is no awaking; +and the slight touch of Kate having disturbed the equilibrium of the +corpse, down it rolled on the snow: the frozen body rang like a hollow +iron cylinder; the face uppermost and blue with mould, mouth open, +teeth ghastly and bleaching in the frost, and a frightful grin upon the +lips. This dreadful spectacle finished the struggles of the weaker man, +who sank and died at once. The other made an effort with so much +spirit, that, in Kate's opinion, horror had acted upon him beneficially +as a stimulant. But it was not really so. It was a spasm of morbid +strength; a collapse succeeded; his blood began to freeze; he sat down +in spite of Kate, and _he_ also died without further struggle. +Gone are the poor suffering deserters; stretched and bleaching upon the +snow; and insulted discipline is avenged. Great kings have long arms; +and sycophants are ever at hand for the errand of the potent. What had +frost and snow to do with the quarrel? Yet _they_ made themselves +sycophantic servants of the King of Spain; and _they_ dogged his +deserters up to the summit of the Cordilleras, more surely than any +Spanish bloodhound, or any Spanish tirailleur's bullet. + +Now is our Kate standing alone on the summits of the Andes, in solitude +that is shocking, for she is alone with her own afflicted conscience. +Twice before she had stood in solitude as deep upon the wild--wild +waters of the Pacific; but her conscience had been then untroubled. +Now, is there nobody left that can help; her horse is dead--the +soldiers are dead. There is nobody that she can speak to except God; +and very soon you will find that she _does_ speak to him; for +already on these vast aerial deserts He has been whispering to +_her_. The condition of Kate is exactly that of Coleridge's +'_Ancient Mariner_.' But possibly, reader, you may be amongst the +many careless readers that have never fully understood what that +condition was. Suffer me to enlighten you, else you ruin the story of +the mariner; and by losing all its pathos, lose half the jewels of its +beauty. + +There are three readers of the 'Ancient Mariner.' The first is gross +enough to fancy all the imagery of the mariner's visions delivered by +the poet for actual facts of experience; which being impossible, the +whole pulverizes, for that reader, into a baseless fairy tale. The +second reader is wiser than _that_; he knows that the imagery is _not_ +baseless; it is the imagery of febrile delirium; really seen, but not +seen as an external reality. The mariner had caught the pestilential +fever, which carried off all his mates; he only had survived--the +delirium had vanished; but the visions that had haunted the delirium +remained. 'Yes,' says the third reader, 'they remained; naturally they +did, being scorched by fever into his brain; but how did they happen to +remain on his belief as gospel truths? The delirium had vanished: why +had not the painted scenery of the delirium vanished, except as +visionary memorials of a sorrow that was cancelled? Why was it that +craziness settled upon this mariner's brain, driving him, as if he were +a Cain, or another Wandering Jew, to 'pass like night--from land to +land;' and, at uncertain intervals, wrenching him until he made +rehearsal of his errors, even at the hard price of 'holding children +from their play, and old men from the chimney corner?' [Footnote: The +beautiful words of Sir Philip Sidney, in his '_Defense of Poesie_.'] +That craziness, as the _third reader_ deciphers, rose out of a deeper +soil than any bodily affection. It had its root in penitential sorrow. +Oh, bitter is the sorrow to a conscientious heart, when, too late, it +discovers the depth of a love that has been trampled under foot! This +mariner had slain the creature that, on all the earth, loved him best. +In the darkness of his cruel superstition he had done it, to save his +human brothers from a fancied inconvenience; and yet, by that very act +of cruelty, he had himself called destruction upon their heads. The +Nemesis that followed punished _him_ through _them_--him, that wronged, +through those that wrongfully he sought to benefit. That spirit who +watches over the sanctities of love is a strong angel--is a jealous +angel; and this angel it was + + 'That lov'd the bird, that lov'd the man, + That shot him with his bow.' + +He it was that followed the cruel archer into silent and slumbering +seas; + + 'Nine fathom deep he had follow'd him + Through the realms of mist and snow.' + +This jealous angel it was that pursued the man into noon-day darkness, +and the vision of dying oceans, into delirium, and finally, (when +recovered from disease) into an unsettled mind. + +Such, also, had been the offence of Kate; such, also was the punishment +that now is dogging her steps. She, like the mariner, had slain the one +sole creature that loved her upon the whole wide earth; she, like the +mariner, for this offence, had been hunted into frost and snow--very +soon will be hunted into delirium; and from _that_ (if she escapes +with life) will be hunted into the trouble of a heart that cannot rest. +There was the excuse of one darkness for _her_; there was the +excuse of another darkness for the mariner. But, with all the excuses +that earth, and the darkness of earth, can furnish, bitter it would be +for you or me, reader, through every hour of life, waking or dreaming, +to look back upon one fatal moment when we had pierced the heart that +would have died for us. In this only the darkness had been merciful to +Kate--that it had hidden for ever from her victim the hand that slew +him. But now in such utter solitude, her thoughts ran back to their +earliest interview. She remembered with anguish, how, on first touching +the shores of America, almost the very first word that met her ear had +been from _him_, the brother whom she had killed, about the +'Pussy' of times long past; how the gallant young man had hung upon her +words, as in her native Basque she described her own mischievous little +self, of twelve years back; how his color went and came, whilst his +loving memory of the little sister was revived by her own descriptive +traits, giving back, as in a mirror, the fawn-like grace, the squirrel- +like restlessness, that once had kindled his own delighted laughter; +how he would take no denial, but showed on the spot, that, simply to +have touched--to have kissed--to have played with the little wild +thing, that glorified, by her innocence, the gloom of St. Sebastian's +cloisters, gave a _right_ to his hospitality; how, through +_him_ only, she had found a welcome in camps; how, through +_him_, she had found the avenue to honor and distinction. And yet +this brother, so loving and generous, it was that she had dismissed +from life. She paused; she turned round, as if looking back for his +grave; she saw the dreadful wildernesses of snow which already she had +traversed. + +Silent they were at this season, even as in the panting heats of noon, +the Zaarrahs of the torrid zone are oftentimes silent. Dreadful was the +silence; it was the nearest thing to the silence of the grave. Graves +were at the foot of the Andes, _that_ she knew too well; graves were at +the summit of the Andes, _that_ she saw too well. And, as she gazed, a +sudden thought flashed upon her, when her eyes settled upon the corpses +of the poor deserters--could she, like _them_, have been all this while +unconsciously executing judgment upon herself? Running from a wrath +that was doubtful, into the very jaws of a wrath that was inexorable? +Flying in panic--and behold! there was no man that pursued? For the +first time in her life, Kate trembled. _Not_ for the first time, Kate +wept. Far less for the first time was it, that Kate bent her knee--that +Kate clasped her hands--that Kate prayed. But it _was_ the first time +that she prayed as _they_ pray, for whom no more hope is left but in +prayer. + +Here let me pause a moment for the sake of making somebody angry. A +Frenchman, who sadly misjudges Kate, looking at her through a Parisian +opera-glass, gives it as _his_ opinion--that, because Kate first +_records_ her prayer on this occasion, therefore, now first of all +she prayed. _I_ think not so. _I_ love this Kate, blood- +stained as she is; and I could not love a woman that never bent her +knee in thankfulness or in supplication. However, we have all a right +to our own little opinion; and it is not you, '_mon cher_,' you +Frenchman, that I am angry with, but somebody else that stands behind +you. You, Frenchman, and your compatriots, I love oftentimes for your +festal gaiety of heart; and I quarrel only with your levity and that +eternal worldliness that freezes too fiercely--that absolutely blisters +with its frost--like the upper air of the Andes. _You_ speak of +Kate only as too readily you speak of all women; the instinct of a +natural scepticism being to scoff at all hidden depths of truth. Else +you are civil enough to Kate; and your '_homage_' (such as it may +happen to be) is always at the service of a woman on the shortest +notice. But behind _you_, I see a worse fellow; a gloomy fanatic; +a religious sycophant that seeks to propitiate his circle by bitterness +against the offences that are most unlike his own. And against him, I +must say one word for Kate to the too hasty reader. This villain, whom +I mark for a shot if he does not get out of the way, opens his fire on +our Kate under shelter of a lie. For there is a standing lie in the +very constitution of civil society, a _necessity_ of error, +misleading us as to the proportions of crime. Mere necessity obliges +man to create many acts into felonies, and to punish them as the +heaviest offences, which his better sense teaches him secretly to +regard as perhaps among the lightest. Those poor deserters, for +instance, were they necessarily without excuse? They might have been +oppressively used; but in critical times of war, no matter for the +individual palliations, the deserter from his colors _must_ be +shot: there is no help for it: as in extremities of general famine, we +shoot the man (alas! we are _obliged_ to shoot him) that is found +robbing the common stores in order to feed his own perishing children, +though the offence is hardly visible in the sight of God. Only +blockheads adjust their scale of guilt to the scale of human +punishments. Now, our wicked friend the fanatic, who calumniates Kate, +abuses the advantage which, for such a purpose, he derives from the +exaggerated social estimate of all violence. Personal security being so +main an object of social union, we are obliged to frown upon all modes +of violence as hostile to the central principle of that union. We are +_obliged_ to rate it, according to the universal results towards +which it tends, and scarcely at all, according to the special condition +of circumstances, in which it may originate. Hence a horror arises for +that class of offences, which is (philosophically speaking) +exaggerated; and by daily use, the ethics of a police-office translate +themselves, insensibly, into the ethics even of religious people. But I +tell that sycophantish fanatic--not this only, viz., that he abuses +unfairly, against Kate, the advantage which he has from the +_inevitably_ distorted bias of society; but also, I tell him this +second little thing, viz., that upon turning away the glass from that +one obvious aspect of Kate's character, her too fiery disposition to +vindicate all rights by violence, and viewing her in relation to +_general_ religious capacities, she was a thousand times more +promisingly endowed than himself. It is impossible to be noble in many +things, without having many points of contact with true religion. If +you deny _that_ you it is that calumniate religion. Kate +_was_ noble in many things. Her worst errors never took a shape of +self-interest or deceit. She was brave, she was generous, she was +forgiving, she bore no malice, she was full of truth--qualities that +God loves either in man or woman. She hated sycophants and dissemblers. +_I_ hate them; and more than ever at this moment on her behalf. I +wish she were but here--to give a punch on the head to that fellow who +traduces her. And, coming round again to the occasion from which this +short digression has started, viz., the question raised by the +Frenchman--whether Kate were a person likely to _pray_ under other +circumstances than those of extreme danger? I offer it as _my_ +opinion that she was. Violent people are not always such from choice, +but perhaps from situation. And, though the circumstances of Kate's +position allowed her little means for realizing her own wishes, it is +certain that those wishes pointed continually to peace and an unworldly +happiness, if _that_ were possible. The stormy clouds that +enveloped her in camps, opened overhead at intervals--showing her a far +distant blue serene. She yearned, at many times, for the rest which is +not in camps or armies; and it is certain, that she ever combined with +any plans or day-dreams of tranquillity, as their most essential ally, +some aid derived from that dovelike religion which, at St. Sebastian's, +as an infant and through girlhood, she had been taught so profoundly to +adore. + +Now, let us rise from this discussion of Kate against libellers, as +Kate herself is rising from prayer, and consider, in conjunction with +_her_, the character and promise of that dreadful ground which +lies immediately before her. What is to be thought of it? I could wish +we had a theodolite here, and a spirit-level, and other instruments, +for settling some important questions. Yet no: on consideration, if one +_had_ a wish allowed by that kind fairy, without whose assistance +it would be quite impossible to send, even for the spirit-level, nobody +would throw away the wish upon things so paltry. I would not put the +fairy upon any such errand: I would order the good creature to bring no +spirit-level, but a stiff glass of spirits for Kate--a palanquin, and +relays of fifty stout bearers--all drunk, in order that they might not +feel the cold. The main interest at this moment, and the main +difficulty--indeed, the 'open question' of the case--was, to ascertain +whether the ascent were yet accomplished or not; and when would the +descent commence? or had it, perhaps, long commenced? The character of +the ground, in those immediate successions that could be connected by +the eye, decided nothing; for the undulations of the level had been so +continual for miles, as to perplex any eye but an engineer's, in +attempting to judge whether, upon the whole, the tendency were upwards +or downwards. Possibly it was yet neither way; it is, indeed, probable, +that Kate had been for some time travelling along a series of terraces, +that traversed the whole breadth of the topmost area at that point of +crossing the Cordilleras, and which perhaps, but not certainly, +compensated any casual tendencies downwards by corresponding reascents. +Then came the question--how long would these terraces yet continue? and +had the ascending parts _really_ balanced the descending?--upon +_that_ seemed to rest the final chance for Kate. Because, unless +she very soon reached a lower level, and a warmer atmosphere, mere +weariness would oblige her to lie down, under a fierceness of cold, +that would not suffer her to rise after once losing the warmth of +motion; or, inversely, if she even continued in motion, mere extremity +of cold would, of itself, speedily absorb the little surplus energy for +moving, which yet remained unexhausted by weariness. + +At this stage of her progress, and whilst the agonizing question seemed +yet as indeterminate as ever, Kate's struggle with despair, which had +been greatly soothed by the fervor of her prayer, revolved upon her in +deadlier blackness. All turned, she saw, upon a race against time, and +the arrears of the road; and she, poor thing! how little qualified +could _she_ be, in such a condition, for a race of any kind; and +against two such obstinate brutes as time and space! This hour of the +progress, this noontide of Kate's struggle, must have been the very +crisis of the whole. Despair was rapidly tending to ratify itself. +Hope, in any degree, would be a cordial for sustaining her efforts. But +to flounder along a dreadful chaos of snow-drifts, or snow-chasms, +towards a point of rock, which, being turned, should expose only +another interminable succession of the same character--might +_that_ be endured by ebbing spirits, by stiffening limbs, by the +ghastly darkness that was now beginning to gather upon the inner eye? +And, if once despair became triumphant, all the little arrear of +physical strength would collapse at once. + +Oh! verdure of human fields, cottages of men and women, (that now +suddenly seemed all brothers and sisters,) cottages with children +around them at play, that are so far below--oh! summer and spring, +flowers and blossoms, to which, as to _his_ symbols, God has given +the gorgeous privilege of rehearsing for ever upon earth his most +mysterious perfection--Life, and the resurrections of Life--is it +indeed true, that poor Kate must never see you more? Mutteringly she +put that question to herself. But strange are the caprices of ebb and +flow in the deep fountains of human sensibilities. At this very moment, +when the utter incapacitation of despair was gathering fast at Kate's +heart, a sudden lightening shot far into her spirit, a reflux almost +supernatural, from the earliest effects of her prayer. A thought had +struck her all at once, and this thought prompted her immediately to +turn round. Perhaps it was in some blind yearning after the only +memorials of life in this frightful region, that she fixed her eye upon +a point of hilly ground by which she identified the spot near which the +three corpses were lying. The silence seemed deeper than ever. Neither +was there any phantom memorial of life for the eye or for the ear, nor +wing of bird, nor echo, nor green leaf, nor creeping thing, that moved +or stirred, upon the soundless waste. Oh, what a relief to this burthen +of silence would be a human groan! Here seemed a motive for still +darker despair. And yet, at that very moment, a pulse of joy began to +thaw the ice at her heart. It struck her, as she reviewed the ground, +that undoubtedly it had been for some time slowly descending. Her +senses were much dulled by suffering; but this thought it was, +suggested by a sudden apprehension of a continued descending movement, +which had caused her to turn round. Sight had confirmed the suggestion +first derived from her own steps. The distance attained was now +sufficient to establish the tendency. Oh, yes, yes, to a certainty she +had been descending for some time. Frightful was the spasm of joy which +whispered that the worst was over. It was as when the shadow of +midnight, that murderers had relied on, is passing away from your +beleagured shelter, and dawn will soon be manifest. It was as when a +flood, that all day long has raved against the walls of your house, has +ceased (you suddenly think) to rise; yes! measured by a golden plummet, +it _is_ sinking beyond a doubt, and the darlings of your household +are saved. Kate faced round in agitation to her proper direction. She +saw, what previously, in her stunning confusion, she had _not_ +seen, that, hardly two stones' throw in advance, lay a mass of rock, +split as into a gateway. Through that opening it now became probable +that the road was lying. Hurrying forward, she passed within the +natural gates. Gates of paradise they were. Ah, what a vista did that +gateway expose before her dazzled eye? what a revelation of heavenly +promise? Full two miles long, stretched a long narrow glen, everywhere +descending, and in many parts rapidly. All was now placed beyond a +doubt. She _was_ descending--for hours, perhaps, _had_ been +descending insensibly, the mighty staircase. Yes, Kate is leaving +behind her the kingdom of frost and the victories of death. Two miles +farther there may be rest, if there is not shelter. And very soon, as +the crest of her new-born happiness, she distinguished at the other end +of that rocky vista, a pavilion-shaped mass of dark green foliage--a +belt of trees, such as we see in the lovely parks of England, but +islanded by a screen (though not everywhere occupied by the +usurpations) of a thick bushy undergrowth. Oh, verdure of dark olive +foliage, offered suddenly to fainting eyes, as if by some winged +patriarchal herald of wrath relenting--solitary Arab's tent, rising +with saintly signals of peace, in the dreadful desert, must Kate indeed +die even yet, whilst she sees but cannot reach you? Outpost on the +frontier of man's dominions, standing within life, but looking out upon +everlasting death, wilt thou hold up the anguish of thy mocking +invitation, only to betray? Never, perhaps, in this world was the line +so exquisitely grazed, that parts salvation and ruin. As the dove to +her dove-cot from the swooping hawk--as the Christian pinnace to +Christian batteries, from the bloody Mahometan corsair, so flew--so +tried to fly towards the anchoring thickets, that, alas! could not +weigh their anchors and make sail to meet her--the poor exhausted Kate +from the vengeance of pursuing frost. + +And she reached them; staggering, fainting, reeling, she entered +beneath the canopy of umbrageous trees. But, as oftentimes, the Hebrew +fugitive to a city of refuge, flying for his life before the avenger of +blood, was pressed so hotly that, on entering the archway of what +seemed to _him_ the heavenly city-gate, as he kneeled in deep +thankfulness to kiss its holy merciful shadow, he could not rise again, +but sank instantly with infant weakness into sleep--sometimes to wake +no more; so sank, so collapsed upon the ground, without power to choose +her couch, and with little prospect of ever rising again to her feet, +the martial nun. She lay as luck had ordered it, with her head screened +by the undergrowth of bushes, from any gales that might arise; she lay +exactly as she sank, with her eyes up to heaven; and thus it was that +the nun saw, before falling asleep, the two sights that upon earth are +fittest for the closing eyes of a nun, whether destined to open again, +or to close for ever. She saw the interlacing of boughs overhead +forming a dome, that seemed like the dome of a cathedral. She saw +through the fretwork of the foliage, another dome, far beyond, the dome +of an evening sky, the dome of some heavenly cathedral, not built with +hands. She saw upon this upper dome the vesper lights, all alive with +pathetic grandeur of coloring from a sunset that had just been rolling +down like a chorus. She had not, till now, consciously observed the +time of day; whether it were morning, or whether it were afternoon, in +her confusion she had not distinctly known. But now she whispered to +herself--'_It is evening_:' and what lurked half unconsciously in +these words might be--'The sun, that rejoices, has finished his daily +toil; man, that labors, has finished _his_; I, that suffer, have +finished mine.' That might be what she thought, but what she +_said_ was--'It is evening; and the hour is come when the +_Angelus_ is sounding through St. Sebastian.' What made her think +of St. Sebastian, so far away in depths of space and time? Her brain +was wandering, now that her feet were _not_; and, because her eyes +had descended from the heavenly to the earthly dome, _that_ made +her think of earthly cathedrals, and of cathedral choirs, and of St. +Sebastian's chapel, with its silvery bells that carried the +_Angelus_ far into mountain recesses. Perhaps, as her wanderings +increased, she thought herself back in childhood; became 'pussy' once +again; fancied that all since then was a frightful dream; that she was +not upon the dreadful Andes, but still kneeling in the holy chapel at +vespers; still innocent as then; loved as then she had been loved; and +that all men were liars, who said her hand was ever stained with blood. +Little enough is mentioned of the delusions which possessed her; but +that little gives a key to the impulse which her palpitating heart +obeyed, and which her rambling brain for ever reproduced in multiplying +mirrors. Restlessness kept her in waking dreams for a brief half hour. +But then, fever and delirium would wait no longer; the killing +exhaustion would no longer be refused; the fever, the delirium, and the +exhaustion, swept in together with power like an army with banners; and +the nun ceased through the gathering twilight any more to watch the +cathedrals of earth, or the more solemn cathedrals that rose in the +heavens above. + +All night long she slept in her verdurous St. Bernard's hospice without +awaking, and whether she would _ever_ awake seemed to depend upon +an accident. The slumber that towered above her brain was like that +fluctuating silvery column which stands in scientific tubes sinking, +rising, deepening, lightening, contracting, expanding; or like the mist +that sits, through sultry afternoons, upon the river of the American +St. Peter, sometimes rarefying for minutes into sunny gauze, sometimes +condensing for hours into palls of funeral darkness. You fancy that, +after twelve hours of _any_ sleep, she must have been refreshed; +better at least than she was last night. Ah! but sleep is not always +sent upon missions of refreshment. Sleep is sometimes the secret +chamber in which death arranges his machinery. Sleep is sometimes that +deep mysterious atmosphere, in which the human spirit is slowly +unsettling its wings for flight from earthly tenements. It is now eight +o'clock in the morning; and, to all appearance, if Kate should receive +no aid before noon, when next the sun is departing to his rest, Kate +will be departing to hers; when next the sun is holding out his golden +Christian signal to man, that the hour is come for letting his anger go +down, Kate will be sleeping away for ever into the arms of brotherly +forgiveness. + +What is wanted just now for Kate, supposing Kate herself to be wanted +by this world, is, that this world would be kind enough to send her a +little brandy before it is too late. The simple truth was, and a truth +which I have known to take place in more ladies than Kate, who died or +did _not_ die, accordingly, as they had or had not an adviser like +myself, capable of giving so sound an opinion, that the jewelly star of +life had descended too far down the arch towards setting, for any +chance of re-ascending by _spontaneous_ effort. The fire was still +burning in secret, but needed to be rekindled by potent artificial +breath. It lingered, and _might_ linger, but would never culminate +again without some stimulus from earthly vineyards. [Footnote: Though +not exactly in the same circumstances as Kate, or sleeping, _ŕ la +belle étoile_, on a declivity of the Andes, I have known (or heard +circumstantially reported) the cases of many ladies besides Kate, who +were in precisely the same critical danger of perishing for want of a +little brandy. A dessert spoonful or two would have saved them. Avaunt! +you wicked 'Temperance' medallist! repent as fast as ever you can, or, +perhaps the next time we hear of you, _anasarca_ and _hydro- +thorax_ will be running after you to punish your shocking excesses +in water. Seriously, the case is one of constant recurrence, and +constantly ending fatally from _unseasonable_ and pedantic rigor +of temperance. The fact is, that the medical profession composes the +most generous and liberal body of men amongst us; taken generally, by +much the most enlightened; but professionally, the most timid. Want of +boldness in the administration of opium, &c., though they can be bold +enough with mercury, is their besetting infirmity. And from this +infirmity females suffer most. One instance I need hardly mention, the +fatal case of an august lady, mourned by nations, with respect to whom +it was, and is, the belief of multitudes to this hour (well able to +judge), that she would have been saved by a glass of brandy; and her +attendant, who shot himself, came to think so too late--too late for +_her_, and too late for himself. Amongst many cases of the same +nature, which personally I have been acquainted with, twenty years ago, +a man, illustrious for his intellectual accomplishments, mentioned to +me that his own wife, during her first or second confinement, was +suddenly reported to him, by one of her female attendants, (who slipped +away unobserved by the medical people,) as undoubtedly sinking fast. He +hurried to her chamber, and _saw_ that it was so. The presiding +medical authority, however, was inexorable. 'Oh, by no means,' shaking +his ambrosial wig, 'any stimulant at this crisis would be fatal.' But +no authority could overrule the concurrent testimony of all symptoms, +and of all unprofessional opinions. By some pious falsehood my friend +smuggled the doctor out of the room, and immediately smuggled a glass +of brandy into the poor lady's lips. She recovered with magical power. +The doctor is now dead, and went to his grave under the delusive +persuasion--that not any vile glass of brandy, but the stern refusal of +all brandy, was the thing that saved his collapsing patient. The +patient herself, who might naturally know something of the matter, was +of a different opinion. She sided with the factious body around her +bed, (comprehending all beside the doctor,) who felt sure that death +was rapidly approaching, _barring_ that brandy. The same result in +the same appalling crisis, I have known repeatedly produced by twenty- +five drops of laudanum. An obstinate man will say--'Oh, never listen to +a non-medical man like this writer. Consult in such a case your medical +adviser.' You will, will you? Then let me tell you, that you are +missing the very logic of all I have been saying for the improvement of +blockheads, which is--that you should consult any man _but_ a +medical man, since no other man has any obstinate prejudice of +professional timidity. N. B.--I prescribe for Kate _gratis_, +because she, poor thing! has so little to give. But from other ladies, +who may have the happiness to benefit by my advice, I expect a fee--not +so large a one considering the service--a flowering plant, suppose the +_second_ best in their collection. I know it would be of no use to +ask for the _very_ best, (which else I could wish to do,) because +that would only be leading them into little fibs. I don't insist on a +_Yucca gloriosa_, or a _Magnolia speciosissima_, (I hope +there _is_ such a plant)--a rose or a violet will do. I am sure +there is such a plant as that. And if they settle their debts justly, I +shall very soon be master of the prettiest little conservatory in +England. For, treat it not as a jest, reader; no case of timid practice +is so fatally frequent.] Kate was ever lucky, though ever unfortunate; +and the world, being of my opinion that Kate was worth saving, made up +its mind about half-past eight o'clock in the morning to save her. Just +at that time, when the night was over, and its sufferings were hidden-- +in one of those intermitting gleams that for a moment or two lightened +the clouds of her slumber, Kate's dull ear caught a sound that for +years had spoken a familiar language to _her_. What was it? It was +the sound, though muffled and deadened, like the ear that heard it, of +horsemen advancing. Interpreted by the tumultuous dreams of Kate, was +it the cavalry of Spain, at whose head so often she had charged the +bloody Indian scalpers? Was it, according to the legend of ancient +days, cavalry that had been sown by her brother's blood, cavalry that +rose from the ground on an inquest of retribution, and were racing up +the Andes to seize her? Her dreams that had opened sullenly to the +sound waited for no answer, but closed again into pompous darkness. +Happily, the horsemen had caught the glimpse of some bright ornament, +clasp, or aiguillette, on Kate's dress. They were hunters and foresters +from below; servants in the household of a beneficent lady; and in some +pursuit of flying game had wandered beyond their ordinary limits. +Struck by the sudden scintillation from Kate's dress played upon by the +morning sun, they rode up to the thicket. Great was their surprise, +great their pity, to see a young officer in uniform stretched within +the bushes upon the ground, and perhaps dying. Borderers from childhood +on this dreadful frontier, sacred to winter and death, they understood +the case at once. They dismounted: and with the tenderness of women, +raising the poor frozen cornet in their arms, washed her temples with +brandy, whilst one, at intervals, suffered a few drops to trickle +within her lips. As the restoration of a warm bed was now most likely +to be successful, they lifted the helpless stranger upon a horse, +walking on each side with supporting arms. Once again our Kate is in +the saddle; once again a Spanish Caballador. But Kate's bridle-hand is +deadly cold. And her spurs, that she had never unfastened since leaving +the monastic asylum, hung as idle as the flapping sail that fills +unsteadily with the breeze upon a stranded ship. + +This procession had some miles to go, and over difficult ground; but at +length it reached the forest-like park and the chateau of the wealthy +proprietress. Kate was still half-frozen and speechless, except at +intervals. Heavens! can this corpse-like, languishing young woman, be +the Kate that once, in her radiant girlhood, rode with a handful of +comrades into a column of two thousand enemies, that saw her comrades +die, that persisted when all were dead, that tore from the heart of all +resistance the banner of her native Spain? Chance and change have +'written strange defeatures in her face.' Much is changed; but some +things are not changed: there is still kindness that overflows with +pity: there is still helplessness that asks for this pity without a +voice: she is now received by a Senora, not less kind than that +maternal aunt, who, on the night of her birth, first welcomed her to a +loving home; and she, the heroine of Spain, is herself as helpless now +as that little lady who, then at ten minutes of age, was kissed and +blessed by all the household of St. Sebastian. + +Let us suppose Kate placed in a warm bed. Let us suppose her in a few +hours recovering steady consciousness; in a few days recovering some +power of self-support; in a fortnight able to seek the gay saloon, +where the Senora was sitting alone, and rendering thanks, with that +deep sincerity which ever characterized our wild-hearted Kate, for the +critical services received from that lady and her establishment. + +This lady, a widow, was what the French call a _métisse_, the Spaniards +a _mestizza_; that is, the daughter of a genuine Spaniard, and an +Indian mother. I shall call her simply a _creole_, [Footnote: +'Creole.'--At that time the infusion of negro or African blood was +small. Consequently none of the negro hideousness was diffused. After +these intercomplexities had arisen between all complications of descent +from three original strands, European, American, African, the +distinctions of social consideration founded on them bred names so +many, that a court calendar was necessary to keep you from blundering. +As yet, the varieties were few. Meantime, the word _creole_ has always +been misapplied in our English colonies to a person (though of strictly +European blood,) simply because _born_ in the West Indies. In this +English use, it expresses the same difference as the Romans indicated +by _Hispanus_ and _Hispanicus_. The first meant a person of Spanish +blood, a native of Spain; the second, a Roman born in Spain. So of +_Germanus_ and _Germanicus_, _Italus_ and _Italicus_, _Anglus_ and +_Anglicus_, &c.; an important distinction, on which see Casaubon _apud +Scriptores. Hist. Augustan._] which will indicate her want of pure +Spanish blood sufficiently to explain her deference for those who had +it. She was a kind, liberal woman; rich rather more than needed where +there were no opera boxes to rent--a widow about fifty years old in the +wicked world's account, some forty-four in her own; and happy, above +all, in the possession of a most lovely daughter, whom even the wicked +world did not accuse of more than sixteen years. This daughter, Juana, +was--But stop--let her open the door of the saloon in which the Senora +and the cornet are conversing, and speak for herself. She did so, after +an hour had passed; which length of time, to _her_ that never had any +business whatever in her innocent life, seemed sufficient to settle the +business of the old world and the new. Had Pietro Diaz (as Catalina now +called herself) been really a Peter, and not a sham Peter, what a +vision of loveliness would have rushed upon his sensibilities as the +door opened! Do not expect me to describe her, for which, however, +there are materials extant, sleeping in archives, where they have slept +for two hundred and twenty years. It is enough that she is reported to +have united the stately tread of Andalusian women with the innocent +voluptuousness of Peruvian eyes. As to her complexion and figure, be it +known that Juana's father was a gentleman from Grenada, having in his +veins the grandest blood of all this earth, blood of Goths and Vandals, +tainted (for which Heaven be thanked!) twice over with blood of Arabs-- +once through Moors, once through Jews; [Footnote: It is well known, +that the very reason why the Spanish of all nations became the most +gloomily jealous of a Jewish cross in the pedigree, was because, until +the vigilance of the Church rose into ferocity, in no nation was such a +cross so common. The hatred of fear is ever the deepest. And men hated +the Jewish taint, as once in Jerusalem they hated the leprosy, because +even whilst they raved against it, the secret proofs of it might be +detected amongst their own kindred, even as in the Temple, whilst once +a king rose in mutiny against the priesthood, (2 Chron. xxvi 16-20,) +suddenly the leprosy that dethroned him, blazed out upon his forehead.] +whilst from her grandmother, Juana drew the deep subtle melancholy and +the beautiful contours of limb which belong to the Indian race--a race +destined silently and slowly to fade from the earth. No awkwardness was +or could be in this antelope, when gliding with forest grace into the +room--no town-bred shame--nothing but the unaffected pleasure of one +who wishes to speak a fervent welcome, but knows not if she ought--the +astonishment of a Miranda, bred in utter solitude, when first beholding +a princely Ferdinand--and just so much reserve as to remind you, that +if Catalina thought fit to dissemble her sex, she did _not_. And +consider, reader, if you look back and are a great arithmetician, that +whilst the Senora had only fifty per cent of Spanish blood, Juana had +seventy-five; so that her Indian melancholy after all was swallowed up +for the present by her Vandal, by her Arab, by her Spanish fire. + +Catalina, seared as she was by the world, has left it evident in her +memoirs that she was touched more than she wished to be by this +innocent child. Juana formed a brief lull for Catalina in her too +stormy existence. And if for _her_ in this life the sweet reality +of a sister had been possible, here was the sister she would have +chosen. On the other hand, what might Juana think of the cornet? To +have been thrown upon the kind hospitalities of her native home, to +have been rescued by her mother's servants from that fearful death +which, lying but a few miles off, had filled her nursery with +traditionary tragedies,--_that_ was sufficient to create an +interest in the stranger. But his bold martial demeanor, his yet +youthful style of beauty, his frank manners, his animated conversation +that reported a hundred contests with suffering and peril, wakened for +the first time her admiration. Men she had never seen before, except +menial servants, or a casual priest. But here was a gentleman, young +like herself, that rode in the cavalry of Spain--that carried the +banner of the only potentate whom Peruvians knew of--the King of the +Spains and the Indies--that had doubled Cape Horn, that had crossed the +Andes, that had suffered shipwreck, that had rocked upon fifty storms, +and had wrestled for life through fifty battles. + +The reader knows all that followed. The sisterly love which Catalina +did really feel for this young mountaineer was inevitably misconstrued. +Embarrassed, but not able, from sincere affection, or almost in bare +propriety, to refuse such expressions of feeling as corresponded to the +artless and involuntary kindnesses of the ingenuous Juana, one day the +cornet was surprised by mamma in the act of encircling her daughter's +waist with his martial arm, although waltzing was premature by at least +two centuries in Peru. She taxed him instantly with dishonorably +abusing her confidence. The cornet made but a bad defence. He muttered +something about '_fraternal affection_,' about 'esteem,' and a +great deal of metaphysical words that are destined to remain +untranslated in their original Spanish. The good Senora, though she +could boast only of forty-four years' experience, was not altogether to +be '_had_' in that fashion--she was as learned as if she had been +fifty, and she brought matters to a speedy crisis. 'You are a +Spaniard,' she said, 'a gentleman, therefore; _remember_ that you +are a gentleman. This very night, if your intentions are not serious, +quit my house. Go to Tucuman; you shall command my horses and servants; +but stay no longer to increase the sorrow that already you will have +left behind you. My daughter loves you. That is sorrow enough, if you +are trifling with us. But, if not, and you also love _her_, and +can be happy in our solitary mode of life, stay with us--stay for ever. +Marry Juana with my free consent. I ask not for wealth. Mine is +sufficient for you both.' The cornet protested that the honor was one +never contemplated by _him_--that it was too great--that--. But, +of course, reader, you know that 'gammon' flourishes in Peru, amongst +the silver mines, as well as in some more boreal lands that produce +little better than copper and tin. 'Tin,' however, has its uses. The +delighted Senora overruled all objections, great and small; and she +confirmed Juana's notion that the business of two worlds could be +transacted in an hour, by settling her daughter's future happiness in +exactly twenty minutes. The poor, weak Catalina, not acting now in any +spirit of recklessness, grieving sincerely for the gulf that was +opening before her, and yet shrinking effeminately from the momentary +shock that would be inflicted by a firm adherence to her duty, clinging +to the anodyne of a short delay, allowed herself to be installed as the +lover of Juana. Considerations of convenience, however, postponed the +marriage. It was requisite to make various purchases; and for this, it +was requisite to visit Tucuman, where, also, the marriage ceremony +could be performed with more circumstantial splendor. To Tucuman, +therefore, after some weeks' interval, the whole party repaired. And at +Tucuman it was that the tragical events arose, which, whilst +interrupting such a mockery for ever, left the poor Juana still happily +deceived, and never believing for a moment that hers was a rejected or +a deluded heart. + +One reporter of Mr. De Ferrer's narrative forgets his usual generosity, +when he says that the Senora's gift of her daughter to the Alferez was +not quite so disinterested as it seemed to be. Certainly it was not so +disinterested as European ignorance might fancy it: but it was quite as +much so as it ought to have been, in balancing the interests of a +child. Very true it is--that, being a genuine Spaniard, who was still +a rare creature in so vast a world as Peru, being a Spartan amongst +Helots, an Englishman amongst Savages, an Alferez would in those days +have been a natural noble. His alliance created honor for his wife and +for his descendants. Something, therefore, the cornet would add to the +family consideration. But, instead of selfishness, it argued just +regard for her daughter's interest to build upon this, as some sort of +equipoise to the wealth which her daughter would bring. + +Spaniard, however, as he was, our Alferez on reaching Tucuman found no +Spaniards to mix with, but instead twelve Portuguese. + +Catalina remembered the Spanish proverb--'Subtract from a Spaniard all +his good qualities, and the remainder makes a pretty fair Portuguese;' +but, as there was nobody else to gamble with, she entered freely into +their society. Very soon she suspected that there was foul play: all +modes of doctoring dice had been made familiar to _her_ by the +experience of camps. She watched; and, by the time she had lost her +final coin, she was satisfied that she had been plundered. In her first +anger she would have been glad to switch the whole dozen across the +eyes; but, as twelve to one were too great odds, she determined on +limiting her vengeance to the immediate culprit. Him she followed into +the street; and coming near enough to distinguish his profile reflected +on a wall, she continued to keep him in view from a short distance. The +light-hearted young cavalier whistled, as he went, an old Portuguese +ballad of romance; and in a quarter of an hour came up to an house, the +front door of which he began to open with a pass-key. This operation +was the signal for Catalina that the hour of vengeance had struck; and, +stepping hastily up, she tapped the Portuguese on the shoulder, saying +--'Senor, you are a robber!' The Portuguese turned coolly round, and, +seeing his gaming antagonist, replied--'Possibly, Sir; but I have no +particular fancy for being told so,' at the same time drawing his +sword. Catalina had not designed to take any advantage; and the +touching him on the shoulder, with the interchange of speeches, and the +known character of Kate, sufficiently imply it. But it is too probable +in such cases, that the party whose intention has been regularly +settled from the first, will, and must have an advantage unconsciously +over a man so abruptly thrown on his defence. However this might be, +they had not fought a minute before Catalina passed her sword through +her opponent's body; and without a groan or a sigh, the Portuguese +cavalier fell dead at his own door. Kate searched the street with her +ears, and (as far as the indistinctness of night allowed) with her +eyes. All was profoundly silent; and she was satisfied that no human +figure was in motion. What should be done with the body? A glance at +the door of the house settled _that_: Fernando had himself opened +it at the very moment when he received the summons to turn round. She +dragged the corpse in, therefore, to the foot of the staircase, put the +key by the dead man's side, and then issuing softly into the street, +drew the door close with as little noise as possible. Catalina again +paused to listen and to watch, went home to the hospitable Senora's +house, retired to bed, fell asleep, and early the next morning was +awakened by the Corregidor and four alguazils. + +The lawlessness of all that followed strikingly exposes the frightful +state of criminal justice at that time, wherever Spanish law prevailed. +No evidence appeared to connect Catalina in any way with the death of +Fernando Acosta. The Portuguese gamblers, besides that perhaps they +thought lightly of such an accident, might have reasons of their own +for drawing off public attention from their pursuits in Tucuman: not +one of these men came forward openly; else the circumstances at the +gaming table, and the departure of Catalina so closely on the heels of +her opponent, would have suggested reasonable grounds for detaining her +until some further light should be obtained. As it was, her +imprisonment rested upon no colorable ground whatever, unless the +magistrate had received some anonymous information, which, however, he +never alleged. One comfort there was, meantime, in Spanish injustice: +it did not loiter. Full gallop it went over the ground: one week often +sufficed for informations--for trial--for execution; and the only bad +consequence was, that a second or a third week sometimes exposed the +disagreeable fact that everything had been 'premature;' a solemn +sacrifice had been made to offended justice, in which all was right +except as to the victim; it was the wrong man; and _that_ gave +extra trouble; for then all was to do over again, another man to be +executed, and, possibly, still to be caught. + +Justice moved at her usual Spanish rate in the present case. Kate was +obliged to rise instantly; not suffered to speak to anybody in the +house, though, in going out, a door opened, and she saw the young Juana +looking out with saddest Indian expression. In one day the trial was +all finished. Catalina said (which was true) that she hardly knew +Acosta; and that people of her rank were used to attack their enemies +face to face, not by murderous surprises. The magistrates were +impressed with Catalina's answers (yet answered to _what_?) Things +were beginning to look well, when all was suddenly upset by two +witnesses, whom the reader (who is a sort of accomplice after the fact, +having been privately let into the truths of the case, and having +concealed his knowledge), will know at once to be false witnesses, but +whom the old Spanish buzwigs doated on as models of all that could be +looked for in the best. Both were very ill-looking fellows, as it was +their duty to be. And the first deposed as follows:--That through his +quarter of Tucuman, the fact was notorious of Acosta's wife being the +object of a criminal pursuit on the part of the Alferez (Catalina): +that, _doubtless_, the injured husband had surprised the prisoner, +which, of course, had led to the murder, to the staircase, to the key-- +to everything, in short, that could be wished; no--stop! what am I +saying?--to everything that ought to be abominated. Finally--for he had +now settled the main question--that he had a friend who would take up +the case where he himself, from short-sightedness, was obliged to lay +it down.' This friend, the Pythias of this short-sighted Damon started +up in a frenzy of virtue at this summons, and, rushing to the front of +the alguazils, said, 'That since his friend had proved sufficiently the +fact of the Alferez having been lurking in the house, and having +murdered a man, all that rested upon _him_ to show was, how that +murderer got out of the house; which he could do satisfactorily; for +there was a balcony running along the windows on the second floor, one +of which windows he himself, lurking in a corner of the street, saw the +Alferez throw up, and from the said balcony take a flying leap into the +said street.' Evidence like this was conclusive; no defence was +listened to, nor indeed had the prisoner any to produce. The Alferez +could deny neither the staircase nor the balcony: the street is there +to this day, like the bricks in Jack Cade's Chimney, testifying all +that may be required; and, as to our friend who saw the leap, there he +was; nobody could deny _him_. The prisoner might indeed have +suggested that she never heard of Acosta's wife, nor had the existence +of such a wife been ripened even into a suspicion. But the bench were +satisfied; chopping logic was of no use; and sentence was pronounced-- +that on the eighth day from the day of arrest, the Alferez should be +executed in the public square. + +It was not amongst the weaknesses of Catalina--who had so often +inflicted death, and, by her own journal, thought so lightly of +inflicting it (if not under cowardly advantages)--to shrink from facing +death in her own person. Many incidents in her career show the coolness +and even gaiety with which, in any case where death was apparently +inevitable, she would have gone to meet it. But in this case she +_had_ a temptation for escaping it, which was probably in her +power. She had only to reveal the secret of her sex, and the ridiculous +witnesses, beyond whose testimony there was nothing at all against her, +must at once be covered with derision. Catalina had some liking for +fun; and a main inducement to this course was, that it would enable her +to say to the judges, 'Now you see what old fools you've made of +yourselves; every woman and child in Peru will soon be laughing at +you.' I must acknowledge my own weakness; this last temptation I could +_not_ have withstood; flesh is weak, and fun is strong. But +Catalina _did_. On consideration she fancied, that although the +particular motive for murdering Acosta would be dismissed with +laughter, still this might not clear her of the murder, which on some +_other_ motive she might have committed. But supposing that she +were cleared altogether, what most of all she feared was, that the +publication of her sex would throw a reflex light upon many past +transactions in her life--would instantly find its way to Spain--and +would probably soon bring her within the tender attentions of the +Inquisition. She kept firm to the resolution of not saving her life by +this discovery. And so far as her fate lay in her own hands, she would +(as the reader will perceive from a little incident at the scaffold) +have perished to a certainty. But even at this point, how strange a +case! A woman _falsely_ accused of an act which she really +_did_ commit! And falsely accused of a true offence upon a motive +that was impossible! + +As the sun set upon the seventh day, when the hours were numbered for +the prisoner, there filed into her cell four persons in religious +habits. They came on the charitable mission of preparing the poor +convict for death. Catalina, however, watching all things narrowly, +remarked something earnest and significant in the eye of the leader, as +of one who had some secret communication to make. She contrived to +clasp this man's hands, as if in the energy of internal struggles, and +_he_ contrived to slip into hers the very smallest of billets from +poor Juana. It contained, for indeed it _could_ contain, only +these three words--'Do not confess. J.' This one caution, so simple and +so brief, was a talisman. It did not refer to any confession of the +crime; _that_ would have been assuming what Juana was neither +entitled nor disposed to assume, but, in the technical sense of the +Church, to the act of devotional confession. Catalina found a single +moment for a glance at it--understood the whole--resolutely refused to +confess, as a person unsettled in her religious opinions, that needed +spiritual instructions, and the four monks withdrew to make their +report. The principal judge, upon hearing of the prisoner's +impenitence, granted another day. At the end of _that_, no change +having occurred either in the prisoner's mind, or in the circumstances, +he issued his warrant for the execution. Accordingly, as the sun went +down, the sad procession formed within the prison. Into the great +square of Tucuman it moved, where the scaffold had been built, and the +whole city had assembled for the spectacle. Catalina steadily ascended +the ladder of the scaffold; even then she resolved not to benefit by +revealing her sex; even then it was that she expressed her scorn for +the lubberly executioner's mode of tying a knot; did it herself in a +'ship-shape,' orthodox manner; received in return the enthusiastic +plaudits of the crowd, and so far ran the risk of precipitating her +fate; for the timid magistrates, fearing a rescue from the impetuous +mob, angrily ordered the executioner to finish the scene. The clatter +of a galloping horse, however, at this instant forced them to pause. +The crowd opened a road for the agitated horseman, who was the bearer +of an order from the President of La Plata to suspend the execution +until two prisoners could be examined. The whole was the work of the +Senora and her daughter. The elder lady, having gathered informations +against the witnesses, had pursued them to La Plata. There, by her +influence with the Governor, they were arrested; recognised as old +malefactors; and in their terror had partly confessed their perjury. +Catalina was removed to La Plata; solemnly acquitted; and, by the +advice of the President, for the present the connection with the +Senora's family was postponed indefinitely. + +Now was the last adventure approaching that ever Catalina should see in +the new world. Some fine sights she may yet see in Europe, but nothing +after this (_which she has recorded_) in America. Europe, if it +had ever heard of her name (which very shortly it _shall_), Kings, +Pope, Cardinals, if they were but aware of her existence (which in six +months they _shall_ be), would thirst for an introduction to our +Catalina. You hardly thought now, reader, that she was such a great +person, or anybody's pet but yours and mine. Bless you, Sir, she would +scorn to look at _us_. I tell you, royalties are languishing to +see her, or soon _will_ be. But how can this come to pass, if she +is to continue in her present obscurity? Certainly it cannot without +some great _peripetteia_ or vertiginous whirl of fortune; which, +therefore, you shall now behold taking place in one turn of her next +adventure. _That_ shall let in a light, _that_ shall throw +back a Claude Lorraine gleam over all the past, able to make Kings, +that would have cared not for her under Peruvian daylight, come to +glorify her setting beams. + +The Senora--and, observe, whatever kindness she does to Catalina speaks +secretly from two hearts, her own and Juana's--had, by the advice of +Mr. President Mendonia, given sufficient money for Catalina's +travelling expenses. So far well. But Mr. M. chose to add a little +codicil to this bequest of the Senora's, never suggested by her or by +her daughter. 'Pray,' said this inquisitive President, who surely might +have found business enough in La Plata, 'Pray, Senor Pietro Diaz, did +you ever live at Concepcion? And were you ever acquainted there with +Senor Miguel de Erauso? That man, Sir, was my friend.' What a pity that +on this occasion Catalina could not venture to be candid! What a +capital speech it would have made to say--'_Friend_ were you? I +think you could hardly be _that_, with seven hundred miles between +you. But that man was _my_ friend also; and, secondly, my brother. +True it is I killed him. But if you happen to know that this was by +pure mistake in the dark, what an old rogue you must be to throw +_that_ in my teeth, which is the affliction of my life!' Again, +however, as so often in the same circumstances, Catalina thought that +it would cause more ruin than it could heal to be candid; and, indeed, +if she were really _P. Diaz, Esq. _, how came she to be brother to +the late Mr. Erauso? On consideration, also, if she could not tell +_all_, merely to have professed a fraternal connection which never +was avowed by either whilst living together, would not have brightened +the reputation of Catalina, which too surely required a scouring. +Still, from my kindness for poor Kate, I feel uncharitably towards the +president for advising Senor Pietro 'to travel for his health.' What +had _he_ to do with people's health? However, Mr. Peter, as he had +pocketed the Senora's money, thought it right to pocket also the advice +that accompanied its payment. That he might be in a condition to do so, +he went off to buy a horse. He was in luck to-day. For beside money and +advice, he obtained, at a low rate, a horse both beautiful and +serviceable for a journey. To Paz it was, a city of prosperous name, +that the cornet first moved. But Paz did not fulfil the promise of its +name. For it laid the grounds of a feud that drove our Kate out of +America. + +Her first adventure was a bagatelle, and fitter for a jest-book than a +history; yet it proved no jest either, since it led to the tragedy that +followed. Riding into Paz, our gallant standard-bearer and her bonny +black horse drew all eyes, _comme de raison_, upon their separate +charms. This was inevitable amongst the indolent population of a +Spanish town; and Kate was used to it. But, having recently had a +little too much of the public attention, she felt nervous on remarking +two soldiers eyeing the handsome horse and the handsome rider, with an +attention that seemed too solemn for mere _aesthetics_. However, +Kate was not the kind of person to let anything dwell on her spirits, +especially if it took the shape of impudence; and, whistling gaily, she +was riding forward--when, who should cross her path but the Alcalde! +Ah! Alcalde, you see a person now that has a mission against you, +though quite unknown to herself. He looked so sternly, that Kate asked +if his worship had any commands. 'These men,' said the Alcalde, 'these +two soldiers, say that this horse is stolen.' To one who had so +narrowly and so lately escaped the balcony witness and his friend, it +was really no laughing matter to hear of new affidavits in preparation. +Kate was nervous, but never disconcerted. In a moment she had twitched +off a saddle-cloth on which she sat; and throwing it over the horse's +head, so as to cover up all between the ears and the mouth, she +replied, 'that she had bought and paid for the horse at La Plata. But +now, your worship, if this horse has really been stolen from these men, +they must know well of which eye it is blind; for it _can_ be only +in the right eye or the left.' One of the soldiers cried out instantly, +that it was the left eye; but the other said, 'No, no, you forget, it's +the right.' Kate maliciously called attention to this little schism. +But the men said, 'Ah, _that_ was nothing--they were hurried; but +now, on recollecting themselves, they were agreed that it was the left +eye.' Did they stand to that? 'Oh yes, positive they were, left eye, +left.' + +Upon which our Kate, twitching off the horse-cloth, said gaily to the +magistrate, 'Now, Sir, please to observe that this horse has nothing +the matter with either eye.' And in fact it _was_ so. Then his +worship ordered his alguazils to apprehend the two witnesses, who +posted off to bread and water, with other reversionary advantages, +whilst Kate rode in quest of the best dinner that Paz could furnish. + +This Alcalde's acquaintance, however, was not destined to drop here. +Something had appeared in the young _caballero's_ bearing, which +made it painful to have addressed him with harshness, or for a moment +to have entertained such a charge against such a person. He despatched +his cousin, therefore, Don Antonio Calderon, to offer his apologies, +and at the same time to request that the stranger, whose rank and +quality he regretted not to have known, would do him the honor to come +and dine with him. This explanation, and the fact that Don Antonio had +already proclaimed his own position as cousin to the magistrate and +nephew to the Bishop of Cuzco, obliged Catalina to say, after thanking +the gentlemen for their obliging attentions, 'I myself hold the rank of +Alferez in the service of his Catholic Majesty. I am a native of +Biscay, and I am now repairing to Cuzco on private business.' 'To +Cuzco!' exclaimed Don Antonio, 'how very fortunate! My cousin is a +Basque like you; and, like you, he starts for Cuzco to-morrow morning; +so that, if it is agreeable to you, Senor Alferez, we will travel +together.' It was settled that they should. To travel--amongst 'balcony +witnesses,' and anglers for 'blind horses'--not merely with a just man, +but with the very abstract idea and riding allegory of justice, was too +delightful to the storm-wearied cornet; and he cheerfully accompanied +Don Antonio to the house of the magistrate, called Don Pedro de +Chavarria. Distinguished was his reception; the Alcalde personally +renewed his regrets for the ridiculous scene of the two scampish +oculists, and presented him to his wife, a splendid Andalusian beauty, +to whom he had been married about a year. + +This lady there is a reason for describing; and the French reporter of +Catalina's memoirs dwells upon the theme. She united, he says, the +sweetness of the German lady with the energy of the Arabian, a +combination hard to judge of. As to her feet, he adds, I say nothing; +for she had scarcely any at all. '_Je ne parle point de ses pieds, +elle n'en avait presque pas_.' 'Poor lady!' says a compassionate +rustic: 'no feet! What a shocking thing that so fine a woman should +have been so sadly mutilated!' Oh, my dear rustic, you're quite in the +wrong box. The Frenchman means this as the very highest compliment. +Beautiful, however, she must have been; and a Cinderella, I hope, not a +Cinderellula, considering that she had the inimitable walk and step of +the Andalusians, which cannot be accomplished without something of a +proportionate basis to stand upon. + +The reason which there is (as I have said) for describing this lady, +arises out of her relation to the tragic events which followed. She, by +her criminal levity, was the cause of all. And I must here warn the +moralizing blunderer of two errors that he is too likely to make: 1st, +That he is invited to read some extract from a licentious amour, as if +for its own interest; 2d, Or on account of Donna Catalina's memoirs, +with a view to relieve their too martial character. I have the pleasure +to assure him of his being so utterly in the darkness of error, that +any possible change he can make in his opinions, right or left, must be +for the better: he cannot stir, but he will mend, which is a delightful +thought for the moral and blundering mind. As to the first point, what +little glimpse he obtains of a licentious amour is, as a court of +justice will sometimes show him such a glimpse, simply to make +intelligible the subsequent facts which depend upon it. Secondly, As to +the conceit, that Catalina wished to embellish her memoirs, understand +that no such practice then existed; certainly not in Spanish +literature. Her memoirs are electrifying by their facts; else, in the +manner of telling these facts, they are systematically dry. + +Don Antonio Calderon was a handsome, accomplished cavalier. And in the +course of dinner, Catalina was led to judge, from the behavior to each +other of this gentleman and the lady, the Alcalde's beautiful wife, +that they had an improper understanding. This also she inferred from +the furtive language of their eyes. Her wonder was, that the Alcalde +should be so blind; though upon that point she saw reason in a day or +two to change her opinion. Some people see everything by affecting to +see nothing. The whole affair, however, was nothing at all to +_her_, and she would have dismissed it from her thoughts +altogether, but for what happened on the journey. + +From the miserable roads, eight hours a day of travelling was found +quite enough for man and beast; the product of which eight hours was +from ten to twelve leagues. On the last day but one of the journey, the +travelling party, which was precisely the original dinner party, +reached a little town ten leagues short of Cuzco. The Corregidor of +this place was a friend of the Alcalde; and through _his_ +influence the party obtained better accommodations than those which +they had usually had in a hovel calling itself a _venta_, or in +the sheltered corner of a barn. The Alcalde was to sleep at the +Corregidor's house; the two young cavaliers, Calderon and our Kate, had +sleeping rooms at the public _locanda_; but for the lady was +reserved a little pleasure-house in an enclosed garden. This was a +plaything of a house; but the season being summer, and the house +surrounded with tropical flowers, the lady preferred it (in spite of +its loneliness) to the damp mansion of the official grandee, who, in +her humble opinion, was quite as fusty as his mansion, and his mansion +not much less so than himself. + +After dining gaily together at the _locanda_, and possibly taking a +'rise' out of his worship the Corregidor, as a repeating echo of Don +Quixote, (then growing popular in Spanish America,) the young man who +was no young officer, and the young officer who was no young man, +lounged down together to the little pavilion in the flower-garden, with +the purpose of paying their respects to the presiding belle. They were +graciously received, and had the honor of meeting there his Mustiness +the Alcalde, and his Fustiness the Corregidor; whose conversation was +surely improving, but not equally brilliant. How they got on under the +weight of two such muffs, has been a mystery for two centuries. But +they _did_ to a certainty, for the party did not break up till eleven. +_Tea and turn out_ you could not call it; for there was the _turn out_ +in rigor, but not the _tea_. One thing, however, Catalina by mere +accident had an opportunity of observing, and observed with pain. The +two official gentlemen had gone down the steps into the garden. +Catalina, having forgot her hat, went back into the little vestibule to +look for it. There stood the lady and Don Antonio, exchanging a few +final words (they _were_ final) and a few final signs. Amongst the last +Kate observed distinctly this, and distinctly she understood it. First +drawing Calderon's attention to the gesture, as one of significant +pantomime, by raising her forefinger, the lady snuffed out one of the +candles. The young man answered it by a look of intelligence, and all +three passed down the steps together. The lady was disposed to take the +cool air, and accompanied them to the garden-gate; but, in passing +down the walk, Catalina noticed a second ill-omened sign that all was +not right. Two glaring eyes she distinguished amongst the shrubs for a +moment, and a rustling immediately after. 'What's that?' said the lady, +and Don Antonio answered carelessly, 'A bird flying out of the bushes.' + +Catalina, as usual, had read everything. Not a wrinkle or a rustle was +lost upon _her_. And, therefore, when she reached the +_locanda_, knowing to an iota all that was coming, she did not +retire to bed, but paced before the house. She had not long to wait: in +fifteen minutes the door opened softly, and out stepped Calderon. Kate +walked forward, and faced him immediately; telling him laughingly that +it was not good for his health to go abroad on this night. The young +man showed some impatience; upon which, very seriously, Kate acquainted +him with her suspicions, and with the certainty that the Alcalde was +not so blind as he had seemed. Calderon thanked her for the +information; would be upon his guard; but, to prevent further +expostulation, he wheeled round instantly into the darkness. Catalina +was too well convinced, however, of the mischief on foot, to leave him +thus. She followed rapidly, and passed silently into the garden, almost +at the same time with Calderon. Both took their stations behind trees; +Calderon watching nothing but the burning candles, Catalina watching +circumstances to direct her movements. The candles burned brightly in +the little pavilion. Presently one was extinguished. Upon this, +Calderon pressed forward to the steps, hastily ascended them, and +passed into the vestibule. Catalina followed on his traces. What +succeeded was all one scene of continued, dreadful dumb show; different +passions of panic, or deadly struggle, or hellish malice absolutely +suffocated all articulate words. + +In a moment a gurgling sound was heard, as of a wild beast attempting +vainly to yell over some creature that it was strangling. Next came a +tumbling out at the door of one black mass, which heaved and parted at +intervals into two figures, which closed, which parted again, which at +last fell down the steps together. Then appeared a figure in white. It +was the unhappy Andalusian; and she seeing the outline of Catalina's +person, ran up to her, unable to utter one syllable. Pitying the agony +of her horror, Catalina took her within her own cloak, and carried her +out at the garden gate. Calderon had by this time died; and the +maniacal Alcalde had risen up to pursue his wife. But Kate, foreseeing +what he would do, had stepped silently within the shadow of the garden +wall. Looking down the road to the town, and seeing nobody moving, the +maniac, for some purpose, went back to the house. This moment Kate used +to recover the _locanda_ with the lady still panting in horror. +What was to be done? To think of concealment in this little place was +out of the question. The Alcalde was a man of local power, and it was +certain that he would kill his wife on the spot. Kate's generosity +would not allow her to have any collusion with this murderous purpose. +At Cuzco, the principal convent was ruled by a near relative of the +Andalusian; and there she would find shelter. Kate, therefore, saddled +her horse rapidly, placed the lady behind, and rode off in the +darkness. About five miles out of the town their road was crossed by a +torrent, over which they could not hit the bridge. 'Forward!' cried the +lady; and Kate repeating the word to the horse, the docile creature +leaped down into the water. They were all sinking at first; but having +its head free, the horse swam clear of all obstacles through the +midnight darkness, and scrambled out on the opposite bank. The two +riders were dripping from the shoulders downward. But, seeing a light +twinkling from a cottage window, Kate rode up; obtained a little +refreshment, and the benefit of a fire, from a poor laboring man. From +this man she also bought a warm mantle for the lady, who, besides her +torrent bath, was dressed in a light evening robe, so that but for the +horseman's cloak of Kate she would have perished. But there was no time +to lose. They had already lost two hours from the consequences of their +cold bath. Cuzco was still eighteen miles distant; and the Alcalde's +shrewdness would at once divine this to be his wife's mark. They +remounted: very soon the silent night echoed the hoofs of a pursuing +rider; and now commenced the most frantic race, in which each party +rode as if the whole game of life were staked upon the issue. The pace +was killing: and Kate has delivered it as her opinion, in the memoirs +which she wrote, that the Alcalde was the better mounted. This may be +doubted. And certainly Kate had ridden too many years in the Spanish +cavalry to have any fear of his worship's horsemanship; but it was a +prodigious disadvantage that _her_ horse had to carry double; +while the horse ridden by her opponent was one of those belonging to +the murdered Don Antonio, and known to Kate as a powerful animal. At +length they had come within three miles at Cuzco. The road after this +descended the whole way to the city, and in some places rapidly, so as +to require a cool rider. Suddenly a deep trench appeared traversing the +whole extent of a broad heath. It was useless to evade it. To have +hesitated was to be lost. Kate saw the necessity of clearing it, but +doubted much whether her poor exhausted horse, after twenty-one miles +of work so severe, had strength for the effort. Kate's maxim, however, +which never yet had failed, both figuratively for life, and literally +for the saddle, was--to ride at everything that showed a front of +resistance. She did so now. Having come upon the trench rather too +suddenly, she wheeled round for the advantage of coming down upon it +more determinately, rode resolutely at it, and gained the opposite +bank. The hind feet of her horse were sinking back from the rottenness +of the ground; but the strong supporting bridle-hand of Kate carried +him forward; and in ten minutes more they would be in Cuzco. This being +seen by the vicious Alcalde, who had built great hopes on the trench, +he unslung his carbine, pulled up, and fired after the bonny black +horse and its bonny fair riders. But this manoeuvre would have lost his +worship any bet that he might have had depending on this admirable +steeple-chase. Had I been stakeholder, what a pleasure it would have +been, in fifteen minutes from this very vicious shot, to pay into +Kate's hands every shilling of the deposits. I would have listened to +no nonsense about referees or protests. The bullets, says Kate, +whistled round the poor clinging lady _en croupe_--luckily none +struck her; but one wounded the horse. And that settled the odds. Kate +now planted herself well in her stirrups to enter Cuzco, almost +dangerously a winner; for the horse was so maddened by the wound, and +the road so steep, that he went like blazes; and it really became +difficult for Kate to guide him with any precision through narrow +episcopal paths. Henceforwards the wounded horse required Kate's +continued attention; and yet, in the mere luxury of strife, it was +impossible for Kate to avoid turning a little in her saddle to see the +Alcalde's performance on this tight rope of the trench. His worship's +horsemanship being perhaps rather rusty, and he not perfectly +acquainted with his horse, it would have been agreeable to compromise +the case by riding round, or dismounting. But all _that_ was +impossible. The job must be done. And I am happy to report, for the +reader's satisfaction, the sequel--so far as Kate could attend the +performance. Gathering himself up for mischief, the Alcalde took a +sweep, as if ploughing out the line of some vast encampment, or tracing +the _pomćrium_ for some future Rome; then, like thunder and +lightning, with arms flying aloft in the air, down he came upon the +trembling trench. + +But the horse refused the leap; and, as the only compromise that +_his_ unlearned brain could suggest, he threw his worship right +over his ears, lodging him safely in a sand-heap that rose with clouds +of dust and screams of birds into the morning air. Kate had now no time +to send back her compliments in a musical halloo. The Alcalde missed +breaking his neck on this occasion very narrowly; but his neck was of +no use to him in twenty minutes more, as the reader will soon find. +Kate rode right onwards; and, coming in with a lady behind her, horse +bloody, and pace such as no hounds could have lived with, she ought to +have made a great sensation in Cuzco. But, unhappily, the people were +all in bed. + +The steeple-chase into Cuzco had been a fine headlong thing, +considering the torrent, the trench, the wounded horse, the lovely +lady, with her agonizing fears, mounted behind Kate, together with the +meek dove-like dawn: but the finale crowded together the quickest +succession of changes that out of a melodrama can ever have been +witnessed. Kate reached the convent in safety; carried into the +cloisters, and delivered like a parcel the fair Andalusian. But to +rouse the servants caused delay; and on returning to the street through +the broad gateway of the convent, whom should she face but the Alcalde! +How he escaped the trench, who can tell? He had no time to write +memoirs; his horse was too illiterate. But he _had_ escaped; +temper not at all improved by that adventure, and now raised to a hell +of malignity by seeing that he had lost his prey. In the morning light +he now saw how to use his sword. He attacked Kate with fury. Both were +exhausted; and Kate, besides that she had no personal quarrel with the +Alcalde, having now accomplished her sole object in saving the lady, +would have been glad of a truce. She could with difficulty wield her +sword: and the Alcalde had so far the advantage, that he wounded Kate +severely. That roused her ancient blood. She turned on him now with +determination. At that moment in rode two servants of the Alcalde, who +took part with their master. These odds strengthened Kate's resolution, +but weakened her chances. Just then, however, rode in, and ranged +himself on Kate's side, the servant of the murdered Don Calderon. In an +instant, Kate had pushed her sword through the Alcalde, who died upon +the spot. In an instant the servant of Calderon had fled. In an instant +the Alguazils had come up. They and the servants of the Alcalde pressed +furiously on Kate, who now again was fighting for life. Against such +odds, she was rapidly losing ground; when, in an instant, on the +opposite side of the street, the great gates of the Episcopal palace +rolled open. Thither it was that Calderon's servant had fled. The +bishop and his attendants hurried across. 'Senor Caballador,' said the +bishop, 'in the name of the Virgin, I enjoin you to surrender your +sword.' 'My lord,' said Kate, 'I dare not do it with so many enemies +about me.' 'But I,' replied the bishop, 'become answerable to the law +for your safe keeping.' Upon which, with filial reverence, all parties +dropped their swords. Kate being severely wounded, the bishop led her +into his palace. In an instant came the catastrophe; Kate's discovery +could no longer be delayed; the blood flowed too rapidly; the wound was +in her bosom. She requested a private interview with the bishop; all +was known in a moment; for surgeons and attendants were summoned +hastily, and Kate had fainted. The good bishop pitied her, and had her +attended in his palace; then removed to a convent; then to a second at +Lima; and, after many months had passed, his report to the Spanish +Government at home of all the particulars, drew from the King of Spain +and from the Pope an order that the Nun should be transferred to Spain. + +Yes, at length the warrior lady, the blooming cornet, this nun that is +so martial, this dragoon that is so lovely, must visit again the home +of her childhood, which now for seventeen years she has not seen. All +Spain, Portugal, Italy, rang with her adventures. Spain, from north to +south, was frantic with desire to behold her fiery child, whose girlish +romance, whose patriotic heroism electrified the national imagination. +The King of Spain must kiss his _faithful_ daughter, that would +not suffer his banner to see dishonor. The Pope must kiss his +_wandering_ daughter, that henceforwards will be a lamb travelling +back into the Christian fold. Potentates so great as these, when +_they_ speak words of love, do not speak in vain. All was +forgiven; the sacrilege, the bloodshed, the flight and the scorn of St. +Peter's keys; the pardons were made out, were signed, were sealed, and +the chanceries of earth were satisfied. + +Ah! what a day of sorrow and of joy was _that_ one day, in the +first week of November, 1624, when the returning Kate drew near to the +shore of Andalusia--when, descending into the ship's barge, she was +rowed to the piers of Cadiz by bargemen in the royal liveries--when she +saw every ship, street, house, convent, church, crowded, like a day of +judgment, with human faces, with men, with women, with children, all +bending the lights of their flashing and their loving eyes upon +herself. Forty myriads of people had gathered in Cadiz alone. All +Andalusia had turned out to receive her. Ah! what joy, if she had not +looked back to the Andes, to their dreadful summits, and their more +dreadful feet. Ah! what sorrow, if she had not been forced by music, +and endless banners, and triumphant clamors, to turn away from the +Andes to the joyous shore which she approached! + +Upon this shore stood, ready to receive her, in front of all this +mighty crowd, the Prime Minister of Spain, the same Conde Olivarez, who +but one year before had been so haughty and so defying to our haughty +and defying Duke of Buckingham. But a year ago the Prince of Wales was +in Spain, and he also was welcomed with triumph and great joy, but not +with the hundredth part of that enthusiasm which now met the returning +nun. And Olivarez, that had spoken so roughly to the English Duke, to +_her_ 'was sweet as summer.' [Footnote: Griffith in Shakspeare, +when vindicating, in that immortal scene with Queen Catherine, Cardinal +Wolsey.] Through endless crowds of festive compatriots he conducted her +to the King. The King folded her in his arms, and could never be +satisfied with listening to her. He sent for her continually to his +presence--he delighted in her conversation, so new, so natural, so +spirited--he settled a pension upon her at that time, of unprecedented +amount, in the case of a subaltern officer; and by _his_ desire, +because the year 1625 was a year of jubilee, she departed in a few +months from Madrid to Rome. She went through Barcelona; there and +everywhere welcomed as the lady whom the King delighted to honor. She +travelled to Rome, and all doors flew open to receive her. She was +presented to his Holiness, with letters from his most Catholic majesty. +But letters there needed none. The Pope admired her as much as all +before had done. He caused her to recite all her adventures; and what +he loved most in her account, was the sincere and sorrowing spirit in +which she described herself as neither better nor worse than she had +been. Neither proud was Kate, nor sycophantishly and falsely humble. +Urban VIII. it was that then filled the chair of St. Peter. He did not +neglect to raise his daughter's thoughts from earthly things--he +pointed her eyes to the clouds that were above the dome of St. Peter's +cathedral--he told her what the cathedral had told her in the gorgeous +clouds of the Andes and the vesper lights, how sweet a thing, how +divine a thing it was for Christ's sake to forgive all injuries, and +how he trusted that no more she would think of bloodshed. He also said +two words to her in Latin, which, if I had time to repeat a Spanish +bishop's remark to Kate some time afterwards upon those two mysterious +words, with Kate's most natural and ingenuous answer to the Bishop upon +what she supposed to be their meaning, would make the reader smile not +less than they made myself. You know that Kate _did_ understand a +little Latin, which, probably, had not been much improved by riding in +the Light Dragoons. I must find time, however, whether the press and +the compositors are in a fury or not, to mention that the Pope, in his +farewell audience to his dear daughter, whom he was to see no more, +gave her a general license to wear henceforth in all countries--even +_in partibus Infidelium_--a cavalry officer's dress--boots, spurs, +sabre, and sabretache; in fact, anything that she and the Horse Guards +might agree upon. Consequently, reader, remember for your life never to +say one word, nor suffer any tailor to say one word, against those +Wellington trousers made in the chestnut forest; for, understand that +the Papal indulgence, as to this point, runs backwards as well as +forwards; it is equally shocking and heretical to murmur against +trousers in the forgotten rear or against trousers yet to come. + +From Rome, Kate returned to Spain. She even went to St. Sebastian's--to +the city, but--whether it was that her heart failed her or not--never +to the convent. She roamed up and down; everywhere she was welcome-- +everywhere an honored guest; but everywhere restless. The poor and +humble never ceased from their admiration of her; and amongst the rich +and aristocratic of Spain, with the King at their head, Kate found +especial love from two classes of men. The Cardinals and Bishops all +doated upon her--as their daughter that was returning. The military men +all doated upon her--as their sister that was retiring. + +Some time or other, when I am allowed more elbow-room, I will tell you +why it is that I myself love this Kate. Now, at this moment, when it is +necessary for me to close, if I allow you one question before laying +down my pen--if I say, 'Come now, be quick, ask anything you _have_ to +ask, for, in one minute, I am going to write _Finis_, after which +(unless the Queen wished it) I could not add a syllable'--twenty to +one, I guess what your question will be. You will ask me, What became +of Kate? What was her end? + +Ah, reader! but, if I answer that question, you will say I have +_not_ answered it. If I tell you that secret, you will say that +the secret is still hidden. Yet, because I have promised, and because +you will be angry if I do not, let me do my best; and bad is the best. +After ten years of restlessness in Spain, with thoughts always turning +back to the Andes, Kate heard of an expedition on the point of sailing +to Spanish America. All soldiers knew _her_, so that she had +information of everything that stirred in camps. Men of the highest +military rank were going out with the expedition; but they all loved +Kate as a sister, and were delighted to hear that she would join their +mess on board ship. This ship, with others, sailed, whither finally +bound, I really forget. But, on reaching America, all the expedition +touched at _Vera Cruz_. Thither a great crowd of the military went +on shore. The leading officers made a separate party for the same +purpose. Their intention was, to have a gay happy dinner, after their +long confinement to a ship, at the chief hotel; and happy in perfection +it could not be, unless Kate would consent to join it. She, that was +ever kind to brother soldiers, agreed to do so. She descended into the +boat along with them, and in twenty minutes the boat touched the shore. +All the bevy of gay laughing officers, junior and senior, like +schoolboys escaping from school, jumped on shore, and walked hastily, +as their time was limited, up to the hotel. Arriving there, all turned +round in eagerness, saying, 'Where is our dear Kate?' Ah, yes, my dear +Kate, at that solemn moment, where, indeed, were _you_? She had +_certainly_ taken her seat in the boat: that was sure. Nobody, in +the general confusion, was certain of having seen her on coming ashore. +The sea was searched for her--the forests were ransacked. The sea made +no answer--the forests gave up no sign. I have a conjecture of my own; +but her brother soldiers were lost in sorrow and confusion, and could +never arrive even at a conjecture. + +That happened two hundred and fourteen years ago! Here is the brief sum +of all:--This nun sailed from Spain to Peru, and she found no rest for +the sole of her foot. This nun sailed back from Peru to Spain, and she +found no rest for the agitations of her heart. This nun sailed again +from Spain to America, and she found--the rest which all of us find. +But where it was, could never be made known to the father of Spanish +camps, that sat in Madrid; nor to Kate's spiritual father, that sat in +Rome. Known it is to the great Father that once whispered to Kate on +the Andes; but else it has been a secret for two centuries; and to man +it remains a secret for ever and ever! + + + + +FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. + + +There is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said +more broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less +generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight +eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless +_steppes_ of Asia in the latter half of the last century. The +_terminus a quo_ of this flight, and the _terminus ad quem_, +are equally magnificent; the mightiest of Christian thrones being the +one, the mightiest of Pagan the other. And the grandeur of these two +terminal objects, is harmoniously supported by the romantic +circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness of its commencement, and +the fierce velocity of its execution, we read an expression of the wild +barbaric character of the agents. In the unity of purpose connecting +this myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim at a mark so +remote, there is something which recalls to the mind those Almighty +instincts that propel the migrations of the swallow, or the life- +withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the gloomy vengeance of +Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the rear and the skirts +of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic images--such, for +instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing through desert spaces +and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and overtaking with +volleying thunders those who believed themselves already within the +security of darkness and of distance. + +We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other +great national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But +it may also challenge a comparison with similar events under another +relation, viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in +romance or history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the +complexity of its separate interests. The great outline of the +enterprise, taken in connection with the operative motives, hidden or +avowed, and the religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to +the case a triple character: 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a +unity in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the +moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as belongs to Venice +Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military +expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to be +traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies +obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which mark +the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the anabasis of the younger Cyrus, +and the subsequent retreat of the ten thousand to the Black Sea--the +Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and +Julian--or (as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space +as well as in amount of forces, more extensive,) the Russian anabasis +and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized +by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia, an Exodus, +therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus of the +Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar +distinction of carrying along with them their entire families, women, +children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and +their camels. + +This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a +more comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we +ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends +partly upon the marked variety and the strength of the personal +agencies concerned, and partly upon the succession of scenical +situations. Even the _steppes_, the camels, the tents, the snowy +and the sandy deserts, are not beyond the scale of our modern +representative powers, as often called into action in the theatres both +of Paris and London; and the series of situations unfolded, beginning +with the general conflagration on the Wolga--passing thence to the +disastrous scenes of the flight (as it literally was in its +commencement)--to the Tartar siege of the Russian fortress Koulagina-- +the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the mountain passes at +Ouchim--the surprisal by the Bashkirs and the advanced posts of the +Russian army at Torgau--the private conspiracy at this point against +the Khan--the long succession of running fights--the parting massacres +at the lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese--and finally, the +tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at the hunting-lodge of the +Chinese emperor;--all these situations communicate a _scenical_ +animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically; whilst a higher +and a philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of authentic +history, commemorating a great revolution for good and for evil, in the +fortunes of a whole people--a people semi-barbarous, but simple- +hearted, and of ancient descent. + +On the 2lst of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha assumed the +sceptre of the Kalmucks upon the death of his father. Some part of the +power attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his +fourteenth year, in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment, +and with the avowed support of the Russian Government. He was now about +eighteen years of age, amiable in his personal character, and not +without titles to respect in his public character as a sovereign +prince. In times more peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely +civilized, or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that he +might have discharged his high duties with considerable distinction. +But his lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a most difficult crisis +amongst tribes, whose native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms +of superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated conceit of +their own merit absolutely unparalleled, whilst the circumstances of +their hard and trying position under the jealous _surveillance_ of +an irresistible lord paramount, in the person of the Russian Czar, gave +a fiercer edge to the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, +and irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless +impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No prince could hope for +a cordial allegiance from his subjects, or a peaceful reign under the +circumstances of the case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler +stood at present was of this nature; _wanting_ the sanction and +support of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from without to command +confidence from his subjects, or resistance to his competitors: on the +other hand, _with_ this kind of support, and deriving his title in +any degree from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost in +that extent an object of hatred at home, and within the whole compass +of his own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for the past, +being a living monument of national independence, ignominiously +surrendered, and an object of jealousy for the future, as one who had +already advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate +purposes (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the Russian Court. +Coming himself to the Kalmuck sceptre under the heaviest weight of +prejudice from the unfortunate circumstances of his position, it might +have been expected that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently an object +of detestation; for besides his known dependence upon the Cabinet of +St. Petersburg, the direct line of succession had been set aside, and +the principle of inheritance violently suspended, in favor of his own +father, so recently as nineteen years before the era of his own +accession, consequently within the lively remembrance of the existing +generation. He therefore, almost equally with his father, stood within +the full current of the national prejudices, and might have anticipated +the most pointed hostility. But it was not so: such are the caprices in +human affairs, that he was even, in a moderate sense, popular,--a +benefit which wore the more cheering aspect, and the promises of +permanence, inasmuch as he owed it exclusively to his personal +qualities of kindness and affability, as well as to the beneficence of +his government. On the other hand, to balance this unlooked-for +prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met with a rival in popular +favor--almost a competitor--in the person of Zebek-Dorchi, a prince +with considerable pretensions to the throne, and, perhaps it might be +said, with equal pretensions. Zebek-Dorchi was a direct descendant of +the same royal house as himself, through a different branch. On public +grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on a footing equally good with that +of Oubacha, whilst his personal qualities, even in those aspects which +seemed to a philosophical observer most odious and repulsive, promised +the most effectual aid to the dark purposes of an intriguer or a +conspirator, and were generally fitted to win a popular support +precisely in those points where _Oubacha_ was most defective. He +was much superior in external appearance to his rival on the throne, +and so far better qualified to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous +people; whilst his dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian +dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy which knew no touch of +remorse, were admirably calculated to sustain any ground which he might +win from the simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal--and from +the frank carelessness of his unconscious competitor. + +At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi was +sagacious enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open +declaration of hostility to the reigning prince: the choice had been a +deliberate act on the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not +the person to recall her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. +Openly, therefore, to have declared his enmity towards his relative on +the throne, could have had no effect but that of arming suspicions +against his own ulterior purposes in a quarter where it was most +essential to his interest that, for the present, all suspicion should +be hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, the course he took +for opening his snares was this:--He raised a rumor that his own life +was in danger from the plots of several _Saissang_, (that is, +Kalmuck nobles,) who were leagued together, under an oath to +assassinate him; and immediately after, assuming a well-counterfeited +alarm, he fled to Tcherkask, followed by sixty-five tents. From this +place he kept up a correspondence with the Imperial Court; and, by way +of soliciting his cause more effectually, he soon repaired in person to +St. Petersburg. Once admitted to personal conferences with the Cabinet, +he found no difficulty in winning over the Russian counsels to a +concurrence with some of his political views, and thus covertly +introducing the point of that wedge which was finally to accomplish his +purposes. In particular, he persuaded the Russian Government to make a +very important alteration in the constitution of the Kalmuck State +Council, which in effect reorganized the whole political condition of +the state, and disturbed the balance of power as previously adjusted. +Of this Council--in the Kalmuck language called _Sarga_--there +were eight members, called _Sargatchi;_ and hitherto it had been +the custom that these eight members should be entirely subordinate to +the Khan; holding, in fact, the ministerial character of secretaries +and assistants, but in no respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. +That had produced some inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy +for Zebek-Dorchi to point the jealousy of the Russian Court to others +more serious which might arise in future circumstances of war or other +contingencies. It was resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi +henceforward on a footing of perfect independence, and therefore (as +regarded responsibility) on a footing of equality with the Khan. Their +independence, however, had respect only to their own sovereign; for +towards Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and +accountability, by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300 +roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more +considerable than might be supposed, and had a further value as marks +of honorary distinction emanating from a great Empress. Thus far the +purposes of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment: but, +apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in the further +development of his plots, this very dependency upon Russian influence +would be the most serious obstacle in his way. There was, however, +another point carried which outweighed all inferior considerations, as +it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever should +arise to disturb his plots: he was himself appointed President and +Controller of the _Sargatchi_. The Russian Court had been aware of +his high pretensions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy +the ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged to be a reasonable +passion for any man occupying his situation. + +Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi +proceeded in his new character to fulfil his political mission with the +Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his +favorable reception at the court of this Prince, that he was at once +and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the +counsellors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar +exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had +not yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he +himself should be the chief of these mercenary counsellors, was so far +from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any ground of +suspicion, that his relative the Khan returned him hearty thanks for +his services, under the belief that he could have accepted this +appointment only with a view to keep out other and more unwelcome +pretenders, who would not have had the same motives of consanguinity or +friendship for executing its duties in a spirit of kindness to the +Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his new functions about the +Khan's person was to attack the Court of Russia, by a romantic villany +not easy to be credited, for those very acts of interference with the +council which he himself had prompted. This was a dangerous step: but +it was indispensable to his further advance upon the gloomy path which +he had traced out for himself. A triple vengeance was what he +meditated--1, Upon the Russian Cabinet for having undervalued his own +pretensions to the throne--2, upon his amiable rival for having +supplanted him--and 3, upon all those of the nobility who had +manifested their sense of his weakness by their neglect, or their sense +of his perfidious character by their suspicions. Here was a colossal +outline of wickedness; and by one in his situation, feeble (as it might +seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts, how was the total +edifice to be reared in its comprehensive grandeur? He, a worm as he +was, could he venture to assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the +potentate who counted three hundred languages around the footsteps of +his throne, and from whose 'lion ramp' recoiled alike 'baptized and +infidel'--Christendom on the one side, strong by her intellect and her +organization, and the `Barbaric East' on the other, with her unnumbered +numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its very monstrosity +there lay this germ of encouragement, that it could not be suspected. +The very hopelessness of the scheme grounded his hope, and he resolved +to execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in the unity of +a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged to be his enemies. That +vengeance lay in detaching from the Russian empire the whole Kalmuck +nation, and breaking up that system of intercourse which had thus far +been beneficial to both. This last was a consideration which moved him +but little. True it was that Russia to the Kalmucks had secured lands +and extensive pasturage; true it was that the Kalmucks reciprocally to +Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry. But the latter loss would be +part of his triumph, and the former might be more than compensated in +other climates under other sovereigns. Here was a scheme which, in its +final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on the Czarina, and in +the course of its accomplishment might furnish him with ample occasions +for removing his other enemies. It may be readily supposed indeed that +he, who could deliberately raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an +antagonist in single duel with himself, was not likely to feel much +anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He took his resolution, +therefore, sternly and irrevocably to effect this astonishing +translation of an ancient people across the pathless deserts of Central +Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivers, rarely furnished with +bridges, and of which the fords were known only to those who might +think it for their interest to conceal them, through many nations +inhospitable or hostile; frost and snow around them, (from the +necessity of commencing their flight in the winter,) famine in their +front, and the sabre, or even the artillery of an offended and mighty +empress, hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was +to be their final mark, the port of shelter after so fearful a course +of wandering? Two things were evident: it must be some power at a great +distance from Russia, so as to make return even in that view hopeless; +and it must be a power of sufficient rank to ensure them protection +from any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming +them, or for chastising their revolt. Both conditions were united +obviously in the person of Kien Long, the reigning Emperor of China, +who was farther recommended to them by his respect for the head of +their religion. To China, therefore, and as their first rendezvous to +the shadow of the great Chinese Wall, it was settled by Zebek that they +should direct their flight. + +Next came the question of time; _when_ should the flight commence:--and +finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices. To +extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far, was to insure its +betrayal to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the +preparations it was evident that a very extensive confidence must be +made, because in no other way could the mass of the Kalmuck population +be persuaded to furnish their families with the requisite equipments +for so long a migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved +to defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all events, to make +no general communication on the subject until the time of departure +should be definitely settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only +three persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning prince, +was almost necessarily one; but him, from his yielding and somewhat +feeble character, he viewed rather in the light of a tool than as one +of his active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an +unreserved participation in his counsels, were two only, the great +_Lama_ among the Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, Erempel, a ruling +prince of some tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian sea, +recommended to his favor not so much by any strength of talent +corresponding to the occasion, as by his blind devotion to himself, and +his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his daughter and his +son-in-law to the throne of a sovereign prince. A titular prince Zebek +already was: but this dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of +a sceptre, seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambitious rivals. +The other accomplice, whose name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank +was that of Lama, or Kalmuck pontiff, was a person of far more +distinguished pretensions; he had something of the same gloomy and +terrific pride which marked the character of Zebek himself, manifesting +also the same energy, accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and +a natural facility of dissimulation even more profound. It was by this +man that the other question was settled as to the time for giving +effect to their designs. His own pontifical character had suggested to +him, that in order to strengthen their influence with the vast mob of +simple-minded men whom they were to lead into a howling wilderness, +after persuading them to lay desolate their own ancient hearths, it was +indispensable that they should be able, in cases of extremity, to plead +the express sanction of God for their entire enterprise. This could +only be done by addressing themselves to the great head of their +religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. Him they easily persuaded to +countenance their schemes: and an oracle was delivered solemnly at +Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate prosperity would attend this +great Exodus unless it were pursued through the years of the _tiger_ +and the _hare_. Now, the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their years +by attaching to each a denomination taken from one of twelve animals, +the exact order of succession being absolutely fixed, so that the cycle +revolves of course through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if +the approaching year of the _tiger_ were suffered to escape them, in +that case the expedition must be delayed for twelve years more, within +which period, even were no other unfavorable changes to arise, it was +pretty well foreseen that the Russian Government would take the most +effectual means for bridling their vagrant propensities by a ring fence +of forts or military posts; to say nothing of the still readier plan +for securing their fidelity (a plan already talked of in all quarters), +by exacting a large body of hostages selected from the families of the +most influential nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was +solemnly determined that this terrific experiment should be made in the +next year of the _tiger_, which happened to fall upon the Christian +year 1771. With respect to the month, there was, unhappily for the +Kalmucks, even less latitude allowed to their choice than with respect +to the year. It was absolutely necessary, or it was thought so, that +the different divisions of the nation, which pastured their flocks on +both banks of the Wolga, should have the means of effecting an +instantaneous junction; because the danger of being intercepted by +flying columns of the Imperial armies was precisely the greatest at the +outset. Now, from the want of bridges, or sufficient river craft for +transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means which could be +depended upon (especially where so many women, children, and camels +were concerned,) was _ice_: and this, in a state of sufficient +firmness, could not be absolutely counted upon before the month of +January. Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a whole +nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to +circulate amongst those whom it most interested, before it was even +suspected that any man's wishes pointed in that direction, had been +definitively appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost up to +the Christmas of 1770, the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their +families were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even +dreaming that the _fiat_ had already gone forth from their rulers which +consigned those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which +reigned within them, to a withering desolation, now close at hand. + +Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan. And, +until the time arrived for throwing off their vassalage, it was +necessary that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of +martial aid. Nay, it had unfortunately become prudent that he should +contribute much more than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample +evidence that in some mysterious and unaccountable way no great design +is ever agitated, no matter how few or how faithful may be the +participators, but that some presentiment--some dim misgiving--is +kindled amongst those whom it is chiefly important to blind. And, +however it might have happened, certain it is, that already, when as +yet no syllable of the conspiracy had been breathed to any man whose +very existence was not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless, some +vague and uneasy jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet as to the +future schemes of the Kalmuck Khan: and very probable it is--that, but +for the war then raging, and the consequent prudence of conciliating a +very important vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would +powerfully alienate him, even at that moment such measures would have +been adopted as must for ever have intercepted the Kalmuck schemes. +Slight as were the jealousies of the Imperial Court, they had not +escaped the Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under their +guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of the moment, and +meeting the jealousy of the Russian Court with a policy corresponding +to their own, strove by unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's +unfavorable impressions. He enlarged the scale of his contributions; +and _that_ so prodigiously, that he absolutely carried to head- +quarters a force of 35,000 cavalry fully equipped; some go further, and +rate the amount beyond 40,000: but the smaller estimate is, at all +events, _within_ the truth. + +With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the +Khan went into the field under great expectations; and these he more +than realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill- +organized and disorderly a description of force as that which at all +times composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along +with his banners; gained many partial successes; and at last, in a +pitched battle, overthrew the Turkish force opposed to him with a loss +of 5000 men left upon the field. + +These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways +against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the +martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire +in whose service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully +appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire, one of the +Paladins around the imperial throne; in China he would be nobody, or +(worse than that) a mendicant-alien, prostrate at the feet, and +soliciting the precarious alms of a prince with whom he had no +connection. Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina, +grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar prince, would +confer upon him such eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor +his hopes upon Russia, and to wean him from every possible seduction. +These were the obvious suggestions of prudence and good sense to every +man who stood neutral in the case. But they were disappointed. The +Czarina knew her obligations to the Khan, but she did not acknowledge +them. Wherefore? That is a mystery, perhaps never to be explained. So +it was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_ ever +proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly +recompensed by Russia, there were others who would have defeated these +tendencies to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the Lama, +were pledged life-deep to prevent any accommodation; and their efforts +were unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the +Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles pre-occupied +with feelings of hatred and blind malice towards the Kalmucks, quite as +strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor towards Russia, and not, +perhaps, so well-founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated the +Russian yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked air of +disdain, as towards a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians, +which too generally marked the Russian bearing and language; but above +all, the insolent contempt, or even outrages which the Russian +governors or great military commandants tolerated in their followers +towards the barbarous religion and superstitious mummeries of the +Kalmuck priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the +Russian resentment, and their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or +attempt a feeble retaliation, re-act upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At +this crisis it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing +the splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and +Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian irritation. And it must +have been through the intrigues of those nobles about her person, who +chiefly smarted under these feelings, that the Czarina could ever have +lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this +critical period towards the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was no longer +Elizabeth Petrowna, it was Catharine the Second; a princess who did not +often err so injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for +others) in the measures of her government. She had soon ample reason +for repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it must have co- +operated with the other motives previously acting upon Oubacha in +sustaining his determination to revolt; and how powerfully it must have +assisted the efforts of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the +minds of their people to feel the necessity of this difficult +enterprise, by arming their pride and their suspicions against the +Russian Government, through the keenness of their sympathy with the +wrongs of their insulted prince, may be readily imagined. It is a fact, +and it has been confessed by candid Russians themselves, when treating +of this great dismemberment, that the conduct of the Russian Cabinet +throughout the period of suspense, and during the crisis of hesitation +in the Kalmuck Council, was exactly such as was most desirable for the +purposes of the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as to set the seal +to all their machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and official +vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most matters of +doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption. + +Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing +their weight so far as not at all to deny the injustice or the impolicy +of the Imperial Ministers, it is contended by many persons who have +reviewed the affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the +case, more especially the letters or minutes of Council subsequently +discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, and the important +evidence of the Russian captive Weseloff, who was carried off by the +Kalmucks in their flight, that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless +for any purpose of impeding, or even of delaying the revolt. He +himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the most terrific +solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise, or even to slacken in +his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting the firmness of his resolution +under any unusual pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very +earliest stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's well +known superstition, to engage him, by means of previous concert with +the priests and their head the Lama, in some dark and mysterious rites +of consecration, terminating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as +no Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, as +regarded the personal share of the Khan in what was to come, Zebek was +entirely at his ease: he knew him to be so deeply pledged by religious +terrors to the prosecution of the conspiracy, that no honors within the +Czarina's gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion: and then, as to +threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed against those +fears by others of a gloomier character, and better adapted to his +peculiar temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all +bodily enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive +and timid as the most superstitious of old women in facing the frowns +of a priest, or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. +But had it been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend +an unsteady demeanor on the part of this Prince at the approach of the +critical moment, such were the changes already effected in the state of +their domestic politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of +Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little importance would +have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in +the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of the +Kalmuck sceptre: all measures of importance were submitted to his +discretion; and nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation. +This result he had brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently +simple; first of all, by availing himself of the prejudice in his +favor, so largely diffused amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his +own title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a direct line +from Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans, stood upon +a better basis than that of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral +branch: secondly, with respect to that sole advantage which Oubacha +possessed above himself in the ratification of his title, by improving +this difference between their situations to the disadvantage of his +competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept that triumph from an +alien power at the price of his independence, which he himself (as he +would have it understood) disdained to court: thirdly, by his own +talents and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his moral +character: fourthly--and perhaps in an equal degree--by the criminal +facility and good-nature of Oubacha: finally, (which is remarkable +enough, as illustrating the character of the man,) by that very new +modelling of the Sarga or Privy Council, which he had used as a +principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against the Russian +Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the alteration to +the Empress, and he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which +it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the chief of +the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior Sargatchi passed +through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to his +nomination, it may be easily supposed that whatever power existed in +the state capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga +under its new organization, and this body being completely under his +influence, the final result was to throw all the functions of the +state, whether nominally in the Prince or in the council, substantially +into the hands of this one man: whilst, at the same time, from the +strict league which he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders of +the spiritual power were always ready to come in aid of the magistrate, +or to supply his incapacity in cases which he could not reach. + +But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The +day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising +the standard of revolt, and by a combined movement on both sides of the +Wolga for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration, that should +wrap in a common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their +enemies, over the breadth and length of those great provinces in which +their flocks were dispersed. The year of the _tiger_ was now +within one little month of its commencement; the fifth morning of that +year was fixed for the fatal day, when the fortunes and happiness of a +whole nation were to be put upon the hazard of a dicer's throw; and as +yet that nation was in profound ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, +such was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to make +the revelation so urgently required. It was clear, however, that this +could not be delayed; and Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon +himself. But where or how should this notification be made, so as to +exclude Russian hearers? After some deliberation, the following plan +was adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should arrive in furious +haste, one upon the heels of another, reporting a sudden inroad of the +Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant about +one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, +according to immemorial custom, were required to send a separate +representative; and there, accordingly, within three days, all +appeared. The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the +rendezvous, the rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost +certain that no Russian could be present. Zebek-Dorchi then came +forward. He did not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an +immense sheet of parchment, visible from the outermost distance at +which any of this vast crowd could stand; the total number amounted to +eighty thousand; all saw, and many heard. They were told of the +oppressions of Russia; of her pride and haughty disdain, evidenced +towards them by a thousand acts; of her contempt for their religion; of +her determination to reduce them to absolute slavery; of the +preliminary measures she had already taken by erecting forts upon many +of the great rivers of their neighborhood; of the ulterior intentions +she thus announced to circumscribe their pastoral lands, until they +would all be obliged to renounce their flocks, and to collect in towns +like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical and servile trades of +shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the freeborn Tartar had always +disdained. 'Then again,' said the subtle prince, 'she increases her +military levies upon our population every year; we pour out our blood +as young men in her defence, or more often in support of her insolent +aggressions; and as old men, we reap nothing from our sufferings, nor +benefit by our survivorship where so many are sacrificed.' At this +point of his harangue, Zebek produced several papers, (forged, as it is +generally believed, by himself and the Lama,) containing projects of +the Russian court for a general transfer of the eldest sons, taken +_en masse_ from the greatest Kalmuck families, to the Imperial +court. 'Now let this be once accomplished,' he argued, 'and there is an +end of all useful resistance from that day forwards. Petitions we might +make, or even remonstrances; as men of words, we might play a bold +part; but for deeds, for that sort of language by which our ancestors +were used to speak; holding us by such a chain, Russia would make a +jest of our wishes,--knowing full well that we should not dare to make +any effectual movement.' + +Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast +audience, and having alarmed their fears by this pretended scheme +against their first-born, (an artifice which was indispensable to his +purpose, because it met beforehand _every_ form of amendment to +his proposal coming from the more moderate nobles, who would not +otherwise have failed to insist upon trying the effect of bold +addresses to the Empress, before resorting to any desperate extremity,) +Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of revolt, and, if so, of instant +revolt; since any preparations reported at St. Petersburg would be a +signal for the armies of Russia to cross into such positions from all +parts of Asia, as would effectually intercept their march. It is +remarkable, however, that, with all his audacity and his reliance upon +the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks, the subtle prince did not +venture, at this stage of his seduction, to make so startling a +proposal as that of a flight to China. All that he held out for the +present was a rapid march to the Temba or some other great river, which +they were to cross, and to take up a strong position on the further +bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security, they could hold +a bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would have a better +chance of winning a favorable audience. + +These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed +by acclamation; and all returned homewards, to push forward with the +most furious speed the preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid +and energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree they became +noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to be intermingled +with the different hordes, either on commercial errands, or as agents +officially from the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in +a diplomatic character. + +Amongst these last (indeed at the head of them) was a Russian of some +distinction, by name Kichinskoi, a man memorable for his vanity, and +memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. +This Kichinskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook +the conduct of the Kalmucks; he was styled the _Grand Pristaw_, or +Great Commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes +by this title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political +_surveillant_, combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, +gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might have given him +a far greater, had not his outrageous self-conceit, and his arrogant +confidence in his own authority, as due chiefly to his personal +qualities for command, led him into such harsh displays of power, and +menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon made him an object +of their profoundest malice. He had publicly insulted the Khan; and +upon making a communication to him to the effect that some reports +began to circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in +agitation to fly from the Imperial dominions, he had ventured to say,-- +'But this you dare not attempt; I laugh at such rumors; yes, Khan, I +laugh at them to the Empress; for you are a chained bear, and that you +know.' The Khan turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and the +Pristaw, foaming at the mouth, continued to utter, amongst those of the +Khan's attendants who staid behind, to catch his real sentiments in a +moment of unguarded passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could +suggest to the most presumptuous of fools. It was now ascertained that +suspicions _had_ arisen; but at the same time it was ascertained +that the Pristaw spoke no more than the truth in representing himself +to have discredited these suspicions. The fact was, that the mere +infatuation of vanity made him believe that nothing could go on +undetected by his all-piercing sagacity, and that no rebellion could +prosper when rebuked by his commanding presence. The Tartars, +therefore, pursued their preparations, confiding in the obstinate +blindness of the Grand Pristaw as in their perfect safeguard; and such +it proved--to his own ruin, as well as that of myriads beside. + +Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier upon courier +came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. +Petersburg, assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks +were in the very crisis of departure. These despatches came from the +Governor of Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to +Kichinskoi. Now, it happened that between this governor--a Russian +named Beketoff--and the Pristaw had been an ancient feud. The very name +of Beketoff inflamed his resentment; and no sooner did he see that +hated name attached to the despatch, than he felt himself confirmed in +his former views with tenfold bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of +the most pointed ridicule, against the new alarmist, pledging his own +head upon the visionariness of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not +to be put down by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he persisted in his +statements: the Russian Ministry were confounded by the obstinacy of +the disputants; and some were beginning even to treat the Governor of +Astrachan as a bore, and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors, when +the memorable day arrived, the fatal 5th of January, which for ever +terminated the dispute, and put a seal upon the earthly hopes and +fortunes of unnumbered myriads. The Governor of Astrachan was the first +to hear the news. Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant +vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his sledge, and, at +the rate of three hundred miles a day, pursued his route to St. +Petersburg, rushed into the Imperial presence,--announced the total +realization of his worst predictions,--and upon the confirmation of +this intelligence by subsequent despatches from many different posts on +the Wolga, he received an imperial commission to seize the person of +his deluded enemy, and to keep him in strict captivity. These orders +were eagerly fulfilled, and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards +expired of grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon; +a victim to his own immeasurable vanity, and the blinding self- +delusions of a presumption that refused all warning. + +The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps +even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness with which the +verification followed his reports. Precisely on the 5th of January, the +day so solemnly appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the +Kalmucks on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn +of day assembling by troops and squadrons, and in the tumultuous +movement of some great morning of battle. Tens of thousands continued +moving off the ground at every half-hour's interval. Women and +children, to the amount of two hundred thousand and upwards, were +placed upon wagons, or upon camels, and drew off by masses of twenty +thousand at once--placed under suitable escorts, and continually +swelled in numbers by other outlying bodies of the horde who kept +falling in at various distances upon the first and second day's march. +From sixty to eighty thousand of those who were the best mounted stayed +behind the rest of the tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder +more violent than prudence justified, or the amiable character of the +Khan could be supposed to approve. But in this, as in other instances, +he was completely overruled by the malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. +The first tempest of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged +itself upon their own habitations. But this, as cutting off all infirm +looking backward from the hardships of their march, had been thought so +necessary a measure by all the chieftains, that even Oubacha himself +was the first to authorize the act by his own example. He seized a +torch previously prepared with materials the most durable as well as +combustible, and steadily applied it to the timbers of his own palace. +Nothing was saved from the general wreck except the portable part of +the domestic utensils, and that part of the woodwork which could be +applied to the manufacture of the long Tartar lances. This chapter in +their memorable day's work being finished, and the whole of their +villages throughout a district of ten thousand square miles in one +simultaneous blaze, the Tartars waited for further orders. + +These, it was intended, should have taken a character of valedictory +vengeance, and thus have left behind to the Czarina a dreadful +commentary upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose of +Zebek-Dorchi that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of +every description, should be given up to pillage and destruction, and +such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants as might +naturally be expected from a fierce people already infuriated by the +spectacle of their own outrages, and by the bloody retaliations which +they must necessarily have provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, +was happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at the very +crisis of departure. It has been mentioned already that the motive for +selecting the depth of winter as the season of flight (which otherwise +was obviously the very worst possible) had been the impossibility of +effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on the west of +the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of +ice. For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had consented to +aggravate by a thousandfold the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight +over boundless tracts of country with women, children, and herds of +cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet, after all, it was lost. +The reason never has been explained satisfactorily, but the fact was +such. Some have said that the signals were not properly concerted for +marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying +whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks might not have +been suddenly interrupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed +that the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river, +and might even be generally insecure for the treading of heavy and +heavily-laden animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is, +that some accidental movements on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian +troops in the neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really +having no reference to them or their plans, had been construed into +certain signs that all was discovered; and that the prudence of the +Western chieftains, who, from situation, had never been exposed to +those intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of +the Eastern tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin. Be +the cause what it might, it is certain that the Western Kalmucks were +in some way prevented from forming the intended junction with their +brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was, that at least one +hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia. This +accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors universally from +the desolation which else awaited them. One general massacre and +conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the utter +extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had it +not been for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not +dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren under the first +impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy; for as +they were well aware of too many circumstances by which she might +discover the concurrence of the Western people in the general scheme of +revolt, they justly feared that she would thence infer their +concurrence also in the bloody events which marked its outset. + +Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for +gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which at +the moment they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed +the thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern +brethren in the first month of their sad flight, they would have +blessed Heaven for their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of +the first month were but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of +those which afterwards succeeded. + +For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the +most extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and +daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying +nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, may +have inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the +desolation would be sudden--like the flight of volleying lightning. +Those who were spared at first would generally be spared to the end; +those who perished would perish instantly. It is possible that the +French retreat from Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this +calamity in duration, though still a feeble and miniature approach; for +the French sufferings did not commence in good earnest until about one +month from the time of leaving Moscow; and though it is true that +afterwards the vials of wrath were emptied upon the devoted army for +six or seven weeks in succession, yet what is that to this Kalmuck +tragedy, which lasted for more than as many months? But the main +feature of horror, by which the Tartar march was distinguished from the +French, lies in the accompaniment of women [Footnote: Singular it is, +and not generally known, that Grecian women accompanied the +_Anabasis_ of the younger Cyrus and the subsequent Retreat of the +Ten Thousand. Xenophon affirms that there were 'many' women in the +Greek army--pollai aesun etairai en tosratenaeazi; and in a late stage +of that trying expedition it is evident that women were amongst the +survivors.] and children. There were both, it is true, with the French +army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the total numbers +concerned. The French, in short, were merely an army--a host of +professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed, and whose +regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a +nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty +thousand women and children, utterly unequal, for the most part, to any +contest with the calamities before them. The Children of Israel were +in the same circumstances as to the accompaniment of their families; +but they were released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very +early stage of their flight; and their subsequent residence in the +Desert was not a march, but a continued halt, and under a continued +interposition of Heaven for their comfortable support. Earthquakes, +again, however comprehensive in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's +duration. A much nearer approach made to the wide range and the long +duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may have been in a pestilence such as +that which visited Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the +reign of Charles II. There also the martyrs were counted by myriads, +and the period of the desolation was counted by months. But, after all, +the total amount of destruction was on a smaller scale; and there was +this feature of alleviation to the _conscious_ pressure of the +calamity--that the misery was withdrawn from public notice into private +chambers and hospitals. The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his +son, taken in its entire circumstances, comes nearest of all--for +breadth and depth of suffering, for duration, for the exasperation of +the suffering from without by internal feuds, and, finally, for that +last most appalling expression of the furnace-heat of the anguish in +its power to extinguish the natural affections even of maternal love. +But, after all, each case had circumstances of romantic misery peculiar +to itself--circumstances without precedent, and (wherever human nature +is ennobled by Christianity) it may be confidently hoped--never to be +repeated. + +The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be +encouraged, was the river Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles +from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and if the march thither +was to be a forced one, and a severe one, it was alleged on the other +hand that the suffering would be the more brief and transient; one +summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced the +march was, and severe beyond example: there the forewarning proved +correct; but the promised rest proved a mere phantom of the wilderness +--a visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes, across +these interminable solitudes, for seven months of hardship and +calamity, without a pause. These sufferings, by their very nature, and +the circumstances under which they arose, were (like the scenery of the +_Steppes_) somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external +features: what variety, however, there was, will be most naturally +exhibited by tracing historically the successive stages of the general +misery, exactly as it unfolded itself under the double agency of +weakness still increasing from within, and hostile pressure from +without. Viewed in this manner, under the real order of development, it +is remarkable that these sufferings of the Tartars, though under the +moulding hands of accident, arrange themselves almost with a scenical +propriety. They seem combined, as with the skill of an artist; the +intensity of the misery advancing regularly with the advances of the +march, and the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages of +the route; so that, upon raising the curtain which veils the great +catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of anguish, towering upwards by +regular gradations, as if constructed artificially for picturesque +effect:--a result which might not have been surprising, had it been +reasonable to anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an +accelerated rate, as prevailing through the later stages of the +expedition. But it seemed, on the contrary, most reasonable to +calculate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion according to +the increasing distance from the head-quarters of the pursuing enemy. +This calculation, however, was defeated by the extraordinary +circumstance, that the Russian armies did not begin to close in very +fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had accomplished a distance +of full two thousand miles; one thousand miles further on the assaults +became even more tumultuous and murderous; and already the great +shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when the frenzy and +_acharnement_ of the pursuers, and the bloody desperation of the +miserable fugitives had reached its uttermost extremity. Let us briefly +rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending steps +of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route marked +out by the central rivers of Asia. + +The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; +the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days. +For the first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about +forty-three English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing; +and, at a more moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been +accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy as the +Kalmucks: as it was, the cattle suffered greatly from overdriving: milk +began to fail even for the children: the sheep perished by wholesale: +and the children themselves were saved only by the innumerable camels. + +The Cossacks, who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik, were the first +among the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. +Great was their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great +also their consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by +far the greater part of their number was absent during the winter +months at the fisheries upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to +surprise at the most exposed points, fled in crowds to the fortress of +Koulagina, which was immediately invested, and summoned by Oubacha. He +had, however, in his train only a few light pieces of artillery; and +the Russian commandant at Koulagina, being aware of the hurried +circumstances in which the Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the +very edge, as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these +considerations to a more obstinate resistance than might else have been +advisable, with an enemy so little disposed to observe the usages of +civilized warfare. The period of his anxiety was not long: on the fifth +day of the siege, he descried from the walls a succession of Tartar +couriers, mounted upon fleet Bactrian camels, crossing the vast plains +around the fortress at a furious pace, and riding into the Kalmuck +encampment at various points. Great agitation appeared immediately to +follow; orders were soon after despatched in all directions: and it +became speedily known that upon a distant flank of the Kalmuck movement +a bloody and exterminating battle had been fought the day before, in +which one entire tribe of the Khan's dependents, numbering not less +than nine thousand fighting men, had perished to the last man. This was +the _ouloss_, or clan, called _Feka-Zechorr_, between whom and +the Cossacks there was a feud of ancient standing. In selecting, +therefore, the points of attack, on occasion of the present hasty +inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally eager so to direct their +efforts as to combine with the service of the Empress some +gratification to their own party hatreds; more especially as the +present was likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if the +Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated as +large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances allowed, they attacked +the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation which denied to it all +means for communicating with Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding +an ample range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast +flocks and herds, had separated this _ouloss_ from the Khan's +head-quarters by an interval of eighty miles: and thus it was, and not +from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely upon its own +resources. These had proved insufficient; retreat, from the exhausted +state of their horses and camels, no less than from the prodigious +encumbrances of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question: +quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not have been granted +on the other; and thus it had happened that the setting sun of that one +day (the 13th from the first opening of the revolt) threw his parting +rays upon the final agonies of an ancient _ouloss_, stretched upon +a bloody field, who on that day's dawning had held and styled +themselves an independent nation. + +Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the +Khan's encampment by this disastrous intelligence; not so much on +account of the numbers slain, or the total extinction of a powerful +ally, as because the position of the Cossack force was likely to put to +hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard, and +hold them in check, until the heavier columns of the Russian army +should arrive upon their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly +raised; and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and +their children, once again resounded through the tents--the signal for +flight, and this time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one +hundred and fifty miles ahead of their present position, there arose a +tract of hilly country, forming a sort of margin to the vast, sea-like +expanse of champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy +deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin both +eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in the centre of this hilly +range, lay a narrow defile, through which passed the nearest and the +most practicable route to the river Torgai (the further bank of which +river offered the next great station of security for a general halt.) +It was the more essential to gain this pass before the Cossacks, +inasmuch as not only would the delay in forcing the pass give time to +the Russian pursuing columns for combining their attacks and for +bringing up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in +pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held by those best +acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography of these pathless +steppes--that the loss of this one narrow strait amongst the hills +would have the effect of throwing them (as their only alternative in a +case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit of +at least five hundred miles extra; besides that, after all, this +circuitous route would carry them to the Torgai at a point ill fitted +for the passage of their heavy baggage. The defile in the hills, +therefore, it was resolved to gain; and yet, unless they moved upon it +with the velocity of light cavalry, there was little chance but it +would be found pre-occupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had +suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with their enemies; +but the excitement of victory, and the intense sympathy with their +unexampled triumph, had again swelled their ranks--and would probably +act with the force of a vortex to draw in their simple countrymen from +the Caspian. The question, therefore, of pre-occupation was reduced to +a race. The Cossacks were marching upon an oblique line not above fifty +miles longer than that which led to the same point from the Kalmuck +head-quarters before Koulagina: and therefore without the most furious +haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not a chance for them, +burdened and 'trashed' [Footnote: _'Trashed'_--This is an expressive +word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Bonduca, etc., to describe +the case of a person retarded and embarrassed in flight, or in pursuit, +by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable to be left +behind.] as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the +Cossacks in seizing this important pass. + +Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition +of the case. For they easily understood that too capital an interest +(the _summa rerum_) was now at stake to allow of any regard to +minor interests, or what would be considered such in their present +circumstances. The dreadful week already passed,--their inauguration in +misery,--was yet fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffering +were impressed not only upon their memories, but upon their very +persons and the persons of their children. And they knew that where no +speed had much chance of meeting the cravings of the chieftains, no +test would be accepted, short of absolute exhaustion, that as much had +been accomplished as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian +captive, has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the women and +elder boys assisted in drawing the tent-ropes. On the 5th of January +all had been animation, and the joyousness of indefinite expectation: +now, on the contrary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to +take an amended calculation of what it was that lay before them. + +One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight +continued: the sufferings had been greater than before: for the cold +had been more intense: and many perished out of the living creatures +through every class, except only the camels--whose powers of endurance +seemed equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, +brought an alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall: and +though not deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would +be so; and that, as a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no +plan could be better than that of staying where they were: especially +as the same cause would check the advance of the Cossacks. Here then +was the last interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy nation +during their whole migration. For ten days the snow continued to fall +with little intermission. At the end of that time keen bright frosty +weather succeeded: the drifting had ceased: in three days the smooth +expanse became firm enough to support the treading of the camels, and +the flight was recommenced. But during the halt much domestic comfort +had been enjoyed: and for the last time universal plenty. The cows and +oxen had perished in such vast numbers on the previous marches, that an +order was now issued to turn what remained to account by slaughtering +the whole, and salting whatever part should be found to exceed the +immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene of general +banqueting and even of festivity amongst all who were not incapacitated +for joyous emotions by distress of mind, by grief for the unhappy +experience of the few last days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy +future. Seventy thousand persons of all ages had already perished; +exclusively of the many thousand allies who had been cut down by the +Cossack sabre. And the losses in reversion were likely to be many more. +For rumors began now to arrive from all quarters, by the mounted +couriers whom the Khan had despatched to the rear and to each flank as +well as in advance, that large masses of the Imperial troops were +converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords of the river +Torgai as the most convenient point for intercepting the flying tribes: +and it was already well known that a powerful division was close in +their rear, and was retarded only by the numerous artillery which had +been judged necessary to support their operations. New motives were +thus daily arising for quickening the motions of the wretched Kalmucks, +and for exhausting those who were previously but too much exhausted. + +It was not until the 2d day of February that the Khan's advanced guard +came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, +in which they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A +pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, pre-occupied the +pass by some hours; but the Khan having too great advantages, namely, a +strong body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on +about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which he +had not yet been forced to abandon, soon began to make a serious +impression upon this unsupported detachment; and they would probably at +any rate have retired; but at the very moment when they were making +some dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear +with a body of trained riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in +the war with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over +the cliffs which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the dry +beds of the summer torrents, and other inequalities of the ground, to +conceal their movement. Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in +the Cossack files; the Khan, who had been waiting with the _elite_ +of his heavy cavalry, charged furiously upon them; total overthrow +followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some measure +avenged the recent bloody extermination of their allies, the ancient +_ouloss_ of Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were +unable to support the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of +trained _cameleers_ (that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); +hardy they were, but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in +weight; and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days to +gain their present position, had greatly diminished their powers for +effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, _did_ escape; and the +bloody day of Ouchim became as memorable amongst the Cossacks as that +which, about twenty days before, had signalized the complete +annihilation of the Faka-Zechorr. [Footnote: There was another _ouloss_ +equally strong with that of _Feka-Zechorr_, viz., that of Erketunn, +under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom some obligations of +treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general conspiracy of +revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means to assure the +Governor of Astrachan, on the first outbreak of the insurrection, that +their real wishes were for maintaining the old connection with Russia. +The Cossacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit was intrusted, had +instructions to act cautiously and according to circumstances on coming +up with them. The result was, through the prudent management of +Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising their pride or +independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied the Cossacks; +and eventually both chiefs and people received from the Czarina the +rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity.] + +The road was now open to the river Igritch, and as yet even far beyond +it to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue, was +every day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a +large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon the +Torgau, under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to +be joined on his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the +same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks--both +exasperated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which Oubacha +and Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots +as served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore +with submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been +imposed; and, accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present +occasion offered to their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the +Czarina of their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same +time a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant to +execute them, viz., 'That they would not trouble her Majesty with +prisoners.' + +Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks +with the regular armies of Russia, and concurrently with nations as +fierce and semi-humanized as themselves, besides that they were stung +into threefold activity by the furies of mortified pride and military +abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more +especially the artillery, of Russia, were far too overwhelming to +permit the thought of a regular opposition in pitched battles, even +with a less dilapidated state of their resources than they could +reasonably expect at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In +their speed lay their only hope--in strength of foot, as before, and +not in strength of arm. Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, +marking the lines of their wide-extending march over the sad solitudes +of the steppes by a never-ending chain of corpses. The old and the +young, the sick man on his couch, the mother with her baby--all were +left behind. Sights such as these, with the many rueful aggravations +incident to the helpless condition of infancy--of disease and of female +weakness abandoned to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness, continued +to track their course through a space of full two thousand miles; for +so much at the least, it was likely to prove, including the circuits to +which they were often compelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the +point of starting on the Wolga until they could reach their destined +halting-ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first seven +weeks of this march their sufferings had been embittered by the +excessive severity of the cold; and every night--so long as wood was to +be had for fires, either from the lading of the camels, or from the +desperate sacrifice of their baggage-wagons, or (as occasionally +happened) from the forests which skirted the banks of the many rivers +which crossed their path--no spectacle was more frequent than that of a +circle, composed of men, women, and children, gathered by hundreds +round a central fire, all dead and stiff at the return of morning +light. Myriads were left behind from pure exhaustion of whom none had a +chance, under the combined evils which beset them, of surviving through +the next twenty-four hours. Frost, however, and snow at length ceased +to persecute; the vast extent of the march at length brought them into +more genial latitudes, and the unusual duration of the march was +gradually bringing them into the more genial seasons of the year: Two +thousand miles had at least been traversed; February, March, April were +gone; the balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and sounds came +from every side to comfort the heart-weary travellers; and at last, in +the latter end of May, they crossed the Torgau, and took up a position +where they hoped to find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in +comfort as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from the +fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered forces to a +condition for executing, with less of wreck and ruin, the large +remainder of the journey. + +Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been +completed, but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific +sacrifice of at least two hundred and fifty thousand souls, to say +nothing of herds and flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: +ox, cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived--only the +camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of +some antediluvian animals, without the affections or sensibilities of +flesh and blood--these only still erected their speaking eyes to the +eastern heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this long +tempest of trial unscathed and unharmed. The Khan, knowing how much he +was individually answerable for the misery which had been sustained, +must have wept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes when he +threw his eyes over the myriads whom he had assembled: for the tears of +Xerxes were unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in his +power he resolved to make by sacrifices to the general good of all +personal regards; and accordingly, even at this point of their advance, +he once more deliberately brought under review the whole question of +the revolt. The question was formally debated before the Council, +whether, even at this point, they should untread their steps, and, +throwing themselves upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old +allegiance? In that case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become +the scapegoat for the general transgression. This, he argued, was no +fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited +and sacred power of the Khan, so well known to the Empress, made it +absolutely iniquitous to attribute any separate responsibility to the +people--upon the Khan rested the guilt, upon the Khan would descend +the Imperial vengeance. This proposal was applauded for its generosity, +but was energetically opposed by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the +whole journey of two thousand miles? Was their misery to perish without +fruit; true it was that they had yet reached only the half-way house; +but, in that respect, the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or +for advance. Either way they would have pretty nearly the same distance +to traverse, but with this difference--that, forwards, their rout lay +through lands comparatively fertile--backwards, through a blasted +wilderness, rich only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to +Kalmuck eyes by the trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the +Empress might accept an excuse for the past, would she the less forbear +to suspect for the future? The Czarina's _pardon_ they might obtain, +but could they ever hope to recover her _confidence_? Doubtless there +would now be a standing presumption against them, an immortal ground of +jealousy; and a jealous government would be but another name for a +harsh one. Finally, whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt +surely remained unimpaired by anything that had occurred. In reality +the revolt was, after all, no revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return +to their old allegiance, since, not above one hundred and fifty years +ago (viz., in the year 1616,) their ancestors had revolted from the +Emperor of China. They had now tried both governments; and for them +China was the land of promise, and Russia the house of bondage. + +Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the +people was strongly in behalf of the Khan's proposal; the pardon of +their prince, they persuaded themselves, would be readily conceded by +the Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time +have thrown themselves gladly upon the Imperial mercy; when suddenly +all was defeated by the arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This +general had reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, +on the 12th of April; thence he set forwards towards Oriembourg, which +he reached upon the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at +various times through the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps of +ten thousand Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official +offer to the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory, holding out no +specific stipulations as to pardon or impunity, and exacting +unconditional submission as the preliminary price of any cessation from +military operations. The personal character of Traubenberg, which was +anything but energetic, and the condition of his army, disorganized in +a great measure by the length and severity of the march, made it +probable that, with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory +tone would have been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister +events occurred in the meantime, such as effectually put an end to +every hope of the kind. + +The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this officer +that a distance of only ten days' march lay between his own head- +quarters and those of the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the +Kirghises, by their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the +Russian general to advance without delay. Once having placed his cannon +in position, so as to command the Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel +Khan and his people would be in his own hands; and they would +themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however, _why_ +has not been certainly explained, refused to march, grounding his +refusal upon the condition of his army, and their absolute need of +refreshment. Long and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing +no chance of prevailing, and dreading above all other events the escape +of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off in a body by +forced marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed by +swimming their horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed +for many a league in search of food or provender for their camels. The +first day's action was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, +diffused over a field of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party +often breaking up into three or four, and again (according to the +accidents of ground) three or four blending into one; flight and +pursuit, rescue and total overthrow, going on simultaneously, under all +varieties of form, in all quarters of the plain. The Bashkirs had found +themselves obliged, by the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up +into innumerable sections; and thus, for some hours, it had been +impossible for the most practised eye to collect the general tendency +of the day's fortune. Both the Khan and Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment +made prisoners, and more than once in imminent danger of being cut +down; but at length Zebek succeeded in rallying a strong column of +infantry, which, with the support of the camel-corps on each flank, +compelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild +cavalry continued to arrive through the next two days and nights, +followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed as the +advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kalmuck chieftains saw no +hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it happened that a +retreat, which had so recently been brought to a pause, was resumed at +the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were anticipating a deep +repose without further molestation, the whole summer through. + +It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to +the Kalmucks; and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they +were rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of +summer's heat could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this +sequel of their story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing +a little romantic episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha +and his unprincipled cousin Zebek-Dorchi. + +There was at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian +gentleman of some rank at the court of the Khan, whom, for political +reasons, it was thought necessary to carry along with them as a +captive. For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in +one or two instances cruel. But, as the increasing distance was +continually diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as +the misery of the guards gradually withdrew their attention from all +minor interests to their own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the +custody grew more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a petition to +the Khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored to liberty; and it was +understood that he might use his liberty in whatever way he chose, even +for returning to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he +was making active preparations for his journey to St. Petersburg, when +it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that, not improbably, in some of the +battles which were then anticipated with Traubenberg, it might happen +to them to lose some prisoner of rank, in which case the Russian +Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands for negotiating an exchange. +Upon this plea, to his own severe affliction, the Russian was detained +until the further pleasure of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was +used through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with so little +concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private audience +humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done him, and the cruelty of +thus sporting with his feelings by setting him at liberty, and, as it +were, tempting him into dreams of home and restored happiness only for +the purpose of blighting them, the good-natured prince disclaimed all +participation in the affair, and went so far in proving his sincerity +as even to give him permission to effect his escape; and, as a ready +means of commencing it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to +Mr. Weseloff that he had just then received a message from the Hetman +of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview on the banks of the +Torgau at a spot pointed out; that interview was arranged for the +coming night; and Mr. Weseloff might go in the Khan's _suite_, +which on either side was not to exceed three persons. Weseloff was a +prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read treachery in the +very outline of this scheme, as stated by the Khan--treachery against +the Khan's person. He mused a little, and then communicated so much of +his suspicions to the Khan as might put him on his guard; but, upon +further consideration, he begged leave to decline the honor of +accompanying the Khan. The fact was, that three Kalmucks, who had +strong motives for returning to their countrymen on the west bank of +the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered to join him +in his escape. These men the Khan would probably find himself obliged +to countenance in their project; so that it became a point of honor +with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to accomplish +the evasion from the camp, (of which the first steps only would be +hazardous,) without risking the notice of the Khan. + +The district in which they were now encamped abounded, through many +hundred miles, with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each +of the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited +creatures in the course of the last few days; this raised no suspicion; +for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of provision +against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These +horses were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets +which lined the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at +night, the four fugitives repaired; they took a circuitous path, which +drew them as little as possible within danger of challenge from any of +the outposts or of the patrols which had been established on the +quarters where the Bashkirs lay; and in three quarters of an hour they +reached the rendezvous. The moon had now risen, the horses were +unfastened, and they were in the act of mounting, when the deep silence +of the woods was disturbed by a violent uproar, and the clashing of +arms. Weseloff fancied that he heard the voice of the Khan shouting for +assistance. He remembered the communication made by that prince in the +morning; and requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in +the direction of the sound. A very short distance brought him to an +open glade in the wood, where he beheld four men contending with a +party of at least nine or ten. Two of the four were dismounted at the +very instant of Weseloff's arrival; one of these he recognized almost +certainly as the Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, but at great +disadvantage, with two of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that no time was +to be lost, Weseloff fired, and brought down one of the two. His +companions discharged their carbines at the same moment, and then all +rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The thundering sound +of about thirty horses, all rushing at once into a narrow space, gave +the impression that a whole troop of cavalry was coming down upon the +assailants; who, accordingly, wheeled about and fled with one impulse. +Weseloff advanced to the dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, +proved to be the Khan. The man whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; +and both were shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on +stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize a well known +confidential servant of Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. +The Khan rode off, escorted by Weseloff and his companions, and for +some time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was +delicate and critical; to leave the Khan at this point was probably to +cancel their recent services; for he might be again crossed on his +path, and again attacked by the very party from whom he had just been +delivered. Yet, on the other hand, to return to the camp was to +endanger the chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan also was +apparently revolving all this in his mind, for at length he broke +silence, and said--'I comprehend your situation; and, under other +circumstances, I might feel it my duty to detain your companions. But +it would ill become me to do so after the important service you have +just rendered me. Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you +see the watchfire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then safe. You +may turn and pursue your enterprise; for the circumstances under which +you will appear, as my escort, are sufficient to shield you from all +suspicion for the present. I regret having no better means at my +disposal for testifying my gratitude. But tell me, before we part, was +it accident only which led you to my rescue? Or had you acquired any +knowledge of the plot by which I was decoyed into this snare?' Weseloff +answered very candidly that mere accident had brought him to the spot +at which he heard the uproar, but that _having_ heard it, and +connecting it with the Khan's communication of the morning, he had then +designedly gone after the sound in a way which he certainly should not +have done at so critical a moment, unless in the expectation of finding +the Khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after they reached the +outpost at which it became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain; and +immediately the four fugitives commenced a flight which is perhaps +without a parallel in the annals of travelling. Each of them led six or +seven horses besides the one he rode; and by shifting from one to the +other (like the ancient _Desultors_ of the Roman circus,) so as +never to burden the same horse for more than half an hour at a time, +they continued to advance at the rate of two hundred miles in the +twenty-four hours for three days consecutively. After that time, +considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded less rapidly; +though still with a velocity which staggered the belief of Weseloff's +friends in after years. He was, however, a man of high principle, and +always adhered firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the +circumstances there stated is, that they continued to pursue the route +by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for an instant finding any +difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons and other memorials of their +calamities. In particular, he mentions vast heaps of money as part of +the valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice. These +heaps were found lying still untouched in the deserts. From these, +Weseloff and his companions took as much as they could conveniently +carry; and this it was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which +they afterwards sold at one of the Russian military settlements for +about Ł15 a-piece, which eventually enabled them to pursue their +journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded Weseloff in particular, +was closed by a tragical catastrophe. He was at that time young, and +the only child of a doating mother. Her affliction under the violent +abduction of her son had been excessive, and probably had undermined +her constitution. Still she had supported it. Weseloff, giving way to +the natural impulses of his filial affection, had imprudently posted +through Russia, to his mother's house without warning of his approach. +He rushed precipitately into her presense; and she, who had stood the +shocks of sorrow, was found unequal to the shock of joy too sudden and +too acute. She died upon the spot. + +We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. These it would +be useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand +miles of suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering +was even more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but +also more severe. Its main elements were excessive heat, with the +accompaniments of famine and thirst, but aggravated at every step by +the murderous attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the +Kirghises. + +These people, 'more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,' stuck to +the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of enraged hornets. And very often +whilst _they_ were attacking them in the rear, their advanced +parties and flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people +of the country which they were traversing; and with good reason, since +the law of self-preservation had now obliged the fugitive Tartars to +plunder provisions, and to forage wherever they passed. In this respect +their condition was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for, +sometimes, pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of perhaps a +hundred miles, in order to strike into a land rich in the comforts of +life; but in such a land they were sure to find a crowded population, +of which every arm was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the +advantages of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of all +the defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges. Sometimes, +again, wearied out with this mode of suffering, they took a circuit of +perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land with few or no +inhabitants. But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute +starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of +starvation, whether with or without this plague of hostility in front, +whatever might he the 'fierce varieties' of their misery in this +respect, no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet +atra cura_; it was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. +And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented +in the history of mankind. Private and personal malignity is not +unfrequently immortal; but rare indeed is it to find the same +pertinacity of malice in a nation. And what embittered the interest +was, that the malice was reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon +equal terms; but that equality only sharpened the sense of their dire +inequality as to other circumstances. The Bashkirs were ready to fight +'from morn to dewy eve.' The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always +obliged to run; was it _from_ their enemies, as creatures whom +they feared? No; but _towards_ their friends--towards that final +haven of China--as what was hourly implored by their wives, and the +tears of their children. But though they fled unwillingly, too often +they fled in vain--being unwillingly recalled. There lay the torment. +Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day the same unprofitable +battle was renewed; as a matter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part +of their advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle raged for +hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no sooner did the +Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that the Kalmuck +march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired into the +boundless deserts where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks +resolved to press forward, regardless of their enemies, in that case +their attacks became so fierce and overwhelming, that the general +safety seemed likely to be brought into question; nor could any +effectual remedy be applied to the case, even for each separate day, +except by a most embarrassing halt, and by countermarches, that, to men +in their circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not be +surprising, that the irritation of such a systematic persecution, +superadded to a previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the +stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual +vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into +the wildest expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long +before the frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both +sides had assumed the appearance much more of a warfare amongst wild +beasts than amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or +the claims of a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it +was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends. + +On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the +Emperor of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier +district lying on the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred +square leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in +woods of ancient growth, and overrun with game of every description. In +a central spot of this solitary region, the Emperor had built a +gorgeous hunting-lodge, to which he resorted annually for recreation +and relief from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of +game, he had rambled to a distance of two hundred miles or more from +this lodge, followed at a little distance by a sufficient military +escort, and every night pitching his tent in a different situation, +until at length he had arrived on the very margin of the vast central +deserts of Asia. [Footnote: All the circumstances are learned from a +long state paper upon the subject of this Kalmuck migration, drawn up +in the Chinese language by the Emperor himself. Parts of this paper +have been translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor states the +whole motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great length.] +Here he was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, +enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there +arose a vast cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and +seemed to be slowly diffusing itself over the whole face of the +heavens. By-and-by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken towards the +horizon, and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite +assembled from all quarters. The silver trumpets were sounded in the +rear, and from all the glades and forest avenues began to trot forward +towards the pavilion the yagers, half cavalry, half huntsmen, who +composed the Imperial escort. Conjecture was on the stretch to divine +the cause of this phenomenon, and the interest continually increased, +in proportion as simple curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety +of uncertain danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast +troops of deer, or other wild animals of the chase, had been disturbed +in their forest haunts by the Emperor's movements, or possibly by wild +beasts prowling for prey, and might be fetching a compass by way of re- +entering the forest grounds at some remoter points secure from +molestation. But this conjecture was dissipated by the slow increase of +the cloud, and the steadiness of its motion. In the course of two hours +the vast phenomenon had advanced to a point which was judged to be +within five miles of the spectators, though all calculations of +distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when applied to the +endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next hour, during +which the gentle morning breeze had a little freshened, the dusty vapor +had developed itself far and wide into the appearance of huge aerial +draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the earth; and at +particular points, where the eddies of the breeze acted upon the +pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains rents were perceived, +sometimes taking the form of regular arches, portals, and windows, +through which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 'indorsed' +[Footnote: _Camels 'indorsed;'_--'And elephants indorsed with +towers.' MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.] with human beings--and at +intervals the moving of men and horses, in tumultuous array--and then, +through other openings or vistas, at far distant points, the flashing +of polished arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened or died away, +all those openings, of whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly +close, and for a time the whole pageant was shut up from view; although +the growing din, the clamors, the shrieks and groans, ascending from +infuriated myriads, reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, +what was going on behind the cloudy screen. + +It was in fact the Kalmuck host, now in the last extremities of their +exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation +and intense misery, beyond which few or none could have lived, but +also, happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) +that final stage of their long pilgrimage, at which they would meet +hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence, and full protection from +their enemies. These enemies, however, as yet still were hanging on +their rear as fiercely as ever, though this day was destined to be the +last of their hideous persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward +couriers with all the requisite statements and petitions, addressed to +the Emperor of China. These had been duly received, and preparations +made in consequence to welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal +benevolence. But as these couriers had been despatched from the Torgau +at the moment of arrival thither, and before the advance of Traubenberg +had made it necessary for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the +flight, the Emperor had not looked for their arrival on their frontier +until full three months after the present time. The Khan had indeed +expressly notified his intention to pass the summer heats on the banks +of the Torgau, and to recommence his retreat about the beginning of +September. The subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long, +left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation to be put +upon this mighty apparition in the desert; but at length the savage +clamors of hostile fury, and the clangor of weapons, unveiled to the +Emperor the true nature of those unexpected calamities which had so +prematurely precipitated the Kalmuck measure. + +Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived +that the first act of his fatherly care for these erring children (as +he esteemed them) now returning to their ancient obedience, must be-- +to deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than +might have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well +appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment of artillery, who always +attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime +it occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to +the Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy; and +accordingly he was induced to retire a little to the rear. It soon +appeared, however, to those who watched the vapory shroud in the +desert, that its motion was not such as would argue the direction of +the march to be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in a diagonal +line, making an angle of full forty-five degrees with that line in +which the Imperial _cortčge_ had been standing, and therefore with +a distance continually increasing. Those who knew the country judged +that the Kalmucks were making for a large fresh-water lake about seven +or eight miles distant; they were right; and to that point the Imperial +cavalry was ordered up; and it was precisely in that spot, and about +three hours after and at noon-day on the 8th of September, that the +great Exodus of the Kalmuck Tartars was brought to a final close, and +with a scene of such memorable and hellish fury, as formed an +appropriate winding-up to an expedition in all its parts and details so +awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not personally present, or at least +he saw whatever he _did_ see from too great a distance to +discriminate its individual features; but he records in his written +memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of his own +officers. + +The lake of Tengis, near the frightful desert of Kobi, lay in a hollow +amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three +thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese +cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like +dip in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. From this +pass, elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, +they continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an +hour and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were +compelled to be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. +The Kalmucks, reduced by this time from about six hundred thousand +souls to two hundred thousand, and after enduring for two months and a +half the miseries we have previously described--outrageous heat, +famine, and the destroying scimitar of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs, +had for the last ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no +vestiges were seen of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found. +Camels and men were already so overladen, that it was a mere +impossibility that they should carry a tolerable sufficiency for the +passage of this frightful wilderness. On the eighth day the wretched +daily allowance, which had been continually diminishing, failed +entirely; and thus for two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors +of thirst had been carried to the fiercest extremity. Upon this last +morning, at the sight of the hills and the forest scenery, which +announced to those who acted as guides the neighborhood of the lake of +Tengis, all the people rushed along with maddening eagerness to the +anticipated solace. The day grew hotter and hotter, the people more and +more exhausted, and gradually, in the general rush forwards to the +lake, all discipline and command were lost--all attempts to preserve a +rear-guard were neglected--the wild Bashkirs rode in amongst the +encumbered people, and slaughtered them by wholesale, and almost +without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts proclaimed the +progress of the massacre; but none heeded--none halted; all alike, +pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to the +waters--all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver, +and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was affected +by the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery as +the wretched Kalmuck; the murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic +misery as his murdered victim--many indeed (an ordinary effect of +thirst) in both nations had become lunatic--and in this state, whilst +mere multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to +the destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; +and to that the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together +continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one +almighty instinct. This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening +appetite lasted for a single minute; but in the next arose the final +scene of parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary +lake were instantly dyed red with blood and gore; here rode a party of +savage Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swathes fall before +the mower's scythe; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death-grapple +with their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and +oftentimes both sinking together below the surface, from weakness, or +from struggles, and perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at +any point collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the +assault? Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode +them, generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were +forced into a share in this carnival of murder, by trampling down as +many as they could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore-legs. +Every moment the water grew more polluted: and yet every moment fresh +myriads came up to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their +frantic thirst, and swallowing large draughts of water, visibly +contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered compatriots. +Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough to allow of men raising their +heads above the water, there for scores of acres were to be seen all +forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of convulsion, +of mortal conflict, death, and the fear of death--revenge, and the +lunacy of revenge--hatred, and the frenzy of hatred--until the neutral +spectators, of whom there were not a few, now descending the eastern +side of the lake, at length averted their eyes in horror. This horror, +which seemed incapable of further addition, was, however, increased by +an unexpected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to perceive here and +there the approach of the Chinese cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever +they were sufficiently at leisure from the passions of the murderous +scene--to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the governor of a +small Chinese fort, built upon an eminence above the lake; and +immediately he threw in a broadside, which spread havoc amongst the +Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs collected into 'globes' and +'turms' as their only means of meeting the long line of descending +Chinese cavalry--so often did the Chinese governor of the fort pour in +his exterminating broadside; until at length the lake at the lower end, +became one vast seething cauldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The +Chinese cavalry had reached the foot of the hills: the Bashkirs, +attentive to their movements, had formed; skirmishes had been fought: +and, with a quick sense that the contest was henceforwards rapidly +becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises began to retire. The +pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would have desired. +But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could not but find, in +their own dreadful experience of the Asiatic deserts, and in the +certainty that these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat that same +experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted +by a retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty--not the very +gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting, but found in all +this a retaliatory chastisement more complete and absolute than any +which their swords and lances could have obtained, or human vengeance +could have devised. + +Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the Desert; for any +subsequent marches which awaited them, were neither long nor painful. +Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exhausted bodies +had been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely +munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to +them in ample extent along the river Ily, not very far from the point +at which they had first emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the +beneficent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in his +own words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit +missionaries:--"La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_) arriva +ŕ Ily, toute _delabree_, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vętir. +Je l'avais prévu; et j'avais ordonné de faire en tout genre les +provisions nécessaires pour pouvoir les secourir promptement; c'est ce +qui a été exécuté. On a fait la division des terres; et on a assigné ŕ +chaque famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir ŕ son +entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On +a donne a chaque particulier des étoffes pour l'habiller, des grains +pour se nourrir pendant l'espace d'une année, des ustensiles pour le +ménage et d'autres choses nécessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces +d'argent, pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a désigné +des lieux particuliers, fertiles en pâturages; et on leur a donné des +boeufs, moutons, &c. pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite travailler par +euxmęmes a leur entretien et ŕ leur bienętre." + +These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person +of his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same +subject, records the munificence of this prince in terms which proclaim +still more forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and +the delicate considerateness which conducted this extensive bounty. He +has been speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils +arrivčrent sur nos frontičres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de +mille), quoique la fatigue extręme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les +autres incommodités inséparables d'une trčs-longue et trčs pénible +route en eussent fait périr presque autant, ils étaient réduits a la +derničre misčre: ils manquaient de tout. Il" (viz. l'Empereur, Kien +Long) "leur fit préparer des logemens conformes a leur maničre de +vivre; il leur fit distribuer des aliments et des habits; il leur fit +donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en +état de former des troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, _et tout cela ŕ +ses propres frais_, qui se sont montés ŕ des sommes immenses, sans +compter l'argent qu'il a donné ŕ chaque chef-de-famille, pour pourvoir +ŕ la subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans." + +Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks were replaced +in territorial possessions, and in comfort equal perhaps, or even +superior, to that which they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior +political advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no +longer the same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered +in quality; for instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people, +they were now in circumstances which obliged them to become essentially +dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social rank, that by +the natural course of their habits and the necessities of life they +were effectually reclaimed from roving, and from the savage customs +connected with so unsettled a life. They gained also in political +privileges, chiefly through the immunity from military service which +their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were circumstances of +advantage and gain. But one great disadvantage there was, amply to +overbalance all other possible gain; the chances were lost or were +removed to an incalculable distance for their conversion to +Christianity, without which in these times there is no absolute advance +possible on the path of true civilization. + +One word remains to be said upon the _personal_ interests +concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was +remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all his goodness and incapacity +of suspecting, had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the +Torgau, felt his mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the +man that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so +visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing of Zebek-Dorchi, and a +displeasure which all his dissimulation could not hide. This had +produced a feud, which, by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the +life of Oubacha; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than +his open enmity. After the settlement on the Ily this feud continued to +advance, until it came under the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of +a visit which all the Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his +hunting-lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately of all +the particulars connected with the transaction--of all the rights and +claims put forward--and of the way in which they would severally affect +the interests of the Kalmuck people. The consequence was, that he +adopted the cause of Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions of Zebek- +Dorchi, who, on his part, so deeply resented this discountenance to his +ambitious projects, that in conjunction with other chiefs he had the +presumption even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor himself. +Plots were laid--were detected--were baffled--counterplots were +constructed upon the same basis, and with the benefit of the +opportunities thus offered. + +Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with +all his accomplices; and under the skilful management of the Chinese +nobles in the Emperor's establishment, the murderous artifices of these +Tartar chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole of +them perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet. For the +Chinese morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything +the _lex talionis:_-- + + ----'lex nec justior ulla est (as _they_ think) + Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.' + +So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar +_Exodus_. Oubacha, meantime, and his people, were gradually +recovering from the effects of their misery, and repairing their +losses. Peace and prosperity, under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord +paramount, re-dawned upon the tribes; their household _lares_, +after so harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a happy +reinstatement in what had in fact been their primitive abodes; they +found themselves settled in quiet sylvan scenes, rich in all the +luxuries of life, and endowed with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian +beauty. But from the hills of this favored land and even from the level +grounds as they approach its western border, they still look out upon +that fearful wilderness which once beheld a nation in agony--the utter +extirpation of nearly half a million from amongst its numbers, and, for +the remainder, a storm of misery so fierce, that in the end (as +happened also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different +form of misery) very many lost their memory; all records of their past +life were wiped out as with a sponge--utterly erased and cancelled; and +many others lost their reason; some in a gentle form of pensive +melancholy, some in a more restless form of feverish delirium and +nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, +raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. Two great commemorative monuments +arose in after years to mark the depth and permanence of the awe--the +sacred and reverential grief with which all persons looked back upon +the dread calamities attached to the year of the Tiger--all who had +either personally shared in those calamities, and had themselves drunk +from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually been made witnesses to +their results, and associated with their relief; two great monuments, +we say; first of all, one in the religious solemnity, enjoined by the +Dalai Lama, called in the Tartar language a _Romanang_, that is, a +national commemoration, with music the most rich and solemn, of all the +souls who departed to the rest of Paradise from the afflictions of the +Desert: this took place about six years after the arrival in China. +Secondly, another more durable and more commensurate to the scale of +the calamity and to the grandeur of this national Exodus, in the mighty +columns of granite and brass, erected by the Emperor Kien Long, near +the banks of the Ily: these columns stand upon the very margin of the +_steppes_; and they bear a short but emphatic inscription +[Footnote: This inscription has been slightly altered in one or two +phrases, and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the +Emperor's expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China +and the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the +designation adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon +some confusion between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the +former, being of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in +part the same longitudes, though in different latitudes) might be +considered as his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the +Greek form of Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and +Church.] to the following effect:-- + +By the Will of God +Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, +Which from this Point begin and stretch away +Pathless, treeless, waterless, +For thousands of miles--and along the margins of many mighty Nations, +Rested from their labors and from great afflictions +Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall, +And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon Earth, +The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars +Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar, +Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire in the +year 1616, +But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow, +Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd. +Hallowed be the spot for ever, +and +Hallowed be the day--September 8, 1771! +Amen. + +END OF VOLUME I. + + + + +VOLUME II + + +SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. +[Footnote: Thoughts on Some Important Points relating to the System of +the World. By J. P. Nichol, LL.D., Professor of Astronomy in the +University of Glasgow. William Tait, Edinburgh. 1846.] + +Some years ago, some person or other, [in fact I believe it was +myself,] published a paper from the German of Kant, on a very +interesting question, viz., the age of our own little Earth. Those who +have never seen that paper, a class of unfortunate people whom I +suspect to form _rather_ the majority in our present perverse +generation, will be likely to misconceive its object. Kant's purpose +was, not to ascertain how many years the Earth had lived: a million of +years, more or less, made very little difference to _him_. What he +wished to settle was no such barren conundrum. For, had there even been +any means of coercing the Earth into an honest answer, on such a +delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, Recupero, fancied that there +was; [Footnote: _Recupero_. See Brydone's Travels, some sixty or +seventy years ago. The canon, being a beneficed clergyman in the Papal +church, was naturally an infidel. He wished exceedingly to refute +Moses: and he fancied that he really had done so by means of some +collusive assistance from the layers of lava on Mount Etna. But there +survives, at this day, very little to remind us of the canon, except an +unpleasant guffaw that rises, at times, in solitary valleys of Etna.] +but which, in my own opinion, there neither is, nor ought to be,-- +(since a man deserves to be cudgelled who could put such improper +questions to a _lady_ planet,)--still what would it amount to? +What good would it do us to have a certificate of our dear little +mother's birth and baptism? Other people--people in Jupiter, or the +Uranians--may amuse themselves with her pretended foibles or +infirmities: it is quite safe to do so at _their_ distance; and, +in a female planet like Venus, it might be natural, (though, strictly +speaking, not quite correct,) to scatter abroad malicious insinuations, +as though our excellent little mamma had begun to wear false hair, or +had lost some of her front teeth. But all this, we men of sense know to +be gammon. Our mother Tellus, beyond all doubt, is a lovely little +thing. I am satisfied that she is very much admired throughout the +Solar System: and, in clear seasons, when she is seen to advantage, +with her bonny wee pet of a Moon tripping round her like a lamb, I +should be thankful to any gentleman who will mention where he has +happened to observe--either he or his telescope--will he only have the +goodness to say, in what part of the heavens he has discovered a more +elegant turn-out. I wish to make no personal reflections. I name no +names. Only this I say, that, though some people have the gift of +seeing things that other people never could see, and though some other +people, or other some people are born with a silver spoon in their +mouths, so that, generally, their geese count for swans, yet, after +all, swans or geese, it would be a pleasure to me, and really a +curiosity, to see the planet that could fancy herself entitled to +sneeze at our Earth. And then, if she (viz., our Earth,) keeps but one +Moon, even _that_ (you know) is an advantage as regards some +people that keep none. There are people, pretty well known to you and +me, that can't make it convenient to keep even one Moon. And so I come +to my moral; which is this, that, to all appearance, it is mere +justice; but, supposing it were not, still it is _our_ duty, (as +children of the Earth,) right or wrong, to stand up for our bonny young +mamma, if she _is_ young; or for our dear old mother, if she +_is_ old; whether young or old, to take her part against all +comers; and to argue through thick and thin, which (sober or not) I +always attempt to do, that she is the most respectable member of the +Copernican System. + +Meantime, what Kant understood by being old, is something that still +remains to be explained. If one stumbled, in the steppes of Tartary, on +the grave of a Megalonyx, and, after long study, had deciphered from +some pre-Adamite heiro-pothooks, the following epitaph:--'_Hic +jacet_ a Megalonyx, or _Hic jacet_ a Mammoth, (as the case +might be,) who departed this life, to the grief of his numerous +acquaintance in the seventeen thousandth year of his age,'--of course, +one would be sorry for him; because it must be disagreeable at +_any_ age to be torn away from life, and from all one's little +megalonychal comforts; that's not pleasant, you know, even if one +_is_ seventeen thousand years old. But it would make all the +difference possible in your grief, whether the record indicated a +premature death, that he had been cut off, in fact, whilst just +stepping into life, or had kicked the bucket when full of honors, and +been followed to the grave by a train of weeping grandchildren. He had +died 'in his teens,' that's past denying. But still we must know to +what stage of life in a man, had corresponded seventeen thousand years +in a Mammoth. Now exactly this was what Kant desired to know about our +planet. Let her have lived any number of years that you suggest, (shall +we say if you please, that she is in her billionth year?) still that +tells us nothing about the _period_ of life, the _stage_, which she may +be supposed to have reached. Is she a child, in fact, or is she an +adult? And, _if_ an adult, and that you gave a ball to the Solar +System, is she that kind of person, that you would introduce to a +waltzing partner, some fiery young gentlemen like Mars, or would +you rather suggest to her the sort of partnership which takes place at +a whist-table? On this, as on so many other questions, Kant was +perfectly sensible that people, of the finest understandings, may and +do take the most opposite views. Some think that our planet is in that +stage of her life, which corresponds to the playful period of twelve or +thirteen in a spirited girl. Such a girl, were it not that she is +checked by a sweet natural sense of feminine grace, you might call a +romp; but not a hoyden, observe; no horse-play; oh, no, nothing of that +sort. And these people fancy that earthquakes, volcanoes, and all such +little _escapades_ will be over, they will, in lawyer's phrase, +'cease and determine,' as soon as our Earth reaches the age of maidenly +bashfulness. Poor thing! It's quite natural, you know, in a healthy +growing girl. A little overflow of vivacity, a _pirouette_ more or +less, what harm should _that_ do to any of us? Nobody takes more +delight than I in the fawn-like sportiveness of an innocent girl, at +this period of life: even a shade of _espičglerie_ does not annoy +me. But still my own impressions incline me rather to represent the +Earth as a fine noble young woman, full of the pride which is so +becoming to her sex, and well able to take her own part, in case that, +at any solitary point of the heavens, she should come across one of +those vulgar fussy Comets, disposed to be rude and take improper +liberties. These Comets, by the way, are public nuisances, very much +like the mounted messengers of butchers in great cities, who are always +at full gallop, and moving upon such an infinity of angles to human +shinbones, that the final purpose of such boys (one of whom lately had +the audacity nearly to ride down the Duke of Wellington) seems to be-- +not the translation of mutton, which would certainly find its way into +human mouths even if riding boys were not,--but the improved geometry +of transcendental curves. They ought to be numbered, ought these boys, +and to wear badges--X 10, &c. And exactly the same evil, asking +therefore by implication for exactly the same remedy, affects the +Comets. A respectable planet is known everywhere, and responsible for +any mischief that he does. But if a cry should arise, 'Stop that +wretch, who was rude to the Earth: who is he?' twenty voices will +answer, perhaps, 'It's Encke's Comet; he is always doing mischief;' +well, what can you say? it _may_ be Encke's, it may be some other +man's Comet; there are so many abroad and on so many roads, that you +might as well ask upon a night of fog, such fog as may be opened with +an oyster knife, whose cab that was (whose, viz., out of 27,000 in +London) that floored you into the kennel. + +These are constructive ideas upon the Earth's stage of evolution, which +Kant was aware of, and which will always find toleration, even where +they do not find patronage. But others there are, a class whom I +perfectly abominate, that place our Earth in the category of decaying +women, nay of decayed women, going, going, and all but gone. 'Hair like +arctic snows, failure of vital heat, palsy that shakes the head as in +the porcelain toys on our mantel-pieces, asthma that shakes the whole +fabric--these they absolutely fancy themselves to _see_. They +absolutely _hear_ the tellurian lungs wheezing, panting, crying, +'Bellows to mend!' periodically as the Earth approaches her aphelion. + +But suddenly at this point a demur arises upon the total question. +Kant's very problem explodes, bursts, as poison in Venetian wine-glass +of old shivered the glass into fragments. For is there, after all, any +stationary meaning in the question? Perhaps in reality the Earth is +both young and old. Young? If she is not young at present, perhaps she +_will_ be so in future. Old? if she is not old at this moment, +perhaps she _has_ been old, and has a fair chance of becoming so +again. In fact, she is a Phoenix that is known to have secret processes +for rebuilding herself out of her own ashes. Little doubt there is but +she has seen many a birthday, many a funeral night, and many a morning +of resurrection. Where now the mightiest of oceans rolls in pacific +beauty, once were anchored continents and boundless forests. Where the +south pole now shuts her frozen gates inhospitably against the +intrusions of flesh, once were probably accumulated the ribs of +empires; man's imperial forehead, woman's roseate lips, gleamed upon +ten thousand hills; and there were innumerable contributions to +antarctic journals almost as good (but not quite) as our own. Even +within our domestic limits, even where little England, in her south- +eastern quarter now devolves so quietly to the sea her sweet pastoral +rivulets, once came roaring down, in pomp of waters, a regal Ganges +[Footnote: _'Ganges:'_--Dr. Nichol calls it by this name for the +purpose of expressing its grandeur; and certainly in breadth, in +diffusion at all times, but especially in the rainy season, the Ganges +is the cock of the walk in our British orient. Else, as regards the +body of water discharged, the absolute payments made into the sea's +exchequer, and the majesty of column riding downwards from the +Himalaya, I believe that, since Sir Alexander Burnes's measurements, +the Indus ranks foremost by a long chalk.], that drained some +hyperbolical continent, some Quinbus Flestrin of Asiatic proportions, +long since gone to the dogs. All things pass away. Generations wax old +as does a garment: but eternally God says:--'Come again, ye children of +men.' Wildernesses of fruit, and worlds of flowers, are annually +gathered in solitary South America to ancestral graves: yet still the +Pomona of Earth, yet still the Flora of Earth, does not become +superannuated, but blossoms in everlasting youth. Not otherwise by +secular periods, known to us geologically as facts, though obscure as +durations, _Tellus_ herself, the planet, as a whole, is for ever +working by golden balances of change and compensation, of ruin and +restoration. She recasts her glorious habitations in decomposing them; +she lies down for death, which perhaps a thousand times she has +suffered; she rises for a new birth, which perhaps for the thousandth +time has glorified her disc. Hers is the wedding garment, hers is the +shroud, that eternally is being woven in the loom. And God imposes upon +her the awful necessity of working for ever at her own grave, yet of +listening for ever to his far-off trumpet of _palingenesis_. + +If this account of the matter be just, and were it not treasonable to +insinuate the possibility of an error against so great a swell as +Immanuel Kant, one would be inclined to fancy that Mr. Kant had really +been dozing a little on this occasion; or, agreeably to his own +illustration elsewhere, that he had realized the pleasant picture of +one learned doctor trying to milk a he-goat, whilst another doctor, +equally learned, holds the milk-pail below. [Footnote: Kant applied +this illustration to the case where one worshipful scholar proposes +some impossible problem, (as the squaring of the circle, or the +perpetual motion,) which another worshipful scholar sits down to solve. +The reference was of course to Virgil's line,--'Atque idem jungat +vulpes, et _mulgeat hircos_.'] And there is apparently this two- +edged embarrassment pressing upon the case--that, if our dear excellent +mother the Earth could be persuaded to tell us her exact age in Julian +years, still _that_ would leave us all as much in the dark as +ever: since, if the answer were, 'Why, children, at my next birth-day I +shall count a matter of some million centuries,' we should still be at +a loss to _value_ her age: would it mean that she was a mere +chicken, or that she was 'getting up in years?' On the other hand, if +(declining to state any odious circumstantialities,) she were to +reply,--'No matter, children, for my precise years, which are +disagreeable remembrances; I confess generally to being a lady of a +certain age,'--here, in the inverse order, given the _valuation_ +of the age, we should yet be at a loss for the _absolute_ years +numerically: would a 'certain age,' mean that 'mamma' was a million, be +the same more or less, or perhaps not much above seventy thousand? + +Every way, you see, reader, there are difficulties. But two things used +to strike me, as unaccountably overlooked by Kant; who, to say the +truth, was profound--yet at no time very agile--in the character of his +understanding. First, what age now might we take our brother and sister +planets to be? For _that_ determination as to a point in +_their_ constitution, will do something to illustrate our own. We +are as good as they, I hope, any day: perhaps in a growl, one might +modestly insinuate--_better_. It's not at all likely that there +can be any great disproportion of age amongst children of the same +household: and therefore, since Kant always countenanced the idea that +Jupiter had not quite finished the upholstery of his extensive +premises, as a comfortable residence for a man, Jupiter having, in +fact, a fine family of mammoths, but no family at all of 'humans,' (as +brother Jonathan calls them,) Kant was bound, _ex analogo_, to +hold that any little precedency in the trade of living, on the part of +our own mother Earth, could not count for much in the long run. At +Newmarket, or Doncaster, the start is seldom mathematically true: +trifling advantages will survive all human trials after abstract +equity; and the logic of this case argues, that any few thousands of +years by which Tellus may have got ahead of Jupiter, such as the having +finished her Roman Empire, finished her Crusades, and finished her +French Revolution, virtually amounts to little or nothing; indicates no +higher proportion to the total scale upon which she has to run, than +the few tickings of a watch by which one horse at the start for the +Leger is in advance of another. When checked in our chronology by each +other, it transpires that, in effect, we are but executing the nice +manoeuvre of a start; and that the small matter of six thousand years, +by which we may have advanced our own position beyond some of our +planetary rivals, is but the outstretched neck of an uneasy horse at +Doncaster. This is _one_ of the data overlooked by Kant; and the +less excusably overlooked, because it was his own peculiar doctrine,-- +that uncle Jupiter ought to be considered a greenhorn. Jupiter may be a +younger brother of our mamma; but, if he is a brother at all, he cannot +be so very wide of our own chronology; and therefore the first +_datum_ overlooked by Kant was--the analogy of our whole planetary +system. A second datum, as it always occurred to myself, might +reasonably enough be derived from the intellectual vigor of us men. If +our mother could, with any show of reason, be considered an old decayed +lady, snoring stentorously in her arm-chair, there would naturally be +some _aroma_ of phthisis, or apoplexy, beginning to form about +_us_, that are her children. But _is_ there? If ever Dr. Johnson +said a true word, it was when he replied to the Scottish judge +Burnett, so well known to the world as Lord Monboddo. The judge, a +learned man, but obstinate as a mule in certain prejudices, had said +plaintively, querulously, piteously,--'Ah, Doctor, we are poor +creatures, we men of the eighteenth century, by comparison with our +forefathers!' 'Oh, no, my Lord,' said Johnson, 'we are quite as strong +as our ancestors, and a great deal wiser.' Yes; our kick is, at least, +as dangerous, and our logic does three times as much execution. This +would be a complex topic to treat effectively; and I wish merely to +indicate the opening which it offers for a most decisive order of +arguments in such a controversy. If the Earth were on her last legs, we +her children could not be very strong or healthy. Whereas, if there +were less pedantry amongst us, less malice, less falsehood, and less +darkness of prejudice, easy it would be to show, that in almost every +mode of intellectual power, we are more than a match for the most +conceited of elder generations, and that in some modes we have energies +or arts absolutely and exclusively our own. Amongst a thousand +indications of strength and budding youth, I will mention two:--Is it +likely, is it plausible, that our Earth should just begin to find out +effective methods of traversing land and sea, when she had a summons to +leave both? Is it not, on the contrary, a clear presumption that the +great career of earthly nations is but on the point of opening, that +life is but just beginning to kindle, when the great obstacles to +effectual locomotion, and therefore to extensive human intercourse, are +first of all beginning to give way? Secondly, I ask peremptorily,--Does +it stand with good sense, is it reasonable that Earth is waning, +science drooping, man looking downward, precisely in that epoch when, +first of all, man's eye is arming itself for looking effectively into +the mighty depths of space? A new era for the human intellect, upon a +path that lies amongst its most aspiring, is promised, is inaugurated, +by Lord Rosse's almost awful telescope. + +What is it then that Lord Rosse has accomplished? If a man were aiming +at dazzling by effects of rhetoric, he might reply: He has accomplished +that which once the condition of the telescope not only refused its +permission to hope for, but expressly bade man to despair of. What is +it that Lord Rosse has revealed? Answer: he has revealed more by far +than he found. The theatre to which he has introduced us, is +_immeasurably_ beyond the old one which he found. To say that he +found, in the visible universe, a little wooden theatre of Thespis, a +_tréteau_ or shed of vagrants, and that he presented us, at a +price of toil and of _anxiety_ that cannot be measured, with a +Roman colosseum,--_that_ is to say nothing. It is to undertake the +measurement of the tropics with the pocket-tape of an upholsterer. +Columbus, when he introduced the Old World to the New, after all that +can be said in his praise, did in fact only introduce the majority to +the minority; but Lord Rosse has introduced the minority to the +majority. There are two worlds, one called Ante-Rosse, and the other +Post-Rosse; and, if it should come to voting, the latter would +shockingly outvote the other. Augustus Cćsar made it his boast when +dying, that he had found the city of Rome built of brick, and that he +left it built of marble: _lateritiam invenit, marmoream reliquit_. +Lord Rosse may say, even if to-day he should die, 'I found God's +universe represented for human convenience, even after all the sublime +discoveries of Herschel, upon a globe or spherical chart having a +radius of one hundred and fifty feet; and I left it sketched upon a +similar chart, keeping exactly the same scale of proportions, but now +elongating its radius into one thousand feet.' The reader of course +understands that this expression, founded on absolute calculations of +Dr. Nichol, is simply meant to exhibit the _relative_ dimensions +of the _mundus Ante-Rosseanus_ and the _mundus Post-Rosseanus;_ +for as to the _absolute_ dimensions, when stated in miles, leagues +or any units familiar to the human experience, they are too stunning +and confounding. If, again, they are stated in larger units, as for +instance diameters of the earth's orbit, the unit itself that +should facilitate the grasping of the result, and which really +_is_ more manageable numerically, becomes itself elusive of the +mental grasp: it comes in as an interpreter; and (as in some other +cases) the interpreter is hardest to be understood of the two. If, +finally, TIME be assumed as the exponent of the dreadful magnitudes, +time combining itself with motion, as in the flight of cannon-balls or +the flight of swallows, the sublimity becomes greater; but horror +seizes upon the reflecting intellect, and incredulity upon the +irreflective. Even a railroad generation, that _should_ have faith +in the miracles of velocity, lifts up its hands with an '_Incredulus +odi_!' we know that Dr. Nichol speaks the truth; but he _seems_ +to speak falsehood. And the ignorant by-stander prays that the doctor +may have grace given him and time for repentance; whilst his more +liberal companion reproves his want of charity, observing that +travellers into far countries have always had a license for lying, as a +sort of tax or fine levied for remunerating their own risks; and that +great astronomers, as necessarily far travellers into space, are +entitled to a double per centage of the same Munchausen privilege. + +Great is the mystery of Space, greater is the mystery of Time; either +mystery grows upon man, as man himself grows; and either seems to be a +function of the godlike which is in man. In reality the depths and the +heights which are in man, the depths by which he searches, the heights +by which he aspires, are but projected and made objective externally in +the three dimensions of space which are outside of him. He trembles at +the abyss into which his bodily eyes look down, or look up; not knowing +that abyss to be, not always consciously suspecting it to be, but by an +instinct written in his prophetic heart feeling it to be, boding it to +be, fearing it to be, and sometimes hoping it to be, the mirror to a +mightier abyss that will one day be expanded in himself. Even as to the +sense of space, which is the lesser mystery than time, I know not +whether the reader has remarked that it is one which swells upon man +with the expansion of his mind, and that it is probably peculiar to the +mind of man. An infant of a year old, or oftentimes even older, takes +no notice of a sound, however loud, which is a quarter of a mile +removed, or even in a distant chamber. And brutes, even of the most +enlarged capacities, seem not to have any commerce with distance: +distance is probably not revealed to them except by a _presence_, +viz., by some shadow of their own animality, which, if perceived at +all, is perceived as a thing _present_ to their organs. An animal +desire, or a deep animal hostility, may render sensible a distance +which else would not be sensible; but not render it sensible _as_ +a distance. Hence perhaps is explained, and not out of any self- +oblivion from higher enthusiasm, a fact that often has occurred, of +deer, or hares, or foxes, and the pack of hounds in pursuit, chaser and +chased, all going headlong over a precipice together. Depth or height +does not readily manifest itself to _them_; so that any _strong_ motive +is sufficient to overpower the sense of it. Man only has a natural +function for expanding on an illimitable sensorium, the illimitable +growths of space. Man, coming to the precipice, reads his danger; the +brute perishes: man is saved; and the horse is saved by his rider. + +But, if this sounds in the ear of some a doubtful refinement, the doubt +applies only to the lowest degrees of space. For the highest, it is +certain that brutes have no perception. To man is as much reserved the +prerogative of perceiving space in its higher extensions, as of +geometrically constructing the relations of space. And the brute is no +more capable of apprehending abysses through his eye, than he can build +upwards or can analyze downwards the ćrial synthesis of Geometry. Such, +therefore, as is space for the grandeur of man's perceptions, such as +is space for the benefit of man's towering mathematic speculations, +such is the nature of our debt to Lord Rosse--as being the philosopher +who has most pushed back the frontiers of our conquests upon this +_exclusive_ inheritance of man. We have all heard of a king that, +sitting on the sea-shore, bade the waves, as they began to lave his +feet, upon their allegiance to retire. _That_ was said not vainly +or presumptuously, but in reproof of sycophantic courtiers. Now, +however, we see in good earnest another man, wielding another kind of +sceptre, and sitting upon the shores of infinity, that says to the ice +which had frozen up our progress,--'Melt thou before my breath!' that +says to the rebellious _nebulć_,--'Submit, and burst into blazing +worlds!' that says to the gates of darkness,--'Roll back, ye barriers, +and no longer hide from us the infinities of God!' + + 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful.' + +From the days of infancy still lingers in my ears this opening of a +prose hymn by a lady, then very celebrated, viz., the late Mrs. +Barbauld. The hymn began by enticing some solitary infant into some +silent garden, I believe, or some forest lawn; and the opening words +were, 'Come, and I will show you what is beautiful!' Well, and what +beside? There is nothing beside; oh, disappointed and therefore enraged +reader; positively this is the sum-total of what I can recall from the +wreck of years; and certainly it is not much. Even of Sappho, though +time has made mere ducks and drakes of her lyrics, we have rather more +spared to us than this. And yet this trifle, simple as you think it, +this shred of a fragment, if the reader will believe me, still echoes +with luxurious sweetness in my ears, from some unaccountable hide-and- +seek of fugitive childish memories; just as a marine shell, if applied +steadily to the ear, awakens (according to the fine image of Landor +[Footnote: 'Of Landor,' viz., in his 'Gebir;' but also of Wordsworth in +'The Excursion.' And I must tell the reader, that a contest raged at +one time as to the _original property_ in this image, not much +less keen than that between Neptune and Minerva, for the chancellorship +of Athens.]) the great vision of the sea; places the listener + + 'In the sun's palace-porch, + And murmurs as the ocean murmurs there.' + +Now, on some moonless night, in some fitting condition of the +atmosphere, if Lord Rosse would permit the reader and myself to walk +into the front drawing-room of his telescope, then, in Mrs. Barbauld's +words, slightly varied, I might say to him,--Come, and I will show you +what is sublime! In fact, what I am going to lay before him, from Dr. +Nichol's work, is, or at least _would_ be, (when translated into +Hebrew grandeur by the mighty telescope,) a step above even that object +which some four-and-twenty years ago in the British Museum struck me as +simply the sublimest sight which in this sight-seeing world I had seen. +It was the Memnon's head, then recently brought from Egypt. I looked at +it, as the reader must suppose, in order to understand the depth which +I have here ascribed to the impression, not as a human but as a +symbolic head; and what it symbolized to me were: 1. The peace which +passeth all understanding. 2. The eternity which baffles and confounds +all faculty of computation; the eternity which _had_ been, the +eternity which _was_ to be. 3. The diffusive love, not such as +rises and falls upon waves of life and mortality, not such as sinks and +swells by undulations of time, but a procession--an emanation from some +mystery of endless dawn. You durst not call it a smile that radiated +from the lips; the radiation was too awful to clothe itself in +adumbrations or memorials of flesh. + +In _that mode_ of sublimity, perhaps, I still adhere to my first +opinion, that nothing so great was ever beheld. The atmosphere for +_this_, for the Memnon, was the breathlessness which belongs to a +saintly trance; the holy thing seemed to live by silence. But there +_is_ a picture, the pendant of the Memnon, there _is_ a dreadful +cartoon, from the gallery which has begun to open upon Lord Rosse's +telescope, where the appropriate atmosphere for investing it +must be drawn from another silence, from the frost and from the +eternities of death. It is the famous _nebula_ in the constellation +of Orion; famous for the unexampled defiance with which it resisted +all approaches from the most potent of former telescopes; famous +for its frightful magnitude and for the frightful depth to which +it is sunk in the abysses of the heavenly wilderness; famous just now +for the submission with which it has begun to render up its secrets to +the all-conquering telescope; and famous in all time coming for the +horror of the regal phantasma which it has perfected to eyes of flesh. +Had Milton's 'incestuous mother,' with her fleshless son, and with the +warrior angel, his father, that led the rebellions of heaven, been +suddenly unmasked by Lord Rosse's instrument, in these dreadful +distances before which, simply as expressions of resistance, the mind +of man shudders and recoils, there would have been nothing more +appalling in the exposure; in fact, it would have been essentially the +same exposure: the same expression of power in the detestable phantom, +the same rebellion in the attitude, the same pomp of malice in the +features to a universe seasoned for its assaults. + +The reader must look to Dr. Nichol's book, at page 51, for the picture +of this abominable apparition. But then, in order to see what _I_ +see, the obedient reader must do what I tell him to do. Let him +therefore view the wretch upside down. If he neglects that simple +direction, of course I don't answer for anything that follows: without +any fault of mine, my description will be unintelligible. This +inversion being made, the following is the dreadful creature that will +then reveal itself. + +_Description of the Nebula in Orion, as forced to show out by Lord +Rosse._--You see a head thrown back, and raising its face, (or eyes, +if eyes it had,) in the very anguish of hatred, to some unknown +heavens. What _should_ be its skull wears what _might_ be an +Assyrian tiara, only ending behind in a floating train. This head rests +upon a beautifully developed neck and throat. All power being given to +the awful enemy, he is beautiful where he pleases, in order to point +and envenom his ghostly ugliness. The mouth, in that stage of the +apocalypse which Sir John Herschel was able to arrest in his eighteen- +inch mirror, is amply developed. Brutalities unspeakable sit upon the +upper lip, which is confluent with a snout; for separate nostrils there +are none. Were it not for this one defect of nostrils; and, even in +spite of this defect, (since, in so mysterious a mixture of the angelic +and the brutal, we may suppose the sense of odor to work by some +compensatory organ,) one is reminded by the phantom's attitude of a +passage, ever memorable, in Milton: that passage, I mean, where Death +first becomes aware, soon after the original trespass, of his own +future empire over man. The 'meagre shadow' even smiles (for the first +time and the last) on apprehending his own abominable bliss, by +apprehending from afar the savor 'of mortal change on earth.' + + ----'Such a scent,' (he says,) 'I draw + Of carnage, prey innumerable.' + +As illustrating the attitude of the phantom in Orion, let the reader +allow me to quote the tremendous passage:-- + + 'So saying, with delight he snuff'd the smell + Of mortal change on earth. As when a flock + Of ravenous fowl, though many a league remote, + Against the day of battle, to a field, + Where armies lie encamp'd, come flying, lured + With scent of living carcasses design'd + For death, the following day, in bloody fight; + So scented the grim feature, [Footnote: 'So scented the grim +feature,' [_feature_ is the old word for _form or outline that +is shadowy_; and also for form (shadowy or not) which abstracts from +the _matter_.] By the way, I have never seen it noticed, that +Milton was indebted for the hint of this immortal passage to a superb +line-and-a-half, in Lucan's Pharsalia.] and upturn'd + His nostril wide into the murky air, + Sagacious of his quarry from so far.' + +But the lower lip, which is drawn inwards with the curve of a conch +shell,--oh what a convolute of cruelty and revenge is _there_! +Cruelty!--to whom? Revenge!--for what? Ask not, whisper not. Look +upwards to other mysteries. In the very region of his temples, driving +itself downwards into his cruel brain, and breaking the continuity of +his diadem, is a horrid chasm, a ravine, a shaft, that many centuries +would not traverse; and it is serrated on its posterior wall with a +harrow that perhaps is partly hidden. From the anterior wall of this +chasm rise, in vertical directions, two processes; one perpendicular, +and rigid as a horn, the other streaming forward before some portentous +breath. What these could be, seemed doubtful; but now, when further +examinations by Sir John Herschel, at the Cape of Good Hope, have +filled up the scattered outline with a rich umbrageous growth, one is +inclined to regard them as the plumes of a sultan. Dressed he is, +therefore, as well as armed. And finally comes Lord Rosse, that +glorifies him with the jewellery [Footnote: _The jewellery of +Stars_. And one thing is very remarkable, viz., that not only the +stars justify this name of jewellery, as usual, by the life of their +splendor, but also, in this case, by their arrangement. No jeweller +could have set, or disposed with more art, the magnificent quadrille of +stars which is placed immediately below the upright plume. There is +also another, a truncated quadrille, wanting only the left hand star +(or you might call it a bisected lozenge) placed on the diadem, but +obliquely placed as regards the curve of that diadem. Two or three +other arrangements are striking, though not equally so, both from their +regularity and from their repeating each other, as the forms in a +kaleidoscope.] of stars: he is now a vision 'to dream of, not to tell:' +he is ready for the worship of those that are tormented in sleep: and +the stages of his solemn uncovering by astronomy, first by Sir W. +Herschel, secondly, by his son, and finally by Lord Rosse, is like the +reversing of some heavenly doom, like the raising of the seals that had +been sealed by the angel, in the Revelations. But the reader naturally +asks, How does all this concern Lord Rosse's telescope on the one side, +or general astronomy on the other? This _nebula_, he will say, +seems a bad kind of fellow by your account; and of course it will not +break my heart to hear, that he has had the conceit taken out of him. +But in what way can _that_ affect the pretensions of this new +instrument; or, if it did, how can the character of the instrument +affect the general condition of a science? Besides, is not the science +a growth from very ancient times? With great respect for the Earl of +Rosse, is it conceivable that he, or any man, by one hour's working the +tackle of his new instrument, can have carried any stunning +revolutionary effect into the heart of a section so ancient in our +mathematical physics? But the reader is to consider, that the ruins +made by Lord Rosse, are in _sidereal_ astronomy, which is almost +wholly a growth of modern times; and the particular part of it +demolished by the new telescope, is almost exclusively the creation of +the two Herschels, father and son. Laplace, it is true, adopted their +views; and he transferred them to the particular service of our own +planetary system. But he gave to them no new sanction, except what +arises from showing that they would account for the appearances, as +they present themselves to our experience at this day. That was a +_negative_ confirmation; by which I mean, that, had their views +failed in the hands of Laplace, then they were proved to be false; but, +_not_ failing, they were not therefore proved to be true. It was +like proving a gun; if the charge is insufficient, or if, in trying the +strength of cast iron, timber, ropes, &c., the strain is not up to the +rigor of the demand, you go away with perhaps a favorable impression as +to the promises of the article; it has stood a moderate trial; it has +stood all the trial that offered, which is always something; but you +are still obliged to feel that, when the ultimate test is applied, +smash may go the whole concern. Lord Rosse applied an ultimate test; +and smash went the whole concern. Really I must have laughed, though +all the world had been angry, when the shrieks and yells of expiring +systems began to reverberate all the way from the belt of Orion; and +positively at the very first broadside delivered from this huge four- +decker of a telescope. + +But what was it then that went to wreck? That is a thing more easy to +ask than to answer. At least, for my own part, I complain that some +vagueness hangs over all the accounts of the nebular hypothesis. +However, in this place a brief sketch will suffice. + +Herschel the elder, having greatly improved the telescope, began to +observe with special attention a class of remarkable phenomena in the +starry world hitherto unstudied, viz.: milky spots in various stages of +diffusion. The nature of these appearances soon cleared itself up thus +far, that generally they were found to be starry worlds, separated from +ours by inconceivable distances, and in that way concealing at first +their real nature. The whitish gleam was the mask conferred by the +enormity of their remotion. This being so, it might have been supposed +that, as was the faintness of these cloudy spots or _nebulć_, such +was the distance. But _that_ did not follow: for in the treasury +of nature it turned out that there were other resources for modifying +the powers of distance, for muffling and unmuffling the voice of stars. +Suppose a world at the distance _x_, which distance is so great as +to make the manifestation of that world weak, milky, nebular. Now let +the secret power that wields these awful orbs, push this world back to +a double distance! _that_ should naturally make it paler and more +dilute than ever: and yet by _compression_, by deeper centralization, +this effect shall be defeated; by forcing into far closer neighborhood +the stars which compose this world, again it shall gleam out brighter +when at 2_x_ than when at _x_. At this point of compression, let the +great moulding power a second time push it back; and a second time it +will grow faint. But once more let this world be tortured into closer +compression, again let the screw be put upon it, and once again it +shall shake off the oppression of distance as the dew-drops are shaken +from a lion's mane. And thus in fact the mysterious architect plays at +hide-and-seek with his worlds. 'I will hide it,' he says, 'and it shall +be found again by man; I will withdraw it into distances that shall +seem fabulous, and again it shall apparel itself in glorious light; a +third time I will plunge it into aboriginal darkness, and upon the +vision of man a third time it shall rise with a new epiphany.' + +But, says the objector, there is no such world; there is no world that +has thus been driven back, and depressed from one deep to a lower deep. +Granted: but the same effect, an illustration of the same law, is +produced equally, whether you take four worlds, all of the same +magnitude, and plunge them _simultaneously_ into four different +abysses, sinking by graduated distances one below another, or take one +world and plunge it to the same distances _successively_. So in +Geology, when men talk of substances in different stages, or of +transitional states, they do not mean that they have watched the same +individual _stratum_ or _phenomenon_, exhibiting states removed +from each other by depths of many thousand years; how could they? +but they have seen one stage in the case A, another stage in the +case B. They take, for instance, three objects, the same (to use the +technical language of logic) generically, though numerically different, +under separate circumstances, or in different stages of advance. They +are one object for logic, they are three for human convenience. So +again it might seem impossible to give the history of a rose tree from +infancy to age: how could the same rose tree, at the same time, be +young and old? Yet by taking the different developments of its flowers, +even as they hang on the same tree, from the earliest bud to the full- +blown rose, you may in effect pursue this vegetable growth through all +its stages: you have before you the bony blushing little rose-bud, and +the respectable 'medićval' full-blown rose. + +This point settled, let it now be remarked, that Herschel's resources +enabled him to unmask many of these _nebulć_: stars they were, and +stars he forced them to own themselves. Why should any decent world +wear an _alias_? There was nothing, you know, to be ashamed of in +being an honest cluster of stars. Indeed, they seemed to be sensible of +this themselves, and they now yielded to the force of Herschel's +arguments so far as to show themselves in the new character of +_nebulć_ spangled with stars; these are the _stellar nebulć_; +quite as much as you could expect in so short a time: Rome was not +built in a day: and one must have some respect to stellar feelings. It +was noticed, however, that where a bright haze, and not a weak milk- +and-water haze, had revealed itself to the telescope, this, arising +from a case of _compression_, (as previously explained,) required +very little increase of telescopic power to force him into a fuller +confession. He made a clean breast of it. But at length came a dreadful +anomaly. A 'nebula' in the constellation _Andromeda_ turned +restive: another in _Orion_, I grieve to say it, still more so. I +confine myself to the latter. A very low power sufficed to bring him to +a slight confession, which in fact amounted to nothing; the very +highest would not persuade him to show a star. 'Just one,' said some +coaxing person; 'we'll be satisfied with only one.' But no: he would +_not_. He was hardened, 'he wouldn't _split_.' And Herschel +was thus led, after waiting as long as flesh and blood _could_ +wait, to infer two classes of _nebulć_; one that were stars; and +another that were _not_ stars, nor ever were meant to be stars. +Yet _that_ was premature: he found at last, that, though not raised +to the peerage of stars, finally they would be so: they were the +matter of stars; and by gradual condensation would become suns, whose +atmosphere, by a similar process of condensing, would become planets, +capable of brilliant literati and philosophers, in several volumes +octavo. So stood the case for a long time; it was settled to the +satisfaction of Europe that there were two classes of _nebulć_, +one that _were_ worlds, one that were _not_, but only the pabulum +of future worlds. Silence arose. A voice was heard, 'Let there +be Lord Rosse!' and immediately his telescope walked into Orion; +destroyed the supposed matter of stars; but, in return, created +immeasurable worlds. + +As a hint for apprehending the delicacy and difficulty of the process +in sidereal astronomy, let the inexperienced reader figure to himself +these separate cases of perplexity: 1st, A perplexity where the dilemma +arises from the collision between magnitude and distance:--is the size +less, or the distance greater? 2dly, Where the dilemma arises between +motions, a motion in ourselves doubtfully confounded with a motion in +some external body; or, 3dly, Where it arises between possible +positions of an object: is it a real proximity that we see between two +stars, or simply an apparent proximity from lying in the same visual +line, though in far other depths of space? As regards the first +dilemma, we may suppose two laws, A and B, absolutely in contradiction, +laid down at starting: A, that all fixed stars are precisely at the +same _distance_; in this case every difference in the apparent +magnitude will indicate a corresponding difference in the real +magnitude, and will measure that difference. B, that all the fixed +stars are precisely of the same _magnitude_; in which case, every +variety in the size will indicate a corresponding difference in the +distance, and will measure that difference. Nor could we imagine any +exception to these inferences from A or from B, whichever of the two +were assumed, unless through optical laws that might not equally affect +objects under different circumstances; I mean, for instance, that might +suffer a disturbance as applied under hypoth. B, to different depths in +space, or under hypoth. A, to different arrangements of structure in +the star. But thirdly, it is certain, that neither A nor B is the +abiding law: and next it becomes an object by science and by +instruments to distinguish more readily and more certainly between the +cases where the distance has degraded the size, and the cases where the +size being _really_ less, has caused an exaggeration of the +distance: or again, where the size being really less, yet co-operating +with a distance really greater, may degrade the estimate, (though +travelling in a right direction,) below the truth; or again where the +size being really less, yet counteracted by a distance also less, may +equally disturb the truth of human measurements, and so on. + +A second large order of equivocating appearances will arise,--not as to +magnitude, but as to motion. If it could be a safe assumption, that the +system to which our planet is attached were absolutely fixed and +motionless, except as regards its own _internal_ relations of +movement, then every change outside of us, every motion that the +registers of astronomy had established, would be objective and not +subjective. It would be safe to pronounce at once that it was a motion +in the object contemplated, _not_ in the subject contemplating. +Or, reversely, if it were safe to assume as a universal law, that no +motion was possible in the starry heavens, then every change of +relations in space, between ourselves and them, would indicate and +would measure a progress, or regress, on the part of our solar system, +in certain known directions. But now, because it is not safe to rest in +either assumption, the range of possibilities for which science has to +provide, is enlarged; the immediate difficulties are multiplied; but +with the result (as in the former case) of reversionally expanding the +powers, and consequently the facilities, lodged both in the science and +in the arts ministerial to the science. Thus, in the constellation +_Cygnus_, there is a star gradually changing its relation to our +system, whose distance from ourselves (as Dr. Nichol tells us) is +ascertained to be about six hundred and seventy thousand times our own +distance from the sun: that is, neglecting minute accuracy, about six +hundred and seventy thousand stages of one hundred million miles each. +This point being known, it falls within the _arts_ of astronomy to +translate this apparent angular motion into miles; and presuming this +change of relation to be not in the star, but really in ourselves, we +may deduce the velocity of our course, we may enter into our _log_ +daily the rate at which our whole solar system is running. Bessel, it +seems, the eminent astronomer who died lately, computed this velocity +to be such (viz., three times that of our own earth in its proper +orbit) as would carry us to the star in forty-one thousand years. But, +in the mean time, the astronomer is to hold in reserve some small share +of his attention, some trifle of a side-glance, now and then, to the +possibility of an error, after all, in the main assumption: he must +watch the indications, if any such should arise, that not ourselves, +but the star in _Cygnus_, is the real party concerned, in drifting +at this shocking rate, with no prospect of coming to an anchorage. +[Footnote: It is worth adding at this point, whilst the reader +remembers without effort the numbers, viz., forty-one thousand +years, for the time, (the space being our own distance from the sun +repeated six hundred and seventy thousand times,) what would be the +time required for reaching, in the _body_, that distance to which +Lord Rosse's six feet mirror has so recently extended our +_vision_. The time would be, as Dr. Nichol computes, about two +hundred and fifty millions of years, supposing that our rate of +travelling was about three times that of our earth in its orbit. Now, +as the velocity is assumed to be the same in both cases, the ratio +between the distance (already so tremendous) of Bessel's 61 +_Cygni_, and that of Lord Rosse's farthest frontier, is as forty- +one thousand to two hundred and fifty millions. This is a simple rule- +of-three problem for a child. And the answer to it will, perhaps, +convey the simplest expression of the superhuman power lodged in the +new telescope:--as is the ratio of forty-one thousand to two hundred +and fifty million, so is the ratio of our own distance from the sun +multiplied by six hundred and seventy thousand, to the outermost limit +of Lord Rosse's sidereal vision.] + +Another class, and a frequent one, of equivocal phenomena, phenomena +that are reconcilable indifferently with either of two assumptions, +though less plausibly reconciled with the one than with the other, +concerns the position of stars that seem connected with each other by +systematic relations, and which yet _may_ lie in very different +depths of space, being brought into seeming connection only by the +human eye. There have been, and there are, cases where two stars +dissemble an interconnection which they really _have_, and other +cases where they simulate an interconnection which they have not. All +these cases of simulation and dissimulation torment the astronomer by +multiplying his perplexities, and deepening the difficulty of escaping +them. He cannot get at the truth: in many cases, magnitude and distance +are in collusion with each other to deceive him: motion subjective is +in collusion with motion objective; duplex systems are in collusion +with fraudulent stars, having no real partnership whatever, but +mimicking such a partnership by means of the limitations or errors +affecting the human eye, where it can apply no other sense to aid or to +correct itself. So that the business of astronomy, in these days, is no +sinecure, as the reader perceives. And by another evidence, it is +continually becoming less of a sinecure. Formerly, one or two men,-- +Tycho, suppose, or, in a later age, Cassini and Horrox, and Bradley, +had observatories: one man, suppose, observed the stars for all +Christendom; and the rest of Europe observed _him_. But now, up +and down Europe, from the deep blue of Italian skies to the cold frosty +atmospheres of St. Petersburg and Glasgow, the stars are conscious of +being watched everywhere; and if all astronomers do not publish their +observations, all use them in their speculations. New and brilliantly +appointed observatories are rising in every latitude, or risen; and +none, by the way, of these new-born observatories, is more interesting +from the circumstances of its position, or more _picturesque_ to a +higher organ than the eye--viz., to the human heart--than the New +Observatory raised by the university of Glasgow.[Footnote: It has been +reported, ever since the autumn of 1845, and the report is now, +(August, 1846,) gathering strength, that some railway potentate, having +taken a fancy for the ancient college of Glasgow, as a bauble to hang +about his wife's neck, (no accounting for tastes,) has offered, (or +_will_ offer,) such a price, that the good old academic lady in +this her moss-grown antiquity, seriously thinks of taking him at his +word, packing up her traps, and being off. When a spirit of galavanting +comes across an aged lady, it is always difficult to know where it will +stop: so, in fact, you know, she may choose to steam for Texas. But the +present impression is, that she will settle down by the side of what +you may call her married or settled daughter--the Observatory; which +one would be glad to have confirmed, as indicating that no purpose of +pleasure-seeking had been working in elderly minds, but the instinct of +religious rest and aspiration. The Observatory would thus remind one of +those early Christian anchorites, and self-exiled visionaries, that +being led by almost a necessity of nature to take up their residence in +deserts, sometimes drew after themselves the whole of their own +neighborhood.] + +The New Observatory of Glasgow is now, I believe, finished; and the +only fact connected with its history that was painful, as embodying and +recording that Vandal alienation from science, literature, and all +their interests, which has ever marked our too haughty and Caliph-Omar- +like British government, lay in the circumstance that the glasses of +the apparatus, the whole mounting of the establishment, in so far as it +was a scientific establishment, and even the workmen for putting up the +machinery, were imported from Bavaria. We, that once bade the world +stand aside when the question arose about glasses, or the graduation of +instruments, were now literally obliged to stand cap in hand, bowing to +Mr. Somebody, successor of Frauenhofer or Frauendevil, in Munich! Who +caused _that_, we should all be glad to know, if not the wicked +Treasury, that killed the hen that laid the golden eggs by taxing her +until her spine broke? It is to be hoped that, at this moment, and +specifically for this offence, some scores of Exchequer men, +chancellors and other rubbish, are in purgatory, and perhaps working, +with shirt-sleeves tucked up, in purgatorial glass-houses, with very +small allowances of beer, to defray the cost of perspiration. But why +trouble a festal remembrance with commemorations of crimes or +criminals? What makes the Glasgow Observatory so peculiarly +interesting, is its position, connected with and overlooking so vast a +city, having more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, (in spite of +an American sceptic,) nearly all children of toil; and a city, too, +which, from the necessities of its circumstances, draws so deeply upon +that fountain of misery and guilt which some ordinance, as ancient as +'our father Jacob,' with his patriarchal well for Samaria, has +bequeathed to manufacturing towns,--to Ninevehs, to Babylons, to Tyres. +How tarnished with eternal canopies of smoke, and of sorrow; how dark +with agitations of many orders, is the mighty town below! How serene, +how quiet, how lifted above the confusion and the roar, how liberated +from the strifes of earth, is the solemn Observatory that crowns the +grounds above! And duly, at night, just when the toil of over-wrought +Glasgow is mercifully relaxing, then comes the summons to the laboring +astronomer. _He_ speaks not of the night, but of the day and the +flaunting day-light, as the hours 'in which no man can work.' And the +least reflecting of men must be impressed by the idea, that at wide +intervals, but intervals scattered over Europe, whilst 'all that mighty +heart' is, by sleep, resting from its labors, secret eyes are lifted up +to heaven in astronomical watch-towers; eyes that keep watch and ward +over spaces that make us dizzy to remember, eyes that register the +promises of comets, and disentangle the labyrinths of worlds. + +Another feature of interest, connected with the Glasgow Observatory, is +personal, and founded on the intellectual characteristics of the +present professor, Dr. Nichol; in the deep meditative style of his mind +seeking for rest, yet placed in conflict for ever with the tumultuous +necessity in _him_ for travelling along the line of revolutionary +thought, and following it loyally, wearied or not, to its natural home. + +In a sonnet of Milton, one of three connected with his own blindness, +he distinguishes between two classes of servants that minister to the +purposes of God. '_His_ state,' says he, meaning God's state, the +arrangement of his regular service, 'is kingly;' that is to say, it +resembles the mode of service established in the courts of kings; and, +in this, it resembles that service, that there are two classes of +ministers attending on his pleasure. For, as in the trains of kings are +some that run without resting, night or day, to carry the royal +messages, and also others--great lords in waiting--that move not from +the royal gates; so of the divine retinues, some are for action only, +some for contemplation. 'Thousands' there are that + + ----'at his bidding speed, + And post o'er land and ocean without rest.' + +Others, on the contrary, motionless as statues, that share not in the +agitations of their times, that tremble not in sympathy with the storms +around them, but that listen--that watch--that wait--for secret +indications to be fulfilled, or secret signs to be deciphered. And, of +this latter class, he adds-that they, not less than the others, are +accepted by God; or, as it is so exquisitely expressed in the closing +line, + + '_They_ also serve, that only stand and wait.' + +Something analogous to this one may see in the distributions of +literature and science. Many popularize and diffuse: some reap and +gather on their own account. Many translate, into languages fit for the +multitude, messages which they receive from human voices: some listen, +like Kubla Khan, far down in caverns or hanging over subterranean +rivers, for secret whispers that mingle and confuse themselves with the +general uproar of torrents, but which can be detected and kept apart by +the obstinate prophetic ear, which spells into words and ominous +sentences the distracted syllables of ćrial voices. Dr. Nichol is one +of those who pass to and fro between these classes; and has the rare +function of keeping open their vital communications. As a popularizing +astronomer, he has done more for the benefit of his great science than +all the rest of Europe combined: and now, when he notices, without +murmur, the fact that his office of popular teacher is almost taken out +of his hands, (so many are they who have trained of late for the duty,) +that change has, in fact, been accomplished through knowledge, through +explanations, through suggestions, dispersed and prompted by himself. + +For my own part, as one belonging to the laity, and not to the +_clerus_, in the science of astronomy, I could scarcely have +presumed to report minutely, or to sit in the character of dissector +upon the separate details of Dr. Nichol's works, either this, or those +which have preceded it, had there even been room left disposable for +such a task. But in this view it is sufficient to have made the general +acknowledgment which already _has_ been made, that Dr. Nichol's +works, and his oral lectures upon astronomy, are to be considered as +the _fundus_ of the knowledge on that science now working in this +generation. More important it is, and more in reconciliation with the +tenor of my own ordinary studies, to notice the philosophic spirit in +which Dr. Nichol's works are framed; the breadth of his views, the +eternal tendency of his steps in advance, or (if advance on that +quarter, or at that point, happens to be absolutely walled out for the +present,) the vigor of the _reconnoissances_ by which he examines +the hostile intrenchments. Another feature challenges notice. In +reading astronomical works, there arises (from old experience of what +is usually most faulty) a wish either for the naked severities of +science, with a total abstinence from all display of enthusiasm; or +else, if the cravings of human sensibility are to be met and gratified, +that it shall be by an enthusiasm unaffected and grand as its subject. +Of that kind is the enthusiasm of Dr. Nichol. The grandeurs of +astronomy are such to him who has a capacity for being grandly moved. +They are none at all to him who has not. To the mean they become +meannesses. Space, for example, has no grandeur to him who has no space +in the theatre of his own brain. I know writers who report the marvels +of velocity, &c., in such a way that they become insults to yourself. +It is obvious that in _their_ way of insisting on our earth's +speed in her annual orbit, they do not seek to exalt _her_, but to +mortify _you_. And, besides, these fellows are answerable for +provoking people into fibs:--for I remember one day, that reading a +statement of this nature, about how many things the Earth had done that +we could never hope to do, and about the number of cannon balls, +harnessed as a _tandem_, which the Earth would fly past, without +leaving time to say, _How are you off for soap?_ in vexation of +heart I could not help exclaiming--'That's nothing: I've done a great +deal more myself;' though, when one turns it in one's mind, you know +there must be some inaccuracy _there_. How different is Dr. +Nichol's enthusiasm from this hypocritical and vulgar wonderment! It +shows itself not merely in reflecting the grandeurs of his theme, and +by the sure test of detecting and allying itself with all the indirect +grandeurs that arrange themselves from any distance, upon or about that +centre, but by the manifest promptness with which Dr. Nichol's +enthusiasm awakens itself upon _every_ road that leads to things +elevating for man; or to things promising for knowledge; or to things +which, like dubious theories or imperfect attempts at systematizing, +though neutral as regards knowledge, minister to what is greater than +knowledge, viz., to intellectual _power_, to the augmented power +of handling your materials, though with no more materials than before. +In his geological and cosmological inquiries, in his casual +speculations, the same quality of intellect betrays itself; the +intellect that labors in sympathy with the laboring _nisus_ of +these gladiatorial times; that works (and sees the necessity of +working) the apparatus of many sciences towards a composite result; the +intellect that retires in one direction only to make head in another; +and that already is prefiguring the route beyond the barriers, whilst +yet the gates are locked. + +There was a man in the last century, and an eminent man too, who used +to say, that whereas people in general pretended to admire astronomy as +being essentially sublime, he for _his_ part looked upon all that +sort of thing as a swindle; and, on the contrary, he regarded the solar +system as decidedly vulgar; because the planets were all of them so +infernally punctual, they kept time with such horrible precision, that +they forced him, whether he would or no, to think of nothing but post- +office clocks, mail-coaches, and book-keepers. Regularity may be +beautiful, but it excludes the sublime. What he wished for was +something like Lloyd's list. + +_Comets_--due 3; arrived 1. +_Mercury_, when last seen, appeared to be distressed; but made no +signals. +_Pallas_ and _Vesta_, not heard of for some time; supposed to +have foundered. +_Moon_, spoken last night through a heavy bank of clouds; out +sixteen days: all right. + +Now this poor man's misfortune was, to have lived in the days of mere +planetary astronomy. At present, when our own little system, with all +its grandeurs, has dwindled by comparison to a subordinate province, if +any man is bold enough to say so, a poor shivering unit amongst myriads +that are brighter, we ought no longer to talk of astronomy, but of +_the astronomies_. There is the planetary, the cometary, the +sidereal, perhaps also others; as, for instance, even yet the nebular; +because, though Lord Rosse has smitten it with the son of Amram's rod, +has made it open, and cloven a path through it, yet other and more +fearful _nebulć_ may loom in sight, (if further improvements +should be effected in the telescope,) that may puzzle even Lord Rosse. +And when he tells his _famulus_--'Fire a shot at that strange +fellow, and make him show his colors,' possibly the mighty stranger may +disdain the summons. That would be vexatious: we should all be incensed +at _that_. But no matter. What's a _nebula_, what's a world, +more or less? In the spiritual heavens are many mansions: in the starry +heavens, that are now unfolding and preparing to unfold before us, are +many vacant areas upon which the astronomer may pitch his secret +pavilion. He may dedicate himself to the service of the _Double +Suns_; he has my license to devote his whole time to the quadruple +system of suns in _Lyra_. Swammerdam spent his life in a ditch +watching frogs and tadpoles; why may not an astronomer give nine lives, +if he had them, to the watching of that awful appearance in +_Hercules_, which pretends to some rights over our own unoffending +system? Why may he not mount guard with public approbation, for the +next fifty years, upon the zodiacal light, the interplanetary ether, +and other rarities, which the professional body of astronomers would +naturally keep (if they could) for their own private enjoyment? There +is no want of variety now, nor in fact of irregularity: for the most +exquisite clock-work, which from enormous distance _seems_ to go +wrong, virtually for us _does_ go wrong; so that our friend of the +last century, who complained of the solar system, would not need to do +so any longer. There are anomalies enough to keep him cheerful. There +are now even things to alarm us; for anything in the starry worlds that +look suspicious, anything that ought _not_ to be there, is, for +all purposes of frightening us, as good as a ghost. + +But of all the novelties that excite my own interest in the expanding +astronomy of recent times, the most delightful and promising are those +charming little pyrotechnic planetoids,[Footnote: _'Pyrotechnic +Planetoids:'_--The reader will understand me as alluding to the +periodic shooting stars. It is now well known, that as, upon our own +poor little earthly ocean, we fall in with certain phenomena as we +approach certain latitudes; so also upon the great ocean navigated by +our Earth, we fall in with prodigious showers of these meteors at +periods no longer uncertain, but fixed as jail-deliveries. 'These +remarkable showers of meteors,' says Dr. Nichol, 'observed at different +periods in August and November, seem to demonstrate the fact, that, at +these periods, we have come in contact with two streams of such +planetoids then intersecting the earth's orbit.' If they intermit, it +is only because they are shifting their nodes, or points of +intersection.] that variegate our annual course. It always struck me as +most disgusting, that, in going round the sun, we must be passing +continually over old roads, and yet we had no means of establishing an +acquaintance with them: they might as well be new for every trip. Those +chambers of ether, through which we are tearing along night and day, +(for _our_ train stops at no stations,) doubtless, if we could put +some mark upon them, must be old fellows perfectly liable to +recognition. I suppose, _they_ never have notice to quit. And yet, +for want of such a mark, though all our lives flying past them and +through them, we can never challenge them as known. The same thing +happens in the desert: one monotonous iteration of sand, sand, sand, +unless where some miserable fountain stagnates, forbids all approach to +familiarity: nothing is circumstantiated or differenced: travel it for +three generations, and you are no nearer to identification of its +parts: so that it amounts to travelling through an abstract idea. For +the desert, really I suspect the thing is hopeless: but, as regards our +planetary orbit, matters are mending: for the last six or seven years I +have heard of these fiery showers, but indeed I cannot say how much +earlier they were first noticed,[Footnote: Somewhere I have seen it +remarked, that if, on a public road, you meet a party of four women, it +is at least fifty to one that they are all laughing; whereas, if you +meet an equal party of my own unhappy sex, you may wager safely that +they are talking gravely, and that one of them is uttering the word +_money_. Hence it must be, viz, because our sisters are too much +occupied with the playful things of this earth, and our brothers with +its gravities, that neither party sufficiently watches the skies. And +_that_ accounts for a fact which often has struck myself, viz., +that, in cities, on bright moonless nights, when some brilliant +skirmishings of the Aurora are exhibiting, or even a luminous arch, +which is a broad ribbon of snowy light that spans the skies, positively +unless I myself say to people--'Eyes upwards!' not one in a hundred, +male or female, but fails to see the show, though it may be seen +_gratis_, simply because their eyes are too uniformly reading the +earth. This downward direction of the eyes, however, must have been +worse in former ages: because else it never _could_ have happened +that, until Queen Anne's days, nobody ever hinted in a book that there +_was_ such a thing, or _could_ be such a thing, as the Aurora +Borealis; and in fact Halley had the credit of discovering it.] as +celebrating two annual festivals--one in August, one in November. You +are a little too late, reader, for seeing this year's summer festival; +but that's no reason why you should not engage a good seat for the +November meeting; which, if I recollect, is about the 9th, or the Lord +Mayor's day, and on the whole better worth seeing. For anything +_we_ know, this may be a great day in the earth's earlier history; +she may have put forth her original rose on this day, or tried her hand +at a primitive specimen of wheat; or she may, in fact, have survived +some gunpowder plot about this time; so that the meteoric appearance +may be a kind congratulating _feu-de-joye_, on the anniversary of +the happy event. What it is that the 'cosmogony man' in the 'Vicar of +Wakefield' would have thought of such novelties, whether he would have +favored us with his usual opinion upon such topics, viz., that +_anarchon ara kai ateleutaion to pan_, or have sported a new one +exclusively for this occasion, may be doubtful. What it is that +astronomers think, who are a kind of 'cosmogony men,' the reader may +learn from Dr. Nichol, Note B, (p. 139, 140.) + +In taking leave of a book and a subject so well fitted to draw out the +highest mode of that grandeur, which _can_ connect itself with the +external, (a grandeur capable of drawing down a spiritual being to +earth, but not of raising an earthly being to heaven,) I would wish to +contribute my own brief word of homage to this grandeur by recalling +from a fading remembrance of twenty-five years back a short +_bravura_ of John Paul Richter. I call it a _bravura_, as being +intentionally a passage of display and elaborate execution; and +in this sense I may call it partly 'my own,' that at twenty-five years' +distance, (after one single reading,) it would not have been possible +for any man to report a passage of this length without greatly +disturbing [Footnote: _'Disturbing;'_--neither perhaps should I +much have sought to avoid alterations if the original had been lying +before me: for it takes the shape of a dream; and this most brilliant +of all German writers wanted in that field the severe simplicity, that +horror of the _too much_, belonging to Grecian architecture, which +is essential to the perfection of a dream considered as a work of art. +He was too elaborate, to realize the grandeur of the shadowy.] the +texture of the composition: by altering, one makes it partly one's own; +but it is right to mention, that the sublime turn at the end belongs +entirely to John Paul. + +'God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, saying, +--"Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house." And to the +servants that stood around his throne he said,--"Take him, and undress +him from his robes of flesh: cleanse his vision, and put a new breath +into his nostrils: only touch not with any change his human heart--the +heart that weeps and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel +for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage; and from +the terraces of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled +away into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wing +they fled through Zaarrahs of darkness, through wildernesses of death, +that divided the worlds of life: sometimes they swept over frontiers, +that were quickening under prophetic motions from God. Then, from a +distance that is counted only in heaven, light dawned for a time +through a sleepy film: by unutterable pace the light swept to +_them_, they by unutterable pace to the light: in a moment the +rushing of planets was upon them: in a moment the blazing of suns was +around them. Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed, but were +not revealed. To the right hand and to the left towered mighty +constellations, that by self-repetitions and answers from afar, that by +counter-positions, built up triumphal gates, whose architraves, whose +archways--horizontal, upright--rested, rose--at altitudes, by spans-- +that seemed ghostly from infinitude. Without measure were the +architraves, past number were the archways, beyond memory the gates. +Within were stairs that scaled the eternities above, that descended to +the eternities below: above was below, below was above, to the man +stripped of gravitating body: depth was swallowed up in height +insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth unfathomable. Suddenly +as thus they rode from infinite to infinite, suddenly as thus they +tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose--that systems more +mysterious, that worlds more billowy,--other heights, and other +depths,--were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Then the man sighed, +and stopped, shuddered and wept. His over-laden heart uttered itself in +tears; and he said,--"Angel, I will go no farther. For the spirit of +man aches with this infinity. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me +lie down in the grave from the persecutions of the infinite; for end, I +see, there is none." And from all the listening stars that shone around +issued a choral voice, "The man speaks truly: end there is none, that +ever yet we heard of." "End is there none?" the angel solemnly +demanded: "Is there indeed no end? And is this the sorrow that kills +you?" But no voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the +angel threw up his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens; saying, +"End is there none to the universe of God? Lo! also there is no +Beginning."' + + +NOTE.--On throwing his eyes hastily over the preceding paper, the +writer becomes afraid that some readers may give such an interpretation +to a few playful expressions upon the age of our earth, &c., as to +class him with those who use geology, cosmology, &c., for purposes of +attack, or insinuation against the Scriptures. Upon this point, +therefore, he wishes to make a firm explanation of his own opinions, +which, (whether right or wrong,) will liberate him, once and for all, +from any such jealousy. + +It is sometimes said, that the revealer of a true religion, does not +come amongst men for the sake of teaching truths in science, or +correcting errors in science. Most justly is this said: but often in +terms far too feeble. For generally these terms are such as to imply, +that, although no function of his mission, it was yet open to him-- +although not pressing with the force of an obligation upon the +revealer, it was yet at his discretion--if not to correct other men's +errors, yet at least in his own person to speak with scientific +precision. I contend that it was _not_. I contend, that to have +uttered the truths of astronomy, of geology, &c., at the era of new- +born Christianity, was not only _below_ the purposes of a +religion, but would have been _against_ them. Even upon errors of +a far more important class than any errors in science can ever be,-- +superstitions, for instance, that degraded the very idea of God; +prejudices and false usages, that laid waste human happiness, (such as +slavery and many hundreds of other abuses that might be mentioned,) the +rule evidently acted upon by the Founder of Christianity was this-- +Given the purification of the fountain, once assumed that the fountains +of truth are cleansed, all these derivative currents of evil will +cleanse themselves. And the only exceptions, which I remember, to this +rule, are two cases in which, from the personal appeal made to his +decision, Christ would have made himself a party to wretched delusions, +if he had not condescended to expose their folly. But, as a general +rule, the branches of error were disregarded, and the roots only +attacked. If, then, so lofty a station was taken with regard even to +such errors as had moral and spiritual relations, how much more with +regard to the comparative trifles, (as in the ultimate relations of +human nature they are,) of merely human science! But, for my part, I go +further, and assert, that upon three reasons it was impossible for any +messenger from God, (or offering himself in that character,) for a +moment to have descended into the communication of truth merely +scientific, or economic, or worldly. And the reasons are these: +_First_, Because it would have degraded his mission, by lowering +it to the base level of a collision with human curiosity, or with petty +and transitory interests. _Secondly_, Because it would have ruined +his mission; would utterly have prostrated the free agency and the +proper agency of that mission. He that, in those days, should have +proclaimed the true theory of the Solar System and the heavenly forces, +would have been shut up at once--as a lunatic likely to become +dangerous. But suppose him to have escaped _that_; still, as a +divine teacher, he has no liberty of caprice. He must stand to the +promises of his own acts. Uttering the first truth of a science, he is +pledged to the second: taking the main step, he is committed to all +which follow. He is thrown at once upon the endless controversies which +science in every stage provokes, and in none more than in the earliest. +Or, if he retires as from a scene of contest that he had not +anticipated, he retires as one confessing a human precipitance and a +human oversight, weaknesses, venial in others, but fatal to the +pretensions of a divine teacher. Starting besides from such +pretensions, he could not (as others might) have the privilege of +selecting arbitrarily or partially. If upon one science, then upon +all,--if upon science, then upon, art,--if upon art and science, then +upon _every_ branch of social economy, upon _every_ organ of +civilization, his reformations and advances are equally due; due as to +all, if due as to any. To move in one direction, is constructively to +undertake for all. Without power to retreat, he has thus thrown the +intellectual interests of his followers into a channel utterly alien to +the purposes of a spiritual mission. + +Thus far he has simply failed: but next comes a worse result; an evil, +not negative but positive. Because, _thirdly_, to apply the light +of a revelation for the benefit of a merely human science, which is +virtually done by so applying the illumination of an _inspired_ +teacher, is--to assault capitally the scheme of God's discipline and +training for man. To improve by _heavenly_ means, if but in one +solitary science--to lighten, if but in one solitary section, the +condition of difficulty which had been designed for the strengthening +and training of human faculties, is _pro tanto_ to disturb--to +cancel--to contradict a previous purpose of God, made known by silent +indications from the beginning of the world. Wherefore did God give to +man the powers for contending with scientific difficulties? Wherefore +did he lay a secret train of continual occasions, that should rise, by +intervals, through thousands of generations, for provoking and +developing those activities in man's intellect, if, after all, he is to +send a messenger of his own, more than human, to intercept and strangle +all these great purposes? When, therefore, the persecutors of Galileo, +alleged that Jupiter, for instance, could not move in the way alleged, +because then the Bible would have proclaimed it,--as they thus threw +back upon God the burthen of discovery, which he had thrown upon +Galileo, why did they not, by following out their own logic, throw upon +the Bible the duty of discovering the telescope, or discovering the +satellites of Jupiter? And, as no such discoveries were there, why did +they not, by parity of logic, and for mere consistency, deny the +telescope as a fact, deny the Jovian planets as facts? But this it is +to mistake the very meaning and purposes of a revelation. A revelation +is not made for the purpose of showing to idle men that which they may +show to themselves, by faculties already given to them, if only they +will exert those faculties, but for the purpose of showing _that_ +which the moral darkness of man will not, without supernatural light, +allow him to perceive. With disdain, therefore, must every considerate +person regard the notion,--that God could wilfully interfere with his +own plans, by accrediting ambassadors to reveal astronomy, or any other +science, which he has commanded men to cultivate _without_ +revelation, by endowing them with all the natural powers for doing so. + +Even as regards astronomy, a science so nearly allying itself to +religion by the loftiness and by the purity of its contemplations, +Scripture is nowhere the _parent_ of any doctrine, nor so much as +the silent sanctioner of any doctrine. Scripture cannot become the +author of falsehood,--though it were as to a trifle, cannot become a +party to falsehood. And it is made impossible for Scripture to teach +falsely, by the simple fact that Scripture, on such subjects, will not +condescend to teach at all. The Bible adopts the erroneous language of +men, (which at any rate it must do, in order to make itself +understood,) not by way of sanctioning a theory, but by way of using a +fact. The Bible _uses_ (postulates) the phenomena of day and +night, of summer and winter, and expresses them, in relation to their +causes, as _men_ express them, men, even, that are scientific +astronomers. But the results, which are all that concern Scripture, are +equally true, whether accounted for by one hypothesis which is +philosophically just, or by another which is popular and erring. + +Now, on the other hand, in geology and cosmology, the case is still +stronger. _Here_ there is no opening for a compliance even with +popular language. _Here_, where there is no such stream of +apparent phenomena running counter (as in astronomy) to the real +phenomena, neither is there any popular language opposed to the +scientific. The whole are abstruse speculations, even as regards their +objects, not dreamed of as possibilities, either in their true aspects +or their false aspects, till modern times. The Scriptures, therefore, +nowhere allude to such sciences, either under the shape of histories, +applied to processes current and in movement, or under the shape of +theories applied to processes past and accomplished. The Mosaic +cosmogony, indeed, gives the succession of natural births; and that +succession will doubtless be more and more confirmed and illustrated as +geology advances. But as to the time, the duration, of this cosmogony, +it is the idlest of notions that the Scriptures either have or could +have condescended to human curiosity upon so awful a prologue to the +drama of this world. Genesis would no more have indulged so mean a +passion with respect to the mysterious inauguration of the world, than +the Apocalypse with respect to its mysterious close. 'Yet the six +_days_ of Moses!' Days! But is any man so little versed in biblical +language as not to know that (except in the merely historical +parts of the Jewish records) every section of time has a secret and +separate acceptation in the Scriptures? Does an _ćon_, though a +Grecian word, bear scripturally [either in Daniel or in Saint John] any +sense known to Grecian ears? Do the seventy _weeks_ of the prophet +mean weeks in the sense of human calendars? Already the Psalms, (xc) +already St. Peter, (2d Epist.) warn us of a peculiar sense attached to +the word _day_ in divine ears? And who of the innumerable +interpreters understands the twelve hundred and odd days in Daniel, or +his two thousand and odd days, to mean, by possibility, periods of +twenty-four hours? Surely the theme of Moses was as mystical, and as +much entitled to the benefit of mystical language, as that of the +prophets. + +The sum of the matter is this:--God, by a Hebrew prophet, is sublimely +described as _the Revealer_; and, in variation of his own expression, +the same prophet describes him as the Being 'that knoweth the +darkness.' Under no idea can the relations of God to man be more +grandly expressed. But of what is he the revealer? Not surely of those +things which he has enabled man to reveal for himself, and which he has +commanded him so to reveal, but of those things which, were it not +through special light from heaven, must eternally remain sealed up in +the inaccessible darkness. On this principle we should all laugh at a +revealed cookery. But essentially the same ridicule applies to a +revealed astronomy, or a revealed geology. As a fact, there _is_ +no such astronomy or geology: as a possibility, by the _a priori_ +argument which I have used, (viz., that a revelation on such fields, +would contradict _other_ machineries of providence,) there _can_ be no +such astronomy or geology. Consequently there _can_ be none such in the +Bible. Consequently there _is_ none. Consequently there can be no +schism or feud upon _these_ subjects between the Bible and the +philosophies outside. Geology is a field left open, with the amplest +permission from above, to the widest and wildest speculations of man. + + + + +MODERN SUPERSTITION + + +It is said continually--that the age of miracles is past. We deny that +it is so in any sense which implies this age to differ from all other +generations of man except one. It is neither past, nor ought we to wish +it past. Superstition is no vice in the constitution of man: it is not +true that, in any philosophic view, _primus in orbe deos fecit timor_ +--meaning by _fecit_ even so much as _raised into light_. As Burke +remarked, the _timor_ at least must be presumed to preexist, and must +be accounted for, if not the gods. If the fear created the gods, what +created the fear? Far more true, and more just to the grandeur of man, +it would have been to say--_Primus in orbe deos fecit sensus +infiniti_. Even in the lowest Caffre, more goes to the sense of a +divine being than simply his wrath or his power. Superstition, indeed, +or the sympathy with the invisible, is the great test of man's nature, +as an earthly combining with a celestial. In superstition lies the +possibility of religion. And though superstition is often injurious, +degrading, demoralizing, it is so, not as a form of corruption or +degradation, but as a form of non-development. The crab is harsh, and +for itself worthless. But it is the germinal form of innumerable finer +fruits: not apples only the most exquisite, and pears; the peach and +the nectarine are said to have radiated from this austere stock when +cultured, developed, and transferred to all varieties of climate. +Superstition will finally pass into pure forms of religion as man +advances. It would be matter of lamentation to hear that superstition +had at all decayed until man had made corresponding steps in the +purification and development of his intellect as applicable to +religious faith. Let us hope that this is not so. And, by way of +judging, let us throw a hasty eye over the modes of popular +superstition. If these manifest their vitality, it will prove that the +popular intellect does not go along with the bookish or the worldly +(philosophic we cannot call it) in pronouncing the miraculous extinct. +The popular feeling is all in all. + +This function of miraculous power, which is most widely diffused +through Pagan and Christian ages alike, but which has the least root in +the solemnities of the imagination, we may call the _Ovidian_. By +way of distinction, it may be so called; and with some justice, since +Ovid in his _Metamorphoses_ gave the first elaborate record of +such a tendency in human superstition. It is a movement of superstition +under the domination of human affections; a mode of spiritual awe which +seeks to reconcile itself with human tenderness or admiration; and +which represents supernatural power as expressing itself by a sympathy +with human distress or passion concurrently with human sympathies, and +as supporting that blended sympathy by a symbol incarnated with the +fixed agencies of nature. For instance, a pair of youthful lovers +perish by a double suicide originating in a fatal mistake, and a +mistake operating in each case through a noble self-oblivion. The tree +under which their meeting has been concerted, and which witnesses their +tragedy, is supposed ever afterwards to express the divine sympathy +with this catastrophe in the gloomy color of its fruit:-- + + 'At tu, quć ramis (arbor!) miserabile corpus + Nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum, + Signa tene cćdis:--pullosque et luctibus aptos + Semper habe fructus--gemini monumenta cruoris:' + +Such is the dying adjuration of the lady to the tree. And the fruit +becomes from that time a monument of a double sympathy--sympathy from +man, sympathy from a dark power standing behind the agencies of nature, +and speaking through them. Meantime the object of this sympathy is +understood to be not the individual catastrophe, but the universal case +of unfortunate love exemplified in this particular romance. The +inimitable grace with which Ovid has delivered these early traditions +of human tenderness, blending with human superstition, is notorious; +the artfulness of the pervading connection, by which every tale in the +long succession is made to arise spontaneously out of that which +precedes, is absolutely unrivalled; and this it was, with his luxuriant +gayety, which procured for him a preference, even with Milton, a poet +so opposite by intellectual constitution. It is but reasonable, +therefore, that this function of the miraculous should bear the name of +_Ovidian_. Pagan it was in its birth; and to paganism its titles +ultimately ascend. Yet we know that in the transitional state through +the centuries succeeding to Christ, during which paganism and +Christianity were slowly descending and ascending, as if from two +different strata of the atmosphere, the two powers interchanged +whatsoever they could. (See Conyer's Middleton; and see Blount of our +own days.) It marked the earthly nature of paganism, that it could +borrow little or nothing by organization: it was fitted to no +expansion. But the true faith, from its vast and comprehensive +adaptation to the nature of man, lent itself to many corruptions--some +deadly in their tendencies, some harmless. Amongst these last was the +Ovidian form of connecting the unseen powers moving in nature with +human sympathies of love or reverence. The legends of this kind are +universal and endless. No land, the most austere in its Protestantism, +but has adopted these superstitions: and everywhere by those even who +reject them they are entertained with some degree of affectionate +respect. That the ass, which in its very degradation still retains an +under-power of sublimity, [Footnote: '_An under-power of sublimity_.'-- +Everybody knows that Homer compared the Telamonian Ajax, in a moment of +heroic endurance, to an ass. This, however, was only under a momentary +glance from a peculiar angle of the case. But the Mahometan, too +solemn, and also perhaps too stupid to catch the fanciful colors of +things, absolutely by choice, under the Bagdad Caliphate, decorated a +most favorite hero with the title of the _Ass_--which title is +repeated with veneration to this day. The wild ass is one of the few +animals which has the reputation of never flying from an enemy.] or of +sublime suggestion through its ancient connection with the wilderness, +with the Orient, with Jerusalem, should have been honored amongst all +animals, by the visible impression upon its back of Christian symbols +--seems reasonable even to the infantine understanding when made +acquainted with its meekness, its patience, its suffering life, and +its association with the founder of Christianity in one great +triumphal solemnity. The very man who brutally abuses it, and feels a +hardhearted contempt for its misery and its submission, has a semi- +conscious feeling that the same qualities were possibly those which +recommended it to a distinction, [Footnote: '_Which recommended it to +a distinction_.'--It might be objected that the Oriental ass was often +a superb animal; that it is spoken of prophetically as such; and that +historically the Syrian ass is made known to us as having been +used in the prosperous ages of Judea for the riding of princes. But +this is no objection. Those circumstances in the history of the ass +were requisite to establish its symbolic propriety in a great symbolic +pageant of triumph. Whilst, on the other hand, the individual animal, +there is good reason to think, was marked by all the qualities of the +general race as a suffering and unoffending tribe in the animal +creation. The asses on which princes rode were of a separate color, of +a peculiar breed, and improved, like the English racer, by continual +care.] when all things were valued upon a scale inverse to that of the +world. Certain it is, that in all Christian lands the legend about the +ass is current amongst the rural population. The haddock, again, +amongst marine animals, is supposed, throughout all maritime Europe, to +be a privileged fish; even in austere Scotland, every child can point +out the impression of St. Peter's thumb, by which from age to age it is +distinguished from fishes having otherwise an external resemblance. All +domesticated cattle, having the benefit of man's guardianship and care, +are believed throughout England and Germany to go down upon their knees +at one particular moment of Christmas eve, when the fields are covered +with darkness, when no eye looks down but that of God, and when the +exact anniversary hour revolves of the angelic song, once rolling over +the fields and flocks of Palestine. [Footnote: Mahometanism, which +everywhere pillages Christianity, cannot but have its own face at times +glorified by its stolen jewels. This solemn hour of jubilation, +gathering even the brutal natures into its fold, recalls accordingly +the Mahometan legend (which the reader may remember is one of those +incorporated into Southey's _Thalaba_) of a great hour revolving +once in every year, during which the gates of Paradise were thrown open +to their utmost extent, and gales of happiness issued forth upon the +total family of man.] The Glastonbury Thorn is a more local +superstition; but at one time the legend was as widely diffused as that +of Loretto, with the angelic translation of its sanctities: on +Christmas morning, it was devoutly believed by all Christendom, that +this holy thorn put forth its annual blossoms. And with respect to the +aspen tree, which Mrs. Hemans very naturally mistook for a Welsh +legend, having first heard it in Denbighshire, the popular faith is +universal--that it shivers mystically in sympathy with the horror of +that mother tree in Palestine which was compelled to furnish materials +for the cross. Neither would it in this case be any objection, if a +passage were produced from Solinus or Theophrastus, implying that the +aspen tree had always shivered--for the tree might presumably be +penetrated by remote presentiments, as well as by remote remembrances. +In so vast a case the obscure sympathy should stretch, Janus-like, each +way. And an objection of the same kind to the rainbow, considered as +the sign or seal by which God attested his covenant in bar of all +future deluges, may be parried in something of the same way. It was not +then first created--true: but it was then first selected by preference, +amongst a multitude of natural signs as yet unappropriated, and then +first charged with the new function of a message and a ratification to +man. Pretty much the same theory, that is, the same way of accounting +for the natural existence without disturbing the supernatural +functions, may be applied to the great constellation of the other +hemisphere, called the Southern Cross. It is viewed popularly in South +America, and the southern parts of our northern hemisphere, as the +great banner, or gonfalon, held aloft by Heaven before the Spanish +heralds of the true faith in 1492. To that superstitious and ignorant +race it costs not an effort to suppose, that by some synchronizing +miracle, the constellation had been then specially called into +existence at the very moment when the first Christian procession, +bearing a cross in their arms, solemnly stepped on shore from the +vessels of Christendom. We Protestants know better: we understand the +impossibility of supposing such a narrow and local reference in orbs, +so transcendently vast as those composing the constellation--orbs +removed from each other by such unvoyageable worlds of space, and +having, in fact, no real reference to each other more than to any other +heavenly bodies whatsoever. The unity of synthesis, by which they are +composed into one figure of a cross, we know to be a mere accidental +result from an arbitrary synthesis of human fancy. Take such and such +stars, compose them into letters, and they will spell such a word. But +still it was our own choice--a synthesis of our own fancy, originally +to combine them in this way. They might be divided from each other, and +otherwise combined. All this is true: and yet, as the combination does +spontaneously offer itself [Footnote: '_Does spontaneously offer +itself._'--Heber (Bishop of Calcutta) complains that this constellation +is not composed of stars answering his expectation in point of +magnitude. But he admits that the dark barren space around it +gives to this inferior magnitude a very advantageous relief.] to every +eye, as the glorious cross does really glitter for ever through the +silent hours of a vast hemisphere, even they who are not superstitious, +may willingly yield to the belief--that, as the rainbow was laid in the +very elements and necessities of nature, yet still bearing a pre- +dedication to a service which would not be called for until many ages +had passed, so also the mysterious cipher of man's imperishable hopes +may have been entwined and enwreathed with the starry heavens from +their earliest creation, as a prefiguration--as a silent heraldry of +hope through one period, and as a heraldry of gratitude through the +other. + +All these cases which we have been rehearsing, taking them in the +fullest literality, agree in this general point of union--they are all +silent incarnations of miraculous power--miracles, supposing them to +have been such originally, locked up and embodied in the regular course +of nature, just as we see lineaments of faces and of forms in +petrifactions, in variegated marbles, in spars, or in rocky strata, +which our fancy interprets as once having been real human existences; +but which are now confounded with the substance of a mineral product. +Even those who are most superstitious, therefore, look upon cases of +this order as occupying a midway station between the physical and the +hyperphysical, between the regular course of nature and the +providential interruption of that course. The stream of the miraculous +is here confluent with the stream of the natural. By such legends the +credulous man finds his superstition but little nursed; the incredulous +finds his philosophy but little revolted. Both alike will be willing to +admit, for instance, that the apparent act of reverential thanksgiving, +in certain birds, when drinking, is caused and supported by a +physiological arrangement; and yet, perhaps, both alike would bend so +far to the legendary faith as to allow a child to believe, and would +perceive a pure childlike beauty in believing, that the bird was thus +rendering a homage of deep thankfulness to the universal Father, who +watches for the safety of sparrows, and sends his rain upon the just +and upon the unjust. In short, the faith in this order of the physico- +miraculous is open alike to the sceptical and the non-sceptical: it is +touched superficially with the coloring of superstition, with its +tenderness, its humility, its thankfulness, its awe; but, on the other +hand, it is not therefore tainted with the coarseness, with the +silliness, with the credulity of superstition. Such a faith reposes +upon the universal signs diffused through nature, and blends with the +mysterious of natural grandeurs wherever found--with the mysterious of +the starry heavens, with the mysterious of music, and with that +infinite form of the mysterious for man's dimmest misgivings-- + + 'Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.' + +But, from this earliest note in the ascending scale of superstitious +faith, let us pass to a more alarming key. This first, which we have +styled (in equity as well as for distinction) the _Ovidian_, is +too ćrial, too allegoric, almost to be susceptible of much terror. It +is the mere _fancy_, in a mood half-playful, half-tender, which +submits to the belief. It is the feeling, the sentiment, which creates +the faith; not the faith which creates the feeling. And thus far we see +that modern feeling and Christian feeling has been to the full as +operative as any that is peculiar to paganism; judging by the Romish +_Legenda_, very much more so. The Ovidian illustrations, under a +false superstition, are entitled to give the designation, as being the +first, the earliest, but not at all as the richest. Besides that, +Ovid's illustrations emanated often from himself individually, not from +the popular mind of his country; ours of the same classification +uniformly repose on large popular traditions from the whole of +Christian antiquity. These again are agencies of the supernatural which +can never have a private or personal application; they belong to all +mankind and to all generations. But the next in order are more solemn; +they become terrific by becoming personal. These comprehend all that +vast body of the marvellous which is expressed by the word _Ominous_. +On this head, as dividing itself into the ancient and modern, we will +speak next. + +Everybody is aware of the deep emphasis which the Pagans laid upon +words and upon names, under this aspect of the ominous. The name of +several places was formally changed by the Roman government, solely +with a view to that contagion of evil which was thought to lurk in the +syllables, if taken significantly. Thus, the town of Maleventum, (Ill- +come, as one might render it,) had its name changed by the Romans to +Beneventum, (or Welcome.) _Epidamnum_ again, the Grecian Calais, +corresponding to the Roman Dover of Brundusium, was a name that would +have startled the stoutest-hearted Roman 'from his propriety.' Had he +suffered this name to escape him inadvertently, his spirits would have +forsaken him--he would have pined away under a certainty of misfortune, +like a poor Negro of Koromantyn who is the victim of Obi.[Footnote: +'_The victim of Obi._'--It seems worthy of notice, that this +magical fascination is generally called Obi, and the magicians Obeah +men, throughout Guinea, Negroland, &c.; whilst the Hebrew or Syriac +word for the rites of necromancy, was _Ob_ or _Obh_, at least +when ventriloquism was concerned.] As a Greek word, which it was, the +name imported no ill; but for a Roman to say _Ibo Epidamnum_, was +in effect saying, though in a hybrid dialect, half-Greek half-Roman, 'I +will go to ruin.' The name was therefore changed to Dyrrachium; a +substitution which quieted more anxieties in Roman hearts than the +erection of a light-house or the deepening of the harbor mouth. A case +equally strong, to take one out of many hundreds that have come down to +us, is reported by Livy. There was an officer in a Roman legion, at +some period of the Republic, who bore the name either of Atrius Umber +or Umbrius Ater: and this man being ordered on some expedition, the +soldiers refused to follow him. They did right. We remember that Mr. +Coleridge used facetiously to call the well-known sister of Dr. Aikin, +Mrs. Barbauld, 'that pleonasm of nakedness'--the idea of nakedness +being reduplicated and reverberated in the _bare_ and the _bald_. +This Atrius Umber might be called 'that pleonasm of darkness;' and one +might say to him, in the words of Othello, 'What needs this iteration?' +To serve under the Gloomy was enough to darken the spirit of hope; but +to serve under the Black Gloomy was really rushing upon destruction. +Yet it will be alleged that Captain Death was a most favorite and +heroic leader in the English navy; and that in our own times, Admiral +Coffin, though an American by birth, has not been unpopular in the same +service. This is true: and all that can be said is, that these names +were two-edged swords, which might be made to tell against the enemy as +well as against friends. And possibly the Roman centurion might have +turned his name to the same account, had he possessed the great +Dictator's presence of mind; for he, when landing in Africa, having +happened to stumble--an omen of the worst character, in Roman +estimation--took out its sting by following up his own +oversight, as if it had been intentional, falling to the ground, +kissing it, and ejaculating that in this way he appropriated the soil. + +Omens of every class were certainly regarded, in ancient Rome, with a +reverence that can hardly be surpassed. But yet, with respect to these +omens derived from names, it is certain that our modern times have more +memorable examples on record. Out of a large number which occur to us, +we will cite two:--The present King of the French bore in his boyish +days a title which he would not have borne, but for an omen of bad +augury attached to his proper title. He was called the Duc de Chartres +before the Revolution, whereas his proper title was Duc de Valois. And +the origin of the change was this:--The Regent's father had been the +sole brother of Louis Quatorze. He married for his first wife our +English princess Henrietta, the sister of Charles II., (and through her +daughter, by the way, it is that the house of Savoy, _i.e._ of +Sardinia, has pretensions to the English throne.) This unhappy lady, it +is too well established, was poisoned. Voltaire, amongst many others, +has affected to doubt the fact; for which in his time there might be +some excuse. But since then better evidences have placed the matter +beyond all question. We now know both the fact, and the how, and the +why. The Duke, who probably was no party to the murder of his young +wife, though otherwise on bad terms with her, married for his second +wife a coarse German princess, homely in every sense, and a singular +contrast to the elegant creature whom he had lost. She was a daughter +of the Bavarian Elector; ill-tempered by her own confession, self- +willed, and a plain speaker to excess; but otherwise a woman of honest +German principles. Unhappy she was through a long life; unhappy through +the monotony as well as the malicious intrigues of the French court; +and so much so, that she did her best (though without effect) to +prevent her Bavarian niece from becoming dauphiness. She acquits her +husband, however, in the memoirs which she left behind, of any +intentional share in her unhappiness; she describes him constantly as a +well-disposed prince. But whether it were, that often walking in the +dusk through the numerous apartments of that vast mansion which her +husband had so much enlarged, naturally she turned her thoughts to the +injured lady who had presided there before herself; or whether it arose +from the inevitable gloom which broods continually over mighty palaces, +so much is known for certain, that one evening, in the twilight, she +met, at a remote quarter of the reception-rooms, something that she +conceived to be a spectre. What she fancied to have passed on that +occasion, was never known except to her nearest friends; and if she +made any explanations in her memoirs, the editor has thought fit to +suppress them. She mentions only, that in consequence of some ominous +circumstances relating to the title of _Valois_, which was the +proper second title of the Orleans family, her son, the Regent, had +assumed in his boyhood that of Duc de Chartres. His elder brother was +dead, so that the superior title was open to him; but, in consequence +of those mysterious omens, whatever they might be, which occasioned +much whispering at the time, the great title of Valois was laid aside +for ever as of bad augury; nor has it ever been resumed through a +century and a half that have followed that mysterious warning; nor will +it be resumed unless the numerous children of the present Orleans +branch should find themselves distressed for ancient titles; which is +not likely, since they enjoy the honors of the elder house, and are now +the _children of France_ in a technical sense. + +Here we have a great European case of state omens in the eldest of +Christian houses. The next which we shall cite is equally a state case, +and carries its public verification along with itself. In the spring of +1799, when Napoleon was lying before Acre, he became anxious for news +from Upper Egypt, whither he had despatched Dessaix in pursuit of a +distinguished Mameluke leader. This was in the middle of May. Not many +days after, a courier arrived with favorable despatches--favorable in +the main, but reporting one tragical occurrence on a small scale that, +to Napoleon, for a superstitious reason, outweighed the public +prosperity. A _djerme_, or Nile boat of the largest class, having +on board a large party of troops and of wounded men, together with most +of a regimental band, had run ashore at the village of Benouth. No case +could be more hopeless. The neighboring Arabs were of the Yambo tribe-- +of all Arabs the most ferocious. These Arabs and the Fellahs (whom, by +the way, many of our countrymen are so ready to represent as friendly +to the French and hostile to ourselves,) had taken the opportunity of +attacking the vessel. The engagement was obstinate; but at length the +inevitable catastrophe could be delayed no longer. The commander, an +Italian named Morandi, was a brave man; any fate appeared better than +that which awaited him from an enemy so malignant. He set fire to the +powder magazine; the vessel blew up; Morandi perished in the Nile; and +all of less nerve, who had previously reached the shore in safety, were +put to death to the very last man, with cruelties the most detestable, +by their inhuman enemies. For all this Napoleon cared little; but one +solitary fact there was in the report which struck him with +consternation. This ill-fated _djerme_--what was it called? It was +called _L'Italie_; and in the name of the vessel Napoleon read an +augury of the fate which had befallen the Italian territory. Considered +as a dependency of France, he felt certain that Italy was lost; and +Napoleon was inconsolable. But what possible connection, it was asked, +can exist between this vessel on the Nile and a remote peninsula of +Southern Europe? 'No matter,' replied Napoleon; 'my presentiments never +deceive me. You will see that all is ruined. I am satisfied that my +Italy, my conquest, is lost to France!' So, indeed, it was. All +European news had long been intercepted by the English cruisers; but +immediately after the battle with the Vizier in July 1799, an English +admiral first informed the French army of Egypt that Massena and others +had lost all that Bonaparte had won in 1796. But it is a strange +illustration of human blindness, that this very subject of Napoleon's +lamentation--this very campaign of 1799--it was, with its blunders and +its long equipage of disasters, that paved the way for his own +elevation to the Consulship, just seven calendar months from the +receipt of that Egyptian despatch; since most certainly, in the +struggle of Brumaire 1799, doubtful and critical through every stage, +it was the pointed contrast between _his_ Italian campaigns and +those of his successors which gave effect to Napoleon's pretensions +with the political combatants, and which procured them a ratification +amongst the people. The loss of Italy was essential to the full effect +of Napoleon's previous conquest. That and the imbecile characters of +Napoleon's chief military opponents were the true keys to the great +revolution of Brumaire. The stone which he rejected became the keystone +of the arch. So that, after all, he valued the omen falsely; though the +very next news from Europe, courteously communicated by his English +enemies, showed that he had interpreted its meaning rightly. + +These omens, derived from names, are therefore common to the ancient +and the modern world. But perhaps, in strict logic, they ought to have +been classed as one subdivision or variety under a much larger head, +viz. words generally, no matter whether proper names or appellatives, +as operative powers and agencies, having, that is to say, a charmed +power against some party concerned from the moment that they leave the +lips. + +Homer describes prayers as having a separate life, rising buoyantly +upon wings, and making their way upwards to the throne of Jove. Such, +but in a sense gloomy and terrific, is the force ascribed under a +widespread superstition, ancient and modern, to words uttered on +critical occasions; or to words uttered at any time, which point to +critical occasions. Hence the doctrine of _euphaemismos_, the +necessity of abstaining from strong words or direct words in expressing +fatal contingencies. It was shocking, at all times of paganism, to say +of a third person--'If he should die;' or to suppose the case that he +might be murdered. The very word _death_ was consecrated and +forbidden. _Si quiddam humanum passus fuerit_ was the extreme form +to which men advanced in such cases. And this scrupulous feeling, +originally founded on the supposed efficacy of words, prevails to this +day. It is a feeling undoubtedly supported by good taste, which +strongly impresses upon us all the discordant tone of all impassioned +subjects, (death, religion, &c.,) with the common key of ordinary +conversation. But good taste is not in itself sufficient to account for +a scrupulousness so general and so austere. In the lowest classes there +is a shuddering recoil still felt from uttering coarsely and roundly +the anticipation of a person's death. Suppose a child, heir to some +estate, the subject of conversation--the hypothesis of his death is put +cautiously, under such forms as, 'If anything but good should happen;' +'if any change should occur;' 'if any of us should chance to miscarry;' +and so forth. Always a modified expression is sought--always an +indirect one. And this timidity arises under the old superstition still +lingering amongst men, like that ancient awe, alluded to by Wordsworth, +for the sea and its deep secrets--feelings that have not, no, nor ever +will, utterly decay. No excess of nautical skill will ever perfectly +disenchant the great abyss from its terrors--no progressive knowledge +will ever medicine that dread misgiving of a mysterious and pathless +power given to words of a certain import, or uttered in certain +situations, by a parent, to persecuting or insulting children; by the +victim of horrible oppression, when laboring in final agonies; and by +others, whether cursing or blessing, who stand central to great +passions, to great interests, or to great perplexities. + +And here, by way of parenthesis, we may stop to explain the force of +that expression, so common in Scripture, '_Thou hast said it._' It +is an answer often adopted by our Saviour; and the meaning we hold to +be this: Many forms in eastern idioms, as well as in the Greek +occasionally, though meant _interrogatively_, are of a nature to +convey a direct categorical _affirmation_, unless as their meaning +is modified by the cadence and intonation. _Art thou_, detached +from this vocal and accentual modification, is equivalent to _thou +art_. Nay, even apart from this accident, the popular belief +authorized the notion, that simply to have uttered any great thesis, +though unconsciously--simply to have united verbally any two great +ideas, though for a purpose the most different or even opposite, had +the mysterious power of realizing them in act. An exclamation, though +in the purest spirit of sport, to a boy, '_You shall be our +imperator_,' was many times supposed to be the forerunner and fatal +mandate for the boy's elevation. Such words executed themselves. To +connect, though but for denial or for mockery, the ideas of Jesus and +the Messiah, furnished an augury that eventually they would be found to +coincide, and to have their coincidence admitted. It was an +_argumentum ad hominem_, and drawn from a popular faith. + +But a modern reader will object the want of an accompanying design or +serious meaning on the part of him who utters the words--he never meant +his words to be taken seriously--nay, his purpose was the very +opposite. True: and precisely that is the reason why his words are +likely to operate effectually, and why they should be feared. Here lies +the critical point which most of all distinguishes this faith. Words +took effect, not merely in default of a serious use, but exactly in +consequence of that default. It was the chance word, the stray word, +the word uttered in jest, or in trifling, or in scorn, or +unconsciously, which took effect; whilst ten thousand words, uttered +with purpose and deliberation, were sure to prove inert. One case will +illustrate this:--Alexander of Macedon, in the outset of his great +expedition, consulted the oracle at Delphi. For the sake of his army, +had he been even without personal faith, he desired to have his +enterprise consecrated. No persuasions, however, would move the +priestess to enter upon her painful and agitating duties for the sake +of obtaining the regular answer of the god. Wearied with this, +Alexander seized the great lady by the arm, and using as much violence +as was becoming to the two characters--of a great prince acting and a +great priestess suffering--he pushed her gently backwards to the tripod +on which, in her professional character, she was to seat herself. Upon +this, in the hurry and excitement of the moment, the priestess +exclaimed, _O pai, anixaitos ei--O son, thou art irresistible_; +never adverting for an instant to his martial purposes, but simply to +his personal importunities. The person whom she thought of as incapable +of resistance, was herself, and all she meant _consciously_ was--O +son, I can refuse nothing to one so earnest. But mark what followed: +Alexander desisted at once--he asked for no further oracle--he refused +it, and exclaimed joyously:--'Now then, noble priestess, farewell; I +have the oracle--I have your answer, and better than any which you +could deliver from the tripod. I am invincible--so you have declared, +you cannot revoke it. True, you thought not of Persia--you thought only +of my importunity. But that very fact is what ratifies your answer. In +its blindness I recognise its truth. An oracle from a god might be +distorted by political ministers of the god, as in time past too often +has been suspected. The oracle has been said to _Medize_, and in +my own father's time to _Philippize_. But an oracle delivered +unconsciously, indirectly, blindly, that is the oracle which cannot +deceive.' Such was the all-famous oracle which Alexander accepted--such +was the oracle on which he and his army reposing went forth 'conquering +and to conquer.' + +Exactly on this principle do the Turks act, in putting so high a value +on the words of idiots. Enlightened Christians have often wondered at +their allowing any weight to people bereft of understanding. But that +is the very reason for allowing them weight: that very defect it is +which makes them capable of being organs for conveying words from +higher intelligences. A fine human intelligence cannot be a passive +instrument--it cannot be a mere tube for conveying the words of +inspiration: such an intelligence will intermingle ideas of its own, or +otherwise modify what is given, and pollute what is sacred. + +It is also on this principle that the whole practice and doctrine of +Sortilegy rest. Let us confine ourselves to that mode of sortilegy +which is conducted by throwing open privileged books at random, leaving +to chance the page and the particular line on which the oracular +functions are thrown. The books used have varied with the caprice or +the error of ages. Once the Hebrew Scriptures had the preference. +Probably they were laid aside, not because the reverence for their +authority decayed, but because it increased. In later times Virgil has +been the favorite. Considering the very limited range of ideas to which +Virgil was tied by his theme--a colonizing expedition in a barbarous +age, no worse book could have been selected: [Footnote: '_No worse +book could have been selected._'--The probable reason for making so +unhappy a choice seems to have been that Virgil, in the middle ages, +had the character of a necromancer, a diviner, &c. This we all know +from Dante. Now, the original reason for this strange translation of +character and functions we hold to have arisen from the circumstance of +his maternal grandfather having borne the name of _Magus_. People +in those ages held that a powerful enchanter, exorciser, &c., must have +a magician amongst his _cognati_; the power must run in the blood, +which on the maternal side could be undeniably ascertained. Under this +preconception, they took Magus not for a proper name, but for a +professional designation. Amongst many illustrations of the magical +character sustained by Virgil in the middle ages, we may mention that a +writer, about the year 1200, or the era of our Robin Hood, published by +Montfaucon, and cited by Gibbon in his last volume, says of Virgil,-- +that '_Captus a Romanis invisibiliter exiit, ivitque Neapopolim_.'] so +little indeed does the AEneid exhibit of human life in its +multiformity, that much tampering with the text is required +to bring real cases of human interest and real situations within the +scope of any Virgilian sentence, though aided by the utmost latitude of +accommodation. A king, a soldier, a sailor, &c., might look for +correspondences to their own circumstances; but not many others. +Accordingly, everybody remembers the remarkable answer which Charles I. +received at Oxford from this Virgilian oracle, about the opening of the +Parliamentary war. But from this limitation in the range of ideas it +was that others, and very pious people too, have not thought it profane +to resume the old reliance on the Scriptures. No case, indeed, can try +so severely, or put upon record so conspicuously, this indestructible +propensity for seeking light out of darkness--this thirst for looking +into the future by the aid of dice, real or figurative, as the fact of +men eminent for piety having yielded to the temptation. We give one +instance--the instance of a person who, in _practical_ theology, +has been, perhaps, more popular than any other in any church. Dr. +Doddridge, in his earlier days, was in a dilemma both of conscience and +of taste as to the election he should make between two situations, one +in possession, both at his command. He was settled at Harborough, in +Leicestershire, and was 'pleasing himself with the view of a +continuance' in that situation. True, he had received an invitation to +Northampton; but the reasons against complying seemed so strong, that +nothing was wanting but the civility of going over to Northampton, and +making an apologetic farewell. On the last Sunday in November of the +year 1729, the doctor went and preached a sermon in conformity with +those purposes. 'But,' says he, 'on the morning of that day an incident +happened, which affected me greatly.' On the night previous, it seems, +he had been urged very importunately by his Northampton friends to +undertake the vacant office. Much personal kindness had concurred with +this public importunity: the good doctor was affected; he had prayed +fervently, alleging in his prayer, as the reason which chiefly weighed +with him to reject the offer, that it was far beyond his forces, and +chiefly because he was too young [Footnote: '_Because he was too +young_'--Dr. Doddridge was born in the summer of 1702; consequently +he was at this era of his life about twenty-seven years old, and +consequently not so obviously entitled to the excuse of youth. But he +pleaded his youth, not with a view to the exertions required, but to +the _auctoritas_ and responsibilities of the situation.] and had +no assistant. He goes on thus:--'As soon as ever this address' (meaning +the prayer) 'was ended, I passed through a room of the house in which I +lodged, where a child was reading to his mother, and the only words I +heard distinctly were these, _And as thy days, so shall thy strength +be_.' This singular coincidence between his own difficulty and a +scriptural line caught at random in passing hastily through a room, +(but observe, a line insulated from the context, and placed in high +relief to his ear,) shook his resolution. Accident co-operated; a +promise to be fulfilled at Northampton, in a certain contingency, fell +due at the instant; the doctor was detained, this detention gave time +for further representations; new motives arose, old difficulties were +removed, and finally the doctor saw, in all this succession of steps, +the first of which, however, lay in the _Sortes Biblicć_, clear +indications of a providential guidance. With that conviction he took up +his abode at Northampton, and remained there for the next thirty-one +years, until he left it for his grave at Lisbon; in fact, he passed at +Northampton the whole of his public life. It must, therefore, be +allowed to stand upon the records of sortilegy, that in the main +direction of his life--not, indeed, as to its spirit, but as to its +form and local connections--a Protestant divine of much merit, and +chiefly in what regards practice, and of the class most opposed to +superstition, took his determining impulse from a variety of the +_Sortes Virgilianć_. + +This variety was known in early times to the Jews--as early, indeed, as +the era of the Grecian Pericles, if we are to believe the Talmud. It is +known familiarly to this day amongst Polish Jews, and is called +_Bathcol_, or the _daughter of a voice_; the meaning of which +appellation is this:--The _Urim and Thummim_, or oracle in the +breast-plate of the high priest, spoke directly from God. It was, +therefore, the original or mother-voice. But about the time of +Pericles, that is, exactly one hundred years before the time of +Alexander the Great, the light of prophecy was quenched in Malachi or +Haggai; and the oracular jewels in the breast-plate became +simultaneously dim. Henceforwards the mother-voice was heard no longer: +but to this succeeded an imperfect or daughter-voice, (_Bathcol_,) +which lay in the first words happening to arrest the attention at a +moment of perplexity. An illustration, which has been often quoted from +the Talmud, is to the following effect:--Rabbi Tochanan, and Rabbi +Simeon Ben Lachish, were anxious about a friend, Rabbi Samuel, six +hundred miles distant on the Euphrates. Whilst talking earnestly +together on this subject in Palestine, they passed a school; they +paused to listen: it was a child reading the first book of Samuel; and +the words which they caught were these--_And Samuel died_. These +words they received as a _Bath-col_: and the next horseman from +the Euphrates brought word accordingly that Rabbi Samuel had been +gathered to his fathers at some station on the Euphrates. + +Here is the very same case, the same _Bath-col_ substantially, +which we have cited from Orton's _Life of Doddridge_. And Du Cange +himself notices, in his Glossary, the relation which this bore to the +Pagan _Sortes_. 'It was,' says he, 'a fantastical way of divination, +invented by the Jews, not unlike the _Sortes Virgilianć_ of the +heathens. For, as with them the first words they happened to dip into +in the works of that poet were a kind of oracle whereby they predicted +future events,--so, with the Jews, when they appealed to _Bath-col_, +the first words they heard from any one's mouth were looked upon as a +voice from Heaven directing them in the matter they inquired about.' + +If the reader imagines that this ancient form of the practical +miraculous is at all gone out of use, even the example of Dr. Doddridge +may satisfy him to the contrary. Such an example was sure to authorize +a large imitation. But, even apart from that, the superstition is +common. The records of conversion amongst felons and other ignorant +persons might be cited by hundreds upon hundreds to prove that no +practice is more common than that of trying the spiritual fate, and +abiding by the import of any passage in the Scriptures which may first +present itself to the eye. Cowper, the poet, has recorded a case of +this sort in his own experience. It is one to which all the unhappy are +prone. But a mode of questioning the oracles of darkness, far more +childish, and, under some shape or other, equally common amongst those +who are prompted by mere vacancy of mind, without that determination to +sacred fountains which is impressed by misery, may be found in the +following extravagant silliness of Rousseau, which we give in his own +words--a case for which he admits that he himself would have _shut +up_ any other man (meaning in a lunatic hospital) whom he had seen +practising the same absurdities:-- + +'Au milieu de mes études et d'une vie innocente autant qu'on la puisse +mener, et malgré tout ce qu'on m'avoit pu dire, la peur de l'Enfer +m'agitoit encore. Souvent je me demandois--En quel état suis-je? Si je +mourrois ŕ l'instant męme, _serois-je damné_? Selon mes Jansénistes, +[he had been reading the books of the Port Royal,] la chose est +indubitable: mais, selon ma conscience, il me paroissoit que +non. Toujours craintif et flottant dans cette cruelle incertitude, +j'avois recours (pour en sortir) aux expédients les plus risibles, et +pour lesquels je ferois volontiers enfermer un homme si je lui en +voyois faire autant. ... Un jour, ręvant ŕ ce triste sujet, je +m'exerçois machinalement ŕ lancer les pierres contre les troncs des +arbres; et cela avec mon addresse ordinaire, c'est-ŕ-dire sans presque +jamais en toucher aucun. Tout au milieu de ce bel exercise, je m'avisai +de faire une espčce de pronostic pour calmer mon inquiétude. Je me dis +--je m'en vais jeter cette pierre contre l'arbre qui est vis-ŕ-vis de +moi: si je le touche, signe de salut: si je le manque, signe de +damnation. Tout en disant ainsi, je jette ma pierre d'une main +tremblante, et avec un horrible battement de coeur, mais si +heureusement qu'elle va frapper au beau-milieu de l'arbre: ce qui +véritablement n'étoit pas difficile: car j'avois eu soin de le choisir +fort gros et fort prčs. _Depuis lors je n'ai plus doubté de mon +salut._ Je ne sais, en me rappelant ce trait, si je dois rire ou +gémir sur moimęme.'--_Les Confessions, Partie I. Livre VI._ + +Now, really, if Rousseau thought fit to try such tremendous appeals by +taking 'a shy' at any random object, he should have governed his +sortilegy (for such it may be called) with something more like equity. +Fair play is a jewel: and in such a case, a man is supposed to play +against an adverse party hid in darkness. To shy at a cow within six +feet distance gives no chance at all to his dark antagonist. A pigeon +rising from a trap at a suitable distance might be thought a +_sincere_ staking of the interest at issue: but, as to the massy +stem of a tree 'fort gros et fort prčs'--the sarcasm of a Roman emperor +applies, that to miss under such conditions implied an original genius +for stupidity, and to hit was no trial of the case. After all, the +sentimentalist had youth to plead in apology for this extravagance. He +was hypochondriacal; he was in solitude; and he was possessed by gloomy +imaginations from the works of a society in the highest public credit. +But most readers will be aware of similar appeals to the mysteries of +Providence, made in public by illustrious sectarians, speaking from the +solemn station of a pulpit. We forbear to quote cases of this nature, +though really existing in print, because we feel that the blasphemy of +such anecdotes is more revolting and more painful to pious minds than +the absurdity is amusing. Meantime it must not be forgotten, that the +principle concerned, though it may happen to disgust men when +associated with ludicrous circumstances, is, after all, the very same +which has latently governed very many modes of ordeal, or judicial +inquiry; and which has been adopted, blindly, as a moral rule, or +canon, equally by the blindest of the Pagans, the most fanatical of the +Jews, and the most enlightened of the Christians. It proceeds upon the +assumption that man by his actions puts a question to Heaven; and that +Heaven answers by the event. Lucan, in a well known passage, takes it +for granted that the cause of Cćsar had the approbation of the gods. +And why? Simply from the event. It was notoriously the triumphant +cause. It was victorious, (_victrix_ causa Deis placuit; sed +_victa_ Catoni.) It was the '_victrix_ causa;' and, _as_ such, +simply because it was 'victrix,' it had a right in his eyes to +postulate the divine favor as mere matter of necessary interference: +whilst, on the other hand, the _victa causa_, though it seemed to +Lucan sanctioned by human virtue in the person of Cato, stood +unappealably condemned. This mode of reasoning may strike the reader as +merely Pagan. Not at all. In England, at the close of the Parliamentary +war, it was generally argued--that Providence had decided the question +against the Royalists by the mere fact of the issue. Milton himself, +with all his high-toned morality, uses this argument as irrefragable: +which is odd, were it only on this account--that the issue ought +necessarily to have been held for a time as merely hypothetic, and +liable to be set aside by possible counter-issues through one +generation at the least. But the capital argument against such doctrine +is to be found in the New Testament. Strange that Milton should +overlook, and strange that moralists in general have overlooked, the +sudden arrest given to this dangerous but most prevalent mode of +reasoning by the Founder of our faith. He first, he last, taught to his +astonished disciples the new truth--at that time the astounding truth-- +that no relation exists between the immediate practical events of +things on the one side, and divine sentences on the other. There was no +presumption, he teaches them, against a man's favor with God, or that +of his parents, because he happened to be afflicted to extremity with +bodily disease. There was no shadow of an argument for believing a +party of men criminal objects of heavenly wrath because upon them, by +fatal preference, a tower had fallen, and because _their_ bodies +were exclusively mangled. How little can it be said that Christianity +has yet developed the fulness of its power, when kings and senates so +recently acted under a total oblivion of this great though novel +Christian doctrine, and would do so still, were it not that religious +arguments have been banished by the progress of manners from the field +of political discussion. + +But, quitting this province of the ominous, where it is made the object +of a direct personal inquest, whether by private or by national trials, +or the sortilegy of events, let us throw our eyes over the broader +field of omens, as they offer themselves spontaneously to those who do +not seek, or would even willingly evade them. There are few of these, +perhaps none, which are not universal in their authority, though every +land in turn fancies them (like its proverbs) of local prescription and +origin. The death-watch extends from England to Cashmere, and across +India diagonally to the remotest nook of Bengal, over a three thousand +miles' distance from the entrance of the Indian Punjaub. A hare +crossing a man's path on starting in the morning, has been held in all +countries alike to prognosticate evil in the course of that day. Thus, +in the _Confessions of a Thug_, (which is partially built on a +real judicial document, and everywhere conforms to the usages of +Hindostan,) the hero of the horrid narrative [Footnote: '_The hero of +the horrid narrative_.'--Horrid it certainly is; and one incident in +every case gives a demoniacal air of coolness to the hellish +atrocities, viz the regular forwarding of the _bheels_, or grave- +diggers. But else the tale tends too much to monotony; and for a reason +which ought to have checked the author in carrying on the work to three +volumes, namely, that although there is much dramatic variety in the +circumstances of the several cases, there is none in the catastrophes. +The brave man and the coward, the erect spirit fighting to the last, +and the poor creature that despairs from the first,--all are confounded +in one undistinguishing end by sudden strangulation. This was the +original defect of the plan. The sudden surprise, and the scientific +noosing as with a Chilian _lasso_, constituted in fact a main +feature of Thuggee. But still, the gradual theatrical arrangement of +each Thug severally by the side of a victim, must often have roused +violent suspicion, and that in time to intercept the suddenness of the +murder. Now, for the sake of the dramatic effect, this interception +ought more often to have been introduced, else the murders are but so +many blind surprises as if in sleep.] charges some disaster of his own +upon having neglected such an omen of the morning. The same belief +operated in Pagan Italy. The same omen announced to Lord Lindsay's Arab +attendants in the desert the approach of some disaster, which partially +happened in the morning. And a Highlander of the 42d Regiment, in his +printed memoirs, notices the same harbinger of evil as having crossed +his own path on a day of personal disaster in Spain. + +Birds are even more familiarly associated with such ominous warnings. +This chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated +with unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans--_ornithomancy_ grew +into an elaborate science. But if every rule and distinction upon the +number and the position of birds, whether to the right or the left, had +been collected from our own village matrons amongst ourselves, it would +appear that no more of this Pagan science had gone to wreck than must +naturally follow the difference between a believing and a disbelieving +government. Magpies are still of awful authority in village life, +according to their number, &c.; for a striking illustration of which we +may refer the reader to Sir Walter Scott's _Demonology_, reported +not at second-hand, but from Sir Walter's personal communication with +some seafaring fellow-traveller in a stage-coach. + +Among the ancient stories of the same class is one which we shall +repeat--having reference to that Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the +Great, before whom St. Paul made his famous apology at Cćsarea. This +Agrippa, overwhelmed by debts, had fled from Palestine to Rome in the +latter years of Tiberius. His mother's interest with the widow of +Germanicus procured him a special recommendation to her son Caligula. +Viewing this child and heir of the popular Germanicus as the rising +sun, Agrippa had been too free in his language. True, the uncle of +Germanicus was the reigning prince; but he was old, and breaking up. +True, the son of Germanicus was not yet on the throne; but he soon +would be; and Agrippa was rash enough to call the Emperor a +_superannuated old fellow_, and even to wish for his death. +Sejanus was now dead and gone; but there was no want of spies: and a +certain Macro reported his words to Tiberius. Agrippa was in +consequence arrested; the Emperor himself condescending to point out +the noble Jew to the officer on duty. The case was a gloomy one, if +Tiberius should happen to survive much longer: and the story of the +omen proceeds thus:--'Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the +Imperial palace, and in his affliction leaned against a certain tree, +upon the boughs of which it happened that a bird had alighted which the +Romans call _bubo_, or the owl. All this was steadfastly observed +by a German prisoner, who asked a soldier what might be the name and +offence of that man habited in purple. Being told that the man's name +was Agrippa, and that he was a Jew of high rank, who had given a +personal offence to the Emperor, the German asked permission to go near +and address him; which being granted, he spoke thus:--"This disaster, I +doubt not, young man, is trying to your heart; and perhaps you will not +believe me when I announce to you beforehand the providential +deliverance which is impending. However, this much I will say--and for +my sincerity let me appeal to my native gods, as well as to the gods of +this Rome, who have brought us both into trouble--that no selfish +objects prompt me to this revelation--for a revelation it is--and to +the following effect:--It is fated that you shall not long remain in +chains. Your deliverance will be speedy; you shall be raised to the +very highest rank and power; you shall be the object of as much envy as +now you are of pity; you shall retain your prosperity till death; and +you shall transmit that prosperity to your children. But"--and there +the German paused. Agrippa was agitated; the bystanders were attentive; +and after a time, the German, pointing solemnly to the bird, proceeded +thus:--"But this remember heedfully--that, when next you see the bird +which now perches above your head, you will have only five days longer +to live! This event will be surely accomplished by that same mysterious +god who has thought fit to send the bird as a warning sign; and you, +when you come to your glory, do not forget me that foreshadowed it in +your humiliation."' The story adds, that Agrippa affected to laugh when +the German concluded; after which it goes on to say, that in a few +weeks, being delivered by the death of Tiberius; being released from +prison by the very prince on whose account he had incurred the risk; +being raised to a tetrarchy, and afterwards to the kingdom of all +Judea; coming into all the prosperity which had been promised to him by +the German; and not losing any part of his interest at Rome through the +assassination of his patron Caligula--he began to look back +respectfully to the words of the German, and forwards with anxiety to +the second coming of the bird. Seven years of sunshine had now slipped +away as silently as a dream. A great festival, shows and vows, was on +the point of being celebrated in honor of Claudius Cćsar, at Strato's +Tower, otherwise called Cćsarea, the Roman metropolis of Palestine. +Duty and policy alike required that the king of the land should go down +and unite in this mode of religious homage to the emperor. He did so; +and on the second morning of the festival, by way of doing more +conspicuous honor to the great solemnity, he assumed a very sumptuous +attire of silver armor, burnished so highly as to throw back a dazzling +glare from the sun's morning beams upon the upturned eyes of the vast +multitude around him. Immediately from the sycophantish part of the +crowd, of whom a vast majority were Pagans, ascended a cry of +glorification as to some manifestation of Deity. Agrippa, gratified by +this success of his new apparel, and by this flattery, not unusual in +the case of kings, had not the firmness (though a Jew, and conscious of +the wickedness, greater in himself than in the heathen crowd,) to +reject the blasphemous homage. Voices of adoration continued to ascend; +when suddenly, looking upward to the vast awnings prepared for +screening the audience from the noonday heats, the king perceived the +same ominous bird which he had seen at Rome in the day of his +affliction, seated quietly, and looking down upon himself. In that same +moment an icy pang shot through his intestines. He was removed into the +palace; and at the end of five days, completely worn out by pain, +Agrippa expired in the 54th year of his age, and the seventh of his +sovereign power. + +Whether the bird, here described as an owl, was really such, may be +doubted, considering the narrow nomenclature of the Romans for all +zoological purposes, and the total indifference of the Roman mind to +all distinctions in natural history which are not upon the very largest +scale. We should much suspect that the bird was a magpie. Meantime, +speaking of ornithoscopy in relation to Jews, we remember another story +in that subdivision of the subject which it may be worth while +repeating; not merely on its own account, as wearing a fine oriental +air, but also for the correction which it suggests to a very common +error. + +In some period of Syrian warfare, a large military detachment was +entering at some point of Syria from the desert of the Euphrates. At +the head of the whole array rode two men of some distinction: one was +an augur of high reputation, the other was a Jew called Mosollam, a man +of admirable beauty, a matchless horseman, an unerring archer, and +accomplished in all martial arts. As they were now first coming within +enclosed grounds, after a long march in the wilderness, the augur was +most anxious to inaugurate the expedition by some considerable omen. +Watching anxiously, therefore, he soon saw a bird of splendid plumage +perching on a low wall. 'Halt!' he said to the advanced guard: and all +drew up in a line. At that moment of silence and expectation, Mosollam, +slightly turning himself in his saddle, drew his bow-string to his ear; +his Jewish hatred of Pagan auguries burned within him; his inevitable +shaft went right to its mark, and the beautiful bird fell dead. The +augur turned round in fury. But the Jew laughed at him. 'This bird, you +say, should have furnished us with omens of our future fortunes. But +had he known anything of his own, he would never have perched where he +did, or have come within the range of Mosollam's archery. How should +that bird know our destiny, who did not know that it was his own to be +shot by Mosollam the Jew?' + +Now, this is a most common but a most erroneous way of arguing. In a +case of this kind, the bird was not supposed to have any conscious +acquaintance with futurity, either for his own benefit or that of +others. But even where such a consciousness may be supposed, as in the +case of oneiromancy, or prophecy by means of dreams, it must be +supposed limited, and the more limited in a personal sense as they are +illimitable in a sublime one. Who imagines that, because a Daniel or +Ezekiel foresaw the grand revolutions of the earth, therefore they must +or could have foreseen the little details of their own ordinary life? +And even descending from that perfect inspiration to the more doubtful +power of augury amongst the Pagans, (concerning which the most eminent +of theologians have held very opposite theories,) one thing is certain, +that, so long as we entertain such pretensions, or discuss them at all, +we must take them with the principle of those who professed such arts, +not with principles of our own arbitrary invention. + +One example will make this clear:--There are in England [Footnote: +'_There are in England_'--Especially in Somersetshire, and for +twenty miles round Wrington, the birthplace of Locke. Nobody sinks for +wells without their advice. We ourselves knew an amiable and +accomplished Scottish family, who, at an estate called Belmadrothie, in +memory of a similar property in Ross shire, built a house in +Somersetshire, and resolved to find water without help from the jowser. +But after sinking to a greater depth than ever had been known before, +and spending nearly Ł200, they were finally obliged to consult the +jowser, who found water at once.] a class of men who practise the Pagan +rhabdomancy in a limited sense. They carry a rod or rhabdos +(_rhabdos_) of willow: this they hold horizontally; and by the +bending of the rod towards the ground they discover the favorable +places for sinking wells; a matter of considerable importance in a +province so ill-watered as the northern district of Somersetshire, &c. +These people are locally called _jowsers_; and it is probable, +that from the suspicion with which their art has been usually regarded +amongst people of education, as a mere legerdemain trick of +Dousterswivel's, is derived the slang word to _chouse_ for _swindle_. +Meantime, the experimental evidences of a real practical skill in these +men, and the enlarged compass of speculation in these days, have led +many enlightened people to a Stoic _epochey_, or suspension of +judgment, on the reality of this somewhat mysterious art. Now, in the +East, there are men who make the same pretensions in a more showy +branch of the art. It is not water, but treasures which they profess to +find by some hidden kind of rhabdomancy. The very existence of +treasures with us is reasonably considered a thing of improbable +occurrence. But in the unsettled East, and with the low valuation of +human life wherever Mahometanism prevails, insecurity and other causes +must have caused millions of such deposits in every century to have +perished as to any knowledge of survivors. The sword has been moving +backwards and forwards, for instance, like a weaver's shuttle, since +the time of Mahmoud the Ghaznevide, [Footnote: Mahmood of Ghizni, +which, under the European name of Ghaznee, was so recently taken in one +hour by our Indian army under Lord Keane Mahmood was the first +Mahometan invader of Hindostan.] in Anno Domini 1000, in the vast +regions between the Tigris, the Oxus, and the Indus. Regularly as it +approached, gold and jewels must have sunk by whole harvests into the +ground. A certain per centage has been doubtless recovered: a larger +per centage has disappeared for ever. Hence naturally the jealousy of +barbarous Orientals that we Europeans, in groping amongst pyramids, +sphynxes, and tombs, are looking for buried treasures. The wretches are +not so wide astray in what they believe as in what they disbelieve. The +treasures do really exist which they fancy; but then also the other +treasures in the glorious antiquities have that existence for our sense +of beauty which to their brutality is inconceivable. In these +circumstances, why should it surprise us that men will pursue the +science of discovery as a regular trade? Many discoveries of treasure +are doubtless made continually, which, for obvious reasons, are +communicated to nobody. Some proportion there must be between the +sowing of such grain as diamonds or emeralds, and the subsequent +reaping, whether by accident or by art. For, with regard to the last, +it is no more impossible, _prima fronte_, that a substance may exist +having an occult sympathy with subterraneous water or subterraneous +gold, than that the magnet should have a sympathy (as yet occult) with +the northern pole of our planet. + +The first flash of careless thought applied to such a case will +suggest, that men holding powers of this nature need not offer their +services for hire to others. And this, in fact, is the objection +universally urged by us Europeans as decisive against their +pretensions. Their knavery, it is fancied, stands self-recorded; since, +assuredly, they would not be willing to divide their subterranean +treasures, if they knew of any. But the men are not in such self- +contradiction as may seem. Lady Hester Stanhope, from the better +knowledge she had acquired of Oriental opinions, set Dr. Madden right +on this point. The Oriental belief is that a fatality attends the +appropriator of a treasure in any case where he happens also to be the +discoverer. Such a person, it is held, will die soon, and suddenly--so +that he is compelled to seek his remuneration from the wages or fees of +his employers, not from the treasure itself. + +Many more secret laws are held sacred amongst the professors of that +art than that which was explained by Lady Hester Stanhope. These we +shall not enter upon at present: but generally we may remark, that the +same practices of subterranean deposits, during our troubled periods in +Europe, led to the same superstitions. And it may be added, that the +same error has arisen in both cases as to some of these superstitions. +How often must it have struck people of liberal feelings, as a +scandalous proof of the preposterous value set upon riches by poor men, +that ghosts should popularly be supposed to rise and wander for the +sake of revealing the situations of buried treasures. For ourselves, we +have been accustomed to view this popular belief in the light of an +argument for pity rather than for contempt towards poor men, as +indicating the extreme pressure of that necessity which could so have +demoralized their natural sense of truth. But certainly, in whatever +feelings originating, such popular superstitions as to motives of +ghostly missions did seem to argue a deplorable misconception of the +relation subsisting between the spiritual world and the perishable +treasures of this perishable world. Yet, when we look into the Eastern +explanations of this case, we find that it is meant to express, not any +overvaluation of riches, but the direct contrary passion. A human +spirit is punished--such is the notion--punished in the spiritual world +for excessive attachment to gold, by degradation to the office of its +guardian; and from this office the tortured spirit can release itself +only by revealing the treasure and transferring the custody. It is a +penal martyrdom, not an elective passion for gold, which is thus +exemplified in the wanderings of a treasure-ghost. + +But, in a field where of necessity we are so much limited, we willingly +pass from the consideration of these treasure or _khasne_ phantoms +(which alone sufficiently ensure a swarm of ghostly terrors for all +Oriental ruins of cities,) to the same marvellous apparitions, as they +haunt other solitudes even more awful than those of ruined cities. In +this world there are two mighty forms of perfect solitude--the ocean +and the desert: the wilderness of the barren sands, and the wilderness +of the barren waters. Both are the parents of inevitable superstitions +--of terrors, solemn, ineradicable, eternal. Sailors and the children +of the desert are alike overrun with spiritual hauntings, from +accidents of peril essentially connected with those modes of life, and +from the eternal spectacle of the infinite. Voices seem to blend with +the raving of the sea, which will for ever impress the feeling of +beings more than human: and every chamber of the great wilderness +which, with little interruption, stretches from the Euphrates to the +western shores of Africa, has its own peculiar terrors both as to +sights and sounds. In the wilderness of Zin, between Palestine and the +Red Sea, a section of the desert well known in these days to our own +countrymen, bells are heard daily pealing for matins, or for vespers, +from some phantom convent that no search of Christian or of Bedouin +Arab has ever been able to discover. These bells have sounded since the +Crusades. Other sounds, trumpets, the _Alala_ of armies, &c., are +heard in other regions of the Desert. Forms, also, are seen of more +people than have any right to be walking in human paths: sometimes +forms of avowed terror; sometimes, which is a case of far more danger, +appearances that mimic the shapes of men, and even of friends or +comrades. This is a case much dwelt on by the old travellers, and which +throws a gloom over the spirits of all Bedouins, and of every cafila or +caravan. We all know what a sensation of loneliness or 'eeriness' (to +use an expressive term of the ballad poetry) arises to any small party +assembling in a single room of a vast desolate mansion: how the timid +among them fancy continually that they hear some remote door opening, +or trace the sound of suppressed footsteps from some distant staircase. +Such is the feeling in the desert, even in the midst of the caravan. +The mighty solitude is seen: the dread silence is anticipated which +will succeed to this brief transit of men, camels, and horses. Awe +prevails even in the midst of society: but, if the traveller should +loiter behind from fatigue, or be so imprudent as to ramble aside-- +should he from any cause once lose sight of his party, it is held that +his chance is small of recovering their traces. And why? Not chiefly +from the want of footmarks where the wind effaces all impressions in +half an hour, or of eyemarks where all is one blank ocean of sand, but +much more from the sounds or the visual appearances which are supposed +to beset and to seduce all insulated wanderers. + +Everybody knows the superstitions of the ancients about the +_Nympholeptoi_, or those who had seen Pan. But far more awful and +gloomy are the existing superstitions, throughout Asia and Africa, as +to the perils of those who are phantom-haunted in the wilderness. The +old Venetian traveller Marco Polo states them well: he speaks, indeed, +of the Eastern or Tartar deserts; the steppes which stretch from +European Russia to the footsteps of the Chinese throne; but exactly the +same creed prevails amongst the Arabs, from Bagdad to Suez and Cairo-- +from Rosetta to Tunis--Tunis to Timbuctoo or Mequinez. 'If, during the +daytime,' says he, 'any person should remain behind until the caravan +is no longer in sight, he hears himself unexpectedly called to by name, +and in a voice with which he is familiar. Not doubting that the voice +proceeds from some of his comrades, the unhappy man is beguiled from +the right direction; and soon finding himself utterly confounded as to +the path, he roams about in distraction until he perishes miserably. +If, on the other hand, this perilous separation of himself from the +caravan should happen at night, he is sure to hear the uproar of a +great cavalcade a mile or two to the right or left of the true track. +He is thus seduced on one side: and at break of day finds himself far +removed from man. Nay, even at noon-day, it is well known that grave +and respectable men to all appearance will come up to a particular +traveller, will bear the look of a friend, and will gradually lure him +by earnest conversation to a distance from the caravan; after which the +sounds of men and camels will be heard continually at all points but +the true one; whilst an insensible turning by the tenth of an inch at +each separate step from the true direction will very soon suffice to +set the traveller's face to the opposite point of the compass from that +which his safety requires, and which his fancy represents to him as his +real direction. Marvellous, indeed, and almost passing belief, are the +stories reported of these desert phantoms, which are said at times to +fill the air with choral music from all kinds of instruments, from +drums, and the clash of arms: so that oftentimes a whole caravan are +obliged to close up their open ranks, and to proceed in a compact line +of march.' + +Lord Lindsay, in his very interesting travels in Egypt, Edom, &c., +agrees with Warton in supposing (and probably enough) that from this +account of the desert traditions in Marco Polo was derived Milton's +fine passage in Comus:-- + + 'Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, + And aery tongues that syllable men's names + On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses.' + +But the most remarkable of these desert superstitions, as suggested by +the mention of Lord Lindsay, is one which that young nobleman, in some +place which we cannot immediately find, has noticed, but which he only +was destined by a severe personal loss immediately to illustrate. Lord +L. quotes from Vincent le Blanc an anecdote of a man in his own +caravan, the companion of an Arab merchant, who disappeared in a +mysterious manner. Four Moors, with a retaining fee of 100 ducats, were +sent in quest of him, but came back _re infecta_. 'And 'tis +uncertain,' adds Le Blanc, 'whether he was swallowed up in the sands, +or met his death by any other misfortune; as it often happens, by the +relation of a merchant then in our company, who told us, that two years +before, traversing the same journey, a comrade of his, going a little +aside from the company, saw three men who called him by his name; and +one of them, to his thinking, favored very much his companion; and, as +he was about to follow them, his real companion calling him to come +back to his company, he found himself deceived by the others, and thus +was saved. And all travellers in these parts hold, that in the deserts +are many such phantasms seen, that strive to seduce the traveller.' +Thus far it is the traveller's own fault, warned as he is continually +by the extreme anxiety of the Arab leaders or guides, with respect to +all who stray to any distance, if he is duped or enticed by these +pseudo-men: though, in the case of Lapland dogs, who ought to have a +surer instinct of detection for counterfeits, we know from Sir Capel de +Broke and others, that they are continually wiled away by the wolves +who roam about the nightly encampments of travellers. But there is a +secondary disaster, according to the Arab superstition, awaiting those +whose eyes are once opened to the discernment of these phantoms. To see +them, or to hear them, even where the traveller is careful to refuse +their lures, entails the certainty of death in no long time. This is +another form of that universal faith which made it impossible for any +man to survive a bodily commerce, by whatever sense, with a spiritual +being. We find it in the Old Testament, where the expression, 'I have +seen God and shall die,' means simply a supernatural being; since no +Hebrew believed it possible for a nature purely human to sustain for a +moment the sight of the Infinite Being. We find the same faith amongst +ourselves, in case of _doppelgänger_ becoming apparent to the +sight of those whom they counterfeit; and in many other varieties. We +modern Europeans, of course, laugh at these superstitions; though, as +La Place remarks, (_Essai sur les Probabilités_,) any case, +however apparently incredible, if it is a recurrent case, is as much +entitled to a fair valuation as if it had been more probable +beforehand.[Footnote: _'Is as much entitled to a fair valuation, +under the lans of induction, as if it had been more probable +beforehand'_--One of the cases which La Place notices as entitled to +a grave consideration, but which would most assuredly be treated as a +trivial phenomenon, unworthy of attention, by commonplace spectators, +is--when a run of success, with no apparent cause, takes place on heads +or tails, (_pile ou croix_) Most people dismiss such a case as +pure accident. But La Place insists on its being duly valued as a fact, +however unaccountable as an effect. So again, if in a large majority of +experiences like those of Lord Lindsay's party in the desert, death +should follow, such a phenomenon is as well entitled to its separate +valuation as any other.] This being premised, we who connect +superstition with the personal result, are more impressed by the +disaster which happened to Lord Lindsay, than his lordship, who either +failed to notice the _nexus_ between the events, or possibly +declined to put the case too forward in his reader's eye, from the +solemnity of the circumstances, and the private interest to himself and +his own family, of the subsequent event. The case was this:--Mr. +William Wardlaw Ramsay, the companion (and we believe relative) of Lord +Lindsay, a man whose honorable character, and whose intellectual +accomplishments speak for themselves, in the posthumus memorabilia of +his travels published by Lord L., had seen an array of objects in the +desert, which facts immediately succeeding demonstrated to have been a +mere ocular _lusus_, or (according to Arab notions) phantoms. +During the absence from home of an Arab sheikh, who had been hired as +conductor of Lord Lindsay's party, a hostile tribe (bearing the name of +Tellaheens) had assaulted and pillaged his tents. Report of this had +reached the English travelling party; it was known that the Tellaheens +were still in motion, and a hostile rencounter was looked for for some +days. At length, in crossing the well known valley of the _Wady +Araba_, that most ancient channel of communication between the Red +Sea and Judea, &c., Mr. Ramsay saw, to his own entire conviction, a +party of horse moving amongst some sand-hills. Afterwards it became +certain, from accurate information, that this must have been a +delusion. It was established, that no horseman _could_ have been +in that neighborhood at that time. Lord Lindsay records the case as an +illustration of 'that spiritualized tone the imagination naturally +assumes, in scenes presenting so little sympathy with the ordinary +feelings of humanity;' and he reports the case in these pointed terms: +--'Mr. Ramsay, a man of remarkably strong sight, and by no means +disposed to superstitious credulity, distinctly saw a party of horse +moving among the sand-hills; and I do not believe he was ever able to +divest himself of that impression.' No--and, according to Arab +interpretation, very naturally so; for, according to their faith, he +really _had_ seen the horsemen; phantom horseman certainly, but +still objects of sight. The sequel remains to be told--by the Arabian +hypothesis, Mr. Ramsay had but a short time to live--he was under a +secret summons to the next world. And accordingly, in a few weeks after +this, whilst Lord Lindsay had gone to visit Palmyra, Mr. Ramsay died at +Damascus. + +This was a case exactly corresponding to the Pagan _nympholepsis_ +--he had seen the beings whom it is not lawful to see and live. Another +case of Eastern superstition, not less determined, and not less +remarkably fulfilled, occurred some years before to Dr. Madden, who +travelled pretty much in the same route as Lord Lindsay. The doctor, as +a phrenologist, had been struck with the very singular conformation of +a skull which he saw amongst many others on an altar in some Syrian +convent. He offered a considerable sum in gold for it; but it was by +repute the skull of a saint; and the monk with whom Dr. M. attempted to +negotiate, not only refused his offers, but protested that even for the +doctor's sake, apart from the interests of the convent, he could not +venture on such a transfer: for that, by the tradition attached to it, +the skull would endanger any vessel carrying it from the Syrian shore: +the vessel might escape; but it would never succeed in reaching any but +a Syrian harbor. After this, for the credit of our country, which +stands so high in the East, and should be so punctiliously tended by +all Englishmen, we are sorry to record that Dr. Madden (though +otherwise a man of scrupulous honor) yielded to the temptation of +substituting for the saint's skull another less remarkable from his own +collection. With this saintly relic he embarked on board a Grecian +ship; was alternately pursued and met by storms the most violent; +larboard and starboard, on every quarter, he was buffeted; the wind +blew from every point of the compass; the doctor honestly confesses +that he often wished this baleful skull back in safety on the quiet +altar from which he took it; and finally, after many days of anxiety, +he was too happy in finding himself again restored to some oriental +port, from which he secretly vowed never again to sail with a saint's +skull, or with any skull, however remarkable phrenologically, not +purchased in an open market. + +Thus we have pursued, through many of its most memorable sections, the +spirit of the miraculous as it moulded and gathered itself in the +superstitions of Paganism; and we have shown that, in the modern +superstitions of Christianity, or of Mahometanism, (often enough +borrowed from Christian sources,) there is a pretty regular +correspondence. Speaking with a reference to the strictly popular +belief, it cannot be pretended for a moment, that miraculous agencies +are slumbering in modern ages. For one superstition of that nature +which the Pagans had, we can produce twenty. And if, from the collation +of numbers, we should pass to that of quality, it is a matter of +notoriety, that from the very philosophy of Paganism, and its slight +root in the terrors or profounder mysteries of spiritual nature, no +comparison could be sustained for a moment between the true religion +and any mode whatever of the false. Ghosts we have purposely omitted, +because that idea is so peculiarly Christian [Footnote: '_Because +that idea is so peculiarly Christian_'--One reason, additional to +the main one, why the idea of a ghost could not be conceived or +reproduced by Paganism, lies in the fourfold resolution of the human +nature at death, viz.--1. _corpus_; 2. _manes_; 3. _spiritus_; +4. _anima_. No reversionary consciousness, no restitution of the total +nature, sentient and active, was thus possible. Pliny has a story which +looks like a ghost story; but it is all moonshine--a mere +_simulacrum_.] as to reject all counterparts or affinities from other +modes of the supernatural. The Christian ghost is too awful a presence, +and with too large a substratum of the real, the impassioned, the +human, for our present purposes. We deal chiefly with the wilder and +more ćrial forms of superstition; not so far off from fleshly nature as +the purely allegoric--not so near as the penal, the purgatorial, the +penitential. In this middle class, 'Gabriel's hounds'--the 'phantom +ship'--the gloomy legends of the charcoal burners in the German +forests--and the local or epichorial superstitions from every district +of Europe, come forward by thousands, attesting the high activity of +the miraculous and the hyperphysical instincts, even in this +generation, wheresoever the voice of the people makes itself heard. + +But in Pagan times, it will be objected, the popular superstitions +blended themselves with the highest political functions, gave a +sanction to national counsels, and oftentimes gave their starting point +to the very primary movements of the state. Prophecies, omens, +miracles, all worked concurrently with senates or princes. Whereas in +our days, says Charles Lamb, the witch who takes her pleasure with the +moon, and summons Beelzebub to her sabbaths, nevertheless trembles +before the beadle, and hides herself from the overseer. Now, as to the +witch, even the horrid Canidia of Horace, or the more dreadful Erichtho +of Lucan, seems hardly to have been much respected in any era. But for +the other modes of the supernatural, they have entered into more +frequent combinations with state functions and state movements in our +modern ages than in the classical age of Paganism. Look at prophecies, +for example: the Romans had a few obscure oracles afloat, and they had +the Sibylline books under the state seal. These books, in fact, had +been kept so long, that, like port wine superannuated, they had lost +their flavor and body. [Footnote: '_Like port wine superannuated, the +Sibylline books had lost their flavor and their body_.'--There is an +allegoric description in verse, by Mr. Rogers, of an ice-house, in +which winter is described as a captive, &c., which is memorable on this +account, that a brother poet, on reading the passage, mistook it, (from +not understanding the allegorical expressions,) either sincerely or +maliciously, for a description of the house-dog. Now, this little +anecdote seems to embody the poor Sibyl's history,--from a stern icy +sovereign, with a petrific mace, she lapsed into an old toothless +mastiff. She continued to snore in her ancient kennel for above a +thousand years. The last person who attempted to stir her up with a +long pole, and to extract from her paralytic dreaming some growls or +snarls against Christianity, was Aurelian, in a moment of public panic. +But the thing was past all tampering. The poor creature could neither +be kicked nor coaxed into vitality.] On the other hand, look at France. +Henry the historian, speaking of the fifteenth century, describes it as +a national infirmity of the English to be prophecy-ridden. Perhaps +there never was any foundation for this as an exclusive remark; but +assuredly not in the next century. There had been with us British, from +the twelfth century, Thomas of Ercildoune in the north, and many +monkish local prophets for every part of the island; but latterly +England had no terrific prophet, unless, indeed Nixon of the Vale Royal +in Cheshire, who uttered his dark oracles sometimes with a merely +Cestrian, sometimes with a national reference. Whereas in France, +throughout the sixteenth century, every principal event was foretold +successively, with an accuracy that still shocks and confounds us. +Francis the First, who opens the century, (and by many is held to open +the book of _modern history_, as distinguished from the middle or +_feudal_ history,) had the battle of Pavia foreshown to him, not +by name, but in its results--by his own Spanish captivity--by the +exchange for his own children upon a frontier river of Spain--finally, +by his own disgraceful death, through an infamous disease conveyed to +him under a deadly circuit of revenge. This king's son, Henry the +Second, read some years _before_ the event a description of that +tournament, on the marriage of the Scottish Queen with his eldest son, +Francis II., which proved fatal to himself, through the awkwardness of +the Compte de Montgomery and his own obstinacy. After this, and we +believe a little after the brief reign of Francis II., arose +Nostradamus, the great prophet of the age. All the children of Henry +II. and of Catharine de Medici, one after the other, died in +circumstances of suffering and horror, and Nostradamus pursued the +whole with ominous allusions. Charles IX., though the authorizer of the +Bartholomew massacre, was the least guilty of his party, and the only +one who manifested a dreadful remorse. Henry III., the last of the +brothers, died, as the reader will remember, by assassination. And all +these tragic successions of events are still to be read more or less +dimly prefigured in verses of which we will not here discuss the dates. +Suffice it, that many authentic historians attest the good faith of the +prophets; and finally, with respect to the first of the Bourbon +dynasty, Henry IV., who succeeded upon the assassination of his +brother-in-law, we have the peremptory assurance of Sully and other +Protestants, countersigned by writers both historical and +controversial, that not only was he prepared, by many warnings, for his +own tragical death--not only was the day, the hour prefixed--not only +was an almanac sent to him, in which the bloody summer's day of 1610 +was pointed out to his attention in bloody colors; but the mere record +of the king's last afternoon shows beyond a doubt the extent and the +punctual limitation of his anxieties. In fact, it is to this attitude +of listening expectation in the king, and breathless waiting for the +blow, that Schiller alludes in that fine speech of Wallenstein to his +sister, where he notices the funeral knells that sounded continually in +Henry's ears, and, above all, his prophetic instinct, that caught the +sound from a far distance of his murderer's motions, and could +distinguish, amidst all the tumult of a mighty capital, those stealthy +steps + + ----'Which even then were seeking him + Throughout the streets of Paris.' + +We profess not to admire Henry the Fourth of France, whose secret +character we shall, on some other occasion, attempt to expose. But his +resignation to the appointments of Heaven, in dismissing his guards, as +feeling that against a danger so domestic and so mysterious, all +fleshly arms were vain, has always struck us as the most like +magnanimity of anything in his very theatrical life. + +Passing to our own country, and to the times immediately in succession, +we fall upon some striking prophecies, not verbal but symbolic, if we +turn from the broad highway of public histories, to the by-paths of +private memories. Either Clarendon it is, in his Life (not his public +history), or else Laud, who mentions an anecdote connected with the +coronation of Charles I., (the son-in-law of the murdered Bourbon,) +which threw a gloom upon the spirits of the royal friends, already +saddened by the dreadful pestilence which inaugurated the reign of this +ill-fated prince, levying a tribute of one life in sixteen from the +population of the English metropolis. At the coronation of Charles, it +was discovered that all London would not furnish the quantity of purple +velvet required for the royal robes and the furniture of the throne. +What was to be done? Decorum required that the furniture should be all +_en suite_. Nearer than Genoa no considerable addition could be +expected. That would impose a delay of 150 days. Upon mature +consideration, and chiefly of the many private interests that would +suffer amongst the multitudes whom such a solemnity had called up from +the country, it was resolved to robe the King in _white_ velvet. +But this, as it afterwards occurred, was the color in which victims +were arrayed. And thus, it was alleged, did the King's council +establish an augury of evil. Three other ill omens, of some celebrity, +occurred to Charles I., viz., on occasion of creating his son Charles a +knight of the Bath, at Oxford some years after; and at the bar of that +tribunal which sat in judgment upon him. + +The reign of his second son, James II., the next reign that could be +considered an unfortunate reign, was inaugurated by the same evil +omens. The day selected for the coronation (in 1685) was a day +memorable for England--it was St. George's day, the 23d of April, and +entitled, even on a separate account, to be held a sacred day as the +birthday of Shakspeare in 1564, and his deathday in 1616. The King +saved a sum of sixty thousand pounds by cutting off the ordinary +cavalcade from the Tower of London to Westminster. Even this was +imprudent. It is well known that, amongst the lowest class of the +English, there is an obstinate prejudice (though unsanctioned by law) +with respect to the obligation imposed by the ceremony of coronation. +So long as this ceremony is delayed, or mutilated, they fancy that +their obedience is a matter of mere prudence, liable to be enforced by +arms, but not consecrated either by law or by religion. The change made +by James was, therefore, highly imprudent; shorn of its antique +traditionary usages, the yoke of conscience was lightened at a moment +when it required a double ratification. Neither was it called for on +motives of economy, for James was unusually rich. This voluntary +arrangement was, therefore, a bad beginning; but the accidental omens +were worse. They are thus reported by Blennerhassett, (History of +England to the end of George I., Vol. iv., p. 1760, printed at +Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 1751.) 'The crown being too little for the King's +head, was often in a tottering condition, and like to fall off.' Even +this was observed attentively by spectators of the most opposite +feelings. But there was another simultaneous omen, which affected the +Protestant enthusiasts, and the superstitious, whether Catholic or +Protestant, still more alarmingly. 'The same day the king's arms, +pompously painted in the great altar window of a London church, +suddenly fell down without apparent cause, and broke to pieces, whilst +the rest of the window remained standing. Blennerhassett mutters the +dark terrors which possessed himself and others.' 'These,' says he, +'were reckoned ill omens to the king.' + +In France, as the dreadful criminality of the French sovereigns through +the 17th century began to tell powerfully, and reproduce itself in the +miseries and tumults of the French populace through the 18th century, +it is interesting to note the omens which unfolded themselves at +intervals. A volume might be written upon them. The French Bourbons +renewed the picture of that fatal house which in Thebes offered to the +Grecian observers the spectacle of dire auguries, emerging from +darkness through three generations, _ŕ plusieurs reprises_. +Everybody knows the fatal pollution of the marriage pomps on the +reception of Marie Antoinette in Paris; the numbers who perished are +still spoken of obscurely as to the amount, and with shuddering awe for +the unparalleled horrors standing in the background of the fatal reign +--horrors + + 'That hush'd in grim repose, await their evening prey.' + +But in the life of Goethe is mentioned a still more portentous (though +more shadowy) omen in the pictorial decorations of the arras which +adorned the pavilion on the French frontier; the first objects which +met the Austrian Archduchess on being hailed as Dauphiness, was a +succession of the most tragic groups from the most awful section of the +Grecian theatre. The next alliance of the same kind between the same +great empires, in the persons of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie +Louisa, was overshadowed by the same unhappy omens, and, as we all +remember, with the same unhappy results, within a brief period of five +years. + +Or, if we should resort to the fixed and monumental rather than to +these auguries of great nations--such, for instance, as were embodied +in those _Palladia_, or protesting talismans, which capital +cities, whether Pagan or Christian, glorified through a period of +twenty-five hundred years, we shall find a long succession of these +enchanted pledges, from the earliest precedent of Troy (whose palladium +was undoubtedly a talisman) down to that equally memorable, and bearing +the same name, at Western Rome. We may pass, by a vast transition of +two and a half millennia, to that great talisman of Constantinople, the +triple serpent, (having perhaps an original reference to the Mosaic +serpent of the wilderness, which healed the infected by the simple act +of looking upon it, as the symbol of the Redeemer, held aloft upon the +Cross for the deliverance from moral contagion.) This great consecrated +talisman, venerated equally by Christian, by Pagan, and by Mahometan, +was struck on the head by Mahomet the Second, on that same day, May +29th of 1453, in which he mastered by storm this glorious city, the +bulwark of eastern Christendom, and the immediate rival of his own +European throne at Adrianople. But mark the superfetation of omens-- +omen supervening upon omen, augury engrafted upon augury. The hour was +a sad one for Christianity; just 720 years before the western horn of +Islam had been rebutted in France by the Germans, chiefly under Charles +Martel. But now it seemed as though another horn, even more vigorous, +was preparing to assault Christendom and its hopes from the eastern +quarter. At this epoch, in the very hour of triumph, when the last of +the Cćsars had glorified his station, and sealed his testimony by +martyrdom, the fanatical Sultan, riding to his stirrups in blood, and +wielding that iron mace which had been his sole weapon, as well as +cognizance, through the battle, advanced to the column, round which the +triple serpent roared spirally upwards. He smote the brazen talisman; +he shattered one head; he left it mutilated as the record of his great +revolution; but crush it, destroy it, he did not--as a symbol +prefiguring the fortunes of Mahometanism, his people noticed, that in +the critical hour of fate, which stamped the Sultan's acts with +efficacy through ages, he had been prompted by his secret genius only +to 'scotch the snake,' not to crush it. Afterwards the fatal hour was +gone by; and this imperfect augury has since concurred traditionally +with the Mahometan prophecies about the Adrianople gate of +Constantinople, to depress the ultimate hopes of Islam in the midst of +all its insolence. The very haughtiest of the Mussulmans believe that +the gate is already in existence, through which the red Giaours (the +_Russi_) shall pass to the conquest of Stamboul; and that +everywhere, in Europe at least, the hat of Frangistan is destined to +surmount the turban--the crescent must go down before the cross. + + + + +COLERIDGE AND OPIUM-EATING. + + +What is the deadest of things earthly? It is, says the world, ever +forward and rash--'a door-nail!' But the world is wrong. There is a +thing deader than a door-nail, viz., Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I. Dead, +more dead, most dead, is Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I.; and this upon +more arguments than one. The book has clearly not completed its +elementary act of respiration; the _systole_ of Vol. I. is +absolutely useless and lost without the _diastole_ of that Vol. +II., which is never to exist. That is one argument, and perhaps this +second argument is stronger. Gillman's Coleridge, Vol. I., deals +rashly, unjustly, and almost maliciously, with some of our own +particular friends; and yet, until late in this summer, _Anno +Domini_ 1844, we--that is, neither ourselves nor our friends--ever +heard of its existence. Now a sloth, even without the benefit of Mr. +Waterton's evidence to his character, will travel faster than that. But +malice, which travels fastest of all things, must be dead and cold at +starting, when it can thus have lingered in the rear for six years; and +therefore, though the world was so far right, that people _do_ +say, 'Dead as a door-nail,' yet, henceforward, the weakest of these +people will see the propriety of saying--'Dead as Gillman's Coleridge.' + +The reader of experience, on sliding over the surface of this opening +paragraph, begins to think there's mischief singing in the upper air. +'No, reader, not at all. We never were cooler in our days. And this we +protest, that, were it not for the excellence of the subject, +_Coleridge and Opium-Eating_, Mr. Gillman would have been dismissed +by us unnoticed. Indeed, we not only forgive Mr. Gillman, but we +have a kindness for him; and on this account, that he was good, he +was generous, he was most forbearing, through twenty years, to poor +Coleridge, when thrown upon his hospitality. An excellent thing +_that_, Mr. Gillman, till, noticing the theme suggested by this +unhappy Vol. I., we are forced at times to notice its author, Nor is +this to be regretted. We remember a line of Horace never yet properly +translated, viz:-- + + 'Nec scutica dignum horribili sectere flagello.' + +The true translation of which, as we assure the unlearned reader, is-- +'Nor must you pursue with the horrid knout of Christopher that man who +merits only a switching.' Very true. We protest against all attempts to +invoke the exterminating knout; for _that_ sends a man to the +hospital for two months; but you see that the same judicious poet, who +dissuades an appeal to the knout, indirectly recommends the switch, +which, indeed, is rather pleasant than otherwise, amiably playful in +some of its little caprices, and in its worst, suggesting only a +pennyworth of diachylon. + +We begin by professing, with hearty sincerity, our fervent admiration +of the extraordinary man who furnishes the theme for Mr. Gillman's +_coup-d'essai_ in biography. He was, in a literary sense, our +brother--for he also was amongst the contributors to _Blackwood_-- +and will, we presume, take his station in that Blackwood gallery of +portraits, which, in a century hence, will possess more interest for +intellectual Europe than any merely martial series of portraits, or any +gallery of statesmen assembled in congress, except as regards one or +two leaders; for defunct major-generals, and secondary diplomatists, +when their date is past, awake no more emotion than last year's +advertisements, or obsolete directories; whereas those who, in a stormy +age, have swept the harps of passion, of genial wit, or of the +wrestling and gladiatorial reason, become more interesting to men when +they can no longer be seen as bodily agents, than even in the middle +chorus of that intellectual music over which, living, they presided. + +Of this great camp Coleridge was a leader, and fought amongst the +_primipili_; yet, comparatively, he is still unknown. Heavy, +indeed, are the arrears still due to philosophic curiosity on the real +merits, and on the separate merits, of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. +Coleridge as a poet--Coleridge as a philosopher! How extensive are +those questions, if those were all! and upon neither question have we +yet any investigation--such as, by compass of views, by research, or +even by earnestness of sympathy with the subject, can, or ought to +satisfy, a philosophic demand. Blind is that man who can persuade +himself that the interest in Coleridge, taken as a total object, is +becoming an obsolete interest. We are of opinion that even Milton, now +viewed from a distance of two centuries, is still inadequately judged +or appreciated in his character of poet, of patriot and partisan, or, +finally, in his character of accomplished scholar. But, if so, how much +less can it be pretended that satisfaction has been rendered to the +claims of Coleridge? for, upon Milton, libraries have been written. +There has been time for the malice of men, for the jealousy of men, for +the enthusiasm, the scepticism, the adoring admiration of men, to +expand themselves! There has been room for a Bentley, for an Addison, +for a Johnson, for a wicked Lauder, for an avenging Douglas, for an +idolizing Chateaubriand; and yet, after all, little enough has been +done towards any comprehensive estimate of the mighty being concerned. +Piles of materials have been gathered to the ground; but, for the +monument which should have risen from these materials, neither the +first stone has been laid, nor has a qualified architect yet presented +his credentials. On the other hand, upon Coleridge little, +comparatively, has yet been written, whilst the separate characters on +which the judgment is awaited, are more by one than those which Milton +sustained. Coleridge, also, is a poet; Coleridge, also, was mixed up +with the fervent politics of his age--an age how memorably reflecting +the revolutionary agitations of Milton's age. Coleridge, also, was an +extensive and brilliant scholar. Whatever might be the separate +proportions of the two men in each particular department of the three +here noticed, think as the reader will upon that point, sure we are +that either subject is ample enough to make a strain upon the amplest +faculties. How alarming, therefore, for any _honest_ critic, who +should undertake this later subject of Coleridge, to recollect that, +after pursuing him through a zodiac of splendors corresponding to those +of Milton in kind, however different in degree--after weighing him as a +poet, as a philosophic politician, as a scholar, he will have to wheel +after him into another orbit, into the unfathomable _nimbus_ of +transcendental metaphysics. Weigh him the critic must in the golden +balance of philosophy the most abstruse--a balance which even itself +requires weighing previously, or he will have done nothing that can be +received for an estimate of the composite Coleridge. This astonishing +man, be it again remembered, besides being an exquisite poet, a +profound political speculator, a philosophic student of literature +through all its chambers and recesses, was also a circumnavigator on +the most pathless waters of scholasticism and metaphysics. He had +sounded, without guiding charts, the secret deeps of Proclus and +Plotinus; he had laid down buoys on the twilight, or moonlight, ocean +of Jacob Boehmen; [Footnote: 'JACOB BOEHMEN.' We ourselves had the +honor of presenting to Mr. Coleridge, Law's English version of Jacob--a +set of huge quartos. Some months afterwards we saw this work lying +open, and one volume at least overflowing, in parts, with the +commentaries and the _corollaries_ of Coleridge. Whither has this +work, and so many others swathed about with Coleridge's MS. notes, +vanished from the world?] he had cruised over the broad Atlantic of +Kant and Schelling, of Fichte and Oken. Where is the man who shall be +equal to these things? We at least make no such adventurous effort; or, +if ever we should presume to do so, not at present. Here we design only +to make a coasting voyage of survey round the headlands and most +conspicuous seamarks of our subject, as they are brought forward by Mr. +Gillman, or collaterally suggested by our own reflections; and +especially we wish to say a word or two on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +Naturally the first point to which we direct our attention, is the +history and personal relations of Coleridge. Living with Mr. Gillman +for nineteen years as a domesticated friend, Coleridge ought to have +been known intimately. And it is reasonable to expect, from so much +intercourse, some additions to our slender knowledge of Coleridge's +adventures, (if we may use so coarse a word,) and of the secret springs +at work in those early struggles of Coleridge at Cambridge, London, +Bristol, which have been rudely told to the world, and repeatedly told, +as showy romances, but never rationally explained. + +The anecdotes, however, which Mr. Gillman has added to the personal +history of Coleridge, are as little advantageous to the effect of his +own book as they are to the interest of the memorable character which +he seeks to illustrate. Always they are told without grace, and +generally are suspicious in their details. Mr. Gillman we believe to be +too upright a man for countenancing any untruth. He has been deceived. +For example, will any man believe this? A certain 'excellent +equestrian' falling in with Coleridge on horseback, thus accosted him-- +'Pray, Sir, did you meet a tailor along the road?' '_A tailor_!' +answered Coleridge; '_I did meet a person answering such a description, +who told me he had dropped his goose; that if I rode a little further +I should find it; and I guess he must have meant you._' In Joe Miller +this story would read, perhaps, sufferably. Joe has a privilege; and +we do not look too narrowly into the mouth of a Joe-Millerism. But +Mr. Gillman, writing the life of a philosopher, and no jest-book, is +under a different law of decorum. That retort, however, which silences +the jester, it may seem, must be a good one. And we are desired to +believe that, in this case, the baffled assailant rode off in a spirit +of benign candor, saying aloud to himself, like the excellent +philosopher that he evidently was, 'Caught a Tartar!' + +But another story of a sporting baronet, who was besides a Member of +Parliament, is much worse, and altogether degrading to Coleridge. This +gentleman, by way of showing off before a party of ladies, is +represented as insulting Coleridge by putting questions to him on the +qualities of his horse, so as to draw the animal's miserable defects +into public notice, and then closing his display by demanding what he +would take for the horse 'including the rider.' The supposed reply of +Coleridge might seem good to those who understand nothing of true +dignity; for, as an _impromptu_, it was smart and even caustic. +The baronet, it seems, was reputed to have been bought by the minister; +and the reader will at once divine that the retort took advantage of +that current belief, so as to throw back the sarcasm, by proclaiming +that neither horse nor rider had a price placarded in the market at +which any man could become their purchaser. But this was not the temper +in which Coleridge either did reply, or could have replied. Coleridge +showed, in the _spirit_ of his manner, a profound sensibility to +the nature of a gentleman; and he felt too justly what it became a +self-respecting person to say, ever to have aped the sort of flashy +fencing which might seem fine to a theatrical blood. + +Another story is self-refuted: 'A hired partisan' had come to one of +Coleridge's political lectures with the express purpose of bringing the +lecturer into trouble; and most preposterously he laid himself open to +his own snare by refusing to pay for admission. Spies must be poor +artists who proceed thus. Upon which Coleridge remarked--'That, before +the gentleman kicked up a dust, surely he would down with the dust.' So +far the story will not do. But what follows is possible enough. The +_same_ 'hired' gentleman, by way of giving unity to the tale, is +described as having hissed. Upon this a cry arose of 'Turn him out!' +But Coleridge interfered to protect him; he insisted on the man's right +to hiss if he thought fit; it was legal to hiss; it was natural to +hiss; 'for what is to be expected, gentlemen, when the cool waters of +reason come in contact with red-hot aristocracy, but a hiss?' _Euge!_ + +Amongst all the anecdotes, however of this splendid man, often trivial, +often incoherent, often unauthenticated, there is one which strikes us +as both true and interesting; and we are grateful to Mr. Gillman for +preserving it. We find it introduced, and partially authenticated, by +the following sentence from Coleridge himself:--'From eight to fourteen +I was a playless day-dreamer, a _helluo librorum_; my appetite for +which was indulged by a singular incident. A stranger, who was struck +by my conversation, made me free of a circulating library in King's +Street, Cheapside.' The more circumstantial explanation of Mr. Gillman +is this: `The incident indeed was singular. Going down the Strand, in +one of his day-dreams, fancying himself swimming across the Hellespont, +thrusting his hands before him as in the act of swimming, his hand came +in contact with a gentleman's pocket. The gentleman seized his hand, +turning round, and looking at him with some anger--"What! so young, and +yet so wicked?" at the same time accused him of an attempt to pick his +pocket. The frightened boy sobbed out his denial of the intention, and +explained to him how he thought himself Leander swimming across the +Hellespont. The gentleman was so struck and delighted with the novelty +of the thing, and with the simplicity and intelligence of the boy, that +he subscribed, as before stated, to the library; in consequence of +which Coleridge was further enabled to indulge his love of reading.' + +We fear that this slovenly narrative is the very perfection of bad +story-telling. But the story itself is striking, and, by the very +oddness of the incidents, not likely to have been invented. The effect, +from the position of the two parties--on the one side, a simple child +from Devonshire, dreaming in the Strand that he was swimming over from +Sestos to Abydos, and, on the other, the experienced man, dreaming only +of this world, its knaves and its thieves, but still kind and generous +--is beautiful and picturesque. _Oh! si sic omnia!_ + +But the most interesting to us of the _personalities_ connected +with Coleridge are his feuds and his personal dislikes. +Incomprehensible to us is the war of extermination which Coleridge made +upon the political economists. Did Sir James Steuart, in speaking of +vine-dressers, (not _as_ vine-dressers, but generally as +cultivators,) tell his readers, that, if such a man simply replaced his +own consumption, having no surplus whatever or increment for the public +capital, he could not be considered a useful citizen? Not the beast in +the Revelation is held up by Coleridge as more hateful to the spirit of +truth than the Jacobite baronet. And yet we know of an author--viz., +one S. T. Coleridge--who repeated that same doctrine without finding +any evil in it. Look at the first part of the _Wallenstein_, where +Count Isolani having said, 'Pooh! we are _all_ his subjects,' +_i. e._, soldiers, (though unproductive laborers,) not less than +productive peasants, the emperor's envoy replies--'Yet with a +difference, general;' and the difference implies Sir James's scale, his +vine-dresser being the equatorial case between the two extremes of the +envoy. Malthus again, in his population-book, contends for a mathematic +difference between animal and vegetable life, in respect to the law of +increase, as though the first increased by geometrical ratios, the last +by arithmetical! No proposition more worthy of laughter; since both, +when permitted to expand, increase by geometrical ratios, and the +latter by much higher ratios. Whereas, Malthus persuaded himself of his +crotchet simply by refusing the requisite condition in the vegetable +case, and granting it in the other. If you take a few grains of wheat, +and are required to plant all successive generations of their produce +in the same flower-pot for ever, of course you neutralize its expansion +by your own act of arbitrary limitation. [Footnote: Malthus would have +rejoined by saying--that the flowerpot limitation was the actual +limitation of nature in our present circumstances. In America it is +otherwise, he would say, but England is the very flowerpot you suppose; +she is a flowerpot which cannot be multiplied, and cannot even be +enlarged. Very well, so be it (which we say in order to waive +irrelevant disputes). But then the true inference will be--not that +vegetable increase proceeds under a different law from that which +governs animal increase, but that, through an accident of position, the +experiment cannot be tried in England. Surely the levers of Archimedes, +with submission to Sir Edward B. Lytton, were not the less levers +because he wanted the _locum standi_. It is proper, by the way, +that we should inform the reader of this generation where to look for +Coleridge's skirmishings with Malthus. They are to be found chiefly in +the late Mr. William Hazlitt's work on that subject: a work which +Coleridge so far claimed as to assert that it had been substantially +made up from his own conversation.] But so you would do, if you tried +the case of _animal_ increase by still exterminating all but one +replacing couple of parents. This is not to try, but merely a pretence +of trying, one order of powers against another. That was folly. But +Coleridge combated this idea in a manner so obscure, that nobody +understood it. And leaving these speculative conundrums, in coming to +the great practical interests afloat in the Poor Laws, Coleridge did so +little real work, that he left, as a _res integra_, to Dr. Alison, +the capital argument that legal and _adequate_ provision for the +poor, whether impotent poor or poor accidentally out of work, does not +extend pauperism--no, but is the one great resource for putting it +down. Dr. Alison's overwhelming and _experimental_ manifestations +of that truth have prostrated Malthus and his generation for ever. This +comes of not attending to the Latin maxim--'_Hoc_ age'--mind the +object before you. Dr. Alison, a wise man, '_hoc_ egit:' Coleridge +'_aliud_ egit.' And we see the result. In a case which suited him, +by interesting his peculiar feeling, Coleridge could command + + 'Attention full ten times as much as there needs.' + +But search documents, value evidence, or thresh out bushels of +statistical tables, Coleridge could not, any more than he could ride +with Elliot's dragoons. + +Another instance of Coleridge's inaptitude for such studies as +political economy is found in his fancy, by no means 'rich and rare,' +but meagre and trite, that taxes can never injure public prosperity by +mere excess of quantity; if they injure, we are to conclude that it +must be by their quality and mode of operation, or by their false +appropriation, (as, for instance, if they are sent out of the country +and spent abroad.) Because, says Coleridge, if the taxes are exhaled +from the country as vapors, back they come in drenching showers. Twenty +pounds ascend in a Scotch mist to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from +Leeds; but does it evaporate? Not at all: By return of post down comes +an order for twenty pounds' worth of Leeds cloth, on account of +Government, seeing that the poor men of the ----th regiment want new +gaiters. True; but of this return twenty pounds, not more than four +will be profit, _i.e._, surplus accruing to the public capital; +whereas, of the original twenty pounds, every shilling was surplus. The +same unsound fancy has been many times brought forward; often in +England, often in France. But it is curious, that its first appearance +upon any stage was precisely two centuries ago, when as yet political +economy slept with the pre-Adamites, viz., in the Long Parliament. In a +quarto volume of the debates during 1644-45, printed as an independent +work, will be found the same identical doctrine, supported very +sonorously by the same little love of an illustration from the see-saw +of mist and rain. + +Political economy was not Coleridge's forte. In politics he was +happier. In mere personal politics, he (like every man when reviewed +from a station distant by forty years) will often appear to have erred; +nay, he will be detected and nailed in error. But this is the necessity +of us all. Keen are the refutations of time. And absolute results to +posterity are the fatal touchstone of opinions in the past. It is +undeniable, besides, that Coleridge had strong personal antipathies, +for instance, to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas. Yet _why_, we never +could understand. We once heard him tell a story upon Windermere, to +the late Mr. Curwen, then M. P. for Workington, which was meant, +apparently, to account for this feeling. The story amounted to this; +that, when a freshman at Cambridge, Mr. Pitt had wantonly amused +himself at a dinner party in Trinity, in smashing with filberts +(discharged in showers like grape-shot) a most costly dessert set of +cut glass, from which Samuel Taylor Coleridge argued a principle of +destructiveness in his _cerebellum_. Now, if this dessert set +belonged to some poor suffering Trinitarian, and not to himself, we are +of opinion that he was faulty, and ought, upon his own great subsequent +maxim, to have been coerced into 'indemnity for the past, and security +for the future.' But, besides that this glassy _mythus_ belongs to +an ćra fifteen years earlier than Coleridge's so as to justify a shadow +of scepticism, we really cannot find, in such an _escapade_ under +the boiling blood of youth, any sufficient justification of that +withering malignity towards the name of Pitt, which runs through +Coleridge's famous _Fire, Famine, and Slaughter_. As this little +viperous _jeu-d'esprit_ (published anonymously) subsequently +became the subject of a celebrated after-dinner discussion in London, +at which Coleridge (_comme de raison_) was the chief speaker, the +reader of this generation may wish to know the question at issue; and +in order to judge of _that_, he must know the outline of this +devil's squib. The writer brings upon the scene three pleasant young +ladies, viz., Miss Fire, Miss Famine, and Miss Slaughter. 'What are you +up to? What's the row?'--we may suppose to be the introductory question +of the poet. And the answer of the ladies makes us aware that they are +fresh from larking in Ireland, and in France. A glorious spree they +had; lots of fun; and laughter _a discretion_. At all times +_gratus puellć risus ab angulo_; so that we listen to their little +gossip with interest. They had been setting men, it seems, by the ears; +and the drollest little atrocities they do certainly report. Not but we +have seen better in the Nenagh paper, so far as Ireland is concerned. +But the pet little joke was in La Vendee. Miss Famine, who is the girl +for our money, raises the question--whether any of them can tell the +name of the leader and prompter to these high jinks of hell--if so, let +her whisper it. + + 'Whisper it, sister, so and so, + In a dark hint--distinct and low.' + +Upon which the playful Miss Slaughter replies:-- + + 'Letters _four_ do form his name. + * * * * * + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And I have drunk the blood since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Good: but the sting of the hornet lies in the conclusion. If this +quadriliteral man had done so much for _them_, (though really, we +think, 6s. 8d. might have settled his claim,) what, says Fire, setting +her arms a-kimbo, would they do for _him_? Slaughter replies, +rather crustily, that, as far as a good kicking would go--or (says +Famine) a little matter of tearing to pieces by the mob--they would be +glad to take tickets at his benefit. 'How, you bitches!' says Fire, 'is +that all? + + 'I alone am faithful; I + _Cling to him everlastingly_.' + +The sentiment is diabolical. And the question argued at the London +dinner-table was--Could the writer have been other than a devil? The +dinner was at the late excellent Mr. Sotheby's, known advantageously in +those days as the translator of Wieland's _Oberon_. Several of the +great guns amongst the literary body were present; in particular, Sir +Walter Scott; and he, we believe, with his usual good-nature, took the +apologetic side of the dispute. In fact, he was in the secret. Nobody +else, barring the author, knew at first whose good name was at stake. +The scene must have been high. The company kicked about the poor +diabolic writer's head as if it had been a tennis-ball. Coleridge, the +yet unknown criminal, absolutely perspired and fumed in pleading for +the defendant; the company demurred; the orator grew urgent; wits began +to _smoke_ the case, as active verbs; the advocate to _smoke_, as a +neuter verb; the 'fun grew fast and furious;' until at length +_delinquent arose_, burning tears in his eyes, and confessed to an +audience, (now bursting with stifled laughter, but whom he supposed to +be bursting with fiery indignation,) 'Lo! I am he that wrote it.' + +For our own parts, we side with Coleridge. Malice is not always of the +heart. There is a malice of the understanding and the fancy. Neither do +we think the worse of a man for having invented the most horrible and +old-woman-troubling curse that demons ever listened to. We are too apt +to swear horribly ourselves; and often have we frightened the cat, to +say nothing of the kettle, by our shocking [far too shocking!] oaths. + +There were other celebrated men whom Coleridge detested, or seemed to +detest--Paley, Sir Sidney Smith, Lord Hutchinson, (the last Lord +Donoughmore,) and Cuvier. To Paley it might seem as if his antipathy +had been purely philosophic; but we believe that partly it was +personal; and it tallies with this belief, that, in his earliest +political tracts, Coleridge charged the archdeacon repeatedly with his +own joke, as if it had been a serious saying, viz.--'That he could not +afford to keep a conscience;' such luxuries, like a carriage, for +instance, being obviously beyond the finances of poor men. + +With respect to the philosophic question between the parties, as to the +grounds of moral election, we hope it is no treason to suggest that +both were perhaps in error. Against Paley, it occurs at once that he +himself would not have made consequences the _practical_ test in +valuing the morality of an act, since these can very seldom be traced +at all up to the final stages, and in the earliest stages are +exceedingly different under different circumstances; so that the same +act, tried by its consequences, would bear a fluctuating appreciation. +This could not have been Paley's _revised_ meaning. Consequently, +had he been pressed by opposition, it would have come out, that by +_test_ he meant only _speculative_ test: a very harmless doctrine +certainly, but useless and impertinent to any purpose of his system. +The reader may catch our meaning in the following illustration. +It is a matter of general belief, that happiness, upon the whole, +follows in a higher degree from constant integrity, than from the +closest attention to self-interest. Now happiness is one of those +consequences which Paley meant by final or remotest. But we could never +use this idea as an exponent of integrity, or interchangeable +criterion, because happiness cannot be ascertained or appreciated +except upon long tracts of time, whereas the particular act of +integrity depends continually upon the election of the moment. No man, +therefore, could venture to lay down as a rule, Do what makes you +happy; use this as your test of actions, satisfied that in that case +always you will do the thing which is right. For he cannot discern +independently what _will_ make him happy; and he must decide on +the spot. The use of the _nexus_ between morality and happiness +must therefore be inverted; it is not practical or prospective, but +simply retrospective; and in that form it says no more than the good +old rules hallowed in every cottage. But this furnishes no practical +guide for moral election which a man had not, before he ever thought of +this _nexus_. In the sense in which it is true, we need not go to +the professor's chair for this maxim; in the sense in which it would +serve Paley, it is absolutely false. + +On the other hand, as against Coleridge, it is certain that many acts +could be mentioned which are judged to be good or bad only because +their consequences are known to be so, whilst the great catholic acts +of life are entirely (and, if we may so phrase it, haughtily) +independent of consequences. For instance, fidelity to a trust is a law +of immutable morality subject to no casuistry whatever. You have been +left executor to a friend--you are to pay over his last legacy to X, +though a dissolute scoundrel; and you are to give no shilling of it to +the poor brother of X, though a good man, and a wise man, struggling +with adversity. You are absolutely excluded from all contemplation of +results. It was your deceased friend's right to make the will; it is +yours simply to see it executed. Now, in opposition to this primary +class of actions stands another, such as the habit of intoxication, +which are known to be wrong only by observing the consequences. If +drunkenness did not terminate, after some years, in producing bodily +weakness, irritability in the temper, and so forth, it would _not_ +be a vicious act. And accordingly, if a transcendent motive should +arise in favor of drunkenness, as that it would enable you to face a +degree of cold, or contagion, else menacing to life, a duty would +arise, _pro hac vice_, of getting drunk. We had an amiable friend +who suffered under the infirmity of cowardice; an awful coward he was +when sober; but, when very drunk, he had courage enough for the Seven +Champions of Christendom, Therefore, in an emergency, where he knew +himself suddenly loaded with the responsibility of defending a family, +we approved highly of his getting drunk. But to violate a trust could +never become right under any change of circumstances. Coleridge, +however, altogether overlooked this distinction: which, on the other +hand, stirring in Paley's mind, but never brought out to distinct +consciousness, nor ever investigated, nor limited, has undermined his +system. Perhaps it is not very important how a man _theorizes_ +upon morality; happily for us all, God has left no man in such +questions practically to the guidance of his understanding; but still, +considering that academic bodies _are_ partly instituted for the +support of speculative truth as well as truth practical, we must think +it a blot upon the splendor of Oxford and Cambridge that both of them, +in a Christian land, make Paley the foundation of their ethics; the +alternative being Aristotle. And, in our mind, though far inferior as a +moralist to the Stoics, Aristotle is often less of a pagan than Paley. + +Coleridge's dislike to Sir Sidney Smith and the Egyptian Lord +Hutchinson fell under the category of Martial's case. + + 'Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare, + Hoc solum novi--non amo te, Sabidi.' + +Against Lord Hutchinson, we never heard him plead anything of moment, +except that he was finically Frenchified in his diction; of which he +gave this instance--that having occasion to notice a brick wall, (which +was literally _that_, not more and not less,) when reconnoitring +the French defences, he called it a _revętement_. And we ourselves +remember his using the French word _gloriole_ rather ostentatiously; +that is, when no particular emphasis attached to the case. But every +man has his foibles; and few, perhaps, are less conspicuously annoying +than this of Lord Hutchinson's. Sir Sidney's crimes were less +distinctly revealed to our mind. As to Cuvier, Coleridge's hatred of +_him_ was more to our taste; for (though quite unreasonable, we fear) +it took the shape of patriotism. He insisted on it, that our British +John Hunter was the genuine article, and that Cuvier was a humbug. Now, +speaking privately to the public, we cannot go quite so far as _that_. +But, when publicly we address that most respectable character, _en +grand costume_, we always mean to back Coleridge. For we are a horrible +John Bull ourselves. As Joseph Hume observes, it makes no difference to +us--right or wrong, black or white--when our countrymen are concerned. +And John Hunter, notwithstanding he had a bee in his bonnet, [Footnote: +_Vide_, in particular, for the most exquisite specimen of pigheadedness +that the world can furnish, his perverse evidence on the once famous +case at the Warwick assizes, of Captain Donelan for poisoning his +brother-in-law, Sir Theodosius Boughton.] was really a great man; +though it will not follow that Cuvier must, therefore, have been a +little one. We do not pretend to be acquainted with the tenth part of +Cuvier's performances; but we suspect that Coleridge's range in that +respect was not much greater than our own. + +Other cases of monomaniac antipathy we might revive from our +recollections of Coleridge, had we a sufficient motive. But in +compensation, and by way of redressing the balance, he had many strange +likings--equally monomaniac--and, unaccountably, he chose to exhibit +his whimsical partialities by dressing up, as it were, in his own +clothes, such a set of scarecrows as eye has not beheld. Heavens! what +an ark of unclean beasts would have been Coleridge's private +_menagerie_ of departed philosophers, could they all have been +trotted out in succession! But did the reader feel them to be the awful +bores which, in fact, they were? No; because Coleridge had blown upon +these withered anatomies, through the blowpipe of his own creative +genius, a stream of gas that swelled the tissue of their antediluvian +wrinkles, forced color upon their cheeks, and splendor upon their +sodden eyes. Such a process of ventriloquism never _has_ existed. +He spoke by their organs. They were the tubes; and he forced through +their wooden machinery his own Beethoven harmonies. + +First came Dr. Andrew Bell. We knew him. Was he dull? Is a wooden spoon +dull? Fishy were his eyes; torpedinous was his manner; and his main +idea, out of two which he really had, related to the moon--from which +you infer, perhaps, that he was lunatic. By no means. It was no craze, +under the influence of the moon, which possessed him; it was an idea of +mere hostility to the moon. The Madras people, like many others, had an +idea that she influenced the weather. Subsequently the Herschels, +senior and junior, systematized this idea; and then the wrath of +Andrew, previously in a crescent state, actually dilated to a +plenilunar orb. The Westmoreland people (for at the lakes it was we +knew him) expounded his condition to us by saying that he was +'maffled;' which word means 'perplexed in the extreme.' His wrath did +not pass into lunacy; it produced simple distraction; an uneasy +fumbling with the idea; like that of an old superannuated dog who longs +to worry, but cannot for want of teeth. In this condition you will +judge that he was rather tedious. And in this condition Coleridge took +him up. Andrew's other idea, because he _had_ two, related to +education. Perhaps six-sevenths of that also came from Madras. No +matter, Coleridge took _that_ up; Southey also; but Southey with +his usual temperate fervor. Coleridge, on the other hand, found +celestial marvels both in the scheme and in the man. Then commenced the +apotheosis of Andrew Bell: and because it happened that his opponent, +Lancaster, between ourselves, really _had_ stolen his ideas from +Bell, what between the sad wickedness of Lancaster and the celestial +transfiguration of Bell, gradually Coleridge heated himself to such an +extent, that people, when referring to that subject, asked each other, +'Have you heard Coleridge lecture on _Bel and the Dragon_?' + +The next man glorified by Coleridge was John Woolman, the Quaker. Him, +though we once possessed his works, it cannot be truly affirmed that we +ever read. Try to read John, we often did; but read John we did not. +This, however, you say, might be our fault, and not John's. Very +likely. And we have a notion that now, with our wiser thoughts, we +_should_ read John, if he were here on this table. It is certain +that he was a good man, and one of the earliest in America, if not in +Christendom, who lifted up his hand to protest against the slave-trade. +But still, we suspect, that had John been all that Coleridge +represented, he would not have repelled us from reading his travels in +the fearful way that he did. But, again, we beg pardon, and entreat the +earth of Virginia to lie light upon the remains of John Woolman; for he +was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile. + +The third person raised to divine honors by Coleridge was Bowyer, the +master of Christ's Hospital, London--a man whose name rises into the +nostrils of all who knew him with the gracious odor of a tallow- +chandler's melting-house upon melting day, and whose memory is embalmed +in the hearty detestation of all his pupils. Coleridge describes this +man as a profound critic. Our idea of him is different. We are of +opinion that Bowyer was the greatest villain of the eighteenth century. +We may be wrong; but we cannot be _far_ wrong. Talk of knouting +indeed! which we did at the beginning of this paper in the mere +playfulness of our hearts--and which the great master of the knout, +Christopher, who visited men's trespasses like the Eumenides, never +resorted to but in love for some great idea which had been outraged; +why, this man knouted his way through life, from bloody youth up to +truculent old age. Grim idol! whose altars reeked with children's +blood, and whose dreadful eyes never smiled except as the stern goddess +of the Thugs smiles, when the sound of human lamentations inhabits her +ears. So much had the monster fed upon this great idea of 'flogging,' +and transmuted it into the very nutriment of his heart, that he seems +to have conceived the gigantic project of flogging all mankind; nay +worse, for Mr. Gillman, on Coleridge's authority, tells us (p. 24) the +following anecdote:--'"_Sirrah, I'll flog you_," were words so +familiar to him, that on one occasion some _female_ friend of one +of the boys,' (who had come on an errand of intercession,) 'still +lingering at the door, after having been abruptly told to go, Bowyer +exclaimed--"Bring that woman here, and I'll flog her."' + +To this horrid incarnation of whips and scourges, Coleridge, in his +_Biographia Literaria_, ascribes ideas upon criticism and taste, +which every man will recognise as the intense peculiarities of +Coleridge. Could these notions really have belonged to Bowyer, then how +do we know but he wrote _The Ancient Mariner_? Yet, on consideration, +no. For even Coleridge admitted that, spite of his fine theorizing upon +composition, Mr. Bowyer did not prosper in the practice. Of which he +gave us this illustration; and as it is supposed to be the only +specimen of the Bowyeriana which now survives in this sublunary world, +we are glad to extend its glory. It is the most curious example extant +of the melodious in sound:-- + + ''Twas thou that smooth'd'st the rough-rugg'd bed of pain.' + +'Smooth'd'st!' Would the teeth of a crocodile not splinter under that +word? It seems to us as if Mr. Bowyer's verses ought to be boiled +before they can be read. And when he says, 'Twas thou, what is the +wretch talking to? Can he be apostrophizing the knout? We very much +fear it. If so, then, you see (reader!) that, even when incapacitated +by illness from operating, he still adores the image of his holy +scourge, and invokes it as alone able to smooth 'his rough-rugg'd bed.' +Oh, thou infernal Bowyer! upon whom even Trollope (_History of +Christ's Hospital_) charges 'a discipline _tinctured_ with more +than due severity;'--can there be any partners found for thee in a +quadrille, except Draco, the bloody lawgiver, Bishop Bonner, and Mrs. +Brownrigg? + +The next pet was Sir Alexander Ball. Concerning Bowyer, Coleridge did +not talk much, but chiefly wrote; concerning Bell, he did not write +much, but chiefly talked. Concerning Ball, however, he both wrote and +talked. It was in vain to muse upon any plan for having Ball +blackballed, or for rebelling against Bell. Think of a man, who had +fallen into one pit called Bell; secondly, falling into another pit +called Ball. This was too much. We were obliged to quote poetry against +them:-- + + 'Letters four do form his name; + He came by stealth and unlock'd my den; + And the nightmare I have felt since then + Of thrice three hundred thousand men.' + +Not that we insinuate any disrespect to Sir Alexander Ball. He was +about the foremost, we believe, in all good qualities, amongst Nelson's +admirable captains at the Nile. He commanded a seventy-four most +effectually in that battle; he governed Malta as well as Sancho +governed Barataria; and he was a true practical philosopher--as, +indeed, was Sancho. But still, by all that we could ever learn, Sir +Alexander had no taste for the abstract upon any subject; and would +have read, as mere delirious wanderings, those philosophic opinions +which Coleridge fastened like wings upon his respectable, but +astounded, shoulders. + +We really beg pardon for having laughed a little at these crazes of +Coleridge. But laugh we did, of mere necessity, in those days, at Bell +and Ball, whenever we did not groan. And, as the same precise +alternative offered itself now, viz., that, in recalling the case, we +must reverberate either the groaning or the laughter, we presumed the +reader would vote for the last. Coleridge, we are well convinced, owed +all these wandering and exaggerated estimates of men--these diseased +impulses, that, like the _mirage_, showed lakes and fountains +where in reality there were only arid deserts, to the derangements +worked by opium. But now, for the sake of change, let us pass to +another topic. Suppose we say a word or two on Coleridge's +accomplishments as a scholar. We are not going to enter on so large a +field as that of his scholarship in connection with his philosophic +labors, scholarship in the result; not this, but scholarship in the +means and machinery, range of _verbal_ scholarship, is what we +propose for a moment's review. + +For instance, what sort of a German scholar was Coleridge? We dare say +that, because in his version of the _Wallenstein_ there are some +inaccuracies, those who may have noticed them will hold him cheap in +this particular pretension. But, to a certain degree, they will be +wrong. Coleridge was not _very_ accurate in anything but in the +use of logic. All his philological attainments were imperfect. He did +not talk German; or so obscurely--and, if he attempted to speak fast, +so erroneously--that in his second sentence, when conversing with a +German lady of rank, he contrived to assure her that in his humble +opinion she was a ----. Hard it is to fill up the hiatus decorously; +but, in fact, the word very coarsely expressed that she was no better +than she should be. Which reminds us of a parallel misadventure to a +German, whose colloquial English had been equally neglected. Having +obtained an interview with an English lady, he opened his business +(whatever it might be) thus--'High-born madam, since your husband have +kicked de bucket'----'Sir!' interrupted the lady, astonished and +displeased. 'Oh, pardon!--nine, ten thousand pardon! Now, I make new +beginning--quite oder beginning. Madam, since your husband have cut his +stick'----It may be supposed that this did not mend matters; and, +reading that in the lady's countenance, the German drew out an octavo +dictionary, and said, perspiring with shame at having a second time +missed fire,--'Madam, since your husband have gone to kingdom come'---- +This he said beseechingly; but the lady was past propitiation by this +time, and rapidly moved towards the door. Things had now reached a +crisis; and, if something were not done quickly, the game was up. Now, +therefore, taking a last hurried look at his dictionary, the German +flew after the lady, crying out in a voice of despair--'Madam, since +your husband, your most respected husband, have hopped de twig'----This +was his sheet-anchor; and, as this also _came home_, of course the +poor man was totally wrecked. It turned out that the dictionary he had +used (Arnold's, we think,)--a work of a hundred years back, and, from +mere ignorance, giving slang translations from Tom Brown, L'Estrange, +and other jocular writers--had put down the verb _sterben (to +die)_ with the following worshipful series of equivalents--1. To +kick the bucket; 2. To cut one's stick; 3. To go to kingdom come; 4. To +hop the twig. + +But, though Coleridge did not pretend to any fluent command of +conversational German, he read it with great ease. His knowledge of +German literature was, indeed, too much limited by his rare +opportunities for commanding anything like a well-mounted library. And +particularly it surprised us that Coleridge knew little or nothing of +John Paul (Richter). But his acquaintance with the German philosophic +masters was extensive. And his valuation of many individual German +words or phrases was delicate and sometimes profound. + +As a Grecian, Coleridge must be estimated with a reference to the state +and standard of Greek literature at that time and in this country. +Porson had not yet raised our ideal. The earliest laurels of Coleridge +were gathered, however, in that field. Yet no man will, at this day, +pretend that the Greek of his prize ode is sufferable. Neither did +Coleridge ever become an accurate Grecian in later times, when better +models of scholarship, and better aids to scholarship, had begun to +multiply. But still we must assert this point of superiority for +Coleridge, that, whilst he never was what may be called a well-mounted +scholar in any department of verbal scholarship, he yet displayed +sometimes a brilliancy of conjectural sagacity, and a felicity of +philosophic investigation, even in this path, such as better scholars +do not often attain, and of a kind which cannot be learned from books. +But, as respects his accuracy, again we must recall to the reader the +state of Greek literature in England during Coleridge's youth; and, in +all equity, as a means of placing Coleridge in the balances, +specifically we must recall the state of Greek metrical composition at +that period. + +To measure the condition of Greek literature even in Cambridge, about +the initial period of Coleridge, we need only look back to the several +translations of Gray's _Elegy_ by three (if not four) of the +reverend gentlemen at that time attached to Eton College. Mathias, no +very great scholar himself in this particular field, made himself +merry, in his _Pursuits of Literature_, with these Eton translations. +In that he was right. But he was _not_ right in praising a contemporary +translation by Cook, who (we believe) was the immediate predecessor of +Porson in the Greek chair. As a specimen of this translation, +[Footnote: It was printed at the end of Aristotle's _Poetics_, which +Dr. Cook edited.] we cite one stanza; and we cannot be supposed to +select unfairly, because it is the stanza which Mathias praises in +extravagant terms. "Here," says he, "Gray, Cook, and Nature, do seem to +contend for the mastery." The English quatrain must be familiar to +every body:-- + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, + Await alike the inevitable hour: + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +And the following, we believe, though quoting from a thirty-three +years' recollection of it, is the exact Greek version of Cook:-- + + 'A charis eugenon, charis a basilaeidos achas + Lora tuchaes chryseaes, Aphroditaes kala ta dora, + Paith ama tauta tethiake, kai eiden morsimon amar + Proon kle olole, kai ocheto xunon es Adaen.' + +Now really these verses, by force of a little mosaic tesselation from +genuine Greek sources, pass fluently over the tongue; but can they be +considered other than a _cento_? Swarms of English schoolboys, at +this day, would not feel very proud to adopt them. In fact, we remember +(at a period say twelve years later than this) some iambic verses, +which were really composed by a boy, viz., a son of Dr. Prettyman, +(afterwards Tomline,) Bishop of Winchester, and, in earlier times, +private tutor to Mr. Pitt; they were published by Middleton, first +Bishop of Calcutta, in the preface to his work on the Greek article; +and for racy idiomatic Greek, self-originated, and not a mere mocking- +bird's iteration of alien notes, are so much superior to all the +attempts of these sexagenarian doctors, as distinctly to mark the +growth of a new era and a new generation in this difficult +accomplishment, within the first decennium of this century. It is +singular that only one blemish is suggested by any of the contemporary +critics in Dr. Cook's verses, viz., in the word _xunon_, for which +this critic proposes to substitute _ooinon_, to prevent, as he +observes, the last syllable of _ocheto_ from being lengthened by +the _x_. Such considerations as these are necessary to the +_trutinć castigatio_, before we can value Coleridge's place on the +scale of his own day; which day, _quoad hoc_, be it remembered, +was 1790. + +As to French, Coleridge read it with too little freedom to find +pleasure in French literature. Accordingly, we never recollect his +referring for any purpose, either of argument or illustration, to a +French classic. Latin, from his regular scholastic training, naturally +he read with a scholar's fluency; and indeed, he read constantly in +authors, such as Petrarch, Erasmus, Calvin, &c., whom he could not then +have found in translations. But Coleridge had not cultivated an +acquaintance with the delicacies of classic Latinity. And it is +remarkable that Wordsworth, educated most negligently at Hawkshead +school, subsequently by reading the lyric poetry of Horace, simply for +his own delight as a student of composition, made himself a master of +Latinity in its most difficult form; whilst Coleridge, trained +regularly in a great Southern school, never carried his Latin to any +classical polish. + +There is another accomplishment of Coleridge's, less broadly open to +the judgment of this generation, and not at all of the next--viz., his +splendid art of conversation, on which it will be interesting to say a +word. Ten years ago, when the music of this rare performance had not +yet ceased to vibrate in men's ears, what a sensation was gathering +amongst the educated classes on this particular subject! What a tumult +of anxiety prevailed to 'hear Mr. Coleridge'--or even to talk with a +man who _had_ heard him! Had he lived till this day, not Paganini +would have been so much sought after. That sensation is now decaying; +because a new generation has emerged during the ten years since his +death. But many still remain whose sympathy (whether of curiosity in +those who did _not_ know him, or of admiration in those who +_did_) still reflects as in a mirror the great stir upon this +subject which then was moving in the world. To these, if they should +inquire for the great distinguishing principle of Coleridge's +conversation, we might say that it was the power of vast combination +'in linked sweetness long drawn out.' He gathered into focal +concentration the largest body of objects, _apparently_ disconnected, +that any man ever yet, by any magic, could assemble, or, _having_ +assembled, could manage. His great fault was, that, by not opening +sufficient spaces for reply or suggestion, or collateral notice, he not +only narrowed his own field, but he grievously injured the final +impression. For when men's minds are purely passive, when they are not +allowed to re-act, then it is that they collapse most, and that their +sense of what is said must ever be feeblest. Doubtless there must have +been great conversational masters elsewhere, and at many periods; but +in this lay Coleridge's characteristic advantage, that he was a great +natural power, and also a great artist. He was a power in the art, and +he carried a new art into the power. + +But now, finally--having left ourselves little room for more--one or +two words on Coleridge as an opium-eater. + +We have not often read a sentence falling from a wise man with +astonishment so profound, as that particular one in a letter of +Coleridge's to Mr. Gillman, which speaks of the effort to wean one's- +self from opium as a trivial task. There are, we believe, several such +passages. But we refer to that one in particular which assumes that a +single 'week' will suffice for the whole process of so mighty a +revolution. Is indeed leviathan _so_ tamed? In that case the +quarantine of the opium-eater might be finished within Coleridge's +time, and with Coleridge's romantic ease. But mark the contradictions +of this extraordinary man. Not long ago we were domesticated with a +venerable rustic, strong-headed, but incurably obstinate in his +prejudices, who treated the whole body of medical men as ignorant +pretenders, knowing absolutely nothing of the system which they +professed to superintend. This, you will remark, is no very singular +case. No; nor, as we believe, is the antagonist case of ascribing to +such men magical powers. Nor, what is worse still, the co-existence of +both cases in the same mind, as in fact happened here. For this same +obstinate friend of ours, who treated all medical pretensions as the +mere jest of the universe, every 'third day was exacting from his own +medical attendants some exquisite _tour-de-force_, as that they +should know or should do something, which, if they _had_ known or +done, all men would have suspected them reasonably of magic. He rated +the whole medical body as infants; and yet what he exacted from them +every third day as a matter of course, virtually presumed them to be +the only giants within the whole range of science. Parallel and equal +is the contradiction of Coleridge. He speaks of opium excess, his own +excess, we mean--the excess of twenty-five years--as a thing to be laid +aside easily and for ever within seven days; and yet, on the other +hand, he describes it pathetically, sometimes with a frantic pathos, as +the scourge, the curse, the one almighty blight which had desolated his +life. + +This shocking contradiction we need not press. All readers will see +_that_. But some will ask--Was Mr. Coleridge right in either view? +Being so atrociously wrong in the first notion, (viz., that the opium +of twenty-five years was a thing easily to be forsworn,) where a child +could know that he was wrong, was he even altogether right, secondly, +in believing that his own life, root and branch, had been withered by +opium? For it will not follow, because, with a relation to happiness +and tranquillity, a man may have found opium his curse, that therefore, +as a creature of energies and great purposes, he must have been the +wreck which he seems to suppose. Opium gives and takes away. It defeats +the _steady_ habit of exertion, but it creates spasms of irregular +exertion; it ruins the natural power of life, but it develops +preternatural paroxysms of intermitting power. Let us ask of any man +who holds that not Coleridge himself but the world, as interested in +Coleridge's usefulness, has suffered by his addiction to opium; whether +he is aware of the way in which opium affected Coleridge; and secondly, +whether he is aware of the actual contributions to literature--how +large they were--which Coleridge made _in spite_ of opium. All who +were intimate with Coleridge must remember the fits of genial animation +which were created continually in his manner and in his buoyancy of +thought by a recent or by an _extra_ dose of the omnipotent drug. +A lady, who knew nothing experimentally of opium, once told us, that +she 'could tell when Mr. Coleridge had taken too much opium by his +shining countenance.' She was right; we know that mark of opium +excesses well, and the cause of it; or at least we believe the cause to +lie in the quickening of the insensible perspiration which accumulates +and glistens on the face. Be that as it may, a criterion it was that +could not deceive us as to the condition of Coleridge. And uniformly in +that condition he made his most effective intellectual displays. It is +true that he might not be happy under this fiery animation, and we +fully believe that he was not. Nobody is happy under laudanum except +for a very short term of years. But in what way did that operate upon +his exertions as a writer? We are of opinion that it killed Coleridge +as a poet. 'The harp of Quantock' was silenced for ever by the torment +of opium. But proportionably it roused and stung by misery his +metaphysical instincts into more spasmodic life. Poetry can flourish +only in the atmosphere of happiness. But subtle and perplexed +investigations of difficult problems are amongst the commonest +resources for beguiling the sense of misery. And for this we have the +direct authority of Coleridge himself speculating on his own case. In +the beautiful though unequal ode entitled _Dejection_, stanza six, +occurs the following passage: + + 'For not to think of what I needs must feel, + But to be still and patient all I can; + _And haply by abstruse research to steal + From my own nature all the natural man_-- + This was my sole resource, my only plan; + Till that, which suits a part, infects the whole, + And now is almost grown the habit of my soul.' + +Considering the exquisite quality of some poems which Coleridge has +composed, nobody can grieve (or _has_ grieved) more than ourselves, at +seeing so beautiful a fountain choked up with weeds. But had Coleridge +been a happier man, it is our fixed belief that we should have had far +less of his philosophy, and perhaps, but not certainly, might have had +more of his general literature. In the estimate of the public, +doubtless, _that_ will seem a bad exchange. Every man to his taste. +Meantime, what we wish to show is, that the loss was not absolute, but + merely relative. + +It is urged, however, that, even on his philosophic speculations, opium +operated unfavorably in one respect, by often causing him to leave them +unfinished. This is true. Whenever Coleridge (being highly charged, or +saturated, with opium) had written with distempered vigor upon any +question, there occurred soon after a recoil of intense disgust, not +from his own paper only, but even from the subject. All opium-eaters +are tainted with the infirmity of leaving works unfinished, and +suffering reactions of disgust. But Coleridge taxed himself with that +infirmity in verse before he could at all have commenced opium-eating. +Besides, it is too much assumed by Coleridge and by his biographer, +that to leave off opium was of course to regain juvenile health. But +all opium-eaters make the mistake of supposing every pain or irritation +which they suffer to be the product of opium. Whereas a wise man will +say, suppose you _do_ leave off opium, that will not deliver you +from the load of years (say sixty-three) which you carry on your back. +Charles Lamb, another man of true genius, and another head belonging to +the Blackwood Gallery, made that mistake in his _Confessions of a +Drunkard_. 'I looked back,' says he, 'to the time when always, on +waking in the morning, I had a song rising to my lips.' At present, it +seems, being a drunkard, he has no such song. Ay, dear Lamb, but note +this, that the drunkard was fifty-six years old, the songster was +twenty-three. Take twenty-three from fifty-six, and we have some reason +to believe that thirty-three will remain; which period of thirty-three +years is a pretty good reason for not singing in the morning, even if +brandy has been out of the question. + +It is singular, as respects Coleridge, that Mr. Gillman never says one +word upon the event of the great Highgate experiment for leaving off +laudanum, though Coleridge came to Mr. Gillman's for no other purpose; +and in a week, this vast creation of new earth, sea, and all that in +them is, was to have been accomplished. We _rayther_ think, as +Bayley junior observes, that the explosion must have hung fire. But +_that_ is a trifle. We have another pleasing hypothesis on the +subject. Mr. Wordsworth, in his exquisite lines written on a fly-leaf +of his own _Castle of Indolence_, having described Coleridge as 'a +noticeable man with large grey eyes,' goes on to say, 'He' (viz., +Coleridge) 'did that other man entice' to view his imagery. Now we are +sadly afraid that 'the noticeable man with large grey eyes' did entice +'that other man,' viz., Gillman, to commence opium-eating. This is +droll; and it makes us laugh horribly. Gillman should have reformed +_him_; and lo! _he_ corrupts Gillman. S. T. Coleridge visited +Highgate by way of being converted from the heresy of opium; and the +issue is--that, in two months' time, various grave men, amongst whom +our friend Gillman marches first in great pomp, are found to have faces +shining and glorious as that of AEsculapius; a fact of which we have +already explained the secret meaning. And scandal says (but then what +will not scandal say?) that a hogshead of opium goes up daily through +Highgate tunnel. Surely one corroboration of our hypothesis may be +found in the fact, that Vol. I. of Gillman's Coleridge is for ever to +stand unpropped by Vol. II. For we have already observed, that opium- +eaters, though good fellows upon the whole, never finish anything. + +What then? A man has a right never to finish anything. Certainly he +has; and by Magna Charta. But he has no right, by Magna Charta or by +Parva Charta, to slander decent men, like ourselves and our friend the +author of the _Opium Confessions_. Here it is that our complaint +arises against Mr. Gillman. If he has taken to opium-eating, can we +help _that_? If _his_ face shines, must our faces be blackened? He has +very improperly published some intemperate passages from Coleridge's +letters, which ought to have been considered confidential, unless +Coleridge had left them for publication, charging upon the author of +the _Opium Confessions_ a reckless disregard of the temptations which, +in that work, he was scattering abroad amongst men. Now this author is +connected with ourselves, and we cannot neglect his defence, unless in +the case that he undertakes it himself. + +We complain, also, that Coleridge raises (and is backed by Mr. Gillman +in raising) a distinction perfectly perplexing to us, between himself +and the author of the _Opium Confessions_ upon the question--Why +they severally began the practice of opium-eating? In himself, it +seems, this motive was to relieve pain, whereas the Confessor was +surreptitiously seeking for pleasure. Ay, indeed--where did he learn +_that_? We have no copy of the _Confessions_ here, so we cannot quote +chapter and verse; but we distinctly remember, that toothache is +recorded in that book as the particular occasion which first introduced +the author to the knowledge of opium. Whether afterwards, having been +thus initiated by the demon of pain, the opium confessor did not apply +powers thus discovered to purposes of mere pleasure, is a question for +himself; and the same question applies with the same cogency to +Coleridge. Coleridge began in rheumatic pains. What then? This is no +proof that he did not end in voluptuousness. For our parts, we are slow +to believe that ever any man did, or could, learn the somewhat awful +truth, that in a certain ruby-colored elixir, there lurked a divine +power to chase away the genius of ennui, without subsequently abusing +this power. To taste but once from the tree of knowledge, is fatal to +the subsequent power of abstinence. True it is, that generations have +used laudanum as an anodyne, (for instance, hospital patients,) who +have not afterwards courted its powers as a voluptuous stimulant; but +that, be sure, has arisen from no abstinence in _them_. There are, in +fact, two classes of temperaments as to this terrific drug--those which +are, and those which are not, preconformed to its power; those which +genially expand to its temptations, and those which frostily exclude +them. Not in the energies of the will, but in the qualities of the +nervous organization, lies the dread arbitration of--Fall or stand: +doomed thou art to yield; or, strengthened constitutionally, to resist. +Most of those who have but a low sense of the spells lying couchant in +opium, have practically none at all. For the initial fascination is for +_them_ effectually defeated by the sickness which nature has associated +with the first stages of opium-eating. But to that other class, whose +nervous sensibilities vibrate to their profoundest depths under the +first touch of the angelic poison, even as a lover's ear thrills on +hearing unexpectedly the voice of her whom he loves, opium is the +Amreeta cup of beatitude. You know the _Paradise Lost_? and you +remember, from the eleventh book, in its earlier part, that laudanum +already existed in Eden--nay, that it was used medicinally by an +archangel; for, after Michael had 'purged with euphrasy and rue' the +eyes of Adam, lest he should be unequal to the mere _sight_ of the +great visions about to unfold their draperies before him, next he +fortifies his fleshly spirits against the _affliction_ of these +visions, of which visions the first was death. And how? + + 'He from the well of life three drops instill'd.' + +What was their operation? + + 'So deep the power of these ingredients pierced, + _Even to the inmost seat of mental sight_, + That Adam, now enforced to close his eyes, + Sank down, and all his spirits became entranced. + But him the gentle angel by the hand + Soon raised'---- + +The second of these lines it is which betrays the presence of laudanum. +It is in the faculty of mental vision, it is in the increased power of +dealing with the shadowy and the dark, that the characteristic virtue +of opium lies. Now, in the original higher sensibility is found some +palliation for the _practice_ of opium-eating; in the greater +temptation is a greater excuse. And in this faculty of self-revelation +is found some palliation for _reporting_ the case to the world, +which both Coleridge and his biographer have overlooked. + + + + +TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. + + +The most remarkable instance of a combined movement in society, which +history, perhaps, will be summoned to notice, is that which, in our own +days, has applied itself to the abatement of intemperance. Naturally, +or by any _direct_ process, the machinery set in motion would seem +irrelevant to the object: if one hundred men unite to elevate the +standard of temperance, they can do this with effect only by +improvements in their own separate cases: each individual, for such an +effort of self-conquest, can draw upon no resources but his own. One +member in a combination of one hundred, when running a race, can hope +for no cooperation from his ninety-nine associates. And yet, by a +secondary action, such combinations are found eminently successful. +Having obtained from every confederate a pledge, in some shape or +other, that he will give them his support, thenceforwards they bring +the passions of shame and self-esteem to bear upon each member's +personal perseverance. Not only they keep alive and continually refresh +in his thoughts the general purpose, which else might fade; but they +also point the action of public contempt and of self-contempt at any +defaulter much more potently, and with more acknowledged right to do +so, when they use this influence under a license, volunteered, and +signed, and sealed, by the man's own hand. They first conciliate his +countenance through his intellectual perceptions of what is right; and +next they sustain it through his conscience, (the strongest of his +internal forces,) and even through the weakest of his human +sensibilities. That revolution, therefore, which no combination of men +can further by abating the original impulse of temptations, they often +accomplish happily by maturing the secondary energies of resistance. + +Already in their earliest stage, these temperance movements had +obtained, both at home and abroad, a _national_ range of grandeur. +More than ten years ago, when M. de Tocqueville was resident in the +United States, the principal American society counted two hundred and +seventy thousand members: and in one single state (Pennsylvania) the +annual diminution in the use of spirits had very soon reached half a +million of gallons. Now a machinery must be so far good which +accomplishes its end: the means are meritorious for so much as they +effect. Even to strengthen a feeble resolution by the aid of other +infirmities, such as shame or the very servility and cowardice of +deference to public opinion, becomes prudent and laudable in the +service of so great a cause. Nay, sometimes to make public profession +of self-distrust by assuming the coercion of public pledges, may become +an expression of frank courage, or even of noble principle, not fearing +the shame of confession when it can aid the powers of victorious +resistance. Yet still, so far as it is possible, every man sighs for a +still higher victory over himself: a victory not tainted by bribes, and +won from no impulses but those inspired by his own higher nature, and +his own mysterious force of will; powers that in no man were fully +developed. + +This being so, it is well that from time to time every man should throw +out any hints that have occurred to his experience,--suggesting such as +may be new, renewing such as may be old, towards the encouragement or +the information of persons engaged in so great a struggle. My own +experience had never travelled in that course which could much instruct +me in the miseries from wine, or in the resources for struggling with +it. I had repeatedly been obliged indeed to lay it aside altogether; +but in this I never found room for more than seven or ten days' +struggle: excesses I had never practised in the use of wine; simply the +habit of using it, and the collateral habits formed by excessive use of +opium, had produced any difficulty at all in resigning it even on an +hour's notice. From opium I derive my right of offering hints at all +upon the subjects of abstinence in other forms. But the modes of +suffering from the evil, and the separate modes of suffering from the +effort of self-conquest, together with errors of judgment incident to +such states of transitional torment, are all nearly allied, practically +analogous as regards the remedies, even if characteristically +distinguished to the inner consciousness. I make no scruple, therefore, +of speaking as from a station of high experience and of most watchful +attention, which never remitted even under sufferings that were at +times absolutely frantic. + +I. The first hint is one that has been often offered; viz., the +diminution of the particular liquor used, by the introduction into each +glass of some inert substance, ascertained in bulk, and equally +increasing in amount from day to day. But this plan has often been +intercepted by an accident: shot, or sometimes bullets, were the +substances nearest at hand; an objection arose from too scrupulous a +caution of chemistry as to the action upon lead of the vinous acid. Yet +all objection of this kind might be removed at once, by using beads in +a case where small decrements were wanted, and marbles, if it were +thought advisable to use larger. Once for all, however, in cases deeply +rooted, no advances ought ever to be made but by small stages: for the +effect, which is insensible at first, by the tenth, twelfth, or +fifteenth day, generally accumulates unendurably under any bolder +deductions. I must not stop to illustrate this point; but certain it +is, that by an error of this nature at the outset, most natural to +human impatience under exquisite suffering, too generally the trial is +abruptly brought to an end through the crisis of a passionate relapse. + +II. Another object, and one to which the gladiator matched in single +duel with intemperance, must direct a religious vigilance, is the +_digestibility_ of his food: it must be digestible not only by its +original qualities, but also by its culinary preparation. In this last +point we are all of us Manichćans: all of us yield a cordial assent to +that Manichćan proverb, which refers the meats and the cooks of this +world to two opposite fountains of light and of darkness. Oromasdes it +is, or the good principle, that sends the food; Ahrimanes, or the evil +principle, that everywhere sends the cooks. Man has been repeatedly +described or even defined, as by differential privilege of his nature, +'A cooking animal.' Brutes, it is said, have faces,--man only has a +countenance; brutes are as well able to eat as man,--man only is able +to cook what he eats. Such are the romances of self-flattery. I, on the +contrary, maintain, that six thousand years have not availed, in this +point, to raise our race generally to the level of ingenious savages. +The natives of the Society and the Friendly Isles, or of New Zealand, +and other favored spots, had, and still have, an _art_ of cookery, +though very limited in its range: the French [Footnote: But judge not, +reader, of French skill by the attempts of fourth-rate artists; and +understand me to speak with respect of this skill, not as it is the +tool of luxury, but as it is the handmaid of health.] have an art, and +more extensive; but we English are about upon a level (as regards this +science) with the ape, to whom an instinct whispers that chestnuts may +be roasted; or with the aboriginal Chinese of Charles Lamb's story, to +whom the experience of many centuries had revealed thus much, viz., +that a dish very much beyond the raw flesh of their ancestors, might be +had by burning down the family mansion, and thus roasting the pig-stye. +Rudest of barbarous devices is English cookery, and not much in advance +of this primitive Chinese step; a fact which it would not be worth +while to lament, were it not for the sake of the poor trembling +deserter from the banners of intoxication, who is thus, and by no other +cause, so often thrown back beneath the yoke which he had abjured. Past +counting are the victims of alcohol, that, having by vast efforts +emancipated themselves for a season, are violently forced into +relapsing by the nervous irritations of demoniac cookery. Unhappily for +_them_, the horrors of indigestion are relieved for the moment, +however ultimately strengthened, by strong liquors; the relief is +immediate, and cannot fail to be perceived; but the aggravation, being +removed to a distance, is not always referred to its proper cause. This +is the capital rock and stumbling-block in the path of him who is +hurrying back to the camps of temperance; and many a reader is likely +to misapprehend the case through the habit he has acquired of supposing +indigestion to lurk chiefly amongst _luxurious_ dishes. But, on +the contrary, it is amongst the plainest, simplest, and commonest +dishes that such misery lurks, in England. Let us glance at three +articles of diet, beyond all comparison of most ordinary occurrence, +viz., potatoes, bread, and butcher's meat. The art of preparing +potatoes for _human_ use is utterly unknown, except in certain +provinces of our empire, and amongst certain sections of the laboring +class. In our great cities,--London, Edinburgh, &c.--the sort of things +which you see offered at table under the name and reputation of +potatoes, are such that, if you could suppose the company to be +composed of Centaurs and Lapithć, or any other quarrelsome people, it +would become necessary for the police to interfere. The potato of +cities is a very dangerous missile; and, if thrown with an accurate aim +by an angry hand, will fracture any known skull. In volume and +consistency, it is very like a paving-stone; only that, I should say, +the paving-stone had the advantage in point of tenderness. And upon +this horrid basis, which youthful ostriches would repent of swallowing, +the trembling, palpitating invalid, fresh from the scourging of +alcohol, is requested to build the superstructure of his dinner. The +proverb says, that three flittings are as bad as a fire; and on that +model I conceive that three potatoes, as they are found at many British +dinner-tables, would be equal, in principle of ruin, to two glasses of +vitriol. The same savage ignorance appears, and only not so often, in +the bread of this island. Myriads of families eat it in that early +stage of sponge which bread assumes during the process of baking; but +less than sixty hours will not fit this dangerous article of human diet +to be eaten. And those who are acquainted with the works of Parmentier, +or other learned investigators of bread and of the baker's art, must be +aware that this quality of sponginess (though quite equal to the ruin +of the digestive organs) is but one in a legion of vices to which the +article is liable. A German of much research wrote a book on the +conceivable faults in a pair of shoes, which he found to be about six +hundred and sixty-six, many of them, as he observed, requiring a very +delicate process of study to find out; whereas the possible faults in +bread, which are not less in number, require no study at all for the +defection; they publish themselves through all varieties of misery. But +the perfection of barbarism, as regards our island cookery, is reserved +for animal food; and the two poles of Oromasdes and Ahrimanes are +nowhere so conspicuously exhibited. Our insular sheep, for instance, +are so far superior to any which the continent produces, that the +present Prussian minister at our court is in the habit of questioning a +man's right to talk of mutton as anything beyond a great idea, unless +he can prove a residence in Great Britain. One sole case he cites of a +dinner on the Elbe, when a particular leg of mutton really struck him +as rivalling any which he had known in England. The mystery seemed +inexplicable; but, upon inquiry, it turned out to be an importation +from Leith. Yet this incomparable article, to produce which the skill +of the feeder must co-operate with the peculiar bounty of nature, calls +forth the most dangerous refinements of barbarism in its cookery. A +Frenchman requires, as the primary qualification of flesh meat, that it +should be tender. We English universally, but especially the Scots, +treat that quality with indifference, or with bare toleration. What we +require is, that it should be fresh, that is, recently killed, (in +which state it cannot be digestible except by a crocodile;) and we +present it at table in a transition state of leather, demanding the +teeth of a tiger to rend it in pieces, and the stomach of a tiger to +digest it. + +With these habits amongst our countrymen, exemplified daily in the +articles of widest use, it is evident that the sufferer from +intemperance has a harder quarantine, in this island, to support during +the effort of restoration, than he could have anywhere else in +Christendom. In Persia, and, perhaps, there only on this terraqueous +planet, matters might be even worse: for, whilst we English neglect the +machinery of digestion, as a matter entitled to little consideration, +the people of Teheran seem unaware that there _is_ any such +machinery. So, at least, one might presume, from cases on record, and +especially from the reckless folly, under severe illness, from +indigestion, of the three Persian princes, who visited this country, as +stated by their official _mehmander_, Mr. Fraser. With us, the +excess of ignorance, upon this subject, betrays itself oftenest in that +vain-glorious answer made by the people, who at any time are admonished +of the sufferings which they are preparing for themselves by these +outrages upon the most delicate of human organs. They, for _their_ +parts, 'know not if they _have_ a stomach; they know not what it +is that dyspepsy means;' forgetting that, in thus vaunting their +_strength_ of stomach, they are, at the same time, proclaiming its +coarseness; and showing themselves unaware that precisely those, whom +such coarseness of organization reprieves from immediate and seasonable +reaction of suffering, are the favorite subjects of that heavier +reaction which takes the shape of _delirium tremens_, of palsy, +and of lunacy. It is but a fanciful advantage which _they_ enjoy, +for whom the immediate impunity avails only to hide the final horrors +which are gathering upon them from the gloomy rear. Better, by far, +that more of immediate discomfort had guaranteed to them less of +reversionary anguish. It may be safely asserted, that few, indeed, are +the suicides amongst us to which the miseries of indigestion have not +been a large concurring cause; and even where nothing so dreadful as +_that_ occurs, always these miseries are the chief hinderance of +the self-reforming drunkard, and the commonest cause of his relapse. It +is certain, also, that misanthropic gloom and bad temper besiege that +class, by preference, to whom peculiar coarseness or obtuse sensibility +of organization has denied the salutary warnings and early prelibations +of punishment which, happily for most men, besiege the more direct and +obvious frailties of the digestive apparatus. + +The whole process and elaborate machinery of digestion are felt to be +mean and humiliating when viewed in relation to our mere animal +economy. But they rise into dignity, and assert their own supreme +importance, when they arc studied from another station, viz., in +relation to the intellect and temper; no man dares, _then_, to +despise them: it is then seen that these functions of the human system +form the essential basis upon which the strength and health of our +higher nature repose; and that upon these functions, chiefly, the +general happiness of life is dependent. All the rules of prudence, or +gifts of experience that life can accumulate, will never do as much for +human comfort and welfare as would be done by a stricter attention, and +a wiser science, directed to the digestive system; in this attention +lies the key to any perfect restoration for the victim of intemperance: +and, considering the peculiar hostility to the digestive health which +exists in the dietetic habits of our own country, it may be feared that +nowhere upon earth has the reclaimed martyr to intemperance so +difficult a combat to sustain; nowhere, therefore, is it so important +to direct the attention upon an _artificial_ culture of those +resources which naturally, and by the established habits of the land, +are surest to be neglected. The sheet anchor for the storm-beaten +sufferer, who is laboring to recover a haven of rest from the agonies +of intemperance, and who has had the fortitude to abjure the poison +which ruined, but which also, for brief intervals, offered him his only +consolation, lies, beyond all doubt, in a most anxious regard to +everything connected with this supreme function of our animal economy. +And, as few men that are not regularly trained to medical studies can +have the complex knowledge requisite for such a duty, some printed +guide should be sought of a regular professional order. Twenty years +ago, Dr. Wilson Philip published a valuable book of this class, which +united a wide range of practical directions as to the choice of diet, +and as to the qualities and tendencies of all esculent articles likely +to be found at British tables, with some ingenious speculations upon +the still mysterious theory of digestion. These were derived from +experiments made upon rabbits, and had originally been communicated by +him to the Royal Society of London, who judged them worthy of +publication in their Transactions. I notice them chiefly for the sake +of remarking, that the rationale of digestion, as here suggested, +explains the reason of a fact, which merely _as_ a fact, had not +been known until modern times, viz., the injuriousness to enfeebled +stomachs of all fluid. Fifty years ago--and still lingering +inveterately amongst nurses, and other ignorant persons--there +prevailed a notion that 'slops' must be the proper resource of the +valetudinarian; and the same erroneous notion appears in the common +expression of ignorant wonder at the sort of breakfasts usual amongst +women of rank in the times of Queen Elizabeth. 'What robust stomachs +they must have had, to support such solid meals!' As to the question of +fact, whether the stomachs were more or less robust in those days than +at the present, there is no need to offer an opinion. But the question +of principle concerned in scientific dietetics points in the very +opposite direction. By how much the organs of digestion are feebler, by +so much is it the more indispensable that solid food and animal food +should be adopted. A robust stomach may be equal to the trying task of +supporting a fluid, such as tea for breakfast; but for a feeble +stomach, and still more for a stomach _enfeebled_ by bad habits, +broiled beef, or something equally solid and animal, but not too much +subjected to the action of fire, is the only tolerable diet. This, +indeed, is the one capital rule for a sufferer from habitual +intoxication, who must inevitably labor under an impaired digestion; +that as little as possible he should use of any liquid diet, and as +little as possible of vegetable diet. Beef, and a little bread, (at the +least sixty hours old,) compose the privileged bill of fare for his +breakfast. But precisely it is, by the way, in relation to this +earliest meal, that human folly has in one or two instances shown +itself most ruinously inventive. The less variety there is at that +meal, the more is the danger from any single luxury; and there is one, +known by the name of 'muffins,' which has repeatedly manifested itself +to be a plain and direct bounty upon suicide. Darwin, in his +'Zoonomia,' reports a case where an officer, holding the rank of +lieutenant-colonel, could not tolerate a breakfast in which this odious +article was wanting; but, as a savage retribution invariably supervened +within an hour or two upon this act of insane sensuality, he came to a +resolution that life was intolerable _with_ muffins, but still +more intolerable _without_ muffins. He would stand the nuisance no +longer; but yet, being a just man, he would give nature one final +chance of reforming her dyspeptic atrocities. Muffins, therefore, being +laid at one angle of the breakfast-table, and loaded pistols at +another, with rigid equity the Colonel awaited the result. This was +naturally pretty much as usual: and then, the poor man, incapable of +retreating from his word of honor, committed suicide,--having +previously left a line for posterity to the effect (though I forget the +expression), 'That a muffinless world was no world for him: better no +life at all than a life dismantled of muffins.'--Dr. Darwin was a showy +philosopher, and fond of producing effect, so that some allowance must +be made in construing the affair. Strictly speaking, it is probable +that not the especial want of muffins, but the general torment of +indigestion, was the curse from which the unhappy sufferer sought +relief by suicide. And the Colonel was not the first by many a million, +that has fled from the very same form of wretchedness, or from its +effects upon the genial spirits, to the same gloomy refuge. It should +never be forgotten that, although some other more overt vexation is +generally assigned as the proximate cause of suicide, and often may be +so as regards the immediate occasion, too generally this vexation +borrowed its whole power to annoy, from the habitual atmosphere of +irritation in which the system had been kept by indigestion. So that +indirectly, and virtually, perhaps, all suicides may be traced to +mismanaged digestion. Meantime, in alluding at all to so dreadful a +subject as suicide, I do so only by way of giving deeper effect to the +opinion expressed above, upon the chief cause of relapse into habits of +intemperance amongst those who have once accomplished their +deliverance. Errors of digestion, either from impaired powers, or from +powers not so much enfeebled as deranged, is the one immeasurable +source both of disease and of secret wretchedness to the human race. +Life is laid waste by the eternal fretting of the vital forces, +emanating from this one cause. And it may well be conceived, that if +cases so endless, even of suicide, in every generation, are virtually +traceable to this main root, much more must it be able to shake and +undermine the yet palpitating frame of the poor fugitive from +intemperance; since indigestion in every mode and variety of its +changes irresistibly upholds the temptation to that form of excitement +which, though one foremost cause of indigestion, is yet unhappily its +sole immediate palliation. + +III. Next, after the most vigorous attention, and a scientific +attention to the digestive system, in power of operation, stands +_exercise_. Here, however, most people have their own separate +habits, with respect to the time of exercise, the duration, and the +particular mode, on which a stranger cannot venture to intrude with his +advice. Some will not endure the steady patience required for walking +exercise; many benefit most by riding on horseback; and in days when +roads were more rugged, and the springs of carriages less improved, I +have known people who found most advantage in the vibrations +communicated to the frame by a heavy rumbling carriage. For myself, +under the ravages of opium, I have found walking the most beneficial +exercise; besides that, it requires no previous notice or preparation +of any kind; and this is a capital advantage in a state of drooping +energies, or of impatient and unresting agitation. I may mention, as +possibly an accident of my individual temperament, but possibly, also, +no accident at all, that the relief obtained by walking was always most +sensibly brought home to my consciousness, when some part of it (at +least a mile and a half) has been performed before breakfast. In this +there soon ceased to be any difficulty; for, whilst under the full +oppression of opium, it was impossible for me to rise at any hour that +could, by the most indulgent courtesy, be described as within the pale +of morning, no sooner had there been established any considerable +relief from this oppression, than the tendency was in the opposite +direction; the difficulty became continually greater of sleeping even +to a reasonable hour. Having once accomplished the feat of walking at +nine A. M., I backed, in a space of seven or eight months, to eight +o'clock, to seven, to six, five, four, three; until at this point a +metaphysical fear fell upon me that I was actually backing into +'yesterday,' and should soon have no sleep at all. Below three, +however, I did not descend; and, for a couple of years, three and a +half hours' sleep was all that I could obtain in the twenty-four hours. +From this no particular suffering arose, except the nervous impatience +of lying in bed for one moment after awaking. Consequently, the habit +of walking before breakfast became at length troublesome no longer as a +most odious duty, but, on the contrary, as a temptation that could +hardly be resisted on the wettest mornings. As to the quantity of the +exercise, I found that six miles a day formed the _minimum_ which +would support permanently a particular standard of animal spirits, +evidenced to myself by certain apparent symptoms. I averaged about nine +and a half miles a day; but ascended on particular days to fifteen or +sixteen, and more rarely to twenty-three or twenty-four; a quantity +which did not produce fatigue, on the contrary it spread a sense of +improvement through almost the whole week that followed; but usually, +in the night immediately succeeding to such an exertion, I lost much of +my sleep; a privation that, under the circumstances explained, deterred +me from trying the experiment too often. For one or two years, I +accomplished more than I have here claimed, viz., from six to seven +thousand miles in the twelve months. Let me add to this slight abstract +of my own experience, in a point where it is really difficult to offer +any useful advice, (the tastes and habits of men varying so much in +this chapter of exercise,) that one caution seems applicable to the +case of all persons suffering from nervous irritability, viz., that a +secluded space should be measured off accurately, in some private +grounds not liable to the interruption or notice of chance intruders; +for these annoyances are unendurable to the restless invalid; to be +questioned upon trivial things is death to him; and the perpetual +anticipation of such annoyances is little less distressing. Some plan +must also be adopted for registering the number of rounds performed. I +once walked for eighteen months in a circuit so confined that forty +revolutions were needed to complete a mile. These I counted, at one +time, by a rosary of beads; every tenth round being marked by drawing a +blue bead, the other nine by drawing white beads. But this plan, I +found in practice, more troublesome and inaccurate than that of using +ten detached counters, stones, or anything else that was large enough +and solid. These were applied to the separate bars of a garden chair; +the first bar indicating of itself the first decade, the second bar the +second decade, and so on. In fact, I used the chair in some measure as +a Roman abacus, but on a still simpler plan; and as the chair offered +sixteen bars, it followed, that on covering the last bar of the series +with the ten markers, I perceived without any trouble of calculation +the accomplishment of my fourth mile. + +A necessity, more painful to me by far than that of taking continued +exercise, arose out of a cause which applies, perhaps, with the same +intensity only to opium cases, but must also apply in some degree to +all cases of debilitation from morbid stimulation of the nerves, +whether by means of wine, or opium, or distilled liquors. In travelling +on the outside of mails, during my youthful days, for I could not +endure the inside, occasionally, during the night-time, I suffered +naturally from cold: no cloaks, &c. were always sufficient to relieve +this; and I then made the discovery that opium, after an hour or so, +diffuses a warmth deeper and far more permanent than could be had from +any other known source. I mention this, to explain, in some measure, +the awful passion of cold which for some years haunted the inverse +process of laying aside the opium. It was a perfect frenzy of misery; +cold was a sensation which then first, as a mode of torment, seemed to +have been revealed. In the months of July and August, and not at all +the less during the very middle watch of the day, I sate in the closest +proximity to a blazing fire; cloaks, blankets, counterpanes, +hearthrugs, horse-cloths, were piled upon my shoulders, but with hardly +a glimmering of relief. At night, and after taking coffee, I felt a +little warmer, and could sometimes afford to smile at the resemblance +of my own case to that of Harry Gill. [Footnote: 'Harry Gill:'--Many +readers, in this generation, may not be aware of this ballad as one +amongst the early poems of Wordsworth. Thirty or forty years ago, it +was the object of some insipid ridicule, which ought, perhaps, in +another place, to be noticed. And, doubtless, this ridicule was +heightened by the false impression that the story had been some old +woman's superstitious fiction, meant to illustrate a supernatural +judgment on hard-heartedness. But the story was a physiologic fact; +and, originally, it had been brought forward in a philosophic work, by +Darwin, who had the reputation of an irreligious man, and even of an +infidel. A bold freethinker he certainly was: a Deist, and, by public +repute, something more.] But, secretly, I was struck with awe at the +revelation of powers so unsearchably new, lurking within old affections +so familiarly known as cold. Upon the analogy of this case, it might be +thought that nothing whatever had yet been truly and seriously felt by +man; nothing searched or probed by human sensibilities, to a depth +below the surface. If cold could give out mysteries of suffering so +novel, all things in the world might be yet unvisited by the truth of +human sensations. All experience, worthy of the name, was yet to begin. +Meantime, the external phenomenon, by which the cold expressed itself, +was a sense (but with little reality) of eternal freezing perspiration. +From this I was never free; and at length, from finding one general +ablution sufficient for one day, I was thrown upon the irritating +necessity of repeating it more frequently than would seem credible, if +stated. At this time, I used always hot water; and a thought occurred +to me very seriously that it would be best to live constantly, and, +perhaps, to sleep in a bath. What caused me to renounce this plan, was +an accident that compelled me for one day to use cold water. This, +first of all, communicated any lasting warmth; so that ever afterwards +I used none _but_ cold water. Now, to live in a _cold_ bath, +in our climate, and in my own state of preternatural sensibility to +cold, was not an idea to dally with. I wish to mention, however, for +the information of other sufferers in the same way, one change in the +mode of applying the water, which led to a considerable and a sudden +improvement in the condition of my feelings. I had endeavored to +procure a child's battledore, as an easy means (when clothed with +sponge) of reaching the interspace between the shoulders; which +interspace, by the way, is a sort of Bokhara, so provokingly situated, +that it will neither suffer itself to be reached from the north, in +which direction even the Czar, with his long arms, has only singed his +own fingers, and lost six thousand camels; nor at all better from the +south, upon which line of approach the greatest potentate in Southern +Asia, viz., No.--, in Leadenhall Street, has found it the best policy +to pocket the little Khan's murderous defiances and persevering +insults. There is no battledore long enough to reach him in either way. +In my own difficulty, I felt almost as perplexed as the Honorable East +India Company, when I found that no battledore was to be had; for no +town was near at hand. In default of a battledore, therefore, my +necessity threw my experiment upon a long hair-brush; and this, +eventually, proved of much greater service than any sponge or any +battledore; for, the friction of the brush caused an irritation on the +surface of the skin, which, more than anything else, has gradually +diminished the once continual misery of unrelenting frost; although +even yet it renews itself most distressingly at uncertain intervals. + +IV. I counsel the patient not to make the mistake of supposing that his +amendment will necessarily proceed continuously, or by equal +increments; because this, which is a common notion, will certainly lead +to dangerous disappointments. How frequently I have heard people +encouraging a self-reformer by such language as this:--'When you have +got over the fourth day of abstinence, which suppose to be Sunday, then +Monday will find you a trifle better; Tuesday better still,--though +still it should be only by a trifle; and so on. You may, at least, rely +on never going back; you may assure yourself of having seen the worst; +and the positive improvements, if trifles separately, must soon gather +into a sensible magnitude.' This may be true in a case of short +standing: but, as a general rule, it is perilously delusive. On the +contrary, the line of progress, if exhibited in a geometrical +construction, would describe an ascending path upon the whole, but with +frequent retrocessions into descending curves, which, compared with the +point of ascent that had been previously gained and so vexatiously +interrupted, would sometimes seem deeper than the original point of +starting. This mortifying tendency I can report from experience many +times repeated with regard to opium; and so unaccountably, as regarded +all the previous grounds of expectation, that I am compelled to suppose +it a tendency inherent in the very nature of all self-restorations for +animal systems. They move perhaps necessarily _per saltum_, by, +intermitting spasms, and pulsations of unequal energy. + +V. I counsel the patient frequently to call back before his thoughts-- +when suffering sorrowful collapses, that seem unmerited by anything +done or neglected--that such, and far worse, perhaps, must have been +his experience, and with no reversion of hope behind, had he persisted +in his intemperate indulgencies; _these_ also suffer their own +collapses, and (so far as things not co-present can be compared) by +many degrees more shocking to the genial instincts. + +VI. I exhort him to believe, that no movement on his own part, not the +smallest conceivable, towards the restoration of his healthy state, can +by possibility perish. Nothing in this direction is finally lost; but +often it disappears and hides itself; suddenly, however, to reappear, +and in unexpected strength, and much more hopefully; because such +minute elements of improvement, by reappearing at a remoter stage, show +themselves to have combined with other elements of the same kind: so +that equally by their gathering tendency and their duration through +intervals of apparent darkness, and below the current of what seemed +absolute interruption, they argue themselves to be settled in the +system. There is no good gift that does not come from God: almost his +greatest is health, with the peace which it inherits; and man must reap +_this_ on the same terms as he was told to reap God's earliest +gift, the fruits of the earth, viz.: 'in the sweat of his brow,' +through labor, often through sorrow, through disappointment, but still +through imperishable perseverance, and hoping under clouds, when all +hope seems darkened. + +VII. It is difficult, in selecting from many memoranda of warning and +encouragement, to know which to prefer when the space disposable is +limited. But it seems to me important not to omit this particular +caution: The patient will be naturally anxious, as he goes on, +frequently to test the amount of his advance, and its rate, if that +were possible. But this he will see no mode of doing, except through +tentative balancings of his feelings, and generally of the moral +atmosphere around him, as to pleasure and hope, against the +corresponding states, so far as he can recall them from his periods of +intemperance. But these comparisons, I warn him, are fallacious, when +made in this way; the two states are incommensurable on any plan of +_direct_ comparison. Some common measure must be found, and, +_out of himself_; some positive fact, that will not bend to his +own delusive feeling at the moment; as, for instance, in what degree he +finds tolerable what heretofore was _not_ so--the effort of writing +letters, or transacting business, or undertaking a journey, or +overtaking the arrears of labor, that had been once thrown off to a +distance. If in these things he finds himself improved, by tests that +cannot be disputed, he may safely disregard any sceptical whispers from +a wayward sensibility which cannot yet, perhaps, have recovered its +normal health, however much improved. His inner feelings may not yet +point steadily to the truth, though they may vibrate in that direction. +Besides, it is certain that sometimes very manifest advances, such as +any medical man would perceive at a glance, carry a man through stages +of agitation and discomfort. A far worse condition might happen to be +less agitated, and so far more bearable. Now, when a man is positively +suffering discomfort, when he is below the line of pleasurable feeling, +he is no proper judge of his own condition, which he neither will nor +can appreciate. Tooth-ache extorts more groans than dropsy. + +VIII. Another important caution is, not to confound with the effects of +intemperance any other natural effects of debility from advanced years. +Many a man, having begun to be intemperate at thirty, enters at sixty +or upwards upon a career of self-restoration. And by self-restoration +he understands a renewal of that state in which he was when first +swerving from temperance. But that state, for his memory, is coincident +with his state of youth. The two states are coadunated. In his +recollections they are intertwisted too closely. But life, without any +intemperance at all, would soon have untwisted them. Charles Lamb, for +instance, at forty-five, and Coleridge at sixty, measured their several +conditions by such tests as the loss of all disposition to involuntary +murmuring of musical airs or fragments when rising from bed. Once they +had sung when rising in the morning light; now they sang no more. The +_vocal_ utterance of joy, for _them_, was silenced for ever. +But these are amongst the changes that life, stern power, inflicts at +any rate; these would have happened, and above all, to men worn by the +unequal irritations of too much thinking, and by those modes of care + + That kill the bloom before its time, + And blanch without the owner's crime + The most resplendent hair, + +not at all the less had the one drunk no brandy, nor the other any +laudanum. A man must submit to the conditions of humanity, and not +quarrel with a cure as incomplete, because in his climacteric year of +sixty-three, he cannot recover, entirely, the vivacities of thirty- +five. If, by dipping seven times in Jordan, he had cleansed his whole +leprosy of intemperance; if, by going down into Bethesda, he were able +to mount again upon the pinions of his youth,--even then he might +querulously say,--'But, after all these marvels in my favor, I suppose +that one of these fine mornings I, like other people, shall have to +bespeak a coffin.' Why, yes, undoubtedly he will, or somebody +_for_ him. But privileges so especial were not promised even by +the mysterious waters of Palestine. Die he must. And counsels tendered +to the intemperate do not hope to accomplish what might have been +beyond the baths of Jordan or Bethesda. They do enough, if, being +executed by efforts in the spirit of earnest sincerity, they make a +life of _growing_ misery moderately happy for the patient; and, +through that great change, perhaps, more than moderately useful for +others. + +IX. One final remark I will make:--pointed to the case, not of the yet +struggling patient, but of him who is fully re-established; and the +more so, because I (who am no hypocrite, but, rather, frank to an +infirmity) acknowledge, in myself, the trembling tendency at intervals, +which would, if permitted, sweep round into currents that might be hard +to overrule. After the absolute restoration to health, a man is very +apt to say,--'Now, then, how shall I use my health? To what delightful +purpose shall I apply it? Surely it is idle to carry a fine jewel in +one's watch-pocket, and never to astonish the weak minds of this world, +by wearing it and flashing it in their eyes.' 'But how?' retorts his +philosophic friend; 'my good fellow, are you not using it at this +moment? Breathing, for instance, talking to me, (though rather +absurdly,) and airing your legs at a glowing fire?' 'Why, yes,' the +other confesses, 'that is all true; but I am dull; and, if you will +pardon my rudeness, even in spite of your too philosophic presence. It +is painful to say so, but sincerely, if I had the power, at this +moment, to turn you, by magic, into a bottle of old port wine, so +corrupt is my nature, that really I fear lest the exchange might, for +the moment, strike me as agreeable.' Such a mood, I apprehend, is apt +to revolve upon many of us, at intervals, however firmly married to +temperance. And the propensity to it has a root in certain analogies +running through our nature. If the reader will permit me for a moment +the use of what, without such an apology, might seem pedantic, I would +call it the instinct of _focalizing_, which prompts such random +desires. Feeling is diffused over the whole surface of the body; but +light is focalized in the eye; sound in the ear. The organization of a +sense or a pleasure seems diluted and imperfect, unless it is gathered +by some machinery into one focus, or local centre. And thus it is that +a general state of pleasurable feeling sometimes seems too +superficially diffused, and one has a craving to intensify or brighten +it by concentration through some sufficient stimulant. I, for my part, +have tried every thing in this world except '_bang_,' which, I +believe, is obtained from hemp. There are other preparations of hemp +which have been found to give great relief from _ennui_; not +ropes, but something lately introduced, which acts upon the system as +the laughing gas (nitrous oxide) acts at times. One farmer in Mid- +Lothian was mentioned to me, eight months ago, as having taken it, and +ever since annoyed his neighbors by immoderate fits of laughter; so +that in January it was agreed to present him to the sheriff as a +nuisance. But, for some reason, the plan was laid aside; and now, eight +months later, I hear that the farmer is laughing more rapturously than +ever, continues in the happiest frame of mind, the kindest of +creatures, and the general torment of his neighborhood. Now, I confess +to having had a lurking interest in this extract of hemp, when first I +heard of it: and at intervals a desire will continue to make itself +felt for some deeper compression or centralization of the genial +feelings than ordinary life affords. But old things will not avail, and +new things I am now able to resist. Still, as the occasional craving +does really arise in most men, it is well to notice it; and chiefly for +the purpose of saying, that this dangerous feeling wears off by +degrees; and oftentimes for long periods it intermits so entirely as to +be even displaced by a profound disgust to all modes of artificial +stimulation. At those times I have remarked that the pleasurable +condition of health does _not_ seem weakened by its want of +centralization. It seems to form a thousand centres. This it is well to +know; because there are many who would resist effectually, if they were +aware of any natural change going on silently in favor of their own +efforts, such as would finally ratify the success. Towards such a +result they would gladly contribute by waiting and forbearing; whilst, +under despondency as to this result, they might more easily yield to +some chance temptation. + +Finally, there is something to interest us in the _time_ at which +this temperance movement has begun to stir. Let me close with a slight +notice of what chiefly impresses myself in the relation between this +time and the other circumstances of the case. In reviewing history, we +may see something more than mere convenience in distributing it into +three chambers; ancient history, ending in the space between the +Western Empire falling and Mahomet arising; modern history, from that +time to this; and a new modern history arising at present, or from the +French Revolution. Two great races of men, our own in a two-headed +form--British and American, and secondly, the Russian, are those which, +like rising deluges, already reveal their mission to overflow the +earth. Both these races, partly through climate, or through derivation +of blood, and partly through the contagion of habits inevitable to +brothers of the same nation, are tainted carnally with the appetite for +brandy, for slings, for juleps. And no fire racing through the forests +of Nova Scotia for three hundred miles in the direction of some doomed +city, ever moved so fiercely as the infection of habits amongst the +dense and fiery populations of republican North America. + +But it is remarkable, that the whole _ancient_ system of +civilization, all the miracles of Greece and Rome, Persia and Egypt, +moved by the machinery of races that were _not_ tainted with any +such popular _marasmus_. The taste was slightly sowed, as an +_artificial_ taste, amongst luxurious individuals, but never ran +through the laboring classes, through armies, through cities The blood +and the climate forbade it. In this earliest era of history, all the +great races, consequently all the great empires, threw themselves, by +accumulation, upon the genial climates of the south,--having, in fact, +the magnificent lake of the Mediterranean for their general centre of +evolutions. Round this lake, in a zone of varying depth, towered the +whole grandeurs of the Pagan earth. But, in such climates, man is +naturally temperate. He is so by physical coercion, and for the +necessities of rest and coolness. The Spaniard, the Moor, or the Arab, +has no merit in his temperance. The effort, for _him_, would be to +form the taste for alcohol. He has a vast foreground of disgust to +traverse before he can reach a taste so remote and alien. No need for +resistance in his will where nature resists on his behalf. Sherbet, +shaddocks, grapes, these were innocent applications to thirst. And the +great republic of antiquity said to her legionary sons:--'Soldier, if +you thirst, there is the river;--Nile, suppose, or Ebro. Better drink +there cannot be. Of this you may take "at discretion." Or, if you wait +till the _impedimenta_ come up, you may draw your ration of _Posca_' +What was _posca_? It was, in fact, acidulated water; three parts of +superfine water to one part of the very best vinegar. Nothing stronger +did Rome, that awful mother, allow to her dearest children, _i. e._, +her legions. Truest of blessings, that veiling itself in seeming +sternness, drove away the wicked phantoms that haunt the couches of yet +greater nations. 'The blessings of the evil genii,' says an Eastern +proverb, 'these are curses.' And the stern refusals of wisely loving +mothers,--these are the mightiest of gifts. + +Now, on the other hand, our northern climates have universally the +taste, latent if not developed, for powerful liquors. And through their +blood, as also through the natural tendency of the imitative principle +amongst compatriots, from these high latitudes the greatest of our +modern nations propagate the contagion to their brothers, though +colonizing warm climates. And it is remarkable that our modern +preparations of liquors, even when harmless in their earliest stages, +are fitted, like stepping-stones, for making the transition to higher +stages that are _not_ harmless. The weakest preparations from +malt, lead, by graduated steps, to the strongest; until we arrive at +the intoxicating porter of London, which, under its local name (so +insidiously delusive) of '_beer_,' diffuses the most extensive +ravages. + +Under these marked circumstances of difference between the ruling races +of antiquity and of our modern times, it now happens that the greatest +era by far of human expansion is opening upon us. Two vast movements +are hurrying into action by velocities continually accelerated--the +great revolutionary movement from political causes concurring with the +great physical movement in locomotion and social intercourse, from the +gigantic (though still infant) powers of steam. No such Titan resources +for modifying each other were ever before dreamed of by nations: and +the next hundred years will have changed the face of the world. At the +opening of such a crisis, had no third movement arisen of resistance to +intemperate habits, there would have been ground for despondency as to +the amelioration of the human race. But, as the case stands, the new +principle of resistance nationally to bad habits, has arisen almost +concurrently with the new powers of national intercourse; and +henceforward by a change equally sudden and unlooked for, that new +machinery, which would else most surely have multiplied the ruins of +intoxication, has become the strongest agency for hastening its +extirpation. + + + + +ON WAR. + + +Few people need to be told--that associations exist up and down +Christendom, having the ambitious object of abolishing war. Some go so +far as to believe that this evil of war, so ubiquitous, so ancient and +apparently so inalienable from man's position upon earth, is already +doomed; that not the private associations only, but the prevailing +voice of races the most highly civilized, may be looked on as tending +to confederation against it; that sentence of extermination has +virtually gone forth, and that all which remains is gradually to +execute that sentence. Conscientiously I find myself unable to join in +these views. The project seems to me the most romantic of all romances +in the course of publication. Consequently, when asked to become a +member in any such association, I have always thought it most +respectful, because most sincere, to decline. Yet, as it is painful to +refuse all marks of sympathy with persons whose motives one honors, I +design at my death to bequeath half-a-crown to the chief association +for extinguishing war; the said half-crown to be improved in all time +coming for the benefit of the association, under the trusteeship of +Europe, Asia, and America, but not of Africa. I really dare not trust +Africa with money, she is not able as yet to take care of herself. This +half-crown, a fund that will overshadow the earth before it comes to be +wanted under the provisions of my will, is to be improved at any +interest whatever--no matter what; for the vast period of the +accumulations will easily make good any tardiness of advance, long +before the time comes for its commencing payment; a point which will be +soon understood from the following explanation, by any gentleman that +hopes to draw upon it. + +There is in Ceylon a granite _cippus_, or monumental pillar, of +immemorial antiquity; and to this pillar a remarkable legend is +attached. The pillar measures six feet by six, _i. e._ thirty-six +square feet, on the flat tablet of its horizontal surface; and in +height several _riyanas_, (which arc Ceylonese cubits of eighteen +inches each,) but of these cubits, there are either eight or twelve; +excuse me for having forgotten which. At first, perhaps, you will be +angry, viz., when you hear that this simple difference of four cubits, +or six feet, measures a difference for your expectations, whether you +count your expectations in kicks or halfpence, that absolutely strikes +horror into arithmetic. The singularity of the case is, that the very +solemnity of the legend and the wealth of the human race in time, +depend upon the cubical contents of the monument, so that a loss of one +granite chip is a loss of a frightful infinity; yet, again, for that +very reason, the loss of all _but_ a chip, leaves behind riches so +appallingly too rich, that everybody is careless about the four cubits. +Enough is as good as a feast. Two bottomless abysses take as much time +for the diver as ten; and five eternities are as frightful to look down +as four-and-twenty. In the Ceylon legend all turns upon the +inexhaustible series of ages which this pillar guarantees. But, as one +inexhaustible is quite enough for one race of men, and you are sure of +more by ineffable excess than you can use in any private consumption of +your own, you become generous; 'and between friends,' you say, in +accepting my apologies for the doubtful error as to the four cubits, +'what signifies an infinity more or less?' + +For the Ceylonese legend is this, that once in every hundred years an +angel visits this granite pillar. He is dressed in a robe of white +muslin, muslin of that kind which the Romans called _aura textilis_-- +woven, as might seem, from zephyrs or from pulses of the air, such in +its transparency, such in its gossamer lightness. Does the angel touch +the pillar with his foot? Oh no! Even _that_ would be something, but +even _that_ is not allowed. In his soundless flight across it, he +suffers the hem of his impalpable robe to sweep the surface as softly +as a moon-beam. So much and no more of pollution he endures from +contact with earthly objects. The lowest extremity of his dress, +but with the delicacy of light, grazes the granite surface. And +_that_ is all the attrition which the sacred granite receives in +the course of any one century, and this is all the progress which we, +the poor children of earth, in any one century make towards the +exhaustion of our earthly imprisonment. But, argues the subtle legend, +even _that_ attrition, when weighed in metaphysical scales, cannot +be denied its value; it has detached from the pillar an atom (no matter +that it is an invisible atom) of granite dust, the ratio of which atom +to a grain avoirdupois, if expressed as a fraction of unity, would by +its denominator stretch from the Accountant-General's office in London +to the Milky Way. Now the total mass of the granite represents, on this +scheme of payment, the total funded debt of man's race to Father Time +and earthly corruption; all this intolerable score, chalked up to our +debit, we by ourselves and our representatives have to rub off, before +the granite will be rubbed away by the muslin robe of the proud flying +angel, (who, if he were a good fellow, might just as well give a sly +kick with his heel to the granite,) before time will be at an end, and +the burden of flesh accomplished. But you hear it expressed in terms +that will astonish Baron Rothschild, what is the progress in +liquidation which we make for each particular century. A billion of +centuries pays off a quantity equal to a pinch of snuff. Despair seizes +a man in contemplating a single _coupon_, no bigger than a +visiting card, of such a stock as this; and behold we have to keep on +paying away until the total granite is reduced to a level with a grain +of mustard-seed. But when that is accomplished, thank heaven, our last +generation of descendants will be entitled to leave at Master Time's +door a visiting card, which the meagre shadow cannot refuse to take, +though he will sicken at seeing it; viz., a P. P. C. card, upon seeing +which, the old thief is bound to give receipt in full for all debts and +pretended arrears. + +The reader perhaps knows of debts on both sides the Atlantic that have +no great prospect of being paid off sooner than this in Ceylon. + +And naturally, to match this order of debts, moving off so slowly, +there are funds that accumulate as slowly. My own funded half-crown is +an illustration. The half-crown will travel in the inverse order of the +granite pillar. The pillar and the half-crown move upon opposite tacks; +and there _is_ a point of time (which it is for Algebra to investigate) +when they will cross each other in the exact moment of their several +bisections--my aspiring half-crown tending gradually towards +the fixed stars, so that perhaps it might be right to make the +man in the moon trustee for that part of the accumulations which rises +above the optics of sublunary bankers; whilst the Ceylon pillar is +constantly unweaving its own granite texture, and dwindling earthwards. +It is probable that each of the parties will have reached its +consummation about the same time. What is to be done with the mustard- +seed, Ceylon has forgotten to say. But what is to be done with the +half-crown and its surplus, nobody can doubt after reading my last will +and testament. After reciting a few inconsiderable legacies to the +three continents, and to the man in the moon, for any trouble they may +have had in managing the hyperbolical accumulations, I go on to +observe, that, when war is reported to have taken itself off for ever, +'and no mistake,' (because I foresee many false alarms of a perpetual +peace,) a variety of inconveniences will arise to all branches of the +United Service, including the Horse Marines. Clearly there can be no +more half-pay; and even more clearly, there is an end to full-pay. +Pensions are at an end for 'good service.' Allowances for wounds cannot +be thought of, when all wounds shall have ceased except those from +female eyes--for which the Horse Guards is too little advanced in +civilization to make any allowance at all. Bargains there will be no +more amongst auctions of old Government stores. Birmingham will be +ruined, or so much of it as depended on rifles. And the great Scotch +works on the river Carron will be hungering for beef, so far as Carron +depended for beef upon carronades. Other arrears of evil will stretch +after the extinction of war. + +Now upon my half-crown fund (which will be equal to anything by the +time it is wanted) I charge once and for ever the general relief of all +these arrears--of the poverty, the loss, the bankruptcy, arising by +reason of this _quietus_ of final extinction applied to war. I +charge the fund with a perpetual allowance of half-pay to all the +armies of earth; or indeed, whilst my hand is in, I charge it with +_full_ pay. And I strictly enjoin upon my trustees and executors, +but especially upon the man in the moon, if his unsocial lip has left +him one spark of gentlemanly feeling, that he and they shall construe +all claims liberally; nay, with that riotous liberality which is safe +and becoming, when applied to a fund so inexhaustible. Yes, reader, my +fund will be inexhaustible, because the period of its growth will be +measured by the concurrent deposition of the Ceylon mustard-seed from +the everlasting pillar. + +Yet why, or on what principle? It is because I see, or imagine that I +see, a twofold necessity for war--necessity in two different senses-- +1st, a physical necessity arising out of man's nature when combined +with man's situation; a necessity under which war may be regarded, if +you please, as a nuisance, but as a nuisance inalienable from +circumstances essential to human frailty. 2dly, a moral necessity +connected with benefits of compensation, such as continually lurk in +evils acknowledged to be such--a necessity under which it becomes +lawful to say, that war _ought_ to exist as a balance to opposite +tendencies of a still more evil character. War is the mother of wrong +and spoliation: war is a scourge of God--granted; but, like other +scourges in the divine economy, war purifies and redeems itself in its +character of a counterforce to greater evils that could not otherwise +be intercepted or redressed. In two different meanings we say that a +thing is necessary; either in that case where it is inexorably forced +on by some sad overruling principle which it is vain to fight against, +though all good men mourn over its existence and view it as an +unconditional evil; or secondly, in that case, where an instrument of +sorrowful consequences to man is nevertheless invoked and postulated by +man's highest moral interests, is nevertheless clamorously indicated as +a blessing when looked at in relation to some antagonist cause of evil +for which it offers the one only remedy or principle of palliation. The +very evil and woe of man's condition upon earth may be oftentimes +detected in the necessity of looking to some other woe as the pledge of +its purification; so that what separately would have been hateful for +itself, passes mysteriously into an object of toleration, of hope, or +even of prayer, as a counter-venom to the taint of some more mortal +poison. Poverty, for instance, is in both senses necessary for man. It +is necessary in the same sense as thirst is necessary (_i. e._ +inevitable) in a fever--necessary as one corollary amongst many others, +from the eternal hollowness of all human efforts for organizing any +perfect model of society--a corollary which, how gladly would all of us +unite to cancel, but which our hearts suggest, which Scripture solemnly +proclaims, to be ineradicable from the land. In this sense, poverty is +a necessity over which we _mourn_,--as one of the dark phases that +sadden the vision of human life. But far differently, and with a stern +gratitude, we recognize another mode of necessity for this gloomy +distinction--a call for poverty, when seen in relation to the manifold +agencies by which it developes human energies, in relation to the +trials by which it searches the power of patience and religion, in +relation to the struggles by which it evokes the nobilities of +fortitude; or again, amongst those who are not sharers in these trials +and struggles, but sympathizing spectators, in relation to the +stimulation by which it quickens wisdom that watches over the causes of +this evil, or by which it vivifies the spirit of love that labors for +its mitigation. War stands, or seems to stand, upon the same double +basis of necessity; a primary necessity that belongs to our human +degradations, a secondary one that towers by means of its moral +relations into the region of our impassioned exaltations. The two +propositions on which I take my stand are these. _First_, that +there are nowhere latent in society any powers by which it can +effectually operate on war for its extermination. The machinery is not +there. The game is not within the compass of the cards. _Secondly_, +that this defect of power is, though sincerely I grieve in avowing +such a sentiment, and perhaps (if an infirm reader had his eye +upon me) I might seem, in sympathy with his weakness, to blush +--not a curse, no not at all, but on the whole a blessing from +century to century, if it is an inconvenience from year to year. The +Abolition Committees, it is to be feared, will be very angry at both +propositions. Yet, Gentlemen, hear me--strike, but hear me. I believe +that's a sort of plagiarism from Themistocles. But never mind. I have +as good a right to the words, until translated back into Greek, as that +most classical of yellow admirals. '_Pereant qui ante nos nostra +dixerunt!_' + +The first proposition is, that war _cannot_ be abolished. The +second, and more offensive--that war ought not to be abolished. First, +therefore, concerning the first. One at a time. Sufficient for the page +is the evil thereof! How came it into any man's heart, first of all, to +conceive so audacious an idea as that of a conspiracy against war? +Whence could he draw any vapor of hope to sustain his preliminary +steps? And in framing his plot, which way did he set his face to look +out for accomplices? Revolving this question in times past, I came to +the conclusion--that, perhaps, this colossal project of a war against +war, had been first put in motion under a misconception (natural +enough, and countenanced by innumerable books) as to the true +historical origin of wars in many notorious instances. If these had +arisen on trivial impulses, a trivial resistance might have intercepted +them. If a man has once persuaded himself, that long, costly, and +bloody wars had arisen upon a point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, +upon a hasty word, upon some explosion of momentary caprice; it is a +natural inference, that strength of national will and public +combinations for resistance, supposing such forces to have been +trained, organized, and, from the circumstances of the particular +nation, to be permanently disposable for action, might prove +redundantly effective, when pointed against a few personal authors of +war, so presumably weak, and so flexible to any stern counter-volition +as those _must_ be supposed, whose wars argued so much of vicious +levity. The inference is unexceptionable: it is the premises that are +unsound. Anecdotes of war as having emanated from a lady's tea-table or +toilette, would authorize such inference as to the facilities of +controlling them. But the anecdotes themselves are false, or false +substantially. _All_ anecdotes, I fear, are false. I am sorry to +say so, but my duty to the reader extorts from me the disagreeable +confession, as upon a matter specially investigated by myself, that all +dealers in anecdotes are tainted with mendacity. Where is the +Scotchman, said Dr. Johnson, who does not prefer Scotland to truth? +but, however this may be, rarer than such a Scotchman, rarer than the +phoenix, is that virtuous man, a monster he is, nay, he is an +impossible man, who will consent to lose a prosperous anecdote on the +consideration that it happens to be a lie. All history, therefore, +being built partly, and some of it altogether, upon anecdotage, must be +a tissue of lies. Such, for the most part, is the history of Suetonius, +who may be esteemed the father of anecdotage; and being such, he (and +not Herodotus) should have been honored with the title, _Father of +Lies_. Such is the Augustan history, which is all that remains of +the Roman empire; such is the vast series of French memoirs, now +stretching through more than three entire centuries. Are these works, +then, to be held cheap, because their truths to their falsehoods are in +the ratio of one to five hundred? On the contrary, they are better, and +more to be esteemed on that account; because, _now_ they are +admirable reading on a winter's night; whereas, written on the +principle of sticking to the truth, they would have been as dull as +ditch water. Generally, therefore, the dealers in anecdotage are to be +viewed with admiration, as patriotic citizens, willing to sacrifice +their own characters, lest their countrymen should find themselves +short of amusement. I esteem them as equal to Codrus, Timoleon, William +Tell, or to Milton, as regards the liberty of unlicensed printing. And +I object to them only in the exceptional case of their being cited as +authorities for an inference, or as vouchers for a fact. Universally, +it may be received as a rule of unlimited application,--that when an +anecdote involves a stinging repartee, or collision of ideas, +fancifully and brilliantly related to each other by resemblance or +contrast, then you may challenge it as false to a certainty. One +illustration of which is--that pretty nearly every memorable +_propos_, or pointed repartee, or striking _mot_, circulating +at this moment in Paris or London, as the undoubted property of +Talleyrand, (that eminent knave,) was ascribed at Vienna, ninety years +ago, to the Prince de Ligne, and thirty years previously, to Voltaire, +and so on, regressively, to many other wits (knaves or not); until, at +length, if you persist in backing far enough, you find yourself amongst +Pagans, with the very same repartee, &c., doing duty in pretty good +Greek; [Footnote: This is _literally_ true, more frequently than +would be supposed. For instance, a jest often ascribed to Voltaire, and +of late pointedly reclaimed for him by Lord Brougham, as being one that +he (Lord B.) could swear to for _his_, so characteristic seemed +the impression of Voltaire's mind upon the _tournure_ of the +sarcasm, unhappily for this waste of sagacity, may be found recorded by +Fabricius in the _Bibliotheca Grćca_, as the jest of a Greek who +has been dead for about seventeen centuries. The man certainly +_did_ utter the jest; and 1750 years ago. But who it was that he +stole it from is another question. To all appearance, and according to +Lord Brougham's opinion, the party robbed must have been M. de +Voltaire. I notice the case, however, of the Greek thefts and frauds +committed upon so many of our excellent wits belonging to the 18th and +19th centuries, chiefly with a view to M. de Talleyrand--that rather +middling bishop, but very eminent knave. He also has been extensively +robbed by the Greeks of the 2d and 3d centuries. How else can you +account for so many of his sayings being found amongst _their_ +pages? A thing you may ascertain in a moment, at any police office, by +having the Greeks searched: for surely you would never think of +searching a bishop. Most of the Talleyrand jewels will be found +concealed amongst the goods of these unprincipled Greeks. But one, and +the most famous in the whole jewel-case, sorry am I to confess, was +nearly stolen from the Bishop, not by any Greek, but by an English +writer, viz., Goldsmith, who must have been dying about the time that +his Excellency, the diplomatist, had the goodness to be born. That +famous _mot_ about language, as a gift made to man for the purpose +of _concealing_ his thoughts, is lurking in Goldsmith's Essays. +Think of _that!_ Already, in his innocent childhood, whilst the +Bishop was in petticoats, and almost before he had begun to curse and +to swear plainly in French, an Irish vagabond had attempted to swindle +him out of that famous witticism which has since been as good as a +life-annuity to the venerable knave's literary fame.] sometimes, for +instance in Hierocles, sometimes in Diogenes Lćrtius, in Plutarch, or +in Athenćus. Now the thing you know claimed by so many people, could +not belong to all of them: _all_ of them could not be the inventors. +Logic and common sense unite in showing us that it must have belonged +to the moderns, who had clearly been hustled and robbed by the +ancients, so much more likely to commit a robbery than Christians, they +being all Gentiles--Pagans--Heathen dogs. What do I infer from this? +Why, that upon _any_ solution of the case, hardly one worthy +saying can be mentioned, hardly one jest, pun, or sarcasm, which has +not been the occasion and subject of many falsehoods--as having been +_au-(and men)-daciously_ transferred from generation to generation, +sworn to in every age as this man's property, or that man's, +by people that must have known they were lying, until you retire +from the investigation with a conviction, that under any system of +chronology, the science of lying is the only one that has never +drooped. Date from _Anno Domini_, or from the Julian era, patronize +Olympiads, or patronize (as _I_ do, from misanthropy, because nobody +else _will_) the era of Nabonassar,--no matter, upon every road, +thicker than mile-stones, you see records of human mendacity, or (which +is much worse, in my opinion,) of human sympathy with other people's +mendacity. + +This digression, now, on anecdotes,[Footnote: The word 'Anecdotes,' +first, I believe, came into currency about the middle of the 6th +century, from the use made of it by Procopius. _Literally_ it +indicated nothing that could interest either public malice or public +favor; it promised only _unpublished_ notices of the Emperor +Justinian, his wife Theodora, Narses, Belisarius, &c. But _why_ +had they been unpublished? Simply because scandalous and defamatory: +and hence, from the interest which invested the case of an imperial +court so remarkable, this oblique, secondary and purely accidental +modification of the word came to influence its _general_ acceptation. +Simply to have been previously unpublished, no longer raised any +statement into an anecdote: it now received a new integration +it must be some fresh publication of _personal_ memorabilia; and +these having reference to _human_ creatures, must always be +presumed to involve more evil than good--much defamation +true or false--much doubtful insinuation--much suggestion of things +worse than could be openly affirmed. So arose the word: but the +_thing_ arose with Suetonius, that dear, excellent and hard- +working 'father of lies.'] is what the learned call an _excursus_, +and, I am afraid, too long by half; not strictly in proportion. But +don't mind _that_. I'll make it all right by being too short upon +something else, at the next opportunity; and then nobody can complain. +Meantime, I argue, that as all brilliant or epigrammatic anecdotes are +probably false, (a thing that hereafter I shall have much pleasure in +making out to the angry reader's satisfaction,) but to a dead certainty +those anecdotes, in particular, which bear marks in their construction +that a rhetorical effect of art had been contemplated by the narrator, +--we may take for granted, that the current stories ascribing modern +wars (French and English) to accidents the most inconsiderable, are +false even in a literal sense; but at all events they are so when +valued philosophically, and brought out into their circumstantial +relations. For instance, we have a French anecdote, from the latter +part of the seventeenth century, which ascribes one bloody war to the +accident of a little 'miff,' arising between the king and his minister +upon some such trifle as the situation of a palace window. Again, from +the early part of the eighteenth century, we have an English anecdote, +ascribing consequences no less bloody to a sudden feud between two +ladies, and that feud, (if I remember,) tracing itself up to a pair of +gloves; so that, in effect, the war and the gloves form the two poles +of the transaction. Harlequin throws a pair of Limerick gloves into a +corn-mill; and the spectator is astonished to see the gloves +immediately issuing from the hopper, well ground into seven armies of +one hundred thousand men each, and with parks of artillery to +correspond. In these two anecdotes, we recognize at once the able and +industrious artist arranging his materials with a pious regard to +theatrical effect. This man knows how to group his figures; well he +understands where to plant his masses of light and shade; and what +impertinence it would be in us spectators, the reader suppose and +myself, to go behind the scenes for critical inquiry into daylight +realities. All reasonable men see that, the less of such realities our +artist had to work with, the more was his merit. I am one of those that +detest all insidious attempts to rob men situated as this artist of +their fair fame, by going about and whispering that perhaps the thing +is true. Far from it! I sympathize with the poor trembling artist, and +agree most cordially that the whole story is a lie; and he may rely +upon my support at all times to the extent of denying that any vestige +of truth probably lay at the foundations of his ingenious apologue. And +what I say of the English fable, I am willing to say of the French one. +Both, I dare say, were the rankest fictions. But next, what, after all, +if they were _not?_ For, in the rear of all discussion upon anecdotes, +considered simply as true or _not_ true, comes finally a _valuation_ +of those anecdotes in their moral relation, and as to the inferences +which they will sustain. The story, for example, of the French +minister Louvois, and the adroitness with which he fastened upon +great foreign potentates, in the shape of war, that irritability +of temper in his royal master which threatened to consume himself; the +diplomatic address with which he transmuted suddenly a task so delicate +as that of skirmishing daily in a Council Chamber with his own +sovereign, into that far jollier mode of disputation where one replies +to all objections of the very keenest logician, either with round shot +or with grape; here is an anecdote, which (for my own part) I am +inclined to view as pure gasconade. But suppose the story true, still +it may happen that a better valuation of it may disturb the whole +edifice of logical inferences by which it seemed to favor the +speculations of the war abolitionists. Let us see. What _was_ the +logic through which such a tale as this could lend any countenance to +the schemes of these abolitionists? That logic travelled in the +following channel. Such a tale, or the English tale of the gloves, +being supposed true, it would seem to follow, that war and the purposes +of war were phenomena of chance growth, not attached to any instinct so +ancient, and apparently so grooved into the dark necessities of our +nature, as we had all taken for granted. Usually, we rank war with +hunger, with cold, with sorrow, with death, afflictions of our human +state that spring up as inevitably without separate culture and in +defiance of all hostile culture, as verdure, as weeds, and as flowers +that overspread in spring time a fertile soil without needing to be +sown or watered--awful is the necessity, as it seems, of all such +afflictions. Yet, again, if (as these anecdote simply) war could by +possibility depend frequently on accidents of personal temperament, +irritability in a sensual king, wounded sensibilities of pride between +two sensitive ladies, there in a moment shone forth a light of hope +upon the crusade against war. + +If _personal_ accidents could, to any serious extent, be amongst +the causes of war, then it would become a hopeful duty to combine +personal influences that should take an opposite direction. If casual +causes could be supposed chiefly to have promoted war, how easy for a +nation to arrange permanent and determinate causes against it! The +logic of these anecdotes seemed to argue that the whole fountains of +war were left to the government of chance and the windiest of levities; +that war was not in reality roused into activity by the evil that +resides in the human will, but on the contrary, by the simple defect of +any will energetic enough or steady enough to merit that name. +Multitudes of evils exist in our social system, simply because no +steadiness of attention, nor action of combined will, has been +converged upon them. War, by the silent evidence of these anecdotes, +seemed to lie amongst that class of evils. A new era might be expected +to commence in new views upon war; and the evil would be half conquered +from the moment that it should be traced to a trivial or a personal +origin. + +All this was plausible, but false. The anecdotes, and all similar +anecdotes, might be true, but were delusive. The logical vice in them +was--that they substituted an occasion for a cause. The king's ill +temper for instance, acting through the levity and impatience of the +minister, might be the _causa occasionalis_ of the war, but not +its true _causa efficiens_. What _was?_ Where do the true permanent +causes of war, as distinguished from its proximate excitements, +find their lodgment and abiding ground? They lie in the system +of national competitions; in the common political system to which +all individual nations are unavoidably parties; in the system of +public forces distributed amongst a number of adjacent nations, with no +internal principle for adjusting the equilibrium of these forces, and +no supreme _Areopagus_, or court of appeal, for deciding disputes. +Here lies the _matrix_ of war, because an eternal _matrix_ of +disputes lies in a system of interests that are continually the same, +and therefore the parents of rivalships too close, that are continually +different, and so far the parents of alienation too wide. All war is an +instinctive _nisus_ for redressing the errors of equilibrium in +the relative position of nations amongst nations. Every nation's duty, +first, midst, and last, is to itself. No nation can be safe from +continual (because insensible) losses of ground, but by continual +jealousies, watchings, and ambitious strivings to mend its own +position. Civilities and high-bred courtesies pass and ought to pass +between nations; that is the graceful drapery which shrouds their +natural, fierce, and tiger-like relations to each other. But the +glaring eyes, which express this deep and inalienable ferocity, look +out at intervals from below these gorgeous draperies; and sad it is to +think that at intervals the acts and the temper suitable to those +glaring eyes _must_ come forward. Mr. Carter was on terms of the +most exquisite dissimulation with his lions and tigers; but, as often +as he trusted his person amongst them, if, in the midst of infinite +politeness exchanged on all sides, he saw a certain portentous +expression of mutiny kindling in the eyeball of any discontented tiger, +all was lost, unless he came down instantly upon that tiger's skull +with a blow from an iron bar, that suggested something like apoplexy. +On such terms do nations meet in diplomacy; high consideration for each +other does not conceal the basis of enmity on which they rest; not an +enmity that belongs to their feelings, but to the necessities of their +position. Every nation in negotiating has its right hand upon the hilt +of its sword, and at intervals playfully unsheaths a little of its +gleaming blade. As things stand at present, war and peace are bound +together like the vicissitudes of day and night, of Castor and Pollux. +It matters little which bucket of the two is going up at the moment, +which going down. Both are steadfastly tied by a system of alternations +to a revolving wheel; and a new war as certainly becomes due during the +evolutions of a tedious peace, as a new peace may be relied on during +the throes of a bloody war, to tranquillize its wounds. Consequently, +when the arrogant Louvois carried a war to the credit of his own little +account on the national leger of France, this coxcomb well knew that a +war was at any rate due about that time. Really, says he, I must find +out some little war to exhaust the _surplus_ irritability of this +person, or he'll be the death of me. But irritable or not irritable, +with a puppy for his minister or not, the French king would naturally +have been carried headlong into war by the mere system of Europe, +within a very few months. So much had the causes of complaint +reciprocally accumulated. The account must be cleansed, the court roll +of grievances must be purged. With respect to the two English ladies +again, it is still more evident that they could not have _caused_ +a war by pulling caps with each other, since the grounds of every war, +what had caused it, and prolonged it, was sure to be angrily reviewed +by Parliament at each annual exposition of the Finance Minister's +Budget. These ladies, and the French coxcomb, could at the utmost have +claimed a distinction--such as that which belonged to a particular +Turkish gunner, the captain of a gun at Navarino, viz., that he, by +firing the first shot without orders, did (as a matter of fact) let +loose and unmuzzle the whole of that dreadful iron hurricane from four +nations which instantly followed, but which (be it known to the gunner) +could not have been delayed for fifty minutes longer, whether he had +fired the unauthorized gun or not. + +But now, let me speak to the second proposition of my two-headed +thesis, viz., that war _ought_ not to be abolished, if such an +abolition were even possible. _Prima facie_, it seems a dreadful +doctrine to claim a place for war as amongst the evils that are +salutary to man; but conscientiously I hold it to be such. I hold with +Wordsworth, but for reasons which may or may not be the same, since he +has not stated _his_-- + + 'That God's most dreaded instrument, + In working out a pure intent, + Is man--array'd for mutual slaughter: + Yea, Carnage is his daughter.' + +I am obliged to hold, that supposing so romantic a condition realized +as the cessation of war, this change, unless other evils were +previously abolished, or neutralized in a way still more romantic to +suppose, would not be for the welfare of human nature, but would tend +to its rapid degradation. + +One, in fact, of the earliest aspects under which this moral necessity +for war forces itself upon our notice, is its physical necessity. I +mean to say that one of the earliest reasons why war _ought_ to +exist, is because under any mode of suppressing war, virtually it +_will_ exist. Banish war as now administered, and it will revolve +upon us in a worse shape, that is, in a shape of predatory and ruffian +war, more and more licentious, as it enjoys no privilege or sufferance, +by the supposition, under the national laws. Will the causes of war die +away because war is forbidden? Certainly not; and the only result of +the prohibition would be to throw back the exercise of war from +national into private and mercenary hands; and _that_ is precisely +the retrograde or inverse course of civilization; for, in the natural +order of civilization, war passes from the hands of knights, barons, +insulated cities, into those of the universal community. If, again, it +is attempted to put down this lawless _guerilla_ state by national +forces, then the result will be to have established an interminable +warfare of a mixed character, private and public, civil and foreign, +infesting the frontiers of all states like a fever, and in substitution +for the occasional and intermitting wars of high national police, +administered with the dignified responsibility that belongs to supreme +rank, with the humanity that belongs to conscious power, and with the +diminishing havoc that belongs to increasing skill in the arts of +destruction. Even as to this last feature in warfare, which in the war +of brigands and _condottieri_ would for many reasons instantly +decay, no reader can fail to be aware of the marvels effected by the +forces of inventive science that run along side by side with the +advances of civilization; look back even to the grandest period of the +humane Roman warfare, listen to the noblest and most merciful of all +Roman captains, saying on the day of Pharsalia, (and saying of +necessity,) 'Strike at their faces, cavalry,'--yes, absolutely +directing his own troopers to plough up with their sabres the blooming +faces of the young Roman nobility; and then pass to a modern field of +battle, where all is finished by musquetry and artillery amidst clouds +of smoke, no soldier recognizing his own desolations, or the ghastly +ruin of his own right arm, so that war, by losing all its brutality, is +losing half of its demoralization. + +War, so far from ending, because war was forbidden and nationally +renounced, on the contrary would transmigrate into a more fearful +shape. As things are at present, (and, observe, they are always growing +better,) what numbers of noble-minded men, in the persons of our +officers (yes, and often of non-commissioned officers,) do we British, +for example, disperse over battle-fields, that could not dishonor their +glorious uniform by any countenance to an act of cruelty! They are eyes +delegated from the charities of our domestic life, to overlook and curb +the license of war. I remember, in Xenophon, some passage where he +describes a class of Persian gentlemen, who were called the +_ophthalmoi_, or _eyes_ of the king; but for a very different +purpose. These British officers may be called the _opthalmoi_, or +eyes of our Sovereign Lady, that into every corner of the battle carry +their scrutiny, lest any cruelty should be committed on the helpless, +or any advantage taken of a dying enemy. But mark, such officers would +be rare in the irregular troops succeeding to the official armies. And +through this channel, amongst others, war, when cried down by act of +Parliament, and precisely _because_ it was cried down, would +become more perilously effective for the degradation of human nature. +Being itself dishonored, war would become the more effective as an +instrument for the dishonoring of its agents. However, at length, we +will suppose the impossible problem solved--war, we will assume, is at +last put down. + +At length there is no more war. Though by the way, let me whisper in +your ear, (supposing you to be a Christian,) this would be a +prelibation drawn prematurely from the cup of millennial happiness; +and, strictly speaking, there is no great homage to religion, even thus +far--in figuring _that_ to be the purchase of man for himself, and +through his own efforts, which is viewed by Scripture as a glory +removed to the infinite and starry distance of a millennium, and as the +_teleutaion epigeinaema_, the last crowning attainment of +Christian truth, no longer _militant_ on earth. Christianity it +is, but Christianity when _triumphant_, and no longer in conflict +with adverse, or thwarting, or limiting influences, which only can be +equal to a revolution so mighty. But all this, for the sake of pursuing +the assumption, let us agree to waive. In reality, there are two +separate stations taken up by the war denouncers. One class hold, that +an influence derived from political economy is quite equal to the +flying leap by which man is to clear this unfathomable gulph of war, +and to land his race for ever on the opposite shore of a self- +sustaining peace. Simply, the contemplation of national debts, (as a +burthen which never would have existed without war,) and a computation +of the waste, havoc, unproductive labor, &c., attached to any single +campaign--these, they imagine, might suffice, _per se_, for the +extinction of war. But the other class cannot go along with a +speculation so infirm. Reasons there are, in the opposite scale, +tempting man into war,--which are far mightier than any motives +addressed to his self-interest. Even straining her energies to the +utmost, they regard all policy of the _purse_ as adequate: anything +short of religion, they are satisfied, must be incommensurate to a +result so vast. + +I myself certainly agree with this last class; but upon this arises a +delusion, which I shall have some trouble in making the reader +understand: and of this I am confident-that a majority, perhaps, in +every given amount of readers, will share in the delusion; will part +from me in the persuasion that the error I attempt to expose is no +error at all, but that it is myself who am in the wrong. The delusion +which I challenge as such, respects the very meaning and value of a +sacrifice made to Christianity. What is it? what do we properly mean, +by a concession or a sacrifice made to a spiritual power, such as +Christianity? If a king and his people, impressed by the unchristian +character of war, were to say, in some solemn act--'We, the parties +undersigned, for the reasons stated in the body of this document, +proclaim to all nations, that from and after Midsummer eve of the year +1850, this being the eve of St. John the Baptist, (who was the herald +of Christ,) we will no more prosecute any interest of ours, unless the +one sole interest of national defence, by means of war,--and this +sacrifice we make as a concession and act of homage to Christianity,-- +would _that_ vow, I ask, sincerely offered, and steadily observed, +really be a sacrifice made to Christianity? Not at all. A sacrifice, +that was truly such, to a spiritual religion, must be a sacrifice not +verbally (though sincerely) dedicating itself to the religion, but a +sacrifice wrought and accomplished by that religion, through and by its +own spirit. Midsummer eve of 1850 could clearly make no spiritual +change in the king or his people--such they would be on the morning +after St. John's day, as on the morning before it--_i. e._, filled +with all elements (though possibly undeveloped) of strife, feud, +pernicious ambition, + +The delusion, therefore, which I charge upon this religious class of +war denouncers is, that whilst they see and recognize this infinite +imperfection of any influence which Christianity yet exercises upon the +world, they nevertheless rely upon that acknowledged shadow for the +accomplishment of what would, in such circumstances, be a real miracle; +they rely upon that shadow, as truly and entirely as if it were already +that substance which, in a vast revolution of ages, it will finally +become. And they rely upon this mockery in _two_ senses; first, +for the _endurance_ of the frail human resolution that would thaw +in an hour before a great outrage, or provocation suited to the nobler +infirmities of man. Secondly, which is the point I mainly aim at, +assuming, for a moment, that the resolution _could_ endure, +amongst all mankind, we are all equally convinced, that an evil so vast +is not likely to be checked or controlled, except by some very +extraordinary power. Well, where _is_ it? Show me that power. I +know of none but Christianity. _There_, undoubtedly, is hope. But, +in order that the hope may become rational, the power must become +practical. And practical it is not in the extent required, until this +Christianity, from being dimly appreciated by a section [Footnote +_What_ section, if you please? I, for my part, do not agree with +those that geographically degrade Christianity as occupying but a +trifle on the area of our earth. Mark this; all Eastern populations +have dwindled upon better acquaintance. Persia that _ought_ to +have, at least, two hundred and fifty millions of people, and +_would_ have them under English government, and once was supposed +to have at least one hundred millions, how many millions has she? +_Eight!_ This was ascertained by Napoleon's emissary in 1808, +General Gardanne. Afghanistan has very little more, though some falsely +count fourteen millions. There go two vast chambers of Mahometanism; +not twenty millions between them. Hindostan may _really_ have one +hundred and twenty millions claimed for her. As to the Burman Empire, +I, nor anybody else knows the truth. But, as to China, I have never for +a moment been moved by those ridiculous estimates of the flowery +people, which our simple countrymen copy. Instead of three hundred and +fifty millions, a third of the human race upon the most exaggerated +estimate, read eighty or one hundred millions at most. Africa, as it +regards religion, counts for a cipher. Europe, America, and the half of +Asia, as to space, are Christian. Consequently, the total _facit_, +as regards Christianity, is not what many amiable infidels make it to +be. My dears, your wish was father to that thought.] of this world, +shall have been the law that overrides the whole. That consummation is +not immeasurably distant. Even now, from considerations connected with +China, with New Zealand, Borneo, Australia, we may say, that already +the fields are white for harvest. But alas! the interval is brief +between Christianity small, and Christianity great, as regards space or +terraqueous importance, compared with that interval which separates +Christianity formally professed, from Christianity thankfully +acknowledged by universal man in beauty and power. + +Here, therefore, is one spoke in the wheel for so vast a change as war +dethroned, viz., that you see no cause, though you should travel round +the whole horizon, adequate to so prodigious an effect. What could do +it? Why, Christianity could do it. Aye, true; but man disarms +Christianity. And no mock Christianity, no lip homage to Christianity, +will answer. + +But is war, then, to go on for ever? Are we never to improve? Are +nations to conduct their intercourse eternally under the secret +understanding that an unchristian solution of all irreconcileable feuds +stands in the rear as the ultimate appeal? I answer that war, going on +even for ever, may still be for ever amending its modes and its results +upon human happiness; secondly, that we not only are under no fatal +arrest in our process of improvement, but that, as regards war, history +shows how steadily we _have_ been improving; and, thirdly, that +although war may be irreversible as the last resource, this last +resource may constantly be retiring further into the rear. Let us speak +to this last point. War is the last resource only, because other and +more intellectual resources for solving disputes are not available. And +_why_ are they not? Simply, because the knowledge, and the logic, +which ultimately will govern the case, and the very circumstances of +the case itself in its details, as the basis on which this knowledge +and logic are to operate, happen not to have been sufficiently +developed. A code of law is not a spasmodic effort of gigantic talent +in any one man or any one generation; it is a slow growth of accidents +and occasions expanding with civilization; dependent upon time as a +multiform element in its development; and presupposing often a +concurrent growth of _analogous_ cases towards the completion of +its system. For instance, the law which regulates the rights of +shipping, seafaring men, and maritime commerce--how slow was its +development! Before such works as the _Consolato del Mare_ had +been matured, how wide must have been the experience, and how slow its +accumulation! During that long period of infancy for law, how many must +have been the openings for ignorant and unintentional injustice! How +differently, again, will the several parties to any transaction +construe the rights of the case! Discussion, without rules for guiding +it, will but embitter the dispute. And in the absence of all guidance +from the intellect, gradually weaving a _common_ standard of +international appeal, it is clear that nations _must_ fight, and +_ought_ to fight. Not being convinced, it is base to pretend that +you _are_ convinced; and failing to be convinced by your neighbor's +arguments, you confess yourself a poltroon (and moreover you +_invite_ injuries from every neighbor) if you pocket your wrongs. +The only course in such a case is to thump your neighbor, and to thump +him soundly for the present. This treatment is very serviceable to your +neighbor's optics; he sees things in a new light after a sufficient +course of so distressing a regimen. But mark, even in this case, war +has no tendency to propagate war, but tends to the very opposite +result. To thump is as costly, and in other ways as painful, as to +_be_ thumped. The evil to both sides arises in an undeveloped +state of law. If rights were defined by a well considered code growing +out of long experience, each party sees that this scourge of war would +continually tend to limit itself. Consequently the very necessity of +war becomes the strongest invitation to that system of judicial logic +which forms its sole limitation. But all war whatsoever stands in these +circumstances. It follows that all war whatever, unless on the brutal +principle of a Spartan warfare, that made war its own sufficient object +and self-justification, operates as a perpetual bounty offered to men +upon the investigation and final adjudication of those disputed cases +through which war prospers. Hence it is, viz., because the true +boundaries of reciprocal rights are for ever ascertaining themselves +more clearly, that war is growing less frequent. The fields open to +injustice (which originally from pure ignorance are so vast) +continually (through deeper and more expansive surveys by man's +intellect--searching--reflecting--comparing) are narrowing themselves; +narrowing themselves in this sense, that all nations under a common +centre of religious civilization, as Christendom suppose, or Islamism, +would not fight--no, and would not (by the national sense of wrong and +right) be permitted to fight--in a cause _confessedly_ condemned +by equity as now developed. The causes of war that still remain, are +causes on which international law is silent--that large arrear of cases +as yet unsettled; or else they are cases in which though law speaks +with an authentic voice, it speaks in vain, because the circumstances +are doubtful; so that, if the law is fixed as a lamp nailed to a wall, +yet the _incidence_ of the law on the particular circumstances, +becomes as doubtful as the light of the lamp upon objects that are +capriciously moving. We see all this illustrated in a class of cases +that powerfully illustrate the good and the bad in war, the why and the +wherefore, as likewise the why _not_, and therefore I presume the +wherefore _not_; and this class of cases belongs to the _lex +vicinitatis_. In the Roman law this section makes a great figure. +And speaking accurately, it makes a greater in our own. But the reason +why this _law of neighborhood_ seems to fill so much smaller a +section in ours, is because in English law, being _positively_ a +longer section, _negatively_ to the whole compass of our law, it +is less. The Roman law would have paved a road to the moon. And what is +_that_ expressed in time? Let us see: a railway train, worked at +the speed of the Great Western Express, accomplishes easily a thousand +miles in twenty-four hours; consequently in two hundred and forty days +or eight months it would run into the moon with its buffers, and break +up the quarters of that Robinson Crusoe who (and without any Friday) is +the only policeman that parades that little pensive appendage or tender +to our fuming engine of an earth. But the English law--oh frightful +reader, don't even think of such a question as its relation in space +and time to the Roman law. That it would stretch to the fixed stars is +plain, but to which of them,--don't now, dear persecuting reader, +unsettle our brains by asking. Enough it is that both in Roman and +English law the rights of neighborhood are past measuring. Has a man a +right to play the German flute, where the partitions are slender, all +day long in the house adjoining to yours? Or, supposing a beneficent +jury (beneficent to _him_) finds this to be no legal nuisance, has +he a right to play it ill? Or, because juries, when tipsy, will wink at +anything, does the privilege extend to the jew's-harp? to the poker and +tongs? to the marrowbones and cleavers? Or, without ranging through the +whole of the _Spectator's_ culinary music, will the bagpipes be +found within benefit of jury law? _War to the knife_ I say, before +we'll submit to _that_. And if the law won't protect us against +it, then we'll turn rebels. + +Now this law of neighborhood, this _lex vicinitatis_, amongst the +Romans, righted itself and settled itself, as amongst ourselves it +continues to do, by means of actions or legal suits. If a man poisons +us with smoke, we compel him by an action to eat his own smoke, or (if +he chooses) to make his chimneys eat it. Here you see is a transmuted +war; in a barbarous state, fire and sword would have avenged this +invasion of smoke; but amongst civilized men, paper bullets in the form +of _Qui tam_ and _Scire facias_, beat off the enemy. And on the same +principle, exactly as the law of international rights clears up its +dark places, war gradually narrows its grounds, and the _jus gentium_ +defines itself through national attorneys, _i. e._, diplomatists. + +For instance, now I have myself seen a case where a man cultivating a +flower-garden, and distressed for some deliverance from his rubbish of +dead leaves, litter, straw, stones, took the desperate resolution of +projecting the whole upon his neighbor's flower-garden. I, a chance +spectator of the outrage, knew too much of this world to lodge any +protest against it, on the principle of mere abstract justice; so it +would have passed unnoticed, but for the accident that his injured +neighbor unexpectedly raised up his head above the dividing wall, and +reproached the aggressor with his unprincipled conduct. This aggressor, +adding evil to evil, suggested as the natural remedy for his own wrong, +that the sufferer should pass the nuisance onwards to the garden next +beyond him; from which it might be posted forward on the same +principle. The aggrieved man, however, preferred passing it back, +without any discount to the original proprietor. Here now, is a ripe +case, a _causa teterrima_, for war between the parties, and for a +national war had the parties been nations. In fact, the very same +injury, in a more aggravated shape, is perpetrated from time to time by +Jersey upon ourselves, and would, upon a larger scale, right itself by +war. Convicts are costly to maintain; and Jersey, whose national +revenue is limited, being too well aware of this, does us the favor to +land upon the coasts of Hampshire, Dorset, &c., all the criminals whom +she cannot summarily send back to self-support, at each jail-delivery. +'What are we to do in England?' is the natural question propounded by +the injured scoundrels, when taking leave of their Jersey escort. +'Anything you please,' is the answer: 'rise if you can, to be dukes: +only never come back hither; since, dukes or _no_ dukes, to the +rest of Christendom, to _us_ of the Channel Islands you will +always be transported felons.' There is therefore a good right of +action, _i.e._, a good ground of war, against Jersey, on the part +of Great Britain, since, besides the atrocious injury inflicted, this +unprincipled little island has the audacity to regard our England, (all +Europe looking on,) as existing only for the purposes of a sewer or +cess-pool to receive _her_ impurities. Some time back I remember a +Scottish newspaper holding up the case as a newly discovered horror in +the social system. But, in a quiet way Jersey has always been engaged +in this branch of exportation, and rarely fails to 'run' a cargo of +rogues upon our shore, once or so in the season. What amuses one +besides, in this Scottish denunciation of the villany, is, that +Scotland [Footnote: To banish them 'forth of the kingdom,' was the +_euphuismus_; but the reality understood was--to carry the knaves, +like foxes in a bag, to the English soil, and there unbag them for +English use.] of old, pursued the very same mode of jail-delivery as to +knaves that were not thought ripe enough for hanging: she carted them +to the English border, unchained them, and hurried them adrift into the +wilderness, saying--Now, boys, shift for yourselves, and henceforth +plunder none but Englishmen. + +What I deduce from all this is, that as the feuds arising between +individuals under the relation of neighbors, are so far from tending to +a hostile result, that, on the contrary, as coming under a rule of law +already ascertained, or furnishing the basis for a new rule, they +gradually tighten the cords which exclude all opening for quarrel; not +otherwise is the result, and therefore the usefulness, of war amongst +nations. All the causes of war, the occasions upon which it is likely +to arise, the true and the ostensible motives, are gradually evolved, +are examined, searched, valued, by publicists; and by such means, in +the further progress of men, a comprehensive law of nations will +finally be accumulated, not such as now passes for international law, +(a worthless code that _has_ no weight in the practice of nations, +nor deserves any,) but one which will exhaust the great body of cases +under which wars have arisen under the Christian era, and gradually +collect a public opinion of Christendom upon the nature of each +particular case. The causes that _have_ existed for war are the +causes that _will_ exist; or, at least, they are the same under +modifications that will simply vary the rule, as our law cases in the +courts are every day circumstantiating the particular statute +concerned. At this stage of advance, and when a true European opinion +has been created, a '_sensus communis_,' or community of feeling +on the main classifications of wars, it will become possible to erect a +real Areopagus, or central congress for all Christendom, not with any +commission to suppress wars,--a policy which would neutralize itself by +reacting as a fresh cause of war, since high-spirited nations would arm +for the purpose of resisting such decrees; but with the purpose and the +effect of oftentimes healing local or momentary animosities, and also +by publishing the opinion of Europe, assembled in council, with the +effect of taking away the shadow of dishonor from the act of retiring +from war. Not to mention that the mere delay, involved in the waiting +for the solemn opinion of congress, would always be friendly to pacific +councils. But _would_ the belligerents wait? That concession might +be secured by general exchange of treaties, in the same way that the +cooperation of so many nations has been secured to the suppression of +the trade in slaves. And one thing is clear, that when all the causes +of war, involving _manifest_ injustice, are banished by the force +of European opinion, focally converged upon the subject, the range of +war will be prodigiously circumscribed. The costliness of war, which, +for various reasons has been continually increasing since the feudal +period, will operate as another limitation upon its field, concurring +powerfully with the public declaration from a council of collective +Christendom. + +There is, besides, a distinct and separate cause of war, more fatal to +the possibilities of peace in Europe than open injustice; and this +cause being certainly in the hands of nations to deal with as they +please, there is a tolerable certainty that a congress _sincerely_ +pacific would cut it up by the roots. It is a cause noticed by Kant in +his Essay on Perpetual Peace, and with great sagacity, though otherwise +that little work is not free from visionary self-delusions: and this +cause lies in the diplomacy of Europe. Treaties of peace are so +constructed, as almost always to sow the seeds of future wars. This +seems to the inexperienced reader a matter of carelessness or laxity in +the choice of expression; and sometimes it may have been so; but more +often it has been done under the secret dictation of powerful courts-- +making peaces only as truces, anxious only for time to nurse their +energies, and to keep open some plausible call for war. This is not +only amongst the most extensive causes of war, but the very worst: +because it gives a colorable air of justice, and almost of necessity to +a war, which is, in fact, the most outrageously unjust, as being +derived from a pretext silently prepared in former years, with mere +subtlety of malice: it is a war growing out of occasions, forged +beforehand, lest no occasions should spontaneously arise. Now, this +cause of war could and would be healed by a congress, and through an +easy reform in European diplomacy.[Footnote: One great _nidus_ of +this insidious preparation for war under the very masque of peace, +which Kant, from brevity, has failed to particularize, lies in the +neglecting to make any provision for cases that are likely enough to +arise. A, B, C, D, are all equally possible, but the treaty provides a +specific course of action only for A, suppose. Then upon B or C +arising, the high contracting parties, though desperately and equally +pacific, find themselves committed to war actually by a treaty of +lasting peace. Their pacific majesties sigh, and say--Alas! that it +should be so, but really fight we must, for what says the treaty?] + +It is the strongest confirmation of the power inherent in growing +civilization, to amend war, and to narrow the field of war, if we look +back for the records of the changes in this direction which have +already arisen in generations before our own. + +The most careless reviewer of history can hardly fail to read a rude +outline of progress made by men in the rights, and consequently in the +duties of war through the last twenty-five centuries. It is a happy +circumstance for man--that oftentimes he is led by pure selfishness +into reforms, the very same as high principle would have prompted; and +in the next stage of his advance, when once habituated to an improved +code of usages, he begins to find a gratification to his sensibilities, +(partly luxurious sensibilities, but partly moral,) in what originally +had been a mere movement of self-interest. Then comes a third stage, in +which having thoroughly reconciled himself to a better order of things, +and made it even necessary to his own comfort, at length he begins in +his reflecting moments to perceive a moral beauty and a fitness in +arrangements that had emanated from accidents of convenience, so that +finally he generates a sublime pleasure of conscientiousness out of +that which originally commenced in the meanest forms of mercenary +convenience. A Roman lady of rank, out of mere voluptuous regard to her +own comfort, revolted from the harsh clamors of eternal chastisements +inflicted on her numerous slaves; she forbade them; the grateful slaves +showed their love for her; gradually and unintentionally she trained +her feelings, when thus liberated from a continual temptation to the +sympathies with cruelty, into a demand for gentler and purer +excitement. Her purpose had been one of luxury; but, by the benignity +of nature still watching for ennobling opportunities, the actual result +was a development given to the higher capacities of her heart. In the +same way, when the brutal right (and in many circumstances the brutal +duty) of inflicting death upon prisoners taken in battle, had exchanged +itself for the profits of ransom or slavery, this relaxation of +ferocity (though commencing in selfishness) gradually exalted itself +into a habit of mildness, and some dim perception of a sanctity in +human life. The very vice of avarice ministered to the purification of +barbarism; and the very evil of slavery in its earliest form was +applied to the mitigation of another evil--war conducted in the spirit +of piratical outrage. The commercial instincts of men having worked one +set of changes in war, a second set of changes was prompted by +instincts derived from the arts of ornament and pomp. Splendor of arms, +of banners, of equipages, of ceremonies, and the elaborate forms of +intercourse with enemies through conferences, armistices, treaties of +peace, &c., having tamed the savagery of war into connection with modes +of intellectual grandeur, and with the endless restraints of +superstition or scrupulous religion,--a permanent light of civilization +began to steal over the bloody shambles of buccaneering warfare. Other +modes of harmonizing influences arose more directly from the bosom of +war itself. Gradually the mere practice of war, and the culture of war +though merely viewed as a rude trade of bloodshed, ripened into an +intellectual art. Were it merely with a view to more effectual carnage, +this art (however simple and gross at first) opened at length into wide +scientific arts, into strategies, into tactics, into castrametation, +into poliorcetics, and all the processes through which the first rude +efforts of martial cunning finally connect themselves with the +exquisite resources of science. War, being a game in which each side +forces the other into the instant adoption of all improvements through +the mere necessities of self-preservation, became continually more +intellectual. + +It is interesting to observe the steps by which, were it only through +impulses of self-conservation, and when searching with a view to more +effectual destructiveness, war did and must refine itself from a horrid +trade of butchery into a magnificent and enlightened science. Starting +from no higher impulse or question than how to cut throats most +rapidly, most safely, and on the largest scale, it has issued even at +our own stage of advance into a science, magnificent, oftentimes +ennobling, and cleansed from all horrors except those which (not being +within man's power utterly to divorce from it) no longer stand out as +reproaches to his humanity. + +Meantime a more circumstantial review of war, in relation to its +motives and the causes assigned for its justification, would expose a +series of changes greater perhaps than the reader is aware of. Such a +review, which would too much lengthen a single paper, may or may not +form the subject of a second. And I will content myself with saying, as +a closing remark, that this review will detect a principle of steady +advance in the purification and elevation of war--such as must offer +hope to those who believe in the possibility of its absolute +extermination, and must offer consolation to those who (like myself) +deny it. + + + + +THE LAST DAYS OF IMMANUEL KANT. + + +I take it for granted that every person of education will acknowledge +some interest in the personal history of Immanuel Kant. A great man, +though in an unpopular path, must always be an object of liberal +curiosity. To suppose a reader thoroughly indifferent to Kant, is to +suppose him thoroughly unintellectual; and, therefore, though in +reality he should happen _not_ to regard him with interest, it is +one of the fictions of courtesy to presume that he does. On this +principle I make no apology to the reader for detaining him upon a +short sketch of Kant's life and domestic habits, drawn from the +authentic records of his friends and pupils. It is true, that, without +any illiberality on the part of the public in this country, the +_works_ of Kant are not regarded with the same interest which has +gathered about his _name_; and this may be attributed to three +causes--first, to the language in which they are written; secondly, to +the supposed obscurity of the philosophy which they teach, whether +intrinsic or due to Kant's particular mode of expounding it; thirdly, +to the unpopularity of all speculative philosophy, no matter how +treated, in a country where the structure and tendency of society +impress upon the whole activities of the nation a direction exclusively +practical. But, whatever may be the immediate fortunes of his writings, +no man of enlightened curiosity will regard the author himself without +something of a profounder interest. Measured by one test of power, +viz., by the number of books written directly for or against himself, +to say nothing of those which he has indirectly modified, there is no +philosophic writer whatsoever, if we except Aristotle, who can pretend +to approach Kant in the extent of the influence which he has exercised +over the minds of men. Such being his claims upon our notice, I repeat +that it is no more than a reasonable act of respect to the reader--to +presume in him so much interest about Kant as will justify a sketch of +his life. + +Immanuel Kant, [Footnote: By the paternal side, the family of Kant was +of Scotch derivation; and hence it is that the name was written by Kant +the father--_Cant_, that being a Scotch name, and still to be found +in Scotland. But Immanuel, though he always cherished his Scotch +descent, substituted a _K_ for a _C_, in order to adapt it better +to the analogies of the German language.] the second of six +children, was born at Königsberg, in Prussia, a city at that time +containing about fifty thousand inhabitants, on the 22d of April, 1724. +His parents were people of humble rank, and not rich even for their own +station, but able (with some assistance from a near relative, and a +trifle in addition from a gentleman, who esteemed them for their piety +and domestic virtues,) to give their son Immanuel a liberal education. +He was sent when a child to a charity school; and, in the year 1732, +removed to the Royal (or Frederician) Academy. Here he studied the +Greek and Latin classics, and formed an intimacy with one of his +schoolfellows, David Ruhnken, (afterwards so well known to scholars +under his Latin name of Ruhn-kenius,) which lasted until the death of +the latter. In 1737, Kant lost his mother, a woman of excellent +character, and of accomplishments and knowledge beyond her rank, who +contributed to the future eminence of her illustrious son by the +direction which she gave to his youthful thoughts, and by the elevated +morals to which she trained him. Kant never spoke of her to the end of +his life without the utmost tenderness, and acknowledgment of his great +obligations to her maternal care. In 1740, at Michćlmas, he entered the +University of Königsberg. In 1746, when about twenty-two years old, he +printed his first work, upon a question partly mathematical and partly +philosophic, viz., the valuation of living forces. The question had +been first moved by Leibnitz, in opposition to the Cartesians, and was +here finally settled, after having occupied most of the great +mathematicians of Europe for more than half a century. It was dedicated +to the King of Prussia, but never reached him--having, in fact, never +been published. [Footnote: To this circumstance we must attribute its +being so little known amongst the philosophers and mathematicians of +foreign countries, and also the fact that D'Alembert, whose philosophy +was miserably below his mathematics, many years afterwards still +continued to represent the dispute as a verbal one.] From this time +until 1770, he supported himself as a private tutor in different +families, or by giving private lectures in Königsberg, especially to +military men on the art of fortification. In 1770, he was appointed to +the Chair of Mathematics, which he exchanged soon after for that of +Logic and Metaphysics. On this occasion, he delivered an inaugural +disputation--[_De Mundi Sensibilis atque Intelligibilis Forma et +Principiis_]--which is remarkable for containing the first germs of +the Transcendental Philosophy. In 1781, he published his great work, +the _Critik der Reinen Vernunft,_ or _Investigation of the Pure +Reason_. On February 12, 1804, he died. + +These are the great epochs of Kant's life. But his was a life +remarkable not so much for its incidents, as for the purity and +philosophic dignity of its daily tenor; and of this the best impression +will be obtained from Wasianski's account of his last years, checked +and supported by the collateral testimonies of Jachmann, Rink, +Borowski, and other biographers. We see him here struggling with the +misery of decaying faculties, and with the pain, depression, and +agitation of two different complaints, one affecting his stomach, and +the other his head; over all which the benignity and nobility of his +mind are seen victoriously eminent to the last. The principal defect of +this and all other memoirs of Kant is, that they report too little of +his conversation and opinions. And perhaps the reader will be disposed +to complain, that some of the notices are too minute and +circumstantial, so as to be at one time undignified, and at another +unfeeling. As to the first objection, it may be answered, that +biographical gossip of this sort, and ungentlemanly scrutiny into a +man's private life, though not what a man of honor would choose to +write, may be read without blame; and, where a great man is the +subject, sometimes with advantage. With respect to the other objection, +I know not how to excuse Mr. Wasianski for kneeling at the bed-side of +his dying friend, to record, with the accuracy of a short-hand +reporter, the last flutter of his pulse and the struggles of expiring +nature, except by supposing that the idea of Kant, as a person +belonging to all ages, in his mind transcended and extinguished the +ordinary restraints of human sensibility, and that, under this +impression, he gave _that_ to his sense of a public duty which, it +may be hoped, he would willingly have declined on the impulse of his +private affections. + +_The following paper on The Last Days of Kant, is gathered from the +German of Wasianski, Jachmann, Borowski, and others._ + +My knowledge of Professor Kant began long before the period to which +this little memorial of him chiefly refers. In the year 1773, or 1774, +I cannot exactly remember which, I attended his lectures. Afterwards, I +acted as his amanuensis; and in that office was naturally brought into +a closer connection with him than any other of his pupils; so that, +without any request on my part, he granted me a general privilege of +free admission to his class-room. In 1780 I took orders, and withdrew +myself from all connection with the university. I still continued, +however, to reside in Königsberg; but wholly forgotten, or wholly +unnoticed at least, by Kant. Ten years afterwards, (that is to say, in +1790,) I met him by accident at a party given on occasion of the +marriage of one of the professors. At table, Kant distributed his +conversation and attentions pretty generally; but after the +entertainment, when the company broke up into parties, he came and +seated himself very obligingly by my side. I was at that time a +florist--an amateur, I mean, from the passion I had for flowers; upon +learning which, he talked of my favorite pursuit, and with very +extensive information. In the course of our conversation, I was +surprised to find that he was perfectly acquainted with all the +circumstances of my situation. He reminded me of our previous +connection; expressed his satisfaction at finding that I was happy; and +was so good as to desire that, if my engagements allowed me, I would +now and then come and dine with him. Soon after this, he rose to take +his leave; and, as our road lay the same way, he proposed to me that I +should accompany him home. I did so, and received an invitation for the +next week, with a general invitation for every week after, and +permission to name my own day. At first I was unable to explain the +distinction with which Kant had treated me; and I conjectured that some +obliging friend had spoken of me in his hearing, somewhat more +advantageously than I could pretend to deserve; but more intimate +experience has convinced me that he was in the habit of making +continual inquiries after the welfare of his former pupils, and was +heartily rejoiced to hear of their prosperity. So that it appeared I +was wrong in thinking he had forgotten me. + +This revival of my intimacy with Professor Kant, coincided pretty +nearly, in point of time, with a complete change in his domestic +arrangements. Up to this period it had been his custom to eat at a +_table d'hôte_. But he now began to keep house himself, and every +day invited two friends to dine with him, and upon any little festival +from five to eight; for he was a punctual observer of Lord +Chesterfield's rule--that his dinner party, himself included, should +not fall below the number of the Graces--nor exceed that of the Muses. +In the whole economy of his household arrangements, and especially of +his dinner parties, there was something peculiar and amusingly opposed +to the usual conventional restraints of society; not, however, that +there was any neglect of decorum, such as sometimes occurs in houses +where there are no ladies to impress a better tone upon the manners. +The invariable routine was this: The moment that dinner was ready, +Lampe, the professor's old footman, stepped into the study with a +certain measured air, and announced it. This summons was obeyed at the +pace of double quick time--Kant talking all the way to the eating-room +about the state of the weather [Footnote: His reason for which was, +that he considered the weather one of the principal forces which act +upon the health; and his own frame was exquisitely sensible to all +atmospheric influences.]--a subject which he usually pursued during the +earlier part of the dinner. Graver themes, such as the political events +of the day, were never introduced before dinner, or at all in his +study. The moment that Kant had taken his seat, and unfolded his +napkin, he opened the business of dinner with a particular formula-- +'_Now, then, gentlemen!_' and the tone and air with which he +uttered these words, proclaimed, in a way which nobody could mistake, +relaxation from the toils of the morning, and determinate abandonment +of himself to social enjoyment. The table was hospitably spread; three +dishes, wine, &c., with a small second course, composed the dinner. +Every person helped himself; and all delays of ceremony were so +disagreeable to Kant, that he seldom failed to express his displeasure +with anything of that sort, though not angrily. He was displeased also +if people ate little; and treated it as affectation. The first man to +help himself was in his eyes the politest guest; for so much the sooner +came his own turn. For this hatred of delay, Kant had a special excuse, +having always worked hard from an early hour in the morning, and eaten +nothing until dinner. Hence it was, that in the latter period of his +life, though less perhaps from actual hunger than from some uneasy +sensation of habit or periodical irritation of stomach, he could hardly +wait with patience for the arrival of the last person invited. + +There was no friend of Kant's but considered the day on which he was to +dine with him as a day of pleasure. Without giving himself the air of +an instructor, Kant really was so in the very highest degree. The whole +entertainment was seasoned with the overflow of his enlightened mind, +poured out naturally and unaffectedly upon every topic, as the chances +of conversation suggested it; and the time flew rapidly away, from one +o'clock to four, five, or even later, profitably and delightfully. Kant +tolerated no _calms_, which was the name he gave to the momentary +pauses in conversation, or periods when its animation languished. Some +means or other he always devised for restoring its tone of interest, in +which he was much assisted by the tact with which he drew from every +guest his peculiar tastes, or the particular direction of his pursuits; +and on these, be they what they might, he was never unprepared to speak +with knowledge, and the interest of an original observer. The local +affairs of Königsberg must have been interesting indeed, before they +could be allowed to occupy the attention at _his_ table. And, what +may seem still more singular, it was rarely or never that he directed +the conversation to any branch of the philosophy founded by himself. +Indeed he was perfectly free from the fault which besets so many +_savans_ and _literati_, of intolerance towards those whose +pursuits had disqualified them for any particular sympathy with his +own. His style of conversation was popular in the highest degree, and +unscholastic; so much so, that any stranger who should have studied his +works, and been unacquainted with his person, would have found it +difficult to believe, that in this delightful companion he saw the +profound author of the Transcendental Philosophy. + +The subjects of conversation at Kant's table were drawn chiefly from +natural philosophy, chemistry, meteorology, natural history, and above +all, from politics. The news of the day, as reported in the public +journals, was discussed with a peculiar vigilance of examination. With +regard to any narrative that wanted dates of time and place, however +otherwise plausible, he was uniformly an inexorable sceptic, and held +it unworthy of repetition. So keen was his penetration into the +interior of political events, and the secret policy under which they +moved, that he talked rather with the authority of a diplomatic person +who had access to cabinet intelligence, than as a simple spectator of +the great scenes which were unfolding in Europe. At the time of the +French Revolution, he threw out many conjectures, and what were then +accounted paradoxical anticipations, especially in regard to military +operations, which were as punctually fulfilled as his own memorable +conjecture in regard to the hiatus in the planetary system between Mars +and Jupiter,[Footnote: To which the author should have added--and in +regard to the hiatus between the planetary and cometary systems, which +was pointed out by Kant several years before his conjecture was +established by the good telescope of Dr. Herschel. Vesta and Juno, +further confirmations of Kant's conjecture, were discovered in June +1804, when Wasianski wrote.] the entire confirmation of which he lived +to witness on the discovery of Ceres by Piazzi, in Palermo, and of +Pallas, by Dr. Olbers, at Bremen. These two discoveries, by the way, +impressed him much; and they furnished a topic on which he always +talked with pleasure; though, according to his usual modesty, he never +said a word of his own sagacity in having upon _ŕ priori_ grounds +shown the probability of such discoveries many years before. + +It was not only in the character of a companion that Kant shone, but +also as a most courteous and liberal host, who had no greater pleasure +than in seeing his guests happy and jovial, and rising with exhilarated +spirits from the mixed pleasures--intellectual and liberally sensual-- +of his Platonic banquets. Chiefly, perhaps, with a view to the +sustaining of this tone of genial hilarity, he showed himself somewhat +of an artist in the composition of his dinner parties. Two rules there +were which he obviously observed, and I may say invariably: the first +was, that the company should be miscellaneous; this for the sake of +securing sufficient variety to the conversation: and accordingly his +parties presented as much variety as the world of Königsberg afforded, +being drawn from all the modes of life, men in office, professors, +physicians, clergymen, and enlightened merchants. His second rule was, +to have a due balance of _young_ men, frequently of _very_ young +men, selected from the students of the university, in order to +impress a movement of gaiety and juvenile playfulness on the +conversation; an additional motive for which, as I have reason to +believe, was, that in this way he withdrew his mind from the sadness +which sometimes overshadowed it, for the early deaths of some young +friends whom he loved. + +And this leads me to mention a singular feature in Kant's way of +expressing his sympathy with his friends in sickness. So long as the +danger was imminent, he testified a restless anxiety, made perpetual +inquiries, waited with patience for the crisis, and sometimes could not +pursue his customary labors from agitation of mind. But no sooner was +the patient's death announced, than he recovered his composure, and +assumed an air of stern tranquillity--almost of indifference. The +reason was, that he viewed life in general, and therefore, that +particular affection of life which we call sickness, as a state of +oscillation and perpetual change, between which and the fluctuating +sympathies of hope and fear, there was a natural proportion that +justified them to the reason; whereas death, as a permanent state that +admitted of no _more_ or _less_, that terminated all anxiety, and +for ever extinguished the agitation of suspense, he would not allow +to be fitted to any state of feeling, but one of the same enduring and +unchanging character. However, all this philosophic heroism gave way on +one occasion; for many persons will remember the tumultuous grief which +he manifested upon the death of Mr. Ehrenboth, a young man of very fine +understanding and extensive attainments, for whom he had the greatest +affection. And naturally it happened, in so long a life as his, in +spite of his provident rule for selecting his social companions as much +as possible amongst the young, that he had to mourn for many a heavy +loss that could never be supplied to him. + +To return, however, to the course of his day, immediately after the +termination of his dinner party, Kant walked out for exercise; but on +this occasion he never took any companion, partly, perhaps, because he +thought it right, after so much convivial and colloquial relaxation, to +pursue his meditations,[Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is wrong. To pursue his +meditations under these circumstances, might perhaps be an inclination +of Kant's to which he yielded, but not one which he would justify or +erect into a maxim. He disapproved of eating alone, or _solipsismus +convictorii_, as he calls it, on the principle, that a man would be +apt, if not called off by the business and pleasure of a social party, +to think too much or too closely, an exercise which he considered very +injurious to the stomach during the first process of digestion. On the +same principle he disapproved of walking or riding alone; the double +exercise of thinking and bodily agitation, carried on at the same time, +being likely, as he conceived, to press too hard upon the stomach.] and +partly (as I happen to know) for a very peculiar reason, viz., that he +wished to breathe exclusively through his nostrils, which he could not +do if he were obliged continually to open his mouth in conversation. +His reason for this was, that the atmospheric air, being thus carried +round by a longer circuit, and reaching the lungs, therefore, in a +state of less rawness, and at a temperature somewhat higher, would be +less apt to irritate them. By a steady perseverance in this practice, +which he constantly recommended to his friends, he flattered himself +with a long immunity from coughs, colds, hoarseness, and every mode of +defluxion; and the fact really was, that these troublesome affections +attacked him very rarely. Indeed I myself, by only occasionally +adopting his rule, have found my chest not so liable as formerly to +such attacks. + +At six o'clock he sat down to his library table, which was a plain +ordinary piece of furniture, and read till dusk. During this period of +dubious light, so friendly to thought, he rested in tranquil meditation +on what he had been reading, provided the book were worth it; if not, +he sketched his lecture for the next day, or some part of any book he +might then be composing. During this state of repose he took his +station winter and summer by the stove, looking through the window at +the old tower of Lobenicht; not that he could be said properly to see +it, but the tower rested upon his eye,--obscurely, or but half revealed +to his consciousness. No words seemed forcible enough to express his +sense of the gratification which he derived from this old tower, when +seen under these circumstances of twilight and quiet reverie. The +sequel, indeed, showed how important it was to his comfort; for at +length some poplars in a neighboring garden shot up to such a height as +to obscure the tower, upon which Kant became very uneasy and restless, +and at length found himself positively unable to pursue his evening +meditations. Fortunately, the proprietor of the garden was a very +considerate and obliging person, who had, besides, a high regard for +Kant; and, accordingly, upon a representation of the case being made to +him, he gave orders that the poplars should be cropped. This was done, +the old tower of Lobenicht was again unveiled, and Kant recovered his +equanimity, and pursued his twilight meditations as before. + +After the candles were brought, Kant prosecuted his studies till nearly +ten o'clock. A quarter of an hour before retiring for the night, he +withdrew his mind as much as possible from every class of thoughts +which demanded any exertion or energy of attention, on the principle, +that by stimulating and exciting him too much, such thoughts would be +apt to cause wakefulness; and the slightest interference with his +customary hour of falling asleep, was in the highest degree unpleasant +to him. Happily, this was with him a very rare occurrence. He undressed +himself without his servant's assistance, but in such an order, and +with such a Roman regard to decorum and the _to prepon_, that he +was always ready at a moment's warning to make his appearance without +embarrassment to himself or to others. This done, he lay down on a +mattress, and wrapped himself up in a quilt, which in summer was always +of cotton,--in autumn, of wool; at the setting-in of winter he used +both--and against very severe cold, he protected himself by one of +eider-down, of which the part which covered his shoulders was not +stuffed with feathers, but padded, or rather wadded closely with layers +of wool. Long practice had taught him a very dexterous mode of +_nesting_ himself, as it were, in the bed-clothes. First of all, +he sat down on the bedside; then with an agile motion he vaulted +obliquely into his lair; next he drew one corner of the bedclothes +under his left shoulder, and passing it below his back, brought it +round so as to rest under his right shoulder; fourthly, by a particular +_tour d'adresse_, he treated the other corner in the same way, and +finally contrived to roll it round his whole person. Thus swathed like +a mummy, or (as I used to tell him) self-involved like the silk-worm in +its cocoon, he awaited the approach of sleep, which generally came on +immediately. For Kant's health was exquisite; not mere negative health, +or the absence of pain, but a state of positive pleasurable sensation, +and a genial sense of the entire possession of all his activities. +Accordingly, when packed up for the night in the way I have described, +he would often ejaculate to himself (as he used to tell us at dinner)-- +'Is it possible to conceive a human being with more perfect health than +myself?' In fact, such was the innocence of his life, and such the +happy condition of his situation, that no uneasy passion ever arose to +excite him--nor care to harass--nor pain to awake him. Even in the +severest winter his sleeping-room was without a fire; only in his +latter years he yielded so far to the entreaties of his friends as to +allow of a very small one. All nursing or self-indulgence found no +quarter with Kant. In fact, five minutes, in the coldest weather, +sufficed to supersede the first chill of the bed, by the diffusion of a +general glow over his person. If he had any occasion to leave his room +in the night-time, (for it was always kept dark day and night, summer +and winter,) he guided himself by a rope, which was duly attached to +his bed-post every night, and carried into the adjoining apartment. + +Kant never perspired, [Footnote: This appears less extraordinary, +considering the description of Kant's person, given originally by +Reichardt, about eight years after his death. 'Kant,' says this writer, +'was drier than dust both in body and mind. His person was small; and +possibly a more meagre, arid, parched anatomy of a man, has not +appeared upon this earth. The upper part of his face was grand; +forehead lofty and serene, nose elegantly turned, eyes brilliant and +penetrating; but below it expressed powerfully the coarsest sensuality, +which in him displayed itself by immoderate addiction to eating and +drinking.' This last feature of his temperament is here expressed much +too harshly.] night or day. Yet it was astonishing how much heat he +supported habitually in his study, and in fact was not easy if it +wanted but one degree of this heat. Seventy-five degrees of Fahrenheit +was the invariable temperature of this room in which he chiefly lived; +and if it fell below that point, no matter at what season of the year, +he had it raised artificially to the usual standard. In the heats of +summer he went thinly dressed, and invariably in silk stockings; yet, +as even this dress could not always secure him against perspiring when +engaged in active exercise, he had a singular remedy in reserve. +Retiring to some shady place, he stood still and motionless--with the +air and attitude of a person listening, or in suspense--until his usual +_aridity_ was restored. Even in the most sultry summer night, if +the slightest trace of perspiration had sullied his night-dress, he +spoke of it with emphasis, as of an accident that perfectly shocked +him. + +On this occasion, whilst illustrating Kant's notions of the animal +economy, it may be as well to add one other particular, which is, that +for fear of obstructing the circulation of the blood, he never would +wear garters; yet, as he found it difficult to keep up his stockings +without them, he had invented for himself a most elaborate substitute, +which I shall describe. In a little pocket, somewhat smaller than a +watch-pocket, but occupying pretty nearly the same situation as a +watch-pocket on each thigh, there was placed a small box, something +like a watch-case, but smaller; into this box was introduced a watch- +spring in a wheel, round about which wheel was wound an elastic cord, +for regulating the force of which there was a separate contrivance. To +the two ends of this cord were attached hooks, which hooks were carried +through a small aperture in the pockets, and so passing down the inner +and the outer side of the thigh, caught hold of two loops which were +fixed on the off side and the near side of each stocking. As might be +expected, so complex an apparatus was liable, like the Ptolemaic system +of the heavens, to occasional derangements; however, by good luck, I +was able to apply an easy remedy to these disorders which sometimes +threatened to disturb the comfort, and even the serenity, of the great +man. + +Precisely at five minutes before five o'clock, winter or summer, Lampe, +Kant's servant, who had formerly served in the army, marched into his +master's room with the air of a sentinel on duty, and cried aloud in a +military tone,--'Mr. Professor, the time is come.' This summons Kant +invariably obeyed without one moment's delay, as a soldier does the +word of command--never, under any circumstances, allowing himself a +respite, not even under the rare accident of having passed a sleepless +night. As the clock struck five, Kant was seated at the breakfast- +table, where he drank what he called _one_ cup of tea; and no +doubt he thought it such; but the fact was, that in part from his habit +of reverie, and in part also for the purpose of refreshing its warmth, +he filled up his cup so often, that in general he is supposed to have +drunk two, three, or some unknown number. Immediately after he smoked a +pipe of tobacco, (the only one which he allowed himself through the +entire day,) but so rapidly, that a pile of glowing embers remained +unsmoked. During this operation he thought over his arrangements for +the day, as he had done the evening before during the twilight. About +seven he usually went to his lecture-room, and from that he returned to +his writing-table. Precisely at three quarters before one he rose from +his chair, and called aloud to the cook,--'It has struck three +quarters.' The meaning of which summons was this:--Immediately after +taking soup, it was his constant practice to swallow what he called a +dram, which consisted either of Hungarian wine, of Rhenish, of a +cordial, or (in default of these) of Bishop. A flask of this was +brought up by the cook on the proclamation of the three quarters. Kant +hurried with it to the eating-room, poured out his _quantum_, left +it standing in readiness, covered, however, with paper, to prevent its +becoming vapid, and then went back to his study, and awaited the +arrival of his guests, whom to the latest period of his life he never +received but in full dress. + +Thus we come round again to dinner, and the reader has now an accurate +picture of the course of Kant's day; the rigid monotony of which was +not burthensome to him; and probably contributed, with the uniformity +of his diet, and other habits of the same regularity, to lengthen his +life. On this consideration, indeed, he had come to regard his health +and his old age as in a great measure the product of his own exertions. +He spoke of himself often under the figure of a gymnastic artist, who +had continued for nearly fourscore years to support his balance upon +the slack-rope of life, without once swerving to the right or to the +left. In spite of every illness to which his constitutional tendencies +had exposed him, he still kept his position in life triumphantly. +However, he would sometimes observe sportively, that it was really +absurd, and a sort of insult to the next generation for a man to live +so long, because he thus interfered with the prospects of younger +people. + +This anxious attention to his health accounts for the great interest +which he attached to all new discoveries in medicine, or to new ways of +theorizing on the old ones. As a work of great pretension in both +classes, he set the highest value upon the theory of the Scotch +physician Brown, or (as it is usually called, from the Latin name of +its author,) the Brunonian Theory. No sooner had Weikard adopted +[Footnote: This theory was afterwards greatly modified in Germany; and, +judging from the random glances which I throw on these subjects, I +believe that in this recast it still keeps its ground in that country.] +and made it known in Germany, than Kant became familiar with it. He +considered it not only as a great step taken for medicine, but even for +the general interests of man, and fancied that in this he saw something +analogous to the course which human nature has held in still more +important inquiries, viz.: first of all, a continual ascent towards the +more and more elaborately complex, and then a treading back, on its own +steps, towards the simple and elementary. Dr. Beddoes's Essays, also, +for producing by art and curing pulmonary consumption, and the method +of Reich for curing fevers, made a powerful impression upon him; which, +however, declined as those novelties (especially the last) began to +sink in credit. As to Dr. Jenner's discovery of vaccination, he was +less favorably disposed to it; he apprehended dangerous consequences +from the absorption of a brutal miasma into the human blood, or at +least into the lymph; and at any rate he thought, that, as a guarantee +against the variolous infection, it required a much longer probation. +Groundless as all these views were, it was exceedingly entertaining to +hear the fertility of argument and analogy which he brought forward to +support them. One of the subjects which occupied him at the latter end +of his life, was the theory and phenomena of galvanism, which, however, +he never satisfactorily mastered. Augustin's book upon this subject was +about the last that he read, and his copy still retains on the margin +his, pencil-marks of doubts, queries and suggestions. + +The infirmities of age now began to steal upon Kant, and betrayed +themselves in more shapes than one. Connected with Kant's prodigious +memory for all things that had any intellectual bearings, he had from +youth labored under an unusual weakness of this faculty in relation to +the common affairs of daily life. Some remarkable instances of this are +on record, from the period of his childish days; and now, when his +second childhood was commencing, this infirmity increased upon him very +sensibly. One of the first signs was, that he began to repeat the same +stories more than once on the same day. Indeed, the decay of his memory +was too palpable to escape his own notice; and, to provide against it, +and secure himself from all apprehension of inflicting tedium upon his +guests, he began to write a syllabus, or list of themes, for each day's +conversation, on cards, or the covers of letters, or any chance scrap +of paper. But these memoranda accumulated so fast upon him, and were so +easily lost, or not forthcoming at the proper moment, that I prevailed +on him to substitute a blank-paper book, which I had directed to be +made, and which still remains, with some affecting memorials of his own +conscious weakness. As often happens, however, in such cases, he had a +perfect memory for the remote events of his life, and could repeat with +great readiness, and without once stumbling, very long passages from +German or Latin poems, especially from the AEneid, whilst the very +words that had been uttered but a moment before dropped away from his +remembrance. The past came forward with the distinctness and liveliness +of an immediate existence, whilst the present faded away into the +obscurity of infinite distance. + +Another sign of his mental decay was the weakness with which he now +began to theorize. He accounted for everything by electricity. A +singular mortality at this time prevailed amongst the cats of Vienna, +Basle, Copenhagen, and other places. Cats being so eminently an +electric animal, of course he attributed this epizootic to electricity. +During the same period, he persuaded himself that a peculiar +configuration of clouds prevailed; this he took as a collateral proof +of his electrical hypothesis. His own headaches, too, which in all +probability were a mere remote effect of old age, and a direct one of +an inability [Footnote: Mr. Wasianski is quite in the wrong here. If +the hindrances which nature presented to the act of thinking were now +on the increase, on the other hand, the disposition to think, by his +own acknowledgment, was on the wane. The power and the habit altering +in proportion, there is no case made out of that disturbed equilibrium +to which apparently he would attribute the headaches. But the fact is, +that, if he had been as well acquainted with Kant's writings as with +Kant personally, he would have known, that some affection of the head +of a spasmodic kind was complained of by Kant at a time when nobody +could suspect him of being in a decaying state.] to think as easily and +as severely as formerly, he explained upon the same principle. And this +was a notion of which his friends were not anxious to disabuse him, +because, as something of the same character of weather (and therefore +probably the same general tendency of the electric power) is found to +prevail for whole cycles of years, entrance upon another cycle held out +to him some prospect of relief. A delusion which secured the comforts +of hope was the next best thing to an actual remedy; and a man who, in +such circumstances, is cured of his delusion, '_cui demptus per vim +mentis gratissimus error_,' might reasonably have exclaimed, +'_Pol, me occidistis, amici._' + +Possibly the reader may suppose, that, in this particular instance of +charging his own decays upon the state of the atmosphere, Kant was +actuated by the weakness of vanity, or some unwillingness to face the +real fact that his powers were decaying. But this was not the case. He +was perfectly aware of his own condition, and, as early as 1799, he +said, in my presence, to a party of his friends--'Gentlemen, I am old, +and weak, and childish, and you must treat me as a child.' Or perhaps +it may be thought that he shrank from the contemplation of death, +which, as apoplexy seemed to be threatened by the pains in his head, +might have happened any day. But neither was this the case. He now +lived in a continual state of resignation, and prepared to meet any +dispensation of Providence. 'Gentlemen,' said he one day to his guests, +'I do not fear to die. I assure you, as in the presence of God, that if +I were this night to be made suddenly aware that I was on the point of +being summoned, I would raise my hands to heaven, fold them, and say, +Blessed be God! If indeed it were possible that a whisper such as this +could reach my ear--Fourscore years thou hast lived, in which time thou +hast inflicted much evil upon thy fellow-men, the case would be +otherwise.' Whosoever has heard Kant speak of his own death, will bear +witness to the tone of earnest sincerity which, on such occasions, +marked his manner and utterance. + +A third sign of his decaying faculties was, that he now lost all +accurate measure of time. One minute, nay, without exaggeration, a much +less space of time, stretched out in his apprehension of things to a +wearisome duration. Of this I can give one rather amusing instance, +which was of constant recurrence. At the beginning of the last year of +his life, he fell into a custom of taking immediately after dinner a +cup of coffee, especially on those days when it happened that I was of +his party. And such was the importance he attached to this little +pleasure, that he would even make a memorandum beforehand, in the +blank-paper book I had given him, that on the next day I was to dine +with him, and consequently that there was to be coffee. Sometimes it +would happen, that the interest of conversation carried him past the +time at which he felt the craving for it; and this I was not sorry to +observe, as I feared that coffee, which he had never been accustomed +to, [Footnote: How this happened to be the case in Germany, Mr. +Wasianski has not explained. Perhaps the English merchants at +Königsberg, being amongst Kant's oldest and most intimate friends, had +early familiarized him to the practice of drinking tea, and to other +English tastes. However, Jachmann tells us, (p. 164,) that Kant was +extravagantly fond of coffee, but forced himself to abstain from it +under a notion that it was very unwholesome.] might disturb his rest at +night. But, if this did not happen, then commenced a scene of some +interest. Coffee must be brought 'upon the spot,' (a word he had +constantly in his mouth during his latter days,) 'in a moment.' And the +expressions of his impatience, though from old habit still gentle, were +so lively, and had so much of infantine naďveté about them, that none +of us could forbear smiling. Knowing what would happen, I had taken +care that all the preparations should be made beforehand; the coffee +was ground; the water was boiling; and the very moment the word was +given, his servant shot in like an arrow, and plunged the coffee into +the water. All that remained, therefore, was to give it time to boil +up. But this trifling delay seemed unendurable to Kant. All +consolations were thrown away upon him: vary the formula as we might, +he was never at a loss for a reply. If it was said--'Dear Professor, +the coffee will be brought up in a moment.'--'_Will_ be!' he would +say, 'but there's the rub, that it only _will_ be: + + Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest.' + +If another cried out--'The coffee is coming immediately.'--'Yes,' he +would retort, 'and so is the next hour: and, by the way, it's about +that length of time that I have waited for it.' Then he would collect +himself with a stoical air, and say--'Well, one can die after all: it +is but dying; and in the next world, thank God! there is no drinking of +coffee, and consequently no--waiting for it.' Sometimes he would rise +from his chair, open the door, and cry out with a feeble querulousness +--'Coffee! coffee!' And when at length he heard the servant's step upon +the stairs, he would turn round to us, and, as joyfully as ever sailor +from the mast-head, he would call out--'Land, land! my dear friends, I +see land.' + +This general decline in Kant's powers, active and passive, gradually +brought about a revolution in his habits of life. Heretofore, as I have +already mentioned, he went to bed at ten, and rose a little before +five. The latter practice he still observed, but not the other. In 1802 +he retired as early as nine, and afterwards still earlier. He found +himself so much refreshed by this addition to his rest, that at first +he was disposed to utter a _Euraeka_, as over some great discovery +in the art of restoring exhausted nature: but afterwards, on pushing it +still farther, he did not find the success answer his expectations. His +walks he now limited to a few turns in the King's gardens, which were +at no great distance from his own house. In order to walk more firmly, +he adopted a peculiar method of stepping; he carried his foot to the +ground, not forward, and obliquely, but perpendicularly, and with a +kind of stamp, so as to secure a larger basis, by setting down the +entire sole at once. Notwithstanding this precaution, upon one occasion +he fell in the street. He was quite unable to raise himself; and two +young ladies, who saw the accident, ran to his assistance. With his +usual graciousness of manner he thanked them fervently for their +assistance, and presented one of them with a rose which he happened to +have in his hand. This lady was not personally known to Kant; but she +was greatly delighted with his little present, and still keeps the rose +as a frail memorial of her transitory interview with the great +philosopher. + +This accident, as I have reason to think, was the cause of his +henceforth renouncing exercise altogether. All labors, even that of +reading, were now performed slowly, and with manifest effort; and those +which cost him any bodily exertion became very exhausting to him. His +feet refused to do their office more and more; he fell continually, +both when moving across the room, and even when standing still: yet he +seldom suffered from these falls; and he constantly laughed at them, +maintaining that it was impossible he could hurt himself, from the +extreme lightness of his person, which was indeed by this time the +merest skeleton. Very often, especially in the morning, he dropped +asleep in his chair from pure weariness: on these occasions he fell +forward upon the floor, and lay there unable to raise himself up, until +accident brought one of his servants or his friends into the room. +Afterwards these falls were prevented, by substituting a chair with +circular supports, that met and clasped in front. + +These unseasonable dozings exposed him to another danger. He fell +repeatedly, whilst reading, with his head into the candles; a cotton +night-cap which he wore was instantly in a blaze, and flaming about his +head. Whenever this happened, Kant behaved with great presence of mind. +Disregarding the pain, he seized the blazing cap, drew it from his +head, laid it quietly on the floor, and trod out the flames with his +feet. Yet, as this last act brought his dressing-gown into a dangerous +neighborhood to the flames, I changed the form of his cap, persuaded +him to arrange the candles differently, and had a decanter of water +placed constantly by his side; and in this way I applied a remedy to a +danger, which would else probably have been fatal to him. + +From the sallies of impatience, which I have described in the case of +the coffee, there was reason to fear that, with the increasing +infirmities of Kant, would grow up a general waywardness and obstinacy +of temper. For my own sake, therefore, and not less for his, I now laid +down one rule for my future conduct in his house; which was, that I +would, on no occasion, allow my reverence for him to interfere with the +firmest expression of my opinion on subjects relating to his own +health; and in cases of great importance, that I would make no +compromise with his particular humors, but insist, not only on my view +of the case, but also on the practical adoption of my views; or, if +this were refused me, that I would take my departure at once, and not +be made responsible for the comfort of a person whom I had no power to +influence. And this behavior on my part it was that won Kant's +confidence; for there was nothing which disgusted him so much as any +approach to fawning or sycophancy. As his imbecility increased, he +became daily more liable to mental delusions; and, in particular, he +fell into many fantastic notions about the conduct of his servants, +and, in consequence, into a peevish mode of treating them. Upon these +occasions I generally observed a deep silence. But sometimes he would +ask me for my opinion; and when this happened, I did not scruple to +say, 'Ingenuously, then, Mr. Professor, I think that you are in the +wrong.'--'You think so?' he would reply calmly, at the same time asking +for my reasons, which he would listen to with great patience, and +openness to conviction. Indeed, it was evident that the firmest +opposition, so long as it rested upon assignable grounds and +principles, won upon his regard; whilst his own nobleness of character +still moved him to habitual contempt for timorous and partial +acquiescence in his opinions, even when his infirmities made him most +anxious for such acquiescence. + +Earlier in life Kant had been little used to contradiction. His superb +understanding, his brilliancy in conversation, founded in part upon his +ready and sometimes rather caustic wit, and in part upon his prodigious +command of knowledge--the air of noble self-confidence which the +consciousness of these advantages impressed upon his manners--and the +general knowledge of the severe innocence of his life--all combined to +give him a station of superiority to others, which generally secured +him from open contradiction. And if it sometimes happened that he met a +noisy and intemperate opposition, supported by any pretences to wit, he +usually withdrew himself from that sort of unprofitable altercation +with dignity, by contriving to give such a turn to the conversation as +won the general favor of the company to himself, and impressed, +silence, or modesty at least, upon the boldest disputant. From a person +so little familiar with opposition, it could scarcely have been +anticipated that he should daily surrender his wishes to mine--if not +without discussion, yet always without displeasure. So, however, it +was. No habit, of whatever long standing, could be objected to as +injurious to his health, but he would generally renounce it. And he had +this excellent custom in such cases, that either he would resolutely +and at once decide for his own opinion, or, if he professed to follow +his friend's, he would follow it sincerely, and not try it unfairly by +trying it imperfectly. Any plan, however trifling, which he had once +consented to adopt on the suggestion of another, was never afterwards +defeated or embarrassed by unseasonable interposition from his own +humors. And thus, the very period of his decay drew forth so many fresh +expressions of his character, in its amiable or noble features, as +daily increased my affection and reverence for his person. + +Having mentioned his servants, I shall here take occasion to give some +account of his man-servant Lampe. It was a great misfortune for Kant, +in his old age and infirmities, that this man also became old, and +subject to a different sort of infirmities. This Lampe had originally +served in the Prussian army; on quitting which he entered the service +of Kant. In this situation he had lived about forty years; and, though +always dull and stupid, had, in the early part of this period, +discharged his duties with tolerable fidelity. But latterly, presuming +upon his own indispensableness, from his perfect knowledge of all the +domestic arrangements, and upon his master's weakness, he had fallen +into great irregularities and neglect of his duties. Kant had been +obliged, therefore, of late, to threaten repeatedly that he would +discharge him. I, who knew that Kant, though one of the kindest-hearted +men, was also one of the firmest, foresaw that this discharge, once +given, would be irrevocable: for the word of Kant was as sacred as +other men's oaths. Consequently, upon every opportunity, I remonstrated +with Lampe on the folly of his conduct, and his wife joined me on these +occasions. Indeed, it was high time that a change should be made in +some quarter; for it now became dangerous to leave Kant, who was +constantly falling from weakness, to the care of an old ruffian, who +was himself apt to fall from intoxication. The fact was, that from the +moment I undertook the management of Kant's affairs, Lampe saw there +was an end to his old system of abusing his master's confidence in +pecuniary affairs, and the other advantages which he took of his +helpless situation. This made him desperate, and he behaved worse and +worse; until one morning, in January, 1802, Kant told me, that, +humiliating as he felt such a confession, the fact was, that Lampe had +just treated him in a way which he was ashamed to repeat. I was too +much shocked to distress him by inquiring into the particulars. But the +result was, that Kant now insisted, temperately but firmly, on Lampe's +dismissal. Accordingly, a new servant, of the name of Kaufmann, was +immediately engaged; and on the next day Lampe was discharged with a +handsome pension for life. + +Here I must mention a little circumstance which does honor to Kant's +benevolence. In his last will, on the assumption that Lampe would +continue with him to his death, he had made a very liberal provision +for him; but upon this new arrangement of the pension, which was to +take effect immediately, it became necessary to revoke that part of his +will, which he did in a separate codicil, that began thus:--'In +consequence of the ill behavior of my servant Lampe, I think fit,' &c. +But soon after, considering that such a record of Lampe's misconduct +might be seriously injurious to his interests, he cancelled the +passage, and expressed it in such a way, that no trace remained behind +of his just displeasure. And his benign nature was gratified with +knowing, that, this one sentence blotted out, there remained no other +in all his numerous writings, published or confidential, which spoke +the language of anger, or could leave any ground for doubting that he +died in charity with all the world. Upon Lampe's calling to demand a +written character, he was, however, a good deal embarrassed; his stern +reverence for truth being, in this instance, armed against the first +impulses of his kindness. Long and anxiously he sat, with the +certificate lying before him, debating how he should fill up the +blanks. I was present, but in such a matter I did not take the liberty +of suggesting any advice. At last, he took his pen, and filled up the +blank as follows:--'--has served me long and faithfully,'--(for Kant +was not aware that he had robbed him,)--'but did not display those +particular qualifications which fitted him for waiting on an old and +infirm man like myself.' + +This scene of disturbance over, which to Kant, a lover of peace and +tranquillity, caused a shock that he would gladly have been spared; it +was fortunate that no other of that nature occurred during the rest of +his life. Kaufmann, the successor of Lampe, turned out to be a +respectable and upright man, and soon conceived a great attachment to +his master's person. Things now put on a new face in Kant's family: by +the removal of one of the belligerents, peace was once more restored +amongst his servants; for hitherto there had been eternal wars between +Lampe and the cook. Sometimes it was Lampe that carried a war of +aggression into the cook's territory of the kitchen; sometimes it was +the cook that revenged these insults, by sallying out upon Lampe in the +neutral ground of the hall, or invaded him even in his own sanctuary of +the butler's pantry. The uproars were everlasting; and thus far it was +fortunate for the peace of the philosopher, that his hearing had begun +to fail; by which means he was spared many an exhibition of hateful +passions and ruffian violence, which annoyed his guests and friends. +But now all things had changed: deep silence reigned in the pantry; the +kitchen rang no more with martial alarums; and the hall was unvexed +with skirmish or pursuit. Yet it may be readily supposed that to Kant, +at the age of seventy-eight, changes, even for the better, were not +welcome: so intense had been the uniformity of his life and habits, +that the least innovation in the arrangement of articles as trifling as +a penknife, or a pair of scissors, disturbed him; and not merely if +they were pushed two or three inches out of their customary position, +but even if they were laid a little awry; and as to larger objects, +such as chairs, &c., any dislocation of their usual arrangement, any +trans position, or addition to their number, perfectly confounded him; +and his eye appeared restlessly to haunt the seat of the mal- +arrangement, until the ancient order was restored. With such habits the +reader may conceive how distressing it must have been to him, at this +period of decaying powers, to adapt himself to a new servant, a new +voice, a new step, &c. + +Aware of this, I had on the day before he entered upon his duties, +written down for the new servant upon a sheet of paper the entire +routine of Kant's daily life, down to the minutest and most trivial +circumstances; all which he mastered with the greatest rapidity. To +make sure, however, we went through a rehearsal of the whole ritual; he +performing the manoeuvres, I looking on and giving the word. Still I +felt uneasy at the idea of his being left entirely to his own +discretion on his first _debut_ in good earnest, and therefore I +made a point of attending on this important day; and in the few +instances where the new recruit missed the accurate manoeuvre, a glance +or a nod from me easily made him comprehend his failure. + +One part only there was of the daily ceremonial, where all of us were +at a loss, as it was a part which no mortal eyes had ever witnessed but +those of Lampe: this was breakfast. However, that we might do all in +our power, I myself attended at four o'clock in the morning. The day +happened, as I remember, to be the 1st of February, 1802. Precisely at +five, Kant made his appearance; and nothing could equal his +astonishment on finding me in the room. Fresh from the confusion of +dreaming, and bewildered alike by the sight of his new servant, by +Lampe's absence, and by my presence, he could with difficulty be made +to comprehend the purpose of my visit. A friend in need is a friend +indeed; and we would now have given any money to that learned person +who could have instructed us in the arrangement of the breakfast table. +But this was a mystery revealed to none but Lampe. At length Kant took +this task upon himself; and apparently all was now settled to his +satisfaction. Yet still it struck me that he was under some +embarrassment or constraint. Upon this I said--that, with his +permission, I would take a cup of tea, and afterwards smoke a pipe with +him. He accepted my offer with his usual courteous demeanor; but seemed +unable to familiarize himself with the novelty of his situation. I was +at this time sitting directly opposite to him; and at last he frankly +told me, but with the kindest and most apologetic air, that he was +really under the necessity of begging that I would sit out of his +sight; for that, having sat alone at the breakfast table for +considerably more than half a century, he could not abruptly adapt his +mind to a change in this respect; and he found his thoughts very +sensibly disturbed. I did as he desired; the servant retired into an +antiroom, where he waited within call; and Kant recovered his wonted +composure. Just the same scene passed over again, when I called at the +same hour on a fine summer morning some months after. + +Henceforth all went right: or, if occasionally some little mistake +occurred, Kant showed himself very considerate and indulgent, and would +remark of his own accord, that a new servant could not be expected to +know all his peculiar ways and humors. In one respect, indeed, this man +adapted himself to Kant's scholarlike taste, in a way which Lampe was +incapable of doing. Kant was somewhat fastidious in matters of +pronunciation; and this man had a great facility in catching the true +sound of Latin words, the titles of books, and the names or +designations of Kant's friends: not one of which accomplishments could +Lampe, the most insufferable of blockheads, ever attain to. In +particular, I have been told by Kant's old friends, that for the space +of more than thirty years, during which he had been in the habit of +reading the newspaper published by Hartung, Lampe delivered it with the +same identical blunder on every day of publication.--'Mr. Professor, +here is Hart_mann's_ journal.' Upon which Kant would reply--'Eh! +what?--What's that you say? Hartmann's journal? I tell you, it is not +Hartmann, but Hartung: now, repeat it after me--not Hartmann, but +Hartung.' Then Lampe, looking sulky, and drawing himself up with the +stiff air of a soldier on guard, and in the very same monotonous tone +with which he had been used to sing out his challenge of--_Who goes +there?_ would roar--'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' 'Now again!' Kant +would say: on which again Lampe roared--'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' +'Now a third time,' cried Kant: on which for a third time the unhappy +Lampe would howl out--'not Hartmann, but Hartung.' And this whimsical +scene of parade duty was continually repeated: duly as the day of +publication came, the irreclaimable old dunce was put through the same +manoeuvres, which were as invariably followed by the same blunder on +the next. In spite, however, of this advantage, in the new servant, and +his general superiority to his predecessor, Kant's nature was too kind +and good, and too indulgent to all people's infirmities but his own, +not to miss the voice and the 'old familiar face' that he had been +accustomed to for forty years. And I met with what struck me as an +affecting instance of Kant's yearning after his old good-for-nothing +servant in his memorandum-book: other people record what they wish to +remember; but Kant had here recorded what he was to forget. 'Mem.: +February, 1802, the name of Lampe must now be remembered no more.' + +In the spring of this year, 1802, I advised Kant to take the air. It +was very long since he had been out of doors, [Footnote: Wasianski here +returns thanks to some unknown person, who, having observed that Kant +in his latter walks took pleasure in leaning against a particular wall +to view the prospect, had caused a seat to be fixed at that point for +his use.] and walking was now out of the question. But I thought the +motion of a carriage and the air would be likely to revive him. On the +power of vernal sights and sounds I did not much rely; for these had +long ceased to affect him. Of all the changes that spring brings with +it, there was one only that now interested Kant; and he longed for it +with an eagerness and intensity of expectation, that it was almost +painful to witness: this was the return of a hedge sparrow that sang in +his garden, and before his window. This bird, either the same, or one +of the next generation, had sung for years in the same situation; and +Kant grew uneasy when the cold weather, lasting longer than usual, +retarded its return. Like Lord Bacon, indeed, he had a childlike love +for birds in general, and in particular, took pains to encourage the +sparrows to build above the windows of his study; and when this +happened, (as it often did, from the silence which prevailed in his +study,) he watched their proceedings with the delight and the +tenderness which others give to a human interest. To return to the +point I was speaking of, Kant was at first very unwilling to accede to +my proposal of going abroad. 'I shall sink down in the carriage,' said +he, 'and fall together like a heap of old rags.' But I persisted with a +gentle importunity in urging him to the attempt, assuring him that we +would return immediately if he found the effort too much for him. +Accordingly, upon a tolerably warm day of early [Footnote: Mr. +Wasianski says--_late_ in summer: but, as he elsewhere describes +by the same expression of 'late in summer,' a day which was confessedly +_before_ the longest day, and as the multitude of birds which +continued to sing will not allow us to suppose that the summer could be +very far advanced, I have translated accordingly.] summer, I, and an +old friend of Kant's, accompanied him to a little place which I rented +in the country. As we drove through the streets, Kant was delighted to +find that he could sit upright, and bear the motion of the carriage, +and seemed to draw youthful pleasure from the sight of the towers and +other public buildings, which he had not seen for years. We reached the +place of our destination in high spirits. Kant drank a cup of coffee, +and attempted to smoke a little. After this, he sat and sunned himself, +listening with delight to the warbling of birds, which congregated in +great numbers about this spot. He distinguished every bird by its song, +and called it by its right name. After staying about half an hour, we +set off on our homeward journey, Kant still cheerful, but apparently +satiated with his day's enjoyment. + +I had on this occasion purposely avoided taking him to any public +gardens, that I might not disturb his pleasure by exposing him to the +distressing gaze of public curiosity. However, it was known in +Königsberg that Kant had gone out; and accordingly, as the carriage +moved through the streets which led to his residence, there was a +general rush from all quarters in that direction, and, when we turned +into the street where the house stood, we found it already choked up +with people. As we slowly drew up to the door, a lane was formed in the +crowd, through which Kant was led, I and my friend supporting him on +our arms. Looking at the crowd, I observed the faces of many persons of +rank, and distinguished strangers, some of whom now saw Kant for the +first time, and many of them for the last. + +As the winter of 1802-3 approached, he complained more than ever of an +affection of the stomach, which no medical man had been able to +mitigate, or even to explain. The winter passed over in a complaining +way; he was weary of life, and longed for the hour of dismission. 'I +can be of service to the world no more,' said he, 'and am a burden to +myself.' Often I endeavored to cheer him by the anticipation of +excursions that we would make together when summer came again. On these +he calculated with so much earnestness, that he had made a regular +scale or classification of them--l. Airings; 2. Journeys; 3. Travels. +And nothing could equal the yearning impatience expressed for the +coming of spring and summer, not so much for their own peculiar +attractions, as because they were the seasons for travelling. In his +memorandum-book, he made this note:--'The three summer months are June, +July, and August'--meaning that they were the three months for +travelling. And in conversation he expressed the feverish strength of +his wishes so plaintively and affectingly, that everybody was drawn +into powerful sympathy with him, and wished for some magical means of +ante-dating the course of the seasons. + +In this winter his bed-room was often warmed. This was the room in +which he kept his little collection of books, of about four hundred and +fifty volumes, chiefly presentation-copies from the authors. It may +seem singular that Kant, who read so extensively, should have no larger +library; but he had less need of one than most scholars, having in his +earlier years been librarian at the Royal Library of the Castle; and +since then having enjoyed from the liberality of Hartknoch, his +publisher, (who, in his turn, had profited by the liberal terms on +which Kant had made over to him the copyright of his own works,) the +first sight of every new book that appeared. + +At the close of this winter, that is in 1803, Kant first began to +complain of unpleasant dreams, sometimes of very terrific ones, which +awakened him in great agitation. Oftentimes melodies, which he had +heard in earliest youth sung in the streets of Königsberg, resounded +painfully in his ears, and dwelt upon them in a way from which no +efforts of abstraction could release him. These kept him awake to +unseasonable hours; and often when, after long watching, he had fallen +asleep, however deep his sleep might be, it was suddenly broken up by +terrific dreams, which alarmed him beyond description. Almost every +night, the bell-rope, which communicated with a bell in the room above +his own, where his servant slept, was pulled violently, and with the +utmost agitation. No matter how fast the servant might hurry down, he +was almost always too late, and was pretty sure to find his master out +of bed, and often making his way in terror to some other part of the +house. The weakness of his feet exposed him to such dreadful falls on +these occasions, that at length (but with much difficulty) I persuaded +him to let his servant sleep in the same room with himself. + +The morbid affection of the stomach began now to be more and more +distressing; and he tried various applications, which he had formerly +been loud in condemning, such as a few drops of rum upon a piece of +sugar, naphtha, [Footnote: For Kant's particular complaint, as +described by other biographers, a quarter of a grain of opium, every +twelve hours, would have been the best remedy, perhaps a perfect +remedy.] &c. But all these were only palliatives; for his advanced age +precluded the hope of a radical cure. His dreadful dreams became +continually more appalling: single scenes, or passages in these dreams, +were sufficient to compose the whole course of mighty tragedies, the +impression from which was so profound as to stretch far into his waking +hours. Amongst other phantasmata more shocking and indescribable, his +dreams constantly represented to him the forms of murderers advancing +to his bedside; and so agitated was he by the awful trains of phantoms +that swept past him nightly, that in the first confusion of awaking he +generally mistook his servant, who was hastening to his assistance, for +a murderer. In the day-time we often conversed upon these shadowy +illusions; and Kant, with his usual spirit of stoical contempt for +nervous weakness of every sort, laughed at them; and, to fortify his +own resolution to contend against them, he wrote down in his +memorandum-book, 'There must be no yielding to panics of darkness.' At +my suggestion, however, he now burned a light in his chamber, so placed +as that the rays might be shaded from his face. At first he was very +averse to this, though gradually he became reconciled to it. But that +he could bear it at all, was to me an expression of the great +revolution accomplished by the terrific agency of his dreams. +Heretofore, darkness and utter silence were the two pillars on which +his sleep rested: no step must approach his room; and as to light, if +he saw but a moonbeam penetrating a crevice of the shutters, it made +him unhappy; and, in fact, the windows of his bed-chamber were +barricadoed night and day. But now darkness was a terror to him, and +silence an oppression. In addition to his lamp, therefore, he had now a +repeater in his room; the sound was at first too loud, but, after +muffling the hammer with cloth, both the ticking and the striking +became companionable sounds to him. + +At this time (spring of 1803) his appetite began to fail, which I +thought no good sign. Many persons insist that Kant was in the habit of +eating too much for health. [Footnote: Who these worthy people were +that criticised Kant's eating, is not mentioned. They could have had no +opportunity of exercising their abilities on this question, except as +hosts, guests, or fellow-guests; and in any of those characters, a +gentleman, one would suppose, must feel himself degraded by directing +his attention to a point of that nature. However, the merits of the +case stand thus between the parlies: Kant, it is agreed by all his +biographers, ate only once a day; for as to his breakfast, it was +nothing more than a very weak infusion of tea, (vide Jachmann's +Letters, p. 163,) with no bread, or eatable of any kind. Now, his +critics, by general confession, ate their way, from 'morn to dewy eve,' +through the following course of meals: 1. Breakfast early in the +morning; 2. Breakfast _ŕ la fourchette_ about ten, A.M.; 3. Dinner +at one or two; 4. Vesper Brod; 5. Abend Brod; all which does really +seem a very fair allowance for a man who means to lecture upon +abstinence at night. But I shall cut this matter short by stating one +plain fact; there were two things, and no more, for which Kant had an +inordinate craving during his whole life; these were tobacco and +coffee; and from both these he abstained almost altogether, merely +under a sense of duty, resting probably upon erroneous grounds. Of the +first he allowed himself a very small quantity, (and everybody knows +that temperance is a more difficult virtue than abstinence;) of the +other none at all, until the labors of his life were accomplished.] I, +however, cannot assent to this opinion; for he ate but once a day, and +drank no beer. Of this liquor, (I mean the strong black beer,) he was, +indeed, the most determined enemy. If ever a man died prematurely, Kant +would say--'He has been drinking beer, I presume.' Or, if another were +indisposed, you might be sure he would ask, 'But does he drink beer?' +And, according to the answer on this point, he regulated his +anticipations for the patient. Strong beer, in short, he uniformly +maintained to be a slow poison. Voltaire, by the way, had said to a +young physician who denounced coffee under the same bad name of a 'slow +poison,' 'You're right there, my friend, however; slow it is, and +horribly slow; for I have been drinking it these seventy years, and it +has not killed me yet;' but this was an answer which, in the case of +beer, Kant would not allow of. + +On the 22d of April, 1803, his birth-day, the last which he lived to +see, was celebrated in a full assembly of his friends. This festival he +had long looked forward to with great expectation, and delighted even +to hear the progress made in the preparations for it. But when the day +came, the over-excitement and tension of expectation seemed to have +defeated itself. He tried to appear happy; but the bustle of a numerous +company confounded and distressed him; and his spirits were manifestly +forced. He seemed first to revive to any real sense of pleasure at +night, when the company had departed, and he was undressing in his +study. He then talked with much pleasure about the presents which, as +usual, would be made to his servants on this occasion; for Kant was +never happy himself, unless he saw all around him happy. He was a great +maker of presents; but at the same time he had no toleration for the +studied theatrical effect, the accompaniment of formal congratulations, +and the sentimental pathos with which birth-day presents are made in +Germany. [Footnote: In this, as in many other things, the taste of Kant +was entirely English and Roman; as, on the other hand, some eminent +Englishmen, I am sorry to say, have, on this very point, shown the +effeminacy and _falsetto_ taste of the Germans. In particular, Mr. +Coleridge, describing, in The Friend, the custom amongst German +children of making presents to their parents on Christmas Eve, (a +custom which he unaccountably supposes to be peculiar to Ratzeburg,) +represents the mother as 'weeping aloud for joy'--the old idiot of a +father with 'tears running down his face,' &c. &c., and all for what? +For a snuff-box, a pencil-case, or some article of jewellery. Now, we +English agree with Kant on such maudlin display of stage +sentimentality, and are prone to suspect that papa's tears are the +product of rum-punch. Tenderness let us have by all means, and the +deepest you can imagine, but upon proportionate occasions, and with +causes fitted to justify it and sustain its dignity.] In all this, his +masculine taste gave him a sense of something fade and ludicrous. + +The summer of 1803 was now come, and, visiting Kant one day, I was +thunderstruck to hear him direct me, in the most serious tone, to +provide the funds necessary for an extensive foreign tour. I made no +opposition, but asked his reasons for such a plan; he alleged the +miserable sensations he had in his stomach, which were no longer +endurable. Knowing what power over Kant a quotation from a Roman poet +had always had, I simply replied--'Post equitem sedet atra cura,' and +for the present he said no more. But the touching and pathetic +earnestness with which he was continually ejaculating prayers for +warmer weather, made it doubtful to me whether his wishes on this point +ought not, partially at least, to be gratified; and I therefore +proposed to him a little excursion to the cottage we had visited the +year before. 'Anywhere,' said he, 'no matter whither, provided it be +far enough.' Towards the latter end of June, therefore, we executed +this scheme; on getting into the carriage, the order of the day with +Kant was, 'Distance, distance. Only let us go far enough,' said he: but +scarcely had we reached the city-gates before the journey seemed +already to have lasted too long. On reaching the cottage we found +coffee waiting for us; but he would scarcely allow himself time for +drinking it, before he ordered the carriage to the door; and the +journey back seemed insupportably long to him, though it was performed +in something less than twenty minutes. 'Is this never to have an end?' +was his continual exclamation; and great was his joy when he found +himself once more in his study, undressed, and in bed. And for this +night he slept in peace, and once again was liberated from the +persecution of dreams. + +Soon after he began again to talk of journeys, of travels in remote +countries, &c., and, in consequence, we repeated our former excursion +several times; and though the circumstances were pretty nearly the same +on every occasion, and always terminating in disappointment as to the +immediate pleasure anticipated, yet, undoubtedly, they were, on the +whole, salutary to his spirits. In particular, the cottage itself, +standing under the shelter of tall alders, with a valley stretched +beneath it, through which a little brook meandered, broken by a water- +fall, whose pealing sound dwelt pleasantly on the ear, sometimes, on a +quiet sunny day, gave a lively delight to Kant: and once, under +accidental circumstances of summer clouds and sun-lights, the little +pastoral landscape suddenly awakened a lively remembrance which had +been long laid asleep, of a heavenly summer morning in youth, which he +had passed in a bower upon the banks of a rivulet that ran through the +grounds of a dear and early friend, Gen. Von Lossow. The strength of +the impression was such, that he seemed actually to be living over that +morning again, thinking as he then thought, and conversing with those +that were no more. + +His very last excursion was in August of this year, (1803,) not to my +cottage, but to the garden of a friend. But on this day he manifested +great impatience. It had been arranged that he was to meet an old +friend at the gardens; and I, with two other gentlemen, attended him. +It happened that _out_ party arrived first; and such was Kant's +weakness, and total loss of power to estimate the duration of time, +that, after waiting a few moments, he insisted that some hours had +elapsed--that his friend could not be expected--and went away in great +discomposure of mind. And so ended Kant's travelling in this world. + +In the beginning of autumn the sight of his right eye began to fail +him; the left he had long lost the use of. This earliest of his losses, +by the way, he discovered by mere accident, and without any previous +warning. Sitting down one day to rest himself in the course of a walk, +it occurred to him that he would try the comparative strength of his +eyes; but on taking out a newspaper which he had in his pocket, he was +surprised to find that with his left eye he could not distinguish a +letter. In earlier life he had two remarkable affections of the eyes: +once, on returning from a walk, he saw objects double for a long space +of time; and twice he became stone-blind. Whether these accidents are +to be considered as uncommon, I leave to the decision of oculists. +Certain it is, they gave very little disturbance to Kant; who, until +old age had reduced his powers, lived in a constant state of stoical +preparation for the worst that could befall him. I was now shocked to +think of the degree in which his burthensome sense of dependence would +be aggravated, if he should totally lose the power of sight. As it was, +he read and wrote with great difficulty: in fact, his writing was +little better than that which most people can produce as a trial of +skill with their eyes shut. From old habits of solitary study, he had +no pleasure in hearing others read to him; and he daily distressed me +by the pathetic earnestness of his entreaties that I would have a +reading-glass devised for him. Whatever my own optical skill could +suggest, I tried; and the best opticians were sent for to bring their +glasses, and take his directions for altering them; but all was to no +purpose. + +In this last year of his life Kant very unwillingly received the visits +of strangers; and, unless under particular circumstances, wholly +declined them. Yet, when travellers had come a very great way out of +their road to see him, I confess that I was at a loss how to conduct +myself. To have refused too pertinaciously, could not but give me the +air of wishing to make myself of importance. And I must acknowledge, +that, amongst some instances of importunity and coarse expressions of +low-bred curiosity, I witnessed, on the part of many people of rank, a +most delicate sensibility to the condition of the aged recluse. On +sending in their cards, they would generally accompany them by some +message, expressive of their unwillingness to gratify their wish to see +him at any risk of distressing him. The fact was, that such visits +_did_ distress him much; for he felt it a degradation to be exhibited +in his helpless state, when he was aware of his own incapacity to meet +properly the attention that was paid to him. Some, however, were +admitted, [Footnote: To whom it appears that Kant would generally +reply, upon their expressing the pleasure it gave them to see him, +'In me you behold a poor superannuated, weak, old man.'] according +to the circumstances of the case, and the state of Kant's spirits at +the moment. Amongst these, I remember that we were particularly pleased +with M. Otto, the same who signed the treaty of peace between France +and England with the present Lord Liverpool, (then Lord Hawkesbury.) A +young Russian also rises to my recollection at this moment, from the +excessive (and I think unaffected) enthusiasm which he displayed. On +being introduced to Kant, he advanced hastily, took both his hands, and +kissed them. Kant, who, from living so much amongst his English +friends, had a good deal of the English dignified reserve about him, +and hated anything like _scenes_, appeared to shrink a little from +this mode of salutation, and was rather embarrassed. However, the young +man's manner, I believe, was not at all beyond his genuine feelings; +for next day he called again, made some inquiries about Kant's health, +was very anxious to know whether his old age were burthensome to him, +and above all things entreated for some little memorial of the great +man to carry away with him. By accident the servant had found a small +cancelled fragment of the original MS. of Kant's 'Anthropologie:' this, +with my sanction, he gave to the Russian; who received it with rapture, +kissed it, and then gave him in return the only dollar he had about +him; and, thinking that not enough, actually pulled off his coat and +waistcoat and forced them upon the man. Kant, whose native simplicity +of character very much indisposed him to sympathy with any +extravagances of feeling, could not, however, forbear smiling good- +humoredly on being made acquainted with this instance of _naďveté_ +and enthusiasm in his young admirer. + +I now come to an event in Kant's life, which ushered in its closing +stage. On the 8th of October, 1803, for the first time since his youth, +he was seriously ill. When a student at the University, he had once +suffered from an ague, which, however, gave way to pedestrian exercise; +and in later years, he had endured some pain from a contusion on his +head; but, with these two exceptions, (if they can be considered such,) +he had never (properly speaking) been ill. The cause of his illness was +this: his appetite had latterly been irregular, or rather I should say +depraved; and he no longer took pleasure in anything but bread and +butter, and English cheese.[Footnote: Mr. W. here falls into the +ordinary mistake of confounding the cause and the occasion, and would +leave the impression, that Kant (who from his youth up had been a model +of temperance) died of sensual indulgence. The cause of Kant's death +was clearly the general decay of the vital powers, and in particular +the atony of the digestive organs, which must soon have destroyed him +under any care or abstinence whatever. This was the cause. The +accidental occasion, which made that cause operative on the 7th of +October, might or might not be what Mr. W. says. But in Kant's +burthensome state of existence, it could not be a question of much +importance whether his illness were to commence in an October or a +November.] On the 7th of October, at dinner, he ate little else, in +spite of everything that I and another friend then dining with him, +could urge to dissuade him. And for the first time I fancied that he +seemed displeased with my importunity, as though I were overstepping +the just line of my duties. He insisted that the cheese never had done +him any harm, nor would now. I had no course left me but to hold my +tongue; and he did as he pleased. The consequence was what might have +been anticipated--a restless night, succeeded by a day of memorable +illness. The next morning all went on as usual, till nine o'clock, when +Kant, who was then leaning on his sister's arm, suddenly fell senseless +to the ground. A messenger was immediately despatched for me; and I +hurried down to his house, where I found him lying in his bed, which +had now been removed into his study, speechless and insensible. I had +already summoned his physician; but, before he arrived, nature put +forth efforts which brought Kant a little to himself. In about an hour +he opened his eyes, and continued to mutter unintelligibly till towards +the evening, when he rallied a little, and began to talk rationally. +For the first time in his life, he was now, for a few days, confined to +his bed, and ate nothing. On the 12th October, he again took some +refreshment, and would have had his favorite food; but I was now +resolved, at any risk of his displeasure, to oppose him firmly. I +therefore stated to him the whole consequences of his last indulgence, +of all which he manifestly had no recollection. He listened to what I +said very attentively, and calmly expressed his conviction that I was +perfectly in the wrong; but for the present he submitted. However, some +days after, I found that he had offered a florin for a little bread and +cheese, and then a dollar, and even more. Being again refused, he +complained heavily; but gradually he weaned himself from asking for it, +though at times he betrayed involuntarily how much he desired it. + +On the 13th of October, his usual dinner parties were resumed, and he +was considered convalescent; but it was seldom indeed that he recovered +the tone of tranquil spirits which he had preserved until his late +attack. Hitherto he had always loved to prolong this meal, the only one +he took--or, as he expressed it in classical phrase, 'coenam +_ducere_;' but now it was difficult to hurry it over fast enough +for his wishes. From dinner, which terminated about two o'clock, he +went straight to bed, and at intervals fell into slumbers; from which, +however, he was regularly awoke by phantasmata or terrific dreams. At +seven in the evening came on duly a period of great agitation, which +lasted till five or six in the morning--sometimes later; and he +continued through the night alternately to walk about and lie down, +occasionally tranquil, but more often in great distress. It now became +necessary that somebody should sit up with him, his man-servant being +wearied out with the toils of the day. No person seemed to be so proper +for this office as his sister, both as having long received a very +liberal pension from him, and also as his nearest relative, who would +be the best witness to the fact that her illustrious brother had wanted +no comforts or attention in his last hours, which his situation +admitted of. Accordingly she was applied to, and undertook to watch him +alternately with his footman--a separate table being kept for her, and +a very handsome addition made to her allowance. She turned out to be a +quiet gentle-minded woman, who raised no disturbances amongst the +servants, and soon won her brother's regard by the modest and retiring +style of her manners; I may add, also, by the truly sisterly affection +which she displayed towards him to the last. + +The 8th of October had grievously affected Kant's faculties, but had +not wholly destroyed them. For short intervals the clouds seemed to +roll away that had settled upon his majestic intellect, and it shone +forth as heretofore. During these moments of brief self-possession, his +wonted benignity returned to him; and he expressed his gratitude for +the exertions of those about him, and his sense of the trouble they +underwent, in a very affecting way. With regard to his man-servant in +particular, he was very anxious that he should be rewarded by liberal +presents; and he pressed me earnestly on no account to be parsimonious. +Indeed Kant was nothing less than princely in his use of money; and +there was no occasion on which he was known to express the passion of +scorn very powerfully, but when he was commenting on mean and penurious +acts or habits. Those who knew him only in the streets, fancied that he +was not liberal; for he steadily refused, upon principle, to relieve +all common beggars. But, on the other hand, he was liberal to the +public charitable institutions; he secretly assisted his own poor +relations in a much ampler way than could reasonably have been expected +of him; and it now appeared that he had many other deserving pensioners +upon his bounty; a fact that was utterly unknown to any of us, until +his increasing blindness and other infirmities devolved the duty of +paying these pensions upon myself. It must be recollected, also, that +Kant's whole fortune, which amounted to about twenty thousand dollars, +was the product of his own honorable toils for nearly threescore years; +and that he had himself suffered all the hardships of poverty in his +youth, though he never once ran into any man's debt,--circumstances in +his history, which, as they express how fully he must have been +acquainted with the value of money, greatly enhance the merit of his +munificence. + +In December, 1803, he became incapable of signing his name. His sight, +indeed, had for some time failed him so much, that at dinner he could +not find his spoon without assistance; and, when I happened to dine +with him, I first cut in pieces whatever was on his plate, next put it +into a spoon, and then guided his hand to find the spoon. But his +inability to sign his name did not arise merely from blindness: the +fact was, that, from irretention of memory, he could not recollect the +letters which composed his name; and, when they were repeated to him, +he could not represent the figure of the letters in his imagination. At +the latter end of November, I had remarked that these incapacities were +rapidly growing upon him, and in consequence I prevailed on him to sign +beforehand all the receipts, &c., which would be wanted at the end of +the year; and, afterwards, on my representation, to prevent all +disputes, he gave me a regular legal power to sign on his behalf. + +Much as Kant was now reduced, yet he had occasionally moods of social +hilarity. His birth-day was always an agreeable subject to him: some +weeks before his death, I was calculating the time which it still +wanted of that anniversary, and cheering him with the prospect of the +rejoicings which would then take place: 'All your old friends,' said I, +'will meet together, and drink a glass of champagne to your health.' +'That,' said he, 'must be done upon the spot:' and he was not satisfied +till the party was actually assembled. He drank a glass of wine with +them, and with great elevation of spirits celebrated this birth-day +which he was destined never to see. + +In the latter weeks of his life, however, a great change took place in +the tone of his spirits. At his dinner-table, where heretofore such a +cloudless spirit of joviality had reigned, there was now a melancholy +silence. It disturbed him to see his two dinner companions conversing +privately together, whilst he himself sat like a mute on the stage with +no part to perform. Yet to have engaged him in the conversation would +have been still more distressing; for his hearing was now very +imperfect; the effort to hear was itself painful to him; and his +expressions, even when his thoughts were accurate enough, became nearly +unintelligible. It is remarkable, however, that at the very lowest +point of his depression, when he became perfectly incapable of +conversing with any rational meaning on the ordinary affairs of life, +he was still able to answer correctly and distinctly, in a degree that +was perfectly astonishing, upon any question of philosophy or of +science, especially of physical geography, [Footnote: _Physical_ +Geography, in opposition to _Political_.] chemistry, or natural +history. He talked satisfactorily, in his very worst state, of the +gases, and stated very accurately different propositions of Kepler's, +especially the law of the planetary motions. And I remember in +particular, that upon the very last Monday of his life, when the +extremity of his weakness moved a circle of his friends to tears, and +he sat amongst us insensible to all we could say to him, cowering down, +or rather I might say collapsing into a shapeless heap upon his chair, +deaf, blind, torpid, motionless,--even then I whispered to the others +that I would engage that Kant should take his part in conversation with +propriety and animation. This they found it difficult to believe. Upon +which I drew close to his ear, and put a question to him about the +Moors of Barbary. To the surprise of everybody but myself, he +immediately gave us a summary account of their habits and customs; and +told us by the way, that in the word _Algiers_, the _g_ ought to be +pronounced hard (as in the English word _gear_). + +During the last fortnight of Kant's life, he busied himself unceasingly +in a way that seemed not merely purposeless but self-contradictory. +Twenty times in a minute he would unloose and tie his neck +handkerchief--so also with a sort of belt which he wore about his +dressing-gown, the moment it was clasped, he unclasped it with +impatience, and was then equally impatient to have it clasped again. +But no description can convey an adequate impression of the weary +restlessness with which from morning to night he pursued these labors +of Sisyphus--doing and undoing--fretting that he could not do it, +fretting that he had done it. + +By this time he seldom knew any of us who were about him, but took us +all for strangers. This happened first with his sister, then with me, +and finally with his servant. Such an alienation distressed me more +than any other instance of his decay: though I knew that he had not +really withdrawn his affection from me, yet his air and mode of +addressing me gave me constantly that feeling. So much the more +affecting was it, when the sanity of his perceptions and his +remembrances returned; but these intervals were of slower and slower +occurrence. In this condition, silent or babbling childishly, self- +involved and torpidly abstracted, or else busy with self-created +phantoms and delusions, what a contrast did he offer to _that_ +Kant who had once been the brilliant centre of the most brilliant +circles for rank, wit, or knowledge, that Prussia afforded! A +distinguished person from Berlin, who had called upon him during the +preceding summer, was greatly shocked at his appearance, and said, +'This is not Kant that I have seen, but the shell of Kant!' How much +more would he have said this, if he had seen him now! + +Now came February, 1804, which was the last month that Kant was +destined to see. It is remarkable that, in the memorandum book which I +have before mentioned, I found a fragment of an old song, (inserted by +Kant, and dated in the summer about six months before the time of his +death,) which expressed that February was the month in which people had +the least weight to carry, for the obvious reason that it was shorter +by two and by three days than the others; and the concluding sentiment +was in a tone of fanciful pathos to this effect--'Oh, happy February! +in which man has least to bear--least pain, least sorrow, least self- +reproach!' Even of this short month, however, Kant had not twelve +entire days to bear; for it was on the 12th that he died; and in fact +he may be said to have been dying from the 1st. He now barely +vegetated; though there were still transitory gleams flashing by fits +from the embers of his ancient intellect. + +On the 3d of February the springs of life seemed to be ceasing from +their play, for, from this day, strictly speaking, he ate nothing more. +His existence henceforward seemed to be the mere prolongation of an +impetus derived from an eighty years' life, after the moving power of +the mechanism was withdrawn. His physician visited him every day at a +particular hour; and it was settled that I should always be there to +meet him. Nine days before his death, on paying his usual visit, the +following little circumstance occurred, which affected us both, by +recalling forcibly to our minds the ineradicable courtesy and goodness +of Kant's nature. When the physician was announced, I went up to Kant +and said to him, 'Here is Dr. A----.' Kant rose from his chair, and, +offering his hand to the Doctor, murmured something in which the word +'posts' was frequently repeated, but with an air as though he wished to +be helped out with the rest of the sentence. Dr. A----, who thought +that, by _posts_, he meant the stations for relays of post-horses, and +therefore that his mind was wandering, replied that all the horses were +engaged, and begged him to compose himself. But Kant went on, with +great effort to himself, and added--'Many posts, heavy posts--then much +goodness--then much gratitude.' All this he said with apparent +incoherence, but with great warmth, and increasing self-possession. I +meantime perfectly divined what it was that Kant, under his cloud of +imbecility, wished to say, and I interpreted accordingly. 'What the +Professor wishes to say, Dr. A----, is this, that, considering the many +and weighty offices which you fill in the city and in the university, +it argues great goodness on your part to give up so much of your time +to him,' (for Dr. A---- would never take any fees from Kant;) 'and that +he has the deepest sense of this goodness.' 'Right,' said Kant, +earnestly, 'right!' But he still continued to stand, and was nearly +sinking to the ground. Upon which I remarked to the physician, that I +was so well acquainted with Kant, that I was satisfied he would not sit +down, however much he suffered from standing, until he knew that his +visitors were seated. The Doctor seemed to doubt this--but Kant, who +heard what I said, by a prodigious effort confirmed my construction of +his conduct, and spoke distinctly these words--'God forbid I should be +sunk so low as to forget the offices of humanity.' + +When dinner was announced, Dr. A---- took his leave. Another guest had +now arrived, and I was in hopes, from the animation which Kant had so +recently displayed, that we should to-day have a pleasant party, but my +hopes were vain--Kant was more than usually exhausted, and though he +raised a spoon to his mouth, he swallowed nothing. For some time +everything had been tasteless to him; and I had endeavored, but with +little success, to stimulate the organs of taste by nutmeg, cinnamon, +&c. To-day all failed, and I could not even prevail upon him to taste a +biscuit, rusk, or anything of that sort. I had once heard him say that +several of his friends, who had died of _marasmus_, had closed +their illness by four or five days of entire freedom from pain, but +totally without appetite, and then slumbered tranquilly away. Through +this state I apprehended that he was himself now passing. + +Saturday, the 4th of February, I heard his guests loudly expressing +their fears that they should never meet him again; and I could not but +share these fears myself. However, on + +Sunday, the 5th, I dined at his table in company with his particular +friend Mr. R. R. V. Kant was still present, but so weak that his head +drooped upon his knees, and he sank down against the right side of the +chair. I went and arranged his pillows so as to raise and support his +head; and, having done this, I said--'Now, my dear Sir, you are again +in right order.' Great was our astonishment when he answered clearly +and audibly in the Roman military phrase--'Yes, _testudine et +facie;_' and immediately after added, 'Ready for the enemy, and in +battle array.' His powers of mind were (if I may be allowed that +expression) smouldering away in their ashes; but every now and then +some lambent flame, or grand emanation of light, shot forth to make it +evident that the ancient fire still slumbered below. + +Monday, the 6th, he was much weaker and more torpid: he spoke not a +word, except on the occasion of my question about the Moors, as +previously stated, and sate with sightless eyes, lost in himself, and +manifesting no sense of our presence, so that we had the feeling of +some mighty shade or phantom from some forgotten century being seated +amongst us. + +About this time, Kant had become much more tranquil and composed. In +the earlier periods of his illness, when his yet unbroken strength was +brought into active contest with the first attacks of decay, he was apt +to be peevish, and sometimes spoke roughly or even harshly to his +servants. This, though very opposite to his natural disposition, was +altogether excusable under the circumstances. He could not make himself +understood: things were therefore brought to him continually which he +had not asked for; and often it happened that what he really wanted he +could not obtain, because all his efforts to name it were +unintelligible. A violent nervous irritation, besides, affected him +from the unsettling of the equilibrium in the different functions of +his nature; weakness in one organ being made more palpable to him by +disproportionate strength in another. But now the strife was over; the +whole system was at length undermined, and in rapid and harmonious +progress to dissolution. And from this time forward, no movement of +impatience, or expression of fretfulness, ever escaped him. + +I now visited him three times a-day; and on + +Tuesday, Feb. 7th, going about dinner-time, I found the usual party of +friends sitting down alone; for Kant was in bed. This was a new scene +in his house, and increased our fears that his end was now at hand. +However, having seen him rally so often, I would not run the risk of +leaving him without a dinner-party for the next day; and accordingly, +at the customary hour of one, we assembled in his house on + +Wednesday, Feb. 8th. I paid my respects to him as cheerfully as +possible, and ordered dinner to be served up. Kant sat at the table +with us; and, taking a spoon with a little soup in it, put it to his +lips; but immediately put it down again, and retired to bed, from which +he never rose again, except during the few minutes when it was re- +arranged. + +Thursday, the 9th, he had sunk into the weakness of a dying person, and +the corpse-like appearance had already taken possession of him. I +visited him frequently through the day; and, going at ten o'clock at +night, I found him in a state of insensibility. I could not draw any +sign from him that he knew me, and I left him to the care of his sister +and his servant. + +Friday, the 10th, I went to see him at six o'clock in the morning. It +was very stormy, and a deep snow had fallen in the night-time. And, by +the way, I remember that a gang of house-breakers had forced their way +through the premises in order to reach Kant's next neighbor, who was a +goldsmith. As I drew near to his bed-side, I said, 'Good morning.' He +returned my salutation by saying, 'Good morning,' but in so feeble and +faltering a voice that it was hardly articulate. I was rejoiced to find +him sensible, and I asked him if he knew me:--'Yes,' he replied; and, +stretching out his hand, touched me gently upon the cheek. Through the +rest of the day, whenever I visited him, he seemed to have relapsed +into a state of insensibility. + +Saturday, the 11th, he lay with fixed and rayless eyes; but to all +appearance in perfect peace. I asked him again, on this day, if he knew +me. He was speechless, but he turned his face towards me and made signs +that I should kiss him. Deep emotion thrilled me, as I stooped down to +kiss his pallid lips; for I knew that in this solemn act of tenderness +he meant to express his thankfulness for our long friendship, and to +signify his affection and his last farewell. I had never seen him +confer this mark of his love upon anybody, except once, and that was a +few weeks before his death, when he drew his sister to him and kissed +her. The kiss which he now gave to me was the last memorial that he +knew me. + +Whatever fluid was now offered to him passed the oesophagus with a +rattling sound, as often happens with dying people; and there were all +the signs of death being close at hand. + +I wished to stay with him till all was over; and as I had been witness +of his life, to be witness also of his departure; and therefore I never +quitted him except when I was called off for a few minutes to attend +some private business. The whole of this night I spent at his bed-side. +Though he had passed the day in a state of insensibility, yet in the +evening he made intelligible signs that he wished to have his bed put +in order; he was therefore lifted out in our arms, and the bed-clothes +and pillows being hastily arranged, he was carried back again. He did +not sleep; and a spoonful of liquid, which was sometimes put to his +lips, he usually pushed aside; but about one o'clock in the night he +himself made a motion towards the spoon, from which I collected that he +was thirsty; and I gave him a small quantity of wine and water +sweetened; but the muscles of his mouth had not strength enough to +retain it, so that to prevent its flowing back he raised his hand to +his lips, until with a rattling sound it was swallowed. He seemed to +wish for more; and I continued to give him more, until he said, in a +way that I was just able to understand,--'It is enough.' And these were +his last words. At intervals he pushed away the bed-clothes, and +exposed his person; I constantly restored the clothes to their +situation, and on one of these occasions I found that the whole body +and extremities were already growing cold, and the pulse intermitting. + +At a quarter after three o'clock on Sunday morning, February 12, Kant +stretched himself out as if taking a position for his final act, and +settled into the precise posture which he preserved to the moment of +death. The pulse was now no longer perceptible to the touch in his +hands, feet or neck. I tried every part where a pulse beats, and found +none anywhere but in the left hip, where it beat with violence, but +often intermitted. + +About ten o'clock in the forenoon he suffered a remarkable change; his +eye was rigid and his face and lips became discolored by a cadaverous +pallor. Still, such was the effect of his previous habits, that no +trace appeared of the cold sweat which naturally accompanies the last +mortal agony. + +It was near eleven o'clock when the moment of dissolution approached. +His sister was standing at the foot of the bed, his sister's son at the +head. I, for the purpose of still observing the fluctuations of the +pulse in his hip, was kneeling at the bed-side; and I called his +servant to come and witness the death of his good master. Now began the +last agony, if to him it could be called an agony, where there seemed +to be no struggle. And precisely at this moment, his distinguished +friend, Mr. R. R. V., whom I had summoned by a messenger, entered the +room. First of all, the breath grew feebler; then it missed its +regularity of return; then it wholly intermitted, and the upper lip was +slightly convulsed; after this there followed one slight respiration or +sigh; and after that no more; but the pulse still beat for a few +seconds--slower and fainter, till it ceased altogether; the mechanism +stopped; the last motion was at an end; and exactly at that moment the +clock struck eleven. + +Soon after his death the head of Kant was shaved; and, under the +direction of Professor Knorr, a plaster cast was taken, not a masque +merely, but a cast of the whole bead, designed (I believe) to enrich +the craniological collection of Dr. Gall. + +The corpse being laid out and properly attired, immense numbers of +people of every rank, from the highest to the lowest, flocked to see +it. Everybody was anxious to make use of the last opportunity he would +have for entitling himself to say--'I too have seen Kant.' This went on +for many days--during which, from morning to night, the house was +thronged with the public. Great was the astonishment of all people at +the meagreness of Kant's appearance; and it was universally agreed that +a corpse so wasted and fleshless had never been beheld. His head rested +upon the same cushion on which once the gentlemen of the university had +presented an address to him; and I thought that I could not apply it to +a more honorable purpose than by placing it in the coffin, as the final +pillow of that immortal head. + +Upon the style and mode of his funeral, Kant had expressed his wishes +in earlier years in a separate memorandum. He there desired that it +should take place early in the morning, with as little noise and +disturbance as possible, and attended only by a few of his most +intimate friends. Happening to meet with this memorandum, whilst I was +engaged at his request in arranging his papers, I very frankly gave him +my opinion, that such an injunction would lay me, as the executor of +his will, under great embarrassments; for that circumstances might very +probably arise under which it would be next to impossible to carry it +into effect. Upon this Kant tore the paper, and left the whole to my +own discretion. The fact was, I foresaw that the students of the +University would never allow themselves to be robbed of this occasion +for expressing their veneration by a public funeral. The event showed +that I was right; for a funeral such as Kant's, one so solemn and so +magnificent, the city of Königsberg has never witnessed before or +since. The public journals, and separate accounts in pamphlets, etc., +have given so minute an account of its details, that I shall here +notice only the heads of the ceremony. + +On the 28th of February, at two o'clock in the afternoon, all the +dignitaries of church and state, not only those resident in Königsberg, +but from the remotest parts of Prussia, assembled in the church of the +Castle. Hence they were escorted by the whole body of the University, +splendidly dressed for the occasion, and by many military officers of +rank, with whom Kant had always been a great favorite, to the house of +the deceased Professor; from which the corpse was carried by torch- +light, the bells of every church in Königsberg tolling, to the +Cathedral which was lit up by innumerable wax-lights. A never-ending +train of many thousand persons followed it on foot. In the Cathedral, +after the usual burial rites, accompanied with every possible +expression of national veneration to the deceased, there was a grand +musical service, most admirably performed, at the close of which Kant's +mortal remains were lowered into the academic vault, where he now rests +among the ancient patriarchs of the University. PEACE BE TO HIS DUST, +AND EVERLASTING HONOR! + + + + +END OF VOLUME II + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative And Miscellaneous Papers, +by Thomas De Quincey + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE QUINCY'S PAPERS *** + +This file should be named 8qncc10.txt or 8qncc10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8qncc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8qncc10a.txt + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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