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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/6931-8.txt b/6931-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7987ca --- /dev/null +++ b/6931-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13035 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2 +by Harriet Beecher Stowe +(#4 in our series by Harriet Beecher Stowe) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. 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: Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands V2 + +Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6931] +[This file was first posted on February 12, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO Latin-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN LANDS V2 *** + + + + +Skip Doughty, Tiffany Vergon, Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed + + + +SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN LANDS. + +BY MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, +Author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Etc. + + + ..... "When thou haply seest + Some rare note-worthy object in thy travels, + Make me partake of thy happiness." + SHAKESPEARE + + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. II. + + + + +CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + +LETTER XIX. +Breakfast.--Macaulay.--Hallam.--Milman.--Sir R. Inglis.-- +Lunch at Surrey Parsonage.--Dinner at Sir E. Buxton's. + +LETTER XX. +Dinner at Lord Shaftesbury's. + +LETTER XXI. +Stoke Newington.--Exeter Hall.--Antislavery Meeting. + +LETTER XXII. +Windsor.--The Picture Gallery.--Eton.--The Poet Gray. + +LETTER XXIII. Rev. Mr. Gurney.--Richmond, the Artist.--Kossuth.-- +Pembroke Lodge.--Dinner at Lord John Russell's.--Lambeth Palace. + +LETTER XXIV. +Playford Hall.--Clarkson. + +LETTER XXV. +Joseph Sturge.--The "Times" upon Dressmaking.--Duke of Argyle.-- +Sir David Brewster.--Lord Mahon.--Mr. Gladstone. + +LETTER XXVI. +London Milliners.--Lord Shaftesbury. + +LETTER XXVII. Archbishop of Canterbury's Sermon to the Ragged +Scholars.--Mr. Cobden.--Miss Greenfield's Concert.--Rev. S. R. Ward. +--Lady Byron.--Mrs. Jameson.--George Thompson.--Ellen Crafts. + +LETTER XXVIII. +Model Lodging Houses.--Lodging House Act.--Washing Houses. + +LETTER XXIX. Benevolent Movements.--The Poor Laws.--The Insane.-- +Factory Operatives.--Schools, &c. + +LETTER XXX. Presentation at Surrey Chapel.--House of Parliament.-- +Miss Greenfield's Second Concert.--Sir John Malcolm.--The Charity +Children.--Mrs. Gaskell.--Thackeray. + +JOURNAL. +London to Paris.--Church Music.--The Shops.--The Louvre.--Music at +the Tuileries.--A Salon.--Versailles.--M. Belloc. + +LETTER XXXI. +The Louvre.--The Venus de Milon. + +JOURNAL. +M. Belloc's Studio.--M. Charpentier.--Salon Musicale.--Peter +Parley.--Jardin Mabille.--Remains of Nineveh.--The Emperor.-- +Versailles.--Sartory.--Père la Chaise.--Adolphe Monod.--Paris to +Lyons.--Diligence to Geneva.--Mont Blanc.--Lake Leman. + +LETTER XXXII. +Route to Chamouni.--Glaciers. + +LETTER XXXIII. +Chamouni.--Rousse, the Mule.--The Ascent. + +JOURNAL. +The Alps. + +LETTER XXXIV. +The Ice Fields. + +JOURNAL. +Chamouni to Martigny.--Humors of the Mules. + +LETTER XXXV. +Alpine Flowers.--Pass of the Tête Noir. + +JOURNAL. +The Same. + +LETTER XXXVI. +Ascent to St. Bernard.--The Dogs. + +LETTER XXXVII. +Castle Chillon.--Bonnevard.--Mont Blanc from Geneva.--Luther and +Calvin.--Madame De Wette.--M. Fazy. + +JOURNAL. +A Serenade.--Lausanne.--Freyburg.--Berne.--The Staubbach.-- +Grindelwald. + +LETTER XXXVIII. +Wengern Alps.--Flowers.--Glaciers.--The Eiger. + +JOURNAL. +Glaciers.--Interlachen.--Sunrise in the Mountains.--Monument to the +Swiss Guards of Louis XVI.--Basle.--Strasbourg. + +LETTER XXXIX. +Strasbourg. + +LETTER XL. +The Rhine.--Heidelberg. + +JOURNAL. +To Frankfort. + +LETTER XLI. +Frankfort.--Lessing's "Trial of Huss." + +JOURNAL. +To Cologne.--The Cathedral. + +LETTER XXII. +Cologne.--Church of St. Ursula.--Relics.--Dusseldorf. + +JOURNAL. +To Leipsic.--M. Tauchnitz.--Dresden.--The Gallery.--Berlin. + +LETTER XLIII. +The Dresden Gallery.--Schoeffer. + +LETTER XLIV. +Berlin.--The Palace.--The Museum. + +LETTER XLV. +Wittenberg.--Luther's House.--Melanchthon's House. + +LETTER XLVI. +Erfurt.--The Cathedral.--Luther's Cell.--The Wartburg. + +JOURNAL. +The Smoker discomfited.--Antwerp.--The Cathedral Chimes.--To Paris. + +LETTER XLVII. +Antwerp.--Rubens. + +LETTER XLVIII. + +Paris.--School of Design.--Egyptian and Assyrian Remains.--Mrs. S. C. +Hall.--The Pantheon.--The Madeleine.--Notre Dame.--Béranger.--French +Character.--Observance of Sunday. + +JOURNAL. +Seasickness on the Channel. + +LETTER XLIX. + +York.--Castle Howard.--Leeds.--Fountains Abbey.--Liverpool.--Irish +Deputation.--Departure. + + + + +LETTER XIX. + +May 19. + +Dear E.:-- + +This letter I consecrate to you, because I know that the persons and +things to be introduced into it will most particularly be appreciated +by you. + +In your evening reading circles, Macaulay, Sidney Smith, and Milman +have long been such familiar names that you will be glad to go with me +over all the scenes of my morning breakfast at Sir Charles Trevelyan's +yesterday. Lady Trevelyan, I believe I have said before, is the sister +of Macaulay, and a daughter of Zachary Macaulay--that undaunted +laborer for the slave, whose place in the hearts of all English +Christians is little below saintship. + +We were set down at Welbourne Terrace, somewhere, I believe, about +eleven o'clock, and found quite a number already in the drawing room. +I had met Macaulay before, but as you have not, you will of course ask +a lady's first question, "How does he look?" + +Well, my dear, so far as relates to the mere outward husk of the soul, +our engravers and daguerreotypists have done their work as well as +they usually do. The engraving that you get in the best editions of +his works may be considered, I suppose, a fair representation of how +he looks, when he sits to have his picture taken, which is generally +very different from the way any body looks at any other time. People +seem to forget, in taking likenesses, that the features of the face +are nothing but an alphabet, and that a dry, dead map of a person's +face gives no more idea how one looks than the simple presentation of +an alphabet shows what there is in a poem. + +Macaulay's whole physique gives you the impression of great strength +and stamina of constitution. He has the kind of frame which we usually +imagine as peculiarly English; short, stout, and firmly knit. There is +something hearty in all his demonstrations. He speaks in that full, +round, rolling voice, deep from the chest, which we also conceive of +as being more common in England than America. As to his conversation, +it is just like his writing; that is to say, it shows very strongly +the same qualities of mind. + +I was informed that he is famous for a most uncommon memory; one of +those men to whom it seems impossible to forget any thing once read; +and he has read all sorts of things that can be thought of, in all +languages. A gentleman told me that he could repeat all the old +Newgate literature, hanging ballads, last speeches, and dying +confessions; while his knowledge of Milton is so accurate, that, if +his poems were blotted out of existence, they might be restored simply +from his memory. This same accurate knowledge extends to the Latin and +Greek classics, and to much of the literature of modern Europe. Had +nature been required to make a man to order, for a perfect historian, +nothing better could have been put together, especially since there is +enough of the poetic fire included in the composition, to fuse all +these multiplied materials together, and color the historical +crystallization with them. + +Macaulay is about fifty. He has never married; yet there are +unmistakable evidences in the breathings and aspects of the family +circle by whom he was surrounded, that the social part is not wanting +in his conformation. Some very charming young lady relatives seemed to +think quite as much of their gifted uncle as you might have done had +he been yours. + +Macaulay is celebrated as a conversationalist; and, like Coleridge, +Carlyle, and almost every one who enjoys this reputation, he has +sometimes been accused of not allowing people their fair share in +conversation. This might prove an objection, possibly, to those who +wish to talk; but as I greatly prefer to hear, it would prove none to +me. I must say, however, that on this occasion the matter was quite +equitably managed. There were, I should think, some twenty or thirty +at the breakfast table, and the conversation formed itself into little +eddies of two or three around the table, now and then welling out into +a great bay of general discourse. I was seated between Macaulay and +Milman, and must confess I was a little embarrassed at times, because +I wanted to hear what they were both saying at the same time. However, +by the use of the faculty by which you play a piano with both hands, I +got on very comfortably. + +Milman's appearance is quite striking; tall, stooping, with a keen +black eye and perfectly white hair--a singular and poetic contrast. He +began upon architecture and Westminster Abbey--a subject to which I am +always awake. I told him I had not yet seen Westminster; for I was now +busy in seeing life and the present, and by and by I meant to go there +and see death and the past. + +Milman was for many years dean of Westminster, and kindly offered me +his services, to indoctrinate me into its antiquities. + +Macaulay made some suggestive remarks on cathedrals generally. I said +that I thought it singular that we so seldom knew who were the +architects that designed these great buildings; that they appeared to +me the most sublime efforts of human genius. + +He said that all the cathedrals of Europe were undoubtedly the result +of one or two minds; that they rose into existence very nearly +contemporaneously, and were built by travelling companies of masons, +under the direction of some systematic organization. Perhaps you knew +all this before, but I did not; and so it struck me as a glorious +idea. And if it is not the true account of the origin of cathedrals, +it certainly ought to be; and, as our old grandmother used to say, +"I'm going to believe it." + +Looking around the table, and seeing how every body seemed to be +enjoying themselves, I said to Macaulay, that these breakfast parties +were a novelty to me; that we never had them in America, but that I +thought them the most delightful form of social life. + +He seized upon the idea, as he often does, and turned it playfully +inside out, and shook it on all sides, just as one might play with the +lustres of a chandelier--to see them glitter. He expatiated on the +merits of breakfast parties as compared with all other parties. He +said dinner parties are mere formalities. You invite a man to dinner +because you _must_ invite him; because you are acquainted with +his grandfather, or it is proper you should; but you invite a man to +breakfast because you want to see _him_. You may be sure, if you +are invited to breakfast, there is something agreeable about you. This +idea struck me as very sensible; and we all, generally having the fact +before our eyes that _we_ were invited to breakfast, approved the +sentiment. + +"Yes," said Macaulay, "depend upon it; if a man is a bore he never +gets an invitation to breakfast." + +"Rather hard on the poor bores," said a lady. + +"Particularly," said Macaulay, laughing, "as bores are usually the +most irreproachable of human beings. Did you ever hear a bore +complained of when they did not say that he was the best fellow in the +world? For my part, if I wanted to get a guardian for a family of +defenceless orphans, I should inquire for the greatest bore in the +vicinity. I should know that he would be a man of unblemished honor +and integrity." + +The conversation now went on to Milton and Shakspeare. Macaulay made +one remark that gentlemen are always making, and that is, that there +is very little characteristic difference between Shakspeare's women. +Well, there is no hope for that matter; so long as men are not women +they will think so. In general they lump together Miranda, Juliet, +Desdemona, and Viola, + + "As matter too soft a lasting mark to bear, + And best distinguished as black, brown, or fair." + +It took Mrs. Jameson to set this matter forth in her Characteristics +of Women; a book for which Shakspeare, if he could get up, ought to +make her his best bow, especially as there are fine things ascribed to +him there, which, I dare say, he never thought of, careless fellow +that he was! But, I take it, every true painter, poet, and artist is +in some sense so far a prophet that his utterances convey more to +other minds than he himself knows; so that, doubtless, should all the +old masters rise from the dead, they might be edified by what +posterity has found in their works. + +Some how or other, we found ourselves next talking about Sidney Smith; +and it was very pleasant to me, recalling the evenings when your +father has read and we have laughed over him, to hear him spoken of as +a living existence, by one who had known him. Still, I have always had +a quarrel with Sidney, for the wicked use to which he put his wit, in +abusing good old Dr. Carey, and the missionaries in India; nay, in +some places he even stooped to be spiteful and vulgar. I could not +help, therefore, saying, when Macaulay observed that he had the most +agreeable wit of any literary man of his acquaintance, "Well, it was +very agreeable, but it could not have been very agreeable to the +people who came under the edge of it," and instanced his treatment of +Dr. Carey. Some others who were present seemed to feel warmly on this +subject, too, and Macaulay said,-- + +"Ah, well, Sidney repented of that, afterwards." He seemed to cling to +his memory, and to turn from every fault to his joviality, as a thing +he could not enough delight to remember. + +Truly, wit, like charity, covers a multitude of sins. A man who has +the faculty of raising a laugh in this sad, earnest world is +remembered with indulgence and complacency, always. + +There were several other persons of note present at this breakfast, +whose conversation I had not an opportunity of hearing, as they sat at +a distance from me. There was Lord Glenelg, brother of Sir Robert +Grant, governor of Bombay, whose beautiful hymns have rendered him +familiar in America. The favorite one, commencing "When gathering +clouds around I view," was from his pen. Lord Glenelg, formerly Sir +Charles Grant, himself has been the author of several pieces of +poetry, which were in their time quite popular. + +The historian Hallam was also present, whose Constitutional History, +you will remember, gave rise to one of Macaulay's finest reviews; a +quiet, retiring man, with a benignant, somewhat sad, expression of +countenance. The loss of an only son has cast a shadow over his life. +It was on this son that Tennyson wrote his "_In Memoriam_." + +Sir Robert H. Inglis was also present, and Mr. S. held considerable +conversation with him. Knowing that he was both high tory and high +church, it was an agreeable surprise to find him particularly gentle +and bland in manners, earnest and devout in religious sentiment. I +have heard him spoken of, even among dissenters, as a devout and +earnest man. Another proof this of what mistakes we fall into when we +judge the characters of persons at a distance, from what we suppose +likely to be the effect of their sentiments. We often find the +professed aristocrat gentle and condescending, and the professed +supporter of forms spiritual. + +I think it very likely there may have been other celebrities present, +whom I did not know. I am always finding out, a day or two after, that +I have been with somebody very remarkable, and did not know it at the +time. + +After breakfast we found, on consulting our list, that we were to +lunch at Surrey parsonage. + +Of all the cities I was ever in, London is the most absolutely +unmanageable, it takes so long to get any where; wherever you want to +go it seems to take you about two hours to get there. From the West +End down into the city is a distance that seems all but interminable. +London is now more than ten miles long. And yet this monster city is +stretching in all directions yearly, and where will be the end of it +nobody knows. Southey says, "I began to study the map of London, +though dismayed at its prodigious extent. The river is no assistance +to a stranger in finding his way; there is no street along its banks, +and no eminence from whence you can look around and take your +bearings." + +You may take these reflections as passing through my mind while we +were driving through street after street, and going round corner after +corner, towards the parsonage. + +Surrey Chapel and parsonage were the church and residence of the +celebrated Kowland Hill. At present the incumbent is the Rev. Mr. +Sherman, well known to many of our American clergy by the kind +hospitalities and attentions with which he has enriched their stay in +London. The church maintains a medium rank between Congregationalism +and Episcopacy, retaining part of the ritual, but being independent in +its government. The kindness of Mr. Sherman had assembled here a very +agreeable company, among whom were Farquhar Tupper, the artist +Cruikshank, from whom I received a call the other morning, and Mr. +Pilatte, M. P. Cruikshank is an old man with gray hair and eyebrows, +strongly marked features, and keen eyes. He talked to me something +about the promotion of temperance by a series of literary sketches +illustrated by his pencil. + +I sat by a lady who was well acquainted with Kingsley, the author of +Alton Locke, Hypatia, and other works, with whom I had some +conversation with regard to the influence of his writings. + +She said that he had been instrumental in rescuing from infidelity +many young men whose minds had become unsettled; that he was a devoted +and laborious clergyman, exerting himself, without any cessation, for +the good of his parish. + +After the company were gone I tried to get some rest, as my labors +were not yet over, we being engaged to dine at Sir Edward Buxton's. +This was our most dissipated day in London. We never tried the +experiment again of going to three parties in one day. + +By the time I got to my third appointment I was entirely exhausted. I +met here some, however, whom I was exceedingly interested to see; +among them Samuel Gurney, brother of Elizabeth Fry, with his wife and +family. Lady Edward Buxton is one of his daughters. All had that air +of benevolent friendliness which is characteristic of the sect. + +Dr. Lushington, the companion and venerable associate of Wilberforce +and Clarkson, was also present. He was a member of Parliament with +Wilberforce forty or fifty years ago. He is now a judge of the +admiralty court, that is to say, of the law relating to marine +affairs. This is a branch of law which the nature of our government in +America makes it impossible for us to have. He is exceedingly +brilliant and animated in conversation. + +Dr. Cunningham, the author of World without Souls, was present. There +was there also a master of Harrow School. + +He told me an anecdote, which pleased me for several reasons; that +once, when the queen visited the school, she put to him the inquiry, +"whether the educational system of England did not give a +disproportionate attention to the study of the ancient classics." His +reply was, "that her majesty could best satisfy her mind on that point +by observing what men the public schools of England had hitherto +produced;" certainly a very adroit reply, yet one which would be +equally good against the suggestion of any improvement whatever. We +might as well say, see what men we have been able to raise in America +without any classical education at all; witness Benjamin Franklin, +George Washington, and Roger Sherman. + +It is a curious fact that Christian nations, with one general consent, +in the early education of youth neglect the volume which they consider +inspired, and bring the mind, at the most susceptible period, under +the dominion of the literature and mythology of the heathen world; and +that, too, when the sacred history and poetry are confessedly superior +in literary quality. Grave doctors of divinity expend their forces in +commenting on and teaching things which would be utterly scouted, were +an author to publish them in English as original compositions. A +Christian community has its young men educated in Ovid and Anacreon, +but is shocked when one of them comes out in English with Don Juan; +yet, probably, the latter poem is purer than either. + +The English literature and poetry of the time of Pope and Dryden +betray a state of association so completely heathenized, that an old +Greek or Roman raised from the dead could scarce learn from them that +any change had taken place in the religion of the world; and even +Milton often pains one by introducing second-hand pagan mythology into +the very shadow of the eternal throne. In some parts of the Paradise +Lost, the evident imitations of Homer are to me the poorest and most +painful passages. + +The adoration of the ancient classics has lain like a dead weight on +all modern art and literature; because men, instead of using them +simply for excitement and inspiration, have congealed them into fixed, +imperative rules. As the classics have been used, I think, wonderful +as have been the minds educated under them, there would have been more +variety and originality without them. + +With which long sermon on a short text, I will conclude my letter. + + + + +LETTER XX. + +Thursday, May 12. My dear I.:-- + +Yesterday, what with my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I was, as the +fashionable saying is, "fairly knocked up." This expression, which I +find obtains universally here, corresponds to what we mean by being +"used up." They talk of Americanisms, and I have a little innocent +speculation now and then concerning Anglicisms. I certainly find +several here for which I can perceive no more precedent in the well of +"English undefiled," than for some of ours; for instance, this being +"knocked up," which is variously inflected, as, for example, in the +form of a participial adjective, as a "knocking up" affair; in the +form of a noun, as when they say "such a person has got quite a +knocking up," and so on. + +The fact is, if we had ever had any experience in London life we +should not have made three engagements in one day. To my simple eye it +is quite amusing to see how they manage the social machine here. +People are under such a pressure of engagements, that they go about +with their lists in their pockets. If A wants to invite B to dinner, +out come their respective lists. A says he has only Tuesday and +Thursday open for this week. B looks down his list, and says that the +days are all closed. A looks along, and says that he has no day open +till next Wednesday week. B, however, is going to leave town Tuesday; +so that settles the matter as to dining; so they turn back again, and +try the breakfasting; for though you cannot dine in but one place a +day, yet, by means of the breakfast and the lunch, you can make three +social visits if you are strong enough. + +Then there are evening parties, which begin at ten o'clock. The first +card of the kind that was sent me, which was worded, "At home at ten +o'clock," I, in my simplicity, took to be ten in the morning. + +But here are people staying out night after night till two o'clock, +sitting up all night in Parliament, and seeming to thrive upon it. +There certainly is great apology for this in London, if it is always +as dark, drizzling, and smoky in the daytime as it has been since I +have been here. If I were one of the London people I would live by +gaslight as they do, for the streets and houses are altogether +pleasanter by gaslight than by daylight. But to ape these customs +under our clear, American skies, so contrary to our whole social +system, is simply ridiculous. + +This morning I was exceedingly tired, and had a perfect longing to get +but of London into some green fields--to get somewhere where there was +nobody. So kind Mrs. B. had the carriage, and off we drove together. +By and by we found ourselves out in the country, and then I wanted to +get out and walk. + +After a while a lady came along, riding a little donkey. These donkeys +have amused me so much since I have been here! At several places on +the outskirts of the city they have them standing, all girt up with +saddles covered with white cloth, for ladies to ride on. One gets out +of London by means of an omnibus to one of these places, and then, for +a few pence, can have a ride upon one of them into the country. Mrs. +B. walked by the side of the lady, and said to her something which I +did not hear, and she immediately alighted and asked me with great +kindness if I wanted to try the saddle; so I got upon the little +beast, which was about as large as a good-sized calf, and rode a few +paces to try him. It is a slow, but not unpleasant gait, and if the +creature were not so insignificantly small, as to make you feel much +as if you were riding upon a cat, it would be quite a pleasant affair. +After dismounting I crept through a hole in a hedge, and looked for +some flowers; and, in short, made the most that I could of my +interview with nature, till it came time to go home to dinner, for our +dinner hour at Mr. B.'s is between one and two; quite like home. In +the evening we were to dine at Lord Shaftesbury's. + +After napping all the afternoon we went to Grosvenor Square. There was +only a small, select party, of about sixteen. Among the guests were +Dr. McAll, Hebrew professor in King's College, Lord Wriothesley +Russell, brother of Lord John, and one of the private chaplains of the +queen, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. McAll is a millenarian. +He sat next to C. at table, and they had some conversation on that +subject. He said those ideas had made a good deal of progress in the +English mind. + +While I was walking down to dinner with Lord Shaftesbury, he pointed +out to me in the hall the portrait of his distinguished ancestor, +Antony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, whose name he bears. This +ancestor, notwithstanding his sceptical philosophy, did some good +things, as he was the author of the habeas corpus act. + +After dinner we went back to the drawing rooms again; and while tea +and coffee were being served, names were constantly being announced, +till the rooms were quite full. + +Among the earliest who arrived was Mr.----, a mulatto gentleman, +formerly British consul at Liberia. I found him a man of considerable +cultivation and intelligence, evincing much good sense in his +observations. + +I overheard some one saying in the crowd, "Shaftesbury has been about +the chimney sweepers again in Parliament." I said to Lord Shaftesbury, +"I thought that matter of the chimney sweepers had been attended to +long ago, and laws made about it." + +"So we have made laws," said he, "but people won't keep them unless we +follow them up." + +He has a very prompt, cheerful way of speaking, and throws himself +into every thing he talks about with great interest and zeal. He +introduced me to one gentleman, I forget his name now, as the patron +of the shoeblacks. On my inquiring what that meant, he said that he +had started the idea of providing employment for poor street boys, by +furnishing them with brushes and blacking, and forming them into +regular companies of shoeblacks. Each boy has his' particular stand, +where he blacks the shoes of every passer by who chooses to take the +trouble of putting up his foot and paying his twopence. Lord +Shaftesbury also presented me to a lady who had been a very successful +teacher in the ragged schools; also to a gentleman who, he said, had +been very active in the London city missions. Some very ingenious work +done in the ragged schools was set on the table for the company to +examine, and excited much interest. + +I talked a little while with Lord Wriothesley Russell. From him we +derived the idea that the queen was particularly careful in the +training and religious instruction of her children. He said that she +claimed that the young prince should be left entirely to his parents, +in regard to his religious instruction, till he was seven years of +age; but that, on examining him at that time, they were equally +surprised and delighted with his knowledge of the Scriptures. I must +remark here, that such an example as the queen sets in the education +of her children makes itself felt through all the families of the +kingdom. Domesticity is now the fashion in high life. I have had +occasion to see, in many instances, how carefully ladies of rank +instruct their children. This argues more favorably for the +continuance of English institutions than any thing I have seen. If the +next generation of those who are born to rank and power are educated, +in the words of Fenelon, to consider these things "as a ministry," +which they hold for the benefit of the poor, the problem of life in +England will become easier of solution. Such are Lord Shaftesbury's +views, and as he throws them out with unceasing fervor in his +conversation and conduct, they cannot but powerfully affect not only +his own circle, but all circles through the kingdom. Lady Shaftesbury +is a beautiful and interesting woman, and warmly enters into the +benevolent plans of her husband. A gentleman and lady with whom I +travelled said that Lord and Lady Shaftesbury had visited in person +the most forlorn and wretched parts of London, that they might get, by +their own eyesight, a more correct gauge of the misery to be relieved. +I did not see Lord Shaftesbury's children; but, from the crayon +likenesses which hung upon the walls, they must be a family of +uncommon beauty. + +I talked a little while with the Bishop of Tuam. I was the more +interested to do so because he was from that part of Ireland which +Sibyl Jones has spoken of as being in so particularly miserable a +condition. I said, "How are you doing now, in that part of the +country? There has been a great deal of misery there, I hear." He said +"There has been, but we have just turned the corner, and now I hope we +shall see better days. The condition of the people has been improved +by emigration and other causes, till the evils have been brought +within reach, and we feel that there is hope of effecting a permanent +improvement." + +While I was sitting talking, Lord Shaltesbury brought a gentleman and +lady, whom he introduced as Lord Chief Justice Campbell and Lady +Strathheden. Lord Campbell is a man of most dignified and imposing +personal presence; tall, with a large frame, a fine, high forehead, +and strongly marked features. Naturally enough, I did not suppose them +to be husband and wife, and when I discovered that they were so, +expressed a good deal of surprise at their difference of titles; to +which she replied, that she did not wonder we Americans were sometimes +puzzled among the number of titles. She seemed quite interested to +inquire into our manner of living and customs, and how they struck me +as compared with theirs. The letter of Mrs. Tyler was much talked of, +and some asked me if I supposed Mrs. Tyler really wrote it, expressing +a little civil surprise at the style. I told them that I had heard it +said that it must have been written by some of the gentlemen in the +family, because it was generally understood that Mrs. Tyler was a very +ladylike person. Some said, "It does us no harm to be reminded of our +deficiencies; we need all the responsibility that can be put upon us." +Others said, "It is certain we have many defects;" but Lord John +Campbell said, "There is this difference between our evils and those +of slavery: ours exist contrary to law; those are upheld by law." + + +I did not get any opportunity of conversing with the Archbishop of +Canterbury, though this is the second time I have been in company with +him. He is a most prepossessing man in his appearance--simple, +courteous, mild, and affable. He was formerly Bishop of Chester, and +is now Primate of all England. + +It is some indication of the tendency of things in a country to notice +what kind of men are patronized and promoted to the high places of the +church. Sumner is a man refined, gentle, affable, scholarly, +thoroughly evangelical in sentiment; to render him into American +phraseology, he is in doctrine what we should call a moderate New +School man. He has been a most industrious writer; one of his +principal works is his Commentary on the New Testament, in several +volumes; a work most admirably adapted for popular use, combining +practical devotion with critical accuracy to an uncommon degree. He +has also published a work on the Evidences of Christianity, in which +he sets forth some evidences of the genuineness of the gospel +narrative, which could only have been conceived by a mind of peculiar +delicacy, and which are quite interesting and original. He has also +written a work on Biblical Geology, which is highly spoken of by Sir +Charles Lyell and others. If I may believe accounts that I hear, this +mild and moderate man has shown a most admirable firmness and facility +in guiding the ship of the establishment in some critical and perilous +places of late years. I should add that he is warmly interested in all +the efforts now making for the good of the poor. + +Among other persons of distinction, this evening, I noticed Lord and +Lady Palmerston. + +A lady asked me this evening what I thought of the beauty of the +ladies of the English aristocracy: she was a Scotch lady, by the by; +so the question was a fair one. I replied, that certainly report had +not exaggerated their charms. Then came a home question--how the +ladies of England compared with the ladies of America. "Now for it, +patriotism," said I to myself; and, invoking to my aid certain fair +saints of my own country, whose faces I distinctly remembered, I +assured her that I had never seen more beautiful women than I had in +America. Grieved was I to be obliged to add, "But your ladies keep +their beauty much later and longer." This fact stares one in the face +in every company; one meets ladies past fifty, glowing, radiant, and +blooming, with a freshness of complexion and fulness of outline +refreshing to contemplate. What can be the reason? Tell us, Muses and +Graces, what can it be? Is it the conservative power of sea fogs and +coal smoke--the same cause that keeps the turf green, and makes the +holly and ivy flourish? How comes it that our married ladies dwindle, +fade, and grow thin--that their noses incline to sharpness, and their +elbows to angularity, just at the time of life when their island +sisters round out into a comfortable and becoming amplitude and +fulness? If it is the fog and the sea coal, why, then, I am afraid we +never shall come up with them. But perhaps there may be other causes +why a country which starts some of the most beautiful girls in the +world produces so few beautiful women. Have not our close-heated stove +rooms something to do with it? Have not the immense amount of hot +biscuits, hot corn cakes, and other compounds got up with the acrid +poison of saleratus, something to do with it? Above all, has not our +climate, with its alternate extremes of heat and cold, a tendency to +induce habits Of in-door indolence? Climate, certainly, has a great +deal to do with it; ours is evidently more trying and more exhausting; +and because it is so, we should not pile upon its back errors of dress +and diet which are avoided by our neighbors. They keep their beauty, +because they keep their health. It has been as remarkable as any thing +to me, since I have been here, that I do not constantly, as at home, +hear one and another spoken of as in miserable health, as very +delicate, &c. Health seems to be the rule, and not the exception. For +my part, I must say, the most favorable omen that I know of for female +beauty in America is, the multiplication of water cure establishments, +where our ladies, if they get nothing else, do gain some ideas as to +the necessity of fresh air, regular exercise, simple diet, and the +laws of hygiene in general. + +There is one thing more which goes a long way towards the continued +health of these English ladies, and therefore towards their beauty; +and that is, the quietude and perpetuity of their domestic +institutions. They do not, like us, fade their cheeks lying awake +nights ruminating the awful question who shall do the washing next +week, or who shall take the chambermaid's place, who is going to be +married, or that of the cook, who has signified her intention of +parting with the mistress. Their hospitality is never embarrassed by +the consideration that their whole kitchen cabinet may desert at the +moment that their guests arrive. They are not obliged to choose +between washing their own dishes, or having their cut glass, silver, +and china left to the mercy of a foreigner, who has never done any +thing but field work. And last, not least, they are not possessed with +that ambition to do the impossible in all branches, which, I believe, +is the death of a third of the women in America. What is there ever +read of in books, or described in foreign travel, as attained by +people in possession of every means and appliance, which our women +will not undertake, single-handed, in spite of every providential +indication to the contrary? Who is not cognizant of dinner parties +invited, in which the lady of the house has figured successively as +confectioner, cook, dining-room girl, and, lastly, rushed up stairs to +bathe her glowing cheeks, smooth her hair, draw on satin dress and kid +gloves, and appear in the drawing room as if nothing were the matter? +Certainly the undaunted bravery of our American females can never +enough be admired. Other women can play gracefully the head of the +establishment; but who, like them, could be head, hand, and foot, all +at once? + +As I have spoken of stoves, I will here remark that I have not yet +seen one in England; neither, so far as I can remember, have I seen a +house warmed by a furnace. Bright coal fires, in grates of polished +steel, are as yet the lares and penates of old England. If I am +inclined to mourn over any defection in my own country, it is the +closing up of the cheerful open fire, with its bright lights and +dancing shadows, and the planting on our domestic hearth of that +sullen, stifling gnome, the air-tight. I agree with Hawthorne in +thinking the movement fatal to patriotism; for who would fight for an +airtight! + +I have run on a good way beyond our evening company; so good by for +the present. + + + + +LETTER XXI + +May 13. Dear father:-- + +To-day we are to go out to visit your Quaker friend, Mr. Alexander, at +Stoke Newington, where you passed so many pleasant hours during your +sojourn in England. At half past nine we went into the Congregational +Union, which is now in session. I had a seat upon the platform, where +I could command a view of the house. It was a most interesting +assemblage to me, recalling forcibly our New England associations, and +impressing more than ever on my mind how much of one blood the two +countries are. These earnest, thoughtful, intelligent-looking men +seemed to transport me back to my own country. They received us with +most gratifying cordiality and kindness. Most naturally +Congregationalism in England must turn with deep interest and sympathy +to Congregationalism in America. In several very cordial addresses +they testified their pleasure at seeing us among them, speaking most +affectionately of you and your labors, and your former visit to +England. The wives and daughters of many of them present expressed in +their countenances the deepest and most affectionate feeling. It is +cheering to feel that an ocean does not divide our hearts, and that +the Christians of America and England are one. + +In the afternoon we drove out to Mr. Alexander's. His place is called +Paradise, and very justly, being one more of those home Edens in which +England abounds, where, without ostentation or display, every +appliance of rational enjoyment surrounds one. + +We were ushered into a cheerful room, opening by one glass door upon a +brilliant conservatory of flowers, and by another upon a neatly-kept +garden. The air was fresh and sweet with the perfume of blossoming +trees, and every thing seemed doubly refreshing from the contrast with +the din and smoke of London. Our chamber looked out upon a beautiful +park, shaded with fine old trees. While contemplating the white +draperies of our windows, and the snowy robings of the bed, we could +not but call to mind the fact, of which we were before aware, that not +an article was the result of the unpaid oil of the slave; neither did +this restriction, voluntarily assumed, fetter at all the bountifulness +of the table, where free-grown sugar, coffee, rice, and spices seemed +to derive a double value to our friends from this consideration. + +Some of the Quakers carry the principle so far as to refuse money in a +business transaction which they have reason to believe has been gained +by the unpaid toil of the slave. A Friend in Edinburgh told me of a +brother of his in the city of Carlisle, who kept a celebrated biscuit +bakery, who received an order from New Orleans for a thousand dollars +worth of biscuit. Before closing the bargain he took the buyer into +his counting room, and told him that he had conscientious objections +about receiving money from slaveholders, and that in case he were one +he should prefer not to trade with him. Fortunately, in this case, +consistency and interest were both on one side. + +Things like these cannot but excite reflection in one's mind, and the +query must arise, if all who really believe slavery to be a wrong +should pursue this course, what would be the result? There are great +practical difficulties in the way of such a course, particularly in +America, where the subject has received comparatively little +attention. Yet since I have been in England, I am informed by the +Friends here, that there has been for many years an association of +Friends in Philadelphia, who have sent their agents through the entire +Southern States, entering by them into communication with quite a +considerable number scattered through the states, who, either from +poverty or principle, raise their cotton by free labor; that they have +established a depot in Philadelphia, and also a manufactory, where the +cotton thus received is made into various household articles; and +thus, by dint of some care and self-sacrifice, many of them are +enabled to abstain entirely from any participation with the results of +this crime. + +As soon as I heard this fact, it flashed upon my mind immediately, +that the beautiful cotton lands of Texas are as yet unoccupied to a +great extent; that no law compels cotton to be raised there by slave +labor, and that it is beginning to be raised there to some extent by +the labor of free German emigrants. [Footnote: One small town in Texas +made eight hundred bales last year by free labor.] Will not something +eventually grow out of this? I trust so. Even the smallest chink of +light is welcome in a prison, if it speak of a possible door which +courage and zeal may open. I cannot as yet admit the justness of the +general proposition, that it is an actual sin to eat, drink, or wear +any thing which has been the result of slave labor, because it seems +to me to be based upon a principle altogether too wide in extent. To +be consistent in it, we must extend it to the results of all labor +which is not conducted on just and equitable principles; and in order +to do this consistently we must needs, as St. Paul says, go out of the +world. But if two systems, one founded on wrong and robbery, and the +other on right and justice, are competing with each other, should we +not patronize the right? + +I am the more inclined to think that some course of this kind is +indicated to the Christian world, from the reproaches and taunts which +proslavery papers are casting upon us, for patronizing their cotton. +At all events, the Quakers escape the awkwardness of this dilemma. + +In the evening quite a large circle of friends came to meet us. We +were particularly interested in the conversation of Mr. and Mrs. +Wesby, missionaries from Antigua. Antigua is the only one of the +islands in which emancipation was immediate, without any previous +apprenticeship system; and it is the one in which the results of +emancipation have been altogether the most happy. They gave us a very +interesting account of their schools, and showed us some beautiful +specimens of plain needlework, which had been wrought by young girls +in them. They confirmed all the accounts which I have heard from other +sources of the peaceableness, docility, and good character of the +negroes; of their kindly disposition and willingness to receive +instruction. + +After tea Mr. S. and I walked out a little while, first to a large +cemetery, where repose the ashes of Dr. Watts. This burying ground +occupies the site of the dwelling and grounds formerly covered by the +residence of Sir T. Abney, with whom Dr. Watts spent many of the last +years of his life. It has always seemed to me that Dr. Watts's rank as +a poet has never been properly appreciated. If ever there was a poet +born, he was that man; he attained without study a smoothness of +versification, which, with Pope, was the result of the intensest +analysis and most artistic care. Nor do the most majestic and +resounding lines of Dryden equal some of his in majesty of volume. The +most harmonious lines of Dryden, that I know of, are these:-- + + "When Jubal struck the chorded shell, + His listening brethren stood around, + And wondering, on their faces fell, + To worship that celestial sound. + Less than a God they thought there could not dwell + Within the hollow of that shell, + That spoke so sweetly and so well." + +The first four lines of this always seem to me magnificently +harmonious. But almost any verse at random in Dr. Watts's paraphrase +of the one hundred and forty-eighth Psalm exceeds them, both in melody +and majesty. For instance, take these lines:-- + + "Wide as his vast dominion lies, + Let the Creator's name be known; + Loud as his thunder shout his praise, + And sound it lofty as his throne. + + Speak of the wonders of that love + Which Gabriel plays on every chord: + From all below and all above, + Loud hallelujahs to the Lord." + +Simply as a specimen of harmonious versification, I would place this +paraphrase by Dr. Watts above every thing in the English language, not +even excepting Pope's Messiah. But in hymns, where the ideas are +supplied by his own soul, we have examples in which fire, fervor, +imagery, roll from the soul of the poet in a stream of versification, +evidently spontaneous. Such are all those hymns in which he describes +the glories of the heavenly state, and the advent of the great events +foretold in prophecy; for instance, this verse from the opening of one +of his judgment hymns:-- + + "Lo, I behold the scattered shades; + The dawn of heaven appears; + The sweet immortal morning sheds + Its blushes round the spheres." + +Dr. Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets, turns him off with small +praise, it is true, saying that his devotional poetry is like that of +others, unsatisfactory; graciously adding that it is sufficient for +him to have done better than others what no one has done well; and, +lastly, that he is one of those poets with whom youth and ignorance +may safely be pleased. But if Dr. Johnson thought Irene was poetry, it +is not singular that he should think the lyrics of Watts were not. + +Stoke Newington is also celebrated as the residence of De foe. We +passed by, in our walk, the ancient mansion in which he lived. New +River, which passes through the grounds of our host, is an artificial +stream, which is said to have been first suggested by his endlessly +fertile and industrious mind, as productive in practical projects as +in books. + +It always seemed to me that there are three writers which every one +who wants to know how to use the English language effectively should +study; and these are Shakspeare, Bunyan, and Defoe. One great secret +of their hold on the popular mind is their being so radically and +thoroughly English. They have the solid grain of the English oak, not +veneered by learning and the classics; not inlaid with arabesques from +other nations, but developing wholly out of the English nationality. + +I have heard that Goethe said the reason for the great enthusiasm with +which his countrymen regarded him was, that he _did know how to +write German,_ and so also these men knew how to write English. I +think Defoe the most suggestive writer to an artist of fiction that +the English language affords. That power by which he wrought fiction +to produce the impression of reality, so that his Plague in London was +quoted by medical men as an authentic narrative, and his Life of a +Cavalier recommended by Lord Chatham as an historical authority, is +certainly worth an analysis. With him, undoubtedly, it was an +instinct. + +One anecdote, related to us this evening by our friends, brought to +mind with new power the annoyances to which the Quakers have been +subjected in England, under the old system of church rates. It being +contrary to the conscientious principles of the Quakers to pay these +church rates voluntarily, they allowed the officers of the law to +enter their houses and take whatever article he pleased in +satisfaction of the claim. On one occasion, for the satisfaction of a +claim of a few pounds, they seized and sold a most rare and costly +mantel clock, which had a particular value as a choice specimen of +mechanical skill, and which was worth four or five times the sum owed. +A friend afterwards repurchased and presented it to the owner. + +We were rejoiced to hear that these church rates are now virtually +abolished. The liberal policy pursued in England for the last +twenty-five years is doing more to make the church of England, and the +government generally, respectable and respected than the most +extortionate exactions of violence. + +We parted from our kind friends in the morning; came back and I sat a +while to Mr. Burnard, the sculptor, who entertained me with various +anecdotes. He had taken the bust of the Prince of Wales; and I +gathered from his statements that young princes have very much the +same feelings and desires that other little boys have, and that he has +a very judicious mother. + +In the afternoon, Mr. S., Mrs. B., and I had a pleasant drive in Hyde +Park, as I used to read of heroines of romance doing in the old +novels. It is delightful to get into this fairyland of parks, so green +and beautiful, which embellish the West End. + +In the evening we had an engagement at two places--at a Highland +School dinner, and at Mr. Charles Dickens's. I felt myself too much +exhausted for both, and so it was concluded that I should go to +neither, but try a little quiet drive into the country, and an early +retirement, as the most prudent termination of the week. While Mr. S. +prepared to go to the meeting of the Highland School Society, Mr. and +Mrs. B. took me a little drive into the country. After a while they +alighted before a new Gothic Congregational college, in St. John's +Wood. I found that there had been a kind of tea-drinking there by the +Congregational ministers and their families, to celebrate the opening +of the college. + +On returning, we called for Mr. S., at the dinner, and went for a few +moments into the gallery, the entertainment being now nearly over. +Here we heard some Scottish songs, very charmingly sung; and, what +amused me very much, a few Highland musicians, dressed in full +costume, occasionally marched through the hall, playing on their +bagpipes, as was customary in old Scottish entertainments. The +historian Sir Archibald Alison, sheriff of Lanarkshire, sat at the +head of the table--a tall, fine-looking man, of very commanding +presence. + +About nine o'clock we retired. + +May 15. Heard Mr. Binney preach this morning. He is one of the +strongest men among the Congregationalists, and a very popular +speaker. He is a tall, large man, with a finely-built head, high +forehead, piercing, dark eye, and a good deal of force and +determination in all his movements. His sermon was the first that I +had heard in England which seemed to recognize the existence of any +possible sceptical or rationalizing element in the minds of his +hearers. It was in this respect more like the preaching that I had +been in the habit of hearing at home. Instead of a calm statement of +certain admitted religious facts, or exhortations founded upon them, +his discourse seemed to be reasoning with individual cases, and +answering various forms of objections, such as might arise in +different minds. This mode of preaching, I think, cannot exist unless +a minister cultivates an individual knowledge of his people. + +Mr. Binney's work, entitled How to make the best of both Worlds, I +have heard spoken of as having had the largest sale of any religious +writing of the present day. + +May 16. This evening is the great antislavery meeting at Exeter Hall. +Lord Shaftesbury in the chair. Exeter Hall stands before the public as +the representation of the strong democratic, religious element of +England. In Exeter Hall are all the philanthropies, foreign and +domestic; and a crowded meeting there gives one perhaps a better idea +of the force of English democracy--of that kind of material which goes +to make up the mass of the nation--than any thing else. + +When Macaulay expressed some sentiments which gave offence to this +portion of the community, he made a defence in which he alluded +sarcastically to the bray of Exeter Hall. + +The expression seems to have been remembered, for I have often heard +it quoted; though I believe they have forgiven him for it, and +concluded to accept it as a joke. + +The hall this night was densely crowded, and, as I felt very unwell, I +did not go in till after the services had commenced--a thing which I +greatly regretted afterwards, as by this means I lost a most able +speech by Lord Shaftesbury. + +The Duchess of Sutherland entered soon after the commencement of the +exercises, and was most enthusiastically cheered. When we came in, a +seat had been reserved for us by her grace in the side gallery, and +the cheering was repeated. I thought I had heard something of the sort +in Scotland, but there was a vehemence about this that made me +tremble. There is always something awful to my mind about a dense +crowd in a state of high excitement, let the nature of that excitement +be what it will. + +I do not believe that there is in all America more vehemence of +democracy, more volcanic force of power, than comes out in one of +these great gatherings in our old fatherland. I saw plainly enough +where Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill came from; and it seems to +me there is enough of this element of indignation at wrong, and +resistance to tyranny, to found half a dozen more republics as strong +as we are. + +A little incident that occurred gave me an idea of what such a crowd +might become in a confused state of excitement. A woman fainted in a +distant part of the house, and a policeman attempted to force a way +through the densely-packed crowd. The services were interrupted for a +few moments, and there were hoarse surgings and swellings of the +mighty mass, who were so closely packed that they moved together like +waves. Some began to rise in their seats, and some cried "Order! +order!" And one could easily see, that were a sudden panic or +overwhelming excitement to break up the order of the meeting, what a +terrible scene might ensue. + +"What is it?" said I to a friend who sat next to me. + +"A pickpocket, perhaps," said she. "I am afraid we are going to have a +row. They are going to give you one of our genuine Exeter Hall +_'brays.'_" + +I felt a good deal fluttered; but the Duchess of Sutherland, who knew +the British lion better than I did, seemed so perfectly collected that +I became reassured. + +The character of the speeches at this meeting, with the exception of +Lord Shaftesbury's, was more denunciatory, and had more to pain the +national feelings of an American, than any I had ever attended. It was +the real old Saxon battle axe of Brother John, swung without fear or +favor. Such things do not hurt me individually, because I have such a +radical faith in my country, such a genuine belief that she will at +last right herself from every wrong, that I feel she can afford to +have these things said. + +Mr. S. spoke on this point, that the cotton trade of Great Britain is +the principal support to slavery, and read extracts from Charleston +papers in which they boldly declare that they do not care for any +amount of moral indignation wasted upon them by nations who, after +all, must and will buy the cotton which they raise. + +The meeting was a very long one, and I was much fatigued when we +returned. + +To-morrow we are to make a little run out to Windsor. + + + + +LETTER XXII. + +May 18. + +Dear M.:-- + +I can compare the embarrassment of our London life, with its +multiplied solicitations and infinite stimulants to curiosity and +desire, only to that annual perplexity which used to beset us in our +childhood on thanksgiving day. Having been kept all the year within +the limits which prudence assigns to well-regulated children, came at +last the governor's proclamation, and a general saturnalia of dainties +for the little ones. For one day the gates of license were thrown +open, and we, plumped down into the midst of pie and pudding exceeding +all conception but that of a Yankee housekeeper, were left to struggle +our way out as best we might. + +So here, beside all the living world of London, its scope and range of +persons and circles of thought, come its architecture, its arts, its +localities, historic, poetic, all that expresses its past, its +present, and its future. Every day and every hour brings its' +conflicting allurements, of persons to be seen, places to be visited, +things to be done, beyond all computation. Like Miss Edgeworth's +philosophic little Frank, we are obliged to make out our list of what +man _must_ want, and of what he _may_ want; and in our list +of the former we set down, in large and decisive characters, one quiet +day for the exploration and enjoyment of Windsor. + +We were solicited, indeed, to go in another direction; a party was +formed to go down the Thames with the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, +secretary at war, and visit an emigrant ship just starting for +Australia. I should say here, that since Mrs. Chisholm's labors have +awakened the attention of the English public to the wants and +condition of emigrants, the benevolent people of England take great +interest in the departing of emigrant ships. A society has been formed +called the Family Colonization Loan Society, and a fund raised by +which money can be loaned to those desiring to emigrate. This society +makes it an object to cultivate acquaintance and intimacy among those +about going out by uniting them into groups, and, as far as possible, +placing orphan children and single females under the protection of +families. Any one, by subscribing six guineas towards the loan, can +secure one passage. Each individual becomes responsible for refunding +his own fare, and, furthermore, to pay a certain assessment in case +any individual of the group fails to make up the passage money. The +sailing of emigrant ships, therefore, has become a scene of great +interest. Those departing do not leave their native shore without +substantial proofs of the interest and care of the land they are +leaving. + +In the party who were going down to-day were Mr. and Mrs. Binney, Mr. +Sherman, and a number of distinguished names; among whom I recollect +to have heard the names of Lady Hatherton, and Lady Byron, widow of +the poet. This would have been an exceedingly interesting scene to us, +but being already worn with company and excitement, we preferred a +quiet day at Windsor. + +For if we took Warwick as the representative feudal estate, we took +Windsor as the representative palace, that which imbodies the English +idea of royalty. Apart from this, Windsor has been immortalized by the +Merry Wives; it has still standing in its park the Herne oak, where +the mischievous fairies played their pranks upon old Falstaff. + +And the castle still has about it the charm of the poet's +invocation:-- + + "Search Windsor Castle, elves, within, without, + Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room, + That it may stand till the perpetual doom + In state as wholesome as in state 'tis fit, + Worthy the owner, and the owner it. + The several chairs of order, look you, scour + With juice of balm and every precious flower, + Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest, + With loyal blazon evermore be blest. + And nightly, meadow fairies, look you, sing + Like to the garter's compass, in a ring. + The expressure that it bears, green let it be, + More fertile, fresh, than all the field to see, + And Honi soit qui mal y pense, write + In emerald tufts, flowers, purple, blue, and white, + Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery, + Fairies use flowers for their charactery." + +As if for the loyal purpose of recommending old Windsor, the English +skies had cleared up into brightness. About nine o'clock we found +ourselves in the cars, riding through a perpetual garden of blooming +trees and blossoming hedges; birds in a perfect fury of delight. Our +spirits were all elated. Good, honest, cackling Mrs. Quickly herself +was not more disposed to make the best of every thing and every body +than were we. Mr. S., in particular, was so joyous that I was afraid +he would break out into song, after the fashion of Sir Hugh Evans,-- + + "Melodious birds sung madrigals: + Whenas I sat in Babylon," &c. + +By the by, the fishing ground of Izaak Walton is one of the localities +connected with Windsor. + +The ride was done all too soon. One should not whirl through such a +choice bit of England in the cars; one should rather wish to amble +over the way after a sleepy, contemplative old horse, as we used to +make rural excursions in New England ere yet railroads were. However, +all that's bright must fade, and this among the rest. + +About eleven o'clock we found ourselves going up the old stone steps +to the castle. It was the last day of a fair which had been holden in +this part of the country, and crowds of the common people were +flocking to the castle, men, women, and children pattering up the +stairs before and after us. + +We went first through the state apartments. The principal thing that +interested me was the ball room, which was a perfect gallery of +Vandyke's paintings. Here was certainly an opportunity to know what +Vandyke is. I should call him a true court painter--a master of +splendid conventionalities, whose portraits of kings are the most +powerful arguments for the divine right I know of. Nevertheless, +beyond conventionality and outward magnificence, his ideas have no +range. He suggests nothing to the moral and ideal part of us. Here +again was the picture of King Charles on horseback, which had +interested me at Warwick. It had, however, a peculiar and romantic +charm from its position at the end of that long, dim corridor, +vis-a-vis with the masque of Cromwell, which did not accompany it +here, where it was but one among a set of pictures. + +There was another, presenting the front side and three quarters face +of the same sovereign, painted by Vandyke for Benini to make a bust +from. There were no less than five portraits of his wife, Henrietta +Maria, in different dresses and attitudes, and two pictures of their +children. No sovereign is so profusely and perseveringly represented. + +The queen's audience chamber is hung with tapestry representing scenes +from the book of Esther. This tapestry made a very great impression +upon me. A knowledge of the difficulties to be overcome in the +material part of painting is undoubtedly an unsuspected element of +much of the pleasure we derive from it; and for this reason, probably, +this tapestry appeared to us better than paintings executed with equal +spirit in oils. We admired it exceedingly, entirely careless what +critics might think of us if they knew it. + +Another room was hung with Gobelin tapestry representing the whole of +the tragedy of Medea. First you have Jason cutting down the golden +fleece, while the dragon lies slain, and Medea is looking on in +admiration. In another he pledges his love to Medea. In a third, the +men sprung from the dragon's teeth are seen contending with each +other. In another the unfaithful lover espouses Creusa. In the next +Creusa is seen burning in the poisoned shirt, given her by Medea. In +another Medea is seen in a car drawn by dragons, bearing her two +children by Jason, whom she has stabbed in revenge for his desertion. +Nothing can exceed the ghastly reality of death, as shown in the +stiffened limbs and sharpened features of those dead children. The +whole drawing and grouping is exceedingly spirited and lifelike, and +has great power of impression. + +I was charmed also by nine landscapes of Zuccarelli, which adorn the +state drawing room. Zuccarelli was a follower of Claude, and these +pictures far exceed in effect any of Claude's I have yet seen. The +charm of them does not lie merely in the atmospheric tints and +effects, as those of Cuyp, but in the rich and fanciful combination of +objects. In this respect they perform in painting what the first part +of the Castle of Indolence, or Tennyson's Lotus Eaters, do in poetry-- +evoke a fairyland. There was something peculiar about their charm for +me. + +Who can decide how much in a picture belongs to the idiosyncrasies and +associations of the person who looks upon it. Artists undoubtedly +powerful and fine may have nothing in them which touches the nervous +sympathies and tastes of some persons: who, therefore, shall establish +any authoritative canon of taste? who shall say that Claude is finer +than Zuccarelli, or Zuccarelli than Claude? A man might as well say +that the woman who enchants him is the only true Venus for the world. + +Then, again, how much in painting or in poetry depends upon the frame +of mind in which we see or hear! Whoever looks on these pictures, or +reads the Lotus Eaters or Castle of Indolence, at a time when soul and +body are weary, and longing for retirement and rest, will receive an +impression from them such as could never be made on the strong nerves +of our more healthful and hilarious seasons. + +Certainly no emotions so rigidly reject critical restraints, and +disdain to be bound by rule, as those excited by the fine arts. A man +unimpressible and incapable of moods and tenses, is for that reason an +incompetent critic; and the sensitive, excitable man, how can he know +that he does not impose his peculiar mood as a general rule? + +From the state rooms we were taken to the top of the Hound Tower, +where we gained a magnificent view of the Park of Windsor, with its +regal avenue, miles in length, of ancient oaks; its sweeps of +greensward; clumps of trees; its old Herne oak, of classic memory; in +short, all that constitutes the idea of a perfect English landscape. +The English tree is shorter and stouter than ours; its foliage dense +and deep, lying with a full, rounding outline against the sky. Every +thing here conveys the idea of concentrated vitality, but without that +rank luxuriance seen in our American growth. Having unfortunately +exhausted the English language on the subject of grass, I will not +repeat any ecstasies upon that topic. + +After descending from the tower we filed off to the proper quarter, to +show our orders for the private rooms. The state apartments, which we +had been looking at, are open at all times, but the private apartments +can only be seen in the queen's absence, and by a special permission, +which had been procured for us on this occasion by the kindness of the +Duchess of Sutherland. + +One of the first objects that attracted my attention when entering the +vestibule was a baby's wicker wagon, standing in one corner; it was +much such a carriage as all mothers are familiar with; such as figures +largely in the history of almost every family. It had neat curtains +and cushions of green merino, and was not royal, only maternal. I +mused over the little thing with a good deal of interest. It is to my +mind one of the providential signs of our times, that, at this stormy +and most critical period of the world's history, the sovereignty of +the most powerful nation on earth is represented by a woman and a +mother. How many humanizing, gentle, and pacific influences constantly +emanate from this centre! + +One of the most interesting apartments was a long corridor, hung with +paintings and garnished along the sides with objects of art and _virtu_. +Here C. and I renewed a dispute which had for some time been pending, +in respect to Canaletto's paintings. This Canaletto was a Venetian +painter, who was born about 1697, and died in London in 1768, and was +greatly in vogue with the upper circles in those days. He delighted in +architectural paintings, which he represents with the accuracy of a +daguerreotype, and a management of perspective, chiaro oscuro, and all +the other mysteries of art, such as make his paintings amount to about +the same as the reality. + +Well, here, in this corridor, we had him in full force. Here was +Venice served up to order--its streets, palaces, churches, bridges, +canals, and gondolas made as real to our eye as if we were looking at +them out of a window. I admired them very warmly, but I could not go +into the raptures that C. did, who kept calling me from every thing +else that I wanted to see to come and look at this Canaletto. "Well, I +see it," said I; "it is good--it is perfect--it cannot be bettered; +but what then? There is the same difference between these and a +landscape of Zuccarelli as there is between a neatly-arranged +statistical treatise and a poem. The latter suggests a thousand +images, the former gives you only information." + +We were quite interested in a series of paintings which represented +the various events of the present queen's history. There was the +coronation in Westminster Abbey--that national romance which, for once +in our prosaic world, nearly turned the heads of all the sensible +people on earth. Think of vesting the sovereignty of so much of the +world in a fair young girl of seventeen! The picture is a very pretty +one, and is taken at the very moment she is kneeling at the feet of +the Archbishop of Canterbury to receive her crown. She is represented +as a fair-haired, interesting girl, the simplicity of her air +contrasting strangely with the pomp and gorgeous display around. The +painter has done justice to a train of charming young ladies who +surround her; among the faces I recognized the blue eyes and noble +forehead of the Duchess of Sutherland. + +Then followed, in due order, the baptism of children, the reception of +poor old Louis Philippe in his exile, and various other matters of the +sort which go to make up royal pictures. + +In the family breakfast room we saw some fine Gobelin tapestry, +representing the classical story of Meleager. In one of the rooms, on +a pedestal, stood a gigantic china vase, a present from the Emperor of +Russia, and in the state rooms before we had seen a large malachite +vase from the same donor. The toning of this room, with regard to +color, was like that of the room I described in Stafford House--the +carpet of green ground, with the same little leaf upon it, the walls, +chairs, and sofas covered with green damask. Around the walls of the +room, in some places, were arranged cases of books about three feet +high. I liked this arrangement particularly, because it gives you the +companionship of books in an apartment without occupying that space of +the wall which is advantageous for pictures. Moreover, books placed +high against the walls of a room give a gloomy appearance to the +apartment. + +The whole air of these rooms was very charming, suggestive of refined +taste and domestic habits. The idea of home, which pervades every +thing in England, from the cottage to the palace, was as much +suggested here as in any apartments I have seen. The walls of the +different rooms were decorated with portraits of the members of the +royal family, and those of other European princes. + +After this we went through the kitchen department--saw the silver and +gold plate of the table; among the latter were some designs which I +thought particularly graceful. To conclude all, we went through the +stables. The man who showed them told us that several of the queen's +favorite horses were taken to Osborne; but there were many beautiful +creatures left, which I regarded with great complacency. The stables +and stalls were perfectly clean, and neatly kept; and one, in short, +derives from the whole view of the economics of Windsor that +satisfaction which results from seeing a thing thoroughly done in the +best conceivable manner. + +The management of the estate of Windsor is, I am told, a model for all +landholders in the kingdom. A society has been formed there, within a +few years, under the patronage of the queen, Prince Albert, and the +Duchess of Kent, in which the clergy and gentry of the principal +parishes in this vicinity are interested, for improving the condition +of the laboring classes in this region. The queen and Prince Albert +have taken much interest in the planning and arranging of model houses +for the laboring people, which combine cheapness, neatness, +ventilation, and all the facilities for the formation of good personal +habits. There is a school kept on the estate at Windsor, in which the +queen takes a very practical interest, regulating the books and +studies, and paying frequent visits to it during the time of her +sojourn here. The young girls are instructed in fine needlework; but +the queen discourages embroidery and ornamental work, meaning to make +practical, efficient wives for laboring men. These particulars, with +regard to this school, were related to me by a lady living in the +vicinity of Windsor. + +We went into St. George's Chapel, and there we were all exceedingly +interested and enchained in view of the marble monument to the +Princess Charlotte. It consists of two groups, and is designed to +express, in one view, both the celestial and the terrestrial aspect of +death--the visible and the invisible part of dying. For the visible +part, you have the body of the princess in all the desolation and +abandonment of death. The attitude of the figure is as if she had +thrown herself over in a convulsion, and died. The body is lying +listless, simply covered with a sheet, through every fold of which you +can see the utter relaxation of that moment when vitality departs, but +the limbs have not yet stiffened. Her hand and a part of the arm are +hanging down, exposed to view beneath the sheet. + +Four figures, with bowed heads, covered with drapery, are represented +as sitting around in mute despair. The idea meant to be conveyed by +the whole group is that of utter desolation and abandonment. All is +over; there is not even heart enough left in the mourners to +straighten the corpse for the burial. The mute marble says, as plainly +as marble can speak, "Let all go; 'tis no matter now; there is no more +use in living--nothing to be done, nothing to be hoped!" + +Above this group rises the form of the princess, springing buoyant and +elastic, on angel wings, a smile of triumph and aspiration lighting up +her countenance. Her drapery floats behind her as she rises. Two +angels, one carrying her infant child and the other with clasped hands +of exultant joy, are rising with her, in serene and solemn triumph. + +Now, I simply put it to you, or to any one who can judge of poetry, if +this is not a poetical conception. I ask any one who has a heart, if +there is not pathos in it. Is there not a high poetic merit in the +mere conception of these two scenes, thus presented? And had we seen +it rudely chipped and chiselled out by some artist of the middle ages, +whose hand had not yet been practised to do justice to his +conceptions, should we not have said this sculptor had a glorious +thought within him? But the chiselling of this piece is not unworthy +the conception. Nothing can be more exquisite than the turn of the +head, neck, and shoulders; nothing more finely wrought than the +triumphant smile of the angel princess; nothing could be more artistic +than the representation of death in all its hopelessness, in the lower +figure. The poor, dead hand, that shows itself beneath the sheet, has +an unutterable pathos and beauty in it. As to the working of the +drapery,--an inferior consideration, of course,--I see no reason why +it should not compare advantageously with any in the British Museum. + +Well, you will ask, why are you going on in this argumentative style? +Who doubts you? Let me tell you, then, a little fragment of my +experience. We saw this group of statuary the last thing before +dinner, after a most fatiguing forenoon of sightseeing, when we were +both tired and hungry,--a most unpropitious time, certainly,--and yet +it enchanted our whole company; what is more, it made us all cry--a +fact of which I am not ashamed, yet. But, only the next day, when I +was expressing my admiration to an artist, who is one of the +authorities, and knows all that is proper to be admired, I was met +with,-- + +"O, you have seen that, have you? Shocking thing! Miserable +taste--miserable!" + +"Dear me," said I, with apprehension, "what is the matter with it?" + +"0," said he, "melodramatic, melodramatic--terribly so!" + +I was so appalled by this word, of whose meaning I had not a very +clear idea, that I dropped the defence at once, and determined to +reconsider my tears. To have been actually made to cry by a thing that +was melodramatic, was a distressing consideration. Seriously, however, +on reconsidering the objection, I see no sense in it. A thing may be +melodramatic, or any other _atic_ that a man pleases; so that it +be strongly suggestive, poetic, pathetic, it has a right to its own +peculiar place in the world of art. If artists had had their way in +the creation of this world, there would have been only two or three +kinds of things in it; the first three or four things that God created +would have been enacted into fixed rules for making all the rest. + +But they let the works of nature alone, because they know there is no +hope for them, and content themselves with enacting rules in +literature and art, which make all the perfection and grace of the +past so many impassable barriers to progress in future. Because the +ancients kept to unity of idea in their groups, and attained to most +beautiful results by doing so, shall no modern make an antithesis in +marble? And why has not a man a right to dramatize in marble as well +as on canvas, if he can produce a powerful and effective result by so +doing? And even if by being melodramatic, as the terrible word is, he +can shadow forth a grand and comforting religious idea--if he can +unveil to those who have seen only the desolation of death, its glory, +and its triumph--who shall say that he may not do so because he +violates the lines of some old Greek artist? Where would Shakspeare's +dramas have been, had he studied the old dramatic unities? + +So, you see, like an obstinate republican, as I am, I defend my right +to have my own opinion about this monument, albeit the guide book, +with its usual diplomatic caution, says, "It is in very questionable +taste." + +We went for our dinner to the White Hart, the very inn which +Shakspeare celebrates in his Merry Wives, and had a most overflowing, +merry time of it. The fact is, we had not seen each other for so long +that to be in each other's company for a whole day was quite a +stimulant. + +After dinner we had a beautiful drive, passing the colleges at Eton, +and seeing the boys out playing cricket; had an excellent opportunity +to think how true Gray's poem on the Prospect of Eton is to boy-nature +then, now, and forever. We were bent upon looking up the church which +gave rise to his Elegy in a Country Churchyard, intending, when we got +there, to have a little scene over it; Mr. S., in all the conscious +importance of having been there before, assuring us that he knew +exactly where it was. So, after some difficulty with our coachman, and +being stopped at one church which would not answer our purpose in any +respect, we were at last set down by one which looked authentic; +embowered in mossy elms, with a most ancient and goblin yew tree, an +ivy-mantled tower, all perfect as could be. + +There had been a sprinkle of rain,--an ornament which few English days +want,--and the westering beams of the sun twinkled through innumerable +drops. In fact, it was a pretty place; and I felt such "dispositions +to melancholies," as Sir Hugh Evans would have it, that I half +resented Mr. S.'s suggestion that the cars were waiting. However, as +he was engaged to speak at a peace meeting in London, it was agreed he +should leave us there to stroll, while he took the cars. So away he +went; and we, leaning on the old fence, repeated the Elegy, which +certainly applies here as beautifully as language could apply. + +What a calm, shady, poetical nature is expressed in these lines! Gray +seems to have been sent into the world for nothing but to be a poem, +like some of those fabulous, shadowy beings which haunted the cool +grottoes on Grecian mountains; creatures that seem to have no +practical vitality--to be only a kind of voice, an echo, heard for a +little, and then lost in silence. He seemed to be in himself a kind of +elegy. + +From thence we strolled along, enjoying the beautiful rural scenery. +Having had a kind invitation to visit Labouchère Park that day, which +we were obliged to decline for want of time, we were pleased to +discover that we had two more hours, in which we could easily +accomplish a stroll there. By a most singular infelicity, our party +became separated; and, misunderstanding each other, we remained +waiting for W. till it was too late for us to go, while he, on the +other hand, supposing us to have walked before him, was redoubling his +speed all the while, hoping to overtake us. In consequence of this, he +accomplished the walk to Labouchère Park, and we waited in the dismal +depot till it was too late to wait any longer, and finally went into +London without him. + +After all, imagine our chagrin on being informed that we had not been +to the genuine churchyard. The gentleman who wept over the scenes of +his early days on the wrong doorstep was not more grievously +disappointed. However, he and we could both console ourselves with the +reflection that the emotion was admirable, and wanted only the right +place to make it the most appropriate in the world. The genuine +country churchyard, however, was that at Stoke Pogis, which we should +have seen had not the fates forbidden our going to Labouchère Park. + + + + +LETTER XXIII. + +DEAR SISTER:-- + +The evening after our return from Windsor was spent with our kind +friends, Mr. and Mrs. Gurney. Mr. Gurney is rector of Mary-le-Bone +parish, one of the largest districts in London; and he is, I have been +told, one of the court chaplains; a man of the most cultivated and +agreeable manners, earnestly and devoutly engaged in the business of +his calling. As one of the working men of the church establishment, I +felt a strong interest in his views and opinions, and he seemed to +take no less interest in mine, as coming from a country where there is +and can be no church establishment. He asked many questions about +America; the general style of our preaching; the character of our +theology; our modes of religious action; our revivals of religion; our +theories of sudden and instantaneous conversion, as distinguished from +the gradual conversion of education; our temperance societies, and the +stand taken by our clergy in behalf of temperance. + +He wished to know how the English style of preaching appeared to me in +comparison with that of America. I told him one principal difference +that struck me was, that the English preaching did not recognize the +existence of any element of inquiry or doubt in the popular mind; that +it treated certain truths as axioms, which only needed to be stated to +be believed; whereas in American sermons there is always more or less +time employed in explaining, proving, and answering objections to, the +truths enforced. I quoted Baptist Noel's sermon in illustration of +what I meant. + +I asked him to what extent the element of scepticism, with regard to +religious truth, had pervaded the mind of England? adding that I had +inferred its existence there from such novels as those of Kingsley. He +thought that there was much of this element, particularly in the +working classes; that they were coming to regard the clergy with +suspicion, and to be less under their influence than in former times; +and said it was a matter of much solicitude to know how to reach them. + +I told him that I had heard an American clergyman, who had travelled +in England, say, that dissenters were treated much as free negroes +were in America, and added that my experience must have been very +exceptional, or the remark much overstated, as I had met dissenting +clergymen in all circles of society. He admitted that there might be a +good deal of bigotry in this respect, but added that the infrequency +of association was more the result of those circumstances which would +naturally draw the two parties to themselves, than to superciliousness +on the side of the establishment, adding that where a court and +aristocracy were in the established church, there would necessarily be +a pressure of fashion in its favor, which might at times bring +uncomfortable results. + +The children were sitting by studying their evening lessons, and I +begged Mrs. Gurney to allow me to look over their geographies and +atlases; and on her inquiring why, I told her that well-informed +people in England sometimes made such unaccountable mistakes about the +geography of our country as were quite surprising to me, and that I +did not understand how it was that our children should know so much +more about England than they about us. I found the children, however, +in possession of a very excellent and authentic map of our country. I +must say also that the most highly educated people I have met in +England have never betrayed any want of information on this subject. + +The next morning we had at breakfast two clergymen, members of the +established church. They appeared to be most excellent, devout, +practical men, anxious to do good, and thoughtfully seeking for +suggestions from any quarter which might assist them in their labors. +They renewed many of the inquiries which Mr. Gurney had made the +evening before. + +After breakfast I went with Mr. Gurney and Mr. S. to Richmond's studio +to sit for a likeness, which is to be presented to Mr. S. by several +friends. Richmond's name is one which in this London sphere has only +to be announced to explain itself; not to know him argues yourself +unknown. He is one of the most successful artists in a certain line of +portrait painting that the present day affords. He devotes himself +principally to crayon and water-color sketches. His crayon heads are +generally the size of life; his water-colors of a small size. He often +takes full-lengths in this way, which render not merely the features, +but the figure, air, manner, and what is characteristic about the +dress. These latter sketches are finished up very highly, with the +minuteness of a miniature. His forte consists in seizing and fixing +those fleeting traits of countenance, air, and movement, which go so +far towards making up our idea of a person's appearance. Many of the +engravings of distinguished persons, with which we are familiar, have +come from his designs, such as Wilberforce, Sir Powell Buxton, +Elizabeth Fry, and others. I found his studio quite a gallery of +notabilities, almost all the _distingués_ of the day having sat +to him; so I certainly had the satisfaction of feeling myself in good +company. Mr. Richmond looks quite youthful, (but I never can judge of +any one's age here,) is most agreeable in conversation, full of +anecdote in regard to all the moving life of London. I presume his +power of entertaining conversation is one secret of his successful +likenesses. Some portrait painters keep calling on you for expression +all the while, and say nothing in the world to awaken it. + +From Richmond's, Mr. S., C., and I drove out to call upon Kossuth. We +found him in an obscure lodging on the outskirts of London. I would +that some of the editors in America, who have thrown out insinuations +about his living in luxury, could have seen the utter bareness and +plainness of the reception room, which had nothing in it beyond the +simplest necessaries. Here dwells the man whose greatest fault is an +undying love of his country. We all know that if Kossuth would have +taken wealth and a secure retreat, with a life of ease for himself, +America would gladly have laid all these at his feet. But because he +could not acquiesce in the unmerited dishonor of his country, he lives +a life of obscurity, poverty, and labor. All this was written in his +pale, worn face, and sad, thoughtful blue eye. But to me the unselfish +patriot is more venerable for his poverty and his misfortunes. + +Have we, among the thousands who speak loud of patriotism in America, +many men, who, were she enfeebled, despised, and trampled, would +forego self, and suffer as long, as patiently for her? It is even +easier to die for a good cause, in some hour of high enthusiasm, when +all that is noblest in us can be roused to one great venture, than to +live for it amid wearing years of discouragement and hope delayed. + +There are those even here in England who delight to get up slanders +against Kossuth, and not long ago some most unfounded charges were +thrown out against him in some public prints. By way of counterpoise +an enthusiastic public meeting was held, in which he was presented +with a splendid set of Shakspeare. + +He entered into conversation with us with cheerfulness, speaking +English well, though with the idioms of foreign languages. He seemed +quite amused at the sensation which had been excited by Mr. S.'s +cotton speech in Exeter Hall. C. asked him if he had still hopes for +his cause. He answered, "I hope still, because I work still; my hope +is in God and in man." + +I inquired for Madame Kossuth, and he answered, "I have not yet seen +her to-day," adding, "she has her family affairs, you know, madam; we +are poor exiles here;" and, fearing to cause embarrassment, I did not +press an interview. + +When we parted he took my hand kindly, and said, "God bless you, my +child." + +I would not lose my faith in such men for any thing the world could +give me. There are some people who involve in themselves so many of +the elements which go to make up our confidence in human nature +generally, that to lose confidence in them seems to undermine our +faith in human virtue. As Shakspeare says, their defection would be +like "another fall of man." + +We went back to Mr. Gurney's to lunch, and then, as the afternoon was +fine, Mr. and Mrs. Gurney drove with us in their carriage to Pembroke +Lodge, the country seat of Lord John Russell. It was an uncommonly +beautiful afternoon, and the view from Richmond Hill was as perfect a +specimen of an English landscape, seen under the most benignant +auspices, as we could hope to enjoy. Orchards, gardens, villas, +charming meadows enamelled with flowers, the silver windings of the +Thames, the luxuriant outlines of the foliage, varied here and there +by the graceful perpendicular of the poplars, all formed one of the +richest of landscapes. The brow of the hill is beautifully laid out +with tufts of trees, winding paths, diversified here and there with +arbors and rustic seats. + +Richmond Park is adorned with clumps of ancient trees, among which +troops of deer were strolling. Pembroke Lodge is a plain, +unostentatious building, rising in the midst of charming grounds. We +were received in the drawing room by the young ladies, and were sorry +to learn that Lady Russell was so unwell as to be unable to give us +her company at dinner. Two charming little boys came in, and a few +moments after, their father, Lord John. I had been much pleased with +finding on the centre table a beautiful edition of that revered friend +of my childhood, Dr. Watts's Divine Songs, finely illustrated. I +remarked to Lord John that it was the face of an old friend. He said +it was presented to his little boys by their godfather, Sir George +Grey; and when, taking one of the little boys on his knee, he asked +him if he could repeat me one of his hymns, the whole thing seemed so +New England-like that I began to feel myself quite at home. I hope I +shall some day see in America an edition of Dr. Watts, in which the +illustrations do as much justice to the author's sentiments as in +this, for in all our modern religious works for children there is +nothing that excels these divine songs. + +There were only a few guests; among them Sir George Grey and lady; he +is nephew to Earl Grey, of reform memory, and she is the eldest +daughter of the pious and learned Bishop Ryder, of Lichfield. Sir +George is a man of great piety and worth, a liberal, and much +interested in all benevolent movements. There was also the Earl of +Albemarle, who is a colonel in the army, and has served many years +under Wellington, a particularly cheerful, entertaining, conversable +man, full of anecdote. He told several very characteristic and comical +stories about the Duke of Wellington. + +At dinner, among other things, the conversation turned upon hunting. +It always seemed to me a curious thing, that in the height of English +civilization this vestige of the savage state should still remain. I +told Lord Albemarle that I thought the idea of a whole concourse of +strong men turning out to hunt a poor fox or hare, creatures so feeble +and insignificant, and who can do nothing to defend themselves, was +hardly consistent with manliness; that if they had some of our +American buffaloes, or a Bengal tiger, the affair would be something +more dignified and generous. Thereupon they only laughed, and told +stories about fox hunters. It seems that killing a fox, except in the +way of hunting, is deemed among hunters an unpardonable offence, and a +man who has the misfortune to do it would be almost as unwilling to +let it be known as if he had killed a man. + +They also told about deer stalking in the highlands, in which exercise +I inferred Lord John had been a proficient. The conversation reminded +me of the hunting stories I had heard in the log cabins in Indiana, +and I amused myself with thinking how some of the narrators would +appear among my high-bred friends. There is such a quaint vivacity and +droll-cry about that half-savage western life, as always gives it a +charm in my recollection. I thought of the jolly old hunter who always +concluded the operations of the day by discharging his rifle at his +candle after he had snugly ensconced himself in bed; and of the +celebrated scene in which Henry Clay won an old hunter's vote in an +election, by his aptness in turning into a political simile some +points in the management of a rifle. + +Now there is, to my mind, something infinitely more sublime about +hunting in real earnest amid the solemn shadows of our interminable +forests, than in making believe hunt in parks. + +It is undoubtedly the fact, that these out-of-door sports of England +have a great deal to do with the firm health which men here enjoy. +Speaking of this subject, I could not help expressing my surprise to +Lord John at the apparently perfect health enjoyed by members of +Parliament, notwithstanding their protracted night labors. He thinks +that the session of Parliament this year will extend nearly to August. +Speaking of breakfasts, he said they often had delightful breakfasts +about three o'clock in the day; this is a total reverse of all our +ideas in regard to time. + +After dinner Lord and Lady Ribblesdale came in, connections of Lord +John by a former marriage. I sat by Lord John on the sofa, and +listened with great interest to a conversation between him and Lady +Grey, on the working of the educational system in England; a subject +which has particularly engaged the attention of the English government +since the reign of the present queen. I found a difficulty in +understanding many of the terms they used, though I learned much that +interested me. + +After a while I went to Lady Russell's apartment, and had an hour of +very pleasant conversation with her. It greatly enlarges our +confidence in human nature to find such identity of feeling and +opinion among the really good of different countries, and of all +different circles in those countries. I have never been more impressed +with this idea than during my sojourn here in England. Different as +the institutions of England and America are, they do not prevent the +formation of a very general basis of agreement in so far as radical +ideas of practical morality and religion are concerned; and I am +increasingly certain that there is a foundation for a lasting unity +between the two countries which shall increase constantly, as the +increasing facilities of communication lessen the distance between us. + +Lady Russell inquired with a good deal of interest after Prescott, our +historian, and expressed the pleasure which she and Lord John had +derived from his writings. + +We left early, after a most agreeable evening. The next day at eleven +o'clock we went to an engagement at Lambeth Palace, where we had been +invited by a kind note from its venerable master, the Archbishop of +Canterbury. Lambeth is a stately pile of quaint, antique buildings, +rising most magnificently on the banks of the Thames. It is surrounded +by beautiful grounds, laid out with choice gardening. Through an +ancient hall, lighted by stained-glass windows, we were ushered into +the drawing room, where the guests were assembling. There was quite a +number of people there, among others the lady and eldest son of the +Bishop of London, the Earl and Countess Waldegrave, and the family +friends of the archbishop. + +The good archbishop was kind and benign, as usual, and gave me his arm +while we explored the curiosities of the palace. Now, my dear, if you +will please to recollect that the guide book says, "this palace +contains all the gradations of architecture from early English to late +perpendicular," you will certainly not expect me to describe it in one +letter. It has been the residence of the archbishops of Canterbury +from time immemorial, both in the days before the reformation and +since. + +The chapel was built between the years 1200 and 1300, and there used +to be painted windows in it, as Archbishop Laud says, which contained +the whole history of the world, from the creation to the day of +judgment. Unfortunately these comprehensive windows were destroyed in +the civil wars. + +The part called the Lollards' Tower is celebrated as having been the +reputed prison of the Lollards. These Lollards, perhaps you will +remember, were the followers of John Wickliffe, called Lollards as +Christ was called a "Nazarene," simply because the word was a term of +reproach. Wickliffe himself was summoned here to Lambeth to give an +account of his teachings, and in 1382, William Courtnay, Archbishop of +Canterbury, called a council, which condemned his doctrines. The +tradition is, that at various times these Lollards were imprisoned +here. + +In order to get to the tower we had to go through a great many +apartments, passages, and corridors, and terminate all by climbing a +winding staircase, steeper and narrower than was at all desirable for +any but wicked heretics, who ought to be made as uncomfortable as +possible. However, by reasonable perseverance, the archbishop, the +bishop's lady, and all the noble company present found themselves +safely at the top. Our host remarked, I think, that it was the second +time he had ever been there. + +The room is thirteen feet by twelve, and about eight feet high, +wainscotted with oak, which is scrawled over with names and +inscriptions. There are eight large iron rings in the wall, to which +the prisoners were chained; for aught we know, Wickliffe himself may +have been one. As our kind host moved about among us with his placid +face, we could not but think that times had altered since the days +when archbishops used to imprison heretics, and preside over grim, +inquisitorial tribunals. We all agreed, however, that, considering the +very beautiful prospect this tower commands up and down the Thames, +the poor Lollards in some respects might have been worse lodged. + +We passed through the guard room, library, and along a corridor where +hung a row of pictures of all the archbishops from the very earliest +times; and then the archbishop took me into his study, which is a most +charming room, containing his own private library: after that we all +sat down to lunch in a large dining hall. I was seated between the +archbishop and a venerable admiral in the navy. Among other things, +the latter asked me if there were not many railroad and steamboat +accidents in America. O my countrymen, what trouble do you make us in +foreign lands by your terrible carelessness! I was obliged, in candor, +to say that I thought there was a shocking number of accidents of that +sort, and suggested the best excuse I could think of--our youth and +inexperience; but I certainly thought my venerable friend had touched +a very indefensible point. + +Among other topics discussed in the drawing room, I heard some more +_on dits_ respecting spiritual rappings. Every body seems to be +wondering what they are, and what they are going to amount to. + +We took leave of our kind host and his family, gratefully impressed +with the simplicity and sincere cordiality of our reception. There are +many different names for goodness in this world; but, after all, true +brotherly kindness and charity is much the same thing, whether it show +itself by a Quaker's fireside or in an archbishop's palace. + +Leaving the archbishop's I went to Richmond's again, where I was most +agreeably entertained for an hour or two. We have an engagement for +Playford Hall to-morrow, and we breakfast with Joseph Sturge: it being +now the time of the yearly meeting of the Friends, he and his family +are in town. + + + + +LETTER XXIV. + +MY DEAR S.:-- + +The next morning C. and I took the cars to go into the country, to +Playford Hall. "And what's Playford Hall?" you say. "And why did you +go to see it?" As to what it is, here is a reasonably good picture +before you. As to why, it was for many years the residence of Thomas +Clarkson, and is now the residence of his venerable widow and her +family. + +Playford Hall is considered, I think, the oldest of the fortified +houses in England, and is, I am told, the only one that has water in +the moat. The water which is seen girdling the wall, in the picture, +is the moat: it surrounds the place entirely, leaving no access except +across the bridge, which is here represented. + +After crossing this bridge, you come into a green court yard filled +with choice plants and flowering shrubs, and carpeted with that thick, +soft, velvet-like grass which is to be found nowhere else in so +perfect a state as in England. + +The water is fed by a perpetual spring, whose current is so sluggish +as scarcely to be perceptible, but which yet has the vitality of a +running stream. + +It has a dark and glassy stillness of surface, only broken by the +forms of the water plants, whose leaves float thickly over it. + +The walls of the moat are green with ancient moss, and from the +crevices springs an abundant flowering vine, whose delicate leaves and +bright yellow flowers in some places entirely mantle the stones with +their graceful drapery. + +[Illustration: _of Playford Hall._] + +The picture I have given you represents only one side of the moat. The +other side is grown up with dark and thick shrubbery and ancient +trees, rising and embowering the entire place, adding to the retired +and singular effect of the whole. The place is a specimen of a sort of +thing which does not exist in America. It is one of those significant +landmarks which unite the present with the past, for which we must +return to the country of our origin. + +Playford Hall is peculiarly English, and Thomas Clarkson, for whose +sake I visited it, was as peculiarly an Englishman--a specimen of the +very best kind of English mind and character, as this is of +characteristic English architecture. + +We Anglo-Saxons have won a hard name in the world. There are +undoubtedly bad things which are true about us. + +Taking our developments as a race, both in England and America, we may +be justly called the Romans of the nineteenth century. We have been +the race which has conquered, subdued, and broken in pieces other +weaker races, with little regard either to justice or mercy. With +regard to benefits by us imparted to conquered nations, I think a +better story, on the whole, can be made out for the Romans than for +us. Witness the treatment of the Chinese, of the tribes of India, and +of our own American Indians. + +But still there is in Anglo-Saxon blood, a vigorous sense of justice, +as appears in our habeas corpus, our jury trials, and other features +of state organization; and, when this is tempered, in individuals, +with the elements of gentleness and compassion, and enforced by that +energy and indomitable perseverance which are characteristic of the +Anglo-Saxon mind, they form a style of philanthropy peculiarly +efficient. In short, the Anglo-Saxon is efficient, in whatever he sets +himself about, whether in crushing the weak or lifting them up. + +Thomas Clarkson was born in a day when good, pious people imported +cargoes of slaves from Africa, as one of the regular Christianized +modes of gaining a subsistence and providing for themselves and their +households. It was a thing that every body was doing, and every body +thought they had a right to do. It was supposed that all the sugar, +molasses, and rum in the world were dependent on stealing men, women, +and children, and could be got in no other way; and as to consume +sugar, molasses, and rum, were evidently the chief ends of human +existence, it followed that men, women, and children must be stolen to +the end of time. + +Some good people, when they now and then heard an appalling story of +the cruelties practised in the slave ship, declared that it was really +too bad, sympathetically remarked, "What a sorrowful world we live +in!" stirred their sugar into their tea, and went on as before, +because, what was there to do?--"Hadn't every body always done it? and +if they didn't do it, wouldn't somebody else?" + +It is true that for many years individuals at different times had +remonstrated, written treatises, poems, stories, and movements had +been made by some religious bodies, particularly the Quakers, but the +opposition had amounted to nothing practically efficient. + +The attention of Clarkson was first turned to the subject by having it +given out as the theme for a prize composition in his college class, +he being at that time a sprightly young man, about twenty-four years +of age. He entered into the investigation with no other purpose than +to see what he could make of it as a college theme. + +He says of himself, "I had expected pleasure from the invention of +arguments, from the arrangement of them, from the putting of them +together, and from the thought, in the interim, that I was engaged in +an innocent contest for literary honor; but all my pleasures were +damped by the facts which were now continually before me." + +"It was but one gloomy subject from morning till night; in the daytime +I was uneasy, in the night I had little rest; I sometimes never closed +my eyelids for grief." + +It became not now so much a trial for academical reputation as to +write a work which should be useful to Africa. It is not surprising +that a work written under the force of such feelings should have +gained the prize, as it did. Clarkson was summoned from London to +Cambridge, to deliver his prize essay publicly. He says of himself, on +returning to London, "The subject of it almost wholly engrossed my +thoughts. I became at times very seriously affected while on the road. +I stopped my horse occasionally, dismounted, and walked." + +"I frequently tried to persuade myself that the contents of my essay +could not be true; but the more I reflected on the authorities on +which they were founded, the more I gave them credit. Coming in sight +of Wade's Mill, in Hertfordshire, I sat down disconsolate on the turf +by the roadside, and held my horse. Here a thought came into my mind, +that if the contents of the essay were true, it was time that somebody +should see these calamities to an end." + +These reflections, as it appears, were put off for a while, but +returned again. + +This young and noble heart was of a kind that could not comfort itself +so easily for a brother's sorrow as many do. + +He says of himself, "In the course of the autumn of the same year, I +walked frequently into the woods, that I might think of the subject in +solitude, and find relief to my mind there; but there the question +still recurred, 'Are these things true?' Still, the answer followed as +instantaneously, 'They are;' still the result accompanied it--surely +some person should interfere. I began to envy those who had seats in +Parliament, riches, and widely-extended connections, which would +enable them to take up this cause. + +"Finding scarcely any one, at the time, who thought of it, I was +turned frequently to myself; but here many difficulties arose. It +struck me, among others, that a young man only twenty-four years of +age could not have that solid judgment, or that knowledge of men, +manners, and things, which were requisite to qualify him to undertake +a task of such magnitude and importance; and with whom was I to unite? +I believed, also, that it looked so much like one of the feigned +labors of Hercules, that my understanding would be suspected if I +proposed it." + +He, however, resolved to do something for the cause by translating his +essay from Latin into English, enlarging and presenting it to the +public. Immediately on the publication of this essay he discovered, to +his astonishment and delight, that he was not the only one who had +been interested in this subject. + +Being invited to the house of William Dillwyn, one of these friends to +the cause, he says, "How surprised was I to learn, in the course of +our conversation, of the labors of Granville Sharp, of the writings of +Ramsey, and of the controversy in which the latter was engaged! of all +which I had hitherto known nothing. How surprised was I to learn that +William Dillwyn had, two years before, associated himself with five +others for the purpose of enlightening the public mind on this great +subject! + +"How astonished was I to find that a society had been formed in +America for the same object! These thoughts almost overpowered me. My +mind was overwhelmed by the thought that I had been providentially +directed to this house; the finger of Providence was beginning to be +discernible, and that the daystar of African liberty was rising." + +After this he associated with many friends of the cause, and at last +it became evident that, in order to effect any thing, he must +sacrifice all other prospects in life, and devote himself exclusively +to this work. + +He says, after mentioning reasons which prevented all his associates +from doing this, "I could look, therefore, to no person but myself; +and the question was, whether I was prepared to make the sacrifice. In +favor of the undertaking, I urged to myself that never was any cause, +which had been taken up by man, in any country or in any age, so great +and important; that never was there one in which so much misery was +heard to cry for redress; that never was there one in which so much +good could be done; never one in which the duty of Christian charity +could be so extensively exercised; never one more worthy of the +devotion of a whole life towards it; and that, if a man thought +properly, he ought to rejoice to have been called into existence, if +he were only permitted to become an instrument in forwarding it in any +part of its progress. + +"Against these sentiments, on the other hand, I had to urge that I had +been designed for the church; that I had already advanced as far as +deacon's orders in it; that my prospects there on account of my +connections were then brilliant; that, by appearing to desert my +profession, my family would be dissatisfied, if not unhappy. These +thoughts pressed upon me, and rendered the conflict difficult. + +"But the sacrifice of my prospects staggered me, I own, the most. When +the other objections which I have related occurred to me, my +enthusiasm instantly, like a flash of lightning, consumed them; but +this stuck to me, and troubled me. I had ambition. I had a thirst +after worldly interest and honors, and I could not extinguish it at +once. I was more than two hours in solitude under this painful +conflict. At length I yielded, not because I saw any reasonable +prospect of success in my new undertaking,--for all cool-headed and +cool-hearted men would have pronounced against it,--but in obedience, +I believe, to a higher Power. And I can say, that both on the moment +of this resolution and for some time afterwards, I had more sublime +and happy feelings than at any former period of my life." + +In order to show how this enterprise was looked upon and talked of +very commonly by the majority of men in those times, we will extract +the following passage from Boswell's Life of Johnson, in which Bozzy +thus enters his solemn protest: "The wild and dangerous attempt, which +has for some time been persisted in, to obtain an act of our +legislature to abolish so very important and necessary a branch of +commercial interest, must have been crushed at once, had not the +insignificance of the zealots, who vainly took the lead in it, made +the vast body of planters, merchants, and others, whose immense +properties are involved in that trade, reasonably enough suppose that +there could be no danger. The encouragement which the attempt has +received excites my wonder and indignation; and though some men of +superior abilities have supported it, whether from a love of temporary +popularity when prosperous, or a love of general mischief when +desperate, my opinion is unshaken. + +"To abolish a _status_ which in all ages God has sanctioned, and +man has continued, would not only be robbery to an innumerable class +of our fellow-subjects, but it would be extreme cruelty to the African +savages, a portion of whom it saves from massacre or intolerable +bondage in their own country, and introduces into a much happier state +of life; especially now, when their passage to the West Indies, and +their treatment there, is humanely regulated. To abolish this trade +would be to '--shut the gates of mercy on mankind.'" + +One of the first steps of Clarkson and his associates was the +formation of a committee of twelve persons, for the collection and +dissemination of information on the subject. + +The contest now began in earnest, a contest as sublime as any the +world ever saw. + +The abolition controversy more fully aroused the virtue, the talent, +and the religion of the great English nation, than any other event or +crisis which ever occurred. + +Wilberforce was the leader of the question in Parliament. The other +members of the antislavery committee performed those labors which were +necessary out of it. + +This labor consisted principally in the collection of evidence with +regard to the traffic, and the presentation of it before the public +mind. In this labor Clarkson was particularly engaged. The subject was +hemmed in with the same difficulties that now beset the antislavery +cause in America. Those who knew most about it were precisely those +whose interest it was to prevent inquiry. An immense moneyed interest +was arrayed against investigation, and was determined to suppress the +agitation of the subject. Owing to this powerful pressure, many, who +were in possession of facts which would bear upon this subject, +refused to communicate them; and often, after a long and wearisome +journey in search of an individual who could throw light upon the +subject, Clarkson had the mortification to find his lips sealed by +interest or timidity. As usual, the cause of oppression was defended +by the most impudent lying; the slave trade was asserted to be the +latest revised edition of philanthropy. It was said that the poor +African, the slave of miserable oppression in his own country, was +wafted by it to an asylum in a Christian land; that the middle passage +was to the poor negro a perfect Elysium, infinitely happier than any +thing he had ever known in his own country. All this was said while +manacles, and handcuffs, and thumbscrews, and instruments to force +open the mouth, were a regular part of the stock for a slave ship, and +were hanging in the shop windows of Liverpool for sale. + +For Clarkson's attention was first called to these things by observing +them in the shop window, and on inquiring the use of one of them, the +man informed him that many times negroes were sulky, and tried to +starve themselves to death, and this instrument was used to force open +their jaws. + +Of Clarkson's labor in this investigation some idea may be gathered +from his own words, when, stating that for a season he was compelled +to retire from the cause, he thus speaks:-- + +"As far as I myself was concerned, all exertion was then over. The +nervous system was almost shattered to pieces. Both my memory and my +hearing failed me. Sudden dizzinesses seized my head. A confused +singing in the ear followed me wherever I went. On going to bed the +very stairs seemed to dance up and down under me, so that, misplacing +my foot, I sometimes fell. Talking, too, if it continued but half an +hour, exhausted me so that profuse perspiration followed, and the same +effect was produced even by an active exertion of the mind for the +like time. + +"These disorders had been brought on by degrees, in consequence of the +severe labors necessarily attached to the promotion of the cause. For +seven years I had a correspondence to maintain with four hundred +persons, with my own hand; I had some book or other annually to write +in behalf of the cause. In this time I had travelled more than thirty-five +thousand miles in search of evidence, and a great part of these journeys +in the night. All this time my mind had been on the stretch. It had been +bent, too, to this one subject, for I had not even leisure to attend to my +own concerns. The various instances of barbarity which had come +successively to my knowledge, within this period, had vexed, harassed, +and afflicted it. The wound which these had produced was rendered still +deeper by those cruel disappointments before related, which arose from +the reiterated refusals of persons to give their testimony, after I had +travelled hundreds of miles in quest of them. But the severest stroke was +that inflicted by the persecution, begun and pursued by persons interested +in the continuance of the trade, of such witnesses as had been examined +against them, and whom, on account of their dependent situation in life, +it was most easy to oppress. As I had been the means of bringing these +forward on these occasions, they naturally came to me, when thus +persecuted, as the author of their miseries and their ruin. From their +supplications and wants it would have been ungenerous and ungrateful +to have fled. These different circumstances, by acting together, had at +length brought me into the situation just mentioned; and I was, therefore, +obliged, though very reluctantly, to be borne out of the field where I had +placed the great honor and glory of my life." + +I may as well add here that a Mr. Whitbread, to whom Clarkson +mentioned this latter cause of distress, generously offered to repair +the pecuniary losses of all who had suffered in this cause. One +anecdote will be a specimen of the energy with which Clarkson pursued +evidence. It had been very strenuously asserted and maintained that +the subjects of the slave trade were only such unfortunates as had +become prisoners of war, and who, if not carried out of the country in +this manner, would be exposed to death or some more dreadful doom in +their own country. This was one of those stories which nobody +believed, and yet was particularly useful in the hands of the +opposition, because it was difficult legally to disprove it. It was +perfectly well known that in very many cases slave traders made direct +incursions into the country, kidnapped and carried off the inhabitants +of whole villages; but the question was, how to establish it. A +gentleman whom Clarkson accidentally met on one of his journeys +informed him that he had been in company, about a year before, with a +sailor, a very respectable-looking young man, who had actually been +engaged in one of these expeditions; he had spent half an hour with +him at an inn; he described his person, but knew nothing of his name +or the place of his abode; all he knew was, that he belonged to a ship +of war in ordinary, but knew nothing of the port. Clarkson determined +that this man should be produced as a witness, and knew no better way +than to go personally to all the ships in ordinary, until the +individual was found. He actually visited every seaport town, and +boarded every ship, till in the very _last_ port, and on the very +_last_ ship, which remained, the individual was found, and found +to be possessed of just the facts and information which were +necessary. By the labors of Clarkson and his contemporaries an +incredible excitement was produced throughout all England. The +pictures and models of slave ships, accounts of the cruelties +practised in the trade, were circulated with an industry which left +not a man, woman, or child in England uninstructed. In disseminating +information, and in awakening feeling and conscience, the women of +England were particularly earnest, and labored with that whole-hearted +devotion which characterizes the sex. + +It seems that after the committee had published the facts, and sent +them to every town in England, Clarkson followed them up by journeying +to all the places, to see that they were read and attended to. Of the +state of feeling at this time Clarkson gives the following account:-- + +"And first I may observe, that there was no town through which I +passed in which there was not some one individual who had left off the +use of sugar. In the smaller towns there were from ten to fifty, by +estimation, and in the larger from two to five hundred, who made this +sacrifice to virtue. These were of all ranks and parties. Hich and +poor, churchmen and dissenters, had adopted the measure. Even grocers +had left off trading in the article in some places. In gentlemen's +families, where the master had set the example, the servants had often +voluntarily followed it; and even children, who were capable of +understanding the history of the sufferings of the Africans, excluded, +with the most virtuous resolution, the sweets, to which they had been +accustomed, from their lips. By the best computation I was able to +make, from notes taken down in my journey, no fewer than three hundred +thousand persons had abandoned the use of sugar." It was the reality, +depth, and earnestness of the public feeling, thus aroused, which +pressed with resistless force upon the government; for the government +of England yields to popular demands quite as readily as that of +America. + +After years of protracted struggle, the victory was at last won. The +slave trade was finally abolished through all the British empire; and +not only so, but the English nation committed, with the whole force of +its national influence, to seek the abolition of the slave trade in +all the nations of the earth. But the wave of feeling did not rest +there; the investigations had brought before the English conscience +the horrors and abominations of slavery itself, and the agitation +never ceased till slavery was finally abolished through all the +British provinces. At this time the religious mind and conscience of +England gained, through this very struggle, a power which it never has +lost. The principle adopted by them was the same so sublimely adopted +by the church in America in reference to the foreign missionary cause: +"The field is the world." They saw and felt that, as the example and +practice of England had been powerful in giving sanction to this evil, +and particularly in introducing it into America, there was the +greatest reason why she should never intermit her efforts till the +wrong was righted throughout the earth. + +Clarkson, to his last day, never ceased to be interested in the +subject, and took the warmest interest in all movements for the +abolition of slavery in America. + +At the Ipswich depot we were met by a venerable lady, the daughter of +Clarkson's associate, William Dillwyn. She seemed overjoyed to meet +us, and took us at once into her carriage, and entertained us all our +way to the hall by anecdotes and incidents of Clarkson and his times. +She read me a manuscript letter from him, written at a very advanced +age, in which he speaks with the utmost ardor and enthusiasm of the +first antislavery movements of Cassius M. Clay in Kentucky. She +described him to me as a cheerful, companionable being, frank and +simple-hearted, and with a good deal of quiet humor. + +It is remarkable of him that, with such intense feeling for human +suffering as he had, and worn down and exhausted as he was by the +dreadful miseries and sorrows with which he was constantly obliged to +be familiar, he never yielded to a spirit of bitterness or +denunciation. + +The narrative which he gives is as calm and unimpassioned, and as free +from any trait of this kind, as the narratives of the evangelists. +Thus riding and talking, we at last arrived at the hall. + +The old stone house, the moat, the draw bridge, all spoke of days of +violence long gone by, when no man was safe except within fortified +walls, and every man's house literally had to be his castle. + +To me it was interesting as the dwelling of a conqueror, as one who +had not wrestled with flesh and blood merely, but with principalities +and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and who had +overcome, as his great Master did before him, by faith, and prayer, +and labor. + +We were received with much cordiality by the widow of Clarkson, now in +her eighty-fourth year. She has been a woman of great energy and +vigor, and an efficient co-laborer in his plans of benevolence. + +She is now quite feeble. I was placed under the care of a respectable +female servant, who forthwith installed me in a large chamber +overlooking the court yard, which had been Clarkson's own room; the +room where, for years, many of his most important labors had been +conducted, and from whence his soul had ascended to the reward of the +just. + +The servant who attended me seemed to be quite a superior woman, like +many of the servants in respectable English families. She had grown up +in the family, and was identified with it; its ruling aims and +purposes had become hers. She had been the personal attendant of +Clarkson, and his nurse during his last sickness; she had evidently +understood, and been interested in his plans; and the veneration with +which she therefore spoke of him had the sanction of intelligent +appreciation. + +A daughter of Clarkson, who was married to a neighboring clergyman, +with her husband, was also present on this day. + +After dinner we rode out to see the old church, in whose enclosure the +remains of Clarkson repose. It was just such a still, quiet, mossy old +church as you have read of in story books, with the graveyard spread +all around it, like a thoughtful mother, who watches the resting of +her children. + +The grass in the yard was long and green, and the daisy, which, in +other places, lies like a little button on the ground, here had a +richer fringe of crimson, and a stalk about six inches high. It is, I +well know, the vital influence from the slumbering dust beneath which +gives the richness to this grass and these flowers; but let not that +be a painful thought; let it rather cheer us, that beauty should +spring from ashes, and life smile brighter from the near presence of +death. The grave of Clarkson is near the church, enclosed by a +railing, and marked by a simple white marble slab; it is carefully +tended, and planted with flowers. In the church was an old book of +records, and among other curious inscriptions was one recording how a +pious committee of old Noll's army had been there, knocking off +saints' noses, and otherwise purging the church from the relics of +idolatry. + +Near by the church was the parsonage, the home of my friends, a neat, +pleasant, sequestered dwelling, of about the style of a New England +country parsonage. + +The effect of the whole together was inexpressibly beautiful to me. +For a wonder, it was a pleasant day, and this is a thing always to be +thankfully acknowledged in England. The calm stillness of the +afternoon, the seclusion of the whole place, the silence only broken +by the cawing of the rooks, the ancient church, the mossy graves with +their flowers and green grass, the sunshine and the tree shadows, all +seemed to mingle together in a kind of hazy dream of peacefulness and +rest. How natural it is to say of some place sheltered, simple, cool, +and retired, here one might find peace, as if peace came from without, +and not from within. In the shadiest and stillest places may be the +most turbulent hearts; and there are hearts which, through the busiest +scenes, carry with them unchanging peace. As we were walking back, we +passed many cottages of the poor. + +I noticed, with particular pleasure, the invariable flower garden +attached to each. Some pansies in one of them attracted my attention +by their peculiar beauty, so very large and richly colored. On being +introduced to the owner of them, she, with cheerful alacrity, offered +me some of the finest. I do not doubt of there being suffering and +misery in the agricultural population of England, but still there are +multitudes of cottages which are really very pleasant objects, as were +all these. The cottagers had that bright, rosy look of health which we +seldom see in America, and appeared to be both polite and +self-respecting. + +In the evening we had quite a gathering of friends from the +neighborhood--intelligent, sensible, earnest people, who had grown up +in the love of the antislavery cause as into religion. The subject of +conversation was, "The duty of English people to free themselves from +any participation in American slavery, by taking means to encourage +the production of free cotton in the British provinces." + +It is no more impossible or improbable that something effective may be +done in this way than that the slave trade should have been abolished. +Every great movement seems an impossibility at first. There is no end +to the number of things declared and proved impossible which have been +done already, so that this may become something yet. + +Mrs. Clarkson had retired from the room early; after a while she sent +for me to her sitting room. The faithful attendant of whom I spoke was +with her. She wished to show me some relics of her husband, his watch +and seals, some of his papers and manuscripts; among these was the +identical prize essay with which he began his career, and a commentary +on the Gospels, which he had written with great care, for the use of +his grandson. His seal attracted my attention--it was that kneeling +figure of the negro, with clasped hands, which was at first adopted as +the badge of the cause, when every means was being made use of to +arouse the public mind and keep the subject before the public. Mr. +Wedgwood, the celebrated porcelain manufacturer, designed a cameo, +with this representation, which was much worn as an ornament by +ladies. It was engraved on the seal of the Antislavery Society, and +was used by its members in sealing all their letters. This of +Clarkson's was handsomely engraved on a large, old-fashioned +carnelian; and surely, if we look with emotion on the sword of a +departed hero,--which, at best, we can consider only as a necessary +evil,--we may look with unmingled pleasure on this memorial of a +bloodless victory. + +When I retired to my room for the night I could not but feel that the +place was hallowed: unceasing prayer had there been offered for the +enslaved and wronged race of Africa by that noble and brotherly heart. +I could not but feel that those prayers had had a wider reach than the +mere extinction of slavery in one land or country, and that their +benign influence would not cease while a slave was left upon the face +of the earth. + + + + +LETTER XXV. + +DEAR C.:-- + +We returned to London, and found Mr. S. and Joseph Sturge waiting for +us at the depot. We dined with Mr. Sturge. It seems that Mr. S.'s +speech upon the subject of cotton has created some considerable +disturbance, different papers declaring themselves for or against it +with a good deal of vivacity. + +After dinner Mr. Sturge desired me very much to go into the meeting of +the women; for it seems that, at the time of the yearly meeting among +the Friends, the men and women both have their separate meetings for +attending to business. The aspect of the meeting was very +interesting--so many placid, amiable faces, shaded by plain Quaker +bonnets; so many neat white handkerchiefs, folded across peaceful +bosoms. Either a large number of very pretty women wear the Quaker +dress, or it is quite becoming in its effect. + +There are some things in the mode of speaking among the Friends, +particularly in their public meetings, which do not strike me +agreeably, and to which I think it would take me some time to become +accustomed; such as a kind of intoning somewhat similar to the manner +in which the church service is performed in cathedrals. It is a +curious fact that religious exercises, in all ages and countries, have +inclined to this form of expression. It appears in the cantilation of +the synagogue, the service of the cathedral, the prayers of the +Covenanter and the Puritan. + +There were a table and writing materials in this meeting, and a circle +of from fifty to a hundred ladies. One of those upon the platform +requested me to express to them my opinion on free labor. In a few +words I told them I considered myself upon that subject more a learner +than a teacher, but that I was deeply interested in what I had learned +upon this subject since my travelling in England, and particularly +interested in the consistency and self-denial practised by their sect. + +I have been quite amused with something which has happened lately. It +always has seemed to me that distinguished people here in England live +a remarkably out-door sort of life; and newspapers tell a vast deal +about people's concerns which it is not our custom to put into print +in America. Such, for instance, as where the Hon. Mr. A. is staying +now, and where he expects to go next; what her grace wore at the last +ball, and when the royal children rode out, and what they had on; and +whom Lord Such-a-one had to dinner; besides a large number of +particulars which probably never happen. + +Could I have expected dear old England to make me so much one of the +family as to treat my humble fortunes in this same public manner? But +it is even so. This week the Times has informed the United Kingdom +that Mrs. Stowe is getting a new dress made!--the charming old +aristocratic Times, which every body declares is such a wicked paper, +and yet which they can no more do without than they can their +breakfast! What am I, and what is my father's house, that such +distinction should come upon me? I assure you, my dear, I feel myself +altogether too much flattered. There, side by side with speculations +on the eastern question, and conjectures with regard to the secret and +revealed will of the Emperor of Russia, news from her majesty's most +sacred retreat at Osborne, and the last debates in Parliament, comes +my brown silk dress! The Times has omitted the color; I had a great +mind to send him word about that. But you may tell the girls--for +probably the news will spread through the American papers--that it is +the brown Chinese silk which they put into my trunk, unmade, when I +was too ill to sit up and be fitted. + +Mr. Times wants to know if Mrs. Stowe is aware what sort of a place +her dress is being made in, and there is a letter from a dressmaker's +apprentice stating that it is being made up piecemeal, in the most +shockingly distressed dens of London, by poor, miserable white slaves, +worse treated than the plantation slaves of America. + +Now, Mrs. Stowe did not know any thing of this, but simply gave the +silk into the hands of a friend, and was in due time waited on in her +own apartment by a very respectable woman, who offered to make the +dress; and lo, this is the result! Since the publication of this +piece, I have received earnest missives, from various parts of the +country, begging me to interfere, hoping that I was not going to +patronize the white slavery of England, and that I would employ my +talents equally against oppression under every form. The person who +had been so unfortunate as to receive the weight of my public +patronage was in a very tragical state; protested her innocence of any +connection with dens, of any overworking of hands, &c., with as much +fervor as if I had been appointed on a committee of parliamentary +inquiry. Let my case be a warning to all philanthropists who may +happen to want clothes while they are in London. Some of my +correspondents seemed to think that I ought to publish a manifesto for +the benefit of distressed Great Britain, stating how I came to do it, +and all the circumstances, since they are quite sure I must have meant +well, and containing gentle cautions as to the disposal of my future +patronage in the dressmaking line. + +Could these people only know in what sacred simplicity I had been +living in the State of Maine, where the only dressmaker of our circle +was an intelligent, refined, well-educated woman, who was considered +as the equal of us all, and whose spring and fall ministrations to our +wardrobe were regarded a double pleasure,--a friendly visit as well as +a domestic assistance,--I say, could they know all this, they would +see how guiltless I was in the matter. I verily never thought but that +the nice, pleasant person, who came to measure me for my silk, was +going to take it home and make it herself; it never occurred to me +that she was the head of an establishment. + +And now, what am I to do? The Times seems to think that, in order to +be consistent, I ought to take up the conflict immediately; but, for +my part, I think otherwise. What an unreasonable creature! Does he +suppose me so lost to all due sense of humility as to take out of his +hands a cause which he is pleading so well? If the plantation slaves +had such a good friend as the Times, and if every over-worked female +cotton picker could write as clever letters as this dressmaker's +apprentice, and get them published in as influential papers, and +excite as general a sensation by them as this seems to have done, I +think I should feel that there was no need of my interfering in a work +so much better done. Unfortunately, our female cotton pickers do not +know how to read and write, and it is against the law to teach them; +and this instance shows that the law is a sagacious one, since, +doubtless, if they could read and write, most embarrassing +communications might be made. + +Nothing shows more plainly, to my mind, than this letter, the +difference between the working class of England and the slave. The +free workman or workwoman of England or America, however poor, is +self-respecting; is, to some extent, clever and intelligent; is +determined to resist wrong, and, as this incident shows, has abundant +means for doing so. + +When we shall see the columns of the Charleston Courier adorned with +communications from cotton pickers and slave seamstresses, we shall +then think the comparison a fair one. In fact, apart from the +whimsicality of the affair, and the little annoyance which one feels +at notoriety to which one is not accustomed, I consider the incident +as in some aspects a gratifying one, as showing how awake and active +are the sympathies of the British public with that much-oppressed +class of needlewomen. + +Horace Greeley would be delighted could his labors in this line excite +a similar commotion in New York. + +We dined to-day at the Duke of Argyle's. At dinner there were the +members of the family, the Duchess of Sutherland, Lord Carlisle, Lord +and Lady Blantyre, &c. The conversation flowed along in a very +agreeable channel. I told them the more I contemplated life in Great +Britain, the more I was struck with the contrast between the +comparative smallness of the territory and the vast power, physical, +moral, and intellectual, which it exerted in the world. + +The Duchess of Sutherland added, that it was beautiful to observe how +gradually the idea of freedom had developed itself in the history of +the English nation, growing clearer and more distinct in every +successive century. + +I might have added that the history of our own American republic is +but a continuation of the history of this development. The resistance +to the stamp act was of the same kind as the resistance to the ship +money; and in our revolutionary war there were as eloquent defences of +our principles and course heard in the British Parliament as echoed in +Faneuil Hall. + +I conversed some with Lady Caroline Campbell, the duke's sister, with +regard to Scottish preaching and theology. She is a member of the Free +church, and attends, in London, Dr. Cumming's congregation. I derived +the impression from her remarks, that the style of preaching in +Scotland is more discriminating and doctrinal than in England. One who +studies the pictures given in Scott's novels must often have been +struck with the apparent similarity in the theologic training and +tastes of the laboring classes in New England and Scotland. The +hard-featured man, whom he describes in Rob Roy as following the +preacher so earnestly, keeping count of the doctrinal points on his +successive fingers, is one which can still be seen in the retired, +rural districts of New England; and I believe that this severe +intellectual discipline of the pulpit has been one of the greatest +means in forming that strong, self-sustaining character peculiar to +both countries. + +The Duke of Argyle said that Chevalier Bunsen had been speaking to him +in relation to a college for colored people at Antigua, and inquired +my views respecting the emigration of colored people from America to +the West India islands. I told him my impression was, that Canada +would be a much better place to develop the energies of the race. +First, on account of its cold and bracing climate; second, because, +having never been a slave state, the white population there are more +thrifty and industrious, and of course the influence of such a +community was better adapted to form thrift arid industry in the +negro. + +In the evening, some of the ladies alluded to the dressmaker's letter +in the Times. I inquired if there was nothing done for them as a class +in London, and some of them said,-- + +"O, Lord Shaftesbury can tell you all about it; he is president of the +society for their protection." + +So I said to Lord Shaftesbury, playfully, "I thought, my lord, you had +reformed every thing here in London." + +"Ah, indeed," he replied, "but this was not in one of my houses. I +preside over the West End." + +He talked on the subject for some time with considerable energy; said +it was one of the most difficult he had ever attempted to regulate, +and promised to send me a few documents, which would show the measures +he had pursued. He said, however, that there was progress making; and +spoke of one establishment in particular, which had recently been +erected in London, and was admirably arranged with regard to +ventilation, being conducted in the most perfect manner. + +Quite a number of distinguished persons were present this evening; +among others, Sir David Brewster, famed in the scientific world. He is +a fine-looking old gentleman, with silver-white hair, who seemed to be +on terms of great familiarity with the duke. He bears the character of +a decidedly religious man, and is an elder in the Free church. + +Lord Mahon, the celebrated historian, was there, with his lady. He is +a young-looking man, of agreeable manners, and fluent in conversation. +This I gather from Mr. S., with whom he conversed very freely on our +historians, Prescott, Bancroft, and especially Dr. Sparks, his sharp +controversy with whom he seems to bear with great equanimity. + +Lady Mahon is a handsome, interesting woman, with very pleasing +manners. + +Mr. Gladstone was there also, one of the ablest and best men in the +kingdom. It is a commentary on his character that, although one of the +highest of the High church, we have never heard him spoken of, even +among dissenters, otherwise than as an excellent and highly +conscientious man. For a gentleman who has attained to such celebrity, +both in theology and politics, he looks remarkably young. He is tall, +with dark hair and eyes, a thoughtful, serious cast of countenance, +and is easy and agreeable in conversation. + +On the whole, this was a very delightful evening. + + + + +LETTER XXVI. + +DEAR C.:-- + +I will add to this a little sketch, derived from the documents sent me +by Lord Shaftesbury, of the movements in behalf of the milliners and +dressmakers in London for seven years past. + +About thirteen years ago, in the year 1841, Lord Shaftesbury obtained +a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the employment of children +and young persons in various trades and manufactures. This commission, +among other things, was directed toward the millinery and dressmaking +trade. These commissioners elicited the following facts: that there +were fifteen hundred employers in this trade in London, and fifteen +thousand young people employed, besides a great number of journeywomen +who took the work home to their own houses. They discovered, also, +that during the London season, which occupied about four months of the +year, the regular hours of work were fifteen, but in many +establishments they were entirely unlimited,--the young women never +getting more than six hours for sleep, and often only two or three; +that frequently they worked all night and part of Sunday. They +discovered, also, that the rooms in which they worked and slept were +overcrowded, and deficient in ventilation; and that, in consequence of +all these causes, blindness, consumption, and multitudes of other +diseases carried thousands of them yearly to the grave. + +These facts being made public to the English nation, a society was +formed in London in 1843, called the Association for The Aid of +Milliners and Dressmakers. The president of this society is the Earl +of Shaftesbury; the vice presidents are twenty gentlemen of the most +influential position. Besides this there is a committee of ladies, and +a committee of gentlemen. At the head of the committee of ladies +stands the name of the Duchess of Sutherland, with seventeen others, +among whom we notice the Countess of Shaftesbury, Countess of +Ellesmere, Lady Robert Grosvenor, and others of the upper London +sphere. The subscription list of donations to the society is headed by +the queen and royal family. + +The features of the plan which the society undertook to carry out were +briefly these:-- + +First, they opened a registration office, where all young persons +desiring employment in the dressmaking trade might enroll their names +free of expense, and thus come in a manner under the care of the +association. From the young people thus enrolled, they engaged to +supply to the principals of dressmaking establishments extra +assistants in periods of uncommon pressure, so that they should not be +under the necessity of overtaxing their workwomen. This assistance is +extended only to those houses which will observe the moderate hours +recommended by the association. + +In the second place, an arrangement is made by which the young persons +thus registered are entitled to the best of medical advice at any +time, for the sum of five shillings per year. Three physicians and two +consulting surgeons are connected with the association. + +In the third place, models of simple and cheap modes of ventilation +are kept at all times at the office of the society, and all the +influence of the association is used to induce employers to place them +in the work and sleeping rooms. + +Fourth, a kind of savings bank has been instituted, in which the +workwomen are encouraged to deposit small earnings on good interest. + +This is the plan of the society, and as to its results I have at hand +the report for 1851, from which you can gather some particulars of its +practical workings. They say, "Eight years have elapsed since this +association was established, during which a most gratifying change has +been wrought in respect to the mode of conducting the dressmaking and +millinery business. + +"Without overstepping the strict limits of truth, it may be affirmed +that the larger part of the good thus achieved is attributable to the +influence and unceasing efforts of this society. The general result, +so far as the metropolis is concerned, may be thus stated: First, the +hours of work, speaking generally, now rarely exceed twelve, whereas +formerly sixteen, seventeen, and even eighteen hours were not unusual. + +"Second, the young persons are rarely kept up all night, which was +formerly not an unusual occurrence. + +"Third, labor on the Lord's day, it is confidently believed, has been +entirely abrogated. + +"Under the old system the health and constitution of many of the young +people were irretrievably destroyed. At present permanent loss of +health is rarely entailed, and even when sickness does from any cause +arise, skilful and prompt advice and medicine are provided at a +moderate charge by the association. + +"In addition to these and similar ameliorations, other and more +important changes have been effected. Among the heads of +establishments, as the committee are happy to know and most willing to +record, more elevated views of the duties and responsibilities, +inseparable from employers, have secured to the association the +zealous cooperation of numerous and influential principals, without +whose aid the efforts of the last few years would have been often +impeded, or even in many instances defeated. Nor have the young +persons engaged in the dressmaking and millinery business remained +uninfluenced amidst the general improvement. Finding that a strenuous +effort was in progress to promote their physical and moral welfare, +and that increased industry on their part would be rewarded by +diminished hours of work, the assistants have become more attentive, +the workrooms are better managed, and both parties, relieved from a +system which was oppressive to all and really beneficial to none, have +recognized the fundamental truth, that in no industrial pursuit is +there any real incompatibility between the interests, rightfully +interpreted, of the employer and the employed. Although not generally +known, evils scarcely less serious than those formerly prevalent in +the metropolis were not uncommon in the manufacturing towns and +fashionable watering-places. It is obviously impracticable to +ascertain to what extent the efforts of the association have been +attended with success in the provinces; but a rule has been +established that in no instance shall the cooperation of the office, +in providing assistants, be extended to any establishment in which the +hours of work are known to exceed those laid down by the association. +On these conditions the principals of many country establishments have +for several years been supplied; latterly, indeed, owing to the great +efficiency of the manager, Miss Newton, and to the general +satisfaction thus created, these applications have so much increased +as to constitute a principal part of the business of the office; and +with the increase the influence of the association has been +proportionally extended." + +This, as you perceive, was the report for 1851. Lord Shaftesbury has +kindly handed me the first proof of the report for 1853, from which I +will send you a few extracts. + +After the publication of the letter from the ladies of England to the +ladies of America, much was said in the Times and other newspapers +with regard to the condition of the dressmakers. These things are what +are alluded to in the commencement of the report. They say,-- + +"In presenting their annual report, the committees would in the first +place refer to the public notice that has lately been directed to the +mode in which the dressmaking and millinery business is conducted: +this they feel to be due both to the association and to those +employers who have cooperated in the good work of improvement. It has +been stated in former reports, that since the first establishment of +this society, in the year 1843, and essentially through its influence, +great ameliorations have been secured; that the inordinate hours of +work formerly prevalent had, speaking generally, been greatly reduced; +that Sunday labor had been abolished; that the young people were +rarely kept up all night; and that, as a consequence of these +improvements, there had been a marked decrease of serious sickness. + +"At the present moment, in consequence of the statements that have +appeared in the public journals, and in order to guard against +misconceptions, the committees are anxious to announce that they +perceive no reason for withdrawing any of their preceding statements-- +the latest, equally with former investigations, indicating the great +improvement effected in recent years. The manager at the office has +been instructed to make express inquiries of the young dressmakers +themselves; and the result distinctly proves that, on the whole, there +has been a marked diminution in the hours of work. + +"The report of Mr. Trouncer, the medical officer who has attended the +larger number of the young persons for whom advice has been provided +by the association, is equally satisfactory. This gentleman, after +alluding to the great evils in regard to health inflicted in former +years, remarks that these have, through the instrumentality of the +association, been greatly ameliorated; that as regards consumption,-- +although the nature of the employment itself, however modified by +kindness, has a tendency to develop the disease where the +predisposition exists,--he is happy to state that the average number +of cases, even in the incipient stage, has not been so great as might, +from the circumstances, have been anticipated; that during the last +two years, out of about two hundred and fifty cases of sickness, no +death has occurred; and that but in a few instances only has it been +necessary to advise a total cessation of business. Mr. Trouncer adds +--and this is a statement which the committees have much pleasure in +announcing--that, in the majority of the West End houses, the +principals have, in cases of sickness, acted the part of parents, +evincing, in some instances, even more care than the young persons +themselves. + +"In addition to these satisfactory and reliable statements, it is a +matter of simple justice to state that many houses of business have +cooperated with the association in reducing the hours of work, in +improving the workrooms and sleeping apartments, and generally in +promoting the comfort of those in their employ. Some employers have +also very creditably, and at considerable expense, exerted themselves +to secure a good system of ventilation--a subject to which the +committees attach great importance, both as regards the health and +comfort of those employed. + +"It is not, by these statements, intended to be said that all +requiring amendment has been corrected. In their last report the +committees remarked that some few houses of business systematically +persisted in exacting excessive labor from their assistants; and they +regret to state that this observation is still applicable. The +important subject of ventilation is still much neglected, and there is +reason to apprehend that the sleeping apartments are often much +overcrowded. Another and a more prevailing evil relates to the time +allowed for meals: this is often altogether insufficient, and strongly +contrasted with the custom in other industrial pursuits, in which one +hour for dinner, and half an hour for breakfast or tea, as the case +may be, is the usual allowance. In an occupation so sedentary as +dressmaking, and especially in the case of young females, hurried +meals are most injurious, and are a frequent cause of deranged health. +It is also the painful duty of the committees to state that in some +establishments, according to the medical report, the principals, in +cases of sickness, will neither allow the young people an opportunity +of calling on the medical officer for his advice, nor permit that +gentleman to visit them at the place of business. The evils resulting +from this absence of all proper feeling are so obvious that it is +hoped this public rebuke will in future obviate the necessity of +recurring to so painful a topic." + +The committee after this proceed to publish the following declaration, +signed by fifty-three of the West End dressmakers:-- + +"'We, the undersigned principals of millinery and dress-making +establishments at the West End of London, having observed in the +newspapers statements of excessive labor in our business, feel called +upon, in self-defence, to make the following public statement, +especially as we have reason to believe that some of the assertions +contained in the letters published in the newspapers are not wholly +groundless:-- + +"'1. During the greater portion of the year we do not require the +young people in our establishments to work more than twelve hours, +inclusive of one hour and a half for meals: from March to July we +require them to work thirteen hours and a half, allowing during that +time one hour's rest for dinner, and half an hour's rest for tea. + +"'2. It has been our object to provide suitable sleeping +accommodations, and to avoid overcrowding. + +"'3. In no case do we require work on Sundays, or all night. + +"'4. The food we supply is of the best quality, and unlimited in +quantity.'" + +Five of these dressmakers, whose names are designated by stars, signed +with the understanding that on rare occasions the hours might possibly +be exceeded. + +The remarks which the committee make, considering that it has upon its +list the most influential and distinguished ladies of the London +world, are, I think, worth attention, as showing the strong moral +influence which must thus be brought to bear, both on the trade and on +fashionable society, by this association. They first remark, with +regard to those employers who signed with the reservation alluded to, +that they have every reason to believe that the feeling which prompted +this qualification is to be respected, as it originated in a +determination not to undertake more than they honestly intended to +perform. + +They say of the document, on the whole, that, though not realizing all +the views of the association, it must be regarded as creditable to +those who have signed it, since it indicates the most important +advance yet made towards the improvement of the dressmaking and +millinery business. The committees then go on to express a most +decided opinion, first, that the hours of work in the dressmaking +trade ought not to exceed ten per diem; second, that during the +fashionable season ladies should employ sufficient time for the +execution of their orders. + +The influence of this association, as will be seen, has extended all +over England. In Manchester a paper, signed by three thousand ladies, +was presented to the principals of the establishments, desiring them +to adopt the rules of the London association. + +I mentioned, in a former letter, that the lady mayoress of London, and +the ladies of the city, held a meeting on the subject only a short +time since, with a view of carrying the same improvement through all +the establishments of that part of London. The lady mayoress and five +others of this meeting consented to add their names to the committee, +so that it now represents the whole of London. The Bishop of London +and several of the clergy extend their patronage to the association. + + + + +LETTER XXVII. + +DEAR S.:-- + +The next day we went to hear a sermon in behalf of the ragged schools, +by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The children who attended the ragged +schools of that particular district were seated in the gallery, each +side of the organ. As this was the Sunday appropriated to the +exercise, all three of the creeds were read--the Apostles', +Athanasian, and Nicene; all which the little things repeated after the +archbishop, with great decorum, and probably with the same amount of +understanding that we, when children, had of the Assembly's Catechism. + +The venerable archbishop was ushered into the pulpit by beadles, with +gold lace cocked hats, striking the ground majestically with their +long staves of office. His sermon, however, was as simple, clear, and +beautiful an exposition of the duty of practical Christianity towards +the outcast and erring as I ever heard. He said that, should we find a +young child wandering away from its home and friends, we should +instinctively feel it our duty to restore the little wanderer; and +such, he said, is the duty we owe to all these young outcasts, who had +strayed from the home of their heavenly Father. + +After the sermon they took up a collection; and when we went into the +vestry to speak to the archbishop, we saw him surrounded by the church +wardens, counting over the money. + +I noticed in the back part of the church a number of children in +tattered garments, with rather a forlorn and wild appearance, and was +told that these were those who had just been introduced into the +school, and had not been there long enough to come under its modifying +influences. We were told that they were always thus torn and forlorn +in their appearance at first, but that they gradually took pains to +make themselves respectable. The archbishop said, pleasantly, "When +they return to their right mind they appear _clothed_, also, and +sitting at the feet of Jesus." + +The archbishop sent me afterwards a beautiful edition of his sermons +on Christian charity, embracing a series of discourses on various +topics of practical benevolence, relating to the elevation and +christianization of the masses. They are written with the same purity +of style, and show the same devout and benevolent spirit with his +other writings. + +My thoughts were much saddened to-day by the news, which I received +this week, of the death of Mary Edmonson. It is not for her that I +could weep; for she died as calmly and serenely as she lived, +resigning her soul into the hands of her Savior. What I do weep for +is, that under the flag of my country--and that country a Christian +one--such a life as Mary's could have been lived, and so little said +or done about it. + +In the afternoon I went to the deanery of St. Paul's--a retired +building in a deep court opposite the cathedral. After a brief +conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Milman, we went to the cathedral. I had +never seen it before, and was much impressed with the majesty and +grace of the interior. Nevertheless, the Italian style of +architecture, with all its elegance, fails to affect me equally with +the Gothic. The very rudeness of the latter, a something inchoate and +unfinished, is significant of matter struggling with religious ideas +too vast to be fully expressed. Even as in the ancient Scriptures +there are ideas which seem to overtask the powers of human language. I +sat down with Mrs. M. in one of the little compartments, or +_stalls,_ as they are called, into which the galleries are +divided, and which are richly carved in black oak. The whole service +was chanted by a choir expressly trained for the purpose. Some of the +performers are boys of about thirteen years, and of beautiful +countenances. There is a peculiar manner of reading the service +practised in the cathedrals, which is called "intoning." It is a +plaintive, rhythmical chant, with as strong an unction of the nasal as +ever prevailed in a Quaker or Methodist meeting. I cannot exactly +understand why Episcopacy threw out the slur of "nasal twang" as one +of the peculiarities of the conventicle, when it is in full force in +the most approved seats of church orthodoxy. I listened to all in as +uncritical and sympathetic a spirit as possible, giving myself up to +be lifted by the music as high as it could waft me. To one thus +listening, it is impossible to criticize with severity; for, unless +positively offensive, any music becomes beautiful by the power of +sympathy and association. After service we listened to a short sermon +from the Rev. Mr. Villiers, fervent, affectionate, and evangelical in +spirit, and much in the general style of sermonizing which I have +already described. + +Monday morning, May 23. We went to breakfast at Mr. Cobden's. Mr. C. +is a man of slender frame, rather under than over the middle size, +with great ease of manner, and flexibility of movement, and the most +frank, fascinating smile. His appearance is a sufficient account of +his popularity, for he seems to be one of those men who carry about +them an atmosphere of vivacity and social exhilaration. We had a very +pleasant and social time, discussing and comparing things in England +and America. Mr. Cobden assured us that he had had curious calls from +Americans, sometimes. Once an editor of a small village paper called, +who had been making a tour through the rural districts of England. He +said that he had asked some mowers how they were prospering. They +answered, "We ain't prosperin'; we're hayin'." Said Cobden, + +"I told the man, 'Now don't you go home and publish that in your +paper;' but he did, nevertheless, and sent me over the paper with the +story in it." I might have comforted him with many a similar anecdote +of Americans, as for example, the man who was dead set against a +tariff, "'cause he knew if they once got it, they'd run the old thing +right through his farm;" or those immortal Pennsylvania Dutchmen, who, +to this day, it is said, give in all their votes under the solemn +conviction that they are upholding General Jackson's administration. + +The conversation turned on the question of the cultivation of cotton +by free labor. The importance of this great measure was fully +appreciated by Mr. Cobden, as it must be by all. The difficulties to +be overcome in establishing the movement were no less clearly seen, +and ably pointed out. On the whole, the comparison of views was not +only interesting in a high degree, but to us, at least, eminently +profitable. We ventured to augur favorably to the cause from the +indications of that interview. + +From this breakfast we returned to dine at Surrey parsonage; and, +after dinner, attended Miss Greenfield's concert at Stafford House. +Mr. S. could not attend on account of so soon leaving town. + +The concert room was the brilliant and picturesque hall I have before +described to you. It looked more picture-like and dreamy than ever. +The piano was on the flat stairway just below the broad central +landing. It was a grand piano, standing end outward, and perfectly +_banked up_ among hothouse flowers, so that only its gilded top +was visible. Sir George Smart presided. The choicest of the +_élite_ were there. Ladies in demi-toilet and bonneted. Miss +Greenfield stood among the singers on the staircase, and excited a +sympathetic murmur among the audience. She is not handsome, but looked +very well. She has a pleasing dark face, wore a black velvet headdress +and white carnelian earrings, a black mohr antique silk, made high in +the neck, with white lace falling sleeves and white gloves. A certain +gentleness of manner and self-possession, the result of the universal +kindness shown her, sat well upon her. Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian +ambassador, sat by me. He looked at her with much interest. "Are the +race often as good looking?" he said. I said, "She is not handsome, +compared with many, though I confess she looks uncommonly well +to-day." + +Among the company present I noticed the beautiful Marchioness of +Stafford. I have spoken of her once before; but it is difficult to +describe her, there is something so perfectly simple, yet elegant, in +her appearance; but it has cut itself like a cameo in my memory--a +figure under the middle size, perfectly moulded, dressed simply in +black, a beautiful head, hair _à la Madonna_, ornamented by a +band of gold coins on black velvet: a band of the same kind encircling +her throat is the only relief to the severe simplicity of her dress. + +The singing was beautiful. Six of the most cultivated glee singers of +London sang, among other things, "Spring's delights are now +returning," and "Where the bee sucks there lurk I." The duchess said," +These glees are peculiarly English." It was indeed delightful to hear +Shakspeare's aerial words made vocal within the walls of this fairy +palace. The duchess has a strong nationality; and nationality, always +interesting, never appears in so captivating a form as when it +expresses itself through a beautiful and cultivated woman. One likes +to see a person identifying one's self with a country, and she +embraces England, with its history, its strength, its splendor, its +moral power, with an evident pride and affection which I love to see. + +Miss Greenfield's turn for singing now came, and there was profound +attention. Her voice, with its keen, searching fire, its penetrating +vibrant quality, its _"timbre"_ as the French have it, cut its +way like a Damascus blade to the heart. It was the more touching from +occasional rusticities and artistic defects, which showed that she had +received no culture from art. + +She sang the ballad, "Old folks at home," giving one verse in the +soprano, and another in the tenor voice. + +As she stood partially concealed by the piano Chevalier Bunsen thought +that the tenor part was performed by one of the gentlemen. He was +perfectly astonished when he discovered that it was by her. This was +rapturously encored. Between the parts Sir George took her to the +piano, and tried her voice by skips, striking notes here and there at +random, without connection, from D in alt to A first space in bass +clef: she followed with unerring precision, striking the sound nearly +at the same instant his finger touched the key. This brought out a +burst of applause. + +After the concert we walked through the rooms. The effect of the +groups of people sauntering through the hall or looking down from the +galleries was picture-like. Two of the duke's Highland pipers, in full +costume, playing their bagpipes, now made their appearance, and began +to promenade the halls, playing. Their dress reminds me, in its +effect, of that of our American Indians, and their playing is wild and +barbaric. It had a striking effect among these wide halls and +corridors. There is nothing poetic connected with the history and +position of the family of which the fair owner of the halls does not +feel the power, and which she cannot use with artistic skill in +heightening the enchantments of an entertainment. + +Rev. S. R. Ward attracted attention in the company, as a full-blooded +African--tall enough for a palm tree. I observed him in conversation +with lords, dukes, and ambassadors, sustaining himself modestly, but +with self-possession. All who converse with him are satisfied that +there is no native difference between the African and other men. + +The duchess took me to look at a model of Dunrobin--their castle on +the Sutherland estate. It is in the old French chateau style in +general architecture, something like the print of Glamis. It is +curious that the French architecture has obtained in Scotland. Her +grace kindly invited me to visit Dunrobin on my return to Scotland in +the autumn, taking it after Inverary. This will be delightful. That +Scottish coast I love almost like my own country. + +Lord Shaftesbury was there. He came and spoke to us after the concert. +Speaking of Miss Greenfield, he said, "I consider the use of these +halls for the encouragement of an outcast race, a _consecration_. +This is the true use of wealth and splendor when it is employed to +raise up and encourage the despised and forgotten." + +In the evening, though very weary, C. persuaded me to accept an +invitation to hear the Creation, at Exeter Hall, performed by the +London Sacred Harmonic Society. They had kindly reserved a gallery for +us, and when we went in Mr. Surman, the founder and for twenty years +conductor of the society, presented me with a beautifully bound copy +of the Creation. + +Having never heard it before, I could not compare the performance with +others. I heard it as I should hear a poem read, simply thinking of +the author's ideas, and not of the style of reading. Haydn I was +thinking of,--the bright, brilliant, cheerful Haydn,--who, when +complained of for making church music into dancing tunes, replied, +"When I think of God my soul is always so full of joy that I want to +dance!" This Creation is a descriptive poem--the garden parts unite +Thomson and Milton's style--the whole effect pastoral, yet brilliant. +I was never more animated. I had had a new experience; it is worth +while to know nothing to have such a fresh sensation. + +The next day, Tuesday, May 24, we went to lunch with Miss R., at +Oxford Terrace. Among a number of distinguished guests was Lady Byron, +with whom I had a few moments of deeply interesting conversation. No +engravings that ever have been circulated of her in America do any +justice to her appearance. She is of a slight figure, formed with +exceeding delicacy, and her whole form, face, dress, and air unite to +make an impression of a character singularly dignified, gentle, pure, +and yet strong. No words addressed to me in any conversation hitherto +have made their way to my inner soul with such force as a few remarks +dropped by her on the present religious aspect of England--remarks of +such a quality as one seldom hears. + +Lady Byron's whole course, I have learned, has been one made venerable +by consistent, active benevolence. I was happy to find in her the +patroness of our American outcasts, William and Ellen Crafts. She had +received them into the schools of her daughter, Lady Lovelace, at +Occum, and now spoke in the highest terms of their character and +proficiency in study. The story of their misfortunes, united with +their reputation for worth, had produced such an impression on the +simple country people, that they always respectfully touch their hats +when meeting them. Ellen, she says, has become mother of a most +beautiful child, and their friends are now making an effort to put +them into some little business by which they may obtain a support. + +I could not but observe with regret the evident fragility of Lady +Byron's health; yet why should I regret it? Why wish to detain here +those whose home is evidently from hence, and who will only then fully +live when the shadow we call life is passed away? + +Here, also, I was personally introduced to a lady with whom I had +passed many a dreamy hour of spiritual communion--Mrs. Jameson, whose +works on arts and artists were for years almost my only food for a +certain class of longings. + +Mrs. Jameson is the most charming of critics, with the gift, often too +little prized, of discovering and pointing out beauties rather than +defects; beauties which we may often have passed unnoticed, but which, +when so pointed out, never again conceal themselves. This shows itself +particularly in her Characteristics of Shakspeare's Women, a critique +which only a true woman could have written. + +She seemed rather surprised to find me inquiring about art and +artists. I asked her where one might go to study that subject most +profitably, and her answer was, in Munich. + +By her side was Mrs. Chisholm, the author of those benevolent +movements for the emigrants, which I have mentioned to you. She is a +stout, practical looking woman, who impresses you with the idea of +perfect health, exuberant life, and an iron constitution. Her face +expresses decision, energy, and good sense. She is a woman of few +words, every moment of whose time seems precious. + +One of her remarks struck me, from the quaint force with which it was +uttered. "I found," said she, "if we want any thing done, we must go +to work and _do_; it is of no use to talk, none whatever." It is +the secret of her life's success. Mrs. Chisholm first began by +_doing_ on a small scale what she wanted done, and people seeing +the result fell in with and helped her, but to have convinced them of +the feasibility of her plans by _talking_, without this practical +demonstration, would have been impossible. + +At this _réunion_, also, was Mr. George Thompson, whom I had +never seen before, and many of the warmest friends of the slave. +During this visit I was taken ill, and obliged to return to Mr. +Gurney's, where I was indisposed during the remainder of the day, and +late in the evening drove home to Surrey parsonage. + +The next evening, Wednesday, May 29, we attended an antislavery +_soirée_, at Willis's rooms, formerly known as Almack's; so at +least I was told. A number of large rooms were thrown open, +brilliantly lighted and adorned, and filled with throngs of people. In +the course of the evening we went upon the platform in the large hall, +where an address was presented by S. Bowley, Esq., of Gloucester. It +was one of the most beautiful, sensible, judicious, and Christian +addresses that could have been made, and I listened to it with +unmingled pleasure. In reply, Mr. S. took occasion still further to +explain his views with respect to the free-grown cotton movement in +England, and its bearings on the future progress of the cause of +freedom. [Footnote: We are happy to say that a large body of religious +persons in Great Britain have become favorable to these views. A +vigorous society has been established, combining India reform and free +cotton with the antislavery cause. The Earl of Albemarle made, while +we were in London, a vigorous India reform speech in the House of +Lords, and Messrs. Bright and Cobden are fully in for the same object +in the Commons. There is much hope in the movement.] + +After the addresses we dispersed to different rooms, where refreshment +tables were bountifully laid out and adorned. By my side, at one end +of them, was a young female of pleasing exterior, with fine eyes, +delicate person, neatly dressed in white. She was introduced to me as +Ellen Crafts--a name memorable in Boston annals. Her husband, a +pleasant, intelligent young man, with handsome manners, was there +also. Had it not been for my introduction I could never have fancied +Ellen to have been any other than some English girl with rather a +paler cheek than common. She has very sweet manners, and uses +uncommonly correct and beautiful language. Let it not be supposed +that, with such witnesses as these among them, our English brethren +have derived their first practical knowledge of slavery from Uncle +Tom's Cabin. The mere knowledge that two such persons as William and +Ellen Crafts have been rated as merchantable commodities, in any +country but ours would be a sufficient comment on the system. + +We retired early after a very agreeable evening. + + + + +LETTER XXVIII. + +May 28. + +MY DEAR COUSIN:-- + +This morning Lord Shaftesbury came according to appointment, to take +me to see the Model Lodging Houses. He remarked that it would be +impossible to give me the full effect of seeing them, unless I could +first visit the dens of filth, disease, and degradation, in which the +poor of London formerly were lodged. With a good deal of satisfaction +he told me that the American minister, Mr. Ingersoll, previous to +leaving London, had requested the police to take him over the dirtiest +and most unwholesome parts of it, that he might see the lowest as well +as the highest sphere of London life. After this, however, the +policeman took him through the baths, wash houses, and model lodging +houses, which we were going to visit, and he expressed himself both +surprised and delighted with the improvement that had been made. + +[Illustration: _of the facade of "The Model Lodging House."_] + +We first visited the lodging house for single men in Charles Street, +Drury Lane. This was one of the first experiments made in this line, +and to effect the thing in the most economical manner possible, three +old houses were bought and thrown into one, and fitted up for the +purpose. On the ground floor we saw the superintendent's apartment, +and a large, long sitting room, furnished with benches and clean, +scoured tables, where the inmates were, some of them, reading books or +papers: the day being wet, perhaps, kept them from their work. In the +kitchen were ample cooking accommodations, and each inmate, as I +understand, cooks for himself. Lord Shaftesbury said, that--something +like a common table had been tried, but that it was found altogether +easier or more satisfactory for each one to suit himself. On this +floor, also, was a bathing room, and a well-selected library of useful +reading books, history, travels, &c. On the next floor were the +dormitories--a great hall divided by board partitions into little +sleeping cells about eight feet square, each containing a neat bed, +chair, and stand. The partition does not extend quite up to the wall, +and by this means while each inmate enjoys the privacy of a small +room, he has all the comfort of breathing the air of the whole hall. + +A working man returning from his daily toil to this place, can first +enjoy the comfort of a bath; then, going into the kitchen, make his +cup of tea or coffee, and sitting down at one of the clean, scoured +tables in the sitting room, sip his tea, and look over a book. Or a +friendly company may prepare their supper and sit down to tea +together. Lord Shaftesbury said that the effect produced on the men by +such an arrangement was wonderful. They became decent, decorous, and +self-respecting. They passed rules of order for their community. They +subscribed for their library from their own earnings, and the books +are mostly of their own selection. "It is remarkable," said his +lordship, "that of their own accord they decided to reject every +profane, indecent, or immoral work. It showed," he said, "how strong +are the influences of the surroundings in reforming or ruining the +character." It should be remarked that all these advantages are +enjoyed for the same price charged by the most crowded and filthy of +lodging houses, namely, fourpence per night, or two shillings per +week. The building will accommodate eighty-two. The operation supports +itself handsomely. + +I should remark, by the by, that in order to test more fully the +practicability of the thing, this was accomplished in one of the worst +neighborhoods in London. + +From these we proceeded to view a more perfect specimen of the same +sort in the Model Lodging House of George Street, Bloomsbury Square, a +house which was built _de novo_, for the purpose of perfectly +illustrating the principle. This house accommodates one hundred and +four working men, and combines every thing essential or valuable in +such an establishment--complete ventilation and drainage; the use of a +distinct living room; a kitchen and a wash house, a bath, and an ample +supply of water, and all the conveniences which, while promoting the +physical comfort of the inmates, tend to increase their self-respect, +and elevate them in the scale of moral and intellectual beings. The +arrangement of the principal apartments are such as to insure economy +as well as domestic comfort, the kitchen and wash house being +furnished with every requisite convenience, including a bath supplied +with hot and cold water; also a separate and well-ventilated safe for +the food of each inmate. Under the care of the superintendent is a +small, but well-selected library. + +The common room, thirty-three feet long, twenty-three feet wide, and +ten feet nine inches high, is paved with white tiles, laid on brick +arches, and on each side are two rows of tables with seats; at the +fireplace is a constant supply of hot water, and above it are the +rules of the establishment. The staircase, which occupies the centre +of the building, is of stone. The dormitories, eight in number, ten +feet high, are subdivided with movable wood partitions six feet nine +inches high; each compartment, enclosed by its own door, is fitted up +with a bed, chair, and clothes box. A shaft is carried up at the end +of every room, the ventilation through it being assisted by the +introduction of gas, which lights the apartment. A similar shaft is +carried up the staircase, supplying fresh air to the dormitories, with +a provision for warming it, if necessary. The washing closets on each +floor are fitted up with slate, having japanned iron basins, and water +laid on. + +During the fearful ravages of the cholera in this immediate +neighborhood, not one case occurred in this house among its one +hundred and four inmates. + +From this place we proceeded to one, if any thing, more interesting to +me. This was upon the same principle appropriated to the lodgment of +single women. When one considers the defenceless condition of single +women, who labor for their own subsistence in a large city, how easily +they are imposed upon and oppressed, and how quickly a constitution +may be destroyed for want of pure air, fresh water, and other common +necessaries of life, one fully appreciates the worth of a large and +beautiful building, which provides for this oppressed, fragile class. + +The Thanksgiving Model Buildings at Port Pool Lane, Gray's Inn, are so +called because they were built with a thank-offering collected in the +various religious societies of London, as an appropriate expression of +their gratitude to God for the removal of the cholera. This block of +buildings has in it accommodations for twenty families, and one +hundred and twenty-eight single women; together with a public wash +house, and a large cellar, in which are stored away the goods of those +women who live by the huckster's trade. + +The hundred and twenty-eight single women, of whom the majority are +supposed to be poor needlewomen, occupy sixty-four rooms in a building +of four stories, divided by a central staircase; a corridor on either +side forms a lobby to eight rooms, each twelve feet six inches long, +by nine feet six inches wide, sufficiently large for two persons. They +are fitted up with two bedsteads, a table, chairs, and a washing +stand. The charge is one shilling per week for each person, or two +shillings per room. + +Lord Shaftesbury took me into one of the rooms, where was an aged +female partially bedridden, who maintained herself by sewing, The room +was the picture of neatness and comfort; a good supply of hot and cold +water was furnished in it. Her work was spread out by her upon the +bed, together with her Bible and hymn book; she looked cheerful and +comfortable. She seemed pleased to see Lord Shaftesbury, whom she had +evidently seen many times before, as his is a familiar countenance in +all these places. She expressed the most fervent thankfulness for the +quiet, order, and comfort of her pleasant lodgings, comparing them +very feelingly with what used to be her condition before any such +place had been provided. + +[Illustration: _of a four story rectangular brick/masonry structure._] + +From this place we drove to the Streatham Street Lodging House for +families, of which the following is an outside view. This building is, +in the first place, fire proof; in the second, the separation in the +parts belonging to different families is rendered complete and perfect +by the use of hollow brick for the partitions, which entirely +prevents, as I am told, the transmission of sound. + +The accompanying print shows the plan of one tenement. + +[Illustration: _of an apartment's plan (no scale)_: + + +..::::........................::::.........................::::.. + + Open gallery, five feet wide + +:::XX:::::::-------:::::XX: :XX::::::::-------::::::::XX:::: + :: +--+ +-------+:::::: entry :: :: + :: | | | |+--+:: :: :: + :: +--+ | H ||I |:: :: :: + :: F +-------++--+:: :: :: + :: :: :: :: :: + :: :: :: :: + XX:+ :: :: :: + : | L* :: E :: D C :: + XX:+:::::XX :: :: + :: :: :: :: + :: G :: :: :: + :: :: :: :: :: + XX: :XX: :XX: :XX :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: XX:::::::::::::::::::::::XX:::: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: A :: B :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: :: + :: :: + :: :: + :: :: + :: :: + :: :: :: +:::XX::::::::::----------::::::::::XX:::::::----------::::::XX:::: + +A Living room +B Bed room ASCII Key: +C Bed room +D Lobby :: Wall +E Scullery ::XX:: Wall intersection +F Water closet ::--:: Window +G Bed closet ::..:: Balcony +H Sink +----+ Fixture edge +I Meat safe +L Dust flue (*_not identified on original plan--location estimated +from author's description_)] + +[Illustration: _of the multi-story brick/masonry structure with covered +galleries._] + +By means of the sleeping closet adjoining the living room, each +dwelling affords three good sleeping apartments. The meat safe +preserves provisions. The dust flue is so arranged that all the +sweepings of the house, and all the refuse of the cookery, have only +to be thrown down to disappear forever; while the sink is supplied to +an unlimited extent with hot and cold water. These galleries, into +which every tenement opens, run round the inside of the hollow court +which the building encloses, and afford an admirable play-place for +the little children, out of the dangers and temptations of the street, +and in view of their respective mothers. The foregoing print, +representing the inner half of the quadrangle, shows the arrangement +of the galleries. + +"Now," said Lord Shaftesbury, as he was showing me through these +tenements, which were models of neatness and good keeping, "you must +bear in mind that these are tenanted by the very people who once were +living in the dirtiest and filthiest lodging houses; people whom the +world said, it did no good to try to help; that they liked to be dirty +better than clean, and would be dirty under any circumstances." + +He added the following anecdote to show the effect of poor lodgings in +degrading the character. A fine young man, of some considerable taste +and talent, obtained his living by designing patterns for wall paper. +A long and expensive illness so reduced his circumstances, that he was +obliged to remove to one of these low, filthy lodging houses already +alluded to. From that time he became an altered man; his wife said +that he lost all energy, all taste in designing, love of reading, and +fondness for his family; began to frequent drinking shops, and was +visibly on the road to ruin. Hearing of these lodging houses, he +succeeded in renting a tenement in one of them, for the same sum which +he had paid for the miserable dwelling. Under the influence of a neat, +airy, pleasant, domestic home, the man's better nature again awoke, +his health improved, he ceased to crave ardent spirits, and his former +ingenuity in his profession returned. + +"Now, this shows," said Lord Shaftesbury, "that hundreds may have been +ruined simply by living in miserable dwellings." I looked into this +young man's tenement; it was not only neat, but ornamented with a +great variety of engravings tastefully disposed upon the wall. On my +expressing my pleasure in this circumstance, he added, "It is one of +the pleasantest features of the case, to notice how soon they began to +ornament their little dwellings; some have cages with singing birds, +and some pots of flowering plants; some, pictures and engravings." + +"And are these buildings successful in a pecuniary point of view?" I +said. "Do they pay their own way?" + +"Yes," he replied, "they do. I consider that these buildings, if they +have done nothing more, have established two points: first, that the +poor do not prefer dirt and disorder, where it is possible for them to +secure neatness and order; and second, that buildings with every +proper accommodation can be afforded at a price which will support an +establishment." + +Said I, "Are people imitating these lodging houses very rapidly?" + +"To a great extent they are," he replied, "but not so much as I +desire. Buildings on these principles have been erected in the +principal towns of England and Scotland. The state of the miserable +dwellings, courts, alleys, &c., is the consequence of the neglect of +former days, when speculators and builders were allowed to do as they +liked, and run up hovels, where the working man, whose house must be +regulated, not by his choice, but by his work, was compelled then, as +he is now, to live, however narrow, unhealthy, or repulsive the place +might be. This was called 'the liberty of the subject.'" It has been +one of Lord Shaftesbury's most arduous parliamentary labors to bring +the lodging houses under governmental regulation. He told me that he +introduced a bill to this effect in the House of Commons, while a +member, as Lord Ashley, and that just as it had passed through the +House of Commons, he entered the House of Lords, as Lord Shaftesbury, +and so had the satisfaction of carrying the bill to its completion in +that house, where it passed in the year 1851. The provisions of this +bill require every keeper of a lodging house to register his name at +the Metropolitan Police Office, under a penalty of a fine of five +pounds for every lodger received before this is done. After having +given notice to the police, they are not allowed to receive lodgers +until the officers have inspected the house, to see whether it accords +with the required conditions. These conditions are, that the walls and +ceilings be whitewashed; that the floors, stairs, beds, and bed +clothes are clean; that there be some mode of ventilating every room; +that each house be provided with every accommodation for promoting +decency and neatness; that the drains and cesspools are perfect; the +yards properly paved, so as to run dry; and that each house has a +supply of water, with conveniences for cooking and washing; and +finally, that no person with an infectious disease is inhabiting the +house. It is enacted, moreover, that only so many shall be placed in a +room as shall be permitted by the commissioners of the police; and it +is made an indispensable condition to the fitness of a house, that the +proprietor should hang up in every room a card, properly signed by the +police inspector, stating the precise number who are allowed to be +lodged there. The law also strictly forbids persons of different sexes +occupying the same room, except in case of married people with +children under ten years of age: more than one married couple may not +inhabit the same apartment, without the provision of a screen to +secure privacy. It is also forbidden to use the kitchens, sculleries, +or cellars for sleeping rooms, unless specially permitted by the +police. The keeper of the house is required thoroughly to whitewash +the walls and ceilings twice a year, and to cleanse the drains and +cesspools whenever required by the police. In case of sickness, notice +must be immediately given to the police, and such measures pursued, +for preventing infection, as may be deemed judicious by the inspector. + +The commissioner of police reports to the secretary of state +systematically as to the results of this system. + +After looking at these things, we proceeded to view one of the model +washing houses, which had been erected for the convenience of poor +women. We entered a large hall, which was divided by low wood +partitions into small apartments, in each of which a woman was +washing. The whole process of washing clothes in two or three waters, +and boiling them, can be effected without moving from the spot, or +changing the tub. Each successive water is let out at the bottom, +while fresh is let on from the top. When the clothes are ready to be +boiled, a wooden cover is placed over them, and a stream of scalding +steam is directed into the tub, by turning a stop cock; this boils the +water in a few moments, effectually cleansing the clothes; they are +then whirled in a hollow cylinder till nearly dry, after which they +are drawn through two rollers covered with flannel, which presses +every remaining particle of water out of them. The clothes are then +hung upon frames, which shut into large closets, and are dried by +steam in a very short space of time. + +Lord Shaftesbury, pointing out the partitions, said, "This is an +arrangement of delicacy to save their feelings: their clothes are +sometimes so old and shabby they do not want to show them, poor +things." I thought this feature worthy of special notice. + +In addition to all these improvements for the laboring classes, very +large bathing establishments have been set up expressly for the use of +the working classes. To show the popularity and effectiveness of this +movement, five hundred and fifty thousand baths were given in three +houses during the year 1850. These bathing establishments for the +working classes are rapidly increasing in every part of the kingdom. + +When we returned to our carriage after this survey, I remarked to Lord +Shaftesbury that the combined influence of these causes must have +wrought a considerable change in the city. He answered, with energy, +"You can have no idea. Whole streets and districts have been +revolutionized by it. The people who were formerly savage and +ferocious, because they supposed themselves despised and abandoned, +are now perfectly quiet and docile. I can assure you that Lady +Shaftesbury has walked alone, with no attendant but a little child, +through streets in London where, years ago, a well-dressed man could +not have passed safely without an escort of the police." + +I said to him that I saw nothing now, with all the improvements they +were making throughout the kingdom, to prevent their working classes +from becoming quite as prosperous as ours, except the want of a +temperance reformation. + +He assented with earnestness. He believed, he said, that the amount +spent in liquors of various kinds, which do no good, but much injury, +was enough to furnish every laborer's dwelling, not only with +comforts, but with elegances. "But then," he said, "one thing is to be +considered: a reform of the dwellings will do a great deal towards +promoting a temperance reformation. A man who lives in a close, +unwholesome dwelling, deprived of the natural stimulus of fresh air +and pure water, comes into a morbid and unhealthy state; he craves +stimulants to support the sinking of his vital powers, caused by these +unhealthy influences." There is certainly a great deal of truth in +this; and I think that, in America, we should add to the force of our +Maine law by adopting some of the restrictions of the Lodging House +act. + +I have addressed this letter to you, my dear cousin, on account of the +deep interest you have taken in the condition of the poor and +perishing in the city of New York. While making these examinations, +these questions occurred to my mind: Could our rich Christian men +employ their capital in a more evangelical manner, or more adorn the +city of New York, than by raiding a large and beautiful lodging house, +which should give the means of health, comfort, and vigor to thousands +of poor needlewomen? The same query may be repeated concerning all the +other lodging houses I have mentioned. Furthermore, should not a +movement for the registration and inspection of common lodging houses +keep pace with efforts to suppress the sale of spirits? The poison of +these dismal haunts creates a craving for stimulants, which constantly +tends to break over and evade law. + + + + +LETTER XXIX. + +DEAR FATHER:-- + +I wish in this letter to give you a brief view of the movements in +this country for the religious instruction and general education of +the masses. If we compare the tone of feeling now prevalent with that +existing but a few years back, we notice a striking change. No longer +ago than in the time of Lady Huntington we find a lady of quality +ingenuously confessing that her chief source of scepticism in regard +to Christianity was, that it actually seemed to imply that the +educated, the refined, the noble, must needs be saved by the same +Savior and the same gospel with the ignorant and debased working +classes. Traces of a similar style of feeling are discernible in the +letters of the polished correspondents of Hannah More. Robert Walpole +gayly intimates himself somewhat shocked at the idea that the nobility +and the vulgar should be equally subject to the restraints of the +Sabbath and the law of God--equally exposed to the sanctions of +endless retribution. And Young makes his high-born dame inquire, + + "Shall pleasures of a short duration chain + A _lady's_ soul in everlasting pain?" + +In broad contrast to this, all the modern popular movements in England +are based upon the recognition of the equal value of every human soul. +The Times, the most aristocratic paper in England, publishes letters +from needlewomen and dressmakers' apprentices, and reads grave +lectures to duchesses and countesses on their duties to their poor +sisters. One may fancy what a stir this would have made in the courtly +circles of the reign of George II. Fashionable literature now arrays +itself on the side of the working classes. The current of novel +writing is reversed. Instead of milliners and chambermaids being +bewitched with the adventures of countesses and dukes, we now have +fine lords and ladies hanging enchanted over the history of John the +Carrier, with his little Dot, dropping sympathetic tears into little +Charlie's wash tub, and pursuing the fortunes of a dressmaker's +apprentice, in company with poor Smike, and honest John Brodie and his +little Yorkshire wife. Punch laughs at every body but the work people; +and if, occasionally, he laughs at them, it is rather in a kindly way +than with any air of contempt. Then, Prince Albert visits model +lodging houses, and commands all the ingenuity of the kingdom to +expend itself in completing the ideal of a workman's cottage for the +great World's Fair. Lords deliver lydeum lectures; ladies patronize +ragged schools; committees of duchesses meliorate the condition of +needlewomen. In short, the great ship of the world has tacked, and +stands on another course. + +The beginning of this great humanitarian movement in England was +undoubtedly the struggle of Clarkson, Wilberforce, and their +associates, for the overthrow of the slave trade. In that struggle the +religious democratic element was brought to bear for years upon the +mind of Parliament. The negro, most degraded of men, was taken up, and +for years made to agitate British society on the simple ground that he +had a human soul. + +Of course the religious obligations of society to _every_ human +soul were involved in the discussion. It educated Parliament, it +educated the community. Parliament became accustomed to hearing the +simple principles of the gospel asserted in its halls as of binding +force. The community were trained in habits of efficient benevolent +action, which they have never lost. The use of tracts, of committees, +of female cooperation, of voluntary association, and all the +appliances of organized reform were discovered and successfully +developed. The triumphant victory then achieved, moreover, became the +pledge of future conquests in every department of reform. Concerning +the movements for the elevation of the masses, Lord Shaftesbury has +kindly furnished me with a few brief memoranda, set down as nearly as +possible in chronological order. + +In the first place, there has been reform of the poor laws. So corrupt +had this system become, that a distinct caste had well nigh sprung +into permanent existence, families having been known to subsist in +idleness for five generations solely by means of skilful appropriation +of public and private charities. + +The law giving to paupers the preference in all cases where any public +work was to be done, operated badly. Good workmen might starve for +want of work: by declaring themselves paupers they obtained +employment. Thus, virtually, a bounty was offered to pauperism. His +lordship remarks,-- + +"There have been sad defects, no doubt, and some harshness, under the +new system; but the general result has been excellent; and, in many +instances, the system has been reduced to practice in a truly +patriarchal spirit. The great difficulty and the great failure are +found in the right and safe occupation of children who are trained in +these workhouses, of which so much has been said." + +In the second place, the treatment of the insane has received a +thorough investigation. This began, in 1828, by a committee of +inquiry, moved for by Mr. Gordon. + +An almost incredible amount of suffering and horrible barbarity was +thus brought to light. For the most part it appeared that the +treatment of the insane had been conducted on the old, absurd idea +which cuts them off from humanity, and reduces them below the level of +the brutes. The regimen in private madhouses was such that Lord +Shaftesbury remarked of them, in a speech on the subject, "I have said +before, and now say again, that should it please God to visit me with +such an affliction, I would greatly prefer the treatment of paupers, +in an establishment like that of the Surrey Asylum, to the treatment +of the rich in almost any one of these receptacles." + +Instances are recorded of individuals who were exhumed from cells +where they had existed without clothing or cleansing, as was +ascertained, _for years after they had entirely recovered the +exercise of sound reason_. Lord Shaftesbury procured the passage of +bills securing the thorough supervision of these institutions by +competent visiting committees, and the seasonable dismissal of all who +were pronounced cured; and the adoption for the pauper insane of a +judicious course of remedial treatment. + +The third step was the passage of the ten hour factory bill. This took +nearly eighteen years of labor and unceasing activity in Parliament +and in the provinces. Its operation affects full half a million of +actual workers, and, if the families be included, nearly two millions +of persons, young and old. Two thirds as many as the southern slaves. + +It is needless to enlarge on the horrible disclosures in reference to +the factory operatives, made during this investigation. England never +shuddered with a deeper thrill at the unveiling of American slavery +than did all America at this unveiling of the white-labor slavery of +England. In reading the speeches of Lord Shaftesbury, one sees, that, +in presenting this subject, he had to encounter the same opposition +and obloquy which now beset those in America who seek the abolition of +slavery. + +In the beginning of one of his speeches, his lordship says, "Nearly +eleven years have now elapsed since I first made the proposition to +the house which I shall renew this night. Never, at any time, have I +felt greater apprehension, or even anxiety. Not through any fear of +personal defeat; for disappointment is 'the badge of our tribe;' but +because I know well the hostility that I have aroused, and the certain +issues of indiscretion on my part affecting the welfare of those who +have so long confided their hopes and interests to my charge." One may +justly wonder on what conceivable grounds any could possibly oppose +the advocate of a measure like this. He was opposed on the same ground +that Clarkson was resisted in seeking the abolition of the slave +trade. As Boswell said that "to abolish the slave trade would be to +shut the gates of mercy on mankind," so the advocates of eighteen +hours labor in factories said that the ten hour system would diminish +produce, lower wages, and bring starvation on the workmen. His +lordship was denounced as an incendiary, a meddling fanatic, +interfering with the rights of masters, and desiring to exalt his own +order by destroying the prosperity of the manufacturers. + +In the conclusion of one of his speeches he says, "Sir, it may not be +given me to pass over this Jordan; other and better men have preceded +me, and I entered into their labors; other and better men will follow +me, and enter into mine; but this consolation I shall ever continue to +enjoy--that, amidst much injustice and somewhat of calumny, we have at +last 'lighted such a candle in England as, by God's blessing, shall +never be put out.'" + +The next effort was to regulate the labor of children in the calico +and print works. The great unhealthiness of the work, and the tender +age of the children employed,--some even as young as four years--were +fully disclosed. An extract from his lordship's remarks on this +subject will show that human nature takes the same course in all +countries: "Sir, in the various discussions on these kindred subjects, +there has been a perpetual endeavor to drive us from the point under +debate, and taunt us with a narrow and one-sided humanity. I was told +there were far greater evils than those I had assailed--that I had +left untouched much worse things. It was in vain to reply that no one +could grapple with the whole at once; my opponents on the ten hour +bill sent me to the collieries; when I invaded the collieries I was +referred to the print works; from the print works I know not to what I +shall be sent; for what can be worse? Sir, it has been said to me, +more than once, 'Where will you stop?' I reply, Nowhere, so long as +any portion of this mighty evil remains to be removed. I confess that +my desire and ambition are to bring all the laboring children of this +empire within the reach and opportunities of education, within the +sphere of useful and happy citizens. I am ready, so far as my services +are of any value, to devote what little I have of energy, and all the +remainder of my life, to the accomplishment of this end. The labor +would be great, and the anxieties very heavy; but I fear neither one +nor the other. I fear nothing but defeat." + +From the allusion, above, to the colliery effort, it would seem that +the act for removing women and children from the coalpits preceded the +reform of the printworks. Concerning the result of these various +enterprises, he says, "The present state of things may be told in few +words. Full fifty thousand children under thirteen years of age attend +school every day. None are worked more than seven, generally only six, +hours in the day. Those above thirteen and under eighteen, and all +women, are limited to ten hours and a half, exclusive of the time for +meals. The work begins at six in the morning and ends at six in the +evening. Saturday's labor ends at four o'clock, and there is no work +on Sunday. The printworks are brought under regulation, and the women +and children removed from the coalpits." His lordship adds, "The +report of inspectors which I send you will give you a faint picture of +the physical, social, and moral good that has resulted. I may safely +say of these measures, that God has blessed them far beyond my +expectation, and almost equal to my heart's desire." + +The next great benevolent movement is the ragged school system. From a +miserable hole in Field Lane, they have grown up to a hundred and +sixteen in number. Of these Lord Shaftesbury says, "They have +produced--I speak seriously--some of the most beautiful fruits that +ever grew upon the tree of life. I believe that from the teachers and +from the children, though many are now gone to their rest, might have +been, and might still be, selected some of the most pure, simple, +affectionate specimens of Christianity the world ever saw." Growing +out of the ragged school is an institution of most interesting +character, called "a place for repentance." It had its origin in the +efforts of a young man, a Mr. Nash, to reform two of his pupils. They +said they wished to be honest, but had nothing to eat, and _must_ +steal to live. Though poor himself, he invited them to his humble +abode, and shared with them his living. Other pupils, hearing of this, +desired to join with them, and become honest too. Soon he had six. +Now, the _honest_ scholars in the ragged school, seeing what was +going on, of their own accord began to share their bread with this +little band, and to contribute their pennies. Gradually the number +increased. Benevolent individuals noticed it, and supplies flowed in, +until at last it has grown to be an establishment in which several +hundreds are seeking reformation. To prevent imposition, a rigid +probation is prescribed. Fourteen days the applicant feeds on bread +and water, in solitary confinement, with the door unfastened, so that +he can depart at any moment. If he goes through with that ordeal it is +thought he really wants to be honest, and he is admitted a member. +After sufficient time spent in the institution to form correct habits, +assistance is given him to emigrate to some of the colonies, to +commence life, as it were, anew. Lord Shaftesbury has taken a deep +interest in this establishment; and among other affecting letters +received from its colonists in Australia, is one to him, commencing, +"Kind Lord Ashley," in which the boy says, "I wish your lordship would +send out more boys, and use your influence to convert all the prisons +into ragged schools. As soon as I get a farm I shall call it after +your name." + +A little anecdote related by Mr. Nash shows the grateful feelings of +the inmates of this institution. A number of them were very desirous +to have a print of Lord Shaftesbury, to hang up in their sitting room. +Mr. Nash told them he knew of no way in which they could earn the +money, except by giving up something from their daily allowance of +food. This they cheerfully agreed to do. A benevolent gentleman +offered to purchase the picture and present it to them; but they +unanimously declined. They wanted it to be their own, they said, and +they could not feel that it was so unless they did something for it +themselves. + +Connected with the ragged school, also, is a movement for establishing +what are called ragged churches--a system of simple, gratuitous +religious instruction, which goes out to seek those who feel too poor +and degraded to be willing to enter the churches. + +Another of the great movements in England is the institution of the +Laborer's Friend Society, under the patronage of the most +distinguished personages. Its principal object has been the promotion +of allotments of land in the country, to be cultivated by the +peasantry after their day's labor, thus adding to their day's wages +the produce of their fields and gardens. It has been instrumental, +first and last, of establishing nearly four hundred thousand of these +allotments. It publishes, also, a monthly paper, called the Laborer's +Friend, in which all subjects relative to the elevation of the working +classes receive a full discussion. + +In consequence of all these movements, the dwellings of the laboring +classes throughout Great Britain are receiving much attention; so +that, if matters progress for a few years as they have done, the +cottages of the working people will be excelled by none in the world. + +Another great movement is the repeal of the corn laws, the benefit of +which is too obvious to need comment. + +What has been doing for milliners and dressmakers, for the reform +lodging houses, and for the supply of baths and wash houses, I have +shown at length in former letters. I will add that the city of London +has the services of one hundred and twenty city missionaries. + +There is a great multiplication of churches, and of clergymen to labor +in the more populous districts. The Pastoral Aid Society and the +Scripture Reading Society are both extensive and fruitful laborers for +the service of the mass of the people. + +There has also been a public health act, by which towns and villages +are to be drained and supplied with water. This has gone into +operation in about one hundred and sixty populous places with the most +beneficial results. + +In fine, Lord Shaftesbury says, "The best proof that the people are +cared for, and that they know it, appeared in the year 1848. All +Europe was convulsed. Kings were falling like rotten pears. We were as +quiet and happy in England as the President of the United States in +his drawing room." + +It is true, that all these efforts united could not radically relieve +the distress of the working classes, were it not for the outlet +furnished by emigration. But Australia has opened as M new world of +hope upon England. And confirmatory of all other movements for the +good of the working classes, come the benevolent efforts of Mrs. +Chisholm and the colonizing society formed under her auspices. + +I will say, finally, that the aspect of the religious mind of England, +as I have been called to meet it, is very encouraging in this respect; +that it is humble, active, and practical. With all that has been done, +they do not count themselves to have attained, or to be already +perfect; and they evidently think and speak more of the work that yet +remains to be done than of victories already achieved. Could you, my +dear father, have been with me through the different religious circles +it has been my privilege to enter, from the humble cotter's fireside +to the palace of the highest and noblest, your heart would share with +mine a sincere joy in the thought that the Lord "has much people" in +England. Called by different names, Churchman, Puseyite, Dissenter, +Presbyterian, Independent, Quaker, differing widely, sincerely, +earnestly, I have still found among them all evidence of that true +piety which consists in a humble and childlike spirit of obedience to +God, and a sincere desire to do good to man. It is comforting and +encouraging to know, that while there are many sects and opinions, +there is, after all, but one Christianity. I sometimes think that it +has been my peculiar lot to see the exhibition of more piety and +loveliness of spirit in the differing sects and ranks in England than +they can see in each other. And it lays in my mind a deep foundation +of hope for that noble country. My belief is, that a regenerating +process is going on in England; a gradual advance in religion, of +which contending parties themselves are not aware. Under various forms +all are energizing together, I trust, under the guidance of a superior +spirit, who is gently moderating acerbities, removing prejudices, +inclining to conciliation and harmony, and preparing England to +develop, from many outward forms, the one, pure, beautiful, invisible +church of Christ. + + + + +LETTER XXX. + +LONDON, June 3. + +MY DEAR HUSBAND:-- + +According to request I will endeavor to keep you informed of all our +goings on after you left, up to the time of our departure for Paris. + +We have borne in mind your advice to hasten away to the continent. C. +wrote, a day or two since, to Mrs. C. at Paris, to secure very private +lodgings, and by no means let any one know that we were coming. She +has replied, urging us to come to her house, and promising entire +seclusion and rest. So, since you departed, we have been passing with +a kind of comprehensive skip and jump over remaining engagements. And +first, the evening after you left, came off the presentation of the +inkstand by the ladies of Surrey Chapel. + +Our kind Mr. Sherman showed great taste as well as energy in the +arrangements. The lecture room of the chapel was prettily adorned with +flowers. Lord Shaftesbury was in the chair, and the Duchess of Argyle +and the Marquis of Stafford were there. Miss Greenfield sang some +songs, and there were speeches in which each speaker said all the +obliging things he could think of to the rest. Rev. Mr. Binney +complimented the nobility, and Lord Shaftesbury complimented the +people, and all were but too kind in what they said to me--in fact, +there was general good humor in the whole scene. + +The inkstand is a beautiful specimen of silverwork. It is eighteen +inches long, with a group of silver figures on it, representing +Religion with the Bible in her hand, giving liberty to the slave. The +slave is a masterly piece of work. He stands with his hands clasped, +looking up to heaven, while a white man is knocking the shackles from +his feet. But the prettiest part of the scene was the presentation of +a _gold pen_, by a band of beautiful children, one of whom made a +very pretty speech. I called the little things to come and stand +around me, and talked with them a few minutes, and this was all the +speaking that fell to my share. Now this, really, was too kind of +these ladies, and of our brotherly friend Mr. S., and I was quite +touched with it; especially as I have been able myself to do so very +little, socially, for any body's pleasure. Mr. Sherman still has +continued to be as thoughtful and careful as a brother could be; and +his daughter, Mrs. B., I fear, has robbed her own family to give us +the additional pleasure of her society. We rode out with her one day +into the country, and saw her home and little family. Saturday morning +we breakfasted at Stafford House, I wish you could have been there. +All was as cool, and quiet, and still there, as in some retreat deep +in the country. We went first into the duchess's boudoir,--you +remember,--where is that beautiful crayon sketch of Lady Constance. +The duchess was dressed in pale blue. We talked with her some time, +before any one came in, about Miss Greenfield. I showed her a simple +note to her grace in which Miss G. tried to express her gratitude, and +which she had sent to me to _correct_ for her. The duchess said, +"0, give it me! it is a great deal better as it is. I like it just as +she wrote it." + +People always like simplicity and truth better than finish. After +entering the breakfast room the Duke and Duchess of Argyle, and Lord +Carlisle appeared, and soon after Lord Shaftesbury. We breakfasted in +that beautiful green room which has the two statues, the Eve of +Thorwaldsen and the Venus of Canova. The view of the gardens and trees +from the window gave one a sense of seclusion and security, and made +me forget that we were in great, crowded London. A pleasant talk we +had. Among other things they proposed various inquiries respecting +affairs in America, particularly as to the difference between +Presbyterians and Congregationalists, the influence of the Assembly's +Catechism, and the peculiarities of the other religious denominations. + +The Duke of Argyle, who is a Presbyterian, seemed to feel an interest +in those points. He said it indicated great power in the Assembly's +Catechism that it could hold such ascendency in such a free country. + +In the course of the conversation it was asked if there was really +danger that the antislavery spirit of England would excite ill feeling +between the two countries. + +I said, were it possible that America were always to tolerate and +defend slavery, this might be. But this would be self-destruction. It +cannot, must not, will not be. We shall struggle, and shall overcome; +and when the victory has been gained we shall love England all the +more for her noble stand in the conflict. As I said this I happened to +turn to the duchess, and her beautiful face was lighted with such a +strong, inspired, noble expression, as set its seal at once in my +heart. + +Lord Carlisle is going to Constantinople to-morrow, or next day, to be +gone perhaps a year. The eastern question is much talked of now, and +the chances of war between Russia and Turkey. + +Lord Shaftesbury is now all-engaged upon the _fête_ of the seven +thousand charity children, which is to come off at St. Paul's next +Thursday. + +The Duchesses of Sutherland and Argyle were to have attended, but the +queen has just come to town, and the first drawing room will be held +on Thursday, so that they will be unable. His lordship had previously +invited me, and this morning renewed the invitation. Our time to leave +London is fixed for Friday; but, as I am told, there is no sight more +peculiar and beautiful than this _fête_, and I think I can manage +both to go there and be forward with my preparations. + +In the afternoon of this day I went with Lord Shaftesbury over the +model lodging houses, which I have described very particularly in a +letter to Mr. C. L. B. + +On Thursday, at five P. M., we drove to Stafford House, to go with her +grace to the House of Parliament. What a magnificent building! I say +so, in contempt of all criticism. I hear that all sorts of things are +said against it. For my part, I consider that no place is so utterly +hopeless as that of a modern architect intrusted with a great public +building. It is not his fault that he is modern, but his misfortune. +Things which in old buildings are sanctioned by time he may not +attempt; and if he strikes out _new_ things, that is still worse. +He is fair game for every body's criticism. He builds too high for +one, too low for another; is too ornate for this, too plain for that; +he sacrifices utility to aesthetics, or aesthetics to utility, and +somebody is displeased either way. The duchess has been a sympathizing +friend of the architect through this arduous ordeal. She took pleasure +and pride in his work, and showed it to me as something in which she +felt an almost personal interest. + +For my part, I freely confess that, viewed as a national monument, it +seems to me a grand one. What a splendid historic corridor is old +Westminster Hall, with its ancient oaken roof! I seemed to see all +that brilliant scene when Burke spoke there amid the nobility, wealth, +and fashion of all England, in the Warren Hastings trial. That speech +always makes me shudder. I think there never was any thing more +powerful than its conclusion. Then the corridor that is to be lined +with statues of the great men of England will be a noble affair. The +statue of Hampden is grand. Will they leave out Cromwell? There is +less need of a monument to him, it is true, than to most of them. We +went into the House of Lords. The Earl of Carlisle made a speech on +the Cuban question, in the course of which he alluded very gracefully +to a petition from certain ladies that England should enforce the +treaties for the prevention of the slave trade there; and spoke very +feelingly on the reasons why woman should manifest a particular +interest for the oppressed. The Duke of Argyle and the Bishop of +Oxford came over to the place where we were sitting. Her grace +intimated to the bishop a desire to hear from him on the question, and +in the course of a few moments after returning to his place, he arose +and spoke. He has a fine voice, and speaks very elegantly. + +At last I saw Lord Aberdeen. He looks like some of our Presbyterian +elders; a plain, grave old man, with a bald head, and dressed in +black; by the by, I believe I have heard that he is an elder in the +National kirk; I am told he is a very good man. You don't know how +strangely and dreamily this House of Lords, as _seen_ to-day, +mixed itself up with my historic recollections of by-gone days. It had +a very sheltered, comfortable parlor-like air. The lords in their +cushioned seats seemed like men that had met, in a social way, to talk +over public affairs; it was not at all that roomy, vast, declamatory +national hall I had imagined. + +Then we went into the House of Commons. There is a kind of latticed +gallery to which ladies are admitted--a charming little oriental +rookery. There we found the Duchess of Argyle and others. Lord +Carlisle afterwards joined us, and we went all over the house, +examining the frescoes, looking into closets, tea rooms, libraries, +smoking rooms, committee rooms, and all, till I was thoroughly +initiated. The terrace that skirts the Thames is magnificent. I +inquired if any but members might enjoy it. No; it was only for +statesmen; our short promenade there was, therefore, an act of grace. + +On the whole, when this Parliament House shall have gathered the dust +of two hundred years,--when Victoria's reign is among the +myths,--future generations will then venerate this building as one of +the rare creations of old masters, and declare that no modern +structure can ever equal it. + +The next day, at three o'clock, I went to Miss Greenfield's first +public morning concert, a bill of which I send you. She comes out +under the patronage of all the great names, you observe. Lady +Hatherton was there, and the Duchess of Sutherland, with all her +daughters. + +Miss Greenfield did very well, and was heard with indulgence, though +surrounded by artists who had enjoyed what she had not--a life's +training. I could not but think what a loss to art is the enslaving of +a race which might produce so much musical talent. Had she had culture +equal to her voice and ear, _no_ singer of any country could have +surpassed her. There could even be associations of poetry thrown +around the dusky hue of her brow were it associated with the triumphs +of art. + +After concert, the Duchess of S. invited Lady H. and myself to +Stafford House. We took tea in the green library. Lady C. Campbell +was there, and her Grace of Argyle. After tea I saw the Duchess of S. +a little while alone in her boudoir, and took my leave then and there +of one as good and true-hearted as beautiful and noble. + +The next day I lunched with Mrs. Malcolm, daughter-in-law of your +favorite traveller, Sir John Malcolm, of Persian memory. You should +have been there. The house is a cabinet of Persian curiosities. There +was the original of the picture of the King of Persia in Ker Porter's +Travels. It was given to Sir John by the monarch himself. There were +also two daggers which the king presented with his own hand. I think +Sir John must somehow have mesmerized him. Then Captain M. showed me +sketches of his father's country house in the Himalaya Mountains: +think of that! The Alps are commonplace; but a country seat in the +Himalaya Mountains is something worth speaking of. There were two +bricks from Babylon, and other curiosities innumerable. + +Mrs. M. went with me to call on Lady Carlisle. She spoke much of the +beauty and worth of her character, and said that though educated in +the gayest circles of court, she had always preserved the same +unworldly purity. Mrs. M. has visited Dunrobin and seen the Sutherland +estates, and spoke much of the Duke's character as a landlord, and his +efforts for the improvement of his tenantry. + +Lady Carlisle was very affectionate, and invited me to visit Castle +Howard on my return to England. + +Thursday I went with Lord Shaftesbury to see the charity children. +What a sight! The whole central part of the cathedral was converted +into an amphitheatre, and the children with white caps, white +handkerchiefs, and white aprons, looked like a wide flower bed. The +rustling, when they all rose up to prayer, was like the rise of a +flock of doves, and when they chanted the church service, it was the +warble of a thousand little brooks. As Spenser says,-- + + "The angelical, soft, trembling voices made + Unto the instruments respondence meet." + +During the course of the services, when any little one was overcome +with sleep or fatigue, he was carefully handed down, and conveyed in a +man's arms to a refreshment room. + +There was a sermon by the Bishop of Chester, very evangelical and +practical. On the whole, a more peculiar or more lovely scene I never +saw. The elegant arches of St. Paul's could have no more beautiful +adornment than those immortal flowers. + +After service we lunched with a large party, with Mrs. Milman, at the +deanery near by. Mrs. Jameson was there, and Mrs. Gaskell, authoress +of Mary Barton and Ruth. She has a very lovely, gentle face, and looks +capable of all the pathos that her writings show. I promised her a +visit when I go to Manchester. Thackeray was there with his fine +figure, and frank, cheerful bearing. He spoke in a noble and brotherly +way of America, and seemed to have highly enjoyed his visit in our +country. + +After this we made a farewell call at the lord mayor's. We found the +lady mayoress returned from the queen's drawing room. From her +accounts I should judge the ceremonial rather fatiguing. Mrs. M. asked +me yesterday if I had any curiosity to see one. I confessed I had not. +Merely to see public people in public places, in the way of parade and +ceremony, was never interesting to me. I have seen very little of +ceremony or show in England. Well, now, I have brought you down to +this time. I have omitted, however, that I went with Lady Hatherton to +call on Mr. and Mrs. Dickens, and was sorry to find him too unwell to +be able to see us. Mrs. Dickens, who was busy in attending him, also +excused herself, and we saw his sister. + +To-morrow we go--go to quiet, to obscurity, to peace; to Paris--to +Switzerland: there we shall find the loneliest glen, and, as the Bible +says, "fall on sleep." For our adventures on the way, meanwhile, I +refer you to C.'s journal. + + + + +JOURNAL + +LONDON TO PARIS + +June 4, 1853. Bade adieu with regret to dear Surrey parsonage, and +drove to the great south-western station house. + +"Paris?" said an official at our cab door. "Paris, by Folkestone and +Boulogne," was our answer. And in a few moments, without any +inconvenience, we were off. Reached Folkestone at nine, and enjoyed a +smooth passage across the dreaded channel. The steward's bowls were +paraded in vain. At Boulogne came the long-feared and abhorred ordeal +of passports and police. It was nothing. We slipped through quite +easily. A narrow ladder, the quay, gens-d'armes, a hall, a crowd, +three whiskers, a glance at the passport, the unbuckling of a bundle, +_voila tout_. The moment we issued forth, however, upon the quay +again, there was a discharge of forty voices shouting in French. For a +moment, completely stunned, I forgot where we were, which way going, +and what we wanted. Up jumped a lively little _gamin_. + +"_Monsieur veut aller à Pan's, n'est ce pas?_" "Going to Paris, +are you not, sir?" + +"_Oui._" + +"Is monsieur's baggage registered?" + +"Yes." + +"Does monsieur's wish to go to the station house?" + +"Can one find any thing there to eat?" + +"Yes, just as at a hotel." + +We yielded at discretion, and _garçon_ took possession of us. + +"English?" said _garçon_, as we enjoyed the pleasant walk on the +sunny quay. + +"No. American," we replied. + +"Ah!" (his face brightening up, and speaking confidentially,) "you +have a republic there." + +We gave the lad a franc, dined, and were off for Paris. The ride was +delightful. Cars seating eight; clean, soft-cushioned, _nice_. +The face of the country, though not striking, was pleasing. There were +many poplars, with their silvery shafts, and a mingling of trees of +various kinds. The foliage has an airy grace--a certain +_spirituelle_ expression--as if the trees knew they were growing +in _la belle France_, and must be refined. Then the air is so +different from the fog and smoke of London. There is more oxygen in +the atmosphere. A pall is lifted. We are led out into sunshine. Fields +are red with a scarlet white-edged poppy, or blue with a flower like +larkspur. Wheat fields half covered with this unthrifty beauty! But +alas! the elasticity is in Nature's works only. The works of man +breathe over us a dismal, sepulchral, stand-still feeling. The +villages have the nightmare, and men wear wooden shoes. The day's +ride, however, was memorable with novelty; and when we saw Mont +Martre, and its moth-like windmills, telling us we were coming to +Paris, it was almost with regret at the swiftness of the hours. We +left the cars, and flowed with the tide into the Salle d'Attente, to +wait till the baggage was sorted. Then came the famous ceremony of +unlocking. The officer took my carpet bag first, and poked his hand +down deep in one end. + +"What is this?" + +"That is my collar box." + +"_Ah, ça_" And he put it back hastily, and felt of my travelling +gown. "What is this?" + +"Only a wrapping gown." + +"_Ah, ça_" After fumbling a little more, he took sister H.'s bag, +gave a dive here, a poke there, and a kind of promiscuous rake with +his five fingers, and turned to the trunk. There he seemed somewhat +dubious. Eying the fine silk and lace dresses,--first one, then the +other,--"Ah, ah!" said he, and snuffed a little. Then he peeped under +this corner, and cocked his eye under that corner; then, all at once, +plunged his arm down at one end of the trunk, and brought up a little +square box. "What's that?" said he. He unrolled and was about to open +it, when suddenly he seemed to be seized with an emotion of +confidence. "_Non, non_" said he, frankly, and rolled it up, +shoved it back, stuffed the things down, smoothed all over, signed my +ticket, and passed on. We locked up, gave the baggage to porters, and +called a fiacre. As we left the station two ladies met us. + +"Is there any one here expecting to see Mrs. C.?" said one of them. + +"Yes, madam," said I; "_we_ do." + +"God bless you," said she, fervently, and seized me by the hand. It +was Mrs. C. and her sister. I gave He into their possession. + +Our troubles were over. We were at home. We rode through streets whose +names were familiar, crossed the Carrousel, passed the Seine, and +stopped before an ancient mansion in the Hue de Verneuil, belonging to +M. le Marquis de Brige. This Faubourg St. Germain is the part of Paris +where the ancient nobility lived, and the houses exhibit marks of +former splendor. The marquis is one of those chivalrous legitimists +who uphold the claims of Henri VI. He lives in the country, and rents +this hotel. Mrs. C. occupies the suite of rooms on the lower floor. We +entered by a ponderous old gateway, opened by the _concierge_, +passed through a large paved quadrangle, traversed a short hall, and +found ourselves in a large, cheerful parlor, looking out into a small +flower garden. There was no carpet, but what is called here a parquet +floor, or mosaic of oak blocks, waxed and highly polished. The sofas +and chairs were covered with a light chintz, and the whole air of the +apartment shady and cool as a grotto. A jardinière filled with flowers +stood in the centre of the room, and around it a group of living +flowers--mother, sisters, and daughters--scarcely less beautiful. In +five minutes we were at home. French life is different from any other. +Elsewhere you do as the world pleases; here you do as you please +yourself. My spirits always rise when I get among the French. + +Sabbath, June 5. Headache all the forenoon. In the afternoon we walked +to the Madeleine, and heard a sermon on charity; listened to the +chanting, and gazed at the fantastic ceremonial of the altar. I had +anticipated so much from Henry's description of the organs, that I was +disappointed. The music was fine; but our ideal had outstripped the +real. The strangest part of the performance was the censer swinging at +the altar. It was done in certain parts of the chant, with rhythmic +sweep, and glitter, and vapor wreath, that produced a striking effect. +There was an immense audience--quiet, orderly, and to all appearance +devout. This was the first Romish service I ever attended. It ought to +be impressive here, if any where. Yet I cannot say I was moved by it +Rome-ward. Indeed, I felt a kind of Puritan tremor of conscience at +witnessing such a theatrical pageant on the Sabbath. We soon saw, +however, as we walked home, across the gardens of the Tuileries, that +there is no Sabbath in Paris, according to our ideas of the day. + +Monday, June 6. This day was consecrated to knick-knacks. Accompanied +by Mrs. C., whom years of residence have converted into a perfect +_Parisienne_, we visited shop after shop, and store after store. +The politeness of the shopkeepers is inexhaustible. I felt quite +ashamed to spend a half hour looking at every thing, and then depart +without buying; but the civil Frenchman bowed, and smiled, and thanked +us for coming. + +In the evening, we rode to L'Arc de Triomphe d'Etoile, an immense pile +of massive masonry, from the top of which we enjoyed a brilliant +panorama. Paris was beneath us, from the Louvre to the Bois de +Boulogne, with its gardens, and moving myriads; its sports, and games, +and light-hearted mirth--a vast Vanity Fair, blazing in the sunlight. +A deep and strangely-blended impression of sadness and gayety sunk +into our hearts as we gazed. All is vivacity, gracefulness, and +sparkle, to the eye; but ah, what fires are smouldering below! Are not +all these vines rooted in the lava and ashes of the volcano side? + +Tuesday, June 7. _A la Louvre_! But first the ladies must "shop" +a little. I sit by the counter and watch the pretty Parisian +_shopocracy_. A lady presides at the desk. Trim little grisettes +serve the customers so deftly, that we wonder why awkward men should +ever attempt to do such things. Nay, they are so civil, so evidently +disinterested and solicitous for your welfare, that to buy is the most +natural thing imaginable. + +But to the Louvre! Provided with catalogues, I abandoned the ladies, +and strolled along to take a kind of cream-skimming look at the whole. +I was highly elated with one thing. There were three Madonnas with +dark hair and eyes: one by Murillo, another by Carracci, and another +by Guido. It showed that painters were not so utterly hopeless as a +class, and given over by common sense to blindness of mind, as I had +supposed. + +H. begins to recant her heresy in regard to Rubens. Here we find his +largest pieces. Here we find the real originals of several real +originals we saw in English galleries. It seems as though only upon a +picture as large as the side of a parlor could his exuberant genius +find scope fully to lay itself out. + +When I met II. at last--after finishing the survey--her cheek was +flushed, and her eye seemed to swim. "Well, H.," said I, "have you +drank deep enough this time?" + +"Yes," said she, "I have been _satisfied_, for the first time." + +Wednesday, June 8. A day on foot in Paris. Surrendered H. to the care +of our fair hostess. Attempted to hire a boat, at one of the great +bathing establishments, for a pull on the Seine. Why not on the Seine, +as well as on the Thames? But the old Triton demurred. The tide +_marched_ too strong--"_Il marche trop fort._" Onward, then, +along the quays; visiting the curious old book stalls, picture stands, +and flower markets. Lean over the parapet, and gaze upon this modern +Euphrates, rushing between solid walls of masonry through the heart of +another Babylon. The river is the only thing not old. These waters are +as turbid, tumultuous, unbridled, as when forests covered all these +banks--fit symbol of peoples and nations in their mad career, +generation after generation. Institutions, like hewn granite, may wall +them in, and vast arches span their flow, and hierarchies domineer +over the tide; but the scorning waters burst into life unchangeable, +and sweep impetuous through the heart of Vanity Fair, and dash out +again into the future, the same grand, ungovernable Euphrates stream. +I do not wonder Egypt adored her Nile, and Rome her Tiber. Surely, the +life artery of Paris is this Seine beneath my feet! And there is no +scene like this, as I gaze upward and downward, comprehending, in a +glance, the immense panorama of art and architecture--life, motion, +enterprise, pleasure, pomp, and power. Beautiful Paris! What city in +the world can compare with thee? + +And is it not chiefly because, either by accident or by instinctive +good taste, her treasures of beauty and art are so disposed along the +Seine as to be visible at a glance to the best effect? As the instinct +of the true Parisienne teaches her the mystery of setting off the +graces of her person by the fascinations of dress, so the instinct of +the nation to set off the city by the fascinations of architecture and +embellishment. Hence a chief superiority of Paris to London. The Seine +is straight, and its banks are laid out in broad terraces on either +side, called _quais,_ lined with her stateliest palaces and +gardens. The Thames forms an elbow, and is enveloped in dense smoke +and fog. London lowers; the Seine sparkles; London shuts down upon the +Thames, and there is no point of view for the whole river panorama. +Paris rises amphitheatrically, on either side the Seine, and the eye +from the Pont d'Austerlitz seems to fly through the immense reach like +an arrow, casting its shadow on every thing of beauty or grandeur +Paris possesses. + +Rapidly now I sped onward, paying brief visits to the Palais de +Justice, the Hotel de Ville, and spending a cool half hour in Notre +Dame. I love to sit in these majestic fanes, abstracting them from the +superstition which does but desecrate them, and gaze upward to their +lofty, vaulted arches, to drink in the impression of architectual +sublimity, which I can neither analyze nor express. Cathedrals do not +seem to me to have been built. They seem, rather, stupendous growths +of nature, like crystals, or cliffs of basalt. There is little +ornament here. That roof looks plain and bare; yet I feel that the air +is dense with sublimity. Onward I sped, crossing a bridge by the Hotel +Dieu, and, leaving the river, plunged into narrow streets. Explored a +quadrangular market; surveyed the old church of St Geneviève, and the +new--now the Pantheon; went onward to the Jardin des Plantes, and +explored its tropical bowers. Many things remind me to-day of New +Orleans, and its levee, its Mississippi, its cathedral, and the +luxuriant vegetation of the gulf. In fact, I seem to be walking in my +sleep in a kind of glorified New Orleans, all the while. Yet I return +to the gardens of the Tuileries and the Place Vendome, and in the +shadow of Napoleon's Column the illusion vanishes. Hundreds of battles +look down upon me from their blazonry. + +In the evening I rested from the day's fatigue by an hour in the +garden of the Palais Royal. I sat by one of the little tables, and +called for an ice. There were hundreds of ladies and gentlemen eating +ices, drinking wine, reading the papers, smoking, chatting; scores of +pretty children were frolicking and enjoying the balmy evening. Here +six or eight midgets were jumping the rope, while papa and mamma swung +it for them. Pretty little things, with their flushed cheeks and +sparkling eyes, how they did seem to enjoy themselves! What parent was +ever far from home that did not espy in every group of children his +own little ones--his Mary or his Nelly, his Henry or Charlie? So it +was with me. There was a ring of twenty or thirty singing and dancing, +with a smaller ring in the centre, while old folks and boys stood +outside. But I heard not a single oath, nor saw a rough or rude +action, during the whole time I was there. The boys standing by looked +on quietly, like young gentlemen. The best finale of such a toilsome +day of sightseeing was a warm bath in the Rue du Bac, for the trifling +sum of fifteen sous. The cheapness and convenience of bathing here is +a great recommendation of Paris life. They will bring you a hot bath +at your house for twenty-five cents, and that without bustle or +disorder. And nothing so effectually as an evening bath, as my +experience testifies, cures fatigue and propitiates to dreamless +slumber. + +Thursday, June 9. At the Louvre. Studied three statues half an hour +each--the Venus Victrix, Polyhymnia, and Gladiateur Combattant. The +first is mutilated; but if _disarmed_ she conquers all hearts, +what would she achieve in full panoply? As to the Gladiator, I noted +as follows on my catalogue: A pugilist; antique, brown with age; +attitude, leaning forward; left hand raised on guard, right hand +thrown out back, ready to strike a side blow; right leg bent; straight +line from the head to the toe of left foot; muscles and veins most +vividly revealed in intense development; a wonderful _petrifaction,_ as +if he had been smitten to stone at the instant of striking. + +Here are antique mosaics, in which colored stones seem liquefied, +realizing the most beautiful effects of painting--quadrigae, warriors, +arms, armor, vases, streams, all lifelike. Ascending to the hall of +French paintings I spent an hour in studying one picture--La Méduse, +by Géricault. It is a shipwrecked crew upon a raft in mid ocean. I +gazed until all surrounding objects disappeared, and I was alone upon +the wide Atlantic. Those transparent emerald waves are no fiction; +they leap madly, hungering for their prey. That distended sail is +filled with the lurid air. That dead man's foot hangs off in the +seething brine a stark reality. What a fixed gaze of despair in that +father's stony eye! What a group of deathly living ones around that +frail mast, while one with intense eagerness flutters a signal to some +far-descried bark! Coleridge's Ancient Mariner has no colors more +fearfully faithful to his theme. Heaven pities them not. Ocean is all +in uproar against them. And there is no voice that can summon the +distant, flying sail! So France appeared to that prophet painter's +eye, in the subsiding tempests of the revolution. So men's hearts +failed them for fear, and the dead lay stark and stiff among the +living, amid the sea and the waves roaring; and so mute signals of +distress were hung out in the lurid sky to nations afar. + +For my part, I remain a heretic. Give to these French pictures the +mellowing effects of age, impregnating not merely the picture, but the +eye that gazes on it, with its subtle quality; let them be gazed at +through the haze of two hundred years, and they will--or I cannot see +why they will not--rival the productions of any past age. I do not +believe that a more powerful piece ever was painted than yon raft by +Gericault, nor any more beautiful than several in the Luxembourg; the +"Décadence de Rome," for example, exhibiting the revels of the Romans +during the decline of the empire. Let this Décadence unroll before the +eyes of men the _cause_, that wreck by Géricault symbolize the +_effect_, in the great career of nations, and the two are +sublimely matched. + +After visiting the Luxembourg, I resorted to the gardens of the +Tuileries. The thermometer was at about eighty degrees in the shade. +From the number of people assembled one would have thought, if it had +been in the United States, that some great mass convention was coming +off. Under the impenetrable screen of the trees, in the dark, cool, +refreshing shade, are thousands of chairs, for which one pays two +cents apiece. Whole families come, locking up their door, bringing the +baby, work, dinner, or lunch, take a certain number of chairs, and +spend the day. As far as eye can reach you see a multitude seated, as +if in church, with other multitudes moving to and fro, while boys and +girls without number are frolicking, racing, playing ball, driving +hoop, &c., but contriving to do it without making a hideous racket. +How French children are taught to play and enjoy themselves without +disturbing every body else, is a mystery. "_C'est gentil_" seems +to be a talismanic spell; and "_Ce n'est pas gentil ça_" is +sufficient to check every rising irregularity. O that some +_savant_ would write a book and tell us how it is done! I gazed +for half an hour on the spectacle. A more charming sight my eyes never +beheld. There were grayheaded old men, and women, and invalids; and +there were beautiful demoiselles working worsted, embroidery, sewing; +men reading papers; and, in fact, people doing every thing they would +do in their own parlors. And all were graceful, kind, and obliging; +not a word nor an act of impoliteness or indecency. No wonder the +French adore Paris, thought I; in no other city in the world is a +scene like this possible! No wonder that their hearts die within them +at thoughts of exile in the fens of Cayenne! + +But under all this there lie, as under the cultivated crust of this +fair world, deep abysses of soul, where volcanic masses of molten lava +surge and shake the tremulous earth. In the gay and bustling +Boulevards, a friend, an old resident of Paris, poised out to me, as +we rode, the bullet marks that scarred the houses--significant tokens +of what seems, but is not, forgotten. + +At sunset a military band of about seventy performers began playing in +front of the Tuileries. They formed an immense circle, the leader in +the centre. He played the octave flute, which also served as a baton +for marking time. The music was characterized by delicacy, precision, +suppression, and subjugation of rebellious material. + +I imagined a congress of horns, clarinets, trumpets, &c., conversing +in low tones on some important theme; nay, rather a conspiracy of +instruments, mourning between whiles their subjugation, and ever and +anon breaking out in a fierce _émeute_, then repressed, hushed, +dying away; as if they had heard of Baron Munchausen's frozen horn, +and had conceived the idea of yielding their harmonies without touch +of human lips, yet were sighing and sobbing at their impotence. +Perhaps I detected the pulses of a nation's palpitating heart, +throbbing for liberty, but trodden down, and sobbing in despair. + +In the evening Mrs. C. had her _salon_, a fashion of receiving +one's friends on a particular night, that one wishes could be +transplanted to American soil. + +No invitations are given. It is simply understood that on such an +evening, the season through, a lady _receives_ her friends. All +come that please, without ceremony. A little table is set out with tea +and a plate of cake. Behind it presides some fairy Emma or Elizabeth, +dispensing tea and talk, bonbons and bon-mots, with equal grace. The +guests enter, chat, walk about, spend as much time, or as little, as +they choose, and retire. They come when they please, and go when they +please, and there is no notice taken of entree or exit, no time wasted +in formal greetings and leave takings. + +Up to this hour we had conversed little in French. One is naturally +diffident at first; for if one musters courage to commence a +conversation with propriety, the problem is how to escape a Scylla in +the second and a Charybdis in the third sentence. Said one of our fair +entertainers, "When I first began I would think of some sentence till +I could say it without stopping, and courageously deliver myself to +some guest or acquaintance." But it was like pulling the string of a +shower bath. Delighted at my correct sentence, and supposing me _au +fait_, they poured upon me such a deluge of French that I held my +breath in dismay. Considering, however, that nothing is to be gained +by half-way measures, I resolved upon a desperate game. Launching in, +I talked away right and left, up hill and down,--jumping over genders, +cases, nouns, and adjectives, floundering through swamps and morasses, +in a perfect steeple chase of words. Thanks to the proverbial +politeness of my friends, I came off covered with glory; the more +mistakes I made the more complacent they grew. + +Nothing can surpass the ease, facility, and genial freedom of these +_soirées_. Conceive of our excellent professor of Arabic and +Sanscrit, Count M. fairly cornered by three wicked fairies, and +laughing at their stories and swift witticisms till the tears roll +down his cheeks. Behold yonder tall and scarred veteran, an old +soldier of Napoleon, capitulating now before the witchery of genius +and wit. Here the noble Russian exile forgets his sorrows in those +smiles that, unlike the aurora, warm while they dazzle. And our +celebrated composer is discomposed easily by alert and nimble-footed +mischief. And our professor of Greek and Hebrew roots is rooted to the +ground with astonishment at finding himself put through all the moods +and tenses of fun in a twinkling. Ah, culpable sirens, if the pangs ye +have inflicted were reckoned up unto you,--the heart aches and side +aches,--how could ye repose o' nights? + +Saturday, June 11. Versailles! When I have written that one word I +have said all. I ought to stop. Description is out of the question. +Describe nine miles of painting! Describe visions of splendor and +gorgeousness that cannot be examined in months! Suffice it to say that +we walked from hall to hall until there was no more soul left within +us. Then, late in the afternoon we drove away, about three miles, to +the villa of M. Belloc, _directeur de l'Ecole Imperials de +Dessein_. Madame Belloc has produced, assisted by her friend, +Mademoiselle Montgolfier, the best French translation of Uncle Tom's +Cabin. At this little family party we enjoyed ourselves exceedingly, +in the heart of genuine domestic life. Two beautiful married daughters +were there, with their husbands, and the household seemed complete. +Madame B. speaks English well; and thus, with our limited French, we +got on delightfully together. I soon discovered that I had been +sinning against all law in admiring any thing at Versailles. They were +all bad paintings. There might be one or two good paintings at the +Luxembourg, and one or two good modern paintings at the Louvre--the +Méduse, by Géricault, for example: (How I rejoiced that I had admired +it!) But all the rest of the modern paintings M. Belloc declared, with +an inimitable shrug, are poor paintings. There is nothing safely +admirable, I find, but the old masters. All those battles of all +famous French generals, from Charles Hartel to Napoleon, and the +battles in Algiers, by Horace Yernet, are wholly to be snuffed at. In +painting, as in theology, age is the criterion of merit. Yet Vernet's +paintings, though decried by M. le Directeur, I admired, and told him +so. Said I, in French as lawless as the sentiment, "Monsieur, I do not +know the rules of painting, nor whether the picture is according to +them or not; I only know that I like it." + +But who shall describe the social charms of our dinner? All wedged +together, as we were, in the snuggest little pigeon hole of a dining +room, pretty little chattering children and all, whom papa held upon +his knee and fed with bonbons, all the while impressing upon them the +absolute necessity of their leaving the table! There the salad was +mixed by acclamation, each member of the party adding a word of +advice, and each, gayly laughing at the advice of the other. There a +gay, red lobster was pulled in pieces among us, with infinite gout; +and Madame Belloc pathetically expressed her fears that we did not +like French cooking. She might have saved herself the trouble; for we +take to it as naturally as ducks take to the water. And then, when we +returned to the parlor, we resolved ourselves into a committee of the +whole on coffee, which was concocted in a trim little hydrostatic +engine of latest modern invention, before the faces of all. And so we +right merrily spent the evening. H. discussed poetry and art with our +kind hosts to her heart's content, and at a late hour we drove to the +railroad, and returned to Paris. + + + + +LETTER XXXI. + +MY DEAR L.:-- + +At last I have come into dreamland; into the lotus-eater's paradise; +into the land where it is always afternoon. I am released from care; I +am unknown, unknowing; I live in a house whose arrangements seem to me +strange, old, and dreamy. In the heart of a great city I am as still +as if in a convent; in the burning heats of summer our rooms are +shadowy and cool as a cave. My time is all my own. I may at will lie +on a sofa, and dreamily watch the play of the leaves and flowers, in +the little garden into which my room opens; or I may go into the +parlor adjoining, whence I hear the quick voices of my beautiful and +vivacious young friends. You ought to see these girls. Emma might look +like a Madonna, were it not for her wicked wit; and as to Anna and +Lizzie, as they glance by me, now and then, I seem to think them a +kind of sprite, or elf, made to inhabit shady old houses, just as +twinkling harebells grow in old castles; and then the gracious mamma, +who speaks French, or English, like a stream of silver--is she not, +after all, the fairest of any of them? And there is Caroline, piquant, +racy, full of conversation--sharp as a quartz crystal: how I like to +hear her talk! These people know Paris, as we say in America, "like a +book." They have studied it aesthetically, historically, socially. +They have studied French people and French literature,--and studied it +with enthusiasm, as people ever should, who would truly understand. +They are all kindness to me. Whenever I wish to see any thing, I have +only to speak; or to know, I have only to ask. At breakfast every +morning we compare notes, and make up our list of wants. My first, of +course, was the Louvre. It is close by us. Think of it. To one who has +starved all a life, in vain imaginings of what art might be, to know +that you are within a stone's throw of a museum full of its miracles, +Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian, Roman sculptors and modern painting, all +there! + +I scarcely consider myself to have seen any thing of art in England. +The calls of the living world were so various and _exigeant_, I +had so little leisure for reflection, that, although I saw many +paintings, I could not study them; and many times I saw them in a +state of the nervous system too jaded and depressed to receive the +full force of the impression. A day or two before I left, I visited +the National Gallery, and made a rapid survey of its contents. There +were two of Turner's masterpieces there, which he presented on the +significant condition that they should hang side by side with their +two finest Claudes. I thought them all four fine pictures, but I liked +the Turners best. Yet I did not think any of them fine enough to form +an absolute limit to human improvement. But, till I had been in Paris +a day or two, perfectly secluded, at full liberty to think and rest, I +did not feel that my time for examining art had really come. + +It was, then, with a thrill almost of awe that I approached the +Louvre. Here, perhaps, said I to myself, I shall answer, fully, the +question that has long wrought within my soul, What is art? and what +can it do? Here, perhaps, these yearnings for the ideal will meet +their satisfaction. The ascent to the picture gallery tends to produce +a flutter of excitement and expectation. Magnificent staircases, dim +perspectives of frescoes and carvings, the glorious hall of Apollo, +rooms with mosaic pavements, antique vases, countless spoils of art, +dazzle the eye of the neophyte, and prepare the mind for some grand +enchantment. Then opens on one the grand hall of paintings arranged by +schools, the works of each artist by themselves, a wilderness of +gorgeous growths. + +I first walked through the whole, offering my mind up aimlessly to see +if there were any picture there great and glorious enough to seize and +control my whole being, and answer, at once, the cravings of the +poetic and artistic element. For any such I looked in vain. I saw a +thousand beauties, as also a thousand enormities, but nothing of that +overwhelming, subduing nature which I had conceived. Most of the men +there had painted with dry eyes and cool hearts, thinking only of the +mixing of their colors and the jugglery of their art, thinking little +of heroism, faith, love, or immortality. Yet when I had resigned this +longing; when I was sure I should not meet there what I sought, then I +began to enjoy very heartily what there was. + +In the first place, I now saw Claudes worthy of the reputation he +bore. Three or four of these were studied with great delight; the +delight one feels, who, conscientiously bound to be delighted, +suddenly comes into a situation to be so. I saw, now, those +atmospheric traits, those reproductions of the mysteries of air, and +of light, which are called so wonderful, and for which all admire +Claude, but for which so few admire Him who made Claude, and who every +day creates around us, in the commonest scenes, effects far more +beautiful. How much, even now, my admiration of Claude was genuine, I +cannot say. How can we ever be sure on this point, when we admire what +has prestige and sanction, not to admire which is an argument against +ourselves? Certainly, however, I did feel great delight in some of +these works. + +One of my favorites was Rembrandt. I always did admire the gorgeous +and solemn mysteries of his coloring. Rembrandt is like Hawthorne. He +chooses simple and everyday objects, and so arranges light and shadow +as to give them a sombre richness and a mysterious gloom. The House of +Seven Gables is a succession of Rembrandt pictures, done in words +instead of oils. Now, this pleases us, because our life really is a +haunted one; the simplest thing in it is a mystery, the invisible +world always lies round us like a shadow, and therefore this dreamy +golden gleam of Rembrandt meets somewhat in our inner consciousness to +which it corresponds. There were no pictures in the gallery which I +looked upon so long, and to which I returned so often and with such +growing pleasure, as these. I found in them, if not a commanding, a +drawing influence, a full satisfaction for one part of my nature. + +There were Raphaels there, which still disappointed me, because from +Raphael I asked and expected more. I wished to feel his hand on my +soul with a stronger grasp; these were too passionless in their +serenity, and almost effeminate in their tenderness. + +But Rubens, the great, joyous, full-souled, all-powerful +Rubens!--there he was, full as ever of triumphant, abounding life; +disgusting and pleasing; making me laugh and making me angry; defying +me to dislike him; dragging me at his chariot wheels; in despite of my +protests forcing me to confess that there was no other but he. + +This Medici gallery is a succession of gorgeous allegoric paintings, +done at the instance of Mary of Medici, to celebrate the praise and +glory of that family. I was predetermined not to like them for two +reasons: first, that I dislike allegorical subjects; and second, that +I hate and despise that Medici family and all that belongs to them. So +no sympathy with the subjects blinded my eyes, and drew me gradually +from all else in the hall to contemplate these. It was simply the love +of power and of fertility that held me astonished, which seemed to +express with nonchalant ease what other painters attain by laborious +efforts. It occurred to me that other painters are famous for single +heads, or figures, and that were the striking heads and figures with +which these pictures abound to be parcelled out singly, any one of +them would make a man's reputation. Any animal of Rubens, alone, would +make a man's fortune in that department. His fruits and flowers are +unrivalled for richness and abundance; his old men's Leads are +wonderful; and when he chooses, which he does not often, he can even +create a pretty woman. Generally speaking his women are his worst +productions. It would seem that he had revolted with such fury from +the meagre, pale, cadaverous outlines of womankind painted by his +predecessors, the Van Eyks, whose women resembled potato sprouts grown +in a cellar, that he altogether overdid the matter in the opposite +direction. His exuberant soul abhors leanness as Nature abhors a +vacuum; and hence all his women seem bursting their bodices with +fulness, like overgrown carnations breaking out of their green +calyxes. He gives you Venuses with arms fit to wield the hammer of +Vulcan; vigorous Graces whose dominion would be alarming were they +indisposed to clemency. His weakness, in fact, his besetting sin, is +too truly described by Moses:-- + + "But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked; + Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, + Thou art covered with fatness." + +Scornfully he is determined upon it; he will none of your scruples; +his women shall be fat as he pleases, and you shall like him +nevertheless. + +In this Medici gallery the fault appears less prominent than +elsewhere. Many of the faces are portraits, and there are specimens +among them of female beauty, so delicate as to demonstrate that it was +not from any want of ability to represent the softer graces that he so +often becomes hard and coarse. My friend, M. Belloc, made the remark +that the genius of Rubens was somewhat restrained in these pictures, +and chastened by the rigid rules of the French school, and hence in +them he is more generally pleasing. + +I should compare Rubens to Shakspeare, for the wonderful variety and +vital force of his artistic power. I know no other mind he so nearly +resembles. Like Shakspeare, he forces you to accept and to forgive a +thousand excesses, and uses his own faults as musicians use discords, +only to enhance the perfection of harmony. There certainly is some use +even in defects. A faultless style sends you to sleep. Defects rouse +and excite the sensibility to seek and appreciate excellences. Some of +Shakspeare's finest passages explode all grammar and rhetoric like +skyrockets--the thought blows the language to shivers. + +As to Murillo, there are two splendid specimens of his style here, as +exquisite as any I have seen; but I do not find reason to alter the +judgment I made from my first survey. + +Here is his celebrated picture of the Assumption of the Virgin, which +we have seen circulated in print shops in America, but which appears +of a widely different character in the painting. The Virgin is rising +in a flood of amber light, surrounded by clouds and indistinct angel +figures. She is looking upward with clasped hands, as in an ecstasy: +the crescent moon is beneath her feet. The whole tone of the picture-- +the clouds, the drapery, her flowing hair--are pervaded with this +amber tint, sublimated and spiritual. Do I, then, like it? No. Does it +affect me? Not at all. Why so? Because this is a subject requiring +earnestness; yet, after all, there is no earnestness of religious +feeling expressed. It is a _surface_ picture, exquisitely +painted--the feeling goes no deeper than the canvas. But how do I know +Murillo has no earnestness in the religious idea of this piece? How do +I know, when reading Pope's Messiah, that _he_ was not in +earnest--that he was only most exquisitely reproducing what others had +thought? Does he not assume, in the most graceful way, the language of +inspiration and holy rapture? But, through it all, we feel the +satisfied smirk of the artist, and the fine, sharp touch of his +diamond file. What is done from a genuine, strong, inward emotion, +whether in writing or painting, always mesmerizes the paper, or the +canvas, and gives it a power which every body must feel, though few +know why. The reason why the Bible has been omnipotent, in all ages, +has been because there were the emotions of GOD in it; and of +paintings nothing is more remarkable than that some preserve in them +such a degree of genuine vital force that one can never look on them +with indifference; while others, in which every condition of art seems +to be met, inspire no strong emotion. + +Yet this picture is immensely popular. Hundreds stand enchanted before +it, and declare it imbodies their highest ideal of art and religion; +and I suppose it does. But so it always is. The man who has exquisite +gifts of expression passes for more, popularly, than the man with +great and grand ideas who utters but imperfectly. There are some +pictures here by Correggio--a sleeping Venus and Cupid--a marriage of +the infant Jesus and St. Catharine. This Correggio is the poet of +physical beauty. Light and shadow are his god. What he lives for is, +to catch and reproduce fitting phases of these. The moral is nothing +to him, and, in his own world, he does what he seeks. He is a great +popular favorite, since few look for more in a picture than exquisite +beauty understood between us that his sphere is to be earth, and not +heaven; were he to attempt, profanely, to represent heavenly things, I +must rebel. I should as soon want Tom Moore to write me a prayer book. + +A large saloon is devoted to the masters of the French school. The +works of no living artists are admitted. There are some large +paintings by David. He is my utter aversion. I see in him nothing but +the driest imitation of the classics. It would be too much praise to +call it reproduction. David had neither heart nor soul. How could he +be and artist?--he who coolly took his portfolio to the guillotine to +take lessons on the dying agonies of its victims--how could he ever +paint any thing to touch the heart? + +In general, all French artists appear to me to have been very much +injured by a wrong use of classic antiquity. Nothing could be more +glorious and beautiful than the Grecian development; nothing more +unlike it that the stale, wearisome, repetitious imitations of it in +modern times. The Greek productions themselves have a living power to +this day; but all imitations of them are cold and tiresome. These old +Greeks made such beautiful things, because they did _not_ +imitate. That mysterious vitality which still imbues their remains, +and which seems to enchant even the fragments of their marbles, is the +mesmeric vitality of fresh, original conception. Art, built upon this, +is just like what the shadow of a beautiful woman is to the woman. One +gets tired in these galleries of the classic band, and the classic +headdress, and the classic attitude, and the endless repetition of the +classic urn, and vase, and lamp, as if nothing else were ever to be +made in the world except these things. + +Again: in regard to this whole French gallery, there is much of a +certain quality which I find it very difficult to describe in any one +word--a dramatic smartness, a searching for striking and peculiar +effects, which render the pictures very likely to please on first +sight, and to weary on longer acquaintance. It seems to me to be the +work of a race whose senses and perceptions of the outward have been +cultivated more than the deep inward emotions. Few of the pictures +seem to have been the result of strong and profound feeling, of habits +of earnest and concentrated thought. There is an abundance of +beautiful little phases of sentiment, pointedly expressed; there is a +great deal of what one should call the picturesque of the +_morale;_ but few of its foundation ideas. I must except from +these remarks the very strong and earnest painting of the Méduse, by +Géricault, which C. has described. That seems to me to be the work of +a man who had not seen human life and suffering merely on the outside, +but had felt, in the very depths of his soul, the surging and +earthquake of those mysteries of passion and suffering which underlie +our whole existence in this world. To me it was a picture too mighty +and too painful--whose power I confessed, but which I did not like to +contemplate. + +On the whole, French painting is to me an exponent of the great +difficulty and danger of French life; that passion for the outward and +visible, which all their education, all the arrangements of their +social life, every thing in their art and literature, tends +continually to cultivate and increase. Hence they have become the +leaders of the world in what I should call the minor artistics--all +those little particulars which render life beautiful. Hence there are +more pretty pictures, and popular lithographs, from France than from +any other country in the world; but it produces very little of the +deepest and highest style of art. + +In this connection I may as well give you my Luxembourg experience, as +it illustrates the same idea. I like Paul de la Roche, on the whole, +although I think he has something of the fault of which I speak. He +has very great dramatic power; but it is more of the kind shown by +Walter Scott than of the kind shown by Shakspeare. He can reproduce +historical characters with great vividness and effect, and with enough +knowledge of humanity to make the verisimilitude admirably strong; but +as to the deep knowledge with which Shakspeare searches the radical +elements of the human soul, he has it not. His Death of Queen +Elizabeth is a strong Walter Scott picture; so are his Execution of +Strafford, and his Charles I., which I saw in England. + +As to Horace Vernet, I do not think he is like either Scott or +Shakspeare. In him this French capability for rendering the outward is +wrought to the highest point; and it is outwardness as pure from any +touch of inspiration or sentiment as I ever remember to have seen. He +is graphic to the utmost extreme. His horses and his men stand from +the canvas to the astonishment of all beholders. All is vivacity, +bustle, dazzle, and show. I think him as perfect, of his kind, as +possible; though it is a _kind_ of art with which I do not +sympathize. + +The picture of the Décadence de Rome indicates to my mind a painter +who has studied and understood the classical forms; vitalizing them, +by the reproductive force of his own mind, so as to give them the +living power of new creations. In this picture is a most grand and +melancholy moral lesson. The classical forms are evidently not +introduced because they are classic, but in subservience to the +expression of the moral. In the orgies of the sensualists here +represented he gives all the grace and beauty of sensuality without +its sensualizing effect. Nothing could be more exquisite than the +introduction of the busts of the departed heroes of the old republic, +looking down from their pedestals on the scene of debauchery below. It +is a noble picture, which I wish was hung up in the Capitol of our +nation to teach our haughty people that as pride, and fulness of +bread, and laxness of principle brought down the old republics, so +also ours may fall. Although the outward in this painting, and the +classical, is wrought to as fine a point as in any French picture, it +is so subordinate to the severity of the thought, that while it +pleases it does not distract. + +But to return to the Louvre. The halls devoted to paintings, of which +I have spoken, give you very little idea of the treasures of the +institution. Gallery after gallery is filled with Greek, Roman, +Assyrian, and Egyptian sculptures, coins, vases, and antique remains +of every description. There is, also, an apartment in which I took a +deep interest, containing the original sketches of ancient masters. +Here one may see the pen and ink drawings of Claude, divided into +squares to prepare them for the copyist. One compares here with +interest the manners of the different artists in jotting down their +ideas as they rose; some by chalk, some by crayon, some by pencil, +some by water colors, and some by a heterogeneous mixture of all. +Mozart's scrap bag of musical jottings could not have been more +amusing. + +On the whole, cravings of mere ideality have come nearer to meeting +satisfaction by some of these old mutilated remains of Greek sculpture +than any thing which I have met yet. In the paintings, even of the +most celebrated masters, there are often things which are excessively +annoying to me. I scarcely remember a master in whose works I have not +found a hand, or foot, or face, or feature so distorted, or coloring +at times so unnatural, or something so out of place and proportion in +the picture as very seriously to mar the pleasure that I derived from +it. In this statuary less is attempted, and all is more harmonious, +and one's ideas of proportion are never violated. + +My favorite among all these remains is a mutilated statue which they +call the Venus de Milon. This is a statue which is so called from +having been dug up some years ago, piecemeal, in the Island of Milos. +There was quite a struggle for her between a French naval officer, the +English, and the Turks. The French officer carried her off like +another Helen, and she was given to Paris, old Louis Philippe being +bridegroom by proxy. _Savans_ refer the statue to the time of +Phidias; and as this is a pleasant idea to me, I go a little further, +and ascribe her to Phidias himself. + +The statue is much mutilated, both arms being gone, and part of the +foot. But there is a majesty and grace in the head and face, a union +of loveliness with intellectual and moral strength, beyond any thing +which I have ever seen. To me she might represent Milton's glorious +picture of unfallen, perfect womanhood, in his Eve:-- + + "Yet when I approach + Her loveliness, so absolute she seems, + And in herself complete, so well to know + Her own, that what she wills to do or say + Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best. + All higher knowledge in her presence falls + Degraded; wisdom, in discourse with her, + Loses discountenanced, and like folly shows. + Authority and reason on her wait, + As one intended first, not after made + Occasionally; and to consummate all, + Greatness of mind, and nobleness, their seat + Build in her, loveliest, and create an awe + About her, like a guard angelic placed." + +Compared with this matchless Venus, that of Medici seems as inane and +trifling as mere physical beauty always must by the side of beauty +baptized, and made sacramental, as the symbol of that which alone is +truly fair. + +With regard to the arrangements of the Louvre, they seem to me to be +admirable. No nation has so perfectly the qualifications to care for, +keep, and to show to best advantage a gallery of art as the French. + +During the heat of the outburst that expelled Louis Philippe from the +throne, the Louvre was in some danger of destruction. Destructiveness +is a native element of human nature, however repressed by society; and +hence every great revolutionary movement always brings to the surface +some who are for indiscriminate demolition. Moreover there is a strong +tendency in the popular mind, where art and beauty have for many years +been monopolized as the prerogative of a haughty aristocracy, to +identify art and beauty with oppression; this showed itself in England +and Scotland in the general storm which wrecked the priceless beauty +of the ecclesiastical buildings. It was displaying itself in the same +manner in Germany during the time of the reformation, and had not +Luther been gifted with a nature as strongly aesthetic as progressive, +would have wrought equal ruin there. So in the first burst of popular +enthusiasm that expelled the monarchy, the cry was raised by some +among the people, "We shall never get rid of kings till we pull down +the palaces;" just the echo of the old cry in Scotland, "Pull down the +nests, and the rooks will fly away." The populace rushed in to the +splendid halls and saloons of the Louvre, and a general encampment was +made among the pictures. In this crisis a republican artist named +Jeanron saved the Louvre; saved the people the regret that must have +come over them had they perpetrated barbarisms, and Liberty the shame +of having such outrages wrought in her name. Appointed by the +provisional government to the oversight of the Louvre, and well known +among the people as a republican, he boldly came to the rescue. "Am I +not one of you?" he said. "Am I not one of the people? These splendid +works of art, are they not ours? Are they not the pride and glory of +our country? Shall we destroy our most glorious possession in the +first hour of its passing into our hands?" + +Moved by his eloquence the people decamped from the building, and left +it in his hands. Empowered to make all such arrangements for its +renovation and embellishment as his artistic taste should desire, he +conducted important repairs in the building, rearranged the halls, had +the pictures carefully examined, cleaned when necessary, and +distributed in schools with scientific accuracy. He had an apartment +prepared where are displayed those first sketches by distinguished +masters, which form one of the most instructive departments of the +Louvre to a student of art. The government seconded all his measures +by liberal supplies of money; and the Louvre is placed in its present +perfect condition by the thoughtful and cherishing hand of the +republic. + +These facts have been communicated to me from a perfectly reliable +source. As an American, and a republican, I cannot but take pleasure +in them. I mention them because it is often supposed, from the +destructive effects which attend the first advent of democratic +principles where they have to explode their way into existence through +masses of ancient rubbish, that popular liberty is unfavorable to art. +It never could be so in France, because the whole body of the people +are more thoroughly artistic in their tastes and feelings than in most +countries. They are almost slaves to the outwardly beautiful, taken +captive by the eye and the ear, and only the long association of +beauty with tyranny, with suffering, want, and degradation to +themselves, could ever have inspired any of them with even a momentary +bitterness against it. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Monday, June 13. Went this morning with H. and Mrs. C. to the studio +of M. Belloc. Found a general assembly of heads, arms, legs, and every +species of nude and other humanity pertaining to a studio; also an +agreeable jumble of old pictures and new, picture frames, canvas, +brushes, boxes, unfinished sketches, easels, palettes, a sofa, some +cushions, a chair or two, bottles, papers, a stove rusty and fireless, +and all things most charmingly innocent of any profane "clarin' up +times" whatsoever. + +The first question which M. Belloc proposed, with a genuine French +air, was the question of "_pose_" or position. It was concluded +that as other pictures had taken H. looking at the spectator, this +should take her looking away. M. Belloc remarked, that M. Charpentier +said H. appeared always with the air of an observer--was always +looking around on every thing. Hence M. Belloc would take her "_en +observatrice, mais pas en curieuse_"--with the air of observation, +but not of curiosity. + +At it he went. I stood behind and enjoyed. Rapid creative sketching in +chalk and charcoal. Then a chaos of colors and clouds, put on now with +brushes, now with fingers. "God began with chaos," said he, quoting +Prudhon. "We cannot expect to do better than God." + +With intensest enjoyment I watched the chaotic clouds forming on the +canvas round a certain nucleus, gradually resolving themselves into +shape, and lightening up with tints and touches, until a head seemed +slowly emerging from amidst the shadows. + +Meanwhile, an animated conversation was proceeding. M. Belloc, in his +rich, glorious French, rolling out like music from an organ, discussed +the problems of his art; while we ever and anon excited him by our +speculations, our theories, our heresies. H. talked in English, and +Mrs. C. translated, and I put in a French phrase sidewise every now +and then. + +By and by, M. Charpentier came in, who is more voluble, more _ore +rotundo, grandiose_, than M. Belloc. He began panegyrizing Uncle +Tom; and this led to a discussion of the ground of its unprecedented +success. In his thirty-five years' experience as a bookseller, he had +known nothing like it. It surpassed all modern writers. At first he +would not read it; his taste was for old masters of a century or two +ago. "Like M. Belloc in painting," said I. At length, he found his +friend, M. Alfred de Musée, the first intelligence of the age, reading +it. + +"What, you too?" said he. + +"Ah, ah!" said De Musée; "say nothing about this book! There is +nothing like it. This leaves us all behind--all, all, miles behind!" + +M. Belloc said the reason was because there was in it more _genuine +faith_ than in any book. And we branched off into florid eloquence +touching paganism, Christianity, and art. + +"Christianity," M. Belloc said, "has ennobled man, but not made him +happier. The Christian is not so happy as the old Greek. The old Greek +mythology is full of images of joy, of lightness, and vivacity; nymphs +and fauns, dryads and hamadryads, and all sportive creations. The arts +that grow up out of Christianity are all tinged with sorrow." + +"This is true in part," replied H., "because the more you enlarge a +person's general capacity of feeling, and his quantity of being, the +more you enlarge his capacity of suffering. A man can suffer more than +an oyster. Christianity, by enlarging the scope of man's heart, and +dignifying his nature, has deepened his sorrow." + +M. Belloc referred to the paintings of Eustache le Soeur, in the +Louvre, in illustration of his idea--a series based on the experience +of St. Bruno, and representing the effects of maceration and ghostly +penance with revolting horrors. + +"This," H. replied, "is not my idea of Christianity. Religion is not +asceticism, but a principle of love to God that beautifies and exalts +common life, and fills it with joy." + +M. Belloc ended with a splendid panegyric upon the ancient Greeks, the +eloquence of which I will not mar by attempting to repeat. + +Ever and anon H. was amused at the pathetic air, at once genuinely +French and thoroughly sincere, with which the master assured her, that +he was "_désolé_" to put her to so much trouble. + +As to Christianity not making men happier, methinks M. Belloc forgets +that the old Greek tragedies are filled with despair and gloom, as +their prevailing characteristic, and that nearly all the music of the +world before Christ was in the minor scale, as since Christ it has +come to be in the major. The whole creation has, indeed, groaned and +travailed in pain together until now; but the mighty anthem has +modulated since the cross, and the requiem of Jesus has been the +world's birthsong of approaching jubilee. + +Music is a far better test, moreover, on such a point, than painting, +for just where painting is weakest, namely, in the expression of the +highest moral and spiritual ideas, there music is most sublimely +strong. + +Altogether this morning in the painter's studio was one of the most +agreeable we ever spent. But what shall I say then of the evening in a +_salon musicale_; with the first violoncello playing in the +world, and the Princess Czartoryski at the piano? We were invited at +eight, but it was nine before we entered our carriage. We arrived at +the hotel of Mrs. Erskine, a sister of Lord Dundalk, and found a very +select party. There were chairs and sofas enough for all without +crowding. + +There was Frankomm of the Conservatoire, with his Stradivarius, an +instrument one hundred and fifty years old, which cost six thousand +dollars. There was his son, a little lad of twelve, who played almost +as well as his father. I wish F. and M. could have seen this. He was +but a year older than F., and yet played with the most astonishing +perfection. Among other things the little fellow performed a +_morceau_ of his own composition, which was full of pathos, and +gave tokens of uncommon ability. His father gave us sonatas of Mozart, +Chopin, &c., and a _polonaise_. The Princess Czartoryski +accompanied on the piano with extraordinary ability. + +That was an evening to be remembered a lifetime. One heard, probably, +the best music in the world of its kind, performed under prepared +circumstances, the most perfectly adapted to give effect. There was no +whispering, no noise. All felt, and heard, and enjoyed. I conversed +with the princess and with Frankomm. The former speaks English, the +latter none. I interpreted for H., and she had quite a little +conversation with him about his son, and about music. She told him she +hoped the day was coming when art would be consecrated to express the +best and purest emotions of humanity. He had read Uncle Tom; and when +he read it he exclaimed, "This is genuine Christianity"--"_Ceci est +la vraie Christianisme!_" + +The attentions shown to H. were very touching and agreeable. There is +nothing said or done that wearies or oppresses her. She is made to +feel perfectly free, at large, at ease; and the regard felt for her is +manifested in a way so delicate, so imperceptibly fine and +considerate, that she is rather strengthened by it than exhausted. +This is owing, no doubt, to the fact that we came determined to be as +private as possible, and with an explicit understanding with Mrs. C. +to that effect. Instead of trying to defeat her purpose, and force her +into publicity, the few who know of her presence seem to try to help +her carry it out, and see how much they can do for her, consistently +therewith. + +Tuesday, June 14. To-day we dined at six P. M., and read till nine. +Then drove to an evening _salon_--quite an early little party at +Mrs. Putnam's. Saw there Peter Parley and La Rochejaquelin, the only +one of the old nobility that joined Louis Napoleon. Peter Parley is +consul no longer, it seems. We discussed the empire a very little. "To +be, or not to be, that is the question." Opinions are various as the +circles. Every circle draws into itself items of information, that +tend to indicate what it wishes to be about to happen. Still, Peter +Parley and I, and some other equally cautious people, think that +_this_ cannot always last. By _this_, of course, we mean +this "thing"--this empire, so called. Sooner or later it must end in +revolution; and then what? Said a gentleman the other day, "Nothing +holds him up but fear of the RED." [Footnote: That is, fear of the Red +Republicans.] + +After chatting a while, Weston and I slipped out, and drove to the +Jardin Mabille, a garden in the Champs Elysées, whither thousands go +every night. We entered by an avenue of poplars and other trees and +shrubs, so illuminated by jets of gas sprinkled amongst the foliage as +to give it the effect of enchantment. It was neither moonlight nor +daylight, but a kind of spectral aurora, that made every thing seem +unearthly. + +As we entered the garden, we found flower beds laid out in circles, +squares, lozenges, and every conceivable form, with diminutive jets of +gas so distributed as to imitate flowers of the softest tints, and the +most perfect shape. This, too, seemed unearthly, weird. We seemed, in +an instant, transported into some Thalaba's cave, infinitely beyond +the common sights and sounds of every-day life. In the centre of these +grounds there is a circle of pillars, on the top of each of which is a +pot of flowers, with gas jets, and between them an arch of gas jets. +This circle is very large. In the midst of it is another circle, +forming a pavilion for musicians, also brilliantly illuminated, and +containing a large cotillion band of the most finished performers. + +Around this you find thousands of gentlemen and ladies strolling +singly, in pairs, or in groups. There could not be less than three +thousand persons present. While the musicians repose, they loiter, +sauntering round, or recline on seats. + +But now a lively waltz strikes the ear. In an instant twenty or thirty +couples are whirling along, floating, like thistles in the wind, +around the central pavilion. Their feet scarce touch the smooth-trodden +earth. Round and round, in a vortex of life, beauty, and brilliancy they +go, a whirlwind of delight. Eyes sparkling, cheeks flushing, and gauzy +draperies floating by; while the crowds outside gather in a ring, and +watch the giddy revel. There are countless forms of symmetry and grace, +faces of wondrous beauty, both among the dancers and among the +spectators. + +There, too, are feats of agility and elasticity quite aerial. One +lithe and active dancer grasped his fair partner by the waist. She was +dressed in a red dress; was small, elastic, agile, and went by like +the wind. And now and then, in the course of every few seconds, he +would give her a whirl and a lift, sending her spinning through the +air, around himself as an axis, full four feet from the ground. + +Then the music ceases, the crowd dissolves, and floats and saunters +away. On every hand are games of hazard and skill, with balls, tops, +wheels, &c., where, for five cents a trial, one might seek to gain a +choice out of glittering articles exposed to view. + +Then the band strike up again, and the whirling dance renews its +vortex; and so it goes on, from hour to hour, till two or three in the +morning. Not that _we_ staid till then; we saw all we wanted to +see, and left by eleven. But it is a scene perfectly unearthly, or +rather perfectly Parisian, and just as earthly as possible; yet a +scene where earthliness is worked up into a style of sublimation the +most exquisite conceivable. + +Entrance to this paradise can be had for, gentlemen, a dollar; ladies, +_free_. This tells the whole story. Nevertheless, do not infer +that there are not any respectable ladies there. It is a place so +remarkable, that very few strangers stay long in Paris without taking +a look at it. And though young ladies residing in Paris never go, and +matrons very seldom, yet occasionally it is the case that some ladies +of respectability look in. The best dancers, those who exhibit such +surprising feats of skill and agility, are _professional_--paid +by the establishment. + +Nevertheless, aside from the impropriety inherent in the very nature +of waltzing, there was not a word, look, or gesture of immorality or +impropriety. The dresses were all decent; and if there was vice, it +was vice masked under the guise of polite propriety. + +How different, I could not but reflect, is all this from the gin +palaces of London! There, there is indeed a dazzling splendor of gas +light. But there is nothing artistic, nothing refined, nothing +appealing to the imagination. There are only hogsheads, and barrels, +and the appliances for serving out strong drink. And there, for one +sole end, the swallowing of fiery stimulant, come the nightly +thousands--from the gay and well dressed, to the haggard and tattered, +in the last stage of debasement. The end is the same--by how different +paths! Here, they dance along the path to ruin, with flowers and +music; there, they cast themselves bodily, as it were, into the lake +of fire. + +Wednesday, June 15. Went in the forenoon to M. Belloc's studio, and +read while H. was sitting. + +Then we drove to Madame Roger's, who is one of the leaders of Paris +taste and legislation in dress, and who is said to have refused to +work for a duchess who neglected to return her husband's bow. I sat in +the outer courts while some mysterious affairs were being transacted +in the inner rooms of state. + +Then we drove to the Louvre, and visited the remains from Nineveh. +They are fewer in number than those in the British Museum, which I +have not yet seen. But the pair of human-headed, winged bulls are said +to be equal in size to any. + +I was very much impressed, not only by the solemn grandeur of the +thought that thirty centuries were looking down upon me out of those +stony eyes, but by what I have never seen noticed, the magnificent +phrenological development of the heads. The brow is absolutely +prodigious--broad, high, projecting, massive. It is the brow of a +divinity indeed, or of a cherub, which I am persuaded is the true +designation of these creatures. They are to me but the earliest known +attempts to preserve the cherubim that formed the fiery portals of the +Eden temple until quenched in the Purges of the deluge. + +Out of those eyes of serene, benign, profound reflection, therefore, +not thirty, but sixty centuries look down upon me. I seem to be +standing at those mysterious Eden gates, where Adam and Eve first +guided the worship of a world, amid the sad, yet sublime symbols of a +previous existence in heavenly realms. + +After leaving the Louvre H. and I took a _calèche_, or open +two-seat carriage, and drove from thence to the Madeleine, and thence +the whole length of the Boulevards, circling round, crossing the Pont +d'Austerlitz, and coming back by the Avenue de l'Observatoire and the +Luxembourg. + +Then we saw theatres, the Port St. Denis, Port St. Martin, the site of +the Bastille, and the most gay, beautiful, and bustling boulevards of +the metropolis. + +As we were proceeding along the Boulevard des Italiens, I saw the +street beginning to line with people, the cabs and carriages drawing +to either side and stopping; police officers commanding, directing, +people running, pushing, looking this way and that. "_Qu' y +a-t-il?_" said I, standing up by the driver--"What's the matter?" + +"The emperor is coming," said he. + +"Well," said I, "draw to one side, and turn a little, so that we can +see." + +He did so, and H. and I both stood up, looking round. We saw several +outriders in livery, on the full trot, followed by several carriages. +They came very fast, the outriders calling to the people to get out of +the way. In the first carriage sat the emperor and the empress--he, +cold, stiff, stately, and homely; she, pale, beautiful, and sad. They +rode not two rods from us. There was not a hat taken off, not a single +shout, not a "_Vive l'Empereur_? Without a single token of +greeting or applause, he rode through the ever-forming, ever-dissolving +avenue of people--the abhorred, the tolerated tyrant." Why do they not +cry out?" I said to the coachman, "Why do they not cry, '_Vive +l'Empereur_'?" A most expressive shrug was the answer, and "I do +not know. I suppose, because they do not choose." + +Thursday, June 16. Immediately after breakfast we were to visit +Chateau de Corbeville. The carriage came, and H., Mrs. C., and W. +entered. I mounted the box with the "_cocker_," as usual. To be +shut up in a box, and peep out at the window while driving through +such scenes, is horrible. By the way, our party would have been +larger, but for the arrest of Monsieur F., an intimate friend of the +family, which took place at five o'clock in the morning. + +He was here yesterday in fine spirits, and he and his wife were to +have joined our party. His arrest is on some political suspicion, and +as the result cannot be foreseen, it casts a shadow over the spirits +of our household. + +We drove along through the bright, fresh morning--I enjoying the +panorama of Paris exceedingly--to the Western Railway Station, where +we took tickets for Versailles. + +We feel as much at home now, in these continental railroad stations, +as in our own--nay, more so. Every thing is so regulated here, there +is almost no possibility of going wrong, and there is always somebody +at hand whose business it is to be very polite, and tell you just what +to do. + +A very pleasant half hour's ride brought us to Versailles. There we +took a barouche for the day, and started for the chateau. In about an +hour and a half, through very pleasant scenery, we came to the spot, +where we were met by Madame V. and her daughter, and, alighting, +walked to the chateau through a long avenue, dark with overarching +trees. We were to have a second breakfast at about one o'clock in the +day; so we strolled out to a seat on the terrace, commanding a fine +and very extensive prospect. + +Madame V. is the wife of an eminent lawyer, who held the office of +intendant of the civil list of Louis Philippe, and has had the +settlement of that gentleman's pecuniary affairs since his death. At +the time of the _coup d'état_, being then a representative, he +was imprisoned, and his wife showed considerable intrepidity in +visiting him, walking on foot through the prison yard, amongst the +soldiers sitting drunk on the cannon. At present Monsieur V. is +engaged in his profession in Paris. + +Madame V. is a pleasant-looking French woman, of highly-cultivated +mind and agreeable manners; accomplished in music and in painting. Her +daughter, about fifteen, plays well, and is a good specimen of a +well-educated French demoiselle, not yet out. They are simply ciphers, +except as developed in connection with and behind shelter of their +mother. She performed some beautiful things beautifully, and then her +mother played a duet with her. We took a walk through the groves, and +sat on the bank, on the brow of a commanding eminence. + +A wide landscape was before us, characterized by every beauty of +foliage conceivable, but by none more admirable, to my eye, than the +poplars, which sustain the same relation to French scenery that +spruces do to that of Maine. Reclining there, we could almost see, +besides the ancient territory of the Duke d'Orsay, the celebrated +valley of Chartreuse, where was the famous Abbey of Port Royal, a +valley filled with historic associations. If it had not been for a +hill which stood in the way, we should have seen it. At our leisure we +discussed painting. Before us, a perfect landscape; around us, a deep +solitude and stillness, broken by the sighing of ancient aristocratic +shades, and the songs of birds; within us, emotions of lassitude and +dreamy delight. + +We had found a spot where existence was a blessing; a spot where to +exist was enough; where the "to be" was, for a moment, disjoined from +the inexorable "to do," or "to suffer." How agreeable to converse with +cultivated and refined artistic minds! How delightful to find people +to whom the beautiful has been a study, and art a world in which they +could live, move, and have their being! And yet it was impossible to +prevent a shade of deep sadness from resting on all things--a tinge of +melancholy. Why?--why this veil of dim and indefinable anguish at +sight of whatever is most fair, at hearing whatever is most lovely? Is +it the exiled spirit, yearning for its own? Is it the captive, to whom +the ray of heaven's own glory comes through the crevice of his dungeon +walls? But this is a digression. Returning, we examined the mansion, a +fine specimen of the old French chateau; square-built, with high +Norman roof, and a round, conical-topped tower at each corner. In +front was a garden, curiously laid out in beds, and knots of flowers, +with a fountain in the centre. This garden was enclosed on all sides +by beech trees, clipped into lofty walls of green. The chateau had +once been fortified, but now the remains of the fortifications are +made into terraces, planted with roses and honeysuckles. Here we +heard, for the first time in our lives, the nightingale's song; a +gurgling warble, with an occasional crescendo, _à la_ Jenny Lind. + +At five we dined; took carriage at seven, cars at nine, and arrived in +Paris at ten. + +Friday, June 17. At twelve o'clock I started for Versailles to visit +the camp at Sartory, where I understood the emperor was to review the +troops. + +At Versailles I mounted the top of an omnibus with two Parisian +gentlemen. As I opened my umbrella one of them complimented me on +having it. I replied that it was quite a necessary of life. He +answered, and we were soon quite chatty. I inquired about the camp at +Sartory, and whether the emperor was to be there. He said he had heard +so. + +He then asked me if we had not a camp near London, showing that he +took me for an Englishman. I replied that there was a camp there, +though I had not seen it, and that I was an American. In reply he +congratulated me that the Americans were far ahead of the English. + +I complimented him then in turn on Versailles and its galleries, and +told him there was not a nation on earth that had such monuments of +its own history and greatness. They were highly elated at this, and we +rode along in the best possible humor together. Nothing will make a +Frenchman thoroughly your friend sooner than heartily to praise his +country. It is for this I love them. + +Arrived at Sartory I had a long walk to reach the camp; and instead of +inquiring, as I ought to have done, whether the review was to take +place, I took it for granted. I saw bodies of soldiers moving in +various directions, officers galloping about, and flying artillery +trundling along, and heard drums, trumpets, and bands, and thought it +was all right. + +A fifteen minutes' walk brought me to the camp, where tents for some +twenty-five thousand whiten the plain far as the eye can reach. There, +too, I saw distant masses of infantry moving. I might have known by +their slouchy way that they were getting home from parade, not +preparing for it. But I thought the latter, and lying down under a +tree, waited for the review to begin. + +It was almost three o'clock. I waited and waited. The soldiers did not +come. I waited, and waited, and waited. The soldiers seemed to have +_gone_ more and more. The throne where the emperor was to sit +remained unoccupied. At last it was four o'clock. Thought I, I will +just ask these redcaps here about this. + +"Messieurs," said I, "will you be so good as to inform me if the +emperor is to be here to-day?" + +"No," they replied, "he comes on Sunday." + +"And what is to be done here, then?" I asked. + +"Here," they replied, "to-day? Nothing; _c'est fini_--it is all +over. The review was at one o'clock." + +There I had been walking from Versailles, and waiting for a parade +some two hours after it was all over, among crowds of people who could +have told me at once if I had not been so excessively modest as not to +ask. + +About that time an American might have been seen precipitately seeking +the railroad. I had _not_ seen the elephant. It was hot, dusty, +and there was neither cab nor _calèche_ in reach. + +I arrived at the railroad station just in time to see the train go out +at one end as I came in at the other. This was conducive to a frame of +mind that scarcely needs remark. Out of that depot (it was half past +four, and at six they dine in Paris) with augmented zeal and decision +I pitched into a cab. + +"_A l'autre station, vite, vite!_"--To the other station, quick, +quick! He mounted the box, and commenced lashing his Rosinante, who +was a subject for crows to mourn over, (because they could hope for +nothing in trying to pick him,) and in an ambling, scrambling pace, +composed of a trot, a canter, and a kick, we made a descent like an +avalanche into the station yard. There Richard was himself again. I +assumed at once the air of a gentleman who had seen the review, and +walked about with composure and dignity. No doubt I had seen the +emperor and all the troops. I succeeded in getting home just in the +middle of dinner, and by dint of hard eating caught up at the third +course with the rest. + +That I consider a very white day. Some might call it _green_, but +I mark such days with white always. + +In the evening we attended the _salon_ of Lady Elgin, a friend of +our hostess. Found there the Marquis de M., whose book on the +spiritual rappings comes out next week. We conversed on the rappings +_ad nauseam_. + +By the way, her ladyship rents the Hotel de la Rochefoucauld, in the +Rue de Varenne, Faubourg St. Germain. + +St. Germain is full of these princely, aristocratic mansions. +Mournfully beautiful--desolately grand. Out of the stern, stony +street, we entered a wide, square court, under a massive arched +gateway, then through the Rez-de-Chaussée, or lower suite of rooms, +passed out into the rear of the house to find ourselves in the garden, +or rather a kind of park, with tall trees, flooded in moonlight, +bathed in splendors, and with their distant, leafy arches (cut with +artistic skill) reminding one of a Gothic temple. Such a magnificent +forest scene in the very heart of Paris! + +Saturday, June 18. After breakfast rode out to Arc de Triomphe--de +l'Etoile, and thence round the exterior barriers and boulevards to +Père la Chaise. + +At every entrance to the city past the barriers, (which are now only a +street,) there is a gate, and a building marked "Octroi," which means +customs. + +No carriage can pass without being examined, though the examination is +a mere form. + +Père la Chaise did not interest me much, except that from the top of +the hill I gained a good view of the city. It is filled with tombs and +monuments, and laid out in streets. The houses of the dead are smaller +than the houses of the living, but they are made like houses, with +doors, windows, and an empty place inside for an altar, crucifix, +lamps, wreaths, &c. Tombs have no charm for me. I am not at all +interested or inspired by them. They do not serve with me the purpose +intended, viz., of calling up the memory of the departed. On the +contrary, their memory is associated with their deeds, their works, +the places where they wrought, and the monuments of themselves they +have left. Here, however, in the charnel house is commemorated but the +event of their deepest shame and degradation, their total vanquishment +under the dominion of death, the triumph of corruption. + +Here all that was visible of them is insulted by the last enemy, in +the deepest, most humiliating posture of contumely. + +From Père la Chaise I came home to dinner at six. H., meanwhile, had +been sitting to M. Belloc. + +After dinner H. and the two Misses C. rode out to the Bois de +Boulogne, the fashionable drive of Paris. + +We saw all the splendid turnouts, and all the _not_ splendid. Our +horse was noted for the springhalt. It is well to have something to +attract attention about one, you know. + +Sabbath, June 19. After breakfast went with Miss W. to the temple St. +Marie, to hear Adolphe Monod. Was able to understand him very well. +Gained a new idea of the capabilities of the French language as the +vehicle of religious thought and experience. I had thought that it was +a language incapable of being made to express the Hebrew mind and +feeling of Scripture. I think differently. The language of Canaan can +make its way through all languages, and in the French it has a pathos, +point, and simplicity which are wonderful. There were thoughts in the +sermon which I shall never forget. I feel myself highly rewarded for +going. + +The congregation was as large as the church could possibly hold, and +composed of very interesting and intelligent-looking people. His +subject was, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth +willingly, and without upbraiding," &c. It was most touchingly adapted +to the wants of the unhappy French, and of all poor sinners; and it +came home to me in particular, as if it had been addressed to me +singly, so that I could not help crying. + +The afternoon and evening spent at home, reading. H. went in the +morning with Madame de T. to the Catholic service, at the church St. +Germaine l'Auxerrois, and her companion pointed out the different +parts of the service. + +H. said she was moved with compassion towards these multitudes, who +seem so very earnest and solemn. Their prayer books contain much that +is excellent, if it was not mixed with so much that is idolatrous. + +Monday, June 20. Went to have our passport _viséd_. The sky was +black, and the rain pouring in torrents. As I reached the quay the +Seine was rushing dark, and turbidly foaming. I crept into a fiacre, +and was amused, as we rattled on, to see the plight of gay and +glittering Paris. One poor organ grinder, on the Pont National, sat +with his umbrella over his head, and his body behind the parapet, +grinding away, in the howling storm. It was the best use for a hand +organ I ever saw. The gardens of the Tuileries presented a sorry +sight. The sentries slunk within their boxes. The chairs were stacked +and laid on their sides. The paths were flooded; and the classic +statues looked as though they had a dismal time of it, in the general +shower bath. + +My passport went through the office of the American embassy, +prefecture of the police, and the _bureau des affaires étrangères_, +and the Swiss legation, and we were all right for the frontier. + +Our fair hostesses are all Alpine mountaineers, posted up in mountain +lore. They make you look blank one moment with horror at some escape +of theirs from being dashed down a precipice; the next they run you a +rig indeed over the Righi; anon you shamble through Chamounix, and +break your neck over the Col-de-balme, and, before you are aware, are +among the lacking at Interlachen. + +Wednesday, June 22. Adieu to Paris! Ho for Chalons sur Saone! After +affectionate farewells of our kind friends, by eleven o'clock we were +rushing, in the pleasantest of cars, over the smoothest of rails, +through Burgundy that was; I reading to H. out of Dumas' +_Impressions de Voyage_, going over our very route. We arrived at +Chalons at nine in the evening, and were soon established in the Hotel +du Park, in two small, brick-floored chambers, looking out upon the +steamboat landing. + +Thursday, 23. Eight o'clock A. M. Since five we have had a fine bustle +on the quay below our windows. There lay three steamers, shaped, for +all the world, like our last night's rolls. One would think Ichabod +Crane might sit astride one of them and dip his feet in the water. +They ought to be swift. _L'Hirondelle_ (the Swallow) flew at +five; another at six. We leave at nine. + +Eleven o'clock. Here we go, down the Saone. Cabin thirty feet by ten, +papered and varnished in invitation of maple. Ladies knitting, +netting, nodding, napping; gentlemen yawning, snoring; children +frolicking; dogs whining. Overhead a constant tramping, stamping, and +screeching of the steam valve. H. suggests an excursion forward. We +heave up from Hades, and cautiously thread the crowded _Al Sirat_ +of a deck. The day is fine; the air is filled with golden beams. + +More and more beautiful grows the scene as we approach the Rhone--the +river broader, hills more commanding, and architecture tinged with the +Italian. Bradshaw says it equals the Rhine. + +At Lyons there was a scene of indescribable confusion. Out of the hold +a man with a rope and hook was hauling baggage up a smooth board. +Three hundred people were sorting their goods without checks. Porters +were shouldering immense loads, four or five heavy trunks at once, +corded together, and stalking off Atlantean. Hatboxes, bandboxes, and +valises burst like a meteoric shower out of a crater. "_A moi, à +moi!_" was the cry, from old men, young women, soldiers, +shopkeepers, and _prêtres_, scuffling and shoving together. +Careless at once of grammar and of grace, I pulled and shouted with +the best, till at length our plunder was caught, corded and poised on +an herculean neck. We followed in the wake, H. trembling lest the cord +should break, and we experience a pre-Alpine avalanche. At length, +however, we breathed more freely in rooms _au quatrième of Hotel de +l'Univers_. + +After dinner we drove to the cathedral. It was St. John's eve. "At +twelve o'clock to-night," said H., "the spirits of all who are to die +this year will appear to any who will go alone into the dark cathedral +and summon them"! We were charmed with the interior. Twilight hid all +the dirt, cobwebs, and tawdry tinsel; softened the outlines, and gave +to the immense arches, columns, and stained windows a strange and +thrilling beauty. The distant tapers, seeming remoter than reality, +the kneeling crowds, the heavy vesper chime, all combined to realize, +H. said, her dreams of romance more perfectly than ever before. We +could not tear ourselves away. But the clash of the sexton's keys, as +he smote them together, was the signal to be gone. One after another +the tapers were extinguished. The kneeling figures rose; and shadowily +we flitted forth, as from some gorgeous cave of grammarye. + +Saturday, June 25. Lyons to Genève. As this was our first experience +in the diligence line, we noticed particularly every peculiarity. A +diligence is a large, heavy, strongly-built, well-hung stage, +consisting of five distinct departments,--coupé, berline, omnibus, +banquette, and baggage top. + +[Illustration: _of a diligence coach drawn by four horses._] + +After setting up housekeeping in our berline, and putting all "to +rights," the whips cracked, bells jingled, and away we thundered by +the arrowy Rhone. I had had the idea that a diligence was a rickety, +slow-moulded antediluvian nondescript, toiling patiently along over +impassable roads at a snail's pace. Judge of my astonishment at +finding it a full-blooded, vigorous monster, of unscrupulous railway +momentum and imperturbable equipoise of mind. + +Down the macadamized slopes we thundered at a prodigious pace; up the +hills we trotted with six horses, three abreast; madly through the +little towns we burst, like a whirlwind, crashing across the pebbled +streets, and out upon the broad, smooth road again. Before we had well +considered the fact that we were out of Lyons, we stopped to change +horses. Done in a jiffy; and whoop, crick, crack, whack, rumble, bump, +whirr, whisk, away we blazed, till, ere we knew it, another change, +and another. + +"Really, H.," said I, "this is not slow. The fact is, we are going +ahead. _I_ call this travelling--never was so comfortable in my +life." + +"Nor I," quoth she. "And, besides, we are unwinding the Rhone all +along." + +And, sure enough, we were; ever and anon getting a glimpse of him +spread mazily all abroad in some beautiful vale, like a midguard +anaconda done in silver. + +At Nantua, a sordid town, with a squalid inn, we dined, at two, +deliciously, on a red shrimp soup; no, not soup, it was a +_potage_; no, a stew; no, a creamy, unctuous mess, muss, or +whatever you please to call it. Sancho Panza never ate his olla +podrida with more relish. Success to mine host of the jolly inn of +Nantua! + +Then we thunderbolted along again, shot through a grim fortress, +crossed a boundary line, and were in Switzerland. Vive Switzerland! +land of Alps, glaciers, and freemen! + +As evening drew on, a wind sprang up, and a storm seemed gathering on +the Jura. The rain dashed against the panes of the berime, as we rode +past the grim-faced monarch of the "misty shroud." A cold wind went +sweeping by, and the Rhone was rushing far below, discernible only in +the distance as a rivulet of flashing foam. It was night as we drove +into Geneva, and stopped at the Messagerie. I heard with joy a voice +demanding if this were Monsieur Besshare. I replied, not without some +scruples of conscience, "_Oui, monsieur, c'est moi,_" though the +name did not sound exactly like the one to which I had been wont to +respond. In half an hour we were at home, in the mansion of Monsieur +Fazy. + +Genève, Monday, June 27. The day dawned clear over this palace of +enchantment. The mountains, the lake, the entire landscape on every +side revealed itself from our lofty windows with transparent +brilliancy. This house is built on high ground, at the end of the lake +near where the Rhone flows out. It is very high in the rooms, and we +are in the fourth story, and have distant views on all four sides. The +windows are very large, and open in leaves, on hinges, like doors, +leaving the entire window clear, as a frame for the distant picture. + +In the afternoon we rode out across the Rhone, where it breaks from +the lake, and round upon the ascending shore. It is seldom here that +the Alps are visible. The least mist hides them completely, so that +travellers are wont to record it in their diaries as a great event, "I +saw Mont Blanc to-day." Yesterday there was nothing but clouds and +thick gloom; but now we had not ridden far before H. sprang suddenly, +as if she had lost her senses--her cheeks flushed, and her eye +flashing. I was frightened. "There," said she, pointing out of the +side of the carriage across the lake, "there he is--there's Mont +Blanc." "Pooh," said I, "no such thing." And some trees for a moment +intervened, and shut out the view. Presently the trees opened, and H. +cried, "There, that _white_; don't you see?--there--there!" +pointing with great energy, as if she were getting ready to fly. I +looked and saw, sure enough, behind the dark mass of the Mole, (a huge +blue-black mountain in the foreground,) the granite ranges rising +gradually and grim as we rode; but, further still, behind those gray +and ghastly barriers, all bathed and blazing in the sun's fresh +splendors, undimmed by a cloud, unveiled even by a filmy fleece of +vapor, and oh, so white--so intensely, blindingly white! against the +dark-blue sky, the needles, the spires, the solemn pyramid, the +transfiguration cone of Mont Blanc. Higher, and still higher, those +apocalyptic splendors seemed lifting their spectral, spiritual forms, +seeming to rise as we rose, seeming to start like giants hidden from +behind the black brow of intervening ranges, opening wider the +amphitheatre of glory, until, as we reached the highest point in our +road, the whole unearthly vision stood revealed in sublime +perspective. The language of the Revelation came rushing through my +soul. This is, as it were, a door opened in heaven. Here are some of +those everlasting mountain ranges, whose light is not of the sun, nor +of the moon, but of the Lord God and of the Lamb. Here is, as it were, +a great white throne, on which One might sit before whose face heaven +and earth might flee; and here a sea of glass mingled with fire. Nay, +rather, here are some faint shadows, some dim and veiled resemblances, +which bring our earth-imprisoned spirits to conceive remotely what the +disencumbered eye of the ecstatic apostle gazed upon. + +With solemn thankfulness we gazed--thankfulness to God for having +withdrawn his veil of clouds from this threshold of the heavenly +vestibule, and brought us across the Atlantic to behold. And as our +eyes, blinded by the dazzling vision,--which we might reside here +years without beholding in such perfection,--filled with tears, we +were forced to turn them away and hide them, or fasten them upon the +dark range of Jura on the other side of us, until they were able to +gaze again. Thus we rode onward, obtaining new points of view, new +effects, and deeper emotions; nor can time efface the impressions we +received in the depths of our souls. + +A lady, at whose door we alighted for a moment to obtain a particular +point of view, told us that at sunset the mountain assumed a peculiar +transparency, with most mysterious hues of blue and purple; so that +she had seen irreligious natures, frivolous and light, when suddenly +called out to look, stand petrified, or rather exalted above +themselves, and irresistibly turning their faces, their thoughts, +their breathings of adoration up to God. + +I do not wonder that the eternal home of the glorified should be +symbolized by a Mount Zion. I do not wonder that the Psalmist should +say, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the _hills,_ from whence +cometh my help!" For surely earth cannot present, nor unassisted fancy +conceive, an object more profoundly significant of divine majesty than +these mountains in their linen vesture of everlasting snow. + +Tuesday, June 28. The morning dawned clear, warm, and cloudless. A +soft haze rested on the distant landscape, without, however, in the +least dimming its beauty. + +At about eleven we set off with two horses in an open carriage, by the +left shore, to visit St. Cergue, and ascend the Jura. All our way was +gradually ascending, and before us, or rather across the lake on one +side, stood the glorious New Jerusalem scene. We were highly favored. +Every moment diminished the intervening mountains, and lifted the +gorgeous pageant higher into the azure. + +Every step, every turn, presented it in some new point of view, and +extended the range of observation. New Alps were continually rising, +and diamond-pointed peaks glancing up behind sombre granite bulwarks. + +At noon _cocher_ stopped at a village to refresh his horses. We +proceeded to a cool terrace filled with trees, and lulled by the +splash of a fountain, from whence the mountain was in full view. Here +we investigated the mysteries of a certain basket which our provident +hostess had brought with her. + +After due refreshment and repose we continued our route, ascending the +Jura, towards the Dôle, which is the highest mountain of that range. A +macadamized road coiled up the mountain side, affording us at every +turning a new and more splendid view of the other shore of the lake. +At length we reached St. Cergue, and leaving the carriage, H. and I, +guided by a peasant girl, went through the woods to the highest point, +where were the ruins of the ancient chateau. Far be it from me to +describe what we saw. I feel that I have already been too +presumptuous. We sat down, and each made a hasty sketch of Mont Blanc. + +We took tea at the hotel, which reminded us, by the neatness of its +scoured chambers with their white bedspreads, of the apartments of +some out-of-the-way New England farm house. + +The people of the neighborhood having discovered who H. was, were very +kind, and full of delight at seeing her. It was Scotland over again. +We have had to be unflinching to prevent her being overwhelmed, both +in Paris and Geneva, by the same demonstrations of regard. To this we +were driven, as a matter of life and death. It was touching to listen +to the talk of these secluded mountaineers. The good hostess, even the +servant maids, hung about H., expressing such tender interest for the +slave. All had read Uncle Tom. And it had apparently been an era in +their life's monotony, for they said, "O, madam, do write another! +Remember, our winter nights here are _very_ long!" + +The proprietor of the inn (not the landlord) was a gentleman of +education and polished demeanor. _He had lost an Eva_, he said. +And he spoke with deep emotion. He thanked H. for what she had +written, and at parting said, "Have courage; the sacred cause of +Liberty will yet prevail through the world." + +Ah, they breathe a pure air, these generous Swiss, among these +mountain tops! May their simple words be a prophecy divine. + +At about six we returned, and as we slowly wound down the mountain +side we had a full view of all the phenomena of color attending the +sun's departure. The mountain,--the city rather,--for so high had it +risen, that I could imagine a New Jerusalem of pearly white, with Mont +Blanc for the central citadel, or temple,--the city was all a-glow. +The air behind, the sky, became of a delicate apple green; the snow, +before so incandescent in whiteness, assumed a rosy tint. We paused-- +we sat in silence to witness these miraculous transformations. +"Charley," said H., "sing that hymn of yours, the New Jerusalem." And +in the hush of the mountain solitudes we sang together,-- + + "We are on our journey home, + Where Christ our Lord is gone; + We will meet around his throne, + When he makes his people one + In the New Jerusalem. + + We can see that distant home, + Though clouds rise oft between; + Faith views the radiant dome, + And a lustre flashes keen + From the New Jerusalem. + + O, glory shining far + From the never-setting sun! + O, trembling morning star! + Our journey's almost done + To the New Jerusalem. + + Our hearts are breaking now + Those mansions fair to see: + O Lord, thy heavens bow, + And raise us up with thee + To the New Jerusalem." + +The echoes of our voices died along the mountain sides, as slowly we +wended our downward way. The rosy flush began to fade. A rich creamy +or orange hue seemed to imbue the scene, and finally, as the shadows +from the Jura crept higher, and covered it with a pall, it assumed a +startling, deathlike pallor of chalky white. Mont Blanc was dead. Mont +Blanc was walking as a ghost upon the granite ranges. But as darkness +came on, and as the sky over the Jura, where the sun had set, obtained +a deep, rosy tinge, Mont Blanc revived a little, and a flush of +delicate, transparent pink tinged his cone, and Mont Blanc was asleep. +Good night to Mont Blanc. + +Wednesday morning, June 29. The day is intensely hot; the weather is +exceedingly fair, but Mont Blanc is not visible. Not a vestige--not a +trace. All vanished. It does not seem possible. There do not seem to +exist the conditions for such celestial pageant to have stood there. +What! there--where my eyes now look steadily and piercingly into the +blue, into the seemingly fathomless azure--there, will they tell me, I +saw that enraptured vision, as it were, the city descending from God +out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband? Incredible! It must +be a dream, a vision of the night. + +Evening. After the heat of the day our whole household, old and young, +set forth for a boating excursion on the lake. Dividing our party in +two boats, we pulled about a mile up the left shore. Lake Leman was +before us in all its loveliness; and we were dipping our oar where +Byron had floated past scenes which scarce need to become classic to +possess a superior charm. The sun was just gone behind the Jura, +leaving a glorious sky. Mont Blanc stood afar behind a hazy veil, like +a spirit half revealed. We saw it pass before our eyes as we moved. +"It stood still, but we could not discern the form thereof." As we +glided on past boats uncounted, winged or many-footed, motionless or +still, we softly sung,-- + + "Think of me oft at twilight hour, + And I will think of thee; + Remembering how we felt its power + When thou wast still with me. + + Dear is that hour, for day then sleeps + Upon the gray cloud's breast; + And not a voice or sound e'er keeps + His wearied eyes from rest." + +The surface of the lake was unruffled. The air was still. An +occasional burst from the band in the garden of Rousseau came softened +in the distance. Enveloped in her thick shawl H. reclined in the +stern, and gave herself to the influences of the hour. + +Darkness came down upon the deep. And in the gloom we turned our prows +towards the many-twinkling quays, far in the distance. We bent to the +oar in emulous contest, and our barks foamed and hissed through the +water. In a few moments we were passing through the noisy crowd on the +quay towards our quiet home. + + + + +LETTER XXXII. + +DEAR CHILDREN:-- + +I promised to write from Chamouni, so to commence at the commencement. +Fancy me, on a broiling day in July, panting with the heat, gazing +from my window in Geneva upon Lake Leman, which reflects the sun like +a burning glass, and thinking whether in America, or any where else, +it was ever so hot before. This was quite a new view of the subject to +me, who had been warned in Paris only of the necessity of blanket +shawls, and had come to Switzerland with my head full of glaciers, and +my trunk full of furs. + +While arranging my travelling preparations, Madame F. enters. + +"Have you considered how cold it is up there?" she inquires. + +"I am glad if it is cold any where," said I. + +"Ah, you will find it dreadful; you will need to be thoroughly +guarded." + +I suggested tippets, flannels, and furs, of which I already possessed +a moderate supply. But no; these were altogether insufficient. It was +necessary that I should buy two immense fur coats; one for C., and one +for myself. + +I assure you that such preparations, made with the thermometer between +eighty and ninety, impress one with a kind of awe. "What regions must +they be," thought I to myself, "thus sealed up in eternal snows, while +the country at their feet lies scorching in the very fire!" A shadow +of incredulity mingled itself with my reflections. On the whole, I +bought but _one_ fur coat. + +At this moment C. came up to tell me that W., S., and G. had all come +back from Italy, so that our party was once more together. + +It was on the 5th of July that S. and I took our seats in the _coupé_ +of the diligence. Now, this _coupé_ is low and narrow enough, so that +our condition reminded me slightly of the luckless fowls which I have +sometimes seen riding to the Cincinnati market in _coupés_ of about +equal convenience. Nevertheless, it might be considered a peaceable +and satisfactory style of accommodation in an ordinary country. But to +ride among the wonders of the Alps in such a vehicle is something like +contemplating infinity through the nose of a bottle. It was really very +tantalizing and provoking to me till C. was so obliging as to resign his +seat on top in my favor, and descend into _Sheol_, as he said. Then I +began to live; for I could see to the summit of the immense walls of rock +under which we were passing. By and by we were reminded, by the +examination of our passports, that we had entered Sardinia; and the +officers, being duly satisfied that we were not going to Chamouni to +levy an army among the glaciers, or raise a sedition among the +avalanches, let us pass free. The discretion and wisdom of this +passport system can never be sufficiently admired. It must be entirely +owing to this, that the Alps do not break out on Europe generally, and +tear it in pieces. + +But the mountains--how shall I give you the least idea of them? Old, +sombre, haggard genii, half veiled in clouds, belted with pines, worn +and furrowed with storms and avalanches, but not as yet crowned with +snow. For many miles after leaving Geneva, the Mole is the principal +object; its blue-black outline veering and shifting, taking on a +thousand strange varieties of form as you approach it, others again as +you recede. + +It is a cloudy day; and heavy volumes of vapor are wreathing and +unwreathing themselves around the gaunt forms of the everlasting +rocks, like human reasonings, desires, and hopes around the ghastly +realities of life and death; graceful, undulating, and sometimes +gleaming out in silver or rosy wreaths. Still, they are nothing but +mist; the dread realities are just where they were before. It is odd, +though, to look at these cloud caperings; quite as interesting, in its +way, as to read new systems of transcendental philosophy, and perhaps +quite as profitable. Yonder is a great, whiteheaded cloud, slowly +unrolling himself in the bosom of a black pine forest. Across the +other side of the road a huge granite cliff has picked up a bit of +gauzy silver, which he is winding round his scraggy neck. And now, +here comes a cascade right over our heads; a cascade, not of water, +but of cloud; for the poor little brook that makes it faints away +before it gets down to us; it falls like a shimmer of moonlight, or a +shower of powdered silver, while a tremulous rainbow appears at +uncertain intervals, like a half-seen spirit. + +[Illustration: _of waterfalls._] + +The cascade here, as in mountains generally, is a never-failing source +of life and variety. Water, joyous, buoyant son of Nature, is calling +to you, leaping, sparkling, mocking at you between bushes, and singing +as he goes down the dells. A thousand little pictures he makes among +the rocks as he goes; like the little sketch which I send you. + +Then, the _bizarre_ outline of the rocks; well does Goethe call +them "the giant-snouted crags;" and as the diligence winds slowly on, +they seem to lean, and turn, and bend. Now they close up like a wall +in front, now open in piny and cloudy vistas: now they embrace the +torrent in their great, black arms; and now, flashing laughter and +babbling defiance through rifted rocks and uprooted pines, the torrent +shoots past them, down into some fathomless abyss. These old Alp +mothers cannot hold their offspring back from abysses any better than +poor earth mothers. + +There are phases in nature which correspond to every phase of human +thought and emotion; and this stern, cloudy scenery answers to the +melancholy fatalism of Greek tragedy, or the kindred mournfulness of +the Book of Job. + +These dark channelled rocks, worn, as with eternal tears,--these +traces, so evident of ancient and vast desolations,--suggest the idea +of boundless power and inexorable will, before whose course the most +vehement of human feelings are as the fine spray of the cataract. + + "For, surely, the mountain, falling, cometh to nought; + The rock is remored out of his place; + The waters wear the stones; + Thou washest away the things that grow out of the earth, + And thou destroyest the hopes of man; + Thou prevailest against him, and he passeth; + Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away." + +The sceptical inquirer into the mysteries of eternal things might +here, if ever, feel the solemn irony of Eliphaz the Temanite:-- + + "Should a wise man utter vain knowledge? + Should he reason with unprofitable talk? + Or with speeches that can do no good? + Art thou the first man that ever was born? + Or wast thou made before the hills?" + +There are some of my fellow-travellers, by the by, who, if they +_had_ been made before the hills, would never have been much +wiser. All through these solemn passages and gorges, they are +discussing hotels, champagne, wine, and cigars. I presume they would +do the same thing at the gates of the Celestial City, if they should +accidentally find themselves there. It is one of the dark providences +that multitudes of this calibre of mind find leisure and means to come +among these scenes, while many to whom they would be an inspiration, +in whose souls they would unseal ceaseless fountains of beauty, are +forever excluded by poverty and care. + +At noon we stopped at Sallenches, famous for two things; first, as the +spot where people get dinner, and second, where they take the +_char_, a carriage used when the road is too steep for the +diligence. Here S., who had been feeling ill all the morning, became +too unwell to proceed, so that we had to lie by an hour or two, and +did not go on with the caravan. I sat down at the room window to study +and sketch a mountain that rose exactly opposite. I thought to myself, +"Now, would it be possible to give to one that had not seen it an idea +of how this looks?" Let me try if words can paint it. Right above the +fiat roof of the houses on the opposite side of the street rose this +immense mountain wall. The lower tier seemed to be a turbulent swell +of pasture land, rolling into every imaginable shape; green billows +and dells, rising higher and higher in the air as you looked upward, +dyed here and there in bright yellow streaks, by the wild crocus, and +spotted over with cattle. Dark clumps and belts of pine now and then +rise up among them; and scattered here and there in the heights, among +green hollows, were cottages, that looked about as big as hickory +nuts. + +Above all this region was still another, of black pines and crags; the +pines going up, and up, and up, till they looked no larger than pin +feathers; and surmounting all, straight, castellated turrets of rock, +looking out of swathing bands of cloud. A narrow, dazzling line of +snow crowned the summit. + +You see before you three distinct regions--of pasture, of pine, of +bare, eternal sterility. On inquiring the name of the mountain, I was +told that it was the "Aiguille" something, I forget what; but I +discovered that almost all the peaks in this region of the Alps are +called Aiguille, (needle,) I suppose from the straight, sharp points +that rise at their summits. + +There is a bridge here in Sallenches, from which, in clear weather, +one of the best views of Mont Blanc can be obtained--so they tell us. +To-day it is as much behind the veil, and as absolutely a matter of +faith as heaven itself. Looking in that direction you could not +believe that there ever had been, or could be, a mountain there. The +concealing clouds look as gray, as cool, and as absolutely unconscious +of any world of glory behind them as our dull, cold, every-day life +does of a heaven, which is, perhaps, equally near us. As we were +passing the bridge, however, a gust of icy wind swept down the course +of the river, whose chilly breath spoke of glaciers and avalanches. + +Our driver was one of those merry souls, to be found the world over, +whose hearts yearn after talk; and when I volunteered to share the +outside seat with him, that I might see better, he inquired anxiously +if "mademoiselle understood French," that he might have the pleasure +of enlightening her on the localities. Of course mademoiselle could do +no less than be exceedingly grateful, since a peasant on his own +ground is generally better informed than a philosopher from elsewhere. + +Our path lay along the banks of the Arve, a raving, brawling, +turbulent stream of muddy water. A wide belt of drifted, pebbly land, +on either side of it, showed that at times the torrent had a much +wider sweep than at present. + +In fact, my guide informed me that the Arve, like most other mountain +streams, had many troublesome and inconvenient personal habits, such +as rising up all of a sudden, some night, and whisking off houses, +cattle, pine trees; in short, getting up sailing parties in such a +promiscuous manner that it is neither safe nor agreeable to live in +his neighborhood. He showed me, from time to time, the traces of such +Kuhleborn pranks. + +We were now descending rapidly through the valley of Chamouni, by a +winding road, the scenery becoming every moment more and more +impressive. The path was so steep and so stony that our guide was well +enough contented to have us walk. I was glad to walk on alone; for the +scenery was so wonderful that human sympathy and communion seemed to +be out of the question. The effect of such scenery to our generally +sleeping and drowsy souls, bound with the double chain of earthliness +and sin, is like the electric touch of the angel on Peter, bound and +sleeping. They make us realize that we were not only made to commune +with God, but also what a God he is with whom we may commune. We talk +of poetry, we talk of painting, we go to the ends of the earth to see +the artists and great men of this world; but what a poet, what an +artist is God! Truly said Michael Angelo, "The true painting is only a +copy of the divine perfections--a shadow of his pencil." + +I was sitting on a mossy trunk of an old pine, looking up admiringly +on the wonderful heights around me--crystal peaks sparkling over dark +pine trees--shadowy, airy distances of mountain heights, rising +crystalline amid many-colored masses of cloud; while, looking out over +my head from green hollows, I saw the small cottages, so tiny, in +their airy distance, that they seemed scarcely bigger than a +squirrel's nut, which he might have dropped in his passage. A pretty +Savoyard girl, I should think about fifteen years old, came up to me. + +"Madame admires the mountains," she said. + +I assented. + +"Yes," she added, "strangers always admire our mountains." + +"And don't you admire them?" said I, looking, I suppose, rather amused +into her bright eyes. + +"No," she said, laughing. "Strangers come from hundreds of miles to +see them all the time; but we peasants don't care for them, no more +than the dust of the road." + +I could but half believe the bright little puss when she said so; but +there was a lumpish, soggy fellow accompanying her, whose nature +appeared to be sufficiently unleavened to make almost any thing +credible in the line of stupidity. In fact, it is one of the greatest +drawbacks to the pleasure with which one travels through this +beautiful country, to see what kind of human beings inhabit it. Here +in the Alps, heaven above and earth beneath, tree, rock, water, light +and shadow, every form, and agent, and power of nature, seem to be +exerting themselves to produce a constant and changing poem and +romance; every thing is grand, noble, free, and yet beautiful: in all +these regions there is nothing so repulsive as a human dwelling. + +A little further on we stopped at a village to refresh the horses. The +_auberge_ where we stopped was built like a great barn, with an +earth floor, desolate and comfortless. The people looked poor and +ground down, as if they had not a thought above the coarsest animal +wants. The dirty children, with their hair tangled beyond all hope of +combing, had the begging whine, and the trick of raising their hands +for money, when one looked at them, which is universal in the Catholic +parts of Switzerland. Indeed, all the way from the Sardinian frontier +we had been dogged by beggars continually. Parents seemed to look upon +their children as valuable only for this purpose; the very baby in +arms is taught to make a pitiful little whine, and put out its fat +hand, if your eye rests on it. The fact is, they are poor--poor +because invention, enterprise, and intellectual vigor--all that +surrounds the New England mountain farmer with competence and +comfort--are quenched and dead, by the combined influence of a +religion and government whose interest it is to keep people stupid +that they may be manageable. Yet the Savoyards, as a race, it seems to +me, are naturally intelligent; and I cannot but hope that the liberal +course lately adopted by the Sardinian government may at last reach +them. My heart yearns over many of the bright, pretty children, whose +little hands have been up, from time to time, around our carriage. I +could not help thinking what good schools and good instruction might +do for them. It is not their fault, poor little things, that they are +educated to whine and beg, and grow up rude, uncultured, to bring +forth another set of children just like themselves; but what to do +with them is the question. One generally begins with giving money; but +a day or two of experience shows that it would be just about as +hopeful to feed the locusts of Egypt on a loaf of bread. But it is +hard to refuse children, especially to a mother who has left five or +six at home, and who fancies she sees, in some of these little eager, +childish faces, something now and then that reminds her of her own. +For my part, I got schooled so that I could stand them all, except the +little toddling three-year olds--they fairly overcame me. So I +supplied my pocket with a quantity of sugar lozenges, for the relief +of my own mind. I usually found the little fellows looked exceedingly +delighted when they discovered the nature of the coin. Children are +unsophisticated, and like sugar better than silver, any day. + +In this _auberge_ was a little chamois kid, of which fact we were +duly apprised, when we got out, by a board put up, which said, "Here +one can see a live chamois." The little live representative of +chamoisdom came skipping out with the most amiable unconsciousness, +and went through his paces for our entertainment with as much +propriety as a New England child says his catechism. He hopped up on a +table after some green leaves, which were then economically used to +make him hop down again. The same illusive prospect was used to make +him jump over a stick, and perform a number of other evolutions. I +could not but admire the sweetness of temper with which he took all +this tantalizing, and the innocence with which he chewed his cabbage +leaf after he got it, not harboring a single revengeful thought at us +for the trouble we had given him. Of course the issue of the matter +was, that we all paid a few sous for the sight--not to the chamois, +which would have been the most equitable way, but to those who had +appropriated his gifts and graces to eke out their own convenience. + +"Where's his mother?" said I, desiring to enlarge my sphere of natural +history as much as possible. + +"_On a tué sa mere_"--"They have killed his mother," was the +reply, cool enough. + +There we had the whole story. His enterprising neighbors had invaded +the domestic hearth, shot his mother, and eaten her up, made her skin +into chamois leather, and were keeping him till he got big enough for +the same disposition, using his talents meanwhile to turn a penny +upon; yet not a word of all this thought he; not a bit the less +heartily did he caper; never speculated a minute on why it was, on the +origin of evil, or any thing of the sort; or, if he did, at least +never said a word about it. I gave one good look into his soft, round, +glassy eyes, and could see nothing there but the most tranquil +contentment. He had finished his cabbage leaf, and we had finished our +call; so we will go on. + +It was now drawing towards evening, and the air began to be sensibly +and piercingly cold. One effect of this mountain air on myself is, to +bring on the most acute headache that I ever recollect to have felt. +Still, the increasing glory and magnificence of the scenery overcame +bodily fatigue. Mont Blanc, and his army of white-robed brethren, rose +before us in the distance, glorious as the four and twenty elders +around the great white throne. The wonderful gradations of coloring in +this Alpine landscape are not among the least of its charms. How can I +describe it? Imagine yourself standing with me on this projecting +rock, overlooking a deep, piny gorge, through which flow the brawling +waters of the Arve. On the other side of this rise mountains whose +heaving swells of velvet green, cliffs and dark pines, are fully made +out and colored; behind this mountain, rises another, whose greens are +softened and shaded, and seem to be seen through a purplish veil; +behind that rises another, of a decided cloud-like purple; and in the +next still the purple tint changes to rosy lilac; while above all, +like another world up in the sky, mingling its tints with the passing +clouds, sometimes obscured by them, and then breaking out between +them, lie the glacier regions. These glaciers, in the setting sun, +look like rivers of light pouring down from the clouds. Such was the +scene, which I remember with perfect distinctness as enchaining my +attention on one point of the road. + +We had now got up to the valley of Chamouni. I looked before me, and +saw, lying in the lap of the green valley, a gigantic pile of icy +pillars, which, seen through the trees, at first suggested the idea of +a cascade. + +"What is that?" said I to the guide. + +"The Glacier de Boisson." + +I may as well stop here, and explain to you, once for all, what a +glacier is. You see before you, as in this case, say thirty or forty +mountain peaks, and between these peaks what seem to you frozen +rivers. The snow from time to time melting, and dripping down the +sides of the mountain, and congealing in the elevated hollows between +the peaks, forms a half-fluid mass--a river of ice--which is called a +glacier. + +As it lies upon the slanting surface, and is not entirely solid +throughout, the whole mass is continually pushing, with a gradual but +imperceptible motion, down into the valleys below. + +At a distance these glaciers, as I have said before, look like frozen +rivers; when one approaches nearer, or where they press downward into +the valley, like this Glacier de Boisson, they look like immense +crystals and pillars of ice piled together in every conceivable form. +The effect of this pile of ice, lying directly in the lap of green +grass and flowers, is quite singular. The village of Chamouni itself +has nothing in particular to recommend it. The buildings and every +thing about it have a rough, coarse appearance. Before we had entered +the valley this evening the sun had gone down; the sky behind the +mountains was clear, and it seemed for a few moments as if darkness +was rapidly coming on. On our right hand were black, jagged, furrowed +walls of mountain, and on our left Mont Blanc, with his fields of +glaciers and worlds of snow; they seemed to hem us in, and almost +press us down. But in a few moments commenced a scene of +transfiguration, more glorious than any thing I had witnessed yet. The +cold, white, dismal fields of ice gradually changed into hues of the +most beautiful rose color. A bank of white clouds, which rested above +the mountains, kindled and glowed, as if some spirit of light had +entered into them. You did not lose your idea of the dazzling, +spiritual whiteness of the snow, yet you seemed to see it through a +rosy veil. The sharp edges of the glaciers, and the hollows between +the peaks, reflected wavering tints of lilac and purple. The effect +was solemn and spiritual above every thing I have ever seen. These +words, which had been often in my mind through the day, and which +occurred to me more often than any others while I was travelling +through the Alps, came into my mind with a pomp and magnificence of +meaning unknown before--"For by Him were all things created in heaven +and on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or +dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things are by him and for +him; and he is before all things, and by him all things subsist." + +In this dazzling revelation I saw not that cold, distant, unfeeling +fate, or that crushing regularity of power and wisdom, which was all +the ancient Greek or modern Deist can behold in God; but I beheld, as +it were, crowned and glorified, one who had loved with our loves, and +suffered with our sufferings. Those shining snows were as his garments +on the Mount of Transfiguration, and that serene and ineffable +atmosphere of tenderness and beauty, which seemed to change these +dreary deserts into worlds of heavenly light, was to me an image of +the light shed by his eternal love on the sins and sorrows of time, +and the dread abyss of eternity. + + + + +LETTER XXXIII. + +MY DEAR:-- + +Well, I waked up this morning, and the first thought was, "Here I am +in the valley of Chamouni, right under the shadow of Mont Blanc, that +I have studied about in childhood and found on the atlas." I sprang +up, and ran to the window, to see if it was really there where I left +it last night. Yes, true enough, there it was! right over our heads, +as it were, blocking up our very existence; filling our minds with its +presence; that colossal pyramid of dazzling snow! Its lower parts +concealed by the roofs, only the three rounded domes of the summit cut +their forms with icy distinctness on the intense blue of the sky! + +On the evening before I had taken my last look at about nine o'clock, +and had mentally resolved to go out before daybreak and repeat +Coleridge's celebrated hymn; but I advise any one who has any such +liturgic designs to execute them over night, for after a day of +climbing one acquires an aptitude for sleep that interferes with early +rising. When I left last evening its countenance was "filled with rosy +light," and they tell us, that hours before it is daylight in the +valley this mountain top breaks into brightness, like that pillar of +fire which enlightened the darkness of the Israelites. + +I rejoice every hour that I am among these scenes in my familiarity +with the language of the Bible. In it alone can I find vocabulary and +images to express what this world of wonders excites. Mechanically I +repeat to myself, "The everlasting mountains were scattered; the +perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting." But as straws, +chips, and seaweed play in a thousand fantastic figures on the face of +the ocean, sometimes even concealing the solemn depths beneath, so the +prose of daily existence mixes itself up with the solemn poetry of +life, here as elsewhere. + +You must have a breakfast, and then you cannot rush out and up Mont +Blanc _ad libitum_; you must go up in the regular appointed way, +with mule and guides. This matter of guides is perfectly systematized +here; for, the mountains being the great overpowering fact of life, it +follows that all that enterprise and talent which in other places +develop themselves in various forms, here take the single channel of +climbing mountains. In America, if a man is a genius he strikes out a +new way of cleaning cotton; but in Chamouni, if he is a genius he +finds a new way of going up Mont Blanc. + +As a sailor knows every timber, rope, and spar of his ship, and seems +to identify his existence with her, so these guides their mountains. +The mountains are their calendar, their book, their newspaper, their +cabinet, herbarium, barometer, their education, and their livelihood. + +In fine, behold us about eight o'clock, C., S., W., little G., and +self, in all the bustle of fitting out in the front of our hotel. Two +guides, Balmat and Alexandre, lead two mules, long-eared, slow-footed, +considerate brutes, who have borne a thousand ladies over a thousand +pokerish places, and are ready to bear a thousand more. Equipped with +low-backed saddles, they stand, their noses down, their eyes +contemplatively closed, their whole appearance impressing one with an +air of practical talent and reliableness. Your mule is evidently safe +and stupid as any conservative of any country; you may be sure that no +erratic fires, no new influx of ideas will ever lead him to desert the +good old paths, and tumble you down precipices. The harness they wear +is so exceedingly ancient, and has such a dilapidated appearance, as +if held together only by the merest accident, that I could not but +express a little alarm on mounting. + +"Those girths--won't they break?" + +"O, no, no, mademoiselle!" said the guides. In fact, they seem so +delighted with their arrangements, that I swallow my doubts in +silence. A third mule being added for the joint use of the gentlemen, +and all being equipped with iron-pointed poles, off we start in high +spirits. + +A glorious day; air clear as crystal, sky with as fixed a blue as if +it could not think a cloud; guides congratulate us, "_Qu'il fait +très beau!_" We pass the lanes of the village, our heads almost on +a level with the flat stone-laden roofs; our mules, with their long +rolling pace, like the waves of the sea, give to their riders a +facetious wag of the body that is quite striking. Now the village is +passed, and see, a road banded with green ribands of turf. S.'s mule +and guide pass on, and head the party. G. rides another mule. C. and +W. leap along trying their alpenstocks; stopping once in a while to +admire the glaciers, as their brilliant forms appear through the +pines. + +Here a discussion commences as to where we are going. We had agreed +among ourselves that we would visit the Mer de Glâce. We fully meant +to go there, and had so told the guide on starting; but it appears he +had other views for us. There is a regular way of seeing things, +orthodox and appointed; and to get sight of any thing in the wrong way +would be as bad as to get well without a scientific physician, or any +other irregular piece of proceeding. + +It appeared from the representations of the guide that to visit Mer de +Glâce before we had seen La Flégère, would no more answer than for +Jacob to marry Rachel before he had married Leah. Determined not to +yield, as we were, we somehow found ourselves vanquished by our +guide's arguments, and soberly going off his way instead of ours, +doing exactly what we had resolved not to do. However, the point being +yielded we proceeded merrily. + +As we had some way, however, to trot along the valley before we came +to the ascending place, I improved the opportunity to cultivate a +little the acquaintance of my guide. He was a tall, spare man, with +black eyes, black hair, and features expressive of shrewdness, energy, +and determination. Either from paralysis, or some other cause, he was +subject to a spasmodic twitching of the features, producing very much +the effect that heat lightning does in the summer sky--it seemed to +flash over his face and be gone in a wink; at first this looked to me +very odd, but so much do our ideas depend on association, that after I +had known him for some time, I really thought that I liked him better +with, than I should without it. It seemed to give originality to the +expression of his face; he was such a good, fatherly man, and took +such excellent care of me and the mule, and showed so much +intelligence and dignity in his conversation, that I could do no less +than like him, heat lightning and all. + +This valley of Chamouni, through which we are winding now, is every +where as flat as a parlor floor. These valleys in the Alps seem to +have this peculiarity--they are not hollows, bending downward in the +middle, and imperceptibly sloping upward into the mountains, but they +lie perfectly flat. The mountains rise up around them like walls +almost perpendicularly. + +"_Voilà!_" says my guide, pointing to the left, to a great, bare +ravine, "down there came an avalanche, and knocked down those houses +and killed several people." + +"Ah!" said I; "but don't avalanches generally come in the same places +every year?" + +"Generally, they do." + +"Why do people build houses in the way of them?" said I. + +"Ah! this was an unusual avalanche, this one here." + +"Do the avalanches ever bring rocks with them?" + +"No, not often; nothing but snow." + +"There!" says my guide, pointing to an object about as big as a +good-sized fly, on the side of a distant mountain, "there's the +_auberge_, on La Flégère, where we are going." + +"Up there?" say I, looking up apprehensively, and querying in my mind +how my estimable friend the mule is ever to get up there with me on +his back. + +"O yes," says my guide, cheerily, "and the road is up through that +ravine." + +The ravine is a charming specimen of a road to be sure, but no +matter--on we go. + +"There," says a guide, "those black rocks in the middle of that +glacier on Mont Blanc are the Grands Mulets, where travellers sleep +going up Mont Blanc." + +We wind now among the pine tree still we come almost under the Mer de +Glâce. A most fairy-like cascade falls down from under its pillars of +ice over the dark rocks,--a cloud of feathery foam,--and then streams +into the valley below. + +"_Voilà, L'Arveiron!_" says the guide. + +"O, is that the Arveiron?" say I; "happy to make the acquaintance." + +But now we cross the Arve into a grove of pines, and direct our way to +the ascent. We begin to thread a zigzag path on the sides of the +mountain. + +As mules are most determined followers of precedent, every one keeps +his nose close by the heels of his predecessor. The delicate point, +therefore, of the whole operation is keeping the first mule straight. +The first mule in our party, who rejoiced in the name of Rousse, was +selected to head the caravan, perhaps because he had more native +originality than most mules, and was therefore better fitted to lead +than to follow. A troublesome beast was he, from a habit of abstract +meditation which was always liable to come on him in most inconvenient +localities. Every now and then, simply in accordance with his own +sovereign will and pleasure, and without consulting those behind him, +he would stop short and descend into himself in gloomy revery, not +that he seemed to have any thing in particular on his mind,--at least +nothing of the sort escaped his lips,--but the idea would seem to +strike him all of a sudden that he was an ill-used beast, and that +he'd be hanged if he went another step. Now, as his stopping stopped +all the rest, wheresoever they might happen to be, it often occurred +that we were detained in most critical localities, just on the very +verge of some tremendous precipice, or up a rocky stairway. In vain +did the foremost driver admonish him by thumping his nose with a sharp +stick, and tugging and pulling upon the bridle. Rousse was gifted with +one of those long, India rubber necks that can stretch out +indefinitely, so that the utmost pulling and jerking only took his +head along a little farther, but left his heels planted exactly here +they were before, somewhat after this fashion. His eyes, meanwhile, +devoutly closed, with an air of meekness overspreading his visage, he +might have stood as an emblem of conscientious obstinacy. + +[Illustration: _of two men trying to force forward a stubborn mule with +a female rider._] + +The fact is, that in ascending these mountains there is just enough +danger to make one's nerves a little unsteady; not by any means as +much as on board a rail car at home; still it comes to you in a more +demonstrable form. Here you are, for instance, on a precipice two +thousand feet deep; pine trees, which, when you passed them at the +foot you saw were a hundred feet high, have dwindled to the size of +pins. No barrier of any kind protects the dizzy edge, and your mule is +particularly conscientious to stand on the very verge, no matter how +wide the path may be. Now, under such circumstances, though your guide +assures you that an accident or a person killed is a thing unknown, +you cannot help seeing that if the saddle should turn, or the girths +break, or a bit of the crumbling edge cave away--all which things +appear quite possible--all would be over with you. Yet I suppose we +are no more really dependent upon God's providence in such +circumstances, than in many cases where we think ourselves most +secure. Still the thrill of this sensation is not without its +pleasure, especially with such an image of almighty power and glory +constantly before one's eyes as Mont Blanc. Our own littleness and +helplessness, in view of these vast objects which surround us, give a +strong and pathetic force to the words, "The eternal God is thy +refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms." + +I like best these snow-pure glaciers seen through these black pines; +there is something mysterious about them when you thus catch glimpses, +and see not the earthly base on which they rest. I recollect the same +fact in seeing the Cataract of Niagara through trees, where merely the +dizzying fall of water was visible, with its foam, and spray, and +rainbows; it produced an idea of something supernatural. + +I forgot to say that at the foot of the mountain a party of girls +started to ascend with us, carrying along bottles of milk and small +saucers full of mountain strawberries. About half way up the ascent we +halted by a spring of water which gushed from the side of the +mountain, and there we found the advantage of these arrangements. The +milk is very nice, almost as rich as cream. I think they told me it +was goat's milk. The strawberries are very small indeed, like our +field strawberries, but not as good. One devours them with great +relish, simply because the keen air of the mountain disposes one to +eat something, and there is nothing better to be had. They were +hearty, rosy-looking girls, cheerful and obliging, wore the flat, +Swiss hat, and carried their knitting work along with them, and knit +whenever they could. + +When you asked them the price of their wares they always said, "_Au +plaisir_" i. e., whatever you please; but when we came to offer +them money, we found "_au plaisir_" meant so much at _any +rate_, and as much more as they could get. + +There were some children who straggled up with the party, who offered +us flowers and crystals "_au plaisir_" to about the same intent +and purpose. This _cortége_ of people, wanting to sell you +something, accompanies you every where in the Alps. The guides +generally look upon it with complacency, and in a quiet way favor it. +I suppose that the fact was, these were neighbors and acquaintances, +and the mutual understanding was, that they should help each other. + +It was about twelve o'clock, when we gained a bare board shanty as +near the top of La Flégère as it is possible to go on mules. + +It is rather a discouraging reflection that one should travel three or +four hours to get to such a desolate place as these mountain tops +generally are; nothing but grass, rocks, and snow; a shanty, with a +show case full of minerals, articles of carved wood, and engravings of +the place for sale. In these show cases the Alps are brought to market +as thoroughly as human ingenuity can do the thing. The chamois figures +largely; there are pouches made of chamois skin, walking sticks and +alpenstocks tipped with chamois horn; sometimes an entire skin, horns +and all, hanging disconsolately downward. Then all manner of crystals, +such as are found in the rocks, are served up--agate pins, rings, +seals, bracelets, cups, and snuffboxes--all which are duly urged on +your attention; so, instead of falling into a rapture at the sight of +Mont Blanc, the regular routine for a Yankee is to begin a bargain for +a walking stick or a snuffbox. + +There is another curious fact, and that is, that every prospect loses +by being made definite. As long as we only see a thing by glimpses, +and imagine that there is a deal more that we do not see, the mind is +kept in a constant excitement and play; but come to a point where you +can fairly and squarely take in the whole, and there your mind falls +listless. It is the greatest proof to me of the infinite nature of our +minds, that we almost instantly undervalue what we have thoroughly +attained. This sensation afflicted me, for I had been reining in my +enthusiasm for two days, as rather premature, and keeping myself in +reserve for this ultimate display. But now I stood there, no longer +seeing by glimpses, no longer catching rapturous intimations as I +turned angles of rock, or glanced through windows of pine--here it +was, all spread out before me like a map, not a cloud, not a shadow to +soften the outline--there was Mont Blanc, a great alabaster pyramid, +with a glacier running down each side of it; there was the Arve, and +there was the Arveiron, names most magical in song, but now literal +geographic realities. + +But in full possession of the whole my mind gave out like a rocket +that will not go off at the critical moment. I remember, once after +finishing a very circumstantial treatise on the nature of heaven, +being oppressed with a similar sensation of satiety,--that which hath +not entered the heart of man to conceive must not be mapped out,-- +hence the wisdom of the dim, indefinite imagery of the Scriptures; +they give you no hard outline, no definite limit; occasionally they +part as do the clouds around these mountains, giving you flashes and +gleams of something supernatural and splendid, but never fully +unveiling. + +But La Flegerc is doubtless the best point for getting a statistically +accurate idea of how the Alps lie, of any easily accessible to ladies. +This print you may regard more as a chart than as a picture. + +Our guide pointed out every feature with praiseworthy accuracy. +Midmost is Mont Blanc; on the right the Glacier de Boisson. Two or +three little black peaks' in it are the sleeping-place for travellers +ascending--the zigzag line shows their path. On the left of the +mountain lies Mer de Glâce, with the Arveiron falling from it. The +Arve crosses the valley below us; the fall is not indicated in this +view. The undulations, which, on near view, are fifty feet high, seem +mere ripples. Its purity is much soiled by the dust and debris which +are constantly blown upon it, making it look in some places more like +mud than ice. Its soiled masses contrast with the dazzling whiteness +of the upper regions, just as human virtue exposed to the wind and +dust of earth, with the spotless purity of Jesus. + +[Illustration: _of a long view of mountains with glacial valley in +foreground. What follows is a rough ASCII interpretation_: + + 1 + /\ + /\ /\_/ \ 2 +/\/\ __ /\/\_ /'\/\/ \__/ \ \_/\ + '/\ _/ / / \ 4_ / \_3_ + '' / \ | _/ __ __ 5 / \ + \, / ___,,__ ____,___/ / \ + _ \__--' _/ \ '--' | \____,| + \ /9/ __/ |\ | \ \\ \ | + \/ |/ | \ \ \\ \| + _ | \ | \ \_ 7 \\ \\6 + \ \ 8 \__ \ \_ \\ \\ + \_ \ \ \===-'--'----> + '-----\=====================\ streams + // + settlement || + \ \_ + > > + trees / / + +EXPLANATION OF ILLUSTRATION. + +1. Mont Blanc. 2. Deme de Goute. 3. Aiguille de Goute. 4. Grand +Plateau. 5. Les Grands Mulets. 6. Glacier de Tacconnaz. 7. Glacier de +Boisson. 8. Mer de Glâce. 9. Montauvert.] + +These mulets, which at this distance appear like black points, are +needle cliffs rising in a desert of snow, thus-- + +[Illustration: _of narrow jagged dark rocks about 70 feet across at +the base and rising to about 80 feet from the base._] + +Coming down I mentally compared Mont Blanc and Niagara, as one should +compare two grand pictures in different styles of the same master. +Both are of that class of things which mark eras in a mind's history, +and open a new door which no man can shut. Of the two, I think Niagara +is the most impressive, perhaps because those aerial elements of foam +and spray give that vague and dreamy indefiniteness of outline which +seems essential in the sublime. For this reason, while Niagara is +equally impressive in the distance, it does not lose on the nearest +approach--it is always mysterious, and, therefore, stimulating. Those +varying spray wreaths, rising like Ossian's ghosts from its abyss; +those shimmering rainbows, through whose veil you look; those dizzying +falls of water that seem like clouds poured from the hollow of God's +hand; and that mystic undertone of sound that seems to pervade the +whole being as the voice of the Almighty,--all these bewilder and +enchant the discriminative and prosaic part of us, and bring us into +that cloudy region of ecstasy where the soul comes nearest to Him whom +no eye hath seen, or can see. I have sometimes asked myself if, in the +countless ages of the future, the heirs of God shall ever be endowed +by him with a creative power, by which they shall bring into being +things like these? In this infancy of his existence, man creates +pictures, statues, cathedrals; but when he is made "ruler over many +things," will his Father intrust to him the building and adorning of +worlds? the ruling of the glorious, dazzling forces of nature? + +At the foot of the mountain we found again our company of strawberry +girls, with knitting work and goat's milk, lying in wait for us. They +knew we should be thirsty and hungry, and wisely turned the +circumstance to account. Some of our party would not buy of them, +because they said they were sharpers, trying to get all they could out +of people; but if every body who tries to do this is to be called a +sharper, what is to become of respectable society, I wonder? + +On the strength of this reflection, I bought some more goat's milk and +strawberries, and verily found them excellent; for, as Shakspeare +says, "How many things by season seasoned are." + +We returned to our hotel, and after dining and taking a long nap, I +began to feel fresh once more, for the air here acts like an elixir, +so that one is able to do twice as much as any where else. S. was too +much overcome to go with us, but the rest of us started with our +guides once more at five o'clock. This time we were to visit the +Cascade des Pèlérins, which comes next on the orthodox list of places +to be seen. + +It was a lovely afternoon; the sun had got over the Mont Blanc side of +the world, and threw the broad, cool shadow of the mountains quite +across the valley. What a curious kind of thing shadow is,--that +invisible veil, falling so evenly and so lightly over all things, +bringing with it such thoughts of calmness, of coolness, and of rest. +I wonder the old Greeks did not build temples to Shadow, and call her +the sister of Thought and Peace. The Hebrew writers speak of the +"overshadowing of the Almighty;" they call his protection "the shadow +of a great rock in a weary land." Even as the shadow of Mont Blanc +falls like a Sabbath across this valley, so falls the sense of his +presence across our weary life-road! + +As we rode along under the sides of the mountain every thing seemed so +beautiful, so thoughtful, and so calm! All the goats and cows were in +motion along the mountain paths, each one tinkling his little bell and +filling the rocks with gentle melodies. You can trace the lines of +these cattle paths, running like threads all along the sides of the +mountains. We went in the same road that we had gone in the morning. +How different it seemed, in the soberness of this afternoon light, +from its aspect under the clear, crisp, sharp light of morning! + +We pass again through the pine woods in the valley, and cross the +Arve; then up the mountain side to where a tiny cascade throws up its +feathery spray in a brilliant _jet d'eau_. Every body knows, even +in our sober New England, that mountain brooks are a frisky, +indiscreet set, rattling, chattering, and capering in defiance of all +law and order, tumbling over precipices, and picking themselves up at +the bottom, no whit wiser or more disposed to be tranquil than they +were at the top; in fact, seeming to grow more mad and frolicsome with +every leap. Well, that is just the way brooks do here in the Alps, and +the people, taking advantage of it, have built a little shanty, where +they show up the capers of this child of the mountain, as if he +tumbled for their special profit. Here, of course, in the shanty are +the agates, and the carved work, and so forth, and so on, and you must +buy something for a souvenir. + +I sat down on the rocks to take, not a sketch,--for who can sketch a +mountain torrent?--but to note down on paper a kind of diagram, from +which afterwards I might reconstruct an image of this feathery, frisky +son of Kuhleborn. + +And while I was doing this, little G. seemed to be possessed by the +spirit of the brook to caper down into the ravine, with a series of +leaps far safer for a waterfall than a boy. I was thankful when I saw +him safely at the bottom. + +After sketching a little while, I rambled off to a point where I +looked over towards Mont Blanc, and got a most beautiful view of the +Glacier de Boisson. Imagine the sky flushed with a rosy light, a +background of purple mountains, with darts of sunlight streaming among +them, touching point and cliff with gold. Against this background +rises the outline of the glacier like a mountain of the clearest white +crystals, tinged with blue; and against their snowy whiteness in the +foreground tall forms of pines. I rejoiced in the picture with +exceeding joy as long as the guide would let me; but in all these +places you have to cut short your raptures at the proper season, or +else what becomes of your supper? + +I went back to the cottage. A rosy-cheeked girl had held our mules, +and set a chair for us to get off, and now brings them up with "_Au +plaisir, messieurs_" to the bearers of our purse. Half a dozen +children had been waiting with the rose des Alps, which they wanted to +sell us "_au plaisir_" but which we did not buy. + +These continual demands on the purse look very alarming, only the coin +you pay in is of such infinitesimal value that it takes about a pocket +full to make a cent. Such a currency is always a sign of poverty. + +We had a charming ride down the mountain side, in the glow of the +twilight. We passed through a whole flock of goats which the children +were driving home. One dear little sturdy Savoyard looked so like a +certain little Charley at home that I felt quite a going forth of soul +to him. As we rode on, I thought I would willingly live and die in +such a place; but I shall see a hundred such before we leave the Alps. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Thursday, July 7. Weather still celestial, as yesterday. But lo, these +frail tabernacles betray their earthliness. H. remarked at breakfast +that all the "tired" of yesterday was piled up into to-day. And S. +actually pleaded inability, and determined to remain at the hotel. + +However, the Mer de Glâce must be seen; so, at seven William, Georgy, +H., and I, set off. When about half way or more up the mountain we +crossed the track of the avalanches, a strip or trail, which looks +from beneath like a mower's swath through a field of tall grass. It is +a clean path, about fifty rods wide, without trees, with few rocks, +smooth and steep, and with a bottom of ice covered with gravel. + +"Hurrah, William," said I, "let's have an avalanche!" + +"Agreed," said he; "there's a big rock." + +"Monsieur le Guide, Monsieur le Guide!" I shouted, "stop a moment. H., +stop; we want you to see our avalanche." + +"No," cried H., "I will not. Here you ask me to stop, right on the +edge of this precipice, to see you roll down a stone!" + +So, on she ambled. Meanwhile William and I were already on foot, and +our mules were led on by the guide's daughter, a pretty little lass of +ten or twelve, who accompanied us in the capacity of mule driver. + +We found several stones of inferior size, and sent them plunging down. +At last, however, we found one that weighed some two tons, which +happened to lie so that, by loosening the earth before and under it +with our alpenstocks, we were able to dislodge it. Slowly, +reluctantly, as if conscious of the awful race it was about to take, +the huge mass trembled, slid, poised, and, with a crunch and a groan, +went over. At the first plunge it acquired a heavy revolving motion, +and was soon whirling and dashing down, bounding into the air with +prodigious leaps, and cutting a white and flashing path into the icy +way. Then first I began to realize the awful height at which we stood +above the plain. Tracts, which looked as though we could almost step +across them, were reached by this terrible stone, moving with +frightful velocity; and bound after bound, plunge after plunge it +made, and we held our breath to see each tract lengthen out, as if +seconds grew into minutes, inches into rods; and still the mass moved +on, and the microscopic way lengthened out, till at last a curve hid +its further progress from our view. + +What other cliffs we might have toppled over the muse refuses to tell; +for our faithful guide returned to say that it was not quite safe; +that there were always shepherds and flocks in the valley, and that +they might be injured. So we remounted, and soon overtook H. at a +fountain, sketching a pine tree of special physiognomy. + +"Ah," said I, "H., how foolish you were! You don't know what a sight +you have lost." + +"Yes," said she, "all C. thinks mountains are made for is to roll +stones down." + +"And all H. thinks trees made for," said I, "is to have ugly pictures +made of them." + +"Ay," she replied, "you wanted me to stand on the very verge of the +precipice, and see two foolish boys roll down stones, and perhaps make +an avalanche of themselves! Now, you know, C., I could not spare you; +first, because I have not learned French enough yet; and next, because +I don't know how to make change." + +"Add to that," said I, "the damages to the _bergers_ and flocks." + +"Yes," she added; "no doubt when we get back to the inn we shall have +a bill sent in, 'H. B. S. to A. B., Dr., to one shepherd and six +cows, --fr.'" + +And so we chatted along until we reached the _auberge_, and, +after resting a few moments, descended into the frozen sea. + +Here a scene opened upon us never to be forgotten. From the distant +gorge of the everlasting Alpine ranges issued forth an ocean tide, in +wild and dashing commotion, just as we have seen the waves upon the +broad Atlantic, but all motionless as chaos when smitten by the mace +of Death; and yet, not motionless! This denser medium, this motionless +mass, is never at rest. This flood moves as it seems to move; these +waves are actually uplifting out of the abyss as they seem to lift; +the only difference is in the time of motion, the rate of change. + +These prodigious blocks of granite, thirty or forty feet long and +twenty feet thick, which float on this grim sea of ice, _do +float_, and are _drifting_, drifting down to the valley below, +where, in a few days, they must arrive. + +We walked these valleys, ascended these hills, leaped across chasms, +threw stones down the _crevasses_, plunged our alpenstocks into +the deep baths of green water, and philosophized and poetized till we +were tired. Then we returned to the _auberge_, and rode down the +zigzag to our hotel. + + + + +LETTER XXXIV. + +MY DEAR:-- + +The Mer de Glâce is exactly opposite to La Flégère, where we were +yesterday, and is reached by the ascent of what is called Montanvert, +or Green Mountain. The path is much worse than the other, and in some +places makes one's nerves twinge, especially that from which C. +projected his avalanche. Just think of his wanting to stop me on the +edge of a little shelf over that frightful chasm, and take away the +guide from the head of my mule to help him get up avalanches! + +I warn you, if ever you visit the Alps, that a travelling companion +who has not the slightest idea what fear is will give you many a +commotion. For instance, this Mer de Glâce is traversed every where by +_crevasses_ in the ice, which go to--nobody knows where, down +into the under world--great, gaping, blue-green mouths of Hades; and +C. must needs jump across them, and climb down into them, to the +mingled delight and apprehension of the guide, who, after +conscientiously shouting out a reproof, would say to me, in a lower +tone, "Ah, he's the man to climb Mont Blanc; he would do well for +that!" + +The fact is, nothing would suit our guides better, this clear, bright +weather, than to make up a party for the top of Mont Blanc. They look +longingly and lovingly up to its clear, white fields; they show us the +stages and resting-places, and seem really to think that it is a waste +of this beautiful weather not to be putting it to that most sublime +purpose. + +Why, then, do not we go up? you say. As to us ladies, it is a thing +that has been done by only two women since the world stood, and those +very different in their _physique_ from any we are likely to +raise in America, unless we mend our manners very much. These two were +a peasant woman of Chamouni, called Marie de Mont Blanc, and +Mademoiselle Henriette d'Angeville, a lady whose acquaintance I made +in Geneva. Then, as to the gentlemen, it is a serious consideration, +in the first place, that the affair costs about one hundred and fifty +dollars apiece, takes two days of time, uses up a week's strength, all +to get an experience of some very disagreeable sensations, which could +not afflict a man in any other case. It is no wonder, then, that +gentlemen look up to the mountain, lay their hands on their pockets, +and say, No. + +Our guide, by the way, is the son, or grandson, of the very first man +that ascended Mont Blanc, and of course feels a sort of hereditary +property and pride in it. + +C. spoke about throwing our poles down the pools of water in the ice. + +There is something rather curious about these pools. Our guide saw us +measuring the depth of one of them, which was full of greenish-blue +water, colored only by the refraction of the light. He took our long +alpenstock, and poising it, sent it down into the water, as a man +might throw a javelin. It disappeared, but in a few seconds leaped up +at us out of the water, as if thrown back again by an invisible hand. + +A poet would say that a water spirit hurled it back; perhaps some old +under-ground gnome, just going to dinner, had his windows smashed by +it, and sent it back with a becoming spirit, as a gnome should. + +It was a sultry day, and the sun was exercising his power over the +whole ice field. I sat down by a great ice block, about fifty feet +long, to interrogate it, and see what I could make of it, by a cool, +confidential proximity and examination. The ice was porous and spongy, +as I have seen it on the shores of the Connecticut, when beginning to +thaw out under the influence of a spring sun. I could see the little +drops of water percolating in a thousand tiny streams through it, and +dropping down on every side. Putting my ear to it, I could hear a fine +musical trill and trickle, and that still small click and stir, as of +melting ice, which showed that it was surely and gradually giving way, +and flowing back again. + +Drop by drop the cold iceberg was changing into a stream, to flow down +the sides of the valley, no longer an image of coldness and death, but +bearing fertility and beauty on its tide. And as I looked abroad over +all the rifted field of ice, I could see that the same change was +gradually going on throughout. In every blue ravine you can hear the +clink of dropping water, and those great defiant blocks of ice, which +seem frozen with uplifted warlike hands, are all softening in that +beneficent light, and destined to pass away in that benignant change. +So let us hope that those institutions of pride and cruelty, which are +colder than the glacier, and equally vast and hopeless in their +apparent magnitude, may yet, like that, be slowly and surely passing +away. Like the silent warfare of the sun on the glacier, is that +overshadowing presence of Jesus, whose power, so still, yet so +resistless, is now being felt through all the moving earth. + +Those defiant waves of death-cold ice might as well hope to conquer +the calm, silent sun, as the old, frozen institutions of human +selfishness to resist the influence which he is now breathing through +the human heart, to liberate the captive, to free the slave, and to +turn the ice of long winters into rivers of life for the new heaven +and the new earth. + +All this we know is coming, but we long to see it now, and breathe +forth our desires with the Hebrew prophet, "O that thou wouldst rend +the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might +flow down at thy presence." + +I had, while upon this field of ice, that strange feeling which often +comes over one, at the sight of a thing unusually beautiful and +sublime, of wanting, in some way, to appropriate and make it a part of +myself. I looked up the gorge, and saw this frozen river, lying +cradled, as it were, in the arms of needle-peaked giants of +amethystine rock, their tops laced with flying silvery clouds. The +whole air seemed to be surcharged with tints, ranging between the +palest rose and the deepest violet--tints never without blue, and +never without red, but varying in the degrees of the two. It is this +prismatic hue diffused over every object which gives one of the most +noticeable characteristics of the Alpine landscape. + +This sea of ice lies on an inclined plane, and all the blocks have a +general downward curve. + +I told you yesterday that the lower part of the glacier, as seen from +La Flégère, appeared covered with dirt. I saw to-day the reason for +this. Although it was a sultry day in July, yet around the glacier a +continual high wind was blowing, whirling the dust and _débris_ +of the sides upon it. Some of the great masses of ice were so +completely coated with sand as to appear at a distance like granite +rocks. The effect of some of these immense brown masses was very +peculiar. They seemed like an army of giants, bending forward, driven, +as by an invisible power, down into the valley. + +It reminds one of such expressions as these in Job:-- + +"Have the gates of death been open to thee, or hast thou seen the +doors of the shadow of death?" One should read that sublime poem in +such scenes as these. I remained on the ice as long as I could +persuade the guides and party to remain. + +Then we went back to the house, where, of course, we looked at some +wood work, agates, and all the et cetera. + +Then we turned our steps downward. We went along the side of the +glacier, and I desired to climb over as near as possible, in order to +see the source of the Arveiron, which is formed by the melting of this +glacier. Its cradle is a ribbed and rocky cavern of blue ice, and like +a creature born full of vigor and immortality, it begins life with an +impetuous leap. The cold arms of the glaciers cannot retain it; it +must go to the warm, flowery, velvet meadows below. + +The guide was quite anxious about me; he seemed to consider a lady as +something that must necessarily break in two, or come apart, like a +German doll, if not managed with extremest care; and therefore to see +one bounding through bushes, leaping, and springing, and climbing over +rocks at such a rate, appeared to him the height of desperation. + +The good, faithful soul wanted to keep me within orthodox limits, and +felt conscientiously bound to follow me wherever I went, and to offer +me his hand at every turn. I considered, on the whole, that I ought +not to blame him, since guides hold themselves responsible for life +and limb; and any accident to those under their charge is fatal to +their professional honor. + +Going down, I held some conversation with him on matters and things in +general, and life in Chamouni in particular. He inquired with great +interest about America; which, throughout Europe, I find the working +classes regard as a kind of star in the west, portending something of +good to themselves. He had a son, he said, settled in America, near +St. Louis. + +"And don't you want to go to America?" said I, after hearing him +praise the good land. + +"Ah, no," he said, with a smile. + +"Why not?" said I; "it is a much easier country to live in." + +He gave a look at the circle of mountains around, and said, "I love +Chamouni." The good soul! I was much of his opinion. If I had been +born within sight of glorious Mont Blanc, with its apocalyptic clouds, +and store of visions, not all the fat pork and flat prairies of +Indiana and Ohio could tempt me. No wonder the Swiss die for their +native valleys! I would if I were they. I asked him about education. +He said his children went to a school kept by Catholic sisters, who +taught reading, writing, and Latin. The dialect of Chamouni is a +patois, composed of French and Latin. He said that provision was very +scarce in the winter. I asked how they made their living when there +were no travellers to be guided up Mont Blanc. He had a trade at which +he wrought in winter months, and his wife did tailoring. + +I must not forget to say that the day before there had been some +confidential passages between us, which began by his expressing, +interrogatively, the opinion that "mademoiselle was a young lady, he +supposed." When mademoiselle had assured him, on the contrary, that +she was a venerable matron, mother of a thriving family, then followed +a little comparison of notes as to numbers. Madame he ascertained to +have six, and he had four, if my memory serves me, as it generally +does not in matters of figures. So you see it is not merely among us +New Englanders that the unsophisticated spirit of curiosity exists as +to one's neighbors. Indeed, I take it to be a wholesome development of +human nature in general. For my part, I could not think highly of any +body who could be brought long into connection with another human +being and feel no interest to inquire into his history and +surroundings. + +As we stopped, going down the descent, to rest the mules, I looked up +above my head into the crags, and saw a flock of goats browsing. One +goat, in particular, I remember, had gained the top of a kind of table +rock, which stood apart from the rest, and which was carpeted with +lichens and green moss. There he stood, looking as unconscious and +contemplative as possible, the wicked fellow, with his long beard! He +knew he looked picturesque, and that is what he stood there for. But, +as they say in New England, he did it "_as nat'ral as a pictur!_" + +By the by, the girls with strawberries, milk, and knitting work were +on hand on the way down, and met us just where a cool spring gushed +out at the roots of a pine tree; and of course I bought some more milk +and strawberries. + +How dreadfully hot it was when we got down to the bottom! for there we +had the long, shadeless ride home, with the burning lenses of the +glaciers concentrated upon our defenceless heads. I was past admiring +any thing, and glad enough for the shelter of a roof, and a place to +lie down. + +After dinner, although the Glacier de Boisson had been spoken of as +the appointed work for the afternoon, yet we discovered, as the psalm +book says, that + + "The force of nature could no farther go" + +[Illustration: _of an ice climbing party scaling a large serac._] + +What is Glacier de Boisson, or glacier any thing else, to a person +used up entirely, with no sense or capability left for any thing but a +general aching? No; the Glacier de Boisson was given up, and I am +sorry for it now, because it is the commencement of the road up Mont +Blanc; and, though I could not go to the top thereof, I should like to +have gone as far as I could. In fact, I should have been glad to sleep +one night at the Grands Mulets: however, that was impossible. + +To look at the apparently smooth surface of the mountain side, one +would never think that the ascent could be a work of such difficulty +and danger. Yet, look at the picture of crossing a _crevasse_, +and compare the size of the figures with the dimensions of the blocks +of ice. Madame d'Angeville told me that she was drawn across a +_crevasse_ like this, by ropes tied under her arms, by the +guides. The depth of some of the _crevasses_ may be conjectured +from the fact stated by Agassiz, that the thickest parts of the +glaciers are over one thousand feet in depth. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Friday, July 8.--Chamouni to Martigny, by Tête Noir. Mules _en +avant_. We set off in a _calèche_. After a two hours' ride we +came to "_those mules_." On, to the pass of Tête Noir, by paths +the most awful. As my mule trod within six inches of the verge, I +looked down into an abyss, so deep that tallest pines looked like +twigs; yet, on the opposite side of the pass, I looked up the steep +precipice to an equal height, where giant trees seemed white +fluttering fringe. A dizzy sight. We swept round an angle, entered a +dark tunnel blasted out through the solid rock, emerged, and saw +before us, on our right, the far-famed Tête Noir, a black ledge, on +whose face, so high is the opposite cliff, the sun never shines. A few +steps brought us to a hotel. William and I rolled down some +avalanches, by way of getting an appetite, while dinner was preparing. + +[Illustration: _of the rearing head and neck of a bridled mule._] + +After dinner we commenced descending towards Martigny, +alternately riding and walking. Here, while I was on foot, my mule +took it into his head to run away. I was never more surprised in my +life than to see that staid, solemn, meditative, melancholy beast +suddenly perk up both his long ears, thus, and hop about over the +steep paths like a goat. Not more surprised should I be to see some +venerable D. D. of Princeton leading off a dance in the Jardin +Mabille. We chased him here, and chased him there. We headed him, and +he headed us. We said, "Now I have you," and he said, "No, you don't!" +until the affair began to grow comically serious. "_Il se moque de +vous!_" said the guide. But, at that moment, I sprang and caught +him by the bridle, when, presto! down went his ears, shut went the +eyes, and over the entire gay brute spread a visible veil of +stolidity. And down he plodded, _slunging_, shambling, pivotting +round zigzag corners, as before, in a style which any one that ever +navigated such a craft down hill knows without further telling. After +that, I was sure that the old fellow kept up a "terrible thinking," in +spite of his stupid looks, and knew a vast deal more than he chose to +tell. + +[Illustration: _of a mule's head lowered, with ears flattened._] + +At length we opened on the Rhone valley; and at seven we reached Hotel +de la Tour, at Martigny. Here H. and S. managed to get up two flights +of stone stairs, and sank speechless and motionless upon their beds. I +must say they have exhibited spirit to-day, or, as Mr. C. used to say, +"pluck." After settling with our guides,--fine fellows, whom we hated +to lose,--I ordered supper, and sought new guides for our route to the +convent. Our only difficulty in reaching there, they say, is the +_snow_. The guides were uncertain whether mules could get through +so early in the season. Only to think! To-day, riding broilingly +through hay-fields--to-morrow, stuck in snow drifts! + + + + +LETTER XXXV. + +Dear Henry:-- + +You cannot think how beautiful are these Alpine valleys. Our course, +all the first morning after we left Chamouni, lay beside a broad, +hearty, joyous mountain torrent, called, perhaps from the darkness of +its waters, Eau Noire. Charming meadows skirted its banks. All the way +along I could think of nothing but Bunyan's meadows beside the river +of life, "curiously adorned with lilies." _These_ were curiously +adorned, broidered, and inwrought with flowers, many and brilliant as +those in a western prairie. Were I to undertake to describe them, I +might make an inventory as long as Homer's list of the ships. There +was the Canterbury bell of our garden; the white meadow sweet; the +blue and white campanula; the tall, slender harebell, and a little, +short-tufted variety of the same, which our guide tells me is called +"Les Clochettes," or the "little bells"--fairies might ring them, I +thought. Then there are whole beds of the little blue forget-me-not, +and a white flower which much resembles it in form. I also noticed, +hanging in the clefts of the rocks around Tête Noir, the long golden +tresses of the laburnum. It has seemed to me, when I have been +travelling here, as if every flower I ever saw in a garden met me some +where in rocks or meadows. + +There is a strange, unsatisfying pleasure about flowers, which, like +all earthly pleasure, is akin to pain. What can you do with them?--you +want to do something, but what? Take them all up, and carry them with +you? You cannot do that. Get down and look at them? What, keep a whole +caravan waiting for your observations! That will never do. Well, then, +pick and carry them along with you. That is what, in despair of any +better resource, I did. My good old guide was infinite in patience, +stopping at every new exclamation point of mine, plunging down rocks +into the meadow land, climbing to the points of great rocks, and +returning with his hands filled with flowers. It seemed almost +sacrilegious to tear away such fanciful creations, that looked as if +they were votive offerings on an altar, or, more likely, living +existences, whose only conscious life was a continued exhalation of +joy and praise. + +These flowers seemed to me to be earth's raptures and aspirations +--her better moments--her lucid intervals. Like every thing else in +our existence, they are mysterious. + +In what mood of mind were they conceived by the great Artist? Of what +feelings of his are they the expression--springing up out of the +dust, in these gigantic, waste, and desolate regions, where one would +think the sense of his almightiness might overpower the soul? Born in +the track of the glacier and the avalanche, they seem to say to us +that this Almighty Being is very pitiful, and of tender compassion; +that, in his infinite soul, there is an exquisite gentleness and love +of the beautiful, and that, if we would be blessed, his will to bless +is infinite. + +The greatest men have always thought much of flowers. Luther always +kept a flower in a glass, on his writing table; and when he was waging +his great public controversy with Eckius, he kept a flower in his +hand. Lord Bacon has a beautiful passage about flowers. As to +Shakspeare, he is a perfect Alpine valley--he is full of flowers; they +spring, and blossom, and wave in every cleft of his mind. Witness the +Midsummer Night's Dream. Even Milton, cold, serene, and stately as he +is, breaks forth into exquisite gushes of tenderness and fancy when he +marshals the flowers, as in Lycidas and Comus. + +But all this while the sun has been withering the flowers the guide +brought me; how they look! blue and white Canterbury bells, harebells, +clochettes, all bedraggled and wilted, like a young lady who has been +up all night at a ball. + +"No, no," say I to the guide; "don't pick me any more. I don't want +them. The fact is, if they are pretty I cannot help it. I must even +take it out in looking as I go by." + +One thing is evident; He who made the world is no utilitarian, no +despiser of the fine arts, and no condemner of ornament; and those +religionists, who seek to restrain every thing within the limits of +cold, bare utility, do not imitate our Father in heaven. + +Cannot a bonnet cover your head, without the ribbon and the flowers, +say they? Yes; and could not a peach tree bear peaches without a +blossom? What a waste is all this colored corolla of flowers, as if +the seed could not mature without them! God could have created the +fruit in good, strong, homely bushel baskets, if he had been so +disposed. + +"Turn off my eyes from beholding vanity," says a good man, when he +sees a display of graceful ornament. What, then, must he think of the +Almighty Being, all whose useful work is so overlaid with ornament? +There is not a fly's leg, nor an insect's wing, which is not polished +and decorated to an extent that we should think positive extravagance +in finishing up a child's dress. And can we suppose that this Being +can take delight in dwellings and modes of life or forms of worship +where every thing is reduced to cold, naked utility? I think not. The +instinct to adorn and beautify is from him; it likens us to him, and +if rightly understood, instead of being a siren to beguile our hearts +away, it will be the closest affiliating band. + +If this power of producing the beautiful has been always so +fascinating that the human race for its sake have bowed down at the +feet even of men deficient in moral worth, if we cannot forbear loving +the painter, poet, and sculptor, how much more shall we love God, who, +with all goodness, has also all beauty! + +But all this while we have been riding on till we have passed the +meadows, and the fields, and are coming into the dark and awful pass +of the Tête Noir, which C. has described to you. + +One thing I noticed which he did not. When we were winding along the +narrow path, bearing no more proportion to the dizzy heights above and +below than the smallest insect creeping on the wall, I looked across +the chasm, and saw a row of shepherds' cottages perched midway on a +narrow shelf, that seemed in the distance not an inch wide. By a very +natural impulse, I exclaimed, "What does become of the little children +there? I should think they would all fall over the precipice!" + +My guide looked up benevolently at me, as if he felt it his duty to +quiet my fears, and said in a soothing tone, "O, no, no, no!" + +Of course, I might have known that little children have their angels +there, as well as every where else. "When they have funerals there," +said he, "they are obliged to carry the dead along that road," +pointing to a road that resembled a thread drawn on the rocky wall. + +What a strange idea--such a life and death! It seemed to me, that I +could see a funeral train creeping along; the monks, with their black +cloaks, carrying tapers, and singing psalms; the whole procession +together not larger in proportion than a swarm of black gnats; and +yet, perhaps, hearts there wrung with an infinite sorrow. In that +black, moving point, may be a soul, whose convulsions and agonies +cannot be measured or counted by any thing human, so impossible is it +to measure souls by space. + +What can they think of, these creatures, who are born in this strange +place, half way between heaven and earth, to whom the sound of +avalanches is a cradle hymn, and who can never see the sun above the +top of the cliff on either side, till he really gets into the zenith? + +What they can be thinking of I cannot tell. Life, I suppose, is made +up of the same prosaic material there that it is every where. The +mother thinks how she shall make her goat's milk and black bread hold +out. The grandmother knits stockings, and runs out to see if Jaques or +Pierre have not tumbled over the precipice. Jaques and Pierre, in +return, tangle grandmother's yarn, upset mother's milk bucket, pull +the goat's beard, tear their clothes to pieces on the bushes and +rocks, and, in short, commit incredible abominations daily, just as +children do every where. + +In the night how curiously this little nest of houses must look, +lighted up, winking and blinking at the solitary traveller, like some +mysterious eyes looking out of a great eternity! There they all are +fast asleep, Pierre, and Jaques, and grandmother, and the goats. In +the night they hear a tremendous noise, as if all nature was going to +pieces; they half wake, open one eye, say, "Nothing but an avalanche!" +and go to sleep again. + +This road, through the pass of the Tête Noir, used to be dangerous; a +very narrow bridle-path, undefended by any screen whatever. To have +passed it in those old days would have had too much of the sublime to +be quite agreeable to me. The road, as it is, is wide enough, I should +think, for three mules to go abreast, and a tunnel has been blasted +through what seemed the most difficult and dangerous point, and a +little beyond this tunnel is the Hotel de la Couronne. + +If any body wanted to stop in the wildest and lonesomest place he +could find in the Alps, so as to be saturated with a sense of +savageness and desolation, I would recommend this hotel. The chambers +are reasonably comfortable, and the beds of a good quality--a point +which S. and I tested experimentally soon after our arrival. I thought +I should like to stay there a week, to be left there alone with +Nature, and see what she would have to say to me. + +But two or three hours' ride in the hot sun, on a mule's back, +indisposes one to make much of the grandest scenes, insomuch that we +were glad to go to sleep; and on awaking we were glad to get some +dinner, such as it was. + +Well, after our dinner, which consisted of a dish of fried potatoes +and some fossiliferous bread, such as prevails here at the small +hotels in Switzerland, we proceeded onward. After an intolerably hot +ride for half an hour we began to ascend a mountain called the +Forclaz. + +There is something magnificent about going up these mountains, +appalling as it seems to one's nerves, at particular turns and angles +of the road, where the mule stops you on the very "brink of forever," +as one of the ladies said. + +Well, at last we reached the top, and began to descend; and there, at +our feet, as if we were looking down at it out of a cloud, lay the +whole beautiful valley of the Rhone. I did not know then that this was +one of the things put down in the guide book, that we were expected to +admire, as I found afterwards it was; but nothing that I saw any where +through the Alps impressed me as this did. It seemed to me more like +the vision of "the land that is very far off" than any thing earthly. +I can see it now just as distinctly as I saw it then; one of these +flat, Swiss valleys, green as a velvet carpet, studded with buildings +and villages that looked like dots in the distance, and embraced on +all sides by these magnificent mountains, of which those nearest in +the prospect were distinctly made out, with their rocks, pine trees, +and foliage. + +The next in the receding distance were fainter, and of a purplish +green; the next of a vivid purple; the next, lilac; while far in the +fading view the crystal summits and glaciers of the Oberland Alps rose +like an exhalation. + +The afternoon sun was throwing its level beams in between these +many-colored ranges, and on one of them the ruins of an old Roman +tower stood picturesquely prominent. The Simplon road could be seen, +dividing the valley like an arrow. + +I had gone on quite ahead of my company, and as my mule soberly paced +downward in the almost perpendicular road, I seemed to be poised so +high above the enchanting scene that I had somewhat the same sensation +as if I were flying. I don't wonder that larks seem to get into such a +rapture when they are high up in the air. What a dreamlike beauty +there is in distance, disappearing ever as we approach! + +As I came down towards Martigny into the pasture land of the great +mountain, it seemed to me that the scenery might pass for that of the +Delectable Mountains--such beautiful, green, shadowy hollows, amid +great clumps of chestnut and apple trees, where people were making +their hay, which smelled so delightfully, while cozy little Swiss +cottages stood in every nook. + +All were out in the fields, men, women, and children, and in one +hayfield I saw the baby's cradle--baby, of course, concealed from view +under a small avalanche of a feather bed, as the general fashion in +these parts seems to be. The women wore broad, flat hats, and all +appeared to be working rather lazily, as it was coming on evening. + +This place might have done for Arcadia, or Utopia, or any other of +those places people think of when they want to get rid of what is, and +get into the region of what might be. + +I was very far before my party, and now got off my mule, and sat down +on a log to wait till they came up. Then the drama enacted by C.'s +mule took place, which he has described to you. I merely saw a distant +commotion, but did not enter into the merits of the case. + +As they were somewhat slow coming down, I climbed over a log into a +hayfield, and plucked a long, delicate, white-blossomed vine, with +which I garlanded the top of my flat hat. + +One is often reminded of a text of Scripture in these valleys--"He +sendeth springs into the valleys, which run among the hills." + +Every where are these little, lively, murmuring brooks falling down +the rocks, prattling through the hayfields, sociably gossiping with +each other as they go. + +Here comes the party, and now we are going down into Martigny. How +tired we were! We had to ride quite through the town, then through a +long, long row of trees, to come to the Hotel de la Tour. How +delightful it seemed, with its stone entries and staircases, its +bedrooms as inviting as cleanliness could make them! The eating saloon +opened on to a beautiful garden filled with roses in full bloom. There +were little tables set about under the trees for people to take their +strawberries and cream, or tea, in the open air if they preferred it, +a very common and pleasant custom of continental hotels. + +A trim, tidy young woman in a white cap, with a bunch of keys at her +girdle, ushered us up two flights of stone stairs, into a very clean, +nice apartment, with white muslin window curtains. Now, there is no +feature of a room that speaks to the heart like white muslin window +curtains; they always shed light on the whole scene. + +After resting a while we were called down to a supper of strawberries +and cream, and nice little rolls with honey. This honey you find at +every hotel in Switzerland, as one of the inevitables of the breakfast +or tea table. + +Here we were to part from our Chamouni guides, and engage new ones to +take us to St. Bernard. I had become so fond of mine that it really +went quite to my heart; we had an affecting leave-taking in the dark +stone entry, at the foot of the staircase. In the earnestness of my +emotion I gave him all the change I had in my pocket, to buy +_souvenirs_ for his little folks at home, for you know I told you +we had compared notes on sundry domestic points. I really flattered +myself that I was doing something quite liberal; but this deceitful +Swiss coin! I found, when I came to tell C. about it, that the whole +stock only amounted to about twenty cents: like a great many things in +this world, it looked more than it was. The good man, however, seemed +as grateful as if I had done something, wished all sorts of happiness +to me and my children, and so we parted. Peace go with him in his +Chamouni cottage. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Saturday, July 9. Rose in a blaze of glory. Rode five mortal hours in +a _char-à-banc_, sweltering under a burning sun. But in less than +ten minutes after we mounted the mules and struck into the gorge, the +ladies muffled themselves in thick shawls. We seemed to have passed, +almost in a moment, from the tropics into the frigid zone. A fur cloak +was suggested to me, but as it happened I was adequately calorified +without. Chancing to be the last in the file, my mule suddenly stopped +to eat. + +"_Allez_, _allez_!" said I, twitching the bridle. + +"I _won't_!" said he, as plainly as ears and legs could speak. + +"_Allez_!" thundered I, jumping off and bestowing a kick upon his +ribs which made me suffer if it did not him. + +"I _won't_!" said he, stuffily. + +"Won't you?" said I, pursuing the same line of inductive argument, +with rhetorical flourishes of the bridle. + +"Never!" he replied again, most mulishly. + +"Then if words and kicks won't do," said I, "let us see what virtue +there is in stones;" and suiting the action to the word, I showered +him with fragments of granite, as from a catapult. At every concussion +he jumped and kicked, but kept his nose in the same relative position. +I redoubled the logical admonition; he jumped the more perceptibly; +finally, after an unusually affecting appeal from a piece of granite, +he fairly budged, and I seized the bridle to mount. + +"Not at all," said he, wheeling round to his first position, like a +true proslavery demagogue. + +"Ah," said I; and went over the same line of argument in a more solid +and convincing manner. At length the salutary impression seemed +permanently fastened on his mind; he fairly gave in; and I rode on in +triumph to overtake the party--having no need of a fur coat. + +Horeb, Sinai, and Hor! What a wilderness! what a sudden change! +Nothing but savage, awful precipices of naked granite, snowy fields, +and verdureless wastes! In every other place in the Alps, we have +looked upon the snow in the remote distance, to be dazzled with its +sheeny effulgence--ourselves, meanwhile, in the region of verdure and +warmth. Here we march through a horrid desert--not a leaf, not a blade +of grass--over the deep drifts of snow; and we find our admiration +turns to horror. And this is the road that Hannibal trod, and +Charlemagne, and Napoleon! They were fit conquerors of Rome, who could +vanquish the sterner despotism of eternal winter. + +After an hour's perilous climbing, we reached, at last, the +_hospice_, and in five minutes were sitting at the supper table, +by a good blazing fire, with a lively company, chatting with a +gentlemanly abbé, discussing figs and fun, cracking filberts and +jokes, and regaling ourselves genially. But ever and anon drawing, +with a half shiver, a little closer to the roaring fagots in the +chimney, I thought to myself, "And this is our midsummer nights' +dream"! + + + + +LETTER XXXVI. + +Dear:-- + +During breakfast, we were discussing whether we could get through the +snow to Mont St. Bernard. Some thought we could, and some thought not. +So it goes here: we are gasping and sweltering one hour, and plunging +through snow banks the next. + +After breakfast, we entered the _char-à-banc_, a crab-like, +sideway carriage, and were soon on our way. Our path was cut from the +breast of the mountain, in a stifling gorge, where walls of rock on +both sides served as double reflectors to concentrate the heat of the +sun on our hapless heads. To be sure, there was a fine foaming stream +at the bottom of the pass, and ever so much fine scenery, if we could +have seen it; but our chars opened but one way, and that against the +perpendicular rock, close enough, almost, to blister our faces; and +the sun beat in so on our backs that we were obliged to have the +curtain down. Thus we were as uncognizant of the scenery we passed +through as if we had been nailed up in a box. Nothing but the +consideration that we were travelling for pleasure could for a moment +have reconciled us to such inconveniences. As it was, I occasionally +called out to C., in the back carriage, to be sure and take good care +of the fur coat; which always brought shouts of laughter from the +whole party. The idea of a fur coat seemed so supremely ridiculous to +us, there was no making us believe we ever should or could want it. + +That was the most unpleasant day's ride I had in the Alps. We stopped +to take dinner in the little wretched village of Liddes. You have no +idea what a disagreeable, unsavory concern one of these villages is. +Houses, none of which look much better than the log barns in our +Western States, set close together on either side of a street paved +with round stones; coarse, sunburnt women, with their necks enlarged +by the goitre; and dirty children, with tangled hair, and the same +disgusting disease,--these were the principal features of the scene. + +This goitre prevails so extensively in this region, that you seldom +see a person with the neck in a healthy condition. The worst of the +matter is, that in many cases of children it induces idiocy. Cases of +this kind were so frequent, that, after a while, whenever I met a +child, I began to search in its face for indications of the approach +of this disease. + +They are called _cretins_. In many cases the whole head appears +swelled and deformed. As usual, every one you look at puts out the +hand to beg. The tavern where we stopped to dine seemed more like a +great barn, or cavern, than any thing else. We go groping along +perfectly dark stone passages, stumbling up a stone staircase, and +gaining light only when the door of a kind of reception room opens +upon us--a long, rough-looking room, without any carpet, furnished +with a table, and some chairs, and a rude sofa. We were shown to a bed +room, carpetless, but tolerably clean, with a very high feather bed in +each corner, under a canopy of white curtains. + +After dinner we went on towards St. Pierre, a miserable hamlet, where +the mules were taken out of the chars, and we prepared to mount them. + +It was between three and four o'clock. Our path lay up a desolate +mountain gorge. After we had ascended some way the cold became +intense. The mountain torrent, by the side of which we went up, leaped +and tumbled under ribs of ice, and through banks of snow. + +I noticed on either side of the defile that there were high posts put +up on the rocks, and a cord stretched from one to the other. The +object of these, my guide told me, was to show the path, when this +whole ravine is filled up with deep snow. + +I could not help thinking how horrible it must be to go up here in the +winter. + +Our path sometimes came so near to the torrent as to suggest +uncomfortable ideas. + +In one place it swept round the point of a rock which projected into +the foaming flood, so that it was completely under water. I stopped a +little before I came to this, and told the guide I wanted to get down. +He was all accommodation, and lifted me from my saddle, and then stood +to see what I would do next. When I made him understand that I meant +to walk round the point, he very earnestly insisted that I should get +back to the saddle again, and was so positive that I had only to obey. +It was well I did so, for the mule went round safely enough, and could +afford to go up to his ankles in water better than I could. + +As we neared the _hospice_ I began to feel the effects of the +rarefied air very sensibly. It made me dizzy and sick, bringing on a +most acute headache--a sharp, knife-like pain. S. was still more +affected. + +I was glad enough when the old building came in view, though the road +lay up an ascent of snow almost perpendicular. + +At the foot of this ascent we paused. Our guides, who looked a little +puzzled, held a few moments' conversation, in which the word +"_fonce_" was particularly prominent, a word which I took to be +equivalent to our English "_slump;_" and indeed the place was +suggestive of the idea. The snow had so far melted and softened under +the influence of the July sun, that something of this kind, in going +up the ascent, seemed exceedingly probable. The man stood leaning on +his alpenstock, looking at the thing to be demonstrated. There were +two paths, both equally steep and snowy. At last he gathered up the +bridle, and started up the most direct way. The mule did not like it +at all, evidently, and expressed his disgust by occasionally stopping +short and snuffing, meaning probably to intimate that he considered +the whole thing a humbug, and that in his opinion we should all slump +through together, and go to--nobody knows where. At last, when we were +almost up the ascent, he did slump, and went up to his breast in the +snow; whereat the guide pulled me out of the saddle with one hand, and +pulled him out of the hole with the other. In a minute he had me into +the saddle again, and after a few moments more we were up the ascent +and drawing near the _hospice_--a great, square, strong, stone +building, standing alone among rocks and snowbanks. + +As we drove up nearer I saw the little porch in front of it crowded +with gentlemen smoking cigars, and gazing on our approach just as any +set of loafers do from the porch of a fashionable hotel. This was +quite a new idea of the matter to me. We had been flattering ourselves +on performing an incredible adventure; and lo, and behold, all the +world were there waiting for us. + +[Illustration: _of a large multi-story hospice and other buildings in a +remote-looking mountain valley. A river flows in the foreground._] + +We came up to the steps, and I was so crippled with fatigue and so +dizzy and sick with the thin air, that I hardly knew what I was doing. +We entered a low-browed, dark, arched, stone passage, smelling +dismally of antiquity and dogs, when a brisk voice accosted me in the +very choicest of French, and in terms of welcome as gay and courtly as +if we were entering a _salon_. + +Keys clashed, and we went up stone staircases, our entertainer talking +volubly all the way. As for me, all the French I ever knew was buried +under an avalanche. C. had to make answer for me, that madame was very +unwell, which brought forth another stream of condolence as we came +into a supper room, lighted by a wood fire at one end. The long table +was stretched out, on which they were placing supper. Here I had light +enough to perceive that our entertainer was a young man of a lively, +intelligent countenance, in the Augustine monks' dress, viz., a long, +black camlet frock, with a kind of white band over it, which looks +much like a pair of suspenders worn on the outside. He spoke French +very purely, and had all that warm cordiality and graceful vivacity of +manner which seems to be peculiar to the French. He appeared to pity +us very much, and was full of offers of assistance; and when he heard +that I had a bad headache, insisted on having some tea made for me, +the only drink on the table being wine The supper consisted of +codfish, stewed apples, bread, filberts, and raisins. Immediately +after we were shown up stone staircases, and along stone passages, to +our rooms, of which the most inviting feature was two high, single +beds covered with white spreads. The windows of the rooms were so +narrow as to seem only like loopholes. There was a looking glass, +table, chair, and some glazed prints. + +A good old woman came to see if we wanted any thing. I thought, as I +stretched myself in the bed, with feathers under me and feathers over +me, what a heaven of rest this place must have seemed to poor +travellers benighted and perishing in the snow. In the morning I +looked out of my loophole on the tall, grim rocks, and a small lake +frozen and covered with snow. "Is this lake always frozen?" said I to +the old serving woman who had come to bring us hot water for washing. + +"Sometimes," says she, "about the latter part of August, it is +thawed." + +I suppose it thaws the last of August, and freezes the first of +September. + +After dressing ourselves we crept down stairs in hopes of finding the +fire which we left the night before in the sitting room. No such +thing. The sun was shining, and it was what was called a warm day, +that is to say, a day when a little thaw trickles down the south side +of snow banks; so the fire was out, and the windows up, and our gay +Augustine friend, coming in, congratulated us on our charming day. + +The fireplace was piled up with wood and kindlings ready to be lighted +in the evening; but being made to understand that it was a very sultry +day, we could not, of course, suggest such an extravagance as igniting +the tempting pile--an extravagance, because every stick of wood has to +be brought on the backs of mules from the valleys below, at a very +great expense of time and money. + +The same is true of provisions of all sorts, and fodder for cattle. + +Well, after breakfast I went to the front porch to view the prospect. +And what did I see there? Banks of dirty, half-melted snow, bones, and +scraps of offal, patches of bare earth, for a small space, say about +fifty feet round, and then the whole region shut in by barren, +inaccessible rocks, which cut off all view in every direction. + +Along by the frozen lake there is a kind of causeway path made for a +promenade, where one might walk to observe the beauties of the season, +and our cheery entertainer offered to show it to us; so we walked out +with him. Under the rocks in one place he showed us a little plat, +about as large as a closet door, which, he said, laughing, was their +garden. + +I asked him if any thing ever really grew there. He shrugged his +shoulders, and said, "Sometimes." + +We pursued this walk till we came to the end of the lake, and there he +showed me a stone pillar. + +"There," said he, "beyond that pillar is Italy." + +"Well," said I, "I believe I shall take a trip into Italy." So, as he +turned back to go to the house, W. and I continued on. We went some +way into Italy, down the ravine, and I can assure you I was not +particularly struck with the country. + +I observed no indications of that superiority in the fine arts, or of +that genial climate and soil, of which I had heard so much. W. and I +agreed to give ourselves airs on this subject whenever the matter of +Italy was introduced, and to declare that we had been there, and had +seen none of the things of which people write in books. + +"What a perfectly dismal, comfortless place!" said I; but climbing up +the rocks to rest me in a sunny place, I discovered that they were all +enamelled with the most brilliant flowers. + +[Illustration: _of a cluster of small five-petaled flowers with blunt +tips growing very close to the ground._] + +In particular I remarked beds of velvet moss, which bore a pink +blossom, in form somewhat like this. Then there was a kind of low, +starry gentian, of a bright metallic blue; I tried to paint it +afterwards, but neither ultramarine nor any color I could find would +represent its brilliancy; it was a kind of living brightness. I +examined the petals to see how this effect was produced, and it seemed +to be by a kind of prismatic arrangement of the small round particles +of which they were composed. The shape of the flower was somewhat like +this. + +[Illustration: _of a cluster of small five petaled flowers with sharp +points growing on short stalks near the ground._] + +I spread down my pocket handkerchief, and proceeded to see how many +varieties I could gather, and in a very small circle W. and I +collected eighteen. Could I have thought, when I looked from my window +over this bleak region, that any thing so perfectly lovely as this +little purple witch, for example, was to be found there? It was quite +a significant fact. There is no condition of life, probably, so dreary +that a lowly and patient seeker cannot find its flowers. + +[Illustration: _of a clump of a small flowering plant attached to what +appears to be its rhizome._] + +I began to think that I might be contented even there. But while I was +looking I was so sickened by headache, and disagreeable feelings +arising from the air, that I often had to lie down on the sunny side +of the bank. W., I found, was similarly troubled; he said he really +thought in the morning he was going to have a fever. We went back to +the house. There were services in the chapel; I could hear the organ +pealing, and the singers responding. + +Seven great dogs were sunning themselves on the porch, and as I knew +it was a subject particularly interesting to you, I made minute +inquiries respecting them. Like many other things, they have been much +overstated, I think, by travellers. They are of a tawny-yellow color, +short haired, broad chested, and strong limbed. As to size, I have +seen much larger Newfoundland dogs in Boston. I made one of them open +his mouth, and can assure you it was black as night; a fact which +would seem to imply Newfoundland blood. In fact the breed originally +from Spain is supposed to be a cross between the Pyrenean and the +Newfoundland. The biggest of them was called Pluto. Here is his +likeness, which W. sketched. + +[Illustration: _of a large, light-colored dog with medium-short fur at +rest and wearing a broad patterned collar._] + +For my part, I was a little uneasy among them, as they went walloping +and frisking around me, flouncing and rolling over each other on the +stone floor, and making, every now and then, the most hideous noises +that it ever came into a dog's head to conceive. + +As I saw them biting each other in their clumsy frolics, I began to be +afraid lest they should take it into their heads to treat me like one +of the family, and so stood ready to run. + +The man who showed them wished to know if I should like to see some +puppies; to which, in the ardor of natural history, I assented: so he +opened the door of a little stone closet, and sure enough there lay +madam in state, with four little blind, snubbed-nosed pledges. As the +man picked up one of these, and held it up before me in all the +helplessness of infancy, looking for all the world like a roly-poly +pudding with a short tail to it, I could not help querying in my mind, +are you going to be a St. Bernard dog? + +One of the large dogs, seeing the door open, thought now was a good +time to examine the premises, and so walked briskly into the kennel, +but was received by the amiable mother with such a sniff of the nose +as sent him howling back into the passage, apparently a much wiser and +better dog than he had been before. Their principal use is to find +paths in the deep snow when the fathers go out to look for travellers, +as they always do in stormy weather. They are not longlived; neither +man nor animal can stand the severe temperature and the thin air for a +long time. Many of the dogs die from diseases of the lungs and +rheumatism, besides those killed by accidents, such as the falling of +avalanches, &c. A little while ago so many died that they were fearful +of losing the breed altogether, and were obliged to recruit by sending +down into the valleys for some they had given away. One of the monks +told us that, when they went out after the dogs in the winter storms, +all they could see of them was their tails moving along through the +snow. The monks themselves can stand the climate but a short time, and +then they are obliged to go down and live in the valleys below, while +others take their places. + +They told us that there were over a hundred people in the +_hospice_ when we were there. They were mostly poor peasants and +some beggars. One poor man came up to me, and uncovered his neck, +which was a most disgusting sight, swollen with goitre. I shut my +eyes, and turned another way, like a bad Christian, while our +Augustine friend walked up to him, spoke in a soothing tone, and +called him "my son." He seemed very loving and gentle to all the poor, +dirty people by whom we were surrounded. + +I went into the chapel to look at the pictures. There was St. Bernard +standing in the midst of a desolate, snowy waste, with a little child +on one arm and a great dog beside him. + +This St. Bernard, it seems, was a man of noble family, who lived nine +hundred and sixty-two years after Christ. Almost up to that time a +temple to Jupiter continued standing on this spot. It is said that the +founding of this institution finally rooted out the idolatrous +worship. + +On Monday we returned to Martigny, and obtained a _voiture_ for +Villeneuve. Drove through the beautiful Rhone valley, past the +celebrated fall of the Pissevache, and about five o'clock reached the +Hotel Byron, on the shore of the lake. + + + + +LETTER XXXVII. + +HOTEL BYRON. + +MY DEAR:-- + +Here I am, sitting at my window, overlooking Lake Leman. Castle +Chillon, with its old conical towers, is silently pictured in the +still waters. It has been a day of a thousand. We took a boat, with +two oarsmen, and passed leisurely along the shores, under the cool, +drooping branches of trees, to the castle, which is scarce a stone's +throw from the hotel. We rowed along, close under the walls, to the +ancient moat and drawbridge. There I picked a bunch of blue bells, +"les clochettes," which were hanging their aerial pendants from every +crevice--some blue, some white. + +[Illustration: _of blue bell flowers with sharp-bladed leaves._] + +I know not why the old buildings and walls in Europe have this +vivacious habit of shooting out little flowery ejaculations and +soliloquies at every turn. One sees it along through France and +Switzerland, every where; but never, that I remember, in America. + +On the side of the castle wall, in a large white heart, is painted the +inscription, _Liberté et Patrie_! + +We rowed along, almost touching the castle rock, where the wall +ascends perpendicularly, and the water is said to be a thousand feet +deep. We passed the loopholes that illuminate the dungeon vaults, and +an old arch, now walled up, where prisoners, after having been +strangled, were thrown into the lake. + +Last evening we walked over the castle. An interesting Swiss woman, +who has taught herself English for the benefit of her visitors, was +our _cicerone_. She seemed to have all the old Swiss vivacity of +attachment for "_liberté et patrie_." + +[Illustration: _of a interior space of hewn stone with high vaulted +gothic arches._] + +She took us first into the dungeon, with the seven pillars, described +by Byron. There was the pillar to which, for protecting the liberty of +Geneva, BONNEVARD was chained. There the Duke of Savoy kept him for +six years, confined by a chain four feet long. He could take only +three steps, and the stone floor is deeply worn by the prints of those +weary steps. Six years is so easily said; but to _live_ them, +alone, helpless, a man burning with all the fires of manhood, chained +to that pillar of stone, and those three unvarying steps! Two thousand +one hundred and ninety days rose and set the sun, while seedtime and +harvest, winter and summer, and the whole living world went on over +his grave. For him no sun, no moon, no star, no business, no +friendship, no plans--nothing! The great millstone of life emptily +grinding itself away! + +What a power of vitality was there in Bonnevard, that he did not sink +in lethargy, and forget himself to stone! But he did not; it is said +that when the victorious Swiss army broke in to liberate him, they +cried,-- + +"Bonnevard, you are free!" + +"_Et Genève?_" + +"Geneva is free also!" + +You ought to have heard the enthusiasm with which our guide told this +story! + +Near by are the relics of the cell of a companion of Bonnevard, who +made an ineffectual attempt to liberate him. On the wall are still +seen sketches of saints and inscriptions by his hand. This man one day +overcame his jailer, locked him in his cell, ran into the hall above, +and threw himself from a window into the lake, struck a rock, and was +killed instantly. One of the pillars in this vault is covered with +names. I think it is Bonnevard's pillar. There are the names of Byron, +Hunt, Schiller, and many other celebrities. + +After we left the dungeons we went up into the judgment hall, where +prisoners were tried, and then into the torture chamber. Here are the +pulleys by which limbs were broken; the beam, all scorched with the +irons by which feet were burned; the oven where the irons were heated; +and there was the stone where they were sometimes laid to be +strangled, after the torture. On that stone, our guide told us, two +thousand Jews, men, women, and children, had been put to death. There +was also, high up, a strong beam across, where criminals were hung; +and a door, now walled up, by which they were thrown into the lake. I +shivered. "'Twas cruel," she said; "'twas almost as cruel as your +slavery in America." + +Then she took us into a tower where was the _oubliette_. Here the +unfortunate prisoner was made to kneel before an image of the Virgin, +while the treacherous floor, falling beneath him, precipitated him +into a well forty feet deep, where he was left to die of broken limbs +and starvation. Below this well was still another pit, filled with +knives, into which, when they were disposed to a merciful hastening of +the torture, they let him fall. The woman has been herself to the +bottom of the first dungeon, and found there bones of victims. The +second pit is now walled up. + +"All this," she said, "was done for the glory of God in the good old +times." + +The glory of God! What has not been done in that name! Yet he keeps +silence; patient he watches; the age-long fever of this world, the +delirious night, shall have a morning. Ah, there is an unsounded depth +in that word which says, "He is long-suffering." This it must be at +which angels veil their faces. + +On leaving the castle we offered the woman the customary gratuity. +"No;" she would "have the pleasure of showing it to me as a friend." +And she ran into a charming little garden, full of flowers, and +brought me a bouquet of lilies and roses, which I have had in my room +all day. + +To-night, after sunset, we rowed to Byron's "little isle," the only +one in the lake. O, the unutterable beauty of these mountains--great, +purple waves, as if they had been dashed up by a mighty tempest, +crested with snow-like foam! this purple sky, and crescent moon, and +the lake gleaming and shimmering, and twinkling stars, while far off +up the sides of a snow-topped mountain a light shines like a star-- +some mountaineer's candle, I suppose. + +In the dark stillness we rowed again over to Chillon, and paused under +its walls. The frogs were croaking in the moat, and we lay rocking on +the wave, and watching the dusky outlines of the towers and turrets. +Then the spirit of the scene seemed to wrap me round like a cloak. + +Back to Geneva again. This lovely place will ever leave its image on +my heart. Mountains embrace it. Strength and beauty are its +habitation. The Salève is a peculiar looking mountain, striped with +different strata of rock, which have a singular effect in the hazy +distance; so is the Mole, with its dark marked outline, looking +blacker in clear weather, from being set against the snow mountains +beyond. + +There is one peculiarity about the outline of Mont Blanc, as seen from +Geneva, which is quite striking. There is in certain positions the +profile of a gigantic head visible, lying with face upturned to the +sky. Mrs. F. was the first to point it out to me, calling it a head of +Napoleon. Like many of these fanciful profiles, I was some time in +learning to see it; and after that it became to me so plain that I +wondered I had not seen it before. I called it not Napoleon, however, +but as it gained on my imagination, lying there so motionless, cold, +and still, I thought of Prometheus on Mount Caucasus; it seemed as if, +his sorrows ended, he had sunk at last to a dreamless sleep on that +snowy summit. This sketch may, perhaps, give you some faint idea of +how such an outline might be formed in one's imagination. + +[Illustration: _of Mont Blanc in the distance._] + +We walked out the other evening, with M. Fazy, to a beautiful place, +where Servetus was burned. Soft, new-mown meadow grass carpets it, and +a solemn amphitheatre of mountains, glowing in the evening sky, looked +down--Mont Blanc, the blue-black Mole, the Saleve! Never was deed done +in a more august presence chamber! Ere this these two may have +conferred together of the tragedy, with far other thoughts than then. + +The world is always unjust to its progressive men. If one fragment of +past absurdity cleaves to them, they celebrate the absurdity as a +personal peculiarity. Hence we hear so much of Luther's controversial +harshness, of Calvin's burning Servetus, and of the witch persecutions +of New England. + +Luther was the poet of the reformation, and Calvin its philosopher. +Luther fused the mass, Calvin crystallized. He who fuses makes the +most sensation in his day; he who crystallizes has a longer and wider +power. Calvinism, in its essential features, never will cease from the +earth, because the great fundamental facts of nature are Calvinistic, +and men with strong minds and wills always discover it. The +predestination of a sovereign will is written over all things. The old +Greek tragedians read it, and expressed it. So did Mahomet, Napoleon, +Cromwell. Why? They found it so by their own experience; they tried +the forces of nature enough to find their strength. The strong swimmer +who breasts the Rhone is certain of its current. But Ranke well said, +that in those days when the whole earth was in arms against these +reformers, they had no refuge except in exalting God's sovereignty +above all other causes. To him who strives in vain with the giant +forces of evil, what calm in the thought of an overpowering will, so +that will be crowned by goodness! However grim, to the distrusting, +looks this fortress of sovereignty in times of flowery ease, yet in +times when "the waters roar and are troubled, and the mountains shake +with the swelling thereof," it has been always the refuge of God's +people. All this I say, while I fully sympathize with the causes which +incline many fine and beautiful minds against the system. + +The wife of De Wette has twice called upon me--a good, plain, +motherly, pious old lady as any in Andover. She wanted me to visit her +daughter, who, being recently deprived of her only little girl, has +since been wholly lost to life. The only thing in which she expressed +any interest was Uncle Tom's Cabin, and she was earnestly desiring to +see me. So I went. I found Mrs. De Wette in a charming saloon, looking +out upon the botanic gardens. A very beautiful picture of a young lady +hung on the wall. "That _was_ my poor Clara," said Mrs. De +Wette, "but she is so altered now!" + +After a while Clara came in, and I was charmed at a glance--a most +lovely creature, in deep mourning, with beautiful manners; so much +interested for the poor slaves! so full of feeling, inquiring so +anxiously what she could do for them! + +"Do ministers ever hold slaves?" she said. + +"0, yes; many." + +"0! But how can they be Christians?" + +"They reason in this way," said I; "they say, 'These people are not +fit to take care of themselves; therefore we must hold them, and +educate them, till they are fit to be free.'" + +"I wish," said she, looking very pretty and fierce, "that they might +all be sold themselves, and see how they would like it." + +Her husband, who speaks only French, now asked what we were talking +about, and she repeated the conversation. + +"I would shoot every one of them," said he, with a significant +movement. + +"Now, see," said Mrs. De Wette, "Clara would sell them, and her +husband would _shoot_ them; for my part, I would rather +_convert_ them." We all laughed at this sally. + +"Ah," said Clara, "the last thing my little darling looked at was the +pictures in Uncle Tom; when she came to the death of Eva, she said, +'Now I am weary, I will go to sleep;' and so closed her eyes, and +never opened them more." + +Clara said she had met the Key in Turin and Milan. The Cabin is made a +school reading book in Sardinia, for those who wish to learn English, +with explanatory notes in Italian. The feeling here on the continent +for the slave is no less earnest than in England and Scotland. I have +received most beautiful and feeling letters from many Christians of +Switzerland, which I will show you. + +I am grieved to say, that there are American propagandists of slavery +here, who seem to feel it incumbent on them to recognize this hideous +excrescence as a national peculiarity, and to consider any reflection +upon it, on the part of the liberty-loving Swiss, as an insult to the +American nation. The sophisms by which slaveholding has been justified +from the Bible have left their slimy track even here. Alas! is it thus +America fulfils her high destiny? Must she send missionaries abroad to +preach despotism? + +Walking the other evening with M. Fazy, who is, of course, French in +education, we talked of our English literature. He. had Hamlet in +French--just think of it. One never feels the national difference so +much as in thinking of Shakspeare in French! Madame de Stael says of +translation, that music written for one instrument cannot be played +upon another. I asked if he had read Milton. + +"Yes." + +"And how did you like him?" + +"0," with a kind of shiver, "he is so cold!" + +Now, I felt that the delicate probe of the French mind had dissected +out a shade of feeling of which I had often been conscious. There is a +coldness about all the luscious exuberance of Milton, like the wind +that blows from, the glaciers across these flowery valleys. How serene +his angels in their adamantine virtue! yet what sinning, suffering +soul could find sympathy in them? The utter want of sympathy for the +fallen angels, in the whole celestial circle, is shocking. Satan is +the only one who weeps. + + "For millions of spirits for his fault amerced, + And from eternal splendors flung." + +God does not care, nor his angels. Ah, quite otherwise is God revealed +in Him who wept over Jerusalem, and is touched with the feeling of our +infirmities. + +I went with Mrs. Fazy the other night to call on Mrs. C.'s friend, +Pastor C. They were so affectionate, so full of beautiful kindness! +The French language sounds sweetly as a language of affection and +sympathy: with all its tart vivacity, it has a richness in the gentler +world of feeling. Then, in the evening, I was with a little circle of +friends at the house of the sister of Merle d'Aubigne, and they prayed +and sang together. It was beautiful. The hymn was one on the following +of Jesus, similar to that German one of old Godfrey Arnold, which is +your favorite. These Christians speak with deep sorrow of our slavery; +it grieves, it distresses them, for the American church has been to +them a beloved object. They have leaned towards it as a vine inclines +towards a vigorous elm. To them it looks incomprehensible that such a +thing could gain strength in a free Christian republic. + +I feel really sorry that I have had to withdraw so much from proffered +kindness here, and to seem unwilling to meet feeling; but so it has +been. Yet, to me, apparently so cold, many of these kind Genevese have +shown most considerate attention. Fruit and flowers have been sent in +anonymously; and one gentleman offered to place his garden at my +disposal for walks, adding that, if I wished to be entirely private, +neither he nor his family would walk there. This, I thought, was too +much kindness. + +One social custom here is new to me. The husband, by marriage, takes +the wife's name. Thus M. Fazy, our host, is known as M. Fazy Meyer-- +Meyer being his wife's name--a thing which at first perplexed me. I +was often much puzzled about names, owing to this circumstance. + +From the conversation I hear I should think that democracy was not +entirely absolute in Switzerland. I hear much about _patrician_ +families, particularly at Berne, and these are said to be quite +exclusive; yet that the old Swiss fire still burns in Switzerland, I +see many indications. + +The other day I visited Beautte's celebrated watch and jewelry store, +and saw all the process of making watches, from the time the case is +cut from a sheet of gold, on through the enamelling, engraving, and +finishing. Enamel is metallic paint, burned on in a furnace. Many +women are employed in painting the designs. The workmen looked +intelligent and thoughtful, like men who can both think and do. Some +glimpses showed their sympathy with republicanism--as one should see +fire through a closed door. + +I have had full reason to observe that difference between Protestant +and Catholic cantons on which Horace Greeley commented while here. +They are as different as our slave and free states, and in the same +ways. Geneva seems like New England--the country around is well +cultivated, and speaks of thrift. But, still, I find no land, however +beautiful, that can compare with home--Andover Hill, with its arched +elms, its blue distance pointing with spires, its Merrimac crowned +with labor palaces, and, above all, an old stone house, brown and +queer, &c. Good by. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Thursday, July 14. Spent a social evening at Mrs. La V.'s, on the lake +shore. Mont Blanc invisible. We met M. Merle d'Aubigne, brother of our +hostess, and a few other friends. Returned home, and listened to a +serenade to H. from a glee club of fifty performers, of the working +men of Geneva. The songs were mostly in French, and the burden of one +of them seemed to be in words like these:-- + + "Travaillons, travaillez, + Pour la liberte!" + +Friday, July 15. Mrs. C. and her two daughters are here from Paris. +They intend to come to Madame Fazy till we leave. + +Saturday, July 16. Our whole company resorted to the lake, and spent +the forenoon on its tranquil waters. If this life seem idle, we +remember that there must be valleys between mountains; and as, in +those vales, tired mountaineers love to rest, so we, by the silver +shore of summer Leman, while away the quiet hours, in this interval, +between great mountain epochs Chamouni and Oberland. + +Monday, July 18. Weather suspicious. Stowed ourselves and our baggage +into our _voiture_, and bade adieu to our friends and to Geneva. +Ah, how regretfully! From the market-place we carried away a basket of +cherries and fruit, as a consolation. Dined at Lausanne, and visited +the cathedral and picture gallery, where was an exquisite _Eva._ +Slept at Meudon. + +Tuesday, July 19. Rode through Payerne to Freyburg. Stopped at the +Zahringer Hof--most romantic of inns. Our gentlemanly host ushered us +forth upon a terrace overhanging the deep gorge of the Saärine, +spanned, to the right and left of us, by two immense suspension +bridges, one of which seemed to spring from the hotel itself. Ruins of +ancient walls and watch towers lined the precipice. + +After dinner we visited the cathedral to hear the celebrated organ. +The organist performed a piece descriptive of a storm. We resigned +ourselves to the illusion. Low, mysterious wailings, swelling, dying +away in the distance, seeming at first exceedingly remote, drew +gradually near. Fitful sighings and sobbings rose, as of gusts of +wind; then low, smothered roarings. Anon came flashes of lightning, +rattling hail, and driving rain, succeeded by bursts of storm, and +howlings of a hurricane--fierce, furious, frightful. I felt myself +lost in a snow storm in winter, on the pass of Great St. Bernard. + +One note there was of strange, terrible clangor--bleak, dark, yet of a +lurid fire--that seemed to prolong itself through all the uproar, like +a note of doom, cutting its way to the heart as the call of the last +archangel. Yes, I felt myself alone, lost in a boundless desert, +beyond the abodes of man; and this was a call of terror-stern, savage, +gloomy--the call as of fixed fate and absolute despair. + +Then the storm died away, in faint and far-off murmurs; and we broke, +as it were, from the trance, to find ourselves, _not_ lost, but +here among the living. We then drove quietly to Berne. + +Wednesday, July 20. Examined, not the lions, but the bears of Berne. +It is indeed a city of bears, as its name imports. There are bears on +its gates, bears on its fountains, bears in its parks and gardens, +bears every where. But, though Berne rejoices in a fountain adorned +with an image of Saturn eating children, nevertheless, the old +city--quaint, quiet, and queer--looks as if, bear-like, it had been +hybernating good-naturedly for a century, and were just about to wake +up. + +Engaged a _voiture_, and drove to Thun. Dined, and drove by the +shore of the lake to Interlachen, arriving just after a brilliant +sunset. + +Thursday, July 21. S. and G. remained at the Belvedere. W., II., and I +took a guide and _voiture_ for Lauterbrunn. Here we visited +Byron's apocalyptic horse-tail waterfall, the Staubbach. This +waterfall is very sublime, all except the water and the fall. Whoever +has been "under the sheet" at Niagara will not be particularly +impressed here. This picture is sufficiently accurate, with the +exception of the cottage. People here do not build cottages under +waterfalls. + +[Illustration: _of the waterfall and cliff rising sharply to the left +of the roadway. A cabin appears to be located very near its base._] + +Here we crossed the Wengern Alps to Grindelwald. The Jungfrau is right +over against us--her glaciers purer, tenderer, more dazzlingly +beautiful, if possible, than those of Mont Blanc. Slept at +Grindelwald. + + + + +LETTER XXXVIII. + +DEAR CHILDREN:-- + +To-day we have been in the Wengern Alps--the scenes described in +Manfred. Imagine us mounting, about ten o'clock, from the valley of +Lauterbrunn, on horseback--our party of three--with two guides. We had +first been to see the famous Staubbach, a beautiful, though not +sublime, object. Up we began to go among those green undulations which +form the lower part of the mountain. + +[Illustration: _of narrow, high alpine meadows with grazing livestock._] + +It is haying time; a bright day; all is cheerful; the birds sing; men, +women, and children are busy in the field. Up we go, zigzag; it grows +steeper and steeper. Now right below me is a field, where men are +literally working almost on a perpendicular wall, cutting hay; now we +are so high that the houses in the valley look like chips. Here we +stand in a place two thousand feet above the valley. There is no +shield or screen. The horse stands on the very edge; the guide stops, +lets go his bridle, and composedly commences an oration on the scene +below. "0, for mercy's sake, why do you stop here?" I say. "Pray go +on." He looks in my face, with innocent wonder, takes the bridle on +his arm, and goes on. + +Now we have come to the little village of Wengern, whence the Wengern +Alps take their name. How beautiful! how like fairyland! Up here, +midway in air, is a green nook, with undulating dells, and shadowy, +breezy nests, where are the cottages of the haymakers. The Delectable +Mountains had no scene more lovely. Each house has its roof heavily +loaded with stones. "What is that for?" I ask. "The whirlwinds," says +my guide, with a significant turn of his hands. "This is the school +house," he adds, as we pass a building larger than the rest. + +Now the path turns and slopes down a steep bank, covered with +haycocks, to a little nook below, likewise covered with new hay. If my +horse is going to throw me any where, I wish it may be here: it is not +so bad a thing to roll down into that hay. But now we mount higher; +the breezy dells, enamelled with flowers and grass, become fewer; the +great black pines take their place. Right before us, in the purest +white, as a bride adorned for her husband, rises the beautiful +Jungfrau, wearing on her forehead the Silver Horn, and the Snow Horn. +The Silver Horn is a peak, dazzlingly bright, of snow; and its crest +is now seen in relief against a sky of the deepest blue. See, also, +how those dark pines of the foreground contrast with it, like the +stern, mournful realities of life seen against the dazzling hopes of +heaven. + +There is something celestial in these mountains. You might think such +a vision as that to be a bright footstool of Heaven, from which the +next step would be into an unknown world. The pines here begin to show +that long white beard of moss which I admire so much in Maine. Now, we +go right up over their heads. There, the tall pines are under our +feet. A little more--and now above us rise the stern, naked rocks, +where only the chamois and the wild goat live. But still, fair as the +moon, clear as the sun, looks forth the Jungfrau. + +We turn to look down. That Staubbach, which in the valley seemed to +fall from an immense precipice, higher than we could gaze, is now a +silver thread, far below our feet; and the valley of Lauterbrunn seems +as nothing. Only bleak, purplish crags, rising all around us, and +silent, silver mountains looking over them. + +"That one directly before you is the Monk," says C., calling to me +from behind, and pointing to a great snow peak. + +Our guide, with animation, introduced us by name to every one of these +snow-white genii--the Falhorn, the Schreckhorn, the Wetterhorn, the +great Eiger, and I cannot remember what besides. The guides seem to +consider them all as old friends. + +Certainly nothing could be so singular, so peculiar as this ascension. +We have now passed the limit of all but grass and Alpine flowers, +which still, with their infinite variety, embroider the way; and now +the _auberge_ is gained. Good night, now, and farewell. + +That is to say, there we stopped--on the summit, in fair view of the +Jungfrau, a wall of rock crowned with fields of eternal snow, whose +dazzling brightness almost put my eyes out. My head ached, too, with +the thin air of these mountains. I thought I should like to stay one +night just to hear avalanches fall; but I cannot breathe well here, +and there is a secret sense of horror about these sterile rocks and +eternal snows. So, after dinner, I gladly consent to go down to +Grindelwald. + +Off we start--I walking--for, to tell the truth, I have no fondness +for riding down a path as steep in some places as a wall; I leave that +to C., who never fears any thing. So I walked all the way to +Grindelwald, nine miles of a very rough road. There was a lady with +her husband walking the same pass, who had come on foot the whole way +from Lauterbrunn, and did not seem in the least fatigued. My guide +exhausted all his eloquence to persuade me that it was better to ride; +at last I settled him by saying, "Why, here is a lady who has walked +the whole route." So he confined himself after that to helping me find +flowers, and carrying the handkerchief in which I stowed them. Alas! +what herbarium of hapless flowers, laid out stark, stiff, and +motionless, like beauty on its bier, and with horrible long names +written under them, can ever give an idea of the infinite variety and +beauty of the floral crown of these mountains! + +The herbarium resembles the bright, living reality no more than the +_morgue_ at St. Bernard's is a specimen of mountain travellers. +Yet one thing an herbarium is good for: in looking at it you can +recall how they looked, and glowed, and waved in life, with all their +silver-crowned mountains around them. + +After we arrived at Grindelwald, tired as I was, I made sketches of +nine varieties, which I intend to color as soon as we rest long +enough. So much I did for love of the dear little souls. + +One noticeable feature is the predominance of _yellow_ flowers. +These, of various kinds, so abound as to make a distinct item of +coloring in a distant view. One of the most common is this--of a vivid +chrome yellow, sometimes brilliantly striped with orange. + +[Illustration: _of a flowered bract._] + +One thing more as to botanical names. What does possess botanists to +afflict the most fragile and delicate of earth's children with such +mountainous and unpronounceable names? Now there was a dear little +flower that I first met at St. Bernard--a little purple bell, with a +fringe; it is more particularly beautiful from its growing just on the +verge of avalanches, coming up and blossoming through the snow. I send +you one in this letter, which I dug out of a snow bank this morning. +And this fair creation--this hope upon a death bed--this image of love +unchilled and immortal--how I wanted to know it by name! + +[Illustration: _of a tiny plant with a single flowering stem and two +simple circular leaves._] + +Today, at the summit house of the mountain, I opened an herbarium, and +there were three inches of name as hopeless and unpronounceable as the +German of our guides, piled up on my little flower. I shut the +herbarium. + +This morning we started early from Grindelwald--that is, by eight +o'clock. An unclouded, clear, breezy morning, the air full of the +sounds of cascades, and of the little bells of the herds. As we began +to wind upward into that delectable region which forms the first stage +of ascent, I said to C., "The more of beautiful scenery I see, the +more I appreciate the wonderful poetry of the Pilgrim's Progress." The +meadows by the River of Life, the Delectable Mountains, the land of +Beulah, how often have I thought of them! From this we went off upon +painting, and then upon music, the freshness of the mountain air +inspiring our way. At last, while we were riding in the very lap of a +rolling field full of grass and flowers, the sharp blue and white +crystals of the glacier rose at once before us. + +"O, I want to get down," said I, "and go near them." + +Down I did get, and taking what seemed to be the straightest course, +began running down the hill side towards them. + +"No, no! Back, back!" shouted the guide, in unimaginable French and +German. _"Ici, ici!"_ + +I came back; and taking my hand, he led me along a path where +travellers generally go. I went closer, and sat down on a rock under +them, and looked up. The clear sun was shining through them; clear and +blue looked the rifts and arches, all dripping and beautiful. We went +down upon them by steps which a man had cut in the ice. There was one +rift of ice we looked into, which was about fifty feet high, going up +into a sharp arch. The inside of this arch was clear blue ice, of the +color of crystal of blue vitriol. + +Here, immediately under, I took a rude sketch just to show you how a +glacier looks close at hand. + +[Illustration: _of the broken and chiseled surface of a glacier._] + +C. wanted, as usual, to do all sorts of improper things. He wanted to +stone down blocks of ice, and to go inside the cave, and to go down +into holes, and insisted on standing particularly long on a spot which +the guide told him was all undermined, in order that he might pelt a +cliff of ice that seemed inclined to fall, and hear it smash. + +The poor guide was as distressed as a hen when her ducks take to the +water; he ran, and called, and shouted, in German, French, and +English, and it was not till C. had contrived to throw the head of the +little boy's hatchet down into a _crevasse_, that he gave up. +There were two francs to pay for this experiment; but never mind! Our +guide book says that a clergyman of Yevay, on this glacier, fell into +a _crevasse_ several hundred feet deep, and was killed; so I was +glad enough when C. came off safe. + +He ought to have a bell on his neck, as the cows do here; and +_apropos_ to this, we leave the glacier, and ride up into a land +of pastures. Here we see a hundred cows grazing in the field--the +field all yellow with buttercups. They are a very small breed, +prettily formed, and each had on her neck a bell. How many notes there +are in these bells! quite a diapason--some very deep toned, and so on +up to the highest! how prettily they sound, all going together! The +bells are made of the best of metal, for the tone is of an admirable +quality. + +0, do look off there, on that patch of snow under the Wetterhorn! It +is all covered with cows; they look no bigger than insects. "What +makes them go there?" said we to our guides. + +"_To be cool_" was the answer. + +Hark! what's that? a sudden sound like the rush of a cascade. + +"Avalanche! avalanche!" exclaimed the guide. And now, pouring down the +sides of the Wetterhorn, came a milk-white cascade, looking just like +any other cascade, melting gracefully over the rocks, and spreading, +like a stream of milk, on the soiled snow below. + +This is a summer avalanche--a mere _bijou_--a fancy article, got +up, or rather got down, to entertain travellers. The winter avalanches +are quite other things. Witness a little further in our track, where +our guide stops us, and points to a place where all the pines have +been broken short off by one of them. Along here some old ghostly +pines, dead ages ago, their white, ghastly skeletons bleached by a +hundred storms, stand, stretching out their long, bony arms, like +phantom giants. These skeleton pines are a striking image; I wonder I +have not seen them introduced into pictures. + +There, now, a little ahead, is a small hut, which marks the summit of +the grand Scheidich. Our horses come up to it, and we dismount. Some +of the party go in to sleep--I go out to climb a neighboring peak. At +the foot of this peak lay a wreath of snow, soiled and dirty, as +half-melted snow always is; but lying amid the green grass and +luxuriant flowers, it had a strange air. It seemed a little spot of +death in the green lap of rejoicing life--like that death-spot which +often lies in the human heart--among all seeming flowers, cold and +cheerless, unwarmed by the sunbeam, and unmelted by the ray that +unfolds thousands of blooms around. + +Now, I thought, I have read of Alpine flowers leaning their cheeks on +the snows. I wonder if any flowers grow near enough to that snow to +touch it. I mean to go and see. So I went; there, sure enough, my +little fringed purple bell, to which I have given the name of +"suspirium," was growing, not only close to the snow, but in it. + +Thus God's grace shining steadily on the waste places of the human +heart, brings up heavenward sighings and aspirations which pierce +through the cold snows of affliction, and tell that there is yet life +beneath. + +I climbed up the grassy sides of the peak, flowers to the very top. +There I sat down and looked. This is Alpine solitude. All around me +were these deep, green dells, from which comes up the tinkle of bells, +like the dropping of rain every where It seems to me the air is more +elastic and musical here than below, and gives grace to the commonest +sound. Now I look back along the way we have been travelling. I look +at the strange old cloudy mountains, the Eiger, the Wetterhorn, the +Schreckhorn. A kind of hazy ether floats around them--an indescribable +aerial halo--which no painter ever represents. Who can paint the +air--that vivid blue in which these sharp peaks cut their glittering +images? Of all peaks, the Eiger is the most impressive to me. + +[Illustration: _of the sharp pointed Eiger, with mountain goats on a +pinnacle in the foreground._] + +It is a gigantic ploughshare of rock, set up against the sky, its +thin, keen, purple blade edged with glittering frost; for so sharp is +its point, that only a dazzling line marks the eternal snow on its +head. + +I walked out as far as I could on a narrow summit, and took a last +look. Glaciers! snows! mountains! sunny dells and flowers! all good +by. I am a pilgrim and a stranger. + +Already, looking down to the shanty, I see the guide like a hen that +has lost a chicken, shaking her wings, and clucking, and making a +great ado. I could stay here all day. I would like to stay two or +three--to see how it would look at sunrise, at sunset--to lie down in +one of these sunny hollows, and look up into the sky--to shut my eyes +lazily, and open them again, and so let the whole impression _soak +in_, as Mrs. H. used to say. + +But no; the sleepers have waked up, the guide has the horses ready, +and I must come down. So here I descend my hill Difficulty into the +valley of Humiliation. We stumble along, for the roads here are no +turnpikes, and we come to a place called the _Black Forest;_ not +_the_ Black Forest, but truly a black one. I always love pines, +to all generations. I welcome this solemn old brotherhood, which stand +gray-bearded, like monks, old, dark, solemn, sighing a certain +mournful sound--like a _benedicite_ through the leaves. + +About noon we came to Rosenlaui. As we drew near the hotel the guide +struck off upon a path leading up the mountain, saying, by way of +explanation, _"The glacier!"_ + +Now, I confess that it was rather too near dinner time, and I was too +tired at once to appreciate this movement. + +I regret to say, that two glaciers, however beautiful, on an empty +stomach, appear rather of doubtful utility. So I remonstrated; but +the guide, as all guides do, went dead ahead, as if I had not said a +word. C., however, rode composedly towards the hotel, saying that +dinner was a finer sight than a glacier; and I, though only of the +same mind, thought I would follow my guide, just to see. + +W. went with me. After a little we had to leave our horses, and +scramble about a mile up the mountain. "C. was right, and we are +wrong," said my companion, sententiously. I was just dubious enough to +be silent. Pretty soon we came to a tremendous ravine, as if an +earthquake had rent a mountain asunder. A hundred feet down in this +black gorge, a stream was roaring in a succession of mad leaps, and a +bridge crossed it, where we stood to gaze down into its dark, awful +depths. Then on we went till we came to the glacier. What a mass of +clear, blue ice! so very blue, so clear! This awful chasm runs +directly under it, and the mountain torrent, formed by the melting of +the glacier, falls in a roaring cascade into it. You can go down into +a cavern in this rift. Above your head a roof of clear, blue ice; +below your feet this black chasm, with the white, flashing foam of the +cascade, as it leaps away into the darkness. On one side of the +glacier was a little sort of cell, or arched nook, up which an old man +had cut steps, and he helped me up into it. I stood in a little Gothic +shrine of blue, glittering ice, and looked out of an arched window at +the cascade and mountains. I thought of Coleridge's line-- + + "A pleasure bower with domes of ice." + +[Illustration: _of a glacier's terminus, with animals and small +buildings in the foreground._] + +On the whole, the glacier of Rosenlaui paid for looking--even at +dinner time--which is saying a good deal. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +FRIDAY, July 22, Grindelwald to Meyringen. On we came, to the top of +the Great Schiedich, where H. and W. botanized, while I slept. Thence +we rode down the mountain till we reached Rosenlaui, where, I am free +to say, a dinner was to me a more interesting object than a glacier. +Therefore, while H. and W. went to the latter, I turned off to the +inn, amid their cries and reproaches. I waved my cap and made a bow. A +glacier!--go five rods farther to see a glacier! Catch me in any such +folly. The fact is, Alps are good, like confections, in moderation; +but to breakfast, dine, and sup on Alps surfeits my digestion. + +Here, for example, I am writing these notes in the _salle-à-manger_ of +the inn, where other voyagers are eating and drinking, and there H. is +feeding on the green moonshine of an emerald ice cave. One would +almost think her incapable of fatigue. How she skips up and down high +places and steep places, to the manifest perplexity of honest guide +Kienholz, _père_, who tries to take care of her, but does not exactly +know how. She gets on a pyramid of _débris_, which the edge of the +glacier is ploughing and grinding up, sits down, and falls--not asleep +exactly--but into a trance. W. and I are ready to go on; we shout; our +voice is lost in the roar of the torrent. We send the guide. He goes +down, and stands doubtfully. He does not know exactly what to do. +She hears him, and starts to her feet, pointing with one hand to yonder +peak, and with the other to that knifelike edge, that seems cleaving +heaven with its keen and glistening cimeter of snow, reminding one of +Isaiah's sublime imagery, "For my sword is bathed in heaven." She +points at the grizzly rocks, with their jags and spear points. Evidently +she is beside herself, and thinks she can remember the names of those +monsters, born of earthquake and storm, which cannot be named nor +known but by sight, and then are known at once, perfectly and forever. + +Mountains are Nature's testimonials of anguish. They are the sharp cry +of a groaning and travailing creation. Nature's stern agony writes +itself on these furrowed brows of gloomy stone. These reft and +splintered crags stand, the dreary images of patient sorrow, existing +verdureless and stern because exist they must. In them hearts that +have ceased to rejoice, and have learned to suffer, find kindred, and +here, an earth worn with countless cycles of sorrow, utters to the +stars voices of speechless despair. + +And all this time no dinner! All this time H. is at the glacier! How +do I know but she has fallen into a _crevasse_? How do I know but +that a cliff, one of those ice castles, those leaning turrets, those +frosty spearmen, have toppled over upon her? I shudder at the +reflection. I will write no more. + +I had just written thus far, when in came H. and W. in high feather. +O, I had lost the greatest sight in Switzerland! There was such a +chasm, a mountain cut in twain, with a bridge, and a man to throw a +stone down; and you could hear it go _boom_, and _he held his +hat!_ "Not a doubt of that," said I. Then there was a cavern in the +ice, and the ice was so green, and the water dripped from the roof, +and a great river rushed out. Such was the substance of their united +enthusiasm. + +But, alas! it was not enough to lose the best glacier in Switzerland; +I must needs lose two cascades and a chamois. Just before coming to +Meyringen, I was composedly riding down a species of stone gridiron, +set up sidewise, called a road, when the guide overtook me, and +requested me to walk, as the road was bad. Stupid fellow! he said not +a word about cascades and chamois, and so I went down like a chamois +myself, taking the road that seemed best and nearest, and reached the +inn an hour before the rest. After waiting till I became alarmed, and +was just sending back a messenger to inquire, lo, in they came, and +began to tell me of cascades and chamois. + +"What cascade? What chamois? I have not seen any!" And then what a +burst! "Not seen any! What, two cascades, one glacier, and a +four-year-old chamois, lost in one day! What will become of you? Is +this the way you make the tour of Switzerland?" + +Saturday, July 23. Rode in a _voiture_ from Meyringen to Brienz, +on the opposite end of the lake from Interlachen. Embarked in a +rowboat of four immense oars tied by withs. Two men and one woman +pulled three, and W. and I took turns at the fourth. The boat being +high built, flat bottomed, with awning and flagstaff, rolled and +tipped so easily that soon H., with remorseful visage, abandoned her +attempt to write, and lay down. There is a fresh and savage beauty +about this lake, which can only be realized by rowing across. + +Interlachen is underrated in the guide books. It has points of +unrivalled loveliness; the ruins of the old church of Rinconberg, for +example, commanding a fine view of both lakes, of the country between, +and the Alps around, while just at your feet is a little lake in a +basin, some two hundred feet above the other lakes. Then, too, from +your window in the Belvedere, you gaze upon the purity of the +Jungfrau. The church, too, where on Sabbath we attended Episcopal +service, is embowered in foliage, and seems like some New England +village meeting house. + +Monday, July 25. Adieu to Interlachen! Ho for Lucerne and the Righi! +Dined at Thun in a thunder storm. Stopped over night at Langnau, an +out-of-the-way place. H. and G. painted Alpine flowers, while I played +violin. This violin must be of spotless pedigree, even as our Genevese +friend, Monsieur--, certified when he reluctantly sold it me. None +but a genuine AMATI, a hundred years old, can possess this mysterious +quality, that can breathe almost inaudible, like a mornbeam in the +parlor, or predominate imperious and intense over orchestra and choir, +illuminating with its fire, like chain lightning, the arches of a vast +cathedral. Enchanted thing--what nameless spirit impregnates with +magnetic ether the fine fibres of thy mechanism! + +Tuesday, 26. Rode from Langnan to Lucerne just in time to take the +boat for Weggis. From the door of the Hotel de la Concorde, at Weggis, +the guide _chef_ fitted us out with two _chaises à porteur_, +six _carriers_, two mules with grooms, making a party of fourteen +in all. + +After ascending a while the scenery became singularly wild and +beautiful. Vast walls and cliffs of conglomerate rose above us, up +which our path wound in zigzags. Below us were pines, vales, fields, +and hills, themselves large enough for mountains. There, at our feet, +with its beautiful islands, bays, capes, and headlands, gleams the +broad lake of the four cantons, consecrated by the muse of Schiller +and the heroism of Tell. New plains are unrolling, new mountain tops +sinking below our range of vision. We plunged into a sea of mist. It +rolled and eddied, boiling beneath us. Through its mysterious pall we +saw now a skeleton pine stretch out its dark pointing hand--now a +rock, shapeless and uncouth, far below, like a behemoth petrified in +mid ocean. Then an eddy would sweep a space for the sun to pour a +flood of gold on this field far down at our feet, on that village, on +this mountain side with its rosy vapor-wreaths, upon yon distant lake, +making it a crater of blinding brightness. On we went wrapped in +mantles, mist, and mystery, trembling with chilliness and enthusiasm. +We reached the summit just as the sunset-gazing crowd were dispersing. +And this is Righi Kulm! + +Wednesday, 27. At half past three in the morning we were aroused by +the Alpine horn. We sprang up, groping and dressing in the dark, and +went out in the frosty air. Ascending the ridge we looked off upon a +sleeping world. Mists lay beneath like waves, clouds, like a sea. On +one side the Oberland Alps stretched along the horizon their pale, +blue-white peaks. Other mountains, indistinct in color and outline, +chained round the whole horizon. Yes, "the sleeping rocks did dream" +all over the wide expanse, as they slumbered on their cloudy pillow, +and their dream was of the coming dawn. Twelve lakes, leaden pale or +steel blue, dreamed also under canopies of cloud, and the solid land +dreamed, and all her wilds and forests. And in the silence of the +dream already the tinge of clairvoyance lit the gray east; a dim, +diffuse aurora, while yet the long, low clouds hung lustreless above; +nor could the eye prophesy where should open the door in heaven. At +length, a flush, as of shame or joy, presaged the pathway. Tongues of +many-colored light vibrated beneath the strata of clouds, now dappled, +mottled, streaked with fire; those on either hand of a light, flaky, +salmon tint, those in the path and portal of the dawn of a gorgeous +blending and blazoning of golden glories. The mists all abroad stirred +uneasily. Tufts of feathery down came up out of the mass. Soft, +floating films lifted from the surface and streamed away dissolving. +Strange hues came out on lake and shore, far, far below. The air, the +very air became conscious of a coming change, and the pale tops of +distant Alps sparkled like diamonds. It was night in the valleys. And +we heard the cocks crowing below, and the uneasy stir of a world +preparing to awake. So Isaiah foresaw a slumbering world, while +Messiah's coming glanced upon the heights of Zion, and cried,-- + + "Behold, darkness shall cover the earth + And gross darkness the people; + But the Lord shall rise upon THEE, + And his glory shall be seen upon thee!" + +Hushed the immense crowd of spectators waited; then he came. On the +gray edge of the horizon, under the emblazoned strata, came a sudden +coal of fire, as shot from the altar of Heaven. It dazzled, it +wavered, it consumed. Its lambent lines lengthened sidelong. At +length, not a coal, but a shield, as the shield of Jehovah, stood +above the east, and it was day. The vapor sea heaved, and broke, and +rolled up the mountain sides. The lakes flashed back the conquering +splendor. The wide panorama, asleep no more, was astir with teeming +life. + +Tuesday, July 28. One of the greatest curiosities in Lucerne is the +monument to those brave Swiss guards who were slain for their unshaken +fidelity to the unhappy Louis XVI. In a sequestered spot the rocky +hill side is cut away, and in the living strata is sculptured the +colossal figure of a dying lion. A spear is broken off in his side, +but in his last struggle he still defends a shield, marked with the +_fleur de lis_ of France. Below are inscribed in red letters, as +if charactered in blood, the names of the brave officers of that +devoted band. From many a crevice in the rock drip down trickling +springs, forming a pellucid basin below, whose dark, glossy surface, +encircled with trees and shrubs, reflects the image. The design of the +monument is by Thorwaldsen, and the whole effect of it has an +inexpressible pathos. + +[Illustration: _of the memorial. Above the grotto reads:_ + + HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI + +_On the monument's plinth can be read the following:_ + + DIE X AUGUSTI II ET III SEPTEMBRIS MDCCXCII + HAEC SUNT NOMINA EORUM OUTNE SACRA + (illegible) (illegible) + DUES XXVI DUCES +] + +Rode in our private _voiture_ to Basle, and rested our weary +limbs at the Three Kings. + +Friday, 29. Visited the celebrities of Basle, and took the cars for +Strasbourg, where we arrived in time to visit the minster. + +Saturday, 30. Left Strasbourg by the Rhine morning boat; a long, low, +slender affair. The scenery exceedingly tame, like portions of the +Lower Mississippi. Disembarked at Manheim, and drove over to +Heidelberg, through a continual garden. French is useless here. All +our negotiations are in German, with W., S., and G. as a committee on +gutturals. + + + + +LETTER XXXIX. + +STRASBOURG. + +MY DEAR:-- + +We arrived here this evening. I left the cars with my head full of the +cathedral. The first thing I saw, on lifting my eyes, was a brown +spire. Said I,-- + +"C., do you think that can be the cathedral spire?" + +"Yes, that must be it." + +"I am afraid it is," said I, doubtfully, as I felt, within, that +dissolving of airy visions which I have generally found the first +sensation on visiting any celebrated object. + +The thing looked entirely too low and too broad for what I had heard +of its marvellous grace and lightness; nay, some mischievous elf even +whispered the word "dumpy" hi my ear. But being informed, in time, +that this was the spire, I resisted the temptation, and determined to +make the best of it. I have since been comforted by reading in +Goethe's autobiography a criticism on its proportions quite similar to +my own. We climbed the spire; we gained the roof. What a magnificent +terrace! A world itself; a panoramic view sweeping the horizon. Here I +saw the names of Goethe and Herder. Here they have walked many a time, +I suppose. But the inside!--a forest-like firmament, glorious in +holiness; windows many hued as the Hebrew psalms; a gloom solemn and +pathetic as man's mysterious existence; a richness gorgeous and +manifold as his wonderful nature. In this Gothic architecture we see +earnest northern races, whose nature was a composite of influences +from pine forest, mountain, and storm, expressing, in vast proportions +and gigantic masonry, those ideas of infinite duration and existence +which Christianity opened before them. A barbaric wildness mingles +itself with fanciful, ornate abundance; it is the blossoming of +northern forests. + +The ethereal eloquence of the Greeks could not express the rugged +earnestness of souls wrestling with those fearful mysteries of fate, +of suffering, of eternal existence, declared equally by nature and +revelation. This architecture is Hebraistic in spirit, not Greek; it +well accords with the deep ground-swell of Hebrew prophets. + +"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. + +"Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed +the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou +art God. + +"A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past. + +"And as a watch in the night." + +The objection to Gothic architecture, as compared with Greek, is, that +it is less finished and elegant. So it is. It symbolizes that state of +mind too earnest for mere polish, too deeply excited for laws of exact +proportions and architectural refinement. It is Alpine architecture--vast, +wild, and sublime in its foundations, yet bursting into flowers at every +interval. + +The human soul seems to me an imprisoned essence, striving after +somewhat divine. There is a struggle in it, as of suffocated flame; +finding vent now through poetry, now in painting, now in music, +sculpture, or architecture; various are the crevices and fissures, but +the flame is one. + +Moreover, as society grows from barbarism upward, it tends to +inflorescence, at certain periods, as do plants and trees; and some +races flower later than others. This architecture was the first +flowering of the Gothic race; they had no Homers; the flame found vent +not by imaged words and vitalized alphabets; they vitalized stone, and +their poets were minster builders; their epics, cathedrals. + +This is why one cathedral--like Strasbourg, or Notre Dame--has a +thousand fold the power of any number of Madeleines. The Madeleine is +simply a building; these are poems. + +I never look at one of them without feeling that gravitation of soul +towards its artist which poetry always excites. Often the artist is +unknown; here we know him; Erwin von Steinbach, poet, prophet, priest, +in architecture. + +We visited his house--a house old and quaint, and to me _full_ of +suggestions and emotions. Ah, if there be, as the apostle vividly +suggests, houses not made with hands, strange splendors, of which +these are but shadows, that vast religious spirit may have been +finding scope for itself where all the forces of nature shall have +been made tributary to the great conceptions of the soul. + +Save this cathedral, Strasbourg has nothing except peaked-roofed +houses, dotted with six or seven rows of gable windows. + + + + +LETTER XL. + +HEIDELBERG. + +MY DEAR:-- + +To-day we made our first essay on the Rhine. Switzerland is a poor +preparation for admiring any common scenery; but the Rhine from +Strasbourg to Manheim seemed only a muddy strip of water, with low +banks, poplars, and willows. If there was any thing better, we passed +it while I was asleep; for I did sleep, even on the classic Rhine. + +Day before yesterday, at Basle, I went into the museum, and there saw +some original fragments of the Dance of Death, and many other pictures +by Holbein, with two miniature likenesses of Luther and his wife, by +Lucas Cranach; they are in water colors. Catharine was no beauty at +that time, if Lucas is to be trusted, and Luther looks rather savage. +But I saw a book of autographs, and several original letters of +Luther's. I saw the word "Jesus" at the top of one of them, thus, "J. +U. S." The handwriting was fair, even, and delicate. I laid my hand on +it, and thought his hand also had passed over the paper which he has +made living with his thoughts. Melanchthon, of whom a far more +delicate penmanship might have been expected, wrote a coarse, rugged +hand, quite like Dr. Bishop's. It somehow touched my heart to see this +writing of Luther's, so fair, and clean, and flowing; and to think of +his _vive_ and ever-surging spirits, his conflicts and his +victories. + +We were awakened, about eight o'clock this morning, by the cathedral +bell, which is near by, and by the chanting of the service. It was a +beautiful, sunny morning, and I could hear them sing all the time I +was dressing. I think, by the style of the singing, it was Protestant +service: it brought to mind the elms of Andover--the dewy, exquisite +beauty of the Sabbath mornings there; and I felt, more than ever, why +am I seeking any thing more beautiful than home? But today the sweet +shadow of God's presence is still over me, and the sense of his love +and protection falls silently into my soul like dew. + +At breakfast time Professor M. and his daughter called, as he said, to +place themselves at our disposal for the castle, or whatever we might +wish to see. I intimated that we would prefer spending the day in our +New England manner of retirement--a suggestion which he took at once. + +After breakfast the servant asked us if we should like to have a room +commanding a view of the castle. "To be sure," said I. So he ushered +us into a large, elegantly-furnished apartment, looking out +immediately upon it. There it sat, upon its green throne, a regal, +beautiful, poetic thing, fair and sad. + +We had singing and prayers, and a sermon from C. We did not go to the +_table d'hôte_, for we abominate its long-drawn, endless +formalities. But one part of the arrangements we enjoyed without +going: I mean the music. To me all music is sacred. Is it not so? All +real music, in its passionate earnest, its blendings, its wild, +heart-searching tones, is the language of aspiration. So it may not be +meant, yet, when we know God, so we translate it. + +In the evening we took tea with Professor M., in a sociable way, much +like the _salon_ of Paris. Mrs. M. sat at a table, and poured out +tea, which a servant passed about on a waiter. Gradually quite a +circle of people dropped in--among them Professor Mittemeyer, who, I +was told, is the profoundest lawyer in Germany; also there was +Heinrich von Gagen, who was head of the convention of the empire in +1848, and prime minister. He is tall, has a strongly-marked face, very +dark hair and eyebrows. There was also a very young man, with quite +light hair, named Fisher, who, they told me, was one of the greatest +philosophers of the time; but government had taken away his license to +lecture, on account of his pantheistic principles. I understand that +this has occasioned much feeling, and that some of the professors side +with, and some against him. A lady told me that the theological +professors were against him. I wonder people do not see that this kind +of suppression of opinion is a sword with two edges, which may cut +orthodoxy equally with pantheism. "Let both grow together," says +Christ, "the wheat and the tares." In America we do this, and a +nodding crop of all sorts we have. The more the better; the earth must +exhaust herself before the end can come. + +Mr. M. spoke English, as did his very pretty daughter, Ida; his wife +only French and German. Now, if you had only been there, we might have +had quite a brilliant time; but my ignorance of German kept me from +talking with any but those who could speak English. Professor +Mittemeyer summoned English enough to make a long compliment, to which +I responded as usual, by looking very foolish. There was a well +informed gentleman there, who was formerly private secretary to Prince +Albert, and who speaks English well. He has a bright, ingenious mind, +and knows every thing, and seemed particularly willing to give me the +benefit of his knowledge, for which I was suitably grateful. On the +whole, I spent a very pleasant evening, and we parted about nine +o'clock, Miss Ida promising to be our guide to the castle in the +morning. + +Well, in the morning I was too unwell to leave the sofa. I knew the +old symptoms, and remained in my room, while Professor M. and +daughter, with S, W., and G, went up to the castle. I lay all day on +the sofa, until, at five o'clock at night, I felt so much better that +I thought we might take a carriage and drive up. C. accompanied me, +and _cocher_ took us by a beautiful drive along the valley +of the Neckar, over the hills back of the castle, and finally through +the old arched gateway into the grounds. I had no idea before of the +extent or the architectural beauty of the place. The terrace behind +the castle is a most lovely spot. It wanted only silence and solitude +to make it perfect; it was full of tourists, as also was each ruined +nook and arch. I sauntered about alone, for C. had a sick headache, +and was forced to sit on one of the stone benches. Heidelberg Castle +is of vast extent, and various architecture; parts of it, a guide book +says, were designed by Michael Angelo. Over one door was a Hebrew +inscription. Marshalled in niches in the wall stood statues of +electors and knights in armor--silent, lonely. The effect was quite +different from the old Gothic ruins I had seen. This spoke of courts, +of princes; and the pride and grandeur of the past, contrasted with +the silence and desertion, reminded me of the fable of the city of +enchantment, where king and court were smitten to stone as they stood. +A mournful lion's head attracted my attention, it had such a strange, +sad look; and there was a fountain broken and full of weeds. + +I looked on the carvings, the statues, the broken arches, where +bluebells and wild flowers were waving, and it seemed inexpressibly +beautiful. It haunted me in my dreams, and I found myself walking up +and down that terrace, in a kind of dim, beautiful twilight, with some +friend: it was a strange dream of joy. But I felt myself very ill even +while there, and had to take my sofa again as soon as I returned. +There lying, I took my pencil, and drew just the view of the castle +which I could see from my window, as a souvenir of the happiness I had +felt at Heidelberg. + +[Illustration: _of the author's window view of Heidelberg._] + +Now, I know you will say with me that a day of such hazy, dreamy +enjoyment is worth a great deal. We cannot tell why it is, or what it +is, but one feels like an Æolian breathed on and touched by soft +winds. + +[Illustration: _of Heidelberg castle._] + +This sketch of the castle gives only about half of it. Those tiny +statues indicated in it on the points of the gables are figures in +armor of large size. The two little kiosks or summer houses that you +see, you will find, by turning back to the other picture, mark the +extremities of the terrace. There is a singular tinge of the Moorish +about this architecture which gives me great delight. That Moorish +development always seemed to me strangely exciting and beautiful. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Tuesday, August 2. We leave Heidelberg with regret. At the railway +station occurred our first loss of baggage. As W. was making change in +the baggage room, he missed the basket containing our books and +sundries. Unfortunately the particular word for _basket_ had just +then stepped out. "_Wo ist mein--pannier?_" exclaimed he, giving +them the French synonyme. They shook their heads. "_Wo ist +mein--basket?_" he cried, giving them English; they shook their +heads still harder. "_Wo ist mein-- --_" "Whew--w!" shrieked +the steam whistle; "Ding a-ling-ling!" went the bell, and, leaving his +question unfinished, W. ran for the cars. + +In our car was an elderly couple, speaking French. The man was +evidently a quiet sort of fellow, who, by long Caudling, had +subdued--whole volcanos into dumbness within him. Little did he think +what eruption fate was preparing. II. sat opposite _his hat_, +which he had placed on the empty seat. There was a tower, or +something, coming; H. rose, turned round, and innocently took a seat +on his chapeau. Such a voice as came out of that meekness personified! + +In the twinkling of an eye--for there is a peculiar sensation which a +person experiences in sitting upon, or rather into a hat; ages are +condensed into moments, and between the first yielding of the brittle +top and the final crush and jam, as between the top of a steeple and +the bottom, there is room for a life's reflection to flash through the +mind--in the twinkling of an eye H. agonizingly felt that she was +sitting on a hat, that the hat was being jammed, that it was getting +flat and flatter every second, that the meek man was howling in +French; and she was just thinking of her husband and children when she +started to her feet, and the nightmare was over. The meek man, having +howled out his French sentence, sat aghast, stroking his poor hat, +while his wife opposite was in convulsions, and we all agog. The +gentleman then asked H. if she proposed sitting where she was, saying, +very significantly, "If you do, I'll put my hat there;" suiting the +action to the word. We did not recover from this all the way to +Frankfort. + +Arrived at Frankfort we drove to the Hotel de Russie. Then, after +visiting all the lions of the place, we rode to see Dannecker's +Ariadne. It is a beautiful female riding on a panther or a tiger. The +light is let in through a rosy curtain, and the flush as of life falls +upon the beautiful form. Two thoughts occurred to me; why, when we +gaze upon this form so perfect, so entirely revealed, does it not +excite any of those emotions, either of shame or of desire, which the +living reality would excite? And again; why does not the immediate +contact of feminine helplessness with the most awful brute ferocity +excite that horror which the sight of the same in real life must +awaken? Why, but because we behold under a spell in the transfigured +world of art where passion ceases, and bestial instincts are felt to +be bowed to the law of mind, and of ideal truth. + + + + +LETTER XLI. + +DEAR:-- + +To-day we came to Frankfort, and this afternoon we have been driving +out to see the lions, and in the first place the house where Goethe +was born. Over the door, you remember, was the family coat of arms. +Well, while we were looking I perceived that a little bird had +accommodated the crest of the coat to be his own family residence, and +was flying in and out of a snug nest wherewith he had crowned it. +Little fanciful, feathery amateur! could nothing suit him so well as +Goethe's coat of arms? I could fancy the little thing to be the poet's +soul come back to have a kind of breezy hovering existence in this +real world of ours--to sing, and perch, and soar; for I think you told +me that his principal grace and characteristic was an exquisite +perception and expression of physical beauty. Goethe's house was a +very grand one for the times, was it not? Now a sign in the window +tells us it is used as a manufactory of porcelain. + +Then we drove through the Jews' quarters. You remember how queer and +old they look; they have been much modernized since you were there. +_Cocher_ stopped before one house, and said something in German +about Rothschild, which C. said sounded like "Here Rothschild hung his +boots out." We laughed and rode on. + +After this we went to the Romer, the hall that you have told me of, +where the emperors were chosen, all painted with their portraits in +compartments; and I looked out on the fountain in front, that used, on +these occasions, to flow with wine. Then I walked around to see all +the emperors, and to wish I knew more about history. Charles V. is the +only one of whom I have any distinct recollection. + +Then we went to a kind of museum. _Cocher_ stopped at the door, +and we heard a general sputtering of gutturals between him, W., and +G., he telling them something about Luther. I got it into my head that +the manuscript of Luther's Bible was inside; so I rushed forward. It +was the public library. A colossal statue of Goethe, by an Italian +artist, was the first thing I saw. What a head the man had I a Jupiter +of a head. And what a presence! The statue is really majestic; but was +Goethe so much, really think you? That egotistical spirit shown in his +Diary sets me in doubt. Shakspeare was not self-conscious, and left no +trace of egotism; if he knew himself, he did not care to tell what he +knew. Yet the heads are both great and majestic heads, and would +indicate a plenary manhood. + +We went into the library, disturbing a quiet, good sort of bibliopole +there, who, with some regret, put aside his book to guide us. + +"Is Luther's Bible here?" W. and G. opened on him. + +"No;" but he ushered us into a cabinet. + +"There are Luther's _shoes!_" + +"Shoes!" we all exclaimed; and there was an irreverent laugh. Yes, +there they were in a glass case,--his shoes, large as life,--shoes +without heels; great, clumping, thick, and black! What an idea! +However, there was a genuine picture by Lucas Cranach, and another of +Catharine, by Holbein, which gave more consolatory ideas of her person +than that which I saw before at Basle. There were also autographs of +Goethe and Schiller, as well as of Luther and Melanchthon. + +Our little bibliopole looked mournfully at us, as if we were wasting +his time, and seemed glad when we went out. C. thought he was huffy +because we laughed at Luther's shoes; but I think he was only yearning +after his book. C. offered him a fee, but he would not take it. Going +down stairs, in the entry, I saw a picture of the infant Goethe on an +eagle. We rode, also, to see a bronze statue of him in some street or +other, and I ate an ice cream there to show my regard for him. We are +delighted on the whole with Frankfort. + +Now, after all, that I should forget the crown of all our seeings, +Dannecker's Ariadne! It is in a pavilion in a gentleman's garden. +Could mere beauty and grace delight and fill the soul, one could not +ask for more than the Ariadne. The beautiful head, the throat, the +neck, the bust, the hand, the arm, the whole attitude, are exquisite. +But after all, what is it? No moral charm,--mere physical beauty, cold +as Greek mythology. I thought of his _Christ_, and did not wonder +that when he had turned his art to that divine representation, he +should refuse to sculpture from classic models. "He who has sculptured +a Christ cannot sculpture a Venus." + +Our hotel here is very beautiful. I think it must have been some +palace, for it is adorned with fine statues, and walls of real marble. +The staircase is beautiful, with brass railing, and at the foot a +marble lion on each side. The walls of my bed room are lined with +green damask, bordered by gilt bands; the attendance here is +excellent. In every hotel of each large city, there is a man who +speaks English. The English language is slowly and surely creeping +through. Europe; already it rivals the universality of the French. + +Two things in this city have struck me singularly, as peculiarly +German: one was a long-legged stork, which I saw standing on a chimney +top, reminding me of the oft-mentioned "dear white stork" of German +stories. Why don't storks do so in America, I wonder? Another thing +was, waking suddenly in the middle of the night, and hearing the hymn +of the watchman as he announced the hour. I think this is a beautiful +custom. + +In the morning, I determined to get into the picture gallery. Now C., +who espoused to himself an "_Amati_" at Geneva, has been, like +all young bridegrooms, very careless about every thing else but his +beloved, since he got it. Painting, sculpture, architecture, all must +yield to music. Nor can all the fascinations of Raphael or Rubens vie +in his estimation with the melodies of Mozart, or the harmonies of +Beethoven. So, yesterday, when we found the picture gallery shut, he +profanely remarked, "What a mercy!" And this morning I could enlist +none of the party but W. to go with me. We were paid for going. There +were two or three magnificent pictures of sunrise and sunset in the +Alps by modern artists. Never tell me that the _old_ masters have +exhausted the world of landscape painting, at any rate. Am I not +competent to judge because I am not an artist? What! do not all +persons feel themselves competent to pronounce on the merits of +natural landscapes, and say which of two scenes is finer? And are +painters any greater artists than God? If they say that we are not +competent to judge, because we do not understand the mixing of colors, +the mysteries of foreshortening, and all that, I would ask them if +they understand how God mixes his colors? "Canst thou understand the +balancing of the clouds? the wondrous ways of Him who is perfect in +wisdom?" If, therefore, I may dare to form a judgment of God's +originals, I also will dare to judge of man's imitations. Nobody shall +impose old, black, smoky Poussins and Salvator Rosas on me, and so +insult my eyesight and common sense as to make me confess they are +better than pictures which I can see have all the freshness and bloom +of the living reality upon them. + +So, also, a most glorious picture here. The Trial of John Huss before +the Council of Constance, by Lessing--one of the few things I have +seen in painting which have had power deeply to affect me. I have it +not in my heart to criticize it as a mere piece of coloring and +finish, though in these respects I thought it had great merits. But +the picture had the power, which all high art must have, of rebuking +and silencing these minor inquiries in the solemnity of its +_morale_. I believe the highest painter often to be the subject +of a sort of inspiration, by which his works have a vitality of +suggestion, so that they sometimes bring to the beholder even more +than he himself conceived when he created them. In this picture, the +idea that most impressed me was, the representation of that more +refined and subtle torture of martyrdom which consists in the +incertitude and weakness of an individual against whom is arrayed the +whole weight of the religious community. If against the martyr only +the worldly and dissolute stood arrayed, he could bear it; but when +the church, claiming to be the visible representative of Christ, casts +him out; when multitudes of pious and holy souls, as yet unenlightened +in their piety, look on him with horror as an infidel and blasphemer, +--then comes the very wrench of the rack. As long as the body is +strong, and the mind clear, a consciousless of right may sustain even +this; but there come weakened hours, when, worn by prison and rack, +the soul asks itself, "Can it be that all the religion and +respectability of the world is wrong, and I alone right?" Such an +agony Luther expressed in that almost superhuman meditation written +the night before the Diet at Worms. Such an agony, the historian tells +us, John Huss passed through the night before his execution. + +Now for the picture. The painter has arrayed, with consummate ability, +in the foreground a representation of the religious respectability of +the age: Italian cardinals, in their scarlet robes, their keen, +intellectual, thoughtful faces, shadowed by their broad hats; men whom +it were no play to meet in an argument; there are gray-headed, +venerable priests, and bishops with their seal rings of office,--all +that expressed the stateliness and grandeur of what Huss had been +educated to consider the true church. In the midst of them stands +Huss, habited in a simple dark robe; his sharpened features, and the +yellow, corpse-like pallor of his face, tell of prison and of +suffering. He is defending himself; and there is a trembling +earnestness in the manner with which his hand grasps the Bible. With a +passionate agony he seems to say, "Am I not right? does not this word +say it? and is it not the word of God?" + +So have I read the moral of this noble picture, and in it I felt that +I had seen an example of that true mission of art which will manifest +itself more and more in this world as Christ's kingdom comes; art +which is not a mere juggler of colors, a gymnastic display of effects, +but a solemn, inspiring poetry, teaching us to live and die for that +which it noblest and truest. I think this picture much superior to its +companion, the Martyrdom of Huss, which I had already seen in America. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Wednesday, August 3. Frankfort to Cologne. Hurrah for the Rhine! At +eleven we left the princely palace, calling itself Hotel de Russie, +whose halls are walled with marble, and adorned with antique statues +of immense value. Lo, as we were just getting into our carriage, the +lost parcel! basket, shawl, cloak, and all! We tore along to the +station; rode pleasantly over to Mayenz; made our way on board a +steamer loaded down with passengers; established ourselves finally in +the centre of all things on five stools, and deposited our loose +change of baggage in the cabin. + +The steamer was small, narrow, and poor, though swift. Thus we began +to see the Rhine under pressure of circumstances. + +The French and Germans chatted merrily. The English tourists looked +conscientiously careworn. Papa with three daughters peered alternately +into the guide book, and out of the loophole in the awning, in evident +terror lest something they ought to see should slip by them. Escaping +from the jam, we made our way to the bow, carrying stools, umbrellas, +and books, and there, on the very beak of all things, we had a fine +view. Duly and dutifully we admired Bingen, Cob-lentz, Ehrenbreitstein, +Bonn, Drachenfels, and all the other celebrities, and read Childe Harold +on the Rhine. Reached Cologne at nine. + +Thursday, August 4. We drove to the cathedral. I shall not +recapitulate Murray, nor give architectural details. I was satisfied +with what I saw and heard, and wished that so magnificent a +conception, so sublime a blossom of stone sculpture, might come to +ripe maturity, not as a church, indeed, but rather as a beautiful +petrifaction, a growth of prolific, exuberant nature. Why should not +the yeasty brain of man, fermenting, froth over in such crestwork of +Gothic pinnacle, spire, and column? + +The only service I appreciated was the organ and chant: hidden in the +midst of forest arches of stone, pouring forth its volumes of harmony +as by unseen minstrelsy, it seemed to create an atmosphere of sound, +in which the massive columns seemed transfused,--not standing, as it +were, but floating,--not resting, as with weight of granite mountains, +but growing as by a spirit and law of development. Filled with those +vast waves and undulations, the immense edifice seemed a creature, +tremulous with a life, a soul, an instinct of its own; and out of its +deepest heart there seemed to struggle upward breathings of +unutterable emotion. + + + + +LETTER XLII. + +COLOGNE, 10 o'clock, Hotel Bellevue. + +DEAR:-- + +The great old city is before me, looming up across the Rhine, which +lies spread out like a molten looking glass, all quivering and +wavering, reflecting the thousand lights of the city. We have been on +the Rhine all day, gliding among its picture-like scenes. But, alas I +I had a headache; the boat was crowded; one and all smoked tobacco; +and in vain, under such circumstances, do we see that nature is fair. +It is not enough to open one's eyes on scenes; one must be able to be +_en rapport_ with them. Just so in the spiritual world, we +sometimes _see_ great truths,--see that God is beautiful, +glorious, and surpassingly lovely; but at other times we feel both +nature and God, and 0, how different _seeing_ and _feeling!_ +To say the truth, I have been quite homesick to-day, and leaning my +head on the rails, pondered an immediate flight, a giving up of all +engagements on the continent and in England, an immediate rush +homeward. Does it not seem absurd, that, when within a few days' +journey of what has been the long-desired dream of my heart, I should +feel so--that I should actually feel that I had rather take some more +of our pleasant walks about Andover, than to see all that Europe has +to offer? + +This morning we went to the Cologne Cathedral. In the exterior of both +this and Strasbourg I was disappointed; but in the interior, who could +be? There is a majesty about those up-springing arches--those columns +so light, so lofty--it makes one feel as if rising like a cloud. Then +the innumerable complications and endless perspectives, arch above +arch and arch within arch, all lighted up and colored by the painted +glass, and all this filled with the waves of the chant and the organ, +rising and falling like the noise of the sea; it was one of the few +overpowering things that do not _satisfy_, because they transport +you at once beyond the restless anxiety to be satisfied, and leave you +no time to ask the cold question, Am I pleased? + +Ah, surely, I said to myself, as I walked with a kind of exultation +among those lofty arches, and saw the clouds of incense ascending, the +kneeling priests, and heard the pathetic yet grand voices of the +chant--surely, there is some part in man that calls for such a +service, for such visible images of grandeur and beauty. The wealth +spent on these churches is a sublime and beautiful protest against +materialism--against that use of money which merely brings supply to +the coarse animal wants of life, and which makes of God's house only a +bare pen, in which a man sits to be instructed in his duties. + +Yet a moment after I had the other side of the question brought +forcibly to my mind. In an obscure corner was a coarse wooden shrine, +painted red, in which was a doll dressed up in spangles and tinsel, to +represent the Virgin, and hung round with little waxen effigies of +arms, hands, feet, and legs, to represent, I suppose, some favor which +had been accorded to these members of her several votaries through her +intercessions. Before this shrine several poor people were kneeling, +with clasped hands and bowed heads, praying with an earnestness which +was sorrowful to see. "They have taken away their Lord, and they know +not where they have laid him." Such is the end of this superb idolatry +in the illiterate and the poor. + +Yet if we _could_, would we efface from the world such cathedrals +as Strasbourg and Cologne? I discussed the question of outward pomp +and ritual with myself while I was walking deliberately round a stone +balustrade on the roof of the church, and looking out through the +flying buttresses, upon the broad sweep of the Rhine, and the queer, +old-times houses and spires of the city. I thought of the splendors of +the Hebrew ritual and temple, instituted by God himself. I questioned +where was the text in the gospel that forbade such a ritual, provided +it were felt to be desirable; and then I thought of the ignorance and +stupid idolatry of those countries where this ritual is found in +greatest splendor, and asked whether these are the necessary +concomitants of such churches and such forms, or whether they do not +result from other causes. The Hebrew ritual, in a far more sensuous +age, had its sculptured cherubim, its pictorial and artistic wealth of +representation, its gorgeous priestly vestments, its incense, and its +chants; and they never became, so far as we know, the objects of +idolatrous veneration. + +But I love to go back over and over the scenes of that cathedral; to +look up those arches that seem to me, in their buoyant lightness, to +have not been made with hands, but to have shot up like an +enchantment--to have risen like an aspiration, an impersonation of the +upward sweep of the soul, in its loftiest moods of divine communion. +There were about five minutes of feeling, worth all the discomforts of +getting here; and it is only for some such short time that we can +enjoy--then our prison door closes. + +There are four painted glass windows, given by the King of Bavaria. I +have got for H. the photograph of two of them, representing the birth +and death of Christ. They are gorgeous paintings by the first masters. +The windows round the choir were painted in a style that reminded me +of our forests in autumn. + +Well, after our sublimities came a farce. We went to St. Ursula's +church, to see the bones of the eleven thousand virgins, who, the +chronicle says, were slain here because they would not break their +vows of chastity. I was much amused. As we entered the church, C. +remarked impressively, "It is evident that these virgins have no +connection with cologne water!" The fact was lamentably apparent. +Doleful looking figures of virgins, painted in all the colors of the +rainbow, were looking down upon us from all quarters; and in front, in +a glass frame, was a bill of fare, in French, of the relics which +could be served up to order. C. read the list aloud, and then we +proceeded to a small side room to see the exhibition. The upper +portion of the walls was covered with small bones, strung on wires and +arranged in a kind of fanciful arabesque, much as shell boxes are +made; and the lower part was taken up with busts in silver and gold +gilding, representing still the interminable eleven thousand. A sort +of cupboard door half opened showed the shelves all full of skulls, +adorned with little satin caps, coronets, and tinsel jewelry; which +skulls, we were informed, were the original head-pieces of the same +redoubtable females. + +At the other end of the room was a raised stage, where the most holy +relics of all were being displayed, under the devout eye of a priest +in a long, black robe. C. and I went upon the stage to be instructed. +S., whom the aforesaid lack of cologne water in the establishment had +rendered peculiarly unpropitious, stood at a majestic distance; but +C., assuming an air of profound faith, stood up to be initiated. + +"That," says the priest, in a plaintive voice, pitched to the exact +point between lamentation and veneration, "is the ring of St. Ursula." + +"Indeed," says C., "her ring!" + +"Yes," says the priest, "it was found in her tomb." + +"It was found in her tomb--only think!" says C., turning gravely to +me. I had to look another way, while the priest proceeded to +introduce, by name, four remarkably yellow skulls, with tastefully +trimmed red caps on, as those of St. Ursula and sundry of her most +intimate friends. S. looked gloriously indignant, and C. increasingly +solemn. + +"Dere," said the priest, opening an ivory box, in which was about a +quart of _teeth_ of different sizes, "dere is de teeth of the +eleven thousand." + +"Indeed," echoes C., "their teeth!" + +S., at this, waxed magnificent, and, as a novel writer would say, +swept from the apartment. I turned round, shaking with laughter, while +the priest went on. + +"Dere is a rib of St. ----." + +"Ah, his rib; indeed!" + +"And dere is de arrow as pierced the heart of St. Ursula." + +"H.," says C., "here is the arrow that killed St. Ursula." (The wicked +scamp knew I was laughing!) + +"Dere is the net that was on her hair." + +"This is what she wore on her hair, then," says C., eyeing the rag +with severe and melancholy gravity. + +"And here is some of the blood of the martyr Stephen," says the +priest, holding a glass case with some mud in it. + +In the same way he showed two thorns from the crown of Christ, and a +piece of the Virgin's petticoat. + +"And here is the waterpot of stone, in which our Lord made the wine at +the marriage in Cana." + +"Indeed," said C., examining it with great interest; "where are the +rest of them?" + +"The rest?" says the priest. + +"Yes; I think there were six of them; where are they?" + +The priest only went over the old story. "This came from Rome, and the +piece broken out of the side is at Rome yet." + +It is to be confessed that I felt in my heart, through this disgusting +recital, some of S.'s indignation; and I could not help agreeing with +her that the odor of sanctity, as generally developed in the vicinity, +was any thing but agreeable. I did long to look that man once steadily +in the eyes, to see if he was such a fool as he pretended; but the +ridiculousness of the whole scene overcame me so that I could not look +up, and I marched out in silence. The whole church is equally full of +virgins. The altar piece is a vast picture of the slaughter, not badly +painted. Through various glass openings you perceive that the walls +are full of the bones and skulls. Did the worship of Egypt ever sink +lower in horrible and loathsome idolatry? I had heard of such things; +but it is one thing to hear of them, and another to see them by the +light of this nineteenth century, in a city whose streets look much +like the streets of any other, and where men and women appear much as +they do any where else. Here we saw, in one morning, the splendor and +the rottenness of the Romish system. From those majestic arches, that +triumphant chant, there is but a step down to the worship of dead +men's bones and all uncleanness. + +We went also into the Jesuits' church. The effect, to my eye, was that +of a profusion of tawdry, dirty ornament; only the railing of the +choir, which was a splendid piece of carving, out from a single block +of Carrara marble. + +The guide book prescribes, I think, no less than half a dozen churches +in Cologne as a dose for the faithful; but we were satisfied with +these three, and went back to our hotel. As a general thing I would +not recommend more than three churches on an empty stomach. + +The outer wall of Cologne is a very fine specimen of fortification, (I +am quoting my guide book,) and we got a perfect view of it in crossing +the bridge of boats to return to our hotel. Why they have a bridge of +boats here I cannot say; perhaps on account of the width and swiftness +of the river. + +Having heard so much of the dirt and vile smells of Cologne, I was +surprised that our drive took us through streets no way differing from +those of most other cities, and, except in the vicinity of the eleven +thousand virgins, smelling no worse. Still, there may be vile, +ill-smelling streets; but so there are in Edinburgh, London, and New +York. + +From Cologne we went, at four o'clock, to Dusseldorf, a little town, +celebrated for the head quarters of the Dusseldorf school of painting. +I cannot imagine why they chose this town for a school of the fine +arts, as it is altogether an indifferent, uninteresting place. It is +about an hour's ride from Cologne. We arrived there in time to go into +the exhibition of the works of the artists, which is open all summer. +I don't know how good a specimen it is, but I thought it rather +indifferent. There were some few paintings that interested me, but +nothing equal to those. I have seen in the Dusseldorf gallery at home. +Whittridge lives there, but, unfortunately, was gone for eight days. + +Our hotel was pleasant--opening on a walk shaded by double rows of +trees. We ordered a nice little tea in our room, arid waxed quite +merry over it. + +This morning we started at seven, and here we are to-night in +Leipsic--as uninteresting a country as I have seen yet. Moreover, we +had passed beyond the limits of our Rhine guide book, and as yet had +no other, and so did not know any thing about the few objects of +interest which presented themselves. The railroads, of course, persist +in their invariable habit of running you up against a dead wall, so +that you see nothing where you stop. + +The city of Magdeburg is the only interesting object I have seen. I +had a fair view of its cathedral, which I think, though not so +imposing, yet as picturesque and beautiful as any I remember to have +seen; and its old wall, too. We changed cars here, going through the +wall into the city, and I saw just enough to make me wish to see more; +and now to-night we are in Leipsic. + +Morning. We are going out now, and I must mail this letter. To-morrow +we spend at Halle. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Friday, August 5. Dusseldorf to Leipsic, three hundred and +seventy-three miles. A very level and apparently fertile country. If +well governed it ought to increase vastly in riches. + +Saturday, August 6. Called at the counting house of M. Tauchnitz, the +celebrated publisher. An hour after, accompanied by Mrs. T., he came +with two open carriages, and took us to see the city and environs. We +visited the battle ground, and saw the spot where Napoleon stood +during the engagement; a slight elevation, commanding an immense plain +in every direction, with the spires of the city rising in the +distance. After seeing various sights of interest, we returned to our +hotel, where our kind friends took their leave. In the afternoon M. +Tauchnitz sent H. a package of his entertaining English publications, +to read in the cars, also a Murray for Germany. H. and I then took the +cars for Halle, where we hoped to spend the Sabbath and meet with Dr. +Tholuck. Travellers sometimes visit Chamouni without seeing Mont +Blanc, who remains enveloped in clouds during their stay. So with us. +In an hour we were in rooms at the Kron Prince. We sent a note to the +professor; the waiter returned, saying that Dr. Tholuck was at +Kissengen. Our theological Mont Blanc was hid in mist. Blank enough +looked we! + +"H., is there no other professor we want to see?" + +"I believe not." + +Pensively she read one of the Tauchnitz Library. Plaintively my +_Amati_ sighed condolence. + +"H." said I, "perhaps we might reach Dresden to-night." + +"Do you think so? Is it possible? Is there a train?" + +"We can soon ascertain." + +"How amazed they would look!" + +We summoned the _maître d'hotel_, ordered tea, paid, packed, +raced, ran, and hurried, _presto, prestissimo,_ into a car half +choked with voyagers, changed lines at Leipsic, and shot off to +Dresden. By deep midnight we were thundering over the great stone Pont +d'Elbe, to the Hotel de Saxe, where, by one o'clock, we were lost in +dreams. + +In the morning the question was, how to find our party. + +"Waiter, bring me a directory." + +"There is no directory, sir." + +"No directory? Then how shall we contrive to find our friends?" + +"Monsieur has friends residing in Dresden?" + +"No, no! our party that came last night from Leipsic." + +"At what hotel do they stop?" + +"That is precisely what I wish to find out." + +"Will monsieur allow me to give their description to the police?" + +(0, ho, thought I; that is your directory, is it? Wonder if that is +the reason you have none printed.) "_Non, merci,"_ said I, and +set off on foot to visit the principal hotels. I knew they would go by +Murray or Bradshaw, and lo, sure enough they were at the Hotel +Bellevue, just sitting down to breakfast. S. started as if she had +seen a ghost. + +"Why, where did you come from? What has happened? Where is H.? We +thought you were in Halle!" + +Explanations followed. H. was speedily transferred to their hotel, +where they had bespoken rooms for us; and we sallied forth to the +court church to hear the music of high mass. + +This music is celebrated throughout Germany. It is, therefore, +undoubtedly superior. The organ is noble, the opera company royal. But +more perfect than all combined are the echoes of the church, which +(though the guide book does not mention it) nullify every effect. + +Monday, 8. Visited the walks and gardens on the banks of the Elbe. The +sky was clear, the weather glorious, and all nature full of joy. We +almost think this Elbe another Seine; these Bruhlsche gardens and +terraces, these majestic old bridges, and cleft city, another Paris! +Here, too, is that out-of-doors life, life in gardens, we admire so +much. Breakfast in the public gardens; hundreds of little groups +sipping their coffee! Dinner, tea, and supper in the gardens, with +music of birds and bands! + +Visited the Picture Gallery. If one were to chance upon an altar in +this German Athens inscribed to the "unknown god," he might be tempted +to suggest that that deity's name is Decency. + +The human form is indeed divine, as M. Belloc insists, and rightly, +sacredly drawn, cannot offend the purest eye. All nature is symbolic. +The universe itself is a complex symbol of spiritual ideas. So in the +structure and relation of the human body, some of the highest +spiritual ideas, the divinest mysteries of pure worship, are +designedly shadowed forth. + +If, then, the painter rightly and sacredly conceives the divine +meaning, and creates upon the canvas, or in marble, forms of exalted +ideal loveliness, we cannot murmur even if, like Adam and Eve in Eden, +"they are naked, and are not ashamed." + +And yet even sacred things love mystery, and holiest emotions claim +reserve. Nature herself seems to tell us that the more sacred some +works of art might be, the less they should be unveiled. There are +flowers that will wither in the sun The passion of love, when +developed according to the divine order, is, even in its physical +relations, so holy that it cannot retain its delicacy under the sultry +blaze of profane publicity. + +But it is far otherwise with paintings where the _animus_ is not +sacred, nor the meaning spiritual. No excellences of coloring, no +marvels of foreshortening, no miracles of mechanism can consecrate the +salacious images of mythologic abomination. + +The cheek that can forget to blush at the Venus and Cupid by Titian, +at Leda and her Swan, at Jupiter and Io, and others of equally evil +intent, ought never to pretend to blush at any thing. Such pictures +are a disgrace to the artists that painted, to the age that tolerates, +and to the gallery that contains them. They are fit for a bagnio +rather than a public exhibition. + +Evening. Dresden is the home of Madame Jenny Lind Goldschmidt. H. sent +her card. This evening Mr. G. called to express regret that she was +unable to see any one, on account of her recent confinement. He kindly +offered us the use of his carriage and assistance in sightseeing. H. +discussed with him the catalogues of the gallery of paintings. As to +music, we learn, with regret, that it is out of season for concerts, +oratorios, or any thing worth hearing. + +Wednesday, August 10. Dresden to Berlin. Drove to Charlottenburg, and +saw the monument of Queen Louisa. + +Thursday, 11. Visited the Picture Gallery, and various stores and +shops. + +Saturday, August 13. Berlin to Wittenberg, two hours' ride. Examined +the Schloss-Kirche, where Luther is buried, passing on our way through +the public square containing his monument. + +At nine in the evening took cars for Erfurt. That night ride, with the +moon and one star hanging beautifully over the horizon, was pleasant. +There is a wild and thrilling excitement in thus plunging through the +mysterious night in a land utterly unknown. Reached Erfurt at two in +the morning. + +Monday, August 15. Erfurt to Eisenach by eight. Drove to the Wartburg. + + + + +LETTER XLIII. + +DRESDEN. + +DEAR:-- + +I went to Dresden as an art-pilgrim, principally to see Raphael's +great picture of the Madonna di San Sisto, supposing that to be the +best specimen of his genius out of Italy. On my way I diligently +studied the guide book of that indefatigable friend of the traveller, +Mr. Murray, in which descriptions of the finest pictures are given, +with the observations of artists; so that inexperienced persons may +know exactly what to think, and where to think it. My expectations had +been so often disappointed, that my pulse was somewhat calmer. +Nevertheless, the glowing eulogiums of these celebrated artists could +not but stimulate anticipation. We made our way, therefore, first to +the _salon_ devoted to the works of Raphael and Correggio, and +soon found ourselves before the grand painting. Trembling with +eagerness, I looked up. Was that the picture? W. whispered to me, "I +think we have mistaken the painting." + +"No, we have not," said I, struggling to overcome the disappointment +which I found creeping over me. The source of this disappointment was +the thin and faded appearance of the coloring, which at first +suggested to me the idea of a water-colored sketch. It had evidently +suffered barbarously in the process of cleaning, a fact of which I had +been forewarned. This circumstance has a particularly unfavorable +effect on a picture of Raphael's, because his coloring, at best, is +delicate and reserved, and, as compared with, that of Rubens, +approaches to poverty; so that he can ill afford to lose any thing in +this way. + +Then as to conception and arrangement, there was much which annoyed +me. The Virgin and Child in the centre are represented as rising in +the air; on one side below them is the kneeling figure of Pope Sixtus; +and on the other, that of St. Barbara. Now this Pope Sixtus is, in my +eyes, a very homely old man, and as I think no better of homely old +men for being popes, his presence in the picture is an annoyance. St. +Barbara, on the other side, has the most beautiful head and face that +could be represented; but then she is kneeling on a cloud with such a +judicious and coquettish arrangement of her neck, shoulders, and face, +to show every fine point in them, as makes one feel that no saint +(unless with a Parisian education) could ever have dropped into such a +position in the _abandon_ of holy rapture. In short, she looks +like a theatrical actress; without any sympathy with the solemnity of +the religious conception, who is there merely because a beautiful +woman was wanted to fill up the picture. + +Then that old, faded green curtain, which is painted as hanging down +on either side of the picture, is, to my eye, a nuisance. The whole +interest, therefore, of the piece concentrates in the centre figures, +the Madonna and Child, and two angel children gazing up from the foot +of the picture. These angel children were the first point on which my +mind rested, in its struggle to overcome its disappointment, and bring +itself _en rapport_ with the artist. In order fully to appreciate +their spiritual beauty, one must have seen an assortment of those +things called angels, which occur in the works of the old masters. +Generally speaking, I know of nothing more calculated to moderate any +undue eagerness to go to heaven than the common run of canvas angels. +Far the greater part are roistering, able-bodied fellows with wings, +giving indisputable signs of good living, and of a coarseness slightly +suggestive of blackguardism. Far otherwise with _these_ fair +creatures, with their rainbow-colored wings, and their serene, +upturned eyes of thought baptized with emotion. They are the first +things I have seen worthy of my ideas of Raphael. + +As to the Madonna, I think that, when Wilkie says she is "nearer the +perfection of female elegance and grace than any thing in painting," +he does not speak with discrimination. Mere physical beauty and grace +are not _the_ characteristics of the figure: many more perfect +forms can be found, both on canvas and in marble. But the merits of +the figure, to my mind, are, first, its historic accuracy in +representing the dark-eyed Jewish maiden; second, the wonderful +fulness and depth of expression thrown into the face; and third, the +mysterious resemblance and sympathy between the face of the mother and +that of the divine child. To my eye, this picture has precisely that +which Murillo's Assumption in the Louvre wants: it has an unfathomable +depth of earnestness. The Murillo is its superior in coloring and +grace of arrangement. At first sight of the Murillo every one exclaims +at once, "Plow beautiful!"--at sight of this they are silent. Many are +at first disappointed; but the picture fastens the attention, and +grows upon the thoughts; while that of Murillo is dismissed with the +words of admiration on the lips. + +This picture excited my ponderings and inquiries. There was a conflict +of emotion in that mother's face, and shadowed mysteriously in the +child's, of which I queried, "Was it fear? was it sorrow? was it +adoration and faith? was it a presage of the hour when a sword should +pierce through her own soul? Yet, with this, was there not a solemn +triumph in the thought that she alone, of all women, had been called +to that baptism of anguish? And in that infant face there seemed a +foreshadowing of the spirit which said, "Now is my soul troubled; and +what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause +came I unto this hour." + +The deep-feeling soul which conceived this picture has spread over the +whole divine group a tender and transparent shadow of sorrow. It is +this idea of sorrow in heaven--sorrow, for the lost, in the heart of +God himself--which forms the most sacred mystery of Christianity; and +into this innermost temple of sorrow had Raphael penetrated. He is a +sacred poet, and his poetry has precisely that trait which Milton +lacks--tenderness and sympathy. This picture, so unattractive to the +fancy in merely physical recommendations, has formed a deeper part of +my inner consciousness than any I have yet seen. I can recall it with +perfect distinctness, and often return to ponder it in my heart. + +In this room there was also the _chef-d'luvre_ of Correggio--his +celebrated Notte, or the Nativity of Jesus; and, that you may know +what I ought to have thought, I will quote you a sentence from Wilkie. +"All the powers of art are here united to make a perfect work. Here +the simplicity of the drawing of the Virgin and Child is shown in +contrast with the foreshortening of the group of angels--the strongest +unity of effect with the most perfect system of intricacy. The +emitting the light from the body of the child, though a supernatural +illusion, is eminently successful. The matchless beauty of the Virgin +and Child, the group of angels overhead, the daybreak in the sky, and +the whole arrangement of light and shadow, give it a right to be +considered, in conception at least, the greatest of his works." + +I said before that light and shadow were Correggio's gods--that the +great purpose for which he lived, moved, and had his being, was to +show up light and shadow. Now, so long as he paints only indifferent +objects,--Nymphs, and Fauns, and mythologic divinities,--I had no +objection. Light and shadow are beautiful things, capable of a +thousand blendings, softenings, and harmonizings, which one loves to +have represented: the great Artist of all loves light and shadow; why +else does he play such a magical succession of changes upon them +through all creation? But for an artist to make the most solemn +mystery of religion a mere tributary to the exhibition of a trick of +art, is a piece of profanity. What was in this man's head when he +painted this representation of the hour when his Maker was made flesh +that he might redeem a world? Nothing but _chiaro-scuro_ and +foreshortening. This overwhelming scene would give him a fine chance +to do two things: first, to represent a phosphorescent light from the +body of the child; and second, to show off some foreshortened angels. +Now, as to these angels, I have simply to remark that I should prefer +a seraph's head to his heels; and that a group of archangels, kicking +from the canvas with such alarming vigor, however much it may +illustrate foreshortening, does not illustrate either glory to God in +the highest, or peace on earth and good will to men. Therefore I have +quarrelled with Correggio, as I always expected to do if he profaned +the divine mysteries. How could any one, who had a soul to understand +that most noble creation of Raphael, turn, the next moment, to admire +this? + +Here also are six others of Correggio's most celebrated paintings. +They are all mere representations of the physical, with little of the +moral. His picture of the Virgin and Child represents simply a very +graceful, beautiful woman, holding a fine little child. His peculiar +excellences in the management of his lights and shades appear in all. + +In one of the halls we found a Magdalen by Battoni, which gave me more +pleasure, on first sight, than any picture in the gallery. It is a +life-sized figure of the Magdalen stretched upon the ground, reading +an open Bible. I like it, first, because the figure is every way +beautiful and well proportioned; second, on account of an elevated +simplicity hi the arrangement and general effect. The dark, rocky +background throws out distinctly the beautiful figure, raised on one +elbow, her long, golden hair floating loosely down, as she bends +forward over her book with parted lips, slightly flushed cheek, and an +air of rapt and pleased attention. Though the neck and bosom are +exposed, yet there is an angelic seriousness and gravity in the +conception of the piece which would check an earthly thought. The +woman is of that high class about whom there might seem to be a +hovering angelic presence--the perfection of beauty and symmetry, +without a tinge of sensual attraction. + +All these rooms are full of artists copying different paintings,--some +upon slabs of Dresden china,--producing pictures of exquisite, finish, +and very pretty as boudoir ornaments. + +After exhausting this first room, we walked through the galleries, +which I will name, to give you some idea of their extent. + +Two rooms, of old German and Dutch masters, are curious,--as +exhibiting the upward struggles of art. Many of the pictures are hard +as a tavern sign, and as ill drawn; but they mark the era of dawning +effort. + +Then a long corridor of Dutch paintings, in which Rubens figures +conspicuously, displaying, as usual, all manner of scarlet +abominations, mixed with most triumphant successes. He has a boar hunt +here, which is absolutely terrific. Rubens has a power peculiar to +himself of throwing into the eyes of animals the phosphorescent +magnetic gleam of life and passion. Here also was a sketch of his for +a large picture at Munich of the Last Judgment, in which the idea of +physical torture is enlarged upon with a most revolting vigor of +imagery. + +Then a small room devoted to the Spanish and Italian schools, +containing pictures by Murillo and Velasquez. Then the French hall, +where were two magnificent Claudes, the finest I had yet seen. They +were covered with glass, (a bad arrangement,) which rendered one of +them almost entirely _unseeable_. I studied these long, with much +interest. The combinations were poetical, the foregrounds minutely +finished, even to the painting of flowers, and the fine invisible veil +of ether that covers the natural landscape given as I have never +before seen it. The peculiarity of these pieces is, that they are +painted in _green_--a most common arrangement in God's landscapes, +but very uncommon in those of great masters. Painters give us trees +and grounds, brown, yellow, red, chocolate, any color, in short, but +green. The reason of this is, that green is an exceedingly difficult color +to manage. I have seen, sometimes, in spring, set against a deep-blue +sky, an array of greens, from lightest yellow to deepest blue of the +pines, tipped and glittering with the afternoon's sun, yet so swathed in +some invisible, harmonizing medium, that the strong contrasts of color +jarred upon no sense. All seemed to be bound by the invisible cestus +of some celestial Venus. Yet what painter would dare attempt the same? +Herein lies the particular triumph of Claude. It is said that he took his +brush and canvas into the fields, and there studied, hour after hour, into +the mysteries of that airy medium which lies between the eye and the +landscape, as also between the foreground and the background. Hence +he, more than others, succeeds in giving the green landscape and the +blue sky the same effect that God gives them. If, then, other artists +would attain a like result, let them not copy Claude, but Claude's Master. +Would that our American artists would remember that God's pictures are +nearer than Italy. To them it might be said, (as to the Christian,) "The +word is nigh thee." When we shall see a New England artist, with his +easel, in the fields, seeking, hour after hour, to reproduce on the canvas +the magnificent glories of an elm, with its firmament of boughs and +branches,--when he has learned that there is in it what is worth a +thousand Claudes--then the morning star of art will have risen on our +hills. God send us an artist with a heart to reverence his own native +mountains and fields, and to veil his face in awe when the great +Master walks before his cottage door. When shall arise the artist +whose inspiration shall be in prayer and in communion with God?--whose +eye, unsealed to behold his beauty in the natural world, shall offer +up, on canvas, landscapes which shall be hymns and ascriptions? + +By a strange perversity, people seem to think that the Author of +nature cannot or will not inspire art; but "He that formed the eye, +shall he not see? he that planted the ear, shall he not hear?" Are not +God's works the great models, and is not sympathy of spirit with the +Master necessary to the understanding of the models? + +But to continue our walk. We entered another Dutch apartment, +embellished with works by Dietrich, prettily colored, and laboriously +minute; then into a corridor devoted chiefly to the works of Rembrandt +and scholars. In this also were a number of those minute culinary +paintings, in which cabbages, brass kettles, onions, potatoes, &c., +are reproduced with praiseworthy industry. Many people are enraptured +with these; but for my part I have but a very little more pleasure in +a turnip, onion, or potato in a picture than out, and always wish that +the industry and richness of color had been bestowed upon things in +themselves beautiful. The great Master, it is true, gives these +models, but he gives them not to be looked at, but eaten. If painters +could only contrive to paint vegetables (cheaply) so that they could +be eaten, I would be willing. + +Two small saloons are next devoted to the modern Dutch and German +school. In these is Denner's head of an old woman, which Cowper +celebrates in a pretty poem--a marvel of faithful reproduction. One +would think the old lady must have sat at least a year, till he had +daguerreotyped every wrinkle and twinkle. How much better all this +labor spent on the head of a good old woman than on the head of a +cabbage! + +And now come a set of Italian rooms, in which we have some curious +specimens of the Romish development in religion; as, for instance, the +fathers Gregory, Augustine, and Jerome, meditating on the immaculate +conception of the Virgin. Think of a painter employing all his powers +in representing such a fog bank! + +Next comes a room dedicated to the works of Titian, in which two nude +Venuses, of a very different character from the de Milon, are too +conspicuous. Titian is sensuous; a Greek, but not of the highest +class. + +The next room is devoted to Paul Veronese. This Paul has quite a +character of his own--a grand old Venetian, with his head full of +stateliness, and court ceremony, and gorgeous conventionality, half +Oriental in his passion for gold, and gems, and incense. As a specimen +of the subjects in which his soul delights, take the following, which +he has wrought up into a mammoth picture: Faith, Love, and Hope, +presenting to the Virgin Mary a member of the old Venetian family of +Concina, who, after having listened to the doctrines of the +reformation, had become reconciled to the church. Here is Paul's +piety, naively displayed by giving to the Virgin all the courtly +graces of a high-born signorina. He paints, too, the Adoration of the +Magi, because it gives such a good opportunity to deal with camels, +jewels, turbans, and all the trappings of Oriental royalty. The Virgin +and Child are a small part of the affair. I like Paul because he is so +innocently unconscious of any thing _deep_ to be expressed; so +honestly intent on clothes, jewels, and colors. He is a magnificent +master of ceremonies, and ought to have been kept by some king +desirous of going down to posterity, to celebrate his royal praise and +glory. + +Another room is devoted to the works of Guido. One or two of the Ecce +Homo are much admired. To me they are, as compared with my conceptions +of Jesus, more than inadequate. It seems to me that, if Jesus Christ +should come again on earth, and walk through a gallery of paintings, +and see the representations of sacred subjects, he would say again, as +he did of old in the temple, "Take these things hence!" + +How could men who bowed down before art as an idol, and worshipped it +as an ultimate end, and thus sensualized it, represent these holy +mysteries, into which angels desired to look? + +There are many representations of Christ here, set forth in the guide +book as full of grace and majesty, which, any soul who has ever felt +his infinite beauty would reject as a libel. And as to the Virgin +Mother, one's eye becomes wearied in following the countless catalogue +of the effeminate inane representations. + +There is more pathos and beauty in those few words of the Scripture, +"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother," than in all these +galleries put together. The soul that has learned to know her from the +Bible, loving without idolizing, hoping for blest communion with her +beyond the veil, seeking to imitate only the devotion which stood by +the cross in the deepest hour of desertion, cannot be satisfied with +these insipidities. + +Only once or twice have I seen any thing like an approach towards the +representations of the _scriptural_ idea. One is this painting by +Raphael. Another is by him, and is called Madonna Maison d'Alba: of +this I have seen only a copy; it might have been painted on the words, +"Now Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." The +figure is that of a young Jewess, between girl and womanhood, in whose +air and eye are expressed at once the princess of the house of David, +the poetess, and the thoughtful sequestered maiden. She is sitting on +the ground, the book of the prophets in one hand, lying listless at +her side; the other hand is placed beneath the chin of her infant son, +who looks inquiringly into her face. She does not see him--her eye has +a sorrowful, far-darting look, as if beyond this flowery childhood she +saw the dim image of a cross and a sepulchre. This was Mary, I have +often thought that, in the reaction from the idolatry of Romanism, we +Protestants were in danger of forgetting the treasures of religious +sweetness, which the Bible has given us in her brief history. + +It seems to me the time demands the forming of a new school of art +based upon Protestant principles. For whatever vigor and originality +there might once be in art, based on Romanism, it has certainly been +worn threadbare by repetition. + +Apropos to this. During the time I was in Paris, I formed the +acquaintance of Schoeffer, whose _Christus Consolator_ and +Remumrator and other works, have made him known in America. I went +with a lady who has for many years been an intimate friend, and whose +head has been introduced into several of his paintings. On the way she +gave me some interesting particulars of him and his family. His mother +was an artist--a woman of singularly ethereal and religious character. +There are three brothers devoted to art; of these Ary is the one best +known in America, and the most distinguished. For some time, while +they were studying, they were obliged to be separated, and the mother, +to keep up the sympathy between them, used to copy the design of the +one with whom she resided for the other two. A singular strength of +attachment unites the family. + +We found Schoeffer in retired lodgings in the outskirts of Paris, and +were presented to his very pretty and agreeable English wife. In his +studio we saw a picture of his mother, a most lovely and delicate +woman, dressed in white, like one of the saints in the Revelation. + +Then we saw his celebrated picture, Francisca Rimini, representing a +cloudy, dark, infernal region, in which two hapless lovers are whirled +round and round in mazes of never-ending wrath and anguish. _His_ +face is hid from view; his attitude expresses the extreme of despair. +But she clinging to his bosom--what words can tell the depths of love, +of an anguish, and of endurance unconquerable, written in her pale +sweet face! The picture smote to my heart like a dagger thrust; I felt +its mournful, exquisite beauty as a libel on my Father in heaven. + +No. It is _not_ God who eternally pursues undying, patient love +with storms of vindictive wrath. Alas! well said Jesus, "O righteous +Father, the world hath not known thee." The day will come when it will +appear that in earth's history the sorrowing, invincible tenderness +has been all on his part and that the strange word, _long-suffering_, +means just what it says. + +Nevertheless, the power and pathos of this picture cannot be too much +praised. The coloring is beautiful, and though it pained me so much, I +felt that it was one of the most striking works of art I had seen. + +Schoeffer showed us a large picture, about half finished, in which he +represents the gradual rise of the soul through the sorrows of earth +to heaven. It consisted of figures grouped together, those nearest +earth bowed down and overwhelmed with the most crushing and hopeless +sorrow; above them are those who are beginning to look upward, and the +sorrow in their faces is subsiding into anxious inquiry; still above +them are those who, having caught a gleam of the sources of +consolation, express in their faces a solemn calmness; and still +higher, rising in the air, figures with clasped hands, and absorbed, +upward gaze, to whose eye the mystery has been unveiled, the enigma +solved, and sorrow glorified. One among these, higher than the rest, +with a face of rapt adoration, seems entering the very gate of heaven. + +He also showed us an unfinished picture of the Temptation of Christ. +Upon a clear aerial mountain top, Satan, a thunder-scarred, unearthly +figure, kneeling, points earnestly to the distant view of the kingdoms +of this world. There is a furtive and peculiar expression of eager +anxiety betrayed in his face, as if the bitterness of his own blasted +eternity could find a momentary consolation in this success. It is the +expression of a general, who has staked all his fortune on one die. Of +the figure of Jesus I could not judge, in its unfinished state. +Whether the artist will solve the problem of uniting energy with +sweetness, the Godhead with the manhood, remains to be seen. + +The paintings of Jesus are generally unsatisfactory; but Schoefier has +approached nearer towards expressing my idea than any artist I have +yet seen. + +The knowing ones are much divided about Schoeffer. Some say he is no +painter. Nothing seems to me so utterly without rule or compass as +this world of art Divided into little cliques, each with his +shibboleth, artists excommunicate each other as heartily as +theologians, and a neophyte who should attempt to make up a judgment +by their help would be obliged to shift opinions with every circle. + +I therefore look with my own eyes, for if not the best that might be, +they are the best that God has given me. + +Schoeffer is certainly a poet of a high order. His ideas are beautiful +and religious, and his power of expression quite equal to that of many +old masters, who had nothing very particular to express. + +I should think his chief danger lay in falling into mannerism, and too +often repeating the same idea. He has a theory of coloring which is in +danger of running out into coldness and poverty of effect. His idea +seems to be, that in the representation of spiritual subjects the +artist should avoid the sensualism of color, and give only the most +chaste and severe tone. Hence he makes much use of white, pale blue, +and cloudy grays, avoiding the gorgeousness of the old masters. But it +seems probable that in the celestial regions there is more, rather +than less, of brilliant coloring than on earth. What can be more +brilliant than the rainbow, yet what more perfectly free from earthly +grossness? Nevertheless, in looking at the pictures of Schoeffer there +is such a serene and spiritual charm spread over them, that one is +little inclined to wish them other than they are. No artist that I +have ever seen, not even Raphael, has more power of glorifying the +human face by an exalted and unearthly expression. His head of Joan of +Arc, at Versailles, is a remarkable example. It is a commentary on +that scripture--"And they beheld his face, as it were the face of an +angel." + +Schoeffer is fully possessed with the idea of which I have spoken, of +raising Protestant art above the wearisome imitations of Romanism. The +object is noble and important. I feel that he must succeed. + +His best award is in the judgments of the unsophisticated heart. A +painter who does not burn incense to his palette and worship his +brushes, who reverences ideas above mechanism, will have all manner of +evil spoken against him by artists, but the human heart will always +accept him. + + + + +LETTER XLIV. + +BERLIN, August 10. + +MY DEAR:-- + +Here we are in Berlin--a beautiful city. These places that kings +build, have of course, more general uniformity and consistency of +style than those that grow up by chance. The prevalence of the Greek +style of architecture, the regularity and breadth of the streets, the +fine trees, especially in the Unter den Linden, on which are our +rooms, struck me more than any thing I have seen since Paris. Why +Paris charms me so much more than other cities of similar +recommendations, I cannot say, any more than a man can tell why he is +fascinated by a lady love no fairer to his reason than a thousand +others. Perhaps it is the reflected charm of the people I knew there, +that makes it seem so sunny. + +This afternoon we took a guide, and went first through the royal +palace. The new chapel, which is being built by the present prince, is +circular in form, with a dome one hundred and thirty feet high. The +space between the doors is occupied by three circular recesses, with +figures of prophets and apostles in fresco. Over one door is the +Nativity,--over the other, the Resurrection,--also in fresco. On the +walls around were pictures somewhat miscellaneous, I thought; for +example, John Huss, St. Cecilia, Melanchthon, Luther, several women, +saints, apostles, and evangelists. These paintings are all by the +first German artists. The floor is a splendid mosaic, and the top of +the dome is richly adorned with frescoes. + +Still, though beautiful, the chapel seemed to me deficient in unity of +effect. One admires the details too much to appreciate it as a whole. +We passed through the palace rooms. Its paintings are far inferior to +those of Windsor. The finest royal paintings have gone to adorn the +walls of the Museum. There was one magnificent Vandyke, into which he +has introduced a large dog--some relief from his eternal horses. There +was David's picture of Bonaparte crossing the Alps, of which Mrs. P. +has the engraving, and you can tell her that it is much more +impressive than the painting. Opposite to this picture hangs Blucher, +looking about as amiable as one might suppose a captain of a regiment +of mastiffs. Our guide, pointing to the portrait of Napoleon, with +evident pride, said, "Blucher brought that from Paris. He said +Napoleon had carried so many pictures from other countries to Paris, +that now he should be carried away himself." + +There were portraits of Queen Louisa, very beautiful; of Queen +Victoria, a present; one of the Empress of Russia; also a statue of +the latter. The ball room contained a statue of Victory, by Ranch, a +beautiful female figure, the model of which, we were told, is his own +daughter. He had the grace to allow her some clothing, which was +fatherly, for an artist. The palace rooms were very magnificent. The +walls were covered with a damask of silk and gold, into which was +inwrought the Prussian eagle. In the crowning room was an immense +quantity of plate, in solid gold and silver. The guide seemed not a +little proud of _our_ king, princes, and palace. Men will attach +themselves to power and splendor as naturally as moss will grow on a +rock. There is, perhaps, a foundation for this in human nature-- +witness the Israelites of old, who could not rest till they obtained a +king. The Guide told us there were nine hundred rooms in the palace, +but that he should only take us through the best. We were duly +sensible of the mercy. + +Then we drove to Charlottenburg to see the Mausoleum. I know not when +I have been more deeply affected than there; and yet, not so much by +the sweet, lifelike statue of the queen as by that of the king, her +husband, executed by the same hand. Such an expression of long-desired +rest, after suffering and toil, is shed over the face!--so sweet, so +heavenly! There, where he has prayed year after year,--hoping, +yearning, longing,--there, at last, he rests, life's long anguish +over! My heart melted as I looked at these two, so long divided,--he +so long a mourner, she so long mourned,--now calmly resting side by +side in a sleep so tranquil. + +We went through the palace. We saw the present king's writing desk and +table in his study, just as he left them. His writing establishment is +about as plain as yours. Men who really mean to do any thing do not +use fancy tools. His bed room, also, is in a style of severe +simplicity. There were several engravings fastened against the wall; +and in the anteroom a bust and medallion of the Empress Eugenie--a +thing which I should not exactly have expected in a born king's +palace; but beauty is sacred, and kings cannot call it _parvenu_. +Then we went into the queen's bed room, finished in green, and then +through the rooms of Queen Louisa. Those marks of her presence, which +you saw during the old king's lifetime, are now removed: we saw no +traces of her dresses, gloves, or books. In one room, draped in white +muslin over pink, we were informed the Empress of Russia was born. + +In going out to Charlottenburg, we rode through the Thiergarten, the +Tuileries of Berlin. In one of the most quiet and sequestered spots is +the monument erected by the people of Berlin to their old king. The +pedestal is Carrara marble, sculptured with beautiful scenes called +garden pleasures--children in all manner of out-door sports, and +parents fondly looking on. It is graceful, and peculiarly appropriate +to those grounds where parents and children are constantly +congregating. The whole is surmounted by a statue of the king, in +white marble--the finest representation of him I have ever seen. +Thoughtful, yet benign, the old king seems like a good father keeping +a grave and affectionate watch over the pleasures of his children in +their garden frolics. There was something about these moss-grown +gardens that seemed so rural and pastoral, that I at once preferred +them to all I had seen in Europe. Choice flowers are planted in knots, +here and there, in sheltered nooks, as if they had grown by accident; +and an air of sweet, natural wildness is left amid the most careful +cultivation. The people seemed to be enjoying themselves less +demonstratively and with less vivacity than in France, but with a calm +inwardness. Each nation has its own way of being happy, and the style +of life in each bears a certain relation of appropriateness to +character. The trim, gay, dressy, animated air of the Tuileries suits +admirably with the mobile, sprightly vivacity of society there. Both, +in their way, are beautiful; but this seems less formal, and more +according to nature. + +As we were riding home, our guide, who was a full feathered +monarchist, told us, with some satisfaction, the number of palaces in +Prussia. Suddenly, to my astonishment, "Young America" struck into the +conversation in the person of little G. + +"We do things more economically in America. Our president don't have +sixty palaces; he has to be satisfied with one White House." + +The guide entered into an animated defence of king and country. These +palaces--did not the king keep them for the people? did he not bear +all the expense of caring for them, that they might furnish public +pleasure grounds and exhibition rooms? Had we not seen the people +walking about in them, and enjoying themselves? + +This was all true enough, and we assented. The guide continued, Did +not the king take the public money to make beautiful museums for the +people, where they could study the fine arts?--and did our government +do any such thing? + +I thought of our surplus revenue, and laid my hand on my mouth. But +yet there is a progress of democratic principle indicated by this very +understanding that the king is to hold things for the benefit of the +people. Times are altered since Louis XIV. was instructed by his +tutor, as he looked out on a crowd of people, "These are all yours;" +and since he said, "_L'élot, c'est moi_" + +Our guide seemed to feel bound, however, to exhaust himself in +comparison of our defects with their excellences. + +"Some Prussians went over to America to live," he said, "and had to +come back again; they could not live there." + +"Why not?" said I. + +"O, they said there was nothing done there but working and going to +church!" + +"That's a fact," said W., with considerable earnestness. + +"Yes," said our guide; "they said we have but one life to live, and we +want to have some comfort in it." + +It is a curious fact, that just in proportion as a country is free and +self-governed it has fewer public amusements. America and Scotland +have the fewest of any, and Italy the most. Nevertheless, I am far +from thinking that this is either necessary or desirable: the subject +of providing innocent public amusements for the masses is one that we +ought seriously to consider. In Berlin, and in all other German +cities, there are gardens and public grounds in which there are daily +concerts of a high order, and various attractions, to which people can +gain admittance for a very trifling sum. These refine the feelings, +and cultivate the taste; they would be particularly useful in America +in counteracting that tendency to a sordid materialism, which is one +of our great national dangers. + +We went over the Berlin Museum. In general style Greek--but Greek +vitalized by the infusion of the German mind. In its general +arrangements one of the most gorgeous and impressive combinations of +art which I have seen. Here are the great frescoes of Kaulbach, +Cornelius, and other German artists, who have so grafted Grecian ideas +into the German stock that the growth has the foliage and coloring of +a new plant. One set of frescoes, representing the climate and scenery +of Greece, had on me a peculiar and magical effect. Alas! there never +has been the Greece that we conceive; we see it under the soft, purple +veil of distance, like an Alpine valley embraced by cloudy mountains; +but there was the same coarse dust and _débris_ of ordinary life +there as with us. The true Arcadia lies beyond the grave. The +collection of pictures is rich in historic curiosities--valuable as +marking the progress of art. One Claude Lorraine here was a matchless +specimen--a perfect victory over all the difficulties of green +landscape painting. + + + + +LETTER XLV. + +WITTENBERG. + +MY DEAR:-- + +I am here in the station house at Wittenberg. I have been seeing and +hearing to-day for you, and now sit down to put on paper the results +of my morning. "What make you from Wittenberg?" Wittenberg! name of +the dreamy past; dimly associated with Hamlet, Denmark, the moonlight +terrace, and the Baltic Sea, by one line of Shakspeare; but made more +living by those who have thought, loved, and died here; nay, by those +who cannot die, and whose life has been life to all coming ages. + +How naturally, on reaching a place long heard of and pondered, do we +look round for something uncommon, quaint, and striking! Nothing of +the kind was here; only the dead flat of this most level scenery, with +its dreary prairie-like sameness. Certainly it was not this scenery +that stirred up a soul in Luther, and made him nail up his theses on +the Wittenberg church door. + +"But, at any rate, let us go to Wittenberg," said I; "get a guide, a +carriage, cannot you?" as I walked to one window of the station house +and another, and looked out to see something wonderful. Nothing was in +sight, however; and after the usual sputter of gutturals which +precedes any arrangement in this country, we were mounted in a high, +awkward carriage, and rode to the town. Two ancient round tower and a +wall first met my eye; then a drawbridge, arched passage, and +portcullis. Under this passage we passed, and at our right hand was +the church, where once was laid the worn form that had stood so many +whirlwinds--where, in short, Luther was buried. But this we did not +then know; so we drove by, and went to a hotel. Talked English and got +German; talked French with no better success. At last, between W., G., +and the dictionary, managed to make it understood that we wanted a +guide to the Luther relics. A guide was after a time forthcoming, in +the person of a little woman who spoke no English, whom, guide book in +hand, we followed. + +The church is ancient, and, externally, impressive enough; inside it +is wide, cold, whitewashed, prosaic; whoever gets up feeling does it +against wind and tide, so far as appearances are concerned. We advance +to the spot in the floor where our guide raises a trap door, and shows +us underneath the plate inscribed with the name of Luther, and by it +the plate recording the resting-place of his well-beloved Philip +Melanchthon; then to the grave of the Elector of Saxony, and John the +Steadfast; on one side a full length of Luther, by Lucas Cranach; on +the other, one of Melanchthon, by the same hand. Well, we have seen; +this is all; "He is not here, he is risen." "Is this all?" "All," says +our guide, and we go out. I look curiously at the old door where +Luther nailed up his theses; but even this is not the identical door; +that was destroyed by the French. Still, under that arched doorway he +stood, hammer and nails in hand; he held up his paper, he fitted it +straight; rap, rap,--there, one nail--another--it is up, and he +stands looking at it. These very stones were over that head that are +now over mine, this very ground beneath his feet. As I turned away I +gave an earnest look at the old church. Grass is growing on its +buttresses; it has a desolate look, though strong and well kept. The +party pass on, and I make haste to overtake them. + +Down we go, doing penance over the round paving stones; and our next +halt is momentary. In the market-place, before the town house, (a +huge, three-gabled building, like a beast of three horns,) stands +Luther's bronze monument; apple women and pear women, onion and beet +women, are thickly congregated around, selling as best they may. There +stands Luther, looking benignantly, holding and pointing to the open +Bible; the women, meanwhile, thinking we want fruit, hold up their +wares and talk German. But our conductress has a regular guide's trot, +inexorable as fate; so on we go. + +Wittenberg is now a mean little town; all looks poor and low; yet it +seems like a place that has seen better days. Houses, now used as +paltry shops, have, some of them, carved oaken doors, with antic +freaks of architecture, which seem to signify that their former owners +were able to make a figure in the world. In fact, the houses seem a +sort of phantasmagoria of decayed gentlefolk, in the faded, tarnished, +old-fashioned finery of the past. Our guide halts her trot suddenly +before a house, which she announces as that of Louis Cranach; then on +she goes. Louis is dead, and Magdalen, his wife, also; so there is no +one there to welcome us; on we go also. Once Louis was a man of more +consequence. + +Now we come to Luther's house--a part of the old convent. Wide yawns +the stone doorway of the court; a grinning masque grotesquely looks +down from its centre, and odd carvings from the sides. A colony of +swallows have established their nests among the queer old carvings and +gnome-like faces, and are twittering in and out, superintending their +domestic arrangements. We enter a court surrounded with buildings; +then ascend, through a strange doorway, a winding staircase, passing +small, lozenge-shaped window. Up these stairs _he_ oft trod, in +all the moods of that manifold and wonderful nature--gay, joyous, +jocose, fervent, defiant, imploring; and up these stairs have trod +wondering visitors, thronging from all parts of the world, to see the +man of the age. Up these stairs come Philip Melanchthon, Lucas +Cranach, and their wives, to see how fares Luther after some short +journey, or some new movement. Now, all past, all solitary; the stairs +dirty, the windows dim. + +[Illustration: _of Luther's room._] + +And this is Luther's room. It was a fine one in its day, that is +plain. The arched recesses of the windows; the roof, divided in +squares, and, like the walls and cornice, painted in fresco; the +windows, with their quaint, round panes,--all, though now so soiled +and dim, speak plainly of a time when life was here, and all things +wore a rich and joyous glow. In this room that great heart rejoiced in +the blessedness of domestic life, and poured forth some of those +exulting strains, glorifying the family state, which yet remain. Here +his little Magdalen, his little Jacky, and the rest made joyous +uproar. + +There stands his writing table, a heavy mass of wood; clumsy as the +time and its absurdities, rougher now than ever, in its squalid old +age, and partly chipped away by relic seekers. Here he sat; here lay +his paper; over this table was bent that head whose brain power was +the earthquake of Europe. Here he wrote books which he says were +rained, hailed, and snowed from the press in every language and +tongue. Kings and emperors could not bind the influence from this +writing table; and yet here, doubtless, he wrestled, struggled, +prayed, and such tears as only he could shed fell upon it. Nothing of +all this says the table. It only stands a poor, ungainly relic of the +past; the inspiring angel is gone upward. + +Catharine's nicely-carved cabinet, with its huge bunches of oaken +flowers hanging down between its glass panels, shows Luther's drinking +cup. There is also his embroidered portrait, on which, doubtless, she +expended much thought, as she evidently has much gold thread. I seem +to see her conceiving the bold design--she will work the doctor's +likeness. She asks Magdalen Cranach's opinion, and Magdalen asks +Lucas's, and there is a deal of discussion, and Lucas makes wise +suggestions. In the course of many fireside chats, the thing grows. +Philip and his Kate, dropping in, are shown it. Little Jacky and +Magdalen, looking shyly over their mother's shoulder, are wonderfully +impressed with the likeness, and think their mother a great woman. +Luther takes it in hand, and passes some jests upon it, which make +them laugh all round, and so at last it grows to be a veritable +likeness. Poor, faded, tarnished thing! it looks like a ghost now. + +In one corner is a work of art by Luther--no less than a stove planned +after his own pattern. It is a high, black, iron pyramid, panelled, +each panel presenting in relief some Scripture subject. Considering +the remote times, this stove is quite an affair; the figures are, some +of them, spirited and well conceived, though now its lustre, like all +else here, is obscured by dust and dirt. Why do the Germans leave this +place so dirty? The rooms of Shakspeare are kept clean and in repair; +the Catholics enshrine in gold and silver the relics of their saints, +but this Protestant Mecca is left literally to the moles and the bats. + +I slipped aside a panel in the curious old windows, and looked down +into the court surrounded by the university buildings. I fancied the +old times when students, with their scholastic caps and books, were +momently passing and repassing. I thought of the stir there was here +when the pope's bull against Luther came out, and of the pattering of +feet and commotion there were in this court, when Luther sallied out +to burn the pope's bull under the oak, just beyond the city wall near +by. The students thought it good fun; students are always progressive; +they admired the old boy for his spirit; they threw up caps and +shouted, and went out to see the ceremony with a will. Philip +Melanchthon wondered if brother Martin was not going a little too +fast, but hoped it would be overruled, and that all would be for the +best! So, coming out, I looked longingly beyond the city gate, and +wanted to go to the place of the oak tree, where the ceremony was +performed, but the party had gone on. + +[Illustration: _of Melanchthon's house._] + +Coming back, I made a pause opposite the house on which is seen the +inscription, "Here Melanchthon lived, labored, and died." A very good +house it was, too, in its day; in architecture it was not unlike this. +I went across the street to take a good look at it; then I came over, +and as the great arched door stood open, I took the liberty of walking +in. Like other continental houses, this had an arched passage running +through to a back court and a side door. A stone stairway led up from +this into the house, and a small square window, with little round +panes, looked through into the passage. A young child was toddling +about there, and I spoke to it; a man came out, and looked as if he +rather wondered what I might be about; so I retreated. Then I threaded +my way past queer peaked-roofed buildings to a paved court, where +stood the old church--something like that in Halle, a great Gothic +structure, with two high towers connected by a gallery. I entered. +Like the other church it has been whitewashed, and has few +architectural attractions. It is very large, with two galleries, one +over the other, and might hold, I should think, five thousand people. + +Here Luther preached. These walls, now so silent, rung to the rare +melody of that voice, to which the Roman Catholic writers attributed +some unearthly enchantment, so did it sway all who listened. Here, +clustering round these pillars, standing on these flags, were myriads +of human beings; and what heart-beatings, what surgings of thought, +what tempests of feeling, what aspirations, what strivings, what +conflicts shook that multitude, and possessed them as he spoke! "I +preach," he said, "not for professor this or that, nor for the elector +or prince, but for poor Jack behind the door;" and so, striking only +on the chords common to all hearts, he bowed all, for he who can +inspire the illiterate and poor, callous with ignorance and toil, can +move also the better informed. Here, also, that voice of his, which +rose above the choir and organ, sang the alto in those chorals which +he gave to the world. Monmouth, sung in this great church by five +thousand voices, must needs have a magnificent sound. + +The altar-piece is a Lord's Supper, by Louis Cranach, who appears in +the foreground as a servant. On each side are the pictures of the +Sacraments. In baptism, Melanchthon stands by a laver, holding a +dripping baby, whom he has just immersed, one of Luther's children, I +suppose, for he is standing by; a venerable personage in a long beard +holds the towel to receive the little neophyte. From all I know of +babies, I should think this form of baptism liable to inconvenient +accessories and consequences. On the other side, Luther is preaching, +and opposite, foremost of his audience are, Catharine and her little +son. Every thing shows how strictly intimate were Luther, Melanchthon, +and Cranach; good sociable times they had together. A slab elaborately +carved, in the side of the church, marks the last rest of Lucas and +Magdalen Cranach. + +I passed out of the church, and walked slowly down to the hotel, +purchasing by the way, at a mean little shop, some tolerable +engravings of Luther's room, the church, &c. To show how immutable +every thing has been in Wittenberg since Luther died, let me mention +that on coming back through the market-place, we found spread out for +sale upon a cloth about a dozen pairs of shoes of the precise pattern +of those belonging to Luther, which we had seen in Frankfort--clumsy, +rude, and heelless. I have heard that Swedenborg said, that in his +visit to the invisible world, he encountered a class of spirits who +had been there fifty years, and had not yet found out that they were +dead. These Wittenbergers, I think, must be of the same conservative +turn of mind. + +Failing to get a carriage to the station, we started to walk. I paused +a moment before the church, to make some little corrections and +emendations in my engravings, and thought, as I was doing so, of that +quite other scene years ago, when the body of Luther was borne through +this gate by a concourse of weeping thousands. These stones, on which +I was standing, then echoed all night to the tread of a closely-packed +multitude--a muffled sound, like the patter of rain among leaves. +There rose through the long, dark hours, alternately, the unrestrained +sobbings of the throng, and the grand choral of Luther's psalms, words +and music of his own. Never since the world began was so strange a +scene as that. I felt a kind of shadow from it, as I walked homeward +gazing on the flat, dreamy distance. A great windmill was creaking its +sombre, lazy vanes round and round,--strange, goblin things, these +windmills,--and I thought of one of Luther's sayings. "The heart of a +human creature is like the millstones: if corn be shaken thereon, it +grindeth the corn, and maketh good meal; but if no corn be there, then +it grindeth away itself." Luther tried the latter process all the +first part of his life; but he got the corn at last, and a magnificent +grist he made. + +Arrived at the station, we found we must wait till half past five in +the afternoon for the train. This would have been an intolerable doom +in the disconsolate precincts of an English or American station, but +not in a German one. As usual, this had a charming garden, laid out +with exquisite taste, and all glowing and fragrant with plats of +verbena, fuschias, heliotropes, mignonette, pansies, while rows of +hothouse flowers, set under the shelter of neatly trimmed hedges, gave +brightness to the scene. Among all these pretty grounds were seats and +walks, and a gardener, with his dear pipe in his mouth, was moving +about, watering his dear flowers, thus combining the two delights of a +German, flowers and smoke. These Germans seem an odd race, a mixture +of clay and spirit--what with their beer drinking and smoking, and +their slow, stolid ways, you would think them perfectly earthly; but +an ethereal fire is all the while working in them, and bursting out in +most unexpected little jets of poetry and sentiment, like blossoms on +a cactus. + +The station room was an agreeable one, painted prettily in frescoes, +with two sofas. So we arranged ourselves in a party. S. and I betook +ourselves to our embroidery, and C. read aloud to us, or tried the +Amati, and when we were tired of reading and music we strolled in the +garden, and I wrote to you. + +I wonder why we Anglo-Saxons cannot imitate the liberality of the +continent in the matter of railroad stations, and give the traveller +something more agreeable than the grim, bare, forbidding places, which +now obtain in England and America. This Wittenberg is but a paltry +town; and yet how much care is spent to make the station house +comfortable and comely! I may here say that nowhere in Europe is +railway travelling so entirely convenient as in Germany, particularly +in Prussia. All is systematic and orderly; no hurrying or shoving, or +disagreeable fuss at stations. The second class cars are, in most +points, as good as the first class in England; the conductors are +dignified and gentlemanly; you roll on at a most agreeable pace from +one handsome station house to another, finding yourself disposed to be +pleased with every thing. + +There is but one drawback to all this, and that is the smoking. +Mythologically represented, these Germans might be considered as a +race born of chimneys, with a necessity for smoking in their very +nature. A German walking without his pipe is only a dormant volcano; +it is in him to smoke all the while; you may be sure the crater will +begin to fume before long. Smoking is such an acknowledged attribute +of manhood, that the gentler sex seem to have given in to it as one of +the immutable things of nature; consequently all the public places +where both sexes meet are redolent of tobacco! You see a gentleman +doing the agreeable to a lady, cigar in mouth, treating her +alternately to an observation and a whiff, both of which seem to her +equally matters of course. In the cars some attempt at regulation +subsists; there are cars marked "_Nich rauchen_" into which +_we_ were always very careful to get; but even in these it is not +always possible to make a German suspend an operation which is to him +about the same as breathing. + +On our way from Frankfort to Halle, in a "_nich rauchen_" car, +too, a jolly old gentleman, whose joyous and abundant German sounded +to me like the clatter of a thousand of brick, wound up a kind of +promiscuous avalanche of declamation by pulling a matchbox from his +pocket, and proceeding deliberately to light his pipe. The tobacco was +detestable. Now, if a man _must_ smoke, I think he is under moral +obligation to have decent tobacco. I began to turn ill, and C. +attacked the offender in French; not a word did he understand, and +puffed on tranquil and happy. The idea that any body did not like +smoke was probably the last that could ever be made to enter his head, +even in a language that he did understand. C. then enlisted the next +neighbor, who understood French, and got him to interpret that smoke +made the lady ill. The chimney-descended man now took his pipe out, +and gazed at it and me alternately, with an air of wondering +incredulity, and seemed trying to realize some vast conception, but +failing in the effort, put his pipe back, and smoked as before! Some +old ladies now amiably offered to change places with me, evidently +regarding me as the victim of some singular idiosyncrasy. As I +changed, a light seemed to dawn on the old chimney's mind--a +good-natured one he was; he looked hard at me, and his whiffs became +fainter till at last they ceased, and he never smoked more till I was +safe out of the cars. + + + + +LETTER XLVI. + +ERFURT, Saturday Evening. + +MY DEAR:-- + +I have just been to Luther's cell in the old Augustine Convent, and if +my pilgrimage at Wittenberg was less interesting by the dirt and +discomfort of the actual present, here were surroundings less +calculated to jar on the frame the scene should inspire. It was about +sunset,--a very golden and beautiful one, and C. and I drove through +various streets of this old town. I believe I am peculiarly alive to +architectural excitements, for these old houses, with their strange +windows, odd chimneys, and quaint carvings, delight me wonderfully. +Many of them are almost gnome-like in their uncouthness; they please +me none the less for that. + +We drove first to the cathedral, which, with an old deserted church, +seemingly part of itself, forms a pile of Gothic architecture, a +wilderness of spires, minarets, arches, and what not, more picturesque +than any cathedral I have seen. It stands high on a sort of platform +overlooking a military parade ground, and reached by a long flight of +steps. + +The choir is very beautiful. I cannot describe how these lofty arches, +with their stained glass windows, touch my heart. Architecture never +can, and never will, produce their like again. They give us aspiration +in its highest form and noblest symbol, and wonderful was that mind +which conceived them. This choir so darkly bright, its stalls and +seats carved in black oak, its flame-like arches, gorgeous with +evening light, were a preparation and excitement of mind. Yet it's +remarkable about these old-time cathedrals, that while their is every +grand and solemn effect of architecture, there is also always an +abundance of subordinate parts, mean, tawdry, revolting, just like the +whole system they represent. Out of this beautiful choir I wanted to +tear all the tinsel fixtures on its altar, except two very good +pictures, and leave it in it noble simplicity. + +I remarked here a black oak chandelier, which the guide said was taken +from the cathedral of Cologne. It was the very perfection of Gothic +carving, and resembled frostwork in its lightness. The floor of the +cathedral was covered with effigies in stone, trod smooth by the feet +of worshippers; so we living ones are ever walking above the dead, +though we do not always, as here, see the outward sign thereof. + +From the cathedral we passed out, and stopped a moment to examine the +adjoining church, now deserted, but whose three graceful spires have a +peculiar beauty. After a turn upon the platform we descended, and +drove to the Augustine Convent, now used as an orphan asylum. We +ascended through a court yard, full of little children, by some steps +into a gallery, where a woman came out with her keys. We passed first +into a great hall, the walls of which were adorned with Holbein's +Dance of Death. + +From this hall we passed into Luther's room--a little cell, ten feet +square; the walls covered with inscriptions from his writings. There +we saw his inkstand, his pocket Testament, a copy of the Bible that +was presented to him, (by whom I could not understand,) splendidly +bound and illuminated. But it was the cell itself which affected me, +the windows looking out into what were the cloisters of the monastery. +Here was that struggle--that mortal agony--that giant soul convulsing +and wearing down that strong frame. These walls! to what groans, to +what prayers had they listened! Could we suppose a living human form +imperishable, capable of struggling and suffering, but not of dying, +buried beneath the whole weight of one of these gloomy cathedrals, +suffocating in mortal agony, hearing above the tramp of footsteps, the +peal of organs, the triumphant surge of chants, and vainly striving to +send up its cries under all this load,--such, it would seem, was the +suffering of this mighty soul. The whole pomp and splendor of this +gorgeous prison house was piled up on his breast, and _his_ +struggles rent the prison for the world! + +On a piece of parchment which is here kept framed is inscribed in +Luther's handwriting, in Latin, "Death is swallowed up in Victory!" +Nothing better could be written on the walls of this cell. + +This afternoon I walked out a little to observe the German Sabbath. +Not like the buoyant, voluble, social Sunday of Paris, though still +consecrated to leisure and family enjoyment more than to religious +exercises. As I walked down the streets, the doors were standing open, +men smoking their pipes, women knitting, and children playing. One +place of resort was the graveyard of an antiquated church. A graveyard +here is quite different from the solitary, dismal place where we lay +our friends, as if to signify that all intercourse with them is at an +end. Each grave was trimmed and garlanded with flowers, fastened with +long strings of black or white ribbon. Around and among the graves +men, women, and children were walking, the men smoking and chatting, +not noisily, but in a cheerful, earnest way. It seems to me that this +way of treating the dead might lessen the sense of separation. I +believe it is generally customary to attend some religious exercise +once on Sunday, and after that the rest of the day is devoted to this +sort of enjoyment. + +[Illustration: _of the Wartburg._] + +The morning we started for Eisenach was foggy and rainy. This was +unfortunate, as we were changing from a dead level country to one of +extreme beauty. The Thuringian Forest, with its high, wooded points +crowned here and there with many a castle and many a ruin, loomed up +finely through the mist, and several times I exclaimed, "There is the +Wartburg," or "That must be the Wartburg," long before we were near +it. It was raining hard when we reached Eisenach station, and engaged +a carriage to take us to the Wartburg. The mist, which wreathed +thickly around, showed us only glimpses as we wound slowly up the +castle hill--enough, however, to pique the imagination, and show how +beautiful it might be in fair weather. + +The grounds are finely kept: winding paths invite to many a charming +stroll. When about half way up, as the rain had partially subsided, I +left the carriage, and toiled up the laborious steep on foot, that I +might observe better. You approach the castle by a path cut through +the rock for about thirty or forty feet. At last I stood under a low +archway of solid stone masonry, about twenty feet thick. There had +evidently been three successive doors; the outer one was gone, and the +two inner were wonderfully massive, braced with iron, and having each +a smaller wicket door swung back on its hinges. + +As my party were a little behind, I had time to stop and meditate. I +fancied a dark, misty night, and the tramp of a party of horsemen +coming up the rocky path to the gateway; the parley at the wicket; the +unbarred doors, creaking on their rusty hinges,--one, two, three,--are +opened; in clatters the cavalcade. In the midst of armed men with +visors down, a monk in cowl and gown, and with that firm look about +the lips which is so characteristic in Luther's portraits. But here +our party came up, and the vision was dispelled. As none of us knew a +word of German, we stood rather irresolutely looking at the buildings +which, in all shapes and varieties, surround the court. I went into +one room--it was a pantry; into another--it was a wash room; into a +third--it was a sitting room, garnished with antlers, and hung round +with hard old portraits of princes and electors, and occupied by +Germans smoking and drinking beer. One is sure that in this respect +one cannot fail of seeing the place as it was in Luther's time. If +they were Germans, of course they drank beer out of tall, narrow beer +glasses; that is as immutable a fact as the old stones of the +battlement. + +"H.," said C., "did the Germans use to smoke in Luther's day?" + +"No. Why?" + +"0, nothing. Only, what could they do with themselves?" + +"I do not know, unless they drank the more beer." + +"But what could they do with their chimney-hood?" + +So saying, the saucy fellow prowled about promiscuously a while, +assailing one and another in French, to about as much purpose as one +might have tried to storm the walls with discharges of thistle down; +all smoked and drank as before. But as several other visitors arrived, +and it became evident that if we did not come to see the castle, it +was not likely we came for any thing else, a man was fished up from +some depths unknown, with a promising bunch of keys. He sallied forth +to that part of the castle which is undergoing repairs. + +Passing through bricks and mortar, under scaffolds, &c., we came to +the armory, full of old knights and steeds in complete armor; that is +to say, the armor was there, and, without peeping between the +crevices, one could hardly tell that their owners were not at home in +their iron houses. There sat the Elector of Saxony, in full armor, on +his horse, which was likewise cased in steel. There was the suit of +armor in which Constable Bourbon fell under the walls of Rome, and +other celebrated suits, some covered with fine engraved work, and some +gilded. A quantity of banners literally hung in tatters, dropping to +pieces with age. Here were the middle ages all standing. + +Then we passed up to a grand hall, which is now being restored with +great taste after the style of that day--a long, lofty room, with an +arched roof, and a gallery on one side, and beyond, a row of +Romanesque arched windows, commanding a view of the country around. +Having finished the tour of this part, we went back, ascended an old, +rude staircase, and were ushered into Luther's Patmos, about ten or +twelve feet square. The window looked down the rocky sides into an +ocean of seething mist. I opened it, but could see nothing of all +those scenes he describes so graphically from this spot. I thought of +his playful letter on the "Diet of the Rooks," but there was not a +rook at hand to illustrate antiquity. There was his bedstead and +footstool, a mammoth vertebra, and his writing table. A sculptured +chair, the back of which is carved into a cherub's head, bending +forward and shadowing with its wings the head of the sitter, was said +to be of the time of Luther, but not _his_ chair. There were some +of his books, and a rude, iron-studded clothes press. + +Thus ended for me the Lutheran pilgrimage. I had now been +perseveringly to all the shrines, and often inquired of myself whether +our conceptions are helped by such visitations. I decided the question +in the affirmative; that they are, if from the dust of the present we +can recreate the past, and bring again before us the forms as they +then lived, moved, and had their being. For me, I seem to have seen +Luther, Cranach, Melanchthon, and all the rest of them--to have talked +with them. By the by, I forgot to mention the portraits of Luther's +father and mother, which are in his cell. They show that his +_mother_ was no common woman. She puts me in mind of the mother +of Samuel J. Mills--a strong, shrewd, bright, New England character. + +I must not forget to notice, too, a little glitter of effect--a +little, shadowy, fanciful phase of feeling--that came over me when in +Luther's cell at Erfurt. The time, as I told you, was golden twilight, +and little birds were twittering and chirping around the casement, and +I thought how he might have sat there, in some golden evening, sad and +dreamy, hearing the birds chirp, and wondering why he alone of all +creation should be so sad. I have not a doubt he has done that very +thing in this very spot. + + + + +JOURNAL--(CONTINUED.) + +Monday, August 15. From Eisenach, where we dined cozily in the +railroad station house, we took the cars for Cassel. After we had +established ourselves comfortably in a _nich rauchen_ car, a +gentleman, followed by a friend, came to the door with a cigar in his +mouth. Seeing ladies, he inquired if he could smoke. Comprehending his +look and gesture, we said, "No." But as we spoke very gently, he +misunderstood us, and entered. Seeing by our looks that something was +amiss, he repeated the question more emphatically in German: "Can I +smoke? Yes, or no." "No," we answered in full chorus. Discomfited, he +retired with rather a flushed cheek. We saw him prospecting up and +down the train, hunting for a seat, followed by his _fidus +Achates_. Finally, a guard took him in tow, and after navigating a +while brought him to our door; but the gentleman recoiled, said +something in German, and passed on. Again they made the whole circuit +of the train, and then we saw the guard coming, with rather a fierce, +determined air, straight to our door. He opened it very decidedly, and +ordered the gentleman to enter. He entered, cigar and all. His friend +followed. + +"Well," said H., in English, "I suppose he must either smoke or die." + +"Ah, yes," I replied, "for the sake of saving his life we will even +let him smoke." + +"Hope the tobacco is good," added H.; and we went on reading our +"Villette," which was very amusing just then. The gentleman had his +match already lighted, and was just in the act of puffing +preliminarily when H. first spoke. I thought I saw a peculiar +expression on his friend's face. He dropped a word or two in German, +as if quite incidentally, and I soon observed that the smoking made +small progress. Pie kept the cigar in his mouth, it is true, for a +while, just to show he would smoke if he chose; but his whiffs were +fewer and fainter every minute; and after reading several chapters, +happening to cast my eye that way, the cigar had disappeared. Not long +after the friend, sitting opposite me, addressed W. in _good +English_, and they were soon well agoing in a friendly discussion +of our route. The winged word had hit the mark that time. + +We passed the night in an agreeable hotel, Roi de Prusse, at Cassel. +By the way, it occurred to us that this was where the Hessians came +from in the old revolutionary times. + +Tuesday, August 16. A long, dull ride from Cassel to Dusseldorf. + +Wednesday, August 17. Whittridge came at breakfast. The same mellow, +friendly, good-humored voice, and genial soul, I had loved years ago +in the heart of Indiana. We had a brief festival of talk about old +times, art, artists, and friends, and the tide of time rolled in and +swept us asunder. Success to his pencil in the enchanted glades of +Germany! America will yet be proud of his landscapes, as Italy of +Claude, or England of Turner. + +Ho for Anvers! (Antwerp.) Through Aix-la-Chapelle, Liége, Malines, +till nine at night. + +Thursday, August 18. What gnome's cave is this Antwerp, where I have +been hearing such strange harmonies in the air all night? We drive to +the cathedral, whose tower reminded Napoleon of Mechlin lace. What a +shower of sprinkling music drops comes from the sky above us! We must +go up and see about this. We spiralize through a tubular stairway to +an immense height--a tube of stone, like a Titanic organ pipe, filled +with waves of sound pouring down like a deluge. Undulations +tremendous, yet not intolerable: we soon learned their origin. +Reaching a small door, I turned aside, and came where the great bell +was hung, which twenty men were engaged in ringing. It was a +_fête_ day. I crept inside the frame, and stood actually under +the colossal mass, as it swung like a world in its spheric chime. A +new sense was developed, such as I had heard of the deaf possessing. I +seemed existing in a new medium. I _felt_ the sound in my lungs, +in my bones, on all my nerves to the minutest fibre, and yet it did +not stupefy nor stun me with a harsh clangor. It was _deep_, +DEEP. It was an abyss, gorgeously illuminated of velvet softness, in +which I floated. The sound was fluid like water about me. I closed my +eyes. Where was I? Had some prodigious monster swallowed me, and, like +another Jonah, had I "gone down beneath the bottoms of the mountains"? +I escaped from that perilous womb of sound, and ascended still higher. +There was the mystery of that nocturnal minstrelsy. Seventy-three +bells in chromatic diapason--with their tinkling, ringing, tolling, +knolling peal! Was not that a chime? a chime of chimes? And all these +goblin hammers, like hands and feet of sprites, rising and falling, by +magic, by hidden mechanism. + +Of all German cactus blossoms this is the most ethereal. What head +conceived those harmonies, so ghostlike? Every ten minutes, if you lie +wakeful, they wind you up in a net of silver wirework, and swing you +in the clouds; and the next time they swing you higher, and the next +higher, and when the round hour is full the giant bell strikes at the +gate of heaven to bring you home! + +But this is dreaming. Fie, fie! Let us come down to pictures, masses, +and common sense. We came down. We entered the room, and sat before +the Descent from the Cross, where the dead body of Jesus seems an +actual reality before you. The waves of the high mass came rolling in, +muffled by intervening walls, columns, corridors, in a low, mysterious +murmur. Then organ, orchestra, and choir, with rising voices urged the +mighty acclaim, till the waves seemed beating down the barriers upon +us. The combined excitement of the chimes, the painting, the music, +was too much. I seemed to breathe ether. Treading on clouds, as it +were, I entered the cathedral, and the illusion vanished. + +Friday, August 19. Antwerp to Paris. + +Saturday, August 20. H. and I take up our abode at the house of M. +Belloc, where we find every thing so pleasant, that we sigh to think +how soon we must leave these dear friends. The rest of our party are +at the Hotel Bedford. + + + + +LETTER XLVII. + +Antwerp. + +MY DEAR:-- + +Of all quaint places this is one of the most charming. I have been +rather troubled that antiquity has fled before me where I have gone. +It is a fatality of travelling that the sense of novelty dies away, so +that we do not realize that we are seeing any thing extraordinary. I +wanted to see something as quaint as Nuremberg in Longfellow's poem, +and have but just found it. These high-gabled old Flemish houses, nine +steps to each gable! The cathedral, too, affects me more in externals +than any yet. And the spire looks as I expected that of Strasbourg +would. As to the grammarye of bells and chimes, I deliver that over to +Charlie. But--I have seen Rubens's painting! Before I came to Europe, +Longfellow said to me, "You must go to Antwerp, to see Rubens." + +"I do not think I shall like Rubens," was my reply. + +"But you will, though. Yet never judge till you have been to Antwerp." + +So, during our various meanders, I kept my eye with a steady resolve +on this place. I confess I went out to see the painting without much +enthusiasm. My experience with Correggio's Notte, and some of the +celebrities of Dresden, was not encouraging. I was weary, too, with +sightseeing. I expected to find an old, dim picture, half spoiled by +cleaning, which I should be required to look into shape, by an +exercise of my jaded imagination. + +Alter coming down from hearing the chimes, we went into a side room, +and sat down before the painting. My first sensation was of +astonishment, blank, absolute, overwhelming. After all that I had +seen, I had no idea of a painting like this. I was lifted off my feet, +as much as by Cologne cathedral, or Niagara Falls, so that I could +neither reason nor think whether I was pleased or not. It is +difficult, even now, to analyze the sources of this wonderful power. +The excellence of this picture does not lie, like Raphael's, in a +certain ideal spirituality, by which the scene is raised above earth +to the heavenly sphere; but rather in a power, strong, human, almost +homely, by which, not an ideal, but the real scene is forced home upon +the heart. + +_Christ is dead_,--dead to your eye as he was to the eye of Mary +and of John. Death absolute, hopeless, is written in the faded majesty +of that face, peaceful and weary; death in every relaxed muscle. And, +surely, in painting this form, some sentiment of reverence and +devotion softened into awestruck tenderness that hand commonly so +vigorous; for, instead of the almost coarse vitality which usually +pervades his manly figures, there is shed over this a spiritualized +refinement, not less, but more than human, as if some heavenly voice +whispered, "This is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world!" +The figures of the disciples are real and individual in expression. +The sorrow is homely, earnest, unpicturesque, and grievously heart +broken. The cheek of the kneeling Mary at his feet is wet with tears. +You cannot ask yourself whether she is beautiful or not. You only see +and sympathize with her sorrow. But the apostle John, who receives +into his arms the descending form, is the most wonderful of all. +Painters that I have seen represent him too effeminately. They forget +the ardent soul whom Jesus rebuked for wishing to bring down fire from +heaven on his enemies; they forget that it was John who was called the +son of thunder, and that his emblem in the early church was the eagle. +From the spiritualized softness of his writings we have formed another +picture, forgetting that these are the writings of an aged man, in +whom the ardor of existence has been softened by long experience of +suffering, and habits of friendship with a suffering Lord. + +Rubens's conception of John is that of a vigorous and plenary manhood, +whose rush is like that of a torrent, in the very moment when his +great heart is breaking. He had loved his Master with a love like an +eternity; he had believed him; heart and soul, mind and strength--all +had he given to that kingdom which he was to set up; and he had seen +him die--die by lingering torture. And at this moment he feels it all. +There is no Christ, no kingdom--nothing! All is over. "We +_trusted_ it had been he who should have redeemed Israel." With +that miraculous, lifelike power that only Rubens has, he shows him to +us in this moment of suppressed agony; the blood choking his heart, +the veins swollen, and every muscle quivering with the grief to which +he will not give way. O, for this wonderful and deep conception, this +almost divine insight into the mysteries of that hour, one might love +Rubens. This picture cannot be engraved. No engraving is more than a +diagram, to show the places of the figures. For, besides its mesmeric +life, which no artist can reproduce, there is a balancing of colors, a +gorgeousness about it, as if he had learned coloring from the great +Master himself. Even in the overpowering human effect of this piece, +it is impossible not to perceive that every difficulty which artists +vaunt themselves on vanquishing has in this piece been conquered with +apparently instinctive ease, simply because it was habitual to do so, +and without in the least distracting the attention from the great +moral. Magical foreshortenings and wonderful effects of color appear +to be purely incidental to the expression of a great idea. I left this +painting as one should leave the work of a great religious master-- +thinking more of Jesus and of John than of Rubens. + +After this we went through many galleries and churches devoted to his +works; for Antwerp is Rubens's shrine. None of them impressed me, as +compared with this. One of his Madonnas, however, I must not forget to +describe, it was a conceit so just like him. Instead of the pale, +downcast, or upturned faces, which form the general types of Madonna, +he gives her to us, in one painting, as a gorgeous Oriental sultana, +leaning over a balcony, with full, dark eye and jewelled turban, and +rounded outlines, sustaining on her hand a brilliant paroquet. +Ludicrous as this conception appears in a scriptural point of view, I +liked it because there was life in it; because he had painted it from +an internal sympathy, not from a chalky, second-hand tradition. + +And now, farewell to Antwerp. Art has satisfied me at last. I have +been conquered, and that is enough. + +To-morrow for Paris. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XLVIII. + +PARIS, Saturday, August 20. + +MY DEAR:-- + +I am seated in my snug little room at M. Belloc's. The weather is +overpoweringly hot, but these Parisian houses seem to have seized and +imprisoned coolness. French household ways are delightful. I like +their seclusion from the street, by these deep-paved quadrangles. I +like these cool, smooth, waxed floors so much that I one day queried +with my friends, the C.'s, whether we could not introduce them into +America. L., who is a Yankee housekeeper, answered, with spirit, "No, +indeed; not while the mistress of the house has every thing to do, as +in America; I think I see myself, in addition to all my cares, on my +knees, waxing up one of these floors." + +"Ah," says Caroline, "the thing is managed better in Paris; the +_frotteur_ comes in before we are up in the morning, shod with +great brushes, and dances over the floors till they shine." + +"I am sure," said I, "here is Fourrier's system in one particular. We +enjoy the floors, and the man enjoys the dancing." + +Madame Belloc had fitted up my room with the most thoughtful care. A +large bouquet adorns the table; fancy writing materials are displayed; +and a waiter, with sirups and an extempore soda fount, one of Parisian +household refinements, stands just at my elbow. Above all, my walls +are hung with beautiful engravings from Claude and Zuccarelli. + +This house pertains to the government, and is held by M. Belloc in +virtue of his situation as director of the Imperial School of Design, +to which institution about one half of it is devoted. A public +examination is at hand, in preparing for which M. Belloc is heart and +soul engaged. This school is a government provision for the gratuitous +instruction of the working classes in art. I went into the rooms where +the works of the scholars are arranged for the inspection of the +judges. The course of instruction is excellent--commencing with the +study of nature. Around the room various plants are growing, which +serve for models, interspersed with imitations in drawing or +modelling, by the pupils. I noticed a hollyhock and thistle, modelled +with singular accuracy. As some pupils can come only at evening, M. +Belloc has prepared a set of casts of plants, which he says are +plaster daguerreotypes. By pouring warm gelatine upon a leaf, a +delicate mould is made, from which these casts are taken. He showed me +bunches of leaves, and branches of the vine, executed by them, which +were beautiful. In like manner the pupil commences the study of the +human figure, with the skeleton, which he copies bone by bone. Gutta +percha muscles are added in succession, till finally he has the whole +form. Besides, each student has particular objects given him to study +for a certain period, after which he copies them from memory. The same +course is pursued with prints and engravings. + +When an accurate knowledge of forms is gained, the pupil receives +lessons in combination. Such subjects as these are given: a vase of +flowers, a mediæval or classic vase, shields, Helmets, escutcheons, +&c., of different styles. The first prize composition was a hunting +frieze, modelled, in which were introduced fanciful combinations of +leaf and scroll work, dogs, hunters, and children. Figures of almost +every animal and plant were modelled; the drawings and modellings from +memory were wonderful, and showed, in their combination, great +richness of fancy. Scattered about the room were casts of the best +classic figures of the Louvre, placed there, as M. Belloc gracefully +remarked, not as models, but as inspirations, to cultivate the sense +of beauty. + +I was shown, moreover, their books of mathematical studies, which +looked intricate and learned, but of which I appreciated only the +delicate chirography. "And where," said I, "are these young mechanics +taught to read and write?" "In the brothers' schools," he said. Paris +is divided into regular parishes, centring round different churches, +and connected with each church is a parochial school, for boys and +girls, taught by ecclesiastics and nuns. + +With such thorough training of the sense of beauty, it may be easily +seen that the facility of French enthusiasm in aesthetics is not, as +often imagined, superficial pretence. The nerves of beauty are so +exquisitely tuned and strung that they must thrill at every touch. + +One sees this, in French life, to the very foundation of society. A +poor family will give, cheerfully, a part of their bread money to buy +a flower. The idea of artistic symmetry pervades every thing, from the +arrangement of the simplest room to the composition of a picture. At +the chateau of Madame V. the whiteheaded butler begged madame to +apologize for the central flower basket on the table. He "had not had +time to study the composition." + +The English and Americans, seeing the French so serious and intent on +matters of beauty, fancy it to be mere affectation. To be serious on a +barrel of flour, or a bushel of potatoes, we can well understand; but +to be equally earnest in the adorning of a room or the "composition" +of a bouquet seems ridiculous. But did not He who made the appetite +for food make also that for beauty? and while the former will perish +with the body, is not the latter immortal? With all New England's +earnestness and practical efficiency, there is a long withering of the +soul's more ethereal part,--a crushing out of the beautiful,--which is +horrible. Children are born there with a sense of beauty equally +delicate with any in the world, in whom it dies a lingering death of +smothered desire and pining, weary starvation. I know, because I have +felt it.--One in whom this sense has long been repressed, in coming +into Paris, feels a rustling and a waking within him, as if the soul +were trying to unfold her wings, long unused and mildewed. Instead of +scorning, then, the lighthearted, _mobile_, beauty-loving French, +would that we might exchange instructions with them--imparting our +severer discipline in religious lore, accepting their thorough methods +in art; and, teaching and taught, study together under the great +Master of all. + +I went with M. Belloc into the gallery of antique sculpture. How +wonderful these old Greeks I What set them out on such a course, I +wonder--anymore, for instance, than the Sandwich Islanders? This +reminds me to tell you that in the Berlin Museum, which the King of +Prussia is now finishing in high style, I saw what is said to be the +most complete Egyptian collection in the world; a whole Egyptian +temple, word for word--pillars, paintings, and all; numberless +sarcophagi, and mummies _ad nauseam!_ They are no more fragrant +than the eleven thousand virgins, these mummies! and my stomach +revolts equally from the odor of sanctity and of science. + +I saw there a mummy of a little baby; and though it was black as my +shoe, and a disgusting, dry thing, nevertheless the little head was +covered with fine, soft, auburn hair. Four thousand years ago, some +mother thought the poor little thing a beauty. Also I saw mummies of +cats, crocodiles, the ibis, and all the other religious +_bijouterie_ of Egypt, with many cases of their domestic +utensils, ornaments, &c. + +The whole view impressed me with quite an idea of barbarism; much more +so than the Assyrian collection. About the winged bulls there is a +solemn and imposing grandeur; they have a mountainous and majestic +nature. These Egyptian things give one an idea of inexpressible +ungainliness. They had a clumsy, elephantine character of mind, these +Egyptians. There was not wanting grace, but they seemed to pick it up +accidentally; because among all possible forms some must be graceful. +They had a kind of grand, mammoth civilization, gloomy and goblin. +They seem to have floundered up out of Nile mud, like that old, slimy, +pre-Adamite brood, the what's-their-name--_megalosaurus, +ichthyosaurus, pterodactyle, iguanodon_, and other misshapen +abominations, with now and then wreaths of lotus and water lilies +round their tusks. + +The human face, as represented in Assyrian sculptures, is a higher +type of face than even the Greek: it is noble and princely; the +Egyptian faces are broad, flat, and clumsy. If Egypt gave birth to +Greece, with her beautiful arts, then truly this immense, clumsy roc's +egg hatched a miraculous nest of loves and graces. + +Among the antiques here, my two favorites are Venus de Milon, which I +have described to you, and the Diane Chasseresse: this goddess is +represented by the side of a stag; and so completely is the marble +made alive, that one seems to perceive that a tread so airy would not +bend a flower. Every side of the statue is almost equally graceful. +The small, proud head is thrown back with the freedom of a stag; there +is a gay, haughty self-reliance, an airy defiance, a rejoicing fulness +of health and immortal youth in the whole figure. You see before you +the whole Greek conception of an immortal--a creature full of +intellect, full of the sparkle and elixir of existence, in whom the +principle of life seems to be crystallized and concentrated with a +dazzling abundance; light, airy, incapable alike of love and of +sympathy; living for self, and self only. Alas for poor souls, who, in +the heavy anguish of life, had only such goddesses to go to! How far +in advance is even the idolatry of Christianity! how different the +idea of Mary from the Diana! + +Yet, as I walked up and down among these remains of Greek art, I could +not but wonder at the spectacle of their civilization: no modern +development reproduces it, nor ever can or will. It is well to cherish +and make much of that ethereal past, as a specimen of one phase of +humanity, for it is past _forever_. Those isles of Greece, with +their gold and purple haze of light and shadow, their exquisite, +half-spiritual, half-bodily formation--islands where flesh and blood became +semi-spiritual, and where the sense of beauty was an existence--have +passed as a vision of glory, never to return. One scarcely realizes +how full of poetry was their mythology; all successive ages have drawn +on it for images of beauty without exhausting it; and painters and +artists, to this day, are fettered and repressed by vain efforts to +reproduce it. But as a religion for the soul and the heart, all this +is vain and void; all powerless to give repose or comfort. One who +should seek repose on the bosom of such a mythology is as one who +seeks to pillow himself on the many-tinted clouds of evening; soft and +beautiful as they are, there is nothing real to them but their +dampness and coldness. + +Here M. and Madame Belloc entered, and as he wanted my opinion of the +Diane, I let her read this part of the letter to him in French. You +ought to have seen M. Belloc, with tears in his eyes, defending the +old Greeks, and expounding to me, with all manner of rainbow +illustrations, the religious meanings of Greek mythology, and the +_morale_ of Greek tragedy. Such a whole souled devotion to a +nation dead and gone could never be found but in France. + +Madame Belloc was the translator of Maria Edgeworth by that lady's +desire; corresponded with her for years, and still has many of her +letters. Her translation of Uncle Tom has to me all the merit and all +the interest of an original composition. In perusing it I enjoy the +pleasure of reading the story with scarce any consciousness of its +ever having been mine. In the evening Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall called. +They are admirably matched--he artist, she author. The one writes +stories, the other illustrates them. Madame M. also called. English by +birth, she is a true _Parisienne,_ or, rather, seems to have both +minds, as she speaks both languages, perfectly. Her husband being a +learned Oriental scholar, she, like some other women enjoying similar +privileges, has picked up a deal of information, which she tosses +about in conversation, in a gay, piquant manner, much as a kitten +plays with a pin ball. + +Madame remembers Mesdames Recamier and De Stael, and told me several +funny anecdotes of the former. Madame R., she said, was always +coquetting with her own funeral; conversed with different artists on +the arrangements of its details, and tempting now one, now another, +with the brilliant hope of the "composition" of the scene. Madame M. +offered me her services as _cicerone_ to Paris, and so to-day out +we went--first to the Pantheon, of which, in her gay and piquant +style, she gave me the history. + +Begun first in the time of Louis XVI. as a church, in the revolution +its destination was altered, and it was to be a temple to the manes of +great men, and accordingly Rousseau, Voltaire, and many more are +buried here. Well, after the revolution, the Bourbons said it should +not be a temple for great men, it should be a church. The next popular +upset tipped it back to the great men again; and it staid under their +jurisdiction until Louis Napoleon, who is very pious, restored it to +the church. It is not possible to say how much further this very +characteristic rivalry between great men and their Creator is going to +extend. All I have to say is, that I should not think the church much +of an acquisition to either party. He that sitteth in the heavens must +laugh sometimes at what man calls worship. This Pantheon is, as one +might suppose from its history, a hybrid between a church and a +theatre, and of course good for neither--purposeless and aimless. The +Madeleine is another of these hybrid churches, begun by D'Ivry as a +church, completed as a temple to victory by Napoleon, and on second +thoughts, re-dedicated to God. + +After strolling about a while, the sexton, or some official of the +church, asked us if we did not want to go down into the vaults below. +As a large party seemed to be going to do the same, I said, "0, yes, +by all means; let us see it out." Our guide, with his cocked hat and +lantern, walked ahead, apparently in a now of excellent spirits. These +caverns and tombs appeared to be his particular forte, and he +magnified his office in showing them. Down stairs we went, none of us +knowing what we wanted to see, or why. Our guide steps forth, unlocks +the gate? of Hades, and we enter a dark vault with a particularly +earthy smell. Bang! he shuts the door after him. Clash! he locks it; +now we are in for it! and elevating his lantern, he commences a +deafening proclamation of some general fact concerning the very +unsavory place in which we find ourselves. Of said proclamation I hear +only the thundering _"Voilà"_ at the commencement. Next he +proceeds to open the doors of certain stone vaulted chambers, where +the great men are buried, between whose claims and their Creator's +there seems to be such an uncertainty in France. Well, here they were, +sure enough, maintaining their claim by right of possession. + +_"Voilà le tombeau de Rousseau!"_ says the guide. All walked in +piously, and stood to see a wooden tomb painted red. At one end the +tomb is made in the likeness of little doors, which stand half open, +and a hand is coming out of them holding a flambeau, by which it is +intimated, I suppose, that Rousseau in his grave is enlightening the +world. After a short proclamation here, we were shown into another +stone chamber with _"Voilà le tombeau de Voltaire!"_ This was of +wood also, very nicely speckled and painted to resemble some kind of +marble. Each corner of the tomb had a tragic mask on it, with that +captivating expression of countenance which belongs to the tragic +masks generally. There was in the room a marble statue of Voltaire, +with that wiry, sharp, keen, yet somewhat spiteful expression which +his busts commonly have. + +But our guide has finished his prelection here, and is striding off in +the plenitude of his wisdom. Now we are shown a long set of stone +apartments, provided for future great men. Considering the general +scarcity of the article in most countries, these sleeping +accommodations are remarkably ample. Nobody need be discouraged in his +attempts at greatness in Paris, for fear at last there won't be room +to bury him. After this we were marched to a place where our guide +made a long speech about a stone in the floor--very instructive, +doubtless, if I had known what it was: my Parisian friend said he +spoke with such a German accent she could not understand; so we humbly +took the stone _on trust,_ though it looked to the eye of sense +quite like any other. + +Then we were marched into a part of the vault celebrated for its echo. +Our guide here outdid himself; first we were commanded to form a line +_en militaire_ with our backs to the wall. Well, we did form +_en militaire._ I did it in the innocence of my heart, entirely +ignorant of what was to come next. Our guide, departing from that +heroic grandeur of manner which had hitherto distinguished him, +suddenly commenced screaming and hooting in a most unparalleled style. +The echo was enough to deafen one, to be sure, and the first blast of +it made us all jump. I could think of nothing but Apollyon amusing +himself at the expense of the poor pilgrims in the valley of the +shadow of death; for the exhibition was persisted in with a +pertinacity inscrutable to any wisdom except his own. It ended by a +brace of thumps on the wall, each of which produced a report equal to +a cannon; and with this salvo of artillery the exhibition finished. + +This worthy guide is truly a sublime character. Long may he live to +show the Pantheon; and when he dies, if so disagreeable an event must +be contemplated, may he have the whole of one of these stone chambers +to himself; for nothing less could possibly contain him. He regretted +exceedingly that we could not go up into the dome; but I had had +enough of stair climbing at Strasbourg, Antwerp, and Cologne, and not +even the prospect of enjoying his instructions could tempt me. + +Now this Pantheon seems to me a monument of the faults and the +weakness of this very agreeable nation. Its history shows their +enthusiasm, their hero worship, and the want of stable religious +convictions. Nowhere has there been such a want of reverence for the +Creator, unless in the American Congress. The great men of France have +always seemed to be in confusion as to whether they made God or he +made them. There is a great resemblance in some points between the +French and the ancient Athenians: there was the same excitability; the +same keen outward life; the same passion for ideas; the same spending +of life in hearing or telling some new thing; the same acuteness of +philosophical research. The old Athenians first worshipped, and then +banished their great men,--buried them and pulled them up, and did +generally a variety of things which we Anglo-Saxons should call +fantastic. There is this difference, that the Athenians had the +advantage of coming first. The French nation, born after this +development, are exposed by their very similarity of conformation, and +their consequent sympathy with the old classic style of feeling, to +become imitators. This betrays itself in their painters and sculptors, +and it is a constant impulse to a kind of idolatry, which is not in +keeping with this age, and necessarily seems absurd. When the Greeks +built altars to Force, Beauty, Victory, and other abstract ideas, they +were doing an original thing. When the French do it, they imitate the +Greeks. Apotheosis and hero worship in the old times had a freshness +to it; it was one of the picturesque effects of the dim and purple +shadows of an early dawning, when objects imperfectly seen are +magnified in their dimensions; but the apotheosis, in modern times, of +a man who has worn a dress coat, wig, and shoes is quite another +affair. + +I do not mean either to say, as some do, that the French mind has very +little of the religious element. The very sweetest and softest, as +well as the most austere and rigid type of piety has been given by the +French mind; witness Fénélon and John Calvin--Fénélon standing as the +type of the mystic, and Calvin of the rationalistic style of religion. +Fénélon, with his heart so sweet, so childlike, so simple and tender, +was yet essentially French in his nature, and represented one part of +French mind; and what English devotional writer is at all like him? +John Newton had his simplicity and lovingness, but wanted that element +of gracefulness and classic sweetness which gave so high a tone to the +writings of Fénélon. As to Calvin, his crystalline clearness of mind, +his calm, cold logic, his severe vehemence are French, also. To this +day, a French system of theology is the strongest and most coercive +over the strongest of countries--Scotland and America; and yet shallow +thinkers flippantly say the French are incapable of religious ideas. + +After Madame M. and I had finished the Pantheon we drove to the +Conciergerie; for I wanted to see the prison of the hapless Marie +Antoinette. That restless architectural mania, which never lets any +thing alone here, is rapidly modernizing it; the scaffoldings are up, +and workmen busy in making it as little historical as possible. +Nevertheless, the old, gloomy arched gateway, and the characteristic +peaked Norman towers, still remain; and we stopped our carriage the +other side of the Seine, to get a good look at it. We drove to the +door, and tried to go in, but were told that we could not without an +order from somebody or other. (I forget who;) so we were obliged to +content ourselves with an outside view. + +So we went to take another view of Notre Dame; the very same Notre +Dame whose bells in the good old days could be rung by the waving of +Michael Scott's wand:-- + + "Him listed but his wand to wave + The bells should ring in Notre Dame." + +I had been over it once before with Mrs. C., and sitting in a dark +corner, with my head against a cold, stone pillar, had heard vespers, +all in the most approved style of the poetic. I went back to it now to +see how it looked after the cathedrals of Germany. The churches of +France have suffered dreadfully by the whirlwind spirit of its +revolutions. At different times the painted glass of this church has +been shattered, and replaced by common, till now there is too much +light in it, though there are exquisite windows yet remaining. These +cathedrals _must_ have painted glass; it is essential; the want +of it is terrible; the dim, religious light is necessary to keep you +from seeing the dirty floors, hanging cobwebs, stacks of little, old +rush-bottomed chairs, and the prints where dirty heads and hands have +approached too near the stone pillars. As I sat hearing vespers in +Notre Dame the first time, seeing these all too plainly, may I be +forgiven, but I could not help thinking of Lucifer's soliloquy in a +cathedral in the Golden Legend:-- + + "What a darksome and dismal place! + I wonder that any man has the face + To call such a hole the house of the Lord + And the gate of heaven--yet such is the word. + Ceiling, and walls, and windows old, + Covered with cobwebs, blackened with mould; + Dust on the pulpit, dust on the stairs, + Dust on the benches, and stalls, and chairs." + + * * * * * + +However, Notre Dame is a beautiful church; but I wish it was under as +good care as Cologne Cathedral, and that instead of building +Madeleines and Pantheons, France would restore and preserve her +cathedrals--those grand memorials of the past. I consider the King of +Prussia as not only a national benefactor, but the benefactor of the +world. Cologne, when finished, will be the great epic of architecture, +and belong, like all great epics, to all mankind. + +Well, Madame M. and I wandered up and down the vast aisles, she with +her lively, fanciful remarks, to which there was never wanting a vein +both of shrewdness and good sense. + +When we came out of Notre Dame, she chattered about the place. "There +used to be an archbishop's palace back of the church in that garden, +but one day the people took it into their heads to pull it down. I saw +the silk-bottomed chairs floating down the Seine. They say that +somebody came and told Thiers, 'Do you know the people are rummaging +the archbishop's palace?' and he shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Let +'em work.' That's the say, you know; mind, I don't say it is true! +Well, he got enough of it at last. The fact is, that with, the French, +destructiveness is as much developed as constructiveness, and they are +as good at one as the other." + +As we were passing over one of the bridges, we saw a flower market, a +gay show of flowers of all hues, and a very brisk trade going on about +them. Madame told me that there was a flower market every day in the +week, in different parts of the city. The flower trade was more than +usually animated to-day, because it is a saint's _fête,_ the +_fête_ of St. Louis, the patron of Paris. + +The streets every where showed men, women, and children, carrying +their pots of blooming flowers. Every person in Paris named Louis or +Louise, after this saint, has received this day little tokens of +affection from their friends, generally bouquets or flowers. Madame +Belloc is named Louise, and her different friends and children called +and brought flowers, and a beautiful India China vase. + +The life of Paris, indeed of the continent, is floral, to an extent of +which the people in the United States can form no conception. Flowers +are a part of all their lives. The churches are dressed with flowers, +and on _fête_ days are fragrant with them. A _jardinière_ +forms a part of the furniture of every parlor; a _jardinière_ is +a receptacle made in various fanciful forms for holding pots of +flowers. These pots are bought at the daily flower market for a +trifle, in full bloom and high condition; they are placed in the +_jardinière,_ the spaces around them filled with sand and covered +with moss. + +Again, there are little hanging baskets suspended from the ceilings, +and filled with flowers. These things give a graceful and festive air +to apartments. When the plants are out of bloom, the porter of the +house takes them, waters, prunes, and tends them, then sells them +again: meanwhile the parlor is ornamented with fresh ones. Along the +streets on saints' days are little booths, where small vases of +artificial flowers are sold to dress the altars. I stopped to look at +one of these stalls, all brilliant with cheaply-made, showy vases of +flowers, that sell for one or two sous. + +We went also to the National Academy of Fine Arts, a government school +for the gratuitous instruction of artists, a Grecian building, with a +row of all the distinguished painters in front. + +In the doorway, as we came in, was an antique, headless statue of +Minerva; literally it was Minerva's _gown_ standing up--a pillar +of drapery, nothing more, and drapery soiled, tattered, and battered; +but then it was an antique, and that is enough. Now, when antique +things are ugly, I do not like them any better for being antique, and +I should rather have a modern statue than Minerva's old gown. We went +through all the galleries in this school, in one of which the prize +pieces of scholars are placed. Whoever gets one of these prizes is +sent to study in Rome at the expense of the government. We passed +through the hall where the judges sit to decide upon pictures, and +through various others that I cannot remember. I was particularly +interested in the apartment devoted to the casts from the statuary in +the Louvre and in other palaces. These casts are taken with +mathematical exactness, and subjected to the inspection of a +committee, who order any that are defective to be broken. Proof casts +of all the best works, ancient and modern, are thus furnished at a +small price, and so brought within the reach of the most moderate +means. + +This morning M. and Madame Belloc took me with them to call on +Béranger, the poet. He is a charming old man, very animated, with a +face full of feeling and benevolence, and with that agreeable +simplicity and vivacity of manner which is peculiarly French. It was +eleven o'clock, but he had not yet breakfasted; we entreated him to +waive ceremony, and so his maid brought in his chop and coffee, and we +all plunged into an animated conversation. Béranger went on conversing +with shrewdness mingled with childlike simplicity, a blending of the +comic, the earnest, and the complimentary. Conversation in a French +circle seems to me like the gambols of a thistle down, or the rainbow +changes in soap bubbles. One laughs with tears in one's eyes. One +moment confounded with the absolute childhood of the simplicity, in +the next one is a little afraid of the keen edge of the shrewdness. +This call gave me an insight into a French circle which both amused +and delighted me. Coming home, M. Belloc enlarged upon Beranger's +benevolence and kindness of heart. "No man," he said, "is more +universally popular with the common people. He has exerted himself +much for the families of the unfortunate deportes to Cayenne." Then he +added, laughing, "A mechanic, one of my model sitters, was dilating +upon his goodness--'What a man! what sublime virtue! how is he +beloved! Could I live to see his funeral! _Quelle spectacle! Quelle +grande emotion!'"_ + +At tea, Madame M. commented on the manners of a certain English lady +of our acquaintance. + +"She's an actress; she's too affected!" + +Madame Belloc and I defended her. + +"Ah," said M. Belloc, "you cannot judge; the French are never natural +in England, nor the English in France. Frenchmen in England are stupid +and cross, trying to be dignified; and when the English come to +France, it's all guitar playing and capering, in trying to have +_esprit._" + +But it is hard to give a conversation in which the salient points are +made by a rapid pantomime, which effervesces like champagne. + +Madame Belloc and Madame M. agree that the old French _salon_ is +no more; that none in the present iron age can give the faintest idea +of the brilliancy of the institution in its palmiest days. The horrors +and reverses of successive revolutions, have thrown a pall over the +French heart. + +I have been now, in all, about a month in this gay and flowery city, +seeing the French people, not in hotels and _cafes,_ but in the +seclusion of domestic life; received, when introduced, not with +ceremonious distance, as a stranger, but with confidence and +affection, as a friend. + +Though, according to the showing of my friends, Paris is empty of many +of her most brilliant ornaments, yet I have been so fortunate as to +make the acquaintance of many noble and justly celebrated people, and +to feel as if I had gained a real insight into the French heart. + +I liked the English and the Scotch as well as I could like any thing. +And now, I equally like the French. Exact opposites, you will say. For +that reason all the more charming. The goodness and beauty of the +divine mind is no less shown in the traits of different races than of +different tribes of fruits and flowers. And because things are exact +opposites, is no reason why we should not like both. The eye is not +like the hand, nor the ear like the foot; yet who condemns any of them +for the difference? So I regard nations as parts of a great common +body, and national differences as necessary to a common humanity. + +I thought, when in English society, that it was as perfect and +delightful as it could be. There was worth of character, strength of +principle, true sincerity, and friendship, charmingly expressed. I +have found all these, too, among the French, and besides them, +something which charms me the more, because it is peculiar to the +French, and of a kind wholly different from any I have ever had an +experience of before. There is an iris-like variety and versatility of +nature, a quickness in catching and reflecting the various shades of +emotion or fancy, a readiness in seizing upon one's own half-expressed +thoughts, and running them out in a thousand graceful little tendrils, +which is very captivating. + +I know a general prejudice has gone forth, that the French are all +mere outside, without any deep reflection or emotion. This may be true +of many. No doubt that the strength of that outward life, that +acuteness of the mere perceptive organization, and that tendency to +social exhilaration, which prevail, will incline to such a fault in +many cases. An English reserve inclines to moroseness, and Scotch +perseverance to obstinacy; so this aerial French nature may become +levity and insincerity; but then it is neither the sullen Englishman, +the dogged Scotchman, nor the shallow Frenchman that we are to take as +the national ideal. In each country we are to take the very best as +the specimen. + +Now, it is true that, here in France, one can find people as +judicious, quiet, discreet, and religious, as any where in the world; +with views of life as serious, and as earnest, not living for pretence +or show, but for the most rational and religious ends. Now, when all +this goodness is silvered over, as it were, reflecting like mother-of-pearl +or opal, a thousand fanciful shades and changes, is not the result +beautiful? Some families into which I have entered, some persons with +whom I have talked, have left a most delightful impression upon my mind; +and I have talked, by means of imperfect English, French, and +interpretations, with a good many. They have made my heart bleed over +the history of this most beautiful country. It is truly mournful that a people +with so many fine impulses, so much genius, appreciation, and effective +power, should, by the influence of historical events quite beyond the +control of the masses, so often have been thrown into a false position +before the world, and been subjected to such a series of agonizing +revulsions and revolutions. + +"O, the French are half tiger, half monkey!" said a cultivated +American to me the other day. Such remarks cut me to the heart, as if +they had been spoken of a brother. And when they come from the mouth +of an American, the very shade of Lafayette, it would seem, might rise +and say, "_Et tu, Brute!_" + +It is true, it is a sarcasm of Voltaire's; but Voltaire, though born a +Frenchman, neither imbodied nor was capable of understanding the true +French ideal. The French _head_ he had, but not the French heart. +And from his bitter judgment we might appeal to a thousand noble +names. The generous Henri IV., the noble Sully, and Bayard the knight +_sans peur et sans reproche_, were these half tiger and half +monkey? Were John Calvin and Fénélon half tiger and half monkey? +Laplace, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Cuvier, Des Cartes, Malebranche, +Arago--what were they? The tree of history is enriched with no nobler +and fairer boughs and blossoms than have grown from the French stock. + +It seems a most mysterious providence that some nations, without being +wickeder than others, should have a more unfortunate and disastrous +history. + +The woes of France have sprung from the fact that a Jezebel de Medici +succeeded in exterminating from the nation that portion of the people +corresponding to the Puritans of Scotland, England, and Germany. The +series of persecutions which culminated in the massacre of St. +Bartholomew, and ended with the dragonades under Louis XIV., drained +France of her lifeblood. Other nations have profited by the treasures +then cast out of her, and she has remained poor for want of them. Some +of the best blood in America is of the old Huguenot stock. Huguenots +carried arts and manufactures into England. An expelled French refugee +became the theological leader of Puritanism in England, Scotland, and +America; and wherever John Calvin's system of theology has gone, civil +liberty has gone with it; so that we might almost say of France, as +the apostle said of Israel, "If the fall of them be the riches of the +world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how +much more their fulness!" + +When the English and Americans sneer at the instability, turbulence, +and convulsions of the French nation for the last century, let us ask +ourselves what our history would have been had the "Gunpowder Plot" +succeeded, and the whole element of the reformation been exterminated. +It is true, vitality and reactive energy might have survived such a +process; but that vitality would have shown itself just as it has in +France--in struggles and convulsions. The frequent revolutions of +France are not a thing to be sneered at; they are not evidences of +fickleness, but of constancy; they are, in fact, a prolonged struggle +for liberty, in which there occur periods of defeat, but in which, +after every interval of repose, the strife is renewed. Their great +difficulty has been, that the destruction of the reformed church in +France took out of the country entirely that element of religious +rationalism which is at once conservative and progressive. + +There are three forces which operate in society: that of blind faith, +of reverent religious freedom, and of irreverent scepticism. Now, +since the human mind is so made that it must have religion, when this +middle element of reasonable religious freedom is withdrawn, society +vibrates, like a pendulum, between scepticism and superstition; the +extreme of superstition reacting to scepticism, and then the +barrenness of scepticism reacting again into superstition. When the +persecutions in France had succeeded in extinguishing this middle +element, then commenced a series of oscillations between religious +despotism and atheistic license, which have continued ever since. The +suppression of all reasonable religious inquiry, and the consequent +corruption of the church, produced the school of Voltaire and his +followers. The excesses of that school have made devout Catholics +afraid of the very beginning of religious rationalism; and these +causes act against each other to this day. + +The revolution in England, under Cromwell, succeeded, because it had +an open Bible and liberty of conscience for its foundation, and united +both the elements of faith and of reason. The French revolution had, +as Lamartine says, Plutarch's Lives for its Bible, and the great +unchaining of human passion had no element of religious control. Plad +France, in the time of her revolution, had leaders like Admiral +Coligny, her revolution might have prospered as did England's under +Cromwell. But these revolutions, needlessly terrible as they have +been, still have accomplished something; without them France might +have died away into what Spain is. As it is, progress has been made, +though at a fearful sacrifice. No country has been swept cleaner of +aristocratic institutions, and the old bastiles and prisons of a past +tyranny. The aspiration for democratic freedom has been so thoroughly +sown in France, that it never will be rooted up again. How to get it, +and how to _keep_ it when it is got, they do not yet clearly see; +but they will never rest till they learn. There is a liberty of +thought and of speech in France which the tongue-tied state of the +press cannot indicate. Could France receive the Bible--could it be +put into the hands of all the common people--_that_ might help +her. And France is receiving the Bible. Spite of all efforts to the +contrary, the curiosity of the popular mind has been awakened; the +yearnings of the popular heart are turning towards it; and therein lie +my best hopes for France. + +One thing more I would say. Since I have been here, I have made the +French and continental mode of keeping Sunday a matter of calm, +dispassionate inquiry and observation. I have tried to divest myself +of the prejudices--if you so please to call them--of my New England +education--to look at the matter sympathetically, in the French or +continental point of view, and see whether I have any occasion to +revise the opinions in which I had been educated. I fully appreciate +all the agreeableness, the joyousness, and vivacity of a day of +recreation and social freedom, spent in visiting picture galleries and +public grounds, in social _réunions_ and rural excursions. I am +far from judging harshly of the piety of those who have been educated +in these views and practices. But, viewing the subject merely in +relation to things of this life, I am met by one very striking fact: +there is not a single nation, possessed of a popular form of +government, which has not our Puritan theory of the Sabbath. +Protestant Switzerland, England, Scotland, and America cover the whole +ground of popular freedom; and in all these this idea of the Sabbath +prevails with a distinctness about equal to the degree of liberty. Nor +do I think this result an accidental one. If we notice that the +Lutheran branch of the reformation did not have this element, and the +Calvinistic branch, which spread over England and America, did have +it, and compare the influence of these two in sustaining popular +rights, we shall be struck with the obvious inference. + +Now, there are things in our mode of keeping the Sabbath which have a +direct tendency to sustain popular government; for the very element of +a popular government must be self-control in the individual. There +must be enough intensity of individual self-control to make up for the +lack of an extraneous pressure from government. The idea of the +Sabbath, as observed by the Puritans, is the voluntary dissevering of +the thoughts and associations from the things of earth for one day in +seen, and the concentrating of the mind on purely spiritual subjects. +In all this there is a weekly recurring necessity for the greatest +self-control. No way could be devised to educate a community to be +thoughtful and reflective better than the weekly recurrence of a day +when all stimulus, both of business and diversion, shall be withdrawn, +and the mind turned in upon itself. The weekly necessity of bringing +all business to a close tends to give habits of system and exactness. +The assembling together for divine worship, and for instruction in the +duties of Christianity, is a training of the highest and noblest +energies of the soul. Even that style of abstract theologizing +prevailing in New England and Scotland, which has grown out of Sabbath +sermonizing, has been an incalculable addition to the strength and +self-controlling power of the people. + +Ride through France, you see the laborer in his wooden shoes, with +scarce a thought beyond his daily toil. His Sunday is a _féte_ +for dancing and recreation. Go through New England, and you will find +the laborer, as he lays his stone fence, discussing the consistency of +foreordination with free will, or perchance settling some more +practical mooted point in politics. On Sunday this laborer gets up his +wagon, and takes his wife and family to church, to hear two or three +sermons, in each of which there are more elements of mental discipline +than a French peasant gets in a whole lifetime. It is a shallow view +of theological training to ask of what practical use are its +metaphysical problems. Of what practical value to most students is +geometry? On the whole, I think it is the Puritan idea of the Sabbath, +as it prevails in New England, that is one great source of that +individual strength and self-control which have supported so far our +democratic institutions. + +In regard to the present state of affairs here, it has been my lot to +converse unreservedly with some of all parties sufficiently to find +the key note of their thoughts. There are, first, the Bourbonists--mediaeval +people--believers in the divine right of kings in general, and of the +Bourbons in particular. There are many of them exceedingly interesting. +There is something rather poetic and graceful about the antique cast of +their ideas; their chivalrous loyalty to an exiled family, and their devout +belief of the Catholic religion. These, for the most part, keep out of Paris, +entirely ignore the present court, and remain in their chateaus in the +country. A gentleman of this class, with whom I talked, thought the +present emperor did very well in keeping other parties out till the time +should come to strike a blow for the true king. + +Then there are the partisans and friends of the Orleans family. I +heard those who spoke, even with tears, of Louis Philippe and his +dynasty. They were patrons of letters and of arts, they say, of virtue +and of religion; and these good, faithful souls cling lovingly to +their memory. + +And then there are the republicans--men of the real olden time, +capable of sacrificing every thing that heart holds dear for a +principle; such republicans as were our fathers in all, save their +religion, and because lacking that, losing the chief element of +popular control. Nevertheless, grander men have never been than some +of these modern republicans of France; Americans might learn many +lessons from them. + +Besides all these there is another class, comparatively small, having +neither the prestige of fashion, rank, or wealth, but true, humble, +evangelical Christians, in whom the simplicity and spirituality of the +old Huguenot church seems revived. These men are laboring at the very +foundation of things; laboring to bring back the forgotten Bible; +beginning where Christ began, with preaching the gospel to the poor. +If any would wish to see Christianity in its loveliest form, they +would find it in some of these humble laborers. One, with whom I +conversed, devotes his time to the _chiffoniers,_ (rag pickers.) +He gave me an account of his labors, speaking with such tenderness and +compassion, that it was quite touching. "My poor people," he said, +"they are very ignorant, but they are not so very bad." And when I +asked him, "Who supports you in your labors?" he looked upward, with +one of those quick, involuntary glances by which the French express +themselves without words. There was the same earnestness in him as in +one of our city missionaries, but a touching grace peculiarly +national. It was the piety of Fénélon and St. John. And I cannot +believe that God, who loves all nations alike, and who knows how +beautifully the French mind is capable of reflecting the image of +Jesus, will not yet shine forth upon France, to give the light of the +knowledge of his glory in the face of Christ. + +It was the testimony of all with whom I conversed, that the national +mind had become more and more serious for many years past. Said a +French gentleman to me one evening, "The old idea of _l'homme +d'esprit_ of Louis XIV.'s time, the man of _bon-mots_, bows, +and _salons_, is almost passed away; there is only now and then a +specimen of it left. The French are becoming more earnest and more +religious." In the Roman Catholic churches which I attended, I saw +very full audiences, and great earnestness and solemnity. I have +talked intimately, also, with Roman Catholics, in whom I felt that +religion was a real and vital thing. One of them, a most lovely lady, +presented me with the Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, as a +ground on which we could both unite. + +I have also been interested to see in these French Catholics, in its +most fervent form, the exhibition of that antislavery spirit which, in +other ages, was the boast of that church. One charming friend took me +to the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, pointing out with great +interest the statues and pictures of saints who had been distinguished +for their antislavery efforts in France. In a note expressing her warm +interest in the cause of the African slave, she says, "It is a +tradition of our church, that of the three kings which came to worship +Jesus in Bethlehem, one was black; and if Christians would kneel +oftener before the manger of Bethlehem they would think less of +distinctions of caste and color." + +Madame Belloc received, a day or two since, a letter from a lady in +the old town of Orleans, which gave name to Joan of Arc, expressing +the most earnest enthusiasm in the antislavery cause. Her prayers, she +says, will ascend night and day for those brave souls in America who +are conflicting with this mighty injustice. + +A lady a few days since called on me, all whose property was lost in +the insurrection at Hayti, but who is, nevertheless, a most earnest +advocate of emancipation. + +A Catholic lady, in a letter, inquired earnestly, why in my Key I had +not included the Romish clergy of the United States among the friends +of emancipation, as that, she said, had been always the boast of their +church. I am sorry to be obliged to make the reply, that in America +the Catholic clergy have never identified themselves with the +antislavery cause, but in their influence have gone with the +multitude. + +I have received numerous calls from members of the Old French +Abolition Society, which existed here for many years. Among these I +met, with great interest, M. Dutrone, its president; also M. ----, who +presented me with his very able ethnological work on the distinctive +type of the negro race. One gentleman, greatly distressed in view of +the sufferings of the negro race in America, said, naively enough, to +Mrs. C., that he had heard that the negroes had great capability for +music, dancing, and the fine arts, and inquired whether something +could not be done to move sympathy in their behalf by training them to +exhibit characteristic dances and pantomimes. Mrs. C. quoted to him +the action of one of the great ecclesiastical bodies in America, in +the same breath declining to condemn slavery, but denouncing dancing +as so wholly of the world lying in wickedness as to require condign +ecclesiastical censure. The poor man was wholly lost in amazement. + +In this connection, I cannot but notice, to the credit of the French +republican provisional government, how much more consistent they were +in their attachment to the principles of liberty than ever our own has +been. What do we see in our own history? Our northern free states +denouncing slavery as a crime, confessedly inconsistent with their +civil and religious principles, yet, for commercial and pecuniary +considerations, deliberately entering into a compact with slaveholders +tolerating a twenty years' perpetuation of the African slave trade, +the rendition of fugitives, the suppression of servile insurrections, +and allowing to the slaveholders a virtual property basis of +representation. It should qualify the contempt which some Americans +express of the French republic, that when the subject of the slave +colonies was brought up, and it was seen that consistency demanded +immediate emancipation, they immediately emancipated; and not only so, +but conferred at once on the slaves the elective franchise. + +This point strongly illustrates the difference, in one respect, +between the French and the Anglo-Saxons. As a race the French are less +commercial, more ideal, more capable of devotion to abstract +principles, and of following them out consistently, irrespective of +expediency. + +There is one thing which cannot but make one indignant here in Paris, +and which, I think, is keenly felt by some of the best among the +French; and that is, the indifference of many Americans, while here, +to their own national principles of liberty. They seem to come to +Paris merely to be hangers on and applauders in the train of that +tyrant who has overthrown the hopes of France. To all that cruelty and +injustice by which thousands of hearts are now bleeding, they appear +entirely insensible. They speak with heartless levity of the +revolutions of France, as of a pantomime got up for their diversion. +Their time and thoughts seem to be divided between defences of +American slavery and efforts to attach themselves to the skirts of +French tyranny. They are the parasites of parasites--delighted if they +can but get to an imperial ball, and beside themselves if they can +secure an introduction to the man who figured as a _roué_, in the +streets of New York. Noble-minded men of all parties here, who have +sacrificed all for principle, listen with suppressed indignation, +while young America, fresh from the theatres and gambling saloons, +declares, between the whiffs of his cigar, that the French are not +capable of free institutions, and that the government of Louis +Napoleon is the best thing France could have. Thus from the plague- +spot at her heart has America become the propagandist of despotism in +Europe. Nothing weighs so fearfully against the cause of the people of +Europe as this kind of American influence. Through almost every city +of Europe are men whose great glory it appears to be to proclaim that +they worship the beast, and wear his name in their foreheads. I have +seen sometimes, in the forests, a vigorous young sapling which had +sprung up from the roots of an old, decaying tree. So, unless the +course of things alters much in America, a purer civil liberty will +spring up from her roots in Europe, while her national tree is blasted +with despotism. It is most affecting, in moving through French +circles, to see what sadness, what anguish of heart, lies under that +surface which seems to a stranger so gay. Each revolution has cut its +way through thousands of families, ruining fortunes, severing domestic +ties, inflicting wounds that bleed, and will bleed for years. I once +alluded rather gayly to the numerous upsets of the French government, +in conversation with a lady, and she laughed at first, but in a moment +her eyes filled with tears, and she said, "Ah, you have no idea what +these things are among us." In conversation nothing was more common +than the remark, "I shall do so and so, provided things hold out; but +then there is no telling what will come next." + +On the minds of some there lie deep dejection and discouragement. +Some, surrounded by their growing families, though they abhor the +tyranny of the government, acquiesce wearily, and even dread change +lest something worse should arise. + +We know not in America how many atrocities and cruelties that attended +the _coup d'etat_ have been buried in the grave which intombed +the liberty of the press. I have talked with eye witnesses of those +scenes, men who have been in the prisons, and heard the work of +butchery going on in the prison yards in the night. While we have been +here, a gentleman to whom I had been introduced was arrested, taken +from bed by the police, and carried off, without knowing of what he +was accused. His friends were denied access to him, and on making +application to the authorities, the invariable reply was, "Be very +quiet about it. If you make a commotion his doom is sealed." When his +wife was begging permission for a short interview, the jailer, wearied +with her importunities, at last exclaimed unguardedly, "Madam, there +are two hundred here in the same position; what would you have me do?" +[Footnote: That man has remained in prison to this day.] + +At that very time an American traveller, calling on us, expatiated at +length on the peaceful state of things in Paris--on the evident +tranquillity and satisfaction universally manifest. + + + + +JOURNAL--(Continued.) + +Saturday, August 27. Left Paris with H., the rest of our party having +been detained. Reached Boulogne in safety, and in high spirits made +our way on board the steamer, deposited our traps below, came on deck, +and prepared for the ordeal. A high north-wester had been blowing all +day, and as we ran along behind the breakwater, I could see over it +the white and green waves fiendishly running, and showing their malign +eyes sparkling with hungry expectation. "Come out, come out!" they +seemed to say; "come out, you little black imp of a steamer; don't be +hiding behind there like a coward. We dare you to come out here and +give us a chance at you--we will eat you up, as so many bears would +eat a lamb." + +And sure enough, the moment her bows passed beyond the pier, the sea +struck her, and tossed her like an eggshell, and the deck, from stem +to stern, was drenched in a moment, and running with floods as if she +had been under water. For a few moments H. and I both enjoyed the +motion. We stood amidships, she in her shawl, I in a great tarpauling +which I had borrowed of Jack, and every pitch sent the spray over us. +We exulted that we were not going to be sick. Suddenly, however, so +suddenly that it was quite mysterious, conscience smote me. A +profound, a deep-seated remorse developed itself just exactly in the +deepest centre of the pit of my stomach. + +"H.," said I, with a decided, grave air, "I'm going to be seasick." + +"So am I," said she, as if struck by the same convictions that had +been impressed on me. We turned, and made our way along the leeward +quarter, to a seat by the bulwarks. I stood holding on by the +railrope, and every now and then addressing a few incoherent and +rather guttural, not to say pectoral, remarks to the green and gloomy +sea, as I leaned over the rail. After every paroxysm of +communicativeness, (for in seasickness the organ of secretiveness +gives way,) I regained my perpendicular, and faced the foe, with a +determination that I would stand it through--that the grinning, +howling brine should get no more secrets out of me. And, in fact, it +did not. + +Meanwhile, what horrors--what complicated horrors--did not that +crowded deck present! Did the priestly miscreants of the middle ages +ever represent among the torments of purgatory the deck of a channel +steamer? If not, then they forgot the "lower deep," that Satan +doubtless thought about, according to Milton. + +There were men and women of every age and complexion, with faces of +every possible shade of expression. Defiance, resolute and stern, +desperate resolves never to give in, and that very same defiant +determination sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought. A deep +abyss of abdominal discontent, revealing afar the shadow, the +penumbra, of the approaching retch. And there were _bouleversements,_ +and hoarse confidences to the sea of every degree of misery. The wind +was really risen quite to a gale, and the sea ran with fearful power. Two +sailors, standing near, said, "I wouldn't say it only to you, Jack, but +in all the time I've crossed this here channel, I've seen nothin' like +this." + +"Nor I neither," was the reply. + +About mid channel a wave struck the windward quarter, just behind the +wheel, with a stroke like a rock from a ballista, smashed in the +bulwarks, stove the boat, which fell and hung in the water by one end, +and sent the ladies, who were sitting there with boxes, baskets, +shawls, hats, spectacles, umbrellas, cloaks, down to leeward, in a +pond of water. One girl I saw with a bruise on her forehead as large +as an egg, and the blood streaming from her nostrils. Shrieks +resounded, and for a few moments, we had quite a tragic time. + +About this time H. gave in, and descended to Tartarus, where the floor +was compactly, densely stowed with one mass of heaving wretches, with +nothing but washbowls to relieve the sombre mosaic. How H. fared there +she may tell; I cannot. I stood by the bulwark with my boots full of +water, my eyes full of salt spray, and my heart full of the most +poignant regret that ever I was born. Alas! was that channel a channel +at all? Had it two shores? Was England over there, where I saw nothing +but monstrous, leaping, maddening billows, saying, "We are glad of it; +we want you; come on here; we are waiting for you; we will serve you +up"? + +At last I seriously began to think of Tartarus myself, and of a calm +repose flat on my back, such as H. told of in his memorable passage. +But just then, dim and faint on the horizon, I thought I discerned the +long line of a bank of land. It was. This was a channel; that was the +shore. England had not sunk. I stood my ground; and in an hour we came +running, bounding, and rolling towards the narrow mouth of the +Folkstone pier heads. + + + + +LETTER XLIX + +LONDON. + +MY DEAR:-- + +Our last letters from home changed all our plans. We concluded to +hurry away by the next steamer, if at that late hour we could get +passage. We were all in a bustle. The last shoppings for aunts, +cousins, and little folks were to be done by us all. The Palais Royal +was to be rummaged; bronzes, vases, statuettes, bonbons, +playthings--all that the endless fertility of France could show--was +to be looked over for the "folks at home." + +You ought to have seen our rooms at night, the last evening we spent +in Paris. When the whole gleanings of a continental tour were brought +forth for packing, and compared with the dimensions of original +trunks--ah, what an hour was that! Who should reconcile these +incongruous elements--bronzes, bonnets, ribbons and flowers, plaster +casts, books, muslins and laces--elements as irreconcilable as fate +and freedom; who should harmonize them? And I so tired! + +"Ah," said Jladame B., "it is all quite easy; you must have a packer." + +"A packer?" + +"Yes. He will come, look at your things, provide whatever may be +necessary, and pack them all." + +So said, so done. The man came, saw, conquered; he brought a trunk, +twine, tacks, wrapping paper, and I stood by in admiration while he +folded dresses, arranged bonnets, caressingly enveloped flowers in +silk paper, fastened refractory bronzes, and muffled my plaster +animals with reference to the critical points of ears and noses,--in +short, reduced the whole heterogeneous assortment to place and +proportion, shut, locked, corded, labelled, handed me the keys, and it +was done. The charge for all this was quite moderate. + +How we sped across the channel C. relates. We are spending a few very +pleasant days with our kind friends, the L.'s, in London. + +ON BOARD THE ARCTIC, Wednesday, September 7. + +On Thursday, September 1, we reached York, and visited the beautiful +ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, and the magnificent cathedral. How +individual is every cathedral! York is not like Westminster, nor like +Strasbourg, nor Cologne, any more than Shakspeare is like Milton, or +Milton like Homer. In London I attended morning service in +Westminster, and explored its labyrinths of historic memories. The +reading of the Scriptures in the English tongue, and the sound of the +chant, affected me deeply, in contrast with the pictorial and dramatic +effects of Romanism in continental churches. + +As a simple matter of taste, Protestantism has made these buildings +more impressive by reducing them to a stricter unity. The multitude of +shrines, candlesticks, pictures, statues, and votive offerings, which +make the continental churches resemble museums, are constantly at +variance with the majestic grandeur of the general impression. Therein +they typify the church to which they belong, which has indeed the +grand historic basis and framework of Christianity, though overlaid +with extraneous and irrelevant additions. + +This Cathedral of York has a severe grandeur peculiar to itself. I saw +it with a deep undertone of feeling; for it was the last I should +behold. + +No one who has appreciated the wonders of a new world of art and +association can see, without emotion, the door closing upon it, +perhaps forever. I lingered long here, and often turned to gaze again; +and after going out, went back, once more, to fill my soul with a +last, long look, in which I bade adieu to all the historic memories of +the old world. I thought of the words, "We have a building of God, a +house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." + +These glorious arches, this sublime mystery of human power and skill, +is only a shadow of some eternal substance, which, in the ages to +come, God will yet reveal to us. + +It rained with inflexible pertinacity during all the time we were at +York; and the next day it rained still, when we took the cars for +Castle Howard station. + +In riding through the park from the station, we admired an avenue +composed of groups of magnificent beeches, sixteen or eighteen in a +group, disposed at intervals on either hand. + +The castle, a building in the Italian style, rose majestically on a +slight eminence in the centre of a green lawn. We alighted in the +crisis of one of the most driving gusts of wind and rain, so that we +really seemed to be fleeing for shelter. But within all was bright and +warm. + +Lady Carlisle welcomed us most affectionately, and we learned that, +had we not been so reserved at the York station, in concealing our +names, we should have received a note from her. However, as we were +safely arrived, it was of no consequence. + +Several of the family were there, among the rest Lady Dover and Mr. +and Mrs. E. Howard. They urged us to remain over night; but as we had +written to Leeds that we should be there in the evening train, we were +obliged to decline. We were shown over the castle, which is rich in +works of art. There was a gallery of antiques, and a collection of +paintings from old masters. In one room I saw tapestry exactly like +that which so much interested us in Windsor, representing scenes from +the Book of Esther. It seemed to be of a much more ancient date. I was +also interested in a portrait of an ancestor of the family, the +identical "Belted Will" who figures in Scott's Lay. + + "Belted Will Howard shall come with speed, + And William of Deloraine, good at need." + +In one of the long corridors we were traversing, we heard the voice of +merriment, and found a gay party of young people and children amusing +themselves at games. I thought what a grand hide-and-go-seek place the +castle must be--whole companies might lose themselves among the +rooms. The central hall of the building goes up to the roof, and is +surmounted by a dome. The architecture is in the Italian style, which +I think much more suited to the purposes of ordinary life than for +strictly religious uses. I never saw a church in that style that +produced a very deep impression on me. This hall was gorgeously +frescoed by Italian masters. The door commands the view of a +magnificent sweep of green lawn, embellished by an artificial lake. It +is singular in how fine and subtle a way different nationalities +express themselves in landscape gardening, while employing the same +materials. I have seen no grounds on the continent that express the +particular shade of ideas which characterize the English. There is an +air of grave majesty about the wide sweep of their outlines--a quality +suggestive of ideas of strength and endurance which is appropriate to +their nationality. + +[Illustration: _of Castle Howard, with the artificial lake in the +foreground._] + +In Lord Carlisle's own room we saw pictures of Sumner, Prescott, and +others of his American friends. This custom of showing houses, which +prevails over Europe, is, I think, a thing which must conduce greatly +to national improvement. A plea for the beautiful is constantly put in +by them--a model held up before the community, whose influence cannot +be too highly estimated. Before one of the choicest paintings stood +the easel of some neighboring artist, who was making a copy. He was +quite unknown to the family, but comes and goes at his pleasure, the +picture being as freely at his service as if it were an outside +landscape. + +After finishing our survey, I went with Lady Carlisle into her own +_boudoir_. There I saw a cabinet full-length picture of her +mother, the Duchess of Devonshire. She is represented with light hair, +and seemed to have been one whose beauty was less that of regular +classic model, than the fascination of a brilliant and buoyant spirit +inspiring a graceful form. Lady Carlisle showed me an album, +containing a kind of poetical record made by her during a passage +through the Alps, which she crossed on horseback, in days when such an +exploit was more difficult and dangerous than at present. I +particularly appreciated some lines in closing, addressed to her +children, expressing the eagerness with which she turned from all that +nature and art could offer, in prospect of meeting them once more. + +Lord Carlisle is still in Turkey, and will, probably, spend the winter +in Greece. His mother had just received a letter from him, and he +thinks that war is inevitable. + +In one of the rooms that we traversed I saw an immense vase of bog oak +and gold, which was presented to Lord Carlisle by those who favored +his election on the occasion of his defeat on the corn-law question. +The sentiment expressed by the givers was, that a defeat in a noble +undertaking was worthy of more honor than a victory in an ignoble one. + +After lunch, having waited in vain for the rain to cease, and give us +a sunny interval in which to visit the grounds, we sallied out hooded +and cloaked, to get at some of the most accessible points of view. The +wind was unkindly and discourteous enough, and seemed bent on baffling +the hospitable intentions of our friends. If the beauties of an +English landscape were set off by our clear sky and sun, then +patriotism, I fancy, would run into extravagance. I could see that +even one gracious sunset smile might produce in these lawns and groves +an effect of enchantment. + +I was pleased with what is called the "kitchen garden," which I +expected to find a mere collection of vegetables, but found to be a +genuine old-fashioned garden, which, like Eden, brought forth all that +was pleasant to the eye and good for food. + +There were wide walks bordered with flowers, enclosing portions +devoted to fruit and vegetables, and, best of all this windy day, the +whole enclosed by a high, solid stone wall, which bade defiance to the +storm, and made this the most agreeable portion of our walk. + +Our friends spoke much of Sumner and Prescott, who had visited there; +also of Mr. Lawrence, our former ambassador, who had visited them just +before his return. + +After a very pleasant day we left, with regret, the warmth of this +hospitable circle, thus breaking one more of the links that bind us to +the English shore. + +Nine o'clock in the evening found us sitting by a cheerful fire in the +parlor of Mr. E. Baines, at Leeds. The father of our host was one of +the most energetic parliamentary advocates of the repeal of the corn +laws. Mr. B. spoke warmly of Lord Carlisle, and gave me the whole +interesting history of the campaign which the vase at Castle Howard +commemorated, and read me the speech of Lord C. on that occasion. + +It has occurred to me, that the superior stability of the English +aristocracy, as compared with that of other countries, might be +traced, in part, to their relations with the representative branch of +the government. The eldest son and heir is generally returned to the +House of Commons by the vote of the people, before he is called to +take his seat in the House of Peers. Thus the same ties bind them to +the people which bind our own representatives--a peculiarity which, I +believe, never existed permanently with the nobles in any other +country. By this means the nobility, when they enter the House of +Lords, are better adapted to legislate wisely for the interests, not +of a class, but of the whole people. + +The next day the house was filled with company, and the Leeds offering +was presented, the account of which you will see in the papers. Every +thing was arranged with the greatest consideration. I saw many +interesting people, and was delighted with the strong, religious +interest in the cause of liberty, pervading all hearts. Truly it may +be said, that Wilberforce and Clarkson lighted a candle which will +never go out in England. + +Monday we spent in a delightful visit to Fountains Abbey; less rich in +carvings than Melrose, but wider in extent, and of a peculiar +architectural beauty. We lunched in what _was_ the side gallery +of the refectory, where some drowsy old brother used to read the lives +of saints to the monks eating below. We walked over the graves of +abbots, and through the scriptorium, which reminded me of the +exquisite scene in the Golden Legend, of the old monk in the +scriptorium busily illuminating a manuscript. + +In the course of the afternoon a telegraph came from the mayor of +Liverpool, to inquire if our party would accept a public breakfast at +the town hall before sailing, as a demonstration of sympathy with the +cause of freedom. Remembering the time when Clarkson began his career, +amid such opposition in Liverpool, we could not but regard such an +evidence of its present public sentiment as full of encouragement, +although the state of my health and engagements rendered it necessary +for me to decline. + +Tuesday we parted from our excellent friends in Leeds, and soon found +ourselves once more in the beautiful Dingle; our first and our last +resting-place on English shores. + +Sad letters from home met us there; yet not sad, since they only told +us of friends admitted before us to that mystery of glory for which we +are longing--of which all that we have seen in art or nature are but +dim suggestions and images. + +A deputation from Ireland here met me, presenting a beautiful bog oak +casket, lined with gold, and carved with appropriate national symbols, +containing an offering for the cause of the oppressed. They read a +beautiful address, and touched upon the importance of inspiring with +the principles of emancipation the Irish nation, whose influence in +our land is becoming so great. Had time and strength permitted, it had +been my purpose to visit Ireland, to revisit Scotland, and to see more +of England. But it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. + +And now came parting, leave taking, last letters, notes, and messages. + +The mayor of Liverpool and the Rev. Dr. Raffles breakfasted with us, +and after breakfast Dr. R. commended us in prayer to God. Could we +feel in this parting that we were leaving those whom we had known for +so brief a space? Never have I so truly felt the unity of the +Christian church, that oneness of the great family in heaven and on +earth, as in the experience of this journey. A large party accompanied +us to the wharf, and went with us on board the tender. The shores were +lined with sympathizing friends, who waved their adieus to us as we +parted. And thus, almost sadly as a child might leave its home, I left +the shores of kind, strong Old England--the mother of us all. + +THE END. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN LANDS V2 *** + +This file should be named 6931-8.txt or 6931-8.zip + +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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