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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/7587.txt b/7587.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f645918 --- /dev/null +++ b/7587.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1403 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Caxtons, by Bulwer-Lytton, Part 2 +#16 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +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: The Caxtons, Part 2 + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: February 2005 [EBook #7587] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 1, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAXTONS, BY LYTTON, PART 2 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Pat Castevens +and David Widger + + + + + +PART II. + + +CHAPTER I. + +When I had reached the age of twelve, I had got to the head of the +preparatory school to which I had been sent. And having thus exhausted +all the oxygen of learning in that little receiver, my parents looked +out for a wider range for my inspirations. During the last two years in +which I had been at school, my love for study had returned; but it was a +vigorous, wakeful, undreamy love, stimulated by competition, and +animated by the practical desire to excel. + +My father no longer sought to curb my intellectual aspirings. He had +too great a reverence for scholarship not to wish me to become a scholar +if possible; though he more than once said to me somewhat sadly, "Master +books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read. +One slave of the lamp is enough for a household; my servitude must not +be a hereditary bondage." + +My father looked round for a suitable academy; and the fame of Dr. +Herman's "Philhellenic Institute" came to his ears. + +Now, this Dr. Herman was the son of a German music-master who had +settled in England. He had completed his own education at the +University of Bonn; but finding learning too common a drug in that +market to bring the high price at which he valued his own, and having +some theories as to political freedom which attached him to England, he +resolved upon setting up a school, which he designed as an "Era in the +History of the Human Mind." Dr. Herman was one of the earliest of those +new-fashioned authorities in education who have, more lately, spread +pretty numerously amongst us, and would have given, perhaps, a dangerous +shake to the foundations of our great classical seminaries, if those +last had not very wisely, though very cautiously, borrowed some of the +more sensible principles which lay mixed and adulterated amongst the +crotchets and chimeras of their innovating rivals and assailants. + +Dr. Herman had written a great many learned works against every pre- +existing method of instruction; that which had made the greatest noise +was upon the infamous fiction of Spelling-Books: "A more lying, +roundabout, puzzle-headed delusion than that by which we Confuse the +clear instincts of truth in our accursed systems of spelling, was never +concocted by the father of falsehood." Such was the exordium of this +famous treatise. "For instance, take the monosyllable Cat. What a +brazen forehead you must have when you say to an infant, c, a, t,--spell +Cat: that is, three sounds, forming a totally opposite compound,-- +opposite in every detail, opposite in the whole,--compose a poor little +monosyllable which, if you would but say the simple truth, the child +will learn to spell merely by looking at it! How can three sounds, +which run thus to the ear, see-eh-tee, compose the sound cat? Don't +they rather compose the sound see-eh-te, or ceaty? How can a system of +education flourish that begins by so monstrous a falsehood, which the +sense of hearing suffices to contradict? No wonder that the horn-book +is the despair of mothers! "From this instance the reader will perceive +that Dr. Herman, in his theory of education, began at the beginning,--he +took the bull fairly by the horns. As for the rest, upon a broad +principle of eclecticism, he had combined together every new patent +invention for youthful idea-shooting. He had taken his trigger from +Hofwyl; he had bought his wadding from Hamilton; he had got his copper- +caps from Bell and Lancaster. The youthful idea,--he had rammed it +tight! he had rammed it loose! he had rammed it with pictorial +illustrations! he had rammed it with the monitorial system! he had +rammed it in every conceivable way, and with every imaginable ramrod! +but I have mournful doubts whether he shot the youthful idea an inch +farther than it did under the old mechanism of flint and steel! +Nevertheless, as Dr. Herman really did teach a great many things too +much neglected at schools; as, besides Latin and Greek, he taught a vast +variety in that vague infinite nowadays called "useful knowledge;" as he +engaged lecturers on chemistry, engineering, and natural history; as +arithmetic and the elements of physical science were enforced with zeal +and care; as all sorts of gymnastics were intermingled with the sports +of the playground,--so the youthful idea, if it did not go farther, +spread its shots in a wider direction, and a boy could not stay there +five years without learning something: which is more than can be said of +all schools! He learned at least to use his eyes and his ears and his +limbs; order, cleanliness, exercise, grew into habits; and the school +pleased the ladies and satisfied the gentlemen,--in a word, it thrived; +and Dr. Herman, at the time I speak of, numbered more than one hundred +pupils. Now, when the worthy man first commenced the task of tuition, +he had proclaimed the humanest abhorrence to the barbarous system of +corporal punishment. But alas! as his school increased in numbers, he +had proportionately recanted these honorable and anti-birchen ideas. He +had--reluctantly, perhaps, honestly, no doubt; but with full +determination--come to the conclusion that there are secret springs +which can only be detected by the twigs of the divining-rod; and having +discovered with what comparative ease the whole mechanism of his little +government could be carried on by the admission of the birch-regulator, +so, as he grew richer and lazier and fatter, the Philhellenic Institute +spun along as glibly as a top kept in vivacious movement by the +perpetual application of the lash. + +I believe that the school did not suffer in reputation from this sad +apostasy on the part of the head-master; on the contrary, it seemed more +natural and English,--less outlandish and heretical. And it was at the +zenith of its renown when, one bright morning, with all my clothes +nicely mended, and a large plum-cake in my box, I was deposited at its +hospitable gates. + +Amongst Dr. Herman's various whimsicalities there was one to which he +had adhered with more fidelity than to the anti-corporal punishment +articles of his creed; and, in fact, it was upon this that he had caused +those imposing words, "Philhellenic Institute," to blaze in gilt +capitals in front of his academy. He belonged to that illustrious class +of scholars who are now waging war on our popular mythologies, and +upsetting all the associations which the Etonians and Harrovians connect +with the household names of ancient history. In a word, he sought to +restore to scholastic purity the mutilated orthography of Greek +appellatives. He was extremely indignant that little boys should be +brought up to confound Zeus with Jupiter, Ares with Mars, Artemis with +Diana,--the Greek deities with the Roman; and so rigidly did he +inculcate the doctrine that these two sets of personages were to be kept +constantly contradistinguished from each other, that his cross- +examinations kept us in eternal confusion. + +"Vat," he would exclaim to some new boy fresh from some grammar-school +on the Etonian system--"Vat do you mean by dranslating Zeus Jupiter? Is +dat amatory, irascible, cloud-compelling god of Olympus, vid his eagle +and his aegis, in the smallest degree resembling de grave, formal, moral +Jupiter Optimus Maximus of the Roman Capitol?--a god, Master Simpkins, +who would have been perfectly shocked at the idea of running after +innocent Fraulein dressed up as a swan or a bull! I put dat question to +you vonce for all, Master Simpkins." Master Simpkins took care to agree +with the Doctor. "And how could you," resumed Dr. Herman majestically, +turning to some other criminal alumnus,--"how could you presume to +dranslate de Ares of Homer, sir, by the audacious vulgarism Mars?--- +Ares, Master Jones, who roared as loud as ten thousand men when he was +hurt; or as you vill roar if I catch you calling him Mars again?---Ares, +who covered seven plectra of ground? Confound Ares, the manslayer, with +the Mars or Mavors whom de Romans stole from de Sabines!--Mars, de +solemn and calm protector of Rome! Master Jones, Master Jones, you +ought to be ashamed of yourself!" And then waxing enthusiastic, and +warming more and more into German gutturals and pronunciation, the good +Doctor would lift up his hands, with two great rings on his thumbs, and +exclaim: "Und Du! and dou, Aphrodite,--dou, whose bert de seasons vel- +coined! dou, who didst put Atonis into a coffer, and den tid durn him +into an anemone! dou to be called Venus by dat snivel-nosed little +Master Budderfield!--Venus, who presided over Baumgartens and funerals +and nasty tinking sewers!---Venus Cloacina, O mein Gott! Come here, +Master Budderfield: I must flog you for dat; I must indeed, liddle boy!" +As our Philhellenic preceptor carried his archaeological purism into all +Greek proper names, it was not likely that my unhappy baptismal would +escape. The first time I signed my exercise I wrote "Pisistratus +Caxton" in my best round-hand. "And dey call your baba a scholar!" said +the Doctor, contemptuously. "Your name, sir, is Greek; and, as Greek, +you vill be dood enough to write it, vith vat you call an e and an o,-- +P,e,i,s,i,s,t,r,a,t,o,s. Vat can you expect for to come to, Master +Caxton, if you don't pay de care dat is proper to your own dood name,-- +de e, and de o? Ach? let me see no more of your vile corruptions! Mein +Gott! Pi! ven de name is Pei!" + +The next time I wrote home to my father, modestly implying that I was +short of cash, that a trap-bat would be acceptable, and that the +favorite goddess amongst the boys (whether Greek or Roman was very +immaterial) was Diva Moneta, I felt a glow of classical pride in signing +myself "your affectionate Peisistratos." The next post brought a sad +damper to my scholastic exultation. The letter ran thus:-- + + My Dear Son,--I prefer my old acquaintances Thucydides and + Pisistratus to Thoukudides and Peisistratos. Horace is familiar to + me, but Horatius is only known to me as Cocles. Pisistratus can + play at trap-ball; but I find no authority in pure Greek to allow + me to suppose that that game was known to Peisistratos. I should + be too happy to send you a drachma or so, but I have no coins in my + possession current at Athens at the time when Pisistratus was spelt + Peisistratos.--Your affectionate father, + A. CAXTON. + +Verily, here indeed was the first practical embarrassment produced by +that melancholy anachronism which my father had so prophetically +deplored. However, nothing like experience to prove the value of +compromise in this world. Peisistratos continued to write exercises, +and a second letter from Pisistratus was followed by the trap-bat. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +I was somewhere about sixteen when, on going home for the holidays, I +found my mother's brother settled among the household Lares. Uncle +Jack, as he was familiarly called, was a light-hearted, plausible, +enthusiastic, talkative fellow, who had spent three small fortunes in +trying to make a large one. + +Uncle Jack was a great speculator; but in all his speculations he never +affected to think of himself,--it was always the good of his fellow- +creatures that he had at heart, and in this ungrateful world fellow- +creatures are not to be relied upon! On coining of age, he inherited +L6,000, from his maternal grandfather. It seemed to him then that his +fellow-creatures were sadly imposed upon by their tailors. Those ninth +parts of humanity notoriously eked out their fractional existence by +asking nine times too much for the clothing which civilization, and +perhaps a change of climate, render more necessary to us than to our +predecessors, the Picts. Out of pure philanthropy, Uncle Jack started +a "Grand National Benevolent Clothing Company," which undertook to +supply the public with inexpressibles of the best Saxon cloth at 7s. 6d. +a pair; coats, superfine, L1 18s.; and waistcoats at so much per dozen, +--they were all to be worked off by steam. Thus the rascally tailors +were to be put down, humanity clad, and the philanthropists rewarded +(but that was a secondary consideration) with a clear return of thirty +per cent. In spite of the evident charitableness of this Christian +design, and the irrefragable calculations upon which it was based, this +company died a victim to the ignorance and unthankfulness of our fellow- +creatures; and all that remained of Jack's L6,000, was a fifty-fourth +share in a small steam-engine, a large assortment of ready-made +pantaloons, and the liabilities of the directors. + +Uncle Jack disappeared, and went on his travels. The same spirit of +philanthropy which characterized the speculations of his purse attended +the risks of his person. Uncle Jack had a natural leaning towards all +distressed communities: if any tribe, race, or nation was down in the +world, Uncle Jack threw himself plump into the scale to redress the +balance. Poles, Greeks (the last were then fighting the Turks), +Mexicans, Spaniards,--Uncle Jack thrust his nose into all their +squabbles! Heaven forbid I should mock thee, poor Uncle Jack! for those +generous predilections towards the unfortunate; only, whenever a nation +is in a misfortune, there is always a job going on! The Polish cause, +the Greek cause, the Alexican cause, and the Spanish cause are +necessarily mixed up with loans and subscriptions. These Continental +patriots, when they take up the sword with one hand, generally contrive +to thrust their other hand deep into their neighbor's breeches' pockets. +Uncle Jack went to Greece, thence he went to Spain, thence to Mexico. +No doubt he was of great service to those afflicted populations, for he +came back with unanswerable proof of their gratitude in the shape of +L3,000. Shortly after this appeared a prospectus of the "New, Grand, +National, Benevolent Insurance Company, for the Industrial Classes." +This invaluable document, after setting forth the immense benefits to +society arising from habits of providence and the introduction of +insurance companies,--proving the infamous rate of premiums exacted by +the existent offices, and their inapplicability to the wants of the +honest artisan, and declaring that nothing but the purest intentions of +benefiting their fellow-creatures, and raising the moral tone of +society, had led the directors to institute a new society, founded on +the noblest principles and the most moderate calculations,--proceeded to +demonstrate that twenty-four and a half per cent was the smallest +possible return the shareholders could anticipate. The company began +under the fairest auspices; an archbishop was caught as president, on +the condition always that he should give nothing but his name to the +society. Uncle Jack--more euphoniously designated as "the celebrated +philanthropist, John Jones Tibbets, Esquire"--was honorary secretary, +and the capital stated at two millions. But such was the obtuseness of +the industrial classes, so little did they perceive the benefits of +subscribing one-and-ninepence a-week from the age of twenty-one to +fifty, in order to secure at the latter age the annuity of L18, that the +company dissolved into thin air, and with it dissolved also Uncle Jack's +L3,000. Nothing more was then seen or heard of him for three years. So +obscure was his existence that on the death of an aunt, who left him a +small farm in Cornwall, it was necessary to advertise that "If John +Jones Tibbets, Esq., would apply to Messrs. Blunt & Tin, Lothbury, +between the hours of ten and four, he would hear of something to his +advantage." But even as a conjurer declares that he will call the ace +of spades, and the ace of spades, that you thought you had safely under +your foot, turns up on the table,--so with this advertisement suddenly +turned up Uncle Jack. With inconceivable satisfaction did the new +landowner settle himself in his comfortable homestead. The farm, which +was about two hundred acres, was in the best possible condition, and +saving one or two chemical preparations, which cost Uncle Jack, upon the +most scientific principles, thirty acres of buckwheat, the ears of which +came up, poor things, all spotted and speckled as if they had been +inoculated with the small-pox, Uncle Jack for the first two years was a +thriving man. Unluckily, however, one day Uncle Jack discovered a coal- +mine in a beautiful field of Swedish turnips; in another week the house +was full of engineers and naturalists, and in another month appeared; in +my uncle's best style, much improved by practice, a prospectus of the +"Grand National Anti-Monopoly Coal Company, instituted on behalf of the +poor householders of London, and against the Monster Monopoly of the +London Coal Wharves. + +"A vein of the finest coal has been discovered on the estates of the +celebrated philanthropist, John Jones Tibbets, Esq. This new mine, the +Molly Wheel, having been satisfactorily tested by that eminent engineer, +Giles Compass, Esq., promises an inexhaustible field to the energies of +the benevolent and the wealth of the capitalist. It is calculated that +the best coals may be delivered, screened, at the mouth of the Thames +for 18s. per load, yielding a profit of not less than forty-eight per +cent to the shareholders. Shares L50, to be paid in five instalments. +Capital to be subscribed, one million. For shares, early application +must be made to Messrs. Blunt & Tin, solicitors, Lothbury." + +Here, then, was something tangible for fellow-creatures to go on: there +was land, there was a mine, there was coal, and there actually came +shareholders and capital. Uncle Jack was so persuaded that his fortune +was now to be made, and had, moreover, so great a desire to share the +glory of ruining the monster monopoly of the London wharves, that he +refused a very large offer to dispose of the property altogether, +remained chief shareholder, and removed to London, where he set up his +carriage and gave dinners to his fellow-directors. For no less than +three years did this company flourish, having submitted the entire +direction and working of the mines to that eminent engineer, Giles +Compass. Twenty per cent was paid regularly by that gentleman to the +shareholders, and the shares were at more than cent per cent, when one +bright morning Giles Compass, Esq., unexpectedly removed himself to that +wider field for genius like his, the United States; and it was +discovered that the mine had for more than a year run itself into a +great pit of water, and that Mr. Compass had been paying the +shareholders out of their own capital. My uncle had the satisfaction +this time of being ruined in very good company; three doctors of +divinity, two county members, a Scotch lord, and an East India director +were all in the same boat,--that boat which went down with the coal-mine +into the great water-pit! + +It was just after this event that Uncle Jack, sanguine and light-hearted +as ever, suddenly recollected his sister, Mrs. Caxton, and not knowing +where else to dine, thought he would repose his limbs under my father's +trabes citrea, which the ingenious W. S. Landor opines should be +translated "mahogany." You never saw a more charming man than Uncle +Jack. + +All plump people are more popular than thin people. There is something +jovial and pleasant in the sight of a round face! What conspiracy could +succeed when its head was a lean and hungry-looking fellow, like +Cassius? If the Roman patriots had had Uncle Jack amongst them, perhaps +they would never have furnished a tragedy to Shakspeare. Uncle Jack was +as plump as a partridge,--not unwieldy, not corpulent, not obese, not +vastus, which Cicero objects to in an orator, but every crevice +comfortably filled up. Like the ocean, "time wrote no wrinkles on his +glassy [or brassy] brow." His natural lines were all upward curves, his +smile most ingratiating, his eye so frank, even his trick of rubbing his +clean, well-feel, English-looking hands, had something about it coaxing +and debonnaire, something that actually decoyed you into trusting your +money into hands so prepossessing. Indeed, to him might be fully +applied the expression--Sedem animce in extremis digitis habet,--"He had +his soul's seat in his finger-ends." The critics observe that few men +have ever united in equal perfection the imaginative with the scientific +faculties. "Happy he," exclaims Schiller, "who combines the +enthusiast's warmth with the worldly man's light:" light and warmth, +Uncle Jack had them both. He was a perfect symphony of bewitching +enthusiasm and convincing calculation. Dicaeopolis in the +"Aeharnenses," in presenting a gentleman called Nicharchus to the +audience, observes: "He is small, I confess, but, there is nothing lost +in him: all is knave that is not fool." Parodying the equivocal +compliment, I may say that though Uncle Jack was no giant, there was +nothing lost in him. Whatever was not philanthropy was arithmetic, and +whatever was not arithmetic was philanthropy. He would have been +equally dear to Howard and to Cocker. Uncle Jack was comely too,-- +clear-skinned and florid, had a little mouth, with good teeth, wore no +whiskers, shaved his beard as close as if it were one of his grand +national companies; his hair, once somewhat sandy, was now rather +grayish, which increased the respectability of his appearance; and he +wore it flat at the sides and raised in a peak at the top; his organs of +constructiveness and ideality were pronounced by Mr. Squills to be +prodigious, and those freely developed bumps gave great breadth to his +forehead. Well-shaped, too, was Uncle Jack, about five feet eight,--the +proper height for an active man of business. He wore a black coat; but +to make the nap look the fresher, he had given it the relief of gilt +buttons, on--which were wrought a small crown and anchor; at a distance +this button looked like the king's button, and gave him the air of one +who has a place about Court. He always wore a white neckcloth without +starch, a frill, and a diamond pin, which last furnished him with +observations upon certain mines of Mexico, which he had a great, but +hitherto unsatisfied, desire of seeing worked by a grand National United +Britons Company. His waistcoat of a morning was pale buff--of an +evening, embroidered velvet; wherewith were connected sundry schemes of +an "association for the improvement of native manufactures." His +trousers, matutinally, were of the color vulgarly called "blotting- +paper;" and he never wore boots,--which, he said, unfitted a man for +exercise,--but short drab gaiters and square-toed shoes. His watch- +chain was garnished with a vast number of seals; each seal, indeed, +represented the device of some defunct company, and they might be said +to resemble the scalps of the slain worn by the aboriginal Iroquois,-- +concerning whom, indeed, he had once entertained philanthropic designs, +compounded of conversion to Christianity on the principles of the +English Episcopal Church, and of an advantageous exchange of beaver- +skins for Bibles, brandy, and gunpowder. + +That Uncle Jack should win my heart was no wonder; my mother's he had +always won, from her earliest recollection of his having persuaded her +to let her great doll (a present from her godmother) be put up to a +raffle for the benefit of the chimney-sweepers. "So like him,--so +good!" she would often say pensively. "They paid sixpence apiece for +the raffle,--twenty tickets,--and the doll cost L2. Nobody was taken +in, and the doll, poor thing (it had such blue eyes!) went for a quarter +of its value. But Jack said nobody could guess what good the ten +shillings did to the chimney-sweepers." Naturally enough, I say, my +mother liked Uncle Jack; but my father liked him quite as well,--and +that was a strong proof of my uncle's powers of captivation. However, +it is noticeable that when some retired scholar is once interested in an +active man of the world, he is more inclined to admire him than others +are. Sympathy with such a companion gratifies at once his curiosity and +his indolence; he can travel with him, scheme with him, fight with him, +go with him through all the adventures of which his own books speak so +eloquently, and all the time never stir from his easy-chair. My father +said "that it was like listening to Ulysses to hear Uncle Jack!" Uncle +Jack, too, had been in Greece and Asia Minor, gone over the site of the +siege of Troy, eaten figs at Marathon, shot hares in the Peloponnesus, +and drunk three pints of brown stout at the top of the Great Pyramid. + +Therefore, Uncle Jack was like a book of reference to my father. Verily +at times he looked on him as a book, and took him down after dinner as +he would a volume of Dodwell or Pausanias. In fact, I believe that +scholars who never move from their cells are not the less an eminently +curious, bustling, active race, rightly understood. Even as old Burton +saith of himself--"Though I live a collegiate student, and lead a +monastic life, sequestered from those tumults and troubles of the world, +I hear and see what is done abroad, how others run, ride, turmoil, and +macerate themselves in town and country,"--which citation sufficeth to +show that scholars are naturally the most active men of the world; only +that while their heads plot with Augustus, fight with Julius, sail with +Columbus, and change the face of the globe with Alexander, Attila, or +Mahomet, there is a certain mysterious attraction, which our improved +knowledge of mesmerism will doubtless soon explain to the satisfaction +of science, between that extremer and antipodal part of the human frame, +called in the vulgate "the seat of honor," and the stuffed leather of an +armed chair. Learning somehow or other sinks down to that part into +which it was first driven, and produces therein a leaden heaviness and +weight, which counteract those lively emotions of the brain that might +otherwise render students too mercurial and agile for the safety of +established order. I leave this conjecture to the consideration of +experimentalists in the physics. + +I was still more delighted than my father with Uncle Jack. He was full +of amusing tricks, could conjure wonderfully, make a bunch of keys dance +a hornpipe, and if ever you gave him half-a-crown, he was sure to turn +it into a halfpenny. + +He was only unsuccessful in turning my halfpennies into half-crowns. + +We took long walks together, and in the midst of his most diverting +conversation my uncle was always an observer. He would stop to examine +the nature of the soil, fill my pockets (not his own) with great lumps +of clay, stones, and rubbish, to analyze when he got home, by the help +of some chemical apparatus he had borrowed from Mr. Squills. He would +stand an hour at a cottage door, admiring the little girls who were +straw-platting, and then walk into the nearest farmhouses, to suggest +the feasibility of "a national straw-plat association." All this +fertility of intellect was, alas! wasted in that ingrata terra into +which Uncle Jack had fallen. No squire could be persuaded into the +belief that his mother-stone was pregnant with minerals; no farmer +talked into weaving straw-plat into a proprietary association. So, even +as an ogre, having devastated the surrounding country, begins to cast a +hungry eye on his own little ones, Uncle Jack's mouth, long defrauded of +juicier and more legitimate morsels, began to water for a bite of my +innocent father. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +At this time we were living in what may be called a very respectable +style for people who made no pretence to ostentation. On the skirts of +a large village stood a square red-brick house, about the date of Queen +Anne. Upon the top of the house was a balustrade,--why, Heaven knows, +for nobody, except our great tom-cat, Ralph, ever walked upon the leads; +but so it was, and so it often is in houses from the time of Elizabeth, +yea, even to that of Victoria. This balustrade was divided by low +piers, on each of which was placed a round ball. The centre of the +house was distinguishable by an architrave in the shape of a triangle, +under which was a niche,--probably meant for a figure; but the figure +was not forthcoming. Below this was the window (encased with carved +pilasters) of my dear mother's little sitting-room; and lower still, +raised on a flight of six steps, was a very handsome-looking door, with +a projecting porch. All the windows, with smallish panes and largish +frames, were relieved with stone copings; so that the house had an air +of solidity and well-to-do-ness about it,--nothing tricky on the one +hand, nothing decayed on the other. The house stood a little back from +the garden gates, which were large, and set between two piers surmounted +with vases. Many might object that in wet weather you had to walk some +way to your carriage; but we obviated that objection by not keeping a +carriage. To the right of the house the enclosure contained a little +lawn, a laurel hermitage, a square pond, a modest greenhouse, and half- +a-dozen plots of mignonette, heliotrope, roses, pinks, sweet-William, +etc. To the left spread the kitchen-garden, lying screened by espaliers +yielding the finest apples in the neighborhood, and divided by three +winding gravel-walks, of which the extremest was backed by a wall, +whereon, as it lay full south, peaches, pears, and nectarines sunned +themselves early into well-remembered flavor. This walk was +appropriated to my father. Book in hand, he would, on fine days, pace +to and fro, often stopping, dear man, to jot down a pencil-note, +gesticulate, or soliloquize. And there, when not in his study, my +mother would be sure to find him. In these deambulations, as he called +them, he had generally a companion so extraordinary that I expect to be +met with a hillalu of incredulous contempt when I specify it. +Nevertheless I vow and protest that it is strictly true, and no +invention of an exaggerating romancer. It happened one day that my +mother had coaxed Mr. Caxton to walk with her to market. By the way +they passed a sward of green, on which sundry little boys were engaged +upon the lapidation of a lame duck. It seemed that the duck was to have +been taken to market, when it was discovered not only to be lame, but +dyspeptic,--perhaps some weed had disagreed with its ganglionic +apparatus, poor thing. However that be, the good-wife had declared that +the duck was good for nothing; and upon the petition of her children, it +had been consigned to them for a little innocent amusement, and to keep +them out of harm's way. My mother declared that she never before saw +her lord and master roused to such animation. He dispersed the urchins, +released the duck, carried it home, kept it in a basket by the fire, fed +it and physicked it till it recovered; and then it was consigned to the +square pond. But lo! the duck knew its benefactor; and whenever my +father appeared outside his door, it would catch sight of him, flap from +the pond, gain the lawn, and hobble after him (for it never quite +recovered the use of its left leg) till it reached the walk by the +peaches; and there sometimes it would sit, gravely watching its master's +deambulations, sometimes stroll by his side, and, at all events, never +leave him till, at his return home, he fed it with his own hands; and, +quacking her peaceful adieus, the nymph then retired to her natural +element. + +With the exception of my mother's favorite morning-room, the principal +sitting-rooms--that is, the study, the diningroom, and what was +emphatically called "the best drawing-room," which was only occupied on +great occasions--looked south. Tall beeches, firs, poplars, and a few +oaks backed the house, and indeed surrounded it on all sides but the +south; so that it was well sheltered from the winter cold and the summer +heat. Our principal domestic, in dignity and station, was Mrs. +Primmins, who was waiting gentlewoman, housekeeper, and tyrannical +dictatrix of the whole establishment. Two other maids, a gardener, and +a footman, composed the rest of the serving household. Save a few +pasture-fields, which he let, my father was not troubled with land. His +income was derived from the interest of about L15,000, partly in the +Three per Cents, partly on mortgage; and what with my mother and Mrs. +Primmins, this income always yielded enough to satisfy my father's +single hobby for books, pay for my education, and entertain our +neighbors, rarely indeed at dinner, but very often at tea. My dear +mother boasted that our society was very select. It consisted chiefly +of the clergyman and his family; two old maids who gave themselves great +airs; a gentleman who had been in the East India service, and who lived +in a large white house at the top of the hill; some half-a-dozen squires +and their wives and children; Mr. Squills, still a bachelor; and once a +year cards were exchanged--and dinners too--with certain aristocrats who +inspired my mother with a great deal of unnecessary awe, since she +declared they were the most good-natured, easy people in the world, and +always stuck their cards in the most conspicuous part of the looking- +glass frame over the chimney-piece of the best drawing-room. Thus you +perceive that our natural position was one highly creditable to us, +proving the soundness of our finances and the gentility of our +pedigree,--of which last more hereafter. At present I content myself +with saying on that head that even the proudest of the neighboring +squirearchs always spoke of us as a very ancient family. But all my +father ever said, to evince pride of ancestry, was in honor of William +Caxton, citizen and printer in the reign of Edward IV.,--Clarum et +venerabile nomen! an ancestor a man of letters might be justly vain of. + +"Heus," said my father, stopping short, and lifting his eyes from the +Colloquies of Erasmus, "salve multum, jucundissime." + +Uncle Jack was not much of a scholar, but he knew enough Latin to +answer, "Salve tantundem, mi frater." + +My father smiled approvingly. "I see you comprehend true urbanity, or +politeness, as we phrase it. There is an elegance in addressing the +husband of your sister as brother. Erasmus commends it in his opening +chapter, under the head of Salutandi formuloe. And indeed," added my +father, thoughtfully, "there is no great difference between politeness +and affection. My author here observes that it is polite to express +salutation in certain minor distresses of nature. One should salute a +gentleman in yawning, salute him in hiccuping, salute him in sneezing, +salute him in coughing,--and that evidently because of your interest in +his health; for he may dislocate his jaw in yawning, and the hiccup is +often a symptom of grave disorder, and sneezing is perilous to the small +blood-vessels of the head, and coughing is either a tracheal, bronchial, +pulmonary, or ganglionic affection." + +"Very true. The Turks always salute in sneezing, and they are a +remarkably polite people," said Uncle Jack. "But, my dear brother, I +was just looking with admiration at these apple-trees of yours. I never +saw finer. I am a great judge of apples. I find, in talking with my +sister, that you make very little profit by them. That's a pity. One +might establish a cider orchard in this county. You can take your own +fields in hand; you can hire more, so as to make the whole, say a +hundred acres. You can plant a very extensive apple-orchard on a grand +scale. I have just run through the calculations; they are quite +startling. Take 40 trees per acre--that's the proper average--at 1s. +6d. per tree; 4,000 trees for 100 acres, L300; labor of digging, +trenching, say L10 an acre,--total for 100 acres, L1,000. Pave the +bottoms of the holes to prevent the tap-root striking down into the bad +soil,--oh! I am very close and careful you see, in all minutiae; always +was,--pave 'em with rubbish and stones, 6d. a hole; that for 4,000 +trees the 100 acres is L100. Add the rent of the land, at 30s. an +acre,--L150. And how stands the total?" Here Uncle Jack proceeded +rapidly ticking off the items with his fingers:-- + + "Trees ........... 300 + Labor ........... 1,000 + Paving holes .... 100 + Rent ............ 150 + ____ + Total ....... L1,550 + +"That's your expense. Mark! Now to the profit. Orchards in Kent realize +L100 an acre, some even L150; but let's be moderate, say only L50 an +acre, and your gross profit per year, from a capital of L1,550, will be +L5,000,--L5,000 a-year. Think of that, brother Caxton! Deduct 10 per +cent, or L500 a-year, for gardeners' wages, manure, etc., and the net +product is L4,500. Your fortune's made, man,--it is made; I wish you +joy!" And Uncle Jack rubbed his hands. + +"Bless me, father," said eagerly the young Pisistratus, who had +swallowed with ravished ears every syllable and figure of this inviting +calculation, "why, we should be as rich as Squire Rollick; and then, you +know, sir, you could keep a pack of fox-hounds." + +"And buy a large library," added Uncle Jack, with more subtle knowledge +of human nature as to its appropriate temptations. "There's my friend +the archbishop's collection to be sold." + +Slowly recovering his breath, my father gently turned his eyes from one +to the other; and then, laying his left hand on my head, while with the +right he held up Erasmus rebukingly to Uncle Jack, said,-- + +"See how easily you can sow covetousness and avidity in the youthful +mind. Ah, brother!" + +"You are too severe, sir. See how the dear boy hangs his head! Fie! +natural enthusiasm of his years,--'gay hope by fancy fed,' as the poet +says. Why, for that fine boy's sake you ought not to lose so certain an +occasion of wealth, I may say, untold. For observe, you will form a +nursery of crabs; each year you go on grafting and enlarging your +plantation, renting,--nay, why not buying, more land? Gad, sir! in +twenty years you might cover half the county; but say you stop short at +2,000 acres, why the net profit is L90,000 a-year. A duke's income,--a +duke's; and going a-begging, as I may say." + +"But stop," said I, modestly; "the trees don't grow in a year. I know +when our last apple-tree was planted--it is five years ago--it was then +three years old, and it only bore one half-bushel last autumn." + +"What an intelligent lad it is! Good head there. Oh, he'll do credit +to his great fortune, brother," said Uncle Jack, approvingly. "True, my +boy. But in the mean while we could fill the ground, as they do in +Kent, with gooseberries and currants, or onions and cabbages. +Nevertheless, considering we are not great capitalists, I am afraid we +must give up a share of our profits to diminish our outlay. So harkye, +Pisistratus--look at him, brother, simple as he stands there, I think he +is born with a silver spoon in his mouth--harkye, now to the mysteries +of speculation. Your father shall quietly buy the land, and then, +presto! we will issue a prospectus and start a company. Associations +can wait five years for a return. Every year, meanwhile, increases the +value of the shares. Your father takes, we say, fifty shares at L50 +each, paying only an instalment of L2 a share. He sells 35 shares at +cent per cent. He keeps the remaining 15, and his fortune's made all +the same; only it is not quite so large as if he had kept the whole +concern in his own hands. What say you now, brother Caxton? Visne +edere pomum? as we used to say at school." + +"I don't want a shilling more than I have got," said my father, +resolutely. "My wife would not love me better; my food would not +nourish me more; my boy would not, in all probability, be half so hardy, +or a tenth part so industrious; and--" + +"But," interrupted Uncle Jack, pertinaciously, and reserving his grand +argument for the last, "the good you would confer on the community; the +progress given to the natural productions of your country; the wholesome +beverage of cider brought within cheap reach of the laboring classes. +If it was only for your sake, should I have urged this question? Should +I now? Is it in my character? But for the sake of the public! mankind! +of our fellow-creatures! Why, sir, England could not get on if +gentlemen like you had not a little philanthropy and speculation." + +"Papoe!" exclaimed my father; "to think that England can't get on +without turning Austin Caxton into an apple-merchant! My dear Jack, +listen. You remind me of a colloquy in this book,--wait a bit, here it +is, 'Pamphagus and Cocles.' Cocles recognizes his friend, who had been +absent for many years, by his eminent and remarkable nose. Pamphagus +says, rather irritably, that he is not ashamed of his nose. 'Ashamed of +it! no, indeed,' says Cocles; 'I never saw a nose that could be put to +so many uses!' 'Ha!' says Pamphagus (whose curiosity is aroused), +'uses! what uses?' Whereon (lepidissime frater!) Cocles, with eloquence +as rapid as yours, runs on with a countless list of the uses to which so +vast a development of the organ can be applied. 'If the cellar was +deep, it could sniff up the wine like an elephant's trunk; if the +bellows were missing, it could blow the fire; if the lamp was too +glaring, it could suffice for a shade; it would serve as a speaking- +trumpet to a herald; it could sound a signal of battle in the field; it +would do for a wedge in wood-cutting, a spade for digging, a scythe for +mowing, an anchor in sailing,'--till Painphagus cries out, 'Lucky dog +that I am! and I never knew before what a useful piece of furniture I +carried about with me.'" My father paused and strove to whistle; but +that effort of harmony failed him, and he added, smiling, "So much for +my apple-trees, brother John. Leave them to their natural destination +of filling tarts and dumplings." + +Uncle Jack looked a little discomposed for a moment; but he then laughed +with his usual heartiness, and saw that he had not yet got to my +father's blind side. I confess that my revered parent rose in my +estimation after that conference; and I began to see that a man may not +be quite without common sense, though he is a scholar. Indeed, whether +it was that Uncle Jack's visit acted as a gentle stimulant to his +relaxed faculties, or that I, now grown older and wiser, began to see +his character more clearly, I date from those summer holidays the +commencement of that familiar and endearing intimacy which ever after +existed between my father and myself. Often I deserted the more +extensive rambles of Uncle Jack, or the greater allurements of a +cricket-match in the village, or a day's fishing in Squire Rollick's +preserves, for a quiet stroll with my father by the old peach wall,-- +sometimes silent, indeed, and already musing over the future, while he +was busy with the past, but amply rewarded when, suspending his lecture, +he would pour forth hoards of varied learning, rendered amusing by his +quaint comments, and that Socratic satire which only fell short of wit +because it never passed into malice. At some moments, indeed, the vein +ran into eloquence; and with some fine heroic sentiment in his old +books, his stooping form rose erect, his eye flashed, and you saw that +he had not been originally formed and wholly meant for the obscure +seclusion in which his harmless days now wore contentedly away. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"Egad, sir, the county is going to the dogs! Our sentiments are not +represented in parliament or out of it. The 'County Mercury' has +ratted, and be hanged to it! and now we have not one newspaper in the +whole shire to express the sentiments of the respectable part of the +community!" + +This speech was made on the occasion of one of the rare dinners given by +Mr. and Mrs. Caxton to the grandees of the neighborhood, and uttered by +no less a person than Squire Rollick, of Rollick Hall, chairman of the +quarter-sessions. + +I confess that I (for I was permitted on that first occasion not only to +dine with the guests, but to outstay the ladies, in virtue of my growing +years and my promise to abstain from the decanters),--I confess, I say, +that I, poor innocent, was puzzled to conjecture what sudden interest in +the county newspaper could cause Uncle Jack to prick up his ears like a +warhorse at the sound of the drum and rush so incontinently across the +interval between Squire Rollick and himself. But the mind of that deep +and truly knowing man was not to be plumbed by a chit of my age. You +could not fish for the shy salmon in that pool with a crooked pin and a +bobbin, as you would for minnows; or, to indulge in a more worthy +illustration, you could not say of him, as Saint Gregory saith of the +streams of Jordan, "A lamb could wade easily through that ford." + +"Not a county newspaper to advocate the rights of--" here my uncle +stopped, as if at a loss, and whispered in my ear; "What are his +politics?" "Don't know," answered I. Uncle Jack intuitively took down +from his memory the phrase most readily at hand, and added, with a nasal +intonation, "the rights of our distressed fellow-creatures!" + +My father scratched his eyebrow with his fore-finger, as he was apt to +do when doubtful; the rest of the company--a silent set-looked up. + +"Fellow-creatures!" said Mr. Rollick,--"fellow-fiddlesticks!" + +Uncle Jack was clearly in the wrong box. He drew out of it cautiously, +--"I mean," said he, "our respectable fellow-creatures;" and then +suddenly it occurred to him that a "County Mercury" would naturally +represent the agricultural interest, and that if Mr. Rollick said that +the "'County Mercury' ought to be hanged," he was one of those +politicians who had already begun to call the agricultural interest "a +Vampire." Flushed with that fancied discovery, Uncle Jack rushed on, +intending to bear along with the stream, thus fortunately directed, all +the "rubbish" (1) subsequently shot into Covent Garden and Hall of +Commerce. + +"Yes, respectable fellow-creatures, men of capital and enterprise! For +what are these country squires compared to our wealthy merchants? What +is this agricultural interest that professes to be the prop of the +land?" + +"Professes!" cried Squire Rollick,--"it is the prop of the land; and as +for those manufacturing fellows who have bought up the 'Mercury'--" + +"Bought up the 'Mercury,' have they, the villains?" cried Uncle Jack, +interrupting the Squire, and now bursting into full scent. "Depend upon +it, sir, it is a part of a diabolical system of buying up,--which must +be exposed manfully. Yes, as I was saying, what is that agricultural +interest which they desire to ruin; which they declare to be so bloated; +which they call 'a Vampire!'--they the true blood-suckers, the venomous +millocrats? Fellow-creatures, Sir! I may well call distressed fellow- +creatures the members of that much-suffering class of which you yourself +are an ornament. What can be more deserving of our best efforts for +relief than a country gentleman like yourself, we'll say,--of a nominal +L5,000 a-year,--compelled to keep up an establishment, pay for his fox- +hounds, support the whole population by contributions to the poor-rates, +support the whole church by tithes; all justice, jails, and prosecutions +of the county-rates; all thoroughfares by the highway-rates; ground down +by mortgages, Jews, or jointures; having to provide for younger +children; enormous expenses for cutting his woods, manuring his model +farm, and fattening huge oxen till every pound of flesh costs him five +pounds sterling in oil-cake; and then the lawsuits necessary to protect +his rights,--plundered on all hands by poachers, sheep-stealers, dog- +stealers, churchwardens, overseers, gardeners, gamekeepers, and that +necessary rascal, his steward. If ever there was a distressed fellow- +creature in the world, it is a country gentleman with a great estate." + +My father evidently thought this an exquisite piece of banter, for by +the corner of his mouth I saw that he chuckled inly. + +Squire Rollick, who had interrupted the speech by sundry approving +exclamations, particularly at the mention of poor-rates, tithes, county- +rates, mortgages, and poachers, here pushed the bottle to Uncle Jack, +and said, civilly: "There's a great deal of truth in what you say, Mr. +Tibbets. The agricultural interest is going to ruin; and when it does, +I would not give that for Old England!" and Mr. Rollick snapped his +finger and thumb. "But what is to be done,--done for the county? +There's the rub." + +"I was just coming to that," quoth Uncle Jack. "You say that you have +not a county paper that upholds your cause and denounces your enemies." + +"Not since the Whigs bought the '--shire Mercury.'" + +"Why, good heavens! Mr. Rollick, how can you suppose that you will have +justice done you if at this time of day you neglect the Press? The +Press, sir--there it is--air we breathe! What you want is a great +national--no, not a national--A Provincial proprietary weekly journal, +supported liberally and steadily by that mighty party whose very +existence is at stake. Without such a paper you are gone, you are +dead,--extinct, defunct, buried alive; with such a paper,--well +conducted, well edited by a man of the world, of education, of practical +experience in agriculture and human nature, mines, corn, manure, +insurances, Acts of Parliament, cattle-shows, the state of parties, and +the best interests of society,--with such a man and such a paper, you +will carry all before you. But it must be done by subscription, by +association, by co-operation,--by a Grand Provincial Benevolent +Agricultural Anti-innovating Society." + +"Egad, sir, you are right!" said Mr. Rollick, slapping his thigh; "and +I'll ride over to our Lord-Lieutenant to-morrow. His eldest son ought +to carry the county." + +"And he will, if you encourage the Press and set up a journal," said +Uncle Jack, rubbing his hands, and then gently stretching them out and +drawing them gradually together, as if he were already enclosing in that +airy circle the unsuspecting guineas of the unborn association. + +All happiness dwells more in the hope than the possession; and at that +moment I dare be sworn that Uncle Jack felt a livelier rapture circum +proecordia, warming his entrails, and diffusing throughout his whole +frame of five feet eight the prophetic glow of the Magna Diva Moneta, +than if he had enjoyed for ten years the actual possession of King +Croesus's privy purse. + +"I thought Uncle Jack was not a Tory," said I to my father the next day. + +My father, who cared nothing for politics, opened his eyes. "Are you a +Tory or a Whig, papa?" + +"Um!" said my father, "there's a great deal to be said on both sides of +the question. You see, my boy, that Mrs. Primmins has a great many +moulds for our butter-pats: sometimes they come up with a crown on them, +sometimes with the more popular impress of a cow. It is all very well +for those who dish up the butter to print it according to their taste or +in proof of their abilities; it is enough for us to butter our bread, +say grace, and pay for the dairy. Do you understand?" + +"Not a bit, sir." + +"Your namesake Pisistratus was wiser than you, then," said my father. +"And now let us feed the duck. Where's your uncle?" + +"He has borrowed Mr. Squills's mare, sir, and gone with Squire Rollick +to the great lord they were talking of." + +"Oho!" said my father; "brother Jack is going to print his butter!" + +And indeed Uncle Jack played his cards so well on this occasion, and set +before the Lord-Lieutenant, with whom he had a personal interview, so +fine a prospectus and so nice a calculation that before my holidays were +over, he was installed in a very handsome office in the county town, +with private apartments over it, and a salary of L500 a-year, for +advocating the cause of his distressed fellow-creatures, including +noblemen, squires, yeomanry, farmers, and all yearly subscribers in the +New Proprietary Agricultural Anti-Innovating-Shire Weekly Gazette. At +the head of his newspaper Uncle Jack caused to be engraved a crown, +supported by a flail and a crook, with the motto, "Pro rege et grege." +And that was the way in which Uncle Jack printed his pats of butter. + +(1) "We talked sad rubbish when we first began," says Mr. Cobden, in +one of his speeches. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +I seemed to myself to have made a leap in life when I returned to +school. I no longer felt as a boy. Uncle Jack, out of his own purse, +had presented me with my first pair of Wellington boots; my mother had +been coaxed into allowing me a small tail to jackets hitherto tail-less; +my collars, which had been wont, spaniel-like, to flap and fall about my +neck, now, terrier-wise, stood erect and rampant, encompassed with a +circumvallation of whalebone, buckram, and black silk. I was, in truth, +nearly seventeen, and I gave myself the airs of a man. Now, be it +observed that that crisis in adolescent existence wherein we first pass +from Master Sisty into Mr. Pisistratus, or Pisistratus Caxton, Esq.; +wherein we arrogate, and with tacit concession from our elders, the +long-envied title of young man,--always seems a sudden and imprompt +upshooting and elevation. We do not mark the gradual preparations +thereto; we remember only one distinct period, in which all the signs +and symptoms burst and effloresced together,--Wellington boots, coat- +tail, cravat, down on the upper lip, thoughts on razors, reveries on +young ladies, and a new kind of sense of poetry. + +I began now to read steadily, to understand what I did read, and to cast +some anxious looks towards the future, with vague notions that I had a +place to win in the world, and that nothing is to be won without +perseverance and labor; and so I went on till I was seventeen and at the +head of the school, when I received the two letters I subjoin. + +1.--FROM AUGUSTINE CAXTON, Esq. + + My Dear Son,--I have informed Dr. Herman that you will not return + to him after the approaching holidays. You are old enough now to + look forward to the embraces of our beloved Alma Mater, and I think + studious enough to hope for the honors she bestows on her worthier + sons. You are already entered at Trinity,--and in fancy I see my + youth return to me in your image. I see you wandering where the + Cam steals its way through those noble gardens; and, confusing you + with myself, I recall the old dreams that haunted me when the + chiming bells swung over the placid waters. Verum secretumque + Mouseion, quam multa dictatis, quam multa invenitis! There at that + illustrious college, unless the race has indeed degenerated, you + will measure yourself with young giants. You will see those who, + in the Law, the Church, the State, or the still cloisters of + Learning, are destined to become the eminent leaders of your age. + To rank amongst them you are not forbidden to aspire; he who in + youth "can scorn delights, and love laborious days," should pitch + high his ambition. + + Your Uncle Jack says he has done wonders with his newspaper; though + Mr. Rollick grumbles, and declares that it is full of theories, and + that it puzzles the farmers. Uncle Jack, in reply, contends that + he creates an audience, not addresses one, and sighs that his + genius is thrown away in a provincial town. In fact, he really is + a very clever man, and might do much in London, I dare say. He + often comes over to dine and sleep, returning the next morning. + His energy is wonderful--and contagious. Can you imagine that he + has actually stirred up the flame of my vanity, by constantly + poking at the bars? Metaphor apart, I find myself collecting all + my notes and commonplaces, and wondering to see how easily they + fall into method, and take shape in chapters and books. I cannot + help smiling when I add, that I fancy I am going to become an + author; and smiling more when I think that your Uncle Jack should + have provoked me into so egregious an ambition. However, I have + read some passages of my book to your mother, and she says, "it is + vastly fine," which is encouraging. Your mother has great good + sense, though I don't mean to say that she has much learning,-- + which is a wonder, considering that Pic de la Mirandola was nothing + to her father. Yet he died, dear great man, and never printed a + line; while I--positively I blush to think of my temerity! Adieu, + my son; make the best of the time that remains with you at the + Philhellenic. A full mind is the true Pantheism, plena Jovis. It + is only in some corner of the brain which we leave empty that Vice + can obtain a lodging. When she knocks at your door, my son, be + able to say, "No room for your ladyship; pass on." Your + affectionate father, + A. CAXTON. + +2.--FROM Mrs. CAXTON. + + My Dearest Sisty,--You are coming home! My heart is so full of + that thought that it seems to me as if I could not write anything + else. Dear child, you are coming home; you have done with school, + you have done with strangers,--you are our own, all our own son + again! You are mine again, as you were in the cradle, the nursery, + and the garden, Sisty, when we used to throw daisies at each other! + You will laugh at me so when I tell you that as soon as I heard you + were coming home for good, I crept away from the room, and went to + my drawer where I keep, you know, all my treasures. There was your + little cap that I worked myself, and your poor little nankeen + jacket that you were so proud to throw off--oh! and many other + relies of you when you were little Sisty, and I was not the cold, + formal "Mother" you call me now, but dear "Mamma." I kissed them, + Sisty, and said, "My little child is coming back to me again!" So + foolish was I, I forgot all the long years that have passed, and + fancied I could carry you again in my arms, and that I should again + coax you to say "God bless papa." Well, well! I write now between + laughing and crying. You cannot be what you were, but you are + still my own dear son,--your father's son; dearer to me than all + the world,--except that father. + + I am so glad, too, that you will come so soon,--come while your + father is really warm with his book, and while you can encourage + and keep him to it. For why should be not be great and famous? + Why should not all admire him as we do? You know how proud of him + I always was; but I do so long to let the world know why I was so + proud. And yet, after all, it is not only because he is so wise + and learned, but because he is so good, and has such a large, noble + heart. But the heart must appear in the book too, as well as the + learning. For though it is full of things I don't understand, + every now and then there is something I do understand,--that seems + as if that heart spoke out to all the world. + + Your uncle has undertaken to get it published, and your father is + going up to town with him about it, as soon as the first volume is + finished. + + All are quite well except poor Mrs. Jones, who has the ague very + bad indeed; Primmins has made her wear a charm for it, and Mrs. + Jones actually declares she is already much better. One can't deny + that there may be a great deal in such things, though it seems + quite against the reason. Indeed your father says, "Why not? A + charm must be accompanied by a strong wish on the part of the + charmer that it may succeed,--and what is magnetism but a wish?" I + don't quite comprehend this; but, like all your father says, it has + more than meets the eye, I am quite sure. + + Only three weeks to the holidays, and then no more school, Sisty,-- + no more school! I shall have your room all done, freshly, and made + so pretty; they are coming about it to-morrow. + + The duck is quite well, and I really don't think it is quite as + lame as it was. + + God bless you, dear, dear child. Your affectionate happy mother. + K.C. + +The interval between these letters and the morning on which I was to +return home seemed to me like one of those long, restless, yet half- +dreamy days which in some infant malady I had passed in a sick-bed. I +went through my task-work mechanically, composed a Greek ode in farewell +to the Philhellenic, which Dr. Herman pronounced a chef d'oeuvre, and my +father, to whom I sent it in triumph, returned a letter of false English +with it, that parodied all my Hellenic barbarisms by imitating them in +my mother-tongue. However, I swallowed the leek, and consoled myself +with the pleasing recollection that, after spending six years in +learning to write bad Greek, I should never have any further occasion to +avail myself of so precious an accomplishment. + +And so came the last day. Then alone, and in a kind of delighted +melancholy, I revisited each of the old haunts,--the robbers' cave we +had dug one winter, and maintained, six of us, against all the police of +the little kingdom; the place near the pales where I had fought my first +battle; the old beech-stump on which I sat to read letters from home! +With my knife, rich in six blades (besides a cork-screw, a pen-picker, +and a button-hook), I carved my name in large capitals over my desk. +Then night came, and the bell rang, and we went to our rooms. And I +opened the window and looked out. I saw all the stars, and wondered +which was mine,--which should light to fame and fortune the manhood +about to commence. Hope and Ambition were high within me; and yet, +behind them stood Melancholy. Ah! who amongst you, readers, can now +summon back all those thoughts, sweet and sad,--all that untold, half- +conscious regret for the past,--all those vague longings for the future, +which made a poet of the dullest on the last night before leaving +boyhood and school forever? + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAXTONS, BY LYTTON, PART 2 *** + +********* This file should be named 7587.txt or 7587.zip ********** + +This eBook was produced by Pat Castevens +and David Widger + +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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