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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/11173-0.txt b/11173-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23471a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/11173-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8499 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11173 *** + +THE + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY, + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. V.--JANUARY, 1860.--NO. XXVII. + + + + +OUR ARTISTS IN ITALY. + +HIRAM POWERS. + + +Antique Art, beside affording a standard by which the modern may be +measured, has the remarkable property-giving it a higher value--of +testing the genuineness of the Art-impulse. + +Even to genius, that is, to the artist, a true Art-life is difficult +of attainment. In the midst of illumination, there is the mystery: the +subjective mystery, out of which issue the germs--like seeds floated +from unknown shores--of his imaginings; the objective mystery, which +yields to him, through obvious, yet unexplained harmonies, the means of +manifestation. + +Behind the consciousness is the power; behind the power, that which +gives it worth and occupation. + +To the artist definite foresight is denied. His life is full of +surprises at new necessities. When the present demand shall have been +fulfilled, what shall follow? Shall it be Madonna, or Laocoön? His +errand is like that of the commander who bears sealed instructions; and +he may drift for years, ere he knows wherefore. Thorwaldsen waited, +wandering by the Tiber a thousand days,--then in one, uttered his +immortal "Night." + +Not even the severest self-examination will enable one in whom the +Art-impulse exists to understand thoroughly its aim and uses; yet to +approximate a clear perception of his own nature and that of the art to +which he is called is one of his first duties. What he is able to do, +required to do, and permitted to do, are questions of vital importance. + +Possession of himself, of himself in the highest, will alone enable the +student in Art to solve the difficulties of his position. His habitual +consciousness must be made up of the noblest of all that has been +revealed to it; otherwise those fine intuitions, akin to the ancient +inspirations, through whose aid genius is informed of its privileges, +are impossible. + +Therefore the foremost purpose of an artist should be to claim and take +possession of self. Somewhere within is his inheritance, and he must not +be hindered of it. Other men have other gifts,--gifts bestowed under +different conditions, and subject in a great degree to choice. Talent is +not fastidious. It is an instrumentality, and its aim is optional with +him who possesses it. Genius is exquisitely fastidious, and the man whom +it possesses must live its life, or no life. + +In view of these considerations, the efforts of an artist to assume his +true position must be regarded with earnest interest, and importance +must be attached to that which aids him in attaining to his true plane. + +Such aid may be, and is, derived from the influences of Italy. Of those +agencies which have a direct influence upon the action of the artist, +which serve to assist him in manifesting his idea and fulfilling his +purpose, mention will be made in connection with the works which have +been produced in Italian studios. They have less importance than that +great element related to the innermost of the artist's life,--to that +power of which we have spoken, making Art-action necessary. + +It is not, however, exclusively antique Art which exercises this power +of elevation. Ancient Art may be a better term; as all great Art bears +a like relation to the student. In Florence the mediaeval influences +predominate. Rome exercises _its_ power through the medium of the +antique. + +There is much Christian Art in Rome. Yet its effect is insignificant, +compared with that of the vast collection of Greek sculptures to be +found within its walls. Instinctively, as the vague yearnings and +prophecies of youth lift him in whom they quicken away from youth's +ordinary purposes and associations, his thought turns to that far city +where are gathered the achievements of those who were indeed the gods of +Hellas. To be there, and to demand from those eloquent lips the secret +of the golden age, is his dream and aim, and there shall be solved the +problem of his life. + +But antique Art, waiting so patiently twenty centuries to afford aid to +the artist, waits also to sit in judgment upon his worth and acts. Woe +to him who cannot pass the ordeal of its power, and explain the enigma +of its speech! + +Nothing can be more pitiful and sad than the condition of one who, +having been subjected to the influence of ancient Art, has not had the +ability to recognize or the earnestness of purpose essential to the +apprehension of the truths which it has for his soul instead of his +hands. But if, through truthfulness of aim, and a sense of the divine +nature of the errand to which he seems appointed, he reach the law +of Art, then henceforth its pursuit becomes the sign of life; if the +impulse bear him no farther than rules, then all he produces goes forth +as a proclamation of death. There is no middle path. Art is high or low: +high, if it be the profoundest life of an earnest man, uttering itself +in the _real_, even though it be awkwardly, and in violation of all +accepted methods of expression; low, if it be not such utterance, even +though consummate in obedience to the finest rules of all Art-science. +There can be no other way. The life is in the man, and not in the stone; +and no affectation of vitality can atone for the absence of that soul +which should have been breathed into existence from his own divine life. + +As was said, possession of self is the only condition under which the +quantity and quality of the Art-impulse may be determined. It is only +when a man stands face to face with himself, in the stillness of his own +inner world, that his possibilities become apparent; and it is only when +conscious of these, and inspired by a just sense of their dignity, that +he can achieve that which shall be genuine success. _Once_ he must be +lifted away and isolated from worldly surroundings, relieved from all +objective influences, from the pressure of all human relations; once the +very memory of all these must be blotted out; once he must be alone. +This is possible to a Mendelssohn in the awful solitude of Beethoven's +"Sonate Pathétique," to a painter in the presence of Leonardo's "Last +Supper," and to a sculptor in the hushed halls of the Vatican. + +But that which lifts the true artist above externals, the externals of +his own individual being, crushes the false, to whom the marble and the +paint are in themselves the ultimate. + +This train of thought has been suggested by the fact of the dominion +which classic Art has acquired over sculptors, and by the influence of +the sixteenth and seventeenth century schools upon painters. It is due, +however, to our sculptors in Italy that credit should be given them +for having resisted the influence of forms, of the mere letter of the +classic, to a greater extent than the students of any other nation. +Whether or not they have been receptive of the spirit of the antique +remains to be seen. + +American painters have been less fortunate. Too often the lessons of the +old masters, and especially those of the earliest, the Puritan Fathers +of Art, have been unheeded; or the rules and practices which served them +temporarily, subject to the phase of the ideal for the time uppermost, +have passed into permanent laws, to be obeyed under all conditions of +Art-utterance. + +The United States have had within the last twenty years as many as +thirty sculptors and painters resident in Italy. At the beginning of the +present year ten sculpture studios in Rome and Florence were occupied +by Americans. We will speak of these artists in the order in which they +entered the profession of an art which they have served to develop +in this first period of its history in America. The eldest bears the +honored name of Hiram Powers. + +Three parties have been remarkably unjust to this man,--namely, his +friends, his enemies, and himself. + +Neither the artist nor his friends need feel solicitude for his fame. +The exact value of his excellence shall be estimated, and the height of +his genius fully recognized, when the right man comes. Other award than +that from an age on a level with his own life can be of small worth to +one who has attained to the true level of Art. Fame must come to him of +that vision which can pierce the external of his work and penetrate to +the presence of his very soul. His action must be traced to its finest +ideal motive,--as chemist-philosophers pursue the steps of analysis +until opaque matter is resolved to pure, ethereal elements. His fame +must be from such vision, and it will approach the universal just in +proportion as his pulse beats in unison with the heart of mankind. +Whatever may be an artist's plans, or those of his friends, in regard to +his valuation by the world, while he is living, ultimately he himself, +divested of all save his own individuality, must stand revealed. + +Those who in other departments of action are necessarily governed +somewhat, or it may be entirely, by rules of conduct general in nature +and universal in application, may fail to receive or may escape justice. +They are to a great degree involuntary agents, and subject to the laws +of science, to the operations of which they are obliged to conform. +The private fact of the man is hidden by the public general truth. If, +however, the energies of the individual overtop the science, enabling +him to assert himself above the summit of its history, then is he +accessible to all generations, and can in no wise avoid or forfeit his +just fame. + +In Art, this intimate relation of the result of action to the actor is +complete,--inasmuch as, to _be_ Art, to rise above being something +else, the shadow and mockery of Art, it must be of and from the man, a +spontaneity, a reflection, light for light, shade for shade, color for +color, of his entire being; and with this effect his will has little to +do. Therefore, unless he be an impostor, he need give himself no trouble +regarding his future. His works shall serve as a clue, produced century +after century, along which posterity shall feel its way back to his +studio and heart. No need of thought for _his_ morrow. + +But for his to-day he may well be solicitous. If fame be his reflection, +he has also the shadow of himself, his reputation. + +It is a great error to assume that these two effects are so related that +the augmentation of the one must increase the other, and as great a +mistake to confound the two. The truth is, that reputation and fame are +rarely coincident. They are not unfrequently in direct opposition,--so +much so, that some names, which the world cannot give up, have to +be filtered through a thick mass of years, to purify them of their +reputations, and leave them simply famous. + +No name has suffered more than that of Powers. His friends, blind to the +laws which govern these matters, have wrought bravely to construct for +him a reputation commensurate with his vaguely imagined worth; but upon +his real worth they have evinced no desire to lay their foundation. No +accurate survey has been made of his abilities, no definite plan of +his artist-nature. Often a place has been demanded for his name in the +history of Art, and the first place too, because of his fine frank eye, +or the simplicity of his manners,--because his workmen cut the chain of +the Greek slave out of one piece of stone, or the marble of the statue +itself had no spot as big as a pin-head,--because he himself chooses to +rasp and scrape plaster, rather than model in plastic clay,--because he +tinkered up the "infernal regions" of the Cincinnati Museum years ago, +or spends his time now in making perforating-machines and perforated +files; in fine, for _any_ reason rather than for the right legitimate +one of artistic merit, they have demanded room for their favorite. + +Even those who look deeper than this, appreciating Mr. Powers as +a gentleman, an ingenious mechanic, and a skillful manipulator in +sculpture, have been content or constrained to urge his claims to +attention upon false considerations. We have heard it gravely remarked, +as a matter of astonishment, that there were individuals--refined men, +apparently--who looked upon the Venus de' Medici as a finer work than +the Greek Slave. In the files of a New York paper may be found an +article, written by a highly cultivated man, in which Powers's busts are +asserted to be rather the effect of miracles than the results of _human_ +effort. The spirit which has prompted these and many kindred expressions +cannot be too much deplored by those who love Art and know the artist. +It has succeeded in creating for him a reputation broad and remarkable, +but most unfortunate, because not his own, because not the reputation +which should have formed about his name here, as fame will yonder; +unfortunate, because, though broad, it is the breadth of an inverted +pyramid, which must naturally topple over of itself, and incumber his +path with ruins. + +The false position in which Mr. Powers has been placed by his friends +has of course won him many enemies. + +Bold, sincere, working enemies are highly useful in developing an +artist's character, especially if he be a law-abiding follower of the +art. But enemies must be dealers of fair blows, wagers of honorable +warfare; no assassin is worthy of the name of enemy. Sometimes, however, +those who are worthy of the name, and entitled to respect, may make +injudicious and unfair use of censure and invective. It is unwise, when +the necessity arises to set aside a worthless or an imperfect image, to +turn Iconoclast and demolish those surrounding it which are worthy of a +place in the temple. True criticism, for its own sake, if prompted by no +higher motive, deals justly. + +The friends of Mr. Powers have, in their estimate of his ability, given +him credit for that which he does not possess, and claimed recognition +for merit unsupported by the value of his works. His enemies have +labored assiduously, not only to deprive the estimate of its unwarranted +quantity, but to overthrow the whole, and leave him merely a mechanic, +a dexterous mechanic, with small views, but large ambition, trying +to pass himself off as an artist. His busts are asserted to be +but more elaborate examples of his skill in the +"perforated-file-and-patent-punch" line. + +But as the struggles to elevate this artist's reputation above its +proper level have proved signal failures, so the effort to depreciate +it must ultimately be defeated. Only one kind of injustice ever proves +irreparable wrong: that which a man exercises towards himself. Mr. +Powers _had_ a specialty. + +So constituted that the most difficult executive operations are to him +but play and pleasure, he has also, to govern and inform this rare +organization, a broad, manly, and most genial human nature. This +combination decided the question of his proper mission, and in virtue of +it he has been enabled to model a series of most remarkable busts, the +true excellence of which must be recognized in spite of friends and +foes, and the epithets "miraculous" and "mechanical." + +It is possible that the highest type of portrait-sculpture is beyond the +limit of this specialty; indeed, it is almost impossible that with the +elements constituting it there should be associated the still rarer +power to achieve the most exalted ideal Art; and such Art we believe the +highest portraiture to be. + +A consummate representation of a man in his divinest development, the +last refined ideal of him _then_, would be indeed somewhat miraculous! + +The world asks less. It claims to know of a man what the face of him +became under the influences of human, temporal relations. It wants +preserved of the statesman the statesman's face, of the merchant the +merchant's face; and this demand, when governed by a cultivated taste, +is a legitimate one,--as legitimate as is the demand for any history. +The public requires the image of the man whom the public knew, and +they regard as valuable that which can be received as a definite and +trustworthy statement of a great man, or of one whom it esteemed great. +It requires this, has a right to such information; and the generation +which fails to demand of its artists a true record of its prominent men +fails utterly in its duty. The bust of a man goes down to posterity, not +only the history which it is in itself, but as an interpreter of the +history of its age. Were it not for Art, an age would recede into the +unknown, to be recorded as dark, or into the shadowy world of myth. +Portraiture, more than aught else, serves to elucidate the tradition or +story of a people. How impossible to explain to the twentieth century +the bad mystery of our present, without the aid of Powers's head of +Calhoun, the less adequate bust of Stephen A. Douglas, and the one which +_should_ be modelled of Mr. Buchanan! A faithful delineation of the +features of some men is needful. We should be thankful for that black +frown of Nero, for the bald pate of Scipio, for those queer eyes of +Marius, and for the long neck of Cicero, as seen in the newly discovered +bust. These are the signs of the men, and explain them. + +Mr. Powers has succeeded in reporting more accurately than any other +recent artist the physical facts of the individual face. From one of his +marbles we derive definite ideas of the human character of its subject, +what its ambition is, and what its weakness; what have been its loves +and its antipathies, its struggles and its victories, its joys and its +sorrows, may be revealed to him who has learned what the human face +becomes under the influence of these incessant forces. No mere _talent_ +can accomplish such results. Behind all that kind of strength lies +the fact of peculiar sympathies, relating the artist to this phase of +Art-representation; and within certain limits, which should have been +undebatable, his rule was absolute. + +The great mistake with Mr. Powers has been his oversight regarding these +limits. There has been debate, hesitation, and a continual wandering +away from the duties of his errand. Years have been devoted to those +ghosts of sculpture, allegorical figures; other years wasted in the +elaboration of machinery. Not that his ideal statues are worthless, or +fall short of great beauty and exquisite delicacy; not that his skill +as a mechanician is other than great. But the age cannot afford these +things, nor can the sculptor afford them. A year is too great a sum to +give for a statue of California. Better than that, the several portraits +of valued men which might have been acquired,--one bust, even, like +those which surprised and compelled the reverence of Thorwaldsen. Better +the perfected ability which would have given his country the Webster he +should and might have made than a hundred "Americas." + +There are two considerations which may have misled Mr. Powers. One, a +pecuniary one, which he should have disposed of as did Agassiz, when +such was advanced to induce him to give lyceum lectures:--"Sir, I +cannot afford to make money!" The other may have been the weight of the +prevailing error that portrait-sculpture is a less honorable branch of +Art. + +Less than what? The historical? What finer history than Titian's Paul +III., Raphael's Leo X., Albert Dürer's head of himself? What finer than +the Pericles, the Marcus Aurelius of the Capitol, the Demosthenes of the +Vatican, Chantrey's Scott, Houdon's Voltaire, Powers's Jackson?--Heroic? +what more heroic than the Lateran Sophocles, the Venetian Colleoni, or +Rauch's statue of Frederick the Great?--Poetical? What picture more +sweetly poetical than Raphael's head of himself in the Uffizi, or +Giotto's Dante in the Bargello? What _ideal_ statue surpasses in +poetical power Michel Angelo's De' Medici in the San Lorenzo Chapel? +What ideal head is more beautiful than the Townley Clytie of the British +Museum, or the Young Augustus of the Vatican? What grander than Da +Vinci's portrait of himself? + +No,--when the sculptor has wrought the adequate representation of the +individual in its best estate, he may rest assured that he has achieved +"high Art." + +Let us not be unjust to Mr. Powers's ideal works. In the qualities of +chasteness of conception, delicacy of treatment, temperate grace, and +that rarer, finer quality of dignified repose, they have not been +surpassed since the time of Greek Art. When the subject chosen has not +been foreign to the artist's nature, as in the "Eve," nor foreign to the +Art's province, as in the "California," his success has been very like a +triumph. + +But the success has not been that which he was entitled to grasp; the +seeming triumph has precluded a real victory. We must believe that +the highest lessons of ancient Art have, in a great measure, been +unrecognized by Mr. Powers. The external has been studied. No man can +talk more justly of that exquisite line of the Venus de' Medici's temple +and cheek, or point out more discriminatingly the beauties of the Milo +statue, or detect more quickly the truths of the antique busts. He has +discovered, also, somewhat of the great secret of repose,--has perceived +that it is essential, in some wise, to all greatness in Art, more +particularly in his own department of sculpture. But beyond that simple +recognition of the fact, what? That repose is dependent on power to act, +and must be great in proportion to mightiness of power? No, he could not +have seen this; else had his Webster come to us less questionable in +intent, less remote in its merits from the massive self-possession of +the man. + +For what Mr. Powers became before he left America he cannot be praised +too greatly. He carried with him to Europe just that knowledge of Nature +and that executive power which prepared him to take advantage of the aid +that all great Art was waiting to afford. Had he won "the large truth," +he would have found the scope and purpose of his genius, as in America +he had found that of his talent. He would have seen his specialty to be +worthy of all reverence, for he would have attained to an appreciation +of the high possibilities of portrait-Art. There would have been +developed, under the influence of great principles, the power to make +_statues_ of great men,--colossal, instead of big,--reposeful, instead +of paralyzed,--grand, instead of arrogant,--statues worthy of the hand +that wrought the busts of Calhoun, Jackson, and Webster, worthy to rank +with the few mighty embodiments of power, the Sophocles, the Aristides, +and the Demosthenes. This he might have done; and this he may yet +accomplish. + + + + +THE AMBER GODS. + + +STORY FIRST. + +_Flower o' the Peach._ + + +We've some splendid old point-lace in our family, yellow and fragrant, +loose-meshed. It isn't every one has point at all; and of those who +have, it isn't every one can afford to wear it. I can. Why? Oh, because +it's in character. Besides, I admire point any way,--it's so becoming; +and then, you see, this amber! Now what is in finer unison, this old +point-lace, all tags and tangle and fibrous and bewildering, and this +amber, to which Heaven knows how many centuries, maybe, with all their +changes, brought perpetual particles of increase? I like yellow things, +you see. + +To begin at the beginning. My name, you're aware, is Giorgione +Willoughby. Queer name for a girl! Yes; but before papa sowed his wild +oats, he was one afternoon in Fiesole, looking over Florence nestled +below, when some whim took him to go into a church there, a quiet place, +full of twilight and one great picture, nobody within but a girl and +her little slave,--the one watching her mistress, the other saying +dreadfully devout prayers on an amber rosary, and of course she didn't +see him, or didn't appear to. After he got there, he wondered what +on earth he came for, it was so dark and poky, and he began to feel +uncomfortably,--when all of a sudden a great ray of sunset dashed +through the window, and drowned the place in the splendor of the +illumined painting. Papa adores rich colors; and he might have been +satiated here, except that such things make you want more. It was a +Venus;--no, though, it couldn't have been a Venus in a church, could it? +Well, then, a Magdalen, I guess, or a Madonna, or something. I fancy the +man painted for himself, and christened for others. So, when I was born, +some years afterward, papa, gratefully remembering this dazzling little +vignette of his youth, was absurd enough to christen me Giorgione. +That's how I came by my identity; but the folks all call me Yone,--a +baby name. + +I'm a blonde, you know,--none of your silver-washed things. I wouldn't +give a _fico_ for a girl with flaxen hair; she might as well be a wax +doll, and have her eyes moved by a wire; besides, they've no souls. +I imagine they were remnants at our creation, and somehow scrambled +together, and managed to get up a little life among themselves; but it's +good for nothing, and everybody sees through the pretence. They're glass +chips, and brittle shavings, slender pinkish scrids,--no name for them; +but just you say blonde, soft and slow and rolling,--it brings up +a brilliant, golden vitality, all manner of white and torrid +magnificences, and you see me! I've watched little bugs--gold +rose-chafers--lie steeping in the sun, till every atom of them must have +been searched with the warm radiance, and have felt, that, when they +reached that point, I was just like them, golden all through,--not dyed, +but created. Sunbeams like to follow me, I think. Now, when I stand in +one before this glass, infiltrated with the rich tinge, don't I look +like the spirit of it just stepped out for inspection? I seem to myself +like the complete incarnation of light, full, bounteous, overflowing, +and I wonder at and adore anything so beautiful; and the reflection +grows finer and deeper while I gaze, till I dare not do so any longer. +So, without more words, I'm a golden blonde. You see me now: not too +tall,--five feet four; not slight, or I couldn't have such perfect +roundings, such flexible moulding. Here's nothing of the spiny Diana and +Pallas, but Clytie or Isis speaks in such delicious curves. It don't +look like flesh and blood, does it? Can you possibly imagine it will +ever change? Oh! + +Now see the face,--not small, either; lips with no particular outline, +but melting, and seeming as if they would stain yours, should you touch +them. No matter about the rest, except the eyes. Do you meet such eyes +often? You wouldn't open yours so, if you did. Note their color now, +before the ray goes. Yellow hazel? Not a bit of it! Some folks say +topaz, but they're fools. Nor sherry. There's a dark sardine base, but +over it real seas of light, clear light; there isn't any positive color; +and once when I was angry, I caught a glimpse of them in a mirror, and +they were quite white, perfectly colorless, only luminous. I looked like +a fiend, and, you may be sure, recovered my temper directly,--easiest +thing in the world, when you've motive enough. You see the pupil is +small, and that gives more expansion and force to the irides; but +sometimes in an evening, when I'm too gay, and a true damask settles in +the cheek, the pupil grows larger and crowds out the light, and under +these thick, brown lashes, these yellow-hazel eyes of yours, they are +dusky and purple and deep with flashes, like pansies lit by fire-flies, +and then common folks call them black. Be sure, I've never got such eyes +for nothing, any more than this hair. That is Lucrezia Borgian, spun +gold, and ought to take the world in its toils. I always wear these +thick, riotous curls round my temples and face; but the great braids +behind--oh, I'll uncoil them before my toilet is over. + +Probably you felt all this before, but didn't know the secret of it. +Now, the traits being brought out, you perceive nothing wanting; the +thing is perfect, and you've a reason for it. Of course, with such an +organization, I'm not nervous. Nervous! I should as soon fancy a dish of +cream nervous. I am too rich for anything of the kind, permeated utterly +with a rare golden calm. Girls always suggest little similitudes to me: +there's that brunette beauty,--don't you taste mulled wine when you see +her? and thinking of yourself, did you ever feel green tea? and find me +in a crust of wild honey, the expressed essence of woods and flowers, +with its sweet satiety?--no, that's too cloying. I'm a deal more like +Mendelssohn's music,--what I know of it, for I can't distinguish +tunes,--you wouldn't suspect it,--but full harmonics delight me as they +do a wild beast; and so I'm like a certain adagio in B flat, that Papa +likes. + +There now! you're perfectly shocked to hear me go on so about myself; +but you oughtn't to be. It isn't lawful for any one else, because praise +is intrusion; but if the rose please to open her heart to the moth, what +then? You know, too, I didn't make myself; it's no virtue to be so fair. +Louise couldn't speak so of herself: first place, because it wouldn't +be true; next place, she couldn't, if it were; and lastly, she made her +beauty by growing a soul in her eyes, I suppose,--what you call good. +I'm not good, of course; I wouldn't give a fig to be good. So +it's not vanity. It's on a far grander scale; a splendid +selfishness,--authorized, too; and papa and mamma brought me up to +worship beauty,--and there's the fifth commandment, you know. + +Dear me! you think I'm never coming to the point. Well, here's this +rosary;--hand me the perfume-case first, please. Don't you love heavy +fragrances, faint with sweetness, ravishing juices of odor, heliotropes, +violets, water-lilies,--powerful attars and extracts, that snatch your +soul off your lips? Couldn't you live on rich scents, if they tried to +starve you? I could, or die on them: I don't know which would be best. +There! there's the amber rosary! You needn't speak; look at it! + +Bah! is that all you've got to say? Why, observe the thing; turn it +over; hold it up to the window; count the beads,--long, oval, like some +seaweed bulbs, each an amulet. See the tint; it's very old; like clots +of sunshine,--aren't they? Now bring it near; see the carving, here +corrugated, there faceted, now sculptured into hideous, tiny, heathen +gods. You didn't notice that before! How difficult it must have been, +when amber is so friable! Here's one with a chessboard on his back, and +all his kings and queens and pawns slung round him. Here's another +with a torch, a flaming torch, its fire pouring out inverted. They are +grotesque enough;--but this, this is matchless: such a miniature woman, +one hand grasping the round rock behind, while she looks down into some +gulf, perhaps, beneath, and will let herself fall. Oh, you should see +_her_ with a magnifying-glass! You want to think of calm, satisfying +death, a mere exhalation, a voluntary slipping into another element? +There it is for you. They are all gods and goddesses. They are all here +but one; I've lost one, the knot of all, the love of the thing. Well! +wasn't it queer for a Catholic girl to have at prayer? Don't you wonder +where she got it? Ah! but don't you wonder where I got it? I'll tell +you. + +Papa came in, one day, and with great mystery commenced unrolling, +and unrolling, and throwing tissue papers on the floor, and scraps of +colored wool; and Lu and I ran to him,--Lu stooping on her knees to look +up, I bending over his hands to look down. It was so mysterious! I began +to suspect it was diamonds for me, but knew I never could wear them, and +was dreadfully afraid that I was going to be tempted, when slowly, bead +by bead, came out this amber necklace. Lu fairly screamed; as for me, I +just drew breath after breath, without a word. Of course they were for +me;--I reached my hands for them. + +"Oh, wait!" said papa. "Yone or Lu?" + +"Now how absurd, papa!" I exclaimed. "Such things for Lu!" + +"Why not?" asked Lu,--rather faintly now, for she knew I always carried +my point. + +"The idea of you in amber, Lu! It's too foreign; no sympathy between +you!" + +"Stop, stop!" said papa. "You shan't crowd little Lu out of them. What +do you want them for, Lu?" + +"To wear," quavered Lu,--"like the balls the Roman ladies carried for +coolness." + +"Well, then, you ought to have them. What do you want them for, Yone?" + +"Oh, if Lu's going to have them, I _don't_ want them." + +"But give a reason, child." + +"Why, to wear, too,--to look at,--to have and to hold for better, for +worse,--to say my prayers on," for a bright idea struck me, "to say +my prayers on, like the Florence rosary." I knew that would finish the +thing. + +"Like the Florence rosary?" said papa, in a sleepy voice. "Why, this +_is_ the Florence rosary." + +Of course, when we knew that, we were both more crazy to obtain it. + +"Oh, Sir," just fluttered Lu, "where did you get it?" + +"I got it; the question is, Who's to have it?" + +"I must and will, potential and imperative," I exclaimed, quite on fire. +"The nonsense of the thing! Girls with lucid eyes, like shadowy shallows +in quick brooks, can wear crystallizations. As for me, I can wear +only concretions and growths; emeralds and all their cousins would +be shockingly inharmonious on me; but you know, Lu, how I use Indian +spices, and scarlet and white berries and flowers, and little hearts and +notions of beautiful copal that Rose carved for you,--and I can wear +sandal-wood and ebony and pearls, and now this amber. But you, Lu, +you can wear every kind of precious stone, and you may have Aunt +Willoughby's rubies that she promised me; they are all in tone with you; +but I must have this." + +"I don't think you're right," said Louise, rather soberly. "You strip +yourself of great advantages. But about the rubies, I don't want +anything so flaming, so you may keep them; and I don't care at all about +this. I think, Sir, on the whole, they belong to Yone for her name." + +"So they do," said papa. "But not to be bought off! That's my little +Lu!" + +And somehow Lu, who had been holding the rosary, was sitting on papa's +knee, as he half knelt on the floor, and the rosary was in my hand. And +then he produced a little kid box, and there lay inside a star with a +thread of gold for the forehead, circlets for wrist and throat, two +drops, and a ring. Oh, such beauties! You've never seen them. + +"The other one shall have these. Aren't you sorry, Yone?" he said. + +"Oh, no, indeed! I'd much rather have mine, though these are splendid. +What are they?" + +"Aqua-marina," sighed Lu, in an agony of admiration. + +"Dear, dear! how did you know?" + +Lu blushed, I saw,--but I was too much absorbed with the jewels to +remark it. + +"Oh, they are just like that ring on your hand! You don't want two rings +alike," I said. "Where did you get that ring, Lu?" + +But Lu had no senses for anything beyond the casket. + +If you know aqua-marina, you know something that's before every other +stone in the world. Why, it is as clear as light, white, limpid, dawn +light; sparkles slightly and seldom; looks like pure drops of water, +sea-water, scooped up and falling down again; just a thought of its +parent beryl green hovers round the edges; and it grows more lucent and +sweet to the centre, and there you lose yourself in some dream of vast +seas, a glory of unimagined oceans; and you say that it was crystallized +to any slow flute-like tune, each speck of it floating into file with +a musical grace, and carrying its sound with it. There! it's very +fanciful, but I'm always feeling the tune in aqua-marina, and trying to +find it,--but I shouldn't know it was a tune, if I did, I suppose. How +magnificent it would be, if every atom of creation sprang up and said +its one word of abracadabra, the secret of its existence, and fell +silent again. Oh, dear! you'd die, you know; but what a pow-wow! Then, +too, in aqua-marina proper, the setting is kept out of sight, and you +have the unalloyed stone with its sea-rims and its clearness and steady +sweetness. It wasn't the stone for Louise to wear; it belongs rather +to highly-nervous, excitable persons; and Lu is as calm as I, only so +different! There is something more pure and simple about it than about +anything else; others may flash and twinkle, but this just glows with an +unvarying power, is planetary and strong. It wears the moods of the sea, +too: once in a while a warm amethystine mist suffuses it like a blush; +sometimes a white morning fog breathes over it: you long to get into the +heart of it. That's the charm of gems, after all! You feel that they are +fashioned through dissimilar processes from yourself,--that there's a +mystery about them, mastering which would be like mastering a new life, +like having the freedom of other stars. I give them more personality +than I would a great white spirit. I like amber that way, because I know +how it was made, drinking the primeval weather, resinously beading each +grain of its rare wood, and dripping with a plash to filter through and +around the fallen cones below. In some former state I must have been a +fly embalmed in amber. + +"Oh, Lu!" I said, "this amber's just the thing for me, such a great +noon creature! And as for you, you shall wear mamma's Mechlin and that +aqua-marina; and you'll look like a mer-queen just issuing from the +wine-dark deeps and glittering with shining water-spheres." + +I never let Lu wear the point at all; she'd be ridiculous in it,--so +flimsy and open and unreserved; that's for me;--Mechlin, with its +whiter, closer, chaste web, suits her to a T. + +I must tell you, first, how this rosary came about, any way. You know +we've a million of ancestors, and one of them, my great-grandfather, was +a sea-captain, and actually did bring home cargoes of slaves; but once +he fetched to his wife a little islander, an Asian imp, six years old, +and wilder than the wind. She spoke no word of English, and was full +of short shouts and screeches, like a thing of the woods. My +great-grandmother couldn't do a bit with her; she turned the house +topsy-turvy, cut the noses out of the old portraits, and chewed the +jewels out of the settings, killed the little home animals, spoiled the +dinners, pranced in the garden with Madam Willoughby's farthingale and +royal stiff brocades rustling yards behind,--this atom of a shrimp,--or +balanced herself with her heels in the air over the curb of the well, +scraped up the dead leaves under one corner of the house and fired +them,--a favorite occupation,--and if you left her stirring a mess in +the kitchen, you met her, perhaps, perched in the china-closet and +mumbling all manner of demoniacal prayers, twisting and writhing and +screaming over a string of amber gods that she had brought with her +and always wore. When winter came and the first snow, she was furious, +perfectly mad. One might as well have had a ball of fire in the house, +or chain-lightning; every nice old custom had been invaded, the ancient +quiet broken into a Bedlam of outlandish sounds, and as Captain +Willoughby was returning, his wife packed the sprite off with him,--to +cut, rip, and tear in New Holland, if she liked, but not in New +England,--and rejoiced herself that she would find that little brown +skin cuddled up in her best down beds and among her lavendered sheets no +more. She had learned but two words all that time,--Willoughby, and the +name of the town. + +You may conjecture what heavenly peace came in when the Asian went out, +but there is no one to tell what havoc was wrought on board ship; in +fact, if there could have been such a thing as a witch, I should believe +that imp sunk them, for a stray Levantine brig picked her--still agile +as a monkey--from a wreck off the Cape de Verdes and carried her into +Leghorn, where she took--will you mind, if I say?--leg-bail, and +escaped from durance. What happened on her wanderings I'm sure is of +no consequence, till one night she turned up outside a Fiesolan villa, +scorched with malaria fevers and shaken to pieces with tertian and +quartan and all the rest of the agues. So, after having shaken almost to +death, she decided upon getting well; all the effervescence was gone; +she chose to remain with her beads in that family, a mysterious tame +servant, faithful, jealous, indefatigable. But she never grew; at ninety +she was of the height of a yard-stick,--and nothing could have been +finer than to have a dwarf in those old palaces, you know. + +In my great-grandmother's home, however, the tradition of the Asian +sprite with her string of amber gods was handed down like a legend, and, +no one knowing what had been, they framed many a wild picture of the +Thing enchanting all her spirits from their beads about her, and calling +and singing and whistling up the winds with them till storm rolled round +the ship, and fierce fog and foam and drowning fell upon her capturers. +But they all believed, that, snatched from the wreck into islands of +Eastern archipelagoes, the vindictive child and her quieted gods might +yet be found. Of course my father knew this, and when that night in the +church he saw the girl saying such devout prayers on an amber rosary, +with a demure black slave so tiny and so old behind her, it flashed +back on him, and he would have spoken, if, just then, the ray had not +revealed the great painting, so that he forgot all about it, and when at +last he turned, they were gone. But my father had come back to America, +had sat down quietly in his elder brother's house, among the hills where +I am to live, and was thought to be a sedate young man and a good match, +till a freak took him that he must go back and find that girl in Italy. +How to do it, with no clue but an amber rosary? But do it he did, +stationing himself against a pillar in that identical church and +watching the worshippers, and not having long to wait before in she +came, with little Asian behind. Papa isn't in the least romantic; he is +one of those great fertilizing temperaments, golden hair and beard, and +hazel eyes, if you will. He's a splendid old fellow! It's absurd to +delight in one's father,--so bread-and-buttery,--but I can't help it. +He's far stronger than I; none of the little weak Italian traits that +streak me, like water in thick, syrupy wine. No,--he isn't in the least +romantic, but he says he was fated to this step, and could no more have +resisted than his heart could have refused to beat. When he spoke to the +devotee, little Asian made sundry belligerent demonstrations; but he +confronted her with the two words she had learned here, Willoughby and +the town's name. The dwarf became livid, seemed always after haunted by +a dreadful fear of him, pursued him with a rancorous hate, but could not +hinder his marriage. The Willoughbys are a cruel race. Her only revenge +was to take away the amber beads, which had long before been blessed +by the Pope for her young mistress, refusing herself to accompany my +mother, and declaring that neither should her charms ever cross the +water,--that all their blessing would be changed to banning, and that +bane would burn the bearer, should the salt-sea spray again dash round +them. But when, in process of Nature, the Asian died,--having become +classic through her longevity, taking length of days for length of +stature,--then the rosary belonged to mamma's sister, who by-and-by sent +it, with a parcel of other things, to papa for me. So I should have had +it at all events, you see;--papa is such a tease I The other things were +mamma's wedding-veil, that point there, which once was her mother's, and +some pearls. + +I was born upon the sea, in a calm, far out of sight of land, under +sweltering suns; so, you know, I'm a cosmopolite, and have a right to +all my fantasies. Not that they are fantasies at all; on the contrary, +they are parts of my nature, and I couldn't be what I am without them, +or have one and not have all. Some girls go picking and scraping odds +and ends of ideas together, and by the time they are thirty get quite a +bundle of whims and crotchets on their backs; but they are all at sixes +and sevens, uneven and knotty like fagots, and won't lie compactly, +don't belong to them, and anybody might surprise them out of them. But +for me, you see, mine are harmonious, in my veins; I was born with them. +Not that I was always what I am now. Oh, bless your heart! plums and +nectarines, and luscious things that ripen and develop all their +rare juices, were green once, and so was I. Awkward, tumble-about, +near-sighted, till I was twenty, a real raw-head-and-bloody-bones to all +society; then mamma, who was never well in our diving-bell atmosphere, +was ordered to the West Indies, and papa said it was what I needed, and +I went, too,--and oh, how sea-sick! Were you ever? You forget all about +who you are, and have a vague notion of being Universal Disease. I have +heard of a kind of myopy that is biliousness, and when I reached the +islands my sight was as clear as my skin; all that tropical luxuriance +snatched me to itself at once, recognized me for kith and kin; and mamma +died, and I lived. We had accidents between wind and water, enough to +have made me considerate for others, Lu said; but I don't see that I'm +any less careful not to have my bones spilt in the flood than ever +I was. Slang? No,--poetry. But if your nature had such a wild, free +tendency as mine, and then were boxed up with proprieties and civilities +from year's end to year's end, may-be you, too, would escape now and +then in a bit of slang. + +We always had a little boy to play with, Lu and I, or rather +Lu,--because, though he never took any dislike to me, he was absurdly +indifferent, while he followed Lu about with a painful devotion. I +didn't care, didn't know; and as I grew up and grew awkwarder, I was the +plague of their little lives. If Lu had been my sister instead of my +orphan cousin, as mamma was perpetually holding up to me, I should have +bothered them twenty times more; but when I got larger and began to be +really distasteful to his fine artistic perception, mamma had the sense +to keep me out of his way; and he was busy at his lessons, and didn't +come so much. But Lu just fitted him then, from the time he daubed +little adoring blotches of her face on every barn-door and paling, till +when his scrap-book was full of her in all fancies and conceits, and he +was old enough to go away and study Art. Then he came home occasionally, +and always saw us; but I generally contrived, on such occasions, to do +some frightful thing that shocked every nerve he had, and he avoided me +instinctively as he would an electric torpedo; but--do you believe?--I +never had an idea of such a thing, till, when sailing from the South, +so changed, I remembered things, and felt intuitively how it must have +been. Shortly after I went away, he visited Europe. I had been at home a +year, and now we heard he had returned; so for two years he hadn't seen +me. He had written a great deal to Lu,--brotherly letters they were,--he +is so peculiar,--determining not to give her the least intimation of +what he felt, if he did feel anything, till he was able to say all. And +now he had earned for himself a certain fame, a promise of greater; his +works sold; and if he pleased, he could marry. I merely presume this +might have been his thought; he never told me. A certain fame! But +that's nothing to what he will have. How can he paint gray, faint, +half-alive things now? He must abound in color,--be rich, exhaustless: +wild sea-sketches,--sunrise,--sunset,--mountain mists rolling in turbid +crimson masses, breaking in a milky spray of vapor round lofty peaks, +and letting out lonely glimpses of a melancholy moon,--South American +splendors,--pomps of fruit and blossom,--all this affluence of his +future life must flash from his pencils now. Not that he will paint +again directly. Do you suppose it possible that I should be given +him merely for a phase of wealth and light and color, and then +taken,--taken, in some dreadful way, to teach him the necessary and +inevitable result of such extravagant luxuriance? It makes me shiver. + +It was that very noon when papa brought in the amber, that he came for +the first time since his return from Europe. He hadn't met Lu before. I +ran, because I was in my morning wrapper. Don't you see it there, that +cream-colored, undyed silk, with the dear palms and ferns swimming all +over it? And all my hair was just flung into a little black net that +Lu had made me; we both had run down as we were when we heard papa. I +scampered; but he saw only Lu; and grasped her hands. Then, of course, I +stopped on the baluster to look. They didn't say anything, only seemed +to be reading up for the two years in each other's eyes; but Lu dropped +her kid box, and as he stooped to pick it up, he held it, and then took +out the ring, looked at her and smiled, and put it on his own finger. +The one she had always worn was no more a mystery. He has such little +hands! they don't seem made for anything but slender crayons and +watercolors, as if oils would weigh them down with the pigment; but +there is a nervy strength about them that could almost bend an ash. + +Papa's breezy voice blew through the room next minute, welcoming him; +and then he told Lu to put up her jewels, and order luncheon, at which, +of course, the other wanted to see the jewels nearer; and I couldn't +stand that, but slipped down and walked right in, lifting my amber, and +saying, "Oh, but this is what you must look at!" + +He turned, somewhat slowly, with such a lovely indifference, and let his +eyes idly drop on me. He didn't look at the amber at all; he didn't look +at me; I seemed to fill his gaze without any action from him, for +he stood quiet and passive; my voice, too, seemed to wrap him in a +dream,--only an instant; though then I had reached him. + +"You've not forgotten Yone," said papa, "who went persimmon and came +apricot?" + +"I've not forgotten Yone," answered he, as if half asleep. "But who is +this?" + +"Who is this?" echoed papa. "Why, this is my great West Indian magnolia, +my Cleopatra in light colors, my"---- + +"Hush, you silly man!" + +"This is she," putting his hands on my shoulders,--"Miss Giorgione +Willoughby." + +By this time he had found his manners. + +"Miss Giorgione Willoughby," he said, with a cool bow, "I never knew +you." + +"Very well, Sir," I retorted. "Now you and my father have settled the +question, know my amber!" and lifting it again, it got caught in that +curl. + +I have good right to love my hair. What was there to do, when it snarled +in deeper every minute, but for him to help me? and then, at the +friction of our hands, the beads gave out slightly their pungent smell +that breathes all through the Arabian Nights, you know; and the perfumed +curls were brushing softly over his fingers, and I a little vexed and +flushed as the blind blew back and let in the sunshine and a roistering +wind;--why, it was all a pretty scene, to be felt then and remembered +afterward. Lu, I believe, saw at that instant how it would be, and moved +away to do as papa had asked; but no thought of it came to me. + +"Well, if you can't clear the tangle," I said, "you can see the beads." + +But while with delight he examined their curious fretting, he yet saw +me. + +I am used to admiration now, certainly; it is my food; without it I +should die of inanition; but do you suppose I care any more for those +who give it to me than a Chinese idol does for--whoever swings incense +before it? Are you devoted to your butcher and milkman? We desire only +the unpossessed or unattainable, "something afar from the sphere of +our sorrow." But, though unconsciously, I may have been piqued by this +manner of his. It was new; not a word, not a glance; I believed it +was carelessness, and resolved--merely for the sake of conquering, I +fancied, too--to change all that. By-and-by the beads dropped out of the +curl, as if they had been possessed of mischief and had held there of +themselves. He caught them. + +"Here, Circe," he said. + +That was the time I was so angry; for, at the second, he meant all it +comprehended. He saw, I suppose, for he added at once,-- + +"Or what was the name of the Witch of Atlas, + + 'The magic circle of whose voice and eyes + All savage natures did imparadise?'" + +I wonder what made me think him mocking me. Frequently since then he has +called me by that name. + +"I don't know much about geography," I said. "Besides, these didn't come +from there. Little Asian--the imp of my name, you remember--owned them." + +"Ah?" with the utmost apathy; and turning to my father, "I saw the +painting that enslaved you, Sir," he said. + +"Yes, yes," said papa, gleefully. "And then why didn't you make me a +copy?" + +"Why?" Here he glanced round the room, as if he weren't thinking at all +of the matter in hand. "The coloring is more than one can describe, +though faded. But I don't think you would like it so much now. Moreover, +Sir, I cannot make copies." + +I stepped towards them, quite forgetful of my pride. "Can't?" I +exclaimed. "Oh, how splendid! Because then no other man comes between +you and Nature; your ideal hangs before you, and special glimpses open +and shut on you, glimpses which copyists never obtain." + +"I don't think you are right," he said, coldly, his hands loosely +crossed behind him, leaning on the corner of the mantel, and looking +unconcernedly out of the window. + +Wasn't it provoking? I remembered myself,--and remembered, too, that I +never had made a real exertion to procure anything, and it wasn't worth +while to begin then, beside not being my forte; things must come to me. +Just then Lu reentered, and one of the servants brought a tray, and we +had lunch. Then our visitor rose to go. + +"No, no," said papa. "Stay the day out with the girls. It's Mayday, and +there are to be fireworks on the other bank to-night." + +"Fireworks for Mayday?" + +"Yes, to be sure. Wait and see." + +"It would be so pleasant!" pleaded Lu. + +"And a band, I forgot to mention. I have an engagement myself, so you'll +excuse me; but the girls will do the honors, and I shall meet you at +dinner." + +So it was arranged. Papa went out. I curled up on a lounge,--for Lu +wouldn't have liked to be left, if I had liked to leave her,--and soon, +when he sat down by her quite across the room, I half shut my eyes and +pretended to sleep. He began to turn over her work-basket, taking up her +thimble, snipping at the thread with her scissors: I see now he wasn't +thinking about it, and was trying to recover what he considered a proper +state of feeling, but I fancied he was very gentle and tender, though I +couldn't hear what they said, and I never took the trouble to listen in +my life. In about five minutes I was tired of this playing 'possum, and +took my observations. + +What is your idea of a Louise? Mine is dark eyes, dark hair, decided +features, pale, brown pale, with a mole on the left cheek,--and that's +Louise. Nothing striking, but pure and clear, and growing always better. + +For him,--he's not one of those cliff-like men against whom you are +blown as a feather, I don't fancy that kind; I can stand of myself, rule +myself. He isn't small, though; no, he's tall enough, but all his frame +is delicate, held to earth by nothing but the cords of a strong will, +--very little body, very much soul. He, too, is pale, and has dark eyes +with violet darks in them. You don't call him beautiful in the least, +but you don't know him. I call him beauty itself, and I know him +thoroughly. A stranger might have thought, when I spoke of those copals +Rose carved, that Rose was some girl. But though he has a feminine +sensibility, like Correggio or Schubert, nobody could call him womanish. +"_Les races se féminisent_." Don't you remember Matthew Roydon's +Astrophill? + + "A sweet, attractive kind of grace, + A full assurance given by looks, + Continual comfort in a face." + +I always think of that flame in an alabaster vase, when I see him; "one +sweet grace fed still with one sweet mind"; a countenance of another +sphere: that's Vaughan Rose. It provokes me that I can't paint him +myself, without other folk's words; but you see there's no natural image +of him in me, and so I can't throw it strongly on any canvas. As for his +manners, you've seen them;--now tell me, was there ever anything so +winning when he pleases, and always a most gracious courtesy in his +air, even when saying an insufferably uncivil thing? He has an art, a +science, of putting the unpleasant out of his sight, ignoring or looking +over it, which sometimes gives him an absent way; and that is because he +so delights in beauty; he seems to have woven a mist over his face then, +and to be shut in on his own inner loveliness; and many a woman thinks +he is perfectly devoted, when, very like, he is swinging over some +lonely Spanish sierra beneath the stars, or buried in noonday Brazilian +forests, half stifled with the fancied breath of every gorgeous blossom +of the zone. Till this time, it had been the perfection of form rather +than tint that had enthralled him; he had come home with severe ideas, +too severe; he needed me, you see. + +But while looking at him and Lu, on that day, I didn't perceive half of +this, only felt annoyed at their behavior, and let them feel that I +was noticing them. There's nothing worse than that; it is a very +upas-breath, it puts on the brakes, and of course a chill and a +restraint overcame them till Mr. Dudley was announced. + +"Dear! dear!" I exclaimed, getting upon my feet. "What ever shall we do, +Lu? I'm not dressed for him." And while I stood, Mr. Dudley came in. + +Mr. Dudley didn't seem to mind whether I was dressed in cobweb or +sheet-iron; for he directed his looks and conversation so much to Lu, +that Rose came and sat on a stool before me and began to talk. + +"Miss Willoughby"-- + +"Yone, please." + +"But you are not Yone." + +"Well, just as you choose. You were going to say?" + +"Merely to ask how you liked the Islands." + +"Oh, well enough." + +"No more?" he said. "They wouldn't have broken your spell so, if that +had been all. Do you know I actually believe in enchantments now?" + +I was indignant, but amused in spite of myself. + +"Well," he continued, "why don't you say it? How impertinent am I? You +won't? Why don't you laugh, then?" + +"Dear me!" I replied. "You are so much on the +'subtle-souled-psychologist' line, that there's no need of my speaking +at all." + +"I can carry on all the dialogue? Then let _me_ say how you liked the +Islands." + +"I shall do no such thing. I liked the West Indies because there is life +there; because the air is a firmament of balm, and you grow in it like +a flower in the sun; because the fierce heat and panting winds wake and +kindle all latent color, and fertilize every germ of delight that might +sleep here forever. That's why I liked them; and you knew it just as +well before as now." + +"Yes; but I wanted to see if you knew it. So you think there is life +there in that dead Atlantis." + +"Life of the elements, rain, hail, fire, and snow." + +"Snow thrice bolted by the northern blast, I fancy, by which time it +becomes rather misty. Exaggerated snow." + +"Everything there is an exaggeration. Coming here from England is like +stepping out of a fog into an almost exhausted receiver; but you've no +idea what light is, till you've been in those inland hills. You think a +blue sky the perfection of bliss? When you see a white sky, a dome of +colorless crystal, with purple swells of mountain heaving round you, and +a wilderness of golden greens royally languid below, while stretches of +a scarlet blaze, enough to ruin a weak constitution, flaunt from the +rank vines that lace every thicket, and the whole world, and you with +it, seems breaking into blossom,--why, then you know what light is and +can do. The very wind there by day is bright, now faint, now stinging, +and makes a low, wiry music through the loose sprays, as if they were +tense harp-strings. Nothing startles; all is like a grand composition +utterly wrought out. What a blessing it is that the blacks have been +imported there,--their swarthiness is in such consonance!" + +"No; the native race was in better consonance. You are so enthusiastic, +it is pity you ever came away." + +"Not at all. I didn't know anything about it till I came back." + +"But a mere animal or vegetable life is not much. What was ever done in +the tropics?" + +"Almost all the world's history,--wasn't it?" + +"No, indeed; only the first, most trifling, and barbarian movements." + +"At all events, you are full of blessedness in those climates, and that +is the end and aim of all action; and if Nature will do it for you, +there is no need of your interference. It is much better to be than +to do;--one is a strife, the other is possession." + +"You mean being as the complete attainment? There is only one Being, +then. All the rest of us are"---- + +"Oh, dear me! that sounds like metaphysics! Don't!" + +"So you see, you are not full of blessedness there." + +"You ought to have been born in Abelard's time,--you've such a +disputatious spirit. That's I don't know how many times you have +contradicted me to-day." + +"Pardon." + +"I wonder if you are so easy with all women." + +"I don't know many." + +"I shall watch to see if you contradict Lu this way." + +"I don't need. How absorbed she is! Mr. Dudley is 'interesting'?" + +"I don't know. No. But then, Lu is a good girl, and he's her +minister,--a Delphic oracle. She thinks the sun and moon set somewhere +round Mr. Dudley. Oh! I mean to show him my amber." + +And I tossed it into Lu's lap, saying,-- + +"Show it to Mr. Dudley, Lu,--and ask him if it isn't divine!" + +Of course, he was shocked, and wouldn't go into ecstasies at all; +tripped on the adjective. + +"There are gods enough in it to be divine," said Rose, taking it from +Lu's hand and bringing it back to me. "All those very Gnostic deities +who assisted at Creation. You are not afraid that the imprisoned things +work their spells upon you? The oracle declares it suits your cousin +best," he added, in a lower tone. + +"All the oaf knows!" I responded. "I wish you'd admire it, Mr. Dudley. +Mr. Rose don't like amber,--handles it like nettles." + +"No," said Rose, "I don't like amber." + +"He prefers aqua-marina," I continued. "Lu, produce yours!" For she had +not heard him. + +"Yes," said Mr. Dudley, rubbing his finger over his lip while he gazed, +"every one must prefer aqua-marina." + +"Nonsense! It's no better than glass. I'd as soon wear a set of +window-panes. There's no expression in it. It isn't alive, like real +gems." + +Mr. Dudley stared. Rose laughed. + +"What a vindication of amber!" he said. + +He was standing now, leaning against the mantel, just as he was before +lunch. Lu looked at him and smiled. + +"Yone is exultant, because we both wanted the beads," she said. "I like +amber as much as she." + +"Nothing near so much, Lu!" + +"Why didn't you have them, then?" asked Rose, quickly. + +"Oh, they belonged to Yone; and uncle gave me these, which I like +better. Amber is warm, and smells of the earth; but this is cool and +dewy, and"---- + +"Smells of heaven?" asked I, significantly. + +Mr. Dudley began to fidget, for he saw no chance of finishing his +exposition. + +"As I was saying, Miss Louisa," he began, in a different key. + +I took my beads and wound them round my wrist. "You haven't as much eye +for color as a poppy-bee," I exclaimed, in a corresponding key, and +looking up at Rose. + +"Unjust. I was thinking then how entirely they suited you." + +"Thank you. Vastly complimentary from one who 'don't like amber'!" + +"Nevertheless, you think so." + +"Yes and no. Why don't you like it?" + +"You mustn't ask me for my reasons. It is not merely disagreeable, but +hateful." + +"And you've been beside me, like a Christian, all this time, and I had +it!" + +"The perfume is acrid; I associate it with the lower jaw of St. Basil +the Great, styled a present of immense value, you remember,--being hard, +heavy, shining like gold, the teeth yet in it, and with a smell more +delightful than amber,"--making a mock shudder at the word. + +"Oh, it is prejudice, then." + +"Not in the least. It is antipathy. Besides, the thing is unnatural; +there is no existent cause for it. A bit that turns up on certain +sands,--here at home, for aught I know, as often as anywhere." + +"Which means Nazareth. We must teach you, Sir, that there are some +things at home as rare as those abroad." + +"I am taught," he said, very low, and without looking up. + +"Just tell me, what is amber?" + +"Fossil gum." + +"Can you say those words and not like it? Don't it bring to you a +magnificent picture of the pristine world,--great seas and other +skies,--a world of accentuated crises, that sloughed off age after age, +and rose fresher from each plunge? Don't you see, or long to see, that +mysterious magic tree out of whose pores oozed this fine solidified +sunshine? What leaf did it have? what blossom? what great wind shivered +its branches? Was it a giant on a lonely coast, or thick low growth +blistered in ravines and dells? That's the witchery of amber,--that it +_has_ no cause,--that all the world grew to produce it,--may-be died +and gave no other sign,--that its tree, which must have been beautiful, +dropped all its fruits; and how bursting with juice must they have +been"---- + +"Unfortunately, coniferous." + +"Be quiet. Stripped itself of all its lush luxuriance, and left for a +vestige only this little fester of its gashes." + +"No, again," he once more interrupted. "I have seen remnants of the wood +and bark in a museum." + +"Or has it hidden and compressed all its secret here?" I continued, +obliviously. "What if in some piece of amber an accidental seed were +sealed, we found, and planted, and brought back the lost aeons? What a +glorious world that must have been, where even the gum was so precious!" + +"In a picture, yes. Necessary for this. But, my dear Miss Willoughby, +you convince me that the Amber Witch founded your family," he said, +having listened with an amused face. "Loveliest amber that ever the +sorrowing sea-birds have wept," he hummed. "There! isn't that kind of +stuff enough to make a man detest it?" + +"Yes." + +"And you are quite as bad in another way." + +"Oh!" + +"Just because, when we hold it in our hands, we hold also that furious +epoch where rioted all monsters and poisons,--where death fecundated +and life destroyed,--where superabundance demanded such existences, no +souls, but fiercest animal fire;--just for that I hate it." + +"Why, then, is it fitted for me?" + +He laughed again, but replied,--"The hues harmonize,--the substances; +you both are accidents; it suits your beauty." + +So, then, it seemed I had beauty, after all. + +"You mean that it harmonizes with me, because I am a symbol of its +period. If there had been women then, they would have been like me,--a +great creature without a soul, a"---- + +"Pray, don't finish the sentence. I can imagine that there is something +rich and voluptuous and sating about amber, its color, and its lustre, +and its scent; but for others, not for me. Yea, you have beauty, after +all," turning suddenly, and withering me with his eye,--"beauty, after +all, as you didn't _say_ just now.--Mr. Willoughby is in the garden. I +must go before he comes in, or he'll make me stay. There are some to +whom you can't say, No." + +He stopped a minute, and now, without looking,--indeed, he looked +everywhere but at me, while we talked,--made a bow as if just seating +me from a waltz, and, with his eyes and his smile on Louise all the way +down the room, went out. Did you ever know such insolence? + +[To be continued.] + + + + +SONG OF NATURE. + + + Mine are the night and morning, + The pits of air, the gulf of space, + The sportive sun, the gibbous moon, + The innumerable days. + + I hide in the blinding glory, + I lurk in the pealing song, + I rest on the pitch of the torrent, + In death, new-born and strong. + + No numbers have counted my tallies, + No tribes my house can fill, + I sit by the shining Fount of life, + And pour the deluge still. + + And ever by delicate powers + Gathering along the centuries + From race on race the fairest flowers, + My wreath shall nothing miss. + + And many a thousand summers + My apples ripened well, + And light from meliorating stars + With firmer glory fell. + + I wrote the past in characters + Of rock and fire the scroll, + The building in the coral sea, + The planting of the coal. + + And thefts from satellites and rings + And broken stars I drew, + And out of spent and aged things + I formed the world anew. + + What time the gods kept carnival, + Tricked out in star and flower, + And in cramp elf and saurian forms + They swathed their too much power. + + Time and Thought were my surveyors, + They laid their courses well, + They boiled the sea, and baked the layers + Of granite, marl, and shell. + + But him--the man-child glorious, + Where tarries he the while? + The rainbow shines his harbinger, + The sunset gleams his smile. + + My boreal lights leap upward, + Forthright my planets roll, + And still the man-child is not born, + The summit of the whole. + + Must time and tide forever run? + Will never my winds go sleep in the West? + Will never my wheels, which whirl the sun + And satellites, have rest? + + Too much of donning and doffing, + Too slow the rainbow fades; + I weary of my robe of snow, + My leaves, and my cascades. + + I tire of globes and races, + Too long the game is played; + What, without him, is summer's pomp, + Or winter's frozen shade? + + I travail in pain for him, + My creatures travail and wait; + His couriers come by squadrons, + He comes not to the gate. + + Twice I have moulded an image, + And thrice outstretched my hand, + Made one of day, and one of night, + And one of the salt-sea-sand. + + I moulded kings and saviours, + And bards o'er kings to rule; + But fell the starry influence short, + The cup was never full. + + Yet whirl the glowing wheels once more, + And mix the bowl again, + Seethe, Fate! the ancient elements, + Heat, cold, dry, wet, and peace and pain + + Let war and trade and creeds and song + Blend, ripen race on race,-- + The sunburnt world a man shall breed + Of all the zones and countless days. + + No ray is dimmed, no atom worn, + My oldest force is good as new, + And the fresh rose on yonder thorn + Gives back the bending heavens in dew. + + + + +NEMOPHILY + + +An earnest plea was once entered in Maga's pages for the bodies +of saints. Yet it is to be hoped that others not included in that +respectable class may have physical needs also, and it is to be feared +that they may not be above the necessity of a little of the same +invigorating tonic. For there are not a few on this continent of ours, +whom the _Avvocata del Diavolo_ would certainly expect to enter a _nolo +contendere_, who stand in much need of a healthy animalism. That these +sinners would be benefited by what Mr. Kingsley's critics call "muscular +Christianity" cannot be denied. For they are not sinners beyond all hope +of amendment, by any means; and their offences being rather against +the laws and light of Nature than against any of the commands of the +Decalogue, it is earnestly desired that they be brought within the pale +of promise, even if they never reach the sacred fane of canonization. + +Indeed, at the outset, let there be a protest entered on behalf of the +sinner against this unnecessary pity of the saint. It is a part of that +false halo with which enthusiastic admiration (reckless of gilding and +ruinously prodigal of ochre) delights to endue the favored heads of the +_beati_. The saint himself countenances the folly, and meekly inclines +his head (sideways) to the rays. It is a part of the capital of the +calling to look interesting. The revered and reverend Charles Honeyman, +in the hands of that acute manager, Mr. Sherrick, was bidden to sit in +his pew at evening service and _cough_. A qualified consumption and a +moderate bronchitis are no bad substitutes for eloquence, learning, and +that indiscreet piety which is so careless of feminine favor as to +bring into the pulpit a robust person and to the dinner-table a healthy +appetite. + +But the saint, if he have a reasonable sense of his pastoral duty, gets, +_malgré lui_, a very fair share of that open-air medicine which is +supposed to be the great lack of his profession. For if he be a +clergyman in a rural parish of tolerable extent and with no great +superfluity of wealth, he will not want for either air or exercise. The +George Herbert so situated finds by no means his whole round of duty in +the study. Old Mrs. Smith, sick and bedridden, lives a couple of miles +from the parsonage; but the thoughtless creature actually expects a +weekly visit and half-hour's reading of certain old familiar English +literature, and will remind her pastor of it, if the expected day pass +without his coming. Jones and his wife, who live in just the other +direction, are wantonly apt, upon the insufficient plea of a long walk, +to be missed from their wonted pew on a stormy Sunday, and must be +looked up. Little Mary Gray has not been to Sunday-school. Cause +suspected,--insufficient shoes. Bessy Bell, up the cross-road, quite +over beyond Beman's Farms, is likewise delinquent, from the opposite +want of a bonnet. Wilson, the cross-grained vestryman, has an idea, +which never fails by Saturday night to break out into a positive rush of +conviction, that the minister is neglecting his studies and "going to +Rome," if he doesn't in the course of the week go to Wilson and carry +him the Church papers and take a look at the Wilson prize-pigs. So good +Mr. Herbert never fails, in due attestation of his "abhorrence of the +Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities," to foot it over the rocky +hill and down across the rickety little bridge and past the poor-house +farm, (where he stops on a little private business of his own, that +perhaps makes a few old hearts and certainly one old coat-pocket the +lighter,) and so on, a good piece, through the woods, to where Vestryman +Wilson is bending over the hoe or swinging the axe, and thinking the +while what an easy life the parson has of it. + +Then Mr. Herbert gets the occasional tonic of a brisk walk over the +hard-beaten snow, of a moonlight winter's night. A walk-only think of +it!--over the crisp, crunching snow, to the distant outlying hamlet of +Paton's Corner, where a few are gathered in the little school-house to +hear him preach, and to give him the happy relief of a five-mile tramp +home again. + +It is really doubtful if dumb-bells, a gymnasium, and a pickerel-back +racing-wherry would meet precisely the case of Mr. Herbert, however +desirable for city saints who have plenty of spare sixpences for the +omnibuses. + +But the miserable sinner,--"where," as the shepherd exclaimed, to Mr. +Weller's indignation, "is the miserable sinner?" Keeping school, +keeping books, making books, standing behind counters when busy and on +street-corners when disengaged, doing anything or everything but taking +care of his precious body, and thereby giving his precious soul the +chance of being in very bad company, and following the fate of poor +Tray, and of the well-meaning stork in Dr. Aesop's fable. What shall he, +or rather, what can he, do with his leisure? For leisure more or less +almost every young man has,--and it is of young men, and especially of +the _very_ young men, that we are benevolently writing. If he dwell +in an inland town, the boat-club is hopeless,--and boat-clubs, though +capital things for the young gentlemen of Harvard and Yale and Trinity, +have also their drawbacks. One cannot always be ready to move in +complete unison with a dozen fellow-mortals. Pendennis is never ready +when the club are desirous to row; Newcome is perpetually anxious to +tempt the wave when the wave tempts nobody else. The gymnasium gets to +be a wearisome round of very mill-horse-like work, after the varieties +of possible dislocation of all one's bones have been exhausted. Climbing +ropes and poles with nothing but cobwebs at the top, and leaping horses +with only tan at the bottom, grow monotonous after six months' steady +dissipation thereat. Base-ball clubs do not always find desirable +commons, and the municipal fathers of the towns have a prejudice against +them in the streets. What shall youth, conscious of muscle and eager for +fresh air, do? Even the gloves are not fancy-free, but are very apt to +bring with them the slang of the ring and the beastly associations +of professional pugilism. Youth looks up to its teachers; but if its +teachers in the manly art be the Game-Chicken, the Pet, the Slasher, +youth, in learning to respect the brute strength of such men, will +hardly learn to respect itself. + +But--and here lies the purport of this article--there is hardly a town +or village of New England which has not within a quarter of a mile of +its suburbs a patch of woodland or a strip of sandy beach. What is to +hinder the sinner, if he repent him of the foul air and cramped posture +of which he has been the victim, from a little pedestrianism? Do +American men and boys ever walk? Drive, it is known they do; they can +always get time for that. But to walk, certainly to scramble and to +climb, must be added by Mr. Phillips, in the new editions of his +exquisite and inexhaustible Lecture, to the catalogue of the "Lost +Arts." + +Yet Nature never grows outworn,--is unwearied in the bounty which she +bestows on the seeker. I said a strip of sandy beach, just now. For that +I beg leave to refer the reader to Mr. Kingsley's fascinating "Glaucus," +and to the delightful papers which appeared in "Blackwood" a year or two +ago. My business is with the woods and fields. Certainly some who read +my pages will have leisure to climb a stone wall now and then, and for +them the following sketches of New England wood-walks may serve to show +how much enjoyment may be got with but little outlay of appliances. Of +course the most tempting thing to seek is sport. But the gun and the +fishing-rod are useless in many towns, from the disappearance of all +worthy objects for their exercise. The birds are wild and shy; the trout +have been _coculus-indicused_ out of the mountain-brooks to supply +metropolitan hotel-tables and Delmonican larders. Let us go after more +attainable things. And first, being a true nemophilist, I protest +against botany. A flower worth a five-mile walk and a wet foot is worthy +of something better than dissection with the Linnaean classification, +afterward adding insult to injury. The botanist is not a discoverer; he +is only a pedant. He finds out nothing about the plant; he serves it +as we might fancy a monster doing, who should take this number of the +"Atlantic" and sit down, not to read it, not to inhale the delicate +fragrance of its thought, but to count its articles, examine their +titles, and, having compared them with the newspaper advertisement, +sweep the whole contentedly into the dust-heap. To study the plant, to +see how it gets its living, why it will grow on one side of a brook in +profusion, and yet refuse to seek the other bank, is not his care. It +is simply to see whether he can abuse its honest English or New-English +simplicity by calling it by one set or another of barbarous Latin and +Greek titles. Pray, my good Sir, does a man go to see the elephant only +to call him a pachydermatous quadruped? + +But we are wasting time and shall never get into the woods. In the +winter wild you will hardly get far into them, except at the Christmas +season for greenery. Gathering this by deputy is poor business. It is +all very well, if you can do no better, to engage Mr. Brown to engage +some one else to bring in the needed spruce, fir, and hemlock with which +to obscure the fresco deformities of St. Boniface's; but it is far +better to hunt for them yourself. There is something intensely +delightful in the changes of the search; for it begins dull enough. You +start in the drear December weather, with a gray sky and leaden clouds +softly shaded in regular billows, like an India-ink ocean, overhead, +and a somewhat muddy lane before you. Then to pick one's way across the +plashy meadows, and, after a ticklish pass of jumping from one reedy +tussock to another, to get once more upon the firm soil, while the +grass, dry and crisp under your feet, gives a pleasant _whish, whish_, +as it does the duty of street-door-mat to your mud-beclogged sandals. +Now for the stone wall. On the other side are thick set the thorny +stalks of last summer's "high-bush" blackberries. A plunge and a +scramble take you through in comparative safety; and stopping only to +disengage your skirts from a too-fond bramble, you are in the woodland. +Thick-strewn the dead leaves lie under foot. What music there is in the +rustling murmur with which they greet your invading step! On, deeper and +deeper into the wood,--now dodging under the green and snaky cat-briers, +with their retractile thorns and vicious clinging grasp,--now dashing +along the woodman's paths,--now struggling among the opposing +underwood. At last a little sprig of feathery green catches the eye. +It is a tuft of moss. No,--it is the running ground-pine; and clearing +away, with both eager hands, leaves, sticks, moss, and all the fallen +_exuciae_ of the summertime, you tear up long wreaths of that most +graceful of evergreens. Then, in another quarter of the woodland, where +the underbrush has been killed by the denser shade, there rise the +exquisite fan-shaped plumes of the feather-pine, of deepest green, or +brown-golden with the pencil of the frost;--for cross or star or thick +festoon, there is nothing so beautiful. And again you are attracted +into the thickets of laurel, and wage fierce war upon the sturdy and +tenacious, yet brittle branches, till you are transformed into a walking +jack-o'-the-green. The holly of the English Christmas, all-besprent with +crimson drops, is hard to be found in New England, and you will have to +thread the courses of the brooks to seek the swamp-loving black alder, +which will furnish as brilliant a berry, but without the beautiful +thorny leaf. Only in one patch of woodland do I know of the holly. In +the southeastern corner of Massachusetts,--if you will take the trouble +to follow up a railroad-track for a couple of miles and then plunge +into the pine woods, you will come upon a few lonely, stunted scraps of +it. The warmer airs which the Gulf Stream sends upon that coast have, +it is said, something to do therewith. Of course, if I am wrong, the +botanists will take vengeance upon me; but I can only say what has been +said to me. We nemophilists are apt to be careless of solemn science and +go upon all sorts of uncertain tradition. + +But "Christmas comes but once a year." After chancel and nave have been +duly adorned, and again disrobed against the coming sobrieties of Lent, +there are other temptations to the woods. Before the snow has wholly +vanished from the shelter of the wood-lots, the warm, hazy, wooing days +of April come upon us. On such a day,--how well in this snow-season I +remember it!--I have been lured out by the hope of the Mayflower, the +delicate _epigae repens_, miscalled the trailing arbutus. Up the rocky +hill-side, from whose top you catch glimpses of the far-off sparkling +sea, with a blue haze of island ranges belting it,--up among the rocks, +into warm, sheltered, sunny nooks, you go upon your quest. For the +Mayflower, though found in almost every township in New England, has +secret and unaccountable whims of its own,--will persist in blooming +in just one spot, where you ought not to expect it, and in avoiding all +likely places. Yet when you come to its traditionary habitat, it is not +there. Round and round we pace, hoping and despairing, till a faint, +most delicate odor, indescribably suggestive of woodland freshness, +catches the roused sense; or else one silvery star peeps out from under +an upturned birch-leaf. Then down on hands and knees; tear up brush to +right and left, the brown skeletons of the withered foliage. The ground +is white with stars. Some are touched with delicate pink, some creamy +white,--but all breathing out the evanescent secret of the early spring. +Such the children of Plymouth used to hang in garlands about the Pilgrim +stone, in honor of the never-to-be-forgotten name of the New England +Argo. + +Later in the year come the beautiful blue violets, which are, I am sorry +to say, scentless. Yet their little white cousin, which delights in all +swampy places, is sometimes, in the first days of its appearing, more +regardful of the prime duty of all flowers. I have gathered tufts of +them which (botanists to the contrary notwithstanding) were wellnigh as +odorous as if reared in the sunniest Warwickshire lane; but, as with a +perfect specimen of the cast skin of a snake, such a boon is to be hoped +for only once in a lifetime. With the violets, the beautiful blush-bells +of the anemone come garlanded with their graceful leaves, plentifully +enough. But did the rambler ever find the sensitive fern, which resented +the intrusive hand with all Mimosa's coyness? I never did but once. I +have wooed many a delicate frond of all varieties of fern since, but +never one so conscious. Now, too, ere the trees come into leaf, is the +time to seek the boxwood, called, I hope improperly, by the ominous name +of the Southern dogwood. It is worth an afternoon's ramble to come upon +one of those trees, standing in an open glade of the forest, a pyramid +of white or cream-colored blossoms. Before a leaf is on the tree, it +clothes itself in this lovely livery, and at a little distance seems +like a snowy cloud rather than a shrub. + +But with June comes the most exquisite of our New England wild-flowers, +the arethusa, or swamp-pink, as it is often styled, to the great +confusion of its delicate, high-born nature with the great, vulgar, +flaunting azalea. When June comes,--when the clethra is heaped with its +bee-beloved blossoms, and the grass is green and bright as never again +in the year, then the arethusa is to be sought. A most unaccountable +flower, of all shades, from pale pink to a deep purple, with a lovely +shape that I can liken to nothing so nearly as the _fleur-de-lis_ on +French escutcheons, it has a delicate, yet powerful, aromatic scent, as +if it were an estray from the tropics. One specimen, snowy white, I have +seen, and can tell you where to find another. You are to go out along +the President's highway, due northward from a certain seaport of +Massachusetts. Take the eastward turn at the little village which lies +at the head of its harbor, and so north again by the old Friends' +meeting-house, which looks in brown placidity away toward the distant +shipping and the wicked steeple-houses, into the which so many of its +lost lambs have been inveigled. Then be not tempted to strike off down +yonder lane, to see the curious old farm-house, relic of Colony times, +with its odd stone chimney, its projecting upper story and carved wooden +pendants, and its shingles all pierced into decorative hearts and +rounds. Its likeness is not in Barber's book,--no, nor its visible form, +I believe, (it is many a year since I went that way,) on earth. It +became a constellation long ago,--being translated to the stars. Keep on +with good heart along the highway ridge, whence you can look down on the +solemn, close-set, pine forest, which hides from you the windings of the +river, and the beautiful lakelet, where the water-lilies float in +the summer. Go on down the valley, past the old tavern,--relic +of stage-coaching days, the square, three-story, deserted-looking +tavern,--up again a couple of miles or so, till the river has dwindled +to a brook and then to a marsh. Here is the place of our seeking. For +under the shade of one of those huge granite rocks over which the thin +soil of ---- County is sprinkled, and which here and there have shaken +off the superincumbent dust in indignation at the presumption of man in +attempting to farm them,--under that rock--of course I shall not tell +you which--you will find the White Arethusa, if you are born under a +lucky star. + +A little later, the crimson lady-slipper loves to spring up in pine +clearings, around the base of the wood-piles which the cutters have +stacked in the winter to season. To one born by the salt water there is +an especial forest delight in the pine woods. For that best-loved sound +of the ceaseless fall of plunging seas upon the beach comes to him +there. Many a time I have walked from Harvard's leafy shades and +cheerful halls out to the quiet of the Botanic Garden for the sake of +hearing the wind in the pine tree-tops. Shut your eyes, and the inward +vision sees once more the long line of sandy and shingly beaches, the +green curving-up of the surges tipped with dazzling foam,--sees the +motionless and blackened timbers of the wreck on the shore, the white +wings dipping and turning along the combing tops of the waves racing in +upon the sands,--sees the dry tufted beach-grass, and the wet, shining, +compact slope down which slides swiftly the under-tow. And what a +healthful exhilaration it is to breathe the balm-laden breath of the +pine forest, and to tread the elastic slippery-soft carpet of the fallen +spiny leaves! Here is the haunt of the lady-slipper, (_cypripedium_,) +a shy, rare flower, like a little sack delicately veined, with a faint +musky scent, and large-flapped leaves shading its flower. + +In the hot July and August, the scarlet lobelia, the cardinal-flower, is +to be found. Never was cardinal so robed. If Herbert's rose, in poetic +hyperbole, with its "hue angry and brave, bids the rash gazer wipe his +eye," certainly such a bed of lobelia as I once saw on the road to +"Rollo's Camp" was anything but what the Scotch would call "a sight for +sair een." For the space of a dozen or twenty yards grew a patch of +absolutely nothing but lobelia. At a little distance it was like a +scarlet carpet flung out by the roadside. If you desire to twine the +threefold chord of color, as Mr. Ruskin calls it, I know of no lovelier +foil for the lobelia than the white orchis, which haunts the same marshy +spots. Those long spikes of feathery and balanced blossoms are the most +absolute white of anything in Nature. They positively insist upon the +very refinement of purity, as you look at them. + +Did you ever see a pond-lily?--not the miserable draggled +green-and-mud-colored buds which enterprising boys bring into the cars +for sale; but the white water-lily, floating on the silent brooks, or +far out in the safe depths of the mill-ponds. The "Autocrat" knows what +pond-lilies are, having visited Prospero's Isle and seen the pink-tinged +sisterhood of a certain mere that lies embosomed in its hills. But to +know them, you must hunt for them,--tramp off to the distant stream, and +then, not stand on the bank and wish and sigh, but off hose and shoon, +and, careless of water-snake and snapping-turtle, wade in up to their +virgin bower, and bear off the dripping, fragrant prize. None but the +brave deserve--lady or lily. + +But if the stream be too deep and wide, and the lilies are anchored far +out among their broad pads,--a floral Venice, with the blue spikes and +arrowy leaves of the pickerel-weed for campaniles and towers,--there +are yet "lilies of the field" over which you may profitably meditate, +remembering that Solomon Ben-David was not so arrayed. Two kinds there +are,--one like the tiger-lily of the gardens, the petals curled back +and showing the whole leopard-spotted corolla,--the other bell-shaped, +rarer, and growing one only on a stalk. Both are to be found in open +spaces, bush-grown fields, and airy, sunny spots. It is worth a hot and +dusty June walk to get into one of those nooks. You can spend days and +not exhaust the study which one little triangular bit of overgrown +pasture affords,--spend them, not as a naturalist in close, patient +study, because to such a one a square yard of moss is as exhaustless as +the forests of Guiana to a Waterton, but as a nemophilist, taking simple +delight in mere observation and individual discovery. + + "Many haps fall in the field + Seldom seen by watchful eyes." + +And so all sorts of curious ways are discoverable by the mere +wood-lounger. At one time your way is barred by the great portcullis of +the strong threaded web of the field spider, who sits like a porter in +king's livery of black and gold at his gate. Then you have a peep into +the winding maelström-funnel of another of the spider family. Poe must +have suffered metempsychosis into the body of a blue-bottle, when he +wrote his "Descent into the Maelström"; for such an insect, hanging +midway down that treacherous, sticky descent, and seeing Death creeping +up from the bottom to grasp him, might have a clear idea of what was +undergone by the fisherman of Lofoden. + +Or, if one tire of the open meadows, and the sun be too hot, think of +the laurel groves,--not now, as in the Christmas-time, white with snow, +but white again with thousands on thousands of argent cups, loaded with +blossoms, meeting over your head in arches of flowery tracery, and one +solitary tree standing deep in the woods, like a frigate packed with her +silver canvas lying out to windward of the fleet of merchantmen she is +convoying. The cool laurel groves! Often as one sees that sight, it is +always with a fresh shock of pleasure to the frame. + +Then, when autumn comes and the leaves change, there is still endless +variety for the little basket or botanical-case which swings lightly on +your arm or hangs across your shoulder. Owen Jones never devised any +ornaments for wall or niche one half so brilliant as the color of those +leaves which a dexterous hand will readily group upon a sheet of white +paper, where your eye may catch it, as, after achieving a successful +sentence, you look up from your study-table. Speaking of leaves, who +knows how large an oak-loaf will grow in this New England? I have just +sat down after measuring one gathered in a bit of copse hard by the town +of M----, a bit of copse which skirts a beautiful wild ravine, with a +superb hemlock and pine grove creeping down its steep bank. I have just +honestly measured my leaf, and it shows _fourteen_ inches in length by a +trifle of _nine and a half_ in breadth. + +In the same ravine I found--and in any patch of woodland you may do the +like--a perfect treasury of mosses. A shallow tin box or a wooden bowl +filled with these and duly watered will give a winter-garden to +the smallest lodging. Sun and light are, as Mr. Toots says, of "no +consequence" to the moss family. But if one be above such trifles as +mosses, and with Young American loftiness aspire to full-grown trees, +there is still plenty to do in the most ordinary woodlands. After a +chapter of Mr. Ruskin upon Claude and Poussin and Turner, there is +nothing like going to the original documents. In default of the National +Gallery from London and the Pitti Palace from the other side of Arno, +which cannot be summoned into court at a moment's notice, we can solve +at least half the problem. Mr. Ruskin may or may not be right about the +Claudes; but it is very easy to see if he be right as to the trees. And +if we prove him right with his theory of branches and bark, we have a +fair presumption that he has eyes to see the alleged falsehoods in him +of Lorraine. Now here is a chance to do a little bit of Art-criticism +quite unexpensively. Discontented young gentlemen murmur about the +education of this people being too practical, unaesthetic, and all that, +and sigh for the culture which a foreign land only can give. But a man +who has no eye for Nature will hardly learn to love her at second-hand +through the mediation of canvas and colors. I should like very much to +be able to walk into a Turner Gallery once a week; but, for all that, I +would not give up a Connecticut Valley sunset, such as last summer could +be had for the looking at. Not Turner, even, could paint those level +shadows, all interfused with trembling light, that filled the hollows +of the hills across the river, and brought out their wavy contour, and +showed the depth and distance of the valley opening miles away. Could he +throw athwart the dark mirror of the sleeping water in the gorge, which +led the imprisoned river stealthily to the sea, the gliding snows of the +sails rosy-white that stole swan-like from behind the bluffs? Could he +bring down the rainbow till its hither abutment rested on the centre of +the stream in a transparent mist of driving rain, while its keystone was +lost in the stooping cloud above? Art is good, as well as long; but time +is also fleeting, and, not being millionnaires, with the luxury of a run +across the Atlantic at command, let us make what we can out of what we +have. It is very probable that architecture, too, is a sore subject to +aspiring Young America, who turns discontentedly from the stucco and +pine-plank tracery of the new cathedral of St. Aërian. But let Young +America go out to the meadows, and discover for himself a group of +young elms. There is one I know of, not unattainable by very moderate +pedestrianism from the same seaport before alluded to, where a most +exquisite arrangement of arches and tracery can be seen. Six or eight +elms, their long bending boughs clothed with thick, clinging leafage, +mingle their tops, forming a sort of vaulted roof, such as at the +intersection of nave and transepts occurs in every Gothic church which +has no central tower. More exquisite curves, better studies for a +healthy-minded and original architect, could hardly be found. The +interlacing branches are suggestive of tracery-patterns, not to be +outdone even in the flamboyant windows of York and Rouen. There is no +excuse for the squat, ugly, and stupid arches one sees in almost every +attempt at pointed architecture, when the elm-tree springs by every +riverside in the land. + +But it is time to conclude our desultory rambles. It would be pleasant +to me to recall many another of my old haunts, spots which, perhaps, +were never called beautiful before now, and may not be again for many a +day. For they all lie in a very tame and prosaic country, nearly level, +the utmost elevation getting hardly a couple of hundred feet above +tidewater mark; a country with less natural beauty than belongs to most +New England towns,--bare, bleak, rocky, with stunted vegetation and +ungenial soil. Yet within its limits there are brooks and marshes and +copses and woodlands,--rocks over which the wild columbine hangs its +fuchsia-like pendants, and dells where nestle the earliest and sweetest +of the wood-flowerets. + +And now to come back to the miserable sinner. As schoolboy, as +bank-clerk, as teacher, as worker in many ways, he has unemployed +leisure in the hours of daylight,--not so many as he should have, +perhaps, but still many hours in the course of the month. Shall he go to +the livery-stable, the bowling-alley, or the billiard-saloon? Not being +a saint, of course he can plead no high-toned sense of need of physical +culture, to warrant these indulgences. He goes because he likes it, gets +enjoyment, exercise, rest for a mind tasked to the full with the day's +work. This he ought to have; and if butting little ivory balls about or +propelling big wooden ones will give it him, let him have it, if so be +that it cannot be got otherwise. There is no contamination in the cue or +the ten-pin; but there is in the habits and associations of the places +where they are found. Let us not be maw-wormish about it, but tell the +truth as it is. The quasi-gambling principle upon which all such places +are conducted stimulates the love of hazard and makes way for the +betting propensity to become full-blown. Of course, one can bet, if one +have money; two lumps of sugar and a few flies will enable a man to lose +the fortune of the Rothschilds, if he will. That is not the question. +The billiard-saloons do educate men for the gambling-house, simply +because they cannot go to them without either losing their money or +winning their games. Beside that, the gaseous, dusty, confined, and +tobacco-scented air of those places is not to be compared with our free, +open, out-doors hills and meadows, for any hygienic purposes. + +But, argument apart, there is a sad New England story, so often repeated +as to be almost wearisome, were it not so sad. It is of the fresh, +frank, honest-hearted boy, who may be seen behind many a bank-counter. +At first, so active, trustworthy, and trusted,--yet with the constant +temptation of unemployed time and energies demanding supply of action. +Little by little these are supplied,--supplied by the billiard-table +and its concomitants. It is the same story,--first, rumors, then +equivocation, then exposure. Perhaps a petty sum is all; but, to the +austere justice of banking, this is as bad, nay, worse than millions. +And then a brief paragraph in the newspaper, and one more ruined young +man, sulking beside the family-hearthstone, his father's shame, his +mother's unextinguishable sorrow,--a candidate for crime, if he have +power of mind and spirit to feel, or an imbecile dependant, if he have +not. + +Now preaching, whether lay or clerical, will not do much to prevent +this, especially if it be pitched (as it commonly is) upon too high a +key. _Preventing_ means, or used to mean, when words had a meaning, +_getting beforehand with anything._ And if young Homespun have from the +outset something he likes better, he will not take to the ivory balls in +pleasant weather, and in rainy weather will be apt to prefer even quite +a stupid book to the board of green cloth. Therefore, boys, go,--and +girls, too, for that matter,--on flower and moss hunts!--and ye, dear +middle-aged people, send them, and go also upon the same! Find something +that will tempt you into the woods,--something neither berries nor +sassafras,--something which cannot be eaten or sold, but which will +simply give you a sense and a love of beauty. These pages have been +written to show that it lies at your very doors,--that nothing but stout +boots, an old coat or jacket, and an observant eye, is needed. When you +come to be saints, or even to be men, there will be plenty of active +work to do, if so be that you will only do it. Then, in careful regard +to your bodies, you may have hard-trotting (not fast-trotting) horses, +pickerel-backed boats, and a billiard-room over the stable,--if your +canonization seem to require it. But the saint, if he be true saint, +needs no such care. He will get work enough, hard, physical work, if +only in trotting up and down the steep stairs of tenant-houses, to keep +his digestion in tolerable order. It is only your pseudo-saint, +who cuddles himself for the pulpit and the platform, and keeps the +safety-valve down with midnight sittings while "rosining up" the +furnaces with strong coffee, that will come to grief by collapse of +flues. If a man, whether sinner or saint, will run races for the honor +of being the fastest boat in the river of popular favor, he must take +the consequences. + +But for the poor, benighted, heathen sinner, desiring enjoyment that +shall be honest, cheap, satisfying, and attainable, I say, in the full +faith of the creed of Nemophily,--Get into the woods! No matter what +you expect to find there,--go and see what you can find. Don't walk for +"constitutionals," without an object at the end or on the way. Keep your +feet well shod and your eyes open. Bring home all the flowers and pretty +wood-growths you can, and you may find that you have been entertaining +angels unawares. Find out about them all you can yourself, and then (in +spite of a previous tirade against botany, be it said) go to BIGELOW'S +"PLANTS OF BOSTON" and learn more. + + + + +SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. + + +A fatiguing journey up six long, winding flights of smoothly-waxed +stairs carried me to the door of the room I occupied in the Place ----. +But no matter for the name of the Place; no one, I am confident, will +visit Paris for the express purpose of satisfying himself that I am to +be depended upon, and that there is a house of so many stones in the +Place Maubert. Here I lived, _au premier au dessous du soleil_, in the +enjoyment of no end of fresh air, especially in winter, and a brilliant +prospect up and down the street and over the roofs of the houses across +the way, which reached from the Pantheon on the one side, to the peaked +roofs and factory-like chimneys of the Tuileries on the other, the dome +of the Hôtel des Invalides occupying the centre of the picture. I was +studying painting at that time,--learning to paint the much-admired +landscapes and figure-pieces which I produce with so much ease now and +dispose of with so little,--and, as a general thing, was busy, (though I +had my fits of abstraction, like other men of genius, during which I did +nothing but lie on my bed and smoke pipes over French novels, or join +parties of pleasure into the country or within the barriers,) through +the day, and often till late in the evening, in the atelier of one or +another of the most renowned artists of the city. + +At the head of the last flight of stairs in this house was a narrow +passage-way in which I was always obliged to stop and recover my breath, +after finishing the one hundred and thirty-nine steps that led to +my paradise, before I could get my key into its lock; and into this +passage-way opened two doors, one of which, of course, belonged to my +room, and the other to some one's else. But who this some one else was I +was unable to find out. Was _it_--and how convenient a word is _ça_ in +such a case!--male or female? I was persuaded it must be a woman, and as +a woman I always used to think of her and speak of her, to myself,--and +I thought and spoke of her often enough. Of course, I could have settled +the question at once by knocking at her door and asking for a match, but +I scorned resorting to such weak subterfuges. But how quiet she was! +Occasionally, when, contrary to my usual custom, I took another nap +after waking in the morning, instead of going out for exercise and a +glimpse of early Paris street-life,--occasionally I used to hear her +moving about on the other side of the thin partition which separated +our rooms, as stealthily as though she feared she might disturb me. She +would light her charcoal-stove, and perhaps glide softly by my door and +down stairs, to return soon with the paper of coffee, the, bit of bread, +and the egg or two which were to serve her for breakfast, and now and +then she would sing to herself, but so gently that I never could hear +the words of her song, nor scarcely the air. An evil spirit put gimlets +into my head, but I shook them out like so much powder, and resolved to +be honorable, if I was an artist. I found, however, that my curiosity +was an abominable nuisance, that my morning walks were almost entirely +neglected, and that I could not bear to leave my room until I had heard +her go out and lock her door behind her. Every day, after her departure, +I resolved that she should not go out again without being seen by me, +and every time I attempted to follow her in such a way as to escape +detection I lost sight of her. I nearly fell into the street as I +attempted to reach far enough out of my window to see her as she came +out at the street-door. + +At last, one morning, when it happened, that, just as I had finished +dressing myself and was ready to go out, she opened her door and ran +down stairs without closing it behind her, carried away by my curiosity, +I stepped out into the narrow passage-way and looked into her sanctuary. +The room was a smaller one than mine,--but how much neater! The muslin +curtains in her window were as white as snow; her wardrobe, which hung +against the wall, was protected from the dust by a linen cloth; the +floor shone like a mirror. Her canary hung in the window, and greeted me +with a perfect whirlwind of _roulades_ as I stepped into the room. Her +fire was burning briskly under a pot of water, which was just coming +to the boiling-point, and singing as gayly and almost as loudly as her +bird. Over the back of a chair was thrown the work she had been busied +with; and on the bed, almost hid by the curtains, was a pair of the +prettiest little blue garters I ever saw, even in Paris,--span-new they +were, and had evidently been bought no longer ago than the evening +before,--and some other articles of feminine apparel, which I will not +attempt to describe. I looked into her glass, I really believe, with the +hope of finding there a faint reflection of her face and figure. She +must have looked into it but a minute before going out. A book, like +a Testament, lay on the table. I knew I should find her name on the +fly-leaf, and was just on the point of satisfying myself with regard to +that particular when I heard her feet upon the stairs; and, with a start +which nearly carried away the curtains of her bed, I rushed from her +room into my own. + +How my heart beat, after I had gently closed my door and was sitting +on the side of my bed, listening to the movements in the next room! It +didn't seem to me as though I had been guilty of a high misdemeanor, +and yet, though I had been prepared for her return, I was as much +discomposed as though I had been caught peeping. + +So far from being satisfied with this resolution of my doubts with +regard to the sex of my neighbor, I now found myself more uneasy and +curious than before. Was she young and pretty and good? and what did she +do? and what was her name? My thoughts were perpetually running up those +six flights and stopping baffled at her close-shut door. I drew +ideal portraits of her, and introduced them into all my pictures as +pertinaciously as Rubens did his wives, and would often finish out an +accidental face in a study of rocks, much to my instructor's surprise +and my fellow-students' amusement. It was very remarkable, however, +that all these fancy sketches bore a striking resemblance to another +acquaintance of mine, who will shortly be introduced, and in whom, until +I moved into my now room, I had been exclusively interested,--so much +so, in fact, that----But I will not anticipate. + +Most of my days were spent on the opposite side of the Seine; and, as +I crossed that river, by the Pont Royal, at about five o'clock, every +evening, on my way to the Laiterie, at which I usually took what I +called my dinner, I always stopped to buy a bunch of flowers, of violets +in their season, of a charming little flower-girl, who had her stand, on +the Quai Voltaire, and who, by the time my turn to be served came, had +usually disposed of nearly her whole stock. Every one who looked at her +bought of her. She possessed something that was more attractive even +than her beauty; though I question, if, without her glossy brown hair, +her soft, dark eyes, her glorious complexion, her round, dimpled cheek +and chin, her gentle winning smile, and her exquisite taste in dress--I +question, if, without all these, her quiet, modest demeanor and +unaffected simplicity and propriety would have attracted quite as much +attention as they always did. + +I had not bought many bouquets of Thérèse before she began to recognize +me as I came up, and to greet me with a smile and a _"Bon jour, +Monsieur,"_ sweeter in tone and accent than any I had ever heard before. +What a voice hers was! Its tones were like those of a silver bell; and I +found that she always had my bunch of violets or heliotrope ready for me +by the time I reached her. + +My frugal meal over, I was in the habit of visiting a neighboring +_café,_ where I read the papers, drank my evening cup of coffee, and, as +I smoked my cigar or pipe and twirled my posies in my fingers or held +them to my nose, would wonder who she was who sold them to me, if she +ever thought of those who bought them of her, and if she distinguished +me above her other customers. It seemed to me, that, if she had the same +angelic smile and happy greeting for them as she always bestowed upon +me, they must one and all be her slaves; and yet I couldn't decide +whether I really loved her or was only touched by a passing fancy for +her. + +I looked forward, however, through the day, to my interview with her +with a great deal of impatience, and found myself making short cuts +in the long walk which led me to her. I used to arrange, on my way, +well-turned sentences with which to please her, and by which I expected +to startle her into some intimation of her feelings toward me. I was +angry that she was obliged to stand in so public a place, exposed to the +gaze and remarks of all who chose to stop and buy of her. In fine, I +was jealous, or rather was piqued, that she should receive all others +exactly as she received me, and almost flattered myself that necessity +forced her to meet them with the same sweet smile inclination led her to +bestow on me. + +This was the state of affairs at the time I moved into my new lodgings, +before referred to, in the Place Maubert, and I was suffering these +mental torments for Thérèse's sake, when the appearance, or rather the +non-appearance, of my mysterious neighbor aggravated and complicated the +symptoms and converted my slow fever into an intermittent. I had called +my fair unknown Hermine;--the pronoun _she_, as it applied equally to +every individual of the female sex, and in the French language to many +things besides, soon became insufficient, and I took the liberty of +calling her Hermine. I was so ashamed of my foolish passion, that I +could not make up my mind even to question the porter at the door with +regard to her, nor to consult any of my better initiated acquaintances +as to the proper course to be pursued, but lived out a wretched +succession of days and nights of feverish anxiety and expectation,--of +what I knew not. + +I was on my way over the Pont Royal, one evening, at my usual hour, +and was just coming in sight of my bewitching flower-merchant, when +a sudden, and, as I believed, a happy thought occurred to me, and I +resolved to put it into instant execution. I am sure I blushed and +stammered wofully as I asked for _two_ bunches of flowers instead of my +usual one, and I was confident, that, as she handed them to me without a +word, but with such a look, Thérèse's brow was shaded by something more +than the dark bands of her brown hair or the edge of her becoming cap, +and that her lip quivered rather with a suppressed sigh than with her +usual happy smile. I didn't stop to speak with her that night, but +hurried away towards my room, conscious--for I did not dare to look +behind me, or I am sure I should have relinquished my design--that her +large, sorrowful eyes were full of the tears she had kept back while I +had stood before her. + +I reached my room as soon as possible, and, after assuring myself that +my neighbor was still absent, carefully inserted my second nosegay +into her keyhole, and rushed from the house as though I had committed +burglary. + +I was very young then, very romantic, and wholly wanting in assurance. +I must have been, or I should never have regarded it as a crime, not +against myself, but others, that I was making my days miserable and my +nights sleepless on account of two young girls, one of whom I had never +seen, and the other of whom was merely a flower-merchant. + +When I clambered up to my room late that night, the flowers were no +longer where I had put them. I had been torturing myself all the evening +with the thought that Hermine might have felt offended, and that I +should find them torn in pieces and thrown down at my door, or that she +would be waiting for me with a severe reprimand for my boldness and +impertinence. But I could find no trace of them, and went to sleep, +soothed by the conviction that they had been carefully put by in a glass +of water, or were occupying a place on her pillow by the side of her +dainty cheek. I feared to meet Thérèse's sorrowful face again the next +night, and was troubled so much by the thought of it through the day, +that I fairly deserted her that evening and bought my two bouquets +elsewhere. With one of these, which I had taken care should be of a +finer quality than before, I repeated my experiment of the preceding +night and with the same gratifying result. But the day after, +forgetting, until it was too late, that I had given Thérèse fair cause +to be seriously angry with me, habit carried me to my old resort again, +though I had fully determined to reach home by another way, and to +patronize, for the future, my new _bouquetière,_ who was not only old +and ugly, but of the masculine gender. Habit--and perhaps wish had +something to do with it--was too strong, however, and I found myself +turning down the Quai Voltaire at the customary hour the next evening. + +Much to my surprise, and somewhat to my mortification, Thérèse greeted +me with her old sunny smile. Her _"Bon jour, Monsieur,"_ was as cordial +as ever; and it even seemed to me--and that didn't in the least tend to +compose me--that her eyes sparkled with an archness which I had never +seen in them before, and that her voice had in it a tinge of malice, as +she held out to me two of her finest bunches, saying,-- + +_"Est-ce que, Monsieur en desire deux encore ce soir?"_ + +I was very angry with her for being in such good-humor, and believe I +was anything but aimable or polite with her. Why did she not look +hurt or offended and reproach me for my desertion, instead of almost +disarming my senseless anger by her gentleness? + +"It seems that Monsieur forgets his old friends, sometimes," she +continued, as I took the flowers she had been holding towards me, and +was fumbling in my pocket for the change. + +"Forget!" I stammered; for the temper I found her in had so completely +ruffled mine, that I was hardly sufficiently master of myself to be able +to answer her at all,--"what makes you think I forget? Am I not here +this evening, as usual?" + +"This evening, yes,--but last night you did not come; or were you here +too late to find me? I"----she paused, and, with her color a little +heightened, as though she had narrowly escaped making a disclosure, +looked another way,--"Monsieur must have bought his flowers elsewhere, +yesterday. Were they as fresh and sweet as mine?" + +"But how do you know, Mademoiselle,"--I answered, after I had given +her a long opportunity to add what I had hoped would follow that +long-drawn-out "I"; (she was going to say, I was sure, that she had +waited for me to come as long as was possible;)--"How do you know that I +bought my flowers elsewhere, or that I bought any? And where can I find +finer ones than you give me?" + +"Monsieur is kind enough to say so," she returned. "Can you excuse my +indiscretion? I only thought, that, as you never miss carrying a bunch +of flowers home with you, and sometimes two," she added, with a wicked +twinkle in the corner of her mouth, "you must have found some better +than mine, last night. But Monsieur will, of course, act his own +pleasure." + +Thérèse had never appeared to me more charming than at that moment. I +wondered afterwards how I had been able to tear myself away from her, +and was almost angry that I had not thrown down my second bunch, had not +vowed to her that I would never desert her again, and had not confessed +that the pain I had suffered from my folly had more than equalled hers, +since I was never so happy as when I could be near and see her and hear +the music of her voice. + +And this was my life, and these the pains I used to suffer. Two tender +passions held alternate possession of my fickle heart, and a constant +struggle was always waging between them for the mastery; and the +impossibility of deciding in favor of either of them, which to accept +and which deny, prevented my yielding to either. Thérèse, however, whose +real presence I could enjoy, upon whose delicious beauty I could feast +my eyes whenever the fancy seized me, and whose voice I could hear, +even when separated from her, possessed a fearful advantage over her +invisible rival, who maintained her position in my interest only by +preserving her incognito and maintaining my curiosity strained to the +highest pitch. My acquaintance with Thérèse became daily more intimate, +and was soon upon such a footing as seemed to authorize my asking her +to accompany me on a Sunday jaunt to one of the thousand resorts of +Parisian pleasure-seekers just beyond the barriers of the city. + +She accepted,--of course she did,--and the matter was finally arranged +one Saturday evening for the next day. I was to find her at the house of +her aunt, who lived in my neighborhood, and who, to my surprise, turned +out to be the proprietress of the Laiterie I frequented. Here we were to +breakfast, and afterwards take the proper conveyance to our destination, +which I think was Belleville. + +Sunday came, and with it came such weather as the gods seldom vouchsafe +to mortals who contemplate visiting the country. It was one of those +cloudless days in early June when all Nature, and yourself more +than anything else in Nature, seems as though it had been taking +Champagne,--not too warm, but sufficiently so to make out-of-door life a +luxury, and an excursion like ours into the country almost a necessity. + +Thérèse, like everything else in Nature on that summer's day, was more +gloriously beautiful, in my eyes, than ever before. Hermine's ideal +beauty, and with it her chance of success, faded out from my memory like +an unfixed photograph, before this charming reality, and Thérèse ruled +supreme. She had dressed herself with a taste which surprised even +me, who had so long regarded her as irreproachable, as she was +unapproachable, in that particular; and the joy she felt at the thought +of a whole day's ramble in the country showed itself in every feature +of her countenance, in every movement, and in every tone of her voice. +There didn't live a prouder or a happier man than I was, as we made our +way arm in arm towards the Place Dauphine, where we were to take the +omnibus for Belleville. + +We ran wild in the woods and fields all that day, we fed the fishes in +the ponds, we made ourselves dizzy on the seesaws and merry-go-rounds, +and at last, fairly tired out, and feeling desperately and most +unromantically hungry, turned into the neatest and least frequented +restaurant we could find and ordered our dinner. + +Thérèse was no _gourmande_, luckily. Her tastes were simple and +harmonized admirably with my slender means. We dined, however, like +princes, and drank a bottle of _Château Margeaux_, instead of the _vin +ordinaire_, which was my ordinary wine. Thérèse's gayety had fairly +inoculated me, and, forgetting my usual reserve, we laughed and chatted +as noisily as a couple of children. + +"Upon my word," cried I, as I caught sight of a bouquet of flowers in +the room we occupied, "what a couple of ninnies we have been! We have +forgotten to get any flowers to carry home with us. But I suppose you +see too many of them through the week to care for them to-day." + +"Oh, no!" replied Thérèse. "I could never see too much of flowers; +and besides, you must have a bunch to carry home to Mademoiselle this +evening. She will never forgive you, if you neglect her to-day. And what +would she think or say, if she knew where you are now and whom you are +with? She is very fond of flowers,--when they come from you, I mean." + +"Well," I stammered, and my face burned like fire. "What Mademoiselle? +And what makes you think that I make presents of the flowers I get of +you? I only get them for myself, and as an excuse for seeing you." + +"_Ah! menteur_!" cried Thérèse, shaking her finger at me with mock +solemnity. "_Fi donc! c'est vilain._ Do you think I have no eyes, or +that you have none that speak as plainly as your mouth, and more truly? +You try to deceive me, Monsieur!" and the little hypocrite assumed so +injured and heart-broken an expression and tone, that I was almost wild +with remorse, and cursed the wretch who had placed the flowers in the +room, and myself for having noticed them. I should have been hurried +into I don't know what expressions of attachment to her and of +indifference towards every other individual of her sex, if she had not +prevented me by the following startling remark. + +"I know to whom you give the flowers you value so much as coming from +me. It is to your next-door neighbor, who pleases you more than I do, +and whom you have known, perhaps, longer than you have me. Why didn't +you invite her, and not me, to come with you to-day? It would have been +better." + +"Ah!" cried I, "do you know her? She told you about it? Why doesn't she +let me see her? Is her name Hermine?" + +And almost before I knew it, I had told her the whole story of my +passion for my invisible neighbor. + +Thérèse pouted, and turned her back. She put her handkerchief to her +face, and called me all sorts of hard names for having brought her there +to listen to the confession of my love for another; and turned a deaf +ear, or I thought she did, to my expostulations and my protestations +that I didn't really care for Hermine,--that it was only a passing +fancy, more curiosity than anything else,--and that I really loved no +one but her. + +She began to relent at last, though I was half inclined to be sorry, for +her resentment became her even better than her good-humor. + +"Well," she said, finally, "it is too tiresome to quarrel, and I will +forgive; for, although you say you have never seen Hermine,--(that is a +prettier name than Thérèse, isn't it?)--she has, perhaps, seen you, and +may really love you "-- + +"But I don't love her," I cried. "I don't want to love her. I don't want +to see her. Her name isn't Hermine, I know. I will never think of her +again, nor make a fool of myself by putting nose-gays into her keyhole, +if you will only not look so sober any more." + +"She will be very sorry for that, I am sure," returned Thérèse, with a +smile I could not translate; "and she will miss them very much. I judge +her by myself. I always find a bunch at my door when I go home at +night"-- + +"You! You find flowers at your door? And who puts them there?" And I +took my turn at being provoked. "You haven't used me fairly, Thérèse, to +make me understand all this time that you cared for no one but me. There +is some one, then, whom you love and who loves you?" + +"Oh, yes!" she answered, her whole face beaming with a pleasure which +made me feel like committing a murder or a suicide; "oh, yes! I believe +he does; he has almost told me so. And--and I know that I do. But he is +so droll! He is my next-door neighbor, and has never seen me yet, and +has never tried to, I believe; but he leaves a bunch of flowers at my +door every evening, and calls me--Hermine." + +"Hermine! You Hermine? Hurrah!" + +And before she could prevent me, I held her in my arms, and, in spite +of her struggles, had kissed her forehead, eyes, hair, nose, and lips +before she could extricate herself, and then went round the room in a +wild dance of perfect joy and relief. + +"I knew I could love no one else, Thérèse-Hermine, or Hermine-Thérèse! I +knew there must be some good and sufficient reason for the unaccountable +attraction my neighbor was exercising over me. Why didn't you tell me +sooner, _méchante_? I suppose you never would have done so at all, if we +had not come out here to-day. Suppose I had not asked you to come with +me?" + +"Wouldn't you have asked me?" she answered, with so much winning grace +and in such a pleading tone that I found myself obliged to repeat the +operation of a few lines above. "Wouldn't you have asked me? I don't +know what I should have done," she continued, sadly and thoughtfully. +"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, jumping up and clapping her hands, while her +whole face was radiant with triumph. "Oh, yes! then I should have been +Hermine, and you would have asked her." + +Two happier young people than Thérèse and myself never, I am confident, +returned by rail from a day's excursion in the country. Our happy faces, +our rapid talking, and our devotion to each other, which we took no +pains to conceal, attracted the attention of all about us,--and I heard +one father of a family, who was returning to Paris with a half score of +cross, tired, and crying children, whisper to his wife, as he pointed +towards us,--"That is a couple in their honey-moon, or else lovers; how +happy they are!" + +And that is the way in which I stumbled into wedlock. How many others, +in their pursuit of what has seemed to them the substance, have failed +to discover, perhaps too late, that they were following a flitting +shadow,--while I, favored mortal, in my chase of a dream, stumbled upon +the greatest real good of my whole life! + + * * * * * + + +THROUGH THE FIELDS TO SAINT PETER'S. + + + There's a by-road to Saint Peter's. First you swing across the Tiber + In a ferry-boat that floats you in a minute from the crowd; + Then through high-hedged lanes you saunter; then by fields and sunny + pastures; + And beyond, the wondrous dome uprises like a golden cloud. + + And this morning,--Easter morning,--while the streets were thronged + with people, + And all Rome moved toward the Apostle's temple by the usual way, + I strolled by the fields and hedges,--stopping now to view the + landscape, + Now to sketch the lazy cattle in the April grass that lay. + + Galaxies of buttercups and daisies ran along the meadows,-- + Rosy flushes of red clover,--blossoming shrubs and sprouting vines; + Overhead the larks were singing, heeding not the bells a-ringing,-- + Little knew they of the Pasqua, or the proud Saint Peter's shrines. + + Contadini, men and women, in their very best apparel, + Trooping one behind another, chatted all along the roads; + Boys were pitching quoits and coppers; old men in the sun were basking: + In the festive smile of Heaven all laid aside their weary loads. + + Underneath an ancient portal, soon I passed into the city; + Entered San Pietro's Square, now thronged with upward crowding forms; + Past the Cardinals' gilded coaches, and the gorgeous scarlet lackeys, + And the flashing files of soldiers, and black priests in gloomy swarms. + + All were moving to the temple. Push aside the ponderous curtain! + Lo! the glorious heights of marble, melting in the golden dome, + Where the grand mosaic pictures, veiled in warm and misty softness, + Swim in faith's religious trances,--high above all heights of Rome. + + Grand as Pergolesi chantings, lovely as a dream of Titian, + Tones and tints and chastened splendors wreathed and grouped in sweet + accord; + While through nave and transept pealing, soar and sink the choral + voices, + Telling of the death and glorious resurrection of the Lord. + + But, ah, fatal degradation for this temple of the nations! + For the soul is never lifted by the accord of sights and sound; + But yon priest in gold and satin, murmuring with his ghostly Latin, + Drags it from its natural flights, and trails its plumage on the ground. + + And to-day the Pope is heading his whole army of gay puppets, + And the great machinery round us moving with an extra show: + Genuflexions, censers, mitres, mystic motions, candle-lighters, + And the juggling show of relics to the crowd that gapes below, + + Till at last they show the Pontiff, a lay figure stuffed and tinselled; + Under canopy and fan-plumes he is borne in splendor proud + To a show-box of the temple overlooking the Piazza; + There he gives his benediction to the long-expectant crowd. + + Benediction! while the people, blighted, cursed by superstition, + Steeped in ignorance and darkness, taxed and starved, looks up and begs + For a little light and freedom, for a little law and justice,-- + That at least the cup so bitter it may drain not to the dregs! + + Benediction! while old error keeps alive a nameless terror! + Benediction! while the poison at each pore is entering deep, + And the sap is slowly withered, and the wormy fruit is gathered, + And a vampire sucks the life out while the soul is fanned asleep! + + Oh, the splendor gluts the senses, while the spirit pines and dwindles! + Mother Church is but a dry-nurse, singing while her infant moans; + While anon a cake or rattle gives a little half-oblivion, + And the sweetness and the glitter mingle with her drowsy tones. + + But the infant moans and tosses with a nameless want and anguish, + While, with coarse, unmeaning bushings, louder sings the hireling + nurse,-- + Knows no better, in her dull and superannuated blindness,-- + Tries no potion,--seeks no nurture,--but consents to worse and worse. + + If such be thy ultimation, Church of infinite pretension,-- + Such within thy chosen garden be the flowers and fruits you bear,-- + Oh, give me the book of Nature, open wide to every creature, + And the unconsecrated thoughts that spring like daisies everywhere! + + Send me to the woods and waters,--to the studio,--to the market! + Give me simple conversation, books, arts, sports, and friends sincere! + Let no priest be e'er my tutor! on my brow no label written! + Coin or passport to salvation, rather none, than beg it here! + + Give me air, and not a prison,--love for Heart, and light for Reason! + Let me walk no slave or bigot,--God's untrammelled, fearless child! + Yield me rights each soul is born to,--rights not given and not taken,-- + Free to Cardinals and Princes and Campagna shepherds wild. + + Like these Roman fountains gushing clear and sweet in open spaces, + Where the poorest beggar stoops to drink, and none can say him nay,-- + Let the Law, the Truth, be common, free to man and child and woman, + Living waters for the souls that now in sickness waste away! + + Therefore are these fields far sweeter than yon temple of Saint Peter; + Through this grander dome of azure God looks down and blesses all; + In these fields the birds sing clearer, to the Eternal Heart are nearer, + Than the sad monastic chants that yonder on my ears did fall. + + Never smiled Christ's holy Vicar on the heretic and sinner + As this sun--true type of Godhead--smiles o'er all the peopled land! + Sweeter smells this blowing clover than the perfume of the censer, + And the touch of Spring is kinder than the Pontiff's jewelled hand! + + + + +THE EXPERIENCE OF SAMUEL ABSALOM, FILIBUSTER. + +[Concluded.] + + +Some time after the departure of the riflemen, a detail of eight or nine +men from our company was ordered off towards the lake shore, and soon +afterward another smaller one to PotosÃ, a little village four or five +miles to the northward of Rivas, bearing orders to Captain Finney's +rangers, who had gone to scout in that direction. The rest of us ate +supper, and then lay listening for the boom of the little field-piece, +which should tell us that the rifles had met the enemy. But the +extraordinary toils and watchings of the last fortnight were too +overpowering, and we were all soon buried in dreamless sleep. + +In an hour or two I was awakened by horses' feet clattering over the +stony pavement of the _porterÃa_, or gateway to the square courtyard, +in one of whose surrounding corridors we usually slept,--on blankets, +cow-hides, or hard tiles, according as each man was able to furnish +himself. It was the party returning from their scout on the lake. They +unsaddled and fed their animals in the yard, and afterward set about +frying plantains and fresh stolen pork for supper. As they talked over +their provant in the room behind me, I caught most of their adventure, +without the discomfort of rising or asking questions. Near the lake they +had chased and captured some natives, whose behavior was suspicious and +showed no good-will toward the Americans. The officer of the party, +thinking them spies, had carried them part of the way to Rivas to be +examined; but, fortunately, perhaps, for the captives, he afterwards +relented and set them at liberty. They also talked of a small boy who +had peeped out of the bushes as they rode by, and shouted to them, +"_Quieren for Walker_?" (Are you for Walker?) and then adding +energetically, "_Yo no quiero filibustero god-damn!_" darted away out +of sight, before any one, who was so minded, could have shot the little +rebel. + +"Be sure," said one of the men at supper,--a noted croaker and tried +coward, against whom I bear a private grudge,--"the boys have learned +this from the _old_ greasers; and we are going to have all the people of +Nicaragua to fight." + +Later in the night, the other party, which had been sent to PotosÃ, came +in with panting mules, excited countenances, and one of their number +stained with blood from a wound on his thigh. They told us, that, +failing to find Captain Finney at PotosÃ, they had stretched their +orders, and gone forward to Obraja, unaware that it was occupied by the +enemy. At the entrance of the village, whilst riding on in complete +darkness, they were challenged suddenly in Spanish. Taken by surprise, +they replied in English, and, before they could turn their animals, were +stunned with the glare and crash of a musket-volley, a few feet ahead of +them. They recoiled, and fled with such precipitation that one of the +riders was tossed over his horse's head;--however, scrambling to his +feet, he found sense and good-luck to remount; and the whole party made +good their flight to Rivas, with no further damage than two slight +flesh-wounds,--one on the trooper, and one on his mule. + +The excitement upon this arrival soon subsided, and I had again fallen +into unconsciousness, when a rough shake of the shoulder aroused me, and +the voice of the old sergeant dinned in my ear,--"Come here! saddle up! +saddle up! You are detailed for Obraja." In a few moments I was mounted, +and, with two others of the company, rode out of the gateway into the +street. There we found awaiting us a fourth horseman, charged with +orders for the riflemen at Obraja, and whom it was our duty to accompany +as guard. + +After clearing Rivas, we clattered over the road at a fast pace, rousing +all the dogs at the _haciendas_ as we passed, and leaving them baying +behind us, until we came to where the Potosà road forked off to the +right; thenceforward, fearing an ambush, we rode slowly and with great +caution, stopping often to dismount and reconnoitre moon-lit fields +beyond the roadside hedges. At length, after passing a picket of our +riflemen, we came to a large _adobe_ house directly on the roadside, +where we found the main body of the detachment encamped and sleeping. +The house stood something under half a mile from Obraja, and was the +residence of that friendly alcalde who on the approach of the enemy +had removed with his family to Rivas, and placed General Walker on his +guard. As we rode into the yard, we had some ado to keep our horses +from treading on the sleeping soldiers, who lay scattered all round +the building, and also in its open corridor fronting toward Obraja. +Dismounting here, our courier went into the house to communicate with +Colonel O'Neal, the commander of the detachment,--leaving it to us +either to tie up, and lie where we were until morning, or pass farther +up the road, where Captain Finney's rangers were stationed. I chose to +go forward and hear the rangers' story, who, we were told, had had a +slight brush with the enemy in the beginning of the night. + +After riding near quarter of a mile, I came to another _adobe_ building +on the roadside, occupied by a small party, and forming Colonel O'Neal's +advanced post, at the distance of four hundred yards or more from +Obraja. Here they told me that Captain Finney's company, whilst riding +into Obraja early in the night, had been hotly fired upon, and Captain +Finney himself was brought off struck in the breast, wounded mortally. +The riflemen had as yet made no attack, but awaited daylight. The number +of the enemy was not known; though rumor placed it between one thousand +and fifteen hundred. Whatever it was, they were apprehensive; for +throughout the night we heard them barricading the town with great hurry +and clatter; and it gave us sad discomfort to think that in the morning +there would be these walls to climb before our men could get at them. It +was the occasion of much bitter cursing that there should be delay until +this was accomplished, and of one man's protesting seriously that it +was, and had been, General Walker's endeavor, not to whip the greasers, +but to get as many Americans killed in Nicaragua as possible,--he +nourishing secret and implacable hatred against them for some cause. +However, I think this judgment weak and improbable, though plausible +enough from some points of view. + +During the night there was some firing between our party and the enemy +from under cover in front, with some few wounds, and one man on our +side shot through the hat,--who thereupon, pulling off the injured +head-piece, and looking at it gravely, declared he would always +thenceforward wear his hat with a high crown; for, said he, had this one +been half an inch lower, the bullet must have struck the head:--which +drollery, in consideration of the circumstances, was allowed to pass for +an exceeding good stroke. + +We passed a disturbed and rather uneasy night, fearful all the time of +being cut off or overwhelmed. But morning breaking at length, a party +of riflemen came up from Colonel O'Neal's camp below, and affairs were +immediately changed for the offensive. The riflemen moved forward +against the town, whilst the rangers were posted at several points along +the road to guard against surprise from the bushes. Among these latter +I took my stand. The squad which went forward could not have numbered +above sixty men, and was armed with Mississippi rifles only,--without +wheel-piece of any kind, or even bayonets. I took them for a party of +skirmishers, sent ahead to clear the way; yet they were not followed or +supported by any additional force that I saw then or afterwards. + +As they passed up the road, I observed that the most listless and dead +amongst them were at length stirred up and thoroughly awake,--though not +with enthusiasm or martial impatience. Some seemed uneasy and careworn, +and glanced about nervously; had their countenances not been unalterably +yellow, they would certainly have been white. One fellow near the +rear was trembling sadly, and carried his rifle in an unreasonable +manner,--promising aimless discharges, and, perhaps, dodgings into the +bushes. But this one was excusable, and I may have slandered him; for +ague had shaken the life almost out of him so often that shaking +was become natural, and little else could be expected of him; and, +furthermore, a pale face or unsteady joints are not always weathercock +to a fainting spirit. In some constitutions these may come from other +emotions than fear; and it often happens that your most lamentable +shaker will stand you longer at the breach than the man of iron nerve, +with a white liver. I have seen such. However, the majority of these +were resolute and dangerous-looking men, and, though without any marks +of inordinate zeal, seemed willing enough to fight whatever appeared. +They held their rifles in the hand cocked, and, as they advanced, threw +their eyes sharply into the bushes on either side the road,--having +received orders to shoot the first greaser that showed himself, without +awaiting the word. + +In a few moments after, the party having disappeared behind a turn of +the road, we suddenly heard the cracking of their rifles, mingled +with the deeper crash of more numerous musketry; and it was a vivid +sensation, new to me, that some of those bullets were surely finding +billets in the bodies of men. This seemed an encounter with a force +of the enemy outside of the town; and directly we thought, from the +movement of the noise, that our riflemen were driving them in. Then +there was a louder and more rapid volleying of musketry, which +completely drowned the rifles, and seemed to tell us that our men were +come in sight of the barricades. This lasted but a moment, when it was +succeeded by a scattered fire of fewer guns, and finally by irregular +volleys. We knew that our men had fallen back; and we had not once +thought it would be otherwise. Indeed, it had been a rarely preposterous +enemy who should allow himself to be driven from behind a rampart by +that handful of dispirited, men. + +Whilst things were on this foot, the courier of last night came up with +his guard, having been sent by Colonel O'Neal, who had remained at the +alcalde's house below, to get news of the attacking party. As I was +still under his orders, I joined him, and rode forward towards the +combatants,--not without sundry misgivings, known to most men who are +about to enter a fray for the first time,--or the twentieth time, +perhaps, if the truth were confessed. We found the riflemen drawn up in +the road, protected by the raised side-bank and cactus-hedge from an +enemy concealed amongst some trees and bushes, a little distance to the +right of the road in front. Above the trees, within pistol-shot, was +visible the red roof of a church which stood on the _plaza_ of Obraja, +where were barricaded, as they said, over a thousand greaser soldiers. +All other sign of the town than this one roof was shut in from view by +the abundant foliage which embowered it. As we approached the riflemen, +we dismounted and led our horses, fearing to attract a shower from the +enemy, who lay in the bushes firing irregularly. The officer of the +party told us to report to Colonel O'Neal that he had advanced within +sight of the _plaza_, and, finding it strongly barricaded, and "swarming +with greasers," he held it folly to assail it with fifty men, and so had +retreated. He mentioned some loss,--very small for the noise that had +been made,--of which I remember the name of one Lieutenant Webster, shot +through the head. He charged us to ask Colonel O'Neal's permission to +fall back on the _adobe_ where we had passed the night, as the enemy +appeared to be moving around his right, and he was fearful of being +surrounded in the open road. But, directly after, seeing the enemy were +in earnest to cut him off, he concluded to fall back on the house upon +his own responsibility, and did so, and with the _adobe_ walls around +him probably felt secure enough against such an enemy. + +We returned to the lower camp, and delivered our report to a +boyish-looking person, in unepauletted red flannel shirt, but who was +no other than Colonel O'Neal, the officer in command. He was popular +amongst his men, and reputed a brave and energetic officer. He probably +mistrusted from the first that his force was too small; and hence the +delay in the attack, and the dispatch of the little party of riflemen +merely to satisfy General Walker. Be that as it may, upon hearing our +report, he recalled the advanced party, and immediately sent off +to Rivas to say he could do nothing against the town without a +reinforcement. + +In the mean time those of the men who were off guard lay about under +the trees and ate oranges, with which the alcalde's yard was stocked +plentifully, whilst such wounded as had been brought in were laid on the +floor of the house, and their wounds probed by the surgeon; whereupon, +being but young soldiers mostly, there arose loud outcries and dismal +bellowings. For my own part, I set about comforting my mule, who had +been under saddle since leaving Rivas. I unsaddled him, brought him an +armful of _tortilla_ corn from the alcalde's kitchen-loft, some water +from the well, and left him making merry as if he had nothing worse +ahead of him. + +Some time after mid-day the rest of our company came out from Rivas, and +we immediately had orders to ride up the road and fire upon the enemy's +outpost,--which, as the riflemen had been withdrawn and our advanced +picket was now nearly half a mile from the town, promised to be a +service of some danger. Therefore one of our commissioned officers, +afterwards dismissed the service for cowardice, was here seized suddenly +with the colic,--so badly, that he was unable to ride with us at his +post. Other sick men being left in quarters at Rivas, we counted now but +little over twenty men,--armed with Mississippi or Sharpe's rifles, and +some of us with the revolvers we had brought from California. After +passing the _adobe_ building, garrisoned last night, but now empty, we +advanced with great care, our leader taking often the precaution to +dismount and peer with bared head over the cactus-hedge which crowned +the right-hand bank of the road and shut us in on that side completely. +At every turn of the road he repeated his reconnoissance, so that our +advance was very slow, giving a watchful enemy almost time to place an +ambush, if they had none ready prepared. It was as sweet a place for a +trap as greaser's heart could wish. On our right was the impenetrable +cactus-hedge, with an open space beyond, terminated at the distance of +a few yards by a wood or plantain-patch. On the left was another wood, +matted with tangled underbrush and vines which no horseman could +penetrate. On either side half a dozen men might couch in ambush and +shoot us down in perfect security. + +We passed on, however, without disturbance, or sight of an enemy, until +we came nearly to the edge of the town and saw the glistening roof of +the church appear above the foliage,--where sat sundry carrion-loving +buzzards, elbowing each other, shuffling to and fro with outspread +wings, and chuckling, doubtless, over the promise of glorious times. +As we go on, suddenly heads appear over the bushes less than a hundred +yards in front, and we hear the vindictive whistle of Minié-balls above +us. Our leader, calling upon us to fire, began himself to blaze away +rapidly with his Colt's revolver. We huddled forward, with little care +for order, and delivered some dozen Mississippi and Sharpe's rifles. +There were nervous men in the crowd; for, after the discharge, dust +was flying from the road within thirty feet of us. However, some aimed +higher; and when we looked again, the heads had disappeared. One bold +greaser stepped out into the road and sent his Minié-ball singing +several yards above us, then darted back quickly, before any of us +could have him. We waited a moment to see others, but they seemed to be +satisfied;--and we were satisfied,--with prospect of a swarm bursting +out on us from the town; so, sinking spurs into our weary animals, we +made good pace back to the camp,--not without an alarm that a troop of +well-mounted lancers was behind us. + +In the course of the afternoon, General Henningsen arrived, bringing a +fine brass howitzer, and a small reinforcement of infantry--as those +armed with rifled muskets and bayonets were called--and artillerymen; +and, after some hours' rest, he ordered a fresh attempt with the +howitzer, supported by somewhere near two hundred men. This party was +received with so fierce a fire at the barricade that they shrank back, +leaving the howitzer behind in the road,--so that the enemy were on the +point of capturing it, when a brave artilleryman touched off the piece, +loaded with grape-shot, almost in their faces, and, strewing the +earth with dead, sent the others flying back to the barricade. This +artilleryman told me that an old officer amongst the enemy stood his +ground alone after the discharge, and swore manfully at the fugitives, +but they were panic-struck and took no heed; and it was his assertion, +that, had a small part of the riflemen rallied and charged at this time, +they might have gone over the barricade without difficulty or hindrance. +As it was, the howitzer was scarcely brought off, and the attack failed +ingloriously. Whether this story of the artilleryman were true or false, +we heard in other ways, by general report, that the riflemen had behaved +badly, and quailed as the filibusters had scarcely done before; though, +after all, it will seem unreasonable to blame these two hundred or less, +disease-worn and spiritless men, for not whipping ten hundred out of a +barricaded town. It may be worth saying here, that, seeing things in +Nicaragua from a common soldier's befogged view-point, and having only +general rumor, or the tales of privates like myself, for parts of an +engagement where I was not present, I may easily make mistakes in +the numbers, and otherwise do Walker and his officers, or the enemy, +injustice. Yet I may be excused, since I am not attempting a history +of the war, but merely some account of my own experience, passive and +active. + +Late in the evening our company assisted to carry some wounded to Rivas. +Amongst them was Captain Finney, mentioned before as the first man +struck by the enemy. He seemed to be a brave and uncommonly considerate +officer, and whilst being carried in on a chair, suffering with his +death-wound, he showed concern for his supporters, and insisted on +having them relieved upon the smallest sign of fatigue. He was taken to +the quarters of a friend, where he died a few days afterward. The other +wounded were carried to the hospital, and, finding no one there to take +charge of them, we left them to themselves, lying or sitting upon the +floor, dismal and uncared-for enough. + +After dark we were again in the saddle and riding out to Obraja, in +charge of a commissary's party, with provisions for the detachment of +foot. But after getting a little way from the town, we were overtaken by +an order from General Walker, stopping the provisions, and directing us +to ride on and recall the detachment to Rivas; he having changed his +mind about dislodging the enemy at this tardy hour. We reached the camp +some hours into the night, and, after a little delay, calling in the +pickets, and securing some native women who lived in the vicinity, to +prevent their carrying word of our movement to the enemy, the detachment +commenced its retrograde march,--leaving the enemy victorious, and free +to go where they wished. + +I remember, several times on this march, when the detachment had made +some temporary halt, seeing a grim-faced dog, of the terrier species, +trot along the line to the front of the column, where we rangers stood, +and then, satisfied seemingly that all was well ordered, turn himself +round and trot back to the rear again. + +He did this with such a look and air, that it struck me he felt himself +in some way responsible for our party. He was, indeed, if the tales +current about him were true, the most remarkable character in all that +very variegated conglomerate of characters which made up the filibuster +army. He had appeared in the camp long before, coming, some said, from +the Costa Ricans, with whom he became disgusted on account of their bad +behavior in battle on several occasions when he was there to see. After +this desertion, if it were thus, he followed the Americans faithfully, +through good and bad fortune, retreat or victory; always going into +battle with them,--where he actually seemed to enjoy himself,--trotting +about amidst the whewing of bullets, the uptossing of turf, and the +outcries of wounded men, with calm heart, and tail erect,--envied by +the bravest even. On an occasion when General Walker was attacking the +Costa-Ricans in Rivas, the dog entered the _plaza_ ahead of the rest, +and, finding there one of his own species, he forthwith seized him, and +shook him, and put him to flight howling,--giving an omen so favorable, +that the greasers were driven out of the town with ease by the others. +Even his every-day life was sublime, and elevated above the habit of +vulgar dogs. He allowed no man to think himself his master, or attach +him individually by liberal feeding or kind treatment, but quartered +indiscriminately amongst the foot, sometimes with one company, sometimes +with another,--taking food from whoever gave it, but showing little +gratitude, and despising caresses or attempts at familiarity. He seemed, +indeed, to consider himself one amongst the rest,--one and somewhat, as +they say; and his sole apparent tie with his human friends seemed to +be the delight which he took in seeing them kill or killed. With this +_penchant_, it was said, he never missed a battle, and went out with +every detachment that left the camp to see that none should escape him +unaware.--But enough of him,--strange dog, or devil. + +The withdrawal from Obraja was opposed, so rumor said, by Henningsen and +other officers; and it certainly had a most depressing effect upon the +men, whilst it elated the enemy correspondingly, giving them a degree of +confidence which they had never attained to before. It was agreed on +all hands, by all critics whom I heard, that, having once begun this +attempt, General Walker should have carried it through successfully, +even if it required his whole force. However, as only part of the +enemy's force was on land, the other part being supposed to be +still aboard the steamers or on the island, General Walker +possibly feared an attack on Rivas, should he send out a very large +detachment,--remembering, too vividly, a former blunder, when he left +Granada with all his army to attack the enemy at Masaya, and the enemy, +making a _détour_, came upon his camp in Granada, and destroyed +baggage, ammunition, and all it contained. + +The next day the foot lay quiet in Rivas, and had rest. The rangers, +however, were in the saddle almost continuously, and, what with +foraging, broken sleep, and expeditions by day and night, those of us +who had garrisoned Virgin Bay were become worried nearly past grumbling. +On this day our own company rode out to Obraja, to visit the enemy's +picket again, and afterwards to San Jorge on the lake, to guard the +transportation of a row-boat thence to Rivas. The boat was one of those +borrowed from the vessels in San Juan harbor for the purpose of retaking +the steamers, and had been rowed up to San Jorge, and was now removed to +Rivas, to prevent its seizure by the enemy,--the garrison at Virgin +Bay having burnt the brig, and marched to Rivas, when the enemy first +appeared on land at Obraja. So that the whole American force (except +the crew of the little schooner in which General Walker and his fifty +original followers first came to Nicaragua, and which was lying at this +time in San Juan harbor) was now concentrated at Rivas; the enemy being +eight or nine miles behind them at Obraja, or on the lake with the two +steamers. As we rode through the town of San Jorge, the place seemed +almost deserted, and I remember lingering with others to haversack some +bunches of yellow plantains which hung in an empty house on the _plaza_. +The delay may have come near being fatal to us, for we heard afterwards +that we had been gone but a little while, when a troop of the enemy's +horse rode into the place, reconnoitred, and returned in the direction +in which they came. Their reconnoissance in San Jorge was explained soon +afterwards. + +Some time in the last half of the night following, I was detailed, along +with a considerable detachment from two mounted companies, to ride on a +scout toward Obraja. On the outward ride I was but half-awake, and +my recollection of our course is confused: however, I think it was +somewhere between Potosà and Obraja that we came to a halt, and I was +aroused by some excitement in the party. Pickets were hastily posted +in several directions, whilst the officers gathered about some natives +awakened from a neighboring hut, and seemed to question them earnestly. +We soon heard that the enemy were on the road moving from Obraja, and +that a large force had a little while before passed this place going +eastward. The natives, prone to exaggeration, declared that this force +had been an hour in passing,--with baggage, eight pieces of cannon +mounted on ox-carts, several hundred pressed native Nicaraguans, tied +and guarded to prevent their running away, and a long train of women to +nurse the wounded. The Chamorristas, it seemed, had been around pressing +all the native men they could find into service against the Americans; +and whilst we were here, two, who had been hiding all day in the bushes +to avoid the conscription, came out and asked us to take them with us to +Rivas,--they preferring, if forced to take sides, to join _el valiente_ +Walker. + +This is the stripe of most Central American soldiers. The lower classes +are lazy and cowardly, little concerned about politics, and must +generally be impressed, let the cause of war be what it may. And I am +persuaded, that, since General Walker never harnessed them into his +service, as their own chiefs were doing perpetually, but let them swing +in their hammocks and eat their plantains, (provided they lived beyond +his forage-ground,) un-called-for, they were so far well satisfied with +his government. However, their sympathy, supposing he had it, were worth +little to him; since it takes a stronger impulsion than this to put them +in motion to do anything,--a strong pulling by the nose, indeed,--such +as their native rulers know how to apply.--But this is speculative, and +neither here nor there. + +After getting all the information concerning the enemy that was to be +had from these people, the detachment returned to Rivas at a fast trot, +with the two friendly natives mounted behind, on such stronger animals +as were able to carry double burden. We all supposed, that, now the +enemy were again out of cover and on the open road, or, leastwise, in +the confusion of a new camp, there would be an immediate attack on them. +But General Walker followed his own head; and, after making our report, +we saw no stir, and heard nothing until morning,--when it was known that +the enemy were all moved into San Jorge, with only some two miles' space +between us. This place, being on the lake, was more convenient for +provisions, which were easily brought by the steamers from the island of +Ometepec and the towns and _haciendas_ along the shore,--and the enemy +had gained boldness to go there by our repulse at Obraja: or it may be +that the force at Obraja had come down from Granada by land, and so only +continued their march to San Jorge,--though the rumor was, that they had +landed from the lake, as I have said. + +But be that as it may, time was given them to barricade at San Jorge, +till near the middle of the forenoon, and then Generals Henningsen and +Sanders were sent out with some four hundred riflemen and infantry to +drive them into the lake, which lay some few hundred yards behind them. +During the first part of the attack, our company remained in Rivas, +listening anxiously to the uproar at San Jorge,--every volley fired by +the combatants being borne distinctly to us by the east wind. For some +time there was a continuous rattle of musketry, with rapid detonations +of deeper-mouthed cannon,--at each roar shaking our suspended +hearts,--for we knew that our own men were using small arms only. After +a while this abated, grew irregular, and almost ceased. An order then +came for our company to mount and join the combatants. We galloped down +the broad and almost level highway which passes between Rivas and +San Jorge, bordered a great part of its length, on either side, by +cactus-hedges, broken at various intervals by the grassy by-lanes that +run out to the neighboring _haciendas_ or parallel roads. At places +where there is a slight elevation, the bottom of the road is worn +several feet below the level by the carts which ply between Rivas and +the lake. Opposite one of these, where the banks sloped at a sharp +angle, we came upon General Henningsen and a detachment of musketeers +resting on the right bank of the road, and halted beside them. The men +were sitting under the shade of an _adobe_, refreshing themselves with +oranges; and those in the nearest rank were close enough to hand us +fruit and keep their seats on the grass. Five or six hundred yards up +the road, the large church which stood on the _plaza_ of San Jorge, with +the door facing us, and a low wall of white stone running squarely from +its side across to the right, ended the vista between banks of green +foliage. Our view stretched across the _plaza_, which seemed to be empty +and unbarricaded; and I remember the painted door of the church beyond, +the red-tiled roof, the low, flanking wall of white stone, all dazily +trembling in the unsteady atmosphere radiating from the heated +road,--whilst a cloud of white smoke was sailing slowly away to the +west. It was a hot and tranquil scene. But I always think of it with the +same secret disgust with which the shipwrecked traveller looks upon the +placid ocean the day after the angry storm has passed over it; for it +was here I first saw the cruelty of a round shot. + +When we came to a halt, there seemed to be a lull in the struggle, and +no enemy was anywhere visible, nor was firing heard from any direction. +The infantry, though within range of small arms from the town, were +concealed by the bushes, and the enemy were scarcely aware of their +presence. But when our company came galloping up the road, in full view, +their attention was aroused, and we had scarcely checked our animals and +exchanged a few words with the foot-soldiers, when a column of smoke +shot up from the wall in front.--"Now look out!" exclaimed some one. +I looked, but saw nothing to follow, and had turned my attention +elsewhere, when I heard a hissing noise, as of something rushing swiftly +past, and at the same time turf is thrown into the air, the horses start +aside in affright, and outcries of pain and terror assail the ear. +After a confused moment, I saw that the shot had struck in the line of +infantry a few feet on our right. One man, the drummer of the party, was +running about in the fluttered crowd with his hand hanging by a shred, +crying, "Cut it off! cut it off! D--your souls, why don't some of you +cut it off?" Another lay struggling on the ground, with the fleshy part +of his thighs torn abruptly off, calling upon some one for God's sake to +take him away from there. But the dismallest sight was a bloody shape, +with face to the ground, fingers clutching the grass with aimless +eagerness, and shivering silently with an invisible wound. Twisting +convulsively, it rolled down into the road under our horses' feet,--and +there this human form, which some call godlike, writhed and floundered +like a severed worm, and disguised itself in blood and dust. + +But it is dangerous to look long upon the wounded; an old soldier never +rests his eye there; it is the greatest mistake of the raw one; and it +was well enough for some of us that our attention was timely drawn away +by alarm of another shot from the town. We spurred our horses up the +bank on the left; the foot-soldiers rushed behind the _adobe;_ and this +time the shot passed harmlessly down the road. Before another, General +Henningsen had ordered us all to move forward and get to cover. The foot +stopped in the right branch of a by-lane which crossed the road a little +way ahead. The rangers moved into the same lane,--but on the left, and +divided by the highway from the foot. Here we were entirely hidden from +the town by a belt of small trees and bushes. Nevertheless, the +enemy's round shot, tearing through the trees, still pursued, and the +Minié-balls, though thrown from smooth-bored guns, sang above and far +beyond us. At this place, as near as I recollect, above a dozen men were +killed and wounded,--most of them by that first round shot. + +Our company shortly after was separated, and placed, for the most part, +as videttes, at various points near the town. Some hours after our +arrival, (which time was spent by the filibusters in drinking spirits +and resting from the late unsuccessful assault,--by the enemy in +barricading their position, and drinking spirits, perhaps, likewise,) +General Henningsen led an attack with part of the foot,--taking several +of us rangers along in the capacity of couriers, to ride off to Rivas at +any important turn of the fight and report to General Walker. The enemy +had taken position about the _plaza,_ in the church, and behind the +stone wall at its side, where they had by this time strengthened +themselves with barricades. They had cannon looking towards every +assailable point; and also on top of the church, in the cupola, they +had mounted a small piece, from which they threw grape against our men +advancing on any side. It proved a great source of annoyance throughout +the day. Their number was not certainly known, at least among the ranks, +but was rumored as high as two thousand men,--Costa-Ricans, Guatemalans, +and Chamorristas. + +General Henningsen moved up by a straggling street, with an _adobe_ here +and there, and the intervals filled up with fruit-trees, bushes, and +cactus-hedges. Grape-shot, which may be the saddest thing, touching the +body, on earth, made miserable noise above us and miserable work among +us; and we couriers had leave to dismount and crawl nearer the ground. +General Henningsen gained respect from us by sitting his horse alone. +He was a soldier, it is said, from a boy, in European wars,--where this +were a feeble skirmish; yet he wore his life here, perhaps, more +loosely than in many a noisier battle. However, he seemed calm and easy +enough,--never moving his head, even slightly, when the shot whizzed +nearest him. General Walker, though a brave man, and cool in battle, +will nevertheless dodge when a bullet hisses him fiercely. So would +almost all his officers or soldiers, that I had an opportunity to +notice. Yet, after all, it is a mere trick of the nerves, and only +indicates familiarity and long service, or a deaf ear,--and not want of +self-possession or strength of heart. The advance at length became so +harassing that the party halted under cover on the roadside, whilst yet +some distance from the _plaza,_ and from this lodgment the couriers were +sent off to report progress at Rivas. + +My post thenceforward was, with that of others, at the head of a lane +not far from the town, where we heard the voices of the combatants +and the whistling of balls, but could see nothing. After some hours' +comparative quiet, the drums began beating a charge again, and every gun +on the ground seemed awakened and doing its best. Then there was a loud, +heart-lifted shout, which rose above the din, and gave us too much joy; +and, a moment after, Colonel Casey, a hard-faced, one-armed man, spurred +past towards Rivas, saying, as he went, that our men were in the +_plaza,_ the greasers were running, and "we had 'em, sure as hell!" I +recollect some one observing, that it were of no use to believe Colonel +Casey, for he was the greatest liar in the army of Nicaragua. And +shortly after, the firing having ceased, another officer, Baldwin, I +think it was, came past and told us, with curses of vexation, that the +men had been checked, by command, in the heat of the assault, when the +greasers were already wavering,--and that the latter, recovering, had +rebarricaded so strongly, that we might now all go back to Rivas and +whistle. + +However, this failure was not the end. Towards evening, another +detachment renewed the assault, and the uproar commenced again. It +seems, that, during the whole day, there was no simultaneous attack by +all the detachments. Now, it was the infantry who charged,--with the +riflemen in reserve, probably to prevent a rout, in case the enemy +pursued a repulse; then, it was the riflemen, with the infantry in +reserve; and so alternating through three or four charges;--so that +there never could have been more than a very contemptible force facing +the enemy at one time. + +As it grew late, the wagons began to jolt past, removing the wounded to +Rivas. Some were drunk and merry in spite of their wounds; and their +laughter and drunken sport made strange concert with the cries and +curses of the others. I remember one man going by on foot, with a small +cut on the brow, from which blood was flowing copiously. He said the +wound was a mere scratch,--too slight to have sent him out of the fight, +had not the blood run down into his eyes and blinded him, preventing his +aim. Yet this small affair brought his death shortly afterwards. The +surgeons at Rivas gave him no care,--not so much as to wash his wound, +or have him wash it; and the climate is so malignant to strangers, that +the smallest cut, with the best care, heals only after long hesitation. + +At length night came on, and our men drew off,--foiled at every attempt, +having sustained great loss, and, apparently, made little impression on +the enemy. They lay on their arms, however, in the outskirts, expecting +to renew the attack during the night; and, to assist at this, a party of +rangers had orders to leave their horses in quarters, and march on foot +to join the others. Quitting our horses with regret, we walked to San +Jorge, where the foot lay, awaiting the hour of attack. We found them +stomach-qualmed with hunger, weary of fighting, thoroughly disheartened, +and provoked against their officers. One told how an officer, whose duty +it was to lead the charge, took shelter behind an orange-tree no bigger +than his wrist, and shouted, "Go on, men! go on!" when he should +have been saying, "Come on!" and how another, become stupid with +_aguardiente_, had tried to force his men to a barricade, when their +cartridge-boxes were empty, and their unbayonetted arms useless. +There seemed also to have been slackness among the men; and some +were lamenting, that the First Rifles were not what they used to +be;--anciently they only wanted to _see_ the greasers; to-day they were +found taking to the bushes. They all agreed that no great number of the +enemy had been killed,--whilst the filibusters, they doubted, must +have lost nearly one-third of their men and many of their best +officers;--among the number I recollect Major Dusenbury, highly praised. + +There was one affair, however, over which they crowed and took fierce +satisfaction. They told it thus:--A detached party, of about thirty of +them, were seated on the roadside drinking _aguardiente_, preparatory +to advancing. On one side was a cactus-hedge, and a grove of plantain +a little in front. Whilst they sat here deeply absorbed in the +_aguardiente_, a considerable party of the enemy got amongst the +plantain-trees, and fired a hundred muskets into them at the distance of +a few rods. Strange to say, the greasers were so nervous at finding no +barricade between them, or were such contemptible marksmen, that not +a shot took serious effect; only the demijohn of _aguardiente_ was +shivered into a thousand pieces, and the liquor ran out into the grass. +The filibusters jumped up astounded and disordered; but, seeing so much +good liquor running away wastefully into the grass, they grew terrible. +It was an insult and injury which both men and officers appreciated. It +gave every man in the troop a personal quarrel with the enemy. "Charge +'em!" shouted the captain; "we'll pay the scoundrels for the miserable +trick!" At full speed they swept through a gap in the hedge, and rushed +into the plantain-grove before the enemy had time to reload. But when +the greasers saw them coming on fiercely, their hearts failed them, and, +turning their backs, they fled towards the town. Never were filibusters +or men-of-war better pleased than now! They rattled on furiously behind +the nimble greasers. They sent howling death into their midst at every +step of the chase. They passed bloody forms stretched here and there +upon the earth. They followed the flying foe even to the edge of +the town, and saw its hostile swarm running hither and thither in +alarm.--Alas! General William Walker, why were you not here at this +propitious moment, with all your brave spirits, invincible with rum, +behind you? Then might you have rushed with the fugitives into the town, +and hurled the yellow-skinned invaders into the lake! Then might the +flag of Regeneration have waved even at this day over the hills and +valleys of Nicaragua,--and the unfortunate author of this history have +received a reward for his services!--_Ay de mÃ!_ Even now, reposing in +the shade of the palm-tree, fanned by the orange-scented breeze that +blows over the lake, I might drink the immortal juice of the sugarcane, +called _aguardiente_, and dream, and gaze at the cloud-wrapped cone of +Ometepec!--But I must forget this. + +The dead killed in this plantain-patch were all that our men obtained +sight of. How many fell behind the barricades, where all the serious +fighting took place, it was impossible to tell; though there was no +reason to think that the enemy, fighting under cover, had suffered at +all proportionably with our men, or, indeed, had suffered equally, +losing man for man, except that ours were the better marksmen. + +We passed a cold and sleepless night, awaiting the word to take up +arms and advance; but in the mean time General Walker had changed +his intention, and, when morning broke, the whole force quitted the +outskirts and marched back into Rivas. The killed and wounded by +the whole affair were reported officially at one hundred, or +thereabout,--underrated, most probably, for effect upon the men. It +was enough, however, considering the filibusters had no more than +four hundred engaged. Amongst them, though not reported, was that +devil-hearted dog which I have mentioned heretofore. He fell, shot +through the head, whilst advancing with the others toward the barricade. +He was lamented by the whole army,--by many superstitiously, even,--who +said he had gone through all Walker's hard stresses so far untouched, +and his end was prophetic of downfall. + +And it is even true, that from this battle General Walker's prospects +clouded rapidly. A proclamation, issued by the Costa-Rican government, +promising fugitive filibusters free passage to the United States, found +its way into Rivas, and immediately worked immense mischief, and was, +indeed, the instrument of his overthrow. The men had no sooner seen it +than they began to leave as fast as they found opportunities to escape. +Guards were placed around the town, and spies in every company; but it +was of no avail; and every morning it was rumored through the camp that +this or that number had got off for Costa Rica during the night. General +Walker, in a speech which he made a few days after to infuse new spirit, +said that these were the cowards,--whose absence was beneficial, and +from whom it was well that the army should be purged. However, this was +exaggerated. It is true, doubtless, that there were many leaving merely +from fear, who would have chosen to stay with him, rather than trust +to the promises of a people believed to be treacherous and +promise-breaking, and whose hatred they had incurred,--had the battles +of San Jorge and Obraja been successful. And, indeed, the filibuster +ranks were not wanting in cowards. Cowards might be induced to come on +a desperate enterprise like this, through misrepresentation by Walker's +own agents; through mere thoughtlessness, or mistake,--not knowing what +soldier's metal was in them; or, with the bayonet of Hunger against +their backs at home, they might be unmindful of any other bayonet on the +distant shore of Nicaragua. (It should be musket-shot, however; for the +greasers never found heart to use the bayonet.) And then again, many, +who, when they first reached Nicaragua, were no cowards, after a few +months' stay, became changed,--by the depressing effects of fever, by +loss of confidence in their drunken officers, and by the absence of all +incentive to fight stoutly for a leader so unpopular as Walker. It was a +common saying, that in this army an old rule was reversed,--the veterans +were worse fighters than the recruits. The soldier was at his best +when he first landed upon the Isthmus, raw and healthy. After that, he +rapidly deteriorated, losing spirit with every battle, until he became +at last a thoroughbred coward. Seven or eight greasers to one filibuster +was said to be good fighting, at one time; but now three or four to one +was thought to be great odds; and before the game ended, I hear, they +were become equally matched, man for man, almost. But, whatever General +Walker said in his speech, this class of weak ones were not always the +deserters. It required some little energy or strength of legs, with +which these were unfurnished, to go over to the enemy at San Jorge, or +walk down to Costa Rica; and the fact was, that from the first many of +the healthiest and liveliest men, whose defection could least be borne, +were leaving,--not from fear, mainly, but because by this proclamation +they were offered the first opportunity to escape from a disagreeable +service to which they thought themselves bound by no tie of love or +honor. + +It was now about time for a steamer to arrive at San Juan on the Pacific +with the California passengers; and the next day, or the second day, +perhaps, succeeding the battle at San Jorge, General Walker said to +General Sanders, in his quiet, whining way,--"General Sanders, I am +going to take two hundred and fifty riflemen and the rangers and go down +to San Juan to bring up our recruits to Rivas; and if three thousand +greasers are on the Transit road, I intend to go through them." +Accordingly, the riflemen, the ranger regiment, and a small party of +artillerymen with one of the two brass howitzers, met in the _plaza_, +and set out on this expedition at midnight, with Generals Walker and +Sanders both in the party. + +The route of the detachment was the one I have mentioned before as +inland through the forest, and striking the Transit road some miles west +of the lake and Virgin Bay. It was firmly believed that we should meet +the enemy somewhere on the Transit road,--since the hills through which +it passed offered many excellent barricading-points, and it would seem a +matter of great importance to them to cut us off from junction with any +fresh recruits the steamer might land at San Juan. So there was much +preparatory drinking amongst the officers, (yet I say it not in slander, +for many were brave enough for any deed, and drank before battle only +because they drank always,)--and less amongst the men solely because +spirits had become scarce around Rivas, and dear; and there were very +few, truly, who had not ceased long since to carry coin in their +pockets. The captain of our company, who was an incautious man, and was +frequently drinking more than was needful, on this occasion drank more +than he was fitted to bear; and whilst the detachment was stopped some +time getting the wheel-piece over a hard place in the road, his strong +friend Aguardiente brought him to the ground, as he sat on his mule near +the front with his company,--where he lay in eruptive state like a +young toper, and so falling asleep lost his mule, which strayed into the +forest to browse, causing him much embarrassment and confused search +when the detachment was ready to start. Being up again, however, the +sleep and stomachic alleviation proved beneficial, and we, his soldiers, +followed after him in much greater comfort and confidence. + +Such delays by the howitzer, and a wagon transporting spare muskets for +the expected recruits, were so frequent, that we made but slow progress, +and when we emerged from the woods the sun was already shining upon +the broad Transit road,--I might have said like a glory on the brow of +Ometepec, but my memory is bad, and I doubt whether the fact may not be +that the sun rises upon this point from lower down on the lake. After +entering the Transit road, the rangers were sent ahead to discover if +there were an enemy in the way. Our regiment, as we called it, now +together for the first time since I joined it, consisted of some +seventy men, divided into three companies, all under command of Colonel +Waters,--a soldierly-looking man, and, moreover, brave, and not without +training in the Mexican War. Some time before the regiment had numbered +one hundred, but had become thus reduced by disease and the enemy. + +On this ride I remember a feeble infusion of that excellent spirit +which, since the days of Sir Walter Scott, ought to belong to all +horse-soldiers, moss-troopers, or mounted rangers, but which I had +despaired of ever finding in General Walker's service. It is true we had +no bugler, or standard-bearer, or piece of feather in the troop, or, +indeed, any circumstance of war, save our revolvers and Sharpe's rifles, +vermin and dirty shirts. Nevertheless the morning was splendid, with a +fresh breeze behind us; the road was hard and smooth, and rang under +our horses' feet; and withal I felt, that, if we should see a troop +of greaser lancers ahead, in good uniform, we might run 'em down, and +bullet 'em, and strip 'em, with good romantic spirit, even. + +But this is a most hollow cheat which Sir Walter Scott and other +book-men have played off on some weak-headed young men of our low-minded +generation. There is no doubt but a man seated amongst ten thousand +cavalry, who shake the earth as they charge, ought to feel himself +swell, as part of an avalanche or mighty Niagara,--as part of the +mightiest visible force which feeble man can enter or his spirit +commingle with. This were no contemptible joy, which the thin-blooded +philosopher might laugh at,--better, indeed, than most to be found here +on this fog-rounded flat of ours, where some few melodies from heaven +and countless blasts from hell meet, and make such strange, unequal +dissonance. But, alack! alack! it is not for the feeble, or the young +soldier, fresh from his plough or his yardstick, his briefs or his +pestle. For how shall we who have all our lives been standing guard +against the approach of death, who start horror-shaken from the dropping +of a tile, whose small wounds are quickly bound up by tender mother or +sister, and lamented over,--how shall we feel romantic in the midst of a +shower of bullets? Enough done, if our vanity or sense of duty hold us +there in any spirit, so that we do the needed trigger-work, and not turn +tail and disgrace ourselves. Even the veteran's satisfaction, since the +laying aside of steel armor, is not much, to be sure, or is gathered +after the battle. There is some savage ecstasy, perhaps, when he sees +his enemy fall, or when he sees his back; this last, indeed, a glorious +sight for any soldier,--worth rushing at the cannon's mouth to look +at, almost. But the man, be he veteran or other, who tells me he found +pleasure on the field where the Minié-balls kill afar off, in cold +blood,--I know him for one of the eccentric, stupid, or talkers for +purposes of vanity.--But this will suffice. + +There were three places on the road, amongst the Cordillera ridges, +where, in former wars, a Costa-Rican force, flying before the +filibusters, had stopped to barricade, and gathered heart to withstand +their pursuers awhile,--long enough to bark the surrounding trees with +musket-shot,--some of them, indeed, amid their topmost branches; for it +is a greaser-failing to shoot inordinately high. Each of these sites we +approached with caution, expecting to see an enemy there; but there was +none, and we came down safely at length to our old shed-camp. Here we +halted, and made our station, as it was more convenient for pasturage, +whilst the foot passed on to San Juan, two miles beyond. + +The steamer not arriving, we remained at this place several days, +employed as before, with the sugar-cane and the wood-ticks, miserable +enough. + +In the mean time, the foot at San Juan, finding unusual temptation to +escape from this place, so much nearer the Costa-Rican line, were +leaving in large parties; and unwilling service was made of the rangers +to intercept the fugitives, by posting them below on all the paths +leading through the forest to Costa Rica. General Walker esteemed these +more faithful, because they had been more considerately treated, better +fed, allowed greater freedom and privilege,--having no drill, loose +discipline, and exemption from guard-duty when with the foot; and, +above all, their part of the service being healthier, and, though more +fatiguing, far preferable, on the whole, to the other. One night I was +detailed, with others, on this disagreeable duty, and remember it, +for other reasons, as the most wretched night of all that I passed in +Nicaragua. Our station was on the bank of a little wooded stream, some +miles below San Juan. After the guard had been posted, I lay down to get +some hours' sleep, which I needed,--but was no sooner on the ground than +a swarm of infinitesimally small creatures, of the tick genus, whose den +I had invaded, came over me, and the rest was merely one sensation of +becrawled misery; so that, notwithstanding great previous loss of sleep, +I went again unrefreshed. I asked an old filibuster who lay near me, how +he could sleep through it. "Oh," said he, "I've got my skin dirty and +callous, and this easy-walking species, that can't bite, never troubles +me." On this subject I read the following in Mr. Irving's "History +of Columbus" with some emotion:--"Nor is the least beautiful part of +animated nature [in those tropical regions] the various tribes of +insects that people every plant, displaying brilliant coats-of-mail, +which sparkle to the eye like precious gems." It seems strange to me +that any good should be recognized in these children of despair, which +have caused me more unhappiness than all the world's vermin beside. +I think this praise must be from Mr. Irving himself, looking up the +picturesque. It is not possible that Columbus would have had the heart +to flatter and polish up these mailed insects, who, in his day, ate him, +turned him over and over, and harried him more than ever was Job by +Satan. + +Next morning, whilst we were roasting green plantains in +the fire for breakfast, a man dressed in General Walker's +blue-shirt-and-cotton-breeches uniform came upon us suddenly +from out of the woods beyond the stream. He was evidently going +south,--but seeing our party, with startled look, he turned, and +went in the direction of San Juan. We knew him at once for a deserter, +but had no zeal to arrest him; and he had already got past us, when +some one ejaculated,--"D--- him, why don't he go right? That's not +the road to Costa Rica!" Upon this unlucky speech, the officer in +command of the detail, who, either through inattention or design, +was suffering the man to pass unquestioned, ordered him to be +followed and seized. He was a German, and either a dull, heavy +fellow, or else stupefied by his terrible misfortune; and being +unable to say a consistent word for himself, the officer sent him +off under guard to San Juan, where it was well known what General Walker +would do with him. + +Some hours after this misadventure, as most of us took it, our detail +was relieved and we rode back to camp. The man who had been taken in the +act of deserting was condemned to be shot at San Juan this same evening, +in presence of the whole detachment. He was led down to the beach, and +seated in a chair at the water's edge. He bore himself carelessly, or +with an absent, almost unconscious air, like one who felt himself acting +a part in a dream. A squad of drafted riflemen was brought up in front +of him, and the word was given by a sergeant. They made their aim false +purposely, and but one shot took effect on the doomed man. He fell back +into the water, where he lay struggling, and stained the waves red with +his blood. It was a wrenching sight, too brutal far, to see the sergeant +place his gun against the poor wretch's head, and end his agony! + +It seemed so abominable to every spectator there that General Walker +should thus seek to enforce Devil's service from his men, entrapped +mostly in the first place, without wages or half maintenance, and with +no claim upon them whatever, but by a contract without consideration +on the one part, on the other hard labor to the death,--that this +exhibition, which in another army were calculated to strengthen just +authority, here only aroused indignation and disgust. This very night, +after witnessing the deserter's punishment, eleven men left the company +to which he belonged in a body, and were seen no more in Nicaragua. And +though for selfish reasons I was concerned to see the army falling to +pieces, and the load of toil and danger increasing upon the rest of us, +yet both I and the rest acknowledged that there was no tie of honor or +honesty to keep any man with us who wished to escape; and this deed +seemed to us without decent sanction. + +The steamer at length made its appearance, and, after landing us about +forty recruits, departed south with the States passengers for Panamá; +and afterwards, the new soldiers being all furnished with muskets, the +detachment started on its return to Rivas. On the way, it was rumored +amongst the men, that a reinforcement to the enemy, marching from Costa +Rica, were halted at Virgin Bay, and that General Walker was going to +attack them. We hurried over the Transit road as fast as the foot were +able,--General Sanders, I recollect, riding far in advance, sometimes +out of sight, and thus giving himself to an ambush, had the enemy placed +any. By repute he was a man of extreme courage, and held his life so +contemptuously that he would scarce hesitate to charge an enemy's line +by himself. But I fear that this time he had other impulse than his +innate valor; for there was no occasion for a solitary man, riding in +these gloomy woods, to be singing and hallooing, and whirling his sword +about his head, and swaying to and fro on his horse, unless he were +strongly worked by _aguardiente_. + +Reaching Virgin Bay some time after dark, we found the report of an +enemy there untrue; but the pickets were got out in remarkable haste, +and all the native population--some dozen women and children--were +seized, to prevent discovery of us to the enemy, and I suppose there was +some expectation of an attack. However, liquor being plenty amongst the +hotel-keepers at Virgin Bay, the officers thought it a good place to get +drunk in,--and many spent the night in that endeavor, and in playing +poker; so that in the morning, walking down to the lake to water my +mule, I met a colonel and a general staggering into quarters, rubbing +their eyes sullenly, having just lifted themselves from the street, +where the honest god Bacchus, as a poet calls him, had put them to bed +the night before. + +The steamer "San Carlos" still lay over at the island, under shadow of +the volcano. The other probably lay at San Jorge, by the enemy. The old +brig formerly anchored at Virgin Bay having been burned, there was now +no hope of retaking these steamers, unless the party of Texans, which we +had by this time heard was fighting its way up the Rio San Juan, should +succeed in getting upon the lake with a boat from the river. But to-day +we came near reaching the top of this hope unexpectedly. For whilst we +still delayed in Virgin Bay, smoke began to rise from the chimneys of +the "San Carlos," and in proper time she turned her prow and came across +the water directly toward us. It was scarcely possible that she knew +anything of our presence in Virgin Bay; and it was doubted by no one but +she was coming to land there for some purpose; and then her recapture, +were she full of the enemy, was certain, in the spirit we then were in: +for all felt, that, could we once get the steamer into our hands, and +reach the four hundred fresh Texans on the river, the filibuster star +would have shot up so high that it were ill-management indeed that would +ever pull it down again. Accordingly all were quickly driven into the +houses, and told to lie there close, and be ready to burst forth when +the steamer touched her pier. But we were miserably disappointed. She +came steadily up within half a mile of land, and then, catching an +alarm, turned, and put swiftly back to the island. I afterward heard +that two drunken officers had rushed out into the street, and so +apprised her of the danger. + +After this the detachment set out towards Rivas. We advanced along the +lake shore some distance, fording the mouth of the little Rio Lajas, +whose waters had lost much depth since I first, passed over this road, +crossing the stream in a bungo. In the forest we found, at one point, +trees felled across the road, as if the enemy had here been minded to +oppose us; but we passed by, seeing no one, and reached Rivas in good +time, unmolested. + +Arrived at Rivas, we found that a change was taking place in the +character of the war. The town had been threatened by the enemy during +our absence, and General Henningsen was busy putting it into a state +better suited to repel any sudden attack. Pieces of artillery looked +down all the principal approaches, from behind short walls of _adobe_ +blocks, raised in the middle of the street with open passage-ways on +either side. Native men with _machetes_, watched by armed guards, were +clearing away the fine groves of orange, mango, and plantain, which +everywhere surrounded Rivas, and were fitted to cover the approach of an +enemy. Others were tearing down or burning the houses in the outskirts, +to narrow the circle of defence. The tenants of these houses--when they +had any--were moved up nearer the _plaza_, or, if native, sometimes +into the country. The native population of Rivas, however, was scanty, +consisting mostly of a few women,--of the kindest and most affable sort. +In what direction the men had all, or nearly all, gone, I am unable to +say. Doubtless some of them were with the Chamorristas. + +So many of the houses were marked out to be pulled down, that General +Walker was obliged to quarter his new recruits in the church, a large +stone building, and curious from the head of Washington, easily +identified, carved in relief on its _facade_. Hitherto some native women +had been accustomed to assemble in this church and worship, under care +of a fat, unctuous little _padre_, very obsequiously courteous toward +filibusters;--and well he might be; for General Walker was suspicious +of all _padres_, and kept a stern eye upon them. Once he caught one of +them, who had preached treason against him within reach of his arm, and +released him again only upon payment of five thousand _pesos_. Another, +for a like offence, was put into the guard-house, and required to ransom +himself at twenty-five hundred. What became of this one, whether he paid +his ransom and got out, or whether he stayed there until he lost oil and +became lean on the small ration furnished him, was not rumored. Yet, +with all this in his memory, when the present _padre_ came again with +his flock of women and found the church occupied by soldiers, he went +away scowling, and never even lifted his shovel-hat to me when I met +him. + +On the night succeeding our return from San Juan, General Walker +determined to try a night attack on San Jorge, hoping much from the +fresh spirit and muscle of his forty Californians. To assist in this, +our company had orders to be on the _plaza_ at two o'clock, afoot, with +clean rifles and forty rounds of ammunition. At one o'clock we arose +and went down on the _plaza_, in number about twenty, the rest of the +company remaining behind on account of sickness. On the way, however, +the number was augmented by a second company of near twenty dismounted +rangers, with Colonel Waters at their head. + +Whilst we stood, in rather low spirits, waiting the hour of departure, +our captain procured us a calabash of _aguardiente_, which, thinking +upon the desperate work ahead of us and the infinite toil and +sleeplessness of the last few weeks, we considered excellent, and not to +be spared. Discomfort in battle is a positive evil, felt, perhaps, by +all sons of Adam; and he who will use means to get rid of it and leave +himself free to work is no more a coward, so far, than he who takes +chloroform to prevent the pain of a tooth-pulling,--mere positive evil, +likewise. _Aguardiente_ will serve a good purpose;--provided the head be +not essentially weak, or too inflammable, it ascends you into the brain, +and dries you there, as one hath said, all the nervous, crudy vapors +that environ it. But this captain of ours drank too injudiciously, and, +indeed, so obscured himself with his drink, often, that we his men were +loath to trust and follow him,--doubting that he knew where he was about +to take us, or for what purpose. To-night he strapped a large canteen of +_aguardiente_ about his neck and wore it into battle,--and many times, +as the danger staggered, we saw him draw courageous spirit through the +neck of it, and go on befogged and reassured. Yet, withal, he was no +greater coward than other men,--indeed, much braver than most,--had been +wounded whilst leading a forlorn hope over a barricade,--and would, I +doubt not, have fought well without _aguardiente_, had drinking been a +mark of cowardice in the army. + +At length all was ready, and, with something above three hundred +riflemen and infantry, under command of Generals Walker and Sanders, we +started out on the San Jorge road some hours after midnight. We kept +along the highway until we began to approach the town, and then turned +aside into a by-lane crossing to the left. The by-lane was interrupted +at one place by a deep pool of water, through which the detachment +plunging, half-leg deep, some of the weak-legged stumbled and fell, +getting their cartridge-boxes under, and spoiling their ammunition. + +At the end of this lane we came into another highway running toward San +Jorge, along which we advanced rapidly. After a while we came to a halt, +and a party was sent off; then forward again, a corner turned, and +another halt,--when I heard General Walker asking some one, in composed +voice, "Does he know exactly where we are?" Whilst we stood there, a +sudden and hot rattle of musketry began from the front, and we again +advanced swiftly, by scattered _adobes_, turning corners, and came in +full view of a barricade some distance ahead spitting flashes of fire +crosswise into the right-hand side of the street. We crossed over from +left to right, and halted behind an _adobe_. On our right hand stood +a grove of small trees, through which the assailants had probably +advanced, and in which, just ahead, hot work was now going on +loudly,--with Minié-balls, grape-shot, shouts, outcries, and blood +enough doubtless. After some delay here, part of us rangers, led by +Colonel Waters, recrossed the street, and advanced, crouching, toward +the barricade spitting flames in front. We crept, double file, along a +palisade of tall cactus which bordered this part of the street, against +whose thorns my neighbor on the right would frequently thrust me, as the +shot nipped him closely,--inconvenient, but without pain, so intense was +the distraction of the moment. We had crept within a few rods of the +barricade, where we had glimpse of faces through embrasures, amidst the +smoke and flame, and our leader, as he afterwards said, had it on his +lips to order the forward rush,--when the party attacking on our right, +behind the trees, gave back, and our own mere handful was checked, and +retraced its steps running. A moment later, and we had gone upon that +high barricade, some score of us, without backers in the street, to +draw on us the enemy's whole fire,--and very likely--unless they had +foolishly fled at our first rush--to be all killed there. + +On the retreat, I with some others was ordered out of the ranks to pick +up a wounded officer and carry him off the ground. We took him down the +street, turned a corner, and laid him on the floor of a church some +distance beyond. He had an arm broken and a bad wound in his body,--a +hopeless man; but upborne and defiant through _aguardiente_ and native +strength. After getting him off our hands, we returned to our company, +which we found sheltering behind the _adobe_ where we had halted when on +the advance. Here we remained some time, with instructions from General +Walker (whom, at this time, we seemed to follow as personal guard) to +keep ourselves out of reach of the missiles flying on either side of the +house. The darkness was so thick that we could see only what was passing +immediately around us, and therefore were ignorant as to the position +of the foot, and what was now doing amongst them. It was said, however, +afterwards, that their officers strove to rally and bring them up to +another charge, but that they proved mutinous, and refused to move. + +They had suffered, indeed, discouragement enough. Colonel O'Neal, who +had led them, was mortally wounded; the barricade was too high and +dangerous; they had tried to fire it without success. Some of the forty +recruits, who were in front of the party, had climbed over it; and these +afterwards affirmed, that, had the others followed then, the barricade +had been gained; but the older soldiers had degenerated, possessed +little of these men's zeal or spirit, hesitated, and, their colonel +falling, gave back. Those who had gone over the barricade were killed +there, or came back with wounds,--one with a bayonet-thrust through the +arm,--a most remarkable wound, in which, perhaps, Central-Americans +fleshed a bayonet for the first time. + +Our company, or part of it,--for most had been placed about on pickets +when the attack failed,--after a while fell farther back, turned the +corner before mentioned, faced about, and came to a stand in the street, +with an _adobe_ house on the left. The street in which we stood ran +straight forward, and crossed the one down which we had just receded at +right angles, a few feet ahead of us, so that there was here a junction +of four streets, or, I might better say, roads; for there were no more +than four disconnected houses in the immediate vicinity,--the one on the +corner beside us, one on the corner diagonally opposite, the one up the +street running left, on the far side, behind which we had a little while +ago taken shelter, and the square stone church, whither we had carried +the wounded man, and which stood on the far side of the street some +yards behind us. The rest of the space was covered with fruit-trees and +a heavy growth of hushes; and concealed behind these lay the barricades +and the _plaza_ of San Jorge. But all this was seen later; then the +whole was wrapped in thick darkness, it yet lacking some short time of +daybreak. + +Whilst our detached company was standing there, with the foot drawn up +in the road a little way before us, a single horseman came out from the +enemy and galloped past our picket, stationed up the road some distance +ahead of the detachment. The picket fired upon him after he had passed; +he dropped under his horse's side, and galloped back, apparently +unharmed; but, from the direction of their fire, the picket was +naturally mistaken for the enemy by the detachment in front, who could +see only the flashes through the darkness. Some stood their ground, and +returned the fire, placing the picket in great danger; but the bulk, +already well scared by their repulse, broke away panic-stricken, and +came rushing down the road toward us, thinking the enemy were charging +behind them. Our company was suddenly overwhelmed, or borne along by the +current, ignorant of the cause of alarm. I brought myself up behind the +corner house, where many of the others were taking shelter. But hearing +some one cry out, "To the church! to the church! make a stand in the +church!" I immediately ran across the road and entered the church by a +side-door. As I crossed the entrance, with two or three others, +General Walker came running up from the interior, with his sword out, +crying,--"Where's that man came into the church? Show me that man!" +There were cocked revolvers with some of us, and it was, perhaps, well +for General Walker that the crowd now pouring in strongly at both front +and side doors diverted him. Turning to these, he threw himself first on +one, then on another, battered, tugged, and thrust them out at the door +with such force as I hardly thought was in him. He was soon assisted +by Sanders, Waters, and other officers, and, with the curses and +vociferations of these men, the confused rush of the panic-stricken +crowd in the dark, and the outcries of the wounded, who lay about +on the floor, as the fugitives trampled over them, there was such a +pressure as might unchart a young soldier, and strand him among his +fears. + +After seeing enough of it, I ran out again into the street, sore +bestead, indeed, to know what I should do. Day was beginning to break, +and in the gray dawn I saw the men ejected from the church running +hither and thither, trying to rejoin their officers. And, there being +neither standards nor drums to collect by, the sergeants stood at divers +points shouting at the top of their voices the number and letter +of their companies, and calling the fugitives to come into ranks. +Minié-balls whizzed about in the air or knocked up the dust from +the street, and firing was now and then heard near by in uncertain +directions, where perhaps the enemy were vexing our pickets. I believe +it had been a helter-skelter day for us all, had the enemy got in then +and attacked us in the midst of this confusion. They might surely have +driven us into irretrievable rout, flying on the road to Rivas, by a +spirited charge of fifty good men, or much less. + +Whilst I stood in doubt what course to take, I saw our captain, followed +by three or four of the company, looking over the ground for the +missing, and I forthwith made up and joined him. Others came in, one by +one; and at length, the foot being gathered together in the _adobes_, +and things brought to order outside, the captain led his company into +the church. General Walker was still there, talking earnestly with +Sanders and Waters, having cleared the church of the fugitives. As we +approached, he asked the captain, who by this time had emptied his +canteen of _aguardiente_, how many of his men were killed. The captain +began cursing the foot, and telling how he had been run over, having +tried to stand,--and would have made a long talc, but Colonel Waters +touched him on the shoulder, and said in undertone,--"Lead your company +off. You are too drunk to talk now." + +Our post thenceforward was at the several doors of the church, where we +kept guard for the wounded, who lay about the floor in miserable plight +for lack of water. Outside, drop-shooting was still kept up by the enemy +in the bushes, and returned by ours from the doors. + +It was an ill-looking situation for our small, panic-shaken party, +resting here within pistol-shot of an overwhelming and victorious enemy. +The enemy's respect for us was too great and unreasonable. It behooved +them certainly, as honest soldiers, to come forth now and drive us out +of their town, in which, I think, if well commenced, there had been but +little difficulty. Afterwards, indeed, when I was amongst them in Costa +Rica, they declared concerning this affair that they knew we were in +their power then, but refrained because they were unwilling to shed more +filibuster blood, preferring rather to conquer us by proclamation, and +send us back to our homes unhurt,--more expensive, to be sure, but +recommended by humanity. Yet I laugh at this when I remember how they +crept snake-like in the bushes, and tried to pick us off at the doors, +and how they strove, without much danger to themselves, to run our +pickets in on us, and get to see our backs turned, whereupon, doubtless, +humanity would have been little thought of, and filibuster blood cheap +enough. Indeed, once that morning, with little less than four-score +horse, they came charging with hope to pass a picket of ten men; but +saddles being emptied, they recoiled, and their leader being slain, +whilst attempting to rally them, they fled contemptibly,--seven or eight +from one. However, this is only my revenge for much exasperation and +deploration that they would never come away from their pestiferous +walls,--where, after all, they had a right to stay, and will not be +blamed by the candid and unbebullet-whizzed reader that they did stay. + +We kept our post at the doors, annoyed and apprehensive, until the sun +was an hour or so high, when a party of rangers arrived from Rivas +with led horses to transport the wounded,--which incumbrance it was, I +suppose, that prevented our withdrawal earlier. The wounded were carried +out and mounted, some with a soldier behind to support them. Colonel +O'Neal, however, who had both legs broken, was carried on a litter, with +a cocked revolver on each side of him; for, though he had lost much +blood, there was yet spirit in him, and he wanted revenge for these +death-wounds. The pickets were now all brought in hastily, and the +detachment began its march, leaving, I remember, one stark form propped +against the church wall, with staring eyeballs fixed, and soul wandered +somewhither. This, from his clean looks, had been one of the fresh +California recruits, who, indeed, had found miserable entertainment on +their arrival in Nicaragua, land of oranges and sunshine,--being first +and longest this night at the barricade, and leaving many of their +number there. + +A little way from the church we crossed a road running into San Jorge, +and, looking up, saw a high log-barricade, some fifty rods off, with +embrasures and black-mouthed cannon frowning down on us. Why we were not +fired upon I know not, unless on that same score of humanity, or because +the enemy had abandoned it during last night's assault. Farther on, +whilst passing through a plantain-patch, we saw the greasers some +way off in our rear, watching us, running to and fro, and seemingly +exercised with preparation for attacking. However, we passed out into +the road, and went on undisturbed, yet still with the enemy hovering +behind us. + +Coming to a place where an abrupt little mound rose at a fork in the +road, our company, which brought up the rear of the detachment, had +orders to conceal itself behind this, and await the pursuers, and give +them check. In a moment they came galloping up the slope of a hill some +two or three hundred yards back, their heads only appearing at first, +then the rest down to the saddle, when we arose suddenly and gave them a +volley of rifle-bullets. They dropped down quickly, either to the ground +or under their horses' bellies, in which manoeuvre some of them rival +the prairie Indians. Others coming up from behind, we gave them more, +until they all disappeared finally. After this we saw no more of them, +and arrived at Rivas without further alarm. + +This was now the third repulse we had sustained within a few days, with +an aggregate loss, perhaps, counting wounded, (who, as I have said, were +more regretted than the dead,) not very far under two hundred men,--and +it became apparent that the filibuster day was over, unless General +Walker could find some stratagem in his head, or some better mode of +fighting than this confident rushing upon an overwhelming enemy, under +strong cover, and grown bold with success. The prospect, truly, began +to look black enough. The men had lost confidence in themselves and in +their officers, no longer despised the enemy, and dreaded the barricades +at San Jorge so deeply that they would be led against them no more. +Those who intended to desert avoided every exposure to danger, and +feigned sickness whenever detailed for service. One of the rifle +regiments had grown mutinous, upon some quarrel with its officers, and +refused to do duty of any kind, and it was absurd to attempt to compel +it by aid of the others. The natives, who had charge of the beef cattle, +turned them all out of the _corral_, and ran away in the night, leaving +the army without meat, and the commissary force, some forty horsemen, +to seek for prey wherever it was to be found. And then there were ill +reports heard about the party on the Rio San Juan, and its success began +to be doubted. But worse than all was the fast-spreading spirit of +desertion, which all saw would prove ruinous of itself, unless shortly +stopped in some way. + +At this juncture it might have been worth while for General Walker to +form a corps for one attack of all the men in his army who felt an +earnest interest in driving the enemy out, and were willing to fight +desperately for the sake of it. There were scores of stout men acting +as lieutenants, captains, majors, etc., of slight performance in those +capacities, but who, had they been formed into companies, and asked to +fight now one night, at this desperate juncture, for the _haciendas_ +General Walker had promised them, would have done willing, perhaps, and +excellent service. To these might be added all those among the ranks +to whom, from any cause, desertion or expulsion from Nicaragua was +disagreeable,--those who distrusted the Costa-Rican promises, or feared +disgrace at home, or had sick or wounded friends at Rivas, or were +desperate, broken men without other home, or with what other peculiar +motives there might be. With this force gathered to themselves by call +for volunteers, allowed to choose their own officers, furnished with +Colt's revolvers, or bayonets, or both, and led in advance, as a forlorn +hope, with ladders to scale the barricades by,--it is likely the enemy +might have been driven out, and the cause of Regeneration set up once +more. So, at least, it was thought by some. And, indeed, it must have +been extremely discouraging for one of better will to be fearful at +every step that his comrades would dart aside into the bushes and leave +him unsupported; it must have served to cripple the efforts of all the +well-intentioned in the army, and should have been remedied. However, +no call for volunteers was ventured by General Walker,--he, probably, +thinking it too unreasonable to ask his men to do anything for him +unforced. + +There were some others who thought affairs might be retrieved, if +General Walker were displaced, at least from his military command, +and Henningsen, or some other, put in his stead. He was exceedingly +unpopular, hated, indeed, by a great many, (I have known more than one +who professed to nourish the intent of shooting him during his next +battle, when the deed could be covered,) was respected only for his +strong will and personal bravery, and had never been superseded, solely, +perhaps, because the great majority of his men were either without +energy, or were careless about everything but escape, and so felt no +interest in dethroning him and setting up another, when thereby they +were not helping their chance of getting out of the Isthmus. However, +there was now a conspiracy commenced by some who were unwilling to leave +Nicaragua, and who distrusted General Walker's ability to save the +filibusters much longer. + +But these underworkers had made us no sign up to the night attack on +San Jorge, and the day succeeding that the writer lost sight of the +filibuster camp, and knew what took place in it no more. I will tell how +the withdrawal was brought about, and then extinguish my story. Near the +middle of the day, after returning from San Jorge, the company rode out, +under command of the sergeant, to gather forage for the animals. In +order to give my own mule a respite, I mounted for this occasion a +bad-winded animal, long before used up, and discarded by one of the +company, and left to run about the yard. As we rode out at the gateway, +one of the men advised me with some pointedness to go back and get my +own animal, assuring me the one I had would fail me on this expedition. +Yet, knowing he was good for the distance we usually rode foraging, I +paid him no heed, and thought nothing of his somewhat singular manner +until afterwards. When we had gone some distance, the same man asked me +if I had heard that forty deserters had left last night for Costa Rica, +adding, that it was his opinion the whole army would soon be on the same +road. "Well," said I, "I suppose we'll be among the last." "I don't +think I will," rejoined he, "nor the rest of this company." He said no +more; but it flashed upon me then that we were even now on the road for +Costa Rica; and it soon became certainty, as the sergeant turned down +toward the Transit road, a direction in which we had never been +allowed to forage, probably because the natives on that side had more +communication with San Juan and Virgin Bay, and General Walker was +unwilling that the States passengers should hear too many complaints +from them. I was before aware that many of the company had been for some +time revolving desertion, and had myself been sounded by one a day or +two previously; but could have had no suspicion that this was to be the +occasion, because several of the most forward in the matter had made +excuses, and remained behind in quarters. + +At length we halted in a little stream, some miles from Rivas, to water +our animals, and it was here openly announced that the party was on its +way to Costa Rica to take the benefit of the government proclamation. I +rode back toward the rear, where I saw a dispute going on between one of +the company who wanted to return to Rivas and others who insisted that +he must go forward. One of them met me in the path, and told me I must +go with them until they had got beyond the Transit road. They had no +wish, he said, to force men to desert; but this much was needed to save +themselves from danger of pursuit. I told him my mule would never carry +me back from the Transit road. "We will catch you another," said he, +"when we reach the Jocote _rancho_." The whole crowd, save two or three, +were with him, and it was useless to persist. So I turned and rode +forward with the rest. + +At the Jocote _rancho_ we succeeded in catching a mule, but he was given +to another of the company, whose animal showed worse signs than my own, +which, indeed, had borne me much better than I expected, and was not yet +seriously fatigued. + +We came out upon the Transit road, passed over the Cordillera ridges, +and, just beyond the little river which crosses the road, two miles from +San Juan, turned aside into a forest-trail leading down the coast to +Costa Rica. Those of us who had been pressed thus far, after crossing +the Transit road, gave over all design of returning. The bonds which +drew us back were not strong, and the danger of return was considerable. +We had heard that the enemy was at Virgin Bay, and that their lancers +frequently passed backward and forward on the Transit road, and between +San Jorge and Virgin Bay. If we returned, we should be confined to the +path nearly all the way to Rivas by the impenetrable forest, and easily +taken, should we meet the enemy, or liable even, one or two only, to be +shot down from ambush by the hostile natives who lived on the route. + +For my own part, I decided to go on with hesitation and regret, and I +believe, had one been ready to return, I should have borne him willing +company. I preferred even the hard service and dubious chance of General +Walker to the alternative of going amongst the Costa-Ricans, where +a cowardly populace would probably kick and spit upon us as dirty +filibusters and deserters; and should their government even keep its +promises, I had no stomach for being set ashore in the city of New York, +without money in my pocket, or home that I wished to go to. My health +had been good in Nicaragua, and, I believed, would remain good. The +motive which sent me there was still in force; and, withal, I wished to +see the filibuster game played out,--with Henningsen, or some other man +than General Walker, as military director. I believed it might even +take a turn so, and a _sans-culotte_ man be furnished at last with a +two-hundred-and-fifty-acre home in Nicaragua,-- + + "'Mid sandal bowers and groves of spice, + Might be a Peri's paradise"; + +and plantain food without sweat, and the elixir of joy called +_aguardiente!_ Nevertheless it was all left behind; and Samuel Absalom +tore the large, dirty canvas letters M.R., signifying Mounted Ranger, +off from his blue flannel shirt-breast; and his experience as filibuster +in Nicaragua closed,--somewhat ingloriously. + + * * * * * + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +[Continued.] + + +CHAPTER V. + +CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. + + +The Christmas Holidays have come, and with them various customs and +celebrations quite peculiar to Rome. They are ushered in by the festive +clang of a thousand bells from all the belfries in Rome at Ave Maria of +the evening before the august day. At about nine o'clock of the same +evening the Pope performs High Mass in some one of the great churches, +generally at Santa Maria Maggiore, when all the pillars of this fine old +basilica are draped with red hangings, and scores of candles burn in the +side chapels, and the great altar blazes with light. The fuguing chants +of the Papal choir sound into the dome and down the aisles, while the +Holy Father ministers at the altar, and a motley crowd parade and jostle +and saunter through the church. Here, mingled together, may be seen +soldiers of the Swiss guard, with their shining helmets, long halberds, +and party-colored uniforms, designed by Michel Angelo,--chamberlains of +the Pope, all in black, with their high ruffs, Spanish cloaks, silken +stockings, and golden chains,--_contadini_ from the mountains, in their +dully brilliant costumes and white _tovaglie_,--common laborers from the +Campagna, with their black mops of tangled hair,--_forestieri_ of +every nation,--Englishmen, with long, light, pendant whiskers, and an +eye-glass stuck in one eye,--Germans, with spectacles, frogged coats, +and long, straight hair put behind their ears and cut square in the +neck,--then Americans, in high-heeled patent-leather boots, a black +dress-coat, and a black satin waistcoat,--and wasp-waisted French +officers, with baggy trousers, a goat-beard, and a pretentious swagger. +Nearer the altar are crowded together in pens a mass of women in black +dresses and black veils, who are determined to see and hear all, +treating the ceremony purely as a spectacle, and not as a religious +rite. Meantime the music soars, the organ groans, the censer clicks, +steams of incense float to and fro. The Pope and his attendants kneel +and rise,--he lifts the Host, and the world prostrates itself. A great +procession of dignitaries with torches bears a fragment of the original +cradle of the Holy Bambino from its chapel to the high altar, through +the swaying crowd that gape and gaze and stare and sneer and adore. And +thus the evening passes. When the clock strikes midnight all the bells +ring merrily, Mass commences at the principal churches, and at San Luigi +dei Francesi and the Gesù there is a great illumination (what the French +call _un joli spectacle_) and very good music. Thus Christmas is ushered +in at Rome. + +The next day is a great _festa_. All classes are dressed in their best +and go to Mass,--and when that is over, they throng the streets to chat +and lounge and laugh and look at each other. The Corso is so crowded in +the morning, that a carriage can scarcely pass. Everywhere one hears the +pleasant greeting of "_Buona Festa,_" "_Buona Pasquà _." All the _basso +popolo_, too, are out,--the women wearing their best jewelry, heavy +gold ear-rings, three-rowed _collane_ of well-worn coral and gold, long +silver and gold pins and arrows in their hair, and great worked brooches +with pendants,--and the men of the Trastevere in their peaked hats, +their short jackets swung over one shoulder in humble imitation of the +Spanish cloak, and with rich scarfs tied round their waists. Most of +the ordinary cries of the day are missed. But the constant song of +"_Arancie! arancie dolci_!" is heard in the crowd; and everywhere +are the _sigarari_, carrying round their wooden tray of tobacco, and +shouting, "_Sigari! sigari dolci! sigari scelti_!" at the top of their +lungs; the _nocellaro_ also cries sadly about his dry chestnuts and +pumpkin-seeds. The shops are all closed, and the shopkeepers and clerks +saunter up and down the streets, dressed better than the same class +anywhere else in the world,--looking spick-and-span, as if they had just +come out of a bandbox, and nearly all of them carrying a little cane. +One cannot but be struck by the difference in this respect between the +Romans on a _festa_-day in the Corso and the Parisians during _fête_ in +the Champs Élysées,--the former are so much better dressed, and so much +happier, gayer, and handsomer. + +During the morning, the Pope celebrates High Mass at San Pietro, and +thousands of spectators are there,--some from curiosity, some from +piety. Few, however, of the Roman families go there to-day;--they perform +their religious services in their private chapel or in some minor +church; for the crowd of _forestieri_ spoils St. Peter's for prayer.[A] +At the elevation of the Host, the guards, who line the nave, drop to +their knees, their side-arms ringing on the pavement,--the vast crowd +bends,--and a swell of trumpets sounds through the dome. Nothing can be +more impressive than this moment in St. Peter's. Then the choir from its +gilt cage resumes its chant, the high falsetti of the soprani soaring +over the rest, and interrupted now and then by the clear musical voice +of the Pope,--until at last he is borne aloft in his Papal chair on the +shoulders of his attendants, crowned with the triple crown, between +the high, white, waving fans; all the cardinals, monsignori, canonici, +officials, priests, and guards going before him in splendid procession. +The Pope shuts his eyes, from giddiness and from fasting,--for he has +eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, and the swaying motion of the chair +makes him dizzy and sick. But he waves at intervals his three fingers to +bless the crowd that kneel or bend before him, and then goes home to the +Vatican to dine with a clean conscience and a good appetite. + +[Footnote A: "How," says Marforio to Pasquino, "shall I, being a true +son of the Holy Church, obtain admittance to her services?" To which +Pasquino returns for answer: "Declare that you are an Englishman, and +swear that you are a heretic."] + +It is the universal rule among priests to fast before saying Mass, and +never to take the wafer or body of Christ upon a full stomach. The +law is _de rigueur_, and is almost never broken. But sometimes the +temptation of the appetite, it may be supposed, will overcome even a +pious man; for priest though one be, one is also flesh-and-blood. An +anecdote lately told me by the Conte Cignale (dei Selvaggi) may not +be out of place in this connection, and I instance it as an undoubted +exception to the general rule. A friend of his, an English artist, +enamored of Italian life, was spending the summer in one of the mountain +towns. Finding little society there except the physician and the parish +priest, he soon became on intimate terms with them. One morning the +priest called on him before he had finished breakfast. A savory dish was +smoking on the table, and the fumes of the hot coffee filled the room. +"I wish you could take breakfast with me," said he; "but I know you are +to say Mass, and that it would be contrary to rule for you to eat +until it is performed." The priest shrugged his shoulders and looked +deprecatorily at the artist and at the breakfast. "Still," continued the +latter, "if your scruples would allow you, I should be delighted if you +would help me with this capital dish." The temptation was great; the +smell was savory. The priest made a strong internal defence, but the +garrison was forced at last to capitulate. _"Eh!"_ said he, as he took +his seat, _"in fatto è il costume generale di non mangiare prima di dire +la messa e di prendere l'ostia. Ma--in queste circostanze_,"--here +he looked to see that the door was well fastened,--_"mi pare che si +potrebbe far un letto per nostro Signore, Gesù Cristo."_ + +It is the custom in Rome at the great _festas,_ of which Christmas is +one of the principal ones, for each parish to send round the sacrament +to all its sick; and during these days a procession of priest and +attendants may be seen, preceded by their cross and banner, bearing the +holy wafer to the various houses. As they march along, they make the +streets resound with the psalm they sing. Everybody lifts his hat as +they pass, and many among the lower classes kneel upon the pavement. +Frequently the procession is followed by a rout of men, women, and +children, who join in the chanting and responses, pausing with the +priest before the door of the sick person, and accompanying it as it +moves from house to house. + +At Christmas, all the Roman world which has a _baiocco_ in its pocket +eats _torone_ and _pan giallo._ The shops of the pastry-cooks and +confectioners are filled with them, mountains of them incumber the +counters, and for days before Christmas crowds of purchasers throng to +buy them. _Torone_ is a sort of hard candy, made of honey and almonds, +and crusted over with crystallized sugar; or in other words, it is a +_nuga_ with a sweet frieze coat;--but _nuga_ is a trifle to it for +consistency. _Pan giallo_ is perhaps so called _quasi lucus,_ it being +neither bread nor yellow. I know no way of giving a clearer notion of +it than by saying that its father is almond-candy and its mother a +plum-pudding. It partakes of the qualities of both its parents. From its +mother it inherits plums and citron, while its father bestows upon it +almonds and consistency. In hardness of character it is half-way between +the two,--having neither the maternal tenderness on the one hand, nor +the paternal stoniness on the other. One does not break one's teeth on +it as over the _torone,_ which is only to be cajoled into masticability +by prolonged suction, and often not then; but the teeth sink into it as +the wagoner's wheels into clayey mire, and every now and then receive a +shock, as from sunken rocks, from the raisin-stones, indurated almonds, +pistachio-nuts, and pine-seeds, which startle the ignorant and innocent +eater with frightful doubts. I carried away one tooth this year over my +first piece; but it was a tooth which had been considerably indebted to +California, and I have forgiven the _pan giallo._ My friend the Conte +Cignale, who partook at the same time of _torone,_ having incautiously +put a large lump into his mouth, found himself compromised thereby to +such an extent as to be at once reduced to silence and retirement behind +his pocket-handkerchief. An unfortunate jest, however, reduced him to +extremities, and, after a vehement struggle for politeness, he was +forced to open the window and give his _torone_ to the pavement--and +the little boys, perhaps. _Chi sa?_ But, despite these dangers and +difficulties, all the world at Rome eats _pan giallo_ and _torone_ at +Christmas,--and a Christmas without them would be an egg without salt. +They are at once a penance and a pleasure. Not content with the _pan +giallo,_ the Romans also import the _pan forte di Siena,_ which is a +blood cousin of the former, and suffers almost nothing from time and +age. + +On Christmas and New Year's day all the servants of your friends present +themselves at your door to wish you a _"buona festa,"_ or a _"buon capo +d'anno."_ This generous expression of good feeling is, however, expected +to be responded to by a more substantial expression on your part, in the +shape of four or five pauls, so that one peculiarly feels the value of a +large visiting-list of acquaintances at this season. To such an extent +is this practice carried, that in the houses of the cardinals and +princes places are sought by servants merely for the vails of the +_festas,_ no other wages being demanded. Especially is this the case +with the higher dignitaries of the Church, whose _maestro di casa_, in +hiring domestics, takes pains to point out to them the advantages of +their situation in this respect. Lest the servants should not be aware +of all these advantages, the times when such requisitions may be +gracefully made and the sums which may be levied are carefully +indicated,--not by the cardinal in person, of course, but by his +underlings; and many of the fellows who carry the umbrella and cling +to the back of the cardinal's coach, covered with shabby gold-lace and +carpet-collars, and looking like great beetles, are really paid by +everybody rather than the _padrone_ they serve. But this is not confined +to the _Eminenze,_ many of whom are, I dare say, wholly ignorant that +such practices exist. The servants of the embassies and all the +noble houses also make the circuit of the principal names on the +visiting-list, at stated occasions, with good wishes for the family. If +one rebel, little care will be taken that letters, cards, and messages +arrive promptly at their destination in the palaces of their _padroni;_ +so it is a universal habit to thank them for their politeness, and to +request them to do you the favor to accept a piece of silver in order +to purchase a bottle of wine and drink your health. I never knew one of +them refuse; probably they would not consider it polite to do so. It is +curious to observe the care with which at the embassies a new name is +registered by the servants, who scream it from anteroom to _salon,_ and +how considerately a deputation waits on you at Christmas and New +Year's, or, indeed, whenever you are about to leave Rome to take your +_villeggiatura,_ for the purpose of conveying to you the good wishes of +the season or of invoking for you a _"buon viaggio."_ One young Roman, +a teacher of languages, told me that it cost him annually some twenty +_scudi_ or more, to convey to the servants of his pupils and others his +deep sense of the honor they did him in inquiring for his health at +stated times. But this is a rare case, and owing, probably, to his +peculiar position. A physician in Rome, whom I had occasion to call in +for a slight illness, took an opportunity on his first visit to put a +very considerable _buona mano_ into the hands of my servant, in order to +secure future calls. I cannot, however, say that this is customary; on +the contrary, it is the only case I know, though I have had other Roman +physicians; and this man was in his habits and practice peculiarly +un-Roman. I do not believe it, therefore, to be a Roman trait. On the +other hand, I must say, for my servant's credit, that he told me the +fact with a shrug, and added, that he could not, after all, recommend +the gentleman as a _medico,_ though I was _padrone,_ of course, to do as +I liked. + +On Christmas Eve, a _Presepio_ is exhibited in several of the churches. +The most splendid is that of the Ara Celi, where the miraculous Bambino +is kept. It lasts from Christmas to Twelfth Night, during which period +crowds of people flock to see it; and it well repays a visit. The simple +meaning of the term _Presepio_ is a manger, but it is also used in the +Church to signify a representation of the birth of Christ. In the Ara +Celi the whole of one of the side-chapels is devoted to this exhibition. +In the foreground is a grotto, in which is seated the Virgin Mary, with +Joseph at her side and the miraculous Bambino in her lap. Immediately +behind are an ass and an ox. On one side kneel the shepherds and kings +in adoration; and above, God the Father is seen surrounded by clouds of +cherubs and angels playing on instruments, as in the early pictures of +Raphael. In the background is a scenic representation of a pastoral +landscape, on which all the skill of the scene-painter is expended. +Shepherds guard their flocks far away, reposing under palm-trees or +standing on green slopes which glow in the sunshine. The distances and +perspective are admirable. In the middle ground is a crystal fountain of +glass, near which sheep, preternaturally white, and made of real wool +and cotton-wool, are feeding, tended by figures of shepherds carved in +wood. Still nearer come women bearing great baskets of real oranges and +other fruits on their heads. All the nearer figures are full-sized, +carved in wood, painted, and dressed in appropriate robes. The +miraculous Bambino is a painted doll swaddled in a white dress, which is +crusted over with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The Virgin +also wears in her ears superb diamond pendants. Joseph has none; but he +is not a person peculiarly respected in the Church. As far as the Virgin +and Child are concerned, they are so richly dressed that the presents of +the kings and wise men seem rather supererogatory,--like carrying coals +to Newcastle,--unless, indeed, Joseph come in for a share, as it is to +be hoped he does. The general effect of this scenic show is admirable, +and crowds flock to it and press about it all day long. Mothers and +fathers are lifting their little children as high as they can, and until +their arms are ready to break; little maids are pushing, whispering, +and staring in great delight; _contadini_ are gaping at it with a mute +wonderment of admiration and devotion; and Englishmen are discussing +loudly the value of the jewels, and wanting to know, by Jove, whether +those in the crown can be real. + +While this is taking place on one side of the church, on the other is a +very different and quite as singular an exhibition. Around one of the +antique columns of this basilica--which once beheld the splendors and +crimes of the Caesars' palace--a staging is erected, from which little +maidens are reciting, with every kind of pretty gesticulation, sermons, +dialogues, and speechifications, in explanation of the _Presepio_ +opposite. Sometimes two of them are engaged in alternate question and +answer about the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption. +Sometimes the recitation is a piteous description of the agony of the +Saviour and the sufferings of the Madonna,--the greatest stress being, +however, always laid upon the latter. All these little speeches have +been written for them by their priest or some religious friend, been +committed to memory, and practised with the appropriate gestures over +and over again at home. Their little piping voices are sometimes guilty +of such comic breaks and changes, that the crowd about them rustles into +a murmurous laughter. Sometimes also one of the very little preachers +has a _dispitto_, pouts, shakes her shoulders, and refuses to go on with +her part;--another, however, always stands ready on the platform to +supply the vacancy, until friends have coaxed, reasoned, or threatened +the little pouter into obedience. These children are often very +beautiful and graceful, and their comical little gestures and +intonations, their clasping of hands and rolling up of eyes, have a very +amusing and interesting effect. The last time I was there, I was sorry +to see that the French costume had begun to make its appearance. Instead +of the handsome Roman head, with its dark, shining, braided hair, which +is so elegant when uncovered, I saw on two of the children the deforming +bonnet, which could have been invented only to conceal a defect, and +which is never endurable, unless it be perfectly fresh, delicate, and +costly. Nothing is so vulgar as a shabby bonnet. Yet the Romans, despite +their dislike of the French, are beginning to wear it. Ten years ago it +did not exist here among the common people. I know not why it is that +the three ugliest pieces of costume ever invented, the dress-coat, the +trousers, and the bonnet, all of which we owe to the French, have been +accepted all over Europe, to the exclusion of every national costume. +Certainly it is not because they are either useful, elegant, or +commodious.[B] + +[Footnote B: That cultivated gentleman, John Evelyn, two centuries ago +wrote some amusing words on this subject. After quoting the witty saying +of Malvezzi,--"I vestimenti negli animali sono molto securi segni della +loro natura, negli nomini del lor cervello,"--he goes on to say, "Be it +excusable in the French to alter and impose the mode on others, 'tis +no less a weakness and a shame in the rest of the world, who have no +dependence on them, to admit them, at least to that degree of levity as +to turn into all their shapes without discrimination; so as when the +freak takes our Monsieurs to appear like so many farces or Jack Puddings +on the stage, all the world should alter shape and play the pantomimes +with them. Methinks a French tailor, with an ell in his hand, looks like +the enchantress Circe over the companions of Ulysses, and changes them +into as many forms.... Something I would indulge to youth; something to +age and humor. But what have we to do with these foreign butterflies? In +God's name, let the change be our own, not borrowed of others; for why +should I dance after a Monsieur's flageolet, that have a set of English +viols for my concert? We need no French inventions for the stage or for +the back."--From a pamphlet entitled _Tyrannus, or the Mode_. + +"Si le costume bourgeois," says George Sand, in _Le Péché de M. +Antoine_, "de notre époque est le plus triste, le plus incommode et +le plus disgracieux, que la mode ait jamais inventé, c'est surtout au +milieu des champs que tous ses inconvénients et toutes ses laideurs +révoltent.... Au milieu de ce cadre austère et grandiose, qui transporte +l'imagination au temps de la poésie primitive, apparaisse cette mouche +parasite, le _monsieur_ aux habits noirs, au menton rasé, aux mains +gantées, aux jambes maladroites, et ce roi de la société n'est plus +qu'un accident ridicule, une tâche importune dans le tableau. Votre +costume gênant et disparate inspire alors la pitié plus que les haillons +du pauvre, on sent que vous êtes déplacé au grand air, et que votre +livrée vous écrase."] + +If one visit the Ara Celi during the afternoon of one of these _festas_, +the scene is very striking. The flight of one hundred and twenty-four +steps, which once led to the temple of Venus and Rome, is then thronged +by merchants of Madonna wares, who spread them out over the steps and +hang them against the walls and balustrades. Here are to be seen all +sorts of curious little colored prints of the Madonna and Child of the +most ordinary quality, little bags, pewter medals, and crosses stamped +with the same figures and to be worn on the neck,--all offered at once +for the sum of one _baiocco_. Here also are framed pictures of the +Saints, of the Nativity, and, in a word, of all sorts of religious +subjects appertaining to the season. Little wax dolls, clad in +cotton-wool to represent the Saviour, and sheep made of the same +materials, are also sold by the basketful. Children and _contadine_ are +busy buying them, and there is a deafening roar all up and down the +steps of "_Mezzo baiocco, bello colorito, mezzo baiocco, la +Santissima Concezione Incoronata,"--"Diario Romano, Lunario Romano +Nuovo,"--"Ritratto colorito, medaglia e quadruccio, un baiocco tutti, +un baiocco tutti,"--"Bambinelli di cera, un baiocco_."[C] None of +the prices are higher than one _baiocco_, except to strangers,--and +generally several articles are held up together, enumerated, and +proffered with a loud voice for this sum. Meanwhile men, women, +children, priests, beggars, soldiers, and _villani_ are crowding up and +down, and we crowd with them. + +[Footnote C: "A half-_baiocco_, beautifully colored,--a half-_baiocco_, +the Holy Conception Crowned." "Roman Diary,--New Roman Almanac." +"Colored portrait, medal, and little picture, one _baiocco_, all." +"Little children in wax, one _baiocco_."] + +At last, ascending, we reach the door which faces towards the west. +We lift the great leathern curtain and push into the church. A faint +perfume of incense salutes the nostrils. The golden sunset bursts in as +the curtain sways forward, illuminates the mosaic floor, catches on the +rich golden ceiling, and flashes here and there over the crowd on some +brilliant costume or shaven head. All sorts of people are thronging +there,--some kneeling before the shrine of the Madonna, which gleams +with its hundreds of silver votive hearts, legs, and arms,--some +listening to the preaching,--some crowding round the chapel of the +_Presepio_,--old women, haggard and wrinkled, come tottering along with +their _scaldini_ of coals, drop down on their knees to pray, and, as you +pass, interpolate in their prayers a parenthesis of begging. The church +is not architecturally handsome; but it is eminently picturesque, with +its relics of centuries, its mosaic pulpits and floor, its frescoes of +Pinturicchio and Pesaro, its antique columns, its rich golden ceiling, +its Gothic mausoleum to the Savelli, and its medieval tombs. A dim, +dingy look is over all,--but it is the dimness of faded splendor; and +one cannot stand there, knowing the history of the church, its exceeding +antiquity, and the changes it has undergone since it was a Roman temple, +without a peculiar sense of interest and pleasure. + +It was here that Romulus, in the gray dawning of Rome, built the temple +of Jupiter Feretrius. Here the _spolia opima_ were deposited. Here the +triumphal processions of the Emperors and generals ended. Here the +victors paused before making their vows, until the message came from +the Mamertine Prisons below to announce that their noblest prisoner and +victim, while the clang of their triumph and his defeat rose ringing in +his ears as the procession ascended the steps, had expiated with death +the crime of being the enemy of Rome. Over these very steps,--nineteen +centuries ago, the first great Caesar climbed on his knees after his +first triumph. At their base, Rienzi, "last of the Roman tribunes," +fell. And, if the tradition of the Church is to be trusted, it was on +the site of the present high altar that Augustus erected the "_Ara +primogenito Dei_" to commemorate the Delphic prophecy of the coming of +our Saviour. Standing on a spot so thronged with memories, the dullest +imagination takes fire. The forms and scenes of the past rise from their +graves and pass before us, and the actual and visionary are mingled +together in strange poetic confusion. Truly, as Walpole says, "memory +sees more than our eyes in this country." + +And this is one great charm of Rome,--that it animates the dead figures +of its history. On the spot where they lived and acted, the Caesars +change from the manikins of books to living men; and Virgil, Horace, and +Cicero grow to be realities, as we walk down the Sacred Way and over +the very pavement they may once have trod. The conversations "De Claris +Oratoribus" and the "Tusculan Questions" seem like the talk of the last +generation, as we wander on the heights of Tusculum, or over the grounds +of that charming villa on the banks of the Liris, which the great Roman +orator so graphically describes in his treatise "De Legibus." The +landscape of Horace has not changed. Still in the winter you may see +the dazzling peak of the "_gelidus Algidus_" and "_ut alta stet +nive candidum Soracte_"; and wandering at Tivoli in the summer, his +description, + + "Domus Albuneae resonantis, + Et praeceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda + Mobililius pomaria rivis," + +is as true and fresh as if his words were of yesterday. Could one better +his compliment to any Roman Lalage of to-day than to call her "_dulce +ridentem_"? In all its losses, Rome has not lost the sweet smile of its +people. Would you like to know the modern rules for agriculture in Rome, +read the "Georgics"; there is so little to alter, that it is not worth +mentioning. So, too, at Rome, the Emperors become as familiar as the +Popes. Who does not know the curly-headed Marcus Aurelius, with his +lifted brow and projecting eyes, from the full, round beauty of his +youth to the more haggard look of his latest years? Are there any modern +portraits more familiar than the pensive, wedge-like head of Augustus, +with his sharp-cut lips and nose,--or the dull phiz of Hadrian, with his +hair combed down over his low forehead,--or the vain, perking face of +Lucius Verus, with his thin nose, low brow, and profusion of curls,--or +the brutal bull head of Caracalla,--or the bestial, bloated features of +Vitellius? + +These men, who were but lay-figures to us at school, mere pegs of names +to hang historic robes upon, thus interpreted by the living history of +their portraits, the incidental illustrations of the places where they +lived and moved and died, and the buildings and monuments they erected, +become like the men of yesterday. Art has made them our contemporaries. +They are as near to us as Pius VII. and Napoleon. I never drive out +of the old Nomentan Gate without remembering the ghastly flight of +Nero,--his recognition there by an old centurion,--his damp, drear +hiding-place underground, where, shuddering and quoting Greek, he waited +for his executioners,--and his subsequent terrible and cowardly death, +as narrated by Tacitus and Suetonius; and it seems nearer to me, more +vivid, and more actual, than the death of Rossi in the court of the +Cancelleria. I never drive by the Caesars' palaces, without recalling +the ghastly jest of Tiberius, when he sent for some fifteen of the +Senators at dead of night and commanded their presence; and when they, +trembling with fear, and expecting nothing less than that their heads +were all to fall, had been kept waiting for an hour, the door opened, +and he, nearly naked, appeared with a fiddle in his hand, and, after +fiddling and dancing to his quaking audience for an hour, dismissed them +to their homes uninjured. The air seems to keep a sort of spiritual +scent or trail of these old deeds, and to make them more real here than +elsewhere. The old horrors of the Amphitheatre can be made real to any +person of imaginative mind in the Colosseum. He has but to lend himself +to the contagion of the place, and he will see the circle of ten +thousand eager eyes thirsting for his blood, fill up the ruined benches +and arched tiers as of yore, and hear the savage murmur of human voices, +worse than the dull roar of the beasts below. The past still lives in +these old walls. It is in vain to say that the ghosts of history do not +haunt their ancient habitations. Places, as well as persons, have lives +and influences; and the horror of murder will not away from a spot. +Haunted by its crimes, oppressed and debilitated by the fierce excesses +of its Empire, Rome, silent, grave, and meditative, sighs over its past, +wrapped in the penitent robes of the Church. + +Besides, here one feels that the modern Romans are only the children of +their ancient fathers, with the same characteristics,--softened, indeed, +and worn down by time, just as the sharp traits of the old marbles have +worn away; but still the same people,--proud, passionate, lazy, jealous, +vindictive, easy, patient, and able. The Popes are but Church +pictures of the Emperors,--a different robe, but the same nature +beneath;--Alexander the VI. was but a second Tiberius--Pius the VII., +a modern Augustus. When I speak of the Roman people, I do not mean the +class of hangers-on upon the foreigners, but the Trasteverini and the +inhabitants of the provinces and mountains. No one can go through the +Trastevere when the people are roused, without feeling that they are the +same as those who listened to Marcus Antonius and Brutus, when the bier +of Caesar was brought into the streets,--and as those who fought with +the Colonna and stabbed Rienzi at the foot of the Capitol steps. The +Ciceruacchio of '48 was but an ancient Tribune of the People, in the +primitive sense of that title. I like, too, to parallel the anecdote of +Caius Marius, when, after his ruin, he concealed himself in the marshes, +and astonished his captors, who expected to find him weak of heart, by +the magnificent self-assertion of "I am Caius Marius," with the story +which is told of Stefano Colonna. After this great captain met with his +sad reverses, and, deprived of all his possessions, fled from Rome, an +attendant asked him,--"What fortress have you now?" He placed his hand +on his heart and answered,--"_Eccola!_" The same blood evidently ran in +the veins of both these men; and well might Petrarca call Colonna "a +phoenix risen from the ashes of the ancient Romans." + +But, somehow or other, I have wandered strangely from my subject. +_Scusi_,--but what has all this to do with the Bambino? + +The Santissimo Bambino is a very round-faced and expressionless doll, +carved, as the legend goes, from a tree on the Mount of Olives, by a +Franciscan pilgrim, and painted by Saint Luke while the pilgrim slept. +It is difficult to say which was the worse artist of the two, the +sculptor or the painter. But Saint Luke's pictures generally do not +give us a high idea of his skill as a painter. The legend is a +charming anachronism, unless, indeed, Saint Luke was only a spiritual +presence;--but, as the whole incident was miraculous, the greater the +anachronism, the greater the miracle. The Bambino, however he came into +existence, is invested, according to the assertions of priests and the +belief of the common people, with wonderful powers in curing the sick; +and his practice is as lucrative as any physician's in Rome. His aid is +in constant requisition in severe cases, and certain it is that a cure +not unfrequently follows upon his visit; but as the regular physicians +always cease their attendance upon his entrance, and blood-letting +and calomel are consequently intermitted, perhaps the cure is not so +miraculous as it might at first seem. He is borne by the priests in +state to his patients; and during the Triumvirate of '49, the Pope's +carriage was given to him and his attendants. I was assured by the +priest who exhibited him to me at the church, that, on one occasion, +having been stolen by some irreverent hand from his ordinary +abiding-place in one of the side-chapels, he returned alone, by himself, +at night, to console his guardians and to resume his functions. Great +honors are paid to him. He wears jewels which a Colonna might envy, +and not a square inch of his body is without a splendid gem. On festal +occasions, like Christmas, he wears a coronet as brilliant as the +triple crown of the Pope, and, lying in the Madonna's arms in the +representation of the Nativity, he is adored by the people until +Epiphany. Then, after the performance of Mass, a procession of priests, +accompanied by a band of music, makes the tour of the church and +proceeds to the chapel of the _Presepio_, where the bishop, with great +solemnity, removes him from his Mother's arms. At this moment, the music +bursts forth into a triumphant march, a jubilant strain over the birth +of Christ, and he is borne through the doors of the church to the great +steps. There the bishop elevates the Holy Bambino before the crowds +who throng the steps, and they fall upon their knees. This is thrice +repeated, and the wonderful image is then conveyed to its original +chapel, and the ceremony is over. + +The Eve of Epiphany, or Twelfth-Night, is to the children of Rome what +Christmas Eve is to us. It is then that the _Bifana_ comes with her +presents. This personage is neither merry nor male, like Santa Claus, +nor beautiful and childlike, like Christ-kindchen,--but is described as +a very tall, dark woman, ugly, and rather terrible, "_d' una fisionomia +piuttosto imponente_" who comes down the chimney, on the Eve of +Epiphany, armed with a long _canna_ and shaking a bell, to put +playthings into the stockings of the good children, and bags of ashes +into those of the bad. It is a night of fearful joy for all the little +ones. When they hear her bell ring, they shake in their sheets; for the +Bifana is used as a threat to the wilful, and their hope is tempered by +a wholesome apprehension. It is supposed to be a distorted image of the +visit of the kings and wise men with their presents at the Nativity, as +Santa Claus may be of the shepherds, and the Christ-kindchen of Christ +himself. However this may be, it is curious to observe the different +characters this superstition assumes among different nations and under +different influences. + +The great festival of the Bifana (a corruption, undoubtedly, of +_Epifania_) takes place on the Eve of Twelfth-Night, in the Piazza di +San Eustachio,--and a curious spectacle it is. The Piazza itself, (which +is situated in the centre of the city, just beyond the Pantheon,) and +all the adjacent streets, are lined with booths covered with every kind +of plaything for children. Most of these are of Roman make, very rudely +fashioned, and very cheap; but for those who have longer purses, there +are not wanting heaps of German and French toys. These booths are gayly +illuminated with rows of candles and the three-wicked brass _lucerne_ +of Rome; and, at intervals, painted posts are set into the pavement, +crowned with pans of grease, with a wisp of tow for wick, which blaze +and flare about. Besides these, numbers of torches carried about by hand +lend a wavering and picturesque light to the scene. By eight o'clock in +the evening, crowds begin to fill the Piazza and the adjacent streets. +Long before one arrives, the squeak of penny-trumpets is heard at +intervals; but in the Piazza itself the mirth is wild and furious, and +the din that salutes one's ears on entering is almost deafening. The +object of every one is to make as much noise as possible, and every kind +of instrument for this purpose is sold at the booths. There are +drums beating, _tamburelli_ thumping and jingling, pipes squeaking, +watchmen's-rattles clacking, penny-trumpets and tin horns shrilling, and +the sharpest whistles shrieking everywhere. Besides this, there are the +din of voices, screams of laughter, and the confused burr and buzz of +a great crowd. On all sides you are saluted by the strangest noises. +Instead of being spoken to, you are whistled at. Companies of people are +marching together in platoons, or piercing through the crowd in long +files, and dancing and blowing like mad on their instruments. It is a +perfect witches' Sabbath. Here, huge dolls dressed as Polichinello or +Pantaloon are borne about for sale,--or over the heads of the crowd +great black-faced jumping-jacks, lifted on a stick, twitch themselves in +fantastic fits,--or, what is more Roman than all, men carry about long +poles strung with rings of hundreds of _giambelli_, (a light cake, +called jumble in English,) which they scream for sale at a _mezzo +baiocco_ each. There is no alternative but to get a drum, whistle, or +trumpet, and join in the racket,--and to fill one's pockets with toys +for the children and absurd presents for one's older friends. The moment +you are once in for it, and making as much noise as you can, you begin +to relish the jest. The toys are very odd,--particularly the Roman +whistles;--some of these are made of pewter, with a little wheel that +whirls as you blow; others are of terra-cotta, very rudely modelled into +every shape of bird, beast, and human deformity, each with a whistle in +its head, breast, or tail, which it is no joke to hear, when blown close +to your ears by a stout pair of lungs. The scene is very picturesque. +Above, the dark vault of night, with its far stars, the blazing and +flaring of lights below, and the great, dark walls of the Sapienza and +Church looking grimly down upon the mirth. Everywhere in the crowd are +the glistening helmets of soldiers, who are mixing in the sport, and the +_chapeaux_ of white-strapped _gendarmes_, standing at intervals to keep +the peace. At about half-past eleven o'clock the theatres are emptied, +and the upper classes flock to the Piazza. I have never been there later +than half-past twelve, but the riotous fun still continued at that hour; +and, for a week afterwards, the squeak of whistles may be heard at +intervals in the streets. + +At the two periods of Christmas and Easter, the young Roman girls take +their first communion. The former, however, is generally preferred, as +it is a season of rejoicing in the Church, and the ceremonies are not so +sad as at Easter. In entering upon this religious phase of their life, +it is their custom to retire to a convent, and pass a week in prayer and +reciting the offices of the Church. During this period, no friend, not +even their parents, are allowed to visit them, and information as to +their health and condition is very reluctantly and sparingly given at +the door. In case of illness, the physician of the convent is called; +and even then neither parent is allowed to see them, except, perhaps, in +very severe cases. Of course, during their stay in the convent, every +exertion is made by the sisters to render a monastic life agreeable, and +to stimulate the religious sensibilities of the young communicant. The +pleasures of society and the world are decried, and the charms of +peace, devotion, and spiritual exercises eulogized, until the excited +imagination of the communicant leaves her no rest, before she has +returned to the convent and taken the veil as a nun. The happiness of +families is thus sometimes destroyed; and I knew one very united and +pleasant Roman family which in this way was sadly broken up. Two of +three sisters were so worked upon at their first communion, that the +prayers of family and friends proved unavailing to retain them in their +home. The more they were urged to remain, the more they desired to go, +and the parents, brothers, and remaining sister were forced to yield a +most reluctant consent. They retired into the convent and became nuns. +It was almost as if they had died. From that time forward, the home +was no longer a home. I saw them when they took the veil, and a sadder +spectacle was not easily to be seen. The girls were happy, but the +parents and family wretched, and the parting was very tearful and sad. +They do not seem since to have regretted the step they then took; +but regret would be unavailing--and even if they felt it, they could +scarcely show it. The occupation of the sisters in the monastery they +have joined is prayers, the offices of the Church, and, I believe, a +little instruction of poor children. But gossip among themselves, of the +pettiest kind, must make up for the want of wider worldly interests. In +such limited relations, little jealousies engender great hypocrisies; +a restricted horizon enlarges small objects. The repressed heart and +introverted mind, deprived of their natural scope, consume themselves in +self-consciousness, and duties easily degenerate into routine. We are +not all in all to ourselves; the world has claims upon us, which it is +cowardice to shrink from, and folly to deny. Self-forgetfulness is +a great virtue, and selfishness a great vice. After all, the best +religious service is worthy occupation. Large interests keep the heart +sound; and the best of prayers is the doing of a good act with a pure +purpose. + + "He prayeth best who loveth best + All things, both great and small; + For the dear God who loveth us, + He made and loveth all." + + + + +ABDEL-HASSAN. + + + The compensations of calamity are made apparent after long intervals of + time. + The sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all fact. + --EMERSON. + + + Abdel-Hassan o'er the Desert journeyed with his caravan,-- + Many a richly laden camel, many a faithful serving-man. + + And before the haughty master bowed alike the man and beast; + For the power of Abdel-Hassan was the wonder of the East. + + It was now the twelfth day's journey, but its closing did not bring + Abdel-Hassan and his servants to the long-expected spring. + + From the ancient line of travel they had wandered far away, + And at evening, faint and weary, on a waste of Desert lay. + + Fainting men and famished camels stretched them round the master's tent; + For the water-skins were empty, and the dates were nearly spent. + + All the night, as Abdel-Hassan on the Desert lay apart, + Nothing broke the lifeless silence but the throbbing of his heart; + + All the night he heard it beating, while his sleepless, anxious eyes + Watched the shining constellations wheeling onward through the skies. + + When the glowing orbs, receding, paled before the coming day, + Abdel-Hassan called his servants and devoutly knelt to pray. + + Then his words were few and solemn to the leader of his train:-- + "Thirty men and eighty camels, Haroun, in thy care remain. + + "Keep the beasts and guard the treasure till the needed aid I bring. + God is great! His name is mighty!--I, alone, will seek the spring." + + Mounted on his strongest camel, Abdel-Hassan rode away, + While his faithful followers watched him passing, in the blaze of day, + + Like a speck upon the Desert, like a moving human hand, + Where the fiery skies were sweeping down to meet the burning sand. + + Passed he then their far horizon, and beyond it rode alone;-- + They alone, with Arab patience, lay within its flaming zone. + + Day by day the servants waited, but the master never came,-- + Day by day, in feebler accents, called on Allah's holy name. + + One by one they killed the camels, loathing still the proffered food, + But in weakness or in frenzy slaked their burning thirst in blood. + + On unheeded heaps of treasure rested each unconscious head; + While, with pious care, the dying struggled to entomb the dead. + + So they perished. Gaunt with famine, still did Haroun's trusty hand + For his latest dead companion scoop sepulture in the sand. + + Then he died; and pious Nature, where he lay so gaunt and grim, + Moved by her divine compassion, did the same kind thing for him. + + Earth upon her burning bosom held him in his final rest, + While the hot winds of the Desert piled the sand above his breast.-- + + Onward in his fiery travel Abdel-Hassan held his way, + Yielding to the camel's instinct, halting not, by night or day, + + 'Till the faithful beast, exhausted in her fearful journey, fell, + With her eye upon the palm-trees rising o'er the lonely well: + + With a faint, convulsive struggle, and a feeble moan, she died, + While her still surviving master lay unconscious by her side. + + So he lay until the evening, when a passing caravan + From the dead incumbering camel brought to life the dying man. + + Slowly murmured Abdel-Hassan, as they bathed his fainting head, + "All is lost, for all have perished!--they are numbered with the dead! + + "I, who had such power and treasure but a single moon ago, + Now my life and poor subsistence to a stranger's bounty owe. + + "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! + Stripped of pride and power and substance, He hath left me faith + and life."-- + + Sixty years had Abdel-Hassan, since the stranger's friendly hand + Saved him from the burning Desert, lived and prospered in the land; + + And his life of peaceful labor, in its pure and simple ways, + For his loss fourfold returned him, and a mighty length of days. + + Sixty years of faith and patience gave him wisdom's mural crown; + Sons and daughters brought him honor with his riches and renown. + + Men beheld his reverend aspect, and revered his blameless name; + And in peace he dwelt with strangers, in the fulness of his fame. + + But the heart of Abdel-Hassan yearned, as yearns the heart of man, + Still to die among his kindred, ending life where it began. + + So he summoned all his household, and he gave the brief command,-- + "Go and gather all our substance;--we depart from out the land." + + Then they journeyed to the Desert with a great and numerous train, + To his old nomadic instinct trusting life and wealth again. + + It was now the sixth day's journey, when they met the moving sand, + On the great wind of the Desert, driving o'er that arid land; + + And the air was red and fervid with the Simoom's fiery breath;-- + None could see his nearest fellow in the stifling blast of death. + + Blinded men from prostrate camels piled the stores to windward round, + And within the barrier herded, on the hot, unstable ground. + + Two whole days the great wind lasted, when the living of the train + From the hot drifts dug the camels and resumed their way again. + + But the lines of care grew deeper on the master's swarthy cheek, + While around the weakest fainted and the strongest waxéd weak; + + And the water-skins were empty, and a silent murmur ran + From the faint, bewildered servants through the straggling caravan:-- + + "Let the land we left be blessed!--that to which we go, accurst!-- + From our pleasant wells of water came we here to die of thirst?" + + But the master stilled the murmur with his steadfast, quiet eye:-- + "God is great," he said, devoutly,--"when _He_ wills it, we shall die." + + As he spake, he swept the Desert with his vision clear and calm, + And along the far horizon saw the green crest of the palm. + + Man and beast, with weak steps quickened, hasted to the lonely well, + And around it, faint and panting, in a grateful tumult fell. + + Many days they stayed and rested, and amidst his fervent prayer + Abdel-Hassan pondered deeply that strange bond which held him there. + + Then there came an aged stranger, journeying with his caravan; + And when each had each saluted, Abdel-Hassan thus began:-- + + "Knowest thou this well of water? lies it on the travelled ways?" + And he answered,--"From the highway thou art distant many days. + + "Where thou seest this well of water, where these thorns and + palm-trees stand, + Once the Desert swept unbroken in a waste of burning sand; + + "There was neither life nor herbage, not a drop of water lay, + All along the arid valley where thou seest this well to-day. + + "Sixty years have wrought their changes since a man of wealth + and pride, + With his servants and his camels, here, amidst his riches, died. + + "As we journeyed o'er the Desert, dead beneath the blazing sky, + Here I saw them, beasts and masters, in a common burial lie; + + "Thirty men and eighty camels did the shrouding sand infold; + And we gathered up their treasure, spices, precious stones, and gold; + + "Then we heaped the sand above them, and, beneath the burning sun, + With a friendly care we finished what the winds had well begun. + + "Still I hold that master's treasure, and his record, and his name; + Long I waited for his kindred, but no kindred ever came. + + "Time, who beareth all things onward, hither bore our steps again, + When around this spot were scattered whitened bones of beasts and men; + + "And from out the heaving hillocks of the mingled sand and mould + Lo! the little palms were springing, which to-day are great and old. + + "From the shrubs we held the camels; for I felt that life of man, + Breaking to new forms of being, through that tender herbage ran. + + "In the graves of men and camels long the dates unheeded lay, + Till their germs of life commanded larger life from that decay; + + "And the falling dews, arrested, nourished every tender shoot, + While beneath, the hidden moisture gathered to each wandering root. + + "So they grew; and I have watched them, as we journeyed, year by year; + And we digged this well beneath them, where thou seest it, fresh and + clear. + + "Thus from waste and loss and sorrow still are joy and beauty born, + Like the fruitage of these palm-trees and the blossom of the thorn; + + "Life from death, and good from evil!--from that buried caravan + Springs the life to save the living, many a weak, despairing man." + + As he ended, Abdel-Hassan, quivering through his aged frame, + Asked, in accents slow and broken, "Knowest thou that master's name?" + + "He was known as Abdel-Hassan, famed for wealth and power and pride; + But the proud have often fallen, and, as he, the great have died!" + + Then, upon the ground before them, prostrate Abdel-Hassan fell, + With his aged hands extended, trembling, to the lonely well,-- + + And the sacred soil beneath him cast upon his hoary head,-- + Named the servants and the camels,--summoned Haroun from the dead,-- + + Clutched the unconscious palms around him, as if they were living men,-- + And before him, in their order, rose his buried train again. + + Moved by pity, spake the stranger, bending o'er him in his grief:-- + "What affects the man of sorrow? Speak,--for speaking is relief." + + Then he answered, rising slowly to that aged stranger's knee,-- + "Thou beholdest Abdel-Hassan! They were mine, and I am he!" + + Wondering, stood they all around him, and a reverent silence kept, + While, amidst them, Abdel-Hassan lifted up his voice and wept. + + Joy and grief, and faith and triumph, mingled in his flowing tears; + Refluent on his patient spirit rolled the tide of sixty years. + + As the past and present blended, lo! his larger vision saw, + In his own life's compensation, Nature's universal law. + + "God is good, O reverend stranger! He hath taught me of His ways, + By this great and crowning lesson, in the evening of my days. + + "Keep the treasure,--I have plenty,--and am richer that I see + Life ascend, through change and evil, to that perfect life to be,-- + + "In each woe a blessing folded, from all loss a greater gain, + Joy and hope from fear and sorrow, rest and peace from toil and pain. + + "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! + For He bringeth Good from Evil, and from Death commandeth Life!" + + + + +ABOUT SPIRES. + + +When the children of Shem said one to another at Babel,--"Go to, let us +build us a city and a tower whose top shall reach unto heaven," they +typified a remarkable trait of the human mind,--a desire for a tangible +and material exponent of itself in its most heroic moods. In the earlier +ages of the world, when humanity, as it were, was becoming conscious of +itself and its godlike energies, it seems as if this desire could find +no nobler expression than in towers. The same spirit of enterprise which +in our own day stretches forth inquiring hands into unexplored realms of +physical and intellectual being, and acknowledges in the spoils of such +search its noblest and proudest attainments, in more primeval times +appears to have been content with the actual and visible invasion of +high building into that sky which to them was the great type of the +unknown and mysterious. + +The birth of these structures was not of the practical necessities of +life, but of that fond desire of the soul which has ever haunted +mankind with intimations of immortality. Towers thus became the boldest +imaginable symbols of energy and power. And when, in the course of time, +they became exigencies of society, and familiarized by the idea of +usefulness, even then they could not but be recognized as expressions of +the more heroic elements of human nature. + +Founded in superabundant massiveness, and built in prodigality of +strength, the tower seems to defy the elements and to outlive tradition. +Old age restores it to more than its primeval significance; and when +humbler erections have passed away and crumbled in ruins, it appears +once more to rise above the customary uses of men, and to become a +companion for tempests and clouds. Dismantled, deserted, and bearing, + + "Inscribed upon its visionary sides, + This history of many a winter's storm, + And obscure record of the path of fire," + +Nature lays claim to it, and with moss and ivy and eld, with weeds and +flowers, she takes it to her bosom. + + "Dying insensibly away + From human thoughts and purposes," + +we at length associate it with no achievements of man, and its masonry +becomes venerable to us, as shaped by mysterious beings,--Ghouls or +Titans,--no fellow-workers of ours. + +Let us for a while forget the tedious realisms around us, and eat of the +dreamy Lotos. Let us look eastward over the wide waters, and behold, +along the horizon, the "dim rich cities" printing themselves against the +morning. Let us listen to their mellow chimes that come faintly to us, +and bless those deep-toned utterances so full of the tenderness of +ancient days and the melody of gray traditions. Let us bless them; for, +like lyres of Amphion, at their sound arose the bell-bearing tower, +which made cities beautiful and their people happy. O St. Chrysostom! +there were other golden mouths than thine that preached by the +Bosphorus, and their pulpits were the airy chambers of the first +Christian towers. Where the muezzin every hour from the lofty minaret +now calls the faithful Mahometan to prayer, were first heard those matin +and vesper chimes which since then throughout Catholic Europe have +accompanied the rising and the setting of the sun. Thus the Christian +tower immediately becomes associated with the tenderest and most +poetical ideas of monastic and pastoral religion. It seemed emulous from +the beginning to be the first to catch the beams of morning, and, like +the statue of Memnon, to respond to the golden touch by sounds of music. +Then the fervid heart of Italy took fire, and from her bosom uprose over +all her cities the beautiful campanile. Still and solemn it stood on +the plains of Lombardy, like a sentinel on the outskirts of our faith, +whispering to the vast of space that all was well. Over the lagunes of +Venice the weary toil of two centuries piled up the tower of St. Mark. +Ravenna, with barbaric pride, built her round-cinctured towers to the +glory of the Exarchate. Rome followed with her square campaniles, whose +arcaded chambers looked down on a hundred cloisters. Then there were +La Ghirlandina at Modena, Il Torazzo at Cremona, Torre della Mangia at +Siena, the Garisenda at Bologna, the Leaning Tower at Pisa. Everywhere +they sought the skies with emulous heights, and ere long they arose in +such number as to give a distinctive aspect to the Christian city, and +to warn the traveller from afar that he approached walls within which +religion was a pride and a power. Who has not admired the Giotto +Campanile, called "the Beautiful," at Florence? And who has not wondered +at the splendor of her citizens, whose command was, "to construct an +edifice whose magnificence should be beyond the conception even of +the _cognoscenti_, and whose height and quality of workmanship should +surpass all that has been built in any style, in Greece or Rome, even at +the most florid period of their power!" + +But the spiritualization and glory of the tower are yet wanting. There +is a very human expression about it, as it stands in the midst of +those glimmering lands, with its haughty summit commanding far-distant +plains,-- + + "Far as the wild swan wings, to where the sky + Dips down to sea and sands,"-- + +a very human expression of scornful pride and imperious dominion. We +shall see how it outgrew its mere humanities and became an expression +of immortal aspirations, a symbol of our relationship with ethereal +existences. + +These Italian campaniles had either flat summits, or were crowned with a +low, unimportant roof. But as they approached the North of Lombardy, and +found their way into Germany, France, and Britain, these roofs, through +the necessities of climate, became steeper and sharper. Many of the +little gray mountain-chapels in the South of Switzerland still lift up +these pointed towers amid the hamlets of the valley, having gathered +in the hardy flocks at eventide for seven or eight centuries. The same +early modifications may yet be seen on the banks of the Rhine, where the +conical, stork-haunted caps of the round towers are so picturesquely +associated with that legendary scenery. Those dear, time-worn, rugged, +red-tiled roofs, with their peaks coming in just where they are +needed,--what could the artist do without them? Then the same +necessities made the early French and Norman builders push up into the +air those gaunt, quaint old camelbacks, with spindles or pinnacles +astride. You cannot but love them for their strangeness and the surprise +they make against the quiet sky. In Britain, too, you might have beheld +this tendency, where the lordly curfew quenched the lights in castle and +cot from beneath a very extinguisher of a roof. Now, as, in the natural +growth of the human mind, the heart became more and more impregnated +with the beauty of holiness, and the prayers of men ascended with +somewhat of purer aspiration to heaven, so did they build their +tower-roofs higher and higher into the air, till at length the spire was +born. In one of those quaint antique towers of Normandy, Coutances, it +was first fully developed; and it is curious to see how in this +instance its roof-origin was still remembered: for it has tall, gabled +garret-windows rising from its base, connected by rude cross-bars to the +slope of the spire; and it has a kind of scaly mail, Ruskin says, which +is nothing more than the copying in stone of the common wooden shingles +of the house-roof. Now the proud Italian architects, disdainful though +they were of the arts of the rude Northern builders, could not but admit +the expressiveness of the pointed roof; so they placed a form of it on +some of their campaniles, as on those of Venice and Cremona, in both +these instances making it a third of the whole height. But the spire, +though an effective, was as yet an unambitious structure,--scarcely more +than an exaltation or an apotheosis of the roof. For a long time it +continued to be merely a supplementary addition in wood to the solid +masonry of the tower, and in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth +centuries was often added to substructures of the tenth, eleventh, and +twelfth. + +Surely it is very dull in us, out of our present enlightenment, to +continue to distinguish the mediaeval times as the _Dark_ Ages, as if +they were glimmering and ghostly, and men groped about in them blindly, +living in a sort of dusky romance of feudality. Did you ever study De +la Roche's incarnation of Mediaeval Art in his Hemicycle,--that long +saintly robe with its still and serious folds, that fair dreamy face, +those upturned eyes, "the homes of silent prayer," the contemplative +repose? It is truly an exquisite idealization; yet there is something +wanting. I believe the piety of those days was rather a passion than a +sentiment. Their "beauty of holiness" was rather an active emotional +impulse than a passive spiritualization, and was incomplete without a +material expression, a tangible demonstration of itself. Like the fabled +Narcissus, it yearned for its own image. Hence the joy and luxury of the +ecclesiastical buildings of that period. They were the very blossoming +of the tree of knowledge. This was, indeed, an unenlightened, perhaps +a superstitious principle of worship; but it was enthusiastic, +self-sacrificing, and chivalrous. It, indeed, sent the stylite to his +pillar, the hermit to the wilderness, the ascetic to the scourge and +hair-cloth shirt; but it also led the warrior to the Holy Land, the +beggar to the castle-hearth, and the workman to the building of the +House of God. It is no wonder that a religion born thus in childlike +fervor, and seeking expression in outward signs, built upward. It is +no wonder that out of the prosaic elements of the roof it made the +spiritual essence of the spire. If we look through the whole range of +architectural forms in classic or mediaeval times, we shall find no one +so indicative of any human emotion as this simple outline is of the +highest of all emotions,--prayer. It is a significant fact, that the +sentiment of aspiration is nowhere hinted at in Classic Art, and we look +in vain for it in all pagan architectures. This is not surprising. +The worshippers who built in those schools demonstrated there all the +noblest ideas they were capable of,--intellectual beauty, dignity, +power, truth, chastity, courage, and all the other virtues cherished in +their theologies; but their personal relations with any higher sphere of +existence, vague and undefined as they were, called for no expression in +their temples, and obtained none. + +The pyramidal form has ever possessed peculiar fascinations for men, +and, from its simplicity, grandeur, and power, has been used in all ages +with innumerable modifications in those structures whose object was to +impress and overawe,--as in the pyramids of Egypt, the temples of India +and Mexico, and in all the earliest funereal monuments. It involved a +rude symbolism, which recommended itself to the barbarous childhood +of nations. But it was not until the pyramid was sharpened and +spiritualized into the spire that it gained its completest triumph over +the secret emotions of men. The Egyptians made the nearest approach +to it in the obelisk. That mysterious people felt very keenly the +suggestiveness of the pyramidal form, and refined the language of +its sentiment into some very beautiful expressions. Yet between the +mausoleums of Gizeh and the hieroglyphic shafts of Luxor and Karnac +there existed a modification, the intensity of whose meaning they +were not prepared to understand. Neither their civilization nor their +religion required such an exponent; so they exhausted themselves with +their mountainous bulks of stone and their pictured monoliths. + +We know not how the first view of a Christian spire would affect the +mind of an alien; but so far as our own experiences are concerned, +though perhaps familiar only with the lowliest and most unpretending of +its kind, we are conscious that it deeply impressed even the "unsunned +temper" of our childhood. The wisest among us may not be able to define +precisely these impressions, or trace to their source the admiration +and satisfaction it occasions, yet all are ready to acknowledge its +beautiful fitness to adorn and glorify the Christian temple. But to the +thoughtful mind how suggestive it is of pleasant imagery! It is "the +silent finger" that points to heaven; it is an upward aspiration of the +soul; a prayer from the depths of a troubled heart; a _suspirium de +profundis;_ a hymn of thanksgiving; a pure life, throwing of the worldly +and approaching the ethereal; a finite mind searching, till lost in the +vastness of the unknown and unapproachable; a beautiful attempt; a +voice of praise sent up from the earth, till, like the soaring lark, it +"becomes a sightless song." Indeed, our unbidden thoughts, that wild-ivy +of the mind, are trained upward by the spire, till it is hung round with +the tenderest associations and recollections of all that is sweet and +softening in our natures. Thus, when the painter has represented on his +canvas some wild phase of scenery, where the gadding vine, the tangled +underwood, the troubled brook, the black, frowning rock, the untamed +savage growth of the forest, + + "Old plash of rains and refuse patched with moss," + +impress us with awe, and a sad, homeless feeling, as if we were lost +children, how eloquent is that last touch of his pencil that shows us +a simple spire peeping over the tree-tops! How it comforts us! How it +brings us home again, and bestows an air + + "Of sweet civility on rustic wilds"! + +But even if we were not inclined to be sentimental on the subject, even +if base utilities had crowded out from our hearts the blessed capacity +of shedding rosy light on things about us, the coldest esteem could not +but ripen into affection, when we reflected that the spire never adorned +the shrine of a pagan god, never glorified the mosque of a false +prophet, never, in purity, arose from any unconsecrated ground; but +when, at last, the Church of Christ felt the "beauty of holiness," then +it developed out of that beauty and pointed the way to God. It exhaled +from the growing perfection of the Church, as fragrance from an opening +flower. It is, therefore, peculiarly holy. It is a monitor of especial +grace. "It marshals us the way that we are going," like the visionary +dagger of Macbeth; but the knell that sounds beneath it summons only to +heaven. + +Practically, it is utterly useless; and this is its honor and its +unspeakable dignity. We cannot even climb it, as we could a tower; +for it is nearly as unapproachable as the Oracle of God, save to the +innocent birds, who love to flock and wheel about it in the sunshine, +and build their nests in its "coignes of vantage," or, in the +night-time, to the troops of stars which touch it in their journey +through the skies. It is as beautifully idle as the lilies of the field; +and yet its expressiveness touches us so nearly, the propriety of its +sentiment is so striking, that, when the great test question of this +living age is applied to it, and we are asked, What is its use? what is +it good for? the heart is shocked at the impiety of the question, and +the feelings revolt, as against an insult. Upon the arches of Canterbury +Minster is carved, + + NON * NOBIS * DOMINE * NON * NOBIS * + SED * NOMINI * TVO * DA * GLORIAM * + +Nothing can be simpler than the composition of the pure spire. The +aesthetics of its development and growth are characteristically natural +and apparent. They are like the history of a flower from bud to bloom +under a warm sun. Let us become botanists of Art for a while, and +analyze those flowers of worship, as they opened "in that first garden +of their simpleness." + +Considering the growth of the spire from the tower-roof, it might +naturally be supposed that the earliest forms would be square or round, +in plan. But no sooner had the roof passed into this new sphere of +existence, than the fine intelligence of the builders perceived that it +needed refinement. They saw that in a square spire there was so coarse a +distinction between the tapering mass of light and the tapering mass +of shadow, that the delicacy and lightness necessary to express the +sentiment they desired to convey did not exist in the new feature;--in +a round spire, on the other hand, they found that this distinction of +light and shade was too little marked; it was vapid and effeminate, and +quite without that delicious crispiness of effect which they at once +obtained by cutting off the corners of the square spire, and reducing it +to an octagon. With very rare exceptions, as in the southwest spire of +Chartres Cathedral, this form was always used. Now it will be seen that +a difficulty arises in the beginning, how to unite the octagon of the +spire with the square of the tower. There are four triangular spaces at +the summit of the tower left uncovered by the superstructure; and how +best to treat these, simple as the task may seem, constitutes what may +be called the touchstone of architectural genius in spire-building. +There are several general ways of effecting this, each of them subject +to such modifications, in individual instances, as to give them an +ever-varying character. + +Perhaps the earliest method was simply to occupy those triangular spaces +with pyramidal masses of masonry, sloping back against the adjacent +faces of the tower,--an expedient which Nature herself might have +suggested in the first snow-storm. Then they boldly cut the Gordian knot +by shaving off the corners of the tower at the top, thus creating there +an octagonal platform, to which the spire would exactly correspond. +Still oftener they chamfered the spire upwards from the corners of the +tower: in other words, they placed, as it were, a square spire on +their tower, occupying the whole of its summit, and then obtained the +necessary octangularity by shaving off the angles of the spire from the +apex to a certain point near the base, where the cutting was continued +obliquely to the corners of the tower. The latest method was to build +pinnacles on the triangular territory. In such cases the spire usually +stood wholly within the outer boundaries, and parapets assisted to +conceal the first springing of the spire. + +The first of these methods is usually considered the most perfect and +beautiful, on account of its simplicity and candor. This is called the +broach; and it is the only form thus far spoken of wherein the tapering +surfaces rise directly from the tower-cornice, without mutilating the +tower or violating the pure outlines of the spire. The heavenward +aspiration, as it were, ascends without effort from the solidity of the +tower. It seems to typify a certain fitness and adaptability to heavenly +things even in the gross and earthly nature of man. One cannot fail to +admire its unaffected dignity, its harmonious balance, its graceful +proportions. + +It would be impossible within the limits of this article to give any +idea of the wonderful diversity of treatment these simple generic forms +received at the hands of the early builders. The changes of combination, +proportion, and ornamentation were endless. For the mediaeval spirit was +eminently earnest in its labor, and would not be content with copying an +old shape merely because it was a good shape. It would not be satisfied +with the cold repetition of a written litany of architectural forms; but +its ardent piety, its thoughtful zeal, the _life_ of its love, demanded +an ever-varying expression in these visible prayers. Emerson himself +might find nought to censure there, in the way of undue conformities and +consistencies. Its language was written with the infinite alphabet of +Nature. + +We are speaking now especially of England; and we, her children, may +well be proud that these divine enthusiasms of antiquity, which we +thought so quaint, so rare, so far away from us, nowhere else found +fairer demonstrations. The English spires bear especial witness to the +zeal and aspiration of their builders. They belted them with bands of +ornament, cut at first in imitation of tiles, and afterwards beautifully +panelled with foliations. Moulded ribs began to run up the angles of +the spires, and, when they met at the summit, would exultingly curl +themselves together in the most precious cruciforms. Quaint spire-lights +began to appear. Sometimes curious dormers would project from alternate +sides; and the very ribs, as if, in this spring-time of Art, they felt, +quickening along their lengths, the mysterious movements of a new life, +sprouted out here and there with knots of leafage, timidly at first, and +then with all the wealth and profusion of the harvest. The same impulse +wreathed the crowning cross with a thousand midsummer fancies, till the +circle of Eternity, or the triangle of Trinity, which often mingled +with its arms, scarcely knew itself. The pinnacles, too, blossomed into +crockets and bud-like finials, and began to gather more thickly about +the roots of the spire, and from them often leaped flying-buttresses +against it. During this time the spire itself was growing more and more +acute, its lines becoming more and more eloquent. After the fourteenth +century, the tower began to be crowned with intricate panelled tracery +of parapets and battlements, from behind which the spire, an entirely +separate structure, shot up into the sky. In this, the period of the +perpendicular style, pinnacles, purfled to the last degree, crowded +about the base of the spire, reminding one of the admiring throng +gathered about the base of some old picture of the Ascension. But there +is another English form which perhaps conveys this sentiment even more +impressively: We refer to that whose prototype exists in the steeple of +the Church of St. Nicholas at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This, however, has +four turrets, one on each angle, from which, with great lightness, leap +towards each other four grand flying-buttresses, which join hands over +an empty void and hold in the air a lantern and spirolet of great +elegance. This is a very bold piece of construction. It has been +imitated at St. Giles's, Edinburgh, at Linlithgow, in the college +tower of Aberdeen, and it is especially made known to the world by +Sir Christopher Wren's famous use of it in the steeple of St. +Dunstan's-in-the-East, London. + +The most famous spires of England and Normandy are St. Peter's at Caen, +a very early specimen, St. Michael's at Coventry, Louth, that of +the parochial church of Boston in Lincolnshire, that of Chichester +Cathedral, the three that rise from the famous Lichfield Cathedral, +and finally and especially the magnificent spire over the cross of +Salisbury. In the judgment of most English connoisseurs, this is the +finest in the world. It was probably erected during the reign of Edward +III., a very florid period for architecture. It is the highest in +England, its summit rising four hundred and four feet from the pavement +of the church beneath. It is one of the earliest erected in stone, and +is remarkable for skilful construction, the masonry in no part being +more than seven inches thick. This spire is belted with three broad +bands of panelled tracery, and there are eight pinnacles at its base, +two on each corner of the tower. The ribs are fretted throughout the +whole height with elegant crockets, thus imparting to the sky-line an +appearance similar to the gusty spray on the borders of a rain-cloud. An +admirer has said of it, "It seems as though it had drawn down the very +angels to work over its grand and feeling simplicity the gems and +embroidery of Paradise itself!" England once boasted the loftiest spire +in the world, that of old St. Paul's, London, whose summit, five hundred +and twenty feet from the ground, seemed to sail among the highest +clouds; but the great fire of 1666 destroyed it, and Sir Christopher's +stately metropolitan dome now rises in its place. + +One could believe in the "merrie" days of Old England, were her abundant +spires their only evidence. The ardent zeal that kindled so many +thousand answering beacons throughout the length and breadth of the land +is the best proof of that concord of souls which is true happiness. We +know that the decision of the Council of Clermont about the Crusades was +believed to have been instantly known through Christendom, and that the +great cry, _God willeth it!_ which shook the council-roof, was echoed +from hill to hill, and at once struck awe and astonishment to the hearts +of remotest lands. So in the birthplaces of our Pilgrim fathers, over +these cherished spots, + + "Where the kneeling hamlets drained + The chalice of the grapes of God," + +arose the "star y-pointing" spire, like a voice of adoration; and then +another would be raised in unison in some neighboring village, where +they could see and communicate with each other in their silent language; +and yet another close by among the hills; and presently, in full view +from its summit, twenty more, perhaps,--till the good tidings were known +through the whole country, and from hamlet to hamlet, over the streams +and tree-tops, was thus echoed the great _Te Deum_ of the land. For it +was said among the people, in that antique spirit of worship, as Milton +exhorted the birds in his Hymn of Thanksgiving,-- + + "Join voices, all ye living souls! ye _spires_, + That singing up to heaven's gate ascend, + Bear on your wings and in your notes His praise!" + +It is a beautiful proof of the spirit of sacrifice which actuated the +Masonic builder of the Middle Ages, that his fairest and most precious +works were not confined to the great metropolitan churches and +cathedrals, where they could be seen of men, but were frequently found +in quiet and secluded villages, nestled among pastoral solitudes, far +away from the gaze and admiration of the world. Though the spire of +Salisbury was, perhaps, an epic in Masonic poetry, yet in humble hamlets +of England, beyond her most distant hills, and amid many an unnamed +"sunny spot of greenery," were idyls sung no less exquisite than this. +Many a village-spire, of conception no less beautiful, arose above the +tree-tops among the most untrodden ways. All day long its shadow lingers +in the quiet churchyard, and points among the humble graves, as if, over +this dial of human life, it loved to preach silent homilies on "the +passing away," even to the simplest poor. It must be inexpressibly +touching to meet with these beautiful forms in the lonely wilderness, +where the ivy alone, as it throws its loving arms around them, appears +to recognize their grace and all their tender significance. It is like +the chance discovery of a good deed done in the darkness, or like a +pure life spent in the sweet and serious retirement of a little hamlet, +pointing the way to heaven for its scanty flock of cottagers. + +It was the custom in those days, during the celebration of Mass, at the +moment when the Host was raised, to ring a peculiar bell in the tower, +in order that those not gathered beneath the consecrated roof might be +made aware far and wide of the awful ceremony, and be reminded to offer +up their devotion in unison. And we remember what Izaak Walton said of +quaint George Herbert,--how "some of the meaner sort of his parish did +so love and reverence Mr. Herbert, that they would let their plough rest +when his saints'-bell rung to prayer, that they might also offer their +devotion to God with him, and would then return back contented to their +plough." Now it seems to us that the spire is a perpetual elevation +of the Host, a never-ending lifting-up of the Symbol of Redemption, a +consecrating presence to field and cottage, hillside and highway, ever +ready to bless the accidental glance of wayfarer or laborer, and to make +in the desert of his daily life a momentary oasis of sweet and hallowed +thought. Its peaceful influence extends over the whole landscape and +pierces to its remotest corners. + + "A gentler life spreads round the holy spires; + Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires, + And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea." + +It may be thought that St. Peter's cock, which so often answers the +sunbeams from the spindly spire, and kindles and glitters there like a +star, is rather empty of emblematic significance and soul-language. But +what saith old Bishop Durandus?--"The cock at the summit of the church +is a type of the preacher. For the cock, ever watchful, even in the +depth of night, giveth notice how the hours pass, waketh the sleepers, +predicteth the approach of day,--but first exciteth himself to crow by +striking his sides with his wings. There is a mystery conveyed in each +of these particulars: the night is the world; the sleepers are the +children of this world, who are asleep in their sins; the cock is the +preacher who preacheth boldly, and exciteth the sleepers to cast away +the works of darkness, exclaiming, Woe to them that sleep! Awake, thou +that sleepest! and then foretell the approach of day, when they speak +of the Day of Judgment and the glory that shall be revealed, and, like +prudent messengers, before they teach others, arouse themselves from the +sleep of sin by mortifying their bodies; and as the weather-cock faces +the wind, they turn themselves boldly to meet the rebellious by threats +and arguments." + +But it was on the Continent, especially in France, the Low Countries, +and Germany, that the Gothic flower opened in fullest perfection; and it +is here that we find the loftiest and most luxurious spire-forms. They +were always the last part of the church completed, the finishing-touch, +the last that was needed to perfection. The progress of the building +of a cathedral thus embodied a beautiful symbolism. In most cases, +the choir, or east end, the holiest part of the church, was the first +erected, in order to sanctify and protect the high altar; and then, as +the treasures of the church flowed in, after the expiration of years or +centuries, the builders, tutored by a legendary science, and harmonized +by a wonderful feeling of brotherhood, in the same spirit, perfected the +designs of their predecessors, by leading out westward the long naves +and attendant aisles, completing northward and southward the transepts, +adding a chapel here and a porch there, glorifying the western front +with the touches of divine genius; and when at last every niche was +occupied with its statue of angel, saint, or pious benefactor, and the +holy choir, with its apsis, had been re-adorned with the accumulated art +of centuries, and glowed with the iris-light from painted windows,--when +the mural monuments of bishops, warriors, and kings had thickened +beneath the consecrated roof, and the whole structure had been hallowed +by the prayers and chantings of generations,--then, at last, over the +ancient tower arose the lofty spire; as if an angelic messenger had +spread his wings at its base and mounted upward to heaven, shouting +out the glad tidings of the completion of the House of God, and, as he +arose, the voice grew fainter and fainter, till at length it melted into +the sky! + +The finest spires of Europe were erected as late as the fourteenth, +fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, upon towers prepared for their +reception, usually, in much earlier times. This confidence of the old +builders in the final completion of their structures is remarkable. They +drew without stint on the piety of after ages,--a resource which has not +unfrequently proved too feeble to realize their generous expectations. +There are few cities in Europe which do not bear sad marks of this +misplaced confidence. This is especially witnessed in the unfinished +steeples. And, indeed, when we find that not only one, but two, three, +four, or even five spires were sometimes required to flame upward from +the same building, as in Caen Cathedral, we do not wonder that the +kindling spark is often wanting. It would seem as if another fire must +come down from heaven, as of old it did upon the first offering of Moses +and Aaron, to inflame these censers, rich in frankincense and naphtha. + +Now let us see what were the distinguishing attributes of the +Continental spires. We know not why it was, but in the gray old towns +of Belgium and the Low Countries there existed such exuberance of +imagination, such an unbounded luxuriousness of conception, as created +more images of Gothic quaintness and intricacy than elsewhere can be +seen. If any architecture ever expressed the average of human thought, +that of these towns is especially eloquent in its indications that their +inhabitants were very happy and contented. Look at a print of any old +Belgian town or street, and you will at once see our meaning. What a +joyous upspringing of pinnacles and pointed roofs and spires! of no more +earthly use, indeed, than so much pleasant laughter. There is no tower +without its spire, no turret or gable without its pinnacle, no oriel +without its pointed roof, no dormer without some such playful leaping +up into the air. Every salient point attacks the sky with its long iron +spindle, wrought with strange device and bearing a hospitable cup where +the bird makes his nest; and every spindle sings and shrieks with a +shifting vane,--so that the wind never sweeps idly over a Belgian town. +This innocent and happy people did not frown through the ages from grim +battlements, and awe posterity with stern and massive walls. But they +loved old childlike associations and fireside tales. They loved to build +curious fountains in commemoration of pleasant legends. They loved, too, +the huge, delicious-toned bells of their minster-towers, and the sweet +changes of melodious, never-ceasing chimes. They carved their Lares +and Penates on their house-fronts very curiously, with sun-dials and +hatchments, sacred texts and legends of hospitality. The narrow streets +of Ghent, Louvain, Liege, Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres, Bruges are thus full +of household memories and saintly traditions. So it is not strange that +a people whose daily hours were counted out with the music of belfries +were fond of fretting their towers with workmanship so precious and +delicate that it has been called "the petrifaction of music." + +But before we proceed to tell in how florid a manner the Low Countries +interpreted the simpler forms of spires, we shall describe generically +in what manner not only they, but all the other European kingdoms, were +indebted to the old Rhineland towns for some of these forms. When the +bell-tower, in about the seventh or eighth century, began to be used in +Germany, it at once received certain very important modifications on the +earlier Italian campanile. The upper terminations of these latter +were horizontal, on account of their flat roofs. Now in more northern +climates, where the snow falls, these flat roofs would be unsafe and +inconvenient. So we find that the first church-towers that arose in such +Rhenish places as Oberwesel, Gelnhausen, Bacharach, Coblentz, Cologne, +Bingen, "sweet Bingen on the Rhine," no longer ended in these horizontal +lines, but arose in pointed shapes. Indeed, the Germans, who were great +rivals of the Italians in those days, not only in matters pertaining to +architecture, but to literature also, in the same independent spirit +which induced them alone, of all civilized peoples, to retain through +all time the cramped, angular letters of monkish transcribers, in +preference to the fair and square Roman forms, took particular pride in +avoiding horizontal lines entirely at the tops of their towers, as they +did at the tops of their letters. Wherever they so occur, they are +insignificant,--rather ornamental than constructive. Not so with the +English; they kept the square tops to their towers, and contented +themselves with the pointed superstructure. Let us see how Teutonic +stubbornness arranged the matter. Each separate face of their towers, +whether these towers were square or octangular, ended above in a gable; +and from these gables, in various ways, arose the octangular pointed +roof or spire. This circumstance, more than any other, tended to give +a peculiar character to German Gothic. The simplest type of the gabled +spire was magnificently used in the spire of St. Peter's at Hamburg. +This was the finest in North Germany; it was four hundred and sixteen +feet high, and, if still standing, would be the third in height in the +world. But it was destroyed by the great fire of 1842. Many a traveller +can bear witness to the sweet melody of the chimes that used to sound +beneath it every half-hour. + +In later times, between the Germans and the French, was invented the +_lantern_,--a feature so often and so superbly used, not only on the +Continent, but more lately in England, that we must needs glance at it. +This consisted in a tall, perpendicular, octangular structure, placed +upon the tower, quite light and open, and pierced with long windows. +Here they used to swing the bells, and the place was called the lantern +or _louvre_; thence the octangular spire arose easily and naturally. +Now, notwithstanding this device, those troublesome triangular spaces +still remained unoccupied at the top of the square tower. The manner +in which this difficulty was remedied was exceedingly ingenious and +beautiful. It was by building on them very delicate pinnacles or +turrets, peopled, perhaps, as at Freiburg, with a silent and serene +concourse of saints in rich niches, or inclosing, as at Strasburg, +spiral open-work stairs. These structures accompanied the tall lantern +through its whole height; thus rendering the entire group a memory, +as it were, of the square tower below, while, at the same time, it +beautifully foreshadowed the octangular character of the sky-seeking +spire above,--a significant symbolism. + +Now, when the Belgians and their neighbors received the spire thus from +the fatherland, they at once began to express in it the joy of their +worship by all the embroidery and tender imagery and grotesque conceits +it was capable of receiving. They varied as many changes on it as they +did on their bells. They concealed the first springing of their spires +behind clustering pinnacles, flying-buttresses, canopied niches with +gigantic statues, galleries with battlements and parapets pierced and +mantled in lacework of flamboyant tracery, pointed gables alive with +crockets and finials, and long, quaint dormers,--all with a bewildering +intricacy of enrichment. And they inherited from the Germans a love for +the gargoyle, which haunted the springing of the spire at the corners +with visions of very hideous _diablerie_. It may well be believed that +these florid builders did not suffer the spire to arise serious and +serene from the midst of this delicious tangle of architecture. They +tricked it out with all the frostwork of Gothic genius. Not only did +they use in its decoration spire-lights, crockets, ribs and cinctures, +bands of gablets, and masses of reticulated relief, but, with wonderful +skill, they pierced each face from base to apex in foliated patterns +of great richness, so that the whole spire became a web of delicate +open-work, through which the light was sprinkled in beautiful shapes, +varying with every movement of the beholder. Their plainer spires of +wood they were fond of covering with glazed tiles of various tints +arranged in quaint taste. And they would vary the outline by making it +curve inward, giving a fine sweep thus from the base to an apex of great +slenderness. Sometimes they would give it, with exaggerated refinement, +the _entasis_ of the Greek column. There are instances of this last +treatment both in France and England. + +But it was not only in exuberance of enrichment and quaintness of form +that these enthusiastic workmen uttered their inspirations. They built +their spires to a most amazing height. Indeed, the loftiest steeples in +the world arose in level tracts of country, where they could be seen at +immense distances, as not only in Belgium and thereabout, but on the +flat margins of the upper and lower Rhine, as at Strasburg and Cologne. +In these countries, and about the North of France, there was a generous +rivalry as to which city should lift up highest the cross of God. But as +soon as the sacred passion for spire-building was corrupted by this new +element of human emulation, some strange things happened. The people of +Beauvais, for instance, desiring to beat the people of Amiens, set to +work, we are told, to build a tower on their cathedral as high as they +possibly could. The same thing had been done once before on the plains +of Shinar. One foresees the result, of course; "it fell, for it was +founded upon the sand, and great was the fall thereof." And so with the +good people of Louvain. They built three spires to their cathedral, of +which the central one reached the unparalleled height of five hundred +and thirty-three feet, according to Hope, and the side-towers four +hundred and thirty feet. This tremendous group, however, fell, or, +threatening destruction, was taken down, in 1604. We remember what the +Wanderer said so finely in the "Excursion":-- + + "We must needs confess + That 'tis a thing impossible to frame + Conceptions equal to the soul's desire; + And the most difficult of tasks _to keep_ + Heights which the soul is competent to gain." + +But we find that ecclesiastical edifices were not the only ones +which were adorned with this high building; for town-halls were not +infrequently distinguished by immensely lofty spires, as at Brussels. It +is curious to see, however, how easily the less exalted impulses which +erected them may be discovered. They do not _soar_, they _climb_ up +panting into the sky, like the famous passage up through Chaos, in +Milton, "with difficulty and labor hard." They have not the light, airy +gliding upward of the religious spire, whose feeling George Herbert had +in his mind, when he sang of prayer:-- + + "Of what an easy, quick accesse, + My blessed Lord, art thou! how suddenly + May our requests thine eare invade!" + +Not so; but it is all human rivalry, a succession of diminishing towers, +steps piled one above another, where the mind every now and then may +stop to breathe, and then fight its way onward again;--not an Ascension, +like that from Bethany; rather the toil of a very human, though very +laudable ambition. + +Unfinished spires were in Europe very common legacies from generation to +generation. Descendants were called upon to embody the great conceptions +of their forefathers. But the ancestral spirit too often failed in the +land, the wing of aspiration was broken, the crane rotted in its place, +the great conceptions were forgotten, or lived only as vague and dreamy +inheritances; and the half-completed spires stood like Sphinxes, and +none knew their riddles! They are very melancholy memorials. Like the +broken columns over the graves of the departed, fallen short of their +natural uses, they seem only the funeral monuments of a race that +is dead. The empty air is stilled over them in expectation, and the +imagination makes vain pictures, and fills out their crescent of +splendid purposes. They have been called "broken promises to God." Too +often, perhaps, they were rather monuments of the feebleness of those +who would scale heaven with anything but adoration upon their lips. +There were Ulm, indeed, and Cologne, and Mechlin, as artistic +intentions, eminently grand and beautiful; and in the early part of the +sixteenth century Belgium was famous for designs of open-work spires, +which, if erected, would have surpassed in height and richness all +hitherto existing. But it is worthy of note that at this period the +purity of the Church had become so sullied with priestcraft and the +plenitude of Papal power, that it no longer possessed within its +violated bosom those sacred impulses of piety which whilom sent up the +simple spire, like a pure messenger, to whisper the aspirations of men +to the stars. "Gay religions, full of pomp and gold," could neither feel +nor utter the grave tenderness of the early inspirations. And so, when +the German monk affixed his ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenberg +Church, the spire had ceased to be an utterance of prayerful aspiration. +It had lost its peculiar significance as an involuntary expression of +worship, and had become liable to all the accidents and contingencies +that attend the efforts of a merely human ambition. The whole story is +an architectural version of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican +who went down to the temple to pray. + +Of the finished spires, the loftiest in the world are, first, that of +Strasburg Minster, 474 feet; second, that of St. Stephens at Vienna, +469 feet; third, that of Notre Dame at Antwerp, 466 feet; then that of +Salisbury, 404 feet; Freiburg in the Breisgau, 380-1/2 feet; and then +follow the distinguished heights of Landshut, Utrecht, Rouen, Chartres, +Brugrels, Soissons, and others. The highest spire in our own country is +that of Trinity Church, New York, 284 feet. We do not "sweep the cobwebs +from the sky" so effectually as when men built according to the scale +of spiritual exaltation rather than that of practical feet and +inches,--after the stature of the soul, rather than that of the man. + +The architects of the revival of classic architecture, with the learned +language of the five orders, with pediments and attics, consoles and +urns, labored to express the childlike sentiment of the spire. But even +the great Sir Christopher Wren, with his sixty steeple-towers, and +all his followers to this day, have not succeeded in a translation so +unnatural. Spirituality and the artless grace of inspiration are wanting +to the spires of the Renaissance, and so they struggle up painfully into +the sky. And it is very rare to find those who have gone back even to +Gothic models building a spire which touches our affections, or claims +affinity with any of our nobler emotions; so sensitive is this unique +structure to the approach of any element foreign to the early conditions +of its existence. + +As for the great Strasburg example, that _Jungfrau_ of all spires, +German traditions have very properly babbled many strange stories about +the erection of it. These constitute an episode so characteristic in the +history of spire-building, that this essay would be incomplete, were +they not briefly told here. + +In the legendary days of yore, nothing was more common than to meet that +personage known as the Devil walking up and down the earth, in innocent +guise, but ripe for all sorts of mischief, especially where the people +were building up mighty monuments to the glory of the good God. Very +naturally, the sacred spire was a special object of his aversion; and, +for some reason or other, that of Strasburg was honored with peculiar +marks of his hatred. Two ancient churches, which stood on the site +of the present minster, had been successively destroyed by fire; and +although, in the one case, this had been kindled by the torch of an +invading army, and in the other by a thunderbolt, yet the infernal +agency, in both cases, nobody ever thought of doubting. So it was +the effort of Bishop Werner to combat these evil influences; and he +accordingly inflamed the pride and indignation of the people to such +a degree, that throughout the land all concerted to defeat the wicked +designs of the Adversary. In two centuries and a half the whole +cathedral was completed, save the tower, the corner-stone of which was +forthwith laid with great pomp by Bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg, on the +25th of May, 1277. Doubtless the Arch-Fiend laid many cunning schemes to +entrap the illustrious architect, Erwin of Steinbach; but, unlike his +brother in the craft at Cologne, he came out unscathed; so we must +believe that throughout the whole work he was actuated by the most +unselfish spirit of devotion, infernal machinations to the contrary +notwithstanding. Now it must be confessed that the Enemy had a hard time +of it, since we read that the good Bishop Conrad fought against him with +all the powers of the Church, and granted absolution for all sins, past, +present, and future, for forty thousand years, to whatever person should +contribute to the building of the spire by money, material, or labor. +Owing to the scarcity of parchment, these grants of absolution were made +out on asses' skins; and it will be seen, that, in the great struggle, +these instruments retained in a very eminent degree that quality of +stubborn resistance which had cost them in their original state many a +beating from the driver's staff. The greatest enthusiasm was kindled +among rich and poor; year after year, thousands of pilgrims flocked +hither from all Germany to offer their aid, without reward or +recompense, to the building of the tower; and out of the +farthest boundaries, even from Austria, came wagons loaded with +building-materials, the gratuitous offerings of the pious. Rich legacies +were left to the work, and many a cloister devoted a fourth part of its +yearly revenues to the same object So much for asses' skins! + +Meanwhile the Devil was not idle. In the night-winds he and his legions +would shriek and yell and rattle among the scaffolding and cranes +in vain. In the latter part of the thirteenth century, he shook the +structure with a frightful earthquake, which terrified all Alsatia, +and, although whole streets were thrown down in Strasburg, yet the +foundations of the _Wunderbau_, as the Germans love to call it, were not +loosened, and no stone was moved from its place. A few years afterward, +in 1289, he once more made use of his favorite element, and laid in +ashes the market-place of Strasburg all around the minster. More +fortunate than its great compeers, St. Paul's of London, and St. Peter's +of Hamburg, it miraculously experienced but trifling damage. + +Well, the great Erwin died at last, when he had built the tower as high +as the roof-ridge of the nave. His son succeeded him, finished the tower +to the platform, when he, too, was gathered to his fathers in 1339. John +Hültz followed as master; and finally his nephew, Hültz II., in 1439, +finished the grand pyramid, fixed the colossal cross in its place, and +crowned the whole with a gigantic statue of the Virgin. Thus, from the +laying of the foundation-stone till all was completed, were one +hundred and sixty years; yet throughout this time the work was never +discontinued, and five successive generations labored upon its walls. + +But the wrath of the Arch-Enemy, as may well be believed, waxed greater +as this prodigious structure gradually developed itself in all its +lordliness and strength, and was not at all appeased at its triumphant +completion. Ever since then he has visited its stately height with +especial marks of his malice. The most furious tempests have raged about +it, and more than sixty times has it been struck by lightning, and five +times have earthquakes shaken its foundations. But in vain. "The Golden +Legend" tells us how Lucifer and the Powers of the Air stormed about the +spire, and how he cried,-- + + "Hasten! hasten! + O ye spirits! + From its station drag the ponderous + Cross of iron that to mock us + Is uplifted high in air!" + +and how the voices replied,-- + + "Oh, we cannot! + For around it + All the Saints and Guardian Angels + Throng in legions to protect it; + They defeat us everywhere!" + +At one point, however, the evil spirits were successful; the colossal +statue of the Virgin, which crowned the dizzy summit, and was familiar +with the secrets of the upper air, and which, like its dread Enemy, + + "above the rest, + In shape and gesture proudly eminent, + Stood like a tower,"-- + +after having for fifty years borne the insults of these airy powers, +till it had lost all its original brightness, and its face + + "Deep scars of thunder had intrenched,"-- + +was taken down, and the present cross put in its place. And there it +stands to this day, high up in the silence of midair, where the voices +of the city below are rendered small and thin by the distance,--four +hundred and seventy-four feet above the heads of the populace, who, in +their littleness, crawl about and traffic at its base. This amazing +summit, "moulded in colossal calm," in its unapproachable grandeur, +seems to forget the city from which it rises, and to hold communion only +with that vast circle of "crowded farms and lessening towers" which +it surveys. It is a worthy companionship; on the one hand, the great +Vosgian chain, the closed gates of France,--on the other, afar off, the +hills of the Black Forest, and, more near, Father Rhine, winding his +silver thread among the villages and vineyards of Germany. + +There is (or was) an enormous key suspended just beneath the cross of +Strasburg Cathedral, its use, and why it was placed there, having passed +away from the memory of man. If it were not to open the gates of heaven +for those who built this ladder of light and those who worship in +its shadow, it remains a riddle and a blank. Let us accept the +interpretation, and, made mild-eyed by the lens of tender memories, we +shall behold in every spire a means of grace and a hope of glory. + + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE. + + +THE PUBLISHERS TO THE AUTHOR. + +_Queerangle Building, Nov. '59._ + +Dr. SR,-- + +Will you contract to do us a tale or a novel, at the rate of say 10 pp. +per month, with some popular subject, such as philanthropy, or the Broad +Church movement, or fashionable weddings, or the John Brown invasion, +brought in so as to make a taking thing of it? When finished, to come +to a 12mo of 350 pp. more or less. A good article of novel is always +salable about Christmas time, and we can do it up by Dec. 1, 1860. +Our Mr. Goader has been round among the hands that do the light +jobbing,--finds several ready to undertake the contract, at say 75c. @ +3.00 per page;--but want the job done in first-rate style, and think +you could furnish us a good article. Our firm has great facilities for +working a novel, tale, or any kind of fancy stuff. What w'd be y'r terms +in cash payment, 1st of every month? + +P.S. Would any additional compensation induce you to allow each number +to be illustrated by a colored engraving? + +Yr obt serv'ts. + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE PUBLISHERS. + +GENTLEMEN,-- + +In reply to your polite request, I have to say, that under no +circumstances can I entertain your proposition to write a _fictitious_ +narrative. I could, however, relate some very interesting events which +have come to my knowledge, and which, if told in a connected form, might +undoubtedly be taken by the public for a work of fiction. I think my +narrative, with some collateral matter I should introduce, would take up +a reasonable space in about a dozen numbers of the Oceanic Miscellany. +I cannot listen to your proposal about the engraving. If you accept my +offer to write out, in the form of a story, the incidents of real +life to which I have referred, we will arrange the terms at a private +interview. I consider the first day of a month as unobjectionable as any +other in the same month, as a time for receiving payment of any sum that +may be due me under the proposed contract. + +Yours truly. + + +CONFIDENTIAL EDITOR OF THE OCEANIC MISCELLANY TO THE AUTHOR. + +MY DEAR PROF.,-- + +We have had lots of bob-tail stories,--docked short in from one to three +months. Can't you give us a switch-tail one, that will hang on so as +to touch next December? Something imaginary, based on your +recollections,--the incidents of the War of 1812, for instance;--but, at +any rate, a regular "to be continued" "_pièce de résistance_" + +Yours ever. + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE CONFIDENTIAL EDITOR. + +MY DEAR ED.,-- + +I really wouldn't undertake to tell an "imaginary" story, or to write +a romance, or anything of the kind. I might be willing to relate some +curious matters that have come to my knowledge, arranging them in a +collective form, so that they would probably pass with most readers for +fictitious, and perhaps excite very much the same kind of interest they +would if genuine fictions. I don't remember much about the "last war"; +but I suppose both of us may recollect the illumination when peace was +declared in 1815. + +Ever yours. + + +THE PUBLISHERS TO THE AUTHOR. + +(Inclosing a check, in advance, for the first number.) + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. + +Finding myself in possession of certain facts which possess interest +sufficient to warrant their publication, I am led to ask myself whether +I shall put them in the form of a narrative. There are, evidently, two +sides to this question. In the first place, I have a number of friends +who write me letters, and tell me openly to my face, that they want me +to go on writing. It doesn't make much difference to them, they say, +what I write about,--only they want me to keep going. They have got used +to seeing me, in one shape or another,--and I am a kind of habit with +them, like a nap after dinner. They tell me not to be frightened about +it,--to begin as dull as I like, and that I shall warm up, by-and-by, as +old _Dutchman_ used to, who could hardly put one leg before the other +when he started, but, after a while, got so limbered and straightened +out by his work, that he dropped down into the forties, and, I think +they say, into the thirties. _L'appétit vient en mangeant_, one of them +said who talks French,--which, you know, means, that eating makes one +hungry. I remember, when I sat down to that last book of mine, which you +may perhaps have read, although I had the facts of the story, of course, +all in my head, it seemed to me that I should never have the patience +to tell them all; and yet, before I was through, I got so full of the +scenes and characters I was talking about, that I had to bolt my door +and lay in an extra bandanna, before I could trust myself to put my +recollections and thoughts on paper. You don't expect a locomotive is +going to start off with a train of thirty or forty thousand passengers, +without straining a little,--do you? That isn't the way; but this is. +_Puff!_ The wheels begin to turn, but very slowly. Papas hold up their +little Johnnys to the car-windows to be kissed. _Puff----Puff!_ People +shake hands from the platform to the cars, walking along by their side. +_Puff--puff--puff!_ Now, then, Ma'am! pass out that tumbler pretty +spry, out of which you have been swallowing that eternal "drink o' +wotter," to which the human female of a certain social grade is so +odiously addicted. _Puff, puff, puff, puff!_ Too late, old gentleman +I unless you can do a mile in a good deal less than three minutes, +carrying weight, in the shape of a valise in one hand and a carpet-bag +in the other. That's the way with anything that's got any freight to +carry. It's slow when it sets out;--but steam is steam,--and what's bred +in the boiler will show in the driving-wheel, sooner or later. + +If I had to _make up_ a story, now, it would be a very different matter. +I could never conceive how some of those romancers go to work, in cold +blood, to draw, out of what they call their imagination, a parcel of +impossible events and absurd characters. That is not my trouble; for I +have come into relation with a series of persons and events which will +save me the pains of drawing on my invention, in case I shall see fit to +follow the counsel of my too partial friends. I am only afraid I should +not disguise the circumstances enough, if I were to arrange these facts +in the narrative form. Some of them are of such a nature, that they +cannot be supposed to have happened more than once in the experience +of a generation; and I feel that the greatest caution and delicacy are +necessary in the manner of their presentation, not to offend the living +or wrong the memory of the dead. + +It is very easy for you, the Reader, to sit down and run over the pages +of a monthly narrative as a boy "skips" a stone,--and the flatter and +thinner your capacity, the more skips, perhaps, you will make. But I +tell you, for a man who has live people to deal with, and hearts that +are beating even while he handles them,--a man who can go into families +and pull up by the roots all the mysteries of their dead generations and +their living sons' and daughters' secret history,--_responsible_ for +what he says, here and elsewhere,--open to a libel suit, if he isn't +pretty careful in his personalities, or to a visit from a brother or +other relative, wishing to know, Sir, and so forth,--or to a paragraph +in the leading journal of that whispering-gallery of a nation's gossip, +Little Millionville, to the effect that--We understand the personages +alluded to in the tale now publishing in the Oceanic Miscellany are +the Reverend Dr. S---h and his accomplished lady, the distinguished +financier, Mr. B---n,--and so through the whole list of characters;--I +say, for a man who _writes_ the pages you skim over, it is a mighty +different piece of business. Why, if I _do_ tell all I know about some +things that have come to my cognizance, I shall make you open your eyes +and spread your pupils, as if you had been to the Eye Infirmary, and the +doctors there had anointed your lids with the extract of belladonna. +Mark what I tell you! I have happened to become intimately acquainted +with circumstances of a very extraordinary nature,--not, perhaps, +without precedent, but such as very few have been called upon to +witness. Suppose that I should see fit to tell these in connection with +the story of which they form a part? I may render myself obnoxious to +persons whom it is not safe to offend,--persons that won't come out in +the public prints, perhaps, but will poke incendiary letters under your +doors,--that won't step up to you in broad daylight, and lug a Colt out +of their pocket, or draw a bowie-knife from their back, where they had +carried it under their coat, but who will dog you about to do you a +mischief unseen,--who will carry air-guns in the shape of canes, and +hang round the place where you get your provisions, and practise with +long-range rifles out in the lonely fields,--rifles that crack no louder +than a parlor-pistol, but spit a bit of lead out of their mouths half a +mile and more, so that you wait as you do for the sound of the man's axe +who is chopping on the other side of the river, to see the fellow you +have "saved" clap his hand to his breast and stagger over. It makes me +nervous to think of such things. I don't want to be suspicious of every +queer taste in my coffee, and to shiver if I see a little powdered white +sugar on the upper crust of my pastry. I don't want, every time I hear a +door bang, to think it is a ragged slug from an unseen gun-barrel. + +If Dick V---- was _not_ killed on the Pampas, as they have always said +he was, I should never sleep easy after telling my story. For such a +fellow as he was would certainly see through all the disguises I could +cover up a real-life story with, and then----. He has learned the use of +the lasso too well for me to want to trust my neck anywhere within a rod +of him, if there were light enough for him to see, and nothing between +us, and nobody near. + +And besides, there were a good many opinions handled by some of these +people I should have to talk about. Now, of course, a magazine like the +Oceanic is no place for opinions. Look out for your Mormon subscribers, +if you question the propriety of Solomon's domestic arrangements! And +if you say one word that touches the Sandemanians, be sure their whole +press will be down on you; for, as Sandemanianism is the undoubted and +absolutely true religion, it follows, of course, that it is as sore as a +scalded finger, and must be handled like a broken bone. + +Add to this that I have always had the greatest objection to writing +anything which those who were not acquainted with the facts might call +a _romance_ or a _tale._ We think very ill of a man who offers us as a +truth some single statement which we find he knew to be false. Now what +can we think of a man who tells three volumes, or even one, full of just +such lies? Of course the _primâ-facie_ aspect of the case is, that he +is guilty of the most monstrous impertinence; and, in point of fact, +I confess the greatest disgust towards any person of whom I hear the +assertion that he has _written a story,_ unless I hear something more +than that. He is bound to show extenuating or justifying circumstances, +as much as the man who writes what he calls "poems." For, as the world +is full of real histories, and every day in every great city begins and +ends a score or half a dozen score of tragic dramas, it is a huge piece +of assumption to undertake to make one out of one's own head. A man +takes refuge under your porch in a rain-storm, and you offer him the use +of your shower-bath! + +Also, I cannot help remembering, that, on the whole, I have been more +intensely bored with works of fiction,--beginning with "Gil Blas," and +ending with--on the whole, I won't even mention it,--than I ever was by +the Latin Grammar or Rollin's History. Naturally, therefore, I should +not wish to threaten my friends with the punishment I have endured from +others. But then, as I said before, if I write down the circumstances +that have come to my knowledge, with some account of persons, opinions, +and conversations, no one can accuse me of writing a _novel,_--a thing +which I never meant to do, under any circumstances. + +----After having carefully weighed my friends' arguments and my own +objections, I have come to the conclusion to do pretty much as I like +about it. Now the truth is, I have grown to be rather fonder of you, the +Reader, than I have ever been willing to confess. You are such a good, +kind creature,--it takes so little to please you,--you laugh and cry +so very obligingly at just the right time,--you send me such charming +notes, such dear little copies of verses,--nay, (shall I venture to say +it?) such prodigal tokens of kindness, some of you, that I----in short, +I love you very much, and cannot make up my mind to part with you. +Rather than do this, as I could not and would not write a romance, I +have made up my mind to tell you something of some persons and events of +which I have known enough,--of some of them, I might say, too much. Of +course, you must trust wholly to my discretion and sense of propriety, +in dealing with living personages, recent events, and subjects still in +dispute. Trusting that none of my friends will pay any attention to any +idle rumors tending to fix the personages or localities of which I shall +speak, and reminding my readers that the narrative will constitute only +a part of what I have to say, inasmuch as there will be no small amount +of reflections introduced, and perhaps of conversations reported, I +begin this connected statement of facts with an essay on a social +phenomenon not hitherto distinctly recognized. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BRAHMIN CASTE OF NEW ENGLAND + + +There is nothing in New England corresponding at all to the feudal +aristocracies of the Old World. Whether it be owing to the stock from +which we were derived, or to the practical working of our institutions, +or to the abrogation of the technical "law of honor," which draws a +sharp line between the personally responsible class of "gentlemen" and +the unnamed multitude of those who are not expected to risk their lives +for an abstraction,--whatever be the cause, we have no such aristocracy +here as that which grew up out of the military systems of the Middle +Ages. + +What our people mean by "aristocracy" is merely the richer part of the +community, that live in the tallest houses, drive real carriages, (not +"kerridges,") kid-glove their hands, and French-bonnet their ladies' +heads, give parties where the persons who call them by the above title +are not invited, and have a provokingly easy way of dressing, walking, +talking, and nodding to people, as if they felt entirely at home, and +would not be embarrassed in the least, if they met the Governor, or even +the President of the United States, face to face. Some of these great +folks are really well-bred, some of them are only purse-proud and +assuming,--but they form a class, and are named as above in the common +speech. + +It is in the nature of large fortunes to diminish rapidly, when +subdivided and distributed. A million is the unit of wealth, now and +here in America. It splits into four handsome properties; each of these +into four good inheritances; these, again, into scanty competences for +four ancient maidens,--with whom it is best the family should die out, +unless it can begin again as its grandfather did. Now a million is +a kind of golden cheese, which represents in a compendious form the +summer's growth of a fat meadow of craft or commerce; and as this kind +of meadow rarely bears more than one crop, it is pretty certain that +sons and grandsons will not get another golden cheese out of it, whether +they milk the same cows or turn in new ones. In other words, the +millionocracy, considered in a large way, is not at all an affair of +persons and families, but a perpetual fact of money with a variable +human element, which a philosopher might leave out of consideration +without falling into serious error. Of course, this trivial and fugitive +fact of personal wealth does not create a permanent class, unless some +special means are taken to arrest the process of disintegration in the +third generation. This is so rarely done, at least successfully, that +one need not live a very long life to see most of the rich families he +knew in childhood more or less reduced, and the millions shifted into +the hands of the country-boys who were sweeping stores and carrying +parcels when the now decayed gentry were driving their chariots, eating +their venison over silver chafing-dishes, drinking Madeira chilled in +embossed coolers, wearing their hair in powder, and casing their legs in +white-topped boots with silken tassels. + +There is, however, in New England, an aristocracy, if you choose to call +it so, which has a far greater character of permanence. It has grown to +be a _caste_,--not in any odious sense,--but, by the repetition of the +same influences, generation after generation, it has acquired a distinct +organization and physiognomy, which not to recognize is mere stupidity, +and not to be willing to describe would show a distrust of the +good-nature and intelligence of our readers, who like to have us see all +we can and tell all we see. + +If you will look carefully at any class of students in one of our +colleges, you will have no difficulty in selecting specimens of two +different aspects of youthful manhood. Of course I shall choose extreme +cases to illustrate the contrast between them. In the first, the figure +is perhaps robust, but often otherwise,--inelegant, partly from careless +attitudes, partly from ill-dressing,--the face is uncouth in feature, or +at least common,--the mouth coarse and unformed,--the eye unsympathetic, +even if bright,--the movements of the face clumsy, like those of the +limbs,--the voice unmusical,--and the enunciation as if the words were +coarse castings, instead of fine carvings. The youth of the other aspect +is commonly slender,--his face is smooth, and apt to be pallid,--his +features are regular and of a certain delicacy,--his eye is bright and +quick,--his lips play over the thought he utters as a pianist's fingers +dance over their music,--and his whole air, though it may be timid, and +even awkward, has nothing clownish. If you are a teacher, you know what +to expect from each of these young men. With equal willingness, the +first will be slow at learning; the second will take to his books as a +pointer or a setter to his field-work. + +The first youth is the common country-boy, whose race has been bred to +bodily labor. Nature has adapted the family organization to the kind of +life it has lived. The hands and feet by constant use have got more than +their share of development,--the organs of thought and expression less +than their share. The finer instincts are latent and must be developed. +A youth of this kind is raw material in its first stage of elaboration. +You must not expect too much of any such. Many of them have force of +will and character, and become distinguished in practical life; but very +few of them ever become great scholars. A scholar is almost always the +son of scholars or scholarly persons. + +That is exactly what the other young man is. He comes of the _Brahmin +caste of New England_. This is the harmless, inoffensive, untitled +aristocracy to which I have referred, and which I am sure you will +at once acknowledge. There are races of scholars among us, in which +aptitude for learning, and all these marks of it I have spoken of, +are congenital and hereditary. Their names are always on some college +catalogue or other. They break out every generation or two in some +learned labor which calls them up after they seem to have died out. At +last some newer name takes their place, it may be,--but you inquire a +little and you find it is the blood of the Edwardses or the Chauncys or +the Ellerys or some of the old historic scholars, disguised under the +altered name of a female descendant. + +I suppose there is not an experienced instructor anywhere in our +Northern States who will not recognize at once the truth of this general +distinction. But the reader who has never been a teacher will very +probably object, that some of our most illustrious public men have come +direct from the homespun-clad class of the people,--and he may, perhaps, +even find a noted scholar or two whose parents were masters of the +English alphabet, but of no other. + +It is not fair to pit a few chosen families against the great multitude +of those who are continually working their way up into the intellectual +classes. The results which are habitually reached by hereditary training +are occasionally brought about without it. There are natural filters as +well as artificial ones; and though the great rivers are commonly more +or less turbid, if you will look long enough, you may find a spring that +sparkles as no water does which drips through your apparatus of sands +and sponges. So there are families which refine themselves into +intellectual aptitude without having had much opportunity for +intellectual acquirements. A series of felicitous crosses develops an +improved strain of blood, and reaches its maximum perfection at last in +the large uncombed youth who goes to college and startles the hereditary +class-leaders by striding past them all. That is Nature's republicanism; +thank God for it, but do not let it make you illogical. The race of the +hereditary scholar has exchanged a certain portion of its animal vigor +for its new instincts, and it is hard to lead men without a good deal of +animal vigor. The scholar who comes by Nature's special grace from an +unworn stock of broad-chested sires and deep-bosomed mothers must always +overmatch an equal intelligence with a compromised and lowered vitality. +A man's breathing and digestive apparatus (one is tempted to add +_muscular_) are just as important to him on the floor of the Senate as +his thinking organs. You broke down in your great speech, did you? Yes, +your grandfather had an attack of dyspepsia in '82, after working too +hard on his famous Election Sermon. All this does not touch the main +fact: our scholars come chiefly from a privileged order, just as our +best fruits come from well-known grafts,--though now and then a seedling +apple, like the Northern Spy, or a seedling pear, like the Seckel, +springs from a nameless ancestry and grows to be the pride of all the +gardens in the land. + +Let me introduce you to a young man who belongs to the Brahmin caste of +New England. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE STUDENT AND HIS CERTIFICATE. + + +Bernard C. Langdon, a young man attending Medical Lectures at the school +connected with one of our principal colleges, remained after the Lecture +one day and wished to speak with the Professor. He was a student of +mark,--first favorite of his year, as they say of the Derby colts. +There are in every class half a dozen bright faces to which the teacher +naturally directs his discourse, and by the intermediation of whose +attention he seems to hold that of the mass of listeners. Among these +some one is pretty sure to take the lead, by virtue of a personal +magnetism, or some peculiarity of expression, which places the face in +quick sympathetic relations with the lecturer. This was a young man +with such a face; and I found,--for you have guessed that I was the +"Professor" above-mentioned,--that, when there was anything difficult to +be explained, or when I was bringing out some favorite illustration of a +nice point, (as, for instance, when I compared the cell-growth, by which +Nature builds up a plant or an animal, to the glass-blower's similar +mode of beginning,--always with a hollow sphere, or vesicle, whatever he +is going to make,) I naturally looked in his face and gauged my success +by its expression. + +It was a handsome face,--a little too pale, perhaps, and would have +borne something more of fulness without becoming heavy. I put the +organization to which it belongs in Section C of Class 1 of my +Anglo-American Anthropology (unpublished). The jaw in this class is but +_slightly_ narrowed,--just enough to make the width of the forehead tell +more decidedly. The moustache often grows vigorously, but the whiskers +are thin. The skin is like that of Jacob, rather than like Esau's. One +string of the animal nature has been taken away, but this gives only a +greater predominance to the intellectual chords. To see just how the +vital energy has been toned down, you must contrast one of this section +with a specimen of Section A of the same class,--say, for instance, one +of the old-fashioned, full-whiskered, red-faced, roaring-big Commodores +of the last generation, whom you remember, at least by their portraits, +in ruffled shirts, looking as hearty as butchers and as plucky as +bull-terriers, with their hair combed straight up from their foreheads, +which were not commonly very high or broad. The special form of physical +life I have been describing gives you a right to expect more delicate +perceptions and a more reflective nature than you commonly find in +shaggy-throated men, clad in heavy suits of muscles. + +The student lingered in the lecture-room, looking all the time as if he +wanted to say something in private, and waiting for two or three others, +who were still hanging about, to be gone. + +Something is wrong!--I said to myself, when I noticed his +expression.--Well, Mr. Langdon,--I said to him, when we were alone,--can +I do anything for you to-day? + +You can, Sir,--he said.--I am going to leave the class, for the present, +and keep school. + +Why, that's a pity, and you so near graduating! You'd better stay and +finish this course, and take your degree in the spring, rather than +break up your whole plan of study. + +I can't help myself, Sir,--the young man answered.--There's trouble at +home, and they cannot keep me here as they have done. So I must look out +for myself for a while. It's what I've done before, and am ready to do +again. I came to ask you for a certificate of my fitness to teach a +common school, or a high school, if you think I am up to that. Are you +willing to give it to me? + +Willing? Yes, to be sure,--but I don't want you to go. Stay; we'll make +it easy for you. There's a fund will do something for you, perhaps. Then +you can take both the annual prizes, if you like,--and claim them in +money, if you want that more than medals. + +I have thought it all over,--he answered,--and have pretty much made up +my mind to go. + +A perfectly gentlemanly young man, of courteous address and mild +utterance, but means at least as much as he says. There are some people +whose rhetoric consists of a slight habitual understatement. I often +tell Mrs. Professor that one of her "I think it's sos" is worth the +Bible-oath of all the rest of the household that they "know it's so." +When you find a person a little better than his word, a little more +liberal than his promise, a little more than borne out in his statement +by his facts, a little larger in deed than in speech, you recognize a +kind of eloquence in that person's utterance not laid down in Blair or +Campbell. + +This was a proud fellow, self-trusting, sensitive, with +family-recollections that made him unwilling to accept the kind of aid +which many students--would have thankfully welcomed. I knew him too well +to urge him, after the few words which implied that he was determined +to go. Besides, I have great confidence in young men who believe in +themselves, and are accustomed to rely on their own resources from an +early period. When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, +the World, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to +find it come off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away +timid adventurers. I have seen young men more than once, who came to a +great city without a single friend, support themselves and pay for their +education, lay up money in a few years, grow rich enough to travel, and +establish themselves in life, without ever asking a dollar of any person +which they had not earned. But these are exceptional cases. There are +horse-tamers, born so, as we all know; there are woman-tamers who +bewitch the sex as the pied piper bedeviled the children of Hamelin; and +there are world-tamers, who can make any community, even a Yankee one, +get down and let them jump on its back as easily as Mr. Rarey saddled +Cruiser. + +Whether Langdon was of this sort or not I could not say positively; but +he had spirit, and, as I have said, a family-pride which would not let +him be dependent. The New England Brahmin caste often gets blended with +connections of political influence or commercial distinction. It is a +charming thing for the scholar, when his fortune carries him in this way +into some of the "old families" who have fine old houses, and city-lots +that have risen in the market, and names written in all the stock-books +of all the dividend-paying companies. His narrow study expands into a +stately library, his books are counted by thousands instead of hundreds, +and his favorites are dressed in gilded calf in place of plebeian +sheepskin or its pauper substitutes of cloth and paper. + +The Reverend Jedediah Langdon, grandfather of our young gentleman, had +made an advantageous alliance of this kind. Miss Dorothea Wentworth had +read one of his sermons which had been printed "by request," and became +deeply interested in the young author, whom she had never seen. Out of +this circumstance grew a correspondence, an interview, a declaration, a +matrimonial alliance, and a family of half a dozen children. Wentworth +Langdon, Esquire, was the oldest of these, and lived in the old +family-mansion. Unfortunately, that principle of the diminution of +estates by division, to which I have referred, rendered it somewhat +difficult to maintain the establishment upon the fractional income +which the proprietor received from his share of the property. Wentworth +Langdon, Esq., represented a certain intermediate condition of life +not at all infrequent in our old families. He was the connecting link +between the generation which lived in ease, and even a kind of state, +upon its own resources, and the new brood, which must live mainly by its +wits or industry, and make itself rich, or shabbily subside into that +lower stratum known to social geologists by a deposit of Kidderminster +carpets and the peculiar aspect of the fossils constituting the family +furniture and wardrobe. This _slack-water_ period of a race, which comes +before the rapid ebb of its prosperity, is familiar to all who live in +cities. There are no more quiet, inoffensive people than these children +of rich families, just above the necessity of active employment, yet +not in a condition to place their own children advantageously, if they +happen to have families. Many of them are content to live unmarried. +Some mend their broken fortunes by prudent alliances, and some leave a +numerous progeny to pass into the obscurity from which their ancestors +emerged; so that you may see on hand-carts and cobblers' stalls names +which, a few generations back, were upon parchments with broad seals, +and tombstones with armorial bearings. + +In a large city, this class of citizens are familiar to us in the +streets. They are very courteous in their salutations; they have +time enough to bow and take their hats off,--which, of course, no +business-man can afford to do. Their beavers are smoothly brushed, and +their boots well polished; all their appointments are tidy; they look +the respectable walking gentleman to perfection. They are prone to +habits,--to frequent reading-rooms, insurance-offices,--to walk the same +streets at the same hours,--so that one becomes familiar with their +faces and persons, as a part of the street-furniture. + +There is one curious circumstance, that all city-people must have +noticed, which is often illustrated in our experience of the slack-water +gentry. We shall know a certain person by his looks, familiarly, for +years, but never have learned his name. About this person we shall have +accumulated no little circumstantial knowledge;--thus, his face, figure, +gait, his mode of dressing, of saluting, perhaps even of speaking, may +be familiar to us; yet who he is we know not. In another department of +our consciousness, there is a very familiar _name_, which we have never +found the person to match. We have heard it so often, that it has +idealized itself, and become one of that multitude of permanent shapes +which walk the chambers of the brain in velvet slippers in the company +of Falstaff and Hamlet and General Washington and Mr. Pickwick. +Sometimes the person dies, but the name lives on indefinitely. But now +and then it happens, perhaps after years of this independent existence +of the name and its shadowy image in the brain, on the one part, and the +person and all its real attributes, as we see them daily, on the other, +that some accident reveals their relation, and we find the name we have +carried so long in our memory belongs to the person we have known so +long as a fellow-citizen. Now the slack-water gentry are among the +persons most likely to be the subjects of this curious divorce of title +and reality,--for the reason, that, playing no important part in the +community, there is nothing to tie the floating name to the actual +individual, as is the case with the men who belong in any way to the +public, while yet their names have a certain historical currency, and we +cannot help meeting them, either in their haunts, or going to and from +them. + +To this class belonged Wentworth Langdon, Esq. He had been "dead-headed" +into the world some fifty years ago, and had sat with his hands in +his pockets staring at the show ever since. I shall not tell you, for +reasons before hinted, the whole name of the place in which he lived. +I will only point you in the right direction, by saying that there are +three towns lying in a line with each other, as you go "down East," each +of them with a _Port_ in its name, and each of them having a peculiar +interest which gives it individuality, in addition to the Oriental +character they have in common. I need not tell you that these towns are +Newburyport, Portsmouth, and Portland. The Oriental character they have +in common consists in their large, square, palatial mansions, with sunny +gardens round them. The two first have seen better days. They are in +perfect harmony with the condition of weakened, but not impoverished, +gentility. Each of them is a "paradise of demi-fortunes." Each of them +is of that intermediate size between a village and a city which any +place has outgrown when the presence of a well-dressed stranger walking +up and down the main street ceases to be a matter of public curiosity +and private speculation, as frequently happens, during the busier months +of the year, in considerable commercial centres like Salem. They both +have grand old recollections to fall back upon,--times when they looked +forward to commercial greatness, and when the portly gentlemen in cocked +hats, who built their decaying wharves and sent out their ships all over +the world, dreamed that their fast-growing port was to be the Tyre or +the Carthage of the rich British Colony. Great houses, like Lord Timothy +Dexter's, in Newburyport, remain as evidence of the fortunes amassed +in these places of old. Other mansions--like the Rockingham House in +Portsmouth (look at the white horse's tail before you mount the broad +staircase) show that there was not only wealth, but style and state, +in these quiet old towns during the last century. It is not with any +thought of pity or depreciation that we speak of them as in a certain +sense decayed towns; they did not fulfil their early promise of +expansion, but they remain incomparably the most interesting places of +their size in any of the three northernmost New England States. They +have even now prosperity enough to keep them in good condition, and +offer the most attractive residences for quiet families, which, if they +had been English, would have lived in a _palazzo_ at Genoa or Pisa, or +some other Continental Newburyport or Portsmouth. + +As for the last of the three Ports, or Portland, it is getting too +prosperous to be as attractive as its less northerly neighbors. Meant +for a fine old town, to ripen like a Cheshire cheese within its walls +of ancient rind, burrowed by crooked alleys and mottled with venerable +mould, it seems likely to sacrifice its mellow future to a vulgar +material prosperity. Still it remains invested with many of its old +charms, as yet, and will forfeit its place among this admirable trio +only when it gets a hotel with unequivocal marks of having been built +and organized in the present century. + +----It was one of the old square palaces of the North, in which Bernard +Langdon, the son of Wentworth, was born. If he had had the luck to be +an only child, he might have lived as his father had done, letting his +meagre competence smoulder on almost without consuming, like the fuel +in an air-tight stove. But after Master Bernard came Miss Dorothea +Wentworth Langdon, and then Master William Pepperell Langdon, and +others, equally well named,--a string of them, looking, when they stood +in a row in prayer-time, as if they would fit a set of Pandean pipes, of +from three feet upward in dimensions. The door of the air-tight store +has to be opened, under such circumstances, you may well suppose! So it +happened that our young man had been obliged, from an early period, to +do something to support himself, and found himself stopped short in his +studies by the inability of the good people at home to furnish him the +present means of support as a student. + +You will understand now why the young man wanted me to give him a +certificate of his fitness to teach, and why. I did not choose to urge +him to accept the aid which a meek country-boy from a family without +ante-Revolutionary recollections would have thankfully received. Go he +must,--that was plain enough. He would not be content otherwise. He was +not, however, to give up his studies; and as it is customary to allow +_half-time_ to students engaged in school-keeping,--that is, to count +a year, so employed, if the student also keep on with his professional +studies, as equal to six months of the three years he is expected to +be under an instructor before applying for his degree,--he would not +necessarily lose more than a few months of time. He had a small library +of professional books, which he could take with him. + +So he left my teaching and that of my estimable colleagues, carrying +with him my certificate, that Mr. Bernard C. Langdon was a young +gentleman of excellent moral character, of high intelligence and good +education, and that his services would be of great value in any school, +academy, or other institution, where young persons of either sex were to +be instructed. + +I confess, that expression, "either sex," ran a little thick, as I +may say, from my pen. For, although the young man bore a very fair +character, and there was no special cause for doubting his discretion, +I considered him altogether too good-looking, in the first place, to be +let loose in a room-full of young girls. I didn't want him to fall in +love just then,--and if half a dozen girls fell in love with him, as +they most assuredly would, if brought into too near relations with him, +why, there was no telling what gratitude and natural sensibility might +bring about. + +Certificates are, for the most part, like ostrich-eggs; the giver never +knows what is hatched out of them. But once in a thousand times they +act as curses are said to,--come home to roost. Give them often enough, +until it gets to be a mechanical business, and, some day or other, you +will get caught warranting somebody's ice not to melt in any climate, or +somebody's razors to be safe in the hands of the youngest children. + +I had an uneasy feeling, after giving this certificate. It might be all +right enough; but if it happened to end badly, I should always reproach +myself. There was a chance, certainly, that it would lead him or others +into danger or wretchedness. Any one who looked at this young man could +not fail to see that he was capable of fascinating and being fascinated. +Those large, dark eyes of his would sink into the white soul of a +young girl as the black cloth sunk into the snow in Franklin's famous +experiment. Or, on the other hand, if the rays of a passionate nature +should ever be concentrated on them, they would be absorbed into the +very depths of his nature, and then his blood would turn to flame and +burn his life out of him, until his cheeks grew as white as the ashes +that cover a burning coal. + +I wish I had not said _either sex_ in my certificate. An academy for +young gentlemen, now; that sounds cool and unimaginative. A boys' +school; that would be a very good place for him;--some of them are +pretty rough, but there is nerve enough in that old Wentworth blood; he +can give any country fellow, of the common stock, twenty pounds, and hit +him out of time in ten minutes. But to send such a young fellow as that +out a girl's-nesting! to give this falcon a free pass into all the +dove-cotes! I was a fool,--that's all. + +I brooded over the mischief which might come out of these two words +until it seemed to me that they were charged with destiny. I could +hardly sleep for thinking what a train I might have been laying, which +might take a spark any day, and blow up nobody knows whose peace or +prospects. What I dreaded most was one of those miserable matrimonial +misalliances where a young fellow who does not know himself as yet +flings his magnificent future into the checked apron-lap of some +fresh-faced, half-bred country-girl, no more fit to be mated with him +than her father's horse to go in double harness with Flora Temple. To +think of the eagle's wings being clipped so that he shall not ever +lift himself over the farm-yard fence! Such things happen, and always +must,--because, as one of us said awhile ago, a man always loves +a woman, and a woman a man, unless some good reason exists to the +contrary. You think yourself a very fastidious young man, my friend; but +there are probably at least five thousand young women in these United +States, any one of whom you would certainly marry, if you were thrown +much into her company, and nobody more attractive were near, and she had +no objection. And you, my dear young lady, justly pride yourself on your +discerning delicacy; but if I should say that there are twenty thousand +young men, any one of whom, if he offered his hand and heart under +favorable circumstances, you would + + "First endure, then pity, then embrace," + +I should be much more imprudent than I mean to be, and you would, no +doubt, throw down a story in which I hope to interest you. + +I had settled it in my mind that this young fellow had a career marked +out for him. He should begin in the natural way, by taking care of poor +patients in one of the public charities, and work his way up to a better +kind of practice,--better, that is, in the vulgar, worldly sense. The +great and good Boerhaave used to say, as I remember very well, that the +poor were his best patients; for God was their paymaster. But everybody +is not as patient as Boerhaave, nor as deserving; so that the rich, +though not, perhaps, the best patients, are good enough for common +practitioners. I suppose Boerhaave put up with them when he could not +get poor ones, as he left his daughter two millions of florins when he +died. + +Now if this young man once got into the _wide streets_, he would sweep +them clear of his rivals of the same standing; and as I was getting +indifferent to business, and old Dr. Kilham was growing careless, and +had once or twice prescribed morphine when he meant quinine, there would +soon he an opening into the Doctors' Paradise,--the _streets with only +one side to them_. Then I would have him strike a bold stroke,--set up a +nice little coach, and be driven round like a London first-class doctor, +instead of coasting about in a shabby one-horse concern and casting +anchor opposite his patients' doors like a Cape-Ann fishing-smack. By +the time he was thirty, he would have knocked the social pawns out of +his way, and be ready to challenge a wife from the row of great pieces +in the background. I would not have a man marry above his level, so as +to become the appendage of a powerful family-connection; but I would not +have him marry until he knew his level,--that is, again, looking at the +matter in a purely worldly point of view, and not taking the sentiments +at all into consideration. But remember, that a young man, using large +endowments wisely and fortunately, may put himself on a level with the +highest in the land in ten brilliant years of spirited, unflagging +labor. And even to stand at the very top of your calling in a great city +is something,--that is, if you like money and influence, and a seat on +the platform at public lectures, and gratuitous tickets to all sorts of +places where you don't want to go, and, what is a good deal better than +any of these things, a sense of power, limited, it may be, but absolute +in its range, so that all the Caesars and Napoleons would have to +stand aside, if they came between you and the exercise of your special +vocation. + +That is what I thought this young fellow might have come to; and now I +have let him go off into the country with my certificate, that he is fit +to teach in a school for either sex! Ten to one he will run like a moth +into a candle, right into one of those girls'-nests, and get tangled up +in some sentimental folly or other, and there will be the end of him. +Oh, yes! country doctor,--half a dollar a visit,--ride, ride, ride all +day,--get up at night and harness your own horse,--ride again ten miles +in a snow-storm,--shake powders out of two phials, (_pulv. glycyrrhiz., +pulv. gum. acac. aa: partes equates_,)--ride back again, if you don't +happen to get stuck in a drift,--no home, no peace, no continuous meals, +no unbroken sleep, no Sunday, no holiday, no social intercourse, but one +eternal jog, jog, jog, in a sulky, until you feel like the mummy of an +Indian who had been buried in the sitting posture, and was dug up a +hundred years afterwards! "Why didn't I warn him about love and all +that nonsense?" Why didn't I tell him he had nothing to do with it, yet +awhile? Why didn't I hold up to him those awful examples I could have +cited, where poor young fellows that could just keep themselves afloat +have hung a matrimonial millstone round their necks, taking it for a +life-preserver? + +All this of two words in a certificate! + + + + +ANDENKEN. + + + I. + + + Through the silent streets of the city, + In the night's unbusy noon, + Up and down in the pallor + Of the languid summer moon, + + I wander and think of the village, + And the house in the maple-gloom, + And the porch with the honeysuckles + And the sweet-brier all abloom. + + My soul is sick with the fragrance + Of the dewy sweet-brier's breath: + Oh, darling! the house is empty, + And lonesomer than death! + + If I call, no one will answer; + If I knock, no one will come;-- + The feet are at rest forever, + And the lips are cold and dumb. + + The summer moon is shining + So wan and large and still, + And the weary dead are sleeping + In the graveyard under the hill. + + + II. + + + We looked at the wide, white circle + Around the autumn moon, + And talked of the change of weather,-- + It would rain, to-morrow, or soon. + + And the rain came on the morrow, + And beat the dying leaves + From the shuddering boughs of the maples + Into the flooded eaves. + + The clouds wept out their sorrow; + But in my heart the tears + Are bitter for want of weeping, + In all these autumn years. + + + III. + + + It is sweet to lie awake musing + On all she has said and done, + To dwell on the words she uttered, + To feast on the smiles I won, + + To think with what passion at parting + She gave me my kisses again,-- + Dear adieux, and tears and caresses,-- + Oh, love! was it joy or pain? + + To brood, with a foolish rapture, + On the thought that it must be + My darling this moment is waking + With tenderest thoughts of me! + + O sleep I are thy dreams any sweeter? + I linger before thy gate: + We must enter at it together, + And my love is loath and late. + + + IV. + + + The bobolink sings in the meadow, + The wren in the cherry-tree: + Come hither, thou little maiden, + And sit upon my knee; + + And I will tell thee a story + I read in a book of rhyme;-- + I will but feign that it happened + To me, one summer-time, + + When we walked through the meadow, + And she and I were young;-- + The story is old and weary + With being said and sung. + + The story is old and weary;-- + Ah, child! is it known to thee? + Who was it that last night kissed thee + Under the cherry-tree? + + + V. + + + Like a bird of evil presage, + To the lonely house on the shore + Came the wind with a tale of shipwreck, + And shrieked at the bolted door, + + And flapped its wings in the gables, + And shouted the well-known names, + And buffeted the windows + Afeard in their shuddering frames. + + It was night, and it is daytime,-- + The morning sun is bland, + The white-cap waves come rocking, rocking, + In to the smiling land. + + The white-cap waves come rocking, rocking, + In the sun so soft and bright, + And toss and play with the dead man + Drowned in the storm last night. + + + VI. + + + I remember the burning brushwood, + Glimmering all day long + Yellow and weak in the sunlight, + Now leaped up red and strong, + + And fired the old dead chestnut, + That all our years had stood, + Gaunt and gray and ghostly, + Apart from the sombre wood; + + And, flushed with sudden summer, + The leafless boughs on high + Blossomed in dreadful beauty + Against the darkened sky. + + We children sat telling stories, + And boasting what we should be, + When we were men like our fathers, + And watched the blazing tree, + + That showered its fiery blossoms, + Like a rain of stars, we said, + Of crimson and azure and purple. + That night, when I lay in bed, + + I could not sleep for seeing, + Whenever I closed my eyes, + The tree in its dazzling splendor + Against the darkened skies. + + I cannot sleep for seeing, + With closed eyes to-night, + The tree in its dazzling splendor + Dropping its blossoms bright; + + And old, old dreams of childhood + Come thronging my weary brain. + Dear foolish beliefs and longings;-- + I doubt, are they real again? + + It is nothing, and nothing, and nothing, + That I either think or see;-- + The phantoms of dead illusions + To-night are haunting me. + + + + +CENTRAL BRITISH AMERICA. + + +Even before the announcement of the discovery of gold upon the Frazer +River and its tributaries, the people of Canada West had induced the +Parliament of England to institute the inquiry, whether the region of +British America, extending from Lakes Superior and Winnipeg to the Rocky +Mountains, is not adapted by fertility of soil, a favorable climate, +and natural advantages of internal communication, for the support of a +prosperous colony of England. + +The Parliamentary investigation had a wider scope. The select committee +of the House of Commons was appointed "to consider the state of those +British possessions in North America which are under the administration +of the Hudson Bay Company, or over which they possess a license to +trade"; and therefore witnesses were called to the organization and +management of the Company itself, as well as the natural features of the +country under its administration. + +On the 31st of July, 1857, the committee reported a large body of +testimony, but without any decisive recommendations. They "apprehend +that the districts on the Red River and the Saskatchewan are among those +most likely to be desired for early occupation," and "trust that there +will be no difficulty in effecting arrangements between her Majesty's +government and the Hudson Bay Company, by which those districts may be +ceded to Canada on equitable principles, and within the districts thus +annexed to her the authority of the Hudson Bay Company would of course +entirely cease." They deemed it "proper to terminate the connection +of the Hudson Bay Company with Vancouver Island as soon as it could +conveniently be done, as the best means of favoring the development of +the great natural advantages of that important colony; and that means +should also be provided for the ultimate extension of the colony +over any portion of the adjacent continent, to the west of the Rocky +Mountains, on which permanent settlement may be found practicable." + +These suggestions indicate a conviction that the zone of the North +American continent between latitudes 49° and 55°, embracing the Red +River and the Saskatchewan districts, east of the Rocky Mountains, and +the area on their western slope, since organized as British Columbia, +was, in the judgment of the committee, suitable for permanent +settlement. As to the territory north of the parallel of 55°, an opinion +was intimated, that the organization of the Hudson's Bay Company was +best adapted to the condition of the country and its inhabitants. + +Within a year after the publication of this report, a great change +passed over the North Pacific coast. The gold discovery on Frazer's +River occurred; the Pacific populations flamed with excitement; British +Columbia was promptly organized as a colony of England; and, amid +the acclamations of Parliament and people, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton +proclaimed, in the name of the government, the policy of continuous +colonies from Lake Superior to the Pacific, and a highway across British +America, as the most direct route from London to Pekin or Jeddo. + +The eastern boundary of British Columbia was fixed upon the Rocky +Mountains. The question recurred, with great force, What shall be the +destiny of the fertile plains of the Saskatchewan and the Red River of +the North? Canada pushed forward an exploration of the route from Fort +William, on Lake Superior, to Fort Garry, on the Red River, and, under +the direction of S.J. Dawson, Esq., civil engineer, and Professor J.Y. +Hinde, gave to the world an impartial and impressive summary of the +great natural resources of the basin of Lake Winnipeg. The merchants of +New York were prompt to perceive the advantages of connecting the Erie +Canal and the Great Lakes--with the navigable channels of Northwest +America, now become prominent and familiar designations of commercial +geography. A report to the New York Chamber of Commerce very distinctly +corrected the erroneous impression, that the valleys of the Mississippi +and St. Lawrence rivers exhausted the northern and central areas which +are available for agriculture. "There is in the heart of North America," +said the report, "a distinct subdivision, of which Lake Winnipeg may +be regarded as the centre. This subdivision, like the valley of the +Mississippi, is distinguished for the fertility of its soil, and for the +extent and gentle slope of its great plains, watered by rivers of great +length, and admirably adapted for steam-navigation. It has a climate not +exceeding in severity that of many portions of Canada and the Eastern +States. It will, in all respects, compare favorably with some of the +most densely peopled portions of the continent of Europe. In other +words, it is admirably fitted to become the seat of a numerous, +hardy, and prosperous community. It has an area equal to eight or ten +first-class American States. Its great river, the Saskatchewan, carries +a navigable water-line to the very base of the Rocky Mountains. It is +not at all improbable that the valley of this river may yet offer the +best route for a railroad to the Pacific. The navigable waters of this +great subdivision interlock with those of the Mississippi. The Red River +of the North, in connection with Lake Winnipeg, into which it falls, +forms a navigable water-line, extending directly north and south nearly +eight hundred miles. The Red River is one of the best adapted to the use +of steam in the world, and waters one of the finest prairie regions on +the continent. Between the highest point at which it is navigable, and +St. Paul, on the Mississippi, a railroad is in process of construction; +and when this road is completed, another grand division of the +continent, comprising half a million square miles, will be open to +settlement." + +The sanguine temper of these remarks illustrates the rapid progress +of public sentiment since the date of the Parliamentary inquiry, only +eighteen months before. Of the same tenor, though fuller in details, +were the publications on the subject in Canada and even in England. The +year 1859 opened with greatly augmented interest in the district of +Central British America. The manifestation of this interest varied with +localities and circumstances. + +In Canada, no opportunity was omitted, either in Parliament or by the +press, to demonstrate the importance to the Atlantic and Lake Provinces +of extending settlements into the prairies of Assinniboin and +Saskatchewan,--thereby affording advantages to Provincial commerce and +manufactures like those which the communities of the Mississippi valley +have conferred upon the older American States. Nevertheless, the +Canadian government declined to institute proceedings before the English +Court of Chancery or Queen's Bench, to determine the validity of the +charter of the Hudson's Bay Company,--assigning, as reasons for not +acceding to such a suggestion by the law-officers of the crown, that +the proposed litigation might be greatly protracted, while the public +interests involved were urgent,--and that the duty of a prompt and +definite adjustment of the condition and relations of the Red River +and Saskatchewan districts was manifestly incumbent upon the Imperial +authority. + +This decision, added to the indisposition of Lower Canada to the policy +of westward expansion, is understood to have convinced Sir E.B. Lytton +that annexation of the Winnipeg basin to Canada was impracticable, and +that the exclusive occupation by the Hudson's Bay Company could be +removed only by the organization of a separate colony. The founder of +British Columbia devoted the latter portion of his administration of +the Colonial Office to measures for the satisfactory arrangement of +conflicting interests in British America. In October, 1858, he proposed +to the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company that they should be +consenting parties to a reference of questions respecting the validity +and extent of their charter, and respecting the geographical extent of +their territory, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The +Company "reasserted their right to the privileges granted to them by +their charter of incorporation," and refused to be a consenting party to +any proceeding which might call in question their chartered rights. + +Under date of November 3, 1858, Lord Caernarvon, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, by the direction of Sir E.B. Lytton, returned a dispatch, +the tenor of which is a key not only to Sir Edward's line of policy, +but, in all probability, to that of his successor, the Duke of +Newcastle. Lord Caernarvon began by expressing the disappointment and +regret with which Sir E.B. Lytton had received the communication, +containing, if he understood its tenor correctly, a distinct refusal on +the part of the Hudson's Bay Company to entertain any proposal with a +view of adjusting the conflicting claims of Great Britain, of Canada, +and of the Company, or to join with her Majesty's government in +affording reasonable facilities for the settlement of the questions in +which Imperial no less than Colonial interests were involved. It had +been his anxious desire to come to some equitable and conciliatory +agreement, by which all legitimate claims of the Company should be +fairly considered with reference to the territories or the privileges +they might be required to surrender. He suggested that such a procedure, +while advantageous to the interests of all parties, might prove +particularly for the interest of the Hudson's Bay Company. "It +would afford a tribunal preeminently fitted for the dispassionate +consideration of the questions at issue; it would secure a decision +which would probably be rather of the nature of an arbitration than of +a judgment; and it would furnish a basis of negotiation on which +reciprocal concession and the claims for compensation could be most +successfully discussed." + +With such persuasive reiteration, Lord Caernarvon, in the name and at +the instance of Sir E.B. Lytton, insisted that the wisest and most +dignified course would be found in an appeal to and a decision by the +Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, with the concurrence alike of +Canada and the Hudson's Bay Company. In conclusion, the Company were +once more assured, that, if they would meet Sir E.B. Lytton in finding +the solution of a recognized difficulty, and would undertake to give all +reasonable facilities for trying the validity of their disputed charter, +they might be assured that they would meet with fair and liberal +treatment, so far as her Majesty's government was concerned; but if, +on the other hand, the Company persisted in declining these terms, and +could suggest no other practicable mode of agreement, Sir E.B. Lytton +held himself acquitted of further responsibility to the interests of +the Company, and proposed to take the necessary steps for closing a +controversy too long open, and for securing a definitive decision, due +alike to the material development of British North America and to the +requirements of an advancing civilization. + +The communication of Lord Caernarvon stated in addition, that, in the +case last supposed, the renewal of the exclusive license to trade in +any part of the Indian territory--a renewal which could be justified +to Parliament only as part of a general agreement adjusted on the +principles of mutual concession--would become impossible. + +These representations failed to influence the Company. The +Deputy-Governor, Mr. H.H. Barens, responded, that, as, in 1850, the +Company had assented to an inquiry before the Privy Council into the +legality of certain powers claimed and exercised by them under their +charter, but not questioning the validity of the charter itself, so, at +this time, if the reference to the Privy Council were restricted to the +question of the geographical extent of the territory claimed by the +Company, in accordance with a proposition made in July, 1857, by Mr. +Labouchere, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, the directors +would recommend to their shareholders to concur in the course suggested; +but must decline to do so, if the inquiry involved not merely the +question of the geographical boundary of the territories claimed by +them, but a challenge of the validity of the charter itself, and, as a +consequence, of the rights and privileges which it professed to grant, +and which the Company had exercised for a period of nearly two hundred +years. Mr. Barens professed that the Company had at all times been +willing to entertain any proposal that might be made to them for the +surrender of any of their rights or of any portion of their territory; +but he regarded it as one thing to consent for a consideration to be +agreed upon to the surrender of admitted rights, and quite another to +volunteer a consent to an inquiry which should call those rights in +question. + +A result of this correspondence has been the definite refusal of the +Crown to renew the exclusive license to trade in Indian territory. +The license had been twice granted to the Company, under an act of +Parliament authorizing it, for periods of twenty-one years,--once +in 1821, and again in 1838. It expired on the 30th of May, 1859. In +consequence of this refusal, the Company must depend exclusively upon +the terms of their charter for their special privileges in British +America. The charter dates from 1670,--a grant by Charles II. to Prince +Rupert and his associates, "adventurers of England, trading into +Hudson's Bay,"--and is claimed to give the right of exclusive trade and +of territorial dominion to Hudson's Bay and tributary rivers. By the +expiration of the exclusive license of Indian trade, and the termination +in 1859 of the lease of Vancouver's Island from the British government, +the sway and influence of the Company are greatly restricted, and the +feasibility of some permanent adjustment is proportionately increased. + +There is no necessity for repeating here the voluminous argument for and +against the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company. The interest of British +colonization in Northwest America far transcends any technical inquiry +of the kind, and the Canadian statesmen are wise in declining to relieve +the English cabinet from the obligation to act definitely and speedily +upon the subject. The organization of the East India Company was no +obstacle to a measure demanded by the honor of England and the welfare +of India; and certainly the parchment of the Second Charles will +not deter any deliberate expression by Parliament in regard to the +colonization of Central British America. Indeed, the managers of the +Hudson's Bay Company are always careful to recognize the probability of +a compromise with the government. The late letter of Mr. Barens to Lord +Caernarvon expressed a willingness, at any time, to entertain proposals +for the surrender of franchises or territory; and in 1848, Sir J.H. +Pelly, Governor of the Company, thus expressed himself in a letter to +Lord Grey:--"As far as I am concerned, (and I think the Company will +concur, if any great national benefit would be expected from it,) I +would be willing to relinquish the whole of the territory held under the +charter on similar terms to those which it is proposed the East India +Company shall receive on the expiration of their charter,--namely, +securing the proprietors an interest on their capital of ten per cent." + +At the adjournment of the Canadian Parliament and the retirement of the +Derby Ministry, in the early part of 1859, the position and prospects of +English colonization in Northwest America were as follows:-- + +1. Vancouver's Island and British Columbia had passed from the +occupation of the Hudson's Bay Company into an efficient colonial +organization. The gold-fields of the interior had been ascertained to +equal in productiveness, and greatly to exceed in extent, those of +California. The prospect for agriculture was no less favorable,--while +the commercial importance of Vancouver and the harbors of Puget's Sound +is unquestionable. + +2. The eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the valleys of the +Saskatchewan and Red River were shown by explorations, conducted under +the auspices of the London Geographical Society and the Canadian +authorities, to be a district of nearly four hundred thousand square +miles, in which a fertile soil, favorable climate, useful and precious +minerals, fur-bearing and food-yielding animals, in a word, the most +lavish gifts of Nature, constituted highly satisfactory conditions for +the organization and settlement of a prosperous community. + +3. In regard to the Hudson's Bay Company, a disposition prevailed not to +disturb its charter, on condition that its directory made no attempts +to enforce an exclusive trade or to interfere with the progress of +settlements. All parties anticipated Parliamentary action. Letters from +London spoke with confidence of a bill, drafted and in circulation +among members of Parliament, for the erection of a colony between Lakes +Superior and Winnipeg and the eastern limits of British Columbia, with +a northern boundary resting on the parallel of 55°; and which, although +postponed by a change of ministry, was understood to represent the views +of the Duke of Newcastle, the successor of Sir E.B. Lytton. + +4. In Canada West, a system of communication from Fort William to Fort +Garry, and thence to the Pacific, was intrusted to a company--the +"Northwest Transit"--which was by no means inactive. A mail to Red +River, over the same route, was also sustained from the Canadian +treasury; and Parliament, among the acts of its previous session, had +conceded a charter for a line of telegraph through the valleys of the +Saskatchewan, with a view to an extension to the Pacific coast, and even +to Asiatic Russia. + +Simultaneously with these movements in England and Canada, the citizens +of the State of Minnesota, after a winter of active discussion, +announced a determination to introduce steam-navigation on the Red +River of the North. Parties were induced to transport the machinery +and cabins, with timber for the hull of a steamer, from the Upper +Mississippi, near Crow Wing, to the mouth of the Cheyenne, on the Red +River, where the boat was reconstructed. The first voyage of the steamer +was from Fort Abercrombie, an American post two hundred miles northwest +of Saint Paul, _down north_ to Fort Garry, during the month of June. The +reception of the stranger was attended by extraordinary demonstrations +of enthusiasm at Selkirk. The bells of Saint Boniface rang greeting, +and Fort Garry blasted powder, as if the Governor of the Company were +approaching its portal. This unique, but interesting community, fully +appreciated the fact that steam had brought their interests within the +circle of the world's activities. + +This incident was the legitimate sequel to events in Minnesota which had +transpired during a period of ten years. Organized as a Territory in +1849, a single decade had brought the population, the resources, and the +public recognition of an American State. A railroad system, connecting +the lines of the Lake States and Provinces at La Crosse with the +international frontier on the Red River at Pembina, was not only +projected, but had secured in aid of its construction a grant by the +Congress of the United States of three thousand eight hundred and +forty acres a mile, and a loan of State credit to the amount of twenty +thousand dollars a mile, not exceeding an aggregate of five million +dollars. Different sections of this important extension of the +Canadian and American railways were under contract and in process of +construction. In addition, the land-surveys of the Federal government +had reached the navigable channel of the Red River; and the line of +frontier settlement, attended by a weekly mail, had advanced to the same +point. Thus the government of the United States, no less than the +people and authorities of Minnesota, were represented in this Northwest +movement. + +Still, its consummation rests with the people and Parliament of England. +Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was prepared with a response to his own +memorable query,--"What will he do with it?" Shall the Liberal party be +less prompt and resolute in advancing the policy, announced from the +throne in 1858, of an uninterrupted series of British colonies across +the continent of North America? This will be determined by the +Parliamentary record of 1860. + + + + +ART. + +PALMER'S "WHITE CAPTIVE." + + +Once on a time a maiden dwelt with her father,--they two, and no +more,--in a rude log-cabin on the skirts of a grand old Western +forest,--majestic mountains behind them, and the broad, free prairie in +front. + +Cut off from all Christian companionship and the informing influences +of civilized arts, all their news was of red men and of game, their +entertainments the ever-varying moods of Nature, their labors of the +rudest, their dangers familiar, their solacements simple and solitary. +Alone the sturdy hunter beat the woods all day, on the track of +panthers, bears, and deer; alone, all day, his pretty daughter kept the +house against perils without and despondency within,--the gun and the +broom alike familiar to her hand. + +Commissioned to illumine the murk wilderness around her with the glow +of her Christian loveliness and faith, Nature had touched her with +inspirations of refinement, with a culture as unconscious as the growing +of the grass, and the clear intuitions of a spiritual life full of +heaven-born inclinations. Nature, too, had endowed her with fine lines +of beauty, attitudes of grace, movements of dignity and love, and all +the charmfulness that had learned its shapes from flowers and its arts +from birds. Nature's officers, the elements, had bestowed on her each +his appropriate gift,--the Air its crispness, the Earth its variety, the +Sun its brightness and its ruddy glow, the very Water from the well its +freshness and its fluent forms; the stars repeated their friendliness in +her eyes, the grass dimpled her pliant feet, the breeze tossed her brown +hair in triumphs of the unstudied becoming, and from the wildness all +about her she had her wit and her delightful ways; Morning lent her her +cheerfulness, Evening her pensiveness, and Night her soul. + +But Night, that had given her the Christian soul, true and wise, +self-reliant and aspiring, brought also the surprise and the peril that +should put it to the proof; for once, when the hunter was belated on his +path, and sudden midnight had caught him beyond the mountain, far +from the rest of his hearth and the song of his darling, came the red +Pawnees, a treacherous crew,--doubly godless because ungrateful, who had +broken the hunter's bread and slept on the hunter's blanket,--and laid +waste his hearth, and stole away his very heart. For they dragged her +many a fearful mile of darkness and distraction, through the black +woods, and grim recesses of the rocks; and there they stripped her +naked, and bound her to a stake, as the day was breaking. But the +Christian heart was within her, and the Christian soul upheld her, and +the Christian's God was by her side; and so she stood, and waited, and +was brave. + +And here still she stands, as the sculptor's soul sat down before her, +in a vision of faith and tenderness, to receive her image,--stands and +waits for the pity and the help of you and me, her brothers and her +lovers. We long to rescue her and take her to our hearts; we are touched +by her predicament, as Michelet tells us the heart of the beholder is +moved by the bound Andromeda of Puget,--that great artist in whom +dwelt the suffering soul of a depraved age, and who all his life long +sculptured forlorn captives,--"Ah, would I had been there to rescue the +darling!" + +But we are told of the Andromeda, that, unconscious and almost dead, she +knows not where she is, nor who has come to set her free; for, paralyzed +by the chafing of her chains, and even more by fear, she cannot stand, +and seems utterly exhausted. + +Not so with our Andromeda. Horror possesses her, but indignation also; +she is terrified, but brave; she shrinks, but she repels; and while all +her beautiful body trembles and retreats, her countenance confronts her +captors, and her steady gaze forbids them. "Touch me not!" she says, +with every shuddering limb and every tensely-braced muscle, with +lineaments all eloquent with imperious disgust,--"Touch me not!" + +Her lips quiver, and tears are in her eyes, (we do not forget that it +is of marble we are speaking,--there _are_ tears in her eyes,) but they +only linger there; she is not weeping now; her chin trembles, and one of +her hands is convulsively clenched,--but it is with the anguish of her +sore besetting, not the spasm of mortal fear. Though Heaven and Earth, +indeed, might join to help her, we yet know that the soul of the maiden +will help itself,--that her hope clings fast, and her courage is +undaunted, and her faith complete. + +Among her thronged emotions we look in vain for shame. Her nakedness is +a coarse chance of her overwhelming situation, for which she is no more +concerned than for her galled wrists or her dishevelled hair. What is it +to such a queen as she, that the eyes of grinning brutes are blessed by +her perfect beauties? + +The qualities which constitute true greatness in a statue such as this +are, if we apprehend them aright,--first, that sublime simplicity of +Idea which omnipotently sways the beholder, and alike inspires his +coarseness or his culture; next, that personality, that moving humanness +of feeling, which holds him by his very heart-strings, and makes him +forget its marble, to accept its flesh and blood; and, finally, that +wondrous skill of nice manipulation, which, neglecting nothing in the +myriad of anatomical and physiological details,--not even the faintest +sigh or the dimmest tremor,--tells, fibre by fibre, a tale that all may +read, and comes to us with a story "to hold children from play and old +men from the chimney-corner." + +Tried by this definition, we believe the "White Captive" proves its +claim to genuine greatness, and that it will presently take its place, +with the world's consent, in the front rank of modern statues,--good +among the best, in the flesh-and-bloodness and the soul of it. It is +original, it is faithful, it is American; our women may look upon it, +and say, "She is one of us," with more satisfaction than the Greek women +could have derived from the Venus de' Medici, with its insignificant +head and its impossible spine. + +Especially true to the American type, as compared in statues with the +familiar Greek, the head of the "White Captive" is large; but that it +is too large, or in excess of the least of a thousand female heads that +have been gathered around it since it was first exposed to the +public scrutiny, we have failed to discover in repeated and careful +examinations; and we are constrained to commend such as may be exercised +on that point to the critical flippancies of the jaunty gentlemen who +find the hips at once too broad and too narrow, the bosom too full and +too young, the arms too meagre and too stout. + + + + +FOREST PHOTOGRAPHS. + + +We call the attention of our readers to a series of twelve photographic +views of forest and lake scenery published by Mr. J.W. Black, Boston, +from negatives taken by Mr. Stillman in the Adirondack country. The +points of view are chosen with the fine feeling of an artist, and the +tangled profusion and grace of the forest, with the moment's whim of +sunfleck and shadow, are given with exquisite delicacy. Whatever +the all-beholding sun could see in those woodland depths we have +here,--sketches of the shaggy Pan snatched at unawares in sleep. One may +study these pictures till he becomes as familiar as a squirrel with fern +and tree-bark and moose-wood and lichen, till he knows every trunk and +twig and leaf as intimately as a sunbeam. + + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Plutarch's Lives._ The Translation called Dryden's. Corrected from the +Greek, and Revised, by A.H. CLOUGH, sometime Fellow and Tutor of +Oriel College, Oxford, and late Professor of the English Language and +Literature at University College, London. Boston: Little, Brown, & +Company. 1859. Five vols. 8vo. + +In these five handsome volumes, we have, at length, a really good +edition in English of Plutarch's Lives. One of the most delightful books +in the world, one of the few universal classics, appears for the first +time in our language in a translation worthy of its merits. + +Mr. Clough, whose name is well known, not only by scholars, but also by +the lovers of poetry, has performed the work of editor with admirable +diligence, fidelity, and taste. The labor of revision has been neither +slight nor easy. It has, indeed, amounted to not much less than would +have been required for the making of a new translation. The versions in +the translation that bears Dryden's name, made, as they were, by various +hands, and apparently not submitted to the revision of any competent +scholar, were unequal in execution, and were disfigured by many +mistakes, as well as by much that was slovenly in style. At the time +they were made, scholarship in England was not at a high point. Bentley +had not yet lifted it out of mediocrity, and the translators were not +stimulated by the fear either of severe criticism or of comparison +of their labors with any superior work. The numerous defects of this +translation are spoken of by the Langhornes, in the Preface to their +own, with a somewhat jealous severity, which gives unusual vigor to +their sentences. "The diversities of style," say they, "were not the +greatest fault of this strange translation. It was full of the grossest +errors. Ignorance on the one hand, and hastiness or negligence on the +other, had filled it with absurdities in every Life, and inaccuracies on +almost every page." This is a hard, perhaps an extreme judgment; but it +serves to show the difficulties that would attend a revision of such a +work. These difficulties Mr. Clough has fairly met and overcome. We +do not mean to say that he has reduced the whole book to a perfect +uniformity, or even to entire elegance and exactness of style; but he +has corrected inaccuracies, he has removed the chief marks of negligence +or haste; and, after a careful comparison of a considerable portion of +the work as it now appears with the Greek text, we have no hesitation in +saying that this translation answers not merely to the demands of +modern scholarship, but forms a book at once essentially accurate and +delightful for common reading.[A] We think, moreover, that Mr. Clough +was right in choosing the so-called Dryden's translation as the basis of +his work. Its style is not old enough to have become antiquated, while +yet it possesses much of the savor and raciness of age. The book +is interesting from Dryden's connection with it, but still more +so--considering how slight that connection was, his only contribution to +it being the Life of Plutarch--from the fact, that the translations of +some of the Lives were made by famous men, as that of Alcibiades by Lord +Chancellor Somers, and that of Alexander by the excellent John Evelyn; +while others were made by men who, if not famous, are at least well +remembered by the lovers of the literature of the time,--as that of +Numa by Sir Paul Rycaut, the Turkey merchant, and the continuer of Dr. +Johnson's favorite history of the Turks,--that of Otho by Pope's friend, +the medical poet, Dr. Garth,--that of Solon by Creech, the translator of +Lucretius,--that of Lysander by the Honorable Charles Boyle, whose name +is preserved in the alcohol of Bentley's classical satire,--and that of +Themistocles by Edward, the son of Sir Thomas Browne. + +[Footnote A: For the sake of illustration of the care and labor given by +Mr. Clough to the revision, we open at random on the Life of Dion, Vol. +V., p. 291, and, comparing it with the original _Dryden_, we find, that +in ten pages, to the end of the Life, there are but three, and they +short sentences, in which changes of more or less consequence have not +been made. These changes amount sometimes to entire new translation, +sometimes consist merely in the correction of a few words. Throughout, +the hand of the thorough scholar is apparent. The earlier volumes of the +series would, probably, rarely exhibit such considerable alterations.] + +But Mr. Clough's labors have not been merely those of reviser and +corrector. He has added greatly to the value of the work by occasional +concise foot-notes, as well as by notes contained in an appendix to each +volume. So excellent, indeed, are these notes, so full of learning and +information, conveyed in an agreeable way, that we cannot but feel a +regret (not often excited by commentators) that their number is not +greater. In addition to these, the fifth volume contains a very +carefully prepared and full Index of Proper Names, which is followed by +a list for reference as to their pronunciation. + +When this version, to which Dryden gave his name, was made, there was no +other in English but that of Sir Thomas North, which had been made, not +from the Greek, but from the French of Amyot, and was first published in +1579. It was a good work for its time, and worthy of being dedicated to +Queen Elizabeth, although, as the knight declares, "she could better +understand it in Greek than any man can make it English." Its style is +rather robust than elegant, partaking of the manly vigor of the language +of its time, and now and then exhibiting something of that charm of +quaint simplicity which belongs to its original, Montaigne's favorite +Amyot. "Of all our French writers," says the incomparable essayist, +"I give, with justice, I think, the palm to Jacques Amyot";[B] and +thereupon he goes on to praise the purity of his style, as well as the +depth of his learning and judgment. But, although Amyot had "a true +imagination" of his author, he was not always exact in giving his +meaning. The learned Dr. Guy Patin says: "On dit que M. de Meziriac +avoit corrigé dans son Amyot huit mille fautes, et qu'Amyot n'avoit +pas de bons exemplaires, ou qu'il n'avoit pas bien entendu le Grec de +Plutarque."[C] + +[Footnote B: _Essays_, Book II. 4.] + +[Footnote C: _Patiniana_.] + +Amyot's eight thousand errors were not diminished in passing into Sir +Thomas North's English; but their number mattered little to the readers +of those days, who found in the thick folio enough of interest to spare +them from making inquiry as to the exactness of its rendering of the +meaning of Plutarch. From the time of its first publication, for more +than a hundred years, it was one of the most popular books of the +period, as was proved by the appearance of six successive editions in +folio.[D] Some of these clumsy volumes may, no doubt, have been put +to uses as ignoble as that which Chrysale, in "Les Femmes Savantes," +suggests for his sister's similar copy of Amyot:-- + + "Vos livres éternels ne me contentent pas; + Et, hors un gros Plutarque à mettre mes rabats, + Vous devriez bruler tout ce meuble inutile";-- + +but duller books of the same size, of which there were many in those +days of patient readers, would have had an equal value for such +economical purposes as this, and "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and +Romans by that Grave Learned Philosopher & Historiographer Plutarch" +were too entertaining to young and old to be left for any length of time +quietly upon the shelf. They were the familiar reading of boys who +were to become the actors in the great drama of the Rebellion and the +Commonwealth, or who a little later were to frequent the dissolute court +of Charles, presenting in their own lives, whether in camp or court, as +patriots or as traitors, parallels to those which they had read in the +weighty pages of the old biographer. + +[Footnote D: In 1579, 1595, 1602, 1631, 1657, 1676. Mr. Hooper, in his +Introduction to Chapman's Homer, London, 1857, says, that "the edition +of 1657 was published under the superintendence of the illustrious +Selden." We do not know his authority for this statement. The fact, if +it be one, is very remarkable, as Selden's death took place in 1654.] + +Nor in more recent times has North's version failed of admirers. Godwin +declared, that, till this book fell into his hands, he had no genuine +feeling of Plutarch's merits, or knowledge of what sort of a writer he +was. But the chief interest of this translation at the present day, +except what it possesses as a storehouse of good mother-English, comes +from the fact that it was one of the books of Shakespeare's moderate +library, and one which he had thoroughly read, as is manifest from the +use that he made of it in his own works, especially in "Coriolanus," +"Julius Caesar," and "Antony and Cleopatra." It was from the worthy +knight's folio that he got much of his little Latin and less Greek. He +helped himself freely to what was to his purpose; and a comparison of +the passages which he borrowed from with the scenes founded upon them is +interesting, as showing his use of the very words of the author before +him, and as exhibiting the new appearances which those words take on +under his plastic hand. We have no space for long extracts; but a short +illustration will serve to show that Shakespeare is the best translator +of Plutarch into English that we have had. Compare these two passages:-- + +"Therefore, when she [Cleopatra] was sent unto by divers letters, both +from Antonius himself and also from his friends, she made so light of +it, and mocked Antonius so much, that she disdained to set forward +otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus; the poop +whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, and the oars of silver, which +kept stroke in rowing after the sound of the musick of flutes, bowboys, +citherns, viols, and such other instruments as they played upon in the +barge. And now for the person of herself, she was laid under a pavillion +of cloth of gold of tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddess +Venus, commonly drawn in picture; and hard by her, on either hand of +her, pretty fair boys apparelled as painters do set forth god Cupid, +with little fans in their hands, with which they fanned wind upon her. +Her ladies and gentlewomen also, the fairest of them were apparelled +like the Nymphs Nereides (which are the Myrmaids of the waters) and like +the Graces; some steering the helm, others tending the tackle and ropes +of the barge, out of the which there came a wonderful passing sweet +savour of perfumes, that perfumed the wharf's side, pestered with +innumerable multitudes of people. Some of them followed the barge all +along the river side; others also ran out of the city to see her coming +in. So that in the end there ran such multitudes of people one +after another to see her, that Antonius was left post alone in the +market-place, in his imperial seat to give audience."--NORTH'S +_Plutarch, Life of Antonius_, p. 763. Ed. of 1676. + +_Enobarbus._ When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart +upon the river of Cydnus. + +_Agrippa._ There she appeared, indeed; or my reporter devised well for +her. + + _Eno._ I will tell you. + The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, + Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold; + Purple the sails, and so perfumed that + The winds were lovesick; with them the oars were silver, + Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made + The water, which they beat, to follow faster, + As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, + It beggar'd all description: she did lie + In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,) + O'er-picturing that Venus where we see + The fancy outwork Nature: on each side her + Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, + With divers-color'd fans, whose wind did seem + To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, + And what they undid, did. + + _Agr._ Oh, rare for Antony! + + _Eno._ Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids, + So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes, + And made their bends adornings: at the helm + A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle + Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, + That yarely frame the office. From the barge + A strange invisible perfume hits the sense + Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast + Her people out upon her, and Antony, + Enthron'd i' th' market-place, did sit alone, + Whistling to the air, which, but for vacancy, + Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, + And made a gap in Nature. + +_Antony and Cleopatra_. Act II. Sc. 2. + +The operations of Shakespeare's creative imagination are rarely to be +observed more distinctly than in such instances as this, where we see +the precise source from which he drew, in all its original limitations +and native character. Books were to him like ingots of gold, which, +passing through the mint of his brain, came out thence stamped coin, +current for all time. Viewing some of his plays, it may be said, with no +real, though with apparent contradiction, that no man ever borrowed more +from books, and yet none ever owed less to them. For the Roman times +Plutarch served him, as Holinshed and Hall supplied him for his English +histories. Under Plutarch's guidance he walked through the streets of +ancient Rome, and became familiar with the conduct of her men. He is +more Roman than Plutarch himself, and by divine right of imagination he +makes himself a citizen of the Eternal City. While Shakespeare was using +Plutarch to such advantage, on the other hand, Ben Jonson seems to have +borrowed little or nothing from him in his Roman plays. He got what he +wanted out of the Latin authors, and he succeeded in Latinizing his +plays,--in giving to his characters the dress, but not the spirit of +Rome. + +It was toward the end of the seventeenth century that Dryden's +translation appeared, and for about fifty years it held much the same +place with the reading public that North's had filled for previous +generations. It was, no doubt, in this version that Mrs. Fitzpatrick +amused herself during her seclusion in Ireland, as she tells Sophia +Western, with reading "a great deal in Plutarch's Lives." But this was +at length superseded by the translation of the brothers Langhorne, +which, spite of its want of vivacity, its labored periods, and formal +narrative, has retained its place as the popular version of Plutarch up +to the present day. One can hardly help wishing--so little of Plutarch's +spirit survives in their dull pages--that a similar fate had overtaken +these excellent men to that which carried off the gentle Abbé Ricard +with the _grippe_, when he had published but half of his translation of +the Philosopher of Cheronaea. + +It is a proof of the intrinsic charm of Plutarch's Lives, that thus, +notwithstanding the imperfect manner in which they have been, up to this +time, presented to English readers, they should have been so constantly +and so generally read.[E] They have given equal delight to all ages and +to all classes. The heavy folio has been taken from its place on the +lower shelves in the quiet libraries of English country-houses, and been +read by old men at their firesides, by girls in trim gardens, by boys +who cared for no other classic. The cheap double-column octavo has +travelled in peddlers' carts to all the villages of New England, to +the backwoodsman's cabin in the West. It has taken its place on the +clock-shelf, with only the Bible, the "Pilgrim's Progress," and the +Almanac for its companions. No other classic author, with, perhaps, the +single exception of Aesop, has been so widely read in modern times; and +the popular knowledge of the men of Greece and Rome is derived more +from Plutarch than from all other ancient authors put together. The +often-repeated saying of Theodore Gaza, who, being once asked, if +learning should suffer a general shipwreck, and he had the choice of +saving one author, which he would select, is said to have replied, +"Plutarch,"--"and probably might give this reason," says Dryden, "that +in saving him he should secure the best collection of them all,"--this +saying is but a sort of prophecy of the decision of the common world, +who have chosen Plutarch from all the rest, and find, as Amyot says, "no +one else so profitable and so pleasant to read as he."[F] + +[Footnote E: We have not spoken of Mr. Long's translations of Select +Lives from Plutarch, which were published in the series of Knight's +Weekly Volumes, under the title of _The Civil Wars of Rome_, because, +although executed in a manner deserving the highest praise, they +presented to English readers but a limited number of Plutarch's +biographies. Mr. Clough says, justly, in his Preface, that his own work +would not have been needed, had not Mr. Long confined his translations +within so narrow a compass.] + +[Footnote F: "De tous les auteurs," says the Baron de Grimm, "qui nous +restent de l'antiquité, Plutarque est, sans contredit, celui qui a +recueilli le plus de vérités de fait et de spéculation. Ses oeuvres sont +une mine inépuisable de lumieres et de connaissance; c'est vraiment +l'encyclopédie des anciens." _Mémoires Historiques_, etc., I., 312.] + +Nor is it merely the common mass of readers who have chosen Plutarch as +their favorite ancient. The list of great and famous men who have made +him their companion is a long one. Men of action and men of thought have +taken equal satisfaction in his pages. Petrarch, the first scholar of +the Revival, held him in high esteem, and drew from him much of his +uncommon learning. Erasmus, the first scholar of the Reformation, made +his writings a special study, and translated from the Greek a large +portion of his Moral Works. Montaigne has taken pains to tell us of his +affection for him, and his Essays are full of the proofs of it. "I never +seriously settled myself," he says, "to the reading of any book of +solid learning but Plutarch and Seneca."[G] And in another essay he +adds,--"The familiarity I have had with these two authors, and the +assistance they have lent to my age, and to my book wholly built up of +what I have taken from them, oblige me to stand up for their honor."[H] +And again he declares,--"The hooks I chiefly use to form my opinions are +Plutarch, since he became French, and Seneca."[I] The genial humanity +and liberal wisdom of Plutarch claimed the sympathy of Montaigne, while +his discursive style and love of story-telling suited no less the taste +of his disciple. Montaigne, as it were, makes Plutarch a modern, and +uses his books to illustrate the passing times. He introduces him to new +characters, and reads his judgment upon them. He finds in him a hundred +things that others had not seen. It is a wide step from Montaigne +to Rousseau, and yet, spite of the naturalness of the one and the +artificiality of the other, there were some points of resemblance +between them, and they harmonize in their love for a common master, +Rousseau has written of Plutarch as Montaigne felt,--"Dans le petit +nombre de livres que je lis quelquefois encore, Plutarque est celui +qui m'attache et me profite le plus. Ce fut la première lecture de mon +enfance, et sera la dernière de ma vieillesse; c'est presque le seul +auteur que je n'ai jamais lu sans en tirer quelque fruit."[J] Plutarch's +Lives was one of the few books recommended to Catharine II. of Russia, +as she herself tells us, wherewith to solace and instruct herself during +the first wretched years of her miserable married life. It is, perhaps, +not impossible to trace in some passages of her later life the results +of what she then read. + +[Footnote G: _Essays._ Book I., Chapter 25.] + +[Footnote H: _Essays_, II. 23.] + +[Footnote I: _Ibid._ II. 10.] + +[Footnote J: _Les Rêveries d'un Promeneur Solitaire._ Quatrième +Promenade.] + +And thus we might go on accumulating the names of men and women whom +all the world knows, who have confessed their obligations to the old +biographer,--philosophers like Bacon, warriors like Bussy d'Amboise, +poets like Wordsworth; while many a one has owed much to him who has +made no open acknowledgment of his debt. Montaigne somewhere complains +of the unlicensed stealings from his author; and Udall, in his Preface +to the Apophthegms of Erasmus, declares,--"It is a thing scarcely +believable, how much, and how boldly as well, the common writers that +from time to time have copied out his [Plutarch's] works, as also +certain that have thought themselves liable to control and amend all +men's doings, have taken upon them in this author, who ought with +all reverence to be handled of them, and with all fear to have been +preserved from altering, depraving, or corrupting."[K] + +[Footnote K: The following passage presents a view of some of the uses +to which Plutarch's narratives were turned during the Middle Ages. "Or +personne n'ignore que les chroniqueurs du moyen âge compilaient les +faits les plus remarquables de l'Écriture Sainte ou des histoires +profanes pour les mêler à leurs récits. C'est ainsi que ceux qui ont +écrit la vie de Du Guesclin ont mis sur le compte de ce héros ce +que Plutarque rapporte de plus mémorable des grands hommes de +l'antiquité."--SOUVESTRE. _Les Derniers Bretons._ I. 147.] + +The question naturally arises, What are the qualities in Plutarch which +have made him so universal a favorite, which have attracted towards him +men of such opposite tempers and different lives? It is not enough +to say that all real biography is of interest,--that every man +has curiosity about the life of every other man, and finds in it +illustrations of his own. Other writers of lives have not had the same +fortune with Plutarch. For one reader of Suetonius or of Diogenes +Laërtius, there are a thousand of Plutarch. Nor is it that the subjects +of his biographies are greater or more famous than all other men. Some +of the noblest and best known men of Greece and Rome are omitted from +Plutarch's list.[L] The true grounds of the general popularity of +Plutarch's Lives are not to be found in their subjects so much as in +his manner of treating them, and in the qualities of his own nature, as +exhibited in his book. At the tomb of Achilles, Alexander declared that +he esteemed him happy in having had so famous a poet to proclaim his +actions; and scarcely less fortunate were they who had such a biographer +as Plutarch to record their lives. He himself has given us his +conception of the true office of a biographer, and in this has explained +in great part the secret of his excellence. "It must be borne in mind," +he says, "that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And +the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest +discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, +an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and +inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the +bloodiest battles whatsoever. Therefore, as portrait-painters are more +exact in the lines and features of the face, in which the character is +seen, than in the other parts of the body, so I must be allowed to give +my more particular attention to the marks and indications of the souls +of men; and, while I endeavor by these to portray their lives, may be +free to leave more weighty matters and great battles to be treated of by +others."[M] + +[Footnote L: In Rogers's _Recollections_, Grattan is reported as +saying,--"Of all men, if I could call up one, it should be Scipio +Africanus. Hannibal was perhaps a greater captain, but not so great and +good a man. Epaminondas did not do so much. Themistocles was a rogue." +It is curious that Themistocles is the only one of these men of whom we +have a biography by Plutarch. His Lives of Scipio and Epaminondas are +lost. Hannibal did not come within the scope of his design.] + +[Footnote M: _Life of Alexander_, at the beginning.] + +It is his fidelity to this principle, his dealing with events and +circumstances chiefly as they illustrate character, his delineation of +the features of the souls of men, that constitutes Plutarch's highest +merit as a biographer. He is no historian; he often neglects chronology, +and disregards the sequence of events; he omits many incidents, and he +avoids the details of national and political affairs. The progress of +the advance or decline of states is not to be learned from his pages. +But if his Lives be read in chronological order, much may be inferred +from them of the moral condition and changes of the communities in which +the men flourished whose characters and actions he describes. Biography +is thus made to cast an incidental light upon history. The successes +of Alexander give evidence of the lowering of the Greek spirit, and +illustrate the immemorial weakness of Oriental tyrannies. The victories +and the defeats of Pyrrhus alike display the vigor of Republican Rome. +The character and the fate of Mark Antony show that vigor at its ebb, +and foretell the near fall of the Roman liberties. Thus in his long +series of lives of noble Grecians and Romans, the motives and principles +which lay at the foundation of the characters of the men who moulded the +fate of Greece and Rome, the reciprocal influences of their times upon +these men and of these men upon their times, may all be traced with more +or less distinctness and certainty. It was not Plutarch's object to +exhibit them in sequent evolution, but, in attaining the object which he +had in view, he could not fail to make them manifest to the thoughtful +reader. His book, though not a history, is invaluable to historians. + +But the character of Plutarch himself, not less than his method of +writing biography, explains his universal popularity, and gives its +special charm and value to his book. He was a man of large and generous +nature, of strong feeling, of refined tastes, of quick perceptions. His +mind had been cultivated in the acquisition of the best learning of his +times, and was disciplined by the study of books as well as of men. He +deserves the title of philosopher; but his philosophy was of a practical +rather than a speculative character,--though he was versed in the wisest +doctrines of the great masters of ancient thought, and in some of his +moral works shows himself their not unworthy follower. Above all, he was +a man of cheerful, genial, and receptive temper. A lover of justice and +of liberty, his sympathies are always on the side of what is right, +noble, and honorable. He believed in a divine ordering of the world, +and saw obscurely through the mists and shadows of heathenism the +indications of the wisdom and rectitude of an overruling Providence. +To him man did not appear as the sole arbiter of his own destiny, but +rather as an unconscious agent in working out the designs of a Higher +Power; and yet, as these designs were only dimly and imperfectly to +be recognized, the noblest man was he who was truest to the eternal +principles of right, who was most independent of the chances and +shiftings of fortune, who, "fortressed on conscience and impregnable +will," strove to live in the manliest and most self-supported relations +with the world, neither fearing nor hoping much in regard to the +uncertainties of the future, and who + + "metus omnes et inexorabile fatum + Subjecit pedibus." + +In his whole character, Plutarch shows himself one of the best examples +of the intelligent heathen of the later classic period. His Writings +contain the practical essence of the results of Greek and Roman life +and thought. His intellect, equally removed from superstition and +from skepticism, was open with a large receptiveness, which sometimes +approaches to credulity, to the traditions of early wonders, to the +reports of recent miracles, and to the stories of the deeds and sayings +of men.[N] The evidence upon which he reports is often insufficient to +establish the statements that he makes; but his readiness to tell the +current stories gives to his biographies a peculiar interest, adding +to their entertainment, and at the same time to their value as +representations of common beliefs and popular fancies. He is one of the +best story-tellers of antiquity, and from his works a series of "Percy +Anecdotes" of ancient men might easily be compiled. "Such anecdotes will +not," says he, in his Life of Timoleon, "be thought, I conceive, either +foreign to my purpose of writing lives, or unprofitable in themselves, +by such readers as are not in too much haste, or busied and taken up +with other concerns." It is this fulness of anecdote, which, perhaps, +more than any other quality of his writings, makes him the favorite +of boys as well as of men. He treasures up pithy sayings, and his own +reflections are often epigrammatic in expression, and always full of +good sense. + +[Footnote N: There are two remarkable passages in the _Life of +Coriolanus_ which illustrate Plutarch's opinions upon these points. The +first (ii. 91) treats of the divine influence on the human will and +action; the second (ii. 97-98) relates to the mode of regarding events +seemingly incredible. This latter is peculiarly distinguished by its +good sense and clear statement. It closes with the memorable saying, +"Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is +lost to us by incredulity."] + +In his Life of Demosthenes, in a passage which is pleasant on account of +its personal reference, Plutarch speaks of the advantage that it would +be for a writer like himself to reside in some city addicted to liberal +arts, and populous, where he might have access to many books, and to +many persons from whom he might gather up such facts as books do not +contain. "But as for me," he says, "I live in a little town, where I am +willing to continue, lest it should grow less." And he goes on to excuse +himself for his imperfect knowledge of the Roman tongue, which unfits +him to draw a comparison between the orations of Demosthenes and of +Cicero. But, although his acquaintance with the structure and powers +of the language may have been insufficient to enable him to venture on +literary criticism, his acquaintance with the books of the Romans was +considerable, and he had thoroughly studied the Greek authors who had +written on Roman affairs. His own library, or the libraries to which he +had access at Chaeronea, must have been well furnished with the books +most important for his studies. He is said to quote two hundred and +fifty authors, some eighty of whom are among those whose works have been +wholly or partly lost. He made careful use of his materials, which were, +of course, more abundant for his Greek than for his Roman narratives. +"If we would put the Lives of Plutarch to a severe test," says Mr. Long, +than whom no one is better qualified to speak with authority upon the +subject, "we must carefully examine his Roman Lives. He says that he +knew Latin imperfectly, and he lived under the Empire, when many of the +educated Romans had but a superficial acquaintance with the earlier +history of their state. We must therefore expect to find him imperfectly +informed on Roman institutions; and we can detect him in some errors. +Yet, on the whole, his Roman Lives do not often convey erroneous +notions; if the detail is incorrect, the general impression is true. +They may be read with profit by those who seek to know something of +Roman affairs, and have not knowledge enough to detect an error. They +probably contain as few mistakes as most biographies which have been +written by a man who is not the countryman of those whose lives he +writes." + +Yet, spite of his general accuracy and his impartial temper, the +representations which Plutarch makes of the characters which he +describes are not always to be accepted as fair delineations. +Unconscious prejudice, or misconception of circumstances and relations, +sometimes leads him into apparent injustice. Thus, for example, while he +bears hardly upon Demosthenes, and sets out many of his actions in too +unfavorable lights, he, on the other hand, interprets the conduct and +character of Phocion with manifest indulgence, and presents a flattered +portrait of a man whose death turned popular reproaches into pity, but +was insufficient to redeem the faults of his life. + +Mr. Grote, in his History, passes a very different judgment upon these +two men from that to which one would be led by the perusal of Plutarch's +narratives merely. And it is an illustration, at once, of the honesty of +the ancient biographer, and of the ability of the modern historian, that +Mr. Grote should not infrequently derive from Plutarch's own account the +means for correcting his false estimate of the motives and the actions +of those whom he misjudged. + +In an excellent passage in his Preface, Mr. Clough remarks that + +"Much has been said of Plutarch's inaccuracy; and it cannot be denied +that he is careless about numbers, and occasionally contradicts his own +statements. A greater fault, perhaps, is his passion for anecdote; he +cannot forbear from repeating stories the improbability of which he is +the first to recognize, which, nevertheless, by mere repetition, +leave unjust impressions. He is unfair in this way to Demosthenes and +Pericles,--against the latter of whom, however, he doubtless inherited +the prejudices which Plato handed down to the philosophers. + +"It is true, also, that his unhistorical treatment of the subjects +of his biography makes him often unsatisfactory and imperfect in the +portraits he draws. Much, of course, in the public lives of statesmen +can find its only explanation in their political position; and of this +Plutarch often knows and thinks little. So far as the researches of +modern historians have succeeded in really recovering a knowledge of +relations of this sort, so far, undoubtedly, these biographies stand in +need of their correction. Yet, in the uncertainty which must attend all +modern restorations, it is agreeable, and surely also profitable, to +recur to portraits drawn ere new thoughts and views had occupied the +civilized world, without reference to such disputable grounds of +judgment, simply upon the broad principles of the ancient moral code of +right and wrong. .... We have here the faithful record of the historical +tradition of Plutarch's age. This is what, in the second century of +our era, Greeks and Romans loved to believe about their warriors and +statesmen of the past. As a picture, at least, of the best Greek and +Roman moral views and moral judgments, as a presentation of the results +of Greek and Roman moral thought, delivered, not under the pressure +of calamity, but as they existed in ordinary times, and actuated +plain-living people, in country places, in their daily life, Plutarch's +writings are of indisputable value." + +Of all the biographies contained in his work, none might excite greater +suspicion of incorrectness than that of Timoleon, on account of the +extraordinary character both of the man and of the incidents of his +career. His story reads like a romance of the ancient times, like a +legend of some half-mythical hero, rather than like the true account of +an actual man. There is, perhaps, none among his Lives which Plutarch +has written with greater spirit, with livelier sympathies, than this. +And yet, in spite of all its seeming improbability, there is little +reason to question its essential truth. It corresponds, with some minor +exceptions, with all that can be ascertained from other ancient authors +who wrote concerning the deliverer of Sicily; and even Mitford, with all +his zeal in the cause of tyrants, can find little to detract from the +praise of Timoleon, or to diminish our confidence in the truth of +Plutarch's account of him. + +But, in addition to the interest that belongs to these biographies, +from their intrinsic qualities, as affected by the character of +Plutarch,--beside the interest which the common reader or the student +of biography and history may find in them, they possess a still deeper +interest for the student of human nature, in its various modifications, +under varying influences, and in different ages, from exhibiting to him, +in a long series, many of the chief characters of the heathen world +in such form as fits them for comparison with the prominent men of +Christian times. The question of the effect of Christianity upon the +characters and lives of the leading actors in modern history is not more +important than it is difficult of solution. Plutarch, better than any +other ancient writer, affords the means of estimating the motives, the +principles, the objects, of the men of the old time. We see in his pages +what they were; we see the differences between them and the men of later +days. How far are those differences exhibitions of inferiority or of +superiority? How far do they result from the influence of secondary +causes? how far from the change in religious belief? + +No man who knows much of the course of history will venture to insist +greatly on any essential change for the better having been wrought as +yet by Christianity in the manner in which the affairs of the world are +carried on. Christianity has not yet been fairly tried. Nations +calling themselves Christian are still governed on heathen principles. +Christianity has been for the most part perverted and misunderstood. The +grossest errors have been taught in its name, are still taught in its +name. Falsehood has claimed the authority of truth, and its claim has +been granted. The stream which flowed out pure from its source has been +caught in foul cisterns, has been led into narrow channels, has been +made stagnant in desolate pools and wide-spread weedy marshes. The +doctrine of Christ has had thus far in the world but very few hearers +who have understood it. Many a modern creed might well go back to +heathenism for improvement. This perversion of Christianity is a +chief element in the difficulty of tracing the real influence of true +Christian teaching upon character. It is this which compels us to draw +a parallel, not so much between the actual characters of ancient and +modern times, if we would rightly understand the differences between +them, as between what we may assume to be the ideal standards of the +heathen and the Christian. But to treat this subject with the fulness +and in the manner which it deserves would lead us too far from Plutarch, +and we have done enough in suggesting it as matter for reflection to +those who read his Lives. + +One of the most marked differences in the position of the ancient and +the modern man is that which has been quietly and gradually brought +about by science; but its effect is little recognized by the mass of men +or the most wide-spread churches. It is the difference of his recognized +relations to the universe. While this earth was supposed to be the +central point and main effort of creation, while the earth itself +was unknown, and all the regions of space were regarded as void and +untenanted, save by the inventions of fancy, man may have seemed to +himself a creature of large proportions and of considerable importance. +He measured himself with the gods and the half-gods, and found himself +not much their inferior. In reading Plutarch, one cannot fail to be +struck with the manly self-reliance of his best men of action. Their +piety had no weakness of self-abasement in it. They possessed a piety +toward themselves as well as toward the gods. Timoleon, who was attended +by the good-fortune that waits on noble character, erected in the house +which the Syracusans bestowed upon him an altar to [Greek: Automatia], +which, as Mr. Clough well remarks, in a note, "is almost equivalent to +Spontaneousness. His successes had come, as it were, of themselves." The +act was an acknowledgment of divine favor, and an assertion at the +same time of his individual independence of action. This spirit of +self-dependence was the grandest feature of Greek and Roman heathenism; +and it is in this, if in anything, that a superiority of character is +manifest in the men of ancient times. The famous passage in Seneca's +tragedy, in which Medea asserts herself as sufficient to stand alone +against the universe, contains its essence and is its complete +expression. + + _Nutr._ Spes nulla monstrat rebus adflictis viam. + + _Med._ Qui nil potest sperare, desperet nihil. + + _Nutr._ Abiere Colchi; conjugis nulla est fides; + Nihilque superest opibus e tantis tibi. + + _Med._ Medea superest; hic mare et terras vides, + Ferrumque, et ignes, et deos, et fulmina. + _Medea_, Act ii. 162-167. + +Here is self-reliance at its highest point; the strength of resolute +will measuring itself singly and undauntedly against all forces, human +and divine. + +But, as a necessary consequent of this spirit, as its implied complement +in the balance of human nature, we find, as a distinct trait in the +lives of many of the manliest ancients, an occasional prevalence of a +spirit of despondency, a recognition of the ultimate weakness of +man when brought by himself face to face with the wall of opposing +circumstance and the resistless force of Fate. Will is strong, but the +powers outside the will are stronger. Manliness may not fail, but man +himself may be broken. Neither the teachings of natural religion, nor +the doctrines of philosophy, nor the support of a sound heart are +sufficient for man in the crisis of uttermost trial. Without something +beyond these, higher than these, without a conscious dependence on +Omnipotence, man must sink at last under the buffets of adverse fortune. +Take the instances of these great men in Plutarch, and look at the end +of their lives. How many of them are simple confessions of defeat! +Themistocles sacrifices to the gods, drinks poison, and dies. +Demosthenes takes poison to save himself from falling into the hands of +his enemies. Cicero proposes to slay himself in the house of Caesar, and +is murdered only through want of resolution to kill himself. Brutus says +to the friend who urges him to fly,--"Yes, we must fly; yet not with +our feet, but with our hands," and falls upon his sword. Cato lies down +calmly at night, reads Plato on the Soul, and then kills himself; while, +after his death, the people of Utica cry out with one voice that he is +"the only free, the only undefeated man." It may be said that even in +suicide these men displayed the manliness of their tempers. True, but it +was the manliness of the deserter who runs the risk of being shot for +the sake of avoiding the risks and fatigues of service in war.[O] + +[Footnote O: There is a striking passage in Seneca's treatise _De +Consolatione_, which may, perhaps, be not unfairly regarded as the +expression of a sentiment common among the better heathens in regard to +death,--a sentiment of profound sadness. He says,--"Mors dolorum omnium +solutio est et finis, ultra quam mala nostra non exeunt, quae nos in +illam tranquillitatem, in qua antequam nasceremur jacuimus, reponit." +xix. 4.] + +Again, we must be content rather to hint at than to develop the matter +for reflection and study that Plutarch affords, and unwillingly pass by, +without even a glance at them, large domains of thought that lie within +his pages. We are glad to believe, that, through the excellent edition +before us, his Lives will be more widely read than ever. In this +country, where the tendency of things is to the limited, but equal +development of each individual in social and political life, and hence +to the production of a uniform mediocrity of character and of action, +these biographies are of special value, as exhibiting men developed +under circumstances widely contrasted with our own, and who may serve +as standards by which to measure some of our own deficiencies or +advantages. Here were the men who stood head and shoulders above the +others of their times; we see them now, "foreshortened in the tract of +time,"--not as they appeared to their contemporaries, but in something +like their real proportions. But the greatness of those proportions for +the most part remains unchanged. How will it be with our great men two +thousand years hence? Will the numerous "most distinguished men of +America" appear as large then as they do now? Will the speeches of our +popular orators be read then? Will the most famous of our senators be +famous then? Will the ablest of our generals still be gathering laurels? + +There is a story told by the learned Andrew Thevet, chief cosmographer +to Henry III., King of France and Poland, to the effect that one +Triumpho of Camarino did most fantastically imagine and persuade himself +that really and truly one day "he was assembled in company with the +Pope, the Emperor, and the several Kings and Princes of Christendom, +(although all that while he was alone in his own chamber by himself,) +where he entered upon, debated, and resolved all the states' affairs of +Christendom; and he verily believed that he was the wisest man of +them all; and so he well might be, of the company." The fantastical +imagination of this Triumpho furnishes a good illustration of the +reality of companionship which one who possesses Plutarch may have in +his own chamber with the greatest and most interesting men of ancient +times. If he be worthy, he may make the best of them his intimates. He +may live with them as his counsellors and his friends. Whether he will +believe that he is "the wisest man of them all" is doubtful; but, +however this may be, he will find himself in their company growing +wiser, stronger, tenderer, and truer. + +It has been well said, that "Plutarch's Lives is the book for those who +can nobly think and dare and do." + + +_The Lost and Found; or Life among the Poor._ By SAMUEL B. HALLIDAY. New +York: Blakeman & Mason. 1859. + +It has been asserted--most emphatically by those who have most fairly +tried it--that no house was ever built large enough for two families to +live in decently and comfortably. Yet in this present year of grace, +1859, half a million of men and women--two-thirds of the population of +New York--are compelled, by reason of their own poverty and the avarice +of certain capitalists, to live in what are technically known as +"tenement-houses," or, more pertinently, "barracks,"--hulks of brick, +put up by Shylocks anxious for twenty per cent., and lived in--God knows +how--by from four to ninety-four families each. Of 115,986 families +residing in the city of New York, only 15,990 are able to enjoy the +luxury of an independent home; 14,362 other families live in comparative +comfort, two in a house; 4,416 buildings contain three families each, +and yet do not come under the head of tenements; and the 11,965 +dwelling-houses which remain are the homes of 72,386 _families_, being +an average of seven families, or thirty-five souls to each house! + +But this is only an average. In the eleventh ward, 113 _rear_ houses +(houses built on the backs of deep lots, and separated only by a narrow +and necessarily dark and filthy court from the front houses, which are +also "barracks,") contain 1,653 families, or nearly 15 families or 70 +souls each; 24 others contain 407 families, being an average of 80 souls +to each; and in another ward, 72 such houses contain no less than 19 +families or 95 souls each! + +This seems shocking. But this is by no means the worst! There are 580 +tenement-houses in New York which contain, by actual count, 10,933 +families, or about 85 persons each; 193 others, which accommodate 111 +persons each; 71 others, which cover 140 each; and, finally, 29--these +must be the most profitable!--which have a total population of no less +than 5,449 souls, or 187 to each house! + +That part of Fifth Avenue which holds the chief part of the wealth and +fashion of New York has an extent of about two miles, or, counting both +sides of the street, four miles. These four miles of stately palaces +are occupied by four hundred families; while a single block of +tenement-houses, not two hundred yards out of Fifth Avenue, contains no +less than seven hundred families, or 3,500 souls! Seven such blocks, Mr. +Halliday pertinently remarks, would contain more people than the city of +Hartford, which covers an area of several miles square. + +Such astounding facts as these the industrious Buckle of the year 3000, +intent upon a history of our American civilization, will quote to the +croakers of that day as samples of our nineteenth-century barbarism. + +"But," some one may object, "if the houses were comfortably arranged, +and land was really scarce, after all, these people were not so badly +off." + +The "tenement-house," which is now one of the "institutions" of New +York, stands usually upon a lot 25 by 100 feet, is from four to six +stories high, and is so divided internally as to contain four families +on each floor,--each family eating, drinking, sleeping, cooking, +washing, and fighting in a room eight feet by ten and a bed-room six +feet by ten; unless, indeed,--_which very frequently happens,_ says Mr. +Halliday,--the family renting these two rooms _takes in another family +to board,_ or _sub-lets_ one room to one _or even two_ other families! + +But the modern improvements? + +One of the largest and most recently built of the New York "barracks" +has apartments for 126 famines. It was built especially for this use. +It stands on a lot 50 by 250 feet, is entered at the sides from alleys +eight feet wide, and, by reason of the vicinity of another barrack of +equal height, the rooms are so darkened that on a cloudy day it is +impossible to read or sew in them without artificial light. It has not +one room which can in any way be thoroughly ventilated. The vaults and +sewers which are to carry off the filth of the 126 families have grated +openings in the alleys, and door-ways in the cellars, through which the +noisome and deadly miasmata penetrate and poison the dank air of the +house and the courts. The water-closets for the whole vast establishment +are a range of stalls without doors, and accessible not only from the +building, but even from the street. Comfort is here out of the +question; common decency has been rendered impossible; and the horrible +brutalities of the passenger-ship are day after day repeated,--but on a +larger scale. And yet this is a fair specimen. And for such hideous and +necessarily demoralizing habitations,--for two rooms, stench, +indecency, and gloom, the poor family pays--and the rich builder +receives--_"thirty-five per cent, annually on the cost of the +apartments!"_ + +When a city has half a million of inhabitants who _must_ content +themselves with such quarters as these, which, even the beasts of the +field would perish in, does any man wonder that 18,000 women were +arrested in the last year? that in the three months ending January +31st, 1859, 13,765 arrests were made by the city police, of which over +one-third were females, one in six under twenty years of age, and more +than one-half under thirty? that in 1855 there was one death in every +26-1/3 of the population? that in 1858 the five city dispensaries were +called on to treat (gratuitously) 65,442 infant patients? that, in 1855, +1,938 infants were stillborn, and 6,390, or 1 in 99 of the population, +did not live the first year out? while, at the present time, 20,000 +children roam the streets, and never enter a schoolroom? With such +homes, is there cause for surprise that husbands murder their wives? +that mothers abuse their children,--and would kill them, too, were they +not profitable little slaves, as Mr. Halliday shows? that men and women +live in drunken stupor upon the spoils of young children,--often not +their own,--sent out to beg, to steal, or do worse yet? that even the +very fag-end of humanity, the sentiment of "honor among thieves," +perishes here? + +For twenty years, Mr. Halliday has labored among these poor creatures, +as the "agent" or missionary of the "American Female Guardian Society +and Home for the Friendless," an association of noble-minded and +unusually practical men and women. If any of our readers fear lest the +fountain of benevolence may dry up within him, we commend Mr. Halliday's +book to his perusal. He will find there some little stories which have a +pathos beyond tears; some facts--happening, mayhap, within ten minutes' +walk of his own fireside--quite as strange as the strangest fiction of +Mr. Cobb or Mr. Emerson Bennett. We have not space left for any account +of Mr. Halliday's labors. His Society provides not only boys and girls, +but even men and women under certain circumstances, with present +assistance and shelter, and afterwards a home and work in the country, +at a distance from the temptations and miseries of the city. It is +curious to read that Mr. Halliday receives frequent orders from various +States--even the most distant West--for "a baby," "a boy," "a little +girl." It is good to know that in that way many bright young souls are +saved from the horrors of "tenement" life, and placed in kind hands; +and it is touching to read, that, while many of these little ones are +remarkable for good looks and bright spirits, all are reported as +singularly quiet, sedate, and submissive. We are glad to know that the +types of the paper published by the Society are set up by the women who +have a refuge in its Home; and we were sorry to read of one boy, who +always ran away from everybody and every place, being at last secured +in the House of Refuge, where, being now nearly eleven years old, the +monster! "he seems dejected, and I have never seen him smile," says Mr. +Halliday. This boy--and a good many others who like the streets and the +free air better than the black-hole of a tenement--should go to sea. +The sea is an honorable trade, (it _used_ to be a profession,) and the +merchants of New York could not do a wiser or a better thing than in +providing a school-ship where such lads could be taught the rudiments +of seamanship and navigation, or, in default of that, sending them as +apprentices in their vessels. + +We have two complaints to enter against Mr. Halliday: first, that he +has given his book a title which will deter most sensible people +from opening it; and, second, that in his valuable report on the +tenement-houses, he does not give the names of those enterprising +personages who make thirty-five per cent, at the expense, not only of +their poor tenants, but of every tax-payer in New York. + + +_The New American Cyclopaedia: a Popular Dictionary of General +Knowledge._ Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Vol. VI. +Cough--Education. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 772. + +More than one-third of the task assumed by the editors of this work is +now completed; and the best testimony in its favor is, that, although it +has been freely criticized, sometimes with closeness and severity, and +sometimes with studied harshness and evident malice, its reputation has +risen among candid and competent readers with the appearance of each +volume. Faults, negative and positive, may undoubtedly be discovered in +it; but the same is true, in a greater or less degree, of every other +production of human labor; and the eyes neither of malice nor of +hypercriticism have been able to find any sufficient reason why this +Cyclopaedia should not be accepted as the beat popular dictionary of +general knowledge in the English language. As the work advances, the +comprehensiveness of its plan, the honesty of its purpose, and the truly +catholic and liberal spirit which animates it, become more and more +apparent; and the names of the authors of the articles (a list of which +is to be published, we believe, with the last volume) sufficiently show +the determination of the editors to secure the cooperation of the first +talent in the country. Among the contributors to the present volume are +the Rev. Dr. Bellows, Edmund Blunt, Dion Bourcicault, Professor Dana +of Yale College, Edward Everett, Professor Felton of Cambridge, Parke +Godwin, Richard Hildreth, George S. Hillard, William Henry Hurlbut, and +Professors Lowell and Parsons of Cambridge. + +Of the articles, we especially notice _Cranmer_, remarkable for the +candor and the coolness of perception with which the character of its +benevolent and gifted, but inconsistent and vacillating subject, is +discussed:--_Cromwell_, which gives a completer, more authentic, and +less prejudiced account of the eventful life of the great Puritan leader +than is to be found in any other publication known to us:--_Crusades_, +a complete picture in little of those great fitful blazes of religious +enthusiasm by which it flickered into its final extinction; (for, +afterward, only a semblance of it was made a stalking-horse by +politicians;) and this article is quite a model of epitome:--_Cuneiform +Inscriptions_, in which the writer has presented concisely and clearly +the fruits of a careful examination of all the many theories that have +been broached with regard to these important and puzzling records of the +ancient world, without revealing a preference, if he have one, for +any; a wise course, where, in a case of such consequence, the views +of learned men are so conflicting, but one not always easily +followed:--_Damascus Blades_, a very interesting, and, for general +purposes, a very full description of the peculiarities of those famous, +and, it appears, not too much lauded weapons:--_Deaf and Dumb_, a very +copious article of eleven pages, rich in historical and biographical +detail, and giving full accounts of the various methods of instruction +adopted for this class of persons in all times and countries, with a +large body of statistical information upon the subject; an article of +great interest, but perhaps undue length:--_Death_, which conveys much +information on a subject as to which the grossest and most deplorable +misconceptions prevail; an article equally remarkable for its careful +and minute presentation of the phenomena of death and for the placid and +philosophical spirit in which it is written:--_Deluge_, in which, with +the ingenuity before shown in the treatment of similar subjects, the +various accounts of that event, and the facts and theories relating to +it, are laid before the reader in a manner to which no one, of whatever +creed, can object, and a new and very ingenious and rational mode of +accounting for the phenomenon in question is proposed;--_Dog_, the +fulness of which makes it acceptable to the lover of natural history, +the sporting man, and the general reader:--and the last article, +_Education_, one of great value, which describes the systems of +instruction pursued in all ages and countries, and which, without +entering upon the support of any one of them, presents to the reader +such an impartial and detailed summary of the distinguishing features of +them all, that he can form an intelligent opinion upon them for himself. + +The volume is so meritorious, that we have not looked for faults; but, +as we turned the leaves, we noticed a few such as the following:--that +the river Dove, in England, should be mentioned as "noted for its +picturesque scenery," and yet its association with Izaak Walton and +Charles Cotton, its chief glory, be passed unnoticed; and that Discord +should be defined as, "_in music_, a combination of sounds inharmonious +and unpleasing to the ear"; whereas, although, out of music, discord +means a sound inharmonious and displeasing to the ear, in music discord +is the golden bond of harmony, the life and soul of expression, that for +which the ear yearns with a yearning that is inexpressible, and enjoys +with poignancy of pleasure. We asked, too, if Thomas Dowse should be +honored with a page and a half, in which his fall from a tree, his +rheumatic fever, and the head winds which prevented him from visiting +Europe are chronicled,--while the eminent French painter, Couture, whose +use of the pallet is marked by such striking originality, that it has +produced an impression upon the works of a generation of painters, +has twelve lines! And we can hardly be accused of hypercriticism, in +directing the attention of the editors to a sentence like the following, +in the article _Diptera_, p. 498, 2d col.:--"Though _this order_ +contains the bloodthirsty mosquito, the disgusting flesh-fly, and many +insects depositing their eggs in the bodies of living animals, _it_ is a +most useful one, supplying food to insectivorous birds, and _themselves_ +[who? what?] consuming decomposing animal and vegetable substances," +etc. But these are instances of oversight in not very important matters, +or of inaccuracy of expression, or of difference of judgment between +the editors and ourselves as to plan, which even in our judgment do not +affect the value of the work in which they occur. Graver errors could be +found in almost every work of great scope that ever came from the +press. We indicate them that we may afford some help toward a nearer +approximation to that perfection which is unattainable. + + +_Tom Brown at Oxford: a Sequel to School-Days at Rugby._ By THOMAS +HUGHES, etc. Part I. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1859. + +Many men write successful books; but very few have the power of making +a book succeed by naturalness, simplicity, and quiet strength, as Mr. +Hughes found the secret of doing in his "School-Days at Rugby." It is so +easy to be eloquent,--scarce a modern French novelist but has the gift +of it by the ream; so easy to be philosophical,--one has only to begin +a few substantives with capitals; and withal it is so hard to be genial +and agreeable. Since Goldsmith's day, perhaps only Irving and Thackeray +had achieved it, till Mr. Hughes made himself the third. It is no +easy thing to write a book that shall seem so easy,--to describe your +school-days with such instinctive rejection of the unessential, that +whoever has been a boy feels as if he were reading the history of his +own, and that your volume shall be no more exotic in America than in +England. Yet this Mr. Hughes accomplished; and it was in a great measure +due to the fact, that beneath the charm of style the reader felt a real +basis of manliness and sincerity. + +His second book, "The Scouring of the White Horse," was less +successful,--in part from the narrower range of its interest, and +still more, perhaps, because it lacked the spontaneousness of the +"School-Days." In his first book there was no suggestion of authorship; +it seemed an inadvertence, something which came of itself;--but the +second was _made_, and the kind fairy that stood godmother to its elder +brother had been sent for and accordingly would not come. + +In this first number of his new story Mr. Hughes seems to have found his +good genius again, or his good genius to have found him. We meet our old +friend Tom Brown once more, and commit ourselves trustingly to the same +easy current of narrative and incident which was so delightful in +the story of his Rugby adventures. We have no doubt the book will be +instructive as well as entertaining; for we believe the author has had +some practical experience as teacher in "The Working-Men's College,"--an +excellent institution, in which instruction is given to the poor after +work-hours, and which, beside Mr. Hughes, has had another man of genius, +Mr. Ruskin, among its unpaid professors. The work is to be published +simultaneously in this country and in England. + + +_Avolio; a Legend of the Inland of Cos, with other Poems, Lyrical, +Miscellaneous, and Dramatic._ By PAUL H. HAYNE. Boston: Ticknor & +Fields. 1859. pp. 244. + +There is a great deal of real poetic feeling and expression in this +volume, and, we think, the hope of better things to come. The author has +not yet learned, and we could not expect it, that writers of verse tell +us all they can think of, and writers of poetry only what they cannot +help telling. The volume would have gained in quality by losing in +quantity, but to give too much is the mistake of all young writers, and +it is, perhaps, only by making it once for themselves that they can +learn to sift. It is so hard at first, when all the sand seems golden! +Of old the Muses were three, each of whom must reject something from the +poem, but when verse-writing became easier and more traditional, their +number was raised to nine, that they might be the harder to please. And +what a difficult jury they are! and how long they stay out over their +verdict! + +But, after all, it seems to us that Mr. Hayne has the root of the matter +in him; and we shall look to meet him again, bringing a thinner, yet +a fuller book. The present volume shows thoughtfulness, culture, +sensibility to natural beauty, and great refinement of feeling. We like +the first poem, which is also the longest, best of all. The subject is +an imaginative one,--and the choice of a subject is one great test of +genuine aptitude and ability. In this poem, and in some of the sonnets, +(which are good both in matter and construction,) Mr. Hayne shows a +genuine vigor of expression and maturity of purpose. There is a tone of +sadness in the volume, as if the author were surrounded by an atmosphere +uncongenial to letters. The reader cannot fail to be struck with this, +and also with the oddity of two or three political sonnets, in which Mr. +Hayne calls on his fellow-citizens to rally for the defence of slavery +in the name of freedom. The book is dedicated, in a very graceful +and cordial sonnet, to Mr. E.P. Whipple; and it is seldom that South +Carolina sends so pleasant a message to Massachusetts. Mr. Hayne need +only persevere in self-culture to be able to produce poems that shall +win for him a national reputation. + + +_Fairy Dreams; or Wanderings in Elfland._ By JANE G. AUSTIN. With +Illustrations by Hammatt Billings. Boston: J.E. Tilton & Co. 1859. + +This is a pretty book for children, written with no little feeling and +fancy, and in a graceful style. The chimney-corner has been abolished +by the economical furnace-register, and Santa Claus, if he come at all, +must do it like an imp of the pit. The volumes for children to pore +over, as they bake by the stove, or stew over the black hole in the +floor, have also suffered an economic and practical change. No more +fires, no more pretty fancies, seems to have been the doom. Parents who +think, as we do, that children inhale practicality with our American +atmosphere, and that a little encouragement of the imaginative side of +their nature is not amiss, will be glad to drop Mrs. Austin's book into +the proper stocking. The stories are well told; that, especially, of +the Gray Cat is full of fanciful invention. The book is very prettily +manufactured also, though we think publishers are carrying their +fondness for tinted paper too far. Salmon-color is too much; the deepest +tint allowable is that of cream from a cow that has grazed among +buttercups. + + +_Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India:_ Being Extracts from +the Letters of the late Major W.S.R. HODSON, B.A., Trinity College, +Cambridge; First Bengal European Fusileers, Commandant of Hodson's +Horse. Including a Personal Narrative of the Siege of Delhi and Capture +of the King and Princes. Edited by his Brother, the Rev. GEORGE H. +HODSON, M.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From the +Third and Enlarged English Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +16mo. pp. 444. + +This book should be widely read; or we might better say, this book _will +be_ widely read,--so widely, indeed, that there is no need for us to +repeat its story here, or to give an abstract of its contents. Hodson +was a man worth knowing, and his letters show him to us as he was. +The special qualities of which Englishmen are proud, as the traits +of national character, belonged in an uncommon degree to him. He was +eminently truthful, staunch, and brave; he had a clear eye, a strong and +ready hand, cool judgment, stern decision, and a tender heart. He might +have borne the old Douglas motto on his shield. + +He was trained under as good teachers as a young man ever had. At Rugby, +under Dr. Arnold; then, for a year or two, living among the ennobling +associations of Trinity College; then at Guernsey, as a young soldier, +under Sir William Napier; then in India, with James Thomason, +Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces, one of the best rulers +that India ever knew, "_facile princeps_ of the whole Indian service"; +and finally passing from him to serve under Sir Henry Lawrence, the +noblest soldier of India, a man for whom common words of praise are +insufficient,--Hodson had an unrivalled set of masters, and his life +proves him to have been worthy of them. + +The British rule in India is of such sort as to test the qualities of +its officers to the last point. If they have anything good in them, it +is sure to be brought into full action. Such responsibilities are thrown +on them as at once to stimulate them to exertion of their best powers. +Men who in the ordinary fields of work might remain all their lives mere +commonplace mediocrities, under the discipline of Indian service, find +out and show their real value. The Indian mutiny exhibited how common +the rare qualities of foresight, energy, and enduring courage, and the +still higher qualities of submission, patience, and faith, had become +among those against whom the natives rose like a flood to overwhelm them +in destruction. The little bands of English at Cawnpore, at Lucknow, and +at many a less famous station, stood like rocks against the dashing of +the storm. The qualities that enabled them to win the admiration even +of their enemies, and to call forth the respect and the sorrow of the +world, were the result, not of sudden stress, but of long and habitual +training. The reader of Hodson's memoir will gain a knowledge of the +processes by which such characters are developed. + +The letters which make up the larger part of this book are written +with animation and simplicity, and are full of spirited accounts of +adventure, of rough and various service. The narrative which they afford +of the siege of Delhi is of absorbing interest. The picture of the +little army of besiegers, wasted by continual disease and exposure to +the heats of an Indian summer,--worn by the constant sallies and attacks +of a host of enemies trained in arms,--saddened by the receipt of evil +tidings from all quarters,--feeling that upon their final success rested +not only the hope of the continuance of British supremacy in India, but +the very lives of those dear to them,--and, worst of all, compelled +to submit to a succession of incompetent generals, whose timidity and +irresolution baffled the best designs of officers and the dashing +bravery of the troops;--the pictures which Hodson gives of this little +army, of its unflagging spirit and resolution, and its valorous deeds, +are drawn with such truth as to bring the successive scenes vividly +before the imagination. Hodson himself was one of the best and most +useful of a noble corps of officers. His modesty does not hide the +grounds of the enthusiasm which was felt for him by his men,--of the +admiration that he excited among his fellows. The story of the capture +of the King and Princes, after the fall of Delhi, is one of the most +interesting stories of daring ever told. You hold your breath as you +read it. It was a gallant deed, done in the most gallant way. + +Altogether, the book is one of thoroughly manly tone and temper,--a book +to make those who read it manlier, to put to shame the cowardice of easy +life, to make men more honest, more enduring, more energetic, by the +example which it sets before them. Hodson's life was short, but its +result will last. There was no sham about it, no meanness,--nothing but +what was large, true, and generous. As one turns the last page, it is +with no regret that such a man should have died in the fight, for he +was a Christian soldier. He was the _preux chevalier_ of our times. The +words in which Sir Ector mourns for his brother, Sir Lancelot, are fit +for his epitaph. "'Ah, Sir Lancelot,' said hee, 'thou were head of +all christen knights! An now I dare say,' said Sir Ector, 'that, Sir +Lancelot, there thou liest, thou were never matched of none earthly +knight's hands; and thou were the curtiest knight that ever bare shield; +and thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrood horse; +and thou were the truest lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman; +and thou were the kindest man that ever strook with sword; and thou were +the goodliest person that ever came among presse of knights; and thou +were the meekest man and the gentlest that ever eate in hall among +ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortall foe that ever +put speare in the rest.'" + + +_Friends in Council_. A Series of Readings and Discourse thereon. A New +Series. 2 vols. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1860. + +The best class of readers in England and America are sure to give a +cordial welcome to a new book by Mr. Helps. Nothing better need be said +of this second series of "Friends in Council" than that it is a worthy +sequel of the first. It is the work of a man of large experience and +wide culture,--of one who is at the same time a student and a man of +the world, versed in history and practically acquainted with affairs. +Refined thoughtfulness and common sense combine to give value to all +that Mr. Helps writes, and he is master of a style at once manly and +elegant, quiet and strong. Two famous lines, which occur in a passage +quoted in these volumes, serve well to characterize their merits:-- + + "Though deep, yet clear,--though gentle, yet not dull,-- + Strong without rage,--without o'erflowing, full." + +Such books have a special worth in these days of hasty writing. They +admit one to the companionship of thoughtful, well-mannered gentlemen. +One feels that he has been in good company, after reading them; and, +whatever he may have gained of wisdom from the friends he has met in +council, he is also improved in temper and in manners by their society. + +The conversations which form the setting of the essays in these volumes +enable Mr. Helps to present in an easy and effective way various sides +of the important questions that he discusses. Completeness of statement +is rarely to be obtained upon any of the deeper topics of life. If the +golden side be displayed, the silver side is likely to be hidden. The +same man holds various, though not irreconcilable opinions upon the same +subject, according to the different lights in which he views it or the +different phases it presents. The most honest man must sometimes +appear inconsistent for the sake of truth; and the clearer a man's own +convictions, the wider will be his charity for those of others. Mr. +Helps exhibits admirably this natural and necessary diversity of +thought, existing even where there is a coincidence of principle and of +aim. + +The essays upon War and Despotism are, perhaps, the ablest in these +volumes, and deserve to be seriously viewed in the light of passing +events. They are distinguished by freedom from exaggeration and by their +moderation of statement. As in so many of the productions of the best +English writers at the present day, something of despondency in regard +to the condition of the world is to be traced in them. And truly, to one +who looks at the state of Europe and of our own country, there is more +need for faith than ground of hope. + +But at this Christmas season, this season of peace and good-will, let +all our readers read the essay on Pleasantness. And if they will but +take its teachings to heart, we can wish them, with the certainty of the +fulfilment of our wish, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. + + +_The Marvellous Adventures and Rare Conceits of Master Tyll Owlglass._ +Newly collected, etc., by KENNETH R.H. MACKENZIE. With Illustrations by +Crowquill. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. xxxix., 255. + +This is a very beautiful edition of a very amusing book. The preface and +notes of Mr. Mackenzie will commend it to scholars, while the stories +themselves will divert both young and old. A book of this kind, which +can keep life in itself for more than three hundred years, must have +some real humor and force at bottom. It is as good a specimen of +mediaeval fun as could anywhere be found. With nothing like the satiric +humor of the "Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," it appeals to a much larger +circle of readers. We are very glad to meet it again in so handsome a +dress, and with such really clever illustrations. It is just the book +for a Christmas gift. + + +_Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of Goethe._ By THOMAS +JAMES ARNOLD, Esq. With Illustrations from the Designs of Wilhelm von +Kaulbach. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 346 and 348 Broadway. 1860. pp. +226. + +It is very well that Mr. Arnold should tell us on the title-page that +his version is _after_ that of Goethe. Nothing could be truer,--and it +is a very long way after, too. By substituting the slow and verbose +pentameter of what is called the classic school of English poetry for +the remarkably forth-right and simple eight-syllabic measure of the +original, the translator has contrived to lose almost wholly that homely +flavor of the old poet, which Goethe carefully preserved. We do not mean +to say that this is altogether a bad version, as such things go; on the +contrary, it has a great deal of spirit, as it could hardly fail to +have, unless it belied its model altogether;--but it is as far as +possible from giving any notion of the characteristic qualities of +"Reinaert de Vos." If Mr. Arnold must change the measure, Chaucer's +"Nonnes Preestes Tale" would have been a safer guide to follow. + +The book, in spite of its American title-page, is wholly of English +manufacture. It is a very handsome volume, and Kaulbach's illustrations +are copied with tolerable success, though with inevitable inferiority to +the German originals. Kaulbach is hardly so happy an animal-painter as +Grandville, but he has at least given his subjects in this case a more +human expression than in his monstrous caricatures of Shakspeare. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +A Complete and Cheap Edition of the Entire Writings of Charles Dickens. +To be completed in 28 Weekly Volumes. Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & +Brothers. 8vo. pamphlet. Per vol., 25 cts. + +Mount Vernon and its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and +Pictorial. By Benson J. Lossing. Illustrated by Numerous Engravings, +chiefly from Original Drawings by the Author, engraved by Lossing & +Barritt. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. 4to. pp. 376. $3.50. + +Proceedings and Debates of the Third National Quarantine and Sanitary +Convention, held in the City of New York, April 27-30, 1859. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11173] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NO. 27 *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +THE + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY, + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. V.--JANUARY, 1860.--NO. XXVII. + + + + +OUR ARTISTS IN ITALY. + +HIRAM POWERS. + + +Antique Art, beside affording a standard by which the modern may be +measured, has the remarkable property-giving it a higher value--of +testing the genuineness of the Art-impulse. + +Even to genius, that is, to the artist, a true Art-life is difficult +of attainment. In the midst of illumination, there is the mystery: the +subjective mystery, out of which issue the germs--like seeds floated +from unknown shores--of his imaginings; the objective mystery, which +yields to him, through obvious, yet unexplained harmonies, the means of +manifestation. + +Behind the consciousness is the power; behind the power, that which +gives it worth and occupation. + +To the artist definite foresight is denied. His life is full of +surprises at new necessities. When the present demand shall have been +fulfilled, what shall follow? Shall it be Madonna, or Laocoön? His +errand is like that of the commander who bears sealed instructions; and +he may drift for years, ere he knows wherefore. Thorwaldsen waited, +wandering by the Tiber a thousand days,--then in one, uttered his +immortal "Night." + +Not even the severest self-examination will enable one in whom the +Art-impulse exists to understand thoroughly its aim and uses; yet to +approximate a clear perception of his own nature and that of the art to +which he is called is one of his first duties. What he is able to do, +required to do, and permitted to do, are questions of vital importance. + +Possession of himself, of himself in the highest, will alone enable the +student in Art to solve the difficulties of his position. His habitual +consciousness must be made up of the noblest of all that has been +revealed to it; otherwise those fine intuitions, akin to the ancient +inspirations, through whose aid genius is informed of its privileges, +are impossible. + +Therefore the foremost purpose of an artist should be to claim and take +possession of self. Somewhere within is his inheritance, and he must not +be hindered of it. Other men have other gifts,--gifts bestowed under +different conditions, and subject in a great degree to choice. Talent is +not fastidious. It is an instrumentality, and its aim is optional with +him who possesses it. Genius is exquisitely fastidious, and the man whom +it possesses must live its life, or no life. + +In view of these considerations, the efforts of an artist to assume his +true position must be regarded with earnest interest, and importance +must be attached to that which aids him in attaining to his true plane. + +Such aid may be, and is, derived from the influences of Italy. Of those +agencies which have a direct influence upon the action of the artist, +which serve to assist him in manifesting his idea and fulfilling his +purpose, mention will be made in connection with the works which have +been produced in Italian studios. They have less importance than that +great element related to the innermost of the artist's life,--to that +power of which we have spoken, making Art-action necessary. + +It is not, however, exclusively antique Art which exercises this power +of elevation. Ancient Art may be a better term; as all great Art bears +a like relation to the student. In Florence the mediaeval influences +predominate. Rome exercises _its_ power through the medium of the +antique. + +There is much Christian Art in Rome. Yet its effect is insignificant, +compared with that of the vast collection of Greek sculptures to be +found within its walls. Instinctively, as the vague yearnings and +prophecies of youth lift him in whom they quicken away from youth's +ordinary purposes and associations, his thought turns to that far city +where are gathered the achievements of those who were indeed the gods of +Hellas. To be there, and to demand from those eloquent lips the secret +of the golden age, is his dream and aim, and there shall be solved the +problem of his life. + +But antique Art, waiting so patiently twenty centuries to afford aid to +the artist, waits also to sit in judgment upon his worth and acts. Woe +to him who cannot pass the ordeal of its power, and explain the enigma +of its speech! + +Nothing can be more pitiful and sad than the condition of one who, +having been subjected to the influence of ancient Art, has not had the +ability to recognize or the earnestness of purpose essential to the +apprehension of the truths which it has for his soul instead of his +hands. But if, through truthfulness of aim, and a sense of the divine +nature of the errand to which he seems appointed, he reach the law +of Art, then henceforth its pursuit becomes the sign of life; if the +impulse bear him no farther than rules, then all he produces goes forth +as a proclamation of death. There is no middle path. Art is high or low: +high, if it be the profoundest life of an earnest man, uttering itself +in the _real_, even though it be awkwardly, and in violation of all +accepted methods of expression; low, if it be not such utterance, even +though consummate in obedience to the finest rules of all Art-science. +There can be no other way. The life is in the man, and not in the stone; +and no affectation of vitality can atone for the absence of that soul +which should have been breathed into existence from his own divine life. + +As was said, possession of self is the only condition under which the +quantity and quality of the Art-impulse may be determined. It is only +when a man stands face to face with himself, in the stillness of his own +inner world, that his possibilities become apparent; and it is only when +conscious of these, and inspired by a just sense of their dignity, that +he can achieve that which shall be genuine success. _Once_ he must be +lifted away and isolated from worldly surroundings, relieved from all +objective influences, from the pressure of all human relations; once the +very memory of all these must be blotted out; once he must be alone. +This is possible to a Mendelssohn in the awful solitude of Beethoven's +"Sonate Pathétique," to a painter in the presence of Leonardo's "Last +Supper," and to a sculptor in the hushed halls of the Vatican. + +But that which lifts the true artist above externals, the externals of +his own individual being, crushes the false, to whom the marble and the +paint are in themselves the ultimate. + +This train of thought has been suggested by the fact of the dominion +which classic Art has acquired over sculptors, and by the influence of +the sixteenth and seventeenth century schools upon painters. It is due, +however, to our sculptors in Italy that credit should be given them +for having resisted the influence of forms, of the mere letter of the +classic, to a greater extent than the students of any other nation. +Whether or not they have been receptive of the spirit of the antique +remains to be seen. + +American painters have been less fortunate. Too often the lessons of the +old masters, and especially those of the earliest, the Puritan Fathers +of Art, have been unheeded; or the rules and practices which served them +temporarily, subject to the phase of the ideal for the time uppermost, +have passed into permanent laws, to be obeyed under all conditions of +Art-utterance. + +The United States have had within the last twenty years as many as +thirty sculptors and painters resident in Italy. At the beginning of the +present year ten sculpture studios in Rome and Florence were occupied +by Americans. We will speak of these artists in the order in which they +entered the profession of an art which they have served to develop +in this first period of its history in America. The eldest bears the +honored name of Hiram Powers. + +Three parties have been remarkably unjust to this man,--namely, his +friends, his enemies, and himself. + +Neither the artist nor his friends need feel solicitude for his fame. +The exact value of his excellence shall be estimated, and the height of +his genius fully recognized, when the right man comes. Other award than +that from an age on a level with his own life can be of small worth to +one who has attained to the true level of Art. Fame must come to him of +that vision which can pierce the external of his work and penetrate to +the presence of his very soul. His action must be traced to its finest +ideal motive,--as chemist-philosophers pursue the steps of analysis +until opaque matter is resolved to pure, ethereal elements. His fame +must be from such vision, and it will approach the universal just in +proportion as his pulse beats in unison with the heart of mankind. +Whatever may be an artist's plans, or those of his friends, in regard to +his valuation by the world, while he is living, ultimately he himself, +divested of all save his own individuality, must stand revealed. + +Those who in other departments of action are necessarily governed +somewhat, or it may be entirely, by rules of conduct general in nature +and universal in application, may fail to receive or may escape justice. +They are to a great degree involuntary agents, and subject to the laws +of science, to the operations of which they are obliged to conform. +The private fact of the man is hidden by the public general truth. If, +however, the energies of the individual overtop the science, enabling +him to assert himself above the summit of its history, then is he +accessible to all generations, and can in no wise avoid or forfeit his +just fame. + +In Art, this intimate relation of the result of action to the actor is +complete,--inasmuch as, to _be_ Art, to rise above being something +else, the shadow and mockery of Art, it must be of and from the man, a +spontaneity, a reflection, light for light, shade for shade, color for +color, of his entire being; and with this effect his will has little to +do. Therefore, unless he be an impostor, he need give himself no trouble +regarding his future. His works shall serve as a clue, produced century +after century, along which posterity shall feel its way back to his +studio and heart. No need of thought for _his_ morrow. + +But for his to-day he may well be solicitous. If fame be his reflection, +he has also the shadow of himself, his reputation. + +It is a great error to assume that these two effects are so related that +the augmentation of the one must increase the other, and as great a +mistake to confound the two. The truth is, that reputation and fame are +rarely coincident. They are not unfrequently in direct opposition,--so +much so, that some names, which the world cannot give up, have to +be filtered through a thick mass of years, to purify them of their +reputations, and leave them simply famous. + +No name has suffered more than that of Powers. His friends, blind to the +laws which govern these matters, have wrought bravely to construct for +him a reputation commensurate with his vaguely imagined worth; but upon +his real worth they have evinced no desire to lay their foundation. No +accurate survey has been made of his abilities, no definite plan of +his artist-nature. Often a place has been demanded for his name in the +history of Art, and the first place too, because of his fine frank eye, +or the simplicity of his manners,--because his workmen cut the chain of +the Greek slave out of one piece of stone, or the marble of the statue +itself had no spot as big as a pin-head,--because he himself chooses to +rasp and scrape plaster, rather than model in plastic clay,--because he +tinkered up the "infernal regions" of the Cincinnati Museum years ago, +or spends his time now in making perforating-machines and perforated +files; in fine, for _any_ reason rather than for the right legitimate +one of artistic merit, they have demanded room for their favorite. + +Even those who look deeper than this, appreciating Mr. Powers as +a gentleman, an ingenious mechanic, and a skillful manipulator in +sculpture, have been content or constrained to urge his claims to +attention upon false considerations. We have heard it gravely remarked, +as a matter of astonishment, that there were individuals--refined men, +apparently--who looked upon the Venus de' Medici as a finer work than +the Greek Slave. In the files of a New York paper may be found an +article, written by a highly cultivated man, in which Powers's busts are +asserted to be rather the effect of miracles than the results of _human_ +effort. The spirit which has prompted these and many kindred expressions +cannot be too much deplored by those who love Art and know the artist. +It has succeeded in creating for him a reputation broad and remarkable, +but most unfortunate, because not his own, because not the reputation +which should have formed about his name here, as fame will yonder; +unfortunate, because, though broad, it is the breadth of an inverted +pyramid, which must naturally topple over of itself, and incumber his +path with ruins. + +The false position in which Mr. Powers has been placed by his friends +has of course won him many enemies. + +Bold, sincere, working enemies are highly useful in developing an +artist's character, especially if he be a law-abiding follower of the +art. But enemies must be dealers of fair blows, wagers of honorable +warfare; no assassin is worthy of the name of enemy. Sometimes, however, +those who are worthy of the name, and entitled to respect, may make +injudicious and unfair use of censure and invective. It is unwise, when +the necessity arises to set aside a worthless or an imperfect image, to +turn Iconoclast and demolish those surrounding it which are worthy of a +place in the temple. True criticism, for its own sake, if prompted by no +higher motive, deals justly. + +The friends of Mr. Powers have, in their estimate of his ability, given +him credit for that which he does not possess, and claimed recognition +for merit unsupported by the value of his works. His enemies have +labored assiduously, not only to deprive the estimate of its unwarranted +quantity, but to overthrow the whole, and leave him merely a mechanic, +a dexterous mechanic, with small views, but large ambition, trying +to pass himself off as an artist. His busts are asserted to be +but more elaborate examples of his skill in the +"perforated-file-and-patent-punch" line. + +But as the struggles to elevate this artist's reputation above its +proper level have proved signal failures, so the effort to depreciate +it must ultimately be defeated. Only one kind of injustice ever proves +irreparable wrong: that which a man exercises towards himself. Mr. +Powers _had_ a specialty. + +So constituted that the most difficult executive operations are to him +but play and pleasure, he has also, to govern and inform this rare +organization, a broad, manly, and most genial human nature. This +combination decided the question of his proper mission, and in virtue of +it he has been enabled to model a series of most remarkable busts, the +true excellence of which must be recognized in spite of friends and +foes, and the epithets "miraculous" and "mechanical." + +It is possible that the highest type of portrait-sculpture is beyond the +limit of this specialty; indeed, it is almost impossible that with the +elements constituting it there should be associated the still rarer +power to achieve the most exalted ideal Art; and such Art we believe the +highest portraiture to be. + +A consummate representation of a man in his divinest development, the +last refined ideal of him _then_, would be indeed somewhat miraculous! + +The world asks less. It claims to know of a man what the face of him +became under the influences of human, temporal relations. It wants +preserved of the statesman the statesman's face, of the merchant the +merchant's face; and this demand, when governed by a cultivated taste, +is a legitimate one,--as legitimate as is the demand for any history. +The public requires the image of the man whom the public knew, and +they regard as valuable that which can be received as a definite and +trustworthy statement of a great man, or of one whom it esteemed great. +It requires this, has a right to such information; and the generation +which fails to demand of its artists a true record of its prominent men +fails utterly in its duty. The bust of a man goes down to posterity, not +only the history which it is in itself, but as an interpreter of the +history of its age. Were it not for Art, an age would recede into the +unknown, to be recorded as dark, or into the shadowy world of myth. +Portraiture, more than aught else, serves to elucidate the tradition or +story of a people. How impossible to explain to the twentieth century +the bad mystery of our present, without the aid of Powers's head of +Calhoun, the less adequate bust of Stephen A. Douglas, and the one which +_should_ be modelled of Mr. Buchanan! A faithful delineation of the +features of some men is needful. We should be thankful for that black +frown of Nero, for the bald pate of Scipio, for those queer eyes of +Marius, and for the long neck of Cicero, as seen in the newly discovered +bust. These are the signs of the men, and explain them. + +Mr. Powers has succeeded in reporting more accurately than any other +recent artist the physical facts of the individual face. From one of his +marbles we derive definite ideas of the human character of its subject, +what its ambition is, and what its weakness; what have been its loves +and its antipathies, its struggles and its victories, its joys and its +sorrows, may be revealed to him who has learned what the human face +becomes under the influence of these incessant forces. No mere _talent_ +can accomplish such results. Behind all that kind of strength lies +the fact of peculiar sympathies, relating the artist to this phase of +Art-representation; and within certain limits, which should have been +undebatable, his rule was absolute. + +The great mistake with Mr. Powers has been his oversight regarding these +limits. There has been debate, hesitation, and a continual wandering +away from the duties of his errand. Years have been devoted to those +ghosts of sculpture, allegorical figures; other years wasted in the +elaboration of machinery. Not that his ideal statues are worthless, or +fall short of great beauty and exquisite delicacy; not that his skill +as a mechanician is other than great. But the age cannot afford these +things, nor can the sculptor afford them. A year is too great a sum to +give for a statue of California. Better than that, the several portraits +of valued men which might have been acquired,--one bust, even, like +those which surprised and compelled the reverence of Thorwaldsen. Better +the perfected ability which would have given his country the Webster he +should and might have made than a hundred "Americas." + +There are two considerations which may have misled Mr. Powers. One, a +pecuniary one, which he should have disposed of as did Agassiz, when +such was advanced to induce him to give lyceum lectures:--"Sir, I +cannot afford to make money!" The other may have been the weight of the +prevailing error that portrait-sculpture is a less honorable branch of +Art. + +Less than what? The historical? What finer history than Titian's Paul +III., Raphael's Leo X., Albert Dürer's head of himself? What finer than +the Pericles, the Marcus Aurelius of the Capitol, the Demosthenes of the +Vatican, Chantrey's Scott, Houdon's Voltaire, Powers's Jackson?--Heroic? +what more heroic than the Lateran Sophocles, the Venetian Colleoni, or +Rauch's statue of Frederick the Great?--Poetical? What picture more +sweetly poetical than Raphael's head of himself in the Uffizi, or +Giotto's Dante in the Bargello? What _ideal_ statue surpasses in +poetical power Michel Angelo's De' Medici in the San Lorenzo Chapel? +What ideal head is more beautiful than the Townley Clytie of the British +Museum, or the Young Augustus of the Vatican? What grander than Da +Vinci's portrait of himself? + +No,--when the sculptor has wrought the adequate representation of the +individual in its best estate, he may rest assured that he has achieved +"high Art." + +Let us not be unjust to Mr. Powers's ideal works. In the qualities of +chasteness of conception, delicacy of treatment, temperate grace, and +that rarer, finer quality of dignified repose, they have not been +surpassed since the time of Greek Art. When the subject chosen has not +been foreign to the artist's nature, as in the "Eve," nor foreign to the +Art's province, as in the "California," his success has been very like a +triumph. + +But the success has not been that which he was entitled to grasp; the +seeming triumph has precluded a real victory. We must believe that +the highest lessons of ancient Art have, in a great measure, been +unrecognized by Mr. Powers. The external has been studied. No man can +talk more justly of that exquisite line of the Venus de' Medici's temple +and cheek, or point out more discriminatingly the beauties of the Milo +statue, or detect more quickly the truths of the antique busts. He has +discovered, also, somewhat of the great secret of repose,--has perceived +that it is essential, in some wise, to all greatness in Art, more +particularly in his own department of sculpture. But beyond that simple +recognition of the fact, what? That repose is dependent on power to act, +and must be great in proportion to mightiness of power? No, he could not +have seen this; else had his Webster come to us less questionable in +intent, less remote in its merits from the massive self-possession of +the man. + +For what Mr. Powers became before he left America he cannot be praised +too greatly. He carried with him to Europe just that knowledge of Nature +and that executive power which prepared him to take advantage of the aid +that all great Art was waiting to afford. Had he won "the large truth," +he would have found the scope and purpose of his genius, as in America +he had found that of his talent. He would have seen his specialty to be +worthy of all reverence, for he would have attained to an appreciation +of the high possibilities of portrait-Art. There would have been +developed, under the influence of great principles, the power to make +_statues_ of great men,--colossal, instead of big,--reposeful, instead +of paralyzed,--grand, instead of arrogant,--statues worthy of the hand +that wrought the busts of Calhoun, Jackson, and Webster, worthy to rank +with the few mighty embodiments of power, the Sophocles, the Aristides, +and the Demosthenes. This he might have done; and this he may yet +accomplish. + + + + +THE AMBER GODS. + + +STORY FIRST. + +_Flower o' the Peach._ + + +We've some splendid old point-lace in our family, yellow and fragrant, +loose-meshed. It isn't every one has point at all; and of those who +have, it isn't every one can afford to wear it. I can. Why? Oh, because +it's in character. Besides, I admire point any way,--it's so becoming; +and then, you see, this amber! Now what is in finer unison, this old +point-lace, all tags and tangle and fibrous and bewildering, and this +amber, to which Heaven knows how many centuries, maybe, with all their +changes, brought perpetual particles of increase? I like yellow things, +you see. + +To begin at the beginning. My name, you're aware, is Giorgione +Willoughby. Queer name for a girl! Yes; but before papa sowed his wild +oats, he was one afternoon in Fiesole, looking over Florence nestled +below, when some whim took him to go into a church there, a quiet place, +full of twilight and one great picture, nobody within but a girl and +her little slave,--the one watching her mistress, the other saying +dreadfully devout prayers on an amber rosary, and of course she didn't +see him, or didn't appear to. After he got there, he wondered what +on earth he came for, it was so dark and poky, and he began to feel +uncomfortably,--when all of a sudden a great ray of sunset dashed +through the window, and drowned the place in the splendor of the +illumined painting. Papa adores rich colors; and he might have been +satiated here, except that such things make you want more. It was a +Venus;--no, though, it couldn't have been a Venus in a church, could it? +Well, then, a Magdalen, I guess, or a Madonna, or something. I fancy the +man painted for himself, and christened for others. So, when I was born, +some years afterward, papa, gratefully remembering this dazzling little +vignette of his youth, was absurd enough to christen me Giorgione. +That's how I came by my identity; but the folks all call me Yone,--a +baby name. + +I'm a blonde, you know,--none of your silver-washed things. I wouldn't +give a _fico_ for a girl with flaxen hair; she might as well be a wax +doll, and have her eyes moved by a wire; besides, they've no souls. +I imagine they were remnants at our creation, and somehow scrambled +together, and managed to get up a little life among themselves; but it's +good for nothing, and everybody sees through the pretence. They're glass +chips, and brittle shavings, slender pinkish scrids,--no name for them; +but just you say blonde, soft and slow and rolling,--it brings up +a brilliant, golden vitality, all manner of white and torrid +magnificences, and you see me! I've watched little bugs--gold +rose-chafers--lie steeping in the sun, till every atom of them must have +been searched with the warm radiance, and have felt, that, when they +reached that point, I was just like them, golden all through,--not dyed, +but created. Sunbeams like to follow me, I think. Now, when I stand in +one before this glass, infiltrated with the rich tinge, don't I look +like the spirit of it just stepped out for inspection? I seem to myself +like the complete incarnation of light, full, bounteous, overflowing, +and I wonder at and adore anything so beautiful; and the reflection +grows finer and deeper while I gaze, till I dare not do so any longer. +So, without more words, I'm a golden blonde. You see me now: not too +tall,--five feet four; not slight, or I couldn't have such perfect +roundings, such flexible moulding. Here's nothing of the spiny Diana and +Pallas, but Clytie or Isis speaks in such delicious curves. It don't +look like flesh and blood, does it? Can you possibly imagine it will +ever change? Oh! + +Now see the face,--not small, either; lips with no particular outline, +but melting, and seeming as if they would stain yours, should you touch +them. No matter about the rest, except the eyes. Do you meet such eyes +often? You wouldn't open yours so, if you did. Note their color now, +before the ray goes. Yellow hazel? Not a bit of it! Some folks say +topaz, but they're fools. Nor sherry. There's a dark sardine base, but +over it real seas of light, clear light; there isn't any positive color; +and once when I was angry, I caught a glimpse of them in a mirror, and +they were quite white, perfectly colorless, only luminous. I looked like +a fiend, and, you may be sure, recovered my temper directly,--easiest +thing in the world, when you've motive enough. You see the pupil is +small, and that gives more expansion and force to the irides; but +sometimes in an evening, when I'm too gay, and a true damask settles in +the cheek, the pupil grows larger and crowds out the light, and under +these thick, brown lashes, these yellow-hazel eyes of yours, they are +dusky and purple and deep with flashes, like pansies lit by fire-flies, +and then common folks call them black. Be sure, I've never got such eyes +for nothing, any more than this hair. That is Lucrezia Borgian, spun +gold, and ought to take the world in its toils. I always wear these +thick, riotous curls round my temples and face; but the great braids +behind--oh, I'll uncoil them before my toilet is over. + +Probably you felt all this before, but didn't know the secret of it. +Now, the traits being brought out, you perceive nothing wanting; the +thing is perfect, and you've a reason for it. Of course, with such an +organization, I'm not nervous. Nervous! I should as soon fancy a dish of +cream nervous. I am too rich for anything of the kind, permeated utterly +with a rare golden calm. Girls always suggest little similitudes to me: +there's that brunette beauty,--don't you taste mulled wine when you see +her? and thinking of yourself, did you ever feel green tea? and find me +in a crust of wild honey, the expressed essence of woods and flowers, +with its sweet satiety?--no, that's too cloying. I'm a deal more like +Mendelssohn's music,--what I know of it, for I can't distinguish +tunes,--you wouldn't suspect it,--but full harmonics delight me as they +do a wild beast; and so I'm like a certain adagio in B flat, that Papa +likes. + +There now! you're perfectly shocked to hear me go on so about myself; +but you oughtn't to be. It isn't lawful for any one else, because praise +is intrusion; but if the rose please to open her heart to the moth, what +then? You know, too, I didn't make myself; it's no virtue to be so fair. +Louise couldn't speak so of herself: first place, because it wouldn't +be true; next place, she couldn't, if it were; and lastly, she made her +beauty by growing a soul in her eyes, I suppose,--what you call good. +I'm not good, of course; I wouldn't give a fig to be good. So +it's not vanity. It's on a far grander scale; a splendid +selfishness,--authorized, too; and papa and mamma brought me up to +worship beauty,--and there's the fifth commandment, you know. + +Dear me! you think I'm never coming to the point. Well, here's this +rosary;--hand me the perfume-case first, please. Don't you love heavy +fragrances, faint with sweetness, ravishing juices of odor, heliotropes, +violets, water-lilies,--powerful attars and extracts, that snatch your +soul off your lips? Couldn't you live on rich scents, if they tried to +starve you? I could, or die on them: I don't know which would be best. +There! there's the amber rosary! You needn't speak; look at it! + +Bah! is that all you've got to say? Why, observe the thing; turn it +over; hold it up to the window; count the beads,--long, oval, like some +seaweed bulbs, each an amulet. See the tint; it's very old; like clots +of sunshine,--aren't they? Now bring it near; see the carving, here +corrugated, there faceted, now sculptured into hideous, tiny, heathen +gods. You didn't notice that before! How difficult it must have been, +when amber is so friable! Here's one with a chessboard on his back, and +all his kings and queens and pawns slung round him. Here's another +with a torch, a flaming torch, its fire pouring out inverted. They are +grotesque enough;--but this, this is matchless: such a miniature woman, +one hand grasping the round rock behind, while she looks down into some +gulf, perhaps, beneath, and will let herself fall. Oh, you should see +_her_ with a magnifying-glass! You want to think of calm, satisfying +death, a mere exhalation, a voluntary slipping into another element? +There it is for you. They are all gods and goddesses. They are all here +but one; I've lost one, the knot of all, the love of the thing. Well! +wasn't it queer for a Catholic girl to have at prayer? Don't you wonder +where she got it? Ah! but don't you wonder where I got it? I'll tell +you. + +Papa came in, one day, and with great mystery commenced unrolling, +and unrolling, and throwing tissue papers on the floor, and scraps of +colored wool; and Lu and I ran to him,--Lu stooping on her knees to look +up, I bending over his hands to look down. It was so mysterious! I began +to suspect it was diamonds for me, but knew I never could wear them, and +was dreadfully afraid that I was going to be tempted, when slowly, bead +by bead, came out this amber necklace. Lu fairly screamed; as for me, I +just drew breath after breath, without a word. Of course they were for +me;--I reached my hands for them. + +"Oh, wait!" said papa. "Yone or Lu?" + +"Now how absurd, papa!" I exclaimed. "Such things for Lu!" + +"Why not?" asked Lu,--rather faintly now, for she knew I always carried +my point. + +"The idea of you in amber, Lu! It's too foreign; no sympathy between +you!" + +"Stop, stop!" said papa. "You shan't crowd little Lu out of them. What +do you want them for, Lu?" + +"To wear," quavered Lu,--"like the balls the Roman ladies carried for +coolness." + +"Well, then, you ought to have them. What do you want them for, Yone?" + +"Oh, if Lu's going to have them, I _don't_ want them." + +"But give a reason, child." + +"Why, to wear, too,--to look at,--to have and to hold for better, for +worse,--to say my prayers on," for a bright idea struck me, "to say +my prayers on, like the Florence rosary." I knew that would finish the +thing. + +"Like the Florence rosary?" said papa, in a sleepy voice. "Why, this +_is_ the Florence rosary." + +Of course, when we knew that, we were both more crazy to obtain it. + +"Oh, Sir," just fluttered Lu, "where did you get it?" + +"I got it; the question is, Who's to have it?" + +"I must and will, potential and imperative," I exclaimed, quite on fire. +"The nonsense of the thing! Girls with lucid eyes, like shadowy shallows +in quick brooks, can wear crystallizations. As for me, I can wear +only concretions and growths; emeralds and all their cousins would +be shockingly inharmonious on me; but you know, Lu, how I use Indian +spices, and scarlet and white berries and flowers, and little hearts and +notions of beautiful copal that Rose carved for you,--and I can wear +sandal-wood and ebony and pearls, and now this amber. But you, Lu, +you can wear every kind of precious stone, and you may have Aunt +Willoughby's rubies that she promised me; they are all in tone with you; +but I must have this." + +"I don't think you're right," said Louise, rather soberly. "You strip +yourself of great advantages. But about the rubies, I don't want +anything so flaming, so you may keep them; and I don't care at all about +this. I think, Sir, on the whole, they belong to Yone for her name." + +"So they do," said papa. "But not to be bought off! That's my little +Lu!" + +And somehow Lu, who had been holding the rosary, was sitting on papa's +knee, as he half knelt on the floor, and the rosary was in my hand. And +then he produced a little kid box, and there lay inside a star with a +thread of gold for the forehead, circlets for wrist and throat, two +drops, and a ring. Oh, such beauties! You've never seen them. + +"The other one shall have these. Aren't you sorry, Yone?" he said. + +"Oh, no, indeed! I'd much rather have mine, though these are splendid. +What are they?" + +"Aqua-marina," sighed Lu, in an agony of admiration. + +"Dear, dear! how did you know?" + +Lu blushed, I saw,--but I was too much absorbed with the jewels to +remark it. + +"Oh, they are just like that ring on your hand! You don't want two rings +alike," I said. "Where did you get that ring, Lu?" + +But Lu had no senses for anything beyond the casket. + +If you know aqua-marina, you know something that's before every other +stone in the world. Why, it is as clear as light, white, limpid, dawn +light; sparkles slightly and seldom; looks like pure drops of water, +sea-water, scooped up and falling down again; just a thought of its +parent beryl green hovers round the edges; and it grows more lucent and +sweet to the centre, and there you lose yourself in some dream of vast +seas, a glory of unimagined oceans; and you say that it was crystallized +to any slow flute-like tune, each speck of it floating into file with +a musical grace, and carrying its sound with it. There! it's very +fanciful, but I'm always feeling the tune in aqua-marina, and trying to +find it,--but I shouldn't know it was a tune, if I did, I suppose. How +magnificent it would be, if every atom of creation sprang up and said +its one word of abracadabra, the secret of its existence, and fell +silent again. Oh, dear! you'd die, you know; but what a pow-wow! Then, +too, in aqua-marina proper, the setting is kept out of sight, and you +have the unalloyed stone with its sea-rims and its clearness and steady +sweetness. It wasn't the stone for Louise to wear; it belongs rather +to highly-nervous, excitable persons; and Lu is as calm as I, only so +different! There is something more pure and simple about it than about +anything else; others may flash and twinkle, but this just glows with an +unvarying power, is planetary and strong. It wears the moods of the sea, +too: once in a while a warm amethystine mist suffuses it like a blush; +sometimes a white morning fog breathes over it: you long to get into the +heart of it. That's the charm of gems, after all! You feel that they are +fashioned through dissimilar processes from yourself,--that there's a +mystery about them, mastering which would be like mastering a new life, +like having the freedom of other stars. I give them more personality +than I would a great white spirit. I like amber that way, because I know +how it was made, drinking the primeval weather, resinously beading each +grain of its rare wood, and dripping with a plash to filter through and +around the fallen cones below. In some former state I must have been a +fly embalmed in amber. + +"Oh, Lu!" I said, "this amber's just the thing for me, such a great +noon creature! And as for you, you shall wear mamma's Mechlin and that +aqua-marina; and you'll look like a mer-queen just issuing from the +wine-dark deeps and glittering with shining water-spheres." + +I never let Lu wear the point at all; she'd be ridiculous in it,--so +flimsy and open and unreserved; that's for me;--Mechlin, with its +whiter, closer, chaste web, suits her to a T. + +I must tell you, first, how this rosary came about, any way. You know +we've a million of ancestors, and one of them, my great-grandfather, was +a sea-captain, and actually did bring home cargoes of slaves; but once +he fetched to his wife a little islander, an Asian imp, six years old, +and wilder than the wind. She spoke no word of English, and was full +of short shouts and screeches, like a thing of the woods. My +great-grandmother couldn't do a bit with her; she turned the house +topsy-turvy, cut the noses out of the old portraits, and chewed the +jewels out of the settings, killed the little home animals, spoiled the +dinners, pranced in the garden with Madam Willoughby's farthingale and +royal stiff brocades rustling yards behind,--this atom of a shrimp,--or +balanced herself with her heels in the air over the curb of the well, +scraped up the dead leaves under one corner of the house and fired +them,--a favorite occupation,--and if you left her stirring a mess in +the kitchen, you met her, perhaps, perched in the china-closet and +mumbling all manner of demoniacal prayers, twisting and writhing and +screaming over a string of amber gods that she had brought with her +and always wore. When winter came and the first snow, she was furious, +perfectly mad. One might as well have had a ball of fire in the house, +or chain-lightning; every nice old custom had been invaded, the ancient +quiet broken into a Bedlam of outlandish sounds, and as Captain +Willoughby was returning, his wife packed the sprite off with him,--to +cut, rip, and tear in New Holland, if she liked, but not in New +England,--and rejoiced herself that she would find that little brown +skin cuddled up in her best down beds and among her lavendered sheets no +more. She had learned but two words all that time,--Willoughby, and the +name of the town. + +You may conjecture what heavenly peace came in when the Asian went out, +but there is no one to tell what havoc was wrought on board ship; in +fact, if there could have been such a thing as a witch, I should believe +that imp sunk them, for a stray Levantine brig picked her--still agile +as a monkey--from a wreck off the Cape de Verdes and carried her into +Leghorn, where she took--will you mind, if I say?--leg-bail, and +escaped from durance. What happened on her wanderings I'm sure is of +no consequence, till one night she turned up outside a Fiesolan villa, +scorched with malaria fevers and shaken to pieces with tertian and +quartan and all the rest of the agues. So, after having shaken almost to +death, she decided upon getting well; all the effervescence was gone; +she chose to remain with her beads in that family, a mysterious tame +servant, faithful, jealous, indefatigable. But she never grew; at ninety +she was of the height of a yard-stick,--and nothing could have been +finer than to have a dwarf in those old palaces, you know. + +In my great-grandmother's home, however, the tradition of the Asian +sprite with her string of amber gods was handed down like a legend, and, +no one knowing what had been, they framed many a wild picture of the +Thing enchanting all her spirits from their beads about her, and calling +and singing and whistling up the winds with them till storm rolled round +the ship, and fierce fog and foam and drowning fell upon her capturers. +But they all believed, that, snatched from the wreck into islands of +Eastern archipelagoes, the vindictive child and her quieted gods might +yet be found. Of course my father knew this, and when that night in the +church he saw the girl saying such devout prayers on an amber rosary, +with a demure black slave so tiny and so old behind her, it flashed +back on him, and he would have spoken, if, just then, the ray had not +revealed the great painting, so that he forgot all about it, and when at +last he turned, they were gone. But my father had come back to America, +had sat down quietly in his elder brother's house, among the hills where +I am to live, and was thought to be a sedate young man and a good match, +till a freak took him that he must go back and find that girl in Italy. +How to do it, with no clue but an amber rosary? But do it he did, +stationing himself against a pillar in that identical church and +watching the worshippers, and not having long to wait before in she +came, with little Asian behind. Papa isn't in the least romantic; he is +one of those great fertilizing temperaments, golden hair and beard, and +hazel eyes, if you will. He's a splendid old fellow! It's absurd to +delight in one's father,--so bread-and-buttery,--but I can't help it. +He's far stronger than I; none of the little weak Italian traits that +streak me, like water in thick, syrupy wine. No,--he isn't in the least +romantic, but he says he was fated to this step, and could no more have +resisted than his heart could have refused to beat. When he spoke to the +devotee, little Asian made sundry belligerent demonstrations; but he +confronted her with the two words she had learned here, Willoughby and +the town's name. The dwarf became livid, seemed always after haunted by +a dreadful fear of him, pursued him with a rancorous hate, but could not +hinder his marriage. The Willoughbys are a cruel race. Her only revenge +was to take away the amber beads, which had long before been blessed +by the Pope for her young mistress, refusing herself to accompany my +mother, and declaring that neither should her charms ever cross the +water,--that all their blessing would be changed to banning, and that +bane would burn the bearer, should the salt-sea spray again dash round +them. But when, in process of Nature, the Asian died,--having become +classic through her longevity, taking length of days for length of +stature,--then the rosary belonged to mamma's sister, who by-and-by sent +it, with a parcel of other things, to papa for me. So I should have had +it at all events, you see;--papa is such a tease I The other things were +mamma's wedding-veil, that point there, which once was her mother's, and +some pearls. + +I was born upon the sea, in a calm, far out of sight of land, under +sweltering suns; so, you know, I'm a cosmopolite, and have a right to +all my fantasies. Not that they are fantasies at all; on the contrary, +they are parts of my nature, and I couldn't be what I am without them, +or have one and not have all. Some girls go picking and scraping odds +and ends of ideas together, and by the time they are thirty get quite a +bundle of whims and crotchets on their backs; but they are all at sixes +and sevens, uneven and knotty like fagots, and won't lie compactly, +don't belong to them, and anybody might surprise them out of them. But +for me, you see, mine are harmonious, in my veins; I was born with them. +Not that I was always what I am now. Oh, bless your heart! plums and +nectarines, and luscious things that ripen and develop all their +rare juices, were green once, and so was I. Awkward, tumble-about, +near-sighted, till I was twenty, a real raw-head-and-bloody-bones to all +society; then mamma, who was never well in our diving-bell atmosphere, +was ordered to the West Indies, and papa said it was what I needed, and +I went, too,--and oh, how sea-sick! Were you ever? You forget all about +who you are, and have a vague notion of being Universal Disease. I have +heard of a kind of myopy that is biliousness, and when I reached the +islands my sight was as clear as my skin; all that tropical luxuriance +snatched me to itself at once, recognized me for kith and kin; and mamma +died, and I lived. We had accidents between wind and water, enough to +have made me considerate for others, Lu said; but I don't see that I'm +any less careful not to have my bones spilt in the flood than ever +I was. Slang? No,--poetry. But if your nature had such a wild, free +tendency as mine, and then were boxed up with proprieties and civilities +from year's end to year's end, may-be you, too, would escape now and +then in a bit of slang. + +We always had a little boy to play with, Lu and I, or rather +Lu,--because, though he never took any dislike to me, he was absurdly +indifferent, while he followed Lu about with a painful devotion. I +didn't care, didn't know; and as I grew up and grew awkwarder, I was the +plague of their little lives. If Lu had been my sister instead of my +orphan cousin, as mamma was perpetually holding up to me, I should have +bothered them twenty times more; but when I got larger and began to be +really distasteful to his fine artistic perception, mamma had the sense +to keep me out of his way; and he was busy at his lessons, and didn't +come so much. But Lu just fitted him then, from the time he daubed +little adoring blotches of her face on every barn-door and paling, till +when his scrap-book was full of her in all fancies and conceits, and he +was old enough to go away and study Art. Then he came home occasionally, +and always saw us; but I generally contrived, on such occasions, to do +some frightful thing that shocked every nerve he had, and he avoided me +instinctively as he would an electric torpedo; but--do you believe?--I +never had an idea of such a thing, till, when sailing from the South, +so changed, I remembered things, and felt intuitively how it must have +been. Shortly after I went away, he visited Europe. I had been at home a +year, and now we heard he had returned; so for two years he hadn't seen +me. He had written a great deal to Lu,--brotherly letters they were,--he +is so peculiar,--determining not to give her the least intimation of +what he felt, if he did feel anything, till he was able to say all. And +now he had earned for himself a certain fame, a promise of greater; his +works sold; and if he pleased, he could marry. I merely presume this +might have been his thought; he never told me. A certain fame! But +that's nothing to what he will have. How can he paint gray, faint, +half-alive things now? He must abound in color,--be rich, exhaustless: +wild sea-sketches,--sunrise,--sunset,--mountain mists rolling in turbid +crimson masses, breaking in a milky spray of vapor round lofty peaks, +and letting out lonely glimpses of a melancholy moon,--South American +splendors,--pomps of fruit and blossom,--all this affluence of his +future life must flash from his pencils now. Not that he will paint +again directly. Do you suppose it possible that I should be given +him merely for a phase of wealth and light and color, and then +taken,--taken, in some dreadful way, to teach him the necessary and +inevitable result of such extravagant luxuriance? It makes me shiver. + +It was that very noon when papa brought in the amber, that he came for +the first time since his return from Europe. He hadn't met Lu before. I +ran, because I was in my morning wrapper. Don't you see it there, that +cream-colored, undyed silk, with the dear palms and ferns swimming all +over it? And all my hair was just flung into a little black net that +Lu had made me; we both had run down as we were when we heard papa. I +scampered; but he saw only Lu; and grasped her hands. Then, of course, I +stopped on the baluster to look. They didn't say anything, only seemed +to be reading up for the two years in each other's eyes; but Lu dropped +her kid box, and as he stooped to pick it up, he held it, and then took +out the ring, looked at her and smiled, and put it on his own finger. +The one she had always worn was no more a mystery. He has such little +hands! they don't seem made for anything but slender crayons and +watercolors, as if oils would weigh them down with the pigment; but +there is a nervy strength about them that could almost bend an ash. + +Papa's breezy voice blew through the room next minute, welcoming him; +and then he told Lu to put up her jewels, and order luncheon, at which, +of course, the other wanted to see the jewels nearer; and I couldn't +stand that, but slipped down and walked right in, lifting my amber, and +saying, "Oh, but this is what you must look at!" + +He turned, somewhat slowly, with such a lovely indifference, and let his +eyes idly drop on me. He didn't look at the amber at all; he didn't look +at me; I seemed to fill his gaze without any action from him, for +he stood quiet and passive; my voice, too, seemed to wrap him in a +dream,--only an instant; though then I had reached him. + +"You've not forgotten Yone," said papa, "who went persimmon and came +apricot?" + +"I've not forgotten Yone," answered he, as if half asleep. "But who is +this?" + +"Who is this?" echoed papa. "Why, this is my great West Indian magnolia, +my Cleopatra in light colors, my"---- + +"Hush, you silly man!" + +"This is she," putting his hands on my shoulders,--"Miss Giorgione +Willoughby." + +By this time he had found his manners. + +"Miss Giorgione Willoughby," he said, with a cool bow, "I never knew +you." + +"Very well, Sir," I retorted. "Now you and my father have settled the +question, know my amber!" and lifting it again, it got caught in that +curl. + +I have good right to love my hair. What was there to do, when it snarled +in deeper every minute, but for him to help me? and then, at the +friction of our hands, the beads gave out slightly their pungent smell +that breathes all through the Arabian Nights, you know; and the perfumed +curls were brushing softly over his fingers, and I a little vexed and +flushed as the blind blew back and let in the sunshine and a roistering +wind;--why, it was all a pretty scene, to be felt then and remembered +afterward. Lu, I believe, saw at that instant how it would be, and moved +away to do as papa had asked; but no thought of it came to me. + +"Well, if you can't clear the tangle," I said, "you can see the beads." + +But while with delight he examined their curious fretting, he yet saw +me. + +I am used to admiration now, certainly; it is my food; without it I +should die of inanition; but do you suppose I care any more for those +who give it to me than a Chinese idol does for--whoever swings incense +before it? Are you devoted to your butcher and milkman? We desire only +the unpossessed or unattainable, "something afar from the sphere of +our sorrow." But, though unconsciously, I may have been piqued by this +manner of his. It was new; not a word, not a glance; I believed it +was carelessness, and resolved--merely for the sake of conquering, I +fancied, too--to change all that. By-and-by the beads dropped out of the +curl, as if they had been possessed of mischief and had held there of +themselves. He caught them. + +"Here, Circe," he said. + +That was the time I was so angry; for, at the second, he meant all it +comprehended. He saw, I suppose, for he added at once,-- + +"Or what was the name of the Witch of Atlas, + + 'The magic circle of whose voice and eyes + All savage natures did imparadise?'" + +I wonder what made me think him mocking me. Frequently since then he has +called me by that name. + +"I don't know much about geography," I said. "Besides, these didn't come +from there. Little Asian--the imp of my name, you remember--owned them." + +"Ah?" with the utmost apathy; and turning to my father, "I saw the +painting that enslaved you, Sir," he said. + +"Yes, yes," said papa, gleefully. "And then why didn't you make me a +copy?" + +"Why?" Here he glanced round the room, as if he weren't thinking at all +of the matter in hand. "The coloring is more than one can describe, +though faded. But I don't think you would like it so much now. Moreover, +Sir, I cannot make copies." + +I stepped towards them, quite forgetful of my pride. "Can't?" I +exclaimed. "Oh, how splendid! Because then no other man comes between +you and Nature; your ideal hangs before you, and special glimpses open +and shut on you, glimpses which copyists never obtain." + +"I don't think you are right," he said, coldly, his hands loosely +crossed behind him, leaning on the corner of the mantel, and looking +unconcernedly out of the window. + +Wasn't it provoking? I remembered myself,--and remembered, too, that I +never had made a real exertion to procure anything, and it wasn't worth +while to begin then, beside not being my forte; things must come to me. +Just then Lu reentered, and one of the servants brought a tray, and we +had lunch. Then our visitor rose to go. + +"No, no," said papa. "Stay the day out with the girls. It's Mayday, and +there are to be fireworks on the other bank to-night." + +"Fireworks for Mayday?" + +"Yes, to be sure. Wait and see." + +"It would be so pleasant!" pleaded Lu. + +"And a band, I forgot to mention. I have an engagement myself, so you'll +excuse me; but the girls will do the honors, and I shall meet you at +dinner." + +So it was arranged. Papa went out. I curled up on a lounge,--for Lu +wouldn't have liked to be left, if I had liked to leave her,--and soon, +when he sat down by her quite across the room, I half shut my eyes and +pretended to sleep. He began to turn over her work-basket, taking up her +thimble, snipping at the thread with her scissors: I see now he wasn't +thinking about it, and was trying to recover what he considered a proper +state of feeling, but I fancied he was very gentle and tender, though I +couldn't hear what they said, and I never took the trouble to listen in +my life. In about five minutes I was tired of this playing 'possum, and +took my observations. + +What is your idea of a Louise? Mine is dark eyes, dark hair, decided +features, pale, brown pale, with a mole on the left cheek,--and that's +Louise. Nothing striking, but pure and clear, and growing always better. + +For him,--he's not one of those cliff-like men against whom you are +blown as a feather, I don't fancy that kind; I can stand of myself, rule +myself. He isn't small, though; no, he's tall enough, but all his frame +is delicate, held to earth by nothing but the cords of a strong will, +--very little body, very much soul. He, too, is pale, and has dark eyes +with violet darks in them. You don't call him beautiful in the least, +but you don't know him. I call him beauty itself, and I know him +thoroughly. A stranger might have thought, when I spoke of those copals +Rose carved, that Rose was some girl. But though he has a feminine +sensibility, like Correggio or Schubert, nobody could call him womanish. +"_Les races se féminisent_." Don't you remember Matthew Roydon's +Astrophill? + + "A sweet, attractive kind of grace, + A full assurance given by looks, + Continual comfort in a face." + +I always think of that flame in an alabaster vase, when I see him; "one +sweet grace fed still with one sweet mind"; a countenance of another +sphere: that's Vaughan Rose. It provokes me that I can't paint him +myself, without other folk's words; but you see there's no natural image +of him in me, and so I can't throw it strongly on any canvas. As for his +manners, you've seen them;--now tell me, was there ever anything so +winning when he pleases, and always a most gracious courtesy in his +air, even when saying an insufferably uncivil thing? He has an art, a +science, of putting the unpleasant out of his sight, ignoring or looking +over it, which sometimes gives him an absent way; and that is because he +so delights in beauty; he seems to have woven a mist over his face then, +and to be shut in on his own inner loveliness; and many a woman thinks +he is perfectly devoted, when, very like, he is swinging over some +lonely Spanish sierra beneath the stars, or buried in noonday Brazilian +forests, half stifled with the fancied breath of every gorgeous blossom +of the zone. Till this time, it had been the perfection of form rather +than tint that had enthralled him; he had come home with severe ideas, +too severe; he needed me, you see. + +But while looking at him and Lu, on that day, I didn't perceive half of +this, only felt annoyed at their behavior, and let them feel that I +was noticing them. There's nothing worse than that; it is a very +upas-breath, it puts on the brakes, and of course a chill and a +restraint overcame them till Mr. Dudley was announced. + +"Dear! dear!" I exclaimed, getting upon my feet. "What ever shall we do, +Lu? I'm not dressed for him." And while I stood, Mr. Dudley came in. + +Mr. Dudley didn't seem to mind whether I was dressed in cobweb or +sheet-iron; for he directed his looks and conversation so much to Lu, +that Rose came and sat on a stool before me and began to talk. + +"Miss Willoughby"-- + +"Yone, please." + +"But you are not Yone." + +"Well, just as you choose. You were going to say?" + +"Merely to ask how you liked the Islands." + +"Oh, well enough." + +"No more?" he said. "They wouldn't have broken your spell so, if that +had been all. Do you know I actually believe in enchantments now?" + +I was indignant, but amused in spite of myself. + +"Well," he continued, "why don't you say it? How impertinent am I? You +won't? Why don't you laugh, then?" + +"Dear me!" I replied. "You are so much on the +'subtle-souled-psychologist' line, that there's no need of my speaking +at all." + +"I can carry on all the dialogue? Then let _me_ say how you liked the +Islands." + +"I shall do no such thing. I liked the West Indies because there is life +there; because the air is a firmament of balm, and you grow in it like +a flower in the sun; because the fierce heat and panting winds wake and +kindle all latent color, and fertilize every germ of delight that might +sleep here forever. That's why I liked them; and you knew it just as +well before as now." + +"Yes; but I wanted to see if you knew it. So you think there is life +there in that dead Atlantis." + +"Life of the elements, rain, hail, fire, and snow." + +"Snow thrice bolted by the northern blast, I fancy, by which time it +becomes rather misty. Exaggerated snow." + +"Everything there is an exaggeration. Coming here from England is like +stepping out of a fog into an almost exhausted receiver; but you've no +idea what light is, till you've been in those inland hills. You think a +blue sky the perfection of bliss? When you see a white sky, a dome of +colorless crystal, with purple swells of mountain heaving round you, and +a wilderness of golden greens royally languid below, while stretches of +a scarlet blaze, enough to ruin a weak constitution, flaunt from the +rank vines that lace every thicket, and the whole world, and you with +it, seems breaking into blossom,--why, then you know what light is and +can do. The very wind there by day is bright, now faint, now stinging, +and makes a low, wiry music through the loose sprays, as if they were +tense harp-strings. Nothing startles; all is like a grand composition +utterly wrought out. What a blessing it is that the blacks have been +imported there,--their swarthiness is in such consonance!" + +"No; the native race was in better consonance. You are so enthusiastic, +it is pity you ever came away." + +"Not at all. I didn't know anything about it till I came back." + +"But a mere animal or vegetable life is not much. What was ever done in +the tropics?" + +"Almost all the world's history,--wasn't it?" + +"No, indeed; only the first, most trifling, and barbarian movements." + +"At all events, you are full of blessedness in those climates, and that +is the end and aim of all action; and if Nature will do it for you, +there is no need of your interference. It is much better to be than +to do;--one is a strife, the other is possession." + +"You mean being as the complete attainment? There is only one Being, +then. All the rest of us are"---- + +"Oh, dear me! that sounds like metaphysics! Don't!" + +"So you see, you are not full of blessedness there." + +"You ought to have been born in Abelard's time,--you've such a +disputatious spirit. That's I don't know how many times you have +contradicted me to-day." + +"Pardon." + +"I wonder if you are so easy with all women." + +"I don't know many." + +"I shall watch to see if you contradict Lu this way." + +"I don't need. How absorbed she is! Mr. Dudley is 'interesting'?" + +"I don't know. No. But then, Lu is a good girl, and he's her +minister,--a Delphic oracle. She thinks the sun and moon set somewhere +round Mr. Dudley. Oh! I mean to show him my amber." + +And I tossed it into Lu's lap, saying,-- + +"Show it to Mr. Dudley, Lu,--and ask him if it isn't divine!" + +Of course, he was shocked, and wouldn't go into ecstasies at all; +tripped on the adjective. + +"There are gods enough in it to be divine," said Rose, taking it from +Lu's hand and bringing it back to me. "All those very Gnostic deities +who assisted at Creation. You are not afraid that the imprisoned things +work their spells upon you? The oracle declares it suits your cousin +best," he added, in a lower tone. + +"All the oaf knows!" I responded. "I wish you'd admire it, Mr. Dudley. +Mr. Rose don't like amber,--handles it like nettles." + +"No," said Rose, "I don't like amber." + +"He prefers aqua-marina," I continued. "Lu, produce yours!" For she had +not heard him. + +"Yes," said Mr. Dudley, rubbing his finger over his lip while he gazed, +"every one must prefer aqua-marina." + +"Nonsense! It's no better than glass. I'd as soon wear a set of +window-panes. There's no expression in it. It isn't alive, like real +gems." + +Mr. Dudley stared. Rose laughed. + +"What a vindication of amber!" he said. + +He was standing now, leaning against the mantel, just as he was before +lunch. Lu looked at him and smiled. + +"Yone is exultant, because we both wanted the beads," she said. "I like +amber as much as she." + +"Nothing near so much, Lu!" + +"Why didn't you have them, then?" asked Rose, quickly. + +"Oh, they belonged to Yone; and uncle gave me these, which I like +better. Amber is warm, and smells of the earth; but this is cool and +dewy, and"---- + +"Smells of heaven?" asked I, significantly. + +Mr. Dudley began to fidget, for he saw no chance of finishing his +exposition. + +"As I was saying, Miss Louisa," he began, in a different key. + +I took my beads and wound them round my wrist. "You haven't as much eye +for color as a poppy-bee," I exclaimed, in a corresponding key, and +looking up at Rose. + +"Unjust. I was thinking then how entirely they suited you." + +"Thank you. Vastly complimentary from one who 'don't like amber'!" + +"Nevertheless, you think so." + +"Yes and no. Why don't you like it?" + +"You mustn't ask me for my reasons. It is not merely disagreeable, but +hateful." + +"And you've been beside me, like a Christian, all this time, and I had +it!" + +"The perfume is acrid; I associate it with the lower jaw of St. Basil +the Great, styled a present of immense value, you remember,--being hard, +heavy, shining like gold, the teeth yet in it, and with a smell more +delightful than amber,"--making a mock shudder at the word. + +"Oh, it is prejudice, then." + +"Not in the least. It is antipathy. Besides, the thing is unnatural; +there is no existent cause for it. A bit that turns up on certain +sands,--here at home, for aught I know, as often as anywhere." + +"Which means Nazareth. We must teach you, Sir, that there are some +things at home as rare as those abroad." + +"I am taught," he said, very low, and without looking up. + +"Just tell me, what is amber?" + +"Fossil gum." + +"Can you say those words and not like it? Don't it bring to you a +magnificent picture of the pristine world,--great seas and other +skies,--a world of accentuated crises, that sloughed off age after age, +and rose fresher from each plunge? Don't you see, or long to see, that +mysterious magic tree out of whose pores oozed this fine solidified +sunshine? What leaf did it have? what blossom? what great wind shivered +its branches? Was it a giant on a lonely coast, or thick low growth +blistered in ravines and dells? That's the witchery of amber,--that it +_has_ no cause,--that all the world grew to produce it,--may-be died +and gave no other sign,--that its tree, which must have been beautiful, +dropped all its fruits; and how bursting with juice must they have +been"---- + +"Unfortunately, coniferous." + +"Be quiet. Stripped itself of all its lush luxuriance, and left for a +vestige only this little fester of its gashes." + +"No, again," he once more interrupted. "I have seen remnants of the wood +and bark in a museum." + +"Or has it hidden and compressed all its secret here?" I continued, +obliviously. "What if in some piece of amber an accidental seed were +sealed, we found, and planted, and brought back the lost aeons? What a +glorious world that must have been, where even the gum was so precious!" + +"In a picture, yes. Necessary for this. But, my dear Miss Willoughby, +you convince me that the Amber Witch founded your family," he said, +having listened with an amused face. "Loveliest amber that ever the +sorrowing sea-birds have wept," he hummed. "There! isn't that kind of +stuff enough to make a man detest it?" + +"Yes." + +"And you are quite as bad in another way." + +"Oh!" + +"Just because, when we hold it in our hands, we hold also that furious +epoch where rioted all monsters and poisons,--where death fecundated +and life destroyed,--where superabundance demanded such existences, no +souls, but fiercest animal fire;--just for that I hate it." + +"Why, then, is it fitted for me?" + +He laughed again, but replied,--"The hues harmonize,--the substances; +you both are accidents; it suits your beauty." + +So, then, it seemed I had beauty, after all. + +"You mean that it harmonizes with me, because I am a symbol of its +period. If there had been women then, they would have been like me,--a +great creature without a soul, a"---- + +"Pray, don't finish the sentence. I can imagine that there is something +rich and voluptuous and sating about amber, its color, and its lustre, +and its scent; but for others, not for me. Yea, you have beauty, after +all," turning suddenly, and withering me with his eye,--"beauty, after +all, as you didn't _say_ just now.--Mr. Willoughby is in the garden. I +must go before he comes in, or he'll make me stay. There are some to +whom you can't say, No." + +He stopped a minute, and now, without looking,--indeed, he looked +everywhere but at me, while we talked,--made a bow as if just seating +me from a waltz, and, with his eyes and his smile on Louise all the way +down the room, went out. Did you ever know such insolence? + +[To be continued.] + + + + +SONG OF NATURE. + + + Mine are the night and morning, + The pits of air, the gulf of space, + The sportive sun, the gibbous moon, + The innumerable days. + + I hide in the blinding glory, + I lurk in the pealing song, + I rest on the pitch of the torrent, + In death, new-born and strong. + + No numbers have counted my tallies, + No tribes my house can fill, + I sit by the shining Fount of life, + And pour the deluge still. + + And ever by delicate powers + Gathering along the centuries + From race on race the fairest flowers, + My wreath shall nothing miss. + + And many a thousand summers + My apples ripened well, + And light from meliorating stars + With firmer glory fell. + + I wrote the past in characters + Of rock and fire the scroll, + The building in the coral sea, + The planting of the coal. + + And thefts from satellites and rings + And broken stars I drew, + And out of spent and aged things + I formed the world anew. + + What time the gods kept carnival, + Tricked out in star and flower, + And in cramp elf and saurian forms + They swathed their too much power. + + Time and Thought were my surveyors, + They laid their courses well, + They boiled the sea, and baked the layers + Of granite, marl, and shell. + + But him--the man-child glorious, + Where tarries he the while? + The rainbow shines his harbinger, + The sunset gleams his smile. + + My boreal lights leap upward, + Forthright my planets roll, + And still the man-child is not born, + The summit of the whole. + + Must time and tide forever run? + Will never my winds go sleep in the West? + Will never my wheels, which whirl the sun + And satellites, have rest? + + Too much of donning and doffing, + Too slow the rainbow fades; + I weary of my robe of snow, + My leaves, and my cascades. + + I tire of globes and races, + Too long the game is played; + What, without him, is summer's pomp, + Or winter's frozen shade? + + I travail in pain for him, + My creatures travail and wait; + His couriers come by squadrons, + He comes not to the gate. + + Twice I have moulded an image, + And thrice outstretched my hand, + Made one of day, and one of night, + And one of the salt-sea-sand. + + I moulded kings and saviours, + And bards o'er kings to rule; + But fell the starry influence short, + The cup was never full. + + Yet whirl the glowing wheels once more, + And mix the bowl again, + Seethe, Fate! the ancient elements, + Heat, cold, dry, wet, and peace and pain + + Let war and trade and creeds and song + Blend, ripen race on race,-- + The sunburnt world a man shall breed + Of all the zones and countless days. + + No ray is dimmed, no atom worn, + My oldest force is good as new, + And the fresh rose on yonder thorn + Gives back the bending heavens in dew. + + + + +NEMOPHILY + + +An earnest plea was once entered in Maga's pages for the bodies +of saints. Yet it is to be hoped that others not included in that +respectable class may have physical needs also, and it is to be feared +that they may not be above the necessity of a little of the same +invigorating tonic. For there are not a few on this continent of ours, +whom the _Avvocata del Diavolo_ would certainly expect to enter a _nolo +contendere_, who stand in much need of a healthy animalism. That these +sinners would be benefited by what Mr. Kingsley's critics call "muscular +Christianity" cannot be denied. For they are not sinners beyond all hope +of amendment, by any means; and their offences being rather against +the laws and light of Nature than against any of the commands of the +Decalogue, it is earnestly desired that they be brought within the pale +of promise, even if they never reach the sacred fane of canonization. + +Indeed, at the outset, let there be a protest entered on behalf of the +sinner against this unnecessary pity of the saint. It is a part of that +false halo with which enthusiastic admiration (reckless of gilding and +ruinously prodigal of ochre) delights to endue the favored heads of the +_beati_. The saint himself countenances the folly, and meekly inclines +his head (sideways) to the rays. It is a part of the capital of the +calling to look interesting. The revered and reverend Charles Honeyman, +in the hands of that acute manager, Mr. Sherrick, was bidden to sit in +his pew at evening service and _cough_. A qualified consumption and a +moderate bronchitis are no bad substitutes for eloquence, learning, and +that indiscreet piety which is so careless of feminine favor as to +bring into the pulpit a robust person and to the dinner-table a healthy +appetite. + +But the saint, if he have a reasonable sense of his pastoral duty, gets, +_malgré lui_, a very fair share of that open-air medicine which is +supposed to be the great lack of his profession. For if he be a +clergyman in a rural parish of tolerable extent and with no great +superfluity of wealth, he will not want for either air or exercise. The +George Herbert so situated finds by no means his whole round of duty in +the study. Old Mrs. Smith, sick and bedridden, lives a couple of miles +from the parsonage; but the thoughtless creature actually expects a +weekly visit and half-hour's reading of certain old familiar English +literature, and will remind her pastor of it, if the expected day pass +without his coming. Jones and his wife, who live in just the other +direction, are wantonly apt, upon the insufficient plea of a long walk, +to be missed from their wonted pew on a stormy Sunday, and must be +looked up. Little Mary Gray has not been to Sunday-school. Cause +suspected,--insufficient shoes. Bessy Bell, up the cross-road, quite +over beyond Beman's Farms, is likewise delinquent, from the opposite +want of a bonnet. Wilson, the cross-grained vestryman, has an idea, +which never fails by Saturday night to break out into a positive rush of +conviction, that the minister is neglecting his studies and "going to +Rome," if he doesn't in the course of the week go to Wilson and carry +him the Church papers and take a look at the Wilson prize-pigs. So good +Mr. Herbert never fails, in due attestation of his "abhorrence of the +Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities," to foot it over the rocky +hill and down across the rickety little bridge and past the poor-house +farm, (where he stops on a little private business of his own, that +perhaps makes a few old hearts and certainly one old coat-pocket the +lighter,) and so on, a good piece, through the woods, to where Vestryman +Wilson is bending over the hoe or swinging the axe, and thinking the +while what an easy life the parson has of it. + +Then Mr. Herbert gets the occasional tonic of a brisk walk over the +hard-beaten snow, of a moonlight winter's night. A walk-only think of +it!--over the crisp, crunching snow, to the distant outlying hamlet of +Paton's Corner, where a few are gathered in the little school-house to +hear him preach, and to give him the happy relief of a five-mile tramp +home again. + +It is really doubtful if dumb-bells, a gymnasium, and a pickerel-back +racing-wherry would meet precisely the case of Mr. Herbert, however +desirable for city saints who have plenty of spare sixpences for the +omnibuses. + +But the miserable sinner,--"where," as the shepherd exclaimed, to Mr. +Weller's indignation, "is the miserable sinner?" Keeping school, +keeping books, making books, standing behind counters when busy and on +street-corners when disengaged, doing anything or everything but taking +care of his precious body, and thereby giving his precious soul the +chance of being in very bad company, and following the fate of poor +Tray, and of the well-meaning stork in Dr. Aesop's fable. What shall he, +or rather, what can he, do with his leisure? For leisure more or less +almost every young man has,--and it is of young men, and especially of +the _very_ young men, that we are benevolently writing. If he dwell +in an inland town, the boat-club is hopeless,--and boat-clubs, though +capital things for the young gentlemen of Harvard and Yale and Trinity, +have also their drawbacks. One cannot always be ready to move in +complete unison with a dozen fellow-mortals. Pendennis is never ready +when the club are desirous to row; Newcome is perpetually anxious to +tempt the wave when the wave tempts nobody else. The gymnasium gets to +be a wearisome round of very mill-horse-like work, after the varieties +of possible dislocation of all one's bones have been exhausted. Climbing +ropes and poles with nothing but cobwebs at the top, and leaping horses +with only tan at the bottom, grow monotonous after six months' steady +dissipation thereat. Base-ball clubs do not always find desirable +commons, and the municipal fathers of the towns have a prejudice against +them in the streets. What shall youth, conscious of muscle and eager for +fresh air, do? Even the gloves are not fancy-free, but are very apt to +bring with them the slang of the ring and the beastly associations +of professional pugilism. Youth looks up to its teachers; but if its +teachers in the manly art be the Game-Chicken, the Pet, the Slasher, +youth, in learning to respect the brute strength of such men, will +hardly learn to respect itself. + +But--and here lies the purport of this article--there is hardly a town +or village of New England which has not within a quarter of a mile of +its suburbs a patch of woodland or a strip of sandy beach. What is to +hinder the sinner, if he repent him of the foul air and cramped posture +of which he has been the victim, from a little pedestrianism? Do +American men and boys ever walk? Drive, it is known they do; they can +always get time for that. But to walk, certainly to scramble and to +climb, must be added by Mr. Phillips, in the new editions of his +exquisite and inexhaustible Lecture, to the catalogue of the "Lost +Arts." + +Yet Nature never grows outworn,--is unwearied in the bounty which she +bestows on the seeker. I said a strip of sandy beach, just now. For that +I beg leave to refer the reader to Mr. Kingsley's fascinating "Glaucus," +and to the delightful papers which appeared in "Blackwood" a year or two +ago. My business is with the woods and fields. Certainly some who read +my pages will have leisure to climb a stone wall now and then, and for +them the following sketches of New England wood-walks may serve to show +how much enjoyment may be got with but little outlay of appliances. Of +course the most tempting thing to seek is sport. But the gun and the +fishing-rod are useless in many towns, from the disappearance of all +worthy objects for their exercise. The birds are wild and shy; the trout +have been _coculus-indicused_ out of the mountain-brooks to supply +metropolitan hotel-tables and Delmonican larders. Let us go after more +attainable things. And first, being a true nemophilist, I protest +against botany. A flower worth a five-mile walk and a wet foot is worthy +of something better than dissection with the Linnaean classification, +afterward adding insult to injury. The botanist is not a discoverer; he +is only a pedant. He finds out nothing about the plant; he serves it +as we might fancy a monster doing, who should take this number of the +"Atlantic" and sit down, not to read it, not to inhale the delicate +fragrance of its thought, but to count its articles, examine their +titles, and, having compared them with the newspaper advertisement, +sweep the whole contentedly into the dust-heap. To study the plant, to +see how it gets its living, why it will grow on one side of a brook in +profusion, and yet refuse to seek the other bank, is not his care. It +is simply to see whether he can abuse its honest English or New-English +simplicity by calling it by one set or another of barbarous Latin and +Greek titles. Pray, my good Sir, does a man go to see the elephant only +to call him a pachydermatous quadruped? + +But we are wasting time and shall never get into the woods. In the +winter wild you will hardly get far into them, except at the Christmas +season for greenery. Gathering this by deputy is poor business. It is +all very well, if you can do no better, to engage Mr. Brown to engage +some one else to bring in the needed spruce, fir, and hemlock with which +to obscure the fresco deformities of St. Boniface's; but it is far +better to hunt for them yourself. There is something intensely +delightful in the changes of the search; for it begins dull enough. You +start in the drear December weather, with a gray sky and leaden clouds +softly shaded in regular billows, like an India-ink ocean, overhead, +and a somewhat muddy lane before you. Then to pick one's way across the +plashy meadows, and, after a ticklish pass of jumping from one reedy +tussock to another, to get once more upon the firm soil, while the +grass, dry and crisp under your feet, gives a pleasant _whish, whish_, +as it does the duty of street-door-mat to your mud-beclogged sandals. +Now for the stone wall. On the other side are thick set the thorny +stalks of last summer's "high-bush" blackberries. A plunge and a +scramble take you through in comparative safety; and stopping only to +disengage your skirts from a too-fond bramble, you are in the woodland. +Thick-strewn the dead leaves lie under foot. What music there is in the +rustling murmur with which they greet your invading step! On, deeper and +deeper into the wood,--now dodging under the green and snaky cat-briers, +with their retractile thorns and vicious clinging grasp,--now dashing +along the woodman's paths,--now struggling among the opposing +underwood. At last a little sprig of feathery green catches the eye. +It is a tuft of moss. No,--it is the running ground-pine; and clearing +away, with both eager hands, leaves, sticks, moss, and all the fallen +_exuciae_ of the summertime, you tear up long wreaths of that most +graceful of evergreens. Then, in another quarter of the woodland, where +the underbrush has been killed by the denser shade, there rise the +exquisite fan-shaped plumes of the feather-pine, of deepest green, or +brown-golden with the pencil of the frost;--for cross or star or thick +festoon, there is nothing so beautiful. And again you are attracted +into the thickets of laurel, and wage fierce war upon the sturdy and +tenacious, yet brittle branches, till you are transformed into a walking +jack-o'-the-green. The holly of the English Christmas, all-besprent with +crimson drops, is hard to be found in New England, and you will have to +thread the courses of the brooks to seek the swamp-loving black alder, +which will furnish as brilliant a berry, but without the beautiful +thorny leaf. Only in one patch of woodland do I know of the holly. In +the southeastern corner of Massachusetts,--if you will take the trouble +to follow up a railroad-track for a couple of miles and then plunge +into the pine woods, you will come upon a few lonely, stunted scraps of +it. The warmer airs which the Gulf Stream sends upon that coast have, +it is said, something to do therewith. Of course, if I am wrong, the +botanists will take vengeance upon me; but I can only say what has been +said to me. We nemophilists are apt to be careless of solemn science and +go upon all sorts of uncertain tradition. + +But "Christmas comes but once a year." After chancel and nave have been +duly adorned, and again disrobed against the coming sobrieties of Lent, +there are other temptations to the woods. Before the snow has wholly +vanished from the shelter of the wood-lots, the warm, hazy, wooing days +of April come upon us. On such a day,--how well in this snow-season I +remember it!--I have been lured out by the hope of the Mayflower, the +delicate _epigae repens_, miscalled the trailing arbutus. Up the rocky +hill-side, from whose top you catch glimpses of the far-off sparkling +sea, with a blue haze of island ranges belting it,--up among the rocks, +into warm, sheltered, sunny nooks, you go upon your quest. For the +Mayflower, though found in almost every township in New England, has +secret and unaccountable whims of its own,--will persist in blooming +in just one spot, where you ought not to expect it, and in avoiding all +likely places. Yet when you come to its traditionary habitat, it is not +there. Round and round we pace, hoping and despairing, till a faint, +most delicate odor, indescribably suggestive of woodland freshness, +catches the roused sense; or else one silvery star peeps out from under +an upturned birch-leaf. Then down on hands and knees; tear up brush to +right and left, the brown skeletons of the withered foliage. The ground +is white with stars. Some are touched with delicate pink, some creamy +white,--but all breathing out the evanescent secret of the early spring. +Such the children of Plymouth used to hang in garlands about the Pilgrim +stone, in honor of the never-to-be-forgotten name of the New England +Argo. + +Later in the year come the beautiful blue violets, which are, I am sorry +to say, scentless. Yet their little white cousin, which delights in all +swampy places, is sometimes, in the first days of its appearing, more +regardful of the prime duty of all flowers. I have gathered tufts of +them which (botanists to the contrary notwithstanding) were wellnigh as +odorous as if reared in the sunniest Warwickshire lane; but, as with a +perfect specimen of the cast skin of a snake, such a boon is to be hoped +for only once in a lifetime. With the violets, the beautiful blush-bells +of the anemone come garlanded with their graceful leaves, plentifully +enough. But did the rambler ever find the sensitive fern, which resented +the intrusive hand with all Mimosa's coyness? I never did but once. I +have wooed many a delicate frond of all varieties of fern since, but +never one so conscious. Now, too, ere the trees come into leaf, is the +time to seek the boxwood, called, I hope improperly, by the ominous name +of the Southern dogwood. It is worth an afternoon's ramble to come upon +one of those trees, standing in an open glade of the forest, a pyramid +of white or cream-colored blossoms. Before a leaf is on the tree, it +clothes itself in this lovely livery, and at a little distance seems +like a snowy cloud rather than a shrub. + +But with June comes the most exquisite of our New England wild-flowers, +the arethusa, or swamp-pink, as it is often styled, to the great +confusion of its delicate, high-born nature with the great, vulgar, +flaunting azalea. When June comes,--when the clethra is heaped with its +bee-beloved blossoms, and the grass is green and bright as never again +in the year, then the arethusa is to be sought. A most unaccountable +flower, of all shades, from pale pink to a deep purple, with a lovely +shape that I can liken to nothing so nearly as the _fleur-de-lis_ on +French escutcheons, it has a delicate, yet powerful, aromatic scent, as +if it were an estray from the tropics. One specimen, snowy white, I have +seen, and can tell you where to find another. You are to go out along +the President's highway, due northward from a certain seaport of +Massachusetts. Take the eastward turn at the little village which lies +at the head of its harbor, and so north again by the old Friends' +meeting-house, which looks in brown placidity away toward the distant +shipping and the wicked steeple-houses, into the which so many of its +lost lambs have been inveigled. Then be not tempted to strike off down +yonder lane, to see the curious old farm-house, relic of Colony times, +with its odd stone chimney, its projecting upper story and carved wooden +pendants, and its shingles all pierced into decorative hearts and +rounds. Its likeness is not in Barber's book,--no, nor its visible form, +I believe, (it is many a year since I went that way,) on earth. It +became a constellation long ago,--being translated to the stars. Keep on +with good heart along the highway ridge, whence you can look down on the +solemn, close-set, pine forest, which hides from you the windings of the +river, and the beautiful lakelet, where the water-lilies float in +the summer. Go on down the valley, past the old tavern,--relic +of stage-coaching days, the square, three-story, deserted-looking +tavern,--up again a couple of miles or so, till the river has dwindled +to a brook and then to a marsh. Here is the place of our seeking. For +under the shade of one of those huge granite rocks over which the thin +soil of ---- County is sprinkled, and which here and there have shaken +off the superincumbent dust in indignation at the presumption of man in +attempting to farm them,--under that rock--of course I shall not tell +you which--you will find the White Arethusa, if you are born under a +lucky star. + +A little later, the crimson lady-slipper loves to spring up in pine +clearings, around the base of the wood-piles which the cutters have +stacked in the winter to season. To one born by the salt water there is +an especial forest delight in the pine woods. For that best-loved sound +of the ceaseless fall of plunging seas upon the beach comes to him +there. Many a time I have walked from Harvard's leafy shades and +cheerful halls out to the quiet of the Botanic Garden for the sake of +hearing the wind in the pine tree-tops. Shut your eyes, and the inward +vision sees once more the long line of sandy and shingly beaches, the +green curving-up of the surges tipped with dazzling foam,--sees the +motionless and blackened timbers of the wreck on the shore, the white +wings dipping and turning along the combing tops of the waves racing in +upon the sands,--sees the dry tufted beach-grass, and the wet, shining, +compact slope down which slides swiftly the under-tow. And what a +healthful exhilaration it is to breathe the balm-laden breath of the +pine forest, and to tread the elastic slippery-soft carpet of the fallen +spiny leaves! Here is the haunt of the lady-slipper, (_cypripedium_,) +a shy, rare flower, like a little sack delicately veined, with a faint +musky scent, and large-flapped leaves shading its flower. + +In the hot July and August, the scarlet lobelia, the cardinal-flower, is +to be found. Never was cardinal so robed. If Herbert's rose, in poetic +hyperbole, with its "hue angry and brave, bids the rash gazer wipe his +eye," certainly such a bed of lobelia as I once saw on the road to +"Rollo's Camp" was anything but what the Scotch would call "a sight for +sair een." For the space of a dozen or twenty yards grew a patch of +absolutely nothing but lobelia. At a little distance it was like a +scarlet carpet flung out by the roadside. If you desire to twine the +threefold chord of color, as Mr. Ruskin calls it, I know of no lovelier +foil for the lobelia than the white orchis, which haunts the same marshy +spots. Those long spikes of feathery and balanced blossoms are the most +absolute white of anything in Nature. They positively insist upon the +very refinement of purity, as you look at them. + +Did you ever see a pond-lily?--not the miserable draggled +green-and-mud-colored buds which enterprising boys bring into the cars +for sale; but the white water-lily, floating on the silent brooks, or +far out in the safe depths of the mill-ponds. The "Autocrat" knows what +pond-lilies are, having visited Prospero's Isle and seen the pink-tinged +sisterhood of a certain mere that lies embosomed in its hills. But to +know them, you must hunt for them,--tramp off to the distant stream, and +then, not stand on the bank and wish and sigh, but off hose and shoon, +and, careless of water-snake and snapping-turtle, wade in up to their +virgin bower, and bear off the dripping, fragrant prize. None but the +brave deserve--lady or lily. + +But if the stream be too deep and wide, and the lilies are anchored far +out among their broad pads,--a floral Venice, with the blue spikes and +arrowy leaves of the pickerel-weed for campaniles and towers,--there +are yet "lilies of the field" over which you may profitably meditate, +remembering that Solomon Ben-David was not so arrayed. Two kinds there +are,--one like the tiger-lily of the gardens, the petals curled back +and showing the whole leopard-spotted corolla,--the other bell-shaped, +rarer, and growing one only on a stalk. Both are to be found in open +spaces, bush-grown fields, and airy, sunny spots. It is worth a hot and +dusty June walk to get into one of those nooks. You can spend days and +not exhaust the study which one little triangular bit of overgrown +pasture affords,--spend them, not as a naturalist in close, patient +study, because to such a one a square yard of moss is as exhaustless as +the forests of Guiana to a Waterton, but as a nemophilist, taking simple +delight in mere observation and individual discovery. + + "Many haps fall in the field + Seldom seen by watchful eyes." + +And so all sorts of curious ways are discoverable by the mere +wood-lounger. At one time your way is barred by the great portcullis of +the strong threaded web of the field spider, who sits like a porter in +king's livery of black and gold at his gate. Then you have a peep into +the winding maelström-funnel of another of the spider family. Poe must +have suffered metempsychosis into the body of a blue-bottle, when he +wrote his "Descent into the Maelström"; for such an insect, hanging +midway down that treacherous, sticky descent, and seeing Death creeping +up from the bottom to grasp him, might have a clear idea of what was +undergone by the fisherman of Lofoden. + +Or, if one tire of the open meadows, and the sun be too hot, think of +the laurel groves,--not now, as in the Christmas-time, white with snow, +but white again with thousands on thousands of argent cups, loaded with +blossoms, meeting over your head in arches of flowery tracery, and one +solitary tree standing deep in the woods, like a frigate packed with her +silver canvas lying out to windward of the fleet of merchantmen she is +convoying. The cool laurel groves! Often as one sees that sight, it is +always with a fresh shock of pleasure to the frame. + +Then, when autumn comes and the leaves change, there is still endless +variety for the little basket or botanical-case which swings lightly on +your arm or hangs across your shoulder. Owen Jones never devised any +ornaments for wall or niche one half so brilliant as the color of those +leaves which a dexterous hand will readily group upon a sheet of white +paper, where your eye may catch it, as, after achieving a successful +sentence, you look up from your study-table. Speaking of leaves, who +knows how large an oak-loaf will grow in this New England? I have just +sat down after measuring one gathered in a bit of copse hard by the town +of M----, a bit of copse which skirts a beautiful wild ravine, with a +superb hemlock and pine grove creeping down its steep bank. I have just +honestly measured my leaf, and it shows _fourteen_ inches in length by a +trifle of _nine and a half_ in breadth. + +In the same ravine I found--and in any patch of woodland you may do the +like--a perfect treasury of mosses. A shallow tin box or a wooden bowl +filled with these and duly watered will give a winter-garden to +the smallest lodging. Sun and light are, as Mr. Toots says, of "no +consequence" to the moss family. But if one be above such trifles as +mosses, and with Young American loftiness aspire to full-grown trees, +there is still plenty to do in the most ordinary woodlands. After a +chapter of Mr. Ruskin upon Claude and Poussin and Turner, there is +nothing like going to the original documents. In default of the National +Gallery from London and the Pitti Palace from the other side of Arno, +which cannot be summoned into court at a moment's notice, we can solve +at least half the problem. Mr. Ruskin may or may not be right about the +Claudes; but it is very easy to see if he be right as to the trees. And +if we prove him right with his theory of branches and bark, we have a +fair presumption that he has eyes to see the alleged falsehoods in him +of Lorraine. Now here is a chance to do a little bit of Art-criticism +quite unexpensively. Discontented young gentlemen murmur about the +education of this people being too practical, unaesthetic, and all that, +and sigh for the culture which a foreign land only can give. But a man +who has no eye for Nature will hardly learn to love her at second-hand +through the mediation of canvas and colors. I should like very much to +be able to walk into a Turner Gallery once a week; but, for all that, I +would not give up a Connecticut Valley sunset, such as last summer could +be had for the looking at. Not Turner, even, could paint those level +shadows, all interfused with trembling light, that filled the hollows +of the hills across the river, and brought out their wavy contour, and +showed the depth and distance of the valley opening miles away. Could he +throw athwart the dark mirror of the sleeping water in the gorge, which +led the imprisoned river stealthily to the sea, the gliding snows of the +sails rosy-white that stole swan-like from behind the bluffs? Could he +bring down the rainbow till its hither abutment rested on the centre of +the stream in a transparent mist of driving rain, while its keystone was +lost in the stooping cloud above? Art is good, as well as long; but time +is also fleeting, and, not being millionnaires, with the luxury of a run +across the Atlantic at command, let us make what we can out of what we +have. It is very probable that architecture, too, is a sore subject to +aspiring Young America, who turns discontentedly from the stucco and +pine-plank tracery of the new cathedral of St. Aërian. But let Young +America go out to the meadows, and discover for himself a group of +young elms. There is one I know of, not unattainable by very moderate +pedestrianism from the same seaport before alluded to, where a most +exquisite arrangement of arches and tracery can be seen. Six or eight +elms, their long bending boughs clothed with thick, clinging leafage, +mingle their tops, forming a sort of vaulted roof, such as at the +intersection of nave and transepts occurs in every Gothic church which +has no central tower. More exquisite curves, better studies for a +healthy-minded and original architect, could hardly be found. The +interlacing branches are suggestive of tracery-patterns, not to be +outdone even in the flamboyant windows of York and Rouen. There is no +excuse for the squat, ugly, and stupid arches one sees in almost every +attempt at pointed architecture, when the elm-tree springs by every +riverside in the land. + +But it is time to conclude our desultory rambles. It would be pleasant +to me to recall many another of my old haunts, spots which, perhaps, +were never called beautiful before now, and may not be again for many a +day. For they all lie in a very tame and prosaic country, nearly level, +the utmost elevation getting hardly a couple of hundred feet above +tidewater mark; a country with less natural beauty than belongs to most +New England towns,--bare, bleak, rocky, with stunted vegetation and +ungenial soil. Yet within its limits there are brooks and marshes and +copses and woodlands,--rocks over which the wild columbine hangs its +fuchsia-like pendants, and dells where nestle the earliest and sweetest +of the wood-flowerets. + +And now to come back to the miserable sinner. As schoolboy, as +bank-clerk, as teacher, as worker in many ways, he has unemployed +leisure in the hours of daylight,--not so many as he should have, +perhaps, but still many hours in the course of the month. Shall he go to +the livery-stable, the bowling-alley, or the billiard-saloon? Not being +a saint, of course he can plead no high-toned sense of need of physical +culture, to warrant these indulgences. He goes because he likes it, gets +enjoyment, exercise, rest for a mind tasked to the full with the day's +work. This he ought to have; and if butting little ivory balls about or +propelling big wooden ones will give it him, let him have it, if so be +that it cannot be got otherwise. There is no contamination in the cue or +the ten-pin; but there is in the habits and associations of the places +where they are found. Let us not be maw-wormish about it, but tell the +truth as it is. The quasi-gambling principle upon which all such places +are conducted stimulates the love of hazard and makes way for the +betting propensity to become full-blown. Of course, one can bet, if one +have money; two lumps of sugar and a few flies will enable a man to lose +the fortune of the Rothschilds, if he will. That is not the question. +The billiard-saloons do educate men for the gambling-house, simply +because they cannot go to them without either losing their money or +winning their games. Beside that, the gaseous, dusty, confined, and +tobacco-scented air of those places is not to be compared with our free, +open, out-doors hills and meadows, for any hygienic purposes. + +But, argument apart, there is a sad New England story, so often repeated +as to be almost wearisome, were it not so sad. It is of the fresh, +frank, honest-hearted boy, who may be seen behind many a bank-counter. +At first, so active, trustworthy, and trusted,--yet with the constant +temptation of unemployed time and energies demanding supply of action. +Little by little these are supplied,--supplied by the billiard-table +and its concomitants. It is the same story,--first, rumors, then +equivocation, then exposure. Perhaps a petty sum is all; but, to the +austere justice of banking, this is as bad, nay, worse than millions. +And then a brief paragraph in the newspaper, and one more ruined young +man, sulking beside the family-hearthstone, his father's shame, his +mother's unextinguishable sorrow,--a candidate for crime, if he have +power of mind and spirit to feel, or an imbecile dependant, if he have +not. + +Now preaching, whether lay or clerical, will not do much to prevent +this, especially if it be pitched (as it commonly is) upon too high a +key. _Preventing_ means, or used to mean, when words had a meaning, +_getting beforehand with anything._ And if young Homespun have from the +outset something he likes better, he will not take to the ivory balls in +pleasant weather, and in rainy weather will be apt to prefer even quite +a stupid book to the board of green cloth. Therefore, boys, go,--and +girls, too, for that matter,--on flower and moss hunts!--and ye, dear +middle-aged people, send them, and go also upon the same! Find something +that will tempt you into the woods,--something neither berries nor +sassafras,--something which cannot be eaten or sold, but which will +simply give you a sense and a love of beauty. These pages have been +written to show that it lies at your very doors,--that nothing but stout +boots, an old coat or jacket, and an observant eye, is needed. When you +come to be saints, or even to be men, there will be plenty of active +work to do, if so be that you will only do it. Then, in careful regard +to your bodies, you may have hard-trotting (not fast-trotting) horses, +pickerel-backed boats, and a billiard-room over the stable,--if your +canonization seem to require it. But the saint, if he be true saint, +needs no such care. He will get work enough, hard, physical work, if +only in trotting up and down the steep stairs of tenant-houses, to keep +his digestion in tolerable order. It is only your pseudo-saint, +who cuddles himself for the pulpit and the platform, and keeps the +safety-valve down with midnight sittings while "rosining up" the +furnaces with strong coffee, that will come to grief by collapse of +flues. If a man, whether sinner or saint, will run races for the honor +of being the fastest boat in the river of popular favor, he must take +the consequences. + +But for the poor, benighted, heathen sinner, desiring enjoyment that +shall be honest, cheap, satisfying, and attainable, I say, in the full +faith of the creed of Nemophily,--Get into the woods! No matter what +you expect to find there,--go and see what you can find. Don't walk for +"constitutionals," without an object at the end or on the way. Keep your +feet well shod and your eyes open. Bring home all the flowers and pretty +wood-growths you can, and you may find that you have been entertaining +angels unawares. Find out about them all you can yourself, and then (in +spite of a previous tirade against botany, be it said) go to BIGELOW'S +"PLANTS OF BOSTON" and learn more. + + + + +SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. + + +A fatiguing journey up six long, winding flights of smoothly-waxed +stairs carried me to the door of the room I occupied in the Place ----. +But no matter for the name of the Place; no one, I am confident, will +visit Paris for the express purpose of satisfying himself that I am to +be depended upon, and that there is a house of so many stones in the +Place Maubert. Here I lived, _au premier au dessous du soleil_, in the +enjoyment of no end of fresh air, especially in winter, and a brilliant +prospect up and down the street and over the roofs of the houses across +the way, which reached from the Pantheon on the one side, to the peaked +roofs and factory-like chimneys of the Tuileries on the other, the dome +of the Hôtel des Invalides occupying the centre of the picture. I was +studying painting at that time,--learning to paint the much-admired +landscapes and figure-pieces which I produce with so much ease now and +dispose of with so little,--and, as a general thing, was busy, (though I +had my fits of abstraction, like other men of genius, during which I did +nothing but lie on my bed and smoke pipes over French novels, or join +parties of pleasure into the country or within the barriers,) through +the day, and often till late in the evening, in the atelier of one or +another of the most renowned artists of the city. + +At the head of the last flight of stairs in this house was a narrow +passage-way in which I was always obliged to stop and recover my breath, +after finishing the one hundred and thirty-nine steps that led to +my paradise, before I could get my key into its lock; and into this +passage-way opened two doors, one of which, of course, belonged to my +room, and the other to some one's else. But who this some one else was I +was unable to find out. Was _it_--and how convenient a word is _ça_ in +such a case!--male or female? I was persuaded it must be a woman, and as +a woman I always used to think of her and speak of her, to myself,--and +I thought and spoke of her often enough. Of course, I could have settled +the question at once by knocking at her door and asking for a match, but +I scorned resorting to such weak subterfuges. But how quiet she was! +Occasionally, when, contrary to my usual custom, I took another nap +after waking in the morning, instead of going out for exercise and a +glimpse of early Paris street-life,--occasionally I used to hear her +moving about on the other side of the thin partition which separated +our rooms, as stealthily as though she feared she might disturb me. She +would light her charcoal-stove, and perhaps glide softly by my door and +down stairs, to return soon with the paper of coffee, the, bit of bread, +and the egg or two which were to serve her for breakfast, and now and +then she would sing to herself, but so gently that I never could hear +the words of her song, nor scarcely the air. An evil spirit put gimlets +into my head, but I shook them out like so much powder, and resolved to +be honorable, if I was an artist. I found, however, that my curiosity +was an abominable nuisance, that my morning walks were almost entirely +neglected, and that I could not bear to leave my room until I had heard +her go out and lock her door behind her. Every day, after her departure, +I resolved that she should not go out again without being seen by me, +and every time I attempted to follow her in such a way as to escape +detection I lost sight of her. I nearly fell into the street as I +attempted to reach far enough out of my window to see her as she came +out at the street-door. + +At last, one morning, when it happened, that, just as I had finished +dressing myself and was ready to go out, she opened her door and ran +down stairs without closing it behind her, carried away by my curiosity, +I stepped out into the narrow passage-way and looked into her sanctuary. +The room was a smaller one than mine,--but how much neater! The muslin +curtains in her window were as white as snow; her wardrobe, which hung +against the wall, was protected from the dust by a linen cloth; the +floor shone like a mirror. Her canary hung in the window, and greeted me +with a perfect whirlwind of _roulades_ as I stepped into the room. Her +fire was burning briskly under a pot of water, which was just coming +to the boiling-point, and singing as gayly and almost as loudly as her +bird. Over the back of a chair was thrown the work she had been busied +with; and on the bed, almost hid by the curtains, was a pair of the +prettiest little blue garters I ever saw, even in Paris,--span-new they +were, and had evidently been bought no longer ago than the evening +before,--and some other articles of feminine apparel, which I will not +attempt to describe. I looked into her glass, I really believe, with the +hope of finding there a faint reflection of her face and figure. She +must have looked into it but a minute before going out. A book, like +a Testament, lay on the table. I knew I should find her name on the +fly-leaf, and was just on the point of satisfying myself with regard to +that particular when I heard her feet upon the stairs; and, with a start +which nearly carried away the curtains of her bed, I rushed from her +room into my own. + +How my heart beat, after I had gently closed my door and was sitting +on the side of my bed, listening to the movements in the next room! It +didn't seem to me as though I had been guilty of a high misdemeanor, +and yet, though I had been prepared for her return, I was as much +discomposed as though I had been caught peeping. + +So far from being satisfied with this resolution of my doubts with +regard to the sex of my neighbor, I now found myself more uneasy and +curious than before. Was she young and pretty and good? and what did she +do? and what was her name? My thoughts were perpetually running up those +six flights and stopping baffled at her close-shut door. I drew +ideal portraits of her, and introduced them into all my pictures as +pertinaciously as Rubens did his wives, and would often finish out an +accidental face in a study of rocks, much to my instructor's surprise +and my fellow-students' amusement. It was very remarkable, however, +that all these fancy sketches bore a striking resemblance to another +acquaintance of mine, who will shortly be introduced, and in whom, until +I moved into my now room, I had been exclusively interested,--so much +so, in fact, that----But I will not anticipate. + +Most of my days were spent on the opposite side of the Seine; and, as +I crossed that river, by the Pont Royal, at about five o'clock, every +evening, on my way to the Laiterie, at which I usually took what I +called my dinner, I always stopped to buy a bunch of flowers, of violets +in their season, of a charming little flower-girl, who had her stand, on +the Quai Voltaire, and who, by the time my turn to be served came, had +usually disposed of nearly her whole stock. Every one who looked at her +bought of her. She possessed something that was more attractive even +than her beauty; though I question, if, without her glossy brown hair, +her soft, dark eyes, her glorious complexion, her round, dimpled cheek +and chin, her gentle winning smile, and her exquisite taste in dress--I +question, if, without all these, her quiet, modest demeanor and +unaffected simplicity and propriety would have attracted quite as much +attention as they always did. + +I had not bought many bouquets of Thérèse before she began to recognize +me as I came up, and to greet me with a smile and a _"Bon jour, +Monsieur,"_ sweeter in tone and accent than any I had ever heard before. +What a voice hers was! Its tones were like those of a silver bell; and I +found that she always had my bunch of violets or heliotrope ready for me +by the time I reached her. + +My frugal meal over, I was in the habit of visiting a neighboring +_café,_ where I read the papers, drank my evening cup of coffee, and, as +I smoked my cigar or pipe and twirled my posies in my fingers or held +them to my nose, would wonder who she was who sold them to me, if she +ever thought of those who bought them of her, and if she distinguished +me above her other customers. It seemed to me, that, if she had the same +angelic smile and happy greeting for them as she always bestowed upon +me, they must one and all be her slaves; and yet I couldn't decide +whether I really loved her or was only touched by a passing fancy for +her. + +I looked forward, however, through the day, to my interview with her +with a great deal of impatience, and found myself making short cuts +in the long walk which led me to her. I used to arrange, on my way, +well-turned sentences with which to please her, and by which I expected +to startle her into some intimation of her feelings toward me. I was +angry that she was obliged to stand in so public a place, exposed to the +gaze and remarks of all who chose to stop and buy of her. In fine, I +was jealous, or rather was piqued, that she should receive all others +exactly as she received me, and almost flattered myself that necessity +forced her to meet them with the same sweet smile inclination led her to +bestow on me. + +This was the state of affairs at the time I moved into my new lodgings, +before referred to, in the Place Maubert, and I was suffering these +mental torments for Thérèse's sake, when the appearance, or rather the +non-appearance, of my mysterious neighbor aggravated and complicated the +symptoms and converted my slow fever into an intermittent. I had called +my fair unknown Hermine;--the pronoun _she_, as it applied equally to +every individual of the female sex, and in the French language to many +things besides, soon became insufficient, and I took the liberty of +calling her Hermine. I was so ashamed of my foolish passion, that I +could not make up my mind even to question the porter at the door with +regard to her, nor to consult any of my better initiated acquaintances +as to the proper course to be pursued, but lived out a wretched +succession of days and nights of feverish anxiety and expectation,--of +what I knew not. + +I was on my way over the Pont Royal, one evening, at my usual hour, +and was just coming in sight of my bewitching flower-merchant, when +a sudden, and, as I believed, a happy thought occurred to me, and I +resolved to put it into instant execution. I am sure I blushed and +stammered wofully as I asked for _two_ bunches of flowers instead of my +usual one, and I was confident, that, as she handed them to me without a +word, but with such a look, Thérèse's brow was shaded by something more +than the dark bands of her brown hair or the edge of her becoming cap, +and that her lip quivered rather with a suppressed sigh than with her +usual happy smile. I didn't stop to speak with her that night, but +hurried away towards my room, conscious--for I did not dare to look +behind me, or I am sure I should have relinquished my design--that her +large, sorrowful eyes were full of the tears she had kept back while I +had stood before her. + +I reached my room as soon as possible, and, after assuring myself that +my neighbor was still absent, carefully inserted my second nosegay +into her keyhole, and rushed from the house as though I had committed +burglary. + +I was very young then, very romantic, and wholly wanting in assurance. +I must have been, or I should never have regarded it as a crime, not +against myself, but others, that I was making my days miserable and my +nights sleepless on account of two young girls, one of whom I had never +seen, and the other of whom was merely a flower-merchant. + +When I clambered up to my room late that night, the flowers were no +longer where I had put them. I had been torturing myself all the evening +with the thought that Hermine might have felt offended, and that I +should find them torn in pieces and thrown down at my door, or that she +would be waiting for me with a severe reprimand for my boldness and +impertinence. But I could find no trace of them, and went to sleep, +soothed by the conviction that they had been carefully put by in a glass +of water, or were occupying a place on her pillow by the side of her +dainty cheek. I feared to meet Thérèse's sorrowful face again the next +night, and was troubled so much by the thought of it through the day, +that I fairly deserted her that evening and bought my two bouquets +elsewhere. With one of these, which I had taken care should be of a +finer quality than before, I repeated my experiment of the preceding +night and with the same gratifying result. But the day after, +forgetting, until it was too late, that I had given Thérèse fair cause +to be seriously angry with me, habit carried me to my old resort again, +though I had fully determined to reach home by another way, and to +patronize, for the future, my new _bouquetière,_ who was not only old +and ugly, but of the masculine gender. Habit--and perhaps wish had +something to do with it--was too strong, however, and I found myself +turning down the Quai Voltaire at the customary hour the next evening. + +Much to my surprise, and somewhat to my mortification, Thérèse greeted +me with her old sunny smile. Her _"Bon jour, Monsieur,"_ was as cordial +as ever; and it even seemed to me--and that didn't in the least tend to +compose me--that her eyes sparkled with an archness which I had never +seen in them before, and that her voice had in it a tinge of malice, as +she held out to me two of her finest bunches, saying,-- + +_"Est-ce que, Monsieur en desire deux encore ce soir?"_ + +I was very angry with her for being in such good-humor, and believe I +was anything but aimable or polite with her. Why did she not look +hurt or offended and reproach me for my desertion, instead of almost +disarming my senseless anger by her gentleness? + +"It seems that Monsieur forgets his old friends, sometimes," she +continued, as I took the flowers she had been holding towards me, and +was fumbling in my pocket for the change. + +"Forget!" I stammered; for the temper I found her in had so completely +ruffled mine, that I was hardly sufficiently master of myself to be able +to answer her at all,--"what makes you think I forget? Am I not here +this evening, as usual?" + +"This evening, yes,--but last night you did not come; or were you here +too late to find me? I"----she paused, and, with her color a little +heightened, as though she had narrowly escaped making a disclosure, +looked another way,--"Monsieur must have bought his flowers elsewhere, +yesterday. Were they as fresh and sweet as mine?" + +"But how do you know, Mademoiselle,"--I answered, after I had given +her a long opportunity to add what I had hoped would follow that +long-drawn-out "I"; (she was going to say, I was sure, that she had +waited for me to come as long as was possible;)--"How do you know that I +bought my flowers elsewhere, or that I bought any? And where can I find +finer ones than you give me?" + +"Monsieur is kind enough to say so," she returned. "Can you excuse my +indiscretion? I only thought, that, as you never miss carrying a bunch +of flowers home with you, and sometimes two," she added, with a wicked +twinkle in the corner of her mouth, "you must have found some better +than mine, last night. But Monsieur will, of course, act his own +pleasure." + +Thérèse had never appeared to me more charming than at that moment. I +wondered afterwards how I had been able to tear myself away from her, +and was almost angry that I had not thrown down my second bunch, had not +vowed to her that I would never desert her again, and had not confessed +that the pain I had suffered from my folly had more than equalled hers, +since I was never so happy as when I could be near and see her and hear +the music of her voice. + +And this was my life, and these the pains I used to suffer. Two tender +passions held alternate possession of my fickle heart, and a constant +struggle was always waging between them for the mastery; and the +impossibility of deciding in favor of either of them, which to accept +and which deny, prevented my yielding to either. Thérèse, however, whose +real presence I could enjoy, upon whose delicious beauty I could feast +my eyes whenever the fancy seized me, and whose voice I could hear, +even when separated from her, possessed a fearful advantage over her +invisible rival, who maintained her position in my interest only by +preserving her incognito and maintaining my curiosity strained to the +highest pitch. My acquaintance with Thérèse became daily more intimate, +and was soon upon such a footing as seemed to authorize my asking her +to accompany me on a Sunday jaunt to one of the thousand resorts of +Parisian pleasure-seekers just beyond the barriers of the city. + +She accepted,--of course she did,--and the matter was finally arranged +one Saturday evening for the next day. I was to find her at the house of +her aunt, who lived in my neighborhood, and who, to my surprise, turned +out to be the proprietress of the Laiterie I frequented. Here we were to +breakfast, and afterwards take the proper conveyance to our destination, +which I think was Belleville. + +Sunday came, and with it came such weather as the gods seldom vouchsafe +to mortals who contemplate visiting the country. It was one of those +cloudless days in early June when all Nature, and yourself more +than anything else in Nature, seems as though it had been taking +Champagne,--not too warm, but sufficiently so to make out-of-door life a +luxury, and an excursion like ours into the country almost a necessity. + +Thérèse, like everything else in Nature on that summer's day, was more +gloriously beautiful, in my eyes, than ever before. Hermine's ideal +beauty, and with it her chance of success, faded out from my memory like +an unfixed photograph, before this charming reality, and Thérèse ruled +supreme. She had dressed herself with a taste which surprised even +me, who had so long regarded her as irreproachable, as she was +unapproachable, in that particular; and the joy she felt at the thought +of a whole day's ramble in the country showed itself in every feature +of her countenance, in every movement, and in every tone of her voice. +There didn't live a prouder or a happier man than I was, as we made our +way arm in arm towards the Place Dauphine, where we were to take the +omnibus for Belleville. + +We ran wild in the woods and fields all that day, we fed the fishes in +the ponds, we made ourselves dizzy on the seesaws and merry-go-rounds, +and at last, fairly tired out, and feeling desperately and most +unromantically hungry, turned into the neatest and least frequented +restaurant we could find and ordered our dinner. + +Thérèse was no _gourmande_, luckily. Her tastes were simple and +harmonized admirably with my slender means. We dined, however, like +princes, and drank a bottle of _Château Margeaux_, instead of the _vin +ordinaire_, which was my ordinary wine. Thérèse's gayety had fairly +inoculated me, and, forgetting my usual reserve, we laughed and chatted +as noisily as a couple of children. + +"Upon my word," cried I, as I caught sight of a bouquet of flowers in +the room we occupied, "what a couple of ninnies we have been! We have +forgotten to get any flowers to carry home with us. But I suppose you +see too many of them through the week to care for them to-day." + +"Oh, no!" replied Thérèse. "I could never see too much of flowers; +and besides, you must have a bunch to carry home to Mademoiselle this +evening. She will never forgive you, if you neglect her to-day. And what +would she think or say, if she knew where you are now and whom you are +with? She is very fond of flowers,--when they come from you, I mean." + +"Well," I stammered, and my face burned like fire. "What Mademoiselle? +And what makes you think that I make presents of the flowers I get of +you? I only get them for myself, and as an excuse for seeing you." + +"_Ah! menteur_!" cried Thérèse, shaking her finger at me with mock +solemnity. "_Fi donc! c'est vilain._ Do you think I have no eyes, or +that you have none that speak as plainly as your mouth, and more truly? +You try to deceive me, Monsieur!" and the little hypocrite assumed so +injured and heart-broken an expression and tone, that I was almost wild +with remorse, and cursed the wretch who had placed the flowers in the +room, and myself for having noticed them. I should have been hurried +into I don't know what expressions of attachment to her and of +indifference towards every other individual of her sex, if she had not +prevented me by the following startling remark. + +"I know to whom you give the flowers you value so much as coming from +me. It is to your next-door neighbor, who pleases you more than I do, +and whom you have known, perhaps, longer than you have me. Why didn't +you invite her, and not me, to come with you to-day? It would have been +better." + +"Ah!" cried I, "do you know her? She told you about it? Why doesn't she +let me see her? Is her name Hermine?" + +And almost before I knew it, I had told her the whole story of my +passion for my invisible neighbor. + +Thérèse pouted, and turned her back. She put her handkerchief to her +face, and called me all sorts of hard names for having brought her there +to listen to the confession of my love for another; and turned a deaf +ear, or I thought she did, to my expostulations and my protestations +that I didn't really care for Hermine,--that it was only a passing +fancy, more curiosity than anything else,--and that I really loved no +one but her. + +She began to relent at last, though I was half inclined to be sorry, for +her resentment became her even better than her good-humor. + +"Well," she said, finally, "it is too tiresome to quarrel, and I will +forgive; for, although you say you have never seen Hermine,--(that is a +prettier name than Thérèse, isn't it?)--she has, perhaps, seen you, and +may really love you "-- + +"But I don't love her," I cried. "I don't want to love her. I don't want +to see her. Her name isn't Hermine, I know. I will never think of her +again, nor make a fool of myself by putting nose-gays into her keyhole, +if you will only not look so sober any more." + +"She will be very sorry for that, I am sure," returned Thérèse, with a +smile I could not translate; "and she will miss them very much. I judge +her by myself. I always find a bunch at my door when I go home at +night"-- + +"You! You find flowers at your door? And who puts them there?" And I +took my turn at being provoked. "You haven't used me fairly, Thérèse, to +make me understand all this time that you cared for no one but me. There +is some one, then, whom you love and who loves you?" + +"Oh, yes!" she answered, her whole face beaming with a pleasure which +made me feel like committing a murder or a suicide; "oh, yes! I believe +he does; he has almost told me so. And--and I know that I do. But he is +so droll! He is my next-door neighbor, and has never seen me yet, and +has never tried to, I believe; but he leaves a bunch of flowers at my +door every evening, and calls me--Hermine." + +"Hermine! You Hermine? Hurrah!" + +And before she could prevent me, I held her in my arms, and, in spite +of her struggles, had kissed her forehead, eyes, hair, nose, and lips +before she could extricate herself, and then went round the room in a +wild dance of perfect joy and relief. + +"I knew I could love no one else, Thérèse-Hermine, or Hermine-Thérèse! I +knew there must be some good and sufficient reason for the unaccountable +attraction my neighbor was exercising over me. Why didn't you tell me +sooner, _méchante_? I suppose you never would have done so at all, if we +had not come out here to-day. Suppose I had not asked you to come with +me?" + +"Wouldn't you have asked me?" she answered, with so much winning grace +and in such a pleading tone that I found myself obliged to repeat the +operation of a few lines above. "Wouldn't you have asked me? I don't +know what I should have done," she continued, sadly and thoughtfully. +"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, jumping up and clapping her hands, while her +whole face was radiant with triumph. "Oh, yes! then I should have been +Hermine, and you would have asked her." + +Two happier young people than Thérèse and myself never, I am confident, +returned by rail from a day's excursion in the country. Our happy faces, +our rapid talking, and our devotion to each other, which we took no +pains to conceal, attracted the attention of all about us,--and I heard +one father of a family, who was returning to Paris with a half score of +cross, tired, and crying children, whisper to his wife, as he pointed +towards us,--"That is a couple in their honey-moon, or else lovers; how +happy they are!" + +And that is the way in which I stumbled into wedlock. How many others, +in their pursuit of what has seemed to them the substance, have failed +to discover, perhaps too late, that they were following a flitting +shadow,--while I, favored mortal, in my chase of a dream, stumbled upon +the greatest real good of my whole life! + + * * * * * + + +THROUGH THE FIELDS TO SAINT PETER'S. + + + There's a by-road to Saint Peter's. First you swing across the Tiber + In a ferry-boat that floats you in a minute from the crowd; + Then through high-hedged lanes you saunter; then by fields and sunny + pastures; + And beyond, the wondrous dome uprises like a golden cloud. + + And this morning,--Easter morning,--while the streets were thronged + with people, + And all Rome moved toward the Apostle's temple by the usual way, + I strolled by the fields and hedges,--stopping now to view the + landscape, + Now to sketch the lazy cattle in the April grass that lay. + + Galaxies of buttercups and daisies ran along the meadows,-- + Rosy flushes of red clover,--blossoming shrubs and sprouting vines; + Overhead the larks were singing, heeding not the bells a-ringing,-- + Little knew they of the Pasqua, or the proud Saint Peter's shrines. + + Contadini, men and women, in their very best apparel, + Trooping one behind another, chatted all along the roads; + Boys were pitching quoits and coppers; old men in the sun were basking: + In the festive smile of Heaven all laid aside their weary loads. + + Underneath an ancient portal, soon I passed into the city; + Entered San Pietro's Square, now thronged with upward crowding forms; + Past the Cardinals' gilded coaches, and the gorgeous scarlet lackeys, + And the flashing files of soldiers, and black priests in gloomy swarms. + + All were moving to the temple. Push aside the ponderous curtain! + Lo! the glorious heights of marble, melting in the golden dome, + Where the grand mosaic pictures, veiled in warm and misty softness, + Swim in faith's religious trances,--high above all heights of Rome. + + Grand as Pergolesi chantings, lovely as a dream of Titian, + Tones and tints and chastened splendors wreathed and grouped in sweet + accord; + While through nave and transept pealing, soar and sink the choral + voices, + Telling of the death and glorious resurrection of the Lord. + + But, ah, fatal degradation for this temple of the nations! + For the soul is never lifted by the accord of sights and sound; + But yon priest in gold and satin, murmuring with his ghostly Latin, + Drags it from its natural flights, and trails its plumage on the ground. + + And to-day the Pope is heading his whole army of gay puppets, + And the great machinery round us moving with an extra show: + Genuflexions, censers, mitres, mystic motions, candle-lighters, + And the juggling show of relics to the crowd that gapes below, + + Till at last they show the Pontiff, a lay figure stuffed and tinselled; + Under canopy and fan-plumes he is borne in splendor proud + To a show-box of the temple overlooking the Piazza; + There he gives his benediction to the long-expectant crowd. + + Benediction! while the people, blighted, cursed by superstition, + Steeped in ignorance and darkness, taxed and starved, looks up and begs + For a little light and freedom, for a little law and justice,-- + That at least the cup so bitter it may drain not to the dregs! + + Benediction! while old error keeps alive a nameless terror! + Benediction! while the poison at each pore is entering deep, + And the sap is slowly withered, and the wormy fruit is gathered, + And a vampire sucks the life out while the soul is fanned asleep! + + Oh, the splendor gluts the senses, while the spirit pines and dwindles! + Mother Church is but a dry-nurse, singing while her infant moans; + While anon a cake or rattle gives a little half-oblivion, + And the sweetness and the glitter mingle with her drowsy tones. + + But the infant moans and tosses with a nameless want and anguish, + While, with coarse, unmeaning bushings, louder sings the hireling + nurse,-- + Knows no better, in her dull and superannuated blindness,-- + Tries no potion,--seeks no nurture,--but consents to worse and worse. + + If such be thy ultimation, Church of infinite pretension,-- + Such within thy chosen garden be the flowers and fruits you bear,-- + Oh, give me the book of Nature, open wide to every creature, + And the unconsecrated thoughts that spring like daisies everywhere! + + Send me to the woods and waters,--to the studio,--to the market! + Give me simple conversation, books, arts, sports, and friends sincere! + Let no priest be e'er my tutor! on my brow no label written! + Coin or passport to salvation, rather none, than beg it here! + + Give me air, and not a prison,--love for Heart, and light for Reason! + Let me walk no slave or bigot,--God's untrammelled, fearless child! + Yield me rights each soul is born to,--rights not given and not taken,-- + Free to Cardinals and Princes and Campagna shepherds wild. + + Like these Roman fountains gushing clear and sweet in open spaces, + Where the poorest beggar stoops to drink, and none can say him nay,-- + Let the Law, the Truth, be common, free to man and child and woman, + Living waters for the souls that now in sickness waste away! + + Therefore are these fields far sweeter than yon temple of Saint Peter; + Through this grander dome of azure God looks down and blesses all; + In these fields the birds sing clearer, to the Eternal Heart are nearer, + Than the sad monastic chants that yonder on my ears did fall. + + Never smiled Christ's holy Vicar on the heretic and sinner + As this sun--true type of Godhead--smiles o'er all the peopled land! + Sweeter smells this blowing clover than the perfume of the censer, + And the touch of Spring is kinder than the Pontiff's jewelled hand! + + + + +THE EXPERIENCE OF SAMUEL ABSALOM, FILIBUSTER. + +[Concluded.] + + +Some time after the departure of the riflemen, a detail of eight or nine +men from our company was ordered off towards the lake shore, and soon +afterward another smaller one to Potosí, a little village four or five +miles to the northward of Rivas, bearing orders to Captain Finney's +rangers, who had gone to scout in that direction. The rest of us ate +supper, and then lay listening for the boom of the little field-piece, +which should tell us that the rifles had met the enemy. But the +extraordinary toils and watchings of the last fortnight were too +overpowering, and we were all soon buried in dreamless sleep. + +In an hour or two I was awakened by horses' feet clattering over the +stony pavement of the _portería_, or gateway to the square courtyard, +in one of whose surrounding corridors we usually slept,--on blankets, +cow-hides, or hard tiles, according as each man was able to furnish +himself. It was the party returning from their scout on the lake. They +unsaddled and fed their animals in the yard, and afterward set about +frying plantains and fresh stolen pork for supper. As they talked over +their provant in the room behind me, I caught most of their adventure, +without the discomfort of rising or asking questions. Near the lake they +had chased and captured some natives, whose behavior was suspicious and +showed no good-will toward the Americans. The officer of the party, +thinking them spies, had carried them part of the way to Rivas to be +examined; but, fortunately, perhaps, for the captives, he afterwards +relented and set them at liberty. They also talked of a small boy who +had peeped out of the bushes as they rode by, and shouted to them, +"_Quieren for Walker_?" (Are you for Walker?) and then adding +energetically, "_Yo no quiero filibustero god-damn!_" darted away out +of sight, before any one, who was so minded, could have shot the little +rebel. + +"Be sure," said one of the men at supper,--a noted croaker and tried +coward, against whom I bear a private grudge,--"the boys have learned +this from the _old_ greasers; and we are going to have all the people of +Nicaragua to fight." + +Later in the night, the other party, which had been sent to Potosí, came +in with panting mules, excited countenances, and one of their number +stained with blood from a wound on his thigh. They told us, that, +failing to find Captain Finney at Potosí, they had stretched their +orders, and gone forward to Obraja, unaware that it was occupied by the +enemy. At the entrance of the village, whilst riding on in complete +darkness, they were challenged suddenly in Spanish. Taken by surprise, +they replied in English, and, before they could turn their animals, were +stunned with the glare and crash of a musket-volley, a few feet ahead of +them. They recoiled, and fled with such precipitation that one of the +riders was tossed over his horse's head;--however, scrambling to his +feet, he found sense and good-luck to remount; and the whole party made +good their flight to Rivas, with no further damage than two slight +flesh-wounds,--one on the trooper, and one on his mule. + +The excitement upon this arrival soon subsided, and I had again fallen +into unconsciousness, when a rough shake of the shoulder aroused me, and +the voice of the old sergeant dinned in my ear,--"Come here! saddle up! +saddle up! You are detailed for Obraja." In a few moments I was mounted, +and, with two others of the company, rode out of the gateway into the +street. There we found awaiting us a fourth horseman, charged with +orders for the riflemen at Obraja, and whom it was our duty to accompany +as guard. + +After clearing Rivas, we clattered over the road at a fast pace, rousing +all the dogs at the _haciendas_ as we passed, and leaving them baying +behind us, until we came to where the Potosí road forked off to the +right; thenceforward, fearing an ambush, we rode slowly and with great +caution, stopping often to dismount and reconnoitre moon-lit fields +beyond the roadside hedges. At length, after passing a picket of our +riflemen, we came to a large _adobe_ house directly on the roadside, +where we found the main body of the detachment encamped and sleeping. +The house stood something under half a mile from Obraja, and was the +residence of that friendly alcalde who on the approach of the enemy +had removed with his family to Rivas, and placed General Walker on his +guard. As we rode into the yard, we had some ado to keep our horses +from treading on the sleeping soldiers, who lay scattered all round +the building, and also in its open corridor fronting toward Obraja. +Dismounting here, our courier went into the house to communicate with +Colonel O'Neal, the commander of the detachment,--leaving it to us +either to tie up, and lie where we were until morning, or pass farther +up the road, where Captain Finney's rangers were stationed. I chose to +go forward and hear the rangers' story, who, we were told, had had a +slight brush with the enemy in the beginning of the night. + +After riding near quarter of a mile, I came to another _adobe_ building +on the roadside, occupied by a small party, and forming Colonel O'Neal's +advanced post, at the distance of four hundred yards or more from +Obraja. Here they told me that Captain Finney's company, whilst riding +into Obraja early in the night, had been hotly fired upon, and Captain +Finney himself was brought off struck in the breast, wounded mortally. +The riflemen had as yet made no attack, but awaited daylight. The number +of the enemy was not known; though rumor placed it between one thousand +and fifteen hundred. Whatever it was, they were apprehensive; for +throughout the night we heard them barricading the town with great hurry +and clatter; and it gave us sad discomfort to think that in the morning +there would be these walls to climb before our men could get at them. It +was the occasion of much bitter cursing that there should be delay until +this was accomplished, and of one man's protesting seriously that it +was, and had been, General Walker's endeavor, not to whip the greasers, +but to get as many Americans killed in Nicaragua as possible,--he +nourishing secret and implacable hatred against them for some cause. +However, I think this judgment weak and improbable, though plausible +enough from some points of view. + +During the night there was some firing between our party and the enemy +from under cover in front, with some few wounds, and one man on our +side shot through the hat,--who thereupon, pulling off the injured +head-piece, and looking at it gravely, declared he would always +thenceforward wear his hat with a high crown; for, said he, had this one +been half an inch lower, the bullet must have struck the head:--which +drollery, in consideration of the circumstances, was allowed to pass for +an exceeding good stroke. + +We passed a disturbed and rather uneasy night, fearful all the time of +being cut off or overwhelmed. But morning breaking at length, a party +of riflemen came up from Colonel O'Neal's camp below, and affairs were +immediately changed for the offensive. The riflemen moved forward +against the town, whilst the rangers were posted at several points along +the road to guard against surprise from the bushes. Among these latter +I took my stand. The squad which went forward could not have numbered +above sixty men, and was armed with Mississippi rifles only,--without +wheel-piece of any kind, or even bayonets. I took them for a party of +skirmishers, sent ahead to clear the way; yet they were not followed or +supported by any additional force that I saw then or afterwards. + +As they passed up the road, I observed that the most listless and dead +amongst them were at length stirred up and thoroughly awake,--though not +with enthusiasm or martial impatience. Some seemed uneasy and careworn, +and glanced about nervously; had their countenances not been unalterably +yellow, they would certainly have been white. One fellow near the +rear was trembling sadly, and carried his rifle in an unreasonable +manner,--promising aimless discharges, and, perhaps, dodgings into the +bushes. But this one was excusable, and I may have slandered him; for +ague had shaken the life almost out of him so often that shaking +was become natural, and little else could be expected of him; and, +furthermore, a pale face or unsteady joints are not always weathercock +to a fainting spirit. In some constitutions these may come from other +emotions than fear; and it often happens that your most lamentable +shaker will stand you longer at the breach than the man of iron nerve, +with a white liver. I have seen such. However, the majority of these +were resolute and dangerous-looking men, and, though without any marks +of inordinate zeal, seemed willing enough to fight whatever appeared. +They held their rifles in the hand cocked, and, as they advanced, threw +their eyes sharply into the bushes on either side the road,--having +received orders to shoot the first greaser that showed himself, without +awaiting the word. + +In a few moments after, the party having disappeared behind a turn of +the road, we suddenly heard the cracking of their rifles, mingled +with the deeper crash of more numerous musketry; and it was a vivid +sensation, new to me, that some of those bullets were surely finding +billets in the bodies of men. This seemed an encounter with a force +of the enemy outside of the town; and directly we thought, from the +movement of the noise, that our riflemen were driving them in. Then +there was a louder and more rapid volleying of musketry, which +completely drowned the rifles, and seemed to tell us that our men were +come in sight of the barricades. This lasted but a moment, when it was +succeeded by a scattered fire of fewer guns, and finally by irregular +volleys. We knew that our men had fallen back; and we had not once +thought it would be otherwise. Indeed, it had been a rarely preposterous +enemy who should allow himself to be driven from behind a rampart by +that handful of dispirited, men. + +Whilst things were on this foot, the courier of last night came up with +his guard, having been sent by Colonel O'Neal, who had remained at the +alcalde's house below, to get news of the attacking party. As I was +still under his orders, I joined him, and rode forward towards the +combatants,--not without sundry misgivings, known to most men who are +about to enter a fray for the first time,--or the twentieth time, +perhaps, if the truth were confessed. We found the riflemen drawn up in +the road, protected by the raised side-bank and cactus-hedge from an +enemy concealed amongst some trees and bushes, a little distance to the +right of the road in front. Above the trees, within pistol-shot, was +visible the red roof of a church which stood on the _plaza_ of Obraja, +where were barricaded, as they said, over a thousand greaser soldiers. +All other sign of the town than this one roof was shut in from view by +the abundant foliage which embowered it. As we approached the riflemen, +we dismounted and led our horses, fearing to attract a shower from the +enemy, who lay in the bushes firing irregularly. The officer of the +party told us to report to Colonel O'Neal that he had advanced within +sight of the _plaza_, and, finding it strongly barricaded, and "swarming +with greasers," he held it folly to assail it with fifty men, and so had +retreated. He mentioned some loss,--very small for the noise that had +been made,--of which I remember the name of one Lieutenant Webster, shot +through the head. He charged us to ask Colonel O'Neal's permission to +fall back on the _adobe_ where we had passed the night, as the enemy +appeared to be moving around his right, and he was fearful of being +surrounded in the open road. But, directly after, seeing the enemy were +in earnest to cut him off, he concluded to fall back on the house upon +his own responsibility, and did so, and with the _adobe_ walls around +him probably felt secure enough against such an enemy. + +We returned to the lower camp, and delivered our report to a +boyish-looking person, in unepauletted red flannel shirt, but who was +no other than Colonel O'Neal, the officer in command. He was popular +amongst his men, and reputed a brave and energetic officer. He probably +mistrusted from the first that his force was too small; and hence the +delay in the attack, and the dispatch of the little party of riflemen +merely to satisfy General Walker. Be that as it may, upon hearing our +report, he recalled the advanced party, and immediately sent off +to Rivas to say he could do nothing against the town without a +reinforcement. + +In the mean time those of the men who were off guard lay about under +the trees and ate oranges, with which the alcalde's yard was stocked +plentifully, whilst such wounded as had been brought in were laid on the +floor of the house, and their wounds probed by the surgeon; whereupon, +being but young soldiers mostly, there arose loud outcries and dismal +bellowings. For my own part, I set about comforting my mule, who had +been under saddle since leaving Rivas. I unsaddled him, brought him an +armful of _tortilla_ corn from the alcalde's kitchen-loft, some water +from the well, and left him making merry as if he had nothing worse +ahead of him. + +Some time after mid-day the rest of our company came out from Rivas, and +we immediately had orders to ride up the road and fire upon the enemy's +outpost,--which, as the riflemen had been withdrawn and our advanced +picket was now nearly half a mile from the town, promised to be a +service of some danger. Therefore one of our commissioned officers, +afterwards dismissed the service for cowardice, was here seized suddenly +with the colic,--so badly, that he was unable to ride with us at his +post. Other sick men being left in quarters at Rivas, we counted now but +little over twenty men,--armed with Mississippi or Sharpe's rifles, and +some of us with the revolvers we had brought from California. After +passing the _adobe_ building, garrisoned last night, but now empty, we +advanced with great care, our leader taking often the precaution to +dismount and peer with bared head over the cactus-hedge which crowned +the right-hand bank of the road and shut us in on that side completely. +At every turn of the road he repeated his reconnoissance, so that our +advance was very slow, giving a watchful enemy almost time to place an +ambush, if they had none ready prepared. It was as sweet a place for a +trap as greaser's heart could wish. On our right was the impenetrable +cactus-hedge, with an open space beyond, terminated at the distance of +a few yards by a wood or plantain-patch. On the left was another wood, +matted with tangled underbrush and vines which no horseman could +penetrate. On either side half a dozen men might couch in ambush and +shoot us down in perfect security. + +We passed on, however, without disturbance, or sight of an enemy, until +we came nearly to the edge of the town and saw the glistening roof of +the church appear above the foliage,--where sat sundry carrion-loving +buzzards, elbowing each other, shuffling to and fro with outspread +wings, and chuckling, doubtless, over the promise of glorious times. +As we go on, suddenly heads appear over the bushes less than a hundred +yards in front, and we hear the vindictive whistle of Minié-balls above +us. Our leader, calling upon us to fire, began himself to blaze away +rapidly with his Colt's revolver. We huddled forward, with little care +for order, and delivered some dozen Mississippi and Sharpe's rifles. +There were nervous men in the crowd; for, after the discharge, dust +was flying from the road within thirty feet of us. However, some aimed +higher; and when we looked again, the heads had disappeared. One bold +greaser stepped out into the road and sent his Minié-ball singing +several yards above us, then darted back quickly, before any of us +could have him. We waited a moment to see others, but they seemed to be +satisfied;--and we were satisfied,--with prospect of a swarm bursting +out on us from the town; so, sinking spurs into our weary animals, we +made good pace back to the camp,--not without an alarm that a troop of +well-mounted lancers was behind us. + +In the course of the afternoon, General Henningsen arrived, bringing a +fine brass howitzer, and a small reinforcement of infantry--as those +armed with rifled muskets and bayonets were called--and artillerymen; +and, after some hours' rest, he ordered a fresh attempt with the +howitzer, supported by somewhere near two hundred men. This party was +received with so fierce a fire at the barricade that they shrank back, +leaving the howitzer behind in the road,--so that the enemy were on the +point of capturing it, when a brave artilleryman touched off the piece, +loaded with grape-shot, almost in their faces, and, strewing the +earth with dead, sent the others flying back to the barricade. This +artilleryman told me that an old officer amongst the enemy stood his +ground alone after the discharge, and swore manfully at the fugitives, +but they were panic-struck and took no heed; and it was his assertion, +that, had a small part of the riflemen rallied and charged at this time, +they might have gone over the barricade without difficulty or hindrance. +As it was, the howitzer was scarcely brought off, and the attack failed +ingloriously. Whether this story of the artilleryman were true or false, +we heard in other ways, by general report, that the riflemen had behaved +badly, and quailed as the filibusters had scarcely done before; though, +after all, it will seem unreasonable to blame these two hundred or less, +disease-worn and spiritless men, for not whipping ten hundred out of a +barricaded town. It may be worth saying here, that, seeing things in +Nicaragua from a common soldier's befogged view-point, and having only +general rumor, or the tales of privates like myself, for parts of an +engagement where I was not present, I may easily make mistakes in +the numbers, and otherwise do Walker and his officers, or the enemy, +injustice. Yet I may be excused, since I am not attempting a history +of the war, but merely some account of my own experience, passive and +active. + +Late in the evening our company assisted to carry some wounded to Rivas. +Amongst them was Captain Finney, mentioned before as the first man +struck by the enemy. He seemed to be a brave and uncommonly considerate +officer, and whilst being carried in on a chair, suffering with his +death-wound, he showed concern for his supporters, and insisted on +having them relieved upon the smallest sign of fatigue. He was taken to +the quarters of a friend, where he died a few days afterward. The other +wounded were carried to the hospital, and, finding no one there to take +charge of them, we left them to themselves, lying or sitting upon the +floor, dismal and uncared-for enough. + +After dark we were again in the saddle and riding out to Obraja, in +charge of a commissary's party, with provisions for the detachment of +foot. But after getting a little way from the town, we were overtaken by +an order from General Walker, stopping the provisions, and directing us +to ride on and recall the detachment to Rivas; he having changed his +mind about dislodging the enemy at this tardy hour. We reached the camp +some hours into the night, and, after a little delay, calling in the +pickets, and securing some native women who lived in the vicinity, to +prevent their carrying word of our movement to the enemy, the detachment +commenced its retrograde march,--leaving the enemy victorious, and free +to go where they wished. + +I remember, several times on this march, when the detachment had made +some temporary halt, seeing a grim-faced dog, of the terrier species, +trot along the line to the front of the column, where we rangers stood, +and then, satisfied seemingly that all was well ordered, turn himself +round and trot back to the rear again. + +He did this with such a look and air, that it struck me he felt himself +in some way responsible for our party. He was, indeed, if the tales +current about him were true, the most remarkable character in all that +very variegated conglomerate of characters which made up the filibuster +army. He had appeared in the camp long before, coming, some said, from +the Costa Ricans, with whom he became disgusted on account of their bad +behavior in battle on several occasions when he was there to see. After +this desertion, if it were thus, he followed the Americans faithfully, +through good and bad fortune, retreat or victory; always going into +battle with them,--where he actually seemed to enjoy himself,--trotting +about amidst the whewing of bullets, the uptossing of turf, and the +outcries of wounded men, with calm heart, and tail erect,--envied by +the bravest even. On an occasion when General Walker was attacking the +Costa-Ricans in Rivas, the dog entered the _plaza_ ahead of the rest, +and, finding there one of his own species, he forthwith seized him, and +shook him, and put him to flight howling,--giving an omen so favorable, +that the greasers were driven out of the town with ease by the others. +Even his every-day life was sublime, and elevated above the habit of +vulgar dogs. He allowed no man to think himself his master, or attach +him individually by liberal feeding or kind treatment, but quartered +indiscriminately amongst the foot, sometimes with one company, sometimes +with another,--taking food from whoever gave it, but showing little +gratitude, and despising caresses or attempts at familiarity. He seemed, +indeed, to consider himself one amongst the rest,--one and somewhat, as +they say; and his sole apparent tie with his human friends seemed to +be the delight which he took in seeing them kill or killed. With this +_penchant_, it was said, he never missed a battle, and went out with +every detachment that left the camp to see that none should escape him +unaware.--But enough of him,--strange dog, or devil. + +The withdrawal from Obraja was opposed, so rumor said, by Henningsen and +other officers; and it certainly had a most depressing effect upon the +men, whilst it elated the enemy correspondingly, giving them a degree of +confidence which they had never attained to before. It was agreed on +all hands, by all critics whom I heard, that, having once begun this +attempt, General Walker should have carried it through successfully, +even if it required his whole force. However, as only part of the +enemy's force was on land, the other part being supposed to be +still aboard the steamers or on the island, General Walker +possibly feared an attack on Rivas, should he send out a very large +detachment,--remembering, too vividly, a former blunder, when he left +Granada with all his army to attack the enemy at Masaya, and the enemy, +making a _détour_, came upon his camp in Granada, and destroyed +baggage, ammunition, and all it contained. + +The next day the foot lay quiet in Rivas, and had rest. The rangers, +however, were in the saddle almost continuously, and, what with +foraging, broken sleep, and expeditions by day and night, those of us +who had garrisoned Virgin Bay were become worried nearly past grumbling. +On this day our own company rode out to Obraja, to visit the enemy's +picket again, and afterwards to San Jorge on the lake, to guard the +transportation of a row-boat thence to Rivas. The boat was one of those +borrowed from the vessels in San Juan harbor for the purpose of retaking +the steamers, and had been rowed up to San Jorge, and was now removed to +Rivas, to prevent its seizure by the enemy,--the garrison at Virgin +Bay having burnt the brig, and marched to Rivas, when the enemy first +appeared on land at Obraja. So that the whole American force (except +the crew of the little schooner in which General Walker and his fifty +original followers first came to Nicaragua, and which was lying at this +time in San Juan harbor) was now concentrated at Rivas; the enemy being +eight or nine miles behind them at Obraja, or on the lake with the two +steamers. As we rode through the town of San Jorge, the place seemed +almost deserted, and I remember lingering with others to haversack some +bunches of yellow plantains which hung in an empty house on the _plaza_. +The delay may have come near being fatal to us, for we heard afterwards +that we had been gone but a little while, when a troop of the enemy's +horse rode into the place, reconnoitred, and returned in the direction +in which they came. Their reconnoissance in San Jorge was explained soon +afterwards. + +Some time in the last half of the night following, I was detailed, along +with a considerable detachment from two mounted companies, to ride on a +scout toward Obraja. On the outward ride I was but half-awake, and +my recollection of our course is confused: however, I think it was +somewhere between Potosí and Obraja that we came to a halt, and I was +aroused by some excitement in the party. Pickets were hastily posted +in several directions, whilst the officers gathered about some natives +awakened from a neighboring hut, and seemed to question them earnestly. +We soon heard that the enemy were on the road moving from Obraja, and +that a large force had a little while before passed this place going +eastward. The natives, prone to exaggeration, declared that this force +had been an hour in passing,--with baggage, eight pieces of cannon +mounted on ox-carts, several hundred pressed native Nicaraguans, tied +and guarded to prevent their running away, and a long train of women to +nurse the wounded. The Chamorristas, it seemed, had been around pressing +all the native men they could find into service against the Americans; +and whilst we were here, two, who had been hiding all day in the bushes +to avoid the conscription, came out and asked us to take them with us to +Rivas,--they preferring, if forced to take sides, to join _el valiente_ +Walker. + +This is the stripe of most Central American soldiers. The lower classes +are lazy and cowardly, little concerned about politics, and must +generally be impressed, let the cause of war be what it may. And I am +persuaded, that, since General Walker never harnessed them into his +service, as their own chiefs were doing perpetually, but let them swing +in their hammocks and eat their plantains, (provided they lived beyond +his forage-ground,) un-called-for, they were so far well satisfied with +his government. However, their sympathy, supposing he had it, were worth +little to him; since it takes a stronger impulsion than this to put them +in motion to do anything,--a strong pulling by the nose, indeed,--such +as their native rulers know how to apply.--But this is speculative, and +neither here nor there. + +After getting all the information concerning the enemy that was to be +had from these people, the detachment returned to Rivas at a fast trot, +with the two friendly natives mounted behind, on such stronger animals +as were able to carry double burden. We all supposed, that, now the +enemy were again out of cover and on the open road, or, leastwise, in +the confusion of a new camp, there would be an immediate attack on them. +But General Walker followed his own head; and, after making our report, +we saw no stir, and heard nothing until morning,--when it was known that +the enemy were all moved into San Jorge, with only some two miles' space +between us. This place, being on the lake, was more convenient for +provisions, which were easily brought by the steamers from the island of +Ometepec and the towns and _haciendas_ along the shore,--and the enemy +had gained boldness to go there by our repulse at Obraja: or it may be +that the force at Obraja had come down from Granada by land, and so only +continued their march to San Jorge,--though the rumor was, that they had +landed from the lake, as I have said. + +But be that as it may, time was given them to barricade at San Jorge, +till near the middle of the forenoon, and then Generals Henningsen and +Sanders were sent out with some four hundred riflemen and infantry to +drive them into the lake, which lay some few hundred yards behind them. +During the first part of the attack, our company remained in Rivas, +listening anxiously to the uproar at San Jorge,--every volley fired by +the combatants being borne distinctly to us by the east wind. For some +time there was a continuous rattle of musketry, with rapid detonations +of deeper-mouthed cannon,--at each roar shaking our suspended +hearts,--for we knew that our own men were using small arms only. After +a while this abated, grew irregular, and almost ceased. An order then +came for our company to mount and join the combatants. We galloped down +the broad and almost level highway which passes between Rivas and +San Jorge, bordered a great part of its length, on either side, by +cactus-hedges, broken at various intervals by the grassy by-lanes that +run out to the neighboring _haciendas_ or parallel roads. At places +where there is a slight elevation, the bottom of the road is worn +several feet below the level by the carts which ply between Rivas and +the lake. Opposite one of these, where the banks sloped at a sharp +angle, we came upon General Henningsen and a detachment of musketeers +resting on the right bank of the road, and halted beside them. The men +were sitting under the shade of an _adobe_, refreshing themselves with +oranges; and those in the nearest rank were close enough to hand us +fruit and keep their seats on the grass. Five or six hundred yards up +the road, the large church which stood on the _plaza_ of San Jorge, with +the door facing us, and a low wall of white stone running squarely from +its side across to the right, ended the vista between banks of green +foliage. Our view stretched across the _plaza_, which seemed to be empty +and unbarricaded; and I remember the painted door of the church beyond, +the red-tiled roof, the low, flanking wall of white stone, all dazily +trembling in the unsteady atmosphere radiating from the heated +road,--whilst a cloud of white smoke was sailing slowly away to the +west. It was a hot and tranquil scene. But I always think of it with the +same secret disgust with which the shipwrecked traveller looks upon the +placid ocean the day after the angry storm has passed over it; for it +was here I first saw the cruelty of a round shot. + +When we came to a halt, there seemed to be a lull in the struggle, and +no enemy was anywhere visible, nor was firing heard from any direction. +The infantry, though within range of small arms from the town, were +concealed by the bushes, and the enemy were scarcely aware of their +presence. But when our company came galloping up the road, in full view, +their attention was aroused, and we had scarcely checked our animals and +exchanged a few words with the foot-soldiers, when a column of smoke +shot up from the wall in front.--"Now look out!" exclaimed some one. +I looked, but saw nothing to follow, and had turned my attention +elsewhere, when I heard a hissing noise, as of something rushing swiftly +past, and at the same time turf is thrown into the air, the horses start +aside in affright, and outcries of pain and terror assail the ear. +After a confused moment, I saw that the shot had struck in the line of +infantry a few feet on our right. One man, the drummer of the party, was +running about in the fluttered crowd with his hand hanging by a shred, +crying, "Cut it off! cut it off! D--your souls, why don't some of you +cut it off?" Another lay struggling on the ground, with the fleshy part +of his thighs torn abruptly off, calling upon some one for God's sake to +take him away from there. But the dismallest sight was a bloody shape, +with face to the ground, fingers clutching the grass with aimless +eagerness, and shivering silently with an invisible wound. Twisting +convulsively, it rolled down into the road under our horses' feet,--and +there this human form, which some call godlike, writhed and floundered +like a severed worm, and disguised itself in blood and dust. + +But it is dangerous to look long upon the wounded; an old soldier never +rests his eye there; it is the greatest mistake of the raw one; and it +was well enough for some of us that our attention was timely drawn away +by alarm of another shot from the town. We spurred our horses up the +bank on the left; the foot-soldiers rushed behind the _adobe;_ and this +time the shot passed harmlessly down the road. Before another, General +Henningsen had ordered us all to move forward and get to cover. The foot +stopped in the right branch of a by-lane which crossed the road a little +way ahead. The rangers moved into the same lane,--but on the left, and +divided by the highway from the foot. Here we were entirely hidden from +the town by a belt of small trees and bushes. Nevertheless, the +enemy's round shot, tearing through the trees, still pursued, and the +Minié-balls, though thrown from smooth-bored guns, sang above and far +beyond us. At this place, as near as I recollect, above a dozen men were +killed and wounded,--most of them by that first round shot. + +Our company shortly after was separated, and placed, for the most part, +as videttes, at various points near the town. Some hours after our +arrival, (which time was spent by the filibusters in drinking spirits +and resting from the late unsuccessful assault,--by the enemy in +barricading their position, and drinking spirits, perhaps, likewise,) +General Henningsen led an attack with part of the foot,--taking several +of us rangers along in the capacity of couriers, to ride off to Rivas at +any important turn of the fight and report to General Walker. The enemy +had taken position about the _plaza,_ in the church, and behind the +stone wall at its side, where they had by this time strengthened +themselves with barricades. They had cannon looking towards every +assailable point; and also on top of the church, in the cupola, they +had mounted a small piece, from which they threw grape against our men +advancing on any side. It proved a great source of annoyance throughout +the day. Their number was not certainly known, at least among the ranks, +but was rumored as high as two thousand men,--Costa-Ricans, Guatemalans, +and Chamorristas. + +General Henningsen moved up by a straggling street, with an _adobe_ here +and there, and the intervals filled up with fruit-trees, bushes, and +cactus-hedges. Grape-shot, which may be the saddest thing, touching the +body, on earth, made miserable noise above us and miserable work among +us; and we couriers had leave to dismount and crawl nearer the ground. +General Henningsen gained respect from us by sitting his horse alone. +He was a soldier, it is said, from a boy, in European wars,--where this +were a feeble skirmish; yet he wore his life here, perhaps, more +loosely than in many a noisier battle. However, he seemed calm and easy +enough,--never moving his head, even slightly, when the shot whizzed +nearest him. General Walker, though a brave man, and cool in battle, +will nevertheless dodge when a bullet hisses him fiercely. So would +almost all his officers or soldiers, that I had an opportunity to +notice. Yet, after all, it is a mere trick of the nerves, and only +indicates familiarity and long service, or a deaf ear,--and not want of +self-possession or strength of heart. The advance at length became so +harassing that the party halted under cover on the roadside, whilst yet +some distance from the _plaza,_ and from this lodgment the couriers were +sent off to report progress at Rivas. + +My post thenceforward was, with that of others, at the head of a lane +not far from the town, where we heard the voices of the combatants +and the whistling of balls, but could see nothing. After some hours' +comparative quiet, the drums began beating a charge again, and every gun +on the ground seemed awakened and doing its best. Then there was a loud, +heart-lifted shout, which rose above the din, and gave us too much joy; +and, a moment after, Colonel Casey, a hard-faced, one-armed man, spurred +past towards Rivas, saying, as he went, that our men were in the +_plaza,_ the greasers were running, and "we had 'em, sure as hell!" I +recollect some one observing, that it were of no use to believe Colonel +Casey, for he was the greatest liar in the army of Nicaragua. And +shortly after, the firing having ceased, another officer, Baldwin, I +think it was, came past and told us, with curses of vexation, that the +men had been checked, by command, in the heat of the assault, when the +greasers were already wavering,--and that the latter, recovering, had +rebarricaded so strongly, that we might now all go back to Rivas and +whistle. + +However, this failure was not the end. Towards evening, another +detachment renewed the assault, and the uproar commenced again. It +seems, that, during the whole day, there was no simultaneous attack by +all the detachments. Now, it was the infantry who charged,--with the +riflemen in reserve, probably to prevent a rout, in case the enemy +pursued a repulse; then, it was the riflemen, with the infantry in +reserve; and so alternating through three or four charges;--so that +there never could have been more than a very contemptible force facing +the enemy at one time. + +As it grew late, the wagons began to jolt past, removing the wounded to +Rivas. Some were drunk and merry in spite of their wounds; and their +laughter and drunken sport made strange concert with the cries and +curses of the others. I remember one man going by on foot, with a small +cut on the brow, from which blood was flowing copiously. He said the +wound was a mere scratch,--too slight to have sent him out of the fight, +had not the blood run down into his eyes and blinded him, preventing his +aim. Yet this small affair brought his death shortly afterwards. The +surgeons at Rivas gave him no care,--not so much as to wash his wound, +or have him wash it; and the climate is so malignant to strangers, that +the smallest cut, with the best care, heals only after long hesitation. + +At length night came on, and our men drew off,--foiled at every attempt, +having sustained great loss, and, apparently, made little impression on +the enemy. They lay on their arms, however, in the outskirts, expecting +to renew the attack during the night; and, to assist at this, a party of +rangers had orders to leave their horses in quarters, and march on foot +to join the others. Quitting our horses with regret, we walked to San +Jorge, where the foot lay, awaiting the hour of attack. We found them +stomach-qualmed with hunger, weary of fighting, thoroughly disheartened, +and provoked against their officers. One told how an officer, whose duty +it was to lead the charge, took shelter behind an orange-tree no bigger +than his wrist, and shouted, "Go on, men! go on!" when he should +have been saying, "Come on!" and how another, become stupid with +_aguardiente_, had tried to force his men to a barricade, when their +cartridge-boxes were empty, and their unbayonetted arms useless. +There seemed also to have been slackness among the men; and some +were lamenting, that the First Rifles were not what they used to +be;--anciently they only wanted to _see_ the greasers; to-day they were +found taking to the bushes. They all agreed that no great number of the +enemy had been killed,--whilst the filibusters, they doubted, must +have lost nearly one-third of their men and many of their best +officers;--among the number I recollect Major Dusenbury, highly praised. + +There was one affair, however, over which they crowed and took fierce +satisfaction. They told it thus:--A detached party, of about thirty of +them, were seated on the roadside drinking _aguardiente_, preparatory +to advancing. On one side was a cactus-hedge, and a grove of plantain +a little in front. Whilst they sat here deeply absorbed in the +_aguardiente_, a considerable party of the enemy got amongst the +plantain-trees, and fired a hundred muskets into them at the distance of +a few rods. Strange to say, the greasers were so nervous at finding no +barricade between them, or were such contemptible marksmen, that not +a shot took serious effect; only the demijohn of _aguardiente_ was +shivered into a thousand pieces, and the liquor ran out into the grass. +The filibusters jumped up astounded and disordered; but, seeing so much +good liquor running away wastefully into the grass, they grew terrible. +It was an insult and injury which both men and officers appreciated. It +gave every man in the troop a personal quarrel with the enemy. "Charge +'em!" shouted the captain; "we'll pay the scoundrels for the miserable +trick!" At full speed they swept through a gap in the hedge, and rushed +into the plantain-grove before the enemy had time to reload. But when +the greasers saw them coming on fiercely, their hearts failed them, and, +turning their backs, they fled towards the town. Never were filibusters +or men-of-war better pleased than now! They rattled on furiously behind +the nimble greasers. They sent howling death into their midst at every +step of the chase. They passed bloody forms stretched here and there +upon the earth. They followed the flying foe even to the edge of +the town, and saw its hostile swarm running hither and thither in +alarm.--Alas! General William Walker, why were you not here at this +propitious moment, with all your brave spirits, invincible with rum, +behind you? Then might you have rushed with the fugitives into the town, +and hurled the yellow-skinned invaders into the lake! Then might the +flag of Regeneration have waved even at this day over the hills and +valleys of Nicaragua,--and the unfortunate author of this history have +received a reward for his services!--_Ay de mí!_ Even now, reposing in +the shade of the palm-tree, fanned by the orange-scented breeze that +blows over the lake, I might drink the immortal juice of the sugarcane, +called _aguardiente_, and dream, and gaze at the cloud-wrapped cone of +Ometepec!--But I must forget this. + +The dead killed in this plantain-patch were all that our men obtained +sight of. How many fell behind the barricades, where all the serious +fighting took place, it was impossible to tell; though there was no +reason to think that the enemy, fighting under cover, had suffered at +all proportionably with our men, or, indeed, had suffered equally, +losing man for man, except that ours were the better marksmen. + +We passed a cold and sleepless night, awaiting the word to take up +arms and advance; but in the mean time General Walker had changed +his intention, and, when morning broke, the whole force quitted the +outskirts and marched back into Rivas. The killed and wounded by +the whole affair were reported officially at one hundred, or +thereabout,--underrated, most probably, for effect upon the men. It +was enough, however, considering the filibusters had no more than +four hundred engaged. Amongst them, though not reported, was that +devil-hearted dog which I have mentioned heretofore. He fell, shot +through the head, whilst advancing with the others toward the barricade. +He was lamented by the whole army,--by many superstitiously, even,--who +said he had gone through all Walker's hard stresses so far untouched, +and his end was prophetic of downfall. + +And it is even true, that from this battle General Walker's prospects +clouded rapidly. A proclamation, issued by the Costa-Rican government, +promising fugitive filibusters free passage to the United States, found +its way into Rivas, and immediately worked immense mischief, and was, +indeed, the instrument of his overthrow. The men had no sooner seen it +than they began to leave as fast as they found opportunities to escape. +Guards were placed around the town, and spies in every company; but it +was of no avail; and every morning it was rumored through the camp that +this or that number had got off for Costa Rica during the night. General +Walker, in a speech which he made a few days after to infuse new spirit, +said that these were the cowards,--whose absence was beneficial, and +from whom it was well that the army should be purged. However, this was +exaggerated. It is true, doubtless, that there were many leaving merely +from fear, who would have chosen to stay with him, rather than trust +to the promises of a people believed to be treacherous and +promise-breaking, and whose hatred they had incurred,--had the battles +of San Jorge and Obraja been successful. And, indeed, the filibuster +ranks were not wanting in cowards. Cowards might be induced to come on +a desperate enterprise like this, through misrepresentation by Walker's +own agents; through mere thoughtlessness, or mistake,--not knowing what +soldier's metal was in them; or, with the bayonet of Hunger against +their backs at home, they might be unmindful of any other bayonet on the +distant shore of Nicaragua. (It should be musket-shot, however; for the +greasers never found heart to use the bayonet.) And then again, many, +who, when they first reached Nicaragua, were no cowards, after a few +months' stay, became changed,--by the depressing effects of fever, by +loss of confidence in their drunken officers, and by the absence of all +incentive to fight stoutly for a leader so unpopular as Walker. It was a +common saying, that in this army an old rule was reversed,--the veterans +were worse fighters than the recruits. The soldier was at his best +when he first landed upon the Isthmus, raw and healthy. After that, he +rapidly deteriorated, losing spirit with every battle, until he became +at last a thoroughbred coward. Seven or eight greasers to one filibuster +was said to be good fighting, at one time; but now three or four to one +was thought to be great odds; and before the game ended, I hear, they +were become equally matched, man for man, almost. But, whatever General +Walker said in his speech, this class of weak ones were not always the +deserters. It required some little energy or strength of legs, with +which these were unfurnished, to go over to the enemy at San Jorge, or +walk down to Costa Rica; and the fact was, that from the first many of +the healthiest and liveliest men, whose defection could least be borne, +were leaving,--not from fear, mainly, but because by this proclamation +they were offered the first opportunity to escape from a disagreeable +service to which they thought themselves bound by no tie of love or +honor. + +It was now about time for a steamer to arrive at San Juan on the Pacific +with the California passengers; and the next day, or the second day, +perhaps, succeeding the battle at San Jorge, General Walker said to +General Sanders, in his quiet, whining way,--"General Sanders, I am +going to take two hundred and fifty riflemen and the rangers and go down +to San Juan to bring up our recruits to Rivas; and if three thousand +greasers are on the Transit road, I intend to go through them." +Accordingly, the riflemen, the ranger regiment, and a small party of +artillerymen with one of the two brass howitzers, met in the _plaza_, +and set out on this expedition at midnight, with Generals Walker and +Sanders both in the party. + +The route of the detachment was the one I have mentioned before as +inland through the forest, and striking the Transit road some miles west +of the lake and Virgin Bay. It was firmly believed that we should meet +the enemy somewhere on the Transit road,--since the hills through which +it passed offered many excellent barricading-points, and it would seem a +matter of great importance to them to cut us off from junction with any +fresh recruits the steamer might land at San Juan. So there was much +preparatory drinking amongst the officers, (yet I say it not in slander, +for many were brave enough for any deed, and drank before battle only +because they drank always,)--and less amongst the men solely because +spirits had become scarce around Rivas, and dear; and there were very +few, truly, who had not ceased long since to carry coin in their +pockets. The captain of our company, who was an incautious man, and was +frequently drinking more than was needful, on this occasion drank more +than he was fitted to bear; and whilst the detachment was stopped some +time getting the wheel-piece over a hard place in the road, his strong +friend Aguardiente brought him to the ground, as he sat on his mule near +the front with his company,--where he lay in eruptive state like a +young toper, and so falling asleep lost his mule, which strayed into the +forest to browse, causing him much embarrassment and confused search +when the detachment was ready to start. Being up again, however, the +sleep and stomachic alleviation proved beneficial, and we, his soldiers, +followed after him in much greater comfort and confidence. + +Such delays by the howitzer, and a wagon transporting spare muskets for +the expected recruits, were so frequent, that we made but slow progress, +and when we emerged from the woods the sun was already shining upon +the broad Transit road,--I might have said like a glory on the brow of +Ometepec, but my memory is bad, and I doubt whether the fact may not be +that the sun rises upon this point from lower down on the lake. After +entering the Transit road, the rangers were sent ahead to discover if +there were an enemy in the way. Our regiment, as we called it, now +together for the first time since I joined it, consisted of some +seventy men, divided into three companies, all under command of Colonel +Waters,--a soldierly-looking man, and, moreover, brave, and not without +training in the Mexican War. Some time before the regiment had numbered +one hundred, but had become thus reduced by disease and the enemy. + +On this ride I remember a feeble infusion of that excellent spirit +which, since the days of Sir Walter Scott, ought to belong to all +horse-soldiers, moss-troopers, or mounted rangers, but which I had +despaired of ever finding in General Walker's service. It is true we had +no bugler, or standard-bearer, or piece of feather in the troop, or, +indeed, any circumstance of war, save our revolvers and Sharpe's rifles, +vermin and dirty shirts. Nevertheless the morning was splendid, with a +fresh breeze behind us; the road was hard and smooth, and rang under +our horses' feet; and withal I felt, that, if we should see a troop +of greaser lancers ahead, in good uniform, we might run 'em down, and +bullet 'em, and strip 'em, with good romantic spirit, even. + +But this is a most hollow cheat which Sir Walter Scott and other +book-men have played off on some weak-headed young men of our low-minded +generation. There is no doubt but a man seated amongst ten thousand +cavalry, who shake the earth as they charge, ought to feel himself +swell, as part of an avalanche or mighty Niagara,--as part of the +mightiest visible force which feeble man can enter or his spirit +commingle with. This were no contemptible joy, which the thin-blooded +philosopher might laugh at,--better, indeed, than most to be found here +on this fog-rounded flat of ours, where some few melodies from heaven +and countless blasts from hell meet, and make such strange, unequal +dissonance. But, alack! alack! it is not for the feeble, or the young +soldier, fresh from his plough or his yardstick, his briefs or his +pestle. For how shall we who have all our lives been standing guard +against the approach of death, who start horror-shaken from the dropping +of a tile, whose small wounds are quickly bound up by tender mother or +sister, and lamented over,--how shall we feel romantic in the midst of a +shower of bullets? Enough done, if our vanity or sense of duty hold us +there in any spirit, so that we do the needed trigger-work, and not turn +tail and disgrace ourselves. Even the veteran's satisfaction, since the +laying aside of steel armor, is not much, to be sure, or is gathered +after the battle. There is some savage ecstasy, perhaps, when he sees +his enemy fall, or when he sees his back; this last, indeed, a glorious +sight for any soldier,--worth rushing at the cannon's mouth to look +at, almost. But the man, be he veteran or other, who tells me he found +pleasure on the field where the Minié-balls kill afar off, in cold +blood,--I know him for one of the eccentric, stupid, or talkers for +purposes of vanity.--But this will suffice. + +There were three places on the road, amongst the Cordillera ridges, +where, in former wars, a Costa-Rican force, flying before the +filibusters, had stopped to barricade, and gathered heart to withstand +their pursuers awhile,--long enough to bark the surrounding trees with +musket-shot,--some of them, indeed, amid their topmost branches; for it +is a greaser-failing to shoot inordinately high. Each of these sites we +approached with caution, expecting to see an enemy there; but there was +none, and we came down safely at length to our old shed-camp. Here we +halted, and made our station, as it was more convenient for pasturage, +whilst the foot passed on to San Juan, two miles beyond. + +The steamer not arriving, we remained at this place several days, +employed as before, with the sugar-cane and the wood-ticks, miserable +enough. + +In the mean time, the foot at San Juan, finding unusual temptation to +escape from this place, so much nearer the Costa-Rican line, were +leaving in large parties; and unwilling service was made of the rangers +to intercept the fugitives, by posting them below on all the paths +leading through the forest to Costa Rica. General Walker esteemed these +more faithful, because they had been more considerately treated, better +fed, allowed greater freedom and privilege,--having no drill, loose +discipline, and exemption from guard-duty when with the foot; and, +above all, their part of the service being healthier, and, though more +fatiguing, far preferable, on the whole, to the other. One night I was +detailed, with others, on this disagreeable duty, and remember it, +for other reasons, as the most wretched night of all that I passed in +Nicaragua. Our station was on the bank of a little wooded stream, some +miles below San Juan. After the guard had been posted, I lay down to get +some hours' sleep, which I needed,--but was no sooner on the ground than +a swarm of infinitesimally small creatures, of the tick genus, whose den +I had invaded, came over me, and the rest was merely one sensation of +becrawled misery; so that, notwithstanding great previous loss of sleep, +I went again unrefreshed. I asked an old filibuster who lay near me, how +he could sleep through it. "Oh," said he, "I've got my skin dirty and +callous, and this easy-walking species, that can't bite, never troubles +me." On this subject I read the following in Mr. Irving's "History +of Columbus" with some emotion:--"Nor is the least beautiful part of +animated nature [in those tropical regions] the various tribes of +insects that people every plant, displaying brilliant coats-of-mail, +which sparkle to the eye like precious gems." It seems strange to me +that any good should be recognized in these children of despair, which +have caused me more unhappiness than all the world's vermin beside. +I think this praise must be from Mr. Irving himself, looking up the +picturesque. It is not possible that Columbus would have had the heart +to flatter and polish up these mailed insects, who, in his day, ate him, +turned him over and over, and harried him more than ever was Job by +Satan. + +Next morning, whilst we were roasting green plantains in +the fire for breakfast, a man dressed in General Walker's +blue-shirt-and-cotton-breeches uniform came upon us suddenly +from out of the woods beyond the stream. He was evidently going +south,--but seeing our party, with startled look, he turned, and +went in the direction of San Juan. We knew him at once for a deserter, +but had no zeal to arrest him; and he had already got past us, when +some one ejaculated,--"D--- him, why don't he go right? That's not +the road to Costa Rica!" Upon this unlucky speech, the officer in +command of the detail, who, either through inattention or design, +was suffering the man to pass unquestioned, ordered him to be +followed and seized. He was a German, and either a dull, heavy +fellow, or else stupefied by his terrible misfortune; and being +unable to say a consistent word for himself, the officer sent him +off under guard to San Juan, where it was well known what General Walker +would do with him. + +Some hours after this misadventure, as most of us took it, our detail +was relieved and we rode back to camp. The man who had been taken in the +act of deserting was condemned to be shot at San Juan this same evening, +in presence of the whole detachment. He was led down to the beach, and +seated in a chair at the water's edge. He bore himself carelessly, or +with an absent, almost unconscious air, like one who felt himself acting +a part in a dream. A squad of drafted riflemen was brought up in front +of him, and the word was given by a sergeant. They made their aim false +purposely, and but one shot took effect on the doomed man. He fell back +into the water, where he lay struggling, and stained the waves red with +his blood. It was a wrenching sight, too brutal far, to see the sergeant +place his gun against the poor wretch's head, and end his agony! + +It seemed so abominable to every spectator there that General Walker +should thus seek to enforce Devil's service from his men, entrapped +mostly in the first place, without wages or half maintenance, and with +no claim upon them whatever, but by a contract without consideration +on the one part, on the other hard labor to the death,--that this +exhibition, which in another army were calculated to strengthen just +authority, here only aroused indignation and disgust. This very night, +after witnessing the deserter's punishment, eleven men left the company +to which he belonged in a body, and were seen no more in Nicaragua. And +though for selfish reasons I was concerned to see the army falling to +pieces, and the load of toil and danger increasing upon the rest of us, +yet both I and the rest acknowledged that there was no tie of honor or +honesty to keep any man with us who wished to escape; and this deed +seemed to us without decent sanction. + +The steamer at length made its appearance, and, after landing us about +forty recruits, departed south with the States passengers for Panamá; +and afterwards, the new soldiers being all furnished with muskets, the +detachment started on its return to Rivas. On the way, it was rumored +amongst the men, that a reinforcement to the enemy, marching from Costa +Rica, were halted at Virgin Bay, and that General Walker was going to +attack them. We hurried over the Transit road as fast as the foot were +able,--General Sanders, I recollect, riding far in advance, sometimes +out of sight, and thus giving himself to an ambush, had the enemy placed +any. By repute he was a man of extreme courage, and held his life so +contemptuously that he would scarce hesitate to charge an enemy's line +by himself. But I fear that this time he had other impulse than his +innate valor; for there was no occasion for a solitary man, riding in +these gloomy woods, to be singing and hallooing, and whirling his sword +about his head, and swaying to and fro on his horse, unless he were +strongly worked by _aguardiente_. + +Reaching Virgin Bay some time after dark, we found the report of an +enemy there untrue; but the pickets were got out in remarkable haste, +and all the native population--some dozen women and children--were +seized, to prevent discovery of us to the enemy, and I suppose there was +some expectation of an attack. However, liquor being plenty amongst the +hotel-keepers at Virgin Bay, the officers thought it a good place to get +drunk in,--and many spent the night in that endeavor, and in playing +poker; so that in the morning, walking down to the lake to water my +mule, I met a colonel and a general staggering into quarters, rubbing +their eyes sullenly, having just lifted themselves from the street, +where the honest god Bacchus, as a poet calls him, had put them to bed +the night before. + +The steamer "San Carlos" still lay over at the island, under shadow of +the volcano. The other probably lay at San Jorge, by the enemy. The old +brig formerly anchored at Virgin Bay having been burned, there was now +no hope of retaking these steamers, unless the party of Texans, which we +had by this time heard was fighting its way up the Rio San Juan, should +succeed in getting upon the lake with a boat from the river. But to-day +we came near reaching the top of this hope unexpectedly. For whilst we +still delayed in Virgin Bay, smoke began to rise from the chimneys of +the "San Carlos," and in proper time she turned her prow and came across +the water directly toward us. It was scarcely possible that she knew +anything of our presence in Virgin Bay; and it was doubted by no one but +she was coming to land there for some purpose; and then her recapture, +were she full of the enemy, was certain, in the spirit we then were in: +for all felt, that, could we once get the steamer into our hands, and +reach the four hundred fresh Texans on the river, the filibuster star +would have shot up so high that it were ill-management indeed that would +ever pull it down again. Accordingly all were quickly driven into the +houses, and told to lie there close, and be ready to burst forth when +the steamer touched her pier. But we were miserably disappointed. She +came steadily up within half a mile of land, and then, catching an +alarm, turned, and put swiftly back to the island. I afterward heard +that two drunken officers had rushed out into the street, and so +apprised her of the danger. + +After this the detachment set out towards Rivas. We advanced along the +lake shore some distance, fording the mouth of the little Rio Lajas, +whose waters had lost much depth since I first, passed over this road, +crossing the stream in a bungo. In the forest we found, at one point, +trees felled across the road, as if the enemy had here been minded to +oppose us; but we passed by, seeing no one, and reached Rivas in good +time, unmolested. + +Arrived at Rivas, we found that a change was taking place in the +character of the war. The town had been threatened by the enemy during +our absence, and General Henningsen was busy putting it into a state +better suited to repel any sudden attack. Pieces of artillery looked +down all the principal approaches, from behind short walls of _adobe_ +blocks, raised in the middle of the street with open passage-ways on +either side. Native men with _machetes_, watched by armed guards, were +clearing away the fine groves of orange, mango, and plantain, which +everywhere surrounded Rivas, and were fitted to cover the approach of an +enemy. Others were tearing down or burning the houses in the outskirts, +to narrow the circle of defence. The tenants of these houses--when they +had any--were moved up nearer the _plaza_, or, if native, sometimes +into the country. The native population of Rivas, however, was scanty, +consisting mostly of a few women,--of the kindest and most affable sort. +In what direction the men had all, or nearly all, gone, I am unable to +say. Doubtless some of them were with the Chamorristas. + +So many of the houses were marked out to be pulled down, that General +Walker was obliged to quarter his new recruits in the church, a large +stone building, and curious from the head of Washington, easily +identified, carved in relief on its _facade_. Hitherto some native women +had been accustomed to assemble in this church and worship, under care +of a fat, unctuous little _padre_, very obsequiously courteous toward +filibusters;--and well he might be; for General Walker was suspicious +of all _padres_, and kept a stern eye upon them. Once he caught one of +them, who had preached treason against him within reach of his arm, and +released him again only upon payment of five thousand _pesos_. Another, +for a like offence, was put into the guard-house, and required to ransom +himself at twenty-five hundred. What became of this one, whether he paid +his ransom and got out, or whether he stayed there until he lost oil and +became lean on the small ration furnished him, was not rumored. Yet, +with all this in his memory, when the present _padre_ came again with +his flock of women and found the church occupied by soldiers, he went +away scowling, and never even lifted his shovel-hat to me when I met +him. + +On the night succeeding our return from San Juan, General Walker +determined to try a night attack on San Jorge, hoping much from the +fresh spirit and muscle of his forty Californians. To assist in this, +our company had orders to be on the _plaza_ at two o'clock, afoot, with +clean rifles and forty rounds of ammunition. At one o'clock we arose +and went down on the _plaza_, in number about twenty, the rest of the +company remaining behind on account of sickness. On the way, however, +the number was augmented by a second company of near twenty dismounted +rangers, with Colonel Waters at their head. + +Whilst we stood, in rather low spirits, waiting the hour of departure, +our captain procured us a calabash of _aguardiente_, which, thinking +upon the desperate work ahead of us and the infinite toil and +sleeplessness of the last few weeks, we considered excellent, and not to +be spared. Discomfort in battle is a positive evil, felt, perhaps, by +all sons of Adam; and he who will use means to get rid of it and leave +himself free to work is no more a coward, so far, than he who takes +chloroform to prevent the pain of a tooth-pulling,--mere positive evil, +likewise. _Aguardiente_ will serve a good purpose;--provided the head be +not essentially weak, or too inflammable, it ascends you into the brain, +and dries you there, as one hath said, all the nervous, crudy vapors +that environ it. But this captain of ours drank too injudiciously, and, +indeed, so obscured himself with his drink, often, that we his men were +loath to trust and follow him,--doubting that he knew where he was about +to take us, or for what purpose. To-night he strapped a large canteen of +_aguardiente_ about his neck and wore it into battle,--and many times, +as the danger staggered, we saw him draw courageous spirit through the +neck of it, and go on befogged and reassured. Yet, withal, he was no +greater coward than other men,--indeed, much braver than most,--had been +wounded whilst leading a forlorn hope over a barricade,--and would, I +doubt not, have fought well without _aguardiente_, had drinking been a +mark of cowardice in the army. + +At length all was ready, and, with something above three hundred +riflemen and infantry, under command of Generals Walker and Sanders, we +started out on the San Jorge road some hours after midnight. We kept +along the highway until we began to approach the town, and then turned +aside into a by-lane crossing to the left. The by-lane was interrupted +at one place by a deep pool of water, through which the detachment +plunging, half-leg deep, some of the weak-legged stumbled and fell, +getting their cartridge-boxes under, and spoiling their ammunition. + +At the end of this lane we came into another highway running toward San +Jorge, along which we advanced rapidly. After a while we came to a halt, +and a party was sent off; then forward again, a corner turned, and +another halt,--when I heard General Walker asking some one, in composed +voice, "Does he know exactly where we are?" Whilst we stood there, a +sudden and hot rattle of musketry began from the front, and we again +advanced swiftly, by scattered _adobes_, turning corners, and came in +full view of a barricade some distance ahead spitting flashes of fire +crosswise into the right-hand side of the street. We crossed over from +left to right, and halted behind an _adobe_. On our right hand stood +a grove of small trees, through which the assailants had probably +advanced, and in which, just ahead, hot work was now going on +loudly,--with Minié-balls, grape-shot, shouts, outcries, and blood +enough doubtless. After some delay here, part of us rangers, led by +Colonel Waters, recrossed the street, and advanced, crouching, toward +the barricade spitting flames in front. We crept, double file, along a +palisade of tall cactus which bordered this part of the street, against +whose thorns my neighbor on the right would frequently thrust me, as the +shot nipped him closely,--inconvenient, but without pain, so intense was +the distraction of the moment. We had crept within a few rods of the +barricade, where we had glimpse of faces through embrasures, amidst the +smoke and flame, and our leader, as he afterwards said, had it on his +lips to order the forward rush,--when the party attacking on our right, +behind the trees, gave back, and our own mere handful was checked, and +retraced its steps running. A moment later, and we had gone upon that +high barricade, some score of us, without backers in the street, to +draw on us the enemy's whole fire,--and very likely--unless they had +foolishly fled at our first rush--to be all killed there. + +On the retreat, I with some others was ordered out of the ranks to pick +up a wounded officer and carry him off the ground. We took him down the +street, turned a corner, and laid him on the floor of a church some +distance beyond. He had an arm broken and a bad wound in his body,--a +hopeless man; but upborne and defiant through _aguardiente_ and native +strength. After getting him off our hands, we returned to our company, +which we found sheltering behind the _adobe_ where we had halted when on +the advance. Here we remained some time, with instructions from General +Walker (whom, at this time, we seemed to follow as personal guard) to +keep ourselves out of reach of the missiles flying on either side of the +house. The darkness was so thick that we could see only what was passing +immediately around us, and therefore were ignorant as to the position +of the foot, and what was now doing amongst them. It was said, however, +afterwards, that their officers strove to rally and bring them up to +another charge, but that they proved mutinous, and refused to move. + +They had suffered, indeed, discouragement enough. Colonel O'Neal, who +had led them, was mortally wounded; the barricade was too high and +dangerous; they had tried to fire it without success. Some of the forty +recruits, who were in front of the party, had climbed over it; and these +afterwards affirmed, that, had the others followed then, the barricade +had been gained; but the older soldiers had degenerated, possessed +little of these men's zeal or spirit, hesitated, and, their colonel +falling, gave back. Those who had gone over the barricade were killed +there, or came back with wounds,--one with a bayonet-thrust through the +arm,--a most remarkable wound, in which, perhaps, Central-Americans +fleshed a bayonet for the first time. + +Our company, or part of it,--for most had been placed about on pickets +when the attack failed,--after a while fell farther back, turned the +corner before mentioned, faced about, and came to a stand in the street, +with an _adobe_ house on the left. The street in which we stood ran +straight forward, and crossed the one down which we had just receded at +right angles, a few feet ahead of us, so that there was here a junction +of four streets, or, I might better say, roads; for there were no more +than four disconnected houses in the immediate vicinity,--the one on the +corner beside us, one on the corner diagonally opposite, the one up the +street running left, on the far side, behind which we had a little while +ago taken shelter, and the square stone church, whither we had carried +the wounded man, and which stood on the far side of the street some +yards behind us. The rest of the space was covered with fruit-trees and +a heavy growth of hushes; and concealed behind these lay the barricades +and the _plaza_ of San Jorge. But all this was seen later; then the +whole was wrapped in thick darkness, it yet lacking some short time of +daybreak. + +Whilst our detached company was standing there, with the foot drawn up +in the road a little way before us, a single horseman came out from the +enemy and galloped past our picket, stationed up the road some distance +ahead of the detachment. The picket fired upon him after he had passed; +he dropped under his horse's side, and galloped back, apparently +unharmed; but, from the direction of their fire, the picket was +naturally mistaken for the enemy by the detachment in front, who could +see only the flashes through the darkness. Some stood their ground, and +returned the fire, placing the picket in great danger; but the bulk, +already well scared by their repulse, broke away panic-stricken, and +came rushing down the road toward us, thinking the enemy were charging +behind them. Our company was suddenly overwhelmed, or borne along by the +current, ignorant of the cause of alarm. I brought myself up behind the +corner house, where many of the others were taking shelter. But hearing +some one cry out, "To the church! to the church! make a stand in the +church!" I immediately ran across the road and entered the church by a +side-door. As I crossed the entrance, with two or three others, +General Walker came running up from the interior, with his sword out, +crying,--"Where's that man came into the church? Show me that man!" +There were cocked revolvers with some of us, and it was, perhaps, well +for General Walker that the crowd now pouring in strongly at both front +and side doors diverted him. Turning to these, he threw himself first on +one, then on another, battered, tugged, and thrust them out at the door +with such force as I hardly thought was in him. He was soon assisted +by Sanders, Waters, and other officers, and, with the curses and +vociferations of these men, the confused rush of the panic-stricken +crowd in the dark, and the outcries of the wounded, who lay about +on the floor, as the fugitives trampled over them, there was such a +pressure as might unchart a young soldier, and strand him among his +fears. + +After seeing enough of it, I ran out again into the street, sore +bestead, indeed, to know what I should do. Day was beginning to break, +and in the gray dawn I saw the men ejected from the church running +hither and thither, trying to rejoin their officers. And, there being +neither standards nor drums to collect by, the sergeants stood at divers +points shouting at the top of their voices the number and letter +of their companies, and calling the fugitives to come into ranks. +Minié-balls whizzed about in the air or knocked up the dust from +the street, and firing was now and then heard near by in uncertain +directions, where perhaps the enemy were vexing our pickets. I believe +it had been a helter-skelter day for us all, had the enemy got in then +and attacked us in the midst of this confusion. They might surely have +driven us into irretrievable rout, flying on the road to Rivas, by a +spirited charge of fifty good men, or much less. + +Whilst I stood in doubt what course to take, I saw our captain, followed +by three or four of the company, looking over the ground for the +missing, and I forthwith made up and joined him. Others came in, one by +one; and at length, the foot being gathered together in the _adobes_, +and things brought to order outside, the captain led his company into +the church. General Walker was still there, talking earnestly with +Sanders and Waters, having cleared the church of the fugitives. As we +approached, he asked the captain, who by this time had emptied his +canteen of _aguardiente_, how many of his men were killed. The captain +began cursing the foot, and telling how he had been run over, having +tried to stand,--and would have made a long talc, but Colonel Waters +touched him on the shoulder, and said in undertone,--"Lead your company +off. You are too drunk to talk now." + +Our post thenceforward was at the several doors of the church, where we +kept guard for the wounded, who lay about the floor in miserable plight +for lack of water. Outside, drop-shooting was still kept up by the enemy +in the bushes, and returned by ours from the doors. + +It was an ill-looking situation for our small, panic-shaken party, +resting here within pistol-shot of an overwhelming and victorious enemy. +The enemy's respect for us was too great and unreasonable. It behooved +them certainly, as honest soldiers, to come forth now and drive us out +of their town, in which, I think, if well commenced, there had been but +little difficulty. Afterwards, indeed, when I was amongst them in Costa +Rica, they declared concerning this affair that they knew we were in +their power then, but refrained because they were unwilling to shed more +filibuster blood, preferring rather to conquer us by proclamation, and +send us back to our homes unhurt,--more expensive, to be sure, but +recommended by humanity. Yet I laugh at this when I remember how they +crept snake-like in the bushes, and tried to pick us off at the doors, +and how they strove, without much danger to themselves, to run our +pickets in on us, and get to see our backs turned, whereupon, doubtless, +humanity would have been little thought of, and filibuster blood cheap +enough. Indeed, once that morning, with little less than four-score +horse, they came charging with hope to pass a picket of ten men; but +saddles being emptied, they recoiled, and their leader being slain, +whilst attempting to rally them, they fled contemptibly,--seven or eight +from one. However, this is only my revenge for much exasperation and +deploration that they would never come away from their pestiferous +walls,--where, after all, they had a right to stay, and will not be +blamed by the candid and unbebullet-whizzed reader that they did stay. + +We kept our post at the doors, annoyed and apprehensive, until the sun +was an hour or so high, when a party of rangers arrived from Rivas +with led horses to transport the wounded,--which incumbrance it was, I +suppose, that prevented our withdrawal earlier. The wounded were carried +out and mounted, some with a soldier behind to support them. Colonel +O'Neal, however, who had both legs broken, was carried on a litter, with +a cocked revolver on each side of him; for, though he had lost much +blood, there was yet spirit in him, and he wanted revenge for these +death-wounds. The pickets were now all brought in hastily, and the +detachment began its march, leaving, I remember, one stark form propped +against the church wall, with staring eyeballs fixed, and soul wandered +somewhither. This, from his clean looks, had been one of the fresh +California recruits, who, indeed, had found miserable entertainment on +their arrival in Nicaragua, land of oranges and sunshine,--being first +and longest this night at the barricade, and leaving many of their +number there. + +A little way from the church we crossed a road running into San Jorge, +and, looking up, saw a high log-barricade, some fifty rods off, with +embrasures and black-mouthed cannon frowning down on us. Why we were not +fired upon I know not, unless on that same score of humanity, or because +the enemy had abandoned it during last night's assault. Farther on, +whilst passing through a plantain-patch, we saw the greasers some +way off in our rear, watching us, running to and fro, and seemingly +exercised with preparation for attacking. However, we passed out into +the road, and went on undisturbed, yet still with the enemy hovering +behind us. + +Coming to a place where an abrupt little mound rose at a fork in the +road, our company, which brought up the rear of the detachment, had +orders to conceal itself behind this, and await the pursuers, and give +them check. In a moment they came galloping up the slope of a hill some +two or three hundred yards back, their heads only appearing at first, +then the rest down to the saddle, when we arose suddenly and gave them a +volley of rifle-bullets. They dropped down quickly, either to the ground +or under their horses' bellies, in which manoeuvre some of them rival +the prairie Indians. Others coming up from behind, we gave them more, +until they all disappeared finally. After this we saw no more of them, +and arrived at Rivas without further alarm. + +This was now the third repulse we had sustained within a few days, with +an aggregate loss, perhaps, counting wounded, (who, as I have said, were +more regretted than the dead,) not very far under two hundred men,--and +it became apparent that the filibuster day was over, unless General +Walker could find some stratagem in his head, or some better mode of +fighting than this confident rushing upon an overwhelming enemy, under +strong cover, and grown bold with success. The prospect, truly, began +to look black enough. The men had lost confidence in themselves and in +their officers, no longer despised the enemy, and dreaded the barricades +at San Jorge so deeply that they would be led against them no more. +Those who intended to desert avoided every exposure to danger, and +feigned sickness whenever detailed for service. One of the rifle +regiments had grown mutinous, upon some quarrel with its officers, and +refused to do duty of any kind, and it was absurd to attempt to compel +it by aid of the others. The natives, who had charge of the beef cattle, +turned them all out of the _corral_, and ran away in the night, leaving +the army without meat, and the commissary force, some forty horsemen, +to seek for prey wherever it was to be found. And then there were ill +reports heard about the party on the Rio San Juan, and its success began +to be doubted. But worse than all was the fast-spreading spirit of +desertion, which all saw would prove ruinous of itself, unless shortly +stopped in some way. + +At this juncture it might have been worth while for General Walker to +form a corps for one attack of all the men in his army who felt an +earnest interest in driving the enemy out, and were willing to fight +desperately for the sake of it. There were scores of stout men acting +as lieutenants, captains, majors, etc., of slight performance in those +capacities, but who, had they been formed into companies, and asked to +fight now one night, at this desperate juncture, for the _haciendas_ +General Walker had promised them, would have done willing, perhaps, and +excellent service. To these might be added all those among the ranks +to whom, from any cause, desertion or expulsion from Nicaragua was +disagreeable,--those who distrusted the Costa-Rican promises, or feared +disgrace at home, or had sick or wounded friends at Rivas, or were +desperate, broken men without other home, or with what other peculiar +motives there might be. With this force gathered to themselves by call +for volunteers, allowed to choose their own officers, furnished with +Colt's revolvers, or bayonets, or both, and led in advance, as a forlorn +hope, with ladders to scale the barricades by,--it is likely the enemy +might have been driven out, and the cause of Regeneration set up once +more. So, at least, it was thought by some. And, indeed, it must have +been extremely discouraging for one of better will to be fearful at +every step that his comrades would dart aside into the bushes and leave +him unsupported; it must have served to cripple the efforts of all the +well-intentioned in the army, and should have been remedied. However, +no call for volunteers was ventured by General Walker,--he, probably, +thinking it too unreasonable to ask his men to do anything for him +unforced. + +There were some others who thought affairs might be retrieved, if +General Walker were displaced, at least from his military command, +and Henningsen, or some other, put in his stead. He was exceedingly +unpopular, hated, indeed, by a great many, (I have known more than one +who professed to nourish the intent of shooting him during his next +battle, when the deed could be covered,) was respected only for his +strong will and personal bravery, and had never been superseded, solely, +perhaps, because the great majority of his men were either without +energy, or were careless about everything but escape, and so felt no +interest in dethroning him and setting up another, when thereby they +were not helping their chance of getting out of the Isthmus. However, +there was now a conspiracy commenced by some who were unwilling to leave +Nicaragua, and who distrusted General Walker's ability to save the +filibusters much longer. + +But these underworkers had made us no sign up to the night attack on +San Jorge, and the day succeeding that the writer lost sight of the +filibuster camp, and knew what took place in it no more. I will tell how +the withdrawal was brought about, and then extinguish my story. Near the +middle of the day, after returning from San Jorge, the company rode out, +under command of the sergeant, to gather forage for the animals. In +order to give my own mule a respite, I mounted for this occasion a +bad-winded animal, long before used up, and discarded by one of the +company, and left to run about the yard. As we rode out at the gateway, +one of the men advised me with some pointedness to go back and get my +own animal, assuring me the one I had would fail me on this expedition. +Yet, knowing he was good for the distance we usually rode foraging, I +paid him no heed, and thought nothing of his somewhat singular manner +until afterwards. When we had gone some distance, the same man asked me +if I had heard that forty deserters had left last night for Costa Rica, +adding, that it was his opinion the whole army would soon be on the same +road. "Well," said I, "I suppose we'll be among the last." "I don't +think I will," rejoined he, "nor the rest of this company." He said no +more; but it flashed upon me then that we were even now on the road for +Costa Rica; and it soon became certainty, as the sergeant turned down +toward the Transit road, a direction in which we had never been +allowed to forage, probably because the natives on that side had more +communication with San Juan and Virgin Bay, and General Walker was +unwilling that the States passengers should hear too many complaints +from them. I was before aware that many of the company had been for some +time revolving desertion, and had myself been sounded by one a day or +two previously; but could have had no suspicion that this was to be the +occasion, because several of the most forward in the matter had made +excuses, and remained behind in quarters. + +At length we halted in a little stream, some miles from Rivas, to water +our animals, and it was here openly announced that the party was on its +way to Costa Rica to take the benefit of the government proclamation. I +rode back toward the rear, where I saw a dispute going on between one of +the company who wanted to return to Rivas and others who insisted that +he must go forward. One of them met me in the path, and told me I must +go with them until they had got beyond the Transit road. They had no +wish, he said, to force men to desert; but this much was needed to save +themselves from danger of pursuit. I told him my mule would never carry +me back from the Transit road. "We will catch you another," said he, +"when we reach the Jocote _rancho_." The whole crowd, save two or three, +were with him, and it was useless to persist. So I turned and rode +forward with the rest. + +At the Jocote _rancho_ we succeeded in catching a mule, but he was given +to another of the company, whose animal showed worse signs than my own, +which, indeed, had borne me much better than I expected, and was not yet +seriously fatigued. + +We came out upon the Transit road, passed over the Cordillera ridges, +and, just beyond the little river which crosses the road, two miles from +San Juan, turned aside into a forest-trail leading down the coast to +Costa Rica. Those of us who had been pressed thus far, after crossing +the Transit road, gave over all design of returning. The bonds which +drew us back were not strong, and the danger of return was considerable. +We had heard that the enemy was at Virgin Bay, and that their lancers +frequently passed backward and forward on the Transit road, and between +San Jorge and Virgin Bay. If we returned, we should be confined to the +path nearly all the way to Rivas by the impenetrable forest, and easily +taken, should we meet the enemy, or liable even, one or two only, to be +shot down from ambush by the hostile natives who lived on the route. + +For my own part, I decided to go on with hesitation and regret, and I +believe, had one been ready to return, I should have borne him willing +company. I preferred even the hard service and dubious chance of General +Walker to the alternative of going amongst the Costa-Ricans, where +a cowardly populace would probably kick and spit upon us as dirty +filibusters and deserters; and should their government even keep its +promises, I had no stomach for being set ashore in the city of New York, +without money in my pocket, or home that I wished to go to. My health +had been good in Nicaragua, and, I believed, would remain good. The +motive which sent me there was still in force; and, withal, I wished to +see the filibuster game played out,--with Henningsen, or some other man +than General Walker, as military director. I believed it might even +take a turn so, and a _sans-culotte_ man be furnished at last with a +two-hundred-and-fifty-acre home in Nicaragua,-- + + "'Mid sandal bowers and groves of spice, + Might be a Peri's paradise"; + +and plantain food without sweat, and the elixir of joy called +_aguardiente!_ Nevertheless it was all left behind; and Samuel Absalom +tore the large, dirty canvas letters M.R., signifying Mounted Ranger, +off from his blue flannel shirt-breast; and his experience as filibuster +in Nicaragua closed,--somewhat ingloriously. + + * * * * * + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +[Continued.] + + +CHAPTER V. + +CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. + + +The Christmas Holidays have come, and with them various customs and +celebrations quite peculiar to Rome. They are ushered in by the festive +clang of a thousand bells from all the belfries in Rome at Ave Maria of +the evening before the august day. At about nine o'clock of the same +evening the Pope performs High Mass in some one of the great churches, +generally at Santa Maria Maggiore, when all the pillars of this fine old +basilica are draped with red hangings, and scores of candles burn in the +side chapels, and the great altar blazes with light. The fuguing chants +of the Papal choir sound into the dome and down the aisles, while the +Holy Father ministers at the altar, and a motley crowd parade and jostle +and saunter through the church. Here, mingled together, may be seen +soldiers of the Swiss guard, with their shining helmets, long halberds, +and party-colored uniforms, designed by Michel Angelo,--chamberlains of +the Pope, all in black, with their high ruffs, Spanish cloaks, silken +stockings, and golden chains,--_contadini_ from the mountains, in their +dully brilliant costumes and white _tovaglie_,--common laborers from the +Campagna, with their black mops of tangled hair,--_forestieri_ of +every nation,--Englishmen, with long, light, pendant whiskers, and an +eye-glass stuck in one eye,--Germans, with spectacles, frogged coats, +and long, straight hair put behind their ears and cut square in the +neck,--then Americans, in high-heeled patent-leather boots, a black +dress-coat, and a black satin waistcoat,--and wasp-waisted French +officers, with baggy trousers, a goat-beard, and a pretentious swagger. +Nearer the altar are crowded together in pens a mass of women in black +dresses and black veils, who are determined to see and hear all, +treating the ceremony purely as a spectacle, and not as a religious +rite. Meantime the music soars, the organ groans, the censer clicks, +steams of incense float to and fro. The Pope and his attendants kneel +and rise,--he lifts the Host, and the world prostrates itself. A great +procession of dignitaries with torches bears a fragment of the original +cradle of the Holy Bambino from its chapel to the high altar, through +the swaying crowd that gape and gaze and stare and sneer and adore. And +thus the evening passes. When the clock strikes midnight all the bells +ring merrily, Mass commences at the principal churches, and at San Luigi +dei Francesi and the Gesù there is a great illumination (what the French +call _un joli spectacle_) and very good music. Thus Christmas is ushered +in at Rome. + +The next day is a great _festa_. All classes are dressed in their best +and go to Mass,--and when that is over, they throng the streets to chat +and lounge and laugh and look at each other. The Corso is so crowded in +the morning, that a carriage can scarcely pass. Everywhere one hears the +pleasant greeting of "_Buona Festa,_" "_Buona Pasquà_." All the _basso +popolo_, too, are out,--the women wearing their best jewelry, heavy +gold ear-rings, three-rowed _collane_ of well-worn coral and gold, long +silver and gold pins and arrows in their hair, and great worked brooches +with pendants,--and the men of the Trastevere in their peaked hats, +their short jackets swung over one shoulder in humble imitation of the +Spanish cloak, and with rich scarfs tied round their waists. Most of +the ordinary cries of the day are missed. But the constant song of +"_Arancie! arancie dolci_!" is heard in the crowd; and everywhere +are the _sigarari_, carrying round their wooden tray of tobacco, and +shouting, "_Sigari! sigari dolci! sigari scelti_!" at the top of their +lungs; the _nocellaro_ also cries sadly about his dry chestnuts and +pumpkin-seeds. The shops are all closed, and the shopkeepers and clerks +saunter up and down the streets, dressed better than the same class +anywhere else in the world,--looking spick-and-span, as if they had just +come out of a bandbox, and nearly all of them carrying a little cane. +One cannot but be struck by the difference in this respect between the +Romans on a _festa_-day in the Corso and the Parisians during _fête_ in +the Champs Élysées,--the former are so much better dressed, and so much +happier, gayer, and handsomer. + +During the morning, the Pope celebrates High Mass at San Pietro, and +thousands of spectators are there,--some from curiosity, some from +piety. Few, however, of the Roman families go there to-day;--they perform +their religious services in their private chapel or in some minor +church; for the crowd of _forestieri_ spoils St. Peter's for prayer.[A] +At the elevation of the Host, the guards, who line the nave, drop to +their knees, their side-arms ringing on the pavement,--the vast crowd +bends,--and a swell of trumpets sounds through the dome. Nothing can be +more impressive than this moment in St. Peter's. Then the choir from its +gilt cage resumes its chant, the high falsetti of the soprani soaring +over the rest, and interrupted now and then by the clear musical voice +of the Pope,--until at last he is borne aloft in his Papal chair on the +shoulders of his attendants, crowned with the triple crown, between +the high, white, waving fans; all the cardinals, monsignori, canonici, +officials, priests, and guards going before him in splendid procession. +The Pope shuts his eyes, from giddiness and from fasting,--for he has +eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, and the swaying motion of the chair +makes him dizzy and sick. But he waves at intervals his three fingers to +bless the crowd that kneel or bend before him, and then goes home to the +Vatican to dine with a clean conscience and a good appetite. + +[Footnote A: "How," says Marforio to Pasquino, "shall I, being a true +son of the Holy Church, obtain admittance to her services?" To which +Pasquino returns for answer: "Declare that you are an Englishman, and +swear that you are a heretic."] + +It is the universal rule among priests to fast before saying Mass, and +never to take the wafer or body of Christ upon a full stomach. The +law is _de rigueur_, and is almost never broken. But sometimes the +temptation of the appetite, it may be supposed, will overcome even a +pious man; for priest though one be, one is also flesh-and-blood. An +anecdote lately told me by the Conte Cignale (dei Selvaggi) may not +be out of place in this connection, and I instance it as an undoubted +exception to the general rule. A friend of his, an English artist, +enamored of Italian life, was spending the summer in one of the mountain +towns. Finding little society there except the physician and the parish +priest, he soon became on intimate terms with them. One morning the +priest called on him before he had finished breakfast. A savory dish was +smoking on the table, and the fumes of the hot coffee filled the room. +"I wish you could take breakfast with me," said he; "but I know you are +to say Mass, and that it would be contrary to rule for you to eat +until it is performed." The priest shrugged his shoulders and looked +deprecatorily at the artist and at the breakfast. "Still," continued the +latter, "if your scruples would allow you, I should be delighted if you +would help me with this capital dish." The temptation was great; the +smell was savory. The priest made a strong internal defence, but the +garrison was forced at last to capitulate. _"Eh!"_ said he, as he took +his seat, _"in fatto è il costume generale di non mangiare prima di dire +la messa e di prendere l'ostia. Ma--in queste circostanze_,"--here +he looked to see that the door was well fastened,--_"mi pare che si +potrebbe far un letto per nostro Signore, Gesù Cristo."_ + +It is the custom in Rome at the great _festas,_ of which Christmas is +one of the principal ones, for each parish to send round the sacrament +to all its sick; and during these days a procession of priest and +attendants may be seen, preceded by their cross and banner, bearing the +holy wafer to the various houses. As they march along, they make the +streets resound with the psalm they sing. Everybody lifts his hat as +they pass, and many among the lower classes kneel upon the pavement. +Frequently the procession is followed by a rout of men, women, and +children, who join in the chanting and responses, pausing with the +priest before the door of the sick person, and accompanying it as it +moves from house to house. + +At Christmas, all the Roman world which has a _baiocco_ in its pocket +eats _torone_ and _pan giallo._ The shops of the pastry-cooks and +confectioners are filled with them, mountains of them incumber the +counters, and for days before Christmas crowds of purchasers throng to +buy them. _Torone_ is a sort of hard candy, made of honey and almonds, +and crusted over with crystallized sugar; or in other words, it is a +_nuga_ with a sweet frieze coat;--but _nuga_ is a trifle to it for +consistency. _Pan giallo_ is perhaps so called _quasi lucus,_ it being +neither bread nor yellow. I know no way of giving a clearer notion of +it than by saying that its father is almond-candy and its mother a +plum-pudding. It partakes of the qualities of both its parents. From its +mother it inherits plums and citron, while its father bestows upon it +almonds and consistency. In hardness of character it is half-way between +the two,--having neither the maternal tenderness on the one hand, nor +the paternal stoniness on the other. One does not break one's teeth on +it as over the _torone,_ which is only to be cajoled into masticability +by prolonged suction, and often not then; but the teeth sink into it as +the wagoner's wheels into clayey mire, and every now and then receive a +shock, as from sunken rocks, from the raisin-stones, indurated almonds, +pistachio-nuts, and pine-seeds, which startle the ignorant and innocent +eater with frightful doubts. I carried away one tooth this year over my +first piece; but it was a tooth which had been considerably indebted to +California, and I have forgiven the _pan giallo._ My friend the Conte +Cignale, who partook at the same time of _torone,_ having incautiously +put a large lump into his mouth, found himself compromised thereby to +such an extent as to be at once reduced to silence and retirement behind +his pocket-handkerchief. An unfortunate jest, however, reduced him to +extremities, and, after a vehement struggle for politeness, he was +forced to open the window and give his _torone_ to the pavement--and +the little boys, perhaps. _Chi sa?_ But, despite these dangers and +difficulties, all the world at Rome eats _pan giallo_ and _torone_ at +Christmas,--and a Christmas without them would be an egg without salt. +They are at once a penance and a pleasure. Not content with the _pan +giallo,_ the Romans also import the _pan forte di Siena,_ which is a +blood cousin of the former, and suffers almost nothing from time and +age. + +On Christmas and New Year's day all the servants of your friends present +themselves at your door to wish you a _"buona festa,"_ or a _"buon capo +d'anno."_ This generous expression of good feeling is, however, expected +to be responded to by a more substantial expression on your part, in the +shape of four or five pauls, so that one peculiarly feels the value of a +large visiting-list of acquaintances at this season. To such an extent +is this practice carried, that in the houses of the cardinals and +princes places are sought by servants merely for the vails of the +_festas,_ no other wages being demanded. Especially is this the case +with the higher dignitaries of the Church, whose _maestro di casa_, in +hiring domestics, takes pains to point out to them the advantages of +their situation in this respect. Lest the servants should not be aware +of all these advantages, the times when such requisitions may be +gracefully made and the sums which may be levied are carefully +indicated,--not by the cardinal in person, of course, but by his +underlings; and many of the fellows who carry the umbrella and cling +to the back of the cardinal's coach, covered with shabby gold-lace and +carpet-collars, and looking like great beetles, are really paid by +everybody rather than the _padrone_ they serve. But this is not confined +to the _Eminenze,_ many of whom are, I dare say, wholly ignorant that +such practices exist. The servants of the embassies and all the +noble houses also make the circuit of the principal names on the +visiting-list, at stated occasions, with good wishes for the family. If +one rebel, little care will be taken that letters, cards, and messages +arrive promptly at their destination in the palaces of their _padroni;_ +so it is a universal habit to thank them for their politeness, and to +request them to do you the favor to accept a piece of silver in order +to purchase a bottle of wine and drink your health. I never knew one of +them refuse; probably they would not consider it polite to do so. It is +curious to observe the care with which at the embassies a new name is +registered by the servants, who scream it from anteroom to _salon,_ and +how considerately a deputation waits on you at Christmas and New +Year's, or, indeed, whenever you are about to leave Rome to take your +_villeggiatura,_ for the purpose of conveying to you the good wishes of +the season or of invoking for you a _"buon viaggio."_ One young Roman, +a teacher of languages, told me that it cost him annually some twenty +_scudi_ or more, to convey to the servants of his pupils and others his +deep sense of the honor they did him in inquiring for his health at +stated times. But this is a rare case, and owing, probably, to his +peculiar position. A physician in Rome, whom I had occasion to call in +for a slight illness, took an opportunity on his first visit to put a +very considerable _buona mano_ into the hands of my servant, in order to +secure future calls. I cannot, however, say that this is customary; on +the contrary, it is the only case I know, though I have had other Roman +physicians; and this man was in his habits and practice peculiarly +un-Roman. I do not believe it, therefore, to be a Roman trait. On the +other hand, I must say, for my servant's credit, that he told me the +fact with a shrug, and added, that he could not, after all, recommend +the gentleman as a _medico,_ though I was _padrone,_ of course, to do as +I liked. + +On Christmas Eve, a _Presepio_ is exhibited in several of the churches. +The most splendid is that of the Ara Celi, where the miraculous Bambino +is kept. It lasts from Christmas to Twelfth Night, during which period +crowds of people flock to see it; and it well repays a visit. The simple +meaning of the term _Presepio_ is a manger, but it is also used in the +Church to signify a representation of the birth of Christ. In the Ara +Celi the whole of one of the side-chapels is devoted to this exhibition. +In the foreground is a grotto, in which is seated the Virgin Mary, with +Joseph at her side and the miraculous Bambino in her lap. Immediately +behind are an ass and an ox. On one side kneel the shepherds and kings +in adoration; and above, God the Father is seen surrounded by clouds of +cherubs and angels playing on instruments, as in the early pictures of +Raphael. In the background is a scenic representation of a pastoral +landscape, on which all the skill of the scene-painter is expended. +Shepherds guard their flocks far away, reposing under palm-trees or +standing on green slopes which glow in the sunshine. The distances and +perspective are admirable. In the middle ground is a crystal fountain of +glass, near which sheep, preternaturally white, and made of real wool +and cotton-wool, are feeding, tended by figures of shepherds carved in +wood. Still nearer come women bearing great baskets of real oranges and +other fruits on their heads. All the nearer figures are full-sized, +carved in wood, painted, and dressed in appropriate robes. The +miraculous Bambino is a painted doll swaddled in a white dress, which is +crusted over with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The Virgin +also wears in her ears superb diamond pendants. Joseph has none; but he +is not a person peculiarly respected in the Church. As far as the Virgin +and Child are concerned, they are so richly dressed that the presents of +the kings and wise men seem rather supererogatory,--like carrying coals +to Newcastle,--unless, indeed, Joseph come in for a share, as it is to +be hoped he does. The general effect of this scenic show is admirable, +and crowds flock to it and press about it all day long. Mothers and +fathers are lifting their little children as high as they can, and until +their arms are ready to break; little maids are pushing, whispering, +and staring in great delight; _contadini_ are gaping at it with a mute +wonderment of admiration and devotion; and Englishmen are discussing +loudly the value of the jewels, and wanting to know, by Jove, whether +those in the crown can be real. + +While this is taking place on one side of the church, on the other is a +very different and quite as singular an exhibition. Around one of the +antique columns of this basilica--which once beheld the splendors and +crimes of the Caesars' palace--a staging is erected, from which little +maidens are reciting, with every kind of pretty gesticulation, sermons, +dialogues, and speechifications, in explanation of the _Presepio_ +opposite. Sometimes two of them are engaged in alternate question and +answer about the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption. +Sometimes the recitation is a piteous description of the agony of the +Saviour and the sufferings of the Madonna,--the greatest stress being, +however, always laid upon the latter. All these little speeches have +been written for them by their priest or some religious friend, been +committed to memory, and practised with the appropriate gestures over +and over again at home. Their little piping voices are sometimes guilty +of such comic breaks and changes, that the crowd about them rustles into +a murmurous laughter. Sometimes also one of the very little preachers +has a _dispitto_, pouts, shakes her shoulders, and refuses to go on with +her part;--another, however, always stands ready on the platform to +supply the vacancy, until friends have coaxed, reasoned, or threatened +the little pouter into obedience. These children are often very +beautiful and graceful, and their comical little gestures and +intonations, their clasping of hands and rolling up of eyes, have a very +amusing and interesting effect. The last time I was there, I was sorry +to see that the French costume had begun to make its appearance. Instead +of the handsome Roman head, with its dark, shining, braided hair, which +is so elegant when uncovered, I saw on two of the children the deforming +bonnet, which could have been invented only to conceal a defect, and +which is never endurable, unless it be perfectly fresh, delicate, and +costly. Nothing is so vulgar as a shabby bonnet. Yet the Romans, despite +their dislike of the French, are beginning to wear it. Ten years ago it +did not exist here among the common people. I know not why it is that +the three ugliest pieces of costume ever invented, the dress-coat, the +trousers, and the bonnet, all of which we owe to the French, have been +accepted all over Europe, to the exclusion of every national costume. +Certainly it is not because they are either useful, elegant, or +commodious.[B] + +[Footnote B: That cultivated gentleman, John Evelyn, two centuries ago +wrote some amusing words on this subject. After quoting the witty saying +of Malvezzi,--"I vestimenti negli animali sono molto securi segni della +loro natura, negli nomini del lor cervello,"--he goes on to say, "Be it +excusable in the French to alter and impose the mode on others, 'tis +no less a weakness and a shame in the rest of the world, who have no +dependence on them, to admit them, at least to that degree of levity as +to turn into all their shapes without discrimination; so as when the +freak takes our Monsieurs to appear like so many farces or Jack Puddings +on the stage, all the world should alter shape and play the pantomimes +with them. Methinks a French tailor, with an ell in his hand, looks like +the enchantress Circe over the companions of Ulysses, and changes them +into as many forms.... Something I would indulge to youth; something to +age and humor. But what have we to do with these foreign butterflies? In +God's name, let the change be our own, not borrowed of others; for why +should I dance after a Monsieur's flageolet, that have a set of English +viols for my concert? We need no French inventions for the stage or for +the back."--From a pamphlet entitled _Tyrannus, or the Mode_. + +"Si le costume bourgeois," says George Sand, in _Le Péché de M. +Antoine_, "de notre époque est le plus triste, le plus incommode et +le plus disgracieux, que la mode ait jamais inventé, c'est surtout au +milieu des champs que tous ses inconvénients et toutes ses laideurs +révoltent.... Au milieu de ce cadre austère et grandiose, qui transporte +l'imagination au temps de la poésie primitive, apparaisse cette mouche +parasite, le _monsieur_ aux habits noirs, au menton rasé, aux mains +gantées, aux jambes maladroites, et ce roi de la société n'est plus +qu'un accident ridicule, une tâche importune dans le tableau. Votre +costume gênant et disparate inspire alors la pitié plus que les haillons +du pauvre, on sent que vous êtes déplacé au grand air, et que votre +livrée vous écrase."] + +If one visit the Ara Celi during the afternoon of one of these _festas_, +the scene is very striking. The flight of one hundred and twenty-four +steps, which once led to the temple of Venus and Rome, is then thronged +by merchants of Madonna wares, who spread them out over the steps and +hang them against the walls and balustrades. Here are to be seen all +sorts of curious little colored prints of the Madonna and Child of the +most ordinary quality, little bags, pewter medals, and crosses stamped +with the same figures and to be worn on the neck,--all offered at once +for the sum of one _baiocco_. Here also are framed pictures of the +Saints, of the Nativity, and, in a word, of all sorts of religious +subjects appertaining to the season. Little wax dolls, clad in +cotton-wool to represent the Saviour, and sheep made of the same +materials, are also sold by the basketful. Children and _contadine_ are +busy buying them, and there is a deafening roar all up and down the +steps of "_Mezzo baiocco, bello colorito, mezzo baiocco, la +Santissima Concezione Incoronata,"--"Diario Romano, Lunario Romano +Nuovo,"--"Ritratto colorito, medaglia e quadruccio, un baiocco tutti, +un baiocco tutti,"--"Bambinelli di cera, un baiocco_."[C] None of +the prices are higher than one _baiocco_, except to strangers,--and +generally several articles are held up together, enumerated, and +proffered with a loud voice for this sum. Meanwhile men, women, +children, priests, beggars, soldiers, and _villani_ are crowding up and +down, and we crowd with them. + +[Footnote C: "A half-_baiocco_, beautifully colored,--a half-_baiocco_, +the Holy Conception Crowned." "Roman Diary,--New Roman Almanac." +"Colored portrait, medal, and little picture, one _baiocco_, all." +"Little children in wax, one _baiocco_."] + +At last, ascending, we reach the door which faces towards the west. +We lift the great leathern curtain and push into the church. A faint +perfume of incense salutes the nostrils. The golden sunset bursts in as +the curtain sways forward, illuminates the mosaic floor, catches on the +rich golden ceiling, and flashes here and there over the crowd on some +brilliant costume or shaven head. All sorts of people are thronging +there,--some kneeling before the shrine of the Madonna, which gleams +with its hundreds of silver votive hearts, legs, and arms,--some +listening to the preaching,--some crowding round the chapel of the +_Presepio_,--old women, haggard and wrinkled, come tottering along with +their _scaldini_ of coals, drop down on their knees to pray, and, as you +pass, interpolate in their prayers a parenthesis of begging. The church +is not architecturally handsome; but it is eminently picturesque, with +its relics of centuries, its mosaic pulpits and floor, its frescoes of +Pinturicchio and Pesaro, its antique columns, its rich golden ceiling, +its Gothic mausoleum to the Savelli, and its medieval tombs. A dim, +dingy look is over all,--but it is the dimness of faded splendor; and +one cannot stand there, knowing the history of the church, its exceeding +antiquity, and the changes it has undergone since it was a Roman temple, +without a peculiar sense of interest and pleasure. + +It was here that Romulus, in the gray dawning of Rome, built the temple +of Jupiter Feretrius. Here the _spolia opima_ were deposited. Here the +triumphal processions of the Emperors and generals ended. Here the +victors paused before making their vows, until the message came from +the Mamertine Prisons below to announce that their noblest prisoner and +victim, while the clang of their triumph and his defeat rose ringing in +his ears as the procession ascended the steps, had expiated with death +the crime of being the enemy of Rome. Over these very steps,--nineteen +centuries ago, the first great Caesar climbed on his knees after his +first triumph. At their base, Rienzi, "last of the Roman tribunes," +fell. And, if the tradition of the Church is to be trusted, it was on +the site of the present high altar that Augustus erected the "_Ara +primogenito Dei_" to commemorate the Delphic prophecy of the coming of +our Saviour. Standing on a spot so thronged with memories, the dullest +imagination takes fire. The forms and scenes of the past rise from their +graves and pass before us, and the actual and visionary are mingled +together in strange poetic confusion. Truly, as Walpole says, "memory +sees more than our eyes in this country." + +And this is one great charm of Rome,--that it animates the dead figures +of its history. On the spot where they lived and acted, the Caesars +change from the manikins of books to living men; and Virgil, Horace, and +Cicero grow to be realities, as we walk down the Sacred Way and over +the very pavement they may once have trod. The conversations "De Claris +Oratoribus" and the "Tusculan Questions" seem like the talk of the last +generation, as we wander on the heights of Tusculum, or over the grounds +of that charming villa on the banks of the Liris, which the great Roman +orator so graphically describes in his treatise "De Legibus." The +landscape of Horace has not changed. Still in the winter you may see +the dazzling peak of the "_gelidus Algidus_" and "_ut alta stet +nive candidum Soracte_"; and wandering at Tivoli in the summer, his +description, + + "Domus Albuneae resonantis, + Et praeceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda + Mobililius pomaria rivis," + +is as true and fresh as if his words were of yesterday. Could one better +his compliment to any Roman Lalage of to-day than to call her "_dulce +ridentem_"? In all its losses, Rome has not lost the sweet smile of its +people. Would you like to know the modern rules for agriculture in Rome, +read the "Georgics"; there is so little to alter, that it is not worth +mentioning. So, too, at Rome, the Emperors become as familiar as the +Popes. Who does not know the curly-headed Marcus Aurelius, with his +lifted brow and projecting eyes, from the full, round beauty of his +youth to the more haggard look of his latest years? Are there any modern +portraits more familiar than the pensive, wedge-like head of Augustus, +with his sharp-cut lips and nose,--or the dull phiz of Hadrian, with his +hair combed down over his low forehead,--or the vain, perking face of +Lucius Verus, with his thin nose, low brow, and profusion of curls,--or +the brutal bull head of Caracalla,--or the bestial, bloated features of +Vitellius? + +These men, who were but lay-figures to us at school, mere pegs of names +to hang historic robes upon, thus interpreted by the living history of +their portraits, the incidental illustrations of the places where they +lived and moved and died, and the buildings and monuments they erected, +become like the men of yesterday. Art has made them our contemporaries. +They are as near to us as Pius VII. and Napoleon. I never drive out +of the old Nomentan Gate without remembering the ghastly flight of +Nero,--his recognition there by an old centurion,--his damp, drear +hiding-place underground, where, shuddering and quoting Greek, he waited +for his executioners,--and his subsequent terrible and cowardly death, +as narrated by Tacitus and Suetonius; and it seems nearer to me, more +vivid, and more actual, than the death of Rossi in the court of the +Cancelleria. I never drive by the Caesars' palaces, without recalling +the ghastly jest of Tiberius, when he sent for some fifteen of the +Senators at dead of night and commanded their presence; and when they, +trembling with fear, and expecting nothing less than that their heads +were all to fall, had been kept waiting for an hour, the door opened, +and he, nearly naked, appeared with a fiddle in his hand, and, after +fiddling and dancing to his quaking audience for an hour, dismissed them +to their homes uninjured. The air seems to keep a sort of spiritual +scent or trail of these old deeds, and to make them more real here than +elsewhere. The old horrors of the Amphitheatre can be made real to any +person of imaginative mind in the Colosseum. He has but to lend himself +to the contagion of the place, and he will see the circle of ten +thousand eager eyes thirsting for his blood, fill up the ruined benches +and arched tiers as of yore, and hear the savage murmur of human voices, +worse than the dull roar of the beasts below. The past still lives in +these old walls. It is in vain to say that the ghosts of history do not +haunt their ancient habitations. Places, as well as persons, have lives +and influences; and the horror of murder will not away from a spot. +Haunted by its crimes, oppressed and debilitated by the fierce excesses +of its Empire, Rome, silent, grave, and meditative, sighs over its past, +wrapped in the penitent robes of the Church. + +Besides, here one feels that the modern Romans are only the children of +their ancient fathers, with the same characteristics,--softened, indeed, +and worn down by time, just as the sharp traits of the old marbles have +worn away; but still the same people,--proud, passionate, lazy, jealous, +vindictive, easy, patient, and able. The Popes are but Church +pictures of the Emperors,--a different robe, but the same nature +beneath;--Alexander the VI. was but a second Tiberius--Pius the VII., +a modern Augustus. When I speak of the Roman people, I do not mean the +class of hangers-on upon the foreigners, but the Trasteverini and the +inhabitants of the provinces and mountains. No one can go through the +Trastevere when the people are roused, without feeling that they are the +same as those who listened to Marcus Antonius and Brutus, when the bier +of Caesar was brought into the streets,--and as those who fought with +the Colonna and stabbed Rienzi at the foot of the Capitol steps. The +Ciceruacchio of '48 was but an ancient Tribune of the People, in the +primitive sense of that title. I like, too, to parallel the anecdote of +Caius Marius, when, after his ruin, he concealed himself in the marshes, +and astonished his captors, who expected to find him weak of heart, by +the magnificent self-assertion of "I am Caius Marius," with the story +which is told of Stefano Colonna. After this great captain met with his +sad reverses, and, deprived of all his possessions, fled from Rome, an +attendant asked him,--"What fortress have you now?" He placed his hand +on his heart and answered,--"_Eccola!_" The same blood evidently ran in +the veins of both these men; and well might Petrarca call Colonna "a +phoenix risen from the ashes of the ancient Romans." + +But, somehow or other, I have wandered strangely from my subject. +_Scusi_,--but what has all this to do with the Bambino? + +The Santissimo Bambino is a very round-faced and expressionless doll, +carved, as the legend goes, from a tree on the Mount of Olives, by a +Franciscan pilgrim, and painted by Saint Luke while the pilgrim slept. +It is difficult to say which was the worse artist of the two, the +sculptor or the painter. But Saint Luke's pictures generally do not +give us a high idea of his skill as a painter. The legend is a +charming anachronism, unless, indeed, Saint Luke was only a spiritual +presence;--but, as the whole incident was miraculous, the greater the +anachronism, the greater the miracle. The Bambino, however he came into +existence, is invested, according to the assertions of priests and the +belief of the common people, with wonderful powers in curing the sick; +and his practice is as lucrative as any physician's in Rome. His aid is +in constant requisition in severe cases, and certain it is that a cure +not unfrequently follows upon his visit; but as the regular physicians +always cease their attendance upon his entrance, and blood-letting +and calomel are consequently intermitted, perhaps the cure is not so +miraculous as it might at first seem. He is borne by the priests in +state to his patients; and during the Triumvirate of '49, the Pope's +carriage was given to him and his attendants. I was assured by the +priest who exhibited him to me at the church, that, on one occasion, +having been stolen by some irreverent hand from his ordinary +abiding-place in one of the side-chapels, he returned alone, by himself, +at night, to console his guardians and to resume his functions. Great +honors are paid to him. He wears jewels which a Colonna might envy, +and not a square inch of his body is without a splendid gem. On festal +occasions, like Christmas, he wears a coronet as brilliant as the +triple crown of the Pope, and, lying in the Madonna's arms in the +representation of the Nativity, he is adored by the people until +Epiphany. Then, after the performance of Mass, a procession of priests, +accompanied by a band of music, makes the tour of the church and +proceeds to the chapel of the _Presepio_, where the bishop, with great +solemnity, removes him from his Mother's arms. At this moment, the music +bursts forth into a triumphant march, a jubilant strain over the birth +of Christ, and he is borne through the doors of the church to the great +steps. There the bishop elevates the Holy Bambino before the crowds +who throng the steps, and they fall upon their knees. This is thrice +repeated, and the wonderful image is then conveyed to its original +chapel, and the ceremony is over. + +The Eve of Epiphany, or Twelfth-Night, is to the children of Rome what +Christmas Eve is to us. It is then that the _Bifana_ comes with her +presents. This personage is neither merry nor male, like Santa Claus, +nor beautiful and childlike, like Christ-kindchen,--but is described as +a very tall, dark woman, ugly, and rather terrible, "_d' una fisionomia +piuttosto imponente_" who comes down the chimney, on the Eve of +Epiphany, armed with a long _canna_ and shaking a bell, to put +playthings into the stockings of the good children, and bags of ashes +into those of the bad. It is a night of fearful joy for all the little +ones. When they hear her bell ring, they shake in their sheets; for the +Bifana is used as a threat to the wilful, and their hope is tempered by +a wholesome apprehension. It is supposed to be a distorted image of the +visit of the kings and wise men with their presents at the Nativity, as +Santa Claus may be of the shepherds, and the Christ-kindchen of Christ +himself. However this may be, it is curious to observe the different +characters this superstition assumes among different nations and under +different influences. + +The great festival of the Bifana (a corruption, undoubtedly, of +_Epifania_) takes place on the Eve of Twelfth-Night, in the Piazza di +San Eustachio,--and a curious spectacle it is. The Piazza itself, (which +is situated in the centre of the city, just beyond the Pantheon,) and +all the adjacent streets, are lined with booths covered with every kind +of plaything for children. Most of these are of Roman make, very rudely +fashioned, and very cheap; but for those who have longer purses, there +are not wanting heaps of German and French toys. These booths are gayly +illuminated with rows of candles and the three-wicked brass _lucerne_ +of Rome; and, at intervals, painted posts are set into the pavement, +crowned with pans of grease, with a wisp of tow for wick, which blaze +and flare about. Besides these, numbers of torches carried about by hand +lend a wavering and picturesque light to the scene. By eight o'clock in +the evening, crowds begin to fill the Piazza and the adjacent streets. +Long before one arrives, the squeak of penny-trumpets is heard at +intervals; but in the Piazza itself the mirth is wild and furious, and +the din that salutes one's ears on entering is almost deafening. The +object of every one is to make as much noise as possible, and every kind +of instrument for this purpose is sold at the booths. There are +drums beating, _tamburelli_ thumping and jingling, pipes squeaking, +watchmen's-rattles clacking, penny-trumpets and tin horns shrilling, and +the sharpest whistles shrieking everywhere. Besides this, there are the +din of voices, screams of laughter, and the confused burr and buzz of +a great crowd. On all sides you are saluted by the strangest noises. +Instead of being spoken to, you are whistled at. Companies of people are +marching together in platoons, or piercing through the crowd in long +files, and dancing and blowing like mad on their instruments. It is a +perfect witches' Sabbath. Here, huge dolls dressed as Polichinello or +Pantaloon are borne about for sale,--or over the heads of the crowd +great black-faced jumping-jacks, lifted on a stick, twitch themselves in +fantastic fits,--or, what is more Roman than all, men carry about long +poles strung with rings of hundreds of _giambelli_, (a light cake, +called jumble in English,) which they scream for sale at a _mezzo +baiocco_ each. There is no alternative but to get a drum, whistle, or +trumpet, and join in the racket,--and to fill one's pockets with toys +for the children and absurd presents for one's older friends. The moment +you are once in for it, and making as much noise as you can, you begin +to relish the jest. The toys are very odd,--particularly the Roman +whistles;--some of these are made of pewter, with a little wheel that +whirls as you blow; others are of terra-cotta, very rudely modelled into +every shape of bird, beast, and human deformity, each with a whistle in +its head, breast, or tail, which it is no joke to hear, when blown close +to your ears by a stout pair of lungs. The scene is very picturesque. +Above, the dark vault of night, with its far stars, the blazing and +flaring of lights below, and the great, dark walls of the Sapienza and +Church looking grimly down upon the mirth. Everywhere in the crowd are +the glistening helmets of soldiers, who are mixing in the sport, and the +_chapeaux_ of white-strapped _gendarmes_, standing at intervals to keep +the peace. At about half-past eleven o'clock the theatres are emptied, +and the upper classes flock to the Piazza. I have never been there later +than half-past twelve, but the riotous fun still continued at that hour; +and, for a week afterwards, the squeak of whistles may be heard at +intervals in the streets. + +At the two periods of Christmas and Easter, the young Roman girls take +their first communion. The former, however, is generally preferred, as +it is a season of rejoicing in the Church, and the ceremonies are not so +sad as at Easter. In entering upon this religious phase of their life, +it is their custom to retire to a convent, and pass a week in prayer and +reciting the offices of the Church. During this period, no friend, not +even their parents, are allowed to visit them, and information as to +their health and condition is very reluctantly and sparingly given at +the door. In case of illness, the physician of the convent is called; +and even then neither parent is allowed to see them, except, perhaps, in +very severe cases. Of course, during their stay in the convent, every +exertion is made by the sisters to render a monastic life agreeable, and +to stimulate the religious sensibilities of the young communicant. The +pleasures of society and the world are decried, and the charms of +peace, devotion, and spiritual exercises eulogized, until the excited +imagination of the communicant leaves her no rest, before she has +returned to the convent and taken the veil as a nun. The happiness of +families is thus sometimes destroyed; and I knew one very united and +pleasant Roman family which in this way was sadly broken up. Two of +three sisters were so worked upon at their first communion, that the +prayers of family and friends proved unavailing to retain them in their +home. The more they were urged to remain, the more they desired to go, +and the parents, brothers, and remaining sister were forced to yield a +most reluctant consent. They retired into the convent and became nuns. +It was almost as if they had died. From that time forward, the home +was no longer a home. I saw them when they took the veil, and a sadder +spectacle was not easily to be seen. The girls were happy, but the +parents and family wretched, and the parting was very tearful and sad. +They do not seem since to have regretted the step they then took; +but regret would be unavailing--and even if they felt it, they could +scarcely show it. The occupation of the sisters in the monastery they +have joined is prayers, the offices of the Church, and, I believe, a +little instruction of poor children. But gossip among themselves, of the +pettiest kind, must make up for the want of wider worldly interests. In +such limited relations, little jealousies engender great hypocrisies; +a restricted horizon enlarges small objects. The repressed heart and +introverted mind, deprived of their natural scope, consume themselves in +self-consciousness, and duties easily degenerate into routine. We are +not all in all to ourselves; the world has claims upon us, which it is +cowardice to shrink from, and folly to deny. Self-forgetfulness is +a great virtue, and selfishness a great vice. After all, the best +religious service is worthy occupation. Large interests keep the heart +sound; and the best of prayers is the doing of a good act with a pure +purpose. + + "He prayeth best who loveth best + All things, both great and small; + For the dear God who loveth us, + He made and loveth all." + + + + +ABDEL-HASSAN. + + + The compensations of calamity are made apparent after long intervals of + time. + The sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all fact. + --EMERSON. + + + Abdel-Hassan o'er the Desert journeyed with his caravan,-- + Many a richly laden camel, many a faithful serving-man. + + And before the haughty master bowed alike the man and beast; + For the power of Abdel-Hassan was the wonder of the East. + + It was now the twelfth day's journey, but its closing did not bring + Abdel-Hassan and his servants to the long-expected spring. + + From the ancient line of travel they had wandered far away, + And at evening, faint and weary, on a waste of Desert lay. + + Fainting men and famished camels stretched them round the master's tent; + For the water-skins were empty, and the dates were nearly spent. + + All the night, as Abdel-Hassan on the Desert lay apart, + Nothing broke the lifeless silence but the throbbing of his heart; + + All the night he heard it beating, while his sleepless, anxious eyes + Watched the shining constellations wheeling onward through the skies. + + When the glowing orbs, receding, paled before the coming day, + Abdel-Hassan called his servants and devoutly knelt to pray. + + Then his words were few and solemn to the leader of his train:-- + "Thirty men and eighty camels, Haroun, in thy care remain. + + "Keep the beasts and guard the treasure till the needed aid I bring. + God is great! His name is mighty!--I, alone, will seek the spring." + + Mounted on his strongest camel, Abdel-Hassan rode away, + While his faithful followers watched him passing, in the blaze of day, + + Like a speck upon the Desert, like a moving human hand, + Where the fiery skies were sweeping down to meet the burning sand. + + Passed he then their far horizon, and beyond it rode alone;-- + They alone, with Arab patience, lay within its flaming zone. + + Day by day the servants waited, but the master never came,-- + Day by day, in feebler accents, called on Allah's holy name. + + One by one they killed the camels, loathing still the proffered food, + But in weakness or in frenzy slaked their burning thirst in blood. + + On unheeded heaps of treasure rested each unconscious head; + While, with pious care, the dying struggled to entomb the dead. + + So they perished. Gaunt with famine, still did Haroun's trusty hand + For his latest dead companion scoop sepulture in the sand. + + Then he died; and pious Nature, where he lay so gaunt and grim, + Moved by her divine compassion, did the same kind thing for him. + + Earth upon her burning bosom held him in his final rest, + While the hot winds of the Desert piled the sand above his breast.-- + + Onward in his fiery travel Abdel-Hassan held his way, + Yielding to the camel's instinct, halting not, by night or day, + + 'Till the faithful beast, exhausted in her fearful journey, fell, + With her eye upon the palm-trees rising o'er the lonely well: + + With a faint, convulsive struggle, and a feeble moan, she died, + While her still surviving master lay unconscious by her side. + + So he lay until the evening, when a passing caravan + From the dead incumbering camel brought to life the dying man. + + Slowly murmured Abdel-Hassan, as they bathed his fainting head, + "All is lost, for all have perished!--they are numbered with the dead! + + "I, who had such power and treasure but a single moon ago, + Now my life and poor subsistence to a stranger's bounty owe. + + "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! + Stripped of pride and power and substance, He hath left me faith + and life."-- + + Sixty years had Abdel-Hassan, since the stranger's friendly hand + Saved him from the burning Desert, lived and prospered in the land; + + And his life of peaceful labor, in its pure and simple ways, + For his loss fourfold returned him, and a mighty length of days. + + Sixty years of faith and patience gave him wisdom's mural crown; + Sons and daughters brought him honor with his riches and renown. + + Men beheld his reverend aspect, and revered his blameless name; + And in peace he dwelt with strangers, in the fulness of his fame. + + But the heart of Abdel-Hassan yearned, as yearns the heart of man, + Still to die among his kindred, ending life where it began. + + So he summoned all his household, and he gave the brief command,-- + "Go and gather all our substance;--we depart from out the land." + + Then they journeyed to the Desert with a great and numerous train, + To his old nomadic instinct trusting life and wealth again. + + It was now the sixth day's journey, when they met the moving sand, + On the great wind of the Desert, driving o'er that arid land; + + And the air was red and fervid with the Simoom's fiery breath;-- + None could see his nearest fellow in the stifling blast of death. + + Blinded men from prostrate camels piled the stores to windward round, + And within the barrier herded, on the hot, unstable ground. + + Two whole days the great wind lasted, when the living of the train + From the hot drifts dug the camels and resumed their way again. + + But the lines of care grew deeper on the master's swarthy cheek, + While around the weakest fainted and the strongest waxéd weak; + + And the water-skins were empty, and a silent murmur ran + From the faint, bewildered servants through the straggling caravan:-- + + "Let the land we left be blessed!--that to which we go, accurst!-- + From our pleasant wells of water came we here to die of thirst?" + + But the master stilled the murmur with his steadfast, quiet eye:-- + "God is great," he said, devoutly,--"when _He_ wills it, we shall die." + + As he spake, he swept the Desert with his vision clear and calm, + And along the far horizon saw the green crest of the palm. + + Man and beast, with weak steps quickened, hasted to the lonely well, + And around it, faint and panting, in a grateful tumult fell. + + Many days they stayed and rested, and amidst his fervent prayer + Abdel-Hassan pondered deeply that strange bond which held him there. + + Then there came an aged stranger, journeying with his caravan; + And when each had each saluted, Abdel-Hassan thus began:-- + + "Knowest thou this well of water? lies it on the travelled ways?" + And he answered,--"From the highway thou art distant many days. + + "Where thou seest this well of water, where these thorns and + palm-trees stand, + Once the Desert swept unbroken in a waste of burning sand; + + "There was neither life nor herbage, not a drop of water lay, + All along the arid valley where thou seest this well to-day. + + "Sixty years have wrought their changes since a man of wealth + and pride, + With his servants and his camels, here, amidst his riches, died. + + "As we journeyed o'er the Desert, dead beneath the blazing sky, + Here I saw them, beasts and masters, in a common burial lie; + + "Thirty men and eighty camels did the shrouding sand infold; + And we gathered up their treasure, spices, precious stones, and gold; + + "Then we heaped the sand above them, and, beneath the burning sun, + With a friendly care we finished what the winds had well begun. + + "Still I hold that master's treasure, and his record, and his name; + Long I waited for his kindred, but no kindred ever came. + + "Time, who beareth all things onward, hither bore our steps again, + When around this spot were scattered whitened bones of beasts and men; + + "And from out the heaving hillocks of the mingled sand and mould + Lo! the little palms were springing, which to-day are great and old. + + "From the shrubs we held the camels; for I felt that life of man, + Breaking to new forms of being, through that tender herbage ran. + + "In the graves of men and camels long the dates unheeded lay, + Till their germs of life commanded larger life from that decay; + + "And the falling dews, arrested, nourished every tender shoot, + While beneath, the hidden moisture gathered to each wandering root. + + "So they grew; and I have watched them, as we journeyed, year by year; + And we digged this well beneath them, where thou seest it, fresh and + clear. + + "Thus from waste and loss and sorrow still are joy and beauty born, + Like the fruitage of these palm-trees and the blossom of the thorn; + + "Life from death, and good from evil!--from that buried caravan + Springs the life to save the living, many a weak, despairing man." + + As he ended, Abdel-Hassan, quivering through his aged frame, + Asked, in accents slow and broken, "Knowest thou that master's name?" + + "He was known as Abdel-Hassan, famed for wealth and power and pride; + But the proud have often fallen, and, as he, the great have died!" + + Then, upon the ground before them, prostrate Abdel-Hassan fell, + With his aged hands extended, trembling, to the lonely well,-- + + And the sacred soil beneath him cast upon his hoary head,-- + Named the servants and the camels,--summoned Haroun from the dead,-- + + Clutched the unconscious palms around him, as if they were living men,-- + And before him, in their order, rose his buried train again. + + Moved by pity, spake the stranger, bending o'er him in his grief:-- + "What affects the man of sorrow? Speak,--for speaking is relief." + + Then he answered, rising slowly to that aged stranger's knee,-- + "Thou beholdest Abdel-Hassan! They were mine, and I am he!" + + Wondering, stood they all around him, and a reverent silence kept, + While, amidst them, Abdel-Hassan lifted up his voice and wept. + + Joy and grief, and faith and triumph, mingled in his flowing tears; + Refluent on his patient spirit rolled the tide of sixty years. + + As the past and present blended, lo! his larger vision saw, + In his own life's compensation, Nature's universal law. + + "God is good, O reverend stranger! He hath taught me of His ways, + By this great and crowning lesson, in the evening of my days. + + "Keep the treasure,--I have plenty,--and am richer that I see + Life ascend, through change and evil, to that perfect life to be,-- + + "In each woe a blessing folded, from all loss a greater gain, + Joy and hope from fear and sorrow, rest and peace from toil and pain. + + "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! + For He bringeth Good from Evil, and from Death commandeth Life!" + + + + +ABOUT SPIRES. + + +When the children of Shem said one to another at Babel,--"Go to, let us +build us a city and a tower whose top shall reach unto heaven," they +typified a remarkable trait of the human mind,--a desire for a tangible +and material exponent of itself in its most heroic moods. In the earlier +ages of the world, when humanity, as it were, was becoming conscious of +itself and its godlike energies, it seems as if this desire could find +no nobler expression than in towers. The same spirit of enterprise which +in our own day stretches forth inquiring hands into unexplored realms of +physical and intellectual being, and acknowledges in the spoils of such +search its noblest and proudest attainments, in more primeval times +appears to have been content with the actual and visible invasion of +high building into that sky which to them was the great type of the +unknown and mysterious. + +The birth of these structures was not of the practical necessities of +life, but of that fond desire of the soul which has ever haunted +mankind with intimations of immortality. Towers thus became the boldest +imaginable symbols of energy and power. And when, in the course of time, +they became exigencies of society, and familiarized by the idea of +usefulness, even then they could not but be recognized as expressions of +the more heroic elements of human nature. + +Founded in superabundant massiveness, and built in prodigality of +strength, the tower seems to defy the elements and to outlive tradition. +Old age restores it to more than its primeval significance; and when +humbler erections have passed away and crumbled in ruins, it appears +once more to rise above the customary uses of men, and to become a +companion for tempests and clouds. Dismantled, deserted, and bearing, + + "Inscribed upon its visionary sides, + This history of many a winter's storm, + And obscure record of the path of fire," + +Nature lays claim to it, and with moss and ivy and eld, with weeds and +flowers, she takes it to her bosom. + + "Dying insensibly away + From human thoughts and purposes," + +we at length associate it with no achievements of man, and its masonry +becomes venerable to us, as shaped by mysterious beings,--Ghouls or +Titans,--no fellow-workers of ours. + +Let us for a while forget the tedious realisms around us, and eat of the +dreamy Lotos. Let us look eastward over the wide waters, and behold, +along the horizon, the "dim rich cities" printing themselves against the +morning. Let us listen to their mellow chimes that come faintly to us, +and bless those deep-toned utterances so full of the tenderness of +ancient days and the melody of gray traditions. Let us bless them; for, +like lyres of Amphion, at their sound arose the bell-bearing tower, +which made cities beautiful and their people happy. O St. Chrysostom! +there were other golden mouths than thine that preached by the +Bosphorus, and their pulpits were the airy chambers of the first +Christian towers. Where the muezzin every hour from the lofty minaret +now calls the faithful Mahometan to prayer, were first heard those matin +and vesper chimes which since then throughout Catholic Europe have +accompanied the rising and the setting of the sun. Thus the Christian +tower immediately becomes associated with the tenderest and most +poetical ideas of monastic and pastoral religion. It seemed emulous from +the beginning to be the first to catch the beams of morning, and, like +the statue of Memnon, to respond to the golden touch by sounds of music. +Then the fervid heart of Italy took fire, and from her bosom uprose over +all her cities the beautiful campanile. Still and solemn it stood on +the plains of Lombardy, like a sentinel on the outskirts of our faith, +whispering to the vast of space that all was well. Over the lagunes of +Venice the weary toil of two centuries piled up the tower of St. Mark. +Ravenna, with barbaric pride, built her round-cinctured towers to the +glory of the Exarchate. Rome followed with her square campaniles, whose +arcaded chambers looked down on a hundred cloisters. Then there were +La Ghirlandina at Modena, Il Torazzo at Cremona, Torre della Mangia at +Siena, the Garisenda at Bologna, the Leaning Tower at Pisa. Everywhere +they sought the skies with emulous heights, and ere long they arose in +such number as to give a distinctive aspect to the Christian city, and +to warn the traveller from afar that he approached walls within which +religion was a pride and a power. Who has not admired the Giotto +Campanile, called "the Beautiful," at Florence? And who has not wondered +at the splendor of her citizens, whose command was, "to construct an +edifice whose magnificence should be beyond the conception even of +the _cognoscenti_, and whose height and quality of workmanship should +surpass all that has been built in any style, in Greece or Rome, even at +the most florid period of their power!" + +But the spiritualization and glory of the tower are yet wanting. There +is a very human expression about it, as it stands in the midst of +those glimmering lands, with its haughty summit commanding far-distant +plains,-- + + "Far as the wild swan wings, to where the sky + Dips down to sea and sands,"-- + +a very human expression of scornful pride and imperious dominion. We +shall see how it outgrew its mere humanities and became an expression +of immortal aspirations, a symbol of our relationship with ethereal +existences. + +These Italian campaniles had either flat summits, or were crowned with a +low, unimportant roof. But as they approached the North of Lombardy, and +found their way into Germany, France, and Britain, these roofs, through +the necessities of climate, became steeper and sharper. Many of the +little gray mountain-chapels in the South of Switzerland still lift up +these pointed towers amid the hamlets of the valley, having gathered +in the hardy flocks at eventide for seven or eight centuries. The same +early modifications may yet be seen on the banks of the Rhine, where the +conical, stork-haunted caps of the round towers are so picturesquely +associated with that legendary scenery. Those dear, time-worn, rugged, +red-tiled roofs, with their peaks coming in just where they are +needed,--what could the artist do without them? Then the same +necessities made the early French and Norman builders push up into the +air those gaunt, quaint old camelbacks, with spindles or pinnacles +astride. You cannot but love them for their strangeness and the surprise +they make against the quiet sky. In Britain, too, you might have beheld +this tendency, where the lordly curfew quenched the lights in castle and +cot from beneath a very extinguisher of a roof. Now, as, in the natural +growth of the human mind, the heart became more and more impregnated +with the beauty of holiness, and the prayers of men ascended with +somewhat of purer aspiration to heaven, so did they build their +tower-roofs higher and higher into the air, till at length the spire was +born. In one of those quaint antique towers of Normandy, Coutances, it +was first fully developed; and it is curious to see how in this +instance its roof-origin was still remembered: for it has tall, gabled +garret-windows rising from its base, connected by rude cross-bars to the +slope of the spire; and it has a kind of scaly mail, Ruskin says, which +is nothing more than the copying in stone of the common wooden shingles +of the house-roof. Now the proud Italian architects, disdainful though +they were of the arts of the rude Northern builders, could not but admit +the expressiveness of the pointed roof; so they placed a form of it on +some of their campaniles, as on those of Venice and Cremona, in both +these instances making it a third of the whole height. But the spire, +though an effective, was as yet an unambitious structure,--scarcely more +than an exaltation or an apotheosis of the roof. For a long time it +continued to be merely a supplementary addition in wood to the solid +masonry of the tower, and in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth +centuries was often added to substructures of the tenth, eleventh, and +twelfth. + +Surely it is very dull in us, out of our present enlightenment, to +continue to distinguish the mediaeval times as the _Dark_ Ages, as if +they were glimmering and ghostly, and men groped about in them blindly, +living in a sort of dusky romance of feudality. Did you ever study De +la Roche's incarnation of Mediaeval Art in his Hemicycle,--that long +saintly robe with its still and serious folds, that fair dreamy face, +those upturned eyes, "the homes of silent prayer," the contemplative +repose? It is truly an exquisite idealization; yet there is something +wanting. I believe the piety of those days was rather a passion than a +sentiment. Their "beauty of holiness" was rather an active emotional +impulse than a passive spiritualization, and was incomplete without a +material expression, a tangible demonstration of itself. Like the fabled +Narcissus, it yearned for its own image. Hence the joy and luxury of the +ecclesiastical buildings of that period. They were the very blossoming +of the tree of knowledge. This was, indeed, an unenlightened, perhaps +a superstitious principle of worship; but it was enthusiastic, +self-sacrificing, and chivalrous. It, indeed, sent the stylite to his +pillar, the hermit to the wilderness, the ascetic to the scourge and +hair-cloth shirt; but it also led the warrior to the Holy Land, the +beggar to the castle-hearth, and the workman to the building of the +House of God. It is no wonder that a religion born thus in childlike +fervor, and seeking expression in outward signs, built upward. It is +no wonder that out of the prosaic elements of the roof it made the +spiritual essence of the spire. If we look through the whole range of +architectural forms in classic or mediaeval times, we shall find no one +so indicative of any human emotion as this simple outline is of the +highest of all emotions,--prayer. It is a significant fact, that the +sentiment of aspiration is nowhere hinted at in Classic Art, and we look +in vain for it in all pagan architectures. This is not surprising. +The worshippers who built in those schools demonstrated there all the +noblest ideas they were capable of,--intellectual beauty, dignity, +power, truth, chastity, courage, and all the other virtues cherished in +their theologies; but their personal relations with any higher sphere of +existence, vague and undefined as they were, called for no expression in +their temples, and obtained none. + +The pyramidal form has ever possessed peculiar fascinations for men, +and, from its simplicity, grandeur, and power, has been used in all ages +with innumerable modifications in those structures whose object was to +impress and overawe,--as in the pyramids of Egypt, the temples of India +and Mexico, and in all the earliest funereal monuments. It involved a +rude symbolism, which recommended itself to the barbarous childhood +of nations. But it was not until the pyramid was sharpened and +spiritualized into the spire that it gained its completest triumph over +the secret emotions of men. The Egyptians made the nearest approach +to it in the obelisk. That mysterious people felt very keenly the +suggestiveness of the pyramidal form, and refined the language of +its sentiment into some very beautiful expressions. Yet between the +mausoleums of Gizeh and the hieroglyphic shafts of Luxor and Karnac +there existed a modification, the intensity of whose meaning they +were not prepared to understand. Neither their civilization nor their +religion required such an exponent; so they exhausted themselves with +their mountainous bulks of stone and their pictured monoliths. + +We know not how the first view of a Christian spire would affect the +mind of an alien; but so far as our own experiences are concerned, +though perhaps familiar only with the lowliest and most unpretending of +its kind, we are conscious that it deeply impressed even the "unsunned +temper" of our childhood. The wisest among us may not be able to define +precisely these impressions, or trace to their source the admiration +and satisfaction it occasions, yet all are ready to acknowledge its +beautiful fitness to adorn and glorify the Christian temple. But to the +thoughtful mind how suggestive it is of pleasant imagery! It is "the +silent finger" that points to heaven; it is an upward aspiration of the +soul; a prayer from the depths of a troubled heart; a _suspirium de +profundis;_ a hymn of thanksgiving; a pure life, throwing of the worldly +and approaching the ethereal; a finite mind searching, till lost in the +vastness of the unknown and unapproachable; a beautiful attempt; a +voice of praise sent up from the earth, till, like the soaring lark, it +"becomes a sightless song." Indeed, our unbidden thoughts, that wild-ivy +of the mind, are trained upward by the spire, till it is hung round with +the tenderest associations and recollections of all that is sweet and +softening in our natures. Thus, when the painter has represented on his +canvas some wild phase of scenery, where the gadding vine, the tangled +underwood, the troubled brook, the black, frowning rock, the untamed +savage growth of the forest, + + "Old plash of rains and refuse patched with moss," + +impress us with awe, and a sad, homeless feeling, as if we were lost +children, how eloquent is that last touch of his pencil that shows us +a simple spire peeping over the tree-tops! How it comforts us! How it +brings us home again, and bestows an air + + "Of sweet civility on rustic wilds"! + +But even if we were not inclined to be sentimental on the subject, even +if base utilities had crowded out from our hearts the blessed capacity +of shedding rosy light on things about us, the coldest esteem could not +but ripen into affection, when we reflected that the spire never adorned +the shrine of a pagan god, never glorified the mosque of a false +prophet, never, in purity, arose from any unconsecrated ground; but +when, at last, the Church of Christ felt the "beauty of holiness," then +it developed out of that beauty and pointed the way to God. It exhaled +from the growing perfection of the Church, as fragrance from an opening +flower. It is, therefore, peculiarly holy. It is a monitor of especial +grace. "It marshals us the way that we are going," like the visionary +dagger of Macbeth; but the knell that sounds beneath it summons only to +heaven. + +Practically, it is utterly useless; and this is its honor and its +unspeakable dignity. We cannot even climb it, as we could a tower; +for it is nearly as unapproachable as the Oracle of God, save to the +innocent birds, who love to flock and wheel about it in the sunshine, +and build their nests in its "coignes of vantage," or, in the +night-time, to the troops of stars which touch it in their journey +through the skies. It is as beautifully idle as the lilies of the field; +and yet its expressiveness touches us so nearly, the propriety of its +sentiment is so striking, that, when the great test question of this +living age is applied to it, and we are asked, What is its use? what is +it good for? the heart is shocked at the impiety of the question, and +the feelings revolt, as against an insult. Upon the arches of Canterbury +Minster is carved, + + NON * NOBIS * DOMINE * NON * NOBIS * + SED * NOMINI * TVO * DA * GLORIAM * + +Nothing can be simpler than the composition of the pure spire. The +aesthetics of its development and growth are characteristically natural +and apparent. They are like the history of a flower from bud to bloom +under a warm sun. Let us become botanists of Art for a while, and +analyze those flowers of worship, as they opened "in that first garden +of their simpleness." + +Considering the growth of the spire from the tower-roof, it might +naturally be supposed that the earliest forms would be square or round, +in plan. But no sooner had the roof passed into this new sphere of +existence, than the fine intelligence of the builders perceived that it +needed refinement. They saw that in a square spire there was so coarse a +distinction between the tapering mass of light and the tapering mass +of shadow, that the delicacy and lightness necessary to express the +sentiment they desired to convey did not exist in the new feature;--in +a round spire, on the other hand, they found that this distinction of +light and shade was too little marked; it was vapid and effeminate, and +quite without that delicious crispiness of effect which they at once +obtained by cutting off the corners of the square spire, and reducing it +to an octagon. With very rare exceptions, as in the southwest spire of +Chartres Cathedral, this form was always used. Now it will be seen that +a difficulty arises in the beginning, how to unite the octagon of the +spire with the square of the tower. There are four triangular spaces at +the summit of the tower left uncovered by the superstructure; and how +best to treat these, simple as the task may seem, constitutes what may +be called the touchstone of architectural genius in spire-building. +There are several general ways of effecting this, each of them subject +to such modifications, in individual instances, as to give them an +ever-varying character. + +Perhaps the earliest method was simply to occupy those triangular spaces +with pyramidal masses of masonry, sloping back against the adjacent +faces of the tower,--an expedient which Nature herself might have +suggested in the first snow-storm. Then they boldly cut the Gordian knot +by shaving off the corners of the tower at the top, thus creating there +an octagonal platform, to which the spire would exactly correspond. +Still oftener they chamfered the spire upwards from the corners of the +tower: in other words, they placed, as it were, a square spire on +their tower, occupying the whole of its summit, and then obtained the +necessary octangularity by shaving off the angles of the spire from the +apex to a certain point near the base, where the cutting was continued +obliquely to the corners of the tower. The latest method was to build +pinnacles on the triangular territory. In such cases the spire usually +stood wholly within the outer boundaries, and parapets assisted to +conceal the first springing of the spire. + +The first of these methods is usually considered the most perfect and +beautiful, on account of its simplicity and candor. This is called the +broach; and it is the only form thus far spoken of wherein the tapering +surfaces rise directly from the tower-cornice, without mutilating the +tower or violating the pure outlines of the spire. The heavenward +aspiration, as it were, ascends without effort from the solidity of the +tower. It seems to typify a certain fitness and adaptability to heavenly +things even in the gross and earthly nature of man. One cannot fail to +admire its unaffected dignity, its harmonious balance, its graceful +proportions. + +It would be impossible within the limits of this article to give any +idea of the wonderful diversity of treatment these simple generic forms +received at the hands of the early builders. The changes of combination, +proportion, and ornamentation were endless. For the mediaeval spirit was +eminently earnest in its labor, and would not be content with copying an +old shape merely because it was a good shape. It would not be satisfied +with the cold repetition of a written litany of architectural forms; but +its ardent piety, its thoughtful zeal, the _life_ of its love, demanded +an ever-varying expression in these visible prayers. Emerson himself +might find nought to censure there, in the way of undue conformities and +consistencies. Its language was written with the infinite alphabet of +Nature. + +We are speaking now especially of England; and we, her children, may +well be proud that these divine enthusiasms of antiquity, which we +thought so quaint, so rare, so far away from us, nowhere else found +fairer demonstrations. The English spires bear especial witness to the +zeal and aspiration of their builders. They belted them with bands of +ornament, cut at first in imitation of tiles, and afterwards beautifully +panelled with foliations. Moulded ribs began to run up the angles of +the spires, and, when they met at the summit, would exultingly curl +themselves together in the most precious cruciforms. Quaint spire-lights +began to appear. Sometimes curious dormers would project from alternate +sides; and the very ribs, as if, in this spring-time of Art, they felt, +quickening along their lengths, the mysterious movements of a new life, +sprouted out here and there with knots of leafage, timidly at first, and +then with all the wealth and profusion of the harvest. The same impulse +wreathed the crowning cross with a thousand midsummer fancies, till the +circle of Eternity, or the triangle of Trinity, which often mingled +with its arms, scarcely knew itself. The pinnacles, too, blossomed into +crockets and bud-like finials, and began to gather more thickly about +the roots of the spire, and from them often leaped flying-buttresses +against it. During this time the spire itself was growing more and more +acute, its lines becoming more and more eloquent. After the fourteenth +century, the tower began to be crowned with intricate panelled tracery +of parapets and battlements, from behind which the spire, an entirely +separate structure, shot up into the sky. In this, the period of the +perpendicular style, pinnacles, purfled to the last degree, crowded +about the base of the spire, reminding one of the admiring throng +gathered about the base of some old picture of the Ascension. But there +is another English form which perhaps conveys this sentiment even more +impressively: We refer to that whose prototype exists in the steeple of +the Church of St. Nicholas at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This, however, has +four turrets, one on each angle, from which, with great lightness, leap +towards each other four grand flying-buttresses, which join hands over +an empty void and hold in the air a lantern and spirolet of great +elegance. This is a very bold piece of construction. It has been +imitated at St. Giles's, Edinburgh, at Linlithgow, in the college +tower of Aberdeen, and it is especially made known to the world by +Sir Christopher Wren's famous use of it in the steeple of St. +Dunstan's-in-the-East, London. + +The most famous spires of England and Normandy are St. Peter's at Caen, +a very early specimen, St. Michael's at Coventry, Louth, that of +the parochial church of Boston in Lincolnshire, that of Chichester +Cathedral, the three that rise from the famous Lichfield Cathedral, +and finally and especially the magnificent spire over the cross of +Salisbury. In the judgment of most English connoisseurs, this is the +finest in the world. It was probably erected during the reign of Edward +III., a very florid period for architecture. It is the highest in +England, its summit rising four hundred and four feet from the pavement +of the church beneath. It is one of the earliest erected in stone, and +is remarkable for skilful construction, the masonry in no part being +more than seven inches thick. This spire is belted with three broad +bands of panelled tracery, and there are eight pinnacles at its base, +two on each corner of the tower. The ribs are fretted throughout the +whole height with elegant crockets, thus imparting to the sky-line an +appearance similar to the gusty spray on the borders of a rain-cloud. An +admirer has said of it, "It seems as though it had drawn down the very +angels to work over its grand and feeling simplicity the gems and +embroidery of Paradise itself!" England once boasted the loftiest spire +in the world, that of old St. Paul's, London, whose summit, five hundred +and twenty feet from the ground, seemed to sail among the highest +clouds; but the great fire of 1666 destroyed it, and Sir Christopher's +stately metropolitan dome now rises in its place. + +One could believe in the "merrie" days of Old England, were her abundant +spires their only evidence. The ardent zeal that kindled so many +thousand answering beacons throughout the length and breadth of the land +is the best proof of that concord of souls which is true happiness. We +know that the decision of the Council of Clermont about the Crusades was +believed to have been instantly known through Christendom, and that the +great cry, _God willeth it!_ which shook the council-roof, was echoed +from hill to hill, and at once struck awe and astonishment to the hearts +of remotest lands. So in the birthplaces of our Pilgrim fathers, over +these cherished spots, + + "Where the kneeling hamlets drained + The chalice of the grapes of God," + +arose the "star y-pointing" spire, like a voice of adoration; and then +another would be raised in unison in some neighboring village, where +they could see and communicate with each other in their silent language; +and yet another close by among the hills; and presently, in full view +from its summit, twenty more, perhaps,--till the good tidings were known +through the whole country, and from hamlet to hamlet, over the streams +and tree-tops, was thus echoed the great _Te Deum_ of the land. For it +was said among the people, in that antique spirit of worship, as Milton +exhorted the birds in his Hymn of Thanksgiving,-- + + "Join voices, all ye living souls! ye _spires_, + That singing up to heaven's gate ascend, + Bear on your wings and in your notes His praise!" + +It is a beautiful proof of the spirit of sacrifice which actuated the +Masonic builder of the Middle Ages, that his fairest and most precious +works were not confined to the great metropolitan churches and +cathedrals, where they could be seen of men, but were frequently found +in quiet and secluded villages, nestled among pastoral solitudes, far +away from the gaze and admiration of the world. Though the spire of +Salisbury was, perhaps, an epic in Masonic poetry, yet in humble hamlets +of England, beyond her most distant hills, and amid many an unnamed +"sunny spot of greenery," were idyls sung no less exquisite than this. +Many a village-spire, of conception no less beautiful, arose above the +tree-tops among the most untrodden ways. All day long its shadow lingers +in the quiet churchyard, and points among the humble graves, as if, over +this dial of human life, it loved to preach silent homilies on "the +passing away," even to the simplest poor. It must be inexpressibly +touching to meet with these beautiful forms in the lonely wilderness, +where the ivy alone, as it throws its loving arms around them, appears +to recognize their grace and all their tender significance. It is like +the chance discovery of a good deed done in the darkness, or like a +pure life spent in the sweet and serious retirement of a little hamlet, +pointing the way to heaven for its scanty flock of cottagers. + +It was the custom in those days, during the celebration of Mass, at the +moment when the Host was raised, to ring a peculiar bell in the tower, +in order that those not gathered beneath the consecrated roof might be +made aware far and wide of the awful ceremony, and be reminded to offer +up their devotion in unison. And we remember what Izaak Walton said of +quaint George Herbert,--how "some of the meaner sort of his parish did +so love and reverence Mr. Herbert, that they would let their plough rest +when his saints'-bell rung to prayer, that they might also offer their +devotion to God with him, and would then return back contented to their +plough." Now it seems to us that the spire is a perpetual elevation +of the Host, a never-ending lifting-up of the Symbol of Redemption, a +consecrating presence to field and cottage, hillside and highway, ever +ready to bless the accidental glance of wayfarer or laborer, and to make +in the desert of his daily life a momentary oasis of sweet and hallowed +thought. Its peaceful influence extends over the whole landscape and +pierces to its remotest corners. + + "A gentler life spreads round the holy spires; + Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires, + And aëry harvests crown the fertile lea." + +It may be thought that St. Peter's cock, which so often answers the +sunbeams from the spindly spire, and kindles and glitters there like a +star, is rather empty of emblematic significance and soul-language. But +what saith old Bishop Durandus?--"The cock at the summit of the church +is a type of the preacher. For the cock, ever watchful, even in the +depth of night, giveth notice how the hours pass, waketh the sleepers, +predicteth the approach of day,--but first exciteth himself to crow by +striking his sides with his wings. There is a mystery conveyed in each +of these particulars: the night is the world; the sleepers are the +children of this world, who are asleep in their sins; the cock is the +preacher who preacheth boldly, and exciteth the sleepers to cast away +the works of darkness, exclaiming, Woe to them that sleep! Awake, thou +that sleepest! and then foretell the approach of day, when they speak +of the Day of Judgment and the glory that shall be revealed, and, like +prudent messengers, before they teach others, arouse themselves from the +sleep of sin by mortifying their bodies; and as the weather-cock faces +the wind, they turn themselves boldly to meet the rebellious by threats +and arguments." + +But it was on the Continent, especially in France, the Low Countries, +and Germany, that the Gothic flower opened in fullest perfection; and it +is here that we find the loftiest and most luxurious spire-forms. They +were always the last part of the church completed, the finishing-touch, +the last that was needed to perfection. The progress of the building +of a cathedral thus embodied a beautiful symbolism. In most cases, +the choir, or east end, the holiest part of the church, was the first +erected, in order to sanctify and protect the high altar; and then, as +the treasures of the church flowed in, after the expiration of years or +centuries, the builders, tutored by a legendary science, and harmonized +by a wonderful feeling of brotherhood, in the same spirit, perfected the +designs of their predecessors, by leading out westward the long naves +and attendant aisles, completing northward and southward the transepts, +adding a chapel here and a porch there, glorifying the western front +with the touches of divine genius; and when at last every niche was +occupied with its statue of angel, saint, or pious benefactor, and the +holy choir, with its apsis, had been re-adorned with the accumulated art +of centuries, and glowed with the iris-light from painted windows,--when +the mural monuments of bishops, warriors, and kings had thickened +beneath the consecrated roof, and the whole structure had been hallowed +by the prayers and chantings of generations,--then, at last, over the +ancient tower arose the lofty spire; as if an angelic messenger had +spread his wings at its base and mounted upward to heaven, shouting +out the glad tidings of the completion of the House of God, and, as he +arose, the voice grew fainter and fainter, till at length it melted into +the sky! + +The finest spires of Europe were erected as late as the fourteenth, +fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, upon towers prepared for their +reception, usually, in much earlier times. This confidence of the old +builders in the final completion of their structures is remarkable. They +drew without stint on the piety of after ages,--a resource which has not +unfrequently proved too feeble to realize their generous expectations. +There are few cities in Europe which do not bear sad marks of this +misplaced confidence. This is especially witnessed in the unfinished +steeples. And, indeed, when we find that not only one, but two, three, +four, or even five spires were sometimes required to flame upward from +the same building, as in Caen Cathedral, we do not wonder that the +kindling spark is often wanting. It would seem as if another fire must +come down from heaven, as of old it did upon the first offering of Moses +and Aaron, to inflame these censers, rich in frankincense and naphtha. + +Now let us see what were the distinguishing attributes of the +Continental spires. We know not why it was, but in the gray old towns +of Belgium and the Low Countries there existed such exuberance of +imagination, such an unbounded luxuriousness of conception, as created +more images of Gothic quaintness and intricacy than elsewhere can be +seen. If any architecture ever expressed the average of human thought, +that of these towns is especially eloquent in its indications that their +inhabitants were very happy and contented. Look at a print of any old +Belgian town or street, and you will at once see our meaning. What a +joyous upspringing of pinnacles and pointed roofs and spires! of no more +earthly use, indeed, than so much pleasant laughter. There is no tower +without its spire, no turret or gable without its pinnacle, no oriel +without its pointed roof, no dormer without some such playful leaping +up into the air. Every salient point attacks the sky with its long iron +spindle, wrought with strange device and bearing a hospitable cup where +the bird makes his nest; and every spindle sings and shrieks with a +shifting vane,--so that the wind never sweeps idly over a Belgian town. +This innocent and happy people did not frown through the ages from grim +battlements, and awe posterity with stern and massive walls. But they +loved old childlike associations and fireside tales. They loved to build +curious fountains in commemoration of pleasant legends. They loved, too, +the huge, delicious-toned bells of their minster-towers, and the sweet +changes of melodious, never-ceasing chimes. They carved their Lares +and Penates on their house-fronts very curiously, with sun-dials and +hatchments, sacred texts and legends of hospitality. The narrow streets +of Ghent, Louvain, Liege, Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres, Bruges are thus full +of household memories and saintly traditions. So it is not strange that +a people whose daily hours were counted out with the music of belfries +were fond of fretting their towers with workmanship so precious and +delicate that it has been called "the petrifaction of music." + +But before we proceed to tell in how florid a manner the Low Countries +interpreted the simpler forms of spires, we shall describe generically +in what manner not only they, but all the other European kingdoms, were +indebted to the old Rhineland towns for some of these forms. When the +bell-tower, in about the seventh or eighth century, began to be used in +Germany, it at once received certain very important modifications on the +earlier Italian campanile. The upper terminations of these latter +were horizontal, on account of their flat roofs. Now in more northern +climates, where the snow falls, these flat roofs would be unsafe and +inconvenient. So we find that the first church-towers that arose in such +Rhenish places as Oberwesel, Gelnhausen, Bacharach, Coblentz, Cologne, +Bingen, "sweet Bingen on the Rhine," no longer ended in these horizontal +lines, but arose in pointed shapes. Indeed, the Germans, who were great +rivals of the Italians in those days, not only in matters pertaining to +architecture, but to literature also, in the same independent spirit +which induced them alone, of all civilized peoples, to retain through +all time the cramped, angular letters of monkish transcribers, in +preference to the fair and square Roman forms, took particular pride in +avoiding horizontal lines entirely at the tops of their towers, as they +did at the tops of their letters. Wherever they so occur, they are +insignificant,--rather ornamental than constructive. Not so with the +English; they kept the square tops to their towers, and contented +themselves with the pointed superstructure. Let us see how Teutonic +stubbornness arranged the matter. Each separate face of their towers, +whether these towers were square or octangular, ended above in a gable; +and from these gables, in various ways, arose the octangular pointed +roof or spire. This circumstance, more than any other, tended to give +a peculiar character to German Gothic. The simplest type of the gabled +spire was magnificently used in the spire of St. Peter's at Hamburg. +This was the finest in North Germany; it was four hundred and sixteen +feet high, and, if still standing, would be the third in height in the +world. But it was destroyed by the great fire of 1842. Many a traveller +can bear witness to the sweet melody of the chimes that used to sound +beneath it every half-hour. + +In later times, between the Germans and the French, was invented the +_lantern_,--a feature so often and so superbly used, not only on the +Continent, but more lately in England, that we must needs glance at it. +This consisted in a tall, perpendicular, octangular structure, placed +upon the tower, quite light and open, and pierced with long windows. +Here they used to swing the bells, and the place was called the lantern +or _louvre_; thence the octangular spire arose easily and naturally. +Now, notwithstanding this device, those troublesome triangular spaces +still remained unoccupied at the top of the square tower. The manner +in which this difficulty was remedied was exceedingly ingenious and +beautiful. It was by building on them very delicate pinnacles or +turrets, peopled, perhaps, as at Freiburg, with a silent and serene +concourse of saints in rich niches, or inclosing, as at Strasburg, +spiral open-work stairs. These structures accompanied the tall lantern +through its whole height; thus rendering the entire group a memory, +as it were, of the square tower below, while, at the same time, it +beautifully foreshadowed the octangular character of the sky-seeking +spire above,--a significant symbolism. + +Now, when the Belgians and their neighbors received the spire thus from +the fatherland, they at once began to express in it the joy of their +worship by all the embroidery and tender imagery and grotesque conceits +it was capable of receiving. They varied as many changes on it as they +did on their bells. They concealed the first springing of their spires +behind clustering pinnacles, flying-buttresses, canopied niches with +gigantic statues, galleries with battlements and parapets pierced and +mantled in lacework of flamboyant tracery, pointed gables alive with +crockets and finials, and long, quaint dormers,--all with a bewildering +intricacy of enrichment. And they inherited from the Germans a love for +the gargoyle, which haunted the springing of the spire at the corners +with visions of very hideous _diablerie_. It may well be believed that +these florid builders did not suffer the spire to arise serious and +serene from the midst of this delicious tangle of architecture. They +tricked it out with all the frostwork of Gothic genius. Not only did +they use in its decoration spire-lights, crockets, ribs and cinctures, +bands of gablets, and masses of reticulated relief, but, with wonderful +skill, they pierced each face from base to apex in foliated patterns +of great richness, so that the whole spire became a web of delicate +open-work, through which the light was sprinkled in beautiful shapes, +varying with every movement of the beholder. Their plainer spires of +wood they were fond of covering with glazed tiles of various tints +arranged in quaint taste. And they would vary the outline by making it +curve inward, giving a fine sweep thus from the base to an apex of great +slenderness. Sometimes they would give it, with exaggerated refinement, +the _entasis_ of the Greek column. There are instances of this last +treatment both in France and England. + +But it was not only in exuberance of enrichment and quaintness of form +that these enthusiastic workmen uttered their inspirations. They built +their spires to a most amazing height. Indeed, the loftiest steeples in +the world arose in level tracts of country, where they could be seen at +immense distances, as not only in Belgium and thereabout, but on the +flat margins of the upper and lower Rhine, as at Strasburg and Cologne. +In these countries, and about the North of France, there was a generous +rivalry as to which city should lift up highest the cross of God. But as +soon as the sacred passion for spire-building was corrupted by this new +element of human emulation, some strange things happened. The people of +Beauvais, for instance, desiring to beat the people of Amiens, set to +work, we are told, to build a tower on their cathedral as high as they +possibly could. The same thing had been done once before on the plains +of Shinar. One foresees the result, of course; "it fell, for it was +founded upon the sand, and great was the fall thereof." And so with the +good people of Louvain. They built three spires to their cathedral, of +which the central one reached the unparalleled height of five hundred +and thirty-three feet, according to Hope, and the side-towers four +hundred and thirty feet. This tremendous group, however, fell, or, +threatening destruction, was taken down, in 1604. We remember what the +Wanderer said so finely in the "Excursion":-- + + "We must needs confess + That 'tis a thing impossible to frame + Conceptions equal to the soul's desire; + And the most difficult of tasks _to keep_ + Heights which the soul is competent to gain." + +But we find that ecclesiastical edifices were not the only ones +which were adorned with this high building; for town-halls were not +infrequently distinguished by immensely lofty spires, as at Brussels. It +is curious to see, however, how easily the less exalted impulses which +erected them may be discovered. They do not _soar_, they _climb_ up +panting into the sky, like the famous passage up through Chaos, in +Milton, "with difficulty and labor hard." They have not the light, airy +gliding upward of the religious spire, whose feeling George Herbert had +in his mind, when he sang of prayer:-- + + "Of what an easy, quick accesse, + My blessed Lord, art thou! how suddenly + May our requests thine eare invade!" + +Not so; but it is all human rivalry, a succession of diminishing towers, +steps piled one above another, where the mind every now and then may +stop to breathe, and then fight its way onward again;--not an Ascension, +like that from Bethany; rather the toil of a very human, though very +laudable ambition. + +Unfinished spires were in Europe very common legacies from generation to +generation. Descendants were called upon to embody the great conceptions +of their forefathers. But the ancestral spirit too often failed in the +land, the wing of aspiration was broken, the crane rotted in its place, +the great conceptions were forgotten, or lived only as vague and dreamy +inheritances; and the half-completed spires stood like Sphinxes, and +none knew their riddles! They are very melancholy memorials. Like the +broken columns over the graves of the departed, fallen short of their +natural uses, they seem only the funeral monuments of a race that +is dead. The empty air is stilled over them in expectation, and the +imagination makes vain pictures, and fills out their crescent of +splendid purposes. They have been called "broken promises to God." Too +often, perhaps, they were rather monuments of the feebleness of those +who would scale heaven with anything but adoration upon their lips. +There were Ulm, indeed, and Cologne, and Mechlin, as artistic +intentions, eminently grand and beautiful; and in the early part of the +sixteenth century Belgium was famous for designs of open-work spires, +which, if erected, would have surpassed in height and richness all +hitherto existing. But it is worthy of note that at this period the +purity of the Church had become so sullied with priestcraft and the +plenitude of Papal power, that it no longer possessed within its +violated bosom those sacred impulses of piety which whilom sent up the +simple spire, like a pure messenger, to whisper the aspirations of men +to the stars. "Gay religions, full of pomp and gold," could neither feel +nor utter the grave tenderness of the early inspirations. And so, when +the German monk affixed his ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenberg +Church, the spire had ceased to be an utterance of prayerful aspiration. +It had lost its peculiar significance as an involuntary expression of +worship, and had become liable to all the accidents and contingencies +that attend the efforts of a merely human ambition. The whole story is +an architectural version of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican +who went down to the temple to pray. + +Of the finished spires, the loftiest in the world are, first, that of +Strasburg Minster, 474 feet; second, that of St. Stephens at Vienna, +469 feet; third, that of Notre Dame at Antwerp, 466 feet; then that of +Salisbury, 404 feet; Freiburg in the Breisgau, 380-1/2 feet; and then +follow the distinguished heights of Landshut, Utrecht, Rouen, Chartres, +Brugrels, Soissons, and others. The highest spire in our own country is +that of Trinity Church, New York, 284 feet. We do not "sweep the cobwebs +from the sky" so effectually as when men built according to the scale +of spiritual exaltation rather than that of practical feet and +inches,--after the stature of the soul, rather than that of the man. + +The architects of the revival of classic architecture, with the learned +language of the five orders, with pediments and attics, consoles and +urns, labored to express the childlike sentiment of the spire. But even +the great Sir Christopher Wren, with his sixty steeple-towers, and +all his followers to this day, have not succeeded in a translation so +unnatural. Spirituality and the artless grace of inspiration are wanting +to the spires of the Renaissance, and so they struggle up painfully into +the sky. And it is very rare to find those who have gone back even to +Gothic models building a spire which touches our affections, or claims +affinity with any of our nobler emotions; so sensitive is this unique +structure to the approach of any element foreign to the early conditions +of its existence. + +As for the great Strasburg example, that _Jungfrau_ of all spires, +German traditions have very properly babbled many strange stories about +the erection of it. These constitute an episode so characteristic in the +history of spire-building, that this essay would be incomplete, were +they not briefly told here. + +In the legendary days of yore, nothing was more common than to meet that +personage known as the Devil walking up and down the earth, in innocent +guise, but ripe for all sorts of mischief, especially where the people +were building up mighty monuments to the glory of the good God. Very +naturally, the sacred spire was a special object of his aversion; and, +for some reason or other, that of Strasburg was honored with peculiar +marks of his hatred. Two ancient churches, which stood on the site +of the present minster, had been successively destroyed by fire; and +although, in the one case, this had been kindled by the torch of an +invading army, and in the other by a thunderbolt, yet the infernal +agency, in both cases, nobody ever thought of doubting. So it was +the effort of Bishop Werner to combat these evil influences; and he +accordingly inflamed the pride and indignation of the people to such +a degree, that throughout the land all concerted to defeat the wicked +designs of the Adversary. In two centuries and a half the whole +cathedral was completed, save the tower, the corner-stone of which was +forthwith laid with great pomp by Bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg, on the +25th of May, 1277. Doubtless the Arch-Fiend laid many cunning schemes to +entrap the illustrious architect, Erwin of Steinbach; but, unlike his +brother in the craft at Cologne, he came out unscathed; so we must +believe that throughout the whole work he was actuated by the most +unselfish spirit of devotion, infernal machinations to the contrary +notwithstanding. Now it must be confessed that the Enemy had a hard time +of it, since we read that the good Bishop Conrad fought against him with +all the powers of the Church, and granted absolution for all sins, past, +present, and future, for forty thousand years, to whatever person should +contribute to the building of the spire by money, material, or labor. +Owing to the scarcity of parchment, these grants of absolution were made +out on asses' skins; and it will be seen, that, in the great struggle, +these instruments retained in a very eminent degree that quality of +stubborn resistance which had cost them in their original state many a +beating from the driver's staff. The greatest enthusiasm was kindled +among rich and poor; year after year, thousands of pilgrims flocked +hither from all Germany to offer their aid, without reward or +recompense, to the building of the tower; and out of the +farthest boundaries, even from Austria, came wagons loaded with +building-materials, the gratuitous offerings of the pious. Rich legacies +were left to the work, and many a cloister devoted a fourth part of its +yearly revenues to the same object So much for asses' skins! + +Meanwhile the Devil was not idle. In the night-winds he and his legions +would shriek and yell and rattle among the scaffolding and cranes +in vain. In the latter part of the thirteenth century, he shook the +structure with a frightful earthquake, which terrified all Alsatia, +and, although whole streets were thrown down in Strasburg, yet the +foundations of the _Wunderbau_, as the Germans love to call it, were not +loosened, and no stone was moved from its place. A few years afterward, +in 1289, he once more made use of his favorite element, and laid in +ashes the market-place of Strasburg all around the minster. More +fortunate than its great compeers, St. Paul's of London, and St. Peter's +of Hamburg, it miraculously experienced but trifling damage. + +Well, the great Erwin died at last, when he had built the tower as high +as the roof-ridge of the nave. His son succeeded him, finished the tower +to the platform, when he, too, was gathered to his fathers in 1339. John +Hültz followed as master; and finally his nephew, Hültz II., in 1439, +finished the grand pyramid, fixed the colossal cross in its place, and +crowned the whole with a gigantic statue of the Virgin. Thus, from the +laying of the foundation-stone till all was completed, were one +hundred and sixty years; yet throughout this time the work was never +discontinued, and five successive generations labored upon its walls. + +But the wrath of the Arch-Enemy, as may well be believed, waxed greater +as this prodigious structure gradually developed itself in all its +lordliness and strength, and was not at all appeased at its triumphant +completion. Ever since then he has visited its stately height with +especial marks of his malice. The most furious tempests have raged about +it, and more than sixty times has it been struck by lightning, and five +times have earthquakes shaken its foundations. But in vain. "The Golden +Legend" tells us how Lucifer and the Powers of the Air stormed about the +spire, and how he cried,-- + + "Hasten! hasten! + O ye spirits! + From its station drag the ponderous + Cross of iron that to mock us + Is uplifted high in air!" + +and how the voices replied,-- + + "Oh, we cannot! + For around it + All the Saints and Guardian Angels + Throng in legions to protect it; + They defeat us everywhere!" + +At one point, however, the evil spirits were successful; the colossal +statue of the Virgin, which crowned the dizzy summit, and was familiar +with the secrets of the upper air, and which, like its dread Enemy, + + "above the rest, + In shape and gesture proudly eminent, + Stood like a tower,"-- + +after having for fifty years borne the insults of these airy powers, +till it had lost all its original brightness, and its face + + "Deep scars of thunder had intrenched,"-- + +was taken down, and the present cross put in its place. And there it +stands to this day, high up in the silence of midair, where the voices +of the city below are rendered small and thin by the distance,--four +hundred and seventy-four feet above the heads of the populace, who, in +their littleness, crawl about and traffic at its base. This amazing +summit, "moulded in colossal calm," in its unapproachable grandeur, +seems to forget the city from which it rises, and to hold communion only +with that vast circle of "crowded farms and lessening towers" which +it surveys. It is a worthy companionship; on the one hand, the great +Vosgian chain, the closed gates of France,--on the other, afar off, the +hills of the Black Forest, and, more near, Father Rhine, winding his +silver thread among the villages and vineyards of Germany. + +There is (or was) an enormous key suspended just beneath the cross of +Strasburg Cathedral, its use, and why it was placed there, having passed +away from the memory of man. If it were not to open the gates of heaven +for those who built this ladder of light and those who worship in +its shadow, it remains a riddle and a blank. Let us accept the +interpretation, and, made mild-eyed by the lens of tender memories, we +shall behold in every spire a means of grace and a hope of glory. + + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE. + + +THE PUBLISHERS TO THE AUTHOR. + +_Queerangle Building, Nov. '59._ + +Dr. SR,-- + +Will you contract to do us a tale or a novel, at the rate of say 10 pp. +per month, with some popular subject, such as philanthropy, or the Broad +Church movement, or fashionable weddings, or the John Brown invasion, +brought in so as to make a taking thing of it? When finished, to come +to a 12mo of 350 pp. more or less. A good article of novel is always +salable about Christmas time, and we can do it up by Dec. 1, 1860. +Our Mr. Goader has been round among the hands that do the light +jobbing,--finds several ready to undertake the contract, at say 75c. @ +3.00 per page;--but want the job done in first-rate style, and think +you could furnish us a good article. Our firm has great facilities for +working a novel, tale, or any kind of fancy stuff. What w'd be y'r terms +in cash payment, 1st of every month? + +P.S. Would any additional compensation induce you to allow each number +to be illustrated by a colored engraving? + +Yr obt serv'ts. + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE PUBLISHERS. + +GENTLEMEN,-- + +In reply to your polite request, I have to say, that under no +circumstances can I entertain your proposition to write a _fictitious_ +narrative. I could, however, relate some very interesting events which +have come to my knowledge, and which, if told in a connected form, might +undoubtedly be taken by the public for a work of fiction. I think my +narrative, with some collateral matter I should introduce, would take up +a reasonable space in about a dozen numbers of the Oceanic Miscellany. +I cannot listen to your proposal about the engraving. If you accept my +offer to write out, in the form of a story, the incidents of real +life to which I have referred, we will arrange the terms at a private +interview. I consider the first day of a month as unobjectionable as any +other in the same month, as a time for receiving payment of any sum that +may be due me under the proposed contract. + +Yours truly. + + +CONFIDENTIAL EDITOR OF THE OCEANIC MISCELLANY TO THE AUTHOR. + +MY DEAR PROF.,-- + +We have had lots of bob-tail stories,--docked short in from one to three +months. Can't you give us a switch-tail one, that will hang on so as +to touch next December? Something imaginary, based on your +recollections,--the incidents of the War of 1812, for instance;--but, at +any rate, a regular "to be continued" "_pièce de résistance_" + +Yours ever. + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE CONFIDENTIAL EDITOR. + +MY DEAR ED.,-- + +I really wouldn't undertake to tell an "imaginary" story, or to write +a romance, or anything of the kind. I might be willing to relate some +curious matters that have come to my knowledge, arranging them in a +collective form, so that they would probably pass with most readers for +fictitious, and perhaps excite very much the same kind of interest they +would if genuine fictions. I don't remember much about the "last war"; +but I suppose both of us may recollect the illumination when peace was +declared in 1815. + +Ever yours. + + +THE PUBLISHERS TO THE AUTHOR. + +(Inclosing a check, in advance, for the first number.) + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. + +Finding myself in possession of certain facts which possess interest +sufficient to warrant their publication, I am led to ask myself whether +I shall put them in the form of a narrative. There are, evidently, two +sides to this question. In the first place, I have a number of friends +who write me letters, and tell me openly to my face, that they want me +to go on writing. It doesn't make much difference to them, they say, +what I write about,--only they want me to keep going. They have got used +to seeing me, in one shape or another,--and I am a kind of habit with +them, like a nap after dinner. They tell me not to be frightened about +it,--to begin as dull as I like, and that I shall warm up, by-and-by, as +old _Dutchman_ used to, who could hardly put one leg before the other +when he started, but, after a while, got so limbered and straightened +out by his work, that he dropped down into the forties, and, I think +they say, into the thirties. _L'appétit vient en mangeant_, one of them +said who talks French,--which, you know, means, that eating makes one +hungry. I remember, when I sat down to that last book of mine, which you +may perhaps have read, although I had the facts of the story, of course, +all in my head, it seemed to me that I should never have the patience +to tell them all; and yet, before I was through, I got so full of the +scenes and characters I was talking about, that I had to bolt my door +and lay in an extra bandanna, before I could trust myself to put my +recollections and thoughts on paper. You don't expect a locomotive is +going to start off with a train of thirty or forty thousand passengers, +without straining a little,--do you? That isn't the way; but this is. +_Puff!_ The wheels begin to turn, but very slowly. Papas hold up their +little Johnnys to the car-windows to be kissed. _Puff----Puff!_ People +shake hands from the platform to the cars, walking along by their side. +_Puff--puff--puff!_ Now, then, Ma'am! pass out that tumbler pretty +spry, out of which you have been swallowing that eternal "drink o' +wotter," to which the human female of a certain social grade is so +odiously addicted. _Puff, puff, puff, puff!_ Too late, old gentleman +I unless you can do a mile in a good deal less than three minutes, +carrying weight, in the shape of a valise in one hand and a carpet-bag +in the other. That's the way with anything that's got any freight to +carry. It's slow when it sets out;--but steam is steam,--and what's bred +in the boiler will show in the driving-wheel, sooner or later. + +If I had to _make up_ a story, now, it would be a very different matter. +I could never conceive how some of those romancers go to work, in cold +blood, to draw, out of what they call their imagination, a parcel of +impossible events and absurd characters. That is not my trouble; for I +have come into relation with a series of persons and events which will +save me the pains of drawing on my invention, in case I shall see fit to +follow the counsel of my too partial friends. I am only afraid I should +not disguise the circumstances enough, if I were to arrange these facts +in the narrative form. Some of them are of such a nature, that they +cannot be supposed to have happened more than once in the experience +of a generation; and I feel that the greatest caution and delicacy are +necessary in the manner of their presentation, not to offend the living +or wrong the memory of the dead. + +It is very easy for you, the Reader, to sit down and run over the pages +of a monthly narrative as a boy "skips" a stone,--and the flatter and +thinner your capacity, the more skips, perhaps, you will make. But I +tell you, for a man who has live people to deal with, and hearts that +are beating even while he handles them,--a man who can go into families +and pull up by the roots all the mysteries of their dead generations and +their living sons' and daughters' secret history,--_responsible_ for +what he says, here and elsewhere,--open to a libel suit, if he isn't +pretty careful in his personalities, or to a visit from a brother or +other relative, wishing to know, Sir, and so forth,--or to a paragraph +in the leading journal of that whispering-gallery of a nation's gossip, +Little Millionville, to the effect that--We understand the personages +alluded to in the tale now publishing in the Oceanic Miscellany are +the Reverend Dr. S---h and his accomplished lady, the distinguished +financier, Mr. B---n,--and so through the whole list of characters;--I +say, for a man who _writes_ the pages you skim over, it is a mighty +different piece of business. Why, if I _do_ tell all I know about some +things that have come to my cognizance, I shall make you open your eyes +and spread your pupils, as if you had been to the Eye Infirmary, and the +doctors there had anointed your lids with the extract of belladonna. +Mark what I tell you! I have happened to become intimately acquainted +with circumstances of a very extraordinary nature,--not, perhaps, +without precedent, but such as very few have been called upon to +witness. Suppose that I should see fit to tell these in connection with +the story of which they form a part? I may render myself obnoxious to +persons whom it is not safe to offend,--persons that won't come out in +the public prints, perhaps, but will poke incendiary letters under your +doors,--that won't step up to you in broad daylight, and lug a Colt out +of their pocket, or draw a bowie-knife from their back, where they had +carried it under their coat, but who will dog you about to do you a +mischief unseen,--who will carry air-guns in the shape of canes, and +hang round the place where you get your provisions, and practise with +long-range rifles out in the lonely fields,--rifles that crack no louder +than a parlor-pistol, but spit a bit of lead out of their mouths half a +mile and more, so that you wait as you do for the sound of the man's axe +who is chopping on the other side of the river, to see the fellow you +have "saved" clap his hand to his breast and stagger over. It makes me +nervous to think of such things. I don't want to be suspicious of every +queer taste in my coffee, and to shiver if I see a little powdered white +sugar on the upper crust of my pastry. I don't want, every time I hear a +door bang, to think it is a ragged slug from an unseen gun-barrel. + +If Dick V---- was _not_ killed on the Pampas, as they have always said +he was, I should never sleep easy after telling my story. For such a +fellow as he was would certainly see through all the disguises I could +cover up a real-life story with, and then----. He has learned the use of +the lasso too well for me to want to trust my neck anywhere within a rod +of him, if there were light enough for him to see, and nothing between +us, and nobody near. + +And besides, there were a good many opinions handled by some of these +people I should have to talk about. Now, of course, a magazine like the +Oceanic is no place for opinions. Look out for your Mormon subscribers, +if you question the propriety of Solomon's domestic arrangements! And +if you say one word that touches the Sandemanians, be sure their whole +press will be down on you; for, as Sandemanianism is the undoubted and +absolutely true religion, it follows, of course, that it is as sore as a +scalded finger, and must be handled like a broken bone. + +Add to this that I have always had the greatest objection to writing +anything which those who were not acquainted with the facts might call +a _romance_ or a _tale._ We think very ill of a man who offers us as a +truth some single statement which we find he knew to be false. Now what +can we think of a man who tells three volumes, or even one, full of just +such lies? Of course the _primâ-facie_ aspect of the case is, that he +is guilty of the most monstrous impertinence; and, in point of fact, +I confess the greatest disgust towards any person of whom I hear the +assertion that he has _written a story,_ unless I hear something more +than that. He is bound to show extenuating or justifying circumstances, +as much as the man who writes what he calls "poems." For, as the world +is full of real histories, and every day in every great city begins and +ends a score or half a dozen score of tragic dramas, it is a huge piece +of assumption to undertake to make one out of one's own head. A man +takes refuge under your porch in a rain-storm, and you offer him the use +of your shower-bath! + +Also, I cannot help remembering, that, on the whole, I have been more +intensely bored with works of fiction,--beginning with "Gil Blas," and +ending with--on the whole, I won't even mention it,--than I ever was by +the Latin Grammar or Rollin's History. Naturally, therefore, I should +not wish to threaten my friends with the punishment I have endured from +others. But then, as I said before, if I write down the circumstances +that have come to my knowledge, with some account of persons, opinions, +and conversations, no one can accuse me of writing a _novel,_--a thing +which I never meant to do, under any circumstances. + +----After having carefully weighed my friends' arguments and my own +objections, I have come to the conclusion to do pretty much as I like +about it. Now the truth is, I have grown to be rather fonder of you, the +Reader, than I have ever been willing to confess. You are such a good, +kind creature,--it takes so little to please you,--you laugh and cry +so very obligingly at just the right time,--you send me such charming +notes, such dear little copies of verses,--nay, (shall I venture to say +it?) such prodigal tokens of kindness, some of you, that I----in short, +I love you very much, and cannot make up my mind to part with you. +Rather than do this, as I could not and would not write a romance, I +have made up my mind to tell you something of some persons and events of +which I have known enough,--of some of them, I might say, too much. Of +course, you must trust wholly to my discretion and sense of propriety, +in dealing with living personages, recent events, and subjects still in +dispute. Trusting that none of my friends will pay any attention to any +idle rumors tending to fix the personages or localities of which I shall +speak, and reminding my readers that the narrative will constitute only +a part of what I have to say, inasmuch as there will be no small amount +of reflections introduced, and perhaps of conversations reported, I +begin this connected statement of facts with an essay on a social +phenomenon not hitherto distinctly recognized. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BRAHMIN CASTE OF NEW ENGLAND + + +There is nothing in New England corresponding at all to the feudal +aristocracies of the Old World. Whether it be owing to the stock from +which we were derived, or to the practical working of our institutions, +or to the abrogation of the technical "law of honor," which draws a +sharp line between the personally responsible class of "gentlemen" and +the unnamed multitude of those who are not expected to risk their lives +for an abstraction,--whatever be the cause, we have no such aristocracy +here as that which grew up out of the military systems of the Middle +Ages. + +What our people mean by "aristocracy" is merely the richer part of the +community, that live in the tallest houses, drive real carriages, (not +"kerridges,") kid-glove their hands, and French-bonnet their ladies' +heads, give parties where the persons who call them by the above title +are not invited, and have a provokingly easy way of dressing, walking, +talking, and nodding to people, as if they felt entirely at home, and +would not be embarrassed in the least, if they met the Governor, or even +the President of the United States, face to face. Some of these great +folks are really well-bred, some of them are only purse-proud and +assuming,--but they form a class, and are named as above in the common +speech. + +It is in the nature of large fortunes to diminish rapidly, when +subdivided and distributed. A million is the unit of wealth, now and +here in America. It splits into four handsome properties; each of these +into four good inheritances; these, again, into scanty competences for +four ancient maidens,--with whom it is best the family should die out, +unless it can begin again as its grandfather did. Now a million is +a kind of golden cheese, which represents in a compendious form the +summer's growth of a fat meadow of craft or commerce; and as this kind +of meadow rarely bears more than one crop, it is pretty certain that +sons and grandsons will not get another golden cheese out of it, whether +they milk the same cows or turn in new ones. In other words, the +millionocracy, considered in a large way, is not at all an affair of +persons and families, but a perpetual fact of money with a variable +human element, which a philosopher might leave out of consideration +without falling into serious error. Of course, this trivial and fugitive +fact of personal wealth does not create a permanent class, unless some +special means are taken to arrest the process of disintegration in the +third generation. This is so rarely done, at least successfully, that +one need not live a very long life to see most of the rich families he +knew in childhood more or less reduced, and the millions shifted into +the hands of the country-boys who were sweeping stores and carrying +parcels when the now decayed gentry were driving their chariots, eating +their venison over silver chafing-dishes, drinking Madeira chilled in +embossed coolers, wearing their hair in powder, and casing their legs in +white-topped boots with silken tassels. + +There is, however, in New England, an aristocracy, if you choose to call +it so, which has a far greater character of permanence. It has grown to +be a _caste_,--not in any odious sense,--but, by the repetition of the +same influences, generation after generation, it has acquired a distinct +organization and physiognomy, which not to recognize is mere stupidity, +and not to be willing to describe would show a distrust of the +good-nature and intelligence of our readers, who like to have us see all +we can and tell all we see. + +If you will look carefully at any class of students in one of our +colleges, you will have no difficulty in selecting specimens of two +different aspects of youthful manhood. Of course I shall choose extreme +cases to illustrate the contrast between them. In the first, the figure +is perhaps robust, but often otherwise,--inelegant, partly from careless +attitudes, partly from ill-dressing,--the face is uncouth in feature, or +at least common,--the mouth coarse and unformed,--the eye unsympathetic, +even if bright,--the movements of the face clumsy, like those of the +limbs,--the voice unmusical,--and the enunciation as if the words were +coarse castings, instead of fine carvings. The youth of the other aspect +is commonly slender,--his face is smooth, and apt to be pallid,--his +features are regular and of a certain delicacy,--his eye is bright and +quick,--his lips play over the thought he utters as a pianist's fingers +dance over their music,--and his whole air, though it may be timid, and +even awkward, has nothing clownish. If you are a teacher, you know what +to expect from each of these young men. With equal willingness, the +first will be slow at learning; the second will take to his books as a +pointer or a setter to his field-work. + +The first youth is the common country-boy, whose race has been bred to +bodily labor. Nature has adapted the family organization to the kind of +life it has lived. The hands and feet by constant use have got more than +their share of development,--the organs of thought and expression less +than their share. The finer instincts are latent and must be developed. +A youth of this kind is raw material in its first stage of elaboration. +You must not expect too much of any such. Many of them have force of +will and character, and become distinguished in practical life; but very +few of them ever become great scholars. A scholar is almost always the +son of scholars or scholarly persons. + +That is exactly what the other young man is. He comes of the _Brahmin +caste of New England_. This is the harmless, inoffensive, untitled +aristocracy to which I have referred, and which I am sure you will +at once acknowledge. There are races of scholars among us, in which +aptitude for learning, and all these marks of it I have spoken of, +are congenital and hereditary. Their names are always on some college +catalogue or other. They break out every generation or two in some +learned labor which calls them up after they seem to have died out. At +last some newer name takes their place, it may be,--but you inquire a +little and you find it is the blood of the Edwardses or the Chauncys or +the Ellerys or some of the old historic scholars, disguised under the +altered name of a female descendant. + +I suppose there is not an experienced instructor anywhere in our +Northern States who will not recognize at once the truth of this general +distinction. But the reader who has never been a teacher will very +probably object, that some of our most illustrious public men have come +direct from the homespun-clad class of the people,--and he may, perhaps, +even find a noted scholar or two whose parents were masters of the +English alphabet, but of no other. + +It is not fair to pit a few chosen families against the great multitude +of those who are continually working their way up into the intellectual +classes. The results which are habitually reached by hereditary training +are occasionally brought about without it. There are natural filters as +well as artificial ones; and though the great rivers are commonly more +or less turbid, if you will look long enough, you may find a spring that +sparkles as no water does which drips through your apparatus of sands +and sponges. So there are families which refine themselves into +intellectual aptitude without having had much opportunity for +intellectual acquirements. A series of felicitous crosses develops an +improved strain of blood, and reaches its maximum perfection at last in +the large uncombed youth who goes to college and startles the hereditary +class-leaders by striding past them all. That is Nature's republicanism; +thank God for it, but do not let it make you illogical. The race of the +hereditary scholar has exchanged a certain portion of its animal vigor +for its new instincts, and it is hard to lead men without a good deal of +animal vigor. The scholar who comes by Nature's special grace from an +unworn stock of broad-chested sires and deep-bosomed mothers must always +overmatch an equal intelligence with a compromised and lowered vitality. +A man's breathing and digestive apparatus (one is tempted to add +_muscular_) are just as important to him on the floor of the Senate as +his thinking organs. You broke down in your great speech, did you? Yes, +your grandfather had an attack of dyspepsia in '82, after working too +hard on his famous Election Sermon. All this does not touch the main +fact: our scholars come chiefly from a privileged order, just as our +best fruits come from well-known grafts,--though now and then a seedling +apple, like the Northern Spy, or a seedling pear, like the Seckel, +springs from a nameless ancestry and grows to be the pride of all the +gardens in the land. + +Let me introduce you to a young man who belongs to the Brahmin caste of +New England. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE STUDENT AND HIS CERTIFICATE. + + +Bernard C. Langdon, a young man attending Medical Lectures at the school +connected with one of our principal colleges, remained after the Lecture +one day and wished to speak with the Professor. He was a student of +mark,--first favorite of his year, as they say of the Derby colts. +There are in every class half a dozen bright faces to which the teacher +naturally directs his discourse, and by the intermediation of whose +attention he seems to hold that of the mass of listeners. Among these +some one is pretty sure to take the lead, by virtue of a personal +magnetism, or some peculiarity of expression, which places the face in +quick sympathetic relations with the lecturer. This was a young man +with such a face; and I found,--for you have guessed that I was the +"Professor" above-mentioned,--that, when there was anything difficult to +be explained, or when I was bringing out some favorite illustration of a +nice point, (as, for instance, when I compared the cell-growth, by which +Nature builds up a plant or an animal, to the glass-blower's similar +mode of beginning,--always with a hollow sphere, or vesicle, whatever he +is going to make,) I naturally looked in his face and gauged my success +by its expression. + +It was a handsome face,--a little too pale, perhaps, and would have +borne something more of fulness without becoming heavy. I put the +organization to which it belongs in Section C of Class 1 of my +Anglo-American Anthropology (unpublished). The jaw in this class is but +_slightly_ narrowed,--just enough to make the width of the forehead tell +more decidedly. The moustache often grows vigorously, but the whiskers +are thin. The skin is like that of Jacob, rather than like Esau's. One +string of the animal nature has been taken away, but this gives only a +greater predominance to the intellectual chords. To see just how the +vital energy has been toned down, you must contrast one of this section +with a specimen of Section A of the same class,--say, for instance, one +of the old-fashioned, full-whiskered, red-faced, roaring-big Commodores +of the last generation, whom you remember, at least by their portraits, +in ruffled shirts, looking as hearty as butchers and as plucky as +bull-terriers, with their hair combed straight up from their foreheads, +which were not commonly very high or broad. The special form of physical +life I have been describing gives you a right to expect more delicate +perceptions and a more reflective nature than you commonly find in +shaggy-throated men, clad in heavy suits of muscles. + +The student lingered in the lecture-room, looking all the time as if he +wanted to say something in private, and waiting for two or three others, +who were still hanging about, to be gone. + +Something is wrong!--I said to myself, when I noticed his +expression.--Well, Mr. Langdon,--I said to him, when we were alone,--can +I do anything for you to-day? + +You can, Sir,--he said.--I am going to leave the class, for the present, +and keep school. + +Why, that's a pity, and you so near graduating! You'd better stay and +finish this course, and take your degree in the spring, rather than +break up your whole plan of study. + +I can't help myself, Sir,--the young man answered.--There's trouble at +home, and they cannot keep me here as they have done. So I must look out +for myself for a while. It's what I've done before, and am ready to do +again. I came to ask you for a certificate of my fitness to teach a +common school, or a high school, if you think I am up to that. Are you +willing to give it to me? + +Willing? Yes, to be sure,--but I don't want you to go. Stay; we'll make +it easy for you. There's a fund will do something for you, perhaps. Then +you can take both the annual prizes, if you like,--and claim them in +money, if you want that more than medals. + +I have thought it all over,--he answered,--and have pretty much made up +my mind to go. + +A perfectly gentlemanly young man, of courteous address and mild +utterance, but means at least as much as he says. There are some people +whose rhetoric consists of a slight habitual understatement. I often +tell Mrs. Professor that one of her "I think it's sos" is worth the +Bible-oath of all the rest of the household that they "know it's so." +When you find a person a little better than his word, a little more +liberal than his promise, a little more than borne out in his statement +by his facts, a little larger in deed than in speech, you recognize a +kind of eloquence in that person's utterance not laid down in Blair or +Campbell. + +This was a proud fellow, self-trusting, sensitive, with +family-recollections that made him unwilling to accept the kind of aid +which many students--would have thankfully welcomed. I knew him too well +to urge him, after the few words which implied that he was determined +to go. Besides, I have great confidence in young men who believe in +themselves, and are accustomed to rely on their own resources from an +early period. When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, +the World, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to +find it come off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away +timid adventurers. I have seen young men more than once, who came to a +great city without a single friend, support themselves and pay for their +education, lay up money in a few years, grow rich enough to travel, and +establish themselves in life, without ever asking a dollar of any person +which they had not earned. But these are exceptional cases. There are +horse-tamers, born so, as we all know; there are woman-tamers who +bewitch the sex as the pied piper bedeviled the children of Hamelin; and +there are world-tamers, who can make any community, even a Yankee one, +get down and let them jump on its back as easily as Mr. Rarey saddled +Cruiser. + +Whether Langdon was of this sort or not I could not say positively; but +he had spirit, and, as I have said, a family-pride which would not let +him be dependent. The New England Brahmin caste often gets blended with +connections of political influence or commercial distinction. It is a +charming thing for the scholar, when his fortune carries him in this way +into some of the "old families" who have fine old houses, and city-lots +that have risen in the market, and names written in all the stock-books +of all the dividend-paying companies. His narrow study expands into a +stately library, his books are counted by thousands instead of hundreds, +and his favorites are dressed in gilded calf in place of plebeian +sheepskin or its pauper substitutes of cloth and paper. + +The Reverend Jedediah Langdon, grandfather of our young gentleman, had +made an advantageous alliance of this kind. Miss Dorothea Wentworth had +read one of his sermons which had been printed "by request," and became +deeply interested in the young author, whom she had never seen. Out of +this circumstance grew a correspondence, an interview, a declaration, a +matrimonial alliance, and a family of half a dozen children. Wentworth +Langdon, Esquire, was the oldest of these, and lived in the old +family-mansion. Unfortunately, that principle of the diminution of +estates by division, to which I have referred, rendered it somewhat +difficult to maintain the establishment upon the fractional income +which the proprietor received from his share of the property. Wentworth +Langdon, Esq., represented a certain intermediate condition of life +not at all infrequent in our old families. He was the connecting link +between the generation which lived in ease, and even a kind of state, +upon its own resources, and the new brood, which must live mainly by its +wits or industry, and make itself rich, or shabbily subside into that +lower stratum known to social geologists by a deposit of Kidderminster +carpets and the peculiar aspect of the fossils constituting the family +furniture and wardrobe. This _slack-water_ period of a race, which comes +before the rapid ebb of its prosperity, is familiar to all who live in +cities. There are no more quiet, inoffensive people than these children +of rich families, just above the necessity of active employment, yet +not in a condition to place their own children advantageously, if they +happen to have families. Many of them are content to live unmarried. +Some mend their broken fortunes by prudent alliances, and some leave a +numerous progeny to pass into the obscurity from which their ancestors +emerged; so that you may see on hand-carts and cobblers' stalls names +which, a few generations back, were upon parchments with broad seals, +and tombstones with armorial bearings. + +In a large city, this class of citizens are familiar to us in the +streets. They are very courteous in their salutations; they have +time enough to bow and take their hats off,--which, of course, no +business-man can afford to do. Their beavers are smoothly brushed, and +their boots well polished; all their appointments are tidy; they look +the respectable walking gentleman to perfection. They are prone to +habits,--to frequent reading-rooms, insurance-offices,--to walk the same +streets at the same hours,--so that one becomes familiar with their +faces and persons, as a part of the street-furniture. + +There is one curious circumstance, that all city-people must have +noticed, which is often illustrated in our experience of the slack-water +gentry. We shall know a certain person by his looks, familiarly, for +years, but never have learned his name. About this person we shall have +accumulated no little circumstantial knowledge;--thus, his face, figure, +gait, his mode of dressing, of saluting, perhaps even of speaking, may +be familiar to us; yet who he is we know not. In another department of +our consciousness, there is a very familiar _name_, which we have never +found the person to match. We have heard it so often, that it has +idealized itself, and become one of that multitude of permanent shapes +which walk the chambers of the brain in velvet slippers in the company +of Falstaff and Hamlet and General Washington and Mr. Pickwick. +Sometimes the person dies, but the name lives on indefinitely. But now +and then it happens, perhaps after years of this independent existence +of the name and its shadowy image in the brain, on the one part, and the +person and all its real attributes, as we see them daily, on the other, +that some accident reveals their relation, and we find the name we have +carried so long in our memory belongs to the person we have known so +long as a fellow-citizen. Now the slack-water gentry are among the +persons most likely to be the subjects of this curious divorce of title +and reality,--for the reason, that, playing no important part in the +community, there is nothing to tie the floating name to the actual +individual, as is the case with the men who belong in any way to the +public, while yet their names have a certain historical currency, and we +cannot help meeting them, either in their haunts, or going to and from +them. + +To this class belonged Wentworth Langdon, Esq. He had been "dead-headed" +into the world some fifty years ago, and had sat with his hands in +his pockets staring at the show ever since. I shall not tell you, for +reasons before hinted, the whole name of the place in which he lived. +I will only point you in the right direction, by saying that there are +three towns lying in a line with each other, as you go "down East," each +of them with a _Port_ in its name, and each of them having a peculiar +interest which gives it individuality, in addition to the Oriental +character they have in common. I need not tell you that these towns are +Newburyport, Portsmouth, and Portland. The Oriental character they have +in common consists in their large, square, palatial mansions, with sunny +gardens round them. The two first have seen better days. They are in +perfect harmony with the condition of weakened, but not impoverished, +gentility. Each of them is a "paradise of demi-fortunes." Each of them +is of that intermediate size between a village and a city which any +place has outgrown when the presence of a well-dressed stranger walking +up and down the main street ceases to be a matter of public curiosity +and private speculation, as frequently happens, during the busier months +of the year, in considerable commercial centres like Salem. They both +have grand old recollections to fall back upon,--times when they looked +forward to commercial greatness, and when the portly gentlemen in cocked +hats, who built their decaying wharves and sent out their ships all over +the world, dreamed that their fast-growing port was to be the Tyre or +the Carthage of the rich British Colony. Great houses, like Lord Timothy +Dexter's, in Newburyport, remain as evidence of the fortunes amassed +in these places of old. Other mansions--like the Rockingham House in +Portsmouth (look at the white horse's tail before you mount the broad +staircase) show that there was not only wealth, but style and state, +in these quiet old towns during the last century. It is not with any +thought of pity or depreciation that we speak of them as in a certain +sense decayed towns; they did not fulfil their early promise of +expansion, but they remain incomparably the most interesting places of +their size in any of the three northernmost New England States. They +have even now prosperity enough to keep them in good condition, and +offer the most attractive residences for quiet families, which, if they +had been English, would have lived in a _palazzo_ at Genoa or Pisa, or +some other Continental Newburyport or Portsmouth. + +As for the last of the three Ports, or Portland, it is getting too +prosperous to be as attractive as its less northerly neighbors. Meant +for a fine old town, to ripen like a Cheshire cheese within its walls +of ancient rind, burrowed by crooked alleys and mottled with venerable +mould, it seems likely to sacrifice its mellow future to a vulgar +material prosperity. Still it remains invested with many of its old +charms, as yet, and will forfeit its place among this admirable trio +only when it gets a hotel with unequivocal marks of having been built +and organized in the present century. + +----It was one of the old square palaces of the North, in which Bernard +Langdon, the son of Wentworth, was born. If he had had the luck to be +an only child, he might have lived as his father had done, letting his +meagre competence smoulder on almost without consuming, like the fuel +in an air-tight stove. But after Master Bernard came Miss Dorothea +Wentworth Langdon, and then Master William Pepperell Langdon, and +others, equally well named,--a string of them, looking, when they stood +in a row in prayer-time, as if they would fit a set of Pandean pipes, of +from three feet upward in dimensions. The door of the air-tight store +has to be opened, under such circumstances, you may well suppose! So it +happened that our young man had been obliged, from an early period, to +do something to support himself, and found himself stopped short in his +studies by the inability of the good people at home to furnish him the +present means of support as a student. + +You will understand now why the young man wanted me to give him a +certificate of his fitness to teach, and why. I did not choose to urge +him to accept the aid which a meek country-boy from a family without +ante-Revolutionary recollections would have thankfully received. Go he +must,--that was plain enough. He would not be content otherwise. He was +not, however, to give up his studies; and as it is customary to allow +_half-time_ to students engaged in school-keeping,--that is, to count +a year, so employed, if the student also keep on with his professional +studies, as equal to six months of the three years he is expected to +be under an instructor before applying for his degree,--he would not +necessarily lose more than a few months of time. He had a small library +of professional books, which he could take with him. + +So he left my teaching and that of my estimable colleagues, carrying +with him my certificate, that Mr. Bernard C. Langdon was a young +gentleman of excellent moral character, of high intelligence and good +education, and that his services would be of great value in any school, +academy, or other institution, where young persons of either sex were to +be instructed. + +I confess, that expression, "either sex," ran a little thick, as I +may say, from my pen. For, although the young man bore a very fair +character, and there was no special cause for doubting his discretion, +I considered him altogether too good-looking, in the first place, to be +let loose in a room-full of young girls. I didn't want him to fall in +love just then,--and if half a dozen girls fell in love with him, as +they most assuredly would, if brought into too near relations with him, +why, there was no telling what gratitude and natural sensibility might +bring about. + +Certificates are, for the most part, like ostrich-eggs; the giver never +knows what is hatched out of them. But once in a thousand times they +act as curses are said to,--come home to roost. Give them often enough, +until it gets to be a mechanical business, and, some day or other, you +will get caught warranting somebody's ice not to melt in any climate, or +somebody's razors to be safe in the hands of the youngest children. + +I had an uneasy feeling, after giving this certificate. It might be all +right enough; but if it happened to end badly, I should always reproach +myself. There was a chance, certainly, that it would lead him or others +into danger or wretchedness. Any one who looked at this young man could +not fail to see that he was capable of fascinating and being fascinated. +Those large, dark eyes of his would sink into the white soul of a +young girl as the black cloth sunk into the snow in Franklin's famous +experiment. Or, on the other hand, if the rays of a passionate nature +should ever be concentrated on them, they would be absorbed into the +very depths of his nature, and then his blood would turn to flame and +burn his life out of him, until his cheeks grew as white as the ashes +that cover a burning coal. + +I wish I had not said _either sex_ in my certificate. An academy for +young gentlemen, now; that sounds cool and unimaginative. A boys' +school; that would be a very good place for him;--some of them are +pretty rough, but there is nerve enough in that old Wentworth blood; he +can give any country fellow, of the common stock, twenty pounds, and hit +him out of time in ten minutes. But to send such a young fellow as that +out a girl's-nesting! to give this falcon a free pass into all the +dove-cotes! I was a fool,--that's all. + +I brooded over the mischief which might come out of these two words +until it seemed to me that they were charged with destiny. I could +hardly sleep for thinking what a train I might have been laying, which +might take a spark any day, and blow up nobody knows whose peace or +prospects. What I dreaded most was one of those miserable matrimonial +misalliances where a young fellow who does not know himself as yet +flings his magnificent future into the checked apron-lap of some +fresh-faced, half-bred country-girl, no more fit to be mated with him +than her father's horse to go in double harness with Flora Temple. To +think of the eagle's wings being clipped so that he shall not ever +lift himself over the farm-yard fence! Such things happen, and always +must,--because, as one of us said awhile ago, a man always loves +a woman, and a woman a man, unless some good reason exists to the +contrary. You think yourself a very fastidious young man, my friend; but +there are probably at least five thousand young women in these United +States, any one of whom you would certainly marry, if you were thrown +much into her company, and nobody more attractive were near, and she had +no objection. And you, my dear young lady, justly pride yourself on your +discerning delicacy; but if I should say that there are twenty thousand +young men, any one of whom, if he offered his hand and heart under +favorable circumstances, you would + + "First endure, then pity, then embrace," + +I should be much more imprudent than I mean to be, and you would, no +doubt, throw down a story in which I hope to interest you. + +I had settled it in my mind that this young fellow had a career marked +out for him. He should begin in the natural way, by taking care of poor +patients in one of the public charities, and work his way up to a better +kind of practice,--better, that is, in the vulgar, worldly sense. The +great and good Boerhaave used to say, as I remember very well, that the +poor were his best patients; for God was their paymaster. But everybody +is not as patient as Boerhaave, nor as deserving; so that the rich, +though not, perhaps, the best patients, are good enough for common +practitioners. I suppose Boerhaave put up with them when he could not +get poor ones, as he left his daughter two millions of florins when he +died. + +Now if this young man once got into the _wide streets_, he would sweep +them clear of his rivals of the same standing; and as I was getting +indifferent to business, and old Dr. Kilham was growing careless, and +had once or twice prescribed morphine when he meant quinine, there would +soon he an opening into the Doctors' Paradise,--the _streets with only +one side to them_. Then I would have him strike a bold stroke,--set up a +nice little coach, and be driven round like a London first-class doctor, +instead of coasting about in a shabby one-horse concern and casting +anchor opposite his patients' doors like a Cape-Ann fishing-smack. By +the time he was thirty, he would have knocked the social pawns out of +his way, and be ready to challenge a wife from the row of great pieces +in the background. I would not have a man marry above his level, so as +to become the appendage of a powerful family-connection; but I would not +have him marry until he knew his level,--that is, again, looking at the +matter in a purely worldly point of view, and not taking the sentiments +at all into consideration. But remember, that a young man, using large +endowments wisely and fortunately, may put himself on a level with the +highest in the land in ten brilliant years of spirited, unflagging +labor. And even to stand at the very top of your calling in a great city +is something,--that is, if you like money and influence, and a seat on +the platform at public lectures, and gratuitous tickets to all sorts of +places where you don't want to go, and, what is a good deal better than +any of these things, a sense of power, limited, it may be, but absolute +in its range, so that all the Caesars and Napoleons would have to +stand aside, if they came between you and the exercise of your special +vocation. + +That is what I thought this young fellow might have come to; and now I +have let him go off into the country with my certificate, that he is fit +to teach in a school for either sex! Ten to one he will run like a moth +into a candle, right into one of those girls'-nests, and get tangled up +in some sentimental folly or other, and there will be the end of him. +Oh, yes! country doctor,--half a dollar a visit,--ride, ride, ride all +day,--get up at night and harness your own horse,--ride again ten miles +in a snow-storm,--shake powders out of two phials, (_pulv. glycyrrhiz., +pulv. gum. acac. aa: partes equates_,)--ride back again, if you don't +happen to get stuck in a drift,--no home, no peace, no continuous meals, +no unbroken sleep, no Sunday, no holiday, no social intercourse, but one +eternal jog, jog, jog, in a sulky, until you feel like the mummy of an +Indian who had been buried in the sitting posture, and was dug up a +hundred years afterwards! "Why didn't I warn him about love and all +that nonsense?" Why didn't I tell him he had nothing to do with it, yet +awhile? Why didn't I hold up to him those awful examples I could have +cited, where poor young fellows that could just keep themselves afloat +have hung a matrimonial millstone round their necks, taking it for a +life-preserver? + +All this of two words in a certificate! + + + + +ANDENKEN. + + + I. + + + Through the silent streets of the city, + In the night's unbusy noon, + Up and down in the pallor + Of the languid summer moon, + + I wander and think of the village, + And the house in the maple-gloom, + And the porch with the honeysuckles + And the sweet-brier all abloom. + + My soul is sick with the fragrance + Of the dewy sweet-brier's breath: + Oh, darling! the house is empty, + And lonesomer than death! + + If I call, no one will answer; + If I knock, no one will come;-- + The feet are at rest forever, + And the lips are cold and dumb. + + The summer moon is shining + So wan and large and still, + And the weary dead are sleeping + In the graveyard under the hill. + + + II. + + + We looked at the wide, white circle + Around the autumn moon, + And talked of the change of weather,-- + It would rain, to-morrow, or soon. + + And the rain came on the morrow, + And beat the dying leaves + From the shuddering boughs of the maples + Into the flooded eaves. + + The clouds wept out their sorrow; + But in my heart the tears + Are bitter for want of weeping, + In all these autumn years. + + + III. + + + It is sweet to lie awake musing + On all she has said and done, + To dwell on the words she uttered, + To feast on the smiles I won, + + To think with what passion at parting + She gave me my kisses again,-- + Dear adieux, and tears and caresses,-- + Oh, love! was it joy or pain? + + To brood, with a foolish rapture, + On the thought that it must be + My darling this moment is waking + With tenderest thoughts of me! + + O sleep I are thy dreams any sweeter? + I linger before thy gate: + We must enter at it together, + And my love is loath and late. + + + IV. + + + The bobolink sings in the meadow, + The wren in the cherry-tree: + Come hither, thou little maiden, + And sit upon my knee; + + And I will tell thee a story + I read in a book of rhyme;-- + I will but feign that it happened + To me, one summer-time, + + When we walked through the meadow, + And she and I were young;-- + The story is old and weary + With being said and sung. + + The story is old and weary;-- + Ah, child! is it known to thee? + Who was it that last night kissed thee + Under the cherry-tree? + + + V. + + + Like a bird of evil presage, + To the lonely house on the shore + Came the wind with a tale of shipwreck, + And shrieked at the bolted door, + + And flapped its wings in the gables, + And shouted the well-known names, + And buffeted the windows + Afeard in their shuddering frames. + + It was night, and it is daytime,-- + The morning sun is bland, + The white-cap waves come rocking, rocking, + In to the smiling land. + + The white-cap waves come rocking, rocking, + In the sun so soft and bright, + And toss and play with the dead man + Drowned in the storm last night. + + + VI. + + + I remember the burning brushwood, + Glimmering all day long + Yellow and weak in the sunlight, + Now leaped up red and strong, + + And fired the old dead chestnut, + That all our years had stood, + Gaunt and gray and ghostly, + Apart from the sombre wood; + + And, flushed with sudden summer, + The leafless boughs on high + Blossomed in dreadful beauty + Against the darkened sky. + + We children sat telling stories, + And boasting what we should be, + When we were men like our fathers, + And watched the blazing tree, + + That showered its fiery blossoms, + Like a rain of stars, we said, + Of crimson and azure and purple. + That night, when I lay in bed, + + I could not sleep for seeing, + Whenever I closed my eyes, + The tree in its dazzling splendor + Against the darkened skies. + + I cannot sleep for seeing, + With closed eyes to-night, + The tree in its dazzling splendor + Dropping its blossoms bright; + + And old, old dreams of childhood + Come thronging my weary brain. + Dear foolish beliefs and longings;-- + I doubt, are they real again? + + It is nothing, and nothing, and nothing, + That I either think or see;-- + The phantoms of dead illusions + To-night are haunting me. + + + + +CENTRAL BRITISH AMERICA. + + +Even before the announcement of the discovery of gold upon the Frazer +River and its tributaries, the people of Canada West had induced the +Parliament of England to institute the inquiry, whether the region of +British America, extending from Lakes Superior and Winnipeg to the Rocky +Mountains, is not adapted by fertility of soil, a favorable climate, +and natural advantages of internal communication, for the support of a +prosperous colony of England. + +The Parliamentary investigation had a wider scope. The select committee +of the House of Commons was appointed "to consider the state of those +British possessions in North America which are under the administration +of the Hudson Bay Company, or over which they possess a license to +trade"; and therefore witnesses were called to the organization and +management of the Company itself, as well as the natural features of the +country under its administration. + +On the 31st of July, 1857, the committee reported a large body of +testimony, but without any decisive recommendations. They "apprehend +that the districts on the Red River and the Saskatchewan are among those +most likely to be desired for early occupation," and "trust that there +will be no difficulty in effecting arrangements between her Majesty's +government and the Hudson Bay Company, by which those districts may be +ceded to Canada on equitable principles, and within the districts thus +annexed to her the authority of the Hudson Bay Company would of course +entirely cease." They deemed it "proper to terminate the connection +of the Hudson Bay Company with Vancouver Island as soon as it could +conveniently be done, as the best means of favoring the development of +the great natural advantages of that important colony; and that means +should also be provided for the ultimate extension of the colony +over any portion of the adjacent continent, to the west of the Rocky +Mountains, on which permanent settlement may be found practicable." + +These suggestions indicate a conviction that the zone of the North +American continent between latitudes 49° and 55°, embracing the Red +River and the Saskatchewan districts, east of the Rocky Mountains, and +the area on their western slope, since organized as British Columbia, +was, in the judgment of the committee, suitable for permanent +settlement. As to the territory north of the parallel of 55°, an opinion +was intimated, that the organization of the Hudson's Bay Company was +best adapted to the condition of the country and its inhabitants. + +Within a year after the publication of this report, a great change +passed over the North Pacific coast. The gold discovery on Frazer's +River occurred; the Pacific populations flamed with excitement; British +Columbia was promptly organized as a colony of England; and, amid +the acclamations of Parliament and people, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton +proclaimed, in the name of the government, the policy of continuous +colonies from Lake Superior to the Pacific, and a highway across British +America, as the most direct route from London to Pekin or Jeddo. + +The eastern boundary of British Columbia was fixed upon the Rocky +Mountains. The question recurred, with great force, What shall be the +destiny of the fertile plains of the Saskatchewan and the Red River of +the North? Canada pushed forward an exploration of the route from Fort +William, on Lake Superior, to Fort Garry, on the Red River, and, under +the direction of S.J. Dawson, Esq., civil engineer, and Professor J.Y. +Hinde, gave to the world an impartial and impressive summary of the +great natural resources of the basin of Lake Winnipeg. The merchants of +New York were prompt to perceive the advantages of connecting the Erie +Canal and the Great Lakes--with the navigable channels of Northwest +America, now become prominent and familiar designations of commercial +geography. A report to the New York Chamber of Commerce very distinctly +corrected the erroneous impression, that the valleys of the Mississippi +and St. Lawrence rivers exhausted the northern and central areas which +are available for agriculture. "There is in the heart of North America," +said the report, "a distinct subdivision, of which Lake Winnipeg may +be regarded as the centre. This subdivision, like the valley of the +Mississippi, is distinguished for the fertility of its soil, and for the +extent and gentle slope of its great plains, watered by rivers of great +length, and admirably adapted for steam-navigation. It has a climate not +exceeding in severity that of many portions of Canada and the Eastern +States. It will, in all respects, compare favorably with some of the +most densely peopled portions of the continent of Europe. In other +words, it is admirably fitted to become the seat of a numerous, +hardy, and prosperous community. It has an area equal to eight or ten +first-class American States. Its great river, the Saskatchewan, carries +a navigable water-line to the very base of the Rocky Mountains. It is +not at all improbable that the valley of this river may yet offer the +best route for a railroad to the Pacific. The navigable waters of this +great subdivision interlock with those of the Mississippi. The Red River +of the North, in connection with Lake Winnipeg, into which it falls, +forms a navigable water-line, extending directly north and south nearly +eight hundred miles. The Red River is one of the best adapted to the use +of steam in the world, and waters one of the finest prairie regions on +the continent. Between the highest point at which it is navigable, and +St. Paul, on the Mississippi, a railroad is in process of construction; +and when this road is completed, another grand division of the +continent, comprising half a million square miles, will be open to +settlement." + +The sanguine temper of these remarks illustrates the rapid progress +of public sentiment since the date of the Parliamentary inquiry, only +eighteen months before. Of the same tenor, though fuller in details, +were the publications on the subject in Canada and even in England. The +year 1859 opened with greatly augmented interest in the district of +Central British America. The manifestation of this interest varied with +localities and circumstances. + +In Canada, no opportunity was omitted, either in Parliament or by the +press, to demonstrate the importance to the Atlantic and Lake Provinces +of extending settlements into the prairies of Assinniboin and +Saskatchewan,--thereby affording advantages to Provincial commerce and +manufactures like those which the communities of the Mississippi valley +have conferred upon the older American States. Nevertheless, the +Canadian government declined to institute proceedings before the English +Court of Chancery or Queen's Bench, to determine the validity of the +charter of the Hudson's Bay Company,--assigning, as reasons for not +acceding to such a suggestion by the law-officers of the crown, that +the proposed litigation might be greatly protracted, while the public +interests involved were urgent,--and that the duty of a prompt and +definite adjustment of the condition and relations of the Red River +and Saskatchewan districts was manifestly incumbent upon the Imperial +authority. + +This decision, added to the indisposition of Lower Canada to the policy +of westward expansion, is understood to have convinced Sir E.B. Lytton +that annexation of the Winnipeg basin to Canada was impracticable, and +that the exclusive occupation by the Hudson's Bay Company could be +removed only by the organization of a separate colony. The founder of +British Columbia devoted the latter portion of his administration of +the Colonial Office to measures for the satisfactory arrangement of +conflicting interests in British America. In October, 1858, he proposed +to the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company that they should be +consenting parties to a reference of questions respecting the validity +and extent of their charter, and respecting the geographical extent of +their territory, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The +Company "reasserted their right to the privileges granted to them by +their charter of incorporation," and refused to be a consenting party to +any proceeding which might call in question their chartered rights. + +Under date of November 3, 1858, Lord Caernarvon, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, by the direction of Sir E.B. Lytton, returned a dispatch, +the tenor of which is a key not only to Sir Edward's line of policy, +but, in all probability, to that of his successor, the Duke of +Newcastle. Lord Caernarvon began by expressing the disappointment and +regret with which Sir E.B. Lytton had received the communication, +containing, if he understood its tenor correctly, a distinct refusal on +the part of the Hudson's Bay Company to entertain any proposal with a +view of adjusting the conflicting claims of Great Britain, of Canada, +and of the Company, or to join with her Majesty's government in +affording reasonable facilities for the settlement of the questions in +which Imperial no less than Colonial interests were involved. It had +been his anxious desire to come to some equitable and conciliatory +agreement, by which all legitimate claims of the Company should be +fairly considered with reference to the territories or the privileges +they might be required to surrender. He suggested that such a procedure, +while advantageous to the interests of all parties, might prove +particularly for the interest of the Hudson's Bay Company. "It +would afford a tribunal preeminently fitted for the dispassionate +consideration of the questions at issue; it would secure a decision +which would probably be rather of the nature of an arbitration than of +a judgment; and it would furnish a basis of negotiation on which +reciprocal concession and the claims for compensation could be most +successfully discussed." + +With such persuasive reiteration, Lord Caernarvon, in the name and at +the instance of Sir E.B. Lytton, insisted that the wisest and most +dignified course would be found in an appeal to and a decision by the +Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, with the concurrence alike of +Canada and the Hudson's Bay Company. In conclusion, the Company were +once more assured, that, if they would meet Sir E.B. Lytton in finding +the solution of a recognized difficulty, and would undertake to give all +reasonable facilities for trying the validity of their disputed charter, +they might be assured that they would meet with fair and liberal +treatment, so far as her Majesty's government was concerned; but if, +on the other hand, the Company persisted in declining these terms, and +could suggest no other practicable mode of agreement, Sir E.B. Lytton +held himself acquitted of further responsibility to the interests of +the Company, and proposed to take the necessary steps for closing a +controversy too long open, and for securing a definitive decision, due +alike to the material development of British North America and to the +requirements of an advancing civilization. + +The communication of Lord Caernarvon stated in addition, that, in the +case last supposed, the renewal of the exclusive license to trade in +any part of the Indian territory--a renewal which could be justified +to Parliament only as part of a general agreement adjusted on the +principles of mutual concession--would become impossible. + +These representations failed to influence the Company. The +Deputy-Governor, Mr. H.H. Barens, responded, that, as, in 1850, the +Company had assented to an inquiry before the Privy Council into the +legality of certain powers claimed and exercised by them under their +charter, but not questioning the validity of the charter itself, so, at +this time, if the reference to the Privy Council were restricted to the +question of the geographical extent of the territory claimed by the +Company, in accordance with a proposition made in July, 1857, by Mr. +Labouchere, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, the directors +would recommend to their shareholders to concur in the course suggested; +but must decline to do so, if the inquiry involved not merely the +question of the geographical boundary of the territories claimed by +them, but a challenge of the validity of the charter itself, and, as a +consequence, of the rights and privileges which it professed to grant, +and which the Company had exercised for a period of nearly two hundred +years. Mr. Barens professed that the Company had at all times been +willing to entertain any proposal that might be made to them for the +surrender of any of their rights or of any portion of their territory; +but he regarded it as one thing to consent for a consideration to be +agreed upon to the surrender of admitted rights, and quite another to +volunteer a consent to an inquiry which should call those rights in +question. + +A result of this correspondence has been the definite refusal of the +Crown to renew the exclusive license to trade in Indian territory. +The license had been twice granted to the Company, under an act of +Parliament authorizing it, for periods of twenty-one years,--once +in 1821, and again in 1838. It expired on the 30th of May, 1859. In +consequence of this refusal, the Company must depend exclusively upon +the terms of their charter for their special privileges in British +America. The charter dates from 1670,--a grant by Charles II. to Prince +Rupert and his associates, "adventurers of England, trading into +Hudson's Bay,"--and is claimed to give the right of exclusive trade and +of territorial dominion to Hudson's Bay and tributary rivers. By the +expiration of the exclusive license of Indian trade, and the termination +in 1859 of the lease of Vancouver's Island from the British government, +the sway and influence of the Company are greatly restricted, and the +feasibility of some permanent adjustment is proportionately increased. + +There is no necessity for repeating here the voluminous argument for and +against the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company. The interest of British +colonization in Northwest America far transcends any technical inquiry +of the kind, and the Canadian statesmen are wise in declining to relieve +the English cabinet from the obligation to act definitely and speedily +upon the subject. The organization of the East India Company was no +obstacle to a measure demanded by the honor of England and the welfare +of India; and certainly the parchment of the Second Charles will +not deter any deliberate expression by Parliament in regard to the +colonization of Central British America. Indeed, the managers of the +Hudson's Bay Company are always careful to recognize the probability of +a compromise with the government. The late letter of Mr. Barens to Lord +Caernarvon expressed a willingness, at any time, to entertain proposals +for the surrender of franchises or territory; and in 1848, Sir J.H. +Pelly, Governor of the Company, thus expressed himself in a letter to +Lord Grey:--"As far as I am concerned, (and I think the Company will +concur, if any great national benefit would be expected from it,) I +would be willing to relinquish the whole of the territory held under the +charter on similar terms to those which it is proposed the East India +Company shall receive on the expiration of their charter,--namely, +securing the proprietors an interest on their capital of ten per cent." + +At the adjournment of the Canadian Parliament and the retirement of the +Derby Ministry, in the early part of 1859, the position and prospects of +English colonization in Northwest America were as follows:-- + +1. Vancouver's Island and British Columbia had passed from the +occupation of the Hudson's Bay Company into an efficient colonial +organization. The gold-fields of the interior had been ascertained to +equal in productiveness, and greatly to exceed in extent, those of +California. The prospect for agriculture was no less favorable,--while +the commercial importance of Vancouver and the harbors of Puget's Sound +is unquestionable. + +2. The eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the valleys of the +Saskatchewan and Red River were shown by explorations, conducted under +the auspices of the London Geographical Society and the Canadian +authorities, to be a district of nearly four hundred thousand square +miles, in which a fertile soil, favorable climate, useful and precious +minerals, fur-bearing and food-yielding animals, in a word, the most +lavish gifts of Nature, constituted highly satisfactory conditions for +the organization and settlement of a prosperous community. + +3. In regard to the Hudson's Bay Company, a disposition prevailed not to +disturb its charter, on condition that its directory made no attempts +to enforce an exclusive trade or to interfere with the progress of +settlements. All parties anticipated Parliamentary action. Letters from +London spoke with confidence of a bill, drafted and in circulation +among members of Parliament, for the erection of a colony between Lakes +Superior and Winnipeg and the eastern limits of British Columbia, with +a northern boundary resting on the parallel of 55°; and which, although +postponed by a change of ministry, was understood to represent the views +of the Duke of Newcastle, the successor of Sir E.B. Lytton. + +4. In Canada West, a system of communication from Fort William to Fort +Garry, and thence to the Pacific, was intrusted to a company--the +"Northwest Transit"--which was by no means inactive. A mail to Red +River, over the same route, was also sustained from the Canadian +treasury; and Parliament, among the acts of its previous session, had +conceded a charter for a line of telegraph through the valleys of the +Saskatchewan, with a view to an extension to the Pacific coast, and even +to Asiatic Russia. + +Simultaneously with these movements in England and Canada, the citizens +of the State of Minnesota, after a winter of active discussion, +announced a determination to introduce steam-navigation on the Red +River of the North. Parties were induced to transport the machinery +and cabins, with timber for the hull of a steamer, from the Upper +Mississippi, near Crow Wing, to the mouth of the Cheyenne, on the Red +River, where the boat was reconstructed. The first voyage of the steamer +was from Fort Abercrombie, an American post two hundred miles northwest +of Saint Paul, _down north_ to Fort Garry, during the month of June. The +reception of the stranger was attended by extraordinary demonstrations +of enthusiasm at Selkirk. The bells of Saint Boniface rang greeting, +and Fort Garry blasted powder, as if the Governor of the Company were +approaching its portal. This unique, but interesting community, fully +appreciated the fact that steam had brought their interests within the +circle of the world's activities. + +This incident was the legitimate sequel to events in Minnesota which had +transpired during a period of ten years. Organized as a Territory in +1849, a single decade had brought the population, the resources, and the +public recognition of an American State. A railroad system, connecting +the lines of the Lake States and Provinces at La Crosse with the +international frontier on the Red River at Pembina, was not only +projected, but had secured in aid of its construction a grant by the +Congress of the United States of three thousand eight hundred and +forty acres a mile, and a loan of State credit to the amount of twenty +thousand dollars a mile, not exceeding an aggregate of five million +dollars. Different sections of this important extension of the +Canadian and American railways were under contract and in process of +construction. In addition, the land-surveys of the Federal government +had reached the navigable channel of the Red River; and the line of +frontier settlement, attended by a weekly mail, had advanced to the same +point. Thus the government of the United States, no less than the +people and authorities of Minnesota, were represented in this Northwest +movement. + +Still, its consummation rests with the people and Parliament of England. +Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was prepared with a response to his own +memorable query,--"What will he do with it?" Shall the Liberal party be +less prompt and resolute in advancing the policy, announced from the +throne in 1858, of an uninterrupted series of British colonies across +the continent of North America? This will be determined by the +Parliamentary record of 1860. + + + + +ART. + +PALMER'S "WHITE CAPTIVE." + + +Once on a time a maiden dwelt with her father,--they two, and no +more,--in a rude log-cabin on the skirts of a grand old Western +forest,--majestic mountains behind them, and the broad, free prairie in +front. + +Cut off from all Christian companionship and the informing influences +of civilized arts, all their news was of red men and of game, their +entertainments the ever-varying moods of Nature, their labors of the +rudest, their dangers familiar, their solacements simple and solitary. +Alone the sturdy hunter beat the woods all day, on the track of +panthers, bears, and deer; alone, all day, his pretty daughter kept the +house against perils without and despondency within,--the gun and the +broom alike familiar to her hand. + +Commissioned to illumine the murk wilderness around her with the glow +of her Christian loveliness and faith, Nature had touched her with +inspirations of refinement, with a culture as unconscious as the growing +of the grass, and the clear intuitions of a spiritual life full of +heaven-born inclinations. Nature, too, had endowed her with fine lines +of beauty, attitudes of grace, movements of dignity and love, and all +the charmfulness that had learned its shapes from flowers and its arts +from birds. Nature's officers, the elements, had bestowed on her each +his appropriate gift,--the Air its crispness, the Earth its variety, the +Sun its brightness and its ruddy glow, the very Water from the well its +freshness and its fluent forms; the stars repeated their friendliness in +her eyes, the grass dimpled her pliant feet, the breeze tossed her brown +hair in triumphs of the unstudied becoming, and from the wildness all +about her she had her wit and her delightful ways; Morning lent her her +cheerfulness, Evening her pensiveness, and Night her soul. + +But Night, that had given her the Christian soul, true and wise, +self-reliant and aspiring, brought also the surprise and the peril that +should put it to the proof; for once, when the hunter was belated on his +path, and sudden midnight had caught him beyond the mountain, far +from the rest of his hearth and the song of his darling, came the red +Pawnees, a treacherous crew,--doubly godless because ungrateful, who had +broken the hunter's bread and slept on the hunter's blanket,--and laid +waste his hearth, and stole away his very heart. For they dragged her +many a fearful mile of darkness and distraction, through the black +woods, and grim recesses of the rocks; and there they stripped her +naked, and bound her to a stake, as the day was breaking. But the +Christian heart was within her, and the Christian soul upheld her, and +the Christian's God was by her side; and so she stood, and waited, and +was brave. + +And here still she stands, as the sculptor's soul sat down before her, +in a vision of faith and tenderness, to receive her image,--stands and +waits for the pity and the help of you and me, her brothers and her +lovers. We long to rescue her and take her to our hearts; we are touched +by her predicament, as Michelet tells us the heart of the beholder is +moved by the bound Andromeda of Puget,--that great artist in whom +dwelt the suffering soul of a depraved age, and who all his life long +sculptured forlorn captives,--"Ah, would I had been there to rescue the +darling!" + +But we are told of the Andromeda, that, unconscious and almost dead, she +knows not where she is, nor who has come to set her free; for, paralyzed +by the chafing of her chains, and even more by fear, she cannot stand, +and seems utterly exhausted. + +Not so with our Andromeda. Horror possesses her, but indignation also; +she is terrified, but brave; she shrinks, but she repels; and while all +her beautiful body trembles and retreats, her countenance confronts her +captors, and her steady gaze forbids them. "Touch me not!" she says, +with every shuddering limb and every tensely-braced muscle, with +lineaments all eloquent with imperious disgust,--"Touch me not!" + +Her lips quiver, and tears are in her eyes, (we do not forget that it +is of marble we are speaking,--there _are_ tears in her eyes,) but they +only linger there; she is not weeping now; her chin trembles, and one of +her hands is convulsively clenched,--but it is with the anguish of her +sore besetting, not the spasm of mortal fear. Though Heaven and Earth, +indeed, might join to help her, we yet know that the soul of the maiden +will help itself,--that her hope clings fast, and her courage is +undaunted, and her faith complete. + +Among her thronged emotions we look in vain for shame. Her nakedness is +a coarse chance of her overwhelming situation, for which she is no more +concerned than for her galled wrists or her dishevelled hair. What is it +to such a queen as she, that the eyes of grinning brutes are blessed by +her perfect beauties? + +The qualities which constitute true greatness in a statue such as this +are, if we apprehend them aright,--first, that sublime simplicity of +Idea which omnipotently sways the beholder, and alike inspires his +coarseness or his culture; next, that personality, that moving humanness +of feeling, which holds him by his very heart-strings, and makes him +forget its marble, to accept its flesh and blood; and, finally, that +wondrous skill of nice manipulation, which, neglecting nothing in the +myriad of anatomical and physiological details,--not even the faintest +sigh or the dimmest tremor,--tells, fibre by fibre, a tale that all may +read, and comes to us with a story "to hold children from play and old +men from the chimney-corner." + +Tried by this definition, we believe the "White Captive" proves its +claim to genuine greatness, and that it will presently take its place, +with the world's consent, in the front rank of modern statues,--good +among the best, in the flesh-and-bloodness and the soul of it. It is +original, it is faithful, it is American; our women may look upon it, +and say, "She is one of us," with more satisfaction than the Greek women +could have derived from the Venus de' Medici, with its insignificant +head and its impossible spine. + +Especially true to the American type, as compared in statues with the +familiar Greek, the head of the "White Captive" is large; but that it +is too large, or in excess of the least of a thousand female heads that +have been gathered around it since it was first exposed to the +public scrutiny, we have failed to discover in repeated and careful +examinations; and we are constrained to commend such as may be exercised +on that point to the critical flippancies of the jaunty gentlemen who +find the hips at once too broad and too narrow, the bosom too full and +too young, the arms too meagre and too stout. + + + + +FOREST PHOTOGRAPHS. + + +We call the attention of our readers to a series of twelve photographic +views of forest and lake scenery published by Mr. J.W. Black, Boston, +from negatives taken by Mr. Stillman in the Adirondack country. The +points of view are chosen with the fine feeling of an artist, and the +tangled profusion and grace of the forest, with the moment's whim of +sunfleck and shadow, are given with exquisite delicacy. Whatever +the all-beholding sun could see in those woodland depths we have +here,--sketches of the shaggy Pan snatched at unawares in sleep. One may +study these pictures till he becomes as familiar as a squirrel with fern +and tree-bark and moose-wood and lichen, till he knows every trunk and +twig and leaf as intimately as a sunbeam. + + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Plutarch's Lives._ The Translation called Dryden's. Corrected from the +Greek, and Revised, by A.H. CLOUGH, sometime Fellow and Tutor of +Oriel College, Oxford, and late Professor of the English Language and +Literature at University College, London. Boston: Little, Brown, & +Company. 1859. Five vols. 8vo. + +In these five handsome volumes, we have, at length, a really good +edition in English of Plutarch's Lives. One of the most delightful books +in the world, one of the few universal classics, appears for the first +time in our language in a translation worthy of its merits. + +Mr. Clough, whose name is well known, not only by scholars, but also by +the lovers of poetry, has performed the work of editor with admirable +diligence, fidelity, and taste. The labor of revision has been neither +slight nor easy. It has, indeed, amounted to not much less than would +have been required for the making of a new translation. The versions in +the translation that bears Dryden's name, made, as they were, by various +hands, and apparently not submitted to the revision of any competent +scholar, were unequal in execution, and were disfigured by many +mistakes, as well as by much that was slovenly in style. At the time +they were made, scholarship in England was not at a high point. Bentley +had not yet lifted it out of mediocrity, and the translators were not +stimulated by the fear either of severe criticism or of comparison +of their labors with any superior work. The numerous defects of this +translation are spoken of by the Langhornes, in the Preface to their +own, with a somewhat jealous severity, which gives unusual vigor to +their sentences. "The diversities of style," say they, "were not the +greatest fault of this strange translation. It was full of the grossest +errors. Ignorance on the one hand, and hastiness or negligence on the +other, had filled it with absurdities in every Life, and inaccuracies on +almost every page." This is a hard, perhaps an extreme judgment; but it +serves to show the difficulties that would attend a revision of such a +work. These difficulties Mr. Clough has fairly met and overcome. We +do not mean to say that he has reduced the whole book to a perfect +uniformity, or even to entire elegance and exactness of style; but he +has corrected inaccuracies, he has removed the chief marks of negligence +or haste; and, after a careful comparison of a considerable portion of +the work as it now appears with the Greek text, we have no hesitation in +saying that this translation answers not merely to the demands of +modern scholarship, but forms a book at once essentially accurate and +delightful for common reading.[A] We think, moreover, that Mr. Clough +was right in choosing the so-called Dryden's translation as the basis of +his work. Its style is not old enough to have become antiquated, while +yet it possesses much of the savor and raciness of age. The book +is interesting from Dryden's connection with it, but still more +so--considering how slight that connection was, his only contribution to +it being the Life of Plutarch--from the fact, that the translations of +some of the Lives were made by famous men, as that of Alcibiades by Lord +Chancellor Somers, and that of Alexander by the excellent John Evelyn; +while others were made by men who, if not famous, are at least well +remembered by the lovers of the literature of the time,--as that of +Numa by Sir Paul Rycaut, the Turkey merchant, and the continuer of Dr. +Johnson's favorite history of the Turks,--that of Otho by Pope's friend, +the medical poet, Dr. Garth,--that of Solon by Creech, the translator of +Lucretius,--that of Lysander by the Honorable Charles Boyle, whose name +is preserved in the alcohol of Bentley's classical satire,--and that of +Themistocles by Edward, the son of Sir Thomas Browne. + +[Footnote A: For the sake of illustration of the care and labor given by +Mr. Clough to the revision, we open at random on the Life of Dion, Vol. +V., p. 291, and, comparing it with the original _Dryden_, we find, that +in ten pages, to the end of the Life, there are but three, and they +short sentences, in which changes of more or less consequence have not +been made. These changes amount sometimes to entire new translation, +sometimes consist merely in the correction of a few words. Throughout, +the hand of the thorough scholar is apparent. The earlier volumes of the +series would, probably, rarely exhibit such considerable alterations.] + +But Mr. Clough's labors have not been merely those of reviser and +corrector. He has added greatly to the value of the work by occasional +concise foot-notes, as well as by notes contained in an appendix to each +volume. So excellent, indeed, are these notes, so full of learning and +information, conveyed in an agreeable way, that we cannot but feel a +regret (not often excited by commentators) that their number is not +greater. In addition to these, the fifth volume contains a very +carefully prepared and full Index of Proper Names, which is followed by +a list for reference as to their pronunciation. + +When this version, to which Dryden gave his name, was made, there was no +other in English but that of Sir Thomas North, which had been made, not +from the Greek, but from the French of Amyot, and was first published in +1579. It was a good work for its time, and worthy of being dedicated to +Queen Elizabeth, although, as the knight declares, "she could better +understand it in Greek than any man can make it English." Its style is +rather robust than elegant, partaking of the manly vigor of the language +of its time, and now and then exhibiting something of that charm of +quaint simplicity which belongs to its original, Montaigne's favorite +Amyot. "Of all our French writers," says the incomparable essayist, +"I give, with justice, I think, the palm to Jacques Amyot";[B] and +thereupon he goes on to praise the purity of his style, as well as the +depth of his learning and judgment. But, although Amyot had "a true +imagination" of his author, he was not always exact in giving his +meaning. The learned Dr. Guy Patin says: "On dit que M. de Meziriac +avoit corrigé dans son Amyot huit mille fautes, et qu'Amyot n'avoit +pas de bons exemplaires, ou qu'il n'avoit pas bien entendu le Grec de +Plutarque."[C] + +[Footnote B: _Essays_, Book II. 4.] + +[Footnote C: _Patiniana_.] + +Amyot's eight thousand errors were not diminished in passing into Sir +Thomas North's English; but their number mattered little to the readers +of those days, who found in the thick folio enough of interest to spare +them from making inquiry as to the exactness of its rendering of the +meaning of Plutarch. From the time of its first publication, for more +than a hundred years, it was one of the most popular books of the +period, as was proved by the appearance of six successive editions in +folio.[D] Some of these clumsy volumes may, no doubt, have been put +to uses as ignoble as that which Chrysale, in "Les Femmes Savantes," +suggests for his sister's similar copy of Amyot:-- + + "Vos livres éternels ne me contentent pas; + Et, hors un gros Plutarque à mettre mes rabats, + Vous devriez bruler tout ce meuble inutile";-- + +but duller books of the same size, of which there were many in those +days of patient readers, would have had an equal value for such +economical purposes as this, and "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and +Romans by that Grave Learned Philosopher & Historiographer Plutarch" +were too entertaining to young and old to be left for any length of time +quietly upon the shelf. They were the familiar reading of boys who +were to become the actors in the great drama of the Rebellion and the +Commonwealth, or who a little later were to frequent the dissolute court +of Charles, presenting in their own lives, whether in camp or court, as +patriots or as traitors, parallels to those which they had read in the +weighty pages of the old biographer. + +[Footnote D: In 1579, 1595, 1602, 1631, 1657, 1676. Mr. Hooper, in his +Introduction to Chapman's Homer, London, 1857, says, that "the edition +of 1657 was published under the superintendence of the illustrious +Selden." We do not know his authority for this statement. The fact, if +it be one, is very remarkable, as Selden's death took place in 1654.] + +Nor in more recent times has North's version failed of admirers. Godwin +declared, that, till this book fell into his hands, he had no genuine +feeling of Plutarch's merits, or knowledge of what sort of a writer he +was. But the chief interest of this translation at the present day, +except what it possesses as a storehouse of good mother-English, comes +from the fact that it was one of the books of Shakespeare's moderate +library, and one which he had thoroughly read, as is manifest from the +use that he made of it in his own works, especially in "Coriolanus," +"Julius Caesar," and "Antony and Cleopatra." It was from the worthy +knight's folio that he got much of his little Latin and less Greek. He +helped himself freely to what was to his purpose; and a comparison of +the passages which he borrowed from with the scenes founded upon them is +interesting, as showing his use of the very words of the author before +him, and as exhibiting the new appearances which those words take on +under his plastic hand. We have no space for long extracts; but a short +illustration will serve to show that Shakespeare is the best translator +of Plutarch into English that we have had. Compare these two passages:-- + +"Therefore, when she [Cleopatra] was sent unto by divers letters, both +from Antonius himself and also from his friends, she made so light of +it, and mocked Antonius so much, that she disdained to set forward +otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus; the poop +whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, and the oars of silver, which +kept stroke in rowing after the sound of the musick of flutes, bowboys, +citherns, viols, and such other instruments as they played upon in the +barge. And now for the person of herself, she was laid under a pavillion +of cloth of gold of tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddess +Venus, commonly drawn in picture; and hard by her, on either hand of +her, pretty fair boys apparelled as painters do set forth god Cupid, +with little fans in their hands, with which they fanned wind upon her. +Her ladies and gentlewomen also, the fairest of them were apparelled +like the Nymphs Nereides (which are the Myrmaids of the waters) and like +the Graces; some steering the helm, others tending the tackle and ropes +of the barge, out of the which there came a wonderful passing sweet +savour of perfumes, that perfumed the wharf's side, pestered with +innumerable multitudes of people. Some of them followed the barge all +along the river side; others also ran out of the city to see her coming +in. So that in the end there ran such multitudes of people one +after another to see her, that Antonius was left post alone in the +market-place, in his imperial seat to give audience."--NORTH'S +_Plutarch, Life of Antonius_, p. 763. Ed. of 1676. + +_Enobarbus._ When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart +upon the river of Cydnus. + +_Agrippa._ There she appeared, indeed; or my reporter devised well for +her. + + _Eno._ I will tell you. + The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, + Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold; + Purple the sails, and so perfumed that + The winds were lovesick; with them the oars were silver, + Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made + The water, which they beat, to follow faster, + As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, + It beggar'd all description: she did lie + In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,) + O'er-picturing that Venus where we see + The fancy outwork Nature: on each side her + Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, + With divers-color'd fans, whose wind did seem + To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, + And what they undid, did. + + _Agr._ Oh, rare for Antony! + + _Eno._ Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids, + So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes, + And made their bends adornings: at the helm + A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle + Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, + That yarely frame the office. From the barge + A strange invisible perfume hits the sense + Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast + Her people out upon her, and Antony, + Enthron'd i' th' market-place, did sit alone, + Whistling to the air, which, but for vacancy, + Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, + And made a gap in Nature. + +_Antony and Cleopatra_. Act II. Sc. 2. + +The operations of Shakespeare's creative imagination are rarely to be +observed more distinctly than in such instances as this, where we see +the precise source from which he drew, in all its original limitations +and native character. Books were to him like ingots of gold, which, +passing through the mint of his brain, came out thence stamped coin, +current for all time. Viewing some of his plays, it may be said, with no +real, though with apparent contradiction, that no man ever borrowed more +from books, and yet none ever owed less to them. For the Roman times +Plutarch served him, as Holinshed and Hall supplied him for his English +histories. Under Plutarch's guidance he walked through the streets of +ancient Rome, and became familiar with the conduct of her men. He is +more Roman than Plutarch himself, and by divine right of imagination he +makes himself a citizen of the Eternal City. While Shakespeare was using +Plutarch to such advantage, on the other hand, Ben Jonson seems to have +borrowed little or nothing from him in his Roman plays. He got what he +wanted out of the Latin authors, and he succeeded in Latinizing his +plays,--in giving to his characters the dress, but not the spirit of +Rome. + +It was toward the end of the seventeenth century that Dryden's +translation appeared, and for about fifty years it held much the same +place with the reading public that North's had filled for previous +generations. It was, no doubt, in this version that Mrs. Fitzpatrick +amused herself during her seclusion in Ireland, as she tells Sophia +Western, with reading "a great deal in Plutarch's Lives." But this was +at length superseded by the translation of the brothers Langhorne, +which, spite of its want of vivacity, its labored periods, and formal +narrative, has retained its place as the popular version of Plutarch up +to the present day. One can hardly help wishing--so little of Plutarch's +spirit survives in their dull pages--that a similar fate had overtaken +these excellent men to that which carried off the gentle Abbé Ricard +with the _grippe_, when he had published but half of his translation of +the Philosopher of Cheronaea. + +It is a proof of the intrinsic charm of Plutarch's Lives, that thus, +notwithstanding the imperfect manner in which they have been, up to this +time, presented to English readers, they should have been so constantly +and so generally read.[E] They have given equal delight to all ages and +to all classes. The heavy folio has been taken from its place on the +lower shelves in the quiet libraries of English country-houses, and been +read by old men at their firesides, by girls in trim gardens, by boys +who cared for no other classic. The cheap double-column octavo has +travelled in peddlers' carts to all the villages of New England, to +the backwoodsman's cabin in the West. It has taken its place on the +clock-shelf, with only the Bible, the "Pilgrim's Progress," and the +Almanac for its companions. No other classic author, with, perhaps, the +single exception of Aesop, has been so widely read in modern times; and +the popular knowledge of the men of Greece and Rome is derived more +from Plutarch than from all other ancient authors put together. The +often-repeated saying of Theodore Gaza, who, being once asked, if +learning should suffer a general shipwreck, and he had the choice of +saving one author, which he would select, is said to have replied, +"Plutarch,"--"and probably might give this reason," says Dryden, "that +in saving him he should secure the best collection of them all,"--this +saying is but a sort of prophecy of the decision of the common world, +who have chosen Plutarch from all the rest, and find, as Amyot says, "no +one else so profitable and so pleasant to read as he."[F] + +[Footnote E: We have not spoken of Mr. Long's translations of Select +Lives from Plutarch, which were published in the series of Knight's +Weekly Volumes, under the title of _The Civil Wars of Rome_, because, +although executed in a manner deserving the highest praise, they +presented to English readers but a limited number of Plutarch's +biographies. Mr. Clough says, justly, in his Preface, that his own work +would not have been needed, had not Mr. Long confined his translations +within so narrow a compass.] + +[Footnote F: "De tous les auteurs," says the Baron de Grimm, "qui nous +restent de l'antiquité, Plutarque est, sans contredit, celui qui a +recueilli le plus de vérités de fait et de spéculation. Ses oeuvres sont +une mine inépuisable de lumieres et de connaissance; c'est vraiment +l'encyclopédie des anciens." _Mémoires Historiques_, etc., I., 312.] + +Nor is it merely the common mass of readers who have chosen Plutarch as +their favorite ancient. The list of great and famous men who have made +him their companion is a long one. Men of action and men of thought have +taken equal satisfaction in his pages. Petrarch, the first scholar of +the Revival, held him in high esteem, and drew from him much of his +uncommon learning. Erasmus, the first scholar of the Reformation, made +his writings a special study, and translated from the Greek a large +portion of his Moral Works. Montaigne has taken pains to tell us of his +affection for him, and his Essays are full of the proofs of it. "I never +seriously settled myself," he says, "to the reading of any book of +solid learning but Plutarch and Seneca."[G] And in another essay he +adds,--"The familiarity I have had with these two authors, and the +assistance they have lent to my age, and to my book wholly built up of +what I have taken from them, oblige me to stand up for their honor."[H] +And again he declares,--"The hooks I chiefly use to form my opinions are +Plutarch, since he became French, and Seneca."[I] The genial humanity +and liberal wisdom of Plutarch claimed the sympathy of Montaigne, while +his discursive style and love of story-telling suited no less the taste +of his disciple. Montaigne, as it were, makes Plutarch a modern, and +uses his books to illustrate the passing times. He introduces him to new +characters, and reads his judgment upon them. He finds in him a hundred +things that others had not seen. It is a wide step from Montaigne +to Rousseau, and yet, spite of the naturalness of the one and the +artificiality of the other, there were some points of resemblance +between them, and they harmonize in their love for a common master, +Rousseau has written of Plutarch as Montaigne felt,--"Dans le petit +nombre de livres que je lis quelquefois encore, Plutarque est celui +qui m'attache et me profite le plus. Ce fut la première lecture de mon +enfance, et sera la dernière de ma vieillesse; c'est presque le seul +auteur que je n'ai jamais lu sans en tirer quelque fruit."[J] Plutarch's +Lives was one of the few books recommended to Catharine II. of Russia, +as she herself tells us, wherewith to solace and instruct herself during +the first wretched years of her miserable married life. It is, perhaps, +not impossible to trace in some passages of her later life the results +of what she then read. + +[Footnote G: _Essays._ Book I., Chapter 25.] + +[Footnote H: _Essays_, II. 23.] + +[Footnote I: _Ibid._ II. 10.] + +[Footnote J: _Les Rêveries d'un Promeneur Solitaire._ Quatrième +Promenade.] + +And thus we might go on accumulating the names of men and women whom +all the world knows, who have confessed their obligations to the old +biographer,--philosophers like Bacon, warriors like Bussy d'Amboise, +poets like Wordsworth; while many a one has owed much to him who has +made no open acknowledgment of his debt. Montaigne somewhere complains +of the unlicensed stealings from his author; and Udall, in his Preface +to the Apophthegms of Erasmus, declares,--"It is a thing scarcely +believable, how much, and how boldly as well, the common writers that +from time to time have copied out his [Plutarch's] works, as also +certain that have thought themselves liable to control and amend all +men's doings, have taken upon them in this author, who ought with +all reverence to be handled of them, and with all fear to have been +preserved from altering, depraving, or corrupting."[K] + +[Footnote K: The following passage presents a view of some of the uses +to which Plutarch's narratives were turned during the Middle Ages. "Or +personne n'ignore que les chroniqueurs du moyen âge compilaient les +faits les plus remarquables de l'Écriture Sainte ou des histoires +profanes pour les mêler à leurs récits. C'est ainsi que ceux qui ont +écrit la vie de Du Guesclin ont mis sur le compte de ce héros ce +que Plutarque rapporte de plus mémorable des grands hommes de +l'antiquité."--SOUVESTRE. _Les Derniers Bretons._ I. 147.] + +The question naturally arises, What are the qualities in Plutarch which +have made him so universal a favorite, which have attracted towards him +men of such opposite tempers and different lives? It is not enough +to say that all real biography is of interest,--that every man +has curiosity about the life of every other man, and finds in it +illustrations of his own. Other writers of lives have not had the same +fortune with Plutarch. For one reader of Suetonius or of Diogenes +Laërtius, there are a thousand of Plutarch. Nor is it that the subjects +of his biographies are greater or more famous than all other men. Some +of the noblest and best known men of Greece and Rome are omitted from +Plutarch's list.[L] The true grounds of the general popularity of +Plutarch's Lives are not to be found in their subjects so much as in +his manner of treating them, and in the qualities of his own nature, as +exhibited in his book. At the tomb of Achilles, Alexander declared that +he esteemed him happy in having had so famous a poet to proclaim his +actions; and scarcely less fortunate were they who had such a biographer +as Plutarch to record their lives. He himself has given us his +conception of the true office of a biographer, and in this has explained +in great part the secret of his excellence. "It must be borne in mind," +he says, "that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And +the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest +discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, +an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and +inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the +bloodiest battles whatsoever. Therefore, as portrait-painters are more +exact in the lines and features of the face, in which the character is +seen, than in the other parts of the body, so I must be allowed to give +my more particular attention to the marks and indications of the souls +of men; and, while I endeavor by these to portray their lives, may be +free to leave more weighty matters and great battles to be treated of by +others."[M] + +[Footnote L: In Rogers's _Recollections_, Grattan is reported as +saying,--"Of all men, if I could call up one, it should be Scipio +Africanus. Hannibal was perhaps a greater captain, but not so great and +good a man. Epaminondas did not do so much. Themistocles was a rogue." +It is curious that Themistocles is the only one of these men of whom we +have a biography by Plutarch. His Lives of Scipio and Epaminondas are +lost. Hannibal did not come within the scope of his design.] + +[Footnote M: _Life of Alexander_, at the beginning.] + +It is his fidelity to this principle, his dealing with events and +circumstances chiefly as they illustrate character, his delineation of +the features of the souls of men, that constitutes Plutarch's highest +merit as a biographer. He is no historian; he often neglects chronology, +and disregards the sequence of events; he omits many incidents, and he +avoids the details of national and political affairs. The progress of +the advance or decline of states is not to be learned from his pages. +But if his Lives be read in chronological order, much may be inferred +from them of the moral condition and changes of the communities in which +the men flourished whose characters and actions he describes. Biography +is thus made to cast an incidental light upon history. The successes +of Alexander give evidence of the lowering of the Greek spirit, and +illustrate the immemorial weakness of Oriental tyrannies. The victories +and the defeats of Pyrrhus alike display the vigor of Republican Rome. +The character and the fate of Mark Antony show that vigor at its ebb, +and foretell the near fall of the Roman liberties. Thus in his long +series of lives of noble Grecians and Romans, the motives and principles +which lay at the foundation of the characters of the men who moulded the +fate of Greece and Rome, the reciprocal influences of their times upon +these men and of these men upon their times, may all be traced with more +or less distinctness and certainty. It was not Plutarch's object to +exhibit them in sequent evolution, but, in attaining the object which he +had in view, he could not fail to make them manifest to the thoughtful +reader. His book, though not a history, is invaluable to historians. + +But the character of Plutarch himself, not less than his method of +writing biography, explains his universal popularity, and gives its +special charm and value to his book. He was a man of large and generous +nature, of strong feeling, of refined tastes, of quick perceptions. His +mind had been cultivated in the acquisition of the best learning of his +times, and was disciplined by the study of books as well as of men. He +deserves the title of philosopher; but his philosophy was of a practical +rather than a speculative character,--though he was versed in the wisest +doctrines of the great masters of ancient thought, and in some of his +moral works shows himself their not unworthy follower. Above all, he was +a man of cheerful, genial, and receptive temper. A lover of justice and +of liberty, his sympathies are always on the side of what is right, +noble, and honorable. He believed in a divine ordering of the world, +and saw obscurely through the mists and shadows of heathenism the +indications of the wisdom and rectitude of an overruling Providence. +To him man did not appear as the sole arbiter of his own destiny, but +rather as an unconscious agent in working out the designs of a Higher +Power; and yet, as these designs were only dimly and imperfectly to +be recognized, the noblest man was he who was truest to the eternal +principles of right, who was most independent of the chances and +shiftings of fortune, who, "fortressed on conscience and impregnable +will," strove to live in the manliest and most self-supported relations +with the world, neither fearing nor hoping much in regard to the +uncertainties of the future, and who + + "metus omnes et inexorabile fatum + Subjecit pedibus." + +In his whole character, Plutarch shows himself one of the best examples +of the intelligent heathen of the later classic period. His Writings +contain the practical essence of the results of Greek and Roman life +and thought. His intellect, equally removed from superstition and +from skepticism, was open with a large receptiveness, which sometimes +approaches to credulity, to the traditions of early wonders, to the +reports of recent miracles, and to the stories of the deeds and sayings +of men.[N] The evidence upon which he reports is often insufficient to +establish the statements that he makes; but his readiness to tell the +current stories gives to his biographies a peculiar interest, adding +to their entertainment, and at the same time to their value as +representations of common beliefs and popular fancies. He is one of the +best story-tellers of antiquity, and from his works a series of "Percy +Anecdotes" of ancient men might easily be compiled. "Such anecdotes will +not," says he, in his Life of Timoleon, "be thought, I conceive, either +foreign to my purpose of writing lives, or unprofitable in themselves, +by such readers as are not in too much haste, or busied and taken up +with other concerns." It is this fulness of anecdote, which, perhaps, +more than any other quality of his writings, makes him the favorite +of boys as well as of men. He treasures up pithy sayings, and his own +reflections are often epigrammatic in expression, and always full of +good sense. + +[Footnote N: There are two remarkable passages in the _Life of +Coriolanus_ which illustrate Plutarch's opinions upon these points. The +first (ii. 91) treats of the divine influence on the human will and +action; the second (ii. 97-98) relates to the mode of regarding events +seemingly incredible. This latter is peculiarly distinguished by its +good sense and clear statement. It closes with the memorable saying, +"Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is +lost to us by incredulity."] + +In his Life of Demosthenes, in a passage which is pleasant on account of +its personal reference, Plutarch speaks of the advantage that it would +be for a writer like himself to reside in some city addicted to liberal +arts, and populous, where he might have access to many books, and to +many persons from whom he might gather up such facts as books do not +contain. "But as for me," he says, "I live in a little town, where I am +willing to continue, lest it should grow less." And he goes on to excuse +himself for his imperfect knowledge of the Roman tongue, which unfits +him to draw a comparison between the orations of Demosthenes and of +Cicero. But, although his acquaintance with the structure and powers +of the language may have been insufficient to enable him to venture on +literary criticism, his acquaintance with the books of the Romans was +considerable, and he had thoroughly studied the Greek authors who had +written on Roman affairs. His own library, or the libraries to which he +had access at Chaeronea, must have been well furnished with the books +most important for his studies. He is said to quote two hundred and +fifty authors, some eighty of whom are among those whose works have been +wholly or partly lost. He made careful use of his materials, which were, +of course, more abundant for his Greek than for his Roman narratives. +"If we would put the Lives of Plutarch to a severe test," says Mr. Long, +than whom no one is better qualified to speak with authority upon the +subject, "we must carefully examine his Roman Lives. He says that he +knew Latin imperfectly, and he lived under the Empire, when many of the +educated Romans had but a superficial acquaintance with the earlier +history of their state. We must therefore expect to find him imperfectly +informed on Roman institutions; and we can detect him in some errors. +Yet, on the whole, his Roman Lives do not often convey erroneous +notions; if the detail is incorrect, the general impression is true. +They may be read with profit by those who seek to know something of +Roman affairs, and have not knowledge enough to detect an error. They +probably contain as few mistakes as most biographies which have been +written by a man who is not the countryman of those whose lives he +writes." + +Yet, spite of his general accuracy and his impartial temper, the +representations which Plutarch makes of the characters which he +describes are not always to be accepted as fair delineations. +Unconscious prejudice, or misconception of circumstances and relations, +sometimes leads him into apparent injustice. Thus, for example, while he +bears hardly upon Demosthenes, and sets out many of his actions in too +unfavorable lights, he, on the other hand, interprets the conduct and +character of Phocion with manifest indulgence, and presents a flattered +portrait of a man whose death turned popular reproaches into pity, but +was insufficient to redeem the faults of his life. + +Mr. Grote, in his History, passes a very different judgment upon these +two men from that to which one would be led by the perusal of Plutarch's +narratives merely. And it is an illustration, at once, of the honesty of +the ancient biographer, and of the ability of the modern historian, that +Mr. Grote should not infrequently derive from Plutarch's own account the +means for correcting his false estimate of the motives and the actions +of those whom he misjudged. + +In an excellent passage in his Preface, Mr. Clough remarks that + +"Much has been said of Plutarch's inaccuracy; and it cannot be denied +that he is careless about numbers, and occasionally contradicts his own +statements. A greater fault, perhaps, is his passion for anecdote; he +cannot forbear from repeating stories the improbability of which he is +the first to recognize, which, nevertheless, by mere repetition, +leave unjust impressions. He is unfair in this way to Demosthenes and +Pericles,--against the latter of whom, however, he doubtless inherited +the prejudices which Plato handed down to the philosophers. + +"It is true, also, that his unhistorical treatment of the subjects +of his biography makes him often unsatisfactory and imperfect in the +portraits he draws. Much, of course, in the public lives of statesmen +can find its only explanation in their political position; and of this +Plutarch often knows and thinks little. So far as the researches of +modern historians have succeeded in really recovering a knowledge of +relations of this sort, so far, undoubtedly, these biographies stand in +need of their correction. Yet, in the uncertainty which must attend all +modern restorations, it is agreeable, and surely also profitable, to +recur to portraits drawn ere new thoughts and views had occupied the +civilized world, without reference to such disputable grounds of +judgment, simply upon the broad principles of the ancient moral code of +right and wrong. .... We have here the faithful record of the historical +tradition of Plutarch's age. This is what, in the second century of +our era, Greeks and Romans loved to believe about their warriors and +statesmen of the past. As a picture, at least, of the best Greek and +Roman moral views and moral judgments, as a presentation of the results +of Greek and Roman moral thought, delivered, not under the pressure +of calamity, but as they existed in ordinary times, and actuated +plain-living people, in country places, in their daily life, Plutarch's +writings are of indisputable value." + +Of all the biographies contained in his work, none might excite greater +suspicion of incorrectness than that of Timoleon, on account of the +extraordinary character both of the man and of the incidents of his +career. His story reads like a romance of the ancient times, like a +legend of some half-mythical hero, rather than like the true account of +an actual man. There is, perhaps, none among his Lives which Plutarch +has written with greater spirit, with livelier sympathies, than this. +And yet, in spite of all its seeming improbability, there is little +reason to question its essential truth. It corresponds, with some minor +exceptions, with all that can be ascertained from other ancient authors +who wrote concerning the deliverer of Sicily; and even Mitford, with all +his zeal in the cause of tyrants, can find little to detract from the +praise of Timoleon, or to diminish our confidence in the truth of +Plutarch's account of him. + +But, in addition to the interest that belongs to these biographies, +from their intrinsic qualities, as affected by the character of +Plutarch,--beside the interest which the common reader or the student +of biography and history may find in them, they possess a still deeper +interest for the student of human nature, in its various modifications, +under varying influences, and in different ages, from exhibiting to him, +in a long series, many of the chief characters of the heathen world +in such form as fits them for comparison with the prominent men of +Christian times. The question of the effect of Christianity upon the +characters and lives of the leading actors in modern history is not more +important than it is difficult of solution. Plutarch, better than any +other ancient writer, affords the means of estimating the motives, the +principles, the objects, of the men of the old time. We see in his pages +what they were; we see the differences between them and the men of later +days. How far are those differences exhibitions of inferiority or of +superiority? How far do they result from the influence of secondary +causes? how far from the change in religious belief? + +No man who knows much of the course of history will venture to insist +greatly on any essential change for the better having been wrought as +yet by Christianity in the manner in which the affairs of the world are +carried on. Christianity has not yet been fairly tried. Nations +calling themselves Christian are still governed on heathen principles. +Christianity has been for the most part perverted and misunderstood. The +grossest errors have been taught in its name, are still taught in its +name. Falsehood has claimed the authority of truth, and its claim has +been granted. The stream which flowed out pure from its source has been +caught in foul cisterns, has been led into narrow channels, has been +made stagnant in desolate pools and wide-spread weedy marshes. The +doctrine of Christ has had thus far in the world but very few hearers +who have understood it. Many a modern creed might well go back to +heathenism for improvement. This perversion of Christianity is a +chief element in the difficulty of tracing the real influence of true +Christian teaching upon character. It is this which compels us to draw +a parallel, not so much between the actual characters of ancient and +modern times, if we would rightly understand the differences between +them, as between what we may assume to be the ideal standards of the +heathen and the Christian. But to treat this subject with the fulness +and in the manner which it deserves would lead us too far from Plutarch, +and we have done enough in suggesting it as matter for reflection to +those who read his Lives. + +One of the most marked differences in the position of the ancient and +the modern man is that which has been quietly and gradually brought +about by science; but its effect is little recognized by the mass of men +or the most wide-spread churches. It is the difference of his recognized +relations to the universe. While this earth was supposed to be the +central point and main effort of creation, while the earth itself +was unknown, and all the regions of space were regarded as void and +untenanted, save by the inventions of fancy, man may have seemed to +himself a creature of large proportions and of considerable importance. +He measured himself with the gods and the half-gods, and found himself +not much their inferior. In reading Plutarch, one cannot fail to be +struck with the manly self-reliance of his best men of action. Their +piety had no weakness of self-abasement in it. They possessed a piety +toward themselves as well as toward the gods. Timoleon, who was attended +by the good-fortune that waits on noble character, erected in the house +which the Syracusans bestowed upon him an altar to [Greek: Automatia], +which, as Mr. Clough well remarks, in a note, "is almost equivalent to +Spontaneousness. His successes had come, as it were, of themselves." The +act was an acknowledgment of divine favor, and an assertion at the +same time of his individual independence of action. This spirit of +self-dependence was the grandest feature of Greek and Roman heathenism; +and it is in this, if in anything, that a superiority of character is +manifest in the men of ancient times. The famous passage in Seneca's +tragedy, in which Medea asserts herself as sufficient to stand alone +against the universe, contains its essence and is its complete +expression. + + _Nutr._ Spes nulla monstrat rebus adflictis viam. + + _Med._ Qui nil potest sperare, desperet nihil. + + _Nutr._ Abiere Colchi; conjugis nulla est fides; + Nihilque superest opibus e tantis tibi. + + _Med._ Medea superest; hic mare et terras vides, + Ferrumque, et ignes, et deos, et fulmina. + _Medea_, Act ii. 162-167. + +Here is self-reliance at its highest point; the strength of resolute +will measuring itself singly and undauntedly against all forces, human +and divine. + +But, as a necessary consequent of this spirit, as its implied complement +in the balance of human nature, we find, as a distinct trait in the +lives of many of the manliest ancients, an occasional prevalence of a +spirit of despondency, a recognition of the ultimate weakness of +man when brought by himself face to face with the wall of opposing +circumstance and the resistless force of Fate. Will is strong, but the +powers outside the will are stronger. Manliness may not fail, but man +himself may be broken. Neither the teachings of natural religion, nor +the doctrines of philosophy, nor the support of a sound heart are +sufficient for man in the crisis of uttermost trial. Without something +beyond these, higher than these, without a conscious dependence on +Omnipotence, man must sink at last under the buffets of adverse fortune. +Take the instances of these great men in Plutarch, and look at the end +of their lives. How many of them are simple confessions of defeat! +Themistocles sacrifices to the gods, drinks poison, and dies. +Demosthenes takes poison to save himself from falling into the hands of +his enemies. Cicero proposes to slay himself in the house of Caesar, and +is murdered only through want of resolution to kill himself. Brutus says +to the friend who urges him to fly,--"Yes, we must fly; yet not with +our feet, but with our hands," and falls upon his sword. Cato lies down +calmly at night, reads Plato on the Soul, and then kills himself; while, +after his death, the people of Utica cry out with one voice that he is +"the only free, the only undefeated man." It may be said that even in +suicide these men displayed the manliness of their tempers. True, but it +was the manliness of the deserter who runs the risk of being shot for +the sake of avoiding the risks and fatigues of service in war.[O] + +[Footnote O: There is a striking passage in Seneca's treatise _De +Consolatione_, which may, perhaps, be not unfairly regarded as the +expression of a sentiment common among the better heathens in regard to +death,--a sentiment of profound sadness. He says,--"Mors dolorum omnium +solutio est et finis, ultra quam mala nostra non exeunt, quae nos in +illam tranquillitatem, in qua antequam nasceremur jacuimus, reponit." +xix. 4.] + +Again, we must be content rather to hint at than to develop the matter +for reflection and study that Plutarch affords, and unwillingly pass by, +without even a glance at them, large domains of thought that lie within +his pages. We are glad to believe, that, through the excellent edition +before us, his Lives will be more widely read than ever. In this +country, where the tendency of things is to the limited, but equal +development of each individual in social and political life, and hence +to the production of a uniform mediocrity of character and of action, +these biographies are of special value, as exhibiting men developed +under circumstances widely contrasted with our own, and who may serve +as standards by which to measure some of our own deficiencies or +advantages. Here were the men who stood head and shoulders above the +others of their times; we see them now, "foreshortened in the tract of +time,"--not as they appeared to their contemporaries, but in something +like their real proportions. But the greatness of those proportions for +the most part remains unchanged. How will it be with our great men two +thousand years hence? Will the numerous "most distinguished men of +America" appear as large then as they do now? Will the speeches of our +popular orators be read then? Will the most famous of our senators be +famous then? Will the ablest of our generals still be gathering laurels? + +There is a story told by the learned Andrew Thevet, chief cosmographer +to Henry III., King of France and Poland, to the effect that one +Triumpho of Camarino did most fantastically imagine and persuade himself +that really and truly one day "he was assembled in company with the +Pope, the Emperor, and the several Kings and Princes of Christendom, +(although all that while he was alone in his own chamber by himself,) +where he entered upon, debated, and resolved all the states' affairs of +Christendom; and he verily believed that he was the wisest man of +them all; and so he well might be, of the company." The fantastical +imagination of this Triumpho furnishes a good illustration of the +reality of companionship which one who possesses Plutarch may have in +his own chamber with the greatest and most interesting men of ancient +times. If he be worthy, he may make the best of them his intimates. He +may live with them as his counsellors and his friends. Whether he will +believe that he is "the wisest man of them all" is doubtful; but, +however this may be, he will find himself in their company growing +wiser, stronger, tenderer, and truer. + +It has been well said, that "Plutarch's Lives is the book for those who +can nobly think and dare and do." + + +_The Lost and Found; or Life among the Poor._ By SAMUEL B. HALLIDAY. New +York: Blakeman & Mason. 1859. + +It has been asserted--most emphatically by those who have most fairly +tried it--that no house was ever built large enough for two families to +live in decently and comfortably. Yet in this present year of grace, +1859, half a million of men and women--two-thirds of the population of +New York--are compelled, by reason of their own poverty and the avarice +of certain capitalists, to live in what are technically known as +"tenement-houses," or, more pertinently, "barracks,"--hulks of brick, +put up by Shylocks anxious for twenty per cent., and lived in--God knows +how--by from four to ninety-four families each. Of 115,986 families +residing in the city of New York, only 15,990 are able to enjoy the +luxury of an independent home; 14,362 other families live in comparative +comfort, two in a house; 4,416 buildings contain three families each, +and yet do not come under the head of tenements; and the 11,965 +dwelling-houses which remain are the homes of 72,386 _families_, being +an average of seven families, or thirty-five souls to each house! + +But this is only an average. In the eleventh ward, 113 _rear_ houses +(houses built on the backs of deep lots, and separated only by a narrow +and necessarily dark and filthy court from the front houses, which are +also "barracks,") contain 1,653 families, or nearly 15 families or 70 +souls each; 24 others contain 407 families, being an average of 80 souls +to each; and in another ward, 72 such houses contain no less than 19 +families or 95 souls each! + +This seems shocking. But this is by no means the worst! There are 580 +tenement-houses in New York which contain, by actual count, 10,933 +families, or about 85 persons each; 193 others, which accommodate 111 +persons each; 71 others, which cover 140 each; and, finally, 29--these +must be the most profitable!--which have a total population of no less +than 5,449 souls, or 187 to each house! + +That part of Fifth Avenue which holds the chief part of the wealth and +fashion of New York has an extent of about two miles, or, counting both +sides of the street, four miles. These four miles of stately palaces +are occupied by four hundred families; while a single block of +tenement-houses, not two hundred yards out of Fifth Avenue, contains no +less than seven hundred families, or 3,500 souls! Seven such blocks, Mr. +Halliday pertinently remarks, would contain more people than the city of +Hartford, which covers an area of several miles square. + +Such astounding facts as these the industrious Buckle of the year 3000, +intent upon a history of our American civilization, will quote to the +croakers of that day as samples of our nineteenth-century barbarism. + +"But," some one may object, "if the houses were comfortably arranged, +and land was really scarce, after all, these people were not so badly +off." + +The "tenement-house," which is now one of the "institutions" of New +York, stands usually upon a lot 25 by 100 feet, is from four to six +stories high, and is so divided internally as to contain four families +on each floor,--each family eating, drinking, sleeping, cooking, +washing, and fighting in a room eight feet by ten and a bed-room six +feet by ten; unless, indeed,--_which very frequently happens,_ says Mr. +Halliday,--the family renting these two rooms _takes in another family +to board,_ or _sub-lets_ one room to one _or even two_ other families! + +But the modern improvements? + +One of the largest and most recently built of the New York "barracks" +has apartments for 126 famines. It was built especially for this use. +It stands on a lot 50 by 250 feet, is entered at the sides from alleys +eight feet wide, and, by reason of the vicinity of another barrack of +equal height, the rooms are so darkened that on a cloudy day it is +impossible to read or sew in them without artificial light. It has not +one room which can in any way be thoroughly ventilated. The vaults and +sewers which are to carry off the filth of the 126 families have grated +openings in the alleys, and door-ways in the cellars, through which the +noisome and deadly miasmata penetrate and poison the dank air of the +house and the courts. The water-closets for the whole vast establishment +are a range of stalls without doors, and accessible not only from the +building, but even from the street. Comfort is here out of the +question; common decency has been rendered impossible; and the horrible +brutalities of the passenger-ship are day after day repeated,--but on a +larger scale. And yet this is a fair specimen. And for such hideous and +necessarily demoralizing habitations,--for two rooms, stench, +indecency, and gloom, the poor family pays--and the rich builder +receives--_"thirty-five per cent, annually on the cost of the +apartments!"_ + +When a city has half a million of inhabitants who _must_ content +themselves with such quarters as these, which, even the beasts of the +field would perish in, does any man wonder that 18,000 women were +arrested in the last year? that in the three months ending January +31st, 1859, 13,765 arrests were made by the city police, of which over +one-third were females, one in six under twenty years of age, and more +than one-half under thirty? that in 1855 there was one death in every +26-1/3 of the population? that in 1858 the five city dispensaries were +called on to treat (gratuitously) 65,442 infant patients? that, in 1855, +1,938 infants were stillborn, and 6,390, or 1 in 99 of the population, +did not live the first year out? while, at the present time, 20,000 +children roam the streets, and never enter a schoolroom? With such +homes, is there cause for surprise that husbands murder their wives? +that mothers abuse their children,--and would kill them, too, were they +not profitable little slaves, as Mr. Halliday shows? that men and women +live in drunken stupor upon the spoils of young children,--often not +their own,--sent out to beg, to steal, or do worse yet? that even the +very fag-end of humanity, the sentiment of "honor among thieves," +perishes here? + +For twenty years, Mr. Halliday has labored among these poor creatures, +as the "agent" or missionary of the "American Female Guardian Society +and Home for the Friendless," an association of noble-minded and +unusually practical men and women. If any of our readers fear lest the +fountain of benevolence may dry up within him, we commend Mr. Halliday's +book to his perusal. He will find there some little stories which have a +pathos beyond tears; some facts--happening, mayhap, within ten minutes' +walk of his own fireside--quite as strange as the strangest fiction of +Mr. Cobb or Mr. Emerson Bennett. We have not space left for any account +of Mr. Halliday's labors. His Society provides not only boys and girls, +but even men and women under certain circumstances, with present +assistance and shelter, and afterwards a home and work in the country, +at a distance from the temptations and miseries of the city. It is +curious to read that Mr. Halliday receives frequent orders from various +States--even the most distant West--for "a baby," "a boy," "a little +girl." It is good to know that in that way many bright young souls are +saved from the horrors of "tenement" life, and placed in kind hands; +and it is touching to read, that, while many of these little ones are +remarkable for good looks and bright spirits, all are reported as +singularly quiet, sedate, and submissive. We are glad to know that the +types of the paper published by the Society are set up by the women who +have a refuge in its Home; and we were sorry to read of one boy, who +always ran away from everybody and every place, being at last secured +in the House of Refuge, where, being now nearly eleven years old, the +monster! "he seems dejected, and I have never seen him smile," says Mr. +Halliday. This boy--and a good many others who like the streets and the +free air better than the black-hole of a tenement--should go to sea. +The sea is an honorable trade, (it _used_ to be a profession,) and the +merchants of New York could not do a wiser or a better thing than in +providing a school-ship where such lads could be taught the rudiments +of seamanship and navigation, or, in default of that, sending them as +apprentices in their vessels. + +We have two complaints to enter against Mr. Halliday: first, that he +has given his book a title which will deter most sensible people +from opening it; and, second, that in his valuable report on the +tenement-houses, he does not give the names of those enterprising +personages who make thirty-five per cent, at the expense, not only of +their poor tenants, but of every tax-payer in New York. + + +_The New American Cyclopaedia: a Popular Dictionary of General +Knowledge._ Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Vol. VI. +Cough--Education. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 772. + +More than one-third of the task assumed by the editors of this work is +now completed; and the best testimony in its favor is, that, although it +has been freely criticized, sometimes with closeness and severity, and +sometimes with studied harshness and evident malice, its reputation has +risen among candid and competent readers with the appearance of each +volume. Faults, negative and positive, may undoubtedly be discovered in +it; but the same is true, in a greater or less degree, of every other +production of human labor; and the eyes neither of malice nor of +hypercriticism have been able to find any sufficient reason why this +Cyclopaedia should not be accepted as the beat popular dictionary of +general knowledge in the English language. As the work advances, the +comprehensiveness of its plan, the honesty of its purpose, and the truly +catholic and liberal spirit which animates it, become more and more +apparent; and the names of the authors of the articles (a list of which +is to be published, we believe, with the last volume) sufficiently show +the determination of the editors to secure the cooperation of the first +talent in the country. Among the contributors to the present volume are +the Rev. Dr. Bellows, Edmund Blunt, Dion Bourcicault, Professor Dana +of Yale College, Edward Everett, Professor Felton of Cambridge, Parke +Godwin, Richard Hildreth, George S. Hillard, William Henry Hurlbut, and +Professors Lowell and Parsons of Cambridge. + +Of the articles, we especially notice _Cranmer_, remarkable for the +candor and the coolness of perception with which the character of its +benevolent and gifted, but inconsistent and vacillating subject, is +discussed:--_Cromwell_, which gives a completer, more authentic, and +less prejudiced account of the eventful life of the great Puritan leader +than is to be found in any other publication known to us:--_Crusades_, +a complete picture in little of those great fitful blazes of religious +enthusiasm by which it flickered into its final extinction; (for, +afterward, only a semblance of it was made a stalking-horse by +politicians;) and this article is quite a model of epitome:--_Cuneiform +Inscriptions_, in which the writer has presented concisely and clearly +the fruits of a careful examination of all the many theories that have +been broached with regard to these important and puzzling records of the +ancient world, without revealing a preference, if he have one, for +any; a wise course, where, in a case of such consequence, the views +of learned men are so conflicting, but one not always easily +followed:--_Damascus Blades_, a very interesting, and, for general +purposes, a very full description of the peculiarities of those famous, +and, it appears, not too much lauded weapons:--_Deaf and Dumb_, a very +copious article of eleven pages, rich in historical and biographical +detail, and giving full accounts of the various methods of instruction +adopted for this class of persons in all times and countries, with a +large body of statistical information upon the subject; an article of +great interest, but perhaps undue length:--_Death_, which conveys much +information on a subject as to which the grossest and most deplorable +misconceptions prevail; an article equally remarkable for its careful +and minute presentation of the phenomena of death and for the placid and +philosophical spirit in which it is written:--_Deluge_, in which, with +the ingenuity before shown in the treatment of similar subjects, the +various accounts of that event, and the facts and theories relating to +it, are laid before the reader in a manner to which no one, of whatever +creed, can object, and a new and very ingenious and rational mode of +accounting for the phenomenon in question is proposed;--_Dog_, the +fulness of which makes it acceptable to the lover of natural history, +the sporting man, and the general reader:--and the last article, +_Education_, one of great value, which describes the systems of +instruction pursued in all ages and countries, and which, without +entering upon the support of any one of them, presents to the reader +such an impartial and detailed summary of the distinguishing features of +them all, that he can form an intelligent opinion upon them for himself. + +The volume is so meritorious, that we have not looked for faults; but, +as we turned the leaves, we noticed a few such as the following:--that +the river Dove, in England, should be mentioned as "noted for its +picturesque scenery," and yet its association with Izaak Walton and +Charles Cotton, its chief glory, be passed unnoticed; and that Discord +should be defined as, "_in music_, a combination of sounds inharmonious +and unpleasing to the ear"; whereas, although, out of music, discord +means a sound inharmonious and displeasing to the ear, in music discord +is the golden bond of harmony, the life and soul of expression, that for +which the ear yearns with a yearning that is inexpressible, and enjoys +with poignancy of pleasure. We asked, too, if Thomas Dowse should be +honored with a page and a half, in which his fall from a tree, his +rheumatic fever, and the head winds which prevented him from visiting +Europe are chronicled,--while the eminent French painter, Couture, whose +use of the pallet is marked by such striking originality, that it has +produced an impression upon the works of a generation of painters, +has twelve lines! And we can hardly be accused of hypercriticism, in +directing the attention of the editors to a sentence like the following, +in the article _Diptera_, p. 498, 2d col.:--"Though _this order_ +contains the bloodthirsty mosquito, the disgusting flesh-fly, and many +insects depositing their eggs in the bodies of living animals, _it_ is a +most useful one, supplying food to insectivorous birds, and _themselves_ +[who? what?] consuming decomposing animal and vegetable substances," +etc. But these are instances of oversight in not very important matters, +or of inaccuracy of expression, or of difference of judgment between +the editors and ourselves as to plan, which even in our judgment do not +affect the value of the work in which they occur. Graver errors could be +found in almost every work of great scope that ever came from the +press. We indicate them that we may afford some help toward a nearer +approximation to that perfection which is unattainable. + + +_Tom Brown at Oxford: a Sequel to School-Days at Rugby._ By THOMAS +HUGHES, etc. Part I. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1859. + +Many men write successful books; but very few have the power of making +a book succeed by naturalness, simplicity, and quiet strength, as Mr. +Hughes found the secret of doing in his "School-Days at Rugby." It is so +easy to be eloquent,--scarce a modern French novelist but has the gift +of it by the ream; so easy to be philosophical,--one has only to begin +a few substantives with capitals; and withal it is so hard to be genial +and agreeable. Since Goldsmith's day, perhaps only Irving and Thackeray +had achieved it, till Mr. Hughes made himself the third. It is no +easy thing to write a book that shall seem so easy,--to describe your +school-days with such instinctive rejection of the unessential, that +whoever has been a boy feels as if he were reading the history of his +own, and that your volume shall be no more exotic in America than in +England. Yet this Mr. Hughes accomplished; and it was in a great measure +due to the fact, that beneath the charm of style the reader felt a real +basis of manliness and sincerity. + +His second book, "The Scouring of the White Horse," was less +successful,--in part from the narrower range of its interest, and +still more, perhaps, because it lacked the spontaneousness of the +"School-Days." In his first book there was no suggestion of authorship; +it seemed an inadvertence, something which came of itself;--but the +second was _made_, and the kind fairy that stood godmother to its elder +brother had been sent for and accordingly would not come. + +In this first number of his new story Mr. Hughes seems to have found his +good genius again, or his good genius to have found him. We meet our old +friend Tom Brown once more, and commit ourselves trustingly to the same +easy current of narrative and incident which was so delightful in +the story of his Rugby adventures. We have no doubt the book will be +instructive as well as entertaining; for we believe the author has had +some practical experience as teacher in "The Working-Men's College,"--an +excellent institution, in which instruction is given to the poor after +work-hours, and which, beside Mr. Hughes, has had another man of genius, +Mr. Ruskin, among its unpaid professors. The work is to be published +simultaneously in this country and in England. + + +_Avolio; a Legend of the Inland of Cos, with other Poems, Lyrical, +Miscellaneous, and Dramatic._ By PAUL H. HAYNE. Boston: Ticknor & +Fields. 1859. pp. 244. + +There is a great deal of real poetic feeling and expression in this +volume, and, we think, the hope of better things to come. The author has +not yet learned, and we could not expect it, that writers of verse tell +us all they can think of, and writers of poetry only what they cannot +help telling. The volume would have gained in quality by losing in +quantity, but to give too much is the mistake of all young writers, and +it is, perhaps, only by making it once for themselves that they can +learn to sift. It is so hard at first, when all the sand seems golden! +Of old the Muses were three, each of whom must reject something from the +poem, but when verse-writing became easier and more traditional, their +number was raised to nine, that they might be the harder to please. And +what a difficult jury they are! and how long they stay out over their +verdict! + +But, after all, it seems to us that Mr. Hayne has the root of the matter +in him; and we shall look to meet him again, bringing a thinner, yet +a fuller book. The present volume shows thoughtfulness, culture, +sensibility to natural beauty, and great refinement of feeling. We like +the first poem, which is also the longest, best of all. The subject is +an imaginative one,--and the choice of a subject is one great test of +genuine aptitude and ability. In this poem, and in some of the sonnets, +(which are good both in matter and construction,) Mr. Hayne shows a +genuine vigor of expression and maturity of purpose. There is a tone of +sadness in the volume, as if the author were surrounded by an atmosphere +uncongenial to letters. The reader cannot fail to be struck with this, +and also with the oddity of two or three political sonnets, in which Mr. +Hayne calls on his fellow-citizens to rally for the defence of slavery +in the name of freedom. The book is dedicated, in a very graceful +and cordial sonnet, to Mr. E.P. Whipple; and it is seldom that South +Carolina sends so pleasant a message to Massachusetts. Mr. Hayne need +only persevere in self-culture to be able to produce poems that shall +win for him a national reputation. + + +_Fairy Dreams; or Wanderings in Elfland._ By JANE G. AUSTIN. With +Illustrations by Hammatt Billings. Boston: J.E. Tilton & Co. 1859. + +This is a pretty book for children, written with no little feeling and +fancy, and in a graceful style. The chimney-corner has been abolished +by the economical furnace-register, and Santa Claus, if he come at all, +must do it like an imp of the pit. The volumes for children to pore +over, as they bake by the stove, or stew over the black hole in the +floor, have also suffered an economic and practical change. No more +fires, no more pretty fancies, seems to have been the doom. Parents who +think, as we do, that children inhale practicality with our American +atmosphere, and that a little encouragement of the imaginative side of +their nature is not amiss, will be glad to drop Mrs. Austin's book into +the proper stocking. The stories are well told; that, especially, of +the Gray Cat is full of fanciful invention. The book is very prettily +manufactured also, though we think publishers are carrying their +fondness for tinted paper too far. Salmon-color is too much; the deepest +tint allowable is that of cream from a cow that has grazed among +buttercups. + + +_Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India:_ Being Extracts from +the Letters of the late Major W.S.R. HODSON, B.A., Trinity College, +Cambridge; First Bengal European Fusileers, Commandant of Hodson's +Horse. Including a Personal Narrative of the Siege of Delhi and Capture +of the King and Princes. Edited by his Brother, the Rev. GEORGE H. +HODSON, M.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From the +Third and Enlarged English Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +16mo. pp. 444. + +This book should be widely read; or we might better say, this book _will +be_ widely read,--so widely, indeed, that there is no need for us to +repeat its story here, or to give an abstract of its contents. Hodson +was a man worth knowing, and his letters show him to us as he was. +The special qualities of which Englishmen are proud, as the traits +of national character, belonged in an uncommon degree to him. He was +eminently truthful, staunch, and brave; he had a clear eye, a strong and +ready hand, cool judgment, stern decision, and a tender heart. He might +have borne the old Douglas motto on his shield. + +He was trained under as good teachers as a young man ever had. At Rugby, +under Dr. Arnold; then, for a year or two, living among the ennobling +associations of Trinity College; then at Guernsey, as a young soldier, +under Sir William Napier; then in India, with James Thomason, +Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces, one of the best rulers +that India ever knew, "_facile princeps_ of the whole Indian service"; +and finally passing from him to serve under Sir Henry Lawrence, the +noblest soldier of India, a man for whom common words of praise are +insufficient,--Hodson had an unrivalled set of masters, and his life +proves him to have been worthy of them. + +The British rule in India is of such sort as to test the qualities of +its officers to the last point. If they have anything good in them, it +is sure to be brought into full action. Such responsibilities are thrown +on them as at once to stimulate them to exertion of their best powers. +Men who in the ordinary fields of work might remain all their lives mere +commonplace mediocrities, under the discipline of Indian service, find +out and show their real value. The Indian mutiny exhibited how common +the rare qualities of foresight, energy, and enduring courage, and the +still higher qualities of submission, patience, and faith, had become +among those against whom the natives rose like a flood to overwhelm them +in destruction. The little bands of English at Cawnpore, at Lucknow, and +at many a less famous station, stood like rocks against the dashing of +the storm. The qualities that enabled them to win the admiration even +of their enemies, and to call forth the respect and the sorrow of the +world, were the result, not of sudden stress, but of long and habitual +training. The reader of Hodson's memoir will gain a knowledge of the +processes by which such characters are developed. + +The letters which make up the larger part of this book are written +with animation and simplicity, and are full of spirited accounts of +adventure, of rough and various service. The narrative which they afford +of the siege of Delhi is of absorbing interest. The picture of the +little army of besiegers, wasted by continual disease and exposure to +the heats of an Indian summer,--worn by the constant sallies and attacks +of a host of enemies trained in arms,--saddened by the receipt of evil +tidings from all quarters,--feeling that upon their final success rested +not only the hope of the continuance of British supremacy in India, but +the very lives of those dear to them,--and, worst of all, compelled +to submit to a succession of incompetent generals, whose timidity and +irresolution baffled the best designs of officers and the dashing +bravery of the troops;--the pictures which Hodson gives of this little +army, of its unflagging spirit and resolution, and its valorous deeds, +are drawn with such truth as to bring the successive scenes vividly +before the imagination. Hodson himself was one of the best and most +useful of a noble corps of officers. His modesty does not hide the +grounds of the enthusiasm which was felt for him by his men,--of the +admiration that he excited among his fellows. The story of the capture +of the King and Princes, after the fall of Delhi, is one of the most +interesting stories of daring ever told. You hold your breath as you +read it. It was a gallant deed, done in the most gallant way. + +Altogether, the book is one of thoroughly manly tone and temper,--a book +to make those who read it manlier, to put to shame the cowardice of easy +life, to make men more honest, more enduring, more energetic, by the +example which it sets before them. Hodson's life was short, but its +result will last. There was no sham about it, no meanness,--nothing but +what was large, true, and generous. As one turns the last page, it is +with no regret that such a man should have died in the fight, for he +was a Christian soldier. He was the _preux chevalier_ of our times. The +words in which Sir Ector mourns for his brother, Sir Lancelot, are fit +for his epitaph. "'Ah, Sir Lancelot,' said hee, 'thou were head of +all christen knights! An now I dare say,' said Sir Ector, 'that, Sir +Lancelot, there thou liest, thou were never matched of none earthly +knight's hands; and thou were the curtiest knight that ever bare shield; +and thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrood horse; +and thou were the truest lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman; +and thou were the kindest man that ever strook with sword; and thou were +the goodliest person that ever came among presse of knights; and thou +were the meekest man and the gentlest that ever eate in hall among +ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortall foe that ever +put speare in the rest.'" + + +_Friends in Council_. A Series of Readings and Discourse thereon. A New +Series. 2 vols. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1860. + +The best class of readers in England and America are sure to give a +cordial welcome to a new book by Mr. Helps. Nothing better need be said +of this second series of "Friends in Council" than that it is a worthy +sequel of the first. It is the work of a man of large experience and +wide culture,--of one who is at the same time a student and a man of +the world, versed in history and practically acquainted with affairs. +Refined thoughtfulness and common sense combine to give value to all +that Mr. Helps writes, and he is master of a style at once manly and +elegant, quiet and strong. Two famous lines, which occur in a passage +quoted in these volumes, serve well to characterize their merits:-- + + "Though deep, yet clear,--though gentle, yet not dull,-- + Strong without rage,--without o'erflowing, full." + +Such books have a special worth in these days of hasty writing. They +admit one to the companionship of thoughtful, well-mannered gentlemen. +One feels that he has been in good company, after reading them; and, +whatever he may have gained of wisdom from the friends he has met in +council, he is also improved in temper and in manners by their society. + +The conversations which form the setting of the essays in these volumes +enable Mr. Helps to present in an easy and effective way various sides +of the important questions that he discusses. Completeness of statement +is rarely to be obtained upon any of the deeper topics of life. If the +golden side be displayed, the silver side is likely to be hidden. The +same man holds various, though not irreconcilable opinions upon the same +subject, according to the different lights in which he views it or the +different phases it presents. The most honest man must sometimes +appear inconsistent for the sake of truth; and the clearer a man's own +convictions, the wider will be his charity for those of others. Mr. +Helps exhibits admirably this natural and necessary diversity of +thought, existing even where there is a coincidence of principle and of +aim. + +The essays upon War and Despotism are, perhaps, the ablest in these +volumes, and deserve to be seriously viewed in the light of passing +events. They are distinguished by freedom from exaggeration and by their +moderation of statement. As in so many of the productions of the best +English writers at the present day, something of despondency in regard +to the condition of the world is to be traced in them. And truly, to one +who looks at the state of Europe and of our own country, there is more +need for faith than ground of hope. + +But at this Christmas season, this season of peace and good-will, let +all our readers read the essay on Pleasantness. And if they will but +take its teachings to heart, we can wish them, with the certainty of the +fulfilment of our wish, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. + + +_The Marvellous Adventures and Rare Conceits of Master Tyll Owlglass._ +Newly collected, etc., by KENNETH R.H. MACKENZIE. With Illustrations by +Crowquill. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. xxxix., 255. + +This is a very beautiful edition of a very amusing book. The preface and +notes of Mr. Mackenzie will commend it to scholars, while the stories +themselves will divert both young and old. A book of this kind, which +can keep life in itself for more than three hundred years, must have +some real humor and force at bottom. It is as good a specimen of +mediaeval fun as could anywhere be found. With nothing like the satiric +humor of the "Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," it appeals to a much larger +circle of readers. We are very glad to meet it again in so handsome a +dress, and with such really clever illustrations. It is just the book +for a Christmas gift. + + +_Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of Goethe._ By THOMAS +JAMES ARNOLD, Esq. With Illustrations from the Designs of Wilhelm von +Kaulbach. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 346 and 348 Broadway. 1860. pp. +226. + +It is very well that Mr. Arnold should tell us on the title-page that +his version is _after_ that of Goethe. Nothing could be truer,--and it +is a very long way after, too. By substituting the slow and verbose +pentameter of what is called the classic school of English poetry for +the remarkably forth-right and simple eight-syllabic measure of the +original, the translator has contrived to lose almost wholly that homely +flavor of the old poet, which Goethe carefully preserved. We do not mean +to say that this is altogether a bad version, as such things go; on the +contrary, it has a great deal of spirit, as it could hardly fail to +have, unless it belied its model altogether;--but it is as far as +possible from giving any notion of the characteristic qualities of +"Reinaert de Vos." If Mr. Arnold must change the measure, Chaucer's +"Nonnes Preestes Tale" would have been a safer guide to follow. + +The book, in spite of its American title-page, is wholly of English +manufacture. It is a very handsome volume, and Kaulbach's illustrations +are copied with tolerable success, though with inevitable inferiority to +the German originals. Kaulbach is hardly so happy an animal-painter as +Grandville, but he has at least given his subjects in this case a more +human expression than in his monstrous caricatures of Shakspeare. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +A Complete and Cheap Edition of the Entire Writings of Charles Dickens. +To be completed in 28 Weekly Volumes. Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & +Brothers. 8vo. pamphlet. Per vol., 25 cts. + +Mount Vernon and its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and +Pictorial. By Benson J. Lossing. Illustrated by Numerous Engravings, +chiefly from Original Drawings by the Author, engraved by Lossing & +Barritt. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. 4to. pp. 376. $3.50. + +Proceedings and Debates of the Third National Quarantine and Sanitary +Convention, held in the City of New York, April 27-30, 1859. New York. +Printed for the Board of Councilmen. 8vo. pp. 728. + +A History of the Four Georges, Kings of England; containing Personal +Incidents of their Lives, Public Events of their Reigns, and +Biographical Notices of their Chief Ministers, Courtiers, and Favorites. +By Samuel M. Smucker, LL.D., Author of "Court and Reign of Catherine +II." etc., etc. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. xii., 454. $1.25. + +Goethe's Correspondence with a Child. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. +pp. 504. $1.25. + +The Old Stone Mansion. By Charles J. Peterson, Author of "Kate +Aylesford," etc. Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 367. +$1.25. + +Fisher's River (North Carolina) Scenes and Characters. By "Skitt." +Illustrated by John McLenan. New York. Harper & Brothers. 16mo. pp. +viii., 269. $1.00. + +Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India: being Extracts from the +Letters of the late Major W.S.R. Hodson, B.A., Trinity College, +Cambridge; First Bengal European Fusileers, Commandant of Hodson's +Horse. Including a Personal Narrative of the Siege of Delhi and Capture +of the King and Princes. Edited by his Brother, the Rev. George H. +Hodson, M.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From the +Third and Enlarged English Edition. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 16mo. pp. +444. $1.00. + +Religious and Moral Sentences culled from the Works of Shakspeare, +compared with Sacred Passages drawn from Holy Writ. From the English +Edition, with an Introduction by Frederic D. Huntington. Boston and +Cambridge. James Munroe & Co. 16mo. pp. 226. 75 cts. + +Avolio; a Legend of the Island of Cos. With Poems, Lyrical, +Miscellaneous, and Dramatic. By Paul H. Hayne. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. +16mo. pp. xii., 244. 75 cts. + +Wild Southern Scenes; a Tale of Disunion and Border War. By J.B. Jones, +Author of "Wild Western Scenes," etc. Philadelphia T.B. Peterson & Co. +12mo. pp. 502. $1.25. + +Mary Staunton; or, The Pupils of Marvel Hall. By the Author of +"Portraits of my Married Friends." New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. +398. $1.25. + +Reminiscences of Rufus Choate, the Great American Advocate. By Edward G. +Parker. New York. Mason Brothers. 16mo. pp. 522. $1.50. + +The Art of Elocution, exemplified in a Simplified Course of Exercises. +By Henry N. Day, Author of "Elements of the Art of Rhetoric." Revised +Edition. Cincinnati. Moore, Wilstach, Keys, & Co. 12mo. pp. 384. $1.25. + +True Womanhood; a Tale. By John Neal. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. +pp. 487. $1.25. + +The Queen of Hearts. By Wilkie Collins, Author of "The Dead Secret," +"After Dark," etc. New York. Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 472. $1.00. + +Home and Abroad; a Sketch-Book of Life, Scenery, and Men. By Bayard +Taylor. New York. G.P. Putnam. 12mo. pp. vi., 500. $1.25. + +The Virginians; a Tale of the Last Century. By W.M. Thackeray. With +Illustrations by the Author. New York. Harper & Brothers. 8vo. pp. iv., +411. $2.00. + +The Prairie Traveller. A Handbook for Overland Expeditions--With Maps, +Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the +Mississippi and the Pacific. By Randolph B. Marcy, Captain U.S.A. +Published by Authority of the War Department. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 16mo. pp. vi., 340. $1.00. + +Book of Plays for Home Amusement. Being a Collection of Original, +Altered, and Selected Tragedies, Plays, Dramas, Comedies, Farces, +Burlesques, Charades, Lectures, etc., carefully arranged and specially +adapted for Private Representation, with Full Directions for +Performance. By Silas S. Steele, Dramatist. Philadelphia. George G. +Evans. 12mo. pp. 352. $1.00. + +The History of South Carolina, from its first European Discovery to +its Erection into a Republic; with a Supplementary Book, bringing the +Narrative down to the Present Time. By William Gilmore Simms, Author of +"The Yemassee," "Cassique of Kinwah," etc. New and Revised Edition. New +York. Redfield. 12mo. pp. viii., 437. $1.25. + +Sermons. By Richard Fuller, D.D., of Baltimore. New York. Sheldon & Co. +12mo. pp. 384. $1.00. + +Poems. By James Clarence Mangan. With a Biographical Introduction by +John Mitchel. New York. P.M. Haverty. 12mo. pp. 460. $1.00. + +Lionel Lincoln; or, The Leaguer of Boston. By J. Fenimore Cooper. +Illustrated from Drawings by F.O.C. Darley. New York. W.A. Townsend & +Co. 12mo. pp. 464. $1.50. + +The Young Men of America. A Prize Essay. By Samuel Batchelder, Jr. +(Reprinted from the Young Men's Magazine.) New York. Sheldon & Co. 16mo. +pp. 70. 50 cts. + +Saul; a Drama, in Three Parts. Second Edition, carefully revised and +amended. Montreal. John Lovell. 12mo. pp. 328. + +Poems. By Charles Henry St. John. Boston. A. Williams & Co. 12mo. pp. +144. 75 cts. + +The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D.D., late Head-Master of +Rugby School, and Regius Professor of Modern History in the University +of Oxford. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, M.A., Regius Professor of +Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford. In Two Volumes. +Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. pp. 378, 400. $2.00. + +Friends in Council; a Series of Readings and Discourse thereon. A New +Series. In Two Volumes. Reprinted from the English Edition. Boston and +Cambridge. James Munroe & Co. 16mo. pp. iv., 242, iv., 280. $1.50. + +Sir Rohan's Ghost. A Romance. Boston. J.E. Tilton & Co. 12mo. pp. 352. +$1.00. + +Stories of Rainbow and Lucky. By Jacob Abbott. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 16mo. pp. 187. 50 cts. + +Preachers and Preaching. By Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D., Author of +"Romanism at Home," "Men and Things in Europe," etc. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 12mo. pp. 303. 75 cts. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, +January, 1860, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NO. 27 *** + +***** This file should be named 11173-8.txt or 11173-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/7/11173/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/11173-8.zip b/old/11173-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..07bac50 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11173-8.zip diff --git a/old/11173.txt b/old/11173.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4398518 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11173.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8922 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, +1860, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, January, 1860 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11173] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NO. 27 *** + + + + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +THE + +ATLANTIC MONTHLY, + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. V.--JANUARY, 1860.--NO. XXVII. + + + + +OUR ARTISTS IN ITALY. + +HIRAM POWERS. + + +Antique Art, beside affording a standard by which the modern may be +measured, has the remarkable property-giving it a higher value--of +testing the genuineness of the Art-impulse. + +Even to genius, that is, to the artist, a true Art-life is difficult +of attainment. In the midst of illumination, there is the mystery: the +subjective mystery, out of which issue the germs--like seeds floated +from unknown shores--of his imaginings; the objective mystery, which +yields to him, through obvious, yet unexplained harmonies, the means of +manifestation. + +Behind the consciousness is the power; behind the power, that which +gives it worth and occupation. + +To the artist definite foresight is denied. His life is full of +surprises at new necessities. When the present demand shall have been +fulfilled, what shall follow? Shall it be Madonna, or Laocooen? His +errand is like that of the commander who bears sealed instructions; and +he may drift for years, ere he knows wherefore. Thorwaldsen waited, +wandering by the Tiber a thousand days,--then in one, uttered his +immortal "Night." + +Not even the severest self-examination will enable one in whom the +Art-impulse exists to understand thoroughly its aim and uses; yet to +approximate a clear perception of his own nature and that of the art to +which he is called is one of his first duties. What he is able to do, +required to do, and permitted to do, are questions of vital importance. + +Possession of himself, of himself in the highest, will alone enable the +student in Art to solve the difficulties of his position. His habitual +consciousness must be made up of the noblest of all that has been +revealed to it; otherwise those fine intuitions, akin to the ancient +inspirations, through whose aid genius is informed of its privileges, +are impossible. + +Therefore the foremost purpose of an artist should be to claim and take +possession of self. Somewhere within is his inheritance, and he must not +be hindered of it. Other men have other gifts,--gifts bestowed under +different conditions, and subject in a great degree to choice. Talent is +not fastidious. It is an instrumentality, and its aim is optional with +him who possesses it. Genius is exquisitely fastidious, and the man whom +it possesses must live its life, or no life. + +In view of these considerations, the efforts of an artist to assume his +true position must be regarded with earnest interest, and importance +must be attached to that which aids him in attaining to his true plane. + +Such aid may be, and is, derived from the influences of Italy. Of those +agencies which have a direct influence upon the action of the artist, +which serve to assist him in manifesting his idea and fulfilling his +purpose, mention will be made in connection with the works which have +been produced in Italian studios. They have less importance than that +great element related to the innermost of the artist's life,--to that +power of which we have spoken, making Art-action necessary. + +It is not, however, exclusively antique Art which exercises this power +of elevation. Ancient Art may be a better term; as all great Art bears +a like relation to the student. In Florence the mediaeval influences +predominate. Rome exercises _its_ power through the medium of the +antique. + +There is much Christian Art in Rome. Yet its effect is insignificant, +compared with that of the vast collection of Greek sculptures to be +found within its walls. Instinctively, as the vague yearnings and +prophecies of youth lift him in whom they quicken away from youth's +ordinary purposes and associations, his thought turns to that far city +where are gathered the achievements of those who were indeed the gods of +Hellas. To be there, and to demand from those eloquent lips the secret +of the golden age, is his dream and aim, and there shall be solved the +problem of his life. + +But antique Art, waiting so patiently twenty centuries to afford aid to +the artist, waits also to sit in judgment upon his worth and acts. Woe +to him who cannot pass the ordeal of its power, and explain the enigma +of its speech! + +Nothing can be more pitiful and sad than the condition of one who, +having been subjected to the influence of ancient Art, has not had the +ability to recognize or the earnestness of purpose essential to the +apprehension of the truths which it has for his soul instead of his +hands. But if, through truthfulness of aim, and a sense of the divine +nature of the errand to which he seems appointed, he reach the law +of Art, then henceforth its pursuit becomes the sign of life; if the +impulse bear him no farther than rules, then all he produces goes forth +as a proclamation of death. There is no middle path. Art is high or low: +high, if it be the profoundest life of an earnest man, uttering itself +in the _real_, even though it be awkwardly, and in violation of all +accepted methods of expression; low, if it be not such utterance, even +though consummate in obedience to the finest rules of all Art-science. +There can be no other way. The life is in the man, and not in the stone; +and no affectation of vitality can atone for the absence of that soul +which should have been breathed into existence from his own divine life. + +As was said, possession of self is the only condition under which the +quantity and quality of the Art-impulse may be determined. It is only +when a man stands face to face with himself, in the stillness of his own +inner world, that his possibilities become apparent; and it is only when +conscious of these, and inspired by a just sense of their dignity, that +he can achieve that which shall be genuine success. _Once_ he must be +lifted away and isolated from worldly surroundings, relieved from all +objective influences, from the pressure of all human relations; once the +very memory of all these must be blotted out; once he must be alone. +This is possible to a Mendelssohn in the awful solitude of Beethoven's +"Sonate Pathetique," to a painter in the presence of Leonardo's "Last +Supper," and to a sculptor in the hushed halls of the Vatican. + +But that which lifts the true artist above externals, the externals of +his own individual being, crushes the false, to whom the marble and the +paint are in themselves the ultimate. + +This train of thought has been suggested by the fact of the dominion +which classic Art has acquired over sculptors, and by the influence of +the sixteenth and seventeenth century schools upon painters. It is due, +however, to our sculptors in Italy that credit should be given them +for having resisted the influence of forms, of the mere letter of the +classic, to a greater extent than the students of any other nation. +Whether or not they have been receptive of the spirit of the antique +remains to be seen. + +American painters have been less fortunate. Too often the lessons of the +old masters, and especially those of the earliest, the Puritan Fathers +of Art, have been unheeded; or the rules and practices which served them +temporarily, subject to the phase of the ideal for the time uppermost, +have passed into permanent laws, to be obeyed under all conditions of +Art-utterance. + +The United States have had within the last twenty years as many as +thirty sculptors and painters resident in Italy. At the beginning of the +present year ten sculpture studios in Rome and Florence were occupied +by Americans. We will speak of these artists in the order in which they +entered the profession of an art which they have served to develop +in this first period of its history in America. The eldest bears the +honored name of Hiram Powers. + +Three parties have been remarkably unjust to this man,--namely, his +friends, his enemies, and himself. + +Neither the artist nor his friends need feel solicitude for his fame. +The exact value of his excellence shall be estimated, and the height of +his genius fully recognized, when the right man comes. Other award than +that from an age on a level with his own life can be of small worth to +one who has attained to the true level of Art. Fame must come to him of +that vision which can pierce the external of his work and penetrate to +the presence of his very soul. His action must be traced to its finest +ideal motive,--as chemist-philosophers pursue the steps of analysis +until opaque matter is resolved to pure, ethereal elements. His fame +must be from such vision, and it will approach the universal just in +proportion as his pulse beats in unison with the heart of mankind. +Whatever may be an artist's plans, or those of his friends, in regard to +his valuation by the world, while he is living, ultimately he himself, +divested of all save his own individuality, must stand revealed. + +Those who in other departments of action are necessarily governed +somewhat, or it may be entirely, by rules of conduct general in nature +and universal in application, may fail to receive or may escape justice. +They are to a great degree involuntary agents, and subject to the laws +of science, to the operations of which they are obliged to conform. +The private fact of the man is hidden by the public general truth. If, +however, the energies of the individual overtop the science, enabling +him to assert himself above the summit of its history, then is he +accessible to all generations, and can in no wise avoid or forfeit his +just fame. + +In Art, this intimate relation of the result of action to the actor is +complete,--inasmuch as, to _be_ Art, to rise above being something +else, the shadow and mockery of Art, it must be of and from the man, a +spontaneity, a reflection, light for light, shade for shade, color for +color, of his entire being; and with this effect his will has little to +do. Therefore, unless he be an impostor, he need give himself no trouble +regarding his future. His works shall serve as a clue, produced century +after century, along which posterity shall feel its way back to his +studio and heart. No need of thought for _his_ morrow. + +But for his to-day he may well be solicitous. If fame be his reflection, +he has also the shadow of himself, his reputation. + +It is a great error to assume that these two effects are so related that +the augmentation of the one must increase the other, and as great a +mistake to confound the two. The truth is, that reputation and fame are +rarely coincident. They are not unfrequently in direct opposition,--so +much so, that some names, which the world cannot give up, have to +be filtered through a thick mass of years, to purify them of their +reputations, and leave them simply famous. + +No name has suffered more than that of Powers. His friends, blind to the +laws which govern these matters, have wrought bravely to construct for +him a reputation commensurate with his vaguely imagined worth; but upon +his real worth they have evinced no desire to lay their foundation. No +accurate survey has been made of his abilities, no definite plan of +his artist-nature. Often a place has been demanded for his name in the +history of Art, and the first place too, because of his fine frank eye, +or the simplicity of his manners,--because his workmen cut the chain of +the Greek slave out of one piece of stone, or the marble of the statue +itself had no spot as big as a pin-head,--because he himself chooses to +rasp and scrape plaster, rather than model in plastic clay,--because he +tinkered up the "infernal regions" of the Cincinnati Museum years ago, +or spends his time now in making perforating-machines and perforated +files; in fine, for _any_ reason rather than for the right legitimate +one of artistic merit, they have demanded room for their favorite. + +Even those who look deeper than this, appreciating Mr. Powers as +a gentleman, an ingenious mechanic, and a skillful manipulator in +sculpture, have been content or constrained to urge his claims to +attention upon false considerations. We have heard it gravely remarked, +as a matter of astonishment, that there were individuals--refined men, +apparently--who looked upon the Venus de' Medici as a finer work than +the Greek Slave. In the files of a New York paper may be found an +article, written by a highly cultivated man, in which Powers's busts are +asserted to be rather the effect of miracles than the results of _human_ +effort. The spirit which has prompted these and many kindred expressions +cannot be too much deplored by those who love Art and know the artist. +It has succeeded in creating for him a reputation broad and remarkable, +but most unfortunate, because not his own, because not the reputation +which should have formed about his name here, as fame will yonder; +unfortunate, because, though broad, it is the breadth of an inverted +pyramid, which must naturally topple over of itself, and incumber his +path with ruins. + +The false position in which Mr. Powers has been placed by his friends +has of course won him many enemies. + +Bold, sincere, working enemies are highly useful in developing an +artist's character, especially if he be a law-abiding follower of the +art. But enemies must be dealers of fair blows, wagers of honorable +warfare; no assassin is worthy of the name of enemy. Sometimes, however, +those who are worthy of the name, and entitled to respect, may make +injudicious and unfair use of censure and invective. It is unwise, when +the necessity arises to set aside a worthless or an imperfect image, to +turn Iconoclast and demolish those surrounding it which are worthy of a +place in the temple. True criticism, for its own sake, if prompted by no +higher motive, deals justly. + +The friends of Mr. Powers have, in their estimate of his ability, given +him credit for that which he does not possess, and claimed recognition +for merit unsupported by the value of his works. His enemies have +labored assiduously, not only to deprive the estimate of its unwarranted +quantity, but to overthrow the whole, and leave him merely a mechanic, +a dexterous mechanic, with small views, but large ambition, trying +to pass himself off as an artist. His busts are asserted to be +but more elaborate examples of his skill in the +"perforated-file-and-patent-punch" line. + +But as the struggles to elevate this artist's reputation above its +proper level have proved signal failures, so the effort to depreciate +it must ultimately be defeated. Only one kind of injustice ever proves +irreparable wrong: that which a man exercises towards himself. Mr. +Powers _had_ a specialty. + +So constituted that the most difficult executive operations are to him +but play and pleasure, he has also, to govern and inform this rare +organization, a broad, manly, and most genial human nature. This +combination decided the question of his proper mission, and in virtue of +it he has been enabled to model a series of most remarkable busts, the +true excellence of which must be recognized in spite of friends and +foes, and the epithets "miraculous" and "mechanical." + +It is possible that the highest type of portrait-sculpture is beyond the +limit of this specialty; indeed, it is almost impossible that with the +elements constituting it there should be associated the still rarer +power to achieve the most exalted ideal Art; and such Art we believe the +highest portraiture to be. + +A consummate representation of a man in his divinest development, the +last refined ideal of him _then_, would be indeed somewhat miraculous! + +The world asks less. It claims to know of a man what the face of him +became under the influences of human, temporal relations. It wants +preserved of the statesman the statesman's face, of the merchant the +merchant's face; and this demand, when governed by a cultivated taste, +is a legitimate one,--as legitimate as is the demand for any history. +The public requires the image of the man whom the public knew, and +they regard as valuable that which can be received as a definite and +trustworthy statement of a great man, or of one whom it esteemed great. +It requires this, has a right to such information; and the generation +which fails to demand of its artists a true record of its prominent men +fails utterly in its duty. The bust of a man goes down to posterity, not +only the history which it is in itself, but as an interpreter of the +history of its age. Were it not for Art, an age would recede into the +unknown, to be recorded as dark, or into the shadowy world of myth. +Portraiture, more than aught else, serves to elucidate the tradition or +story of a people. How impossible to explain to the twentieth century +the bad mystery of our present, without the aid of Powers's head of +Calhoun, the less adequate bust of Stephen A. Douglas, and the one which +_should_ be modelled of Mr. Buchanan! A faithful delineation of the +features of some men is needful. We should be thankful for that black +frown of Nero, for the bald pate of Scipio, for those queer eyes of +Marius, and for the long neck of Cicero, as seen in the newly discovered +bust. These are the signs of the men, and explain them. + +Mr. Powers has succeeded in reporting more accurately than any other +recent artist the physical facts of the individual face. From one of his +marbles we derive definite ideas of the human character of its subject, +what its ambition is, and what its weakness; what have been its loves +and its antipathies, its struggles and its victories, its joys and its +sorrows, may be revealed to him who has learned what the human face +becomes under the influence of these incessant forces. No mere _talent_ +can accomplish such results. Behind all that kind of strength lies +the fact of peculiar sympathies, relating the artist to this phase of +Art-representation; and within certain limits, which should have been +undebatable, his rule was absolute. + +The great mistake with Mr. Powers has been his oversight regarding these +limits. There has been debate, hesitation, and a continual wandering +away from the duties of his errand. Years have been devoted to those +ghosts of sculpture, allegorical figures; other years wasted in the +elaboration of machinery. Not that his ideal statues are worthless, or +fall short of great beauty and exquisite delicacy; not that his skill +as a mechanician is other than great. But the age cannot afford these +things, nor can the sculptor afford them. A year is too great a sum to +give for a statue of California. Better than that, the several portraits +of valued men which might have been acquired,--one bust, even, like +those which surprised and compelled the reverence of Thorwaldsen. Better +the perfected ability which would have given his country the Webster he +should and might have made than a hundred "Americas." + +There are two considerations which may have misled Mr. Powers. One, a +pecuniary one, which he should have disposed of as did Agassiz, when +such was advanced to induce him to give lyceum lectures:--"Sir, I +cannot afford to make money!" The other may have been the weight of the +prevailing error that portrait-sculpture is a less honorable branch of +Art. + +Less than what? The historical? What finer history than Titian's Paul +III., Raphael's Leo X., Albert Duerer's head of himself? What finer than +the Pericles, the Marcus Aurelius of the Capitol, the Demosthenes of the +Vatican, Chantrey's Scott, Houdon's Voltaire, Powers's Jackson?--Heroic? +what more heroic than the Lateran Sophocles, the Venetian Colleoni, or +Rauch's statue of Frederick the Great?--Poetical? What picture more +sweetly poetical than Raphael's head of himself in the Uffizi, or +Giotto's Dante in the Bargello? What _ideal_ statue surpasses in +poetical power Michel Angelo's De' Medici in the San Lorenzo Chapel? +What ideal head is more beautiful than the Townley Clytie of the British +Museum, or the Young Augustus of the Vatican? What grander than Da +Vinci's portrait of himself? + +No,--when the sculptor has wrought the adequate representation of the +individual in its best estate, he may rest assured that he has achieved +"high Art." + +Let us not be unjust to Mr. Powers's ideal works. In the qualities of +chasteness of conception, delicacy of treatment, temperate grace, and +that rarer, finer quality of dignified repose, they have not been +surpassed since the time of Greek Art. When the subject chosen has not +been foreign to the artist's nature, as in the "Eve," nor foreign to the +Art's province, as in the "California," his success has been very like a +triumph. + +But the success has not been that which he was entitled to grasp; the +seeming triumph has precluded a real victory. We must believe that +the highest lessons of ancient Art have, in a great measure, been +unrecognized by Mr. Powers. The external has been studied. No man can +talk more justly of that exquisite line of the Venus de' Medici's temple +and cheek, or point out more discriminatingly the beauties of the Milo +statue, or detect more quickly the truths of the antique busts. He has +discovered, also, somewhat of the great secret of repose,--has perceived +that it is essential, in some wise, to all greatness in Art, more +particularly in his own department of sculpture. But beyond that simple +recognition of the fact, what? That repose is dependent on power to act, +and must be great in proportion to mightiness of power? No, he could not +have seen this; else had his Webster come to us less questionable in +intent, less remote in its merits from the massive self-possession of +the man. + +For what Mr. Powers became before he left America he cannot be praised +too greatly. He carried with him to Europe just that knowledge of Nature +and that executive power which prepared him to take advantage of the aid +that all great Art was waiting to afford. Had he won "the large truth," +he would have found the scope and purpose of his genius, as in America +he had found that of his talent. He would have seen his specialty to be +worthy of all reverence, for he would have attained to an appreciation +of the high possibilities of portrait-Art. There would have been +developed, under the influence of great principles, the power to make +_statues_ of great men,--colossal, instead of big,--reposeful, instead +of paralyzed,--grand, instead of arrogant,--statues worthy of the hand +that wrought the busts of Calhoun, Jackson, and Webster, worthy to rank +with the few mighty embodiments of power, the Sophocles, the Aristides, +and the Demosthenes. This he might have done; and this he may yet +accomplish. + + + + +THE AMBER GODS. + + +STORY FIRST. + +_Flower o' the Peach._ + + +We've some splendid old point-lace in our family, yellow and fragrant, +loose-meshed. It isn't every one has point at all; and of those who +have, it isn't every one can afford to wear it. I can. Why? Oh, because +it's in character. Besides, I admire point any way,--it's so becoming; +and then, you see, this amber! Now what is in finer unison, this old +point-lace, all tags and tangle and fibrous and bewildering, and this +amber, to which Heaven knows how many centuries, maybe, with all their +changes, brought perpetual particles of increase? I like yellow things, +you see. + +To begin at the beginning. My name, you're aware, is Giorgione +Willoughby. Queer name for a girl! Yes; but before papa sowed his wild +oats, he was one afternoon in Fiesole, looking over Florence nestled +below, when some whim took him to go into a church there, a quiet place, +full of twilight and one great picture, nobody within but a girl and +her little slave,--the one watching her mistress, the other saying +dreadfully devout prayers on an amber rosary, and of course she didn't +see him, or didn't appear to. After he got there, he wondered what +on earth he came for, it was so dark and poky, and he began to feel +uncomfortably,--when all of a sudden a great ray of sunset dashed +through the window, and drowned the place in the splendor of the +illumined painting. Papa adores rich colors; and he might have been +satiated here, except that such things make you want more. It was a +Venus;--no, though, it couldn't have been a Venus in a church, could it? +Well, then, a Magdalen, I guess, or a Madonna, or something. I fancy the +man painted for himself, and christened for others. So, when I was born, +some years afterward, papa, gratefully remembering this dazzling little +vignette of his youth, was absurd enough to christen me Giorgione. +That's how I came by my identity; but the folks all call me Yone,--a +baby name. + +I'm a blonde, you know,--none of your silver-washed things. I wouldn't +give a _fico_ for a girl with flaxen hair; she might as well be a wax +doll, and have her eyes moved by a wire; besides, they've no souls. +I imagine they were remnants at our creation, and somehow scrambled +together, and managed to get up a little life among themselves; but it's +good for nothing, and everybody sees through the pretence. They're glass +chips, and brittle shavings, slender pinkish scrids,--no name for them; +but just you say blonde, soft and slow and rolling,--it brings up +a brilliant, golden vitality, all manner of white and torrid +magnificences, and you see me! I've watched little bugs--gold +rose-chafers--lie steeping in the sun, till every atom of them must have +been searched with the warm radiance, and have felt, that, when they +reached that point, I was just like them, golden all through,--not dyed, +but created. Sunbeams like to follow me, I think. Now, when I stand in +one before this glass, infiltrated with the rich tinge, don't I look +like the spirit of it just stepped out for inspection? I seem to myself +like the complete incarnation of light, full, bounteous, overflowing, +and I wonder at and adore anything so beautiful; and the reflection +grows finer and deeper while I gaze, till I dare not do so any longer. +So, without more words, I'm a golden blonde. You see me now: not too +tall,--five feet four; not slight, or I couldn't have such perfect +roundings, such flexible moulding. Here's nothing of the spiny Diana and +Pallas, but Clytie or Isis speaks in such delicious curves. It don't +look like flesh and blood, does it? Can you possibly imagine it will +ever change? Oh! + +Now see the face,--not small, either; lips with no particular outline, +but melting, and seeming as if they would stain yours, should you touch +them. No matter about the rest, except the eyes. Do you meet such eyes +often? You wouldn't open yours so, if you did. Note their color now, +before the ray goes. Yellow hazel? Not a bit of it! Some folks say +topaz, but they're fools. Nor sherry. There's a dark sardine base, but +over it real seas of light, clear light; there isn't any positive color; +and once when I was angry, I caught a glimpse of them in a mirror, and +they were quite white, perfectly colorless, only luminous. I looked like +a fiend, and, you may be sure, recovered my temper directly,--easiest +thing in the world, when you've motive enough. You see the pupil is +small, and that gives more expansion and force to the irides; but +sometimes in an evening, when I'm too gay, and a true damask settles in +the cheek, the pupil grows larger and crowds out the light, and under +these thick, brown lashes, these yellow-hazel eyes of yours, they are +dusky and purple and deep with flashes, like pansies lit by fire-flies, +and then common folks call them black. Be sure, I've never got such eyes +for nothing, any more than this hair. That is Lucrezia Borgian, spun +gold, and ought to take the world in its toils. I always wear these +thick, riotous curls round my temples and face; but the great braids +behind--oh, I'll uncoil them before my toilet is over. + +Probably you felt all this before, but didn't know the secret of it. +Now, the traits being brought out, you perceive nothing wanting; the +thing is perfect, and you've a reason for it. Of course, with such an +organization, I'm not nervous. Nervous! I should as soon fancy a dish of +cream nervous. I am too rich for anything of the kind, permeated utterly +with a rare golden calm. Girls always suggest little similitudes to me: +there's that brunette beauty,--don't you taste mulled wine when you see +her? and thinking of yourself, did you ever feel green tea? and find me +in a crust of wild honey, the expressed essence of woods and flowers, +with its sweet satiety?--no, that's too cloying. I'm a deal more like +Mendelssohn's music,--what I know of it, for I can't distinguish +tunes,--you wouldn't suspect it,--but full harmonics delight me as they +do a wild beast; and so I'm like a certain adagio in B flat, that Papa +likes. + +There now! you're perfectly shocked to hear me go on so about myself; +but you oughtn't to be. It isn't lawful for any one else, because praise +is intrusion; but if the rose please to open her heart to the moth, what +then? You know, too, I didn't make myself; it's no virtue to be so fair. +Louise couldn't speak so of herself: first place, because it wouldn't +be true; next place, she couldn't, if it were; and lastly, she made her +beauty by growing a soul in her eyes, I suppose,--what you call good. +I'm not good, of course; I wouldn't give a fig to be good. So +it's not vanity. It's on a far grander scale; a splendid +selfishness,--authorized, too; and papa and mamma brought me up to +worship beauty,--and there's the fifth commandment, you know. + +Dear me! you think I'm never coming to the point. Well, here's this +rosary;--hand me the perfume-case first, please. Don't you love heavy +fragrances, faint with sweetness, ravishing juices of odor, heliotropes, +violets, water-lilies,--powerful attars and extracts, that snatch your +soul off your lips? Couldn't you live on rich scents, if they tried to +starve you? I could, or die on them: I don't know which would be best. +There! there's the amber rosary! You needn't speak; look at it! + +Bah! is that all you've got to say? Why, observe the thing; turn it +over; hold it up to the window; count the beads,--long, oval, like some +seaweed bulbs, each an amulet. See the tint; it's very old; like clots +of sunshine,--aren't they? Now bring it near; see the carving, here +corrugated, there faceted, now sculptured into hideous, tiny, heathen +gods. You didn't notice that before! How difficult it must have been, +when amber is so friable! Here's one with a chessboard on his back, and +all his kings and queens and pawns slung round him. Here's another +with a torch, a flaming torch, its fire pouring out inverted. They are +grotesque enough;--but this, this is matchless: such a miniature woman, +one hand grasping the round rock behind, while she looks down into some +gulf, perhaps, beneath, and will let herself fall. Oh, you should see +_her_ with a magnifying-glass! You want to think of calm, satisfying +death, a mere exhalation, a voluntary slipping into another element? +There it is for you. They are all gods and goddesses. They are all here +but one; I've lost one, the knot of all, the love of the thing. Well! +wasn't it queer for a Catholic girl to have at prayer? Don't you wonder +where she got it? Ah! but don't you wonder where I got it? I'll tell +you. + +Papa came in, one day, and with great mystery commenced unrolling, +and unrolling, and throwing tissue papers on the floor, and scraps of +colored wool; and Lu and I ran to him,--Lu stooping on her knees to look +up, I bending over his hands to look down. It was so mysterious! I began +to suspect it was diamonds for me, but knew I never could wear them, and +was dreadfully afraid that I was going to be tempted, when slowly, bead +by bead, came out this amber necklace. Lu fairly screamed; as for me, I +just drew breath after breath, without a word. Of course they were for +me;--I reached my hands for them. + +"Oh, wait!" said papa. "Yone or Lu?" + +"Now how absurd, papa!" I exclaimed. "Such things for Lu!" + +"Why not?" asked Lu,--rather faintly now, for she knew I always carried +my point. + +"The idea of you in amber, Lu! It's too foreign; no sympathy between +you!" + +"Stop, stop!" said papa. "You shan't crowd little Lu out of them. What +do you want them for, Lu?" + +"To wear," quavered Lu,--"like the balls the Roman ladies carried for +coolness." + +"Well, then, you ought to have them. What do you want them for, Yone?" + +"Oh, if Lu's going to have them, I _don't_ want them." + +"But give a reason, child." + +"Why, to wear, too,--to look at,--to have and to hold for better, for +worse,--to say my prayers on," for a bright idea struck me, "to say +my prayers on, like the Florence rosary." I knew that would finish the +thing. + +"Like the Florence rosary?" said papa, in a sleepy voice. "Why, this +_is_ the Florence rosary." + +Of course, when we knew that, we were both more crazy to obtain it. + +"Oh, Sir," just fluttered Lu, "where did you get it?" + +"I got it; the question is, Who's to have it?" + +"I must and will, potential and imperative," I exclaimed, quite on fire. +"The nonsense of the thing! Girls with lucid eyes, like shadowy shallows +in quick brooks, can wear crystallizations. As for me, I can wear +only concretions and growths; emeralds and all their cousins would +be shockingly inharmonious on me; but you know, Lu, how I use Indian +spices, and scarlet and white berries and flowers, and little hearts and +notions of beautiful copal that Rose carved for you,--and I can wear +sandal-wood and ebony and pearls, and now this amber. But you, Lu, +you can wear every kind of precious stone, and you may have Aunt +Willoughby's rubies that she promised me; they are all in tone with you; +but I must have this." + +"I don't think you're right," said Louise, rather soberly. "You strip +yourself of great advantages. But about the rubies, I don't want +anything so flaming, so you may keep them; and I don't care at all about +this. I think, Sir, on the whole, they belong to Yone for her name." + +"So they do," said papa. "But not to be bought off! That's my little +Lu!" + +And somehow Lu, who had been holding the rosary, was sitting on papa's +knee, as he half knelt on the floor, and the rosary was in my hand. And +then he produced a little kid box, and there lay inside a star with a +thread of gold for the forehead, circlets for wrist and throat, two +drops, and a ring. Oh, such beauties! You've never seen them. + +"The other one shall have these. Aren't you sorry, Yone?" he said. + +"Oh, no, indeed! I'd much rather have mine, though these are splendid. +What are they?" + +"Aqua-marina," sighed Lu, in an agony of admiration. + +"Dear, dear! how did you know?" + +Lu blushed, I saw,--but I was too much absorbed with the jewels to +remark it. + +"Oh, they are just like that ring on your hand! You don't want two rings +alike," I said. "Where did you get that ring, Lu?" + +But Lu had no senses for anything beyond the casket. + +If you know aqua-marina, you know something that's before every other +stone in the world. Why, it is as clear as light, white, limpid, dawn +light; sparkles slightly and seldom; looks like pure drops of water, +sea-water, scooped up and falling down again; just a thought of its +parent beryl green hovers round the edges; and it grows more lucent and +sweet to the centre, and there you lose yourself in some dream of vast +seas, a glory of unimagined oceans; and you say that it was crystallized +to any slow flute-like tune, each speck of it floating into file with +a musical grace, and carrying its sound with it. There! it's very +fanciful, but I'm always feeling the tune in aqua-marina, and trying to +find it,--but I shouldn't know it was a tune, if I did, I suppose. How +magnificent it would be, if every atom of creation sprang up and said +its one word of abracadabra, the secret of its existence, and fell +silent again. Oh, dear! you'd die, you know; but what a pow-wow! Then, +too, in aqua-marina proper, the setting is kept out of sight, and you +have the unalloyed stone with its sea-rims and its clearness and steady +sweetness. It wasn't the stone for Louise to wear; it belongs rather +to highly-nervous, excitable persons; and Lu is as calm as I, only so +different! There is something more pure and simple about it than about +anything else; others may flash and twinkle, but this just glows with an +unvarying power, is planetary and strong. It wears the moods of the sea, +too: once in a while a warm amethystine mist suffuses it like a blush; +sometimes a white morning fog breathes over it: you long to get into the +heart of it. That's the charm of gems, after all! You feel that they are +fashioned through dissimilar processes from yourself,--that there's a +mystery about them, mastering which would be like mastering a new life, +like having the freedom of other stars. I give them more personality +than I would a great white spirit. I like amber that way, because I know +how it was made, drinking the primeval weather, resinously beading each +grain of its rare wood, and dripping with a plash to filter through and +around the fallen cones below. In some former state I must have been a +fly embalmed in amber. + +"Oh, Lu!" I said, "this amber's just the thing for me, such a great +noon creature! And as for you, you shall wear mamma's Mechlin and that +aqua-marina; and you'll look like a mer-queen just issuing from the +wine-dark deeps and glittering with shining water-spheres." + +I never let Lu wear the point at all; she'd be ridiculous in it,--so +flimsy and open and unreserved; that's for me;--Mechlin, with its +whiter, closer, chaste web, suits her to a T. + +I must tell you, first, how this rosary came about, any way. You know +we've a million of ancestors, and one of them, my great-grandfather, was +a sea-captain, and actually did bring home cargoes of slaves; but once +he fetched to his wife a little islander, an Asian imp, six years old, +and wilder than the wind. She spoke no word of English, and was full +of short shouts and screeches, like a thing of the woods. My +great-grandmother couldn't do a bit with her; she turned the house +topsy-turvy, cut the noses out of the old portraits, and chewed the +jewels out of the settings, killed the little home animals, spoiled the +dinners, pranced in the garden with Madam Willoughby's farthingale and +royal stiff brocades rustling yards behind,--this atom of a shrimp,--or +balanced herself with her heels in the air over the curb of the well, +scraped up the dead leaves under one corner of the house and fired +them,--a favorite occupation,--and if you left her stirring a mess in +the kitchen, you met her, perhaps, perched in the china-closet and +mumbling all manner of demoniacal prayers, twisting and writhing and +screaming over a string of amber gods that she had brought with her +and always wore. When winter came and the first snow, she was furious, +perfectly mad. One might as well have had a ball of fire in the house, +or chain-lightning; every nice old custom had been invaded, the ancient +quiet broken into a Bedlam of outlandish sounds, and as Captain +Willoughby was returning, his wife packed the sprite off with him,--to +cut, rip, and tear in New Holland, if she liked, but not in New +England,--and rejoiced herself that she would find that little brown +skin cuddled up in her best down beds and among her lavendered sheets no +more. She had learned but two words all that time,--Willoughby, and the +name of the town. + +You may conjecture what heavenly peace came in when the Asian went out, +but there is no one to tell what havoc was wrought on board ship; in +fact, if there could have been such a thing as a witch, I should believe +that imp sunk them, for a stray Levantine brig picked her--still agile +as a monkey--from a wreck off the Cape de Verdes and carried her into +Leghorn, where she took--will you mind, if I say?--leg-bail, and +escaped from durance. What happened on her wanderings I'm sure is of +no consequence, till one night she turned up outside a Fiesolan villa, +scorched with malaria fevers and shaken to pieces with tertian and +quartan and all the rest of the agues. So, after having shaken almost to +death, she decided upon getting well; all the effervescence was gone; +she chose to remain with her beads in that family, a mysterious tame +servant, faithful, jealous, indefatigable. But she never grew; at ninety +she was of the height of a yard-stick,--and nothing could have been +finer than to have a dwarf in those old palaces, you know. + +In my great-grandmother's home, however, the tradition of the Asian +sprite with her string of amber gods was handed down like a legend, and, +no one knowing what had been, they framed many a wild picture of the +Thing enchanting all her spirits from their beads about her, and calling +and singing and whistling up the winds with them till storm rolled round +the ship, and fierce fog and foam and drowning fell upon her capturers. +But they all believed, that, snatched from the wreck into islands of +Eastern archipelagoes, the vindictive child and her quieted gods might +yet be found. Of course my father knew this, and when that night in the +church he saw the girl saying such devout prayers on an amber rosary, +with a demure black slave so tiny and so old behind her, it flashed +back on him, and he would have spoken, if, just then, the ray had not +revealed the great painting, so that he forgot all about it, and when at +last he turned, they were gone. But my father had come back to America, +had sat down quietly in his elder brother's house, among the hills where +I am to live, and was thought to be a sedate young man and a good match, +till a freak took him that he must go back and find that girl in Italy. +How to do it, with no clue but an amber rosary? But do it he did, +stationing himself against a pillar in that identical church and +watching the worshippers, and not having long to wait before in she +came, with little Asian behind. Papa isn't in the least romantic; he is +one of those great fertilizing temperaments, golden hair and beard, and +hazel eyes, if you will. He's a splendid old fellow! It's absurd to +delight in one's father,--so bread-and-buttery,--but I can't help it. +He's far stronger than I; none of the little weak Italian traits that +streak me, like water in thick, syrupy wine. No,--he isn't in the least +romantic, but he says he was fated to this step, and could no more have +resisted than his heart could have refused to beat. When he spoke to the +devotee, little Asian made sundry belligerent demonstrations; but he +confronted her with the two words she had learned here, Willoughby and +the town's name. The dwarf became livid, seemed always after haunted by +a dreadful fear of him, pursued him with a rancorous hate, but could not +hinder his marriage. The Willoughbys are a cruel race. Her only revenge +was to take away the amber beads, which had long before been blessed +by the Pope for her young mistress, refusing herself to accompany my +mother, and declaring that neither should her charms ever cross the +water,--that all their blessing would be changed to banning, and that +bane would burn the bearer, should the salt-sea spray again dash round +them. But when, in process of Nature, the Asian died,--having become +classic through her longevity, taking length of days for length of +stature,--then the rosary belonged to mamma's sister, who by-and-by sent +it, with a parcel of other things, to papa for me. So I should have had +it at all events, you see;--papa is such a tease I The other things were +mamma's wedding-veil, that point there, which once was her mother's, and +some pearls. + +I was born upon the sea, in a calm, far out of sight of land, under +sweltering suns; so, you know, I'm a cosmopolite, and have a right to +all my fantasies. Not that they are fantasies at all; on the contrary, +they are parts of my nature, and I couldn't be what I am without them, +or have one and not have all. Some girls go picking and scraping odds +and ends of ideas together, and by the time they are thirty get quite a +bundle of whims and crotchets on their backs; but they are all at sixes +and sevens, uneven and knotty like fagots, and won't lie compactly, +don't belong to them, and anybody might surprise them out of them. But +for me, you see, mine are harmonious, in my veins; I was born with them. +Not that I was always what I am now. Oh, bless your heart! plums and +nectarines, and luscious things that ripen and develop all their +rare juices, were green once, and so was I. Awkward, tumble-about, +near-sighted, till I was twenty, a real raw-head-and-bloody-bones to all +society; then mamma, who was never well in our diving-bell atmosphere, +was ordered to the West Indies, and papa said it was what I needed, and +I went, too,--and oh, how sea-sick! Were you ever? You forget all about +who you are, and have a vague notion of being Universal Disease. I have +heard of a kind of myopy that is biliousness, and when I reached the +islands my sight was as clear as my skin; all that tropical luxuriance +snatched me to itself at once, recognized me for kith and kin; and mamma +died, and I lived. We had accidents between wind and water, enough to +have made me considerate for others, Lu said; but I don't see that I'm +any less careful not to have my bones spilt in the flood than ever +I was. Slang? No,--poetry. But if your nature had such a wild, free +tendency as mine, and then were boxed up with proprieties and civilities +from year's end to year's end, may-be you, too, would escape now and +then in a bit of slang. + +We always had a little boy to play with, Lu and I, or rather +Lu,--because, though he never took any dislike to me, he was absurdly +indifferent, while he followed Lu about with a painful devotion. I +didn't care, didn't know; and as I grew up and grew awkwarder, I was the +plague of their little lives. If Lu had been my sister instead of my +orphan cousin, as mamma was perpetually holding up to me, I should have +bothered them twenty times more; but when I got larger and began to be +really distasteful to his fine artistic perception, mamma had the sense +to keep me out of his way; and he was busy at his lessons, and didn't +come so much. But Lu just fitted him then, from the time he daubed +little adoring blotches of her face on every barn-door and paling, till +when his scrap-book was full of her in all fancies and conceits, and he +was old enough to go away and study Art. Then he came home occasionally, +and always saw us; but I generally contrived, on such occasions, to do +some frightful thing that shocked every nerve he had, and he avoided me +instinctively as he would an electric torpedo; but--do you believe?--I +never had an idea of such a thing, till, when sailing from the South, +so changed, I remembered things, and felt intuitively how it must have +been. Shortly after I went away, he visited Europe. I had been at home a +year, and now we heard he had returned; so for two years he hadn't seen +me. He had written a great deal to Lu,--brotherly letters they were,--he +is so peculiar,--determining not to give her the least intimation of +what he felt, if he did feel anything, till he was able to say all. And +now he had earned for himself a certain fame, a promise of greater; his +works sold; and if he pleased, he could marry. I merely presume this +might have been his thought; he never told me. A certain fame! But +that's nothing to what he will have. How can he paint gray, faint, +half-alive things now? He must abound in color,--be rich, exhaustless: +wild sea-sketches,--sunrise,--sunset,--mountain mists rolling in turbid +crimson masses, breaking in a milky spray of vapor round lofty peaks, +and letting out lonely glimpses of a melancholy moon,--South American +splendors,--pomps of fruit and blossom,--all this affluence of his +future life must flash from his pencils now. Not that he will paint +again directly. Do you suppose it possible that I should be given +him merely for a phase of wealth and light and color, and then +taken,--taken, in some dreadful way, to teach him the necessary and +inevitable result of such extravagant luxuriance? It makes me shiver. + +It was that very noon when papa brought in the amber, that he came for +the first time since his return from Europe. He hadn't met Lu before. I +ran, because I was in my morning wrapper. Don't you see it there, that +cream-colored, undyed silk, with the dear palms and ferns swimming all +over it? And all my hair was just flung into a little black net that +Lu had made me; we both had run down as we were when we heard papa. I +scampered; but he saw only Lu; and grasped her hands. Then, of course, I +stopped on the baluster to look. They didn't say anything, only seemed +to be reading up for the two years in each other's eyes; but Lu dropped +her kid box, and as he stooped to pick it up, he held it, and then took +out the ring, looked at her and smiled, and put it on his own finger. +The one she had always worn was no more a mystery. He has such little +hands! they don't seem made for anything but slender crayons and +watercolors, as if oils would weigh them down with the pigment; but +there is a nervy strength about them that could almost bend an ash. + +Papa's breezy voice blew through the room next minute, welcoming him; +and then he told Lu to put up her jewels, and order luncheon, at which, +of course, the other wanted to see the jewels nearer; and I couldn't +stand that, but slipped down and walked right in, lifting my amber, and +saying, "Oh, but this is what you must look at!" + +He turned, somewhat slowly, with such a lovely indifference, and let his +eyes idly drop on me. He didn't look at the amber at all; he didn't look +at me; I seemed to fill his gaze without any action from him, for +he stood quiet and passive; my voice, too, seemed to wrap him in a +dream,--only an instant; though then I had reached him. + +"You've not forgotten Yone," said papa, "who went persimmon and came +apricot?" + +"I've not forgotten Yone," answered he, as if half asleep. "But who is +this?" + +"Who is this?" echoed papa. "Why, this is my great West Indian magnolia, +my Cleopatra in light colors, my"---- + +"Hush, you silly man!" + +"This is she," putting his hands on my shoulders,--"Miss Giorgione +Willoughby." + +By this time he had found his manners. + +"Miss Giorgione Willoughby," he said, with a cool bow, "I never knew +you." + +"Very well, Sir," I retorted. "Now you and my father have settled the +question, know my amber!" and lifting it again, it got caught in that +curl. + +I have good right to love my hair. What was there to do, when it snarled +in deeper every minute, but for him to help me? and then, at the +friction of our hands, the beads gave out slightly their pungent smell +that breathes all through the Arabian Nights, you know; and the perfumed +curls were brushing softly over his fingers, and I a little vexed and +flushed as the blind blew back and let in the sunshine and a roistering +wind;--why, it was all a pretty scene, to be felt then and remembered +afterward. Lu, I believe, saw at that instant how it would be, and moved +away to do as papa had asked; but no thought of it came to me. + +"Well, if you can't clear the tangle," I said, "you can see the beads." + +But while with delight he examined their curious fretting, he yet saw +me. + +I am used to admiration now, certainly; it is my food; without it I +should die of inanition; but do you suppose I care any more for those +who give it to me than a Chinese idol does for--whoever swings incense +before it? Are you devoted to your butcher and milkman? We desire only +the unpossessed or unattainable, "something afar from the sphere of +our sorrow." But, though unconsciously, I may have been piqued by this +manner of his. It was new; not a word, not a glance; I believed it +was carelessness, and resolved--merely for the sake of conquering, I +fancied, too--to change all that. By-and-by the beads dropped out of the +curl, as if they had been possessed of mischief and had held there of +themselves. He caught them. + +"Here, Circe," he said. + +That was the time I was so angry; for, at the second, he meant all it +comprehended. He saw, I suppose, for he added at once,-- + +"Or what was the name of the Witch of Atlas, + + 'The magic circle of whose voice and eyes + All savage natures did imparadise?'" + +I wonder what made me think him mocking me. Frequently since then he has +called me by that name. + +"I don't know much about geography," I said. "Besides, these didn't come +from there. Little Asian--the imp of my name, you remember--owned them." + +"Ah?" with the utmost apathy; and turning to my father, "I saw the +painting that enslaved you, Sir," he said. + +"Yes, yes," said papa, gleefully. "And then why didn't you make me a +copy?" + +"Why?" Here he glanced round the room, as if he weren't thinking at all +of the matter in hand. "The coloring is more than one can describe, +though faded. But I don't think you would like it so much now. Moreover, +Sir, I cannot make copies." + +I stepped towards them, quite forgetful of my pride. "Can't?" I +exclaimed. "Oh, how splendid! Because then no other man comes between +you and Nature; your ideal hangs before you, and special glimpses open +and shut on you, glimpses which copyists never obtain." + +"I don't think you are right," he said, coldly, his hands loosely +crossed behind him, leaning on the corner of the mantel, and looking +unconcernedly out of the window. + +Wasn't it provoking? I remembered myself,--and remembered, too, that I +never had made a real exertion to procure anything, and it wasn't worth +while to begin then, beside not being my forte; things must come to me. +Just then Lu reentered, and one of the servants brought a tray, and we +had lunch. Then our visitor rose to go. + +"No, no," said papa. "Stay the day out with the girls. It's Mayday, and +there are to be fireworks on the other bank to-night." + +"Fireworks for Mayday?" + +"Yes, to be sure. Wait and see." + +"It would be so pleasant!" pleaded Lu. + +"And a band, I forgot to mention. I have an engagement myself, so you'll +excuse me; but the girls will do the honors, and I shall meet you at +dinner." + +So it was arranged. Papa went out. I curled up on a lounge,--for Lu +wouldn't have liked to be left, if I had liked to leave her,--and soon, +when he sat down by her quite across the room, I half shut my eyes and +pretended to sleep. He began to turn over her work-basket, taking up her +thimble, snipping at the thread with her scissors: I see now he wasn't +thinking about it, and was trying to recover what he considered a proper +state of feeling, but I fancied he was very gentle and tender, though I +couldn't hear what they said, and I never took the trouble to listen in +my life. In about five minutes I was tired of this playing 'possum, and +took my observations. + +What is your idea of a Louise? Mine is dark eyes, dark hair, decided +features, pale, brown pale, with a mole on the left cheek,--and that's +Louise. Nothing striking, but pure and clear, and growing always better. + +For him,--he's not one of those cliff-like men against whom you are +blown as a feather, I don't fancy that kind; I can stand of myself, rule +myself. He isn't small, though; no, he's tall enough, but all his frame +is delicate, held to earth by nothing but the cords of a strong will, +--very little body, very much soul. He, too, is pale, and has dark eyes +with violet darks in them. You don't call him beautiful in the least, +but you don't know him. I call him beauty itself, and I know him +thoroughly. A stranger might have thought, when I spoke of those copals +Rose carved, that Rose was some girl. But though he has a feminine +sensibility, like Correggio or Schubert, nobody could call him womanish. +"_Les races se feminisent_." Don't you remember Matthew Roydon's +Astrophill? + + "A sweet, attractive kind of grace, + A full assurance given by looks, + Continual comfort in a face." + +I always think of that flame in an alabaster vase, when I see him; "one +sweet grace fed still with one sweet mind"; a countenance of another +sphere: that's Vaughan Rose. It provokes me that I can't paint him +myself, without other folk's words; but you see there's no natural image +of him in me, and so I can't throw it strongly on any canvas. As for his +manners, you've seen them;--now tell me, was there ever anything so +winning when he pleases, and always a most gracious courtesy in his +air, even when saying an insufferably uncivil thing? He has an art, a +science, of putting the unpleasant out of his sight, ignoring or looking +over it, which sometimes gives him an absent way; and that is because he +so delights in beauty; he seems to have woven a mist over his face then, +and to be shut in on his own inner loveliness; and many a woman thinks +he is perfectly devoted, when, very like, he is swinging over some +lonely Spanish sierra beneath the stars, or buried in noonday Brazilian +forests, half stifled with the fancied breath of every gorgeous blossom +of the zone. Till this time, it had been the perfection of form rather +than tint that had enthralled him; he had come home with severe ideas, +too severe; he needed me, you see. + +But while looking at him and Lu, on that day, I didn't perceive half of +this, only felt annoyed at their behavior, and let them feel that I +was noticing them. There's nothing worse than that; it is a very +upas-breath, it puts on the brakes, and of course a chill and a +restraint overcame them till Mr. Dudley was announced. + +"Dear! dear!" I exclaimed, getting upon my feet. "What ever shall we do, +Lu? I'm not dressed for him." And while I stood, Mr. Dudley came in. + +Mr. Dudley didn't seem to mind whether I was dressed in cobweb or +sheet-iron; for he directed his looks and conversation so much to Lu, +that Rose came and sat on a stool before me and began to talk. + +"Miss Willoughby"-- + +"Yone, please." + +"But you are not Yone." + +"Well, just as you choose. You were going to say?" + +"Merely to ask how you liked the Islands." + +"Oh, well enough." + +"No more?" he said. "They wouldn't have broken your spell so, if that +had been all. Do you know I actually believe in enchantments now?" + +I was indignant, but amused in spite of myself. + +"Well," he continued, "why don't you say it? How impertinent am I? You +won't? Why don't you laugh, then?" + +"Dear me!" I replied. "You are so much on the +'subtle-souled-psychologist' line, that there's no need of my speaking +at all." + +"I can carry on all the dialogue? Then let _me_ say how you liked the +Islands." + +"I shall do no such thing. I liked the West Indies because there is life +there; because the air is a firmament of balm, and you grow in it like +a flower in the sun; because the fierce heat and panting winds wake and +kindle all latent color, and fertilize every germ of delight that might +sleep here forever. That's why I liked them; and you knew it just as +well before as now." + +"Yes; but I wanted to see if you knew it. So you think there is life +there in that dead Atlantis." + +"Life of the elements, rain, hail, fire, and snow." + +"Snow thrice bolted by the northern blast, I fancy, by which time it +becomes rather misty. Exaggerated snow." + +"Everything there is an exaggeration. Coming here from England is like +stepping out of a fog into an almost exhausted receiver; but you've no +idea what light is, till you've been in those inland hills. You think a +blue sky the perfection of bliss? When you see a white sky, a dome of +colorless crystal, with purple swells of mountain heaving round you, and +a wilderness of golden greens royally languid below, while stretches of +a scarlet blaze, enough to ruin a weak constitution, flaunt from the +rank vines that lace every thicket, and the whole world, and you with +it, seems breaking into blossom,--why, then you know what light is and +can do. The very wind there by day is bright, now faint, now stinging, +and makes a low, wiry music through the loose sprays, as if they were +tense harp-strings. Nothing startles; all is like a grand composition +utterly wrought out. What a blessing it is that the blacks have been +imported there,--their swarthiness is in such consonance!" + +"No; the native race was in better consonance. You are so enthusiastic, +it is pity you ever came away." + +"Not at all. I didn't know anything about it till I came back." + +"But a mere animal or vegetable life is not much. What was ever done in +the tropics?" + +"Almost all the world's history,--wasn't it?" + +"No, indeed; only the first, most trifling, and barbarian movements." + +"At all events, you are full of blessedness in those climates, and that +is the end and aim of all action; and if Nature will do it for you, +there is no need of your interference. It is much better to be than +to do;--one is a strife, the other is possession." + +"You mean being as the complete attainment? There is only one Being, +then. All the rest of us are"---- + +"Oh, dear me! that sounds like metaphysics! Don't!" + +"So you see, you are not full of blessedness there." + +"You ought to have been born in Abelard's time,--you've such a +disputatious spirit. That's I don't know how many times you have +contradicted me to-day." + +"Pardon." + +"I wonder if you are so easy with all women." + +"I don't know many." + +"I shall watch to see if you contradict Lu this way." + +"I don't need. How absorbed she is! Mr. Dudley is 'interesting'?" + +"I don't know. No. But then, Lu is a good girl, and he's her +minister,--a Delphic oracle. She thinks the sun and moon set somewhere +round Mr. Dudley. Oh! I mean to show him my amber." + +And I tossed it into Lu's lap, saying,-- + +"Show it to Mr. Dudley, Lu,--and ask him if it isn't divine!" + +Of course, he was shocked, and wouldn't go into ecstasies at all; +tripped on the adjective. + +"There are gods enough in it to be divine," said Rose, taking it from +Lu's hand and bringing it back to me. "All those very Gnostic deities +who assisted at Creation. You are not afraid that the imprisoned things +work their spells upon you? The oracle declares it suits your cousin +best," he added, in a lower tone. + +"All the oaf knows!" I responded. "I wish you'd admire it, Mr. Dudley. +Mr. Rose don't like amber,--handles it like nettles." + +"No," said Rose, "I don't like amber." + +"He prefers aqua-marina," I continued. "Lu, produce yours!" For she had +not heard him. + +"Yes," said Mr. Dudley, rubbing his finger over his lip while he gazed, +"every one must prefer aqua-marina." + +"Nonsense! It's no better than glass. I'd as soon wear a set of +window-panes. There's no expression in it. It isn't alive, like real +gems." + +Mr. Dudley stared. Rose laughed. + +"What a vindication of amber!" he said. + +He was standing now, leaning against the mantel, just as he was before +lunch. Lu looked at him and smiled. + +"Yone is exultant, because we both wanted the beads," she said. "I like +amber as much as she." + +"Nothing near so much, Lu!" + +"Why didn't you have them, then?" asked Rose, quickly. + +"Oh, they belonged to Yone; and uncle gave me these, which I like +better. Amber is warm, and smells of the earth; but this is cool and +dewy, and"---- + +"Smells of heaven?" asked I, significantly. + +Mr. Dudley began to fidget, for he saw no chance of finishing his +exposition. + +"As I was saying, Miss Louisa," he began, in a different key. + +I took my beads and wound them round my wrist. "You haven't as much eye +for color as a poppy-bee," I exclaimed, in a corresponding key, and +looking up at Rose. + +"Unjust. I was thinking then how entirely they suited you." + +"Thank you. Vastly complimentary from one who 'don't like amber'!" + +"Nevertheless, you think so." + +"Yes and no. Why don't you like it?" + +"You mustn't ask me for my reasons. It is not merely disagreeable, but +hateful." + +"And you've been beside me, like a Christian, all this time, and I had +it!" + +"The perfume is acrid; I associate it with the lower jaw of St. Basil +the Great, styled a present of immense value, you remember,--being hard, +heavy, shining like gold, the teeth yet in it, and with a smell more +delightful than amber,"--making a mock shudder at the word. + +"Oh, it is prejudice, then." + +"Not in the least. It is antipathy. Besides, the thing is unnatural; +there is no existent cause for it. A bit that turns up on certain +sands,--here at home, for aught I know, as often as anywhere." + +"Which means Nazareth. We must teach you, Sir, that there are some +things at home as rare as those abroad." + +"I am taught," he said, very low, and without looking up. + +"Just tell me, what is amber?" + +"Fossil gum." + +"Can you say those words and not like it? Don't it bring to you a +magnificent picture of the pristine world,--great seas and other +skies,--a world of accentuated crises, that sloughed off age after age, +and rose fresher from each plunge? Don't you see, or long to see, that +mysterious magic tree out of whose pores oozed this fine solidified +sunshine? What leaf did it have? what blossom? what great wind shivered +its branches? Was it a giant on a lonely coast, or thick low growth +blistered in ravines and dells? That's the witchery of amber,--that it +_has_ no cause,--that all the world grew to produce it,--may-be died +and gave no other sign,--that its tree, which must have been beautiful, +dropped all its fruits; and how bursting with juice must they have +been"---- + +"Unfortunately, coniferous." + +"Be quiet. Stripped itself of all its lush luxuriance, and left for a +vestige only this little fester of its gashes." + +"No, again," he once more interrupted. "I have seen remnants of the wood +and bark in a museum." + +"Or has it hidden and compressed all its secret here?" I continued, +obliviously. "What if in some piece of amber an accidental seed were +sealed, we found, and planted, and brought back the lost aeons? What a +glorious world that must have been, where even the gum was so precious!" + +"In a picture, yes. Necessary for this. But, my dear Miss Willoughby, +you convince me that the Amber Witch founded your family," he said, +having listened with an amused face. "Loveliest amber that ever the +sorrowing sea-birds have wept," he hummed. "There! isn't that kind of +stuff enough to make a man detest it?" + +"Yes." + +"And you are quite as bad in another way." + +"Oh!" + +"Just because, when we hold it in our hands, we hold also that furious +epoch where rioted all monsters and poisons,--where death fecundated +and life destroyed,--where superabundance demanded such existences, no +souls, but fiercest animal fire;--just for that I hate it." + +"Why, then, is it fitted for me?" + +He laughed again, but replied,--"The hues harmonize,--the substances; +you both are accidents; it suits your beauty." + +So, then, it seemed I had beauty, after all. + +"You mean that it harmonizes with me, because I am a symbol of its +period. If there had been women then, they would have been like me,--a +great creature without a soul, a"---- + +"Pray, don't finish the sentence. I can imagine that there is something +rich and voluptuous and sating about amber, its color, and its lustre, +and its scent; but for others, not for me. Yea, you have beauty, after +all," turning suddenly, and withering me with his eye,--"beauty, after +all, as you didn't _say_ just now.--Mr. Willoughby is in the garden. I +must go before he comes in, or he'll make me stay. There are some to +whom you can't say, No." + +He stopped a minute, and now, without looking,--indeed, he looked +everywhere but at me, while we talked,--made a bow as if just seating +me from a waltz, and, with his eyes and his smile on Louise all the way +down the room, went out. Did you ever know such insolence? + +[To be continued.] + + + + +SONG OF NATURE. + + + Mine are the night and morning, + The pits of air, the gulf of space, + The sportive sun, the gibbous moon, + The innumerable days. + + I hide in the blinding glory, + I lurk in the pealing song, + I rest on the pitch of the torrent, + In death, new-born and strong. + + No numbers have counted my tallies, + No tribes my house can fill, + I sit by the shining Fount of life, + And pour the deluge still. + + And ever by delicate powers + Gathering along the centuries + From race on race the fairest flowers, + My wreath shall nothing miss. + + And many a thousand summers + My apples ripened well, + And light from meliorating stars + With firmer glory fell. + + I wrote the past in characters + Of rock and fire the scroll, + The building in the coral sea, + The planting of the coal. + + And thefts from satellites and rings + And broken stars I drew, + And out of spent and aged things + I formed the world anew. + + What time the gods kept carnival, + Tricked out in star and flower, + And in cramp elf and saurian forms + They swathed their too much power. + + Time and Thought were my surveyors, + They laid their courses well, + They boiled the sea, and baked the layers + Of granite, marl, and shell. + + But him--the man-child glorious, + Where tarries he the while? + The rainbow shines his harbinger, + The sunset gleams his smile. + + My boreal lights leap upward, + Forthright my planets roll, + And still the man-child is not born, + The summit of the whole. + + Must time and tide forever run? + Will never my winds go sleep in the West? + Will never my wheels, which whirl the sun + And satellites, have rest? + + Too much of donning and doffing, + Too slow the rainbow fades; + I weary of my robe of snow, + My leaves, and my cascades. + + I tire of globes and races, + Too long the game is played; + What, without him, is summer's pomp, + Or winter's frozen shade? + + I travail in pain for him, + My creatures travail and wait; + His couriers come by squadrons, + He comes not to the gate. + + Twice I have moulded an image, + And thrice outstretched my hand, + Made one of day, and one of night, + And one of the salt-sea-sand. + + I moulded kings and saviours, + And bards o'er kings to rule; + But fell the starry influence short, + The cup was never full. + + Yet whirl the glowing wheels once more, + And mix the bowl again, + Seethe, Fate! the ancient elements, + Heat, cold, dry, wet, and peace and pain + + Let war and trade and creeds and song + Blend, ripen race on race,-- + The sunburnt world a man shall breed + Of all the zones and countless days. + + No ray is dimmed, no atom worn, + My oldest force is good as new, + And the fresh rose on yonder thorn + Gives back the bending heavens in dew. + + + + +NEMOPHILY + + +An earnest plea was once entered in Maga's pages for the bodies +of saints. Yet it is to be hoped that others not included in that +respectable class may have physical needs also, and it is to be feared +that they may not be above the necessity of a little of the same +invigorating tonic. For there are not a few on this continent of ours, +whom the _Avvocata del Diavolo_ would certainly expect to enter a _nolo +contendere_, who stand in much need of a healthy animalism. That these +sinners would be benefited by what Mr. Kingsley's critics call "muscular +Christianity" cannot be denied. For they are not sinners beyond all hope +of amendment, by any means; and their offences being rather against +the laws and light of Nature than against any of the commands of the +Decalogue, it is earnestly desired that they be brought within the pale +of promise, even if they never reach the sacred fane of canonization. + +Indeed, at the outset, let there be a protest entered on behalf of the +sinner against this unnecessary pity of the saint. It is a part of that +false halo with which enthusiastic admiration (reckless of gilding and +ruinously prodigal of ochre) delights to endue the favored heads of the +_beati_. The saint himself countenances the folly, and meekly inclines +his head (sideways) to the rays. It is a part of the capital of the +calling to look interesting. The revered and reverend Charles Honeyman, +in the hands of that acute manager, Mr. Sherrick, was bidden to sit in +his pew at evening service and _cough_. A qualified consumption and a +moderate bronchitis are no bad substitutes for eloquence, learning, and +that indiscreet piety which is so careless of feminine favor as to +bring into the pulpit a robust person and to the dinner-table a healthy +appetite. + +But the saint, if he have a reasonable sense of his pastoral duty, gets, +_malgre lui_, a very fair share of that open-air medicine which is +supposed to be the great lack of his profession. For if he be a +clergyman in a rural parish of tolerable extent and with no great +superfluity of wealth, he will not want for either air or exercise. The +George Herbert so situated finds by no means his whole round of duty in +the study. Old Mrs. Smith, sick and bedridden, lives a couple of miles +from the parsonage; but the thoughtless creature actually expects a +weekly visit and half-hour's reading of certain old familiar English +literature, and will remind her pastor of it, if the expected day pass +without his coming. Jones and his wife, who live in just the other +direction, are wantonly apt, upon the insufficient plea of a long walk, +to be missed from their wonted pew on a stormy Sunday, and must be +looked up. Little Mary Gray has not been to Sunday-school. Cause +suspected,--insufficient shoes. Bessy Bell, up the cross-road, quite +over beyond Beman's Farms, is likewise delinquent, from the opposite +want of a bonnet. Wilson, the cross-grained vestryman, has an idea, +which never fails by Saturday night to break out into a positive rush of +conviction, that the minister is neglecting his studies and "going to +Rome," if he doesn't in the course of the week go to Wilson and carry +him the Church papers and take a look at the Wilson prize-pigs. So good +Mr. Herbert never fails, in due attestation of his "abhorrence of the +Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities," to foot it over the rocky +hill and down across the rickety little bridge and past the poor-house +farm, (where he stops on a little private business of his own, that +perhaps makes a few old hearts and certainly one old coat-pocket the +lighter,) and so on, a good piece, through the woods, to where Vestryman +Wilson is bending over the hoe or swinging the axe, and thinking the +while what an easy life the parson has of it. + +Then Mr. Herbert gets the occasional tonic of a brisk walk over the +hard-beaten snow, of a moonlight winter's night. A walk-only think of +it!--over the crisp, crunching snow, to the distant outlying hamlet of +Paton's Corner, where a few are gathered in the little school-house to +hear him preach, and to give him the happy relief of a five-mile tramp +home again. + +It is really doubtful if dumb-bells, a gymnasium, and a pickerel-back +racing-wherry would meet precisely the case of Mr. Herbert, however +desirable for city saints who have plenty of spare sixpences for the +omnibuses. + +But the miserable sinner,--"where," as the shepherd exclaimed, to Mr. +Weller's indignation, "is the miserable sinner?" Keeping school, +keeping books, making books, standing behind counters when busy and on +street-corners when disengaged, doing anything or everything but taking +care of his precious body, and thereby giving his precious soul the +chance of being in very bad company, and following the fate of poor +Tray, and of the well-meaning stork in Dr. Aesop's fable. What shall he, +or rather, what can he, do with his leisure? For leisure more or less +almost every young man has,--and it is of young men, and especially of +the _very_ young men, that we are benevolently writing. If he dwell +in an inland town, the boat-club is hopeless,--and boat-clubs, though +capital things for the young gentlemen of Harvard and Yale and Trinity, +have also their drawbacks. One cannot always be ready to move in +complete unison with a dozen fellow-mortals. Pendennis is never ready +when the club are desirous to row; Newcome is perpetually anxious to +tempt the wave when the wave tempts nobody else. The gymnasium gets to +be a wearisome round of very mill-horse-like work, after the varieties +of possible dislocation of all one's bones have been exhausted. Climbing +ropes and poles with nothing but cobwebs at the top, and leaping horses +with only tan at the bottom, grow monotonous after six months' steady +dissipation thereat. Base-ball clubs do not always find desirable +commons, and the municipal fathers of the towns have a prejudice against +them in the streets. What shall youth, conscious of muscle and eager for +fresh air, do? Even the gloves are not fancy-free, but are very apt to +bring with them the slang of the ring and the beastly associations +of professional pugilism. Youth looks up to its teachers; but if its +teachers in the manly art be the Game-Chicken, the Pet, the Slasher, +youth, in learning to respect the brute strength of such men, will +hardly learn to respect itself. + +But--and here lies the purport of this article--there is hardly a town +or village of New England which has not within a quarter of a mile of +its suburbs a patch of woodland or a strip of sandy beach. What is to +hinder the sinner, if he repent him of the foul air and cramped posture +of which he has been the victim, from a little pedestrianism? Do +American men and boys ever walk? Drive, it is known they do; they can +always get time for that. But to walk, certainly to scramble and to +climb, must be added by Mr. Phillips, in the new editions of his +exquisite and inexhaustible Lecture, to the catalogue of the "Lost +Arts." + +Yet Nature never grows outworn,--is unwearied in the bounty which she +bestows on the seeker. I said a strip of sandy beach, just now. For that +I beg leave to refer the reader to Mr. Kingsley's fascinating "Glaucus," +and to the delightful papers which appeared in "Blackwood" a year or two +ago. My business is with the woods and fields. Certainly some who read +my pages will have leisure to climb a stone wall now and then, and for +them the following sketches of New England wood-walks may serve to show +how much enjoyment may be got with but little outlay of appliances. Of +course the most tempting thing to seek is sport. But the gun and the +fishing-rod are useless in many towns, from the disappearance of all +worthy objects for their exercise. The birds are wild and shy; the trout +have been _coculus-indicused_ out of the mountain-brooks to supply +metropolitan hotel-tables and Delmonican larders. Let us go after more +attainable things. And first, being a true nemophilist, I protest +against botany. A flower worth a five-mile walk and a wet foot is worthy +of something better than dissection with the Linnaean classification, +afterward adding insult to injury. The botanist is not a discoverer; he +is only a pedant. He finds out nothing about the plant; he serves it +as we might fancy a monster doing, who should take this number of the +"Atlantic" and sit down, not to read it, not to inhale the delicate +fragrance of its thought, but to count its articles, examine their +titles, and, having compared them with the newspaper advertisement, +sweep the whole contentedly into the dust-heap. To study the plant, to +see how it gets its living, why it will grow on one side of a brook in +profusion, and yet refuse to seek the other bank, is not his care. It +is simply to see whether he can abuse its honest English or New-English +simplicity by calling it by one set or another of barbarous Latin and +Greek titles. Pray, my good Sir, does a man go to see the elephant only +to call him a pachydermatous quadruped? + +But we are wasting time and shall never get into the woods. In the +winter wild you will hardly get far into them, except at the Christmas +season for greenery. Gathering this by deputy is poor business. It is +all very well, if you can do no better, to engage Mr. Brown to engage +some one else to bring in the needed spruce, fir, and hemlock with which +to obscure the fresco deformities of St. Boniface's; but it is far +better to hunt for them yourself. There is something intensely +delightful in the changes of the search; for it begins dull enough. You +start in the drear December weather, with a gray sky and leaden clouds +softly shaded in regular billows, like an India-ink ocean, overhead, +and a somewhat muddy lane before you. Then to pick one's way across the +plashy meadows, and, after a ticklish pass of jumping from one reedy +tussock to another, to get once more upon the firm soil, while the +grass, dry and crisp under your feet, gives a pleasant _whish, whish_, +as it does the duty of street-door-mat to your mud-beclogged sandals. +Now for the stone wall. On the other side are thick set the thorny +stalks of last summer's "high-bush" blackberries. A plunge and a +scramble take you through in comparative safety; and stopping only to +disengage your skirts from a too-fond bramble, you are in the woodland. +Thick-strewn the dead leaves lie under foot. What music there is in the +rustling murmur with which they greet your invading step! On, deeper and +deeper into the wood,--now dodging under the green and snaky cat-briers, +with their retractile thorns and vicious clinging grasp,--now dashing +along the woodman's paths,--now struggling among the opposing +underwood. At last a little sprig of feathery green catches the eye. +It is a tuft of moss. No,--it is the running ground-pine; and clearing +away, with both eager hands, leaves, sticks, moss, and all the fallen +_exuciae_ of the summertime, you tear up long wreaths of that most +graceful of evergreens. Then, in another quarter of the woodland, where +the underbrush has been killed by the denser shade, there rise the +exquisite fan-shaped plumes of the feather-pine, of deepest green, or +brown-golden with the pencil of the frost;--for cross or star or thick +festoon, there is nothing so beautiful. And again you are attracted +into the thickets of laurel, and wage fierce war upon the sturdy and +tenacious, yet brittle branches, till you are transformed into a walking +jack-o'-the-green. The holly of the English Christmas, all-besprent with +crimson drops, is hard to be found in New England, and you will have to +thread the courses of the brooks to seek the swamp-loving black alder, +which will furnish as brilliant a berry, but without the beautiful +thorny leaf. Only in one patch of woodland do I know of the holly. In +the southeastern corner of Massachusetts,--if you will take the trouble +to follow up a railroad-track for a couple of miles and then plunge +into the pine woods, you will come upon a few lonely, stunted scraps of +it. The warmer airs which the Gulf Stream sends upon that coast have, +it is said, something to do therewith. Of course, if I am wrong, the +botanists will take vengeance upon me; but I can only say what has been +said to me. We nemophilists are apt to be careless of solemn science and +go upon all sorts of uncertain tradition. + +But "Christmas comes but once a year." After chancel and nave have been +duly adorned, and again disrobed against the coming sobrieties of Lent, +there are other temptations to the woods. Before the snow has wholly +vanished from the shelter of the wood-lots, the warm, hazy, wooing days +of April come upon us. On such a day,--how well in this snow-season I +remember it!--I have been lured out by the hope of the Mayflower, the +delicate _epigae repens_, miscalled the trailing arbutus. Up the rocky +hill-side, from whose top you catch glimpses of the far-off sparkling +sea, with a blue haze of island ranges belting it,--up among the rocks, +into warm, sheltered, sunny nooks, you go upon your quest. For the +Mayflower, though found in almost every township in New England, has +secret and unaccountable whims of its own,--will persist in blooming +in just one spot, where you ought not to expect it, and in avoiding all +likely places. Yet when you come to its traditionary habitat, it is not +there. Round and round we pace, hoping and despairing, till a faint, +most delicate odor, indescribably suggestive of woodland freshness, +catches the roused sense; or else one silvery star peeps out from under +an upturned birch-leaf. Then down on hands and knees; tear up brush to +right and left, the brown skeletons of the withered foliage. The ground +is white with stars. Some are touched with delicate pink, some creamy +white,--but all breathing out the evanescent secret of the early spring. +Such the children of Plymouth used to hang in garlands about the Pilgrim +stone, in honor of the never-to-be-forgotten name of the New England +Argo. + +Later in the year come the beautiful blue violets, which are, I am sorry +to say, scentless. Yet their little white cousin, which delights in all +swampy places, is sometimes, in the first days of its appearing, more +regardful of the prime duty of all flowers. I have gathered tufts of +them which (botanists to the contrary notwithstanding) were wellnigh as +odorous as if reared in the sunniest Warwickshire lane; but, as with a +perfect specimen of the cast skin of a snake, such a boon is to be hoped +for only once in a lifetime. With the violets, the beautiful blush-bells +of the anemone come garlanded with their graceful leaves, plentifully +enough. But did the rambler ever find the sensitive fern, which resented +the intrusive hand with all Mimosa's coyness? I never did but once. I +have wooed many a delicate frond of all varieties of fern since, but +never one so conscious. Now, too, ere the trees come into leaf, is the +time to seek the boxwood, called, I hope improperly, by the ominous name +of the Southern dogwood. It is worth an afternoon's ramble to come upon +one of those trees, standing in an open glade of the forest, a pyramid +of white or cream-colored blossoms. Before a leaf is on the tree, it +clothes itself in this lovely livery, and at a little distance seems +like a snowy cloud rather than a shrub. + +But with June comes the most exquisite of our New England wild-flowers, +the arethusa, or swamp-pink, as it is often styled, to the great +confusion of its delicate, high-born nature with the great, vulgar, +flaunting azalea. When June comes,--when the clethra is heaped with its +bee-beloved blossoms, and the grass is green and bright as never again +in the year, then the arethusa is to be sought. A most unaccountable +flower, of all shades, from pale pink to a deep purple, with a lovely +shape that I can liken to nothing so nearly as the _fleur-de-lis_ on +French escutcheons, it has a delicate, yet powerful, aromatic scent, as +if it were an estray from the tropics. One specimen, snowy white, I have +seen, and can tell you where to find another. You are to go out along +the President's highway, due northward from a certain seaport of +Massachusetts. Take the eastward turn at the little village which lies +at the head of its harbor, and so north again by the old Friends' +meeting-house, which looks in brown placidity away toward the distant +shipping and the wicked steeple-houses, into the which so many of its +lost lambs have been inveigled. Then be not tempted to strike off down +yonder lane, to see the curious old farm-house, relic of Colony times, +with its odd stone chimney, its projecting upper story and carved wooden +pendants, and its shingles all pierced into decorative hearts and +rounds. Its likeness is not in Barber's book,--no, nor its visible form, +I believe, (it is many a year since I went that way,) on earth. It +became a constellation long ago,--being translated to the stars. Keep on +with good heart along the highway ridge, whence you can look down on the +solemn, close-set, pine forest, which hides from you the windings of the +river, and the beautiful lakelet, where the water-lilies float in +the summer. Go on down the valley, past the old tavern,--relic +of stage-coaching days, the square, three-story, deserted-looking +tavern,--up again a couple of miles or so, till the river has dwindled +to a brook and then to a marsh. Here is the place of our seeking. For +under the shade of one of those huge granite rocks over which the thin +soil of ---- County is sprinkled, and which here and there have shaken +off the superincumbent dust in indignation at the presumption of man in +attempting to farm them,--under that rock--of course I shall not tell +you which--you will find the White Arethusa, if you are born under a +lucky star. + +A little later, the crimson lady-slipper loves to spring up in pine +clearings, around the base of the wood-piles which the cutters have +stacked in the winter to season. To one born by the salt water there is +an especial forest delight in the pine woods. For that best-loved sound +of the ceaseless fall of plunging seas upon the beach comes to him +there. Many a time I have walked from Harvard's leafy shades and +cheerful halls out to the quiet of the Botanic Garden for the sake of +hearing the wind in the pine tree-tops. Shut your eyes, and the inward +vision sees once more the long line of sandy and shingly beaches, the +green curving-up of the surges tipped with dazzling foam,--sees the +motionless and blackened timbers of the wreck on the shore, the white +wings dipping and turning along the combing tops of the waves racing in +upon the sands,--sees the dry tufted beach-grass, and the wet, shining, +compact slope down which slides swiftly the under-tow. And what a +healthful exhilaration it is to breathe the balm-laden breath of the +pine forest, and to tread the elastic slippery-soft carpet of the fallen +spiny leaves! Here is the haunt of the lady-slipper, (_cypripedium_,) +a shy, rare flower, like a little sack delicately veined, with a faint +musky scent, and large-flapped leaves shading its flower. + +In the hot July and August, the scarlet lobelia, the cardinal-flower, is +to be found. Never was cardinal so robed. If Herbert's rose, in poetic +hyperbole, with its "hue angry and brave, bids the rash gazer wipe his +eye," certainly such a bed of lobelia as I once saw on the road to +"Rollo's Camp" was anything but what the Scotch would call "a sight for +sair een." For the space of a dozen or twenty yards grew a patch of +absolutely nothing but lobelia. At a little distance it was like a +scarlet carpet flung out by the roadside. If you desire to twine the +threefold chord of color, as Mr. Ruskin calls it, I know of no lovelier +foil for the lobelia than the white orchis, which haunts the same marshy +spots. Those long spikes of feathery and balanced blossoms are the most +absolute white of anything in Nature. They positively insist upon the +very refinement of purity, as you look at them. + +Did you ever see a pond-lily?--not the miserable draggled +green-and-mud-colored buds which enterprising boys bring into the cars +for sale; but the white water-lily, floating on the silent brooks, or +far out in the safe depths of the mill-ponds. The "Autocrat" knows what +pond-lilies are, having visited Prospero's Isle and seen the pink-tinged +sisterhood of a certain mere that lies embosomed in its hills. But to +know them, you must hunt for them,--tramp off to the distant stream, and +then, not stand on the bank and wish and sigh, but off hose and shoon, +and, careless of water-snake and snapping-turtle, wade in up to their +virgin bower, and bear off the dripping, fragrant prize. None but the +brave deserve--lady or lily. + +But if the stream be too deep and wide, and the lilies are anchored far +out among their broad pads,--a floral Venice, with the blue spikes and +arrowy leaves of the pickerel-weed for campaniles and towers,--there +are yet "lilies of the field" over which you may profitably meditate, +remembering that Solomon Ben-David was not so arrayed. Two kinds there +are,--one like the tiger-lily of the gardens, the petals curled back +and showing the whole leopard-spotted corolla,--the other bell-shaped, +rarer, and growing one only on a stalk. Both are to be found in open +spaces, bush-grown fields, and airy, sunny spots. It is worth a hot and +dusty June walk to get into one of those nooks. You can spend days and +not exhaust the study which one little triangular bit of overgrown +pasture affords,--spend them, not as a naturalist in close, patient +study, because to such a one a square yard of moss is as exhaustless as +the forests of Guiana to a Waterton, but as a nemophilist, taking simple +delight in mere observation and individual discovery. + + "Many haps fall in the field + Seldom seen by watchful eyes." + +And so all sorts of curious ways are discoverable by the mere +wood-lounger. At one time your way is barred by the great portcullis of +the strong threaded web of the field spider, who sits like a porter in +king's livery of black and gold at his gate. Then you have a peep into +the winding maelstroem-funnel of another of the spider family. Poe must +have suffered metempsychosis into the body of a blue-bottle, when he +wrote his "Descent into the Maelstroem"; for such an insect, hanging +midway down that treacherous, sticky descent, and seeing Death creeping +up from the bottom to grasp him, might have a clear idea of what was +undergone by the fisherman of Lofoden. + +Or, if one tire of the open meadows, and the sun be too hot, think of +the laurel groves,--not now, as in the Christmas-time, white with snow, +but white again with thousands on thousands of argent cups, loaded with +blossoms, meeting over your head in arches of flowery tracery, and one +solitary tree standing deep in the woods, like a frigate packed with her +silver canvas lying out to windward of the fleet of merchantmen she is +convoying. The cool laurel groves! Often as one sees that sight, it is +always with a fresh shock of pleasure to the frame. + +Then, when autumn comes and the leaves change, there is still endless +variety for the little basket or botanical-case which swings lightly on +your arm or hangs across your shoulder. Owen Jones never devised any +ornaments for wall or niche one half so brilliant as the color of those +leaves which a dexterous hand will readily group upon a sheet of white +paper, where your eye may catch it, as, after achieving a successful +sentence, you look up from your study-table. Speaking of leaves, who +knows how large an oak-loaf will grow in this New England? I have just +sat down after measuring one gathered in a bit of copse hard by the town +of M----, a bit of copse which skirts a beautiful wild ravine, with a +superb hemlock and pine grove creeping down its steep bank. I have just +honestly measured my leaf, and it shows _fourteen_ inches in length by a +trifle of _nine and a half_ in breadth. + +In the same ravine I found--and in any patch of woodland you may do the +like--a perfect treasury of mosses. A shallow tin box or a wooden bowl +filled with these and duly watered will give a winter-garden to +the smallest lodging. Sun and light are, as Mr. Toots says, of "no +consequence" to the moss family. But if one be above such trifles as +mosses, and with Young American loftiness aspire to full-grown trees, +there is still plenty to do in the most ordinary woodlands. After a +chapter of Mr. Ruskin upon Claude and Poussin and Turner, there is +nothing like going to the original documents. In default of the National +Gallery from London and the Pitti Palace from the other side of Arno, +which cannot be summoned into court at a moment's notice, we can solve +at least half the problem. Mr. Ruskin may or may not be right about the +Claudes; but it is very easy to see if he be right as to the trees. And +if we prove him right with his theory of branches and bark, we have a +fair presumption that he has eyes to see the alleged falsehoods in him +of Lorraine. Now here is a chance to do a little bit of Art-criticism +quite unexpensively. Discontented young gentlemen murmur about the +education of this people being too practical, unaesthetic, and all that, +and sigh for the culture which a foreign land only can give. But a man +who has no eye for Nature will hardly learn to love her at second-hand +through the mediation of canvas and colors. I should like very much to +be able to walk into a Turner Gallery once a week; but, for all that, I +would not give up a Connecticut Valley sunset, such as last summer could +be had for the looking at. Not Turner, even, could paint those level +shadows, all interfused with trembling light, that filled the hollows +of the hills across the river, and brought out their wavy contour, and +showed the depth and distance of the valley opening miles away. Could he +throw athwart the dark mirror of the sleeping water in the gorge, which +led the imprisoned river stealthily to the sea, the gliding snows of the +sails rosy-white that stole swan-like from behind the bluffs? Could he +bring down the rainbow till its hither abutment rested on the centre of +the stream in a transparent mist of driving rain, while its keystone was +lost in the stooping cloud above? Art is good, as well as long; but time +is also fleeting, and, not being millionnaires, with the luxury of a run +across the Atlantic at command, let us make what we can out of what we +have. It is very probable that architecture, too, is a sore subject to +aspiring Young America, who turns discontentedly from the stucco and +pine-plank tracery of the new cathedral of St. Aerian. But let Young +America go out to the meadows, and discover for himself a group of +young elms. There is one I know of, not unattainable by very moderate +pedestrianism from the same seaport before alluded to, where a most +exquisite arrangement of arches and tracery can be seen. Six or eight +elms, their long bending boughs clothed with thick, clinging leafage, +mingle their tops, forming a sort of vaulted roof, such as at the +intersection of nave and transepts occurs in every Gothic church which +has no central tower. More exquisite curves, better studies for a +healthy-minded and original architect, could hardly be found. The +interlacing branches are suggestive of tracery-patterns, not to be +outdone even in the flamboyant windows of York and Rouen. There is no +excuse for the squat, ugly, and stupid arches one sees in almost every +attempt at pointed architecture, when the elm-tree springs by every +riverside in the land. + +But it is time to conclude our desultory rambles. It would be pleasant +to me to recall many another of my old haunts, spots which, perhaps, +were never called beautiful before now, and may not be again for many a +day. For they all lie in a very tame and prosaic country, nearly level, +the utmost elevation getting hardly a couple of hundred feet above +tidewater mark; a country with less natural beauty than belongs to most +New England towns,--bare, bleak, rocky, with stunted vegetation and +ungenial soil. Yet within its limits there are brooks and marshes and +copses and woodlands,--rocks over which the wild columbine hangs its +fuchsia-like pendants, and dells where nestle the earliest and sweetest +of the wood-flowerets. + +And now to come back to the miserable sinner. As schoolboy, as +bank-clerk, as teacher, as worker in many ways, he has unemployed +leisure in the hours of daylight,--not so many as he should have, +perhaps, but still many hours in the course of the month. Shall he go to +the livery-stable, the bowling-alley, or the billiard-saloon? Not being +a saint, of course he can plead no high-toned sense of need of physical +culture, to warrant these indulgences. He goes because he likes it, gets +enjoyment, exercise, rest for a mind tasked to the full with the day's +work. This he ought to have; and if butting little ivory balls about or +propelling big wooden ones will give it him, let him have it, if so be +that it cannot be got otherwise. There is no contamination in the cue or +the ten-pin; but there is in the habits and associations of the places +where they are found. Let us not be maw-wormish about it, but tell the +truth as it is. The quasi-gambling principle upon which all such places +are conducted stimulates the love of hazard and makes way for the +betting propensity to become full-blown. Of course, one can bet, if one +have money; two lumps of sugar and a few flies will enable a man to lose +the fortune of the Rothschilds, if he will. That is not the question. +The billiard-saloons do educate men for the gambling-house, simply +because they cannot go to them without either losing their money or +winning their games. Beside that, the gaseous, dusty, confined, and +tobacco-scented air of those places is not to be compared with our free, +open, out-doors hills and meadows, for any hygienic purposes. + +But, argument apart, there is a sad New England story, so often repeated +as to be almost wearisome, were it not so sad. It is of the fresh, +frank, honest-hearted boy, who may be seen behind many a bank-counter. +At first, so active, trustworthy, and trusted,--yet with the constant +temptation of unemployed time and energies demanding supply of action. +Little by little these are supplied,--supplied by the billiard-table +and its concomitants. It is the same story,--first, rumors, then +equivocation, then exposure. Perhaps a petty sum is all; but, to the +austere justice of banking, this is as bad, nay, worse than millions. +And then a brief paragraph in the newspaper, and one more ruined young +man, sulking beside the family-hearthstone, his father's shame, his +mother's unextinguishable sorrow,--a candidate for crime, if he have +power of mind and spirit to feel, or an imbecile dependant, if he have +not. + +Now preaching, whether lay or clerical, will not do much to prevent +this, especially if it be pitched (as it commonly is) upon too high a +key. _Preventing_ means, or used to mean, when words had a meaning, +_getting beforehand with anything._ And if young Homespun have from the +outset something he likes better, he will not take to the ivory balls in +pleasant weather, and in rainy weather will be apt to prefer even quite +a stupid book to the board of green cloth. Therefore, boys, go,--and +girls, too, for that matter,--on flower and moss hunts!--and ye, dear +middle-aged people, send them, and go also upon the same! Find something +that will tempt you into the woods,--something neither berries nor +sassafras,--something which cannot be eaten or sold, but which will +simply give you a sense and a love of beauty. These pages have been +written to show that it lies at your very doors,--that nothing but stout +boots, an old coat or jacket, and an observant eye, is needed. When you +come to be saints, or even to be men, there will be plenty of active +work to do, if so be that you will only do it. Then, in careful regard +to your bodies, you may have hard-trotting (not fast-trotting) horses, +pickerel-backed boats, and a billiard-room over the stable,--if your +canonization seem to require it. But the saint, if he be true saint, +needs no such care. He will get work enough, hard, physical work, if +only in trotting up and down the steep stairs of tenant-houses, to keep +his digestion in tolerable order. It is only your pseudo-saint, +who cuddles himself for the pulpit and the platform, and keeps the +safety-valve down with midnight sittings while "rosining up" the +furnaces with strong coffee, that will come to grief by collapse of +flues. If a man, whether sinner or saint, will run races for the honor +of being the fastest boat in the river of popular favor, he must take +the consequences. + +But for the poor, benighted, heathen sinner, desiring enjoyment that +shall be honest, cheap, satisfying, and attainable, I say, in the full +faith of the creed of Nemophily,--Get into the woods! No matter what +you expect to find there,--go and see what you can find. Don't walk for +"constitutionals," without an object at the end or on the way. Keep your +feet well shod and your eyes open. Bring home all the flowers and pretty +wood-growths you can, and you may find that you have been entertaining +angels unawares. Find out about them all you can yourself, and then (in +spite of a previous tirade against botany, be it said) go to BIGELOW'S +"PLANTS OF BOSTON" and learn more. + + + + +SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. + + +A fatiguing journey up six long, winding flights of smoothly-waxed +stairs carried me to the door of the room I occupied in the Place ----. +But no matter for the name of the Place; no one, I am confident, will +visit Paris for the express purpose of satisfying himself that I am to +be depended upon, and that there is a house of so many stones in the +Place Maubert. Here I lived, _au premier au dessous du soleil_, in the +enjoyment of no end of fresh air, especially in winter, and a brilliant +prospect up and down the street and over the roofs of the houses across +the way, which reached from the Pantheon on the one side, to the peaked +roofs and factory-like chimneys of the Tuileries on the other, the dome +of the Hotel des Invalides occupying the centre of the picture. I was +studying painting at that time,--learning to paint the much-admired +landscapes and figure-pieces which I produce with so much ease now and +dispose of with so little,--and, as a general thing, was busy, (though I +had my fits of abstraction, like other men of genius, during which I did +nothing but lie on my bed and smoke pipes over French novels, or join +parties of pleasure into the country or within the barriers,) through +the day, and often till late in the evening, in the atelier of one or +another of the most renowned artists of the city. + +At the head of the last flight of stairs in this house was a narrow +passage-way in which I was always obliged to stop and recover my breath, +after finishing the one hundred and thirty-nine steps that led to +my paradise, before I could get my key into its lock; and into this +passage-way opened two doors, one of which, of course, belonged to my +room, and the other to some one's else. But who this some one else was I +was unable to find out. Was _it_--and how convenient a word is _ca_ in +such a case!--male or female? I was persuaded it must be a woman, and as +a woman I always used to think of her and speak of her, to myself,--and +I thought and spoke of her often enough. Of course, I could have settled +the question at once by knocking at her door and asking for a match, but +I scorned resorting to such weak subterfuges. But how quiet she was! +Occasionally, when, contrary to my usual custom, I took another nap +after waking in the morning, instead of going out for exercise and a +glimpse of early Paris street-life,--occasionally I used to hear her +moving about on the other side of the thin partition which separated +our rooms, as stealthily as though she feared she might disturb me. She +would light her charcoal-stove, and perhaps glide softly by my door and +down stairs, to return soon with the paper of coffee, the, bit of bread, +and the egg or two which were to serve her for breakfast, and now and +then she would sing to herself, but so gently that I never could hear +the words of her song, nor scarcely the air. An evil spirit put gimlets +into my head, but I shook them out like so much powder, and resolved to +be honorable, if I was an artist. I found, however, that my curiosity +was an abominable nuisance, that my morning walks were almost entirely +neglected, and that I could not bear to leave my room until I had heard +her go out and lock her door behind her. Every day, after her departure, +I resolved that she should not go out again without being seen by me, +and every time I attempted to follow her in such a way as to escape +detection I lost sight of her. I nearly fell into the street as I +attempted to reach far enough out of my window to see her as she came +out at the street-door. + +At last, one morning, when it happened, that, just as I had finished +dressing myself and was ready to go out, she opened her door and ran +down stairs without closing it behind her, carried away by my curiosity, +I stepped out into the narrow passage-way and looked into her sanctuary. +The room was a smaller one than mine,--but how much neater! The muslin +curtains in her window were as white as snow; her wardrobe, which hung +against the wall, was protected from the dust by a linen cloth; the +floor shone like a mirror. Her canary hung in the window, and greeted me +with a perfect whirlwind of _roulades_ as I stepped into the room. Her +fire was burning briskly under a pot of water, which was just coming +to the boiling-point, and singing as gayly and almost as loudly as her +bird. Over the back of a chair was thrown the work she had been busied +with; and on the bed, almost hid by the curtains, was a pair of the +prettiest little blue garters I ever saw, even in Paris,--span-new they +were, and had evidently been bought no longer ago than the evening +before,--and some other articles of feminine apparel, which I will not +attempt to describe. I looked into her glass, I really believe, with the +hope of finding there a faint reflection of her face and figure. She +must have looked into it but a minute before going out. A book, like +a Testament, lay on the table. I knew I should find her name on the +fly-leaf, and was just on the point of satisfying myself with regard to +that particular when I heard her feet upon the stairs; and, with a start +which nearly carried away the curtains of her bed, I rushed from her +room into my own. + +How my heart beat, after I had gently closed my door and was sitting +on the side of my bed, listening to the movements in the next room! It +didn't seem to me as though I had been guilty of a high misdemeanor, +and yet, though I had been prepared for her return, I was as much +discomposed as though I had been caught peeping. + +So far from being satisfied with this resolution of my doubts with +regard to the sex of my neighbor, I now found myself more uneasy and +curious than before. Was she young and pretty and good? and what did she +do? and what was her name? My thoughts were perpetually running up those +six flights and stopping baffled at her close-shut door. I drew +ideal portraits of her, and introduced them into all my pictures as +pertinaciously as Rubens did his wives, and would often finish out an +accidental face in a study of rocks, much to my instructor's surprise +and my fellow-students' amusement. It was very remarkable, however, +that all these fancy sketches bore a striking resemblance to another +acquaintance of mine, who will shortly be introduced, and in whom, until +I moved into my now room, I had been exclusively interested,--so much +so, in fact, that----But I will not anticipate. + +Most of my days were spent on the opposite side of the Seine; and, as +I crossed that river, by the Pont Royal, at about five o'clock, every +evening, on my way to the Laiterie, at which I usually took what I +called my dinner, I always stopped to buy a bunch of flowers, of violets +in their season, of a charming little flower-girl, who had her stand, on +the Quai Voltaire, and who, by the time my turn to be served came, had +usually disposed of nearly her whole stock. Every one who looked at her +bought of her. She possessed something that was more attractive even +than her beauty; though I question, if, without her glossy brown hair, +her soft, dark eyes, her glorious complexion, her round, dimpled cheek +and chin, her gentle winning smile, and her exquisite taste in dress--I +question, if, without all these, her quiet, modest demeanor and +unaffected simplicity and propriety would have attracted quite as much +attention as they always did. + +I had not bought many bouquets of Therese before she began to recognize +me as I came up, and to greet me with a smile and a _"Bon jour, +Monsieur,"_ sweeter in tone and accent than any I had ever heard before. +What a voice hers was! Its tones were like those of a silver bell; and I +found that she always had my bunch of violets or heliotrope ready for me +by the time I reached her. + +My frugal meal over, I was in the habit of visiting a neighboring +_cafe,_ where I read the papers, drank my evening cup of coffee, and, as +I smoked my cigar or pipe and twirled my posies in my fingers or held +them to my nose, would wonder who she was who sold them to me, if she +ever thought of those who bought them of her, and if she distinguished +me above her other customers. It seemed to me, that, if she had the same +angelic smile and happy greeting for them as she always bestowed upon +me, they must one and all be her slaves; and yet I couldn't decide +whether I really loved her or was only touched by a passing fancy for +her. + +I looked forward, however, through the day, to my interview with her +with a great deal of impatience, and found myself making short cuts +in the long walk which led me to her. I used to arrange, on my way, +well-turned sentences with which to please her, and by which I expected +to startle her into some intimation of her feelings toward me. I was +angry that she was obliged to stand in so public a place, exposed to the +gaze and remarks of all who chose to stop and buy of her. In fine, I +was jealous, or rather was piqued, that she should receive all others +exactly as she received me, and almost flattered myself that necessity +forced her to meet them with the same sweet smile inclination led her to +bestow on me. + +This was the state of affairs at the time I moved into my new lodgings, +before referred to, in the Place Maubert, and I was suffering these +mental torments for Therese's sake, when the appearance, or rather the +non-appearance, of my mysterious neighbor aggravated and complicated the +symptoms and converted my slow fever into an intermittent. I had called +my fair unknown Hermine;--the pronoun _she_, as it applied equally to +every individual of the female sex, and in the French language to many +things besides, soon became insufficient, and I took the liberty of +calling her Hermine. I was so ashamed of my foolish passion, that I +could not make up my mind even to question the porter at the door with +regard to her, nor to consult any of my better initiated acquaintances +as to the proper course to be pursued, but lived out a wretched +succession of days and nights of feverish anxiety and expectation,--of +what I knew not. + +I was on my way over the Pont Royal, one evening, at my usual hour, +and was just coming in sight of my bewitching flower-merchant, when +a sudden, and, as I believed, a happy thought occurred to me, and I +resolved to put it into instant execution. I am sure I blushed and +stammered wofully as I asked for _two_ bunches of flowers instead of my +usual one, and I was confident, that, as she handed them to me without a +word, but with such a look, Therese's brow was shaded by something more +than the dark bands of her brown hair or the edge of her becoming cap, +and that her lip quivered rather with a suppressed sigh than with her +usual happy smile. I didn't stop to speak with her that night, but +hurried away towards my room, conscious--for I did not dare to look +behind me, or I am sure I should have relinquished my design--that her +large, sorrowful eyes were full of the tears she had kept back while I +had stood before her. + +I reached my room as soon as possible, and, after assuring myself that +my neighbor was still absent, carefully inserted my second nosegay +into her keyhole, and rushed from the house as though I had committed +burglary. + +I was very young then, very romantic, and wholly wanting in assurance. +I must have been, or I should never have regarded it as a crime, not +against myself, but others, that I was making my days miserable and my +nights sleepless on account of two young girls, one of whom I had never +seen, and the other of whom was merely a flower-merchant. + +When I clambered up to my room late that night, the flowers were no +longer where I had put them. I had been torturing myself all the evening +with the thought that Hermine might have felt offended, and that I +should find them torn in pieces and thrown down at my door, or that she +would be waiting for me with a severe reprimand for my boldness and +impertinence. But I could find no trace of them, and went to sleep, +soothed by the conviction that they had been carefully put by in a glass +of water, or were occupying a place on her pillow by the side of her +dainty cheek. I feared to meet Therese's sorrowful face again the next +night, and was troubled so much by the thought of it through the day, +that I fairly deserted her that evening and bought my two bouquets +elsewhere. With one of these, which I had taken care should be of a +finer quality than before, I repeated my experiment of the preceding +night and with the same gratifying result. But the day after, +forgetting, until it was too late, that I had given Therese fair cause +to be seriously angry with me, habit carried me to my old resort again, +though I had fully determined to reach home by another way, and to +patronize, for the future, my new _bouquetiere,_ who was not only old +and ugly, but of the masculine gender. Habit--and perhaps wish had +something to do with it--was too strong, however, and I found myself +turning down the Quai Voltaire at the customary hour the next evening. + +Much to my surprise, and somewhat to my mortification, Therese greeted +me with her old sunny smile. Her _"Bon jour, Monsieur,"_ was as cordial +as ever; and it even seemed to me--and that didn't in the least tend to +compose me--that her eyes sparkled with an archness which I had never +seen in them before, and that her voice had in it a tinge of malice, as +she held out to me two of her finest bunches, saying,-- + +_"Est-ce que, Monsieur en desire deux encore ce soir?"_ + +I was very angry with her for being in such good-humor, and believe I +was anything but aimable or polite with her. Why did she not look +hurt or offended and reproach me for my desertion, instead of almost +disarming my senseless anger by her gentleness? + +"It seems that Monsieur forgets his old friends, sometimes," she +continued, as I took the flowers she had been holding towards me, and +was fumbling in my pocket for the change. + +"Forget!" I stammered; for the temper I found her in had so completely +ruffled mine, that I was hardly sufficiently master of myself to be able +to answer her at all,--"what makes you think I forget? Am I not here +this evening, as usual?" + +"This evening, yes,--but last night you did not come; or were you here +too late to find me? I"----she paused, and, with her color a little +heightened, as though she had narrowly escaped making a disclosure, +looked another way,--"Monsieur must have bought his flowers elsewhere, +yesterday. Were they as fresh and sweet as mine?" + +"But how do you know, Mademoiselle,"--I answered, after I had given +her a long opportunity to add what I had hoped would follow that +long-drawn-out "I"; (she was going to say, I was sure, that she had +waited for me to come as long as was possible;)--"How do you know that I +bought my flowers elsewhere, or that I bought any? And where can I find +finer ones than you give me?" + +"Monsieur is kind enough to say so," she returned. "Can you excuse my +indiscretion? I only thought, that, as you never miss carrying a bunch +of flowers home with you, and sometimes two," she added, with a wicked +twinkle in the corner of her mouth, "you must have found some better +than mine, last night. But Monsieur will, of course, act his own +pleasure." + +Therese had never appeared to me more charming than at that moment. I +wondered afterwards how I had been able to tear myself away from her, +and was almost angry that I had not thrown down my second bunch, had not +vowed to her that I would never desert her again, and had not confessed +that the pain I had suffered from my folly had more than equalled hers, +since I was never so happy as when I could be near and see her and hear +the music of her voice. + +And this was my life, and these the pains I used to suffer. Two tender +passions held alternate possession of my fickle heart, and a constant +struggle was always waging between them for the mastery; and the +impossibility of deciding in favor of either of them, which to accept +and which deny, prevented my yielding to either. Therese, however, whose +real presence I could enjoy, upon whose delicious beauty I could feast +my eyes whenever the fancy seized me, and whose voice I could hear, +even when separated from her, possessed a fearful advantage over her +invisible rival, who maintained her position in my interest only by +preserving her incognito and maintaining my curiosity strained to the +highest pitch. My acquaintance with Therese became daily more intimate, +and was soon upon such a footing as seemed to authorize my asking her +to accompany me on a Sunday jaunt to one of the thousand resorts of +Parisian pleasure-seekers just beyond the barriers of the city. + +She accepted,--of course she did,--and the matter was finally arranged +one Saturday evening for the next day. I was to find her at the house of +her aunt, who lived in my neighborhood, and who, to my surprise, turned +out to be the proprietress of the Laiterie I frequented. Here we were to +breakfast, and afterwards take the proper conveyance to our destination, +which I think was Belleville. + +Sunday came, and with it came such weather as the gods seldom vouchsafe +to mortals who contemplate visiting the country. It was one of those +cloudless days in early June when all Nature, and yourself more +than anything else in Nature, seems as though it had been taking +Champagne,--not too warm, but sufficiently so to make out-of-door life a +luxury, and an excursion like ours into the country almost a necessity. + +Therese, like everything else in Nature on that summer's day, was more +gloriously beautiful, in my eyes, than ever before. Hermine's ideal +beauty, and with it her chance of success, faded out from my memory like +an unfixed photograph, before this charming reality, and Therese ruled +supreme. She had dressed herself with a taste which surprised even +me, who had so long regarded her as irreproachable, as she was +unapproachable, in that particular; and the joy she felt at the thought +of a whole day's ramble in the country showed itself in every feature +of her countenance, in every movement, and in every tone of her voice. +There didn't live a prouder or a happier man than I was, as we made our +way arm in arm towards the Place Dauphine, where we were to take the +omnibus for Belleville. + +We ran wild in the woods and fields all that day, we fed the fishes in +the ponds, we made ourselves dizzy on the seesaws and merry-go-rounds, +and at last, fairly tired out, and feeling desperately and most +unromantically hungry, turned into the neatest and least frequented +restaurant we could find and ordered our dinner. + +Therese was no _gourmande_, luckily. Her tastes were simple and +harmonized admirably with my slender means. We dined, however, like +princes, and drank a bottle of _Chateau Margeaux_, instead of the _vin +ordinaire_, which was my ordinary wine. Therese's gayety had fairly +inoculated me, and, forgetting my usual reserve, we laughed and chatted +as noisily as a couple of children. + +"Upon my word," cried I, as I caught sight of a bouquet of flowers in +the room we occupied, "what a couple of ninnies we have been! We have +forgotten to get any flowers to carry home with us. But I suppose you +see too many of them through the week to care for them to-day." + +"Oh, no!" replied Therese. "I could never see too much of flowers; +and besides, you must have a bunch to carry home to Mademoiselle this +evening. She will never forgive you, if you neglect her to-day. And what +would she think or say, if she knew where you are now and whom you are +with? She is very fond of flowers,--when they come from you, I mean." + +"Well," I stammered, and my face burned like fire. "What Mademoiselle? +And what makes you think that I make presents of the flowers I get of +you? I only get them for myself, and as an excuse for seeing you." + +"_Ah! menteur_!" cried Therese, shaking her finger at me with mock +solemnity. "_Fi donc! c'est vilain._ Do you think I have no eyes, or +that you have none that speak as plainly as your mouth, and more truly? +You try to deceive me, Monsieur!" and the little hypocrite assumed so +injured and heart-broken an expression and tone, that I was almost wild +with remorse, and cursed the wretch who had placed the flowers in the +room, and myself for having noticed them. I should have been hurried +into I don't know what expressions of attachment to her and of +indifference towards every other individual of her sex, if she had not +prevented me by the following startling remark. + +"I know to whom you give the flowers you value so much as coming from +me. It is to your next-door neighbor, who pleases you more than I do, +and whom you have known, perhaps, longer than you have me. Why didn't +you invite her, and not me, to come with you to-day? It would have been +better." + +"Ah!" cried I, "do you know her? She told you about it? Why doesn't she +let me see her? Is her name Hermine?" + +And almost before I knew it, I had told her the whole story of my +passion for my invisible neighbor. + +Therese pouted, and turned her back. She put her handkerchief to her +face, and called me all sorts of hard names for having brought her there +to listen to the confession of my love for another; and turned a deaf +ear, or I thought she did, to my expostulations and my protestations +that I didn't really care for Hermine,--that it was only a passing +fancy, more curiosity than anything else,--and that I really loved no +one but her. + +She began to relent at last, though I was half inclined to be sorry, for +her resentment became her even better than her good-humor. + +"Well," she said, finally, "it is too tiresome to quarrel, and I will +forgive; for, although you say you have never seen Hermine,--(that is a +prettier name than Therese, isn't it?)--she has, perhaps, seen you, and +may really love you "-- + +"But I don't love her," I cried. "I don't want to love her. I don't want +to see her. Her name isn't Hermine, I know. I will never think of her +again, nor make a fool of myself by putting nose-gays into her keyhole, +if you will only not look so sober any more." + +"She will be very sorry for that, I am sure," returned Therese, with a +smile I could not translate; "and she will miss them very much. I judge +her by myself. I always find a bunch at my door when I go home at +night"-- + +"You! You find flowers at your door? And who puts them there?" And I +took my turn at being provoked. "You haven't used me fairly, Therese, to +make me understand all this time that you cared for no one but me. There +is some one, then, whom you love and who loves you?" + +"Oh, yes!" she answered, her whole face beaming with a pleasure which +made me feel like committing a murder or a suicide; "oh, yes! I believe +he does; he has almost told me so. And--and I know that I do. But he is +so droll! He is my next-door neighbor, and has never seen me yet, and +has never tried to, I believe; but he leaves a bunch of flowers at my +door every evening, and calls me--Hermine." + +"Hermine! You Hermine? Hurrah!" + +And before she could prevent me, I held her in my arms, and, in spite +of her struggles, had kissed her forehead, eyes, hair, nose, and lips +before she could extricate herself, and then went round the room in a +wild dance of perfect joy and relief. + +"I knew I could love no one else, Therese-Hermine, or Hermine-Therese! I +knew there must be some good and sufficient reason for the unaccountable +attraction my neighbor was exercising over me. Why didn't you tell me +sooner, _mechante_? I suppose you never would have done so at all, if we +had not come out here to-day. Suppose I had not asked you to come with +me?" + +"Wouldn't you have asked me?" she answered, with so much winning grace +and in such a pleading tone that I found myself obliged to repeat the +operation of a few lines above. "Wouldn't you have asked me? I don't +know what I should have done," she continued, sadly and thoughtfully. +"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, jumping up and clapping her hands, while her +whole face was radiant with triumph. "Oh, yes! then I should have been +Hermine, and you would have asked her." + +Two happier young people than Therese and myself never, I am confident, +returned by rail from a day's excursion in the country. Our happy faces, +our rapid talking, and our devotion to each other, which we took no +pains to conceal, attracted the attention of all about us,--and I heard +one father of a family, who was returning to Paris with a half score of +cross, tired, and crying children, whisper to his wife, as he pointed +towards us,--"That is a couple in their honey-moon, or else lovers; how +happy they are!" + +And that is the way in which I stumbled into wedlock. How many others, +in their pursuit of what has seemed to them the substance, have failed +to discover, perhaps too late, that they were following a flitting +shadow,--while I, favored mortal, in my chase of a dream, stumbled upon +the greatest real good of my whole life! + + * * * * * + + +THROUGH THE FIELDS TO SAINT PETER'S. + + + There's a by-road to Saint Peter's. First you swing across the Tiber + In a ferry-boat that floats you in a minute from the crowd; + Then through high-hedged lanes you saunter; then by fields and sunny + pastures; + And beyond, the wondrous dome uprises like a golden cloud. + + And this morning,--Easter morning,--while the streets were thronged + with people, + And all Rome moved toward the Apostle's temple by the usual way, + I strolled by the fields and hedges,--stopping now to view the + landscape, + Now to sketch the lazy cattle in the April grass that lay. + + Galaxies of buttercups and daisies ran along the meadows,-- + Rosy flushes of red clover,--blossoming shrubs and sprouting vines; + Overhead the larks were singing, heeding not the bells a-ringing,-- + Little knew they of the Pasqua, or the proud Saint Peter's shrines. + + Contadini, men and women, in their very best apparel, + Trooping one behind another, chatted all along the roads; + Boys were pitching quoits and coppers; old men in the sun were basking: + In the festive smile of Heaven all laid aside their weary loads. + + Underneath an ancient portal, soon I passed into the city; + Entered San Pietro's Square, now thronged with upward crowding forms; + Past the Cardinals' gilded coaches, and the gorgeous scarlet lackeys, + And the flashing files of soldiers, and black priests in gloomy swarms. + + All were moving to the temple. Push aside the ponderous curtain! + Lo! the glorious heights of marble, melting in the golden dome, + Where the grand mosaic pictures, veiled in warm and misty softness, + Swim in faith's religious trances,--high above all heights of Rome. + + Grand as Pergolesi chantings, lovely as a dream of Titian, + Tones and tints and chastened splendors wreathed and grouped in sweet + accord; + While through nave and transept pealing, soar and sink the choral + voices, + Telling of the death and glorious resurrection of the Lord. + + But, ah, fatal degradation for this temple of the nations! + For the soul is never lifted by the accord of sights and sound; + But yon priest in gold and satin, murmuring with his ghostly Latin, + Drags it from its natural flights, and trails its plumage on the ground. + + And to-day the Pope is heading his whole army of gay puppets, + And the great machinery round us moving with an extra show: + Genuflexions, censers, mitres, mystic motions, candle-lighters, + And the juggling show of relics to the crowd that gapes below, + + Till at last they show the Pontiff, a lay figure stuffed and tinselled; + Under canopy and fan-plumes he is borne in splendor proud + To a show-box of the temple overlooking the Piazza; + There he gives his benediction to the long-expectant crowd. + + Benediction! while the people, blighted, cursed by superstition, + Steeped in ignorance and darkness, taxed and starved, looks up and begs + For a little light and freedom, for a little law and justice,-- + That at least the cup so bitter it may drain not to the dregs! + + Benediction! while old error keeps alive a nameless terror! + Benediction! while the poison at each pore is entering deep, + And the sap is slowly withered, and the wormy fruit is gathered, + And a vampire sucks the life out while the soul is fanned asleep! + + Oh, the splendor gluts the senses, while the spirit pines and dwindles! + Mother Church is but a dry-nurse, singing while her infant moans; + While anon a cake or rattle gives a little half-oblivion, + And the sweetness and the glitter mingle with her drowsy tones. + + But the infant moans and tosses with a nameless want and anguish, + While, with coarse, unmeaning bushings, louder sings the hireling + nurse,-- + Knows no better, in her dull and superannuated blindness,-- + Tries no potion,--seeks no nurture,--but consents to worse and worse. + + If such be thy ultimation, Church of infinite pretension,-- + Such within thy chosen garden be the flowers and fruits you bear,-- + Oh, give me the book of Nature, open wide to every creature, + And the unconsecrated thoughts that spring like daisies everywhere! + + Send me to the woods and waters,--to the studio,--to the market! + Give me simple conversation, books, arts, sports, and friends sincere! + Let no priest be e'er my tutor! on my brow no label written! + Coin or passport to salvation, rather none, than beg it here! + + Give me air, and not a prison,--love for Heart, and light for Reason! + Let me walk no slave or bigot,--God's untrammelled, fearless child! + Yield me rights each soul is born to,--rights not given and not taken,-- + Free to Cardinals and Princes and Campagna shepherds wild. + + Like these Roman fountains gushing clear and sweet in open spaces, + Where the poorest beggar stoops to drink, and none can say him nay,-- + Let the Law, the Truth, be common, free to man and child and woman, + Living waters for the souls that now in sickness waste away! + + Therefore are these fields far sweeter than yon temple of Saint Peter; + Through this grander dome of azure God looks down and blesses all; + In these fields the birds sing clearer, to the Eternal Heart are nearer, + Than the sad monastic chants that yonder on my ears did fall. + + Never smiled Christ's holy Vicar on the heretic and sinner + As this sun--true type of Godhead--smiles o'er all the peopled land! + Sweeter smells this blowing clover than the perfume of the censer, + And the touch of Spring is kinder than the Pontiff's jewelled hand! + + + + +THE EXPERIENCE OF SAMUEL ABSALOM, FILIBUSTER. + +[Concluded.] + + +Some time after the departure of the riflemen, a detail of eight or nine +men from our company was ordered off towards the lake shore, and soon +afterward another smaller one to Potosi, a little village four or five +miles to the northward of Rivas, bearing orders to Captain Finney's +rangers, who had gone to scout in that direction. The rest of us ate +supper, and then lay listening for the boom of the little field-piece, +which should tell us that the rifles had met the enemy. But the +extraordinary toils and watchings of the last fortnight were too +overpowering, and we were all soon buried in dreamless sleep. + +In an hour or two I was awakened by horses' feet clattering over the +stony pavement of the _porteria_, or gateway to the square courtyard, +in one of whose surrounding corridors we usually slept,--on blankets, +cow-hides, or hard tiles, according as each man was able to furnish +himself. It was the party returning from their scout on the lake. They +unsaddled and fed their animals in the yard, and afterward set about +frying plantains and fresh stolen pork for supper. As they talked over +their provant in the room behind me, I caught most of their adventure, +without the discomfort of rising or asking questions. Near the lake they +had chased and captured some natives, whose behavior was suspicious and +showed no good-will toward the Americans. The officer of the party, +thinking them spies, had carried them part of the way to Rivas to be +examined; but, fortunately, perhaps, for the captives, he afterwards +relented and set them at liberty. They also talked of a small boy who +had peeped out of the bushes as they rode by, and shouted to them, +"_Quieren for Walker_?" (Are you for Walker?) and then adding +energetically, "_Yo no quiero filibustero god-damn!_" darted away out +of sight, before any one, who was so minded, could have shot the little +rebel. + +"Be sure," said one of the men at supper,--a noted croaker and tried +coward, against whom I bear a private grudge,--"the boys have learned +this from the _old_ greasers; and we are going to have all the people of +Nicaragua to fight." + +Later in the night, the other party, which had been sent to Potosi, came +in with panting mules, excited countenances, and one of their number +stained with blood from a wound on his thigh. They told us, that, +failing to find Captain Finney at Potosi, they had stretched their +orders, and gone forward to Obraja, unaware that it was occupied by the +enemy. At the entrance of the village, whilst riding on in complete +darkness, they were challenged suddenly in Spanish. Taken by surprise, +they replied in English, and, before they could turn their animals, were +stunned with the glare and crash of a musket-volley, a few feet ahead of +them. They recoiled, and fled with such precipitation that one of the +riders was tossed over his horse's head;--however, scrambling to his +feet, he found sense and good-luck to remount; and the whole party made +good their flight to Rivas, with no further damage than two slight +flesh-wounds,--one on the trooper, and one on his mule. + +The excitement upon this arrival soon subsided, and I had again fallen +into unconsciousness, when a rough shake of the shoulder aroused me, and +the voice of the old sergeant dinned in my ear,--"Come here! saddle up! +saddle up! You are detailed for Obraja." In a few moments I was mounted, +and, with two others of the company, rode out of the gateway into the +street. There we found awaiting us a fourth horseman, charged with +orders for the riflemen at Obraja, and whom it was our duty to accompany +as guard. + +After clearing Rivas, we clattered over the road at a fast pace, rousing +all the dogs at the _haciendas_ as we passed, and leaving them baying +behind us, until we came to where the Potosi road forked off to the +right; thenceforward, fearing an ambush, we rode slowly and with great +caution, stopping often to dismount and reconnoitre moon-lit fields +beyond the roadside hedges. At length, after passing a picket of our +riflemen, we came to a large _adobe_ house directly on the roadside, +where we found the main body of the detachment encamped and sleeping. +The house stood something under half a mile from Obraja, and was the +residence of that friendly alcalde who on the approach of the enemy +had removed with his family to Rivas, and placed General Walker on his +guard. As we rode into the yard, we had some ado to keep our horses +from treading on the sleeping soldiers, who lay scattered all round +the building, and also in its open corridor fronting toward Obraja. +Dismounting here, our courier went into the house to communicate with +Colonel O'Neal, the commander of the detachment,--leaving it to us +either to tie up, and lie where we were until morning, or pass farther +up the road, where Captain Finney's rangers were stationed. I chose to +go forward and hear the rangers' story, who, we were told, had had a +slight brush with the enemy in the beginning of the night. + +After riding near quarter of a mile, I came to another _adobe_ building +on the roadside, occupied by a small party, and forming Colonel O'Neal's +advanced post, at the distance of four hundred yards or more from +Obraja. Here they told me that Captain Finney's company, whilst riding +into Obraja early in the night, had been hotly fired upon, and Captain +Finney himself was brought off struck in the breast, wounded mortally. +The riflemen had as yet made no attack, but awaited daylight. The number +of the enemy was not known; though rumor placed it between one thousand +and fifteen hundred. Whatever it was, they were apprehensive; for +throughout the night we heard them barricading the town with great hurry +and clatter; and it gave us sad discomfort to think that in the morning +there would be these walls to climb before our men could get at them. It +was the occasion of much bitter cursing that there should be delay until +this was accomplished, and of one man's protesting seriously that it +was, and had been, General Walker's endeavor, not to whip the greasers, +but to get as many Americans killed in Nicaragua as possible,--he +nourishing secret and implacable hatred against them for some cause. +However, I think this judgment weak and improbable, though plausible +enough from some points of view. + +During the night there was some firing between our party and the enemy +from under cover in front, with some few wounds, and one man on our +side shot through the hat,--who thereupon, pulling off the injured +head-piece, and looking at it gravely, declared he would always +thenceforward wear his hat with a high crown; for, said he, had this one +been half an inch lower, the bullet must have struck the head:--which +drollery, in consideration of the circumstances, was allowed to pass for +an exceeding good stroke. + +We passed a disturbed and rather uneasy night, fearful all the time of +being cut off or overwhelmed. But morning breaking at length, a party +of riflemen came up from Colonel O'Neal's camp below, and affairs were +immediately changed for the offensive. The riflemen moved forward +against the town, whilst the rangers were posted at several points along +the road to guard against surprise from the bushes. Among these latter +I took my stand. The squad which went forward could not have numbered +above sixty men, and was armed with Mississippi rifles only,--without +wheel-piece of any kind, or even bayonets. I took them for a party of +skirmishers, sent ahead to clear the way; yet they were not followed or +supported by any additional force that I saw then or afterwards. + +As they passed up the road, I observed that the most listless and dead +amongst them were at length stirred up and thoroughly awake,--though not +with enthusiasm or martial impatience. Some seemed uneasy and careworn, +and glanced about nervously; had their countenances not been unalterably +yellow, they would certainly have been white. One fellow near the +rear was trembling sadly, and carried his rifle in an unreasonable +manner,--promising aimless discharges, and, perhaps, dodgings into the +bushes. But this one was excusable, and I may have slandered him; for +ague had shaken the life almost out of him so often that shaking +was become natural, and little else could be expected of him; and, +furthermore, a pale face or unsteady joints are not always weathercock +to a fainting spirit. In some constitutions these may come from other +emotions than fear; and it often happens that your most lamentable +shaker will stand you longer at the breach than the man of iron nerve, +with a white liver. I have seen such. However, the majority of these +were resolute and dangerous-looking men, and, though without any marks +of inordinate zeal, seemed willing enough to fight whatever appeared. +They held their rifles in the hand cocked, and, as they advanced, threw +their eyes sharply into the bushes on either side the road,--having +received orders to shoot the first greaser that showed himself, without +awaiting the word. + +In a few moments after, the party having disappeared behind a turn of +the road, we suddenly heard the cracking of their rifles, mingled +with the deeper crash of more numerous musketry; and it was a vivid +sensation, new to me, that some of those bullets were surely finding +billets in the bodies of men. This seemed an encounter with a force +of the enemy outside of the town; and directly we thought, from the +movement of the noise, that our riflemen were driving them in. Then +there was a louder and more rapid volleying of musketry, which +completely drowned the rifles, and seemed to tell us that our men were +come in sight of the barricades. This lasted but a moment, when it was +succeeded by a scattered fire of fewer guns, and finally by irregular +volleys. We knew that our men had fallen back; and we had not once +thought it would be otherwise. Indeed, it had been a rarely preposterous +enemy who should allow himself to be driven from behind a rampart by +that handful of dispirited, men. + +Whilst things were on this foot, the courier of last night came up with +his guard, having been sent by Colonel O'Neal, who had remained at the +alcalde's house below, to get news of the attacking party. As I was +still under his orders, I joined him, and rode forward towards the +combatants,--not without sundry misgivings, known to most men who are +about to enter a fray for the first time,--or the twentieth time, +perhaps, if the truth were confessed. We found the riflemen drawn up in +the road, protected by the raised side-bank and cactus-hedge from an +enemy concealed amongst some trees and bushes, a little distance to the +right of the road in front. Above the trees, within pistol-shot, was +visible the red roof of a church which stood on the _plaza_ of Obraja, +where were barricaded, as they said, over a thousand greaser soldiers. +All other sign of the town than this one roof was shut in from view by +the abundant foliage which embowered it. As we approached the riflemen, +we dismounted and led our horses, fearing to attract a shower from the +enemy, who lay in the bushes firing irregularly. The officer of the +party told us to report to Colonel O'Neal that he had advanced within +sight of the _plaza_, and, finding it strongly barricaded, and "swarming +with greasers," he held it folly to assail it with fifty men, and so had +retreated. He mentioned some loss,--very small for the noise that had +been made,--of which I remember the name of one Lieutenant Webster, shot +through the head. He charged us to ask Colonel O'Neal's permission to +fall back on the _adobe_ where we had passed the night, as the enemy +appeared to be moving around his right, and he was fearful of being +surrounded in the open road. But, directly after, seeing the enemy were +in earnest to cut him off, he concluded to fall back on the house upon +his own responsibility, and did so, and with the _adobe_ walls around +him probably felt secure enough against such an enemy. + +We returned to the lower camp, and delivered our report to a +boyish-looking person, in unepauletted red flannel shirt, but who was +no other than Colonel O'Neal, the officer in command. He was popular +amongst his men, and reputed a brave and energetic officer. He probably +mistrusted from the first that his force was too small; and hence the +delay in the attack, and the dispatch of the little party of riflemen +merely to satisfy General Walker. Be that as it may, upon hearing our +report, he recalled the advanced party, and immediately sent off +to Rivas to say he could do nothing against the town without a +reinforcement. + +In the mean time those of the men who were off guard lay about under +the trees and ate oranges, with which the alcalde's yard was stocked +plentifully, whilst such wounded as had been brought in were laid on the +floor of the house, and their wounds probed by the surgeon; whereupon, +being but young soldiers mostly, there arose loud outcries and dismal +bellowings. For my own part, I set about comforting my mule, who had +been under saddle since leaving Rivas. I unsaddled him, brought him an +armful of _tortilla_ corn from the alcalde's kitchen-loft, some water +from the well, and left him making merry as if he had nothing worse +ahead of him. + +Some time after mid-day the rest of our company came out from Rivas, and +we immediately had orders to ride up the road and fire upon the enemy's +outpost,--which, as the riflemen had been withdrawn and our advanced +picket was now nearly half a mile from the town, promised to be a +service of some danger. Therefore one of our commissioned officers, +afterwards dismissed the service for cowardice, was here seized suddenly +with the colic,--so badly, that he was unable to ride with us at his +post. Other sick men being left in quarters at Rivas, we counted now but +little over twenty men,--armed with Mississippi or Sharpe's rifles, and +some of us with the revolvers we had brought from California. After +passing the _adobe_ building, garrisoned last night, but now empty, we +advanced with great care, our leader taking often the precaution to +dismount and peer with bared head over the cactus-hedge which crowned +the right-hand bank of the road and shut us in on that side completely. +At every turn of the road he repeated his reconnoissance, so that our +advance was very slow, giving a watchful enemy almost time to place an +ambush, if they had none ready prepared. It was as sweet a place for a +trap as greaser's heart could wish. On our right was the impenetrable +cactus-hedge, with an open space beyond, terminated at the distance of +a few yards by a wood or plantain-patch. On the left was another wood, +matted with tangled underbrush and vines which no horseman could +penetrate. On either side half a dozen men might couch in ambush and +shoot us down in perfect security. + +We passed on, however, without disturbance, or sight of an enemy, until +we came nearly to the edge of the town and saw the glistening roof of +the church appear above the foliage,--where sat sundry carrion-loving +buzzards, elbowing each other, shuffling to and fro with outspread +wings, and chuckling, doubtless, over the promise of glorious times. +As we go on, suddenly heads appear over the bushes less than a hundred +yards in front, and we hear the vindictive whistle of Minie-balls above +us. Our leader, calling upon us to fire, began himself to blaze away +rapidly with his Colt's revolver. We huddled forward, with little care +for order, and delivered some dozen Mississippi and Sharpe's rifles. +There were nervous men in the crowd; for, after the discharge, dust +was flying from the road within thirty feet of us. However, some aimed +higher; and when we looked again, the heads had disappeared. One bold +greaser stepped out into the road and sent his Minie-ball singing +several yards above us, then darted back quickly, before any of us +could have him. We waited a moment to see others, but they seemed to be +satisfied;--and we were satisfied,--with prospect of a swarm bursting +out on us from the town; so, sinking spurs into our weary animals, we +made good pace back to the camp,--not without an alarm that a troop of +well-mounted lancers was behind us. + +In the course of the afternoon, General Henningsen arrived, bringing a +fine brass howitzer, and a small reinforcement of infantry--as those +armed with rifled muskets and bayonets were called--and artillerymen; +and, after some hours' rest, he ordered a fresh attempt with the +howitzer, supported by somewhere near two hundred men. This party was +received with so fierce a fire at the barricade that they shrank back, +leaving the howitzer behind in the road,--so that the enemy were on the +point of capturing it, when a brave artilleryman touched off the piece, +loaded with grape-shot, almost in their faces, and, strewing the +earth with dead, sent the others flying back to the barricade. This +artilleryman told me that an old officer amongst the enemy stood his +ground alone after the discharge, and swore manfully at the fugitives, +but they were panic-struck and took no heed; and it was his assertion, +that, had a small part of the riflemen rallied and charged at this time, +they might have gone over the barricade without difficulty or hindrance. +As it was, the howitzer was scarcely brought off, and the attack failed +ingloriously. Whether this story of the artilleryman were true or false, +we heard in other ways, by general report, that the riflemen had behaved +badly, and quailed as the filibusters had scarcely done before; though, +after all, it will seem unreasonable to blame these two hundred or less, +disease-worn and spiritless men, for not whipping ten hundred out of a +barricaded town. It may be worth saying here, that, seeing things in +Nicaragua from a common soldier's befogged view-point, and having only +general rumor, or the tales of privates like myself, for parts of an +engagement where I was not present, I may easily make mistakes in +the numbers, and otherwise do Walker and his officers, or the enemy, +injustice. Yet I may be excused, since I am not attempting a history +of the war, but merely some account of my own experience, passive and +active. + +Late in the evening our company assisted to carry some wounded to Rivas. +Amongst them was Captain Finney, mentioned before as the first man +struck by the enemy. He seemed to be a brave and uncommonly considerate +officer, and whilst being carried in on a chair, suffering with his +death-wound, he showed concern for his supporters, and insisted on +having them relieved upon the smallest sign of fatigue. He was taken to +the quarters of a friend, where he died a few days afterward. The other +wounded were carried to the hospital, and, finding no one there to take +charge of them, we left them to themselves, lying or sitting upon the +floor, dismal and uncared-for enough. + +After dark we were again in the saddle and riding out to Obraja, in +charge of a commissary's party, with provisions for the detachment of +foot. But after getting a little way from the town, we were overtaken by +an order from General Walker, stopping the provisions, and directing us +to ride on and recall the detachment to Rivas; he having changed his +mind about dislodging the enemy at this tardy hour. We reached the camp +some hours into the night, and, after a little delay, calling in the +pickets, and securing some native women who lived in the vicinity, to +prevent their carrying word of our movement to the enemy, the detachment +commenced its retrograde march,--leaving the enemy victorious, and free +to go where they wished. + +I remember, several times on this march, when the detachment had made +some temporary halt, seeing a grim-faced dog, of the terrier species, +trot along the line to the front of the column, where we rangers stood, +and then, satisfied seemingly that all was well ordered, turn himself +round and trot back to the rear again. + +He did this with such a look and air, that it struck me he felt himself +in some way responsible for our party. He was, indeed, if the tales +current about him were true, the most remarkable character in all that +very variegated conglomerate of characters which made up the filibuster +army. He had appeared in the camp long before, coming, some said, from +the Costa Ricans, with whom he became disgusted on account of their bad +behavior in battle on several occasions when he was there to see. After +this desertion, if it were thus, he followed the Americans faithfully, +through good and bad fortune, retreat or victory; always going into +battle with them,--where he actually seemed to enjoy himself,--trotting +about amidst the whewing of bullets, the uptossing of turf, and the +outcries of wounded men, with calm heart, and tail erect,--envied by +the bravest even. On an occasion when General Walker was attacking the +Costa-Ricans in Rivas, the dog entered the _plaza_ ahead of the rest, +and, finding there one of his own species, he forthwith seized him, and +shook him, and put him to flight howling,--giving an omen so favorable, +that the greasers were driven out of the town with ease by the others. +Even his every-day life was sublime, and elevated above the habit of +vulgar dogs. He allowed no man to think himself his master, or attach +him individually by liberal feeding or kind treatment, but quartered +indiscriminately amongst the foot, sometimes with one company, sometimes +with another,--taking food from whoever gave it, but showing little +gratitude, and despising caresses or attempts at familiarity. He seemed, +indeed, to consider himself one amongst the rest,--one and somewhat, as +they say; and his sole apparent tie with his human friends seemed to +be the delight which he took in seeing them kill or killed. With this +_penchant_, it was said, he never missed a battle, and went out with +every detachment that left the camp to see that none should escape him +unaware.--But enough of him,--strange dog, or devil. + +The withdrawal from Obraja was opposed, so rumor said, by Henningsen and +other officers; and it certainly had a most depressing effect upon the +men, whilst it elated the enemy correspondingly, giving them a degree of +confidence which they had never attained to before. It was agreed on +all hands, by all critics whom I heard, that, having once begun this +attempt, General Walker should have carried it through successfully, +even if it required his whole force. However, as only part of the +enemy's force was on land, the other part being supposed to be +still aboard the steamers or on the island, General Walker +possibly feared an attack on Rivas, should he send out a very large +detachment,--remembering, too vividly, a former blunder, when he left +Granada with all his army to attack the enemy at Masaya, and the enemy, +making a _detour_, came upon his camp in Granada, and destroyed +baggage, ammunition, and all it contained. + +The next day the foot lay quiet in Rivas, and had rest. The rangers, +however, were in the saddle almost continuously, and, what with +foraging, broken sleep, and expeditions by day and night, those of us +who had garrisoned Virgin Bay were become worried nearly past grumbling. +On this day our own company rode out to Obraja, to visit the enemy's +picket again, and afterwards to San Jorge on the lake, to guard the +transportation of a row-boat thence to Rivas. The boat was one of those +borrowed from the vessels in San Juan harbor for the purpose of retaking +the steamers, and had been rowed up to San Jorge, and was now removed to +Rivas, to prevent its seizure by the enemy,--the garrison at Virgin +Bay having burnt the brig, and marched to Rivas, when the enemy first +appeared on land at Obraja. So that the whole American force (except +the crew of the little schooner in which General Walker and his fifty +original followers first came to Nicaragua, and which was lying at this +time in San Juan harbor) was now concentrated at Rivas; the enemy being +eight or nine miles behind them at Obraja, or on the lake with the two +steamers. As we rode through the town of San Jorge, the place seemed +almost deserted, and I remember lingering with others to haversack some +bunches of yellow plantains which hung in an empty house on the _plaza_. +The delay may have come near being fatal to us, for we heard afterwards +that we had been gone but a little while, when a troop of the enemy's +horse rode into the place, reconnoitred, and returned in the direction +in which they came. Their reconnoissance in San Jorge was explained soon +afterwards. + +Some time in the last half of the night following, I was detailed, along +with a considerable detachment from two mounted companies, to ride on a +scout toward Obraja. On the outward ride I was but half-awake, and +my recollection of our course is confused: however, I think it was +somewhere between Potosi and Obraja that we came to a halt, and I was +aroused by some excitement in the party. Pickets were hastily posted +in several directions, whilst the officers gathered about some natives +awakened from a neighboring hut, and seemed to question them earnestly. +We soon heard that the enemy were on the road moving from Obraja, and +that a large force had a little while before passed this place going +eastward. The natives, prone to exaggeration, declared that this force +had been an hour in passing,--with baggage, eight pieces of cannon +mounted on ox-carts, several hundred pressed native Nicaraguans, tied +and guarded to prevent their running away, and a long train of women to +nurse the wounded. The Chamorristas, it seemed, had been around pressing +all the native men they could find into service against the Americans; +and whilst we were here, two, who had been hiding all day in the bushes +to avoid the conscription, came out and asked us to take them with us to +Rivas,--they preferring, if forced to take sides, to join _el valiente_ +Walker. + +This is the stripe of most Central American soldiers. The lower classes +are lazy and cowardly, little concerned about politics, and must +generally be impressed, let the cause of war be what it may. And I am +persuaded, that, since General Walker never harnessed them into his +service, as their own chiefs were doing perpetually, but let them swing +in their hammocks and eat their plantains, (provided they lived beyond +his forage-ground,) un-called-for, they were so far well satisfied with +his government. However, their sympathy, supposing he had it, were worth +little to him; since it takes a stronger impulsion than this to put them +in motion to do anything,--a strong pulling by the nose, indeed,--such +as their native rulers know how to apply.--But this is speculative, and +neither here nor there. + +After getting all the information concerning the enemy that was to be +had from these people, the detachment returned to Rivas at a fast trot, +with the two friendly natives mounted behind, on such stronger animals +as were able to carry double burden. We all supposed, that, now the +enemy were again out of cover and on the open road, or, leastwise, in +the confusion of a new camp, there would be an immediate attack on them. +But General Walker followed his own head; and, after making our report, +we saw no stir, and heard nothing until morning,--when it was known that +the enemy were all moved into San Jorge, with only some two miles' space +between us. This place, being on the lake, was more convenient for +provisions, which were easily brought by the steamers from the island of +Ometepec and the towns and _haciendas_ along the shore,--and the enemy +had gained boldness to go there by our repulse at Obraja: or it may be +that the force at Obraja had come down from Granada by land, and so only +continued their march to San Jorge,--though the rumor was, that they had +landed from the lake, as I have said. + +But be that as it may, time was given them to barricade at San Jorge, +till near the middle of the forenoon, and then Generals Henningsen and +Sanders were sent out with some four hundred riflemen and infantry to +drive them into the lake, which lay some few hundred yards behind them. +During the first part of the attack, our company remained in Rivas, +listening anxiously to the uproar at San Jorge,--every volley fired by +the combatants being borne distinctly to us by the east wind. For some +time there was a continuous rattle of musketry, with rapid detonations +of deeper-mouthed cannon,--at each roar shaking our suspended +hearts,--for we knew that our own men were using small arms only. After +a while this abated, grew irregular, and almost ceased. An order then +came for our company to mount and join the combatants. We galloped down +the broad and almost level highway which passes between Rivas and +San Jorge, bordered a great part of its length, on either side, by +cactus-hedges, broken at various intervals by the grassy by-lanes that +run out to the neighboring _haciendas_ or parallel roads. At places +where there is a slight elevation, the bottom of the road is worn +several feet below the level by the carts which ply between Rivas and +the lake. Opposite one of these, where the banks sloped at a sharp +angle, we came upon General Henningsen and a detachment of musketeers +resting on the right bank of the road, and halted beside them. The men +were sitting under the shade of an _adobe_, refreshing themselves with +oranges; and those in the nearest rank were close enough to hand us +fruit and keep their seats on the grass. Five or six hundred yards up +the road, the large church which stood on the _plaza_ of San Jorge, with +the door facing us, and a low wall of white stone running squarely from +its side across to the right, ended the vista between banks of green +foliage. Our view stretched across the _plaza_, which seemed to be empty +and unbarricaded; and I remember the painted door of the church beyond, +the red-tiled roof, the low, flanking wall of white stone, all dazily +trembling in the unsteady atmosphere radiating from the heated +road,--whilst a cloud of white smoke was sailing slowly away to the +west. It was a hot and tranquil scene. But I always think of it with the +same secret disgust with which the shipwrecked traveller looks upon the +placid ocean the day after the angry storm has passed over it; for it +was here I first saw the cruelty of a round shot. + +When we came to a halt, there seemed to be a lull in the struggle, and +no enemy was anywhere visible, nor was firing heard from any direction. +The infantry, though within range of small arms from the town, were +concealed by the bushes, and the enemy were scarcely aware of their +presence. But when our company came galloping up the road, in full view, +their attention was aroused, and we had scarcely checked our animals and +exchanged a few words with the foot-soldiers, when a column of smoke +shot up from the wall in front.--"Now look out!" exclaimed some one. +I looked, but saw nothing to follow, and had turned my attention +elsewhere, when I heard a hissing noise, as of something rushing swiftly +past, and at the same time turf is thrown into the air, the horses start +aside in affright, and outcries of pain and terror assail the ear. +After a confused moment, I saw that the shot had struck in the line of +infantry a few feet on our right. One man, the drummer of the party, was +running about in the fluttered crowd with his hand hanging by a shred, +crying, "Cut it off! cut it off! D--your souls, why don't some of you +cut it off?" Another lay struggling on the ground, with the fleshy part +of his thighs torn abruptly off, calling upon some one for God's sake to +take him away from there. But the dismallest sight was a bloody shape, +with face to the ground, fingers clutching the grass with aimless +eagerness, and shivering silently with an invisible wound. Twisting +convulsively, it rolled down into the road under our horses' feet,--and +there this human form, which some call godlike, writhed and floundered +like a severed worm, and disguised itself in blood and dust. + +But it is dangerous to look long upon the wounded; an old soldier never +rests his eye there; it is the greatest mistake of the raw one; and it +was well enough for some of us that our attention was timely drawn away +by alarm of another shot from the town. We spurred our horses up the +bank on the left; the foot-soldiers rushed behind the _adobe;_ and this +time the shot passed harmlessly down the road. Before another, General +Henningsen had ordered us all to move forward and get to cover. The foot +stopped in the right branch of a by-lane which crossed the road a little +way ahead. The rangers moved into the same lane,--but on the left, and +divided by the highway from the foot. Here we were entirely hidden from +the town by a belt of small trees and bushes. Nevertheless, the +enemy's round shot, tearing through the trees, still pursued, and the +Minie-balls, though thrown from smooth-bored guns, sang above and far +beyond us. At this place, as near as I recollect, above a dozen men were +killed and wounded,--most of them by that first round shot. + +Our company shortly after was separated, and placed, for the most part, +as videttes, at various points near the town. Some hours after our +arrival, (which time was spent by the filibusters in drinking spirits +and resting from the late unsuccessful assault,--by the enemy in +barricading their position, and drinking spirits, perhaps, likewise,) +General Henningsen led an attack with part of the foot,--taking several +of us rangers along in the capacity of couriers, to ride off to Rivas at +any important turn of the fight and report to General Walker. The enemy +had taken position about the _plaza,_ in the church, and behind the +stone wall at its side, where they had by this time strengthened +themselves with barricades. They had cannon looking towards every +assailable point; and also on top of the church, in the cupola, they +had mounted a small piece, from which they threw grape against our men +advancing on any side. It proved a great source of annoyance throughout +the day. Their number was not certainly known, at least among the ranks, +but was rumored as high as two thousand men,--Costa-Ricans, Guatemalans, +and Chamorristas. + +General Henningsen moved up by a straggling street, with an _adobe_ here +and there, and the intervals filled up with fruit-trees, bushes, and +cactus-hedges. Grape-shot, which may be the saddest thing, touching the +body, on earth, made miserable noise above us and miserable work among +us; and we couriers had leave to dismount and crawl nearer the ground. +General Henningsen gained respect from us by sitting his horse alone. +He was a soldier, it is said, from a boy, in European wars,--where this +were a feeble skirmish; yet he wore his life here, perhaps, more +loosely than in many a noisier battle. However, he seemed calm and easy +enough,--never moving his head, even slightly, when the shot whizzed +nearest him. General Walker, though a brave man, and cool in battle, +will nevertheless dodge when a bullet hisses him fiercely. So would +almost all his officers or soldiers, that I had an opportunity to +notice. Yet, after all, it is a mere trick of the nerves, and only +indicates familiarity and long service, or a deaf ear,--and not want of +self-possession or strength of heart. The advance at length became so +harassing that the party halted under cover on the roadside, whilst yet +some distance from the _plaza,_ and from this lodgment the couriers were +sent off to report progress at Rivas. + +My post thenceforward was, with that of others, at the head of a lane +not far from the town, where we heard the voices of the combatants +and the whistling of balls, but could see nothing. After some hours' +comparative quiet, the drums began beating a charge again, and every gun +on the ground seemed awakened and doing its best. Then there was a loud, +heart-lifted shout, which rose above the din, and gave us too much joy; +and, a moment after, Colonel Casey, a hard-faced, one-armed man, spurred +past towards Rivas, saying, as he went, that our men were in the +_plaza,_ the greasers were running, and "we had 'em, sure as hell!" I +recollect some one observing, that it were of no use to believe Colonel +Casey, for he was the greatest liar in the army of Nicaragua. And +shortly after, the firing having ceased, another officer, Baldwin, I +think it was, came past and told us, with curses of vexation, that the +men had been checked, by command, in the heat of the assault, when the +greasers were already wavering,--and that the latter, recovering, had +rebarricaded so strongly, that we might now all go back to Rivas and +whistle. + +However, this failure was not the end. Towards evening, another +detachment renewed the assault, and the uproar commenced again. It +seems, that, during the whole day, there was no simultaneous attack by +all the detachments. Now, it was the infantry who charged,--with the +riflemen in reserve, probably to prevent a rout, in case the enemy +pursued a repulse; then, it was the riflemen, with the infantry in +reserve; and so alternating through three or four charges;--so that +there never could have been more than a very contemptible force facing +the enemy at one time. + +As it grew late, the wagons began to jolt past, removing the wounded to +Rivas. Some were drunk and merry in spite of their wounds; and their +laughter and drunken sport made strange concert with the cries and +curses of the others. I remember one man going by on foot, with a small +cut on the brow, from which blood was flowing copiously. He said the +wound was a mere scratch,--too slight to have sent him out of the fight, +had not the blood run down into his eyes and blinded him, preventing his +aim. Yet this small affair brought his death shortly afterwards. The +surgeons at Rivas gave him no care,--not so much as to wash his wound, +or have him wash it; and the climate is so malignant to strangers, that +the smallest cut, with the best care, heals only after long hesitation. + +At length night came on, and our men drew off,--foiled at every attempt, +having sustained great loss, and, apparently, made little impression on +the enemy. They lay on their arms, however, in the outskirts, expecting +to renew the attack during the night; and, to assist at this, a party of +rangers had orders to leave their horses in quarters, and march on foot +to join the others. Quitting our horses with regret, we walked to San +Jorge, where the foot lay, awaiting the hour of attack. We found them +stomach-qualmed with hunger, weary of fighting, thoroughly disheartened, +and provoked against their officers. One told how an officer, whose duty +it was to lead the charge, took shelter behind an orange-tree no bigger +than his wrist, and shouted, "Go on, men! go on!" when he should +have been saying, "Come on!" and how another, become stupid with +_aguardiente_, had tried to force his men to a barricade, when their +cartridge-boxes were empty, and their unbayonetted arms useless. +There seemed also to have been slackness among the men; and some +were lamenting, that the First Rifles were not what they used to +be;--anciently they only wanted to _see_ the greasers; to-day they were +found taking to the bushes. They all agreed that no great number of the +enemy had been killed,--whilst the filibusters, they doubted, must +have lost nearly one-third of their men and many of their best +officers;--among the number I recollect Major Dusenbury, highly praised. + +There was one affair, however, over which they crowed and took fierce +satisfaction. They told it thus:--A detached party, of about thirty of +them, were seated on the roadside drinking _aguardiente_, preparatory +to advancing. On one side was a cactus-hedge, and a grove of plantain +a little in front. Whilst they sat here deeply absorbed in the +_aguardiente_, a considerable party of the enemy got amongst the +plantain-trees, and fired a hundred muskets into them at the distance of +a few rods. Strange to say, the greasers were so nervous at finding no +barricade between them, or were such contemptible marksmen, that not +a shot took serious effect; only the demijohn of _aguardiente_ was +shivered into a thousand pieces, and the liquor ran out into the grass. +The filibusters jumped up astounded and disordered; but, seeing so much +good liquor running away wastefully into the grass, they grew terrible. +It was an insult and injury which both men and officers appreciated. It +gave every man in the troop a personal quarrel with the enemy. "Charge +'em!" shouted the captain; "we'll pay the scoundrels for the miserable +trick!" At full speed they swept through a gap in the hedge, and rushed +into the plantain-grove before the enemy had time to reload. But when +the greasers saw them coming on fiercely, their hearts failed them, and, +turning their backs, they fled towards the town. Never were filibusters +or men-of-war better pleased than now! They rattled on furiously behind +the nimble greasers. They sent howling death into their midst at every +step of the chase. They passed bloody forms stretched here and there +upon the earth. They followed the flying foe even to the edge of +the town, and saw its hostile swarm running hither and thither in +alarm.--Alas! General William Walker, why were you not here at this +propitious moment, with all your brave spirits, invincible with rum, +behind you? Then might you have rushed with the fugitives into the town, +and hurled the yellow-skinned invaders into the lake! Then might the +flag of Regeneration have waved even at this day over the hills and +valleys of Nicaragua,--and the unfortunate author of this history have +received a reward for his services!--_Ay de mi!_ Even now, reposing in +the shade of the palm-tree, fanned by the orange-scented breeze that +blows over the lake, I might drink the immortal juice of the sugarcane, +called _aguardiente_, and dream, and gaze at the cloud-wrapped cone of +Ometepec!--But I must forget this. + +The dead killed in this plantain-patch were all that our men obtained +sight of. How many fell behind the barricades, where all the serious +fighting took place, it was impossible to tell; though there was no +reason to think that the enemy, fighting under cover, had suffered at +all proportionably with our men, or, indeed, had suffered equally, +losing man for man, except that ours were the better marksmen. + +We passed a cold and sleepless night, awaiting the word to take up +arms and advance; but in the mean time General Walker had changed +his intention, and, when morning broke, the whole force quitted the +outskirts and marched back into Rivas. The killed and wounded by +the whole affair were reported officially at one hundred, or +thereabout,--underrated, most probably, for effect upon the men. It +was enough, however, considering the filibusters had no more than +four hundred engaged. Amongst them, though not reported, was that +devil-hearted dog which I have mentioned heretofore. He fell, shot +through the head, whilst advancing with the others toward the barricade. +He was lamented by the whole army,--by many superstitiously, even,--who +said he had gone through all Walker's hard stresses so far untouched, +and his end was prophetic of downfall. + +And it is even true, that from this battle General Walker's prospects +clouded rapidly. A proclamation, issued by the Costa-Rican government, +promising fugitive filibusters free passage to the United States, found +its way into Rivas, and immediately worked immense mischief, and was, +indeed, the instrument of his overthrow. The men had no sooner seen it +than they began to leave as fast as they found opportunities to escape. +Guards were placed around the town, and spies in every company; but it +was of no avail; and every morning it was rumored through the camp that +this or that number had got off for Costa Rica during the night. General +Walker, in a speech which he made a few days after to infuse new spirit, +said that these were the cowards,--whose absence was beneficial, and +from whom it was well that the army should be purged. However, this was +exaggerated. It is true, doubtless, that there were many leaving merely +from fear, who would have chosen to stay with him, rather than trust +to the promises of a people believed to be treacherous and +promise-breaking, and whose hatred they had incurred,--had the battles +of San Jorge and Obraja been successful. And, indeed, the filibuster +ranks were not wanting in cowards. Cowards might be induced to come on +a desperate enterprise like this, through misrepresentation by Walker's +own agents; through mere thoughtlessness, or mistake,--not knowing what +soldier's metal was in them; or, with the bayonet of Hunger against +their backs at home, they might be unmindful of any other bayonet on the +distant shore of Nicaragua. (It should be musket-shot, however; for the +greasers never found heart to use the bayonet.) And then again, many, +who, when they first reached Nicaragua, were no cowards, after a few +months' stay, became changed,--by the depressing effects of fever, by +loss of confidence in their drunken officers, and by the absence of all +incentive to fight stoutly for a leader so unpopular as Walker. It was a +common saying, that in this army an old rule was reversed,--the veterans +were worse fighters than the recruits. The soldier was at his best +when he first landed upon the Isthmus, raw and healthy. After that, he +rapidly deteriorated, losing spirit with every battle, until he became +at last a thoroughbred coward. Seven or eight greasers to one filibuster +was said to be good fighting, at one time; but now three or four to one +was thought to be great odds; and before the game ended, I hear, they +were become equally matched, man for man, almost. But, whatever General +Walker said in his speech, this class of weak ones were not always the +deserters. It required some little energy or strength of legs, with +which these were unfurnished, to go over to the enemy at San Jorge, or +walk down to Costa Rica; and the fact was, that from the first many of +the healthiest and liveliest men, whose defection could least be borne, +were leaving,--not from fear, mainly, but because by this proclamation +they were offered the first opportunity to escape from a disagreeable +service to which they thought themselves bound by no tie of love or +honor. + +It was now about time for a steamer to arrive at San Juan on the Pacific +with the California passengers; and the next day, or the second day, +perhaps, succeeding the battle at San Jorge, General Walker said to +General Sanders, in his quiet, whining way,--"General Sanders, I am +going to take two hundred and fifty riflemen and the rangers and go down +to San Juan to bring up our recruits to Rivas; and if three thousand +greasers are on the Transit road, I intend to go through them." +Accordingly, the riflemen, the ranger regiment, and a small party of +artillerymen with one of the two brass howitzers, met in the _plaza_, +and set out on this expedition at midnight, with Generals Walker and +Sanders both in the party. + +The route of the detachment was the one I have mentioned before as +inland through the forest, and striking the Transit road some miles west +of the lake and Virgin Bay. It was firmly believed that we should meet +the enemy somewhere on the Transit road,--since the hills through which +it passed offered many excellent barricading-points, and it would seem a +matter of great importance to them to cut us off from junction with any +fresh recruits the steamer might land at San Juan. So there was much +preparatory drinking amongst the officers, (yet I say it not in slander, +for many were brave enough for any deed, and drank before battle only +because they drank always,)--and less amongst the men solely because +spirits had become scarce around Rivas, and dear; and there were very +few, truly, who had not ceased long since to carry coin in their +pockets. The captain of our company, who was an incautious man, and was +frequently drinking more than was needful, on this occasion drank more +than he was fitted to bear; and whilst the detachment was stopped some +time getting the wheel-piece over a hard place in the road, his strong +friend Aguardiente brought him to the ground, as he sat on his mule near +the front with his company,--where he lay in eruptive state like a +young toper, and so falling asleep lost his mule, which strayed into the +forest to browse, causing him much embarrassment and confused search +when the detachment was ready to start. Being up again, however, the +sleep and stomachic alleviation proved beneficial, and we, his soldiers, +followed after him in much greater comfort and confidence. + +Such delays by the howitzer, and a wagon transporting spare muskets for +the expected recruits, were so frequent, that we made but slow progress, +and when we emerged from the woods the sun was already shining upon +the broad Transit road,--I might have said like a glory on the brow of +Ometepec, but my memory is bad, and I doubt whether the fact may not be +that the sun rises upon this point from lower down on the lake. After +entering the Transit road, the rangers were sent ahead to discover if +there were an enemy in the way. Our regiment, as we called it, now +together for the first time since I joined it, consisted of some +seventy men, divided into three companies, all under command of Colonel +Waters,--a soldierly-looking man, and, moreover, brave, and not without +training in the Mexican War. Some time before the regiment had numbered +one hundred, but had become thus reduced by disease and the enemy. + +On this ride I remember a feeble infusion of that excellent spirit +which, since the days of Sir Walter Scott, ought to belong to all +horse-soldiers, moss-troopers, or mounted rangers, but which I had +despaired of ever finding in General Walker's service. It is true we had +no bugler, or standard-bearer, or piece of feather in the troop, or, +indeed, any circumstance of war, save our revolvers and Sharpe's rifles, +vermin and dirty shirts. Nevertheless the morning was splendid, with a +fresh breeze behind us; the road was hard and smooth, and rang under +our horses' feet; and withal I felt, that, if we should see a troop +of greaser lancers ahead, in good uniform, we might run 'em down, and +bullet 'em, and strip 'em, with good romantic spirit, even. + +But this is a most hollow cheat which Sir Walter Scott and other +book-men have played off on some weak-headed young men of our low-minded +generation. There is no doubt but a man seated amongst ten thousand +cavalry, who shake the earth as they charge, ought to feel himself +swell, as part of an avalanche or mighty Niagara,--as part of the +mightiest visible force which feeble man can enter or his spirit +commingle with. This were no contemptible joy, which the thin-blooded +philosopher might laugh at,--better, indeed, than most to be found here +on this fog-rounded flat of ours, where some few melodies from heaven +and countless blasts from hell meet, and make such strange, unequal +dissonance. But, alack! alack! it is not for the feeble, or the young +soldier, fresh from his plough or his yardstick, his briefs or his +pestle. For how shall we who have all our lives been standing guard +against the approach of death, who start horror-shaken from the dropping +of a tile, whose small wounds are quickly bound up by tender mother or +sister, and lamented over,--how shall we feel romantic in the midst of a +shower of bullets? Enough done, if our vanity or sense of duty hold us +there in any spirit, so that we do the needed trigger-work, and not turn +tail and disgrace ourselves. Even the veteran's satisfaction, since the +laying aside of steel armor, is not much, to be sure, or is gathered +after the battle. There is some savage ecstasy, perhaps, when he sees +his enemy fall, or when he sees his back; this last, indeed, a glorious +sight for any soldier,--worth rushing at the cannon's mouth to look +at, almost. But the man, be he veteran or other, who tells me he found +pleasure on the field where the Minie-balls kill afar off, in cold +blood,--I know him for one of the eccentric, stupid, or talkers for +purposes of vanity.--But this will suffice. + +There were three places on the road, amongst the Cordillera ridges, +where, in former wars, a Costa-Rican force, flying before the +filibusters, had stopped to barricade, and gathered heart to withstand +their pursuers awhile,--long enough to bark the surrounding trees with +musket-shot,--some of them, indeed, amid their topmost branches; for it +is a greaser-failing to shoot inordinately high. Each of these sites we +approached with caution, expecting to see an enemy there; but there was +none, and we came down safely at length to our old shed-camp. Here we +halted, and made our station, as it was more convenient for pasturage, +whilst the foot passed on to San Juan, two miles beyond. + +The steamer not arriving, we remained at this place several days, +employed as before, with the sugar-cane and the wood-ticks, miserable +enough. + +In the mean time, the foot at San Juan, finding unusual temptation to +escape from this place, so much nearer the Costa-Rican line, were +leaving in large parties; and unwilling service was made of the rangers +to intercept the fugitives, by posting them below on all the paths +leading through the forest to Costa Rica. General Walker esteemed these +more faithful, because they had been more considerately treated, better +fed, allowed greater freedom and privilege,--having no drill, loose +discipline, and exemption from guard-duty when with the foot; and, +above all, their part of the service being healthier, and, though more +fatiguing, far preferable, on the whole, to the other. One night I was +detailed, with others, on this disagreeable duty, and remember it, +for other reasons, as the most wretched night of all that I passed in +Nicaragua. Our station was on the bank of a little wooded stream, some +miles below San Juan. After the guard had been posted, I lay down to get +some hours' sleep, which I needed,--but was no sooner on the ground than +a swarm of infinitesimally small creatures, of the tick genus, whose den +I had invaded, came over me, and the rest was merely one sensation of +becrawled misery; so that, notwithstanding great previous loss of sleep, +I went again unrefreshed. I asked an old filibuster who lay near me, how +he could sleep through it. "Oh," said he, "I've got my skin dirty and +callous, and this easy-walking species, that can't bite, never troubles +me." On this subject I read the following in Mr. Irving's "History +of Columbus" with some emotion:--"Nor is the least beautiful part of +animated nature [in those tropical regions] the various tribes of +insects that people every plant, displaying brilliant coats-of-mail, +which sparkle to the eye like precious gems." It seems strange to me +that any good should be recognized in these children of despair, which +have caused me more unhappiness than all the world's vermin beside. +I think this praise must be from Mr. Irving himself, looking up the +picturesque. It is not possible that Columbus would have had the heart +to flatter and polish up these mailed insects, who, in his day, ate him, +turned him over and over, and harried him more than ever was Job by +Satan. + +Next morning, whilst we were roasting green plantains in +the fire for breakfast, a man dressed in General Walker's +blue-shirt-and-cotton-breeches uniform came upon us suddenly +from out of the woods beyond the stream. He was evidently going +south,--but seeing our party, with startled look, he turned, and +went in the direction of San Juan. We knew him at once for a deserter, +but had no zeal to arrest him; and he had already got past us, when +some one ejaculated,--"D--- him, why don't he go right? That's not +the road to Costa Rica!" Upon this unlucky speech, the officer in +command of the detail, who, either through inattention or design, +was suffering the man to pass unquestioned, ordered him to be +followed and seized. He was a German, and either a dull, heavy +fellow, or else stupefied by his terrible misfortune; and being +unable to say a consistent word for himself, the officer sent him +off under guard to San Juan, where it was well known what General Walker +would do with him. + +Some hours after this misadventure, as most of us took it, our detail +was relieved and we rode back to camp. The man who had been taken in the +act of deserting was condemned to be shot at San Juan this same evening, +in presence of the whole detachment. He was led down to the beach, and +seated in a chair at the water's edge. He bore himself carelessly, or +with an absent, almost unconscious air, like one who felt himself acting +a part in a dream. A squad of drafted riflemen was brought up in front +of him, and the word was given by a sergeant. They made their aim false +purposely, and but one shot took effect on the doomed man. He fell back +into the water, where he lay struggling, and stained the waves red with +his blood. It was a wrenching sight, too brutal far, to see the sergeant +place his gun against the poor wretch's head, and end his agony! + +It seemed so abominable to every spectator there that General Walker +should thus seek to enforce Devil's service from his men, entrapped +mostly in the first place, without wages or half maintenance, and with +no claim upon them whatever, but by a contract without consideration +on the one part, on the other hard labor to the death,--that this +exhibition, which in another army were calculated to strengthen just +authority, here only aroused indignation and disgust. This very night, +after witnessing the deserter's punishment, eleven men left the company +to which he belonged in a body, and were seen no more in Nicaragua. And +though for selfish reasons I was concerned to see the army falling to +pieces, and the load of toil and danger increasing upon the rest of us, +yet both I and the rest acknowledged that there was no tie of honor or +honesty to keep any man with us who wished to escape; and this deed +seemed to us without decent sanction. + +The steamer at length made its appearance, and, after landing us about +forty recruits, departed south with the States passengers for Panama; +and afterwards, the new soldiers being all furnished with muskets, the +detachment started on its return to Rivas. On the way, it was rumored +amongst the men, that a reinforcement to the enemy, marching from Costa +Rica, were halted at Virgin Bay, and that General Walker was going to +attack them. We hurried over the Transit road as fast as the foot were +able,--General Sanders, I recollect, riding far in advance, sometimes +out of sight, and thus giving himself to an ambush, had the enemy placed +any. By repute he was a man of extreme courage, and held his life so +contemptuously that he would scarce hesitate to charge an enemy's line +by himself. But I fear that this time he had other impulse than his +innate valor; for there was no occasion for a solitary man, riding in +these gloomy woods, to be singing and hallooing, and whirling his sword +about his head, and swaying to and fro on his horse, unless he were +strongly worked by _aguardiente_. + +Reaching Virgin Bay some time after dark, we found the report of an +enemy there untrue; but the pickets were got out in remarkable haste, +and all the native population--some dozen women and children--were +seized, to prevent discovery of us to the enemy, and I suppose there was +some expectation of an attack. However, liquor being plenty amongst the +hotel-keepers at Virgin Bay, the officers thought it a good place to get +drunk in,--and many spent the night in that endeavor, and in playing +poker; so that in the morning, walking down to the lake to water my +mule, I met a colonel and a general staggering into quarters, rubbing +their eyes sullenly, having just lifted themselves from the street, +where the honest god Bacchus, as a poet calls him, had put them to bed +the night before. + +The steamer "San Carlos" still lay over at the island, under shadow of +the volcano. The other probably lay at San Jorge, by the enemy. The old +brig formerly anchored at Virgin Bay having been burned, there was now +no hope of retaking these steamers, unless the party of Texans, which we +had by this time heard was fighting its way up the Rio San Juan, should +succeed in getting upon the lake with a boat from the river. But to-day +we came near reaching the top of this hope unexpectedly. For whilst we +still delayed in Virgin Bay, smoke began to rise from the chimneys of +the "San Carlos," and in proper time she turned her prow and came across +the water directly toward us. It was scarcely possible that she knew +anything of our presence in Virgin Bay; and it was doubted by no one but +she was coming to land there for some purpose; and then her recapture, +were she full of the enemy, was certain, in the spirit we then were in: +for all felt, that, could we once get the steamer into our hands, and +reach the four hundred fresh Texans on the river, the filibuster star +would have shot up so high that it were ill-management indeed that would +ever pull it down again. Accordingly all were quickly driven into the +houses, and told to lie there close, and be ready to burst forth when +the steamer touched her pier. But we were miserably disappointed. She +came steadily up within half a mile of land, and then, catching an +alarm, turned, and put swiftly back to the island. I afterward heard +that two drunken officers had rushed out into the street, and so +apprised her of the danger. + +After this the detachment set out towards Rivas. We advanced along the +lake shore some distance, fording the mouth of the little Rio Lajas, +whose waters had lost much depth since I first, passed over this road, +crossing the stream in a bungo. In the forest we found, at one point, +trees felled across the road, as if the enemy had here been minded to +oppose us; but we passed by, seeing no one, and reached Rivas in good +time, unmolested. + +Arrived at Rivas, we found that a change was taking place in the +character of the war. The town had been threatened by the enemy during +our absence, and General Henningsen was busy putting it into a state +better suited to repel any sudden attack. Pieces of artillery looked +down all the principal approaches, from behind short walls of _adobe_ +blocks, raised in the middle of the street with open passage-ways on +either side. Native men with _machetes_, watched by armed guards, were +clearing away the fine groves of orange, mango, and plantain, which +everywhere surrounded Rivas, and were fitted to cover the approach of an +enemy. Others were tearing down or burning the houses in the outskirts, +to narrow the circle of defence. The tenants of these houses--when they +had any--were moved up nearer the _plaza_, or, if native, sometimes +into the country. The native population of Rivas, however, was scanty, +consisting mostly of a few women,--of the kindest and most affable sort. +In what direction the men had all, or nearly all, gone, I am unable to +say. Doubtless some of them were with the Chamorristas. + +So many of the houses were marked out to be pulled down, that General +Walker was obliged to quarter his new recruits in the church, a large +stone building, and curious from the head of Washington, easily +identified, carved in relief on its _facade_. Hitherto some native women +had been accustomed to assemble in this church and worship, under care +of a fat, unctuous little _padre_, very obsequiously courteous toward +filibusters;--and well he might be; for General Walker was suspicious +of all _padres_, and kept a stern eye upon them. Once he caught one of +them, who had preached treason against him within reach of his arm, and +released him again only upon payment of five thousand _pesos_. Another, +for a like offence, was put into the guard-house, and required to ransom +himself at twenty-five hundred. What became of this one, whether he paid +his ransom and got out, or whether he stayed there until he lost oil and +became lean on the small ration furnished him, was not rumored. Yet, +with all this in his memory, when the present _padre_ came again with +his flock of women and found the church occupied by soldiers, he went +away scowling, and never even lifted his shovel-hat to me when I met +him. + +On the night succeeding our return from San Juan, General Walker +determined to try a night attack on San Jorge, hoping much from the +fresh spirit and muscle of his forty Californians. To assist in this, +our company had orders to be on the _plaza_ at two o'clock, afoot, with +clean rifles and forty rounds of ammunition. At one o'clock we arose +and went down on the _plaza_, in number about twenty, the rest of the +company remaining behind on account of sickness. On the way, however, +the number was augmented by a second company of near twenty dismounted +rangers, with Colonel Waters at their head. + +Whilst we stood, in rather low spirits, waiting the hour of departure, +our captain procured us a calabash of _aguardiente_, which, thinking +upon the desperate work ahead of us and the infinite toil and +sleeplessness of the last few weeks, we considered excellent, and not to +be spared. Discomfort in battle is a positive evil, felt, perhaps, by +all sons of Adam; and he who will use means to get rid of it and leave +himself free to work is no more a coward, so far, than he who takes +chloroform to prevent the pain of a tooth-pulling,--mere positive evil, +likewise. _Aguardiente_ will serve a good purpose;--provided the head be +not essentially weak, or too inflammable, it ascends you into the brain, +and dries you there, as one hath said, all the nervous, crudy vapors +that environ it. But this captain of ours drank too injudiciously, and, +indeed, so obscured himself with his drink, often, that we his men were +loath to trust and follow him,--doubting that he knew where he was about +to take us, or for what purpose. To-night he strapped a large canteen of +_aguardiente_ about his neck and wore it into battle,--and many times, +as the danger staggered, we saw him draw courageous spirit through the +neck of it, and go on befogged and reassured. Yet, withal, he was no +greater coward than other men,--indeed, much braver than most,--had been +wounded whilst leading a forlorn hope over a barricade,--and would, I +doubt not, have fought well without _aguardiente_, had drinking been a +mark of cowardice in the army. + +At length all was ready, and, with something above three hundred +riflemen and infantry, under command of Generals Walker and Sanders, we +started out on the San Jorge road some hours after midnight. We kept +along the highway until we began to approach the town, and then turned +aside into a by-lane crossing to the left. The by-lane was interrupted +at one place by a deep pool of water, through which the detachment +plunging, half-leg deep, some of the weak-legged stumbled and fell, +getting their cartridge-boxes under, and spoiling their ammunition. + +At the end of this lane we came into another highway running toward San +Jorge, along which we advanced rapidly. After a while we came to a halt, +and a party was sent off; then forward again, a corner turned, and +another halt,--when I heard General Walker asking some one, in composed +voice, "Does he know exactly where we are?" Whilst we stood there, a +sudden and hot rattle of musketry began from the front, and we again +advanced swiftly, by scattered _adobes_, turning corners, and came in +full view of a barricade some distance ahead spitting flashes of fire +crosswise into the right-hand side of the street. We crossed over from +left to right, and halted behind an _adobe_. On our right hand stood +a grove of small trees, through which the assailants had probably +advanced, and in which, just ahead, hot work was now going on +loudly,--with Minie-balls, grape-shot, shouts, outcries, and blood +enough doubtless. After some delay here, part of us rangers, led by +Colonel Waters, recrossed the street, and advanced, crouching, toward +the barricade spitting flames in front. We crept, double file, along a +palisade of tall cactus which bordered this part of the street, against +whose thorns my neighbor on the right would frequently thrust me, as the +shot nipped him closely,--inconvenient, but without pain, so intense was +the distraction of the moment. We had crept within a few rods of the +barricade, where we had glimpse of faces through embrasures, amidst the +smoke and flame, and our leader, as he afterwards said, had it on his +lips to order the forward rush,--when the party attacking on our right, +behind the trees, gave back, and our own mere handful was checked, and +retraced its steps running. A moment later, and we had gone upon that +high barricade, some score of us, without backers in the street, to +draw on us the enemy's whole fire,--and very likely--unless they had +foolishly fled at our first rush--to be all killed there. + +On the retreat, I with some others was ordered out of the ranks to pick +up a wounded officer and carry him off the ground. We took him down the +street, turned a corner, and laid him on the floor of a church some +distance beyond. He had an arm broken and a bad wound in his body,--a +hopeless man; but upborne and defiant through _aguardiente_ and native +strength. After getting him off our hands, we returned to our company, +which we found sheltering behind the _adobe_ where we had halted when on +the advance. Here we remained some time, with instructions from General +Walker (whom, at this time, we seemed to follow as personal guard) to +keep ourselves out of reach of the missiles flying on either side of the +house. The darkness was so thick that we could see only what was passing +immediately around us, and therefore were ignorant as to the position +of the foot, and what was now doing amongst them. It was said, however, +afterwards, that their officers strove to rally and bring them up to +another charge, but that they proved mutinous, and refused to move. + +They had suffered, indeed, discouragement enough. Colonel O'Neal, who +had led them, was mortally wounded; the barricade was too high and +dangerous; they had tried to fire it without success. Some of the forty +recruits, who were in front of the party, had climbed over it; and these +afterwards affirmed, that, had the others followed then, the barricade +had been gained; but the older soldiers had degenerated, possessed +little of these men's zeal or spirit, hesitated, and, their colonel +falling, gave back. Those who had gone over the barricade were killed +there, or came back with wounds,--one with a bayonet-thrust through the +arm,--a most remarkable wound, in which, perhaps, Central-Americans +fleshed a bayonet for the first time. + +Our company, or part of it,--for most had been placed about on pickets +when the attack failed,--after a while fell farther back, turned the +corner before mentioned, faced about, and came to a stand in the street, +with an _adobe_ house on the left. The street in which we stood ran +straight forward, and crossed the one down which we had just receded at +right angles, a few feet ahead of us, so that there was here a junction +of four streets, or, I might better say, roads; for there were no more +than four disconnected houses in the immediate vicinity,--the one on the +corner beside us, one on the corner diagonally opposite, the one up the +street running left, on the far side, behind which we had a little while +ago taken shelter, and the square stone church, whither we had carried +the wounded man, and which stood on the far side of the street some +yards behind us. The rest of the space was covered with fruit-trees and +a heavy growth of hushes; and concealed behind these lay the barricades +and the _plaza_ of San Jorge. But all this was seen later; then the +whole was wrapped in thick darkness, it yet lacking some short time of +daybreak. + +Whilst our detached company was standing there, with the foot drawn up +in the road a little way before us, a single horseman came out from the +enemy and galloped past our picket, stationed up the road some distance +ahead of the detachment. The picket fired upon him after he had passed; +he dropped under his horse's side, and galloped back, apparently +unharmed; but, from the direction of their fire, the picket was +naturally mistaken for the enemy by the detachment in front, who could +see only the flashes through the darkness. Some stood their ground, and +returned the fire, placing the picket in great danger; but the bulk, +already well scared by their repulse, broke away panic-stricken, and +came rushing down the road toward us, thinking the enemy were charging +behind them. Our company was suddenly overwhelmed, or borne along by the +current, ignorant of the cause of alarm. I brought myself up behind the +corner house, where many of the others were taking shelter. But hearing +some one cry out, "To the church! to the church! make a stand in the +church!" I immediately ran across the road and entered the church by a +side-door. As I crossed the entrance, with two or three others, +General Walker came running up from the interior, with his sword out, +crying,--"Where's that man came into the church? Show me that man!" +There were cocked revolvers with some of us, and it was, perhaps, well +for General Walker that the crowd now pouring in strongly at both front +and side doors diverted him. Turning to these, he threw himself first on +one, then on another, battered, tugged, and thrust them out at the door +with such force as I hardly thought was in him. He was soon assisted +by Sanders, Waters, and other officers, and, with the curses and +vociferations of these men, the confused rush of the panic-stricken +crowd in the dark, and the outcries of the wounded, who lay about +on the floor, as the fugitives trampled over them, there was such a +pressure as might unchart a young soldier, and strand him among his +fears. + +After seeing enough of it, I ran out again into the street, sore +bestead, indeed, to know what I should do. Day was beginning to break, +and in the gray dawn I saw the men ejected from the church running +hither and thither, trying to rejoin their officers. And, there being +neither standards nor drums to collect by, the sergeants stood at divers +points shouting at the top of their voices the number and letter +of their companies, and calling the fugitives to come into ranks. +Minie-balls whizzed about in the air or knocked up the dust from +the street, and firing was now and then heard near by in uncertain +directions, where perhaps the enemy were vexing our pickets. I believe +it had been a helter-skelter day for us all, had the enemy got in then +and attacked us in the midst of this confusion. They might surely have +driven us into irretrievable rout, flying on the road to Rivas, by a +spirited charge of fifty good men, or much less. + +Whilst I stood in doubt what course to take, I saw our captain, followed +by three or four of the company, looking over the ground for the +missing, and I forthwith made up and joined him. Others came in, one by +one; and at length, the foot being gathered together in the _adobes_, +and things brought to order outside, the captain led his company into +the church. General Walker was still there, talking earnestly with +Sanders and Waters, having cleared the church of the fugitives. As we +approached, he asked the captain, who by this time had emptied his +canteen of _aguardiente_, how many of his men were killed. The captain +began cursing the foot, and telling how he had been run over, having +tried to stand,--and would have made a long talc, but Colonel Waters +touched him on the shoulder, and said in undertone,--"Lead your company +off. You are too drunk to talk now." + +Our post thenceforward was at the several doors of the church, where we +kept guard for the wounded, who lay about the floor in miserable plight +for lack of water. Outside, drop-shooting was still kept up by the enemy +in the bushes, and returned by ours from the doors. + +It was an ill-looking situation for our small, panic-shaken party, +resting here within pistol-shot of an overwhelming and victorious enemy. +The enemy's respect for us was too great and unreasonable. It behooved +them certainly, as honest soldiers, to come forth now and drive us out +of their town, in which, I think, if well commenced, there had been but +little difficulty. Afterwards, indeed, when I was amongst them in Costa +Rica, they declared concerning this affair that they knew we were in +their power then, but refrained because they were unwilling to shed more +filibuster blood, preferring rather to conquer us by proclamation, and +send us back to our homes unhurt,--more expensive, to be sure, but +recommended by humanity. Yet I laugh at this when I remember how they +crept snake-like in the bushes, and tried to pick us off at the doors, +and how they strove, without much danger to themselves, to run our +pickets in on us, and get to see our backs turned, whereupon, doubtless, +humanity would have been little thought of, and filibuster blood cheap +enough. Indeed, once that morning, with little less than four-score +horse, they came charging with hope to pass a picket of ten men; but +saddles being emptied, they recoiled, and their leader being slain, +whilst attempting to rally them, they fled contemptibly,--seven or eight +from one. However, this is only my revenge for much exasperation and +deploration that they would never come away from their pestiferous +walls,--where, after all, they had a right to stay, and will not be +blamed by the candid and unbebullet-whizzed reader that they did stay. + +We kept our post at the doors, annoyed and apprehensive, until the sun +was an hour or so high, when a party of rangers arrived from Rivas +with led horses to transport the wounded,--which incumbrance it was, I +suppose, that prevented our withdrawal earlier. The wounded were carried +out and mounted, some with a soldier behind to support them. Colonel +O'Neal, however, who had both legs broken, was carried on a litter, with +a cocked revolver on each side of him; for, though he had lost much +blood, there was yet spirit in him, and he wanted revenge for these +death-wounds. The pickets were now all brought in hastily, and the +detachment began its march, leaving, I remember, one stark form propped +against the church wall, with staring eyeballs fixed, and soul wandered +somewhither. This, from his clean looks, had been one of the fresh +California recruits, who, indeed, had found miserable entertainment on +their arrival in Nicaragua, land of oranges and sunshine,--being first +and longest this night at the barricade, and leaving many of their +number there. + +A little way from the church we crossed a road running into San Jorge, +and, looking up, saw a high log-barricade, some fifty rods off, with +embrasures and black-mouthed cannon frowning down on us. Why we were not +fired upon I know not, unless on that same score of humanity, or because +the enemy had abandoned it during last night's assault. Farther on, +whilst passing through a plantain-patch, we saw the greasers some +way off in our rear, watching us, running to and fro, and seemingly +exercised with preparation for attacking. However, we passed out into +the road, and went on undisturbed, yet still with the enemy hovering +behind us. + +Coming to a place where an abrupt little mound rose at a fork in the +road, our company, which brought up the rear of the detachment, had +orders to conceal itself behind this, and await the pursuers, and give +them check. In a moment they came galloping up the slope of a hill some +two or three hundred yards back, their heads only appearing at first, +then the rest down to the saddle, when we arose suddenly and gave them a +volley of rifle-bullets. They dropped down quickly, either to the ground +or under their horses' bellies, in which manoeuvre some of them rival +the prairie Indians. Others coming up from behind, we gave them more, +until they all disappeared finally. After this we saw no more of them, +and arrived at Rivas without further alarm. + +This was now the third repulse we had sustained within a few days, with +an aggregate loss, perhaps, counting wounded, (who, as I have said, were +more regretted than the dead,) not very far under two hundred men,--and +it became apparent that the filibuster day was over, unless General +Walker could find some stratagem in his head, or some better mode of +fighting than this confident rushing upon an overwhelming enemy, under +strong cover, and grown bold with success. The prospect, truly, began +to look black enough. The men had lost confidence in themselves and in +their officers, no longer despised the enemy, and dreaded the barricades +at San Jorge so deeply that they would be led against them no more. +Those who intended to desert avoided every exposure to danger, and +feigned sickness whenever detailed for service. One of the rifle +regiments had grown mutinous, upon some quarrel with its officers, and +refused to do duty of any kind, and it was absurd to attempt to compel +it by aid of the others. The natives, who had charge of the beef cattle, +turned them all out of the _corral_, and ran away in the night, leaving +the army without meat, and the commissary force, some forty horsemen, +to seek for prey wherever it was to be found. And then there were ill +reports heard about the party on the Rio San Juan, and its success began +to be doubted. But worse than all was the fast-spreading spirit of +desertion, which all saw would prove ruinous of itself, unless shortly +stopped in some way. + +At this juncture it might have been worth while for General Walker to +form a corps for one attack of all the men in his army who felt an +earnest interest in driving the enemy out, and were willing to fight +desperately for the sake of it. There were scores of stout men acting +as lieutenants, captains, majors, etc., of slight performance in those +capacities, but who, had they been formed into companies, and asked to +fight now one night, at this desperate juncture, for the _haciendas_ +General Walker had promised them, would have done willing, perhaps, and +excellent service. To these might be added all those among the ranks +to whom, from any cause, desertion or expulsion from Nicaragua was +disagreeable,--those who distrusted the Costa-Rican promises, or feared +disgrace at home, or had sick or wounded friends at Rivas, or were +desperate, broken men without other home, or with what other peculiar +motives there might be. With this force gathered to themselves by call +for volunteers, allowed to choose their own officers, furnished with +Colt's revolvers, or bayonets, or both, and led in advance, as a forlorn +hope, with ladders to scale the barricades by,--it is likely the enemy +might have been driven out, and the cause of Regeneration set up once +more. So, at least, it was thought by some. And, indeed, it must have +been extremely discouraging for one of better will to be fearful at +every step that his comrades would dart aside into the bushes and leave +him unsupported; it must have served to cripple the efforts of all the +well-intentioned in the army, and should have been remedied. However, +no call for volunteers was ventured by General Walker,--he, probably, +thinking it too unreasonable to ask his men to do anything for him +unforced. + +There were some others who thought affairs might be retrieved, if +General Walker were displaced, at least from his military command, +and Henningsen, or some other, put in his stead. He was exceedingly +unpopular, hated, indeed, by a great many, (I have known more than one +who professed to nourish the intent of shooting him during his next +battle, when the deed could be covered,) was respected only for his +strong will and personal bravery, and had never been superseded, solely, +perhaps, because the great majority of his men were either without +energy, or were careless about everything but escape, and so felt no +interest in dethroning him and setting up another, when thereby they +were not helping their chance of getting out of the Isthmus. However, +there was now a conspiracy commenced by some who were unwilling to leave +Nicaragua, and who distrusted General Walker's ability to save the +filibusters much longer. + +But these underworkers had made us no sign up to the night attack on +San Jorge, and the day succeeding that the writer lost sight of the +filibuster camp, and knew what took place in it no more. I will tell how +the withdrawal was brought about, and then extinguish my story. Near the +middle of the day, after returning from San Jorge, the company rode out, +under command of the sergeant, to gather forage for the animals. In +order to give my own mule a respite, I mounted for this occasion a +bad-winded animal, long before used up, and discarded by one of the +company, and left to run about the yard. As we rode out at the gateway, +one of the men advised me with some pointedness to go back and get my +own animal, assuring me the one I had would fail me on this expedition. +Yet, knowing he was good for the distance we usually rode foraging, I +paid him no heed, and thought nothing of his somewhat singular manner +until afterwards. When we had gone some distance, the same man asked me +if I had heard that forty deserters had left last night for Costa Rica, +adding, that it was his opinion the whole army would soon be on the same +road. "Well," said I, "I suppose we'll be among the last." "I don't +think I will," rejoined he, "nor the rest of this company." He said no +more; but it flashed upon me then that we were even now on the road for +Costa Rica; and it soon became certainty, as the sergeant turned down +toward the Transit road, a direction in which we had never been +allowed to forage, probably because the natives on that side had more +communication with San Juan and Virgin Bay, and General Walker was +unwilling that the States passengers should hear too many complaints +from them. I was before aware that many of the company had been for some +time revolving desertion, and had myself been sounded by one a day or +two previously; but could have had no suspicion that this was to be the +occasion, because several of the most forward in the matter had made +excuses, and remained behind in quarters. + +At length we halted in a little stream, some miles from Rivas, to water +our animals, and it was here openly announced that the party was on its +way to Costa Rica to take the benefit of the government proclamation. I +rode back toward the rear, where I saw a dispute going on between one of +the company who wanted to return to Rivas and others who insisted that +he must go forward. One of them met me in the path, and told me I must +go with them until they had got beyond the Transit road. They had no +wish, he said, to force men to desert; but this much was needed to save +themselves from danger of pursuit. I told him my mule would never carry +me back from the Transit road. "We will catch you another," said he, +"when we reach the Jocote _rancho_." The whole crowd, save two or three, +were with him, and it was useless to persist. So I turned and rode +forward with the rest. + +At the Jocote _rancho_ we succeeded in catching a mule, but he was given +to another of the company, whose animal showed worse signs than my own, +which, indeed, had borne me much better than I expected, and was not yet +seriously fatigued. + +We came out upon the Transit road, passed over the Cordillera ridges, +and, just beyond the little river which crosses the road, two miles from +San Juan, turned aside into a forest-trail leading down the coast to +Costa Rica. Those of us who had been pressed thus far, after crossing +the Transit road, gave over all design of returning. The bonds which +drew us back were not strong, and the danger of return was considerable. +We had heard that the enemy was at Virgin Bay, and that their lancers +frequently passed backward and forward on the Transit road, and between +San Jorge and Virgin Bay. If we returned, we should be confined to the +path nearly all the way to Rivas by the impenetrable forest, and easily +taken, should we meet the enemy, or liable even, one or two only, to be +shot down from ambush by the hostile natives who lived on the route. + +For my own part, I decided to go on with hesitation and regret, and I +believe, had one been ready to return, I should have borne him willing +company. I preferred even the hard service and dubious chance of General +Walker to the alternative of going amongst the Costa-Ricans, where +a cowardly populace would probably kick and spit upon us as dirty +filibusters and deserters; and should their government even keep its +promises, I had no stomach for being set ashore in the city of New York, +without money in my pocket, or home that I wished to go to. My health +had been good in Nicaragua, and, I believed, would remain good. The +motive which sent me there was still in force; and, withal, I wished to +see the filibuster game played out,--with Henningsen, or some other man +than General Walker, as military director. I believed it might even +take a turn so, and a _sans-culotte_ man be furnished at last with a +two-hundred-and-fifty-acre home in Nicaragua,-- + + "'Mid sandal bowers and groves of spice, + Might be a Peri's paradise"; + +and plantain food without sweat, and the elixir of joy called +_aguardiente!_ Nevertheless it was all left behind; and Samuel Absalom +tore the large, dirty canvas letters M.R., signifying Mounted Ranger, +off from his blue flannel shirt-breast; and his experience as filibuster +in Nicaragua closed,--somewhat ingloriously. + + * * * * * + + +ROBA DI ROMA. + +[Continued.] + + +CHAPTER V. + +CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. + + +The Christmas Holidays have come, and with them various customs and +celebrations quite peculiar to Rome. They are ushered in by the festive +clang of a thousand bells from all the belfries in Rome at Ave Maria of +the evening before the august day. At about nine o'clock of the same +evening the Pope performs High Mass in some one of the great churches, +generally at Santa Maria Maggiore, when all the pillars of this fine old +basilica are draped with red hangings, and scores of candles burn in the +side chapels, and the great altar blazes with light. The fuguing chants +of the Papal choir sound into the dome and down the aisles, while the +Holy Father ministers at the altar, and a motley crowd parade and jostle +and saunter through the church. Here, mingled together, may be seen +soldiers of the Swiss guard, with their shining helmets, long halberds, +and party-colored uniforms, designed by Michel Angelo,--chamberlains of +the Pope, all in black, with their high ruffs, Spanish cloaks, silken +stockings, and golden chains,--_contadini_ from the mountains, in their +dully brilliant costumes and white _tovaglie_,--common laborers from the +Campagna, with their black mops of tangled hair,--_forestieri_ of +every nation,--Englishmen, with long, light, pendant whiskers, and an +eye-glass stuck in one eye,--Germans, with spectacles, frogged coats, +and long, straight hair put behind their ears and cut square in the +neck,--then Americans, in high-heeled patent-leather boots, a black +dress-coat, and a black satin waistcoat,--and wasp-waisted French +officers, with baggy trousers, a goat-beard, and a pretentious swagger. +Nearer the altar are crowded together in pens a mass of women in black +dresses and black veils, who are determined to see and hear all, +treating the ceremony purely as a spectacle, and not as a religious +rite. Meantime the music soars, the organ groans, the censer clicks, +steams of incense float to and fro. The Pope and his attendants kneel +and rise,--he lifts the Host, and the world prostrates itself. A great +procession of dignitaries with torches bears a fragment of the original +cradle of the Holy Bambino from its chapel to the high altar, through +the swaying crowd that gape and gaze and stare and sneer and adore. And +thus the evening passes. When the clock strikes midnight all the bells +ring merrily, Mass commences at the principal churches, and at San Luigi +dei Francesi and the Gesu there is a great illumination (what the French +call _un joli spectacle_) and very good music. Thus Christmas is ushered +in at Rome. + +The next day is a great _festa_. All classes are dressed in their best +and go to Mass,--and when that is over, they throng the streets to chat +and lounge and laugh and look at each other. The Corso is so crowded in +the morning, that a carriage can scarcely pass. Everywhere one hears the +pleasant greeting of "_Buona Festa,_" "_Buona Pasqua_." All the _basso +popolo_, too, are out,--the women wearing their best jewelry, heavy +gold ear-rings, three-rowed _collane_ of well-worn coral and gold, long +silver and gold pins and arrows in their hair, and great worked brooches +with pendants,--and the men of the Trastevere in their peaked hats, +their short jackets swung over one shoulder in humble imitation of the +Spanish cloak, and with rich scarfs tied round their waists. Most of +the ordinary cries of the day are missed. But the constant song of +"_Arancie! arancie dolci_!" is heard in the crowd; and everywhere +are the _sigarari_, carrying round their wooden tray of tobacco, and +shouting, "_Sigari! sigari dolci! sigari scelti_!" at the top of their +lungs; the _nocellaro_ also cries sadly about his dry chestnuts and +pumpkin-seeds. The shops are all closed, and the shopkeepers and clerks +saunter up and down the streets, dressed better than the same class +anywhere else in the world,--looking spick-and-span, as if they had just +come out of a bandbox, and nearly all of them carrying a little cane. +One cannot but be struck by the difference in this respect between the +Romans on a _festa_-day in the Corso and the Parisians during _fete_ in +the Champs Elysees,--the former are so much better dressed, and so much +happier, gayer, and handsomer. + +During the morning, the Pope celebrates High Mass at San Pietro, and +thousands of spectators are there,--some from curiosity, some from +piety. Few, however, of the Roman families go there to-day;--they perform +their religious services in their private chapel or in some minor +church; for the crowd of _forestieri_ spoils St. Peter's for prayer.[A] +At the elevation of the Host, the guards, who line the nave, drop to +their knees, their side-arms ringing on the pavement,--the vast crowd +bends,--and a swell of trumpets sounds through the dome. Nothing can be +more impressive than this moment in St. Peter's. Then the choir from its +gilt cage resumes its chant, the high falsetti of the soprani soaring +over the rest, and interrupted now and then by the clear musical voice +of the Pope,--until at last he is borne aloft in his Papal chair on the +shoulders of his attendants, crowned with the triple crown, between +the high, white, waving fans; all the cardinals, monsignori, canonici, +officials, priests, and guards going before him in splendid procession. +The Pope shuts his eyes, from giddiness and from fasting,--for he has +eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, and the swaying motion of the chair +makes him dizzy and sick. But he waves at intervals his three fingers to +bless the crowd that kneel or bend before him, and then goes home to the +Vatican to dine with a clean conscience and a good appetite. + +[Footnote A: "How," says Marforio to Pasquino, "shall I, being a true +son of the Holy Church, obtain admittance to her services?" To which +Pasquino returns for answer: "Declare that you are an Englishman, and +swear that you are a heretic."] + +It is the universal rule among priests to fast before saying Mass, and +never to take the wafer or body of Christ upon a full stomach. The +law is _de rigueur_, and is almost never broken. But sometimes the +temptation of the appetite, it may be supposed, will overcome even a +pious man; for priest though one be, one is also flesh-and-blood. An +anecdote lately told me by the Conte Cignale (dei Selvaggi) may not +be out of place in this connection, and I instance it as an undoubted +exception to the general rule. A friend of his, an English artist, +enamored of Italian life, was spending the summer in one of the mountain +towns. Finding little society there except the physician and the parish +priest, he soon became on intimate terms with them. One morning the +priest called on him before he had finished breakfast. A savory dish was +smoking on the table, and the fumes of the hot coffee filled the room. +"I wish you could take breakfast with me," said he; "but I know you are +to say Mass, and that it would be contrary to rule for you to eat +until it is performed." The priest shrugged his shoulders and looked +deprecatorily at the artist and at the breakfast. "Still," continued the +latter, "if your scruples would allow you, I should be delighted if you +would help me with this capital dish." The temptation was great; the +smell was savory. The priest made a strong internal defence, but the +garrison was forced at last to capitulate. _"Eh!"_ said he, as he took +his seat, _"in fatto e il costume generale di non mangiare prima di dire +la messa e di prendere l'ostia. Ma--in queste circostanze_,"--here +he looked to see that the door was well fastened,--_"mi pare che si +potrebbe far un letto per nostro Signore, Gesu Cristo."_ + +It is the custom in Rome at the great _festas,_ of which Christmas is +one of the principal ones, for each parish to send round the sacrament +to all its sick; and during these days a procession of priest and +attendants may be seen, preceded by their cross and banner, bearing the +holy wafer to the various houses. As they march along, they make the +streets resound with the psalm they sing. Everybody lifts his hat as +they pass, and many among the lower classes kneel upon the pavement. +Frequently the procession is followed by a rout of men, women, and +children, who join in the chanting and responses, pausing with the +priest before the door of the sick person, and accompanying it as it +moves from house to house. + +At Christmas, all the Roman world which has a _baiocco_ in its pocket +eats _torone_ and _pan giallo._ The shops of the pastry-cooks and +confectioners are filled with them, mountains of them incumber the +counters, and for days before Christmas crowds of purchasers throng to +buy them. _Torone_ is a sort of hard candy, made of honey and almonds, +and crusted over with crystallized sugar; or in other words, it is a +_nuga_ with a sweet frieze coat;--but _nuga_ is a trifle to it for +consistency. _Pan giallo_ is perhaps so called _quasi lucus,_ it being +neither bread nor yellow. I know no way of giving a clearer notion of +it than by saying that its father is almond-candy and its mother a +plum-pudding. It partakes of the qualities of both its parents. From its +mother it inherits plums and citron, while its father bestows upon it +almonds and consistency. In hardness of character it is half-way between +the two,--having neither the maternal tenderness on the one hand, nor +the paternal stoniness on the other. One does not break one's teeth on +it as over the _torone,_ which is only to be cajoled into masticability +by prolonged suction, and often not then; but the teeth sink into it as +the wagoner's wheels into clayey mire, and every now and then receive a +shock, as from sunken rocks, from the raisin-stones, indurated almonds, +pistachio-nuts, and pine-seeds, which startle the ignorant and innocent +eater with frightful doubts. I carried away one tooth this year over my +first piece; but it was a tooth which had been considerably indebted to +California, and I have forgiven the _pan giallo._ My friend the Conte +Cignale, who partook at the same time of _torone,_ having incautiously +put a large lump into his mouth, found himself compromised thereby to +such an extent as to be at once reduced to silence and retirement behind +his pocket-handkerchief. An unfortunate jest, however, reduced him to +extremities, and, after a vehement struggle for politeness, he was +forced to open the window and give his _torone_ to the pavement--and +the little boys, perhaps. _Chi sa?_ But, despite these dangers and +difficulties, all the world at Rome eats _pan giallo_ and _torone_ at +Christmas,--and a Christmas without them would be an egg without salt. +They are at once a penance and a pleasure. Not content with the _pan +giallo,_ the Romans also import the _pan forte di Siena,_ which is a +blood cousin of the former, and suffers almost nothing from time and +age. + +On Christmas and New Year's day all the servants of your friends present +themselves at your door to wish you a _"buona festa,"_ or a _"buon capo +d'anno."_ This generous expression of good feeling is, however, expected +to be responded to by a more substantial expression on your part, in the +shape of four or five pauls, so that one peculiarly feels the value of a +large visiting-list of acquaintances at this season. To such an extent +is this practice carried, that in the houses of the cardinals and +princes places are sought by servants merely for the vails of the +_festas,_ no other wages being demanded. Especially is this the case +with the higher dignitaries of the Church, whose _maestro di casa_, in +hiring domestics, takes pains to point out to them the advantages of +their situation in this respect. Lest the servants should not be aware +of all these advantages, the times when such requisitions may be +gracefully made and the sums which may be levied are carefully +indicated,--not by the cardinal in person, of course, but by his +underlings; and many of the fellows who carry the umbrella and cling +to the back of the cardinal's coach, covered with shabby gold-lace and +carpet-collars, and looking like great beetles, are really paid by +everybody rather than the _padrone_ they serve. But this is not confined +to the _Eminenze,_ many of whom are, I dare say, wholly ignorant that +such practices exist. The servants of the embassies and all the +noble houses also make the circuit of the principal names on the +visiting-list, at stated occasions, with good wishes for the family. If +one rebel, little care will be taken that letters, cards, and messages +arrive promptly at their destination in the palaces of their _padroni;_ +so it is a universal habit to thank them for their politeness, and to +request them to do you the favor to accept a piece of silver in order +to purchase a bottle of wine and drink your health. I never knew one of +them refuse; probably they would not consider it polite to do so. It is +curious to observe the care with which at the embassies a new name is +registered by the servants, who scream it from anteroom to _salon,_ and +how considerately a deputation waits on you at Christmas and New +Year's, or, indeed, whenever you are about to leave Rome to take your +_villeggiatura,_ for the purpose of conveying to you the good wishes of +the season or of invoking for you a _"buon viaggio."_ One young Roman, +a teacher of languages, told me that it cost him annually some twenty +_scudi_ or more, to convey to the servants of his pupils and others his +deep sense of the honor they did him in inquiring for his health at +stated times. But this is a rare case, and owing, probably, to his +peculiar position. A physician in Rome, whom I had occasion to call in +for a slight illness, took an opportunity on his first visit to put a +very considerable _buona mano_ into the hands of my servant, in order to +secure future calls. I cannot, however, say that this is customary; on +the contrary, it is the only case I know, though I have had other Roman +physicians; and this man was in his habits and practice peculiarly +un-Roman. I do not believe it, therefore, to be a Roman trait. On the +other hand, I must say, for my servant's credit, that he told me the +fact with a shrug, and added, that he could not, after all, recommend +the gentleman as a _medico,_ though I was _padrone,_ of course, to do as +I liked. + +On Christmas Eve, a _Presepio_ is exhibited in several of the churches. +The most splendid is that of the Ara Celi, where the miraculous Bambino +is kept. It lasts from Christmas to Twelfth Night, during which period +crowds of people flock to see it; and it well repays a visit. The simple +meaning of the term _Presepio_ is a manger, but it is also used in the +Church to signify a representation of the birth of Christ. In the Ara +Celi the whole of one of the side-chapels is devoted to this exhibition. +In the foreground is a grotto, in which is seated the Virgin Mary, with +Joseph at her side and the miraculous Bambino in her lap. Immediately +behind are an ass and an ox. On one side kneel the shepherds and kings +in adoration; and above, God the Father is seen surrounded by clouds of +cherubs and angels playing on instruments, as in the early pictures of +Raphael. In the background is a scenic representation of a pastoral +landscape, on which all the skill of the scene-painter is expended. +Shepherds guard their flocks far away, reposing under palm-trees or +standing on green slopes which glow in the sunshine. The distances and +perspective are admirable. In the middle ground is a crystal fountain of +glass, near which sheep, preternaturally white, and made of real wool +and cotton-wool, are feeding, tended by figures of shepherds carved in +wood. Still nearer come women bearing great baskets of real oranges and +other fruits on their heads. All the nearer figures are full-sized, +carved in wood, painted, and dressed in appropriate robes. The +miraculous Bambino is a painted doll swaddled in a white dress, which is +crusted over with magnificent diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. The Virgin +also wears in her ears superb diamond pendants. Joseph has none; but he +is not a person peculiarly respected in the Church. As far as the Virgin +and Child are concerned, they are so richly dressed that the presents of +the kings and wise men seem rather supererogatory,--like carrying coals +to Newcastle,--unless, indeed, Joseph come in for a share, as it is to +be hoped he does. The general effect of this scenic show is admirable, +and crowds flock to it and press about it all day long. Mothers and +fathers are lifting their little children as high as they can, and until +their arms are ready to break; little maids are pushing, whispering, +and staring in great delight; _contadini_ are gaping at it with a mute +wonderment of admiration and devotion; and Englishmen are discussing +loudly the value of the jewels, and wanting to know, by Jove, whether +those in the crown can be real. + +While this is taking place on one side of the church, on the other is a +very different and quite as singular an exhibition. Around one of the +antique columns of this basilica--which once beheld the splendors and +crimes of the Caesars' palace--a staging is erected, from which little +maidens are reciting, with every kind of pretty gesticulation, sermons, +dialogues, and speechifications, in explanation of the _Presepio_ +opposite. Sometimes two of them are engaged in alternate question and +answer about the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption. +Sometimes the recitation is a piteous description of the agony of the +Saviour and the sufferings of the Madonna,--the greatest stress being, +however, always laid upon the latter. All these little speeches have +been written for them by their priest or some religious friend, been +committed to memory, and practised with the appropriate gestures over +and over again at home. Their little piping voices are sometimes guilty +of such comic breaks and changes, that the crowd about them rustles into +a murmurous laughter. Sometimes also one of the very little preachers +has a _dispitto_, pouts, shakes her shoulders, and refuses to go on with +her part;--another, however, always stands ready on the platform to +supply the vacancy, until friends have coaxed, reasoned, or threatened +the little pouter into obedience. These children are often very +beautiful and graceful, and their comical little gestures and +intonations, their clasping of hands and rolling up of eyes, have a very +amusing and interesting effect. The last time I was there, I was sorry +to see that the French costume had begun to make its appearance. Instead +of the handsome Roman head, with its dark, shining, braided hair, which +is so elegant when uncovered, I saw on two of the children the deforming +bonnet, which could have been invented only to conceal a defect, and +which is never endurable, unless it be perfectly fresh, delicate, and +costly. Nothing is so vulgar as a shabby bonnet. Yet the Romans, despite +their dislike of the French, are beginning to wear it. Ten years ago it +did not exist here among the common people. I know not why it is that +the three ugliest pieces of costume ever invented, the dress-coat, the +trousers, and the bonnet, all of which we owe to the French, have been +accepted all over Europe, to the exclusion of every national costume. +Certainly it is not because they are either useful, elegant, or +commodious.[B] + +[Footnote B: That cultivated gentleman, John Evelyn, two centuries ago +wrote some amusing words on this subject. After quoting the witty saying +of Malvezzi,--"I vestimenti negli animali sono molto securi segni della +loro natura, negli nomini del lor cervello,"--he goes on to say, "Be it +excusable in the French to alter and impose the mode on others, 'tis +no less a weakness and a shame in the rest of the world, who have no +dependence on them, to admit them, at least to that degree of levity as +to turn into all their shapes without discrimination; so as when the +freak takes our Monsieurs to appear like so many farces or Jack Puddings +on the stage, all the world should alter shape and play the pantomimes +with them. Methinks a French tailor, with an ell in his hand, looks like +the enchantress Circe over the companions of Ulysses, and changes them +into as many forms.... Something I would indulge to youth; something to +age and humor. But what have we to do with these foreign butterflies? In +God's name, let the change be our own, not borrowed of others; for why +should I dance after a Monsieur's flageolet, that have a set of English +viols for my concert? We need no French inventions for the stage or for +the back."--From a pamphlet entitled _Tyrannus, or the Mode_. + +"Si le costume bourgeois," says George Sand, in _Le Peche de M. +Antoine_, "de notre epoque est le plus triste, le plus incommode et +le plus disgracieux, que la mode ait jamais invente, c'est surtout au +milieu des champs que tous ses inconvenients et toutes ses laideurs +revoltent.... Au milieu de ce cadre austere et grandiose, qui transporte +l'imagination au temps de la poesie primitive, apparaisse cette mouche +parasite, le _monsieur_ aux habits noirs, au menton rase, aux mains +gantees, aux jambes maladroites, et ce roi de la societe n'est plus +qu'un accident ridicule, une tache importune dans le tableau. Votre +costume genant et disparate inspire alors la pitie plus que les haillons +du pauvre, on sent que vous etes deplace au grand air, et que votre +livree vous ecrase."] + +If one visit the Ara Celi during the afternoon of one of these _festas_, +the scene is very striking. The flight of one hundred and twenty-four +steps, which once led to the temple of Venus and Rome, is then thronged +by merchants of Madonna wares, who spread them out over the steps and +hang them against the walls and balustrades. Here are to be seen all +sorts of curious little colored prints of the Madonna and Child of the +most ordinary quality, little bags, pewter medals, and crosses stamped +with the same figures and to be worn on the neck,--all offered at once +for the sum of one _baiocco_. Here also are framed pictures of the +Saints, of the Nativity, and, in a word, of all sorts of religious +subjects appertaining to the season. Little wax dolls, clad in +cotton-wool to represent the Saviour, and sheep made of the same +materials, are also sold by the basketful. Children and _contadine_ are +busy buying them, and there is a deafening roar all up and down the +steps of "_Mezzo baiocco, bello colorito, mezzo baiocco, la +Santissima Concezione Incoronata,"--"Diario Romano, Lunario Romano +Nuovo,"--"Ritratto colorito, medaglia e quadruccio, un baiocco tutti, +un baiocco tutti,"--"Bambinelli di cera, un baiocco_."[C] None of +the prices are higher than one _baiocco_, except to strangers,--and +generally several articles are held up together, enumerated, and +proffered with a loud voice for this sum. Meanwhile men, women, +children, priests, beggars, soldiers, and _villani_ are crowding up and +down, and we crowd with them. + +[Footnote C: "A half-_baiocco_, beautifully colored,--a half-_baiocco_, +the Holy Conception Crowned." "Roman Diary,--New Roman Almanac." +"Colored portrait, medal, and little picture, one _baiocco_, all." +"Little children in wax, one _baiocco_."] + +At last, ascending, we reach the door which faces towards the west. +We lift the great leathern curtain and push into the church. A faint +perfume of incense salutes the nostrils. The golden sunset bursts in as +the curtain sways forward, illuminates the mosaic floor, catches on the +rich golden ceiling, and flashes here and there over the crowd on some +brilliant costume or shaven head. All sorts of people are thronging +there,--some kneeling before the shrine of the Madonna, which gleams +with its hundreds of silver votive hearts, legs, and arms,--some +listening to the preaching,--some crowding round the chapel of the +_Presepio_,--old women, haggard and wrinkled, come tottering along with +their _scaldini_ of coals, drop down on their knees to pray, and, as you +pass, interpolate in their prayers a parenthesis of begging. The church +is not architecturally handsome; but it is eminently picturesque, with +its relics of centuries, its mosaic pulpits and floor, its frescoes of +Pinturicchio and Pesaro, its antique columns, its rich golden ceiling, +its Gothic mausoleum to the Savelli, and its medieval tombs. A dim, +dingy look is over all,--but it is the dimness of faded splendor; and +one cannot stand there, knowing the history of the church, its exceeding +antiquity, and the changes it has undergone since it was a Roman temple, +without a peculiar sense of interest and pleasure. + +It was here that Romulus, in the gray dawning of Rome, built the temple +of Jupiter Feretrius. Here the _spolia opima_ were deposited. Here the +triumphal processions of the Emperors and generals ended. Here the +victors paused before making their vows, until the message came from +the Mamertine Prisons below to announce that their noblest prisoner and +victim, while the clang of their triumph and his defeat rose ringing in +his ears as the procession ascended the steps, had expiated with death +the crime of being the enemy of Rome. Over these very steps,--nineteen +centuries ago, the first great Caesar climbed on his knees after his +first triumph. At their base, Rienzi, "last of the Roman tribunes," +fell. And, if the tradition of the Church is to be trusted, it was on +the site of the present high altar that Augustus erected the "_Ara +primogenito Dei_" to commemorate the Delphic prophecy of the coming of +our Saviour. Standing on a spot so thronged with memories, the dullest +imagination takes fire. The forms and scenes of the past rise from their +graves and pass before us, and the actual and visionary are mingled +together in strange poetic confusion. Truly, as Walpole says, "memory +sees more than our eyes in this country." + +And this is one great charm of Rome,--that it animates the dead figures +of its history. On the spot where they lived and acted, the Caesars +change from the manikins of books to living men; and Virgil, Horace, and +Cicero grow to be realities, as we walk down the Sacred Way and over +the very pavement they may once have trod. The conversations "De Claris +Oratoribus" and the "Tusculan Questions" seem like the talk of the last +generation, as we wander on the heights of Tusculum, or over the grounds +of that charming villa on the banks of the Liris, which the great Roman +orator so graphically describes in his treatise "De Legibus." The +landscape of Horace has not changed. Still in the winter you may see +the dazzling peak of the "_gelidus Algidus_" and "_ut alta stet +nive candidum Soracte_"; and wandering at Tivoli in the summer, his +description, + + "Domus Albuneae resonantis, + Et praeceps Anio, et Tiburni lucus, et uda + Mobililius pomaria rivis," + +is as true and fresh as if his words were of yesterday. Could one better +his compliment to any Roman Lalage of to-day than to call her "_dulce +ridentem_"? In all its losses, Rome has not lost the sweet smile of its +people. Would you like to know the modern rules for agriculture in Rome, +read the "Georgics"; there is so little to alter, that it is not worth +mentioning. So, too, at Rome, the Emperors become as familiar as the +Popes. Who does not know the curly-headed Marcus Aurelius, with his +lifted brow and projecting eyes, from the full, round beauty of his +youth to the more haggard look of his latest years? Are there any modern +portraits more familiar than the pensive, wedge-like head of Augustus, +with his sharp-cut lips and nose,--or the dull phiz of Hadrian, with his +hair combed down over his low forehead,--or the vain, perking face of +Lucius Verus, with his thin nose, low brow, and profusion of curls,--or +the brutal bull head of Caracalla,--or the bestial, bloated features of +Vitellius? + +These men, who were but lay-figures to us at school, mere pegs of names +to hang historic robes upon, thus interpreted by the living history of +their portraits, the incidental illustrations of the places where they +lived and moved and died, and the buildings and monuments they erected, +become like the men of yesterday. Art has made them our contemporaries. +They are as near to us as Pius VII. and Napoleon. I never drive out +of the old Nomentan Gate without remembering the ghastly flight of +Nero,--his recognition there by an old centurion,--his damp, drear +hiding-place underground, where, shuddering and quoting Greek, he waited +for his executioners,--and his subsequent terrible and cowardly death, +as narrated by Tacitus and Suetonius; and it seems nearer to me, more +vivid, and more actual, than the death of Rossi in the court of the +Cancelleria. I never drive by the Caesars' palaces, without recalling +the ghastly jest of Tiberius, when he sent for some fifteen of the +Senators at dead of night and commanded their presence; and when they, +trembling with fear, and expecting nothing less than that their heads +were all to fall, had been kept waiting for an hour, the door opened, +and he, nearly naked, appeared with a fiddle in his hand, and, after +fiddling and dancing to his quaking audience for an hour, dismissed them +to their homes uninjured. The air seems to keep a sort of spiritual +scent or trail of these old deeds, and to make them more real here than +elsewhere. The old horrors of the Amphitheatre can be made real to any +person of imaginative mind in the Colosseum. He has but to lend himself +to the contagion of the place, and he will see the circle of ten +thousand eager eyes thirsting for his blood, fill up the ruined benches +and arched tiers as of yore, and hear the savage murmur of human voices, +worse than the dull roar of the beasts below. The past still lives in +these old walls. It is in vain to say that the ghosts of history do not +haunt their ancient habitations. Places, as well as persons, have lives +and influences; and the horror of murder will not away from a spot. +Haunted by its crimes, oppressed and debilitated by the fierce excesses +of its Empire, Rome, silent, grave, and meditative, sighs over its past, +wrapped in the penitent robes of the Church. + +Besides, here one feels that the modern Romans are only the children of +their ancient fathers, with the same characteristics,--softened, indeed, +and worn down by time, just as the sharp traits of the old marbles have +worn away; but still the same people,--proud, passionate, lazy, jealous, +vindictive, easy, patient, and able. The Popes are but Church +pictures of the Emperors,--a different robe, but the same nature +beneath;--Alexander the VI. was but a second Tiberius--Pius the VII., +a modern Augustus. When I speak of the Roman people, I do not mean the +class of hangers-on upon the foreigners, but the Trasteverini and the +inhabitants of the provinces and mountains. No one can go through the +Trastevere when the people are roused, without feeling that they are the +same as those who listened to Marcus Antonius and Brutus, when the bier +of Caesar was brought into the streets,--and as those who fought with +the Colonna and stabbed Rienzi at the foot of the Capitol steps. The +Ciceruacchio of '48 was but an ancient Tribune of the People, in the +primitive sense of that title. I like, too, to parallel the anecdote of +Caius Marius, when, after his ruin, he concealed himself in the marshes, +and astonished his captors, who expected to find him weak of heart, by +the magnificent self-assertion of "I am Caius Marius," with the story +which is told of Stefano Colonna. After this great captain met with his +sad reverses, and, deprived of all his possessions, fled from Rome, an +attendant asked him,--"What fortress have you now?" He placed his hand +on his heart and answered,--"_Eccola!_" The same blood evidently ran in +the veins of both these men; and well might Petrarca call Colonna "a +phoenix risen from the ashes of the ancient Romans." + +But, somehow or other, I have wandered strangely from my subject. +_Scusi_,--but what has all this to do with the Bambino? + +The Santissimo Bambino is a very round-faced and expressionless doll, +carved, as the legend goes, from a tree on the Mount of Olives, by a +Franciscan pilgrim, and painted by Saint Luke while the pilgrim slept. +It is difficult to say which was the worse artist of the two, the +sculptor or the painter. But Saint Luke's pictures generally do not +give us a high idea of his skill as a painter. The legend is a +charming anachronism, unless, indeed, Saint Luke was only a spiritual +presence;--but, as the whole incident was miraculous, the greater the +anachronism, the greater the miracle. The Bambino, however he came into +existence, is invested, according to the assertions of priests and the +belief of the common people, with wonderful powers in curing the sick; +and his practice is as lucrative as any physician's in Rome. His aid is +in constant requisition in severe cases, and certain it is that a cure +not unfrequently follows upon his visit; but as the regular physicians +always cease their attendance upon his entrance, and blood-letting +and calomel are consequently intermitted, perhaps the cure is not so +miraculous as it might at first seem. He is borne by the priests in +state to his patients; and during the Triumvirate of '49, the Pope's +carriage was given to him and his attendants. I was assured by the +priest who exhibited him to me at the church, that, on one occasion, +having been stolen by some irreverent hand from his ordinary +abiding-place in one of the side-chapels, he returned alone, by himself, +at night, to console his guardians and to resume his functions. Great +honors are paid to him. He wears jewels which a Colonna might envy, +and not a square inch of his body is without a splendid gem. On festal +occasions, like Christmas, he wears a coronet as brilliant as the +triple crown of the Pope, and, lying in the Madonna's arms in the +representation of the Nativity, he is adored by the people until +Epiphany. Then, after the performance of Mass, a procession of priests, +accompanied by a band of music, makes the tour of the church and +proceeds to the chapel of the _Presepio_, where the bishop, with great +solemnity, removes him from his Mother's arms. At this moment, the music +bursts forth into a triumphant march, a jubilant strain over the birth +of Christ, and he is borne through the doors of the church to the great +steps. There the bishop elevates the Holy Bambino before the crowds +who throng the steps, and they fall upon their knees. This is thrice +repeated, and the wonderful image is then conveyed to its original +chapel, and the ceremony is over. + +The Eve of Epiphany, or Twelfth-Night, is to the children of Rome what +Christmas Eve is to us. It is then that the _Bifana_ comes with her +presents. This personage is neither merry nor male, like Santa Claus, +nor beautiful and childlike, like Christ-kindchen,--but is described as +a very tall, dark woman, ugly, and rather terrible, "_d' una fisionomia +piuttosto imponente_" who comes down the chimney, on the Eve of +Epiphany, armed with a long _canna_ and shaking a bell, to put +playthings into the stockings of the good children, and bags of ashes +into those of the bad. It is a night of fearful joy for all the little +ones. When they hear her bell ring, they shake in their sheets; for the +Bifana is used as a threat to the wilful, and their hope is tempered by +a wholesome apprehension. It is supposed to be a distorted image of the +visit of the kings and wise men with their presents at the Nativity, as +Santa Claus may be of the shepherds, and the Christ-kindchen of Christ +himself. However this may be, it is curious to observe the different +characters this superstition assumes among different nations and under +different influences. + +The great festival of the Bifana (a corruption, undoubtedly, of +_Epifania_) takes place on the Eve of Twelfth-Night, in the Piazza di +San Eustachio,--and a curious spectacle it is. The Piazza itself, (which +is situated in the centre of the city, just beyond the Pantheon,) and +all the adjacent streets, are lined with booths covered with every kind +of plaything for children. Most of these are of Roman make, very rudely +fashioned, and very cheap; but for those who have longer purses, there +are not wanting heaps of German and French toys. These booths are gayly +illuminated with rows of candles and the three-wicked brass _lucerne_ +of Rome; and, at intervals, painted posts are set into the pavement, +crowned with pans of grease, with a wisp of tow for wick, which blaze +and flare about. Besides these, numbers of torches carried about by hand +lend a wavering and picturesque light to the scene. By eight o'clock in +the evening, crowds begin to fill the Piazza and the adjacent streets. +Long before one arrives, the squeak of penny-trumpets is heard at +intervals; but in the Piazza itself the mirth is wild and furious, and +the din that salutes one's ears on entering is almost deafening. The +object of every one is to make as much noise as possible, and every kind +of instrument for this purpose is sold at the booths. There are +drums beating, _tamburelli_ thumping and jingling, pipes squeaking, +watchmen's-rattles clacking, penny-trumpets and tin horns shrilling, and +the sharpest whistles shrieking everywhere. Besides this, there are the +din of voices, screams of laughter, and the confused burr and buzz of +a great crowd. On all sides you are saluted by the strangest noises. +Instead of being spoken to, you are whistled at. Companies of people are +marching together in platoons, or piercing through the crowd in long +files, and dancing and blowing like mad on their instruments. It is a +perfect witches' Sabbath. Here, huge dolls dressed as Polichinello or +Pantaloon are borne about for sale,--or over the heads of the crowd +great black-faced jumping-jacks, lifted on a stick, twitch themselves in +fantastic fits,--or, what is more Roman than all, men carry about long +poles strung with rings of hundreds of _giambelli_, (a light cake, +called jumble in English,) which they scream for sale at a _mezzo +baiocco_ each. There is no alternative but to get a drum, whistle, or +trumpet, and join in the racket,--and to fill one's pockets with toys +for the children and absurd presents for one's older friends. The moment +you are once in for it, and making as much noise as you can, you begin +to relish the jest. The toys are very odd,--particularly the Roman +whistles;--some of these are made of pewter, with a little wheel that +whirls as you blow; others are of terra-cotta, very rudely modelled into +every shape of bird, beast, and human deformity, each with a whistle in +its head, breast, or tail, which it is no joke to hear, when blown close +to your ears by a stout pair of lungs. The scene is very picturesque. +Above, the dark vault of night, with its far stars, the blazing and +flaring of lights below, and the great, dark walls of the Sapienza and +Church looking grimly down upon the mirth. Everywhere in the crowd are +the glistening helmets of soldiers, who are mixing in the sport, and the +_chapeaux_ of white-strapped _gendarmes_, standing at intervals to keep +the peace. At about half-past eleven o'clock the theatres are emptied, +and the upper classes flock to the Piazza. I have never been there later +than half-past twelve, but the riotous fun still continued at that hour; +and, for a week afterwards, the squeak of whistles may be heard at +intervals in the streets. + +At the two periods of Christmas and Easter, the young Roman girls take +their first communion. The former, however, is generally preferred, as +it is a season of rejoicing in the Church, and the ceremonies are not so +sad as at Easter. In entering upon this religious phase of their life, +it is their custom to retire to a convent, and pass a week in prayer and +reciting the offices of the Church. During this period, no friend, not +even their parents, are allowed to visit them, and information as to +their health and condition is very reluctantly and sparingly given at +the door. In case of illness, the physician of the convent is called; +and even then neither parent is allowed to see them, except, perhaps, in +very severe cases. Of course, during their stay in the convent, every +exertion is made by the sisters to render a monastic life agreeable, and +to stimulate the religious sensibilities of the young communicant. The +pleasures of society and the world are decried, and the charms of +peace, devotion, and spiritual exercises eulogized, until the excited +imagination of the communicant leaves her no rest, before she has +returned to the convent and taken the veil as a nun. The happiness of +families is thus sometimes destroyed; and I knew one very united and +pleasant Roman family which in this way was sadly broken up. Two of +three sisters were so worked upon at their first communion, that the +prayers of family and friends proved unavailing to retain them in their +home. The more they were urged to remain, the more they desired to go, +and the parents, brothers, and remaining sister were forced to yield a +most reluctant consent. They retired into the convent and became nuns. +It was almost as if they had died. From that time forward, the home +was no longer a home. I saw them when they took the veil, and a sadder +spectacle was not easily to be seen. The girls were happy, but the +parents and family wretched, and the parting was very tearful and sad. +They do not seem since to have regretted the step they then took; +but regret would be unavailing--and even if they felt it, they could +scarcely show it. The occupation of the sisters in the monastery they +have joined is prayers, the offices of the Church, and, I believe, a +little instruction of poor children. But gossip among themselves, of the +pettiest kind, must make up for the want of wider worldly interests. In +such limited relations, little jealousies engender great hypocrisies; +a restricted horizon enlarges small objects. The repressed heart and +introverted mind, deprived of their natural scope, consume themselves in +self-consciousness, and duties easily degenerate into routine. We are +not all in all to ourselves; the world has claims upon us, which it is +cowardice to shrink from, and folly to deny. Self-forgetfulness is +a great virtue, and selfishness a great vice. After all, the best +religious service is worthy occupation. Large interests keep the heart +sound; and the best of prayers is the doing of a good act with a pure +purpose. + + "He prayeth best who loveth best + All things, both great and small; + For the dear God who loveth us, + He made and loveth all." + + + + +ABDEL-HASSAN. + + + The compensations of calamity are made apparent after long intervals of + time. + The sure years reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all fact. + --EMERSON. + + + Abdel-Hassan o'er the Desert journeyed with his caravan,-- + Many a richly laden camel, many a faithful serving-man. + + And before the haughty master bowed alike the man and beast; + For the power of Abdel-Hassan was the wonder of the East. + + It was now the twelfth day's journey, but its closing did not bring + Abdel-Hassan and his servants to the long-expected spring. + + From the ancient line of travel they had wandered far away, + And at evening, faint and weary, on a waste of Desert lay. + + Fainting men and famished camels stretched them round the master's tent; + For the water-skins were empty, and the dates were nearly spent. + + All the night, as Abdel-Hassan on the Desert lay apart, + Nothing broke the lifeless silence but the throbbing of his heart; + + All the night he heard it beating, while his sleepless, anxious eyes + Watched the shining constellations wheeling onward through the skies. + + When the glowing orbs, receding, paled before the coming day, + Abdel-Hassan called his servants and devoutly knelt to pray. + + Then his words were few and solemn to the leader of his train:-- + "Thirty men and eighty camels, Haroun, in thy care remain. + + "Keep the beasts and guard the treasure till the needed aid I bring. + God is great! His name is mighty!--I, alone, will seek the spring." + + Mounted on his strongest camel, Abdel-Hassan rode away, + While his faithful followers watched him passing, in the blaze of day, + + Like a speck upon the Desert, like a moving human hand, + Where the fiery skies were sweeping down to meet the burning sand. + + Passed he then their far horizon, and beyond it rode alone;-- + They alone, with Arab patience, lay within its flaming zone. + + Day by day the servants waited, but the master never came,-- + Day by day, in feebler accents, called on Allah's holy name. + + One by one they killed the camels, loathing still the proffered food, + But in weakness or in frenzy slaked their burning thirst in blood. + + On unheeded heaps of treasure rested each unconscious head; + While, with pious care, the dying struggled to entomb the dead. + + So they perished. Gaunt with famine, still did Haroun's trusty hand + For his latest dead companion scoop sepulture in the sand. + + Then he died; and pious Nature, where he lay so gaunt and grim, + Moved by her divine compassion, did the same kind thing for him. + + Earth upon her burning bosom held him in his final rest, + While the hot winds of the Desert piled the sand above his breast.-- + + Onward in his fiery travel Abdel-Hassan held his way, + Yielding to the camel's instinct, halting not, by night or day, + + 'Till the faithful beast, exhausted in her fearful journey, fell, + With her eye upon the palm-trees rising o'er the lonely well: + + With a faint, convulsive struggle, and a feeble moan, she died, + While her still surviving master lay unconscious by her side. + + So he lay until the evening, when a passing caravan + From the dead incumbering camel brought to life the dying man. + + Slowly murmured Abdel-Hassan, as they bathed his fainting head, + "All is lost, for all have perished!--they are numbered with the dead! + + "I, who had such power and treasure but a single moon ago, + Now my life and poor subsistence to a stranger's bounty owe. + + "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! + Stripped of pride and power and substance, He hath left me faith + and life."-- + + Sixty years had Abdel-Hassan, since the stranger's friendly hand + Saved him from the burning Desert, lived and prospered in the land; + + And his life of peaceful labor, in its pure and simple ways, + For his loss fourfold returned him, and a mighty length of days. + + Sixty years of faith and patience gave him wisdom's mural crown; + Sons and daughters brought him honor with his riches and renown. + + Men beheld his reverend aspect, and revered his blameless name; + And in peace he dwelt with strangers, in the fulness of his fame. + + But the heart of Abdel-Hassan yearned, as yearns the heart of man, + Still to die among his kindred, ending life where it began. + + So he summoned all his household, and he gave the brief command,-- + "Go and gather all our substance;--we depart from out the land." + + Then they journeyed to the Desert with a great and numerous train, + To his old nomadic instinct trusting life and wealth again. + + It was now the sixth day's journey, when they met the moving sand, + On the great wind of the Desert, driving o'er that arid land; + + And the air was red and fervid with the Simoom's fiery breath;-- + None could see his nearest fellow in the stifling blast of death. + + Blinded men from prostrate camels piled the stores to windward round, + And within the barrier herded, on the hot, unstable ground. + + Two whole days the great wind lasted, when the living of the train + From the hot drifts dug the camels and resumed their way again. + + But the lines of care grew deeper on the master's swarthy cheek, + While around the weakest fainted and the strongest waxed weak; + + And the water-skins were empty, and a silent murmur ran + From the faint, bewildered servants through the straggling caravan:-- + + "Let the land we left be blessed!--that to which we go, accurst!-- + From our pleasant wells of water came we here to die of thirst?" + + But the master stilled the murmur with his steadfast, quiet eye:-- + "God is great," he said, devoutly,--"when _He_ wills it, we shall die." + + As he spake, he swept the Desert with his vision clear and calm, + And along the far horizon saw the green crest of the palm. + + Man and beast, with weak steps quickened, hasted to the lonely well, + And around it, faint and panting, in a grateful tumult fell. + + Many days they stayed and rested, and amidst his fervent prayer + Abdel-Hassan pondered deeply that strange bond which held him there. + + Then there came an aged stranger, journeying with his caravan; + And when each had each saluted, Abdel-Hassan thus began:-- + + "Knowest thou this well of water? lies it on the travelled ways?" + And he answered,--"From the highway thou art distant many days. + + "Where thou seest this well of water, where these thorns and + palm-trees stand, + Once the Desert swept unbroken in a waste of burning sand; + + "There was neither life nor herbage, not a drop of water lay, + All along the arid valley where thou seest this well to-day. + + "Sixty years have wrought their changes since a man of wealth + and pride, + With his servants and his camels, here, amidst his riches, died. + + "As we journeyed o'er the Desert, dead beneath the blazing sky, + Here I saw them, beasts and masters, in a common burial lie; + + "Thirty men and eighty camels did the shrouding sand infold; + And we gathered up their treasure, spices, precious stones, and gold; + + "Then we heaped the sand above them, and, beneath the burning sun, + With a friendly care we finished what the winds had well begun. + + "Still I hold that master's treasure, and his record, and his name; + Long I waited for his kindred, but no kindred ever came. + + "Time, who beareth all things onward, hither bore our steps again, + When around this spot were scattered whitened bones of beasts and men; + + "And from out the heaving hillocks of the mingled sand and mould + Lo! the little palms were springing, which to-day are great and old. + + "From the shrubs we held the camels; for I felt that life of man, + Breaking to new forms of being, through that tender herbage ran. + + "In the graves of men and camels long the dates unheeded lay, + Till their germs of life commanded larger life from that decay; + + "And the falling dews, arrested, nourished every tender shoot, + While beneath, the hidden moisture gathered to each wandering root. + + "So they grew; and I have watched them, as we journeyed, year by year; + And we digged this well beneath them, where thou seest it, fresh and + clear. + + "Thus from waste and loss and sorrow still are joy and beauty born, + Like the fruitage of these palm-trees and the blossom of the thorn; + + "Life from death, and good from evil!--from that buried caravan + Springs the life to save the living, many a weak, despairing man." + + As he ended, Abdel-Hassan, quivering through his aged frame, + Asked, in accents slow and broken, "Knowest thou that master's name?" + + "He was known as Abdel-Hassan, famed for wealth and power and pride; + But the proud have often fallen, and, as he, the great have died!" + + Then, upon the ground before them, prostrate Abdel-Hassan fell, + With his aged hands extended, trembling, to the lonely well,-- + + And the sacred soil beneath him cast upon his hoary head,-- + Named the servants and the camels,--summoned Haroun from the dead,-- + + Clutched the unconscious palms around him, as if they were living men,-- + And before him, in their order, rose his buried train again. + + Moved by pity, spake the stranger, bending o'er him in his grief:-- + "What affects the man of sorrow? Speak,--for speaking is relief." + + Then he answered, rising slowly to that aged stranger's knee,-- + "Thou beholdest Abdel-Hassan! They were mine, and I am he!" + + Wondering, stood they all around him, and a reverent silence kept, + While, amidst them, Abdel-Hassan lifted up his voice and wept. + + Joy and grief, and faith and triumph, mingled in his flowing tears; + Refluent on his patient spirit rolled the tide of sixty years. + + As the past and present blended, lo! his larger vision saw, + In his own life's compensation, Nature's universal law. + + "God is good, O reverend stranger! He hath taught me of His ways, + By this great and crowning lesson, in the evening of my days. + + "Keep the treasure,--I have plenty,--and am richer that I see + Life ascend, through change and evil, to that perfect life to be,-- + + "In each woe a blessing folded, from all loss a greater gain, + Joy and hope from fear and sorrow, rest and peace from toil and pain. + + "God is great! His name is mighty! He is victor in the strife! + For He bringeth Good from Evil, and from Death commandeth Life!" + + + + +ABOUT SPIRES. + + +When the children of Shem said one to another at Babel,--"Go to, let us +build us a city and a tower whose top shall reach unto heaven," they +typified a remarkable trait of the human mind,--a desire for a tangible +and material exponent of itself in its most heroic moods. In the earlier +ages of the world, when humanity, as it were, was becoming conscious of +itself and its godlike energies, it seems as if this desire could find +no nobler expression than in towers. The same spirit of enterprise which +in our own day stretches forth inquiring hands into unexplored realms of +physical and intellectual being, and acknowledges in the spoils of such +search its noblest and proudest attainments, in more primeval times +appears to have been content with the actual and visible invasion of +high building into that sky which to them was the great type of the +unknown and mysterious. + +The birth of these structures was not of the practical necessities of +life, but of that fond desire of the soul which has ever haunted +mankind with intimations of immortality. Towers thus became the boldest +imaginable symbols of energy and power. And when, in the course of time, +they became exigencies of society, and familiarized by the idea of +usefulness, even then they could not but be recognized as expressions of +the more heroic elements of human nature. + +Founded in superabundant massiveness, and built in prodigality of +strength, the tower seems to defy the elements and to outlive tradition. +Old age restores it to more than its primeval significance; and when +humbler erections have passed away and crumbled in ruins, it appears +once more to rise above the customary uses of men, and to become a +companion for tempests and clouds. Dismantled, deserted, and bearing, + + "Inscribed upon its visionary sides, + This history of many a winter's storm, + And obscure record of the path of fire," + +Nature lays claim to it, and with moss and ivy and eld, with weeds and +flowers, she takes it to her bosom. + + "Dying insensibly away + From human thoughts and purposes," + +we at length associate it with no achievements of man, and its masonry +becomes venerable to us, as shaped by mysterious beings,--Ghouls or +Titans,--no fellow-workers of ours. + +Let us for a while forget the tedious realisms around us, and eat of the +dreamy Lotos. Let us look eastward over the wide waters, and behold, +along the horizon, the "dim rich cities" printing themselves against the +morning. Let us listen to their mellow chimes that come faintly to us, +and bless those deep-toned utterances so full of the tenderness of +ancient days and the melody of gray traditions. Let us bless them; for, +like lyres of Amphion, at their sound arose the bell-bearing tower, +which made cities beautiful and their people happy. O St. Chrysostom! +there were other golden mouths than thine that preached by the +Bosphorus, and their pulpits were the airy chambers of the first +Christian towers. Where the muezzin every hour from the lofty minaret +now calls the faithful Mahometan to prayer, were first heard those matin +and vesper chimes which since then throughout Catholic Europe have +accompanied the rising and the setting of the sun. Thus the Christian +tower immediately becomes associated with the tenderest and most +poetical ideas of monastic and pastoral religion. It seemed emulous from +the beginning to be the first to catch the beams of morning, and, like +the statue of Memnon, to respond to the golden touch by sounds of music. +Then the fervid heart of Italy took fire, and from her bosom uprose over +all her cities the beautiful campanile. Still and solemn it stood on +the plains of Lombardy, like a sentinel on the outskirts of our faith, +whispering to the vast of space that all was well. Over the lagunes of +Venice the weary toil of two centuries piled up the tower of St. Mark. +Ravenna, with barbaric pride, built her round-cinctured towers to the +glory of the Exarchate. Rome followed with her square campaniles, whose +arcaded chambers looked down on a hundred cloisters. Then there were +La Ghirlandina at Modena, Il Torazzo at Cremona, Torre della Mangia at +Siena, the Garisenda at Bologna, the Leaning Tower at Pisa. Everywhere +they sought the skies with emulous heights, and ere long they arose in +such number as to give a distinctive aspect to the Christian city, and +to warn the traveller from afar that he approached walls within which +religion was a pride and a power. Who has not admired the Giotto +Campanile, called "the Beautiful," at Florence? And who has not wondered +at the splendor of her citizens, whose command was, "to construct an +edifice whose magnificence should be beyond the conception even of +the _cognoscenti_, and whose height and quality of workmanship should +surpass all that has been built in any style, in Greece or Rome, even at +the most florid period of their power!" + +But the spiritualization and glory of the tower are yet wanting. There +is a very human expression about it, as it stands in the midst of +those glimmering lands, with its haughty summit commanding far-distant +plains,-- + + "Far as the wild swan wings, to where the sky + Dips down to sea and sands,"-- + +a very human expression of scornful pride and imperious dominion. We +shall see how it outgrew its mere humanities and became an expression +of immortal aspirations, a symbol of our relationship with ethereal +existences. + +These Italian campaniles had either flat summits, or were crowned with a +low, unimportant roof. But as they approached the North of Lombardy, and +found their way into Germany, France, and Britain, these roofs, through +the necessities of climate, became steeper and sharper. Many of the +little gray mountain-chapels in the South of Switzerland still lift up +these pointed towers amid the hamlets of the valley, having gathered +in the hardy flocks at eventide for seven or eight centuries. The same +early modifications may yet be seen on the banks of the Rhine, where the +conical, stork-haunted caps of the round towers are so picturesquely +associated with that legendary scenery. Those dear, time-worn, rugged, +red-tiled roofs, with their peaks coming in just where they are +needed,--what could the artist do without them? Then the same +necessities made the early French and Norman builders push up into the +air those gaunt, quaint old camelbacks, with spindles or pinnacles +astride. You cannot but love them for their strangeness and the surprise +they make against the quiet sky. In Britain, too, you might have beheld +this tendency, where the lordly curfew quenched the lights in castle and +cot from beneath a very extinguisher of a roof. Now, as, in the natural +growth of the human mind, the heart became more and more impregnated +with the beauty of holiness, and the prayers of men ascended with +somewhat of purer aspiration to heaven, so did they build their +tower-roofs higher and higher into the air, till at length the spire was +born. In one of those quaint antique towers of Normandy, Coutances, it +was first fully developed; and it is curious to see how in this +instance its roof-origin was still remembered: for it has tall, gabled +garret-windows rising from its base, connected by rude cross-bars to the +slope of the spire; and it has a kind of scaly mail, Ruskin says, which +is nothing more than the copying in stone of the common wooden shingles +of the house-roof. Now the proud Italian architects, disdainful though +they were of the arts of the rude Northern builders, could not but admit +the expressiveness of the pointed roof; so they placed a form of it on +some of their campaniles, as on those of Venice and Cremona, in both +these instances making it a third of the whole height. But the spire, +though an effective, was as yet an unambitious structure,--scarcely more +than an exaltation or an apotheosis of the roof. For a long time it +continued to be merely a supplementary addition in wood to the solid +masonry of the tower, and in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth +centuries was often added to substructures of the tenth, eleventh, and +twelfth. + +Surely it is very dull in us, out of our present enlightenment, to +continue to distinguish the mediaeval times as the _Dark_ Ages, as if +they were glimmering and ghostly, and men groped about in them blindly, +living in a sort of dusky romance of feudality. Did you ever study De +la Roche's incarnation of Mediaeval Art in his Hemicycle,--that long +saintly robe with its still and serious folds, that fair dreamy face, +those upturned eyes, "the homes of silent prayer," the contemplative +repose? It is truly an exquisite idealization; yet there is something +wanting. I believe the piety of those days was rather a passion than a +sentiment. Their "beauty of holiness" was rather an active emotional +impulse than a passive spiritualization, and was incomplete without a +material expression, a tangible demonstration of itself. Like the fabled +Narcissus, it yearned for its own image. Hence the joy and luxury of the +ecclesiastical buildings of that period. They were the very blossoming +of the tree of knowledge. This was, indeed, an unenlightened, perhaps +a superstitious principle of worship; but it was enthusiastic, +self-sacrificing, and chivalrous. It, indeed, sent the stylite to his +pillar, the hermit to the wilderness, the ascetic to the scourge and +hair-cloth shirt; but it also led the warrior to the Holy Land, the +beggar to the castle-hearth, and the workman to the building of the +House of God. It is no wonder that a religion born thus in childlike +fervor, and seeking expression in outward signs, built upward. It is +no wonder that out of the prosaic elements of the roof it made the +spiritual essence of the spire. If we look through the whole range of +architectural forms in classic or mediaeval times, we shall find no one +so indicative of any human emotion as this simple outline is of the +highest of all emotions,--prayer. It is a significant fact, that the +sentiment of aspiration is nowhere hinted at in Classic Art, and we look +in vain for it in all pagan architectures. This is not surprising. +The worshippers who built in those schools demonstrated there all the +noblest ideas they were capable of,--intellectual beauty, dignity, +power, truth, chastity, courage, and all the other virtues cherished in +their theologies; but their personal relations with any higher sphere of +existence, vague and undefined as they were, called for no expression in +their temples, and obtained none. + +The pyramidal form has ever possessed peculiar fascinations for men, +and, from its simplicity, grandeur, and power, has been used in all ages +with innumerable modifications in those structures whose object was to +impress and overawe,--as in the pyramids of Egypt, the temples of India +and Mexico, and in all the earliest funereal monuments. It involved a +rude symbolism, which recommended itself to the barbarous childhood +of nations. But it was not until the pyramid was sharpened and +spiritualized into the spire that it gained its completest triumph over +the secret emotions of men. The Egyptians made the nearest approach +to it in the obelisk. That mysterious people felt very keenly the +suggestiveness of the pyramidal form, and refined the language of +its sentiment into some very beautiful expressions. Yet between the +mausoleums of Gizeh and the hieroglyphic shafts of Luxor and Karnac +there existed a modification, the intensity of whose meaning they +were not prepared to understand. Neither their civilization nor their +religion required such an exponent; so they exhausted themselves with +their mountainous bulks of stone and their pictured monoliths. + +We know not how the first view of a Christian spire would affect the +mind of an alien; but so far as our own experiences are concerned, +though perhaps familiar only with the lowliest and most unpretending of +its kind, we are conscious that it deeply impressed even the "unsunned +temper" of our childhood. The wisest among us may not be able to define +precisely these impressions, or trace to their source the admiration +and satisfaction it occasions, yet all are ready to acknowledge its +beautiful fitness to adorn and glorify the Christian temple. But to the +thoughtful mind how suggestive it is of pleasant imagery! It is "the +silent finger" that points to heaven; it is an upward aspiration of the +soul; a prayer from the depths of a troubled heart; a _suspirium de +profundis;_ a hymn of thanksgiving; a pure life, throwing of the worldly +and approaching the ethereal; a finite mind searching, till lost in the +vastness of the unknown and unapproachable; a beautiful attempt; a +voice of praise sent up from the earth, till, like the soaring lark, it +"becomes a sightless song." Indeed, our unbidden thoughts, that wild-ivy +of the mind, are trained upward by the spire, till it is hung round with +the tenderest associations and recollections of all that is sweet and +softening in our natures. Thus, when the painter has represented on his +canvas some wild phase of scenery, where the gadding vine, the tangled +underwood, the troubled brook, the black, frowning rock, the untamed +savage growth of the forest, + + "Old plash of rains and refuse patched with moss," + +impress us with awe, and a sad, homeless feeling, as if we were lost +children, how eloquent is that last touch of his pencil that shows us +a simple spire peeping over the tree-tops! How it comforts us! How it +brings us home again, and bestows an air + + "Of sweet civility on rustic wilds"! + +But even if we were not inclined to be sentimental on the subject, even +if base utilities had crowded out from our hearts the blessed capacity +of shedding rosy light on things about us, the coldest esteem could not +but ripen into affection, when we reflected that the spire never adorned +the shrine of a pagan god, never glorified the mosque of a false +prophet, never, in purity, arose from any unconsecrated ground; but +when, at last, the Church of Christ felt the "beauty of holiness," then +it developed out of that beauty and pointed the way to God. It exhaled +from the growing perfection of the Church, as fragrance from an opening +flower. It is, therefore, peculiarly holy. It is a monitor of especial +grace. "It marshals us the way that we are going," like the visionary +dagger of Macbeth; but the knell that sounds beneath it summons only to +heaven. + +Practically, it is utterly useless; and this is its honor and its +unspeakable dignity. We cannot even climb it, as we could a tower; +for it is nearly as unapproachable as the Oracle of God, save to the +innocent birds, who love to flock and wheel about it in the sunshine, +and build their nests in its "coignes of vantage," or, in the +night-time, to the troops of stars which touch it in their journey +through the skies. It is as beautifully idle as the lilies of the field; +and yet its expressiveness touches us so nearly, the propriety of its +sentiment is so striking, that, when the great test question of this +living age is applied to it, and we are asked, What is its use? what is +it good for? the heart is shocked at the impiety of the question, and +the feelings revolt, as against an insult. Upon the arches of Canterbury +Minster is carved, + + NON * NOBIS * DOMINE * NON * NOBIS * + SED * NOMINI * TVO * DA * GLORIAM * + +Nothing can be simpler than the composition of the pure spire. The +aesthetics of its development and growth are characteristically natural +and apparent. They are like the history of a flower from bud to bloom +under a warm sun. Let us become botanists of Art for a while, and +analyze those flowers of worship, as they opened "in that first garden +of their simpleness." + +Considering the growth of the spire from the tower-roof, it might +naturally be supposed that the earliest forms would be square or round, +in plan. But no sooner had the roof passed into this new sphere of +existence, than the fine intelligence of the builders perceived that it +needed refinement. They saw that in a square spire there was so coarse a +distinction between the tapering mass of light and the tapering mass +of shadow, that the delicacy and lightness necessary to express the +sentiment they desired to convey did not exist in the new feature;--in +a round spire, on the other hand, they found that this distinction of +light and shade was too little marked; it was vapid and effeminate, and +quite without that delicious crispiness of effect which they at once +obtained by cutting off the corners of the square spire, and reducing it +to an octagon. With very rare exceptions, as in the southwest spire of +Chartres Cathedral, this form was always used. Now it will be seen that +a difficulty arises in the beginning, how to unite the octagon of the +spire with the square of the tower. There are four triangular spaces at +the summit of the tower left uncovered by the superstructure; and how +best to treat these, simple as the task may seem, constitutes what may +be called the touchstone of architectural genius in spire-building. +There are several general ways of effecting this, each of them subject +to such modifications, in individual instances, as to give them an +ever-varying character. + +Perhaps the earliest method was simply to occupy those triangular spaces +with pyramidal masses of masonry, sloping back against the adjacent +faces of the tower,--an expedient which Nature herself might have +suggested in the first snow-storm. Then they boldly cut the Gordian knot +by shaving off the corners of the tower at the top, thus creating there +an octagonal platform, to which the spire would exactly correspond. +Still oftener they chamfered the spire upwards from the corners of the +tower: in other words, they placed, as it were, a square spire on +their tower, occupying the whole of its summit, and then obtained the +necessary octangularity by shaving off the angles of the spire from the +apex to a certain point near the base, where the cutting was continued +obliquely to the corners of the tower. The latest method was to build +pinnacles on the triangular territory. In such cases the spire usually +stood wholly within the outer boundaries, and parapets assisted to +conceal the first springing of the spire. + +The first of these methods is usually considered the most perfect and +beautiful, on account of its simplicity and candor. This is called the +broach; and it is the only form thus far spoken of wherein the tapering +surfaces rise directly from the tower-cornice, without mutilating the +tower or violating the pure outlines of the spire. The heavenward +aspiration, as it were, ascends without effort from the solidity of the +tower. It seems to typify a certain fitness and adaptability to heavenly +things even in the gross and earthly nature of man. One cannot fail to +admire its unaffected dignity, its harmonious balance, its graceful +proportions. + +It would be impossible within the limits of this article to give any +idea of the wonderful diversity of treatment these simple generic forms +received at the hands of the early builders. The changes of combination, +proportion, and ornamentation were endless. For the mediaeval spirit was +eminently earnest in its labor, and would not be content with copying an +old shape merely because it was a good shape. It would not be satisfied +with the cold repetition of a written litany of architectural forms; but +its ardent piety, its thoughtful zeal, the _life_ of its love, demanded +an ever-varying expression in these visible prayers. Emerson himself +might find nought to censure there, in the way of undue conformities and +consistencies. Its language was written with the infinite alphabet of +Nature. + +We are speaking now especially of England; and we, her children, may +well be proud that these divine enthusiasms of antiquity, which we +thought so quaint, so rare, so far away from us, nowhere else found +fairer demonstrations. The English spires bear especial witness to the +zeal and aspiration of their builders. They belted them with bands of +ornament, cut at first in imitation of tiles, and afterwards beautifully +panelled with foliations. Moulded ribs began to run up the angles of +the spires, and, when they met at the summit, would exultingly curl +themselves together in the most precious cruciforms. Quaint spire-lights +began to appear. Sometimes curious dormers would project from alternate +sides; and the very ribs, as if, in this spring-time of Art, they felt, +quickening along their lengths, the mysterious movements of a new life, +sprouted out here and there with knots of leafage, timidly at first, and +then with all the wealth and profusion of the harvest. The same impulse +wreathed the crowning cross with a thousand midsummer fancies, till the +circle of Eternity, or the triangle of Trinity, which often mingled +with its arms, scarcely knew itself. The pinnacles, too, blossomed into +crockets and bud-like finials, and began to gather more thickly about +the roots of the spire, and from them often leaped flying-buttresses +against it. During this time the spire itself was growing more and more +acute, its lines becoming more and more eloquent. After the fourteenth +century, the tower began to be crowned with intricate panelled tracery +of parapets and battlements, from behind which the spire, an entirely +separate structure, shot up into the sky. In this, the period of the +perpendicular style, pinnacles, purfled to the last degree, crowded +about the base of the spire, reminding one of the admiring throng +gathered about the base of some old picture of the Ascension. But there +is another English form which perhaps conveys this sentiment even more +impressively: We refer to that whose prototype exists in the steeple of +the Church of St. Nicholas at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This, however, has +four turrets, one on each angle, from which, with great lightness, leap +towards each other four grand flying-buttresses, which join hands over +an empty void and hold in the air a lantern and spirolet of great +elegance. This is a very bold piece of construction. It has been +imitated at St. Giles's, Edinburgh, at Linlithgow, in the college +tower of Aberdeen, and it is especially made known to the world by +Sir Christopher Wren's famous use of it in the steeple of St. +Dunstan's-in-the-East, London. + +The most famous spires of England and Normandy are St. Peter's at Caen, +a very early specimen, St. Michael's at Coventry, Louth, that of +the parochial church of Boston in Lincolnshire, that of Chichester +Cathedral, the three that rise from the famous Lichfield Cathedral, +and finally and especially the magnificent spire over the cross of +Salisbury. In the judgment of most English connoisseurs, this is the +finest in the world. It was probably erected during the reign of Edward +III., a very florid period for architecture. It is the highest in +England, its summit rising four hundred and four feet from the pavement +of the church beneath. It is one of the earliest erected in stone, and +is remarkable for skilful construction, the masonry in no part being +more than seven inches thick. This spire is belted with three broad +bands of panelled tracery, and there are eight pinnacles at its base, +two on each corner of the tower. The ribs are fretted throughout the +whole height with elegant crockets, thus imparting to the sky-line an +appearance similar to the gusty spray on the borders of a rain-cloud. An +admirer has said of it, "It seems as though it had drawn down the very +angels to work over its grand and feeling simplicity the gems and +embroidery of Paradise itself!" England once boasted the loftiest spire +in the world, that of old St. Paul's, London, whose summit, five hundred +and twenty feet from the ground, seemed to sail among the highest +clouds; but the great fire of 1666 destroyed it, and Sir Christopher's +stately metropolitan dome now rises in its place. + +One could believe in the "merrie" days of Old England, were her abundant +spires their only evidence. The ardent zeal that kindled so many +thousand answering beacons throughout the length and breadth of the land +is the best proof of that concord of souls which is true happiness. We +know that the decision of the Council of Clermont about the Crusades was +believed to have been instantly known through Christendom, and that the +great cry, _God willeth it!_ which shook the council-roof, was echoed +from hill to hill, and at once struck awe and astonishment to the hearts +of remotest lands. So in the birthplaces of our Pilgrim fathers, over +these cherished spots, + + "Where the kneeling hamlets drained + The chalice of the grapes of God," + +arose the "star y-pointing" spire, like a voice of adoration; and then +another would be raised in unison in some neighboring village, where +they could see and communicate with each other in their silent language; +and yet another close by among the hills; and presently, in full view +from its summit, twenty more, perhaps,--till the good tidings were known +through the whole country, and from hamlet to hamlet, over the streams +and tree-tops, was thus echoed the great _Te Deum_ of the land. For it +was said among the people, in that antique spirit of worship, as Milton +exhorted the birds in his Hymn of Thanksgiving,-- + + "Join voices, all ye living souls! ye _spires_, + That singing up to heaven's gate ascend, + Bear on your wings and in your notes His praise!" + +It is a beautiful proof of the spirit of sacrifice which actuated the +Masonic builder of the Middle Ages, that his fairest and most precious +works were not confined to the great metropolitan churches and +cathedrals, where they could be seen of men, but were frequently found +in quiet and secluded villages, nestled among pastoral solitudes, far +away from the gaze and admiration of the world. Though the spire of +Salisbury was, perhaps, an epic in Masonic poetry, yet in humble hamlets +of England, beyond her most distant hills, and amid many an unnamed +"sunny spot of greenery," were idyls sung no less exquisite than this. +Many a village-spire, of conception no less beautiful, arose above the +tree-tops among the most untrodden ways. All day long its shadow lingers +in the quiet churchyard, and points among the humble graves, as if, over +this dial of human life, it loved to preach silent homilies on "the +passing away," even to the simplest poor. It must be inexpressibly +touching to meet with these beautiful forms in the lonely wilderness, +where the ivy alone, as it throws its loving arms around them, appears +to recognize their grace and all their tender significance. It is like +the chance discovery of a good deed done in the darkness, or like a +pure life spent in the sweet and serious retirement of a little hamlet, +pointing the way to heaven for its scanty flock of cottagers. + +It was the custom in those days, during the celebration of Mass, at the +moment when the Host was raised, to ring a peculiar bell in the tower, +in order that those not gathered beneath the consecrated roof might be +made aware far and wide of the awful ceremony, and be reminded to offer +up their devotion in unison. And we remember what Izaak Walton said of +quaint George Herbert,--how "some of the meaner sort of his parish did +so love and reverence Mr. Herbert, that they would let their plough rest +when his saints'-bell rung to prayer, that they might also offer their +devotion to God with him, and would then return back contented to their +plough." Now it seems to us that the spire is a perpetual elevation +of the Host, a never-ending lifting-up of the Symbol of Redemption, a +consecrating presence to field and cottage, hillside and highway, ever +ready to bless the accidental glance of wayfarer or laborer, and to make +in the desert of his daily life a momentary oasis of sweet and hallowed +thought. Its peaceful influence extends over the whole landscape and +pierces to its remotest corners. + + "A gentler life spreads round the holy spires; + Where'er they rise, the sylvan waste retires, + And aery harvests crown the fertile lea." + +It may be thought that St. Peter's cock, which so often answers the +sunbeams from the spindly spire, and kindles and glitters there like a +star, is rather empty of emblematic significance and soul-language. But +what saith old Bishop Durandus?--"The cock at the summit of the church +is a type of the preacher. For the cock, ever watchful, even in the +depth of night, giveth notice how the hours pass, waketh the sleepers, +predicteth the approach of day,--but first exciteth himself to crow by +striking his sides with his wings. There is a mystery conveyed in each +of these particulars: the night is the world; the sleepers are the +children of this world, who are asleep in their sins; the cock is the +preacher who preacheth boldly, and exciteth the sleepers to cast away +the works of darkness, exclaiming, Woe to them that sleep! Awake, thou +that sleepest! and then foretell the approach of day, when they speak +of the Day of Judgment and the glory that shall be revealed, and, like +prudent messengers, before they teach others, arouse themselves from the +sleep of sin by mortifying their bodies; and as the weather-cock faces +the wind, they turn themselves boldly to meet the rebellious by threats +and arguments." + +But it was on the Continent, especially in France, the Low Countries, +and Germany, that the Gothic flower opened in fullest perfection; and it +is here that we find the loftiest and most luxurious spire-forms. They +were always the last part of the church completed, the finishing-touch, +the last that was needed to perfection. The progress of the building +of a cathedral thus embodied a beautiful symbolism. In most cases, +the choir, or east end, the holiest part of the church, was the first +erected, in order to sanctify and protect the high altar; and then, as +the treasures of the church flowed in, after the expiration of years or +centuries, the builders, tutored by a legendary science, and harmonized +by a wonderful feeling of brotherhood, in the same spirit, perfected the +designs of their predecessors, by leading out westward the long naves +and attendant aisles, completing northward and southward the transepts, +adding a chapel here and a porch there, glorifying the western front +with the touches of divine genius; and when at last every niche was +occupied with its statue of angel, saint, or pious benefactor, and the +holy choir, with its apsis, had been re-adorned with the accumulated art +of centuries, and glowed with the iris-light from painted windows,--when +the mural monuments of bishops, warriors, and kings had thickened +beneath the consecrated roof, and the whole structure had been hallowed +by the prayers and chantings of generations,--then, at last, over the +ancient tower arose the lofty spire; as if an angelic messenger had +spread his wings at its base and mounted upward to heaven, shouting +out the glad tidings of the completion of the House of God, and, as he +arose, the voice grew fainter and fainter, till at length it melted into +the sky! + +The finest spires of Europe were erected as late as the fourteenth, +fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, upon towers prepared for their +reception, usually, in much earlier times. This confidence of the old +builders in the final completion of their structures is remarkable. They +drew without stint on the piety of after ages,--a resource which has not +unfrequently proved too feeble to realize their generous expectations. +There are few cities in Europe which do not bear sad marks of this +misplaced confidence. This is especially witnessed in the unfinished +steeples. And, indeed, when we find that not only one, but two, three, +four, or even five spires were sometimes required to flame upward from +the same building, as in Caen Cathedral, we do not wonder that the +kindling spark is often wanting. It would seem as if another fire must +come down from heaven, as of old it did upon the first offering of Moses +and Aaron, to inflame these censers, rich in frankincense and naphtha. + +Now let us see what were the distinguishing attributes of the +Continental spires. We know not why it was, but in the gray old towns +of Belgium and the Low Countries there existed such exuberance of +imagination, such an unbounded luxuriousness of conception, as created +more images of Gothic quaintness and intricacy than elsewhere can be +seen. If any architecture ever expressed the average of human thought, +that of these towns is especially eloquent in its indications that their +inhabitants were very happy and contented. Look at a print of any old +Belgian town or street, and you will at once see our meaning. What a +joyous upspringing of pinnacles and pointed roofs and spires! of no more +earthly use, indeed, than so much pleasant laughter. There is no tower +without its spire, no turret or gable without its pinnacle, no oriel +without its pointed roof, no dormer without some such playful leaping +up into the air. Every salient point attacks the sky with its long iron +spindle, wrought with strange device and bearing a hospitable cup where +the bird makes his nest; and every spindle sings and shrieks with a +shifting vane,--so that the wind never sweeps idly over a Belgian town. +This innocent and happy people did not frown through the ages from grim +battlements, and awe posterity with stern and massive walls. But they +loved old childlike associations and fireside tales. They loved to build +curious fountains in commemoration of pleasant legends. They loved, too, +the huge, delicious-toned bells of their minster-towers, and the sweet +changes of melodious, never-ceasing chimes. They carved their Lares +and Penates on their house-fronts very curiously, with sun-dials and +hatchments, sacred texts and legends of hospitality. The narrow streets +of Ghent, Louvain, Liege, Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres, Bruges are thus full +of household memories and saintly traditions. So it is not strange that +a people whose daily hours were counted out with the music of belfries +were fond of fretting their towers with workmanship so precious and +delicate that it has been called "the petrifaction of music." + +But before we proceed to tell in how florid a manner the Low Countries +interpreted the simpler forms of spires, we shall describe generically +in what manner not only they, but all the other European kingdoms, were +indebted to the old Rhineland towns for some of these forms. When the +bell-tower, in about the seventh or eighth century, began to be used in +Germany, it at once received certain very important modifications on the +earlier Italian campanile. The upper terminations of these latter +were horizontal, on account of their flat roofs. Now in more northern +climates, where the snow falls, these flat roofs would be unsafe and +inconvenient. So we find that the first church-towers that arose in such +Rhenish places as Oberwesel, Gelnhausen, Bacharach, Coblentz, Cologne, +Bingen, "sweet Bingen on the Rhine," no longer ended in these horizontal +lines, but arose in pointed shapes. Indeed, the Germans, who were great +rivals of the Italians in those days, not only in matters pertaining to +architecture, but to literature also, in the same independent spirit +which induced them alone, of all civilized peoples, to retain through +all time the cramped, angular letters of monkish transcribers, in +preference to the fair and square Roman forms, took particular pride in +avoiding horizontal lines entirely at the tops of their towers, as they +did at the tops of their letters. Wherever they so occur, they are +insignificant,--rather ornamental than constructive. Not so with the +English; they kept the square tops to their towers, and contented +themselves with the pointed superstructure. Let us see how Teutonic +stubbornness arranged the matter. Each separate face of their towers, +whether these towers were square or octangular, ended above in a gable; +and from these gables, in various ways, arose the octangular pointed +roof or spire. This circumstance, more than any other, tended to give +a peculiar character to German Gothic. The simplest type of the gabled +spire was magnificently used in the spire of St. Peter's at Hamburg. +This was the finest in North Germany; it was four hundred and sixteen +feet high, and, if still standing, would be the third in height in the +world. But it was destroyed by the great fire of 1842. Many a traveller +can bear witness to the sweet melody of the chimes that used to sound +beneath it every half-hour. + +In later times, between the Germans and the French, was invented the +_lantern_,--a feature so often and so superbly used, not only on the +Continent, but more lately in England, that we must needs glance at it. +This consisted in a tall, perpendicular, octangular structure, placed +upon the tower, quite light and open, and pierced with long windows. +Here they used to swing the bells, and the place was called the lantern +or _louvre_; thence the octangular spire arose easily and naturally. +Now, notwithstanding this device, those troublesome triangular spaces +still remained unoccupied at the top of the square tower. The manner +in which this difficulty was remedied was exceedingly ingenious and +beautiful. It was by building on them very delicate pinnacles or +turrets, peopled, perhaps, as at Freiburg, with a silent and serene +concourse of saints in rich niches, or inclosing, as at Strasburg, +spiral open-work stairs. These structures accompanied the tall lantern +through its whole height; thus rendering the entire group a memory, +as it were, of the square tower below, while, at the same time, it +beautifully foreshadowed the octangular character of the sky-seeking +spire above,--a significant symbolism. + +Now, when the Belgians and their neighbors received the spire thus from +the fatherland, they at once began to express in it the joy of their +worship by all the embroidery and tender imagery and grotesque conceits +it was capable of receiving. They varied as many changes on it as they +did on their bells. They concealed the first springing of their spires +behind clustering pinnacles, flying-buttresses, canopied niches with +gigantic statues, galleries with battlements and parapets pierced and +mantled in lacework of flamboyant tracery, pointed gables alive with +crockets and finials, and long, quaint dormers,--all with a bewildering +intricacy of enrichment. And they inherited from the Germans a love for +the gargoyle, which haunted the springing of the spire at the corners +with visions of very hideous _diablerie_. It may well be believed that +these florid builders did not suffer the spire to arise serious and +serene from the midst of this delicious tangle of architecture. They +tricked it out with all the frostwork of Gothic genius. Not only did +they use in its decoration spire-lights, crockets, ribs and cinctures, +bands of gablets, and masses of reticulated relief, but, with wonderful +skill, they pierced each face from base to apex in foliated patterns +of great richness, so that the whole spire became a web of delicate +open-work, through which the light was sprinkled in beautiful shapes, +varying with every movement of the beholder. Their plainer spires of +wood they were fond of covering with glazed tiles of various tints +arranged in quaint taste. And they would vary the outline by making it +curve inward, giving a fine sweep thus from the base to an apex of great +slenderness. Sometimes they would give it, with exaggerated refinement, +the _entasis_ of the Greek column. There are instances of this last +treatment both in France and England. + +But it was not only in exuberance of enrichment and quaintness of form +that these enthusiastic workmen uttered their inspirations. They built +their spires to a most amazing height. Indeed, the loftiest steeples in +the world arose in level tracts of country, where they could be seen at +immense distances, as not only in Belgium and thereabout, but on the +flat margins of the upper and lower Rhine, as at Strasburg and Cologne. +In these countries, and about the North of France, there was a generous +rivalry as to which city should lift up highest the cross of God. But as +soon as the sacred passion for spire-building was corrupted by this new +element of human emulation, some strange things happened. The people of +Beauvais, for instance, desiring to beat the people of Amiens, set to +work, we are told, to build a tower on their cathedral as high as they +possibly could. The same thing had been done once before on the plains +of Shinar. One foresees the result, of course; "it fell, for it was +founded upon the sand, and great was the fall thereof." And so with the +good people of Louvain. They built three spires to their cathedral, of +which the central one reached the unparalleled height of five hundred +and thirty-three feet, according to Hope, and the side-towers four +hundred and thirty feet. This tremendous group, however, fell, or, +threatening destruction, was taken down, in 1604. We remember what the +Wanderer said so finely in the "Excursion":-- + + "We must needs confess + That 'tis a thing impossible to frame + Conceptions equal to the soul's desire; + And the most difficult of tasks _to keep_ + Heights which the soul is competent to gain." + +But we find that ecclesiastical edifices were not the only ones +which were adorned with this high building; for town-halls were not +infrequently distinguished by immensely lofty spires, as at Brussels. It +is curious to see, however, how easily the less exalted impulses which +erected them may be discovered. They do not _soar_, they _climb_ up +panting into the sky, like the famous passage up through Chaos, in +Milton, "with difficulty and labor hard." They have not the light, airy +gliding upward of the religious spire, whose feeling George Herbert had +in his mind, when he sang of prayer:-- + + "Of what an easy, quick accesse, + My blessed Lord, art thou! how suddenly + May our requests thine eare invade!" + +Not so; but it is all human rivalry, a succession of diminishing towers, +steps piled one above another, where the mind every now and then may +stop to breathe, and then fight its way onward again;--not an Ascension, +like that from Bethany; rather the toil of a very human, though very +laudable ambition. + +Unfinished spires were in Europe very common legacies from generation to +generation. Descendants were called upon to embody the great conceptions +of their forefathers. But the ancestral spirit too often failed in the +land, the wing of aspiration was broken, the crane rotted in its place, +the great conceptions were forgotten, or lived only as vague and dreamy +inheritances; and the half-completed spires stood like Sphinxes, and +none knew their riddles! They are very melancholy memorials. Like the +broken columns over the graves of the departed, fallen short of their +natural uses, they seem only the funeral monuments of a race that +is dead. The empty air is stilled over them in expectation, and the +imagination makes vain pictures, and fills out their crescent of +splendid purposes. They have been called "broken promises to God." Too +often, perhaps, they were rather monuments of the feebleness of those +who would scale heaven with anything but adoration upon their lips. +There were Ulm, indeed, and Cologne, and Mechlin, as artistic +intentions, eminently grand and beautiful; and in the early part of the +sixteenth century Belgium was famous for designs of open-work spires, +which, if erected, would have surpassed in height and richness all +hitherto existing. But it is worthy of note that at this period the +purity of the Church had become so sullied with priestcraft and the +plenitude of Papal power, that it no longer possessed within its +violated bosom those sacred impulses of piety which whilom sent up the +simple spire, like a pure messenger, to whisper the aspirations of men +to the stars. "Gay religions, full of pomp and gold," could neither feel +nor utter the grave tenderness of the early inspirations. And so, when +the German monk affixed his ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenberg +Church, the spire had ceased to be an utterance of prayerful aspiration. +It had lost its peculiar significance as an involuntary expression of +worship, and had become liable to all the accidents and contingencies +that attend the efforts of a merely human ambition. The whole story is +an architectural version of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican +who went down to the temple to pray. + +Of the finished spires, the loftiest in the world are, first, that of +Strasburg Minster, 474 feet; second, that of St. Stephens at Vienna, +469 feet; third, that of Notre Dame at Antwerp, 466 feet; then that of +Salisbury, 404 feet; Freiburg in the Breisgau, 380-1/2 feet; and then +follow the distinguished heights of Landshut, Utrecht, Rouen, Chartres, +Brugrels, Soissons, and others. The highest spire in our own country is +that of Trinity Church, New York, 284 feet. We do not "sweep the cobwebs +from the sky" so effectually as when men built according to the scale +of spiritual exaltation rather than that of practical feet and +inches,--after the stature of the soul, rather than that of the man. + +The architects of the revival of classic architecture, with the learned +language of the five orders, with pediments and attics, consoles and +urns, labored to express the childlike sentiment of the spire. But even +the great Sir Christopher Wren, with his sixty steeple-towers, and +all his followers to this day, have not succeeded in a translation so +unnatural. Spirituality and the artless grace of inspiration are wanting +to the spires of the Renaissance, and so they struggle up painfully into +the sky. And it is very rare to find those who have gone back even to +Gothic models building a spire which touches our affections, or claims +affinity with any of our nobler emotions; so sensitive is this unique +structure to the approach of any element foreign to the early conditions +of its existence. + +As for the great Strasburg example, that _Jungfrau_ of all spires, +German traditions have very properly babbled many strange stories about +the erection of it. These constitute an episode so characteristic in the +history of spire-building, that this essay would be incomplete, were +they not briefly told here. + +In the legendary days of yore, nothing was more common than to meet that +personage known as the Devil walking up and down the earth, in innocent +guise, but ripe for all sorts of mischief, especially where the people +were building up mighty monuments to the glory of the good God. Very +naturally, the sacred spire was a special object of his aversion; and, +for some reason or other, that of Strasburg was honored with peculiar +marks of his hatred. Two ancient churches, which stood on the site +of the present minster, had been successively destroyed by fire; and +although, in the one case, this had been kindled by the torch of an +invading army, and in the other by a thunderbolt, yet the infernal +agency, in both cases, nobody ever thought of doubting. So it was +the effort of Bishop Werner to combat these evil influences; and he +accordingly inflamed the pride and indignation of the people to such +a degree, that throughout the land all concerted to defeat the wicked +designs of the Adversary. In two centuries and a half the whole +cathedral was completed, save the tower, the corner-stone of which was +forthwith laid with great pomp by Bishop Conrad of Lichtenberg, on the +25th of May, 1277. Doubtless the Arch-Fiend laid many cunning schemes to +entrap the illustrious architect, Erwin of Steinbach; but, unlike his +brother in the craft at Cologne, he came out unscathed; so we must +believe that throughout the whole work he was actuated by the most +unselfish spirit of devotion, infernal machinations to the contrary +notwithstanding. Now it must be confessed that the Enemy had a hard time +of it, since we read that the good Bishop Conrad fought against him with +all the powers of the Church, and granted absolution for all sins, past, +present, and future, for forty thousand years, to whatever person should +contribute to the building of the spire by money, material, or labor. +Owing to the scarcity of parchment, these grants of absolution were made +out on asses' skins; and it will be seen, that, in the great struggle, +these instruments retained in a very eminent degree that quality of +stubborn resistance which had cost them in their original state many a +beating from the driver's staff. The greatest enthusiasm was kindled +among rich and poor; year after year, thousands of pilgrims flocked +hither from all Germany to offer their aid, without reward or +recompense, to the building of the tower; and out of the +farthest boundaries, even from Austria, came wagons loaded with +building-materials, the gratuitous offerings of the pious. Rich legacies +were left to the work, and many a cloister devoted a fourth part of its +yearly revenues to the same object So much for asses' skins! + +Meanwhile the Devil was not idle. In the night-winds he and his legions +would shriek and yell and rattle among the scaffolding and cranes +in vain. In the latter part of the thirteenth century, he shook the +structure with a frightful earthquake, which terrified all Alsatia, +and, although whole streets were thrown down in Strasburg, yet the +foundations of the _Wunderbau_, as the Germans love to call it, were not +loosened, and no stone was moved from its place. A few years afterward, +in 1289, he once more made use of his favorite element, and laid in +ashes the market-place of Strasburg all around the minster. More +fortunate than its great compeers, St. Paul's of London, and St. Peter's +of Hamburg, it miraculously experienced but trifling damage. + +Well, the great Erwin died at last, when he had built the tower as high +as the roof-ridge of the nave. His son succeeded him, finished the tower +to the platform, when he, too, was gathered to his fathers in 1339. John +Hueltz followed as master; and finally his nephew, Hueltz II., in 1439, +finished the grand pyramid, fixed the colossal cross in its place, and +crowned the whole with a gigantic statue of the Virgin. Thus, from the +laying of the foundation-stone till all was completed, were one +hundred and sixty years; yet throughout this time the work was never +discontinued, and five successive generations labored upon its walls. + +But the wrath of the Arch-Enemy, as may well be believed, waxed greater +as this prodigious structure gradually developed itself in all its +lordliness and strength, and was not at all appeased at its triumphant +completion. Ever since then he has visited its stately height with +especial marks of his malice. The most furious tempests have raged about +it, and more than sixty times has it been struck by lightning, and five +times have earthquakes shaken its foundations. But in vain. "The Golden +Legend" tells us how Lucifer and the Powers of the Air stormed about the +spire, and how he cried,-- + + "Hasten! hasten! + O ye spirits! + From its station drag the ponderous + Cross of iron that to mock us + Is uplifted high in air!" + +and how the voices replied,-- + + "Oh, we cannot! + For around it + All the Saints and Guardian Angels + Throng in legions to protect it; + They defeat us everywhere!" + +At one point, however, the evil spirits were successful; the colossal +statue of the Virgin, which crowned the dizzy summit, and was familiar +with the secrets of the upper air, and which, like its dread Enemy, + + "above the rest, + In shape and gesture proudly eminent, + Stood like a tower,"-- + +after having for fifty years borne the insults of these airy powers, +till it had lost all its original brightness, and its face + + "Deep scars of thunder had intrenched,"-- + +was taken down, and the present cross put in its place. And there it +stands to this day, high up in the silence of midair, where the voices +of the city below are rendered small and thin by the distance,--four +hundred and seventy-four feet above the heads of the populace, who, in +their littleness, crawl about and traffic at its base. This amazing +summit, "moulded in colossal calm," in its unapproachable grandeur, +seems to forget the city from which it rises, and to hold communion only +with that vast circle of "crowded farms and lessening towers" which +it surveys. It is a worthy companionship; on the one hand, the great +Vosgian chain, the closed gates of France,--on the other, afar off, the +hills of the Black Forest, and, more near, Father Rhine, winding his +silver thread among the villages and vineyards of Germany. + +There is (or was) an enormous key suspended just beneath the cross of +Strasburg Cathedral, its use, and why it was placed there, having passed +away from the memory of man. If it were not to open the gates of heaven +for those who built this ladder of light and those who worship in +its shadow, it remains a riddle and a blank. Let us accept the +interpretation, and, made mild-eyed by the lens of tender memories, we +shall behold in every spire a means of grace and a hope of glory. + + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE. + + +THE PUBLISHERS TO THE AUTHOR. + +_Queerangle Building, Nov. '59._ + +Dr. SR,-- + +Will you contract to do us a tale or a novel, at the rate of say 10 pp. +per month, with some popular subject, such as philanthropy, or the Broad +Church movement, or fashionable weddings, or the John Brown invasion, +brought in so as to make a taking thing of it? When finished, to come +to a 12mo of 350 pp. more or less. A good article of novel is always +salable about Christmas time, and we can do it up by Dec. 1, 1860. +Our Mr. Goader has been round among the hands that do the light +jobbing,--finds several ready to undertake the contract, at say 75c. @ +3.00 per page;--but want the job done in first-rate style, and think +you could furnish us a good article. Our firm has great facilities for +working a novel, tale, or any kind of fancy stuff. What w'd be y'r terms +in cash payment, 1st of every month? + +P.S. Would any additional compensation induce you to allow each number +to be illustrated by a colored engraving? + +Yr obt serv'ts. + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE PUBLISHERS. + +GENTLEMEN,-- + +In reply to your polite request, I have to say, that under no +circumstances can I entertain your proposition to write a _fictitious_ +narrative. I could, however, relate some very interesting events which +have come to my knowledge, and which, if told in a connected form, might +undoubtedly be taken by the public for a work of fiction. I think my +narrative, with some collateral matter I should introduce, would take up +a reasonable space in about a dozen numbers of the Oceanic Miscellany. +I cannot listen to your proposal about the engraving. If you accept my +offer to write out, in the form of a story, the incidents of real +life to which I have referred, we will arrange the terms at a private +interview. I consider the first day of a month as unobjectionable as any +other in the same month, as a time for receiving payment of any sum that +may be due me under the proposed contract. + +Yours truly. + + +CONFIDENTIAL EDITOR OF THE OCEANIC MISCELLANY TO THE AUTHOR. + +MY DEAR PROF.,-- + +We have had lots of bob-tail stories,--docked short in from one to three +months. Can't you give us a switch-tail one, that will hang on so as +to touch next December? Something imaginary, based on your +recollections,--the incidents of the War of 1812, for instance;--but, at +any rate, a regular "to be continued" "_piece de resistance_" + +Yours ever. + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE CONFIDENTIAL EDITOR. + +MY DEAR ED.,-- + +I really wouldn't undertake to tell an "imaginary" story, or to write +a romance, or anything of the kind. I might be willing to relate some +curious matters that have come to my knowledge, arranging them in a +collective form, so that they would probably pass with most readers for +fictitious, and perhaps excite very much the same kind of interest they +would if genuine fictions. I don't remember much about the "last war"; +but I suppose both of us may recollect the illumination when peace was +declared in 1815. + +Ever yours. + + +THE PUBLISHERS TO THE AUTHOR. + +(Inclosing a check, in advance, for the first number.) + + +THE AUTHOR TO THE READER. + +Finding myself in possession of certain facts which possess interest +sufficient to warrant their publication, I am led to ask myself whether +I shall put them in the form of a narrative. There are, evidently, two +sides to this question. In the first place, I have a number of friends +who write me letters, and tell me openly to my face, that they want me +to go on writing. It doesn't make much difference to them, they say, +what I write about,--only they want me to keep going. They have got used +to seeing me, in one shape or another,--and I am a kind of habit with +them, like a nap after dinner. They tell me not to be frightened about +it,--to begin as dull as I like, and that I shall warm up, by-and-by, as +old _Dutchman_ used to, who could hardly put one leg before the other +when he started, but, after a while, got so limbered and straightened +out by his work, that he dropped down into the forties, and, I think +they say, into the thirties. _L'appetit vient en mangeant_, one of them +said who talks French,--which, you know, means, that eating makes one +hungry. I remember, when I sat down to that last book of mine, which you +may perhaps have read, although I had the facts of the story, of course, +all in my head, it seemed to me that I should never have the patience +to tell them all; and yet, before I was through, I got so full of the +scenes and characters I was talking about, that I had to bolt my door +and lay in an extra bandanna, before I could trust myself to put my +recollections and thoughts on paper. You don't expect a locomotive is +going to start off with a train of thirty or forty thousand passengers, +without straining a little,--do you? That isn't the way; but this is. +_Puff!_ The wheels begin to turn, but very slowly. Papas hold up their +little Johnnys to the car-windows to be kissed. _Puff----Puff!_ People +shake hands from the platform to the cars, walking along by their side. +_Puff--puff--puff!_ Now, then, Ma'am! pass out that tumbler pretty +spry, out of which you have been swallowing that eternal "drink o' +wotter," to which the human female of a certain social grade is so +odiously addicted. _Puff, puff, puff, puff!_ Too late, old gentleman +I unless you can do a mile in a good deal less than three minutes, +carrying weight, in the shape of a valise in one hand and a carpet-bag +in the other. That's the way with anything that's got any freight to +carry. It's slow when it sets out;--but steam is steam,--and what's bred +in the boiler will show in the driving-wheel, sooner or later. + +If I had to _make up_ a story, now, it would be a very different matter. +I could never conceive how some of those romancers go to work, in cold +blood, to draw, out of what they call their imagination, a parcel of +impossible events and absurd characters. That is not my trouble; for I +have come into relation with a series of persons and events which will +save me the pains of drawing on my invention, in case I shall see fit to +follow the counsel of my too partial friends. I am only afraid I should +not disguise the circumstances enough, if I were to arrange these facts +in the narrative form. Some of them are of such a nature, that they +cannot be supposed to have happened more than once in the experience +of a generation; and I feel that the greatest caution and delicacy are +necessary in the manner of their presentation, not to offend the living +or wrong the memory of the dead. + +It is very easy for you, the Reader, to sit down and run over the pages +of a monthly narrative as a boy "skips" a stone,--and the flatter and +thinner your capacity, the more skips, perhaps, you will make. But I +tell you, for a man who has live people to deal with, and hearts that +are beating even while he handles them,--a man who can go into families +and pull up by the roots all the mysteries of their dead generations and +their living sons' and daughters' secret history,--_responsible_ for +what he says, here and elsewhere,--open to a libel suit, if he isn't +pretty careful in his personalities, or to a visit from a brother or +other relative, wishing to know, Sir, and so forth,--or to a paragraph +in the leading journal of that whispering-gallery of a nation's gossip, +Little Millionville, to the effect that--We understand the personages +alluded to in the tale now publishing in the Oceanic Miscellany are +the Reverend Dr. S---h and his accomplished lady, the distinguished +financier, Mr. B---n,--and so through the whole list of characters;--I +say, for a man who _writes_ the pages you skim over, it is a mighty +different piece of business. Why, if I _do_ tell all I know about some +things that have come to my cognizance, I shall make you open your eyes +and spread your pupils, as if you had been to the Eye Infirmary, and the +doctors there had anointed your lids with the extract of belladonna. +Mark what I tell you! I have happened to become intimately acquainted +with circumstances of a very extraordinary nature,--not, perhaps, +without precedent, but such as very few have been called upon to +witness. Suppose that I should see fit to tell these in connection with +the story of which they form a part? I may render myself obnoxious to +persons whom it is not safe to offend,--persons that won't come out in +the public prints, perhaps, but will poke incendiary letters under your +doors,--that won't step up to you in broad daylight, and lug a Colt out +of their pocket, or draw a bowie-knife from their back, where they had +carried it under their coat, but who will dog you about to do you a +mischief unseen,--who will carry air-guns in the shape of canes, and +hang round the place where you get your provisions, and practise with +long-range rifles out in the lonely fields,--rifles that crack no louder +than a parlor-pistol, but spit a bit of lead out of their mouths half a +mile and more, so that you wait as you do for the sound of the man's axe +who is chopping on the other side of the river, to see the fellow you +have "saved" clap his hand to his breast and stagger over. It makes me +nervous to think of such things. I don't want to be suspicious of every +queer taste in my coffee, and to shiver if I see a little powdered white +sugar on the upper crust of my pastry. I don't want, every time I hear a +door bang, to think it is a ragged slug from an unseen gun-barrel. + +If Dick V---- was _not_ killed on the Pampas, as they have always said +he was, I should never sleep easy after telling my story. For such a +fellow as he was would certainly see through all the disguises I could +cover up a real-life story with, and then----. He has learned the use of +the lasso too well for me to want to trust my neck anywhere within a rod +of him, if there were light enough for him to see, and nothing between +us, and nobody near. + +And besides, there were a good many opinions handled by some of these +people I should have to talk about. Now, of course, a magazine like the +Oceanic is no place for opinions. Look out for your Mormon subscribers, +if you question the propriety of Solomon's domestic arrangements! And +if you say one word that touches the Sandemanians, be sure their whole +press will be down on you; for, as Sandemanianism is the undoubted and +absolutely true religion, it follows, of course, that it is as sore as a +scalded finger, and must be handled like a broken bone. + +Add to this that I have always had the greatest objection to writing +anything which those who were not acquainted with the facts might call +a _romance_ or a _tale._ We think very ill of a man who offers us as a +truth some single statement which we find he knew to be false. Now what +can we think of a man who tells three volumes, or even one, full of just +such lies? Of course the _prima-facie_ aspect of the case is, that he +is guilty of the most monstrous impertinence; and, in point of fact, +I confess the greatest disgust towards any person of whom I hear the +assertion that he has _written a story,_ unless I hear something more +than that. He is bound to show extenuating or justifying circumstances, +as much as the man who writes what he calls "poems." For, as the world +is full of real histories, and every day in every great city begins and +ends a score or half a dozen score of tragic dramas, it is a huge piece +of assumption to undertake to make one out of one's own head. A man +takes refuge under your porch in a rain-storm, and you offer him the use +of your shower-bath! + +Also, I cannot help remembering, that, on the whole, I have been more +intensely bored with works of fiction,--beginning with "Gil Blas," and +ending with--on the whole, I won't even mention it,--than I ever was by +the Latin Grammar or Rollin's History. Naturally, therefore, I should +not wish to threaten my friends with the punishment I have endured from +others. But then, as I said before, if I write down the circumstances +that have come to my knowledge, with some account of persons, opinions, +and conversations, no one can accuse me of writing a _novel,_--a thing +which I never meant to do, under any circumstances. + +----After having carefully weighed my friends' arguments and my own +objections, I have come to the conclusion to do pretty much as I like +about it. Now the truth is, I have grown to be rather fonder of you, the +Reader, than I have ever been willing to confess. You are such a good, +kind creature,--it takes so little to please you,--you laugh and cry +so very obligingly at just the right time,--you send me such charming +notes, such dear little copies of verses,--nay, (shall I venture to say +it?) such prodigal tokens of kindness, some of you, that I----in short, +I love you very much, and cannot make up my mind to part with you. +Rather than do this, as I could not and would not write a romance, I +have made up my mind to tell you something of some persons and events of +which I have known enough,--of some of them, I might say, too much. Of +course, you must trust wholly to my discretion and sense of propriety, +in dealing with living personages, recent events, and subjects still in +dispute. Trusting that none of my friends will pay any attention to any +idle rumors tending to fix the personages or localities of which I shall +speak, and reminding my readers that the narrative will constitute only +a part of what I have to say, inasmuch as there will be no small amount +of reflections introduced, and perhaps of conversations reported, I +begin this connected statement of facts with an essay on a social +phenomenon not hitherto distinctly recognized. + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BRAHMIN CASTE OF NEW ENGLAND + + +There is nothing in New England corresponding at all to the feudal +aristocracies of the Old World. Whether it be owing to the stock from +which we were derived, or to the practical working of our institutions, +or to the abrogation of the technical "law of honor," which draws a +sharp line between the personally responsible class of "gentlemen" and +the unnamed multitude of those who are not expected to risk their lives +for an abstraction,--whatever be the cause, we have no such aristocracy +here as that which grew up out of the military systems of the Middle +Ages. + +What our people mean by "aristocracy" is merely the richer part of the +community, that live in the tallest houses, drive real carriages, (not +"kerridges,") kid-glove their hands, and French-bonnet their ladies' +heads, give parties where the persons who call them by the above title +are not invited, and have a provokingly easy way of dressing, walking, +talking, and nodding to people, as if they felt entirely at home, and +would not be embarrassed in the least, if they met the Governor, or even +the President of the United States, face to face. Some of these great +folks are really well-bred, some of them are only purse-proud and +assuming,--but they form a class, and are named as above in the common +speech. + +It is in the nature of large fortunes to diminish rapidly, when +subdivided and distributed. A million is the unit of wealth, now and +here in America. It splits into four handsome properties; each of these +into four good inheritances; these, again, into scanty competences for +four ancient maidens,--with whom it is best the family should die out, +unless it can begin again as its grandfather did. Now a million is +a kind of golden cheese, which represents in a compendious form the +summer's growth of a fat meadow of craft or commerce; and as this kind +of meadow rarely bears more than one crop, it is pretty certain that +sons and grandsons will not get another golden cheese out of it, whether +they milk the same cows or turn in new ones. In other words, the +millionocracy, considered in a large way, is not at all an affair of +persons and families, but a perpetual fact of money with a variable +human element, which a philosopher might leave out of consideration +without falling into serious error. Of course, this trivial and fugitive +fact of personal wealth does not create a permanent class, unless some +special means are taken to arrest the process of disintegration in the +third generation. This is so rarely done, at least successfully, that +one need not live a very long life to see most of the rich families he +knew in childhood more or less reduced, and the millions shifted into +the hands of the country-boys who were sweeping stores and carrying +parcels when the now decayed gentry were driving their chariots, eating +their venison over silver chafing-dishes, drinking Madeira chilled in +embossed coolers, wearing their hair in powder, and casing their legs in +white-topped boots with silken tassels. + +There is, however, in New England, an aristocracy, if you choose to call +it so, which has a far greater character of permanence. It has grown to +be a _caste_,--not in any odious sense,--but, by the repetition of the +same influences, generation after generation, it has acquired a distinct +organization and physiognomy, which not to recognize is mere stupidity, +and not to be willing to describe would show a distrust of the +good-nature and intelligence of our readers, who like to have us see all +we can and tell all we see. + +If you will look carefully at any class of students in one of our +colleges, you will have no difficulty in selecting specimens of two +different aspects of youthful manhood. Of course I shall choose extreme +cases to illustrate the contrast between them. In the first, the figure +is perhaps robust, but often otherwise,--inelegant, partly from careless +attitudes, partly from ill-dressing,--the face is uncouth in feature, or +at least common,--the mouth coarse and unformed,--the eye unsympathetic, +even if bright,--the movements of the face clumsy, like those of the +limbs,--the voice unmusical,--and the enunciation as if the words were +coarse castings, instead of fine carvings. The youth of the other aspect +is commonly slender,--his face is smooth, and apt to be pallid,--his +features are regular and of a certain delicacy,--his eye is bright and +quick,--his lips play over the thought he utters as a pianist's fingers +dance over their music,--and his whole air, though it may be timid, and +even awkward, has nothing clownish. If you are a teacher, you know what +to expect from each of these young men. With equal willingness, the +first will be slow at learning; the second will take to his books as a +pointer or a setter to his field-work. + +The first youth is the common country-boy, whose race has been bred to +bodily labor. Nature has adapted the family organization to the kind of +life it has lived. The hands and feet by constant use have got more than +their share of development,--the organs of thought and expression less +than their share. The finer instincts are latent and must be developed. +A youth of this kind is raw material in its first stage of elaboration. +You must not expect too much of any such. Many of them have force of +will and character, and become distinguished in practical life; but very +few of them ever become great scholars. A scholar is almost always the +son of scholars or scholarly persons. + +That is exactly what the other young man is. He comes of the _Brahmin +caste of New England_. This is the harmless, inoffensive, untitled +aristocracy to which I have referred, and which I am sure you will +at once acknowledge. There are races of scholars among us, in which +aptitude for learning, and all these marks of it I have spoken of, +are congenital and hereditary. Their names are always on some college +catalogue or other. They break out every generation or two in some +learned labor which calls them up after they seem to have died out. At +last some newer name takes their place, it may be,--but you inquire a +little and you find it is the blood of the Edwardses or the Chauncys or +the Ellerys or some of the old historic scholars, disguised under the +altered name of a female descendant. + +I suppose there is not an experienced instructor anywhere in our +Northern States who will not recognize at once the truth of this general +distinction. But the reader who has never been a teacher will very +probably object, that some of our most illustrious public men have come +direct from the homespun-clad class of the people,--and he may, perhaps, +even find a noted scholar or two whose parents were masters of the +English alphabet, but of no other. + +It is not fair to pit a few chosen families against the great multitude +of those who are continually working their way up into the intellectual +classes. The results which are habitually reached by hereditary training +are occasionally brought about without it. There are natural filters as +well as artificial ones; and though the great rivers are commonly more +or less turbid, if you will look long enough, you may find a spring that +sparkles as no water does which drips through your apparatus of sands +and sponges. So there are families which refine themselves into +intellectual aptitude without having had much opportunity for +intellectual acquirements. A series of felicitous crosses develops an +improved strain of blood, and reaches its maximum perfection at last in +the large uncombed youth who goes to college and startles the hereditary +class-leaders by striding past them all. That is Nature's republicanism; +thank God for it, but do not let it make you illogical. The race of the +hereditary scholar has exchanged a certain portion of its animal vigor +for its new instincts, and it is hard to lead men without a good deal of +animal vigor. The scholar who comes by Nature's special grace from an +unworn stock of broad-chested sires and deep-bosomed mothers must always +overmatch an equal intelligence with a compromised and lowered vitality. +A man's breathing and digestive apparatus (one is tempted to add +_muscular_) are just as important to him on the floor of the Senate as +his thinking organs. You broke down in your great speech, did you? Yes, +your grandfather had an attack of dyspepsia in '82, after working too +hard on his famous Election Sermon. All this does not touch the main +fact: our scholars come chiefly from a privileged order, just as our +best fruits come from well-known grafts,--though now and then a seedling +apple, like the Northern Spy, or a seedling pear, like the Seckel, +springs from a nameless ancestry and grows to be the pride of all the +gardens in the land. + +Let me introduce you to a young man who belongs to the Brahmin caste of +New England. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE STUDENT AND HIS CERTIFICATE. + + +Bernard C. Langdon, a young man attending Medical Lectures at the school +connected with one of our principal colleges, remained after the Lecture +one day and wished to speak with the Professor. He was a student of +mark,--first favorite of his year, as they say of the Derby colts. +There are in every class half a dozen bright faces to which the teacher +naturally directs his discourse, and by the intermediation of whose +attention he seems to hold that of the mass of listeners. Among these +some one is pretty sure to take the lead, by virtue of a personal +magnetism, or some peculiarity of expression, which places the face in +quick sympathetic relations with the lecturer. This was a young man +with such a face; and I found,--for you have guessed that I was the +"Professor" above-mentioned,--that, when there was anything difficult to +be explained, or when I was bringing out some favorite illustration of a +nice point, (as, for instance, when I compared the cell-growth, by which +Nature builds up a plant or an animal, to the glass-blower's similar +mode of beginning,--always with a hollow sphere, or vesicle, whatever he +is going to make,) I naturally looked in his face and gauged my success +by its expression. + +It was a handsome face,--a little too pale, perhaps, and would have +borne something more of fulness without becoming heavy. I put the +organization to which it belongs in Section C of Class 1 of my +Anglo-American Anthropology (unpublished). The jaw in this class is but +_slightly_ narrowed,--just enough to make the width of the forehead tell +more decidedly. The moustache often grows vigorously, but the whiskers +are thin. The skin is like that of Jacob, rather than like Esau's. One +string of the animal nature has been taken away, but this gives only a +greater predominance to the intellectual chords. To see just how the +vital energy has been toned down, you must contrast one of this section +with a specimen of Section A of the same class,--say, for instance, one +of the old-fashioned, full-whiskered, red-faced, roaring-big Commodores +of the last generation, whom you remember, at least by their portraits, +in ruffled shirts, looking as hearty as butchers and as plucky as +bull-terriers, with their hair combed straight up from their foreheads, +which were not commonly very high or broad. The special form of physical +life I have been describing gives you a right to expect more delicate +perceptions and a more reflective nature than you commonly find in +shaggy-throated men, clad in heavy suits of muscles. + +The student lingered in the lecture-room, looking all the time as if he +wanted to say something in private, and waiting for two or three others, +who were still hanging about, to be gone. + +Something is wrong!--I said to myself, when I noticed his +expression.--Well, Mr. Langdon,--I said to him, when we were alone,--can +I do anything for you to-day? + +You can, Sir,--he said.--I am going to leave the class, for the present, +and keep school. + +Why, that's a pity, and you so near graduating! You'd better stay and +finish this course, and take your degree in the spring, rather than +break up your whole plan of study. + +I can't help myself, Sir,--the young man answered.--There's trouble at +home, and they cannot keep me here as they have done. So I must look out +for myself for a while. It's what I've done before, and am ready to do +again. I came to ask you for a certificate of my fitness to teach a +common school, or a high school, if you think I am up to that. Are you +willing to give it to me? + +Willing? Yes, to be sure,--but I don't want you to go. Stay; we'll make +it easy for you. There's a fund will do something for you, perhaps. Then +you can take both the annual prizes, if you like,--and claim them in +money, if you want that more than medals. + +I have thought it all over,--he answered,--and have pretty much made up +my mind to go. + +A perfectly gentlemanly young man, of courteous address and mild +utterance, but means at least as much as he says. There are some people +whose rhetoric consists of a slight habitual understatement. I often +tell Mrs. Professor that one of her "I think it's sos" is worth the +Bible-oath of all the rest of the household that they "know it's so." +When you find a person a little better than his word, a little more +liberal than his promise, a little more than borne out in his statement +by his facts, a little larger in deed than in speech, you recognize a +kind of eloquence in that person's utterance not laid down in Blair or +Campbell. + +This was a proud fellow, self-trusting, sensitive, with +family-recollections that made him unwilling to accept the kind of aid +which many students--would have thankfully welcomed. I knew him too well +to urge him, after the few words which implied that he was determined +to go. Besides, I have great confidence in young men who believe in +themselves, and are accustomed to rely on their own resources from an +early period. When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, +the World, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to +find it come off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away +timid adventurers. I have seen young men more than once, who came to a +great city without a single friend, support themselves and pay for their +education, lay up money in a few years, grow rich enough to travel, and +establish themselves in life, without ever asking a dollar of any person +which they had not earned. But these are exceptional cases. There are +horse-tamers, born so, as we all know; there are woman-tamers who +bewitch the sex as the pied piper bedeviled the children of Hamelin; and +there are world-tamers, who can make any community, even a Yankee one, +get down and let them jump on its back as easily as Mr. Rarey saddled +Cruiser. + +Whether Langdon was of this sort or not I could not say positively; but +he had spirit, and, as I have said, a family-pride which would not let +him be dependent. The New England Brahmin caste often gets blended with +connections of political influence or commercial distinction. It is a +charming thing for the scholar, when his fortune carries him in this way +into some of the "old families" who have fine old houses, and city-lots +that have risen in the market, and names written in all the stock-books +of all the dividend-paying companies. His narrow study expands into a +stately library, his books are counted by thousands instead of hundreds, +and his favorites are dressed in gilded calf in place of plebeian +sheepskin or its pauper substitutes of cloth and paper. + +The Reverend Jedediah Langdon, grandfather of our young gentleman, had +made an advantageous alliance of this kind. Miss Dorothea Wentworth had +read one of his sermons which had been printed "by request," and became +deeply interested in the young author, whom she had never seen. Out of +this circumstance grew a correspondence, an interview, a declaration, a +matrimonial alliance, and a family of half a dozen children. Wentworth +Langdon, Esquire, was the oldest of these, and lived in the old +family-mansion. Unfortunately, that principle of the diminution of +estates by division, to which I have referred, rendered it somewhat +difficult to maintain the establishment upon the fractional income +which the proprietor received from his share of the property. Wentworth +Langdon, Esq., represented a certain intermediate condition of life +not at all infrequent in our old families. He was the connecting link +between the generation which lived in ease, and even a kind of state, +upon its own resources, and the new brood, which must live mainly by its +wits or industry, and make itself rich, or shabbily subside into that +lower stratum known to social geologists by a deposit of Kidderminster +carpets and the peculiar aspect of the fossils constituting the family +furniture and wardrobe. This _slack-water_ period of a race, which comes +before the rapid ebb of its prosperity, is familiar to all who live in +cities. There are no more quiet, inoffensive people than these children +of rich families, just above the necessity of active employment, yet +not in a condition to place their own children advantageously, if they +happen to have families. Many of them are content to live unmarried. +Some mend their broken fortunes by prudent alliances, and some leave a +numerous progeny to pass into the obscurity from which their ancestors +emerged; so that you may see on hand-carts and cobblers' stalls names +which, a few generations back, were upon parchments with broad seals, +and tombstones with armorial bearings. + +In a large city, this class of citizens are familiar to us in the +streets. They are very courteous in their salutations; they have +time enough to bow and take their hats off,--which, of course, no +business-man can afford to do. Their beavers are smoothly brushed, and +their boots well polished; all their appointments are tidy; they look +the respectable walking gentleman to perfection. They are prone to +habits,--to frequent reading-rooms, insurance-offices,--to walk the same +streets at the same hours,--so that one becomes familiar with their +faces and persons, as a part of the street-furniture. + +There is one curious circumstance, that all city-people must have +noticed, which is often illustrated in our experience of the slack-water +gentry. We shall know a certain person by his looks, familiarly, for +years, but never have learned his name. About this person we shall have +accumulated no little circumstantial knowledge;--thus, his face, figure, +gait, his mode of dressing, of saluting, perhaps even of speaking, may +be familiar to us; yet who he is we know not. In another department of +our consciousness, there is a very familiar _name_, which we have never +found the person to match. We have heard it so often, that it has +idealized itself, and become one of that multitude of permanent shapes +which walk the chambers of the brain in velvet slippers in the company +of Falstaff and Hamlet and General Washington and Mr. Pickwick. +Sometimes the person dies, but the name lives on indefinitely. But now +and then it happens, perhaps after years of this independent existence +of the name and its shadowy image in the brain, on the one part, and the +person and all its real attributes, as we see them daily, on the other, +that some accident reveals their relation, and we find the name we have +carried so long in our memory belongs to the person we have known so +long as a fellow-citizen. Now the slack-water gentry are among the +persons most likely to be the subjects of this curious divorce of title +and reality,--for the reason, that, playing no important part in the +community, there is nothing to tie the floating name to the actual +individual, as is the case with the men who belong in any way to the +public, while yet their names have a certain historical currency, and we +cannot help meeting them, either in their haunts, or going to and from +them. + +To this class belonged Wentworth Langdon, Esq. He had been "dead-headed" +into the world some fifty years ago, and had sat with his hands in +his pockets staring at the show ever since. I shall not tell you, for +reasons before hinted, the whole name of the place in which he lived. +I will only point you in the right direction, by saying that there are +three towns lying in a line with each other, as you go "down East," each +of them with a _Port_ in its name, and each of them having a peculiar +interest which gives it individuality, in addition to the Oriental +character they have in common. I need not tell you that these towns are +Newburyport, Portsmouth, and Portland. The Oriental character they have +in common consists in their large, square, palatial mansions, with sunny +gardens round them. The two first have seen better days. They are in +perfect harmony with the condition of weakened, but not impoverished, +gentility. Each of them is a "paradise of demi-fortunes." Each of them +is of that intermediate size between a village and a city which any +place has outgrown when the presence of a well-dressed stranger walking +up and down the main street ceases to be a matter of public curiosity +and private speculation, as frequently happens, during the busier months +of the year, in considerable commercial centres like Salem. They both +have grand old recollections to fall back upon,--times when they looked +forward to commercial greatness, and when the portly gentlemen in cocked +hats, who built their decaying wharves and sent out their ships all over +the world, dreamed that their fast-growing port was to be the Tyre or +the Carthage of the rich British Colony. Great houses, like Lord Timothy +Dexter's, in Newburyport, remain as evidence of the fortunes amassed +in these places of old. Other mansions--like the Rockingham House in +Portsmouth (look at the white horse's tail before you mount the broad +staircase) show that there was not only wealth, but style and state, +in these quiet old towns during the last century. It is not with any +thought of pity or depreciation that we speak of them as in a certain +sense decayed towns; they did not fulfil their early promise of +expansion, but they remain incomparably the most interesting places of +their size in any of the three northernmost New England States. They +have even now prosperity enough to keep them in good condition, and +offer the most attractive residences for quiet families, which, if they +had been English, would have lived in a _palazzo_ at Genoa or Pisa, or +some other Continental Newburyport or Portsmouth. + +As for the last of the three Ports, or Portland, it is getting too +prosperous to be as attractive as its less northerly neighbors. Meant +for a fine old town, to ripen like a Cheshire cheese within its walls +of ancient rind, burrowed by crooked alleys and mottled with venerable +mould, it seems likely to sacrifice its mellow future to a vulgar +material prosperity. Still it remains invested with many of its old +charms, as yet, and will forfeit its place among this admirable trio +only when it gets a hotel with unequivocal marks of having been built +and organized in the present century. + +----It was one of the old square palaces of the North, in which Bernard +Langdon, the son of Wentworth, was born. If he had had the luck to be +an only child, he might have lived as his father had done, letting his +meagre competence smoulder on almost without consuming, like the fuel +in an air-tight stove. But after Master Bernard came Miss Dorothea +Wentworth Langdon, and then Master William Pepperell Langdon, and +others, equally well named,--a string of them, looking, when they stood +in a row in prayer-time, as if they would fit a set of Pandean pipes, of +from three feet upward in dimensions. The door of the air-tight store +has to be opened, under such circumstances, you may well suppose! So it +happened that our young man had been obliged, from an early period, to +do something to support himself, and found himself stopped short in his +studies by the inability of the good people at home to furnish him the +present means of support as a student. + +You will understand now why the young man wanted me to give him a +certificate of his fitness to teach, and why. I did not choose to urge +him to accept the aid which a meek country-boy from a family without +ante-Revolutionary recollections would have thankfully received. Go he +must,--that was plain enough. He would not be content otherwise. He was +not, however, to give up his studies; and as it is customary to allow +_half-time_ to students engaged in school-keeping,--that is, to count +a year, so employed, if the student also keep on with his professional +studies, as equal to six months of the three years he is expected to +be under an instructor before applying for his degree,--he would not +necessarily lose more than a few months of time. He had a small library +of professional books, which he could take with him. + +So he left my teaching and that of my estimable colleagues, carrying +with him my certificate, that Mr. Bernard C. Langdon was a young +gentleman of excellent moral character, of high intelligence and good +education, and that his services would be of great value in any school, +academy, or other institution, where young persons of either sex were to +be instructed. + +I confess, that expression, "either sex," ran a little thick, as I +may say, from my pen. For, although the young man bore a very fair +character, and there was no special cause for doubting his discretion, +I considered him altogether too good-looking, in the first place, to be +let loose in a room-full of young girls. I didn't want him to fall in +love just then,--and if half a dozen girls fell in love with him, as +they most assuredly would, if brought into too near relations with him, +why, there was no telling what gratitude and natural sensibility might +bring about. + +Certificates are, for the most part, like ostrich-eggs; the giver never +knows what is hatched out of them. But once in a thousand times they +act as curses are said to,--come home to roost. Give them often enough, +until it gets to be a mechanical business, and, some day or other, you +will get caught warranting somebody's ice not to melt in any climate, or +somebody's razors to be safe in the hands of the youngest children. + +I had an uneasy feeling, after giving this certificate. It might be all +right enough; but if it happened to end badly, I should always reproach +myself. There was a chance, certainly, that it would lead him or others +into danger or wretchedness. Any one who looked at this young man could +not fail to see that he was capable of fascinating and being fascinated. +Those large, dark eyes of his would sink into the white soul of a +young girl as the black cloth sunk into the snow in Franklin's famous +experiment. Or, on the other hand, if the rays of a passionate nature +should ever be concentrated on them, they would be absorbed into the +very depths of his nature, and then his blood would turn to flame and +burn his life out of him, until his cheeks grew as white as the ashes +that cover a burning coal. + +I wish I had not said _either sex_ in my certificate. An academy for +young gentlemen, now; that sounds cool and unimaginative. A boys' +school; that would be a very good place for him;--some of them are +pretty rough, but there is nerve enough in that old Wentworth blood; he +can give any country fellow, of the common stock, twenty pounds, and hit +him out of time in ten minutes. But to send such a young fellow as that +out a girl's-nesting! to give this falcon a free pass into all the +dove-cotes! I was a fool,--that's all. + +I brooded over the mischief which might come out of these two words +until it seemed to me that they were charged with destiny. I could +hardly sleep for thinking what a train I might have been laying, which +might take a spark any day, and blow up nobody knows whose peace or +prospects. What I dreaded most was one of those miserable matrimonial +misalliances where a young fellow who does not know himself as yet +flings his magnificent future into the checked apron-lap of some +fresh-faced, half-bred country-girl, no more fit to be mated with him +than her father's horse to go in double harness with Flora Temple. To +think of the eagle's wings being clipped so that he shall not ever +lift himself over the farm-yard fence! Such things happen, and always +must,--because, as one of us said awhile ago, a man always loves +a woman, and a woman a man, unless some good reason exists to the +contrary. You think yourself a very fastidious young man, my friend; but +there are probably at least five thousand young women in these United +States, any one of whom you would certainly marry, if you were thrown +much into her company, and nobody more attractive were near, and she had +no objection. And you, my dear young lady, justly pride yourself on your +discerning delicacy; but if I should say that there are twenty thousand +young men, any one of whom, if he offered his hand and heart under +favorable circumstances, you would + + "First endure, then pity, then embrace," + +I should be much more imprudent than I mean to be, and you would, no +doubt, throw down a story in which I hope to interest you. + +I had settled it in my mind that this young fellow had a career marked +out for him. He should begin in the natural way, by taking care of poor +patients in one of the public charities, and work his way up to a better +kind of practice,--better, that is, in the vulgar, worldly sense. The +great and good Boerhaave used to say, as I remember very well, that the +poor were his best patients; for God was their paymaster. But everybody +is not as patient as Boerhaave, nor as deserving; so that the rich, +though not, perhaps, the best patients, are good enough for common +practitioners. I suppose Boerhaave put up with them when he could not +get poor ones, as he left his daughter two millions of florins when he +died. + +Now if this young man once got into the _wide streets_, he would sweep +them clear of his rivals of the same standing; and as I was getting +indifferent to business, and old Dr. Kilham was growing careless, and +had once or twice prescribed morphine when he meant quinine, there would +soon he an opening into the Doctors' Paradise,--the _streets with only +one side to them_. Then I would have him strike a bold stroke,--set up a +nice little coach, and be driven round like a London first-class doctor, +instead of coasting about in a shabby one-horse concern and casting +anchor opposite his patients' doors like a Cape-Ann fishing-smack. By +the time he was thirty, he would have knocked the social pawns out of +his way, and be ready to challenge a wife from the row of great pieces +in the background. I would not have a man marry above his level, so as +to become the appendage of a powerful family-connection; but I would not +have him marry until he knew his level,--that is, again, looking at the +matter in a purely worldly point of view, and not taking the sentiments +at all into consideration. But remember, that a young man, using large +endowments wisely and fortunately, may put himself on a level with the +highest in the land in ten brilliant years of spirited, unflagging +labor. And even to stand at the very top of your calling in a great city +is something,--that is, if you like money and influence, and a seat on +the platform at public lectures, and gratuitous tickets to all sorts of +places where you don't want to go, and, what is a good deal better than +any of these things, a sense of power, limited, it may be, but absolute +in its range, so that all the Caesars and Napoleons would have to +stand aside, if they came between you and the exercise of your special +vocation. + +That is what I thought this young fellow might have come to; and now I +have let him go off into the country with my certificate, that he is fit +to teach in a school for either sex! Ten to one he will run like a moth +into a candle, right into one of those girls'-nests, and get tangled up +in some sentimental folly or other, and there will be the end of him. +Oh, yes! country doctor,--half a dollar a visit,--ride, ride, ride all +day,--get up at night and harness your own horse,--ride again ten miles +in a snow-storm,--shake powders out of two phials, (_pulv. glycyrrhiz., +pulv. gum. acac. aa: partes equates_,)--ride back again, if you don't +happen to get stuck in a drift,--no home, no peace, no continuous meals, +no unbroken sleep, no Sunday, no holiday, no social intercourse, but one +eternal jog, jog, jog, in a sulky, until you feel like the mummy of an +Indian who had been buried in the sitting posture, and was dug up a +hundred years afterwards! "Why didn't I warn him about love and all +that nonsense?" Why didn't I tell him he had nothing to do with it, yet +awhile? Why didn't I hold up to him those awful examples I could have +cited, where poor young fellows that could just keep themselves afloat +have hung a matrimonial millstone round their necks, taking it for a +life-preserver? + +All this of two words in a certificate! + + + + +ANDENKEN. + + + I. + + + Through the silent streets of the city, + In the night's unbusy noon, + Up and down in the pallor + Of the languid summer moon, + + I wander and think of the village, + And the house in the maple-gloom, + And the porch with the honeysuckles + And the sweet-brier all abloom. + + My soul is sick with the fragrance + Of the dewy sweet-brier's breath: + Oh, darling! the house is empty, + And lonesomer than death! + + If I call, no one will answer; + If I knock, no one will come;-- + The feet are at rest forever, + And the lips are cold and dumb. + + The summer moon is shining + So wan and large and still, + And the weary dead are sleeping + In the graveyard under the hill. + + + II. + + + We looked at the wide, white circle + Around the autumn moon, + And talked of the change of weather,-- + It would rain, to-morrow, or soon. + + And the rain came on the morrow, + And beat the dying leaves + From the shuddering boughs of the maples + Into the flooded eaves. + + The clouds wept out their sorrow; + But in my heart the tears + Are bitter for want of weeping, + In all these autumn years. + + + III. + + + It is sweet to lie awake musing + On all she has said and done, + To dwell on the words she uttered, + To feast on the smiles I won, + + To think with what passion at parting + She gave me my kisses again,-- + Dear adieux, and tears and caresses,-- + Oh, love! was it joy or pain? + + To brood, with a foolish rapture, + On the thought that it must be + My darling this moment is waking + With tenderest thoughts of me! + + O sleep I are thy dreams any sweeter? + I linger before thy gate: + We must enter at it together, + And my love is loath and late. + + + IV. + + + The bobolink sings in the meadow, + The wren in the cherry-tree: + Come hither, thou little maiden, + And sit upon my knee; + + And I will tell thee a story + I read in a book of rhyme;-- + I will but feign that it happened + To me, one summer-time, + + When we walked through the meadow, + And she and I were young;-- + The story is old and weary + With being said and sung. + + The story is old and weary;-- + Ah, child! is it known to thee? + Who was it that last night kissed thee + Under the cherry-tree? + + + V. + + + Like a bird of evil presage, + To the lonely house on the shore + Came the wind with a tale of shipwreck, + And shrieked at the bolted door, + + And flapped its wings in the gables, + And shouted the well-known names, + And buffeted the windows + Afeard in their shuddering frames. + + It was night, and it is daytime,-- + The morning sun is bland, + The white-cap waves come rocking, rocking, + In to the smiling land. + + The white-cap waves come rocking, rocking, + In the sun so soft and bright, + And toss and play with the dead man + Drowned in the storm last night. + + + VI. + + + I remember the burning brushwood, + Glimmering all day long + Yellow and weak in the sunlight, + Now leaped up red and strong, + + And fired the old dead chestnut, + That all our years had stood, + Gaunt and gray and ghostly, + Apart from the sombre wood; + + And, flushed with sudden summer, + The leafless boughs on high + Blossomed in dreadful beauty + Against the darkened sky. + + We children sat telling stories, + And boasting what we should be, + When we were men like our fathers, + And watched the blazing tree, + + That showered its fiery blossoms, + Like a rain of stars, we said, + Of crimson and azure and purple. + That night, when I lay in bed, + + I could not sleep for seeing, + Whenever I closed my eyes, + The tree in its dazzling splendor + Against the darkened skies. + + I cannot sleep for seeing, + With closed eyes to-night, + The tree in its dazzling splendor + Dropping its blossoms bright; + + And old, old dreams of childhood + Come thronging my weary brain. + Dear foolish beliefs and longings;-- + I doubt, are they real again? + + It is nothing, and nothing, and nothing, + That I either think or see;-- + The phantoms of dead illusions + To-night are haunting me. + + + + +CENTRAL BRITISH AMERICA. + + +Even before the announcement of the discovery of gold upon the Frazer +River and its tributaries, the people of Canada West had induced the +Parliament of England to institute the inquiry, whether the region of +British America, extending from Lakes Superior and Winnipeg to the Rocky +Mountains, is not adapted by fertility of soil, a favorable climate, +and natural advantages of internal communication, for the support of a +prosperous colony of England. + +The Parliamentary investigation had a wider scope. The select committee +of the House of Commons was appointed "to consider the state of those +British possessions in North America which are under the administration +of the Hudson Bay Company, or over which they possess a license to +trade"; and therefore witnesses were called to the organization and +management of the Company itself, as well as the natural features of the +country under its administration. + +On the 31st of July, 1857, the committee reported a large body of +testimony, but without any decisive recommendations. They "apprehend +that the districts on the Red River and the Saskatchewan are among those +most likely to be desired for early occupation," and "trust that there +will be no difficulty in effecting arrangements between her Majesty's +government and the Hudson Bay Company, by which those districts may be +ceded to Canada on equitable principles, and within the districts thus +annexed to her the authority of the Hudson Bay Company would of course +entirely cease." They deemed it "proper to terminate the connection +of the Hudson Bay Company with Vancouver Island as soon as it could +conveniently be done, as the best means of favoring the development of +the great natural advantages of that important colony; and that means +should also be provided for the ultimate extension of the colony +over any portion of the adjacent continent, to the west of the Rocky +Mountains, on which permanent settlement may be found practicable." + +These suggestions indicate a conviction that the zone of the North +American continent between latitudes 49 deg. and 55 deg., embracing the Red +River and the Saskatchewan districts, east of the Rocky Mountains, and +the area on their western slope, since organized as British Columbia, +was, in the judgment of the committee, suitable for permanent +settlement. As to the territory north of the parallel of 55 deg., an opinion +was intimated, that the organization of the Hudson's Bay Company was +best adapted to the condition of the country and its inhabitants. + +Within a year after the publication of this report, a great change +passed over the North Pacific coast. The gold discovery on Frazer's +River occurred; the Pacific populations flamed with excitement; British +Columbia was promptly organized as a colony of England; and, amid +the acclamations of Parliament and people, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton +proclaimed, in the name of the government, the policy of continuous +colonies from Lake Superior to the Pacific, and a highway across British +America, as the most direct route from London to Pekin or Jeddo. + +The eastern boundary of British Columbia was fixed upon the Rocky +Mountains. The question recurred, with great force, What shall be the +destiny of the fertile plains of the Saskatchewan and the Red River of +the North? Canada pushed forward an exploration of the route from Fort +William, on Lake Superior, to Fort Garry, on the Red River, and, under +the direction of S.J. Dawson, Esq., civil engineer, and Professor J.Y. +Hinde, gave to the world an impartial and impressive summary of the +great natural resources of the basin of Lake Winnipeg. The merchants of +New York were prompt to perceive the advantages of connecting the Erie +Canal and the Great Lakes--with the navigable channels of Northwest +America, now become prominent and familiar designations of commercial +geography. A report to the New York Chamber of Commerce very distinctly +corrected the erroneous impression, that the valleys of the Mississippi +and St. Lawrence rivers exhausted the northern and central areas which +are available for agriculture. "There is in the heart of North America," +said the report, "a distinct subdivision, of which Lake Winnipeg may +be regarded as the centre. This subdivision, like the valley of the +Mississippi, is distinguished for the fertility of its soil, and for the +extent and gentle slope of its great plains, watered by rivers of great +length, and admirably adapted for steam-navigation. It has a climate not +exceeding in severity that of many portions of Canada and the Eastern +States. It will, in all respects, compare favorably with some of the +most densely peopled portions of the continent of Europe. In other +words, it is admirably fitted to become the seat of a numerous, +hardy, and prosperous community. It has an area equal to eight or ten +first-class American States. Its great river, the Saskatchewan, carries +a navigable water-line to the very base of the Rocky Mountains. It is +not at all improbable that the valley of this river may yet offer the +best route for a railroad to the Pacific. The navigable waters of this +great subdivision interlock with those of the Mississippi. The Red River +of the North, in connection with Lake Winnipeg, into which it falls, +forms a navigable water-line, extending directly north and south nearly +eight hundred miles. The Red River is one of the best adapted to the use +of steam in the world, and waters one of the finest prairie regions on +the continent. Between the highest point at which it is navigable, and +St. Paul, on the Mississippi, a railroad is in process of construction; +and when this road is completed, another grand division of the +continent, comprising half a million square miles, will be open to +settlement." + +The sanguine temper of these remarks illustrates the rapid progress +of public sentiment since the date of the Parliamentary inquiry, only +eighteen months before. Of the same tenor, though fuller in details, +were the publications on the subject in Canada and even in England. The +year 1859 opened with greatly augmented interest in the district of +Central British America. The manifestation of this interest varied with +localities and circumstances. + +In Canada, no opportunity was omitted, either in Parliament or by the +press, to demonstrate the importance to the Atlantic and Lake Provinces +of extending settlements into the prairies of Assinniboin and +Saskatchewan,--thereby affording advantages to Provincial commerce and +manufactures like those which the communities of the Mississippi valley +have conferred upon the older American States. Nevertheless, the +Canadian government declined to institute proceedings before the English +Court of Chancery or Queen's Bench, to determine the validity of the +charter of the Hudson's Bay Company,--assigning, as reasons for not +acceding to such a suggestion by the law-officers of the crown, that +the proposed litigation might be greatly protracted, while the public +interests involved were urgent,--and that the duty of a prompt and +definite adjustment of the condition and relations of the Red River +and Saskatchewan districts was manifestly incumbent upon the Imperial +authority. + +This decision, added to the indisposition of Lower Canada to the policy +of westward expansion, is understood to have convinced Sir E.B. Lytton +that annexation of the Winnipeg basin to Canada was impracticable, and +that the exclusive occupation by the Hudson's Bay Company could be +removed only by the organization of a separate colony. The founder of +British Columbia devoted the latter portion of his administration of +the Colonial Office to measures for the satisfactory arrangement of +conflicting interests in British America. In October, 1858, he proposed +to the directors of the Hudson's Bay Company that they should be +consenting parties to a reference of questions respecting the validity +and extent of their charter, and respecting the geographical extent of +their territory, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The +Company "reasserted their right to the privileges granted to them by +their charter of incorporation," and refused to be a consenting party to +any proceeding which might call in question their chartered rights. + +Under date of November 3, 1858, Lord Caernarvon, Secretary of State for +the Colonies, by the direction of Sir E.B. Lytton, returned a dispatch, +the tenor of which is a key not only to Sir Edward's line of policy, +but, in all probability, to that of his successor, the Duke of +Newcastle. Lord Caernarvon began by expressing the disappointment and +regret with which Sir E.B. Lytton had received the communication, +containing, if he understood its tenor correctly, a distinct refusal on +the part of the Hudson's Bay Company to entertain any proposal with a +view of adjusting the conflicting claims of Great Britain, of Canada, +and of the Company, or to join with her Majesty's government in +affording reasonable facilities for the settlement of the questions in +which Imperial no less than Colonial interests were involved. It had +been his anxious desire to come to some equitable and conciliatory +agreement, by which all legitimate claims of the Company should be +fairly considered with reference to the territories or the privileges +they might be required to surrender. He suggested that such a procedure, +while advantageous to the interests of all parties, might prove +particularly for the interest of the Hudson's Bay Company. "It +would afford a tribunal preeminently fitted for the dispassionate +consideration of the questions at issue; it would secure a decision +which would probably be rather of the nature of an arbitration than of +a judgment; and it would furnish a basis of negotiation on which +reciprocal concession and the claims for compensation could be most +successfully discussed." + +With such persuasive reiteration, Lord Caernarvon, in the name and at +the instance of Sir E.B. Lytton, insisted that the wisest and most +dignified course would be found in an appeal to and a decision by the +Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, with the concurrence alike of +Canada and the Hudson's Bay Company. In conclusion, the Company were +once more assured, that, if they would meet Sir E.B. Lytton in finding +the solution of a recognized difficulty, and would undertake to give all +reasonable facilities for trying the validity of their disputed charter, +they might be assured that they would meet with fair and liberal +treatment, so far as her Majesty's government was concerned; but if, +on the other hand, the Company persisted in declining these terms, and +could suggest no other practicable mode of agreement, Sir E.B. Lytton +held himself acquitted of further responsibility to the interests of +the Company, and proposed to take the necessary steps for closing a +controversy too long open, and for securing a definitive decision, due +alike to the material development of British North America and to the +requirements of an advancing civilization. + +The communication of Lord Caernarvon stated in addition, that, in the +case last supposed, the renewal of the exclusive license to trade in +any part of the Indian territory--a renewal which could be justified +to Parliament only as part of a general agreement adjusted on the +principles of mutual concession--would become impossible. + +These representations failed to influence the Company. The +Deputy-Governor, Mr. H.H. Barens, responded, that, as, in 1850, the +Company had assented to an inquiry before the Privy Council into the +legality of certain powers claimed and exercised by them under their +charter, but not questioning the validity of the charter itself, so, at +this time, if the reference to the Privy Council were restricted to the +question of the geographical extent of the territory claimed by the +Company, in accordance with a proposition made in July, 1857, by Mr. +Labouchere, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, the directors +would recommend to their shareholders to concur in the course suggested; +but must decline to do so, if the inquiry involved not merely the +question of the geographical boundary of the territories claimed by +them, but a challenge of the validity of the charter itself, and, as a +consequence, of the rights and privileges which it professed to grant, +and which the Company had exercised for a period of nearly two hundred +years. Mr. Barens professed that the Company had at all times been +willing to entertain any proposal that might be made to them for the +surrender of any of their rights or of any portion of their territory; +but he regarded it as one thing to consent for a consideration to be +agreed upon to the surrender of admitted rights, and quite another to +volunteer a consent to an inquiry which should call those rights in +question. + +A result of this correspondence has been the definite refusal of the +Crown to renew the exclusive license to trade in Indian territory. +The license had been twice granted to the Company, under an act of +Parliament authorizing it, for periods of twenty-one years,--once +in 1821, and again in 1838. It expired on the 30th of May, 1859. In +consequence of this refusal, the Company must depend exclusively upon +the terms of their charter for their special privileges in British +America. The charter dates from 1670,--a grant by Charles II. to Prince +Rupert and his associates, "adventurers of England, trading into +Hudson's Bay,"--and is claimed to give the right of exclusive trade and +of territorial dominion to Hudson's Bay and tributary rivers. By the +expiration of the exclusive license of Indian trade, and the termination +in 1859 of the lease of Vancouver's Island from the British government, +the sway and influence of the Company are greatly restricted, and the +feasibility of some permanent adjustment is proportionately increased. + +There is no necessity for repeating here the voluminous argument for and +against the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company. The interest of British +colonization in Northwest America far transcends any technical inquiry +of the kind, and the Canadian statesmen are wise in declining to relieve +the English cabinet from the obligation to act definitely and speedily +upon the subject. The organization of the East India Company was no +obstacle to a measure demanded by the honor of England and the welfare +of India; and certainly the parchment of the Second Charles will +not deter any deliberate expression by Parliament in regard to the +colonization of Central British America. Indeed, the managers of the +Hudson's Bay Company are always careful to recognize the probability of +a compromise with the government. The late letter of Mr. Barens to Lord +Caernarvon expressed a willingness, at any time, to entertain proposals +for the surrender of franchises or territory; and in 1848, Sir J.H. +Pelly, Governor of the Company, thus expressed himself in a letter to +Lord Grey:--"As far as I am concerned, (and I think the Company will +concur, if any great national benefit would be expected from it,) I +would be willing to relinquish the whole of the territory held under the +charter on similar terms to those which it is proposed the East India +Company shall receive on the expiration of their charter,--namely, +securing the proprietors an interest on their capital of ten per cent." + +At the adjournment of the Canadian Parliament and the retirement of the +Derby Ministry, in the early part of 1859, the position and prospects of +English colonization in Northwest America were as follows:-- + +1. Vancouver's Island and British Columbia had passed from the +occupation of the Hudson's Bay Company into an efficient colonial +organization. The gold-fields of the interior had been ascertained to +equal in productiveness, and greatly to exceed in extent, those of +California. The prospect for agriculture was no less favorable,--while +the commercial importance of Vancouver and the harbors of Puget's Sound +is unquestionable. + +2. The eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and the valleys of the +Saskatchewan and Red River were shown by explorations, conducted under +the auspices of the London Geographical Society and the Canadian +authorities, to be a district of nearly four hundred thousand square +miles, in which a fertile soil, favorable climate, useful and precious +minerals, fur-bearing and food-yielding animals, in a word, the most +lavish gifts of Nature, constituted highly satisfactory conditions for +the organization and settlement of a prosperous community. + +3. In regard to the Hudson's Bay Company, a disposition prevailed not to +disturb its charter, on condition that its directory made no attempts +to enforce an exclusive trade or to interfere with the progress of +settlements. All parties anticipated Parliamentary action. Letters from +London spoke with confidence of a bill, drafted and in circulation +among members of Parliament, for the erection of a colony between Lakes +Superior and Winnipeg and the eastern limits of British Columbia, with +a northern boundary resting on the parallel of 55 deg.; and which, although +postponed by a change of ministry, was understood to represent the views +of the Duke of Newcastle, the successor of Sir E.B. Lytton. + +4. In Canada West, a system of communication from Fort William to Fort +Garry, and thence to the Pacific, was intrusted to a company--the +"Northwest Transit"--which was by no means inactive. A mail to Red +River, over the same route, was also sustained from the Canadian +treasury; and Parliament, among the acts of its previous session, had +conceded a charter for a line of telegraph through the valleys of the +Saskatchewan, with a view to an extension to the Pacific coast, and even +to Asiatic Russia. + +Simultaneously with these movements in England and Canada, the citizens +of the State of Minnesota, after a winter of active discussion, +announced a determination to introduce steam-navigation on the Red +River of the North. Parties were induced to transport the machinery +and cabins, with timber for the hull of a steamer, from the Upper +Mississippi, near Crow Wing, to the mouth of the Cheyenne, on the Red +River, where the boat was reconstructed. The first voyage of the steamer +was from Fort Abercrombie, an American post two hundred miles northwest +of Saint Paul, _down north_ to Fort Garry, during the month of June. The +reception of the stranger was attended by extraordinary demonstrations +of enthusiasm at Selkirk. The bells of Saint Boniface rang greeting, +and Fort Garry blasted powder, as if the Governor of the Company were +approaching its portal. This unique, but interesting community, fully +appreciated the fact that steam had brought their interests within the +circle of the world's activities. + +This incident was the legitimate sequel to events in Minnesota which had +transpired during a period of ten years. Organized as a Territory in +1849, a single decade had brought the population, the resources, and the +public recognition of an American State. A railroad system, connecting +the lines of the Lake States and Provinces at La Crosse with the +international frontier on the Red River at Pembina, was not only +projected, but had secured in aid of its construction a grant by the +Congress of the United States of three thousand eight hundred and +forty acres a mile, and a loan of State credit to the amount of twenty +thousand dollars a mile, not exceeding an aggregate of five million +dollars. Different sections of this important extension of the +Canadian and American railways were under contract and in process of +construction. In addition, the land-surveys of the Federal government +had reached the navigable channel of the Red River; and the line of +frontier settlement, attended by a weekly mail, had advanced to the same +point. Thus the government of the United States, no less than the +people and authorities of Minnesota, were represented in this Northwest +movement. + +Still, its consummation rests with the people and Parliament of England. +Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was prepared with a response to his own +memorable query,--"What will he do with it?" Shall the Liberal party be +less prompt and resolute in advancing the policy, announced from the +throne in 1858, of an uninterrupted series of British colonies across +the continent of North America? This will be determined by the +Parliamentary record of 1860. + + + + +ART. + +PALMER'S "WHITE CAPTIVE." + + +Once on a time a maiden dwelt with her father,--they two, and no +more,--in a rude log-cabin on the skirts of a grand old Western +forest,--majestic mountains behind them, and the broad, free prairie in +front. + +Cut off from all Christian companionship and the informing influences +of civilized arts, all their news was of red men and of game, their +entertainments the ever-varying moods of Nature, their labors of the +rudest, their dangers familiar, their solacements simple and solitary. +Alone the sturdy hunter beat the woods all day, on the track of +panthers, bears, and deer; alone, all day, his pretty daughter kept the +house against perils without and despondency within,--the gun and the +broom alike familiar to her hand. + +Commissioned to illumine the murk wilderness around her with the glow +of her Christian loveliness and faith, Nature had touched her with +inspirations of refinement, with a culture as unconscious as the growing +of the grass, and the clear intuitions of a spiritual life full of +heaven-born inclinations. Nature, too, had endowed her with fine lines +of beauty, attitudes of grace, movements of dignity and love, and all +the charmfulness that had learned its shapes from flowers and its arts +from birds. Nature's officers, the elements, had bestowed on her each +his appropriate gift,--the Air its crispness, the Earth its variety, the +Sun its brightness and its ruddy glow, the very Water from the well its +freshness and its fluent forms; the stars repeated their friendliness in +her eyes, the grass dimpled her pliant feet, the breeze tossed her brown +hair in triumphs of the unstudied becoming, and from the wildness all +about her she had her wit and her delightful ways; Morning lent her her +cheerfulness, Evening her pensiveness, and Night her soul. + +But Night, that had given her the Christian soul, true and wise, +self-reliant and aspiring, brought also the surprise and the peril that +should put it to the proof; for once, when the hunter was belated on his +path, and sudden midnight had caught him beyond the mountain, far +from the rest of his hearth and the song of his darling, came the red +Pawnees, a treacherous crew,--doubly godless because ungrateful, who had +broken the hunter's bread and slept on the hunter's blanket,--and laid +waste his hearth, and stole away his very heart. For they dragged her +many a fearful mile of darkness and distraction, through the black +woods, and grim recesses of the rocks; and there they stripped her +naked, and bound her to a stake, as the day was breaking. But the +Christian heart was within her, and the Christian soul upheld her, and +the Christian's God was by her side; and so she stood, and waited, and +was brave. + +And here still she stands, as the sculptor's soul sat down before her, +in a vision of faith and tenderness, to receive her image,--stands and +waits for the pity and the help of you and me, her brothers and her +lovers. We long to rescue her and take her to our hearts; we are touched +by her predicament, as Michelet tells us the heart of the beholder is +moved by the bound Andromeda of Puget,--that great artist in whom +dwelt the suffering soul of a depraved age, and who all his life long +sculptured forlorn captives,--"Ah, would I had been there to rescue the +darling!" + +But we are told of the Andromeda, that, unconscious and almost dead, she +knows not where she is, nor who has come to set her free; for, paralyzed +by the chafing of her chains, and even more by fear, she cannot stand, +and seems utterly exhausted. + +Not so with our Andromeda. Horror possesses her, but indignation also; +she is terrified, but brave; she shrinks, but she repels; and while all +her beautiful body trembles and retreats, her countenance confronts her +captors, and her steady gaze forbids them. "Touch me not!" she says, +with every shuddering limb and every tensely-braced muscle, with +lineaments all eloquent with imperious disgust,--"Touch me not!" + +Her lips quiver, and tears are in her eyes, (we do not forget that it +is of marble we are speaking,--there _are_ tears in her eyes,) but they +only linger there; she is not weeping now; her chin trembles, and one of +her hands is convulsively clenched,--but it is with the anguish of her +sore besetting, not the spasm of mortal fear. Though Heaven and Earth, +indeed, might join to help her, we yet know that the soul of the maiden +will help itself,--that her hope clings fast, and her courage is +undaunted, and her faith complete. + +Among her thronged emotions we look in vain for shame. Her nakedness is +a coarse chance of her overwhelming situation, for which she is no more +concerned than for her galled wrists or her dishevelled hair. What is it +to such a queen as she, that the eyes of grinning brutes are blessed by +her perfect beauties? + +The qualities which constitute true greatness in a statue such as this +are, if we apprehend them aright,--first, that sublime simplicity of +Idea which omnipotently sways the beholder, and alike inspires his +coarseness or his culture; next, that personality, that moving humanness +of feeling, which holds him by his very heart-strings, and makes him +forget its marble, to accept its flesh and blood; and, finally, that +wondrous skill of nice manipulation, which, neglecting nothing in the +myriad of anatomical and physiological details,--not even the faintest +sigh or the dimmest tremor,--tells, fibre by fibre, a tale that all may +read, and comes to us with a story "to hold children from play and old +men from the chimney-corner." + +Tried by this definition, we believe the "White Captive" proves its +claim to genuine greatness, and that it will presently take its place, +with the world's consent, in the front rank of modern statues,--good +among the best, in the flesh-and-bloodness and the soul of it. It is +original, it is faithful, it is American; our women may look upon it, +and say, "She is one of us," with more satisfaction than the Greek women +could have derived from the Venus de' Medici, with its insignificant +head and its impossible spine. + +Especially true to the American type, as compared in statues with the +familiar Greek, the head of the "White Captive" is large; but that it +is too large, or in excess of the least of a thousand female heads that +have been gathered around it since it was first exposed to the +public scrutiny, we have failed to discover in repeated and careful +examinations; and we are constrained to commend such as may be exercised +on that point to the critical flippancies of the jaunty gentlemen who +find the hips at once too broad and too narrow, the bosom too full and +too young, the arms too meagre and too stout. + + + + +FOREST PHOTOGRAPHS. + + +We call the attention of our readers to a series of twelve photographic +views of forest and lake scenery published by Mr. J.W. Black, Boston, +from negatives taken by Mr. Stillman in the Adirondack country. The +points of view are chosen with the fine feeling of an artist, and the +tangled profusion and grace of the forest, with the moment's whim of +sunfleck and shadow, are given with exquisite delicacy. Whatever +the all-beholding sun could see in those woodland depths we have +here,--sketches of the shaggy Pan snatched at unawares in sleep. One may +study these pictures till he becomes as familiar as a squirrel with fern +and tree-bark and moose-wood and lichen, till he knows every trunk and +twig and leaf as intimately as a sunbeam. + + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +_Plutarch's Lives._ The Translation called Dryden's. Corrected from the +Greek, and Revised, by A.H. CLOUGH, sometime Fellow and Tutor of +Oriel College, Oxford, and late Professor of the English Language and +Literature at University College, London. Boston: Little, Brown, & +Company. 1859. Five vols. 8vo. + +In these five handsome volumes, we have, at length, a really good +edition in English of Plutarch's Lives. One of the most delightful books +in the world, one of the few universal classics, appears for the first +time in our language in a translation worthy of its merits. + +Mr. Clough, whose name is well known, not only by scholars, but also by +the lovers of poetry, has performed the work of editor with admirable +diligence, fidelity, and taste. The labor of revision has been neither +slight nor easy. It has, indeed, amounted to not much less than would +have been required for the making of a new translation. The versions in +the translation that bears Dryden's name, made, as they were, by various +hands, and apparently not submitted to the revision of any competent +scholar, were unequal in execution, and were disfigured by many +mistakes, as well as by much that was slovenly in style. At the time +they were made, scholarship in England was not at a high point. Bentley +had not yet lifted it out of mediocrity, and the translators were not +stimulated by the fear either of severe criticism or of comparison +of their labors with any superior work. The numerous defects of this +translation are spoken of by the Langhornes, in the Preface to their +own, with a somewhat jealous severity, which gives unusual vigor to +their sentences. "The diversities of style," say they, "were not the +greatest fault of this strange translation. It was full of the grossest +errors. Ignorance on the one hand, and hastiness or negligence on the +other, had filled it with absurdities in every Life, and inaccuracies on +almost every page." This is a hard, perhaps an extreme judgment; but it +serves to show the difficulties that would attend a revision of such a +work. These difficulties Mr. Clough has fairly met and overcome. We +do not mean to say that he has reduced the whole book to a perfect +uniformity, or even to entire elegance and exactness of style; but he +has corrected inaccuracies, he has removed the chief marks of negligence +or haste; and, after a careful comparison of a considerable portion of +the work as it now appears with the Greek text, we have no hesitation in +saying that this translation answers not merely to the demands of +modern scholarship, but forms a book at once essentially accurate and +delightful for common reading.[A] We think, moreover, that Mr. Clough +was right in choosing the so-called Dryden's translation as the basis of +his work. Its style is not old enough to have become antiquated, while +yet it possesses much of the savor and raciness of age. The book +is interesting from Dryden's connection with it, but still more +so--considering how slight that connection was, his only contribution to +it being the Life of Plutarch--from the fact, that the translations of +some of the Lives were made by famous men, as that of Alcibiades by Lord +Chancellor Somers, and that of Alexander by the excellent John Evelyn; +while others were made by men who, if not famous, are at least well +remembered by the lovers of the literature of the time,--as that of +Numa by Sir Paul Rycaut, the Turkey merchant, and the continuer of Dr. +Johnson's favorite history of the Turks,--that of Otho by Pope's friend, +the medical poet, Dr. Garth,--that of Solon by Creech, the translator of +Lucretius,--that of Lysander by the Honorable Charles Boyle, whose name +is preserved in the alcohol of Bentley's classical satire,--and that of +Themistocles by Edward, the son of Sir Thomas Browne. + +[Footnote A: For the sake of illustration of the care and labor given by +Mr. Clough to the revision, we open at random on the Life of Dion, Vol. +V., p. 291, and, comparing it with the original _Dryden_, we find, that +in ten pages, to the end of the Life, there are but three, and they +short sentences, in which changes of more or less consequence have not +been made. These changes amount sometimes to entire new translation, +sometimes consist merely in the correction of a few words. Throughout, +the hand of the thorough scholar is apparent. The earlier volumes of the +series would, probably, rarely exhibit such considerable alterations.] + +But Mr. Clough's labors have not been merely those of reviser and +corrector. He has added greatly to the value of the work by occasional +concise foot-notes, as well as by notes contained in an appendix to each +volume. So excellent, indeed, are these notes, so full of learning and +information, conveyed in an agreeable way, that we cannot but feel a +regret (not often excited by commentators) that their number is not +greater. In addition to these, the fifth volume contains a very +carefully prepared and full Index of Proper Names, which is followed by +a list for reference as to their pronunciation. + +When this version, to which Dryden gave his name, was made, there was no +other in English but that of Sir Thomas North, which had been made, not +from the Greek, but from the French of Amyot, and was first published in +1579. It was a good work for its time, and worthy of being dedicated to +Queen Elizabeth, although, as the knight declares, "she could better +understand it in Greek than any man can make it English." Its style is +rather robust than elegant, partaking of the manly vigor of the language +of its time, and now and then exhibiting something of that charm of +quaint simplicity which belongs to its original, Montaigne's favorite +Amyot. "Of all our French writers," says the incomparable essayist, +"I give, with justice, I think, the palm to Jacques Amyot";[B] and +thereupon he goes on to praise the purity of his style, as well as the +depth of his learning and judgment. But, although Amyot had "a true +imagination" of his author, he was not always exact in giving his +meaning. The learned Dr. Guy Patin says: "On dit que M. de Meziriac +avoit corrige dans son Amyot huit mille fautes, et qu'Amyot n'avoit +pas de bons exemplaires, ou qu'il n'avoit pas bien entendu le Grec de +Plutarque."[C] + +[Footnote B: _Essays_, Book II. 4.] + +[Footnote C: _Patiniana_.] + +Amyot's eight thousand errors were not diminished in passing into Sir +Thomas North's English; but their number mattered little to the readers +of those days, who found in the thick folio enough of interest to spare +them from making inquiry as to the exactness of its rendering of the +meaning of Plutarch. From the time of its first publication, for more +than a hundred years, it was one of the most popular books of the +period, as was proved by the appearance of six successive editions in +folio.[D] Some of these clumsy volumes may, no doubt, have been put +to uses as ignoble as that which Chrysale, in "Les Femmes Savantes," +suggests for his sister's similar copy of Amyot:-- + + "Vos livres eternels ne me contentent pas; + Et, hors un gros Plutarque a mettre mes rabats, + Vous devriez bruler tout ce meuble inutile";-- + +but duller books of the same size, of which there were many in those +days of patient readers, would have had an equal value for such +economical purposes as this, and "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and +Romans by that Grave Learned Philosopher & Historiographer Plutarch" +were too entertaining to young and old to be left for any length of time +quietly upon the shelf. They were the familiar reading of boys who +were to become the actors in the great drama of the Rebellion and the +Commonwealth, or who a little later were to frequent the dissolute court +of Charles, presenting in their own lives, whether in camp or court, as +patriots or as traitors, parallels to those which they had read in the +weighty pages of the old biographer. + +[Footnote D: In 1579, 1595, 1602, 1631, 1657, 1676. Mr. Hooper, in his +Introduction to Chapman's Homer, London, 1857, says, that "the edition +of 1657 was published under the superintendence of the illustrious +Selden." We do not know his authority for this statement. The fact, if +it be one, is very remarkable, as Selden's death took place in 1654.] + +Nor in more recent times has North's version failed of admirers. Godwin +declared, that, till this book fell into his hands, he had no genuine +feeling of Plutarch's merits, or knowledge of what sort of a writer he +was. But the chief interest of this translation at the present day, +except what it possesses as a storehouse of good mother-English, comes +from the fact that it was one of the books of Shakespeare's moderate +library, and one which he had thoroughly read, as is manifest from the +use that he made of it in his own works, especially in "Coriolanus," +"Julius Caesar," and "Antony and Cleopatra." It was from the worthy +knight's folio that he got much of his little Latin and less Greek. He +helped himself freely to what was to his purpose; and a comparison of +the passages which he borrowed from with the scenes founded upon them is +interesting, as showing his use of the very words of the author before +him, and as exhibiting the new appearances which those words take on +under his plastic hand. We have no space for long extracts; but a short +illustration will serve to show that Shakespeare is the best translator +of Plutarch into English that we have had. Compare these two passages:-- + +"Therefore, when she [Cleopatra] was sent unto by divers letters, both +from Antonius himself and also from his friends, she made so light of +it, and mocked Antonius so much, that she disdained to set forward +otherwise, but to take her barge in the river of Cydnus; the poop +whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, and the oars of silver, which +kept stroke in rowing after the sound of the musick of flutes, bowboys, +citherns, viols, and such other instruments as they played upon in the +barge. And now for the person of herself, she was laid under a pavillion +of cloth of gold of tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddess +Venus, commonly drawn in picture; and hard by her, on either hand of +her, pretty fair boys apparelled as painters do set forth god Cupid, +with little fans in their hands, with which they fanned wind upon her. +Her ladies and gentlewomen also, the fairest of them were apparelled +like the Nymphs Nereides (which are the Myrmaids of the waters) and like +the Graces; some steering the helm, others tending the tackle and ropes +of the barge, out of the which there came a wonderful passing sweet +savour of perfumes, that perfumed the wharf's side, pestered with +innumerable multitudes of people. Some of them followed the barge all +along the river side; others also ran out of the city to see her coming +in. So that in the end there ran such multitudes of people one +after another to see her, that Antonius was left post alone in the +market-place, in his imperial seat to give audience."--NORTH'S +_Plutarch, Life of Antonius_, p. 763. Ed. of 1676. + +_Enobarbus._ When she first met Mark Antony, she pursed up his heart +upon the river of Cydnus. + +_Agrippa._ There she appeared, indeed; or my reporter devised well for +her. + + _Eno._ I will tell you. + The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, + Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold; + Purple the sails, and so perfumed that + The winds were lovesick; with them the oars were silver, + Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made + The water, which they beat, to follow faster, + As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, + It beggar'd all description: she did lie + In her pavilion, (cloth of gold, of tissue,) + O'er-picturing that Venus where we see + The fancy outwork Nature: on each side her + Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, + With divers-color'd fans, whose wind did seem + To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, + And what they undid, did. + + _Agr._ Oh, rare for Antony! + + _Eno._ Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids, + So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes, + And made their bends adornings: at the helm + A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackle + Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands, + That yarely frame the office. From the barge + A strange invisible perfume hits the sense + Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast + Her people out upon her, and Antony, + Enthron'd i' th' market-place, did sit alone, + Whistling to the air, which, but for vacancy, + Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, + And made a gap in Nature. + +_Antony and Cleopatra_. Act II. Sc. 2. + +The operations of Shakespeare's creative imagination are rarely to be +observed more distinctly than in such instances as this, where we see +the precise source from which he drew, in all its original limitations +and native character. Books were to him like ingots of gold, which, +passing through the mint of his brain, came out thence stamped coin, +current for all time. Viewing some of his plays, it may be said, with no +real, though with apparent contradiction, that no man ever borrowed more +from books, and yet none ever owed less to them. For the Roman times +Plutarch served him, as Holinshed and Hall supplied him for his English +histories. Under Plutarch's guidance he walked through the streets of +ancient Rome, and became familiar with the conduct of her men. He is +more Roman than Plutarch himself, and by divine right of imagination he +makes himself a citizen of the Eternal City. While Shakespeare was using +Plutarch to such advantage, on the other hand, Ben Jonson seems to have +borrowed little or nothing from him in his Roman plays. He got what he +wanted out of the Latin authors, and he succeeded in Latinizing his +plays,--in giving to his characters the dress, but not the spirit of +Rome. + +It was toward the end of the seventeenth century that Dryden's +translation appeared, and for about fifty years it held much the same +place with the reading public that North's had filled for previous +generations. It was, no doubt, in this version that Mrs. Fitzpatrick +amused herself during her seclusion in Ireland, as she tells Sophia +Western, with reading "a great deal in Plutarch's Lives." But this was +at length superseded by the translation of the brothers Langhorne, +which, spite of its want of vivacity, its labored periods, and formal +narrative, has retained its place as the popular version of Plutarch up +to the present day. One can hardly help wishing--so little of Plutarch's +spirit survives in their dull pages--that a similar fate had overtaken +these excellent men to that which carried off the gentle Abbe Ricard +with the _grippe_, when he had published but half of his translation of +the Philosopher of Cheronaea. + +It is a proof of the intrinsic charm of Plutarch's Lives, that thus, +notwithstanding the imperfect manner in which they have been, up to this +time, presented to English readers, they should have been so constantly +and so generally read.[E] They have given equal delight to all ages and +to all classes. The heavy folio has been taken from its place on the +lower shelves in the quiet libraries of English country-houses, and been +read by old men at their firesides, by girls in trim gardens, by boys +who cared for no other classic. The cheap double-column octavo has +travelled in peddlers' carts to all the villages of New England, to +the backwoodsman's cabin in the West. It has taken its place on the +clock-shelf, with only the Bible, the "Pilgrim's Progress," and the +Almanac for its companions. No other classic author, with, perhaps, the +single exception of Aesop, has been so widely read in modern times; and +the popular knowledge of the men of Greece and Rome is derived more +from Plutarch than from all other ancient authors put together. The +often-repeated saying of Theodore Gaza, who, being once asked, if +learning should suffer a general shipwreck, and he had the choice of +saving one author, which he would select, is said to have replied, +"Plutarch,"--"and probably might give this reason," says Dryden, "that +in saving him he should secure the best collection of them all,"--this +saying is but a sort of prophecy of the decision of the common world, +who have chosen Plutarch from all the rest, and find, as Amyot says, "no +one else so profitable and so pleasant to read as he."[F] + +[Footnote E: We have not spoken of Mr. Long's translations of Select +Lives from Plutarch, which were published in the series of Knight's +Weekly Volumes, under the title of _The Civil Wars of Rome_, because, +although executed in a manner deserving the highest praise, they +presented to English readers but a limited number of Plutarch's +biographies. Mr. Clough says, justly, in his Preface, that his own work +would not have been needed, had not Mr. Long confined his translations +within so narrow a compass.] + +[Footnote F: "De tous les auteurs," says the Baron de Grimm, "qui nous +restent de l'antiquite, Plutarque est, sans contredit, celui qui a +recueilli le plus de verites de fait et de speculation. Ses oeuvres sont +une mine inepuisable de lumieres et de connaissance; c'est vraiment +l'encyclopedie des anciens." _Memoires Historiques_, etc., I., 312.] + +Nor is it merely the common mass of readers who have chosen Plutarch as +their favorite ancient. The list of great and famous men who have made +him their companion is a long one. Men of action and men of thought have +taken equal satisfaction in his pages. Petrarch, the first scholar of +the Revival, held him in high esteem, and drew from him much of his +uncommon learning. Erasmus, the first scholar of the Reformation, made +his writings a special study, and translated from the Greek a large +portion of his Moral Works. Montaigne has taken pains to tell us of his +affection for him, and his Essays are full of the proofs of it. "I never +seriously settled myself," he says, "to the reading of any book of +solid learning but Plutarch and Seneca."[G] And in another essay he +adds,--"The familiarity I have had with these two authors, and the +assistance they have lent to my age, and to my book wholly built up of +what I have taken from them, oblige me to stand up for their honor."[H] +And again he declares,--"The hooks I chiefly use to form my opinions are +Plutarch, since he became French, and Seneca."[I] The genial humanity +and liberal wisdom of Plutarch claimed the sympathy of Montaigne, while +his discursive style and love of story-telling suited no less the taste +of his disciple. Montaigne, as it were, makes Plutarch a modern, and +uses his books to illustrate the passing times. He introduces him to new +characters, and reads his judgment upon them. He finds in him a hundred +things that others had not seen. It is a wide step from Montaigne +to Rousseau, and yet, spite of the naturalness of the one and the +artificiality of the other, there were some points of resemblance +between them, and they harmonize in their love for a common master, +Rousseau has written of Plutarch as Montaigne felt,--"Dans le petit +nombre de livres que je lis quelquefois encore, Plutarque est celui +qui m'attache et me profite le plus. Ce fut la premiere lecture de mon +enfance, et sera la derniere de ma vieillesse; c'est presque le seul +auteur que je n'ai jamais lu sans en tirer quelque fruit."[J] Plutarch's +Lives was one of the few books recommended to Catharine II. of Russia, +as she herself tells us, wherewith to solace and instruct herself during +the first wretched years of her miserable married life. It is, perhaps, +not impossible to trace in some passages of her later life the results +of what she then read. + +[Footnote G: _Essays._ Book I., Chapter 25.] + +[Footnote H: _Essays_, II. 23.] + +[Footnote I: _Ibid._ II. 10.] + +[Footnote J: _Les Reveries d'un Promeneur Solitaire._ Quatrieme +Promenade.] + +And thus we might go on accumulating the names of men and women whom +all the world knows, who have confessed their obligations to the old +biographer,--philosophers like Bacon, warriors like Bussy d'Amboise, +poets like Wordsworth; while many a one has owed much to him who has +made no open acknowledgment of his debt. Montaigne somewhere complains +of the unlicensed stealings from his author; and Udall, in his Preface +to the Apophthegms of Erasmus, declares,--"It is a thing scarcely +believable, how much, and how boldly as well, the common writers that +from time to time have copied out his [Plutarch's] works, as also +certain that have thought themselves liable to control and amend all +men's doings, have taken upon them in this author, who ought with +all reverence to be handled of them, and with all fear to have been +preserved from altering, depraving, or corrupting."[K] + +[Footnote K: The following passage presents a view of some of the uses +to which Plutarch's narratives were turned during the Middle Ages. "Or +personne n'ignore que les chroniqueurs du moyen age compilaient les +faits les plus remarquables de l'Ecriture Sainte ou des histoires +profanes pour les meler a leurs recits. C'est ainsi que ceux qui ont +ecrit la vie de Du Guesclin ont mis sur le compte de ce heros ce +que Plutarque rapporte de plus memorable des grands hommes de +l'antiquite."--SOUVESTRE. _Les Derniers Bretons._ I. 147.] + +The question naturally arises, What are the qualities in Plutarch which +have made him so universal a favorite, which have attracted towards him +men of such opposite tempers and different lives? It is not enough +to say that all real biography is of interest,--that every man +has curiosity about the life of every other man, and finds in it +illustrations of his own. Other writers of lives have not had the same +fortune with Plutarch. For one reader of Suetonius or of Diogenes +Laertius, there are a thousand of Plutarch. Nor is it that the subjects +of his biographies are greater or more famous than all other men. Some +of the noblest and best known men of Greece and Rome are omitted from +Plutarch's list.[L] The true grounds of the general popularity of +Plutarch's Lives are not to be found in their subjects so much as in +his manner of treating them, and in the qualities of his own nature, as +exhibited in his book. At the tomb of Achilles, Alexander declared that +he esteemed him happy in having had so famous a poet to proclaim his +actions; and scarcely less fortunate were they who had such a biographer +as Plutarch to record their lives. He himself has given us his +conception of the true office of a biographer, and in this has explained +in great part the secret of his excellence. "It must be borne in mind," +he says, "that my design is not to write histories, but lives. And +the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest +discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, +an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and +inclinations than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the +bloodiest battles whatsoever. Therefore, as portrait-painters are more +exact in the lines and features of the face, in which the character is +seen, than in the other parts of the body, so I must be allowed to give +my more particular attention to the marks and indications of the souls +of men; and, while I endeavor by these to portray their lives, may be +free to leave more weighty matters and great battles to be treated of by +others."[M] + +[Footnote L: In Rogers's _Recollections_, Grattan is reported as +saying,--"Of all men, if I could call up one, it should be Scipio +Africanus. Hannibal was perhaps a greater captain, but not so great and +good a man. Epaminondas did not do so much. Themistocles was a rogue." +It is curious that Themistocles is the only one of these men of whom we +have a biography by Plutarch. His Lives of Scipio and Epaminondas are +lost. Hannibal did not come within the scope of his design.] + +[Footnote M: _Life of Alexander_, at the beginning.] + +It is his fidelity to this principle, his dealing with events and +circumstances chiefly as they illustrate character, his delineation of +the features of the souls of men, that constitutes Plutarch's highest +merit as a biographer. He is no historian; he often neglects chronology, +and disregards the sequence of events; he omits many incidents, and he +avoids the details of national and political affairs. The progress of +the advance or decline of states is not to be learned from his pages. +But if his Lives be read in chronological order, much may be inferred +from them of the moral condition and changes of the communities in which +the men flourished whose characters and actions he describes. Biography +is thus made to cast an incidental light upon history. The successes +of Alexander give evidence of the lowering of the Greek spirit, and +illustrate the immemorial weakness of Oriental tyrannies. The victories +and the defeats of Pyrrhus alike display the vigor of Republican Rome. +The character and the fate of Mark Antony show that vigor at its ebb, +and foretell the near fall of the Roman liberties. Thus in his long +series of lives of noble Grecians and Romans, the motives and principles +which lay at the foundation of the characters of the men who moulded the +fate of Greece and Rome, the reciprocal influences of their times upon +these men and of these men upon their times, may all be traced with more +or less distinctness and certainty. It was not Plutarch's object to +exhibit them in sequent evolution, but, in attaining the object which he +had in view, he could not fail to make them manifest to the thoughtful +reader. His book, though not a history, is invaluable to historians. + +But the character of Plutarch himself, not less than his method of +writing biography, explains his universal popularity, and gives its +special charm and value to his book. He was a man of large and generous +nature, of strong feeling, of refined tastes, of quick perceptions. His +mind had been cultivated in the acquisition of the best learning of his +times, and was disciplined by the study of books as well as of men. He +deserves the title of philosopher; but his philosophy was of a practical +rather than a speculative character,--though he was versed in the wisest +doctrines of the great masters of ancient thought, and in some of his +moral works shows himself their not unworthy follower. Above all, he was +a man of cheerful, genial, and receptive temper. A lover of justice and +of liberty, his sympathies are always on the side of what is right, +noble, and honorable. He believed in a divine ordering of the world, +and saw obscurely through the mists and shadows of heathenism the +indications of the wisdom and rectitude of an overruling Providence. +To him man did not appear as the sole arbiter of his own destiny, but +rather as an unconscious agent in working out the designs of a Higher +Power; and yet, as these designs were only dimly and imperfectly to +be recognized, the noblest man was he who was truest to the eternal +principles of right, who was most independent of the chances and +shiftings of fortune, who, "fortressed on conscience and impregnable +will," strove to live in the manliest and most self-supported relations +with the world, neither fearing nor hoping much in regard to the +uncertainties of the future, and who + + "metus omnes et inexorabile fatum + Subjecit pedibus." + +In his whole character, Plutarch shows himself one of the best examples +of the intelligent heathen of the later classic period. His Writings +contain the practical essence of the results of Greek and Roman life +and thought. His intellect, equally removed from superstition and +from skepticism, was open with a large receptiveness, which sometimes +approaches to credulity, to the traditions of early wonders, to the +reports of recent miracles, and to the stories of the deeds and sayings +of men.[N] The evidence upon which he reports is often insufficient to +establish the statements that he makes; but his readiness to tell the +current stories gives to his biographies a peculiar interest, adding +to their entertainment, and at the same time to their value as +representations of common beliefs and popular fancies. He is one of the +best story-tellers of antiquity, and from his works a series of "Percy +Anecdotes" of ancient men might easily be compiled. "Such anecdotes will +not," says he, in his Life of Timoleon, "be thought, I conceive, either +foreign to my purpose of writing lives, or unprofitable in themselves, +by such readers as are not in too much haste, or busied and taken up +with other concerns." It is this fulness of anecdote, which, perhaps, +more than any other quality of his writings, makes him the favorite +of boys as well as of men. He treasures up pithy sayings, and his own +reflections are often epigrammatic in expression, and always full of +good sense. + +[Footnote N: There are two remarkable passages in the _Life of +Coriolanus_ which illustrate Plutarch's opinions upon these points. The +first (ii. 91) treats of the divine influence on the human will and +action; the second (ii. 97-98) relates to the mode of regarding events +seemingly incredible. This latter is peculiarly distinguished by its +good sense and clear statement. It closes with the memorable saying, +"Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is +lost to us by incredulity."] + +In his Life of Demosthenes, in a passage which is pleasant on account of +its personal reference, Plutarch speaks of the advantage that it would +be for a writer like himself to reside in some city addicted to liberal +arts, and populous, where he might have access to many books, and to +many persons from whom he might gather up such facts as books do not +contain. "But as for me," he says, "I live in a little town, where I am +willing to continue, lest it should grow less." And he goes on to excuse +himself for his imperfect knowledge of the Roman tongue, which unfits +him to draw a comparison between the orations of Demosthenes and of +Cicero. But, although his acquaintance with the structure and powers +of the language may have been insufficient to enable him to venture on +literary criticism, his acquaintance with the books of the Romans was +considerable, and he had thoroughly studied the Greek authors who had +written on Roman affairs. His own library, or the libraries to which he +had access at Chaeronea, must have been well furnished with the books +most important for his studies. He is said to quote two hundred and +fifty authors, some eighty of whom are among those whose works have been +wholly or partly lost. He made careful use of his materials, which were, +of course, more abundant for his Greek than for his Roman narratives. +"If we would put the Lives of Plutarch to a severe test," says Mr. Long, +than whom no one is better qualified to speak with authority upon the +subject, "we must carefully examine his Roman Lives. He says that he +knew Latin imperfectly, and he lived under the Empire, when many of the +educated Romans had but a superficial acquaintance with the earlier +history of their state. We must therefore expect to find him imperfectly +informed on Roman institutions; and we can detect him in some errors. +Yet, on the whole, his Roman Lives do not often convey erroneous +notions; if the detail is incorrect, the general impression is true. +They may be read with profit by those who seek to know something of +Roman affairs, and have not knowledge enough to detect an error. They +probably contain as few mistakes as most biographies which have been +written by a man who is not the countryman of those whose lives he +writes." + +Yet, spite of his general accuracy and his impartial temper, the +representations which Plutarch makes of the characters which he +describes are not always to be accepted as fair delineations. +Unconscious prejudice, or misconception of circumstances and relations, +sometimes leads him into apparent injustice. Thus, for example, while he +bears hardly upon Demosthenes, and sets out many of his actions in too +unfavorable lights, he, on the other hand, interprets the conduct and +character of Phocion with manifest indulgence, and presents a flattered +portrait of a man whose death turned popular reproaches into pity, but +was insufficient to redeem the faults of his life. + +Mr. Grote, in his History, passes a very different judgment upon these +two men from that to which one would be led by the perusal of Plutarch's +narratives merely. And it is an illustration, at once, of the honesty of +the ancient biographer, and of the ability of the modern historian, that +Mr. Grote should not infrequently derive from Plutarch's own account the +means for correcting his false estimate of the motives and the actions +of those whom he misjudged. + +In an excellent passage in his Preface, Mr. Clough remarks that + +"Much has been said of Plutarch's inaccuracy; and it cannot be denied +that he is careless about numbers, and occasionally contradicts his own +statements. A greater fault, perhaps, is his passion for anecdote; he +cannot forbear from repeating stories the improbability of which he is +the first to recognize, which, nevertheless, by mere repetition, +leave unjust impressions. He is unfair in this way to Demosthenes and +Pericles,--against the latter of whom, however, he doubtless inherited +the prejudices which Plato handed down to the philosophers. + +"It is true, also, that his unhistorical treatment of the subjects +of his biography makes him often unsatisfactory and imperfect in the +portraits he draws. Much, of course, in the public lives of statesmen +can find its only explanation in their political position; and of this +Plutarch often knows and thinks little. So far as the researches of +modern historians have succeeded in really recovering a knowledge of +relations of this sort, so far, undoubtedly, these biographies stand in +need of their correction. Yet, in the uncertainty which must attend all +modern restorations, it is agreeable, and surely also profitable, to +recur to portraits drawn ere new thoughts and views had occupied the +civilized world, without reference to such disputable grounds of +judgment, simply upon the broad principles of the ancient moral code of +right and wrong. .... We have here the faithful record of the historical +tradition of Plutarch's age. This is what, in the second century of +our era, Greeks and Romans loved to believe about their warriors and +statesmen of the past. As a picture, at least, of the best Greek and +Roman moral views and moral judgments, as a presentation of the results +of Greek and Roman moral thought, delivered, not under the pressure +of calamity, but as they existed in ordinary times, and actuated +plain-living people, in country places, in their daily life, Plutarch's +writings are of indisputable value." + +Of all the biographies contained in his work, none might excite greater +suspicion of incorrectness than that of Timoleon, on account of the +extraordinary character both of the man and of the incidents of his +career. His story reads like a romance of the ancient times, like a +legend of some half-mythical hero, rather than like the true account of +an actual man. There is, perhaps, none among his Lives which Plutarch +has written with greater spirit, with livelier sympathies, than this. +And yet, in spite of all its seeming improbability, there is little +reason to question its essential truth. It corresponds, with some minor +exceptions, with all that can be ascertained from other ancient authors +who wrote concerning the deliverer of Sicily; and even Mitford, with all +his zeal in the cause of tyrants, can find little to detract from the +praise of Timoleon, or to diminish our confidence in the truth of +Plutarch's account of him. + +But, in addition to the interest that belongs to these biographies, +from their intrinsic qualities, as affected by the character of +Plutarch,--beside the interest which the common reader or the student +of biography and history may find in them, they possess a still deeper +interest for the student of human nature, in its various modifications, +under varying influences, and in different ages, from exhibiting to him, +in a long series, many of the chief characters of the heathen world +in such form as fits them for comparison with the prominent men of +Christian times. The question of the effect of Christianity upon the +characters and lives of the leading actors in modern history is not more +important than it is difficult of solution. Plutarch, better than any +other ancient writer, affords the means of estimating the motives, the +principles, the objects, of the men of the old time. We see in his pages +what they were; we see the differences between them and the men of later +days. How far are those differences exhibitions of inferiority or of +superiority? How far do they result from the influence of secondary +causes? how far from the change in religious belief? + +No man who knows much of the course of history will venture to insist +greatly on any essential change for the better having been wrought as +yet by Christianity in the manner in which the affairs of the world are +carried on. Christianity has not yet been fairly tried. Nations +calling themselves Christian are still governed on heathen principles. +Christianity has been for the most part perverted and misunderstood. The +grossest errors have been taught in its name, are still taught in its +name. Falsehood has claimed the authority of truth, and its claim has +been granted. The stream which flowed out pure from its source has been +caught in foul cisterns, has been led into narrow channels, has been +made stagnant in desolate pools and wide-spread weedy marshes. The +doctrine of Christ has had thus far in the world but very few hearers +who have understood it. Many a modern creed might well go back to +heathenism for improvement. This perversion of Christianity is a +chief element in the difficulty of tracing the real influence of true +Christian teaching upon character. It is this which compels us to draw +a parallel, not so much between the actual characters of ancient and +modern times, if we would rightly understand the differences between +them, as between what we may assume to be the ideal standards of the +heathen and the Christian. But to treat this subject with the fulness +and in the manner which it deserves would lead us too far from Plutarch, +and we have done enough in suggesting it as matter for reflection to +those who read his Lives. + +One of the most marked differences in the position of the ancient and +the modern man is that which has been quietly and gradually brought +about by science; but its effect is little recognized by the mass of men +or the most wide-spread churches. It is the difference of his recognized +relations to the universe. While this earth was supposed to be the +central point and main effort of creation, while the earth itself +was unknown, and all the regions of space were regarded as void and +untenanted, save by the inventions of fancy, man may have seemed to +himself a creature of large proportions and of considerable importance. +He measured himself with the gods and the half-gods, and found himself +not much their inferior. In reading Plutarch, one cannot fail to be +struck with the manly self-reliance of his best men of action. Their +piety had no weakness of self-abasement in it. They possessed a piety +toward themselves as well as toward the gods. Timoleon, who was attended +by the good-fortune that waits on noble character, erected in the house +which the Syracusans bestowed upon him an altar to [Greek: Automatia], +which, as Mr. Clough well remarks, in a note, "is almost equivalent to +Spontaneousness. His successes had come, as it were, of themselves." The +act was an acknowledgment of divine favor, and an assertion at the +same time of his individual independence of action. This spirit of +self-dependence was the grandest feature of Greek and Roman heathenism; +and it is in this, if in anything, that a superiority of character is +manifest in the men of ancient times. The famous passage in Seneca's +tragedy, in which Medea asserts herself as sufficient to stand alone +against the universe, contains its essence and is its complete +expression. + + _Nutr._ Spes nulla monstrat rebus adflictis viam. + + _Med._ Qui nil potest sperare, desperet nihil. + + _Nutr._ Abiere Colchi; conjugis nulla est fides; + Nihilque superest opibus e tantis tibi. + + _Med._ Medea superest; hic mare et terras vides, + Ferrumque, et ignes, et deos, et fulmina. + _Medea_, Act ii. 162-167. + +Here is self-reliance at its highest point; the strength of resolute +will measuring itself singly and undauntedly against all forces, human +and divine. + +But, as a necessary consequent of this spirit, as its implied complement +in the balance of human nature, we find, as a distinct trait in the +lives of many of the manliest ancients, an occasional prevalence of a +spirit of despondency, a recognition of the ultimate weakness of +man when brought by himself face to face with the wall of opposing +circumstance and the resistless force of Fate. Will is strong, but the +powers outside the will are stronger. Manliness may not fail, but man +himself may be broken. Neither the teachings of natural religion, nor +the doctrines of philosophy, nor the support of a sound heart are +sufficient for man in the crisis of uttermost trial. Without something +beyond these, higher than these, without a conscious dependence on +Omnipotence, man must sink at last under the buffets of adverse fortune. +Take the instances of these great men in Plutarch, and look at the end +of their lives. How many of them are simple confessions of defeat! +Themistocles sacrifices to the gods, drinks poison, and dies. +Demosthenes takes poison to save himself from falling into the hands of +his enemies. Cicero proposes to slay himself in the house of Caesar, and +is murdered only through want of resolution to kill himself. Brutus says +to the friend who urges him to fly,--"Yes, we must fly; yet not with +our feet, but with our hands," and falls upon his sword. Cato lies down +calmly at night, reads Plato on the Soul, and then kills himself; while, +after his death, the people of Utica cry out with one voice that he is +"the only free, the only undefeated man." It may be said that even in +suicide these men displayed the manliness of their tempers. True, but it +was the manliness of the deserter who runs the risk of being shot for +the sake of avoiding the risks and fatigues of service in war.[O] + +[Footnote O: There is a striking passage in Seneca's treatise _De +Consolatione_, which may, perhaps, be not unfairly regarded as the +expression of a sentiment common among the better heathens in regard to +death,--a sentiment of profound sadness. He says,--"Mors dolorum omnium +solutio est et finis, ultra quam mala nostra non exeunt, quae nos in +illam tranquillitatem, in qua antequam nasceremur jacuimus, reponit." +xix. 4.] + +Again, we must be content rather to hint at than to develop the matter +for reflection and study that Plutarch affords, and unwillingly pass by, +without even a glance at them, large domains of thought that lie within +his pages. We are glad to believe, that, through the excellent edition +before us, his Lives will be more widely read than ever. In this +country, where the tendency of things is to the limited, but equal +development of each individual in social and political life, and hence +to the production of a uniform mediocrity of character and of action, +these biographies are of special value, as exhibiting men developed +under circumstances widely contrasted with our own, and who may serve +as standards by which to measure some of our own deficiencies or +advantages. Here were the men who stood head and shoulders above the +others of their times; we see them now, "foreshortened in the tract of +time,"--not as they appeared to their contemporaries, but in something +like their real proportions. But the greatness of those proportions for +the most part remains unchanged. How will it be with our great men two +thousand years hence? Will the numerous "most distinguished men of +America" appear as large then as they do now? Will the speeches of our +popular orators be read then? Will the most famous of our senators be +famous then? Will the ablest of our generals still be gathering laurels? + +There is a story told by the learned Andrew Thevet, chief cosmographer +to Henry III., King of France and Poland, to the effect that one +Triumpho of Camarino did most fantastically imagine and persuade himself +that really and truly one day "he was assembled in company with the +Pope, the Emperor, and the several Kings and Princes of Christendom, +(although all that while he was alone in his own chamber by himself,) +where he entered upon, debated, and resolved all the states' affairs of +Christendom; and he verily believed that he was the wisest man of +them all; and so he well might be, of the company." The fantastical +imagination of this Triumpho furnishes a good illustration of the +reality of companionship which one who possesses Plutarch may have in +his own chamber with the greatest and most interesting men of ancient +times. If he be worthy, he may make the best of them his intimates. He +may live with them as his counsellors and his friends. Whether he will +believe that he is "the wisest man of them all" is doubtful; but, +however this may be, he will find himself in their company growing +wiser, stronger, tenderer, and truer. + +It has been well said, that "Plutarch's Lives is the book for those who +can nobly think and dare and do." + + +_The Lost and Found; or Life among the Poor._ By SAMUEL B. HALLIDAY. New +York: Blakeman & Mason. 1859. + +It has been asserted--most emphatically by those who have most fairly +tried it--that no house was ever built large enough for two families to +live in decently and comfortably. Yet in this present year of grace, +1859, half a million of men and women--two-thirds of the population of +New York--are compelled, by reason of their own poverty and the avarice +of certain capitalists, to live in what are technically known as +"tenement-houses," or, more pertinently, "barracks,"--hulks of brick, +put up by Shylocks anxious for twenty per cent., and lived in--God knows +how--by from four to ninety-four families each. Of 115,986 families +residing in the city of New York, only 15,990 are able to enjoy the +luxury of an independent home; 14,362 other families live in comparative +comfort, two in a house; 4,416 buildings contain three families each, +and yet do not come under the head of tenements; and the 11,965 +dwelling-houses which remain are the homes of 72,386 _families_, being +an average of seven families, or thirty-five souls to each house! + +But this is only an average. In the eleventh ward, 113 _rear_ houses +(houses built on the backs of deep lots, and separated only by a narrow +and necessarily dark and filthy court from the front houses, which are +also "barracks,") contain 1,653 families, or nearly 15 families or 70 +souls each; 24 others contain 407 families, being an average of 80 souls +to each; and in another ward, 72 such houses contain no less than 19 +families or 95 souls each! + +This seems shocking. But this is by no means the worst! There are 580 +tenement-houses in New York which contain, by actual count, 10,933 +families, or about 85 persons each; 193 others, which accommodate 111 +persons each; 71 others, which cover 140 each; and, finally, 29--these +must be the most profitable!--which have a total population of no less +than 5,449 souls, or 187 to each house! + +That part of Fifth Avenue which holds the chief part of the wealth and +fashion of New York has an extent of about two miles, or, counting both +sides of the street, four miles. These four miles of stately palaces +are occupied by four hundred families; while a single block of +tenement-houses, not two hundred yards out of Fifth Avenue, contains no +less than seven hundred families, or 3,500 souls! Seven such blocks, Mr. +Halliday pertinently remarks, would contain more people than the city of +Hartford, which covers an area of several miles square. + +Such astounding facts as these the industrious Buckle of the year 3000, +intent upon a history of our American civilization, will quote to the +croakers of that day as samples of our nineteenth-century barbarism. + +"But," some one may object, "if the houses were comfortably arranged, +and land was really scarce, after all, these people were not so badly +off." + +The "tenement-house," which is now one of the "institutions" of New +York, stands usually upon a lot 25 by 100 feet, is from four to six +stories high, and is so divided internally as to contain four families +on each floor,--each family eating, drinking, sleeping, cooking, +washing, and fighting in a room eight feet by ten and a bed-room six +feet by ten; unless, indeed,--_which very frequently happens,_ says Mr. +Halliday,--the family renting these two rooms _takes in another family +to board,_ or _sub-lets_ one room to one _or even two_ other families! + +But the modern improvements? + +One of the largest and most recently built of the New York "barracks" +has apartments for 126 famines. It was built especially for this use. +It stands on a lot 50 by 250 feet, is entered at the sides from alleys +eight feet wide, and, by reason of the vicinity of another barrack of +equal height, the rooms are so darkened that on a cloudy day it is +impossible to read or sew in them without artificial light. It has not +one room which can in any way be thoroughly ventilated. The vaults and +sewers which are to carry off the filth of the 126 families have grated +openings in the alleys, and door-ways in the cellars, through which the +noisome and deadly miasmata penetrate and poison the dank air of the +house and the courts. The water-closets for the whole vast establishment +are a range of stalls without doors, and accessible not only from the +building, but even from the street. Comfort is here out of the +question; common decency has been rendered impossible; and the horrible +brutalities of the passenger-ship are day after day repeated,--but on a +larger scale. And yet this is a fair specimen. And for such hideous and +necessarily demoralizing habitations,--for two rooms, stench, +indecency, and gloom, the poor family pays--and the rich builder +receives--_"thirty-five per cent, annually on the cost of the +apartments!"_ + +When a city has half a million of inhabitants who _must_ content +themselves with such quarters as these, which, even the beasts of the +field would perish in, does any man wonder that 18,000 women were +arrested in the last year? that in the three months ending January +31st, 1859, 13,765 arrests were made by the city police, of which over +one-third were females, one in six under twenty years of age, and more +than one-half under thirty? that in 1855 there was one death in every +26-1/3 of the population? that in 1858 the five city dispensaries were +called on to treat (gratuitously) 65,442 infant patients? that, in 1855, +1,938 infants were stillborn, and 6,390, or 1 in 99 of the population, +did not live the first year out? while, at the present time, 20,000 +children roam the streets, and never enter a schoolroom? With such +homes, is there cause for surprise that husbands murder their wives? +that mothers abuse their children,--and would kill them, too, were they +not profitable little slaves, as Mr. Halliday shows? that men and women +live in drunken stupor upon the spoils of young children,--often not +their own,--sent out to beg, to steal, or do worse yet? that even the +very fag-end of humanity, the sentiment of "honor among thieves," +perishes here? + +For twenty years, Mr. Halliday has labored among these poor creatures, +as the "agent" or missionary of the "American Female Guardian Society +and Home for the Friendless," an association of noble-minded and +unusually practical men and women. If any of our readers fear lest the +fountain of benevolence may dry up within him, we commend Mr. Halliday's +book to his perusal. He will find there some little stories which have a +pathos beyond tears; some facts--happening, mayhap, within ten minutes' +walk of his own fireside--quite as strange as the strangest fiction of +Mr. Cobb or Mr. Emerson Bennett. We have not space left for any account +of Mr. Halliday's labors. His Society provides not only boys and girls, +but even men and women under certain circumstances, with present +assistance and shelter, and afterwards a home and work in the country, +at a distance from the temptations and miseries of the city. It is +curious to read that Mr. Halliday receives frequent orders from various +States--even the most distant West--for "a baby," "a boy," "a little +girl." It is good to know that in that way many bright young souls are +saved from the horrors of "tenement" life, and placed in kind hands; +and it is touching to read, that, while many of these little ones are +remarkable for good looks and bright spirits, all are reported as +singularly quiet, sedate, and submissive. We are glad to know that the +types of the paper published by the Society are set up by the women who +have a refuge in its Home; and we were sorry to read of one boy, who +always ran away from everybody and every place, being at last secured +in the House of Refuge, where, being now nearly eleven years old, the +monster! "he seems dejected, and I have never seen him smile," says Mr. +Halliday. This boy--and a good many others who like the streets and the +free air better than the black-hole of a tenement--should go to sea. +The sea is an honorable trade, (it _used_ to be a profession,) and the +merchants of New York could not do a wiser or a better thing than in +providing a school-ship where such lads could be taught the rudiments +of seamanship and navigation, or, in default of that, sending them as +apprentices in their vessels. + +We have two complaints to enter against Mr. Halliday: first, that he +has given his book a title which will deter most sensible people +from opening it; and, second, that in his valuable report on the +tenement-houses, he does not give the names of those enterprising +personages who make thirty-five per cent, at the expense, not only of +their poor tenants, but of every tax-payer in New York. + + +_The New American Cyclopaedia: a Popular Dictionary of General +Knowledge._ Edited by GEORGE RIPLEY and CHARLES A. DANA. Vol. VI. +Cough--Education. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 772. + +More than one-third of the task assumed by the editors of this work is +now completed; and the best testimony in its favor is, that, although it +has been freely criticized, sometimes with closeness and severity, and +sometimes with studied harshness and evident malice, its reputation has +risen among candid and competent readers with the appearance of each +volume. Faults, negative and positive, may undoubtedly be discovered in +it; but the same is true, in a greater or less degree, of every other +production of human labor; and the eyes neither of malice nor of +hypercriticism have been able to find any sufficient reason why this +Cyclopaedia should not be accepted as the beat popular dictionary of +general knowledge in the English language. As the work advances, the +comprehensiveness of its plan, the honesty of its purpose, and the truly +catholic and liberal spirit which animates it, become more and more +apparent; and the names of the authors of the articles (a list of which +is to be published, we believe, with the last volume) sufficiently show +the determination of the editors to secure the cooperation of the first +talent in the country. Among the contributors to the present volume are +the Rev. Dr. Bellows, Edmund Blunt, Dion Bourcicault, Professor Dana +of Yale College, Edward Everett, Professor Felton of Cambridge, Parke +Godwin, Richard Hildreth, George S. Hillard, William Henry Hurlbut, and +Professors Lowell and Parsons of Cambridge. + +Of the articles, we especially notice _Cranmer_, remarkable for the +candor and the coolness of perception with which the character of its +benevolent and gifted, but inconsistent and vacillating subject, is +discussed:--_Cromwell_, which gives a completer, more authentic, and +less prejudiced account of the eventful life of the great Puritan leader +than is to be found in any other publication known to us:--_Crusades_, +a complete picture in little of those great fitful blazes of religious +enthusiasm by which it flickered into its final extinction; (for, +afterward, only a semblance of it was made a stalking-horse by +politicians;) and this article is quite a model of epitome:--_Cuneiform +Inscriptions_, in which the writer has presented concisely and clearly +the fruits of a careful examination of all the many theories that have +been broached with regard to these important and puzzling records of the +ancient world, without revealing a preference, if he have one, for +any; a wise course, where, in a case of such consequence, the views +of learned men are so conflicting, but one not always easily +followed:--_Damascus Blades_, a very interesting, and, for general +purposes, a very full description of the peculiarities of those famous, +and, it appears, not too much lauded weapons:--_Deaf and Dumb_, a very +copious article of eleven pages, rich in historical and biographical +detail, and giving full accounts of the various methods of instruction +adopted for this class of persons in all times and countries, with a +large body of statistical information upon the subject; an article of +great interest, but perhaps undue length:--_Death_, which conveys much +information on a subject as to which the grossest and most deplorable +misconceptions prevail; an article equally remarkable for its careful +and minute presentation of the phenomena of death and for the placid and +philosophical spirit in which it is written:--_Deluge_, in which, with +the ingenuity before shown in the treatment of similar subjects, the +various accounts of that event, and the facts and theories relating to +it, are laid before the reader in a manner to which no one, of whatever +creed, can object, and a new and very ingenious and rational mode of +accounting for the phenomenon in question is proposed;--_Dog_, the +fulness of which makes it acceptable to the lover of natural history, +the sporting man, and the general reader:--and the last article, +_Education_, one of great value, which describes the systems of +instruction pursued in all ages and countries, and which, without +entering upon the support of any one of them, presents to the reader +such an impartial and detailed summary of the distinguishing features of +them all, that he can form an intelligent opinion upon them for himself. + +The volume is so meritorious, that we have not looked for faults; but, +as we turned the leaves, we noticed a few such as the following:--that +the river Dove, in England, should be mentioned as "noted for its +picturesque scenery," and yet its association with Izaak Walton and +Charles Cotton, its chief glory, be passed unnoticed; and that Discord +should be defined as, "_in music_, a combination of sounds inharmonious +and unpleasing to the ear"; whereas, although, out of music, discord +means a sound inharmonious and displeasing to the ear, in music discord +is the golden bond of harmony, the life and soul of expression, that for +which the ear yearns with a yearning that is inexpressible, and enjoys +with poignancy of pleasure. We asked, too, if Thomas Dowse should be +honored with a page and a half, in which his fall from a tree, his +rheumatic fever, and the head winds which prevented him from visiting +Europe are chronicled,--while the eminent French painter, Couture, whose +use of the pallet is marked by such striking originality, that it has +produced an impression upon the works of a generation of painters, +has twelve lines! And we can hardly be accused of hypercriticism, in +directing the attention of the editors to a sentence like the following, +in the article _Diptera_, p. 498, 2d col.:--"Though _this order_ +contains the bloodthirsty mosquito, the disgusting flesh-fly, and many +insects depositing their eggs in the bodies of living animals, _it_ is a +most useful one, supplying food to insectivorous birds, and _themselves_ +[who? what?] consuming decomposing animal and vegetable substances," +etc. But these are instances of oversight in not very important matters, +or of inaccuracy of expression, or of difference of judgment between +the editors and ourselves as to plan, which even in our judgment do not +affect the value of the work in which they occur. Graver errors could be +found in almost every work of great scope that ever came from the +press. We indicate them that we may afford some help toward a nearer +approximation to that perfection which is unattainable. + + +_Tom Brown at Oxford: a Sequel to School-Days at Rugby._ By THOMAS +HUGHES, etc. Part I. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1859. + +Many men write successful books; but very few have the power of making +a book succeed by naturalness, simplicity, and quiet strength, as Mr. +Hughes found the secret of doing in his "School-Days at Rugby." It is so +easy to be eloquent,--scarce a modern French novelist but has the gift +of it by the ream; so easy to be philosophical,--one has only to begin +a few substantives with capitals; and withal it is so hard to be genial +and agreeable. Since Goldsmith's day, perhaps only Irving and Thackeray +had achieved it, till Mr. Hughes made himself the third. It is no +easy thing to write a book that shall seem so easy,--to describe your +school-days with such instinctive rejection of the unessential, that +whoever has been a boy feels as if he were reading the history of his +own, and that your volume shall be no more exotic in America than in +England. Yet this Mr. Hughes accomplished; and it was in a great measure +due to the fact, that beneath the charm of style the reader felt a real +basis of manliness and sincerity. + +His second book, "The Scouring of the White Horse," was less +successful,--in part from the narrower range of its interest, and +still more, perhaps, because it lacked the spontaneousness of the +"School-Days." In his first book there was no suggestion of authorship; +it seemed an inadvertence, something which came of itself;--but the +second was _made_, and the kind fairy that stood godmother to its elder +brother had been sent for and accordingly would not come. + +In this first number of his new story Mr. Hughes seems to have found his +good genius again, or his good genius to have found him. We meet our old +friend Tom Brown once more, and commit ourselves trustingly to the same +easy current of narrative and incident which was so delightful in +the story of his Rugby adventures. We have no doubt the book will be +instructive as well as entertaining; for we believe the author has had +some practical experience as teacher in "The Working-Men's College,"--an +excellent institution, in which instruction is given to the poor after +work-hours, and which, beside Mr. Hughes, has had another man of genius, +Mr. Ruskin, among its unpaid professors. The work is to be published +simultaneously in this country and in England. + + +_Avolio; a Legend of the Inland of Cos, with other Poems, Lyrical, +Miscellaneous, and Dramatic._ By PAUL H. HAYNE. Boston: Ticknor & +Fields. 1859. pp. 244. + +There is a great deal of real poetic feeling and expression in this +volume, and, we think, the hope of better things to come. The author has +not yet learned, and we could not expect it, that writers of verse tell +us all they can think of, and writers of poetry only what they cannot +help telling. The volume would have gained in quality by losing in +quantity, but to give too much is the mistake of all young writers, and +it is, perhaps, only by making it once for themselves that they can +learn to sift. It is so hard at first, when all the sand seems golden! +Of old the Muses were three, each of whom must reject something from the +poem, but when verse-writing became easier and more traditional, their +number was raised to nine, that they might be the harder to please. And +what a difficult jury they are! and how long they stay out over their +verdict! + +But, after all, it seems to us that Mr. Hayne has the root of the matter +in him; and we shall look to meet him again, bringing a thinner, yet +a fuller book. The present volume shows thoughtfulness, culture, +sensibility to natural beauty, and great refinement of feeling. We like +the first poem, which is also the longest, best of all. The subject is +an imaginative one,--and the choice of a subject is one great test of +genuine aptitude and ability. In this poem, and in some of the sonnets, +(which are good both in matter and construction,) Mr. Hayne shows a +genuine vigor of expression and maturity of purpose. There is a tone of +sadness in the volume, as if the author were surrounded by an atmosphere +uncongenial to letters. The reader cannot fail to be struck with this, +and also with the oddity of two or three political sonnets, in which Mr. +Hayne calls on his fellow-citizens to rally for the defence of slavery +in the name of freedom. The book is dedicated, in a very graceful +and cordial sonnet, to Mr. E.P. Whipple; and it is seldom that South +Carolina sends so pleasant a message to Massachusetts. Mr. Hayne need +only persevere in self-culture to be able to produce poems that shall +win for him a national reputation. + + +_Fairy Dreams; or Wanderings in Elfland._ By JANE G. AUSTIN. With +Illustrations by Hammatt Billings. Boston: J.E. Tilton & Co. 1859. + +This is a pretty book for children, written with no little feeling and +fancy, and in a graceful style. The chimney-corner has been abolished +by the economical furnace-register, and Santa Claus, if he come at all, +must do it like an imp of the pit. The volumes for children to pore +over, as they bake by the stove, or stew over the black hole in the +floor, have also suffered an economic and practical change. No more +fires, no more pretty fancies, seems to have been the doom. Parents who +think, as we do, that children inhale practicality with our American +atmosphere, and that a little encouragement of the imaginative side of +their nature is not amiss, will be glad to drop Mrs. Austin's book into +the proper stocking. The stories are well told; that, especially, of +the Gray Cat is full of fanciful invention. The book is very prettily +manufactured also, though we think publishers are carrying their +fondness for tinted paper too far. Salmon-color is too much; the deepest +tint allowable is that of cream from a cow that has grazed among +buttercups. + + +_Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India:_ Being Extracts from +the Letters of the late Major W.S.R. HODSON, B.A., Trinity College, +Cambridge; First Bengal European Fusileers, Commandant of Hodson's +Horse. Including a Personal Narrative of the Siege of Delhi and Capture +of the King and Princes. Edited by his Brother, the Rev. GEORGE H. +HODSON, M.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From the +Third and Enlarged English Edition. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. +16mo. pp. 444. + +This book should be widely read; or we might better say, this book _will +be_ widely read,--so widely, indeed, that there is no need for us to +repeat its story here, or to give an abstract of its contents. Hodson +was a man worth knowing, and his letters show him to us as he was. +The special qualities of which Englishmen are proud, as the traits +of national character, belonged in an uncommon degree to him. He was +eminently truthful, staunch, and brave; he had a clear eye, a strong and +ready hand, cool judgment, stern decision, and a tender heart. He might +have borne the old Douglas motto on his shield. + +He was trained under as good teachers as a young man ever had. At Rugby, +under Dr. Arnold; then, for a year or two, living among the ennobling +associations of Trinity College; then at Guernsey, as a young soldier, +under Sir William Napier; then in India, with James Thomason, +Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces, one of the best rulers +that India ever knew, "_facile princeps_ of the whole Indian service"; +and finally passing from him to serve under Sir Henry Lawrence, the +noblest soldier of India, a man for whom common words of praise are +insufficient,--Hodson had an unrivalled set of masters, and his life +proves him to have been worthy of them. + +The British rule in India is of such sort as to test the qualities of +its officers to the last point. If they have anything good in them, it +is sure to be brought into full action. Such responsibilities are thrown +on them as at once to stimulate them to exertion of their best powers. +Men who in the ordinary fields of work might remain all their lives mere +commonplace mediocrities, under the discipline of Indian service, find +out and show their real value. The Indian mutiny exhibited how common +the rare qualities of foresight, energy, and enduring courage, and the +still higher qualities of submission, patience, and faith, had become +among those against whom the natives rose like a flood to overwhelm them +in destruction. The little bands of English at Cawnpore, at Lucknow, and +at many a less famous station, stood like rocks against the dashing of +the storm. The qualities that enabled them to win the admiration even +of their enemies, and to call forth the respect and the sorrow of the +world, were the result, not of sudden stress, but of long and habitual +training. The reader of Hodson's memoir will gain a knowledge of the +processes by which such characters are developed. + +The letters which make up the larger part of this book are written +with animation and simplicity, and are full of spirited accounts of +adventure, of rough and various service. The narrative which they afford +of the siege of Delhi is of absorbing interest. The picture of the +little army of besiegers, wasted by continual disease and exposure to +the heats of an Indian summer,--worn by the constant sallies and attacks +of a host of enemies trained in arms,--saddened by the receipt of evil +tidings from all quarters,--feeling that upon their final success rested +not only the hope of the continuance of British supremacy in India, but +the very lives of those dear to them,--and, worst of all, compelled +to submit to a succession of incompetent generals, whose timidity and +irresolution baffled the best designs of officers and the dashing +bravery of the troops;--the pictures which Hodson gives of this little +army, of its unflagging spirit and resolution, and its valorous deeds, +are drawn with such truth as to bring the successive scenes vividly +before the imagination. Hodson himself was one of the best and most +useful of a noble corps of officers. His modesty does not hide the +grounds of the enthusiasm which was felt for him by his men,--of the +admiration that he excited among his fellows. The story of the capture +of the King and Princes, after the fall of Delhi, is one of the most +interesting stories of daring ever told. You hold your breath as you +read it. It was a gallant deed, done in the most gallant way. + +Altogether, the book is one of thoroughly manly tone and temper,--a book +to make those who read it manlier, to put to shame the cowardice of easy +life, to make men more honest, more enduring, more energetic, by the +example which it sets before them. Hodson's life was short, but its +result will last. There was no sham about it, no meanness,--nothing but +what was large, true, and generous. As one turns the last page, it is +with no regret that such a man should have died in the fight, for he +was a Christian soldier. He was the _preux chevalier_ of our times. The +words in which Sir Ector mourns for his brother, Sir Lancelot, are fit +for his epitaph. "'Ah, Sir Lancelot,' said hee, 'thou were head of +all christen knights! An now I dare say,' said Sir Ector, 'that, Sir +Lancelot, there thou liest, thou were never matched of none earthly +knight's hands; and thou were the curtiest knight that ever bare shield; +and thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrood horse; +and thou were the truest lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman; +and thou were the kindest man that ever strook with sword; and thou were +the goodliest person that ever came among presse of knights; and thou +were the meekest man and the gentlest that ever eate in hall among +ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortall foe that ever +put speare in the rest.'" + + +_Friends in Council_. A Series of Readings and Discourse thereon. A New +Series. 2 vols. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1860. + +The best class of readers in England and America are sure to give a +cordial welcome to a new book by Mr. Helps. Nothing better need be said +of this second series of "Friends in Council" than that it is a worthy +sequel of the first. It is the work of a man of large experience and +wide culture,--of one who is at the same time a student and a man of +the world, versed in history and practically acquainted with affairs. +Refined thoughtfulness and common sense combine to give value to all +that Mr. Helps writes, and he is master of a style at once manly and +elegant, quiet and strong. Two famous lines, which occur in a passage +quoted in these volumes, serve well to characterize their merits:-- + + "Though deep, yet clear,--though gentle, yet not dull,-- + Strong without rage,--without o'erflowing, full." + +Such books have a special worth in these days of hasty writing. They +admit one to the companionship of thoughtful, well-mannered gentlemen. +One feels that he has been in good company, after reading them; and, +whatever he may have gained of wisdom from the friends he has met in +council, he is also improved in temper and in manners by their society. + +The conversations which form the setting of the essays in these volumes +enable Mr. Helps to present in an easy and effective way various sides +of the important questions that he discusses. Completeness of statement +is rarely to be obtained upon any of the deeper topics of life. If the +golden side be displayed, the silver side is likely to be hidden. The +same man holds various, though not irreconcilable opinions upon the same +subject, according to the different lights in which he views it or the +different phases it presents. The most honest man must sometimes +appear inconsistent for the sake of truth; and the clearer a man's own +convictions, the wider will be his charity for those of others. Mr. +Helps exhibits admirably this natural and necessary diversity of +thought, existing even where there is a coincidence of principle and of +aim. + +The essays upon War and Despotism are, perhaps, the ablest in these +volumes, and deserve to be seriously viewed in the light of passing +events. They are distinguished by freedom from exaggeration and by their +moderation of statement. As in so many of the productions of the best +English writers at the present day, something of despondency in regard +to the condition of the world is to be traced in them. And truly, to one +who looks at the state of Europe and of our own country, there is more +need for faith than ground of hope. + +But at this Christmas season, this season of peace and good-will, let +all our readers read the essay on Pleasantness. And if they will but +take its teachings to heart, we can wish them, with the certainty of the +fulfilment of our wish, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. + + +_The Marvellous Adventures and Rare Conceits of Master Tyll Owlglass._ +Newly collected, etc., by KENNETH R.H. MACKENZIE. With Illustrations by +Crowquill. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1860. pp. xxxix., 255. + +This is a very beautiful edition of a very amusing book. The preface and +notes of Mr. Mackenzie will commend it to scholars, while the stories +themselves will divert both young and old. A book of this kind, which +can keep life in itself for more than three hundred years, must have +some real humor and force at bottom. It is as good a specimen of +mediaeval fun as could anywhere be found. With nothing like the satiric +humor of the "Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum," it appeals to a much larger +circle of readers. We are very glad to meet it again in so handsome a +dress, and with such really clever illustrations. It is just the book +for a Christmas gift. + + +_Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of Goethe._ By THOMAS +JAMES ARNOLD, Esq. With Illustrations from the Designs of Wilhelm von +Kaulbach. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 346 and 348 Broadway. 1860. pp. +226. + +It is very well that Mr. Arnold should tell us on the title-page that +his version is _after_ that of Goethe. Nothing could be truer,--and it +is a very long way after, too. By substituting the slow and verbose +pentameter of what is called the classic school of English poetry for +the remarkably forth-right and simple eight-syllabic measure of the +original, the translator has contrived to lose almost wholly that homely +flavor of the old poet, which Goethe carefully preserved. We do not mean +to say that this is altogether a bad version, as such things go; on the +contrary, it has a great deal of spirit, as it could hardly fail to +have, unless it belied its model altogether;--but it is as far as +possible from giving any notion of the characteristic qualities of +"Reinaert de Vos." If Mr. Arnold must change the measure, Chaucer's +"Nonnes Preestes Tale" would have been a safer guide to follow. + +The book, in spite of its American title-page, is wholly of English +manufacture. It is a very handsome volume, and Kaulbach's illustrations +are copied with tolerable success, though with inevitable inferiority to +the German originals. Kaulbach is hardly so happy an animal-painter as +Grandville, but he has at least given his subjects in this case a more +human expression than in his monstrous caricatures of Shakspeare. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +A Complete and Cheap Edition of the Entire Writings of Charles Dickens. +To be completed in 28 Weekly Volumes. Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & +Brothers. 8vo. pamphlet. Per vol., 25 cts. + +Mount Vernon and its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and +Pictorial. By Benson J. Lossing. Illustrated by Numerous Engravings, +chiefly from Original Drawings by the Author, engraved by Lossing & +Barritt. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. 4to. pp. 376. $3.50. + +Proceedings and Debates of the Third National Quarantine and Sanitary +Convention, held in the City of New York, April 27-30, 1859. New York. +Printed for the Board of Councilmen. 8vo. pp. 728. + +A History of the Four Georges, Kings of England; containing Personal +Incidents of their Lives, Public Events of their Reigns, and +Biographical Notices of their Chief Ministers, Courtiers, and Favorites. +By Samuel M. Smucker, LL.D., Author of "Court and Reign of Catherine +II." etc., etc. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. xii., 454. $1.25. + +Goethe's Correspondence with a Child. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. +pp. 504. $1.25. + +The Old Stone Mansion. By Charles J. Peterson, Author of "Kate +Aylesford," etc. Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 367. +$1.25. + +Fisher's River (North Carolina) Scenes and Characters. By "Skitt." +Illustrated by John McLenan. New York. Harper & Brothers. 16mo. pp. +viii., 269. $1.00. + +Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India: being Extracts from the +Letters of the late Major W.S.R. Hodson, B.A., Trinity College, +Cambridge; First Bengal European Fusileers, Commandant of Hodson's +Horse. Including a Personal Narrative of the Siege of Delhi and Capture +of the King and Princes. Edited by his Brother, the Rev. George H. +Hodson, M.A., Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. From the +Third and Enlarged English Edition. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 16mo. pp. +444. $1.00. + +Religious and Moral Sentences culled from the Works of Shakspeare, +compared with Sacred Passages drawn from Holy Writ. From the English +Edition, with an Introduction by Frederic D. Huntington. Boston and +Cambridge. James Munroe & Co. 16mo. pp. 226. 75 cts. + +Avolio; a Legend of the Island of Cos. With Poems, Lyrical, +Miscellaneous, and Dramatic. By Paul H. Hayne. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. +16mo. pp. xii., 244. 75 cts. + +Wild Southern Scenes; a Tale of Disunion and Border War. By J.B. Jones, +Author of "Wild Western Scenes," etc. Philadelphia T.B. Peterson & Co. +12mo. pp. 502. $1.25. + +Mary Staunton; or, The Pupils of Marvel Hall. By the Author of +"Portraits of my Married Friends." New York. D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. +398. $1.25. + +Reminiscences of Rufus Choate, the Great American Advocate. By Edward G. +Parker. New York. Mason Brothers. 16mo. pp. 522. $1.50. + +The Art of Elocution, exemplified in a Simplified Course of Exercises. +By Henry N. Day, Author of "Elements of the Art of Rhetoric." Revised +Edition. Cincinnati. Moore, Wilstach, Keys, & Co. 12mo. pp. 384. $1.25. + +True Womanhood; a Tale. By John Neal. Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. +pp. 487. $1.25. + +The Queen of Hearts. By Wilkie Collins, Author of "The Dead Secret," +"After Dark," etc. New York. Harper & Brothers. 12mo. pp. 472. $1.00. + +Home and Abroad; a Sketch-Book of Life, Scenery, and Men. By Bayard +Taylor. New York. G.P. Putnam. 12mo. pp. vi., 500. $1.25. + +The Virginians; a Tale of the Last Century. By W.M. Thackeray. With +Illustrations by the Author. New York. Harper & Brothers. 8vo. pp. iv., +411. $2.00. + +The Prairie Traveller. A Handbook for Overland Expeditions--With Maps, +Illustrations, and Itineraries of the Principal Routes between the +Mississippi and the Pacific. By Randolph B. Marcy, Captain U.S.A. +Published by Authority of the War Department. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 16mo. pp. vi., 340. $1.00. + +Book of Plays for Home Amusement. Being a Collection of Original, +Altered, and Selected Tragedies, Plays, Dramas, Comedies, Farces, +Burlesques, Charades, Lectures, etc., carefully arranged and specially +adapted for Private Representation, with Full Directions for +Performance. By Silas S. Steele, Dramatist. Philadelphia. George G. +Evans. 12mo. pp. 352. $1.00. + +The History of South Carolina, from its first European Discovery to +its Erection into a Republic; with a Supplementary Book, bringing the +Narrative down to the Present Time. By William Gilmore Simms, Author of +"The Yemassee," "Cassique of Kinwah," etc. New and Revised Edition. New +York. Redfield. 12mo. pp. viii., 437. $1.25. + +Sermons. By Richard Fuller, D.D., of Baltimore. New York. Sheldon & Co. +12mo. pp. 384. $1.00. + +Poems. By James Clarence Mangan. With a Biographical Introduction by +John Mitchel. New York. P.M. Haverty. 12mo. pp. 460. $1.00. + +Lionel Lincoln; or, The Leaguer of Boston. By J. Fenimore Cooper. +Illustrated from Drawings by F.O.C. Darley. New York. W.A. Townsend & +Co. 12mo. pp. 464. $1.50. + +The Young Men of America. A Prize Essay. By Samuel Batchelder, Jr. +(Reprinted from the Young Men's Magazine.) New York. Sheldon & Co. 16mo. +pp. 70. 50 cts. + +Saul; a Drama, in Three Parts. Second Edition, carefully revised and +amended. Montreal. John Lovell. 12mo. pp. 328. + +Poems. By Charles Henry St. John. Boston. A. Williams & Co. 12mo. pp. +144. 75 cts. + +The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D.D., late Head-Master of +Rugby School, and Regius Professor of Modern History in the University +of Oxford. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, M.A., Regius Professor of +Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford. In Two Volumes. +Boston. Ticknor & Fields. 12mo. pp. 378, 400. $2.00. + +Friends in Council; a Series of Readings and Discourse thereon. A New +Series. In Two Volumes. Reprinted from the English Edition. Boston and +Cambridge. James Munroe & Co. 16mo. pp. iv., 242, iv., 280. $1.50. + +Sir Rohan's Ghost. A Romance. Boston. J.E. Tilton & Co. 12mo. pp. 352. +$1.00. + +Stories of Rainbow and Lucky. By Jacob Abbott. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 16mo. pp. 187. 50 cts. + +Preachers and Preaching. By Rev. Nicholas Murray, D.D., Author of +"Romanism at Home," "Men and Things in Europe," etc. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 12mo. pp. 303. 75 cts. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 5, No. 27, +January, 1860, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, NO. 27 *** + +***** This file should be named 11173.txt or 11173.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/7/11173/ + +Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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